Is Beyblade Burst Sparking’s Tempest Ring Too Powerful? – WBO Tournament Report (Justin TC’s Birthday Bash)

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The Second Beyblade Burst Sparking Era Beyblade Tournament in Toronto

On September 13th, 2020 the Toronto community gathered for Justin TC’s Birthday Bash at High Park, our second tournament after a long break due to COVID-19. The first was BE A HIRO a few weeks earlier. Read my in-depth report for that event here.

In the interest of getting this report out of the gate quicker than I did for BE A HIRO, I’ve condensed this one a bit to cover only some of the essential details and information about the tournament and metagame.

Particularly about the huge impact of the Tempest Ring on this event.

I love writing longer reports, but they take quite a long time to put together and I honestly wouldn’t be able to keep up if they were all like that! Haha.

I’d love to hear what you guys think about the condensed style of this report versus my longer form reports like the one for BE A HIRO and Beyblade West.

What details matter the most to you in tournament reports? Winning combinations? Deck Format play-by-plays? High-level thoughts on organization? Metagame? Competition? Something else? Comment below to let me know.

Tournament Details

• Date: September 13th, 2020
• Location: High Park – Toronto, ON
• Format: WBO Burst Format – Ranked (Rulebook)
• WBO Event Page
• Challonge Bracket – First Stage
• Challonge Bracket – Group A Tiebreak
• Challonge Bracket – Final Stage

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First Stage Report – Justin TC’s Birthday Bash

Justin TC’s Birthday Bash was played with 13 players using the Block Round Robin tournament format.

Players were split into two blocks of six and seven players and played each person in their block once. The top two players from each block advanced to the final stage.

Tournament Participants

Mindset Coming From Our Previous Tournament BE A HIRO

I personally went into this tournament with less than an hours worth of testing to my name after my loss in the finals a BE A HIRO.

Given that I had put dozens of hours into testing for that event and that there had been no new releases since then, I wouldn’t say I was comfortable with not testing much … but it was easier to accept.

Also, as I stated in my report for that event:

New tournaments with new parts are exciting and challenging.

But tournaments with a consistent and more deeply understood metagame allow players to exercise a greater level of strategy and skill that is less dependent on reactionary choices made with varying levels of understanding.

With the experience of BE A HIRO behind me, I felt I had a more solid funamental understanding, feel, and overall respect for the power of Beyblade Burst Sparking parts than I did before.

I could envision what the metagame would be in this event clearly and what it would take to win.

There might have been things I could have tested more to paint a more precise vision, but the essential details were there for me.

The Dominance of the Tempest Ring

After Zankye’s dominant use of Tempest Solomon (Metal Chip Core) Xtend+ 2A at BE A HIRO a few weeks prior, it was clear going into this event that it would play an even larger role.

This was especially true in my mind after seeing that Tempest on Xtend+ also saw use by all three winners of Geetster99 Doesn’t Know What to Name his Birthday Tournament a week after BE A HIRO in Maryland.

And I was right: in the first stage of this event, Beyblade combos using the Tempest ring were absolutely everywhere.

Judging only from what I saw, at least 7 of the 13 players used it at some point in the first stage: henwooja1, MDK Shady, LuinorBlader, Justin TC, originalzankye, Lrexman, and Hunter08. And there likely was more.

I also know that 1234beyblade and Tempest546 didn’t have it. If they did, they probably would have used it.

Tempest Ring First Stage Usage Details

I used Tempest for all of my matches and went 6-0.

I switched to Atomic from Xtend+ for one round to counter MDK Shady’s TLc.Xt+ 2A.

And for me, the best variant of Tempest is the one that uses Wheel 1S because it is slightly heavier than 2A (at least for me) and probably had better opposite spin performance … although admittedly I need to test this more.

For sure though, other Chassis such as 1A do not work as well with Tempest and Xtend+.

Tempest Xtend+ was also countered by some players through the use of Rage. Hunter08 scored a pretty clean win with his Rage combo versus originalzankye’s MCC TSl.Xt+ 2A in Group B, handing him his only loss of the first stage.

However, one problem I noticed with some Tempest users was that they were hard-launching versus Rage combos, which seemed to make them easier to knock-out.

1234beyblade used Rage Longinus Xtreme’ 3A against me in Group A and I was able to win 3-0 through the help of weak launching. To be fair, his Xtreme’ is quite worn down and slower, but I believe weak launching in this matchup can help.

henwooja1 used Rage Longinus Evolution’ 3A against me, a similar combo to the one I leaned heavily on during BE A HIRO. He was able to score a point, but I ultimately won 3-1.

When Tempest is paired with Xtend+ and Wheel 1S or 2A, is is one of the safest combos in the game right now.

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Top 3 Most Popular Beyblade Parts During Justin TC’s Birthday Bash

Tempest Ring – Beyblade Burst Sparking

How was it used?

As detailed above, Tempest was used heavily on various Xtend+ setups.

The vast majority of players used it in the first stage.

The top four players used it.

Verdict

Tempest has proven itself over the past month since its release to be a bonafide threat to any player you face.

Players who own this part and pair it with strong parts such as Atomic and Xtend+ will drastically increase their chances of winning any Beyblade tournament they play in.

Rage Ring & 3A Chassis – Beyblade Burst Sparking

How was it used?

Rage with 3A was the MVP of our previous WBO Beyblade tournament in Toronto (BE A HIRO).

While it wasn’t as impactful during the first stage as before, it was still used by all four of the top players in powerful attack combinations using Drivers such as Xtreme’, Evolution’, and Destroy’.

It made its mark on this tournament particularly in the finals, as you will discover below.

Verdict

Rage with 3A continues to be a powerhouse of an attack type and very little that can stop it. It’s heavy and it hits hard. It’s a must-have for competitive players.

Curse Ring – Beyblade Burst Sparking

How was it used?

Curse saw a lot of use on stamina/defense-minded setups using the 2D Double Chassis and Bearing. Some players also tried using it with Atomic.

I haven’t test much with it myself, but I believe the idea was that Curse on 2D would counter Rage.

Verdict

From what I observed, Curse wasn’t particularly successful in this event despite its popularity.

I question where and when it would be used with Tempest also existing. To me, it seems like Tempest has better stamina and better defense. But it’s something I’d like to test out more, especially with 2D.

In my Variant Lucifer review I sort of wrote off 2D (in its “unawakened” state with the rubber blades still attached). But maybe 2D has some benefit when paired with Curse that I’m not aware of yet.

I do know that the WBO’s Allen Schaffer won with it in the finals of Geetster99 Doesn’t Know What to Name his Birthday Tournament … so that must be the case!

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Final Stage Report – Justin TC’s Birthday Bash

Matches in the finals were played with WBO Deck Format, which requires five points to win. Read the full rules here.

In Group A, there was a four-way tiebreak for the second spot behind myself.

LuinorBlader came out on top, defeating WBO Rank #4 1234beyblade and WBO Rank #9 henwooja1 in a series of shocking wins to advance!

Semi-Finals: Kei vs. Justin TC

This was a matchup between the current top two players on worldbeyblade.org rankings! Justin is also the newest member of my team, DAY BREAKERS.

Going into this match, I was riding an embarrassing five match losing streak against Justin TC dating back to ALTERNATE BEY DIMENSION’ in August 2019.

Before that, I had won seven straight against him.

Both of our streaks came during times when we were dominating an consistently either winning tournaments or making it to the top three.

So needless to say, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to start a new chapter of this rivalry!

Deck Building Thought Process

I knew that that Justin had been leaning on Tempest during the first stage, like most people. However, I also heard that he had tried it on Xceed so I wasn’t sure if he would be going with that or not for our match.

Going into these finals, I made the call that playing Tempest Xtend+ likely wasn’t going to get me the win. Making the call to go directly against the metagame like this can be dangerous, but it felt right in the moment.

Instead, I picked Mirage Fafnir Wheel Mobius 1S to counter it and the potential for an Atomic-based counter for Tempest Xtend+, which I figure Justin TC might think I would use.

Justin TC ended up picking two right-spin high LAD stamina types, which was likely a mistake as it made the viability of my MFn.Wh.Mb 1S extend beyond just countering Tempest.

I had initially guessed he would use an aggressive Rage combo in tandem with Brave on Destroy’ (which he used at BE A HIRO) and Tempest Xtend+.

After losing with Rage on Ev’ during BE A HIRO, I was feeling less confident in it and really wanted to use X’ in order to more reliably have a chance against Tempest on Xt+.

However, I also recognized that Justin TC was the type of player who would typically include an aggressive attack type in his deck. Most often, he uses something like an Xtreme’ attacker, a Xtend+ stamina type, and a Bearing stamina type.

In order to give myself the edge in the attack match up, I decided to use Evolution’ on Brave Lucifer Evolution’ 2A. The idea with this was that it could outrun or match any attack type he chose and also serve as a backup choice to play against a Tempest stamina combo.

The Match

If I remember correctly, I lost the opening round. Then, I switched into MFn.Wh.Mb 1S to face his TLc.Xt+ 1A.

We traded points a few times, once with my Mirage combo losing to Tempest and once with it winning.

I was able to KO his TLc.Xt+ 1A with my RDb.X’ 3A.

Afterwards, it ultimately turned into an explosive “awakened” Evolution’ attack vs attack battle with his RFn.Ev’ 3A versus my BLc.Ev’ 3A.

I was able to win the match by the score of 5-3!

Semi-Finals: originalzankye vs. LuinorBlader

This match was utterly dominated by originalzankye’s Tempest Solomon (Metal Chip Core) Xtend+ 2A. LuinorBlader has no answer for it.

originalzankye won 5-0 to advance to the finals.

Final Match: Kei vs. originalzankye

It was time for a rematch of the BE A HIRO finals!

In that event, I had lost the match by a score of 5-1 for a number of reasons:

1. My unfamiliarity with Tempest, Solomon, the Metal Chip Core, and Diabolos at the time.
2. A confidence level in Rage Helios Evolution’ 3A that was probably a bit too high.
3. My unfamiliarity with Rage on Destroy’. My testing had focused on using Ev’ against the more popular Xtreme’, Jolt’ type Drivers.

Even though that was an unranked event, I had put so much time into preparing for it and was disappointed by my shocking lack of foresight to prepare for a matchup like that.

Especially considering my knowledge of his propensity to use the Destroy’ Driver (which I first observed at BEY OR DIE II last year).

I also hadn’t won a ranked Burst Format tournament since FISTS WON’T DO IT! last July–a fact which had been hanging over my head since then.

To top it off, I had placed second in three consecutive Burst Format events, so my desire to get over this hump had certainly mounted.

Deck Building Thought Process

After seeing his deck versus LuinorBlader, I was fairly confident what he would be using going into the finals and used that in combination with my experience at BE A HIRO to guide my decision-making when building the deck I would use.

Given my recent failures in final matches, I also made sure to spend the time I needed to fully think through everything before locking in my choices.

I decided on a deck simiar to the one I used against Justin TC. I kept RDb.X’ 3A and BLc.Ev’ 2A. And I swapped out MFn.Wh.Mb 1S for Naked Diabolos Wheel Xtend+ Goku.

The reason I did that was only because of the one round I lost with Mirage against Justin’s TLc.Xt+ 1A. The 1A variant seems to have slightly worse opposite spin performance than Wheel 1S or 2A, so the fact that Mirage lost even that one round was conerning to me.

It could have juast been bad luck, but I didn’t have the luxury of figuring that out between the semi-finals and this match.

I was more confident in Naked to overcome Zankye’s MCC TSl.Xt+ 2A, so I chose to use that despite the defensive downgrade. Its sole purpose was to counter Tempest when I had the last pick, so this was fine.

In this match especially I wanted to avoid a Tempest versus Tempest matchup because I feared that even with Diabolos, Zankye’s heavier Solomon Chip combined with the Metal Chip Core might give it an edge in the stamina department over mine.

The Match

Check out the full match video below, shot by JesseObre:

3rd Place Match: Justin TC vs. LuinorBlader

Justin TC chose to use the same deck for this match as he did in the semi-finals and shockingly, lost 5-0 to LuinorBlader!

The Match

Watch the final round below. Recorded by JesseObre:

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What is the value of winning?

People often say “winning isn’t everything”. And it’s true.

However, striving for it is. I’ve striven for victory since the first time I ever played in a Beyblade tournament in 2003 and placed third.

To have made mistake after mistake and tasted defeat over and over again in Burst Format events throughout the past year before winning this tournament has been frustrating. I’ve wanted to be better.

And at times I’ve tried everything I could to set myself apart from the competition, whether that be through deck-building strategy, unique customizations, launching style, and more.

It’s also been humbling for me, as losing often is. In both WBO and WBBA tournaments.

But it only has value because I was struggling for victory in each match I played. It’s easy to make excuses about why you lose, but ultimately the responsibility always falls back on you as the player. If you practice enough, research enough, have the right parts, think properly, and execute decisively, there is no match which is unwinnable.

A good example of this is a match I had with henwooja1 during 1234beyblade 100K (this is epic) last August. See 1:38 in the video.

I was facing a seemingly unwinnable match-up with FA.Ar.Om Gen versus his B3.00W.Br. But I remained calm and proceeded to execute a series of perfect Gattyaki launches to KO him. I lost 3-2, but nevertheless, it demonstrates the spirit with which I approach every competitive battle.

My belief is that each battle we play represents an opportunity to challenge ourselves to become better Bladers. That is, if we take it seriously.

And it’s an opportunity to challenge the person across from you to become better as well.

The beauty of this is that we raise each other each time we come together play.

There will always be a winner and there will always be a loser. But by striving to win we become better ourselves and collectively as a community of Bladers who understand and play the game.

I’ve won over 60 tournaments in my time playing Beyblade, but have lost far more than I have won.

The journey to understanding this game and to understanding myself is never-ending, but I will keep striving for more! I hope you’ll join me.

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Tournament Winning Beyblade Combinations

1st: Kei

• Tempest Diabolos Wheel Xtend Plus 1S
• Tempest Diabolos Wheel Atomic 1S
• Brave Lucifer Evolution Dash 2A (Deck Format Finals Only)
• Mirage Fafnir Wheel Mobius 1S (Deck Format Finals Only)
• Rage Diabolos Xtreme’ 3A (Deck Format Finals Only)

2nd: originalzankye

• Tempest Solomon (Metal Chip Core) Xtend+ 2A
• Brave Solomon (Metal Chip Core) Destroy Dash 2A

3rd: LuinorBlader

• Tempest Lucifer Wheel Destroy 1S
• Rage Fafnir Xtend Plus 2S (Deck Format Finals Only)

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Tournament Footage by MDK Shady

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Photo Gallery

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Acknowledgements

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

Specifically, thank you to:

• henwooja1 for bringing tarps and a stadium.
• Justin TC for bringing a stadium and hosting!
• originalzankye for providing prizes
• MDK Shady for shooting video
• Tempest546 for shooting some photos
• All of our judges (1234beyblade, BladerBeast, Justin TC, henwooja1, JesseObre, 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 metagame as it stands right now, whether you attended the tournament or not. Do you guys think Tempest is overpowered?

Comment below and let me know!

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.