Weird Qualifying Rules

[Bongle]

After a day of watching the rankings and thinking about it some more, I think I kind of like it.

It means that if you have an unlucky match where bad stuff out of your control happens, you can still actually claw back those lost points and end up #1 seed with a few good matches. In past years a single loss often put you out of the running.

It means that it isn't unthinkable to have a meeting with your opponents before a match to figure out how each alliance can facilitate a high score for both. After all, an 11-9 result is still better for the losing side than a 0-3 win for them. That's cool, because your opponent now becomes your teammate with slightly different incentives.

The rules disincentive playing heavy defense, and encourage maximum scoring by each side (once you get past the first point on both alliances and the n-0 case is gone). If you plan on winning simply by defending your opponents, you're both going to get very few QPs, which makes me happy*.

*I have an axiom that defense as a primary strategy is not a desirable aspect of games. It is possible and acceptable that you don't share this axiom.