What is different in each version of Chrononauts?

After quite a bit of searching (and an e-mail to Andy Looney, creator of Chrononauts), I was able to piece together the following:

Chrononauts First Printing

While this was the initial release, it did feature a number of art changes from the beta version, notably the beta card back was replaced with the one used in all subsequent editions.

Chrononauts Second Printing

Buried in the July 18, 2002 Wunderland Weekly News (the company's newsletter at the time), they note the following changes were introduced in the second printing:

The box has been revised. The art on the front and top panels has been reversed, and several new bits of info have been added (Origins Award winner, Parent's Choice winner, Second Printing, Patent Pending, etc).
1962 will henceforth hinge on an "OR" instead of an "AND". This makes World War III and the ÜberParadox much easier to create, and to sustain, which will hopefully give Squa Tront (and Zane Reenak) more of a fighting chance. (It also makes it more satisfying to flip 1943 and 1957.)
The Obvious Forgery of the Mona Lisa now sports a handlebar mustache.
A note about Killing Time has been added to Fast Forward.
The incorrect Time Index on the Marijuana Legalized card has been fixed.
The teeny-tiny tick mark missing from the Rongo-Rongo Tablets has been restored.

Chrononauts Third Printing

The card list for the third printing has a few notes about what has changed with this version compared to the second printing:

8 Reverse Fate cards (down from 9)
1 Restore History card (down from 4)
2 new Artifact cards

Jade Statue of Tirade
German Cake

The concept of Gadget cards are introduced with 2 new cards

Really Fast Time Machine
Teeny Tiny Time Machine

Chrononauts v1.4

Rather than calling it the fourth printing, Looney Labs called this version v1.4 (as can be seen from this photo). The card list for this version noted the following changes:

4 new artifacts were added (increasing the total card count from 136 to 140)

Beatles Reunion CD (Artifact)
Live Triceratops (Artifact)
1945D: Tokyo Nuked (Patch)
Restore History (Inverter)

Bigger, better box
Bigger, better rulesheet
A Fast Forward was changed into a Reverse Fate

Additionally, the inverter cards added icons indicating which linchpins they could be used for in either Early American Chrononauts or The Gore Years expansion. For instance, Halt Attack notes that it can be used to flip the expansion's 2001 World Trade Center Attack linchpin.

Chrononauts v1.5

As of this writing, Board Game Geek lists the version after v1.4 as the "Second Edition". I could not find anything about the changes with this version, so I e-mailed Andy Looney and got the following response:

  The most recent version of Chrononauts is what we call v1.5, which differs from 1.4 only in the design of the box itself. There is no v2.0 of Chrononauts.

So according to the creator himself, there are no changes to any cards in v1.5 and the only difference is the new box cover.

Other Promo Cards

While we're at it, a number of promo cards eventually did wind up included in later versions (such as German Chocolate Cake), but there are two that never were (and are still for sale in Looney Lab's web store):

Mating Pair of Pterodactyls (distributed at Dragon*Con 2004)
Carl Sagan's Joint (distributed for the "Summer Festivals of 2004")


Where to find MTG statistics: Starting player winrate, average turns, polarity?

Wizards of the Coast deliberately obscures this data.
Several years ago, some fans created a website that used bots to automatically crawl Magic the Gathering Online's matches to construct a table containing the meta percentages and the win/loss rates of each deck. However, Wizards later changed how MtGO's systems worked with the specific goal of preventing this, much to the disappointment of the MtG competitive scene. They stated that this was done in order to slow down the process of "solving" the meta.
To quote the article they posted announcing this:

As stewards of Magic, we in R&D feel that this action is necessary to prevent data mining that contributes to Constructed formats growing stale before their time. At its essence, Magic is best when it's a game of exploration and puzzle-solving: this is why providing new formats and new experiences are so important. By gathering large sets of data from Magic Online events, a given format too-rapidly changes from exciting exploration to cold statistical analysis. While the analysis may be fascinating, it generally makes for far less compelling gameplay. This leads to reduced enthusiasm about the analyzed format, which in turn ultimately hurts not just Magic content creators worldwide, but the game as a whole.


Betrayal at house on the hill haunt #13 (Spoilers)

Disclaimer: I am going off of the first edition rules, as that is all I have access to. It's possible there are updates in the second edition for this haunt that I am not aware of.

The traitor's character is the one that falls asleep. This is described in the Traitor's Tome rulebook:

  Right Now

    Tip your figure over in the room it's in when the
    haunt is revealed. Your body is asleep. You can't
    move or take any actions. Drop all of your items.

This character cannot do anything for the rest of the game. So on the Traitor's turns, they just take the actions for their monsters.

The traitor will also drop all items when the haunt begins, so there will never be a chance to steal from them. Items that are dropped just sit on the floor of the room where they were dropped, and can be picked up by anyone who goes into that room.

For the tokens, the Traitor needs a set of nightmare tokens and a set of escape room tokens. In the first edition, there were specific "nightmare" tokens; in the second edition monster tokens are more generic, so you use any monster token. For the escape room tokens, they can be any token; it doesn't matter so long as they are all the same:

  Set aside a number of "escape tokens" equal to
  the number of escape rooms in the house. (Any
  distinctive set of tokens, such as Rat or Blob
  tokens, will do.)

The triangular tokens are just a way to count how many times you have succeeded in the action of trying to wake the dreamer. Each time you successfully roll a 5+ to wake the dreamer, you take a triangular token to mark that you have succeeded. Having you set aside the triangular tokens during setup is just because you will need them during the game; it's not actually important how many you set aside, or even which types. It tells you to take a might token when you succeed with might, and a sanity token when you succeed with sanity, but this doesn't matter; you just take a token to track that you have succeeded.

Unfortunately this game is infamous for having issues with the rules being unclear or confusing sometimes; even the second edition with its updates to the rules didn't fix everything. Having you use separate might vs sanity tokens for the triangular tokens just seems like a case of the game choosing to be more thematic rather than simple or clear.


Can you tap the same land twice in a turn?

I think the other answer by doppelgreener puts too much emphasis on 400.7. I don't think that that rule is relevant at all. Rather, we have

  107.5. The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began.

along with

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

  110.6b Permanents enter the battlefield untapped, unflipped, face up, and phased in unless a spell or
  ability says otherwise

So nothing in rule 110.6 says that a permanent remembers that it has previously been tapped; it is either tapped or untapped, and that's it. Nothing in rule 107.5 cares what has happened to a permanent earlier when you decide whether the tap symbol is a cost you're allowed to pay (except summoning sickness on creatures). Only its status in that exact moment.

If a permanent is untapped (regardless of why), then you are allowed to activate abilities it has with the tap symbol in the cost (unless it's a creature with summoning sickness). When you play the forest in step 4, it comes into play untapped as per 110.6b. You can then tap it to get a green mana. When it has been untapped by Kiora's follower, it is untapped, which means 107.5 once again allows you to activate its ability.


How would Etrata work with double strike?

Double Strike causes damage to be dealt at 2 separate times, with a chance for triggered abilities and other responses to happen in between.

Because of this, after Etrata deals damage the first time, during the First Strike damage step, she will be shuffled into the owner's library and won't deal damage a second time.

  510. Combat Damage Step

    510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage[...]

    510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously[....]

    510.3. Third, the active player gets priority.

    510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.

So Etrata will deal damage in step 2, which causes her ability to trigger. That triggered ability is put on the stack at the start of step 3 (whenever a player would get priority, as per 603.3). Her ability resolves after both players pass priority in step 3; which causes her to be shuffled into her owner's library.

She is now removed from combat and cannot deal (or take) any damage.

  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 having a short break help improve at Go?

Yes, it CAN. There is no warranty that a short break will improve your Go, but it can help. Take a typical vacation (about two weeks) as a good measure for the time.

The probably best recipe for improving Go is quite to the contrary: Do every day something with Go, 10 minutes per day are sufficient (e.g., solving a life and death problem or finding a tesuji).

Personally, I found the playing over-the-board tournaments (being immersed with Go one weekend long) helps a lot.


Can Termi-Nation Unity's power be used if you don't have a Mechanical Golem in play?

Sentinels of the Multiverse follows a rule of "Do as much as you can."

Unless an effect explicitly depends on a previous effect actually occurring, then any actions that cannot be performed are simply skipped.

I ran a test case in the video game version (which sources its rules interpretations directly from the game designer Christopher Badell), and here are the results, taken from the log file.

Case 1:  Greatest Legacy uses Gung-Ho to let Unity use a power.  She has no Golems in play or in the trash.  Unity still draws a card.

  Legacy uses the power on America's Greatest Legacy.
  America's Greatest Legacy's Gung-Ho tried to increase Termi-Nation Unity's HP, but they are already at their maximum HP.
  Unity uses the power on Termi-Nation Unity.
  Unity draws Turret Bot.
  Went from Legacy's UsePower phase to DrawCard phase.

Case 2: Unity uses her power with 1 Golem in play and none in the trash.  Unity destroys her Golem and draws a card.

  Went from Unity's PlayCard phase to UsePower phase.
  Unity uses the power on Termi-Nation Unity.
  Termi-Nation Unity's Reconfigure destroys Raptor Bot!
  GameController moved Raptor Bot to Unity's deck.
  Unity shuffles their Unity's deck.
  Unity draws Brainstorm.
  Went from Unity's UsePower phase to DrawCard phase.

Case 3: Gung-Ho Unity uses her power with no golems in play and 1 in the trash.  Unity reanimates a Golem and draws a card.

  Went from Unity's PlayCard phase to UsePower phase.
  Unity uses the power on Termi-Nation Unity.
  Termi-Nation Unity's Reconfigure puts Swift Bot into play.
  Unity draws Flash Forge.
  Swift Bot increased the action count of DrawCard by 1.
  Went from Unity's UsePower phase to DrawCard phase. (Count: 2)

There are conditional powers, but Unity's is not one of them

If the rest of Unity's effect was conditional upon destroying a Golem, it would be worded like Freedom Six Tempest's power Sacrifice:

  Sacrifice - Destroy 1 of your cards.  If you do, draw 3 cards.


Narset, Parter of Veils interaction with Matter Reshaper

You're correct.

Narset, Parter of Veils prevents opponents from drawing more than one card per turn. However, as you pointed out, Matter Reshaper doesn't draw you a card, but instead reveals the top card of your library and puts it either on the battlefield, or into your hand. Because of that, Narset won't interact at all with Matter Reshaper's trigger.
For reference, the CR 121, which is the ruling for card drawing, reads:

121.1. A player draws a card by putting the top card of their library into their hand. This is done as a turn-based action during each player’s draw step. It may also be done as part of a cost or effect of a spell or ability.

While the Glossary complements that rule, stating (emphasis mine):

Draw

To put the top card of a player’s library into their hand as a turn-based action or as the result of an effect that uses the word “draw.” See rule 121, “Drawing a Card.”

Since Matter Reshaper doesn't use the word "draw" at any point, by default, it doesn't allow you to draw a card.


Mana empties from every player's mana pool at the end of each step and phase.

  500.4. When a step or phase ends, any unused mana left in a player’s mana pool empties. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.


Does "+X +X until end of turn." effects remain on creatures in the graveyard and/or exiled until end of turn?

First of all, with a single Culling the Weak, you can only sacrifice a single creature, not as many as you like. If you could use it multiple times, it would explicitly say so in the text. (Be sure to check the text in the Oracle rather than the text on the physical card.) You can use Living Shade's ability as often as you like, but there is a difference between a one-shot spell effect and an activated ability.

Secondly, once you cast CtW, you cannot cast another spell (Living Death) and then continue sacrificing to CtW, because CtW has resolved, is in the graveyard, and its effect is over.

Thirdly, if you activate Living Shade's ability to make it stronger, then sacrifice it, then bring it back into play from the graveyard, it will be a completely new Living Shade with no "memory" of its previous existence, and thus will be 1/1.


Barrier Statue of the Abyss and Barrier Statue of the Heavens -- A Contradiction?

No Monsters can be Special Summoned. Both Monsters have a Continuous Effect (page 14 of PDF) that is active while they are on the field. BSotAbyss blocks all non-DARK Monsters from being special summoned, so when you Attempt to Special Summon a DARK Monster, it is BSotHeaven that blocks you, and vice versa when you Special Summon a LIGHT Monster, it is BSotAbyss that blocks you.

This effect is active while the Effect Monster Card is face-up on the field. The effect starts when the face-up monster appears on the field, and ends once that monster is gone or is no longer face-up; [...]

The Barrier Statues prevent any Special Summoning, unless the Monster is of a matching Atribute (page 11).

Barrier Statue of the Abyss - No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for DARK monsters.
Barrier Statue of the Heavens - No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for LIGHT monsters.


Am I doing something wrong when I shuffle guild cards into the Age 3 cards

You are not doing anything wrong.

Looking at rules here it says :-

  Return to the box, without looking at them, 3 cards from each Age deck.
  Then randomly draw 3 Guild cards and add them to the Age III deck without
  looking at them. Return the remaining Guilds to the box.

My other reference for this is playing the 7 Wonders Duel app.  I can confirm that also places the guilds in random positions and the face down ones have a visible darker back.

As for the reasons you would have to ask the designer for the certain answer.  However as a player its very useful to know if a face down card is a guild.  Lets say your opponent is close to achieving military or scientific supremacy?  if you are going to be forced to reveal a card on your turn wouldn't be better to reveal a card that you know cant give them an automatic win?

Like wise if you as a player are close to winning with military or scientific supremacy, would it be better to build a wonder granting those all important extra turns in the hope you reveal the exact card you need and knowing its not a guild increases that chance.


Scythe: Can I leave resources in the lake?

According to https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/20771925#20771925

  SUBMERGE: Your character and mechs may move to and from lakes and move from any lake to another (similar to tunnel movement, but with lakes). If a mech moves workers onto a lake or if a character or mech moves resources onto a lake, you may not leave those workers or resources on the lake after moving off of it, nor may a worker move off of the lake without the assistance of the mech.


if a 2/2 poison creature is blocked by a normal 3/3 creature what happens ?
I know the 3/3/ gets two -1/-1 counters instead of damage but does it do 3 or 1 damage to my 2/2 poison creature ?
can anyone give reference to official rules on when the counters come into play?

From the comprehensive rules, all damage is dealt simultaneously.:

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

A creature with infect deals damage like this, according to rule 119.3d & e and 702.88c:

119.3d Damage dealt to a creature by a source with wither and/or infect causes that many -1/-1 counters to be put on that creature.
119.3e Damage dealt to a creature by a source with neither wither nor infect causes that much damage to be marked on that creature.
702.88c Damage dealt to a creature by a source with infect isn't marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that many -1/-1 counters to be put on that creature. See rule 119.3.

Therefore, since damage is done simultaneously and the counters come into play at the same time damage is dealt, your 2/2 creature with infect will be dealt 3 damage, and the 3/3 creature will get two -1/-1 counters during the combat damage step. Your creature with infect will therefore die.


It's not out of the ordinary. For example, the rules to Love Letter have a section dealing with the topic:

  Honesty
  A player could cheat when chosen with the Guard, or fail to discard the Countess when that player has the King or Prince in hand. We suggest that you don’t play with knaves who cheat at fun, light games.


Do I have to pay commander tax when casting my commander using Geode Golem's ability?

Yes.
One of the rulings for this card on The Gatherer:

If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs, such as bestow costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, such as the commander tax, those must be paid to cast the card.


What are the biggest events to follow for the most competitive decks in Magic the Gathering?

Now that TCGPlayer.com includes decklists from StarCityGames (SCG) and larger MTGO tournaments, they are my go-to site for decklists. Here is a search for the number 1 and 2 decks from all of the recent major Standard tournaments.

In case the link rots, you can go to TCGPlayer.com, click on "Magic Decks", and search for the winning decks from major events. Right now it looks like they include:

Grand Prixs
Pro Tours
Pro Tour Qualifiers (including those on MTGO)
Magic Online Championship Series (MOCS)
SCG Classic/SCG Open

You can also view the MOCS decklists directly on the Wizards of the Coast website. The search functionality is pretty buggy. Searching for Standard format will yield no results in over two years. However, you can search for "Standard MOCS" without quotes to get at the more recent results.

StarCityGames.com also hosts their own decklists, which you can find here.


I like to use jDip. It is easy to use, and provides several maps.


What happens if the target of equipping dies?

The Lashwrithe stays equipped to the Germ, but your opponent doesn't get his 4 life back.

Here are the rules for the Equip keyword:

  702.6a Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. “Equip [cost]” means ‘[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.”

When your opponent wants to equip the Lashwrithe to the Skirge, he activates its Equip ability by placing the ability on the stack, choosing its target, and paying its activation cost. He then passes priority to you, hoping that the ability will resolve. However, you respond by casting a Galvanic Blast, which resolves and kills the Skirge.

(You can't use a Red Sun's Zenith here, because Zenith is a Sorcery. You can only cast it during your main phase when the stack is empty, but right now it's your opponent's main phase and the stack isn't empty.)

When the Equip ability starts to resolve, it first checks to see if its targets are still valid:

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that‘s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally. However, if any of its targets are illegal, the part of the spell or ability‘s effect for which it is an illegal target can‘t perform any actions on that target or make that target perform any actions. The effect may still determine information about illegal targets, though, and other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them.

Because the Skirge is gone, the Equip ability has lost track of its only target, and is countered by rule 608.2b instead of resolving. Because the ability doesn't resolve, no effect moves the Lashwrithe, so it stays where it was.

So, here's the corrected summary:

He has lost 4 life
His Germ token remains alive
His Vault Skirge is dead
His Lashwrithe remains equipped to the Germ
You smile a little bit

Note that if you wait until after the Lashwrithe is equipped, and then kill the Skirge, the Germ will already be dead. However, since the equipped Lashwrithe will increase the Skirge's toughness, you'll probably need something stronger than a single Galvanic Blast.


What to do if I do not have any Link Monsters?

What should I do to make it more even?

(sigh)... Well, sadly, a change in the rules is certainly not something you or I can do, and is up to Konami to decide if they want to change that part or not. Perhaps when some time passes and the Link dynamics start to settle in they will adapt the rules a bit to support those decks that do not use Links as part of their deck.

However I must warn you that Konami strongly favors new cards and archetypes they come up with; when Synchro monsters first appeared 'older' decks were strongly affected, and in that moment only people with Synchros were able to play and build competitive decks. Same story when the XYZ monsters came about, as Synchros and other older cards started to lose their Top Tier qualities.

This story repeated itself when Pendulum monsters came out, and I guess this is happening again with the new Link monsters. Of course there are exceptions, but you have to get more creative when trying to cope with the change of the Meta game while still playing with your 'older' cards

Personally, my main deck is Harpie Ladies, and fortunately they have been given some support lately that has enabled me to adapt them to make them more competitive (made them more XYZ focused, included some useful Synchros, and took advantage of Top Tier cards like Number 11: Big Eye or Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack... my wallet was not so happy though, as Dracossack rounded $150 each on that moment). But even after that, with these new changes my dear Harpies are starting to stay behind once again.

  A few cards that means that I have a lesser disadvantage to my play or makes my deck counter those disadvantage

This I think is the option you got, and is what I did with my Harpies to compensate for the fast changes of the format; start including in your 'older' decks cards that can counter Link monsters, instead of just having them on your Side Deck.

There are, of course, many cards that you could include to achieve this. I'll be adding some of them here as they come up to mind, so you can perhaps edit your deck to include them to counter Link monsters more effectively:

The Accumulator: «Gains ATK equal to the combined Link Ratings of all Link Monsters on the field x 300.» This can be useful to easily overcome with higher Atk those decks that extensively use Link Monsters. It's Lvl 1 card so you can normal summon without tribute.
Summon Limit: «Neither player can Summon more than two times per turn. (Negated Summons count toward this limit. Negated cards/effects that would Summon do not count.).» This will help you prevent your opponent from Link summoning right away, as all Link monsters require at least two monsters to summon, so in most cases they will have to wait until their next turn to make a third summon.
Grand Horn of Heaven: «During your opponent's Main Phase, when they would Special Summon a monster(s): Negate the Summon, and if you do, destroy that monster, then your opponent draws 1 card, then end the Main Phase» This and other variants of Horn of Heaven are useful to stop Special summons (like Link summons), halting altogether your opponent's efforts to Link summon. You could also use any of the Solemn Counter Trap cards, which are the most widely used across many decks to stop summonings and other activations.
Kaiser Colosseum: «If there is 1 or more monster(s) on the field of the controller of this card, his/her opponent cannot place a monster on the field if his/her number of monsters would exceed the number of monsters that are on the field of this card's controller. The cards that are already on the field before this card's activation are unaffected by this effect.» If you manage to summon one powerful monster, you can zone out your opponent and make him unable to summon more that one monster (thus no Link). Unfortunately, at the date of this edit this card is forbidden, but may return.
Creature Swap: «Each player chooses 1 monster they control and switches control of those monsters with each other. Those monsters cannot change their battle positions for the rest of this turn.»  This is a really powerful card that does not even target and enables you to take control of your opponent's monsters in exchange of one of your own; if they have a single powerful Link monster, you can take control of it by swapping it for any token or lesser monster you have. A similar card is Mind Control but has more restrictions. Even so it can be user to get out of your way some Link monster at least for one turn.

You could also opt for an "Anti-Meta" deck for a change, or well consider some of the cards they use, as those hardly get outdated and still can manage to counter many modern decks (those linked are just a few, you can well make your own anti-meta deck). However, these decks are more control than aggressive or combo, so be sure you like that game play before deciding.


Does Stony Silence stop me from tapping artifacts for Improvise?

No, you can still use Improvise normally.

Stony Silence only prevents the activation of "Activated abilities". There are many types of abilities (triggered, activated, static, etc). Improvise is a "Static ability":

  702.125a Improvise is a static ability that functions while the spell with improvise is on the stack.

You can tell that it's not an activated ability because there is no colon in the text.

  602.1. Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as “[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]”

It is a somewhat common mistake to think that tapping and activating are related. Many activated abilities happen to have tapping the card the ability is on as part of the cost, but that doesn't mean that anything that requires you to tap something is an activated ability; or that an activated ability needs to have tapping as part of the cost.


Do Gild's Gold tokens go into play under the caster's control?

Yes, the token comes into play under the control of the player who played Gild. This is specified by rule 110.2a:

  If an effect instructs a player to put an object onto the battlefield, that object enters the battlefield under that player's control unless the effect states otherwise.

Gild's effect instructs you (the player who controls the spell) to put the token into play, so it comes into play under your control.

A ruling on the Gatherer page states this explicitly:

  You will control the token, no matter who controls the target creature.


Carcassone - placing barn figure in field

According to the rules, the barn can be placed in a field as long as that field doesn't already have a barn. Farmers are no concern when placing the barn:

  You may place your barn on a field already occupied by farmers. You may not,
  however, place your barn on a field already occupied by another barn. Once
  placed, a barn remains in play until the end of the game.


Do I get the continent troops on every turn I have conquered the continent?

You receive bonus troops for a continent each time you begin your turn in control of every district/nation on that continent, for as long as that remains true.  That is, if you lose control of any district on the continent, you will not collect the bonus troops at the start of your next turn.
from Rules of Risk

Continents
In addition, at the beginning of your turn, you will receive armies for each continent you control. (To control a continent, you must occupy all its territories at the start of your turn).


Using a card from the discard pile instead of picking up from the face down pile

Perfectly legal.  There is no limit to the number of cards you play onto sets or runs on your turn (assuming you have made your phase and unlocked the ability to do so) and there is no stipulation that the cards you use must have been in your hand before the start of your turn.

On your turn, you complete the steps in order: Draw one card (either the top face up card from discard pile as long as it isn't a skip, or the top face down card from the deck), Make your phase (if you haven't already using any cards in your hand), Play additional cards onto your or another player's sets or runs, Discard a card (, then check if out of cards to trigger the end of the round).

The cards used by you during your turn may be any card currently in your hand at the time of wanting to play the card, and that includes the card you picked up during the first step.

As an amusement, you can even run out of cards before the discard phase, having played the card you would otherwise have discarded (though there is no benefit to doing so apart from gloating).


If Ink-Eyes brings a creature back and then her owner loses in a multiplayer game, does the rezzed creature go to graveyard?

It will be exiled. The card would go back under your control if there was a temporary effect granting your opponent the control of your creature, e.g. Mind Control or Act of Treason. This is not the case, so the object under your opponent control would be exiled (since it is not the object he owns and it doesn't leave the game). The ruling in question has an example that covers it:

  800.4a When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game and any effects which give that player
  control of any objects or players end. Then, if that player controlled
  any objects on the stack not represented by cards, those objects cease
  to exist. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that
  player, those objects are exiled. This is not a state-based action. It
  happens as soon as the player leaves the game. If the player who left
  the game had priority at the time he or she left, priority passes to
  the next player in turn order who’s still in the game.

  ...

  Example: Alex casts Bribery, which reads, “Search target opponent’s
  library for a creature card and put that card onto the battlefield
  under your control. Then that player shuffles his or her library,”
  targeting Bianca. Alex puts Serra Angel onto the battlefield from
  Bianca’s library. If Bianca leaves the game, Serra Angel also leaves
  the game. If, instead, Alex leaves the game, Serra Angel is exiled.


What happens to my cards exiled by an opponent's Oblivion Ring when they lose the game?

Permanents exiled by Oblivion Ring stay exiled when its controller loses. To quote Ask a Magic Judge from March 16th 2018:

deg99 asked: In multiplayer, if a card is banished with a card like Oblivon ring, and oblivion ring's controller loses, is the banished card returned to play?
Judge: No because the separate return trigger never gets to go on the stack.

This is because a player who's lost can't put any abilities on the stack—they're no longer in the game. From the multiplayer rules (where “an object” includes things like triggered abilities):

800.4d If an object that would be owned by a player who has left the game would be created in any zone, it isn’t created. If a triggered ability that would be controlled by a player who has left the game would be put onto the stack, it isn’t put on the stack.

(We can also reference March 30th 2013 for this situation.)
The answer is different if Oblivion Ring's owner loses, but they weren't controlling the Ring at the time. Suppose Player A cast the Ring, and later Player B gains control of it. When Player A loses the game, their Oblivion Ring also leaves, and the exiled cards will come back. Quoting the judge again from March 14th 2015:

mightym79 asked: What happens when the owner of an Oblivion Ring loses in a multiplayer game while another player controls it (e.g. because of Zedruu giving it away)? Does the permanent come back?
Judge: Because Oblivion Ring’s controller is still in the game, the “leaves the battlefield” ability will trigger and resolve as normal, returning whatever was exiled.

This situation is entirely because Oblivion Ring has a separate triggered ability that returns the permanent. This will occur the same way with any other permanent meeting that pattern, such as Detention Sphere or Fiend Hunter.
If instead your permanents are exiled with Banisher Priest, Banishing Light, or any other card which says approximately “exile those cards until this permanent leaves the battlefield”, your permanents will return as the Banisher Priest leaves the battlefield. This is because the effect keeping them exiled simply ends.


After the initial meld, can I do multiple moves in the same turn?

You can do as much legal "moves" as you like in the same turn. After making the initial meld, rest of this player's turn is treated just like any other turn.

Things you can do in your turn (multiple times):

add tile to existing group/run
put set of tiles creating new group/run
break existing set (group/run) into separate tiles, as long as all of them will be left on the table at the end of your turn, and each one will be part of some legal set.
obtain Joker, by putting the tile it's replacing in the Joker's place on the table. Remember that you can't take any tiles from the table, so the Joker has to be used in some way before you finish your turn!

I know you said you're not interested in playing the game online, but this seems like the easiest way to grasp this. I feel that explanation like this is much more confusing.

If you want, please take a look at official rules.


What are the rules for who wins when the gold is reached in Saboteur 2?

I agree the the rules are poorly phrased in the "A team wins if:" section.  It provides an outcome tree, but clearly fails to provide a branch for what happens if a dwarf from the other team creates a connection to the treasure, and the way is not blocked for that team by a door of the wrong colour.

Later in the rules, under "Splitting The Treasure" it states:

  Depending on whether there is an uninterrupted path from the start to
  the treasure or not, the Gold-Diggers or the Saboteurs win the round.
  If the path to the treasure is blocked by a door, only the dwarves
  from the team of the same color win.

I think from that paragraph it becomes pretty clear that an uninterrupted path unblocked by any door would be a victory for all Gold-Diggers.  I think your initial instincts were right and you shouldn't worry too much about the sloppily-phrased earlier paragraph.  These things do happen, much to the distress of OCD rules lawyers like us!


Re attack after “noping” a chain of attacks

As I understand it, a Nope card cancels only a single card (or one action with multiple cards in the case of a special combo) so player D will play 6 turns.
From the rules:

Stop any action except for an Exploding Kitten or a Defuse Card. Imagine that any card beneath a Nope Card never existed.
You can play a Nope Card at any time before an action has begun, even if it’s not your turn. Any cards that have been noped are lost. Leave them in the Discard Pile. You can even play a Nope on a SPECIAL COMBO


Strategies and kingdom cards for a strong opening in Dominion?

Good cards to buy early:

Chapel: this is close to a must-buy if it is on the board.
Sea Hag: another almost must-buy so that you don't fall behind on curses. It's less valuable in a multiplayer game (because if everyone else is firing it, the curses will run out quickly, and then it just takes up space in your deck).
Ambassador: functionally trashing your deck while bloating your opponent with bad cards. Ambassador/Silver/Ambassador can be a devastating opening.
Militia: especially in 3+ player games, this is brutal. Less effective if a Library is on the board.
Moneylender: trashing + accelerating you to 5/6 coin cards. But, it can potentially clog your deck in the mid/endgame.
Envoy / Smithy: these cards accelerate the entire game. Big Money buys 4 provinces in 17 turns, on average. Purchasing one of these cards lowers that to 14.5 turns.
Cutpurse: also deadly in multiplayer games, but still great for slowing your opponent early. Less valuable as an attack late in the game, but it's still worth a Silver if you have actions to burn.
Trading Post: if you open 5/2, this is a great card because it trashes your junk into silvers, which also allows you to save your initial buys for non-treasure cards.
Mining Village: trash early for a 5/6 coin hand.
Baron: useful early for an easy 4 coin. Can clog a deck later in the game, but its ability to give you an extra Estate and an extra buy can sometimes tip the balance in a close game.
Loan: useful for trashing coppers without costing an action and can also be used to cycle your deck, getting new cards shuffled in faster.
Quarry: useful if there are expensive actions in the set (King's Court, Forge, Peddler, and game-changing 6 cost cards like Goons).
Pawn: there are many times where the +buy or +coin will be useful; in the worst case scenario, it's a self-replacing card (+1 card/+1 action). Because it only costs 2, you probably want to buy it earlier instead of wasting a 7 coin hand on it.


Can I bounce the creatures I've chosen for sacrificing to Annihilator?

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: The permanents you sacrifice to the annihilator ability are only chosen upon the ability's resolution. Since no player gets priority during its resolution, you can't do anything before the permanents are sacrificed.


Does Unknown's special ability still work after revealing?

In our group I must admit we never thought of giving Hermit Cards to revealed characters. We took the description in the rules too seriously I suppose:

  Hermit Cards help you to identify the characters belonging to the other players.

This being said, a quick check confirms that the rules don't mention you must give it to an unrevealed character. So the revealed Unknown can be given a Hermit Card and he can lie to choose the effect he wants...

Note that only the player who gives the Unknown the Hermit Card will actually know that the Unknown lied as the rules also say:

  The player who drew a Hermit Card and the player who was given the Hermit Card are not allowed to tell the other players what was written on the card.


Is it legal to pick up cars from a previously claimed route and replay them elsewhere?

You cannot pick up cars from a previously claimed route in order to claim a new route. Resource management is one of of the control factors of the game; you only get 45 cars to achieve your routes. The game meets its ending condition when a player has 2 or fewer train cars remaining.

Review the rules for the game. They are written from a permissive stance, instead of a restrictive stance. For instance, the actions you can take on your turn:

  Draw Train Car Cards – The player may draw 2 Train Car cards. He may take any one of the face-up cards or he may draw the top card from the deck (this is a blind draw). If he draws a face up card, he immediately turns a replacement card face-up from the deck. He then draws his second card, either from the face up cards or from the top of the deck. (See Train Car Cards for special rules for Locomotive cards).

  Claim a Route – The player may claim a route on the board by playing a set of Train Car cards that match the color and length of the route and
  then placing one of his colored trains on each space of this route. He then records his score by moving his Scoring Marker the appropriate number
  of spaces (see Route Scoring Table) along the Scoring Track on the board.

  Draw Destination Tickets – The player draws 3 Destination Tickets from the top of the deck. He must keep at least one of them, but he may keep
  two or all three if he chooses. Any returned cards are placed on the bottom of the deck.

The text is filled with "may" statement qualifiers. From that, if the rule book doesn't say you can take an action, you can't take that action.


Can I look up a large list of cards on MagicCardMarket.eu?

Thanks to JonTheMon in chat I've been able to find out how to get to this feature. It's a registration-only feature hidden behind another feature.

The basic steps are: register → set up a wants list → via that wants list, enter the shopping wizard.

The detailed steps

Register an account. You can't access the feature anonymously yet.
Once your account is registered and verified, mouse over the Buying menu and pick My Wants from the dropdown.
Once on the Wants screen you'll see nothing other than the option to create a "new list" with a single input. This input will be used to name the list itself:

Enter the name of your list here and hit the plus button. In my case I named the list after the deck I was buying cards for, and called it "hapatra wants". You can set up other Want lists later, or delete them.
Once your list is created you'll see the screen below. Hit Add Deck List for mass adding:

Enter your cards in the 1x Card name format and hit the plus when you want to add them:

You'll see a confirmation below, and can hit the small "back to your wants list" button at the bottom:

Now that your wants list is set up, you can hit Shopping Wizard:

From the shopping list you can configure how you want to search, and it'll produce one or more batches of cards from sellers matching your criteria.


In bridge, what level of strength do different systems require to bid a short minor?

1)
Yes, there are systems that that open these ugly 11 counts (Repeat after me: Subtract a point for 4-3-3-3 distribution!), but they are (a) strong club systems that limit an opening bid to 15 or so HCP; (b) systems with a weak NT; or (c) systems with a strong club AND a weak NT.

N.B. The average playing potential, in both NT and a suit contract, is almost a full trick less for a 4-3-3-3 compared to a 4-4-3-2 hand. This is evaluated by awarding a point for the doubleton in 4-4-3-2, AND subtracting a point for the 4-3-3-3. You are significantly overbidding your 4-3-3-3's if you do not make this adjustment.

2) NO, not really; but there are systems that say you really only have 12 points (or even 11) because the hand is crap.

3) No, the answer wouldn't change on reversing the minor suits in any system I know of.

Update from comments:

Considering AKJ-Axxx-xxx-Qxx: Nominally 14; -1 (flat); -1/2 (poor
honour placement) = 12.5. I would open, in preference order: 1NT if
weak; 1H if playing 4-card majors; else 1C. With proper evaluation of
distribution and honour-support, 12 point hands are worth an opening.
I intend to rebid 1NT over partners 1D or 1S, or raise 1H to 2H. If
partner jump-shifts I will give a single raise. I will not
voluntarily compete past 2S unless partner shows 10+.
Considering AKJ-Axxx-xx-Jxxx: I wold prefer to see the SK trade with
a small clubs, but this will do. Nominally 13, +1 for diamond
doubleton, -1/2 for poor honour placement = 13.5. My preference for
openings remains identical to the previous comment: iNT, or 1H, or 1C
with the same proviso.

Update #2 - Advanced Hand Evaluation
Those interested in more precise and more accurate hand evaluation could do worse than to adopt the Banzai Point Count. This uses a 5-4-3-2-1 system and then multiples the result by 2/3, rounding a remainder of 1 down and a remainder of 1 up. This can be done independently of any system, or even partnership understanding, to simply improve one's judgement of hand worth. (Of course, if you DO discuss it with partner, it becomes a partnership understanding and must be revealed on your convention card.)


Are there any cards that can boost my gate deck

There are various ways to copy lands, but no cards can change a land's type to "Gate"

Cards such as Vesuva and Thespian's Stage copy a land directly, which is the simplest way of doing it.

Other methods exist, but are hardly practical, such as turning a Gate land into a creature through cards like Animate Land, then copying that land creature with another card such as Clone.


What is this game with 9 sticks with black and white beads?

BoardGameGeek has a similar game called Rex which only has 3 beads per peg. But it is basically a 3 in a row game (horizontally, vertically and diagonally) with the twist that the center 3 pegs allow one to form a triangle too. No doubt one could also play a scoring version to see who gets the most points when the pegs are full.

Exactly what you version of the game might be called, or who made it is a mystery. But for such simple games many "folkart" versions have been made.


How do Mistform Dreamer and Conspiracy interact?

1) No; in fact, the creature subtype 'Wall' has long since lost any rules weight, and there's no reason that Walls can't attack other than that they have (either through print or via errata) the 'defender' ability: if a Wall were printed without defender, then it would be able to attack just like any other creature.  This is confirmed in the rulings you can find on the Gatherer page for Conspiracy:

  8/1/2005  If you choose Wall, then your creatures can still attack because
  creature types don't confer abilities such as defender (any more than,
  say, choosing creature type Bird would confer flying).

2) This becomes a bit more complicated.  The key notion is the concept of timestamping; you can find the specific details in section 613.6 of the comprehensive rules, but the key pieces are these:

  613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an
  earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

  613.6a A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of
  the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.

  613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it’s created.

Because the effect generated by the resolution of Mistform Dreamer's ability to set its creature type is 'newer' than the effect generated by Conspiracy, the subtype change from Conspiracy is applied first, then the subtype change from the Dreamer's own ability, leaving the Mistform Dreamer as whatever subtype you set it with its own ability.  But note that this effect will wear off at EOT when the ability is cleaned up, and whenever you haven't activated Mistform Dreamer's ability in a turn, it will be whatever creature type Conspiracy is set to.


As you said, you declare the targets of a spell while you are putting the spell on the stack. Then, when a spell starts to resolve, if it no longer has valid targets, it fails to resolve.

From rule 601.2c, the third step of casting a spell is:

  The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires.

and from rule 608.2b, as part of resolving a spell or ability,

  If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal... Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell... The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal... if any of its targets are illegal, the part of the spell or ability's effect for which it is an illegal target can't perform any actions on that target or make that target perform any actions.

So in your example, once Vines of the Vastwood resolves, the removal spell no longer has a valid target, so the removal spell fails to resolve and Omnath stays in play.


That's more or less right, though things happen in a specific order.

First you activate the ability on Recurring Nightmare. To do this, must choose the target creature that you wish to return to the battlefield. Note that the artifact creature you plan to sacrifice is not in the graveyard at this time, so it is not a legal target.

You pay the cost of sacrificing a creature (choosing an artifact creature) and returning Recurring Nightmare to your hand. This places the ability on the stack.

Then the triggered ability on Pia's Revolution triggers because a non-token artifact was put into your graveyard from the battlefield. At this time you must choose a target opponent, and then the Pia's Revolution's ability goes on the stack.

Assuming both players choose to pass priority now, the Pia's Revolution ability will resolve. The target opponent chooses whether to take 3 damage or allow you to return your artifact creature to your hand. Whichever they choose will happen.

Then, assuming both players choose to pass priority again, the Recurring Nightmare's ability will resolve, which will allow you to return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

The end result will be 1 of 2 things, depending on your opponent's choice:

You have Recurring Nightmare in your hand, the artifact creature you chose to sacrifice in your hand, and another creature that was in your graveyard is now on the battlefield.
You have Recurring Nightmare in your hand, and another creature that was in your graveyard is now on the battlefield. The artifact creature you chose to sacrifice is still in the graveyard, but your opponent takes 3 damage.


Agricola has a supported one player option.  I find it doesn't have the same feel.  It's more of a puzzle, but it is still very enjoyable.


What do you respond to a 1-of-a-Minor opening with 4-card support and no 4-card major?

I'm assuming some form of Standard American/French/German with 5 card majors and strong NT.
Playing the most common form of inverted minors:
With <10 points, 1N (but I would consider a tactical 3D with S:x H:xxx D:KQxx C:xxxxx)
With 10+ points(*), 2D with diamonds and a small doubleton or singleton in a major, and usually NT otherwise(**).
Not playing inverted minors, I think any non-forcing raise with 4 cards is usually problematic, but if you're playing forcing jump raises, 3m with 4 works.
(*) Experts seem to be switching to 2m being game forcing, with invitational hands bidding an artificial 2S or 2N or 2D(for clubs) or 3C(for diamonds).
(**) There are some advantages to making 2N forcing, in which case you have to bid 2m with 4 card support and 10-12 points.


Merlin's Death is generally not due to the cards, but to play style.  However, in general Evil needs to keep track of things, so the more 'confused' evil can be the better.  The best configuration for this (which I would try in your group, first) is Merlin, Percival, and Oberon.  This gives good maximum information and evil the least.  If this configuration affects the Merlin kill, then great, but I doubt it will much.

The bigger problem seems to be that "Good generally wins".  This shouldn't be the case.  Merlin is there to balance the information on both sides, since Evil knows Evil.  In general, games should end 50/50.   Merlin giving out too much information should be the only reason these scales tip away from 50-50.

As for question #2, how do you steer things?  The short answer is you don't!  The biggest reason for Merlin kills is not based on how Merlin behaved, but how all of the other good players behaved.  My guess is all the rest of your loyal knights are acting timid and confused, while Merlin is acting confident, bored, or aggressively.   You need to be aggressive, talkative, and opinionated in order to get the information out there to the other good players, ergo, the other good players also need to be aggressive, talkative, confident, opinionated, etc.  If they're not doing that, there's very little that can be done by Merlin.  I call this "giving Merlin cover".

Note, this isn't just Percival's job.  It's everyone's.  Percival is there mostly for late game use when you need a perfect team on quest 5.  Think "I'm Percival, this is the team you need".  He knows this because he's been carefully watching Merlin all game and Merlin has communicated to him who the bad players are (in some way).

As a normal loyal servant of Arthur, your job is pretend you have all the information and any 'mistakes' you make are a ruse to throw people off the fact that you're Merlin.  This usually means a wild guess.  However, these guesses often pay off.  With 2-3 loyal knights guessing maybe one of them is accurate and this gives Merlin the cover he needs (as Merlin too will look like a random guesser).

Finally, don't discount the power of voting.  The game relies on people voting in their best interests, as such, voting is a VERY reliable indicator of someone's knowledge and preferences.  If you're being fingered as Merlin too often and this is because you're speaking, try switching up the strategy.   Instead of speaking, try being totally silent, but just consistently voting for all good teams and down voting all bad teams.  If the other players are paying attention to votes you can give full information about team evil without saying a word.  Of course, at some point they might catch on to this, so you might need to change-up the strategy.

When I'm Merlin, I play exactly the same way as when I'm not.  For me, this is trying to do a logical tally and deduction of votes and to point out table behavior and it's consequences.  Usually, even without being Merlin, I can fully figure out Team Evil by the end of the game with this method, so when I do it as Merlin I need to carefully act the same.  Still, in the absence of any cover, I will still lose.

Things you generally shouldn't do as Merlin (though deception always allow for exceptions):

Vote for losing teams.  This 'fools evil' far less than it screws good.
Approve team with 2 Evils early.  While this is a sound strategy, it can confuse good players who are trying to find you, and can convince them an evil player is good.
Claim to be Merlin at the end of the game.  This ploy generally doesn't work.

Things that are perfectly okay to do as Merlin:

Claim to be Merlin near the beginning of the game.  I've used this strategy effectively several times, even pointing out the exact bad guys.  It's often so bold that it fools the opponents, but, of course, it can only be used sparingly, and it too needs cover (e.g. by players randomly doing this in some games)
Speak your concerns.  It's okay to think that a bad guy is bad and say so.  Often a Merlin 'tell' is being afraid to 'give away' anything, as that fear will come across and garner suspicion.
'wink' to Percival.  While perhaps not a literal wink, Percival is going to be looking right at you, so dammit look at him and acknowledge each other!  This is especially important in games with Morganna.

Overall this is a game about information and mis-information.  At the start Evil has an information advantage, so that needs to be made up with by good player speak.  Likewise the thing evil doesn't know (Merlin) needs to be covered up by a lot of misinformation from Good.  The more stuff you put out there, the more Evil needs to consider and the more cover Merlin will have.

Enjoy!


No you would not get the effect if you used the stated monster as a tribute for something else.

The text states:

  "tribute this monster to"

this means tributing this card is a cost to activate the effect to destroy a face up card on the field.

if it read:

  When/If this monster is tributed

then it would work when you used it for a tribute summon or any effect that caused it to be tributed


Hands down, Power Grid is fantastic.  Whenever our gaming group has a game night, Power Grid gets played at some point.  The nice thing is it comes with two different boards, and if you get tired of those, there are expansions for around $10-$15 that come with two new maps and rules.  Once you get the rules down, even with six players, we've found it plays incredibly fast.

If you get the Inns & Cathedrals expansion for Carcassonne, you can play with six players, and Carcassonne is another personal favorite of mine.  It's fun to watch people figure out how to sneak their meeples into a city or farmland for the first time.

If you want something lighthearted, sets from the Munckhin series such as The Good, the Bad and the Munchkin are fun for playing, and have plenty of interaction between players.


Unfortunately, your intuition is correct. It's an unreachable easter egg. Kevin Maroney, developer of the 2nd and 3rd editions of Tales of the Arabian Nights, states in this BGG thread:

  Nope. It's an unreachable Easter Egg, a tradition going back to the first edition in 1985 (paragraph 1400) and continued in the 1999 second edition (paragraph 1600).


How does Hypnotic Specter work in Two-Headed Giant?

This is covered by the following two-headed giant specific rule:

  810.7f As the combat damage step begins, the active team announces how each attacking creature will assign its combat damage. If an attacking creature would assign combat damage to the defending team, the active team chooses only one of the defending players for that creature to assign its combat damage to. Then the defending team announces how each blocking creature will assign its combat damage. See rule 510.1.

Thus, when an attacking creature is not blocked, you choose which player the combat damage is dealt to (and cause the Specter's triggered ability to affect).


You can still use a Missed card like normal if the barrel fails. From the rules:

  Example. C is the target of A's BANG! C has a Barrel card in play: this card lets him “draw!” to cancel a BANG! card. So, C flips the top card of the deck and puts it on the discard pile: it's a 4 of Hearts. The use of the Barrel is successful and cancels the BANG! If the flipped card were of a different suit, then the Barrel would have had no effect, but C could have still tried to cancel the BANG! with a Missed! card.


What happens if a creature has 'cant be blocked' and 'must be blocked'

Note that Bloodscent says “all creature able to”; not just “all creatures.” If a creature can’t be blocked then another creature is not “able to” block it; just like if that other creature were tapped or said “this creature cannot block”. So “can’t block” wins and the block doesn’t happen.

509.1c The defending player checks each creature they control to see whether it’s affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature must block, or that it must block if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of blockers is illegal.

Note that missing blocking requirements is only illegal if those requirements could be met without disobeying restrictions. So you are free to ignore requirements if obeying them would cause you to disobey restrictions.
There is no such loophole for disobeying restrictions:

509.1b The defending player checks each creature they control to see whether it’s affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can’t block, or that it can’t block unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of blockers is illegal.

So you must always obey restrictions, while you only need to obey requirements when they don’t cause you to disobey restrictions.


What books do I need to get all the rules for the Tyranid armies units/formations/detachments?

Current main resources for Tyrannids are

Codex

The Codex is the only one that is needed to run a Tyranid army, but the Shield of Baal series and Rising Leviathan dataslates do provide some additional formations (noted with the [F] below).

Additional resources include:

Shield of Baal: Deathstorm (Children of Cryptus, Phodian Hive Warriors, The Beast of Phodia, Phodian Annihilation Swarm [F])
Shield of Baal: Leviathan (Hive Fleet Detachment, Mucolid Spore Cluster, Zoanthrope Brood, Maleceptor,Toxicrene, Tyrannocyte, Sporocyst, Hypertoxic Node [F], Neural Node [F], Skytyrant Swarm [F], Skyblight Swarm [F], Sporefield [F], Skytide [F])
Start Collecting! Tyranids (Hive Vanguard [F])
Dataslate Tyranid Vanguard - Rising Leviathan I (Lictor Forest Brood [F], Manufactorum Genestealers [F], Deathleaper's Assassin Brood [F], Broodlord's Hunting Pack [F], Gargoyle Bio-Bombs [F])
Dataslate Tyranid Invasion - Rising Leviathan II (Incubator Node [f], Synaptic Swarm [F], Skyblight Swarm [F], Living Artillery Node [F], Endless Swarm [F])
Dataslate Tyranid Onslaught - Rising Leviathan III (Bioblast Node [F], Wrecker Nide [F], Tyrant Node [F], Subterranean Swarm [F], Living Tide [F])

As for holding off to buy them, that's your call. Rumour has 8th Ed dropping around June/July apparently, that said though it will take time for them to update all the current codex's to the new edition, so by no means will they be immediately invalidated.


Dealing Damage to Creature soulbonded to Deadeye Navigator

Is there I way that I could have destroyed either the Deadeye
  Navigator or the Nevermaker?

Yes.

Start out the same way, sending 4 damage to the Nevermaker. Your opponent activates its flicker ability. You let the flicker ability resolve, and the Nevermaker leaves and then enters the battlefield again.

This causes 2 triggers to be put on the stack, one is the Nevermaker's "leaves the battlefield" ability, the other is the "soulbond" ability on Deadeye Navigator (since your opponent controls both, he/she can arrange their order on the stack as desired). While both are on the stack, you can respond by activating Goblin Bombardment as you wish. Since neither Navigator or Nevermaker are soulbonded, they do not have the "flicker" ability anymore.


What is this game with two boards and pieces numbered 1-15?

This is Top 15 (also known as Numbers Up!).


Using an omen card, can you kill yourself?

The text on the Mask omen 4+ roll reads "You can put on or take off the mask.", keyword here I think being "can". If you attempt the roll and get the 4+, read as written you can choose not to put the mask on.

That being said, if losing 2 sanity would cause you to go lower than the lowest sanity level on your character, yes, putting the mask on would cause your character to "go insane" and your character would die and drop the Mask.

The one stipulation to this being that your character cannot die before the haunt has begun, so this only applies post-haunt beginning. That rule is on page 8 under "Making an Attack".


Canasta and the rules on invalid melding

There are two different rules that pertain to this and it will differ based on the exact rules being played at the time. Some rules list for the first meld you would take it back but have a penalty for next attempt. Others say you would take back the invalid meld and pay a point penalty.

The main point of having to leave the cards face up on the table if you expose them is to prevent partners from sharing information for their benefit.

Rules

  If a player exposes any cards from his hand, but does not meld them, he must leave them face-up on the table, and discard them one at a time in subsequent turns. However, if these cards can be validly melded before they are discarded, he may do so, rather than discard them.

  If a player makes an invalid meld by adding more than three wild cards to a meld, he may either transfer the extra wild card(s) to another valid meld, discard them, or return them to his hand and take a 100-point penalty. (This penalty also applies to the initial meld.)

More Rules

  If you put down an initial meld that doesn’t meet the minimum point requirement, you can put down additional melds on that same turn to make up the required total without penalty. You can also take back your attempt, but the minimum total you have to meet the next time you try goes up by 10 points — quite a severe penalty.


If you are allowing 5 digits then you can have two different kinds of repetitions. That is, you could have a code like 11122, so this should probably be represented somehow such that the ”milk” is different from the 11111 case.

Since you can have at most two repetition groups, it seems like the easiest thing to do would be to have another variable, (cans of milk vs buckets of milk?) for the second repetition group, if any.

Another thing to consider is what values of the milk variable should indicate which amount of repetitions. 1 milk for 1 repetition, (11234 for example,) and two milks for two, (11123) makes sense from a certain point of view, but having two milks mean two values are the same, (11234) three for three values that are the same, (11123) and the milk being ignored otherwise might be more intuitive.


Based on the images in this listing, it appears to be from the game "Pirate and Traveler".


Question about The Shallow Grave (Spell Card)

Based on this ruling on Disappear:

  When a card that selects a card in the Graveyard as a target, such as "Monster Reborn", "Mask of Darkness", "Magician of Faith", "Spear Cretin", or "The Shallow Grave", is activated, you may chain "Disappear" to remove the targeted card from play, and the "Monster Reborn", etc., will resolve without effect. This is because these cards select their target at activation, not resolution.

(Source)

Your opponent wouldn't get the monster.

D.D. Crow appears to work exactly like Disappear when discarded.  So the same ruling should apply.


When can abilities be used in Elder Sign?

You aren't the only one confused. Several threads on BGG indicate that many people have had the exact same question.
The Elder Sign FAQ has made some clarification on this matter (page 2), at least regarding Mandy Thompson (she has the "re-roll 2 dice every turn" ability):

Mandy Thompson’s ability should read: Once per day, after any player has rolled, Mandy may reroll 2 dice before determining if the active player was able to defeat a task.

Carolyn Fern and Vincent Lee have received similar errata that modifies their "once per turn" into "once per day." Character abilities are further clarified (page 4), by how the ability is worded.

Abilities
Can investigator abilities be used on other players’ turns? - Most investigator abilities have a trigger that determines when they can be used. So, for instance, Bob Jenkins’ Shrewd Dealer ability (When Bob gains 1 or more Common Items, he gets 1 extra Common Item) can trigger during any investigator’s turn, if Bob somehow gains a Common Item. ...
What does “Once per roll” mean? - These abilities may be used only on that investigator’s turn, once per roll of the dice. Note that re-rolling the dice via Clue tokens or other effects does not give another use of the ability. ...
What does “Once per day” mean? - Several investigators have been errata’ed so that their abilities function “once per day.” This means that once the investigator has used his ability, he cannot use it again until after midnight has occurred. Once per day abilities can be used during other investigators’ turns. Exactly when is detailed in the ability itself


Can You Play Two Search Cards at Once in Competitive Play

You play Professor's Letter, search for two Energy cards in your deck.

Then you show the second Professor's Letter to your opponent, and search for two more Energy cards, without shuffling between the two.

Taking time to shuffle between the two maybe considered slow playing in tourneys, even if technically legal.


Is there a bonus card when playing the Ticket to Ride USA 1910 Expansion in Big Cities mode?

I believe that you don't use either bonus card in the Big Cities version of the game (as it's not suggested that you should in the rulebook).

This interpretation is backed up by the computer version and the ruleset found in the computer version, which don't use a bonus card.


Can Non-Robot Minions be Reclaimed via Microbot Reclaimer?

As included in the Pretty Pretty Smash Up rules, page 10:

  "A minion" or "minions" means any minions in play unless stated otherwise.

This means that minions in your discard pile are not affected by an action that states "minions".

So no, minions in your discard pile are not classed as Microbots due to the Alpha as they are not in play.


Your customer is right.

Playing cards come in two sizes - poker size and bridge size.  Poker size is 63.5mm X 88.9mm. Bridge size is narrower at 56mm x 88.9mm. This makes more sense in old fashioned imperial measurements - both are 3.5 inches high, but poker cards are 2.5 inches wide while bridge cards are 2.25 inches wide.

What your customer is saying is that he knows he wants poker size, but when you give measurements he doesn't know if that is poker size, bridge size, or some other size.


Are copied spells cast from the graveyard?

Your instincts are correct. Copies of spells are just placed on the stack, they are never cast.

  706.10. To copy a spell or activated ability means to put a copy of it on to the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated.

Cards on the other hand, can be copied and cast. For example, if Increasing Vengeance was enchanted by Spellweaver Volute, the copy of the card would be cast from a graveyard.


Can Expansion Combining "Break" the Game?

In my opinion you can combine any of the expansions (except possible the Catapult) together to make a decent new game.  In fact we often combine different parts of different expansions if we want to avoid having too many rules.  We might play with the inns, pigs and mayors for instance.

Also we sometimes want a longer game but without too many extra rules.  For example, by playing with Traders and Builders we get a lot of extra tile shapes, which can be very satisfying if you like to fill in holes, but we might agree before the game that we won't use the resources associated with those tiles.

One expansion which we never use alone is the Princess and Dragon.  We like to play with the dragon on a large board, as this helps to encourage more long-term strategies.  For example on a small board (with the dragon) you are unlikely to risk making a large city, or placing a farmer early.  If the board is bigger then the dragon is less likely to come near your meeples, so there is a bit more margin for prospective play.

In your example it sounds like you are using a sensible number of rules.  If you're not a fan of small cities then you could maybe try playing without the siege tiles?  However at this stage it becomes a question of personal taste.


There's a correct list of World Champions (preceded by a list of players regarded as the world's strongest before the title existed) on Wikipedia. All of them are men, there hasn't been any woman considered to be the strongest chess player at a certain point of time.
As for regional championships, Judit Polgar, mentioned by @BenjaminCosman, won the Hungarian National Championships. There are probably others who achieved this.


Babylon (B), 2nd step: Can you use this ability only one time?

You may use it once per age.  The description of symbols page shows that symbol as (emphasis mine).

  The player can play the last card of each age instead of discarding
  it. This card can be played by paying its cost, discarded to gain 3
  coins or used in the construction of his or her Wonder.


From your description, it sounds like you're describing the game-board for Qirkat, which is a precursor to Checkers/Draughts:

There are many games which use this or a similar board (this Wikipedia link lists some of them), but neither Qirkat nor any of the variants I know have a uniquely Lithuanian origin.

As far as I understand, this type of game board was rather wide-spread throughout medieval Europe, although exactly what games were played on them isn't so clear from country to country. Without, for example, pieces or instructions, both of which are generally harder to find in the archeological record, it's mostly a matter of speculation.


You may only cast sorceries when it is your turn, during one of your main phases, while the stack is empty. So no you cannot cast them during combat.

  307.1. A player who has priority may cast a sorcery card from his or her hand during a main phase of his or her turn when the stack is empty. Casting a sorcery as a spell uses the stack.


Are the expansion number tokens in 5-6 players expansion different from the basic Catan?

Someone has created a pdf with all this information over on BGG here

If you dont have a BGG account to view the file I've converted it to a jpg for you.


In Uno when playing a Wild Draw 4 card, can I choose a color not in my hand?

Yes you can do that. In the rules, there is nothing restricting the color called.

Wild – This card represents all four colors, and can be placed on any
card. The player has to state which color it will represent for the
next player. It can be played regardless of whether another card is
available. If turned up at the beginning of play, the first player
chooses what color to continue play.
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. 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. If
guilty, you need to draw 4 cards. If not, the challenger needs to draw
6 cards instead. If turned up at the beginning of play, return this
card to the Draw pile, shuffle, and turn up a new one.


What is the deck and name of this card that gives extra food?

There is a website that lists out all of the cards and effects here.

The card you are asking about is the Artisan:

  At most once per harvest, when you use an improvement to convert a building resource to food, you receive 2 additional food.

You can search through that list for things like "2 additional food" to find similar cards.


How exactly does Xenograft work, and not work?

All creatures already on the battlefield and all creatures that come under your control later are affected by Xenograft. No if's and but's. As pointed out, it's a static ability that generates a continuous effect. If Xenograft would affect only the creatures that are in play at the time of its casting, the wording would be quite different and would probably involve counters to mark the affected creatures.
Creature cards not on the battlefield are simply that: Creature cards on the stack, in your hand, library, graveyard, command zone, exile, ante, or out of game are not affected by Xenograft.
Creature spells are not creatures, but objects on the stack. You control the spell, but a spell is not a creature, so Xenograft does not apply to them either. Only if and when the spell resolves does it become a creature to which Xenograft can apply.
Creature spells are spells, not creatures:

111 Spells
111.1. A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see rule 601, "Casting Spells"), the card becomes a spell and is moved to the top of the stack from the zone it was in, which is usually its owner's hand. (See rule 405, "Stack.") A spell remains on the stack as a spell until it resolves (see rule 608, "Resolving Spells and Abilities"), is countered (see rule 701.5), or otherwise leaves the stack. For more information, see section 6, "Spells, Abilities, and Effects."
302 Creatures
302.1. A player who has priority may cast a creature card from his or her hand during a main phase of his or her turn when the stack is empty. Casting a creature as a spell uses the stack. (See rule 601, "Casting Spells.")
302.2. When a creature spell resolves, its controller puts it onto the battlefield under his or her control.

Xenograft only affects creatures on the battlefield:

603.6b Continuous effects that modify characteristics of a permanent do so the moment the permanent is on the battlefield (and not before then). The permanent is never on the battlefield with its unmodified characteristics. Continuous effects don't apply before the permanent is on the battlefield, however (see rule 603.6e).

user1873's answer also covers this well.


Would changing the value of Scrabble tiles have a negative effect on the game?

The article says that the changing dictionary has changed the values of letters, and this seems like a very good point. For example, the existence of a single word, ZA, listed as entering the language in the mid-late 60s, makes the Z much easier to play. (I wish I had an old dictionary to figure out when the even-more-important QI entered English dictionaries!)

However, there already exists a "Scrabble-inspired" game with different tile values, of course: Words With Friends. (That game seems to have made their letter value choices based on different guidelines than the article; for instance, its G is still more valuable than an M.) Players who are good at Scrabble are still good at Words with Friends; I would not expect to see any differences in win percentages below the master level of play. Ultimately, your luck in your tiles' value is largely outweighed by your luck in drawing tiles that go well together; a good blend of consonants and vowels, for instance, and plenty of the powerful S (which would be the best tile to draw even if it were worth 0).


How does PlayDominion´s rating system work?

It's the Microsoft TrueSkill rating system, with some changes to how the value is displayed (mainly to stop the displayed value becoming negative, or going down after you win a game). It was reverse engineered back in April 2014.


Does the fact that my deck is aggro mean I should add or remove land?

Generally it's less about whether your deck is aggressive or not than what your deck's mana curve looks like - the two are very closely correlated, but they're not necessarily the same thing!  It's probably  fair to say that the 'average' deck through Magic's history has run about 24 lands, with aggressive decks a little lighter and control decks a little heavier - but with quite a bit of variance.

By and large, the rule is 'the lower your curve, the fewer lands you need' - for instance, the very mana-hungry Esper control decks in Standard (which generally want to be able to hit their first seven or eight mana drops so they can cast Sphinx's Revelation for a lot) will run 26 lands or even 27, whereas aggressive and low-curve red decks often drop down to about 22 lands.

For an example of a deck that's not specifically an agressive deck but still runs land-light, look at the so-called aggro-control decks whose goal is to try and get just one or two threats out there and then proactively protect them and which run very low land counts.  Some of the versions of Delver decks in the pre-Return to Ravnica standard environment are a perfect example of this; they were shaving down to 19 or 20 lands.

The Gitaxian Probe Delver decks (and similar tempo decks in formats like Legacy) also showcase another factor: the more cheap (and particularly 1-mana) card drawing spells a deck run, the more it can shave its land counts.  This is because by playing card draw spells it'll almost always be able to cast, the deck is effectively running one or two more 'virtual' lands - but note that this can be dangerous, because turns that would normally be spent playing threats often have to be spent searching for additional mana instead.  (And this explains why Probe in particular was so strong, since it didn't stunt development in this way.)

Another factor is whether a deck can make good use of 'land spells' or not.  A card like Nephalia Drownyard, for instance, isn't just a mana source to let a control player cast Supreme Verdict or Sphinx's Revelation 'on time', it's also a win condition for the deck, and so it encourages 'overloading' the land count since it doesn't diminish the threat density (which is the usual hazard of running too many lands).  Even more aggressive decks can take advantage of utility lands to boost their count while still keeping plenty of action; cards like Hellion Crucible, Kessig Wolf Run and Gavony Township are perfect examples of this kind of effect.


How much would you revalue your hand after finding a "double fit?"

Let's give partner a fitting minimum for the first auction; one that fits nicely but is otherwise as weak as possible:

S: AJxxx
H: x
D: KJX
C: QTxx

This hand by partner has only 11 HCP, evaluates to exactly 13 total points as opener, and there are excellent chances to make 4S, especially with an attacking diamond lead being up to partner's holding.

Let's also consider a non-fitting maximum hand for partner, with the maximum possible non-working values:

S: Qxxxx
H: AQ
D: AQ
C: xxxx

Again 4S has a good play, with one sure loser in trumps and good chances that the rest of the hand can be managed for only two losers.

These two hands illustrate the principle that if one's own values are strongly fitting, as in the hand given, and especially when one is the weaker hand of the partnership, one can be aggressive. Practice visualizing typical fitting minimum and non-fitting maximum hands for partner in the bidding, and evaluate your own holding against those when deciding whether to bid or invite game/slam. Caveat: Be very careful to not place cards in partner's hand when doing so. It is easy to engage in wishful thinking when doing this exercise, so you must consciously restrain your self until that becomes second nature.

Let's try the flip side; partner's fitting minimum could be something like:

S: xxx
H: x
D: KJTx
C: Axxxx

This is about as bad a hand as partner could come down with, 8HCP and 10 total points, yet 4S is not hopeless despite the mismatch in the red suits. Even small additions like ST or C9 start looking like big cards. Vulnerable at IMPS bidding this game is mandatory, and perhaps also non-vulnerable at IMPS, but at MatchPoints I'd rather play 3S and trust partner to bid game herself when holding a hand like

S: Kxx
H: xx
D: xxx
C: AKxxx

Update:

The three distinctive marks of a weak player are:

not counting;
still not counting; and
thinking that hand evaluation ends with counting points, when in fact it only begins with counting points.

Note that the examples of hand visualization given above all start with counting - of points, distribution, potential losers and winners - of things that cannot yet be seen in partner's hand but must be visualized. One begins to approach expert status only when this process starts to become second nature.  In many senses an expert performs this visualization first; decides on the appropriate call based on this visualization; determines what the value of the hand is based on the call and bidding system; and only then decides how that value is apportioned as HCP and distribution and fitting points.


Can I use the Finger of God on other players' turns?

Yes you can. The action clarifier makes sure the card is not overpowered--there have to be reprecussions. For the card "Excalibur," the reprecussion is that you can only play it on your turn. For "Finger of God," the reprecussion is that it goes back into your hand. Since you have to wait until your next turn to play it again, it is what keeps it in check.


From which expansion is this magic the gathering card?

It's Meekstone

First printed in Alpha, but this particular one is probably from fourth Edition due to the look and wording on the card.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=2058


Go game board - what is this on the back?

Looks like a board for Xiangqi, with the river in the middle and the palaces on either end.


Which has to be declared first: Marklights or Jink?

The reason its important is not for the jinking itself, because you don't "roll" jinking, you are simply given a 4+ cover, which doesn't even come into play until you take potential damage. The defending player can't avoid it, Scour doesn't remove jinking or strip cover saves directly, it simply gives all weapons shooting the "Ignores Cover" rule. It doesn't matter if the jinking player declares it before or after, he ain't getting his cover save.

This is why you can't get Cover Saves from Markerlights because they don't inflict wounds and you only get cover saves from inflicted wounds/pen or glancing hits.

But its still important because Jink makes you fire Snap Shots. So if the defending player knows he's not getting Cover Saves anyway, he can wait for you to use the Scour ability -2 counters and then let you waste it by not Jinking at all. That way, if the unit survives, it isn't on Snap Shots.

I agree that the word MAY for Jink specifies that anytime within the Select Target steps does the player determine Jinking in effect so long as it is done before rolls are made, even waiting until after the first weapon is selected.

Markerlights are more restrictive, and specify "immediately" before a unit shoots their use must be declared, but how they are expended is declared before the shooting attack, which I agree is before the first weapon is selected (which is part of the shooting attack).

So before you state the weapon you are using, those counters must be used. Markerlight declaration is very clearly before that and the defending player can choose anytime before To Hit rolls.

Tau are my primary army so I'm hurting myself by honorably letting my opponents know before I nominate anything to shoot.


What is “looking for a place to resign” in go?

Sensei’s Library explains under Looking for a place to resign that the expression ‘looking for a place to resign’ means choosing a move which obviously does not work and resigning when your opponent responds correctly.

Sensei’s Library also has an article on How to resign which sketches when to resign and enumerates ways of formally indicating that you do so. It also links to more extensive discussions of the etiquette, indicating in particular that it is a bad habit not to resign when you clearly cannot win.

I apologise for not having found this earlier; my mistake was searching without quoting the entire expression ‘looking for a place to resign’ — without quotes there is an enormous amount of noise, but with quotes Duck Duck Go gave four matches: this question, Tom Au’s answer and the above articles in Sensei’s Library.


Can I build a settlement at an intersection two roads away from one settlement and one road away from another?

No, it is not possible

As best I can tell, this is the situation you are describing:

The 5th Edition rules say this about settlements:

  Take special note of the “Distance Rule”: you may only build a settlement at an intersection if all 3 of the adjacent intersections are vacant (i.e., none are occupied by any settlements or cities—even yours).

In this situation, the intersection to the left is not vacant because it contains one of your settlements. Therefore, it is not permitted to build a settlement at this intersection.

Some players rephrase this rule as "a settlement must be at least two roads away from every other settlement". If that makes more sense to you, feel free to think that way.


Trying to understand when to take a deep finesse?

AQ8
JT9x    Kxx
    xxx

If you play small towards AQ8 in dummy, LHO should play one of the J, T, or 9. Then you can only score one trick in the suit. If the position is

    AQ9
JTxx    Kxx
    xxx

then splitting honors does not prevent you scoring the 9 (after J, Q, K, you can come to hand and repeat the finesse).

So the general answer is: only take a deep finesse if it can promote a trick.


Smash up: First mate with ongoing actions attached to it. Do the actions follow him?

They follow him.

  After scoring, players can use Special abilities that
  happen “after” a base scores. Then all cards still on that base go to their owners’ discard piles.

The First Mate is no longer on the base, so he doesn't get discarded, much less actions attached to him.


Do exactly what it says on the card, in the order it says it. So:

Procession says you may play an action card from your hand twice. You pick Madman.

You play Madman once. You get +2 actions, and then return it to the Madman pile. If you do, +1 card per card in your hand - you did, so +3 cards.

You play Madman a second time. You get +2 actions again, and try to return it to the Madman pile, but you can't - it's already there. If you do, +1 card per card in your hand - you didn't, so you don't get any cards. (This kind of situation is exactly why it says "if you do".)

Procession says to trash the action card - but you can't, since you don't have it anymore. Oh well.

Procession says to gain an action card costing exactly one more than it - you try to do this, but the Madman costs zero, and there probably isn't anything that costs 1, so you don't gain anything.

So adding up: you get +4 actions, +3 cards, and the Madman is back in the pile. (That wasn't one of your suggestions.)


The general consensus in BGG is that entering the Mighty Mech is the first thing to do when entering a square, before any other action or check. So if otherwise allowed you could first enter inside the MM and then check for mines, combat, actions, etc.

But I could not find a written rule or clarification on the web.


Is it possible to cast 2x Final Payment while sacrificing just one creature?

Step 4. is not possible; sacrificing the creature is part of the cost of the spell, so it is done while the spell is cast, not when it resolves. Player B just cannot play the second Final Payment and the card stays in his/her hand; only the first Final Payment is executed.

  117.8. Some spells and abilities have additional costs. An additional cost is a cost listed in a spell's rules text, or applied to a spell or ability from another effect, that its controller must pay at the same time they pay the spell's mana cost or the ability's activation cost. Note that some additional costs are listed in keywords; see rule 702.

  601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell includes proposal of the spell (rules 601.2a-d) and determination and payment of costs (rules 601.2f-h). To cast a spell, a player follows the steps listed below, in order. A player must be legally allowed to cast the spell to begin this process (see rule 601.3). If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the casting of that spell was proposed (see rule 721, "Handling Illegal Actions").


Can you choose NOT to activate a trap card?

Do I have to activate it the next time my opponent attacks, or can I wait and activate it on any future occasion of my choice where my opponent attacks?

You can decide to activate it anytime "an opponent's monster declares an attack".

On normal conditions*, nothing is making you activate this card the immediately next attack your opponent declares; you can hold its use for whenever you feel like it or well if you think it would be optimal strategy to use it there.

The things you have to have in mind before attempting to activate (along with your game strategy, that is) are:

Trap cards and Quick-play spell cards cannot be activated the turn they are set (other spell cards can, though). If you just set this trap card you will have to wait until your opponent's turn to be able to activate it.
That you meet the card's activation conditions. In this case your Widespread Ruin indicates: "When an opponent's monster declares an attack". This is telling us that only when that happens is that you may decide (or not) to activate this card.

*The only example that comes to mind about forcing you to activate something is Bait Doll (quite an old card actually). From its description we can read:

  Target 1 Set card in the Spell & Trap Card Zone; reveal that target, force its activation if it is a Trap Card, then negate its effect if the activation timing is incorrect, and if you do, destroy it. (If it is not a Trap Card, return it face-down.) When this card resolves, shuffle it into the Deck instead of sending it to the Graveyard.

We can see its effect revolves around the target to have an incorrect timing; if we played this card to a set Widespread Ruin we would effectively destroy it, as the card would not have correct timing (i.e.: attack was not declared).

On a further note, it is worth recalling that there are some effects that you are actually forced to activate, that is, they are not optional. Some examples of that are usually found on cards with continuous effects (either monster or spell/trap), or well some that are obligatory when a condition is met. One example is Dark Room of Nightmare:

  Each time your opponent takes damage from a card effect, except "Dark Room of Nightmare", inflict 300 damage to your opponent.

As you can see, this effect has to be activated every time you inflict effect damage to your opponent. Another case is Doomcaliber Knight, which has to be activated on the moment a monster effect is activated (even yours, so careful):

  Cannot be Special Summoned. During either player's turn, if a monster effect is activated: Tribute this face-up card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that monster.


Why can't I play a card for its alternative cost after searching for it with Bring to Light?

It is because Bring to Light and Evoke are both alternate costs, and you can only choose one alternate cost when casting a spell. Since Bring to Light is what is giving you permission to cast the Revilark in the first place you have to use its alternative cost, you can't Evoke it (by paying mana) off of Bring to Light. Compare this to Omniscience which also gives your Revilark an alternate cost, in this case you could choose to cast it without paying its mana cost or pay its Evoke cost but not not both (paying no mana for its Evoke cost).

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

  117.9a Only one alternative cost can be applied to any one spell as it’s being cast. The controller of the spell announces his or her intentions to pay that cost as described in rule 601.2b.

  702.73a Evoke represents two abilities: a static ability that functions in any zone from which the card with evoke can be cast and a triggered ability that functions on the battlefield. “Evoke [cost]” means “You may cast this card by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “When this permanent enters the battlefield, if its evoke cost was paid, its controller sacrifices it.” Paying a card’s evoke cost follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.