How is 'The Homeworld' played correctly?

Yes. If it could only be triggered once per turn, it would read:

  After the first time a minion is played here each turn, ...


Do you need spare actions available to play Throne Room?

Throne Room costs an Action to play; the card you play twice is part of the effect of Throne Room, and neither play of it consumes an Action.

My speculation is that that particular wording was in answer to a complaint encountered during development, something like: "Village gave you two actions, but you just played that Witch two times with Throne Room, so you have no actions left." That's a mistaken understanding of the way Actions work, of course, but everyone was a novice back then.

Other cards that include allowing you to play other Actions as part of the effect include King's Court (from Prosperity), Cultist, and Procession (both from Dark Ages).


Can Strionic Resonator re-direct Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger's exile ability?

You cannot choose any other player than the defending player. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger says:

  Whenever Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger attacks, defending player exiles the top twenty cards of their library.

As you can see, there is no word 'target' in the ability. That means that when copied with Strionic Resonator, it doesn't allow you to choose another player.

The number of Strionic Resonators is irrelevant in this case. The ability works the same. You get more triggers though.


Gandora The Dragon Of Destruction and Union Monsters

Both the of the cards would be destroyed, also including the rest of the field, but the destroyed monsters can still use their effects.


How is Ondu Cleric's Rally ability resolved when more than one ally enters the battlefield at once?

When Allied Reinforcements resolves, the two tokens enter the battlefield at the same time.  Ondu Cleric will see both ally tokens enter the battlefield, and will have its ability trigger twice.  The number of allies on the battlefield is checked when the trigger resolves, so barring any other allies on the board, you will gain a total of 6 life ( 3 for each trigger).

If you had a pair of clerics on the board, each cleric would see both tokens enter, for a total of 4 triggers at 4 life per trigger, giving you a total of 16 life.


Pandemic Legacy: Question about missions (Spoilers)

You must finish the other missions. You still need to finish 3 total, and because that one has been destroyed, there are only 3 missions remaining.

There is some discussion saying the same thing here.


Haunt #43 The Star Sickness very confused

Rolling damage each round

The opening flavour text describes three stages of infection, the first of which states:

  it feels like a particularly virulent fever, as your immune system fights against it...

And then in the section under The Haunt Revealer Must Do This...:

  the alien disease battles everyone's immune system.

This means that every one of the investigators is already at stage one of the infection. You are not becoming infected by receiving the number 1 monster token, you are just progressing to stage two.

The traitor and infection

Don't think of the infection spread mechanic as a part of the traitors abilities/effects or a traitorous thing to do - this mechanic is not really related to the traitor at all since everyone has to do this - it is just the way the status of being a traitor spreads.

As you say this mechanic is just reflecting that they are a carrier spreading the development of stage two infection. There is no real malicious intent in this since it is meant to be a 50% random chance of passing on the infection.

However the introduction does also say that

  In the second stage, the spores take over the host's mind.

The traitors are more than welcome to subtly sabotage the game for the survivors, since the development of the Serum is a bad thing for them.

They may be able to slow down or prevent the other survivors from getting the Serum with subtle actions: redirecting or planting suspicion on other players, taking longer to get somewhere, using/not using an item that would hinder/help the cause, ensuring they do/don't offer strategic tips or reminders that would hinder/help the search for a cure etc.

The point of the aliens

The aliens are indicators that a survivor has progressed to the third stage, and is a visible display of their infection. Generally speaking they will likely be tougher than your investigator, especially since they are immune to the ongoing damage from stage one and have fairly good stats - the only real downside is that they can't spread the infection since they are no longer explorers.

This stage could potentially be considered the next logical step towards a win when you are a traitor after having swapped your infection tokens a couple of times, since it lets you be more open about your actions against the other players, and lets you more freely either kill survivors or force other traitors to transform.

It becomes even more important to be an alien if one or more survivors have been injected with the Serum.

After being treated with the Serum survivors are immune to the per round damage and can no longer trade infection tokens. Being at stage three means you can actively pursue and attack cured survivors, leaving other potential traitors to stay hidden and affect things more subtly, and even if all you do is sacrifice yourself in doing so, you can also prevent or at least delay someone with the Serum from injecting other traitors.


Does Increasing Devotion create 10 tokens if cast from the graveyard without flashback?

Yes, you get 10 tokens if you cast it from the graveyard in any way.
If the alternative effect only happened on casting the spell through flashback, the card would say so by making an explicit reference to its flashback ability. There are no flashback cards that do so, but presumably it might read "if you cast this spell for its flashback cost", similar to the wording of the Mutate ability.
Since it doesn't make a reference to flashback, it happens if you cast it from your graveyard in any way. There are several more flashback cards that use the same template.


How can we play yu-gi-oh online after dueling network's shutdown?

Building off of DarkCygnus' answer, the "spiritual successor" to Dueling Network is Dueling Book. It is stylized in the way Dueling Network used to be, has both a competitive ladder and casual matchmaking, and is a "manual" simulator (you have to resolve the effects of cards yourself, place them in the zones they should be in, etc.) The other simulators in DarkCygnus' solution are "automatic" simulators, that give you prompts for things like activation windows for cards and proper zones monsters can be summoned into.

If you are looking for something similar to Dueling Network, Dueling Book would be my recommendation.


Interactions between Brainstorm and Miracles

You must reveal the card as you draw it in order to claim the miracle trigger.
The trigger will go on the stack when Brainstorm finishes resolving.
You can only cast the miracle card if it never left your hand before the trigger resolves.

Here's how and why it works this way:

You draw cards one at a time.

120.2. Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.

You reveal your first card "as you draw it," before putting it in your hand (if it's a miracle card).

702.93. Miracle
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.”
702.93b If a player chooses to reveal a card using its miracle ability, he or she plays with that card revealed until that card leaves his or her hand, that ability resolves, or that ability otherwise leaves the stack.

Nothing else happens yet. Just keep the card revealed in your hand.

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.

Then you draw the rest of your cards and put some card from your hand back, as Brainstorm tells you to do.

Once you're done with the Brainstorm actions, the miracle trigger actually goes on the stack.

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority...

Now you wait for the trigger to resolve. Players pass priority.

After the miracle trigger resolves, you may cast the miracle card. If it has left your hand at all, you can't cast it for its miracle cost (even if you manage to put it back somehow).

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are seven exceptions to this rule [none of which apply.]

So, in short:

Draw card 1
Reveal miracle
Draw card 2
Draw card 3
Put back two cards
Brainstorm finishes resolving (and is in the graveyard now)
Stack miracle trigger
Players get priority and can do stuff
Miracle trigger resolves: now you get to decide whether to cast the spell

Here's the same interpretation from a level 2 judge.


What happens if both players get to 7 points at the same time?

The runner chooses who wins (and presumably chooses themselves) with the order they access they access the cards.  From the Rules Reference:

  When the Runner accesses cards in Archives, the Runner turns
  all cards faceup in Archives, then accesses and resolves each
  card in Archives one by one in the order of their choosing.

Also, as @LScottJohnson Points out in the comments:

  "If the Runner scores an agenda that gives him seven or more points, he immediately wins the game, even if he would otherwise access more cards."


What should I consider when selecting a Prize to take with my Tournament?

A fair amount of the time, Followers is going to be the strongest prize. If the board doesn't have another way to give Curses, and you are getting to choose a prize relatively quickly, giving out the only Curses in the game should have a pretty big impact. Also, bringing your opponent down to a 3-card hand will make it more difficult for him to buy those important Provinces.

After that, Trusty Steed tends to be quite strong. Be sure to think about all the options that it offers; it's quite common to just choose +2 Cards +2 Actions, but that in itself isn't all that great... it's a level 2 City, and Cities are only good when you get a lot of them. But all the options have their place.

All the others are more situational:

Princess can be necessary if there's no other +Buy card.
Trusty Steed can be necessary if there's no other +2 Actions card.

I don't think I'd ever take Bag of Gold or Diadem as the first prize. But either of them can be good if other prizes are already gone. Bag of Gold is good mostly in a game towards the end when you need a little more boost to get the last or last couple Provinces. I rarely see Diadem worth more than 2 or 3, and when it is, you probably already have a deck with enough money anyway. However, I'll often choose it because I need that extra 2 or 3 this turn.


A board game called PALM BEACH or something to that effect

This must be it.

1976 Board game:  Palm Beach

Source: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/lifestyles/blast-from-the-past-groovy-vintage-palm-beach-find/nWDNK/

Found an old ebay listing with more photos here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1976-Palm-Beach-Game-Complete-Monopoly-Style-Board-Entertaining-Fun-/230915467545?nma=true&si=w8Yhok%252BHv7Zg0Y1acAhEKk1lbZU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557


What happens if the legend rule doesn't apply to only one of a pair of legendary creatures with the same name?

You get to keep all 3 creatures.
The legend rule reads:

704.5j If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

The Brothers' ability makes the legend rule not apply to them as long as there are exactly 2 of them on the battlefield. What "not applying" means can be derived from the rulings for Mirror Gallery or Sakashima of a Thousand Faces:

Mirror Gallery removes the “Legend rule” while it’s on the battlefield.[..]

While the “legend rule” doesn’t apply to permanents you control, you can control any number of legendary permanents with the same name and none of them will be put into the graveyard.

While Mirror Gallery is on the battlefield, the game is played as though the legend rule did not exist, or, put differently, the legend rule check is disabled for all permanents.
Accordingly, while exactly two Brothers Yamazaki are on the battlefield, the legend rule is not checked for either of them. Any legend rule check that would compare either of the Brothers Yamazaki to any other permanent for name identity is not performed at all. That means the Grizzly Bears is also safe from the legend rule, because the one check that could get them killed (with the Spy Kit'ed Brothers) is not performed.
Therefore, it does not matter whether or not either of the Brothers shares a name with Grizzly Bears or yet other permanents. As far as the legend rule is concerned, the two Brothers do not exist on the battlefield at all.


A list of categories of board game skills isn't something I've ever seen.  To actually come up with one, I think you have to first start by looking at research from the psychology field in relation to the different forms of IQ.  The theory of multiple intelligences that was created in 1983 by Howard Gardner breaks out different types of intelligence.  Gardner lists 8 different types of intelligence.

Depending on the type of game, I would say some of those intelligences come into play.  Certainly if you have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and interpersonal intelligence, you would be more likely to be a shrewd trader in games like Settlers of Catan.  If you can read people's body language to tell they're bluffing, this is a huge leg in games like Poker.  On the other end of the spectrum, spatial intelligence would be incredibly important for games where board position is important.

There is also how much planning people do to consider.  Good chess players, look ahead at more possible moves then weaker chess players, and a similar ability to analyze future events would be a good thing to look at.  This gets into game theory and prefect play.  A players ability to practice this would be another big skill.

Speed would be another topic to consider.  Players who arrive at decisions faster would also be better at games where timing matters.  This could also affect games where timing may not immediately be apparent.  Being able to realize any deal another player is offering before the others players accept, would usually be beneficial.

Since research on psychology and artificial intelligence should also be considered, I personally don't feel qualified to give you an exhaustive list.  There is a book, Moves in Mind: The Psychology of Board Games you might be interested in if you really want to delve deeply into this topic.  There is current active research by psychologist and programmers for using games to develop different skills in participants that looks at this question from a different angle.

Promoting Broad and Stable Improvements in Low-Income Children’s Numerical Knowledge Through Playing Number Board Games
SIDES: a cooperative tabletop computer game for social skills development


What makes a cooperative game require multiple players?

The biggest thing I can think of is limited knowledge. Hanabi is a cooperative game where each player has access to different information (no one can see the cards in his or her own hand, but can see everyone else's cards).

As soon as different players have access to different information, playing by yourself becomes impossible. The other examples I can think of are partnership card games: Bridge, Pinochle, Canasta, Tichu, etc. They all have strict rules against communication between partners, so you cannot let your partner know what cards are in your hand. Due to this rule, a person could not end up playing both sides of the partnership by himself.

This type of thing could easily be implemented in non-card games as well, as long as there is some information that some players have but other players don't.

The other way that one could make a co-op game actually require multiple people is to have rules against table talk. Even if all knowledge is open, you can make it illegal to discuss moves. For example, you could play a Pandemic variant where any discussion between players about what should be done is illegal. You are still allowed to ask what cards other players have (or just play open-handed; same thing really), but no other discussion allowed. Thus, each player needs to decide what he wants to do on his turn all by himself, and the challenge comes on picking up the slack where other players are lacking.

Damage Report took another approach. All players play simultaneously and asynchronously (not everyone is on the same turn), and there are enforced time limits to turns. This prevents the game from being played solo (though a dominant player can still influence others)

"Hidden roles" type games can also work this way. Battlestar Galactica, for example. You could consider this a co-op game, because most of the players are all working together. Though instead of fighting against the game itself, as with Pandemic, you are fighting against the 1 or 2 other players who are not on your team. But due to the fact that roles are hidden, each player only knows his own role. This makes it impossible to play by yourself. Of course most probably wouldn't consider this a co-op game, but the basic principle is still there.. most of the people playing the game are playing co-op with each other.


How can I create my own card for my own game?

There are multiple prices of software that do this. A good list is available at http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/991506/resources-card-game-makers but rather than repeat those I'll say that beyond using something like illustrator and drafting you're own one by one looking up custom card makers for whichever game had the closet format to yours and creating your own.


The Witches: A Discworld Board Game - Defeating Count Bela

The removal of all other Magpyrs is part of the special reward for defeating the Count. Player who defeated him gets to keep his token and score the points just for him, all other are simply set aside and no one gets the points for them.


If a player sets a monster that is revealed to be invalid when it is flipped face up, what happens?

In a tournament, the player who made the illegal play could be given a game loss, if the gamestate can't be reconstructed (and sometimes even if it can). Many calls like this are up to the discretion of the judge, and if you're at a larger tournament, you'll be able to appeal to a head judge for a final ruling if you disagree.

Be very careful about this. Even doing something like not activating a mandatory effect (like adding counters to a certain card when something happens) could give you a loss depending on the judge and if the opposing player calls a judge for it. I've heard of people being given game losses for not activating the effects of cards with multiple effects in the order printed on the card (Wavering Eyes in this case, for just the first 2 effects), even though the order wouldn't affect the gamestate in any way.

If you're playing with friends or in a more casual setting, oftentimes people just do the best they can to rewind it, or just play it out.


A multiplayer board game catching eggs down a chute with a cart

I think I've got it - is this Pickin' Chickens?


A&A surprise strike on loaded aircraft carrier

The fighters are considered, for the purpose of the game, to already be in the air, so the surprise strike will not put the fighters behind the casualty line.

At the end of combat, defending fighters have a range of one. If at the end of combat there are no carriers with available capacity in the combat zone, or an adjacent sea zone, or an adjacent land square that is controlled by an allied power where they can land, they are destroyed.


What do the iPad "End of Times" books contain?

Games Workshop have replied to my email:

  Thanks for the email.

  I can confirm for you that the iBook contains everything that the
  physical copy contains except the paper!

  I hope that this helps, but if you need anything further, please let
  me know.

  Kind regards

  Lydia

It looks like iBook has a complete ruleset too.


Intro: What does Bureaucrat really do?

Bureaucrat does three things:

It slows down your opponent
It gives you a Silver on your next turn
It makes your deck bigger, and increases the money-to-other-cards ratio

In my experience, for Bureaucrat to be shine your game plan has to account for and benefit from all three of the above elements.

Analysis: slowing down the opponent

This only happens if the opponent will be drawing victory cards. At game start this will happen very often, but you have to foresee what course the game will take later on as well. Some factors that will help you decide are:

If there are good trashing cards in the pool (e.g. Chapel, Remodel, Upgrade) that will be seeing use (you can judge this yourself taking into account the number of non-terminal action cards and the pool composition in general) then the opponent will trash their victory cards and Bureaucrat's attack will be neutralized.
If the pool does not suit itself to chaining combos and there aren't many worthwhile game plans involving action cards (e.g. when all action cards are terminal, especially if there is no card that gives +2 actions), then going the money/victory route is tempting. Bureaucrat's attack will remain relevant in the late game if this happens.
If the pool contains victory cards that will be very desirable to both players (Nobles is the most prominent, but also consider Great Hall, Harem, Island) then Bureaucrat will be hindering the opponent quite heavily throughout the game.
The presence of cards that will let your opponent skip the victory cards they put on top of the deck also matters. There are cards (e.g. Library, Watchtower, Farming Village, Menagerie) that can nullify or even benefit from the fact that your opponent puts a useless card on top of their deck. If the opponent's game plan might go this way, Bureaucrat will usually not be a good choice.

Analysis: Getting more money

Although getting more money in your deck is usually the way to go, you also don't want to get too many money cards, and those that you do get should preferably be Gold (or even Platinum, if it's in the pool). This, in turn, limits the number of times you 'd ideally want to play Bureaucrat. On the other hand, getting free Silver in the beginning can be a pretty significant advantage. These two factors can be harmoniously combined if you take the other available cards into account:

If you plan on a heavy trashing strategy (Chapel, anyone?), one of the problems to be solved is how to transition from Copper/Estate to more desirable cards without gutting yourself in the process by leaving too little money in the deck (I believe I 'm not the only one who has drawn all their deck and realized that all their money is just 3 or 4 coppers). Bureaucrat can help with this by giving you the Silver that you need to trash all Coppers on sight with impunity. After the deck has been cut down to taste, you can also trash the Bureaucrat (even better, Remodel or Upgrade it).

Analysis: Making the deck grow

Making your deck larger is a disadvantage because you get to draw your expensive and powerful cards less often. This is not relevant in the beginning, when Silver will actually be one of your most powerful cards, but as long as the game progresses it will become more and more apparent. Also, playing Bureaucrat will increase the number of money cards in the deck. This can also be detrimental if you are planning on an action-heavy strategy.

However, both of the above effects can become irrelevant or even beneficial under certain circumstances, thereby increasing Bureaucrat's usefulness:

If the pool includes cards like Remodel or Upgrade, then you can plan on exchanging the Silver for more desirable cards (usually actions that help you combo). If you carefully balance the amount of Bureaucrats with your trashing-and-exchanging capacity (so that you don't drown yourself in Silver) then you can begin to look at Bureaucrat's effect as indirectly giving you a 4 or 5 cost action card for free, which is a very powerful effect. This is especially good if there are no +Buy cards in the pool, when a combo like Bureaucrat/Upgrade gives you a free buy in addition to the card you get to buy normally. Later on you will have the opportunity of exchanging this Silver for a 4, 5, or even 6 cost one.
If the pool is such that you plan on or foresee the possibility of going into turbo-Victory-buy mode (this might easily happen if one or both players goes for Big Money, or piles start running out and it becomes a race for the most Duchies and Provinces), adding money and victory cards in your deck is more beneficial than adding just victory cards. Sure, it's "just" a Silver, but the extra money in the deck might be just enough to offset the dilution you suffer due to buying victory cards. If these Silver make the difference between buying a Duchy and a Provice, or nothing and a Duchy, Bureaucrat can really shine. For maximum utilizations, consider the synergy with cards like Cellar or Warehouse that let you discard useless cards (victory cards most probably) and give you a chance of replacing them with more money to score a touchdown.
If the pool includes cards with a variable effect magnitude dependent on the size of your deck (e.g. Gardens, Philosopher's Stone), and the strongest strategy revolves around utilizing these cards to maximum effect, then adding more cards to your deck faster than the opponent can do the same should give you a sizable advantage.

Conclusion

J.R. Capablanca once said:

  The weaker the player the more terrible the Knight is to him, but as a
  player increases in strength the value of the Bishop becomes more
  evident to him, and of course there is, or should be, a corresponding
  decrease in his estimation of the value of the Knight as compared to
  the bishop.

I would connect this to Bureaucrat by saying that the weaker a player is in Dominion, the better cards like Bureaucrat seem to him; as the player grows stronger, the power of other cards becomes evident (Chapel is a good example) and thus the relative value of Bureaucrat decreases even more.

However, Bureaucrat can be put to good use under favorable circumstances as long as you keep the balance regarding your deck's composition. It's very useful to be able to recognize card pools where multiple of the above scenarios are applicable, thereby allowing Bureaucrat to operate at full power; and when it manages to do so, it can make the difference between two otherwise evenly matched players.


The ability triggers twice. Here's the relevant rule from the comprehensive rules, which also includes an example where it does matter whether it's once or twice:

702.15e If multiple sources with lifelink deal damage at the same time, they cause separate life gain events (see rules 119.9–10).
Example: A player controls Ajani’s Pridemate, which reads “Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on Ajani’s Pridemate,” and two creatures with lifelink. The creatures with lifelink deal combat damage simultaneously. Ajani’s Pridemate’s ability triggers twice.

The Gatherer pages of at least some of the cards where it matters also include this in their Rulings section, e.g. under Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose it says

Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Vito’s first ability will trigger twice and you may choose a different opponent for each trigger. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, and/or planeswalkers at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will trigger only once.

As indicated in that ruling, this issue can matter even for Vito if you have multiple opponents; another way it could matter is if your opponent wanted to cast Disallow to counter Vito's ability.


Can I spend all my life points to draw cards?

Friday? The current text of the rules does not include the passage you quoted. It seems they realized the behaviour was unusual enough to warrant clarification, and updated the rules to do so.

  If you need to pay a life token during the game and do not have any left you immediately lose the game. Having zero life points is OK, but if you need one more life token you lose the game!


Do Lands count as permanents? Did I find a bug in Magic Arena?

Lands are colorless permanents, so they will not cause you to draw any cards with Chromatic Orrery.
This is a result of rule 202.2:

202.2. An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame.

202.2b Objects with no colored mana symbols in their mana costs are colorless.

Lands have no mana cost, so they have no colored symbols in their mana cost, so they are colorless.


When looking for materials to help out with games, always check out boardgamegeek.com. In the case of your question, they have a downloadable 'rules summary and reference cards'

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/151007/pathfinder-adventure-card-game-skull-shackles-base

(I know link-only answers aren't great, but the question really seems to be looking for a link...)


Will Shipbreaker Kraken cause creatures to stay on the battlefield when hit by Scourge of Fleets?

The cards go back to the hand. The only thing Shipbreaker Kraken can do to them is cause them to not untap. It doesn't do anything to keep them on the battlefield if they get sent back to a hand by Scourge.

In fact, it gets even worse. If you Scourge them back to your opponent's hand, and they play them again, they will be allowed to untap as normal. This is because once it goes to the hand and gets recast, it's a different "object". The "object" that was (let's call it frozen) frozen by the Kraken is not the same "object" that they play, even if it's the same physical card.

Long story short, if you're planning to throw out a Scourge of Fleets, try not to double dip on the ones that you target with the Kraken.

Bit of an aside that's a little too long for a comment:

This sets aside the fact that you're playing both Scourge of Fleets and Shipbreaker Kraken in the same deck. I'd have to say such a deck would be woefully underpowered in all formats, barring commander. Both creatures fill the same role: a large body with a mass removal effect. Given their mana costs, for any 60 card deck you can expect it to be too slow to use both of these. Simply put, one of these will be better than the other for a given deck/matchup. Even if you play 4 of the best one, would you really want to play 5 of these big guys?


Does Chance for Glory make your creature indestructible indefinitely if you skip the extra turn?

Your creatures will stay indestructible and you will not lose the game if you are able to prevent the end step of the extra turn from happening.
The effect of Chance for Glory has three parts:
The first part of the effect gives the creatures you control (on the battlefield) the Indestructible ability. This is a permanent change to those objects.
The second part of the effect creates a new Turn after the current turn that the controller of this Effect will take.
The third part of the effect creates a delayed trigger. The trigger refers to the turn that was just created.

603.7b A delayed triggered ability will trigger only once—the next time its trigger event occurs— unless it has a stated duration, such
as "this turn."

If that extra turn never happens or never gets to the end step then the trigger does not fire and the effect does not happen.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=452909

10/5/2018 Creatures you control gain indestructible indefinitely. If
you find a way to not lose the game during your next turn, they’ll
continue to be indestructible for as long as they remain on the
battlefield.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=228118

9/22/2011 If Sundial of the Infinite’s ability is activated before the
end step, any “at the beginning of the end step”-triggered abilities
won’t get the chance to trigger that turn because the end step is
skipped. Those abilities will trigger at the beginning of the end step
of the next turn. The same is true of abilities that trigger at the
beginning of other phases or steps (except upkeep).

Ending the Turn

713.1c The current phase and/or step ends. The game skips straight to the cleanup step. Skip any phases or steps between this phase or step
and the cleanup step.
713.3. Even though the turn ends, “at the beginning of the end step” triggered abilities don’t trigger because the end step is skipped.


When a player gets Rummikub & the round is over, how is play continued?

The player who got Rummikub is the winner of that round, and that round is over. In the beginning of the game, you decide how many points are needed to be the winner of the whole game.

From this PDF of Rules:

  Object:
  Be the first player to eliminate all the tiles from your rack by forming them into sets of runs and groups. Try to keep as few points in your rack as possible. At the start of the game, you decide how many points to reach to end the game.

  Scoring:
  After a player has cleared the rack and called "Rummikub", the losing players add up the value of
  the tiles they are holding on their racks. This score is totaled as a minus (negative) amount. The
  winner of the round receives a positive (plus) score equal to the total of all the losers' points. ...

  Winning:
  The player with the highest score at the end of the game wins.

So it doesn't matter how many players there are. When someone runs out of tiles and calls out "Rummikub", it is the end of the round and you tally scores. Then everyone starts a new round (all tiles reshuffled and redrawn), and you play as many rounds as it takes for someone to reach the target amount of points.


Is a spell or ability, targeted against a permanent with protection from that spell or ability's color, an illegal play?

It is illegal to cast it at all.

Among other things*, protection prevents things from being targeted by certain things:

  702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.

See this question for details on what would happen if you started to cast Lightning Bolt, but there was no legal target on the board. In summary, the game would rewind to the point before you started to cast it; it will never have been considered cast.

*Those other things being damaged by, enchanted or equipped by, and blocked by.


Furiten is when you are unable to win on a tile due to certain circumstances. There are about 3 different circumstances.

One type of furiten is when you previously discarded a tile that you needed to complete your hand. Let's say if you go for a hand without honors, 1s or 9s(a hand called 'tanyao', worth 1 han), and you have a double wait of 3 or 5 circles to win. If you have previously thrown 3 circles, even if it was taken by someone when they did a chi/pong/kong, you are unable to take the tile if someone else discards it. You are, however able to take it from the wall yourself and win with it.

The second type is when you ignore a tile needed to complete your winning hand. Similiar to the previous situation, but this time you are waiting for a 1 or 4 circles to win. You have neither thrown the 1 or 4 circles previously. Let's say someone throws the 1. If 'tanyao' is your only yaku, you obviously are unable to win it. So you pass on it. However, this puts you in a state of temporary furiten. If within the same turn(before you get to take another tile), someone throws the 4, you are unable to claim the tile for your win. If someone does a pong/kong, you will remain in furiten until your turn comes again.

The third type is when you declare 'riichi', and ignore a winning tile. Since riichi is already a yaku, you are able to win even without any other yaku. Let's say you are waiting for a 1 or 4 circles(again). You have neither thrown either tile previously. Someone throws   the 1. If you don't claim it, you will be declared furiten for the REST OF THE ROUND. Same goes if you draw a 1 and discard it. In other words, your hand will be permanently declared invalid til the next round.

source: i love mahjong~ :D


Are numbers greater than 20 legal hints in Codenames? I.e., "911, 3" for "plane", "event", and "skyscraper"

Codenames enjoys a variety of flexible rules and often it's up to the opposing spymaster to allow cases like this. 9/11 could definitely fit in either of the following 2 flexible rules, but since they are flexible rules, it's best left to the group to decide if it's allowed or not.
While technically wildly different, 9/11 is not just a date, but it's the common name used for an event. Just like Super Bowl are two words, most groups would allow it as a compound word.

Compound Words
English has three ways to write a compound word. Greenhouse is one
word. Pack rat is two words. Mother-in-law is hyphenated. Technically,
only greenhouse can be a one-word clue. You can decide to allow any
compound words. However, in no case should a player be allowed to
invent compound words. Lunar squid is not a valid clue for MOON and
OCTOPUS.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Technically, CIA is not one word. But it is a great clue. You can
decide to allow common abbreviations like UK, lol, and PhD. And words
like laser, radar, and sonar are always allowed, even though they
originated as acronyms.

Remember, don't be too strict. If the opposing spymaster allows it, the clue is valid. If you aren't sure, ask your opponent. (Quietly, so the others can't hear.)


It looks like these have already been done, and done well:

Trigammon

Quadgammon

The Quadgammon board is very cleverly designed!


How does Kajia's Swarming style work against attacks measured from markers?

Howling just calculates range from Jager's position, it doesn't change where Karin is.  Swarming checks Karin's position when determining whether or not you can hit, so the attack misses.


How do Humility and Mishra's Factory interact?

If you activate Mishra's Factory's second ability while Humility is on the battlefield, Mishra's Factory will be a 2/2 Artifact Creature Land--Assembly-Worker with no abilities for the rest of the turn. If you activate Mishra's Factory's second ability, then Humility enters the battlefield later in the turn, Mishra's Factory will be a 1/1 Artifact Creature Land--Assembly-Worker with no abilities for the rest of the turn.
Mishra's Factory's second ability has this text:

{1}: Mishra's Factory becomes a 2/2 Assembly-Worker artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a land.

Upon resolving, this ability creates a continuous effect that lasts for the rest of the turn and exists independent of the Factory's current characteristics.
and Humility has this text:

All creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.

This is a static ability that creates a continuous effect that always applies as long as Humility is on the battlefield.
As mentioned in the question, both of these effects apply in layers. Mishra's Factory's effect adds the Creature and Artifact types and Assembly-Worker subtype in layer 4 and sets the power and toughness to 2/2 in layer 7b. Humility's effect removes the creature's abilities in layer 6 and sets the power and toughness to 1/1 in layer 7b.
These modifications are applied in order by layer. So, first Mishra's Factory gains the Artifact and Creature types and Assembly-Worker subtype in layer 4. Then, because it is now a creature, Humility removes its abilities in layer 6. Then both effects try to set the power and toughness in layer 7b. At this point, the timestamp rules come into effect:

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

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

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

613.6c An object receives a timestamp at the time it enters a zone.

So, the timestamp of Humility's effect depends on when it entered the battlefield, and the timestamp of Mishra's Factory's effect depends on when the ability resolved. Whichever one is later overrides the earlier one, so if Humility entered the battlefield second, the creature will be a 1/1, and if the Factory's ability resolved second, the creature will be a 2/2.


What are the criteria for the best move in Scrabble?

Any move in Scrabble has a few effects on the game:

It earns you points.
Unplayed tiles remain on your rack.
You draw new tiles (usually).
The board changes, which can make scoring easier or harder.

This suggests that the best move is one that can maximize as many of these (sometimes conflicting) aspects:

It scores a bunch of points.
It leaves you with complementary tiles for future points, especially having a good vowel-consonant balance.  It often pays to forego a few points this turn for a good opportunity at a bingo the next turn.
It lets you draw many tiles.  This means more opportunities for getting "lucky" with high point tiles (JXQZ) or super useful blanks.
It shapes the board in a way favorable to your current gameplan.  The best advice I've heard is to open the board up when behind (for more opportunities to catch up) and to close the board down if you're ahead (for just the opposite reason).

You won't always have an obvious best choice, but the more bullet points you can achieve the better.  Bingos are especially important because they score a bunch of points and give you more chances of drawing important tiles.


When there are multiple "enters the battlefield" effects but "lasts until end of turn" is said once, do they all last until end of turn?

They all last until the end of the turn, not just first strike. Since it's hard to keep track of these abilities for a longer period, permanent boosts (or curses) almost always use 'counters', like a +1/+1 counter, which stay on the card as a visible representation. (There are a handful of exceptions like Figure of Destiny.)

So if the +2/+0 boost would be permanent, it would have read something like this:

  When Cavalry Drillmaster enters the battlefield, choose target creature. Put a +2/+0 on that creature. That creature gains first strike until end of turn.

Note that the effect has now been split in two sentences, to indicate the difference in duration.


How important is it to avoid bagging out in Spades?

What's the alternative to bagging out? If you over bid, you risk losing the number of points of your bid. If you under bid, you have a good chance of making your bid, and any bags are effectively minus points for that hand, but you still get the points for your hand.

For example, a bid of 9 that doesn't make it sets you back 90 points. A bid of 5 with 3 bags effectively nets you 20 points. So what's better, -90 points, or 20 points?

One flip side of under bidding is that you might make your opponents over bid, causing them to go set.


What happens when a creature with "Whenever a creature dies" dies simultaneously with multiple other creatures?

Yes, Marchesa's ability will save herself if she dies with a +1/+1 counter, along with other creatures who died at the same time as her that had a +1/+1 counter. You are correct that rule 603.6d is the reason for this.

Basically, 603.6d says the in normal circumstances, whenever something changes, all objects that now exist are checked to see if any of them trigger. BUT, it says that leaves-the-battlefield triggers work differently. With leaves-the-battlefield triggers, the game must look at what the gamestate was like just before the event took place to see if the event caused any triggers to go off.

In this case, after all creatures die, the game checks to see what things were like just before they died. And now that the game is looking back in time, to just before the event happened, it sees Marchesa as an object that has a triggered ability that should trigger as a result of this event; in fact one that should trigger multiple times, once for each creature with a +1/+1 counter that died.

Hope this clears it up!

603.6c is how you know that "dies" triggers count as "leaves-the-battlefield" abilities:

  603.6c 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 arent 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.

(Note that "dies" means "Whenever [something] is put into a graveyard from the battlefield".)

  603.6d Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions. Continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like. However, some triggered abilities must be treated specially. Leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a permanent phases out, abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library, abilities that trigger specifically when an object becomes unattached, abilities that trigger when a player loses control of an object, and abilities that trigger when a player planeswalks away from a plane will trigger based on their existence, and the appearance of objects, prior to the event rather than afterward. The game has to "look back in time" to determine if these abilities trigger.


What is the purpose of opening this package in March?

You should have opened door 5, not box 5. You can tape box 5 back up and continue with the game with no ill effects, especially as the meaning of the contents of box 5 is not apparent to you at this time.

From what I remember, when you are instructed to open a box (or package as the game refers to it), it will specifically say "Open Package #". Numbers in circles are doors to be opened, and letters in circles are rules to be opened (same mechanism as doors).

According to this thread, the contents of door 5 is

   Three additional scars, so you're not missing anything vital


Do you shuffle the already played cards back into the deck when using the 'Winter Is Coming' card?

It makes sense that you would put the discard pile back into the deck and re-shuffle - this is what we have always done in our games. This obviously means that you can have the reappearance of cards that have already been drawn once before.

It wouldn't make sense to just shuffle the remaining cards - what would be the difference between that and not shuffling the remaining cards? They're still unknown and already/still in a random order.


Do I have to say if the face-down card I'm playing is a trap or spell, or is it enough to place it in the trap/spell zone?

You do not have to state if it is a spell or trap card when you set a card face down, it just must be legal in the zone you are setting in. This is actually done with spell cards to bluff traps and make your opponent pause to think about what you could have, and what it could mean for them with their plays.


Axis and Allies 1941: Transport Rules for on loading and offloading units

Yes, what you are describing is possible and called an Amphibious Assault.

However, the sequence load -> move transport -> offload is not limited to situations in which you land in hostile territory, but is also true for offloading into friendly territory.

Here's all your transport options for one single turn:

Board a transport from an adjacent territory, leave the units onboard as cargo or offload into an adjacent territory (which is called bridging)
Board a transport and move the transport, leave the units onboard as cargo or offload them into an adjacent territory
Move a transport, then board it with land unit(s), then leave the units onboard as cargo or offload them into an adjacent territory
Move a transport one space, then board it with land unit(s), then move the transport another space, then leave the units onboard as cargo or offload them into an adjacent territory
Board a transport with one unit, move the transport, board with an additional unit (keeping the transport's capacity in mind), then leave them onboard as cargo or offload one or both units into an adjacent territory
Board a transport with one unit, move the transport one space, board with an additional unit, then move the transport another space and finally leave them onboard as cargo or offload one or both units into an adjacent territory

Do any of the above offloads into hostile territory and it is an Amphibious Assault, which requires you to offload all units on the transport (you cannot choose to offload none or only one). Keep in mind that Amphibious Assaults are conducted during the Combat Move Phase, while transports into friendly territory take place during the Non-Combat Move Phase.

Also, remember that a transport can only offload once per turn and cannot afterwards load, move or unload, again - which is also and especially true for the aforementioned bridging maneuver.

One mistake in what you are describing though: Loading or offloading does not count as ONE move, but as a unit's ENTIRE MOVEMENT. So, if it either boards or leaves a transport or both, a land unit cannot otherwise move during this turn. Therefore, a tank cannot move 1 space and then board a transport, or leave a transport and then still move a space.

All of this is explained in the Unit Profiles chapter of the Rulebook, in the section on Transports, p.28f.


Playing a system such as Standard American this shows a balanced or semi-balanced hand with 18-19 HCP. It would usually deny holding 4 Hearts unless with a 4333 distribution, though partnerships playing some form of Check-Back Stayman may relax this. One might look for an alternative sequence with a holding worse than Qxx in an unbid (Clubs and Spades here) suit.

The rationale is that it is covering the range too weak for an initial 2NT opening bid, now usually played as 20-21 HCP, and too strong for either a !NT opening (12-14 if weak and 15-17 if strong) or a 1NT rebid (the ranges just mentioned reversed).


This sounds like a job for peer pressure.  Perhaps the other players should have to vote on whether any particular performance is sufficient, with an understanding that doing the same old thing won't suffice.  Sing a new song, make up some new bellydance move, improvise a new reason for a tantrum... if players aren't doing it on their own, apply social pressure.  It doesn't have to be good, just new.

(I've never played Ren Faire, but I've seen games of Once Upon a Time get stale until the group applied social pressure to make people actually do something with the cards they play instead of just saying "and there was a prince there, and a horse, and a robber, and...".)


Playing Pokemon TCG with more than two players

The closest that I have found that meets your criteria and also only uses three decks (thus excluding "Two-Headed Giant") is a 3-player variant from BoardGameGeek, which was an improvement to a suggestion another gamer had made.

The three players are arranged in a circle.
A player can attack the player to their right for full damage.
A player can attack the player to their left for half damage, rounded up to the nearest 10.
Special effects (e.g. not being able to use item cards due to Dragonite's "Deafen" attack) can only be applied to the player to the right. (It seems that you are allowed to deal damage to the left player and have an effect apply to the right player).
The game is otherwise played as normal, and the first player to get all their prizes wins.

The advantage of this variant is that while teaming up is still possible, it's sub-optimal since one player will be doing less damage if they gang up, so it's only likely to happen at critical moments.


How to expand Love Letter to accomodate more players?

If you're really up to it, you might want to buy the Love Letter Premium Edition which lets you play with up to eight players. It might be a bit different from the Love Letter you're used to though as it comes with new characters like the Assassin (which eliminates an opponent if that opponent forces you to reveal it).

It's an official game though so I you can rest assured that it's been playtested and was intended to be played with more players. I hope that helps :)


Carcassonne -- problem telling the difference between the Big Meeple and regular Meeples

I've mentally lost track of big meeples before, so I don't see a problem with visually altering it to make it stand out.  Perhaps you could borrow a hat from a set of Legos?  Honestly, I'm more surprised that your gaming group is cutthroat enough to need a rule to force people to announce when using big meeples.  Carcassonne is a game of perfect information (other than tile draws).  You should always be able to ask where something is.


What happens if the Heliod/Spike Feeder combo meets the Heliod/Walking Ballista combo?

It depends on which creature has more counters

Say the Ballista has 4 counters, the Spike has 2.

Bob activates their Ballista (3 counters left).  While the trigger is on the stack:
Alice activates their Spike (1 counter left).  While the trigger is on the stack:
Bob activates their Ballista (2 counters left).

Alice cannot activate her Spike again, or it will die and she will have no combo.  She's forced to let Bob resolve his Ballista trigger and his lifegain trigger.

Before Alice's Spike trigger resolves, Bob activates their Ballista again (2 counters left).

As you can see, Bob's combo is running, and Alice's is stuck.  Bob can kill Alice.

On the other hand, if the Spike had more counters than the Ballista, then Bob will lose his ability to run his combo before Alice does, and Alice will always be able to gain more life than Bob deals.

If the Spike and the Ballista have the same number of counters, whomever starts activating their combo first will lose the race.  If Alice activates her Spike before Bob activates his Ballista, then he can kill her.  But if he activates his Ballista first, Alice will survive.

Of course, the Ballista combo also generates an arbitrarily large sum of life for Bob, so he is motivated to activate it anyways (since Alice already has a large lifetotal).

Notes: Letting the activated ability resolve and then activating your own ability on top of Heliod's triggered ability achieves the same result as if you had interrupted the activated ability.


Strategies for playing the Traitor in Shadows Over Camelot?

Typically, being the traitor at Shadows is sort of like playing games where bluffing is involved. Success depends on you managing the table's personalities. Here are the rules I set for myself as traitor and I try to stick to them as much as possible:

Don't lie. This is the number one rule. (Technically speaking the rule should be "don't get caught lying", but I find personally that if I think that's the rule, I spend a lot of time worrying about whether a lie is worth making, whether I can get caught out, etc, etc, which drains away my ability to spend effort on actually playing the game to win as the traitor, so "don't lie" is easier, oddly enough, to follow and win.) The only question you're allowed to lie to (unless it's an official accusation) is speculation that you are the traitor. And you don't want that accusation to ever be made, so...

Refuse to engage in speculation and try, quietly, to defuse it. Don't fall into the trap of parties of speculation, or trying to "defend yourself by accusing someone else". This is a fool's game, because it puts the issue of accusation on the table as legitimate and once that's done, you're as good a target (better, in fact) than anyone else. Do everything you can to get people not to speculate about the traitor's identity or make accusations, which can lead to table management principles...

Be jovial and pleasant, almost carefree. Chit-chat. Encourage others to chit-chat. Be friendly, be funny; ask for the snacks, pass the snacks, enquire after others' desire for snacks, ask if anyone would like more snacks. In other words, as much as possible, try to put the other players in a friendly mental space where they're not thinking too much about the game other than the mechanical "optimal choices" they have to make on their turn, which leads to...

Encourage others to make "the best choice". Get the other players to avoid the conclusion that finding and accusing the right traitor is a wonderfully good thing for them to do; you can do this by focussing on optimal moves whenever possible. Whenever the discussion turns to strategy for an individual player turns, always encourage discussion about evaluating options that don't have to do with the traitor issue. This helps lull your fellow players into a mind-set that the game can be beaten without exposing the traitor, and that exposing the traitor isn't a legitimate strategic option to discuss. While this discussion is going on, try as hard as you can to not offer advice yourself: try to exclusively ask questions, and not answer questions (i.e. "What do you think we should do here?", "Do you think it's better to play a bunch of high cards here?", and so on). This makes you look like you're contributing, but relieves you of the burden of actually contributing to good choice making (and prevents you from being caught lying). Don't overdo it, because this can lead to being suspicious.

Make the others play your hand. This goes hand in hand with the previous point: rather than getting caught out making sub-optimal plays, as much as possible get the others to direct your play. Don't lie, but continually ask the others what they think you should do, how you should play your cards, and so on. You can't break the rules about card-talk, but you can set the others up to spending extra effort to think about playing your hand as well as theirs. Be very careful not to look purposefully dumb (especially if people know you're good at games) and be very careful not to lie (or get caught lying). But spend your thought-effort on figuring out how to damage the group's chances, and not on what the best play is for your own resources: your best play is always to strategically make it harder for the group to beat the game.)

When you have an opportunity to knife invisibly, be merciless. When occasions come up in the game where you can damage the group's chances, with not chance of being caught, do that. Quite often this comes up when you're allowed to examine action cards, defer action cards, re-arrange action cards (as long as you're sure no-one can notice this). Offering bad tactical advice is generally a bad idea (see "don't lie"), but putting the group in the position where they have to choose between a sort of bad thing, and a really bad thing (by quietly taking the good choice off the table) is awesome.

The game presents lots of opportunity for the traitor to submit the group to death by a thousand cuts, so do that every time you can. This makes it far easier for you to...

Stab overtly right at the end only when you're sure it makes you win. If you can make a masterstroke at the end that comes from lying or overt betrayal, do it, if you know the others can't avoid losing the game. This will be a LOT easier if you've submitted the group to the death of a thousand cuts policy: you want, as much as possible, to keep the game tense and tight at the end, because this means that even small choices you make can have correspondingly great effects. You want your masterstroke to be as small, quiet, and deadly as possible because you want to maximize your chances of not getting caught.


What happens if a wizard uses a spell against a monster that is immune to it?

It is treated the same as if they rolled a number that was too low.  They are defeated and suffer the usual consequences.

There are various different versions of the rules.  The ones here show it on page 10, third paragraph.


No, not at this time.

o:emblem means the Oracle text (rules text) of the card must include the word "Emblem".
-t:planeswalker means the card must not have the type "Planeswalker".

The 18 cards that do mention "Emblem" are all Planeswalkers.


This is the general rule: when the same event triggers multiple triggered abilities, the controllers of the abilities decide what order to place them on the stack, in APNAP (active player first, then non-active player) order (rule 603.3b).

In your example, you get to choose. If you put the Sphinx's ability on the stack first, then Narset's resolves first, so you exile the top four cards, then scry the next three. If you put Narset's ability on the stack first, you scry 3 first (which will set up better cards for Narset), and then exile. In most situations you would want to put Narset's ability on the stack first.

Note that what you describe as resolving "at the same time" never happens in Magic. Spells and abilities are always on the stack in some order, and they always resolve in that order.

To extend the example, if your opponent controlled a Blood Reckoning, no matter what order you placed your two triggered abilities on the stack, your opponent (the non-active player) would place two triggered abilities from the enchantment (one for each attacking creature) on top of them, and they would always resolve before your abilities. If you had a life total of two when you attacked, even if you knew that you would be able to cast a lifegain spell for free off of the cards Narset exiled, you would still lose life from Blood Reckoning -- and lose the game -- before Narset's ability resolved.


Why are there multiple version of Magic The Gathering Game on Steam?

You appear to be talking about Duel of the Planeswalkers, a game based on M:TG where you start with a number of decks and you unlock cards to add to those as you progress in the game. There were different versions for the past few years. Each version had new decks and features. You can compare it to several sport games (NBA 2k15, WWE 2k15), they all get newer and sometimes better versions each year.

You can, however, keep using the older versions. But newer versions contain newer (and sometimes more) cards, new enemies, new battle types etc.

There is also Magic: Online, a true digital equivalent of Magic: The Gathering. This is a version which stays up to date with newer cards, but can be more expensive than the DotP versions you can buy (eg) in Steam. In MTGO, you create your own collection and play against other players, not against AI opponents.


Why to use Kuikae rule in Riichi Mahjong?

Kuikae prevents the following:

People calling for a cheap defense against an opponent's riichi. If they have discarded a 6 and you have 789 in your hand, without kuikae, you can call the 6 to discard a 9 from an already complete run in your hand.
People scaling their hands towards tanyao/chanta by directly discarding the tile on the other end.
People scaling their hands towards sanshoku, trying to align runs like 456x, 567y, 678z by calling 7x and 5z to obtain 567x, 567y, 567z.
As well as some places (rare, but it does exist) that allow people to call and discard the exact same tile. 5+67, discard 5... or even 5+55, discard 5.

Standard penalty for breaking this rule is a dead hand, in most competitive leagues as well as in jansô environments.

EDIT: For those reading, we talk about kuikae, but in the sense the the rule is a restriction on what can legally be done (making these cases illegal moves), so an OFF setting, as opposed to an ON setting. Kind of like the kô snapback ban in go, or rules relating to repeated positions in chess/shôgi.


How fast effects work when played at end of turn

The end phase has two parts: the beginning of the end step, and the cleanup step.

At the beginning of the end step, any ability that reads "at the beginning of the end step" or "at the beginning of the next end step" will trigger.  This only happens once each turn, and players will get priority (meaning that they can cast spells (if the are instants or have flash) and activate abilities) afterwards.

Then the cleanup step happens, and all "until end of turn" effects end (among other things, such as discarding down to your hands limit). If this causes a change in board state (such as a creature dying), then players will get priority again, but there will also be another cleanup step. This can repeat several times, but it always ends in a cleanup step. cleanup will always be the last thing that happens in a turn

Since the effect that you describe is an "until end of turn effect", it is removed during cleanup, and will never persist between turns.

Incidentally, the difference between the Beginning of the End Step and the Cleanup Step led to the existence of the strangest keyword ability to ever exist in Magic: Substance.

Substance was never printed on a card, didn't do anything, and doesn't exist any more.

So what was it?

Back in Ye Olden Times, there was no "beginning of the end step", and triggers that happened at "end of turn" happened after cleanup.  When they introduced the modern turn structure with the Sixth Edition Rules, these two swapped, and it became possible to cast spells after end of turn triggers happened.

This mostly didn't effect things much, but there was a small set of cards that would generate a game object (like a token, counter, or card) at instant speed and then remove it at end of turn using an "end of turn" trigger.  With the turn order swap, it was now possible to cast them at the end of one turn and have their effect persist until the next turn, which had not been intended effect of the cards.  Also, toughness pumping cards (such as Armor of Thorns) would get removed before the damage that they were protecting against was erased, possibly causing the creature it was enchanting to die unexpectedly.

In order to retain the original functionality, these cards were errataed to grant their objects "substance" until end of turn, and then attached the "remove from play" trigger to the loss of substance instead of until end of turn.  This meant that they would get removed from play during the cleanup step instead of the beginning of the end step, guaranteeing that they wouldn't last from one turn to the next.

Eventually, however, it occurred to someone that they could just have these abilities trigger during the cleanup step instead of the beginning of the end step, and substance was removed altogether.


You are correct: where appropriate you must target yourself if all other players in the game are affected by a Handmaid card, although the effect of this is not as intrusive as you would think.

The rulebook (pages 19-20) expands upon the Handmaid card, specifically stating:

  If all players other than the player whose turn it is are protected by Susannah, the player must choose him- or herself if possible.

However the rulebook also expands upon each other card in the deck (pages 15-23), and states that the only card that will (must) affect yourself in this case is the Prince:

  If all other players are protected by the Handmaid, you must choose yourself.

The rest of the cards either do not target other players, or are specifically expanded upon to say they have no effect.


Is there a "consensus" definition of what constitutes a "strong" or "weak" deck?

Roughly, to most people, a "strong" deck is one that'll tend to win against other decks in its format, and a "weak" deck is one that'll tend to lose. It's about winning and losing, though, not as much how you win. Note that "in its format" is a pretty big deal - strong Standard decks are completely different from strong Vintage decks.

Why isn't speed of winning a good way to look at this? Well, not all decks with the same chance of winning do so at the same speed. Especially in Standard, it's normal for there to be aggro decks, midrange decks, and control decks that are all reasonably strong (they all have a good chance of winning a lot facing diverse opponents' decks). The aggro decks can win fast, the midrange decks take a bit of time, and the control decks always take a while. But people will quite reasonably say there's a strong deck in each of those categories, and if they try to compare, it won't be based on speed (then the aggro deck would always be "best"), it'll be based on which they think they can win the most.

If you want to try to measure, I'm afraid playtesting is really the only way. You have to try playing the decks against all the other decks you think might be strong (or find others who have done so), and play plenty of matches. This is why there's so much debate about what decks are strongest: it's difficult and time-consuming to measure, so people try to shortcut by testing just a bit and then using their experience and knowledge to fill in the gaps.

Once you look more closely, a few things make those statements a bit difficult to evaluate and measure.

First of all, people's subjective preferences do come into play, and on top of that, they'll tend to exaggerate, or at least be a bit cavalier with claims. People can also have objective preferences; they might be better at playing with some types of decks than others, and thus consider them stronger.

Next, "tend to win" might not indicate as large of a probability as you'd think. For example, someone might reasonably say "that deck is really strong" when it's going to win 55% of its games against other decks. That may not really sound that strong, but on the other hand, if a decent number of people play the deck at a tournament, that makes it likely that a large fraction of the top N players of the tournament will be ones playing that deck.

So if people are talking about "strong" and "weak" in the context of a tournament (or serious competitive play in general), the difference between the two might be relatively small, and hard to discern unless you're a fairly skilled player and have played plenty of games with the decks in question (or otherwise have data). If you want to measure strength of strong decks, this is pretty much the only way - look at a large number of games played by a large number of people, figure out who's playing the same decks (or similar enough to group together, at least), and see. (On the other hand, determining that a deck is very weak is pretty easy; you'll tend to notice that it loses all the time.)

Perhaps most importantly, "in its format" covers up a ton of complexity. You might think that just picking a format pins everything down, but in reality there's room for a lot of variation in the metagame: what kinds of decks everyone chooses to play. Generally, a given deck will be strong against some decks but weak against others. Depending on which of those decks are being played by more people, the deck could turn out to be strong or weak.

If you're talking about casual games, the range of power is enormous, especially when people have limited budgets and are perhaps building decks to suit their preferences, not just to be competitive. A deck that's "strong" among you and those you play with might be seen completely differently by another group of people. Of course, in casual play, you're also likely to be a bit less concerned with "playable" and eking out small edges in win probability, and more concerned with just having fun.


Can I remove a creature someone's sacrificing for an Emerge cost?

Unfortunately, you can't prevent him from saccing his Hooded Hydra.  What happens is this:

Friend declares he's going to cast Decimater
Friend determines the cost (in this case, Emerge)
Friend pays the cost, including sacrificing Hooded Hydra
Decimater goes on the stack
Decimater's cast trigger goes on the stack
Players now get priority, starting with your friend.


Confused on helping and wandering monsters in munchkin zombies

The two players would have to defeat all 4 monsters. After getting help, the other players are allowed a reasonable amount of time to interfere before you can claim levels and treasure.

And just like normal getting help, only player 1 gets the levels, but both share the treasure.


The rules for splice onto arcane (currently the only form of splice, and described in CR 702.46) are as follows:

While you are casting an arcane spell, if you have a splice onto arcane card in your hand (hereafter called a splice card), you may reveal the splice card.
If you do, pay the splice cost on the splice card.
The arcane spell gains the effects of the splice card.

Nothing happens to the Splice card. It stays in your hand. The original card resolves (plus the splice effects) then, usually, winds up in your graveyard.

You cite Desperate Ritual + Past in Flames as a combo. You cannot splice onto Past in Flames because it is not arcane. I hope you are instead just planning on using Past in Flames to re-cast an Arcane card from your graveyard.

An arcane spell is a spell with the Arcane subtype, i.e. one of these: t:arcane. These cards all have a type line that reads “Instant — Arcane” or “Sorcery — Arcane”. This means they have the Arcane subtype. This is just like how a Creature may be a Zombie, and cards may care about Zombie cards. The exact same way, splice onto arcane cares about Arcane cards.

If you do happen to cast an Arcane card from your graveyard, such as via Past in Flames, you can still splice Desperate Ritual onto it if Desperate Ritual is in your hand at the time you cast it.


Card game with animated and holographic cards

I found the game after searching for it myself its called Redakai
It's on sale on eBay and for clearance in some stores since it wasn't popular


How to score 4 of a kind in cribbage after a go

No 4-of-a-kind. The Go interrupts the sequence.
From the rules at Bicycle:

The player who called Go leads for the next series of plays, with the count starting at zero. The lead may not be combined with any cards previously played to form a scoring combination; the Go has interrupted the sequence.


In Gin-Rummy, what are the chances to start with a Gin?

1 in ~118,000, according to 2+2 forum post.  Using a brute force, that checked for Gin each of the 15.8B hands.
1 in ~117,000, according to the book How to Win at Gin Rummy: Playing for Fun and Profit which state that there are 136,694 Gin hands out of 15,820,024,220 hands.  See page 65:


Does Cabal Paladin's ability trigger when playing an artifact land?

No, it doesn't trigger. Lands are played but not 'cast'. There is a ruling below the card in Gatherer which explicitly states so:

  Lands are never cast, so abilities that trigger “whenever you cast a historic spell” won’t trigger if you play a legendary land. They also won’t trigger if a card on the battlefield transforms into a legendary land, as the Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan double-faced cards do.


What are the rules of 10x10 Draughts? How many pieces are on each side?

Each player starts with 20 pieces.

From Wikipedia:

  The gameboard comprises 10×10 squares in alternating dark and light colours, of which only the 50 dark squares are used. Each player has 20 pieces, light for one player and dark for the other, at opposite sides of the board.

You use the first 4 rows (with 5 squares per row being used).


Changing decks in test of leadership in Arena?

I figured out the problem.  I'd taken my crap deck, and modified it significantly.  And put in a legendary creature that was not part of Strixhaven.  Because of this, the UI didn't allow me to modify my deck.  After I removed the legendary creature, the deck appeared in the UI again.


'creature' is not only a permanent type, but also a card type. Rule 702.16a states:

  702.16a Protection is a static ability, written “Protection from [quality].”
  ...
  If the quality is a card type, subtype, or supertype, the ability applies to sources that are permanents with that card type, subtype, or supertype and to any sources not on the battlefield that are of that card type, subtype, or supertype. This is an exception to rule 109.2.

  109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn’t include the word “card,” “spell,” “source,” or “scheme,” it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

(emphasis mine)

so even though while a graveyarded Carrionette is not a creature by rule 109.2, it's still a card with type 'creature' which is sufficient for the protection ability.


What happens when Progenitor Mimic copies a legendary creature?

If a Progenitor Mimic copies a legendary creature, then each time its triggered ability resolves and you get a token copy of the creature, you have to choose to keep either the token or the Progenitor Mimic copy, and you put the other into your graveyard. This happens as a state-based action, which means that it happens immediately after the ability resolves, before any player gets priority to take any other actions.

This is covered by rule 704.5j in the state-based action section of the comprehensive rulebook:

  If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”


is there card game prototyping platform to track, change, print?

Card Warden for Ipad lets you keep track of many different card types and some metadata you've mentioned, but otherwise, you may be better off just setting up your own database with MySQL.


Responding to planeswalker with doubling season in play

You can activate the ability immediately, before any opponent has a chance to respond, because Doubling Season's ability is not a triggered ability.

Doubling Season's relevant ability says this:

  If an effect would put one or more counters on a permanent you control, it puts twice that many of those counters on that permanent instead.

This is a replacement effect, as indicated by the word "instead". It modifies events as they happen. In this particular situation, it modifies the event of the Planeswalker entering the battlefield by making it enter with twice as many loyalty counters as usual. The rest works the same as always: it enters the battlefield and then you have priority first, with nothing on the stack, so you can immediately activate one of it's abilities.


Can regeneration save my creatures from Turn // Burn?

Yes, you can activate an activated ability as often as you can pay its activation cost.

But you don't need to. The ability will still resolve even if the creature no longer has the ability when it resolves.

For example, say the creature in question is a Dutiful Thrull.

Your opponent casts Shock targeting your Dutiful Thrull.
In response, you activate its ability.
In response, he casts Turn.
Turn resolves: The Dutiful Thrull is now a 0/1 red Weird with no abilities.
Dutiful Thrull's ability resolves: A regeneration shield is placed on Dutiful Thrull.
Shock resolves: It deals two damage to the 0/1 Dutiful Thrull.
SBAs are performed: The creature would be destroyed, but the regen shield kicks in. Dutiful Thrull is tapped, removed from combat and all marked damage is removed.

You could activate Dutiful Thrull's ability a second time between steps 3 and 4, which will give it a second shield for later on in the turn.

  112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability. [...]


Can Runed Halo be used against the zombie tokens created by Field of the Dead?

No, you cannot do that, sorry.
Runed Halo requires you choose a card name. This means your choice is limited to names that exist on actual cards printed for the game.(1) You cannot make an arbitrary choice: for example “Lightning Bolt” is a valid choice, but “Arnold Schwarzenegger” is not because no such card exists (alas).
Field of the Dead creates Zombie tokens, which are simply called “Zombie”.(2) There is no card by that name, so you cannot choose the name “Zombie” for Runed Halo. (Tokens aren't cards, so they don't count towards the pool of card names.)
Choosing the name “Field of the Dead” won't grant you protection from the Zombies it creates. It'll mean you can't be targeted or damaged by Field of the Dead, but it wasn't going to do that anyway.
There is a loophole for tokens that share a name with a card. For example, Goblin Wizardry creates tokens that will be named “Goblin Wizard”. There is also a card by that name: Goblin Wizard. This means it's a name you can choose for Runed Halo, which will then also grant you protection from those tokens because they have that name. You cannot however use this loophole for “Zombie”.

Citation 1:

201.3. If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name, the player must choose the name of a card in the Oracle card reference. (See rule 108.1.) A player may not choose the name of a token unless it’s also the name of a card.

Citation 2:

111.4 A spell or ability that creates a token sets both its name and its subtype(s). If the spell or ability doesn’t specify the name of the token, its name is the same as its subtype(s). A “Goblin Scout creature token,” for example, is named “Goblin Scout” and has the creature subtypes Goblin and Scout. [...]


Can I use the effects of Kaiju cards my opponent gave to me?

You sure can! If you control a game object, be it a monster, spell or trap, then you can do with it everything you can do with a monster you summoned yourself.

Note that this includes paying any costs that an effect requires - in your particular case, you'll need to remove kaiju counters from the field to activate Gameciel's effect. Note also that even though you're the controller of Gameciel, your opponent is still the owner, meaning that when it gets destroyed or otherwise sent to the graveyard, it'll go to their graveyard, not yours, or if an effect tells you to return Gameciel to the hand, it'll go to their hand as well.


My games club plays furballs. Each player gets 1 ship to a maximum point limit agreed beforehand (we usually pick 30 points).

Each player has a spawn point. Every time a player is destroyed, they respawn. The player who destroyed that ship gains a point. The player who was destroyed loses a point. Play continues until a player reaches a score limit (we usually play to +5) or a time limit is reached (we usually play for an hour for 6 players, adding 10 minutes for each extra player).

Variation on furballs: bounty hunting. Randomly allocate each player a bounty player. Keep this knowledge secret. If you destroy your bounty, gain +2 to your score, instead of the usual +1


Brand new Pokemon Cards bent in packaging!

According to the Pokemon.com FAQ

My cards were ruined, can you replace them?
Company policy dictates that we only replace products damaged through manufacturer error. In addition, we do not keep inventory of individual cards here, and are unable to offer 'card for card' replacements. We recommend that you try to return your purchase to the retailer if your cards are damaged for any reason other than manufacturing error.
If you feel your cards were damaged or altered due to a manufacturing error please scan each card in question front and back and send in a ticket to prodhelp@pokemon.com with your first and last name, your proof of purchase, your date of birth, and address.


In Catan, can you continue a "circular" road?

Yes.

Say you start with the following:

           _
     _ _ /   \
           _ /

We all agree that's 7 segments long. It makes no sense that adding a segment would make it shorter, so the following can't possibly be 6 segments long:

           _
     _ _ /   \
         \ _ /

Therefore, it must be 8, and your example must be 7.

The rules indicate that you count the number of roads in the longest branch. In your example, there are six on both the right and left branch, for a total length of seven.


If my opponent tries to resolve a triggered ability out of order, did they miss their opportunity to do so?

Before examining the merits, let's keep in mind that it's a very natural out of order sequencing since he could end up doing draw-untap-draw otherwise.

The limit on out of order sequencing is:

  An out-of-order sequence must not result in a player prematurely gaining information which could reasonably affect decisions made later in that sequence.

If he hesitates after drawing but before untapping, he's clearly in error. Out-of-order sequencing is not an excuse for doing something you forgot to do earlier.

On the other end of the spectrum, if he says "I draw two and untap" and proceeds to do so, it's clearly ooos and not a problem.

So what if he silently proceeds to draw two and untap? It's undeniable that information is gained, but that's not sufficient to prevent ooos. It comes down to whether the draw reasonably affects whether Nettle Sentinel the player untaps the Sentinel or not, and there's no guidelines for determining this.

Drawing probably doesn't affect his choice — it's hard to imagine that he'd decide whether he'd untap or not based on what he drew — so it's probably ok.


In Bridge, How do I Differentiate Between My Partner's Signals on Defense?

It's a good question - in Bridge we spend a lot of time memorising the precise significance of all sorts of bids and responses in our chosen systems, and then when it comes to the much more uncharted world of defence, we feel lost without strongly prescribed, objective meanings for the plays we make and the responses we receive!

I don't have a perfect, systemic answer, but what I would say is: think about what information you NEED from your partner, and then about the ways he may have at his disposal to communicate that information.  After the dummy is laid down, you and your partner will probably have some idea what course the game is likely to take thereafter.  If this suit is a non-starter, then watch partner for an indication of which suit he'd like you to switch to.  If you're winning the first trick and hope to carry on leading it, watch partner for negative or count signals so you don't get trumped when it's most inconvenient.

Long story short: it is context-dependent.  So don't agonise about what a single played card means in isolation (that way madness lies - it could just be a singleton after all!)  Instead ponder what information would be useful to you to help you defeat the contract, and watch partner like a hawk for any unusual plays that may be trying to give you that information.  As time goes by your partnership will hopefully develop a rapport that will enable you to communicate effectively in various situations - and that's the route to playing great Bridge!


Would it matter if I mark a Star Realms deck on the front?

No relevant information is conveyed by marking the front of a card. All cards with the same name are totally interchangeable, regardless of whether they are marked.

Logical example

You have two Vipers in your deck. One is marked, and one is not. There are four possible situations.

You draw both Vipers.

You know that both Vipers are in your hand.

You draw the marked Viper.

You know that one Viper is in your hand and one is in your deck.
You know that the Viper in your hand is marked. This provides no benefit to you.
You know that the Viper in your deck is unmarked. This provides no benefit to you.

You draw the unmarked Viper.

You know that one Viper is in your hand and one is in your deck.
You know that the Viper in your hand is unmarked. This provides no benefit to you.
You know that the Viper in your deck is marked. This provides no benefit to you.

You draw no Viper.

You know that both Vipers are in your deck.

Notice that the relevant information available to you is identical in situations 2 and 3. Only the irrelevant information is different.

Less logical example

Consider Magic: the Gathering along with every other card game that has foil, promo, alternate art, artistically modified (with restrictions), or otherwise "premium" cards. These are all tournament legal. If premium cards compromised the integrity of the game, I think someone would have spoken up by now.


The Breakthrough Gun rules are not covered in the Flames of War 2nd Editon or earlier rule books. This is supported by the comments in the FoW 3rd Edition Q&A:

When will you be updating Arsenals to reflect the new rules like Breakthrough Gun and mortars being able to shoot as well as bombard?
A new publication, Know Your Enemy, will be released soon. It includes a complete Late-war arsenal to update all Late-war books. We will be updating Mid-war and Early-war books to match over time. Meanwhile, you can use the Late-war updates to guide you on which weapons are rated as Breakthrough guns and the direct-fire capabilities of mortars.

There is a small blurb on the Battlefront Minature's Flames of War website.

Breakthrough Gun
Some weapons are just so powerful that there is no chance of surviving a hit from them. These heavy guns are often mounted in tanks and self-propelled guns designed to break through enemy defensive lines.
Infantry teams, Gun teams, and Unarmoured vehicles automatically fail their Saves when hit by a Breakthrough Gun or a Bunker Buster. This does not apply to Artillery Bombardments.

An example of a unit with the ability is listed just above this on the same page:

The 12.8cm K81 Gun in Flames Of War

    Weapon              Mobility Range     ROF Anti-tank Firepower Notes
    12.8cm K81 gun      Immobile 48"/120cm   1        17        2+ Breakthrough gun.
    Firing bombardments          104"/260cm  -         4        3+

The Hammer and Sickle supplement also mentions the Breakthrough Gun rule. It also fails to mention any additional information about the rule, which leads me to believe that there isn't much more to the rule (although it isn't definitive proof without access to a 3rd Edition rule book, or the Know Your Enemy publication.

The Heavy Breakthrough Gun rule also returns and applies to the IS-2 and ISU-122. Infantry, Gun tams and Unarmoured vehicles are vulnerable to these massive rounds and automatically fail their save if hit by one.


Can colorless mana be generated from things that say "Add one mana of any color to your mana pool"?

No, it cannot.

  105.4. If a player is asked to choose a color, he or she must choose one of the five colors. "Multicolored" is not a color. Neither is "colorless."


Can Russia make a truce with Japan (without USA/UK knowing)?

It looks as if your friend has read too much history and not enough of the rulebook.  Russia did have such a truce with the Japanese (actually, there was no declaration of war until Germany had been beaten), and I'm sure Stalin would have loved it if the US and Japan had pounded each other into shreds while the Red Army was busy.  But Stalin, whatever else he may have been, was a good game player: the troops he transferred from Siberia to Moscow kept him in the game that turn, and allowed him to win on one front while keeping the other at status quo till the last turn, when he made a dash for the Far Eastern victory points.

Getting back to the question: of course secret inter-player agreements are 'allowed', if only because there's no way of stopping them.  But they only work if both players believe it is in their interest to keep to the agreement.  In A&A, it's a zero-sum problem; this Russian strategy benefits either the Axis or the Allies, and all the information to work it out is available to everybody. In your game it was a very bad plan; but in Stalin's game it worked like a charm.

A friend of mine summed up a similar situation as "Everybody's happy? Then somebody's miscalculated."


What do minor improvements and occupations add?

At first, the additional complexity definitely feels like a downside. But once you play enough, the decisions present in the family version become much more intuitive and faster. At that point, the additional complexity becomes a good thing: deciding which minor improvements and occupations to use (and when) becomes a big, interesting decision. And it's not just wasted time making decisions; using them well has a large effect on your score. In fact, they can be much more meaningful than the worker placement decisions you might agonize over in the base game.

So in addition to making the game more interesting to play, they'll also make it a more interesting competition. Once everyone's pretty good at the family game, you'll start to lose control of your destiny: everyone will be able to pick their actions and plan fairly well, so it'll get harder to win by virtue of good strategy. But throw the minor improvements and occupations, and suddenly there's again a lot of room for good (or bad) strategic decisions.

On top of that, they also add a lot of variety and replayability. Since you don't see the same set of cards every game, you're forced to adapt your strategy to suit the cards you have, giving you different decisions to make each game, not just more decisions.

So in a way, the things you dislike about them now are some of the good things that they add to the game: they add additional decisions, making for a deeper game. Right now that's a bit overwhelming, and you're not able to take full advantage of it, but if you play enough it'll become a positive, defining part of the game.


What factors should I consider when choosing card sleeves?

The most important aspect of sleeves is of course size. If the sleeves are to small then obviously your cards won't fit. But the sleeves being to big can also have a number of negative consequences:

sleeves can get in the way during suffling
harder to nicely stack the cards

Probably most common are the sizes for the dimensions used in trading card games but there's also an increasing selection for board and cardgames.

Next on the list is thickness and rigidity. While thinner sleeves tend to be cheaper too they will also be a bit harder to shuffle and offer somewhat less protection. If you play on clean tables that's not an issue but rougher surfaces (i.e. outdoor) can wear through the thin sleeves faster.

Finally there are many designs to choose from - especially among the more common sizes used for ccg's. Anything from a clear plastic on both sides, over single colored backs to elaborate patters and themes can be found. Sleeves with simple opaque backs are favored in tournaments because they make it harder to mark cards.

As a small addition I'd like to point out that shuffling with sleeved cards can be very different from what you are used to. Stripping can be difficult because some sleeves tend to cling to each other. Standard riffle shuffle is also harder because the sleeves do not grant the same fine control over the cards. Probably the easiest way to shuffle is by separating the deck in two stacks and pushing the corner of one stack into the side of the other. If the sleeves are sufficiently rigid it will be very easy to slide them together producing the equivalent of an almost perfect riffle shuffle.


Which program to chose when designing my own cards?

EDIT (April 2017): I released the SVG-based software described in my original answer below for playing card design as a desktop application.  You can learn more here:

http://cardcreatr.shane.guru

Original Answer: I use custom SVG when designing playing cards.  Inkscape uses SVG as its backend format.  Coming from a web development background, I found SVG to be easier to learn than something like LaTeX.  (It's just XML.)

I have a single external CSS file and a Ruby script using the "builder" library to construct the SVGs from a database.  If you don't want to use a script to generate your SVGs, it is also possible to pass parameters to your SVG.

The most difficult aspect of SVG I have found is its compatibility with other formats.  The only SVG rendering enging I've found to do a reliably good job is Apache Batik.  You can use Batik to convert your SVGs to PDF, which of course is a widely accepted format.  "Squiggle" is an SVG viewer that runs on top of Batik so that you don't need to render your SVGs every time you make a change.