Eager puzzlers are in for a treat this week. To celebrate the release of Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret, you get two dueling puzzles in the same week!

Okay, so the duel decks in question may have come out a year ago, but the deck lists for Ajani vs. Bolas aren’t out yet, and I really wanted to make a Duel Decks dual puzzle. Here’s how the dual puzzle works: Elspeth and Tezzeret are returning to their duel from a delicious lunch of aurochs burgers. Neither can remember whose turn it was, but each of them realizes that they can win the game if they untap and draw the right card.

Elspeth has 10 life, and has out a Conclave Equenaut with two +1/+1 counters; Elspeth, Knight-Errant with 8 loyalty; Loyal Sentry, which is tapped; Mosquito Guard; Temple Acolyte; sixteen tapped Plains; and a tapped Kabira Crossroads. Her hand contains Kor Skyfisher and Stormfront Riders, and her graveyard has Blinding Beam, Kor Hookmaster, and Razor Barrier.

Opposite her, Tezzeret is at 6 life. He controls Arcbound Worker and Clockwork Hydra, each with a +1/+1 counter; Faerie Mechanist; a 1/1 flying Pentavite artifact creature token; a tapped Steel Overseer; a Tezzeret the Seeker with 4 loyalty; a Darksteel Citadel; an Island; and a Seat of the Synod. He’s holding Everflowing Chalice, Thirst for Knowledge, and Trip Noose, and his graveyard contains Mishra's Factory, Moonglove Extract, Pentavus, Razormane Masticore, Stalking Stones, and Triskelion.

Challenge 1

If it’s Elspeth’s turn, what card can she draw that will win her the game this turn?

Click here to see the board state for Challenge 1.

Challenge 2

If it’s Tezzeret’s turn, what card can he draw that will win him the game this turn?

Click here to see the board state for Challenge 2.

Assumptions

Each player is playing an unmodified copy of Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret (deck lists here). This means that the card(s) you draw must be in the deck and not already on the battlefield, in hand, or in the graveyard (unless there are multiples in the deck, of course). You have perfect luck, but your opponent will block and make other choices optimally.

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle@gmail.com with the subject line “Puzzle – Elspeth vs. Tezzeret” and I’ll include the best ones in next week’s article, along with the next puzzle!

Good luck!

Special thanks to Liz Cady for creating the board-state images for this puzzle.

Solution to Last Week’s Puzzle

I got a wide variety of solutions to last week’s puzzle, which is always exciting. At first, the hardest level was Level 3; the first solution I got was the following, by Brian Keong:

Play	Mana	Cards in Hand
		7
Reveal Chancellor of the Tangle		Effectively 6
Mountain		5
Pyretic Ritual		4
Pyretic Ritual		3
Pyromancer Ascension		2
Gitaxian Probe		2
Gitaxian Probe, putting one counter on Pyromancer Ascension		2
Gitaxian Probe, putting a second counter on Pyromancer Ascension		2
Gitaxian Probe, copied by Pyromancer Ascension		3
Pyretic Ritual, copied by Pyromancer Ascension		2
Geosurge, copied by Pyromancer Ascension		1
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn		0

Eventually, an even harder level was added, which disallowed Pyromancer Ascension. There were lots of different solutions for this level, but most of them put down a Lotus Cobra, used either Treasure Hunt or Oracle of Mul Daya to get effectively infinite lands for Explore, then used the profits to cast Genesis Wave. The first example I received of this was from the Good Gamery team:

Play	Mana	Cards in Hand
		7
Reveal two Chancellor of the Tangle		Effectively 5
Lotus Cobra		4
Misty Rainforest		3
Harrow		2
Oracle of Mul Daya		1
Misty Rainforest from the top of the library		1
Explore		1
Misty Rainforest from the top of the library		1
Explore		1
Misty Rainforest from the top of the library		1
Explore		1
Misty Rainforest from the top of the library		1
Explore		1
Verdant Catacombs from the top of the library		1
Genesis Wave for 4, revealing Prophetic Prism, two Lotus Cobras, and Verdant Catacombs		1
Genesis Wave for 4, revealing Prophetic Prism, Lotus Cobra, and two Verdant Catacombs		1
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn		0

I first mentioned this challenge at a game store in my hometown of Seattle during the Magic Online Community Cup. Bing Luke, Luis Scott-Vargas, and Marshall Sutcliffe started working on it, and ended up coming up with the same solution I had found originally. This solution eschews Genesis Wave in favor of Time Reversal for card advantage and resetting the number of available Explores:

Play	Mana	Cards in Hand
		7
Reveal three Chancellor of the Tangle		Effectively 4
Lotus Cobra		3
Misty Rainforest		2
Treasure Hunt, drawing 4 lands		2 + 4 land
Explore		2 + 4
Misty Rainforest		2 + 3
Explore		2 + 3
Misty Rainforest		2 + 2
Lotus Cobra		1 + 2
Explore		1 + 2
Misty Rainforest		1 + 1
Explore		1 + 1
Misty Rainforest		1
Time Reversal		7
Explore		7
Misty Rainforest		6
Lotus Cobra		5
Lotus Cobra		4
Explore		4
Misty Rainforest		3
Explore		3
Misty Rainforest		2
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn		1

Shout-outs go to the following people:

• Mathieu Degrotte, for being the first person to send in a solution and for sending a solution that uses Visions of Beyond rather than Genesis Wave or Time Reversal.
• John Pelster, for coming up with not one but two ways of creatively bending the rules: restarting the game with Karn Liberated to get a bunch of Eldrazi spawn on “turn one,” and having your opponent use Chancellor of the Spires to activate your Crypt of Agadeem.
• Jennifer Wong, for finding the shortest solution to Level 3 that uses up all available mana and cards in hand.