Counter-picking and neutral stages

[Tezzy]

can someone explain to me the concept of counter picking stages and neutral stages im having a hard time greasing the concept

 

[Zeepington]

For short...
Neutral stages are stages where your skill and only your skill will bring you to victory. They have no hazards, walk-off, basically no elements to disrupt the flow of the match.

Counter-pick is a stage exclusively chosen by the loser to gain an advantage against the opponent. They usually have hazards, but they're easy to dodge, so you have to trick your opponent by pushing them in the hazard.

http://www.ssbwiki.com/Banned_stages
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Counterpick

 

[Tezzy]

so who picks first match and I've heard that you can chose to "get rid" of a neutral stage

 

[Zeepington]

I believe it's Rock Paper Scissors to decide who picks the first stage, or they just press random if it's Melee.

 

[BountyHunter121]

there is generally an odd amount of starter stages so each player gets rid of (x-1)/2 of them.So if there is 5 stages each player gets rid, or strikes, 2 of them so there is 1 left.