Tournament season is the best season for Dozen heads, and Tournament 6 just got its blueprint. Double elimination, three nights of bracket carnage at Chicago HQ Monday through Wednesday, and then everybody who survives ships up the road to The Vic for a Thursday Final Four and Championship in front of an actual crowd. That's the calendar, stamped and dated.
The official schedule drop: rounds 1-3 at HQ, Final Four and title game live from The Vic.
The Vic is the move that matters here. Tournaments used to live and die in the HQ studio, which is great for the diehards watching on YouTube but doesn't really translate the stakes. Putting the Final Four and Championship on a real theater stage in Chicago is the kind of upgrade that turns a web show into an event, and it's the clearest sign yet that The Dozen has graduated from passion project to legitimate live property.
The full Tournament 6 bracket, double-elimination format and all.
Double elimination is also the right call. One bad category early in a tournament has historically ended runs that probably deserved a longer leash, so giving teams a loser's-bracket lifeline keeps the best squads alive deep into the week. By the time Thursday hits at The Vic, the teams left standing will have earned it the hard way. Mark the calendars — this is the biggest Dozen week yet.