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GATINKO BLADERS UNITE! - 4/14/2019
Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Burst Format
1st: Kei
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Cross Xtend Plus
Perfect Phoenix (Level Chip) 0 Cross Xtend Plus
Perfect Phoenix (Level Chip) 0 Cross Atomic
Perfect Phoenix (Level Chip) 00 Bump Atomic (Deck Format Finals Only)
Hell Salamander 0 Cross Xtend Plus (Deck Format Finals Only)
Cho-Z Valkyrie Blitz Xtreme Dash (Deck Format Finals Only)
2nd: @[Xcal94]
Perfect Phoenix Ωuter Xtend Plus
Archer Hercules 0 Cross Atomic (Deck Format Finals Only)
3rd: @[OldSchool™]
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Cross Xtend Plus
Perfect Phoenix Ωuter Xtend Plus
Hell Salamander (Level Chip) 0 Cross Bearing (Deck Format Finals Only)
"GATINKO BLADERS UNITE" ...? It was more like "CHO-Z BLADERS UNITE!".
Beyblade Burst GT didn't have a huge impact throughout the day. I used Blitz on Cho-Z Valkyrie, but the only other really notable GT-related instance was @[Justin TC] who gets an honourary mention for earning himself a fourth place finish using 超V.St.Ch several times throughout the day. He could have easily made it into the top three! It was close.
Xcal94 also had 超A.00.Ch in his Deck at one point and OldSchool™ had wV.7R.X', so while the winning combos don't reflect it well, attack was certainly present throughout the finals. And it felt like there was quite a few KOs involving At and Xt+ matches too; those can be a bit tricky.
Congrats to Xcal94 in particular though; he came packing heat today in his second tournament ever and managed to earn himself second place! Awesome.
(Apr. 13, 2019 3:55 AM)DeceasedCrab Wrote: Destroy is a likable driver. I like destroy a lot, I use it on my Cho-Z A. It's fun, it doesn't require too complicated a launch to flower, and it has some decent stamina. If I had Destroy' I'd be all over it. Also, people win with it, so clearly it's decent.
Yeah, I like it too. The reason the lists above surprised me is because it hasn't been seen much at all in Toronto in a long time. It caught on in a pretty big way in Toronto back when it was released in 2017, starting at
WELCOME TO A&C GAMES V and
WELCOME TO A&C GAMES VI . I feel that this was partially due to the fact that many of us were still a bit apprehensive regarding Bearing's weak spring when it first came out, so it being able to OS opposite spin Atomic combos (and basically anything except Bearing) and also do well against Attack types was a huge deal.
It continued to dominate at
BEYBLADE SHOGATSU 2018 (crazy event where we still hadn't banned mode changing on Spriggan Requiem lol) in January 2018.
And then Bearing started to sort of take over starting at
TO BURST OR NOT TO BURST 2 and
SUPER Z, SUPER FUN. Then after a few events with both Bearing and Destroy in the mix, it died at
BEYBLADE NORTH 2018 in May, which is especially interesting because that was an event which featured many US Bladers (and 2 of the Top 3).
So, it makes me wonder when Destroy started making an impact in the US (both Destroy and Destroy').
Part of a parts popularity I think has to do with some form of recency bias and the availability of that part which is linked to why Destroy was so popular for us in Toronto at the end of 2017 and start of 2018. But I also think that the popularity is directly influenced by the local communities as well; as soon as one person starts doing well with something, it inevitably begins to be used by other people. A perfect example of this is WELCOME TO A&C GAMES V where I used Destroy to help me capture first place, and then at the very next event–WELCOME TO A&C GAMES VI–all of the top three used it in some capacity haha.
And once that happens, it seems to me like it becomes difficult for a community to break free from that; people end up using not necessarily might be the best choice but what is successful within the world of their local community. There's varying degrees of this, but I think that is certainly happens because it is easier to look at what the top players are doing (and you certainly should) than to figure things out yourself. Otherwise, you'd see equal representation of parts across all local communities.
As it stands now, it feels like to me it fell out of our collective consciousness in Toronto due to the age of Nightmare Longinus (and while it was re-released, it was never in a regular booster/starter again) and the relative rarity of Destroy' at the moment.
It's interesting to think about as it makes me question the notion of trying to determine what the 'best' parts are. I have my own ideas influenced by my community and playstyle, others have theirs, but obviously no one can claim necessarily to know what is objectively the 'best' when talking in anything beyond a purely conceptual level.
(Apr. 13, 2019 6:12 AM)The Supreme One Wrote: @[Kei] Destroy has been popular here for a while! The addition of Ds' makes it a very versatile and safe driver - great stamina and defense with the potential to be used as an attacker. I know in Yami's deck match against epickblader at Lunior Cup, he got one, possibly two KOs on dP At with cR Ds' and in my match against SoulBurner at How to Train Your GT Dragon, he got a couple snipes on me with his dP Ds'. One of the benefits of Ds' is that it's an attacker that can't really be countered by weak launching because when you do, you put yourself at risk of being outspun.
Yeah, all certainly true! To me, I guess I've felt apprehensive about it due to the fact that it feels more like a jack of all trades, master of none type of deal.
There is things which are better for same spin stamina, opposite spin stamina, and attack ... so it's felt hard to justify fitting it in. But I suppose this also reflects a difference in mentality across communities; if you're OK with the fact that something isn't going to the absolute best for its type, but gives you a shot at winning in many different scenarios, then I can see why Destroy' would be a good pick.
I remember when Destroy' first came out I really wanted to find a way to use cR on Ds' because it was a decent choice against Archer Hercules since they had to launch pretty hard to avoid being OSed, and it also would be good against attack and hS At ... but when constructing a deck in that period where there was not many attack users and even fewer hS At users (it was typically hS Br), it became a tough sell to me and I never used it.
I tested Ds' out on a few things yesterday after reading your post and was actually enjoying it and tried using it in the final match today, but unfortunately lost the one round I played with it versus Xcal94's pP.Ω.Xt+. And BladerBeast used cR.10S.Ds' in his deck today against me in the first round of the finals after reading this thread, but didn't end up winning with it.
Also, I hope you mean pP and not dP haha.
(Apr. 14, 2019 8:18 PM)AirKingNeo Wrote: It could just be me, but I feel like Perfect Phoenix and Xt+ might just be too good of parts. What's usually the tournament consensus on these parts and what can beat them consistently?
Also, since it isn't seen a lot, how is Cho-Z Spriggan performing? We're seeing 00W.Br on it, but is anyone trying it with Xt+, Atomic, or Ds'? Also interesting to see people using Crash Ragnaruk after people discovered how good it is on Ds' and Z'.
It's popular and quite powerful, but not overpowered in my opinion. I was able to beat one today using Cho-Z Valkyrie as was Justin TC at certain points in the finals I believe. It also doesn't feel super safe due to the fact that the Dead Armour popping off can have such a dramatic effect on the outcome of a battle.
Cho-Z Spriggan didn't make much of a splash upon release, but I've been seeing it more lately here in Toronto for some reason. Several players used it today and made it to the finals. Mostly on Bearing and Atomic, and henwooja1 even tried it on Xtreme (but lost).
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