GoingMadlem

I love the idea of being further punished for being randomly paired against slow opponents

Have you ever run a tournament? Have you ever ran one in a community with known legitimately slow players? You can't make the slowest players play faster, it just doesn't work in any reality. If you want a tournament where only winners advance, you change the structure

Don't see punishments in a system where you can draw. Swiss pairings are based on obtaining the most points, the goal is clear from the start. If you want to reward winners / punish draws you can add in sudden death or do a bracketed tournament. There are options if you hate IDs

The X-1 player lost. The other 4 were undefeated.