Serpentine Draft Alliance Parings, Like/Dislike

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

I think what needs to be done, is that the 1-8 1-8 needs to be used at REGIONAL EVENTS ONLY.... because every regional has their drop off, if you want to send the best alliance posable, you would use this technique. I think for championships, the serpentine is fine because the drop off is further down the rankings to the point where it shouldn't be a factor.

While I, too, have great displeasure with the Serpentine System, I will have to completely disagree with this point. If the serpentine draft didn't have as much of an impact at Championship, how did TWO #8 alliances win last year. The #8 alliance on Galileo reached the finals on Galileo, and the #8 alliance not only reached, but won on, Einstein.
That statement deserves to be repeated, our current FIRST Champions (190, 987, and 177) were a #8 alliance. The serpentine draft has just as large, if not even larger, impact at Championship as it does in regional competition.

The data clearly shows that the serpentine system has been successful in making the lower seeded alliances more competitive. There is no arguing against that. The only arguments that exists is one of whether or not they have become too competitive and whether or not they deserve to have the 2nd round advantage over the higher seeds. These are both more philosophical arguments, and it will be very hard to make both sides agree on these.