How To Win By Stalling Part 2--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 2 in the series.* ::How To Make A Stall Deck:: Now that you know what a stall deck is, what it can and can't do, let's dive into making one. The deck I built below is based on my personal preferences. You may see better cards to add in the deck, and ones I include that you want to leave out. When making a Fire/Light stall deck, it's good to address 4 main deck needs within your 40 card deck. And, try to keep the deck at 40 cards because you'll need to be able to get to those fatties. The needs are, not in any order: 1. Defense 2. Removal 3. Fattie Late Game Attack 4. Weenie Early Game Attack If you run Nature/Light combo, then the needs look like this, not in any order: 1. Mana Acceleration (also act as early hitters if possible) 2. Defense 3. Removal 4. Fattie Late Game Attack 5. Double Breaker Mid Game Attack (ie. Deathblade Beetle) Basically put cards in the deck that take care of the needs above. That's the best way to have a fighting chance with Fire/Light stall. Also, count on defense/removal being the bulk of your deck. Don't be afraid to have as many as 12 blockers in your deck. People will call you crazy, but it has worked. You can rest comfortably with 8 blockers, but I wouldn't go much lower than that if your deck's main strategy is stall via warding off attacks. It's also important to max out the tapping and creature removal spells that are sheild triggers. That means, right off the bat you know 8 cards in the deck will be spells: 4 Holy Awe and 4 Tornado Flame. The next best spells in the deck should also be removal and tap related, and must cost less than Awe and Flame. Best choices are Solar Ray and Crimson Hammer. You do not have to max out on those spells, but Crimsom Hammer would be the only one I would max out if at all. Removal is very important to stall because you want to avoid attacks to your shields, especially early ones, just as much as being able to block them. To really reap the benefits of their use we include the best tapping and removal spells of the civs in high quantities. Sonic Wing, Magma Gazer, Burning Power and Laser Wing can be included in the deck and work, but the space they take up in the 40 card deck would better be used as spots for creatures. It's worth noting that while tapping and untapping spell-like creatures such as Toel, Frei and Miele have some nifty effects, including them would "clog" up the snergy & flow of this deck. For spells you could do well to have: 4 Tornado Flame, 4 Holy Awe, 2-4 Crimson Hammer, 2-4 Solar Ray. If you do include the other spells mentioned above, it's best not to put in more than 2 copies of the ones you use because they are not shield triggers and they aren't needed for stall. Next up comes chosing blockers. Blockers are the main & best defense of a stall deck. When choosing blockers for stall, the Light civilization is all you need. As stated before, Light's guys block and can attack creatures. They can flip from defensive to field control. That equals trememdous versatility when it comes to a stall deck. But, what are the best blockers to use from Light? If you think in terms of duel duration, you'll realize that you need early, mid and late game blockers. You need early ones because Rush decks can become a headache quickly if you give them a shot at your shields. So, taking that into account look to using La Giga Ura, Emerald Grass or Ruby Grass. Of those 3, max out on Ura. 2000 blocker for 1 mana is a bargin. When it comes to early game blockers, you should not be concerned with that fact the Ura is weak. You need him because he's fast to cast. Casting Ura is easily the signature first turn play of a stall deck. Between Emerald and Ruby, Emerald is the way to go for stall. Ruby untaps and that is certainly great when it comes to using blockers as field control, but Ruby often dies before it gets to do the killing and untap. Emerald is cheaper for the same power (not effect) and therefore faster to cast. If you build your mana zone to 9, you can cast a "good" blocker and a fattie same turn. Senatine Jade Tree and Dia Nork are solid mid game blockers. Dia Nork is okay, but I don't run it in 4s and sometimes don't even include it. At 4 mana, I would like to be casting guys like Rothus or Volcanodon to get in some attacking or removal. But, I do run Tree in 4s because it's great for annoying Rush decks, can kill off unblockables like Faerie Child when it's tapped, and is affordable at 4000 for 3. In terms of having the ultimate defense-to-field control blocker, Gran Gure is the blocker for the job. At a whopping 9000 for 6, he's the best blocker in the game. His only threats are a guys like a pumped up Bolshack, Hanusa, Deathliger, Zagaan, Astrocomet, ect--mostly guys cast after him. He's wonderful for pegging off unpowered "+" attack double breakers and stops many like Urth and Gatling in their tracks. His cost keeps me from maxing him out in a deck, so 2 of him are great in a good stall deck. Okay, so for blockers you're looking at having: 4 La Giga Ura, 2-4 Emerald Grass, 4 Senatine Jade Tree, 0-2 Dia Nork, 2 Gran Gure. We have our defensive needs taken care of with our blockers and tapping spell selection. We have done a bit of the removal aspect with our Fire spells. Now we turn to Fire's creatures to complete to job of removing threats. When looking at Fire's removal creatures we have: Rothus, Gatling, Scarlett. When playing stall and if you are not an experienced duelist, I'd stay away from running Scarlett Skyterror because you'll probably toast your blockers at the wrong time. I have played him in my decks and used him well--but that was only if 1 or 2 blockers on my opponent's side stood in the way of me hitting my opponent directly or hitting his shields and him in the same turn for the win. That way, if I lose my blockers it most likely wouldn't matter because that's game. Also, that's when I knew a good number of other decks ran blockers. Many successful decks don't run blockers, so Scarlett can potentially be a waste of space. So, if you run him, know when to use him. I wouldn't run more than 2 Scarlett in any deck. If you run him in stall, 1 is more than enough. Next up is Gatling, an underated double breaker. He's not as flashy as Bolshack, doesn't power up like his 7 mana cost-mate Astrocomet, and he can't get past guys like Gran. But he can attack tapped creatures and he can hit for 2 shields. Since removal is so few and far between in Fire/Light stall, running Gatling is a good decision. He's not an automatic given like Swamp Worm, Vampire Silphy or Storm Shell, but at least he has an attack value and the double breaker ability that justifies his use. If included, 2 is usually all that is needed. When it comes to creatures with removal for the deck we're making, Rothus is the "go-to" guy. He's easy to cast at 4, could be an attacker if you sack a weenie, and you can suicide him to get rid of a threat or blocker (provided it's the only creature on your opponent's side of the field). He requires some thought to play. I'd max out Rothus, but he can be well played including between 2-4 copies. Let's turn our attention to the offensive side of the deck. It's a small percentage of the deck, but without it you've been stalling for nothing. The more successful stallers have some early-mid game attacking guys. Count on including 4-6 early hitters like Braid Claw, Brawler Zyler, Explosive Volcanodon, ect. I wouldn't choose any of the weenies from Light because their attacks and effects just don't cut it for a deck. I also wouldn't play Urcan because setting yourself back 2 mana in a stall deck can be serious game suicide. Triceps is on the same boat, but less a serious setback. Using these guys is pretty much self-explanatory--go for a shield or a tapped creature with them. Lastly we come to the win condition of this deck: late game attacking. An extreme stall might max out on the best double breakers in the deck for 8 chances at winning through the stall. The "best" depends on if you want base raw power or maximum ultity. For base raw power you'd go with Hanusa and Astrocomet. But, if you want better ulitity (as in nifty effects) and faster casting that means Urth and Bolshack. New players to stall may want to keep the highest count for them at 3. One thing an extreme stall deck is known for is bad hand draws due to a high mana curve deck. So, you're looking at not wanting more than 8 creatures in this deck that cost more than 5 mana. Without fatties on the field, you have no plausible chance of winning. If you did, and that's a huge if, I imagine the only other way to win is if your opponent decks out or plays so badly that you are able to hit him with the weenies you packed in the deck. You need to have the late game double breakers be in multiples and easy to cast. That's why I prefer Urth and Bolshack, though bigger guys like Gatling, Hanusa and Astrocomet would not be bad choices. The downside is Bolshack can hit the dirt after an attack if a blocker isn't out (Gran being ideal). Urth untaps so that makes him a great fit too, but if a Gran Gure is on the other side of the field he gets nuetralized. Look to have anywhere between 2-4 copies of your winning hitters. Taking all the deck building points from above into account, here's a sample Fire/Light Stall deck: \\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 In Part 3 of this article, we'll discuss strategies on how to play the stall deck above in greater detail. Contact info--name: cecillbill; email: kaiserpso@hotmail.com.