1-Stock 3 mins Best of 5
I propose that tournament play should be 1 stock, 3 mins, best of 5.
There are three main reasons for this.
1) Increased intensity and value.
2) With that, more fun to watch.
3) Decrease in overall match time.
Increased intensity:
A hit* in brawl has little value. With greater diminishing returns on moves, few combos, difficulty pressing the advantage, and a stock lifespan that generally ranges around 150+%, getting through 3 stocks is a long and arduous process. A single 15% hit is only worth 1/30th of a win. Even doing a sweet 40% combo/attack-string results in only 1/10th of a win. This is not even considering that this could be for three games!
Melee didn't have this problem because 1-4 hits against a good player spelled death. Each moment was intense and exciting. If you were Fox and Marth grabs you, your done. If falco shines you, there goes half, if not more, of your stock. Smash 64 has even more stocks because each hit lead to a retardedly long combo usually resulting in death.
Each time you hit it should mean something more. 1-stock match increases the value of each hit and the intensity of each moment.
*A hit is every time you connect an attack from a relatively neutral position. Not the 2nd attack of a combo. it's every time you mindgame your opponent, punish a move, or your opponent jumps into the ****. This could also be stated as connecting during The Push and Pull section of a match. (Post #45)
More fun to watch:
Each tournament I've been to, everyone leaves after they or all their friends have been knocked out of singles. Those who might stay, play friendlies. I can't imagine wanting to stick around and watch 1-2 hours more of brackets, then another hour of finals. And I have yet to watch a whole finals set. I just can't do it.
Watching 1-stock is more fun. It's less taxing on the viewer. You don't have to watch 6 minutes of Snake throwing grenades while ROB shoots lasers/gyros. It will only be 3 minutes at most.
It's more enjoyable as each moment means something. That 6% damage from a laser is worth something you can see, other than abstracts like control. One aggressive edgeguard could lead to a win. That's exciting to see.
Example : ROB vs Ganon is a boring match. ROB controls the stage while Ganon futilely throws out moves. None of which work because ROB spot dodges all day. It's a sad affair. But then again I watched a ROB vs Ganon 1-stock and it was intense. Sure ganon got camped like a *****, but then ganon landed 4 hits to get ROB off the side. Then landed a ballzy awesome spike for the win. It was awesome. I yelled. 3-stocks, you still have to watch a whole lot more camping.
Decrease in overall match time:
Max 15 minutes for 5 games. This is versus max 24 or 21 for a set of three. Usually tournaments of 32 (including pools) go for about 8 hours. Singles would go from 8+ hours to 4-5 hours. Things will move faster. Friendlies will get done sooner, freeing up TVs faster. More people might stay to watch because it won't be 12:30am before finals are done.
A few side benefits:
-Squirtle, Charizard, and Ivysaur become their own character.
I personally think this is awesome. Maybe you want to be a Charizard main, but you had to learn Squirtle and Ivysaur, now you don't.
-Post-death invulnerability.
I personally hated this, but now it will be gone. No longer will one player have a 2 second control over the entire stage. Now you HAVE to earn that hit.
The Cons:
As I've discussed 1-stock matches, these are the main concerns people bring up.
1) Less variation in position
Some players are better at certain stage positions or stage varations than others. Maybe one player is awesome at recovery, or at edgeguarding, or at using platforms. With less match time there will be less instances of each of those. This means on player could win when really they would have lost, that is if the match went on longer. Maybe the spot you wanted in delfino plaza didn't come up because the match wasn't long enough.
I don't consider this to be too much of a problem because 5 matches allows for MORE stage variation. Instead of 1-2 counter picks there will be 3-4. 15 minutes max is plenty of time to create many different positions.
2) Suicides
Suiciding will now cost you a game. Basically I don't think it matters. You shouldn't have suicided. If your controller makes you lose, then buy a new one. And as it is, Suiciding with 3-stocks already gives a huge advantage to the other player. With 5 matches I don't think it matters all that much.
On this note, death to stages. Like funky lips or stage hazards. Losing to a stage hazard actually becomes less important because now you have more stages to play on. Instead of dieing twice to Final Destinations lip, you will die only once. LTP.
3) Habit recognition
Basically the problem is that with one stock you will not have enough time to adapt to your opponent, learn their habits, and punish accordingly. With 5 matches I don't think that will be a problem.
4) 'cides
Bowsercides, Ganoncides, and whoevercides are now much more powerful. If you land 1 bowsercide, as player 1, you win a game. I personally believe that these tactic are not broken. If you put yourself in a spot where this becomes a problem and then you forget to DI towards the stage, you should lose. Changing to one stock won't change the fact that you lost to bowser.
Honestly I think it would be more exciting. If bowser gets that one koopa claw, that could be it.
5) % wins
With suicide tactics, and less time % wins will increase in frequency. Though this makes it harder on a tournament organizer, I don't think this will become too much of a hassle.
Concluding:
I propose 1-stock, 3 mins, best of 5 for tournament play. I believe that this will make games more intense, more fun to watch, and more cutthroat. Test it out.
I propose that tournament play should be 1 stock, 3 mins, best of 5.
There are three main reasons for this.
1) Increased intensity and value.
2) With that, more fun to watch.
3) Decrease in overall match time.
Increased intensity:
A hit* in brawl has little value. With greater diminishing returns on moves, few combos, difficulty pressing the advantage, and a stock lifespan that generally ranges around 150+%, getting through 3 stocks is a long and arduous process. A single 15% hit is only worth 1/30th of a win. Even doing a sweet 40% combo/attack-string results in only 1/10th of a win. This is not even considering that this could be for three games!
Melee didn't have this problem because 1-4 hits against a good player spelled death. Each moment was intense and exciting. If you were Fox and Marth grabs you, your done. If falco shines you, there goes half, if not more, of your stock. Smash 64 has even more stocks because each hit lead to a retardedly long combo usually resulting in death.
Each time you hit it should mean something more. 1-stock match increases the value of each hit and the intensity of each moment.
*A hit is every time you connect an attack from a relatively neutral position. Not the 2nd attack of a combo. it's every time you mindgame your opponent, punish a move, or your opponent jumps into the ****. This could also be stated as connecting during The Push and Pull section of a match. (Post #45)
More fun to watch:
Each tournament I've been to, everyone leaves after they or all their friends have been knocked out of singles. Those who might stay, play friendlies. I can't imagine wanting to stick around and watch 1-2 hours more of brackets, then another hour of finals. And I have yet to watch a whole finals set. I just can't do it.
Watching 1-stock is more fun. It's less taxing on the viewer. You don't have to watch 6 minutes of Snake throwing grenades while ROB shoots lasers/gyros. It will only be 3 minutes at most.
It's more enjoyable as each moment means something. That 6% damage from a laser is worth something you can see, other than abstracts like control. One aggressive edgeguard could lead to a win. That's exciting to see.
Example : ROB vs Ganon is a boring match. ROB controls the stage while Ganon futilely throws out moves. None of which work because ROB spot dodges all day. It's a sad affair. But then again I watched a ROB vs Ganon 1-stock and it was intense. Sure ganon got camped like a *****, but then ganon landed 4 hits to get ROB off the side. Then landed a ballzy awesome spike for the win. It was awesome. I yelled. 3-stocks, you still have to watch a whole lot more camping.
Decrease in overall match time:
Max 15 minutes for 5 games. This is versus max 24 or 21 for a set of three. Usually tournaments of 32 (including pools) go for about 8 hours. Singles would go from 8+ hours to 4-5 hours. Things will move faster. Friendlies will get done sooner, freeing up TVs faster. More people might stay to watch because it won't be 12:30am before finals are done.
A few side benefits:
-Squirtle, Charizard, and Ivysaur become their own character.
I personally think this is awesome. Maybe you want to be a Charizard main, but you had to learn Squirtle and Ivysaur, now you don't.
-Post-death invulnerability.
I personally hated this, but now it will be gone. No longer will one player have a 2 second control over the entire stage. Now you HAVE to earn that hit.
The Cons:
As I've discussed 1-stock matches, these are the main concerns people bring up.
1) Less variation in position
Some players are better at certain stage positions or stage varations than others. Maybe one player is awesome at recovery, or at edgeguarding, or at using platforms. With less match time there will be less instances of each of those. This means on player could win when really they would have lost, that is if the match went on longer. Maybe the spot you wanted in delfino plaza didn't come up because the match wasn't long enough.
I don't consider this to be too much of a problem because 5 matches allows for MORE stage variation. Instead of 1-2 counter picks there will be 3-4. 15 minutes max is plenty of time to create many different positions.
2) Suicides
Suiciding will now cost you a game. Basically I don't think it matters. You shouldn't have suicided. If your controller makes you lose, then buy a new one. And as it is, Suiciding with 3-stocks already gives a huge advantage to the other player. With 5 matches I don't think it matters all that much.
On this note, death to stages. Like funky lips or stage hazards. Losing to a stage hazard actually becomes less important because now you have more stages to play on. Instead of dieing twice to Final Destinations lip, you will die only once. LTP.
3) Habit recognition
Basically the problem is that with one stock you will not have enough time to adapt to your opponent, learn their habits, and punish accordingly. With 5 matches I don't think that will be a problem.
4) 'cides
Bowsercides, Ganoncides, and whoevercides are now much more powerful. If you land 1 bowsercide, as player 1, you win a game. I personally believe that these tactic are not broken. If you put yourself in a spot where this becomes a problem and then you forget to DI towards the stage, you should lose. Changing to one stock won't change the fact that you lost to bowser.
Honestly I think it would be more exciting. If bowser gets that one koopa claw, that could be it.
5) % wins
With suicide tactics, and less time % wins will increase in frequency. Though this makes it harder on a tournament organizer, I don't think this will become too much of a hassle.
Concluding:
I propose 1-stock, 3 mins, best of 5 for tournament play. I believe that this will make games more intense, more fun to watch, and more cutthroat. Test it out.
