(starts immediately after R1 WB games)
Instead of building from scratch, you can: 9 team double elimination bracket excel
A 9-team bracket is essentially an 8-team bracket with one extra game at the start. One team must be eliminated before the second round begins to balance the tree. (starts immediately after R1 WB games) Instead of
Or better: Use XLOOKUP to pull winner by match#. match# in col A
In double elimination:
This is the tricky part. When a team loses in the Winners Bracket (Column A), they must appear in the Losers Bracket (Column B).
(Assuming Match 1 is in row 2, match# in col A, winner in col D)