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Important Official Custom Moveset Project

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Raijinken

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Well I mean, you get chars who leap and launch people 80 feet into the sky and Mac's best recovery distance is like... 20 feet.
Even if Jolt Haymaker and Rising Uppercut had useful recovery variants, I'm fairly sure the defaults would be considered more useful (though I personally love Grounding Blow and killing with its spike is the most "take that" way to kill someone ever). Only Straight Lunge's variants would probably see much recovery use, and I could see Flaming being useful indeed if it auto-snapped and didn't inherit its brother's terribad ending animation.
 

ZarroTsu

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On the other hand iirc Mac's customs are good at breaking shields, and that whole mechanic sort of got a universal benefit, so I guess Mac got a boost against anyone who can't screw him over in under 30 seconds. Maybe.
 

Raijinken

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On the other hand iirc Mac's customs are good at breaking shields, and that whole mechanic sort of got a universal benefit, so I guess Mac got a boost against anyone who can't screw him over in under 30 seconds. Maybe.
His normals are far better at breaking shields than his specials. Of his customs one just outright ignores them, it doesn't break them.
 

Amazing Ampharos

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Thinkaman showed me his tech at EVO with Little Mac. Grounding Blow is a really, really good move in ways you won't immediately expect. It gives Mac mix-up on his ledgegrab timing in exchange for truly trivially less horizontal distance, overall better recovery. More importantly, if you are very precise, you can snipe platforms with Grounding Blow without landing on them which lets you then hit confirm into Rising Uppercut to do tons of damage and kill at very early percentages (this is very hard, but it's possible and something any Little Mac main would practice a lot). A lot of characters use the strategy of "stall on the platforms until time over" with a lead against Mac knowing he can't realistically punish them for this without making bad gambles most likely to get him killed; this deprives them of that which changes the character of almost every MU he has in a way greatly to his benefit.

The best Mac set is 221X with X being match-up dependent. Flaming Straight Lunge is honestly a bit worse than default as a move itself, but the extra armor on KO punch is worth way more than Mac's crummy neutral special otherwise (and Stunning Straight Lunge is pretty much the worst move ever so as an option for extra armor you would realistically always take Flaming). Grounding Blow is just plain better than Jolt Haymaker, not that Jolt Haymaker is a bad move in itself (it's really a pretty good move) but Grounding Blow makes Mac way more dynamic (and side-3 lets you past very specific gimps he struggles with otherwise so it has very, very niche counterpicking utility but is otherwise the clear worst side special). Up-1 is essential; it's frame 1 invincible even in the air which is a non-negotiable escape option, it's a really important anti-air for a character who struggles with that otherwise, and it's actually a really powerful attack otherwise. Both customs give you pretty much none of that and are moves that remove 100% of Mac's utility if you bring them. His counters are MU dependent, and all three have uses (conservatively you'd use default in general but dash versus zoners, but there's more nuance to it than that and Compact is a really interesting move).

I think a lot of people imagine Little Mac is hurt by customs since the power of his customs isn't immediately obvious, but I think he's actually one of the biggest winners. Customs give him a powerful answer to the main lame-out tactic that makes him an otherwise weak character, they make him less free in near off-stage situations which are the ones he could realistically survive and are hence the ones that actually matter to him, they make his win button that is KO Punch win against more stuff, and while counter variants don't rock the world they are kinda handy to have on top of everything else. Luckily, I think our previous strategy of distributing Mac's 10 sets took care of this well; no one is really going to want to use up-B variants, and while 121X wouldn't be a worthless set to have, it's not very important and probably less significant than 211X or 231X.
 

Raijinken

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Thinkaman showed me his tech at EVO with Little Mac. Grounding Blow is a really, really good move in ways you won't immediately expect. It gives Mac mix-up on his ledgegrab timing in exchange for truly trivially less horizontal distance, overall better recovery. More importantly, if you are very precise, you can snipe platforms with Grounding Blow without landing on them which lets you then hit confirm into Rising Uppercut to do tons of damage and kill at very early percentages (this is very hard, but it's possible and something any Little Mac main would practice a lot). A lot of characters use the strategy of "stall on the platforms until time over" with a lead against Mac knowing he can't realistically punish them for this without making bad gambles most likely to get him killed; this deprives them of that which changes the character of almost every MU he has in a way greatly to his benefit.

The best Mac set is 221X with X being match-up dependent. Flaming Straight Lunge is honestly a bit worse than default as a move itself, but the extra armor on KO punch is worth way more than Mac's crummy neutral special otherwise (and Stunning Straight Lunge is pretty much the worst move ever so as an option for extra armor you would realistically always take Flaming). Grounding Blow is just plain better than Jolt Haymaker, not that Jolt Haymaker is a bad move in itself (it's really a pretty good move) but Grounding Blow makes Mac way more dynamic (and side-3 lets you past very specific gimps he struggles with otherwise so it has very, very niche counterpicking utility but is otherwise the clear worst side special). Up-1 is essential; it's frame 1 invincible even in the air which is a non-negotiable escape option, it's a really important anti-air for a character who struggles with that otherwise, and it's actually a really powerful attack otherwise. Both customs give you pretty much none of that and are moves that remove 100% of Mac's utility if you bring them. His counters are MU dependent, and all three have uses (conservatively you'd use default in general but dash versus zoners, but there's more nuance to it than that and Compact is a really interesting move).

I think a lot of people imagine Little Mac is hurt by customs since the power of his customs isn't immediately obvious, but I think he's actually one of the biggest winners. Customs give him a powerful answer to the main lame-out tactic that makes him an otherwise weak character, they make him less free in near off-stage situations which are the ones he could realistically survive and are hence the ones that actually matter to him, they make his win button that is KO Punch win against more stuff, and while counter variants don't rock the world they are kinda handy to have on top of everything else. Luckily, I think our previous strategy of distributing Mac's 10 sets took care of this well; no one is really going to want to use up-B variants, and while 121X wouldn't be a worthless set to have, it's not very important and probably less significant than 211X or 231X.
And if your opponent gets really greedy, you can practically Ganoncide them with Grounding Blow's spike!
 

ParanoidDrone

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Thinkaman showed me his tech at EVO with Little Mac. Grounding Blow is a really, really good move in ways you won't immediately expect. It gives Mac mix-up on his ledgegrab timing in exchange for truly trivially less horizontal distance, overall better recovery. More importantly, if you are very precise, you can snipe platforms with Grounding Blow without landing on them which lets you then hit confirm into Rising Uppercut to do tons of damage and kill at very early percentages (this is very hard, but it's possible and something any Little Mac main would practice a lot). A lot of characters use the strategy of "stall on the platforms until time over" with a lead against Mac knowing he can't realistically punish them for this without making bad gambles most likely to get him killed; this deprives them of that which changes the character of almost every MU he has in a way greatly to his benefit.

The best Mac set is 221X with X being match-up dependent. Flaming Straight Lunge is honestly a bit worse than default as a move itself, but the extra armor on KO punch is worth way more than Mac's crummy neutral special otherwise (and Stunning Straight Lunge is pretty much the worst move ever so as an option for extra armor you would realistically always take Flaming). Grounding Blow is just plain better than Jolt Haymaker, not that Jolt Haymaker is a bad move in itself (it's really a pretty good move) but Grounding Blow makes Mac way more dynamic (and side-3 lets you past very specific gimps he struggles with otherwise so it has very, very niche counterpicking utility but is otherwise the clear worst side special). Up-1 is essential; it's frame 1 invincible even in the air which is a non-negotiable escape option, it's a really important anti-air for a character who struggles with that otherwise, and it's actually a really powerful attack otherwise. Both customs give you pretty much none of that and are moves that remove 100% of Mac's utility if you bring them. His counters are MU dependent, and all three have uses (conservatively you'd use default in general but dash versus zoners, but there's more nuance to it than that and Compact is a really interesting move).

I think a lot of people imagine Little Mac is hurt by customs since the power of his customs isn't immediately obvious, but I think he's actually one of the biggest winners. Customs give him a powerful answer to the main lame-out tactic that makes him an otherwise weak character, they make him less free in near off-stage situations which are the ones he could realistically survive and are hence the ones that actually matter to him, they make his win button that is KO Punch win against more stuff, and while counter variants don't rock the world they are kinda handy to have on top of everything else. Luckily, I think our previous strategy of distributing Mac's 10 sets took care of this well; no one is really going to want to use up-B variants, and while 121X wouldn't be a worthless set to have, it's not very important and probably less significant than 211X or 231X.
I really enjoy reading these writeups of yours. Maybe I'm in an optimistic mood right now but I think that if similar blurbs existed for each character in the game (not necessarily authored by you -- that would be a bit much -- just in general), it would be useful for people that are interested-but-not-commited to learning customs.
 

Splooshi Splashy

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After seeing this line of inquiry regarding Mac's Side 2, I regret not covering it during my post on the Custom DH VS Custom Mac MU I did here.

I'm practically the only person there who seriously says anything about the Customs Side of the MUs at all in MU Threads like that one, yet some readers actually give me LIKES for them, AND I don't get Warned or Infracted for making those posts at all, so I'm glad that the MU Threads at the Character Boards are as cool with me delving into the Custom Sides of the MUs as I am about typing about them. To be honest, I can't help but feel that doing these write-ups might be one of the biggest ways I can help develop the Customs Meta.... Especially since I straight up led the charge against Custom Villager & Custom DK from Custom DH's perspective in that linked Thread during the weeks that they were up for discussion, proclaiming that Custom DH CAN stand up to them enough to actually WIN against them. That Custom DH and possibly Custom Jr have legitimate answers to ChrisGer & the Brown Cyclone, 2 of the most publicly inFamous names in all of the Customs Meta thus far (both of whom I ADORE & even get super-hype over!), makes me very happy that they can be fairly defeatable. One of my main reasons for liking them: beating them is actually POSSIBLE! 8D

It's amazing what one can discover & adapt to when you don't shut your brain down with terms like "JANK! DX<" & "*Insert John Here*! D8<", and actually hit up Training Mode and test out what does and doesn't beat their signature moves, among other methods. Such is the power of having been a hardcore traditional 2D fighter fan for at least 10 years, who has seen MUCH live-streamed tournament play for numerous fighting games over the years as well.

Personally, I'm at least glad that I at least got Neutral 2, Up 1, and possibly Down 3 right in regards to Custom Mac's Loadout against Custom DH correct. :)

I imagine Mac would want Side 2 for Battlefield/Miiverse/Dream Land 64/Smashville, since that move can allow him to shark the platforms, but would he want to run Side 2 against 1232 or 3232 Custom DH outside of those types of stages?
 
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Amazing Ampharos

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Mac should be assumed to run side 2 without a specific reason to use a different one. I don't see what DH has to give reason otherwise. DH's projectile volume in no way justifies side-1, and DH has no gimps I know of that require side-3 to survive.

Those are also interesting DH sets; his general best set IMO is 312X. Giants are obviously wrong vs Mac which usually would mean default Gunman, but Mac might be one of the good MUs for Quick Gunman. Side 3 just sounds like a huge risk for DH, and I could see up-3 in this MU but to be honest I just haven't played much with up-1 or up-3 with DH.
 

mr medicinal

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Oct 16, 2015
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hi guys new to the boards,
dont know if this is all ready known but ive found possibly the quickest way to get customs on the wii u
in trophy rush build up a fever as quickly as posible,once it starts imeaditly kill your self and spawn asap, a few trophy/coin blocks should spawn with you and the floor.
its crucial you get these,if your quick it will spawn a green wrench nearly every time, just make sure the bomb block that spawns isnt between you and the custom,..
build up the bar then rinse and repeat

this limits your time tetrising away for blocks and completly skips the fever segment, plus every time you die it takes 15 seconds off tour clock do you can really conentrate on the green wrenches.
its alot less tedious but its still randomly generated stuff,
 

Sixfortyfive

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Been out of the loop for a while. Have the official sets been updated since EVO? If not, are they ever going to be? We still occasionally run customs-legal events at our locals and I make sure that each setup has the official sets available, but if they're never going to change with the times then I'm probably going to start shifting back to locally chosen presets.
 

Ansou

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The plan was to update them relatively soon. However, Amazing Ampharos Amazing Ampharos is pretty busy and can't manage to lead the discussions here, so the project is not very organized right now.
 

Raijinken

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Been out of the loop for a while. Have the official sets been updated since EVO? If not, are they ever going to be? We still occasionally run customs-legal events at our locals and I make sure that each setup has the official sets available, but if they're never going to change with the times then I'm probably going to start shifting back to locally chosen presets.
Personally, I've been shifting more towards "local" presets (which mostly just means I don't bother keeping the project in tact), too. The project's a great standard, but if you have local players with the interest and ability to rely just on the sets they actually prefer, that's a far better implementation than locking people into a ten-month-old setup.
 

shadowmm151

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Okay so question:

Is there really a need for there to be so many sets?

I have been a big supporter of customs since day 1, but now I feel that the over abundance of 'viable' sets may be hindering the acceptance of customs. Why not just 1 (or 2) set(s) that are voted on by the community? We could even revote every other month to see if feelings have changed. Sure, a lot of people each want to have there own 'set' be included, but let's be realistic here. Simple is always best and having fewer tends to get accepted (just look at the stage legality issue). Additionally, look at the facts; some characters do better with default, some characters will always run certain customs, and some characters who have good customs won't run the customs because the default is just as good.

Examples include: Captain Falcon and Meta Knight will pretty much always run default. You can play with their customs, but the default is just better. Kirby is always going to run upper cutter and jumping inhale, palutena is always going to run lightweight and probably super speed and jump glide, ganondorf is always going to run wizard's drop kick and dark fists, and wii fit trainer is always going to run jumbo hoop. These moves are just plain better and in some cases what can make a character go from arguably unviable to arguably viable. Sheik on the other hand has solid customs like gravity grenade and paralyzing needles, but she'll still probably run default. Paralyzing needles don't do as much shield damage anymore and are hard to justify over regular needles as regular needles are pretty much considered one of the best projectiles in the game, and while gravity grenade is almost completely better in every way than standard, no one uses side special to begin with and using gravity grenade won't really change that.

I'm all for customs in the meta, but in all honesty do we need so many sets? Minus a small handful of characters, would we really need more than just a default set and 1 custom set? Honestly, the big argument for customs says that less viable characters improve right? Well 1 custom set is all that would be needed to improve them in pretty much all cases. Additional sets would only serve to flesh out specific MUs or cater to a minority's preferences. I know many make the argument for countering an opponent by changing a move, but isn't that a bit much? Like I said before less tends to be accepted more often than more. 1 default and 1 custom just sounds more plausible and to be honest, would balance out the meta more than all the other sets we have listed.

Thoughts?
 
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Raijinken

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Okay so question:

Is there really a need for there to be so many sets?

I have been a big supporter of customs since day 1, but now I feel that the over abundance of 'viable' sets may be hindering the acceptance of customs. Why not just 1 (or 2) set(s) that are voted on by the community? We could even revote every other month to see if feelings have changed. Sure, a lot of people each want to have there own 'set' be included, but let's be realistic here. Simple is always best and having fewer tends to get accepted (just look at the stage legality issue). Additionally, look at the facts; some characters do better with default, some characters will always run certain customs, and some characters who have good customs won't run the customs because the default is just as good.

Examples include: Captain Falcon and Meta Knight will pretty much always run default. You can play with their customs, but the default is just better. Kirby is always going to run upper cutter and jumping inhale, palutena is always going to run lightweight and probably super speed and jump glide, ganondorf is always going to run wizard's drop kick and dark fists, and wii fit trainer is always going to run jumbo hoop. These moves are just plain better and in some cases what can make a character go from arguably unviable to arguably viable. Sheik on the other hand has solid customs like gravity grenade and paralyzing needles, but she'll still probably run default. Paralyzing needles don't do as much shield damage anymore and are hard to justify over regular needles as regular needles are pretty much considered one of the best projectiles in the game, and while gravity grenade is almost completely better in every way than standard, no one uses side special to begin with and using gravity grenade won't really change that.

I'm all for customs in the meta, but in all honesty do we need so many sets? Minus a small handful of characters, would we really need more than just a default set and 1 custom set? Honestly, the big argument for customs says that less viable characters improve right? Well 1 custom set is all that would be needed to improve them in pretty much all cases. Additional sets would only serve to flesh out specific MUs or cater to a minority's preferences. I know many make the argument for countering an opponent by changing a move, but isn't that a bit much? Like I said before less tends to be accepted more often than more. 1 default and 1 custom just sounds more plausible and to be honest, would balance out the meta more than all the other sets we have listed.

Thoughts?
Simply put, because on top of the general inability for most players to agree to such an extent, there are plenty of characters who have valid reasons to fill their list. That's not always the case, obviously. But even in your example list, I'd never run a default Captain Falcon because I don't see a case in which Falcon Punch will help me more than Falcon Dash Punch.

Also, Wii Fit's Jumbo Hoops are great, but far from a pure upgrade. The vertical recovery penalty is noticeable and significant in certain matchups.

You mention Kirby and Palutena, but you don't mention their other choices. Kirby will most likely run Upper Cutter and/or Jumping Inhale, but what about the players who also want a different hammer, or who prefer either Jumping Inhale or Upper Cutter but not both? What about the Palutena players who might swap their neutral B, and the oddballs who may want Reflect for the neutral game against Sheik? Ganondorf's running Dark Fists almost without question, and Dropkick most of the time, but there's no set "best" for Side B. Gravity Grenade's a strong tool, but not only is the entire side-B underused for Sheik, default has its uses which Gravity doesn't cover (namely the windbox and related offstage utility, plus kill power of its own accord).

I'm all for paring down sets that are extraneous, for those characters for whom it really is extraneous. But I don't think forcing all characters to 1-2 sets arbitrarily is the way to do it. If Marths think we only need 3123, 1123, 1113, 1121, 3113, and 3121, then we don't need the other four sets filled. If Sheik will only realistically (or even unrealistically) swap between grenades or possibly needles (Doubles should be considered, too), then by all means, simplify her sets to the likely combinations thereof.

But if Shulks want all ten slots, there's no reason to limit them to fewer when there are absolutely good reasons to use any of the ten. If Kirby and Ike players have reason to pick all of their various choices, then there's no reason to limit them to less than the ten slots available.

There's a difference between trimming the fat for healthy efficiency, and being anorexic in an attempt to appeal to a crowd that's opposed by nature. I've not seen evidence suggesting that many players who are opposed to customs would suddenly accept them if they only had to bother with a set or two. It limits the point of the options, and the project, for what many see as negligible potential gain.
 
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shadowmm151

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Simply put, because on top of the general inability for most players to agree to such an extent, there are plenty of characters who have valid reasons to fill their list. That's not always the case, obviously. But even in your example list, I'd never run a default Captain Falcon because I don't see a case in which Falcon Punch will help me more than Falcon Dash Punch.

Also, Wii Fit's Jumbo Hoops are great, but far from a pure upgrade. The vertical recovery penalty is noticeable and significant in certain matchups.

You mention Kirby and Palutena, but you don't mention their other choices. Kirby will most likely run Upper Cutter and/or Jumping Inhale, but what about the players who also want a different hammer, or who prefer either Jumping Inhale or Upper Cutter but not both? What about the Palutena players who might swap their neutral B, and the oddballs who may want Reflect for the neutral game against Sheik? Ganondorf's running Dark Fists almost without question, and Dropkick most of the time, but there's no set "best" for Side B. Gravity Grenade's a strong tool, but not only is the entire side-B underused for Sheik, default has its uses which Gravity doesn't cover (namely the windbox and related offstage utility, plus kill power of its own accord).

I'm all for paring down sets that are extraneous, for those characters for whom it really is extraneous. But I don't think forcing all characters to 1-2 sets arbitrarily is the way to do it. If Marths think we only need 3123, 1123, 1113, 1121, 3113, and 3121, then we don't need the other four sets filled. If Sheik will only realistically (or even unrealistically) swap between grenades or possibly needles (Doubles should be considered, too), then by all means, simplify her sets to the likely combinations thereof.

But if Shulks want all ten slots, there's no reason to limit them to fewer when there are absolutely good reasons to use any of the ten. If Kirby and Ike players have reason to pick all of their various choices, then there's no reason to limit them to less than the ten slots available.

There's a difference between trimming the fat for healthy efficiency, and being anorexic in an attempt to appeal to a crowd that's opposed by nature. I've not seen evidence suggesting that many players who are opposed to customs would suddenly accept them if they only had to bother with a set or two. It limits the point of the options, and the project, for what many see as negligible potential gain.
Well that is a fair point, and while I do see many sets being used in the beginning, I truly feel that eventually we'll only see 1 or maybe 2-3 prevailing sets used in the future. For instance, you point out Captain Falcon's dash falcon punch over default. I used that too in the beginning, but as time went by I realized that I used neutral b so infrequently that the weaker custom just was not worth it in the end. Falcon punch is not something people use often and often only use to 'style' with or as a random reverse. It requires a hard read and the dash version just doesn't have enough of a reward.

Another point, I mentioned Kirby and Palutena and you disagreed. I know they both have other options, but my main point is that there are so few instances or MUs where you would NEED to run a different custom that it makes you wonder why we overload the options. Here's a good question: out of the ten available sets for each character how often have you ever used more than one set? I can assure you, I and no one who has ever come over my place (in the hundreds by now) have ever chosen more than one set. Very few people will ever bother counter picking a move and will instead pick what they prefer. Now, out of the ten sets I would say that about 2 or 3 sets have ever been selected overall, so there is some small difference in preference. Still, do we really need 10 sets?

Again, I am all for customs, but as the project has become less and less important in the scene I feel that maybe some changes are needed to make things work. Pretty much everyone agrees that miis, Palutena, Ganondorf, Kirby and a handful of others are far better with customs on than off, so there is not any argument there, but most feel that customs require too much work. It takes a lot of time to unlock customs and a lot of time to make the sets for each character. Additionally, it takes a lot of practice to familiarize yourself with dealing with all the customs (although I do not consider this a good excuse). My point is, limiting the amount of custom sets may help alleviate these issues. My true and personal belief...if we let customs be legal for like 3-6 months, in the beginning we would see a ton of variance in customs, but by the last month I am almost positive that the majority of the cast would have settled on a 'best' set that would be seen in 99% of all their matches. I'm not saying that I do not like all the options available, I'm just saying that all the options are likely hurting this project as much as helping it.
 
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Raijinken

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Well that is a fair point, and while I do see many sets being used in the beginning, I truly feel that eventually we'll only see 1 or maybe 2-3 prevailing sets used in the future. For instance, you point out Captain Falcon's dash falcon punch over default. I used that too in the beginning, but as time went by I realized that I used neutral b so infrequently that the weaker custom just was not worth it in the end. Falcon punch is not something people use often and often only use to 'style' with or as a random reverse. It requires a hard read and the dash version just doesn't have enough of a reward.

Another point, I mentioned Kirby and Palutena and you disagreed. I know they both have other options, but my main point is that there are so few instances or MUs where you would NEED to run a different custom that it makes you wonder why we overload the options. Here's a good question: out of the ten available sets for each character how often have you ever used more than one set? I can assure you, I and no one who has ever come over my place (in the hundreds by now) have ever chosen more than one set. Very few people will ever bother counter picking a move and will instead pick what they prefer. Now, out of the ten sets I would say that about 2 or 3 sets have ever been selected overall, so there is some small difference in preference. Still, do we really need 10 sets?

Again, I am all for customs, but as the project has become less and less important in the scene I feel that maybe some changes are needed to make things work. Pretty much everyone agrees that miis, Palutena, Ganondorf, Kirby and a handful of others are far better with customs on than off, so there is not any argument there, but most feel that customs require too much work. It takes a lot of time to unlock customs and a lot of time to make the sets for each character. Additionally, it takes a lot of practice to familiarize yourself with dealing with all the customs (although I do not consider this a good excuse). My point is, limiting the amount of custom sets may help alleviate these issues. My true and personal belief...if we let customs be legal for like 3-6 months, in the beginning we would see a ton of variance in customs, but by the last month I am almost positive that the majority of the cast would have settled on a 'best' set that would be seen in 99% of all their matches. I'm not saying that I do not like all the options available, I'm just saying that all the options are likely hurting this project as much as helping it.
Limiting the customs used won't actually, with certainty, reduce unlock time, due to the random nature. It can reduce the expected unlock time, but you can't guarantee you'll get a given setup within X fewer Trophy Rushes/whatevers than if you need them all.

As for myself, I run multiple sets on: :4bowser::4dk::4fox::4myfriends::4kirby::4littlemac::4link::4mario::4megaman::4pit::4darkpit::4samus::4wiifit::4palutena::4miibrawl::4miigun::4miisword::4pacman::4robinm::4shulk::4bowserjr::4duckhunt::4falco::4ganondorf::4wario2:, which is perhaps unusual (as is the fact that I even play so many characters). I don't do it just for counterpick, I do it to try different playstyles and experiment around with what works best for me. Additionally, on several of these characters, other friends of mine use sets wholly separate from the ones I use (notably Marcina, while I only use 1123, a friend of mine uses 1113 or 3113).

In the very long run, it's theoretically possible that we will narrow the sets down to such an extent that there are at most 3 good sets per character. It's possible, but we're not there yet. We don't ban all of Melee's non-high-tiers just because we've known the best for about a decade or so. And while 99% of implementations of the project don't depend on a player's own unlocks, the time it takes to put ten sets on is negligibly different from the time it takes to put on three (character-by-character). Obviously, a local scene wholly dependent on a single individual's unlocks may go with a different implementation for customs. That's completely fine, and the project in its entirety is only meant to provide a logistics solution for events that can't afford to allow full customization. But until 30XX, there's no real reason to trim it down when doing so has negligible merits and relevant drawbacks.
 

Amazing Ampharos

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I think the past several months have made it clear that no one has any intention of revamping sets without my direct intervention. However, my semester effectively ended today (I still have some finals, but those are all going to be easy while the 2389403724 hour projects are all done). I again have this strange thing that is free time, and I still really like custom moves a lot and feel the total non-push from us has been a huge factor in them completely dropping off the map nationally (we basically just rolled over; it was pretty sad).

As a group of people who care about custom moves (is it still a group, or am I talking to myself?), I think our situation boils down to two core things we need to do. One is that we need to correct what amount to factually incorrect common beliefs among the public about customs. The common belief is that customs significantly hurt the game's balance which is the exact opposite of true, and we need to make that balance situation clear. They don't seem to understand that customs are a thing already in the game, or they believe that using customs somehow requires them to do a lot of work. A lot of people don't really know what the customs even do; somehow in a year we've done a poor job of communicating that as well. Realistically we're probably getting a patch within a week or so so preparing substantial resources discussing the game's balance right now might be ill-advised, but a communication strategy I think is essential if customs are going to be a thing at any point in the future. As a communicator personally, I tend to go really long, and I look at something as information dense as custom specials and struggle to see how to condense since single line descriptions of each don't really give real information while no one is going to sit through super long videos or essay length discussion of each character's options. I made a video discussing Villager's customs about a month ago, and it ended up running over a half an hour with me looking at the final product and saying "no one will even sit through this". We really need to think about this.

As per the sets, with the climate being what it is, we have to be realistic there too. Mobilizing the entire community would be very hard at this point in time, and it would also be mostly unnecessary since the current sets meet most needs well. I think what I was saying a few months ago is correct; we mostly need a list of where the previous project screwed up in excluding important sets, and we need to add those in while removing what amount to poor sets otherwise. We should just discuss characters here; this topic is not going to overflow, and I don't expect the scope will be so large that we really need to divide discussion between 54 different sub-forums (contacting character boards to solicit opinions could, of course, be wise!). I can make a pretty good starting list myself, but I'll wait and see for now if anyone else wants to jump in and point out such characters.
 

Ansou

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I've been meaning to try and organize this project, but it just hasn't happened mostly because I didn't really know how to go about getting the community to help with it. Also, I don't have very much knowledge on which characters need revamps and such. Instead I have been trying to get my country a bit more interested in customs, but can't really say that I have succeeded very much. Many people literally don't want to bother because customs are not mainstream. I feel that there is not enough push for customs right now even though many people (especially on the boards) seem to want them legal.

Anyway, for the sets I can't really say much more than that Kirby needs 1232 as a moveset as it is definitely one of his best movesets right now. I also recall that Megaman players seem to want Hyper Bomb sets.
 

Epok

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I am currently working on an initiative to bring customs back to my scene. So I would be more than willing to contribute to the CMP.
I do thith there needs to be more fun media and video articles that are pro customs. There are too many anti-customs resources out there that propetuate false information.
 

ParanoidDrone

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I think the past several months have made it clear that no one has any intention of revamping sets without my direct intervention. However, my semester effectively ended today (I still have some finals, but those are all going to be easy while the 2389403724 hour projects are all done). I again have this strange thing that is free time, and I still really like custom moves a lot and feel the total non-push from us has been a huge factor in them completely dropping off the map nationally (we basically just rolled over; it was pretty sad).

As a group of people who care about custom moves (is it still a group, or am I talking to myself?), I think our situation boils down to two core things we need to do. One is that we need to correct what amount to factually incorrect common beliefs among the public about customs. The common belief is that customs significantly hurt the game's balance which is the exact opposite of true, and we need to make that balance situation clear. They don't seem to understand that customs are a thing already in the game, or they believe that using customs somehow requires them to do a lot of work. A lot of people don't really know what the customs even do; somehow in a year we've done a poor job of communicating that as well. Realistically we're probably getting a patch within a week or so so preparing substantial resources discussing the game's balance right now might be ill-advised, but a communication strategy I think is essential if customs are going to be a thing at any point in the future. As a communicator personally, I tend to go really long, and I look at something as information dense as custom specials and struggle to see how to condense since single line descriptions of each don't really give real information while no one is going to sit through super long videos or essay length discussion of each character's options. I made a video discussing Villager's customs about a month ago, and it ended up running over a half an hour with me looking at the final product and saying "no one will even sit through this". We really need to think about this.

As per the sets, with the climate being what it is, we have to be realistic there too. Mobilizing the entire community would be very hard at this point in time, and it would also be mostly unnecessary since the current sets meet most needs well. I think what I was saying a few months ago is correct; we mostly need a list of where the previous project screwed up in excluding important sets, and we need to add those in while removing what amount to poor sets otherwise. We should just discuss characters here; this topic is not going to overflow, and I don't expect the scope will be so large that we really need to divide discussion between 54 different sub-forums (contacting character boards to solicit opinions could, of course, be wise!). I can make a pretty good starting list myself, but I'll wait and see for now if anyone else wants to jump in and point out such characters.
For my part, I've been quite busy at work lately (staying until 7 each night, plus Saturdays) so I've kind of dropped out of my local scene temporarily. That's all about to end though, so I've been planning to get in touch with a person who I think is more or less in charge of the local university's Smash club and talk about the subject. Even simply bringing a setup (which I have, including monitor and GCN adapter) would be a step forward, I think.

Given the upcoming Smash direct and Christmas holidays, I think any immediate effort until the new year will go largely unnoticed and even possibly end up wasted if we get another patch that affects a lot of customs. (Fingers crossed.)

I've thought for a while that a potential avenue for drumming up interest in customs is exhibition matches. Get some people who are friendly to customs and know how to use their character's customs, record some matches between them on standard stages, and publish the results. Of course, unless there are a lot of such people who live close to each other, this will probably necessitate online matches which introduces its own set of issues. It also requires a capture card, I think, unless the upload-to-Youtube feature is more robust than I suspect. (At least some of these matches should also include the usual suspects like Kong Cyclone to hopefully demonstrate that they're not completely monstrous.)
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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I typically see a lack of information on custom moves even when actively looking for it, and I wonder what the best method of conveying information is. I prefer long-form analysis videos because special moves are generally so complex. Everything from damage and knockback values to frame speed seems like relevant data for comparing the moves. Going over a special move's general strengths and weaknesses and then showing how the custom variants tackle those qualities should invite more positive outlooks on the customs environment. I'd hate to condense their complexities in favor of two minute videos. You wouldn't take two minutes to teach somebody to play a whole new character.
 

NegaNixx

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I was thinking of putting a "Custom Tech" (or something to that effect) thread in the character boards. But that would need people obligated to keep them alive. The CMP threads have either drowned or are only used to talk about the sets and not the characters' kits as a whole (for the most part). Having an area where more general things can be discussed, especially with no deadline, will be beneficial.
 

Epok

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I
I was thinking of putting a "Custom Tech" (or something to that effect) thread in the character boards. But that would need people obligated to keep them alive. The CMP threads have either drowned or are only used to talk about the sets and not the characters' kits as a whole (for the most part). Having an area where more general things can be discussed, especially with no deadline, will be beneficial.
I think this is a really good idea! This will help take the focus off the constant negativity associated with problematic customs and also highlight new and unexplored things.
 

Raijinken

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Count me in on the theorycraft and anything that can be done on wifi, but my local scene exists solely of myself, so I can't do much to spread it (and I imagine discussing them on our state Facebook page is still considered flaming).
 

Amazing Ampharos

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I typically see a lack of information on custom moves even when actively looking for it, and I wonder what the best method of conveying information is. I prefer long-form analysis videos because special moves are generally so complex. Everything from damage and knockback values to frame speed seems like relevant data for comparing the moves. Going over a special move's general strengths and weaknesses and then showing how the custom variants tackle those qualities should invite more positive outlooks on the customs environment. I'd hate to condense their complexities in favor of two minute videos. You wouldn't take two minutes to teach somebody to play a whole new character.
It's really tough. I agree that there's a lot there so a brief little thing often fails to convey information, but then you have this thing I made:


On one hand, I put an absolute ton of information in there, both analysis and mechanical information. On the other hand, does anyone want to listen to me talk for 34 minutes, especially since talking for that long inevitably will be fairly clumsy at several points?

I feel like there should be some middle road solution that lets us convey lots of information without resorting to sleepers like the above, but I don't know the answer. Maybe something that goes into the same concept but instead of going crazy over an entire character just focusing in on one interesting move and its full implications?
 

ParanoidDrone

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It's really tough. I agree that there's a lot there so a brief little thing often fails to convey information, but then you have this thing I made:


On one hand, I put an absolute ton of information in there, both analysis and mechanical information. On the other hand, does anyone want to listen to me talk for 34 minutes, especially since talking for that long inevitably will be fairly clumsy at several points?

I feel like there should be some middle road solution that lets us convey lots of information without resorting to sleepers like the above, but I don't know the answer. Maybe something that goes into the same concept but instead of going crazy over an entire character just focusing in on one interesting move and its full implications?
Text post with .gif supplements?
 

ぱみゅ

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The one middle ground I can think of are videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDI-bnMM9DQ
Maybe a bit more paused/highlighting specific moments of Custom play.

It wasn't much, but EVO has a good collection of Anti-Villager plays, and I'm pretty sure any Kong Cyclone video will have moments very capable of being highlighted on how to beat it (I remember a DKWill vs random Sheik in which the Sheik used Uair to beat KC while being in it).
:196:
 

Raijinken

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Given the opposition to a handful of specific moves, it may be good to do something like exhibition matches with commentary/play-by-play. For instance, show what happens when players who know what they're doing spam single moves (Thunder Wave, Hammer Spin Dash, EBT, Kong Cyclone) against competent opponents. Show some counters from both high- and low-tier characters. Show Sheik doing the exact same sort of spamming in default so they can call that a fair alternative.
 

Illuminose

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Given the opposition to a handful of specific moves, it may be good to do something like exhibition matches with commentary/play-by-play. For instance, show what happens when players who know what they're doing spam single moves (Thunder Wave, Hammer Spin Dash, EBT, Kong Cyclone) against competent opponents. Show some counters from both high- and low-tier characters. Show Sheik doing the exact same sort of spamming in default so they can call that a fair alternative.
but top sheiks don't spam, so you are actually accomplishing nothing.
 

Raijinken

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but top sheiks don't spam, so you are actually accomplishing nothing.
Wait, which Sheiks don't rely excessively on Fair into Fair into Fair into Fair? Or go constantly for Dthrow Uair? Or resort to spamming needles if they miraculously fall behind?

For that matter, the only move I listed that's productive when spammed is Hammer Spin Dash, because Sonic is just that well-designed. So maybe I'm accomplishing showing that playing well with customs is exactly like playing well without them. Contrary to every anti-custom player's favorite clip of two DKs just spamming Cyclone.
 
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Amazing Ampharos

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For Pikachu, all that is really needed is showing ESAM's matches from EVO. He pretty much proved the other side's point with how he used Pikachu's custom moves...

I do wonder how effective chasing negatives is though. I mean, on the other side, how many characters just get screwed by banning customs? Off the top of my head, it decimates DK, Ganondorf, Palutena, Duck Hunt, Charizard, Wii Fit Trainer, Shulk, Mii Brawler, and Mii Gunner which is nine characters who are indeed pretty much only ever really played with customs legal. There are a lot of other effects on other characters that mostly just help the game (customs help this game's balance so much), but banning customs from the start is basically removing nine characters from the game which is a pretty huge loss in my book (DK mains especially are likely to be defensive over this point, but let's be real, non-custom DK is not realistically a good character). I dunno; this community doesn't seem to have a problem telling people "we don't care about your character", but the mains of all of those characters have to be pretty salty over the whole thing with it being really easy to ask basic fairness questions like "why are you issuing bans to make it easier for Sheik to beat Ganondorf?". At the very least, from an informational standpoint, it being made very clear that the primary balance effect of banning customs is making match-ups like Sheik vs Ganondorf more lopsided is the primary effect, not what many people imagine which is making match-ups more lopsided.

I really wish the footage from the last HYPE tournament in Kansas wasn't lost; there were some pretty great sets in which Mace (our local Shulk player) tore a lot of stuff up, even took a few games off MJG's Villager who was indeed 1122 custom Villager (MJG won the sets, but both sets were 3-2 and VERY competitive). To me, stuff like that of "look at what this character you had written off can do with customs!" is the most compelling stuff; it's really the heart of what customs do to this game, and more than anything I want more people to be able to see that.
 

Dinoman96

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For Pikachu, all that is really needed is showing ESAM's matches from EVO. He pretty much proved the other side's point with how he used Pikachu's custom moves...

I do wonder how effective chasing negatives is though. I mean, on the other side, how many characters just get screwed by banning customs? Off the top of my head, it decimates DK, Ganondorf, Palutena, Duck Hunt, Charizard, Wii Fit Trainer, Shulk, Mii Brawler, and Mii Gunner which is nine characters who are indeed pretty much only ever really played with customs legal. There are a lot of other effects on other characters that mostly just help the game (customs help this game's balance so much), but banning customs from the start is basically removing nine characters from the game which is a pretty huge loss in my book (DK mains especially are likely to be defensive over this point, but let's be real, non-custom DK is not realistically a good character). I dunno; this community doesn't seem to have a problem telling people "we don't care about your character", but the mains of all of those characters have to be pretty salty over the whole thing with it being really easy to ask basic fairness questions like "why are you issuing bans to make it easier for Sheik to beat Ganondorf?". At the very least, from an informational standpoint, it being made very clear that the primary balance effect of banning customs is making match-ups like Sheik vs Ganondorf more lopsided is the primary effect, not what many people imagine which is making match-ups more lopsided.

I really wish the footage from the last HYPE tournament in Kansas wasn't lost; there were some pretty great sets in which Mace (our local Shulk player) tore a lot of stuff up, even took a few games off MJG's Villager who was indeed 1122 custom Villager (MJG won the sets, but both sets were 3-2 and VERY competitive). To me, stuff like that of "look at what this character you had written off can do with customs!" is the most compelling stuff; it's really the heart of what customs do to this game, and more than anything I want more people to be able to see that.
To be honest, even without Kong Cyclone, I think DK is much better than all those characters you mentioned without customs. Most people agree he's pretty good in default, especially since the cargo throw update.
 

Raijinken

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To be honest, even without Kong Cyclone, I think DK is much better than all those characters you mentioned without customs. Most people agree he's pretty good in default, especially since the cargo throw update.
Even with the Kong Kombo, he's still at the fringe of viable. I do think he's a great example of a character who has valid sidegrades based on playstyle or matchup, though.

I guess my only opposition to focusing on the positives is that I don't see it as a more effective way to spread them. Not that we're arguing with rational people to begin with, but if highlighting positives mattered that much, I feel we'd have a lot more stages legal, Miis with universal legality, and the like. The community is extremely vicious when it comes to grabbing hold of any reason to ban. Case in point even with customs: For any point that numerous characters benefit or sidegrade with customs, there is at least one Kid Icarus weapon who insists that the passive penalty suffered by Metaknight and the DLC characters makes up for it negatively, and that this warrants banning. For any argument that Palutena and Ganondorf need customs to even be worth their data space on the disk/hard drive, there's one that Sonic and Villager are degenerate and their crimes cannot be atoned for without the suffering of 49 others.

Basically, the only issue is logistics, and we have solutions to that. If we can't somehow get people to acknowledge that they are grasping at straws to avoid moving the goalpost of knowledge and skill, then no amount of showing how deep and amazing that moved goal post makes this game will have any impact on widespread rules.

Perhaps a hybrid approach would be better, though. It would obviously take a lot more time than we have active contributors to the cause, and would naturally fall on ears deafened by bias or the roar of the Sheiks, but showing over time (which we weren't given with EVO) that customs make the game better while still being thoroughly non-degenerate (to any viewer with a valid opinion, something I'm convinced most have now discarded their right to), is probably the only "practical" way of getting them accepted even at a dual-ruleset level.
 
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NegaNixx

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You know what's cool?

Using Short fuse bombs with Tink to cover the ledge. Or approaching with Shield and exploding. Infinite recovery doesn't hurt either.

Short Fuse Bombs are wonderfully fun.

If I had a capture card it'd be awesome to make videos of stuff these moves can add.
 

Amazing Ampharos

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The community is extremely vicious when it comes to grabbing hold of any reason to ban.
This is the biggest thing that makes me salty in general, but at the very least, people should understand the truth of their actions. I just think there's a real crowd likely to be inspired by *insert otherwise bad character here* doing well. Of course, I've tried to argue from the other side a lot, and I'm always frustrated with a detailed, logical explanation of why X custom on Y character is perfectly balanced being met by "nuh-uh" or my least favorite non-word "jank". I do think there's a mentality that something like custom Villager, ultimately balanced or not, is something they have to "deal with", and a lot of people don't actually want to deal with anything they find inconvenient. Making it clear there's a real cost to the solution of just banning tons of stuff I think can only help.
 

Epok

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This is the biggest thing that makes me salty in general, but at the very least, people should understand the truth of their actions. I just think there's a real crowd likely to be inspired by *insert otherwise bad character here* doing well. Of course, I've tried to argue from the other side a lot, and I'm always frustrated with a detailed, logical explanation of why X custom on Y character is perfectly balanced being met by "nuh-uh" or my least favorite non-word "jank". I do think there's a mentality that something like custom Villager, ultimately balanced or not, is something they have to "deal with", and a lot of people don't actually want to deal with anything they find inconvenient. Making it clear there's a real cost to the solution of just banning tons of stuff I think can only help.
That's why I feel as if the competitiveness of the smash scene feels dumbed down. The only way things like janky customs become less of a threat is to gain knowledge. People will spend dozens of hours learning the Sheik match up, but wont take a couple to understand the physics of a couple "problematic" customs.

Any time I listen to David Sirlin and how he talks about the word "cheap" and "scrub" I think of smash and customs. Kinda makes me sad...

Edited for grammar: Shouldn't post while falling asleep.
 
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Lomogoto

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Jun 15, 2015
Messages
108
Has there been any discussion on if each person were only allowed one custom move? Then there would be enough spaces for all custom moves and it would force a villager to pick between tripping sapling or exploding ballons, ect. Maybe limiting the percieved "jank" but allowing for some experimentation as well.
So the legal sets for each character are simply:
2111
3111
1211
1311
1121
1131
1112
1113
And naturally 1111
 

Raijinken

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Has there been any discussion on if each person were only allowed one custom move? Then there would be enough spaces for all custom moves and it would force a villager to pick between tripping sapling or exploding ballons, ect. Maybe limiting the percieved "jank" but allowing for some experimentation as well.
So the legal sets for each character are simply:
2111
3111
1211
1311
1121
1131
1112
1113
And naturally 1111
Tons of discussion. It unreasonably favors the characters who want one or no customs at the expense of those who want or need several. It's even been suggested specifically to attack that one Villager setup. Meanwhile, Sonic still gets his only move that matters.

It's just a bad compromise that caters to the laziness/scrubbery against certain builds.
 

nebulark

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I posted just this. However I would only recommend to get players used to customs, but not as a standard. So if you want to transition from non-custom to custom it could be a middleground for a short while.
 

Raijinken

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I posted just this. However I would only recommend to get players used to customs, but not as a standard. So if you want to transition from non-custom to custom it could be a middleground for a short while.
Opponents aren't interested in them, proponents feel slighted.

I mean, I hope you're right and that it takes off, but past experience just suggests it's a compromise neither side is interested in. Selection bias acknowledged, I don't personally think I've seen any anti-customs player who has said "Yeah I think I could live with that."

Ideally, we'd just alternate rulesets at locals and have a few majors dedicated to customs on. But that's not the case right now.
 
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