For a while now, I’ve been trying to come up with a format that incorporates switching between multiple Beyblades. I’ve always felt that the focus on having to select a single Beyblade that can perform well in the majority of scenarios, based on minimal information about the opponent's Beyblade, is one of the major reasons that we see a proliferation of “safe” combos and play styles across the competitive scene. But every idea I had came with huge drawbacks, whether it was too complicated to play or would make matches and tournaments last an unreasonably long time.
Until now. I’m excited to present what I sincerely believe could be a huge improvement to competitive-level Beyblade, the Deck Rotation System.
Deck Rotation Format
First Blader to reach 5 points wins.
- Outspin: 1 point
- Stadium Miss/Contactless KO: 1 point
- Knockout: 2 points
- Burst Finish: 2 points
- Each Blader comes to the stadium with 1 to 3 completed Beyblades, referred to collectively as a "deck". There can be no repeated parts within a deck. This deck is kept hidden from the opposing Blader.
- Both Bladers attach their first Beyblade in secret; the match begins as normal.
- When a Blader loses a round, they have the option to switch their Beyblade for another Beyblade in their deck. However, switching is not mandatory.
A few of us tried this format out post-Beyblade North, and honestly, it was really awesome. Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had playing Beyblade since returning with Burst.
For one thing, it removes the pressure of having to pick the one perfect combo without having any idea what the opposing Blader is going to use, which can often feel a lot like luck, and leads to players relying overwhelmingly on combos that are safe and easy to use (e.g. Revolve-based combos). Those types of combos still have a place in this format, but they’re complimented by other combos that can be used as counters.
It also introduces a ton of strategic depth:
- understanding which parts counter which becomes paramount, since coasting through an event with a powerful combo or two becomes essentially impossible
- the selection of your opening Beyblade is important; do you use a safe combo to scout out your opponent and try to earn an early point, or do you open with an Attack-type combo to gain an early 2-point-lead and apply pressure to your opponent?
- if your opponent is 2 points away from victory, you need to be wary of using combos that could help the opponent score 2 points, or giving them an opportunity to easily counter you
I know that the 2-points-for-Burst rule is one that’s been pretty controversial, but in the limited play experience we’ve done so far, I don’t think anyone found it to feel unfair, and the compromises attached to aiming for either 1 or 2-point victories made matches even more intense and engaging. And it works to keep the game balanced; a player running Deathscyther Spread Revolve, for example, might be much more wary of doing so knowing that the opponent can switch into an Attacker in the next round and win 2 points from a Burst Finish.
The deck that I settled into during our free play sessions tended to included an Attack-type (either VGX or XGX, typically), a Revolve-based Stamina combo, and a Defense-type or a destabilizer like D2HO that could do double-duty as a Defense-type. (I dunno how good D2 will shake out to really be, but it was doing well for some of us at the time.) I also felt like using Attack way more than I typically would, since it has the potential to beat a lot of different things. A Defense-type has an almost-zero chance of winning against a Stamina-type, whereas a low win-% for Attack-types is still much higher than that.
My hope is that this format will be a big hit and that we’ll eventually be able to adopt it for ranked WBO tournaments, but we have to do our due diligence first – at this point, it's just a proposal of mine.
We’ll soon run an unranked tournament in Toronto in this format, and I’d encourage organizers who’d like to try it to get in touch with me about it. Also, this is a format that lends itself really well to one-on-one casual play due to its built-in structure, so I’d encourage you to try it out outside of tournaments, too, and share your thoughts here.
Until now. I’m excited to present what I sincerely believe could be a huge improvement to competitive-level Beyblade, the Deck Rotation System.
Deck Rotation Format
First Blader to reach 5 points wins.
- Outspin: 1 point
- Stadium Miss/Contactless KO: 1 point
- Knockout: 2 points
- Burst Finish: 2 points
- Each Blader comes to the stadium with 1 to 3 completed Beyblades, referred to collectively as a "deck". There can be no repeated parts within a deck. This deck is kept hidden from the opposing Blader.
- Both Bladers attach their first Beyblade in secret; the match begins as normal.
- When a Blader loses a round, they have the option to switch their Beyblade for another Beyblade in their deck. However, switching is not mandatory.
A few of us tried this format out post-Beyblade North, and honestly, it was really awesome. Maybe the most fun I’ve ever had playing Beyblade since returning with Burst.
For one thing, it removes the pressure of having to pick the one perfect combo without having any idea what the opposing Blader is going to use, which can often feel a lot like luck, and leads to players relying overwhelmingly on combos that are safe and easy to use (e.g. Revolve-based combos). Those types of combos still have a place in this format, but they’re complimented by other combos that can be used as counters.
It also introduces a ton of strategic depth:
- understanding which parts counter which becomes paramount, since coasting through an event with a powerful combo or two becomes essentially impossible
- the selection of your opening Beyblade is important; do you use a safe combo to scout out your opponent and try to earn an early point, or do you open with an Attack-type combo to gain an early 2-point-lead and apply pressure to your opponent?
- if your opponent is 2 points away from victory, you need to be wary of using combos that could help the opponent score 2 points, or giving them an opportunity to easily counter you
I know that the 2-points-for-Burst rule is one that’s been pretty controversial, but in the limited play experience we’ve done so far, I don’t think anyone found it to feel unfair, and the compromises attached to aiming for either 1 or 2-point victories made matches even more intense and engaging. And it works to keep the game balanced; a player running Deathscyther Spread Revolve, for example, might be much more wary of doing so knowing that the opponent can switch into an Attacker in the next round and win 2 points from a Burst Finish.
The deck that I settled into during our free play sessions tended to included an Attack-type (either VGX or XGX, typically), a Revolve-based Stamina combo, and a Defense-type or a destabilizer like D2HO that could do double-duty as a Defense-type. (I dunno how good D2 will shake out to really be, but it was doing well for some of us at the time.) I also felt like using Attack way more than I typically would, since it has the potential to beat a lot of different things. A Defense-type has an almost-zero chance of winning against a Stamina-type, whereas a low win-% for Attack-types is still much higher than that.
My hope is that this format will be a big hit and that we’ll eventually be able to adopt it for ranked WBO tournaments, but we have to do our due diligence first – at this point, it's just a proposal of mine.
We’ll soon run an unranked tournament in Toronto in this format, and I’d encourage organizers who’d like to try it to get in touch with me about it. Also, this is a format that lends itself really well to one-on-one casual play due to its built-in structure, so I’d encourage you to try it out outside of tournaments, too, and share your thoughts here.
![[Image: 3928.png]](https://s10.postimg.org/o75ltxhft/3928.png)
![[Image: 7678.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/513941232419078157/599118897811030027/7678.png)
![[Image: jFAMV2B.png]](https://i.imgur.com/jFAMV2B.png)
![[Image: 1e99b0b2d972f53cadaf24804bf8fe00.png]](https://i.gyazo.com/1e99b0b2d972f53cadaf24804bf8fe00.png)
![[Image: eeb4f3bafbeab74193aeef19d118e779.png]](https://i.gyazo.com/eeb4f3bafbeab74193aeef19d118e779.png)
![[Image: IkkiSignature.jpg]](https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v653/Gigamew/IkkiSignature.jpg)
![[Image: spin.gif]](https://paulrobertson.mechafetus.com/spin.gif)
