Clarity on Win/Loss record in matchmaking?

It's likely going to be like a Swiss format, if you've ever done a competitive tournament.

So you're in a pod with a certain number of other players (in this case, 8) and everyone is matched randomly in the first round, at the end of which you have four players at 1-0, and four players at 0-1. In round 2, the 1-0s are paired off against one another, while the 0-1s are paired off as well, and at the end of the round you have two players at 2-0, four players at 1-1, and two players at 0-2. The third, and final, round the two 2-0s face each other (the winner gets 1st place, loser 2nd), the two 0-2s face each other (7th and 8th), and then.... It depends. PROBABLY, the two 1-1s who won in round one and lost in round 2 face off (for 3rd and 4th) and then the other two 1-1s face off (5th and 6th).

I say that's what probably happens because the 1-1s need a tiebreaker of some sort to determine who faces whom. In a straight win/loss style tournament (think any CCG) then the players who won the first round would get the tiebreaker because their loss came to a "better" opponent than compared with the people whose loss came in the first round. But since victories here track Banners, it's possible that like other professional sports that track things like runs or goal differentials or whatever, the tiebreaker will be whoever has the most aggregate banners.

So, basically, there are two meanings of "matchmaking" being used--
The initial matchmaking would be making groupings of 8 or 5 players taking players at random from the big pools of players who fit "of comparable rosters" description, but irrespective of win/losses (otherwise people would be incentivised to tank the first few Grand Arenas so that later Grand Arenas would be easier). Then, once the Grand Arena event starts, that's when win/loss records within that specific event matter.

What proof do I have of this? Absolutely none whatsoever. But that's how the tournaments I ran back in the day worked (For the old Vs ccg), and I don't see any particular reason to change that for this. The thing they need to be careful about is what criteria define who gets placed in which pools from which the initial pods are created. That's where you'll get your potential mismatches, not from the win/losses within the Grand Arena events.