The first tournament in the multi-part event was Double Elimination Team Plastics, where I teamed up with Tech and OnTheDL to form Team SuperBladers. Since OnTheDL and I had also been on Team Yeti at AN, I thought it would be easier to use that team again and just add Tech as a member, but that didn’t end up happening for whatever reason. Our first match was against team Rising From the Ashes, featuring beymaster15963, Dr. Im, and dirt2. Beymaster was using a Stamina type with Wing Survivor, and while dirt2 had a pretty large Plastics collection, the only really threatening combos he and Dr. Im could put together were:
- AR: Tiger Defenser
- WD: 10 Balance
- SG: Neo Right SG (Double Bearing Core)
- SG Shaft: Burning Kerberous
- SG Casings: Burning Kerberous
- SP: Defense Ring
- BB: Customize Bearing Base
and
- AR: Triple Wing
- WD: 10 Wide
- SG: Neo Right SG (Magnecore)
- BB: SG Metal Flat 2
Since Dr. Im wasn’t as confident using Attack as dirt2 I predicted she would go for the Stamina type and used
- AR: Cross Griffon
- WD: Wide Defense
- SG: Neo Right SG (Magnecore)
- SP: Reverse Attack
- BB: Customize Grip Base
, winning the battle 3-1. All of the Stadiums used for Plastics and HMS were either Tornado Attack or Tornado Balance (whichever one the green one is), and something I noticed was that it seemed harder to KO in these stadiums than in a BB-10 (which was the Stadium I played in for practice and during NC’s Return of the Plastics). Two of my wins were due to just beating up Tiger Defenser so much I won via OS.
While I was busy trying to assemble my Zombie Combo, which was
- AR: War Lion
- S-AR: Dragon Saucer
- WD: Wide Defense
- SG: Neo Left SG (Double Bearing Core)
- SG Casings: Burning Kerberous
- SG Shaft: Wolborg 2
- SP: Cross Surviver
- BB: Customize Grip Base
Tech ended up playing the next match against dirt2, who as I expected was using the Triple Wing combo. I can’t recall Tech’s exact combo but it was using Panther Claw and some Semi Flat (it may have even been stock Flash Leopard). Tech ended up winning 3-1 also, due to dirt2 Self-KOing and recoil KOing while Tech got wall saves. By this point I was done assembling the Zombie and gave it to OnTheDL to use against beymaster. Thankfully his combo ended up being Right Spin so OnTheDL took the battle 3-1, and our team won 9-3.
Next up were the GoDs, who in my opinion seemed like the most intimidating team (being composed of geetster, Stars, and Sniper). Geetster didn’t seem to be taking either the tournament or me too seriously however, seeing as he used a stock Dragoon G. I switched my Zombie to Right Spin and was able to win 3-1. Second for GoDs was Sniper, who is pretty lethal with
- AR: Triple Tiger
- WD: Wide Defense
- SG: something that spins right
- BB: Defense Grip Base Inverted
and just Attack types in general. Since this was his only combo used at the AN 2014 Plastics tournament and he also made heavy use of Attack types in Limited, I switched the Zombie back to Left Spin and gave it to Tech, knowing it would be our best option. Unsurprisingly, he was able to KO it once, but Tech still came out on top 3-1 after numerous wall saves. I actually don’t recall what combo Stars used or exactly what I gave to OnTheDL, but I’m fairly certain she used Circle Survivor. Whatever the matchup was, she won 3-0, winning the Team Battle 9-2.
At the end of the winner’s bracket was Atlantic Coast Elites (ACE), which included Time, Angry Face, and *Ginga*. I played *Ginga* in the first match, and it ended up being a Zombie near-mirror match (I was using War Saucer, Wide Defense, Cross Surviver, and CGB, *Ginga* was using Tiger Defenser, Wide Survivor, Defense Ring, and CBB). I took a loss because my launcher skipped once, but ended up winning 3-1 due to having a stronger launch. I was unsure how invested Angry Face was into the older gens, but didn’t think he had the parts to make a good Zombie so I let Tech borrow my Cross Griffon combo. Angry ended up using Attack as well, except he was using a Hasbro Cross Griffon on SG Metal Flat 2. It was a close match, but Tech lost 2-3 due to Metal Flat’s superior Stamina to CGB. I didn’t know what Time would use either, so I let OnTheDL borrow Circle Survivor because I felt it had a solid chance of beating most things. He ended up using a Stock Driger V2 and winning 3-0, putting SuperBladers at a 5-7 loss.
Our final battle was against Rising From the Ashes, who lived up to their name, recovering from their first round loss to eventually defeat us and take 2nd Place in the tournament. In the first round OnTheDL faced Dr. Im, and I believe I let her borrow Cross Griffon again. IIRC Dr. Im was using an updated combo from her last battle with me, suggesting that she had borrowed parts from beymaster to make it more defensive. OnTheDL ended up losing 0-3. I went next against dirt2, using Circle Survivor against his Triple Wing combo. My launch strength worked against me in this match, as Circle Survivor began acting semi-aggressively, enough so that dirt2’s combo could hit me head on even when his Sliding Shoot was inaccurate and score a KO. I barely edged him out 3-2, but in retrospect the Zombie would have been a safer choice. For the last battle, I let Tech borrow Circle Survivor to face beymaster15963, who was using the same combo as before. This time being Right Spin worked against us, and beymaster took the match 3-2, winning the Team Battle 8-5. My team ended up getting 3rd once again, but I made some bad calls during the last Team Battle that definitely hurt us.
Moral of the story: use moar Zombie. The Zombie combo would have won literally all of the battles that SuperBladers as a team lost, looking back at it. I don’t recall seeing any other Circle Survivors, so I’m not sure what I was scared of it losing to either.