Whilst I agree with Stark, I still think it was an odd decision to cut the 4th place team from these playoffs. You could run the same system with four teams and it would be even better! Three games being played, big hype, all on a sunday.

The original idea behind running the playoffs in 1 day were:

1) More hype for a "grand finale"
2) Remove all the scheduling difficulties throughout playoffs (there were always problems with scheduling and teams often requested delays and extensions). Setting it to a day in advance of the season ensures players can play in advance and we can tell teams to deal with it if they have problems.

The current system is much better than a traditional 4th vs 1st, 2nd vs 3rd in my opinion for the reasons Stark mentions. Adding in a 4th team is possible but it brings up problems:

1) Games would have to start at 17:15, 19:15, 21:15. The first game is very veary early, especially for CET-1.
2) If 4th or 3rd place place would reach the final, that's potentially 9 maps in a row without a decently sized break.
3) The issue of warmups for teams becomes bigger, teams would either have no warmup or a warmup at 16:30 which is super early.

I think if playoffs involved 4 teams the playoff system would have to be adapted.

4 team double elim over Saturday and Sunday like ESEA LAN Finals 8)

I like the current system, mainly down from a scheduling standpoint where there isn't an annoying shitshow and question mark over when they will be played. And having the games going during PCW time means it's not running the possibility of it clashing with real life stuff.

Like I'm not a fan of starting games early during the day whereas I'm down to play later in to the evening, for others though the opposite is more favourable to them.