Modern Masters 2015 Edition isn’t available yet, but you’re still in full practice mode. After all, if you’re going to spend more than the usual amount of money on a Booster Draft, a few trial Drafts are in order.
You’re now playing your first game against Domenico, whose R/G deck has brought the game down to the wire. Domenico played a kicked Kavu Primarch a few turns earlier and has been using it to eat your smaller blockers. Last turn, however, you drew your Scavenger Drake (a little late, mind you) and played it, hoping to take advantage of the Primarch’s attacks.
On his turn, however, Domenico top-decked a Kitesail. He played it, attached it to the Primarch, and hit you for 8 damage. Then, he attached the Kitesail to his Kozilek's Predator to give himself a flying blocker, and finally, he used the last of his mana (as well as two Eldrazi Spawn tokens) to cast a Gorehorn Minotaurs with the bloodthirst bonus.
At 5 life against a number of large creatures ready to mash you into paste next turn, you untap and draw your card, which turns out to be Nameless Inversion. You breathe a sigh of relief; any removal is better than none at this point.
That said, the better question is: Can you use it to win?
It is the middle of your first main phase. Defeat Domenico this turn.
You are at 5 life with the following cards in play:
You have the following cards in your hand:
- Flayer Husk
- Darksteel Axe
- Nameless Inversion (drawn during your draw step)
You have the following relevant card in your graveyard:
Domenico is at 11 life, has no cards in his hand, and has the following cards in play:
- Bloodshot Trainee
- Kozilek's Predator (with Kitesail attached)
- Gorehorn Minotaurs (with two +1/+1 counters on it)
- Kavu Primarch (tapped, with four +1/+1 counters on it)
- 4 Mountains
- 4 Forests
If you think you have a great solution in mind, don’t put it in the comments! Instead, send it to puzzles at gatheringmagic dot com with the subject line “Puzzle — Weapon of Choice”. We’ll include the best ones in next week’s article along with the next puzzle!
Last Week’s Puzzle
Most incorrect solutions assumed that you could cast Legerdemain to steal the Sea Monster and then attack with it on the same turn. Unfortunately, gaining control of the Monster gives it summoning sickness and makes it temporarily unable to attack.
djkensai summed up this puzzle very well:
The majority of submitted solutions indeed came up short of a guaranteed win. Simon Lazarus, Russell Jones, Zach Moroni, Will Lewis, Sam Biondolillo, Brandon Wharton, and Marcus Edholm all provided great plans to optimize your position for the next turn, but the opponent’s next draw was always a huge concern.
Russell noted that there are more than a few available outs considering that we can’t defeat the opponent in the current turn: “Angelic Blessing, Bottle Gnomes, Humility, Staunch Defenders, Winds of Rath, Cataclysm, and possibly others. Note that only Angelic Blessing actually wins the game; the rest just slow you down enough that you won't win in the requisite two turns.”
Only four submissions—from Aaron Golas, Jared Herretes, Parker May, and djkensai—were able to offer a definite win. “The effective solution,” djkensai writes, “must involve stealing the opponent's Wayward Soul with Legerdemain and putting it back on top of his or her deck before his or her next draw step.”
Parker’s solution goes as follows:
- Tap Wind Dancer to give Horned Turtle flying.
- Pay to cast Legerdemain, exchanging control of Wind Dancer and Wayward Soul.
- Pay to put Wayward Soul back on top of KeyboardValkyrie78's library.
- Pay to cast Needle Storm. Armored Pegasus, Wind Dancer, and Horned Turtle all take lethal damage and die.
- Attack with Telethopter and Thalakos Drifters. All of KeyboardValkyrie78's remaining untapped creatures have shadow, so they cannot block. KeyboardValkyrie78 goes to 3 life.
- On KeyboardValkyrie78's turn, she draws Wayward Soul.
- From there, every possible angle of attack leaves KeyboardValkyrie78 dead on your next turn:
- Attacking with just Sea Monster means you block with Rootwater Hunter and tap it to kill Soltari Priest. She casts Wayward Soul, in which case you attack with Telethopter and Thalakos Drifters again to win.
- Attacking with Sea Monster and both shadow creatures means you block Sea Monster with Rootwater Hunter and tap it to kill Soltari Priest. You go to 1 life, and she casts Wayward Soul. You then attack with Telethopter and Thalakos Drifters again to win.
- Attacking with Sea Monster and one of the shadow creatures means you block Sea Monster with Rootwater Hunter and tap it to kill the untapped shadow creature. You go to 1 life, and she casts Wayward Soul. You then attack with Telethopter and Thalakos Drifters again to win.
- KeyboardValkyrie78 has the option to discard Wayward Soul to return Thalakos Scout to her hand at any point during her turn. If she does and recasts Scout, she still dies to Telethopter and Thalakos Drifters swinging in, as it cannot block them.
Aaron adds: “If she doesn't attack with Sea Monster, instead leaving it back as a second nonshadow blocker, Rootwater Hunter can kill Soltari Priest on her turn (mid-combat if necessary) and kill Thalakos Scout on our turn. This leaves KeyboardValkyrie78 without any shadow creatures. We then discard a card to give Thalakos Drifters shadow and attack for 3 damage that she can't block.”
“No matter what she does,” Jared concludes, “the maximum amount of damage that you'll take is 2. Your Rootwater Hunter will be able to chump-block the Sea Monster and/or take out both of her shadow creatures, making your Thalakos Drifters or Telethopter lethal on your following turn.”