"But you signed up for this weekend's prerelease already, right?"

"Yes, a couple of hours ago," Osten says.

"And you've entered your preorders, right?"

"Four booster boxes and a bundle. Why?"

"You could just give it a few more days. After that you'll be swimming in Dominaria cards."

"It's the principle of the thing. We're playing the Unabridged Cube here. It's supposed to have one of each card ever printed, and we know it gives previews. So how come I never get one?"

You shrug. Personally, you don't even know who stocks the Unabridged Cube or how cards from unreleased expansions suddenly show up in its booster drafts, and those are far bigger questions to ask.

Then again, Osten might just be bellyaching because your game is practically at a standstill. You each have a lot of creatures on the table, and it's enough to dissuade either of you from attacking. At this point, you're just waiting for something that can get rid of his Minotaur Sureshot so that you can go to town with your Ominous Sphinx.

Unfortunately, Osten has other ideas. "I'll tap 6 mana to cast Into the Maw of Hell," he says. "I'll deal 13 damage to your Sphinx, and I'll take out one of your two Swamps while I'm at it."

You sigh, dropping those cards into your graveyard. "At least I can still nibble on you with Tetsuko Umezawa," you say.

"Fair enough, but this way a removal spell doesn't just win you the game."

As much as you hate to admit it, there's a certain logic there. Osten would probably rather have a ten-turn clock than the possibility of the game ending in a couple of turns.

You untap your permanents, wondering if there's anything you can do about your situation. Your deck then coughs up an interesting option: Hidden Strings. It turns out that Osten might have been right to worry about possible removal.

"I don't like that look on your face," Osten says. "Should I start worrying?"

"I'm not sure yet," you say, "but you probably already know that I just drew something that might be useful."

"Useful enough to bring me from 10 life to zero?"

You run your fingers along the card in your hand. "I don't know," you answer. "Maybe?"

It is the start of your first main phase. Defeat Osten before the beginning of his next combat phase.

You are at 8 life, with the following cards in play:

• Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• Black Knight
• Defiant Salvager
• Leech Bonder
• Giant Oyster
• Grief Tyrant (with four -1/-1 counters on it, and Osten's Luminous Bonds attached)
• Abundant Maw
• 4 Islands
• Swamp

You have only a single card in your hand:

• Hidden Strings

You have not yet played a land this turn. You do not know the identities or order of any of the remaining cards in your library.

Osten is at 10 life and has no cards in his hand. He has the following cards in play:

• Cinder Wall
• Crossbow Infantry
• Nearheath Pilgrim (paired with Minotaur Sureshot)
• Minotaur Sureshot (paired with Nearheath Pilgrim)
• Kavu Runner
• Flametongue Kavu
• Totem-Guide Hartebeest
• 5 Mountains (four tapped)
• 2 Plains (both tapped)

If you think you've got a great solution in mind, don't put it in the comments! Instead, send it to puzzles@gatheringmagic.com with the subject line "Puzzle --The Subtle Approach" by 11:59 P.M. EST on Sunday, April 22, 2018. 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 Addison Fox, Greg Dreher, Ryou Niji, and David Gongon.

"The only reason you have a chance to win," Greg Dreher writes, "is because your Thopter Engineer gives artifact creatures haste. But complicating your path to victory is Claire's board. Faces of the Past allows you to affect the board, but it's tricky to use: It's an old card, so you have to affect both players equally."

In truth, you have a lot of obstacles in your way here. Claire's at 21 life, her Dampening Pulse is severely handicapping you, and she has a large number of defensive moves available. However, it's possible to win this game with some careful thinking. "Your plan is to figure out which creatures you want to attack," Greg notes, "and then maximize their power with the Steel Overseer you just drew."

Appropriately enough, David Gongon's solution was written thematically, but I'll paraphrase it, for the benefit of the people without a background in programming:

"Of course," Ryou Niji adds, "the Steel Overseer activation needs to happen after all attackers are on the battlefield, which can be achieved either by moving the second Master Transmuter activation slightly down the list . . .  or by simply letting the activated ability wait on the stack while we do everything else. Yes, everything here can be done at instant speed!"

"Say what you will about the Izzet," Addison Fox notes, "but this artificer deck certainly does feel like a crazy clockwork machine we're frantically trying to keep from exploding before we can point it at someone's face. For all her questionable land decisions, Claire did a great job assembling this contraption."