Locations
"We got married, that's what," Jackson says. "Obviously it took a while for us to get back to normal life, what with the wedding and the extended honeymoon and all."
"That's awesome. I'm glad to see you're getting on well."
Jackson turns his Spell Queller sideways. "So what about you? Are you still hanging out with that friend of yours? The one who can win games, I mean."
"Er... you might want to rephrase that," you say. "That could mean anything."
Jackson laughs. "The lady who caught hold of a winning line when I didn't expect it," he says.
"Oh, yeah. Mari's still around, yes."
"Still playing this too?"
"Well, the Unabridged Cube's practically our bread and butter," you say. "Sometimes we take time out for other formats, but there's just something about playing with one of each card ever printed."
"Not that you actually get to see every single one of them in a draft."
"Eh, close enough," you say, glancing at the table. "Is that all you're attacking with?"
"That's all I need to attack with," Jackson says. "I mean, you've got no flying blockers."
"What I meant to say was that you have a Suture Priest with Spectra Ward."
"And you've got a colorless deathtouch creature," Jackson says. "Nice try."
"Can't blame a player for trying."
"I'm a lot more impressed at that Unsanctioned card, though. I thought the set hadn't been released yet."
"It's not," you say. "Sometimes the Cube just surprises us. It gives us the odd preview card every now and then. I like taking them out for a try."
"And I thought figuring out how Spell Queller worked was hard," Jackson muses. "Now I have to know who drew which card?"
"Could be worse," you say. "You could be taking four damage and going down to six life. Like me."
"After combat," Jackson says, smiling, "I'll cast Slayer of the Wicked. That gains me one life from Suture Priest, and Rhox Faithmender will double that."
"And that puts you at sixteen life," you sigh. "What other tortures do you have in store for me?"
"Well, I was going to equip my Sickleslicer to my Priests of Norn, but now that you mention your predicament, I'm now even more determined to do exactly that."
"Marriage has changed you," you say, untapping your permanents.
"Yeah, my wife says that too," Jackson laughs. "I should get her to visit here again. She said something about having another game against you."
"Well, tell her she's welcome. I'll bring my friends along."
"Will do," Jackson says. "So, are you going to draw something and win the game off that?"
You draw an Evolution Charm to join the Fungal Sprouting in your hand, and smile.
It is the start of your first main phase. Defeat Jackson before the beginning of his next combat phase.
You are at 6 life, with the following cards in play:
- Wall of Mulch (with art by Anthony S. Waters)
- Abstract Iguanart (with art by Chris Seaman)
- Narnam Cobra (with art by Christopher Burdett)
- Goblin Wardriver (with art by Chippy)
- Irencrag Pyromancer (with art by Jason Rainville)
- Sparkspitter (with art by Dan Scott)
- Thorn Mammoth (with art by Svetlin Velinov, and Jackson's Arrest attached)
- Fires of Yavimaya (with art by Val Mayerik)
- 4 Mountains (with art by Sam Burley)
- 4 Forests (with art by Sam Burley)
You have the following cards in your hand:
- Evolution Charm (with art by John Avon)
- Fungal Sprouting (with art by Brad Rigney)
You have not yet played a land this turn. You still have a substantial number of cards remaining in your library (including some basic Mountains and Forests), but you know neither the identities nor the order of those cards.
You have the following cards in your graveyard:
- Chatter of the Squirrel (with art by Jim Nelson)
- Dismissive Pyromancer (with art by Bram Sels)
- Thragtusk (with art by Nils Hamm)
- Conflagrate (with art by Warren Mahy)
- Mountain (with art by Sam Burley)
- Savage Conception (with art by William O'Connor)
Jackson is at 16 life and has no cards in his hand. He has the following cards in play:
- Suture Priest (with Jackson's Spectra Ward attached)
- Minamo Scrollkeeper
- Hover Barrier
- Calcite Snapper
- Priests of Norn (with Jackson's Sickleslicer attached)
- Spell Queller (tapped and exiling your Tears of Valakut, art by Noah Bradley)
- Slayer of the Wicked
- Rhox Faithmender
- 5 Plains (all tapped)
- 3 Islands (all tapped)
If you've got a solution in mind, don't put it in the comments! Help keep this puzzle a mystery to other readers!
Instead, if you think you've got a great solution, you can send your solution to puzzles@gatheringmagic.com with the subject line "Puzzle - Expressionist Intent" by 11:59 P.M. EST on Monday, February 10, 2020. We'll include the best ones in next week's article along with the next puzzle!
Last Week's Puzzle
Correct solutions to last week's puzzle were received from Sean Patrick Keatley, Jacob Butcher, Russell Jones, Michael Feldman, Addison Fox, and David Arnold.
"Ah, Theros," Addison Fox writes. "What kind of set would it be if we didn't need to have an enchantment enter the battlefield no fewer than three times in order to get what we need done, done? We'll be triggering constellation on an alarming number of permanents, an alarming number of times, in order to invert our library and get ANOTHER enchantment back for a swag victory."
"The key to this puzzle," Jacob Butcher writes, "is to cast Warbriar Blessing *twice*. The first time is easy, but the second time requires Mystic Repeal to put in on the bottom of our library, scrying a lot via Woe Strider and Nessian Wanderer to bring it to the library top, and using Hateful Eidolon to draw it."
The twist, though, lies in sequencing the scry, filter and draw effects - as David Arnold writes:
to cast Warbriar Blessing on Moss Viper. When Warbriar Blessing enters the battlefield, its ETB ability, Nessian Wanderer, and Setessan Skirmisher all trigger. Stack them however you want.
- Before any triggers resolve, to cast Mystic Repeal on Warbriar Blessing to put it on the bottom of your library. There are 15 cards on top of it (15 COT).
- Sacrifice Grim Physician to Woe Strider to Scry 1, moving that card to the bottom (14 COT).
- With the Physician's death trigger, target the Riptide Turtle with the counter on it, it gets -1/-1 (now 0/5).
- Before any triggers resolve,
- Resolve the triggers from step 1. Nessian Wanderer moves three cards off the top (11 COT), and Moss Viper fights and kills the flying Turtle. (Cécile can sacrifice the wings at any point, but it doesn't matter.) Setessan Skirmisher gets +1/+1 (now 3/2).
and exile Mystic Repeal and Grim Physician to escape Mogis's Favor onto Setessan Skirmisher.
- The Skirmisher and Wanderer trigger again. Skirmisher gets +1/+1 (now 6/2) and the Wanderer moves three cards off the top (8 COT).
- Tap Ilysian Caryatid for .
- Sacrifice the Skirmisher to Woe Strider. Hateful Eidolon triggers and you draw a card, then you scry another card to the bottom (6 COT).
- Sacrifice Ilysian Caryatid and Moss Viper to Woe Strider to scry another two cards to the bottom (4 COT).
- and exile Ilysian Caryatid and Setessan Skirmisher to escape Mogis's Favor onto Hateful Eidolon.
- Wanderer Triggers, moves three cards off the top (1 COT).
- Sacrifice Nessian Wanderer to Woe Strider to scry another card to the bottom (0 COT, Warbriar Blessing is now on top of your library).
- Sacrifice Hateful Eidolon to Woe Strider, you draw Warbriar Blessing and then can scry 1 (the latter of which doesn't matter).
- to cast Warbriar Blessing on Scavenging Harpy. When it enters, have it fight Chainweb Aracnir. Aracnir dies, Harpy has 1 damage marked.
- and exile Nessian Wanderer and Hateful Eidolon to escape Mogis's Favor onto Scavenging Harpy. It is now 4/2 with 1 damage marked.
- Move to combat and swing with the Harpy for the win. Cécile has no flying blockers to block the Harpy.
Interestingly enough, it's also possible to let the Moss Viper die to its fight with the flying Riptide Turtle. This option, however, would require you to use Grim Physician and Mogis's Favor to remove Chainweb Aracnir - then sacrifice any relevant creatures for the scry ability before Hateful Eidolon's draw resolves (and gets you the Warbriar Blessing).
It's also possible to take the straightforward route here by using Mystic Repeal to remove one of your opponent's enchantment creature blockers. From there, you can use Warbriar Blessing and Moss Viper to destroy the flying Riptide Turtle, and the one-two punch of Grim Physician and Mogis's Favor to remove Chainweb Aracnir. This leaves you with seven attackers against four blockers - just enough to get four damage through.
