How To Win By Stalling Part 3--cecillbill Stand Tall & Stall How To Win By Stalling by cecillbill *This article is presented in 3 parts for your reading convenience. This article is part 3 in the series.* ::Some Corrections From Parts 1 & 2:: In Part 2, I said that: "I wouldn't choose any of the weenies from Light because their attacks and effects just don't cut it for a deck." That should have read as: "I wouldn't choose Light's little guys because their effects and attacks just don't cut it for a stall deck." Of course that is only my opinion. I also forgot to discuss Fire's Meteosaur when discussing removal creatures. He's a 2000 guy for 5 mana that destroys 1 of your opponent's 2000 or less creatures when he comes to the field. Meteosaur can be effective, especially if you're facing a weenie Rush deck. Meteosaur's costly for a stall deck that has lots of mid-late game blockers because the deck already has a huge arsenal of 5 and above mana cards. I have used him in stall before when I dropped blockers like Dia Nork. In Part 1, I wrote that control decks: "end the match through severely limiting an opponent's actions and not through blocking, tapping and removal." It should read as they "end the match through severely limiting an opponent's options and not through heavy blocking & tapping." ::Playing A Stall Deck:: For easy reference, here's the deck we made in Part 2 again: \\Creatures// 2x Emerald Grass 2x Gran Gure, Space Guardian 4x La Ura Giga, Sky Guardian 4x Senatine Jade Tree 3x Urth, Purifying Elemental 2x Brawler Zyler 2x Super Explosive Volcanodon 2x Bolshack Dragon 4x Rothus, the Traveler \\Spells// 4x Holy Awe 4x Tornado Flame 4x Crimson Hammer 2x Solar Ray \\Key Things To Remember When Playing Stall// The main strategy of a stall deck is to stay in the duel long enough to bring out your double breakers and attack with them--to stall for a late game win. You block, you removal creatures, you tap creatures, you attack tapped creatures--you do anything and everything at your disposal in order to unleash double breaker attacks in the mid-late game. You want to setup a solid line of defense, handle early to mid game threats, and bring out double breakers to attack while having a way to protect them when possible. \\Strategy Breakdown// When setting up your first few moves you should be thinking defensively. By turn two, 6 blockers, 2 creatures, and 4 tap/removal spells are available to you provided that you draw them. Looking over the options, majority of the early game action choices are defensive. Your best bet is to set up some blockers like Giga and Grass, then maybe drop a Brawler or Volcanodon. Rush/Aggressive decks are probably going to be the only ones that get out a hitter first turn. Most other decks are going to see a hitter turn 2 and after. Your blockers are capable of halting the most common first turn hitter--Braid Claw. Many early turn creatures can fall victim to a Crimson Hammer or be put at bay by Emerald Grass or even Giga. Be thoughtful with your use of your early removal like Hammer. Get rid of early threats, or maybe a blocker on the turn you want to attack. Don't waste removal on guys like Aqua Solider, let a blocker take them out or tap him for the kill. If you must Hammer him, then realize that's he's coming back. You can also start doing some early offensive moves by turn 3 if you have the opportunity. You can cast spells like Solar Ray so you can hit low level Rush guys or you can use it with one of your early hitters like Zyler to tap a blocker if it stands in the way of an early shield hit. If you can get an early uncontested shot at a sheild with any of your 2-4 mana guys, then by all means do it. Mid game you've got more removal choices like Flame and Rothus. Use Rothus as smartly as you can. If you suicide him, make it count. A nice combo when you have the cards and the mana is to cast Hammer to remove a little guy then Rothus to get rid of a bigger guy (provided you opponent doesn't have out any other monsters he can chuck). Remember to use your blockers to peg off tapped creatures when you can, especially if just his creature will die or it's a trade off (both guys die) and you have other blockers out. Be as aggresive as you can with early removal and attacking (even though attacking early is not at a premium with this deck), but be thoughful about your acitons. This deck is setup to handle early and mid game threats by blocking with slight removal, but when you can be offensive go for it. Switch gears in the late game to serious offensive mode and do it as soon as you can. Whenever you have the chance to attack with Urth and Bolshack do it. And remember to untap Urth after you attack. I have actually forgotten to do that only to have him killed off by Gran Gure next turn. Don't make that mistake--it's extremely costly. Bolshack can be used to hit sheilds and over run bigger fatties since he's likely to get up to 11,000 or more with this deck. He'll be seen as your biggest threat, so protect him when you can. A great blocker to have on the field with him is Gran Gure. Sometimes it's acceptable to use you big guys just clear a field of blockers. I'd probably only use Urth for that purpose since he untaps--just don't do blocker clearing if Gran is setting across from him and he's untapped. If you have Awes or Rays in your hand, for obvious reasons they go great with an Urth or Bolshack attack. Just be mindful that after turn 6, you want to be taking shots at shields for 2 to the dome as much as you can. Should you face Control decks, it's crucial to be as aggressive as possible late game since by turn 5-6 they will have just about everything in their arsenal ready to send your Urths, Gures and Bolshacks packing. Basically the best way to play this deck is to run it as much as possible so you get a feel for when to do something. As long as you keep in mind how this deck wins and how it loses, you'll have some fun playing it. It may not be a top tier deck, but it's still a deck capable of winning (pre-Evo Cushinators of course). Thanks for checking out this 3 part article series. If you have any questions, suggestions or corrections, then please PM them to me. I am always open to different points of view. Hum...Chewy. Contact info--name: cecillbill; email: kaiserpso@hotmail.com.