Eddie G
Smash Hero
Hey there community, KB here! 
I'm one step away from acquiring a nice venue and I will start hosting my own tournament series soon. I have assisted with seeding and bracket management in the past but this will be my first time really holding up the fort as an individual TO. Now, I'll get right down to what I'd like to address: a solid stage list.
I've been doing a lot of pondering on what stages I want at my first event and as a possible staple to my series if things go well, and this is the most structurally sound list I could initially come up with.
Starters
- Battlefield, Smashville, Lylat Cruise, Yoshi's Island, PS2/PS1 (undecided)
Counterpicks
- Final Destination, Delfino, Castle Siege, Brinstar, Frigate, Halberd, Pictochat (undecided)
Banned
- Rainbow Cruise, Norfair, Green Greens, Pictochat (undecided), the other usual stuff
My Reasoning:
- I am undecided on whether to have PS2 or PS1 as my fifth starter; PS1 promotes a lot of unintentional stalling and clock wasting (at least a good collective 2 minutes from what I've seen/experienced firsthand) due to the majority of stage transformations being very positionally imposing. After much thought, I didn't initially find this element to be starter material.
- PS2's transformations, on the other hand, are much less positionally imposing and do not outright promote unintentional stalling/clock wasting from what I've seen; and while the transformations do add a temporary change in the physics/element in a match...those changes are universal to the cast (universal being a key word in why I consider this stage a possibility). I've seen arguments such as MK being able to abuse the air transformation but I have yet to see or experience this sort of blatant abuse firsthand, at least to the same degree of outright long-term stage layout abuse such as on Rainbow Cruise.
- I put Final Destination as a counterpick because I feel that it (like Brinstar) gives an unnecessarily large buff to a very small group of characters to be considered a fair starter, while offering nothing to other characters to effectively combat the strong tactics that the former can utilize rather freely here (bananas, Falco horizontal stage control, Ice Climbers being persistent with grabs/chasing down landings); not even something as simple as a single platform which can make a huge difference. This is why I feel Smashville is the ideal "reasonably long-and-flat starter": characters such as Diddy/Falco/ICs can still utilize their tactics rather well, while other characters actually have a means of strategy/retreat/recovery/retaliation to turn to.
- I am undecided on Pictochat because I've seen (and have experienced) mixed results from its use. There have been some downright silly occurences as a result of the transformations being present in some matches, and there have also been examples of solid strategy being utilized here (see: Chibo vs Shadow imo). I personally have no issues with (or bias for) this stage, I am completely neutral and undecided on it. I'm all eyes and ears for any constructive views the community has on the stage.
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I am also considering the possibility of adopting a rule that a friend of mine (The Kiest) has used in one of his more recent events. That rule involves having two stage bans instead of just one, but to prevent having a player use both of his/her bans on just counterpick stages (and therefore eliminating both of what-could-be the other player's preferred go-to counterpick options)...the bans are limited to one for a starter stage and one for a counterpick stage.
**Another reason of why I have Rainbow Cruise banned and am still undecided on Pictochat is to also prevent the infamous Rainbow/Brinstar ultimatum that players are often faced with against MK (and possibly Wario/GnW), and the FD/Picto ultimatum that is also present in favor of strong ground based/horizontally zoning characters. If players wish to use their one counterpick ban on either Brinstar or Pictochat (if it remains on my list), then they may do so while using their one starter ban on what they think may be a back-up choice for their opponent off of that list (but that is basically a gamble which is in favor of the counterpicking player, which is encouraged since no starter stage will give the counterpicker that much of an obscene advantage even if the winner makes an unfortunate ban decision).
So...thoughts? Feedback? Concerns? All are welcome and encouraged. Please be constructive, thanks.
I'm one step away from acquiring a nice venue and I will start hosting my own tournament series soon. I have assisted with seeding and bracket management in the past but this will be my first time really holding up the fort as an individual TO. Now, I'll get right down to what I'd like to address: a solid stage list.
I've been doing a lot of pondering on what stages I want at my first event and as a possible staple to my series if things go well, and this is the most structurally sound list I could initially come up with.
Starters
- Battlefield, Smashville, Lylat Cruise, Yoshi's Island, PS2/PS1 (undecided)
Counterpicks
- Final Destination, Delfino, Castle Siege, Brinstar, Frigate, Halberd, Pictochat (undecided)
Banned
- Rainbow Cruise, Norfair, Green Greens, Pictochat (undecided), the other usual stuff
My Reasoning:
- I am undecided on whether to have PS2 or PS1 as my fifth starter; PS1 promotes a lot of unintentional stalling and clock wasting (at least a good collective 2 minutes from what I've seen/experienced firsthand) due to the majority of stage transformations being very positionally imposing. After much thought, I didn't initially find this element to be starter material.
- PS2's transformations, on the other hand, are much less positionally imposing and do not outright promote unintentional stalling/clock wasting from what I've seen; and while the transformations do add a temporary change in the physics/element in a match...those changes are universal to the cast (universal being a key word in why I consider this stage a possibility). I've seen arguments such as MK being able to abuse the air transformation but I have yet to see or experience this sort of blatant abuse firsthand, at least to the same degree of outright long-term stage layout abuse such as on Rainbow Cruise.
- I put Final Destination as a counterpick because I feel that it (like Brinstar) gives an unnecessarily large buff to a very small group of characters to be considered a fair starter, while offering nothing to other characters to effectively combat the strong tactics that the former can utilize rather freely here (bananas, Falco horizontal stage control, Ice Climbers being persistent with grabs/chasing down landings); not even something as simple as a single platform which can make a huge difference. This is why I feel Smashville is the ideal "reasonably long-and-flat starter": characters such as Diddy/Falco/ICs can still utilize their tactics rather well, while other characters actually have a means of strategy/retreat/recovery/retaliation to turn to.
- I am undecided on Pictochat because I've seen (and have experienced) mixed results from its use. There have been some downright silly occurences as a result of the transformations being present in some matches, and there have also been examples of solid strategy being utilized here (see: Chibo vs Shadow imo). I personally have no issues with (or bias for) this stage, I am completely neutral and undecided on it. I'm all eyes and ears for any constructive views the community has on the stage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am also considering the possibility of adopting a rule that a friend of mine (The Kiest) has used in one of his more recent events. That rule involves having two stage bans instead of just one, but to prevent having a player use both of his/her bans on just counterpick stages (and therefore eliminating both of what-could-be the other player's preferred go-to counterpick options)...the bans are limited to one for a starter stage and one for a counterpick stage.
**Another reason of why I have Rainbow Cruise banned and am still undecided on Pictochat is to also prevent the infamous Rainbow/Brinstar ultimatum that players are often faced with against MK (and possibly Wario/GnW), and the FD/Picto ultimatum that is also present in favor of strong ground based/horizontally zoning characters. If players wish to use their one counterpick ban on either Brinstar or Pictochat (if it remains on my list), then they may do so while using their one starter ban on what they think may be a back-up choice for their opponent off of that list (but that is basically a gamble which is in favor of the counterpicking player, which is encouraged since no starter stage will give the counterpicker that much of an obscene advantage even if the winner makes an unfortunate ban decision).
So...thoughts? Feedback? Concerns? All are welcome and encouraged. Please be constructive, thanks.
