User blog comment:Hidden Scorpius XI/My impressions on "Round one." (RWBY-V3E1)/@comment-4010415-20151026201205/@comment-4010415-20151026210950

It is weird. You'd think they would look for which team is the best of the best, rather than which single person is the best.

Then agian, if they did it all in teams, a team could be carried by one person. That is, unless they had a situation where, if a team member gets taken out, they're out for good even if their teammates win the fight.

Though, in WoR, Ozpin said that the purpose of the tournament is to keep students from settling for mediocrity, and we don't know if people remain in teams after they graduate. Ozpin said "Whoever you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." Not "will be your partner for the rest of your career" or whatever. So, it makes me wonder if it's just for their time at the academy, to get them used to having to work with other Huntsmen and Huntresses in the future if they take any missions that require multiple of them.

If Huntsmen and Huntresses can work alone after graduation, it makes sense that they would want them to be strong enough to work alone, but they also have to be able to work with a team and a partner in order to actually get to the part where they prove they're the best.