Disagree with you on the random cup draw. I think it is fantastic. FA cup style is way better than the seeded style draw they do in HT in my book.
Having experienced both styles and heard the arguments for/against, I think the random draw it definitely leads to more disadvantages than a seeded draw.
There's too much of an advantage given to teams that get an easy cup run, compared to those in the same league that have a difficult draw. The biggest disadvantage is the extra games a team can play TIE if they get an easy run, significantly boosting their enthusiasm compared to their league opponents.
Consider two teams in the same II league. One gets drawn an ABBL team in round 1, which they are unable to compete with, while the other teams gets a lucky run of four or five III or IV bots/new players, which they can beat easily while still playing TIE. The team that drew the ABBL team and was eliminated in round 1 is at a clear disadvantage compared to the team that got the easy run and a bunch of extra games in which they could play TIE and boost their enthusiasm. There's nothing the first team can do about this - they are disadvantaged purely due to being unlucky, not because of anything to do with their skill at managing their team. Also, the first team is ~$250k financially worse off than the team with the easier run (or even more, if it turns into a longer cup run).
In close leagues, the ability to play TIE for a few extra teams can definitely be the difference between relegation or survival.
Also provides plenty of upsets when a div 3 team CT's an ABBL team and so on.
The perception of a random draw is that it's more likely that a lower ranked team will go on a dream run and win the cup. The reality is, this is not the case. Only once since season 2 has a II team won the cup and the last time a II team even made the cup final was season 8. The last time a III team made the quarter finals was season 10, which has been the only time since way back in season 4.
There's very few cases where a III upsets a ABBL team (unless the ABBL team throws the game), especially when there's a 50/50 chance the ABBL team also gets home court. I'd say there would be more upsets under a seeded draw where the lower ranked team always plays at home.
Love checking in to see who i have drawn and then trying to plan tactics accordingly.
Agree with this, however a seeded draw doesn't stop this from happening. We would still log in as per usual, find out who we are playing and set tactics accordingly. Realistically, no one is going to work out the entire cup ranking just to see who they might be playing - it will still be a surprise to see who we are playing when we log in after our cup games.
I used to think the same as you, but when I experienced both systems of cup draws, it didn't take long to realise that there's far too much disadvantage under the current random system.