Locations
“You do?”
“Yeah, you were helping out that little girl last time. She was playing that deck made out of bulk cards, and you found a way for her to win against me.”
“Oh,” you say. “Uh . . . I’m sorry?”
“Nah,” Kiara says, “we’re cool. You gotta respect a win like that.”
Sometimes it’s good being at the bottom of the standings, if only because you’re not under as much pressure to win. It’s the final round of your local game store’s Kaladesh booster draft, though, and the winner gets one booster pack. It’s not much of an incentive, but it’s enough to remind you that the pressure isn’t completely off.
You wonder how Kiara has gotten this far without winning any matches: Her deck is a slow one, but she does have a couple of legitimate late-game threats. After using a nasty Dynavolt Tower / Empyreal Voyager combo to cut down most of your creatures, you managed to draw a Consulate Skygate to stem the bleeding. At that point, however, she drew and played a Gearseeker Serpent . . . and you have no easy solutions for the 5/6.
“I’ll take five and go down to . . . four. Postcombat main?”
“5 mana left,” Kiara says, “So I’ll cast the last card in my hand. Arborback Stomper, gaining 5 life?”
“That’s not good,” you say.
“I don’t know,” Kiara says, smiling. “Seventeen life sounds good to me.”
“I think I’ll cast my Glimmer of Genius now,” you say, tapping 4 mana. The top two cards of your library are an Island and a Mountain, which you scry to the bottom. This makes your draws a lot better: Select for Inspection and Aether Tradewinds. They would have been useful a few seconds ago, but you only have yourself to blame for the late timing.
“End my turn,” Kiara says. “Are you casting anything in response?”
You consider casting the new cards in your hand, but something tells you to hold back. “I’ll just spend one of my two energy counters to activate Aether Theorist,” you say. After you see that the top card of your library is an Aether Hub, the possibilities start going through your mind, and you choose to keep it on top.
“What’s your life total again?” you ask.
“You mean you have a way to bring me down from seventeen life?” Kiara laughs.
You glance at the table. “I’m thinking about it,” you say.
Kiara looks up at you in surprise, but doesn’t say anything.
“So,” you tell her,“what I’ll do is . . . ”
Kiara has just declared the end of her turn; you may still cast spells or activate abilities in response. Defeat Kiara before the start of her next combat phase.
You are at 4 life, with the following cards in play:
- Consulate Skygate
- Aether Theorist (tapped)
- Salivating Gremlins (with your Torch Gauntlet attached)
- Spontaneous Artist (with your Giant Spectacle and Kiara’s Aether Meltdown attached)
- Fireforger's Puzzleknot
- 5 islands (two tapped)
- 5 mountains (two tapped)
You have the following cards in your hand:
- Select for Inspection (drawn via Glimmer of Genius this turn)
- Aether Tradewinds (drawn via Glimmer of Genius this turn)
- Hijack
You currently have only one energy counter. You know the identity of the top card of your library, but otherwise do not know the identities of any of the next cards:
Kiara is at 17 life, and has no cards in her hand. She has the following cards in play:
- Sage of Shaila's Claim
- Fairgrounds Warden (exiling your Aethertorch Renegade)
- Empyreal Voyager
- Arborback Stomper
- Elegant Edgecrafters
- 2 Servo tokens
- Gearseeker Serpent (tapped)
- Dynavolt Tower
- 6 forests (all tapped)
- Plains (tapped)
- 4 islands (all tapped)
Kiara currently has three energy counters.
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 — Leading the Charge” by 11:59 P.M. EST on Sunday, October16, 2016. 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 Dominic Chan, Aaron Golas, Norman Dean, Alfred Hsie, Robert Rugart, Aaron Orians, Joshua Mohrsaz, Victor Munson, Russell Jones, Volz Andrew, Jon Potter, Hyman Rosen, Subrata Sircar, Ryou Niji, Kriz Lee, Siang Koon Kwek, Nick Fera, Bill Murphy, and Michael Feldman.
“It’s fairly obvious that it’s necessary to bring back Cataclysmic Gearhulk,” Michael Feldman writes,“given that Chip's tokens are more than enough to block anything CJ can dish out. What is less obvious is that Fireforger's Puzzleknot has to be played so darn carefully.”
“The main solution revolves around Cataclysmic Gearhulk,” Alfred Hsie clarifies,“which would clear out the board so that your creatures can get through. The problem in this puzzle is two-fold:
- Chip has 9 life, so no single creature can kill him directly.
- Chip has 4 mana on hand, so he can get a Servo token or a Thopter token into play using Master Trinketeer or Whirlermaker. However, he would prefer Master Trinketeer since he does not need to tap it to create that token.
As a result, this puzzle is all about the blocking scenarios. You’re certainly releasing that Gearhulk from under the Fairgrounds Warden’s thumb, but which creatures will your opponent choose to keep?
To figure that out, we’ll need to first find a way to get there. Nick Fera’s solution starts out as follows:
- Begin by humming “AAAAAALLLLLLL ABOOOOOOOARDD!!!!!” followed by the signature drumbeats to Crazy Train as you tap down your team to crew the Aradara Express, turning it into an 8/6 artifact creature.
- Change your tune to the Quad City DJ’s, humming “Come on, ride the train, it's the Choo Choo ride,” then pay
to cast your Aviary Mechanic. - Target your Fairgrounds Warden with the Mechanic’s bounce ability. This lets the Cataclysmic Gearhulk come back into play and trigger its ability.
- Choose to keep Aradara Express (aka ‘the Crazy Train’) and Reckless Fireweaver. Lose the rest.
- When Workshop Assistant hits the graveyard, return the Fireforger's Puzzleknot to your hand.
- Your next moves now depend on what Chip does, and Hyman Rosen provides a nice breakdown of the situation: “Chip's choices reduce to keeping one of Cataclysmic Gearhulk and Iron League Steed, and one of Master Trinketeer, Experimental Aviator or Gearhulk/Steed.” (Note that Chip can choose to keep Gearhulk and Steed, for example.)
- There's no point in his keeping a Thopter or Servo since we have no fliers, and Iron League Steed will maintain its 2 toughness even if Master Trinketeer leaves the battlefield.
- There's no point in his keeping Glint-Sleeve Artisan since his other non-artifact creatures have at least as much toughness.
- There's no point in his keeping Whirlermaker instead of a Thopter he already has.
- “If Chip keeps the Gearhulk,” Nick writes,“you blow it up with the Skywhaler's Shot and take out his other creature by recasting the Fairgrounds Warden.” At this point, Chip has nothing that can block your Aradara Express, and will take 8 damage when it attacks. Even if his second creature is a Master Trinketeer and he creates a Servo token in response to its exiling, it still won’t be enough to block your 8/6 menacer.
- So Chip’s best option, ironically enough, is to lose the Gearhulk in favor of his Iron League Steed (in addition to either Master Trinketeer and Experimental Aviator). But he still loses either way.
- “The most difficult scenario,” Nick continues,“is that Chip keeps his Trinketeer, Aether Meltdown and Iron League Steed, taking Skywhaler's Shot off the table and giving him three blockers. In this situation:
- Replay the Puzzleknot. Reckless Fireweaver hits Chip for one (I like to believe the Fireweaver is making Crazy Train breathe fire), dropping him to 8 life.
- Use the Puzzleknot’s ETB trigger to deal 1 damage to the Trinketeer, then activate the Puzzleknot for 1 more damage to kill it. Chip at this point should make a Servo token.
- Play the Fairgrounds Warden with the last of your mana, exiling either of Chip’s two creatures.
- Crazy Train is now unblockable, and hits Chip for 8 damage.
These steps also work if Chip keeps Iron League Steed and Experimental Aviator — in which case you would use Fireforger's Puzzleknot to get rid of the Steed, and use Fairgrounds Warden to exile the Aviator.
Hyman notes that you can choose to keep the Renegade Freighter instead of the Reckless Fireweaver (crewing the Freighter before blowing up the world, of course). This means that you can attack with the Freighter as a 5/4 trampler in addition to the Express — Chip can certainly block the Freighter, but he won’t be able to stop the trample damage!
Norman Dean points out that there’s at least one other solution to this puzzle, which involves keeping Ninth Bridge Patrol along with your Aradara Express:
- Tap Reckless Fireweaver and Fairgrounds Warden to crew Renegade Freighter. Tap the Freighter to crew the Aradara Express.
- Cast Aviary Mechanic. With the Mechanic's ETB trigger on the stack, tap the Mechanic and the Workshop Assistant to crew the Bomat Bazaar Barge.
- Return Fairgrounds Warden to your hand with Aviary Mechanic's ability. Ninth Bridge Patrol gets a counter (2/2).
- Cataclysmic Gearhulk returns to the battlefield, and its ability triggers. You choose to keep the Ninth Bridge Patrol and the Aradara Express.
- When the Workshop Assistant dies, return Fireforger's Puzzleknot to your hand.
- Five of your creatures leave the battlefield (Fireweaver, Assistant, Mechanic, Freighter, Barge), making the Patrol a 7/7 creature.
Your scenarios now diverge slightly depending on what Chip keeps:
- Scenario A: Chip keeps the Gearhulk and Master Trinketeer.
- Cast Skywhaler's Shot to destroy the Gearhulk. Recast Fairgrounds Warden, exiling the Trinketeer. Chip can make one Servo token in response, but won't be able to block the Express since it has menace, and will take 8 damage, going to 1 life.
- Scenario B: Chip keeps another artifact creature and Master Trinketeer:
- Recast Fairgrounds Warden, exiling the Trinketeer. Chip can make an additional Servo token, giving him two blockers. Attack with the 8/6 menace Express and the 7/7 Patrol.
- If Chip double-blocks the Express and lets the Patrol through, cast Skywhaler's Shot to destroy the Express before damage. This will give the Patrol another counter and it will hit Chip for 8 damage, putting him to 1 life.
- Otherwise, Chip takes 8 damage from the Express, going to 1 life.
- Scenario C: Chip keeps any other combination of artifacts/creatures:
- Recast Fairgrounds Warden, exiling one of the creatures. Chip won't be able to block the Express since it has menace, and will take 8 damage, going to 1 life.
- At this point, in all scenarios:
- Cast Fireforger's Puzzleknot to deal the last point of damage to Chip.
