What is the qualifying round and how does it work?

The qualifying round is the opening phase of every tournament. All free-tier entries are placed on a public leaderboard where the community votes for the products they like. To keep things fair, vote counts and rankings are hidden during the first few hours (the blind period). Once the blind period ends, positions are revealed in real time. Only the top entries by vote count advance into the bracket. Premium launches skip the qualifying round entirely and are guaranteed a bracket slot.