More competition between regs is essential in HUSNG to make sure that regs playing at a certain stake are actually deserving to play at that stake. This was something that wasn't happening naturally (at least, most regs weren't contributing), so now with cartels there is like a 'shared responsibility' to prevent weaker regs from opensitting at a certain stake. I do agree with 147_star's post, it is (potentially) very good for the game. However, the way the lower cartels (60s and 100s) are functioning at the moment is not directly serving the purpose of good regs preventing weak ones to opensit.

This is because a lot of players are more interested in creating a safe protected environment for themselves than creating a competive environment where only the strongest will survive. This is also probably one of the main reasons why cartels are so 'hush hush'. Regs in the cartel want to give the impression that outsiders have to battle hard and show what they are worth, but in reality they just want to play as many randoms as possible without too much regbattling (note, this is why queues have gotten out of hand in first place). Paradoxically, they want to discourage others to try and get in by battling by making it seem very hard to get in, which it is. Imagine how difficult it is to get 75% of votes when facing a group of 80+ players on your own. Therefore, to get in, both your skill and endurance level must be significantly higher than most people in cartel itself. So, it is a huge advantage to be included from the beginning, and I reckon many players would not have gotten in had they not been included from the start.

It is possible to get in by a voting system, and there are cartel regs that try and discourage sitlist players sitting them by saying 'I already told you I'd vote for you, why do you keep sitting me'. IMO, when sitting regs yourself, you have to be prepared to get sat without asking questions, and ideally this should not influence who you will vote on. But when exactly this voting will be is not made public, just as many other things going on in cartel. I do agree a better situation could be created by making things transparent, and this would definitely increase the attractiveness of HU hypers for many new (recreational) players.

A positive ROI over a decent sample against cartel regs should be a more important factor to getting into the cartel as opposed to your willingness to battle, also partly because not everybody is able to play high volume. Pretty much everyone in both the 60s and 100s cartel was not a 'reg battler' before the cartel. Once you are in the cartel you have to follow the rules, which means you have to battle otherwise you will just be kicked out. If I was playing a reg I would much rather play someone who 'loves to battle' than play a really good player.

Leaving strong players out and keeping weaker players in leaves the cartel vulnerable, especially the weaker part of the group. The stronger can just simply sit the weak ones (they can even work together as a group, without having to call this 'anticartel') and show a nice ROI. If these weaker ones in cartel would get sat continuously by a group of stronger outsiders, it would be no longer +EV for them to be in cartel and everybody would be better off if they'd switch places. Moreover, strong cartel regs can't be happy they have to battle strong outsiders whilst protecting less-skilled members. If the cartel is set up in an 'unfair' way (leaving strong regs out while keeping weak ones in), it is not only responsibility of cartel to change this, but even more so, it is responsibility of strong outsiders to attack weak spots. If that kind of competition takes place, eventually system will be fair. Again, I agree with 147_star that players battling cartel, even in organized groups, should not be hunted at lower stakes.