Solution to 48: Finish Him

A quick count shows that there’s no way you can break through Andreas’ defenses: You can get up to three of his creatures blocking your Lurking Arynx, and an unmorphed Ire Shaman will need to be blocked by at least two creatures… but even taking those into account, you simply don’t have enough creatures to get through.

There is, however, one card on the table that can take off that last bit of life: Archers’ Parapet. On top of that, you have access to a card that can put it under your control for the turn: Lose Calm. But you’ll need some more mana in order to use it, and on top of that, you need to make sure that the Parapet stays alive.

  1. Declare the start of your combat phase, assigning your Lurking Arynx, Sprinting Warbrute, and Savage Ventmaw to attack.
  2. Savage Ventmaw’s ability triggers, and you add ( used as generic mana) to your mana pool. This mana will carry over to your postcombat main phase.
  3. Spend to activate Lurking Arynx’s ability. Choose to have Archers’ Parapet block Lurking Arynx this turn if able. (This prevents Andreas from assigning the Parapet to block your Sprinting Warbrute, and making it unavailable to you during your postcombat main phase.)
  4. Allow Andreas to declare blockers. Andreas may choose to block any of your attacking creatures in any way he chooses; of note is that his Archers’ Parapet blocks your Lurking Arynx, and the Parapet survives combat.
  5. During your second main phase, spend to unmorph your Ire Shaman.
  6. Ire Shaman’s ability triggers, allowing you to exile the top card of your library (Lose Calm). You may play Lose Calm this turn.
  7. Tap a mountain (not the one with Sheltered Aerie) and a forest to add (both used as generic mana) to your mana pool.
  8. Spend to cast Lose Calm on Andreas’ Archers’ Parapet. You gain control of the Parapet, which gains haste until end of turn.
  9. Tap your mountain with Sheltered Aerie to add (one used as generic mana) to your mana pool.
  10. Spend to activate Archers’ Parapet’s ability, causing Andreas to lose 1 life. Andreas is now at zero life, and is defeated.