[Looking Forward]

The last full week of regionals ended in dramatic fashion, with several of the most intense sets of eliminations we've seen yet. While different strategies and styles of play have proven viable, defense is an ever present threat, and alliance's have learned they either have to find a way to overcome it, or use it themselves. The "arms race" between defensive and offensive strategies is proceeding at a blistering pace, and was ever present all around this weekend.

In New Orleans 1477 proved their victory in Texas last week was not some fluke stemming from the Robonauts breaking in the finals. They enlisted the aid of 16 in order to beat 118 for the 2nd consecutive week in the finals. 1477 finishes the regional season with an incredible 30:1 win-loss ratio, including a 12-0 record in the elimination rounds. While they may not be the single most impressive hurdling machine, and they've enlisted the aid of other solid scoring machines at both events (namely the Bomb Squad in Bayou), they weren't playing powder-puffs either. They beat 118 (twice), 148, 79, and 1902 in the eliminations.
The Robowranglers perfect record could not escape Bayou either, where they suffered their first four losses of the season (three in the eliminations). 118 couldn't carry the load the same way 217 did in St. Louis, so the serpentine struck 148 hard as the #2 seed as they couldn't find enough scoring support from the 23rd pick to create a dominant offensive alliance.

870 threatened to win Long Island for the umpteenth time, but ultimately fell short in the semi-finals. The regional ultimately went to a pair of young guns and a veteran lap-bot.

When 20 and 40 paired up in Boston, it was all over. Only once in qualifications was 100 broken (and Trinity was involved), but this alliance did it five times in seven elimination matches. Their sole loss involved 40 getting hung up for nearly half the match and some nice defense by 97, and was by a mere 2 points.

Winnovation finally won a regional in Colorado, in dominant fashion. They went 15-0, and recorded the events sole 100 point match. They even won a 2 v 3 match by 60 points when they opted for 1592 to sit out a match to work out electrical failures during the Quarter-finals.

Considering the youth of the event, Minnesota shows promise for future years. When 525 and 93 paired up, they took the eliminations by storm though, with an average victory of 41 points in their 6-0 run.

Metal-in-Motion couldn't capture their 2nd regional of the year in their home state, losing in the finals to 2483, 386, and 1758.

The unified force of 987 and 39 destroyed the rest of the competition in Vegas. Both teams will head to Atlanta with a pair of golds (39 won Arizona and 987 also won Chairman's in Vegas). They scored 90+ in all 6 elimination matches, and broke 130 twice. For comparison, 100 was broken only three times in the qualification rounds, each time involving 987 and/or 39.

1114 got even scarier, if you can believe it. The Simbots lowest score of the weekend was 98. I'll say that again.
THE SIMBOTS LOWEST SCORE OF THE WEEKEND WAS 98
This was also the first weekend that they didn't lose a single match. They are the second team this year to join the three-win club, the fifth ever, and the first team to do it twice. They have won nine of their last ten regionals, seven consecutive Canadian regionals, and ten regionals in the past five years. They averaged an insane 6.5 hurdles a match. They even managed to score through defensive efforts. They paired with 2056 again, and added 2166 as the their third partner creating another all NiagaraFIRST alliance. Right now the Simbots are hands-down the most impressive machine playing in Overdrive.
1507 was very impressive all weekend as well, as one of the most consistent hurdlers at the event. 2056 was lethal when left alone and when paired with another scoring machine, and also managed to go the whole weekend without a single loss. So far they've won all four regional events in their team history (also been paired with 1114 all four times). 1503 showed flashes of brilliance, and put up a stunning effort when they had to go 3 v 1 in the semi-finals.

In some cruel act of fate, another set of amazing finals weren't webcast. The Philadelphia finals apparently rival those that took place in San Diego and Detroit, but once again most of the nation wasn't able to enjoy watching them. Here are a couple accounts of the action from some tipsters:

In the battle between arms (341 & 365) and launchers (103 & 272), the deciding factor was a robot that was neither an effective hurdler nor lapper. For the second year in a row, Chuck (84) played canny defense and avoided penalties to deny or delay their opponents scoring opportunities.
In the end the combination of two very good hurdling arms and a well-driven defensive partner was too much for the more powerful aerial assault machines to overcome. These three final matches were some of the best examples of the game that the GDC envisioned we've seen this year, and F2 may have been the best match I have ever witnessed.

The 103, 272, 809 alliance lost 809, who was capable of getting 8 or 9 laps, after just one match in the eliminations. 834, the Spartechs, replaced them. While 834 was a decent bot, they weren't terrific at anything. They obviously couldn't hurdle like 272 or 103, and they could only get around 5 laps, and they weren't practiced in defense.
The #1 Alliance cruised into the finals, destroying their competition along the way. They blasted the #2 alliance in the first match of the finals as well, setting a new regional high score (128? It's not posted on FIRST). Then Daisy, MOE, and Chuck fired back. 84 played enough defense on the ball to keep them in the game, but 365 put on a show. At the end of the match, the real-time scoring showed a 114-114 tie. 341 released their trackball a split second before the clock struck 0, and it rolled across after the match ended. After a lengthy discussion by the refs, the match was announced... a 116-114 win for the blue alliance. During hybrid of match three, the Cybersonics smashed into the land divider so hard that their left bumper fell off, and not crossing any lines (compared to their typical three lines and 1-2 balls). Chuck then managed to pink one of the red balls for around 30 seconds of the match, obviously hampering their scoring abilities. It was still dead even going into the final 20 seconds though. 103 was rounding the corner, about to go into their home stretch with a ball loaded, when they suddenly stopped moving. They somehow were stuck in the corner, while 341 raised and placed their ball on the red overpass. After ten point penalties to each alliance, the Blue alliance emerged 88-70, securing consecutive Philadelphia regional victories for 341 and 84, and MOE's first of the year.

103 definitely showed that they are still an excellent scoring machine, topping 100 three times in qualifications, and four more times in the elims. They are still limited by defense, but when they are paired with another big hurdling threat such as 272, it often doesn't matter.
365 struggled some in the qualification rounds (only having a 6-5 record, and seeding 14th), but had little trouble putting up huge numbers in the eliminations. Their roller claw and strong drive train made them very tough to defend, thus why their lowest score of the eliminations (62) came only after 30 penalty points on their alliance.

2008 is the 10th year 233 and 254 have competed, and it took that long for them to finally play together. And what a sight it was when they two NASA powerhouses aligned. Pink was nothing short of spectacular all weekend long in Hawai'i, recording a 10-0 record in the qualifications and besting 90 points ten times (counting eliminations). The only Pink could be stopped is if they fell over, which (with some help from the Funky Monkey's defense) they did in the semi-finals (resulting in their only loss of the weekend). The Cheesy Poofs improved massively since their last outing in San Jose, looking even more impressive than their twin, RAWC. With 233 being harassed by tough defense in the semis, 254 picked up the load and helped them survive.
968 and 25 re-united for the first time since making it to the Einstein finals in 2006 together, but fell to three native teams in the semi-finals. While the Raiderobotix hybrid was still deadly, their tele-operated scoring was a clear cut beneath 233, 254, and 968's, much more on par with that of 368, 2024, and 359. The combined one-two punch of 359 and 368 (particularly their ability to place for the 12-point bonus) was enough to send RAWC and 25 home without medals.

A mentor from a former FIRST champion called it the toughest regional he's ever been to. Eight of these teams would have been among the top three or four teams at every other regional this weekend. Great Lakes 2008 will go down as one of the most intense, competitive events in FIRST history.
217 came within inches of capturing their third regional of the year, but electrical failures in two of the three finals matches caused them to become unable to move. 67, 326, and 503 took advantage of this to capture their first regional titles of '08. The winning alliance was the beneficiary of either penalties or broken robots in each round of the eliminations, but survival is part of the game. HOT was the #7 seed and definitely prospered from the serpentine selection process. They managed to secure 326 and 503, two decent hurdling machines with strong hybrid modes. 326 improved as the weekend went along, but weren't quite on par hurdling-wise with the elite teams. Their hybrid, however, became lethal on saturday, capable of scoring 5 lines and knocking down both trackballs. They finally managed to win their first regional after years of being close.
66 found their way to the #1 spot after qualifications, but were declined by 33, 27, and 67 before selecting 217 (who was outside of the top eight). This caused the break-up of the major superpowers, which made the eliminations very interesting and unpredictable. 217 carried the scoring weight of the #1 alliance, although they often used 910 to supply them with balls or protect them from defense, and managed to get their alliance to the finals.
Rush was the second best scoring machine behind 217, averaging 4.5 hurdles/match during qualifications. They once again broke a drive shaft in the eliminations though, which spelled their defeat to the #7 alliance in the semi-finals. They paired up with 469, who improved their release mechanism and is much more deadly than they were in Detroit. Going into the eliminations this looked like the alliance to beat.
I will be very surprised if at least one team from GLR isn't on Einstein, and at least six have very legitimate chances.