Morphs are not the most trustworthy fellows. They go parading around like Gray Ogres for a while and then all of the sudden… surprise! Before you know if you’ve lost a quarter of your life and you’re skipping your next untap step. Despite (or perhaps fact due to) their deceptive nature, though, morphs are a lot of fun to play. As you take on “Bad Beat” Phil this week, will your morph hordes be enough to overwhelm him, or are all your tricks for naught?
Solution to last week’s puzzle.
Below is one solution for each puzzle. All of the puzzles have multiple solutions, using many different cards. Check back in the forums from last week’s puzzle so see other solution using different cards. Also make sure to check out Gabrosin’s amazing 63-step solution that combines all the answers into one mighty solution for the low, low cost of seven mana (plus U for each iteration). Sorry about the slight confusion on the puzzle rules. Perhaps this is the reason those mean judges do not let us have “infinite” things.
1) Have an arbitrarily large (abbreviated as infinite) life total.
Nomads en-Kor, Daru Spiritualist, Diamond Valley (3 mana)
2) Create a creature with an infinite power and toughness.
Forest, Squirrel Nest, Earthcraft, Nantuko Husk (8 mana)
3) Deal infinite damage to Bad Beat Phil, your opponent.
Nomads en-Kor, Daru Spiritualist, About Face, Fling (6 mana)
4) Have infinite mana in your mana pool.
Ashnod’s Altar, Ornithopter, Enduring Renewal (7 mana)
5) Have an infinite number of creatures in play.
Forest, Squirrel Nest, Earthcraft (5 mana)
6) Have an infinite number of permanents named Akroma, Angel of Wrath in play.
Forest, Squirrel Nest, Earthcraft, Mirror Gallery, Volrath’s Shapeshifter, Ink-Treader Nephilim,Cytoshape, Akroma (in hand), Lion’s Eye Diamond. (21 mana)
– After making infinite squirrels, cast Cytoshape targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim, and choosing Volrath’s Shapeshifter. All creatures in play are now Shapeshifters.
– Create Akroma and Lion’s Eye Diamond, and crack the Diamond to discard Akroma.
7) Have an infinite number of non-basic Islands in play.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker; Steam Vents; Intruder Alarm; Nature’s Revolt (12 mana)
8) Have an infinite number of non-basic Mountains in play (without using Blood Moon or any non-basic lands).
Aether Flash, Sprouting Phytohydra, Death Pit Offering, Life and Limb, Artificial Evolution, Magical Hack, Erase (20 mana)
– Play Death Pit Offering, Aether Flash, and Phytohydra.
– Get an arbitrary amount of Phytohydra tokens.
– Erase Aether Flash.
– Play Life and Limb
– Magical Hack Life and Limb from Forest to Mountain.
– Artificial Evolution Life and Limb from Saproling to Plant.
9) Have an infinite number of Green permanents that are not lands, enchantments, creatures, or artifacts in play.
Helm of Awakening, March of the Machines, Kiki-Jiki, Intruder Alarm, Neurok Transmuter, Sleight of Mind. (13 mana + U for each iteration)
– Play Helm of Awakening, March of the Machines, Kiki-Jiki, Intruder Alarm.
– Copy Helm of Awakening an infinite number of times
– Play Neurok Transmuter, Sleight of Mind.
– Target all of your Helms with Neurok Transmuter spending U each time.
10) Have an infinite number of auras attached to a creature.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker; Opalescence; Takklemaggot; Intruder Alarm; Teardrop Kami; Ornithopter; Diamond Valley (17 mana)
– Play Ornithopter and Diamond Valley.
– Put the Takklemaggot on Ornithopter, and sac to Diamond Valley.
Since Takklemaggot has no legal targets to return to play to, it’s ability will trigger and it will become a global enchantment.
– Play Intruder Alarm, Teardrop Kami, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
– Copy Teardrop Kami with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. This will trigger Intruder Alarm, untapping Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
– Repeat to achieve an arbitrary number of Teardrop Kami tokens.
– Play Opalescence. Your Takklemaggot is now a 4/4 global enchantment.
– Copy your Takklemaggot creature with Kiki-Jiki. The copy will come into play as an enchant creature (aura), at it is printed on the card. Attach the copy to Kiki-Jiki.
– Sacrifice one of your arbitrarily numerous Teardrop Kamis to untap Kiki-Jiki.
– Repeat to achieve an arbitrary number of auras attached to Kiki Jiki.
Scores for this puzzle:
Gabrosin — 10
Gaeanewt — 2
guitarhero218 – 2
HermaphroGreg – 2
LoneGoat – 2
microStyles — 2
Mjlewis — 2
NeonBlack — 4
VideogameD – 4
Current Scores:
Gabrosin — 20
NeonBlack — 4
VideogameD — 4
Gaeanewt — 2
guitarhero218 – 2
HermaphroGreg – 2
LoneGoat – 2
microStyles — 2
Mjlewis – 2
This Week’s Puzzle (25 points total)
Difficulty: 3/5
You and your opponent, “Bad Beat” Phil have gotten yourselves into quite the creature stall. You both have plenty of on-board tricks; you with your collection of face-down morphs, and Phil with his own clever creatures. If it is currently your first main phase, what is the most damage you can deal to Phil this turn? Assume that all morphs are face-down, you each have an unlimited amount of mana, and that there are no other relevant cards.
You: (1 life)
Aquamorph Entity
Brine Elemental
Coral Trickster
Fathom Seer
Fledgling Mawcor
Riptide Pilferer
Shaper Parasite
Slipstream Serpent
Timebender
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Voidmage Prodigy
Willbender
Phil: (?? life)
Blood Knight
Gossamer Phantasm
Keldon Marauders
Merfolk Thaumaturgist
Needlepeak Spider
Prodigal Pyromancer
Serendib Sorcerer
Serra Sphinx
Serrated Arrows (2 counters)
1) [5 points] What is the most damage you can deal assuming Phil plays optimally, but has absolutely no idea which creatures your morphs are, and therefore makes the worst choices possible when he has to make arbitrary decisions?
2) [10 points] What is the most damage you can deal assuming Phil plays optimally and he is such a good player that he knows exactly what all of your morphs are?
3) [5 points] Same as question 1, but you also have Ixidron in hand.
4) [5 points] Same as question 2, but you also have Ixidron in hand.
Submit your answers in the forums. I will post solutions in next week’s article.
Good luck.