Raijinken
Smash Master
Yesterday, I ran my first tournament. It was what Smashboards would call "unranked" (no entry fee, etc), double elimination, had 14 competitors (all of which were my friends or their friends), and was essentially designed as a "baby's first tournament" sort of experience. I myself did not enter, and players experience ranged from regular players to "I've played this game a time or two."
I ran it as 3s/8m, Customs on (EVO sets, only one person wanted a non-set loadout), FLSS with 13 stages, gentleman's rule enabled.
I got positive feedback from everyone I spoke to (which was most of the participants), but as a TO, it seemed odd to me to be running the complex rules when hardly anyone utilized them. About half of the round-1 games tried the full striking and banning system throughout their sets, and that number shrank as the tournament progressed. Simply put, my player base, generally speaking, lacks the skill (or in some cases, caring at all) to make informed stage choices.
My main consideration is thus. Instead of running FLSS or Neutral/Counterpick (I'm never running Neutral/Counterpick), I'm thinking of simplifying the stage selection to "You can either Gentleman's a stage of your choice, or go to a random Omega stage."
This gives experienced players the ability to utilize their stage knowledge (with opponent consent), but makes it indefinitely easier for anyone else to just play without worrying about the hoops to jump through, so to speak. It also allows players to expand their matchup knowledge, even if they don't get as much stage practice.
On the other hand, it's entirely unrealistic from a large-scale perspective. To counter that point, only one of my attendees presently thought he would like to compete in the larger scale (my hosting of this tournament was actually his idea).
So my question to you all: Should I tweak my rules and event to be the best experience for my playerbase (who are largely beginners or what some may call "decently skilled casuals"), or to emulating (as much as feasible) the larger-scale events?
I ran it as 3s/8m, Customs on (EVO sets, only one person wanted a non-set loadout), FLSS with 13 stages, gentleman's rule enabled.
I got positive feedback from everyone I spoke to (which was most of the participants), but as a TO, it seemed odd to me to be running the complex rules when hardly anyone utilized them. About half of the round-1 games tried the full striking and banning system throughout their sets, and that number shrank as the tournament progressed. Simply put, my player base, generally speaking, lacks the skill (or in some cases, caring at all) to make informed stage choices.
My main consideration is thus. Instead of running FLSS or Neutral/Counterpick (I'm never running Neutral/Counterpick), I'm thinking of simplifying the stage selection to "You can either Gentleman's a stage of your choice, or go to a random Omega stage."
This gives experienced players the ability to utilize their stage knowledge (with opponent consent), but makes it indefinitely easier for anyone else to just play without worrying about the hoops to jump through, so to speak. It also allows players to expand their matchup knowledge, even if they don't get as much stage practice.
On the other hand, it's entirely unrealistic from a large-scale perspective. To counter that point, only one of my attendees presently thought he would like to compete in the larger scale (my hosting of this tournament was actually his idea).
So my question to you all: Should I tweak my rules and event to be the best experience for my playerbase (who are largely beginners or what some may call "decently skilled casuals"), or to emulating (as much as feasible) the larger-scale events?
Last edited:
