[Chris is me]

The Detroit Red Wings popularized a forechecking scheme known as the "left wing lock" in the NHL. While nothing like what's being employed in FRC, the term fits a popular strategy. Most notably used by the high powered winning alliances in Toronto and San Diego, the strategy employs a defensive bot clogging up the left lane next to the downfield pyramid, thus making it more difficult for the other alliance to reach their protected loading zone. Beyond that, the defender is in great position to block full court shots, and allows them to be 84" tall. While certainly an important function of the alliance as a whole, it's not terribly demanding of the third alliance member and works well at events where the field thins heavily by the last few alliance selections.

We used this strategy with at least one alliance partner for almost every match this season. It is by far the easiest and safest way to pay penalty-free defense in this game. A very aggressive line + man-to-man approach is a bit better, but it takes a lot more skill to execute.

Robots that are under 30" tall have an advantage for this basic strategy because they can "chase" teams trying to go around the blocker through the pyramid.