Keep in mind this is just a poll because I’m curious what people think about banning WizardRod. This is NOT a proposal to do anything about it

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If you're not already aware, B-177 Booster Jet Wyvern Around Just 1D is the best Beyblade product to have ever been released.

I know some people defend WizardRod a lot because good enough attackers can beat it as can a few luckier beys, and I'm hoping that CobaltDragoon will be able to do something about its sheer dominance too, but the truth is I find it a bit crippling currently because:

• It's completely warped the meta around itself more than any other blade in X thus far, even moreso than PhoenixWing.
  
• It is a thoughtless choice to make to add to a deck that takes no skill or consideration short of balance tuning.
  
• Unlike any other blade, this one blade practically invalidates or severely nerfs a surprisingly large number of blades that would be far more usable or at the least much less restricted without it. As examples: HellScythe, UnicornSting (Stamina variants only, Defense/Balance variants still exist even with WizardRod), WizardArrow, WyvernGale, ShinobiShadow, KnightShield, LeonClaw (itself not great, but it's surprisingly potent when you least expect it), and even some of the less popular attackers struggle a ton like PhoenixFeather, RhinoHorn/ShinobiKnife (some people like them, I'm not gonna judge), and DranSword in its presence. This includes a lost stamina triangle between HellScythe, UnicornSting, and WizardArrow which is rather healthy for the game in general.
  
• It takes considerably more skill to defeat than to run, making it very easy to spam regardless of the opponent you're facing unless you have the foreknowledge that your opponent is good specifically against WizardRod.
  
• The above makes WizardRod a much more severe roadblock to newer or less experienced bladers, something which could hurt morale and make new attendees less likely to return to future events if they feel they don't stand a chance against it or don't have the means to get a way to get through it.
  
• Skilled bladers can make up for a few of its downsides on some builds (e.g. Ball's relatively lower defense) with tactics such as softer launches against aggressive opponents or hiding in the left spin corner to avoid hits, making its strengths even better in a skilled player's hands.
  
• It isn't very fun to play as or against, making WizardRod feel more like a chore to some players.
  
• This is true especially in dittos/mirror matches. Holy mackerel, there is nothing quite so slow or boring as a WizardRod mirror unless something happens to hit just right and nearly KO by sheer chance.
  
• The chance of a ditto or mirror match justifies getting multiple copies just to try and defeat itself with a better balanced or heavier blade, which shows that even WizardRod forces its own optimization over skill. Even more telling is that some bits like Rush are now being seen on WizardRod to beat other WizardRods and defend against/bash into anything else, which is kinda nuts that we've come to this point.
  
  

I've heard arguments about PhoenixWing being quite dominant too, or TyrannoBeat as a strong aggressor with an edge against PhoenixWing as another powerful blade, but the truth is both are still far easier to beat by just building decent combos that aren't WizardRod. Both can be outspun pretty badly by traditional stamina if they don't secure the KO. If you build a more passive build to try and bash Stamina in with sheer bulk, chances are you could just get KO'd by another attacker even if it's "weaker". They're strong and still worth running, but there's counterplay in even common combos, and they're not causing such massive blockades on what other parts are usable compared to WizardRod.

Truth is, it's been three months and counterplay still remains incredibly low and requires great skill or luck against WizardRod, and the alternative stamina options really haven't recovered outside of UnicornSting cooking with Defense instead. WizardRod remains very easy to spam and win against all but the most skilled opponents, and even the Japanese use it very frequently over anything else. I've already seen someone make the finals and not win with anything else, and pretty much never switched at all except for one round when he got pressured off due to a rather steep 5-0 point lead against him. If CobaltDragoon doesn't do the job of taking it down a peg (which would then probably blow every other attacker out of the water), I don't see this changing for a while.

Still, there's enough people vehemently calling for it to remain that I really can't say that it's necessary to outright ban it everywhere. I can see a world where that happens anyways and a few regions get ticked from it, but I think it's really best left as a ranked clause so those regions can enjoy their WizardRod mirrors or feel good when they manage to Xtreme it and the rest of us can enjoy using the other dozen or so blades that got hurt so badly by its release instead and see a wider variety of combos along the way.

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Cincinnati-based Organizer, and owner of every single currently released TT Burst bey part in at least one color. Hard to think of anything I don't have from MFB either...

I think we are still early enough into X as a system that a Rod ban would be something that could be something people don't care about after a couple more months of releases. Shark Edge, Phoenix Wing, and Tyranno Beat are decent meta counters to Wizard Rod. There might be some picks that we just haven't thought about yet, but Ratchet and Bit variation might not be enough currently to allow us to deal with Rod-X-60-B/O.

I think 1v1, Pick 3 Choose One, and Deck suffer the most currently with Rod as its a safe pick, but 3on3 puts Rod in a different situation despite still being a staple of current decks. Does 3on3 make more sense given the current meta? The ability to choose Rod with knowledge of what your opponent is using in a given round makes it stronger than if you have to play a raw numbers game of your opponents choice in 3on3. I still think a ranked clause is fine since it seems to be 50/50 on people against/for Rod ban, but I currently don't see an issue with it without taking into a account WBO tournaments tend to run Deck either in all stages or at least in final stage

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Got that wombo combo

I really don’t see it needing a ban any more than wind/bdr did in burst. The problem is that people arent playing the game the way TT intended and that is making the part seem a lot better than it is. It isnt like the bey is invincible.

I really don’t see it needing a ban any more than wind/bdr did in burst. The problem is that people arent playing the game the way TT intended and that is making the part seem a lot better than it is. It isnt like the bey is invincible.

I agree, though I'm curious, what is the way they intended?

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I really don’t see it needing a ban any more than wind/bdr did in burst. The problem is that people arent playing the game the way TT intended and that is making the part seem a lot better than it is. It isnt like the bey is invincible.

I agree, though I'm curious, what is the way they intended?

He is talking about the 3on3 format. TT has been using the 3on3 and 5G formats for a long time and designs the beyblades to be played by these rulesets. Sure as of right now they do 1v1 for their first stage and then change to 3on3 for the top cut. So Rod can be a little overpowered in the first stage. But that is why TT decided to experiment with the handicap system where if you use certain parts like Rod your opponent automatically starts the match with 1 point. TT is experimenting with different things and different rules to make Beyblade X as competitive as possible and will probably end up use using the 3on3 in the first stage as well.

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I really don’t see it needing a ban any more than wind/bdr did in burst. The problem is that people arent playing the game the way TT intended and that is making the part seem a lot better than it is. It isnt like the bey is invincible.

I'd argue that, at least on paper, Rod would be an even bigger issue when played "as TT intended"; I.E. the 1on1 single elim format that they use for their events.
One of the safest combos in the game in one of the most punishing formats possible, it's a match made in heaven.

Edit: nevermind, I wasn't aware they had switched to running 3on3 in the first stage.

I really don’t see it needing a ban any more than wind/bdr did in burst. The problem is that people arent playing the game the way TT intended and that is making the part seem a lot better than it is. It isnt like the bey is invincible.

I'd argue that, at least on paper, Rod would be an even bigger issue when played "as TT intended"; I.E. the 1on1 single elim format that they use for their events.
One of the safest combos in the game in one of the most punishing formats possible, it's a match made in heaven.

Edit: nevermind, I wasn't aware they had switched to running 3on3 in the first stage.

They haven’t switched to 3on3 for first stage. But what I was saying is given time they very well could of their idea of doing the penalty point system doesn’t work out.

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I really don’t see it needing a ban any more than wind/bdr did in burst. The problem is that people arent playing the game the way TT intended and that is making the part seem a lot better than it is. It isnt like the bey is invincible.

Wind wasn't actually that much better than other options like Dynamite+F, it's just the slightly more defensive thing people quickly considered optimal and used as the figurehead for the Burst Standard problems. Truth is Burst's issues were more based around how the system was designed and the massive weight creep, less so much any individual layer.

BDr and MBDr were given a clause for their power level and for pushing too many other tips out of relevance, so if WizardRod is comparable to these drivers to this degree for the exact same reasons then at the minimum a ranked clause should be considered, right?

Like, even played "as intended" it's still pushing far too much out for me to be comfortable, especially given my laundry list of existing reasons already. Everything just turns into WizardRod, WizardRod counters, and counters to the WizardRod counters.

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Cincinnati-based Organizer, and owner of every single currently released TT Burst bey part in at least one color. Hard to think of anything I don't have from MFB either...

I'm a bit late but I'll throw my two cents in regardless. Truthfully, I do not believe Rod to worthy of a ban, nor do I believe a ranked clause is needed. Beyblade has and will always have "good" beyblades, "ok" beyblades, and "bad" beyblades. Wizard Rod, while strong and a staple for deck building, is not unbeatable. I often see players (some even new to X and beyblade as a whole!) come in, borrow beyblades, and place and/or do quite well without Wizard Rod. If the part were as crazy as some seem to make it out to be, that really shouldn't happen, but 🤷‍♂️

While the "centralized meta" take is valid, do keep in mind that this is an ongoing product line and things can change quickly. In about a week, we will see Beyblade X's first left rotation release. This will undoubtedly change the way we play. Sure, you could argue a ranked clause would be the best compromise, but with how different the game is with Rod versus without it, we'd be quite divided in how we play the game... but that's more of a gripe with ranked clauses rather than Rod itself, haha.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I definitely don't want to see it banned and would prefer if was not a ranked clause for the sake of consistency in how we play Beyblade X.

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Player and Organizer for NC Beyblade | Use code "HASHTAGFAFNIR" for 8% off on BeysAndBricks!

I'm a bit late but I'll throw my two cents in regardless. Truthfully, I do not believe Rod to worthy of a ban, nor do I believe a ranked clause is needed. Beyblade has and will always have "good" beyblades, "ok" beyblades, and "bad" beyblades. Wizard Rod, while strong and a staple for deck building, is not unbeatable. I often see players (some even new to X and beyblade as a whole!) come in, borrow beyblades, and place and/or do quite well without Wizard Rod. If the part were as crazy as some seem to make it out to be, that really shouldn't happen, but 🤷‍♂️

While the "centralized meta" take is valid, do keep in mind that this is an ongoing product line and things can change quickly. In about a week, we will see Beyblade X's first left rotation release. This will undoubtedly change the way we play. Sure, you could argue a ranked clause would be the best compromise, but with how different the game is with Rod versus without it, we'd be quite divided in how we play the game... but that's more of a gripe with ranked clauses rather than Rod itself, haha.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I definitely don't want to see it banned and would prefer if was not a ranked clause for the sake of consistency in how we play Beyblade X.

By the logic of "they aren't unbeatable so we shouldn't do anything about it" we'd never have banned anything in Burst format at any point since no combo in Burst was truly unbeatable. Every banned part from Burst has had some sort of counterplay in one way or another. Deathscyther could be bursted or KO'd. Dark Deathscyther could be outspun and wasn't invincibly defensive. Spriggan Requiem could be bursted or KO'd or forced into an LAD ditto. Bearing Drift can be outspun and isn't a guaranteed LAD win. Truth is "not being unbeatable" isn't the whole story for any of these bans or clauses, but rather how much pressure they pose to the format as a whole and how frustrating they are to play with and against takes precedence.

This argument of "the meta can change rapidly" is something that can be true, I'll give you that, but it can also be used as an excuse to ignore the greater problems and frustration a part is causing all to stall for time in the hope that a better counter comes around sometime later. No, WizardRod is perhaps not absolutely necessary in the way where if you don't have it you stand no chance, but it did severely reduce the usability of over half of the game's usable blades nonetheless and is difficult to fight against without specific strategies. We're fortunate that at least one such strategy of just running solid attackers is decently commonplace even among rookies, but that still doesn't make it easy and I've seen newer bladers struggle immensely.

Either way I'm left with a question: How long must we wait before we decide what is too much for the health of the game to begin with? If we look at Maximum Garuda, dominating in very similar ways to WizardRod with high defense and stamina, it only took three months for it to face a trial ban and there wasn't this sort of backlash at all. Looking back at its announcement post I'm struggling to find anyone that spoke against it even! If anything people were applauding Garuda's removal. At some point you need to draw the line and say "enough is enough, this part is not healthy for the game", you cannot and should not wait forever for an answer. If something does come out later that does the job and prevents it from being so oppressive then the rules can be revised again. It's about adaptability, and people have been given that time to adapt and a large portion of nearly half the community still don't find it healthy.

We have significantly game altering ranked clauses already, such as the Gravity/Libra and Omega/Hell/HasScythe clauses of Metal Fight Limited, or the Duo clause in 4D, or the Rubber Defense Flat clause in MFB Standard, or the Bearing Drift clause in Burst. Clearly just being big and game altering should not be a reason by itself to deny a potential clause when so many examples of big game altering clauses exist already.

Truth is, I find sitting on our hands and waiting for better counterplay is fine for a few months at most, and we're clearly straining against that timer as it is since half of the community is clearly requesting a ban or a ranked clause. Our goal is to get people playing Beyblade, let's not forget, and if there's anything worth uniting behind the most of all it's "I'd like to play more Beyblade". People will always be divided, so we may as well take actions to unite them all under a shared common goal than leave us bickering about the value of ranking system purity, which playstyle is worth more, or trying to ignore or push out the other half of the community because they don't want to be playing the way you do for their ranked play.

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Cincinnati-based Organizer, and owner of every single currently released TT Burst bey part in at least one color. Hard to think of anything I don't have from MFB either...

I will politely put in my two cents for right now. I can understand the argument from both sides on why Rod should or not be banned. I will bring up a few things regarding how the WBO has banned parts in the past.

During the first two years of competitive Burst during the era of dual layers, two layers were banned for similar issues: single-layer Deathscyther and Dark Deathscyther. Both parts were notable for their overall synergy in stamina combos and were banned due to overall power and unhealthy influence on part diversity. I want to clarify that single-layer Deathscyther was released on 08/08/2015 and only got banned on 05/15/2017 along with Dark Deathscyther being released on 04/29/16. That is almost two years of single-layer Deathscyther not being banned for the sake of balance and one year in the case of Dark Deathscyther.

During the early days of MFL, one of the most polarizing parts of the format, Libra was banned on 09/07/15, almost two years after the format was made official by the WBO back in December 2013 due to heavy weight and overall synergy in being used for most combos. The most contentious part to have gotten banned for MFL was Gravity which took place in January 2014, a month after MFL was created due to dominating the metagame and unhealthy influence on part diversity. The Gravity ban lasted for only two years in which it still has remained a rather controversial topic on whether it should have remained banned or not until the ranked clause was made to ban it back in June 2023.

I have brought up these bans to elaborate on why I feel WBO staff hasn't taken any action on Wizardrod. Wizardrod was released on March 30th, 2024 in which it will barely be 4 months since its release at the time I make this response. I fully understand everyone's expectations that there will eventually be future releases that can eventually outclass Wizardrod in terms of stamina. The release of Cobalt Dragoon will push the question and hopefully provide further clarity on whether it will push Rod down a peg or two.

However, I am glad this discussion is happening since Beyblade X is still relatively new in which a lot of different things can happen with the game, and that WBO staff will have our best wishes in mind when it comes to balancing the metagame while paying attention to what is happening. I simply don't wanna have to wait anything over nine months for Rod to go from an S-tier part to a low A/high B-tier part. It's frustrating that it's somewhat mandatory to run WR in some capacity since it outweighs all of the other available stamina options (WA, HS, HC, KS, and US). The only reliable counters to it are either run attack or win the WR ball ditto which are still a rather inconsistent 50/50 at best for both cases.

I also want to clarify the arguments of why WR shouldn't be banned due to how B4 handles things in terms of how they run events and how their players play the game is completely dubious in my opinion. The overall infrastructure of how the WBO runs competitive events while also balancing the meta for all formats being played is completely different from how TT/B4 does things. TT/B4 is a business that wants to sell its products regardless if they provide anything for competitive viability/balance since enforcing part bans can decrease sales/people coming to events since people can't use those parts for a certain amount of time. The WBO is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that has provided a lot of freedom in terms of Beyblade formats that can be played and how those formats can be balanced for the sake of a healthy metagame. All I will say is having the WBO emulate TT/B4 is completely disingenuous to what the WBO's overall identity is and I hope we don't apply that mindset when it comes to balancing formats.

The last thing I will say before ending this long tirade from myself is that if no immediate action is taken then I hope the WBO Staff are providing their due diligence in when having to make a judgment call on WR if it still remains a problem by the end of this year.

I'm a bit late but I'll throw my two cents in regardless. Truthfully, I do not believe Rod to worthy of a ban, nor do I believe a ranked clause is needed. Beyblade has and will always have "good" beyblades, "ok" beyblades, and "bad" beyblades. Wizard Rod, while strong and a staple for deck building, is not unbeatable. I often see players (some even new to X and beyblade as a whole!) come in, borrow beyblades, and place and/or do quite well without Wizard Rod. If the part were as crazy as some seem to make it out to be, that really shouldn't happen, but 🤷‍♂️

While the "centralized meta" take is valid, do keep in mind that this is an ongoing product line and things can change quickly. In about a week, we will see Beyblade X's first left rotation release. This will undoubtedly change the way we play. Sure, you could argue a ranked clause would be the best compromise, but with how different the game is with Rod versus without it, we'd be quite divided in how we play the game... but that's more of a gripe with ranked clauses rather than Rod itself, haha.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I definitely don't want to see it banned and would prefer if was not a ranked clause for the sake of consistency in how we play Beyblade X.

I get where you are coming from about consistency, but here’s my take. How we play Beyblade X, and tbh beyblade as a community in terms of consistency, got thrown out of the water, from the moment that ranked clauses were announced. There are ranked clauses in X specifically for how we treat the over the shroud Ko, The points needed to win a match, and even the point values. so for my question , with that knowledge in mind, is there actually consistency in how beyblade X is played across the board? I would say no. Because, If we really want to make sure that everyone plays the same ranked X beyblade with the same rules and conditions across the board, Maybe clauses should just be eliminated? But until they are eliminated, I don’t see much reason not to make something a ranked clause, if it makes the areas that wanna use the clause happy, and the areas that would rather keep the rules stock, with minimal negative impact. That’s just my pov.

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edit: nevermind.

Uh no lmao

we only just got our first left spin, mind you. Even then, there soon will probably be the first spin equalization combos like Cobalt Dragoon 7-60DB that focus on feeding off of beys like wizard rod to balance things out. the only reson Maximum Garuda was banned was due to certain God chip molds occaisionally making the bey a near unburstbale machine. I dont think Trypio got banned too, so why ban Rod? The only genuinely baned stamina part for its OP nature was PH Libra, which was only banned until the beys got to a point where it was basically useless.

we only just got our first left spin, mind you. Even then, there soon will probably be the first spin equalization combos like Cobalt Dragoon 7-60DB that focus on feeding off of beys like wizard rod to balance things out. the only reson Maximum Garuda was banned was due to certain God chip molds occaisionally making the bey a near unburstbale machine. I dont think  Trypio got banned too, so why ban Rod? The only genuinely baned stamina part for its OP nature was PH Libra, which was only banned until the beys got to a point where it was basically useless.

To preface, I'm not for a WizardRod ban, but:

- CobaltDragoon spin equalization is poor due to its aggressive shape. This seems to be a general sentiment in both Asia and the WBO. Disc Ball especially is also very easily Destabilized.
- Maximum Garuda did not have strong Attack counters. WizardRod can get nuked by Attack in a way Maximum Garuda didn't; its first consistent counter was Spriggan Requiem, which is also why both Stamina Layers shared the same legality status.
- The WBO did not exist when Trypio was around. Trypio was also hot garbage (Takara version) or niche (Hasbro version).
- PHW Libra was the first part ever banned by the WBO, and as such the decision at the time was unprecedented and required a lot of consideration.

So none of these historic examples are particularly useful arguments.

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Just speaking for myself, but if we ever find ourselves in another Maximum Garuda/Spriggan Requiem situation, that's when it would be more concerning. When people say "Attack isn't enough to beat WizardRod consistently", they're suggesting they want a Stamina Type to beat WizardRod - but a Stamina Bey that can outspin WizardRod is just the next WizardRod - that's just powercreep.

A WizardRod ban would fundamentally affect gameplay in two ways:

- Stamina users no longer have a low skill requirement Blade that also provides high Defense and Stamina
- An increase variety of existing Blades can be used

But people forget - it's only been 4 months and PhoenixRudder/LeonCrest are around the corner. The Stamina Blade variety can change in a short time. There's a reason WBO hasn't banned anything in 6 years after all. This WizardRod discussion is probably more important if there is a legacy format in the future - i.e. the first 2 years of X ("X Classic"? "X Basic"?), and not much for X Standard.

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For those who feel strongly about WizardRod being a problem - they have already banned them from their local tournaments. There's no need to apply any widespread organization change when local Organizers have been doing it already.

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Currently fan translating the Beyblade X manga. Beyblade Wiki Administrator and occasional manga scanlator.

Reasons to ban:
-highest probability to outspin other blades
-widest blade, causes it to jump/bounce out of pockets
-low skill required to use
-(subjective)not fun to play with/against (Beyblade X's niche is how fast paced and exciting the matches are, and Wizard Rod is the antithesis of this)

Reasons against ban
-only out for a few months (i dont see this as a good reason, are we really going to wait for a new blade that either somehow outspins it, in which case decks would have two S class stamina types 💤 😴 💤, or wait for a blade that is so good at KO'ing other blades that it can /consistently/ keep up with it? We would just be waiting for more power creep. I think its ok to just admit that WR is in a class above all other current blades)
-its not unbeatable (the issue i have with this is that it doesn't address its high winrate. What is outspinning wizard rod? The blades that are KO'ing Rod, how often is that happening?)

Deck diversity is being sacrificed to keep this around. Wouldn't we see more diverse use of Ball/Orb/Hexa without Wizard Rod? I think Chain, Scythe and Unicorn Sting would definitely see use again without it around, players would need to think more about what stamina/defense builds to use. Isn't that what we want with a ban/clause? For players to strategize a little more with their builds? Personally I am not looking forward to using it when I travel to chicago again for Showdown in Chinatown 2, last time it didnt feel gratifying or exciting to win with it at all, I would have much preferred to use Scythe, but i would have felt like I was throwing if I didn't use Rod. I think the main point really is just how much it outclasses every other stamina type, causing it to take their place in decks in almost every situation, and how deck diversity is limited with it around.