Now that build season is over I was taking a look at some to the regional “rosters” and they are pretty impressive, especially Las Vegas with 118, 148, 987, 1678 and other great teams. Which regional event do you think will have the highest level of competition?
Northern Lights is crazy competitive for a week 1 Minnesota event. 27, 525, 876, 2175, 2502, 2512, 2883, 3130, 4607, 5172…
Almost all the Minnesota power houses and some out of state power houses all in one event. I think the level of play at NL will be ahead of its time as a week 1 event.
I think south Florida is going to be quite good for a week 1 event aswell.
With teams like: 79,125,179,233,694,1523,2383!
For traditional regionals it’s Las Vegas by a wide margin.
I would think that 2220, 2169, 3276, 2052, 4539, 1816, and a bunch of others may like to argue this statement.
There are a lot of good MN teams at this event - but there are a lot more that are not competing at Northern Lights.
South Florida is going to be very interesting. Not only these teams but also 263, 348, and 386 have a good history at this regional as well. It will be very interesting to see what happens. I’d also include 4481 because you’ve had some cool machines in the past!
I wouldn’t leave out Utah either.
987, 2122, 1619, and 4334 combine with a whole ton of decent teams.
At the top end yes, but I feel like Midwest is just a little bit deeper by having quite a few more teams who could walk away with the event; 16, 111, 1511, 1592, 1756, 1986, 2338, 2451, 3620. Any combination of them could win and I would not be surprised. The winning alliance of Vegas will have atleast one if not two from: 118, 148, 987 and 1678.
Las Vegas. Not only is it competitiveness it is prestigious. 5 World Champions (148, 118, 1678, 987, 5012). Three hall of fame teams (1538, 842, 987). Three 2016 Einstein Teams (148, 1678, 987).
And the best part is that a lot of these teams have worked well together before - so there’s a lot of history.
- 1678, 118 and 5012 all won Einstein together in 2015.
- Just off the top of my head, 987 has recently won regionals with a lot of the teams in attendance - 2485, 5012, 148, 842.
- 2485 has worked with 1538 many times both at regionals and outside them.
- And 1678 and 148 just won a division together.
So a lot of these alliances are not only going to be high powered, they’re going to know exactly how to work together.
Any two of 118, 148, 987, and 1678 facing off against the other two would be a dream finals matchup for South Champs, even more so for a regional. If it does happen, those could very well be the best matches of the entire official season. It should at least be considered must-watch.
Strongest events of 2017, based upon 2016 average OPR in official events:
avgOPR
2017onwat 41.750867
2017onwin 34.788915
2017nvlv 34.582594
2017inwla 34.451044
2017inmis 34.120641
2017misjo 33.559125
2017inpmh 33.286073
2017utwv 32.848769
2017onto1 32.533187
2017ctwat 32.279850
2017onham 32.071737
2017paca 31.717821
2017miwmi 31.698007
Las Vegas is the clear winner in terms of regionals, with Utah and Pittsburgh following close behind.
However, as is tradition, Waterloo is by far the strongest event nationwide.
Can you post a ranking of events based on 1) Average of the top 8 OPRs and 2) average of the top 24 OPRs?
I am expecting that the ONT District - Ryerson University Event will also be a good contest, may be even better then Waterloo. 
Key word is almost. I completely agree that there are a ton of great MN teams not at NL.
Nationwide? Shouldn’t that be worldwide?
To top it off, Las Vegas is week 6 – teams will have had the entire pre-championship season to improve their play!
Unless it’s your first and only regional
I’m looking forward to competing with all these great teams at Midwest. 1736 Robot Casserole was awesome last year too. They’re not a perennial powerhouse like those others yet, but all the mid-level team are being elevated by the consistent high competition at Midwest. This is going to be fun.