Best Stage 3 cohort

[dakohosu]

Which tournament do you think had the best group of competitors taking on Stage 3?

[zoran]

Sasuke 11

[Ninja Relaxer]

Maybe Sasuke 12.

27 was impressive too, since you had both Urushihara and Nagano.

And 24, with its 5 clears, kind of speaks for itself.

[subtleagent]

By far 24. 5 of the 7 who attempted it cleared and all of them gave their best ever performances that would put them on the map as elite competitors. Also all 7 at least made it to the Spider Flip.

[dakohosu]

I agree with all of these; 11 and 12, in particular, had an interesting mix of veterans, secondary players, and rookies. 12 I think takes the win because I personally found it really interesting how 2 of the 3 clears were from non-All Stars (Bunpei being a relative unknown at the time) in their golden era while the All-Stars themselves probably had the most interesting and heterogeneous results with Akiyama almost clearing, Takeda sustaining a heartbreaking fall, and Shingo starting his infamous decline. We also had a couple of rookies make their breakout runs too. Also the fact that we got 2 clears early on meant that it was a case of 'anything could happen', rather than a Stage 3 where everyone is going to fail the Cliffhanger (not at all directed at Inui....). 24 I'm less keen on just because the 5 clears were quite predictable as the progression of results were building up to it (given that we got 2 clears in 23 and most reaching the Spider Flip), though it was cool to see a couple of STQ-ers make their breakout runs.

In terms of more recent tournaments, I'm going to be really controversial and mention Sasuke 37. I know most people will say Sasuke 36 given that we got a mix of breakout and redemption runs, but what really stuck out about 37 to me, in the least harsh way possible, is that there was no Morimoto or Kawaguchi. That meant that we got a lot more screen time dedicated to different competitors like Tada and the Black Tigers etc. It was also the only tournament in the last 6 years where someone other than Yusuke cleared Stage 3, with Tada making his breakout and Rene coming out of nowhere and crushing the stage. We also had the Black Tigers see their true surge to prominence and Jessie Graff to shake things up a little bit. And then there was obviously Yuuji's near miss too.

Again, I know many will argue 36 had a more interesting mix of competitors, but what really blunts it for me is how Yusuke was once again the only clear; it kind of ruined the excitement of Yuuji and Ryo making it past the UCCH, as all that was really on my mind is 'how many Final Stage attempts will we get', so to see the most predictable outcome bear fruit once again was disappointing and frustrating.