2:30-4:00PM: Live Coverage of MSJ Robotics Tournament

By: Melissa Peng

The four highest-ranked teams after qualifying rounds, with MSJ’s Pink Fruffy Unicorns, chose partners and created four alliances at 4:00 PM. The MSJ team emerged from the first half of the tournament undefeated with 492 ranking points. The other three teams were, in order of decreasing point count, CHS Robotics, Lemon Drops, and Purple Reign.

After 10 free minutes to strategize, teams chose new partners during an alliance selection ceremony. Pink Fruffy Unicorn, whose rank gave them first priority, invited CHS Robotics 49ers, the fifth-placing team, to ally with them. CHS Robotics joined fifteenth seed Topsy Turvy, Lemon Drops paired with eighth seed RoboCats, and Purple Reign chose the seventh-place Acrobots.

Teams that were not in the top four or invited to join another team will not continue to elimination rounds. These eight teams include Terrorbytes, Overdrive, and Minor Malf(x), who respectively placed seventh, ten, and fourteenth in the preliminary qualifying rounds.

Elimination rounds began at 4:20 PM. Alliances, this time permanent, will face off until one wins two matches. Within this alliance, the team that originally chose its partner will win today’s tournament and advance to the FTC Norcal Regional Championship.