Just started touney's, need help!

[zerossoul]

Hey guys, I just went to my first local tournament, and while i'm a good smash player (i got 5th'ish out of 13), my main problem is I have NO idea what's happening in stage selection! To my knowledge it's set up just like a regular tournament, but I don't even know what stages are legal! I pretty much resorted to picking Omega stages the whole time. Where I'm a Sonic main, I know there are certain stages that are better for me, but where is a list that lets me know what's legal and not?

Also, how do character picks work? like, if someone picks a character that counters me, can I pick another character? if so, can he re pick after that? When does that stop?

 

[DakotaBonez]

I'm not sure if there's an official list of neutral stages and counterpicks for smash 4 yet. You'll have to ask the people at your tournament what stages they're using.
Generally the first match starts on a neutral stage (Battlefield, Smashville)
The following matches can take place on a counterpick (Pokemon Stadium, Duck Hunt) or a neutral stage.
Although some tourneys just let ya pick whatever stage is considered legal. Ask the tourney organizer.
The loser picks the stage, then your opponent pick a character to counter your character. Some rules let you change characters to counter their counter character, others don't. Again, just ask the person running the tournament what their rules are.

loser picks stage -> winner can switch character -> loser can switch character