I would like to see Zwei as the winner in that match.  To To me, Zwei KOed Imperial first.  Zwei does later also gets KOed but this occurs when Imperial is spinning in the pocket/penalty area/Hazard zone/extended play area.  I would prefer to see no win conditions for the bey in the pocket/penalty area/hazard zone/extended play area.

PS.
This just came to me.  It would be interesting to know how someone seeing a Beyblade battle for the first time would judge this.  Just curious to see what is more “natural.”  I shall experiment.


PPS.
I just asked someone who is basically foreign to Beyblade which bey they think won.  And she said Imperial.  She then immediately asked what the rule was about being in the pocket, but her first impression was Imperial spun longer and it should have won.  Just a fun experiment.

The rules should be kept simple. There is only 1 play area. Bey gets into pocket is considered out of play area hence KO. But bey is allowed to bounce back to play, consider that as revival.
In the case from video, Imperial KO first, followed by Zwei. No one revive. Zwei wins.

The rules should be kept simple. There is only 1 play area. Bey gets into pocket is considered out of play area hence KO. But bey is allowed to bounce back to play, consider that as revival.
In the case from video, Imperial KO first, followed by Zwei. No one revive. Zwei wins.

Yes, I 100% agree with this. I just think it's insane to say Zwei lost (even though that was the official ruling.)

In the Battle Imperial entered the pocket first. However, it was still technically spinning on the edge of the stadium after Zwei left the stadium entirely. I would say with extended play area Imperial should be the winner. That's just my opinion though.

While I can certainly see where you're coming from (part of Imperial's layer was still on the stadium floor/"primary play area") Personally, I feel that Zwei would be the winner. It made contact with Imperial, and as a result of that contact Imperial was knocked into a pocket. If it was a simultaneous KO, then it would be a draw.

I also would like to note that ruling otherwise, simply because part of a beyblade's layer was still in contact with the stadium floor, could potentially lead to a massive number of layers becoming unviable, simply because they are not wide enough to take advantage of this ruling. Also, younger players might get confused as to why they lost a round despite having knocked out their opponent.

Overall, I'm a fan of the new ruling that Kei came up with, it's relatively universal between stadiums/generations, and fairly easy for me to understand. My main concern at the moment is how easy it is for younger players and their parents to understand.

The rules should be kept simple. There is only 1 play area. Bey gets into pocket is considered out of play area hence KO. But bey is allowed to bounce back to play, consider that as revival.
In the case from video, Imperial KO first, followed by Zwei. No one revive. Zwei wins.

yep This is easier to understand for children and would also eliminate the possible grey area on who touched the floor(in the pocket) first.

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone! I'll post my thoughts more later as I'd like to get everyone's natural opinions based on what they're watching.

I've also posted this on my Twitter/Instagram (with Japanese included as I'd also like to get the perspective from Japanese players if possible especially given that the video was shot in Japan). Hopefully I'll get some more responses on those platforms to.

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It's nice to see discussions about this without me having to initiate them and without the negativity it had in the past. In all seriousness though, Zwei won in my eyes. Even though the WBBA is an excellent benchmark for play, they're not perfect. Playing the game with the ruling in favor of Imperial in that match would only confuse and upset people, which is exactly what I want to avoid as the current knockout rules confuse and upset people, specifically younger individuals. I want the game to feel as good as possible to as many people as possible. It's obviously impossible to make everyone happy, but a proper update to this rule will go a long way in making a lot of people enjoy the game more than they currently do.

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I'm not a miracle, I'm a heaven-sent instrument.

I'm going to agree with the majority. Zwei definitely won. I believe that the judge used the logic that, if the Bey can feasibly come back because it hasn't touched the floor at the bottom of the pocket, it still counts as in-play. I think the ideal way to deal with this is by treating a KO like a pending penalty or court case. If Imperial had come back from that, the "penalty" would've been lifted and it would've won the point (like being proven innocent in trial), but it lost because it entered the Extended Play Area before Zwei and neither of them came back out. Enforcing the decision that the judge made in that match would invalidate more usage of big Layers/Components, such as Imperial (which is already considered to be very good) and decrease the usage of more niche Layers/Components, such as the Knockout Base. I'm sure that Takara Tomy didn't foresee making Layers as big as Imperial when designing the B-09 Stadium, so we should probably go with what the original intention of those pockets was: a Beyblade gets KOed if it stays in there. There shouldn't be a Beyblade that's getting an unfair advantage from a design flaw, especially with the metaphorical vacuum that WBO rulings are trying to put Beyblades in. Sure, a Stadium has its limits that can make some parts less viable than they could be, but a player should be able to focus on whether or not a combo can counter popular combos using logic and/or physics in a vacuum rather than needing to consider some cheap way for either Bey to win.
Also, in a kind of similar vein, I want to mention a possible rule change for self-KOs in the spoiler tag.

Spoiler (Click to View)

I'm not sure which country this rule idea is inspired from, but I think it was Malaysia. The idea is to have one "get out of jail free card" for no-contact KOs. Your first self-KO doesn't count for points, and all the others will have to count. This is technically already part of the WBO rules as a way to go a bit easier on newer or younger players, but it's left to the judge's discretion. This is just another thing to keep track of when judging, which can be annoying to deal with. Even more annoying than that? Losing the first place match because you self-KOed while the score was 4-4. Especially if that was your first self-KO of the whole match, or even of the whole tournament. I'm not speaking from experience, but I know it would be heart-breaking to lose such a close match in such an anticlimactic way. Also, this can kind of be a mini-buff for Attack combos to make up for the wall bounce rules if they get changed because players of all skill levels can accidentally launch their Beys into the pocket. Not going to say any names, but this definitely would've helped a certain highly ranked player in Beigoma Blues...

Hi everyone! Thank you all for your patience. It took me a while due to preparation for the Project AIDA announcement and the other article I recently worked on, but I’ve finally compiled all of the feedback on this issue that I collected and published a new article on BeyBase:

Read Now: Where should the “play area” of a Beyblade stadium begin and end? (Extended Play Area vs. Penalty Area)

With tournaments likely to begin restarting around the world this summer in some areas, I think it’s become more important than ever to finally settle this. I'm keen to hear everyone's feedback on the article. Whether it changes your perspective at all, or it doesn't and why.

In the coming weeks the WBO Staff team will be working to finalize and implement whatever definition of "Play Area" and "Knocked-Out" that we agree upon, but certainly we will be looking again at any feedback from the community as well as that is crafted.

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I like the idea that a bey cannot win while within the extended play area.

For the MFB Tornado BeyStadium, we could simply rule that the yellow ramp is not part of the extended play area, but instead the primary play area. We could just define the extended play area as any area that is a plenty pocket or has no floor below it.

Ultimately, I do think that bouncing back in should be a thing since it would make things much easier for judges.

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Give us Assault' re-release, Iron', and Charge'. Give a non-limited re-release of Cho-Z Achilles.
Legend Spriggan on tall attack drivers for Burst Limited is fun.
Against layer powercreep in Burst Limited.

Hi everyone! Thank you all for your patience. It took me a while due to preparation for the Project AIDA announcement and the other article I recently worked on, but I’ve finally compiled all of the feedback on this issue that I collected and published a new article on BeyBase:

Read Now: Where should the “play area” of a Beyblade stadium begin and end? (Extended Play Area vs. Penalty Area)

With tournaments likely to begin restarting around the world this summer in some areas, I think it’s become more important than ever to finally settle this. I'm keen to hear everyone's feedback on the article. Whether it changes your perspective at all, or it doesn't and why.

In the coming weeks the WBO Staff team will be working to finalize and implement whatever definition of "Play Area" and "Knocked-Out" that we agree upon, but certainly we will be looking again at any feedback from the community as well as that is crafted.

Hi Kei, thanks for the write-ups. I enjoyed both pieces... I can't believe I missed that updates from a few months ago.

The "extended play-area" clarification seems like it's crucial for battles involving the Burst Standard Stadium.

In the battle from your first video example, that judge called it correctly... Imperial won. 
But, I do think the idea of "feasible to return" is a good middle ground approach for judging over finishes. IMO, if a beyblade is spinning in the EPA but above the floor, they should be considered in play. If WBO rules that beys not being able to win while spinning in a pocket even though they are still perfectly in play, that would feel too off the mark for me.

Though that would be pertaining only to Burst Standard Stadium rulings.

In the case of your second video example involving the HMS Tornado Balance Stadium, I don't think that area where Wolborg was stuck should even be considered part of the EPA.
If a bey falls down over the edge past the fences, I view that as a KO for that type of stadium.

I believe it might be best to just clarify where the PPA/EPA for each stadium type, and give examples on what could be described as a KO/OS/Burst etc.


Either way, looking forward to an official announcement and rulebook update coming soon!