[StAxis]

I think that a lot of people are jumping to the defensive bot thinking way too quickly. Every year since I can remember the winning alliance has consisted of 2 powerhouse scorers and one very niche robot that didn't develop its goal until the championships. This robot also always happens to be at least a regional powerhouse that by some miracle falls through the alliance selections to the 21-24th pick.

I think that the championships will be the alliance that builds a brilliant game plan and executes it. The best robots don't win, the best alliances do. For instance, this year you can't exactly take scoring objects from your opponents (16, 4334 last year), but you can still manage them in unique ways, floor pickup defensive robot that steals the other alliances misses and shoots them over for another floor pickup to use maybe? I think that as always Einstein will be won on the alliance selection field, if the teams out there let that niche team fall to the late second round and get picked up by the high scoring duo that's looking for them then it's game over. As to what that strategy may be I have some ideas.

*All alliances must have at least one robot capable of a 7 disc auto*

1. FCS
2. Cycle
3. Floor pickup defensive
The third pick is the rarest and luckiest to get, for the first minute the cylcer and the FCS pound away at the 3 point goal until they run out of frisbees, the cycler or the FCS then must have a full court shooter and proceed to clean up all the misses with the defensive floor pickup, while the other rushes to play defense on the other alliance.

1. Cycle
2. Cycle
3. Cycle
It's crazy, but if one of those has a 7 disc auto and another a 30 point climb and dump, it wouldn't be hard to imagine this alliance draining a feeder station and putting up scores over 200 every time they hit the field.

I still expect a niche to develop at championship that we have yet to see, but if past years are any indication, I wouldn't be surprised if Spam-Filter climbers are that niche, tall enough to block an FCS, a decent driver, a 30 point climb, a good auto, and that's one deadly 3rd pick for a high ranked team, because every alliance will need a way to deal with FCS's, I don't expect some of the more high profile robots of that genre (148, 180, 67, 469, etc.) to be missing much of the 3 pointers by the time Saturday afternoon rolls around.