This is a puzzle I thought of quite some time ago, and which was a ton of fun to think about with two different groups of magic-playing friends at different times, so I thought I'd share.
It is quite simple:
How fast can you win a game of magic without adding any mana to your mana pool?
Some general clarifications, though answers that vary these restrictions might be interesting too:
You have a Vintage-legal deck, your opponent has a 60-card deck constructed in whatever way is least helpful to you (think of it as 60 Islands unless you're planning on abusing that somehow), you are on the play, you stack your deck, and randomness comes out in your favor.
The correct direction to start thinking in will probably be immediately obvious to some, and not so to others. If you are in the first category, it's still worth a few minutes' consideration of how you actually do it. If you are in the second category, think about it for a while before you scroll down, cause people will probably start talking about the right answer pretty soon.
This all assumes, of course, that the answer I know (VikingMetal4L came up with it first) is in fact optimal/unique
Requires five cards in hand for a first-turn win, or six for a first-turn win on an opponent's turn:
1. Start with Leyline of Anticipation in play. [CIH: 6]
2. Cast Unmask to discard Golgari Grave-Troll. [CIH: 3]
3. Cycle Street Wraith to dredge Golgari Grave-Troll, revealing four Narcomoeba, Hissing Iguanar and Golgari Grave-Troll. [CIH: 3 (1x Troll)]
4. Cycle Street Wraith to dredge Golgari Grave-Troll, revealing two Dread Return, two Phyrexian Delver, and two Sharuum the Hegemon. [CIH: 3, (2x Troll)]
5. Cast Dread Return – sacrificing three Narcomoeba – to return two Phyrexian Delver and Hissing Iguanar. Cast Dread Return – sacrificing Narcomoeba and two Phyrexian Delver – to return Sharuum the Hegemon. Sharuum returns Sharuum indefinitely until an arbitrarily large amount of damage has been dealt.
Hey, that's not vintage legal for another couple weeks! ^^
But yes, good job. We did it quite a bit differently, aside from the grave-troll/narcomoeba/dread return core - we used Bazaar of Baghdad, Bridge from Below, and Flame-kin Zealot, and I think it ended up requiring all 7 cards in hand. Your kill is nicer in light of Leyline though, as it allows the turn -1 kill. It's cool there's another way to do that now! (In addition to the Hulk Flash deck that could do it, I forget the exact kill.)
It is quite simple:
How fast can you win a game of magic without adding any mana to your mana pool?
Some general clarifications, though answers that vary these restrictions might be interesting too:
You have a Vintage-legal deck, your opponent has a 60-card deck constructed in whatever way is least helpful to you (think of it as 60 Islands unless you're planning on abusing that somehow), you are on the play, you stack your deck, and randomness comes out in your favor.
The correct direction to start thinking in will probably be immediately obvious to some, and not so to others. If you are in the first category, it's still worth a few minutes' consideration of how you actually do it. If you are in the second category, think about it for a while before you scroll down, cause people will probably start talking about the right answer pretty soon.
This all assumes, of course, that the answer I know (VikingMetal4L came up with it first) is in fact optimal/unique
turn 2 blazing shoal removing progenitus, blazing shoal again removing myojin of infinite rage
attack for 20.
shrug. best i can do.
1. Start with Leyline of Anticipation in play. [CIH: 6]
2. Cast Unmask to discard Golgari Grave-Troll. [CIH: 3]
3. Cycle Street Wraith to dredge Golgari Grave-Troll, revealing four Narcomoeba, Hissing Iguanar and Golgari Grave-Troll. [CIH: 3 (1x Troll)]
4. Cycle Street Wraith to dredge Golgari Grave-Troll, revealing two Dread Return, two Phyrexian Delver, and two Sharuum the Hegemon. [CIH: 3, (2x Troll)]
5. Cast Dread Return – sacrificing three Narcomoeba – to return two Phyrexian Delver and Hissing Iguanar. Cast Dread Return – sacrificing Narcomoeba and two Phyrexian Delver – to return Sharuum the Hegemon. Sharuum returns Sharuum indefinitely until an arbitrarily large amount of damage has been dealt.
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
here is a way to do it that doesn't require the grave-troll/narcomoeba/dread return core
1. Cycle two Street Wraiths, play and use a Bazaar of Baghdad discarding two Call to the Netherworld and a Dragon Breath, playing them for there madness and returning the Street Wraiths to my hand, cycle the two Street Wraiths [CIH: 9]
2. play three Phyrexian Walker, sac them for a salvage titan returning the Dragon Breath to play enchanting it. [CIH: 5]
3. attack, play blazing shoal removeing a Reaper King , play a Bounty of the Hunt removing a Vine Dryad [CIH: 1]