Stall

Overview

Stall cards are ones that prevent your opponent from damaging you.

Decks usually include stall cards as part of a larger strategy, such as a Burn or an Exodia deck. They are also used to buy time for a player if their opponent gains an advantage over them. This is different than a player stalling for time

Playing Style

A Stall Deck is designed to slow your opponent down and make it difficult to inflict damage or even to attack. Stalling is not a way to win by itself; it is usually used as a means to an ends. Although it is most commonly used in the Exodia Deck, it is also considered the only way to successfully play a Burn Deck. However, there are plenty of decks that can benefit from this strategy. Usually, someone doesn't walk into building a deck and say "I want to build a stall deck". They start with the question "I want to play X deck, how can I support it?" Depending on what kind of deck you wish to play, will depend on what style/method of stall you wish you use:

The Traditional Stall

When someone asks if you are playing a Stall deck, then chances are you are using this method. Over time, Konami has released dozens of great cards to protect yourself from both attacks and damage. These cards range from stopping attacks for a single turn, to locking your opponent down as long as they are on the field. The only downside to this method is that--as a player--you must commit a lot to the field in order to stay safe.

With this, comes a whole new problem: keeping it there. Unlike simply running an engine in your deck (which is just a handful of cards) when you run a Stall deck, half to two thirds of your deck is devoted to your protection. This means that you have to play cards to protect yourself, and then cards to protect your protection. This tends to cause the consistency of your deck to decrease.

Because there are so many generic stall cards to choose from, listed below are what most players consider the core "Staples" in any stall deck. There are numerous stall cards that have closely related effects (Such as "Marshmallon" and "Spirit Reaper"), so just because it isn't listed here, doesn't mean it's not an effective stall card--it simply means it's not considered a staple. Sometimes more obscure stall cards such as Gellenduo work better because of the kind of deck you have deiced to play.

Monsters

• Marshmallon
• Spirit Reaper

Spells

• One Day of Peace
• Level Limit - Area B
• Messenger of Peace
• Nightmare's Steelcage
• Swords of Revealing Light

Traps

• Gravity Bind

One-Turn Stall

This play-style arose with a deck solely created for "Final Countdown". This form of stall doesn't use cards like "Level Limit - Area B" or "Marshmallon", but instead a deck full of cards that only protect you for a turn (cards like "Threatening Roar", "Waboku", or "One Day of Peace")

The rational behind this style of stall, is that it's much 'safer' than the traditional form. If your opponent were to play a card like "Mystical Space Typhoon" or "Heavy Storm" to destroy your face up "Level Limit - Area B" or "Gravity Bind"--then you would be open for attacks that whole turn. Whereas if they were to try and destroy your set "Waboku", you could just chain it and still remain protected for that turn.

Konami has since released a number of very powerful and 'safe' One-Turn Stall cards. Because of this, this is now considered the most effective form of stall if you are waiting for a win condition such "Final Countdown" or "Exodia".

Monsters

• Battle Fader
• Cyber Valley
• Metaion, the Timelord
• Morphtronic Lantron
• Mystic Piper (because a lot of these monsters and Level 1, it's great draw power)
• Swift Scarecrow
• Wattlemur
• Winged Kuriboh
• Zero Gardna

Spells

• One Day of Peace
• The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh
• Scapegoat

Traps

• Frozen Soul
• Thunder of Ruler
• Threatening Roar
• Waboku

Note

Since Stall Decks rely heavily on blocking effects, and require a great deal of tactics, due to their effectiveness, there's a gradation between stall and Lockdown Decks