At any FTC competition, the leaderboard tells a story — but it's not always the full story. Knowing how rankings are calculated, what OPR actually measures, and where these numbers fall short will make you a much sharper competitor and scout.
How FTC Ranking Works
After qualification matches, teams are ordered using two values: Ranking Points (RP) and Tiebreaker Points (TBP).
Ranking Points
The 2025–2026 Decode season uses a threshold-based RP system. Each qualification match can award up to 4 RP per alliance, with each point earned independently by hitting performance milestones:
| RP | What Earns It | Qualifier Threshold |
|---|---|---|
| Movement RP | Alliance scores enough total points | 16 pts |
| Goal RP | Alliance scores enough artifact-related points | 36 pts |
| Pattern RP | Alliance scores enough pattern points | 18 pts |
| Win/Tie RP | Win the match (or 0.5 each for a tie) | Win the match |
Thresholds are higher at Regional Championships (21 / 42 / 22) to account for more experienced competition. This means a team can earn 3 milestone RP even in a loss — and a team that wins without hitting the Goal or Pattern thresholds still walks away with just 1 RP. Scoring enough to clear all three thresholds is as important as winning.
Tiebreaker Points
When two teams have identical ranking points, Tiebreaker Points break the tie. Decode uses a two-level tiebreaker:
- TBP1: Your alliance's total autonomous period points across all matches. Applied first.
- TBP2: Your alliance's total endgame points across all matches. Applied if TBP1 is still tied.
This means strong autonomous routines and reliable base returns are doubly valuable in Decode — they contribute to your raw score, your milestone RP thresholds, and your tiebreaker position. A team that consistently earns 15 autonomous points per match can leapfrog one that doesn't even at the same RP total.
The exact TBP formula is updated each season. Always check the current Game Manual for the authoritative rules.
What Is OPR?
OPR stands for Offensive Power Rating. It's a statistical estimate of how many points a single team contributes to their alliance's score on average, calculated from actual match results.
The premise is straightforward: every match involves two teams working together. If you know the combined score of many different team pairings, you can mathematically solve for each team's individual contribution.
The Math (Simplified)
OPR uses least squares regression to solve a system of linear equations. Here's a toy example:
- Alliance A (teams 1 + 2) scores 120 points
- Alliance B (teams 1 + 3) scores 105 points
- Alliance C (teams 2 + 4) scores 90 points
From these three equations, you can estimate how many points each team contributed. With 6–7 matches per team, you end up with a large overdetermined system that's solved to find the OPR values that best explain all observed scores.
The result: a single number per team representing their estimated offensive contribution.
What OPR Is Good For
OPR is useful as a quick ranking metric when you need to compare many teams fast. At a glance:
- A team with OPR 85 is likely contributing more offense than one with OPR 45
- Sorting by OPR gives a rough first cut for alliance selection research
- OPR is especially useful at large events (30+ teams) where you can't watch every team play
FTC Tracker displays OPR alongside live rankings and match scores, so you can see each team's stat in context.
The Limitations of OPR
This is the part that matters most. OPR has serious limitations that every FTC competitor should understand.
1. Small Sample Size
FTC teams typically play only 5–7 qualification matches. With this few data points, OPR estimates are highly noisy. Random variation — who you played with, which autonomous attempt succeeded — can swing OPR by 15–25 points.
A team that happened to partner with two high-scoring robots will have an inflated OPR. A strong team that drew weaker partners every match may look worse than they are.
2. Defense and Support Roles Are Invisible
OPR only measures points scored. A robot that plays aggressive, legal defense might suppress the opponent's score by 30–40 points per match — but their OPR won't reflect this at all. Similarly, a robot that herds game elements for a high-scoring partner gets zero OPR credit for that contribution.
3. Autonomous vs. TeleOp Split
Standard OPR combines all match points into one number. It doesn't distinguish whether a team scored in autonomous, TeleOp, or endgame — which has major strategy implications. A team with high OPR built on a strong auto routine is a very different alliance partner than one with the same OPR from late-game scoring.
In the 2025–2026 Decode season this matters even more: TBP1 is based entirely on autonomous points, so a robot with a reliable auto routine is not just scoring points — it's protecting your tiebreaker position. OPR alone will not tell you this.
4. Schedule Luck
FTC schedules are set in advance, not seeded by performance. A strong team assigned to play five consecutive matches with weak partners will have a lower OPR than their true capability. Conversely, a mediocre robot that got lucky pairings might have an inflated number.
OPR vs. DPR vs. CCWM
You'll see a few related stats in FTC data tools:
| Stat | What It Measures |
|---|---|
| OPR | Estimated offensive points contributed per match |
| DPR | Defensive Power Rating — how many points opponents score when playing against alliances with your team |
| CCWM | Calculated Contribution to Winning Margin — OPR minus DPR, a combined measure |
CCWM is often considered the most complete single metric since it accounts for both scoring and preventing opponent scores. A team with OPR 70 and DPR 20 has CCWM 50 — and is a better partner than a team with OPR 70 and DPR 55 (CCWM 15).
How to Actually Use These Stats
The right approach is to use OPR and related stats as one input among many — not as the final answer.
Some practical guidelines:
- Trust your scouting notes over OPR for any team you've watched play multiple matches
- OPR is most reliable for mid-ranked teams — extreme values (very high or very low) are often schedule artifacts
- Look at match-by-match consistency: A team with OPR 75 who scores 70–80 every match is a better partner than one with OPR 75 but scores ranging from 40 to 120
- Ask about their schedule: Did a team face particularly weak or strong opponents? That context changes everything
- Combine OPR with TBP1: In Decode, teams with high TBP1 run strong autonomous routines — a signal OPR alone won't surface. A team with modest OPR but elite TBP1 may be a better alliance partner than their raw number suggests
Used thoughtfully alongside your scouting data, FTC stats give you a powerful starting point for alliance selection research — especially at large events where you can't possibly watch every team play every match. See our guide on scouting at events for how to put it all together.