Hello everyone, for those that don’t know allow me to introduce myself. I am FalconXD and I currently host a Smash Bros. Wii-U tournament series. This series is known as Fight To The Finish, a weekly tournament series with fifteen tournament long seasons. Players compete in these tournaments earning points on a tournament leader-board with the Top 3 winningi prizes at the end of the season. The first season of this series took place from August 2015 to March 2016 which was a while ago. Fortunately, after all this time I’m happy to say that Fight To The Finish returns with a second season. There are many new aspects in Fight To The Finish Season 2 which I will be shedding some light on today.
#1: DISCORD CHAT SERVER
Last season, Fight To The Finish had a basic chatbox which was user-friendly and good for mobile users; however, the server had a couple hiccups in it. I’m glad to say that those issues should be heavily reduced as we’re now using Discord for tournaments. The Discord server allows for better moderation and easier communication between players. This server isn’t only used for tournaments since players can use it for hosting Smash friendlies, Splatoon or Mario Kart 8 games, advertising their own creations, or even just for socializing with one another.
#2: UPDATED STAGE LIST
The list of stages for Season 2 has some changes in it as the Smash Bros. Wii-U metagame has changed since the last tournament. When it came to the stage list last season I was fairly lenient with certain stages; however, most stage lists have been on the conservative side. After looking through a post-season survey and some analysis I have done my best with reaching a steady compromise, this is the stage list for Season 2:
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz245/MiiFalcon/Legal%20Stages_zpsa4llgayt.png
The five starters are the most popular legal stages from the survey and is similar to most other legal stage lists. One side note, if both players don’t have N64 Kirby’s Dreamland it gets switched with Lylat Cruise.
Two of the four counter-picks are Lylat Cruise and Duck Hunt which are fairly standard, but theh other two counter-picks are a bit more rare. Halberd being a legal stage has had mixed reactions, but after looking at the survey it was the next most popular counterpick and I feel it makes Fight To The Finish unique so I’m keeping it for now. The other counterpick here is Skyloft and I know somewhere out there many people are cringing at this decision. Although on the survey Skyloft was heavily requested and other factors such as differing from Halberd more than Delfino gave it the edge. I’m currently experimenting with Skyloft and aware there are some shenanigans in the stage, but at the moment it is a counter-pick. If Halberd and Skyloft aren’t your favorite stages, the winner of a match gets two bans so you could just use your bans on these two.
#3: UPDATED LEADER-BOARD
Fight To The Finish has a leaderboard where players could gain points for ranking high and accomplishing certain tasks. This leader-board is back in Season 2, but got a major overhaul. Starting off the leader-board has different tiers which awards more points if there are more players in the tournament. The leader-board no longer has decay, but a similar feature known as the “inactivity switch”. If a player goes three consecutive tournaments without entering another Fight To The Finish tournament they’re deemed inactive. They will not lose points on the leader-board, but lose ties to active players and are ineligible for prizes at the end of the season. There are many new bonuses on the leader-board including ones based off of the Top 3 from the previous season. In addition certain bonuses have had point totals changed for keeping the competition closer than before which will hopefully increase a tournament’s intensity.
#4: COMMENTATOR RECRUITMENT
One feature which was heavily requested (by one user in particular as well) was having other commentators on the stream besides Falcon and the main streamer. Due to this I have created an application for those interested in commentating tournaments. This feature might not be available for a few tournaments, but the application will be available once we’re ready (maybe even earlier for those that could locate it). Interested commentators would fill out the application, then me and a few others would assess their application and if interested we would give them further details.
#5: GRUDGE MATCH FRIDAYS
When it comes to wi-fi tournaments players typically compete in their matches and once they’re knocked out of the tournament they’re finished, but what if they want redemption? What if there’s a match-up that players are looking forward to playing. One way I plan to keep people involved with the tournament even when they’re not playing is through Grudge Match Fridays. After two players are knocked out of a tournament they can compete in a Bo5 tournament-style set for not only glory, but bonus points on the tournament leader-board. I hope this feature appeals to those that feel they got knocked out a little too early and keeps the competition heated.
#6: BELIEVE’S HIGHLIGHT REEL
Ever play a Sm4sh match and pull off an impressive string or kill and feel impressed by it? Certain plays deserve praise which is where Believe’s Highlight Reel comes into play. Players that perform a great moment in either a FTTF tournament match or grudge match are encouraged for sending replays to us. My brother, Believe will assess all the clips he receives and pick whichever replay from the week was the best. If a player’s clip wins they will get bonus points on the leader-board and if uploaded to Youtube and sent in will be posted alongside the next tournament.
#7: CODY’S BOUNTY HUNT
Cody has assisted Fight To The Finish through-out Season 1 as both technical support and a chatroom moderator. Now Cody gets his own tournament event in Cody’s Bounty Hunt. At the start of the tournament, Cody picks a seed number from 1 to the number of players in the tournament. The corresponding seed has a bounty placed on them. The person with the bounty must make it to a specified round for surviving the bounty. If a player can make it to this round they will earn bonus points on the tournament leaderboard, but if another player in the bracket defeats them in either Winners or Losers they will take the bounty instead and earn the bonus points for the leader-board.
#8: TOURNAMENT TRIVIA
Do you have vast knowledge on Smash tournaments? Do you like accomplishing things while using your head? Do you like offline Smash tournaments? If you answered yes to any of these questions then tournament trivia is meant for you. Each Fight To The Finish tournament has a trivia question pertaining to some kind of Smash Bros. tournament. If you know the answer to the question you can send a PM to me on Challonge (FalconXD1) and you can earn bonus points for the tournament leader-board. Some questions might require some thought, but they’re mostly straight-forward and a great way for boosting your rank on the leader-board.
#9: NEW PRIZES
As mentioned above, Fight To The Finish is held in fifteen tournament seasons. At the end of a season the Top 3 players from the season will earn prizes. This concept remains the same for Season 2 with the Top 3 players on the tournament leader-board earning prizes, but the prizes have changed a bit. Here are this season’s prizes:
GRAND PRIZE: $35 E-Shop Card OR $35 worth of merchandise from NintendoWorld in NYC.
2ND PRIZE: $20 E-Shop Card
3RD PRIZE: $10 E-Shop Card
#10: NEW TOURNAMENT SERIES
Many people that join these tournament series only join looking for Smash Bros. Wii-U tournaments which is perfectly fine and Fight To The Finish isn’t disappearing for now. Although, I have hosted tournaments for other games besides Smash Bros. Wii-U and I look back on them missing the fun times I had hosting them. While I will keep hosting weekly Fight To The Finish tournaments I will also be hosting other series down the line such as Splatoon tournaments and Mario Kart 8 tournaments. This process is still being developed and might take some time before tournaments for other games are live, but if you are a Splatoon or Mario Kart 8 player, I hope you’ll consider giving these tournaments a try.