It effectively prevents the next 6 damage.

Rule 616.1e says:

  Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply.

If the first 3 damage has already been prevented, the second prevent doesn't need to do anything until more damage comes in.


If a commander becomes a colorless forest, is it still a commander?

It is still your opponents commander and they will get the Lieutenant bonus from the Marshal. This is because being a commander is a property of a card, it doesn't matter if the characteristics of the card have changed at all it will still be their commander.

903.3. Each deck has a legendary creature card designated as its commander. This designation is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.
Example: A commander that’s been turned face down (due to Ixidron’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A commander that’s copying another card (due to Cytoshape’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A permanent that’s copying a commander (such as a Body Double, for example, copying a commander in a player’s graveyard) is not a commander.


Did I "really" have too many points for the following bid?

I'd rather bid 1d there, not 2d. I think it's as likely you have game as they do; unlikely in either case, really.  But you're discounting your partner having, first seat, something like ten points and a five card spade suit.  That's 4S in the bag, if the points are useful ones (not wasted QH or whatnot).  6-7 spade tricks, a few in diamonds and clubs, and you're all set.  You don't want to miss that!

Really, you have more like a 14 count here anyway - with the diamond length and the void, your hand is worth more than a normal 12 counter.  Bid 1d and see what happens - you might end up in a makeable 3NT, 4S, or who knows what else.

If your 4th seat opponent has a 12-14 count, they're probably not in game anyway - as you said, they have 7 opposite them on average, right? - and so you're not preempting anything useful.  On the other hand, if they have an 18 count or whatnot, where a game is a likelihood, your preempt was pretty useless in my opinion - they can double, get some information from their partner since they have to bid over the double, and be in just as good of a position as if you hadn't bid at all.

One other thing: if you're going to do this regularly, you'll need to annotate your convention card to indicate that your weak 2 range is 6-12 3rd seat.


Basic Rules:

On your turn you place a tile.  After placing the tile you can place your meeple onto any uncontrolled feature on that tile.  After placing meeples, all completed features are scored.

Assuming that you are trying to gain some control of a controlled city

Let's assume the situation is this:

In the situation that you have presented you have placed your tile to close a city.  Once that tile is placed, looking at the board, it is already controlled by another meeple, therefore you cannot place a meeple there.

To take some control of a city requires two moves.  The first is to place a tile that is not connected to the city that you want to control, separated by a single tile space from the city and place a meeple on that city.  On a later turn, play a tile that connects the main city to the small city you created on the previous tile.

This would give blue and red equal control, splitting the points. To take complete control would require you to perform this step again.  (Or a big meeple from Inns and Cathedrals)

Assuming that the feature is uncontrolled.

Place the tile.  The city is uncontrolled, so place a meeple.  Score the completed city.


After playing a Wild card, must a player discard again?

He will not discard second card this round. The wild card was his play. Play proceeds to the next player with the new colour selected.


Are Summoned Monsters shuffled with other monsters when "returned to the box"?

Yes,

Returning to the box is the same as Banish.  Check out the definitions on the last page of the rulebook.

  Banish: Put it back in the box, shuffled in with the other cards of the same type.


Does Fires of Invention allow adventure instant and sorceries to be played for free?

You can cast the creature for free if you have at least as many lands as the creature's mana cost, and you can cast the adventure for free if you have at least as many lands as the adventure's mana cost.

From the updated comprehensive rules:

  715.4. In every zone except the stack, and while on the stack not as an Adventure, an adventurer card has only its normal characteristics.

This means that if you choose to cast the creature, the CMC is just the creature's CMC.

Also,

  715.3b While on the stack as an Adventure, the spell has only its alternative characteristics.

This means that if you choose to cast the Adventure, the CMC is just the Adventure's CMC.

From the Throne of Eldraine Release Notes:

  When casting a spell as an Adventure, use the alternative characteristics and ignore all of the card's normal characteristics. The spell's color, mana cost, converted mana cost, and so on are determined by only those alternative characteristics. If the spell leaves the stack, it immediately resumes using its normal characteristics.

So while the creature Beanstalk Giant  is on the stack; its CMS is 7; which would require you to have 7 lands to cast it for free.

But while Fertile Footsteps is on the stack, it has a CMC of 3; requiring you to have 3 lands to cast it for free.

Notably, the card is moved to the stack before you ever check to see what the cost is.

  601.2a To propose the casting of a spell, a player first moves that card (or that copy of a card) from where it is to the stack.

...

  601.2b If the spell is modal, the player announces the mode choice (see rule 700.2). If the player wishes to splice any cards onto the spell (see rule 702.46), they reveal those cards in their hand. If the spell has alternative or additional costs that will be paid as it’s being cast such as buyback or kicker costs (see rules 118.8 and 118.9), the player announces their intentions to pay any or all of those costs (see rule 601.2f).

And for completeness sake; we know that Fires of Invention creates an alternative cost because:

  118.9. Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell’s text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying the spell’s mana cost. Alternative costs are usually phrased, “You may [action] rather than pay [this object’s] mana cost,” or “You may cast [this object] without paying its mana cost.” Note that some alternative costs are listed in keywords; see rule 702.


Do the UFOs over the continents get removed when they raise the terror level?

The UFOs will remain over the continent, provided the continent's panic level has not reached orange (panic).  Once the panic level reaches orange, all UFOs over that continent are moved to orbit.

According to the electronic rules (Download the app -> Menu -> Rules -> UFOS) or the Rules Reference p11:

  If a continent has fallen into panic when updating the panic levels in the app, all UFOs in that continent are added to orbit.

Also as it has in the electronic FAQ (app -> Menu -> FAQ):

  Q: Do UFOs remain on the board after increasing panic?
  A: Yes, UFOs remain on the board until destroyed.


what is "the next time in this round" in Ascension?

When you buy the card in Example 1, you don't get 2 runes. Why would you think that "The next time you..." is applied?

All of these things happen when you play the cards, not when you buy them.

Many times, the order in which you play cards from your hand does not matter. Bt if you are planning to buy two cards in a turn after playing the card from Example 1, make sure the one that you buy first is the one that you want to go on top of your deck.


With Contamination on the battlefield, you cannot get anything other than a single black mana from activating Nykthos's abilities.

The current wording of Contamination's second ability says:

  If a land is tapped for mana, it produces {B} instead of any other type and amount.

This is a replacement effect (indicated by the word "instead") that modifies the effect of tapping a land for mana. Rules section 106 has the following relevant rules about tapping for mana:

  106.12. To “tap [a permanent] for mana” is to activate a mana ability of that permanent that includes the {T} symbol in its activation cost. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
  106.12b A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.

Both of Nykthos's abilities have the {T} (tap) symbol in the cost, so both are modified by Contamination's ability. So, if you activate either one, no matter what mana you would normally get, you get exactly one black mana instead.


If an Old One takes damage while attacking my farm, do I get credit for it?

Yes you get the credit for killing the Old One exactly as if you had attacked it.

This was verified by Martin Wallace the game designer in this thread on BGG.


Do you announce when you have lost due to Insanity?

Your insanity condition is secret, and you are forced to keep it secret.  The rules state it cannot be revealed to the other players for any reason, unless some other event tells you to.

So even if you have been put into situation where it is impossible for you to fulfill your personal Insane win condition, your investigator hasn't been eliminated and the game hasn't ended.  Your insanity, and your win-lose status, remains secret, and the other players will continue to eyeball you and wonder what you're really going to be up to.  This may or may not affect how quickly they can complete the investigation, so it is still important.


Sacrificing a creature you don't own but you control

Kroxa will be put into its owner's graveyard.

  400.3. If an object would go to any library, graveyard, or hand other than its owner’s, it goes to its owner’s corresponding zone.

So if you cast your opponent's Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger using your Thief of Sanity you will have to sacrifice it, since it wasn't cast using escape, and it will be put into your opponent's graveyard.

Additionally, even if Kroxa was put into your graveyard, you would have to pay {B}{B}{R}{R} to escape it.

  400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:

None of the exceptions are relevant in this case.  That means that as soon as you cast Kroxa using the Thief of Sanity's ability the Thief's ability loses track of Kroxa and its effect that allows you to spend mana of any type to cast the Kroxa no longer applies.


Can I choose to sacrifice from Remorseless Punishment if I have Sigarda, Host of Herons in game?

You cannot sacrifice a creature to avoid losing life to Remorseless Punishment's ability. You can still discard cards instead.

One of the rulings on Sigarda, Host of Herons says

  If a spell or ability an opponent controls instructs you to perform an action unless you sacrifice a permanent (as Ogre Marauder does), you can’t choose to sacrifice a permanent. You must perform the action. On the other hand, if a spell or ability an opponent controls instructs you to sacrifice a permanent unless you perform an action (as Killing Wave does), you can choose whether or not to perform the action. If you don’t perform the action, nothing happens, since you can’t sacrifice any permanents.


Pandemic Legacy, February, and Epidemics

Remove the marker.  That is the only effect.

   The Quarantine rules state (2nd paragraph) - When a player is instructed to add any amount of disease markers to the city (or any color), remove the quarantine marker instead of adding disease markers.

Of course,

   If the Quarantine Specialist is in the city, do not remove the token!


What do I say when an opponent asks if I'm "tapped out", especially if I still have a means of casting a spell?

First, let me tell you about your obligations with regards to providing information.

There are three categories of information: free, derived and private.
Free information is information to which all players are entitled access without contamination or omissions made by their opponents. If a player is ever unable or unwilling to provide free information to an opponent that has requested it, he or she should call a judge and explain the situation. Free information includes:

[...]
The physical status (tapped/flipped/unattached/phased) and current zone of any object.
[...]

Derived information is information to which all players are entitled access, but opponents are not obliged to assist in determining and may require some skill or calculation to determine. Derived information includes:

[...]

Private information is information to which players have access only if they are able to determine it from the current visual game state or their own record of previous game actions.

[...]

Also,

At Regular REL, all derived information is instead considered free.

If he's seeking to know which of your permanents are tapped, you are obligated to answer.
If he's seeking for more than that, you are only obligated to answer when Regular Rule Enforcement Level is in effect. (This is the REL used at events such as FNM.) Determining which of your permanents are lands or which of them have mana abilities is derived information.
Whether you are obligated to answer or not, all answers must be truthful and without omission.

On to your question. Given that he didn't mention lands or mana, I see three alternatives.

You can could ask what he means.
You could overload him with information. For example, "I have many untapped permanents. J, K, L and M are untapped." For all you know, he's asking if you have any potential blockers. If not, "Oh, you just wanted to know about land? Dully noted."
You could misdirect while being fully truthful. For example, "only non-lands aren't tapped".


Multiple stations connection in Ticket to Ride Europe

Yes, you may use multiple borrowed routes to complete a destination ticket. There is simply no limit in the rules.


What's a good way to shuffle small decks of cards?

The pile shuffle recommended by Jonathan Hobbs works OK, although I'd strongly recommend randomly varying the order in which you deal out the cards to make it more random.

The main issue with it is that the randomness comes almost entirely from the shuffler's choices, rather than from uncontrollable physical randomness as in a riffle or mash shuffle (not that those can't be done "perfectly" too, but it takes a lot more skill).

A variant that you can do in your hand is the Mongean shuffle, where you hold the source deck in one hand and pick cards from it alternately to the top and bottom of the target deck held in the other hand.  With a bit of practice, you can do this really quickly and efficiently.

Like the pile shuffle, the Mongean shuffle doesn't actually introduce any randomness if you do it perfectly in consistent order.  However, you can break up the order by sometimes dealing more than one card in a row to the same end of the deck; if you do this perfectly randomly (i.e. switching ends with 50% probability after each card), the Mongean shuffle actually becomes about as good as the theoretical random riffle shuffle.  Of course, again, the source of the randomness is under the shuffler's control, so a skilled shuffler could, in principle, use this to stack the deck.

A nice feature of both the pile and the Mongean shuffles is that, even if done non-randomly, they still serve to spread out clumps of cards; indeed, a "perfect" Mongean or pile shuffle breaks up clumps more efficiently than one would expect by random chance.  For some purposes, this may be sufficient.

Finally, if you want to shuffle a small number of cards really randomly, one of the most efficient methods may be the simplest: the wash shuffle, where you simply spread the cards on the table face down and push them around randomly before gathering them up again.  It's simple, it's crude, but it does the job.


Are there standard board sizes for the industry?

There are some common sizes and yes, they depend. It's not really about which side of whatever ocean you're from, but rather about what factory you make them in. For example, if you ask a factory that produces a 60x42 cm board (random values, here!), they will have these settings in their printing, cutting and folding machines. They will probably accept if you ask for a 59x43 cm board, but it will cost you more.

If you intend to make a game of your own and build it with cardboard and duct tape, there is absolutely no standard. I've never heard a player saying "That board could use 1 more centimeter in width".

As for the box, things get a little bit more tricky. Because boxes are to be aligned in the shelf (at the shop or at home). Having different sizes means playing Tetris to put them all in place. A very interesting discussion that took place on BoardGameGeek will tell you about the boxes and the standards linked to each manufacturer. Yes, you got it! That depends on the manufacturer!

Again, if you intend to create a new brand and flood the market with tons of your games, you could choose whatever size you like, that will be your standard. Just remember what XKCD said about standards…


Do bridge champions retain their abilities to a later age than those of chess or go?

Not only do bridge players retain their abilities to a later age than Chess and Go players, they don't even attain their peak ability until an age, around forty or so, when they have decidedly passed their peak in Go and Chess.

Bob Hamman, born 1938, was ranked 7th in the world by the World Bridge Federation as of October, 2012, at the age of 74. His Championship performances in the preceding 5 years were:
 - Bermuda Bowl: Win 2009;
 - United States Bridge Team Trial Championship: win 2008 & 2012;
 - Spingold North American Championship: win 2007;
 - Reisinger North American Championship: Win 2008;
 - Open Board-a-Match Teams North American Championship: win 2008;
 - Jacoby Open Swiss Teams North American Bridge Championship: win 2009;

A quick glance at Hamman's record suggests that this 5 year period may have been one of his most prolific, with seven significant wins.

Lorenzo Lauria, born July 7 1947, was ranked 5th in the world at that time at age 65.

Jeff Meckstroth, born May 1956, was ranked 6th in he world at that time at age 56.

Eric Rodwell, born May 1957, was ranked 8th in the world at that time at age 55.

Tor Helness, born 1957 or 1958, was ranked 10th at that time at age 54 or 55.

The youngest player in the top 10 at that time was Geir Helgemo, born February 1970, at age 42.

This is and has been consistent for the several decades that I have been playing the game - players very rarely crack top ten in the world until after 40, peak in their fifties and sixties, and often retain world championship caliber play (if not quite championship level play) into their seventies and eighties.

As posted on July 10, 2016, though apparently without adjustments for the cheating scandal of September 2015, the current WBF Top 10 Masterpoint holders with their ages are:

Fulvio Fantoni: Age 52 (disgraced)
 Claudio Nunes: Age 48 (disgraced)

Geir Helgemo: Age 46
Tor Helness: Age 59 or 58
Giorgio Duboin: Age 57
Zia Mahmood: Age 70
Frank Multon: Age 52
Alfredo Versace: Age 47
Pierre Zimmermann: Age 61
Jeff Meckstroth: Age 60
Lorenzo Lauria: Age 69
Norberto Bocchi: Age 55

Top 10: Youngest: 46; Median: 53.5 (52&55); Oldest: 70

Note that Fantoni & Nunes, 1st and 2nd on both lists, are now disgraced; found guilty in April 2016 of cheating and banned for life as a pair, and individually for three years.


In what order should I present the basics of Magic?

Start simple, build their knowledge step by step and only introduce new concepts when they're comfortable with what's gone before.  When I introduce a new player, I always start with the basics:

MtG is a card game using a deck of shuffled cards
The colours of magic and their themes (Red - destruction, blue - subversion, green - power etc)
The types of cards - creatures, instants, sorceries, artifacts
Life totals
How to win the game
Creature and spell damage
Phases of a round
The stack

With that information, a person can watch a game and more or less understand what's going on, without having to understand all the complexities.  After watching a few games, most players can start to step through games at which point, they learn by making mistakes. :)


Which comes first: Illness in the Ranks or Cathars' Crusade?

It will die.

Illness in the Ranks creates a continuous effect, which applies constantly. From the moment the token enters the battlefield, it has -1/-1. Cathars' Crusade, on the other hand, has a triggered ability, signified by the word "whenever" in its text. When the token enters the battlefield, that triggered ability goes on the stack. Before it can resolve and add a +1/+1 counter, the token dies. (Players get priority, so state-based actions are checked first, and since the token has zero toughness, it dies.)


When is the hydra considered a player with the "Face the Hydra" deck?

is the hydra considered a player?

Yes, there is a player as normal.

  For instance, I have a creature that gets +1/+1 counters each time it deals damage to a player. Would that ever be triggered since you attack its heads directly?

Creatures attacking heads directly deal damages to the heads they attack.

Creatures not attacking heads directly attack the player as normal. However, damage that would be dealt to the player is dealt to a head instead. As such, you never actually deal any damage to the player.

In both cases, the attackers deal damage to the heads. The heads are creatures, not players. The ability in question would not trigger.

  What if that creature was unblockable?

It doesn't make any difference.


Does the "Alternate Reality" Crisis require each player to destroy 12 cost worth of Heroes?

Turns out that this is actually answered in the Specific Card Clarifications section of the Crisis rulebook:

  Alternate Reality, Final Countdown: To beat one of these Crisis cards, the team acts together and chooses which cards to destroy. The burden is on the collective team, so each player does not destroy their own set of cards to beat the Crisis. For Alternate Reality, you don't have to destroy exactly 12 cost worth of Heroes to beat it.

As it clearly says, "each player does not destroy their own set of cards" and it's up to the team to pick and choose which cards from which discard piles to destroy so that the total is 12 (or more) points of Heroes.


Alternative major improvements for Agricola

Z-Man Games has Farmers of the Moor as an expansion.


How can I tell when to take a mulligan in Magic?

Unfortunately, knowing your deck inside out and comparing your draw against it are the only universal rules that can apply, so it's a highly individual decision that depends on those two factors. If you already have a good idea of the opponent's deck, that also helps, of course. Essentially, experience is where it's at.

You can ask yourself a few questions.

How many more spells/lands do I need to draw in succession to get things going as planned?
How badly is my strategy damaged if I fail to draw more of what I need?
In case of land shortage (mana screw), how many of my spells can I play with the cards I currently hold?
In case of excess lands (mana flood), how powerful are the spells I hold?
Do the cards I 'can' play help me getting more spells by themselves (card drawers)?
Or are they strong enough to put pressure on my opponent, so I can buy a few turns to benefit from the regular card draw phase?
In multi-color decks and holding the wrong mana (color screw), how many colored mana am I missing to cast the majority of my hand, or how many more spells of the wrong color could follow?
What is the strategy of my opponent's deck? If he wins by putting out many fast creatures or direct damage, then losing a few turns may well mean defeat. If your opponent is playing a combo deck, all you may need is a single counter-spell that you can play at the right time.

Note that if you often get into a situation where you must consider mulligan (assuming careful shuffling before each game), then there might be an issue with your deck. Adjust the number of mana sources and/or the mana curve of your spells.

Shuffle thoroughly to ensure that the deck is randomised. Shuffling helps to ensure that if clumps of land or spells do occur, they do so naturally. Pile shuffling alone is not an acceptable means of shuffling. Mash shuffling and riffle shuffling are acceptable.

Mulligans are decided upon in APNAP order. They are acted upon in parallel. First, the active player chooses whether or not to mulligan. Then, the non-active player does the same. After both players have made a decision, mulligans are taken in parallel. This repeats until one player chooses not to mulligan. Then, the remaining player takes his or her remaining mulligans alone.

Some important piece of information is born from this process. When the non-active player chooses to mulligan, the active player should have already stated his or her choice. This extra information may influence the non active player's decision to mulligan. For example, a hand full of one for one spells may be acceptable to keep against a player who is taking a mulligan, because one for one trades generally favor the player with more cards.


As Italy, when is it profitable to attack France?

Simply, when it is a commitment required of (or an opportunity provided by) your best possible alliance.

Although the tactical situations are not irrelevant in Diplomacy, they should always be regarded as secondary to the choice of allies and alliances. Any country can win, and one should regard the game as more akin to Survivor than to a typical strategy board game.

Assess the credibility, veracity and trustworthiness of the players who are offering you alliances, always bearing in mind that if it sounds too good to be true, it certainly is. Investigate, as best you can, the behaviour of your potential allies in previous games as part of assessing their credibility, veracity and trustworthiness. Remember that the strategic assessment of other players should be performed differently in a one-off game, as compared to a single game played as part of a tournament. In the latter case players know that their behaviour in early games will affect their ability to make alliances in later games; but that tis effect wears off slowly as the series continues.


What might these inscriptions added to an «Easy Money» board mean?

The P looks like the payoff value for the mortgage: It's the M value plus 10% (mostly -- it looks like some of the numbers are just approximations to this value or round in arbitrary ways: 175 + 10% is rounded down to 192, while 395 + 10% is rounded up to 435). So: a remedy to having to calculate mortgage payoffs on the fly (and perhaps to avoid arguments over rounding).
The S value is similar: it looks like the B value minus 10%. Perhaps this was a house rule that allowed a player strapped for cash to sell some houses instead of mortgaging the property: selling a house would thus incur a 10% loss.


What does Counterbalance counter, when revealing a split card?

New answer: While it's not on the stack, Life // Death has a CMC of 3.

Amonkhet introduced a rules change in 2017 to simplify split cards. When not on the stack, a split card's CMC is the sum of its halves. When on the stack, it has the CMC of whichever side is being cast, or both combined in the case of split cards cast using the Fuse ability (Both halves are treated as one single spell, with the characteristics of each half combined). From the Comprehensive Rules:

  708.3 A player chooses which half of a split card they are casting before putting it onto the stack.

  708.3b While on the stack, only the characteristics of the half being cast exist. The other half's characteristics are treated as though they didn't exist.

  708.4 In every zone except the stack, the characteristics of a split card are those of its two halves combined. This is a change from previous rules.

  708.4b The mana cost of a split card is the combined mana costs of its two halves. A split card's colors and converted mana cost are determined from its combined mana cost.
  Example: Assault/Battery's mana cost is {3}{R}{G}. It's a red and green card with a converted mana cost of 5. If you cast Assault, the resulting spell is a red spell with a converted mana cost of 1.
  708.4d The characteristics of a fused split spell on the stack are also those of its two halves combined (see rule 702.101, "Fuse").

Old answer:
If the spell has converted mana cost 1 or 2, it will be countered.

This answer may seem different to the Dark Confidant question. While rule 708.5 adequately answers that question, there are further split card rules relevant to Counterbalance.

  708.5 An effect that asks for a particular characteristic of a split card while it’s in a zone other than the stack gets two answers (one for each of the split card’s two halves).
  708.6 Some effects perform comparisons involving characteristics of one or more split cards in a zone other than the stack.

  708.6a An effect that performs a positive comparison (such as asking if a card is red) or a relative comparison (such as asking if a card’s converted mana cost is less than 2) involving characteristics of one or more split cards in any zone other than the stack gets only one answer. This answer is “yes” if either side of each split card in the comparison would return a “yes” answer if compared individually.

With Dark Confidant and Life // Death, you lose 3 life. This is not because Life // Death has a converted mana cost of 3, but because Dark Confidant receives both answers (1 and 2) and reacts to each of them.

Counterbalance is a positive comparison: does the revealed card have the same converted mana cost as the cast spell? The converted mana cost of Life // Death is both 1 and 2, so if the revealed card has that a mana cost of either 1 or 2 then the answer to the question is yes, and the spell is countered.

So, results that receive more than one answer apply to each of those answers. Positive comparisons that receive more than one answer use the or comparison (one or more "yes" = "yes"). Negative comparisons (rule 708.6b) use the nor comparison (one or more "yes" = "no).


What are the causes (and cures) for bridge experts' mistakes?

First, let's be clear on terms - no world class player makes the mistakes that you or I make: such as failing to count the hand or forgetting last week's amendment to our bidding system. The mistakes they make are far more subtle, and would be regarded as merely second-best actions by you or I, if we were even capable of analyzing the best action.

The bidding mistakes by experts are of forgetting a conversation multiple years earlier about the particular situation that has again come up, for only the second time in our long partnership. They are failing to draw the sub-sub-sub inference from the failure of an opponent to act in the bidding.

That being said, ultimately the source of all errors is human imperfection - and as we all are imperfect in different ways, the errors of world class bridge players arise from different imperfections. Barry Crane was infamous for refusing to allow many of his partners to eat between sessions, lest an overfull stomach interfere with clear thought in the first rounds afterwards; yet others of his partners regularly enjoyed between-session dinners as his partner.

Eddie Kantar's mis-defence on board 92 of the 96 board final in the 1975 Bermuda Bowl is an example of such unique human imperfection: failing to false card the CK from KT doubleton as West, when dummy comes down in the North with CAQ. You or I would likely never even note that the falsecard will induce a strong declarer to go down, or only long after the session with pen and paper in hand.


What is the timing of the Hidden Pocket effect?

This card is definitely ambiguous, which is strange, as all the other virulent strain Epidemic cards are quite clear about when they take effect. However, Tom Lehmann, the game's designer, has actually answered this specific question on BoardGameGeek:

  Hidden Pocket is resolved after Infect (and before Intensify).

  So, if the Virulent Strain disease has been eradicated and a city of
  that disease is drawn during the Infect step, you don't place 3 cubes
  on it (as per the normal eradication rules).

  However, that card then goes into the Infection Discard Pile (see page
  6 of the Pandemic rules), and therefore will end up with 1 cube on it
  when Hidden Pocket is applied, before resetting the Infection Discard
  Pile.

So yeah, it's pretty nasty!


How does the last turn of an epoch run in Priests of Ra?

Seems like yes, I was correct in my original question, the final player gets to keep drawing tiles until the epoch ends, e.g. by the Ra track filling up.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/811805/last-person-have-sun-tile


Are there times when "doubling" will not help the opponents make the hand?

Other than the pedantic answer (any time Declarer can't possibly make), there are plenty of times that it doesn't have the impact you're suggesting.

First off, there are a lot of ways you can end up in a doubled contract.  You might make a negative double and then your partner passes to convert to penalty, for example. That gives declarer some information, though, so I assume that's not in the spirit of your question.  However, there are other possibilities...

Auctions where opponents make a pre-emptive or sacrificial bid, where it is obvious that they will not make the contract to both defenders.  In that case, a double is simply pro forma, and either player might make the double simply based on bidding position.
Auctions where a double is optional (showing strength), and the responder passes the double, give only limited information to declarer since both players have shown something
In some duplicate forms, there are auctions where it is clear both sides have a game, and one side must double the other side in the hope to set by enough to exceed the points likely made at the other table(s); again, that won't convey very much information.

Secondly, you certainly point out an example where one player knows of a problematic distribution for declarer, but it doesn't convey information as to which player has the trump stack.  That's a risky bid, though, and I'd usually not make a double solely based on a trump lack or a trump stack, as it's not worth letting Declarer know there's a trump imbalance.  A doubled contract where the double comes out of nowhere is a big "be careful" sign to declarer, and will inevitably make them more likely to make the contract than they would be if not doubled - even if they don't know who has the stack.  And having 0 means partner could have 5 - or could have 2, and they could've underbid their 6-5 trump fit.

I don't think doubling based on opponents bidding a tight game, when you don't have anything special for yourself, is a great idea either; it can be appropriate in duplicate when you are in a competitive situation and they bid something that doesn't make sense - either you get enough points to compensate for you not getting the contract or they get a top board anyway - but it's still quite risky, and in the situation you describe (they having, say, (12-14) and (8-10) and you having 7, partner having 9-11) it seems like a poor choice as if they're in an unreasonable game you do well anyway, but obviously it's situational.  Again, you're more likely to put them on high alert than anything else.

I think overall, though, any bid shows some information to both sides; it's the nature of bridge.  The question is always whether you have conveyed information that is detrimental to your side in excess of the value of the information conveyed (or the points earned, in the case of the double).  I don't think it's a good idea to double to "mislead", as first off you mislead everyone at the table partner included; and second, then you're just gambling, which is a bad idea unless you're really down and need a miracle.


Are the two words "synonym 2"/"similar 2" and "opposites 2"/"antonyms 2" valid clues in Codenames? E.g. "opposites 2" for "quiet" and "shout"

From the rules:-

DON'T BE TOO STRICT

and

If the opposing spymaster allows it, the clue is valid.

and

Sometimes you have to make judgment calls about what is valid and what
is not. Different groups may prefer to play the game differently.

For any question about if a clue is a valid all the above applies.  Unless there is a rule which prohibits a clue its more than likely ok.
I've seen clues given for the meaning of groups of words.  A team had just "ICE" and "QUEEN" left to guess and gave the clue "NARNIA 2" to hint at those which for out group was OK.   As long as you don't say things like "this is for a group", or "this is a stretch" then its fine.


How does a freeze/stop pile work in Canasta?

I think you are over complicating what a "stop" card is. When looking at the rules to draw a card from the discard you will note that you have to include it on a meld on the table. Also it should be noted that the only time you can play a black 3 to the table in the meld is when you are going out so normally if a black 3 is on the top of the draw pile it is impossible for the next person to draw a card.

Also with red three's they should never be in your hand as when you draw them they are immediately placed on the table and a replacement card is drawn.

As for your overall question the only state that matters for the draw pile is if it is frozen from a wild card being discarded and that can be noted by discarding the wild card perpendicular to the other cards there is a visual that it has been frozen.

If a red 3 is the first card flipped over to start the discard pile at the start of the game it will be frozen just as if a wild card was flipped over.


In Gin-Rummy, who start after a round was played to the wall?

Same player deals again.  From thesprucecrafts

  If only two cards remain in the draw pile after a player discards and neither player has knocked, the round ends in a draw and the same player deals again.


Open lead in a variant of Spades, where players must play a winner if able (CallBreak)

I made several AI agents that plays CallBreak. My current strongest rule-based agent uses the following lead:

If starting with 5+ spades, lead them: lead boss, otherwise lead lowest.
Lead sidesuit Boss.
Lead strongest below the second-Boss from sidesuit with a second boss.
Lead low from Short sidesuit.
Lead Trash - low from worst suit.

Terminology:

Lead - the first card in the trick.
Open lead - the lead in the first trick of the round.
Boss - Strongest card in the suit, based on the cards that were already played. For example, the King is the Boss if the Ace was played.


In axis and allies, how are casualties allocated when two allies both defend a single zone?

According to page 19 of the rulebook at https://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/axis.pdf

Defending together - when a multiple force is attacked, the attacker fires first as usual.  If a hit is scored, the defenders mutually agree which unit is chosen as the casualty (if they cannot agree, the attacker chooses).  When counterattacking, each defender rolls separately for his or her units (including casualties).


Catan - Rules Lawyering the behavior of the "Commercial Harbor" Progress Card

In a tournament, player D may get away with it; but he definitely wouldn’t at my house, or during any games I’ve played with friends.

In a game that involves open negotiation and trade, intent is an important factor. When a player asks “anyone have a sheep” and anther responds “Sure. For a wheat?” Both players have to infer from the language that the other is offering a specific resource for trade. So it would be illegal to have the players pass a card to each other after that dialog, and for one to pass something other than what is expected.

Similar case here. When player A asked “do you have a commodity card” the player was obviously asking in reference to the commercial harbor card he just played; in order to take/trade the commodity. That should have been obvious to all people based on the language used.

The rules never clarify what specific language is allowed to be used to convey what specific actions. The play group must decide that, based on if the language was clear enough to convey the intent. In this case, that language combined with he playing of commercial harbor should be sufficient to convey the intent. Thus it’s as good as “I’ll give you this resource for a commodity that you have”.


Can Feasting Troll King be countered when it returns to the battlefield?

No. That's an activated ability and not a spell, and Essence Scatter can only counter spells. You'll need something like Trickbind to counter it.
Rules 112 and 113 define what spells and abilities are, and they are distinct:

112.1. A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see rule 601, “Casting Spells”), the card becomes a spell and is moved to the top of the stack from the zone it was in, which is usually its owner’s hand. (See rule 405, “Stack.”) A spell remains on the stack as a spell until it resolves (see rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities”), is countered (see rule 701.5), or otherwise leaves the stack. For more information, see section 6, “Spells, Abilities, and Effects.”

113.1. An ability can be one of three things:
113.1a An ability can be a characteristic an object has that lets it affect the game. An object’s abilities are defined by its rules text or by the effect that created it. Abilities can also be granted to objects by rules or effects. (Effects that grant abilities usually use the words “has,” “have,” “gains,” or “gain.”) Abilities generate effects. (See rule 609, “Effects.”)
113.1b An ability can be something that a player has that changes how the game affects the player. A player normally has no abilities unless granted to that player by effects.
113.1c An ability can be an activated or triggered ability on the stack. This kind of ability is an object. (See section 6, “Spells, Abilities, and Effects.”)


When does a sacrifice on entering the battlefield happen?

You do have a chance to cast Collateral Damage. Vexing Devil's ability is a triggered ability, so the ability goes on the stack when the creature enters the battlefield, and you can respond to it before it resolves. You can tell that it's a triggered ability by rule 603.1:

  Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and begin with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." They can also be expressed as "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect]."

Here's how it plays out:

You cast Vexing Devil.
Vexing Devil resolves and enters the battlefield. Its ability triggers and goes on the stack.
You cast Collateral Damage and sacrifice Vexing Devil.
Collateral Damage resolves, and deals 3 damage to something.
Vexing Devil's ability resolves. At this point, your opponent can choose whether or not to take the 4 damage. If they do choose to take the damage, you would sacrifice the Vexing Devil, but it is already dead.

Note that there is no time to respond during step 5. Once an opponent chooses to take damage, the damage is dealt and you make the sacrifice without doing anything in between.


What is timing for Global Conflicts Variant in through the ages?

There is ambiguity, but I would do the Global Conflict culture award first, and then follow the usual start of a new age process as defined in the rulebook.

Discard antiquated cards
Remove antiquated leaders from play
Remove antiquated unfinished wonders.
Remove antiquated pacts
Lose 2 yellow tokens

This could be justified by noting the rulebook seems to list all those as something to do at the start of an age, while the culture award occurs at the end of an age.


Normally the Corp doesn't get to see what cards the runner accesses from R&D. This would mean the corp wouldn't know they could spend 4C to deal the damage! When accessed from HQ or a remote server, the Corp already knows what the card is, and so can pay 4C to deal the damage.

By making the runner reveal the card when accessed from R&D, the corp gets a chance to choose to use the ability on Snare!

The effect triggers when accessed from anywhere other than archives.


Cribbage score for hand of 6,7,7,8, plus a 6 cut card

I count that as 20.

Two for each of the 15s (7+8) = 4.

Double-double run of three (3x4) = 12.

Two pairs = 4.


Multiple followers, and moving onto shrines in the Count expansion

1) Yes, you can certainly have multiple followers of different colours in each quarter. This is quite explicit in the rules:

  ...when a city, road, cloister or farm is scored, all players with followers in the appropriate quarter of Carcassonne... may move their followers from Carcassonne to the scoring feature before the majority is determined in the feature being scored, unless the Count is standing in that quarter of Carcassonne.

The ability for each player to store up multiple followers is an essential part of the strategy for the expansion.

2) Yes, shrines are treated as cloisters for the purposes of moving followers from Carcassonne. From the FAQ at Carcassonne Central:

  Can I move followers from the city of Carcassonne (from the cathedral?) into a shrine during scoring?

  Yes, shrines and cloisters are treated in the same way.


Yes - that is exactly the point.  Sometimes this is just a free heal - sometimes it’s useful to for example play a Tapu Lele or Dedenne another time, or even reuse an ability that was already used that turn (when the Pokémon leaves the zone of play, it no longer is that same Pokémon essentially and can reuse its ability so long as it’s not a ‘only one of X ability can be used per turn’ ability).
Note that if you do this and have no Pokémon on your bench, you lose!


Claim different routes with a single station in Ticket to Ride Europe

Each station allows you to claim a single route.
That route may be used to fulfill more than one destination ticket, but every ticket must use the same route.
From the rules,

A Train Station allows its owner to use one, and only one, of the routes belonging to another player, into (or out of) that city to help him connect the cities on his Destination Tickets.
If a player uses the same Station to help connect cities on several different Tickets, he must use the same route into the city with the Station for all of those Tickets. The Train Station owner does not need to decide which route he will use until the end of the game.

(Empahsis mine.)
For example, say you had the following three destination tickets:

Frankfurt – Smolensk (Complete save for Frankfurt – Berlin)
Amsterdam – Wilno (Complete save for Frankfurt – Berlin)
Essen – Kyiv (Complete save for Essen – Berlin)

With a station at Berlin, you could complete either the first two destination tickets or the third, but not all three (unless you also had a station at Essen or Frankfurt).

The design of the station minis helps calculate the final points. At the end of the game, move each of your stations from its city onto the route it is claiming (on top of the cars). Then that one route counts as yours for the purposes of completing tickets. You don't get to move the station again, so you can't claim multiple routes. (Credit to @Max for this tip.)


No, you cannot do that.

Only objects on the battlefield are called permanents. In the graveyard, they are just cards. You can only return cards from the graveyard to the battlefield or to your hand if the spell or ability specifically says "from the graveyard".


Picking colors for an abstract game (game design)

If it's only for two players, you're in luck. Chess and Go are both over a thousand years old, and both use the classic combination of Black and White.

If you insist on having a colour, though, you want to follow black and white's example; have lots of contrast between them, and keep in mind accessibility. Amy's preference for red and green is far less important than Bill's colour-blindness when it comes to designing your game. Any dark colour and white will do this job, and this is commonly seen in chess sets; Red and White is common.


How can I get rid of indestructible creatures with a Red and White deck?

There are a variety of general answers for indestructible permanents:

Exile effects, which are your real bread-and-butter for all kinds of removal.
Toughness-reducing effects against creatures.
Sacrifice effects.
"Tuck" (move to library) effects.
Bouncing permanents (temporary).
Stealing permanents: the indestructible thing isn't a problem if you control it, right?
Ability- and action- restricting cards like Pithing Needle and Pacifism, if all you're worried about is disabling a card rather than removing it from the battlefield.

White is probably the strongest color for dealing with indestructible permanents after they've resolved. Some of your options are:

Oblivion Ring and similar enchantments provide single-shot answers to any non-land permanent. Note, in particular, Grasp of Fate as the multiplayer-oriented variant.
Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares are low-cost instant answers for creatures.
Return to Dust for is a nice two-for-one against artifacts and enchantments.
Final Judgement, Descend Upon the Sinful, and False Prophet are an exile-based sweeper.
Hallowed Burial and Terminus are "tuck"-based sweepers.
Condemn can "tuck" a troublesome creature, although only when it's attacking.
Pacifism effects may be good enough if you're just trying to get rid of a blocker or prevent a card from using its activated abilities; Faith's Fetters and Prison Term are probably the best choice there.
Angel of the Dire Hour can wipe out a wave of indestructible attackers.
Elesh Norn will clear out a lot of weenies even if they're indestructible.
Evangelize and a lot mana: steal all their stuff.
Gideon, Champion of Justice will exile everything else on the battlefield.
Oblation "tucks" any nonland permanent at the cost of giving your opponent more cards.

In red:

Chaos Warp can "tuck" anything.
Into the Core can answer indestructible artifacts like Darksteel Forge.
Apocalypse and Decree of Annihilation are exile-based sweepers.
Warp World and similar cards will remove the offending permanents, at the cost of giving your opponent new toys to replace them.
Insurrection will let you take all of an opponent's creatures for a turn — usually that's enough to finish off a player or feed them all to a sacrifice outlet like Ashnod's Altar so you don't have to give them back.

Colorless cards worth noting:

Duplicant is a popular card for exiling creatures.
Brittle Effigy, Amulet of Unmaking, and Helvault provide targeted exile effects, though not very cost-effectively compared to what you can get in white.
Karn Liberated and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon can easily exile multiple troublesome permanents.
All Is Dust is a sacrifice-based sweeper.


Is a bridge defense easier if the values are about equally distributed?

Having the defensive values split between the hands is better for the defense for the same reason as declarer, but the advantage is not as strong for defenders as for declarers. This is because defenders are more likely to choose the wrong suit to work on as they have less information about their combined strength, and less coordination. For example, it's more difficult for one defender to lead clubs and the other defender to switch to spades to get the entry to partner's hand, than it is for declarer to lead up to dummy's clubs, and then switch to a spade to get back to declarer's hand.


How to make a small slam in bridge with only 25 high card points between the partnership?

Looking at just the East West hands without looking at the North South hands, 6D is a fairly poor contract.  It has only about a 20% chance of making unless you have peeked at the North South hands.

There are a number of choices that East/West can make during the bidding, but all of them should end up at 3N.

Possible auctions (depending on various subtle differences in partnership agreements and player judgement, all of which are playable) include:

1D-1N-2N-3N

1D-1N-2S-3D-3N

1D-2D-2S-3N (if not playing "inverted minors")

1D-3C(*)-3S-3N (inverted minors with a 3C mixed raise - I've also seen partnerships that use 2S or 2H instead of 3C for this purpose)

1D-3D(*)-3S-3N (inverted minors without a special mixed raise)

1C-1N-2N-3N

1C-1N-2S-3N

1C-1D-1S-1N-2N-3N

The calculation of slam success (thanks to Forget i was ever here) is as follows:

You need to guess who has the club Q so that you don't lose a club trick.  This is 50%.
You also need to avoid the diamond loser.  If the diamonds are 2-2, then you can ruff 2 hearts in the East hand.  There is another way to avoid a diamond loser, which is if the Q is singleton.  In this case, you need a heart finesse to work to avoid a heart loser, and whichever heart finesse you choose to try is 50%.  This comes out to 40% + 1/2*13%, so 47%.

Total odds are then about 50% * 47% = 24%.  This isn't exactly correct, as there are a few additional unlikely chances to make the contract as well as a few other unlikely chances for it could go down, but 6D is NOT a contract you want to be finding frequently.


Spades - is the rule "Second hand plays low, Third hand plays high" important?

Contract Bridge (whether Rubber or Duplicate) is a similar game to Spades but with greater information available to players do to the assets of Dummy being known to all. This makes card play in Bridge a true science. However many sound lessons can still be gleaned for use in other trick-taking games such as Spades, Hearts, Euchre and Whist.
Multiple National Champion Richard Pavlicek discusses many aspects of Second hand play here. The main exceptions to the guide of Second Hand Low are:

With at least three honours where at least two are touching, play the highest of the touching honours. This is generally the same card one would lead as First Hand to open the suit.

Cover an honour led with your highest card if (a) you have two or more cards higher or (b) it is the second or subsequent round of that suit being led by an honour from First Hand.

From a strategic standpoint it is desired to win the trick (a) to lead trumps (Spades obviously in Spades); (b) to provide partner with a ruff before trumps are drawn; or (c) with a doubleton to unblock the suit and provide partner with a count in the suit.

With holdings of only small cards there is great strategic and tactical value to agreeing with partner to play a remainder-count echo where (a) the lowest card is played from a remaining odd number of small cards; (b) the highest card is played from a doubleton remaining; and (c) the second highest card is played from a 4- or 6-card holding. When both partners have learned to read these count signals in building a complete count of the hand, some esoteric end-plays become accessible in the later tricks.

Numerous examples of how these guidelines assist in maximizing a partnership's rick-taking potential are readily available on the Internet's many Contract Bridge sites, usually under the main heading of Defensive Card Play such as here (again) by Richard Pavlicek.
Terminology:

Ruff - When out of the suit led, playing a trump (ie a Spade) in an attempt to win the trick.

Honour - While Honours are normally regarded as the cards Ten through Ace, for the purposes of this analysis, the Nine should be regarded as an honour also.

Touching Honours - Two cards of the same suit, both honours, of adjacent rank such as AK, KQ, QJ, JT, or T9.

Doubleton - A two-card holding in a suit. Depending on context this might refer to either the original holding of the suit, or to the remaining holding in the suit. Likewise Singleton and Tripleton for 1-card and 3-card holdings in a suit.

Echo - The playing of small cards to the first two rounds of a suit such that the card played on the first round is higher than that played on the second. It is usually done with an even number of cards in the suit to assist partner in counting the hands around the table.
In the Trump suit (always Spades playing Spades) partnerships may find it useful to reverse the signal (echoing with three or five) to explicitly signal possession of an additional Trump (ie Spade) and an ability to ruff in a side suit.

Note on echoing:
While the value is undoubtedly reduced when both Dummy is unexposed and Partner is blind to the meaning, my recommendation would be to still make these plays. They will cost little, and have tactical value in and of themselves - most particularly playing second highest from a 4-card holding (led by 0 or 1 honour) on the first round.
Note on importance of these guidelines
In my university days I shared a house with a group that enjoyed the 3-player Whist variant Nine-Five-Two (or Sergeant Major). It employs a cascading scoring system that results in better card play early on improving one's hand in subsequent deals. My deeper understanding of card combinations and greater discipline at counting the hand was worth perhaps 1/4 of a trick each hand - with the result that I won almost twice my share of games, and virtually 100% of games that lasted longer than 7 or 8 deals. Yes, better card play will very much influence one's success in trick-taking card games.


The Grizzly Bears don't deal combat damage to the Air Elemental

Assuming no more instants or abilities are added to the stack after Shock, the stack will resolve.

First, Shock will resolve, causing your bears to die.

Then, Titanic Growth will resolve: it can't find the creature you targeted, so it effectively does nothing.

Finally, since the stack is empty and players have passed priority, we move to combat damage. There are no attackers, so no combat damage is dealt.


Does Coat of Arms work on various Artifact Creatures?

Artifact isn't a creature type, and Vehicle is an artifact type not a creature type, so Coat of Arms has no effect on a Vehicle and Construct. You'd need multiple Constructs.

You can find the full list of creature types in the rules (205.3m, reproduced here), but a creature's creature types are always printed after "Creature" on the type line, never before, and will never include things like Artifact, Enchantment, or Land - those are types, not creature types. (And outside of some corner cases, everything after "Creature" on the type line is a creature type, assuming you're looking at the Oracle text in Gatherer or a sufficiently recent printing.)

(Technically creature types are subtypes, but for convenience they're referred to as creature types.)


Liliana, Untouched by Death and Ashes of the Fallen Interaction?

Liliana, Untouched by Deaths' +1 considers every moved creature card a Zombie card with Ashes of the Fallen naming Zombie on the battlefield.

By the time Liliana's ability checks the three cards for their type, they are already in the graveyard, and the creature cards among them are Zombies because of Ashes of the Fallen. Ashes of the Fallen has a static ability which creates a continous effect.

  604.2. Static abilities create continuous effects, some of which are prevention effects or replacement effects. These effects are active as long as the permanent with the ability remains on the battlefield and has the ability, or as long as the object with the ability remains in the appropriate zone, as described in rule 113.6.

Since activated abilities resolve in the order they're written, the cards are Zombies as soon as they enter the graveyard. The next instruction checks for the cards being Zombies and finds that they are.

I can't explain the difference in wording ("was" and "is") between Liliana and Stockpile, even though they seem to do very similar things: move cards from a hidden zone to the graveyard and check if they had certain properties. Generally, there seems to be a difference between "If something was a" and "If something is a", but I don't understand the pattern enough to draw general wording rules from it.


Lands and mana are not the same thing. Lands (generally) have abilities that let them tap to produce mana. For example, a basic Island can tap to produce one blue mana, and a basic Plains can tap to produce one white mana. (On modern printings, this is implicit, but on old ones it was actually written out on the card.) The land itself is just an object on the battlefield; it's the mana it produces that you spend to cast spells.

Similarly, some nonbasic lands have abilities that let them produce more than one kind of mana. Your Coastal Tower can tap to produce mana just like a Plains or Island could, except you get to choose: you can produce a blue mana or a white mana. It's sort of like being able to play an Island and a Plains in one card, with the downside that it enters tapped and is not actually an Island or a Plains.

For example, if you want to cast a New Prahv Guildmage, which costs a white mana and a blue mana, and have an Island and a Coastal Tower on the battlefield, you can tap the Island for a blue mana and the Coastal Tower for a white mana. Or if instead you had a Plains and a Coastal Tower, you could tap the Plains for a white mana and the Coastal Tower for a blue mana.

A final note, you don't cast lands. They're not spells. You simply play them.


Can you play older versions of cards in standard?

Yes. The only thing that matters for determining card legality is the name of the card. As far as the Oracle is concerned, 2 different printings of shock are the exact same card for all game and tournament rule purposes.

From the tournament rules:

  3.3. Authorized Cards
  Players may use any Authorized Game Cards from Magic: The Gathering expansions, core sets, special sets, supplements, and promotional printings. Authorized Game Cards are cards that, unaltered, meet the following conditions:

  The card is genuine and published by Wizards of the Coast.
  The card a standard Magic back or is a double-faced card.
  The card does not have squared corners.
  The card has black or white borders.
  The
  card is not a token card.
  The card is not damaged or modified in a
  way that might make it marked.
  The card is otherwise legal for the
  tournament as defined by the format.
  The card is a proxy issued by
  the judge of a tournament (see section 3.4 for rules about proxies).

  Any other cards that are not Authorized Game Cards are prohibited in all sanctioned tournaments.
  Unglued and Unhinged basic land cards are allowed in sanctioned Magic tournaments.

  Players may use cards from the Alpha printing only if the deck is in opaque sleeves.

  Players may use otherwise-legal non-English and/or misprinted cards provided they are not using them to create an advantage by using misleading text or pictures. Official promotional textless spells are allowed in sanctioned Magic tournaments in which they would otherwise be legal.

  Artistic modifications are acceptable in sanctioned tournaments, provided that the modifications do not make the card art unrecognizable, contain substantial strategic advice, or contain offensive images. Artistic modifications also may not obstruct or change the mana cost or name of the card.

  The Head Judge is the final authority on acceptable cards for a tournament.the mana cost or name of the card.


When playing Edgar Markov, what is the definition of a "Vampire spell"?

A Vampire spell (for the purpose of Edgar Markov) is a spell which has the Vampire (sub)type; its name doesn't matter. You can find the type(s) in the bar between the picture and the rules text. Vampire Cutthroat is a "Creature - Vampire Rogue", so it counts; Mark of the Vampire is an "Enchantment - Aura", so it doesn't count.

There are no non-creature spells which explicitly have the Vampire subtype, as this Gatherer search shows. There are non-creature spells which have all creature types thanks to the Changeling ability, such as Crib Swap; this search lists all 6 of them.


When you use Cloudshift on Zada Hedron Grinder, do the creatures return simultaneously?

Spells never resolve "simultaneously".  Every effect goes on the stack, and each effect resolves from the stack in order, one at a time.

To quote the relevant rule regarding copies of spells (emphasis mine):

  706.10 To copy a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack... A copy of a spell or ability is controlled by the player under whose control it was put on the stack....

So when you cast Cloudshift targeting Zada, Zada's ability is triggered and produces a bunch of spell copies, each of which is targeting another one of your creatures.

Even though all the spell copies were created at the same time, they still go on the stack and are resolved one after the other.  Since you control all the spells, you get to decide the order in which they go on the stack, and consequently the order in which they will resolve.  The Gatherer rulings for Zada say this specifically:

  You control all the copies. You choose the order the copies are put onto the stack. The original spell will be on the stack beneath those copies and will resolve last.

The end effect of all of those spells is that each one of your creatures is exiled and then returned to the battlefield in the order you decide when you load up the stack with all those copies.

Keep in mind, though, that this means each of your creatures finishes blinking before the next one starts.  That means that any "enters the battlefield" effects will go onto the stack and resolve before the next creature blinks.
 Also note that since each of the spells goes on the stack, your opponent has the option to respond with spells or abilities in between blinks.

In the case of Otherworldly Journey, there are two sets of spells/abilities that trigger simultaneously.  Casting Otherworldly Journey works similarly to Cloudshift - all the spell copies go on the stack and resolve one at a time, exiling your creatures in the order you specify.  Then at the next end step, the second half of each Journey is triggered, producing a bunch more abilities that you can place on the stack in any order.  The order in which the creatures return does not have to be the same as the order in which they were exiled.


He can do that. And Anticipate does have to resolve before he can look at his top 3 cards. When he played Anticipate in response to your Crackling Doom, it went on top of the stack, with Crackling Doom under it. The stack resolves from top to bottom, so his Anticipate would resolve first. After it resolves, he still has a chance to cast more instants while Crackling Doom is still on the stack.
These are the specific steps that happened:

You have priority; you cast Crackling Doom. You pass priority.
He has priority. He casts Anticipate.
You both pass priority, causing the top spell on the stack to resolve.
After Anticipate resolves, you as the active player get priority again. You could cast an instant here; in this case you pass priority.
He has priority, he casts an instant that he got from Anticipate.
You both pass priority, causing his new instant to resolve.
You both pass priority again. If Crackling Doom is still on the stack (if his spell isn't a counter spell), NOW Crackling Doom resolves.

The specific rules about this:

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
116.3c If a player has priority when he or she casts a spell, activates an ability, or takes a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
116.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player's mana pool, he or she announces what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
116.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or step ends.


Do you have to choose a target for a spell, or can you just cast it with no target and let it fizzle?

You cannot cast a spell without choosing all specified targets. In the process of casting a spell, we have these rules

  601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions"). Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made.

  601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. A spell may require some targets only if an alternative or additional cost (such as a buyback or kicker cost), or a particular mode, was chosen for it; otherwise, the spell is cast as though it did not require those targets. If the spell has a variable number of targets, the player announces how many targets he or she will choose before he or she announces those targets. The same target can't be chosen multiple times for any one instance of the word "target" on the spell. However, if the spell uses the word "target" in multiple places, the same object, player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the word "target" (as long as it fits the targeting criteria). If any effects say that an object or player must be chosen as a target, the player chooses targets so that he or she obeys the maximum possible number of such effects without violating any rules or effects that say that an object or player can't be chosen as a target. The chosen players, objects, and/or zones each become a target of that spell. (Any abilities that trigger when those players, objects, and/or zones become the target of a spell trigger at this point; they'll wait to be put on the stack until the spell has finished being cast.)

So, when you cast a spell, you have to choose legal targets to legally cast the spell.


Does a player always has to have uncompleted destination tickets on-hand?

No.

If you do complete all your routes, it is often a good idea to collect more since each route completed adds to your score, however this is very dependent on the current game situation (how many routes are free, how close it is to game end, how flexible your current rail system is) as you also risk drawing new cards that you can't complete and which would penalize you. However, there is nothing mandating that you always have tickets to complete: Since the contents of your tickets is not public information nobody should know that you've completed all your tickets until game end, so such a rule would be mostly unenforceable anyway.

According to the rules, the game turn consists of taking one (and only one) of the following four actions:

Draw Train Car Cards
Claim a Route
Draw Destination Tickets
Build a Train Station

However, there is absolutely nothing in the rules which tells you to take one of these actions over the others in any situation: It is entirely your choice as to which of the four actions to take.

Literally the only case I can conceive of where you'd be forced to collect more destination tickets (aside from the ones drawn during game setup) would be if the other three actions were, for whatever reason, unavailable to you. This would basically mean that there are (a) no train cards to draw, (b) you can't afford to claim any routes, and (c) you've already deployed your station. And if this does happen to you, you've probably already lost.


In Elder Sign, does the "Bind Monster" card avoid an Ancient One effect?

No, it does not include the Elder Sign that must be lost per Yig's abiliy

The rules are not very clear on this matter:

  Defeating Monsters with Items and Spells - Some items or spells instruct the player to defeat a monster. When using such an item or casting such a spell, the player chooses any monster in play and flips its marker facedown, ignoring all of its tasks. If the monster marker is in a partial monster task, the uncovered task requirements must still be satisfied in order to resolve the adventure. After either resolving or failing the adventure, the player collects the defeated monster marker at the end of his Resolution phase. (page 17)

Tasks are ignored (including costs), which might lead you to believe that Yig's Elder Sign loss wouldn't occur, but the FAQ says:

  What do items mean when they say “defeat” a monster? - When a player uses an item/spell that “defeats” a monster, that player chooses a monster in play (not necessarily at the same adventure his investigator is at) and turns that monster facedown. None of the monster’s costs must be paid (such as advancing the clock or losing sanity/ stamina) and all of that monster’s tasks are considered to be completed. The monster is collected as a trophy when the player’s turn ends (and not before), whether the investigator succeeds at the adventure or not. Note that if a monster is only partially covering a task, any uncovered parts of the task are still uncompleted for purposes of succeeding at the adventure. (page 5)

The operative words there are "considered to be completed." Yig would trigger one time for each task on a Cultist monster defeated by Bind Monster, causing the investigators to lose one (or more) Elder Signs.

  Each time an investigator completes the task on a Cultist monster marker [...] the investigators lose 1 Elder Sign, if they have any."


Can you have same Legendary Creature on the battlefield twice utilizing the Mutate ability?

702.139e A mutated permanent has all abilities of each card and token that represents it. Its other characteristics are derived from the topmost card or token.

Being legendary is not an ability; rather, it's a supertype:

109.3. An object’s characteristics are name, mana cost, color, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, abilities, power, toughness, loyalty, hand modifier, and life modifier. Objects can have some or all of these characteristics. Any other information about an object isn’t a characteristic. For example, characteristics don’t include whether a permanent is tapped, a spell’s target, an object’s owner or controller, what an Aura enchants, and so on.

205.4a A card can also have one or more supertypes. These are printed directly before its card types. The supertypes are basic, legendary, ongoing, snow, and world.

That means that if you mutate on top of a legendary creature, you can cast it again (if you have another copy in your hand) without it being affected by the legend rule. If you mutate under a legendary creature, it's still legal to cast another copy, but it's usually not such a good idea.


Does my creature still get a +1/+1 counter?

No, your creature does not get a counter.

The exact meaning of "regenerate" is this (from rule 701.13a):

  If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case, “Regenerate [permanent]” means “The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat.”

So, in your situation, the 2/2 would be destroyed, but instead, you remove all damage attached to it, tap it, and remove it from combat. This means that it doesn't die, so your creature doesn't get a counter.


(Full Disclosure: I've purchased a lot of the Duel Decks: Knights vs. Dragons, Venser vs. Koth, Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas, Izzet vs. Golgari and Sorin vs. Tibalt.)

If I was trying to teach a new player, I actually wouldn't use any of the Duel Decks. They are classified as 'Expert' level products by Wizards of the Coast, so they may contain a lot more complexity than a new player is ready for. The complexity comes from the actual cards in the decks and the strategies that one deck needs to use to beat the other. (Side note:  Also, if you plan on playing in Standard or collecting for it, most of the cards in the Duel Decks won't be Standard legal.)

In my experience, one of the Duel Decks is typically stronger than the other, usually to provide contrast between a fast aggro deck and a slower control or ramp deck. For example, in Knights vs. Dragons, the Knights win a LOT, because the deck is full of really strong, low casting cost creatures. The dragons are bigger and tougher, but have a much higher casting costs. The Dragons deck does have SOME ramp, but most of the time it will take a early beating before it can get established, and not recover.

(Also in Knights versus Dragons, there's a Knight with Protection from Red. The Dragons deck has a grand total of two ways to remove this guy. One colorless burn spell and one artifact creature. If you don't drawn into those, or if you use the burn spell on something else, you've got trouble.)

The same thing happens in Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas; Ajani has a lot of strong threats that are very cheap to cast. Bolas is more of a control deck, but it's not as well built of a control deck as you could hope for. The control is spread all over the place: a couple of counters here, a couple of discard spells there, so it's not very focused on one aspect of control, and therefore weaker. Again, most games go with Ajani taking the early lead and Bolas hoping to catch up and win.

The imbalance in the Duel Decks could lead to very frustrating games, especially for a new player. That could be mitigated by having the players switch decks, but all in all, they are likely to see that one deck is stronger than the other and wonder why the weaker deck is there at all.

In short, Duel Decks are great for experienced collectors and veteran players, but not so hot for new players. What you should try is....

If you are trying to have them learn the game from square one, a Booster Battle Pack is the way to go. A Booster Battle Pack has 40 cards total. Those are split by color into 5 lands and 5 other cards. The colors that you get are randomized, so you might get one that includes Red, Black, White and Blue, but no Green. You select two of the colors and then have a deck of 20 cards that you use to play a short game.

The small deck size helps a new player to get to playing the game right away, without a bunch of rules explanations. Once you've played several games, you can swap around the colors and try different combinations. The Booster Battle Pack also contains two actual booster packs, that you can crack open and add to your decks.

I used Booster Battle Packs to teach my fiancee how to play and she's really enjoyed it. For Magic Veterans, it seems like a useless product because of the simplicity, but you'd be surprised at how much fun the (mini) games can be.

Once your player understands the fundamentals of the game, have them play someone else's decks until they get a good idea of which deck archetype they like. (Aggro, Control, Combo, etc.) That way, the new player doesn't have to invest any money, but still gets to try out a range of different decks. Or, you could have the other players sit down and donate cards from their collections to build a deck of them.


In Dominion: Adventures, does the discarded Traveller have to be in hand, or can it have been played?

From the rulebook, bottom of p5:

  When a player discards a Traveller from play, he may exchange
  it for the card indicated.

Your hand is never considered to be "in play":

  "In play" - Action cards and Treasure cards played face-up to a play area are in play until they are
  moved somewhere else—usually until they are discarded during a Clean-up phase.

So discarding it from your hand does not do anything; you must play it and then discard it from play at cleanup to trigger the exchange. You do not pay for the upgraded card - the upgraded version has a cost only because of the many cards like Remodel that care about a card's cost.


Anyone have these 7 cards from The Fortune Teller Board Game by Pressman 1989

Becky, I have this game. I can send you pictures.


As you said, Ferocious doesn't do anything on its own; it just signals that a certain mechanic is present in the ability. It is an ability word:

  207.2c An ability word appears in italics at the beginning of some abilities on cards. Ability words are similar to keywords in that they tie together cards that have similar functionality, but they have no special rules meaning and no individual entries in the Comprehensive Rules. The ability words are battalion, bloodrush, channel, chroma, constellation, domain, fateful hour, ferocious, grandeur, hellbent, heroic, imprint, inspired, join forces, kinship, landfall, metalcraft, morbid, parley, radiance, raid, strive, sweep, tempting offer, threshold, and will of the council.

As a rule of thumb, you can always safely ignore any text in italics in a card's text box. This includes flavor text, reminder text, and ability words.

So if you want to figure out how a card works, you just read it as though the word Ferocious were absent. Crater's Claw's ability modifies what the spell does when it resolves, so you check it when the spell resolves. Dragon Grip's ability modifies when the spell can be cast, so you check it when you are casting the spell. If the ability modified when an ability triggered (such as Heir of the Wilds' ability) it would check when the ability triggers and when it resolves, like any other condition on a triggered ability.

Because you mentioned it, I'll point out that scry is different. It is a keyword action, not an ability word, and as such it has actual rules attached to it.


If I play a card and playing that card stuns me, do I get to use the effect of the card still?

The way I interpret the rules is that you can use the zap. Here's what the rulebook says when being stunned:

  Discard any or tokens you may have saved on your Player Board
  from other Heroes’ turns.If it is your turn, you may still play cards and take actions with whatever you have remaining after being Stunned.

The above was found on page 18 of the rulebook regarding Hero Health. View PDF Rulebook

I would assume that the stun happens immediately and you would follow the stunned steps from top to bottom.


You can play the card even if there are no non-Demon creatures. The "When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield" ability is a triggered ability, it doesn't happen until after the Demon is finished being cast and resolves. Once it does, if there are no legal targets, then the triggered will be removed from the stack immediately after being added; it won't even try to resolve[CR 603.3d].

For your second question, yes, you would be forced to sacrifice the Demon if there are no other creatures to sacrifice. The "Sacrifice a creature" is not optional, it is an ability that is triggered at the beginning of your upkeep. So long as you don't have 6 or more creature cards in your graveyard, you must sacrifice a creature.


Does creating a token copy count as having cast a spell?

No.

Casting a spell is a keyword action that involves placing a card (or copy thereof) on the stack, making choices, optionally activating mana abilities, and paying its cost.

Activating an activated ability (such as Prototype Portal's second abiliy) is not casting a spell.

Creating a copy of an object is not casting a spell (even if the object being copied is a spell).

Putting an artifact on the battlefield is not casting a spell.


How do you run a short multiplayer Conspiracy draft tournament?

Since multiplayer games tend to run longer than single-player matches, it's hard to do as many rounds as you would for e.g. a standard pod of 8.  The scheme we've come up with at my LGS is to run two rounds with swiss pairing and per-game prize support:

Do the draft itself.  For convenience, I'm going to presume a perfect 8-person pod here.
Break into two 4-person groups (WotC suggests randomly, but even/odd would also work well here)
Each group plays a single four-person game; award prize support to the top two finishers in each group.  (My LGS is going to do 3 packs for first and 1 for second here, but if you want your draft to perfectly utilize a 36-pack box, then you can go 2/1.)
'Swiss' the players for a second round: the top two players from each of the two round-1 games form a new four-person group, and the bottom two players from the round-1 games also form a new four-person group.
Play out the second round of games, with the same prize support as the first: 2 or 3 packs to the first-place finisher in each group, and 1 pack to the second-place finisher.

This way, (a) everyone gets to play a couple of games with their deck (and don't be surprised if folks play again on their own after the draft); (b) everyone but the bottom couple of finishers gets some measure of prize support (which IMHO is important for a political and 'casual' environment like Conspiracy); and (c) players are incentivized to win their games and not just play for top-2.


Galepowder Mage and Wormfang Manta interaction

You won't get any significant benefit from doing this. You will get an extra turn, and then you will skip that extra turn, and the turn order will proceed as though you never had that extra turn.

An instruction to "skip your next turn" creates a replacement effect that has you skip the next turn you would take. So even though that effect is created after you get the extra turn, you still skip the extra turn. This is specified in rule 614.10:

  An effect that causes a player to skip an event, step, phase, or turn is a replacement effect. “Skip [something]” is the same as “Instead of doing [something], do nothing.” Once a step, phase, or turn has started, it can no longer be skipped—any skip effects will wait until the next occurrence.


Yes, this works as you describe.

Although Sacred Ground has no rulings in Gatherer; we can look at a similarly-worded card, such as Nephalia Academy.

  If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard a card, you may reveal that card and put it on top of your library instead of putting it anywhere else.

This has the following ruling:

  If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to make a choice and you choose to discard a card, Nephalia Academy’s ability will apply.

This should make it clear that even when you have a choice to make; if you choose the thing that the ability cares about, it counts as your opponent's spell or ability "causing" it to happen.

In the case of Annihilator; your opponent controls the Annihilator triggered ability which is what causes you to sacrifice a permanent.

This would be no different if you controlled an Eldrazi Conscription enchanting an opponent's creature; because your opponent's creature is still the object with the Annihilator ability. It would be different if Eldrazi Conscription said "whenever enchanted creature attacks; defending player must sacrifice 2 permanents". If that were the wording; then you would be the controller of the ability, not your opponent.


Which effects affect both opponents and which only one in Two Headed Giant?

Cruel Edict and Sudden Disappearance both only affect a single opponent. In general, the only cards that would affect both heads of an opponent in two headed giant (2HG) are cards that say each or all within the rules text (example: Heartless Hidetsugu), but this would be have the same effect in non-2HG duels or multiplayer games.
The only differences in 2HG with respect to rules text, is that players attack/defend in teams and take their turn as a team. A card that referred to an attacking or defending player would be referring to both members of the teams, or cards that add/skip turns or phases. The MtG Comprehensive Rules state:

810.7a Each team’s creatures attack the other team as a group. During the combat phase, the active team is the attacking team and each player on the active team is an attacking player. Likewise, the nonactive team is the defending team and each player on the nonactive team is a defending player.
Example: One player in a Two-Headed Giant game controls Teferi’s Moat, which says “As Teferi’s Moat enters the battlefield, choose a color.” and “Creatures of the chosen color without flying can’t attack you.” Creatures of the chosen color without flying can’t attack that player’s team.
Example: If an attacking creature has forestwalk and either player on the defending team controls a Forest, the creature can’t be blocked.
805.8 If an effect gives a player an extra turn or adds a phase or step to that player’s turn, that player’s team takes the extra turn, phase, or step. If an effect causes a player to skip a step, phase, or turn, that player’s team does so. If a single effect causes more than one player on the same team to add or skip the same step, phase, or turn, that team adds or skips only that step, phase, or turn. If an effect causes a player to control another player, the controller of that effect controls the affected player’s team.


Catan setup order different than playing order

I think you have got how you work out start player wrong.
You said "the second highest number goes second and so on." The rules do not state this.
Looking at rules here it says :-

Each player rolls both dice. The player who rolls highest is the
starting player and begins.  The starting player places a settlement
on an open intersection of his choice. He places a road adjacent to
this settlement.  The other players then follow clockwise. Everyone
places 1 settlement and 1 adjoining road.

So whoever rolls highest is the start player.  All other dice rolls are irrelevant.
As an example for you imagine for players sat clockwise around a table A, B, C and D.
A rolls 11, B rolls 2, C rolls 8 and D rolls 4.
Player A rolled highest and placed the first settlement.  Player B is next clockwise and places next.  The fact Player B rolled the lowest number is irrelevant as the dice roll was for start player and not the turn order.  The player C, the D.  Then D again and back anticlockwise, C, B and finally A.
Settlers of Catan is not a game where the turn order changed during the game (such as say Caylus or Power Grid).  So you only need to randomly select a start player.  You do not need to randomly select the whole player order.
In my mind the point of selecting starting locations ABCDDCBA is to try and minimise disadvantage for selecting before other players by letter the player placing last get first pick of second settlement location.   If they placed them ABCDABCD then player D would be at a huge disadvantage.


Eli Shiffrin's response to this question in a Reddit AMA:

  If any card in the merged permanent is your commander, the whole thing is your commander.

(Eli Shiffrin is the MTG Rules Manager)

Link to the answer


Does a permanent that was a creature until end of turn remain tapped after it stops being one?

Yes: Being tapped/untapped is a part of the status of a permanent and is independent of its type (creature/not creature) or other characteristic.

110.6. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
110.6a Status is not a characteristic, though it may affect a permanent’s characteristics.

In your example, Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker will remain tapped even after your turn ends.


In Bridge, What is the Merit of Taking a "Double" Finesse?

You have answered your own question in the last paragraph. The simple finesse gets nothing because you can only win the Queen if the King is onside, in which case you will come to it in the end anyway, and taking it may consume an entry, lose a tempo, and so forth.

In the second case you are, as you state, developing a possible long card, and (provided you put in the Ten) possibly the Queen as a winner if the Jack is right and the King wrong.


What happens if you are unable to scry because your library is empty?

You lose when you draw a card in an empty library due to rule 104.3c:

  If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in his or her library, he or she draws the remaining cards, and then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

Scrying doesn't cause you to draw cards. It only allows you to look at the top X cards of your library and put them on the top/bottom of your library. See rule 701.17a:

  To “scry N” means to look at the top N cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order and the rest on top of your library in any order.

emphasis mine

If scry made you draw it would say draw and not look.

source 1 2


Yes, you can do this.
All islands have the (unwritten) ability of Tap: Add {U} to your mana pool. You can activate this ability any time you have priority. You simply tap the land to get {U} in your mana pool, which will remain there throughout the current step/phase. You can then spend that {U} and sacrifice your now-tapped Island to pay your Serpent's ability cost.


There are two things going on here.
Toughness and base toughness
First, the question you didn't ask, but which I think really underlies your confusion, is on the definition of toughness. When you calculate a creature's toughness, you take into account all toughness-changing effects, including counters. So the toughness of your renowned Relic Seeker is 3. Not 2. Not 0 either. The number marked on the card, 2, is called the "base toughness", and it only gives you a starting point for the toughness calculation. It doesn't have any further significance in the game.
So in your first example, this is (technically) the wrong way to describe it:

Now, if my opponent were to cast Cruel Finality, Relic Seeker would be reduced to a 0/0, but he's getting that +1/+1 from the counter, keeping him alive...

What you should say instead is that, if your opponent were to cast Cruel Finality, Relic Seeker is reduced to a 1/1. Working from a base power and base toughness of 2/2, it gets -2/-2 from Cruel Finality and +1/+1 from the counter, all of which adds up to 1/1.
All this is controlled by rule 613.3, if you're curious.

613.3. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described below. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order. (See rule 613.6.) Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a sublayer. (See rule 613.7.)
613.3a. Layer 7a: Effects from characteristic-defining abilities that define power and/or toughness are applied. See rule 604.3.
613.3b. Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.
613.3c. Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don't set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.
613.3d. Layer 7d: Power and/or toughness changes from counters are applied. See rule 121, "Counters."
613.3e. Layer 7e: Effects that switch a creature's power and toughness are applied. Such effects take the value of power and apply it to the creature's toughness, and take the value of toughness and apply it to the creature's power.

Negative toughness
Now the question you did ask, whether toughness can be negative: yes, it can. This is controlled by rule 107.1b, where you will see that toughness is one of the exceptions to the rule that Magic mostly uses nonnegative numbers.

107.1b. Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero. You can't choose a negative number, deal negative damage, gain negative life, and so on. However, it's possible for a game value, such as a creature's power, to be less than zero. If a calculation or comparison needs to use a negative value, it does so. If a calculation that would determine the result of an effect yields a negative number, zero is used instead, unless that effect sets a player's life total to a specific value, doubles a player's life total, sets a creature's power or toughness to a specific value, or otherwise modifies a creature's power or toughness.

So in your second example, you have a renowned Relic Seeker and your opponent casts Languish. It starts with a base power and base toughness of 2/2, gets -4/-4 from Languish, and gets +1/+1 from the counter, all of which adds up to a power and toughness of -1/-1. Since its toughness is 0 or less, it dies (when state-based effects are checked).
It sounds like you may have thought there was a rule like this:

If an effect would reduce a creature's toughness to less than 0, it reduces it to 0 instead.

But there is no such rule.


Deriving statistics from original card games

If you have a small amount of experience programming, you could achieve your goals here pretty easily, and as customized as you need.  If you want graphs and other 'pretty'  output, I suggest R.


One of the rulings on Seize the Day addresses this situation:

  If you somehow cast Seize the Day during an opponent’s main phase, that opponent attacks during the resulting combat phase, since it’s still that player’s turn. If you somehow cast it not during a main phase at all, all that happens is you untap the target creature.