Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I was looking at regional team lists to see which events I should watch on the stream. This year the Robowranglers are going to Waterloo which puts several "powerhouses";1114, 2056, 148 and 610 along with other high quality teams such as 865, 1241, 1285 and 4039. This raised the question, what is the most stacked regional ever? Im not going to count district championships or off-season events because MSC and IRI would be on the list every year.

My first guess would be Midwest 2008 (16,33,48,71,111,503,1024,1114,1625).

Are there any regionals that have been more stacked?

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Great Lakes was pretty high up there in like...2006 maybe? Somewhere between 2005 and 2007.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

SVR 2013 was pretty stacked. 118, 148, and 233 went up there to join the slew of regulars (254, 971, 973, 1868, etc.).

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

this year's waterloo is something

148, 610, 1114, 1241, 1285, 2056...

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

SVR 2015 was pretty stacked. 254 was doing 4 stacks all by themselves.


I'll leave now....

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

and Co-Op some matches!

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I'd definitely go with Midwest 2008 and 2009 were up there for most stacked (of that era, anyway). 2009 was weird though.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

True. I would say most regionals from 2003, 2005, and 2015 were more stacked than competitions from other years. The robots were pretty well stacked in 2007 as well.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I'd have to say that '99 takes the cake for most diverse stacking, though. For all the young'uns out there: First, you stack doughnut-shaped, foam-peanut-filled game pieces known as "floppies" in and on your robot. Then you stack your robot on this large mobile platform called the "puck" (and hope that the "puck" is in the right place to give you a 2x multiplier). Then you put the "floppies" in your robot as high up as you can put them (or rather, taller than the head ref's measuring pole)--and keep them there until after the refs figure out the score. tl;dr: stack your robot on the puck, stack game pieces on top of your very tall robot.

And you thought noodling cans was exciting.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

No we didn't. :P

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

waterloo every year!!! livonia 2015 dallas 2015 sacramento 2015 finger lakes/new york city 2011-2015

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

This would have to be my vote as well.

2016 Waterloo isn't all that different from 2014 Waterloo. Waterloo regardless of year is always top 5 regional quality. If not #1 often. Midwest used to be super stacked every year, ans SVR has been great for ages too. There was a CD paper awhile ago comparing regional strength by average OPR or something. (I know right? OPR bandwagon) But it's a decent general trend indicator.

Anyways Stacked Divisions are the most interesting to me. Far higher quality of play.

EDIT: Also you are missing like half the fabulous teams at Waterloo. Missing 3683 and 4039 should practically be a crime ;)

865 has been putting out better robots sequentially, and I expect them to have their best season yet in 2016. 1360 is 1334 breakoff. (I think?) 4678 and 5406 also tend to put out crazy awesome robots. Not to mention some of the wildcards like 3161 or 4917.

EDIT2: Also any texas regional with the usual 118/624/148/1477 etc etc

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Your correct, 1360 has basically the same setup as 1334 had in 2013 during the teacher strike (we work out of a college tool and die shop) except that the majority of students are rookies. We should be at least as good as 865 ;).

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Have to definitely disagree on the NYC one.

The NYC regional is an awesome experience in a huge facility with a large international presence. It is not however, "Stacked".

The highest OPR was 49.24 from team 3419
second was 694 with 47.41
and third was 3171 with 35.69

If you compare that to Waterloo you see the dramatic difference.

The highest OPR was 118.76 from team 1114
second was 2056 with 112.52
and third was 5406 with 77.26

6th seed at Waterloo would have been 1st seed at NYC and 9th seed at Waterloo could
have been 3rd seed at NYC

The 2014 NYC regional was a slightly better with 4039 in the mix. 4039 was 1st seed at NYC and third at Waterloo. Although it still does not compare to the powerhouse regionals.

Pre 2014 I didn't do FRC so I cant really say whether the NYC regional could be considered stacked.

I did however compete in the 2014 NYC regional and spectated the 2015 NYC regional and I can tell you they were not stacked.

We will be competing in the 2016 NYC regional and some pre scouting shows that it will most likely be the least stacked in the last 3 years. There is a crazy amount of rookie international teams so its hard to say for sure. Also 4481 is making a visit which should be fun.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Replace "should" with "definitely" :)

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I think if you look at a regional based on being stacked for that 1 year. 2012 Orlando may be one of the best. What I mean is based on good robots for that year, 2012 Orlando had 2 of the 3 Einstein Winners (180, 25), and the Alliance Captain of the Einstein Finalist Alliance (233).

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

2005 Sacramento was exceptionally good in that regard as well. 2 Einstein Semi-finalists (245, 766), 2 Einstein finalists (254, 56), one Einstein Champion (330). More impressively, iirc this was a ~35 team event.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I'd have to say Dallas 2015 was also pretty stacked, with 118, 624, 987, 148, 1477, 2468, 3310, 1296 and more.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I know that it isn't a regional, but check out Waterford District in 2016.

33, 51, 67, 201, 245, 1023...

I count 11/31 teams who made it into the World Championships eliminations.
[33, 51, 67, 201, 245, 1023, 1718, 2137, 3098, 4003, 5048].

Looks to me like it should be a pretty competitive district event. Am I correct that you only get credit for your first two district events and this is week one?

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Yes. Basically, if you go to 3 or more districts, the third, fourth (and so on) are just practice events - they don't count toward your district points. Just ask 125 in 2014.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

2006 Great Lakes Regional

27, 33, 47, 57, 65, 67, 469, 1114, 1503

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Or this year... We decided to retry that 2,4,5,6 schedule. (Ignoring that we also are involved in the UMD event week 3)

Ah yes, that was a fun event :) I seem to recall a handful of other solid teams there too... 68, 201 (was solid that year), 322(did a lot of damage to the low goal), 503 (along with 67 was defending world champion), 1680 (the third of the infamous triplets), and 1718 (with a rather unique stationary low goal auto if I recall).

That event wasn't too bad in 08 either. I miss the old GLR.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

Iowa regional looks pretty stacked this year with teams like 525, 967, 1730, 2175, 2502, 2512, 3130, 3284, etc.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

2008 FLR was a pretty stacked event, with all the usual Rochester powerhouses, like 1507, 1126, 378, 191, 424 (GRR's second team) who were all excellent that year, 67 (an Einstein machine) and 68 coming from Michigan, 365 coming from MAR, 1503 coming in from Canada, and 20 coming from the capital region.
67 and 424 paired up, losing in the semifinals. 1507 and 365 teamed up and also lost in the semifinals. 1126 had one the highest OPRs of 2008 and lost in finals.

The advent of districts all around New York has limited the outsiders that come to the event now, but it still attracts some stiff competition, with 2056 and 217 coming in 2011, 1592 and 801 coming in 2014, and teams from Canada, Ohio, NYC, and Long Island regularly making the event hella competitive.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

I'd argue 2014 Waterloo is the strongest within the last 2 years. You had 254 and 1114 who would each go on to meet again in the Einstein finals, 4039 who beat them both to finish first in the round robin, 2056 who would win IRI with their robot, as well as very tough competition from 3683, 1285, and 1241. It was pretty crazy, and it's too bad it was my first FRC experience or I would have known to appreciate it more!

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

2015 Dallas has to be on that list despite being a week 1 as it had 148 987 118 624 1477

148, 987 and 118 were all on Einstein

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

The Hatboro-Horsham district event is traditionally MAR's most competitive event. In 2014, for example, it featured:

• 25, Newton semifinalist, one of the best catching bots in the world
• 341, Newton finalist, MAR champs winner
• 1218, Galileo finalist
• 1640, Newton winner, Einstein finalist with 1678 and 1114
• 2016, Curie finalist
• 2590, Captain of Archimedes winning alliance, captain of the MAR champion alliance

That's two Einstein teams and three division finalists.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

We even had an all star team of MCs at the event. Our MC in attendance Steve Warren lost his voice due to going to Laserquest (the oil based smoke made him cough so much he ended up losing his voice). Fortunately we had many options available to choose from. john V. Neun was there with 229. Karthik and Paul Copioli brave a nasty snowstorm to attend and we even had the previous year's MC Ellery Wong there with my team. Steve was even able to make a comeback to help John MC the finals.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

OK, I won't claim Sacramento 2015 was the most stacked, but the top 3 qualifiers were the the resulting on-field World Champs Alliance. (And 1671 qualified above 1678 in Sacramento, which was reversed at Newton.) I'm not sure an entire championship alliance has come from a single regional before.

Re: Most Stacked Regionals ever
 

It did in 2006; 296, 217 and 522 were all present at the Greater Toronto Regional.