Toronto Beyblade Burst Tournament Report: IT'S RAINING BEYBLADES – 6/22/19

TORONTO BEYBLADE BURST TOURNAMENT REPORT
IT'S RAINING BEYBLADES



June 22, 2019 at Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
BURST FORMAT
OFFICIAL EVENT PAGE


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On June 22nd, 2019 after being delayed one week by rain that never came ... OldSchool™ hosted “IT’S RAINING BEYBLADES” for the Toronto Beyblade community! It was a beautiful sunny day in Toronto and we ended up with 46 players in what was our first event since May’s series of events at Anime North: BEYBLADE NORTH 2019.

We only had four judges today, which extended things a bit longer than we would have liked, but we were able to get through the event using Swiss relatively smoothly.

It was also nice to hear expressions of interest in hosting events in new areas around Ontario and offers to help judging in the future from several parents throughout the day. I’ve been talking about this lately, but I’ll say it again here: I think there’s a lot we can be doing to make things easier/clearer for Organizers, and a lot we can be doing in terms of outreach and guiding people in the right direction when it comes to hosting new events or learning how to judge. The interest is absolutely out there … now we just need to grab it and make things happen.



First Stage


In retrospect, this event should have definitely been called “JUDGMENT BEY II” (we had an event called JUDGMENT BEY in 2017 haha). The recently released Judgement Layer Base had a massive impact … literally.

It’s not a stretch to say that from what I saw, nearly everyone in the roughly top 13 players (and beyond) at the end of the First Stage used (and won with) a Judgment combo of some kind in at least one match.

Judgment is an attack powerhouse unlike any we’ve ever seen in Beyblade Burst, and something that has sorely been needed for far too long. Prior to the release of Judgment Joker, I’ve argued here and in many other places that Attack types were not nearly as poor as some people were giving them credit for. Xtreme Dash really changed the game in my eyes, and I think my tournament results since that time speak for themselves.

That being said, I had always acknowledged that while competitive, Attack types could certainly be better than they were. Judgment is the piece that has done that.

In this tournament, you of course had some players using the stock JJ.00T.Tr 斬 they had just purchased, but many people (OldSchool, Justin TC, originalzankye, Tyson 34, and probably others) were also using Judgment with Blitz and Atomic throughout the day. Judgment seems to be good on pretty much anything with a tight disk, but this Atomic variant in particular was nice because while it could KO/Burst things, it also was able to OS pP on Xt+.

Also worth noting that at least Justin TC was using the 幻 (Gen) Weight with JJ.Bl.At. Despite the loss of weight, it didn’t seem to adversely affect his ability to win the matches he played, which was interesting to see.

BladerBeast and a few others were using JJ on Quick’. BladerBeast ended up going 6-0 in Swiss using JJ.0B.Qc’ ? in at least a few of his battles. My only loss of the day was against him using that versus my 超S.0B.Yd 3-1. Bad choice in retrospect, but for some reason in my testing Judgment was having a bit more trouble with Yd than At. I thought there was a chance he used JJ Qc’ or Hell Salamander Xt+, which is why I decided to go for that particular combo. Credit to BladerBeast though; he was launching extremely well.

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In Round 6 of Swiss. I was up against Tyson 34 who was using JJ.Bl.At 天. I was using JV.0W.Br 斬, which I had won two matches with earlier on in the First Stage versus Xcal94’s aH.0C.Xt+ (4-0) and henwooja1’s 超S.0W.Br (4-2). There is definitely a bursting risk with this combo depending on the opponent, but with how powerful Judgment is, it’s worth it. This match against Tyson 34 however could have gone either way. I knocked him out three times, he bursted me once, and there was one tie.

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Throughout the day there was plenty of representation for other parts/combos like Perfect Phoenix, Hell Salamander, Xtend+, Atomic, Bearing, Balkesh B3, Wizard Fafnir (stock), Cho-Z Spriggan … but generally speaking it seemed like the people who used Judgment were rewarded for doing so. It has a chance against everything, seemingly.



Final Stage


Quarter- and Semi-Finals
For the Final Stage, I was able to win both of my first two matches using only Balkesh B3 0 Wall Bearing (5-0 and 5-1). I was able to outspin oOTipsyOo’s hS.Rt.Br and then he wasn’t able to overcome it with either 超A.St.Ch or JJ.Bl.At ?.

A few people seemed to have been favouring Ratchet for Bearing combos throughout the day, but seeing hS lose to B3 with it made me question how good its same spin stamina is.

He probably could have knocked me out with his JJ.Bl.At ?, but it was a combo he wasn’t familiar with (OldSchool had helped him), so he wasn’t confident. B3 is definitely vulnerable to Judgment, but because it never bursts it is in some ways a better option than other heavier left-spin Bearing combos as a defense against it. B3.0W.Br can take some frustratingly huge hits and keep going as long as it gets the wall saves. It’s ridiculous at times.

In my second round match against BurstedBey7491 I was able to do the same thing with B3.0W.Br versus his SRS3.0B.Br, pP.10.At, and JD.St.Dm 斬.

However, in Justin TC’s first round match against BurstedBey7491, he did lose due in part to two KOs on his B3.0W.Br versus JD.St.Dm 斬.

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Unfortunately, once the finals rolled around BladerBeast was stifled due to being unable to overcome kick_start’s more stationary Judgment combo (can’t remember exactly what it was) with his JJ.0B.Qc’ ? combo. A little bit unlucky for him, but it also demonstrated to me how Judgment vs. Judgment matchups are not too ideal … there’s so much recoil that it feels like anything could happen.

3rd Place Match
For the third place match, we ended up with two players who were either new or had never made it to the finals before: BurstedBey7491 and kick_start! It was great to see.

kick_start had chosen to go with an unconventional all left-spin deck featuring B3.0W.Br, hS.0C.Xt+, and WF.Rt.Rs 閃. BurstedBey7491 had SRS3.?B.Br and pP.?E.At in his Deck, but relied heavily on the JD.St.Dm 斬 which had carried him through his Quarter Final match versus Justin TC.

They traded points back-and-forth, and ultimately BurstedBey9491 was able to get the 6-4 win with JD.St.Dm 斬 versus B3.0W.Br!

1st/2nd Place Match
For the second straight tournament, henwooja1 and I were meeting in the final match! Last time it was for Metal Fight Limited at BEYBLADE NORTH 2019 … a match which I narrowly lost 5-4.

Going into this match, after seeing my success with B3, it seemed likely to me that he would either do something to directly counter it or use it himself. I was right and he ended up having B3.0W.Br in his deck.

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Knowing this was likely, I chose to omit it from my deck and instead replaced it with LC pP.Rt.U to counter the JJ.00R.X' 斬 I knew he would have in his deck. Needless to say, he was pretty shocked to see it! I had done hours and hours of testing over the past couple weeks and really, there isn’t any combo I could find that had a 100% win rate against Judgment. However, Unite-based combos like this one were decent enough for me to take a chance in this situation.

I don’t remember the exact sequence of events, but the key points of the match were:

  • I took the first point of the match versus his B3 with my 超S.St.At.
  • He was able to burst my Judgment Qc’ combo.
  • I KOed his B3 with JV.0G.Qc’ 斬.
  • I KOed his JJ.00R.X' 斬 with LC pP.Rt.U for the win!
It’s going to be exciting to see where things go from here with the release of things like Zwei Longinius!



Acknowledgements


And of course, thank you as always to everyone who helped to run this event!:

OldSchool™, OldSchool™’s Mom, Justin TC, henwooja1, BladerBeast

And thank you as well to originalzankye for his generous donation of prizes!

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions about this event, please feel free to post below!



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Winning Combinations


1st: Kei
Balkesh B3 0 Wall Bearing
Perfect Phoenix (Level Chip) 0 Cross Xtend Plus
Judgment Valkyrie 0 Wall Bearing Zan
Judgment Valkyrie 0 Glaive Quick Dash Zan (Deck Format Finals Only)
Perfect Phoenix (Level Chip) Ratchet Unite (Deck Format Finals Only)
Cho-Z Spriggan Sting Atomic (Deck Format Finals Only)

2nd: henwooja1
Hell Salamander 10 Cross Xtend Plus
Balkesh B3 0 Wall Bearing (Deck Format Finals Only)
Judgment Joker 0 Reach Xtreme Dash Zan (Deck Format Finals Only)
Perfect Phoenix 00 Bump Atomic (Deck Format Finals Only)
Hell Salamander 00 Wall Bearing (Deck Format Finals Only)

3rd: BurstedBey7491
Judgment Dragon Sting Dimension Zan
Perfect Phoenix 10 Atomic



More Photos


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More Beyblade Tournament Reports


If you enjoyed this report, then you may also enjoy some of my other Beyblade Burst tournament reports:

Interesting, I never tested Ratchet on same spin Bearing but didn't find it to be better than Wall in opposite spin (and Sting was already better in same spin) so I kind of just dismissed it as another Lift/Turn. Maybe it's worse than I expected if B3.0W.Br was able to outspin hS.Rt.Br.

Also, between Judgement in Standard and the viability of KO Attack in Classic, it's nice to see Unite finally getting some much-deserved use. It's always been a viable part for KO Defense, just up until now circumstances have made it so that Attack isn't something you expect to need to deal with. I imagine we'll be seeing more of it, and probably Bite and Keep, as well, in the near future (I actually suggested Cho-Z Spriggan Outer Keep to LazerBeamz as a Judgement X' counter a few weeks ago, granted this was before I actually had Judgement though).
God this is beautiful. I'm going there from Japan in August. Hopefully i can join in the fun if there's a tourney by that time.
(Jun. 24, 2019  8:57 AM)Wombat Wrote: Interesting, I never tested Ratchet on same spin Bearing but didn't find it to be better than Wall in opposite spin (and Sting was already better in same spin) so I kind of just dismissed it as another Lift/Turn. Maybe it's worse than I expected if B3.0W.Br was able to outspin hS.Rt.Br.

Also, between Judgement in Standard and the viability of KO Attack in Classic, it's nice to see Unite finally getting some much-deserved use. It's always been a viable part for KO Defense, just up until now circumstances have made it so that Attack isn't something you expect to need to deal with. I imagine we'll be seeing more of it, and probably Bite and Keep, as well, in the near future (I actually suggested Cho-Z Spriggan Outer Keep to LazerBeamz as a Judgement X' counter a few weeks ago, granted this was before I actually had Judgement though).

Yeah, I had the same experience as you with Ratchet vs. ? Wall in opposite spin on Bearing. It is worth mentioning however that I even was getting B3 to OS 超S in mirror matches during testing too ... I hadn't tried that before, so I was surprised to find that was the case. In any case, I do think testing vs hS.Rt.Br to confirm what happened at the tournament would be a good idea; while oOTipsyOo's launch wasn't bad, I do think mine was stronger so that may have contributed to the result.

I had been considering Unite lately before Judgment was released it if the circumstances were right (basically, if I played 1234beyblade in a finals match lol ... which hasn't happened recently for the standard format), but you're right. Nothing stationary right now feels particularly safe, so the best option is mobile defense or maybe βite/Keep (although I haven't tried hem too much).

(Jun. 24, 2019  2:37 PM)mikedrewsmy Wrote: God this is beautiful. I'm going there from Japan in August. Hopefully i can join in the fun if there's a tourney by that time.

Once you've confirmed your dates, let me know and we can probably schedule something for when you're here!

(Jun. 24, 2019  3:28 PM)NateTheGreat23 Wrote: Is there a tournament in Georgia

Wrong place to ask. Smile Your first step would be to see if there is anyone in your area using this forum: https://worldbeyblade.org/Forum-North-America
(Jun. 24, 2019  8:44 PM)Kei Wrote:
(Jun. 24, 2019  8:57 AM)Wombat Wrote: Interesting, I never tested Ratchet on same spin Bearing but didn't find it to be better than Wall in opposite spin (and Sting was already better in same spin) so I kind of just dismissed it as another Lift/Turn. Maybe it's worse than I expected if B3.0W.Br was able to outspin hS.Rt.Br.

Also, between Judgement in Standard and the viability of KO Attack in Classic, it's nice to see Unite finally getting some much-deserved use. It's always been a viable part for KO Defense, just up until now circumstances have made it so that Attack isn't something you expect to need to deal with. I imagine we'll be seeing more of it, and probably Bite and Keep, as well, in the near future (I actually suggested Cho-Z Spriggan Outer Keep to LazerBeamz as a Judgement X' counter a few weeks ago, granted this was before I actually had Judgement though).

Yeah, I had the same experience as you with Ratchet vs. ? Wall in opposite spin on Bearing. It is worth mentioning however that I even was getting B3 to OS 超S in mirror matches during testing too ... I hadn't tried that before, so I was surprised to find that was the case. In any case, I do think testing vs hS.Rt.Br to confirm what happened at the tournament would be a good idea; while oOTipsyOo's launch wasn't bad, I do think mine was stronger so that may have contributed to the result.

I had been considering Unite lately before Judgment was released it if the circumstances were right (basically, if I played 1234beyblade in a finals match lol ... which hasn't happened recently for the standard format), but you're right. Nothing stationary right now feels particularly safe, so the best option is mobile defense or maybe βite/Keep (although I haven't tried hem too much).

(Jun. 24, 2019  2:37 PM)mikedrewsmy Wrote: God this is beautiful. I'm going there from Japan in August. Hopefully i can join in the fun if there's a tourney by that time.

Once you've confirmed your dates, let me know and we can probably schedule something for when you're here!

(Jun. 24, 2019  3:28 PM)NateTheGreat23 Wrote: Is there a tournament in Georgia

Wrong place to ask. Smile Your first step would be to see if there is anyone in your area using this forum: https://worldbeyblade.org/Forum-North-America

4-10 Vancouver & Surrey
11-12 Winnipeg
13-17 Toronto
18-24 Montreal
24-26 Halifax
Back to Vancouver again on 27
(Jun. 24, 2019  8:57 PM)mikedrewsmy Wrote: 4-10 Vancouver & Surrey
11-12 Winnipeg
13-17 Toronto
18-24 Montreal
24-26 Halifax
Back to Vancouver again on 27

Cool. PM me near the end of July and I'll let you know if we can do it! It would be on August 17th if we can.
It seems Hasbro Bearing is pretty good. Kei , How good was it up against TT atomic, bearing and Xt+?
Glad to see more B3 use lol. Also the use of attack beys and Unite. Let's just hope B3 can stay relevant until Hasbro releases other good beys.
The exact opposite of what happen and anime north happened here XD. I always forget about Kei's way of thinking about what I think about he's thinking about. By the end of the year me and him will just be spending 20 minutes alone selecting beys because of JJ use, I think pP will be directed overall more to raw defence combos while left spin still keeping a somewhat reliable safe combo. I've seen a lot of Japanese bladers when put up against JJ, if their using wall, they use it in a way to purposely scrape so when it gets hit the wall it's already caught itself
No Judgement Ashura? I find that a bit odd, but seeing JD is just a trip, doubly so on Sting Dimension. Has anyone given a reason why they they using other chips over Ashura (Excluding that one Judgement Bearing combo)?
RacingCheetahz I haven’t done extensive testing comparing Gatinko Chips just due to wearing concerns with Judgment, but my thought on using Valkyrie is that given Judgment has such high recoil and can end battles very quickly, I would rather have that giant first tooth to protect me than a bunch of small ones which could more easily be skipped.