Cyrus
Iron Chef - Master Emeritus
I can say this for SURE.... If you see many players coming from 100+ miles away when they have another option much closer to them. Generally that means you have a POOR player base and it makes it more appealing to the top tier player to go in and take from you what they feel you do not deserve.
Yes and no. Not only should we observe if people are willing to do this, but how successful they are at it.
On one hand you have instances where Florida (for example) sends their elite guard out to an underrated (or weak if you're of another mindset) area like Texas, yet don't walk away with the win, or even a top four showing. This is what happened at the Southern Plains Regional in 2005.
On the other hand, you see an instance where a region gets shocked and awed by just one or two of another area's elite guard, such as 2006 when papa Silvestro cruised on over and won the Southern Plains, or in 2007 when SoCal's top two were from Nevada and Mexico. The list goes on for both sides.
Point being, it says a lot if people are willing to travel hundreds of miles to YOUR area, but it says even more if they go and actually do dominate.