When watching a movie one day, you saw a young chess master take on several opponents at the same time, and he beat them all. You thought to yourself, "If this can work for chess, it can work for Magic!" So you got your decks together and headed to the local card shop. Half an hour later your were neck deep in three different games of magic with three different opponents. And your dreams were about to come true: this very turn you were going to be able to win each of those games.
And then it happened. An emergency phone call from home said that you had to leave immediately. So you scooped up your cards and headed out the door. And then your phone rang again. It was a false alarm; you could finish your tournament after all. The problem is, all the cards you had got all jumbled together in the mess. Your libraries were in one large heap and the rest of your cards in another. You stare at your collection of cards and try to piece together which cards were in games against which opponent. Which cards were in your hand, and which were in play? All you know is that in each game you were in the first main phase. Your goal is to recreate each game where it left off (as closely as possible), and then win each game. You may choose which zone each card is in (choices are in your hand or in play).
Cards:
1 Plains
1 Forest
6 Island
3 Swamp
2 Mountain
Ayumi, the Last Visitor
Barrel-Down Sokenzan
Celestial Kirin
Cut the Earthly Bond
Death Denied
Feral Lightning
Genju of the Realm
Ghost-lit Nourisher
Horobi’s Whisper
Inner-Chamber Guard
Kagemaro, First to Suffer
Kashi-Tribe Elite
Kitsune Bonesetter
Kitsune Dawnblade
Pure Intentions
Sakura-Tribe Scout
Sasaya, Orochi Attendant (not flipped)
Shifting Borders
Tomorrow, Azami’s Familiar
Volcanic Hammer
Game 1:
Tony (11 life):
4 Forests
4 Swamp
Heartbeat of Spring
Forge[/author]“]Darksteel [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]
Tony has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard
.Game 2:
Rob is attempting to lock down your entire game plan with cards like Pithing Needle and Worship. His amassing army of creatures is starting to look threatening against your collection of troops. Take Rob out of commission before he runs you over.
Rob (1 life):
3 Plains
9 Forest
Worship
Hand of Honor (enchanted with Blanchwood Armor)
Nikko-Onna
6 1/1 colorless Spirit tokens
Pithing Needle (naming Kagemaro, First to Suffer)
Stampeding Serow
Rob has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.
Game 3:
Let’s face it: Frank doesn’t know what he’s doing. With all the creatures he has in play, Frank probably could have killed you turns ago. But he hasn’t. It’s time to teach Frank a lesson. Show him how’s it done by killing him this turn.
Frank (13 life):
9 Swamp
1 Mountain
Darksteel Colossus
Deathmask Nezumi
Crawling Filth
He Who Hungers
Yukora, the Prisoner
Gnat Miser
Raving Oni-Slave
Rustmouth Ogre
Frank has no cards in hand, and no relevant cards in his graveyard.
Note: there may be multiple solutions for this puzzle. If there are, the "best" solution is the one that uses the fewest cards. I’ll post my answers Monday in the forums. Thanks again to Justin Sarnak for helping to test the puzzles.
~jeff till
[Dear Jeff Till,
If you are reading this, please e-mail your editor.
The Management]