June 2014's Minecraft Hardcore Challenge, hosted by Michael Deering, comes with an odd goal: marry a witch. That means capturing one, then building it a house, decorating it, landscaping it and fencing it in. Basket sets the world up in hardcore with Large Biomes and structures on, and plays this one in single player because "it might be kind of weird to do in multiplayer."
Mushrooms first
The world starts at the edge of a mushroom biome. The special rules say day one is for fetching wood and saplings from a forest a long way off. Basket has to be back in the mushroom biome the next morning and can never return to the forest. Every log after that comes from a home tree farm. Name tags are waiting at a spot the host gave out, and the host warned it was a hard place to get to.
Food is always tight in these challenges, so before leaving Basket picks red and brown mushrooms. Once there's wood for bowls, that means mushroom stew. "This is probably what I'll survive on for most of the challenge." There's another upside: monsters don't spawn in a mushroom biome.
The long run
Basket keeps the debug screen up to steer toward the host's numbers ("I don't want to get lost") and debates whether to sprint, since sprinting burns hunger. The hunger bar is half gone before the trip is over. Sprinting wins anyway, and the trees come into view. "Oh, there we go, there's the trees."
Wood and saplings
Basket gets a crafting table and a wooden axe going, makes bowls, and finally eats some stew. Since this is the only visit allowed, the plan is to take a mix of wood, and birch saplings go in the bag with the rest. An apple drops, and Basket grabs some dirt too, just in case.
With about a minute of daylight left, Basket checks a cave. "There's coal, which is nice, but there's already two skeletons right there." With no armor yet, that one gets skipped.
A night underground
The next cave dead-ends, which suits the plan. Basket closes it off, burns wood into charcoal, and lights the room with torches. Cobblestone turns into a stone pickaxe, sword and shovel. The Monster Hunter achievement shows up in chat, and the zombie sounds outside get a reaction: "A baby zombie. I don't like that."
Iron is next on the list, and experience too: "I'll need that to name the name tag." Basket mines on, listening for caves. "I hear water." Then the tunnel opens into something bigger. "Mine shaft. Interesting."
Blown up in the mineshaft
A creeper turns up in the stone passages near a torch. "Alright, we don't want to get stuck." The creeper gets in close. "Oh no!" Chat reads "BasketMC was blown up by Creeper", and the hardcore Game Over screen comes up with a score of 24.
This challenge has a safety net: anyone who dies in the first episode can start over. Basket kept this recording to post anyway, calling it the "first attempt," and signs off with "I'll see you guys in the second attempt." No witch was caught and no house was started. The credits roll after the Game Over screen, with no gameplay after them.