Challenge

Hardcast Progenitus, using only cards from Shards of Alara block.

“Hardcast” means “cast by paying the mana cost.” Cost reducers (e.g., Etherium Sculptor) are allowed, casting from other zones (e.g., Oracle of Mul Daya) is allowed, but casting without paying the mana cost (e.g., Maelstrom Archangel and Brilliant Ultimatum) is not.

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. If a card causes your opponent to make a decision, you must be able to complete the challenge regardless of which decision is made.

If you take an extra turn, that turn doesn’t add to your turn count. For example, if you activate Time Sieve on turn two, the extra turn still counts as turn two.

Difficulty Levels

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

Level 1 (Easy): Hardcast Progenitus on turn four on the play.

Level 2 (Moderate): Hardcast Progenitus on turn four on the play, without using Keeper of Progenitus.

Level 3 (Hard): Hardcast Progenitus on turn three on the draw.

Level 4 (Insane): Hardcast Progenitus on turn three on the draw, without using Time Sieve.

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle@gmail.com with the subject line “Puzzle – Generating Progenitus” 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

As expected, last week’s puzzle was quite difficult. Nevertheless, I received two distinct solutions, neither of which was the same as the solution I’d come up with. The first one I got was from Nick Tower:

Set up the outermost game so that you have nothing in your library and Black Lotus, Channel, Lich's Mirror, Shahrazad, Words of War, Reiterate, and Remand in your hand. Cast and sacrifice Black Lotus for . Cast Channel and pay 19 life for , then use this to cast Lich's Mirror. Spend your last life on Channel, triggering Lich's Mirror and bringing you back to your initial state, but with in your mana pool. Repeat this process as necessary to create as much mana of every color as you need.

Once you have all the mana you want, cast Lich's Mirror and Words of War. Activate Words of War ten times, then cast Shahrazad. Cast Reiterate with Buyback on the Shahrazad, then once the copy is on the stack, cast Remand targeting the original Shahrazad. Copy Remand three times with Reiterate, targeting the Shahrazad copy, the original Remand, and the original Shahrazad. Allow the last two Remand copies to resolve, returning Remand and Shahrazad to your hand and dealing 4 damage to the opponent with Words of War. The stack now contains a copy of Shahrazad that’s being targeted by a copy of Remand.

Cast Reiterate with Buyback to copy the Shahrazad copy. Then pay 20 life with Channel to trigger Lich's Mirror, shuffling everything into your library. Words of War deals 14 damage to your opponent, and causes no cards to be drawn. Allow the Shahrazad copy to resolve, creating a subgame.

The new subgame is in the same state as the outermost game was at the beginning, so the same process can be repeated to create 1,000 nested subgames. In the 1,001st subgame, generate mana as above and cast Words of War. Use Reiterate to cast ten Channels and Remand all of them, dealing 10 damage to the opponent. As each subgame is reached, the final Remand copy resolves, dealing the last 2 damage to the opponent with Words of War.

The second solution comes from Jack Vickeridge. It relies on the assumption that if you can repeat an action with a random outcome infinitely many times, eventually it will have the outcome you desire. The solution is as follows:

Set up the outermost game so that you have seven of the following cards in your hand, and one in your library: two Black Lotuses, Timetwister, Pact of Negation, Fork, Shahrazad, Spark Spray, and Elixir of Immortality. Cast and sacrifice Black Lotus for . Cycle Spark Spray if it’s in your hand and the card in your library is neither Shahrazad nor Elixir of Immortality. Cast and sacrifice the other Black Lotus for . If you haven’t cycled Spark Spray and the opponent is not yet at 2 life, cast Spark Spray targeting them, paying . Then cast Timetwister and Fork it. In response, cast Pact of Negation on the original.

Repeat the above as necessary until the opponent has 2 life, you have 4 spare mana, and the card in your library is Timetwister. Cast and sacrifice both Black Lotuses for , cast Spark Spray targeting your opponent, putting them to 1 life. Cast Elixir of Immortality, then Shahrazad. Fork the Shahrazad and use Pact of Negation in response to counter the original. Once the copy is on the stack and Pact, Fork, and Shahrazad are all in the graveyard, activate Elixir of Immortality. Then allow the copy to resolve.

The new subgame is in the same state as the outermost game was at the beginning, so the same process can be repeated to create 1,000 nested subgames. In the 1,001st subgame, just repeat the original loop until Spark Spray deals 20 damage. As each subgame is reached, Shahrazad will cause the opponent to lose half their life rounded up. Since they’re at 1 life in each subgame, they will lose them all.

Finally, this is my solution. It relies on ante cards (yes, really), and the fact that the ante zone is the same across all subgames. It’s as follows:

Set up the outermost game so that you have two Black Lotuses, Auriok Salvagers, Jeweled Bird, Reiterate, Blue Sun's Zenith, and Forbidden Crypt in your hand, and Shahrazad, Spell Burst, Jeweled Bird, Boomerang, Vedalken Orrery, Naturalize, Demonic Attorney, One with Nothing, Fireball, Tranquil Thicket, and Paradigm Shift in your ante zone. Cast and sacrifice both Black Lotuses for , and use this to cast Auriok Salvagers and return a Lotus to your hand. Repeatedly cast, sacrifice, and return this Lotus for as much mana of each color as you need.

Cast Blue Sun's Zenith with set to 0. Then cast and activate Jeweled Bird, drawing the Zenith. Cast Forbidden Crypt, then use the Zenith to return all the cards in your graveyard to your hand. Use Boomerang and Reiterate to return all your permanents, then cycle Tranquil Thicket to draw Blue Sun's Zenith.

Cast Vedalken Orrery and Elixir of Immortality. Cast Fireball with set to 10 targeting your opponent, Reiterate it, and Spell Burst the original. In response to the copy, cast Shahrazad, Reiterate it, and Spell Burst the original. Do the same with Paradigm Shift, One with Nothing, and ten copies of Demonic Attorney, allowing none of the copies to resolve. For the final Spell Burst, don’t pay the Buyback cost.

With all these copies on the stack, cast Naturalize targeting Vedalken Orrery. Allow the Naturalize to resolve, then copy the copy of Paradigm Shift and let the new copy resolve. This shuffles all the cards that started in your ante zone, with the exception of Jeweled Bird, into your library. Allow the copies of Demonic Attorney to resolve, placing your entire library into your ante zone. Then allow One with Nothing and Paradigm Shift resolve, shuffling your hand into your library. Allow Shahrazad to resolve.

The new subgame is in the same state as the outermost game was at the beginning, so the same process can be repeated to create 1,000 nested subgames. In the 1,001st subgame, simply Fireball the opponent for 20 damage at the first opportunity. As each subgame is reached, the opponent will lose 10 life to Shahrazad, then die to the Fireball for 10.