Stall for Success

After having created and tested several decks I have found that I win more often by using decks that spend the early game buffing up for the late game. Because of the large amount of character life it is very difficult to win in under 7 or 8 turns. I recently built a priest deck with the intention of stalling out my opponent till they decked out and it worked fairly well. I've also been playing lone wolf Darkclaw and I have a very good win ratio with it.

I think with so many people playing mages it is easy to win if you can last until the late game. I have found that after the initial bombardment of spells most mage decks slow down a lot. This holds true for several other popular deck types such as the weapon focused deck using Gwenneth Truesight.

I think to many people are approaching this game by trying out how to win the fastest. There are certainly some decks that are very fast and powerful but they usually aren't very consistent. I think the focus of players should shift from a quick win to consistently winning.

Sometimes stall is effective, but your opponent will hate you.

There is quick AND consistent.

I think the focus in the game is winnng, and if winning means going fastest, then that is what people will do.

I've just been playing stall for a while and my win ratio is pretty good so it made me start thinking about it. Also I do realize there are decks that are quick and consistent but they still have trouble against stall. I just think that with there game being flooded with so many mage users, which are weak to stall, that stall seems to be very effective.

I'd say most decks have medium speed with some leaning towards fast (say Amber rush) and some towards slow (such as Lance).

Still, IMO the best decks of the format are both the fastest (Eladwen super rush) and the slowest (Millstalker).

Stalling is boring like hell.

You win vs mage by stalling? How strange, you must play vs newbies cause right now my Majiya is undefeated by stalling decks, i just wait to have over 10 ressources and burn the opponents hero in two turns.. So easy, even boring.

Well Majiya can't do much vs Darkclaw Lone Wolf because there are no allies on the field so she her shadow ability is useless. Also Regenerate removes burn and poison and Lone Wolf heals pretty fast. I've played vs Amber speed decks and I haven't lost yet. The only matches I usually lose are against Hero's like Gravebone because he drops fatties over and over, and Zhanna Mist because I pulled no teeth and they got King's Pride out. However, millstalker is a pain to play against because it's also a slow deck and I really don't get an advantage in the late game.

I haven't been matched up against a good Lance deck yet so I don't know how well I would play against him. I also haven't been matched up against a Boris deck but considering I don't have any allies in my deck I don't think he would be horribly problematic.

I think part of the reason I win so often against mages is because Gravebone is the only mage hero that can even use his ability against a lone wolf deck. All other mage abilities target allies and there aren't any in my deck. Also I've never had a mage take me below 10 health (excluding GB) even when lobbing out spell after spell. The regen given by lone wolf if I get it out on turn 4 or 5 is just too much for most mages to cut through unless they use allies.

I am still playing at the low 200 level so I expect that once I get a bit higher I will play against better players. All I know is that at my current play level I win more than I lose with stall.

*edit
I also haven't played against a portal deck so I have no idea how that would go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AdDeusMachina

I haven't been matched up against a good Lance deck yet so I don't know how well I would play against him.

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Any good Rogue player doesn't have any problem against solo DC, or at least i never have any problems at all with DC. Stop Thief will take care of your weapons and you can't kill an Aeon fast enough with What Big Teeth to stop other allies from piling up behind him, get an Earthen Protector behind him (which i run) and there's not much you can do.

Still, glad to see someone kicking some mage butt :)

my opinion to play a god stall deck isn't with darkclaw but moonstalker

but it's already said, rogues are really hard to win, same can be said to priest and mages

bottom line i think that stall decks are good against decks that really a lot in allies

for instance, a good somewhat stall deck is victor trap hole combo, or ice nish

but like always, all of them have weakens or we would all be playing the same hero

1. your rating would tell you where you are. if you are below 250, whatever you encounter will not be indicative of the real good decks.
2. the reason most players use rush is because - more games played, more wins, faster farming, etc;

plus it's draining playing stall.

i mean, i've been tweaking my Zhanna deck for a tourney and goddamn, i've been undefeated in QM just experimenting with that deck but in 2 hours, i must've played only 3 games. it made me just want to shelve that deck even if i know it can get me higher in the ratings. (the deck i've been tweaking btw is iClipse's Zhanna deck) all i did was follow iClipse's advise. stall as long as you can, then drop the fatties when your opponent loses steam. it works like a charm. the sac choices are pretty obvious if you've had enough experience in SE.

but man, i wouldn't want to play that deck everyday. it's terribly boring and time consuming. in one game of playing a Zhanna deck, i could have had 3 matches. Jericho is much more fun to play. you can't stall as long as Zhanna so there's a bit of adrenaline rush trying to survive while out damaging your opponent.