Part 1: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51778 (outdated, but still good)
Part 2: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65122
Part 3: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81313
Part 4: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84227
Part 5: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84449
Part 6: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3447576 best one
Stop doing it wrong. It's been 10 years. Stop sucking.
You should tackle playing stalls the same way you tackle playing offensive teams. First, you get into the shoes of an offensie players. They're probably going after one of your defensive walls to surge their offense through. A general wall = you lose. This is what offensive teams capitalize on, a bait-explode method, so you'll just want to bite the bait with something you don't need. With that in mind, you play the exact opposite to try and prevent this.
Part A: Learning matchups
Stalls are most effective under a divide-and-conquer mindset. If you can effectively wall your opponents pokemon without overlapping your defenses, you almost have a guarantee win. You want your pokemon to SPECIALIZE in the matchups they face. You don't want anything to go awry, no holes to surge through. This demands an example, taking two teams I posted in Part 4:
Offensive team you'll be facing:
Looks good right?
Now for the defensive, my take on stall:
Again, it looks like anyone's game. However, once you break down the teams, you should be able to figure out a basic matchup list:
Steelix can see Skarm, Cloyster, or Suicune (if you choose to use it)
Vaporeon can see Raikou, Zapdos/Suicune, or Snorlax in cases where you need to
Gengar can see Snorlax or Raikou
Exeggutor can see Zapdos/Suicune, Raikou, or Umbreon
Snorlax can see Skarm
Zapdos can see Raikou or Snorlax
Given these matchups, you'll see that there's actually a way to arrange them so that each pokemon sees a corresponding matchup in a way that nothing overlaps
Steelix should see Cloyster
Exeggutor should see Umbreon
Snorlax should see Skarmory
Gengar should see Snorlax
Zapdos should see Raikou
Vaporeon should see Zapdos/Suicune
That way, if ANY KO is happening (which should ONLY happen via explosion), it doesn't change your walling capabilities of their remaining 5 at all. And once you've broken it down this far, you try to prevent the most likely KO by way of showing it different looks.
Steelix vs Cloyster is a 100% matchup, so forget that.
Exeggutor vs Umbreon is also an 100% matchup, so forget that as well.
Snorlax vs Skarmory is nearly 100% (you should be cursing so a CH DE doesn't kill you).
Gengar vs Snorlax is an 100% match up. Skip.
Zapdos vs Raikou is also a KO that's never happening. Skip.
Vap vs Suicune is 100%, but Vap vs Zapdos is only a 70/30 or so matchup.
So out of the 6 matchups, the most likely one to go wrong is Vap vs Zapdos (if you chose Suicune, the battle's over before it even started). So, in this instance, you throw it different looks, be it Zapdos, Raikou, or even Snorlax to keep vap on his toes so he can't just get that lucky CH and end the game. You also try and prevent as many vap switch-ins as possible, or at least force damage on it.
This is just the mindset to be in, things aren't always that perfect. There are always curveballs to consider. Should Snorlax be a curselax with FB, then you must adapt.
Steelix can still see Cloyster
Gengar can see Snorlax
Zapdos can see Raikou
Vaporeon can see Zapdos/Suicune (keeping in mind this isn't a 100% matchup)
However, Snorlax should be seeing Umbreon, which leaves Exeggutor:
Exeggutor is no longer a 100% matchup, since it's other surefire switch-ins (Zapdos/Suicune, Snorlax, and Raikou) all have other defensive duties. This also leaves you with Skarmory, that doesn't really serve a purpose. Losing Skarmory doesn't really have a huge effect on your overall walling potential, but keeping it isn't exactly a negative either. So you go back and see what possible matchups Skarmory could be used in, and see where it could be of use to prevent Egg from opening up a hole.
Going back to the original matchups, Skarmory can effectively be sent in against Steelix, Exeggutor, and Snorlax. Referring to the matchups you have above, by sending it against Steelix, you open up Cloyster. Well this doesn't really help at all. Exeggutor is a matchup that's somewhat risky, because of HP Fire, however, you can force Exeggutor to switch if you happen to get in pain-free. Sending Skarmory in against Snorlax does you no good, HOWEVER, you have a 100% backup plan in Umbreon. This allows you to attempt to play around Fire Blast's 8 pp in an attempt to free up Umbreon's duties for Exeggutor. So out of the 3 possibilities to send skarm in, don't do it against Steelix. Whether you send it in against Exeggutor or Snorlax more is completely your judgement. But don't do it without a purpose. If you can somehow bait all the Fire Blasts, do that. If you feel more comfortable just alternating between Raikou, Snorlax, and Skarmory against their Exeggutor to keep them guessing, do that. Just know, losing Skarm doesn't mean losing the match; Skarm is just a wildcard, and if you can somehow get a 1 for 1 switch out of it (no, not Steelix), you've won the battle. And obviously, your advantage in all of this is spikes, but more on that later.
With this in mind, you shouldn't stop giving them different looks to keep SOME CONTROL over the game. If you keep giving them the same looks, they'll catch on, and eventually bully you around in terms of switching. Granted, if you have 100% across the board, there's no reason why you wouldn't give them the same looks. They predict your switches, so what? They can't do anything to you. Just keep in mind that it won't be a pretty match unless you start throwing in variables out there. However, if you become predictable, you become susceptible to spikes. If there's no spikes in the game, and you have flat 100s, then just find something to occupy yourself with as you play out a game you've already won. If you want to shorten the battle though, you'll have to change it up, akin to taking risks, which results in more chances to lose a game should they predict it.
This is why Mr.E sucks. Battle ended before it even began.
Part 2: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65122
Part 3: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81313
Part 4: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84227
Part 5: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84449
Part 6: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3447576 best one
Stop doing it wrong. It's been 10 years. Stop sucking.
You should tackle playing stalls the same way you tackle playing offensive teams. First, you get into the shoes of an offensie players. They're probably going after one of your defensive walls to surge their offense through. A general wall = you lose. This is what offensive teams capitalize on, a bait-explode method, so you'll just want to bite the bait with something you don't need. With that in mind, you play the exact opposite to try and prevent this.
Part A: Learning matchups
Stalls are most effective under a divide-and-conquer mindset. If you can effectively wall your opponents pokemon without overlapping your defenses, you almost have a guarantee win. You want your pokemon to SPECIALIZE in the matchups they face. You don't want anything to go awry, no holes to surge through. This demands an example, taking two teams I posted in Part 4:
Offensive team you'll be facing:
Looks good right?
Now for the defensive, my take on stall:
Again, it looks like anyone's game. However, once you break down the teams, you should be able to figure out a basic matchup list:
Steelix can see Skarm, Cloyster, or Suicune (if you choose to use it)
Vaporeon can see Raikou, Zapdos/Suicune, or Snorlax in cases where you need to
Gengar can see Snorlax or Raikou
Exeggutor can see Zapdos/Suicune, Raikou, or Umbreon
Snorlax can see Skarm
Zapdos can see Raikou or Snorlax
Given these matchups, you'll see that there's actually a way to arrange them so that each pokemon sees a corresponding matchup in a way that nothing overlaps
Steelix should see Cloyster
Exeggutor should see Umbreon
Snorlax should see Skarmory
Gengar should see Snorlax
Zapdos should see Raikou
Vaporeon should see Zapdos/Suicune
That way, if ANY KO is happening (which should ONLY happen via explosion), it doesn't change your walling capabilities of their remaining 5 at all. And once you've broken it down this far, you try to prevent the most likely KO by way of showing it different looks.
Steelix vs Cloyster is a 100% matchup, so forget that.
Exeggutor vs Umbreon is also an 100% matchup, so forget that as well.
Snorlax vs Skarmory is nearly 100% (you should be cursing so a CH DE doesn't kill you).
Gengar vs Snorlax is an 100% match up. Skip.
Zapdos vs Raikou is also a KO that's never happening. Skip.
Vap vs Suicune is 100%, but Vap vs Zapdos is only a 70/30 or so matchup.
So out of the 6 matchups, the most likely one to go wrong is Vap vs Zapdos (if you chose Suicune, the battle's over before it even started). So, in this instance, you throw it different looks, be it Zapdos, Raikou, or even Snorlax to keep vap on his toes so he can't just get that lucky CH and end the game. You also try and prevent as many vap switch-ins as possible, or at least force damage on it.
This is just the mindset to be in, things aren't always that perfect. There are always curveballs to consider. Should Snorlax be a curselax with FB, then you must adapt.
Steelix can still see Cloyster
Gengar can see Snorlax
Zapdos can see Raikou
Vaporeon can see Zapdos/Suicune (keeping in mind this isn't a 100% matchup)
However, Snorlax should be seeing Umbreon, which leaves Exeggutor:
Exeggutor is no longer a 100% matchup, since it's other surefire switch-ins (Zapdos/Suicune, Snorlax, and Raikou) all have other defensive duties. This also leaves you with Skarmory, that doesn't really serve a purpose. Losing Skarmory doesn't really have a huge effect on your overall walling potential, but keeping it isn't exactly a negative either. So you go back and see what possible matchups Skarmory could be used in, and see where it could be of use to prevent Egg from opening up a hole.
Going back to the original matchups, Skarmory can effectively be sent in against Steelix, Exeggutor, and Snorlax. Referring to the matchups you have above, by sending it against Steelix, you open up Cloyster. Well this doesn't really help at all. Exeggutor is a matchup that's somewhat risky, because of HP Fire, however, you can force Exeggutor to switch if you happen to get in pain-free. Sending Skarmory in against Snorlax does you no good, HOWEVER, you have a 100% backup plan in Umbreon. This allows you to attempt to play around Fire Blast's 8 pp in an attempt to free up Umbreon's duties for Exeggutor. So out of the 3 possibilities to send skarm in, don't do it against Steelix. Whether you send it in against Exeggutor or Snorlax more is completely your judgement. But don't do it without a purpose. If you can somehow bait all the Fire Blasts, do that. If you feel more comfortable just alternating between Raikou, Snorlax, and Skarmory against their Exeggutor to keep them guessing, do that. Just know, losing Skarm doesn't mean losing the match; Skarm is just a wildcard, and if you can somehow get a 1 for 1 switch out of it (no, not Steelix), you've won the battle. And obviously, your advantage in all of this is spikes, but more on that later.
With this in mind, you shouldn't stop giving them different looks to keep SOME CONTROL over the game. If you keep giving them the same looks, they'll catch on, and eventually bully you around in terms of switching. Granted, if you have 100% across the board, there's no reason why you wouldn't give them the same looks. They predict your switches, so what? They can't do anything to you. Just keep in mind that it won't be a pretty match unless you start throwing in variables out there. However, if you become predictable, you become susceptible to spikes. If there's no spikes in the game, and you have flat 100s, then just find something to occupy yourself with as you play out a game you've already won. If you want to shorten the battle though, you'll have to change it up, akin to taking risks, which results in more chances to lose a game should they predict it.
This is why Mr.E sucks. Battle ended before it even began.
