
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
In a weekend chess tournament, Player X plays Player Y and Player Z plays Player W on the first day. On the second day, the winners of the first day's matches compete for the top two positions, and the losers compete for the third and fourth positions. No draws are allowed. One possible ranking of the players from first to fourth at the end of the tournament could be XZYW. Determine the total number of possible four-player ranking sequences by the end of the tournament.

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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