In honor of the old Dragon Magazine puzzles, we shall have our own game of it.
A magic puzzle is simple. The puzzle giver describes a the full situation of a magic game, and players must find a way to either win the game, or survive - depending upon the puzzle giver's request.
Puzzle Givers:
20
1. First and foremost, make sure the puzzle is solvable.
40
You should have the answer before posting the puzzle.
40
Otherwise we'll be wracking our brains on the impossible.
20
2. Only one puzzle at a time.
40
Once a puzzle is solved, anyone may post another puzzle.
20
3. Be clear and concise about the puzzle.
40
Ambiguity causes problems.
40
Lack of information either makes it extremely easy or impossible.
Puzzle Solvers
20
1. Multiple answers are encouraged.
40
If you have a different way to solve a puzzle, post it.
20
2. Let old puzzles die.
40
If a new puzzle is posted, don't go back to an old one.
40
This avoids confusion, derailing, and overlooking of the current puzzle.
Above all else, HAVE FUN!
The first user to post an acceptable answer is considered the winner.
Winners listed below are ordered by the number of puzzles they have won.
1 fnord
1 Draco9
These puzzles are the "top" puzzles based soley on the length of time it took to solve.
Puzzle:
You are at 4 life, and your opponent just announced his combat step. In response, you cast your Peek, tapping an Island. He reveals a Bump in the Night and a Ricochet Trap in his hand. Draw your god card that allows you to survive this turn and swing a win next turn.
Caveats:
Assume there is nothing worth noting in either graveyard or exile.
In response, you cast your Gitaxian Probe, tapping an Island. He reveals a Bump in the Night and a Ricochet Trap in his hand. Draw your god card that allows you to survive this turn and swing a win next turn.
Not that it's particularly relevant, but Gitaxian Probe is a sorcery. Peek would work.
This works too. Shenanigans are always welcome, but the puzzle was to draw a single card to answer. No reason not to take this though.
I don't think Warning+Wurmcoil works. Hauler sac+Bump is lethal, since Bump is life loss. Bump+Bump flashback is also lethal. The opponent doesn't have to attack.
3 different 1-mana 1/1 creatures. Each has a keyword ability and no other abilities.
Neither player has anything relevant in hand/GY/exile.
It's your opponent's turn and he's attacking you with the B.F.M. Which 3 creatures allow you to survive the attack and win next turn? The top card of your deck is a basic land of your choice.
The Tundra Wolves deal 1 damage to the B.F.M. in the first strike damage step. In the normal damage step, the B.F.M. will deal 102 damage assigned as you like, but that will end up killing at least 1 creature. In addition, the lifelink will cause the opponent to gain 102 life. The B.F.M. will die, but you won't be able to win next turn.
Win the game using Barren Glory's trigger, under the following conditions:
1. When you win the game, your GY and library must be empty. You must own no exiled cards. Your sideboard must be empty. Your must own no permanents controlled by your opponent.
2. Your deck must be Vintage-legal. (So no hiding cards in the ante zone.)
3. Your opponent is the best player in the world and always draws the best card. However, he's playing 60basics.dec for some reason.
Your deck is randomized as normal. However, you may assume that the bottom five cards of your deck are basic lands if it takes your solution some turns to work.
Extra bonus challenge: do it with as few cards other than basic lands as possible in your deck.
Win the game using Barren Glory's trigger, under the following conditions:
1. When you win the game, your GY and library must be empty. You must own no exiled cards. Your sideboard must be empty. Your must own no permanents controlled by your opponent.
2. Your deck must be Vintage-legal. (So no hiding cards in the ante zone.)
3. Your opponent is the best player in the world and always draws the best card. However, he's playing 60basics.dec for some reason.
Your deck is randomized as normal. However, you may assume that the bottom five cards of your deck are basic lands if it takes your solution some turns to work.
Extra bonus challenge: do it with as few cards other than basic lands as possible in your deck.
Mogg, surely that doesn't work since the barren glory itself will be phased out (along with your other enchantments and your lands) on resolution of its triggered ability, causing the check to fail?
Edit: Okay, building on this work using the phasing approach:
Dance of many makes a token copy of the animated barren glory
Paradox Haze gives us two upkeeps
Resolving the win:
Upkeep 1:
stack triggers as follows
Dance of Many upkeep cost
Paradox Haze
Teferi's Realm naming artifacts
(Neither of the Barren Glories will trigger)
All nontoken artifacts now phase out, leaving the token of barren glory which now reverts to an enchantment
i might be missing something, but how is this possible? no cards in any zone? that includes my hand, exile, the battlefield, either library, either graveyard? where else can they end up?
The addition of ante cards to the vintage pool leads me to believe that the intended solution will involve stealing ownership of them all via Bronze Tablet shenanigans. (As mentioned in this neat reddit post recently, you can steal their thing without giving them anything if Tablet is not on the battlefield when the ability resolves.)
Other problems to solve involve forcing them to play everything and not lose before you can do the loop, and getting them below 10 life, but those don't seem terribly hard. I assume that they are not allowed to concede...
Your opponent is playing 100 islands.Dec which consists of...100 islands. One is foil. He starts the game with 1 life.
You must win the game through decking your opponent. Your opponent must not own any cards in any zone. Phasing is not to be used. The card pool is vintage with the optional inclusion of ante cards, any of which must begin the game in your sideboard if you choose to use them. Aim to use a minimal number of cards. Your draw will be random so your deck must still be operational in any configuration. Your opponent will attempt to play in such a way as to prevent your efforts and victory.
i might be missing something, but how is this possible? no cards in any zone? that includes my hand, exile, the battlefield, either library, either graveyard? where else can they end up?
The answer lies in "ante", my friend. You need to make them ante all their cards.
Now. My chosen method is Sunder (putting their lands into their hand) followed by Temporal Cascade (shuffling their and, incidentally, your) hand and graveyard into their library) followed by infinite Demonic Attorneys (putting both player's libraries into the ante), followed by a single Beacon of Creation from my SB so I have a card in my library, followed by infinite Darkpacts (gaining ownership of all their islands), followed by passing the turn.
To make this all happen, I need an Izzet Guildmage, a Burning Wish, Channel the Suns (in my SB) and a Fork (thus giving me infinite mana -> Infinite Burning Wishes), plus this all needs to be instant speed (Leyline of Ante-ticipation, welcome).
Plus 18 mana to kick it all off;
Izzet Guildmage (in play, since worst case scenario draws either it or the Leyline of Anticipation, and leyline costs more)
Leyline of Anticipation (4 mana)
Burning Wish (6 mana)
resp. copy Burning Wish (9 mana)
Copy fishes out Channel the Suns, casts it (13 mana)
Fork (15 mana)
Copy Fork (18 mana)
Infinite mana (all colours but red) and infinite Sorceries from the SB which can all be copied an infinite number of times...
So, my deck:
Izzet Guildmage
Burning Wish
Fork
Leyline of Anticipation
9 Island
9 Mountain
(no matter what the hand, there's not enough non-land cards to ever have to discard anything)
SB:
Channel the Suns
Sunder
Temporal Cascade
Demonic Attorney
Beacon of Creation
Darkpact
Bronze Tablet attempt (assuming it doesn't start in the board):
First we need an engine to flicker bronze tablet for all their lands, as a pauper player I came up with this:
Then with the help of Planar Birth all we need to do is get all of their lands into the bin.
I've conviently added an infinite mana combo the list above meaning all we need is a way to have to get all of their hand and library to the bin. Ravenous Rats looks like a good candidate for discard and Increasing confusion will do a good job for the mill.
Adding a basic land to cast each of those spells
Meaning the final configuration is:
For a total of 15 cards with a gaurenteed win on 8. Worst case scenario Cloudpost is on the bottom and you draw 8 nonland in which case you discard increasing confusion and are still fine.
Over the course of the first few turns you play out all of your permanents once you have played every permanent you begin the combo:
Mana Incoming:
Target Memnonic Wall and Cloud of Faeries with Ghostly Flicker. Return Ghostly Flicker to your hand with the wall and untap a cloudpost and an island with the Faeries this gets you 3U at the cost of 2U netting 1 per cycle gaining an arbitrary amount of colorless mana. Repeat and now untap two islands this filters 2 to U, repeat with the other lands you now have infinite 1WUB.
Removing from zones:
This time target the wall and ravenous rats to be flickered. Repeat enough times for them to discard their hand. Then cast increasing confusion = to their library. All islands are in play or in graveyard so cast Planar Birth. Activate the bronze tablet and respond to it with flicker. They are unable to pay ten life and the island is moved into your exile zone and bronze tablet is no longer considered the same object and is not exiled. Rinse and repeat for all 100 Islands.
Pass the turn, gg.
Edit: Still works with bronze tablet in the board, just add death wish to the mainboard. I don't run the ravnica bounce lands because that would mean in some configurations the game is unwinable (8 non land + bounce land).
I also found a second version that shaves off two cards:
With 0 cards in library play out all of the moxes to get WUUBG and cast wheel of sun and moon.
Cast retract floating UB. Play out the moxes again tap them for mana so you have WUUBBG play the ichor wellspring to draw retract and then cast it. Each cycle nets you 2 Mana of colors of your choice. Every third cycle play and activate a Disrupting Scepter to get rid of their hand.
Using the vintage card pool and restricted list (ie: Vintage Legal) to build a deck that has at least a turn 3 kill against an opponent who has an opening hand of:
And draws and plays Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Memnite for his three turns and the rest of his deck are the 50 best cards in magic: Island. Game starts as usual each player has 7 cards and 20 life. You can choose to play or draw and the deck can be in any configuration of your choice (gratuitous luck), however your opponent knows this configuration and will do his best to thwart your efforts.
I should have been more clear, it has to be vintage legal. (my solution is actually legacy legal and involves combat damage and I think there is a modern legal one aswell). I could be mean and throw in an Emrakul or somesuch but I don't think that would be as fair. Game is a normal match with 20 life and 7 card opener.
A magic puzzle is simple. The puzzle giver describes a the full situation of a magic game, and players must find a way to either win the game, or survive - depending upon the puzzle giver's request.
Puzzle Givers:
Puzzle Solvers
Above all else, HAVE FUN!
Winners listed below are ordered by the number of puzzles they have won.
1 fnord
1 Draco9
1. < 1 Day : Feyd_Ruin's Puzzle #1
2. < 1 Day : fnord's Puzzle #2
No longer staff here.
Format: Modern Legal Tournament
Description:
You are playing a RWU homebrew deck, and are facing a goblin deck in a modern tournament. You're barely alive, and the end is near.
Opponent
Your opponent is at 12 life, with 2 cards in hand.
Your opponent has the following battlefield:
Lands
Creatures
201 Ember Hauler
201 Goblin Chieftain
201 Mad Auntie
201 Wort, Boggart Auntie
px;">205 Mountains
203 Swamps
Creatures
201 Ember Hauler
201 Goblin Chieftain
201 Mad Auntie
201 Wort, Boggart Auntie
You
You are at 4 life, with a Peek in hand.
You have the following battlefield:
Lands
203 Island
Creatures
201 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (tapped)
px;">203 Mountain
202 Plains
203 Island
Creatures
201 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (tapped)
Puzzle:
You are at 4 life, and your opponent just announced his combat step. In response, you cast your Peek, tapping an Island. He reveals a Bump in the Night and a Ricochet Trap in his hand. Draw your god card that allows you to survive this turn and swing a win next turn.
Caveats:
Assume there is nothing worth noting in either graveyard or exile.
No longer staff here.
Not that it's particularly relevant, but Gitaxian Probe is a sorcery. Peek would work.
This looks fun.
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
EDIT: Aurelia's Fury should work as the answer.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
God card, or god draw?
Cause Scout's Warning into Wurmcoil Engine blocking blocking Wort oughta do it, but that requires the top of your deck to be stacked perfectly.
Edit: looks like the correct answer doesn't require such shenanigans.
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
It draws. YOu're at 4 life, so you take 1 from Ember Hauler and 3 from inferno bringing you to 0.
Switched to Peek!
Exactly what I was thinking.
This works too. Shenanigans are always welcome, but the puzzle was to draw a single card to answer. No reason not to take this though.
Your opponent could sac the Ember Hauler IRSP, taking you to 3.
Inferno then deals 3 to you, causing a draw.
Edit: snarth'd
No longer staff here.
I don't think Warning+Wurmcoil works. Hauler sac+Bump is lethal, since Bump is life loss. Bump+Bump flashback is also lethal. The opponent doesn't have to attack.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Aha! Nice catch!
Anyone else want to try and think of one?
I'll scratch my brain for a bit to come up with another.
(I love these btw)
No longer staff here.
Your opponent:
3 life
6 Snow-Covered Swamp (tapped)
Worship
B.F.M. with Loxodon Warhammer attached.
You:
1 life
3 different 1-mana 1/1 creatures. Each has a keyword ability and no other abilities.
Neither player has anything relevant in hand/GY/exile.
It's your opponent's turn and he's attacking you with the B.F.M. Which 3 creatures allow you to survive the attack and win next turn? The top card of your deck is a basic land of your choice.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Timber Wolves, Typhoid Rats, Tundra Wolves?
Edit:
Timber Wolves, Typhoid Rats, Death Speakers?
That doesn't work.
The Tundra Wolves deal 1 damage to the B.F.M. in the first strike damage step. In the normal damage step, the B.F.M. will deal 102 damage assigned as you like, but that will end up killing at least 1 creature. In addition, the lifelink will cause the opponent to gain 102 life. The B.F.M. will die, but you won't be able to win next turn.
Correct.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
Win the game using Barren Glory's trigger, under the following conditions:
1. When you win the game, your GY and library must be empty. You must own no exiled cards. Your sideboard must be empty. Your must own no permanents controlled by your opponent.
2. Your deck must be Vintage-legal. (So no hiding cards in the ante zone.)
3. Your opponent is the best player in the world and always draws the best card. However, he's playing 60basics.dec for some reason.
Your deck is randomized as normal. However, you may assume that the bottom five cards of your deck are basic lands if it takes your solution some turns to work.
Extra bonus challenge: do it with as few cards other than basic lands as possible in your deck.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
Barren Glory need not be on the battlefield when its trigger resolves. See this thread.
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
Paradox Haze / Teferi's Realm / Spatial Binding / Mycosynth Lattice / Barren Glory / 55 basics
Upkeep: Spatial Binding @ BGlory , Name Artifacts with Teferi's Realm
Upkeep2: Win
Edit: Sub'd Mycosynth Lattice over Enchanted Evening regarding below post.
No longer staff here.
Other problems to solve involve forcing them to play everything and not lose before you can do the loop, and getting them below 10 life, but those don't seem terribly hard. I assume that they are not allowed to concede...
The answer lies in "ante", my friend. You need to make them ante all their cards.
Now. My chosen method is Sunder (putting their lands into their hand) followed by Temporal Cascade (shuffling their and, incidentally, your) hand and graveyard into their library) followed by infinite Demonic Attorneys (putting both player's libraries into the ante), followed by a single Beacon of Creation from my SB so I have a card in my library, followed by infinite Darkpacts (gaining ownership of all their islands), followed by passing the turn.
To make this all happen, I need an Izzet Guildmage, a Burning Wish, Channel the Suns (in my SB) and a Fork (thus giving me infinite mana -> Infinite Burning Wishes), plus this all needs to be instant speed (Leyline of Ante-ticipation, welcome).
Plus 18 mana to kick it all off;
Izzet Guildmage (in play, since worst case scenario draws either it or the Leyline of Anticipation, and leyline costs more)
Leyline of Anticipation (4 mana)
Burning Wish (6 mana)
resp. copy Burning Wish (9 mana)
Copy fishes out Channel the Suns, casts it (13 mana)
Fork (15 mana)
Copy Fork (18 mana)
Infinite mana (all colours but red) and infinite Sorceries from the SB which can all be copied an infinite number of times...
So, my deck:
Izzet Guildmage
Burning Wish
Fork
Leyline of Anticipation
9 Island
9 Mountain
(no matter what the hand, there's not enough non-land cards to ever have to discard anything)
SB:
Channel the Suns
Sunder
Temporal Cascade
Demonic Attorney
Beacon of Creation
Darkpact
1) No Forest to cast Channel the Suns (*facepalm*)
2) Even with a Forest, I can't get infinite BLUE mana (*facepalm*)
Solution: Replace Channel the Suns with Rude Awakening, replace a land with a Swamp and add a Forest. There we go. Mucho more infinite mana.
(assuming it doesn't start in the board):First we need an engine to flicker bronze tablet for all their lands, as a pauper player I came up with this:
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Bronze Tablet
1 Amulet of Vigor
1 Cloud of Faeries
3 Cloudpost
2 Islands
Then with the help of Planar Birth all we need to do is get all of their lands into the bin.
I've conviently added an infinite mana combo the list above meaning all we need is a way to have to get all of their hand and library to the bin. Ravenous Rats looks like a good candidate for discard and Increasing confusion will do a good job for the mill.
Adding a basic land to cast each of those spells
Meaning the final configuration is:
1 Mnemonic Wall
1 Bronze Tablet
1 Amulet of Vigor
1 Cloud of Faeries
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Increasing confusion
1 Planar Birth
3 Cloudpost
2 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
For a total of 15 cards with a gaurenteed win on 8. Worst case scenario Cloudpost is on the bottom and you draw 8 nonland in which case you discard increasing confusion and are still fine.
Over the course of the first few turns you play out all of your permanents once you have played every permanent you begin the combo:
Mana Incoming:
Target Memnonic Wall and Cloud of Faeries with Ghostly Flicker. Return Ghostly Flicker to your hand with the wall and untap a cloudpost and an island with the Faeries this gets you 3U at the cost of 2U netting 1 per cycle gaining an arbitrary amount of colorless mana. Repeat and now untap two islands this filters 2 to U, repeat with the other lands you now have infinite 1WUB.
Removing from zones:
This time target the wall and ravenous rats to be flickered. Repeat enough times for them to discard their hand. Then cast increasing confusion = to their library. All islands are in play or in graveyard so cast Planar Birth. Activate the bronze tablet and respond to it with flicker. They are unable to pay ten life and the island is moved into your exile zone and bronze tablet is no longer considered the same object and is not exiled. Rinse and repeat for all 100 Islands.
Pass the turn, gg.
Edit: Still works with bronze tablet in the board, just add death wish to the mainboard. I don't run the ravnica bounce lands because that would mean in some configurations the game is unwinable (8 non land + bounce land).
I also found a second version that shaves off two cards:
1 Amulet Of Vigor
1 Retract
1 Ichor WellSpring
1 Death Wish
1 Increasing Confusion
1 Planar Birth
1 Dirupting Scepter
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Opal
1 Bronze Tablet
With 0 cards in library play out all of the moxes to get WUUBG and cast wheel of sun and moon.
Cast retract floating UB. Play out the moxes again tap them for mana so you have WUUBBG play the ichor wellspring to draw retract and then cast it. Each cycle nets you 2 Mana of colors of your choice. Every third cycle play and activate a Disrupting Scepter to get rid of their hand.
Pool lots of mana and mill them out with Increasing Confusion and then cast Planar Birth and Death Wish for Bronze Tablet. Now with all of your mana play out amulet of vigor and bronze tablet and ichor wellspring. Activate the tablet and respond to it with retract. Repeat 100x times, that foil island is mine. Pass the turn.
Same deal as before where in the worst case you draw the 8 non mana sources in which case you discard increasing confusion.
Using the vintage card pool and restricted list (ie: Vintage Legal) to build a deck that has at least a turn 3 kill against an opponent who has an opening hand of:
4x Force of Will
2x Mental Misstep
1x Gut Shot
And draws and plays Ornithopter, Ornithopter, Memnite for his three turns and the rest of his deck are the 50 best cards in magic: Island. Game starts as usual each player has 7 cards and 20 life. You can choose to play or draw and the deck can be in any configuration of your choice (gratuitous luck), however your opponent knows this configuration and will do his best to thwart your efforts.
Ancient Tomb
Simian Spirit Guide x 2
Barbed Shocker
Island
Omniscience
Top of deck=edit: Show and Tell Release the Ants, Emrakul
t2 kill. Legacy legal. Turn 1, discard opponents hand; turn 2, show and tell Omniscience, draw Release the ants, cast it for infinity damage.