[LeelandS]

Let me just share a quick story:

At the 2011 Rah Cha Cha Ruckus (Off Season event in Rochester, New York), a new rule was implemented this year to make things more interesting: Teams in the top 4 could not pick each other. Well, that was a great idea. Except there were 5 really strong teams at the event. All the strong teams seeded in the top 5, as expected. 1559 seeded first, and picked 610, who seeded 5th. 1507, 48 and 1126 seeded 2 - 4, respectively. In the elimination rounds, The #1 Alliance faced off against the #3 and #4 alliance. 48 and 1126 did the best they could to build strong alliances, and they certainly did, 1126 having 1518 and 191 backing them, and 48 having 188 and 379 alongside them. However, the two alliances were just no match for the two very strong teams in 610 and 1559, along with 578.

I'm not saying this could happen for all events. It probably wouldn't happen for all events. However, by closing the top 8 seeds from being picked, you could be severely crippling the competition. This, of course, depends on the pool of teams, but it is something to consider if you're proposing preventing the top seeds from picking each other. If a powerhouse team has bad luck and seeds out of the top 8, the #1 seed gets a top 8 pick, while the others are left 'sitting ducks', so to speak.