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.

[Nawaid Ladak]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

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.

your somewhat proving my point for me, what im trying to say is, at championship, there isn't much of a dropoff, most of the teams are petty even. but at regionals competitions, take waterloo for example: there was a huge drop off between 1114, 2056, 188, 2200, 68, and the other teams at that regional event.

the earlier post about the so called 24th seed, riding the alliance to victory, is sort of what im trying to say. Im guessing we all would like to see the best and most deserving teams to go to Atlanta. and thats what should be offered.

this will bring more competition into the A. come 11:45 on Saturday.... the teams in Atlanta are so close that strategy and scouting determine the champion.....

[DDAwg3]

I don't have a problem with serpentine style, however I have always despised the top eight teams from being able to pick each other.

If they were not able to pick each other I would go 1 thru 8 each time through.

When was the last time HP, Gateway and Dell teamed up together and went against Apple, Acer and Compaq ?

the answer is never they all had to find new young un-proven talent to become or maintain winning formula.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by DDAwg3

I don't have a problem with serpentine style, however I have always despised the top eight teams from being able to pick each other.

If they were not able to pick each other I would go 1 thru 8 each time through.

When was the last time HP, Gateway and Dell teamed up together and went against Apple, Acer and Compaq ?

the answer is never they all had to find new young un-proven talent to become or maintain winning formula.

Get rid of that, though, and then the top couple teams have a huge incentive to throw their last couple of matches. Besides, the serpentine system evens out this factor, because each alliance captain can only pick one top 8 team.