I... want to be a fan of this, but I have concerns. Isn't this a tournament, not a league? A league implies regular matches that last for a season. This is an elimination tournament. Sure, it is spread out over 8 weeks, but if you lose out in the group stage (which I don't fully understand, and the graphic doesn't give a better explanation), you can only lose once more before you are out for the tournament season. To make a comparison, this is like american football doing away with the regular season, treating the pre-season as a seeding system, and skipping straight to the playoffs. Oh, and if you lose in the preseason, instead of just being poorly seeded, you are given a straight up disadvantage.
Am I just not understanding something here? Because I want to like this. But it doesn't really have a league or seasonal feel. Just another tournament: one that is dragged out.
-Edit-
Welp, re-read that and it calls itself a tournament. Huh. This is not really the direction I would have liked to see this go. I'll be honest on that. I recognize that COGS may have not been the best system, but for the premiere "league" to just be a slowly run tournament... Meh. I never had the opportunity to be part of the discussion on designing this, but I'm kinda bummed out that this is the big reveal. Oh well.