Magic: The Puzzling #5: "Magic Puzzles in Play Vol. 5"

[Huggybaby]

The two #5's in the title are purely coincidence. jatill has written a whole bunch of puzzles, and I wanted a puzzle of the "beat your opponent right now" variety, and this one from 2005 exceeded my criteria by offering THREE chances to beat your opponent right now!

Go to http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc ... Vol_5.html and check it out. (Over at starcitygames, when you hover over a card name, a nice picture of the card pops up. )

Or, read it in the spoiler below:

Magic Puzzles in Play Vol. 5 | Open

When watching a movie one day, you saw a young chess master take on several opponents at the same time, and he beat them all. You thought to yourself, "If this can work for chess, it can work for Magic!" So you got your decks together and headed to the local card shop. Half an hour later your were neck deep in three different games of magic with three different opponents. And your dreams were about to come true: this very turn you were going to be able to win each of those games.

And then it happened. An emergency phone call from home said that you had to leave immediately. So you scooped up your cards and headed out the door. And then your phone rang again. It was a false alarm; you could finish your tournament after all. The problem is, all the cards you had got all jumbled together in the mess. Your libraries were in one large heap and the rest of your cards in another. You stare at your collection of cards and try to piece together which cards were in games against which opponent. Which cards were in your hand, and which were in play? All you know is that in each game you were in the first main phase. Your goal is to recreate each game where it left off (as closely as possible), and then win each game. You may choose which zone each card is in (choices are in your hand or in play).

Cards:
1 Plains
1 Forest
6 Island
3 Swamp
2 Mountain

Ayumi, the Last Visitor
Barrel-Down Sokenzan
Celestial Kirin
Cut the Earthly Bond
Death Denied
Feral Lightning
Genju of the Realm
Ghost-lit Nourisher
Horobi’s Whisper
Inner-Chamber Guard
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Kashi-Tribe Elite
Kitsune Bonesetter
Kitsune Dawnblade
Pure Intentions
Sakura-Tribe Scout
Sasaya, Orochi Attendant (not flipped)
Shifting Borders
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Volcanic Hammer

Game 1:
Tony has been using a slew of land control like Plow Under and Root Runner to keep your lands in play to a minimum. Meanwhile, he has stayed alive behind his Ensnaring Bridge, just waiting to draw a kill spell. Finish him off before he has a chance to draw it.

Tony (11 life):
4 Forests
4 Swamp
Heartbeat of Spring
Darksteel Forge

Tony has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.

Game 2:
Rob is attempting to lock down your entire game plan with cards like Pithing Needle and Worship. His amassing army of creatures is starting to look threatening against your collection of troops. Take Rob out of commission before he runs you over.

Rob (1 life):
3 Plains
9 Forest
Worship
Hand of Honor (enchanted with Blanchwood Armor)
Nikko-Onna
6 1/1 colorless Spirit tokens
Pithing Needle (naming Kagemaro, First to Suffer)
Stampeding Serow

Rob has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.

Game 3:
Let’s face it: Frank doesn’t know what he’s doing. With all the creatures he has in play, Frank probably could have killed you turns ago. But he hasn’t. It’s time to teach Frank a lesson. Show him how’s it done by killing him this turn.

Frank (13 life):
9 Swamp
1 Mountain
Darksteel Colossus
Deathmask Nezumi
Crawling Filth
He Who Hungers
Yukora, the Prisoner
Gnat Miser
Raving Oni-Slave
Rustmouth Ogre

Frank has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.

Note: there may be multiple solutions for this puzzle. If there are, the "best" solution is the one that uses the fewest cards. I’ll post my answers Monday in the forums. Thanks again to Justin Sarnak for helping to test the puzzles.

~jeff till

The trick this time is that I don't know where the solution is, so there's no way to peek.

[jatill]

This one has a couple problems in the main puzzle, apparently. The correct puzzle was posted in the forums. Also, this puzzle is ridiculously hard!

When watching a movie one day, you saw a young chess master take on several opponents at the same time, and he beat them all. You thought to yourself, "If this can work for chess, it can work for Magic!" So you got your decks together and headed to the local card shop. Half an hour later your were neck deep in three different games of magic with three different opponents. And your dreams were about to come true: this very turn you were going to be able to win each of those games.

And then it happened. An emergency phone call from home said that you had to leave immediately. So you scooped up your cards and headed out the door. And then your phone rang again. It was a false alarm; you could finish your tournament after all. The problem is, all the cards you had got all jumbled together in the mess. Your libraries were in one large heap and the rest of your cards in another. You stare at your collection of cards and try to piece together which cards were in games against which opponent. Which cards were in your hand, and which were in play? All you know is that in each game you were in the first main phase. Your goal is to recreate each game where it left off (as closely as possible), and then win each game. You may choose which zone each card is in (choices are in your hand or in play).

Cards:
1 Plains
1 Forest
6 Island
3 Swamp
2 Mountain
Arashi, the Sky Asunder
Ayumi, the Last Visitor
Barrel-Down Sokenzan
Celestial Kirin
Cut the Earthly Bond
Death Denied
Feral Lightning
Genju of the Realm
Ghost-lit Nourisher
Horobi’s Whisper
Inner-Chamber Guard
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Kashi-Tribe Elite
Kitsune Bonesetter
Kitsune Dawnblade
Pure Intentions
Sakura-Tribe Scout
Sasaya, Orochi Attendant (not flipped)
Shatter
Shifting Borders
4 Shock
Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
Volcanic Hammer

Game 1:

Tony has been using a slew of land control like Plow Under and Root Runner to keep your lands in play to a minimum. Meanwhile, he has stayed alive behind his Ensnaring Bridge, just waiting to draw a kill spell. Finish him off before he has a chance to draw it.

Tony (11 life):
4 Forests
4 Swamp
Ensnaring Bridge
Heartbeat of Spring
Darksteel Forge

Tony has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.



Game 2:

Rob is attempting to lock down your entire game plan with cards like Pithing Needle and Worship. His amassing army of creatures is starting to look threatening against your collection of troops. Take Rob out of commission before he runs you over.

Rob (1 life):
3 Plains
9 Forest
Worship
Honor’s Hand (enchanted with Blanchwood Armor)
Nikko-Onna
6 1/1 colorless Spirit tokens
Pithing Needle (naming Kagemaro, First to Suffer)
Stampeding Serow

Rob has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.


Game 3:

Let’s face it: Frank doesn’t know what he’s doing. With all the creatures he has in play, Frank probably could have killed you turns ago. But he hasn’t. It’s time to teach Frank a lesson. Show him how’s it done by killing him this turn.

Frank (13 life):
9 Swamp
1 Mountain
Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
Darksteel Colossus
Deathmask Nezumi
Crawling Filth
He Who Hungers
Yukora, the Prisoner
Gnat Miser
Raving Oni-Slave
Rustmouth Ogre

Frank has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.

[aww1979]

Several times I almost thought I had this one, only to be foiled in one way or another. I'm still working on it, been on it all night :p

edit: I found a solution but it assumes that the opponent is too stupid to tap the land you target with Shifting Borders, and that that land is untapped i.e. you need the one point of mana from the stolen land to make my solution work.

How I did it... assuming opponent is too dumb to tap lands in response to Shifting Borders | Open

For all puzzles, assume none of your creatures have summoning sickness and that you have not used your land drop.

Puzzle #1:

BOARD: 1x Mountain, 1x Forest, 3x Island, Kitsune Bonesetter
HAND: Volcanic Hammer, 2x Shock, Ghost-Lit Nourisher, Barrel Down Sokenzan

Tap lands for RRGGUUUUUU. Attack with Kitsune Bonesetter and discard Ghost-Lit Nourisher from hand with Channeling ability, targeting Kitsune Bonesetter. (RRGUUU in pool) Opponent takes 4 damage. Cast Barrel Down Sokenzan on Kitsune Bonesetter, sweeping the mountain. (R in pool) Play Mountain and tap it. (RRRUU in pool) Cast 2x Shock and Volcanic Hammer on opponent for 7 damage.

Puzzle #2:

BOARD: Mountain, 2x Island, Swamp, Kagemaro, First to Suffer, Arashi, the Sky Asunder
HAND: Shatter, Cut the Earthly Bond, Inner-Chamber Guard, Genju of the Realm, Pure Intentions

PLAY: Tap lands for RUUB . Cast Shatter on Pithing Needle. (UB left in pool) Sacrifice Kagemaro, First to Suffer for -4/-4 to all creatures. (CtEB, I-CC, GotR, PI in hand) (U left in pool) All creatures die except Arashi, the Sky Asunder, who is now a 1/1, and Hand of Honor. Cast Cut the Earthly Bond on Hand of Honor. Attack with the 1/1 Arashi for the win.

Puzzle #3: Note that Ayumi is unblockable, so that's 7 damage right there. The other damage will have to come from either double-channeling Ghost-Lit Nourisher (with Death Denied) or somehow triggering Raving Oni-Slave after killing Yukora. This is possible with Celestial Kirin and then killing it in combat. Also note everything remaining might as well go into play if possible.

BOARD: Plains, Island, 2x Swamp, Ayumi, the Last Visitor, Celestial Kirin, Kashi-Tribe Elite, Kitsune Dawnblade, Sasaya, Orochi Attendant, Sakura-Tribe Scout, Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar

HAND: Shifting Borders, 1x Shock

PLAY: Tap WUBB to cast Shifting Borders, swapping any of your lands (doesn't matter which) for the Mountain. (assuming frank is too stupid to tap it in response) Celestial Kirin triggers with a 4cc, destroying itself and Yukoria, the Prisoner. Yukora then causes Darksteel Colossus, Deathmask Nezumi, Crawling Filth, He Who Hungers, and Gnat Miser to be sacrificed. Frank has Raving Oni-Slave and Rustmouth Ogre in play. Attack with Ayumi, the Last Visitor, Kashi-Tribe Elite, Kitsune Dawnblade, Sasaya, Orochi Attendant, Sakura-Tribe Scout, and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar. Frank blocks Sasaya with Raving Oni-Slave and Kistune Dawnblade with Rustmouth Ogre. Ayumi (who cannot be blocked due to Shizo, Death's Storehouse being a legendary land), Kashi-Tribe Elite, Sakura-Tribe Scout, and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar do 7+2+1+1=11 damage. Tap the Mountain to cast Shock on Frank for 2 more damage for the win.

Cards unused: 1x Shock, Horobi's Wail, Death Denied

edit#2: There's another solution here: http://forums.starcitygames.com/showthr ... #post71612 which does not rely on the opponent not tapping out its lands, but doesn't have any extra cards left over, whereas I had three. (assuming I didn't make a mistake)