The symbol poster was shared by someone on Reddit, and was apparently made by his local LGS to promote their prerelease. It's not affiliated with WotC or this particular puzzle.
Anyone know a cypher linking text to hours on the clock? Seems to me the Japanese liths are pointing to 2, 3, 8, 9 o'clock, and the Spanish ones are 2, 4, 10, 7 o'clock.
But in all seriousness, I think we have all the evidence we need from the one poster, since it's supposed to be solved by your average joe who visited the game shop.
Then why would you need four different ones from around the world? Obviously this is meant to be solved by the more enfranchised players.
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Anyone know a cypher linking text to hours on the clock? Seems to me the Japanese liths are pointing to 2, 3, 8, 9 o'clock, and the Spanish ones are 2, 4, 10, 7 o'clock.
If this theory is correct, so far we have
ENGLISH: 2 - 4 - 10 - 7
JAPANESE: 2 - 3 - 8 - 9
SPANISH: 1 - 5 - 2 - 11
I have no ideas what this means
Summing the numbers and converting to letters in English alphabet (A=1, B=2, ...) would lead to:
ENGLISH: 23 -> W
JAPANESE: 22 -> V
SPANISH: 19 -> S
Three letters are not very much... they all appear in the set name ("Shadows over..."), but I doubt there are enough versions to spell something so long, probably just a single word. If this theory has any sense anyway.
Supposing they are not needing Y and Z, the numbers may work in pairs, that would lead to
ENGLISH: 6 - 17 -> FQ
JAPANESE: 5 - 17 -> EQ
SPANISH: 6 - 13 -> FM
And this has even less sense
"A" assumes you go full circle on the alphabet. It would make sense to do since the lowest you could start with is C on the alphabet with 1+1+1. Another thought is 3 could represent A since that is the lowest possible start. That would then shift everything I did to B I Q X.
One more thing.
Looking at the posters, in each of them, 2 of the cryptoliths are pointing exactly opposite each other. In essence, they are canceling each other out. I think those should be ignored and only the other 2 should be used as a vector of some sort to point towards the clues.
Well, whatever the message is, they're using cryptoliths to convey it. If that is the case, they can 'spell' with this code 10 different 'letters' per cryptolith (the cryptolith could be facing right or left, and for each side its facing it has 5 different angles). So their 'alphabet' consists in 10 'letters'. Aside from that, they're all being used in groups of 4, which gives us a healthy number of 10 thousand possible combinations of cryptoliths they could have created, but they are using much less than that.
I don't think it is related to positions on a clock or entries in tamiyo's journal (which has just 3 numbers), nor angulation or shapes. It has to be something simple. Maybe you could think of the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but I'm not sure that the answer is that either. Alas, 10 possible letters in 4 combinations is a pretty vast alphabet, we will need to think for a while what it could be.
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Each Poster has a different image on the backside as well. I cant get a picture of it at the moment. But there is a different image on the reverse side with something actually in the Moon.
The website WotC put up clearly has 4 spaces for 4 cards, so I will continue to assume that each of the 4 posters has its own self contained solution. This is just sensible puzzle design, it means that one clever guy can solve it on the spot and get the room hyped.
I am also thinking that the solution is probably something simpler than the direction many of us have taken so far.
I would guess you are correct, but it could also be 1 card cut into 4 corners. Top left we have name and artwork. Top right we have CMC Bottom left we get partial text and types. Bottom Right we get P/T and the rest of the text if it is a creature.
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RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
I'm abysmal at puzzles (though given that the website Wizards is hosting for this has pinned a tweet about compass angles I'm inclined to think that's a good line of investigation), but to help people who are less bad at things I thought I'd point out that they've now shared the Russian poster
This is the only image I know of that shows the back of the posters. It seems to be the promotional image WotC is using for most of the websites, seen here in motion.
The website WotC put up clearly has 4 spaces for 4 cards, so I will continue to assume that each of the 4 posters has its own self contained solution. This is just sensible puzzle design, it means that one clever guy can solve it on the spot and get the room hyped.
I am also thinking that the solution is probably something simpler than the direction many of us have taken so far.
Except there are ten posters. One for each language WotC translates product for.
I've cropped the four posters we have images of thus far to just the cryptoliths and highlighted the angle on each (it's the only meaningful difference so even if compass angles aren't the answer, it's still what we have to work from in terms of clues). Pink is russian, orange is english, green is japanese, and blue is spanish. it is very likely though that without all of the posters we won't be able to get a meaningful message even if we *were* to figure out the nature of the puzzle
it is very likely though that without all of the posters we won't be able to get a meaningful message even if we *were* to figure out the nature of the puzzle
I'm quite sure we can't, either. Hopefully we get the rest of the posters soon! (Working with someone who has access to the German poster, atm)
It would be useful to know what the format of the solution we're looking for is. Another single word like the email addresses during the GP puzzles weekend? A four letter / digit answer for each poster? A single digit answer for each?
As has been stated, there seem to be 10 possible orientations of the cryptoliths - 5 angles, with reverse directions for each, corresponding to the 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11 positions on a clock face. Maybe a future poster will have a 6 or 12, but for now that seems unlikely from the nature of the cryptolith designs. I've tried using each cryptolith as a vector to draw a 4-stroke letter-form, but the Spanish one in particular seems to bear no close resemblance to a romanesque letter. The nearest I've got to anything is using 1-10 for the positions as they progress round a clock face (so 6-10 for clock positions 7-11) and adding them for each gives 18 (Spain), 19 (Russia), 20 (Japan) and 21 (English). Guess we'll need to see more to know if we can make anything from those.
It's also notable that the four posters we have so far use only teo orientations for their first liths - the clockface 1 and 2 positions. Is that significant?
ETA: There are plenty of ways to vary this system. Maybe the positions correspond to 0-9 rather than 1-10; Maybe the 'first' position is different to the clockface 1; Maybe they count 10 as 0, meaning Spain would be 8 instead of 18. At the moment I'm getting letters R, S, T and U from these, but possibly H, S, T and U instead.
I wonder what happens if you space the letters of the (English, which ultimately is Magic's primary language and the one that previous puzzles were largely conducted in) alphabet evenly around a circle and then see at which one each cryptolith points? I don't have the time to do so at the moment but it might be an avenue worth investigating. The only thing that makes it seem a bit dubious is that 26 doesn't divide evenly into 360 at all -- you end up with a letter every 13.85 degrees, which is really very fiddly to work with.
Can the numbers on the Jurnal cards be referenced with the corresponding Liths on that languages poster? To create some kind of geographic solution, or otherwise?
The website WotC put up clearly has 4 spaces for 4 cards, so I will continue to assume that each of the 4 posters has its own self contained solution. This is just sensible puzzle design, it means that one clever guy can solve it on the spot and get the room hyped.
Except it's designed as a social media puzzle which means you need all the posters world wide to solve it. Once all ten are posted online one person maybe be able to solve it, but without all 10 posters it's not solvable.
Can someone explain to me what the entries in the "Shapes" column refer to? I don't see anything on the poster which leads to these conclusions.
The shapes are my running theory on what the cryptoliths are hinting at - points in a circle that, when connected in the order depicted, form those particular shapes. Not even sure they are forming letters, but it fits ok for now.
If it's like the Lab / Manor / Cathedral puzzles, we'll gradually get more of the four card slots filled as the number of people sharing the answer reaches various thresholds.
It would be useful to know what the format of the solution we're looking for is. Another single word like the email addresses during the GP puzzles weekend? A four letter / digit answer for each poster? A single digit answer for each?
As has been stated, there seem to be 10 possible orientations of the cryptoliths - 5 angles, with reverse directions for each, corresponding to the 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11 positions on a clock face. Maybe a future poster will have a 6 or 12, but for now that seems unlikely from the nature of the cryptolith designs. I've tried using each cryptolith as a vector to draw a 4-stroke letter-form, but the Spanish one in particular seems to bear no close resemblance to a romanesque letter. The nearest I've got to anything is using 1-10 for the positions as they progress round a clock face (so 6-10 for clock positions 7-11) and adding them for each gives 18 (Spain), 19 (Russia), 20 (Japan) and 21 (English). Guess we'll need to see more to know if we can make anything from those.
It's also notable that the four posters we have so far use only teo orientations for their first liths - the clockface 1 and 2 positions. Is that significant?
ETA: There are plenty of ways to vary this system. Maybe the positions correspond to 0-9 rather than 1-10; Maybe the 'first' position is different to the clockface 1; Maybe they count 10 as 0, meaning Spain would be 8 instead of 18. At the moment I'm getting letters R, S, T and U from these, but possibly H, S, T and U instead.
Oddly enough, if you go 0 -> 9 instead of 1 - 10, you get eng->17, japan->16, rus -> 15, span - 14. Also, I think using 0-9 is more likely, because each one will have the same number of digits.
edit:
German would be 19
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Then why would you need four different ones from around the world? Obviously this is meant to be solved by the more enfranchised players.
WotC Site
Posters (Angles of liths | Journal Entry | Shapes | Clock Positions = Total)
English (60°, 115°, 290°, 210° | 434 | N | 2 4 10 7 = 23)
Japanese (60°, 90°, 230°, 270° | 443 | U | 2 3 8 9 = 22)
Spanish (35°, 150°, 65°, 325° | 935 | P? | 1 5 2 11 = 19)
Russian (30°, 90°, 210°, 295° | 535 | U | 1 3 7 10 = 21)
German (90°, 135°, 285°, 220° | 434 | N | 3 4.5 9.5 7 = 24)
Portuguese (60°, 270°, 325°, 240° | 644 | P? | 2 9 11 8 = 30)
Italian (35°, 210°, 240°, 120° | 433 | R? | 1 7 8 4 = 20)
Korean ( | 435)
French ( | 712)
CT ( | 441)
CS ( | 441)
Letter\Symbol Arrangement by Journal Entry?
R N N _ _ _ U U P _ P
Possibly a matching game? (Match the pairs of symbols/letters)
If you take your numbers and run them down
ENGLISH: 2 - 4 - 10 - 7
JAPANESE: 2 - 3 - 8 - 9
SPANISH: 1 - 5 - 2 - 11
---*--*-*-*---E---L---T----A
"A" assumes you go full circle on the alphabet. It would make sense to do since the lowest you could start with is C on the alphabet with 1+1+1. Another thought is 3 could represent A since that is the lowest possible start. That would then shift everything I did to B I Q X.
One more thing.
Looking at the posters, in each of them, 2 of the cryptoliths are pointing exactly opposite each other. In essence, they are canceling each other out. I think those should be ignored and only the other 2 should be used as a vector of some sort to point towards the clues.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Yup. Here's all of them.
I don't think it is related to positions on a clock or entries in tamiyo's journal (which has just 3 numbers), nor angulation or shapes. It has to be something simple. Maybe you could think of the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, but I'm not sure that the answer is that either. Alas, 10 possible letters in 4 combinations is a pretty vast alphabet, we will need to think for a while what it could be.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
That could be an important clue
I would guess you are correct, but it could also be 1 card cut into 4 corners. Top left we have name and artwork. Top right we have CMC Bottom left we get partial text and types. Bottom Right we get P/T and the rest of the text if it is a creature.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Except there are ten posters. One for each language WotC translates product for.
I'm quite sure we can't, either. Hopefully we get the rest of the posters soon! (Working with someone who has access to the German poster, atm)
As has been stated, there seem to be 10 possible orientations of the cryptoliths - 5 angles, with reverse directions for each, corresponding to the 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11 positions on a clock face. Maybe a future poster will have a 6 or 12, but for now that seems unlikely from the nature of the cryptolith designs. I've tried using each cryptolith as a vector to draw a 4-stroke letter-form, but the Spanish one in particular seems to bear no close resemblance to a romanesque letter. The nearest I've got to anything is using 1-10 for the positions as they progress round a clock face (so 6-10 for clock positions 7-11) and adding them for each gives 18 (Spain), 19 (Russia), 20 (Japan) and 21 (English). Guess we'll need to see more to know if we can make anything from those.
It's also notable that the four posters we have so far use only teo orientations for their first liths - the clockface 1 and 2 positions. Is that significant?
ETA: There are plenty of ways to vary this system. Maybe the positions correspond to 0-9 rather than 1-10; Maybe the 'first' position is different to the clockface 1; Maybe they count 10 as 0, meaning Spain would be 8 instead of 18. At the moment I'm getting letters R, S, T and U from these, but possibly H, S, T and U instead.
EDH:
Niv-Mizzet
Legacy:
The Rack
Modern
Venser, the Sojourner Control
Except it's designed as a social media puzzle which means you need all the posters world wide to solve it. Once all ten are posted online one person maybe be able to solve it, but without all 10 posters it's not solvable.
ETA Thanks dorianisms i put your images in the OP
The shapes are my running theory on what the cryptoliths are hinting at - points in a circle that, when connected in the order depicted, form those particular shapes. Not even sure they are forming letters, but it fits ok for now.
Oddly enough, if you go 0 -> 9 instead of 1 - 10, you get eng->17, japan->16, rus -> 15, span - 14. Also, I think using 0-9 is more likely, because each one will have the same number of digits.
edit:
German would be 19