I find a lot of players don't really do this right; I've been meaning to make this thread for a while. This is mostly meant to be a compilation of tips to help you get as much out of stage selection as possible. Obviously this won't re-invent you as a player, but it can be pretty helpful and can give you the nudge you need to defeat difficult opponents. This thread is obviously representative of my views on how this plays out; there may be other schools of thought out there.
1. Rule #1 is to always remember your stage selections are basically out to ruin the other guy's day. Never, ever be scared to pick a "gay" stage. If you think your opponent will disapprove of your choice, that's only all the more reason to do it. It's the responsibility of every player to be ready to play on every stage in a tournament. Players have their own stage strikes and a personal stage ban to protect themselves from weak points. If your stage choice devastates them, they have only themselves to blame. Some players are timid on this point, and it's the single worst mistake you can make. This is the obvious which I hope isn't the focus of this thread, but there's no helping you pick stages intelligently if you don't accept this way of thinking.
2. When it comes to counterpicking, I find the most important general way to think of stages is on a single sliding scale between "mobility" stages and "grounded" stages. Under the MLG's ruleset, the extreme "mobility" stage is Norfair, and the extreme "grounded" stage is Final Destination. Every other stage falls somewhere in-between. Rainbow Cruise and Brinstar are pretty far in the "mobility" category whereas Smashville and PictoChat are pretty solidly in the "grounded" camp. This simple scale of stages should be your first thought.
Characters, too, fall into these two camps, and in any non-ditto matchup, usually one side favors the grounded stages and another favors the mobility stages. The extreme for grounded stages is unambiguously Ice Climbers. Against anyone, Ice Climbers prefer stages like Final Destination over stages like Norfair. The extreme end for mobility is a little more debateable, but I feel the character who favors mobility stages the most is Mr. Game & Watch. Of course, the rest of the cast is on a sliding scale here. Meta Knight is mostly a character who favors mobility stages, but against Mr. Game & Watch, he will favor the grounded ones. Falco mostly prefers grounded stages, but against Ice Climbers, he'll favor the mobility ones. You need to build a feel for this on your own, but all you really have to know is where the characters you play fall and which side the other guys are. So if you main Falco and only Falco, you need to know that Ice Climbers definitely force you the "other" way, and you need to make up your mind how you feel things break against guys like Diddy Kong and Olimar who are close to you on the scale.
Understanding this, you should always be thinking about Final Destination and Smashville on one hand and Norfair and Rainbow Cruise on another. These stages get picked a whole lot by smart counterpickers, and there's very good reason for that. Most of the time, you can just think on this scale and make a common sense choice. You're using Falco, and the other guy is using Meta Knight. He bans something you weren't going to pick anyway. Final Destination is an easy choice, and odds are you won't be able to find shenanigans on other stages to make up for the straightforward way Final Destination complements what you want to accomplish in that matchup. Of course, if you are using Meta Knight, your thinking is exactly reverse!
Lastly, don't think of the terms "mobility" and "grounded" too rigidly. Mobility is about your ability to navigate a stage and quickly seize control of a small, specific space or press a material advantage from a positional one. Grounded is about your ability to lock things down and rule large spaces at once. Some odd stages like Green Greens can seem hard to place if you are too rigid about it, but they tend to fit in pretty easily with a looser understanding. Green Greens in particular is mostly a mobility stage, but it doesn't quite reward all types of mobility and can reward very specific kinds of grounded control that also has a lot of character specific advantages to consider (which is gotten into later).
3. Know your character's general level of tricks on assorted stages, and know what kind of playstyles different stages favor. To build off the last point, you may be favoring the "mobility" side of stages as Sheik against Olimar. Norfair may be an intuitive choice if you only look at the scale concept, but it does buff Olimar's recovery a lot, and Sheik is hardly that great at exploiting the aerial approach or run-away opportunities the stage presents. You may do much better with Rainbow Cruise instead. Of course, Olimar has a lot of good stuff on Rainbow Cruise; he can control the small boat well, and his usmash makes the occasional low ceilings really dangerous. Brinstar should really be in consideration here; Olimar doesn't really have a whole lot in the way of Brinstar tricks beyond the acid making it harder to gimp him. You also have the Halberd which, while usually a good Olimar stage, is still a stage that overall helps you push your mobility advantage, and on Halberd in specific Sheik has a super sneaky grab release up smash combo on small characters, even ones with a good jump break. Think of what these various stages offer, and think about how you want to play the match. Pick a stage that makes the way you want to play easier and the things the other guy was doing to make you lose harder. The simple scale gets you candidates (like Final Destination shouldn't really even be in consideration for Sheik here), but the nuanced stuff that is very character specific gets you a final choice.
This is why you shouldn't always just go to the extremes on stage choice. You need to balance your need to pick a stage that works well for your character on the simple scale with one that supports the particulars of your playstyle while working against the particulars of your opponent's playstyle. With experience, you'll probably quickly find a small number of stages that cover you in the majority of matchups.
4. Trust your judgment above all else. If you go on your character board and read that Green Greens is a great stage for your character but always play badly on Green Greens, don't pick it. If you have a certain pet stage that seems to always work in your favor but no one says is good for your character, it's still probably a good idea to pick it. Remember that the way you play your character is unique to you, and the advice of others on what works only goes so far. As you play a lot and explore counterpicks, you'll probably mostly only be picking a small number of stages the vast majority of the time. Which stages those are need to come from your own judgment, not some guru on smashboards. If you don't figure this stuff out for yourself, you can only expect worse results.
5. Know your opponents if possible and consider character counterpicking. This is a simple one. If you know what your opponent likes and dislikes, you can lean that way even if the abstract choices don't agree. If you know the full list of characters the other guy can use well, it makes it simple. If you don't know, keep in mind the possibilities and don't take outlandish risks. Picking Rainbow Cruise as Falco against Ice Climbers probably gives you a solid advantage in the abstract. Picking Rainbow Cruise as Falco against someone who used Ice Climbers game 1 but immediately goes Meta Knight when you pick Rainbow Cruise with Falco being the only character you play is pretty terrible. If you're really unsure or are facing someone with a diverse stable of characters, you can go for a middle ground stage that complements your playstyle. Think about stages like Pokemon Stadium 2 and Frigate Orpheon. Don't be overtimid; avoiding picking Final Destination as Falco just because this guy you don't know maybe has pocket Ice Climbers is not going to get you far. Just remember that the opponent could change characters, and don't make a boneheaded move.
6. When in doubt, avoid the popular. The most well-liked stage in the game is Smashville. Delfino Plaza is probably #2, and no one is really scared of Battlefield. Most players play well on these stages; if you are having a tough time deciding between stages, picking a stage everyone likes is probably only going to hurt you. Likewise, stages like Yoshi's Island (Brawl) seem to be mostly disliked; learning to love them can only help you. On the super extreme, if you live in a region with Pirate Ship legal, it's always worth thinking about. That stage has a way of ruining everyone's day!
7. When it comes to stage striking, the mobility vs grounded stage dichotomy can still hold (the main two mobility stages are Halberd and Delfino Plaza with Pokemon Stadium 1 kinda factoring in), but things can vary a lot depending on the specific tournament's rules. You will probably be able to break your matchups into a small number of groups, and within those groups you'll have stages you always strike and stages you pretty much never strike (that is, only strike if all other stages are gone). You should mostly get rid of the stages you would never want to play on early while leaving the harder decisions for later. If your opponent is competent, they would be happy to play on the stages you would never want to play on, and they may make your decisions down the line easier with their strikes. You can also use simple logic for early strikes and only have to think carefully of matchup specific things like "Wario likes to run away so I'd rather not play on a spacious stage like Pokemon Stadium 1" later on. Point 6 does factor in here though; do not hesitate to strike Smashville! If you intend to strike Yoshi's Island (Brawl) but have time, feel free to wait to do it later since the opponent will probably strike it for you and save you a strike.
8. Stage bans are common sense. Just imagine yourself in your opponent's shoes, and then counterpick a stage to use against you. Just ban that stage. If you really, really dislike one stage or find one stage offers radically worse possibilities than all the others, you may just almost always ban the same stage. That's fine too. Your personal stage ban shouldn't just be wasted (not using it is just stupid), but the times it really matters are usually the times it's also an easy decision. You should never have to spend much time picking a ban.
9. Dittos are also very easy. Just pick your favorites. Picking something weird you think the other guy won't be comfortable with is especially significant here.
I dunno how helpful this will work out to be; I tried to stay general so people who use any characters can benefit. I mostly wrote about MLG rules; if your region has different rules, the ideas are the same, but you may be thinking about different stages with the magnitudes of advantage varying. I hope some people find this helpful, and I'd love to hear about other approaches.
1. Rule #1 is to always remember your stage selections are basically out to ruin the other guy's day. Never, ever be scared to pick a "gay" stage. If you think your opponent will disapprove of your choice, that's only all the more reason to do it. It's the responsibility of every player to be ready to play on every stage in a tournament. Players have their own stage strikes and a personal stage ban to protect themselves from weak points. If your stage choice devastates them, they have only themselves to blame. Some players are timid on this point, and it's the single worst mistake you can make. This is the obvious which I hope isn't the focus of this thread, but there's no helping you pick stages intelligently if you don't accept this way of thinking.
2. When it comes to counterpicking, I find the most important general way to think of stages is on a single sliding scale between "mobility" stages and "grounded" stages. Under the MLG's ruleset, the extreme "mobility" stage is Norfair, and the extreme "grounded" stage is Final Destination. Every other stage falls somewhere in-between. Rainbow Cruise and Brinstar are pretty far in the "mobility" category whereas Smashville and PictoChat are pretty solidly in the "grounded" camp. This simple scale of stages should be your first thought.
Characters, too, fall into these two camps, and in any non-ditto matchup, usually one side favors the grounded stages and another favors the mobility stages. The extreme for grounded stages is unambiguously Ice Climbers. Against anyone, Ice Climbers prefer stages like Final Destination over stages like Norfair. The extreme end for mobility is a little more debateable, but I feel the character who favors mobility stages the most is Mr. Game & Watch. Of course, the rest of the cast is on a sliding scale here. Meta Knight is mostly a character who favors mobility stages, but against Mr. Game & Watch, he will favor the grounded ones. Falco mostly prefers grounded stages, but against Ice Climbers, he'll favor the mobility ones. You need to build a feel for this on your own, but all you really have to know is where the characters you play fall and which side the other guys are. So if you main Falco and only Falco, you need to know that Ice Climbers definitely force you the "other" way, and you need to make up your mind how you feel things break against guys like Diddy Kong and Olimar who are close to you on the scale.
Understanding this, you should always be thinking about Final Destination and Smashville on one hand and Norfair and Rainbow Cruise on another. These stages get picked a whole lot by smart counterpickers, and there's very good reason for that. Most of the time, you can just think on this scale and make a common sense choice. You're using Falco, and the other guy is using Meta Knight. He bans something you weren't going to pick anyway. Final Destination is an easy choice, and odds are you won't be able to find shenanigans on other stages to make up for the straightforward way Final Destination complements what you want to accomplish in that matchup. Of course, if you are using Meta Knight, your thinking is exactly reverse!
Lastly, don't think of the terms "mobility" and "grounded" too rigidly. Mobility is about your ability to navigate a stage and quickly seize control of a small, specific space or press a material advantage from a positional one. Grounded is about your ability to lock things down and rule large spaces at once. Some odd stages like Green Greens can seem hard to place if you are too rigid about it, but they tend to fit in pretty easily with a looser understanding. Green Greens in particular is mostly a mobility stage, but it doesn't quite reward all types of mobility and can reward very specific kinds of grounded control that also has a lot of character specific advantages to consider (which is gotten into later).
3. Know your character's general level of tricks on assorted stages, and know what kind of playstyles different stages favor. To build off the last point, you may be favoring the "mobility" side of stages as Sheik against Olimar. Norfair may be an intuitive choice if you only look at the scale concept, but it does buff Olimar's recovery a lot, and Sheik is hardly that great at exploiting the aerial approach or run-away opportunities the stage presents. You may do much better with Rainbow Cruise instead. Of course, Olimar has a lot of good stuff on Rainbow Cruise; he can control the small boat well, and his usmash makes the occasional low ceilings really dangerous. Brinstar should really be in consideration here; Olimar doesn't really have a whole lot in the way of Brinstar tricks beyond the acid making it harder to gimp him. You also have the Halberd which, while usually a good Olimar stage, is still a stage that overall helps you push your mobility advantage, and on Halberd in specific Sheik has a super sneaky grab release up smash combo on small characters, even ones with a good jump break. Think of what these various stages offer, and think about how you want to play the match. Pick a stage that makes the way you want to play easier and the things the other guy was doing to make you lose harder. The simple scale gets you candidates (like Final Destination shouldn't really even be in consideration for Sheik here), but the nuanced stuff that is very character specific gets you a final choice.
This is why you shouldn't always just go to the extremes on stage choice. You need to balance your need to pick a stage that works well for your character on the simple scale with one that supports the particulars of your playstyle while working against the particulars of your opponent's playstyle. With experience, you'll probably quickly find a small number of stages that cover you in the majority of matchups.
4. Trust your judgment above all else. If you go on your character board and read that Green Greens is a great stage for your character but always play badly on Green Greens, don't pick it. If you have a certain pet stage that seems to always work in your favor but no one says is good for your character, it's still probably a good idea to pick it. Remember that the way you play your character is unique to you, and the advice of others on what works only goes so far. As you play a lot and explore counterpicks, you'll probably mostly only be picking a small number of stages the vast majority of the time. Which stages those are need to come from your own judgment, not some guru on smashboards. If you don't figure this stuff out for yourself, you can only expect worse results.
5. Know your opponents if possible and consider character counterpicking. This is a simple one. If you know what your opponent likes and dislikes, you can lean that way even if the abstract choices don't agree. If you know the full list of characters the other guy can use well, it makes it simple. If you don't know, keep in mind the possibilities and don't take outlandish risks. Picking Rainbow Cruise as Falco against Ice Climbers probably gives you a solid advantage in the abstract. Picking Rainbow Cruise as Falco against someone who used Ice Climbers game 1 but immediately goes Meta Knight when you pick Rainbow Cruise with Falco being the only character you play is pretty terrible. If you're really unsure or are facing someone with a diverse stable of characters, you can go for a middle ground stage that complements your playstyle. Think about stages like Pokemon Stadium 2 and Frigate Orpheon. Don't be overtimid; avoiding picking Final Destination as Falco just because this guy you don't know maybe has pocket Ice Climbers is not going to get you far. Just remember that the opponent could change characters, and don't make a boneheaded move.
6. When in doubt, avoid the popular. The most well-liked stage in the game is Smashville. Delfino Plaza is probably #2, and no one is really scared of Battlefield. Most players play well on these stages; if you are having a tough time deciding between stages, picking a stage everyone likes is probably only going to hurt you. Likewise, stages like Yoshi's Island (Brawl) seem to be mostly disliked; learning to love them can only help you. On the super extreme, if you live in a region with Pirate Ship legal, it's always worth thinking about. That stage has a way of ruining everyone's day!
7. When it comes to stage striking, the mobility vs grounded stage dichotomy can still hold (the main two mobility stages are Halberd and Delfino Plaza with Pokemon Stadium 1 kinda factoring in), but things can vary a lot depending on the specific tournament's rules. You will probably be able to break your matchups into a small number of groups, and within those groups you'll have stages you always strike and stages you pretty much never strike (that is, only strike if all other stages are gone). You should mostly get rid of the stages you would never want to play on early while leaving the harder decisions for later. If your opponent is competent, they would be happy to play on the stages you would never want to play on, and they may make your decisions down the line easier with their strikes. You can also use simple logic for early strikes and only have to think carefully of matchup specific things like "Wario likes to run away so I'd rather not play on a spacious stage like Pokemon Stadium 1" later on. Point 6 does factor in here though; do not hesitate to strike Smashville! If you intend to strike Yoshi's Island (Brawl) but have time, feel free to wait to do it later since the opponent will probably strike it for you and save you a strike.
8. Stage bans are common sense. Just imagine yourself in your opponent's shoes, and then counterpick a stage to use against you. Just ban that stage. If you really, really dislike one stage or find one stage offers radically worse possibilities than all the others, you may just almost always ban the same stage. That's fine too. Your personal stage ban shouldn't just be wasted (not using it is just stupid), but the times it really matters are usually the times it's also an easy decision. You should never have to spend much time picking a ban.
9. Dittos are also very easy. Just pick your favorites. Picking something weird you think the other guy won't be comfortable with is especially significant here.
I dunno how helpful this will work out to be; I tried to stay general so people who use any characters can benefit. I mostly wrote about MLG rules; if your region has different rules, the ideas are the same, but you may be thinking about different stages with the magnitudes of advantage varying. I hope some people find this helpful, and I'd love to hear about other approaches.
