Was talking to Deks yesterday, and he got me started on something that's bothered me for years, and the way the game's progressed does so even more so now. That is, why the rulesets we play by in Melee tourneys are for the most part unchanged from what they were so long ago...which even then was IMO tragically biased. here are a few things I'd consider when reevaluating rulesets. Keep in mind these are no means definitive, just based on my experiences, rationality and observations of the eventual homogenisation of Melee, and are just to get the cogs spinning.
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- Neutral stages (anything but) - I mean Lives a lot characters are blessed here with many large stages with high ceilings, but characters who prefer close edges, low ceiling or even walk-offs are totally undervalued on these stages for the most part. Few points;
FD Expansive flat terrain, large air-space, no platforms
BF Difficult (biased) edges, platform height (biased)
YS Difficult (biased) edges, platform height (biased), low bottom margin (recovery bias)
DL64 Expansive flat terrain, VERY large air-space
PS Slight camera issue with recovering from beneath, various temporary benefits
FoD temporary benefits
So by that my decision would be to call only PS and FoD the closest to truly 'neutral' stages. They're both dynamic, and at varying points wil favour certain characters more than others, though are not consistently this way.
Issues with neutrals:
Two stages with the particular platform height favouring certain characters greaty.
Two stages with vast air-space favouring certain characters greatly.
Two stages that have vast flat terrains.
Two stages that have difficult/risky to pin-point edges.
Two of these means one strike will not allow you to have a fair match on the first (and arguably most important) match.
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Banned Stages (some I ask why?)
I won't go into too much detail here as it's mostly clear at a thought, that stage types that favour particular characters that don't so much benefit from those listed in the above section, such as carry off edges, walls, low ceilings, stage hazards and such are mostly disallowed. These decisions with stages make the tier list as it currently is. What I further question is why iffy stages like Pokefloats and Rainbow Ride somehow remain allowed, where they clearly favour floaties or faster characters, The same can be said about something like Mute City, which only further nullifies any efforts characters like DK make to be competitively viable.
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'Infinites' and 0%-deaths.
Let's see
Puff uthrow>rest (allowed)
Fox wall-shines (disallowed via stage legitimacy)
DK Cargo carry-offs (disallowed via stage legitimacy)
IC's various 0-deaths (allowed)
Pikachu walk-off edge camping > rolling back throw (disallowed via stage legitimacy)
Marth U-throw > you die (allowed)
Mewtwo for-B through stage (avoidable with stage strike)
Ness dair on wall (disallowed via stage legitimacy)
Roy Reverse Blazer (avoidable via stage strike)
Luigi UpB (avoidable via stage strike)
Granted some of those are slightly more situational than others....but the thing that strikes me as illogical is that the ones that are more (disallowed via stage legitimacy) are the most situational of those, and if anything should be the least focused on.
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My suggestions
-Moderate IC's
-PS and FoD only as neutral - no strike
-2 stage bans on counter picks
-Additional counter pick stages to be allowed:
Great Bay (close edges, ceiling 'spikes')
Fourside (walljumps, walls)
MK2 (walk-offs, walljumps)
-Stalling remains illegal
With these changes, you would effectively be able to counter any one characters main strength to a degree, but only enough to hold off the greater of the evils. (eg. ban Mute City and BF and Marth then goes YS) Additionally as the rules currently allow the loser to select stage before revealing their character it gives more of a strategic approach to both parties for the 'slob picks' procedure. Anyone who gets owned on ANY of those additional 3 stages will have done so willingly as they'd be fully aware of the hazards the stages bring prior to their own character selection (run-away on GB, pit spikes on Fourside etc.)
