Eager puzzlers are in for a treat this week. To celebrate the release of Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret, you get two dueling puzzles in the same week!

Okay, so the duel decks in question may have come out a year ago, but the deck lists for Ajani vs. Bolas arenât out yet, and I really wanted to make a Duel Decks dual puzzle. Hereâs how the dual puzzle works: Elspeth and Tezzeret are returning to their duel from a delicious lunch of aurochs burgers. Neither can remember whose turn it was, but each of them realizes that they can win the game if they untap and draw the right card.

Elspeth has 10 life, and has out a Conclave Equenaut with two +1/+1 counters; Elspeth, Knight-Errant with 8 loyalty; Loyal Sentry, which is tapped; Mosquito Guard; Temple Acolyte; sixteen tapped Plains; and a tapped Kabira Crossroads. Her hand contains Kor Skyfisher and Stormfront Riders, and her graveyard has Blinding Beam, Kor Hookmaster, and Razor Barrier.

Opposite her, Tezzeret is at 6 life. He controls Arcbound Worker and Clockwork Hydra, each with a +1/+1 counter; Faerie Mechanist; a 1/1 flying Pentavite artifact creature token; a tapped Steel Overseer; a Tezzeret the Seeker with 4 loyalty; a Darksteel Citadel; an Island; and a Seat of the Synod. Heâs holding Everflowing Chalice, Thirst for Knowledge, and Trip Noose, and his graveyard contains Mishra's Factory, Moonglove Extract, Pentavus, Razormane Masticore, Stalking Stones, and Triskelion.

Challenge 1

If itâs Elspethâs turn, what card can she draw that will win her the game this turn?

Click here to see the board state for Challenge 1.

Challenge 2

If itâs Tezzeretâs turn, what card can he draw that will win him the game this turn?

Click here to see the board state for Challenge 2.

Assumptions

Each player is playing an unmodified copy of Duel Decks: Elspeth vs. Tezzeret (deck lists here). This means that the card(s) you draw must be in the deck and not already on the battlefield, in hand, or in the graveyard (unless there are multiples in the deck, of course). You have perfect luck, but your opponent will block and make other choices optimally.

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

Good luck!

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

Solution to Last Weekâs Puzzle

I got a wide variety of solutions to last weekâs puzzle, which is always exciting. At first, the hardest level was Level 3; the first solution I got was the following, by Brian Keong:

Eventually, an even harder level was added, which disallowed Pyromancer Ascension. There were lots of different solutions for this level, but most of them put down a Lotus Cobra, used either Treasure Hunt or Oracle of Mul Daya to get effectively infinite lands for Explore, then used the profits to cast Genesis Wave. The first example I received of this was from the Good Gamery team:

I first mentioned this challenge at a game store in my hometown of Seattle during the Magic Online Community Cup. Bing Luke, Luis Scott-Vargas, and Marshall Sutcliffe started working on it, and ended up coming up with the same solution I had found originally. This solution eschews Genesis Wave in favor of Time Reversal for card advantage and resetting the number of available Explores:

Shout-outs go to the following people: