Ungracious professionalism at internationals?

[Racer26]

Am I the only one that can look at this scenario and say, "If I was 217, I'd probably decline several alliances, but would still accept 1538/1986's invitation"?

1538 and 1986 together have a wealth of strong team members, as does 217. If I was on 217, I could easily see them thinking, "Yeah, with these partners, we can maybe do this", where with weaker partners they might think it impossible.

Having met and spoken with Paul on a few occasions, I'm confident in saying that the intent was not 'convince everyone to leave us for the #1 alliance'.