Solemn Simulacrum in the Karmic Guide Reveillark Combo

Asked by El_Scorcho_3.14 6 years ago

Alright so I was wondering how you would shortcut looping Solemn Simulacrum in the Karmic Guide/Reveillark combo. In REALITY you would have to draw a card when it's sacrificed and tutor a land when it comes back and then shuffle before drawing a card and repeating the process. Is there any way to "shortcut" this so I don't have to shuffle my deck 15+ times. I'd say you could search out all the lands and draw an equal number of cards, if not for the fact that you could've drawn one of the basic lands if you'd done the loop properly without shortcuts. Which way would I do this in practice?

Rhadamanthus says... #1

You can only shortcut through actions in a loop if each step would have a 100% predictable result. The shuffling in your example introduces a very significant random element, but there is a way to do this if you have an "instant-speed" sacrifice outlet and your opponent is open to skipping through redundant shuffles.

• Let's start with each of Solemn Simulacrum, Karmic Guide, and Reveillark on the battlefield
• Sacrifice the Simulacrum. The draw trigger goes onto the stack
• Respond by sacrificing Guide and Reveillark. Now Reveillark's trigger is on top of the stack
• Let Reveillark's trigger resolve, returning Guide and Simulacrum. The Guide's trigger and Simulacrum's land fetch trigger are now on top of the stack, in the order of your choice.
• Let the Guide and Simulacrum triggers resolve. You're now back at the initial position except the draw trigger from earlier is still waiting on the stack.
• Respond by sacrificing Simulacrum, putting another draw trigger on the stack, then respond by sacrificing Guide and Reveillark to keep the loop going

If you don't have an "instant-speed" sacrifice outlet then you can't loop in the way described above. The only way to shortcut in that situation is to choose not to draw cards for Simulacrum's "you may draw a card" trigger, because like you said, no one knows what card you're going to draw each time.

May 20, 2017 12:32 p.m.

sonnet666 says... Accepted answer #2

Simpler way to do it by choosing not to perform "may" actions:

Perform (and demonstrate) the loop in whatever order works. I'm assuming you are able to perform the loop indefinitely using something like Ashnod's Altar.

Assuming you have 15 basic lands in your library, state the following:

"For the 15 iterations of the loop, I'm going to choose not to draw a card on the resolution of SS's draw trigger. Then for every iteration afterwards, I will choose not to perform SS's search trigger, but I will perform its draw trigger."

Both abilities are "mays," meaning you can choose not to do them when they resolve. If your opponent accepts this proposed loop (i.e. they don't want to cast or activate anything along the way) then this gives you 15 land searches in a row, followed by however many draw triggers you want. You are technically shuffling after every search trigger, but since you're not interacting with your library in any other way at that time, you only have to physically shuffle once before starting the draw triggers.

May 20, 2017 6:09 p.m.

El_Scorcho_3.14 says... #3

Hmm, interesting. Thanks you two!

May 20, 2017 7:32 p.m.