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

Toronto Beyblade Tournaments Report: HIGH PARK THROWDOWN 10 (MFB/BST)

Jul. 15, 2018  5:53 AM
 
[Image: GOjmFlZ.png]

TORONTO BEYBLADE BURST TOURNAMENT REPORT


July 14, 2018 at High Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
METAL FIGHT & BURST FORMAT


HIGH PARK THROWDOWN is the longest running tournament series in WBO history, dating back to 2009! Today we hosted the tenth edition in two formats: Metal Fight–which is what started this series and become a yearly tradition–and Burst Format. It's a milestone I've been looking forward to for some time. You can read a bit more about it in my HIGH PARK THROWDOWN 9 report.

Typically we host it on the second or third weekend in July every year. And this year was also notable for being the second time we’ve ever been able to host it on my birthday!

First Tournament – Metal Fight Club Format



[Image: JlsOSZl.jpg]

1st: @[Mitsu]
MSF-H Genbull Dragoon 90EWD
MF-H Duo Cancer F230CF
Reviser Girago E230MB
Killerken Dragooon BD145RDF
MSF-H Wyvang Wyvang CH120MF

2nd: @[OldSchool™]
MSF-H Wyvang Wyvang BD145RDF
MF-H Duo Aquario 230WD
MF-H Duo Aquario 230MB

3rd: Kei
MF Kreis Hades 100EWD
MF-H Flash Escolpio X:D
MF-H Flash Escolpio CH120MF
MSF Genbull Dragooon 100EWD

This turned out to be our first ever Club Format event in Toronto. We had seven players and did the full deck format round robin. It was a nice change of pace to not only be able to play Metal Fight Format for the first time since HPT9 last year, but to do it using full Deck Format at a leisurely pace. JesseObre showed up not long after we started which would have put us at eight players, but since we had already started with Deck Format we couldn't just slot him in and make it ranked. In any case, it was a fun tournament!

[Image: evqeoEe.jpg]

Even though everyone was a bit more laid back given the unranked nature of the event, players still competed seriously, but some were willing to take more risks than others … like me. :) In the last match of the round robin 1234beyblade and I knew that we both didn’t have a chance at the finals having both accumulated two losses, so I put together some fun combos on the spot: MF Kreis Hades 100EWD and MF-H Flash Escolpio X:D. Incredibly, I was able to beat 1234beyblade’s aggressive Wyvang combo (can’t remember if it was MF or not) with the help of some wall saves along the way from Kreis Hades hahaha. I got lucky with MF-H Flash Escolpio X:D in the one round it was used, but Kreis Hades did pretty decently all things considered and I took the match 5-1.

Earlier on I had lost to Mitsu using Wyvang Wyvang CH120MF as it was unable to reach down and knock out his low-Track EWD combo as easily as MF-H Flash Escolpio CH120MF had in our casual testing before the tournament.

[Image: UhlsJcS.jpg]

On that note, it was nice to see Mitsu play MFB again and he got his first ever not only tournament win, but even just top three finish at a HIGH PARK THROWDOWN event! Too bad it wasn’t ranked, for him at least haha.


Second Tournament – Burst Format



[Image: Ff3AhTi.jpg]

1st: @[1234beyblade]
Winning Valkyrie 7 Meteor βite
Winning Valkyrie 0 Bump Bearing
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Bump Atomic
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Bump Bearing
Winning Valkyrie 5 Meteor Jolt (Deck Format Finals Only)
Emperor Forneus (Level Chip) 7 Star Bearing (Deck Format Finals Only)
Archer Hercules (Level Chip) 5 Eternal (Deck Format Finals Only)

2nd: @[OldSchool™]
Archer Hercules (Level Chip) 7 Eternal
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Bump Orbit
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Bump Eternal

3rd: Kei
Archer Hercules (Level Chip) 7 Eternal
Archer Hercules 7 Eternal (Deck Format Finals Only)
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Bump Bearing (Deck Format Finals Only)


1234beyblade’s Winning Streak


For this event, we pulled in 19 players, which was a bit more than I expected given that we only posted about this event less than a week before it happened!

[Image: iuIH5ZP.jpg]

1234beyblade continued on his impressive winning streak at this event. It was his fourth tournament win in a row! However, this was his first time ever going undefeated in a tournament. I’ve done it a handful of times over the years, but it certainly isn’t an easy feat.

His usage of Winning Valkyrie 7 Meteor βite is amazing. With his immense launch strength he is able to get wV to bounce off the walls at extremely high speeds, and if he hits you after one of those rebounds, there’s a very high chance you’ll get knocked out if you’re basically anything except aH.7.Et.

Part Balance Issues


Speaking of Archer Hercules, there’s a lot to talk about here.

First, there was a lot of strange stuff happening for me today with the match up it has against various Hell Salamander variants, particularly hS.0B.At and hS.0B.Br … the understanding is that aH.7.Et will beat the Atomic variant, but will lose to the Bearing variant. While this happened as it normally should for players like OldSchool™ and 1234beyblade, for some reason in my match against JustinTC (who placed fourth) in the fourth round of Swiss my LC aH.7.Et wasn’t able to OS his hS.0B.At and I lost 3-1. There was a debatable call in the last round where I felt that I won, but regardless, there was a number of other factors that were making it a lot closer than it probably should have been:

1. JustinTC’s Atomic was frighteningly good upon inspection after the match. One of the most free-spinning Atomic’s (the ball and ring) I’ve seen. It was the green one from RBV10.

2. Afterwards I did some more testing to try and figure out what happened and found that one of my Archer Hercules did better than the other (although I couldn’t tell an obvious balance difference), and then for some reason that new aH with a new 7 Core Disk did better without a Level Chip lol. It was able to beat hS.0B.At, as expected. However, I proceeded to test with OldSchool™’s LC aH.7.Et and his proceeded to win but by a wider margin …

I haven’t had time to do any testing going into this event, but after our previous event I did identify that the balance of my aH.7.Et was questionable, so it’s frustrating to have had that come back to bite me in this event due to my inability to find the time to do testing (besides some cursory testing right before the event started). Having the right match-up, but the wrong balance due to part manufacturing variances isn’t a good feeling … but, no one to blame but myself in the end!

Archer Hercules, Hell Salamander, and the Effectiveness of Traditional Attack


In any case, the next point I wanted to talk about is that what seems to be happening in the metagame right now is starting to become slightly concerning. There is a massive focus on both aH and hS because they both act as counters to each other depending on the combos in use. But the problem is that there doesn’t seem to be consistent Attack counters to both of them outside of super specialized combos like bL on Orbit to defeat hS Revolve or hS Bearing. wV on Jolt or βite (if you’re 1234beyblade lol) seem good against hS, but even they seem dicey sometimes.

Because the slope of the Burst Standard Type Stadium is so shallow, KO-based Attack especially against something so low like aH.7.Et seems futile. I tried it against OldSchool™ in the semi-finals with wV.5M.Jl (and Jolt is low as well!), but it didn’t get me anywhere and I even self-bursted after getting some good hits in the last round.

[Image: DDxpdmy.jpg]

But then, there doesn’t seem to be anything that can Burst it consistently either? Maybe a super stationary wV on something like Yielding that can get consistent and hard hits on it early on could, but I haven’t tested that. I have seen something like wV on Atomic burst it, but that doesn’t seem consistent from what I’ve seen.

If anyone has found an Attack combo which can consistently defeat aH.7.Et, do share your experience here. Mine is all based on tournaments so far, so I haven’t spent time exploring perhaps some more creative options.

Does TAKARA-TOMY need to make a new Attack-focused stadium?


I’m beginning to think more and more that if TAKARA-TOMY really wants to solve the issues with conventional Attack types which have existed for the entirety of Beyblade Burst thus far, they need to release a new legitimate stadium with a steeper slope.

Maybe not exactly like the BB-10 from MFB as during BEYBLADE NORTH we tested Burst in that for fun and Attack was incredibly OP, but something with greater thought put towards giving Attack types a chance. Especially with Super Z increasing weight and lowering the frequency of bursting generally speaking, it feels like a new stadium with KO Attack in mind is badly needed at this point.


More Photos
[Image: zgPSoV7.jpg]

[Image: wIFegpM.jpg]

[Image: eDs74aY.jpg]

[Image: NthRvSx.jpg]



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

More Beyblade Tournament Reports
If you enjoyed this report, then you may also enjoy some of my other Beyblade Burst tournament reports:
Jul. 15, 2018  7:01 AM
 
The release of a new stadium is very unlikely why not just ban hS and aH that would help the meta alot.
Jul. 15, 2018  8:35 AM
 
(Jul. 15, 2018  7:01 AM)Rebel Blader Wrote: The release of a new stadium is very unlikely why not just ban hS and aH that would help the meta alot.

Historically speaking, if you look at Metal Fight Beyblade the chances that a competitive new stadium design being released are low. However, Metal Fight Beyblade Zero-G and Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (Plastics/HMS) both had multiple legitimate stadiums for competitive play. So, to be it's probably not "very unlikely" but "possible". Especially as the series continues to evolve in the direction it's now heading with Super Z.

I'd much prefer a solution like that from TT to help the entire Burst metagame in one swoop, but in any case we are still in the early stages with hS and aH especially, so I don't think it's productive to associate words like "ban" with anything so swiftly. I'm talking about them here as "concerning" on some levels not because I think they deserve the treatment you're suggesting but because early impressions give me cause for ... concern haha. Like I said in the report though, I haven't tested aH formally myself, so I could be wrong about it.
Jul. 15, 2018  1:09 PM
 
(Jul. 15, 2018  7:01 AM)Rebel Blader Wrote: The release of a new stadium is very unlikely why not just ban hS and aH that would help the meta alot.

i disagree banning hS and aH would “help” anything.  actual tournament players want to play the strong beys. 

Sr and mG were (temporary) aberrations, far stronger than their peers for some time. 

currently we are in the prime release cycle of cho-z.  the game is moving forward with each release. yes, hS and aH are alpha beys right now, but the competitive cho-z landscape is just shaping up.  this makes them fundamentally different from Sr and mG. 

banning is a last resort to keep the game interesting.  personally, competitive burst has never been for interesting or complex than it is right now.  perfect balance is a worthy goal, but ultimately it’s a mirage.
Jul. 15, 2018  2:18 PM
 
(Jul. 15, 2018  8:35 AM)Kei Wrote:
(Jul. 15, 2018  7:01 AM)Rebel Blader Wrote: The release of a new stadium is very unlikely why not just ban hS and aH that would help the meta alot.

Historically speaking, if you look at Metal Fight Beyblade the chances that a competitive new stadium design being released are low. However, Metal Fight Beyblade Zero-G and Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (Plastics/HMS) both had multiple legitimate stadiums for competitive play. So, to be it's probably not "very unlikely" but "possible". Especially as the series continues to evolve in the direction it's now heading with Super Z.

I'd much prefer a solution like that from TT to help the entire Burst metagame in one swoop, but in any case we are still in the early stages with hS and aH especially, so I don't think it's productive to associate words like "ban" with anything so swiftly. I'm talking about them here as "concerning" on some levels not because I think they deserve the treatment you're suggesting but because early impressions give me cause for ... concern haha. Like I said in the report though, I haven't tested aH formally myself, so I could be wrong about it.
Although i don't  really have that much info on aH and hS my impression for both are that they do show characteristics of op parts.  I mean look at aH its a top stamina layer with quite good defense just like how d2 used to be in the dual layer/single layer era.  As for hS its like a better dF or if u ask me its almost like Sr bearing. hS bearing can outspin almost anything right spin to beat it consistently u need to use hS variants and needless to say hS atomic destroys right spin attack. So imo the meta really revolves around these two parts. SincSince both have the best stamina in their respective spin directions and  quite good defense.
Jul. 16, 2018  3:09 AM
 
(Jul. 15, 2018  2:18 PM)Rebel Blader Wrote:
(Jul. 15, 2018  8:35 AM)Kei Wrote: Historically speaking, if you look at Metal Fight Beyblade the chances that a competitive new stadium design being released are low. However, Metal Fight Beyblade Zero-G and Bakuten Shoot Beyblade (Plastics/HMS) both had multiple legitimate stadiums for competitive play. So, to be it's probably not "very unlikely" but "possible". Especially as the series continues to evolve in the direction it's now heading with Super Z.

I'd much prefer a solution like that from TT to help the entire Burst metagame in one swoop, but in any case we are still in the early stages with hS and aH especially, so I don't think it's productive to associate words like "ban" with anything so swiftly. I'm talking about them here as "concerning" on some levels not because I think they deserve the treatment you're suggesting but because early impressions give me cause for ... concern haha. Like I said in the report though, I haven't tested aH formally myself, so I could be wrong about it.
Although i don't  really have that much info on aH and hS my impression for both are that they do show characteristics of op parts.  I mean look at aH its a top stamina layer with quite good defense just like how d2 used to be in the dual layer/single layer era.  As for hS its like a better dF or if u ask me its almost like Sr bearing. hS bearing can outspin almost anything right spin to beat it consistently u need to use hS variants and needless to say hS atomic destroys right spin attack. So imo the meta really revolves around these two parts. SincSince both have the best stamina in their respective spin directions and  quite good defense.Hs
Hs and AH have been the primarily two for the meta. Similar to how sr and mg were pre ban. We could always just bring back sr and mg and see where that goes??? Grin
Jul. 16, 2018  8:54 AM
 
(Jul. 16, 2018  3:09 AM)ToadsChode Wrote: Hs and AH have been the primarily two for the meta. Similar to how sr and mg were pre ban. We could always just bring back sr and mg and see where that goes??? Grin
I would say ban hS and bring back Sr
Jul. 16, 2018  5:13 PM
 
Great report kei. It seems to me that the metal fight meta still changes even though there are no New releases, I'm curious

And I wouldn't mind a zero-G stadium Smile
Jul. 16, 2018  5:28 PM
 
I disagree with hS atomic beating right spin attack lol, just learn attack, it's really not as bad as people make it out to be; the only problem is aH if anything, the only counter to it is hS Bearing (which isn't even 100% might I add, it's like 90).  I tried dC against it before and dC just got destroyed.  I'm certain aH atomic/revolve beat aH eternal, but that's such a gamble because both of those lose to hS Atomic.

I'm hoping hK has something to add to the meta; say a stamina layer that beats aH and hS but loses badly to attack.  I would be ok with that because aH would be defense, hS balance, hK stamina, and wV attack.
Jul. 20, 2018  4:25 PM
 
And I thought wV is a God at bursting anything including aH