32: Trading Places

“Do you have a Nyx-Fleece Ram?” Jun asks. “I’m looking for one for my little sister. She loves the art.”

You look up at her in surprise. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find one,” you say. “I think Velek has one that he’s putting up for trade, and he’s in the next room.”

“Yeah,” she says, “but things aren’t… very good between us right now.”

Puzzled, you get up and walk over to the room where the traders are hanging out. There, you find three people arguing over a bunch of cards laid out on a table.

“That’s the problem,” Jun says. “Each of us has some cards that someone else wants, but we don’t just trade for anything. We have some very specific conditions whenever we trade, and most of the time, the others don’t agree.”

“So you can’t trade anything because you’re all being overly critical with your cards?”

Jun has the decency to look embarrassed. “You… could say that.”

You sigh, then rap the table a couple of times to get their attention. Everyone stops arguing.

“Let’s see what you’ve got,” you say.

Each trader’s available cards, their wants, and their specific conditions for trading are given below. Can you find a sequence of trades that will result in each person getting what they want?


Jun has the following cards for trade:

Jun’s wants are: Nyx-Fleece Ram, Mobile Fort, Oakgnarl Warrior, and Doomgape.

Jun will trade only for creature cards, and will trade a card only if she is offered a creature card with a higher toughness in return.


Naeem has the following cards for trade:

Naeem’s wants are: Angelic Destiny, Chromanticore, Sen Triplets, and Worldfire.

Naeem will trade a card only if he is offered a card of a higher rarity level in return. (From lowest to highest, the rarity levels are Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Mythic Rare.)


Soledad has the following cards for trade:

Soledad’s wants are: Sea Gate Loremaster, Curse of the Bloody Tome, Hollowhenge Scavenger, and Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers.

Soledad will trade a card only if she if offered a card with more letters in its name (not including spaces or punctuation) in return.


Velek has the following cards for trade:

Velek’s wants are: Desert Twister, Open the Vaults, Sire of the Storm, and Ichor Explosion.

Velek will trade a card only if he is offered a card with a higher converted mana cost in return.