I think I bought the same card from the same store...  They only claim to have one in stock...

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but I have a question about stalling.  In game 1 of a match, let’s say one player has the game firmly secured.  He has a lethal Psychatog in hand with a fist full of counter magic and no threats across the table.  He could play his tog and win the next turn, but instead he decides not to play his tog.  He plans to drag out game 1 (by not winning), drop the tog, and win without enough time left for his opponent to win game 2.  Is this legal?

To be clear, I understand playing slowly (i.e. “thinking” inordinately) to prevent your opponent from winning a game is stalling and illegal.  Here the player is playing at a reasonable pace; he just refuses to win the game.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as difficult, but with a lethal Akroma sitting across table you have:

1x Spirit Token
1x Chromatic Sphere
1x Island
1x Swamp
2x Underground Sea

Hand:
Force of Will
2x Junk

Graveyard:
7x Junk (disruption, fetchlands, etc)

Have not used land drop.

Here's the path to victory:
Break Chromatic Sphere for U.  Draws Brainstorm.  Brainstorm, drawing Cabal Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Doomsday.  Put back 2x Junk.  Ritual, Demonic Tutor for Yawgmoth's Will.  Will.  Drop fetchland and fetch.  Ritual (still barely have Threshhold).  Demonic Tutor for Gush.  Doomsday:
-- top --
Ancestral
Mox Sapphire
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal
Tendrils
-- bottom --
Gush.  Mox.  Ancestral. Lotus. Petal.  Tendrils for 26.

I think I got that down all right (doing this from memory here).  That took a while to figure out, and maybe there was simpler path to victory (just starting to work with this deck).  I kept thinking I was either one mana or one storm short until I hit upon this solution.

Edit: Just checked with my opponent.  This isn't quite right.  In this situation, I can DT for Gush and then Doomsday right away.  The Brainstorm was in the graveyard and the Ritual must have been in my hand...  The point was to find a zero mana Doomsday stack (requires Gush in hand and 4 storm).

Have any of you considered Drop of Honey in U/G Colossus Orchard/Oath?

Drop of Honey

Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy target creature with the least power. It can't be regenerated. (If two or more creatures are tied for least power, target any one of them.)
When there are no creatures in play, sacrifice Drop of Honey.

It seems to have the following advantages:

(1) Hoses Goblin Welder, Platinum Angel, and other problematic creatures.
(2) Buys time until you can find Oath.
(3) Good synergy with Orchard:

(a) Cleans up extra Spirit tokens.
(b) Orchard can keep the Drop around abitrarily long (barring wasteland).
[/list:u](4) Plays nicely with indestructibility and large power of Colossus.
[/list:u]
I haven't had a chance to test these idea, but I expect Stax and Storm combo to be rough matchups.  It's not clear how Drop of Honey helps in those matchups.

With your indulgence, I'll inflict my 1-2 drop story upon you.  Against Zhalfirin's advice, I decide to pilot WTF/r.

Round 1: Joe Oginsky (Stax)
Joe's deck is quite pimped--all Asian foil and Beta power.  However, this matchup plays out exactly as in testing.  I get locked down in game 1, but sideboard into game 2 and 3 victories.
1-0

Round 2: Michael Torrisi (White Weenie w/ Blue splash)
Michael's deck is very anti-fish with Icatian Javelineers, Abolish, etc.  I have game 1 well in hand with a curious and a non-curious River Boa islandwalking all over his blue splash.  He proceeds to wreck me with Holy Light.  To appreciate the irony, you need to know that I collect Holy Light (mostly for the artwork) and have 52 in my binder, beneath my chair.  Game 2, I mulligan a poor hand into a questionable hand, which I mistakenly decide to keep.  I definitely need to work on my mulligan decisions.
1-1

Round 3: Hans Joachim Hoeh (Storm Combo)
Hans is a Pro player from Germany listed on the leader board for Player of the Year.  I haven’t tested against Storm combo because it is nearly absent from the local metagame (which mostly consists of various Workshop flavours and Fish).  I lose this match because of my lack of testing and zero relevant sideboard.
1-2

If there is a moral to this story it is this: practice, practice, practice.

I can't tell if you all are being serious about this path to victory.  It seems to have the following disadvantages (compared to the more usual Laquatus path):

1) Inability to win on opponent's turn.  Due to APNAP stack rules it is sometimes necessary to animate the dragon on opponent's turn, e.g. with opponent's Planar Void on the table.  Relying on casting sorceries during the combo seems to eliminate this possibility.

2) Difficulty with Chalice for 2.  Using Laquatus, the dragon player may win in the face of Chalice of the Void set at 2 by using Necromancy.  In this path to victory, the dragon player seems to be relying on casting Time Walk.  Perhaps including Stifle in the loop could address this concern.

3) Requires cards in library to draw on dragon beatdown turns.  This path to victory requires at least 3 swings with dragon to actually kill opponent.  Without a method to replenish his library, the dragon player requires three cards left in library after assembling Eternal Witness / Time Walk.  If either of these cards are in the bottom 3 (or 4 with unfavorable Bazaar parody), the dragon player will deck himself before winning.

None of these concerns are really fatal.  They just seem like a lot of baggage to carry around in order to be immune to Dampening Matrix.

If I missed the humor in this path to victory, please forgive me.

Although I have been lurking on these boards for a little while, this is my first post.  I will attempt to adhere to the rules and to avoid moderator wrath.

I piloted 4c Control to a disappointing 3-2 at the recent Library tournament at Who’s On First.  My two losses came at the hands of Brent (UnstableCornbread) and Ken (sorry, don’t know TMD name) both piloting Crucible Control.  It is possible my losses were a result of mistakes or poor play on my part, but I believe I could have won those matches with a better sideboard plan.

My experience is emblematic of the larger proliferation of the Crucible-Wasteland combo in Type 1.  It has appeared in a diverse collection of decks including The Man Show, Stacks-like Crucible Control, Fish, Turboland, and as a sideboard plan in 4c Control.  Do you believe Sacred Ground is worth including in a 4c Control sideboard to combat this rising metagame presence?

For those of you who may not have played Type 2 recently, or are otherwise unfamiliar with the card, its Oracle wording is:

Sacred Ground
{W}
Enchantment
Whenever a spell or ability an opponent controls causes a land to be put into your graveyard from play, return that land to play.

Those decks using Crucible above generally forgo enchantment removal for more efficient artifact removal.  If 4c Control is able to resolve Sacred Ground, it has defended itself against a major disruption component.  Against the Crucible Control decks I faced, Sacred Ground also effectively shuts down Smokestack.

I have not tested Sacred Ground in these matchups.  Perhaps I should test before I post.  Any thoughts?