Stalling

[gyrasion]

ok so this past weekend at nationals i realized something.
Stalling is a major issue in the tcg. my friend got stalled out of top 32.
i understand that there is alot of thought when making plays but theres a point to were people just plain stalling.
i also understand that asking judges to monitor the players tempo or giving time extensions may help but some players may feel like jerks for calling a judge and then acusing an opponent of stalling. i mena pokemon is a player friendly game after all. there were no fist fights unlike yugioh nationals 2008.
so my assumingly reasonable way to fix the situation is...
introduce active judging in situations were the judge may believ the opponent to be playing to slow. if both players agree that there was a legatitamate reason for the slow play then theres no problem but if one player feels there being stalled and the judge says something the other player just doesnt need to say anything. also i believe if a person isaccused of stalling and proved to have been stalling i say that a 5 min time extension is introduced and that the offending player may not win on time.

 

[BlazeTK]

I heard about that there, someone losing because of stalling for stupid stuff. I agree with you, judges need to fix that.

 

[Light Venusaur]

Three years ago I missed out on the top 8 cut that to someone who MAJORLY stalled, I kept on complaining....but they only gave him warnings for being too slow.
I ended up getting frustrated & I almost threw the match....when his time was up.
All the Brizze players would also agree with me on this.

 

[Frodus]

I got stalled out of top cut in this years nationals.

I didn't want to call the judge because I felt like it would have been a jerky thing to do. I thought maybe my opponent really was just racking his brain for what kind of play he could make, we were tied in prizes and I didn't feel like telling a judge to tell him to hurry up (because I had the upper hand in the game and felt like I was going to win), but then when they called time all of a sudden my opponent made his plays instantaneously to take a prize and have a one prize lead on me. I couldn't take a prize right away on my next turn, so he was the winner, but basically his prize was an insane last ditch effort and I would have won the game if we went on to play it.

it's annoying. but basically I learned my lesson, this was my first nationals, and I can guarantee you that at the next semi-important tournament I go to, I won't be mr. nice guy, and I'll be calling the judge over if I feel like my opponent is purposely waiting.

 

[Lou Cypher]

Yeah, stalling hurts. But you know, its lovely to kill them with their own bullets. Last year at States in the top cut, I was playing a slowplaying dude who thought he had game 1 in the bag. I somehow pulled the win though, and in game 2, he suddenly started rushing. So obviously I adapted his game 1 pace. He called a judge, who just told him "Maybe you should've played with the same pace game 1". He came 1 prize short of pulling a draw.

 

[StealthAngel667]

Since I've been judging past Nationals, maybe I can contribute a bit to this topic.
I'll start off by admitting that it's annoying if you somehow think your opponent is doing it intentionally. I did notice that at Juniors and Seniors, stalling is way less of an issue than at Masters. These guys just seem less stressed about it.
However, if you repeatedly suspect stalling, simply count to 20 slowly (it's 15 officially, but don't push them) in your head and then politely ask your opponent to make a decision. If he won't and keeps doing it, he simply gets a warning and the judge team will keep an eye on him a bit more. This can stack into a prize and even a game loss. This is by no means being a jerk like you thought, Frodus. In fact, his game tempo also affects your concentration and awareness, so if anyone is being a jerk, it's him.

 

[Futa]

^That's something that can be done.

Well, I don't want to stall at all, because I think it is just horrible to act slowly intentionally just to win. In the Regionals, I think someone was stalling me because I was at a disadvantage and he was winning. He went really slowly with his moves, from Cosmic Power to attaching energy. At that point I couldn't tell if it was stalling, so I let it go. What really made me concerned was when he was looking at his hand. I do believe that when I took my eyes off of him, he would just stare at me, and when I turned back he would just look at his hand again. People who stall are pretty much players who are over competitive, and just wants to win.

 

[Chanman]

I think it is the Player's responsibility now. This year we have 40 minute rounds. All you have to do is ask your opponent to speed up-read one of the top 8 nationals report. If they don't simply call a judge. If that doesn't work out, then email POP about it.

 

[elekid957]

i almost got stalled out of nats, after he won game 1 in about 35 minutes. he then did a 7 pile shuffle as slowly as possible, while i was done in about 10 seconds he took over a minute... then he kept going really slow, even though he had no chance in the second game. then he lost because he stalled too much. i think it is a major problem but it's kinda hard to know if their stalling or just deciding.

 

[The Pain]

I've had this issue at my last tourney when i top cutted game 1 was played so slowly and i still won it game 2 was similar but came to time (17 seconds left before i drew for turn) made my final move then during his turn time was called and he was able to claim a prize putting him at the point where we had to play sudden death for 1 prize.
Still i've found that Turtwig GL can beat kingdra in the long run, if round 2 hadn't come to prizes or he hadn't got 2 (not 1 but 2 ) SSU's in the sudden death before my finishing strike i would've won it all with a common

 

[gyrasion]

I think it is the Player's responsibility now. This year we have 40 minute rounds. All you have to do is ask your opponent to speed up-read one of the top 8 nationals report. If they don't simply call a judge. If that doesn't work out, then email POP about it.

as i stated alot of people feel like jerks by asking a player to speed up becaise no matter how you say it theres accusational tones.
so should judges use active judging to stop obvious stalling.

 

[Meaty]

Maybe players should have a 2 or 3 time limit for each turn? That might work, but it would have its flaws and problems...

 

[King Arceus]

There actually is set guidelines. I can post the link if you want. If your opponent is caught stalling, a time extension is supposed to be issued in addition to a warning.