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Every game store probably has at least one person who doesn’t socialize, and today you’ve been matched against that person. As it turns out, Ludlow (you don’t know if that’s his first name or last name) is a surprisingly canny player, and he’s just as familiar with the Unabridged Cube as you are.
“One of each card ever printed,” you muse, shaking your head.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” you say. “I was just thinking about how this is going to be our last Unabridged Cube draft before the Ixalan prerelease. Which turn are we on, again?”
“Third of extra turns,” Ludlow says, not taking his eyes off the table. “Your next turn will be the fourth, and then I’ll have the fifth and final one.”
“So we might be looking at a draw here.”
Ludlow adjusts his glasses. “Not if I can help it,” he says.
You wonder if he sees anything that you don’t. The board is properly gummed up, and although you have the bigger creatures at the moment, your life totals are low and Ludlow’s side outclasses yours in terms of quality. That, and most of your creatures’ abilities have been bricked by his Linvala, Keeper of Silence.
“Mind Control on your Ryusei, the Falling Star,” Ludlow says.
“Wait, what?”
“I’ll cast Mind Control on your Ryusei, the Falling Star,” Ludlow says, speaking a lot more slowly.
Uh-oh. You slide the big Red dragon over to his side of the table, and see what he does next.
Ludlow taps three more lands and plays a Topple from his hand. “Exile your Ancient Silverback,” he says. “I’ll now attack with everything I have. Territorial Hammerskull triggers, and I’ll have it tap the Bloodpyre Elemental with the Lightning Prowess on it. My Nav Squad Commandos also triggers —it’s now a 4/7 from its own ability and my Blessed Orator.”
“Everything. Except for the Wall of Frost, of course.”
“Okay. Before we declare blockers, I’ll cast my Ambush Viper.”
“Good.”
“I’ll then cast Snare the Skies on my Ambush Viper to make it a 3/2 creature with reach and deathtouch.”
Ludlow pauses. “I see,” he says, realizing what you’re about to do. “Well played.”
You nod. “I’ll declare blockers: Ambush Viper blocks your Linvala. Gloomwidow blocks your Moon Heron. Elvish Mystic blocks your Barrenton Cragtreads. Goblin Tinkerer blocks your Nav Squad Commandos, and my last Goblin token will block your Stitched Mangler.”
“I still have the Hammerskull and the Orator,” Ludlow points out.
“I’ll let them both through,” you say. “That’s three damage, so I’m down to three life.”
Ludlow nods. “That kills my Linvala and Moon Heron. Your Viper, Gloomwidow, Mystic, Tinkerer and Goblin token all die. That should trigger the Bequeathal on your Goblin Tinkerer as well.”
You pull two cards off the top of your library, a Raptor Hatchling and a Prey Upon. All things considered, they could be worse.
“I’ll end my turn.”
You breathe a sigh of relief and untap your permanents. Your draw for this turn is a Betrothed of Fire, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like you’ll be getting any other cards from your library this game. The fact that you can use your creatures’ activated abilities again seems a tiny blessing in comparison.
Ludlow has one more turn in which to make good on his position, and then you’re going to have to call this match a draw. Unfortunately, that means that you only have this turn in order to win, and you hope that you’re up to the challenge.
It is the start of your first main phase. Defeat Ludlow before the beginning of his next combat phase.
You are at 3 life, with the following cards in play:
- Bloodlust Inciter
- Sporeback Troll (with two +1/+1 counters on it and your Shield of the Avatar attached)
- Bloodpyre Elemental (with your Lightning Prowess attached)
- 6 Mountains
- 3 Forests
You have the following cards in your hand:
- Prey Upon
- Betrothed of Fire (drawn during your draw step this turn)
- Raptor Hatchling
You have not yet played a land this turn. You do not know the identities or order of any of the cards remaining in your library.
Ludlow is at 7 life and has no cards in his hand. He has the following cards in play:
- Wall of Frost
- Territorial Hammerskull
- Stitched Mangler
- Blessed Orator
- Barrenton Cragtreads
- Nav Squad Commandos
- Ryusei, the Falling Star (owned by you, with Ludlow’s Mind Control attached)
- Serra's Blessing
- 4 Plains (three tapped)
- 4 Islands (three tapped)
- Azorius Chancery (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 — Life Finds a Way” by 11:59 P.M. EST on Sunday, September 24, 2017. 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 Russell Jones, Norman Dean, Aaron Golas, Addison Fox, Michael Shoemaker, Allen Smith, Ian McCaulley, Hyman Rosen, Ryou Niji, Greg Dreher, Micah Dilts, Chris Billard, Thomas Driscoll, and Subrata Sircar.
“4 life is a precarious position,” Addison Fox writes, “especially when we've been damaging ourselves all game with Orcish Artillery, but it's enough to activate it one more time. We've also gotten Kasumi down to 4, and Stormrider Rig makes any attack we send through that much closer to lethal.”
“Kasumi currently has no creatures capable of blocking flyers,” Ian McCaulley notes. “Chandra's Spitfire is tapped; she has no means of killing Dragon Egg to get a flying Dragon token; she doesn't have the mana necessary to create a Thopter token with Whirlermaker; nor does she have any other means of putting an artifact onto the battlefield under her control to give Weldfast Wingsmith flying.
“The only problem is that you do not yet have any flyers either. Puppeteer Clique can fly but lacks haste, so it can't attack this turn. It can, however, give you access to the creatures in Kasumi's graveyard, which will have haste. None of them have flying yet, but that can change.”
This brings about a complex approach to manufacturing your own flyers, as Aaron Golas writes:
- Tap a Swamp and sacrifice Wanted Scoundrels to Plagued Rusalka to give Hammerheim Deadeye -1/-1 until end of turn. When Wanted Scoundrels dies, Kasumi gets two Treasure tokens, and her Weldfast Wingsmith gains flying.
- Tap Orcish Artillery to deal 2 damage to Hammerheim Deadeye and 3 damage to yourself. You go to 1 life, and Hammerheim Deadeye dies.
- Tap two Swamps and three Mountains to cast Puppeteer Clique. (Onslaught taps any creature.) When Puppeteer Clique enters the battlefield, return Hammerheim Deadeye to the battlefield under your control. Have Hammerheim Deadeye in turn destroy Weldfast Wingsmith.
- Sacrifice Hammerheim Deadeye and Puppeteer Clique to put two charge counters on Spawning Pit. Puppeteer Clique persists; when it re-enters the battlefield, return Weldfast Wingsmith to the battlefield under your control. When Weldfast Wingsmith enters the battlefield, attach Stormrider Rig to it.
- Tap a Mountain and remove the two charge counters from Spawning Pit to create a Spawn artifact creature token. Weldfast Wingsmith gains flying until end of turn.
- Attack with Weldfast Wingsmith for exactly 4 damage in the sky. The Treasures you gave Kasumi will allow her to activate Whirlermaker to create a Thopter token, but Plagued Rusalka can shoot it down before it has a chance to block.
“But instead of doing anything flashy,” Ryou Niji adds, “we can always do the most boring but practical thing: Steal the ‘natural’ flier and attack for lethal. If our opponent does not actually have the mana to activate the Whirlermaker, we don't need to give her that mana.”
Furthermore, Ian points out that this approach ends up dealing more damage than necessary:
- Tap one Swamp and sacrifice Plagued Rusalka to activate its own ability, targeting Chandra's Spitfire. Stormrider Rig becomes unattached. Chandra's Spitfire gets -1/-1 until end of turn, becoming a 0/2 creature.
- Tap another Swamp to cast Wretched Banquet, targeting Chandra's Spitfire. At zero power, Chandra's Spitfire is currently tied for the least power among creatures in play, and is destroyed.
- Tap two more Swamps and three Mountains to cast Puppeteer Clique. Once it resolves, tap one of Kasumi's creatures (let's say WeldfastWingsmith) thanks to Onslaught, and target the Chandra's Spitfire in Kasumi's graveyard with Puppeteer Clique's triggered ability. Chandra's Spitfire returns to the battlefield under your control and gains haste.
- Stormrider Rig's ability triggers. Attach it to Chandra's Spitfire. Chandra's Spitfire becomes a 2/4 with flying and haste.
- Declare that Chandra's Spitfire is attacking. There are no eligible blockers for Chandra's Spitfire.
- Before the combat damage step, tap Orcish Artillery to deal 2 damage to Kasumi and 3 damage to yourself. Kasumi's life total becomes 2; yours becomes 1.
- Since your opponent was dealt noncombat damage, Chandra's Spitfire's ability triggers. It becomes a 5/4 with flying and haste.
- During the combat damage step, Chandra's Spitfire assigns 5 damage to Kasumi. Her life total becomes -3, and she loses the game.
Greg Dreher also points out that a variant of the original solution provides a “brute force” possibility. This solution gives Kasumi a chance to block, although it’s a futile one:
- Tap Orcish Artillery to deal 2 damage to Dragon Egg and 3 damage to you. You go to 1 life. Kasumi creates a 2/2 Dragon token with flying. Foundry Street Denizen gets +1/+0.
- Sacrifice Orcish Artillery to Plagued Rusalka to give Hammerheim Deadeye -1/-1.
- Cast Wretched Banquet targeting Hammerheim Deadeye. As the lowest power among creatures is 2, it is destroyed.
- Cast Puppeteer Clique. Tap Sea Monster with Onslaught. Target Hammerheim Deadeye with Puppeteer Clique's triggered ability. Hammerheim Deadeye enters the battlefield; destroy the Dragon token with its triggered ability. Attach Stormrider Rig to Hammerheim Deadeye.
- Sacrifice Plagued Rusalka to its own ability to give -1/-1 to Foundry Street Denizen. It goes to the graveyard as a state-based action.
- Attack with Hammerheim Deadeye and Wanted Scoundrels. Kasumi has only one blocker, Weldfast Wingsmith, so one of your creatures will get through for 4 damage.
You can also extend this to a wider range of attackers. Micah Dilts points out that you can take advantage of Kasumi having two three-power creatures in her graveyard:
- Cast Puppeteer Clique, tapping Sea Monster and returning Tunneling Geopede to the battlefield.
- Sacrifice Puppeteer Clique to Plagued Rusalka, giving Foundry Street Denizen -1/-1 and killing it. Puppeteer Clique persists; return Merrow Wavebreakers to the battlefield.
- Sacrifice Puppeteer Clique to Plagued Rusalka again, giving Hammerheim Deadeye -1/-1.
- Tap Orcish Artillery to deal 2 damage to the Deadeye (and 3 damage to yourself, triggering Chandra's Spitfire), killing it.
- At this point, you have a Merrow Wavebreakers with Haste, a Tunneling Geopede with Haste, a Plagued Rusalka with an equipped Stormrider Rig, and a Wanted Scoundrels.Your opponent has two blockers — a Dragon Egg, and a Weldfast Wingsmith.
- Attack with your Merrow Wavebreakers, Tunneling Geopede, Plagued Rusalka, and Wanted Scoundrels.
- Your opponent’s best option is to block Wanted Scoundrels with Weldfast Wingsmith and Merrow Wavebreakers with Dragon Egg.They take a minimum of 5 damage from your unblocked creatures.
“I guess battling isn't really Kasumi's thing after all,” Russell Jones remarks. “Maybe she should stick to volleyball.”
