Alliance Captain versus last pick in Alliance Selection

[Jared Russell]

Winning feels good and can often bootstrap future success, so in both cases I'd personally choose "winning".

But from the outside looking in, if you were to ask me which is a "more impressive" accomplishment, I'd probably go with the #4 seed in both cases. I have seen many #1 seeded alliances where the last robot makes significant contributions; I have seen relatively few #1 seeded alliances where the last robot would not have been replaceable without a loss in effectiveness by one or more of the other 21 robots that had picked or been picked before it.

For this reason, I am a BIG fan of a district points system. Winning the tournament as a third robot is worth something, sure...but consistently seeding high is worth just as much or more. If a #4 seed was worth more qualifying points than a last pick blue banner, then I would change my answer to the original question (at the Regional/District level).