Beyblade Meta Madness Podcast

[Image: VnQVPgi.png]
Logo designed by LazerBeamz

Hey guys! Wombat and I have been hosting an (almost) monthly podcast since late July, and now that we've gotten ourselves established, I figured I'd share the link. While we cover new and upcoming releases, our focus is primarily on tournament happenings, ban discussion, and the current Beyblade meta. We're also on iTunes (leave us a 5 star review!), Google PlaySpotify, and anywhere else that comes up when you search Beyblade Meta Madness. Check it out and let us know what you think!

NEW EPISODE 10: BEYBLADE, WEST COAST STYLE [FEATURING LAZERBEAMZ]

Episode 1: Revive Phoenix, Hazard Kerbeus, Limited Format Bans, and the Burst meta [Guest Starring Sniper]
Episode 2: Beytubers, Buster Xcalibur, Yamiterios, and Beyblade Burst Turbo [Guest Starring Kevo]
Episode 3: Turbo, Dead Hades, World Championships, and the UK Tournament Scene [Guest Starring KJ and Basedsamuraij]
Episode 4: WBO 10th Anniversary Special [Guest Starring ~Mana~]
Episode 5: ChoZ Achilles, Slingshock, #BanBearing, and the Burst Meta [Guest Starring JoJo]
Episode 6: WBBA in Southeast Asia [Guest Starring KingSpin, krandak100, and Blader Emu]
Episode 7: The Early WBO Days, Beyblade in Japan, Gatchi, and Classic [Guest Starring Kei]
Episode 8: The State of the WBO, Classic Changes, and an Unhealthy Standard Meta [Starring Angry Face and Cake]
Episode 9: Beyblade Soccer Moms, Attack Makes a Comeback and Burst Classic Goes Metal [Starring Shindog and Firecracker]
Episode 6 is now up! We were lucky enough to chat with three bladers from Southeast Asia - KingSpin from Singapore, krandak100 from Malaysia, and Blader Emu from the Philippines. Definitely one of our most interesting episodes so far!

We're currently working on getting the podcast on Spotify, and since a few people have requested uploads to Youtube I might try that out too! We're also in dire need of a better logo, so if anyone here is into graphic design, please hit me up haha
(Feb. 18, 2019  3:49 AM)The Supreme One Wrote: Episode 6 is now up! We were lucky enough to chat with three bladers from Southeast Asia - KingSpin from Singapore, krandak100 from Malaysia, and Blader Emu from the Philippines. Definitely one of our most interesting episodes so far!

We're currently working on getting the podcast on Spotify, and since a few people have requested uploads to Youtube I might try that out too! We're also in dire need of a better logo, so if anyone here is into graphic design, please hit me up haha

Hey @[The Supreme One] and @[Wombat] this sounds dope! Happy to make a logo for you guys if you're interested!
(Feb. 18, 2019  10:53 AM)LazerBeamz Wrote:
(Feb. 18, 2019  3:49 AM)The Supreme One Wrote: Episode 6 is now up! We were lucky enough to chat with three bladers from Southeast Asia - KingSpin from Singapore, krandak100 from Malaysia, and Blader Emu from the Philippines. Definitely one of our most interesting episodes so far!

We're currently working on getting the podcast on Spotify, and since a few people have requested uploads to Youtube I might try that out too! We're also in dire need of a better logo, so if anyone here is into graphic design, please hit me up haha

Hey @[The Supreme One] and @[Wombat] this sounds dope! Happy to make a logo for you guys if you're interested!

That would be awesome! Love the graphics you've designed already, so I would gladly take you up on that Smile
Please dont ban bearing its the only way i can win!!!
(Feb. 18, 2019  5:55 PM)lilphilyb Wrote: Please dont ban bearing its the only way i can win!!!
Same. Unless you have Xt+.
I dont i only have Xtend -S for the Xtends
This is my first time listening to this podcast and I really enjoyed it a lot! I love hearing about the different Beyblade communities around the world and the different experiences that people have within them! I'm looking forward to listening to the previous episodes that I missed, especially the one with Jojo as a guest!
(Feb. 19, 2019  5:43 PM)yukenta Wrote: This is my first time listening to this podcast and I really enjoyed it a lot! I love hearing about the different Beyblade communities around the world and the different experiences that people have within them! I'm looking forward to listening to the previous episodes that I missed, especially the one with Jojo as a guest!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! This episode was one of my favorites to record Smile We're also on Spotify now, and plan to post the episodes on Youtube before Episode 7 is recorded!
(Feb. 19, 2019  6:49 PM)The Supreme One Wrote:
(Feb. 19, 2019  5:43 PM)yukenta Wrote: This is my first time listening to this podcast and I really enjoyed it a lot! I love hearing about the different Beyblade communities around the world and the different experiences that people have within them! I'm looking forward to listening to the previous episodes that I missed, especially the one with Jojo as a guest!

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it! This episode was one of my favorites to record Smile We're also on Spotify now, and plan to post the episodes on Youtube before Episode 7 is recorded!
Yay. I cant wait to listen to more content. I legit got in trouble last night for listening to the 2 latest podcasts.
Episode 7 is now live! A huge thank you to @[Kei] for joining us for this one. With over a decade of competitive Beyblade experience, his perspective is truly valuable Smile Who should we invite on for episode 8?
Thanks for having me. It's the first time I've ever done a podcast so I was a little bit nervous, but I hope everyone enjoys! It was a lot of fun.

Really glad you've started this @[The Supreme One] @[Wombat]; I've always thought it would be cool to have a podcast like this dedicated to Beyblade. Keep it up!
"[Choose 3 beys, select one each round] format idea weeds out random kid phenomenon"

Adding hurdles for new players to jump through is not conducive to growing a thriving community.

The community doesn't need additional gatekeeping designed to keep newer players from doing well in tournaments, that would be received badly by those players. Unpredictability is a valid strategy, and a real factor in the game; newer players can be unpredictable because they're new. Other players can be unpredictable as a valid strategy, keeping the opponents guessing so that they pick a bey yours is strong again. It can be frustrating, sure. Poker's the same way, sometimes you can make good decisions, the best decisions, and still lose, because your opponent made a bad decision, but they won anyway. It is not correct to assume that years of experience automatically entitles you to beat newer players with less information about their combos; sometimes they're going to beat you anyway. That's just the nature of the game, there are no certainties once the beys leave the launchers, there is no longer any control.

I think the Japanese deck format is interesting and would be a lot of fun in club format, but I think the motivations for it discussed during episode 7 were perhaps a bit mean spirited.
(Mar. 26, 2019  4:31 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: Adding hurdles for new players to jump through is not conducive to growing a thriving community.

The community doesn't need additional gatekeeping designed to keep newer players from doing well in tournaments, that would be received badly by those players.

Retention plays a big factor in maintaining and growing a community. This move may increase the friction for new players joining because they can't lucksack their way to winning games, but it will also reduce the propensity of people quitting because they're frustrated of losing games they shouldn't be losing.

(Mar. 26, 2019  4:31 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: Poker's the same way, sometimes you can make good decisions, the best decisions, and still lose, because your opponent made a bad decision, but they won anyway.

Poker requires both luck and skill, but the difference is that you have control of the game flow once the cards are dealt - you can use skill to bluff your opponent into a fold even with a bad hand. In this game, you don't have that luxury after you launch. It's quite a bad example to compare the game to IMO.

(Mar. 26, 2019  4:31 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: It is not correct to assume that years of experience automatically entitles you to beat newer players with less information about their combos; sometimes they're going to beat you anyway. That's just the nature of the game, there are no certainties once the beys leave the launchers, there is no longer any control.

Likewise, it isn't a guarantee experienced players are definitely going to beat newer players once they have information about their combos. Having said that, I think the general consensus about what the game should be may not apply to everyone, including people like yourself. You envision the game as being more luck-dependant, while it seems the community is more in favour of making it skill-based.
(Mar. 26, 2019  4:31 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: "[Choose 3 beys, select one each round] format idea weeds out random kid phenomenon"

Adding hurdles for new players to jump through is not conducive to growing a thriving community.

The community doesn't need additional gatekeeping designed to keep newer players from doing well in tournaments, that would be received badly by those players. Unpredictability is a valid strategy, and a real factor in the game; newer players can be unpredictable because they're new. Other players can be unpredictable as a valid strategy, keeping the opponents guessing so that they pick a bey yours is strong again. It can be frustrating, sure. Poker's the same way, sometimes you can make good decisions, the best decisions, and still lose, because your opponent made a bad decision, but they won anyway. It is not correct to assume that years of experience automatically entitles you to beat newer players with less information about their combos; sometimes they're going to beat you anyway. That's just the nature of the game, there are no certainties once the beys leave the launchers, there is no longer any control.

I think the Japanese deck format is interesting and would be a lot of fun in club format, but I think the motivations for it discussed during episode 7 were perhaps a bit mean spirited.

Hey DeceasedCrab, I think a better place to discuss this might be the proposal thread itself. I'm also not sure I understand what you mean when you say that you think the motivations for discussing the Japanese deck format were mean-spirited. I don't think any of us had any intentions other than expressing our own opinions and weighing the pros and cons here.
I am a proponent for the chose 3 pick 1. The WBO deck format is the biggest “hurdle” for new players in my opinion. The chose 3 pick 1 is one way for less experienced players to start thinking in terms of deck building.
As someone that isn’t as familiar with much of the history of Beyblades, the WBO, or even the mechanics behind the parts — these podcasts have been engrossing and informative. They’re helping me fill in the gaps.

I am skipping around and I’ve only listened to a few so far, but at this point, Episode 6 is possibly the most interesting one to me.

Nice work.
(Mar. 26, 2019  5:49 AM)The Supreme One Wrote:
(Mar. 26, 2019  4:31 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: I think the motivations for it discussed during episode 7 were perhaps a bit mean spirited.

I'm also not sure I understand what you mean when you say that you think the motivations for discussing the Japanese deck format were mean-spirited.

That's not what I said, as seen above. I said some of the motivations in favor of it, for it, were mean spirited. Discussing the format is fine, and in some cases it's a good or interesting idea. But supporting it to solve something called "random kid problem" (which I disagree is a problem at all) is mean spirited.

If you want discussions about the podcast to kept out of the podcast thread, then close the podcast thread, and reopen it only to announce new episodes, and then close it again. Otherwise, you should expect discussions about the podcast content within its thread.
@[The Supreme One], Wombat posted the Pick 3 Choose 1 thread in the Organizer's Circle so he might not be able to reply there. I think it's fine to discuss here as it is related directly to an episode of the podcast.

(Mar. 26, 2019  7:37 PM)DeceasedCrab Wrote:
(Mar. 26, 2019  5:49 AM)The Supreme One Wrote: I'm also not sure I understand what you mean when you say that you think the motivations for discussing the Japanese deck format were mean-spirited.

That's not what I said, as seen above. I said some of the motivations in favor of it, for it, were mean spirited. Discussing the format is fine, and in some cases it's a good or interesting idea. But supporting it to solve something called "random kid problem" (which I disagree is a problem at all) is mean spirited.

If you want discussions about the podcast to kept out of the podcast thread, then close the podcast thread, and reopen it only to announce new episodes, and then close it again. Otherwise, you should expect discussions about the podcast content within its thread.

I think we're getting mixed up here: the Pick 3 Choose 1 idea is different than the WBBA Deck Format discussed in the episode. They're two separate things.

I expressed my concerns about Pick 3 Choose 1 in the episode, and I think that my opinion generally aligns with yours that "Adding hurdles for new players to jump through is not conducive to growing a thriving community". And ultimately, the chances are that if you are a good player, most of the time you are not going to lose to random people if you pay attention to what is going on around you in your community and the metagame.

The way our tournaments are run now is pretty optimal as the battle format with a smaller barrier to entry is used for the first stage, while the one (Deck Format) which has a higher barrier to entry and involves more strategy is locked behind the wall of the Final Stage where the best, most prepared players will reach.

In that sense, I'm happy with it and am hesitant to create a more complicated experience in the First Stage with "Pick 3 Choose 1", even if it does arguably require more knowledge/skill objectively speaking. But as we discussed on the podcast, while we need to cater to hardcore players we also need to be careful about how we treat new players as well. Because ultimately, people come and go ... so it's important that we are as welcoming as is reasonably possible so people stick around for longer. It's a delicate balance we need to tread.
My apologies - I hadn't realized that he would be unable to reply. I think Kei's post really summarized my thoughts as well - the WBBA deck format is not one that we on the WBO are adapting. Our reason for discussing that was simply because Kei is able to give us more insight into the format as someone who has played with members of the Japanese community.

The pick 3 choose 1 proposal, to clarify, is one that we are considering specifically for single elimination where an element of skill is needed because there is no opportunity to lose and make it to deck finals. It is inspired by the WBBA deck format but the two are largely unrelated. Although I would love to see the format expanded to double elimination, I recognize that not everyone shares that view, and I think the conversation between Kei who voices an opinion more similar to yours and Wombat and I is the dynamic that we want to have on the podcast where an argument is presented for both viewpoints.

Although there is certainly a balance between appealing to casual, inexperienced players and catering to the competitive side, our ranked tournaments aim to create a competitive environment. This is why I believe that allowing for competitors to have more information about their opponent without relying on sneakier tactics like scouting is a positive addition to our current format.
@[Kei] you talked about the Japanese using single format for qualifiers and only switching to deck format for the finals. Can I clarify if that applies to both official WBBA tournaments, or only Waribey unofficial tournaments?

From what I hear, other countries that follow the WBBA format (SG, MY, TW, HK, etc) all use deck format from start to finish.

Also, you mentioned there being at least one attack type in most player’s deck. I think part of the reason that is so, is because of the need for a sacrifice bey like you mentioned in the podcast. They know they probably won’t get mileage for another stamina/defence combo if the parts aren’t optimal, so they might as well use an attack type as its a better wildcard.

Anyway, I concur with TSO on the point about scouting. It is so taxing and takes away so much fun from competing. Every tournament feels like a intel warfare. It’s even worse for the WBBA format my country uses - it’s three times the beys we have to remember.

Newer players seldom are able to recognize parts, let alone go around observing and memorizing the combos that their subsequent opponent will use. This probably cripples them more than anything.
I think WBO deck format is the ideal and most fun way to play beyblade.  It is truly a gem.  My 7yo son who has been blading for less than a year prefers it much more than the single bey format.  He tells me “ I like see what they do and think about what I need to do to win”.  He is that random kid (he doesn’t find this offensive).  He has made it to the finals 4 times I think.  Whenever he doesn’t make it to the finals he is disappointed that he can’t get to the “good” part of the game.

My feeling has been that the best part of the game has been kept behind a “wall”.  I just feel the chose 3 pick 1 might be a good middle ground.  My son and I both would prefer deck format all the way, but having organized a couple of tournaments  I can see that is just not practical.

I think there is a lot to be said about making the game accessible.  But I think presenting the game to newcomers in a more strategic and interesting form can also help grow the game.
Maybe one episode with Bey BradSmile