Stalling versus not winning the game

[h9565]

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.

[Nova442]

I believe this is indeed legal.  Remember that the opponent has the opportunity to concede at any time.  As long as the player isn't "stalling" by playing slowly, there is nothing in the rules that says you must win as fast as you can.

[Jebus]

There really isn't anything illegal about not winning.

As long as he continues playing in a timely manner, there is nothing to force him to kill the opponent.

[ELD]

Not only is it legal, it would be a very poor decision to do otherwise.

[DEA]

to reinforce what ELD is saying here
if your opponent is too stubborn to scoop after u get full control of game 1, why disabuse him of the notion he might pull it out?

[Godder]

As long as you're not slow, take as long as you want to actually win. I used to occasionally play Elf-Ball in Extended, which was a lot of fun, and a very fast deck. My worst match-up was Ped Bun (Maher) Oath, which could be fast, but one controller in particular would take ages to win, even when he was well in control of the game.

You may ask, then, why didn't I scoop, if I had no chance? The answer was that I did, but not until there were less than 10 minutes left in the round. Oath could be fast (especially against Elf-Ball, which needed lots of non-flying creatures to get anywhere), but not fast enough to win game 3 if we reached it, whereas I could win games two and three easily in 10 minutes. I didn't win many matches, but I scored a few 1-1 draws. The Oath player thought he was unlucky when that happened, but it was all part of the plan...

In short, winning slowly has its place, but also inherent risks.