Format
MLG Anaheim used a three bracket system. The Championship Bracket was a 16-team bracket seeded randomly, with the top 4 seeds placed in their own quadrants, with 1 and 4 being on one half of the bracket, and 2 and 3 being on the other half. Losing in rounds 1 and 2 sent a team to the Placement Bracket, where they would play to determine where in the Losers' Bracket they would emerge. Losing in rounds 3 and 4 of the Championship Bracket allowed teams to skip the Placement Bracket and immediately placed them in Losers rounds 8 and 10, respectively. The first round of the Placement Bracket pit the losers of CBR1 against eachother. The winners then played the losers of CBR2 (PBR2), while the losers played the top 4 teams coming out of the Open Bracket (PBR3). The winners and losers of PBR2 emerged in LBR6 and LBR5, respectively, while the winners and losers of PBR3 emerged in LBR4 and LBR3. The remainder of the bracket played out like a standard MLG Losers Bracket.
- Open Bracket
- Teams seeded below 16 placed in bracket
- Top 16 teams advance to various positions in CB, depending on where they finished
- Double-elimination, best of 3 series
- Extended Series rule: best of 5 series starting 2-0, or 2-1 based on result of previous meeting
- Championship Bracket
- Top 16 teams randomly placed in bracket, with top 4 seeds in separate quadrants
- Non-elimination Placement Bracket matches occur for certain LB placements
- Double-elimination, best of 5 series
