Pacific West [Sep 12, 2015] Salem Smashfests (Weekly) [Smash 4, Brawl] (Salem, Or)

[BeanzofChaos]

I dont see an option to sign up. did i miss this week's tourney? I signed up in the past, do i just need to sign up once?
also, what day is PM on?

 

[9Tales]

Signing up online is not necessary just show up at the venue sometime before the tournament starts and you can sign up in person.
With the current schedule PM happens on Sunday. There's a separate thread for Sunday brackets here

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, shoutouts to everyone who made it out today!

Results!

Singles
1st) Split between @ Jaxas and @CutestLilLucario (time reasons)
3rd) Ecchi

Doubles
1st) The Cosmic Kings ( @ Jaxas / @gmanownyou )
2nd) Tinybox Hype Train (Shy/Zeno)


Also, thanks to everyone who helped run (or watched!) the stream today!
We ran into a few issues, namely that my laptop overheats while running both a recording and a stream... at least when it's like NINETY DEGREES in the surrounding area.
Hopefully I'll be able to find a way around it, but if not we may end up recording the Swiss matches but only streaming the Top matches in the future (until it cools down again, at least). We'll see how it goes, though.

Anyways, as ever you can find the bracket here: http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

 

[Jaxas]

Thanks to everyone who made it out today, we had a pretty massive turnout!

Smash 4 Singles:
1st) @ 9Tales
2nd) Brobear
3rd) Ecchi

Smash 4 Doubles:
1st) Super Futanari Bros (Brobear/Churro)
2nd) Misfire, to the Moon! (Shy/ @ 9Tales )
3rd) The Shinesparkers (@ Jaxas / @gmanownyou )

Smash 4 'Crew' Battle Winners: Blind Bandits!

Brackets: http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

 

[Jaxas]

Hey Saturday players, we have some changes coming so pay attention!

First: No tournament this Saturday (06/20/2015)​

There's not going to be a tournament here in town this Saturday, due to The Oregon SHFFL (see the other thread for that; I'll see you guys there!)

We'll be back the week after though, and that's when these changes will go into effect.

Second: Schedule change!​

Starting the next week we're having a tournament Saturday (6/27/2015), we're going to be using a new schedule!

Our new schedule will be as follows:

11:00am | Doors Open, Setup Crew arrives, Setup
11:30am | Smash 4 Doubles begins
1:00pm | Smash 4 Singles begins
5:00pm | Brawl
6:00pm | Target time for finishing Sm4sh Singles
7:00pm | Venue Closes

As I'm sure you noticed, there's an extra hour at the end of the day.
This hour serves as both an 'overflow buffer' and as a time for side events if it ends up being open!

I'm hoping to get side events and other fun stuff happening within that hour pretty regularly; let me know what you guys would want to do!
Current plans are things like:

- Low Tier Tournament (actually more of a 'no top/high-tier' tournament, but whatever)
- Single character brackets (like our Ganon-only brackets we've had in the past)
- Triples and/or Quads
- Coaching Bracket (no one on the PR - or at that level but missing the attendance mark - may enter, but will instead coach the players throughout the tournament so they can learn what to work on/etc)
- Money Matches, Interviews, etc
- Amiibo brackets

Third: "How are we handling DLC & the Patch?"​

So I'd assume people noticed that a Character/Balance/Stage patch came out yesterday, and with that comes new things we need to implement into the rules.

All DLC Characters (Roy, Ryu, & Lucas - Mewtwo as well of course, but he's been around) will be legal. Please try to have them unlocked on your system if you bring one!

There are also 3 DLC stages that showed up in the patch: Dreamland 64, Miiverse, and Suzaku Castle.

- Suzaku Castle: Banned.
There's a walkoff on the right half of the stage, and is therefore not really under consideration for adding to the stage list.

- Dreamland 64: Legal! (And replacing Pokemon Stadium 2)
This stage is pretty tame; blast zones have been toned way down compared to the 64/Melee version (Kongo why) and otherwise it's a pretty straightforward stage.

- Pokemon Stadium 2: Banned (replaced by Dreamland 64)
So I really don't feel like this stage warrants banning, but I can definitely understand why people would feel like it should be. Additionally, this stage is used exactly freaking nowhere, so I have no issues removing it on that front.

- Miiverse: "Miiverse clause"
So Miiverse will be handled basically like Omegas are; it just counts like an 'Alpha' Battlefield.
Game 1 Battlefield will be the actual stage, though if both players agree they can go to Miiverse. Games 2+, whoever counterpicks to Battlefield may instead select Miiverse. If battlefield is Banned or Struck, Miiverse is Banned or Struck as well.


Anyways, with this comes next tournament's side event!
What we're going to do is have a (new) DLC-only tournament:
- Ryu, Roy, and Lucas are the only legal characters
- Dreamland 64, Miiverse, and Omega Suzaku Castle are the only legal stages
- Double Elimination bracket
- All other rules standard (except for Customs, which are off because none of them have any ;_; )

 

[Jaxas]

Hey everyone, just a reminder that there will NOT be a Salem Smashfests tournament in Salem today!
I'll see you guys at The Oregon SHFFL!

https://www.facebook.com/events/665143060283902/

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, thanks to everyone who made it out today! We had a pretty large bracket this time, and it was a lot of fun!

Singles:
1st) Split between Justice & Seo
3rd) Churro

Doubles:
1st) Super Futanari Bros (Brobear & Churro)
2nd) The Outlet (Justice & James)
3rd) The Cosmic Kings (@ Jaxas & @gmanownyou )

DLC Bracket:
1st) @gmanownyou
2nd) Churro
3rd) Brobear

As ever, you can find the brackets at
http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

 

[Jaxas]

Alright everyone, it's the 1st so it's time to release the final June 2015 Salem Smashfests PR!


First up, we have Project: M!

In First, we have none other than Blake! Well known here in town as THE Game & Watch main, he places extremely well both in Melee and here in P:M, where his main can shine as a much fairer environment.

Second is another player who's been around for a while, and has has placed highly for just as long - Nick! He has a large assortment of characters, and he's always bringing something new to the fight. His most recent match against Blake was in his favor, and he's definitely looking to steal that first place spot!

In third we have another player who's strong in both Melee and Project M: @AlienAllen ! Playing his signature, stylish Falcon, along with a very strong Ganon, he's definitely a player to watch out for!

Fourth place goes to Buddy Boo, our local Ness main! Often seen sporting the Phantasy Star Online Keyboard-Controller, he's also extremely knowledgeable about Project: M.

Finally, in Fifth place we have @gmanownyou ! Playing his signature "Up Smash can go into itself, the character" (aka Zelda, quote G~Man), and recently joined by his Melee mains of Luigi and Falco, he's always ready to have a good time.

Other notable players this month are:
6th) @ Jaxas
7th) War
8th) @Charey

Next, we have Melee!

In First, making his second appearance this month, we have @AlienAllen ! Despite his PR image, he mains Captain Falcon in this game as well, and he's an incredibly strong opponent all around!

Not far behind, we have @Magnum Dragon in Second place! Back from the east coast for the summer, he's likely the strongest Fox in Salem, and makes that fact well known with his results.

Third place goes to Magnum's brother, @Saucy Pirate ! A high-level contender with both his Fox and Falco, he always likes to go for the style!

In Fourth place we have Blake, playing his signature Game & Watch and pulling out his Falco when necessary. Despite maining a low-tier character, his character mastery and raw skill are enough to handle many of the top-tier opponents here in Salem!

Finally, Fifth place goes to me, @ Jaxas . A Smash 4 player who enjoys Melee as well, I get by on my neutral game carried over from Sm4sh & Brawl... with a little help from Marth's RIDICULOUS Fsmash & Grab ranges.

Other notable players this month are:
6th) Nick
7th) Pineapple
8th) @gmanownyou

And finally, it's time for Smash 4!

In First, the man who's been on fire lately, we have Brobear! After performing admirably this month, he ended with a 3rd place finish at The Oregon SHFFL - definitely a strong opponent!

Second place goes to me, @ Jaxas ! (I didn't really think I should write my own thing here, so I asked G~Man to do so instead
"A technical Sheik main with a strong ambition for succeeding in Smash 4. Definitely a force to be reckoned with when he's on point. Very good and a well versed player over all."

Third this month is @gmanownyou . Despite being in a bit of a rut as far as finding a main, he's continued to have strong results across this last month and is always a strong threat!

In Fourth we have @ 9Tales ! Though he is a Rosalina main, he has a number of other characters he's working on, so you can never be quite sure what character you'll be up against when fighting him! Undefeated in Salem against all but a handful of players, he's definitely not a player to count out. He's had a handful of 1st placings throughout the last month as well!

Lastly, in Fifth this month we have Churro! He's been putting in a ton of work and has made great strides over this past month, and is definitely someone you can never count out of a match. He has a handful of tournament-ready characters, and all of them are major threats to any opponent!

6) Ecchi
7) Shy
8) That Guy

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, sorry I'm so late at this but thanks to everyone who made it out this weekend!

Smash 4 Singles:
1st) Brobear
2nd) @ Jaxas
3rd) @gmanownyou

Smash 4 Doubles:
1st) The Cosmic Kings ( @ Jaxas / @gmanownyou )
2nd) The Super Futanari Bros (Brobear/WoLF)


Brackets for the different tournaments can be found here:
http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

Matches will be uploaded soon to my Youtube channel as well, so stay tuned for those!

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, thanks again to everyone who made it out today! We had quite a few people and a seriously stacked bracket!

Smash 4 Doubles Results:
1st) A Lot of Tails and Even More Greatness (CACAW|Viviff T. Great MBA / @ 9Tales )
2nd) The Super Futanari Bros (Brobear / Churro)
3rd) The Cosmic Kings (@ Jaxas / @gmanownyou )

Smash 4 Singles Results:
1st) CACAW|Viviff T. Great MBA
2nd) @CutestLilLucario
3rd) @ Jaxas

As ever, you can see the bracket here: http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

 

[Jaxas]

Also, the matches from LAST week (July 4th & 5th) have now all been uploaded!

By the way, the matches from this week will probably be uploaded a bit slower than usual (as I'll be losing internet access Wednesday night since I'm leaving for EVO then). I'll be uploading things as fast as I can though!

You can find the matches here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2WO8ScJhx-oUD7oLqKPpKW5nxyUAS6r

 

[PEACE7]

Do a lot of people show up?

 

[Jaxas]

Do a lot of people show up?

We average around 25 people for Smash 4, which is pretty decent for a local around here.
Not sure how big next week is going to be (EVO's happening, so not everyone will be going), but we've very reliably been above 20 entrants recently.

 

[9Tales]

Do a lot of people show up?

Depends on your relative scale I guess. We seem to be getting somewhere in the high 20s on average right now. The number of people who came to play smash 4 the last five brackets have been:
29, 13, 30, 31, 24,

The day only 13 people showed up also happened to be the 4th of July so that explains that. But

 

[9Tales]

,,, I get Greninja'd everywhere >.>

 

[PEACE7]

Hmm i might be able to swing by soon.

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys! Just in case anyone missed it, both @gmanownyou and I will not be here this weekend, as we're going to be at EVO!

There will still be Salem Smashfests tournaments this weekend though, thanks to the assistance of a few of our local players!

On Saturday, the head TO is going to be @ 9Tales , and on Sunday the head TO is going to be Pineapple!

Be sure to be respectful to them and let them know if you're willing to help out!


I'll see you guys all next week; best of luck to everyone at the tournaments this weekend!

 

[9Tales]

Hey guys, thanks again to everyone who made it out today! This was my first time being the main TO at the event and I think we had very few hiccups (excluding a tiny one in the Brawl Bracket) but I promise you it would have been much less smooth without help from Zeno, Shy, and Ninja Asashin, so special thank you to them. And now result:

Smash 4 Doubles Results:
1st) Misfire to the Moon (@ 9Tales / Shy)
2nd) The Pills (Ecchi / That Guy)
3rd) Egglay to Lorule ( Summer Heat / Triforce of Ginger)

Smash 4 Singles Results:
1st) Kaito C00n (formerly CLL)
2nd) Justice
3rd) Shy

Brawl Singles Results:
1st) Delicious Dave
2nd) [Split] Kaito C00n and Justice

Mock Crew Battle Results:
Mortal Kombat takes it over Justice League

As ever, you can see the bracket here: http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

 

[Jaxas]

"Ok, so about a month ago i lost a controller that i was borrowing from a friend at one of our weekly Sunday tournaments and no one has alerted me about it yet. Plz look through your stuff guys! If you have an extra purple, brand name Gamecube controller then i NEED TO KNOW! Just for clarification, it's not a WiiU controller with the Smash symbol on it, it's just a plain Nintendo brand purple controller. Plz tell me if you've been holding onto an extra, i was extremely disappointed to hop off of Smash64 and find that my friends controller was missing."
- Bubbles (from Facebook)

If you know who has his controller, please let me know!

 

[Jaxas]

Hey Smash 4 players, listen up!

Some of you have probably heard some talk about this, but now that EVO 2015 has ended, we're going to be switching up our ruleset a bit!


First up, the question I'm sure you're all asking (along with the rest of the Sm4sh community): custom legality.

So here's what we're going to do, customs-wise:
For the next month or two, we're going to be doing a 'trial period'. During this trial period, we're going to be alternating between Customs and Non-customs weeks. This upcoming Saturday (07/25)will be a Customs: ON tournament like usual, but the Saturday after that (08/01) will be a Customs: OFF tournament.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be asking players what their thoughts on customs are, and depending on that we'll see where we go from here on out.


By the way, whatever we decide I HIGHLY recommend picking up a 'non-custom' character as a secondary!
Basically, whether we continue on as Customs On or not, it sounds like at least some of the larger tournaments will be non-custom from here on out (on top of the fact that we'll be doing customs off weeks as well).



Next we come to... the Stagelist!
As I'm sure you all know, we have a pretty huge stagelist here in Salem. This is partially because I'm probably one of the more stage-liberal TOs, but mostly because the Smashfests are supposed to be a more friendly type of tournament focused around practicing.
Even with that, I feel like we have a few stages on our stagelist that have cause to be removed, so moving forward our stage list will be as follows:
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Delfino Plaza
- Lylat Cruise
- Smashville
- Town & City
- Duck Hunt
- Dreamland 64
- Wuhu Island (EDIT: Forgot this one )

We will still be running FLSS ("Everything's a Starter") with these 9 stages, by the way.

Spoiler: List of cut stages with reasons

- Halberd
I am still personally of the opinion that this is the "worst" stage we've ever had in our stagelist, including Pokemon Stadium 2. The only reason it's stayed in this long is because it's been legal at the majority of larger tournaments, and I want the Smashfests to be a training-ground; no point practicing wrong, after all.

However now that less places are using this stage, I feel a lot more comfortable removing it. The main issues I have with this stage are the hazards during the Deck transition. I am very well aware that the hazards can be played around, extremely easily in fact (with the possible exception of the claw; that can be played around but is slightly more difficult). The problem I have is the power of the hazards, and the fact that the player who each thing targets is entirely random.
Basically, I don't feel that RNG should grant a player a potentially game-deciding advantage like having the laser target you so you can turn an edgeguard situation (where you normally would've had to out-mixup your opponent to win) into an auto-win because it lets you place it over the ledge.


- Castle Siege
This stage, while a bit annoying (in my personal opinion; definitely not even remotely ban-worthy) is being removed specifically because of our ruleset.

Each portion of this stage last exactly 45 seconds (including the transformation into said portion). During a (3-stock &) 8-minute ruleset, this stage is fine. However during a (2-stock &) 6-minute ruleset, in a timeout situation this stage spends its last almost full minute on Portion 2, which as you may know is a walkoff. This brings many of the problems that come with permanent walkoffs (even if only briefly, it's 'permanent until the end of the match'), which are why it's being banned.


- Skyloft
Skyloft is a stage I really like, and I know many other members of our community do as well. Unfortunately it's being removed (until Nintendo fixes it, if they ever do) due to a few issues and inconsistencies.

First up is the issue that many people have run into: falling through the stage.
This is an extremely annoying issue, though what many people may not know is that it's not Skyloft-exclusive. It's a very rare bug that can happen on any stage, and has been shown to be present on...
- Battlefield https://gfycat.com/KaleidoscopicAlienatedFoal
- Castle Siege, Delphino, other transforming stages
- Even Pokemon Stadium 1... in Melee! https://gfycat.com/DopeyLikableLangur


The other thing that has ended up banning this stage, however, is the hazards. As you may know, at times the background will enter the foreground, and when it does this it can hit the combatants on the stage. During some recent tests, I've found that it's rare but possible for these hitboxes to just... not spawn, meaning someone will pass through without getting hit.

This stage was already borderline because of the hazards and the more prominent fall-through issues, but the inconsistency pushed it over the edge and got it banned.


- Kongo Jungle 64
Kongo Jungle 64 is being removed for 2 reasons: a potential (though admittedly un-demonstrated in tournament) infinite camping issue, and the fact that almost no other tournaments ever use this stage.

The potential camping issue has to do with the fact that the Barrel, when entered, refreshes all of a character's jumps. With this, characters such as Jigglypuff can simply camp the Barrel indefinitely, since it can recover to the stage (or the Barrel) safely even if shot downwards.

Those are the big changes, however there are still a few smaller things to cover.

First up: Doubles is getting a minor change, in that I'll be calling for a vote each week to see if people are more interested in Triples than Doubles. Any time more people want to do Triples that week, we'll end up doing that.

Second: I'm not sure exactly when this will end up starting (this month or next), but we're going to be moving Smash 4's PR thing up to 10 entrants rather than 5(+3). This probably won't start until next week, but we'll see what happens.

 

[Jaxas]

OH YEAH!
Forgot 1 more thing from the earlier Smash 4 announcements!

Mii Fighters are getting a bit of a change here in Salem, and I'm gonna go over how we handle them in Customs: OFF weeks as well.

During Custom weeks, any Custom combination is allowed. Different sizes are allowed ONLY if they're in the preset list; any newly created Mii fighters must use one of the Guest Miis as their base.

During Non-Custom weeks, all Mii Fighters must be Default Height & Weight (guest Miis).
Movesets allowed are 1111, 2222, and 3333 for each Mii. (Though I am open to discussion on this)

 

[Dagon97]

Next we come to... the Stagelist!
As I'm sure you all know, we have a pretty huge stagelist here in Salem. This is partially because I'm probably one of the more stage-liberal TOs, but mostly because the Smashfests are supposed to be a more friendly type of tournament focused around practicing.
Even with that, I feel like we have a few stages on our stagelist that have cause to be removed, so moving forward our stage list will be as follows:
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Delfino Plaza
- Lylat Cruise
- Smashville
- Town & City
- Duck Hunt
- Dreamland 64

We will still be running FLSS ("Everything's a Starter") with these 9 stages, by the way.

That is 8 stages lol what is the ninth?

 

[9Tales]

Jaxas forgot Whuhu Island but it's still legal

 

[Jaxas]

Hey everyone, if you don't have Facebook then you may have missed it but there's been a discussion on stage-legality stuff happening over on Facebook. Please stop by!

If you can't, I've copy-pasted everything that's happened so far into the following spoiler; please respond here if you can't on Facebook!

Spoiler: Facebook Stage-Legality Discussion: Halberd, Legal or Banned?

@ Jaxas

===== Smash 4 Announcement 2: Stages
Next we come to... the Stagelist!

As I'm sure you all know, we have a pretty huge stagelist here in Salem. This is partially because I'm probably one of the more stage-liberal TOs, but mostly because the Smashfests are supposed to be a more friendly type of tournament focused around practicing.

Even with that, I feel like we have a few stages on our stagelist that have cause to be removed, so moving forward our stage list will be as follows:
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Delfino Plaza
- Lylat Cruise
- Smashville
- Town & City
- Duck Hunt
- Dreamland 64
- Wuhu Island

We will still be running FLSS ("Everything's a Starter") with these 9 stages, by the way.


Here's the list of stages we're cutting, and the reasons why:

- Halberd
I am still personally of the opinion that this is the "worst" stage we've ever had in our stagelist, including Pokemon Stadium 2. The only reason it's stayed in this long is because it's been legal at the majority of larger tournaments, and I want the Smashfests to be a training-ground; no point practicing wrong, after all.

However now that less places are using this stage, I feel a lot more comfortable removing it. The main issues I have with this stage are the hazards during the Deck transition. I am very well aware that the hazards can be played around, extremely easily in fact (with the possible exception of the claw; that can be played around but is slightly more difficult). The problem I have is the power of the hazards, and the fact that the player who each thing targets is entirely random.
Basically, I don't feel that RNG should grant a player a potentially game-deciding advantage like having the laser target you so you can turn an edgeguard situation (where you normally would've had to out-mixup your opponent to win) into an auto-win because it lets you place it over the ledge.

- Castle Siege
This stage, while a bit annoying (in my personal opinion; definitely not even remotely ban-worthy) is being removed specifically because of our ruleset.

Each portion of this stage last exactly 45 seconds (including the transformation into said portion). During a (3-stock &) 8-minute ruleset, this stage is fine. However during a (2-stock &) 6-minute ruleset, in a timeout situation this stage spends its last almost full minute on Portion 2, which as you may know is a walkoff. This brings many of the problems that come with permanent walkoffs (even if only briefly, it's 'permanent until the end of the match'), which are why it's being banned.

- Skyloft
Skyloft is a stage I really like, and I know many other members of our community do as well. Unfortunately it's being removed (until Nintendo fixes it, if they ever do) due to a few issues and inconsistencies.

First up is the issue that many people have run into: falling through the stage.
This is an extremely annoying issue, though what many people may not know is that it's not Skyloft-exclusive. It's a very rare bug that can happen on any stage, and has been shown to be present on...
- Battlefield https://gfycat.com/KaleidoscopicAlienatedFoal
- Castle Siege, Delphino, other transforming stages
- Even Pokemon Stadium 1... in Melee! https://gfycat.com/DopeyLikableLangur

The other thing that has ended up banning this stage, however, is the hazards. As you may know, at times the background will enter the foreground, and when it does this it can hit the combatants on the stage. During some recent tests, I've found that it's rare but possible for these hitboxes to just... not spawn, meaning someone will pass through without getting hit.

This stage was already borderline because of the hazards and the more prominent fall-through issues, but the inconsistency pushed it over the edge and got it banned.

- Kongo Jungle 64
Kongo Jungle 64 is being removed for 2 reasons: a potential (though admittedly un-demonstrated in tournament) infinite camping issue, and the fact that almost no other tournaments ever use this stage.

The potential camping issue has to do with the fact that the Barrel, when entered, refreshes all of a character's jumps. With this, characters such as Jigglypuff can simply camp the Barrel indefinitely, since it can recover to the stage (or the Barrel) safely even if shot downwards.


Captain Brad
Finally! I am tired of Skyloft, Castle Siege and Halberd.

Terris
Little sad to see Kongo go. It was a nice, different stage. A lot of the ones in smash 4 feel "samey" and liked Kongo's oddities. Though the barrel certainly is a bit Cheesy.

Brobear
You taking my halberd away, rude

Captain Brad
^RIP Brobear

@ 9Tales
You listed 8 stages but said 9 are on for FLSS, and you said nothing on the status of Wuhu

Seo
NOT BROBEARBERD!!!!!!!

@ Jaxas
Oh thanks @ 9Tales , totally forgot about that stage for some reason. It's still in the list of legal stages!

Brobear
Honestly, real talk, if Salem is suppose to be a place to practice for bigger tournaments. Then I vote we keep halberd on and ban wuhu island, this way people can practice on all the stages that the bigger tournaments will offer and not force them to continuously ban halberd in fear of that stage and its stupidity. That being said I def won on that stage cause of the dumb weapons of the ship before, but only because the opponent didn't know the last hit on the halberd beam has a larger hitbox than the rest of the hits from the beam. Also ZSS is op on that stage, and so is Rosalina. I want ppl to feel confident on all stages and ban stages that benefits their character/counter the opponents character rather that banning cause of lack of experience.

James
^with him luigi benefits this stage as well

@ Jaxas
Hmm, alright I'll definitely consider that. I'm gonna go check with some other TOs as well and see what their stage-list plans are.

To anyone else reading this, what are your thoughts? I'm always looking for discussion!

@ 9Tales
I mean I don't have a strong argument besides "I like it" but please bring back Skyloft! Otherwise I'm actually pretty happy with the stage list. Personally would argue to keep halberd off and then argue that other places should keep it off their lists as well

Seo
I don't like skyloft. There's so many weird glitches with that stage. Keep brobearberd. It's straIght forward. Don't get hit by the stage.

@ 9Tales
The ceiling on Halberd is unaceptable

Seo
I like it though.

@Ruben
Brobear is 100% right. I remember @gmanownyou @ Jaxas and I deciding that Salem would be a place to practice for the big shiz. I know I am Eugene now, but it would sadden me to see that goal kind of be abandoned. That is what would happen if you banned HB.

I remember Us three doing well in Brawl tourneys because no stage tricked us. We were prepared for every scenario while some tourneys had wierd stages that nobody was prepared for but us. That is the advantage of liberal stage choice.

@ Jaxas
Just saying, but if we were going by "I (don't) like it" reasoning, Duck Hunt would be gone & Halberd would have no chance of returning just based on how terrible I personally think they are.
But that's (luckily?) not how we're doing it, lol.

Anyways...
@ 9Tales I enjoy Skyloft quite a lot as well, and if it were up to me I'd definitely prefer everyone to just remove Halberd from their list too. Skyloft won't be coming back until either
A) Nintendo fixes the inconsistencies or
B) Someone can prove to me that I just screwed up my testing stuff and it is entirely, 100% predictable if you know where everything is

@Seo Halberd isn't actually as simple as "don't get hit by the stage". At it's basic level that's true, however which player gets targeted (advantageously or disadvantageously!) is entirely random, and that's not something that's really competitively healthy especially when it can affect the outcome of a match so heavily.
The ceiling isn't really banworthy (it's really annoying, and a questionable design decision), it's entirely being removed based on RNG stuff. The only way it'll be making it back in is if
A) A number of larger tournaments will be using it in the future, so we need to practice for it
B) The hazards no longer select a player at random (nor random times)

A is currently very possible, so it's not unlikely that it'll be making it back in.

@Ruben That is a very good point as well, and so I'll propose this as another alternative option:

What would everything think of keeping our old stagelist, but making it 3 bans instead? If you're against this idea, what would your personal stagelist be *and why*?

Edit: Yay actual discussion :D


@Ruben
IDK if the goals have changed, but when we were the big 3, we decided our number one goal was to practice and number 2 was to win. If those have been switched I have no argument (I hate HB), but if not it seems counter intuitive, and may lead to unfortunate hardships bearing fruit in the future. Competitive cognition is based on repetition, so it is important to practice everything. That is all I have to say.

Jaxas, I think that would be cool. It would also balance out because your stage list is so big. Maybe try it in a tourney first? I like it though.

@ Jaxas
I was actually planning on bumping the bans up to 3 a few weeks ago, but figured I'd just wait the ~2 weeks and switch the stagelist.

Actually though, I think I'm gonna make a poll...


<Discussion on RNG (G&W, Misfire, etc) & GimR getting bodied by Cacogen>

After this, I ended up making a poll:


"Hey Smash 4 players, listen up!

There's been a bit of contention about the new stagelist (especially with regards to Halberd's legality, though Skyloft/Kongo a bit as well).

As such, I'm wanting to gauge people's thoughts.

You can find the prior discussion here in this thread (I highly recommend reading it!): https://www.facebook.com/groups/SalemSmashfests/permalink/1645703512332342/

Poll Options:
[ ] Replace a stage (likely Wuhu Island?) with Halberd, but keep the rest the same!
[ ] Keep Halberd banned from the stage list!
[ ] Keep the old stage list, but give the winner 3 Bans instead of 2!
[ ] Something Else! (post your thoughts in this thread)"



Please cast your votes and respond!

 

[Dagon97]

Hey everyone, if you don't have Facebook then you may have missed it but there's been a discussion on stage-legality stuff happening over on Facebook. Please stop by!

If you can't, I've copy-pasted everything that's happened so far into the following spoiler; please respond here if you can't on Facebook!

Spoiler: Facebook Stage-Legality Discussion: Halberd, Legal or Banned?

@ Jaxas

===== Smash 4 Announcement 2: Stages
Next we come to... the Stagelist!

As I'm sure you all know, we have a pretty huge stagelist here in Salem. This is partially because I'm probably one of the more stage-liberal TOs, but mostly because the Smashfests are supposed to be a more friendly type of tournament focused around practicing.

Even with that, I feel like we have a few stages on our stagelist that have cause to be removed, so moving forward our stage list will be as follows:
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Delfino Plaza
- Lylat Cruise
- Smashville
- Town & City
- Duck Hunt
- Dreamland 64
- Wuhu Island

We will still be running FLSS ("Everything's a Starter") with these 9 stages, by the way.


Here's the list of stages we're cutting, and the reasons why:

- Halberd
I am still personally of the opinion that this is the "worst" stage we've ever had in our stagelist, including Pokemon Stadium 2. The only reason it's stayed in this long is because it's been legal at the majority of larger tournaments, and I want the Smashfests to be a training-ground; no point practicing wrong, after all.

However now that less places are using this stage, I feel a lot more comfortable removing it. The main issues I have with this stage are the hazards during the Deck transition. I am very well aware that the hazards can be played around, extremely easily in fact (with the possible exception of the claw; that can be played around but is slightly more difficult). The problem I have is the power of the hazards, and the fact that the player who each thing targets is entirely random.
Basically, I don't feel that RNG should grant a player a potentially game-deciding advantage like having the laser target you so you can turn an edgeguard situation (where you normally would've had to out-mixup your opponent to win) into an auto-win because it lets you place it over the ledge.

- Castle Siege
This stage, while a bit annoying (in my personal opinion; definitely not even remotely ban-worthy) is being removed specifically because of our ruleset.

Each portion of this stage last exactly 45 seconds (including the transformation into said portion). During a (3-stock &) 8-minute ruleset, this stage is fine. However during a (2-stock &) 6-minute ruleset, in a timeout situation this stage spends its last almost full minute on Portion 2, which as you may know is a walkoff. This brings many of the problems that come with permanent walkoffs (even if only briefly, it's 'permanent until the end of the match'), which are why it's being banned.

- Skyloft
Skyloft is a stage I really like, and I know many other members of our community do as well. Unfortunately it's being removed (until Nintendo fixes it, if they ever do) due to a few issues and inconsistencies.

First up is the issue that many people have run into: falling through the stage.
This is an extremely annoying issue, though what many people may not know is that it's not Skyloft-exclusive. It's a very rare bug that can happen on any stage, and has been shown to be present on...
- Battlefield https://gfycat.com/KaleidoscopicAlienatedFoal
- Castle Siege, Delphino, other transforming stages
- Even Pokemon Stadium 1... in Melee! https://gfycat.com/DopeyLikableLangur

The other thing that has ended up banning this stage, however, is the hazards. As you may know, at times the background will enter the foreground, and when it does this it can hit the combatants on the stage. During some recent tests, I've found that it's rare but possible for these hitboxes to just... not spawn, meaning someone will pass through without getting hit.

This stage was already borderline because of the hazards and the more prominent fall-through issues, but the inconsistency pushed it over the edge and got it banned.

- Kongo Jungle 64
Kongo Jungle 64 is being removed for 2 reasons: a potential (though admittedly un-demonstrated in tournament) infinite camping issue, and the fact that almost no other tournaments ever use this stage.

The potential camping issue has to do with the fact that the Barrel, when entered, refreshes all of a character's jumps. With this, characters such as Jigglypuff can simply camp the Barrel indefinitely, since it can recover to the stage (or the Barrel) safely even if shot downwards.


Captain Brad
Finally! I am tired of Skyloft, Castle Siege and Halberd.

Terris
Little sad to see Kongo go. It was a nice, different stage. A lot of the ones in smash 4 feel "samey" and liked Kongo's oddities. Though the barrel certainly is a bit Cheesy.

Brobear
You taking my halberd away, rude

Captain Brad
^RIP Brobear

@ 9Tales
You listed 8 stages but said 9 are on for FLSS, and you said nothing on the status of Wuhu

Seo
NOT BROBEARBERD!!!!!!!

@ Jaxas
Oh thanks @ 9Tales , totally forgot about that stage for some reason. It's still in the list of legal stages!

Brobear
Honestly, real talk, if Salem is suppose to be a place to practice for bigger tournaments. Then I vote we keep halberd on and ban wuhu island, this way people can practice on all the stages that the bigger tournaments will offer and not force them to continuously ban halberd in fear of that stage and its stupidity. That being said I def won on that stage cause of the dumb weapons of the ship before, but only because the opponent didn't know the last hit on the halberd beam has a larger hitbox than the rest of the hits from the beam. Also ZSS is op on that stage, and so is Rosalina. I want ppl to feel confident on all stages and ban stages that benefits their character/counter the opponents character rather that banning cause of lack of experience.

James
^with him luigi benefits this stage as well

@ Jaxas
Hmm, alright I'll definitely consider that. I'm gonna go check with some other TOs as well and see what their stage-list plans are.

To anyone else reading this, what are your thoughts? I'm always looking for discussion!

@ 9Tales
I mean I don't have a strong argument besides "I like it" but please bring back Skyloft! Otherwise I'm actually pretty happy with the stage list. Personally would argue to keep halberd off and then argue that other places should keep it off their lists as well

Seo
I don't like skyloft. There's so many weird glitches with that stage. Keep brobearberd. It's straIght forward. Don't get hit by the stage.

@ 9Tales
The ceiling on Halberd is unaceptable

Seo
I like it though.

@Ruben
Brobear is 100% right. I remember @gmanownyou @ Jaxas and I deciding that Salem would be a place to practice for the big shiz. I know I am Eugene now, but it would sadden me to see that goal kind of be abandoned. That is what would happen if you banned HB.

I remember Us three doing well in Brawl tourneys because no stage tricked us. We were prepared for every scenario while some tourneys had wierd stages that nobody was prepared for but us. That is the advantage of liberal stage choice.

@ Jaxas
Just saying, but if we were going by "I (don't) like it" reasoning, Duck Hunt would be gone & Halberd would have no chance of returning just based on how terrible I personally think they are.
But that's (luckily?) not how we're doing it, lol.

Anyways...
@ 9Tales I enjoy Skyloft quite a lot as well, and if it were up to me I'd definitely prefer everyone to just remove Halberd from their list too. Skyloft won't be coming back until either
A) Nintendo fixes the inconsistencies or
B) Someone can prove to me that I just screwed up my testing stuff and it is entirely, 100% predictable if you know where everything is

@Seo Halberd isn't actually as simple as "don't get hit by the stage". At it's basic level that's true, however which player gets targeted (advantageously or disadvantageously!) is entirely random, and that's not something that's really competitively healthy especially when it can affect the outcome of a match so heavily.
The ceiling isn't really banworthy (it's really annoying, and a questionable design decision), it's entirely being removed based on RNG stuff. The only way it'll be making it back in is if
A) A number of larger tournaments will be using it in the future, so we need to practice for it
B) The hazards no longer select a player at random (nor random times)

A is currently very possible, so it's not unlikely that it'll be making it back in.

@Ruben That is a very good point as well, and so I'll propose this as another alternative option:

What would everything think of keeping our old stagelist, but making it 3 bans instead? If you're against this idea, what would your personal stagelist be *and why*?

Edit: Yay actual discussion :D


@Ruben
IDK if the goals have changed, but when we were the big 3, we decided our number one goal was to practice and number 2 was to win. If those have been switched I have no argument (I hate HB), but if not it seems counter intuitive, and may lead to unfortunate hardships bearing fruit in the future. Competitive cognition is based on repetition, so it is important to practice everything. That is all I have to say.

Jaxas, I think that would be cool. It would also balance out because your stage list is so big. Maybe try it in a tourney first? I like it though.

@ Jaxas
I was actually planning on bumping the bans up to 3 a few weeks ago, but figured I'd just wait the ~2 weeks and switch the stagelist.

Actually though, I think I'm gonna make a poll...


<Discussion on RNG (G&W, Misfire, etc) & GimR getting bodied by Cacogen>

After this, I ended up making a poll:


"Hey Smash 4 players, listen up!

There's been a bit of contention about the new stagelist (especially with regards to Halberd's legality, though Skyloft/Kongo a bit as well).

As such, I'm wanting to gauge people's thoughts.

You can find the prior discussion here in this thread (I highly recommend reading it!): https://www.facebook.com/groups/SalemSmashfests/permalink/1645703512332342/

Poll Options:
[ ] Replace a stage (likely Wuhu Island?) with Halberd, but keep the rest the same!
[ ] Keep Halberd banned from the stage list!
[ ] Keep the old stage list, but give the winner 3 Bans instead of 2!
[ ] Something Else! (post your thoughts in this thread)"



Please cast your votes and respond!

You should stick with whatever the larger tournament rule set is. Halbred is not universally legal so it should be banned. I think Whuhu should be banned as well due to not being so popular on larger scale tournaments. I would like there to be more legal stages but I also agree with @Ruben that the tournament rule set should be very similar to big tournaments such as CEO/EVO. Also should Palutena be 1111, 2222 and 3333 or no? That would also be a good poll....

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, thanks to everyone who made it out this last weekend!

Smash 4 Singles:
1st) Cacaw|Viviff T. Great MBA
2nd) Brobear
3rd) @Tuen
4th) @CutestLilLucario

Smash 4 Triples:
1st) The Super Futanari Triplets
2nd) Shy Cooper & the Book of Bliss
3rd) Cacaw Presents: 3rd Degree Burn

As ever, you can find the brackets here: http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/

See you all next week!

 

[Jaxas]

By the way, sorry I didn't post this earlier but all the matches from 2 weeks ago (July 11th & 12th) are now up on Youtube!

Go check them out!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2WO8ScJhx-Z0CN5LAknYdJiEHXMdjgs

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, all recorded matches from this last weekend are now up on Youtube!

Go check them out, and be on the lookout for some announcements throughout the day today!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2WO8ScJhx8QEUSiUkMsCSaV9GyM8E0A

 

[Jaxas]

Hey everyone, just a heads up that I’m going to be posting a few more announcements about ruleset changes and stuff like that.


Stay tuned!

--------------------

[7/31] Smash 4 Update #1: Stages


Alright, so the biggest debate from last week was about Stages.

While most everyone agreed that Halberd and Castle Siege are definitely poor stages, there were also a number of people arguing that we still need to practice on these stages as they're often used at other, larger tournaments.


As such, we will be going forward with some modifications to our current stage list.


The new stage list will be as follows:

=== Starter
- Battlefield
- Final Destination
- Delfino Plaza
- Lylat Cruise
- Town & City
- Smashville
- Duck Hunt
- Wuhu Island
- Dreamland 64


=== Counterpick
- Halberd
- Castle Siege

We'll also be bumping up to 3 Stage Bans (instead of the current 2) due to the size of the stage list.

By the way, I wanna hear people's opinions on adding Peach's Castle 64 (and Hyrule Castle 64 for Teams?) onto the Counter Pick list (to test them out). Let me know in the comments!

--------------------

[7/31 Smash 4 Update #2: Team Match Changes

There are going to be a few changes to Doubles, Triples, and Quads from this point on.

As you know, we are now alternating between Customs: ON and Customs: OFF each week for the near future; this is only going to be for Singles however.

All Teams matches will be Customs: OFF in the future (Although on weeks the venue votes to do Double instead of Triples I will also take a second poll to see if we want Customs: ON for Doubles that week).

The other thing that will be changing is that we'll be adding a Ban-List for Teams Matches.
The team combination of Mr. Game & Watch and Sheik has been banned at many events (such as the EVO doubles bracket), and we're going to be implementing something similar.

After doing some research (shoutouts to @ 9Tales ), it became very apparent that Mr. Game & Watch's bucket is absolutely busted with a number of different characters.

As such, we'll be implementing the following rule:

"During any Teams match, Mr. Game & Watch's default Oil Panic is banned.

During Customs: ON brackets, Mr Game & Watch must use XXX2 loadouts.
During Customs: OFF brackets, Mr. Game & Watch players must toggle the Customs Switch to ON and use the 1112 loadout. All non-1111 loadouts for all characters, excluding Mr. Game & Watch’s 1112 set, remain banned."


--------------------

[7/31] Misc & TO Stuff Announcements
Alright, just a few last announcements.

First up, anyone who's interested in doing anything stream-based (whether it's just updating the stream or doing Commentary) needs to go read this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GZyAQ9MUCnq3Qh51Xeq8HNeJWU8gfnlTZhj-ZngNp8U/edit?usp=sharing

9Tales is going to be heading the Stream area, as he is in charge of the Commentary Crew; please follow his instructions. Also, and he told me to quote him on this, he said he’s going to be “On [your] @$$es like Asian stereotypes on a white rice joke”.

Second, I figured that I'd let people know but, at least for a while, I'm going to be give myself the TO privilege of not having to pay for the brackets I run. I've been having some financial issues lately, and at least for the time being, I won't be able to get enough money to enter my own tournaments.

Hopefully no one takes issue with this, but I figure that the time I put into running this (including work outside of tournaments: running logistics, uploading content, etc.) makes up for the $1 shortage in the pot.

Lastly, stay tuned for the PR update! It'll be releasing sometime today or tomorrow!

 

[Jaxas]

Sounds like we'll be doing a Smash 4 Crew Battle Bracket tomorrow - if you want to enter, come let me know!


==========< Current Crews Listing >
Crew A:
- Omen
- Jesse Cobb
- Donny Ebel
- T0mmy
- T1mmy

Crew B:
- @CutestLilLucario
- @ 9Tales
- @gmanownyou
- @ Jaxas
- Shy

Crew C:
- Churro
- Brobear
- @MasterFisk
-
-

 

[Jaxas]

Thanks to everyone who made it out this weekend! We had an absolutely massive 44 entrants this Saturday, and a much more manageable number today with BHAM happening.

Before I get to the results from this week though, I have an announcement - due to building occupancy laws, starting next week we're going to have to start implementing a 40-person cap to our tournaments.
I'll be figuring out exactly how we're going to be handling that over the next week (currently thinking of some sort of online pre-registration, and anyone showing up at the door without than can take their chances...? Let me know if you have other ideas), so stay tuned for that.

Anyways, results!

Smash 4 Singles:
1st) Justice
2nd) Brobear
3rd) Fedvsrafa
4th) @CutestLilLucario

Smash 4 Doubles:
1st) Socially Awkward Racoons & Super Futanari Bros (Split)
3rd) The Outlet

Smash 4 Crew Battle Bracket:
Winner) The Eugeniouses
Runner-Up) Rip City Smashers


As ever, you can find the full brackets here:
http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/


See you all next week!

 

[Jaxas]

HEY GUYS, IT'S FINALLY TIME!

Sorry it's taken so long, but without further ado...
time for the July PR to be released!

EDIT: Yo SmashBoards, why is "Ra****" censored? Lol.
EDIT 2: Wow, okay look at the animal in the picture I guess; can't even use it in part of a word...?
1. Kaito **** (@CutestLilLucario ): Formerly CLL, K-**** has undergone a name change to keep up with his new (no longer inclusive of Lucario) character list. This veteran player has been lurking at the top of Salem’s ELO for a looooong time but a busy work schedule has prevented him from meeting the PR attendance requirement. That all changed after an “incident” involving duck duck goose and K-**** has been free to dominate every bracket he feels like! Perhaps more impressive than his first place rank on PR is the insanely diverse cast of mid to low tier characters he used to get it, ranging from the unseen Wii Fit Trainer to characters like Link, Meta Knight, and his traditional main Shulk. For the last month and a half he’s been in the top 4 of every bracket he’s been to and has even taken a 1st place (and a respectable 2nd to Cacaw| Viviff T Great)


2. BroBear: Considered the best Zero Suit Samus player in Oregon, BroBear makes her look damn good (not that she isn’t always looking good anyway <3 ). He holds the statistic of being in Grand Finals more than any other player these last two months and took first place once too (as well as a respectable 2nd to Cacaw| Viviff T Great). Brobear is a formidable foe to anyone and very deserving of his high placing.


3. @ Jaxas : The outstanding gentlemen that makes Salem Smashfest a reality. He still holds firm to his rank as one of the absolute best players in Salem and one of the best dedicated Sheik players in all of Oregon. Slightly infamous for his ability to self destruct at the most important of times, his results on any given day can be a little hit or miss. However his skills when on point are more than enough to make up for this and insure that anyone should take him serious in bracket.


4. FedVsRafa: A player also known as Fed (or FvR), he’s a fairly new player to Salem. He’s certainly honed the skill set required to use Luigi to his full potential, including the ability to use the Jumpless Cyclone recovery technique! He’s been reliably placing within top 8 lately, and is showing no sign of slowing down soon.


5. @ 9Tales : Salem’s premier Rosalina & Luma player, and likely the best RosaLuma in Oregon. Despite a few shakier placings relative to his June performance, he’s still a very strong contender and, unlike last month, no name on this list can claim they are undefeated against 9Tales. While he’s known for his Rosalina, he’s also working on quite the roster of characters to back him up when needed. 9Tales is the man in charge of the Commentary Crew, and is a huge help with tournament management stuff as well!


6. Churro: Churro is among the top in terms of players that have shown sudden and rapid growth. Within the last month and a half he’s taken sets off of almost every name on the PR. Each showing by Churro has, with little exception, proven him to be even stronger than his last showing lead us to believe. Generally considered a Mario main, he still boasts a much more extensive list of tournament characters than most other PR players, such as his secondaries Villager, Falco, and Little Mac. His aggressive ability to make the right in game choices and capitalize on his advantaged states can make any player feel the mile they lost the moment they give him an inch.


7. G~Man, The Cosmic Destroyer (@gmanownyou ): When you consider his name is on every other Salem PR it should be absolutely no surprise to find him here as well. Sonic, Captain Falcon, and Ganondorf make up the G~Man Triad and they all power through his opponents. This man is always found in the upper regions of the bracket, below him, oh so many shattered and crumbling cosmos.


8. Shy: Shy is Salem’s original Luigi main, and has been putting in a lot of work with both him and his secondary Kirby. He’ll take any opportunity you give him and turns it around for massive damage, no matter who he’s playing!


9. Ecchi: With his long time main Dr. Mario and new main Ryu, Ecchi is a player you can usually guarantee will be in the upper half of Salem brackets. Although somewhat uncommon he’s been known to take sets of most of the players above him and earns surprisingly good results for being the low tier/DLC champion he is. SHOoooOOORYUKEN!!!


10. Summer Heat; Salem’s resident Yoshi main, Travis Summers is living up to his name and has really turned up the Heat. Long considered to be at the level just below the top of Salem, this is no longer the case; he’s become an upset threat to most of Salem, evident by the surprise (and hype) victory he took over Brobear early this month. Since then he’s gone on to defeat a handful of other players ranked above him. He’s become very well adapted to Yoshi’s unique game play and his startling rate of improvement should have most of PR sweating (in the Summer Heat)!

 

[9Tales]

EDIT: Yo SmashBoards, why is "Ra****" censored? Lol.
EDIT 2: Wow, okay look at the animal in the picture I guess; can't even use it in part of a word...?
1. Kaito **** (@CutestLilLucario ): Formerly CLL, K-**** has undergone a name change...

Most pointless censor of all time. Even though it's not true to his tag I just typed it up using zeros last time. I figured Kaito C00n is preferable to Kaito ****

 

[Jaxas]

Hey everyone, as you probably know 2 weeks ago we had a massive 44-person tournament on Saturday. You may also remember that we found out that we need to cap entrants at 40 in the future due to Building Occupancy laws, and that's what we're going to do.

While this is unlikely to be the final way we do things, at least for now we're going to be doing a Pre-Registration type thing.

If you sign up here (and are within the first 40 people) you're guaranteed your spot. If you opt not to sign up, you can still show up on the day of the tournament and try your luck - if there are already 40 people entered, you won't be able to enter that week. If we have hit the 40 person limit, then right before the bracket begins anyone who was preregistered but has not shown up will be dropped in favor of anyone still hoping to get in that’s already there.
(Also, please note that this is 40 people total for the day, not per-game.)

Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to handle this better, but while you're thinking be sure to go register!

Saturday (8/15/15): http://goo.gl/forms/upDCd1IEmF
Sunday (8/16/15): http://goo.gl/forms/8Q8dNTs2NK

 

[Jaxas]

Oh, and tagging @JSmooth because you're already pre-registered here on Smashboards - please sign up using the above links!

 

[9Tales]

===Custom Stage Event!!!===

Ah! Hey Guys! I have to appologize becasue I forgot to post this here so the announcment is coming a few days late but... Time for Annoucments none the less!! Especially for those of you with a creative mind and a good sense for game development. There’s a side event I’m hoping to bring to you guys in the near future and it takes a lot of participation, and creativity from all of you! That’s right! I’m talking about the CUSTOM STAGE BRACKET!!! A Double Elim bracket with regular rules, but a stage list that we create! As for when exactly this will happen, that’s TBD. If there’s only mild interest it may end up happening whenever there is time available, and you’ll just have to show up a lot if you want to participate. Alternatively if lots of people want to partake, we can schedule it for a specific date and accommodate it accordingly. (Perhaps skip Swiss that week or something, voice what you want in the comments)

Obviously there are some logistical struggles involved, so let’s break down the process of how this will work. For the next 2 weeks, we will be accepting stage submissions. Submissions will no longer be accepted after 12:00am the night of August 26th. We will then compile an official “Salem Custom Stage List” from the stages that have been submitted. If this event ends up being a success then the list will obviously be subject to change and adaptations in the future, but for this first time we’ll lock the stage list in place at the end of this first submission period. Once the stage list is locked it will be posted where everyone can access it, and accepted stages will be shared online with the public where we can all potentially practice on them. The event will not happen until all stages on the list have been publicly shared for at least a week.

The rules of submission are simple; everyone is allowed to submit up to 2 stages for consideration. Any stages submitted after the initial 2 will not be considered for the official stage list. To submit a stage simply add me as a friend on your Wii U, and then send me the stage. I will include my NNID at the bottom of this announcement. It will be incredibly helpful for me if you also send a message at the same time telling me you are submitting (a) stage(s). If I don’t respond to your friend request in 24~48 hours then start harassing me with messages until I do, but I’ll try to be on top of that. At the end of the submissions period @ Jaxas , @gmanownyou , and I will act as the panel of judges that test, review, and ultimately vote to accept stages. If you appease 2 of us, you’ll probably make it on the list. Though keep in mind we want to have a reasonable sized list so if there are enough submissions, things may get competitive and even good stages could be cut.

Ideally, we want to see new innovative things that the in-game stages don’t bring us. We want new levels of fun, and points of interest to the game play. And so we will impose absolutely zero restrictions on you in terms of the stages themselves! We want to see just how creative all of you can be! HOWEVER, keep in mind that we are looking for competitive stages, so you want to create a space where competitive game play can flourish. If you want to increase your stage’s likelihood of being accepted here are some important things to consider (use your judgment of course and push the boundaries, just know this is the kind of stuff we look at):

• Survivability: Do players die way too fast or live way too long on your stage? Pick your blast zone size and select how close the stage is to said blast zones wisely. Don’t over populate with hazards that lead to quick effortless stock loss (i.e. canons pointed at blast zones, way too much lava etc.)
• KO Options: Are all the typical methods of KOing available and treated reasonably equally? Stages with huge walls up the sides close off sideways kill options. Stages with lots of pieces of lava near the ceiling heavily thwart kills off the top. There are plenty of other ways to severely impair various kill options. Creative tampering with kill options can be a good thing, but take into consideration all characters and alter these options tactfully if at all.
• Ledges: Can you ledge snap to recover? Make sure to properly utilize grip-able ledges at critical recovery points on your stage. Stages without edges to grip directly impact the Survivability quality and also treat many characters VERY unfairly.
• Camping: How easy is it to camp your stage? Time outs are a real part of Smash (sadly) but let’s not make them any easier than on regularly legal stages. Avoid creating areas on your stage where one person can camp easily and approaches are at a huge disadvantage to the camper. This includes but is not limited to areas only certain characters can access (think Little Mac) and walk-offs. Likewise avoid creating large circular paths where one character can circle camp characters with lower mobility.
• General Space and Flow: How much are options limited simply by the space of your stage? Movement is a very very important aspect of game play in Smash. We want to avoid creating cramped spaces where everything turns into a hit stun fest or defensive options are limited in an extreme. This can be done with too many walls or ceilings or with too little combat surface. Also canons (when not used tactfully) can limit or force movement too much, and break up game play. Look to make stages that accentuation existing and or add new movement options, rather than ones that limit them (if you do limit movement do so tactfully and sparingly).

One final note, there’s a strong possibility that the judge panel will occasionally want to accept a stage, but also make 1 or 2 tiny edits to it. And we will ask you to make those changes (likely things such as sound tracks changes to avoid duplicate tracks on the stage list, a tiny fix of something slightly buggy we noticed, or a small tweak to push the stage over the edge into meeting some of the qualities I listed). So be prepared to have your creative works compromised by the powers of collaboration. We will obviously mess with what you do as little as possible. But I see tiny edits as a likely outcome.

Here’s My NNID: 9Tales_of_Hoenn
We’re looking forward to seeing what all of you can create!!!
If anything is unclear go ahead and ask in the comments.

PS: Take your soundtrack selection seriously We’re not jerks that will reject a stage based on the music, but I think I’d be lying if I said the right song selection won’t make me a little more partial to your stage Oh and for that matter I’m a fan of good stage names too.

 

[shadee88]

You should stick with whatever the larger tournament rule set is. Halbred is not universally legal so it should be banned. I think Whuhu should be banned as well due to not being so popular on larger scale tournaments. I would like there to be more legal stages but I also agree with @Ruben that the tournament rule set should be very similar to big tournaments such as CEO/EVO. Also should Palutena be 1111, 2222 and 3333 or no? That would also be a good poll....

Sadly halberd is a legal stage..

 

[9Tales]

Hey Everyone thanks for making it out this last weekend! I gotta say, I’ve gained a lot of respect for Jaxas ‘cause TOing can get really tasking sometimes. And I still got to rest up on Sunday. Speaking of which, please find away to show some appreciation for G~Man, Zeno, and the rest of the guys that kept this event running without its main man. I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re all hoping we get to see as much of Jaxas as we can in the near future but it’s nice to know we can keep things “relatively” smooth in his absence.

All that stuff aside let’s get into results:

Smash 4 Singles:
1st) Justice
2nd) t0mMii
3rd) t1mmy

Smash 4 Doubles:
1st) Smash Twins [t0mMii & t1mmy]
2nd) The Super Futanari Bros [BroBear & Churro]
3rd) The Outlet [Justice & FedVsRafa]

Congrats to all the victors! Per usual all the brackets ended up here:
http://salemsmashfests.challonge.com/
We’ll get next week’s preregistration form up in the next day or two, so watch for that. And we hope to see everyone in Salem again very soon!! <3

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, pre-registration forms for this weekend are now live!
Be sure to sign up to guarantee your spot!

Saturday: http://goo.gl/forms/Ny8sRxbwHd
Sunday: http://goo.gl/forms/zxgKcNHluv

 

[Jaxas]

Hey guys, just a heads up that all matches from the last 2 weeks are now up on Youtube!

August 15th/16th: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2WO8ScJhx9krdrYoxoDMHxk2cZWluWi
August 22nd/23rd: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc2WO8ScJhx_8UjE69nq2GxQc_6ImanCG

Go check them out!