The Stifling Stalling Pokemon

Written by | November 6, 2009 | 40 comments | 1,816 views | Rating: 0

I think that it may become necessary to tech stalling Pokemon into decks for the upcoming City Championships. There are many quick decks out there, so the need to be able to buy yourself an extra turn or two to set up can be invaluable.

Mr. Mime Mysterious Treasures MT 30 Pokemon CardThe two best cards to be able to do this, in my opinion, are Mr. Mime MT and Shuckle SW. Mr. Mime requires that your opponent have at least 3 Energy cards attached in order to damage it. When it is evolved from Mime Jr. (or has an Unown G attached), it will also prevent effects of attacks. This can cause some major issues for a few of the more popular decks out there.

Gyarados in particular is hurt fairly badly by Mr. Mime. Gyarados will seldom play more than 7 or 8 Energy total, which makes it difficult to ever take out the Mimester. However, Gyarados will typically play cards that push your active Pokemon to the bench, namely Warp Point, Cyclone Energy, Infernape 4 LV.X, and Regice LA.

What I think is the best strategy to use here is to keep Mr. Mime on your bench, so that when your opponent tries to switch your active Pokemon to the bench to get an easy prize, you can just send up Mr. Mime and prevent them from doing so. They may be able to then use Regice to send Mr. Mime back, but then you could just send whatever Pokemon you had active back out, and if they tried to send it to the bench in the first place, they probably weren’t able to knock it out and won’t be able to now.

One deck in particular that can really benefit from Mr. Mime is Flygon / Machamp. Gyarados has the ability to beat the deck, but with Mr. Mime I honestly don’t see any way it can win the matchup. Basically any deck that has a questionable matchup against the water dragon, put 1 Mr. Mime in and you should be able to beat it.

Shuckle Secret Wonders SW 109 Pokemon CardMr. Mime can also stifle the offensive attacks of Pokemon such as Kingdra, Machamp (if you evolved of have a G attached), Beedrill, SP Pokemon, and more. It really can give you an extra turn against a lot of decks. You might want to try using Unown Q with it, so that you do not have to discard an Energy every time you retreat it.

The other potential staller that you may be able to benefit from is Shuckle SW. Shuckle prevents all of attacks, including damage, done to it by Pokemon that have Special Energy cards attached to it. This is pretty good at the moment because some decks are playing a lot of Special Energies.

Gyarados again can be hurt pretty badly by Shuckle. Flygon decks do not play many Basic Energy either. You may have to put an Unown G on to prevent Machamp from knocking it out for 1 Fighting, but in order to attack with Flygon they are more than likely going to attach a Special Energy.

Mesprit Legends Awakened LA 34 Pokemon CardI am not saying that these two cards can totally turn bad matchups around, but I do think they can be used strategically to give you a slight edge. Maybe even in just mirror matches, they could be used effectively.

One final card I think deserves some mention is Mesprit LA. It is not a straight up stall Pokemon, but it can shut your opponent down for one turn. This again can be a huge swing, especially in a close game. The actions during one specific turn are often what can decide a game. If your opponent is extremely reliant on Pokemon Powers, time this card correctly and it could be the key to victory.

Thanks for reading! Do you guys think these stalling Pokemon will have any effect during City Championships, or are they non-factors? I will try to test all 3 out this weekend and see if they make any difference.

Image Credits: PokeBeach, Pokegym, and Pokemon Paradijs

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  • Colin

    I like the Mr. Mime idea in FlyChamp, I’ll give it a shot. Do you have any idea what the dates for cities are for Illinois?

  • Colin

    I like the Mr. Mime idea in FlyChamp, I’ll give it a shot. Do you have any idea what the dates for cities are for Illinois?

  • Ziffles

    you could have also mentioned shedinja sv

  • Ziffles

    you could have also mentioned shedinja sv

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    Yeah I suppose I could have mentioned Shedinja. I just don’t think I would actually play it in any deck. The cards I mentioned I think are definitely worth trying out.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    Yeah I suppose I could have mentioned Shedinja. I just don’t think I would actually play it in any deck. The cards I mentioned I think are definitely worth trying out.

  • Dave Hueglin

    The problem with Shedinja as a staller is that it is not a Basic so it’s not nearly as easy to search for and set up in a pinch. Personally, I’m still testing out Ambipom G as a staller – moving Energy off of the Defender in order to stall their attacks. He only has one retreat cost and in a pinch can use Damage Porter (which I run in my deck) to snipe the Bench.

    • saturn

      In Shedinja’s defense…You need Mime Jr. to cancel all effects to attacks. Mime just cancels damage which you can go around with Poison or confusion without the 3 energies. (which is why you are calling him out?)

      I found Shedinja to kill plox and heavy poke body – poke power decks. Pulling it out mid game and doing 30 to poke with damage already. It also is only 1 colorless energy so you can put it in any deck.

  • Dave Hueglin

    The problem with Shedinja as a staller is that it is not a Basic so it’s not nearly as easy to search for and set up in a pinch. Personally, I’m still testing out Ambipom G as a staller – moving Energy off of the Defender in order to stall their attacks. He only has one retreat cost and in a pinch can use Damage Porter (which I run in my deck) to snipe the Bench.

    • saturn

      In Shedinja’s defense…You need Mime Jr. to cancel all effects to attacks. Mime just cancels damage which you can go around with Poison or confusion without the 3 energies. (which is why you are calling him out?)

      I found Shedinja to kill plox and heavy poke body – poke power decks. Pulling it out mid game and doing 30 to poke with damage already. It also is only 1 colorless energy so you can put it in any deck.

  • Power Swing

    I recently switched the queen line in my flychamp deck to mewtwo lv.x. I put it in there because i struggled against sp.

  • Power Swing

    I recently switched the queen line in my flychamp deck to mewtwo lv.x. I put it in there because i struggled against sp.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    Are you still using Memory Berry in the deck? The whole memory berry locking concept is dead IMO as everyone expects it and plays plenty of switching now.

    If you take away focus from that I think you might have more success against SP. Try playing the Trapinch that can get energy back, maybe 1 Spiritomb, maybe Expert Belt, etc…

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    Are you still using Memory Berry in the deck? The whole memory berry locking concept is dead IMO as everyone expects it and plays plenty of switching now.

    If you take away focus from that I think you might have more success against SP. Try playing the Trapinch that can get energy back, maybe 1 Spiritomb, maybe Expert Belt, etc…

  • Power Swing

    I dropped memory berry for two expert belt.

  • Power Swing

    I dropped memory berry for two expert belt.

  • quaziko

    I like Mr. Mime and Shuckle as stalling tactics, and would even consider using both for different situations. Really they’d only be used to buy time, and in many decks, you’re trying to win on speed anyway, and most likely they wouldn’t be used.

  • quaziko

    I like Mr. Mime and Shuckle as stalling tactics, and would even consider using both for different situations. Really they’d only be used to buy time, and in many decks, you’re trying to win on speed anyway, and most likely they wouldn’t be used.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    I’m thinking that you could use them in mirror matches if you get the slower start. I think we all know that once you get behind, it’s nearly impossible to come back, so these stallers could buy you that turn so you don’t get behind.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    I’m thinking that you could use them in mirror matches if you get the slower start. I think we all know that once you get behind, it’s nearly impossible to come back, so these stallers could buy you that turn so you don’t get behind.

  • Pikkdogs

    Todays game is all about speed. So I think that instead of trying to stall people will take out the mr.mime and put in trainer cards to try to get out their pokemon faster. So for city decks, this techs wont be of much help, because everyone is trying to be as fast as they can and be as good as they can generally. But in league decks this techs will see play in leagues where gyrados and low energy attackers are present.

    But I still think that these cards are good and have a place in this game. Its just really hard to win a big tournament with a bunch of stalling techs.

    • Dave Hueglin

      Even in a game environment that’s all about speed, I still think trying to slow the opponent down is one legitimate way to attempt to gain an advantage. You can’t always be faster, so having the ability to slow the game down can be crucial.

  • Pikkdogs

    Todays game is all about speed. So I think that instead of trying to stall people will take out the mr.mime and put in trainer cards to try to get out their pokemon faster. So for city decks, this techs wont be of much help, because everyone is trying to be as fast as they can and be as good as they can generally. But in league decks this techs will see play in leagues where gyrados and low energy attackers are present.

    But I still think that these cards are good and have a place in this game. Its just really hard to win a big tournament with a bunch of stalling techs.

    • Dave Hueglin

      Even in a game environment that’s all about speed, I still think trying to slow the opponent down is one legitimate way to attempt to gain an advantage. You can’t always be faster, so having the ability to slow the game down can be crucial.

  • http://www.adamcapriola.com/ Adam Capriola

    I’m thinking that they could have use in mirror matches. Usually the person that gets set up faster wins, but if you have a staller, that might swing things into your favor.

  • http://www.sixprizes.com Adam

    I’m thinking that they could have use in mirror matches. Usually the person that gets set up faster wins, but if you have a staller, that might swing things into your favor.

  • BB2Si

    I’ve played against a few decks with this Mime and he is one tough dude. “Trick Play” is not something I would like to be put up against, either. With my luck I’d always guess wrong. But normally when I see this little bugger up it’s just to stall and man does it work. Specially if I cant draw Energy! >.<

  • BB2Si

    I’ve played against a few decks with this Mime and he is one tough dude. “Trick Play” is not something I would like to be put up against, either. With my luck I’d always guess wrong. But normally when I see this little bugger up it’s just to stall and man does it work. Specially if I cant draw Energy! >.<

  • HunterJ

    great articles and idea i use mr mime a lot as most decks try 2 use as little energy 4 strong attacks so its a trump card!
    9/10

  • HunterJ

    great articles and idea i use mr mime a lot as most decks try 2 use as little energy 4 strong attacks so its a trump card!
    9/10

  • awesomedude

    who says rapidash arceus wont work against sp :o

  • awesomedude

    who says rapidash arceus wont work against sp :o

  • http://www.tripopedia.com/ Tripopedia

    cool stuff, cheers man

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    Pretty sure I saw something about this on MSNBC