Week 6 MN Regionals

FIRST General Forum
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Minnesota has two Week 6 events coming up and I figured it would be a good time to begin a discussion about them!

The 10,000 Lakes Regional in Minneapolis, and the brand new Granite CIty Regional in St. Cloud promise to be full of excitement and action! Despite being hosted the same week, and only 70 miles apart, the events really couldn’t look a whole lot different. 10K features just one wildcard carrying team (2052), while GCR has 6 such teams (4607, 3276, 876, 1816, 3134, and 9535).

Over half of the teams at 10K are competing for the first time, while that number for GCR is less than 25%.

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19 teams (35% of GCR teams) were either a captain or 1st round pick at their previous event… You can almost make up an entire alliance selection with nothing but top robots! 17% of 10K teams were captains/1st picks at their first event.

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The EPA distribution for both of the events tells the same story a slightly different way. GCR is incredibly deep, and I would argue is the most competitive Minnesota Regional in history. 10K looks like it has historically, and has some strong teams at the top that will put on a good show.

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10,000 Lakes:
Top Contenders: 2052, 3630, 2530, 2491
Dark Horses: 2855, 5913

Granite CIty Regional:
Top Contenders: 3276, 4607, 876, 4728 (let’s be honest I could include 10+ teams here)
Dark Horses: 6175, 3130, 4539
Teams with Insanely High Ceilings: 5172, 7028
Incredible Rookie: 9535
Hopefully won’t die every other match: 6045

Can’t wait to see how these events shake out!

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Awesome breakdown! I’d argue that the EPA at 10K is a little misleading because as you stated over half of the teams competing haven’t even played yet so EPA is based on a completely different robot from last season.

That said looking at robots with over 17.5 EPA. At 10K they have 8, at Granite City they have 23. For reference at the Sacramento Regional 10 robots above 17.5 EPA.

I’m not arguing Granite City will be on the level of Sacramento, but trying to highlight the point it will have a lot of great bots! Both MN regionals should be fun to watch

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GCR is gonna be a fun event, can’t wait to see how it plays out next week.

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A bonus of the staggered days is for the insane 10k people planning to drive up to St. Cloud to watch playoffs on Sunday (totally not me I would never drive up to see playoffs at an event my team isn’t at :laughing:)

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We tried to get into 10k at the last minute over the weekend but were turned away. It looks to be a fun even and GCR does, too! MN teams are so much fun to compete with and I love how the state has embraced FRC.

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5464 is in the same “hopefully won’t die every other match” category. Stoked for Granite city!

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Love the EPA comparison here. Minnesota events, even the Double DECCer Week 1 seem to always be super competitive and fun with lots of strong robots. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get into 10k so we’re at Seven Rivers in Wisconsin, but we’ll be watching for sure!

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@Ryan_Swanson great breakdown!

And GCR all happens in a fishbowl! It will be standing room only for this event as seating is intimate to say the least - and I think it will be incredibly awesome!

With the firepower coming into this regional I predict many quals matches that will tickle 100pts. Some on both sides. There is no hiding from good teams each match.

For those coming in to watch, plan your day(s). Parking on Sat & Sun are free downtown. And the amount of great food is abundant.

BoDiddleys for Sandwiches. Cannot miss on this one.
For pizza some of the best local flair is Gary’s Pizza, DiMaggios, and Jet are not to miss. If you are pining for a hamburger - Val’s is your huckleberry. Too many other local flairs to mention here - do your homework and find the best eatery to fancy your wants.

I am so proud to bring FRC to Central Minnesota! It will be a bloodbath in a fishbowl.

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Just what my legs will need after the 90 minute car ride :laughing: (well it’s still closer than driving to duluth on a whim for playoffs…)

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From this photo from the convention center’s website, I estimate 750 seats, which divided by 54 teams is about 13-14 seats per team. Those scouts are gonna want to arrive early…

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850 is what you are looking at. Another 500+ seats are coming in as well. We will have at least 1350 seats for the event.

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Bloodbath in a fishbowl… that sounds like BattleBots !

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This is awesome Ryan, I’m always glad to see someone in the community running the numbers. I absolutely cannot wait to see what teams at these tournaments are definitely not snubbed from a worlds appearance. With only 1 wildcard spot in play at their first tournament at 10,000 lakes, I’m sure both of these regionals will be excellent for allowing MN to get the representation they deserve. Good luck to all.

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Ryan thanks for putting this together man! It is going to be brutal at Granite City! I can’t wait! KAOTIC has the new version of the robot running and should be ready to go. We took a lot of damage at GNR but were able to fix it and beef it up. The drivers are ready and this should be fun!

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Pics?

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I’ve been at the venue before for another event and I remember there being two auditoriums that are joined, do you know if there will be seating in the second one? (Is that where the pits / practice field are going?)

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I really hate simultaneously competing while many of my friends are one day ahead of us at 10,000 Lakes! From the sounds of it the alliance selection has some potential to be really interesting tomorrow.

Meanwhile at GCR I’ve been blown away by the venue, volunteers, and atmosphere of the event. The vendor booths are the most impressive I’ve seen at an event outside of Champs. There are dozens of cool displays and local organizations for students to talk to and interact with.

The level of competition at GCR is very high, as expected. Almost every match will feature some highly competitive teams facing off against each other. I’m excited to see how things unfold tomorrow!

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