A Slight Stall "Rant"

[Shamitako]

Ahem. Hi there. I'm here to be pissed off about something

See, a lot of people be hating on Stall as a gameplay style. And as someone who enjoys Stall teams (both as and against) far more than any other setup, it really frustrates me when people call Stall players cheap and skill-less

Don't get me wrong, I'm the one who ran a team that had four Pranksters with Swagger on it a while back, I'm a fucking cheap-ass troll. But playing Stall is not what makes me a cheap-ass troll

I hate hate hate playing against all HO teams always, and hate playing them even more. When I think of "cheap" I think of Talonflame (well, early XY Talon at least) and Mega Lopunny. It's no fun (to me) to see any Pokemon on either side get chunked for massive damage. Thing is, my dislike of the playstyle doesn't make it a wrong way to play. And it's certainly not my job to tell you its wrong

Now, to many, Stall is a pain in the ass to play against, and I can see why. As kids growing up with the game, we learn to completely avoid status moves and run Charizards with four high damaging Fire attacks and sweep the entire E4. Using status effectively is a lot harder than simply using a bunch of attacks. And even as we develop into a more competitive standpoint, we still tend to focus on dealing as much damage as possible always. It takes a lot of time to break that habit enough to run even Stealth Rock (talk about cheap tactics BTW...)

So then when someone has the idea to take things a little slower and try to wear you down while preventing you from dealing damage back, it feels pretty lame. You've learned over and over to hit things as hard as possible as fast as possible, and here someone is not letting you hit them at all. You might feel powerless, and feeling powerless is lame

On top of this, Stall is a lot slower than obliterating things, it takes up more time. And while I personally can't stand when a match takes less than twenty minutes, I'm in the minority on the matter and I get that. People are busy. But the thing is, that's not really a reason to call it cheap or cowardly. Annoying and time-consuming and you've got me. Although there's not actually anything wrong with being time-consuming if you have the time to consume. It's not my job to make sure my opponent is always going to have the same amount of time to play as me

Now I can't speak as to whether or not stall is any good in the current meta, but Stall as an overall idea is not a cheap trick that gives free wins to people to lazy to learn to play (that's Lando-T that does that ) It's a much more in-depth playstyle that requires a lot of thought to pull off or you'll quickly find yourself obliterated by a much faster team setup that managed to snatch away the game's momentum before you could say "Protect"

The fact that those who enjoy Stall are the minority does not make them in the wrong for enjoying it

Also, for the record, nobody has any right to tell anyone else what tactic is right or wrong, at least not here on Reborn

Thank you for your time, I'll be happy to stall even more of it away anytime we meet on the battlefield

With Hope,

Lexi

[YinYang9705]

I can see the strategic values in playing stall, I'm just to impatient to actually use it.

However I'm not going to call it cheap. slow yes, but not cheap.

[InnocentSerenity]

I just want to mention, Stall is quite significantly damaged by Taunt, which is a move that is useful on almost any team you could have.

Also, personally, I'm quite a fan of Stall, considering the amount of patience and prediction necessary to use it correctly. Misplays become a lot less forgiving in full Stall teams, since one team member going down can spell disaster for the entire team.

[Lostelle]

i've always wanted to learn how to play stall or at least learn it because I always get destroyed by it x)

[Reignited'Light]

i've always wanted to learn how to play stall or at least learn it because I always get destroyed by it x)

just have this on your team(s) and win 100% EZ against stall

Kamina (Togekiss) @ Leftovers

Ability: Serene Grace

EVs: 232 HP / 84 Def / 16 SpD / 176 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Air Slash

- Nasty Plot

- Heal Bell

- Roost

[Ironbound]

Yea, Nasty Plot Togekiss or Taunt Mega Garde/Taunt Spdef Talonflame are great at breaking stall.

As for stall itself, I do not use it as a play style. I'm indifferent to it as an opposing play style, because I usually construct my teams to be able to cope with it. So while I have no liking or particular respect for the users of stall, neither do I have any hate for them. I can't appreciate stall creativity as much as I can appreciate innovation in offensive or balanced builds, however, largely because said stall creativity, if it exists, is certainly a lot less varied than the potential of 'fun' sets in offensive builds.

EDIT: Screw Bibs's P2 btw.

[Jiggle]

Does it matter? If it's legal and allowed, go for it. You do you and don't let anyone ever dull your sparkle.

The only reason why people "hate" on stall teams is because it's frustrating to play against. If the team works, the job is done. The opponents are annoyed, that's all there is to it. Don't get frustrated at them being frustrated. Just keep on keeping on~

Just remember that words only have power if you allow them to have it. You should also keep in mind that you're playing for you, not someone else.

[Ojama Yellow]

I thought all six of your mons carried prankster swagger in that team

fuck that team tbh

but im not really 'opposed' to stall. I mean one of my favorite mons to run in competitive is P2. but I do dislike having to battle it just bc its frustrating as fuck. though if you manage to beat it, it gives all the more satisfaction so shrug.

[mde2001]

I personally would never use stall as I don't have the patience for it, but I don't think it is a bad play style as such. People can play how they want, and while I find it really frustrating to come up against, I don't think they shouldn't be allowed to.

The only place I can't stand stall is when you only have one pokemon left and rather than finishing it off, the opponent spams healing moves without even poisoning my pokemon or anything. This way, the battle never ends as I can't KO any of the other persons pokemon and they aren't damaging mine. I hate quitting battles before they finish but I often will if that happens.

[Kamina]

just have this on your team(s) and win 100% EZ against stall

Kamina (Togekiss) @ Leftovers

Ability: Serene Grace

EVs: 232 HP / 84 Def / 16 SpD / 176 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Air Slash

- Nasty Plot

- Heal Bell

- Roost

imo, t-wave > healbell n kings rock > leftovers

noob

[Kurotsune]

just have this on your team(s) and win 100% EZ against stall

Kamina (Togekiss) @ Leftovers

Ability: Serene Grace

EVs: 232 HP / 84 Def / 16 SpD / 176 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Air Slash

- Nasty Plot

- Heal Bell

- Roost

I love that you named it Kamina

it's so fitting

[Exalted]

each type of play requires strategies except some gimmick strats and saying one was is cheap i could say the same for geomancy power herb xerneas or DD Charizard but thats not it even to put someone in the situation to stall strategy is needed and in some situations it takes more strats to stall then to wall break or such so anyone who thinks against that needs to learn that win or loss comes and if you were beaten by a stall then just learn from it instead of whining and make changes to your team so its impossible to stall from that point forth.

[Strider]

imo, t-wave > healbell n kings rock > leftovers

noob

I'm pretty sure king's rock does nothing in this case. It only creates a 10% chance, and only on moves that don't otherwise cause a flinch. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Cobalt996]

I like the concept of stall, but I never use it, partially due to how badly I tend to get haxxed. Stall doesn't do much when you get critted left and right >.>

Other reason is that Offensive teams (and their variants) are much easier to test, since you can literally throw them at something, and find out very quickly whether it works. Stall takes time, and has a tendency to create false positives (mons that are stalled by other mons, but only under specific circumstances) when the RNG aligns. You could make a fitting case for... idk, stalling King's Rock Cinccino, with something slow just because you've never been flinched before (poor example, yes, but the point is there).

Not wrong @Strider.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Cobalt996

[Shamitako]

I thought all six of your mons carried prankster swagger in that team

fuck that team tbh

but im not really 'opposed' to stall. I mean one of my favorite mons to run in competitive is P2. but I do dislike having to battle it just bc its frustrating as fuck. though if you manage to beat it, it gives all the more satisfaction so shrug.

Nah. I had an Espeon and Whimsicott was running SubSeed + Stun Spore (for ground types) and Giga Drain

Does it matter? If it's legal and allowed, go for it. You do you and don't let anyone ever dull your sparkle.

The only reason why people "hate" on stall teams is because it's frustrating to play against. If the team works, the job is done. The opponents are annoyed, that's all there is to it. Don't get frustrated at them being frustrated. Just keep on keeping on~

Just remember that words only have power if you allow them to have it. You should also keep in mind that you're playing for you, not someone else.

No, words always have power. If no one speaks up then hate festers and grows. An issue does not simply cease to exist because one ignores it. The opinions of others do matter. And when in the minority, they matter a lot more than your own

The only counter to this is to speak up and defend yourself

Yea, Nasty Plot Togekiss or Taunt Mega Garde/Taunt Spdef Talonflame are great at breaking stall.

As for stall itself, I do not use it as a play style. I'm indifferent to it as an opposing play style, because I usually construct my teams to be able to cope with it. So while I have no liking or particular respect for the users of stall, neither do I have any hate for them. I can't appreciate stall creativity as much as I can appreciate innovation in offensive or balanced builds, however, largely because said stall creativity, if it exists, is certainly a lot less varied than the potential of 'fun' sets in offensive builds.

EDIT: Screw Bibs's P2 btw.

My highly successful monoNormal Stall team would like to have a word with your innovation