Predictions Championship 2015: Archimedes

[Looking Forward]

Tips:
Few teams have been as consistently high ranked as 234 this season. They had some hiccups early on in week one in Kokomo, but their human player's noodling ability kept them in it and they finished as the 2nd seed. They picked up their play at the remaining events, seeding first and winning all three. Cyber Blue won't blow away other high end teams, but their consistent human player stacking, autonomous scoring, ability to co-op, and high litter scores should have them in the thick of things.

At their best, 2338 can put up points from the human player at a top tier level and win a pair of cans from the step. However, consistency has been an issue for Gear it Forward, and it's part of the reason they weren't able to claim a victory this season. If 2338 can start noodling their cans, clean up their release after canburgling, and avoid mistakes, they could be a very early pick.

It took quite a while for 135 to win their first event, but they finally broke through twice in 2014. Penn Robotics proved their elevated level of play was no fluke in 2015, winning the Kokomo district event and captaining the #2 alliance at ISC. 135 is a consistent human player stacker that caps separately, which also grants them the ability to finish other teams' stacks if necessary. While they've established themselves as an Indiana powerhouse, taking a run in the Archimedes playoffs could propel them into more widespread attention. However, 135 will need an ideal alliance if they aim to pull off some upsets.

Heading into MSC, 314 looked to be one of the favorites after taking three districts events as the top seed and winning the event the year before. The Megatron Oracles didn't have their strongest weekend in Grand Rapids, and were ousted in the octo-finals. 314 should stand out a bit more in Archimedes, and their ability to contribute three full stacks in a good match could earn them a spot on a high ranking alliance.

Archimedes is overflowing with quality robots that load in the corners of the field, but there aren't a whole lot of landfill miners. This scarcity should reward 1310, who can create full sized stacks from the center of the field. Coupled with a 20-point autonomous routine that leaves the starting cans upright (though it often runs right up against the time limit), 1310 is poised to be a partner to one of the corner loaders.

Dark Horse:
2363 had a rough start to their first outing in Virginia, but were their upside made them an early pick and they got everything working in time to claim victory. They followed that up by seeding 2nd in Chesapeake and winning as part of the top alliance. Triple Helix was frequently putting up a pair of max stacks from the feeder station in Maryland, and it's unlikely they will last in alliance selection nearly as long as they did in 2014.

Sleeper:
The Holy Cows took an unusual approach to Recycle Rush, opting to handle batches of two totes at a time and only stack four totes high. However, everything 1538 does is fast, including stealing cans from the center step. It's unlikely that they can be efficient enough with the cans to be a primary scoring machine on their alliance, but if they can find partners to work collaboratively with (both on and off the field), they could form a very dangerous alliance.

Locks:
On April 8th, 2011, Sab-BOT-age had zero event victories to their credit. They changed that the next day as the Philadelphia regional concluded, and have managed to pick up additional banners at a torrid pace since then. 1640 has been in the winners circle at least once in each of the past five seasons, including two MAR championships and two division championships. Yet, four of those wins came after they were selected at the very tail of the second round serpentine, and their 2013 Newton selection was barely ahead of that. With a machine capable of scoring 3 full stacks, canburlging in autonomous, and with a tote stack autonomous in the works, there's no chance they last as long in the draft this year, and will have to take on a primary role in their alliance if they want to keep their Einstein streak alive.

The past few years have seen Bedford Express rapidly become a force to be reckoned with in Michigan. 1023 won two events in each of 2012 and 2014, and managed to double that with a four for four season in 2015. With all four victories coming on the top alliance, it's hard to dispute that Bedford is FiM's best team in Recycle Rush. It's certainly difficult to top the efficient stacking from the human player that 1023 achieved once they started using a ramp, but 1023 started the season stacking out of the landfill. While Bedford will need to find help to win the step cans, they should have little issue putting up plenty of points all weekend long.