This past week, I was aboard the Magic cruise, and so I didn’t have a chance to post a puzzle. But I have a doozie for you this week. In honor of my fiftieth Puzzling Magic column, I’m doing something I haven’t done in a long time: a board-state puzzle.

You’re playing in the finals of FNM against your friend Peter. The format is Avacyn Restored Draft. You’re up a game, but the timer’s run out, and you’re playing out your last five turns. If you can survive Peter’s final attack, you will emerge victorious; if you can’t, you will feel the sting of defeat.

You’re at an uncomfortable 3 life, with two Plains and two Forests untapped. Your army consists of an unpaired Nearheath Pilgrim, a Devout Chaplain (not summoning sick), and a Silverblade Paladin paired with a Druid's Familiar. Your ace in the hole is the Restoration Angel sitting in your hand.

Peter’s tapped out, but he has an impressive offensive force. He’s just played a Craterhoof Behemoth, giving itself and his two other creatures +3/+3 and trample. He’s attacking with it as well as his Kessig Malcontents and his Kruin Striker (which received an additional +1/+0 from the Behemoth earlier this turn). To make matters worse, the Malcontents is equipped with Bladed Bracers, while the Striker is wielding a Tormentor's Trident. This means that in total, the Behemoth is an 8/8, the Malcontents is a 7/5, and the Striker is a 9/4. Finally, Peter has a couple enchantments: Bower Passage and Homicidal Seclusion.

Click here to see a larger version of the board state.

Challenge

Survive Peter’s attack.

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle at gmail dot com with the subject line “Puzzle – Ties that Bond”, and I’ll include the best ones in next week’s article, along with the next puzzle!

Good luck!

Special thanks to Liz Cady for creating the board-state image for this puzzle.

Solution to the Last Week’s Puzzle

The fastest solution to the puzzle I gave two weeks ago is turn one on the play, and JPHorst was the first to submit it. It even uses cards only from Scars of Mirrodin block! Here it is:

Play	Mana	Cards in Hand
Reveal Chancellor of the Forge
Blackcleave Cliffs		5 + 1
Tainted Strike targeting Goblin token		4 + 1
Mutagenic Growth ×4 targeting Goblin token		0 + 1
Attack for exactly 10 poison counters.		0 + 1