Of all the puzzles I’ve posted here so far, this one may be my absolute favorite. It seems only fitting that I’m posting it for my tenth column (posting it in my 1001st column would be more fitting, but that’s a bit of a wait). This puzzle was actually first proposed by my friend Bret, although I was the first to solve it. I love it not only because the challenge is unusual, but because the solution is quite hard to find.

On that note, I encourage all of you to work your way up to the hardest difficulty this week. I know some folks like to jump right in at the highest level, but this week I think it’s a good idea to start with Level 2 at most.

Challenge

In a single turn, create one thousand and one nested subgames of Magic, then win them all.

You begin in a game with your hand and board state set up however you want. From there, you must cast Shahrazad to create a subgame. In that subgame, you must cast Shahrazad again on turn one to create another subgame. You must be able to repeat this one thousand and one times. Then, when you’ve created the 1001st subgame, you must win it on turn one, then win the outer game on turn one, and so on until all subgames are won.

Assumptions

• You do not have perfect luck in any of the subgames. This means (among other things) that your starting hand is randomly chosen from the cards in your library at the beginning of the subgame.
• You play first in all subgames.
• You may not win by having your opponent be unable to draw a card.
• You have access to an arbitrary number of any cards or other objects outside the game.
• You may assume that dexterity cards such as Chaos Orb fall in any way you want.
• You may not assume anything about your opponent’s hand or library, except that he won’t play any spells. If a card causes your opponent to make a decision, you must be able to complete the challenge regardless of which decision is made.

Difficulty Levels

Level 1 (Easy) You may use any card, bar none.

Level 2 (Hard) You may use any black- or white-bordered card.

Level 3 (Insane) You may use any black- or white-bordered card that doesn't contain the phrase "from outside the game" in the Oracle text.

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

Good luck!

Solutions to Last Week’s Puzzle

Shout-out to Bryan Hockey for being first to send in the correct solution to last week’s puzzle. The solution is as follows:

My Turn 1: In response to the Mind Unbound trigger, cast Naturalize targeting Alluring Siren’s Mind Control. Then activate Sundial of the Infinite to end the turn.

Bret’s Turn 1: Jace goes to 5 loyalty. Take 5 damage from Harbor Serpent, going to 22 life.

My Turn 2: In response to the Mind Unbound trigger, activate Sundial of the Infinite to end the turn.

Bret’s Turn 2: Jace goes to 6 loyalty. Activate Alluring Siren targeting Crumbling Colossus. Block the Colossus with Vengeful Pharaoh, taking 3 trample damage and 5 from Harbor Serpent, going to 14 life.

My Turn 3: In response to the Mind Unbound trigger, activate Sundial of the Infinite to end the turn.

Bret’s Turn 3: Jace goes to 7 loyalty. Activate Alluring Siren targeting Djinn of Wishes. Take the damage from the Djinn, destroying it with Vengeful Pharaoh and going to 10 life.

My Turn 4: Draw Naturalize using Mind Unbound, then cast it on Rites of Flourishing. Draw Vengeful Pharaoh for the draw step. Activate Alluring Siren killing Phantasmal Dragon. Make Skinshifter a 2/2, and attack with it and the Sphinx, dealing 7 damage.