Quote:
Originally Posted by SpaceBiz
Ok, so don't do any wild card, and only give a ALMOST guarenteed spot to top THREE teams, giving you 495/401 spots.
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Ok, first off, by eliminating the Wildcard, you are saying that playing well in Qualifications (ie seeding high) is more important than actually performing in the Playoffs (ie actually assembling an alliance that plays a strategy and then executing that strategy). You are saying that your chances to qualify for Champs is heavily based on having a favourable schedule, rather than performing in a high-pressure environment. What if a 7th-seed alliance makes it to the finals and gets a wildcard slot?
Also, to expand on Brennan's excellent post above...
The Wildcard is a fantastic and amazing innovation and has completely changed the culture of FIRST in Canada. In the years before the Wildcard (and when there was only 2 regionals in Canada), there was a LOT of toxicity in the community at large towards 1114 and 2056. Being on one of those teams as a student, I experienced the following: boos during Alliance Selections, snide glances every other weekend, offhand yet actually hurtful remarks (your robot was built by mentors), and way more angry posts on Chief Delphi. A lot of this hate came from middle-of-the-pack teams, teams that knew that no matter what they did, they couldn't get to World's because 4 of the 6 qualifying slots from Canada were taken up by two teams.
Then the Wildcard system came in, and there was a change almost overnight. No more boos at Alliance Selections! People were actually cheering during Eliminations! Some prominent posters on CD who were quite anti-1114/2056 suddenly became some of their biggest supporters. Teams actually got way better because suddenly, they didn't have to beat 1114/2056 (an incredibly daunting task), they just had to beat everyone else (still daunting, but way more manageable).
At the aforementioned Waterloo Regional, all six teams that were in the finals qualified for the Championship Event. Before the Wildcard, only four of those teams would have qualified. The Wildcard allows teams that were oh-so-close from actually winning the competition to go to Worlds, to get inspired, to talk to the best teams in the world, and to get the tools and insight they need to become better teams. Hopefully they won't need the Wildcard next year, because they'll be the teams that win.