You were expecting the rare cards. You were expecting the massive number of flyers. You were expecting a good fight against Paolo’s deck. The one thing you weren’t expecting, however, were the Sinkholes — and you had to admit that their timing was perfect.

Sitting at 6 life and not wanting to take any chances, Paolo emptied his hand last turn, giving himself two more blockers for you to worry about. When his next turn comes around, he’s not going to have any qualms about sending everything he has in your direction. Considering that you’re now at a mere 4 life with not much on the table, you’re too obvious a sitting duck at the moment.

To be fair, you’d make a more decent showing if you had more mana. But Paolo’s Sinkholes came at the right time: they’ve slowed down your deck severely, and his use of Relic of Progenitus only made you feel that much more worse.

Shaking your head, you take one more look at the board. There’s no way to win this game… or is there?

It is the start of your first main phase. Can you win the game before Paolo does?

Paolo is at 6 life, has no cards in his hand, and has no untapped lands. He has these cards in play:

• Child of Night (tapped)
• Duskmantle Seer (tapped) with Assault Suit
• Skaab Ruinator (tapped)
• Abyssal Gatekeeper
• Insectile Aberration
• Faerie Macabre
• Nightveil Specter
• 2 islands (both tapped)
• 2 swamps (both tapped)
• 2 Watery Grave (both tapped)

Paolo has only one creature card in his graveyard: a Soul of Innistrad.

You are at 4 life. You have these cards in play:

• Shadow Guildmage
• Plague Witch
• Puppeteer Clique
• 1 island
• 2 swamps
• Izzet Guildgate

Your cards in hand:

• Dredge
• Set Adrift

The top two cards of your library (which you know due to a recent Ponder) are:

• Exhume (topmost card)
• Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker (second to top)

You currently have only two cards in your graveyard:

• Ponder
• Ultimate Price