[Archive] Challenge Set 1

[aww1979]

Heh, well that means your solution is different than mine, doctormac, because mine is legit under modern rules. The other thing I'll say about my solution is that I used all eight islands, i.e. my solution would fail if you only got seven islands.

[Avatar111x]

WOO-HOO!!!

Finally did it. Now onto no. 6 (my solution for 5 was correct, so I'm leaping forwards ... before inevitabley crashing to a halt later on).

[Cognis]

I got to round 7 where you have to be 5-1 on exiled cards, problem was I played against the turbo fog deck and it didn't have anything to exile except tokens, I met the condition but since the tokens disappear they didn't count as being exiled, damn it it's frustrating.

[aww1979]

Use Jester's Cap for that one, and don't pick all three cards the second time you use it. There might be other ways to do it, but that's the card I generally used, that and/or Swords to Plowshares.

[Cognis]

:facepalm: I'm such a moron, didn't even think of that, but first I have to get there, the challenge with cards in library was brutal, I took Necropotence with Platinum Angel off course to set my own library up and Jace, the Mind Sculptor to set up the AI, the thing is I really need Serum Powder for the last round of Shandalar 2.0 because I have to play Emrakul on turn 1 and that takes some tries to get.

[Cognis]

I made it to the final round of 5:1 Odds with this deck only to have the game crash with my win condition in hand. The screen is attached so I'll explain it. AI needs 5 artifacts and I 1 so since it only plays Strip Mine I have to take care of that. I get Donate and give it 1 artifact. I Regrowth Donate and play it again. When I collected enough mana I grabbed another Donate for the third artifact and played Yawgmoth's Will with 6 mana in the pool for 2 Donate. I attack with Platinum Angel, odds are 5-1, AI was at 4 and dies but unfortunately my game froze after selecting Donate from the graveyard and it was over

;Five-2-1
;
;Underdogs
;no.spam@plea.se
;15/12/2009
;1
;4th Edition
;

.120 1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
.1308 4 Platinum Angel
.254 4 Tundra
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.17 1 Black Lotus
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.200 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn*
.726 3 Moat
.894 1 Mana Crypt
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.249 1 Time Walk
.1758 2 Show and Tell
.312 1 Ponder
.499 1 Brainstorm
.1488 4 Flooded Strand
.240 4 Swords to Plowshares
.250 1 Timetwister
.334 2 Personal Tutor
.1779 1 Lightning Greaves
.349 2 Enlightened Tutor
.1899 2 Living Wish
.528 1 Strip Mine
.1886 1 Burning Wish
.1889 2 Cunning Wish
.166 1 Mox Jet
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.266 2 Volcanic Island
.258 2 Underground Sea
.252 2 Tropical Island
.1910 1 Yawgmoth's Will*
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.451 3 Ring of Ma'rűf
.953 1 Venser the Sojurner
.202 1 Regrowth

Lands in play:
Not much in it. I developed my game and when I was secure I either got Venser the Sojurner and exiled the lands until the condition was set or Zuran Orb. I tried Strip Mine + Crucible of Worlds but it takes longer.

Creature Power/Thoughness:
When you run into a creature deck it's easy since they probably get a 5/5 creature eventually. I preferred Dragonmaster Outcast + Donate for the token, but there are many possibilities.

Cards in graveyard:
Psychatog is the easiest way. Once I played Timetwister and attacked with Emrakul and since the AI had 5 permanents the condition was met.

Hit Points:
Getting to 1 isn't a problem. Get Platinum Angel with Lightning Greaves if necessary. If the AI doesn't get you to 1 use Mana Crypt. Getting the AI to 5 is about planing. You can do it with attacks or go for Magister Sphinx and Lava Axe for instance.

Cards in hand:
Usually it's not hard to meet the condition, but Psychatog helps as well as does discard.

Cards in library:
After you lock the game get Necropotence and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Before Jace goes ultimate the AI needs to have 5 or more cards, Iona comes in handy so they wouldn't play instants to mess it up. When the AI has 5 cards remaining make sure you have Platinum Angel in play before activating Necropotence. Since the cards get exiled your library thins and you can attack for the win before drawing 20-some cards.

Exiled cards:
This can be very hard or very easy depending on the deck you play against. If it is a creature deck after you lock the game play Swords to Plowshares 5 times or go for Isohron Scepter and imprint it but make sure you don't exile other cards. If you're playing turbo fog or some other creatureless deck use the newly coded Venser the Sojurner, before he goes ultimate he must temporarily exile your permanents and although they come back they stay in the out of play section so you must exile tokens at first. Dragonmaster Outcast, Awakening Zone or any spell that would give you 3 or more tokens is fine for that. When he goes ultimate for each spell you play you can exile a permanent and it's easy after that.

Creatures in play:
If you get a creature deck it's easy, if you're not than you'll have to play Donate or possibly Hunted Dragon twice, but if you're playing against a creatureless deck make sure your one creature is Iona to ban their spells, Wrath of God or burn it doesn't matter.

Turns:
Basically you have to lock the game, get a bunch of lands and artifacts with Tolarian Academy and set up your game. 2 Meditate + Yawgmoth's Will will do the trick or 3 Meditate + Regrowth but either way you have to cast Meditate 4 times on your turn and be sure the AI can't do anything with his 5 turns, oh and make sure you don't deck yourself since you'll be drawing 16 cards plus another when its your turn.

Artifacts in play:
The last deck is all Strip Mine and no artifacts so you'll have to get a mana base in artifacts and play it slowly. Strip Mine's make it hard to get a lot of mana so play a land only when you must. The easiest way is to put Platinum Angel in play since it'll be a win condition and slowly giving the AI artifacts with Donate. In the end you'll have 1 Donate, an artifact and Black Lotus and with it you'll set up a win condition. Also for some reason Tolarian Academy was left alone by Strip Mine so that is also a massive boost, you can do it without it but it'll take longer, the other option is Crucible of Worlds for recurring Tolarian Academy. You just have to be patient and hope your games doesn't freeze.

[ALEX Ryugami]

Sometimes the answer of these puzzles is paying the attention for cards' interactions.

Now I'm stuck in #6, and don't know if #5 is a cheating

[Cognis]

I'm stuck on #3, but I played it for only a little while.

[scorpionx1]

i am trying this challenge and cant figure it out yet. obviously i am still in round 1.

how do i win? do i have to have 1 land in play with 5 on opponents side, as i kill the opponent?

[jatill]

Don't bother. This challenge is going to be replaced.

[aww1979]

Guess I'll skip that one in my tutorial then :p

[doctormac]

Augh. #8 is killing me. I have come up with 3 different ways to be one mana short of pulling it off..

--EDIT--

Ha! No sooner posted than figured out how to get the mana, and I feel dumb for not looking there sooner. Curious as to why I start with 1 mana though. My life total was totally irrelevant to my solution. Is there another solution that would work if we started with more than 1 life?

[aww1979]

Interesting... then you found a different solution than I did (and jatill, since I betatested this challenge). The solution we had definitely depended on the two life totals being what they are.

[doctormac]

I don't care if I'd feel cheap beating #9. I just want to beat it. Not sure if the Eye of Ulgin has anything to do with it, but I can't figure out a way to exploit it. Frustrating.

I will DM you my #8 solution. Curious what the intended one was.

-Rob

[aww1979]

The solution I used for #9 did indeed make use of the Eye of Ugin, and that is probably the toughest one of the bunch.