BBX Tournament report 25 Jan 2026

**Tournament report: 25th of January 2026**
This was the second locals of the year for me. The format was bring 5 beys, ban 2 of your opponent's beys. 12 people took part, so we had 4 rounds of best-of-1 Swiss, followed by a top 4 best-of-3 double-elimination bracket. All matches were played to 4 points, and decks were not allowed to be changed at any point during the event.

My deck was:
- Chain Incendio 5-70 UN
- Scorpio Spear 9-60 H
- Rock Golem 6-80 D
- Sterling Wolf 9-70 FB
- Clock Mirage 4-55 LO

My thinking with this deck was that I have a pretty strong launch, but I tend to lose control of more aggressive builds. I wanted to maximise my defence and my stamina, since I felt I could channel my launch strength more effectively into those kinds of beys, rather than wasting it by running around bouncing off the rails.

I was also conscious of the fact that any deck representing all three types would be vulnerable to the ban system. If your type distribution is 1-2-2, your opponent is able to ban you out of any type of their choice. If it's 1-1-3, there's one type they can't ban you out of, but they can lock you down to that type if they choose. I chose a 2-3 build in favour of defence because defence is my comfort zone. I wanted to be sure I always had at least one bey that could counter attacks effectively. Of course, my stamina choices also have a good ability to repel attacks, Wolf with its free ring and Clock through sheer size and roundness.

Another factor I considered was relative threat and how that would work with the ban system. When I was initially putting my deck together, Clock Mirage was the most clearly powerful blade of the lot - this was before I'd decided to use Scorpio, Golem or even Wolf. If I'd kept going with my initial deck composition, Clock would have been such an obvious ban target that it wouldn't have seen any play at all. As the power level of my deck crept up over the deckbuilding process, it made the opponent's banning decision less clear-cut. I also considered exploiting the effect by running Wand 1-60 H as a ban lightning rod, since I wouldn't mind not getting to launch that one, but I didn't think it was worth the risk that they'd ban two other beys and I'd have to actually use my least favourite bey of all time. It would probably have done well, I just feel gross using it.

__Round 1: vs M__
My first opponent, M, is a strong and experienced player who's made Horn Rhino and its echoes their signature. I know they have access to pretty much every part they could want, so other than at least one aggressive Rhino, I had no clue what to anticipate from them.

M's deck was:
- Hover Wyvern 5-60 K
- Horn Rhino 4-70 GR
- Stormtrooper 2-70 LR
- Mummy Curse 1-60 GP
- Rudder Phoenix 7-60 O

I banned Hover Wyvern and Mummy Curse. I didn't have any experience facing Mummy Curse, and I was concerned about its ability to beat me at my own game. I do have experience facing Hover Wyvern, and it stood out as the biggest known threat in their deck.

M banned Scorpio Spear and Rock Golem.

The first battle was my Clock Mirage 4-55 LO against M's Rudder Phoenix 7-60 O. Both beys are stamina types, so this wasn't a particularly exciting match. Phoenix held up competently, but it was a foregone conclusion against the sheer stamina of Clock. I won this battle with a spin finish, making the score 1-0 to me.

The second battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against M's Horn Rhino 4-70 GR. Rhino moved fast and aggressively, and there were quite a few big hits, but ultimately Incendio was able to repel Rhino's attacks and sent it flying into a pocket. The last hit was strong enough to make Incendio bit burst shortly afterwards, but it took just long enough to happen that I was declared the winner with a knockout finish. The score was now 3-0.

The third battle was my Sterling Wolf 9-70 FB against M's Stormtrooper 2-70 LR. Stormtrooper did its best, but it didn't land the right kind of hits to push Wolf into the pocket. It became obvious fairly quickly which way this one was going to go. I won this battle with a spin finish, winning the match with a final score of 4-0.

This was a good start against a respectably powerful player, so I was feeling confident for the rest of the tournament.

__Round 2: vs L__
L is a very new player who I've only seen at one previous tournament. He was introduced to the game by his partner, N, who's also pretty new. N was also competing today but didn't get matched up against me. L doesn't have much experience or access to a huge amount of parts yet, so I didn't feel immensely threatened this time, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does well once he's got some more battles under his belt. I took the battle seriously regardless; he did win his first match, after all.

L's deck was:
- Wriggle Kraken T(s) 9-60 L
- Bite Croc 2-60 T
- Impact Drake 9-70 GF
- Soar Phoenix 3-60 GR
- Steel Samurai 4-80 C

I banned Soar Phoenix and Bite Croc. They both just stood out as the most powerful things he had; I've tested against both, but I didn't want to leave it to bad luck if I could help it.

L banned Clock Mirage and Scorpio Spear.

The first battle was my Sterling Wolf 9-70 FB against L's Impact Drake 9-70 GF. Since the heights were equal, neither bey was really using their gimmick as effectively as they'd like to, so it largely came down to metal on metal contact. As it turned out, Wolf's defensive shape was strong enough to repel Drake and win with a spin finish. The score was 1-0 to me.

The second battle was my Rock Golem 6-80 D against L's Wriggle Kraken T(s) 9-60 L. Both beys were fairly tall and top heavy, and Kraken was able to make Golem wobble a couple of times, but ultimately it came down to a spin finish in my favour. The score was now 2-0.

The third battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against L's Steel Samurai 4-80 C. Chain easily held its ground and was able to parry Steel, throwing it into the pocket for a knockout finish, winning me the match with a final score of 4-0.

Being as new and limited on parts as he is, L was a bit of a free win, but that's ok. We all start somewhere, and clearly he wasn't *that* free because he'd won his previous match. I hope he keeps coming back and getting better, and I know all our regulars are happy to help support him and help him learn. And hey, a win's a win, we take those.

__Round 3: vs R__
R is a strong player, and he's one of those guys who just loves competing at things. He prefers aggressive builds and funky launches. Going in, I wasn't fully confident of a win, but I felt like I had a pretty good chance.

R's deck was:
- Roar Tyranno 7-60 T
- Hover Wyvern 1-60 L
- Impact Drake 1-70 U
- Shark Scale 3-60 P
- Scorpio Spear 9-60 DB

I banned Shark Scale and Hover Wyvern. I don't have an enormous amount of experience against Shark Scale, but I know it by reputation, and as I said before I've learned to respect Hover Wyvern. I feel R left himself vulnerable to the banning system by having two obvious threats like that in his deck; that could have been part of his plan, but given that one of the remaining was Scorpio on DB, I think he was just having fun with it.

R banned Scorpio Spear and Rock Golem.

The first battle was my Sterling Wolf 9-70 FB against R's Roar Tyranno 7-60 T. Tyranno was able to cling on to more stamina than I was expecting thanks to its Taper bit, and after some initial hits this battle came down to a fairly close spin-off, but ultimately I won with a spin finish. The score was 1-0 to me.

The second battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against R's Scorpio Spear 9-60 DB. R's Scorpio build was entertaining to look at, but ultimately it was too goofy to live, and Incendio toppled it over the course of several hits from below, winning the battle with a spin finish. The score was now 2-0.

The third battle was my Clock Mirage 4-55 LO against R's Impact Drake 1-70 U. R launched with a strong tilt, and despite the heights Impact was able to get under Clock and burst it. R won with a burst finish, equalising the score at 2-2.

The fourth battle was my Chain Incendio against R's Roar Tyranno. These are the kinds of matches Chain was built for, and it was able to topple Tyranno, winning the battle in a spin finish. The score was now 3-2 to me.

The fifth battle was my Sterling Wolf against R's Scorpio Spear. This meant that a sixth battle would be the nightmare scenario: A rematch of Clock against the bey that just conclusively showed it could beat it. However, Wolf was able to hold its ground against Scorpio and grind out a spin finish, winning me the match with a final score of 4-2.

I was very glad to have won this one. I think R has beaten me more than I've beaten him, although I've had some wins on him in the past. He's a threat, but not an unbeatable one.

__Round 4: vs J__
J is easily the strongest player at our locals, both because he's skilled, and because he doesn't seem to have the hangups the rest of us suffer from that keep him from going all in on the most top-tier combos. He's pretty sure I have beaten him in the past, but it must have been ages ago cause I don't remember it. Going into this match, this guy felt like a wall I didn't stand a chance of climbing.

J's deck was:
- Shark Scale 7-70 J
- Hover Wyvern 9-60 K
- Meteor Dragoon 3-70 L
- Emperor Blast H 3-60 FB
- Wand Wizard 1-60 H

I banned Emperor Blast and Wand Wizard. This was the toughest banning decision in the group stage, since none of the beys stood out from the others as being more of a threat than the others. Not because any of them were bad, but because the whole deck radiates threat. In the end, I made the decision to take out the beys I thought could outlast me.

J banned Sterling Wolf and Clock Mirage.

The first battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against J's Hover Wyvern 9-60 K. We had a couple of false starts with this battle, just a couple of instances of aerial contact. In the end, the stopping and resetting turned out to take more time than the actual battle; J launched strong with a hard tilt, and just one solid hit from Wyvern was enough to burst Incendio's ratchet. I think Wyvern ended up in the pocket afterwards, but the burst clearly happened first, making the score 0-2 in J's favour.

The second battle was my Scorpio Spear 9-60 H against J's Meteor Dragoon 3-70 L. Dragoon wasn't able to land a strong enough hit on Scorpio to get a KO, so it eventually came down to a spin-off. I know Meteor Dragoon isn't very good at spin equalisation, but I couldn't help but worry that it would be enough to pull it through. However, ultimately Dragoon didn't have it in it to stay upright, and Scorpio won the battle with a very, very close spin finish. The score was now 1-2.

The third battle was my Rock Golem 6-80 D against J's Shark Scale 7-70 J. Scale got some explosive hits in, but Golem delivered some equally explosive recoil, and after a few exchanges, Scale ended up in the corner pocket. I won this battle with a knockout finish, which meant I was actually pulling ahead of J! The score was now 3-2 in my favour; my first victory against J in ages was in sight!

The fourth battle was my Scorpio Spear against J's Hover Wyvern. Once again, a strong launch and a harsh tilt worked out in J's favour, and my Scorpio was burst in a single hit, losing me the match 3-4.

To be honest, I'm just glad it was as close as it was. I was one point away from pulling off an undefeated streak, and only one of his beys was actually able to draw blood. It's just a shame it was 4 points worth of blood.

After four rounds of Swiss, I'd won 3 matches and lost 1. This placed me second overall in the group stage, behind J, who went undefeated, and just ahead of M, who also went 3-1 but had fewer points than me, since their one loss was their shut-out against me.
The fourth place was D, a player I didn't face during the group stage. D went 2-2, and just squeaked through to top cut on account of having scored 11 points and only given up 10, while fifth place also scored 11 but gave up 11.
R ultimately landed on 8th place, also going 2-2 but scoring only 10 points and giving up 11.
L's partner, N, came second from bottom, which at our locals means she won the wooden spoon prize of getting to pick the format for the next tournament. She decided that we'll be playing in the Drop Attack stadium. Should be fun.
L sadly ended up dead last, having won his first match but not taking a single point in his second, third or fourth. But it is what it is, someone has to be 12th of 12, and nobody had the crushing experience of losing all four of their matches.

The top cut bracket awaited, and I was fairly confident that I'd do well given my performance at the group stage. Not win, of course, J was still there and beating him still felt like it was beyond me despite our match being as close as they get.

__Quarter Finals: vs M__
A grudge match from the first round. As a reminder, M's deck was:
- Hover Wyvern 5-60 K
- Horn Rhino 4-70 GR
- Stormtrooper 2-70 LR
- Mummy Curse 1-60 GP
- Rudder Phoenix 7-60 O

__Match 1__
I banned Hover Wyvern and Rudder Phoenix. At this point, I was confident enough in my deck to take on Mummy, especially since I had the security of this being a best of 3 - if it turned out that it was some unbeatable threat, I could ban it back out on the next match. I was even more scared of Hover than I was before, given that J's had just decisively smashed me to bits, so that ban was locked in. I decided to use my other ban to target M's stamina type, keeping them off a possible outspin.

M banned Scorpio Spear and Clock Mirage.

The first battle was my Rock Golem 6-80 D against M's Mummy Curse 1-60 GP. Mummy put up a strong fight, but the gears of GP were audibly grinding away its stamina with every clash, and Golem was able to overpower it and win with a spin finish. The score was now 1-0 to me.

The second battle was my Sterling Wolf 9-70 FB against M's Stormtrooper 2-70 LR. In absolutely shocking scenes, Stormtrooper landed one good hit and sent Wolf straight to the X pocket, winning the battle for M with an Xtreme finish. This devastating blow made the score 1-3 in M's favour.

The third battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against M's Horn Rhino 4-70 GR. Someone up there was on M's side that match, because Rhino *also* got one good hit and sent Incendio straight to the X pocket, winning the battle for M with an Xtreme finish, and winning them the first match with a final score of 1-6.


__Match 2__
I banned Horn Rhino and I think I banned Stormtrooper as well. At this point, I didn't know what the heck was going on, I was seriously rattled. Respect Rhino, bladers, sometimes it just kills you.

M banned Scorpio Spear and Clock Mirage. Well, why mess with what worked?

The first battle was my Sterling Wolf 9-70 FB against M's Hover Wyvern 5-60 K. Hover landed a solid hit on Wolf, and sent it - guess where? Yep, the X pocket. A third Xtreme finish in a row for M, putting the score at 0-3 in M's favour.

The second battle was my Chain Incendio against their Rudder Phoenix 7-60 O. My memory of this one is a bit hazy, but somehow, Chain was repelled into a corner pocket, giving M a knockout finish, winning the match for them with a final score of 0-5 and winning the set 0-2.

I'd lost the set, but I wasn't yet out of the tournament. Top cut is double elimination, so if I could win my next match, I could get out of loser's bracket and begin the fightback. J would almost certainly be one of the finalists, and as I'd lost one I'd have to beat him two sets in a row while he'd only need to get one on me, so at this point coming any better than second place was off the table, but second place is nothing to sniff at.

__Losers Round 1: vs D__
D had also lost their first match, so it was a battle for survival between two big Ds. D is a guy who has plenty of skill, but is more committed to the bit than to actual competitive strategy. He likes to bring goofy builds, fun builds, builds that you'd think couldn't possibly work and you'd be right to think that. He likes putting Rhino on DB because it makes a cylinder. He won a tournament a couple of years ago using a deck of three Helm Knight echoes, all with totally different combos. He's that kind of guy and I'm always glad to see he's turned up. That said, he was running some pretty competent builds this time. D is actually the one who came second from bottom last time and got to pick the format for this tournament, and I think he went with bring 5 ban 2 because we've never done it before and it sounded funny.

D's deck was:
- Chain Incendio 5-60 GP
- Soar Phoenix 3-60 P
- Scythe Incendio 9-60 B
- Keel Shark 4-60 T
- Cobalt Dragoon 1-60 R

__Match 1__
I banned Scythe Incendio and Cobalt Dragoon. Scythe was D's best stamina type, so that had to go, and I took out Dragoon because I was still worried about spin equalisation.

D banned Rock Golem and Sterling Wolf.

The first battle was my Scorpio Spear 9-60 H against D's Chain Incendio 5-60 GP. My Chain had been putting in a solid performance over the group stage, and it's done well in my last few tournaments too, but I wasn't worried about D's Chain. That's partly because his 60 height build didn't let him use the blade's upward-striking shape as effectively as mine does, and partly because I knew its GP didn't give it the ability to outlast me. In the end, it was a surprisingly close spin-off, but it came down in Scorpio's favour, winning me the battle with a spin finish. The score was now 1-0 to me.

The second battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against D's Soar Phoenix 3-60 P. I wasn't worried at all about this one, since I've thoroughly tested Chain Incendio against Soar 3-60 R, and my tests have shown that it's easily able to stand up to Soar's battering. On P, Soar wouldn't have close to the same aggression, and there was no way it would beat me on stamina either. In the end, Incendio outperformed even my expectations by throwing Soar into the X pocket, scoring my first Xtreme finish of the tournament and winning the match 4-0.

__Match 2__
I banned Scythe Incendio and Cobalt Dragoon, same as before. It had worked out for me the first time.

D banned Rock Golem and Sterling Wolf, as before. He told me he really wanted to face Clock, because he hadn't had much of a chance to battle against it.

The first battle was my Rock Golem 6-80 D against D's Chain Incendio. I wasn't sure about this matchup, since Golem being on 80 *did* make it vulnerable to Chain's upward strikes. As it turned out, that height difference was enough to get me in trouble, as Incendio was able to bit burst Golem, winning the battle for D with a burst finish. The score was now 0-2 in D's favour.

The second battle was my Clock Mirage 4-55 LO against D's Soar Phoenix 3-60 P. I got into my own head a bit here, and gave Clock just a little tilt which seemed to be enough to send it berserk. There was some contact with Soar, but in the end Clock went to the rail and burst itself, losing the battle for me in a very unsatisfying way for both of us with a burst finish, and giving D the match 0-4.

__Match 3__
This time, I banned Soar Phoenix and Cobalt Dragoon. I was still scared of spin equalisation, but I think I felt I could outspin Scythe, and I'd let Clock's loss against Soar get to me.

D banned Sterling Wolf and Scorpio Spear. He still wanted a proper battle against Clock.

The first battle was my Clock Mirage 4-55 LO against D's Chain Incendio 5-60 GP. This is the battle he wanted, a proper clash that showed how our beys would actually interact with each other. As it turned out, his 60 height build worked against him again, as Incendio just couldn't get under Clock to do any damage. Incendio was gradually worn down and fell, Clock standing over it and winning with a spin finish. The score was now 1-0 to me.

The second battle was my Chain Incendio 5-70 UN against D's Keel Shark 4-60 T. I felt confident going into this one, but I may have underestimated Shark's sheer power, even on T. One good hit knocked the bit right out of Incendio, winning the battle for D with a burst finish. The score flipped to 1-2 in D's favour. I remarked out loud that it could all end on the next battle.

The third battle was my Rock Golem 6-80 D against D's Scythe Incendio 9-60 B. I felt fairly confident with this one, because I was mainly picturing it coming down to a spin-off, but my Golem's extra height worked against it again, and it was easily tossed into the corner pocket. Scythe won with a knockout finish, winning the match 1-4.

And that was the end of my tournament. I'd done what I often do: Done well in the group stage, absolutely scrub out as soon as it really counts. But at least this time I took plenty of notes, so with any luck I'll be able to learn something from the experience for once.

Some immediate reflections:

- In terms of overall deck composition, I was pretty happy with my decision to tank up. Some of my specific builds had their weak points, but I generally had a more enjoyable experience knowing that I could reliably control what I was launching, rather than the unpredictable self-destructive berserker states I tend to get from attackers. I'll probably stick with this plan for a while, until I get bored and want to cause some mayhem again. Although, we're playing in the Drop Attack stadium next time, and the conventional wisdom says that that stadium isn't kind to defense types...

- This Chain build is definitely more prone to bursting than I'd like. I did know beforehand that my UN felt a little rattly in my 5-70, but I figured it wouldn't make too much of a difference. Now I think it might have done, but I don't really know what to do about it. I tested it with an 80 ratchet instead of a 70, and the grip the core has on the bit is a lot more secure, but if I make that switch, I'm back at 60 height myself, which means giving up some of Chain's ability to undercut opponents.

- 80 height on Golem was a mistake. I picked its ratchet purely for the aesthetic, since the 6-80 from the CX stadium set is a perfect match for Golem's plastic, but that was absolutely the wrong choice. The extra tightness didn't help Golem avoid bursting, and the height made it too vulnerable to attacks from below. For the bit, I don't think that putting it on D was a bad move, but if I run Golem next time, I'll probably have it on H anyway. We'll be back on decks of 3 next time, and as much as I love it, D is probably the fourth or fifth best defensive bit.

- I'm not happy with Scorpio. I didn't get to use it much, but I don't feel confident that it was doing what I want it to do. I might test it more and give it another chance, but it's on thin ice.

- Wolf and Clock did exactly what they were supposed to do. Solid builds, will definitely be in consideration for the next tournament.

- After all the thinking I did about relative perceived threat within my deck, it turned out that Scorpio acted as a ban lightning rod anyway, and I have absolutely no idea why. Maybe because it's famously heavy and it has a strange gimmick that people don't want to deal with. Meanwhile, as you'd probably expect, Chain was the opposite of a lightning rod; it wasn't banned even once. I don't really know what to take away from that, but I also don't expect to play this format again any time soon, so, maybe that's fine?

- Those X finishes really flattened me, I mean I got dunked right into the core of the earth by those Rhinos. Sometimes it do just be like that. But damn, if I'd only been able to claw it back and get my grudge match against J. Maybe if I let Wand stand and banned Hover instead... But no, the first time around he banned the beys I know could outspin Wand... But an outspin from that is only one point per shuffle, if I could make up for that against his Shark and Dragoon... I guess there's not much point thinking about it now, it didn't happen, but man, what if? What if...?