Magic: the Puzzling

[jatill]

This isn't really related to manalink, but I thought you guys might have some fun with this puzzle I created. Who will be the first to solve it?

It’s winter time and your adventure-seeking band of Goblins are out to have a fun day of sledding and skiing. Your opponent, Old Man Winter, has other plans for you. Attempting to plow you under with snow and keep you in your burrows, he has subjected you to an unending barrage of Ice Storms, Ice Falls, and even Avalanches! He currently sits comfortably in his Glacial Fortress, knowing that he’s protected by his giant walls of ice, and the Flashfreeze in his hand that he has boastfully revealed. To top it all off, he has an Ice Cauldron ready to untap and deal you the final blow with Icequake on one of your now-snow lands. Can your team of goblins with shovels get rid of enough snow to destroy Old Man Winter before he gets to untap his Ice Cauldron?

It is your first main phase.

Old Man Winter (6 life)
Ice Cauldron (tapped, with a Black mana charged on it, exiling Icequake)
Glacial Wall x2
Wall of Ice x2 (one enchanted with Snow Devil)
Wall of Frost x2, (both enchanted with Snow Devil)
Icy Prison (exiling your Goblin Sappers)
Arcum’s Weathervane
Frost Marsh (tapped)
Snow-Covered Island x4 (2 tapped)
Snow-Covered Mountain x2 (tapped)
Snow-Covered Forest (tapped)
One card in hand (Flashfreeze)



You (1 life)
Goblin Digging Team x2 (one enchanted with Ice Cage)
Goblin Ski Patrol
Goblin Rock Sled x2 (one enchanted with Ice Cage)
Goblin Sledder (tapped by Wall of Frost)
Goblin Snowman
3 Mountains, all snow-covered due to Arcum’s Weathervane

Your Hand:
Incinerate, Word of Blasting, Seething Song, Melting

[Marek14]

1. Sacrifice Goblin Sledder for its ability, target Goblin Digging Team with Ice Cage. Ice Cage is destroyed.
2. Activate both Goblin Digging Teams, targeting two of the Walls with Snow Devil (say, the two Walls of Frost). They are destroyed.
3. Tap all three Mountains and cast Seething Song.
4. Spend RR to cast Word of Blasting to destroy the remaining Wall with Snow Devil (Wall of Ice, for example). Word of Blasting deals three damage to Old Man Winter.
5. Now he has no more flying creatures, so pay RR to pump Goblin Ski Patrol and attack for 3, killing him.

The Flashfreeze doesn't matter since all his lands are tapped.

Alternately, you could just cast Seething Song, and then blow up a Wall with Word of Blasting and kill opponent with Incinerate.

[jatill]

2 Islands are untapped

[Marek14]

OK, so how about this?

1. Sacrifice Goblin Snowman to Goblin Sledder and give +1/+1 to the Goblin Rock Sled with Ice Cage. It's 4/2 and the Ice Cage is removed.
2. Attack with both Goblin Rock Sleds and Goblin Ski Patrol.
3. Now, opponent cannot leave any of these creatures unblocked. All of them have power at least 3 (I can pump the Ski Patrol), and I have two Digging Teams, Sledder and the two remaining attackers to push it up to 6 or more and kill opponent.
4. Therefore, opponent will block all three creatures. With six walls, the possibilities are:
4+1+1
3+2+1
2+2+2

If he blocks 4+1+1, one of the creatures blocked with 1 wall must be a Goblin Rock Sled. Sacrifice one Goblin Digging Team to kill that Wall, and the remaining Digging Team, Sledder and two other attackers can be sacrificed to push that Rock Sled's power to 6 and win (I assume it's the weaker one).

If he blocks 2+2+2, the bigger Goblin Rock Sled is blocked by 2 walls. I can throw 3 creatures onto them (Goblin Digging Team, an attacker to target second Goblin Digging Team and get rid of Ice Cage, second Goblin Digging Team), and I still have Sledder and the remaining attacker to pump bigger Goblin Rock Sled to 6 and win.

If he blocks 3+2+1, I might have a Rock Sled blocked with 1 wall, in which case I do the same thing as in 4+1+1 case. Or he might block bigger Rock Sled with 2 walls, and I do the same thing as in 2+2+2 case.

So the remaining case is with Ski Patrol blocked by 1 wall, smaller Rock Sled by 2, and bigger Rock Sled by 3. In that case, I cast Incinerate on the Goblin Digging Team with Ice Cage. It doesn't matter whether opponent counters it or not - it targets the Team and destroys the Ice Cage. Now I can respond to Incinerate by sacrifice both Digging Teams to destroy the blocking walls, and I have two attackers and Sledders which can be sacrificed to pump the 3/1 Rock Sled to 6/4 and win.

[jatill]

You got it! Did you find this (1) fun, and (2) challenging? I'm curious because I'm submitting it for a contest.

[aww1979]

I've seen puzzles like this before, but this particular one is really good! Just make sure to include the two untapped islands :p It's not very hard at all without those, but when I read that, I couldn't figure it out anymore, mostly because I didn't remember that trample creatures whose defenders are removed will deal damage to the opponent.

[Marek14]

You got it! Did you find this (1) fun, and (2) challenging? I'm curious because I'm submitting it for a contest.

Challenging, definitely. Figuring out that I can target my creature with Incinerate to remove the Cage was the hardest part. Pretty fun, yes. Took almost an hour of my life...