[nuclearnerd]

I think it depends on how the game plays this year.

Pro: The lack of defense will be easier on teams with rickety bots, or with ambitious complicated strategies, so we'll see more of them pull it off.

Con: Without defense the matches might be foregone conclusions, so the sport might be less engaging.

Pro Rebuttal: With the seed coming from total score, rather than W/L, maybe the losing alliance will be still fun to watch - especially if the announcers keep track of the stats.

Con Rebuttal: Without the leveling aspect of "defense bots are easy to make and drive", Uber-teams might have a freer hand to dominate than years previous. I expect there to be a pretty strong correlation this year between OPR and team budget / experience.

So it could swing either way. I'm more ready to give it a chance than I was at kickoff. If it works, we'll see more of these (*cough FLL*) style games. If it doesn't, we won't.