It's not a dumb format, it's an elaborate tournament like format which is followed in many high level sports tournaments like say Football and Cricket tournaments. Just check the formats of the high level and famous football leagues that take place in Europe, they also follow a format similar to this. It's the round 1 part of my face-off (which is currently ongoing) which has this elaborate format.
Every candidate in my face-off is getting to face-off against everyone once in round 1, meaning that with 12 candidates in total, every candidate is overall getting to face-off in 11 matchups individually in round 1. A win gives a candidate (Digidestined) 2 points, while a loss gives him/her 0 points.
During this round, there is a standings table (if you have noticed) calculating the positioning of the Digidestined based on their points/wins in this round. After this whole round is over, the 4 candidates (Digidestined) who occupy the top 4 spots in the standings table will get to move on to the next round, round 2.
Round 2 is going to be direct elimination matches though like most other Face-Off formats and I have mentioned it well enough hw in the OP.
I feel that this format is the most fair one, since every candidate in the face-off gets a matchup against everyone once, meaning that everyone gets an equally fair chance to take a shot against each other once. It's a really elaborate format for sure, but this kind of format I feel that gives every candidate in the face-off ample opportunities and equal chance. Also, since there were only 12 candidates overall in my face-off, if I took a direct elimination format right from round 1, then my face-off would have been over in a very short amount of time; I wanted my face-off to be long lasting and not be over in a short amount of time, so that the fun lasts for long, y'know.
And lastly, there is a really enthralling factor in my face-off I believe, that with the constant up and down in the positionings in the Standing Table, the excitement lasts throughout the eloborate tournament like format of Round 1 of my face-off. Because after all this round in overall a competition race for the top 4 spots in the Standings Table (because the ones who occupy the top 4 spots in the Table at the end of Round 1 afterall move onto Round 2).
It's fine if you don't like the elaborate format I am using in my Face-Off, but that doesn't necessarily make it 'dumb', because many high level worldwide sports tournaments like Football and Cricket tournaments actually follow this kind of format.
You could have just said that you're not a fan of elaborate tournament like formats instead of using terms like 'so dumb' y'know, because saying this kind of stuff could maybe discourage voters from my Face-Off thread, hope you get it.