Of all the uneven playing fields in competition BBQ, meat quality has got to be the most uneven. People can say "still gotta cook it right" all they want to, but a better piece of meat is a better piece of meat.
That being said, try to limit it to the use of meat that can be purchased at the typical supermarket, and you will see a riot.
Competition BBQ: Taking food for the common man, and making it an a way that a common man can't/won't afford to do.
I mean, this may be correct, but it is afterall a competition, one to see who is the best of the best on that day. As an average-joe competitor myself, if I'm going to compete, I'm ****ed sure going to bring my A game and work hard to beat Myron and Tuffy and Melissa. Otherwise, why compete at all? Seriously. Why compete? I'm going to do everything I can and bring every weapon in my arsenal to bare, including purchasing the very best meat that I can (and, BTW, I dont think wagyu necessarily leads to a better brisket).
See, I'm of a completely different mind-set altogether. I just cooked for my daughters college graduation. I'll cook for our anniversary coming up on the 4th of July. The amount that I'll cook for this (or cooked a few weeks back) makes cooking for a KCBS competition look puny. Guess what? I still use the same meat. The meat that I cook "back yard" is the same meat I compete with. Why would I do this, you ask? Because if I can't cook my very best and produce my very best on this day, then I just wont cook. We can always order out pizza....
If you're of a different mind set back-yard, that's great. Fine. That's completely up to you. However, I highly suggest not doing this at a competition. I mean, you might as well author the book "How to get your *** handed to you in a competition".
BTW, if you really want to see how the big boys play (ie. Melissa and Pete of Yazoo's Delta Q, and Myron or Jack's), join in on an MBN competition. These guys (and so have I) will be cooking 7-9 20# whole shoulders (I cook 9 because they come 3 to a case and are as cheap as buying 7), usually cooking a case of baby backs, and then they're cooking 1 or 2 whole hogs... You wont see any wyagu beef... And the "big teams" dont win consistently because they're big or fancy, otherwise some other guys who are bigger and more fancy (yes, more money than Myron and Melissa put together) would win every time.
The "big teams" win because.... They know how to win; knowledge. They understand competitions. They understand how to bring their A game every day, every time. They're practiced at it. They're serious about it. They love it. And, by the way, they can cook like no tomorrow.