Stage 1: Swiss-system tournament with 4 rounds per week. Might and Magic factions compete against each other; the first round is random, and subsequent pairings are determined randomly based on the number of points, without repetition. After 4 rounds, in case of a tie in points, the winner is the one who defeated stronger opponents, with a coefficient as in the previous tournament. If this is not enough, additional games will be played. We select the top 8.

Currently, there are only 10 players in each group. Even if there are 12, selecting the top 8 is too many; the point of a single round of playoffs is lost because the best player from one group might face the 8th from another... In my opinion, it would be better to have slightly more rounds in the groups (5-6) to allow players to gain more experience, and in the playoffs, selecting the top 4 would be sufficient; at least, they would be opponents of roughly equal strength.

Regarding faction selection in the group stage
I think players should declare their chosen faction to the judges before each game. A faction can be played no more than 2 times in a group, and it will be forbidden to play 2 games in a row with the same faction. Those who play all factions in the group can receive a bonus of 1-3 points. I think this option would be more interesting and less predictable. The tournament table can display a list of factions available to the player for each round.