Favorites, into battle! - 11.

Two questions.
1) Okay, and how do you think we can improve this? Should we eliminate draws altogether?
2) The example is also amusing – a victory for either of the players you mentioned in this last game puts them in the winners' bracket.
And a draw puts them at the very bottom of the losers' bracket. I can hardly imagine how they could agree to a draw in that situation.
Do they both think they are so much weaker than their opponent that a draw is the optimal outcome in terms of chances?

1. Exactly. Eliminate draws altogether. The players have 2 weeks to determine a winner – more than enough time.
2. There are several such examples. As an example, such a tactical draw can move someone from first place directly to third, although I can't say for sure here – it needs to be calculated and modeled.
In the situation I proposed, a draw is the optimal outcome for them in terms of chances because a loss for either of them moves them to 6th place, and if (since we're fantasizing) the fifth player's victory over the second was simply due to the second player's random mistake, then the uncertainty is quite justified. And player 4 managed to beat the first and second – hypothetically, not a very weak player, whom both would want to eliminate.