Here's a puzzle I made for a few friends who are newer to the game and starting to blossom into intermediate players. I figured I'd post it here too for you guys.
There is a .jpg attachment to this post that shows what the board looks like. It's a little hard to read, but you should be able to make out what each card is.
Good luck. I hope it's not too easy/hard, and I hope there are no holes in the puzzle... PS. Spare your witty comments as to why a UB Infect deck is using Lashwraithe and why a WG Tokens deck is using Druidic Satchel. It's just a puzzle.
Things are looking grim. Your opponent activated his Druidic Satchel and revealed an Overrun on the top of his library, which he will draw to start his next turn. He has a bunch of creatures on the board. All you have is a Lashwrithe equipped to nothing. He will surely kill you soon if you don’t do something quick.
It’s your turn now. You untap and draw… It’s a Swamp. This doesn’t do you any good.
Your opponent is looking suspicious with four lands untapped and six cards in his hand. You tap two swamps and play Distress to look at his land and remove his biggest threat.
Probably chumping the mirran crusader this turn with inkmoth, so honor the pure doesn't do much.
Intangible virtue + overrun hits us for 19 if we chump crusader with inkmoth, and gives him a 2/2 with vigilance to block skittles. It also doesn't leave a single 1/1 to virulent wound next turn.
Garruk we don't take, we're close to dead on board, so we know we can't beat his long game.
Birds blocks skittles... but we have to count on him just not playing it.
1. Take Birds of Paradise.
2. Play Swamp
3. Tap Island to activate Inkmoth Nexus.
4. Pay 4 life to equip Lashwrithe to Inkmoth Nexus
5. Tap Swamp to play Virulent Wound targeting Spirit. Spirit is put into the graveyard. Opponent goes to 1 poison.
6. Attack with Inkmoth Nexus. Opponent cannot block and goes to 6 poison.
7. Pass the turn.
On opponent's turn, he draws Overrun. There are then only 3 relevant plays he can make: playing Hero of Bladehold, activating Gavony Township and casting Overrun. His best line is to cast Garruk Relentless and make a Wolf. In response to the ability, we cast Tribute to Hunger. He has to sacrifice a 3/3 Golem, and we go to 19. He can then cast Overrun, pumping his creatures to 6/6, and 5/5 double strike. He attacks, putting us to 1. On our next turn, we can equip Lashwrithe by paying BB and kill him.
If he just plays Overrun right away, we Tribute in response to the next thing he plays.
If he activates Gavony Township or plays Honor of the Pure, we Tribute in his Beginning of Combat step.
If he plays Hero of Bladehold, we Tribute in response (or we can wait for Overrun).
1. Take Birds of Paradise.
2. Play Swamp
3. Tap Island to activate Inkmoth Nexus.
4. Pay 4 life to equip Lashwrithe to Inkmoth Nexus
5. Tap Swamp to play Virulent Wound targeting Spirit. Spirit is put into the graveyard. Opponent goes to 1 poison.
6. Attack with Inkmoth Nexus. Opponent cannot block and goes to 6 poison.
7. Pass the turn.
On opponent's turn, he draws Overrun. There are then only 3 relevant plays he can make: playing Honor of the Pure, activating Gavony Township and casting Overrun. His best line is to cast Overrun, pumping his creatures to 6/6, 6/6, and 5/5 double strike. We then tap Swamp, Island, Island to cast Tribute to Hunger. He sacrifices a 6/6 Golem, and we go to 22 life. He then activates Gavony Township, putting his creatures at 7/7 and 6/6 double strike. He attacks, putting us to 3. On our next turn, we can equip Lashwrithe and kill him.
If he does anything else, we simply Tribute to Hunger as soon as he enters his combat phase, and he has no way to win.
I wouldn't have cast the Distress in the first place. This is how the player should have done instead of casting Distress:
1. Play the swamp in his hand
2. Tap it to Virulent Wound his Spirit token, he now has 1 poison counter and no flying blockers
3. Cast Skithiryx (not using Ghost Quarter to pay for it)
4. Equip Lashwrithe to Skithiryx with 4 life
5. Use Ghost Quarter's ability to destroy your own tapped Island and search for a Swamp
6. Give haste to Skithiryx
7. Swing for the win.
Yeah, I saw that too. My original plan was to
use the Ghost Quarter to get that extra swamp for Tribute to Hunger until I realised we hadn't yet played a land for the turn.
I wouldn't have cast the Distress in the first place. This is how the player should have done instead of casting Distress:
1. Play the swamp in his hand
2. Tap it to Virulent Wound his opponent's Spirit token, he now has 1 poison counter and no flying blockers
3. Cast Skithiryx (not using Ghost Quarter to pay for it)
4. Equip Lashwrithe to Skithiryx with 4 life
5. Use Ghost Quarter's ability to destroy your own tapped Island and search for a Swamp
6. Give haste to Skithiryx
7. Swing for the win.
I agree. But unfortunately, you have to take over now and make up for his play error. Hahaha.
Still, my way works, you just end at 1 life instead of 13.
Dammit. Your response exposes a hole in my puzzle, which was casting Tribute to Hunger on your own turn haha. How'd I overlook that? Makes the puzzle a lot easier. I'll do better next time. =(
Dammit. Your response exposes a hole in my puzzle, which was casting Tribute to Hunger on your own turn haha. How'd I overlook that? Makes the puzzle a lot easier. I'll do better next time. =(
Don't feel too bad. It's just that I'm awful at this game.
Not only did I forget Overrun gave trample, I also forgot Tribute was an instant!
Don't feel too bad. It's just that I'm awful at this game.
Not only did I forget Overrun gave trample, I also forgot Tribute was an instant!
My original solution (don't read if you want to keep guessing)
-Take Birds. He prevents your lethal attack.
-Play Swamp.
-Virulent Wound the Spirit and end the turn.
-Opponent draws Overrun, casts Overrun, leaving him at 5 mana.
-He can either: Gavony activation or IV+HotP or IV+Satchel activation for a possible 1/1 or HotP+Satchel activation.
-Gavony or IV+HotP nets him only 19 damage max, and you gain 5 life from his sacrificed Myr. Not nearly enough.
-HotP + Satchel nets him 22 damage max. You can stop 2 by blocking with both Inkmoths. You gain 1 life from the sacrificed Saproling. You are at 1 life.
-IV + Satchel nets him 22 damage max as well. Same as above.
-Now it's your turn. You are at 1 life. If you Ghost Quarter your own Island for a Swamp. You have enough black mana for Haste Skittles w/ Lashwraithe and the lethal attack.
Probably the play I would make in an actual game with a limited amount of time to think would be
Take Birds, then Ghost Quarter his Gavony Township and hope he picks up his deck to search for a land. Sure, he could still win, but he'd have to topdeck something pretty awesome, like Armageddon. And if he doesn't, then I'd tribute after he Overruns and he'd still have to hit a creature on Druidic Satchel AND not accidentally play the Honor of the Pure first.
An earlier puzzle. Much easier. My friends were a lot newer back then. One of them finally got it.
-Each player has no cards in hand.
-Each player has enough mana to do anything they need. Assume infinite mana.
-It's the beginning of your main phase.
Give the Wolf the Torch so the Skaab can't block him. Attack with everyone and let the Wolf die to the Gargoyle (opponent takes 1 from Doll). Equip the now untapped Juggernaut (since the Wolf died) and chuck the Torch at the opponent.
I made some MTG puzzles a while back on a different forum that I can't access from work. Maybe I'll grab them at some point and share them here.
Make him discard Honor of the pure, so that mirran crusader isn't pumped, so that you can win the game.
Play a swamp.
Cast virulent wound by tapping 1 swamp targeting the spirit.
Cast Tribute to hunger tapping two islands and 1 swamp - he sac's myr token. - 21 life
Tap Island to activate inkmoth nexus.
Tap ghost quarter targeting one of your islands to find a swamp.
Pay 2 life to equip lashwrithe to inkmoth nexus. - 19 life
Attack for 6 poison - he is now at 7 poison.
End your turn
On his turn, he casts intangible virtue and overrun and gets in for 10+7 = 17 damage. You go to 2. He plays out Birds of paradise and does some other irrelevant things. He ends his turn.
On your turn
Play an island.
Tap all islands and 2 swamps to play skythrix.
Tap inkmoth nexus to activate inkmoth nexus.
Tap 2 swamps to equip lashwrithe to inkmoth.
Tap your last swamp to give skythix haste.
Attack with both. He blocks 1 with BOP and you win.
GG
The second puzzle:
Equip torch to wolf
Attack with everyone
He blocks Wolf with Gargoyle and Jugs with the Skaab.
You get in for 1, the wolf dies, and Jugs untaps.
Equip torch to Jugs, fling it at his face.
GG
That was a good one too. It's a nice trick that you have to NOT pump or regenerate the wolf to win.
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
Make him discard Honor of the pure, so that mirran crusader isn't pumped, so that you can win the game.
Play a swamp.
Cast virulent wound by tapping 1 swamp targeting the spirit.
Cast Tribute to hunger tapping two islands and 1 swamp - he sac's myr token. - 21 life
Tap Island to activate inkmoth nexus.
Tap ghost quarter targeting one of your islands to find a swamp.
Pay 2 life to equip lashwrithe to inkmoth nexus. - 19 life
Attack for 6 poison - he is now at 7 poison.
End your turn
On his turn, he casts intangible virtue and overrun and gets in for 10+8 = 18 damage. You go to 1. He plays out Birds of paradise and does some other irrelevant things. He ends his turn.
On your turn
Play an island.
Tap all islands and 2 swamps to play skythrix.
Tap inkmoth nexus to activate inkmoth nexus.
Tap 2 swamps to equip lashwrithe to inkmoth.
Tap your last swamp to give skythix haste.
Attack with both. He blocks 1 with BOP and you win.
GG
Nice puzzle. I think i've got it right.
Close. Unfortunately, he can choose not to cast Intangible Virtue and instead, activate his Gavony Township.
You take 12 (Mirran Crusader) plus 7 (Golem) and die.
Close. Unfortunately, he can choose not to cast Intangible Virtue and instead, activate his Gavony Township.
You take 12 (Mirran Crusader) plus 7 (Golem) and die.
How can he activate township? Overrun costs 6....... oh, rats.
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
Anyhow, the best I can come up with myself is a game in the top 8 of a PTQ back during Urza block in which we were starting game 3 with time already expired, so the tiebreaker rule was that whoever had more life after 3 turns would win. And I lost to... healing salve.
There is a .jpg attachment to this post that shows what the board looks like. It's a little hard to read, but you should be able to make out what each card is.
Good luck. I hope it's not too easy/hard, and I hope there are no holes in the puzzle...
PS. Spare your witty comments as to why a UB Infect deck is using Lashwraithe and why a WG Tokens deck is using Druidic Satchel. It's just a puzzle.
Your answer must be complete and explain why your pick is the best one.
PS. Please put your answer in spoiler tags.
Edit: There is an easier puzzle on post 17
Day makes no sense.
Probably chumping the mirran crusader this turn with inkmoth, so honor the pure doesn't do much.
Intangible virtue + overrun hits us for 19 if we chump crusader with inkmoth, and gives him a 2/2 with vigilance to block skittles. It also doesn't leave a single 1/1 to virulent wound next turn.
Garruk we don't take, we're close to dead on board, so we know we can't beat his long game.
Birds blocks skittles... but we have to count on him just not playing it.
Intangible Virtue I guess.
2. Play Swamp
3. Tap Island to activate Inkmoth Nexus.
4. Pay 4 life to equip Lashwrithe to Inkmoth Nexus
5. Tap Swamp to play Virulent Wound targeting Spirit. Spirit is put into the graveyard. Opponent goes to 1 poison.
6. Attack with Inkmoth Nexus. Opponent cannot block and goes to 6 poison.
7. Pass the turn.
On opponent's turn, he draws Overrun. There are then only 3 relevant plays he can make: playing Hero of Bladehold, activating Gavony Township and casting Overrun. His best line is to cast Garruk Relentless and make a Wolf. In response to the ability, we cast Tribute to Hunger. He has to sacrifice a 3/3 Golem, and we go to 19. He can then cast Overrun, pumping his creatures to 6/6, and 5/5 double strike. He attacks, putting us to 1. On our next turn, we can equip Lashwrithe by paying BB and kill him.
If he just plays Overrun right away, we Tribute in response to the next thing he plays.
If he activates Gavony Township or plays Honor of the Pure, we Tribute in his Beginning of Combat step.
If he plays Hero of Bladehold, we Tribute in response (or we can wait for Overrun).
If he plays Day of Judgment, we laugh.
If he plays Intangible Virtue, we laugh.
Virulent Wound the Spirit right now (1 poison)
Play a Swamp and Tribute to Hunger, he sacrifices the Myr, you're at 21
The most damage he can now do is Overrun, Honor, Virtue, but you activate Inkmoth to block the Crusader and just take 7.
Next turn Skittles with haste, activate Inkmoth and equip Lashwrithe and attack for 10 poison.
Clever, but incorrect.
You are at 21 Life. You will take 22 Damage.
12 damage from Mirran Crusader.
6 damage from Golem.
4 damage from Myr.
Yeah, I saw that too. My original plan was to
Chump blocking a 6/6 double strike trample means you're taking a lot more than seven damage.
I agree. But unfortunately, you have to take over now and make up for his play error. Hahaha.
Still, my way works, you just end at 1 life instead of 13.
Don't feel too bad. It's just that I'm awful at this game.
My original solution (don't read if you want to keep guessing)
-Take Birds. He prevents your lethal attack.
-Play Swamp.
-Virulent Wound the Spirit and end the turn.
-Opponent draws Overrun, casts Overrun, leaving him at 5 mana.
-He can either: Gavony activation or IV+HotP or IV+Satchel activation for a possible 1/1 or HotP+Satchel activation.
-Gavony or IV+HotP nets him only 19 damage max, and you gain 5 life from his sacrificed Myr. Not nearly enough.
-HotP + Satchel nets him 22 damage max. You can stop 2 by blocking with both Inkmoths. You gain 1 life from the sacrificed Saproling. You are at 1 life.
-IV + Satchel nets him 22 damage max as well. Same as above.
-Now it's your turn. You are at 1 life. If you Ghost Quarter your own Island for a Swamp. You have enough black mana for Haste Skittles w/ Lashwraithe and the lethal attack.
-Each player has no cards in hand.
-Each player has enough mana to do anything they need. Assume infinite mana.
-It's the beginning of your main phase.
I made some MTG puzzles a while back on a different forum that I can't access from work. Maybe I'll grab them at some point and share them here.
Make him discard Honor of the pure, so that mirran crusader isn't pumped, so that you can win the game.
Play a swamp.
Cast virulent wound by tapping 1 swamp targeting the spirit.
Cast Tribute to hunger tapping two islands and 1 swamp - he sac's myr token. - 21 life
Tap Island to activate inkmoth nexus.
Tap ghost quarter targeting one of your islands to find a swamp.
Pay 2 life to equip lashwrithe to inkmoth nexus. - 19 life
Attack for 6 poison - he is now at 7 poison.
End your turn
On his turn, he casts intangible virtue and overrun and gets in for 10+7 = 17 damage. You go to 2. He plays out Birds of paradise and does some other irrelevant things. He ends his turn.
On your turn
Play an island.
Tap all islands and 2 swamps to play skythrix.
Tap inkmoth nexus to activate inkmoth nexus.
Tap 2 swamps to equip lashwrithe to inkmoth.
Tap your last swamp to give skythix haste.
Attack with both. He blocks 1 with BOP and you win.
GG
The second puzzle:
Equip torch to wolf
Attack with everyone
He blocks Wolf with Gargoyle and Jugs with the Skaab.
You get in for 1, the wolf dies, and Jugs untaps.
Equip torch to Jugs, fling it at his face.
GG
That was a good one too. It's a nice trick that you have to NOT pump or regenerate the wolf to win.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
You take 12 (Mirran Crusader) plus 7 (Golem) and die.
How can he activate township? Overrun costs 6....... oh, rats.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
Overrun costs five