Synx: First of all, you have to press the stick on B button in order to get the bottle on B. Thus, although you are not using sticks for their "normal use", you are still using them as a means to an end.
Secondly, you CAN use the sticks on B without getting normal sticks by RBAing "stick ammo". These do not appear as normal sticks in your inventory, but do allow you to use sticks on B. And if you say "well until you RBA them, it is unusable", I will just say "well until you are in front of the Kakriko guard, Zelda's Letter is unusable" and claim it doesn't count.
Third, what about the bomb icon on C down? It is in a very similar situation to the stick on B. If we say the stick on B counts no matter what, then that also mean the bomb counts no matter what, and the low% will be free to RBA and use bombs. Perhaps this is the best ruling, but a lot of people think the three coolest things about low% are bomb skip, hover boots skip, and hookshot skip.
Fourth, if we say the stick on B doesn't count, then the fastest route would involve getting a stick on B, RBAing stick ammo, and using that ammo to light torchs in the Spirit Temple, thus skipping a long and chu-consuming hover to get past the silver block as child (I'm not 100% sure this is still true for TAS, but I know it is true for real time). How would viewers feel if you are using sticks, but say "they don't count"? There is a strong case that you never actually obtained the item "deku stick", just used them through manipulation of your B button, but how many random viewers are going to understand that?
Fifth, let us say we rule deku sticks ammo counts as an item when paired with deku stick on B. Using the same logic, arrows count as an item when paired with Light Arrows. Therefore, getting the Bow and Quiver is less items than the Gold Scale + Ruto's Bottle + Arrows, completely changing the current idea of low%. This also involves a very boring hover in the Forest Temple off of a green bubble.
Sixth, if we say items on B count no matter what, then it only makes sense that the fishing rod counts as an item. Getting the fishing rod on B is a necesary step in RBA, so this means RBA would have to be avoided. Once again, this would lead to a very boring hover in the Forest Temple to get to the bow.
Basically, the stick situation is a mess. Regardless of what we rule, there will be some ugly consequences. The easiest way to get out of it would be to ban RBA altogether, but even then stick on B would still be useful to skip hovering in the Spirit Temple. Plus, without RBA, low% suffers as I said before from the bubble hover. Really, in my opinion, the ability to get bombchus without deku sticks ruined low%.
Low% all temples however, does not need RBA to get the minimum 27 items (25 items if we don't count ganon's trials, although I think bloob did them in his TAS and SDA ruled them necesary). It has also a far more interesting route and more interesting tricks. If we were going to see a low% run, I think a low% all temples is a much better option.
