By technical, I wasn’t creating a definition of regional, but rather using FIRST’s working standard. By FRC, MSC is a regional. I tentatively assume their definition is something along the lines of “Event that directly qualifies teams for the Championship,” but this doesn’t consider that district results plays into who goes from MI.
Regardless, I would agree with you otherwise. I’d go with Einstein, then IRI, the MSC. Einstein is a bit easier because you only have to win 4 matches though 
I go to alot of regionals every year and of the six events I am going to this year Midwest should be stronger than FLR by a slight margin.
I expect improvements from Midwest in quality of competition this year (there was a huge drop off in quality after the top level teams at the event last year) with no other Midwestern regionals to dilute the pool at the event like it did last year. If 1114 came back there would be no question which was the strongest regional.
FLR is good at attracting solid Canadian teams and is one of the few regionals that can still attract teams from the Michigan to come. Teams from the mid Atlantic and the midwest often come as well. It is stronger in the middle of the pack than the Midwest which makes it more competitive during qualification. Being a week 1 regional hurts FLR as it will most likely be plagued by bugs while Midwest should have no such problems by week 4 and many of their teams should be doing their second regional.
Florida is going to be really intense this year.
MSC isn’t a regional for this discussion because it doesn’t have open registration. The event is aiming to be the strongest event of the year by design and thus restricts invitations to the best. All other events, including Championship to an extent, have open registration.
You know what’s weird? One of the following teams won’t win Midwest this year: 16, 111, 71, 1625. To win that event you’ll have to pick one of those teams or get through an alliance of two of those. Not even factoring in the other teams, is that something you can accomplish?
The regional with the most elite teams is rarely the toughest to win.
Any regional featuring 469 is going to be tough …we got some tricks up our sleeves that will be revealed at our first district event!
Whips sweat from forehead… Can’t wait to see it at MSC…
What year does this comment not apply to?
There is wisdom in this post.
In a field with a lot of depth like many that are being listed; San Diego, Midwest, Florida, MSC give you a better opportunity of being with strong alliance members, if you’re a strong team yourself.
Personally, I find it hardest to do well when you’re a strong team in a field of weaker teams, since it’s harder to get with another strong team, and usually if two strong teams get together they walk right through the eliminations unopposed.
True that. L.A. 2008, 330 and 1717 made everyone else play for second place right from the get-go. L.A. 2010, the same two teams had to fight a lot harder, against the eventual World Champion team 294.
Isn’t that disproving his point though? That’s an example of more powerhouse teams making a regional harder to win.
It really depends on who’s asking the question. I guess it’s different depending on how good your machine and robot is.
Again?
The 469 statement applies to the usual suspects who always make it to Einstein. Most of them don’t say much of anything on CD they just build excellence and silently wait to deploy their creation on the unsuspecting masses come competition time when it’s too late to do anything about it.
I appreciate the mention but I have to correct this false statement since I know I will be hearing this repeated if I don’t quash it now. Team 3450 is a distinct and unique entity that is not related to 397. 397 was put on hiatus as a team due to lack of student interest. Several of the mentors, myself and brother among them, worked together to form a new team. We accepted the 3 students from 397 who were still interested (within the limit of 5 returning students for rookie teams) and moved to a different school. This was accomplished with a ton of help from our sister team 314, Big Mo. To say that 3450 is just 397 remade is like saying that Top Gear US is just like Top Gear UK. Some of the elements are there but I think you will find that they are drastically different. All of the mentors who came over from 397 have agreed that it is a completely different team this year.
Anyway, thank you for the mention, we will try not to disappoint you.
PS. Sorry for the off topic post, I have heard several people make this statement (not on CD) and felt that it was important to clear up any misconceptions about our team and our motives. If you have further questions feel free to PM me or stop by our shop (PM for address and times).
Ah, my apologies, Andrew.
Not a problem, I can see where that misconception would come from.
The toughest regional that matters is the one you’re in!
Silicon Valley.
When it comes to 469, what year doesn’t this apply to? 