Stalling Question

[Anusien]

I want to make sure that I'm not taking cheating with my Legacy deck.  I'm playing 3C Slide with lots of CIP effects, and only 2 Loxodon Hierarch, 2 Eternal Dragon, and 4 Lightning Rift as "win conditions".  The situation first came up when I was playing against a Goblins player.  Game 1 I was so afraid of an alpha strike that I mostly sat back and recurred Hierarch to get back up to 20 or so life before actively turning my burn to the opponent's dome.

Assuming I continue to play at a reasonable pace, would it be considered stalling if I kept directing my Rift at my opponent's creatures or didn't attack with my Hierarch in order to keep it back, if as a consequence it happened to delay Game 1 or Game 2 when I was ahead?  Where are the limits in terms of keeping a cushion of life available and actually stalling?

[Komatteru]

You don't actually have to try to win.  That has never been considered stalling.  Even if you have lethal damage on the board and your opponent can't stop you in any way, shape, or form, you are not required under the rules to turn your shit sideways and end the game.  Stalling is defined as taking an unneccarily long time to make decisions, often when those decisions will not advance the game state.  For instance, a goblins player locked under solitary confinment taking 2+ minutes per turn to draw a card, think whether to play a land, and attack to have damage prevented.  That is stalling.  Toying with an opponent and not winning when you could is a strategic decision, and sometimes a psychological advantage.  It's like running the storm up against an opponent to rub it in a little.

As long as you make your decisions and plays in a timely fashion, you are not stalling, no matter how much what you do could be considered "win more."

It's like how a storm deck can legitimately play 80+ spells in a turn when it's only Tendrils has been capped out of the game (perhaps iit won game 1 and no wants to take the match to time) without any breach in the rules.  As long as those spells are played quickly and there's no long pauses to think about what's happening, you can do as many things as you like that amount to nothing.

[Jacob Orlove]

If your opponent is smart, he will just scoop anyway.

[forests failed you]

No way that is just playing smart.  As long as you are making decisions in a timely manner there is nothing wrong with not actively trying to win.  For instance I was playing Chant last season against a Rock player.  He was way behind on the board and there was literally (based on my hand... However he did not know this)  No way for him to win the game.  He was at four life and I had a leathal amount of burn in my hand. 

I just sat there and continued to draw cards and act as though I could do nothing to win.  I would counter his Duresses and such so that he couldn't see I had leathal in hand.  Finally when there was only a few minutes left in the round I killed him, and there wasn't enough time left in the round for him to actually win game two.  Therefore I took the match.  There is nothing wrong with slow rolling an opponent.  Especially in other formats like Limited and Standard;  sometimes although you may have an out in your deck, it just isn't worth the risk of a draw to play it out all the way.  If I sense that I am purely beaten on the board I will often scoop to ensure I have a shot at winning game three and taking the match.  Especially against good players who I know may be trying to drag out game one, and thus stalling me out in game two.