i can t speak about THIS cdm since i didn't attend, but i guess the level is high enough in quaterfinals that there will always be some "too big matchs for quaterfinals", and the guys who will be eliminated there can't just blame the system.
i agree this year, the weird random in quaterfinals increases the "unfair feeling" and nullifies the following argument, but it s already known since many years that you have to be at the top in poules to ensure an easy path in the final phasis. and like harold said, YOU have to be at the top the d-day, instead of hoping the system will allow you several possibilities to compensate bad results. so on my opinion, you KVD may have been quite unlucky this year, but you can't blame the system for that.
i guess the matter is a bit "what is the aim of the cdm?" is it a "4 d-days competition", with an overall ranking that might be a bit unfair because some guy had to face another one in quaterfinal instead of the final ? for me, yes.
i'm aware of the double elim final phasis in fighting games, but for me the purpose is to compensate the shortness of the matchs : often, a duel consists in just one match (the first to win 2 or 3 rounds), and it s very very short. so the losers bracket is made to enable good players to stand one more chance.
in the smk cdm, i don t think a final phasis duel is so short/ random : maybe in 1/8th finals, but once you are in quarter finals, i don t think any duel is won just by luck, so there is no point creating a loser bracket (or at least i personnaly think it isn't as justified as in most fighting games tournaments). if the quarterfinals were "the first to win 2 or 3 rounds / 1 cup", i would agree that it s too random, but it's not the case. maybe you and drew are a bit disappointed by being eliminated prematurely in your favorite mode, but even i guess it's the rule d-day tournaments.
another problem of the double elim is the length increase of the poules : i guess we should shorten poules to make double elim, and this would mean less playtime for noobs/ average players. personnaly, i don t think it would be cool for them to divide their playing time by 2 just to ensure some strong players one more chance not to be eliminated. or maybe we should change the spirit of the cdm to make it an event for good players, where noobs are not as welcome as today (or at least they should be aware that they aren't supposed to play as much as today).