Stage Picks And Counterpicks

[Thyst]

I'm a new competitive smash player, and I'm going to attend my first tournament in a few weeks. I was wondering about what stage picks have to do with the game, and what stages would be good for Pikachu and Greninja, my main and secondary, and why.
As for counterpicks, what stages should I look to use against characters and why do they counter those characters?

 

[KEYLIME SSB]

You have to pick a stage that counters your opponents play style and character choice. For an SSBM example, picking yoshi story on a c. Falcon main. Larger stages suit a camping playstyle, and smaller stages suit fast movement.

 

[Thyst]

You have to pick a stage that counters your opponents play style and character choice. For an SSBM example, picking yoshi story on a c. Falcon main. Larger stages suit a camping playstyle, and smaller stages suit fast movement.

Ohh, okay. Thanks.

 

[KEYLIME SSB]

Anytime! *misfires off stage*

 

[MarioManTAW]

While that is generally good advice, there is some other character-specific stuff to consider.
For , ESAM likes Lylat, Smashville and Dream Land a lot because of Quick Attack Cancelling (can be done on slopes and moving platforms, Dream Land's main platform counts as a slope); SV also helps with horizontal strings and kills; Town & City can be used for early off-the-top stocks with the likes of U-throw Thunder (or raw U-throw); FD can be useful if you like footstool/jab lock setups.
For , it largely depends on what kind of combos you're good at. A lot of s like FD for footstool combos, but the other stages (except possibly Lylat) have their own types of combos as well.

 

[KEYLIME SSB]

Where I come from footstools don't exist. And ice climbers are a thing.

 

[Thyst]

While that is generally good advice, there is some other character-specific stuff to consider.
For , ESAM likes Lylat, Smashville and Dream Land a lot because of Quick Attack Cancelling (can be done on slopes and moving platforms, Dream Land's main platform counts as a slope); SV also helps with horizontal strings and kills; Town & City can be used for early off-the-top stocks with the likes of U-throw Thunder (or raw U-throw); FD can be useful if you like footstool/jab lock setups.
For , it largely depends on what kind of combos you're good at. A lot of s like FD for footstool combos, but the other stages (except possibly Lylat) have their own types of combos as well.

Thanks a bunch!

Where I come from footstools don't exist. And ice climbers are a thing.

Melee? I'm a Brawl kid.... I feel ya...

 

[maybe.]

As others have said, you need to think of what you personally want out of a stage as well as things that could put your opponent off balance or take away things they want to do which you can learn throughout the match up. Look for your opponent's tendencies and the way they're trying to kill you and use stages to counter that. For instance if you notice your opponent is trying to kill you off the top mostly then a stage with a higher ceiling (battlefield) may be a good choice. If you notice they use platforms a lot then FD might be a good choice. It's tough to give advice on this, though, because there are so many factors that go into a stage choice and a lot of players of the same characters tend to disagree on what stages they like, a very clear example being mvd and Zero are both top level diddy kong players, mvd loves lylat and zero definitely does not. I would recommend just trying them all and seeing what you find most comfortable in addition to always considering how you can use certain stages to counter whatever playstyle your opponent is throwing at you.