Challenge

Win the game as quickly as possible by casting spells with increasing converted mana costs and without any gaps between converted mana costs.

For example, you could cast spells with converted mana costs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, in that order. You couldn’t skip the spell with converted mana cost 3, though, nor could you change the order of the spells.

Assumptions

You have perfect luck. For example, even after you shuffle your library, it’s ordered how you want. You may not assume anything about your opponent’s hand or library except that he won’t do anything relevant.

Winning the game “quickly” refers to both the turn of the game and whether you’re playing or drawing first. Turn three on the draw is quicker than turn four on the play but not as quick as turn three on the play.

The current converted-mana-cost count persists across turns.

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle at gmail dot com with the subject line “Puzzle – Stairs to Infinity”, and I’ll include the best ones in next week’s article along with the next puzzle!

Good luck!

Solution to Last Week’s Puzzle

Ryan Nightingale was the first to send in a solution that won the game turn two on the play:

Play	Life	Cards in Hand	Mana
Turn one	20	7
Temple Garden, untapped	18	6
Arbor Elf	18	5
Turn two	18	6
Abundant Growth targeting Temple Garden	18	6
Untap Temple Garden with Arbor Elf	18	6
Steam Vents, untapped	16	5
Infernal Plunge, sacrificing Arbor Elf	16	4
Rakdos Cackler	16	3
Infernal Plunge, sacrificing Rakdos Cackler	16	2
Epic Experiment with X=3, revealing Battle Hymn, Thatcher Revolt, and Ghostly Flicker	16	1
Ghostly Flicker, targeting both lands	12	1
Thatcher Revolt	12	1
Battle Hymn	12	1
Epic Experiment with X=3, revealing Divination, Battle Hymn, and Ghostly Flicker	12	0
Ghostly Flicker, targeting both lands	8	0
Divination	8	2
Battle Hymn	8	2
Epic Experiment with X=3, revealing Battle Hymn, Thatcher Revolt, and Ghostly Flicker	8	1
Ghostly Flicker, targeting both lands	4	1
Thatcher Revolt	4	1
Battle Hymn	4	1
Epic Experiment with X=4, revealing four Rally the Peasants	4	0
Rally the Peasants × 4	4	0
Attack for 54 damage.	4	0

Adrian St. John sent in this alternate solution that has the added bonus of using at least one card from each set in Standard:

Play	Cards in Hand	Mana
Turn one	7
Hallowed Fountain, untapped	6
Doomed Traveler	5
Turn two	6
Mountain	5
Infernal Plunge, sacrificing Doomed Traveler	4
Blistercoil Weird	3
Infernal Plunge, sacrificing Spirit token, giving Blistercoil Weird +1/+1	2
Epic Experiment with X=3, revealing Mark of Mutiny, Hunger of the Howlpack, and Essence Harvest, giving Blistercoil Weird +1/+1	1
Mark of Mutiny targeting Blistercoil Weird, giving it +2/+2 total	1
Hunger of the Howlpack targeting Blistercoil Weird, giving it +4/+4 total	1
Essence Harvest, giving Blistercoil Weird +1/+1 and then draining the opponent for 10 life	1
Attack for 10.	1