IRI - 2014 Team Invitations

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by ThunderousPrime

Only 1. List of IRI teams who didn't play at champs:

71
107 FiM district
*108
233
**234
**1024
1619
1741
***2867

*Won Peachtree as an alliance captain
**Host Team
***Auction winner-Preselected/Auto invite team

I feel that 1730, 1806 and 3928 were snubbed.

1730 ranked 7 at KC, 3 at Bayou and 3 on Galileo and were Galileo Semi-Finalists.
1806 ranked 4 at Central Illinois, 5 at KC and 35 on Newton as a second pick and Newton Semi-Finalist. At KC they lost in finals 1 and finals 3 to the 118-1986 juggernaut by 12 and 5 pts respectively.
3928 ranked 9 at KC and 13 ar North Star and 38 on Newton as a Semi-Finalist who won a match against 1678-1114-1640.

I would like to hear the rationale of the auction being an auto invite to IRI. I acknowledge that the charity money goes to a good cause but I am not sure this sets a good precedent on a "pay to get in basis." (I tried to look info about it on the IRI website but the silent action tab is not updated since 2012.)

It baffles me that a team with an OPR of .7 will be competing at IRI while a team that ranked 3rd on Galileo will not. I acknowlege that IRI is also about bringing together "strong character teams" but this juxtaposition is almost absurd.

107 qualified to go to championships but declined to attend. They were one of the best teams in FiM last year.