"only XL-5"

Are you starting another group stage again?
What's wrong with the mini-double elimination system (2 wins to advance)?
It's much better than forcing unmotivated players to use certain tech trees in the third round!

Unmotivated... you mean to say that all players who sign up for a tournament are capable of winning it?
Many players, including myself, participate in tournaments to have the opportunity to play with players they wouldn't normally get to play with during regular tournaments!
On average, 1 person from each group drops out, often due to problems or circumstances, which is not surprising, as Heroes 3 tournaments are breaking all records for their duration.

Yeah, not only is it another tournament with a long, boring, and unnecessary group stage, but there's also a random element in the playoffs, with best-of-one matches for аж 2 rounds, which already makes participating in it not very appealing. And now, they've added another random element with a random map, and it doesn't matter that the cost of castles varies greatly depending on the map.
It's all very sad, despite my love for HLKAs, I definitely don't want to participate in this.

Isn't there enough tournaments for top players?
It seems like every other tournament is for the elite... let other players have a chance to play the game, instead of being eliminated after the first loss.

Regarding the random map selection, I wouldn't mind if there was at least a choice or a draft/trade system for the players.