Since Staff Members are allowed to voice our opinions here, I figured I should probably weigh in.
First of all I will say that
I am 100% pro-sniping, and would prefer not to see it restricted by the rules any more than it currently is. I first learned the term "Gattyaki" from one of the old WBO rulebooks back when I joined in 2012, though I had been familiar with sniping before that. Sniping had always existed in every environment I had ever played Beyblade in and no one had ever really opposed it, or called out anyone who did it. Gattyaki is not unsportsmanlike, it is a completely valid tactic that's essentially just another launch technique, no different from a Sliding Shoot or a Weak Launch.
So to me, the idea that sniping could be seen as an unfair or unsportsmanlike tactic seems as foreign as the idea that
a Beyblade could win a match from in the pocket. So I'm getting like Mandela-effect whiplash seeing that it's such a popular point of view, haha.
(Oct. 04, 2020 3:14 PM)Vtryuga Wrote: (Oct. 04, 2020 3:07 PM)Shindog Wrote: Gattyaki is currently allowed. #7 in the OP covers this to some degree. Currently, the WBO start of the battle it when the beys leave the launcher vs WBBA when both beys have touched the stadium floor.
One of an alternative way to achieve gattyaki like results would be to launch early and into your opponents launching spot to create a
midair collision. It is very hard to tell if a bey has fully left a launcher.
There you have answered the question dont you think? If it is allowed and no one has abused it yet i dont really see the point in making any rule. Making the rule would then highlight this issue more which could lead to some arguments as now both players are aware of this new rule.
Also I would suggest letting the status quo be and just make the sniping shoot something like unsportsmanlike.
For example in the game of Cricket there is one way of getting a batsman out which is legal but is considered extremely unsportsmanlike and is hence extremely rarely executed as it is frowned upon by all.
That is why I would suggest letting the status quo be.
I kind of agree with the sentiment of this statement, though I think the discrepancy is what is exactly "the status quo". Gattyaki has been legal under WBO rules at least as long as I've been in the community. I've been to many tournaments over the years with players that have used the technique, and there are several threads where players mention using it during tournaments as well. I've sniped opponents a few times, and I've been sniped several times as well. And I can honestly say I've never heard ill spoken of it by anyone until very recently. For me, that
is the status quo.
Gattyaki's usage is not so low because it is a frowned upon technique, but rather because the conditions under which you would use it are rare, and it's quite difficult to pull off, which ties into this next point:
(Oct. 06, 2020 9:14 PM)Shindog Wrote: There has been a lot of discussion of Gattyaki being high risk, this includes the drop down snipe. So I thought I give it a try with the videos below. I have not practiced gattyaki so I am sure someone practiced can hit the targets even better. In these videos I am only really looking at the risk of self KO. Presumably, Gatyaki is commonly utilized to overcome a bad match up anyway, so failing to KO or burst the opponent for the sniper means a high chance of losing. This failure to KO or burst I don’t think can be counted as “risk” for performing Gattyaki. I am not interested I the risk of losing the match, just the risk of the self KO, because I believe that is what people mean when they say gattyaki is “high risk, high reward.”
...
It gattyaki really “high risk, high reward?”
Or just “low to moderate risk, low to moderate chance of reward?”
Of course, results presumably will change with different stadiums and beys.
This is a very interesting take, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that it's correct. Actually, “low risk, low chance of low to moderate reward” is an accurate assessment imo, as your only added "risk" is a contact-self-KO since you're pretty much guaranteed to give up at least 1 point in that round if you fail, while the "low to moderate reward" is the 1 or 2 points you would gain on the "low chance" you were successful.
I really do think that one of the techniques that people who oppose Gattyaki use is to overexaggerate how prevalent it really is, like they make it sound like people will be trying to Gattyaki each other left and right, or Gattyaki and opponent that's trying to Gattyaki them like they're playing Counter Strike or something. But the truth is that most people only attempt to snipe their opponent when they know that there is no other way for them to win the battle.
I remember discussing a possible rule that would give the opponent of a failed Gattyaki an ambiguous point, because once a Gattyaki has failed, the user will generally lose the match anyways, though it could also be interpreted as a penalty. Though I think ultimately we decided against this since it cuts the natural flow of battle short, which was a complaint people had with the wall-bounce rule that domino-effected into this whole fiasco.
(Oct. 04, 2020 9:38 PM)Shindog Wrote: Another thing to consider:
This is how the rulebook currently reads:
“A round begins with the call of “3–2–1 Go Shoot!”
Both bladers must simultaneously launch their Beyblades as the word “shoot” is called.”
IF we take it at face value, “must simultaneous....” and a player gets sniped, is it not more than likely that one person launched too early and/or the other launched too late?
So given a snipe occurrs, what should the judge generally rule given our current rules? Especially when it is difficult for them to see everything.
This all depends on which part of the sentence you evaluate first. if you evaluate 'simultaneously' first, it would mean that simultaneously refers to the period of time during which "shoot" is being called, but if you evaluate the 'as the word "shoot" is called' first, it would mean that simultaneously refers to an instance within the period during which "shoot" is being called. I'm not trying to be a rules lawyer by bringing this up - I actually think this could just be a difference of interpretation that varies from person to person given the current wording of the rules.
The Gattyaki rule elaborates on the 'period during which "shoot" is being called', and confirms that it is a series of instances during which any launch that happens is legal (at least timing wise), that your launch can happen 'early' or 'late' within this period, and still be considered legal. With this context (which was later removed from the rulebooks, along with a brief description of the BP System, when we moved to Google Docs in 2017), it definitely implies the first interpretation, but without it, people could definitely see it the second way.
(Oct. 05, 2020 9:29 PM)FireKingArd Wrote: Just throwing in my opinion for solidarity, but I agree with Shindog.
I'm not a huge fan of gattiyaki personally, at all. But I do think defaulting to calling a relaunch when a judge feels like one person launched late either intentionally or unintentionally is probably the best way to go.
Otherwise I can't really think of a good rule that can truly prevent gattiyaki from happening.
As I mentioned before, I think that if a launch occurs within the legal window, it should be legal (time wise) regardless of when it occurred within that window or intention. I strongly believe that reshoots should
always be voluntary, and the judge should not ever be able to
force either player to reshoot. Basically I am in agreement with this:
(Oct. 06, 2020 12:38 PM)NAP Wrote: I think this is just one of the strategies that makes Beyblade so deep and fun!
As long as:
1) The blader is not obstructing their opponent's launch
2) The blader is not positioned more than 20cm above the stadium
3) The blader launches within the legal widow during the "Shoot"/"Rip" call
4) The blader is not launching upwards deliberately
it should be okay.
Conversely, if you wanted to police late launches, you'd have to police early launches aiming for the center position or a safe wall position, IMO.
If the launches are safe for both players, and if the judge doesn't deem the launch as a disqualification, it should be fair game.
As I don't view Gattyaki as cheating or underhanded, if someone wants to attempt it, as long as they stay within the reasonable rules for a legal launch I don't see why they should not be able to. Conversely, it seems less sportsmanlike to ruleshark players out of points for minor infractions of these rules (like going 1cm over the middle of the stadium or something), even if it is a part of an intentional Gattyaki. It just comes off to me as "Ew, you're trying to
win?"
(Oct. 05, 2020 8:14 AM)eigerblade Wrote: [Gattyaki] feels like its not in spirit of the game, where building decks and picking combos for certain matchups should give you the advantage.
Gattyaki is a method people may resort to when they know have no chance of winning, which in my opinion feels scummy.
If I were to compare it to a Trading Card Game, your deck should have enough preparation against other archetypes in the metagame, and if there is an unfavorable matchup, you should have several cards ready in the sideboard / side deck to counter it. If your deck meets an unfavorable matchup and you do not have an answer prepared, your loss is on you. In an extreme example in this TCG comparison, gattyaki is like sucker punching your opponent to knock him out and make you win before even playing against his deck. Sure, it takes skill and training to do, and it technically gives anyone a chance to win even against the best player, but that skill is something I consider not part of the game at all.
It's very interesting to hear the argument that Gattyaki "isn't in the spirit of the game", and I've definitely heard similar sentiments about how it's scummy because it "allows you to win the game without playing it", while you defend things like building decks and picking combos for certain matchups.
Many of the revolutionary rule changes in the past (There's one I remember that's a much better example of the point I'm trying to make, but I can't find it yet, so here have
Double Blind for now) have had the opposite kind of thought process behind them, where metagaming tactics like building combos for certain matchups and reading/counterpicking opponents were not seen as part of the "game" of Beyblade.
This kind of brings up the debate of a question that's a bit of a meme that's been on my mind lately - does a Beyblade tournament measure one's Beyblading ability? Or one's ability to succeed in a Beyblade tournament? Should it? There's a group of people who believe that the aforementioned 'soft skills' that can help players succeed in a tournament are not in the "spirit of the game" as they are not strictly Beyblade 'hard skills'. If I correctly read my opponent and counterpick them into an unwinnable matchup, is that not also a way to "win the game without playing it"? Compared to something like this, Gattyaki is undoubtably a 'Beyblade skill' and therefore much more 'in the spirit of the game' than any metagaming tactic.
Gattyaki is also very much in the competitive spirit of the game as well. If you do find yourself counterpicked into an unwinnable matchup, Gattyaki becomes the META - the
Most
Effective
Tactic
Available - as it is now your best chance of victory (though it is a small one). If you are aware of the Gattyaki technique during the matchup, know that it is your only reasonable chance to win, and then choose not to attempt it, you are throwing the match, as you are intentionally playing worse to your opponent's benefit, which is something that's prohibited by rules in the Organizer's Guide.
EDIT: Found it. Holy carp I really went down the litchrature rabbit hole but check out these interesting posts/threads that give context to what I'm trying to say here:
https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-New-For...pid1327647
https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-WBO-Org...pid1365175
https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Beyblad...pid1294628
(Oct. 06, 2020 12:03 AM)Valtryek Aoi Wrote: (Oct. 05, 2020 11:58 PM)Cat-Daddy Wrote: ....just throwing this out there....have they ever "sniped/gattyaki'd" in the manga or anime?
I feel like there was one instance where some guys tried to cheat by launching late, or the time when Valt battled Rickson to train his God Reboot. Both of which would be illegal in an actual match.
The closest thing I can get to a legal snipe in the anime is episode 24, when Hoji tried to use Horusood's Claw driver to fly straight into Wyvern for a pre-emptive attack. Not really by launching late, but by launching harder and aiming for the exact spot he thought Wyvern'd be. Kinda a snipe.
IIRC, his strategy was to actually land on top of Wyvern and use the Upper disk to 1-hit Burst it, but it's also been probably 4 years since I've seen the anime so I may be mistaken. I think there's also a sequence where Kensuuke tries to bounce Kerbeus off the ground so L2 will Burst on its Disk, so while not technically Gattyaki, it (and the whole Bullet Driver...) refute that one point about the only intended point of contact being the Layer.
Also, speaking of Disk to Layer contact, I'd like to see some proof that Gattyaki actually damages Beyblades. For the most part, it's just been an unsubstantiated talking point from people who oppose it, and I think there's been as much recorded instances of Gattyaki damaging a Beyblade during a tournament as Rage 3A or Archer Hercules (so, none at all, though there was some concern raised during testing).
TL;DR: Gattyaki is a valid and acceptable, yet niche tactic and should be a part of the game. I would be strongly opposed to an outright ban on it, though both its use cases and success rate are low enough that I don't think it would be terribly missed if the Play Area rules were altered to indirectly disincentivize it.