Could we not just do a poll or 2 early to gauge where players want to be? Pick the top 4 to trial?
We can gauge where they want to be without having to do all the admin of setting up a bunch of pools were people mostly play bots or spend ages waiting for a human to show up
I mean it's definitely not a dealbreaker for me if we opt to go for a smaller bracket pool but I really don't understand the insistence upon a smaller bracket pool size - it's a 3 month test. I don't think any one of us can say, with absolute certainty, that we know which style bracket the average players would like to compete in. Why not cast a wide net for a test then plan to reel it in from there as necessary?