After a long break, I am back with my latest puzzle, which is themed around manipulating cards in libraries! I hope you enjoy it, and as always, I would be grateful for any feedback.
Please put any solution attempts (or discussion of such attempts) inside a "spoiler" box so others attempting the puzzle will not accidentally see them.
The story so far:
You and your opponent were asked to play an exhibition match featuring a variety of cards from Magic’s history and some from MTG Arena. You were given a deck themed around library manipulation, while your opponent was given a defensive deck that generates lots of tokens. You both resolved your own copies of Telepathy, meaning you each have perfect knowledge of what’s in each other’s hands (and libraries, since the decklists are public information).
Your opponent’s Darksteel Reactor has been ticking up slowly and is finally one turn away from winning him the game. You untap and draw for turn. “There’s no way you can win!” your opponent cackles after looking at your hand. But you will prove him wrong!
Instructions: Find a way to guarantee that you win the game.
Your solution must be valid regardless of the decisions your opponent makes, such as how they block and at what times they activate abilities.
Your solution must also be valid regardless of how any random events play out, such as the order of cards in libraries.
For example, unless you’ve somehow taken game actions to ensure that the top card of your library must be a particular card, then when you draw a card, you should imagine that an adversarial demon knows your strategy and has manipulated the randomness to ensure you draw a card that makes your strategy fail (if possible).
Similarly, if an effect chooses something at random, assume the outcome is chosen by an adversarial demon aiming to make your strategy fail.
You can, of course, specify a conditional strategy such as “If the random outcome comes out [Way #1] then I do [Thing A]; if it comes out [Way #2] then I do [Thing B], and if it comes out [Way #3] then I do [Thing C].” If you do so, make sure all possible random outcomes still lead to you winning the game.
The contents of graveyards and exile zones are irrelevant for this puzzle.
The puzzle begins in your precombat main phase. You’ve already drawn a card for turn, and nothing unusual has happened yet this turn except for the fact that you removed a stun counter from your tapped 1/1 Kithkin token rather than untapping it during the untap step.
Unless otherwise specified, each permanent that exists at the start of the puzzle is nontoken, is untapped, and is owned by the player who controls it at the start of the puzzle.
Please put any solution attempts (or discussion of such attempts) inside a "spoiler" box so others attempting the puzzle will not accidentally see them.
The story so far:
You and your opponent were asked to play an exhibition match featuring a variety of cards from Magic’s history and some from MTG Arena. You were given a deck themed around library manipulation, while your opponent was given a defensive deck that generates lots of tokens. You both resolved your own copies of Telepathy, meaning you each have perfect knowledge of what’s in each other’s hands (and libraries, since the decklists are public information).
Your opponent’s Darksteel Reactor has been ticking up slowly and is finally one turn away from winning him the game. You untap and draw for turn. “There’s no way you can win!” your opponent cackles after looking at your hand. But you will prove him wrong!
Instructions:
Find a way to guarantee that you win the game.
Your solution must be valid regardless of the decisions your opponent makes, such as how they block and at what times they activate abilities.
Your solution must also be valid regardless of how any random events play out, such as the order of cards in libraries.
- For example, unless you’ve somehow taken game actions to ensure that the top card of your library must be a particular card, then when you draw a card, you should imagine that an adversarial demon knows your strategy and has manipulated the randomness to ensure you draw a card that makes your strategy fail (if possible).
- Similarly, if an effect chooses something at random, assume the outcome is chosen by an adversarial demon aiming to make your strategy fail.
- You can, of course, specify a conditional strategy such as “If the random outcome comes out [Way #1] then I do [Thing A]; if it comes out [Way #2] then I do [Thing B], and if it comes out [Way #3] then I do [Thing C].” If you do so, make sure all possible random outcomes still lead to you winning the game.
The contents of graveyards and exile zones are irrelevant for this puzzle.The puzzle begins in your precombat main phase. You’ve already drawn a card for turn, and nothing unusual has happened yet this turn except for the fact that you removed a stun counter from your tapped 1/1 Kithkin token rather than untapping it during the untap step.
Unless otherwise specified, each permanent that exists at the start of the puzzle is nontoken, is untapped, and is owned by the player who controls it at the start of the puzzle.
The Puzzle (text version):
Opponent’s Life: 25
Opponent’s Hand: Action News Crew, Enduring Vitality, 2x Forest
Opponent’s Library (unknown order): Mightform Harmonizer, Hearthcage Giant, 2x Forest
Opponent’s Field: Darksteel Reactor (with 19 charge counters), Telepathy, 16x tapped Forest, 4x tapped Transguild Promenade, 2x Walking Sponge, 2x 8/8 blue Kraken creature tokens, 6x 3/4 green Treefolk creature tokens with Reach
Your Life: 20
Your Hand: Clone Crafter, Scheming Symmetry, Head Games, Brigid's Command, Mystic Reflection
Your Library (unknown order): Desolation Twin, Crater’s Claws, Panglacial Wurm, 2x Forest
Your Field: Omniscience, Concordant Crossroads, Prismatic Omen, Telepathy, Field of Ruin, 20x Forest, Opposition Agent, 3x 3/3 green Elephant creature tokens, 1x tapped 1/1 green and white Kithkin creature token
Visual Version (Right-click "Open Image in New Tab" for higher resolution):