How do I chose invasion or reduction points?

First off, count the current score. If you're winning, do not invade. Just make sure you keep white small enough that you still win.

Let use further presume that black would be losing. You counted, so you know by how many points. A move around c could be parried with a sacrifice of two white stones while sealing off the rest of the upper right corner completely. So, if you're only behind a bit, you should probably play around c.

If you need to invade deeply, you probably made a mistake earlier - why do you need to invade that late, after leaving such a large area for the opponent? Try to find a better invasion or reduction time when you review the game, and look out for similar situations in the future. Good invasion and reduction timing is very important, and you'll soon learn to avoid trouble like this beforehand.

But maybe you could not prevent it (or made a honest mistake), and arrive at the current board, far behind. You need to invade deeply. You also already identified a few usual spots at a and b, but there are many more to consider.

When invading against that many opponent stones, you cannot expect a good result. Considering it's roughly 10 vs 1, even living small in ko should be considered a success. That black always ends in gote is understood. I'm aware that, especially for weaker players, it may sometimes seems more like a gamble, but don't worry about that. We'll try to find a few useful ideas how to deal with this. This is actually a very, very broad topic and I'll try to stick to the most important things.

In advance, I apologize to the reader if the following is too short an explanation. I'm writing this mainly for players in the 4 kyu to 12 kyu range, as that's where these problems typically become most prevalent, though weaker players may hopefully be able to profit from it, too.

Direct invasion at 3-3

If black invades at a, I would definitely want to kill it as white:

$$cm1
$$ -----------------------+
$$  . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$  O . . . . . 8 6 . 5 . |
$$  O . X . . O . 7 1 . . |
$$  . X . . . . . O 2 3 . |
$$  O O O . . . . . . 4 . |
$$  X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$  . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$  . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$  . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$  . . . . X . . . . . . |

A useful technique can also be black 4 in the following diagram, which kind-of-reverts to the above. You may want to remember this move, for if applied at the right time, it can throw off an unaware opponent completely.

$$cm1
$$ -----------------------+
$$  . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$  O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$  O . X . . O . 2 1 . . |
$$  . X . . . . . O 3 . . |
$$  O O O . . . . . 5 4 . |
$$  X X O O . O . . . 6 . |
$$  . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$  . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$  . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$  . . . . X . . . . . . |

You should consider other points for invasion, too. I'm sorry that I won't show many variations, for that would inflate this post too much. Please research them on your own - it will be worthwhile, as these will surely come up in your games sooner or later.

Attaching the corner

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

This is a variant that is usually played as a regular joseki, however, it is unlikely that a joseki would develop on this board - white has too many stones that allow her to deviate for a better result.

But it is not all moot yet. Its basic idea is: When you're weak, you want to touch the opponent and force him to either draw back strongly (white grants you additional stones in the area for almost free), or touch back (typically with a hane), which often leads to cuts in their shape that you can try to use to force an exchange. This is actually an extremely important idea to keep in mind in such situations.

Please research the (too) many possible variations on your own. Joseki books should give a good points which moves are important, but remember that white is free to deviate.

Submarine, straight below hoshi

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . a . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O b 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . c . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

This is a rather common joseki move, too, though again, everything is different on this board. White usually replies at a, b or c.

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

If white protects the corner with 2, black would surely extend to somewhere around 3, and hope for living or connecting somehow.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . b . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O 2 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . a . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O d . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white bumps down at 2, black can decide between a and b, which are probably miai. If black a and white b, black would again play at or around d next.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . b . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

One of the strongest moves is this white 2. Note that if black a, white b, and black has extremely poor eye shape, which is not acceptable on this board. So black must play at b next, and the corner becomes a tsumego, of which I don't know the resu..--- eh, I mean, which I assign to you as homework.

Submarine, low keima from the hoshi

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O a b . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . c 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

This is another usual point, and white can reply at a, b, c, or possible elsewhere.

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

Nobi defense at 2 would revert to a similar situation as before, and black would look forward to play at or around 3 next. Life is not guaranteed here, though. It seems the 1-2 exchange benefits white more than black, because it removes a lot of options in and nearby the corner.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O 3 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . a 1 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

Tsuke tobi at 2 is unlikely on this board as it seems to give black too much wiggle room: Refer to the joseki after the moves 1-2-3-a.

$$cm1
$$ -----------------------+
$$  . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$  O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$  O . X . . O . . 4 6 . |
$$  . X . . . . . O 3 2 . |
$$  O O O . . . . . 5 1 . |
$$  X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$  . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$  . . . . . . . O 7 . . |
$$  . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$  . . . . X . . . . . . |

White would never play atari from the inside at 4, as then black could play 5 in sente and extend to 6, which is too good for him.

Low keima approch

You suggested a regular low approach. White would probably defend the corner solidly, or kick.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O a b . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O c . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . f d e . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white defends the corner at a or b, black would probably move back to play c and hope for a double hane (c-d-e) (or possibly crosscut with c-d-f) and good exchange. As a and c are miai, if white blocks at c, black would play at a (or possibly 3-3) next, and hope to live locally.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . 3 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white kicks, black cannot afford the usual move at 3, because white would immediately come back and play 4, after which black is heavy. Note that the 3-3 offers a lot of aji, but here white is so strong that even that won't suffice.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . 2 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . a 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

Black would instead hane at 3, after which white would surely play 4 (alternatively, white a may be interesting and not expected by any opponent). Black would then attach back at 5, and it would not be easy for white to capture the whole group.

Various exchange offers

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . a b . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . c d . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

The moves around a to d give white the option to seal off the corner, while black captures 2 white stones. If this is acceptable for either player, and which of the moves is best, requires just a lot of normal, boring reading and counting.

Hybrid approach

If you remember the attachment idea from above, you may think about this move:

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . a c . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . b d . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white draws back solidly (at a or b), black got an almost free stone, which will help him live locally. This is too soft in this case, so white would surely hane at c or d.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . 2 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . 5 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . 7 . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

A very, very simple sequence could be black drawing back, then white just protecting the corner. Note that this would be better than black 3, white 1, which we considered earlier.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . 2 5 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . 4 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white pushes above at 4, black will definitely hane at 5 and try to live locally. This is dangerous for white, as she risks a lot more points if black lives (and he likely will, as white must spend another stone below 4 to connect her two stones and prevent black from moving in that outwards direction.

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

Black may also entertain the idea of counter hane, which may reasonable, as he's not much weaker than white on the right side - the two white stones are weak! The counter hane is a bit complicated, and will lead to an exchange, the quality of which depends on the players' fighting abilities.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . b . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . a 2 c . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white outside-hanes at 2, black can think about a, b or c, which again depend on the players' fighting abilities. Black has several thinkable continuations here, because white's two stones are not strong.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . c . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . 3 2 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . b a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If black crosscuts, white's primary options seem to be drawing back at a, which increases liberties and also enables black 1 to be caught with c, so black is under some pressure.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O b 3 2 a . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . c 4 e . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white ataris at 4, black would not counter hane at a, because if he wanted to do that, he should play a directly instead of 3. So black will move out at b, and white can continue with c, d or e, depending on her reading of the variations. White is in control of the direction more than black.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . a 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . c 2 b . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If black pulls back at 3, the obvious replies are a, b or c. White a would be followed by black b, which seems to let b live or connect out eventually.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . 8 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . 6 7 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O d 5 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . 9 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . e 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . a 2 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

In response to white 4 or a, black would probably slide towards the corner at 5, and push for eye space with the sequence to 9. Considering d (and likely e, too) is sente, black may live there - if he believes he would not, he should chose different moves earlier.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . b . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . a 2 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

The counter hane at 3 would likely be followed by white a or b.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . c . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . 4 2 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . d 5 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . a . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O b . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

Magari at 4 invites black 5, which connects out or likely captures the two white stones with a, if white resists with the descend at b. Black can also consider playing c instead of 5 first, after which white would atari, black connect, white extend, and finally black d to connect out.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . 4 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 1 5 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . a 2 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . 6 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

White 4 is a strong reply to 3, and up to 6, black is in danger. Black would look for an exchange, using aji such as the cut at a.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . 4 5 . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O 3 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . 2 O a . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

For instance, if white replies to black's clamp at 1 with 2, black would play tsuke at 3 (instead of just a) to increase his options, and white becomes quite busy. Black should be able to live somewhere.

Note that black should not just play 1 at a, for white would then play 1 and black would be short of eye space.

$$cm1
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . O O . X . . O . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . X . . . . . O . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . O O O . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . X X O O . O . . 1 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X . . . . 5 O 2 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . X X . O . . O X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . O 3 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . . . 4 . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X . O O . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . X X X X . . |

If white just cuts down at 2, black would white cut at 5, possibly exchanging 3 to 4 first. Black is still looking for an exchange, and the several sente moves he gains while white is trying to live the 2 stones should be sufficient.


Do abilities like "becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it" happen even if the spell is countered?

Yes, you will still have to sacrifice the creature even if the spell that triggered it gets countered.

Examples

Let's use Frost Walker as an example. The following events happen:

Your opponent casts Lightning Bolt, targeting Frost Walker.
Frost Walker's ability triggers.
You cast Counterspell, targeting Lightning Bolt.
Counterspell resolves. Lightning Bolt is countered.
Frost Walker's ability resolves. You sacrifice Frost Walker.

Countering Lightning Bolt does not also counter Frost Walker's triggered ability. You could, however, use Stifle to counter the ability itself.

Spellskite cannot save Frost Walker. Frost Walker triggers immediately upon being targeted. Frost Walker's ability does not care if you redirect the target to Spellskite.

Standard Bearer can save Frost Walker, at least from spells that only have one target. If your opponent targets Frost Walker, you say "That's illegal. You have to target Standard Bearer." The game then rewinds to the point before your opponent cast the spell.


Do the armies you get for a continent have to go on the continent?

Looking at the rules here They say with emphasis mine:-

  Territories. At the beginning of every turn (including your first),
  count the number of territories you currently occupy, then divide the
  total by three (ignore any fraction). The answer is the number of
  armies you receive. Place the new armies on any territory you already
  occupy. Example: 11 territories = 3 armies 14 territories = 4 armies
  17 territories = 5 armies You will always receive at least 3 armies on
  a turn, even if you occupy fewer than 9 territories.

  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.) To find the exact number of armies you’ll receive for each
  continent, look at the chart in the lower left-hand corner of the game
  board.

To clarify, you relieve armies on any territory you control.  There is nothing in the rules for continent bonuses that say ,just go on the continent.  it just says "you receive them" and the rule above that is to place any territory you control.


What happens when two players are both trying to secretly choose the highest number? (Commander Legends spoilers)

There is precedent for making secret choices in the Conspiracy game mode, you make a secret choice by writing it on a piece of paper. Players are required to make choices understandable to each player; if a player chooses a number the other player doesn't understand by "obfuscating" it through a mathematical definition or similar, the opponent may demand an intelligible explanation, otherwise they can consult a judge. Slow play rules are well established in the tournament rules.
If a choice is to be made secretly, we can infer the process from Hidden Agenda:

702.105b To secretly choose a card name, note that name on a piece of paper kept with the face-down conspiracy card.

It seems obvious that a secret choice of a number would be kept track of the same way. As always with additional game materials, any method is fine to use as long as both players agreed to it, and as long as it serves its purpose of fixing a choice and keeping it secret until the reveal.
There are rules regarding choosing a number:

107.1c If a rule or ability instructs a player to choose “any number,” that player may choose any positive number or zero.

There is no specification in what form or notation the number is to be represented. However, the choice is free information as per the tournament rules once it has been revealed, and thus every player is entitled to knowing that choice. If one player, intentionally or not, obfuscates that number through a mathematical definition you couldn't reasonably expect the average player to know, then that player has violated the rules for player communication:

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

Details of current game actions and past game actions that still affect the game state.

The following rules govern player communication:

Players may not represent derived, free, or status information incorrectly.

Players must answer completely and honestly any specific questions pertaining to free information.

Of course, if you have two opponents who know what a Googolplex etc. is, then there is no communication issue and either player may use such terms. The end goal is that both players know the other's choice and can agree on which choice is the higher number. How you get there is irrelevant, as long as it happens, and happens in a timely fashion.
Which brings us to slow play, the rules of which are well-established in the tournament rules. If there is a dispute in a tournament setting, a judge will be called to decide.

Players must take their turns in a timely fashion regardless of the complexity of the play situation and adhere to time limits specified for the tournament. Players must maintain a pace to allow the match to be finished in the announced time limit. Stalling is not acceptable. Players may ask a judge to watch their game for slow play; such a request will be granted if feasible.

Finally, the catch-all for tournament rule questions, in case it isn't clear what constitutes slow play, or what constitutes obfuscation of free information:

The Head Judge is the final judicial authority at any DCIsanctioned tournament and all tournament participants are expected to follow their interpretations.


How are storage costs computed for RMUs and FIUS?

It should be read as each unit costs that much. Something else to note is that once you hit 8 units you will actual pay less than you would for 7 units until you get up to 11 where it costs more than 7 units but is still cheaper per unit.

1 unit: $300 - $300 per unit
2 units: $600
3 units: $900
4 units: $1200
5 units: $1500
6 units: $1800
7 units: $2100
8 units: $1600 - $200 per unit
9 units: $1800
10 units: $2000
11 units: $2200


We have played with a minimum 1st bid of 1/4 the price of the property (to vary with property value, but to allow for unchallenged bids to be profitable from immediately mortgaging; this puts upward pressure on the 2nd bid, pushing it towards the mortgage price). Incremental bids are then at least the no-house rent amount (and so also varies with property value).


Should "100 or 150 honors" allow you to open light?

As for me, I do not think about hand strength here. There are only 3 reasons to bid, and if you have 2 of them- you can bid:
Constructive - to bid you best contract
Destructive - create a problem for opponents
Defense plan

Here you suggest very different hands. I'll answer about AKQJx -3-3-2, because KQJxx, Axx, Jxx xx is completely ok to open imho.

I don't like to open 1s with AKQJx. For several reasons.
 If you are going to win the bidding - you would probably choose NT or spades. So, if you finish in spades - you are definitely playing from the wrong side. May be it's impossible to reach spades from another, but who knows? If your partner supports spades, your J almost disappears. And you still have 8 losers.
If you find NT- how many HCP you need to win the game? Something like 14-16 , otherwise you will not find 4 tricks, or opps will hit their suit faster.
Of course, much less could be enough, with some lucky leads and distribution. But generally, your partner should hold strong NT.

For destruction I can open 2sp. This does not work very good, because of flat shape, but if I want to make a move...

For lead- you don't need to open. If opps bid 1nt-3nt - double. If they have lots of points- they will walk to 3nt if you pass.


Does untapping a creature save it from a spell that destroys a tapped creature?

That is correct, the target is essentially checked twice for validity, once while the spell is cast and again before it resolves. If the tapped creature is untapped before the spell has resolved then it is no longer a valid target and Murderous Compulsion will "Fizzle" (become countered), having no effect. Rule 608.2b covers this:

  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. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be
  affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re
  illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not
  illegal may still affect them. If the spell or ability creates any
  continuous effects that affect game rules (see rule 613.10), those
  effects don’t apply to illegal targets. If part of the effect requires
  information about an illegal target, it fails to determine any such
  information. Any part of the effect that requires that information
  won’t happen.


The Chasm room space with the bridge does not have line of sight to the room Crypt or Cave, because it does not have line of sight dots.

From the rule book page 21 (emphasis mine).

  Note that monsters, investigators and feature markers do not block line of sight. Also note that some spaces do not have line of sight dots. A figure in one of these spaces has line of sight to every space in the room (and does not have line of sight to other rooms).


Yes, your opponent can do this, as long as the Terminus is the first card drawn that turn. It doesn't matter whose turn it is, or that Terminus is a sorcery, Miracle will trigger if it is the first card drawn on by that player on that turn.

From the Avacyn Restored Mechanics article:

  As you draw an instant or sorcery with miracle, if it's the first card you've drawn this turn, you can immediately reveal it. When you do so, you may cast it for its miracle cost. It doesn't matter whether it's an instant or sorcery; if you choose to cast it, you do so right away, even if it's at a time (such as your draw step) when you couldn't normally cast it.

And the CR:

  702.93a Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability (see rule 603.10). "Miracle [cost]" means "You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it's the first card you've drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost."


In Small World, with berserk, do you roll reinforcement die before you nominate how many troops you're attacking with?

The rules say:

  Roll the die first; select the Region you wish to conquer; then place the required number of Race tokens (minus the die results) there.

Since you roll the die even before you decide what to attack, it would seem very unlikely that you'd need to determine the number of attackers beforehand. This is further bolstered by a thread at the BoardGameGeek forums where a lot of Small World rules clarifications posted by the game developers are gathered. This is what it says about Berserk:

  You may roll the die once per attack. First, you roll the die. Then you choose an adjacent territory. Then, you deploy your tokens. (emphasis added - ErikP)

  About the final roll, there is a very important sentence in the rulebook, in the "Berserk" section: "If you do not have enough tokens left, this is your final conquest attempt for the turn." This sentence means that there is no "end-turn" die. For each conquest you roll the die and select your region: if you do not have enough tokens left, then your turn is over. You are not allowed to re-roll the die.


From the compendium

  The Pieceworker is used before other cards, so you cannot convert goods that your receive from an occupation or improvement


How does Sundering Titan handle snow lands?

"Snow" is a supertype.  If you look at Snow-Covered Plains you will see that it's types are "Snow Basic Land - Plains".  Which means that it counts as a basic land and a plains.

So in the case of Sundering Titan, if there was both a regular Plains card and a Snow Covered Plains out, you could only choose one of them to destroy.

Relevant rules:
From the comprehensive rules glossary

  Basic Land Type There are five "basic land types": Plains, Island,
  Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. Each one has a mana ability associated
  with it. See rule 305, "Lands."

And

  205.4c Any land with the supertype "basic" is a basic land. Any land that doesn't have this supertype is a nonbasic land, even if it has a
  basic land type.: Cards printed in sets prior to the Eighth Edition
  core set didn't use the word "basic" to indicate a basic land. Cards
  from those sets with the following names are basic lands and have
  received errata in the Oracle card reference accordingly: Forest,
  Island, Mountain, Plains, Swamp, Snow-Covered Forest, Snow-Covered
  Island, Snow-Covered Mountain, Snow-Covered Plains, and Snow-Covered
  Swamp.

And from the rulings on Snow Covered Plains:

  “Snow” has no particular meaning or rules associated with it.

Also (emphasis mine)

  Since this is a basic land, you may have any number of it in a
  Constructed deck in any format in which the Masters Edition II set,
  the Coldsnap set, or the Ice Age set is legal.


Bridge guide for experienced Spades player?

The two games have some similarities. But they have a lot of differences too. Spades is a lot simpler, and so going from Bridge to Spades is relatively easy. Going from Spades to Bridge, well you're slightly ahead of the curve in having played a trick-based partnership game, but there is still a lot of other stuff to learn.
To be honest, any general introduction to Bridge would work for you. The bidding in Bridge bears absolutely no relation to bidding in Spades - this is the part you'll need to learn (and hence the section of the guide you want to pay attention to) - there are a lot of conventions to learn. The gameplay is relatively similar in Bridge, but a) there is a dummy hand which is controlled by his partner (declarer), and everyone can see it; and b) players know a lot more about other people's hands because the auction/bidding has a lot more detail than in Spades.


The deck is only shuffled when the card instructs you to do so.

This way it's semi-guaranteed that the Dragon will eventually wake up. With the " shuffle when there are no heroes in the treasure chamber" rule the Dragon could potentially never wake up - the heroes could reset his "timer" by leaving and re-entering the chamber.


If you are on a budget, you probably don't want to buy any cards - by definition, for a Cube you need the best cards of all times. The power 9 alone would run you into the thousands of dollars.

You do have 2 inexpensive options:

Cube works with any set of cards, just take the best cards you have. No money involved, only time to decide on the cards. You don't have to use any list, just use whatever you have. Advantage: You learn a lot about your the cards in your collection and you have to make a conscious effort grading their relative power, which can only benefit you as a player.

Second, if you don't mind using proxies, simply take a cube list you like and print proxies of everything you are missing. There are many resources where you can get card scans, or use the Gatherer text for the latest errata. This will take some time to prepare the printing run, and depending on your circumstances, could cost you a few dollars for paper and/or ink. Advantage: You get to play the best cards of all times for crazy powerful decks, should be loads of fun, you (probably) get to know many new cards.


Do Ticket to Ride expansions work with the Europe set?

No, you only need one of the base games (Europe or USA) in order to access the train car cards, scoring markers and the player carriage pieces. It doesn't matter which base game you own. For example, the rules for Heart of Africa tell you:

  This game is an expansion and requires that you use the following game
  parts from one of the previous versions of Ticket to Ride:

  A reserve of 45 Trains per player and matching Scoring Markers taken from any of the following:

  Ticket to Ride / Ticket to Ride Europe

  110 Train Car Cards taken from:

  Ticket to Ride / Ticket to Ride Europe / USA 1910 expansion

You can also confirm this yourself by looking at the Games of Wonder website descriptions for each map, for example Asia. They all say the same thing:

  NOT A STAND-ALONE GAME! Requires an original copy of Ticket to Ride® or Ticket to Ride® Europe to play.


Power strength too important in Through the Ages

Indeed military power is important (as in the real world).  Indeed the weakest nation suffer from Aggression/War and several events.  However having the most military power is not the safest way to win a game with 3/4 players.  Most often the best players keep their military strength somewhere in between, so they can stand an Aggression/War attacks and will not lose to events but not waste all their resources on military.  Note that two player game is much more about military strength since each point you steal from your opponent is 2 points swing.

If you don't like this arm race there are few ways to reduce it:

4 players games - more players means military strength is less important.
Peaceful variant - no War and Aggression cards - just a culture race.
Through the Ages: A new Story of Civilization - the new edition decrease the dominance of some military cards, most known is Napoleon which decrease from a 3-action-pick to a situational nice leader.

Experts can handle low Military: they have ways to neglect the negative affects of low military, so that they can focus on engine building and "change gears" when time seems right.
Examples: seeing but not seeding most of the 5 events that involve military at age I, or timely seeding Iconoclasm that can remove Napoleon on the right time.  Having a effective tactic card in hand + enough resources ready for countering a War.


Munchkin Warhammer 40k - Running Away - Automatic Escape vs Automatic Failure

You cannot escape this way
From the Steve Jackson Games Forums, on a thread about running away, the Munchkin Line Editor wrote:

If a monster doesn't allow you to Run Away at all, then there's no attempt that will automatically succeed or fail. (But some Items will allow you to try to escape even from monsters that don't normally allow a try; they will explicitly say you can roll even from those monsters.)
If you're under a Curse or Bad Stuff that means you automatically fail your next attempt, you can't use something else to make that attempt succeed (unless, as above, it says it can even supersede automatic failure -- Magic Lamp, for instance, or Tomb Dust, as you mentioned).
You can't use a Hireling to escape an automatic failure. You also can't use an automatic success to counteract an automatic failure, unless the auto-success says so; automatic failure trumps automatic success.
A monster that won't even pursue you never causes a Run Away attempt in the first place, so it doesn't trigger an automatic failure effect -- you're still stuck with it. However, if another card (such as Flask of Glue) counteracts the "will not pursue" clause, then your automatic failure kicks in.

Tactical Rearward Advance does not indicate that it supersedes automatic failures, therefore it does not.


Connect 4 has been solved and it is a first player win, provided that player plays first in the middle column.

That paper I linked above has some heavy-duty analysis of board positions and expert play. I suppose it would be possible to memorize them, but I couldn't say whether you'd reach the 80% goal.


Can Coastal Wizard bounce multiple other creatures?

Yes, that combo works.
For the first part of your answer, whether you can activate Coastal Wizard multiple times, yes you can:
Whenever you, as the active player, cast a spell/activate an ability, or whenever a spell or ability has resolved, you receive priority:

117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

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

That means you can keep activating abilities as long as you want before anything resolves. That allows you to stack your abilities in any order you like. When any of the Aphetto Alchemist's abilities resolves and your Coastal Wizard becomes untapped, you receive priority and can activate Coastal Wizard again, before any of its previous activations resolves. At the end of it all, you have 3 Coastal Wizard activations on the stack.
For the second part of your question: Since returning Coastal Wizard is an effect of its ability, not a cost, you only return it on resolution. Since returning the Wizard and the targeted creature are independent effects (no intervening if-clause), it doesn't matter if the Wizard is no longer on the battlefield by the time the ability tries to return it. The targeted creature will be returned anyway.

609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

Note though that if all targets of your various Coastal Wizard abilities all became illegal by the time they resolve, for example through Veil of Summer, the abilities would all be removed from the stack because all their targets became illegal, and you wouldn't have to return your Wizard either.


Why did a damage-triggered ability trigger after the creature holding it died?

The triggered ability actually triggered before Flynn died, not after.
This happened because Fynn doesn't die immediately; it only dies when state-based actions are checked. Simultaneously, Fynn was dealt damage and your opponent was dealt damage by a creature with deathtouch. This event caused Fynn to trigger; as Fynn was still on the battlefield and was an "object that exists immediately after an event" to quote rule 603.10. In other words, Fynn triggered because Fynn was still on the battlefield at the moment the damage was dealt and immediately afterwards.
Before the next player gets priority, state-based actions are checked, and Fynn will die because it has at least as much damage as toughness. But it's ability has already triggered by that point, it just hasn't gone on the stack or done anything yet.

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

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 117, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority. This process also occurs during the cleanup step (see rule 514), except that if no state-based actions are performed as the result of the step’s first check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, then no player gets priority and the step ends.


What happens to a spell after it's been cast is not affected by where it was cast from. It's the usual rule about cards being by default "reset" whenever they move from a zone to another.

Unless the spell itself (e.g. Pull from the Deep, White Sun's Zenith...) or another card (such as Rest in Peace) says it doesn't go to the graveyard, that is where it will end up.


Strategies for playing Fido in Cosmic encounter?

It's not one of the strongest powers, but it's well suited for diplomacy.  First, some general principles of Cosmic diplomacy that apply with this power:

Diplomacy is active.  Don't wait for compromise cards, get out there and make pre-emptive deals.  Arrange to be everyone's offensive ally whenever possible.
Powers are not all equal.  If the game has a dominant power, strengthen other players against it - it's good for you too.  If not, Cosmic shifts the attacks and alliances every encounter, so re-evaluate your advantage constantly.
Form defensive alliances for extra card draw when you think the defender has a good shot - this is vastly overlooked, especially with Fantasy Flight's new 'reward' deck.
Always hold back one good encounter card, if remotely possible.  You don't want to be on 4 colonies with no chance to win by yourself.

Now some specifics about Fido:

Don't underestimate the value of steady resource gain.  Fido should gain a card every single encounter.  Your aim should be to offer the lowest-value encounter card that a player might actually accept; in the long run your constant draws will pay off with just a few useful cards - which is all it takes in CE.
Offer strong cards to players who are down to 1 card (or who you think are out of encounter cards).  Redrawing is a big deal in Cosmic; they'd often be better with a whole new hand than taking the card.  Whether they take it or give it to you, you're up on the deal.  (Obviously, does not apply if player has 4 foreign colonies and a turn coming up!)

Against Anti-matter, Tripler, or other powers that hate high cards, you're golden.  Scoop up and offer them the highest cards, all the time.  (Don't give the Tripler 8s or 9s!)  Consider offering 5-7 to the Tripler or negatives to the Anti-matter, but not if they're already in a good position to win.

Offer medium cards to players who've shown several useful flares.  They're probably low on encounter cards, and don't want to redraw and lose the flares.  So they have reasons to accept.

If any other power has good trade / support uses for excess cards, make them your favoured trade parter.  Philanthropist, etc. all have good reasons to accept your excess card whatever it is, so you can bid low and still get a draw.

In negotiations, trade for a good flare if you don't have one, even giving up strong cards.  Because your power lets you draw cards reliably, you should take a long time to redraw your hand, if ever, so a good flare is better than usual for you.  (Does not apply with Mayfair-style flares.)
Make people promise to invite you as offensive ally in exchange for good cards during or after.  That's a win-win for you - with a good card in hand, they can win the battle.  (Repeat four times with different players and you only need one good card in hand to win.)

Obviously, don't do this with players who are ahead of you in foreign colonies, except at the very start.
Important subtactic: When allied offensively, get the player to play his best attack card, not a medium-to-good one.  Promise to retrieve it and offer it back after the encounter.  You greatly improve the odds of a challenge win, find out a player's best attack, leave the cards no worse for you than they were at start of turn, and are paid a defender reward for it.

In smaller games, use cards as bribes to restrict alliances too.  If you make yellow promise not to invite red as offensive ally on a winning fight, then do the same in reverse next time, you've slowed them both up for a turn compared to the scenario where they cooperate.
Try to talk the other players into house-ruling that Fido can make the extra draw from the reward deck.  (This is a common and reasonable house rule, given the wording of the power is the same as a defensive reward.)

Fido is one of the powers that was a popular homebrew before FFG brought it in to the new edition, and there are reasons for that.  It's not a great power for solo wins, but it's not at all terrible.  It's a reasonably good power for arranging joint victories in 5-6 player games.  It does require practiced judgement and persuasive diplomacy to use well, though - if that's not your play style, ask your group for a mulligan rule!


What card should I play when my partner has bid nil and I can't follow suit but do have Spades?

It depends. Have you and the opponents bid for most or all of the tricks? If so then your left hand opponent (LHO) will probably not let the trick go by for fear of going down themselves. If not, and RHO has led a low card, then partner's nil may be in danger and you probably won't have to work hard to get your bid, so you need to protect partner from LHO playing low.

If you are going to protect partner, do you think he will have to follow suit? If so, then you can either trump small so he can throw a high card, or discard small and save your strength for later if you think he can duck this trick. If not, then a high trump will allow him to under-trump if he has an awkward middling trump.

Of course, if you know the cards that have been played, hopefully you'll know how many high cards are gone and what risk this trick poses. A good partner will also try to help you by good discarding - ideally he'll discard short suits first (if you have K765432, you don't gain anything by chucking the King early!), and by discarding a low card in a suit he's essentially saying "this suit is safe, please lead it whenever you can". Deliberately winning the lead with the intention of giving partner a free discard is very helpful.

(In any case, aren't spades always trumps? Or is that just the MS online version?)


Does a player have to say uno twice on the same last card?

Per the rules:

  The moment a player has just one card they must yell "UNO!".

So calling "Uno" happens at the point where you go from having 2 to 1 card in hand. When you play your last card, you do not need to call anything, you just go out.


Nothing. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade has no effect on it, so it resolves normally.

To cast a spell is to put it on the stack, to make some choices (mode, targets, how the cost is payed, etc) and to pay its cost.

  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). [...]

Specifically, resolving a spell is not part of casting it. To respond to a spell is to do something after it has been cast but before it resolves, so Omniscience has already been cast by the time you get to respond to it.

Lavinia's static ability only affects spell that are cast while Lavinia is on the battlefield. It doesn't affect spells that have already been cast. What's been done is done. Nothing has a retroactive effect in Magic.[1]

Similarly, Lavinia's triggered ability only triggers for spells that are cast while Lavinia is on the battlefield. It doesn't trigger for spells that have already been cast.

Two exceptions:

In the extremely rare situation in which a spell becomes uncastable in the middle of the process of casting it, the game reverses to when the spell started being cast. (This isn't the case here because the player has finished casting Omniscience.)
When an error is made, the judge may undo certain actions in certain circumstances.


What should the Overlord change when adding a fifth hero in Descent: Journey Into the Dark, 2nd Ed.?

We've been playing with six players (5 heroes + overlord). The only changes we've made are to:

Play all white minion monsters with red stats. They still count as white minions for hero powers.
Add an additional treasure.
When calculating the boss monster's HP, increase it by one hero.

I think it's a little bit easy for the heros, but it's been close.


A backgammon occurs when you have borne off ALL your checkers, and BOTH of the following are true: 1) Your opponent has at least one checker in your home area and 2) Your opponent has borne off NO checkers.

In this situation, your opponent had ALREADY begun bearing off checkers when he got hit. So the fact that this checker was in your home board has no bearing on "backgammon." (And if he had gotten it out of your home board before you bore off, there would have been no gammon.)

The cube can operate with or without a gammon or backgammon, so you get the value of the cube in this instance. If you're playing "Jacoby Rule," you can't score a gammon or backgammon without the cube's being turned.


What is the tallest Jenga tower ever created?

According the the 2008 Vintage Game Collection version of Jenga, the tallest recorded Jenga tower was made by Robert Grebler in 1985 with a tower 40 2⁄3 levels*, using an original Jenga set produced by Leslie Scott, the designer of the game.

Board Game Geek's gallery for Jenga includes a picture that nearly matches this at 40 levels tall. The user Romir posted a picture of a tower 43 levels tall, but it looks like they didn't follow the rule to complete a 3 block story before starting another one.**

For fun, there is a YouTube video of the Tallest Game of Jenga Ever Assembled at 66 inches (5.5 feet, 1.68 meters), using multiple sets.

* Presumably, the "2/3 levels" means that the Robert Grebler placed 2 out of a possible 3 blocks on the top level before the tower collapsed. In Jenga, you must place three blocks on a level before starting a new level.

** As described above, a level must have three blocks on it before starting another level. Therefore, it's not possible for both the top level and the one below it to only have one block, as shown in the picture.


What happens if, after battle, board is still full?

You have another Battle immediately.

On page 5 of the game rules:

  If at any time during the game the board is filled up and no single space is left to place a tile on, a Battle commences (see BATTLES section below).

Even if the Battle results in a stalemate, the game will eventually end. As soon as the Battle ends, so does the active player's turn:

  The player who starts a Battle (by playing Battle tile or filling up the board) finishes his turn, regardless of the number of tiles he has left. As soon as the Battle commences, no other tiles can be used or even discarded.

As such, the next player takes their turn, drawing and discarding. Because the board is full, a battle happens immediately (before they can play tiles or use other abilities). Eventually, a player will draw their last tile. An automatic battle happens on that turn due to the board being full, then again on the opponent's turn, and then the final battle happens.

If both HQs have the same points left, each player takes an extra turn (a.k.a. two more battles), and then there's an additional final battle. If there's still no winner, it's a draw.


Can I choose "Artifact Creature" as a creature type as Adaptive Automaton enters the battlefield?

No, you can't, because "artifact" is not a creature type, it's a card type.

The information on the type line is divided into two portions, the type(s) and the subtype(s). Each word before the dash represents a type of the card, and each word after the dash (if any) represents a subtype. For example, Palladium Myr's type line says "Artifact Creature - Myr" so "artifact" and "creature" are its types and "Myr" is its subtype.

When a card says "creature type," it effectively means "subtype of a card which has 'Creature' or 'Tribal' as a type." In other words, the creature type is always a subtype, something that must appear after the dash.

Also, the complete list of possible creature types is given in the comprehensive rules, rule 204.3k as of this writing. When a card like Adaptive Automaton asks you to choose a creature type, you're only allowed to choose one of the words from that list (according to rule 204.3d).


Your Progenitus would still be exiled.
According to the Gatherer rulings:

2/1/2009: “Protection from everything” means the following: Progenitus can't be blocked, Progenitus can't be enchanted or equipped, Progenitus can't be the target of spells or abilities, and all damage that would be dealt to Progenitus is prevented.
2/1/2009: Progenitus can still be affected by effects that don't target it or deal damage to it (such as Day of Judgment).

Since Worldfire doesn't target anything, Progenitus will be exiled along with everything else.


How does Underrealm Lich interact with Sylvan Library during your draw step?

This answer assumes you have invoked the "may" clause of the Sylvan library.  If you haven't, then there's no question.

Since you have replaced your draws, with "look at top three cards ..." you are in fact not drawing cards.

After you replace all your draws, you move to the next step of Sylvan library.  "Choose two cards in your hand drawn this turn."  You don't have any cards in hand drawn this turn, so you can't choose any.  [i.e. you can't put any back on top of your library.]  So, the life loss portion doesn't apply.

Final state:  3 cards added to hand, 6 cards put in graveyard, and no life lost.

All the above, is essentially a walk through of

  120.6c Some effects perform additional actions on a card after it’s drawn. If the draw is replaced, the additional action is not performed on any cards that are drawn as a result of that replacement effect or any subsequent replacement effects.

Keep in mind the "do as much as you can rule." of which, 120.6c is essentially an instantiation of in this case.

  609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.


Is using Quickshade a good way to finish miniature painting?

I have used Quickshade and the much cheaper but equally effective Minwax polyshade on roughly one hundred miniatures. This pictures most definitely are not Photoshopped, but it's not quite the magic bullet as it seems.

While it certainly is a way to quickly finish a large number of models there are a few disadvantages:

1) It leaves a gloss finish on your model that, except in a few cases, is generally undesirable, which requires the application of a matt varnish to eliminate. Often times, though, you will want to protect the paint anyway, so it may or may not be an extra step.

2) It requires a bit more prep work. Mold lines on your models, along with any imperfection, become accentuated with Quickshade, but again, that's the case if you use a wash anyway.

3) It's messy. I brush the stuff on, but the technique is called "dipping" because the technique first involved dipping the entire model into the poly and then shaking/spinning it to remove the excess. In my case, after I get it on, I carefully brush off the excess, but it can easily pool in certain recesses.

It's a great way to get a large number of figures painted and ready for the tabletop quickly. A small container of Quickshade is roughly thirty US dollars, and the Minwax Polyshade (I prefer Tudor Satin), is about 8 dollars for a few pints.

Here is how I do it:
http://hivezero.blogspot.com/2010/09/speed-painting-tyranid-termagant.html

There are a ton of other tutorials and galleries on the web. Search "40k dipping"


Teferi's Time Twist and Gideon's Sacrifice

That is incorrect and if you look at the rulings on the card in gatherer you will see that they have a ruling for this case that states that the damage will not be redirected.

  If the chosen creature or planeswalker isn’t on the battlefield or isn’t a creature or planeswalker at the time damage would be dealt, the damage won’t be redirected.

In the sequence of events both the zombie token and the Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion will die from damage in combat unless something else is done to save one of them.

This is based on 614.9 of the comprehensive rules

  614.9: Some effects replace damage dealt to one creature, planeswalker, or player with the same damage dealt to another creature, planeswalker, or player; such effects are called redirection effects. If either creature or planeswalker is no longer on the battlefield when the damage would be redirected, or is no longer a creature or planeswalker when the damage would be redirected, the effect does nothing. If damage would be redirected to or from a player who has left the game, the effect does nothing.


In the short term, cards that make him discard cards are the best way to go.  Minion is the best because it makes him discard all of them:

Other cards that help in the short term:

(sadly, Ghost Ship does not)

In the long run, there are several strategies:

If Embargo is in play, Embargo Alchemist early on.

Destroy his cards using Saboteur or Swindler.

Destroy or steal his money using Thief or Pirate Ship.  Note: These two cards will also flip his top two cards even if they aren't money.

Give him Curses, or use Ambassador to give him unhelpful cards.

One last note: Each time he buys an Alchemist, he's buying another action card.  If he's buying action cards, he's not buying money cards.  As bad as it sounds, Alchemist-heavy can often be defeated by Big Money decks, even if they have 5 Alchemists in their hand (and thus essentially start with 10 cards).

Also, make sure he isn't putting the Alchemists on top during turns he doesn't have a Potion in play.

Edit:
It's been a while, but one thing I noticed I forgot to mention when I answered this in 2010: Alchemist is only +1 Action, which means unless they have a +2 Action card somewhere, they only have one action at the end of the chain.


Where can I share a Print and Play game?

Not sure if website recommendations are off topic same way game recommendations are but will see!

https://playtest-coop.com is a site specifically for play testing print and play games. I've tried a few things from there

Since the global lockdown began however online play testing groups are more prevalent.  I've done more play testing of my own design in the last few months than I have in the last year.  You can find a list here https://cardboardedison.com/playtest-groups

The 'Remote Playtesting Group' on Saturday seems to the busiest with about 40 designers/testers meeting on the Discord server.

The Cardboard Edison website is a very good resource for games design/play testing advice and lists play testing groups around the world for when lockdown is over.   There is an absolute ton of other play testing resources online as well.

Just remember the golden rule, if 4 people spend 1 hour playing your game you owe the play testing world 4 hours back testing their games!


Can Wheel of Sun and Moon go into graveyard from play?

First of all, you'd often put Wheel of Sun and Moon on your opponent, in which case there's nothing to worry about. It's only affecting cards that'd be put into their graveyard, and when it's destroyed it goes to yours.

A more likely similar example is Rest in Peace, which says "If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead." The Gatherer rulings mention exactly this scenario:

  If Rest in Peace is destroyed by a spell, Rest in Peace will be exiled and then the spell will be put into its owner's graveyard.

That said, Wheel of Sun and Moon behaves in the same way.  If for some reason you use it on yourself, and then destroy it, it will go to the bottom of your library.

Wheel of Sun and Moon creates a replacement effect, which applies as long as it's on the battlefield. When it would be destroyed (i.e. moved to the graveyard) it is still on the battlefield, so the replacement effect changes that to putting it on the bottom of your library.

It's only once it's left the battlefield that the replacement effect goes away, but by that time the effect has already been applied. Note that this means that, if you destroyed it with Disenchant, the Disenchant will go to your graveyard, because when you finish resolving the spell and move it from the stack to your graveyard, Wheel of Sun and Moon is now gone.


Is this movement through other trucks in Auf Achse correct?

The 2007 rule book PDF I have says "It is permitted to drive through spaces with trucks." Unfortunately, I don't know where I got the PDF so I don't know if it's an official translation. It has the 2007 Schmidt Spiele artwork though, so could be.

The SpotLight on Games rules translation from 2003 (and thus presumably for the 1987 edition) (here) says "However, it is allowed to pass another player's truck in either direction."

Neither says anything about skipping the space though. I've always played it as the occupied space counts but you may not be able to stop on it. (In 1987 rules, you can't stop on it if there's a truck there. In 2007 rules, 2 trucks can occupy a highway space. You can still pass them even if the space is "full" though, so long as you end on a legal space.)


I own or have played all versions of Ticket To Ride.
Ticket To Ride - Europe is the only version that I know of that uses stations.
As a house rule, there is nothing that will prevent you from using the stations with the other versions but you will then not be playing according to the official rules.


Cards from Conspiracy are not legal in Modern unless they were already printed in a Modern legal set. There were 65 new cards in that set, 52 are legal in Legacy and Vintage the remaining 13 are not legal in any Constructed format. The 13 that aren't legal are the ones with the Conspiracy type.

The only things that add new cards to the Modern card pool are sets that are Standard legal. Supplementary sets like Conspiracy, Commander, or Planechase do not, new cards from those sets are only legal in Legacy and Vintage.


What is this board game with black & white pieces and criss-crossing lines called? or how is it played?

This is a game called "Fighting Serpents" or "Kolowis Awithlaknannai",
and in particular this is a version of that game produced by a Greek company by the name of Elite Crafters.

The game originally comes from the Zuni people of New Mexico, but its most likely a modified version of Alquerque, which was introduced by the Spanish while they were exploring the Americas.


Can I mill my opponent into defeat with Mindcrank and Duskmantle Guildmage?

Your opponent will die

The first ability from duskmantle is a delayed triggered ability:

  603.7. An effect may create a delayed triggered ability that can do something at a later time. A delayed triggered ability will contain “when,” “whenever,” or “at,” although that word won’t usually begin the ability.

  603.7a Delayed triggered abilities come from spells or other abilities that create them on resolution, ...

After it is created, it does not matter what happens to the object that created it. Meaning that as soon as this ability resolves, the next time this turn that something goes to your opponents graveyard, they die.

Even though the last steps of the stack do not matter in this situation as your opponent has already lost after step 1, your stack is correct, because a spell going to the graveyard is the last part of resolving a spell and state-based actions that move your creature to the graveyard are only checked right before anyone gets priority.

  608.2k As the final part of an instant or sorcery spell’s resolution, the spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.


How are Minor Improvement and Occupation cards meant to be selected for play?

The decks you use are completely at the discretion of the players.  I like to use all the decks I own.  Some people like to use certain decks.  Some people like to ensure a particular distribution of cards from each deck, but I find that tedious.  Here's how I set things up:

Set up the game board normally.
Shuffle all Minor Improvements together from all decks.
Remove all Occupations that carry a number greater than the number of players in the game (this number appears in a colored square and is either 1+, 3+ or 4+).
Shuffle all remaining Occupations together from all decks.
Randomly deal out 7 (or more) Occupations to each player.
Randomly deal out 7 (or more) Minor Improvements to each player.

(The next two steps are the drafting steps, which you can skip if you want to.)

Each player chooses on Occupation and one Minor Improvement to keep, then passes the rest of their dealt cards to the person on their left/right.
Repeat the previous step until all cards have been chosen.
If you chose to deal more than 7 Occs/Minors, each player discards until they have 7 each.
Play the game.


Games played numbers notation [MTG - Online]

The "Results" column in the Game history page shows the match win-loss record for each tournament, and you can expand each tournament to see a game win-loss-draw record for each tournament.


It’s another interesting problems that you submit here
For the First one,
you're right, in this situation yellow must skip his turn, the rules with all the differents explanations implied that.

For the second case,
It’s quite easy when you refers to the rules and it’s not a tortured reading of the rules you just have to follow the legal move in the Fig 10 (fig who show the legal move in a case of a jump with two pawn in front of you )
Yellow can escape in jumping in the upper square of the red pawn.


In general once an Aura is enchanting an object it stays enchanting that object. There are no rules that allow you to move Auras from one object to another, therefore you cannot do it.

There are exceptions though, cards like Simic Guildmage have the ability to move Auras to different permanents, and Illusory Gains moves itself whenever a creature enters the battlefield.


No.

The general rule is that you orient the goal card to connect with the path you added.  That goal card is now part of your path, and to add a path from there, it has to correctly match the path on the goal card.


Why does Renegade Freighter not just have trample?

There are some more relevant edge cases where the difference actually matters. Two of the cards that were in standard at the same time as Renegade Freighter were Odric, Lunarch Marshal and Majestic Myriarch. Both of those check for abilities including Trample at the beginning of combat, so in both cases, they can find Trample on Untethered Express, but not on Renegade Freighter.


Can you conquer 3 cities with the flight card?

Yes, an attacker can conquer 3 cities with the Flight card as long as all three rival cities are within 5 spaces of one or more of the attacking player's friendly spaces at the start of his turn. (That is, an attacker cannot target spaces that have come within range due to spaces just conquered that turn.)

Based on your description, it seems you are playing by the correct rules, although the terminology is being confused. "Masonry" is the first level Military cards. The Industry cards are responsible for building cities (e.g., "Pottery", the first-level Industry card).

Strategy-wise, if you're finding Flight (the fourth and most powerful Military card) to be overpowered in your games, here are some suggestions:

Cut back on building cities on low-numbered terrain as it makes them easy targets for attacks (the exact symptom you're experiencing)
Make use of reinforced control tokens as they can greatly enhance the defense of surrounding friendly spaces. (Each adjacent reinforced control token adds +1 to its neighboring friendly space's defense.)
Allocate and stockpile trade tokens on the Military card to discourage would-be attackers.


Can Thraben Heretic be used on creatures with undying?

Yes.

Undying is a triggered ability, not a replacement effect. That means Undying creatures still "die" -- meaning that the card is placed into the graveyard from the battlefield. Then its Undying ability goes on the stack. You can activate Thraben Heretic in response to exile the creature card from the graveyard. The Undying ability do nothing when in resolves because the card it's supposed to fetch back to the battlefield is no longer in the graveyard.


Why does the Happy Anniversary box come with two evil counters for every player?

I have the same "Happy Anniversary" edition of Dungeon Lords and can only find one cube of each colour for the evil-o-meter.  So unless I suspect in your case its just a minor packing error and you have 4 extra cubes.


How is Inventor's Apprentice affected by multiple artifacts?

Inventor's Apprentice gets +1/+1 as long as you control an artifact. It's only +1/+1, and this is true no matter how many artifacts you control. If it was the other way, it would say "Inventor's Apprentice gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control", as it does for Cranial Plating.


How do Opalescence and Humility interact?

This is actually directly addressed in the rulings for Opalescence:

  This is the current interaction between Humility and Opalescence: The type-changing effect applies at layer 4, but the rest happens in the applicable layers.  The rest of it will apply even if the permanent loses its ability before it's finished applying. So if Opalescence, Humility, and Worship are on the battlefield and Opalescence entered the battlefield before Humility, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments. (Opalescence). Layer 6: Humility and Worship each lose their abilities. (Humility) Layer 7b: Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4. (Opalescence).  Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility). But if Humility entered the battlefield before Opalescence, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments (Opalescence). Layer 6:  Humility and Worship each lose their abilities (Humility). Layer 7b: Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility).  Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4 (Opalescence).

This all sounds very confusing, but basically what it is saying is that it depends on which one entered the battlefield first. These types of effects are applied in a "Layer" order. When 2 things would happen in the same layer, they are applied in the order that the effects were created.


Why are some decks (i.e. Meandeck Tendrils) not playable in tournaments?

Effectively, you need to be able to win two games (possibly after losing one!) in 50 minutes, and give your opponent their fair share of that time too, so if a deck is difficult and time consuming enough to play, you may simply run out of time, and not be able to win matches. And you may never even reach the time limit - if a judge thinks you're playing slowly enough to cause problems, they will step in and force you to speed up or lose. If on the other hand you play fast enough to avoid all this, you'll make too many mistakes, and lose anyway.

All these things are potential issues since as Menendian says in the article, a lot of the decisions you have to make are difficult, and the deck is difficult to play fast enough without making mistakes. (Of course, it's also possible that you can play it fast and well even though he couldn't - feel free to try to prove him wrong!)

In tournaments, the time limit is typically 50 minutes per round. (Officially, the minimum time limit allowed is 40 minutes but 50 minutes is the recommended time for constructed tournaments). In each round you're playing a best of three match. If someone hasn't won two games by the end of time, the current turn is finished, then five more turns of play are allowed (i.e. three for one player and two for the other); if the game isn't over by then, that game is a draw. If that was the third game (reasonably likely, it's been 50 minutes), each player has won one of the first two games, so the match is a draw as well. So if a deck is slow to play, you'll likely end up with a lot of draws.

In order to help make sure that people actually finish their matches, the tournament rules disallow "Slow Play". It's normally something where a judge will simply give a caution, letting a player know they need to speed up, but if it continues to happen it can lead to more significant penalties. You can't just sit there thinking forever; you'll eventually get a game/match loss.

The point at which you're playing too slowly is up to the judges' discretion, though. This article by a couple of judges goes into some detail about the way they personally think about it, though it's explicitly not official policy. The key thing to notice is that it's largely based on what speed of play is necessary in order to finish games within the allotted time. So while for many decisions 15-30 seconds is about as much time as you can reasonably take, if you're to the point where clearly you'll either win or lose within a minute once you decide, you might get some leeway. Bottom line, though, it's possible you won't actually get to the point of running out of time in the round: a judge may step in sooner and force you to either decide (making your decisions more error-prone) or lose.

There's another problem on top of this: combo decks tend to have long turns, so those few extra turns at the end of the game can drag on for much longer than with other decks. There's only a small amount of buffer time between rounds, so the two players in the extra long match will end up delaying the next round, upsetting the schedule for the entire tournament. Wizards actually banned Second Sunrise from Modern in order to stop a combo deck from causing these kinds of delays. That doesn't exactly mean the deck was unplayable (in fact people were doing reasonably well with it), but at the same time, you don't exactly want to be messing up tournaments for others.

As for this specific deck, I can't personally tell exactly how difficult and slow it is to play, but it certainly looks hard. There are an awful lot of decisions, and getting any of them wrong could totally derail you, so you'd have to take your time and get it all right under pressure. I would tend to trust the opinion of the experienced player who wrote that article and assume he's right that it's simply too hard to play within the available time. On the other hand, perhaps with enough skill (or enough practice) you could get fast enough.


What do I do with the Curse of the Rougarou and Monstrous Transformation cards at setup?

The quick answer: set them aside, and don't worry about them. The slightly spoiler filled answer....

Curse of the Rougarou

   This card will come into play during the scenario (specifically after completing the first act). It should have been included in the set aside instructions.

Monstrous Transformation

   This card only becomes available during a particular resolution after the scenario is complete (so only applicable if you are playing the scenario as part of a campaign).


You can play a land for the turn during either main phase, before or after casting spells. There's no hard and fast rule about what time is best to play your land. If someone told you there was, they probably don't have a thorough understanding of the game. But if someone told you that in a specific situation you should've played differently, they might've had a point.

To give an idea, here are some of the things that might come up. These aren't meant to be exhaustive lists, just to demonstrate that it's not a black and white issue.

Reasons you might play a land before casting a spell or going through combat:

You need the mana immediately (you're about to spend all you can produce), or you're planning out actions in which you'll eventually want it all available and you want to make sure you count everything correctly.
The land has some effect that you want before playing spells (e.g. the scry from Temple of Silence).
You might need the mana to pay to keep a spell from being countered (if your opponent might have something like Mana Leak).
You have instants you could cast or abilities you could activate, and want to make sure you could do so if something happens in response to the other spells you're playing, or during combat. (Or you want your opponent to think this is the case.)
You want your opponent to think there's a lower chance you have other spells in hand.

Reasons you might wait to play a land until after casting spells or after combat:

You're going to draw cards and the land you'll choose to play depends on what you draw. (In some cases, this could even include choosing not to play a land at all.)
You want to find out what happens when you cast a spell or during combat before you decide what land to play.
You want to cast spells or go through combat with your opponent thinking there's a higher chance you have additional spells in hand, or a lower chance that you have a land (and thus that you have less mana available for spells/abilities).

Sometimes you might even consider not playing a land at all for the turn. Usually you don't want to do that since you might need the mana for a bigger spell or multiple spells later. But if that's not an issue, some of the same ideas as above come into play:

You might want your opponent to think you have more spells or fewer lands left.
You want to wait til later to get a non mana effect from the land.
You might have to discard a card later and would prefer it to be the land.

So, yes, there are definitely reasons it might be much better to play a land at one time than at another time - but it's not "always before" or "always after".


Game with many black and white pieces and 3 red

Is it dvonn? That seems to fit the bill

DVONN is played on a board with 49 spaces. The board has a hexagonal layout 5 hexes wide. One player has 23 black pieces to play, the other player has 23 white pieces. There are also 3 neutral red pieces, called DVONN pieces.
The game starts with an empty board and proceeds in two phases. During the first phase, the players place their pieces on the board, starting with the three red DVONN pieces. Pieces can be placed on any unoccupied space. White starts, and the players alternate. So Black is the first to place a piece of his own color. The first phase ends when all pieces are placed on the board, filling it completely.
The second phase involves the building of stacks of pieces (a single piece is also considered a stack) by moving stacks onto other stacks. A stack is controlled by a player if his color is on top. A stack is immobile if it is surrounded by 6 neighboring stacks. The white player has the first move in this phase. Any mobile stack of height n (with n > 0) can be moved (in a straight line) in any one of the 6 directions by exactly n spaces by the player controlling it, if it lands on another stack. Jumping over empty spaces is allowed, as long as the tower does not land on an empty space. Single DVONN pieces cannot be moved, but they can be once they are part of a stack. After each move, all stacks that are not connected via a chain of neighboring stacks to any stack containing a DVONN piece are removed from the board.


In what kind of deck is Aether Vial good?

Obviously Aether Vial does best in a creature-heavy deck where many of the creatures have low CMC. Having to tick up a Vial to 3 or 4 means waiting 3 or 4 turns before it gives you any value.

In addition to the points you listed above, one advantage that you missed is that creatures put into play by Vial are not cast, and therefore sidestep counterspells and related effects.

This property also enables the Vial to break symmetry on effects that prevent players from casting spells, or affect the costs to cast spells: (e.g., Trinisphere, Standstill, Sphere of Resistance, Rule of Law).

Multiples are not completely redundant: in addition to being able to vial in multiple creatures per turn, you can hold the vials at different number of counters, for creatures with different CMC.

I would say the reason you don't see it more often in competitive play is that simply putting more creatures on the board isn't always that strong of an effect. Many decks with lots of cheap creatures are on an aggro plan, and so Vial is both tempo loss and card disadvantage. The positive benefits of Vial accrue over multiple turns, so it does the most work in a deck that wants somewhat longer games, and also has lots of cheap creatures, preferably with redundant synergy (e.g., Fish).


Saboteur/survival game with dice mechanics

Sounds like Dark Moon which started life as a fan supplement for Battlestar Galactica.


Can I intentionally play cards that cannot damage obstacles?

Yes you can play cards that will not do damage. The turn order is set up so that you have played all cards you will be playing before you actually apply damage.

Play Cards
Apply Damage
Take Damage
Draw & Buy Cards
End Turn

From page 6 of the rules

This section states you can play cards even if there is no obstacle to use their damage against

  You play cards from your hand during your turn, one at a time.
  If your cards have any abilities other than damage on them,
  resolve those abilities when you play the card. Your starting
  decks don’t have any cards with non-damage abilities,
  though. When you play a card, you don’t put it into your discard
  yet. Instead, put it next to the obstacle that you want to
  damage with the card (you can damage obstacles facing any
  runner). You don’t place cards into your discard until after you
  apply damage. You are allowed to play cards even if there is
  no obstacle to use their damage against.

This section says you can partially damage an obstacle on your turn

  If an obstacle has a damage track level that requires
  4 damage to clear, and you can apply only 3 damage
  to it, the damage on that level will reset at the end of your
  turn. The next runner will still need to deal 4 damage to it
  to clear it during their turn.


Clarification of the Veto Card in El Grande

Here are some clarifications of the Veto rules personally corrected and confirmed by the game designer Wolfgang Kramer:

  *9. Veto: If you have taken this card, then lay it in front of you
  where the other players can see it. You may use it to veto any one
  special action that a player wishes to carry out either during the
  remainder of the current round or during the next round. You may only
  veto a special action, the normal placement of Caballeros is carried
  out as usual. You may only use your Veto once, and during the special
  action is carrying out. You may not cancel an action once carried out.
  Once you have used your Veto you must return the card to the box, if
  you have not used your Veto by the end of the round after the one in
  which you took the card, then you must give it up.

  The opponents can ask for or come to an agreement with you about what
  they can do. * An opponent wants move some Caballeros, he can ask :
  "If I move this Caballeros from ... to ..., you play the Veto card?"
  or "May I move this Caballero, and this else?" or other similar
  questions.

  If an opponent doesn't want to carry out the special action, you can't
  force him thanks to the Veto, because it can prevent (but can't force)
  an action.

  9.1. Veto & Special action addressed to only one player:

  The player who is on turn determines the order of the steps of a
  special action (rule 4), so the Veto can stop his special action at
  any time before it ends.

  "INTRIGANT:4 BELIEBIGE CABALLEROS AUF DEM SPIELPLAN BELIEBIG
  UMSETZEN: The player may remove up to 4 Caballeros (their own and/or
  opponent's) from the board, and replace them in another region or in
  the Castillo.": A player may move four Caballeros. He has already
  moved two. You were pleased with these moves. Now he plans to move one
  more. You don't like that, so you play your Veto and he can't execute
  the remainder of the special action.

There's more where this came from, but I thought I'd stop there!  I think this illustrates the power of Veto quite nicely: you can indeed find out what a player plans to do with their move before choosing to veto it; and you can even use the Veto partway through a move if it begins to take a direction you don't like!


Cast spells as if they have flash - does it affect equipping?

No.

  307.5. If a spell, ability, or effect states that a player can do something only “any time they could cast a sorcery,” it means only that the player must have priority, it must be during the main phase of their turn, and the stack must be empty. The player doesn’t need to have a sorcery they could cast. Effects that would preclude that player from casting a spell or casting a sorcery don’t affect the player’s capability to perform that action (unless the action is actually casting a spell or casting a sorcery).

So in other words, "any time you could cast a sorcery" is just short-hand; it doesn't actually mean "casting a sorcery is a thing you can do right now". It means that the timing rules for that ability follow the normal timing rules for casting a sorcery.


The ability is a triggered ability, so they both trigger when the third player sacrifices a creature. Whichever one is on top of the stack resolves first, and puts the creature into play under that player's control. Then the other one resolves, but can't find the creature card in the graveyard, so it does nothing.
It That Betrays' ability is a leaves-the-battlefield triggered ability. The rule regarding those abilities, 603.6c says

Leaves-the-battlefield abilities trigger when a permanent moves from the battlefield to another zone, or when a phased-in permanent leaves the game because its owner leaves the game. These are written as, but aren't limited to, "When [this object] leaves the battlefield, ..." or "Whenever [something] is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, ..." An ability that attempts to do something to the card that left the battlefield checks for it only in the first zone that it went to. An ability that triggers when a card is put into a certain zone "from anywhere" is never treated as a leaves-the-battlefield ability, even if an object is put into that zone from the battlefield.

Once the first ability that resolves moves the creature out of the graveyard onto the battlefield, the second ability that resolves can't find the creature in the graveyard, so it doesn't do anything.
The order in which the abilities go on the stack depends on APNAP order. This is what the Comprehensive Rules have to say

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. (See rule 101.4.) Then the game once again checks for and resolves state-based actions until none are performed, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority.
101.4 If multiple players would make choices and/or take actions at the same time, the active player (the player whose turn it is) makes any choices required, then the next player in turn order (usually the player seated to the active player's left) makes any choices required, followed by the remaining nonactive players in turn order. Then the actions happen simultaneously. This rule is often referred to as the "Active Player, Nonactive Player (APNAP) order" rule.

In other words, which player gets the creature depends on whose turn it is. If we call the players with It That Betrays A and B, and the other player C, and say that A, B, C is the turn order, then

If it's Player A's turn, A's ability goes on the stack, followed by B's. This means that B's ability resolves first, so B gets the creature.
If it's Player B's turn, B's ability goes on the stack, followed by A's. This means that A's ability resolves first, so A gets the creature.
If it's Player C's turn, A's ability goes on the stack, followed by B's. This means that B's ability resolves first, so B gets the creature.