[Dr Theta]

After having watched a fair bit of footage from week 1 I would not be surprised if we saw the "Scorched Earth" Alliance selection strategy in one of the championship divisions this year. There is a sufficient level of competence within the overall field this year (and with the added addition of the Wild Card I can only assume that the depth of the championship field will be that much better), that when coupled with the large divisions at the Championship it will not be surprising to see favorites within a division looking up at a couple other teams with a better draw.

I also believe that alliance selection strategy will be crucial to success at any event this year. I would not be surprised to see a 6 7 or 8 seed win in many events depending on the relative drop off in the field. Dominant robots can still control regionals ala 1986 and 610, but at events with a solid but not dominant top tier upsets may be more prevalent.