We had a heck of a tournament today!
- I got to judge Cheetoblader's Hypersphere tournament today. We ran two Beystadiums, because that's all the Hypersphere Beystadiums we had. Two out of Nine people didn't have parts, and needed to borrow. There was a variety of God+ Hasbro layers at the tournament, a fair amount of Outer, Haswheel, and frame discs.
- We had a 9 person round robin, followed by a 4 person single elimination finals.
- We had a relatively new blader come in second place! He didn't bring Hypersphere-legal parts, so he had to borrow some. But more important than the parts, he was just a really good blader. Did exceptionally well, went undefeated in the round robin. We also had a relatively new blader come in fourth place too! He brought his own combos with him, and went 5-3 in the round robin.
- We had some rain problems today. A couple of people didn't show up due to rain, and we were fortunate enough to move the tournament into the nearby library.
- I went 4 and 4. I mostly used G3.Outer.Linear-H. That thing is very good. Some beys will push it against the wall and make it lose stamina, but otherwise it's great at destabilizing and stamina. Used Ogre O4 once, that was a mistake. Attack is not a significant concern in this format, although bursts happen. Cheetoblader and I were both 4-3 and using a G3 combo. His Keep-H beat me fair and square.
- !Zane! and Jad1, I think your mom left her coffee cup at the library, I turned it into the lost and found since you'd already left. If you're near that library again, have her pick it up?
- We realized more or less immediately before the tournament began that that format has Bursts listed as being 2 points. By universal agreement we all switched that down to 1. Bursts were common enough that we did not regret that decision. KOs remained 1.
- We actually had a fair amount of KOs! It's rare, but it happens in the Hypersphere Beystadium. I saw at least 4 times.
- We had a launch in the finals that missed the stadium entirely. It could not be passed off as a mislaunch; the blader in question was preparing their launch a full foot back and then rushing forward and launching. In the past I have strongly discouraged such anime launches. This time around I made it clear that missing the stadium was a point for their opponent.
- One of the first matches in the round robin was between two brothers, and one of them said "No." Which confused me. And his brother said "He doesn't want to." Bladers, please, it's round robin, everyone plays everyone. You'll have to face off eventually. It went forward fine after I explained it. But when an organizer says "This next match is between Bladers A and B" there's no real room for negotiation there; that's the match that's going to happen.
- I did a lot of research on looking for better and newer Hasbro layers. A lot of this effort seems like kind of a waste; Balkesh B3 continues to be VERY effective, Spryzen S3 is still EXTREMELY effective, and G3 is still good as heck. In Hypersphere, bigger doesn't always mean better, and the weight doesn't get you much. Turbo Spryzen and Turbo Achilles are Extremely good in this format and I don't have either. It turns out the Burst Limited ban list is a hilariously good guide for layers to use in this format; we might want to tighten up the banlist for Hypersphere if it's run again.
- There are 31 Hypersphere drivers out there. We saw a fair number of them. They mostly did well but it seems like the layer choice has more of an effect, if you use a reasonable Hypersphere tip.
- My legs hurt. Standing at the tables judging matches without sitting down hurts.
- Challonge went down for a while after the first stage. Bogus. I had to do the single elimination on paper, Cheetoblader filled it in on Challonge later.
- We had some rain problems. We were originally going to run this outside, but the rain chance jumped from 34% to 71% to literally raining. In an act of desparation to save the event, I asked the library nearby if we could use their meeting room, unscheduled. I was... completeley surprised when they said yes?!?!?! What a wonderful library. I tried to minimize the noise we were making by keeping the doors closed, I really did.
- We had someone arrive late. Because it was Round Robin, we could actually finish the ongoing matches and remake the bracket with the additional person. That isn't possible in Swiss. But traffic happens.
- Sometimes the weather conspires against you, and you have to make last minute changes. Not every organizer is going to have a solid plan B for weather, sometimes they'll have to cancel the day of the event, or move it. Organizers are trying their hardest, and sometimes they have difficulty making the time to do tournaments. Cheetoblader can't drive himself, has to rely on his parent to both permit and make time for tournaments. You don't know his situation. So don't scold them over tournament decisions. If you do, trouble happens.
- I know a lot of people didn't show up because it's Hypersphere, an even more restrictive version of Hasbro-only. And I know a lot of people are dismissive of Hasbro's decisions and different directions for Beyblade. I had never played Hypersphere before today. And honestly? I had a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. The non-circular stadium shape led to some very interesting matchups. The half-pipe led to a lot of interesting rail grinding and chases. The shape of the stadium led to some very interesting stamina losses through forced wall contacts.
This was fun as heck, and I look forward to doing it again.
- I got to judge Cheetoblader's Hypersphere tournament today. We ran two Beystadiums, because that's all the Hypersphere Beystadiums we had. Two out of Nine people didn't have parts, and needed to borrow. There was a variety of God+ Hasbro layers at the tournament, a fair amount of Outer, Haswheel, and frame discs.
- We had a 9 person round robin, followed by a 4 person single elimination finals.
- We had a relatively new blader come in second place! He didn't bring Hypersphere-legal parts, so he had to borrow some. But more important than the parts, he was just a really good blader. Did exceptionally well, went undefeated in the round robin. We also had a relatively new blader come in fourth place too! He brought his own combos with him, and went 5-3 in the round robin.
- We had some rain problems today. A couple of people didn't show up due to rain, and we were fortunate enough to move the tournament into the nearby library.
- I went 4 and 4. I mostly used G3.Outer.Linear-H. That thing is very good. Some beys will push it against the wall and make it lose stamina, but otherwise it's great at destabilizing and stamina. Used Ogre O4 once, that was a mistake. Attack is not a significant concern in this format, although bursts happen. Cheetoblader and I were both 4-3 and using a G3 combo. His Keep-H beat me fair and square.
- !Zane! and Jad1, I think your mom left her coffee cup at the library, I turned it into the lost and found since you'd already left. If you're near that library again, have her pick it up?
- We realized more or less immediately before the tournament began that that format has Bursts listed as being 2 points. By universal agreement we all switched that down to 1. Bursts were common enough that we did not regret that decision. KOs remained 1.
- We actually had a fair amount of KOs! It's rare, but it happens in the Hypersphere Beystadium. I saw at least 4 times.
- We had a launch in the finals that missed the stadium entirely. It could not be passed off as a mislaunch; the blader in question was preparing their launch a full foot back and then rushing forward and launching. In the past I have strongly discouraged such anime launches. This time around I made it clear that missing the stadium was a point for their opponent.
- One of the first matches in the round robin was between two brothers, and one of them said "No." Which confused me. And his brother said "He doesn't want to." Bladers, please, it's round robin, everyone plays everyone. You'll have to face off eventually. It went forward fine after I explained it. But when an organizer says "This next match is between Bladers A and B" there's no real room for negotiation there; that's the match that's going to happen.
- I did a lot of research on looking for better and newer Hasbro layers. A lot of this effort seems like kind of a waste; Balkesh B3 continues to be VERY effective, Spryzen S3 is still EXTREMELY effective, and G3 is still good as heck. In Hypersphere, bigger doesn't always mean better, and the weight doesn't get you much. Turbo Spryzen and Turbo Achilles are Extremely good in this format and I don't have either. It turns out the Burst Limited ban list is a hilariously good guide for layers to use in this format; we might want to tighten up the banlist for Hypersphere if it's run again.
- There are 31 Hypersphere drivers out there. We saw a fair number of them. They mostly did well but it seems like the layer choice has more of an effect, if you use a reasonable Hypersphere tip.
- My legs hurt. Standing at the tables judging matches without sitting down hurts.
- Challonge went down for a while after the first stage. Bogus. I had to do the single elimination on paper, Cheetoblader filled it in on Challonge later.
- We had some rain problems. We were originally going to run this outside, but the rain chance jumped from 34% to 71% to literally raining. In an act of desparation to save the event, I asked the library nearby if we could use their meeting room, unscheduled. I was... completeley surprised when they said yes?!?!?! What a wonderful library. I tried to minimize the noise we were making by keeping the doors closed, I really did.
- We had someone arrive late. Because it was Round Robin, we could actually finish the ongoing matches and remake the bracket with the additional person. That isn't possible in Swiss. But traffic happens.
- Sometimes the weather conspires against you, and you have to make last minute changes. Not every organizer is going to have a solid plan B for weather, sometimes they'll have to cancel the day of the event, or move it. Organizers are trying their hardest, and sometimes they have difficulty making the time to do tournaments. Cheetoblader can't drive himself, has to rely on his parent to both permit and make time for tournaments. You don't know his situation. So don't scold them over tournament decisions. If you do, trouble happens.
- I know a lot of people didn't show up because it's Hypersphere, an even more restrictive version of Hasbro-only. And I know a lot of people are dismissive of Hasbro's decisions and different directions for Beyblade. I had never played Hypersphere before today. And honestly? I had a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. The non-circular stadium shape led to some very interesting matchups. The half-pipe led to a lot of interesting rail grinding and chases. The shape of the stadium led to some very interesting stamina losses through forced wall contacts.
This was fun as heck, and I look forward to doing it again.
