Welcome to Pauper Puzzles!
Pauper Puzzles is a weekly series, published every Saturday on r/pauper. Each puzzle gives you a board state to work with and asks you to accomplish some goal – often but not always to win in a single turn. The cards used are all pauper legal, and are often taken directly from established pauper archetypes.
I ( u/othesemo on Reddit) design these puzzles, while u/sulkingraccoon is responsible for the graphic design. Higher resolution versions of the images can be viewed by opening them in a new tab.
Apart from being entertaining, puzzles will often showcase strategies and interactions that are useful to know for playing pauper.
The following was the first puzzle we published to the subreddit as a proof of concept, and while it’s not particularly complicated or elaborate, it’s included here for completeness’ sake. It begins in your first main phase, and your goal is to win this turn.
Player:
1 Life
Hand: Tendrils of Corruption
Lands: 4 Swamps, 3 Islands
Field: Crypt Rats, Gurmag Angler
Opponent:
8 Life
Board: Young Wolf, Gurmag Angler
Solution
1. Tendrils of corruption the opponent’s Gurmag Angler
2. Activate Crypt Rats for 2, hold priority, Crypt Rats for 1
3. The second activation resolves first, killing Young Wolf, the enemy Angler and Crypt Rats. YW Undying resolves.
4. The first activation now resolves, killing the returned YW and bringing the opponent to 5.
5. Swing for 5 with Gurmag Angler.
Pauper Puzzles 