Second line invasion of two-space extension

The 2 space extension is generally regarded as very hard to cut and thus solid, providing at least 1 eye with various options to gain a lot more eyespace easily.

However, invasions and attacks are still possible. The B1 move in your diagram is actually a standard invasion with the marked black stone around.

$$cm1 A possible invasion of two-space extension
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . Q X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . O . . O . . Q X . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

Influence

One usual aim of this move is to either create center influence like this:

$$cm1 Influence, part 1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 2 1 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B 9 W 3 6 W . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . 5 4 8 . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 7 . . . . . . . . . . |

.

$$Wcm1 Influence, part 2
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . 4 O X 3 . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B X W X O W . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . 2 X O O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 1 X . . . . . . . . . . |

(B9 and the atari may be different on certain boards.)

$$Wcm1 Influence, result
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . X O . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B X W . O W . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . X X O O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X . . . . . . . . . . |

This can be good depending on the global situation. Of course, white gets super strong, so black should only consider this if there is no useful attack on the 2 space extension anyway and the center is important.

Base robbing

Another idea is to use this invasion to steal eyespace and gain some territory. It is usual if there is a black stone on either side of the extension.

$$cm1 Base robbing, simple variation
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . a 1 3 b . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . W 2 4 W . B . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

A and B are miai to connect the stones out, so black can consider an outside move to attack - or he can firmly link up his 2 stones to either side to rid white of any sente moves near the edge.

This way, white ends up with a solid, but eyeless group with good center access. Depending on the board, this can be good for either player.

$$cm1 Base robbing, white resistance
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 2 1 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . W . . W . B . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

However, white may think about resisting like this. this move can be good, but usually black 1 is only played if black can follow up like this:

$$cm1 Base robbing, black counter
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O X . 1 a . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . W c b W . B . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . d . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

A and B are miai now, so the black stones are out and white has a weaker shape than by playing C to begin with. In some cases, black plays the B-D exchange before B1.

$$Bcm1 White resistance, another idea
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X 2 . O . . O . X . . X . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . X . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

Sometimes, white can try a kind-of-sente move instead of replying directly. If black answers the move, white can play more aggressively against the invasion stone. If black follows up the invasion, an exchange could take place. This should be considered carefully before invading at 1.

Depending on the board, white may dislike the invasion on the second line, and thus plays a tobi to strengthen her group:

$$Wcm1 Defend
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . e . . . . . . d . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . W . . W . B . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . X . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . a b c 1 . . . . . . . . |

Any of A, B, C are thinkable just as well, and in some cases a tsuke at D or E is reasonable, too. This requires some reading, as D and E tend to lead to a huge exchange.

By the way, keep in mind that base robbing can be beneficial to white on certain boards. That's one of the reasons white, instead of the second line invasion, an attack at black 1 or a is usual in this shape, too, as well as moves on top of B or C.

Actual game

In the actual game, white had some extra stones to the right, which changes the situation significantly.

$$cm1 Simple answer
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 3 1 4 . . . Q X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B 5 O 2 . O . . Q X . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . X , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

White could simply answer at W2, connecting firmly. Black cannot play 3 at 4 because then white would play 3 and thanks to the white stones on the right, black dies inside.

Thus black has to connect out, allowing white to get a reasonable shape with the tiger mouth at 4 in sente. Black 5 is played on the third instead of the second line because it has far greater influence on the center and the strength of the white group.

$$cm1 Strong answer
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . 2 1 . 5 . . Q X . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . B . O . 3 O 6 . Q X . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . 4 . . . . X , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

White can also consider the strong-hand descend at 2, blocking the connection out. Black will play 3 and 5, to which white avoids the self-destructing reply to the right of 5 and instead simply nobis at 6. Black is now forced to find a way to connect out or live locally  - I'll leave the tsumego as an exercise for the reader.

Related joseki shape

$$cm1 Simple answer
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . B . O . . O 3 . X . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . X . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |

In this very common joseki shape white is supposed to have a very solid group with enough eyespace to be difficult to attack. However, with the marked black stone in place, the invasion of B1 is an astonishing threat. The details are too long to list here, but if white blocks at 2, black will play the tesuji of 3 and it is very hard for white to find an answer that doesn't lose half the group, base, and yose.

Answering your further questions

  Question 3: How strong is the two-space extension? In the initial situation where black
  invades at 1, what is the best white can expect to get?

The 2 space extension is stable. It is not alive locally, it is not strong, but it is stable in the sense of being connected and thus difficult to fiendishly attack. Prefer this extension when you don't like the idea of being split.

$$Wcm1 Solid
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . X . . . . a 1 b . O . X . . . |
$$ | . . X , . . . . . c . . . . . , X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |

For instance, in this shape, a wide extension to A would immediately be invaded at B. White could think about playing 1 at C, aiming for a light shape, but that offers a range of difficult to handle invasions that you need to be comfortable with.

Also, leep in mind that "killing" is not always the best answer to moves that are either unusual or bad. Sometimes letting the opponent live is the best punishment. Remember the idea of the sacrifice in the 'influence' section of this answer - in that case, maybe just go for center influence (connect instead of block) when the center is of more value.

And contrarily, you'll be astonished how much dan players hate living sometimes. I remember a high dan friend of mind talking about a game he played against a pro: "I lived everywhere by crawling on the second line. It was atrocious, I could not find a good way to die."

  Question 4: I found myself at quite a lack of knowledge when it comes to defending
  such non-standard attacks, however, most resources (like SL) only cover the
  typical attacks. Is it worthwhile to invest a lot of time into learning how to deal
  with strange attacks? Or should one expect to get this simply by experience?

Midgame joseki as those presented in this answer are very useful. Either learn them by playing tons of games and remembering the best shapes, or look them up in books. I remember there was a pretty thorough discussion of the 2 space extension in "Shape up!" by  Charles Matthews. Eventually, as a dan player, you'll be forced to remember them from study though since (at least Western) books rarely cover deep variations for specific boards or new inventions.


Do multiple encounters combine for craft?

I am assuming 4th edition (Fantasy Flight Games) here.

For the two cases you laid out:

If there are two Craft enemies on the same space, then according to the rules as written, their craft scores would be combined. The rules for Psychic Combat (combat using Craft) are literally Ctrl-C Ctrl-V the rules for Battles (combat using Strength), and then find-replace "Strength" with "Craft". So, yes, that rule does apply for encountering two enemies that attack with Craft.
If a Craft enemy and a Strength enemy are on the same space, both enemies are fought separately (one in Battle, one in Psychic Combat). The lower encounter number is fought first, then the other.


Haunt 42 - How does the traitor attack the [spoiler]?

The Traitor's tome intentionally doesn't cover the [spoiler]

That's up for the Heroes to let the traitor know. The Secret's of survival book has all the rules for

   attacking the statue.

Here's the relevant bits from the Secrets of Survival book:

   Once the Statue animates, it remains in whatever state it transformed into for the rest of the game. When the Statue has been animated, tell the traitor what form it has taken.
 If the traitor attacks the Statue and defeats it, it isn’t stunned. Instead, the Statue can’t lower an ability during its next turn. The Statue can still be moved to follow the traitor.

So this is how it works:

   The traitor can attack the Statue normally, and the heroes should let the traitor know so when it animates. The traitor attacks with the default might, and the statue defends with might, as normal in any combat - unless an item says differently (like The Ring allows you to attack with Sanity). The Statue's attributes are 8 for everything (Speed, Might, Sanity and Knowledge) and it defends with the appropriate attribute for the attack.


Cargo Noir: How to prevent Macao Black Market from going stale

I've found that experienced players make more and better use of the market. Make a few decent grabs from it your next game, and players will start making use of it.

It is a matter of pointing out that a market draw allows an almost assured increase of a set, with no cash outlay. The value of this is minimal in early rounds, but once one is holding 4+ of a type, if a 5th is in Macao, it's worth getting.

As an aside, I played Tuesday last. The other players ignored the 3 wilds that started in the market until I grabbed two of them. Too little, too late; they were masters at bidding, and have a rather unpleasant tendency to gang up on whomever happens to have brought a game. I was unable to win an auction until turn 4... and came in 2nd of 4.


Can non-rule-specified items be used to mark information that is shared but closed?

Is there anything that disallows or allows or even requires markers to be used to indicate which of a group of facedown cards previously had a particular identity?

A player must ensure at all times that their face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other, but a physical marker is not necessarily required to do so. If just one card needs to be tracked, its controller could say "I'm going to keep the one you've seen on the side by itself."

707.6. If you control multiple face-down spells or face-down permanents, you must ensure at all times that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other. This includes, but is not limited to, knowing what ability or rules caused the permanents to be face down, the order spells were cast, the order that face-down permanents entered the battlefield, which creature(s) attacked last turn, and any other differences between face-down spells or permanents. Common methods for distinguishing between face-down objects include using counters or dice to mark the different objects, or clearly placing those objects in order on the table.

(Emphasis mine.)

Even further, is the player allowed to place markers on cards under the opponent's control to assist in tracking these previously known identities?

I can't find anything that would allow this serious breach of gaming etiquette in the rules (Comprehensive or Tournament). People can be very picky about their physical area of control, and that should be respected.
If the identification is truly unclear, you may request that the identification be made clearer (bringing in a judge if necessary), but you can't mandate the use of a specific scheme.
If you are having problems keeping track of everything, keep in mind that you may take notes.

2.11 Taking Notes
Players are allowed to take written notes during a match and may refer to those notes while that match is in progress.


This is legal because Sharktocrab is applying two unrelated effects to the same creature.

Sharktocrab reads:

  Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on Sharktocrab, tap target creature an opponent controls. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.

The first thing to note is the targeting restrictions. "Target creature an opponent controls" means that any creature your opponent controls can be targeted, regardless of its other characteristics.

Then you do two things to the target creature: you tap it, and you prevent it from untapping.  But the "freeze" effect isn't dependent on the tap effect.  They are just both applied.  In the case of the tap effect, it will have no effect on already tapped creatures.  But the freeze effect gets applied anyways.


The enchantment creatures you flickered will enter the battlefield as enchantment creatures in both cases.

The static ability of Starfield of Nyx creates a continuous, type-changing effect. As such, it works as soon as the permanent it changes enters the battlefield. As long as the condition is fulfilled, enchantments including themselves enter the battlefield as creatures and trigger Soul Warden.

Note that Soul Warden would be triggered even if Starfield's condition is only fulfilled with their own presence, e.g. if you flicker the 2 Starfields and control only 3 other enchantments.

  603.6b Continuous effects that modify characteristics of a permanent do so the moment the permanent is on the battlefield (and not before then). The permanent is never on the battlefield with its unmodified characteristics. [..]


Ticket to Ride house rule to help players with short destination tickets

The goal in TTR is not "complete the cards you're given", it's "get the most points". There are plenty of ways to do this with short routes (e.g. by focusing on building only length 4+, not going for longest route, and picking the spots where everyone wants to go).

If no one in your group wants to adjust their play style to match the cards they're dealt, then you obviously don't want to play the game as intended. A rule change might be an outcome, but this perceived unfairness might be part of the process of getting to know the game mechanics.

  I (...) thought a good idea might be to allow a player to draw a new ticket after completing a mission

This rule comes with a drawback. You would have to show your completed routes, which is something you would normally do at the end of the game. I would not recommend this as it would upset yet another part of the game.


No, the Zombie Lord is not a zombie.

As you said, logically he wouldn't be a zombie, because if he was they would just say kill the zombie lord for the requirements for winning the game (page 25)

Additionally, the rules for that haunt remind you that the Holy Symbol that affects all Zombies, doesn't affect the Zombie Lord:

  If you have the Holy Symbol, all Zombies who make Might attacks against you roll two fewer dice. (This doesn't affect the Zombie Lord.)

It hasn't been confusion for many other players, so no additional information appears in the FAQ, or on BGG regarding the Zombie Lord.


This question seems to be answered in the comments:
@AdamP I had trouble finding your reference but Faro or Pharaoh seems to be close.


Does Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker tap with his +1?

Yes, you'll tap him to attack, like any other creature. The same goes for any other planeswalker that's presently a creature (unless it has vigilance, as you've noticed), such as Gideon Jura — being creatures, they'll follow any of the usual rules for creatures.

This also means that when he returns to being a plain old planeswalker, he'll be tapped. Planeswalkers can be tapped! There's nothing saying planeswalkers can't be tapped. He'll untap at your next untap step, just like any other permanent.


Is Consume-Trade on Alpha Centauri always a good start?

Consume/trade is always a safe opening play with Alpha Centauri.  It's never going to be a bad thing to do.  More generally, trading when your hand won't overflow and you have a worthwhile good is often a solid play, regardless of whether it's the first turn.  But here are some situations in which you might want to delay the first turn trade as Alpha Centauri.

If you have a development that will let you place a military world and have no otherwise settleable worlds, you might want to call develop so you don't miss the settle.

If you have a pair of cheap worlds to settle in a two player advanced game, you might want to call settle/settle to try and get the worlds down and catch your opponents off guard.

With the first expansion, there is a goal worth 5 points that requires having the most developments, and there is also a new start world (Ancient Race) that starts with only 3 cards.  You might want to call a first turn develop to put card pressure on Ancient Race, so you can get ahead or make them flush their hand to keep up in the development race.


Catching an illegal move too late in Castles of Burgundy

We frequently play games for the first time and as a result often get the rules wrong. Our solution to this problem, when we realise a rules infraction too late to reasonably unwind it, is to continue the game allowing all players to repeat the error - so we're all playing on a level playing field.

I.e. in your case continue the game but let other players place two of the same building into an area for the rest of that game.


What happens if we run out of terrain tiles?

The rules don't specify what happens, but Helge Ostertag, one of the designers for Terra Mystica answered in this thread on Board Game Geek that yes, the terrain tiles are meant to be unlimited, so if you run out of terrain tiles you are still allowed to terraform.


Does the Well Stocked improvement apply to epidemic infections?

If the Well Stocked city has 2 supply cubes and is the bottom card of the Infection deck during an Epidemic, you will not remove any cubes.

On page 13 of the rulebook (emphasis mine):

  Infect: Draw the bottom card from the  Infection deck. Remove all the Supply cubes  from that city and put them in the stockpile.  (Do not add Plague cubes if the city has no  Supply cubes.)

Well Stocked applies any time that city is drawn from the Infection deck, and step 2 of an Epidemic is a draw effect. The exact wording indicates you won't remove any supplies cubes. Users on BGG agree here and here.

Edit: The BGG threads reference the back page of the manual, which makes this explicit (emphasis mine):

  Infection improvements are in effect during:

  Game set up
  The Infect step during an Epidemic
  The Infect step at the end of every player turn


Can you get actions in another players turn with Hidden Ninja and Chronomage?

In the "Void Where Prohibited" section of the rules it says "If you get to play extra minions or actions while a base is being scored, you must play those extra cards immediately or not at all" which means that you DO get to play the extra card from the Chronomage, but only if you play it immediately.  You can't wait to see if other cards get played first.

While it may seem weird to be able to play actions during other people's turns, this ruling has been confirmed by an AEG rep here.


Can I untap Nettle Drone in the untap step?

You are correct. All permanents will always untap during the untap step UNLESS a continuous effect stops them from untapping. This continuous effect could come from

its own static ability (e.g. Basalt Monolith),
another object's static ability stops (e.g. Arena of the Ancients), or
a non-static ability (e.g. Frost Lynx).

Nettle Drone's triggered ability lets you untap it when you cast a colourless spell in addition to the normal conditions where it would untap (that is, during your untap step).


Do you place the fairy before or after scoring a completed road/city/cloister?

According to the rules:

  Whenever a player places no follower on his turn, he may, instead, place the fairy on any tile where he has one of his followers.

It seems that fairy placement takes the place of follower placement, and happens at the same time. Since follower placement happens before scoring, you place the fairy before scoring the completed feature


Yes, the will work normally. Blood Moon only changes the subtype to mountain, it doesn't add the supertype "basic". "Mountain" as a card name and "mountain" as a subtype of land are different things.
Urbog will have no effect. Urbog will be turned into a mountain, so it will lose its ability to make other lands into swamps. Urbog's effect depends on Blood Moon effect because of rule 613.7a, so Blood Moon effect is always applied first, and Urbog's ability is lost.
Yes, that mana is added because of Wild Growht's ability. Blood Moon doesn't affect it.
Awaken the Ancient can be played on a non basic land if Blood Moon is in the battlefield. If Blood Moon leaves the battlefield, Awaken the Ancient will be put in the graveyard (unless the original land had the moutain subtype, like Stomping Ground).
Yes, the lands still have the extra ability granted by Abundant Growth.


Can Dash from Fate Reforged be used at instant speed?

The official rules are not out yet, but my guess is no. The templating on the reminder text strongly suggests that "Dash" will function as an alternative cost that does not affect when you can cast a spell. In this regard, it would be similar to the "Evoke" mechanic.

For creatures with flash, you would be able to "Dash" at instant-speed (similar to Briarhorn)


How does Decommission (and Revolt) work with multiple permanents leaving the battlefield?

You gain exactly 3 life no matter how many of your permanents left the battlefield this turn (as long as it's at least one).

Your confusion as you describe it comes down to: "I expect this wording means {thing}. But if it really meant {thing} I'd expect it to use this other wording instead." Confusion like that is often a warning flag you've misread the card, and ought to check it again. MTG cards mean exactly what they say — if it meant "for each permanent" it'd say so.

The Aether Revolt Release Notes state the following under the heading New Ability Word: Revolt:

  Revolt abilities check only whether a permanent you controlled left the battlefield this turn or not. They don’t apply multiple times if more than one permanent you controlled left the battlefield. They don’t check whether the permanent that left the battlefield is still in the zone it moved to.


Auction of mortgaged properties during bankruptcy

Since the "no trading/selling" rule is your own house rule, you're going to have to determine this yourself.
My own opinion is that you should probably allow the auctioning off of mortgaged property.
Why? Because the only thing the standard rules say you can't sell is improved properties (property with houses/hotels). It explicitly allows the selling/trading of mortgaged property, after which the "interest" on the mortgage comes due.
From the offical Hasbro rules book (pdf):

SELLING PROPERTY… Unimproved properties, railroads and utilities (but not buildings) may be sold to any player as a private transaction for any amount the owner can get; however, no property can be sold to another player if buildings are standing on any properties of that color-group.

and later under "Mortgages":

The player who mortgages property retains possession of it and no other player may secure it by lifting the mortgage from the Bank. However, the owner may sell this mortgaged property to another player at any agreed price. If you are the new owner, you may lift the mortgage at once if you wish by paying off the mortgage plus 10% interest to the Bank.  If the mortgage is not lifted at once, you must pay the Bank 10% interest when you buy the property and if you lift the mortgage later you must pay the Bank an additional 10% interest as
well as the amount of the mortgage.

So since your "bank auction" is your house-rule substitute for selling directly, it only makes sense to maintain the same conditions, and allow auctioning of mortgaged property.


How do the expansions for Carcassonne change the game?

Abbey & Mayor

Introduces 6 "joker" abbey tiles. Six Mayor meeples, one for each player. Twelve new landscape tiles. Six wagon pieces, one for each player. And six barns, one for each player.

Wagons allow you to move from a road to an open city tile if you complete the road. This allows you to claim something new without using an extra turn.

The Mayor meeple can only be used on a city tile, and counts for an extra follower for every shield found on a city tile.

The six Abbey tiles allow you to fill a gap between a cross of tiles. It has to be surrounded from top, bottom, left, and right (diagonal is not necessary).

The barns allow you claim a farm on any corner where 4 green fields connect. Any farmers present on the farms at this point will get returned to their owners, and normal scoring rules will apply. The barn will remain, however, and score 4 points for each city at game end.

I think Abbey & Mayor has the most impact of all the expansion packs.

One of challenges of Carcassone was farming. Farming was a critical component to winning. But committing too many farmers, and getting into a farm-war early on, was quite expensive. You would lose many of your meeples until game end, which prevents you from using them at a critical junction later in the game. Striking the right balance between farming and other objectives was critical.

The barn invalidates this and allows you to be more reckless in the beginning to get a "point rush" until your farmers are eventually returned to you, freeing them up for other uses. Personally I'm not a fan of this feature; it places far too much emphasis on luck, and being the first to connect a barn is the most advantageous. This alters the beginning of the game where it's a race to farm and place a barn.

The Mayor meeple changes game fundamentals too. For every shield the Mayor meeple counts as an extra follower. This does make for interesting cut-throat gameplay. The game becomes far more aggressive where everyone is actively trying to steal others' cities.

This is also something I'm not pleased with. I feel, over all, the Abbey & Mayor shifts the balance of the game to a far more aggressive posture, and this could be annoying to some as they will rarely be left alone and must respond to aggression on every turn instead of trying to play their game.

Finally, the "joker" card, or Abbey tile, I feel is a cheap "get out of jail" card for the player, and invalidates some of your strategy if you like blocking your opponents while you work on your own objectives.

I am extremely competitive but I feel the game already has a fantastic balance with other expansions (Inns & Cathedrals, Builders & Traders) and this expansion just tips it a bit too far. My friends like this and as such I play this expansion very often.

Inns & Cathedrals

Introduces 18 new landscape tiles, and six large followers. The new tiles include two special cathedral tiles.

The landscape tiles now include Inns, which, if the road gets completed, let you score two points for each tile instead of one. This is a nice feature as it adds more value to road tiles, and shifts some of the emphasis from city building to road building. These tiles come with the added risk of, if they're not completed, not receiving any points for them. I think this is a nice feature in terms of risk/reward. It's very cool to watch others trying to join your long road that has an Inn for a share of the spoils!

Cathedrals applies the same concept to city building. The reward in this case is three points for each completed city tile, and no points for an incomplete city. This is fascinating because you can use cathedral tiles offensively to prevent opponents from earning points on their cities.

The large follower, which counts for two followers, is also intriguing since it presents you with a chance to steal your opponents points by taking over their cities, farms, or roads. You now have an incentive to be aggressive, whereas in the original Carcassone such insidious plotting required more careful planning and an extra turn to place two followers.

If you include Abbey & Mayor such strategies are somewhat mitigated since the Mayor will likely trump a large follower (the Mayor can only be used on a city tile). The Abbey, or "joker" card, will go some way to allow a player to complete their feature even if you strived to make this task difficult.

Traders & Builders

Introduces 24 more landscape tiles. Twenty trade good tokens (9 barrels, 6 grain, and 5 cloth). Six pig meeples, and six builder meeples.

The pig meeple is a great addition. It allows your to earn 1 additional point for every city connected to a farm. You must already have a farmer on the farm in order to place the pig.

The builder meeple is a fantastic addition and changes the gameplay substantially. You can add your builder to any city or road with a follower. On your next turn, if you can add to your city or road, you get an extra turn immediately for a maximum of two turns.

This is great because it adds an element of risk that plays into the largest part of the expansion: The trade goods. Each of the new added tiles has an icon denoting a trade good. The player who closes a city, irrespective of the owner, gets to keep whatever trade good tokens are denoted on the city tiles. If you close a city with two tiles that have barrels on them, for example, you get two barrel tokens. This is exciting because having a builder on a city gives you an extra turn that increases your chances of completing your city and gaining the tokens.

Whoever has the most of each token by game end earns 10 points for each type. If you have the most barrel and cloth tokens you gain an additional 20 points to your total.

This adds an incentive to close your opponents cities if you deem it beneficial to you, or damaging to your most threatening opponents. Closing a city with trade goods could deny your opponents points, or/and help you earn more points, or match their number of trade good tokens, thus invalidating their advantage. A lot of thought can be applied to how you manage this feature of the game.

I haven't played any of the other expansions, but I know of Tower, River II, Count, King & Cult, Princess & Dragon, Wheel of Fortune. I will give Tower a try this week and update my answer.

That said, of all of those I think the Count sounds most fascinating and will likely change gameplay drastically. It includes a separate set of pre-numbered tiles that must be assembled to create a castle. Your followers presence in the castle now and other events that take place on this castle now influence gameplay and scoring.


Can I borrow money from a player in Monopoly Deal game?

This is probably not allowed, but even if it was it would be unnecessary. From the Rules Card:

  If you have no cards in front of you to pay with, you don't pay at all!

So even if it were possible to borrow, why would you want to take on a debt when you could avoid paying by simply having no money in front of you?


A opening bid of 1Club if followed by 1Diamond

For the time being we would assume you are playing a Green system similar to SAYC.

There are mainly 3 ways of responding to a natural / semi-natural (2+) non-forcing 1C opening:

Up-the-line: You bid your 5-card suits if you have one. Otherwise you simply bid your lowest 4-card suit. Under this method, a 1D opening does NOT deny holding a 4-card Major - you may have zero, one or two 4-card Majors. Say you hold: 963 KJ87 QJ53 A8 , you will usually respond 1D. Opener may either raise, bid his own 4-card Major, rebid Clubs or just bid 1NT. This is very natural and practically does not require extra gadgets.
Walsh: You always bypass any length in Diamond in favour of a Major suit response, unless you hold game-forcing value. Therefore hands like 9 KJ87 QJT753 Q8 are still responded with a 1H, despite you holding much longer Diamond. This has the advantage of letting you find any 4-4 Major fits half a round earlier, but at the cost of bidding space: you are making a higher-level response (1M consumes more bidding space than 1D) which does not contain more information (Under this scheme, 1M response happens more often than 1D) than a lower response.
Transfer Walsh: In order to solve the dilemma between MAFIA (MAjor FIrst Always) and bidding space consumption, Transfer Walsh is designed. You bid 1D to show Hearts, 1H to show Spades and 1S to show Diamond or other minor-oriented hands. This keeps your bidding low while at the same time allowing you to prioritize showing Majors. However, this needs extra agreements with your partner about continuations, and your partnership must be able to cope with interference.

Therefore in response to your question:

Q1: ... shows no [4-card] Major...

A1: Not necessarily. Given your question suggesting 1D denying Major, I assume you are playing Method 2. It usually denies 4-card Major, but only usually, not always. A scenario that you can still hold 4-card Major is that you have game-forcing values and your Diamond is worth mentioning, e.g. x AQxx KQJxxx Qx . You can respond 1D first, and upon opener rebidding 1NT you can reverse into 2H, or if he bids 1S you can make a XYZ or 4SF to further investigate into an ideal game or slam.

Q2: ... and 6-7 points...

A2: No, suit responses are unlimited. Your next call will most likely reveal what strength your hand has. A weak hand will pass, make a preference or rebid his own suit, a stronger hand will move on to game or make forcing bids to find out more about opener's hand.


The official mahjong rules do not allow for "cross" bets by players on each other, or by outside parties on or against players.

Now this lady may have been playing by "house" rules in "her" games. But those rules do not apply to your table unless you all agree to them.


This is just off the top of my head, but if the issue you're having is that someone needs to be 'stuck' there, then how about giving everyone a special action to skip their whole turn to "radio the driver" to take the action.  This way, effectively, any player can be it without having to be in the truck, and people can take turns.   Try it out, and if it makes the game easier use the game's built in difficulty modification to re-adjust it harder.


Does Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder's cascading reoccur with cascaded spells?

This is a common mistake and misreading with Yidris. His ability says:

  as you cast spells from your hand this turn, they gain cascade.

When you cascade into another card to cast it for free, that new card is not cast from your hand; it is cast from exile. This means it will not be given cascade by Yidris. Normally each card you cast from your hand grants you just one extra card and no more.

You'll cast a card from your hand.
You'll find one new card while cascading through your library, cast that one from exile. It isn't given cascade, so you'll be done here.

... unless you happened to find a card that did have cascade in its own rules text. (In Yidris's preconstructed deck this will be Etherium-Horn Sorcerer, Bloodbraid Elf, or Bituminous Blast.) You'll cascade again, but that's because of the card itself, not because of Yidris.

Your spells will resolve in reverse order: the one you cascaded down to most recently resolves first, and the one you actually originally cast from your hand resolves last.

If you cast a second card from your hand, you'll repeat this process again, getting one (but probably only one) new card from your cascading.


No. State based actions are checked after a spell is completely resolved. By that time, Tarfire is already in the graveyard. Tarfire counts as both a Tribal and an Instant, and so Tarmagoyf is a 2/3.


Will Eidolon of Rhetoric also prevent Cipher from working in the same turn as another spell?

They cannot cast the ciphered spell because they've already cast a spell. Rule 101.2 says

  When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.

The cipher ability allows the player to cast a spell, and Eidolon of Rhetoric says that they can't cast any spells after their first each turn. So, Eidolon prevents them from casting the spell.

From the Cipher rules, as long as the card is encoded on a creature, that creature has an ability that says

  Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may copy this card and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.

So, when the creature deals damage to a player, the player can make a copy of the spell, and then they can cast the spell just like they would cast any other spell except that when they pay the cost, they don't have to pay the mana cost. This spell is affected by Eidolon of Rhetoric, just like any other spell


Mtg Combo (Commander): Would it work? Rhys, the Redeemed

The 'combo'1 will work as you expect. The initial token is created without being legendary and all copies of that will share that feature.

From the Gatherer's rulings on Helm of Hosts:

  The token isn't legendary, and this exception is copiable. If something else copies the token later, that copy also won't be legendary...

1: Opinion time: I don't think I'd call it a combo on account of it not winning the game on the spot or going infinite and needing elfball-tier mana (a few more cards, like Altar of the Brood, would seal the deal but that's beyond the scope of this question).


Is it always better to play a knight immediately?

Simple answer is no, it is not always in your best interest to immediately play a knight when you get one.  In all truth I would say that it is better to hold onto it for a while unless the robber is currently in a position that is hurting you. By holding onto it you accomplish two things, first you keep protection for yourself allowing you to move the robber if it moves to a bad place for you. Second it allows you some time to make sure you optimize use of the card.  And lastly if the robber is in a place that hurts your opponents and not you that is great reason to not play the knight.


Does Eclipse under-estimate the game length, or are we playing it incredibly slowly?

I think games companies often estimate the time based on players who know the game. My first few plays of a game will often run long compared to the estimated time on the box, but my tenth, fiftieth or hundredth play will often come in around the box estimate (or less).

Eclipse is a big game with lots of things to take account of (various technologies, balancing your empires, etc.). I'd expect your first five or ten plays to require extra thinking time while you get to grips with it.


moving backwards into a safety zone in the game Sorry

No, you cannot. From the rules, under the "Safety Zone" section:

  No pawn may enter its SAFETY ZONE by a backward move; however, a pawn may move backward out of its SAFETY ZONE and on subsequent turns move back into the ZONE as cards permit.


I don't really understand how the expansions/data packs work in android netrunner

Big Box expansions are deluxe expansions, those terms are synonymous. There are only 4 of these and they will always be tournament legal. Their structure focuses on specific factions (e.g., the first only pertained to HB and Shaper, with some neutral cards).

Data packs come in "cycles" of 6 packs, which cover all the factions and have an overarching theme (usually in terms of story or mechanics).  We are currently on cycle 5 (the Mumbad cycle).  At some point in the future, the first two cycles will rotate out of competitive play but that won't be for at least a year or two. If you are just playing casually, this won't affect you.

No matter what you buy, you can find information on which cards are available in each pack online.  All packs should be available at your FLGS.

Unlike with some of FFG's other LCGs (e.g., for Lord of the Rings each deluxe expansion is necessary to play with the following adventure packs, but this is rare for the LCG model), in Netrunner you can pull cards from any expansion you want for your deck - so there is no need to buy everything unless you are a completionist (like many of us). This is what FFG meant in the above quote - you can play a Criminal deck without purchasing Honor & Profit (the big box expansion that features Criminal cards) - however, in most cases, the big boxes yield some great cards and are worth the investment!

As a practical tip, you can browse netrunnerdb.com for decks, and when viewing one that strikes your fancy, click Sort above the decklist and choose "By Set".  That will tell you where all the cards for that particular list can be found.

Good luck and have fun!


Does transforming keyrunes count towards Evolve?

No, Evolve triggers on creatures entering the battlefield, and the Keyrune must necessarily be on the the battlefield to use its ability.

Changing an object's characteristics (power, toughenss, type, etc) does not cause it to enter or leave the battlefield.

  702.99a Evolve is a triggered ability. “Evolve” means “Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature’s power is greater than this creature’s power and/or that creature’s toughness is greater than this creature’s toughness, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.”


Carcassonne: placing the fairy before or after the dragon hunts?

When you reveal a dragon tile, you place the tile, then place a meeple (or move the fairy), then the dragon moves.
Moving the fairy replaces a meeple placement, and you may place a meeple before the dragon moves. From the German rules

Der Drache (12 Karten)
Sobald eine Karte mit einem Drachen aufgedeckt wird, legt der Spieler sie wie gewohnt an und darf einen Gefolgsmann darauf setzen. Dann wird das Spiel kurz unterbrochen – der Drache zieht!
The Dragon (12 tiles)
As soon as a dragon tile is revealed, the player places it as usual and may place a meeple on it. Then the game is briefly interrupted - the dragon moves!

The rules for the fairy say:

Immer dann, wenn ein Spieler in seinem Zug keinen Gefolgsmann einsetzt, darf er die Fee auf eine beliebige Karte setzen, auf der ein eigener Gefolgsmann steht.
Whenever a player does not place a meeple during their turn, they may place the fairy on any tile which already has one of their own meeples placed.


What are the rules when accessing a remote server with upgrades?

When accessing multiple cards (this is the heading you are looking for in the manual, page 18), you access one at a time. So you can't look at both upgrades and the asset and then decide which to trash. You pick one at random, decide to trash or leave it, then move on to the next. You get to access all the cards in the server but only one at a time.

Here is the relevant page from the manual:

  When accessing multiple cards, the Runner accesses them one at a time
  *in any order he likes*. For example, the Runner may access a card from
  HQ, then an upgrade installed in the root of HQ, and then another card
  from HQ, if he has the ability to do so. When accessing multiple cards
  from R&D, the Runner must draw them in order from the top of the deck,
  and must return any cards not scored or trashed in reverse order, so
  as to preserve their positions in R&D. The Runner must fully resolve
  his access to a card (steal it, pay to trash it, etc.) before
  accessing the next card. If the Runner scores an agenda that gives him
  seven or more points, he immediately wins the game, even if he would
  otherwise access more cards.

This means that if there is an agenda in a remote server, but also a trap and you access the trap first... it is possible to get flatlined before you win from the stolen/scored agenda.


What happens when a land attacks then stops being a creature?

The mountain will be removed from combat; which means it stops attacking, blocking, etc.

  506.4. A permanent is removed from combat if it leaves the battlefield, if its controller changes, if it phases out, if an effect specifically removes it from combat, if it’s a planeswalker that’s being attacked and stops being a planeswalker, or if it’s an attacking or blocking creature that regenerates (see rule 701.14) or stops being a creature. A creature that’s removed from combat stops being an attacking, blocking, blocked, and/or unblocked creature. A planeswalker that’s removed from combat stops being attacked.


Can "Phantom Knights's Sword" Prevent a monster from being destroyed because of "Call of the Haunted"?

Both "Call of the Haunted" and "Phantom Knights' Sword" would be destroyed. You can use the effect of "Phantom Knights's Sword" to prevent the monster from being destroyed because it is a continuous effect. "Call of the Haunted" will be destroyed as per normal.


Doesn't damage occuring in the damage phase occur simultaneously?

All combat damage is dealt simultaneously. But the damage from Perilous Myr's trigger isn't combat damage, it is an unrelated triggered ability. All combat damage was dealt, which resulted in the Myr dying and your opponent being at 0 health. This also resulted in the Myr's ability triggering, but that trigger never even makes it to the stack, because state-based actions are checked before triggered abilities are added to the stack. When they are checked, your opponent loses for having 0 health.


Does anyone know where this weird blue and green laughing chess set is from?

It's a "playmate" chess set by Umbra. UPC: 028295167055


Can opponents ask for "alerts" in bridge?

Law 20 of The Laws of Duplicate Bridge deals with review and explanation of calls. Quoting partially:

F. Explanation of Calls

During the auction and before the final pass, any
player may request, but only at his own turn to
call, an explanation of the opponents’ prior auction.
He is entitled to know about calls actually
made, about relevant alternative calls available
that were not made, and about relevant inferences
from the choice of action where these are
matters of partnership understanding. Except on
the instruction of the Director, replies should be
given by the partner of the player who made the
call in question. The partner of a player who asks
a question may not ask a supplementary question
until his turn to call or play. Law 16 may apply
and the Regulating Authority may establish regulations
for written explanations.
After the final pass and throughout the play period,
either defender at his own turn to play may
request an explanation of the opposing auction.
At his turn to play from his hand or from dummy
declarer may request an explanation of a defender’s
call or card-play understandings. Explanations
should be given on a like basis to F1 above
and by the partner of the player whose action is
explained.

...

(a) A player whose partner has given a mistaken
explanation may not correct the error during
the auction, nor may he indicate in any manner that a mistake has been made. “Mistaken
explanation” here includes failure to alert or
announce as regulations require or an alert
(or an announcement) that regulations do not
require.
(b) The player must call the Director and inform
his opponents that, in his opinion, his partner’s
explanation was erroneous (see Law 75)
but only at his first legal opportunity, which is
   (i) for a defender, at the end of the play.
  (ii) for declarer or dummy, after the final
pass of the auction.

Alert procedures and requirements are prescribed by the Regulating Authority, such as the World Bridge Federation or the American Contract Bridge League.
The ACBL has a document explaining alert procedures, as well as a document that advises directors how to deal with failures to alert.
So, to answer your questions:

Opponents do not ask for an alert, but they may ask you for an explanation of your partner's bids when it is their turn to bid or play.

An unexpected alert, or alternatively a failure to alert when expected, by your partner presents unauthorized information to you. Not only may you not take advantage of this information, you are required to avoid actions that are suggested by the information. From Law 16, which deals with unauthorized information:

B. Extraneous Information from Partner

(a) After a player makes available to his partner
extraneous information that may suggest
a call or play, as for example by a remark,
a question, a reply to a question, an unexpected (i.e., unexpected in relation to the basis of his action)
alert or failure to alert, or by
unmistakable hesitation, unwonted speed,
special emphasis, tone, gesture, movement or
mannerism, the partner may not choose from
among logical alternatives one that could demonstrably
have been suggested over another
by the extraneous information.
(b) A logical alternative action is one that,
among the class of players in question and
using the methods of the partnership, would
be given serious consideration by a significant
proportion of such players, of whom it is
judged some might select it.
When a player considers that an opponent has
made such information available and that damage
could well result, he may announce, unless
prohibited by the Regulating Authority (which
may require that the Director be called), that he
reserves the right to summon the Director later.
The opponents should summon the Director immediately if they dispute the fact that unauthorized
information might have been conveyed.
When a player has substantial reason to believe
that an opponent who had a logical alternative
has chosen an action that could have been suggested
by such information, he should summon
the Director when play ends (It is not an infraction to call the Director earlier or later). The Director shall
assign an adjusted score (see Law 12C) if he
considers that an infraction of law has resulted in
an advantage for the offender.

If partner fails to alert a bid (or otherwise gives an erroneous explanation of one of your bids), and you are the declaring side, you must call the director immediately after the last pass ends the auction. If you are the defending side, you must call the director immediately at the end of play.


What is the win ratio of spies and resistant in The Resistance?

This thread provides the statistics you seem to be looking for, but with anything, correlation never implies causation. The OP came to the conclusion that your commenters did; the game is fairly balanced, and you really do need to assess the playstyle and strategies of your gaming group. Thing is, the best part of the Resistance is after the game itself is over.


Possible way to counter or sidestep split-second spells (like Trickbind) in a particular situation

Yes, that would work. After activating the regeneration ability, you get priority:

  117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.

so you can activate it again. Trickbind does not counter any (other) abilities of the permanent already on the stack.


According to official uno rules:

  Wild Draw Four – This acts just like the wild card except that the
  next player also has to draw four cards as well as forfeit his/her
  turn.

Emphasis mine.

This means player 2 already made an illegal play according to the official rules and you are playing under house rules. As you are playing house rules there is no official answer.

However when it comes to challenging the rules state:

  With this card, you must have no other alternative cards to play that matches the color of the card previously played. If you play this card illegally, you may be challenged by the other player to show your hand to him/her.

The other player here being the next player.

This means that a challenge is always against the previous player, in this instance player 2.

In summary. A challenge is always against the previous player, in this case player 2. However as you are already using house rules by allowing WD4 on a WD4, you can also  make it a house rule that player 1 is challenged in this case.


How does Puncturing Light work against a creature buffed in size?

If its power is greater than 3 (whether its power has been increased by a "buff" or not), then it can't be targeted by Puncturing Light, so you are unable to cast Puncturing Light targeting it.

If the power of a creature targeted by Puncturing Light increases so that the creature's power is greater than 3 when Puncturing Light would resolve, Puncturing Light will be countered by the game rules (for having only illegal targets) instead of resolving.


is your turn over after playing an action card and doing what the card says

In Fluxx what you do on your turn all depends on what the rules currently are so there is no one clear answer that can be given. If there is a rule in play that requires you to play multiple cards then the card you are talking about counts as just 1 of your actions and you need to continue, if there is not a multiple card play rule in effect then you are probably done.


Must take net damage vs prevent net damage

Firstly, any damage that doesn't have "cannot be prevented" can be prevented.

Secondly, if you choose to take damage instead of adding Shi.Kyu to your score area, it doesn't go to your score area, even if you prevented some/all of that damage.

So yes, it's a valid play to choose taking damage, have it prevented with guru davinder (or any other damage preventer, this is not relevant part), and don't take Shi.Kyu.
There already is similar ruling regarding Wotan's last two subroutines and Data Raven's encounter ability Wotan and Raven ruling.

A curious person can find different ruling on seemingly similar case Snatch and Grab ruling. The difference is that S&G is worded "do X to Y". "To" implies [cost:effect] relations, and as such preventing the cost from being paid prevents the effect from happening. Discussion on this case is here: BGG forum

To sum it up, here is a great excerpt from BGG post by CommissarFeesh:

  In short though; Data Raven gives you the choice of x (take a tag) or y (end the run). You must choose one of these effects to resolve. By choosing to resolve x, you completely negate y, even if you prevent x.
  Snatch and Grab though is do x to do y - if you never actually do x, then you haven't paid the cost for y.


Which is one of the main concepts to win a game, prepare your pokemon so that they can do massive damage and dominate the scenario (either by evolving it or get it ready with necessary energy cards).

Since we are talking about theme decks here, cards and scenarios are limited which is really beginner-friendly. Each expansion (in your case, Ultra Prism) comes with 2 theme decks normally (which they balance out the odds of winning between them so they both will sell), each has it's strenghts and ways to take over the game.

There are a few ways to "comeback" in the game playing any mode, unfortunately (and fortunately at the same time) in Theme mode ways to win is limited to setting up your Over Powered evolutions and swiping your oponents actives. One way to comeback in themes which I have noticed is sacraficing some prizes and Pokemon until you prepare a Pokemon that could take out your oponents active.

Basically, while your opponent got their active evolved and ready with energies and is swiping your actives and taking prizes (he is 1-hit KOing your active Pokemon), he/she is probably "over comitting" on his active Pokemon, which they have spent a few turns only attaching enery cards to that pokemon and probably do not have other Pokemon prepared on their bench.
You can take the opportunity to stall by giving him the turns to KO your some of your Pokemon while preparing 1 Pokemon to fight against his "OP" Empoleon. E.g. have your garchomp set with a Cynthia in hand so you can KO his Empoloeon with 200 dmg.

Try to get the cards you need to set up powerful attackers while your oponent is putting all his eggs in one basket, by optimizing usage of trainers and supportes you have in hand.

You need to calculate your sacrafices and chances, and give your best shot. There have been many times where games were turned from 6-1 prizes to 0-1.

I'm no pro player but hope that helps : )


Carcassone scoring for a city with a mayor and a cathedral

The Mayor doesn't affect the number of points received for completing a City.  The Mayor only affects WHO might get the points.  If someone has a meeple in a city and you get your Mayor in the city, the mayor counts as the number of pennants in that city.

So if the City had 0 pennants, then your mayor would be 0 and the other meeple would be 1, allowing them to have 'more' meeple.  If there was 1 pennant, then you would tie and both get the score.  If there were 2 or more pennants, than you would have more meeple (the number of pennants) and would 'win' and get all the points your opponent getting nothing.

The Cathedrals as you've noticed changed values from 2 points/tile and pennant to 3 per.  So a city with 8 tiles and 2 pennants would go from 20 points to 30 points.  Who ever has the most meeple in the city gets all the points (tie both get the same)


This is a wooden version of Shuttles (named for the rows that can be moved sideways) aka Impasse, Labymaster, Labyrinth, or Traject. The PC game was an implementation of this older board game from 1973.

The PC game was also called Shuttles.


Does "Swarm" AI card affect all Locust on the map?

Yes it is part of the game mechanics to bring the distant locust back into the game. Most of the "For Each" Locust AI cards only move the figures one or two areas and only spawn Locust if there are no figures in play of the listed type. Rules of play book suggest that if there is no space to place the piece off the edge of the map.

With that said it could be possible to have Locust type A, B, and C at the far end of the map with minimal effects on the player from Locust AI card if there was no card like this.


Substance existed at one point in time in the Oracle wording of twelve cards, but it was never printed on a card.
It was created to get around an issue caused when they changed the timing rules for end of turn effects, but wanted to keep the functionality on certain cards the same.
The idea was to give a card substance until the end of turn, and then have a triggered ability that would trigger when the card lost substance. This would allow effects to wear off at the end of turn when they wanted it to. Now, they use "at the beginning of the next cleanup step" to achieve the same thing.
This article discusses the change where they removed the substance keyword.

Twelve cards (Waylay, Thawing Glaciers, and the ten-card Armor of Thorns cycle) had "at end of turn" triggers back when that truly referred to the very end of the turn. To preserve their functionality (especially because some of them were practically nonsensical if they were sacrificed before damage clears), they were given a wording that allowed their delayed triggered abilities to trigger during the cleanup step (a time when nothing normally triggers). To achieve this, the relevant permanents gained substance (a static ability with no effect) until end of turn, then triggered when they lost substance—because "until end of turn" effects wear off at the same time that damage does.
These cards will now have a more straightforward "at the beginning of the next cleanup step" trigger, and the rules have been adjusted accordingly. Note that this new wording is somewhat misleading, since it's not the first thing that happens in the cleanup step (just like "at the beginning of your draw step" triggers aren't the first thing that happen during your draw step—you draw a card first). In the cleanup step, the player whose turn it is will discard down to seven cards, then "until end of turn" effects will end and damage will be cleared, then these abilities will trigger.

This article discusses more details around how substance worked.


Can I get a go and last card when opponent is out of cards in cribbage?

Absolutely!
The American Cribbage Congress - Rule 7. The Play clearly states.

Rule 7.2 Scoring
8 b.
When a player's opponent has no more cards or calls "go," the other player may play all playable cards in succession and announce the points scored before pegging the total at one time.

So yes, after your opponent runs out of cards you shall play our all your remaining cards, in any order you desire, scoring all points thereby accrued.


How does black kill white in this Tsumego?

Seems Black has to take the 1-2 vital point to avoid White making 2 eyes. If White begin to deprive Black's liberty from outside, then Black get connected by taking on 1-3 and White deprives outside again. After that, both Black and White have same 3 liberties, but 2 of them are in common used. This becomes seki and it should be the best result for White.


Artifacts, creatures, enchantments, lands, planeswalkers, and sorceries can be cast during your first or second main phase.

Instants, such as Lightning Bolt, can be cast during any step except for the untap step and most cleanup steps. You can cast instants after attacking but before your opponent has a chance to block. You cannot cast instants in the middle of another spell or ability resolving.

After any spell or ability resolves, the player who is currently taking a turn gets the opportunity to cast things first.

Some spells or abilities, such as Quicken, modify when you can cast things.

If you are interested in the nitty gritty details, Section 5 of the comprehensive rules, which covers "Turn Structure", has nearly 150 rules that you can read. Much of it has been condensed into this neat chart, but a lot of (situationally relevant) information has been left out.


Do bonus coin powers include territories controlled by races in decline?

No,

Each race is separate.  In this case you would not get the additional coins for forests controlled by the race in decline.

From the rules, page 5

  The Regions these In Decline tokens occupy also each contribute
  1 Victory coin to the player; Though the Race banner and Special
  Power benefits no longer contribute any bonus coins, unless
  explicitly stated otherwise in said Race or Special Power benefit.


What is the one-turn win combination, using Zada, Hedron Grinder, that requires the least number of cards and external effects, in Modern?

The only interesting guaranteed (assuming no external effects) one-turn win combination I can find that uses Zada, Hedron Grinder is the Arcbond combo described in this question, or some variation of it. Basically, you need the following:

Zada, Hedron Grinder
Any creature with Lifelink (e.g. Ajani's Sunstriker)
Arcbond
Any spell that makes a creature indestructible (e.g. Ephemeral Shields)
Anything that deals damage to a creature (e.g. Lightning Bolt)

When you control the mentioned creatures, and then cast and resolve each of those spells in turn targeting Zada, the result is an arbitrarily large amount of damage dealt to each creature and player, and the combo's controller gaining large amounts of life, until every other player has lost.


Pass. 1NT undoubled when opponents likely have the values for game is unlikely to be bad. If your left hand opponent doubles and it passes around to you you can bid 2C.


What happens if I pocket a C/m but accidentally touch a C/m on the table?

It will be a Foul. You will lose your turn, the pocketed piece will be returned, and a penalty piece will be returned. Presumably your touch caused the piece to move. According to the ICF rules:

The C/m and/or Queen shall not be moved or disturbed after the Break, except by way of a stroke. If touched, moved or disturbed the same shall be replaced in the original position by the Umpire, as far as possible and a Foul shall be declared against the offending player as per the Laws.

a) If a player pockets his own C/m by an improper stroke, the C/m so pocketed with a Penalty C/m shall be taken out for placing by the opponent and the player shall lose his turn.


How is a positive horror rating handled?

Yes,

Horror tests are an attribute test, which are defined on page 13 of the rules, emphasis mine.

  Occasionally, an investigator must make a modified attribute
  test. Such tests always list a positive or negative number after the attribute (for example: “Test Strength –1”). This number is always added to the investigator’s attribute before rolling the die. In this way, a skill test with a negative modifier is more likely to fail.


How does stacking and resolving work exactly?

Twincast copies Lightning Bolt, dealing 3 damage to whatever target you choose, then the original Lightning Bolt resolves as usual - a total of 6 damage. The first sentence of your question pretty much explains why. To be specific (and correct the detail about priority):

You cast Lightning Bolt, putting it onto the stack.
You gain priority before your opponent does. (Note that by default, it's assumed that you pass it - if you want to hang onto it, you should say so explicitly.)
You cast Twincast, targeting Lightning Bolt. (The stack now has Lightning Bolt and Twincast on it.)
You and your opponent both pass priority.
Twincast resolves. It creates a copy of Lightning Bolt, optionally with a new target, and puts it on the stack. (The stack now has the original Lightning Bolt and the copy on it. Just one copy - not sure why you asked if it'd copy it twice.)
You and your opponent both pass priority.
The copy resolves, dealing 3 damage to whatever target you chose.
You and your opponent both pass priority.
The original resolves, dealing 3 damage.

For the record, the relevant rules about who gets priority when:

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.

This is slightly important in this case because it means that you have to cast Twincast before you see if your opponent wants to respond to Lightning Bolt; if you pass priority to them before casting Twincast and they do nothing, then you've both passed and Lightning Bolt will resolve.


Aggro Token and the First Activation Token

For the core set, enemies will either prioritise the player with the aggro token or the closest player.
The skull icon represents aggro. The circle represents closest player. See the Enemy Activations section in the rule book (pg 24) for more details.
The first activation token is just used to identify who will go first at the next encounter based on the fact that they were next in line when the previous encounter ended.
From the official rules:
First Activation

No matter whether the encounter ends in victory or defeat, give the
First Activation token to the player who is next in turn order after
the last player who activated their character. The player with the
First Activation token will activate their character first in the next
encounter.

Aggro Token (emphasis added)

When a character starts their activation:
They gain 2 Stamina.
They gain the Aggro token.
They may swap items between their backup slot and hand slots (see ‘Equipment Cards’, p. 12).

The Basics p.19 (emphasis added)

Once you’ve set up the enemies, terrain, and traps, place the
character models on the entry nodes beside the door aligned
with the tile the party moved from. Remember that a node
cannot contain more than three models.
Next, choose which character led the way into the encounter
and place the Aggro token on that character’s model.
Then the battle begins!

However, when you first enter any encounter you may determine which player 'lead the way' independent of the first activation and give the Aggro Token to that player.
Note that for the first encounter, the players decide as a group which player goes first. After that play goes around the table in a clockwise fashion.

During the very first character activation, the players can activate
the character of their choice. From then on, the order in which
characters activate goes clockwise around the table.


What are the standard time settings in chess

Blitz games will have 1-5 minutes per side.

Most tournaments will have 1-3 hours per side.  A popular setup is 1-2 hours per side for the first 40 moves, plus an additional ½-1 hours each after the 40th move.  They may also allow Bronstein/Fischer time, if the clock supports it.

The official FIDE time settings are 90 minutes for the first 40 moves + 30 minutes after move 40 + 30 seconds for every move.

The 2010 world championship was "120 minutes, with 60 minutes added after move 40, 15 minutes added after move 60, and 30 additional seconds per move starting from move 61."
I've heard of World Championships going up to 8-hours per side, though.


Can I use a nonbasic land that taps and gives me either a red or white mana if I only have red mana in my deck?

Yes, as long as you're not playing Commander

In normal decks, you can use whatever (format legal) cards you want in any combination. You can play a Plains in an all Red deck if you really want to, though it's probably a bad idea.

If you're playing Commander, there is an additional rule that says that cards must match the color identity of the commander. This means that your cards can't have any mana symbols anywhere on them that don't match one of your commander's colors. In this case, if your commander isn't at least partially white, then you can't use a land that could tap for white mana.


Can Bear Hug force a player to destroy an Incorporeal minion?

Bear Hug cannot destroy an Incorporeal Minion.
First to correct some termiology. Bear Hug is not played "on a player," it is simply played. Cards that are played on something will use the word Attach, and to my knowledge no cards Attach to players. Secondly, the Bear Hug card is destroying the Minion, the instructions on the card informing you which Minions need to be destroyed (Each other player's, with the least Power). Players do not affect cards, because nothing in the rules says they do. Cards do affect other cards if they move, return, destroy, or attach to another card.
The rules state the following:

Affect: A card is affected if it is moved, returned, destroyed, or has an action attached. (pg 8)
If cards conflict, the one that says you can't do something beats the one that says you can. (pg 9)

Incorporeal prevents the attached Minion from being affected, so Bear Hug cannot affect (destroy) the Incorporeal Minion if it is played by an opponent.
This hasn't showed up in an official FAQ, but one of the designers, Mark Wootton, noted that Incorporeal protects a Minion from Poison.


According to Wikipedia, a standard playing card has a size of B8 and a weight of 1.8g. So if I got the math right, it's 180gsm.

Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_52-card_deck


Can you construct a railway to Toulon through Marseille? (Paris Connection)

According to this response on BoardGameGeeks, immediately means after you are done completing the action that causes the game to end. This is a poor wording then in the game rules, and it should say instead of 'immediately' "at the end of the current turn", or something similar.


Does a Joker has the value of the number it represents?

It is clearly stated in the rules (section "The Joker:"):

  A joker used in the opening set scores the value of the tiles it represents.

So your mom was right and the Computer uses its own rules.


Can Goblins conquer Lost Tribe regions for one less token?

Yes, Lost Tribes are considered an in-decline race and can be conquered by Goblins with advantage. Lost Tribes tokens have little broken column symbol, which indicates "in-decline" state in game assets.


Do I effectively lose two opportunities to have an encounter when I get arrested by patrols?

Delayed means two things

The investigator cannot move during his turn
The investigator does not receive movement points during his turn

Everything else is still on. You'd get your normal encounter for the area you are in, you can trade items, etc.

Arrested is worse.
Yes, you would miss your entire next turn, including the encounter.  Thereby effectively losing two encounters.


Here, it's sold for $3,800.00. I'm guessing yours will fetch a few hundred less (they are retail and try to sell for profit after all).

Things to know. Don't open them. The value is on being sealed. They all contain a full set of cards, so there is no chance of getting card X or Y, there is no gamble, they are all there. That means you also have 1 ultra rare "Black Lotus" in there, but here is the catch, all those cards have gold trims in the back, and square corners. This makes them possible to distinguish from "regular" magic cards. They can't be played with on tournaments (for example) and the black lotus is worth far less ($400.00) than the "real" one ($125,000.00)..

I'd sell them on eBay, although if you don't have a good seller's reputation, it'll be a hard sell.


Scenario 20 - when is the end of my turn?

Ah, the joys of trying to thrash reasonable and consistent rules out of Betrayal at House on the Hill.  Let me give it a shot.

The answer is probably either 2 or 3.  I'd lean towards 2.

The basic rulebook has this to say about turns during the Haunt:

  Haunt Turn Order
  The first turn always starts with the player to the traitor’s
  left and goes clockwise (further away from the traitor). Each
  of the heroes gets a hero turn. After each hero has had a
  turn, the traitor gets his or her traitor turn. After the traitor’s
  turn, any monsters controlled by the traitor get a monster
  turn. (One player gets two turns: one for the traitor and one
  for the monsters.)

(I've found two versions of the rulebook so far.  The wording differed slightly between the two, but not materially in this section)

This clarifies two things: The traitor's turn and the monster's turn are considered separate turns, and both of those turns are considered to belong to the traitor player.

So, the big question then becomes, did the Traitor's Tome mean "you" the traitor, or "you" the player?  The rules are (of course) rather vague, but I'm pretty sure they mean "you" the traitor.

For evidence, I turn to Haunt 30, Tomb of Dracula

   In Tomb of Dracula the traitor controls monsters (vampires), and uses the turn tracker.  Specifically, the turn tracker related rules are thus:

 [Setup]
 Set up the Turn/Damage track with a plastic clip at 0.  You'll use it to keep track of time

 You Must Do This...
 ... at the start of your turn.  Advance the Turn/Damage track to the next number, beginning with 1.

 Vampires
 Dracula needs time to awaken.  He doesn't move or attack normally until Turn 2 (he can still defend against attacks.)

 Now, if the Turn marker is advanced at the beginning of both the Traitor and Monster turns, then Turn 2 is reached on the first Monster turn, which means that Dracula wouldn't actually have any downtime.  Clearly, this is not what is intended, so clearly "At the start of your turn" means "At the start of the traitor's turn" for this Haunt.

Given that "At the start of your turn" almost certainly means "At the start of the traitor's turn" for Haunt 30, I think that it's reasonable that "At the end of each of your turns" means "At the end of each of the traitor's turns" for Haunt 20.

On a more philosophical level, having the turn tracker advance once per round is more logical to me than having it advance once for the traitor and once for the monsters.  Since my philosophical intuition, and my rules-based inferences match up, I'm going to go with that.


In Pathfinder ACG, what happens if I must encounter the Villain because of another effect?

I wasn't able to find an official answer, but here's an answer on behalf of the BGG community answers here:

It seems that my latter intuition was probably correct. When you reveal the next card, all the effects trigger, including if it was a villain.

Therefore, in this case, option 1 is correct. I should attempt to temporarily close locations and then attempt to defeat the villain, just as if the villain were encountered in normal play.


Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game promotional/exclusive event cards

At the time of this writing, BoardGameGeek's list of expansions for the game show that the following are the only promotional cards that have been released:
Mouse & Variants

An Evil Hat webstore exclusive for the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game! Bring Harry's faithful companion Mouse (with a dash of Mister) into the game with this character deck packet. Also includes 2 variant cards for Harry's deck and 3 variant cards for Susan's deck to add a little variety to your play.
–Store page

Ra Crossover

An Evil Hat webstore exclusive for the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game — and a crossover with Greater Than Games' Sentinels Comics universe! The sun god Ra steps into a new avatar in the Dresdenverse with this fully playable character deck. When one supernatural fire-slinger isn't enough, it's time to call down the flames!
–Store page

Both of these were also available as Kickstarter promotional items before being made available on the web store.
It sounds to me like the Mouse & Variants pack is the one you are thinking of with a female character on them, given that it contains 3 variant cards for Susan's deck.


How to get “Final Countdown” Spell card in Duel Links?

At the time of this answer's writing,

Final Countdown is not obtainable in Duel Links.

To verify this, you can search for it within the View/Convert Cards section of the Deck Studio. Doing a text search for the word "final" shows six cards - none of which are Final Countdown.

Moreover, according to the Yu-Gi-Oh! wiki, neither  does a skill which adds Final Countdown to a player's hand or deck currently exist.


Am I analyzing the following hand properly?

Only if West has the Club 10. Ducking the first trick makes the location of the Club ten irrelevant (as witness that one ducks it by playing the Club 9 under the King).

So in one sense yes, declarer might be able to recover at trick 2; but declarer is guaranteed to make the contract by ducking trick one. (I guess unless West was dealt 8 clubs.)

You would probably enjoy There must be a Way by Andrew Diosy.

This hand also is interesting from an opening lead perspective. When I was learning Bridge I memorized the opening lead charts that were so popular at the time, which was good, but inferred from the ordering a false preference. These charts correctly identify which card to lead from various holdings, but make no comment on which suit to lead. It took me a while to unlearn that bad habit.

So now look at poor West's opening problem against a Texas Transfer auction to 4S:

S: 64
H: KQ83
D: J85
C: KQT4

That Club lead looks so safe from that strong honour holding, but is one of only two suit choices that allows declarer to make the contract. Perhaps West should think more about the bidding and less about those glossy Opening Lead Charts.

The odds are high that South has at least one of the outstanding honours in both round suits, so those honour combinations are easily compromised by being lead from. So what about the pointed suits?

Leading low from Jxxx is a true beginner move, but from J85 less so. An argument could be made for both the 8 and the 5 as the appropriate lead her, the small lie being told by the former probably not fatal. But the flaw here is that if it works, one risks quickly winning the third round with the Jack, trumps now drawn, endplayed for sure in those round suits. Not enough plus side here, so let's save that lead for later; our Jack suggests that Declarer will not wish to open this suit quickly either unless to rectify the count.

That leaves Spades. Dummy has 6 (not likely 7), West has 2, and Declarer promised 2 with his opening 1NT call. That leaves only 3 outstanding, and the likelihood of partner having a compromisable Queen third very low.

Conclusion: Just lead a spade here, saving a diamond exit for later (if necessary) when we start winning those round honours, and let Declarer struggle to down one like he should.


What's the name of the theory that the player with the most options has the advantage?

This sounds a lot like a strategy-stealing argument. It's often used to prove that one side of a game has an advantage, even if optimal strategy is not known. As a broad example, consider a game with the following properties:

It is a turn-based game
The starting positions are identical except Player A goes first
Player A has the option of skipping the first turn

Assuming optimal play, the first player cannot be at a disadvantage. The proof is a strategy-stealing argument: Any hypothetical strategy that Player B could use to get an advantage could be countered by Player A just skipping the first turn and then using that exact strategy.


Do spells that change power/toughness of all creatures until end of turn affect creatures played afterwards?

No, it will not be affected.

The answer varies based on what created the effect, and what the effect does. The following are the three cases:

A continuous effect generated by a static ability.

This is covered by 611.3a.

  611.3a A continuous effect generated by a static ability isn’t “locked in”; it applies at any given moment to whatever its text indicates.

A continuous effect generated by something other than a static ability, and it modifies the characteristics of objects. (Characteristics are defined CR 109.3, included below.)

This is covered by the first half of 611.2c.

  611.2c If a continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability modifies the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects, the set of objects it affects is determined when that continuous effect begins. After that point, the set won’t change. [...]

A continuous effect generated by something other than a static ability, and it doesn't modify the characteristics of objects.

This is covered by the second half of 611.2c.

  611.2c [...] A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability that doesn’t modify the characteristics or change the controller of any objects modifies the rules of the game, so it can affect objects that weren’t affected when that continuous effect began. [...]

For both Overrun and Infest, we're talking about a continuous effect generated by something other than a static ability, and it modifies the characteristics of objects. As such, only the permanents that were creatures when the spell resolved are affected by the spell.

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


Agricola : In general, is a balanced play style more successful, or all in themed play style?

The short answer is: it depends. Agricola is quite a complex game and there are all sorts of variables at play that determine your strategy. You have already said that you are trying out various different strategies. Keep doing that, and see what works!

The longer answer:

What I've found from my own experience is that going for an all-out strategy too early (i.e. in stage 1) is counter-productive. Time spent playing those minor improvements early means that you miss out on gathering resources for a room, and so you are the last to grow your family, or that you fail to get a food engine set up, and later have to spend too many turns taking "fishing" or "day labourer". In addition to this, by neglecting the more conventional moves like taking wood, you leave nice juicy piles that your opponents can take (particularly in games with fewer players).

Stages 2-3 are often the time to get your nice combi-strategy going, once you have got established a bit. It's early enough that you will still reap the benefits, but (if you've done your preparation well) not so soon that you'll starve. It's also nice and efficient since you can play your major and minor improvements in combination with family growth or renovation. Here you can be fairly single minded, as long as you don't neglect growing your family. Family growth is massively powerful since it gets you extra actions and extra points.

Late in the game, it's time to diversify. The scoring system of Agricola is heavily biased towards having a balanced farm at the end of the game. As @Samthere mentions, the best marginal gains are to be found by making sure that you don't have any -1 points - if you are lacking, it's fairly easy to pick up a single sheep for an instant 2 point gain. Because of this, and the caps at 4 points for most categories, the winning farm is nearly always one that is a good all-rounder. However, there's nothing to stop you from employing a single-minded strategy earlier in the game, as long as you balance things up at the end.

A final note: depending on your mindset, the victory points may only be half the story. To me, coming up with a great synergy of cards is fun, even if it's not necessarily the absolute best strategy at the time.


Is there a simple strategy for re-learning Magic the Gathering?

I can think of a few ways to relearn Magic:The Gathering without simply reading the rules. Which, by the way, because of the new stack concept*, streamlining of phases/steps and elimination of many odd special-case rules, is easier than ever in my opinion.

Download the Magic the Gathering Online Demo if you have a PC or if you have an XBox, the Duels of the Plainswalkers 2012 Demo. Since they take care of the game rules for you, you can walk through games, learn the turn sequence and how the stack works. That MtGO link has a YouTube video that walks through the game.
Find a store near you and drop in for Friday Night Magic. It's been my experience that most MtG players are quite happy and willing to teach new players the ropes.

*honestly, the stack isn't that new. ;-)


How can I play against enchantments while playing an all black deck?

Strategies for mono-black against enchantments
Targeted discard
The best black cards against enchantments are targeted discard spells.

Targeted discard lets you deal with practically any card before it hits the battlefield. Getting the most out of them may require some finesse (here is THE guide on that subject.), but these cards are powerful tools that you can use to deny your opponent access to their most critical cards.
Targeted discard shines in a traditional duel environment (one-on-one, best-of-three play), where you can focus on taking apart a single deck's gameplan. It's much harder — though not impossible — to wield effectively in casual multiplayer.
The "just deal with it" strategy
Another common solution is to just play through. Pacifism on your guy? Just write him off as dead (until you need a sacrificial creature or something). Moat preventing you from attacking? Stall until you can dig out your direct damage or your big flying Demon. Nevermore preventing you from playing your commander? Rely on your other cards to kill your opponent. Did your opponent put a Furnace of Rath on the field? Start racing for damage.
It's tough and you're often at a disadvantage, but often if you focus on what you can do instead of what you can't, you can find some tactical way to "play around" the problematic enchantment. Often the best insurance against "prison" strategies, besides raw speed, is to build in a variety of win conditions.
Specific hosers for specific cards
Another thing you can do if a specific card is causing you problems is find cards that don't remove it, but negate its effect. For example, Everlasting Torment can make Circle of Protection: Black sit there uselessly in play, while Spirit of the Labyrinth effectively blanks a number of "draw a lot of cards" decks. Generally these work best as sideboard cards, unless they're cards that fit into your deck's general gameplan anyway (e.g. you really want to use Everlasting Torment's -1/-1 counters as part of your own strategy).
Cards that actually remove enchantments
A true "all-black" deck has very few options
Enchantment removal isn't in black's part of the "color pie." Meaning it's not something black is supposed to do.
Which doesn't mean it's impossible to find cards that do, because cards to sometimes break the color pie — especially older cards. Let's try some Gatherer searches.

Black only + "destroy" + "enchantment": Hmm... all that really gives you is Quagmire Druid, which requires green mana. Might as well play a better green card.

Well, okay, but there are other ways to remove enchantments. "Exile," for instance...

Black only + "exile" + "enchantment": Nope. (You get Parallax Nexus, just because of its reminder text.)

Let's also try "permanent" instead of "enchantment."

Black only + "destroy" + "permanent": Only the Unglued card Zzzyxas's Abyss.

Black only + "exile" + "permanent": Well, Descent into Madness can exile enchantments. Eventually. But it's a build-around-me card and won't remove anything quickly.

False positives from reminder text give us a few cards with phrases like "target player sacrifices a permanent." So let's chase that down...

Black only + "player" + "sacrifice" + "permanent", black only + "opponent" + "sacrifice" + "permanent": Several options emerge:

Curse of the Cabal, Undercity Plague, and Greater Harvester all have the potential to grind through an opponent's permanents, but the ability to sacrifice lands to protect your other stuff makes them rather ineffective solutions.
Dystopia is a classic card that actually saw some serious play once, a long time ago. It's a reasonable answer to controlling white decks hiding behind cards like Ghostly Prison and Circle of Protection.
Liliana of the Veil's -6 ability can take care of any permanent, including enchantments. Your opponent gets a choice, but that's where skillful play comes in — if your opponent is willing to sacrifice everything to keep some enchantment in play, then, well, maybe you should just let them.

In this case, we've basically struck out. You have a few cards that you might be able to use to remove enchantments — almost as an afterthought, — but nothing nearly as direct as a simple Oblivion Ring or Naturalize. I wouldn't include any of these cards in a deck just to deal with enchantments (I'd play Liliana for, well, general awesomeness, though).
Colorless cards for your mono-black deck
Generally, whenever you need a mono-color deck to do something that its color can't really do, try this: use artifacts and other colorless cards to do stuff your color can't (try searches like colorless + "destroy" + "permanent").

Targeted destruction: Spine of Ish Sah, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Chaos Orb (weird and fun), Eye of Doom (symmetrical effect for multiplayer).
Repeatable destruction: Karn Liberated, Steel Hellkite, Argentum Armor, Lux Cannon (slow), various Eldrazi cards with annihilator (might take a while to hit the right card). (Also Spine of Ish Sah if you have a sac outlet.)
Wipes: Nevinyrral's Disk, Oblivion Stone, All Is Dust.
Precise wipes: Ratchet Bomb (can be slow).

Some of these are pretty mana-intensive, making them better fits for multiplayer decks than dueling decks.
Splashing colors
If you want more cost-effective removal, add more colors instead. Most of the gold standards for multi-faceted removal are multi-color cards featuring black as one of their colors: cards like Abrupt Decay, Vindicate, and Pernicious Deed.


If a permanent is tapped, are enchantments on it also tapped?

No, each permanent individually can be tapped or untapped; tapping or untapping a permanent does not tap or untap any enchantments on it. Similarly, tapping or untapping an aura enchantment does not affect the permanent it is enchanting.

110.5. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.


Catacombs: Chain Shot Modifier and misses

While this is slightly ambiguous, the "consecutively" refers to shots taken in the sequence. If you hit A on shot 1 in a sequence, you won't be able to damage A on shot 2 no matter what, but shot 3 is fine.

If I hit A on my first shot, then on my second shot hit B then A, A would still only take the one damage (despite the "change of target").

This limit isn't to force you to change targets but to encourage it, and to limit the damage a sequence can do to a single target. This way the Overseer can't take a boss sequence and just eliminate a single player trivially, and the Barbarian can't use items to take down the boss in two turns.


Do I score fishermen for settlements on water?

No. For scoring the Fishermen card, you can ignore any settlement on a water hex, no matter if it’s adjacent to another water hex or not.

From the rules about the Fishermen card (page 5):

  Note - Extra harbor action:
  The "Fishermen" card does not generate
  gold for settlements on water hexes.

This is also part of BoardGameGeek’s Kingdom Builder FAQ: Fishermen: no points for settlements on water hexes


Can you use Halicarnassus to build a duplicate card?

The base rule (p. 5) of forbidding duplicate cards is always in effect: (emphasis mine)

  Important: a player can never build two identical structures (meaning those with the same name/the same illustration).

With Halikarnassos you are still "building" a card: (p. 9)

  the first stage is worth 2 victory points and the player can look at
  all of the cards discarded since the beginning of the game and build
  one for free

Therefore, the base rule is still in effect: you may not build a duplicate card. If all cards are duplicates, then you cannot build anything and you have just "wasted" your special ability; this has happened once to me.


Are some MTG sets statistically more likely to yield more valuable cards?

You're thinking about this as if you are buying packs to sell the cards, but are you really buying packs to play with the cards?  Unless you are likely to immediately sell the rare cards out of your pack, picking ones based on the current selling price is pretty much meaningless.  If you're buying to play with the cards, it would make a lot more sense to think about cards that you are interested in adding to your play collection, and then buy the set that gives you the best chance of getting those cards.


I have a 2 complete set red and yellow and 1 red/yellow wild property

You are free to reconfigure your card sets any way you like on your turn.
Rules:

You can only reorganize your property collection on your turn.

You start a new set (since both of your red and yellow sets are already full), but you can start that with either the new red/yellow wild or one of the red or yellow cards from your existing sets (and put the wild card into that set to replace it).


Can an indestructible creature die by a combination of damage and -X/-X effects?

No, he would be a 3/3 marked with 3 damage. This 3 damage would be 'lethal', but since he is indestructible, he is immune to such deaths.

  702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).