May-07-2023: "Fired up for the world cup!" tournament reports

The following are words I have to say about "Fired up for the world cup!", a ranked Burst Standard tournament using P3C1 format.

I recommend the following music for reading the report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmnZ0R8quWM . A little chaos won't hurt you. Most of you probably won't make it past the first few seconds. Very few of you will appreciate the joke.

- We had 31 participants today, making this a 5 round swiss. Everyone got to play at least 5, except for those odd players out who got a bye. No tiebreakers this time.

- 2 participants had to leave after round 4, but they were kind enough to at least tell us instead of just vanishing. Complicated their round 5 match, as they were both facing each other. Oh well.

- We started around 12:15, and the first round went until about 3:00. The tournament itself wrapped up around 4. We had to start a little late, but less late than usual. We had 4 running beystadiums total, we were expecting up to 40 people, so we were preparing for the difficulties of 6 round swiss. Not many idle beystadiums this time until the ends of rounds. Some people just take longer than others in their matches, that's life. I did a lot of judging today. I just sort of set up the tarps in the middle area, weight them down, and parked folding chairs there for the judges, and just sat down in one of them. I'm an infrastructure guy, it's what I do.

- People mistook me for Friedpasta a bunch of times today, or at least called me pasta. At least two people, and it happened 3 times. Sorry pasta, but I am apparently the Bad Future you have to look forward to. My recommendation? Go back into the past, defeat the Metal Sonic projector, and free the flower pods so that it creates a better future where you don't wind up being me. And if you get the Chaos Emeralds along the way, then Pasta could then become Super Pasta.

- The weather was very nice outside, and we were outdoors. Very cloudy. Not too hot, warm, not too much wind. Honestly, best Beyblade weather. By the time I showed up we had the entire pavilion, didn't have to do any waiting or weird setups. It didn't start raining until the tournament had ended.

- This was using Pick 3 Choose 1. My second least favorite format, behind WBO Deck format. But I'm actually starting to get the hang of it, as my first round successes indicate.

- I ran into only one situation where we had two ties in a row on two bladers with equal score, and it happened right in the first round. They had to repick from their two remaining beys for the remaining points.

- We had a lot of close matches today! Instead of 3-0 or 3-1 routs, we had a lot of 3-2 close matches. I really appreciated the fighting spirit on display today and the tenacity of the bladers. It was well fought overall!

- I didn't run into any fake parts today, I suspect others did. I DID run into one blader who intentionally mixed Hasbro layer and TT Tip. He was in the middle of telling us how apparently someone in another match had a TT tip on a Hasbro layer in a previous match. And while I'm inspecting his deck, I disassemble his bey, look at it, see a Hasbro QR code, and then look at his tip, which is definitely a TT rise. And the gears start turning in my brain. My eye starts twitching. And then he laughs, and admits he did it to test me. Well, I was well and truly vexed, but I just handed it back to him and said please fix it. He put a Hasbro Yard-S tip on it. IN HINDSIGHT, I should have invalidated that layer for any further tournament play since there was potential damage to the slopes. But it wasn't like it was a strong springed driver anyway. Hey folks, please don't try to test my ability to spot illegal combos by intentionally forming illegal combos. Do we as judges have the right to penalize for that sort of chicanery? Yes. Are we going to? Nah man, we're actually kind of chill even if we don't seem like it. Even if I forgot my pills today.

- I don't Like P3C1 but I will play it anyway. Just because I dislike it doesn't mean I'm bad at it. It usually does, not today. And most of the successful decks were similar in nature. Not a ton of variety today. You'd see an Attacker, usually Guilty, some sort of Stamina left which was usually World Drift, and you'd see a right Stamina such as Dynamite or Wind. Occasionally variations on that, and the less experienced bladers would just bring anything they had, or anything legal.

- I judged many matches today. Dragreus111 ran 4 beystadiums, so we had a lot of people judging, and backup judges, and a head judge for ties. And oh yes, we had a lot of ties. I seem to get a lot of the ties. I'm cursed.

- Lot of Wind. Lots of World. Some Dynamite and Devil. Guilty all over the place. A bit of Vanish. Some odds and ends. Occasional sightings of Astral and Burst, and Broyeeto's Ultimate. A dash of Prominence too.

- My deck is predictable at this point, I only changed one of the beys in the finals. Guilty Longinus Fortress Quick'-2, World Wheel Drift on left, Wind Dragon Over Bearing Drift-4. In one round, I borrowed a Wind Kerbeus Illegal Bearing Drift-0, and did score a point with it. Exactly one. I did score points with all the beys I used. In a book, this is called foreshadowing.

- I went 4-1 today. For me, unusual. My first severe challenge was in round 3, and today I got my obligatory match with CrisisCrusher07 early. I always dread these matches. He is a much better blader than me and I know it. His same spin launch is way better, his opposite spin matches are usually well planned. His attack launch is exceptional and mine is iffy at best. In most every format, but especially in 3v3 and deck, I will almost always lose to him. But today was P3C1, and I'm actually starting to get the hang of it. We had near identical decks, although he had Over on his World and Illegal on his Wind. Historically, facing his deck, I sometimes panic and pick Guilty, thinking KO is my only option, or go with old reliable Wind, and he tends to counterpick Wind and outspins me. Today... I went with World. A terrible risk considering his Guilty, but I had to try. And he Did pick Wind. This time I was lucky, this time I managed to beat his Wind with World. 

- My fourth match, and one loss, was against JCMakeEmBurst. JC had a very interesting deck, it was Dynamite on what I think was Drift Bearing, World (left) on what looked like Drift, and Burst (left) on what appeared to be Metal Drift. It really threw me for a loop. Ordinarily, if I had more confidence in my attack launch, Guilty would be the obvious choice here, but I know I'd blow it. Guilty was in there more as a potential threat rather than something I'd actually use. I have Got to start running my Guilty with Ultimate Reboot' or Reboot'. I keep forgetting to try those but they are what I need. Hybrid' is too high for an upper attacker. Anyway, I saw the two left spinning Spriggans and thought "Okay. This is definitely going to be Dynamite that he picks. This is some sort of ruse perhaps. And even if I'm wrong, I'll still avoid the burst risk of World." So I picked World, and he DID pick Dynamite. I feel this was Probably the best matchup I could've had. Buuuuut, he still beat me. Of course he put it into high mode. He's very good with Dynamite, and World seems to be better against Wind.

- If anyone has an extra Lucifer chip for sale, I need to pick one of those up.

- 4-1 is a guaranteed finals spot, good enough for third seed.

- Between first stage and finals I got hungry and let the judges know I was going to my car to eat. I sat in a silent, locked car, not on, listening to no music, eating tuna and crackers and contemplating how I'm about to turn 40. It was then I realized I'd forgotten to take my pills today. I wandered over to an ice cream truck and got some chocolate soft serve in a waffle cone. Entirely too much ice cream, more than I was expecting. I stood by my car carefully eating it. Crisis would call "Crab, whenever you're ready!" and I would wave. And eat ice cream. The first three matches of the quarterfinals, and one of the semifinals matches, happened while I was trying to eat this absurdly large ice cream cone. I'm sure they were quite something.

[Image: fgAzNcX.png]

- Normally the quarterfinals is as far as I get. Friedpasta was my match. He normally beats me. Today, it was a close one. Back and forth quite a bit. He had a lot of self-KOs on his attack bey, which is always a troubling way to win. Eventually I made it to 5.

- My semi-finals opponent was Dragreus111. I honestly don't remember this match too well, although it was back and forth an awful lot. I seem to remember quite a few high mode low mode switches. My World was good against his Wind, and his Wind usually beat my Wind. I would switch to Guilty, and aside from a point or two he usually beat me with Wind. We were 4-4 and I had to pick first. I knew if I took Wind he would beat me. I knew if I took Guilty I would probably screw it up again. And I knew if I took World he could potentially counter it with Guilty. But I thought, the heck with it, and picked World anyway. I got lucky. Or am I confusing the Friedpasta match and the Dragreus match? Gods, I don't even know anymore. Look, I'm tired and I ate way too much salmon and shrimp dumplings after the tournament. Rational thought escapes me right now.

- I made it to the final match for the first time in a very long time. That's good! CrisisCrusher07 was my opponent. Oh no. As you know, he historcally wrecks me in deck format, and This Was No Different. Starting with world was a risk, and he correctly picked Guilty, and KOed me. Not burst, thankfully. From there, it was a rout. I did get one KO on him, but it ended 5-1. Second place is fine though. There was a time in 2019 back during late ChoZ through late GT where I would get 2nd place reliably to the point where I would start to detest reaching 2nd place. But this was a welcome return for me. I don't know if you've noticed, but in the 3 years since, I haven't done nearly as well. We've had a lot more really good beybladers show up in central atlantic, and now I am easily at the back of the pack of more competitive players. Which I'm okay with. But placing in the top 3 every now and then is nice.

- CrisisCrusher07 got 1st place! I got 2ndplace. OnTheDL 3rd, and Dragreus111 4th.

It was a fun tournament today. I enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed it.
Man, I miss coming to these. Why am I busy all the time? Great write up Crab! That ice cream cone sounds amazing!!! Also second place isn’t too bad Smile
(May. 08, 2023  2:08 AM)LJ-Blader Wrote: Man, I miss coming to these. Why am I busy all the time? Great write up Crab! That ice cream cone sounds amazing!!! Also second place isn’t too bad Smile

I had at least 5 conversations today where you and your mom were brought up and the conversation was always the same. “Man where has LJ and Mamabey been?” I would always tell them you’re probably busy between school and other sports. We all miss you guys and would love to see you back!
Sorry for trying to test your mindset for intentionally putting a TT driver on a Hasbro layer, But IDK how the judge allowed the match to go through with the gambit dragon on rise, Quite a surprise to me, Sorry again (Edit: I watched the video link you showed and read the thing as I went)
You got our match right! Thanks for a great tourney report crab! Good games to everyone that was there today!
(May. 08, 2023  2:19 AM)CrisisCrusher07 Wrote:
(May. 08, 2023  2:08 AM)LJ-Blader Wrote: Man, I miss coming to these. Why am I busy all the time? Great write up Crab! That ice cream cone sounds amazing!!! Also second place isn’t too bad :)

I had at least 5 conversations today where you and your mom were brought up and the conversation was always the same. “Man where has LJ and Mamabey been?” I would always tell them you’re probably busy between school and other sports. We all miss you guys and would love to see you back!
We were testing tonight, I mean BWC is coming up fast… :)

Hopefully we will be back before then though!
(May. 08, 2023  2:58 AM)LJ-Blader Wrote:
(May. 08, 2023  2:19 AM)CrisisCrusher07 Wrote: I had at least 5 conversations today where you and your mom were brought up and the conversation was always the same. “Man where has LJ and Mamabey been?” I would always tell them you’re probably busy between school and other sports. We all miss you guys and would love to see you back!
We were testing tonight, I mean BWC is coming up fast… Smile

Hopefully we will be back before then though!

Are you guys going to BWC?
(May. 09, 2023  2:18 AM)CrisisCrusher07 Wrote:
(May. 08, 2023  2:58 AM)LJ-Blader Wrote: We were testing tonight, I mean BWC is coming up fast… Smile

Hopefully we will be back before then though!

Are you guys going to BWC?

Plans are being worked out for our travels, but there is a high likelihood we go.
(May. 09, 2023  11:50 AM)LJ-Blader Wrote:
(May. 09, 2023  2:18 AM)CrisisCrusher07 Wrote: Are you guys going to BWC?

Plans are being worked out for our travels, but there is a high likelihood we go.

Awe yeah!
(May. 08, 2023  1:51 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: [Image: fgAzNcX.png]

This made me laugh. Excellent.

Will say people shouldn't be testing judges though. Really odd and unsportsmanlike behaviour (also that would count as intentional illegal performance modification, which is a DQ, should this come up again). Sorry you had to deal with that.