In the instance provided (Lure + "cannot be blocked except by two or more creatures"), you are required to block the Stormblood Berserker with your 1/1s.

The vanilla 1/1s are only conditionally able to block, but you must fulfill the maximum number of requirements1 that does not violate any restrictions2 when blocking.

Supporting rules (emphasis mine):

  509.1. First, the defending player declares blockers. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. To declare blockers, the defending player follows the steps below, in order. If at any point during the declaration of blockers, the defending player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the declaration is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the declaration (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions").

Let's assume I'm the blocking player, and go through these steps one by one.

  509.1a The defending player chooses which creatures that he or she controls, if any, will block. The chosen creatures must be untapped. For each of the chosen creatures, the defending player chooses one creature for it to block that's attacking him, her, or a planeswalker he or she controls.

So first, I declare blockers. I declare no blockers.

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

My vanilla 1/1s are under the restrictions provided by Stormblood Berserker, but declaring no blockers does not violate the restriction - the declaration of zero blockers is not illegal (yet).

  509.1c The defending player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature must block, or that it must block if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of blockers is illegal. If a creature can't block unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if blocking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed.

This is the key piece - are my 1/1s under the requirement to block or not? Individually, they are both required to block if able. However, they are not individually able - this seems to imply that they do not have to block, and zero blockers would be acceptable.

However, with zero blockers, "the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions" - thus, "the declaration of blockers is illegal."

I cannot legally declare zero blockers, because I haven't met the maximum number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions. The that maximum number can be achieved by declaring two (or more) blockers for Stormblood Berserker, and until I declare each other-wise legal creature as a blocker, my declaration of blockers will be illegal.

EDIT: Alex P points out that 509.1c includes a great example:

  Example: A player controls one creature that “blocks if able” and another creature with no abilities. An effect states “Creatures can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.” Having only the first creature block violates the restriction. Having neither creature block fulfills the restriction but not the requirement. Having both creatures block the same attacking creature fulfills both the restriction and the requirement, so that’s the only option.

While the requirement is different, it's a similar circumstance - achieving the maximum number of requirements forces the creatures to block.

From the comp rules:
[1]: Requirement: An effect that forces one or more creatures to attack or block. See rules 508.1d and 509.1c.
[2]: Restriction: An effect that precludes one or more creatures from attacking or blocking. See rules 508.1c and 509.1b.


Count Theft card as card in front on the player

You appear to be referring to this passage from the rules:

  At any given time, a maximum of three such broken tool cards may be in front of a particular player, but only one card of each type.

Given that each player has three tools, that is a meandering way of saying

  At any given time, only one broken tool card of each type may be in front of a particular player.

The point of the rule is that it's useless to break a tool twice. This has nothing to do with the Theft card.


What was this Mouse Trap-like game with a basket, stairs, and metal parts?

I'm not sure if it ever included metal parts, but that sounds like it could have been crazy clock

Other than that possibly Flying Finnegan or Grape Escape


Can I always sacrifice a permanent whenever I want, without anything telling me to do so?

You can't spontaneously sacrifice a permanent. Even if you have a permanent with an ability of the form "whenever a creature dies" or "whenever a creature is sacrificed", you need to find some means of sacrificing it.

There's no rule forbidding it; there's simply no rule allowing it. CR 116 itemizes what actions you can perform. When you have priority[1], you can do the following[2]:

116.1a Cast a spell.
116.1b Activate an activated ability.
116.1c Perform certain Special Actions.

115.2a Play a land.
115.2b Turn a face-down creature face up.
115.2c Take an action an effect previously permitted you to take at a later time (usually to end a continuous effect or to stop a delayed triggered ability from triggering).
115.2d Take an action a static ability allows you to take to ignore the effect of that static ability for a duration.
115.2e Exile a card with Suspend.
115.2f Role the Planar Die.
115.2g Turn a face-down conspiracy card face up.

116.1d Activate a mana ability.

As you can see, sacrificing a Permanent is not an option (unless it's part of one of the above actions (e.g. The cost to activate an ability)).

There are other actions you can take (e.g. Drawing a card in your Draw Step), but they aren't actions you chose to do, so I won't bother listing them. They are itemized by CR 116.2.
Conditions may apply.


How can you make Twilight Imperium games not take forever?

Some minor tweaks that can help:

1) Use the variant Imperial II from the expansion.  Tricky juggling of the turn order to ensure you get Imperial is one cause of delay in selection.  (Also, Imperial is badly designed and dull...)  That variant expects the goals to be face-up - which speeds the game up; everyone can see which vps they're aiming for later on.

2) Play to 1-2 fewer vps; that'll normally save a full turn, without damaging the endgame too badly.

3) Use a fixed board instead of dealing out; then the host can set up in advance and skip the board dealing phase. (FFG publish suggestions for this at the TI site.)

4) Assign admin tasks to players - make one player in charge of the planets deck, one in charge of action cards, etc.

5) Use a tech / status tracker or other ship reference sheet to keep quick track of tech effects on your units.

6) Get in the habit of planning your builds during other people's turn, or allow 'honor builds' in which you announce a build and then the next player moves on with the game while you build.  Builds need time-consuming decision making and are rarely affected by the next player's move.


Is Starship Catan similar enough to be considered a two-player adaptation of Starfarers of Catan?

It has some similar ideas (e.g. your ship gets new abilities as you build it up), but it's really a totally different game.  And, I think, a better one.


I think the biggest issue with the fan cards is that they don't contain the quantity of that type of bean in the deck.  If you're prepared to mark the face of the cards, then adding "12" to all your Soy Beans would improve the playability greatly.

The second thing that's missing from the fan cards is the bean name.  Having the numbers alone would be fine to identify which beans are from the same set (as well as the icons in the top corners), but the negotiation is helped along by everyone using the same names.  If you have room on the cards you could try adding this information too, but I would prefer to print off a few crib sheets to have in the centre of the table, showing the bean icon, the quantity and the name.

On a side note, I love the gameplay in Bohnanza, but quite dislike the artwork.  I think the fan edition may prove to be a good investment once you've got used to it!


I checked the rules for both the new and the 2001 versions, as well as the rules and a strategy guide for XXXenophile.

None of them said anything about the orientation of the replacement cards. They do keep mentioning how it's a good idea to leave your opponent with bad moves, but don't mention if you can use the orientation in addition to the card choice to do so.

How ever, I would argue that you are allowed choose the orientation of the replacement cards for two reasons:

Nothing in the rules says that you'd need to honor the original orientation.
Especially when popping multiple cards, keeping a track of the original orientations can get tricky. I find that game designers tend to avoid requiring players to remember hard-to-track information, which would make keeping track of all the orientations "poor design".

I'd say you freely choose how to play the cards from here on out. It does effectively double your choises on each replacement.


In Gloomhaven - do monsters spawn in the beginning of scenarios that have open doors/passageways to other tiles?

Yes, since rooms can be composed of multiple map tiles, you would spawn every monster in that multi-tile room.

Some overlay tiles, like Corridors, can combine multiple map tiles into a single room.

  Each scenario map is broken up into separate rooms by door overlay tiles. A room may contain more than one map tile if those tiles are connected by other overlay tiles. (Page 13, Gloomhaven Rulebook)

Thus, when following the scenario setup:

  Monsters in the starting room are placed at the beginning of a scenario. (Page 13, Gloomhaven Rulebook)

Or when revealing a new room when a door is opened:

  Immediately place overlay tiles, monsters, and money tokens as indicated in the scenario description for the revealed room. (Page 14, Gloomhaven Rulebook)

You do so no matter how many tiles that room is composed of.

It's OK to run out of a specific creature standee. You just don't spawn any more of that creature.


Best method for evenly distributing epidemic cards in Pandemic setup?

I've done this in the past, and it tends to work well.

Roughly divide the piles into the # of Epidemics you want (just eyeball the piles, don't count).  Stick an Epidemic card at the bottom of each pile.  Stack the piles.

This makes each epidemic come up fairly predictably, which helps even out the randomness of the game, but since the piles themselves are rough, it doesn't make it exactly predictable.

Plus, it avoids the silliness of the occasional double-epidemic, which more often than not makes the game easier instead of harder.


How do you play Scrapheap Scrounger's ability?

Scrapheap Scrounger's activated ability works if and only if it's in the graveyard. That is implicit for all such abilities, when they wouldnt make sense otherwise.
Generally, you are correct in that abilities on permanents only function on the battlefield. There are, however, exceptions to that. The Scrounger's ability falls under one of them:

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:
112.6k An ability whose cost or effect specifies that it moves the object it’s on out of a particular zone functions only in that zone, unless that ability’s trigger condition, or a previous part of that ability’s cost or effect, specifies that the object is put into that zone. The same is true if the effect of that ability creates a delayed triggered ability whose effect moves the object out of a particular zone.


From the rules (page 4, emphasis added):

  Each player has a specific character with special abilities to improve the
  team’s chances. Each player begins game 1 by creating a character.

  To create a character: Select a Character card (each one has different
  special abilities) and give your character a name.

  These characters will carry through from game to game and they may
  become lost (see below). You do not have to play the same character in
  every game.

And, from the Compiled FAQ on BoardGameGeek:

  If your character becomes lost, destroy that character. Discard your player cards and become a Civilian, and place your pawn in any city with a Research Station; if you had actions left, you may take those actions. At the start of the next game, you can choose a character (from those left) as normal, if there are not enough Characters left, some players may need to start as Civilians.

So, once a character is lost it can never be played again, and if there are not enough characters available for the number of players then you will have to have some players use civilians instead. However, there is no general requirement that you have to keep using the same characters over and over even if they don't get lost, so you can always change characters each game.


0) I am not a lawyer. I am definitely not YOUR lawyer. I don't even play one on TV.

1) go read the circular on Trademark at the USPTO.gov website.

2) Realize that, if you aren't in the US, you need to find the equivalent for wherever you are.
Canadian IPO —
UK IPO — French IP Agency
Directory of Intellectual Property Offices

3) Realize that anywhere you intentionally sell it, you have to obey their trademark laws, too.

4) before doing anything commercially, hire a lawyer specializing in intellectual property law, and have him go over the risks and requirements with you.

Fundamentally, a 3rd party supplement can't use the distinguishing marks of the core game (TSR v. Mayfair), and can't use the unique phrases associated with the game, either. The closest I've seen to doing so that wasn't challenged nor licensed was "Not a complete game; requires the use of n, by n." and "For use with n and other n games."


Is there a way to save a X = 0 Stonecoil Serpent?

Yes, you can save the Serpent, but it must be set up ahead of time. There are two main ways of saving it that I can think of.

An anthem effect (called a static ability), like the namesake Glorious Anthem
Another card that says it enters the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it (called a replacement effect), like Bloodspore Thrinax

Either of these will make sure the Serpent has toughness greater than 0 by the time state-based actions are checked. Note that this (in particular point 2) is in contrast to triggered abilities (like The Great Henge), which are too late to save the serpent.


If too many players wins the game, can the Boss and Profiteer win no gold?

Yes. Part of the game is knowing when not to end the game. In the scenario you described, the Boss or the Profiteer must have ended the game (because it's the only way a Green and a Blue can both win with those characters). But that might not have been their best option.

The following is the scoring possibilities for the party you presented:

           There's   There's |         |
  Game     a Blue    a Green | Winners | Nuggets    Green     Blue      Boss    Profiteer
  Ender     Path      Path   |         |
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
Green         Y         Y    |    4    |    2         2         0         1         0
Blue          Y         Y    |    3    |    3         0         3         2         1
Boss          Y         Y    |    5    |    1         1         1         0         0
Profiteer     Y         Y    |    5    |    1         1         1         0         0
Anyone        Y         N    |    3    |    3         0         3         2         1
Anyone        N         Y    |    4    |    2         2         0         1         0
Noone         N         N    |    1    |    5         0         0         0         3

For the most points, the Boss should have joined the Blue team (by blocking green or by enabling Blue to end) rather than ending the game. Joining Green would also grant some points.

For the most points, the Profiteer should have sabotaged the miners rather than end the game. Helping Blue would also net some rewards.


Can I cast Dire Fleet Daredevil if my opponent has no instants or sorceries in their graveyard?

Yes, you can.
The enter-the-battlefield ability has nothing to do with casting the creature itself. Creatures are not targeted spells. If they have an enter-the-battlefield trigger, then that ability will trigger after you have cast the creature spell and after it resolves.
After you cast Dire Fleet Daredevil and it resolves, its enter the battlefield ability will trigger. At this point, you must chose targets for the triggered ability, and if you can't do so, then the ability simply disappears:

603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.
601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. [...]


What is a good way to find information on previous ban lists?

Is there a good website to look at that might have all this information in one place?

Seems that the good ol' Wiki has a complete  collection of Historical Banlists.

It seems very exhaustive and complete.

I also found a Historic Limited/Forbidden Chart which displays the information regarding forbidden and limited cards in a graphical way (green, yellow, red color code). Perhaps that is a better way to see the evolution of bans of cards.


Can double-faced cards still transform if they have lost all abilities?

A Merfolk Trickster can stop a creature from transforming itself, but only before that creature's ability triggers (or is activated, as the case may be).

Once an ability triggers, it exists independent of the object that created it. That means that if the object changes zones or loses the ability or has its text changed in some other way, that doesn't affect the ability on the stack. And "transform" is just a keyword action that is applied to a permanent. The permanent doesn't "know it can transform", it just has ability whose effect includes that instruction.

That same keyword can be found on cards that don't themselves transform, and can be applied to permanents that don't have abilities with that keyword. For example, Waxing Moon can transform Ulvenwald Captive's back face Ulvenwald Abomination, even though Ulvenwald Abomination can't transform itself.


How can I keep track of things, in Discworld: Ankh-Morpork?

One of the best ways to see people sneaking up on their victory conditions is to think like them. Here are the win conditions and some tell-tale signs for which victories they might be chasing:

Areas controlled by a majority. This is the most common win condition, so you should always keep an eye on this. It's useful to tot-up after a player's turn when they've gained one or more new majorities.
Areas with a piece present. A great tell-tale sign that the player is Vetinari is that they're placing lots of individual pieces (especially in non-empty areas, where the piece does not give them a majority). Cards that move pieces are also useful for Vetinari who can turn one "controlled" area into two quite subtly.
Money. Chrysoprase needs a lot of money, but don't forget that buildings count as assets (and are harder to lose). Players who buy a lot of buildings tend to be using them to consolidate their money as well as people who just have a huge pile in front of them. A great starting move for Chrysoprase is to try to get an early building that generates money (though that will benefit most players).
Trouble. The Dragon King loves chaos in the streets, so watch out for people who play pieces into territories they have no chance of winning and where trouble would be added. Also, be wary of players who repeatedly discard Watch cards that reduce trouble.
Running out the deck. Vimes can be a tough one to watch, and you shouldn't worry too much about him. The best way to beat Vimes is to win after all! Still, if you want to spot Vimes, you should look out for people who seem happy to tie territories without ever controlling them and players who are discarding and drawing a lot of cards. (Discarding the Time Monks - which shuffles the discard back into the deck - is a great one to watch out for too, because it can vastly increase the "deck size" depending on when it's played and most other players would be happy to play it.)

Lastly a general tip: don't forget that each player has multiple opponents. If you notice that someone might be close to winning with a win condition, especially if they would win at the start of their next turn, don't stay quiet! Let it become the group's problem to stop them from winning instead of just yours.


Can I counter Rite of Replication by destroying the copied creature?

Yes, the Rite of Replication would fail if you destroy the creature it's targeting. It plays out like this:

Your opponent casts Rite of Replication targeting their creature.

You cast Flesh to Dust in response to Rite of Replication.

Your Flesh to Dust resolves, and their creature dies.

Your opponent's Rite of Replication tries to resolve, but since the creature it targeted is no longer on the battlefield, it is countered by rule 608.2b, which says

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 [...] The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal.


The card has a lot of uses, similarly to fetch lands and cantrip spells. Generally:

It lets you play less actual lands (like in 1-land Belcher Decks).
It lets you find the right land (when you are using dual lands).
It's a free way to shuffle your deck.
It's a free way to increase storm count.
It filters your deck making it slightly smaller. By using free cantrips
like Land Grant and Gitaxian Probe you make your deck virtually
smaller, thus increasing the chances of all the other cards showing up
during a match.

In this particular case, knowing how infect decks work in Pauper, I would say it's basically reason #5 (deck thinning).


Why has Mass Driver been banned from play?

Short Answer: Frogs. They even managed to become the 2010 World Champion Deck.

Longer Answer: It was banned because of its relatively easy abuse on OTK and FTK Burn decks, that focused on continuously summoning frogs to sacrifice them and drain your opponent's LP.

Basically it consisted on "dumping" as many frogs as you could to your graveyard with the help of Substitoad, so you could then bring Ronintoadin to the field easily with them, and Mass Drive the f*** out of your opponent.

The key parts of the combo were:

Have Substitoad and another monster to tribute on the field
Tribute that other monster to summon a frog from your deck, with the effect of Substitoad
Repeat step 2 with that summoned frog, untill all of them (at least 18 or 20 as you correctly pointed out) are in your graveyard.
You can then bring Ronintoading to the filed as many times as you want (removing a frog from your GV each time), then use Mass Driver with it until you win.

As you can see this was a really broken combo. It was even supported by cards like One for One, Double Summon (to put Substitoad and another monster on the same turn), etc., which were other reasons why this Deck and its variants became too strong, hence the main reason for banning of Mass Driver (Substitoad was also banned FYI).

We can see that in the current format, this card would still be quite strong, as you could well do 2000 LP damage if you Pendulum Summon 5 monsters and then tribute them. You can even tribute tokens. You can further combo it with cards like Dark Room of Nightmare, in which case it would even take less than 20 monsters tributed to win the game.

Edit: Another posible abuse that occurred me (in a more general sense) is that it enables you to "just" tribute a monster when you please and the times you please. Any "when sent to the graveyard..." effect can be triggered this way, as well as any "when this card is tributed...".

It would be a shame if your opponent takes control of a monster of yours, and after using his effects/stats against you, tributing it for another -400 while preventing you form getting it back.

Also, good bye any pesky Ojama Trio tokens, Flying "C" preventing your XYZ, or any other monster card you have that don't need on the field. You can also turn a Dandylion into 1200 Burn damage. As well as one of my favorites: Reborn Tengu.

This could also be helpful to, say, Hieratic Dragon decks. Another really broken example I can think of is to use it with a Qliphort Deck, which heavily benefits from tributing like Qliphort Carrier, and happens to follow a Pendulum strategy (swarm, Mass Drive, Qli effects + Damage,...,GG).

Any other you can come up with? I am sure we can think of many more possible uses. So definitely a card that could unbalance the game if left unrestricted.


Do I choose my Annihilator sacrifices during resolution?

Yes, you do choose what to sacrifice when the ability is resolving. You only choose 3 things when putting a triggered ability on the stack: modes, targets, and distributions. The choice of what to sacrifice to Annihilator is none of those things, so you make that choice during resolution instead.

Rule 608.2d says that in the process of resolving an ability

  If an effect of a spell or ability offers any choices other than choices already made as part of casting the spell, activating the ability, or otherwise putting the spell or ability on the stack, the player announces these while applying the effect. The player can’t choose an option that’s illegal or impossible, with the exception that having a library with no cards in it doesn’t make drawing a card an impossible action (see rule 120.3). If an effect divides or distributes something, such as damage or counters, as a player chooses among any number of untargeted players and/or objects, the player chooses the amount and division such that at least one player or object is chosen if able, and each chosen player or object receives at least one of whatever is being divided. (Note that if an effect divides or distributes something, such as damage or counters, as a player chooses among some number of target objects and/or players, the amount and division were determined as the spell or ability was put onto the stack rather than at this time; see rule 601.2d.)

Rule 603.3c says

  If a triggered ability is modal, its controller announces the mode choice when he or she puts the ability on the stack. If one of the modes would be illegal (due to an inability to choose legal targets, for example), that mode can’t be chosen. If no mode can be chosen, the ability is removed from the stack. (See rule 700.2.)

603.6d says that the rest of the steps for putting a triggered ability on the stack follow the steps in 601.2c-d. Those rules say

  601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. A spell may require some targets only if an alternative or additional cost (such as a buyback or kicker cost), or a particular mode, was chosen for it; otherwise, the spell is cast as though it did not require those targets. If the spell has a variable number of targets, the player announces how many targets he or she will choose before he or she announces those targets. In some cases, the number of targets will be defined by the spell’s text. Once the number of targets the spell has is determined, that number doesn’t change, even if the information used to determine the number of targets does. The same target can’t be chosen multiple times for any one instance of the word “target” on the spell. However, if the spell uses the word “target” in multiple places, the same object, player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the word “target” (as long as it fits the targeting criteria). If any effects say that an object or player must be chosen as a target, the player chooses targets so that he or she obeys the maximum possible number of such effects without violating any rules or effects that say that an object or player can’t be chosen as a target. The chosen players, objects, and/or zones each become a target of that spell. (Any abilities that trigger when those players, objects, and/or zones become the target of a spell trigger at this point; they’ll wait to be put on the stack until the spell has finished being cast.)
  601.2d If the spell requires the player to divide or distribute an effect (such as damage or counters) among one or more targets, the player announces the division. Each of these targets must receive at least one of whatever is being divided.


Does Monopoly involve skill to a considerable degree?

You didn't lay out criteria in your question so I'm going to assume that what you're asking is: Let's say Bob diligently acquires as much skill as possible in Monopoly and practices with 50 or more games. If Bob plays several beginners (10 or fewer games - little study of the game), and no players know other players' skill level - is Bob highly likely to win?

The answer is yes. Monopoly definitely involves skill, and therefore Bob is highly likely to win that first game.

The most sophisticated and difficult skill involves working favorable trades. Though trading occurs only a few times a game, it is the primary means by which skill can cause the odds of winning to shift dramatically.

To make favorable trades, you must:

understand relative worth of different properties (you must know landing frequencies, development costs, etc.)
understand risk/reward
be able to quickly understand what your opponents care about, which in many cases will NOT be optimizing for greatest relative worth trades
be persuasive

There are also some simpler skills such as learning when it makes sense to buy a property and when to let it go up for auction, when it makes sense to start building houses (and how much money to keep in reserve), that the third house is the most valuable, etc.

Like Settlers of Catan, however, once it is clear who is the most skilled player, it is very easy for everyone to stop the most skilled player via trade embargos. I have had the experience several times of trouncing new opponents at Monopoly for a game or two and then losing more than average thereafter when my opponents refuse to trade with me. Actually - it's usually a little more gradual than that as first they just refuse to trade on my terms and start demanding more. And then they won't ever let me have a monopoly result from a trade. So then I resort to ever higher risk trades until I reach a point where nobody is willing to give me any trade I would want.

It is only when playing with fresh opponents that I have an opportunity to exert maximum skill, without fear that trading reputation will mean embargoes. That is why I carefully rephrased your question to assume lack of knowledge of the opponents. Because once it is clear who the most skilled player is in the game, it is very easy for opponents to gang up and actually cause the most skilled player to lose more often than average.

Side Note: several other answers imply that the luck of what you get has to be pretty good to even have a chance at making favorable trades. To that I say, you can make your own luck. For example, if you've studied Monopoly, you know that the two best monopolies to get in terms of risk/reward and Return on Investment are the oranges and light blues. So you may try trading for them earlier in the game. Many players are under the mistaken belief that Boardwalk is the best property. So if I obtain Boardwalk and I own one light blue, while the 2nd is owned by a different player and third by bank - I may offer Boardwalk for the light blue that is owned - and they think they are getting a steal. I now have two light blues and have created the possibility that I may get a monopoly if I get the third. So even though I had bad luck in not having 2 out of 3 of either light blue or orange, I have created a 2 out of 3 situation with one of the best two colors to increase my chances of getting lucky, or at least being able to trade for the 3rd.


Neither the FAQ nor the rules seem to address this directly, but lacking a specific ruling I would say that you can lose them from either reserves or the board.  If they had specifically wanted you to lose ones from the board, the card would've said so (like the one that says that you lose a soldier on the mission, rather than just saying lose a soldier).


Can other players try to stop you from completing Joining the Winning Team?

There's no direct way people could try to stop you. They can't attack you; there's nothing in the rules about players attacking players.

There are at least a few ways they could try to indirectly stop you:

They can try to close gates and kill monsters before you can get to them, so that you won't have any trophies you could use to buy allies.
They can deliberately leave monsters that'd block your path alive.
They could try to equip themselves for the final battle and let the ancient one wake up quickly, giving you no time for your mission. The gate limit makes it pretty easy to let the ancient one wake up early, if you're feeling daring.
If you do get close, they can try to make sure you can't get lost in time and space. If you try to hop in a gate that someone's about to close; they can decline to close those gates. So you'll be trying to get to 0 sanity/stamina in another world. To prevent that, they could also try to prioritize closing the gates to more dangerous other worlds before you're ready to get lost in time and space, so that when you get to that point, you'll probably just waste a few turns passing through. I suppose they could even try to heal you if they have the right character or item!


What happens when I copy a creature whose characteristics change before the copy resolves?

Only the printed text will be copied, unless the other spell was also a copy effect. It doesn’t matter if another effect changes the to-be-copied creature’s stats or abilities.

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

This works this way because of the layer system that controls how different continuous effects work together. When determining what an object currently looks like, the copy effect is applied first, and the other changes made are applied after.

  Interaction of Continuous Effects

    613.1. The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:

      613.1a Layer 1: Copy effects are applied. See rule 706, “Copying Objects.”

      613.1b Layer 2: Control-changing effects are applied.

      613.1c Layer 3: Text-changing effects are applied. See rule 612, “Text-Changing Effects.”

      613.1d Layer 4: Type-changing effects are applied. These include effects that change an object’s card type, subtype, and/or supertype.

      613.1e Layer 5: Color-changing effects are applied.

      613.1f Layer 6: Ability-adding effects, ability-removing effects, and effects that say an object can’t have an ability are applied.

      613.1g Layer 7: Power- and/or toughness-changing effects are applied.


Who draws a card from Curious Obsession?

The creature's controller draws the card.

This is because Curious Obsession grants the draw ability to the creature:

  Enchanted creature [...] has “Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.”

The “you” here refers to the controller of whatever object the ability is on (CR 109.5). The ability is on the creature, so the creature's controller will be drawing the card.

This is contrast to Curiosity which will cause the aura's controller to draw a card, because the ability is on the aura itself.

  109.5 The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller. [...] For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object [that the ability is on] when the ability triggered, unless it’s a delayed triggered ability.


Here's my logic: when you have control of the game, it doesn't matter what your finisher is, so you should pick something that helps you out as much as possible when you don't have control. (I originally read this in Randy Buehler's description of his 1998 Worlds deck, in which he used Rainbow Efreet.) This holds true for essentially all of the common control finishers in Standard today:

Consecrated Sphinx lets you draw a ton of cards. Even using its ability two or three times can give you enough card advantage to match your opponent spell-for-threat.
Wurmcoil Engine gains you lots of life and can also trade for up to 3 of your opponent's creatures or removal spells, which is a huge setback for an aggressive deck. This is why it's a popular finisher against aggro decks, but not so much against other control decks or combo decks.
Sun Titan lets you get an extra use out of one or more of your spells, often something like Oblivion Ring or Ghost Quarter, which can help you regain control when facing down troublesome permanents. It plays a similar role to Consecrated Sphinx.
Grave Titan is basically a horde-in-a-box (actually in a card): getting three creatures out of one card, especially given that one is giant and has deathtouch, can shut your opponent's entire attacking force down. Plus, if they don't deal with it immediately, you get two more creatures every turn.
Going back a bit, Celestial Colonnade helps you when you don't have control in a different way: it can't be countered, and it requires instant-speed removal to get rid of. This is more of an anti-control finisher, since when you're playing another control deck, not having control of the board generally means that you're outmatched with counterspells or removal spells. The Colonnade lets you put pressure on your opponent without having to fight through a ton of counterspells. (Same goes for any other "manland.")
Morphling was a good anti-control finisher for a similar reason to the manlands: the ability to give it shroud and pump its toughness made it very difficult to kill.
Sword of Feast and Famine was the namesake finisher of the Cawblade deck. Its power came from the fact that it allowed you to get double use out of your mana, once for advancing your own board and once for countering your opponent's spells. So even if you were somewhat behind in the game state, once you started getting Sword hits in it became fairly easy to recover. (To be fair, Cawblade wasn't a true control deck, but it did fall into that role sometimes.)
Planeswalkers generally tend to have very powerful abilities that can go a long way toward helping you gain control of the game. This is why Jace, the mind sculptor was so good: it could bounce a creature, draw you cards, or shut your opponent out of good draws. It was like the control player's Swiss army knife. Gideon Jura is a popular choice these days because it can stop your opponent from attacking you, saving you some life, and it acts as a repeatable removal spell as well, so it's difficult for any creature-based deck to play around it. And of course, with both of those planeswalkers, once you've used their removal capabilities to their full extent, they give you a direct win condition as well.

You'll notice that all these cards have big, game-changing effects: 6-power creatures, 4-power flyers, removing your opponent's entire library from the game, etc. This means that if they're not dealt with, they let you win very quickly. There is something to be said for this strategy, because it minimizes the amount of time that you need to maintain control of the game, but in a proper control deck it's not necessary to have a big flashy finisher. Something like Fiend Hunter, for example, would not be too bad because it exiles one of your opponent's creatures and then can sit around and block. Back in the days of the original Caw-go deck, even Squadron Hawk filled the finisher role well because you could play one to attack and it came with 3 buddies who could either block or add to the pressure on your opponent. However, Wizards is making it rather difficult to create a true control deck these days, mostly because counterspells are just not as efficient as they used to be. So I wouldn't actually suggest using something like Fiend Hunter as your only finisher.

When choosing a finisher, the cards I would stay from are those that don't do anything to help you regain control of the game when you are losing it. As a concrete example, you could imagine "losing it" to mean that you're at 4 life and facing down three 2-power creatures; or perhaps you're at 7 life and your opponent will be able to cast Devil's Play to burn you out in two turns. Kindercatch would be a great example of a bad finisher because it just doesn't do anything to help you get out of either situation. Sure, it can block one of your opponent's creatures, but you need something to deal with multiple creatures and non-creature threats.

I would actually say something like Progenitus is only a mediocre finisher, because the only sense in which it deals with anything is by killing your opponent before they get the chance to cast that lethal Devil's Play or whatever. Admittedly it is very effective at that, but you have to consider that a giant creature like that is of absolutely no use in the early game, before you've accumulated the 10 mana required to cast it, which is when you typically need the secondary effects of your finishers most.

EDIT: See this video, specifically game 1 of match 3, for a great example of Snapcaster Mage being used as a finisher.


Can I use Lingering Souls' flashback ability the same turn I cast it normally?

If the card is in the graveyard, you have the mana to pay the flashback cost, and  priority to play the spell, you can play it. Note that you have to wait for the spell to resolve before you can play it again, because that's when you put the card in the graveyard.

There is no rule specifying that you have to wait until your next turn.


Are there any EDH commanders whose colour identity is not solely determined by their mana cost?

There are. The color identity rules were purposefully changed in 2010 to allow these legendary creatures to be played as commanders:

Bosh, Iron Golem
Memnarch
Thelon of Havenwood
Daughter of Autumn
Rhys, the Exiled


A good read over here: Chains, Activation, and Resolution

  IMPORTANT: When resolving a chain, as the cards resolve they are NOT sent to the Graveyard until the entire chain has resolved, or a card specifically destroys them

So in this case, since Trap Hole is on a same chain with Kuraz, Trap Hole is destroyed by Kuraz, and the controller of Trap Hole is allowed to draw a card.


The most complete collection of card data I'm aware of is mtgjson, which offers a variety of data structuring to choose from, and has everything you asked for. It is used by a number of MtG-themed web pages, and due to its structure is well-suited for both applications, and purposes such as yours.

However, to get it into a layout of your choice, you'd have to parse the data and write a script to output it, which might not be feasible for everyone.

Another option would be Gatherer Extractor, a tool to extract pictures and text data from Gatherer (WotC's official card database) and according to that thread export as CSV or XML.

Unfortunately, the thread I could find and download are dubious at best, and the Github page is quite dated, making it difficult at best to decide on the trustworthyness on either.


Yes.

Time Vault only prevents itself from being untapped during its controller's untap step. It doesn't hinder attempts to untap it at any other time.

There's a ruling about this on Seedborn Muse:

  Other effects can prevent a permanent from untapping during an untap step. You do need to look carefully, however, as many effects say that the permanent does not untap during its controller’s untap step, and this card’s ability occurs during other players’ untap steps. If a card does say this, then Seedborn Muse can untap it. But some other abilities are not written this way and can still prevent a card from untapping.


Is Metallic Mimic the chosen creature type when it enters the battlefield?

Yes
Metallic Mimic

As Metallic Mimic enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Metallic Mimic is the chosen type in addition to its other types.

When you are asked to do something "As X enters the battlefield", you are doing it immediately before it enters. This does not use the stack; when Metallic Mimic resolves you choose a type and it enters as that type, triggering any appropriate ETBs, and no one can do anything in between you choosing the type and Mimic hitting the battlefield.
If it instead read:

When Metallic Mimic enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.

Then it would be a triggered ability; Metallic Mimic would enter the battlefield as a "Shapeshifter", this ability would be put on the stack, and when it resolved you'd get to choose a type (like "Human") and it would become that type. Thalia's Lieutenant's ability would not be triggered.


What is the name of this game with temples, volcanos and stacking tiles?

Looks like you might be talking about Taluva.


Switching Cards Around in Monopoly Deal 2

Looking at the rules here it says (emphasis mine)

  Each player can play up to 3 cards per turn. A play is considered any
  time a card is laid on the table (such as money into your bank,
  property cards on the table, action cards played into the middle,
  etc). You do not need to play all 3 cards per turn if you do not want
  to.

The same website in there strategy section here says

  It’s important to remember that you can re-arrange your monopoly cards
  on the table during your turn without sacrificing one of your three
  moves. This simple fact can help you maximize your income when
  charging other players.

You are allowed up to 3 'plays' a turn  this is defined as placing a card on the table.  moving a card from set to another is not one of you 3 'plays'


Keeping track of many independent variables on a physical board?

One solution I've seen to this is a cardboard disk with a hole cut out; the disk can be rotated to reveal any of several items below. Battlestar Galactica does this to track resources; Chaos in the Old World tracks both advancement towards victory and threat.

Using 100 moving-parts dials sounds problematic. It would be a huge effort to set up, expensive to produce, and there's a lot of pieces to break. Assuming that each number to be tracked is small, another solution would be a six-sided die for each number, or using a few counters in a specified location.


How does Nature Shields Its Own work with "unblockable" and "can't be blocked"

Yes, the plant token blocks the creature even if that creature "can't be blocked". A ruling on Nature Shields Its Own's Gatherer page says

  The Plant token blocks the attacking creature even if the block couldn't legally be declared (for example, if the attacking creature has flying).

We can find other cards that do this by searching for the wording that Nature Shields Its Own uses: "onto the battlefield blocking". According to this magiccards.info search, there are 3 cards that do this: Ætherplasm, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, and Flash Foliage.


In King of Tokyo, how does Mecha Blast interact with High Altitude Bombing?

If the card doesn't specify that the damage has to come from you it's not considered an "attack". The rules state

  If a card deals damage when purchased (like Gas Refinery), this is not
  considered an attack. Monsters cannot yield Tokyo based on this
  damage, and cards that affect attacks do not affect these cards.

Since the Mecha Blast evolution does not specify that it effects an attack and since the rules also state that you can use your evolution cards at any time, then you should be able to add 2 damage to any damage that was dealt. In this case 5 damage would be dealt to everyone, including you.

Keep in mind that you must be alive at the end of your turn in order to win.


Using Skinshifter's ability when Skinshifter Attacks

Yes, both those situations would work.  Skinshifter's ability can be used at any time you receive priority(i.e any time you could cast an instant).  After both the Declare Attackers step and the Declare Blockers step, players receive priority.


Is there ANY way to activate a planeswalker ability at instant speed?

Since the other answers have been written, a card has been released that explicitly allows activating loyalty abilities any time you could play an instant: Teferi, Temporal Archmage from Commander 2014.

He's a planeswalker with a relevant ultimate:

  −10: You get an emblem with "You may activate loyalty abilities of planeswalkers you control on any player's turn any time you could cast an instant."

So if you manage to get him to 10 loyalty and activate this ability, you will be able to play loyalty abilities of planeswalkers at instant speed. It's not an exciting combo or abuse of the rules, but it can still be a lot of fun in a slow multiplayer game—exactly what the whole Commander 2014 set is all about!

As for activating loyalty abilities multiple times in a turn, that is possible with The Chain Veil.  A card first printed in 2015, long after the question was originally asked.


Recommended Axis & Allies alternative rules / variations?

One Hit Infantry

For advanced players, the overarching strategy of A&A reduces to the infantry push mechanic as described in Don Rae's excellent essays--this is especially true for 2nd edition games, which have 3/2 tanks vice 3/3 tanks.

The essence of the IPM is that Germany and Russia should buy only infantry until the late game, after they have fortified their borders with infantry and established dead zones in Eastern Europe. The US, UK and Japan also play IPM, but after a short delay to build navies and/or factories to move/spawn all this infantry.

IPM works because the opportunity cost of all units is higher than infantry's (i.e. infantry are the cheapest unit in the game and are twice as effective on defense as they are on offense). Cheap means they are the only units you can ever afford to leave in a dead zone (i.e. open to counterattack by a superior force). Their effective defense means they are most valuable in large stacks that can devastate an attacking force with insufficient "cannon fodder".

Don suggests a brilliant and simple solution to the stalemated and long-developing game common between experienced players utilizing IPM: modify infantry so that they attack and defend on a roll of 1+.

This change takes some getting use to, but after only a game or two becomes second nature and dramatically changes the game for the better. What was once a defensive stalemate becomes a furor of attack and counter attack. 1/1 infantry means a one-on-one combat between two lone infantry becomes a fair fight, it means any additional attacking force is statistically overwhelming, and it means infantry alone defend so poorly as to be almost useless. All of these factors bias the game just enough in favor of the attacker to prevent large stacks of infantry from materializing. This change also makes a fighter-only vs. infantry attack feasible since the odds that the infantry will score a lucky hit have been cut in half.

Beyond the traditional sitting around a table method you can try out this variation on the computer if you are lucky enough to have a copy of the out-of-print Iron Blitz (you can edit the infantry attack/defense values); it's also trivially easy to implement if you play-by-email.


How does Death-blow work in Warhammer Quest?

Rules as Written

The use of the phrase "kills it with a single blow" does suggest option 1, that the monster must go from starting wounds to zero wounds as a result of the attack. This is reinforced by needing to kill each following enemy with "a single blow" or the Death-blow stops.

Though I have seen suggestions that the rule should be interpreted as "if the blow would kill it in a single blow", meaning a wounded monster may trigger a Death-blow if the attack inflcited more than it's starting wounds regardless of current wounds. This would allow you to trigger a Death-blow off wounded monsters, but still require the blow to be able to kill them even if they were unwounded.

Rules as Intended

A user on bwarhammerquest.runboard.com claimed to have corresponded with one of the GW game designers about this exact question.

http://bwarhammerquest.runboard.com/p561722,from=rss

  I wrote to Gav Thorpe recently and asked about the Death-blow rule in
  Warhammer Quest (posted below). With his hundreds, if not thousands,
  of hours of playtesting behind him, here was his reply on January 11,
  2013:

  Q: Gav, you have to tell us, after 17 years of uncertainty in
  Warhammer Quest, does a Monster have to be on full Wounds when you
  strike it in order to cause a Death-blow? We beg you, please end the
  controversy once and for all!

  A: From what I can remember (and it was a long time ago) there was no
  restriction on deathblows other than to kill the enemy in one hit. If
  previously wounded, that just makes it easier.

Gav Thorpe's response suggests option 2, if a wounded enemy is easier to Death-blow, than you must only need to inflict it's current wounds to trigger a Death-blow, making it akin to the D&D feat Cleave. This seems to contradict the RAW however.

I have also been advised that in the recent iOS remake of Warhamer Quest, Death-blow also works as described in option 2 (not owning an iOS device I am unable to confirm this).

Official FAQ

To my knowledge the only official Wahammer Quest FAQ was in Deathblow Magazine issue 3, and they did not mention this rule.

There is an unofficial FAQ, this contains many questions marked as clarified by Games Workshop UK, but it also does not mention this rule.
http://wquest.free.fr/faq/wq_faq_index.html

Summary

I think it really comes down to how hard you want the game to be, and how much you would rather RAW as opposed to RAI.

By straight RAW (option 1) the game becomes harder, as if you must inflict their starting wounds in a single blow you will not be able to Death-blow very much at all past the first few levels. This will make it slower to clear monsters and cause the party to take more damage.

The RAI version (option 2) that any killing blow will trigger a Death-blow will make the game easier, as you will get "more attacks", allowing you to kill monsters faster. This also means even high level characters will continue to make regular Death-blows.

Update - Option 3?

Interestingly, the new Warhammer Quest video game provides a 3rd interpretation of the rule, which is kind of a combination of the two. In this game you make a deathblow any time you slay an enemy with the first attack that hits it that turn.


Does Fusion Summoning trigger Maiden With Eyes of Blue's effect?

In general, Fusion Summoning does not target the Fusion Materials. The selection of Fusion Materials and the Fusion Summon itself happen during the resolution of an effect, which is beyond the point where targeting can happen.

However, there is one effect I found that targets a card and performs a Fusion Summon based on the target, but it cannot be directly applied to this scenario:

  The Eye of Timaeus (Normal Spell Card)

  (This card is also always treated as "Legendary Dragon Timaeus".)
  Target 1 "Dark Magician" monster you control; Fusion Summon 1 Fusion Monster from your Extra Deck that lists that monster on the field as a Fusion Material, using it as the Fusion Material. You can only activate 1 "The Eye of Timaeus" per turn.

In this case, it is not the Fusion Summon that targets, but the Spell Card itself that does. If you were to find a way to change the name of Maiden with Eyes of Blue to a "Dark Magician" card (Dark Magician Girl, etc.) with a card effect**, then the use of The Eye of Timaeus to perform a Fusion Summon with it, that would cause Maiden with Eyes of Blue to chain with it and apply her effect.

However, after reviewing every other card that is able to perform a Fusion Summon, none of them use the "Targeting" language that The Eye of Timaeus uses with respect to their Fusion Summoning effect. As a result, none of them would trigger Maiden with Eyes of Blue's effect.

**I do not see any cards with an effect that would accomplish this, and it seems likely that whatever effect would accomplish this would probably Target Maiden with Eyes of Blue anyways and set off the effect that way.


You can not add tiles vertically like a crossword(number) puzzle. If a set has 4 or more tiles you can move one of them to create a new set. As long as the remaining sets are valid.

For example if 3,4,5,6 is on the table and you have two 6 (all three of different color) you can move the 6 and create a new set with your two 6 tiles. Getting 3,4,5 and 6,6,6.


Question about priority and how spells would resolve

Here is the sequence of events.

Fleecemane Lion is on the battlefield.

Opponent casts terminate on Fleecemane Lion and passes priority.

In response, owner activates Fleecemane Lion's monstrous ability (which can be done at anytime the owner has priority) and passes priority.

At this point, the stack has on it (in top down order)

Fleecemane Lion Monstrous
Terminate targeting Fleecemane Lion

Now your opponent, realizing that if this stack resolves, his terminate will do nothing, casts Chaos Warp and passes priority.

Chaos Warp targeting Fleecemane Lion.
Fleecemane Lion Monstrous
Terminate targeting Fleecemane Lion.

Two different things can happen next.  If you have enough mana, you can activate Fleeceman Lion's monstrous ability a second time.  If you do so, and this stack resolves, the Fleecemane lion will stay on the battlefield, and be monstrous.

If you don't have enough mana, and have to let the stack resolve as it is above, then the Chaos Warp will resolve before Fleecemane Lion gets it's hexproof, and it goes into the deck.

In both cases, the terminate will fizzle, as either the Fleecemane Lion will be off the battlefield, or have hexproof.


Is an Awakened land an OK target for Ruins of Oran-Rief?

Yes, you can use Ruins of Oran-Rief on that Awakened land - as long as, like you're describing, you played that land in the same turn.

The ability in question is this one, I presume:

  {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target colorless creature that entered the battlefield this turn.

After your land's awakened, it's a colorless creature (as well as a land). That colorless creature did also enter the battlefield this turn. So, yes, at this point it meets all the prerequisites for targeting with this ability: it's a colorless creature that entered the battlefield this turn.

This is confirmed in a ruling on Ruins of Oran-Rief's gatherer page:

  1/22/2016 - The target of the last ability didn’t necessarily have to be a colorless creature as it entered the battlefield, provided it entered the battlefield during that turn. However, it does have to be a colorless creature to be a legal target of the ability.


Can I imprint my Commander onto Mimic Vat, and still take it back to the Command Zone?

No.

  607.2a If an object has an activated or triggered ability printed on it that instructs a player to exile one or more cards and an ability printed on it that refers either to “the exiled cards” or to cards “exiled with [this object],” these abilities are linked. The second ability refers only to cards in the exile zone that were put there as a result of an instruction to exile them in the first ability.

There are no cards in the exile zone, so there is nothing to copy.


New Transform Rules and Archangel Avacyn

No, Avacyn will not transform again at the following upkeep.

The new rule 701.25e says

  If an activated ability of a permanent tries to transform that permanent, the permanent transforms only if it hasn't transformed since the ability was put onto the stack. The same is true for triggered abilities of a permanent that aren't delayed triggered abilities. If a delayed triggered ability of a permanent tries to transform that permanent, the permanent transforms only if it hasn't transformed since that delayed triggered ability was created.

Avacyn's ability creates a delayed triggered ability, so the last clause is the relevant one. So, the situation you describe plays out like this:

A non-Angel creature dies. Archangel Avacyn's triggered ability goes on the stack.
Archangel Avacyn's triggered ability resolves, and creates a delayed triggered ability.
At the beginning of the next upkeep, the delayed triggered ability goes on the stack.
Another non-Angel creature dies. Archangel Avacyn's triggered ability goes on the stack.
Archangel Avacyn's triggered ability resolves, and creates a second delayed triggered ability.
The original delayed triggered ability resolves. Archangel Avacyn has not transformed since that delayed triggered ability was created, so Archangel Avacyn transforms into Avacyn, the Purifier.
At the beginning of the following upkeep, the second delayed triggered ability goes on the stack.
The second delayed trigger resolves. Avacyn has transformed since the second delayed triggered ability was created, so she does not transform, and remains Avacyn, the Purifier.


Can Aura of Dominion be used with Inspire Creatures?

Yes, you can use Aura of Dominion to repeatedly trigger Inspired.

Basically, when you activate the ability, you tap the enchanted creature (and pay 1 mana) to pay for it. Then when it resolves, the enchanted creature untaps and the Inspired ability triggers. Then the game has basically returned to the state it started in, so you can do it until you run out of mana.


Yes. A creature that has 0 toughness or less will die the next time any would would get priority.

State-Based Actions

704.5f If a creature has toughness 0 or less, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard. Regeneration can’t replace this event.


Could I double team a blocker with Swift Kick?

The second one. Damage that you do to a creature lasts until the end of a turn, and then it wears off. So you can do it 2 damage first with Swift Kick, then after that do it 1 damage with normal combat damage.


My concerns are:

That the opponents aren't in this auction yet despite a ton of distribution, and so suits are likely to be breaking badly for us; and
My hand is far too strong to make a descriptive splinter call and appoint partner captain of the hand.

Therefore I wish to take advantage of the opponents silence to describe my hand, so partner can make an intelligent bid again or double decision on the next round. Therefore I bid a simple 3D.

This bid:

Is forcing one round (by virtue of being a new suit by responder);
Promises strength to play 3H or 4D, or better, safely;
Promises a fifth heart (or slam interest, or both); and
Promises either a fourth diamond or hidden club support.

It is intended to give partner the greatest possible room to complete the description of his hand, which so far sounds like the only balanced hand at the table with 3-4-2-4.

It sounds like RHO is long in clubs and diamonds, and LHO is long in hearts and clubs, and no-one is holding better than honour-fourth in spades. At least two, if not three or four, spades are missing from this deck unless the opponents are red against white.

What is the vulnerability, and who is the dealer?

Update From OP above, both vulnerable and partner dealt.

Continuation. Partner will take 3D for a game try and bid one of:

3H to decline - you will continue with 3S game forcing, showing a control in spades, requesting partner to show a control. If partner shows the club ace you will continue with 5NT GSF as below;
4H to accept, no extra values - you will continue with 4S control showing; if partner then bids 5C you will bid 5NT GSF and continue to 7 if he shows 1 with or without a side king.
4C to show the club control - continue with 5NT GSF as above.
3S to show the spade control then bid 4D to reveal the missing club control. If partner then bids 4H to deny it, you will have to guess - and rue not responding 1D originally.

Note how much easier the auction is if the original response is 1D receiving a raise; hearts can be cue-bid without ambiguity to locate the other missing card.  Ease in correctly deciding between 5 or 6 r 7 is worth far more than the difference between a major or minor denomination.


There was one very famous game, Spielmann vs. Tartakower, where Black kept his king in the center instead of castling, moved it forward on the 15th move, and again on the 21st move to reinforce his other pieces. Note, however, that these moves were made in the middle game, and not the opening.

This game is actually unusual, because as another poster pointed out, it's not usually a good idea to move the king too far forward early in the game. That's because the king is a likely target, and a liability to his own pieces when there are many of them on the board. For instance, the other side can often attack a king and fellow pieces through forks and "skewers," and also pin pieces against a king.

The reason why Black's maneuver worked was because all the minor pieces (Bishops and Knights) had been exchanged, and both sides were "short handed" in the center and kingside. In effect, Black's king was an "extra" piece. It traveled with a protective screen of pawns, and Black secured the king further by offering White chances to exchange the heavy pieces. (White declined and lost important ground.)

But this kind of maneuver goes against the logic of most games. One test of this was that I had to go back almost 100 years to find a suitable game to answer your question And although Tartakower (Black) was an international grandmaster, he was considered a bit "unconventional."


What kingdom set would lead to the highest scoring games of Dominion?

I am starting to do some analysis of games on the online dominion server at http://dominion.isotropic.org.  The top 5 scoring games there all involve a combination of Goons and King's Court.  These are all solo games where people are trying to run up the score, so they aren't representative.  But from my experience, Colony, Goons, Vineyard, Bishop, Duke, and Gardens all contribute to really high scores in real games.

2941  Alchemist, City, Colony, Gardens, Goons, Grand Market, King's Court, Platinum, Potion, Steward, Throne Room, Vineyard, and Watchtower

 2760
Ambassador, Bridge, Chapel, City, Council Room, Goons, King's Court, Throne Room, Watchtower, and Worker's Village

 2722
Bishop, Bridge, City, Colony, Council Room, Fishing Village, Goons, King's Court, Monument, Platinum, Wharf, and Worker's Village

 2681
Bazaar, Bishop, Chapel, Colony, Council Room, Goons, Grand Market, King's Court, Market, Platinum, Throne Room, and Wharf

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Bishop, Black Market, Bridge, Caravan, City, Colony, Goons, King's Court, Monument, Platinum, Throne Room, and Wharf


What errata or house rules help balance occasionally-broken scenarios?

That's pretty much how the game is designed. It is a catch-22; sure, it's completely "random" and new every time, but that also means it's impossible to predict and balance accordingly.

Something me and my friends do when these "broken" haunts happen is tweak the conditions around a bit. An example would be haunts that require exorcisms: If we are all high sanity/knowledge characters, we may add 1 or 2 to the number of successes needed, or subtract them if we are dumb/insane. It helps to create an even playing field at the start of the haunt, but still leaves opportunity for game-changers as the game goes on.


Could an actual mono black storm (Tendril of agony) deck be viable for Legacy?

A very brief answer to your last question: no.

A slightly less brief answer: the card draw and selection that blue provides, along with the additional "truly free" (it doesn't cost mana or a card) storm of Gitaxian Probe, is essential to the deck's viability, letting you find your key cards more consistently.  Also, while it wasn't mentioned, the red cards (Past in Flames and/or Empty the Warrens) allow for a viable backup plan when you can't get enough storm to consistently Tendrils for lethal.

Could you build a mono-black Storm deck?  Yes, at least in principle, in the same way that you could build a mono-black burn deck.  Would it be viable?  Unfortunately, not in any at least modestly competitive play environment.


They are not CCGs strictly speaking but Fantasy Flight Games' Game of Thrones Living Card game and the new Keyforge have very different victory conditions.

The latter has Aember, basically victory points, that can be won, lost and stolen. They are automatically used to unlock keys at the beginning of you turn. When you unlock 3 keys, you win. The game still uses, creatures, artifacts and instants, but all serve to earn Aember.

Killing creatures only slows your opponent down. I like this system a lot!


Does "'Collapsing Parallel Worlds" remove Locations that are in play?

The Crisis only affects cards in your deck or discard pile. Cards left in play (such as locations), and cards in your hand, are neither, so they are not affected.

This is corroborated by this Board Game Geek thread:

  This was asked earlier on here and I believe Matt [Hyra, creator of the game] answered it with yes they keep their hand and locations just the discard and deck piles go.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the original reference.


Malco guided me to a list of possible answers on BoardGameGeek and I found the game there.

The game is called Dark World: Village of Fear. It is an expansion to the original Dark World, which is the inside of the castle, and can be played stand alone or connected to Dark World. The other expansion with the bridge is Dark World: Dragon's Gate. The game is originally German, a spin off of the Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) role playing system.

The initiative clock/monolith I mentioned:


Magic the gathering number of cards in a hand

You always draw 1 card in your draw step (unless some effect says otherwise), regardless of the number of cards in your hand.

There are card games where you draw up to some number of cards in your hand, but Magic isn't one of them.

Rules:

  Draw Step

  504.1. First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

The player who plays first doesn't get a draw step in the first turn only (rule 103.7a), after that there is no difference between the player who started first and the other. The maximum hand size for both at the end of the turn is 7.


Can a pawn move to the last line in chess as part of a promotion even if the square is blocked by an opponent's piece?

No. A pawn gains no special movement rules when on the penultimate rank. Often in end-games the opposing King will be in front of the pawn to prevent it from being promoted.


Why should a player call "cheat" and risk taking the entire stack of cards?

Because if you're only ever going to call "cheat" when I play my last card, I'll cheat like crazy on every turn other than my last card and do everything in my power to make sure that I'm not cheating on my last card.


If Bad Penny is destroyed by Yxilo Bolter's Fight/Reap effect, where does it go?

Destroyed effects actually trigger just before the creature leaves play, so in this case Bad Penny is safely returned to its owner's hand just before the purge would be applied. At that point, Yxilo Bolter's effect tries to purge Bad Penny, but it is considered a new object, and so the purge does not take effect. By contrast, a card like Oubliette would purge Bad Penny because it simply purges without going through the destroy flow.

Reference video.


How do we determine which monster joins the game?

The monster and everything that happens once the haunt happens is determined in the traitors and survivors handbooks. The traitors handbook instructs you on which haunt to use based on how it is triggered and there will be instructions for both sides based on each individual haunt.

Here are some simplified rules to help you get started better.


Should players recount their moves during deliberation in Werewolf? What if no werewolves?

There is a benefit to a villager holding back information, or telling a lie. The benefit is that if all the villagers immediately and automatically tell the truth, then the werewolf can use the information to his advantage. For example, if no villager claims to be the Seer, then the werewolf can safely say that he was the seer. If, however, people are reluctant to claim things, then if the werewolf claims to be the Seer, then the real Seer can speak up and call out his lie.

Another thing I've seen done is the troublemaker telling a lie about which players he switched. For example, I'm the troublemaker, and I switched players A and B with each other. I suspect that player C is the werewolf. I say "I switched players A and C". Player C, who really was the werewolf, believes me, and says "well in that case, I was the werewolf to start, so now player A must be the werewolf!" Then, when I reveal the truth that player C is was NOT actually switched, we all know that player C is the wolf, he just admitted it!

It is also not clear from your description what a werewolf does in your games. If "everyone tells the truth", and everyone is believable, then what does the werewolf do? If someone says that he was a Village Idiot, how do you know if he's telling the truth, or if he is actually a werewolf who is lying?

If there is no werewolf, then the villagers win by not killing anyone. The only way to do this is to not give more than 1 vote to any player (for example, each player votes for the person on his/her right). Often players will agree to vote this way if they are truly convinced that no one is a werewolf; but if they do so, and there actually was a werewolf, then the werewolf wins.

So yes, it is normal to discuss what each person did, and who each person is. But the werewolf will almost always be lying, which means that you can't know for sure if any 1 person is telling the truth or not.


Can a Wizard use his charm ability with no cards in the hand?

No he can't, although official evidence is a little circumstantial. This question is in an old version of the Munchkin FAQ (but not the current one):

  Q. A wizard must discard his hand to use his charm ability. Can he do
  this if he has no cards?

  A. No. If you have no cards, you don't have a hand.

This is corroborated on the Munchkin wiki:

  You can't use the wizard's abilities if you don't have any cards in your hand.


If James Baxter gives me a Creeper can I discard it

If you look at the text on the card you will notice that the instructions are broken up into 3 sections. What this says to me is that first everyone will draw a card and if they get a creeper they will put it into play and draw a replacement card. Once everyone has drawn the card the next section will happen which causes all creepers in play to be discarded. So that will mean any creeper that is drawn as part of this action will also be discarded as part of this action.
If the action was not to discard the creepers already in play it most likely would have come before the draw step or would have been included in the wording of the draw step.

All Players draw a card.
All Creepers in play are immediately discarded
All Hand and Keeper Limit Rules are immediately discarded

Text came from a picture on this site


What the key minis for a new Ultramarine player to get?

Your obvious next steps are a copy of the Codex: Space Marines book and another squad of Tactical Marines.
You're going to need to book to effectively plan your army, and you will find it impossible to win games under the 5th edition rules without enough regular tactical marines around to hold objectives!

From there you'll need to make some key decisions in what type of army you want to have.
Drop Pod Army?
Mechanized (everyone in Rhinos and maybe a land raider for your terminators) Army?
Fast Assault Army with lots of jump pack marines and bike marines, land speeders?

An army that has a focus is usually much more effective in 40K than having one of each different unit type in the book.  The nature of space marines and the need to have tactical squads around means you can devote yourself to a focus that you find appealing without worrying too much about your army becoming entirely one-dimensional.  An upside for marines!

Of course your budget can also help guide early decisions.  An entire army of dudes riding in $40 drop pods adds up fast!  Having the codex will make it easier for you to see what different paths you can follow when making a plan to buy your army.


Countering an uncounterable spell, triggers, and state-based actions

You lose when you have to draw a card and can't, not when you have no cards left in your library

Your third bullet point is mostly correct.

All instances of Drowned Secret's triggered ability resolved, then Thought Collapse failed to counter Inescapable Blaze, but still did as many effects as it could, so you milled some cards. Then Inescapable Blaze resolved, and your opponent lost the next time State Based Actions were checked due to having 0 life.

In fact, even if you hadn't won the game at that point, you wouldn't have lost for having no cards in your library. A loss only occurs when a player attempts to draw a card and cannot because their library is empty.

  104.3c If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in their library, they draw the remaining cards and then lose the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

Emphasis mine.

Drowned Secrets simply 'puts' cards from a library into the graveyard. This isn't drawing cards, and if there are not enough cards in the library that the ability attempts to put into a graveyard, the ability simply does as many cards at it can. (It can do this to 0 cards) In this case, the first Drowned Secrets milled 1 card (as many as it could find), then the second Drowned Secrets milled 0 cards (because there were none remaining), then Thought Collapse tried to counter a spell (it failed) and milled 0 cards.

Also note that this sort of interaction is true for any kind of action that causes you to remove (but not draw) cards from your library. For instance, with Omen Machine in play, players will never lose because of rule 104.3c. They may lose through other means (damage, poison counters, etc) but they will not draw cards. Theoretically if an Omen Machine were on the field and players could not destroy it or meaningfully impact each other, play will continue until - and beyond - when players have no cards left in their libraries. (Though in that case, the game will probably end in a draw in a few turns, when the game's state hasn't changed and no player chooses to change the game's state.)


Tapping a creature on the turn it enters play

It will have summoning sickness; you cannot active its ability this turn.

From the comprehensive rules:

  302.6. A creature's activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can't be activated unless the creature has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can't attack unless it has been under its controller's control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the "summoning sickness" rule. Ignore this rule for creatures with haste

A creature that has the Haste ability can tap immediately, so unless you have a Reflex Sliver on the 'field, you will not be able to tap a Gemhide Sliver for mana on the turn it comes out.


Rules for giving away "big item" if you do not have 1000 gold pieces of items to sell

I don't see any reason why either the Charity or the Looting The Body rules should apply here.  (Yes, this situation is somewhat similar to Charity, but it's not the same.)  Just taking the text literally, all it says is:

  [...] you must give them to the lowest-Level player(s) who can carry them!

So that's it.  The only restrictions the rules place on what you can do with your extra Big items are:

You must give them away (if you can; otherwise the next sentence in the rules kicks in, saying you must discard them).
You must give each of them to (one of) the lowest-Level player(s) who can carry it.

Obviously, that does not include yourself, or anyone else who's already at their maximum carrying capacity.  Other than that, since the rules don't say otherwise, you're free to choose among the lowest-Level eligible players.

Of course, if the player you choose to give one of your Big items to is not a Dwarf, they'll probably become ineligible to receive any more Big items, which means that you'll have to offload the rest of your excess Big items onto other players.  (Yes, you may use this tactically: first give your Huge Rock to the Level 1 Thief who just backstabbed you, and then spread your more valuable Big items among players you like more.)  On the other hand, a low-level Dwarf could easily end up collecting all of your suddenly-unwieldy loot, whether you want to give it to them or not.  That's just how things happen in Munchkin.


What exactly "triggers an additional time" in the interaction between Afterlife and Teysa Karlov?

Option 2, you will get 2x Afterlife 2.
The thing that triggers an additional time is "that ability", based on the wording of Teysa Karlov. And "that ability" in this case is "Afterlife 2". So "Afterlife 2" triggers an additional time, meaning that on the stack you get both "Afterlife 2" and "Afterlife 2".
The first interpretation would require seeing Afterlife 2 as an ability that triggers twice, and then triggering 3 times instead. But nothing about Afterlife 2 is an ability that triggers twice. It is an ability that triggers once, and just happens to have an effect that involves the number 2.
This hinges on the definition of a triggered ability:

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

Whatever the number "afterlife" is; afterlife itself is a triggered ability:

702.134. Afterlife

702.134a Afterlife is a triggered ability. “Afterlife N” means “When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, create N 1/1 white and black Spirit creature tokens with flying.”

From the wording on the Afterlife rules, you can see that under normal circumstances, when a creature with Afterlife 2 dies, only 1 ability would trigger and be put on the stack. That ability would cause 2 tokens to be created when it resolves.
Teysa Karlov makes this 1 ability trigger an additional time (triggering twice instead of once). So you get 2 separate instances of "create 2 tokens" on the stack, instead of the normal 1. You would choose the order that they are placed on the stack, though because they are identical to each other, the order is meaningless. Then each of them would resolve independently.


Does the Pirate stop fish production when playing Seafarers with Fishermen of Catan?

In terms of Settlers expansion combinations, the catan official website really is a one-stop-shop. They have a combination listing for Seafarers and Fishermen, here. It says a few things about fishing and ships, but not about the pirate blocking fishing spots. Based on that alone, I'd say the pirate does not block fishing.

If that doesn't do it for you, this BGG thread about the same subject has a reply from a Kosmos representative (Sebastian Rapp), saying:

  Officially speaking: The pirate does not block fishing grounds. He just does what the rules say: He steals a resource and disables placing/moving ships at the borders of his hex.
  Everything else, like blocking harbors or blocking fishing grounds are variants, some officially mentioned, some not. So it is up to the players whether they want to play with such a variant or without.

As for your b) question, I'm pretty sure you can't place the robber on sea hexes. Since you can put boats on it, it's a sea hex.


Does the effect "Reduce all HP recovery by 2" affect Setback's cards?

Recovery only applies when you are regaining health, not when health is being restored.

As noted by phantaskippy on the Greater Than Games forums:

  Regain and restore are different terms.  Health can still be restored if Health can't be regained.

Despite only the term restore showing up in the glossary, regain and restore are both keywords that apply to different abilities. This is further clarified here (page 17) and here (just search for the word "restore"). Something that restores health is not affected if an ability increases HP that is regained.

In the forum post, phantaskippy goes on to say:

  There is recovery as a term as well, but that has only applied to Regaining health so far.

In some cases, the word recovery is used to reference regaining health. This does not impact the keyword restore and will only impact abilities that use the keyword regain.

For your specific card interactions, if Oppressive Smog was in play, Setback would regain 2-2 HP (0) with Karmic Retribution. If Silver Lining would trigger, Setback will restore HP equal to the number of tokens in your Unlucky Pool with no reduction.

For what it's worth, phantaskippy is a playtester and active user on the GTG forums. He also generated a series of story challenges with rules tweaks for "epic" gameplay. I mention this to show that his comments on the forums carry weight and are generally trustworthy.


Catan: Cities and Knights- barbarian attack with a differential of 2

When the barbarians attack, they assume the strength of the total number of cities. Then we look at the total points of active knights on the board. When the knight points equal or surpass the barbarians strength, the Settlers are victorious. However, if there are more cities than knight points, the barbarians win. The actual difference does not matter after this point.

From the rulebook, Page 11 (completely dedicated to the barbarian attack):

  If the barbarians win the battle, they pillage one or more cities.
  [...] The barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who has
  the lowest total strength of active knights [...] If various players
  tie for having the lowest strength of active knights, each of those
  players loses 1 of his cities.

Additionally, if that city had a Wall, the Wall is also destroyed. If a city is a Metropolis, it cannot be destroyed by the barbarians. It is counted when they attack, though.

In your case, player C loses one city for not contributing any knights. If, for instance, player B had moved his knight on the previous turn and not re-activated it, players B and C were tied for least knight points (0) and both would have lost a city.


Can white tokens be used to pay for white mana in a convoke cost?

Yes, you can use white tokens to pay for white mana costs with Convoke. The rule for Convoke says

  Convoke is a static ability that functions while the spell with convoke is on the stack. "Convoke" means "For each colored mana in this spell’s total cost, you may tap an untapped creature of that color you control rather than pay that mana. For each generic mana in this spell’s total cost, you may tap an untapped creature you control rather than pay that mana." The convoke ability isn’t an additional or alternative cost and applies only after the total cost of the spell with convoke is determined.

And a relevant rule regarding tokens says

  110.5b The spell or ability that creates a token may define the values of any number of characteristics for the token. This becomes the token's "text." The characteristic values defined this way are functionally equivalent to the characteristic values that are printed on a card; for example, they define the token's copiable values. A token doesn't have any characteristics not defined by the spell or ability that created it.

So, when a spell or ability creates a White Soldier creature token, it is functionally equivalent to a creature card that is White and a Soldier. This functional equivalence extends to paying for white convoke costs.