The process works by starting out with the full list of legal starter stages in the first set of a match; stages classified as counterpicks are not yet eligible. One player eliminates a stage that they feel would be beneficial to the opponent's character if played on; for example, fighting Lloyd on Nintendo 3DS would be a tremendous risk, so it would be wise to strike that against a known Lloyd user. The choice then goes back to the original player who strikes one of the two remaining stages, the last one remaining being the stage that the set is ultimately played on.