World Beyblade Organization by Fighting Spirits Inc. World Beyblade Organization Beyblade Tournaments Tournament Reports

Toronto Beyblade Burst Tournament Report: LIVE ACTION REBOOT

Apr. 23, 2017  2:08 AM
 
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TORONTO BEYBLADE BURST
TOURNAMENT REPORT
April 15, 2017 at High Park in Toronto, Ontario Canada • BURST FORMAT
OFFICIAL EVENT PAGE • RESULTS SPREADSHEET

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Just a few days prior to this event TAKARA-TOMY announced that Dark Deathscyther would be joining Deathscyther in their “Hall of Fame”, meaning that it would no longer be legal for tournament play in Japan.

Since as far back as late 2015 there has been discussion amongst the WBO community about how the Beyblade Burst metagame could be better balanced. This initially resulted in our banning of the Odin Layer, as it was dominating the the metagame in the early days of Beyblade Burst before there was as many good Attack-type combinations that did consistently well against it. The Odin banned lasted perhaps longer than it should have (ending officially in December of 2016), but it served its purpose. Deathscyther was always in the conversation, but we elected not to ban it originally primarily because unlike Odin, it did have some significant weaknesses early on already to things like Valkyrie.

However, since that point in time Deathscyther has stood alone at the top of the metagame in terms of Stamina, eventually to be joined by Dark Deathscyther last April, a Layer with not only high Stamina, but high Defense too, making it the go-to safe combo for top players. I have already expressed in greater detail how I feel about both of these Layers remaining in the game here and will be following up on that in response to some newer posts soon, but I wanted to lead with this to paint a brief picture of the context everyone was entering this tournament with.

Deathscyther and Dark Deathscyther were therefore on everyone’s minds going into this event even more than usual, and the results you’ll see in the winning combinations at the bottom of this report and in my description of the event certainly reflect that.

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We had 15 players for this event, and as is usual as of late, it was a mix of regular members and newcomers. For any Organizers in other areas around the world, I'd really suggest posting ads for your events on ad or event posting websites like Craigslist. We have one called Kijiji in Canada, and especially now with Burst having launched internationally, often see new members join who saw our ad. It’s worth it to try and expand your reach to go outside of the WBO sphere because believe it or not, there’s still a lot of people who haven't heard of us, especially younger kids who are playing Beyblade for the first time with Burst.

With 15 players registered, we played using Block Round Robin. One block of seven and one block of eight.

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BLOCK B
pyrus10000, OldSchool, and Zerro posted records of 4-3, but we're in tough against two of the top Burst players in 1234beyblade and JesseObre. 1234beyblade and JesseObre were able to come away nearly unscathed at the end of their block with records of 7-0 and 6-1 respectively. Jesse’s only loss came to 1234beyblqde when he tried to defeat his Stamina/Defense combo (can't remember if it was Deathscyther or D2) with a God Valkyrie combo.

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pyrus10000 in particular had some tough match-ups, surprisingly losing with his D2?D against Zerro’s D2 on Weight. Definitely worth testing that more. He also used DHR versus 1234beyblade’s DGY, but ended up losing as well due to the strong balance and launch of 1234beyblade.

I didn't see too much of the action in this block, but I do remember seeing a couple other D2 vs D2 matches and some with one Dark Deathscyther combination. When DRose played pyrus10000 he used a Kreis Satan combination and was even able to burst it once, but pyrus ultimately won the match 3-1 I believe. Another example of how D2 can be bursted seemingly randomly by a lot of things, but never consistently enough to be beaten that often unless you have some skill and a specific counter like Minoboros Knuckle Zephyr or Minoboros Knuckle Xtreme.

BLOCK A
In contrast, my block was Lost Longinus central on this day for some reason haha. There were a couple kids using uncustomized L2.N.Sp which contributed to this trend, but combos like L2GW, L2 on Revolve, L2HX, and L2HH were also seen from players like Gum#1, Tempest546, and SUGOI-KONICHEWA.

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Four of my six block battles were actually against L2 combinations, but in each case Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense shut them down quite easily.

Mitsu surprisingly used God Valkyrie 6 Vortex Zephyr against me in our block play. Historically speaking based on our battle history outside of Deck Format Finals, this was an unusual decision for him. I had chosen DHR and was therefore in some trouble going into the match. Mitsu quickly went up 2-0 via Burst Finishes, but after adjusting my launch technique I was able to mount a comeback losing only one click in the last three rounds combined! Those sort of situations in Beyblade are the best when you can learn on the fly, make an adjustment in battle, and then ultimately come up with the win. It’s why I never give up on a battle when others might being down 2-0 in a disadvantageous match-up; you have to always believe there’s a chance to win because there always is. You won’t always win in the end, but you won’t know unless you try.

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I ultimately was able to finish block play with an undefeated record of 6-0. Tied for the second spot in the finals from our block were Mitsu and Tempest546 with records of 4-2. Mitsu advanced due to holding the tiebreaker over Tempest546, but it is definitely worth noting his performance. He has been steadily improving lately ever since going 5-0 in the Swiss Rounds and placing 3rd at WELCOME TO A&C GAMES IV.



DECK FORMAT FINALS

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Finalists:
  • 1234beyblade (Block B, 7-0)
  • Kei (Block A, 6-0)
  • JesseObre (Block B 6-1)
  • Mitsu (Block A, 4-2)


Top 4 First Round:
1234beyblade vs. Mitsu
1234beyblade’s Deck: Valkyrie ? Vortex Accel, Wyvern Heavy Revolve, Deathscyther Gravity Yielding
Mitsu’s Deck: God Valkyrie ? Vortex Reboot, Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense, Deathscyther 2 Cross Revolve

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I feel bad for 1234beyblade; he’s had quite a stretch of bad luck in several Deck Format Final battles lately. This one against Mitsu added to it after he was able to get both a KO and Burst with his D2GD against 1234beyblade’s WHR or DGY, if I remember correctly … putting the battle basically out of reach.

That being said, I do think in terms of deck construction Mitsu had the advantage very slightly because his gV.?V.Rb has a decent chance against his entire deck, while 1234beyblade’s V.?V.A may have trouble with D2GD. Part of the issue with Dark Deathscyther is that the main (proven) counter that exists for it (Minoboros) isn’t also necessarily the best choice against Deathscyther (or especially Wyvern), making the decision to choose it as your Attack type somewhat tricky as you have to make the assumption your opponent will use D2 and accept that you won’t have the best Attack type to face the common Deathscyther (that’s not to say it’s a lost cause; I won a Deck Format Final match against cadney to win WELCOME TO A&C GAMES II using MKZ against DHR in multiple rounds, although there was many DBFs involved).

On the other hand, something like Valkyrie can be quite good against a lot of different things: Deathscyther, Wyvern, Odin, Neptune … Many of the other competitive Stamina Layers have more than one reliable counter (although the ‘reliability’ of Minoboros against D2 could be questioned anyways, to be honest). If D2 were out of the equation, it would be easier to construct a Deck with an Attack type that can handle multiple situations with a greater level of reliability. Of course, there’s probably scenarios I’m not thinking about here, so feel free to point out anything critical I may be missing!

Kei vs. JesseObre
Kei’s Deck: Blaze Ragnaruk 2 Glaive Zephyr, Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense, Deathscyther Heavy Revolve
JesseObre’s Deck: Lost Longinus Spread Hold, Neptune Gravity Revolve, Deathscyther Heavy Defense

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Having a strong understanding of how Deck Format works, thinking ahead, while also taking my time was critical for me in being able to win this battle. I was able to win the first round with my DHR and then we traded blows for a few rounds, eventually leading Jesse to try out his L2SH as his last hope to put himself ahead and win the battle. I believe he may have been KOed or self-KOed and I was able to win 5-3. I was surprised to see him have it in his deck as I don’t believe he had ever used it before. Although, L2 Hold was my downfall during the finals of the last tournament, so I understand why he picked it. Thankfully, I re-thought my approach to Deck building a bit since then. :)

He was in a bit of a tough spot throughout because he probably knew both his NGR and L2SH really wouldn’t have a chance against my D2GD (I do wonder why he chose NGR, actually), and having been able to win the first round, I was able to maintain control of the battle flow with strategic switching after each round win avoiding a potentially dicey L2SH vs. DHR match-up.

3rd/4th Place Match:
1234beyblade vs. JesseObre
1234beyblade’s Deck: Blaze Ragnaruk ? Vortex Accel, Wyvern Heavy Revolve, Deathscyther Gravity Defense
JesseObre’s Deck: Minoboros Knuckle Zephyr, Dark Deathscyther Gravity Orbit, Deathscyther Heavy Defense

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I recommended Jesse pick MKZ as his attack type before this battle, but for some reason I had forgotten to consider that 1234beyblade often chooses Wyvern, which is a strong counter to Minoboros … yet somehow, as Jesse often does, he found a way to win! I can’t remember all of the details, but I do believe he scored a KO on WHR with his D2GO, and I  know he didn’t end up having to use his MKZ, so I might chalk this one partially up to bad luck on 1234beyblade’s part yet again, though.


1st/2nd Place Match:
Kei vs. Mitsu
Kei’s Deck: Blaze Ragnaruk 2 Glaive Zephyr, Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense, Deathscyther Heavy Revolve
Mitsu’s Deck: God Valkyrie Heavy Reboot, Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense, Deathscyther 2 Cross Revolve

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I felt pretty good about the deck I used against Jesse, so I used the exact same one against Mitsu. You may be wondering about Blaze Ragnaruk 2 Glaive Zephyr at this point; I had done some testing the night before this event and found it to be surprisingly efficient at bursting D2 and Deathscyther … I still haven’t done comprehensive testing, but in all of my informal testing so far I’ve found that Blaze Ragnaruk actually does have an offensive upside. This is great because bR also has a pretty decent amount of Stamina, which makes it hard for people to weak launch against it when using Zephyr or Accel.

However, with the way this battle played out I only ended up using it in one round against Mitsu’s D2, and I did lose that round via OS despite landing some good hits. At one point in the match I consciously chose the DHR vs gV.H.Rb match-up having been about to come out nearly zero clicks lost in the final three rounds of my similar block play match with Mitsu, but he was able to score a burst finish on me. In the end, I was able to trade points with him a few times in DHR and D2GD match-ups, and then had the good fortune of being able to win the battle on a burst finish from my D2GD against his D.2C.R.

Not the most satisfying of tournament wins considering I did so exclusively with Deathscyther and D2 combinations, but I was happy with the way I was able to control and think my way through each of the Deck Format finals matches in a (mostly :)) calculated manner.


Video by Mitsu:
A few complete battles recorded by Mitsu:



Video by Kei:
In case you missed it, here’s the Instagram Stories I posted throughout the event on @worldbeyblade.



Photos by Kei:

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Winning Combinations

1st: Kei
Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense
Deathscyther Heavy Revolve
Deathscyther Heavy Defense

2nd: Mitsu
Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense
Deathscyther Gravity Revolve
Deathscyther 2 Cross Revolve
Dark Deathscyther 4 Glaive Defense
God Valkyrie Heavy Reboot (Deck Format Finals Only)
God Valkyrie 4 Vortex Reboot (Deck Format Finals Only)

3rd: JesseObre
Deathscyther Heavy Defense
Dark Deathscyther Gravity Defense
Dark Deathscyther Gravity Orbit


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

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