[sanddrag]

I think one thing that may be a problem is who plays who. I know there is not time for everyone to play everyone but to me it seems unfair for the strongest alliance (#1) to play the weakest alliance (#8) for their first match in the quarterfinals and then alliances 4 and 5 play each other (pretty equal matched). Usually, it is two wins right up front by alliance #1 and alliance #8 is hugely defeated right from the start and it is over for them. But if alliane #1 played alliance #2 and alliance #8 played alliance #7, the lower alliances would have a better chance of proceeding further in the competition and the higher alliances would have a tougher match to play. It would be a closer more competitive match because the robots would generally be more equal. Or maybe the who plays who should be selected at random after alliance pickings. This would eliminate knowing before hand who you have to play and it would also tend to equal things out a bit.