Tournament thread: https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Lemon-Sharks--109494
Full comprehensive report here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B3-c...U-zpEIT6I/
The below is a condensed version of the full tournament report.
On November 19, 2023, the Greater Vancouver community came together for our first ranked X format tournament. There were 17 participants and we thus played a Swiss event, with 3on3 Match Type in the First Stage, and Deck Match Type in the Final Stage. At the end of this report, I will conclude with some thoughts on Beyblade X in Vancouver (Canada), 4 months after it launched in Japan in July 2023.
While we had previously played Beyblade X during the Beyblade First Xperience event, this was the first event where players owned their own parts, and the releases had gone beyond the first 4 (DranSword, HellsScythe, KnightShield, and WizardArrow). The most recent releases were the DranDagger and HellsChain Deck Sets, as well as RhinoHorn. As such parts from all 3 products were present in the tournament. There was however, a lack of CobaltDrake - like many players in the WBO, no one had yet obtained one, or was willing to use one.
Tournament Preparation
My collection at the time only consisted of 7 Beyblades:
First Stage
I played 5 matches in the First Stage, against Rider_Woz, SP451, LoneBagelfafnir, AUTOSEBB, and BadLck. My final record was 4W-1L.
In my first match against Rider_Woz, I went for a 2 Attack 1 Stamina set-up - when playing Burst, I had done a similar deck set-up with this thinking: two Attack combos with a risk potential, and 1 Stamina combo that I could rely on for a likely 1 point Spin Finish. If we went to a deck reshuffle, I could place the Stamina combo in the 1st slot for safety.
However, as the match began I quickly realized this thinking could not apply to X. My HellsScythe 4-80B lost in both rounds it was played in - once by Spin Finish, once by Over Finish (KO), both at the hands of an Attack combo.
In a format like Burst Standard (BST), the chances of being knocked out by an Attack combo like Guilty were high against a competent player, but against average skill level players, a Stamina combo like Wind could withstand such attacks, especially if launched in a way to counter an Attack combo’s launch.
In X, my thoughts are that the addition of the Xtreme Line gimmick means there is less reliability from my own Stamina combos and less predictability from opponent’s Attack combos. During testing with peers, there were instances where my Stamina combo would be knocked into the Xtreme Line and the gimmick activation would drain Stamina - or a match would seem decided until an Attack combo activates the gimmick and makes a comeback strike. Attack can strike hard and get a Burst or Knock-out (KO) - or in my case, strike my HellsScythe so hard that it simply stops spinning. Perhaps there is also an element of using the wrong Stamina combo or a launch technique that I have yet to learn in Attack VS Stamina matchups, but at this point I decided to run Attack only for the rest of the First Stage.
I was confident in my Attack combos and launch to the point where the risk-reward of using Attack was much better in my eyes than using Stamina or even Defense - I’d rather do Attack VS Attack. My thoughts were, if I run Attack, I have a fairly good chance of scoring 2-3 points via Burst and KO. If I run Stamina, I have a lower chance of scoring 1 point via Spin Finish.
In my remaining 7 matches during the tournament, this remained my mindset. Even in Deck Match Finals, where I kept my HellsScythe as a fail-safe, I was never in a situation where I felt using Stamina was more worthwhile than using my Attack combo.
Final Stage
The top 8 finalists, in order of ranking out of the First Stage, were:
Winning Combinations
1st Place - KIO
Full comprehensive report here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B3-c...U-zpEIT6I/
The below is a condensed version of the full tournament report.
On November 19, 2023, the Greater Vancouver community came together for our first ranked X format tournament. There were 17 participants and we thus played a Swiss event, with 3on3 Match Type in the First Stage, and Deck Match Type in the Final Stage. At the end of this report, I will conclude with some thoughts on Beyblade X in Vancouver (Canada), 4 months after it launched in Japan in July 2023.
While we had previously played Beyblade X during the Beyblade First Xperience event, this was the first event where players owned their own parts, and the releases had gone beyond the first 4 (DranSword, HellsScythe, KnightShield, and WizardArrow). The most recent releases were the DranDagger and HellsChain Deck Sets, as well as RhinoHorn. As such parts from all 3 products were present in the tournament. There was however, a lack of CobaltDrake - like many players in the WBO, no one had yet obtained one, or was willing to use one.
Tournament Preparation
My collection at the time only consisted of 7 Beyblades:
- DranSword 3-60F
- HellsScythe 3-80B
- SharkEdge 4-80N
- KnightShield 4-60LF
- DranDagger 4-60R
- KnightShield 5-80T
- SharkEdge 3-80F
- DranDagger 4-60LF (Attack)
- DranSword 3-60F (Attack)
- SharkEdge 3-80R (Attack)
- HellsScythe 4-80B (Stamina)
- KnightShield 5-80N (Defense)
First Stage
I played 5 matches in the First Stage, against Rider_Woz, SP451, LoneBagelfafnir, AUTOSEBB, and BadLck. My final record was 4W-1L.
In my first match against Rider_Woz, I went for a 2 Attack 1 Stamina set-up - when playing Burst, I had done a similar deck set-up with this thinking: two Attack combos with a risk potential, and 1 Stamina combo that I could rely on for a likely 1 point Spin Finish. If we went to a deck reshuffle, I could place the Stamina combo in the 1st slot for safety.
However, as the match began I quickly realized this thinking could not apply to X. My HellsScythe 4-80B lost in both rounds it was played in - once by Spin Finish, once by Over Finish (KO), both at the hands of an Attack combo.
In a format like Burst Standard (BST), the chances of being knocked out by an Attack combo like Guilty were high against a competent player, but against average skill level players, a Stamina combo like Wind could withstand such attacks, especially if launched in a way to counter an Attack combo’s launch.
In X, my thoughts are that the addition of the Xtreme Line gimmick means there is less reliability from my own Stamina combos and less predictability from opponent’s Attack combos. During testing with peers, there were instances where my Stamina combo would be knocked into the Xtreme Line and the gimmick activation would drain Stamina - or a match would seem decided until an Attack combo activates the gimmick and makes a comeback strike. Attack can strike hard and get a Burst or Knock-out (KO) - or in my case, strike my HellsScythe so hard that it simply stops spinning. Perhaps there is also an element of using the wrong Stamina combo or a launch technique that I have yet to learn in Attack VS Stamina matchups, but at this point I decided to run Attack only for the rest of the First Stage.
I was confident in my Attack combos and launch to the point where the risk-reward of using Attack was much better in my eyes than using Stamina or even Defense - I’d rather do Attack VS Attack. My thoughts were, if I run Attack, I have a fairly good chance of scoring 2-3 points via Burst and KO. If I run Stamina, I have a lower chance of scoring 1 point via Spin Finish.
In my remaining 7 matches during the tournament, this remained my mindset. Even in Deck Match Finals, where I kept my HellsScythe as a fail-safe, I was never in a situation where I felt using Stamina was more worthwhile than using my Attack combo.
Final Stage
The top 8 finalists, in order of ranking out of the First Stage, were:
- BadLck (4-1) (Placed 2nd, first-time event)
- KIO (4-1) (Placed 1st)
- ClubAmador2012 (4-1) (Placed 4th)
- Dezmain (4-1) (Placed 3rd, first-time event)
- LoneBagelfafnir (3-2)
- bdashti (3-2) (First-time event)
- SP451 (3-2)
- BelDaizora (3-2)
Winning Combinations
1st Place - KIO
- DranDagger 4-60LF (3on3 Match First Stage Only)
- DranSword 3-60F (3on3 Match First Stage Only)
- SharkEdge 3-80R (3on3 Match First Stage Only)
- SharkEdge 4-80R (Deck Match Final Stage Only)
- DranDagger 5-60R
- DranSword 3-60F
- KnightShield 5-80P
- DranDagger 3-60R
- HellsScythe 4-60B
- ViperTail 5-60T
- DranSword 3-60S
- HellsScythe 4-80B
- Tournament Speed
- This tournament went by fast. The nature of X meant the tournament was completed in roughly 2 hours, which for 48 battles was about an hour faster than our Burst tournaments.
- The entirety of the Finals Match only took 4 minutes.
- Judges and Bladers alike seemed to be consistently engaged - matches did not involve a lot of camera watching and minutes of boring Stamina VS Stamina matches.
- This tournament went by fast. The nature of X meant the tournament was completed in roughly 2 hours, which for 48 battles was about an hour faster than our Burst tournaments.
- Out-of-Bounds Ranked Clause
- This Ranked Clause was used during the tournament, and was put into effect a few times. The reception seemed positive, as players found this ruling to be more sensible than a draw.
- This Ranked Clause was used during the tournament, and was put into effect a few times. The reception seemed positive, as players found this ruling to be more sensible than a draw.
- Xtreme Dash Gimmick
- I’m not entirely sure how effective it is to utilize the Xtreme Dash gimmick. During the tournament, it seemed random if an Xtreme Dash would hit its mark - in fact it seemed to drain a lot of Stamina. It seemed that use of the Xtreme Line includes an added element to the existing risk-reward of Attack Types.
- I’m not entirely sure how effective it is to utilize the Xtreme Dash gimmick. During the tournament, it seemed random if an Xtreme Dash would hit its mark - in fact it seemed to drain a lot of Stamina. It seemed that use of the Xtreme Line includes an added element to the existing risk-reward of Attack Types.
- Where is SharkEdge?
- Despite several Bladers owning SharkEdge, many of them opted not to use it. Many of them expressed concerns over the Blade’s low Stamina and/or their lack of general confidence in Attack combos.
- My personal opinion is the lack of SharkEdge in decks hurt some Bladers’ decks.
- I like sharks.
- Despite several Bladers owning SharkEdge, many of them opted not to use it. Many of them expressed concerns over the Blade’s low Stamina and/or their lack of general confidence in Attack combos.
- Investing in the X format
- X has seen many new players introduced into the community. Many of these I’ve spoken to personally, and are rejoining the game after years of inactivity, having skipped Burst (i.e. from Plastics or Metal Fight generations).
- In total across two X tournaments, we had 12 new players to our WBO tournaments (7 new players at First Xperience and 5 at Lemon Sharks).
- This means 12/28 of our X players, or 43%, were new to the WBO.
- This means 12/28 of our X players, or 43%, were new to the WBO.
- Seeing X in-person convinced many existing players who were on the fence.
- 15 of our existing Burst players have played in either tournament, with most of our Burst regulars investing in X.
- 15 of our existing Burst players have played in either tournament, with most of our Burst regulars investing in X.
- Of the 18 players in First Xperience (excluding 2 out of town visitors), 8 returned for our second X format tournament.
- Perhaps most importantly of all, these 2 events have convinced me and the other Vancouver organizer, LoneBagelfafnir, that there is indeed a demand and growing playerbase for X format tournaments.
- All of our 17 Lemon Sharks players are returning in January for our next X tournament - 100% retention rate!
- The next X tournament, with a 25 player cap, is already fully booked 1 week after posting. X has been our most popular format by far.
- At our third tournament, we are expecting 4 new WBO players and 4 new X format players from our existing playerbase.
- At our third tournament, we are expecting 4 new WBO players and 4 new X format players from our existing playerbase.
- X has seen many new players introduced into the community. Many of these I’ve spoken to personally, and are rejoining the game after years of inactivity, having skipped Burst (i.e. from Plastics or Metal Fight generations).
- Tournament thread: https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Lemon-Sharks--109494
- Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qMHu0b75dH6T5FaS2tXRggG3JIezhIGT5V9HdvJspzs
- First Stage Challonge: https://worldbeyblade.challonge.com/LemonSharks
- Final Stage Challonge: https://worldbeyblade.challonge.com/FinalLemonSharks
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