Is it possible to count cards by literally counting cards?

The answer is almost certainly no. Card counting is used primarily to determine how much to bet - a standard strategy might look like:

-1 or smaller: find a better table
-1 to +1: bet table minimum (still in casino's favor but worth waiting around)
+1 or higher: start betting big (the game has tilted in your favor)

Now I haven't run the simulations, but my guess is that the correlations you'd find are too small, e.g. Two cards = -0.05; Three cards = 0, Four cards = +0.05. Unless any of the numbers are greater than 1 or less than -1, you can't do anything useful with the information.

Ultimately, I think if it were as easy as counting the cards on the table, everyone would be doing it.


If there are two or more abilities that go off on the upkeep, can a creature's activated ability go off preventing the second?

If you sacrifice a creature to Eldrazi Monument's ability, you can't bring that creature back with Sheoldred during the same upkeep. But if you could, then your opponent would be able to stop you using Scavenging Ooze.

As your upkeep step starts, the first thing you do is put all abilities that trigger at the beginning of your upkeep on the stack. You can choose what order they are put on the stack, so you can have Eldrazi Monument's ability resolve before Sheoldred's ability. However, you also have to choose the target for Sheoldred's ability when it is put on the stack, so Sheoldred can only return a creature that was already in the graveyard before you sacrifice a creature to Eldrazi Monument.

It would work differently with a slightly different ability. Consider this ability:

  At the beginning of your upkeep, return target a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

In this case, the ability does not have a target, so you do not choose which creature to return until the ability resolves. Then the situation plays out like this:

You put the alternate Sheoldred ability and the Eldrazi Monument ability on the stack.
The Eldrazi Monument ability resolves, and you sacrifice a creature.
At this point, both you and your opponent have another chance to respond before the alternate Sheoldred ability resolves. Your opponent activates the Scavenging Ooze's ability targeting the creature you sacrificed.
The Scavenging Ooze's ability resolves, and the creature is exiled.
The alternate Sheoldred ability resolves, and you can return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. You can't return the creature you sacrificed, because it has been exiled, but you can choose a different creature, if there is one available.


How could I augment my Tau army with Necrons?

While Tau finally got some flyers of their own, the Necron flyers are still cheaper and better.  I would suggest using two squads of warriors in Nightscythes.  You should also run an Overlord.  He won't do much for you, but he unlocks a Royal Court.  Take one of those with a few Storm Crypteks.  Give the crypteks Voltaic staffs to shred hull points off vehicles.  Round it all out with a Doomscythe or an Annihilation Barge.

Alternatively instead of an overlord take a Destroyer Lord with a warscythe and have him lead a unit of wraiths.  Very annoying to deal with.

This will give your Tau some mobile scoring units and a little more durability.


Is there a valid Blokus configuration where all the pieces are on the board?

After poking around a while for information on the scoring system, I found this site:

http://puzzlesland.com/blokus/

It contains an "optimal configuration" as I asked for in the original question, plus various other hypothetical configurations that were figured out.


Where can I find out-of-print Catan geographies?

Since the Mayfair (English) version is out of print, you'll have to rely on communities like boardgamegeek. Today, they have just one English version (new condition) but it only ships to the US.

The German version is on stock at Catanshop.de.


What may happen after a stack of spells resolves?

The active player (whose turn it is) receives priority after any spell or ability resolves
If that player passes, every other player in turn order gets priority as regular, and everyone with priority can cast spells or abilities, including when the last item on the stack resolves.
From the comprehensive rules:

116.3. Which player has priority is determined by the following rules:
116.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
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.


Does the Traitor automatically get all items that a dead Hero had?

If you kill the Hero on the Hero's turn (or during your monsters' turn), then you don't get to do anything with the items; you can only pick up items on your own turn. (Though you can steal an item on your opponent's turn in lieu of inflicting at least 2 points of damage, as normal. But then you didn't kill the Hero.)

If you killed the Hero on your turn, then the answer is both yes and no; per the official errata, an item can only be picked up or used on a given turn. You can pick up all of the items immediately, but you can't use any of them until a future turn. (This also prevents abuse from the Heroes; if there's an item you need to hold in order to make a Haunt-related roll, you can't pass around the item and make a Haunt-related roll with the item in the same turn.)

On a future turn, you can use all of the items. For items like the Armor that have a passive effect, they are effective immediately; it's only the items that you use during a turn (like the Bell or Medical Kit) that cannot be used during the turn you pick them up.


In Risk when do I have to give up my turn?

Your turn does not end if you lose troops.  You may continue to attack until you either don't want to attack, or have no territories with 2+ troops adjacent to an enemy.


Can the player choose a different player as a target?

I couldn't find any rules that back up this specific situation but this is my interpretation. The trigger for the LAW states:

  When a player chooses a Strategy Card...

So if someone were to play an action card which forces that player to put their current strategy card back and choose a different strategy card, the LAW would trigger again allowing the player to choose the same person to give the strategy card to or a different person.


Does Incineroar's ability, Strong Cheer, affect attacks that normally deal no damage?

Using Dust Gathering with a benched Incineroar with Strong Cheer ability does no damage.

From the official Rulings Compendium BW:

  An attack has to do "some" damage before an effect can add "more" damage to it. (Jan 31, 2008 PUI Rules Team)


Do I add all Mask monsters from the base game and expansions when Nyarlathotep is the Ancient One?

You use them all.

The closest the rules get to directly saying this is things like this from the Dunwich Horror rules:

  As with the “Mask” monster markers from Arkham Horror, do not place the Spawn monsters in the monster cup (unless the Ancient One sheet instructs otherwise).

That strongly suggests that you're expected to use them along with the original ones if the Ancient One says to. The Mask monsters are also referenced a few other times in the rules, and similarly in the Innsmouth Horror rules, every time just implying they're treated the same as the original ones. If they wanted you to randomly select 5, I think they'd have to spell that out, the way they very clearly did with Ally selection.

Also, this makes sense. The idea of having 5 masks in the base game was to give them a certain probability of being drawn. The expansions all add additional monsters to the cup, and if they didn't also add Masks then the odds of drawing a Mask would go down.


What happens when more than one creature dies causing a trigger

If an ability triggers each time a creature dies, then it triggers once for each creature that died, not just for each event where one or more creatures died.

Rule 700.1 says

  Anything that happens in a game is an event. Multiple events may take place during the resolution of a spell or ability. The text of triggered abilities and replacement effects defines the event they’re looking for. One "happening" may be treated as a single event by one ability and as multiple events by another.

in addition, rule 603.2c says

  An ability triggers only once each time its trigger event occurs. However, it can trigger repeatedly if one event contains multiple occurrences.

In this particular case, that means that even though the creatures died at the same time, they count as different events for the purpose of triggers that look for individual deaths.


How should I set up a draft from multiple old sets?

I'll extend my comment to an answer.

I would do the following: Sort the cards according to their color, plus one pile for multicolored, artifacts, and nonbasic lands.
Then make sure that each pile (except for the land pile) has around 70% creatures.
If the color piles are of very different size, then I would randomly remove some cards (or you could fill up the other piles with cards from your collection).
From the non-creature spells, try to keep removal and avoid silly situational cards like Mudhole. Then make booster packs of 15 cards that roughly contain an equal amount of cards of each color. With those booster packs you can then continue to create the limited format of your preference.
Personally, I would ignore rarity completely.


Does the effect of an instant supersede first strike damage from a creature?

Your opponent is able to destroy your creature before it deals damage. I wouldn't say the effects of the instant "supersede" the first strike damage, though; it's merely that your opponent can cast the instant (and it will resolve) before damage has a chance to be dealt.

The steps of the combat phase, when a creature with first strike (or double strike) is present are:

beginning of combat step
declare attackers step
declare blockers step
first combat damage step
second combat damage step (Skipped if no attacking or blocking creature had first strike or double strike at the start of the first CDS.)
end of combat step

In each of these steps, each player gets priority, i.e. gets a chance to cast spells and activate abilities.

In order to stop a creature from dealing damage, all your opponent has to do is destroy it before you reach the combat damage step.

They could choose to cast their instant in any of those first three steps: in the beginning of combat step before you even attack (though they won't know what's going to attack yet, and you can then decide with the knowledge that your creature is gone), during the declare attackers step after you've attacked but before blockers are declared, or during the declare blockers step after blockers are declared (or lack thereof - this step happens whether or not there are actually any blockers to declare). Note that this works whether or not first strike (or double strike) is involved. These steps are before combat damage of any sort.


No, you would not gain the benefit the same turn you enlist it.

Jamey Stegmaier, Scythe designer, answered this question in a thread on boardgamegeek

  The costs and benefits for the player mat are those that are visible before you take the action, so you would not gain the ongoing recruit bonus from the enlist action until your next enlistment.


What's the odds of Selvala's parley granting 2 or more mana?

In the situation you describe, each player reveals their card independently, and you get mana equal to the number of non-land cards revealed. This is called a Binomial Distribution, with N = 4 and P = 2/3 in your particular case. So, the probability of getting exactly k mana is (4 choose k) * (2/3) ^ k * (1/3) ^ (n - k). You are specifically looking for the probability of getting at least a certain amount of mana, so you are looking for the Cumulative Binomial Distribution. To get the probability of getting at least a certain amount of mana, you simply add up the probabilities for each amount that is at least that number. So, to calculate that for your particular situation, you would calculate

The fully general formula for this, if you want to get at least M mana is

In the particular case of k = 2, we can instead simply consider the cases where you don't get at least 2 mana, and then subtract that total probability from 1. For each player, the probability of only that player flipping a non-land is 2/3 * (1/3) ^ (N - 1). The probability of every player flipping a land is (1/3) ^ N. So, the total probability of getting at least two mana is

For 4 players, this probability is 8/9.


Adjacency of non-corner connecting spaces in Escape from Innsmouth

From the Rules Reference, regarding "Adjacent".

  Two spaces are adjacent if they share a border, a door, an impassable border, or a wall.

And from "Movement"

  When an investigator or monster moves a set number of spaces, it moves one space at a time, moving from one space to an adjacent space.

The tile sizes are standardized.  They only come in two sizes.  Square, as in your pier, or rectangular, like the alley.  The drawing of the borders is not done expecting somehow a squished down alley to fill only that part of the open space for A, and it's also not presented as somehow offset to only match A in the app (I've played through this too).  It may, in a different scenario or placement, have a door only bordering A or one of the Pier spaces instead, and in that situation would be different.

In your scenario and drawing however, A, B, and C are all adjacent to each other, and therefore B and C can be moved between directly.


Blackjack: If you're insured, and bust, do you collect on the insurance?

Option B, but not for the reason you think.

You have made two errors:

When you take insurance, you may insure only up to half of your original bet, turning what would ordinarily be a loss into a push at 2:1. In this case, if your wager was $200, you could insure for up to $100.
Once insurance is "closed," the dealer checks to see whether he or she has a natural 21. If he or she does, it is revealed immediately, your insurance is paid out, and all other players lose[*]. If he or she does not, insurance is collected, and the hand proceeds normally. In no case would you still have an insurance payout pending and get to hit.

[*]= Barring those who had naturals themselves, who either took the option for "even money" before insurance had closed, or will now "push" against the dealer's 21.

So, in this case:

You bet $200 ($800 left)
You take insurance of $100 ($700 left)
The dealer shows a natural 21. You lose your $200 bet, but your insurance bet pays out 2 to 1 -- your initial $100, plus $200, for a total of $300 back to you.
You have $1000, same as you had before this hand.


Does Master of the Wild Hunt deal damage multiple times?

The text states that each wolf deals damage. This implies that there are multiple damage sources.

This is correct, but it's not relevant.

If you used Master of the Wild Hunt's second ability targeting an Unbreathing Horde, at most one counter would end up being removed no matter how many wolves you have.  All the wolves deal their damage simultaneously, so the Horde is only dealt damage once, even if the damage comes from multiple sources. Unbreathing Horde's replaces the receiving of damage, not the receiving of damage by a source.

Compare

"If Unbreathing Horde would be dealt damage,"

with

"If Unbreathing Horde would be dealt damage by a source,"

Phantom Nishoba has a ruling confirming this.


What does this oval symbol at the bottom of Magic cards mean?

These are holograms, to prevent forgeries. They were introduced as part of a new card design in Magic Origins (2015):

Magic Origins (2015)
The second (and current) overall frame change was unveiled in Magic Origins. It was a more subtle change, adding some more (non-game related) information on the bottom of the card, which received a black colored background. Also, rare and mythic rare cards received a hologram sticker to prevent forgeries.

(source)
Compare Shivan Dragon from M14 with the one from M15:


Why/how was Ajani's Pridemate ability made mandatory?

The ability was originally optional, and it was made mandatory with the release of Ravnica Allegiance. The Ravnica Allegiance Oracle changes update bulletin explains the reasoning behind both the original choice and the errata. The short answer is that changes in tournament policy, increased popularity of digital Magic implementations, and renewed popularity of the card made the errata desirable and worthwhile. The full explanation is quoted below:

Ajani's Pridemate was originally printed under a tournament policy where missing any trigger, no matter how beneficial, always resulted in a Warning. Multiple Warnings would upgrade into a Game Loss. To avoid the problem, many cards with strictly beneficial triggers had those triggers made optional—it doesn't count as "missing" a trigger if it's a "may," you just chose not to do the thing.
Then trigger policy changed. Nowadays, missing beneficial triggers doesn't get you a penalty, you just don't get the benefit (there's some nuance to this, but I'm leaving it simple here). We've left the cards that received "may" under the old policy alone under the general Oracle policy of minimizing functional changes, so Ajani's Pridemate was printed in Core Set 2019 with its "may."
Ajani's Pridemate has since become heavily played in a popular Standard deck, and that deck's inclusion in the upcoming Challenger Deck series became the place to print the card with errata to remove the option, making the card look and read better on paper and improving the life of digital Magic players everywhere. There isn't an Oracle update scheduled for small supplementary products like Challenger Decks, and given the options of adding one or changing the card early, digital was the deciding factor and we're releasing the card's updated wording a little early.


Saboteur 2 - How many saboteur cards do you take out for 4 players?

As far as I can see, in Saboteur 2 you never change the available roles based on the number of players. So in your 4 player game, you could have 3 Saboteurs and 1 Geologist, and a completely ridiculous mine in the end. The rules just say "Shuffle the 15 role cards together".


Is there any economical game which demonstrates social-democratic economy rather than capitalism?

Puerto Rico is an economic game but it's hardly purely capitalistic.  While you can trade goods for money, you get at least half if not more of your victory points by shipping goods, and each type of good is worth one victory point regardless of value.  However, I'm not sure what you mean when you say Catan is capitalist.  It's a pre-capitalist barter economy with no money.  You use raw materials to build settlements and roads, and there is no mention of leveraging worker's labor to maximize your personal wealth.  Perhaps you are conflating capitlism with societal /economic competition, which is not remotely the same thing.


What happens when both players run out of cards with Gideon of the Trials and an emblem in play?

There are no specific rules to handle this kind of situation. If both players can't lose the game, play just continues as normal until one player can lose and does, or somebody concedes. The tournament rules do allow for player to agree to declare the game a draw, and doing so may be an attractive option in the situation you describe.

In addition, in a tournament, if a game does not end, eventually the tournament organizers will announce that time for the round has ended, and that games can proceed for a total of five more turns. If the game has still not ended at the end of those turns, it will be declared a draw.

If a player resolves an Anguished Unmaking targeting their opponent's Gideon, then the next time that opponent would lose the game, they actually lose the game.


In MTG, when sacrificing another player's creature, who performs the discard into the graveyard?

Nobody discards it. It gets sacrificed.

Sacrificing doesn't involve discarding. Discarding specifically refers to an instruction to move a card from your hand to your own graveyard:

  701.7a To discard a card, move it from its owner's hand to that player's graveyard.

Sacrificing on the other hand is an instruction to move a card from the battlefield to the owner's graveyard.

  701.14a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner's graveyard.

Since the sacrificed creature doesn't go straight from someone's hand to their own graveyard, it doesn't count as discarding. The sacrificed creature also dies, which is the term for the event where a creature moves from the battlefield to the graveyard.

Waste Not's triggers don't care about sacrificing. You need cards like Mind Rot or Ashiok's Adept, which actually say 'discard'. Tormented Thoughts could be relevant to you - not because of the sacrifice, but because the sacrifice leads to your opponent doing some discarding.

For the record though: when a creature's sacrificed, it's whoever's controlling the creature that does the sacrificing, regardless of who actually owns that card/creature. Regardless of who actually does the sacrificing, it lands back in the original owner's graveyard.


What are some good general strategies for Eclipse?

While researching the below comments (but after posting the question) I found this excellent post, Five Thousand Words about Eclipse on the Tao of Gaming blog. It has some great thoughts about ship size, virtual fleets, and turn nine.

I thought I would answer with a few of my own observations regarding strategy to start off. Some of this answer is summaries of some articles on the BGG Eclipse Strategy Forum

As a general rule, only keep hexes in your territory if they provide at least two colonies. Territory with zero colonies (which you might have acquired to make a discovery) should be ditched immediately. Territory with one colony can be tolerated a short period of time (especially if they help you get to new territory). The easiest way to get rid of territory is to go bankrupt. i.e. take a few extra actions that will "force" you to remove influence the end of the round.
Plasma missiles seem to be the key to military victory. (At least in the base game, which is all that is currently available on iOS.) By mid game you must either be using them, or have a strategy to defend against them. I have no super successful defense, but improved hull and perhaps shield seems key: you need to be able to survive that first missile assault.
As a corollary to the above comment about plasma missiles, you should always have a consistent strategy for your ships. Don't invest in a lot of power generation or hull upgrades if you plan to take a missile based strategy. Don't duplicate techs (shields, computers, drives). If you think you will get the +3 later, don't buy the +2 now.
Be stingy with your turns. Avoid taking a turn to build if you don't have two things you can build. (Or three if you have an ability/race that lets you build three.) Same for upgrades: don't upgrade if you don't have two ship parts that need replacing. There are some exceptions, but turns are extremely valuable. Things that save turns or partial turns (like a ship discovery, tech discovery, or part discovery) or often worth taking.
Consider your turn order carefully. At the beginning of the round, contemplate how many turns you will likely be able to take. Consider your current money, how much money you are generating, how much territory you will likely control at the end of the turn (given expansion & combat), and any changes to those that will happen due to colonization/research. Perform actions that are likely to be "competitive" first, such as grabbing a newly available tech, or using a move to pin a ship, using a move to avoid being pinned. Upgrades/builds can often be deferred to later in a turn. (And can sometimes even benefit from being deferred since your opponents won't be able to react to them as effectively.)
Consider your ability to build a fleet, if needed. I've heard this referred to as your "virtual fleet". If you have spare minerals, spare turns, up to date ship designs, and available ship slots you can often build ships "as needed" to respond to an attack or to exploit a vulnerability. As such, I often avoid building my last few space stations/dreadnaughts except in response to an emergency. Conversely, when you attack, consider what your opponent will be able to bring to bear in response. An opponent with a developed fleet can be easier to attack than an opponent with a strong "virtual fleet".
The galactic center is very valuable. Not only do you get a discovery and a hex worth 4 VP, but the colonies themselves can turbocharge your production. The difference between a hex that produces 2 colonies and a hex that produces 4 (or more) is much more than double since you only have to pay the one influence. And, the galactic center also likely gives you roads to most or all of the other players. Which can be valuable diplomatically or militarily.
Some key "value" techs are: Neutron bombs (critical if you are going on offense), and improved hull.
Key "game changer" techs are plasma missiles (military game changer), techs that allow you to develop colonies (advanced labs etc.), advanced robots/quantum grid (saves huge money).
One quandary I still have is how much to "balance" your various resources. If human, I thought there might be benefit in pushing one as far as possible because the tracks aren't linear. i.e. if you get all of the way down minerals you can get 5 minerals per colony while the first few tracks of research are only a 1-2 research per colony. Why not try to push one all of the way and then just exchange at 2:1 if needed. In practice this seems to not work very well, however. Having one deliberately weak resource just causes to many problems.
Obviously exploit your racial advantages.


Bridge bidding - how do I decide whether or not to bid 1NT with weakness in a particular suit?

Your partner's response(s) ought to give you a good idea of whether a no trumps contract is the correct one to pursue, or if you might be better off looking elsewhere.

Perhaps your partner will bid Stayman over your NT bid.  If you find a satisfactory fit in hearts or spades, then the question of whether you have a shortage somewhere else becomes irrelevant (in fact, it turns into a bonus).

Otherwise, your partner may well - indeed, is statistically quite likely to - try to bid the suit that you are weak in.  If he does, then this reinforces your initial assumption that a no trumps contract may be a good place to be.

If your partner avoids the suit you are weak in - especially if he avoids it twice, then perhaps NT is not such a good idea.  However, if this is the case then he has almost certainly bid in a suit that you hold 4 cards in, by now.  If so, you have a pretty good option to shift to, outside of no trumps!


What's the most valuable Avalon Hill wargame?

Prices vary somewhat naturally, especially if you find a motivated seller, or desparate buyer!  In general, prices are pretty stable and slowly creep up over time.  A reprint can drop prices quickly, but most of the below have difficult rights situations and are unlikely to see full reprints (AoR had a foreign release a while ago).

Games are valuable if they are still played, or weren't printed in enough quantity, preferably both....

Currently, my top 5:

$500 - Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit
$300 - Advanced Civilization
$250 - Axis & Allis Anniversary Edition
$200 - Dune
$150 - Age of Renaissance


Do I discard weaknesses when they are done?

Weakness (or treachery) cards go to your discard after being completed. Page 20 of the RRG:

  When a treachery card is drawn by an investigator, that investigator
  must resolve its effects. Then, place the card in its discard pile
  unless otherwise instructed by the ability.

Further, on page 7 of the RRG (emphasis mine), pertaining to weaknesses that are enemies and can be defeated:

  if an enemy has damage equal to or higher than its health, it is
  defeated and placed in the encounter discard pile (or in its owner’s
  discard pile if it is a weakness).

Non-enemy weaknesses specifically say on the card what to do with them. For example, Cover Up says:

  When you would discover 1 or more clues at your location: Discard that many clues from Cover Up instead.
  Forced - When the game ends, if there are any clues on Cover Up: You suffer 1 mental trauma.

This means that Cover Up stays on the table (with no clues on it) until the end of the scenario.

In contrast, Daisy's weakness (the Necromonicon), says:

  ...if The Necronomicon has no horror on it, discard it.


Can fleet units charge the turn they run

No, not unless there is a formation/codex specific rule that allows it.

Under the current 7th ed rules, Fleet is a re-roll to either your Run or Charge moves.

It sucks.


What is the original name of this game "Marble Wow"?

That game was published under the name Dao in 1999. No mention on the BGG entry for Dao of a prior version of that game, so I assume that's the original incarnation.


Is playing multiple money cards multiple actions in Monopoly Deal?

Adding three money cards to your bank counts as all three of your actions.
The rules describe step 2 of the turn as:

Play up to 3 cards
... Play 3 cards in any combination of the following: ...
A. Put Money/Action cards into your own bank ...
B.Put down properties into your own collection ...
C. Play action cards into the center

Putting down three money cards would count as playing three cards, all three of which fall under category "A" above.


In situations like this, games generally favour effects that add restrictions over effects that enable. ("Can't trumps can", as Magic: The Gathering players paraphrase the second Golden Rule of that game.)

It's not very clear from the wording which effect adds a restriction until we rephrase them in terms of damage: "Damage from Dark Shaman can't be blocked by shields" vs "Monsterslayer Shield can block any amount of damage". This makes Dark Shaman's ability the winner.

In short, it doesn't matter how much damage Monsterslayer Shield can block because it doesn't block any.

Keep in mind I have never played the game, but your question has been asked on Board Game Geek before, and all three posted opinions concur .


Is the pandemic + on the brink expansion easier than the standard game? (no challenges)

With a game like pandemic it is hard to say in this case if it is easier or harder by just adding in the basic parts of the On the Brink expansion. A lot of the games difficulty depends on the randomness in the game itself. Since player roles are random and with this expansion events are random the difficulty becomes even more random.

In general I would say that the game does become easier as there are some powerful  roles and events in the expansion. However it is possible to get a set of roles and events that do not work well together that can make the game harder. It all will come down to luck of the draw in the end.


Is there a reason not to play your whole hand at once if you can?

Yes, you can play all your hand if you want and can on your first turn. Don't worry, compared to MTG Yugioh is quite faster, and even has First Turn Kills (more frequent than any FTK that exists in MTG), so it's probably what will seem stranger to you at first.

  Particularly with traps, why would you keep them in your hand rather than get them out on the field?

Depending on your strategy, you may not want to play all your cards at once, even if you could. Why? Well, several reasons, and besides no strict rule on why; this strongly depends on your strategy and way of playing.

However, if you play or set all your cards, then you would be on a tactical disadvantage, as your opponent now knows exactly what kind of cards and how many you have. In the case of your friend, you now know he indeed has one monster and 4 spells/traps...

This may give your opponent the info they need to counter your moves; it is now obvious that one should attempt to neutralize your backrow (term used to refer to your spell and trap zone).

Another disadvantage is that your opponent may destroy all the field with some effect (like my favorite, Black Rose Dragon) and leave you helpless; that is why you should play all your cards only if your strategy requires so in that moment.

However, seeing your opponent set 4 spell/traps can be quite alarming or distracting("it's a trap", literally), thus a good strategy if used correctly. Just make sure that if you are bluffing you have a good plan that is worth it.

But, hey, I have in several occasions set my Dark Hole spell card (useless that way) in an attempt to bluff. Combined it with a brief grin and then poker face I have been able to scare the hell out of quite experienced players, or at least make them rethink their moves.

Another behavioral strategy I recommend is to periodically check your set card(s), as in considering its use in that moment. This may make your opponent think you have some powerful trap card waiting there, and hopefully affect to your advantage the response they take after your provocation. Things like these are key to an effective bluffing, so it is not just set everything and pass.

But yes, you can play all your cards, but strongly consider if it is worth doing so.


What to do with "Antarctic Guide" and "Dog Sled" while playing against an Ancient One from the base game?

As long as you are playing with the Antarctica side board, those cards are usable.

From the expansion rules, page 2:

  When playing with the Mountains of Madness expansion, add
  all expansion components to their respective decks or pools
  of Eldritch Horror components except for the components
  described below.

  [unrelated items skipped]

  Shuffle all Unique Assets to create the Unique Asset deck.
  Place this deck faceup near the Asset deck.


How many completed routes is typical in Ticket To Ride (for each number of players)?

In my experience, the answer to your question actually varies less based on the number of players (except for at the very top end) than on what strategy you prefer to pursue. This is because the biggest limiting factor for the most part isn't route competition as much as it is simply running out of trains (or time, if someone else goes through their trains more quickly) to build more routes with, and those factors don't change as much with the number of players.  So how does strategy affect the number of routes you complete?  Well, the core USA version of Ticket To Ride supports a few different strategies, including most notably:

A 'transcontinental' long-route strategy, featuring routes like LA to Boston or Seattle to NY (tiny note: I haven't vetted any of these routes specifically; my copy of the game is at home and I'm not.)
A 'hub and spoke' type strategy featuring many roughly-parallel shorter routes, typically around the eastern seaboard and along the Mississippi River corridor; this might include routes like NY-Dallas, Pittsburgh-Houston, Duluth-Houston, etc.

For the transcontinental strategy, it's not unusual to have just two or three routes successfully filled, and to make a large proportion of points on the routes themselves, especially since the preponderance of five- and six-train segments run primarily east/west so they're relatively straightforward to pick up while completing one's routes.  Contrariwise, a successful shorter-route strategy will need many routes to work, often completing as many as 6-8 or sometimes even more.

One thing to note is that a number of players consider the base TTR USA set to be unbalanced in favor of the long-route strategy, for various reasons - a player who starts with the right routes to pursue that strategy is more likely to be successful than a player whose starting routes force them to play the 'short game'.  If you have the opportunity you might consider picking up the USA 1910 expansion for the game, which does a fine job IMHO of correcting many of the strategic flaws with the original game.


Why Do Modern Players Use "Negative Doubles" In Bridge

The short answer is - use whatever your partner and you are comfortable with using.

The long answer is - the penalty double at the one or two levels rarely works out the way you think.  Either their partner will switch to a different suit (where you may not want to double for penalties again), they will SOS redouble for takeout (again to a suit that you may not want to double), or they will play in the doubled contract.  You'll find they'll make this contract a maddening percentage of the time, or only be off one.  The times that you have the strength to set them a large number at such a small contract, you could have bid game or slam yourself and make at least as much, if not a lot more.

This is why people really don't penalty double at the low levels anymore.  In competitive auctions, it's much more useful to use the double to find a fit.


Can Trait Doctoring be used to change words like "nonblack"?

Yes, but not in your example.

A ruling on gatherer for Trait Doctoring clearly supports changing 'nonblack' to 'nonred'

  4/15/2013     The type-changing effect can change part of a word such as
  “nonblack” or “swampwalk” if the part of the word is being used to
  refer to a color or basic land type.

However, Trait Doctoring specifically says:

  Change the text of target permanent by...

Doom blade is a not a permanent.

In order to change the color referenced on Doom Blade, you would need to use a card such as Sleight of Mind, that specifically says it can target spells. (See Steven Stadnicki's answer for more information about this combo)


Are there ways to estimate the value of development cards in Catan?

I'm not aware of any tables like what you're looking for, however many years ago I did read a Catan strategy article which gave the advice that you should treat every development card as a victory point. What the author meant was that generally they should be played in a way that immediately gains you points. For example, the Year of Plenty could get you the resources that allow you to surprise other players and build a settlement or the road building card might let you get to an important spot before another player to build a settlement before they can.
Overall I think you underestimate the power of the development cards, the year of plenty isn't simply trading the cost of the card for three new resources, you're getting three resources that can be called on at almost any time yet until you use the card they cannot be robbed and don't increase the size of your hand.


I personally own all of the above apart from Dixit Journey (which I didn't even know existed).

You should know that, Dixit 2 and 3, aren't technically stand-alone games; they're only sets of additional cards.

Dixit Oddysey is nearly the same as original Dixit when it comes to rules. As far as I remember it has all the rules the original had, plus some additions for bigger number of players. It also has a set of pieces for greater number of players (up to 12, I think). The biggest difference are the actual cards - those are entirely new when compared to original.

My recommendation is to buy the Oddysey, as it contains the game pieces helpful* in playing a game and a manual. Then if your niece likes the game you could buy the others for additional cards.

*) As long as you have access to the game rules, you don't really need anything apart from the cards. All the other pieces in the boxes are used to keep track of players score, and to 'vote' for the cards - if you can manage this some other way (easiest and most crude would be pen&paper solution) you could buy only the cards.


Does the Paladin count as an adventurer for the purposes of the Magic Key spell?

Good question! From the FAQ: What rules and cards affect the paladin in combat?

  The paladin is still an adventurer, so
  anything that affects adventurers
  affects him (including traps and
  attacks that damage all adventurers).

So in your example, you lose your Paladin. Dungeon Lords is indeed a brutal game...


The rules list four actions that a player can take on their turn:

  Move
  Shore Up
  Give a Treasure Card
  Capture a Treasure

Note that Move is an action and Shore Up is a different action.

The Navigator's card text says the following:

  Move another player up to 2 adjacent tiles for 1 action.

Since shoring up (or giving a treasure card, or capturing a treasure, or using a special ability that requires an action) is distinct from movement, the Navigator is only permitted to make them do the Move action. I imagine it would say something like "Have another player take 1 action for 1 of your actions" or something if it were allowed.

On the plus side, Navigators are useful for helping other players get in position, and they can move a character 2 tiles instead of the usual 1 that they would be doing on their turn.


Does "whenever a creature attacks" count for each attacker separately?

Yes (though they will be lost one at a time).

There's a rule specifically covering this:

  603.2c An ability triggers only once each time its trigger event occurs. However, it can trigger repeatedly if one event contains multiple occurrences. See also rule 509.4.

If your opponent attacks you with an Elf and a Bear, two instances of the event "a creature attacks you" occurred (the Elf attacked you, and the Bear attacked you), so the ability will trigger twice.

You will place these on the stack where they will resolve one at a time, each causing him to lose one life (for a total of two).


I don't know the game well, but looking it up it looks like there is nothing that specifically identifies an orientation for the player boards, nor is there anything on the pattern cards that show what part of the pattern is up. When playing a game like this, players are probably sitting around a table, each of them will see the pattern card from a different direction then, from their perspective a different direction on the pattern card will be "up". Given these things, I would say that there is no directions in the game, that as long as the pattern card and/or players tray can be rotated to match, then the pattern does match.
Though it's not conclusive (the rules are pretty short) on the MindWare company website page for the game they show an image of a game in progress with the player boards in all different orientations, most of them roughly 90 degrees rotated from the pattern card, see here:

This suggests even more that rotation of the board does not matter.


Earthquake - does it affect units in docks?

Many of the cards in my version of Mine a Million are open to a bit of interpretation, but I think this one is fairly clear.

This card specifically mentions "warehouse stocks". It does not mention barges or ships.
Similar cards for losses at the pithead specify "on the ground (not in lorry/barge)" and/or "in lorry/barge" (wording not exact, I couldn't quickly find the wording online and I'm not at home to check).

On the basis that the cards make it very clear when stocks in a barge at the pithead are at risk, I suggest the interpretation that stocks in a barge or ship are safe against earthquakes.

In fact, just last night when that card was showing, I put all my stocks (from both my players) in a ship and left my wife's stocks (from both her players) sitting in the warehouse. Unfortunately she managed to sell them before anyone rolled a 1 or 6 :(


Running out of cards with "Loss of Card" in Sequence

I would say that you loose the game since you don't have any cards left and hence no longer are able to follow the rules.

The rules state that when it's your turn you should select a card from your hand and put it on the discard pile. It doesn't say that you are allowed to skip this and just take a card from the draw deck.

  ...each player selects a card of their choice from their hand and places it face up on a discard pile...

But I guess that a house rule allowing you to just draw a card is a good adjustment of the rules. All in favor of being able to finish playing the game.

SEQUENCE Rules


Poker Texas Hold'em Sit-and-Go - Independent Chip Model (ICM)

The Independent Chip Model (ICM) is a way of calculating the right decision when playing the bubble in Texas Hold'em tournaments.
Three players:

A = Player 1's Stack
B = Player 2's Stack
C = Player 3's Stack
T = Total chips in play
(A * 0.5 + B * (A * 0.3 + C * 0.2) / (A + C) + C * (A * 0.3 + B * 0.2) / (A + B)) / T


Diplomacy Attacking a Territory as they move

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: you can enter an area that is left by another unit. But there are some conditions.

If unit leaving the space succeeds in moving out:

if there are no other units that are ordered to enter the space, you succeed in entering it.
if there are other units ordered to enter the space, the strongest (with the most support) succeeds in entering the space, if there is a tie, nobody enters.

If the unit leaving the space fails to move out:

if there are no other units that are ordered to enter the space, you only succeed if you are stronger that the defending unit.
if there are other units ordered to enter the space, but no unit is stronger than the defending unit, the unit stays.
if there are other units ordered to enter the space, and there is at least one unit stronger than the defending unit, the strongest unit enters. In case of a tie, the defending unit stays.

Just note that you only keep the supply center, if you occupy it during the fall phase.

And on the diplomatic level, if you trick another player like this, be prepared for revenge. So backstab wisely.

Each move has a strength. If moves conflict with other moves, the strongest move wins. In case of a tie, nothing changes.

An empty space has a strength of 0
A single defending unit has a strength of 1
A single moving unit has a strength of 1
Each unhindered support adds 1 to the strength.


Eternity is a tree-themed trick-taking game with green box art, though unless you're misremembering the year, it was published too late.


Who is the controller of an Aura with Enchant land placed on an opponent's land?

Yes, the aura remains under your control even if it enchants an opponents land and you can sacrifice it to forbidden ritual.

from the comprehensive rules:

  303.4e An Aura’s controller is separate from the enchanted object’s controller or the enchanted player; the two need not be the same. If an Aura enchants an object, changing control of the object doesn’t change control of the Aura, and vice versa. Only the Aura’s controller can activate its abilities. However, if the Aura grants an ability to the enchanted object (with “gains” or “has”), the enchanted object’s controller is the only one who can activate that ability.

In general, if you cast the spell and the spell creates a permanent (as with enchantments, creatures, artifacts and so on) the permanent will be under your control unless the card says something different.


A creature with two +1/+1 counters has a +1/+1 counter, so Abzan Battle Priest's static ability will grant that creature lifelink.

Note that being granted +1/+1 and having a +1/+1 counter are very different. If you control Dauntless River Marshal, Abzan Battle Priest and an Island, the Marshal won't be granted Lifelink.


Monopoly deal - charging rent multiple times

Each card play is separate, so your strategy works just fine.
From Play Rules

Each player can play up to 3 cards per turn. A play is considered any time a card is played on the table

And from Rent Rules

Once played, this wild rent card forces only one other player (whom you choose) to pay rent for the properties you choose based on what is laid in front of you.


Is this improvised card game is a known game?

Since players choose their next card it is a variant of Colonel Blotto game (unlike in War where players just pick the top card in their deck).

  In Colonel Blotto, players are tasked to simultaneously distribute limited resources over several battlefields. The player devoting the most resources to a battlefield wins that battlefield.  The player that won the most battlefields wins the game.

In your variant, players contest over 13 battlefields. Each side poses 1+2+...+13=91 resources (armies), however they must assign the resources to battlefields in set amounts (the value of cards).


Is there a special name for the following kind of "tenace" and are there "special" kinds of tactics regarding it?

I don't think there is a special name for this holding.  I think they are still tenaces.  (After all, at least one etymology for "tenace" is "ten-ace"!)

If you look at the suit in isolation, it doesn't matter whether you lose the first trick or the second trick; either way, if you lead twice towards AJx, you can get 2 tricks if KQ are both onside.

However, in an actual hand, there are going to be many timing issues associated with when you would prefer to lose a trick.  There may be endplay or squeeze possibilities that make it more beneficial to lose a trick early or late.  If you lose a trick very early, you may have the advantage that defender doesn't have enough information to figure out the best return.  There may be possibilities for Morton's Fork coups or discarding a loser anyway that only work taking the first trick or losing the first trick.  You might have a vulnerable entry in one hand that you don't want knocked out, or a different tenace that you want led to.

A lot of times, the question boils down to which defender you want on lead more assuming the honors are split, given that you have a possibility of discarding the second loser at a later point.


How do Butcher of Malakir and Extractor Demon interact with Barter in Blood?

You are basically correct.
You are correct that you will have to sacrifice 4 total creatures and lose 6 cards from your library. However, you say "these all go on the stack simultaneously" which might be wrong depending on what you meant. 2 things cannot ever go on the stack "simultaneously", but there are 5 total triggered abilities that all need to be placed on the stack, and your opponent, who controls all 5, gets to chose the order.
In this case, it makes no difference what order your opponent chooses; they could put both Butcher of Malakir's abilities first, then the 3 Extractor Demon's abilities. Or 1 Extractor, then 2 Butchers, then the other 2 Extractors, etc.
This all works this way because when triggered abilities trigger, they don't immediately do anything, but they wait until the next time state based actions are checked, right before a player gets priority.

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.

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose.

So you will sacrifice 2 creatures at the same time when Barter in Blood resolves, then a third when Malakir's first trigger resolves, then a fourth when Malakir's second trigger resolves.


Does Void Winnower prevent casting spells for even alternative mana costs?

The only time the converted mana cost of a spell changes is if is has an {X} in the cost and the spell is currently being cast. So Sheer Drop will always have a CMC of 3 regardless of if the Awaken cost is paid, or if anything else changes the actual amount of mana paid.

202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.
202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. Some cards from the Future Sight set have alternate frames in which the mana symbols appear to the left of the illustration.


Hypothetically, there's nothing wrong with splitting the draw pile. Splitting a randomized deck into multiple decks, won't affect the randomization. However, you need to carefully consider how you interact with the draw pile during the course of the game.

Do cards ever get put back on top of,
into, or under the draw pile? If so,
having multiple draw piles would
affect the game. For example, if
players can put a card on top of the
draw pile, can I choose to draw from
either pile?
What happens when the
draw pile runs out? If the normal
rule is to shuffle the discard pile
to create a new draw pile, you
probably need to wait until all draw
piles run out before doing so.
If    you have multiple draw piles,
will    you also have multiple
discard piles?    If so, you need to
consider how you    interact with the
discard pile, also.


Does Thassa, God of the Sea's "devotion to blue" clause count when it's not in play?

Based on the information you presented, it only functions on the battlefield. Even with no devotion to blue, it's a valid target for Lotleth Troll and Corpse Hauler.

The ability would only function outside of the battlefield if it was a characteristic-defining ability. For example, Ghostfire is colorless in all zones and even when deck building.

  604.3. Some static abilities are characteristic-defining abilities. A characteristic-defining ability conveys information about an object’s characteristics that would normally be found elsewhere on that object (such as in its mana cost, type line, or power/toughness box). Characteristic-defining abilities function in all zones. They also function outside the game.

However, it fails to meet two of six1 criteria for a characteristic-defining ability.

  604.3a A static ability is a characteristic-defining ability if it meets the following criteria: (1) It defines an object’s colors, subtypes, power, or toughness; (2) it is printed on the card it affects, it was granted to the token it affects by the effect that created the token, or it was acquired by the object it affects as the result of a copy effect or text-changing effect; (3) it does not directly affect the characteristics of any other objects; (4) it is not an ability that an object grants to itself; and (5) it does not set the values of such characteristics only if certain conditions are met.

(1) It defines a characteristic other than the object's colors, subtypes, power and toughness.
(5) It sets the characteristic only if certain conditions are met.

The sixth is that it must be a static ability.


When is Darksteel Juggernaut's power and toughness determined? Can they change?

I am not a judge, but I believe the following sections from the comprehensive rules cover everything:

  207.2a The card may have a characteristic-defining ability that sets its power and/or toughness according to some stated condition. (See rule 604.3.) Such an ability is worded “[This creature’s] [power or toughness] is equal to . . .” or “[This creature’s] power and toughness are each equal to . . .” This ability functions everywhere, even outside the game. If the ability needs to use a number that can’t be determined, including inside a calculation, use 0 instead of that number.

and

  604.3. Some static abilities are characteristic-defining abilities. A characteristic-defining ability conveys information about an object’s characteristics that would normally be found elsewhere on that object (such as in its mana cost, type line, or power/toughness box). Characteristic-defining abilities function in all zones. They also function outside the game.

And if you check the card rulings for Serra Avatar (with the same ability), it has the following ruling:

  10/4/2004: Its power and toughness are continuously calculated.

So, its power and toughness are always defined, in all zones, and always updated.  If anything needs to reference its power and toughness, determine what that is.  If a new artifact comes into play, it automatically goes up in power and toughness.


Can I extort Launch Party with the creature I'm sacrificing?

No. Basilica Screecher will no longer be on the battlefield when the spell becomes cast, so its ability will not trigger.

Casting a spell:

Placing it on the stack. [CR 601.2a]
Make choices (e.g. modes, targets) that need to be made to cast the spell. [CR 601.2b-d]
Determine the total cost to cast the spell. [CR 601.2e]
Activate mana abilities. [CR 601.2f]
Pay the total cost. [CR 601.2g]

Only once all of the above has happened is the spell cast, so only then would abilities that trigger on casting the spell trigger.

  601.2h Once the steps described in 601.2a–g are completed, the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, he or she gets priority.

However, you sacrificed Basilica Screecher back in step 5 (601.2g), so it's no longer on the battlefield when you completed the casting of the spell, meaning its ability will not trigger.


Can my opponent play a madness cost of 3 or below if "Brisela, Voice of Nightmares" is in play?

No, Brisela will not prevent your opponent from casting Volarden Pariah for its madness cost.
"Mana cost", and by extension "converted mana cost" specifically refers to the cost printed at the top of the card. The relevant rules are here:

202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) [...]

202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.

So, Volarden Pariah always has a mana cost of {3}{B}{B}, and a converted mana cost of 5.


From the core rules:

  You may never enter a region occupied by an opposing player’s last meeple
  (i.e., the only meeple they have in play), nor may you use your last meeple to
  enter a region occupied by an opponent.

From the solo rules:

  If [the meeple] cannot move in the selected direction, continue clockwise until you find a region it can move into.

and

  The dummy player may always collect resources if they are unable to fulfill the action, even if they are the active player.

So suicidally throwing away your last army is illegal for both real players and the dummy, and the dummy will choose a different place to move instead (or collect resources if there are no legal moves).


Leyline of the Void and exiling stolen permanents

He's right. It goes directly to his graveyard.

Just to be clear, he controls Leyline of the Void, which has the following ability:

  If a card would be put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.

You control one of his creature, which you somehow sacrifice.

  701.14a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. [...]

  108.3. The owner of a card in the game is the player who started the game with it in his or her deck. [...]

As part of sacrificing the creature, you place it in his graveyard. The Leyline's replacement effect does not apply since the creature enters his graveyard (being the creature's owner), not the graveyard of one of his opponents.

As for whether you benefit from the sacrifice, the answer isn't clear, since it's not clear what you mean by that.

If sacrifice is part of the cost of activating an ability: The ability resolves as normal, no matter where the creature ends up. As the person who activated the ability, you control it.
If the creature has an ability that triggers on leaving the battlefield, it would trigger with you as the controller of the ability. (LTB abilities look at the state of the game before the event happen.)
If another one of your permanents has an ability that triggers whenever you sacrifice a creature, it triggers no matter where the creature ends up. The sacrifice action still take places even if the effect of sacrifice is modified by a replacement effect.
If another one of your permanents has an ability that triggers whenever a creature enters your graveyard, it will not trigger since the creature moved from the battlefield to his graveyard.
If the creature has an ability that triggers when it enters a graveyard, it will trigger with your opponent as the controller since it went to his graveyard.


How do Captivating Vampire and Deadeye Navigator abilities interact?

Works like this

He taps his vamps and targets your fatty.
You respond by exiling the fatty and him coming back in.
His ability resolves, but because its target is no longer in play (it's a different instance) it fizzles.

So you can use that ability as evasion.


Why are there multiple copies of figures in Gaming Night Kits

Most gaming kits come with supplies to provide prize support for multiple people (whether it be players, people who help moderate the events, or other qualifications).

Regarding playing the same character, there's nothing that prevents you from doing this, although typically you'd want to have more diversity of roles (and some characters could make the game much easier with multiple copies.)  The other issue is that without painting your minis or otherwise making them distinct, it could be hard to determine which of the 4 identical minis represent you!


What happens when I equip Helm of the Host on Gideon?

You will get a non-legendary, non-creature planeswalker. You cannot immediately attack with it, but you get to keep all of them.
If you copy an object, only certain values will be copied, among them its original characteristics and existing copy effects. Other effects, including type-changing effects as is the case here, will not be copied.

706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by its face-down status, and by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set power and toughness (and may also set additional characteristics). Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.

Your token planeswalker will have haste, but you only get the token at the beginning of combat, which is no longer your main phase and thus too late to make him a creature through his zero ability. You will have to wait until the next combat phase to attack with the newly created copy. If you somehow get another combat phase during the same turn, you can first activate the copy to make it a creature and, thanks to haste, attack with it.
Due to the recent removal of the planeswalker uniqueness rule, you will also not have to choose which of the planeswalkers to keep. Previously, you could only have 1 planeswalker of each planeswalker type at a time, whereas now planeswalkers are legendary and follow the regular legend rule. Since Helm of the Hosts creates non-legendary copies, the legend rule does not apply.

704.5j If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”
Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule (Obsolete)
Older versions of the rules stated that a player who controlled two or more planeswalkers with the same planeswalker type would put all but one of those planeswalkers into their owners’ graveyards. This rule was called the “planeswalker uniqueness rule” and no longer exists.

Finally, when Gideon stops being a creature at the end of turn, Helm of the Hosts will become unattached from him:

704.5n If an Equipment or Fortification is attached to an illegal permanent, it becomes unattached from that permanent. It remains on the battlefield.


If you can follow suit, you must. Otherwise you can play any card you want.

In this situation, you can play any of your three cards. It doesn't matter whether anyone has played a trump or not unless it was the first suit that was played (trump was led) in which case you'd have to follow suit.

PDF of the rules


Can I use Nissa, Steward of Elements, to put out a creature with {X} in its mana cost onto the field?

No, you cannot choose a value for X. In this situation X is always considered to be 0.

Rule 107.3f says

  If a card in any zone other than the stack has an {X} in its mana cost, the value of {X} is treated as 0, even if the value of X is defined somewhere within its text.

Nissa's ability checks the converted mana cost of the card, then puts it directly onto the battlefield depending on that value. When you look at that card, it is in the library, not the stack, so X is 0 and Nissa sees a value of 1 for the CMC. Then you can put it on the battlefield, and since that is also not the stack, it will enter the battlefield with 0 +1/+1 counters.

The quoted ruling for Flash has exactly the same reasoning: the card is not on the stack, so X is always 0. It has nothing to do with whether or not the card mentions "converted mana cost".


Is there an official way to speed up Elixir?

Yes, others have encountered this problem. At least one poster on BGG (Tim, it isn't you, is it?), posted that the game drags and proposed a Draw 2 Variant.

No, there is no official variant to my knowledge. No variants are listed in the rule books for Elixir or any of it's three expansions. No variants are listed on the designers websites.

I am not sure precisely how your Draw 2 cards/finds is a better solution to just drawing 1 card and passing. You only pass half as often (since you are drawing 2), but how long does it take to Draw 1 and Pass in the first place? How much time are you actually saving?


Is there a definitive list of Button Men rules?

The verbiage at beatpeopleup.cheapass.com/game-rules seems to imply that the dice lists on that page are complete.


Can I sacrifice an enchantment when it is going to be destroyed?

Yes you can sacrifice the Seal of Fire to do 2 points of damage.

When the Lyrist activates its ability, that ability doesn't happen right away, it's put on the stack. While on the stack, you have the chance to respond, and so you activate Seal of Fire, doing 2 damage.

Then Lyrist's ability tries to resolve, but since the enchantment isn't around anymore, it fizzles, but the costs stay paid (mana and sacrifice).


Your first goal is to separate bulk from value. Bulk cards are usually valued by the inch (for example, they'll buy for $0.20 an inch, which works out to about $0.005 per card) so getting value cards out of the bulk pile is paramount in properly valuing a collection.

The first thing you'll want to do is sort the cards by set. This will make them much easier to look up. I suggest you do this with the cards upside down if you're right handed so it's easier to thumb through them. Remember that cards will naturally have some order to them, so you will likely have a lot of runs in the same pile. If you find there's too many sets, then only pick out a couple of sets per pass (ideally the ones that have the most, to reduce the amount of picking on the next pass). I sorted a collection of 10,000 cards in five passes, but I used my knowledge of the block structure to help with that.

There's a very nice guide to identifying sets on this site.

Once you have them sorted by set, you'll want to go through each set and find the value cards. Go to a website of your choosing that lists the prices by set, and filter by the price so you only see prices over a certain threshold. (When pricing collections, I use $0.75 as my threshold, since they're the ones likely to pop over $1.00 on occasion...)

Separate your commons and uncommons into one pile and your rares and mythics into another pile. This can easily be done by flipping the pile upside down and thumbing from left to right. Commons are black, uncommons are silver, rares are gold and mythics are red. Now go to your price list for the set and identify if there are any commons or uncommons over your threshold. Don't let the Lightning Bolts and Ponders get lost in your bulk pile! Next look at the number of rares or mythics in the set on your price list - if it's like 8 or less, just find those 8 by name in your rare pile. If it's more than that, sort your rare pile by name, and sort your price list by name, and go down both the list and pile at the same time. You can skip large chunks of the set this way, and you'll find that sorting by name gets a lot easier after you've done it a few times.

I find on average it takes around 1 hour per 1000 cards using this method. You end up looking at each card 4 times doing this:

Separate by block (so you only have about 20 or so piles)
Separate blocks into sets (one pile into four piles)
Separate into common/uncommon and rare/mythic
Picking out commons, or picking out /sorting for rares

So a 20,000 card collection should take around 20 hours or so to sort.

This doesn't take into account foil cards. As a general rule, just to save time, any full art card, foil card, or dual-mana producing land I will set aside and look up separately.


What happens when I summon "Gameciel the Sea Turtle Kaiju" to my opponent's field by tributing their "Prank-Kids Battle Butler"?

As far as I'm aware, there's no specific ruling issued for this sort of interaction yet, but to the best of my knowledge I would say:

No, the effect of Battle Butler will not activate.

So, there's a little bit of a distinction we have to make here to understand why this one works the way it does. It's a bit nuanced.

Gameciel is not sending Battle Butler to the GY in this scenario. The player who summons Gameciel is tributing it as part of a summoning procedure.

This is in important distinction; Gameciel itself is not tributing the card; you, the player are tributing it. Semantically, it's the same reason why the monsters used for a Tribute Summon, or tributed to summon something like Raviel, Lord of Phantasms are not considered to be sent to the GY by the monster they were tributed to summon.


How does Conspirator work with Throne Room / King's Court?

This is explained in the Intrigue rules

  Conspirator – You evaluate whether or not Conspirator gives you +1 Card and +1
  Action when you play it. If later in the turn you play more Action cards, you do not go
  back and reevaluate a Conspirator played earlier.

  For the purposes of counting actions,
  if you Throne Room an Action, that's one Action for the Throne Room, one for the
  selected Action played the first time, and one for the selected Action played the second
  time. For example, if you play Throne Room on Conspirator, the first Conspirator will
  be your second Action, and won't give you +1 Card or +1 Action, but the second
  Conspirator will be your third Action, and you will get +1 Card and +1 Action for that
  second Conspirator. Action - Victory cards are Actions

For your example, if you play King's Court and choose Conspirator, you would draw +2 cards and get +2 actions.  The first copy of Conspirator would count as your second action, and then the second and third plays would qualify.

The sequence would be:

Play King's Court (Action #1)
Choose Conspirator (Choosing does not count as playing an action)
Play 1st Conspirator (Action #2 - no bonus from Conspirator)
Play 2nd Conspirator (Action #3 - receive bonus from Conspirator).
Play 3nd Conspirator (Action #4 - receive bonus from Conspirator).


Discarding Destination Tickets in Ticket to Ride

You may keep 1, 2, or all 3 destination tickets.

You must make your decision before the beginning of the next players turn (not before your next turn as you stated).

The only two ways you may discard destination tickets are during your beginning of game ticket selection (you must keep at least two) and when using the Draw 3 Tickets as your action for the turn (you must keep at least one). For Draw 3 Tickets, you can only discard the tickets you drew this turn.

The rules can be found on the Days of Wonder website.

  each player taking one turn at a time


International Checkers - winning strategy for 3 [4] kings vs 1 king

The answer by @RemcoGerlich is essentially correct. Some extra info below. For further reference see the Dutch book Drie tegen een is gemeen, that contains a mathematical proof that 3 vs. 1 kings is a draw (which predates the age of perfect knowledge endgame databases by almost a decade!).

The answer depends crucially on both the board geometry and the king movement.

For short-ranged kings (American checkers and Italian draughts) 2 kings can force a win against 1 king. The same applies for orthogonally capturing kings (Frisian draughts) and kings that need to end a jump immediately behind the last jumped piece (Thai draughts).

For long-ranged kings, on square boards larger than 8x8 (10x10 International and 12x12 Canadian draughts), 3 kings against 1 king is a draw but 4 kings can always force a win.

On an 8x8 board (e.g. American pool checkers and Russian draughts), it is a win if the majority side occupies the long diagonal, and a draw otherwise. The key position is called Petrov's triangle (in Russian, use a browser translator):

On rectangular boards of dimensions N x (N ± 1), N x (N ± 2) and N x (2 N - 1), there are two single corner diagonals that allow special tactics to enable a 3 vs. 1 forced win.

In International draughts, the 3 vs 1 drawn engame is seen as the main culprit for the >90% drawing percentage at grandmaster level matchplay. Many game tweaks have been proposed.


Well, surely Konami had their own reasons for doing so (my impression is that this was done to favor newer decks that special summon more, or perhaps many decks were abusing it) but I think you already found one of the main reasons why:

  it can help people turn a duel around

Indeed Maxx-c can turn a duel around, specially when used on early/mid game when it is most disruptive.

Like you said, when you see your opponent activate a Maxx-c you are faced with a difficult choice: (1) either keep summoning to ensure building your game and strategy, but give your opponent a huge hand advantage, or (2) stop summoning to prevent giving your opponent hand advantage, but basically delay your strategy a whole turn by refraining from finishing your combo.

As you can see this is a dire choice, as in both scenarios you have few or nothing to win, hence why this card could have been banned.

Now, as you experienced, Maxx-c is less effective on late game. This is because on that moment it doesn't matter anymore if you give your opponent hand advantage, as chances are that if you successfully carry out your combo you will win right there. In these situations it is usually better to ignore Maxx-c, summon and ensure your victory that turn.

So, there probably are other reasons for Konami to ban this card, but in my experience Maxx-c has always been a powerful card since it came up; with the current format it has become even more powerful.

You say that this card could "easily" be countered (although to be honest there aren't that much cards to do so, and the ones that do are really specific, like Debunk), but that would force players to include such counters on their main or side decks, possibly affecting their game strategy. So restricting or banning it sounds reasonable to me.


While this may seem disappointing, my advice is: don't.

Descent is a great game in its single-dungeon mode, and while it might look appealing to bring your characters from a dungeon to another, it actually "just doesn't work".

One of the fun things about this game is the weapon progression: as you go on, you might find cooler weapons to use. This works well in a single dungeon, but is crap in the campaign: after just a few encounters it is likely that every player will have the best-in-slot weapon for that campaign level, and anything else they can find will just be sold away. This takes away a lot of fun from the game.

Moreover due to setting and stuff you end up wasting so much time playing just a couple of (short) encounters in the campaign, that you could have played a whole (much longer) dungeon in the standard game.

If you really want to keep a few things from one dungeon to another, you could keep the same characters, follow the standard rules about xp and progression, and change a character with another one if he dies.


My co-worker found what I believe is a winning strategy for the first player, but now I find earlier evidence by others as well.

This is for the original version of the game, where you can send your opponent to an already won field and he has to place his mark there. It seems that the question is still open for the updated version where he can then choose freely.


Watchtower when someone uses a Masquerade

No.  A passed card is not considered a gained card.

From the Intrigue rulebook:

  “Pass” – when a player passes a card to another player, he places that card face down on the table between himself and the other player. The receiving player then takes the card from the table and puts it in his hand. A passed card is not revealed to the other players. A passed card is not considered to be trashed or discarded by the player passing it and it is not considered to be gained by the player receiving it.


To be honest, I wouldn't worry so much about slow play when learning, and I would not recommend complicating it further with a clock.  Here are my thoughts:

1) This game requires lots of mental arithmetic, especially when playing as the runner.  How much might that run cost?  Do I have the breaker suite required to make success likely?  What is the worst case scenario?  When you are learning, you can easily fall into analysis paralysis, which will slow the game down.

2) Some more information: Are you playing core only?  Which factions are you playing?  You should know that if you are playing the "FFG Recommended" matchup, Shaper vs. Jinteki, Jinteki is a notoriously slow corp to play/win with, especially against a cautious runner.

3) About tournaments, yes - two hours per game is way too slow.  In a tournament setting, you are typically allotted 65 minutes for two games (playing as both the runner and the corp).  However, because of this, I want to emphasize: decks that play fast are more common in a tournament setting than those that play slower.  For example, one of the most popular builds right now, the "Astrobiotics" deck (an NBN deck that relies on Biotic Labours to score agendas out of hand) is very light on defence and basically crumbles if it doesn't win within the first ten or so turns.  So, there are definitely decks that are really fun to play in casual play, but aren't really brought to tournaments.

4) From the above, know your decks!  If you know exactly what you have in the deck, you will know its strengths and weaknesses, and as you play more, you will start playing it much faster.

My recommendation?  Play more.  And against other people.  I'm sure there are some playgroups in Seattle you and your friend can show up to.  Learn the cardpool.   Having to read each card as it is played will drastically increase playtime.

BUT, if you are set on using a clock, I would just use it to time how long my decisions took in a given match.  If it is above ~35 minutes, consider what could have been played differently.


Is there a game that doesn't rely on luck or skill?

How do you figure out who wins if there's no randomness (no luck) and no player decisions that can affect the game (no skill)?

If there's no skill, then that means players can't make meaningful decisions, i.e. ones where a better decision increases chances of winning. If there's no luck, they can't make meaningless ones either, like picking heads or tails on a coin flip.

That leaves games where the winner is pre-determined. For example, in Candyland, shuffling the cards determines the entire game. But then there's still luck, it's just that the entire game is one big coin flip.

So unless you believe in some concept of "fate", so that you can base the winner on who was "fated" to win, and declare that to not actually be luck, there can't be such a game. The player with the alphabetically first name wins? Use the players' names as seeds for a (deterministic) pseudo-random number generator, and use that to shuffle the deck in Candyland? Those still sound like luck to me; even though there's no luck in the actual "playing" of the game, one player was lucky enough to have been given the name that caused them to win.

Bottom line, anything where someone wins, there has to be a way they were determined to be the winner, and the common notions of "luck" and "skill" are such that one or both will always be involved.


Can I cast Mizzium Mortars for its alternate cost with Fires of Invention?

The Gatherer page for Fires of Invention says (emphasis mine):

You may choose to pay the mana cost or an alternative cost for spells you cast, even if their converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of lands you control.

as well as

If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs (such as that of Fling), you must pay those to cast the card.

So yes, you can cast an overloaded Mortars, but the Fires will not help you to pay for it.


Putting creatures into play in alternative ways to summoning them

Cards like Quicksilver Amulet and Sneak Attack provide an alternative way to put creature cards into play, instead of casting them as normal. This has the following differences to casting them as normal:

Cards put into play this way are never on the stack; only the ability that puts them there is
The creature card will never be considered cast, and never be considered a spell
The controller of the ability doesn't have to announce the creature card until the ability resolves (at which point it can't be countered anymore). They don't even have to put a creature card on the battlefield at all if the ability resolves.

At the time you activate the ability of one of those cards, no creature card is involved at all. If a player chooses to Stifle the ability, it will be countered. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn's ability does not apply, because not only is it not a spell - it isn't involved in the situation in any shape or form until the ability resolves and the controller chooses a creature card to put into play.

Likewise, a triggered ability that triggers when a creature is cast only triggers when that creature is put on the stack as a spell (note how this is made abundantly clear by both of Emrakul's abilities referring specifically to spell). Using one of the cards in question, this never happens, so the controller will never get the benefits of a cast trigger by simply putting the creature into play.


In Catan, when a settlement breaks a road. Do the other existing roads sit there? or are they removed?

Looking at http://www.catan.com/service/game-rules I can't find the word 'displace' so i'm not sure exactly what rule you are referring to. So I will answer your question by explaining what would happen quoting the rules.

Building a settlement.

  You must meet 2 conditions when building a settlement: (1) Your
  settlement must always connect to 1 or more of your own roads. (2) You
  must observe the Distance Rule.

There is nothing there about removing roads from the map.

in the Longest Road section it states.

  You can break an opponent’s road by building a settlement on an
  unoccupied intersection along his road!

This might apply in the example you have given.  Your longest road length will no be either section A or B, depending which is longer.  There is nothing in the rules about removing roads from the map here either.


How does Mitotic Slime work with Devour?

Thromok the Insatiable, or other Devour card has a static ability that modifies how that permanent enters that battlefield. Mitotic Slime has a triggered ability, which means that if it triggers during the resolution of another spell or ability (such as Devour, placing the Mitotic Slime in the graveyard), it must wait until the next time any player would receive priority before being put on the stack and finally resolving when both players pass in succession.

Spells and abilities on the stack do not resolve immediately, so it would be impossible to sacrifice the Mitotic Slime and the tokens that it produces when the Die trigger resolves, before the Devour ability that initially caused the Die trigger finishes resolving. The Devour ability must finish resolving before any player receives priority.

  603.6e  Some permanents have text that reads "[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ," "As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ," "[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . ," or "[This permanent] enters the battlefield tapped." Such text is a static ability—not a triggered ability—whose effect occurs as part of the event that puts the permanent onto the battlefield.

  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. See rule 116, "Timing and Priority."

  116.2a  Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities.") However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 116.5.


What happen if I use cast out on my creature which is under my opponent's control and then cast out leaves the battlefield?

Yes, if the effect that changes control specifically affects the creature that was exiled.

You never actually move an object from one zone to another. It works more like a transporter, where the original object ceases to exist, and a new object is created at the new location (in a different zone).

Specifically, the creature that was exiled, the creature card in exile, and the creature that returns from exile are all completely different objects.[CR 400.7] Anything that specifically affected the exiled creature won't affect the creature that returned from exile since they are two completely different creatures (even though they are represented by the same physical card).

Since nothing affects the new object, it enters the battlefield as it always does: Under it's owner's control.[CR 110.2]

Note that continuous effects from static abilities (but not those created by the resolution of a spell or ability) applies at any given moment to whatever its text indicates.[CR 611.3a] So the static ability "Gain control of all white creatures" would affect the new creature if it's white, but the continuous effect created Kefnet's Last Word targetting the original creature would not affect the new creature.


Using the saving mechanism found in the rules, all exploration tiles except the one on which every explorer is standing are discarded. Any fire tokens on these discarded cards are also discarded. While the card on which the explorers are standing is saved rather than discarded, a fire token on that card is also discarded because the mechanism does not provide a means of saving its presence.

That said, the saving mechanism provided by the rules is meant to be quick and simple to use, and nothing stops you from using a more thorough saving mechanism. For example, you could store a fire in the dice bag to indicate there was a fire present on the explorer's tile. Or you could note the detailed state of the game (perhaps in the Cartographic Notebook add-on or this printable version (.pdf, 1.2 MB)) to perfectly restore the state of the game.


What does "starting life total" mean, and why do cards say that instead of saying a number?

The starting life total depends on the format. In the Vanguard format, each player can even have different starting life totals. Happily Ever After refers to the actual starting life total used in each game.
As you correctly noted, different formats can have different starting life totals. To keep Happily Ever After balanced for all possible formats, its template uses the generic "starting life total" instead of the 20 that the most common formats use.
Most formats have a defined starting life total. The Vanguard format has "20 plus the used Vanguard card starting life total modifier".
Except for the already mentioned, oversized Vanguard cards that are clearly recognizable as such and that are only legal in the Vanguard format, there are no cards in the game that can change a player's starting life total.

103.3. Each player begins the game with a starting life total of 20. Some variant games have different starting life totals.
103.3a In a Two-Headed Giant game, each team’s starting life total is 30.
103.3b In a Vanguard game, each player’s starting life total is 20 plus or minus the life modifier of their vanguard card.
103.3c In a Commander game, each player’s starting life total is 40.
103.3d In a two-player Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 25. In a multiplayer Brawl game, each player’s starting life total is 30.
103.3e In an Archenemy game, the archenemy’s starting life total is 40.


How does second edition farmer scoring work?

A city can be scored once per player, so in the given example, each player would receive 3 points.

I found the answer while combing through some threads on boardgamegeek.com, as well as in an answer to this other question.

From the other answer:

  A player can score for a single city one time, and only one time... no matter how many fields and farmers he has next to it.

And from bgg:

  German 2nd Ed:
  1) look at each city
  2) if a player has the most farmers in any one of the
  fields adjcent to the city he scores 3 points.

So it appears that while second edition does consider each field separately; it still scores city-by-city, as opposed to scoring farm-by-farm, and for each city multiple players might score the 3 points.


Axis and Allies 1942 SE First Turn Builds

Triple A First Turn Builds

I loaded up the game Triple A and tried a game with the Hard AI.  This is what the AI built:

Russia (24 IPC): 2 Infantry and 2 Artillery in Caucasus.  1 Infantry and 2 Artillery in Russia.
Germany (40 IPC): 7 Infantry, 5 Artillery.  1 Inf and 1 Art placed in Italy and the rest in Germany.
UK (30 IPC): 1 Infantry, 2 Artillery in India.  Carrier and transport in SZ7, Ireland.
Japan (30 IPC): 1 Armor in Japan.  1 Carrier and 1 Fighter in SZ60, Japan's East Coast.
USA (42 IPC): 1 Carrier, 1 Destroyer, 2 Fighters in SZ11, the US East Coast.

Are these the best generic builds?  I don't know.  Probably not.  I think a lot depends on the dice rolling in the first few rounds.  I would have expected both Japan and the US to build at least one transport.

Another Idea

After playing a few more times, this is what I would do.

Russia: Infantry and one or 2 artillery.  Always use all of your income.
Germany: Perhaps a sub or a bomber.  Perhaps another ship in the Med.  But mostly infantry and some artillery.
UK: If your fleet got annihilated, you may just want to build 3 ground units in India and SAVE the remainder for a giant fleet build on your next turn.
Japan: You need to get ground units into Asia.  Transports and maybe a factory on a 3 production territory that is as close as possible to Moscow.  Don't forget to build ground units to fill each transport.  You don't need more naval pieces yet, since you have superiority in the Pacific.
USA: Build a fleet in the Atlantic on the first turn.  Once you have naval superiority in the Atlantic, pump out transports and ground units on subsequent turns.


Is there any limitation with Chimeratech Overdragon and Future fusion?

In fact, that combination doesn't have any restrictions, but notice that, at the moment you summon Chimeratech Overdragon (aka CO), all cards you control (including Future Fusion) are send to the GY, destroying CO.

To prevent this, you can protect Future Fusion, like having a Cyber Phoenix in the field.

And note that, CO can attack X (X = number of banned monsters) times only to monsters or 1 time directly, not both.

Card Ruling: Chimeratech Overdragon

Edit:

I play a Cyber Dragon deck too, and, it has some combos well taken like summon Cyber Dragon Infinity in one turn, but also some useless in the consistence of summoning any Fusion monster with ?Atk/?Def with Fusion Bond (gives you a monster with 0 ATK /0 DEF)

Also, it's a good idea to have Jizukiru, The Star Destruction Kaiju to ride off some annoying monsters in the field and summon Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.

For the tricky mecanics, you can read the rulings off each card and their interactions with the same archetype and nearest/closest cards, or try with and emulator like YGO Pro.


Yes, you will be able to cast Blink of an Eye in that sequence. The current step/phase does end when both players pass in succession, but whenever a spell or ability resolves, both players again receive priority, starting with the active player.
The stack resolves one object at a time. After each resolution, there is a new round of priority that each player has to pass before the next object resolves or, when the stack is empty, the step/phase ends. Rule 500.2 also mentions this.

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
116.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
500.2. A phase or step in which players receive priority ends when the stack is empty and all players pass in succession. Simply having the stack become empty doesn’t cause such a phase or step to end; all players have to pass in succession with the stack empty. Because of this, each player gets a chance to add new things to the stack before that phase or step ends.

So the sequence of play is:

Your opponent casts Contaminated Ground and retains priority because of 116.3c.
Opponent passes, and you tap the island for mana; this action doesn't use stack because it's a mana ability. Then you pass.
Contaminated Ground resolves and turns your tapped Island into a Swamp. You have {U} in your mana pool. Your opponent receives priority because of 116.3b
Your opponent passes priority to you. You play Blink of an Eye targeting Contaminated Ground. You retain priority because of 116.3c
Both players pass, Blink resolves, and your opponent gains priority.
Your opponent could for example cast Contaminated Ground again, or pass priority.
When both players pass with the stack empty, the game advances to the next step/phase.


Yes, that combo would work to win you the game.

Jace, Cunning Castaway's -5 ability and Doubling Season would allow you to create an arbitrary number of Jace copies. Those Jaces that didn't use an ability yet this turn can activate their +1 ability, and all of them would trigger on your combat damage. With Laboratory Maniac under your control and more Jace +1 triggers than cards in your library, you would win as soon as the (n+1)-th trigger has resolved.


Playing a basic Goren system the Redouble (of a Take-Out Double of an opening 1 of a suit bid) shows a hand of 10+ points. It tends to show a balanced hand as it suggests that Opener Double the escape by 4th hand if it is into a good 5-card  suit (or 4-card suit at the two level) in his hand, otherwise pass. It also tends to deny good support in Opener's suit for the same reason, as with a good fit Opener's side may find more profit in a Game contract than in penalizing the opponents.

The more strength there is in Redoubler's hand the more likely that it is short in Opener's suit, again because the likely profit in a penalty double increases from the potential mis-fit.

With sound support for Opener's suit the modern tendency is to make a pre-emptive raise: to the 2-level with 4-6 HCP and good 3-card support and the three level with 7-9 HCP and either a side-singleton or 4-card support and a doubleton.

For the situation you described Fourth hand should have taken out the redouble: You scored a nice profit considering the opponents can probably make 8 or 9 tricks in a major themselves.


Ticket to ride: What is the math behind the point values of city pairs?

The point value of tickets, as far as I can tell, in the minimum number of trains needed to link the two cities.

I wont explain all of them as you can check your self but here are a few examples to show what I mean.

Denver to El Paso ticket is 4 points.  The shortest route is Denver to Santa Fe (2) to El Paso (2) totaling 4.

Boston to Miami ticket is 12 Points.  The shortest route is Boston to New York (2) to Washington (2) to Raleigh (2) to Charlston (2) to Miami (4) which totals 12.

Seatle to New York is 22 points.  The shorted route is Seatle to Helena (6) to Dululth (6) to Toronto (6) to Pittsburgh (2) to New York (2) totaling 22.

This works as far as I can tell for all other tickets and in my experience all other TTR games.  There may be a few exceptions but if designing your own map then this seems to be the standard formula.


How Can One Create Game Balance Axis and Allies WWI?

The standard way to create balance in Axis & Allies is to use secret bidding. For example, bid an amount of money that Germany would get extra at the start of the first round of the game (the one bidding lowest gets to play Germany).

For example, two players bid in secret.  Player A bids 20 and player B bids 25.  This means Player A gets to play the Axis and that Germany gets an additional 20 IPC the first round.  The rest of the game unfolds as normal and Germany does not get additional money in later rounds.

The upside with this bidding is that nobody can complain that the game was not balanced any longer (if they thought differently they should have bid differently).