Dendrobatida said:
I'm always wary of the HP-adding gyms, because while it does give you a little bit of cushion, I think it's a false cushion. You allow your opponent to knock out a pokemon without attacking, simply by putting an alternative gym down on the field. Imagine playing a low pressure system in a jumpluff deck- just not a good thing.
Actually, that only applies if you are looking at it the wrong way. HP increasing stadiums are about one thing: "stealing" extra turns of life for a Pokemon. How so? Simply put, they are played with the intent that you survive a hit that would otherwise have finished you off. Since your opponent tends to normally inflict damage on their turn, it's reasonably safe to assume this will give you time to get in one more attack or one more use of a good Poke-Power etc. There is a common misconception that you are hurting yourself doing this, since all you are doing is "delaying the inevitable" or "making it so I can KO a bunch of your guys with my Stadium". Both points tend to deserve a "d'uh" response. Why? Delaying a KO is very important in this game. As stated, you get to use Pokemon that
should have been KO'd by now, and possibly stay in the game past the point when you
should have lost already! So as long as you find it a better choice than the next best card, it is a good thing to run an HP increasing Stadium. Now, about your opponent's scoring several KO's just by using a Stadium. How many Stadiums do most people run? I think people have finally started listening to me and shooting for four, at least amongst my area, because, simply put, controlling the stadium in play tends to influence battles a lot more now. So for most decks, there are four cards that can get rid of an opponent's Stadium: the player's own Stadium. The only reason this is an issue is because of Pidgeot: before Pidgeot, you had to be pretty lucky or have very little left in your deck for it to be likely to draw into that Stadium right after I played it. This somewhat leads into my second point. When can you play that Stadium? There
might be one or two Pokemon that can change out a Stadium during the other players turn (I know there are a few who can eliminate a stadium). As of yet, I don't see them commonly played, so it's more than likely that when someone plays an HP increasing Stadium, it either will end up being coutnered before anything is really dependant on it, or it will do its job and buy me extra use of my Pokemon while simultaneously denying you, at least for a turn, access to some prizes you'd have gotten.
Hmm, I am short on time, so let's try to use a very simple example of why using an HP increasing Stadium in the proper manner is going to help me more than hurt me: my deck has set up and I am scoring good damage against my opponent. They too have set up, and are scoring good damage against me. My LP increasing stadium, however, has helped one of my Pokemon stay alive an extra turn. During that turn I am able to begin powering up my next attacker while getting one more good whack out of my current active. DUring my opponent's turn, they get their stadium and play it. My active is KO'd, and I bring up probably whoever would have been promted anyway. What's the difference? Well, it's
possible some other card could have saved me. That tends to hold true for any card in a deck: there is almost always something that, had you had a copy of it right then, you'd have been better off. So I don't feel that should be held against the Stadium, especially since it would likely have been another Stadium to run. However, that one card let me get another attack out of my active. Let's say that was a fully powered Dark Tyranitar, Spinning Tail version. I probably just either KO'd your active, seriously wounded it to the point I stand a decent chance of KOing it the next turn, and robbed you of some planning time with the prize you just pulled. Now, let's say you didn't get a counter Stadium. Now I just made you waste another attack, which if I hadn't ko'd your big nasty on my turn, means that HP increasin Stadium may have effectively canceled out some 80 damage I would have had to take to the would-be new active. I also made you wait two turns for your Prize. Hm,m,. more complex than I thought.