[Holtzman]

These new selection criteria totally change the face of QQ alliance selections... and not for the better.

For example, Redateam is a strong ring scorer and seeds #1. Blueateam seeds number 2 and is also a strong ring scorer. These two teams are clearly the strongest team at the regional. Both teams want to attend the championship. If Blueateam accepts Redateams request in the alliance selections and they go on to win the tournament, Blueateam must rely on the lottery to attend the Championship Event.

Blueateam may even decline Redateams offer in an attempt to secure their own spot at the championship. These new selection criteria radically change the way alliance selections will play out, and at this point in time, a rule change like this is ridiculous to say the least.

With so few matches at most regional tournament(4 at the Toronto Tournament last year), one bad match, one mismatched crystal, one tiny slip-up, can knock you out of the top 8, and thus kissing goodbye to any chance of guaranteeing a spot at the Championship. I haven’t attend a single VEX tournament yet where we didn't have at least 1 crystal issue. I'd hate to see something that silly prevent someone from earning a spot at the championship.

Another thing that I find ridiculous is this section.

"C. Should a fourth team be brought onto the Winning Alliance during one of the elimination matches, that team will then be placed into the Second Tier Lottery, provided that they were attending one of their first three Championship Tournaments during the 2007 FTC season. If spots become available after all of the Inspire Award Winners, Winning Alliance Captains, and all eligible teams entered in the First Tier Lottery from each of the 2007 Championship Tournaments have been approached, the Second Tier Lottery teams will be drawn at random to determine their position in the lottery, and will be notified if there is an available spot at the World Championship Event in order of their picked position."

Whoever is writing these new criteria should consider reading over the Tournament rules again. There is no way a 4th team could be brought into an alliance in the elimination rounds in QQ. There is no Backup robot rule. The fact that this is stated just goes to show that whoever is coming up with these rules, doesn't fully understand the game, and the ramifications associated with such a rule change.