I see a lot of people now a days saying "stall has no room in a metagame as fast as littlecups" and saying only a few effective defensive teams have been made. And yes, with a lack in hp and defenses, its a lot harder to play defensively but i think it is time to destroy that preconceived notion.
The first thing you have to realize is playing defensively (or playing stall) requires more than just bulky pokemon tanking hits. when i build teams in little cup (and most of mine are stall / very defensive as vader and eric might be able to attest to), i play to accomplish 3 things:
1.) reveal their pokemon early
2.) set up sr/spikes/tspikes/ss
3.) win!
the first one is easy enough to accomplish, you will want to try and playing using solely immunities, resistances, and whatever else you can fight with. My favorite lead is hippopotas for this, with Yawn/Stealth Rock/Earthquake/Slack Off. If i am lucky enough to get a decent lead match-up of houndour vs hippo or diglett vs hippo, etc, i can either eq and take out a crucial part of their offense or just set up sr and begin yawning. its great to be able to force out a set up sweeper with yawn because its creating a two fold effect: you see their team and you pile on entry hazards.
when playing defensively, you really do need to be able to play off immunities and resistances as well as type match-ups. Chinchou or Mantyke can be very good choices, especially the later who has 1-2 immunities (depending on your ability) and can either attack or play more defensively with mirror coat / icy wind.
to set up sr and spikes, you basically need to pick your spots, just like ou. you do have to be a bit more conscious because you can get hit a lot harder. this is pretty easy enough to do, especially if you once again play off resistances.
but its the last one which seems the hardest for people to accomplish and is why stall/defensive teams falter. winning is something that is a lot harder to accomplish than you might think. A lot of players will get sr/spikes/whatever out and see the opponent still has 2-3 sweepers left. "what now?"
You play to win. Stall doesn't have to be full stall. I like adding a sweeper or two that still has great defensive capabilities (manytke) or even a good tank that can set up (lileep =]).
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now reflection time X]
1.) how do you play stall if you have ever tried it? do you disagree with what im saying and feel that no matter what, stall just doesn't have a place in lc?
2.) do you now want to try stall out and see if you can stay competitive with it?
3.) do you have a successful stall team that you would like to share, or maybe point out why you feel its good. maybe you play differently than how i shared. we would love to here about them.
defensive/stall is still interesting style of play in lc and i think it deserves more credit than it has received
The first thing you have to realize is playing defensively (or playing stall) requires more than just bulky pokemon tanking hits. when i build teams in little cup (and most of mine are stall / very defensive as vader and eric might be able to attest to), i play to accomplish 3 things:
1.) reveal their pokemon early
2.) set up sr/spikes/tspikes/ss
3.) win!
the first one is easy enough to accomplish, you will want to try and playing using solely immunities, resistances, and whatever else you can fight with. My favorite lead is hippopotas for this, with Yawn/Stealth Rock/Earthquake/Slack Off. If i am lucky enough to get a decent lead match-up of houndour vs hippo or diglett vs hippo, etc, i can either eq and take out a crucial part of their offense or just set up sr and begin yawning. its great to be able to force out a set up sweeper with yawn because its creating a two fold effect: you see their team and you pile on entry hazards.
when playing defensively, you really do need to be able to play off immunities and resistances as well as type match-ups. Chinchou or Mantyke can be very good choices, especially the later who has 1-2 immunities (depending on your ability) and can either attack or play more defensively with mirror coat / icy wind.
to set up sr and spikes, you basically need to pick your spots, just like ou. you do have to be a bit more conscious because you can get hit a lot harder. this is pretty easy enough to do, especially if you once again play off resistances.
but its the last one which seems the hardest for people to accomplish and is why stall/defensive teams falter. winning is something that is a lot harder to accomplish than you might think. A lot of players will get sr/spikes/whatever out and see the opponent still has 2-3 sweepers left. "what now?"
You play to win. Stall doesn't have to be full stall. I like adding a sweeper or two that still has great defensive capabilities (manytke) or even a good tank that can set up (lileep =]).
---
now reflection time X]
1.) how do you play stall if you have ever tried it? do you disagree with what im saying and feel that no matter what, stall just doesn't have a place in lc?
2.) do you now want to try stall out and see if you can stay competitive with it?
3.) do you have a successful stall team that you would like to share, or maybe point out why you feel its good. maybe you play differently than how i shared. we would love to here about them.
defensive/stall is still interesting style of play in lc and i think it deserves more credit than it has received