December 31, 2014Perplexing Chimera

11: Start Again

In hindsight, white and blue were probably not the best colors for an Infect strategy. Especially when you’re up against Janus and his Goblin deck.

Fortunately, thanks to Janus’s Goblin Guide and a lot of lands off the top of your library, you’ve been able to hold your own. You dropped your ace in the hole — Karn Liberated — a few turns ago, and have built up quite a few counters on him. No matter how many cards you’ve exiled, however, Janus has been drawing more due to his Avarice Amulet.

Last turn, Janus played a Cast Into Darkness on your Thrummingbird and rumbled into the combat zone with almost all of his creatures. You threw a couple of disposable blockers in the way, but you were powerless to prevent some of the damage. Now you’re at five life with no infect creatures in sight, and the creatures you have left won’t be enough to stem the tide.

You do have one hope, however: Karn has exiled quite a few of Janus’s cards, cards that can win the game for you if you can get them into play. But that means getting Karn’s loyalty counters high enough to use his ultimate ability, and as much as you’d like for that to happen, you’re four counters short.

But no one ever said proliferating was easy. Besides, you’re not about to let a few goblins bash your head in… right?

It is the start of your first main phase. Activate Karn Liberated’s third and ultimate ability this turn.

Click the image for a larger version.

Janus is at 20 life, has no poison counters, and has no untapped lands. He has these cards in play:

You are at 5 life. You have these cards in play:

Your card in hand:

Thanks to an earlier Ponder, you know that the top card of your library is a Glint Hawk.

Karn Liberated has exiled four cards over the course of this game: Chancellor of the Forge, Mountain, Goblin Warchief, and Siege-Gang Commander.