FAMOUSWATERMELON

Next time, don't give us the "points of interest" section. Everything you said there is part of figuring out the puzzle.

The two cards we are playing around here are Dispel and Spell Pierce (maybe). We can't beat either of them with our current hand. Our two options are to let Remand resolve, draw and resuspend the Lotus Bloom or Pact and hope the opponent doesn't have the counter for our Ad Nauseam.

The opponent has already used a Negate, which leads me to go all-in on Pacting the Remand. Even if he doesn't have Cryptic Command, the opponent can Snap-Negate with a land in his next three draw steps.

My play is to cast Pact of Negation targeting Remand, resolve Lotus Bloom and try to win the game with Ad Nauseam + Angel's Grace.

I've just had an idea. Maybe we could put our answers in spoiler syntax, given that tappedout now has buttons to do it quickly.

lol.

Edit: my above comment wasn't like a sarcastic criticism. It was a genuine idea.

My suggestions and solution pretty much follow GlistenerAgent's.

I'd like to add that in general when playing combo you want to take any opportunities when the opponent is tapped down to combo off. You have to worry about Dispel and Spell Pierce this turn but on subsequent turns you would need to worry about them plus something else. Your opponent has misplayed by trying to Remand the Lotus Bloom, press the advantage and combo off.

How does Ad Nauseam+Angel's Grace work? Angel's Grace specifically says damage. Ad Nauseam says you lose life equal to it's converted mana cost. Damage causes loss of life, loss of life doesn't cause damage. I get Ad Nauseam+Phyrexian Unlife.

After the split second reminder text the first seven words are:

"You can't lose the game this turn"

"you can't lose the game this turn"

Drakon562 The important part of Angel's Grace is that you can't lose the game. The card doesn't prevent you from going below 0 life, but it doesn't matter, since you have until the end of turn to do something.

GlistenerAgent I figured that points of interest would be nice for the people who are not so knowledgable about the archetype. But if it makes it less interesting, I can put them in spoilers or just take them off altogether.

Haha ninja'd twice XD

This is a very cool article, I liked it, keep going.

Was this an actual game that you made, or just an hypotetical game.

Also, as far as my play, I agree with what have been said. You have the chance to pull the combo and you want to do it as fast as you can, so you shpuld defenitly play with the odds and go for it.

Thanks for the puzzle! These are a lot of fun, and a great way to learn lines of play.

However, I think you made this too easy. Your points of interest section basically spells it out:

Should your Lotus Bloom resolve, you'll be able to combo off, as you have the right cards and will have exactly the amount of mana you need.

Way too obvious! Go off! I don't mind having to count out how much mana is available, or sometimes even doing probability to see what Peer Through Depths could find you. The Gemstone Mine and Pentad Prism with one counter also sets the puzzle up as "find the win this turn" puzzle.

I look forward to the next one though!

In response to GlistenerAgent, some of the points of interest were unnecessary, I agree, but how would we be able to figure out that they run Cryptic Command?

I have no idea what the play is, by the way.

Really part of the challenge is guessing roughly what an opposing deck is playing without knowing the entire list. If you see a control deck playing blue in modern then you ought to at least suspect that they play Cryptic Command. At least in tier 1. Some people like this aspect of the challenge because it adds another dimension, others dont.

Right. My problem is that I don't play enough competitive MTG to know all of the metas.

That's ok. Obviously the challenge has to be catered to the audience.

Metas don't really mater as much as just knowing of the existence of certain things. In Legacy if they play blue and have more than 1 life Force of Will exists. In Modern in blue at 4 mana Cryptic Command is something you have to be aware of. In both Legacy and Modern Abrupt Decay is a thing in . You don't have to know every list to be able to be able to make the right play. You just have to be aware of what possibilities exist in the format that will stop the deck being piloted.

I personally think that the footnotes describing each deck should be sufficient to guide people unfamiliar with the decks. The points of interest kinda takes away from the fun. This is coming from someone who knows neither of these decks, but knowing general MTG strategy and having a rough idea of legal cards in the format I can say without a doubt that the best course is to pact the remand and go for combo. The other player is on control and their game only gets stronger the longer you allow them to build resources. They are down to 1 open mana and that leaves few options open for further interaction.

So, real talk, would it be more pleasing to hide the additional notes. Those that want less guidance can make a decision without the spoiler notes. Those that are less familiar can click to reveal further information.

No, just don't have them. Learning to notice these things is part of the puzzle, and hopefully people can improve at it by doing these things.

I don't play this format but after reading the cards and before reading the comments I also came up with what GlistenerAgent said.

Keep the puzzles coming, this was fun.

You go for it, you only lose to spell pierce/ dispel and the longer the game goes the worst it get's for ad nauseum, considering cryptic command and blood moon and snapcaster mage targeting negate or remand again. This is the best chance you're going to get.

Keep it coming people :)

So the general consensus seems to be that the pointers are pretty useless and/or make it too easy. While it's worth noting that I made this first one a bit one-sided on purpose, as it's the first episode, it does seem that the pointers make it a bit obvious, so I'll likely take them out or put them in spoilers next time next time.

luisserpa It's a bit of both. The idea for this situation came from a very similar game against Temur Prowess/Delver which sided into Control G2. It was very close to what happened here, he Remanded my Lotus Bloom with three lands untapped on my side and I had the combo in hand, the only differences being small things like hand size and maybe lands untapped on his side. I translated it to Blue Moon for the additional threat of Blood Moon, but apart from that the scenario is largely untouched.

Anything else?

As a runner of the deck (500+ games), I would just go for it. The way my board state is, Blood Moon isn't a glaring issue this game, so you can give the argument of holding back, but with him/her trying to Remand the Lotus Bloom, it gives away that they aren't confident dealing with the combo that turn, and that's the best way for them to stop it.

Great to see you do the stuff FAMOUSWATERMELON.

So I've seen a few people doing what appears to be making plans to pay for a countered pact. Paying for pacts is part of their effect, if a pact is countered you don't have to pay for it.

I think this was a great little exercise. Some suggestions based off of everyone's comments and my own: instead of putting all of the info, layer it down into basic info, for those players who know the tier 1 decks and are looking for a challenge. Then the next level of hints, a deck spoiler button for those that do not know of generally what a blue moon, or whatever deck is being used, is. Then a third level of hints for those of us that are completely stuck. Hashing out details like that in levels gives those who want a challenge what they want, and it gives those who don't know the situation well, a chance to learn. Maybe even split up the info into a easy/med/hard difficulty?

I think someone should develop an app that does this. Would be tons of fun. I'd procrastinate so much with that..

If they Dispel the Ad Nauseum, you can Angel's Grace the Pact of Negation trigger next turn and hope you can grind out a win, which is unlikely.

Pact of Negation their remand. Then cast ad nauseam, followed by angel's grace, freezing them from doing anything until you win.

@TheBigPoohBear That's not how Split Second works. You cast Ad Nauseam, then cast Angel's Grace. No new spells or abilities can be put onto the stack until Angel's Grace resolves. Now it resolves, and Ad Nauseam is still on the stack. They can now counter the Ad Nauseam since the card with Split Second has resolved.

Pact and combo for the win.

I agrree to combo off after casting Pact of Negation but I would say Angel's Grace has split second so if you put it on the stack at the same time as Ad Nauseam then they both resolve and the combo goes through.

That's not how that works.

You can't put two spells on the stack at the same time, you can retain priority and cast angels grace in response to ad nauseam. But at that point, angels grace will resolve because nothing can be put on the stack after that, but the opponent will have priority before ad nauseam resolves, thus being able to respond to it.

I think it's best if the pointer were put in a spoiler tag. A lot of people enjoy this kind of posts but not everyone knows what they are looking at. You could present the bare minimum info needed to come up with a solution and have a spoiler to show extra info and another to show hints. The UnTap.in image was kinda confusing because I've never seen it before but the explanation below it was all I needed to understand the situation and come up with a possible answer.

Good job.

Pull off the combo, then Pact of Negation whatever he plays. ezpz