- We don't necessarily like stages with angled floors (see Yoshi's Island) since it can make Gordos tricky to predict.
I have to disagree here. Unpredictability gives a lot of options to us, since the unpredictability factor (should) only apply to your opponent, as you should have a solid grasp on your Gordo Throw. Not knowing when the gordo will hit means the opponent is more likely to shield it, which is definitely a win for our approach.
The current Apex stagelist is as follows :
Neutrals :
Battlefield
Final Destination
Smashville
Counterpicks :
Castle Siege
Delfino Plaza
Duck Hunt
Halberd
Kongo Jungle 64(???)
Lylat Cruise
Town And City
Omega Variants
The bad stages :
Battlefield
Castle Siege
Halberd
Kongo Jungle 64
The MU dependant stages :
Final Destination
Duck Hunt
The pretty alright stages :
Lylat Cruise
Delfino Plaza
Smashville
Town And City
Why the bad stages ?
These stages either severely limit our options at neutral, (more than usual, that is) because of the layout of the stage (Halberd, BF), or gives a solid defensive position to whoever's in favor, which is usually not you (CS, KJ64).
Battlefield is extremely small, and rushdown characters will make short work of you. The lower platform are extremely low, and your huge frame doesn't let you camp under them properly. Many platforms not far apart from each other combined with our horrendous platform game makes this stage really unfavorable to us.
Halberd has the same issue with the huge middle platform, and our nerf to UTilt makes us not being able to kill of the top early with the help of a low ceiling. It's not necessarily as bad as BF, as the stage transitions and gives okay layouts, but it's not a great stage to go on by any means.
CS has both a pseudo BF layout on its first transition, and a horrendous statue layout that gives solid defensive position. Can technically be used by used should we have a stock lead, but the general idea of us being at a % deficit makes me want to avoid this stage. Although the slanted FD transition at the end can be interesting.
DK64 is pure jank. Characters with good air mobility can completely abuse it by stalling using the bottom barrel. I have no idea why the hell this stage is allowed. It'd otherwise be a pretty solid map for us, but the barrel really kills it.
Why the MU dependant stages?
Both FD and DH can be alright against rushdown characters/characters without projectiles; giving us reasonable breathing room. It gets pretty horrendous against characters like Link, however, for very obvious reasons.
DH is FD with jank; although solid knowledge on the stage can really make it interesting.
Why the pretty alright stages?
These stages give a large layout for breathing room; platforms to work around camping, slant to mess with Gordos, I'd add Skyloft and Wuhu to the list, as both of them are actually super interesting for us, especially Skyloft with the Gordo game.
Our UpB now snapping the ledge makes Lylat Cruise a much better option than it was in Brawl. SDing rarely happens anymore, and the slant gives solid unpredictability to our Gordos.
Smashville and TaC are both really staple stages that everyone and their mother like. It doesn't confer any serious advantage, but it's not a crippling stage by any means either. Only downside I find is the possibility of messing with our edge guards because of the moving platforms.