As the regional season draws to a close, it has become apparent how much Recycle Rush has evolved already. Qualification averages have climbed by more than 40% since the opening weekend of the season. The dominance of coopertition in seeding has diminished and long gone are the cries that airborne litter’s value overpowers other game elements. No longer are the corners of the field graveyards for toppled totes. And with district championships starting this weekend and the big show in St. Louis just around the corner, the next steps should be every bit as exciting.
Even as the average teams have improved, the top flight teams have continued to push the pace. Recycle Rush can often be about who can literally reach higher, grab faster, and lift more. Unlike the past couple seasons, where advantages in mechanism design were typically subtle refinements and frequently secondary to driver skill, how a machine is built can be the determining factor between teams on one tier and the next. While alliances have found success building walls of four stacks, the top tier teams are now building fortresses constructed of fourty-two point towers. The mid-weeks of Recycle Rush were an evolution of how teams can play the game effectively in general. These final weeks will show how the top tier teams will face off against one another.
Indiana FIRST District Championship:
The inaugural season of the Indiana district system will come to a conclusion ten miles from where it started back in week one. With thirty-two of Indiana's fourty-nine competitors this season poised to compete once again, there is plenty of history established already. With only three qualifying events in Indiana, every team is guaranteed to have competed against one another at least once this season already.
234 is the only team in the state to win two events this season, but they are anything but a prohibitive favorite. Cyber Blue utilized a ridiculous coopertition total (
440!) to seed on top in Purdue and some great litter totals gave them the edge in qualifications at Kokomo.
135,
1024,
1501,
1747, and
5188 can all go tote-for-tote with 234. With virtually all of Indiana's top teams being closely matched HP loaders, the serpentine may be a huge factor. Stealing bins from the step has largely been a clumsy affair in the Hoosier state thus far, with teams like
292 and
447 burrowing through the landfill to reach them. If a top flight canburglar emerges, it will be interesting to see if one of the big scorers scoops it up early in alliance selection and hopes to get one of the next tier of stackers, such as
71,
829,
3494,
3947, or
5402 at the backend of the draft. With this much parity, the battle in Indianapolis is poised to go down to the wire.
(PNW) Pacific Northwest District Championship:
Sixty-three teams will converge on Eastern Washington University, the new site of the PNW District Champtionship, to compete for the honor of being called the second ever Pacific Northwest FRC champions.
4488 and
1983 met in the finals last season, with Skunkworks coming out on top, and have five combined wins this season (all from the #1 seed). Shockwave and Skunkworks have yet to clash in 2015, but as PNW's top feeder station stackers, and both equipped with canburglars, they're both favorites for deep runs. Defending champs
1318 also has three event wins this season, twice with their customary allies Skunkworks, and is the most proven landfill miner in the Northwest so far. But IRS lags behind in can acquisition and has a little more inconsistency in their game than the top two teams.
2471 and
3574 have a chance at slipping by IRS as the first landfiller off the board during alliance selection, though neither have quite as impressive of a resume.
955 and
3663 will lead the next wave of corner loaders aiming at putting together a length run, followed closely by
2550,
2990, and
4061. If one of those teams can find a steal in the second round and consistently get cans from the step, they may be able to assemble a strong 1-2-3 punch and challenge in the finals. The utility knife play of
2522 or
4911, the autonomous scoring of
948 or
2046, or the shorter stacking of
360 or
1595 could prove to be the X-Factor on the right alliance. It should be exciting to see which teams are ready to step up and stand out in a much larger and more competitive event.
Silicon Valley Regional:
It's a new year, yet the same story at SVR. While there's quite the flock of quality teams among the 58 team roster, the victors will likely be decided by how the top four pair up. Just like 2014, that top four is
254,
368,
971, and
1678. While the undefeated storyline doesn't quite play as well in 2015, these four are once again the most established scoring powerhouses heading into the oldest regional in the West. Kika Mana has had the least time to improve since their last outing, but established themselves as a premier landfill miner. The Poofs will be looking to ditch the bottleneck of the chute door in order to raise their total output to the top 1% levels they demand of themselves. Citrus Circuits are coming in looking for their first triple victory season, and will be making refinements to continue getting faster at everything they do. Spartan Robotics lags slightly behind the top tier of competitors, but is still likely above the next tier of teams like
192,
846,
2035, and
2085. With the quantity of wild card spots available, the odds are favorable for 971 to be able to snag an invite to St. Louis even if they don't walk away with a banner. The can wars between 971 and 1678 are well documented already, and will likely serve as a precursor for playoffs to come. SVR will be one of the first true tests of how fast is fast when it comes to winning cans from the center.
(FIM) Bedford Event:
There's little doubt that week six is the best weekend of FiM action yet, and Bedford stands atop the pile.
548,
1023,
1189,
2137, and
4381 have already competed in the finals of a FiM event not just once, but twice, in 2015. TORC and Bedford Express rank 1st and 2nd in the FiM standing respectively, and justifiably so based on their impressive stacking machines. The Robostangs stacker is slightly behind those two in caliber, but they make up for it with
lightning quick canburglars that may make them the top overall selection.
217,
3641, and
862 will each be looking to notch their second finals appearance, or preferably their first win, of the season at the event. This event should have a deeper field of quality scorers than most in Michigan this season. With the quantity of teams playing for the third time, it will be interesting to see how teams approach the event, and how much they're willing to experiment. One thing's for sure, the playoffs should bring some great action.
Arizona West Regional:
Proven playoff performers- 2122, 3309
Trying to find their Saturday afternoon mojo- 498, 1165, 1492, 1726
Rookies- None
Chesapeake Regional:
High scoring HP stackers- 1690, 2363
No shortage of stacks from the landfill- 1086, 1629
Looking to take their game to the next level- 836, 2377
Rookies- None
Lone Star Regional:
Chasing 3 Regional Wins- 118, 624
Trying for their first gold of the season- 701
Working out the kinks of their rebuilds- 231, 4587
Capable from the feeder- 1477, 2587, 2881, 3999
Midwest Regional:
Proven scorers that have won with 2481- 1756, 2451
Got things going at the right time- 1625
Trying to find playoff success- 16, 2338
Hoping for their first multi-win season- 2062
Minnesota 10000 Lakes Regional:
Five weeks to improve an impressive stacker- 525
Captained the Lake Superior finalists that lost by a combined 3 points- 2052
Most confusing pit neighbors ever- 4198, 4225
Their bot lifts- 4536
Minnesota North Star Regional:
Definite favorites- 2826
Consistent landfill miner- 3130
Should improve- 967, 2175, 3055, 3928
Defending champs making their debut- 4778
Queen City Regional:
Looking for their first banner of the year- 48, 233
Building towards their fourth straight multi-win season- 1986
Useful role players- 144, 337, 2081, 3814
San Diego Regional:
Have had five weeks to improve in hopes of qualifying- 2485
Trying to upgrade from silver to gold- 1538, 2102, 3476
Bin handlers- 399, 1266, 1572
Smoky Mountains Regional:
Established favorites- 456, 3824
Knocking on the door of gold- 2783, 3959
Looking for the right partners- 1002, 1466, 2614, 5338, 5492
Trying to rebound- 4265
Western Canada Regional:
Defending champs, won 2015 events as the final selection- 2013, 4334
2014's final selection, poised to take on a bigger role- 4719
Yet another final selection winner (IE) poised to move up in the draft- 3562
First outing in the final week of play- 26/33 teams
Windsor Essex Great Lakes Regional:
Can they top 300?- 1114, 2056
Trying to engineer an upset- 3683
Battling for a spot on the #2 alliance- 2852, 2959
Chances at least one wildcard spot vanishes- Almost certain
(MAR) North Brunswick Event:
Favorites looking for their third win of 2015- 2590
Have work left to do to reach MAR champs- 1923, 2234, 3314
Improved dramatically, but still fell short of Lehigh- 4954
Searching for gold- 11, 25, 303
(FIM) Lansing Event:
No mistake they're in the FiM top 5- 314
Near the MSC bubble- 308, 3536, 3707, 4216
Award winning rookies- 5527, 5533, 5559
(FIM) Troy Event:
Gunning for top spots in the FiM standings- 33, 2337
Ace human player- 5167
Rounding into form at the right time- 469
Trying to lock up MSC spots- 226, 818, 4130, 4961