The following are words I have to say about "SuperStar Card Gaming Local Tournament 10/07", an unranked X tournament using 3v3 format for first stage and 3v3 format for finals.
I recommend the following music for reading the report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6PNc9KN50M . You've probably never heard it. Your parents have. And it's appropriate.
- I haven't done a tournament report in a while. First off, I haven't been to a tournament in a while, September was kind of sparse, the tournament I wanted to attend something came up and I had to withdraw. But also, I don't get a whole lot out of doing these sometimes. Most people don't read them or comment in any significant way. So I will do them sporadically, when I feel like it.
- The weather was indoors. Rainy when I got there, sunny when I left. Superstar Cardgaming did some interior restructuring, now you access it directly from the parking lot, and there's more space, and actually it's kind of labyrinthine. Complete with Goblin King, although I never match Jareth's... uh.... anything.
- We had 20 participants today, making this a 5 round swiss. Everyone got to play at least 5 times. No drops, no tiebreakers.
- The seeding was random again. Not ideal, but we don't have any sort of working X rankings yet.
- I enjoy the hell out of X. It is perhaps tied with Zero-G as my favorite format. When I first got into Beyblade, I assumed there was very little you could control and that it would be chaos. But in Burst, there's a lot you can control, a lot you can strategize, and your decisions make a difference. Less so in X. You can do everything right and still lose. You can put together an amazing attack bey but contactless self-KO for 3 points right at the start of the match. You can get KOed... by Wizard Arrow on a stamina tip. It's chaos. I love that.
- Other people are starting not to love that. We have a lot of self-described competitive players in the mid-Atlantic region, people who during Burst would test and balance and practice and strategize their launches. And X is absolutely killing their spirit. This song goes out to them! I've seen it today, it's really fraying their enthusiasm. They love Beyblade, but right now X feels like random chance and total chaos to them.
- When we die roll or coin flip to let one of the players choose the stadium orientation, most bladers don't have an opinion on whether or not they want to be left or right of the toothed belt divot. Many don't think it makes a difference. I don't think it does. Others do. I'd love to know what people think the correct strategy for picking stadium facing is.
- CrisisCrusher07 is trying to keep the rules as close to how WBBA does it for X, so that means 3v3 for first stage (we can't reasonably do 5G just yet, X only recently started having 5 blades) and that also means 3v3 for finals. Honestly, I personally dislike deck format, but other people dislike the lack of strategy in 3v3 finals.
- We started around 12:25. We never really start on time. But we were done with finals by 2. If the first stage is 3v3 and the final stage is 3v3, no one needs a break or to make huge changes to their beys before finals, so we just kept doing matches. The whole tournament took only about an hour and a half. We were running 4 beystadiums for 20 bladers, so it went very fast.
- I did a lot of judging today. One of the four beystadiums running was usually me judging.
- We had a lot of everything happening today. We had people running stamina, and getting outspin wins. We had a lot of people running attack, and getting Over and Extreme Finishes. And we had a lot of bursts. I like how X is more bursty than Burst was. We even had Entry Hole KO ties. And dual over KOs. And Burst Priority KOs. It's chaotic, and quick, and fun. And there's way less strategy. There's just... a LOT going on in that stadium and rather being a circular bowl, there's inner ridges and toothed belts causing CHAOS.
- These beys deteriorate RAPIDLY. I've seen ratchet pieces go flying, tips getting scratches, blades wearing down. The quality control on these beys is terrible. It's just so chaotic and destructive. Keep an eye in the stadium for debris!
- My 3v3 lineup wasn't terribly creative, just terribly effective. Hell Scythe 3-80T, because it's a good attack tip, a height that exists, and a good attack blade. It's actually great at attack AND stamina. Dran Sword 3-60LF. Low flat is solid, no gap. It goes Fast. No point in angle launching, it's not rubber. It's either going to KO/Burst them or it's going to lose, but it does work well. And Wizard Arrow 4-80B. I never expected the Stamina blade to be good defense, but here we are. I don't have a Shark Edge, I couldn't run 3 attack types. What would I even put on it, Flat? Yes.
- I did exceptionally well in the first stage, which is to say that the bey gods smiled on me and it didn't really have anything to do with strategy. I had 3 wins in a row, one loss to Friedpasta, and then another win.
- My final match was one of the most tricky. I started by self-KOing extreme finish, so it was 0-3. An inauspicious start when you're going first to 4! But then I got a burst on them, following by an Over KO, so that was a good recovery.
- No one went undefeated. We had 4 people with 4-1, and oddly enough I was seeded first. Unusual!
- In the finals, we used 3v3, going to 4 points.
- My first finals opponent was CrisisCrusher07. X is a crazy format and I beat him. I didn't change my beys at all.
- My second finals opponent was Dragreus111. I managed to defeat him again. This sends crab to the finals???
- My final opponent was Friedpasta. He's the one who gave me my one loss in first stage. And my loss in finals! Well done!
- Friedpasta got 1st place! I got 2nd place! The Supreme One, 3rd place. Dragreus111, 4th. Not bad for my second X tournament!
- I earned store credit. Yay!
- I'm looking forward to more X tournaments. They are so good. So fun. I am alone in this, everyone else seems despondent about how silly and chaotic the format is.
- Consider changing the points for KOs, and consider making exceptions for self-KOs giving opponents points. Or don't, do nothing, see how quickly the competitive scene burns out, you do you.
X is a lot of fun. I love X.
I recommend the following music for reading the report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6PNc9KN50M . You've probably never heard it. Your parents have. And it's appropriate.
- I haven't done a tournament report in a while. First off, I haven't been to a tournament in a while, September was kind of sparse, the tournament I wanted to attend something came up and I had to withdraw. But also, I don't get a whole lot out of doing these sometimes. Most people don't read them or comment in any significant way. So I will do them sporadically, when I feel like it.
- The weather was indoors. Rainy when I got there, sunny when I left. Superstar Cardgaming did some interior restructuring, now you access it directly from the parking lot, and there's more space, and actually it's kind of labyrinthine. Complete with Goblin King, although I never match Jareth's... uh.... anything.
- We had 20 participants today, making this a 5 round swiss. Everyone got to play at least 5 times. No drops, no tiebreakers.
- The seeding was random again. Not ideal, but we don't have any sort of working X rankings yet.
- I enjoy the hell out of X. It is perhaps tied with Zero-G as my favorite format. When I first got into Beyblade, I assumed there was very little you could control and that it would be chaos. But in Burst, there's a lot you can control, a lot you can strategize, and your decisions make a difference. Less so in X. You can do everything right and still lose. You can put together an amazing attack bey but contactless self-KO for 3 points right at the start of the match. You can get KOed... by Wizard Arrow on a stamina tip. It's chaos. I love that.
- Other people are starting not to love that. We have a lot of self-described competitive players in the mid-Atlantic region, people who during Burst would test and balance and practice and strategize their launches. And X is absolutely killing their spirit. This song goes out to them! I've seen it today, it's really fraying their enthusiasm. They love Beyblade, but right now X feels like random chance and total chaos to them.
- When we die roll or coin flip to let one of the players choose the stadium orientation, most bladers don't have an opinion on whether or not they want to be left or right of the toothed belt divot. Many don't think it makes a difference. I don't think it does. Others do. I'd love to know what people think the correct strategy for picking stadium facing is.
- CrisisCrusher07 is trying to keep the rules as close to how WBBA does it for X, so that means 3v3 for first stage (we can't reasonably do 5G just yet, X only recently started having 5 blades) and that also means 3v3 for finals. Honestly, I personally dislike deck format, but other people dislike the lack of strategy in 3v3 finals.
- We started around 12:25. We never really start on time. But we were done with finals by 2. If the first stage is 3v3 and the final stage is 3v3, no one needs a break or to make huge changes to their beys before finals, so we just kept doing matches. The whole tournament took only about an hour and a half. We were running 4 beystadiums for 20 bladers, so it went very fast.
- I did a lot of judging today. One of the four beystadiums running was usually me judging.
- We had a lot of everything happening today. We had people running stamina, and getting outspin wins. We had a lot of people running attack, and getting Over and Extreme Finishes. And we had a lot of bursts. I like how X is more bursty than Burst was. We even had Entry Hole KO ties. And dual over KOs. And Burst Priority KOs. It's chaotic, and quick, and fun. And there's way less strategy. There's just... a LOT going on in that stadium and rather being a circular bowl, there's inner ridges and toothed belts causing CHAOS.
- These beys deteriorate RAPIDLY. I've seen ratchet pieces go flying, tips getting scratches, blades wearing down. The quality control on these beys is terrible. It's just so chaotic and destructive. Keep an eye in the stadium for debris!
- My 3v3 lineup wasn't terribly creative, just terribly effective. Hell Scythe 3-80T, because it's a good attack tip, a height that exists, and a good attack blade. It's actually great at attack AND stamina. Dran Sword 3-60LF. Low flat is solid, no gap. It goes Fast. No point in angle launching, it's not rubber. It's either going to KO/Burst them or it's going to lose, but it does work well. And Wizard Arrow 4-80B. I never expected the Stamina blade to be good defense, but here we are. I don't have a Shark Edge, I couldn't run 3 attack types. What would I even put on it, Flat? Yes.
- I did exceptionally well in the first stage, which is to say that the bey gods smiled on me and it didn't really have anything to do with strategy. I had 3 wins in a row, one loss to Friedpasta, and then another win.
- My final match was one of the most tricky. I started by self-KOing extreme finish, so it was 0-3. An inauspicious start when you're going first to 4! But then I got a burst on them, following by an Over KO, so that was a good recovery.
- No one went undefeated. We had 4 people with 4-1, and oddly enough I was seeded first. Unusual!
- In the finals, we used 3v3, going to 4 points.
- My first finals opponent was CrisisCrusher07. X is a crazy format and I beat him. I didn't change my beys at all.
- My second finals opponent was Dragreus111. I managed to defeat him again. This sends crab to the finals???
- My final opponent was Friedpasta. He's the one who gave me my one loss in first stage. And my loss in finals! Well done!
- Friedpasta got 1st place! I got 2nd place! The Supreme One, 3rd place. Dragreus111, 4th. Not bad for my second X tournament!
- I earned store credit. Yay!
- I'm looking forward to more X tournaments. They are so good. So fun. I am alone in this, everyone else seems despondent about how silly and chaotic the format is.
- Consider changing the points for KOs, and consider making exceptions for self-KOs giving opponents points. Or don't, do nothing, see how quickly the competitive scene burns out, you do you.
X is a lot of fun. I love X.
