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“I’m a simple person,” Fedor pleads. “I just came here for a few friendly games, that’s all. Now I just want to take my cards and go home. Please?”
“Uh, Mari . . . ” you begin, and she immediately silences you by holding one hand in front of your face.
“You see?” Fedor tells you. “She’s been like this for a while. She won’t concede, she won’t say anything, and she won’t do anything.”
“What happened?”
Fedor scratches his head. “Maybe I made her angry,” he says. “We’re both playing with cards from the bargain box, and I have this nice Orzhov build that’s been winning for most of the game.”
“Yeah, I noticed. You didn’t attack last turn?”
“I haven’t attacked your friend for a while now—there are too many creatures on the table, and I didn’t feel like doing the math. I have some cards that are bleeding her out anyway: Pillory of the Sleepless, Agent of Masks, Gibbering Descent . . . ”
“And Mari’s at 1 life?”
“1 life,” Fedor says. “She’s going to lose next turn, yes. But she won’t concede!”
“Maybe she drew something good.”
Fedor gives you an odd look. “Against this table? That’s crazy.”
Mari glares at you and then reveals the Starved Rusalka in her hand. “I was thinking,” she says.
“If you’d had taken any longer to think, we’d have died of old age.”
“Look,” Fedor says, “let’s just call this a draw. You’re okay with that, aren’t you?”
Mari flicks the Rusalka in her hand. “No,” she says, “I don’t think we’ll end this in a draw. In fact, you’ll probably want to see what happens next.”
It is the start of your first main phase. Defeat Fedor before the start of his next combat phase.
You are at 1 life with the following cards in play:
- Goblin Arsonist (with your Reins of the Vinesteed and Fedor’s Cessation attached)
- Bogardan Firefiend
- Seething Pathblazer
- Bloodshot Trainee (with Fedor’s Pillory of the Sleepless attached)
- Magma Phoenix (with Fedor’s Faith's Fetters attached)
- 2 Mountains
- 4 Forests
- Shivan Oasis
You have the following card in your hand:
You do not know the identities of any of the cards that are currently on top of your library.
Fedor is at 8 life and has no cards in his hand. He has the following cards in play:
- Barrow Ghoul
- Treacherous Werewolf
- Soulcage Fiend
- Souls of the Faultless
- Gutwrencher Oni
- Agent of Masks
- Gibbering Descent
- 2 Plains
- 4 Swamps
Fedor has the following cards in his graveyard:
- Soul Warden (top card)
- Doom Blade
- Orzhov Charm
- Alabaster Mage (bottom card)
If you think you have a great solution in mind, don’t put it in the comments! Instead, send it to puzzles at gatheringmagic dot com with the subject line “Puzzle — Hot Potato” by 11:59 P.M. on Sunday, May 8, 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 Benjamin Plummer, Aaron Golas, Russell Jones, Norman Dean, Ryou Niji, David Jacobs, Mark Koster, Andrew Muravskyi, Quadrangolo Tetra, Hyman Rosen, David Foodym, Markus Beschoner, Kevin Muehlenthaler, Matthew Harvey, Kriz Lee, Tim Broman, and Caleb Davis.
As several people predicted, there are quite a few variant solutions to this one. Most people caught on to the interaction of Alarum, Valorous Stance, and Ink-Treader Nephilim fairly quickly. However, not everyone saw the interaction of Thalakos Mistfolk and Pain Seer, and in some cases, people chose to ignore the latter entirely.
“You have a very powerful effect in Valorous Stance combined with the Ink-Treader Nephilim,” David Foodym writes, “but it can backfire horribly if you're not careful. I'm sure when Rain cascaded into something as scary as Ursapine, she wasn't expecting it to cost her the game.”
“The combination of Alarum, Valorous Stance, and Ink-Treader Nephilim can wreak havoc on the board,” Aaron Golas continues. “In addition, tapping Pain Seer and untapping it with Alarum could force Rain to lose a chunk of life. The trick is to make sure you can get enough power on your attack to finish her off, without losing your attacker(s) to the wrath of Valorous Stance.”
Aaron’s solution hinges on manipulating Rubinia Soulsinger, who doubles as the kill mechanism:
- Tap Rubinia Soulsinger to gain control of Thalakos Mistfolk.
- Tap Thalakos Mistfolk, Devout Harpist, and Sandsower to tap Pain Seer.
- Tap an Island to put Thalakos Mistfolk on top of Rain's library.
- Tap an Island and a Plains to cast Triclopean Sight targeting Rubinia. When it resolves, untap her.
- Attack with Rubinia, who now has vigilance.
- Before blocks, tap a Plains and Whisperer of the Wilds to cast Alarum targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim. Alarum is copied for every other creature but Rubinia, untapping them all and giving them +1/+3. Pain Seer's inspired ability triggers; Rain reveals Thalakos Mistfolk and loses 3 life, going to 5.
- Tap Rubinia to gain control of Ursapine.
- Tap Devout Harpist to destroy Triclopean Sight, reverting Rubinia to a 2/3.
- Tap Whisperer of the Wilds (for
since the 4/6 Ursapine gives you ferocious) and Sapseep Forest to activate Ursapine three times targeting Rubinia. - Before any of Ursapine’s abilities resolve, tap a Plains and Forest to cast Valorous Stance with its second mode (destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater) targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim. Ink-Treader Nephilim triggers, copying Valorous Stance for every other creature but Rubinia.
- Valorous Stance and its copies resolve, destroying every creature but Rubinia.
- Ursapine’s abilities resolve, making Rubinia a 5/6. With all of Rain's blockers out of the way, Rubinia cruises in for exactly lethal.
One variant of this solution—as demonstrated by Norman Dean’s solution below—eschews attacking with Rubinia Soulsinger in favor of a more interesting finisher: Devout Harpist.
- Tap Rubinia Soulsinger to gain control of Thalakos Mistfolk.
- Use Sandsower's ability, tapping Sandsower, Whisperer of the Wilds, and Thalakos Mistfolk to tap Pain Seer.
- Tap an Island and activate the Mistfolk's ability to put it on top of Rain's library.
- Attack with just Devout Harpist. Before blockers:
- Tap an Island and a Plains to cast Alarum on Ink-Treader Nephilim. Thanks to the Nephilim, this will untap everything but the Harpist and give those creatures +1/+3. Rain's Pain Seer triggers, revealing the Thalakos Mistfolk, and causing her to lose 3 life (putting her to 5).
- Tap Rubinia to gain control of Ursapine (now a 4/6)
- Tap Whisperer of the Wilds (with ferocious, thanks to the Ursapine) and your two Forests to add to your mana pool.
- Use the green mana to activate Ursapine four times, targeting your Harpist.
- With those activated abilities still on the stack, tap your last two Plains and cast Valorous Stance targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim, choosing the mode "Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater." The Nephilim will copy this to destroy everything but your Harpist (which is still a 1/1).
- The Ursapine’s abilities resolve, making your Harpist a 5/5. Rain is at 5 life and has no creatures left to block.
“It seems there could be many variations of this solution,” Ryou Niji muses, “with tradeoffs here and there to be made. It would interest me to see if there are any solutions that are fundamentally different—that are not just taking Mistfolk, tapping and untapping Pain Seer, taking Ursapine, wiping the board, and attacking for 5. With the complexity of this board, it seems possible.”
One approach that several people tried involved simply attacking with all of your creatures, casting Alarum on Ink-Treader Nephilim, stacking the Alarum copies to resolve the ones targeting Rain’s creatures first and then casting Valorous Stance on the Nephilim for a one-sided Wrath. However, this isn’t enough by itself.
“It's important to remember that whoever controls the Nephilim is able to choose the order in which the spells go on the stack,” David Jacobs points out, “and the original spell targeting the Nephilim always resolves last.” As a result, it takes a lot more maneuvering to make this approach work. Russell Jones’ solution goes:
- Tap Rubinia Soulsinger to steal Ink-Treader Nephilim.
- Pay
to cast Alarum targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim. This lets you control its triggered ability, which means you get to choose what order to place all the copies on the stack (except that the original spell targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim must resolve last). This will be important. - Let all the copies targeting Rain's creatures resolve first. Copperhorn Scout is 2/4, Gatecreeper Vine 1/5, Pain Seer 3/5, Thalakos Mistfolk 4/4, Ursapine 4/6, and Enlisted Wurm 6/8. Pain Seer was already untapped, so it doesn't gain an inspired trigger, but we don't need it to.
- At this point, before any of the remaining copies resolve, pay to cast Triclopean Sight on Rubinia. She untaps, becomes 3/4 (since her particular Alarum copy hasn't resolved yet) and causes Rain to get the Ink-Treader Nephilim back.
- Tap Devout Harpist to destroy Triclopean Sight, bringing Rubinia back to 2/3.
- Tap Rubinia to steal Ursapine.
- Ursapine is now 4/6, so you have ferocious. Tap Whisperer of the Wilds for .
- Let the next copy of Alarum resolve, this being the one targeting Whisperer of the Wilds. It jumps to 1/5 and untaps. Tap it immediately for another .
- Tap a Forest for . Activate your stolen Ursapine once targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim, and let it resolve. The Nephilim is now 4/4.
- Activate Ursapine four more times targeting Rubinia, but before any of those can resolve, respond by using your last two lands to play Valorous Stance in destroy mode, targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim.
- This time, Rain controls the trigger and can choose the order for the copies, but that order is completely irrelevant. All of Rain's creatures have 4 or more toughness and will be destroyed regardless of what order this occurs. Whisperer of the Wilds and the stolen Ursapine also have enough toughness and will also be destroyed, but they've already served their purpose. Devout Harpist, Sandsower, and Rubinia have not received any boosts (yet), and no copies of the spell are created for them. Thalakos Mistfolk is not a Human, so Avacyn's Collar does not trigger.
- The remaining four instances of Ursapine's ability resolve. Rubinia grows to 6/7, and now it's too late for the Wrath of Valorous Stance to take hold.
- The remaining copies of Alarum resolve. Sandsower goes to 2/6, Devout Harpist untaps and goes to 2/4, and Rubinia untaps and goes to 7/10. The original spell, aimed at the now-dead Nephilim, fizzles.
- Go to combat, and attack with your three creatures toward an empty board. Rain takes 11 damage (to -3) and loses.
Finally, Kriz Lee found a path that ignores both the Pain Seer interaction and the Ink-Treader Nephilim’s stack issues. It does perform some gymnastics of its own, though:
- Attack with Devout Harpist (1/1) and Sandsower (1/3).
- Before blockers are declared:
- Gain control of Ursapine with Rubinia Soulsinger.
- Activate Ursapine once to give itself +1/+1 until end of turn. ( available.)
- Tap Whisperer of the Wilds for and activate Ursapine twice, targeting any attacking creature.
- In response to these activations, cast Triclopean Sight on Whisperer of the Wilds ( available.) Resolve Triclopean Sight, untapping Whisperer of the Wilds.
- Tap Whisperer of the Wilds for , and activate Ursapine twice, targeting any attacking creature.
- In response to these activations, cast Alarum on Ink-Treader Nephilim. ( available.) Resolve Alarum, untapping all creatures except your two attackers and giving each of them +1/+3. You lose control of Ursapine.
- Tap Rubinia Soulsinger to regain control of Ursapine.
- Tap Whisperer of the Wilds for , and activate Ursapine twice, targeting any attacking creature.
- In response to these activations, cast Valorous Stance on Ink-Treader Nephilim, destroying everything except for your two attackers.
- Resolve all six Ursapine activations. You now have 8 power worth of attackers and no blockers.
Matthew Harvey sums this puzzle up nicely: “Control the creature, control the stack, control the game.”
