What effect does Attack Left vs Attack Right have on MtG multiplayer strategy?

Advantaging beatdown vs. defense

In "attack left" (unless I'm the last player to go), my turn-2 attack will be against an opponent who has yet to take his second turn; in "attack right" (unless I'm the first player to go), it'll be against the player who has already gotten to take his own turn 2 to fortify his position.

Think of each attacking-player/defending-player pairing as a microcosm of beatdown-vs.-control in a larger game. "Attack left" is a lot like the beatdown deck getting to play first in a duel; "attack right" is a lot like the control player getting to take the first turn. Think about how much that affects the flow of the game in a duel. And, also, note how little it matters when both decks are going for a slow-and-steady strategy, as tends to be common in decks tuned for free-for-all casual multiplayer rather than duels or "attack-one" multiplayer specifically.

Compared to "attack left," "attack right" makes it slightly easier to defend yourself in the early game; that Lingering Souls starts to look a lot better when you realize you'll be able to cast it in time to defend against an aggressive opponent's (non-hasty) two-drops!

The hallmark of the variant is that you're always having to think about both offense and defense, so it would be overly reductive to say "attack right" favors the defender -- everyone is a defender. Rather, it's easier to avoid early damage in "attack right," which offers an enticement to go just a little bit "bigger" without risking an auto-loss to fast aggressive decks.

Sweepers play differently

Here's a niche concern that's big enough to point out specifically.

Let's say you just know one of the other players is going to drop a sweeper on this pass around the board -- maybe because it's obvious (like, say, a Scourglass already in play), maybe just you have strong Magic instincts, maybe you know the game will be over anyway if he or she doesn't. In "attack left," it's desirable to go for an "all-in" attack in the hopes of getting some damage through, since your aggressor's guys will all be dead before they get a chance to attack you anyway. In "attack right," it's much more suicidal, since you're setting yourself up to be wide open when it's time to defend yourself.

Non-strategic gameplay differences

As Kelly says in the linked article,

  Instead of ending my turn and waiting all the way around the turn
  order to be attacked, I passed the turn to someone who immediately
  attacked me.

That's true, but it doesn't really matter that much on a pure strategic level. Either way, your turn is spent attacking and preparing for your opponent's next assault -- whether that comes before or after a series of actions that mainly don't affect you directly is strategically inconsequential. Rather, the shift between passing the turn and waiting to be attacked vs. passing and immediately being the defending player is psychological rather than strategic.

That said, there's a reason to pick one variant over the other on the this basis, too -- psychological perception still affects gameplay.

In my experience, multiplayer Magic sometimes has problems with board state comprehension, analysis paralysis, and loss of focus. So, when Kelly says,

  Once I got used to it, though, it felt very natural to pass the turn
  to someone who would then immediately attack me. That meant that I
  could more or less space out during Matt and Laura's turns.

That's non-trivial. It doesn't affect strategy per se, but it does affect gameplay. Making it easier to players to know when they should focus and when they can "space" a bit means less time wasted on "Whose turn is it," "Oh, I had a response for that," and "When did that happen?"

Magic tends towards this cycle:

Decide which resources you're going to commit to attack and defense.
Attack.
Set up for defense (e.g. cast stuff on your second main).
Defend.
Go back to 1.

That's because the main time to make these decisions is at the start of your turn, having just seen your new card. Part of the strategic appeal of MTG is that you need to be adjusting your plans all the time in response to changing circumstances, including on your opponent's turn; but whatever you do then is constrained by the setup decisions you made on your own turn -- which lands and creatures you played, how many dudes you set aside to block, how much untapped mana you have to pay for Instants and abilities, &c.

The attack-defend-wait pattern (in "attack right") fits this decision-making process better. "Attack left" puts more time between making your defensive plans and executing them, which can lead to greater memory and focus issues at the table.

This is all a bit oversimplified, though. The ideal strategic posture is not to "space out" at all, because, even with limited attacks or range of influence, everything that happens on the board is relevant to you. One of the more important "advanced" techniques in "attack-one" multiplayer is using your removal during your aggressor's defense time (thereby forcing him or her to make worse blocks or expend more resources against his/her opponent). Can't really do that if you're only paying attention on your own turn and immediately afterward!

Likewise, if you can avoid cycles of waxing and waning attention, you won't waste everyone's time trying to "catch up" on the board state during your turn.


How to interpret the reward after defeating an monster

You are correct.

The hero receives an amount of gold equal to the monster’s gold icon (found on the monster strength track) OR an amount of willpower equal to the monster’s willpower icon OR a combination of the two. Example: After defeating a gor, the hero may take 2 gold, 2 willpower, or 1 gold and 1 willpower.

[Edit] and of course, if you win 4, you can chose any combination of gold and willpower.


How does Rat-a-tat-cat strategy change as the number of players increases?

This isn't my answer yet, just some observations. I might take a stab at creating a computer simulation that can be easily customized with different numbers of players, different player strategies, and possibly different rule sets (children's variant where the outermost cards are public information, and perhaps a reverse of the normal rules where the outermost cards are only known to player whose hand they are in, but the innermost cards are known to every other player).

When the entire draw deck has been gone through once:

In a 2-player game, the highest known card for each player will be a '1'. This will occur if both players have '0's in their hidden cards. All 54 cards (minus 8) will be drawn when the draw pile is exhausted, and players will always discard either a known higher card for a lower card, or a random unknown card for a (0-4). This isn't counting the 3 peek cards being drawn either, but it is likely that players will discard unknown random cards at least when a drawn card is higher than their known cards but 4 or less, since an unknown card is worth '5' on average. This unknown random card is discarded face up for their opponent to take, so eventually all low cards will be claimed by the end of the draw deck.
In a 5-player game, the highest know card for each player will be a '4'. With 5 players, you can use the same reasoning as in the 2-player game. By the end of the draw deck, all the low cards will have been taken into players hands (4 zeros, 4 ones, 4 twos, 4 threes, and 4 fours).
From the reasoning above, we can see that Power Cards in hand are actually worth more than '5' on average as then number of cards are drawn. In a 5 player game, if the discard pile gets reshuffled into a new draw pile a hidden Power Card is worth 7.4 on average.
From the reasoning above, I believe it is also true that at least one player will knockout after the draw pile has been exhausted (or slightly before). At that point, a player should know exactly which cards are in the draw pile, so they will know if they can reduce their score further (they will also know how many swap cards are in the draw deck).

When a player discards a known card, we know that the card that the face up card they discarded was greater in value than the card they kept. This might be helpful in determining how many points we think an opponent has. (i.e. If an opponent discards a '9' card, we only know that the card that they kept is less than or equal to 9 and their total known score could be as high as 9+9=18. If they discard a '5' though we know that the card that they kept was less than or equal to 5 and their 5 was most likely their highest value card (discarding the highest known card, or an unknown card if the difference between the known card and kept is less than the AVG difference between an unknown card and kept card is optimal play. We cannot rely on this information since a player may not be playing optimally, but it should be the best move in most games.). Their total known score is no higher than 5+5=10). If we track exactly which cards are being discarded, and each card that is kept we can gain extra information about our opponents.

The game can end in several different ways, depending upon the End Game condition.

Play for a certain number of rounds. - Hopefully, the number of rounds is divisible by the number of players. The first player has the greatest incentive of knocking out, since if they knock out each other player has only taken as many turns as they have. The last player has the least incentive of knocking out, since if they do, each other player will have taken one more turn than they have. Strategy for this end condition will vary slightly as the number of rounds until the last round gets nearer.
Play for a specific length of time. - This is a poor choice of ending condition. Players in the lead can effectively stall the game to keep their lead.
Play to stay in the game and not reach 100 points. When a player
reaches 100 points, he is out of the game. The last player in the game is
the winner. - The Strategy for this end condition will vary slightly as a players point total nears 100 points. A player will probably not knockout when they are more likely than not to be out of the game. It would also depend upon what happens when all remaining players lose at the same time (all players have 100+ points). Do all players draw? Does the player with the fewest points win? Do the players play a final hand? The strategy will differ according to the rules.


May you choose *not* to use your own resources and buy them instead?

As stated by the rules (English Rules, p. 4), you're required to use your own resources first and buy the missing afterwards.

  Often, a player will want to build a structure requiring resources he or she does not produce. If these resources are produced by a neighboring city – players sitting directly to the left or right of that player – the player will be able to purchase the missing resource(s) through commerce.

This is also confirmed by the "City" expansion rules (English City Rules, p. 10):

  A player must use their own resource before buying one from their neighbors.

This rule is stated under "Team Play", but it states "neighbors", instead of just "teammates", like other similar rules, so I assume it's a more general rule. In any case, the base-game rules are quite clear on that.


What happens if installed Medium is trashed during access on R&D?

From the FAQ:

  When the Runner chooses to access cards in a server he or she will access a set number of cards. Upon choosing to access, that number is determined by the total number of cards a successful run on that server would normally access, any active modifiers that may be adding to or reducing the number, up to the number of cards actually in the server, plus all cards in a central server’s root.

This doesn't go on to address Medium specifically, but as you suggested, the number of cards accessed is determined at the moment of choosing to access. Therefore Medium would let you access the 3 cards, even if Sapper ends up trashing Medium.


What happens when you cast a spell with multiple copies of Krark, the thumbless

On Gather, Krark has a ruling that covers this situation:

If you win the flip, but the spell that caused Krark’s triggered ability to trigger isn’t on the stack anymore (most likely because it was countered), the copy is still created.

This means that the flips still happen and the copies will still be created even if the spell has already been removed from the stack. In the ruling they suggest because of countering, but in this case it will work the same way for a earlier Krark returning the spell to hand.


In Battlestar Galatica Pegasus expansion, does the cylon team win if the cylon leader wins?

The Cylons and the Cylon leader win the game, together. The Agenda Card condition indicates which side they favor. They will have another condition which seems counter to their allegiance, but they are predominantly on one side or the other.

From page 10 of the Pegasus rule book:

  Note that Cylon Leaders may win with the humans or the Cylons, as
  specified by their Agenda Card.


Is it possible for an Othello / Reversi game to end without the board being filled?

Yes, it is possible for neither player to be able to make a move without the board being full. The Wikipedia article for Reversi has this example from a competition:

There are also simpler examples where all the pieces are turned to the same colour (YouTube video).


If Blightsteel Colossus loses its abilities through an effect like Lignify, can it be put into my graveyard?

The Colossus would be put into the graveyard because it doesn't have its "shuffle into its owner's library" ability when replacement effects would be checked.
At the moment that your Lignified Colossus dies, it's still a 0/4 with no abilities.
From the comp rules for replacement effects:

614.4. Replacement effects must exist before the appropriate event occurs—they can’t “go back in    time” and change something that’s
already happened. Spells or abilities that generate these effects
are often cast or activated in response to whatever would produce the
event and thus resolve before    that event would occur.
Example: A player can activate an ability to regenerate a creature in response to a spell
that would destroy it. Once the spell resolves, though, it’s too late to regenerate the
creature.

It regains its shuffle ability once it hits your graveyard (since Lignify is gone). But the time for checking replacement effects has already passed. It stays in your graveyard.


The only thing that matters for card legality is the name. Whether it's a "Forest" or "Grizzly Bears", the set that it was printed in is irrelevant; all that matters is if "Forest" is legal in the current format.


Does the commander count as part of your deck?

Yes, the Commander is part of the deck.

  903.5a Each deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including its commander.

The Legend rule doesn't limit what can be present in a deck — it limits what's on the 'field — but the following Commander rule does:

  903.5b Other than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name.

The uniqueness rule extends to the sideboard. You only have a single copy of a card in both the deck and 10 card sideboard combined.


Can you use the green Mosque tile more than once per turn?

According to a thread on boardgamegeek.com about the same question:

You can use this ability only once per turn.

Grzegorz Kobiela (who is credited as English translator of Istanbul’s rules) and André Bronswijk (who works for Istanbul’s publisher Pegasus Spiele) both confirmed this.

The reasoning is: You can use this ability when using a Warehouse, and you only use a Warehouse once per turn.

It’s probably an oversight that a clarifying "1x" is missing in the rules for the green tile (or that it was added to the rules for the red tile, which follows the same logic).

(For reference, another thread about it.)


What is a solid basic strategy for surviving Arkham Horror?

People survive, and quite frequently as well. Here's a Google Doc of recorded games that a guy on the FFG forums has been keeping. It's got some pretty interesting statistics on it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AliZyklaTCWzdEszdXpoRVJQNGltTU5wMi1qWEJnQkE#gid=2

As far a good strategies go, it's pretty simple. As you can see from the speadsheet, games with more investigators generally have a higher rate of success than games with less investigators. I've found that four investigators is generally a good number to play with. Any more and people can get bored with down time, any less and there's a good chance there's too much going on to take care of. It's also a nice middle ground for the number of gates that are allowed to be open, the number of monsters in Arkaham, the number of monsters in the outskirts, and you still only have one monster appearing per gate opening.

It's important to keep the gate count under control. Even if you can't seal a gate, make sure you have people going through gates so they have enough time to travel through and close without hitting the limit. Assuming one new gate per turn is a bit high, but it's a good rate to keep in mind for higher player games. I've had games end on the second turn in an 8-player game just due to unlucky Arkham encounters that opened gates. It can sneak up on you!

Which gates you seal/close is also important. It's slightly less predictable with expansion boards added in, but in the base set you have the 'Big 4': Independence Square, The Witch House, Unvisted Isle, and the Woods. These locations have gates that open significantly more frequently than other locations. If you close a gate here without sealing, odds are there's going to be another gate there soon enough, which adds a doom token to the track. Those are also the locations where Monster surges are more likely to happen. Conversely, locations such as the Historical Society, the Lodge, Hibb's Roadhouse, and the Science building, are targeted by Mythos Cards much less frequenty; it's less dicey to close those gates without sealing.

You may think it's important to have a dedicated monster killer (or at least someone good at it), and it definitely helps, but you can get by without it. Don't be afraid to spend a clue token or two to sneak past a monster guarding a gate so you don't have to deal with it. Also, don't forget that closing a gate removes all monsters with the matching symbol from the board.

Don't get sucked into spending all your clues to pass a check! I've seen so many instances where a player just decides, "Well, I've already spent two, might as well spend more..." only to burn their entire clue pile and have nothing to show for it at the end. Don't be afraid to fail a check!

Have a decent amount of health before wandering into an Other World. Don't go into R'yleh with one Sanity and one Stamina. And please don't go into Unknown Kadath with one Sanity and one Stamina. If you're going for a seal, having more than five clues going in helps, obviously. The extra buffer isn't necessary, but it's comforting.

Some people will swear by getting retainers from the newspaper or bank loans to get cash to buy weapons, but more often than not my group can get by just fine with our starting equipment and the odds and ends we pick up while playing. Encounters spent trying to get money and good items could be spent getting clues, either off of the board or from random encounters. It's up to you to decide what would be more useful.

Most importantly, have fun!


Sacrifice inferno fist after creature died

No, you can't.
Any time a player would get priority and the chance to do anything (in your case at the end of the combat damage step after combat damage has been dealt), so-called state-based actions are checked. These are a series of automatic effects during which no player can do anything. One of those effects cause enchantments to become unattached (they fall off) off dead creatures. Another effect is that unattached auras go to their owner's graveyard. By the time you can take any action, Inferno Fist is already in a graveyard and can no longer be sacrificed.
Combat damage step:

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.
510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

Before a player actually gets priority and can do things, state-based actions are checked first:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated;
704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.
704.5n If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player, that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.


While not explicity stated in the rules, my understanding is that Nope reacts to a card (or pair, or triple) just played, in which case once you've drawn the Attack has already resolved and you can't "Nope" it.


Do I lose control of a creature if the aura which granted me control of it is destroyed?

Hypnotic Siren says "You control enchanted creature." This is a continuous effect that's present as long as Hypnotic Siren is on the battlefield enchanting a creature. Once it's gone, that effect goes away and you'll lose control of the creature, giving it back to whoever had it before. (In common situations, anyway - see this question for details.)

Since you used Hypnotic Siren as just one example, though, I should mention that not everything works that way.

If a card simply reads "Gain control of X" and doesn't mention a duration (e.g. "until end of turn"), that effect lasts indefinitely. For example, Beguiler of Wills reads:

  {T}: Gain control of target creature with power less than or equal to the number of creatures you control.

That effect lasts indefinitely; you'll get to keep the creature for the rest of the game, unless someone else has a way to gain control of it.


Dimir Doppelganger becoming Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

Assuming your grizzly bear scenarios are either/or (and you're not doing one after another)...

You are correct. The card will come back as either a Lazav copy or a Doppleganger copy and it depends entirely on which card's copy ability you use.

It's the ability itself (of either lazav or the doppleganger) that causes the copy to retain the previous abilities, because it uses the wording: "gains this ability."


Holding AKx Kx QJxxxx Kx, it is unsatisfying and misleading to open 1D and rebid 3D. Most of your values are outside of diamonds and in fact you have decent stopping positions in all other suits. Opening 1NT conveys the hand type and playing strength more accurately.


What card game is this? 3 cards per player; always redraw from stack until end

Not sure what the international name for the game is but we've always called it "Shithead", a fun game the face down cards keep the end game close and stops a runaway winner.


Where can I find a good source for  standard decks in Magic: The Gathering?

The best idea is to check out a few sites that are dedicated to the game. Most of them have a collections of Pro players that write for the sites, which gives a lot of insight if you are into reading about the game.

Some other sites provide a resource for viewing decks, seeing what decks work, and also seeing the decklists for decks that have done well at big tournaments.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/

http://starcitygames.com/

http://www.channelfireball.com/

There are plenty more, but check out these three to start.


How can we have a permanent without a controller?

The full text of rule 109.5 says this:

  The words "you" and "your" on an object refer to the object's controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play, cast, or activate it), or its owner (if it has no controller). For a static ability, this is the current controller of the object it's on. For an activated ability, this is the player who activated the ability. For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object when the ability triggered, unless it's a delayed triggered ability. To determine the controller of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d-f.

This rule is about objects, a broad category of things in the game that, as the rule shows, includes permanents, cards, spells, abilities on permanents cards and spells, and other things. Some objects, like permanents and spells, always have controllers. Others, like cards in exile, do not have controllers, because the concept of "control" isn't defined for that zone. Rule 109.4 says this explicitly:

  Only objects on the stack or on the battlefield have a controller. Objects that are neither on the stack nor on the battlefield aren't controlled by any player. See rule 108.4. There are five exceptions to this rule: [...]

The only other usage in the rulebook of "owner (if it has no controller)" is in the Glossary definition of "You, Your", which is basically a summary of rule 109.5.


Creature with equipment attached is returned to owner's hand

It will remain on the battlefield.

  301.5c ... An Equipment that equips an illegal or nonexistent permanent becomes unattached from that permanent but remains on the battlefield. ...


Do I lose two levels just for choosing to fight King Tut?

No, the loss of 2 levels is part of the bad stuff that happens when you normally fail to escape, or since the card specifically states it, "even if they escape." From the World if Munchkin FAQ,

Q. King Tut and the Wight Brothers say "Characters of higher Levels [than 3] lose 2 levels, even if they escape." Does that mean you lose two levels even if you defeat those monsters?
A. No. But if you cannot defeat them, then you must try to run away, and you'll lose the 2 levels even if you do escape. If they catch you, of course, you do suffer the Bad Stuff from those Monsters. (But you don't lose the two levels twice!)


You are correct. You do not get to draw a card for Imprisoned in the Moon.

Your reasoning is also correct. You do not draw the card because the enchanted creature is not a creature anymore. Only the current card types count here.


Does the ship saved by the Bio Integration Circuit get rolled on the turn the Circuit is used?

The first thing that happens on a normal turn is you pick up all of your ships, including any in the Maintenance Bay, except that a ship at the Terraforming Station goes to the stock.

In order for the Bio Integration Circuit card to move a ship from the Terraforming Station to the Maintenance Bay, it must happen before this phase, as otherwise your ship would no longer by at the Terraforming Station. Hence the sequence must be:

Play the card
Move the ship from the Terraforming Station to the Maintenance Bay
Pick up all of your ships, including any in the Maintenance Bay

So yes, you do get to use the reclaimed ship on the turn that you play the Bio Integration Circuit.


When do I lose 2 SO Points at the end of each day?

You deduct the SO points from the Artillery Unit after you've collected your daily SO points.

In the rules on page 21, the order in which actions happen during the End of Day phase are pretty specific:

  End of Day

  No Fly Stress Recovery
  Gain Special Option Points
  Move Enemy Battalions
  Lose Special Option Points (Map)
  ...

During the End of Day, you gain your daily SO points before losing any because of your current map configuration. This includes any points lost through unit effects. This is confirmed by user Walter Gagajewski on Board Game Geek, where he outlines a play session:

  I gained 5 SO for 6 total and lost 3 for the Command units at full strength, 2 for a unit effect, and 1 for a unit in Friendly Rear.

His notation seems to be slightly out of order, showing SO gains and loses after the start of the next day, but his play flows in the same order as the rules indicate. The loss from a unit he is referencing in the above quote is from the Artillery Unit (1S), so that helps to verify how the Artillery Unit functions.

Full disclosure: I have never played the game, but I've just spent a significant portion of my life reading the rulebook and searching the internet for player logs of game sessions.


What cards can be used to cheat Eldrazi creatures onto the table?

I'm assuming you mean the "big three" Legendary Eldrazi -- Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. If you want any Eldrazi, like a Pathrazer of Ulamog, you can always use reanimation spells. These three, however, have the persnickety clause:

  When {card name} is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library.

Thus, you have to use instant-speed reanimation, cheat on costs, or hardcast them normally using obscene mana acceleration (which is basically "cheating them out" for most intents and purposes).

The proven competitive decks that do this are:

Legacy "Sneak and Show," using Show and Tell and Sneak Attack.
Modern "Tron" decks, using the power of the UrzaTron (Urza's Mine, Urza's Tower, and Urza's Power-Plant, which produce 7 mana from three lands) to hardcast Eldrazi. Basically you use lots of cards like Sylvan Scrying, Expedition Map, or Gifts Ungiven to set up the Tron, and then go crazy with Eldrazi, Karn Liberated, and Wurmcoil Engine. Some of these decks also run Through the Breach as a backup plan.
Before banning, Modern had "Twelvepost," which used Cloudpost, Glimmerpost, Vesuva, like a faster and more consistent Tron.
Before banning, Modern also had "Hypergenesis," using cascade tricks to set up a super-fast Hypergenesis.
Legacy "Elves" is an occasionally-successful but easy-to-hate deck that chains a ton of mana dorks, usually with Glimpse of Nature, to hardcast Emrakul.
Vintage has "Oath," which uses Oath of Druids (banned in Legacy) to cheat out Eldrazi.
You can take inspiration from a variety of other decks that access huge amounts of mana, such as "High Tide," "Amulet of Vigor," "Enchantress" (via Serra's Sanctum, mainly), and "MUD" (via Metalworker and Cloudpost). Many of these don't actually need a card like Emrakul to win but sometimes play it anyway because it goes "over the top" of many other strategies.

Other approaches I've seen used (ranked in approximate order of jankiness):

Windbrisk Heights and a lot of weenies.
Summoning Trap (works well as Plan B in the Windbrisk Heights deck).
Polymorph and a bunch of token-generating cards like Lingering Souls (which make creatures on the battlefield but aren't creature cards themselves).
Instant-speed reanimation with Goryo's Vengeance or Shallow Grave. The classic reanimator spells like Exhume or Unburial Rites don't work because the big three shuffle themselves back into your library, but you can still use Goryo's Vengeance in response to the trigger.
Fist of Suns in a five-color deck, to make them all cost WUBRG.
Elvish Piper or Quicksilver Amulet.

If you're looking for a top-tier tournament deck, I recommend:

Sneak and Show for Legacy: it was totally the top deck for a while. Main down side is that it was totally the top deck for a while, of course, so many players know how to play against it.
G/R Tron for Modern. Faster and more consistent than the other Tron decks, and pretty cheap to put together, especially if you already own the Eldrazi. The main down side is that it is pretty weak against some of the other combo decks (like Storm) and hyper-aggressive decks.

If you're looking for a deck to play at "casual" tables, my recommendation is a Windbrisk Heights + Summoning Trap deck. It's still very powerful but not as obviously "unfair" as the tournament combo decks — some players vehemently dislike seeing turn-3 Karn every other game — and the aggressive/midrange creatures give you a decent fallback plan even if the whole table is dedicated to hating out your combo.


What are some good ways to transition to more complex strategic thinking games?

In my experience, the order in which you introduce games is only of minor importance in comparison with understanding what kind of person you're dealing with and what games that type of person would like. So the key is introducing different types of games to identify the gaming personality type. Here are a few gaming personality types I've run across, and the progression that makes sense for them:

Nature-born game lovers. My son is one of these. He had mastered
the strategy of Sorry by the time he was 3 and by the time he was 4
wanted us to teach him every game we had in the house. He started
learning the card game of bridge at age 5. Progression: Order doesn't matter for people like him except for games that require reading and truly complex games like Bridge. He was not a fluent reader until age 7 but some games (i.e. Settlers) could be played anyway by memorizing the pictures on the card. More important than complexity is how interesting the games are. Nature-born game lovers usually want to keep learning new games and they end up getting bored with games of limited complexity and/or limited variation.
Socialites. You may think they hate games altogether but if you
find social enough games ("party" games) they'll play. Examples: Charades,
Pictionary, and many card games. It is interesting that many of
these people end up playing hard card games (i.e. Bridge) just
because it is easy to socialize around the games. But don't expect
these kinds of people to ever play Chess, Go, or any other
complicated game which limits socializing. Progression: Charades is a really nice one to start with. Kids will need the subject area(s) limited to things they know about. Most kids like to play the alphabet game on long car rides  (find a word you can see that begins with letter "a", then "b", and so on). There are other games like this with no components but as they get older you can introduce kids to games like Clue or Squint. Pictionary and some other similar trivia games are simple to learn and play but require extensive world knowledge so are going to be more appropriate for high school age and up.
Game haters. If you try a variety of different games on a person
and he or she hates them all, then give up. Some people just don't
care for games. At best, they may be willing to do 1 or 2 games they
learned as a kid and that's it. Progression: If they truly hate all games, then nothing you introduce will matter. However, be sure to have them try several completely different types of games, in case they only like one specific type of game.
Nature-born engineers. I have a friend who loves games but it
was looking like his son was in "Game hater" category. I gifted them
a copy of Settlers of Catan and we were all surprised that the son
loved it after a history of getting bored with every other game
tried. 2 months later, Eurorails become his favorite game. This kid loves building things so I'm guessing he would like
other games too where you see a network of pieces growing over a
board. Progression: Blokus is a good first one given how simple the rules are. Ticket to Ride is also fairly simple. Settlers and Eurorails are only slightly more complex. I'm not not sure if an empire-building game with economics such as Eclipse would eventually be appealing, as I don't know many people in this category.
Ordinary people (that don't fall into any of these extremes). I
have encountered a surprisingly small number of people who like
games a little but not a lot. Most people I know fall into the first
3 categories. With ordinary folks, I find that if you push hard to
get them to try many new games, or push games on them that take more
than about 90 minutes to play, or ramp up complication too fast,
then they end up not wanting to play at all. So just let them
proceed at a leisurely pace, playing the games they really enjoy. Progression: I would start with very easy traditional games like tic-tac-toe, dots, hangman, checkers, simple card games. You may be able to get them more interested in playing a game to fill in time like waiting for food at a restaurant (which is why I mentioned the first 3 games).
Word smithers. These people love word games and little else. Progression: This is far more age-dependent than any other category. For kids: Hangman, Boggle, Jotto, 25 words or less, Scrabble, might be a good progression. High school and older who already like crossword puzzles can jump right into scrabble.
Strategy-only. These people don't see the point in playing games
with random elements. They will play Checkers, Chess, Go, and
possibly logic and hidden information games like Mastermind or
Stratego. They may play them well - maybe even extremely well. But
the vast majority of games hold little interest due to the luck
element. Perhaps also in this category are people who tolerate modest amounts of luck so long as skill matters the most (Examples: Bridge and Poker). Progression: Tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess is a Western approach. Tic-tac-toe, Reversi (Othello), Go is an Eastern approach. Or a card track could look like solitaire, spades and/or hearts, bridge.
Other. Like the nature-born engineer type I described above, there are certainly other people out there who enjoy only one very specific type of game. The path to discovery is to experiment with very different types of games, and not necessarily with simple ones first.

Certain games are popular because they work well for at least 3 out of first 7 of the above categories of people. For examples, Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan all work well for 1, 2, and 4. I have played a ton of Settlers over the past decade because it offers a particularly good balance for people in these three categories. (Our kid learned it before he could read. First we played without development cards, then he just memorized the pictures on the cards.)

It is likely I missed some types of people - if I did, please mention them in the comments.


Prevent a player from using creature type?

That specific effect does not exist. However, there are some cards with effects that are probably less powerful, but still can do significant damage to a tribal deck:

An-Zerrin Ruins prevents creatures of a chosen type from untapping.
Circle of Solace allows you to prevent damage from creatures of a chosen type.
Engineered Plague decreases the power and toughness of creatures of a chosen type. Outbreak has a similar effect, but just for one turn.
Tsabo's Decree destroys creatures of a chosen type, and also makes your opponent discard creature cards of that type.


Is not buying money the worst strategy in Dominion?

I don't know about the biggest - you could buy curses instead - but yes, this is definitely a big mistake and one of the most common.

Buying only silver and gold (aka "big money") is actually a reasonably strong strategy. It's not amazing, it's pretty easy to beat, but it'll tend to win over beginner players and it's definitely way better than buying basically only kingdom cards.

You say you build balanced decks, with a lot of actions. That's not balanced. Money is one of the things that needs to be balanced; you need a decent amount of it along with the actions you get. (You also mention lots of attacks. While those can serve a purpose, making it harder for your opponents to buy provinces doesn't help much if you've already made it really hard for yourself.)

It might help to think a bit about the expected value of cards. Silver or gold in your hand is worth 2 or 3, clearly. An action that draws you three cards, in a deck with basically just copper and actions, is probably going to end up being worth only 1 or maybe 2 coin on average - you'll draw other actions and a little copper. In a deck with a ton of silver and a bit of gold it might be worth say 4 coin on average! And all that silver and gold you've bought is reliably worth 2 and 3 coin on average.

Another thing you can think about is what it'd take to get a province. Stuff your deck with silver and gold, and you'll get one with two gold and a silver, or one gold two silver and a copper; that's something that can happen fairly easily especially if you trash copper and estates. Stuff your deck with actions and you'll probably need a much more perfect combination. How often are you going to get two village-ish cards that give +1 card +2 actions, along with several actions that each give +2 coin?

And finally, silver only costs 3 and gold only costs six. Most of the time, an action that reliably nets you two coin will cost more than 3, especially when you keep in mind you can't play unlimited actions unless you also invest coin and turns and cards buying a lot of actions that grant +actions. Same idea applies to gold. So not only is the silver and gold often worth more to you, but you'll be able to buy it earlier and more frequently than the kingdom cards that'd be worth the same amount. Sure, you'd get there eventually, but the other players who bought silver and gold are going to get the provinces before you do.

So bottom line, yes, ignoring silver and gold is a huge mistake. Buy money - and only buy actions if you think they're better than the money would be.


Varolz, the Scar-Striped rulings with double-faced/flip cards

The answer is simple: No. You must choose the card's front face (the face which has the sun symbol in the top-left corner.) In the case of flip cards, you must choose the card's normal characteristics.
Rule reference:

711.2a In every zone other than the battlefield, and also on the battlefield with its front face up, a double-faced card has only the characteristics of the front face.
709.2. In every zone other than the battlefield, and also on the battlefield before the permanent flips, a flip card has only the normal characteristics of the card. Once a permanent is flipped, its normal name, text box, type line, power, and toughness don't apply and the alternative versions of those characteristics apply instead.


Are diagonal corners concidered adjacent?

From the middle of the right-hand side of page 8 of the rulebook:

Quote:
Investigators may move between two spaces that are diagonally
adjacent. Due to imperfections in die cutting, if spaces between
two tiles appear that they should be diagonally adjacent, then they
are. All non-adjacent spaces very clearly do not share a white
border by at least 1/8 of an inch.


Can a Colorless commander use cards with the {C} symbol on them?

Quoting from the Commander rules:

  Cards in a deck may not have any colours in their color identity which are not shared with the commander of the deck. (The identity of each card in the deck must be a subset of the Commander's)

Colorless isn't a color, and since Deceiver of Form doesn't have any additional color symbols in its rules text, you are allowed to play it.

Examples of cards you're not allowed to play in a deck with a colorless color identity Commander:

Culling Drone (black color identity because of its mana cost, regardless of Devoid)
Boros Signet (red and white color identity because of mana symbols in the rules text)
Elbrus, the Binding Blade (black color identity because of its color indicator on the back face)

You also won't be able to use any lands with a basic land type, such as a Swamp, due to this rule:

  Lands whose type includes swamp, island, plains, forest and/or mountain (basic lands, shocklands, dual lands, Shadowmoor special-basics, etc) also have the corresponding color identity. (...)


Oversized cards are bigger than normal Magic cards and are usually twice the size (the size of two regular Magic cards side to side.) Here you see a size comparison:

These oversized cards are not legal for tournament play and are mostly decorative.


Can I sequence Twilight Drover triggers to get around an overloaded Cyclonic Rift?

No, this does not work
The key problem with your plan is that Cyclonic Rift will bounce the Twilight Drover as well as the tokens, at the same time before you're allowed to respond.  Meaning that even though the counter generating triggers go onto the stack and resolve they won't actually do anything (the Drover is gone), and for the same reason you won't be able to activate the drover's ability.
As a general rule, it's impossible to activate the ability of a creature on the battlefield to produce a token that will survive the same wrath that kills the creature with the token producing ability. Either you activate it before the wrath resolves (possibly in response) and the new token dies too, or the wrath resolves first and you then can't activate the ability because the creature with the ability is gone.


How do I play out a Vassal hitting a Throne Room?

Playing an action card via Vassal is exactly the same as if you had played it from your hand: you follow the text of that card, top to bottom, doing as much as possible.

In the case of Throne Room yes, you choose an action card from your hand to play twice because that's what Throne Room instructs you to do.


Can I give a creature trample after blockers have been assigned?

Yes, you can. If you look through the comprehensive rules on the details of the combat phase, you'll find that after blocks are declared, the active player (in this case the attacker) gets priority:

  509.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)

You can activate your trample ability now. If you activate it doesn't mean you rewind to the phase where you redeclare blockers (509.1, "First, the defending player declares blockers ..."). You simply move on to the next phase of combat damage.

If opponent died because he didn't declare enough blockers, then he's been outplayed.


Klondike Solitaire - what to do if 1 or 2 cards are left in the stock?

you deal out the cards up to three. If there are less than three you just deal out those cards. Use what you can. And then put them in the discard pile and start over.

If those are the only cards you have left including the rest of the discard pile then you might be in a lose scenario.


Can multiple spells be activated with the same mana?

There are a few basic concepts you need to understand to understand the answer to this question. For more information, I would suggest reading through the Basic Rulebook:

Mana

Mana is a resource that is separate from cards and lands, and you have to represent it separately or remember how much you have. When you tap a basic land for mana, it adds one mana of the corresponding color to your mana pool (for example, tapping a Mountain adds one red mana to your mana pool). Some spells or abilities also explicitly say that you add mana to your mana pool, such as Llanowar Elves' ability. Your mana pool empties at the end of each step or phase.

Tapping

Every permanent (land, creature, etc) on the battlefield is either tapped or untapped. Abilities that make you tap the permanent, like a land's ability that gives you mana, can only be activated if the permanent is untapped. You untap all of your permanents at the beginning of your turn, and you generally don't do so otherwise. This means that, unless you do something special, you can't use a single land to generate mana more than once in a turn.

Spells

All cards that represent spells have a mana cost in the upper right corner (except some Future Sight cards, which were printed with the mana cost in the upper left). This indicates how much mana you need to spend to play the spell. When you spend that mana, it is removed from your mana pool. For example, if you want to cast Cancel, you need to have 2 blue mana and one mana of any color in your mana pool to cast it, and that mana is removed from your mana pool when you do so.

So, to answer part of your question, if you tap a land for mana, you can only use that mana to pay for one spell.

Combat

When you start combat, the player who is taking the turn decides which of their creatures is attacking. In general, this requires that you tap those creatures (and that they are not already tapped), but it does not require any mana payment. For example, if you control an untapped Akroan Crusader, you can declare it as an attacker, and all you have to do is tap it.

Once you are done declaring attackers, your opponent declares blockers. This means that they decide which of their untapped creatures should block which of your attacking creatures.

Once that's done, combat damage is dealt, which generally means that blocked attackers and their blockers deal damage to each other, and unblocked attackers deal damage to the player they are attacking.


In order to go out, you must have at least one Canasta; a complete set of 7 cards. If you do not yet have a Canasta, then you cannot go out; you must keep at least 1 card left in your hand.

  A player goes out when he gets rid of the last card in his hand by discarding or melding it, provided that his side has melded at least one canasta or he completes a canasta while going out. Failing this requirement, he must keep at least one card in his hand.

https://www.bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/canasta/

And

  You can only go out if your partnership has melded at least one canasta.

https://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html

Note that there isn't such a thing as an "incomplete canasta". A canasta is simply a meld of 7 or more cards; and meld with fewer than 7 cards is just called a meld. A meld can become a canasta if more cards are added to it.


Monopoly cheaters edition railways and "road blocks"

NO. You don't have to stop. When it says go straight to the next station, you can not be affected by anything else unless you pass go of cause, in which case you will get 200 bucks. You definitely do not have to stop in another's property. Think of it as you are teleporting to your target.


I died, what can I do until the world ends?

Following the haunt, the game tends to become semi-cooperative, with one antagonist. In those cases, while you're not controlling a character, you could certainly offer advice and contribute to group-thinking.

I certainly think that answer, in line with previous ones, is most appropriate, but if you're desperate to house-rule an alternative, how about this "ghost" variant:

Your character remains on the board and has all their stats returned to their starting values, but cannot interact with anyone or anything (they're a ghost) and loses all their items/omens. On your turn, you can move according to your speed as normal, and then nominate a character/creature in your room and an attribute. Reduce that attribute by one on your character coaster and declare that the target character has a +1 bonus or -1 penalty in that stat until your next turn. This represents you messing with monsters by floating candlesticks at them, or the heroes fighting on in your memory, or whatever. If it's that kind of group, you could elaborate by describing in an appropriately thematic way exactly how you're causing the change. You could target a team-mate who really needs to succeed at that Sanity check, or pick the Strength of a monster you're all wailing on. Once a stat of yours hits bottom, you can no longer use it.

I doubt this variant would be over-powering. It doesn't even counter-balance the loss of a full-fledged character if you ask me. Disclaimer: I haven't tried it, but you could give it a go and report back.

In scenarios where it's every man for himself (i.e. it becomes fully competitive with no one traitor), any further interaction you have with the game would just be king-making, so you should probably concede that you've been eliminated and resort to heckling etc.


At the end of this sequence of events, the Mimic will be a 4/2 and you can't choose for it to resolve differently because those effects apply at different sublayers that apply to power and toughness. Those are described in the rules for the interaction of continuous effects:

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.

The Battlegate Mimic's ability applies at layer 7b. The Wilderness Hypnotists' and Scourge of the Noblis's abilities apply at layer 7c. And Inside Out applies at layer 7e. So, in the end you have the following effects, in the order they are applied:

Battlegate Mimic's ability sets its power and toughness to 4/2.
Scourge of the Noblis's abilities gives it +2/+2 in total and two different Wilderness Hypnotists' abilities each give it -2/-0. Overall, it gets -2/+2 from effects in this layer, making it a 2/4.
Inside Out switches its power and toughness, making it a 4/2.

Technically, the effects in layer 7c are applied in the order they resolved: one Hypnotist's ability, then Scourge of the Nobilis's abilities, then the other Hypnotist's ability. But they're all simple arithmetic, which is commutative, so it doesn't matter.


http://www.passionforpuzzles.com/puzzles/cannibal-monsters-logic-puzzle

Cannibal Monsters is your game maybe?


Prateor's Grasp - Can Opponent Determine Taken Card Before Shuffle

The ruling was sorely mistaken.

406 Exile
406.3 Exiled cards are, by default, kept face up and may be examined by any player at any time. Cards “exiled face down” can’t be examined by any player except when instructions allow it. [...]

Your "spirit of the card" argument is very much relevant, as it would make the "exile face down" bit meaningless.
As for your opponent looking through his library: Nope, absolutely not. A library is a hidden zone that may also not be looked through unless an effect allows one to. This is very basic stuff.

401 Library
401.2. Each library must be kept in a single face-down pile. Players can’t look at or change the order of cards in a library.

If your judge really said exactly that "a player may look at cards in one of his hidden zones as long as it doesn't take too much time", taken literally, would totally uproot the purpose of hidden zones, as it would allow me to, oh I don't know, look at the top 5 cards of my friggin' library, because, after all, that wouldn't take long, would it?
Ludicrous. People failing such basic concepts should not be judge.

I guess I understand where the judge is coming from. While your opponent shuffles, I guess it's ok for him to have a quick peek at his library, because he doesn't gain any information he is not privileged to. However, in this concrete situation, with an unknown card exiled, it still isn't ok, because it would give him an opportunity to circumvent 406.3 and part of the Praetor's Grasp effect. So you had every right to demand enforcement of 401.2 to the letter.


How does the timing work on damage redirection?

In a case like this you would chose the order that the damage happened one card at a time. If your goal was to destroy as many of the relics as possible you would do the damage something like this.

6 damage to the orb
6 damage to the relic you don't want destroyed this redirects to the orb destroying it
6 damage to the next relic
6 damage to the next relic

By remembering that each time you do damage it is considered separately, and if a response happens because of that damage then it takes place before the next damage from the original source is done. This is something that is important to remember and doing it all in the correct order can be the difference between winning and losing a game.

The only thing that needs to be done in the order they came out is the start/end of turn effects on a card. Such as the what happens during the villain/environment turn.


Can you exchange items with another player, or can you only give items to another player on your turn?

The updated rulebook states (on page 7, under that same heading "Using Items and Omen Cards") that an item can be given, dropped, or picked up. This is much clearer: the other player can't give you an item if it isn't their turn. (During the Haunt, you may attack an opponent to steal an item in lieu of doing damage, as long as you would have inflicted 2 or more damage. But that's not what you're talking about.)

On a side note, the FAQ clarifies that each item is only going to have something happen to/with it once per player turn. So you can't both use and give a weapon to repeatedly attack with it when you have a pile of Heroes wailing on a monster.

  For each item, during a turn an explorer or monster that can carry items may only perform one of the following actions: use the item, give the item to another explorer, drop the item, steal the item, or pick up the item. Using the item means making any attack or roll or other action in which the item is involved in any way.


Assuming you play your Bolts right your opponent can counter at most 1 of them.
This is what happens:

You have priority, you cast Bolt, Guttersnipe triggers, you have priority again
You pass priority, your opponent gains priority and can cast their counter if they want to, eventually they also pass priority
Guttersnipes ability resolves, you gain priority, you pass priority
Your opponent gains priority, again they can choose to cast their counter, eventually they pass priority back to you
As long as it wasn't countered your Bolt resolves. You gain priority after it resolves and can cast another Bolt if you want to.

If at anytime your opponent casts their counter the following is added to the previous steps:

They have priority, they cast their counter spell, they still have priority and pass
You gain priority, at this point you can choose to cast more spells if you want to, eventually you will pass priority
The counter spell will resolve, your Bolt will be countered, you gain priority and can cast more Bolts if you want to

A step or phase doesn't end until both you and your opponent have passed priority and the stack is empty.
As you point out Swift Silence is best against Storm decks, and other decks that have multiple spells on the stack at the same time (like Hive Mind)

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.


How do major online game stores set Magic: the Gathering card prices?

I think is highly unlikely that you'll get an "insider" answer here. Your main question is:

"Is there any public information on how major sites price their cards?"

And an straight forward answer would be: No. Wizards of the Cost does not set prices on ANY card, it all comes down to how much people pay, supply and demand. Whenever a new set releases, I'd say there is some sort of standard pricing depending on the card rarity. This is why, very close to the release, you see most Planeswalkers cost around $20, and then those with a high demand go to around $40-$50 pretty quickly. It is with time and use of the cards, demand or performance of different decks, that prices settle at some point. For a while at least. It is easy to predict, for example, that the fetchlands that are now in standard are going to see their prices go through the roof once Khans rotates out of the format.

As for automation, TCG has a price aggregator (think on how pricegrabber.com works), and they get information from different sources. They are not actually pricing anything, just showing you lowest prices. Most of this information (think of services that provide them) are public (for a price). So, technically, you can study the behavior on the price of different cards and kind of "predict" prices of similar, future cards, with some margin of error. At the end, the price of a card depends on perception of the value it can have on a given deck. And this is pretty hard to put on code.


Is there a variant of chess such that in the starting position Bishops and Knights are switched?

Swapping the knights and bishops is one version of displacement chess. I'm not sure what you wish to learn though; the main aim of displacement chess systems, such as Fischer random chess, is to negate the benefit of rote learning. Learning how to play this variant well by studying sounds like a strange goal!


Intentionally Fizzling Mandatory ETB Effect

Yes, you can choose the same target for all the effects.

When multiple creatures enter the battlefield simultaneously, their ETB effects all trigger at once.  The next time a player gets priority, all those abilities are placed on the stack one at a time (in the order of the player's choice or APNAP order, whichever is applicable).  Nothing resolves (and nobody gets priority) until all the 'waiting' triggers have been placed on the stack.

Targets are selected when the spell or ability goes on the stack, as per rule 601.2c.  At that time, the chosen target must be legal, and the game does not "look ahead" to see whether or not the target will still be legal when the spell resolves before allowing you to choose the target (because, among other things, doing so would be impossible).

Incidentally, this technique is rather similar to the trick of using a redirection spell to counter a counterspell by changing the target of the counterspell to the redirect.  The counterspell could not possibly counter the redirect because the redirect is going to leave the stack as soon as it finishes resolving, but until it does it is still a legal target for the counterspell (which is good, because the counterspell itself is not a legal target for itself, and there is usually only one other spell on the stack, the one that you don't want to be countered).


The text on this card was changed from the second edition to the Deluxe Edition, altering any country to any countries.

From the Official FAQs:

  #53 South African Unrest

  Note the Deluxe Edition card text allows the option of 2 Influence in "...any countries
  adjacent to South Africa." effectively allowing one each in Angola and Botswana.

This allows the 2 influence to be placed either in Angola or Botswana or split between both countries, getting one each.


Quorum cards like "Inspirational Speech" - Difference between results

I can't find a shot of the English version of the card that I've played with, but I think I remember the card you mean, and the Morale is the only difference.

The fact that the card is taken out of play means you only have a limited number of opportunities to gain back Morale in this way, so you have to hope you roll well.


Canasta- using the top card of a non frozen pile to a canasta meld

Yes, a Canasta is not diffferent than any normal meld when it comes out adding more cards to it. You can add another card to your Canasta whether that extra card comes from your hand, or if it is the top of the discard pile.

From Bicycle cards:

  A completed canasta is squared up with a red card on top to indicate a natural one and a black card on top to indicate a mixed canasta. Additional cards may be added to a canasta to score their point values, but these do not affect the bonus - except that a wild card added to a natural canasta reduces it to a mixed canasta (and a black card replaces the red card that was previously on top).


Why do mana abilities not go on the stack?

I can think of three reasons:

It would force arbitrary actions to be reversed.
It would allow spells that haven't been fully cast to be countered.
There are already plenty of opportunities to react.

It would force arbitrary actions to be reversed

Consider this rule:

  601.2 [...] 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.

Players can obtain mana in the middle of casting a spell[1][2]. If mana abilities used the stack, that means players would be able to cast spells in response. If the spell were to become unable to be cast, one would have to rewind all direct and indirect effects of those spells. Someone could have revealed private information, shuffled their library or lost the game as a result. How do you undo those?

Not only that, it would also make it far more likely for a spell to become unable to be cast, something that should never happen.

For example, consider this scenario where responding to mana abilities would be allowed.

Alice only has a single creature on the 'field.
Starts casting Altar's Reap.
She activates a Swamp's ability.
In response, Nancy casts Beacon of Destruction
Nancy kills Alice's creature and shuffles her Beacon of Destruction into her library.
Alice can no longer complete the casting of her spell (because she can't pay the additional cost), so the game rewinds to the start of the casting of the spell. Nancy needs to unshuffle her library to match the game state.

It would allow spells that haven't been fully cast to be countered

Players can obtain mana in the middle of casting a spell[1]. This happens after placing the spell on the stack[2]. A spell is a card on the stack (or a copy of spell), so it could be the legitimate target of a Cancel cast in response to activating mana abilities. That means one could counter a spell that han't been (fully) cast yet. That's just too complicated and messy to allow.

There are already plenty of opportunities to react

Activating mana abilities is not something someone one normally does for its own sake. It's done as part of something else, such as casting a spell. Allowing this to be interrupted would be detrimental to the game flow and would add confusion. There are plenty of other points at which players can respond.

The earlier problems only surface when activating mana abilities when one would not have priority under the current rules. Could the game allow players to respond to the activation of mana abilities performed when a player has priority? Yes, but it would often be hard to distinguish whether an activation occurred before or during casting. It's far simpler to have mana abilities never use the stack rather that having the player try to figure out whether one can respond to a particular activation or not.

Notes

Or activating an ability. I'm only mentioning spells to keep it simple.
The steps to casting a spell[1] are:

601.2a) Place card on stack.
601.2b-d) Make choices, including targets.
601.2e) Determine total cost.
601.2f) Activate mana abilities.
601.2g) Pay the previously determined cost.


It looks like this die is from the Pokemon Card Game; part of the 'Roaring Skies Elite Trainer Dice Set' which is used to keep track of damage done to Pokemon in the card game.

The symbol on the dice in place of the number 1 is the Pokemon set symbol for the Roaring Skies set:


in monopoly do you collect 200 if you get sent to the nearest trainstation or fleet street but the card doesn't state collect or do not collect on it

The next location always means in travel direction, and your figure will move along the board as if you rolled a number equal to the distance. If you pass GO on the way, you will indeed collect 200 dollars, as stated in the official rules:

  Each time a player's token lands on or passes over GO, whether by throwing the dice or drawing a card, the Banker pays that player a $200 salary.

This is true for all cards, except for the card that states "Go directly to Jail", meaning you don't traverse the board as normal. You can think of your figure being teleported there - so you don't get 200 dollars either.

  When you are sent to Jail you cannot collect your $200 salary in that move since, regardless of where your token is on the board, you must move directly into Jail. (...)


It's not an RSS feed, but if you're after Chess puzzles, in addition to the daily puzzle and free tactics, Chess.com also has a variety of subscription options that offer unlimited daily tactics puzzles (and computer workouts).

If you then download the Chess.com app for your smartphone, iOS or Android, (or set up email alerts), you will can be reminded with notifications (in addition to having an endless and expansive Chess resource). Not RSS, but a considerably better alternative I think.


How does mana cost reduction interact with colored mana in a cost?

Mana cost changes affect specific elements of a mana cost only. If a reduction says “Spells cost {1} less to cast” this will only affect generic portions of a mana cost. If a reduction says “Spells cost {U} less to cast” it can make spells cost {U} less or a corresponding amount of generic mana.

A good illustrative example is Khalni Hydra, which has a mana cost reduction specifying colored mana symbols (in this case green). This mana reduction can pay for generic mana costs (in the event an additional mana cost is added by another effect). However, the same is not true for generic cost reductions paying for colored mana symbols. This behaviour functions in exactly the same way as generally paying for spells, you can pay generic mana costs with any color of mana (or colorless) but you cannot pay color costs with colorless mana.

To summarise, Colored mana costs can only be reduced by effects that specify they will reduce that color of mana. Generic costs can be reduced by colored mana cost reductions OR colorless ones. All of this functions just like spending mana to cast spells.

To answer your specific examples:

Nemesis of mortals will always cost at least 2 green mana.
Lazav's mana cost will be unchanged. The mana cost reduction is colorless only, and he has no colorless mana in his casting cost.
You could discount 2 from the generic cost, but you would still have to pay the green portion of the mana cost. If you have 2 creatures in the graveyard and Animar with 2 counters, you will get a total mana cost reduction of 4 colorless.


Can Sid Meier's Civilization (2010) be played cooperatively?

Civilization can certainly be made a 2x2 team game.  The rules you wrote will work.  One slight addition:

Rules and culture cards referring to "an opponent" (such as A Gift From Afar or Disoriented) refer only to players on the other team.  If it refers to "another player", it can be used on a player on the opposing team or your ally (such as Exchange of Ideas).

Some things that would make it more strategic or interesting:

A players gains the benefit of his/her allies technology (if your ally has a technology and you don't, you play as if you had that technology, so can buy buildings/units on it, use it's abilities, and gather coins as if you had it).

Whether or not you allow trade between non allied players is up to you; I think it is more interesting to leave that as allowed and just rely on the competition between the teams to discourage it.

Whether allies start on adjacent corners or opposite corners is also of interest, though I think adjacent corners will be a better game play experience.

Playing it as a team game might change the balance of some of the win conditions.  Military victory probably gains some strength over the economic victory, as military cooperation is easier.  That said, having an ally that can just feed resources or culture points to the other could actually make the cultural victory distinctly easier.  And technology sharing probably makes the economic victory easier.  That there isn't anything obviously unbalanced about this means that it is an interesting variant and would require play to determine.

The original question could have been read as to whether or not Civilization the Board Game could have been played as a full co-op board game.

One of the fundamental tenants of a fully cooperative board game (like Pandemic) is that there is a way for all players to lose.  Civilization the Board Game has no built-in mechanic for all players to lose, so would not work as a full co-op game without serious modification.  If you are looking for something that feels vaguely similar but with more aspects of full co-op games, try Archipelago.


What's the fastest way to print a card game prototype?

Get some card sleeves and card-stock. Write/print whatever you need to on the card-stock and cut it down to size. After you sleeve it they will all be shuffle-able and readable, just like normal cards. Admittedly this isn't good for much beyond prototype testing, but it's definitely fast and cheap. :D


Is a "drop-finesse" better than a simple "drop" play with a nine card suit in bridge?

Your calculation seems off. You seem to have missed an approximately 5% chance of a 4-0 break which the play for drop will catch, but have that implicitly included in the calculations for the drop-finesse.

If you include that, the play for drop indeed comes out to be more, but by very little.

A possibly simple way to figure this out is to compare the holdings where one wins but the other loses.

Say you have AJT9x opposite K87x (in hand) and you decide to play the K first (in both lines).

Taking the finesse next wins over the drop when RHO has Qxx (assuming both follow to the first trick, otherwise it is the same for both lines).

Playing for the drop wins over the finesse when RHO has Qx.

Since RHO will have Qxx 3/4ths of 1-3 split = 3/4ths of ~25% = ~19%, while RHO will have Qx 1/2 of ~40%  = ~20%, playing for the drop is better.


Can Scientific Cooperation happen when there's no science to share?

I actually fell into this trap in a game, and was surprised at the rules.  If the other civilization can't pay, you can't develop.

The question was asked on BGG, and the rule that covered it was also discussed there- it's on the last page of the rules, i.e. on pg. 20 under Scientific Cooperation:

  If one civilization has no science points, neither civilization can
  play a technology.


Yes, it appears the fool can be killed without their ability working if targeted by the pukka

If Pukka is in play, nobody is safe. The Fool and the Sailor can not be protected by their character ability etc. Also, since the Pukka chooses who to kill a full night earlier than normal, it is beneficial for all good players to reveal their characters and information to the group publicly as soon as possible. Sometimes, with other Demons, it can be beneficial for some good players to not reveal who they are, so that the Demon attacks certain players and leaves others alone - but with the Pukka, this is not the case. Reveal everything, and work as a team to bring that pesky poisoner to justice!


No.  This is covered in the rulings for Renegade Doppelganger:

  If Renegade Doppelganger becomes a copy of another creature, that doesn’t count as having a creature enter the battlefield. Renegade Doppelganger was already on the battlefield; it only changed its characteristics. If Renegade Doppelganger gains any enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities, they won’t do anything. The same is true of any “as [this creature] enters the battlefield” or “[this creature] enters the battlefield with” abilities.


What is the cost of Unmortgaging Park Lane / Park Place in Monopoly?

You round up. So the unmortgage cost of Park Place is $193.

The rules for the electronic banking version of monopoly have this specifically listed in the mortgage rules.

page 12:

  Repaying a mortgage
  You must pay the original mortgage amount plus 10% interest (rounded up to the nearest 10,000). Once the mortgage is repaid, turn the Title Deed card faceup.

emphasis mine.

In this version you start with $15Million instead of the normal $1500, so the nearest $10,000 is equivalent to $1 in other versions.


Triggered abilities: Whenever a creature deals damage

Yes, you can do that. Each creature you control that deals damage to a player triggers the ability and puts another copy on the stack. Then after each triggered ability resolves, each player gets priority, so you can again tap your enchanted creature to put another token into play.

Note that you must choose the targets for each instance of the triggered ability when they are put on the stack. Importantly, this means that if the enchanted creature is destroyed in the middle of this process, then the rest of the untap abilities still on the stack fail to resolve, and you can't use them to tap or untap anything else.


Is Master of Arms pointless under new blocking rules?

You are correct, that Master of Arms ability is basically useless now, and functions differently now than it used to under pre-6th Edition rules.

If there was errata for Master of Arms', it would show up in the Oracle wording. The Gatherer page for that card lists the Oracle text, along with errata changes and dates. The Oracle is the official wording on Magic cards. The card used to work the way that you described, but in May 2011, the errata that supported the cards original functionality was removed so that the card now works as written.

  Master of Arms - Just like Winter Orb, Master of Arms had a mystifying Oracle wording intended to replicate original functionality. The rule that changed this time was the one saying that tapped blockers didn't deal combat damage. ...

  My general philosophy is that I'm okay with rules changing out from underneath cards and changing their functionality. Heck, just look at the Magic 2010 rules changes.

This recent change to Master of Arms is part of an ongoing rules philosophy change that began years ago. Several different articles point to the reason for these changes. In Power-Level-Errata-B-Gone, you learn of the architect behind the rules changes, Mark Gottlieb the lead rules manager. The reason for the change is that without an online reference, it is difficult to verify how a card is supposed to work. For that reason, power-level errata is being removed from cards as well as errata to make cards work as originally designed.

  Why Did We Make This Latest Batch of Changes? - Over the years, the sheer number of rules revisions and changes of rules managers the game has undergone—as well as unintended consequences that arise when new mechanics and card abilities are unleashed each set—has led to cards slipping through the cracks. As the evil genius currently in charge of maintaining Oracle, Magic rules manager and former cult-leading columnist Mark Gottlieb is a strong, strong believer that cards should have functionality that matches their printed intent as often as possible.

Ben Bleisweiss talks specifically about tapped creatures and combat damage under fifth edition rules (as well as other interesting changes). The rule was essentially removed, because it wasn't intuitive to new players. Someone who was unfamiliar with the rules probably wouldn't understand why tapped attacking creatures deal damage, and defending creatures don't.

  TAPPED CREATURES DEAL NO DAMAGE - Change: Under Fifth Edition rules, tapped blocking creatures dealt no damage in combat. Under Sixth Edition rules, they do.

  Why: Much like the old "tapped artifacts shut off" rule, the rule about tapped creatures dealing no damage wasn't something a player would intuitively know just by looking at a card.

Mark Rosewater even lists Master of Arms' as a famous example of cards being useless under new rules changes.

  In fact, our Oracle database encounters this problem every day because it has to modernize cards and mechanics that were created in a different time. Often what was done then doesn't even work now. I don't know how many times I've heard Mark Gottlieb gripe because some card that was made to do something that made sense in the past simply doesn't make any sense in modern day.

  A famous recent example would be the card Master of Arms. The card was designed at a time when tapping a blocking creature kept it from dealing damage. Then Sixth Edition rules came along and removed the rule and all of a sudden Master of Arms's mechanic made a lot less sense.

All that being said, Master of Arms isn't really a tournament level card, which means that you are probably playing this deck in a casual setting. Most likely, if you told your opponents, "Hey, I have this fun deck I play that got completely hosed by sixth edition rules, would it be ok with you if Master of Arms said '1W: Tap target creature blocking Master of Arms, that creature deals no combat damage this turn.' for the purposes of this game?" I don't think anyone would object.


Can you use a planeswalker ability even if the planeswaker doesn't have enough loyalty?

Wizard's wording on the matter is thus:

  606.5. A loyalty ability with a negative loyalty cost can't be activated unless the permanent has at least that many loyalty counters on it

It doesn't specify how those counters get there. It could be through +X abilities, proliferate, or even cool things like Doubling Season. But they must exist on the planeswalker in order to pay the cost.


When does Hushwing Gryff prevent abilities from triggering?

All enters-the-battlefield abilities on permanents that entered the battlefield before Hushwing Griff entered will trigger. Hushwing Griff will only stop the abilities of permanents that are put into play after it.

Eureka describes a sequence of events: each player, in turn order, puts permanents into play. Any triggered abilities on those permanents will trigger (or not) based on the state of the game as it enters. This is confirmed in a ruling by a level 2 judge in this forum post.

An article on Gathering Magic has a more directly relevant explanation involving humility:

  Eureka and Hypergenesis however both work a bit differently, as they allow players to take turns putting cards onto the battlefield. This means that there is a window for a permanent to exist on the table without Humility in play, even if it is the second card that enters the battlefield from this effect. So, if Angel of Despair is put in by the active player and the ability triggers. Non-active player puts Humility into play, there has been a period of time where Angel of Despair exists without Humility, although no future creatures that come into play off this spell will have abilities trigger, Angel of Despair's ability will trigger and can even target Humility. This works because while the ability has triggered, it cannot be put on the stack until a player can receive priority, which cannot happen until either Hypergenesis or Eureka has finished resolving.


Would March of the Machines make artifacts trigger creature enter the battlefield effects?

Yes, it would. The Comprehensive Rules say:

  603.6b Continuous effects that modify characteristics of a permanent do so the moment the permanent is on the battlefield (and not before then). The permanent is never on the battlefield with its unmodified characteristics. Continuous effects don’t apply before the permanent is on the battlefield, however (see rule 603.6d).
  Example: If an effect reads “All lands are creatures” and a land card is played, the effect makes the land card into a creature the moment it enters the battlefield, so it would trigger abilities that trigger when a creature enters the battlefield. Conversely, if an effect reads “All creatures lose all abilities” and a creature card with an enters-the-battlefield triggered ability enters the battlefield, that effect will cause it to lose its abilities the moment it enters the battlefield, so the enters-the-battlefield ability won’t trigger.

(emphasis mine)

Your situation is identical to the example but with 'land' replaced by 'artifact'.


Can I turn a manifested card face up during the declare blockers step?

Yes, you get priority during the Declare Blockers step. Rule 509 describes how the Declare Blockers step progresses, and rule 509.5 says

  Fifth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

You can turn a manifested card face up any time you have priority, so that includes during the Declare Blockers phase. Rule 701.31b says

  Any time you have priority, you may turn a manifested permanent you control face up. This is a special action that doesn't use the stack (see rule 115.2b). To do this, show all players that the card representing that permanent is a creature card and what its mana cost is, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up.


If two fighter's dice all come up with the same numbers, but one character rolls fewer dice, who goes first?

It wasn't in the rules pdf, but it was within the online rule book.

  If all the dice are matched, the round is a draw. If one player has more dice than the other, and all the dice which can be tied for low are tied, then the player who has more dice goes first.


Yes, you can choose not to pay {0}.

Rule 118.5 says

  Some costs are represented by {0}, or are reduced to {0}. The action necessary for a player to pay such a cost is the player’s acknowledgment that they are paying it. Even though such a cost requires no resources, it’s not automatically paid.

In a tournament, {0} costs are paid by default, but you can explicitly declare that you are not paying them. Specifically, one of the tournament shortcuts listed in section 4.2 of the tournament rules says:

  A player is assumed to have paid any cost of 0 unless they announce otherwise.


Do you have to draw an omen/event/item card as soon as you enter the room?

You are able to use items and other actions mid-move, but as soon as you discover a room, your movement immediately ends and you must draw an Event/Item/Omen card before you are able to take any other action.

From the rules (which can be downloaded here) on page 6:

  You can perform actions (such as using an item or attacking) in the middle of your movement. However, whenever a game effect makes you draw a card for any reason, you must stop moving for the rest of your turn.

and

  When your explorer enters a doorway, and there isn’t a room on the other side, look at the top tile on the room stack. .... Then move into that room. You have discovered it.

and then on page 10

  The first time you discover a room with a symbol, you must end your move
  in that room and draw the appropriate card.


Does Raving Dead deal damage before halving opponent's life?

Yes, Raving Dead deals combat damage, then the defending player loses half their life total. This is explicitly stated in one of the official rulings for the card:

The last ability triggers and resolves after combat damage has been dealt. For example, if an opponent has 17 life and Raving Dead deals 2 combat damage to him or her, he or she will end up at 8 life.

The rules section regarding the Combat Damage Step has the following rules:

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. [...]

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

510.3. Third, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)

510.3a Any abilities that triggered on damage being dealt or while state-based actions are performed afterward are put onto the stack before the active player gets priority; the order in which they triggered doesn’t matter. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

Raving Dead's ability says

Whenever Raving Dead deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half his or her life, rounded down.

So the ability triggers in the third part of the combat damage step, after damage has been dealt.

More generally, trigger abilities always resolve after the event that caused them to trigger. The rules section regarding Triggered Abilities has the following rules:

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect].”

603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. [...]

So any triggered ability goes through the following process:

First, the triggering event occurs.
Second, the ability triggers.
Third, the ability gets put on the stack (when a player would receive priority).
Last, the ability eventually resolves.

In this particular case, the triggering event is "Raving Dead deals combat damage to a player" and the effect (which happens) on resolution is "that player loses half his or her life, rounded down". Clearly, the triggering event must occur well before the ability's effect.


In the game there are several harbors. Each harbor sells one of seven goods. And each harbor can buy 2, 4 or 6 goods (as long as there are no duplicates and they won't buy their own goods). The sold goods stay there until the end of the game. So goods can become rare quickly. And ironically, the easy goods are depleted first. So you need to focus on them first. Because you need them all to fill the 6 point harbors (not surprisingly the home harbors).

But that does not mean you can mostly ignore the rare goods. Because if your opponent has a monopoly in one good he can determine the price, and that can seriously cripple you.

I reccommend to:

send ships out with 2 or 3 goods to get the most common goods to fill your home harbor.
buy new ships as soon as possible (need some goods in a harbor so think ahead).
try to control at least 1 of the rare goods so you can negotiate prices with other owners.
in the end game, send some ships with 5 people around. To capture ships carrying the last goods and capture as many filled harbors (because they give you points in the end).


Precursor Golem + Saheeli's Artistry + non artifact golem

The Saheeli's Artistry would not be copied to target a Moonglove Changeling.

Rule 706.10 says

  To copy a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. [...]

and rule 706.10d says

  Some effects copy a spell or ability for each player or object it “could target.” The copies are put onto the stack with those targets in the order of their controller’s choice. If the spell or ability has more than one target, each of its targets must be the same player or object. If that player or object isn’t a legal target for each instance of the word “target,” a copy isn’t created for that player or object.

Since the Moonglove Changeling isn't a valid choice for "target artifact", the copy of the spell is not created targeting it.


If I flash in Teferi, Time Raveler, can its passive ability counter a spell on the stack?

Your suspicion is correct, Teferi prevents opponent's cards from being cast outside the main phases, but if the opponent's spell is already on the stack, then it has already been cast, and as such Teferi's passive will not have any effect on it. They could not, however, respond to the stack again after Teferi resolves.


No, this is not allowed.

Drawing cards, whether from the deck or the discard pile, is always the first step in a turn. You cannot play any melds until after you have drawn.

  After drawing, but before discarding, you may sometimes be able to play some cards from your hand face up on the table.

From https://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html


Can you enchant yourself with an aura that enchants a permanent?

The player is a "planeswalker" only in lore terms. As far as game mechanics are concerned, "planeswalker" has a defined meaning, and a player is not a planeswalker.
A planeswalker in the mechanical sense is a type of object, a game entity that interacts with players and other objects:

102.1. A player is one of the people in the game. [..]
109.1. An object is an ability on the stack, a card, a copy of a card, a token, a spell, a permanent, or an emblem.
110.4. There are five permanent types: artifact, creature, enchantment, land, and planeswalker.

So when an aura can enchant a (type of) permanent, then that does not include players, and vice versa. There are auras that can enchant players, but the aura will always say so specifically. Here are all auras that can enchant players, and here are all auras that can enchant planeswalkers.


Card (must be enchantment or artifact) that allows multiple of the same legend in play at once?

The card you're thinking of is Mirror Gallery from Betrayers of Kamigawa. You probably couldn't find it because the wording on the card is a little odd:

  The "legend rule" doesn't apply.


In Citadels, when do characters get the extra gold from their colour?

You can trigger the bonus before or after building. This means you can either build a building with your existing gold, then trigger the gold collection, OR trigger the gold collection, and use that gold to pay for a new building.

What you cannot do is gain some of the gold, build the building, and gain the extra gold from building that building.

To answer the edit, you always get the merchant's one gold before building.  You can still choose to take his 1 gold per green either before or after building.


Can Desert Island's 'Trap' card be used on multiple targets affected by fate?

Desert Island's designer, Jeff Siadek replied to a similar question on boardgamegeek.com that only one target is protected by the trap. Cut throat!


So basically given that my Cosmic Cyclone was able to stop Imperial Order's effect from resolving, could Cosmic Cyclone also be chained to Evenly Matched and stop IT from resolving it's effect?

No you can't

The thing is that you were able to prevent Imperial Order from resolving its effect because it is a Continuous Trap card. In Yu-Gi-Oh some cards need to remain face-up to resolve their effects; continuous spell and trap cards are one of those (field cards also).

This means that you can "negate" (do note that you are not negating, but instead preventing from resolving) cards like Fire Formation - Tenki with cards like Cosmic Cyclone or the classic Mystical Space Typhoon.

The thing is that Evenly Matched is not a continuous card so even though it is banished or in the GY when resolving it will resolve, as you did not negate it's activation.

A common example (and mistake) similar to this is when unexperienced players think they can "negate Dark Hole with Mystical Space Typhoon", when you can't as Dark Hole is not continuous and MST does not negate.


In short, NO.

My reasoning is based on the two pieces of information:

The Dark Charm card mentioned above has the following text (emphasis mine):

  Play this card on a hero at the start of your turn. The hero tests Willpower. If he passes, draw 1 Overlord card. If he fails, you may perform a move or attack action with that hero as if he were one of your monsters this turn. You cannot force him to suffer Fatigue or use a Potion, but you may force him to attack himself.

The only two actions that the overlord can take after using this ability is to move or attack.

If that isn't sufficient, trading is described as follows (emphasis mine):

  Heroes may give or receive Shop Item cards, Relic cards, and Search
  cards to or from each other during a move action. At any point during
  his move action, a hero may trade any number of Shop Item cards, Relic
  cards, or Search cards with an adjacent hero. Trading does not require an
  additional action or the expense of movement points.

There's nothing here stating that the hero can trade with an enemy


TL;DR No

For reference, "Line of Sight" (pg 12) from the Rules of Play:

  In order for a figure to have line of sight to a space, a player must be able
  to trace an uninterrupted, straight line from any corner of that figure’s
  space to any corner of the target space.

  If the line passes through the edge of a map tile, a door, or a blocked space
  (a space containing a figure or obstacle), the target space is not in line of
  sight (see “Line of Sight Example” on page 12).

  If the line passes along the edge of a blocked space (see “Line of Sight
  Example” on page 12), the target space is not in line of sight. However,
  if the line only touches the corner of a blocked space (without passing
  through the space itself ), the target space is in line of sight.

Now let's address the possible lines from the Hero's space:

Top left corner

Any line from this corner must pass through the Hero's space. The Hero is a figure, so the Hero's space is a blocked space. So all lines are invalid because they pass through a blocked space.

Bottom left corner
Bottom right corner

For both of these corners, any line must pass through or along the Obstacle space. An obstacle space is a blocked space, therefore all lines are invalid.

Top right corner

Only a single line can pass from this corner through the obstacles. By geometry, that fixed line does continue to the Monster's bottom right corner, but passes through the Monster's space. A monster is a figure, so therefore the Monster's space is a blocked space. Therefore, the line passes through the edge of a blocked space and is invalid.

Summary: All possible lines are invalid; the Monster can't be targeted by the Hero.