Author's note: If you've missed last week's announcement, I'm officially closing up my regular weekly puzzles in favor of spending more time with family. Next week will be my 300th and last puzzle in this series - it's quite a thing to look back and realize that I've written so many of these!

I am greatly humbled by the messages and participation I've received over the last five years (and more). This has been a long and wonderful ride, and it would not have been as great without the involvement of each and every person who has read these little stories, contemplated these strange board states, and taken the time to put their thoughts to digital paper.

"That's not very fair," Lynn says.

"What is?"

"You sitting behind that Bearer of the Heavens of yours," she says. "I mean, it's bad enough that it's standing in the way of my Force of Nature. But making sure I can't kill it without blowing up the board is right out."

"It could be worse," you say, smiling. "If I weren't at such a low life total, I'd be attacking with it."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Lynn sniffs. "How do you fight that thing, anyway?"

"I imagine that you'd probably need to race it."

Lynn glances at the rest of your defensive forces. "Not the best of plans," she admits. "This Cube gets so unfair sometimes."

"Well, it is the Unabridged Cube. It's got one of each card ever printed, so you really have to come loaded for bear."

Despite the overbearing presence of your 10/10 Giant, Lynn probably has a slight advantage at the moment: She has a spread of high-toughness creatures, some nice card interactions, and a life total in the double-digits. If this were a stalemate, your Zealot of the God-Pharaoh would eventually make up the difference... but Lynn's in a good position to cement her lead with a single play.

That play comes sooner than you think. "I'll tap my last six lands," Lynn says.

"For something big?"

"For Ob Nixilis, Unshackled."

You consider this for a moment. Size-wise, Ob Nixilis is nothing to sneeze at - but when you have no flying blockers on the table, the 4/4 might as well be the biggest threat in the world.

"Yeah, that's worth bearing in mind," you say, wishing that your face-down Skirk Volcanist can somehow deal four damage.

"I aim to please," Lynn says. "Your turn now."

"Don't mind if I do," you say, untapping your permanents. Although the Seedling Charm in your hand can potentially act as a nasty combat trick, it's a bit useless for anything apart from defense at the moment - so you're hoping that you'll draw some of the removal lurking in your deck. In fact, a land would also be useful - if only to return your Akoum Firebird and have it act as a flying blocker.

Unfortunately, the Bear Umbra you draw is neither removal nor a land. You lean back and try to figure out how to use it to your advantage.

Eventually you turn to your opponent. "Any cards in your hand?" you ask.

"None, why? Are you going to do something?"

"I'm thinking."

"That must have been a nice draw for you to bear down on me like that," Lynn says.

"Yeah, I'm thinking."

"But you're not sure what to do with it?" Lynn asks.

"...I did say I was thinking," you say.

It is the start of your first main phase. Defeat Lynn before the beginning of her next combat phase.

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

• Devoted Druid
• World Shaper
• Zealot of the God-Pharaoh (with your Sylvok Lifestaff attached)
• Bearer of the Heavens
• a face-down 2/2 creature (Skirk Volcanist)
• 3 Mountains
• 4 Forests

You have the following cards in your hand:

• Seedling Charm
• Bear Umbra

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

You have the following cards in your graveyard:

• Akoum Firebird
• Elephant Ambush
• Evolving Wilds

Lynn is at 10 life and has no cards in her hand. She has the following cards in play:

• Portcullis Vine
• Putrid Leech
• Moaning Wall
• Mosscoat Goriak
• Joraga Visionary
• Bloodline Necromancer
• Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
• Force of Nature
• 4 Swamps (all tapped)
• 6 Forests (all tapped)

If you've got a solution in mind, don't put it in the comments! Help keep this puzzle a mystery to other readers!

Instead, if you think you've got a great solution, you can send your solution to puzzles@gatheringmagic.com with the subject line "Puzzle - This Bears Mentioning" by 11:59 P.M. EST on Monday, December 21, 2020. We'll include the best ones in next week's article along with the next... uhh, last puzzle!

Last Week's Puzzle

Correct solutions to last week's puzzle were received from Max Bernstein, Sean Patrick Keatley, David Arnold, Hyman Rosen, Michael Feldman, and Matt Bocek.

"This was a tricky one!" Matt Bocek notes. "The key to solving the puzzle is understanding that you can use Glen Elendra Archmage to counter the same spell twice. But I was stuck for a long time before I realized that the Sorcerer's Brooms were spirits as well as artifacts."

"A few smoke-and-mirrors issues really ramped up the challenge here," Michael Feldman summarizes:

• Immortal Phoenix's 3 toughness and ability to return to your hand upon death makes it a tempting initial target for Chain Lightning and fodder for Mind Over Matter. Alas, the extra mana (and therefore Mind Over Matter activations) makes this counterproductive. (That's not to mention that without Immortal Phoenix's combat damage, Glen Elendra Archmage could never be sacrificed and you would need to hit Paul with Chain Lightning twice - which is impossible without an Archmage sacrifice.)
• Chain Lightning's post-Legends errata/text makes a new spell for Glen Elendra Archmage to target for each strike. But again, it would take too much mana for that to help and there isn't a good target you control for that to work.
• With Wizard Mentor and Mind Over Matter around, you'd think there would be no need for all that Sorcerer's Broom nonsense in the first place. Discard three cards to tap your opponent's flyers, attack with yours, and call it a day, right? Well, that's only 9 damage, so things need to get complicated.
• Seriously, how easy is it to forget that you can attempt to counter the same spell multiple times?

The core of this puzzle is indeed the Glen Elendra Archmage / Sorcerer's Broom interaction: Triggering Sorcerer's Broom means that you have the ability to tap down your opponent's blockers, but this will require you to sacrifice Glen Elendra Archmage. And in order to sacrifice Glen Elendra Archmage, you need a convenient spell to counter. Max Bernstein's solution covers both of these:

"One funny thing," Michael adds, "is that this solution would work even if Paul had more mana available. Chain Lightning's 'copy' ability only happens once it resolves, so Paul doesn't get to strike you back as long as Chain Lightning is what finishes him off.

"And unless you're Mari or are otherwise inexplicably oblivious to classical music animation references: It's hard to imagine a world where a sorcerer's apprentice moves past his axe and his summoned water, actually works with his mentor, and multiplies their magical brooms in a helpful way! But if they could, not even a demon lord and his minions could stop them. Thus, would a sorcerer and his apprentice conquer the night on Paul's mountain. Wouldn't that be fantasia fantastic?"