Challenge Mode

Are you a master of Shandalar and the constructed gauntlet? Challenge Mode offers a new way to test your skill against difficult AI opponents. Winning challenges also unlocks new cards. (Cards will show up in deck builder even if they are locked)

Here's how to play challenge mode: Choose the 'Gauntlet' option on the main screen. Check the 'Challenge Mode' checkbox. Fire up the gauntlet (1 game per match, and set # of matches to 12) and begin! If you're doing the first challenge (Challenge Set 1 - Tribal Trials), you'll notice that your opponent will start with a Kobold in play. That means everything is working.

General Rules:

To win a challenge you must win between 9 and 11 games in a row. Once you win that many games, a message will appear telling you which card you have unlocked. Keep playing until you get that message.

All challenge decks must be either Vintage or Legacy legal. Some challenges have additional deck building requirements, as described below. If your challenge auto-loses you at the beginning of the game, it is because your deck is illegal.

Warning: If you win a game before the AI has a single turn, challenge mode might get messed up. Wait until the AI has at least 1 turn before going crazy!

Challenge Descriptions and cards to get unlocked:

Challenge 1:
* Tribal Trials (Mystic Enforcer) - opponent plays a tribal deck and gets a free creature
* Vanguard Vengeance (City of Traitors) - opponent starts the game with a Vanguard Avatar
* Chipping Away (Mystic Remora) - at the beginning of each game, opponent drains your life
* Onslaught (Quirion Dryad) - each upkeep opponent gets a copy of a certain card
* Shandalar 2.0 (Goblin Welder) - opponent starts the game with specific challenging cards in play
* BANNED! (Cursed Scroll) - each round a different color or card type cannot be played
* Planeswalker Decimation (Serum Powder) - Battle the Planeswalkers while losing by 10% of your life/poison/deck each turn.
* Magic: The Puzzling (Conundrum Sphinx) - Solve several puzzles in a row. If you fail this challenge, make sure to restart the entire program before trying again.
* That's Not My Deck (Mirari's Wake) - Build your deck, only to see the computer tinker with it a little. Only lands from Beta are allowed in your land slot.

Challenge 2:
* Super Mulligan (Rout) - start the game with 2 cards in hand
* What Hand? (Brain freeze) - skip your draw step
* That's Big... (Goblin Charbelcher) - you deck can only include lands and cards with mana cost > 3
* Epic (Manabond) - you can only play 1 spell the entire game
* There can be only one (Street Wraith) - your deck must be at least 100 cards and have no duplicates
* March of the Machines (Tangle Wire) - your deck can ONLY include artifacts
* Land Ho! (Gemstone Mine) - your deck can ONLY include lands,you start the game with Exploration in play.
* Dude... (Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker) - your deck can ONLY include creatures,you start the game with City of Brass in play.

Challenge 3:
For each of the deck building challenges, you may only use basic and beta dual for lands.
* Big Dumb Object (Karn, Silver Golem) - Build your deck ONLY with Artifact Creatures. Do not worry, you'll get a FREE Sol Ring.
* Enchanted Evening (Illusions of Grandeur) - You may only use enchantments
* Master Warlock (Donate) - You may only use sorceries
* Urza Wannabe (Tezzeret the Seeker) - You may only use planeswalkers. You can have 6 cards that break this rule.
* Instant Gratification (Might of Alara) - You may only use instants
* Gimme! (Sower of Temptation) - The enemy regularly steals your permanents.
* March of the Machines 2 (Umezawa's Jitte) - You may only use non-creature artifacts
* Easy as 1, 2, 3... (Bloodbraid Elf) - Your deck must include exactly 4 one casting cost cards, 4 2 CC cards, ... up to 4 10 CC cards.
* The Perfect Storm (Mind's Desire) - The turn you play a spell, you must win the game
* Sliver Nation (Sliver Overlord). - Fight an increasingly difficult horde of Slivers

Challenge 4:
* Chaos Orb (Violent Ultimatum) - Randomly have a permanent of yours tapped, bounced, or destroyed each turn.
* Pit Fighting (???) - Dive into the pit and battle a seasoned pit fighter. Watch out for the scorpions!
* Life's a Lich (Phyrexian Negator) - Win the challenge without dying to your own Lich. You start with a Lich and a Library of Leng in play.
* Cascade (Bituminous Blast) - Every spell opponent plays has cascade
* ABC's (Leyline of the Void) - Every card in your deck must start with the same letter.
* Challenge Challenge (Helm of Obedience) - You can only use card you have unlocked via challenge mode. You may also use basics and beta duals for lands.
* Enchanted (???) - Battle your way through an enchantment-enhanced group of opponents.
* Budget deck for ya (Leatherback Baloth): beat the challenge with a mono-colored deck (no hybrids allowed) built only with commons and uncommons (this restriction does not apply to lands, but you're still restricted to Beta-only lands).
* Archenemy's Cohort (???) : beat the 8 powerful, legendary allies of the Archenemy and then the Archenemy itself ! Your deck must be at least 100 cards and have no duplicates, except for basic lands.
* Back to '95 (???) : Your deck must consist of cards from the early days of magic (sets release before 1996): Alpha/Beta/Unlimited, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, Fallen Empires and Homelands.

The '???' rewards are non-card unlocks. You'll have to discover what they are on your own, but they only impact Challenge Mode.