AuthorJeff Till

Jeff Till returns for a quick Magic quiz! Do you like puzzles? Do you like Magic? Exercise your neurons with this brain teaser. How do you win the game this turn?

Welcome back, puzzle fans! This issue I have something special planned for you. Today I bring you one of my favorite concepts: the puzzle within a puzzle. The first puzzle (a.k.a. the metapuzzle) is very straightforward. I will present you with twelve groups of three cards, and for each group you tell me which card comes next in the sequence or is missing from the group. I will even make the quiz multiple choice. The underlying puzzle, though, you’re going to have to figure out on your own…

It’s time for another Magic Puzzles article! Last time out, we looked at a ridiculous game state in which there were enough errors to make any judge’s head spin. This time, we’ll look at a couple of the situations that are not quite errors, even though they shouldn’t come up in your average game of Magic. Can you make sense of all the red herrings?

This week’s puzzle deals with players that are somewhat less impressive. They are so bad, in fact, that they cannot even manage the game state properly. Even “Bad Beat” Phil would be appalled. If you’re looking to win yourself an RGD draft set (or two for a perfect score), this is the week to start, as the fifth puzzle competition begins. All competitors are welcome, just send me your solutions each week via PM by Monday at midnight. Good luck, and enjoy!

Trivia week is back! Can you prove your prowess as a walking Magic encyclopedia? Only two perfect scores remain going into this final round of competition, but as many as fourteen competitors still have a shot at the title. Even if you’re not in contention, here’s your chance to show off what you know. Enjoy!

It’s time for another one of those challenges that puts your knowledge of the rules to the test. How well do you understand the stack? Six people still have a perfect score to protect, but so far this competition no actual Magic rules knowledge has been necessary. Will all six stand up to the challenge, or will others overtake them?

Ahoy, puzzle fans. After the well-received paragraph puzzle from a couple weeks ago, I thought I’d present another class puzzle archetype, fitted to Magic: the 3×3. In a 3×3 puzzle you are be presented with nine words. Your job is to group the words into three sets of three, each of which are connected by another word. After you make this grouping, you once again group the three new words to get the final answer. Simple, right? Now win those RGD draft sets!

Welcome back to Magic Puzzles. Before I throw this week’s challenge at you, let me tell you about the unique gift that I got for my most recent birthday. Imagine being able to take a piano lesson from Mozart, or perhaps being given Wushu instructions by Jet Li. The gift I received was in the same vein, but perhaps not so mainstream. So in honor of that, this week’s puzzles will be all about this particular art form…

This week’s puzzle deals with another card game – Mao. Mao is my favorite game that is played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards, but the nifty part is that the rules of the game are not explained up front to the players. In that vein, the rules for this puzzle are also left ambiguous. I have confidence that you will figure everything out, though. And this time, there’s a prize on the line… so good luck!

Observant readers will notice that both this week’s and last week’s puzzles are titled “Stuffy Doll.” This puzzle is a new version of the one from last week. There were rules changes for Future Sight that broke the puzzle. Thanks a lot, Reach! So enjoy the new, fixed puzzle, as we wait until next week to announce the winner.

Welcome back to Magic Puzzles, where we find ourselves in the final week in the third puzzle competition. With three people still in contention, it seems likely that we will have a third champion in as many contests. Enjoy the puzzle, and make sure to come back next week, since there will be a small but significant twist in the competition.

A quarter of a year has passed since I started this weekly column. Over the last thirteen weeks I’ve presented you with all kinds of Magic puzzles, from the obvious to the obscure. I have only stumped you a couple times, while you have gotten the better of me at least three times! How, you ask? By submitting an answer to a puzzle that I did not at all expect. This week I will take the opportunity to revisit those three wayward puzzles, and attempt to set things straight.

This week I pay homage to the original puzzler, Mark Rosewater. His “Trade Away” puzzle from the Magic: The Puzzling book has always been one of my favorites. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this week’s brain-bender as much as I enjoyed the original.

When it comes to video games, I am a big fan of the “lost game” genre. For example, Mario the Lost Levels, and all of the previously unreleased Final Fantasy games are among my favorites. When it comes to Magic cards? Let’s just say that Coldsnap was not my choice set. Today, and next week, we will explore a different direction with lost Magic cards: the lost puzzle. Enjoy!

The second five-week period of StarCityGames.com’s Magic Puzzles competition has ended, and we have a new champion! Although several more people scored points this time around, Gabrosin decimated his opposition by a wide margin, earning over a third of the total points. There are a few changes in scoring this time round… have you got what it takes to be champion?