Ixalan Season - Puzzle #8

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Welcome back to Possibility Storm, the weekly MTG puzzle series available exclusively through MTGCanada and PossibilityStorm.com.

We called this one uncommon because it's mostly just a combat math one, but it turns out the trick is a lot harder to spot than we first thought, as our fastest Patreon supporter still took 19m 30s to solve it! Think you can do it faster?

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Think you've got it? Check your answer against the solution below:

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  1. Cast Crocodile of the Crossing. Choose the Fathom Fleet Captain to get +2/+2 and trample from the Rhonas's Monument trigger. Croc resolves and no ETB trigger happens thanks to Overwhelming Splendor.
  2. Use Consign // Oblivion to bounce Overwhelming Splendor. Croc now has haste.
  3. Attack with all.
  4. Since your opponent only has one flying blocker, their reasonable options can be simplified as a) double-block the Captain and chump the Skyship Plunderer, b) double-block the Croc and chump the flier, or c) double-block the Captain and chump the Croc.
  5. In either case, cast Bloodcrazed Paladin during combat, thanks to its Flash ability, and put the +2/+2 and trample bonus on the creature which would get through the most damage. (a - Skyship Plunderer, getting through for 4+0+1+5, b - Skyship Plunderer, getting through for 4+5+1+0, and c - Crocodile of the Crossing, getting through for 3+0+1+6. 10 any way you slice it!

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