I don't think "legal" is very good to focus on as a better solution would be an honest comparison to competitive values and somehow grading the stages on the casual => competitive scale so as to let TO's tailor a list for their attendees.
just a quick note on the list in the OP:
Halberd has environmental damage, which is contrary to player vs player competition (stages cannot be awarded a win/advance in brackets when KO'ing a player). It is thus considered better suited for casual play unless on Omega form.
This is and always has been a really bad argument to ban stages. Smash is
inherently player vs. player vs. stage in a way that other fighters generally are not (although anyone claiming that the stage doesn't play a role in Street Fighter obviously hasn't gotten themselves stuck in a corner against T.Hawk; it's just that every stage is the same). No matter what the stage, the layout, platforms, and transformations have a huge role to play. Hell, even in the most simple example, Omega Battlefield is a
lot better against Villager than Omega Duck Hunt due to how the stage is laid out. This means, quite simply, stage knowledge is
not something we can ignore when testing a player's skills.
The player who won their match because they understood how the hazards on Halbred work and was able to trap their opponent into getting hit by them (and let's be honest - if you get hit by them in an unforced situation, then you deserve to die) can hardly be called less legitimate than the player who won their match because they understood how landing worked and was able to trap their opponent into eating a PK Thunder 2 at 50%.
Obviously, an argument can be made when it comes to eliminating the player vs. player aspect - stages like Rumble Falls, for example, turn the entire match into an exercise in "who can survive the stage" and make the fighting aspect highly problematic. But Halberd? Halberd doesn't even come close. It's far closer to the realm of Skyloft and Delfino - stages where the hazards are known, announce themselves well in advance, and should be easily avoidable by good players. And yes, I'm aware of the claw. It might force you out of a positive position. So can the smashville platform - "I had that Little Mac on the ropes, offstage, no jump, he's dead... Oh, wait, no, he's coming back on the platform".
All "Big" stages come with a warning for use since they are intended for the 8-player mode. TO's are usually very quick to not allow large stages for competition due to time constraints.
Circle camping and other stalling tactics are very much enhanced on big stages which also seems to be the case with Big Battlefield, so it's probably not going to be included on standard stage lists.
This I agree with. Big Battlefield isn't just big, it has a platform layout that makes faster characters very hard to catch. I have very little doubt that a good Pikachu would be nigh-uncatchable on that stage.
Standard Starters:
- Final Destination
- Battlefield
- Smashville
Please don't do this. Reducing the starter list to 3 and making it these specific stages basically ensures a certain type of character gets two counterpicks per round. At that point, you might as well not strike, and just pick random between the three, because what's the point of striking in the first place? To ensure that the first match is fought in even ground, that nobody gets their best stages for free. And like this... Well, I'm pretty sure that after banning, SV is not just good, it's the go-to counterpick for, say, Little Mac (the opponent having banned FD). Meanwhile, it's pretty lousy for someone like ZSS who prefers vertical combat and loves platforms and stage changes. The general rule should be: the more starters and the more variance, the better - striking the full list is honestly the best way to go if time constraints aren't an issue.
(Also, Pilotwings, as others have pointed out: really bad idea).
(for goodness sake if there's a lot of casuals please offer a For Fun type of event with all the stages, items, and customization they want and keep it separate from the Competitive players).
CUSTOMIZATION IS NOT CASUAL WHARGLBARGL
Oh yeah, and re: Wuhu glitch: this is dumb. Really, really dumb. It's matchup-specific (only works in Ness vs. Villager/Wario), it's incredibly spacing-specific (you have to bait them into a very specific spot on the stage), it's during a segment where you can easily camp a fortified position for the entire duration (get under the wall at the back of the boat and you're at a huge defensive advantage) , and it's gone after like 20 seconds. That's not a reason to ban a stage. It would maybe qualify if the boat segment was all there was to the stage. As is, I don't even know if I'd ban Wuhu in either of those matchups if I was the victim - if I did, it'd be because Ness is great on the
rest of the stage, not this glitch. Otherwise, I'd ignore it, because it's so easy to avoid that the people you're hitting it with need to step their game up. They're bad. Really, really bad.
