I agree that any bracket system could be manipulated, since you could hold back on one of the aspects in the game. Think I suggested this a while back, but what about variable brackets?

Say there are three sections (easy, med, open)

One week we could have: 1-36m easy, 36-232m med, 232m+ open.
Next week it could be: 1-112m easy, 112-314m med, 314m+ open.

Next week it could be: [up to lance] easy, [up to pompey] med, khan+ open.
...
etc... Random each week. It will be hard to hold back on all the aspects of the game and still progress. Feel like it will still make a lot of people unhappy though...lol