[Archive] Challenge Set 4

[Tattooedoni]

Hello Everyone. There is a new update, and new challenges with it. Thanks to the programers who put together the massive update and new challenges (and card unlock prizes). For more info on challenge mode and these challenges you can check the Wiki http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/Chall ... t_unlocked.

Here is what it has listed for Set 4:
"Challenge 4:
Chaos Orb (Violent Umtimatum) - 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
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.
The '???' rewards are non-card unlocks. You'll have to discover what they are on your own, but they only impact Challenge Mode."

Based on the post with the update it looks like the ???? are probably new decks used in challenge mode, but I am not sure.

The only one I have tried so far is the Lich one. I used a Dredge deck and got pretty far until I got paired with the burn deck and didn't have a turn one kill. I went Bazar, go. He went bolt you, go which made me sack my 2 Library of Lengs and Bazar. I activated of course. I dredged with my draw and couldn't win. So I passed back and got bolted again. I had to sac my Lich and died.

I will probably focus on unlocking Bituminous Blast next. I guess I just need to play something broken that wins on turn 1 or 2. It doesn't appear that you need to play with only basics and original dual lands in those challenges. At least not for the Lich Challenge.

[aww1979]

Well, I've got insomnia tonight, so I think I'll give some of these a whirl! :p I'll start in order. The chaos orb one seems like cheap casts, haste, and comes into play effects on permanents will be the way to go.

edit:
I had Chaos Orb challenge crash at the end of round 9/beginning of round 10. I don't know if this was horrible luck or if it is bugged, but be warned :p

Also, Chaos orb challenge behaves like this:

Round 1: tap
Round 2: tap
Round 3: bounce
Round 4: bounce
Round 5: bounce
Round 6: destroy
Round 7: destroy
Round 8: destroy
Round 9: destroy

[Nyktorion]

I only tested the Lich challenge yet, but I could beat it at the second try using tendrils storm (in the first try, the Lich got naturalized on the second turn, probably by the Spawnwrith deck). Since Lich only destroys your permanents for damage you take, but not for life that is "lost" or "paid", this deck has some very nice synergies with Lich (Dark Confidant, Fetchlands, Vampiric Tutor, unlimited card drawing with Necropotence), and the draw-for-lifegain ability of Lich is very useful if you have to play your first tendrils with a low storm counter.

;TPS2
;
;
;

.17 1 Black Lotus
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.894 1 Mana Crypt
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.402 1 Sensei's Divining Top
.230 1 Sol Ring
.1734 3 Cabal Ritual
.1723 4 Dark Confidant
.55 4 Dark Ritual
.1890 1 Demonic Consultation
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.1846 4 Duress
.1705 1 Necropotence
.1848 3 Tendrils of Agony
.1907 1 Thoughtseize
.333 1 Vampiric Tutor
.1910 1 Yawgmoth's Will*
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.499 1 Brainstorm
.1891 1 Echoing Truth
.502 2 Hurkyl's Recall
.587 1 Meditate
.309 1 Windfall
.352 1 Mystical Tutor
.312 1 Ponder
.249 1 Time Walk
.250 1 Timetwister
.282 1 Wheel of Fortune
.9 1 Badlands
.1489 1 Bloodstained Mire
.1488 1 Flooded Strand
.126 1 Island
.1487 4 Polluted Delta
.239 2 Swamp
.258 3 Underground Sea
.1751 1 Gush

[Salbei]

there is not round 10 at Chaos Orb btw. card gets unlocked after you beat round 9 . really unlucky^^

beat the challenge with a belcher deck(usually turn1 or turn2 kill so even if the ai destroys stuff it doesn´t really matter. either 10+ goblins or belcher for 90 damage ^^)

didn´t even have to modify the deck - beat it at the first attempt.



.1892 4 Elvish Spirit Guide
.1904 4 Simian Spirit Guide
.1908 4 Tinder Wall
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.1696 4 Manamorphose
.1423 3 Seething Song
.30 1 Channel
.1866 4 Empty the Warrens
.1897 4 Land Grant
.1730 4 Rite of Flame
.250 1 Timetwister
.1351 1 Tinker
.309 1 Windfall
.282 1 Wheel of Fortune
.17 1 Black Lotus
.1685 2 Chromatic Star
.1718 1 Chrome Mox
.1894 4 Goblin Charbelcher
.1898 1 Lion's Eye Diamond
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.894 1 Mana Crypt
.157 1 Mana Vault
.1900 1 Memory Jar
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.230 1 Sol Ring
.241 1 Taiga
.252 1 Tropical Island
.1895 2 Goblin Welder

http://salbei.spacequadrat.de/magic/deck/T1Belcher.dck

[aww1979]

Chaos Orb

.17 1 Black Lotus
.1898 1 Lion's Eye Diamond
.1424 1 Lotus Petal
.894 1 Mana Crypt
.157 1 Mana Vault
.457 1 Mox Diamond
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.168 1 Mox Ruby
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.230 1 Sol Ring
.1892 2 Elvish Spirit Guide
.1704 1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
.1910 1 Yawgmoth's Will*
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.1734 4 Cabal Ritual
.55 4 Dark Ritual
.502 1 Hurkyl's Recall
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.327 3 Grim Tutor
.1848 1 Tendrils of Agony
.1893 4 Forbidden Orchard
.249 1 Time Walk
.1351 1 Tinker
.648 1 Mind's Desire*
.250 1 Timetwister
.309 1 Windfall
.282 1 Wheel of Fortune
.202 1 Regrowth
.403 4 City of Brass
.258 2 Underground Sea
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.1696 4 Manamorphose
.1904 2 Simian Spirit Guide
.587 4 Meditate
.1900 1 Memory Jar

Yeah, it's tendrils again :p I thought about trying things like dredge, but I figured that the challenge environment would wreck the bazaars too badly. False alarm on the bug earlier, it was just a badly timed crash, as it was loading round 10 :p Anyway, for the first few rounds, just play it like normal tendrils; the tap/bounce is only a minor inconvenience. After that, you'll have to either play several permanents right away so that you keep some in play, or wait until you can go off all in one turn, 'perfect storm' style.

edit: Defeated the Cascade challenge with this exact same deck.
edit: Urgh! Seems that Bituminous Blast didn't get unlocked, even though I got to the final screen. Did this happen to anyone else or did I get shafted again? :p Shouldn't be too hard to redo if it was just bad luck.

[aww1979]

Pit Fighting:

Pit Scorpions show up on opponent's side, seemingly at random (or at least not in a pattern I can figure out yet)

Round 1: Death Pit Offering, Blood Moon, and Presence of the Master. Kobold Deck.

Round 2: Jareth, Leonine Titan, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Soldier deck.

Round 3: Arcanis the Omnipotent, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Merfolk deck.

Round 4: Visara the Dreadful, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Zombie deck.

Round 5: Silvos, Rogue Elemental, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Elf Spawnwrithe deck.

Round 6: Rorix Bladewing, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Goblin deck.

Round 7: Jeska, Warrior Adept, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Red direct damage deck.

Round 8: Lord of the Pit, 3x Pit Scorpion, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Rats deck.

Round 9: 5x Pit Scorpion, Blood Moon, Presence of the Master. Sliver Deck.

[aww1979]

hehehe, Life's a Lich, done IN STYLE!!! (1st attempt, too) I got tired of slugging away at the Pit Fighting; it's a tough one. Blood Moon cramps my style.

Life's a Lich

;lichkiller
;
;#oldgames
;
;27/12/2009
;1
;4th Edition
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.1723 4 Dark Confidant
.55 4 Dark Ritual
.1910 1 Yawgmoth's Will*
.333 1 Vampiric Tutor
.712 4 Street Wraith
.613 1 Sorin Markov*
.1760 4 Pox
.1110 4 Phyrexian Arena
.1051 4 Graveborn Muse
.1103 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.1735 4 Carnophage
.1441 4 Bitterblossom
.239 17 Swamp
.17 1 Black Lotus
.166 1 Mox Jet
.230 1 Sol Ring

Gain ridiculous card advantage with Bob, Phyrexian Arena, and Graveborn Muse. Get faerie rogues for free, as well as carnophage. (who doubles as a zombie for Muse even) Pox doesn't do any damage to you, Street Wraiths don't cost life to cycle (and can be hardcast if desired), and to top it all off, Sorin Markov *draws you two cards* when you activate him! Suicide black at its finest. (well, as long as you have a free lich in play!)

Someone else suggested Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain. I don't know how they interact in manalink, but I'm 99% sure IRL that you couldn't activate them with Lich in play, so I didn't put them in.

[aww1979]

ABCs (S)

.1836 4 Sarcomancy
.1944 4 Shriekmaw
.1759 4 Smallpox
.1478 4 Slith Bloodletter
.613 2 Sorin Markov*
.461 4 Stone-Throwing Devils
.1496 4 Stupor
.230 1 Sol Ring
.1714 4 Skullclamp
.1207 4 Solemn Simulacrum
.1833 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
.529 4 Su-Chi
.239 19 Swamp
.528 1 Strip Mine

This one was fun to design! There were lots of strategies to try, so I am sure there will be a wide variety of decks for this one. I think I made it the second attempt with this one. The original was a B/W deck, similar style to above, but the white mana base was crappy due to only having Sacred Foundry, Scrubland, Savannah, and Secluded Steppe to use, two of which come into play tapped. If it weren't for the land, monowhite S could probably make it, too. I also thought about trying 'B' since there are a lot of good lands in there (badlands, bayou, bloodstained mire, etc) but when I saw all the good spells in S, I had to do it.

edit: wtf? It didn't unlock the card for ABCs, either...

[monopoman]

Well S seems to have the most cards in the game right now so that helps a lot and it has Swamp which is one of the few letters with a basic land.

[jatill]

aww-
Are you getting the unlock message but the card doesn't unlock, or you never get the message?

[aww1979]

On Cascade and ABCs I got the unlock message.

The first time I did Chaos Orb, it crashed before I got the message.

When I did Chaos Orb again, and completed Life's a Lich, I got the unlock message, and those two challenges have (unlocked) after it in the challenge menu.

I'll check if it's just a display error, and see if I can actually use the cards.

edit: Okay, that was bizarre. I made some test decks. Violent Ultimatum worked fine. Phyrexian Negator worked fine. Then I tried Leyline of the Void. It also worked. Thinking it might be due to debug mode, I then took a deck full of swamps and Leylines into a challenge, and now on the challenge menu I see cascade and ABCs as unlocked.

So, summary: I have no idea what the problem's source was, but it went away once I made a deck with one of the cards that wasn't showing as unlocked.

[aww1979]

Well S seems to have the most cards in the game right now so that helps a lot and it has Swamp which is one of the few letters with a basic land.

Yeah, my first instinct was to go M for mountain/mox, but it turns out red has very few cards in M. I think B (lots of duals) or T (also lots of duals) would work, too, plus the basic land letters would have a decent chance, too.

If we ever get snow-covered lands, S will be the way to go for sure! :p

[monopoman]

Well just beat the Lich Challenge and the game congratulated me but didn't unlock any card or show that I beat it.

So apparently this game is bugged and at least some of the challenges refuse to unlock cards.

[aww1979]

Try actually using the card in a deck. I had the same thing happen and that fixed it on my end.

[monopoman]

I did it said it wasn't unlocked and sent it to the grave after I cast it.