I was thinking that many people will be away for the May holidays, so it would be better to reduce the number of games.

Here's an option for the spring part of the series:
4 groups of 4 people each, a little more or a little less depending on the number of participants, 1 game with each, the price of each game is very high, only 2 participants advance from each group! This lasts for a month.
Then, a playoff according to the A1-D2, A2-D1, B1-C2, B2-C1 scheme, 2 games, the first is random, the second is a mirror match, the same map for both games, if there's a tie, the one who achieves a faster victory advances.
Then, the same scheme for the semi-finals and finals, with a break for the May holidays, which is exactly 3 months. In total, a maximum of 9 games.
The groups will be formed according to the principle of strong player, strong player, average player, newbie, depending on the participants' rating.
The main focus is on the playoffs, where, in theory, the strongest players should be concentrated.
This is a great scheme, by the way :) We should use it.