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The Scheme of Things

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Wort, the Raidmother
This is it — one last game for all the marbles.

You’re finishing off the final match of your local game store’s Modern Masters 2017 booster draft, and it hasn’t been easy. Your opponent, Aisha, is just as canny and unpredictable as you are, and your games have left you with a lot of broken board states.

Currently, you’re at a stalemate. You managed to stop Aisha’s Rhox War Monk with an Arachnus Web before it could pump her life total beyond your reach. However, that didn’t stop her from playing a Lone Missionary to put her in a comfortable spot. On her last turn, Aisha compounded your problems by casting a Centaur Healer, just barely pushing her life total into the double digits.

Fortunately, Aisha hasn’t attacked you recently, and the big reason is sitting right in the middle of your side of the board. You got Wort, the Raidmother onto the battlefield several turns ago, and Aisha’s been paranoid about her ever since. You lost the Raidmother’s two goblin warriors to an annoying Ulvenwald Tracker (long since fried to a crisp by a Magma Jet), but you have no shortage of other creatures in play. You’ve also maintained a couple of spells in hand, just looking for an opportunity to break through her defenses.

You untap, take your draw, and realize that you have an Auger Spree staring back at you. You smile.

“That’s not a good sign,” Aisha says, frowning.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to tip my hand.”

Aisha sighs. “It is what it is,” she says. “So, are you winning this turn?”

“Against this board?” you ask, glancing at the table. “Maybe not yet.”

But Aisha’s question gets the gears turning, and you have to admit that there are a few possibilities open to you. And in the end, there’s always the more important question: Can you actually win this turn?

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

You are at 4 life, with the following cards in play:

  • Scorched Rusalka
  • Penumbra Spider (with Aisha’s Arachnus Web attached)
  • Wort, the Raidmother
  • a 1/1 Red Goblin token
  • a 3/3 colorless Golem token
  • 1 Swamp
  • 3 Mountains
  • 3 Forests
  • Golgari Guildgate
  • You have the following cards in your hand:

    You have not yet played a land this turn. You do not know the identities or order of any of the remaining cards in your library.

    Aisha is at 11 life and has no cards in her hand. She has the following cards in play:

    Aisha has been looking at you suspiciously for a while now. If you attack with any creatures, you have no idea how she will distribute her blockers.

    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 — The Scheme of Things” by 11:59 P.M. EST on Sunday, April 2, 2017. We’ll include the best ones in next week’s article along with the next puzzle!

    Last Week’s Puzzle

    Vampire Aristocrat
    Hello to everyone from the Mothership! Correct solutions to last week’s puzzle were received from Russell Jones, Norman Dean, Addison Fox, Aaron Golas, Matthew Harvey, Gregory Romine, Jonah Comstock, Paul Seitz, Gary So, Jon Pugh, Greg Dreher, jgreiveldinger, Subrata Sircar, Matthew Rogers, Steffen Dannemann, Matt Stanford, Viktor Pedersen, Damian Griffin, Finn, Samuel Heersink, Calvin Olson, Dominic Chan, Nick Makris, Alex Dawson, David Arnold, Akshaya Srivastava, Daniel Ray, Liu Mendoza, Argon Gruber, Sidney Parham, David Parke, Mike Ryan, Leon Joseph, Ryou Niji, James Stevenson, Indraneel Massie, Travis Froggatt, Jonathan Soo, Bill Murphy, Allen Smith, Marcos Ponce, James Caleb Dean, Daniel Peck, and Will and Eli Clendenning.

    There are more than a few solutions to this puzzle, but unfortunately no happy endings for CJ. “’Everything'll be fine,’” Matthew Harvey writes, “is a sure sign that everything is about to go spectacularly wrong.”

    “The key to this puzzle is CJ’s Deadeye Navigator, our Vampire Aristocrat, and CJ not having any flyers to block,” Steffen Dannemann explains.“We can make one huge flyer, and kill CJ in one blow. The trick is having four creatures in the graveyard every time Pit Keeper enters the battlefield.”

    “It is critical to never underestimate creatures with the ability ‘Sacrifice a creature: Get +2/+2’,” Mike Ryan writes.“It is amazing how fast that can add up.

    “For this one we need to get our Vampire Aristocrat across the line for 16 or more damage. We have a handy Wingcrafter that can help since CJ ended the turn with no way to get a flying blocker. In order to pair the Wingcrafter to our Aristocrat, we need it or its pair to leave the battlefield and return.”

    So Nick Makris’ solution goes as follows:

    1. Sacrifice Wingcrafter and Dregscape Zombie to Vampire Aristocrat (6/6).
    2. Play Phantasmal Image copying Deadeye Navigator (ub), pairing this with Pit Keeper.
    3. Flicker the Pit Keeper (ub), getting back Wingcrafter from your graveyard.
    4. Flicker the Pit Keeper again (ub), but in response to its ability, sacrifice Phantasmal Image to Vampire Aristocrat (8/8). When Pit Keeper returns, it sees four creatures in your graveyard, and you retrieve Rubblebelt Maaka.
    5. Cast Wingcrafter (u), pairing this with Vampire Aristocrat.
    6. Unearth Dregscape Zombie (b) and sacrifice Pit Keeper and Dregscape Zombie to Vampire Aristocrat (12/12).
    7. Attack with Vampire Aristocrat; CJ can’t block it.
    8. After blockers are declared, sacrifice Wingcrafter to Vampire Aristocrat (14/14).
    9. Use the Bloodrush ability of Rubblebelt Maaka (r) on Vampire Aristocrat (17/17).
    10. Win the game, possibly gloat.

    “Remember that an activated ability, once activated, resolves even if the source loses the ability later on,” Steffen Dannemann adds.

    That said, you don’t have to use Rubblebelt Maaka to win this one. “Because our aim is to give Vampire Aristocrat flying and make him a 16/16,” Gary So continues, “a total of seven creatures need to be sacrificed. Based on board and hand, there's a total of six possible sacrifices: four creatures other than Vampire Aristocrat, an unearthed Dregscape Zombie, and a Phantasmal Image copying Urbis Protector for an additional creature.”

    The seventh creature for sacrifice can therefore come out of Pit Keeper shenanigans, as Marcos Ponce writes:

    1. Vampire Aristocrat eats Dregscape Zombie and Wingcrafter (6/6).
    2. Play Phantasmal Image and copy your opponent’s Deadeye Navigator,soulbonding with Pit Keeper.
    3. Use the pseudo-Deadeye Navigator’s effect to boop Pit Keeper and return Wingcrafter to your hand.
    4. Play Wingcrafter, soulbonding to Vampire Aristocrat.
    5. Boop the Phantasmal Image, copying your opponent’s Urbis Protector and getting an Angel token.
    6. Unearth Dregscape Zombie.
    7. EAT EVERYTHING . . .  except Wingcrafter, since we still need him (14/14).
    8. Swing with Vampire Aristocrat. After blockers are assigned, eat the Wingcrafter (16/16).

    Other approaches are possible. After initially sacrificing Wingcrafter and Dregscape Zombie to get four creatures in your graveyard, you could:

    Return Mist Raven from your graveyard (Argon Gruber):

    1. Cast Phantasmal Image, copying Pit Keeper. Return Mist Raven to our hand.
    2. Cast Mist Raven, returning Pit Keeper to our hand.
    3. Have Vampire Aristocrat eat the Mist Raven (8/8).
    4. Cast Pit Keeper. Return Wingcrafter to our hand.
    5. Cast Wingcrafter, soulbonding with Vampire Aristocrat (8/8 flying).
    6. Unearth Dregscape Zombie.
    7. Have Vampire Aristocrat eat Dregscape Zombie, Phantasmal Image, and Pit Keeper (14/14 flying).
    8. Declare combat and swing with the Vampire Aristocrat. CJ has no blockers for the flying Vampire, and so declares no blocks.
    9. Have Vampire Aristocrat eat the Wingcrafter, becoming a 16/16 unblocked non-flier.

    Have Phantasmal Image copy Kor Skyfisher, bouncing Pit Keeper (Liu Mendoza):

    1. Cast Phantasmal Image, copying CJ's Kor Skyfisher; return Pit Keeper to your hand.
    2. Sacrifice Phantasmal Image to Vampire Aristocrat (8/8).
    3. Cast Pit Keeper, returning Phantasmal Image to your hand.
    4. Cast Phantasmal Image, copying Pit Keeper and returning Wingcrafter to your hand.
    5. Cast Wingcrafter, soulbonding it with Vampire Aristocrat.
    6. Unearth Dregscape Zombie.
    7. Attack with Vampire Aristocrat. After declaring blockers and before assigning damage, sacrifice Pit Keeper, Phantasmal Image, Wingcrafter and Dregscape Zombie (16/16).

    Have Phantasmal Image copy Deadeye Navigator and then Kor Skyfisher, bouncing an Island (Samuel Heersink and Allen Smith):

    1. Cast Phantasmal Image and have it enter as a copy of Deadeye Navigator. Pair Phantasmal Image with Pit Keeper.
    2. Activate Pit Keeper's ability to blink itself. Return Wingcrafter from your graveyard to your hand.
    3. Activate Pit Keeper's ability to blink itself.
    4. Cast Phantasmal Image and have it enter the battlefield as a copy of Kor Skyfisher. Return a tapped Island to your hand.
    5. Play your Island and cast Wingcrafter. Pair Wingcrafter with Vampire Aristocrat.
    6. Unearth Dregscape Zombie.
    7. Attack with Vampire Aristocrat. After blocks, sacrifice Phantasmal Image, Wingcrafter, Pit Keeper and Dregscape Zombie to Vampire Aristocrat (16/16).

    Stick to what you have on your side of the table (David Parke):

    1. Play Phantasmal Image, copying Deadeye Navigator. Pair it with Pit Keeper.
    2. Activate Pit Keeper’s new blink ability.
    3. Play Phantasmal Image, copying Pit Keeper.Return Wingcrafter from your graveyard to your hand.
    4. Play Wingcrafter, pairing it with Vampire Aristocrat and giving the Aristocrat flying.
    5. Unearth Dregscape Zombie.
    6. Sacrifice Dregscape Zombie, Pit Keeper and Phantasmal Image to Vampire Aristocrat (14/14).
    7. Attack with Vampire Aristocrat.
    8. After blockers have been declared, sacrifice Wingcrafter to Vampire Aristocrat (16/16).

    “By exposing Deadeye Navigator,” Addison Fox writes, “CJ didn't just allow us to draw a removal spell, but also let us reference its potent Soulbond ability with our Phantasmal Image. Reusing powerful ETB abilities are one way to abuse a two-mana flicker effect, but we can also do something more exciting for the rules-lawyering crowd by cheating the laws of undeath itself:

    1. Sacrifice Dregscape Zombie and Wingcrafter to Vampire Aristocrat, making it a 6/6.
    2. Play Phantasmal Image as a copy of Deadeye Navigator. Pair it with Pit Keeper.
    3. Flicker Pit Keeper. There are four creatures in our graveyard, so the Keeper triggers, returning Wingcrafter to your hand.
    4. Sacrifice Pit Keeper to Vampire Aristocrat, making it an 8/8.
    5. Unearth Dregscape Zombie. Pair it with "Deadeye Navigator".
    6. Flicker Dregscape Zombie. Unearth sees that it's being exiled, so the replacement effect for it leaving the battlefield is satisfied. It summarily returns just fine, ready to be re-unearthed as if it were fresh.
    7. Sacrifice Dregscape Zombie and Phantasmal Image to Vampire Aristocrat, making it a 12/12.
    8. Unearth Dregscape Zombie again.
    9. Sacrifice Dregscape Zombie to make Aristocrat a 14/14, actually exiling it to unearth this time.
    10. Play Wingcrafter. Pair it with Vampire Aristocrat.
    11. Move to combat. Attack with the Vampire Aristocrat. It has flying, so CJ can't block. Before damage, sacrifice Wingcrafter to make it a lethal 16/16.

    “CJ was punished for playing Deadeye Navigator,” Allen Smith notes, “though it may only have been this draw that punishes him with a game loss. In fact, I don't think it's as wrong as Mari made it out to be — any instant-speed removal we could draw would be good enough to kill the Navigator had he held it for a turn, since we can respond to the Soulbond trigger.

    “There are also a handful of cards that make CJ's play correct: any discard or counterspell effect means CJ would be kicking himself for not playing it the turn before, and Blue and Black have plenty of those in this format. Imagine how upset CJ would be with Mari if he had listened and waited, only to get blown out by Familiar's Ruse, picking up Wingcrafter to re-pair it with Vampire Aristocrat.”

    “’A Matter of Taste’?” Damien Griffin remarks. “I'm surprised that the Aristocrat has any sense of taste left after the in-flight snacks it consumed. I mean, some of those were even eaten twice!”


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