[BBnum3]

I think we'll see a variety of alliances doing well in Atlanta. I wouldn't be surprised to see a 5th or a 6th seed win it all because of the picks those teams will have. I could see a 5th seeded good tube scoring robot pick another solid tube scoring robot and on the wraparound get a good ramp. The same thing could be said for seeds 6-8. The top seeds will have trouble filling up that second pick with a solid ramp bot.

That said, I think the alliance that will win it all will have two good scorers. That's all I can say for sure. The third robot could be A. A decent hybrid B. A decent tubes-only C. Ramp/Defensive. I think we will see alliances of each kind advance very far. I think it will be very tough for anyone to win purely by tubes, as a little defensive tube placement can quickly negate any big scores. Also, I haven't seen a robot that couldn't be rendered significantly less effective by a good defensive bot. Defense will be key, whether it is by tube placement or pushing.