Are Spin Stealing Combos Too Powerful in Beyblade Burst Limited Format? (WBO Tournament Report)

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Toronto’s Second Burst Limited Format Tournament

On July 4, 2021 the Toronto Beyblade community gathered for HIGH PARK THROWDOWN 12 and after playing the first event of the day–a standard Burst Format event–played the second of two tournaments of the day.

This time, we played with WBO Burst Limited Format alongside the WBO Pick 3 Choose 1 Battle Format for the first stage and the same new rules for “Play Area” and the definition of “knocked-out” that we had used for the first tournament of the day.

This was our second Burst Limited Format tournament, with the first being Justin Thunder Cloud’s Skateboarding Adventure in September 2020.

In this report, I cover:

1. The matches I played in the first and final stage in detail.
2. An overview and my thoughts on what the metagame was like in this tournament. In particular, I seek to answer the question about whether opposite spin combos using parts like the Drift Driver and Zone’+Z Driver are too powerful for the format.
3. Some thoughts on two key factors to consider for any Beyblade format: balance versus diversity.

Tournament Details

• Date: July 4, 2021
• Location: High Park – Toronto, ON
• Format: Burst Limited Format – Unranked (Rulebook)
• WBO Event Page
• Challonge Bracket

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First Stage Report

Beyblade Burst Limited Metagame Analysis

Since our first Burst Limited Format tournament much remained the same throughout the first stage of HIGH PARK THROWDOWN 12 (Burst Limited). Parts such as the following all remained popular:

• Bloody Longinus Layer
• Hazard Kerbeus Layer
• Drain Fafnir Layer
• Nightmare Longinus Layer
• Twin Nemesis Layer
• Geist Fafnir Layer
• Bearing Driver
• Xtreme Dash Driver
• Generate Driver
• Quick Dash Driver
• Evolution Dash Driver
• Destroy Dash Driver
• Absorb-S Driver

However, because almost ten months had passed since that first tournament, there were many changes to the parts that players were generally using as well. Newly released parts since that event like the Drift Driver and Zone’+Z Driver saw significant use.

The ban list for the format had also changed significantly, banning parts like the ​​Shadow Amaterios Layer and Shining Amaterios Layer which I personally had relied on to help myself win that event. But on the other hand, the format now allowed for some new parts such as many Beyblade Burst GT Layer Bases if they are paired with the Gen Layer Weight.

From what I saw however, GT Layer Bases did not have an impact at all during the first stage.

The metagame in general seemed to revolve around Drivers with high opposite spin performance such as the Drift Driver, Zone’+Z Driver, and Bearing Driver.

That being said, I do not believe this is negative. Rather, it feels more like the default state of the game right now. When everything has decent to great opposite spin performance, nothing tends to stand out as being “overpowered”.

It’s just like trying to compare between the opposite spin of something like the Revolve Driver and Atomic Driver back in the day; one is better than the other, but that doesn’t mean the other one is overpowered.

Given how wide the tips of most recently released Drivers by Takara-Tomy have been, I think it’s safe to say that we should consider high LAD/opposite spin performance (relatively speaking) the new norm.

The argument could be made to try and shift away from this as has been attempted in WBO Burst Classic Format, but my position is that you’re fighting an up hill battle in that scenario. Sure, you can build a walled garden with less focus on opposite spin, but it will inevitably–over time–become more and more exclusive. Takara-Tomy has their own plan and it clearly includes wider tips.

However, make no mistake, attack types and aggressive combos were almost always present as one of the three selections by each player for the Pick 3, Choose 1 Battle Format that was in use for this tournament.

As you will see below in the battle video I captured between 1234beyblade and Justin TC, attack types also came into play as well at times. The winning combinations listed at the end of this report reflect this as well.

The one piece which I might be able to support an argument for being banned is the Zone’+Z Driver only because of the burst resistance it provides. In the standard Burst Format this doesn’t really matter much because most things don’t burst anyways, but in a format like Burst Limited where burst finishes are still a legitimate possibility, it might be a bit too good.

But overall, while high Life After Death combos are key to the format right now, they haven’t drowned out the viability of attack types, so I don’t feel the format is unbalanced at the moment.

Balance Versus Diversity in Beyblade Formats

I’m sure there are some who may also lean into the idea that the format could be made more diverse in terms of the pool of viable parts. But I think we’re already there.

And I am someone who is more interested in a format being balanced than it being overly diverse. Viable part diversity in Beyblade tournament formats is important, but at a certain point it begins to breed inequity to a certain degree.

The reason is because the larger the pool of viable parts is, the greater the investment required from players is both financially and time-wise to be able to play and understand the intricacies of a format at a high level.

In an objective world, viable part diversity is absolutely positive. It makes the game deeper strategically and competitively. It also gives players more options to be able to participate; it’s more accessible in that sense.

However, in reality it makes the monetary and time investment component of the game even more important than it already is because to be able to confidently compete at a high level, you need to have experience with and understand every available piece in the format.

If the pool of viable parts is diverse–but still manageable–it makes the game more accessible in a different, but perhaps more important way.

If there are 50 viable parts in a format, it’s going to be a lot easier for someone to figure out what they need to get, practice with it, and understand it than it would be for them if there are 100 viable parts in the format.

This is part of the reason why I tend to prefer things like the standard Burst Format because there is usually a tighter pool of viable parts, which makes it easier to prepare for and participate for everyone. You become able to focus on smaller nuances amongst those 50 parts rather than spreading yourself thin trying to purchase and then scratch the surface of what all 100 viable parts are capable of in time for a tournament.

Hasbro’s immense divergence from Takara-Tomy’s Beyblade Burst products also contributed to this. In some cases it’s created some interesting diversity, but at what cost?

I’m not sure there’s anyone who can really understand the totality of everything that has been created across both brands right now. I guess we’re just lucky that the overall performance of most parts Hasbro has produced is obviously poor enough that it hasn’t made adopting it mandatory on a significant level for the standard format (or Burst Limited Format at this time).

First Stage Battle Videos

Blader Kei’s First Stage Matches

Round 1 – Right αrtemis 0 Lift Rise (Kei) vs. Drain Fafnir 00 Wall Bearing (OldSchool™)

You might be wondering why I’m using Right αrtemis here … well, pretty much because I was forced to. ​​Shadow and Shining αmaterios–which I loved, but was banned from the format–was no longer an option and I wanted a right-spin Layer with some decent weight to it that didn’t have teeth which were too weak on the Rise Driver.

As for the Rise Driver, I was riding the high of its performance for my in the Burst Format event we had just played (although I had also tested it beforehand for Burst Limited as well). If you’re interested to learn more about why I was using Rise, check out that report.

As for the Lift Frame, using this gives the ability to switch modes depending on if you are facing a same-spin opponent (you can launch hard and not scrape in the upper mode) or an opposite spin opponent (weak launch and use the lower mode for increased Life After Death).

Here are the two selections we both made for this match:

I was feeling confident that Rα.0L.Rs would likely defeat anything OldSchool™ had, especially because he didn’t have Drift.

I went with that and he went with dF.00W.Br, which seemed like it would be an easy win.

However, it ended up being a very weird match. I can’t recall the entire sequence of events but in the first round I believe he landed on top of my and scored a point via burst finish. Eventually, I won the match by a score of 3-2 with only one of those five rounds coming via what you would expect: outspin.

But hey, a win’s a win!

Round 2 – Geist Fafnir (Level Chip) 00 Wall Bearing (Kei) vs. Tide Treptune T3 5 Cross Absorb-S (henwooja1)

I believe I used a the same selection of combos for this match as I did against OldSchool™. Here’s what henwooja1 selected:

Using my nL.T.Qc’ seemed like a dicey pick, which left me to choose between Rα.0L.Rs and LC gF.00W.Br.

I chose Geist Fafnir because it seemed like it had the best overall chance of victory percentage wise. It had a strong matchup versus both Tide Treptune T3 and Hazard Kerbeus and a chance against his Geist Fafnir. Right αrtemis on the other hand merely had a chance against gF.Wh (H).Zn’+Z and hK.?D.Qc’ by my estimation.

I got the perfect match up here against T3.5C.Ab-S and won 3-0 thanks to the stronger opposite spin performance of my LC gF.00W.Br.

After the match henwooja1 and I spoke a little bit about why we made the choices that we did and I think that he had thought I wouldn’t go for the highest percentage choice in this instance to try and fake him out … sometimes that might be the case, but I told him sometimes you risk overthinking things too!

Round 3 – Right αrtemis 0 Lift Rise (Kei) vs. Nightmare Longinus Expand Drift (MDK Shady)

When it comes to overthinking, I certainly wasn’t doing that during this event. At this stage in the event I was feeling confident in the composition of my selections from the first two matches and continued with that here. Here’s what MDK Shady selected:

Going with Rα.0L.Rs was an easy choice for me here. It had a high chance of victory against all three of his selections.

I won 3-1.

Some people had been talking about Nightmare Longinus on Drift before this event as I believe it had done well at an event in the US … but while I think it is a viable combo, the weaknesses it has are obvious. Poor same-spin stamina, vulnerable to attack types, and below top tier opposite spin performance in my opinion thanks to the aggressive design of the Nightmare Longinus Layer.

Round 4 – Geist Fafnir (Level Chip) 00 Wall Bearing (Kei) vs. Guardian Kerbeus 7 Glaive Destroy’ (Tahoor)

Because everything Tahoor chose was right-spin, LC gF.00W.Br was another easy pick here. I won 3-1.

Having at least one pick among your selections that is in the opposite spin direction of the rest is key for Pick 3, Choose 1. Even if you don’t plan on using it, it instantly makes the decision process for your opponent a little bit more complicated. For instance, if he had included something like a left-spin combo on the Atomic Driver, it would have made my choice here more difficult.

Round 5 – Geist Fafnir (Level Chip) 00 Wall Bearing (Kei) vs. Drain Fafnir 00 Bump Drift (Tempest546)

This was a bit of an interesting case where despite having two left-spin Beyblades in his deck, two of them had less stamina than my LC gF.00W.Br and it also would have been able to beat his tW.Ω.At. So, I went with that and was able to win the match.

Round 6 – Earth Aquila 0 Metal Defense (Kei) vs. Drain Fafnir 0 Cross Atomic (Lrexman)

In this final match of the first stage I was sitting comfortably with a 5-0 record and it was unranked … So, I decided to have some fun.

During my testing before the event I played around with some of the Metal Fight Beyblade remake Layers like Earth Aquila and Flame Sagittario. I really wanted to see if there was a way to make them viable.

I eventually discovered that when paired with the “Metal” Drivers like the Metal Defense Driver or Metal Fusion Driver that they don’t click at all and kind of just glide over the teeth, almost as if they were a Hasbro Layer.

This was intriguing and I ended up testing out EA.0.MD a bit. Although it was still a bit prone to bursting it seemed to have good same spin stamina and surprisingly was able to outspin opposite spin Atomic combos.

I ended up getting the exact matchup I wanted here but still ended up losing 3-1. Still, it was fun to use Earth Aquila in a Beyblade Burst tournament!

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Final Stage Report

Semi-Finals – Kei vs. 1234beyblade

Going into this match, although I had been successful with Right αrtemis 0 Lift Rise in the first stage of the tournament, the fact that I had bursted once or twice concerned me.

This was a potential issue I had identified with the combo before the event, but I chose to stick with it because of the weight advantage it had over the other right-spin variant that I tested: Rock Valkyrie 0 Lift Rise Gen.

Rock is a bit less aggressively designed and has stronger burst resistance on this combo than the Right αrtemis Layer. I also switched my Geist Fafnir combo to use the Zone’+Z Driver rather than the Bearing Driver to increase burst resistance.

I felt I would need this against 1234beyblade, who is well-known in the Toronto community for his incredible shooting ability with attack types.

This ended up being a great choice because the match itself ended up turning entirely into his hK.0B.Jl’ versus my RV.0L.Rs 幻 and LC gF.00W.Zn’+Z. I was able to KO and burst his Hazard Kerbeus with Rock a few times, withstand being KOed with my Geist Fafnir, and then burst him for the win to take the match by a score of 6-2.

In that final round however, 1234beyblade’s skill with attack types was on display. He KOed Geist Fafnir, but was unfortunately (for him!) thwarted by my weak launch, which caused him to burst at the same time he delivered the final blow which KOed me.

The third Beyblade in my deck was dC.Ω.R, which I didn’t use at all during the match. The reason I included it over something like Nightmare Longinus was because I didn’t feel that getting into an attack versus attack match versus 1234beyblade would have produced any advantage for me unless I went all-in and chose to use my awakened/worn down Evolution Dash Driver so I could outrun him. If I had predicted he would include two attack types in his deck I might have used it, but had guessed that a pure right-spin stamina type might be more useful overall.

Semi-Finals – henwooja1 vs. Justin TC

Justin TC won 5-2.

There were some interesting combos in this match. One thing I wonder watching the video of this match again is whether henwooja1 would have had more success with Hazard Kerbeus against Twin Nemesis if he hadn’t banked so much; it obviously had more stamina than tN.

3rd Place Match – 1234beyblade vs. henwooja1

This match demonstrates 1234beyblade’s proficiency with attack types.

He was able to score two straight KOs with his zA.?D.X’ against henwooja1’s gF.Wh (H).Zn’+Z. This is impressive given that Zet Achilles is right-spin and Geist Fafnir is left-spin.

However, despite a valiant effort he wasn’t able to score any points after that. henwooja1 won the match 5-2.

1234beyblade’s deck really had a big blindspot in coverage when it came to left-spin stamina types. Here’s why:

1. His LC bL.00W.Dr is left-spin, but has poor same-spin stamina due to the aggressive design of Bloody Longinus and wide tip of the Drift Driver.
2. His tN.?C.Ds’ probably wouldn’t have enough attack and definitely wouldn’t have enough Life After Death to be able to outspin gF.Wh (H).Zn’+Z.
3. This leaves zA.?D.X’, which also carries a pretty big disadvantage against Geist Fafnir because it is in the opposite spin direction. However, it was 1234beyblade’s best chance because despite that, with a perfect shot and some luck, he did have a chance to KO him. However, to do it five times was a pretty insurmountable task …

If 1234beyblade had something else in his deck which would have had at least a chance against Geist Fafnir he might have been in better shape because it would have made henwooja1 think twice about continuing to use it over-and-over.

Final Match – Kei vs. Justin TC

Justin TC had been using Bloody Longinus Generate during this event and I also knew he had liked using the Nightmare Longinus Layer on the Evolution Dash Driver as of late.

I figured it would be particularly likely that it would be included in his deck against me because most of the time lately, I have tended to include an attacker using the Xtreme Dash Driver in my deck.

I also knew he had been using the Geist Fafnir Layer on the Drift Driver as well as the well-rounded tN.00E.Ds’ combo.

Considering all of this, I knew RV.0L.Rs 幻 would continue to be an asset for me; it had a chance to beat all of those combos.

The second combo in my deck–LC gF.00W.Zn’+Z–also had a chance against all three of his combos.

The third combo in my deck–dC.Ω.R–was admittedly a bit useless … it really only had an OK matchup against Justin TC’s nL.B.Ev’. Throughout this tournament and our first Burst Limited Format event Justin Thunder Cloud’s Skateboarding Adventure I’ve been trying to find opportunities to use it because in theory I still love this combo, but at every opportunity it’s always seemed too risky or unnecessary to use despite its great same-spin stamina.

So, as you can see in the video, I ended up relying on RV.0L.Rs 幻 and LC gF.00W.Zn’+Z a lot.

Some of the rounds in that video demonstrate how much of a beating LC gF.00W.Zn’+Z can take without bursting, but there was also a round where it was bursted by Nightmare Longinus, showing that it isn’t unburstable.

This battle also demonstrated the versatility of the awakened/worn Rise Driver. In the battle it went toe-to-doe with the Drift Driver, and KOed both Nightmare Longinus and Twin Nemesis.

I eventually won the match 5-3, securing the tournament victory.

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Tournament Winning Beyblade Combinations

1st: Kei

• Right αrtemis 0 Lift Rise
• Geist Fafnir (Level Chip) 00 Wall Bearing
• Rock Valkyrie 0 Lift Rise Gen (Deck Format Finals Only)
• Geist Fafnir (Level Chip) 00 Wall Zone’+Z (Deck Format Finals Only)

2nd: Justin TC

• Geist Fafnir 0 Lift Drift
• Nightmare Longinus Bump Evolution’
• Twin Nemesis 00 Expand Destroy’
• Bloody Longinus Generate

3rd: henwooja1

• Geist Fafnir Wheel (Hasbro) Zone’+Z
• Tide Treptune T3 5 Cross Absorb-S
• Bloody Longinus 7 Glaive Reboot’

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Photo Gallery

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this tournament a success!

Specifically, thank you to:

• OldSchool™ for bringing mats
• henwooja1 and Justin TC for bringing stadiums
• henwooja1 for shooting video
• Tempest546 for taking photos
• All of our judges (OldSchool™, henwooja1, Justin TC, 1234beyblade, Mitsu, BladerBeast, originalzankye) for helping the tournament to run smoothly.

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What do you think? Comment below!

I’d love hear what you guys think of the Beyblade Burst Limited metagame as it stands right now, whether you attended the tournament or not. Do you think the ban list as it stands is good? Or do you think there are some pieces which should be banned?

Comment below and let me know!

This win helped to extend my tournament win streak to four! After some trouble winning tournaments in mid- to late-2019, it feels good to have gotten back into a rhythm over these past few events and really since Beyblade West: Limited Fighting Metal Beyblades.

In that span, I’ve been fortunate enough to make the finals in all nine tournaments I’ve attended and place either second or first in eight of them.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please also feel free to share it with any of your friends who are into playing Beyblade competitively or enjoy hosting tournaments.