A funny thing happened as I was typing up the solution to last weekâs puzzle. I forgot the name of the instant for that gave +1/+1 and First Strike, went to look it up in last weekâs article . . . and discovered it wasnât there. I had completely forgotten to include it, making the puzzle harder than Iâd intended. This week, Iâm giving the same puzzle again, but this time with the proper setup.

Challenge

Win the game this turn.

Difficulty Levels

The levels are cumulative; each one has the previous levelsâ changes as well.

Level 1 (Moderate)

You have 7 life. In play you have a Blind Zealot, a Mortis Dogs equipped with Strider Harness, a Shrine of Boundless Growth with 7 charge counters, and your Viridian Harvest enchanting it. You also have one Plains, one Forest, and two Swamps. In hand, you have Gut Shot, Karn Liberated, Noxious Revival, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Seize the Initiative.

Your opponent has 5 life. He has in play an Alpha Tyrranax, a Caustic Hound equipped with Batterskull, a tapped Fangren Marauder, and a Soul Conduit. He also has two Forests, one Island, and three Mountains untapped. He has no cards in hand. Neither you nor your opponent have any cards in the graveyard.

Click here to see the board state for Level 1.

Level 2 (Hard)

Instead of Noxious Revival, your hand contains Surgical Extraction.

Click here to see the board state for Level 2.

Level 3 (Insane)

Blind Zealot was given protection from artifacts by an Apostle's Blessing earlier this turn, which is now in your graveyard.

Click here to see the board state for Level 3.

Level 4 (Gibbering Madness)

Blind Zealot is enchanted with Defensive Stance.

Click here to see the board state for Level 4.

Assumptions

The opponent might activate Soul Conduit at any point in time. However, he will always gain life with Fangren Marauder and will never return Batterskull to his hand. The challenge begins in your main phase; you have priority. None of the creatures currently on the battlefield have summoning sickness.

Send your solutions to nex342+puzzle@gmail.com with the subject line âPuzzle â Critical to Win Reduxâ and Iâll include the best ones in next weekâs article, along with the next puzzle!

Good luck!

Solutions to Last Weekâs Puzzle

Despite last weekâs puzzle being more difficult than intended, Bing Luke was able to find a solution. This solution no longer works for this weekâs puzzle, but it contains a few big hints, so Iâm going to save it until next week.

Special thanks to Liz Cady for creating the board-state images for this puzzle.