This week, we’re back to doing impressive things on turn one. This puzzle should be substantially easier than last week’s (although certainly not trivial).

Challenge

Cast all five Prophecy avatars (Avatar of Hope, Avatar of Will, Avatar of Woe, Avatar of Fury, and Avatar of Might) for their reduced costs turn one on the play in the same turn, using only cards from the Urza Block/6th Edition/Masques Block Standard environment.

Assumptions

You have perfect luck; for example, even after you shuffle your library, it’s ordered how you want. You may not assume anything about your opponent’s hand or library, except that he won’t play any spells.

Clarification: The opponent begins with seven cards in hand and nothing on the battlefield. He will not cast any spells or put anything into play for things like Show and Tell or Hunted Wumpus.

Difficulty Levels

For each level, you must also follow the previous level’s restrictions.

Level 1 (Easy)

You may use any card in Urza Block, 6th Edition, or Masques Block.

Level 2 (Moderate)

You may not use cards that shuffle your graveyard and hand into your library.

Level 3 (Hard)

You may not use Yawgmoth’s Bargain.

Level 4 (Insane)

You may not use any cards that are banned in Block Constructed (see here for references).

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle@gmail.com with the subject line “Puzzle – Pentecostal Avatars” and I’ll include the best ones in next week’s article, along with the next puzzle!

Good luck!

Solution to Last Week’s Puzzle

It turns out that last week’s puzzle was pretty difficult, even when I gave the correct list of cards in hand. In addition to Bing Luke’s solution for the puzzle without Seize the Initiative, I only got two correct solutions to the puzzle. Here is the first from Jeremiah Garrigues-Cortelyou:

Play	Mana	Your Life	Opponent’s Life
		7	5
Phyrexian Metamorph copying Soul Conduit		5	5
Attack with Blind Zealot and Mortis Dogs		5	5

If the opponent doesn’t block Mortis Dogs,

In this case, the opponent cannot activate Soul Conduit safely because both players’ life totals are 5.

If the opponent blocks Mortis Dogs with Alpha Tyrranax,

Again, the opponent cannot activate Soul Conduit safely because both players’ life totals are 5.

If the opponent blocks Mortis Dogs with Caustic Hound and doesn’t block Blind Zealot,

In response to Caustic Hound’s death trigger, the opponent is forced to activate Soul Conduit. In response to that, you activate Shrine of Boundless Growth. Viridian Harvest’s and Fangren Marauder’s triggers go on the stack with the Marauder trigger on top. The mana from the Shrine is already in your pool, since mana abilities don’t use the stack.

Bing’s solution was much the same, except that he used Gut Shot on his own Blind Zealot instead of Seize the Initiative on the opponent’s Alpha Tyrranax. It also differed significantly when the opponent blocked Mortis Dogs with Caustic Hound. In that case, Bing’s solution went as follows:

In response to the Fangren Marauder and Viridian Harvest triggers,

In this case, the opponent can’t profitably activate Soul Conduit until you’re at 3 and he’s at 1, at which point you have priority and cast Gut Shot, killing him whether or not he uses the Conduit.