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Originally Posted by Koko Ed
Exactly.
At smaller regionals the number 1 seed will be forced to work with a possibly "weak sister" and may be in a position to work twice as hard just to survive.
This was a huge swing and a miss on FIRST's behalf.
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While I can certainly see the disadvantage at smaller regionals, I don't necessarily think of it as a swing and a miss. Traditionally, the first seed had the pick of the litter, and in most cases put together a very strong alliance (assuming they did proper scouting). The 8th seed was only able to pick from the leftovers from the top 7 for both rounds of the draft. The end result was typically stacked in the 1st seed's favor, when you put the theoretical best alliance against some lower ranked teams. As far as I know, there's only been a handful of 8th seed upsets when pitted against the 1st seed alliance.
Under the new system, there is the very real possibility of a tough match between the 1st and 8th seed alliances. I'd argue an alliance of two strong robots with a relatively weak partner would have approximately the same effectiveness as 3 middle of the road robots. With a balance of power like that, the elimination matches are no longer a stacked alliance vs. a weak alliance, and for all intents and purposes no longer a sure win.
It also greatly increases the burden on scouts, who now need to come up with a list of 24 potential alliance partners (for a 1st seed team), rather than 8 or 9. Strategically, it's brilliant. Statistically, it's a nightmare. In the end, it led to some of the most exciting elimination matches I've ever seen in FIRST. I had the opportunity to see team 25's scouting team in action in New Jersey this year, and all I can say is wow. They know their stuff, and know what needs to be done. This year, more than ever, if you are a top 8 team, make sure you have all the scouting data necessary to make confident alliance choices, because in the end, it will make or break your shot at the gold.