Agreed. The longevity of the crank vs. any additional power developed per revolution (if any) is most of the debate that I remember.

There was a local guy with one of the few Pontiac powered jet boats here who ran a revers-rotation motor with a switched 7-4 firing order. He claimed that it brought the torque up "faster" coming out of the hole.

This is one of the changes between the LS1 and the common SBC if I remember right, so the guys at Chebby must see some value in it. It must also help smooth out intake pulses in single-plenum intake systems like many modern fuel injected motors. Without actual back-to-back testing it would be hard to quantify the changes and differences.

Right on with the zero deck and - in another related thread on crank bearings - rod conditioning also makes a big bit of difference. I had that one come up on me once many years ago.