[anishde]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Basically, the formula for seeding did not factor in wins or losses directly. The winning alliance would get their score + 2 times the loser's score + 5 points. The losing alliance would get the winning alliance's score. If you know you are going to lose a match for sure, scoring in the correct goal is actually the least productive thing you can do - it helps your opponents tremendously and doesn't help you at all.

The other half of the equation for the 1114 6v0 match was the particular teams involved. 111 and 1114 spent the entire weekend jockeying for the #1 seed. They were basically tied for #1 seed at the time. If 1114 played a hard fought match against 111 and 469 and lost, it would guarantee that 111 seeded above 1114, which would basically guarantee 111 advanced to Einstein. By playing the 6v0 match, 1114 ensured that 111 would only get 5 more ranking points than them in the worst case scenario. 1114's alliance partners needed to block their own goals in order to prevent 111 from scoring on themselves to boost their ranking.

This match was a "hostile 6v0" in that 1114 did not collude with the opposing alliance before the match, and actively hindered their efforts to seed higher, so you can't say this is "throwing a match". This is the strategy that would give the 1114 alliance the most seeding points, while denying the most seeding points possible to the opposing alliance.

If that makes your head hurt, you weren't alone. The ranking system was among the very best at actually ranking teams based on quality, but it sure did cause some headaches.

Would this happen to be the highest scoring match (for one alliance) of the season?