Locations
You’ve seen some complicated board states in your time, but this is ridiculous.
To be honest, you weren’t expecting to survive this long; maybe Semir didn’t see you as a threat. You think back to the Lim-Dûl's Vault you cast just before Semir made his move—if you’d have known you’d be the only other person left in the game, you might have ordered your cards differently.
Semir is unlikely to let you survive much longer though. You know what cards he has left in his hand (thanks to a Telepathy controlled by one of your former opponents), and you don’t like their implications. Semir can kill you in any of about a hundred different ways . . . and it seems that the only way you can prevent that is to defeat him first.
It is the middle of your first main phase. Defeat Semir this turn.
You are at 11 life with the following cards in play:
- Rotting Rats
- Nightscape Familiar
- Stronghold Assassin
- Haunted Cadaver
- A 2/2 black Zombie token
- 4 Islands
- 5 Swamps
- Unholy Grotto
- Curse of Inertia (enchanting Semir)
- Curse of Shallow Graves (enchanting Semir)
You have the following cards in your hand:
- Howltooth Hollow (drawn during your draw step)
- Aphotic Wisps
- Fate Transfer
- Fatestitcher
You have not yet played a land for this turn.
You have the following cards on top of your library. Beyond these, you are not aware of the identities of any of the other cards:
- Counterspell (topmost card)
- Gravespawn Sovereign
- Consult the Necrosages
- Diregraf Captain
Your commander is Grimgrin, Corpse-Born. He is currently in your command zone and costs 
to cast (not considering Nightscape Familiar’s cost reduction).
Semir is at 9 life and has the following cards in play:
- Copper Gnomes
- Myr Retriever
- Wall of Diffusion
- Feldon of the Third Path (Semir’s commander, tapped)
- Rukh Egg
- Subterranean Shambler
- Goblin Machinist
- Crawlspace
- 10 Mountains (all tapped)
- Madblind Mountain (tapped)
- Miren, the Moaning Well (tapped)
Semir has the following relevant cards in his graveyard:
Neither you nor Semir has dealt any commander damage to each other.
Click here to see the board state for this puzzle.
Bonus Question: Semir suddenly realizes that he made a mistake in his notes. Instead of being at 9 life as the puzzle above says, he’s actually at 10 life! In this case, is it still possible to defeat Semir this turn? If yes, how does your solution change?
If you think you have a great solution in mind, you’re welcome to send it to puzzles at gatheringmagic dot com with the subject line “Puzzle – The Last Holdout”. We’ll include the best ones in next week’s article along with the next puzzle!
Last Week’s Puzzle:
Correct solutions were received via e-mails from Kristopher Bokvist, Aaron Golas, Matthew Wilson, Shigeo Rosenzweig, Russell Jones, David Robinson, Jacob Townsend, Mark Koster, Faith Manary, J. Josiah Jacobs, Don N, Charles Triboulot, Jared Herretes, and Adam Eidelsafy.
Most incorrect solutions assumed one of two things: either that a token creature produced by Mirror Mockery can attack or enters play attacking (it does neither) or that Vial of Dragonfire can target players (it can only target creatures).
Aaron Golas points out the most critical observation for this puzzle:
J. Josiah puts it this way:
- Resolve Taigam's Scheming, putting Vial of Dragonfire and Hidden Dragonslayer in the graveyard. Put Mountain, followed by Rite of Undoing, followed by Mirror Mockery on top of your library (Mirror Mockery being the topmost card).
- Tap one Island (7 open mana remaining) to activate Zephyr Scribe, drawing Mirror Mockery. Pitch Reduce in Stature to the graveyard (now three total cards).
- Tap two Islands (5 open mana remaining) to cast Mirror Mockery on Ugin's Construct, untapping Zephyr Scribe in the process.
- Tap one Island (4 open mana remaining) to activate Zephyr Scribe again, drawing Rite of Undoing. Pitch Cloudform to the graveyard (now four total cards).
- Tap one Island (3 open mana remaining) and delve the four cards in the graveyard to cast Rite of Undoing. Bounce the opponent’s Sagu Archer and your Suspension Field (giving the opponent back Mistfire Adept like it's no big deal). This untaps Zephyr Scribe again.
- Reveal Suspension Field to unmorph Watcher of the Roost so it gains flying.
- Tap one Island (2 open mana remaining) to activate Zephyr Scribe, drawing Mountain. Pitch Flamewake Phoenix to the graveyard.
- Play Mountain (3 open mana remaining).
- Tap Wind-Scarred Crag and one Island (1 open mana remaining) to cast Suspension Field on the opponent’s Bellowing Saddlebrute. This untaps Zephyr Scribe, but it doesn't matter at this point.
- Move to combat, tapping the remaining Mountain to bring back Flamewake Phoenix from the graveyard to the battlefield with haste since you control a 4-power creature (Ugin's Construct).
- Attack with Watcher of the Roost, Flamewake Phoenix and Ugin's Construct. Since Ugin's Construct has Mirror Mockery attached, it creates a token copy of itself, the enters-the-battlefield trigger triggers, and you sacrifice a colored permanent (Suspension Field).
This returns the opponent’s Bellowing Saddlebrute, but because the opponent didn't attack, the raid ability makes the player lose 4 life, putting the player at 2 life. Since the player only has one remaining flying blocker (Jeskai Windscout), one of your two remaining flying attackers gets through for the last 2 points of damage to close the game.
