good speed runs can be really fun and fast. gives me a ss feeling which i like. knife does make a lot more sense in speed than in reg since you are mobbing rather than tanking monsters, and r4 knife on bd and nf makes them hit less hard.
a lot of speed crews do fail though. but i strongly disagree with speed being s**t no matter what.
do you really need ragables in ym? i think not. even less if everyone has wish.
cat and tape ...if used well they can be helpful but there is generally not enough practice and experience with those around anymore that they would be used to full advantage rather than disrupting the run.