Hello and welcome to the tenth edition of Mind Twists, StarCityGames.com weekly puzzle column! As always, I have two new puzzles for you to tackleâ€”complete with raffles for signed cardsâ€”as well as the solutions to last week’s puzzles. Speaking of which, congratulations to Sean Ramirez (“Through the Fog”) and Ryan Shaffer (“Oh the Bitter Shame and Sorrow”), our winners for this week. Check your inboxes!

Puzzle #1: Raising the Dead? I’ll Help!

You’re playing a casual game of Commander with one of your friends. It’s your Rafiq of the Many Blinks deck versus your opponent’s Oros the Avenger of Graveyards deck, and you spend many of the first several turns trading resources. Things start to heat up when your opponent casts Sulfuric Vortex, shutting down your Venser, the Sojourner + Pelakka Wurm life gaining engine. The Vortex proves to be too much for Venser, and he planeswalks away from your duel (or whatever happens when a planeswalker’s loyalty reaches zero). To make matters worse, your opponent casts Grimoire of the Dead, threatening to Reanimate everything and run you over.

Your opponent activates Grimoire of the Dead for the third time, discarding the land he drew for that turn to put the third and final study counter on the artifact. Sighing, you reach for your library and draw the last card before everything rises from the grave. You draw Intuition, and you start to tap your mana to cast the spell. Reconsidering, you untap your lands and pass the turn.

“Well, I guess you’re going to get everything back from the dead now,” you say in a defeated tone.

“What do you have there, a Fog?” your opponent asks as he untaps his permanents and draws his card for the turn. Instinctively, he plays the Swamp off the top of his deck then says, “Ok, I’m going to activate Grimoire of the Dead’s second ability. Urabrask the Hidden gives everything haste, and I definitely have enough to kill you. Responses?”

“In response to the Grimoire ability, I’ll cast Intuition.”

It is your opponent’s precombat main phase. Grimoire of the Dead’s second ability has been put on the stack, and your Intuition has been put on top of it.
With Intuition on the stack, both players’ hands are currently empty.
Your opponent is at 7 life, and you are at 4 life.

You have:

In play: Pelakka Wurm (untapped) equipped with Swiftfoot Boots, 3 Islands (tapped), 2 Islands (untapped), 2 Plains (untapped), and 2 Forests (untapped).
In graveyard: Venser, the Sojourner, War Priest of Thune, Champion of Lambholt, Avacyn’s Pilgrim, Farhaven Elf, Precursor Golem, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger.
Your general, Rafiq of the Many, is in your library.
Here is your decklist:

Rafiq of the Many Blinks

Dayv Doberne

Test deck on 08-19-2012

Commander

Creatures (41)

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Venser, the Sojourner

Lands (41)

Spells (17)

Your opponent has:

In play: 4 Swamps, 3 Plains, 3 Mountains, Sulfuric Vortex (all untapped).
In graveyard: 3 Mountains, Grimoire of the Dead, Inferno Titan, Urabrask, the Hidden, Ancient Hellkite, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Kuro, Pitlord, Dark Ritual, Avatar of Woe, Thundermaw Hellkite.
Your opponent’s general, Oros, the Avenger, is in his library.

Formulate an Intuition that will lead you to victory!

Winner of the raffle will receive a signed Grimoire of the Dead!

Puzzle #2: Counting to Ten

It’s a casual Saturday night at your local game store and you’re in the middle of a Planechase match with a group of friends. You hear this announcement from the front of the store:

“Legacy Win an Underground Sea will begin in ten minutes, but we need at least eight people to begin and we only have four people so far…”

You look at your three friends. They look back at you. Simultaneously, each of you gets up from your seat and sprints to your backpack to try to throw a deck together. Tables flip. Chairs are knocked over. Cards go flying. You and your friends don’t actually play Legacy, but it’s an eight-man tournament for an Underground Sea! Recalling a decklist you saw online once, you hastily assemble a deck with Ad Nauseam and Tendrils of Agony. Looking around, you see one friend has assembled Elf Overrun and another has assembled a U/B Mill deck. Filling the remaining slots of your deck with basic Swamps, you head over to the counter to register for the tournament.

A few hours later, you find yourself in game 3 of the final match for the Underground Sea. You are on the draw this game, winning the last game by attacking with four 1/1 Goblins while your opponent did nothing for five turns. Your opponent plays a land and passes. You draw for your turn, play a Swamp, cycle a Barren Moor, and pass back. On your opponent’s second turn, he plays a bunch of spells then lands Battle of Wits with exactly 200 cards left in his library! Both players are still at 20, but your opponent will absolutely win the game on his next upkeep. Cautiously, you untap, draw a card, then crack a smile as you realize that you are about to win an Underground Sea.

You have:

In play: Swamp.
In hand: Swamp, Lotus Petal, Lion’s Eye Diamond, Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, Infernal Tutor, Tendrils of Agony, Ad Nauseam.
In graveyard: Barren Moor.

Makeshift Storm

Dayv Doberne

Test deck on 08-19-2012

Legacy

Creatures (2)

Lands (46)

42 Swamp
4 Barren Moor

Spells (12)

(You pulled most of the cards out of a Commander deck, explaining why you have so many one-ofs.)

Winner will receive a signed Ad Nauseam!

Solutions to Last Week’s Puzzles

Puzzles: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/24647-Mind-Twists-9.html

Puzzle #1: Through the

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Puzzle #2: Oh the Bitter Shame and Sorrow

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The winner, Ryan Shaffer, provided two viable solutions. Here they are in his own words:

A needlessly convoluted (but in keeping with the spirit of the puzzle) solution. In response to Sorrow’s Path trigger:

Equip Kitesail to Puresteel Paladin for free (via Puresteel Paladin and Leonin Shikari).
Equip Livewire Lash to Puresteel Paladin for free.
Tap Scrubland[/author]“][author name="Scrubland"]Scrubland[/author], Bayou, and one Plains to play Hideous End on the Paladin. Livewire Lash triggers, target your opponent. These go on the stack.
Respond by tapping your second Plains to play Path to Exile on the Paladin. Livewire Lash triggers, target your opponent. These go on the stack.
Respond by tapping two Forests to activate Trophy Hunter targeting the Paladin (which has flying via Kitesail). This goes on the stack.
Trophy Hunter ability resolves. Paladin, which has 1 damage from Plague Spitter on it already, dies. Trophy Hunter gets two +1/+1 counters.
The two spells targeting Paladin fizzle (so you don’t lose life off Hideous End). The two Livewire Lash triggers resolve, hitting your opponent (who falls to 23). Kitesail and Livewire Lash fall to the ground. The stack is now empty save for Sorrow’s Path.
Equip Lightning Greaves to Leonin Shikari.
Tap Temple Garden to play Hunger of the Howlpack, targeting Kemba, who gets six +1/+1 counters (via Morbid off the Paladin).

Let the Sorrow’s Path trigger resolve. The Cat tokens, Leonin Shikari, and Plague Spitter die. Fungusaur gets four +1/+1 counters. Plague Spitter trigger goes on the stack.

Right now, you have a 4/5 Trophy Hunter with 3 damage, a 6/6 Fungusaur with 3 damage, an 8/10 (base) Kemba with 3 damage equipped with Bonesplitter to become a 10/10, and Savannah untapped.

The Plague Spitter trigger resolves. You fall to 1, and your opponent falls to 22. Fungusaur gets two +1/+1 counters, becoming an 8/8 with 4 damage. Your other team members survive.

Move to declare attackers and attack with three creatures, dealing 8 + 4 + 10 to your opponent to kill him exactly (22 damage).

A simpler solution:

Equip Kitesail to the Puresteel Paladin.
TapÂ one Forest and one Plains to shoot the Paladin (which has flying via Kitesail) with Trophy Hunter.
Trophy Hunter’s ability resolves. Puresteel Paladin takes 1 damage and has 1 damage from Plague Spitter. It dies. Trophy Hunter gets two +1/+1 counters. Kitesail falls to the ground.
Equip Lightning Greaves to Leonin Shikari.
Tap your second ForestÂ to play Hunger of the Howlpack, targeting Kemba, Kha Regent. Livewire Lash triggers; shoot your opponent (life = 25). Kemba gets six +1/+1 counters via morbid off the Paladin.

Let the Sorrow’s Path trigger resolve. The Cat tokens, Shikari (dropping Greaves), and Plague Spitter die, and you fall to 2. Fungusaur gets four +1/+1 counters. Spitter trigger goes on the stack.

Right now, you have a 4/5 Trophy Hunter with 3 damage, a 6/6 Fungusaur with 3 damage, an 8/10 (base) Kemba with 3 damage equipped with Livewire Lash and Bonesplitter to become a 12/10, and five lands untapped (Plains, Temple Garden, Savannah, Bayou, Scrubland).

The Plague Spitter trigger resolves. You go to 1, your opponent goes to 24. Fungusaur gets two +1/+1 counters, becoming an 8/8 with 4 damage. Your other team members also survive.

Move to declare attackers and attack with your three creatures, dealing 8 + 4 + 12 to your opponent to kill him exactly (24 damage). If that somehow fails, you can pull the same Livewire spell-stacking trick to get a few more points.

Congratulations Ryan, you will receive a signed Sorrow’s Path!

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If you have any questions, comments, or puzzle suggestions, just email me at [email protected], as always. I hope you enjoyed this week’s puzzles, and I’ll see you again next week!

–Dayv Doberne

@Sunyveil on Twitter