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Kerb Your Enthusiasm:
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I got to judge the Classic tournament today! I really did miss that. We ran 4 beystadiums. There was a huge variety of both TT and Hasbro of many different parts. That's what I like about Burst Classic, you get variety, instead of COMPLETE META STAGNATION that you get in Burst Standard.
I went 3-2. I lost to bladekid and NateRoss. You know what? Valid, they're good bladers. They defeated me. Didn't make it to finals, hey, no worries. It'd been ages since I did Burst Classic and I couldn't remember half the good combos I'd used. I remember them now, but they still would've probably beat me.
We ended up having 30 entrants (43 registered! Oof!) so it was a 5 round swiss.
Using Drift on Dragoon was a MISTAKE. That thing can make Bearing look like a dash driver. The only reason it works on DB layers is because those have incredible burst resistance. Between the driver weakness and the self-KO risk, Drift is safe for Classic. Almost no one used it and it's just such a dangerous choice.
Zone'+Z is not a cure-all. It's really not as good as Bearing for spin stealing and LAD. It's good, but not that good. It is not Bearing'. You might actually leave that one in Burst Classic format.
Let's talk about Venture+V. There was some mulling over whether this should be allowed. It's a heavy driver, it's stronger than a dash driver, and it has a plastic cylinder tip. It can tornado stall a bit, but it's got some self-KO risk, and the LAD is actually kind of sub-par because of the spikes near the plastic ring. I gave up on using this kind of quickly because I self-KOed too much. It might have potential in Standard, but in Classic I worry that it's just going to lead to self-destruction.
Orpheus O2 is still quite good for Hasbro in Classic.
We got a three way tie for 3-2 with 9.0 buchholz. Two of the three had match history, but not three of the three. So, mini round robin for those three. G went 0-2, Requiem went 1-1, and NateRoss went 2-0. Solves the "who's going to finals" issue kind of cleanly. Y'all fought well, I judged all of those matches!
My butt hurts. Sitting on the ground judging matches at the ground beystadiums hurts. I have a butt cushion and all, but it still hurts. I am old and tired.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Once again, we had 10 younger bladers who saw the words "Beyblade", registered for the tournament, and didn't read any details such as "Burst Classic" or stop to ask questions. They showed up with recent Hasbros or recent TTs. One was combining TT tips on Hasbro layers. And of course their parents didn't attempt to help them understand the web pages they were reading. We attempted to get some of them parts valid to the tournament prior to the start. Folks, this is an insolvable problem: most of the newer bladers and parents aren't going to read. Attention to detail is a skill that is not valued among people. It's Grim. We can't make them take a test or verify that they have valid parts before showing up, because Literacy Tests, historically, are gross and terrible. We're always going to have kids and parents who don't pay attention. But I like this format too much to say we should get rid of it. They'll just have to learn for next time. But it does keep happening.
As you all know (ought to know), the WBO COVID-19 restrictions are now "strong recommendations" rather than requirements. Basically 90% of the participants and parents were unmasked. And the rules being what they are, no one has any right or ability to argue with people over not wearing masks. The opposite is also true. If someone is wearing a mask, no one has any right or ability to argue with people over choosing to wear a mask, whether or not they need it or whether or not they are vaccinated. BLADERS, KEEP YOURSELVES AND YOUR PARENTS IN CHECK. IF THEY HAVE STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT MASKS, INSTRUCT THEM TO KEEP IT TO THEMSELVES. And if you can't or won't do that, and they decide to "start some meaningless beef over wearing a mask or not wearing a mask", you're the one who faces potential issues attending tournaments in the future. We're not going to have that happen again.
The sportsmanship rules keep coming up, especially during finals. And I'm seeing some disturbing trends from the same people. I ain't naming names yet. But if this keeps happening we're going to address it at tournaments.
In the finals, you're supposed to show up to the stadium with your 1-3 beys already chosen, according to the Organizer's Guide and Burst Classic rules. But what tends to happen is the bladers get there, and mull over their choice of beyblades for entirely too long. We're supposed to limit you to 3 minutes, and for some of you we need to start enforcing that. Sometimes, if they find a part is missing from the boxes they brought with them, they might ask to to fetch it from where they've been sitting. This is not ideal and might not be permitted. The rules on beyblade selection and deck format are incredibly vague sometimes. As long as they haven't seen the opponent's deck at all, I can't think of a good reason to refuse this, because I would rather that bladers lose fair and square from deck format play rather than lose because they weren't able to use the parts they wanted to use. But this is becoming a problem in tournaments. Bladers, going forward, you will find that we will be timing your selection phase (which you were supposed to prepare AHEAD OF TIME in deck format) and limiting your ability to run around looking for parts you left somewhere else. Get a grip, bladers! Focus up!
I get that it's "suspicious" when your opponent takes way too long and moves around suspiciously during the bey selection phase. But that's more just annoying than it is evidence of cheating. If you suspect foul play, have actual evidence. Do NOT let your sportsmanship decrease just because you did not win a match. If it becomes a pattern, the solution is just to have you not continue to participate in WBO events.
You do not need to second guess the judge's call without evidence. If you have definitive video evidence that indicates the judge was wrong, fine, show the judge. But attempting to provide additional video review to the judge when they've already made their call and deemed that it was more or less a tie? Especially if you have impartiality problems based on who the bladers in the match are? That's not great. If I want video evidence, I'll use my own camera or ask an impartial bystander.
Someone left early, again, without telling organizers. Yet another different person this time. At the start of tournaments going forward, we need to tell everyone the rules about leaving; that didn't happen today. They won their first match and then disappeared without telling anyone. If you're going to leave, at least tell the organizer. Don't just bail without letting someone know.
I asked recent organizers and processors about how they processed the recent noshows, over a week ago, and was ignored. So I asked Kei and Mana for clarification yesterday. And according to the read receipts, they haven't read my questions. Cripes the rules are vague sometimes. And the two ruling clarification questions I had last tournament report? Still unanswered. I'm a little vexed about that, to be honest.
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Metal Fight Beyblade VS The Sun: Sol Blaze, the Scorching Hot Invader
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I didn't judge this one, I have trouble knowing the MFB parts, spotting midfakes, and memorizing the parts. It's better that I don't.
We had actual BB-10 stadiums! Good times! Frankly, I enjoy all the KOs. It's a fun format. All that plastic shielding just gets in the way.
We had a 14 person group round robin! Two groups of 7! MFB Limited!
I went 4-2, which was just good enough to get me to the finals. I am not particularly good at MFB, I only started it a year and a half ago and don't know what I'm doing, but I have some decent parts. Decent enough to make it to the finals and get destroyed in deck format, this being the second time of that. I did relatively well with Meteo L-Drago F230CF. It's easy to use it against opponents and is capable of winning against several different types. And a Gravity combo on MF with a lowish track is always good. Gravity's a bit too powerful. Unfortunately, in the finals I had to face Geetster99, and then TSO. And they actually grew up with this format, so their decks were significantly better than mine. They beat me fair and square.
At one point during the finals, I launched my bey. The bey did not enter the stadium. And I realized I was still holding my handle, but the launcher was some feet to my right, as was my bey. "Mislaunch", I weakly complained. As it turned out, the clip holding my launcher to my handle was just... gone. Yeeted into parts unknown. Fun times.
It was fun! One day I'll do better in MFB Limited, but I did fairly well, considering. Had a lot of close, fun matches, and complete annihilations in finals.
Tragedy struck after the 3rd place match. TSO wanted to know if my weird defense on RB combo would withstand her attack layer. The results were inconclusive but it broke her horn spin track, which was troubling and unfortunate. Sorry about that TSO!
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Two tournaments in one day is A LOT. I'm way too 38 years old to handle judging/participating in two back to back tournaments. I'm so tired. Glad to have had such a good time today, but tired. So tired.
I had a lot of fun today, but there's definitely some issues that need to be addressed.
Kerb Your Enthusiasm:
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I got to judge the Classic tournament today! I really did miss that. We ran 4 beystadiums. There was a huge variety of both TT and Hasbro of many different parts. That's what I like about Burst Classic, you get variety, instead of COMPLETE META STAGNATION that you get in Burst Standard.
I went 3-2. I lost to bladekid and NateRoss. You know what? Valid, they're good bladers. They defeated me. Didn't make it to finals, hey, no worries. It'd been ages since I did Burst Classic and I couldn't remember half the good combos I'd used. I remember them now, but they still would've probably beat me.
We ended up having 30 entrants (43 registered! Oof!) so it was a 5 round swiss.
Using Drift on Dragoon was a MISTAKE. That thing can make Bearing look like a dash driver. The only reason it works on DB layers is because those have incredible burst resistance. Between the driver weakness and the self-KO risk, Drift is safe for Classic. Almost no one used it and it's just such a dangerous choice.
Zone'+Z is not a cure-all. It's really not as good as Bearing for spin stealing and LAD. It's good, but not that good. It is not Bearing'. You might actually leave that one in Burst Classic format.
Let's talk about Venture+V. There was some mulling over whether this should be allowed. It's a heavy driver, it's stronger than a dash driver, and it has a plastic cylinder tip. It can tornado stall a bit, but it's got some self-KO risk, and the LAD is actually kind of sub-par because of the spikes near the plastic ring. I gave up on using this kind of quickly because I self-KOed too much. It might have potential in Standard, but in Classic I worry that it's just going to lead to self-destruction.
Orpheus O2 is still quite good for Hasbro in Classic.
We got a three way tie for 3-2 with 9.0 buchholz. Two of the three had match history, but not three of the three. So, mini round robin for those three. G went 0-2, Requiem went 1-1, and NateRoss went 2-0. Solves the "who's going to finals" issue kind of cleanly. Y'all fought well, I judged all of those matches!
My butt hurts. Sitting on the ground judging matches at the ground beystadiums hurts. I have a butt cushion and all, but it still hurts. I am old and tired.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Once again, we had 10 younger bladers who saw the words "Beyblade", registered for the tournament, and didn't read any details such as "Burst Classic" or stop to ask questions. They showed up with recent Hasbros or recent TTs. One was combining TT tips on Hasbro layers. And of course their parents didn't attempt to help them understand the web pages they were reading. We attempted to get some of them parts valid to the tournament prior to the start. Folks, this is an insolvable problem: most of the newer bladers and parents aren't going to read. Attention to detail is a skill that is not valued among people. It's Grim. We can't make them take a test or verify that they have valid parts before showing up, because Literacy Tests, historically, are gross and terrible. We're always going to have kids and parents who don't pay attention. But I like this format too much to say we should get rid of it. They'll just have to learn for next time. But it does keep happening.
As you all know (ought to know), the WBO COVID-19 restrictions are now "strong recommendations" rather than requirements. Basically 90% of the participants and parents were unmasked. And the rules being what they are, no one has any right or ability to argue with people over not wearing masks. The opposite is also true. If someone is wearing a mask, no one has any right or ability to argue with people over choosing to wear a mask, whether or not they need it or whether or not they are vaccinated. BLADERS, KEEP YOURSELVES AND YOUR PARENTS IN CHECK. IF THEY HAVE STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT MASKS, INSTRUCT THEM TO KEEP IT TO THEMSELVES. And if you can't or won't do that, and they decide to "start some meaningless beef over wearing a mask or not wearing a mask", you're the one who faces potential issues attending tournaments in the future. We're not going to have that happen again.
The sportsmanship rules keep coming up, especially during finals. And I'm seeing some disturbing trends from the same people. I ain't naming names yet. But if this keeps happening we're going to address it at tournaments.
In the finals, you're supposed to show up to the stadium with your 1-3 beys already chosen, according to the Organizer's Guide and Burst Classic rules. But what tends to happen is the bladers get there, and mull over their choice of beyblades for entirely too long. We're supposed to limit you to 3 minutes, and for some of you we need to start enforcing that. Sometimes, if they find a part is missing from the boxes they brought with them, they might ask to to fetch it from where they've been sitting. This is not ideal and might not be permitted. The rules on beyblade selection and deck format are incredibly vague sometimes. As long as they haven't seen the opponent's deck at all, I can't think of a good reason to refuse this, because I would rather that bladers lose fair and square from deck format play rather than lose because they weren't able to use the parts they wanted to use. But this is becoming a problem in tournaments. Bladers, going forward, you will find that we will be timing your selection phase (which you were supposed to prepare AHEAD OF TIME in deck format) and limiting your ability to run around looking for parts you left somewhere else. Get a grip, bladers! Focus up!
I get that it's "suspicious" when your opponent takes way too long and moves around suspiciously during the bey selection phase. But that's more just annoying than it is evidence of cheating. If you suspect foul play, have actual evidence. Do NOT let your sportsmanship decrease just because you did not win a match. If it becomes a pattern, the solution is just to have you not continue to participate in WBO events.
You do not need to second guess the judge's call without evidence. If you have definitive video evidence that indicates the judge was wrong, fine, show the judge. But attempting to provide additional video review to the judge when they've already made their call and deemed that it was more or less a tie? Especially if you have impartiality problems based on who the bladers in the match are? That's not great. If I want video evidence, I'll use my own camera or ask an impartial bystander.
Someone left early, again, without telling organizers. Yet another different person this time. At the start of tournaments going forward, we need to tell everyone the rules about leaving; that didn't happen today. They won their first match and then disappeared without telling anyone. If you're going to leave, at least tell the organizer. Don't just bail without letting someone know.
I asked recent organizers and processors about how they processed the recent noshows, over a week ago, and was ignored. So I asked Kei and Mana for clarification yesterday. And according to the read receipts, they haven't read my questions. Cripes the rules are vague sometimes. And the two ruling clarification questions I had last tournament report? Still unanswered. I'm a little vexed about that, to be honest.
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Metal Fight Beyblade VS The Sun: Sol Blaze, the Scorching Hot Invader
---
I didn't judge this one, I have trouble knowing the MFB parts, spotting midfakes, and memorizing the parts. It's better that I don't.
We had actual BB-10 stadiums! Good times! Frankly, I enjoy all the KOs. It's a fun format. All that plastic shielding just gets in the way.
We had a 14 person group round robin! Two groups of 7! MFB Limited!
I went 4-2, which was just good enough to get me to the finals. I am not particularly good at MFB, I only started it a year and a half ago and don't know what I'm doing, but I have some decent parts. Decent enough to make it to the finals and get destroyed in deck format, this being the second time of that. I did relatively well with Meteo L-Drago F230CF. It's easy to use it against opponents and is capable of winning against several different types. And a Gravity combo on MF with a lowish track is always good. Gravity's a bit too powerful. Unfortunately, in the finals I had to face Geetster99, and then TSO. And they actually grew up with this format, so their decks were significantly better than mine. They beat me fair and square.
At one point during the finals, I launched my bey. The bey did not enter the stadium. And I realized I was still holding my handle, but the launcher was some feet to my right, as was my bey. "Mislaunch", I weakly complained. As it turned out, the clip holding my launcher to my handle was just... gone. Yeeted into parts unknown. Fun times.
It was fun! One day I'll do better in MFB Limited, but I did fairly well, considering. Had a lot of close, fun matches, and complete annihilations in finals.
Tragedy struck after the 3rd place match. TSO wanted to know if my weird defense on RB combo would withstand her attack layer. The results were inconclusive but it broke her horn spin track, which was troubling and unfortunate. Sorry about that TSO!
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Two tournaments in one day is A LOT. I'm way too 38 years old to handle judging/participating in two back to back tournaments. I'm so tired. Glad to have had such a good time today, but tired. So tired.
I had a lot of fun today, but there's definitely some issues that need to be addressed.
