I need advice about whether I should implement a machine learning algorithm

So my college is doing an AI challenge (called megaminerAI). With teams of 1-3 people, the goal is to write a program to compete against other team's programs. It is a 24 hour challenge, noon-noon. The challenge has already been released, so I know what it entails. The problem is, should I do a ML approach, or should I brute force it (aka program for a variety of cases in the game)? No one has implemented a ML algorithm before in the...5 years of the existence of the challenge.

My only real concern is the time limit, 24 hours, is that a reasonable concern? I am thinking about doing a neural network, but don't know if it would have enough time to train to compete with other teams.