Locations
One week after your Zendikar throwback Drafts, you find yourself back on the plane again. This time, your store has broken out an old box of Rise of the Eldrazi, and now you’re playing some battlecruiser Magic along with the rest of the regulars.
As any casual observer can see, your board is a mess. Having played several levelers as well as the mana to ramp them up, Joyce has superior creature quality (as well as a comfortable lead in life totals). You, however, have the advantage in cards and resources—and neither of you has been able to break through the other’s defenses . . . yet.
Finally, Joyce decides to make a play, and it’s a big one: She casts Artisan of Kozilek, returning a creature from her graveyard to the battlefield. Unfortunately, the creature she brings back is the Pestilence Demon you worked so hard to kill earlier in the game. What’s worse is that you’re at a low enough life total that the mere sight of the Demon is enough to make you shift uncomfortably in your seat.
Moving into your turn, you draw the Domestication that’s been sitting on top of your library and plot your next move. This board may be one of the more complicated ones you’ve seen, but there’s one way you can un-complicate it: Win the game.
It is the start of your first main phase. Defeat Joyce before the end of your turn.
You are at 4 life with the following cards in play:
- Joraga Treespeaker (with 3 level counters on it)
- Bramblesnap
- Nest Invader
- Guard Gomazoa
- Daggerback Basilisk
- Aura Gnarlid
- Mul Daya Channelers
- Merfolk Skyscout
- Wildheart Invoker
- 3 Forests
- 4 Islands
You have the following cards in your hand:
- Spider Umbra
- Aura Finesse
- Eel Umbra
- Domestication (drawn during your draw step)
You have not yet played a land for this turn.
Joyce is at 13 life and has no cards in her hand. She has the following cards in play:
- Ikiral Outrider (with 1 level counter on it)
- Knight of Cliffhaven (with 3 level counters on it)
- Bloodrite Invoker
- Nirkana Cutthroat (with 1 level counter on it)
- Pawn of Ulamog
- Makindi Griffin
- Pestilence Demon
- Artisan of Kozilek
- 5 Plains (all tapped)
- 4 Swamps (all tapped)
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 — The Bigger They Are”. We’ll include the best ones in next week’s article along with the next puzzle!
Last Week’s Puzzle
Correct solutions were received from Russell Jones, Aaron Golas, Carlo Picar, David Jacobs, Austin Callison, Maarten Wybaillie, Martin Bobovsky, Quadrangolo Tetra, Andrew Muravskyi, Markus Beschoner, Norman Dean, Tyler Thomas, Matt Cook, James Parmenter, Aaron Orians, Seth Keller, Erin Dixon-Gonzalez, Kris Pals, Chris Cordell, Matthew Adams, Ivo de Vero, Matthew Harvey, Lane Engelberg, Mike Wickenden, Dan Wilson, Franky Rodriguez, Iniui Yuan, Rodrigo Silva, Judiel Salandanan, Hyman and Martin Rosen, Scott Stoops, Matthew Cushman, Ahniwa Ferrari, Mattias "Slanfan" Berggren, Heiko Maurus, and Vik Patel.
Many people noted that this was a relatively easy one and that multiple solutions exist. There are some considerations to take into account, though, as well as some first impressions to overcome.
The major revelation, of course, lies in the Blazing Torch that you draw. “The trick is in realizing that we need to Blazing Torch to get past Sanger's Vampire Nighthawks and to deal 2 damage,” Lane Engelberg writes. “This means that if we just tap down Sanger's Scorpion, none of his creatures can block the equipped creature, and we have more than enough mana to finish him off!”
This was, of course, the most popular approach. Dan Wilson does a great job of boiling it all down as follows:
: Cast Blazing Torch.- : Equip Blazing Torch to Shatterskull Giant.
: Tap Giant Scorpion with Tideforce Elemental.- Attack with your unblockable Shatterskull Giant for 4 damage.
- : Equip Blazing Torch to Surrakar Banisher.
- Tap Surrakar Banisher and sacrifice Blazing Torch to deal the remaining 2 damage to the opponent.
Additionally, Tyler Thomas writes:
Scott Stoops notes that attacking with Surrakar Banisher works just as well: “We can equip the Torch to Surrakar Banisher after tapping the Scorpion. We attack with the Banisher, dealing 3 and dropping Sanger to 3. Afterward, we can reequip the torch to our Giant and then tap and sacrifice the Torch to deal 2 damage, putting Sanger to 1. Cunning Sparkmage then finishes the opponent off.”
For style points, however, there are alternative solutions. If throwing a lit torch at the opponent isn’t your thing, Aaron Golas, Seth Keller, and Rodrigo Silva all point out that you can earn the kill with two activations of Cunning Sparkmage. Seth’s solution follows:
Precombat Main Phase
- Tap Quicksand to cast Blazing Torch.
- Tap a Mountain to equip Blazing Torch to Shatterskull Giant.
- Tap an Island to activate Tideforce Elemental's ability, targeting Giant Scorpion.
Combat Phase
- Attack with Shatterskull Giant, bringing Sanger to 2 life.
Postcombat Main Phase
- Tap an Island, casting Wind Zendikon targeting the tapped Island.
- Tap a Mountain to equip Blazing Torch to Surrakar Banisher.
- Activate Blazing Torch's ability, targeting your animated Island and killing it. Wind Zendikon triggers, returning your Island to hand.
- Play your Island, trigging Tideforce Elemental, untapping it.
- Activate Cunning Sparkmage targeting Sanger, bringing him to 1.
- Tap your Island to activate Tideforce Elemental’s ability, untapping Cunning Sparkmage.
- Activate Cunning Sparkmage targeting Sanger, killing him.
Finally, Russell Jones has an interesting solution that involves using Quicksand’s ability at a rather unorthodox time:
First Main Phase
- Tap an Island and Tideforce Elemental to tap Giant Scorpion.
- Tap both Mountains to play and equip Blazing Torch to Shatterskull Giant.
- Tap the second Island to play Wind Zendikon on Quicksand, which is now the only untapped land.
Combat Phase
- In combat, attack with Shatterskull Giant alone. Both of Sanger's remaining blockers are Vampires, so they can't block at all because of the Blazing Torch. Sanger takes 4 damage (to 2).
- In the end of combat step, after damage has already been dealt, tap and sacrifice the animated Quicksand to shrink Shatterskull Giant into a 3/1. Wind Zendikon triggers, returning Quicksand to hand.
Second Main Phase
- Replay the Quicksand. Landfall triggers, untapping Tideforce Elemental.
- Tap Cunning Sparkmage for 1 to the dome (to 1), which isn't really necessary but helps pad your stats.
- Tap the Quicksand to move Blazing Torch onto either untapped creature (Tideforce Elemental or Surrakar Banisher).
- Tap the equipped creature and sacrifice Blazing Torch for 2 more to the dome.
Of further note is that Russell’s solution works even if you activate Quicksand before the Giant deals its combat damage—Sanger still takes 3 damage from the weakened Giant, 2 damage from Blazing Torch, and 1 damage from Cunning Sparkmage.
Martin Bobovsky adds that, contrary to what the narrative says, “We are actually hoping for a land here—specifically, an Island. With the extra Island, we would just tap both Nighthawks, play Wind Zendikon on any other untapped land, and overrun the defenses!”
In the end, though, Austin Callison points out that there’s a certain virtue in simplicity: “Dead is dead; there's no need to get fancy!”
