[FRC Blog]2017 Updates

[Chris is me]

Good change to add wild cards to every regional, but if the spots don't trickle down past the Finalist alliance, I think most of those "extra" wildcards in week 3 - 6 regionals are just going to vanish. I really hope they allow these slots to trickle down to the semifinalists in some vaguely fair way - especially considering a single elimination tournament does not ensure that the Finalist alliance is the second best alliance.

I'm curious to see how the round robin playoffs will work for 6 division eliminations. The more predictable number of matches on Einstein should be a big plus! Last year there could have been anywhere from 14 to 21 matches.

[Brian Maher]

I'm very happy with the change to Wildcards, though I have one comment.

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Good change to add wild cards to every regional, but if the spots don't trickle down past the Finalist alliance, I think most of those "extra" wildcards in week 3 - 6 regionals are just going to vanish. I really hope they allow these slots to trickle down to the semifinalists in some vaguely fair way - especially considering a single elimination tournament does not ensure that the Finalist alliance is the second best alliance.

I see a perfect solution to this problem, that I've been advocating for a while now: awarding Wildcards using district points rankings. This way, teams are ranked by an all-encompassing metric endorsed by FIRST that allows recognition of teams based on qual rankings, alliance selection, playoffs, and awards. This system addresses both issues Chris listed: Wildcards won't ever disappear and it is capable of recognizing semifinalists.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Good change to add wild cards to every regional, but if the spots don't trickle down past the Finalist alliance, I think most of those "extra" wildcards in week 3 - 6 regionals are just going to vanish. I really hope they allow these slots to trickle down to the semifinalists in some vaguely fair way - especially considering a single elimination tournament does not ensure that the Finalist alliance is the second best alliance.

I'm curious to see how the round robin playoffs will work for 6 division eliminations. The more predictable number of matches on Einstein should be a big plus! Last year there could have been anywhere from 14 to 21 matches.

Perhaps FIRST intends to use something like this.