Wild Card 2013
 

I'm starting this thread to create a base of information as the Wild Card system starts to come into play for the first time. Before each regional, I will be posting a list of teams attending that event who have already qualified for the Championship, and would create a Wild Card slot by winning the competition (more information on the system can be found at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...e-harlem-shake). If anyone would like to help me do this, correct me or post relevant information, feel free to do so. Hopefully this will help teams be better informed about what they have to do to qualify.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I would probably be useful to simply create a base list of qualified teams for cross-reference with event team lists. If you'd like, I'd be happy to help, though it's pretty simple.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

That sounds like a good idea, it will make it simple to be accurate and organized. I think I can handle it, just have to look at the awards pages for the events.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Does this still apply if the team that won the regional was already qualified for st. Louis, but did so by being in Einstein last season? this is the case with 987, as they just won the SD regional over us and id like to know if qualify as wild card.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

No. When this was all released, it was made clear that the WC was only used if the team creating it qualified in 2013. So, go to another event with 987 this year and take finalist there, and you'll be in the lineup for a wild card.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Briefly, no. You should read through the wild card rules at the link in the original post and here. Wild card spots are only opened for teams that have qualified previously during the current season. 987 will only open up wild card spots if they are regional champions at any of their events after San Diego.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Assuming 987 wins the event (which is likely, but not guaranteed! :rolleyes:)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

148 at the Dallas Regional and at Silicon Valley.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I attached a file that includes all teams that have qualified for the Championship during this season (and therefore all teams that can open wild card spots in their later events). It also shows those teams' Week 3 events. Finally, how each team qualified, in a separate sheet.

No wild card spots were opened in Week 2. 4451 is the only team that has qualified twice this season, but was RAS both times.

Here's the digest for Week 3*:
1986 at Kansas City
2655 at North Carolina

If 1986 is a regional champion at Kansas City or 2655 at North Carolina, the Captain of the Finalist Alliance will qualify for the FIRST Championship.

*Note that 27 and 245 have qualified for the Championship, but can't open up wild card spots in the traditional manner at the districts they're attending. 27 attends St. Joseph in Week 3.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

However both teams are within their ability to turn down an MSC spot, or should they win there or rank high enough to move on, their spot would go to the next team in line.

(Big Secret: Wild Card Rules benefit later regionals, but REALLY benefit MARC and MSC)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

This is only partially true. The rules have changed from previous years (at least for FiM) and I recommend those in Michigan and MAR read their supplemental rules. FiM Rules and MAR Rules. The relevant rules are on the last page of each document.

In Michigan, if a team is prequalified and gets CA, EI, or RAS at MSC, their spot does NOT go to anyone else. If a team is prequalified and is Regional Champion or requalifies by rank, their spot DOES go to the next ranked, unqualified team.

In MAR, if a team is prequalified and is Regional Champion or gets CA, EI, RAS at the MAR CMP, their spot does NOT go to anyone else. If a team is prequalified requalifies by rank, their spot DOES go to the next ranked, unqualified team.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

what happens to teams that have pre-qualified for championship before winning week 2 at Lone Star, i.e. 148 and 118 ?

I don't see that case accounted for in the description of wild cards.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

The Wildcard Worksheet makes it painfully clear that 148 and 118 didn't generate any wildcard slots at LSR. Only qualifying at a prior 2013 event will do it. I'm obviously just as disappointed as you, but thems the breaks. On the other hand, I think there's going to be a fair number of teams at Alamo that will be capable of generating wild card slots.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Is it just qualifying at prior events that opens up slots or winning previous events and then getting another spot that opens up slots? Like, did 4451 open up a Wildcard slot at Orlando this weekend because they have won the RAS 2x this year? If they did, this would get 125 to championships; and they are extremely deserving.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

And that qualification must be from winning the event, not from awards, if I understand correctly.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Incorrect, any qualification from this season creates a slot.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

You have to have qualified at a prior event (RAS counts) and then WON an event to open up a Wildcard slot at the even you've won.

Again, look at the Wildcard Worksheet and actually work it for the regional in question.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Thanks Basel, that would have saved me some work if I hadn't done it already before checking the thread.:D

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

...as long as the second qualification is a win, not an award.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

The qualification to create a slot has to be a win. The previous qualification can be an award or a win.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Since 1986 won in Kansas City earlier today, we have our first wildcard qualifier, team 1939!

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I attached a file that includes all teams that have qualified for the Championship during this season (and therefore all teams that can open wild card spots in their later events). It also shows those teams' Week 4 events. Finally, how each team qualified, in a separate worksheet.

1 wild card spot was opened in Week 3. Congratulations to 1939, who earned a spot opened by 1986 at Kansas City as the Finalist Alliance Captain.

6 teams have qualified twice, though only one has opened a wildcard spot:
118
128
1208
1986
3990
4451

There's a number of teams that could open wild card slots in Week 4. I'll list them here:
Bayou: 118
Boston: 1100
Central Washington: 2046
Dallas: 148
Queen City: 2783
Sacramento: 1671, 1678
Utah: 359
Waterloo: 610, 781, 1114, 1241, 2056
Wisconsin: 537, 1714, 2062, 2826

If any of these teams are Regional Champions at their respective competitions, they will open a wild card spot for a team from the Finalist Alliance.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I think you made a mistake in your hub city rookie all-star award. I think it should be 4499, not 1817.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

What is unclear to me, is the following scenario, which is highly likely in Ontario.

Going into Week 4, we have 5 teams who can open up wildcard slots at Waterloo, and if I was to bet on the outcome of Waterloo's alliance selection, I would guess that at least three of the 5 will be on the top two alliances.

So its likely that Waterloo will generate 2 wildcard slots.

If Waterloo generates two wildcard slots, and those wildcard teams go on to win at GTRWest the following week, do they then generate wildcard slots? They didn't qualify by winning, or an award, but they DID qualify in 2013.

EDIT: Also, going into week 5, GTRWest will have a mountain of teams that could open up Wildcards. Before week 4, and the 6 qualifiers from Waterloo, many of which will likely be going to GTRWest, the teams already qualified in 2013 for CMP attending GTRWest are: 1075, 1114, 1241, 1325, 1503, 2056.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default...sheet_2013.pdf

Step 2 states

Also, there is quite a good chance that a wildcard will go unused at Waterloo. Lets assume 1114, 2056, 610, and 1241 are all on the winners or finalist alliance, 2 on each (which is highly likely). All 4 of these teams are already qualified for championships, which means only 1 team on the finalist alliance will earn a wildcard, and one wildcard slot will be lost in the woods forever.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Unless there's a backup team on the Finalist Alliance.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

4499's RAS mistake fixed.


I'm guessing that 1/4 to 1/3 of wild card spots generated will go unused and many teams will qualify multiple times without generating qualifications-1 wild card spots. The system has problems. It doesn't do exactly what it's intended to do, but it's a step in the right direction.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Crossroads in Week 6 already has a number of potential Wild Card generators, and more could be on the way.

234
868
1208
1741

I think this rookie event is going to be very competitive and a LOT of fun! :)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Soo excited! Thanks for the well wishes. Also, thanks to Titanium 1986 for being awesome enough to open up a slot for us.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

The 2 improvements to the system I'd like to see is that any team pre qualified for any reason earning an additional slot at cmp opens a wildcard, and more teams for the wildcards to go to... like maybe highest seed not already qualified or something.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

While this would be awesome, I don't anticipate this will be the case for the near future. The current wild card system seems to be a way to allow some additional teams to enter the championship without causing a truly massive championship to occur.

Currently, the number of qualification spots break down as follows

58 Regionals x 6 spots per regional = 348 qualification spots for regional qualifiers

FIRST in Michigan = 27 spots

MAR = 14 spots

20 Hall of Fame (National Chairman's Winners)

7 Original and Sustaining Teams (Extant from 1992-Present)

1 Engineering Inspiration Winner from 2012 (congratulations 1629!)

3 Championship Winners from 2012 (expanded to all 12 for 2013 due to Einstein issues)

If you add this up, you get a 420 team Championship (429 this year due to Einstein).

You can now see why there was no pre-registration this year, it would simply not be feasible to allow any more than those who are qualified to attend.

Three years ago, FIRST made a push to ensure that each team got 10 matches at Championship. The solution to this was to cut practice day in half and begin qualifications on Thursday. Last year, with 100 team divisions, the schedule was mostly unchanged, but teams played nine matches. Assuming teams still get 9 matches, increasing to 105 team divisions (420/4 = 105) gives you an additional 8 matches to play, or about 50 minutes of additional play time, something that would be hard to find in the schedule.

This leads me to believe that FIRST does NOT want the Championship to grow any larger. This does not take into account the other issues involved with a larger Championship, such as more pit space, more crates to ship with FedEx, more robots to inspect etc.

So, if you assume that there are some percentage of teams that will not attend the CMP despite being qualified (for example, the HoF teams that are no longer in existence, lack of funding/will/school support for qualified teams), and there are a limited number of teams that will qualify more than once and do NOT generate a wild card spot with the current system, you might be able to get back down to a sub-400 team championship.

As I write this post, the championship has 114 registered teams. I am going to assume that not too many teams that qualified this weekend have signed up at this time. We still have weeks 4-6 to play, as well as the MSC and MAR Championship (which nearly guarantee an additional 41 registrants).

Simply allowing the championship to fill to its mathematical capacity every year is not going to work out anymore, especially because FIRST continues to grow and more regionals/teams are added every year. Sooner or later, the CMP is going to have to grow by a significant amount to bring us back to the "old days," or we are going to have to accept that only those who are good enough to win (whether it be for on field or off field accomplishments) get to go to Championship. Does this mean that deserving teams will be left on the outside? Sadly, this will be the case.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Sorry, pet peeve invoked. You misspelled "World" or possibly "Championship". The US no longer has a lock on CCAs (not that we should have claimed it before last year anyway). :)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Glad to see you read my post with a keen eye! Yeah, I come from a time in FIRST where it was all "Nationals." While the Championship was called CMP by 2003, all of my mentors still called it Nationals, and it stuck.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

And you forgot about the few teams from Einstein last year that got automatic bids to this year's champs that donnt fit into the pre-qualifying spots.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

What I am unclear on (as far as I could tell, it did not specify this).

Does a pre-qualifying team that wins a regional qualify for championship due to their regional win or their pre-qualification.

If they qualify because of their regional win, they open a wild card spot. But if their pre-qualification is how they qualified (this makes more sense as many pre-qualified teams already registered for Championship), wouldn't that mean that they did not qualify for Championship during the 2013 season and therefore do not open a wild card spot?

If the way I am reading it is true, the following teams would not open wildcard slots regardless of any regional wins:
16, 20, 23, 25, 45, 51, 67, 103, 111, 118, 120, 126, 148, 175, 190, 191, 207, 233, 236, 254, 341, 365, 359, 548, 842, 987, 1114, 1629, 2056, 2194, 4334

Is this right? Does a team "qualifying" at a previous event mean "qualifying for the first team" or does duplicate qualifications not count (such as pre-qualifying)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

This is addressed in the wild card rules. Pre-qualified teams like HoF or 2012 Einstein teams don't generate a wild card opportunity until they qualify at a 2013 event. There's nothing that I saw that says that teams qualifying 3 times this year (crosses fingers) don't generate wild card opportunities at both the 2nd & 3rd events.

In other words -- the Bomb Squad has to win their 3rd regional (they didn't qualify for CMP at Hub City) after qualifying at their 2nd in order to generate a wild card opportunity. 2056 & 1114 would generate wild card slots if they win another tournament, but they didn't for winning GTE.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Pet Peeve invoked...you mispelled TEAMS--"temas" Mr. Jaxom.:)

Just giving you a hard time.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

To attend the Championship, teams must qualify at least once in any way. To generate wild card spots, teams must first "post-qualify," which can only occur at an event in the current season. Jaxom explained above in greater detail, but this is the gist of it.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Let me be clear: I don't believe we should go back to the days of open registration for Championship. Championship should be the domain of those who earned the right to be there, either on the field or off it.

I don't believe that a team earning the right to be there multiple times should be able to reduce the number of teams a region sends. A region should send its N best candidates, where N is proportional to the teams in a region. This is clearly shown comparing FiM's 27 to MAR's 14. FiM has more teams, so they qualify more teams. Simple. Logical. Its difficult to apply this to the regional model though. In Canada, we have 3 regionals in Ontario within 2 hours drive of one another, and many Canadian teams attend 2 or 3 of them.
MI has 207 teams for 2013, and they're qualifying 27, or 13%. There are 73 Ontario teams in 2013, and 18 potential slots, or 25%. I suspect the ideal ratio is somewhere in the middle, and that Ontario has more potential slots than it should based on its density.

I DO believe that the only way to make Championships a sustainable thing as the program continues to grow and add more and more regional events is to convert most of the program to the district model as densities allow. Regions should only qualify a number of teams proportional to the number of teams in the region. This gets messy with regionals as they exist in their current form, because they are non-exclusive sets of teams. This results in teams that compete in multiple places earning multiple slots with no easy answer of who to pass the extra seats on to. The FiM and MAR scenario is working with an explicit set of teams, so it is easy to create a system in which nobody can earn multiple slots to CMP, they simply pass an extra to the next available candidate (ie. if 33 wins a MSC CA, AND qualifies for CMP on points, their points seat just goes to the next highest number of points).

Using Canada as an example: Canada now has 5 regionals. 3 in Ontario (ONTO, ONTO2, and ONWA), 1 in Quebec (QCMO), and 1 in Alberta (ABCA). These 5 should theoretically send 30 teams to CMP. The reality of the situation is that 1114 and 2056 have each historically eaten up 2-4 of these 30 slots on their own. In 2013, 1114 and 2056 are both attending all three Ontario regionals. In the District model, they would not be earning multiple slots, and so, more Canadian teams that are deserving would get to go to CMP on a more consistent basis. Teams like 1310, 1241, 610, 188, 772, 1305, and more. These teams often miss out on CMP slots, leaving representation at CMP a bit odd with 1114 and 2056, plus whoever could win an RCA or EI, plus a few "24th best" teams. The district model adds an extra layer of filtering to that, and thus the 27 MI teams that go to CMP are usually higher caliber. I see this as a good thing. CMP should really be the battle of the best. MSC and MAR Championships are seen as high-strength events, and that is owing to the invitation-only nature of them. They are good vehicles for sending the best teams from their region to Championship.

If FIRST were to make Canada a district model region, I would say that they should keep ONTO2 (GTRWest, Hershey Center Mississauga) as the "Canadian Regional Championship", and convert the others to Districts (possibly by changing their venues, but still keeping the general locations the same), while adding a few additional districts, like perhaps Niagara area, Windsor/Sarnia area, and maybe a Northern Ontario district in Sudbury. One in Quebec City might make sense as growth continues in Quebec. It would probably make sense to leave Western Canada out of this hypothetical region due to geography making logistics difficult.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

My question is, why does it have to be after. Team Titanium has won 2 regionals so far, so why is it the teams that lose to 1986 in their 2nd regional victory gets a reward? Why don't the teams that lost to them in their 1st regional get a wildcard slot?

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I guess the reasoning behind the "after" part is because they might think that more often than not the first set of teams will have another chance at getting in to champs.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Because 1986 had to earn their first slot, and they did so by winning at Hub City.

The second slot 1986 won got passed on to the team who would have won it if 1986 lost there. Makes sense.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Sorry. :o

It wold not have mattered in Hub though. Bomb Squad would have been offered the wild card, and even though they are qualified as an HOF team and as World Champions they still would not have been able to pass on the Wild Card spot to their first pick.

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ility-criteria

This seems like one more reason for teams to avoid week 1 regionals.

Good Luck in Alamo. There are several great teams coming in looking for a bid to Champs, you guys included.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

It makes sense to make Championship a battle of the best ,but there is also something to be said for the opportunity for some of the more average teams to have the ability to attend championship. Sure it makes sense in a traditional competition for the championship to only involve the best teams, but this is also FIRST -- it's about the students and inspiration. Championship is the most inspiring event that a high school student interested in STEM careers could attend. Attending this event as a competitor, even if your robot does not dominate, can have a huge impact on students on less developed teams.

I have never been to championship, as my team is still growing. Because St. Louis is relatively near, and I have a brother in St. Louis, I am attending Championship as a volunteer in order to experience such an inspirational event.

An alliances second pick or backup team getting a spot may seem to take a championship spot of a better team, but it also gives students on less fortunate teams that same opportunity to be inspired. Students on an average team that attend championship could use that inspiration to grow and become an even stronger team. The luck factor in being an average team as second pick plays a subtle role in helping teams grow.

With that said, I definitely agree that the current structure leaves many deserving teams out of championship. Perhaps an in-between solution would be necessary.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I was not asking about us getting a slot, although I would definitely take it, I just don't think the 1st loser should be looked over because they played in an early (or local) regional. I have only been involved in FIRST for a couple of years, but there are a couple of things that I don't think are in the interest of fair play. I guess my thought processes, being a teacher, are more about fairness and equality.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I suspect the problem was that if they opened it to everyone, they'd just plain have too many qualifiers. The line had to be drawn somewhere, so they chose there. Perhaps if you found a different way to make the same cut that was more fair to earlier competitors (without being unfair to someone else...), FIRST would consider it.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

...and this is probably my only issue with the WildCard system in its current form.

When a team asks you "so, with this wildcard system... if I want the best shot at going to CMP, I should avoid GTRE, right?"

*shrug* :(

GTRE is an amazing event, and it shouldn't be disadvantaged in any way because of the qualification system or what week it falls on. The WildCard system is a BIG improvement, but there are still some imperfections. Hopefully we'll find a way to continue to improve moving forward.

It is a pretty tough pill to swallow knowing that making the finals as captain or 1st pick at GTRE gets you nothing, but doing the same at WAT or GTRW probably gets you a ticket to CMP. 4343 was the GTRE finalist alliance captain, and even snagged a #17 in the world ranking on FRCTop25.com in week 2. Had they achieved the same feat at GTRW instead of GTRE, they'd (likely) be going to champs.

Instead, they're going to need to do it all over again in a few weeks to earn a spot at CMP...

Putting myself in 4343's shoes, I think I'd find that frustrating.

A lot of these concerns were brought up and hashed out in this thread, which was created when the WildCards were first announced:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=108344

A lot of good analysis and opinions there...

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

It's actually worse than that. As of right now, they are not signed up for any more events.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Yup, it's certainly frustrating, especially when you consider that 1114 and 2056 were both pre-qualified as 2012 Einstein bots, and 1114 as a HOF bot, and in addition, our alliance partner in 1241 earned a seat by winning EI.

We'd need to do it again in the coming weeks, if we can even find the money and get approval to compete at another 2013 regional. As a Catholic school, GTRWest falling on Easter weekend makes that a hard option to sell with the school/board, and Waterloo is at capacity, leaving something more distant like Midwest or Western Canada as the remaining options, which carries more cost.

Another thought I just had though: Had the 4343/1241/216 alliance won, would 1325 have still gotten a seat because of 1241's double qualification and 1114/2056 being prequalified? I think the answer is no.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Good news!

4343 will be competing at GTR West. The students found some additional sponsors over the March Break, and made a presentation to the Principal and Superintendent (without mentor input, beyond "You need to talk to them and get approval.") and got the go ahead!

The students put together an excellent presentation about both robot performance, and how competing would not interfere with most of the liturgical celebrations for Easter, and the one that it does interfere with is excusable because we aren't forcing anyone to go.

We're also hoping to use that withholding allowance to make some improvements, to stop that top frisbee falling out, and there might be another trick or two up our sleeves if we have time.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

After winning GTRE and Waterloo, 1114 and 2056 generated 2 wildcards for 1310 and 3756. 610 won BAE in week 1 so the wildcard skipped over them.

All 6 teams in the finals at Waterloo have qualified for championships.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

It was actually guaranteed that all 6 robots in the finals at waterloo would make it to worlds. Because if #2 won, 610 would generate a wild card, and that would have gone to 4069.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Yep. 1310, 3756, and 4069 were all cheering after they won their respective semis.

After years of good but not good enough robots, 1310 finally qualified for championships. They are the reason the wildcards exists.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Congratulations are also in order for teams 155, 3802, and 1569 for qualifying as finalist alliance captains at their events:

155: Bayou, slot opened by 118
3802: Dallas, slot opened by 148
1569: Utah, slot opened by 359

Wisconsin now holds the lead for most wildcard eligible teams without opening a slot(4). I'm sure we'll see that number go up soon.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

SVR is going to be Wildcard heaven. I now count 7 teams bringing wildcard possibilities with them:

118 - Win (Lone Star, Bayou)
148 - Win (Lone Star, Dallas)
192 - Win (Utah)
254 - Win (San Diego)
846 - EI (Boston)
973 - Win (Los Angeles)
1868 - RCA (Sacramento)
4543 - RAS (Central Valley)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

As will GTRW, I count 10 possible wildcard generating teams.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Actually, SVR is better than 7. There are 9 teams that will be opening them up so far.

118, 148, 192, 254, 295, 840, 973, 2489, 4543 are all wildcard possibilities. (you missed the Central Valley regional winners).

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I attached a file that includes all teams that have qualified for the Championship during this season (and therefore all teams that can open wild card spots in their later events). It also shows those teams' Week 5 events. Finally, how each team qualified, in a separate worksheet.

5 wild card spots were opened in Week 4. Congratulations to 155 at the Bayou Regional, 3802 at the Dallas Regional, 1569 at the Utah Regional, and 1310 and 3756 at the Waterloo Regional. Their spots were opened by 118, 148, 359, and 2056 and 1114, respectively.

There have been 16 extra qualifications and 6 wild card spots generated. The following teams are listed with (# of qualifications, # of wild card spots opened):
118 (3, 1)
2056 (3, 1)
126 (2, 0)
128 (2, 0)
148 (2, 1)
359 (2, 1)
701 (2, 0)
1114 (2, 1)
1208 (2, 0)
1732 (2, 0)
1986 (2, 1)
2046 (2, 0)
3990 (2, 0)
4451 (2, 0)

There's a number of teams that could open wild card slots in Week 5. I'll list them here:
Alamo: 1429, 2468, & 2789
Buckeye: 781, 1747, & 3003
Connecticut: 694 & 2168
Inland Empire: 1138, 1323, 1538, 1622, 2486, & 3880
10000 Lakes: 525 & 2052
Oklahoma: 932, 1540, 1806, 1986, & 3931
Seattle: 1983, 2910, & 3574
Smoky Mountains: 3797
South Florida: 744
Toronto West: 1075, 1114, 1241, 1305, 1310, 1325, 1503, 2056, 3756, & 4069
Washington DC: 79, 379, 467, 836, 2415, & 2974


If any of these teams are Regional Champions at their respective competitions, they will open a wild card spot for a team from the Finalist Alliance.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

4069 won Waterloo, and will be attending GTRW next week. They can also generate a wildcard.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

As a senior member of 1310 it is amazing to hear feedback like that. We put a lot into this season, more than ever before and it has finally payed off. Thank you to the wild card.

A big thanks to 610 and 3756 for an awesome elimination round. Without you guys, we wouldn't be going to St Louis. And congrats to 1114, 2056 and 4069 for 2 incredible matches in the finals. You guys certainly we professional and had respect for our alliance.

See you in St Louis. (first time our team can say that).

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

No Wildcards at Wisconsin. 2826 would have created one for 1732 had 2826 won, but 1732 ended up winning.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

447 adds another wild card potential for Crossroads.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

How is 3797 qualified?

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Through a typo! My mistake. Should've been 4797, who aren't attending any more events until the CMP. If anyone notices other mistakes, be sure to let me know. There shouldn't be many..

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Haywire, team 1569, is ecstatic to have earned a spot at internationals through the wild card system. We were celebrating quite a bit after our alliance won semifinal #2. However it was quite sad to see our alliance partners not make it, when they more than deserve to go.

Anyways, can't wait to see everyone at championships!!!! St. Louis here we come :)

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I can't wait for the winning alliance to be 25, 233, and 341. Three teams pre-qualified for Championship, but that didn't earn their spot in 2013. :rolleyes:

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Now that would be something..

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I predict that at least one Wildcard spot will go unused at Toronto West, because at least 4 teams in the finals will have already qualified.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I don't know about that. Going in, the top four by OPR are 2056, 1114, 1310, 4343, only 3 of whom have qualified.

Its certainly possible that a wildcard could go unused, but if relative strengths remain the same, a 2056/1114 v 1310/4343 finals is one of the more likely possible finals matchups.

Of the other top robots in attendance: 1241, 1503, 772, 3683, 4039, 3161, 1547, and more, only 1241 and 1503 are prequalified. Its certainly possible though that one of the weaker prequalified teams like 1075, 1325 or 4069 end up in the finals as their alliance's 2nd pick.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

25 and 341 are attending Las Vegas, so I'd be hard pressed to see them on the winning alliance at SVR.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Well if anyone could do it, it would be 25 and 341.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Touche. I knew they were attending some really stacked week 6 western event. I guess I got them crossed up in my mind. :rolleyes:

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I agree. I think it's LIKELY to happen... It would be cool if it didn't though!

I think it'd make for a really exciting event, and give the opportunity for more of Ontario's top teams to move on to worlds, if the qualified teams didn't pick each other.

Traditionally teams don't really factor in whether a team has already qualified for champs into their pick lists, but it would be interesting if they did at GTRW. They may not be giving themselves the best chance to win, however they'd be putting on the show of a lifetime, and giving Ontario the best shot at winning at champs by qualifying the best teams possible.

The ultimate GTRW in my opinion would be if all the qualified teams ranked high enough to captain their own alliances, and chose their best unqualified team to make a run with. Getting to the finals would be all needed to get your 1st pick to champs.

That would be a complete fire-show if I ever saw one.

Believe me, I'd have my popcorn ready if this actually happened!!! :yikes:

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Really, I will be amazed if by the end of GTRW all 6 robots in the finals, and certainly the captains/1st picks aren't qualified.

Too much of the top firepower in attendance is already qualified for wild cards to not play a role.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

All 6 Greater Toronto West robots in the finals have qualified (though my prediction was wrong and there were no unused Wild Card spots).

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

1334 and 4716 both earned wildcards here. It jumped over 1310 as they earned a wildcard last week.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Because 2789 and 2468 just won Alamo, they both open up wildcard spots for 3997 and 801.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Looks like all 6 bots in Oklahoma will qualify too.
1806, 1986 have previous regional wins
1540 won chairman's at Portland.

Wildcard is just awesome.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

With the luck of 1772 there could be a wildcard spot at the Western Canadian Regional.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Team Titanium and Team SWAT just won again at Oklahoma, openin two new wildcard slots

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Also, since 79 and 379 already qualified, 2 slots were opened up at DC but only 4466 will use one. Which means 1 slot will be unused.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

3476 just got a well deserved slot when 1538 won in Inland Empire.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

4579 got a wildcard from 1983 at Seattle.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Talon Robotics 2502 and WE ROBOT 2705 both received wild cards at the 10,000 Lakes Regional.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Yes, but we also won a spot by winning EI.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Actually Team 116, our alliance partner, is taking the other one.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I attached a file that includes all teams that have qualified for the Championship during this season (and therefore all teams that can open wild card spots in their later events). It also shows those teams' Week 6 events. Finally, how each team qualified, in a separate worksheet.

12 wild card spots were opened in Week 5. Congratulations to 3476 at Inland Empire, 4466 at Washington DC, 2502 and 2705 at 10k Lakes, 2165 and 2341 at Oklahoma, 4716 at GTR West, 3997 and 801 at Alamo, and 4579 at Seattle. Those were only 10 teams because two teams earned the first "wasted" wild card spots of the season, having earned a wild card qualification at the same event as they otherwise qualified (could be CA, EI, or RAS). The two teams were 116 (EI) at Washington DC and 1334 (EI) at GTR West.

There have been 38 "extra" qualifications, 18 wild card spots generated, and 16 wild card spots used. The following teams are listed with (# of qualifications, # of wild card spots opened):
2056 (4, 2)
118 (3, 1)
525 (3, 1)
1114 (3, 2)
1983 (3, 1)
1986 (3, 2)
79 (2, 1)
116 (2, 0)
126 (2, 0)
128 (2, 0)
148 (2, 1)
359 (2, 1)
379 (2, 1)
701 (2, 0)
948 (2, 0)
1208 (2, 0)
1334 (2, 0)
1538 (2, 1)
1732 (2, 0)
1806 (2, 1)
1902 (2, 0)
2046 (2, 0)
2052 (2, 1)
2341 (2, 0)
2468 (2, 1)
2789 (2, 1)
3880 (2, 0)
3990 (2, 0)
4451 (2, 0)
4607 (2, 0)
4814 (2, 0)

There's a number of teams that could open wild card slots in Week 6. I'll list them here:
Colorado: 701, 2169 & 4499
Crossroads: 234, 447, 868, 1208, 1741 & 3138
Hawaii: 359, 1622 & 3880
Las Vegas: 987, 1717 & 4470
Long Island: 3137
Midwest: 111, 2338 & 3061
Pine Tree: 125, 172 & 3609
Razorback: 1730, 1912, 1939 & 3284
Silicon Valley: 118, 148, 192, 254, 295, 840, 846, 973, 1868, 2489 & 4543
Spokane: 1983 & 2471
West Canada: 771, 1305, 1334 & 1772

If any of these teams are Regional Champions at their respective competitions, they will open a wild card spot for a team from the Finalist Alliance.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

116 would have used the wild card spot, but 116 qualified for Championship based on the Engineering Inspiration Award they won immediately after the Wild Card announcement.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Hey, all,

A few questions about this list:

1. I checked the blue alliance website and the regional awards lists and saw that 4607 won an rookie all-star award (congrats!), how did they qualify a second time?

2. I saw that 1334 has an engineering inspiration award (congrats!), how did they qualify a second time?

Thanks for compiling this!

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

1334 also won EI

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

4607 won MN North Star, and RAS there, so they have qualified twice but have not opened any wildcard slots.

1334 was a finalist at GTR West, and qualified on a wildcard bid from 2056. They also won EI at the same event, so 2056's wildcard bid goes unused.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

wouldn't 955 also create a wildcard spot in Spokane since they were regional champions in Portland?

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

955 isn't listed by FIRST as attending Spokane. If they were to attend, you'd be right.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Thanks for the clarification. I must have missed that one with all of the excitement and noise around us..

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

1629 won the EI at the Buckeye Regional over the weekend, does this open up another Wildcard slot? We were already qualified for the Championship Event due to our winning of the Championship EI award. I was just curious.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

Nah, it only counts if you qualified once in 2013, then double qualified. Qualifying via previous season doesn't open up a slot in the current season.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

1629 would also have had to win an event after having qualified this season to open up the wildcard slot. Winning EI, RCA or RAS as a second or third qualification wouldn't open up any wildcard slots.

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

I'm interested in how 2341 also winning EI (congratulations!) in addition to being on our finalist alliance affects the Wild Card protocol. Since the judges knew by this time they had qualified through EI, and that they would get a Wild Card (this would have been clear by the time finals started), should another team have gotten the Wild Card? And if so, who? This seems like what happened with 116 and possibly a few others. What do you all think?

Re: Wild Card 2013
 

The way the wild card rules are written means that those wild card spots end up going unused.

The wild card spot is only passed down to another team if the team in line to receive it has qualified at an EARLIER event. So 116's spot, unfortunately, does not get passed to 3123 (the back-up bot on the finalist alliance).