I actually have had long talks about this with many of NYC's smashers and have debated this topic ALOT on these boards, the general consensus is that ppl think fox is such a strong character that their should be no stages that further enhance how strong he is.
IMO this is a dumb consensus as fox is strong on ANY stage regardless of the type of stage it is either by having enough space to run circles around u or it being too small and him being able to kill u as early as 85% from uair or upsmash.
Its ridiculous that are current stage structure was not only created by one person with no input from others but also by someone who has an extreme character bias and therefore banned a bunch of stages strictly because he felt like it.
The whole point of counter pick stages is to give characters stages that are in THEIR advantage to fight other characters on. the only stages left are those that are deemed fair ENOUGH but no stage is 100% fair anyways.
many players are too lazy to learn the counterpick stages and therefore dont support them in anyway shape or form, however ill enjoy watching ppl continue to lose to mango and hbox cuz all the have do is ban yoshis and there never at a disadvantage
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ill comment on the initial stages u listed and explain why they should be on and why the reason for them being off is in my opinion minor or doesnt matter. im gonna preface this by saying Fox should not be enough of a reason to ban so many stages (like dedede was in brawl). also gonna preface by saying chars i list may or may not be good on the stages listed but many ppl have different styles and Im just listing chars to kinda give u a visual of what i mean.
Corneria: this stage should be on to counter characters that have very strong horizontal kill moves but not very strong vertical kill moves (Marth, Shiek, Capt, Jiggs) as well as those that dont manuver around as well without platforms. as of right now theres no other stage wit a short ceiling to enable kills on floaty chars early except yoshis which most floaties ban anyways.
-reasons its banned: camping..... any char that gets camped gets camped just as hard on dreamland or PS by fox. low ceiling is similiar in comparison to yoshis, the top of the fin can be compared to the top platform on yoshis and is prob harder to get ppl into that position than it is on yoshis.
- was banned by plank for pound4 cuz hes a shiek main lolduh.
onett: was actually banned a while ago and is one of the few counterpick stages i support being banned because of the cars. unlike klaptrap in jungle japes the cars actually go through the playing field and they are extremely dangerous unlike the acid in brinstar which only can kill u well close to 200%.
pokefloats: i think this stage should be on as another low ceiling alternative.the small blast zones emphasize quick kills but the constant moving of the stage also helps those that like to keep space in between themselves and their opponents. the stage is good for chars with good air mobility and is a good counter for stationary chars or grab happy chars that need to stay grounded for an extended amount of time.
-reason stage is banned: prob fox again. this stage is in no way different from rainbow cruise, everything from the small blast zones to the stage always following a set path. rainbowcruise only has ledges during the boat phase and so I guess they decided to leave it. more ppl have probably fallen through the pendulum in rainbow cruise not knowing its a platform that u can fall through than they have through seel. I think spam timed someone out a long time ago here and ppl will never let it go ( as if that peach player from west coast didnt time out a ganon on kongo but hey guys CAMPING! /end sarcasm sry)
- banned for pound4 again lolshiekmains.
mute city: this stage is one that u wont find much support in convincing others. this stage alone has been the subject of much debate. I think the stage should be on simply so peach and jiggs mains have options. as of right now IMO they get brinstar banned against them and now they have to play on stages that dont necessarily give them the benefits they want (stages wit big blast zones are nice but i think the general consensus is theyll get camped to death on anything thats not FoD.) unfortunately the advantage mutecity gives to these chars would make it an auto ban against them and nothing that is autobanned always should be legal from a competitive point of view so again its hard to argue. armada further buried the argument by always cp mute at genesis and winning everytime eventually getting 2nd place, sure the argument is weaker now since he placed 4th at pound without it but its still a point to consider. I think there should be stages without ledges to punish chars that have excellent on stage game but very weak recovering moves (shiek, marth, capt, and many others) but mute city can be potentially too strong of a stage against them.
- banned for pound 4, but was hugely under debate prior to pound4 and was one of the few stages generally agreed upon to be banned b4.
Jungle Japes: 100% biased here as this is by far my favorite stage in the game. without a high platform its much harder to camp here than ppl believe as its not so easy to get off a side platform and the gaps in between make it risky to waste ur double jump. This stage is great for punishing chars with strong vertical recoveries (marth, g&w, any tether character) and has HUGE blast zones for chars who need more survivability.
-reason its banned: klaptrap. unfortunately hes a 1shot killer though at the points where he hits its hard to argue that ur not dead already. He can be teched which is a point for the stage but requires smash DI and seeing him coming the first of which can be learned but the 2nd is luck based cuz of the river and just unfortunate. However i will argue that for as many ppl who have been bitten by klaptrap ppl have prob UNINTENTIONALLY landed in the barrel in Kongo 64 and shot themselves to their death, or died from getting hit by the lava while its not visually above the stage and getting combo'd after on brinstar.
-banned for pound4 with no reasons given, i think he just wanted to get rid of everything similiar to how scar did for spoc, without creating major controversy so he left rainbow kongo and brinstar (idk i dont get his thinking)
peach's castle: hasnt been around for a while, not sure why. there should be more stages with walls but i guess fox scares ppl away from everything. bullet bill is 100% techable with no smash DI so idk this one just kinda fell off the map.
i hope this helps u understand some of the thinking for and against the stages. unfortunately unless someone like MLG comes back and brings back all the stages, theyre most likely not gonna come back. Only TO's have the strength to bring the stages back and I wish Apex would be bringing them back to sorta counter the strength pound4 took them away with but oh wells.
Hey if u host tournaments u can always put whatever stages you like
TL;DR - Fox should not be enough of a reason to ban every stage, bring some of them back
my solution: go back to old MLG format and enable two bans one for neutrals and one for counterpicks, this allows players to have some defense against stages but also allows for tons of options for char/stage/ and playstyle.
25% of your game lost because of a stage hazard? That's kinda messed up. Plus, I hear it's easy for Fox to camp. I mean, I get the stage hazard makes up for that a bit, but still.
