Lower Tiers GSC Lower Tiers Bo1 vs Bo3 in Team Tours Community Pulse

[BeeOrSomething]

GSC lower tiers are mostly settled down currently when it comes to team tours, with the exception of UU obviously, and UPL signups are arriving soon, so I figured it was about time to post this. GSC Slam has begun, and it’s revived a thought in my mind, one that’s I’ve been having for a long time. "GSC NU would be better if it was Bo3 in team tours." After playing in both ZU Olympiad and PU Blind Draft for the entirety of the season (and making playoffs in both) to solid success, I feel like Bo3 would be an improvement to ZU and PU too. Ubers also seems like a pretty solid tier for Bo3, and after asking around a little bit, I've received some positive outlooks, though of course from only a small number of players. From my experience in the UU community and talking to a lot of GSC UU players, I don't expect a question about GSC UU being Bo3 in team tours to get positive answers from most, but I figured I’d ask anyways, and I do know about at least one who would like it and always brings it back to my attention, even if only for a short moment.

I would like to know what players of each of the GSC lower tiers would think about implementing Bo3 for their tiers in tournaments. Good news is, according to my talks with Siatam, since no GSC lower tier is official, this is a perfectly fine move. It also means that it can be up to each individual tier/tournament organizer to choose whether to make it Bo1 or Bo3, so if one tier's player base doesn't like Bo3, but another tier's player base desires it, then that's all good and well.

Feel free to voice your opinions in this thread regarding the GSC lower tier(s) you may play. I ask that anyone who contributes to this thread not bring up other generations as a form of precedent or other obstruction since they are not the focus of this thread and there are no rules being broken.

Personally, I am in favor of Bo3 for all of NU, PU, and ZU, and that's about the most I can speak on. I feel their greater volatility due to significantly less relative bulk favors Bo3. My experience in Ubers is basically zero and although I have played UU a fair amount I still feel like I don't have enough experience in UU yet, so I am mostly neutral, if slightly favoring towards Bo3, regarding these two tiers. As a small aside, Bo3 is also never complained about in individual tournaments for these tiers.

 

[BigFatMantis]

I don’t think any tiers should be, or need to be, Bo3 in any team tours other than dedicated Bo3 slots for variety’s sake. Team tournaments are already designed in a Bo6/Bo8/Bo10 etc format and it works well. I don’t see any reason why GSC lower tiers should be getting Bo3 treatment and other lower tiers, such as ADV Ubers for example which definitely would prefer it more, should not. RBY Bo3 seems fine and works fine and is heavily grandfathered into Smogon’s framework. No need to start doing this with other tiers that work perfectly fine in a Bo1 format.

The reason Bo3 is never complained about in individual tournaments is because that’s how individual tours are supposed to be - Bo3. And to follow up that point, I don’t really see people complaining about Bo1 GSC in team tours (in fact I think some would complain if they had to Bo3 since a lot of people wouldn’t even want to go through that in a team tour).

Leave team tours alone, the whole premise of them favors Bo1 across all tiers with RBY as the only exception. The reasoning for RBY Bo3 is already shaky but at least it’s something that is universally accepted at this point (and, despite being shaky, is far better reasoning than GSC lower tiers getting that same treatment - volatility is not really a good reason for Bo3 in team tours, it’s a reason to not have that tier in a team tour).

 

[Estarossa]

Heavily against it in all tiers in team tournaments, there’s the obvious arguemenfs that applied to other stuff recently too about no one specific slot should get to play more games to level out bad rng esp when the tiers are balanced enough around it, any one game should count equally and so my sm or gsc game should be no diff there. It’s either everytjing bo3 or nothing bo3 (apart from like an explicit stours bo3 slot)

main issue I’ve always had with it alongside just that, especially for uu, is it’s just a huge time commitment in terms of playing and just makes scheduling a nightmare and alllows for way too much trolling potential, while sure I could be on with a 30 minute time slot rn for uu if I get stalled it’s already likely going at least 1 hour and bo3 means I need to be 100% sure I can commit a lot more time to playing, which with enough experience of dealing with it plenty in team tours will be a pain for differing timezones eapecially but just not something I’d willingly sign up to deal with in general.

the amount of prep work that goes into it would also encourage more reusing in general which is definitely unideal in my eyes, prepping 3 teams a week is a pretty big jump especially for people who are actively engaged in other tiers in the tours too.

in all likelihood I would not be signing up for gsc in a tour where this happened due to the above and also think it’s optically a mess with how you weight games when there’s no particular balancing issue that justifies it being bo3 anymore than half the other gens

 

[Aurist]

I don't have as much to say as the others but I don't feel in favour of introducing Bo3 from a purely PU perspective. I feel that the tier is quite healthy with Bo1 and doesn't need a change in that regard, and while luck is an important factor I don't feel it swings games to the same magnitude that I've seen other formats who do want bo3 have. In PU in particular games can trend a little longer and as a player I would not appreciate the very large variance in how long a set can take, I also feel I'd get burned out more with a Bo3 format.

 

[MrSoup]

I don’t think bo3 would increase the health of any gsc low tier in team tours. It doesn’t really have a dynamic that would make me want bo3 and would honestly be pretty boring. It would only demotivate good building and play IMO. GSC is not a generation that inclines itself to BO3 due to how safe and covered you can generally be with a good build. Don’t do this.

 

[BloodAce]

This was a thought I had playing both GSC PU and GSC ZU in multiple team tours this year, making at least finals in each but over time I found the main problem is that PU and to an extent ZU (cant speak to NU and others), have games that can go on for a long time. Potentially having to play three 150+ turn games is too much of a time commitment for most to make for multiple weeks even if the team prep aspect is probably fine. Probably best to leave as is.

 

[cyberacc]

From my experience in ALTPL for GSC Ubers I'd say I prefer best of 3 to the best of 1, both on principle and on personal experience.
GSC Ubers is a tier with some explicitly swingy turn propositions. And given how extreme these swings can be, whether it be by RNG or by match up, it sort of squanders the competitive integrity of the tier in the best of 1. Watching tier veterans have games stolen and crushed by this is a big shame and I think the tier benefits from becoming a best of 3 bout in Team Tours.

 

[Monai]

Think 3 rounds of gsc zu might make me just end it, keep bo1 in team tours for sure