Two groups, nine players each. Round 1 everyone in his or her group plays a head-to-head against each other player in their group.
After round 1 (qualification) those who ranked fifth and lower play one more game to decide their final rank.
Those who ranked fourth or better play a best-of-three, The losers of these play two more games to decide their final rank, the winners continue in the semi-finals, again a best-of-three. The losers of the semi-finals play one more game to decide their final rank, the winners play the finale. Finale is played as a best-of-three.
If less than sixteen players will play the tournament counts neither for the WPPR nor the NLCS series.