Not in the BSS community, nor do I intend to sign up for BSS World Cup (nor do I imagine myself being picked up either), but I still wanted to give an opinion.
I think that this tournament should absolutely not combine the Americas. There shouldn't be East + West, nor should these regions merge with LATAM. I read these arguments through a pretty unbiased lens because I literally have nothing to gain or lose, and I ultimately found myself finding more holes in the line of thinking for those supporting an America merge.
World cup should be the apex of the team based tournament scene. And for that to be the case, rosters should consist of the strongest available players.
No, I don't really think it should. I think most would agree that PLs fit this definition more. When thinking of "apexes" for communities' tournament scenes, I actually hardly ever even think of World Cup purely because of the varying player base quality from region to region. Rosters typically
do consist of the strongest players available. But they do not
have to, nor should this be pursued in order to satisfy a concept that doesn't exist (of how World Cup should be the "apex"). I believe this line of thinking distorts the arguments being made going forward, and it immediately shows what the only intentions behind an America merge are. Those intentions, plain and simple, are to make America stronger as a region. It's not a very hidden motive—in fact it's so blatant that it becomes hard to take the arguments presented very seriously, even though I still am of course. There are no real justifications given in relation to logistics or anything. It simply is to make a team stronger and nothing else, which doesn't rub me the right way.
But everyone would enjoy a much better pool of quality players and subs. Which should be the key point, I feel
Well yes, merging regions into one will indeed increase the region's player quality. That's effectively a given. But the same time, I feel it's rather short-sided? This holds no consideration for "weaker" players that would've otherwise made it onto their respective teams before a merge, because at the end of the day, a merge is effectively akin to a player cut. And I think this is only justified with your reasoning because your definition on how World Cup is supposed to be is extremely inaccurate. Merges should happen when multiple teams AT ALL are impossible or difficult to create, not because a team that still gets sign-ups any other team would be more than happy with happens to have less mains sign up. World Cups in any scene are so much less about making the strongest possible team than they are about having a sense of community. You work with what you have and find pride in what your region is able to accomplish whether you win, lose, or even fail to make it out of relegation. Things like this are why Bangladesh's run in WCOP 2023, for example, was so amazing to spectate—a team of "weaker" players in the format were going out there and putting on a show. Making a super team by merging several competent regions might give better odds of winning, but it feels very contrary to what World Cup is about. Asia is different. While the quality of peak quality of players might be higher in Asia for BSS, the
quantity of players is simply not enough to split into teams. Aiming to split Asia into Korea/Japan/China, for example, sounds like a great way to ensure full teams can't even be formed. The merging of Asia is not done to make Asia into a super team. There simply are not enough players, "good" or "not good," to justify
not merging the regions into one. The same cannot be applied to the Americas, which will always have an abundance of players in comparison. You might not get the same quantity of "mainers," but you should only be hyper-fixated on that if your only focus is obtaining the maximum team strength, which ends up making your arguments come off as disingenuous as a result. I am not trying to say that wanting a strong team is bad. But I think World Cup is about making
your team strong with what
your team has to work with, not doing a fusion dance in order to artificially make it stronger than it already is.
As for Custom Avatars, I don't have a strong opinion on this. On one hand, the timing of making an America super team + adding a Custom prize at the same time doesn't sit right with me for some reason. On the other hand, it would bring in more players to the tournament by default. They may be less committed players, but they'd be players nonetheless, which probably matters a lot in smaller communities such as BSS'. I'd consider myself slightly against the idea of a Custom.
If merging Americas (not even just East + West, but all of NA + LATAM) is even a topic worth discussing, I don't think adding more teams is on the table.
This is an unbiased outsider POV. I don't play BSS. I don't want to play BSSWC. I'm from America, but I still don't agree with an America merge. I'm somewhat moldy in the brain. But I still wanted to chime in even as a filthy non-mainer. Plz don't hate me brothas.
