Serpentine Draft

[OWilliamson]

I'm not really sure how I feel about this, but it is definitely an interesting idea.
One situation I was wondering though is what if the alliance that picks first ends up picking the number one seed? Now the number one seed lost all of their power in picking. I'm not sure that this is a risk that many teams would be willing to take.

[Grim Tuesday]

Originally Posted by OWilliamson

I'm not really sure how I feel about this, but it is definitely an interesting idea.
One situation I was wondering though is what if the alliance that picks first ends up picking the number one seed? Now the number one seed lost all of their power in picking. I'm not sure that this is a risk that many teams would be willing to take.

Couldn't the number one seed just decline in this case?

[Harman341]

Cool idea, but consider this situation

Team A 1st pick 8th seed
Team B 2nd pick 2nd seed
Team C 3rd pick 1st seed
Team D 4th pick 3rd seed
Team E 5th pick 6th seed
Team F 6th pick 4th seed
Team G 7th pick 5th seed
Team H 8th pick 7th seed

Team A can now pretty easily employ the scorched earth strategy by picking the first, second, and third seed. One of them would either have to join the alliance with the 8 seed or be left unable to pick one another. Cool idea, but I don't see why a team would allow for this possibility. Plus, this year at the 3 events I've been to, the #1 alliance made it to the finals all three times, and won twice.

[Duncan Macdonald]

This is a neat thought experiment. I expect most teams would still select the top spot available and there are often booing accusations following a decline.

Raising the minimum number of teams would also decrease the serpentine's bite but I suspect most venues are near capacity already.

# of teams | minimum elimination robot percentile

30 | 0.2
36 | 0.33
42 | 0.43
48 | 0.5

Allowing the top alliances to select their opponent from those below them each round would help the stronger alliances to advance.

[OWilliamson]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

Couldn't the number one seed just decline in this case?

Yes, looks like I should think about my posts a little more before I reply.

Thanks for catching that.