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+---- Thread: [08/21/22] Vancouver Burst Limited Report: Driger V2 for a Limited Time Only (/Thread-08-21-22-Vancouver-Burst-Limited-Report-Driger-V2-for-a-Limited-Time-Only)
[08/21/22] Vancouver Burst Limited Report: Driger V2 for a Limited Time Only - KIO - Aug. 31, 2022
On August 21, 2022, I hosted my first WBO tournament in the city of Burnaby (in the Greater Vancouver Area), titled “Driger V2 for a Limited Time Only”. All in all, it was a satisfying experience but also a draining one - never host a tournament on 6 hours of sleep and a morning coffee.
It was also the first time that I and others in the community had used this particular venue. The venue was a room located inside a shopping mall centre, that was free to rent for the day. Given the hot temperatures outside, the air conditioned indoor venue was a nice location for the tournament. The tournament took a total of 2.5 hours for 10 Bladers, which was a bit over my estimate but I think was well paced.
Pre-Tournament
I arrived early at around 11:00 AM, and met some other participants who had also arrived early. While the mall had stated previously that we were not to set up until noon, the mall staff were happy to oblige and let us in earlier. While we initially considered using the provided tables for the tournament, we opted to play on the floor to prevent potential hazards. To avoid playing directly on the floor, we placed folded up folding tables on the floor, and then taped down the stadiums onto the folding tables to prevent the stadiums from moving.
Although 14 Bladers registered for the event, 2 dropped the day before, and 2 dropped the day of due to illness, reducing our total count to 10. Thus, we changed from Group Round Robin to Round Robin. While 9/10 Bladers arrived very early during the registration period between 12:30PM - 1:00PM, 1 Blader was running late and arrived right at 1:00PM.
Challonge
Challonge did not seem to work well on my mobile devices, so I brought a laptop computer to keep track of the tournament. This turned out to be an excellent decision, as it was able to quickly access the internet provided by the mall, and I could tally match scores live. Although none of the Bladers yet had Beyranks on the WBO, I seeded Bladers roughly based on age and my assessment of their skill level.
Judging
I was graciously offered assistance for judging by LonebagelFafnir, Journeez, and a non-Blader volunteer. My thanks to all of them.
Between keeping track of tournament results and judging matches, I seldom had time to prepare combinations. It is my personal belief I was taking my own matches a bit too free-spirited - that is to say, not seriously enough and using terrible Hasbro combos (lol).
Format Accessibility
Hosting a new format for the first time (not to mention being the second WBO tournament in the area) presented some issues. Many players in the area had newer collections and/or were just getting into the hobby - thus while everyone there had Standard meta ready decks, many lacked 3 Beys that were even usable, let alone viable, in the Limited format. For example, one Blader only used a deck of Hasbro SpeedStorm Beys and was crushed in First Stage.
What the tournament's meta inevitably became what I would call a "beat the Driger V2 boss" meta. While Driger V2 counters exist and were brought by Bladers, these were ineffective against Driger V2 - perhaps due to skill gaps - but what remained consistent was Driger V2's high winrate. While Driger V2 is beatable, it was difficult to do so at this tournament. Ideally, I do not believe this is how a Limited tournament should be - attempting to play around 1 particular Layer.
Our first place winner, and one of our best Bladers, AUTOSEBB, was able to go 8-1 in the First Stage and win the Final Stage, primarily only using Driger V2. On the other hand, our second place, ClubAmador2012, was able to go undefeated in the First Stage without Driger V2.
Ties
I had gone into the tournament with the belief that I would not need to judge close Spin Equalization ties. To my dismay, Driger V2 and Geist Fafnir was a tie-heavy matchup in both First Stage and Final Stage. As reflected in the Winning Combinations for this tournament, both Layers were in the top 4 - all but 1 of the finalists used both. Judging this matchup was (not) fun.
Stadiums
LoneBagelfafnir had very kindly lent 3 B-09 BeyStadiums for the tournament - I myself had brought a Nado and HyperSphere stadium for free play, which was also supplemented by extra DB stadiums from ClubAmador2012. Due to the availability of judges, we had to host our matches in a particular order. Roughly each round was played out in two parts, with 3 matches being played and then the remaining 2.
After two tournaments with TT Burst Standard Stadiums, I have mixed feelings about the Pro Stadium. On one hand, I recognize that the Burst Standard is much preferred over the gameplay of the Pro Stadium. On the other, without LoneBagelFafnir’s stadiums, this ranked tournament would not have been possible. While not ideal, the Pro Stadium stands as an alternative to encourage ranked tournament hosting.