"You know," Enrique says, "this is pretty good. Why haven't I tried this before?"

"Uh... because you only come in for the Modern tournaments on Thursday night? You said that while we were shuffling."

"Well, yeah," Enrique admits. "And just think - I wouldn't be playing this if today's tournament hadn't been cancelled."

You can't help but imagine what it would be like if that tournament had gone through, mostly because Enrique clearly has the advantage right now. Today's booster draft wasn't kind to you, forcing you into a deck with little removal and too many cards on the top and bottom ends of your curve. And despite having little experience with some of the older cards, Enrique has proven a quick study... enough to make you wish you hadn't invited him to join your table.

"What do you call this, again?" Enrique asks.

"We just call it 'the Unabridged Cube'," you say. "It's a collection of one of each card ever printed."

"Cool. You mean, like every single one?"

"We think it's every single one. Sometimes it throws some weird stuff at us: Silver-bordered cards, Collector's Edition cards, promos..."

"So what you're saying is that no one's checked."

"If you want to spend your next weekend sorting through twenty thousand cards to see if anything's missing, be my guest."

Enrique shrugs, turning his Lord of the Pit sideways.

"I'm attacking with my Lord of the Pit," he says. "It's not like there's plenty of other use for a 7/7 flying trample creature that eats my stuff."

You stare mournfully at your side. Your Pale Recluse is the biggest blocker you have on the table, and it's only a 4/5. Still, you'd rather not take seven damage to the face again, so you have it stand in the demon's way.

"Take two trample damage?" Enrique asks.

"That depends. Are you activating the Spike Soldier you stole from me?"

Enrique smiles and shakes his head. "Nah, I'll save it for when I really need it. I'll just move to my second main phase."

You glance at the Rubinia Soulsinger you cast last turn, wishing that summoning sickness wasn't a thing. If you could use her ability right now, you might be able to turn this game around quickly. But seeing as you've just cast her last turn, you'll have to settle for a really close call.

"I'll cast a Cloudkin Seer," Enrique says, dropping the flying Elemental into play and drawing a card.

"Okay," you say.

"Huh, that seems good," Enrique remarks. Then he taps his last six lands and plants a Sapphire Drake onto the table!

You stare at his play for a moment, and then carefully clear your throat. "Uhh... okay," you say. "Three flyers against no blockers. That does seem good."

"I know, right?"

You shake your head as you start your turn. As blockers go, you don't have a lot of options in your deck... and even if you used Rubinia to steal one of Enrique's flyers pre-combat, he still has more creatures and a few tricks at his disposal.

In short, a lot is riding on your turn right now. You crack your knuckles, lick your lips, and draw... a Hallowed Fountain.

Enrique can see the displeasure on your face, but wisely chooses not to respond.

"I need a while to think," you say, but there are a few things already running through your mind. Foremost among them is the fact that you need to do something proactive here: You're probably going to lose this game if you sit back and see what Enrique does.

The question is, what can you do to make him sign off?

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

You are at 6 life, with the following cards in play:

• Haazda Marshal (with your Temur Runemark attached)
• Copperhorn Scout
• Rubinia Soulsinger
• Lightwielder Paladin
• 4 Forests
• 4 Plains
• Island

You have the following card in your hand:

• Hallowed Fountain

You have not yet played a land this turn. You still have a substantial number of cards remaining in your library, but you know neither the identities nor the order of those cards.

Enrique is at 13 life and has no cards in his hand. He has the following cards in play:

• Vigean Graftmage (with two +1/+1 counters on it)
• Spike Worker (owned by you, with two +1/+1 counters on it and Enrique's Domestication attached)
• Cloudkin Seer
• Baleful Ammit
• Plague Dogs
• Sapphire Drake
• Lord of the Pit (tapped)
• 4 Islands (all tapped)
• 5 Swamps (all tapped)

If you think you've got 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 - Termination Clause" by 11:59 P.M. EST on Monday, July 29, 2019. 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 Chad Salo, Sean Patrick Keatley, Hyman Rosen, Russell Jones, David Arnold, and Ross.

"This one really highlights the power of Heart-Piercer Bow in multiples," Ross writes. "You win by turning all of your artifacts into Heart-Piercer Bow using Masterful Replication, letting you ping most of your opponent's creatures to death before blockers are assigned (Maniacal Rage takes care of one):

With Cerulean Drake sitting at 3/3 and unable to have Maniacal Rage attached to it, the best move in this case is to ignore it. Chad Salo notes that with the approach above, it's far more efficient to remove all of your opponent's other blockers and work around the Drake instead:

Curiously, one of the Heart-Piercer Bows you "manufacture" from Masterful Replication starts out tapped; This is because you need to activate your Portal of Sanctuary to kick off the sequence above. Its tapped state doesn't affect its ability to act as equipment, though - as a Heart-Piercer Bow, it can still be equipped all the same, and it'll still deal one damage just as well.

While it's true that all you have is a hammer, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to use it - not as a hammer, at least.