Does Father Joseph take a wound if Strength of Spirit fails?

Father Joseph takes the wound first, and then rolls to try and cancel the Zombie card.

From the FAQ, here:

  Q11: How does Father Joseph’s Strength of Spirit ability work?

  A11: Strength of Spirit may be used at any time to attempt to Cancel a
  Zombie Card being played or that ‘Remains in Play’. Father Joseph
  first takes a wound and then rolls to cancel the Zombie Card on the
  roll of 3+. He may use this ability even if doing so will take his
  last wound, killing him (you are still allowed to roll to see if the
  card is cancelled). He may also use this ability multiple times to try
  and cancel the same card (assuming he failed the first time by rolling
  a 1 or 2). He may even use this ability during a Fight. This is
  especially useful if he is about to lose a Fight and take his last
  wound. He may instead, voluntarily take his last wound to try and
  cancel an existing Zombie Card (sort of a ‘with his last breath’
  notion).


How does this interaction between Black Sun's Zenith and Geralf's Messenger resolve?

In this particular instance, the Messenger comes back.

For the general reasoning, take a look at this answer: "Why doesn't Undying trigger if a creature with +1/+1 counters dies from -1/-1 counters?"

The important thing in this specific scenario is that the game checks state-based actions in multiple "waves":

  704.3. ... If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that
  are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the
  check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been
  performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are
  waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority.

What happens when you BSZ for 3 with a Diregraf Captain and a 5/4 Geralf's Messenger in play?

When BSZ resolves, you put three -1/-1 counters on both creatures. Then, after it has resolved, you check state-based actions:

Diregraf Captain is at -1/-1, so it would die. Geralf's Messenger is at 2/1 (3/2, +1/+1 from its +1/+1 counter, -3/-3 from the -1/-1 counters, +1/+1 from Diregraf Captain), so it stays on the battlefield.
Simultaneously, +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters cancel, leaving the Geralf's Messenger with zero +1/+1 counters and two -1/-1 counters.

So, now you put Diregraf Captain in the graveyard. Then, before anyone gets priority or any triggers are checked (e.g. Blood Artist's), check SBAs again:

Now Geralf's Messenger is a 1/0 (3/2, -2/-2 from counters), so it dies.

When the Messenger dies, its unambiguously last state on the battlefield was having no +1/+1 counters. So, its undying ability triggers. You'll check SBAs again to make sure there are no new ones, then put the trigger on the stack, and then the active players gets priority  (with the undying ability still on the stack).


In Backgammon, why is the match length almost always odd? And why are 9-point matches twelve times less popular than 7-point matches?

Largely it's by convention, but the historic cause is the way optimal doubling cube strategy varies with the match length. In the most easy case, in a 2-point match it can barely be wrong to double as soon as you are ahead, and far too easy to leave doubling too late - which means the match becomes a single game the vast majority of the time. In which case you might as well play a 1-pointer. The other small even match lengths suffer similar oddities, but less pronounced as the length increases. Odd match lengths tend to have more "normal" doubling strategy in the early stages.

On at least one server I play on, 2-pointers are frowned on because they are perceived as a way of playing a 1-pointer for double the ratings value...


Bang! Is a Bang needed to shoot back with Backfire?

From the wiki page for bang

  BackFire – Counts as Missed!. Any player who targeted you with Bang! is now a target of Bang!.

The card says it correctly that the payer who shot you is the target of a bang. If you needed to play a bang also for it to work that would be listed on the card as well.


Stateful equipment use for Red Sign of Shudde M'ell in Arkham Horror

My understanding is that the term bonus in:

  A spell or weapon that gives you a bonus...

is that it refers to any advantages that you may have using the specific card.

Also taken in mind that this card has a hand on it, then it is sure for me that whenever you stop casting it by releasing your hand, then its effect is being cancelled.

I hope my thoughts make sense :)


The key term here is involve. To resolve a faceoff or problem, characters must first be involved in it. An exausted card cannot be involved in a faceoff or problem (except if it is Stubborn) and this applies to resources too. A resource played on a exausted character will not take effect in the faceoff/problem if the character cannot be involved in the faceoff. Only the involved cards contribute to the resolution of a faceoff.


When I buy expansions, should I take out duplicate bases?

Each expansion contains functionally unique bases, which makes sense, as every expansion adds a number of new factions, each of which have their designated bases.

Some expansions may also contain reprints of existing bases - in case of Awesome Level 9000, as mentioned on the back of the package (see the image below), there are reprints of the original bases included - likely as replacements of the original cards due to design changes, not to double the chances of those bases appearing in games.

Some ways I could see you otherwise obtaining exact duplicates of original bases is if you bought the same expansion more than once, got a mispackaged edition of the game, bought it used and unordered by the previous owner, or something along those lines.


Dominion: what happens when I play Throne Room on a Feast since Feast gets trashed when played?

Gain two cards.

From the rules, pg5

  If you use Throne Room on Feast, you will
  gain two cards, even though you can only trash Feast once.
  Gaining the card isn't contingent on trashing Feast; they're just
  two things that the card tries to make you do.

As @MagRoader pointed out, the general rule is on page 6.

  The player may still play an Action card even if he is not able to do everything the Action card tells him to do; but the player must do as much as he can.

Therefore the gaining of a card is not dependent on the trashing of the Feast (obviously you can't trash one card twice).


How do fish and road building cards apply to bridges?

http://www.catan.com/service/combinations/fishermen-catan-rivers-catan says "If you pay 6 fish, you can build a bridge".

Meanwhile, the rules for the Rivers of Catan scenario specifically state that you cannot use the "Road Building" development card to build a bridge, and that would seem to extend to any combination of expansions/scenarios that replaces the normal development cards (including the Traders & Barbarians scenario, or the Cities & Knights progress cards).


Can I bring Blightsteel Colossus back to my graveyard before it gets shuffled into my library?

No. Brightsteel Colossus does not have any triggered abilities. Those start with "when", "whenever", or "at". Its last ability is a static ability that creates a replacement effect. You can tell because it uses "instead". It changes what it means to discard Brightsteel Colossus. Brightsteel Colossus never enters the graveyard when it is discarded.

112.3c Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[Trigger condition], [effect],” and include (and usually begin with) the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” Whenever the trigger event occurs, the ability is put on the stack the next time a player would receive priority and stays there until it’s countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”
614.1. Some continuous effects are replacement effects. Like prevention effects (see rule 615), replacement effects apply continuously as events happen—they aren’t locked in ahead of time. Such effects watch for a particular event that would happen and completely or partially replace that event with a different event. They act like “shields” around whatever they’re affecting.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead [...]


Can I use Project Atlas just before the Runner accesses cards from HQ?

After reading the FAQ (here), specifically the section on the timing of a run, I believe I can now answer my own question. The relevant steps read:

  4 The Runner APPROACHES the attacked server.

    4.1 [Paid abilities]

    4.2 The Runner decides whether to continue the run.
        ...Either the Runner JACKS OUT: [end the run unsuccessfully]
        ...Or the Runner continues the run: go to 4.3.

    4.3 [Paid abilities and non-ice can be rezzed]

    4.4 The run is considered to be successful. (‘When successful’ conditionals meet their trigger conditions)

    4.5 Access cards, then [end the run].

Based on these clarifications, you may use the ability before or after the Runner decides if they'd like to access.


Can you re-use millitary power to conquer two worlds on the same turn (with Improved Logistics)

Yes
You military in race for the galaxy is never spent.  Not even in the two moments between playing two worlds with Improved Logistics.
Even when using Space Mercenaries and paying cards to increase your military, the new military score will apply to both worlds played, and does not need to be divided

The only exception to this is the Imperium Supply Convoy card in the Alien Artifacts expansion, which explicitly calls out that the second world it can occur is with excess military only.


In bridge,should a responder devalue her hand if short in opener's suit?

"Bidding your suit" typically means 4 or 5 card length.  Because of that, I would expect the bidding to go more like this:
Partner sitting there with one card in that suit would then respond with their suit (4C in this case), which denies support for your spades and shows that clubs is their best suit.  The new suit bid is forcing, so it's now back to you to decide what to do.  Partner doesn't have your spades, but you can rebid them since you've got 6 of 'em.  If you really want to you can make a NT bid, since partner should have your one weak suit covered.  Whatever you reply with, partner has a chance to correct if they're significantly over the 9+ they've promised.  With the length you've got, a spade rebid is valid and 4S should be a solid contract.  After that you each have to decide if you're going to go to Blackwood and look for the slam possibility.
Sure there's interest in slam, but there's no 8-card fit.  And the bidding should show that.  Someone has to make the call as to whether or not to go there, and at what point the bidding stops.  That's whoever makes the Blackwood bid.  With an even split, you get it.  Without, you don't.  As long as the player making that bid understands the risk involved and wants to go for it, it's all good.
If both of you understood the danger you were getting into and the possibility of a bad split ruining it all, then I can't say you've got any problems in the bidding.  If on the other hand someone thought the slam was solid, then I'd say that your bidding needs to be a bit more descriptive.

In specific though, YES, there are two specific situations where shortness doesn't give ANY points:
1) In the trump suit
2) In a NT contract

And that's one of the more reliable rules in bridge.  8 )


Who gets the points when calling Muggins in a three-player Cribbage game?

Whomever calls it scores it. The rules at American Cribbage Congress do not address muggins outside of 2 player, but the wording requires that it be called before pegging it. Since, in 3 player, there is a dealer, a pone, and another pone, it's simplest to let whomever caught it score it.

Further, in 30 years of playing cribbage, in both 3 and 4 hand, whomever catches it claims the points. This is incentive to pay attention to opponent play and score calls.


When do routed units capture a castle/stronghold

Yes, even routed units immediately control the areas they occupy.

According to the FFG rule book,

  Controlling Areas - A House is said to control a land area when it has at least one Footman, Knight, or Siege Engine in the area, or has previously established control in that area by placing a Power token there (see below).


Items in your hand are safe from game effects unless explicitly targeted by the card description. I can't reach the rules from here, but that's made pretty clear - in the English rules, at least.

So my answer would be: Lose all items currently in your character's possession, whether equipped or merely carried.

Only items should be lost in this case - the character's class and race should be safe from the insurance industry.


After the combat phase, can hexes be claimed even if the ships weren't involved in combat?

You interpreted the rules correctly. The rules state:

  if your Ship is in a hex without an Influence Disc after the Combat
  Phase, you may place a disc there.

Which does not require that you actually participate in combat, just that you have a ship in a hex without any influence disks. So you are allowed to claim an influence disk free hex by ending your turn with a ship in that hex.

This forum post at Board Game Geek discusses the same question.


When does Urbanization occur in Age of Steam

You place the new city as your first action during your Build Track phase.

On page 2 of the rules

  Urbanization action:

  Implemented during the Build Track phase.  This action allows this player to place one of the New City tiles on a Town before they build their track.

This is from the Warfrog edition (2002).  It seems the rules haven't changed much at all despite the plethora of editions.


Can I create my own version of Monopoly and distribute it ?

You would likely be more concerned with copyright law rather than patent law in this case, especially given that as you have noticed, the patents have expired.

There is something of a precedent for what you want to do. In 1975, Ralph Anspach made a game called Anti-Monopoly (which, by the way, is a pretty interesting game - we owned it, and at the time, as a kid, I had no idea how significant this was). After a little less than ten years of litigation, Anspach won the right to continue publishing his game. However, Parker Brothers ended up with the trademark, licensing it to Anspach, whose game is still in print.

You will probably need to be aware of how copyright law works where you live and where you plan to distribute the game. (If you're thinking about online distribution, then that may mean laws where your customers live, not just where you live or where the servers are.) If you are planning on making money from this, you should consult with a lawyer to ensure that what you're doing is consistent with applicable laws; advice you get on this site is no substitute for professional advice.


Possession and Masquerade - are these too powerful in 2 player games?

Possession and Masquerade are just known to be wacky when used together.  That's just what happens when you have 100+ cards at this point.  Donald X. Vaccarino said "Possession is a case where Masquerade ends up being a weird exception", but it's basically not worth special rules or changing the card for this one interaction.

keithjgrant is also right that if Possession is out, you'd better not buy Masquerade. :)


How does Perplexing Chimera work with Strionic Resonator?

According to the rulings on the gatherer page you linked for Strionic Resonator,

  The source of the copy is the same as the source of the original ability.

This means that you will have two triggered abilities on the stack, each of which has the effect

  you may exchange control of Perplexing Chimera and that spell. If you do, you may choose new targets for the spell.

This means that, up to twice, you can exchange control of the Shock on the stack and your Perplexing Chimera, and you can choose new targets for the Shock each time. If you do it both times, then you will retain control of your Perplexing Chimera and you will have chosen the target for Shock, though your opponent will still control it.

For reference, the Comprehensive Rules section about copying objects specifically says in rule 706.10b

  A copy of an ability has the same source as the original ability. If the ability refers to its source by name, the copy refers to that same object and not to any other object with the same name. The copy is considered to be the same ability by effects that count how many times that ability has resolved during the turn.


The use of "up to" means that the discount is optional.  You can chose to have Flash's ability use a generic mana cost reduction of 0, 1, or 2.

Rules justification

The phrase "up to" is consistently used in Magic to mean you get to chose a number between 0 and the full value.  You can choose to have Abandon Reason target 0, 1, or 2 creatures.

See the ruling on Training Grounds (which has a similar cost reduction) for one defense of this:

  You may choose not to apply Training Ground’s cost reduction effect. You may also choose to apply only part of it (causing an activated ability of a creature you control to cost just {1} less to activate).

As further defense, the use of "up to" is not necessary to support cards that have less than 2 generic mana in their cost.  Magic in general does not need specific wording to prevent numbers from going negative (see 107.1b Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero.).  For example, Arcane Melee and Power Artifact do not include the phrase "up to", and yet each reduces costs just fine.

Where this matters

Where the optionality of cost reduction usually matters is with cards like Prossh, Skyraider of Kher or Jeleva, Nephalia's Scourge.  However, this isn't relevant here because Flash is not casting the creatures, and therefore not reducing the mana spent to casting them.  Mana burn was one of the main reasons this would matter; good thing Wizards got rid of that rule :)  For examples of when this would matter, see here: When would it be advantageous not apply Training Ground's cost reduction?


What happens when playing a single Treasure Map?

No,

The single Treasure map will get trashed first before you can Scheme it.  From the Seaside rules:

  Treasure Map - You can play this without another Treasure Map
  in your hand; if you do, you trash this and gain nothing.

Scheme reads:

  At the start of Clean-up this turn, you may choose an Action card you have in play. If you discard it from play this turn, put it on your deck.

If the Treasure Map stays in your hand, it is not a valid target for Scheme.  If you play the single Treasure Map, it will trash itself before Scheme triggers at the start of Clean-up.


Has anyone heard of a rule called "19 back" for 0 point hands?

19-back is a not uncommon cribbage variant, but is often unpopular. I've seen it in some editions of Hoyle's Card Games; I've had 3 editions, read a fourth, and 2 of them had it. Unfortunately, my copies are not available to check exact wordings at the moment.

Typically:
If your hand scores no points in count phase, you lose 19 points. Note that this doesn't apply to the crib, only the hand, and only applies if you get to count.

Some people understand it to be:
If, during your turn, you score no points in play nor from hand during count, you lose 19 points. This applies at point of pegging the hand, before going to the crib. Again, if you don't get to count, it doesn't apply. Note that this means the dealer can't 19-back, as a dealer ALWAYS gets at least 1 point in play (either a 31, go, or last), and why this is not the usual version of 19-back.

discussion:

The naming is in part because 19 is impossible to achieve in the scoring phase. It is not uncommon for a 0-point hand to be called a "19"... since experienced cribbage players know that 19 is impossible.

Having played it, it reduces risk taking in card selection, due to the need to ensure points in scoring. Note that it also tends to reduce crib scores a bit as well, as the dealer has to make suboptimal decisions in order to keep points in hand. Also, it penalizes (pretty heavily) a "playing only hand" that fails to take one to 121+.

A playing hand being a low-point hand with strong potential to get points from by-mees or expected runs and doubles, such as AA22 (goes for the Go points) or 55AA (for getting 15's) or AAAF (F=any face; goes for the goes and pairs at high count). A Playing Only hand has no points itself, but expects to get them in play, such as A2TK or A389.


Does Jourdonnais's ability negate all or half of Slab the Killer's attack on a successful draw?

Jourdonnais' ability is essentially a built in barrel.
Another Missed! card is needed in addition to drawing the Heart to avoid Slab the Killer's BANG!
This was answered by the designer, Emiliano Sciarra on Boardgamegeek:

Yes. Even if the effect of the Barrel triggers by drawing a Heart card from the deck, you will need another Missed! card from the hand to avoid the hit from Slab.
Since Jourdonnais has a Barrel built in, he may "draw!" once to see if he plays an automatic Missed!. After that, if he drew a Heart he will need a real Missed! from his hand to dodge Slab's shot. Otherwise, he will need two Missed! cards, as anyone else.


When should I buy a Possession in Dominion?

Personally, I rarely design my deck to specifically target Possession, because:

6 coins plus a potion is difficult to get
I don't know what my neighbor will have

However, if I do have potions in my deck, and I happen to run across 6 coins and a potion during the game, I'll evaluate at that point.  Usually if the person to your left has any kind of reasonable deck (they're buying Golds and such) it will be worth it to get Possession.  Sometimes their deck is complete garbage and it's not worthwhile because possessing them will just clutter your deck with more Silver or other low-cost cards.

Remember, by buying Possession you're essentially sacrificing at least one Gold you could have had, so the hands you're possessing need to be of some minimum level of quality to make that tradeoff worthwhile.

Ultimately, I only get Possession in games where the other potion-costing cards make buying a potion worthwhile, and where if I don't happen to put together 6 coins plus a potion in a single hand, there's still a viable strategy.


Why wasn't Lava Golem allowed to attack on my turn?

It's been a while since I played Yu-Gi-Oh, and I haven't played with this card, but if you read it, it says it summons it to your opponent's side of the battlefield. Since your opponent is the one who summoned it, it goes to your side of the battlefield. Since your opponent graciously decided to give you this monster, you should be able to legally attack with it.

Of course, it does 1,000 damage to you every turn, so... hopefully you kill him fast. When it says "you take 1,000" damage, that's not "you the person who summoned him" it's "you the person who controls him", which right now is you.

Since this is an online rendering of the game, one can only assume that either 1) we have both misinterpreted the rules or 2) there is a flaw in their game logic that needs to be reported.


Yes, you can.  The card you get from Mine is definitely gained, therefore you can react to it with Watchtower and put it on your deck (or trash it!) if you like.

There's not usually much reason to do so, but the cards don't actually conflict - you can use them both in this manner if you really want to.


Theft: Does a Returning Creature Keep Equipment?

Your instinct is correct, there is no difference between changing control due to stealing a creature with something like Wrangle, and changing control due to something like Wrangle's effect ending. The answer provided by the linked question remains exactly the same. In both cases, control of the creature is changing from one player to another; while control of the equipment stays with the player who originally cast and controlled the equipment.

The equipment will stay attached until something changes that. As the controller of the equipment, you could use the Equip ability to attach it to a different creature.


Do progress tokens carry forward in the Lord of the Rings LCG?

No, you place all progress tokens at once, so you can't get progress on the next stage of the quest by overcompleting the first one.


In the game betrayal at house on the hill. What are all the ways to stun the zombie lord?

I assume you're talking about Haunt 21, House of the Living Dead.
Rather than parse if "can be harmed only by" means the Zombie Lord can or can't be stunned, just look at the Survivor's Guide:

The attacks of heroes who are not carrying the Medallion have no effect on the Zombie Lord (they do not even stun it).

The base rules also say

Even if a haunt says to do something other than stun monsters when they take damage, they can still be stunned by effects that specifically stun monsters.

So, if there was an item that has the specific effect of stunning monsters that could stun the Zombie Lord if you attacked it without the Medallion. I haven't looked through all the items to find which, if any, that might be but I presume there are some since they included that clarification.
So if the hero posesses:

No special items - attacks have no effect on the Zombie Lord
Medallion - damage/kill the Zombie Lord
Items that specifically stuns monsters & is not the Medallion - Zombie Lord is stunned.


What are some house rules to improve Pokémon Master Trainer?

In my circle we have played that game numerous times.

Some things that worked for us to adjust the 'strategy' of the game are:

EXP and LVL: if you have a lot of D6 lying around ( I buy them 18 at a time from our local dollar store) you can use them to track level on your pokemon. Then each time a pokemon wins more battles than they currently are in level you can roll the die up. Each level adds 1 to their power. We did this to try and balance the fact that it was fairly impossible to beat an elite four battle without having two +5 item cards.
Allow random battles: Instead of capturing being the only option when you land, allow the pokemon to fight. You roll two dice for the 'wild' pokemon and you can fight as usual. If the pokemon is 'defeated' you can place a marker on it. This marker acts as a permanent + or - 1 to catch. This adds a level of strategy because it may make more sense in the red area to try and defeat rather than catch first, however you better be sure you can get back to that square before someone comes in and snatches it up.
Allow rolls to 'ace': If a D6 is rolled in battle and rolls a six it can be rolled again. This helped again get around the fact that you needed +5 items to beat the final battle.

Now these things don't necessarily affect the strategy of the game, but it does lead to a more entertaining game and it does give incentives to use more than one pokemon. We found ourselves using the mystery dungeon or 'evolved combo' pokemon only and that was not fun. The level up system lets you use pokemon that are weak through to the end of the game.

The trade cards though 'horrible and mean' serve a very important purpose. They keep one person with a set of beastly pokemon from ruling the game. Without it you can easily get one person with three of the four mystery dungeon pokemon and that is more unfair than having one snatched from you.


If the only attacker is removed from combat, is a creature still counted as having attacked this turn?

Declaring a creature as an attacker is a singular event that is not undone by later removing that creature from combat. For example, you will get the benefits of Raid and you will not have to sacrifice Curious Obsession in a turn during which all of your at least 1 attackers have been removed from combat.

Note that effects like that of Spires of Orazca are not the only ways to remove a creature from combat. Simply destroying or exiling a creature also remove it from combat.

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

Effects like Raid or the 2nd ability of Curious Obsession do not care whether or not the attacking creature(s) were in combat the whole time, or that they dealt combat damage, or anything else. All that matters is that you have successfully declared at least one creature as an attacker this turn.

  Declare Attackers Step

[..]

  508.1m Any abilities that trigger on attackers being declared trigger.

Note that there are effects that put a creature onto the battlefield "tapped and attacking". Creatures that have been put onto the battlefield this way do count as attacking creatures, but do not count as having been declared as attackers. In practice this doesn't matter for Raid or Curious Obsession because all those effects have a prerequisite of an already attacking creature, which would already satisfy Raid and CO. But it would matter for abilities that require a certain number of creatures to have been declared as attackers, such as Windbrisk Heights


Is there fan-made version of gbc-version exclusive pokemon cards?

The 3 legendary birds have been made by ILKCMP :

http://ilkcmp.deviantart.com/art/GB-Promo-3-Articuno-285045912

http://ilkcmp.deviantart.com/art/GB-Promo-10-Zapdos-280707984

http://ilkcmp.deviantart.com/art/GB-Promo-2-Moltres-285045429


Can I play Gonti, Lord of Luxury's exiled card after he leaves the battlefield?

As said on Gonti, Lord of Luxury 's gatherer page :

  You may look at and cast that card (and spend mana as though it were mana of any type to do so) even if Gonti leaves the battlefield. If another player gains control of Gonti, that player can’t look at or cast the card, and you still can.

If it comes back to the battlefield later, it'll be a completely different object, and won't affect the first card exiled, you'll still be able to cast it.


There're a variety of ways. The deck you linked wins with Commence the Endgame. What happens is, when Nexus goes off, it takes all the remaining turns. That means it can do this:

Play Tamiyo, Collector of Tales.
Cast Commence the Endgame.
Tick down Tamiyo to rebuy Commence the Endgame.
Cast Commence the Endgame.
Tick up Tamiyo (you can do this since you have infinite turns)
Repeat steps 3-5 until you have an arbitrarily large attacker.
Attack for however many attack steps it takes to kill the opponent.

If the Nexus deck is in danger of running out of cards in the library, the play pattern above changes. First, maneuver until the only four cards left in the library are Nexus of Fate (easily achieved by drawing every other card and looping Nexus). Only go to step 2 once this is achieved. After that, in step 5, tick up Tamiyo naming a card not in the deck. This reveals all the Nexus, which shuffle back in. The Nexus player still has a library with only four Nexus of Fate, but Tamiyo now has an extra loyalty. He can repeat this until Tamiyo can tick down, etc.

Right now, the other popular win condition is Callous Dismissal, which operates in the same fashion. You cast Callous Dismissal, rebuy it with Tamiyo, and cast it as many times as is necessary to bounce the opponent's entire board before killing them with the army token. Also note that if the Nexus deck has Frilled Mystic, that's also sufficient: it can play Frilled Mystic, cast and recast Blink of an Eye (a Nexus staple) to bounce the opponent's board, and then win with the 3/2.

Much rarer, but still around, is the Bant Nexus deck which wins with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. In this scenario, you:

Play Teferi.
Tick it up until it's got 9 loyalty.
Ultimate.
Keep ticking up until you've exiled all your opponent's permanents.
Then use Teferi's -3 on itself. This ensures you'll never deck out.
Since opponent has no lands, opponent cannot cast spells, and therefore you win eventually by milling.


Although my initial theory didn't hold up, the Crystal track led me to this BGG thread. Afterwards it was elementary.
Mystery is solved: your game most definitely is Istanbul.


You would need the core rule book and codex to start.  Both the Dark Angels and Blood Angels codexes are separate books now.  There are scenario cards and psychic cards for the current edition, but they are optional.  The game currently uses the 3" and 5" templates along with the teardrop flamer.  Those, a measuring device, a scatter die, and copious d6s is all that is required for play outside of minis and terrain.

The special characters available have changed much since 2nd edition.  The big ones like Dante, Mephiston, Ezekiel, and such are still around.  Generally if a character has gone away, there is usually a generic HQ options that you can still use the model for, such as a Blood Angel Sanguinary Priest and in the case of Bethor Dark Angels chapter standard bearer.


What position takes the most moves to solve for the jail puzzle (Klotski)?

As the wikipedia article states, there are many, many names for that puzzle.
 I'm a bit surprised, the Wikipedia article does not mention an exhaustive analysis documented in the book Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays, Vol 2.  The authors state that the longest possible puzzle has the starting position:

1441
2442
2022
1021
5566

and the ending position is the flipped version of that position.  They call it the "Century and a half" puzzle, and state it's the longest sliding block puzzle with those pieces.  They also provide a "map" that shows the entire space of configurations, and how to move between them.


Could I turn Mistform Dreamer into a Shrine?

No. Alas, Shrine isn't a creature type, it's an enchantment type.
Rules reference:

205.3h Enchantments have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called enchantment types. The enchantment types are Aura (see rule 303.4), Curse, and Shrine.
205.3m Creatures and tribals share their lists of subtypes; these subtypes are called creature types. The creature types are Advisor, Ally, Angel, Anteater, Antelope, Ape, Archer, Archon, Artificer, Assassin, Assembly-Worker, Atog, Aurochs, Avatar, Badger, Barbarian, Basilisk, Bat, Bear, Beast, Beeble, Berserker, Bird, Blinkmoth, Boar, Bringer, Brushwagg, Camarid, Camel, Caribou, Carrier, Cat, Centaur, Cephalid, Chimera, Citizen, Cleric, Cockatrice, Construct, Coward, Crab, Crocodile, Cyclops, Dauthi, Demon, Deserter, Devil, Djinn, Dragon, Drake, Dreadnought, Drone, Druid, Dryad, Dwarf, Efreet, Elder, Eldrazi, Elemental, Elephant, Elf, Elk, Eye, Faerie, Ferret, Fish, Flagbearer, Fox, Frog, Fungus, Gargoyle, Germ, Giant, Gnome, Goat, Goblin, Golem, Gorgon, Graveborn, Gremlin, Griffin, Hag, Harpy, Hellion, Hippo, Hippogriff, Homarid, Homunculus, Horror, Horse, Hound, Human, Hydra, Hyena, Illusion, Imp, Incarnation, Insect, Jellyfish, Juggernaut, Kavu, Kirin, Kithkin, Knight, Kobold, Kor, Kraken, Lammasu, Leech, Leviathan, Lhurgoyf, Licid, Lizard, Manticore, Masticore, Mercenary, Merfolk, Metathran, Minion, Minotaur, Monger, Mongoose, Monk, Moonfolk, Mutant, Myr, Mystic, Nautilus, Nephilim, Nightmare, Nightstalker, Ninja, Noggle, Nomad, Octopus, Ogre, Ooze, Orb, Orc, Orgg, Ouphe, Ox, Oyster, Pegasus, Pentavite, Pest, Phelddagrif, Phoenix, Pincher, Pirate, Plant, Praetor, Prism, Rabbit, Rat, Rebel, Reflection, Rhino, Rigger, Rogue, Salamander, Samurai, Sand, Saproling, Satyr, Scarecrow, Scorpion, Scout, Serf, Serpent, Shade, Shaman, Shapeshifter, Sheep, Siren, Skeleton, Slith, Sliver, Slug, Snake, Soldier, Soltari, Spawn, Specter, Spellshaper, Sphinx, Spider, Spike, Spirit, Splinter, Sponge, Squid, Squirrel, Starfish, Surrakar, Survivor, Tetravite, Thalakos, Thopter, Thrull, Treefolk, Triskelavite, Troll, Turtle, Unicorn, Vampire, Vedalken, Viashino, Volver, Wall, Warrior, Weird, Werewolf, Whale, Wizard, Wolf, Wolverine, Wombat, Worm, Wraith, Wurm, Yeti, Zombie, and Zubera.


Can I activate and resolve Hand Destruction with less than 2 cards in one's hand?

No. You cannot as it states specifically:

  Each player sends 2

This means the number of cards is mandatory if any player has any less then the card cannot be activated.

On the other side, if a chained effect dropped you or an opponent to less than 2 cards in hand, then Hand Destruction would resolve without effect as the initial requirement is that you send 2 cards to the graveyard.

If it said up to 2 cards, then you would be able to use it.


What happens when I reanimate a creature with protection from black with Animate Dead?

You can cast Animate Dead on a creature card with protection from black because protection doesn't work in the graveyard. The creature will return to the battlefield and protection starts working again, so Animate Dead will go to the graveyard immediately. As a consequence of that, you have to sacrifice the creature, but the creature will stay on the battlefield long enough to interact with it through instant-speed spells and abilities.
Animate Dead starts out as an aura that can "Enchant creature card in a graveyard". While a card is in the graveyard, it has all its abilities including protection, but they don't work unless otherwise stated:

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows: [none apply]

Therefore you can target and enchant that creature card with Animate Dead. While resolving, its effect will try to attach it to the creature, but that creature, in contrast to the creature card in the graveyard, has a functional protection from black, so it will not attach:

702.16c A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality. Such Auras attached to the permanent or player with protection will be put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)
701.3a [..] An Aura, Equipment, or Fortification can’t be attached to an object it couldn’t enchant, equip, or fortify, respectively.

Animate Dead has finished resolving. The active player gains priority:

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

When a player gains priority, state-based actions are checked first:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. [..]

Animate Dead is not attached to an object, so it goes to the graveyard:

704.5m If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player, that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

Therefore, before the active player gains priority, Animate Dead will leave the battlefield and its sacrifice ability triggers. It is a normal triggered ability that uses the stack, so the creature remains on the battlefield without Animate Dead attached to it until that ability resolves. Players can respond to that ability with instant-speed spells and abilities, for example by bouncing the creature or using its activated (non-tap) abilities.


In the Terra Mystica iOS app, what is the "map balanced VP" option?

There's some information from one of the game designers on BoardGameGeek; they feel that some of the factions are slightly better or worse than others, and this is an attempt to tweak them a bit to get them more into balance, without making any more drastic rules changes.

As for "what it does", it adjusts the starting VP for each faction, so that they get different VPs depending on the map (normally a faction starts with 20).  I'm assuming that it will not have any effect (for now) on Loon Lakes, but might do so once more stats are available.


Why does Mana-Burn exist in Magic: The Gathering?

Mana burn has been removed from the game in the magic 2010 rules update. From the comprehensive rules glossary:

Mana Burn (Obsolete)
Older versions of the rules stated that unspent mana caused a player to lose life; this was called "mana burn." That rule no longer exists.

When the rule was still in effect, you lost all unspent mana in your mana pool at the end of each step and phase (not turn), and you lost life equal to the amount of mana lost.
As for the reason why it was there: As you said, it was meant to punish anyone who didn't manage his or her mana well. Also, there were a few cards that had the mana Burn rule in mind. They would add Mana to a player's pool during on of his/her game phases. Some would reward you for being tapped out or punish the opponent for not being tapped out, mostly in the Prophecy edition.
Why was it removed? As you noted as well, it was practically irrelevant a rule as it only very rarely happened, and when it happened, it confused most players about the details of how it worked exactly.


Deathtouch vs an indestructible creature, which then loses indestructible

No, the creature will not die.
The rules for determining whether creatures die due to damage are part of state-based action, which are checked every time a player would gain priority:

704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.
704.5h If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and it’s been dealt damage by a source with deathtouch since the last time state-based actions were checked, that creature is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.

As you can see, deathtouch damage is only handled once, the first time state-based actions are checked after the damage is dealt. So, in your situation, the creature takes the 1 deathtouch damage. Then, immediately after that, state-based actions are checked, 704.5h applies, and it tries to destroy the creature, but the creature is indestructible, so nothing happens. Later, after you remove the equipment, state-based actions will be checked again, but the creature hasn't taken damage from a source with deathtouch since the last time state-based actions were checked, so the rule doesn't apply and nothing happens.


The best way is obviously subjective so I'll throw out some ideas for Severance. Here's two quick ideas to make Severance possibly work during the initial reveal:

A): When you reveal your card, orientation matters. Straight-up means play as normal, sideways means severance. This is a simple way to do it but opens up the door to misplays of "Oh, meant to fire this guy but placed him straight" or "someone slow-rolled his flip to get extra information" and what not but has the upshot of no additional pieces to keep track of.

B): Have two additional meta cards, one that says "Keep", the other "Fire" (similar to the voting tokens used by The Resistance). You would play one of these face-down along side your employee and reclaim it at round's end. This has the benefits of no physical ambiguity like option A but does require another set of components for everyone and adds another step when you intend to keep your deck intact most of the time. If you intend pruning to be an integral part of the game, maybe not the worst option.

If you don't mind having Severance happen at a later phase, this opens a few paths. Firstly, you could have the Severance effect be defined by the staff themselves. This allows them to trash additional stuff in different zones. E.g.

Mook A has "Do thing_1. Severance {cost}"
Thug B has "Do thing_2. Severance {cost} and trash a card in hand"
Intern C has "Do thing_3. Severance {cost} and trash a card in your discard pile"
Fundraiser D has "Do thing_4. Severance {cost} and trash a card in your discard pile"

Alternatively, there's also the option of having Severance be a static ability, (e.g. only trash current played card), which allows certain staffers to have abilities that modify it. E.g.

CEO E has "Do thing_5. You may trash something from your hand/discard pile instead of CEO when severing it. Severance{cost}"

Just some thoughts


I want to give a more general answer that applies to all trading card games. Find a local store that specializes in selling the cards and, even better, hosts tournaments. The people running the shop:

Know exactly what you need.
Will teach you how to play.*
Will occasionally give new players free starter packs or cards (mine does).
Make far more money off of return customers than they ever will off of starter kits. They want you to come back, and so they generally won't try to screw you.

The point is that they want you to get into the game, and you want their instructions, guidance, and merchandise. Don't go to Walmart and leave wondering whether you bought the right thing for your kid.

*Unless a tournament is running (and if they are busy they will usually tell you when to come back and enjoy a quiet game)


You don't.  The site you linked to explained they are meant to be used for other games.  There aren't any rules specifically for these pieces.

  We designed these 3d-printable files to be optimized for home printing and cover a wide (and expanding) variety of themes and genres. Whether you use them for RPG dungeon-delves, wargaming scenics, or anything else, these tiles print and assemble fast and easy and come off your build plate ready to paint!


When moving an Agent from a non-local Faction, what is the correct orientation?

Yes, the command would still face the same player

The rules state the following on the very last page, FAQ section:

  When swapping two Agents, their orientation must remain the same! I.e. players cannot turn Agents when swapping them. For example, if an Agent‘s command was facing you before the swap, it must still be facing you after the swap.

Cards only have two orientations, Commands towards you or data-token halves towards you.

  Each Agent card features a command giving the player a special ability. When placing an Agent onto a Faction, you choose whether to face the command towards yourself or towards another player. [...] The other end of the card features data-token halves (either black or white). When these halves are joined together, they award intel points to whomever their arrows are facing. Your decision when placing a card on a Faction, therefore, is in which direction to place the card - whether to keep the command for yourself, or try to give yourself intel points by completing data tokens.

There is no way to preserve orientation if you move an agent to a non-adjacent faction, since a non-adjacent faction would not be shared by player it was being moved into. The only way for such a card to exist would likely be if you were allowed to turn the agents orientation to whichever way you wished after moving it.


When testing a deck, what % of rejected hands is acceptable?

It really depends on the format, your deck, and the current meta.
It also depends on why you're mulliganing:

If you need to mulligan due to land percentage (too many/few), you need to fix your deck.
If you need to mulligan because you have no creatures, it might be an issue, but that depends on how much you need them [Which in turn depends on what kind of deck your opponent is running]
If you need to mulligan because you don't have a certain card in hand... How important is that card?  [It's probably OK to mulligan for a one-drop Enchantment* or a Layline (Which aren't pauper-legal), as long as it's worth losing the Card Advantage]

The best way to test it is to just build the deck, and see what happens.

*I have one Modern deck that sometimes has to mulligan down to three or two cards in hand.
As long as I'm not up against an aggro deck, I can still win with an opening hand of [Island, Quest for Ula's Temple].


Why would I want to increase the costs of creatures that I cast?

There's a few ideas that spring to mind. The simple answer is that it's intended specifically as a downside. Most 4/4 creatures that cost {4} (without requiring specific types) have some sort of downside. If it didn't have the downside, it might not get printed.
Even if it's supposed to be a strict downside, though, there can still be unusual cases where you can take advantage of the downside. You could give it to an opponent with Harmless Offering and make them pay the extra costs. I guarantee you that at least one Zedruu the Greathearted player out there is running this. You can cast Etched Oracle for {5} and get a full sunburst. Maybe you want to use Hall of the Bandit Lord to cast a big creature and give it haste, but it has no generic mana in its mana cost. Are these strategies particularly strong or likely to see significant play? Probably not, but there's a lot of players who enjoy finding ways to take advantage of things intended to be downsides.


How are Scrabble Bingo's calculated with regard to word multipliers?

According to Hasbro's rulesheet the fifty point bonus is added to the word score after all the letter and word multipliers have been taken into account.


When a permanent has a "When a creature dies" ability, and gets destroyed at the same time as creatures, does that ability trigger?

Both you and your opponent will draw cards, since the game looks back before an event to see if anything would trigger.

  603.6d Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions. [...] However, some triggered abilities must be treated specially. Leaves-the-battlefield abilities, [...] 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.

  Example: Two creatures are on the battlefield along with an artifact that has the ability "Whenever a creature dies, you gain 1 life." Someone plays a spell that destroys all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments. The artifact's ability triggers twice, even though the artifact goes to its owner's graveyard at the same time as the creatures.

Note that for this to work the destruction must happen at the same time, if you had used Austere Command instead the enchantment would be destroyed before the creatures thus it wouldn't trigger.


How does Kaya's Ghostform interact with Elenda, the Dusk Rose?

You can indeed choose which ability resolves first, but it won't help you.

  Or is the Elenda that returns "different" from the Elenda whose ability was triggered?

Yes, this is exactly what is going on. The rules state:

  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 follow nine exceptions to this rule but the situation caused by Kaya's Ghostform isn't one of them.


Does Lady Vix's Level Up force her to lose her current face-up Item?

If a player has two Item cards face-up in their scoring area and no ability allowing more than one, the player chooses which one to turn face-down.

See the image of the Tools Of Hero Kind expansion rules here, which says in parenthetical

  You choose which item to keep face-up

when speaking of a player with more than one face-up Item card.


The player who played the enchantment controls it, no matter what it is attached to.

  303.4e An Aura’s controller is separate from the enchanted object’s controller or the enchanted player; the two need not be the same. If an Aura enchants an object, changing control of the object doesn’t change control of the Aura, and vice versa. Only the Aura’s controller can activate its abilities. However, if the Aura grants an ability to the enchanted object (with “gains” or “has”), the enchanted object’s controller is the only one who can activate that ability.

Which means that rule 110.2a applies to it

  110.2a If an effect instructs a player to put an object onto the battlefield, that object enters the battlefield under that player’s control unless the effect states otherwise.

So if you play a Waterknot on your opponent's creature and then play River's Rebuke, the Waterknot will go to your graveyard.

If you play a Waterknot on your opponent's creature and your opponent plays River's Rebuke, then the Waterknot will return to your hand.

If you play a Waterknot on your own creature, and your opponent plays River's Rebuke, then both the Waterknot and your creature will return to your hand.


Does Shepherds/Ambassadors give me gold when I build by moving a settlement?

I would say no. Moving a settlement is not building it.

The rules say:

  The active player must check whether the conditions on red cards have been met after building each single new settlement. If these conditions have been fulfilled, the player immediately records the gold earned on the score track.

This interpretation is confirmed by the BoardGameGeek’s FAQs Shepherds only gives points for built, not moved, settlements and Ambassadors only give points for built, not moved, settlements. Both reference the thread Questions on rules, in which Kingdom Builder’s game designer Donald X. answered:

  No. Shepherds and Ambassadors do not score for moved pieces.


Agricola - Brushwood Collector + Carpenter's Parlor combination

You could build a wooden room for 3 wood.

Carpenter's Parlor sets the base cost, and Brushwood Collector allows you to pay part of the cost differently. Essentially, they don't even interact, since the Parlor is changing the wood cost of wooden rooms and the Collector is changing the reed cost of building/renovation.


Do you have to pay the commander tax if you have an Omniscience in play?

The commander tax is only applicable when casting the commander from the command zone.

  903.8. A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”

But Omniscience says

  You may cast spells from your hand without paying their mana costs.

(emphasis mine)

If your commander has been bounced back to your hand, you may cast it for free, thanks to Omniscience.

Side note: it's rather hard to have an Omniscience in play if Zo-Zu the Punisher is your commander. I thought there was a red card which lets you exchange control of permanents (maybe after a coin flip) but I'm not sure...


How to make Settlers of Catan less cut-throat?

3:1 trades are not unfair; they're bank rate. At which point the trading partner should simply trade with the bank, as that is a winning strategy. Anything better than 2:1 is better than dedicated port trades, and is only useful when you will gain more than your trade partner.

My recommendations for curing both at once are straightforward, but brutal. And they are not exactly "Tournament Catan"...

restrict the nature of offers.
one pass only on a given resource offer.
reply in sequence only.
no "counter offers"
No rejection of particular opponent.

By restrict nature of offers, limit it to offers of "I have 2 X and am looking for a Y". I'd allow the following rates: 1:1, 2:1 & 3:2. (3:1 should be restricted to bank trades via a port only.) Likewise, if you have the resource port, you should be required to use it instead of making a 2:1 trade offer.

One pass only means, if no one bites on the offer, you can't try it again that turn. If it is accepted, it can be repeated.

Reply in sequence only: if players are (in order) A, B, C, &  D, and it's A's turn, he makes the offer, and B either accepts and holds out the asked for resource, or B rejects with a "No." then C gets the same option. If C rejects, D gets the offer. If D rejects, it's dead. Offer something else or yield the turn.

No "counter offers" - either they accept or reject the offer at hand. No discussion, no "how many will you trade?" It really speeds up play to disallow counter-offers, as it eliminates the whole negotiation mindset and the attendent waste of time for others.

No rejection of players: by eliminating trade preference, one forces trade to be quick and about getting what you need. This one should not be a permanent solution - half the strategy in real play is avoiding trade with the leader.

I've played with these restrictions in force. It REALLY speeds play, and reduces the ability to play favorites. I did so with a group of 6th graders, and ones with strong issues with each other at that. The No Rejection was a means of overcoming a couple of players racial biases... but it also changes the nature of play, hence later changing it to "once you make an offer, you may only refuse to trade with someone if they have more VP than you."


Which continuous effect happens if they enter at the same time

Assuming you're casting Warp World on your turn—since it is a sorcery—you get to choose which order the effects apply. If someone else cast the Warp World on their turn or you used something like Quicken to cast it on someone else's turn, the person whose turn it is would get to choose.

  613.6j If two or more objects would receive a timestamp simultaneously, such as by entering a zone simultaneously or becoming attached simultaneously, the active player determines their relative timestamp order at that time.


What happens if you roll a 7 before the barbarians reach the island?

The English rules are correct; you still must discard half your hand if you are holding too many cards. You can find the latest edition of the rulebook on catan.com here. It says;

  The robber cannot be moved until after the barbarians reach the island of Catan for the first time. Until the first barbarian attack, if you roll a "7", each player must check if he is holding too many cards as usual; however, you do not move the robber from the desert and you do not steal a card from another player.


Poltergeist haunt (#17) - do item tokens count for the poltergeist's damage track?

Yes, the candles should be treated as items.

At no point does the haunt specify item cards. Item tokens and item cards are all items, as are most omens. As you pointed out, the rulebook clarifies that item tokens are just like other items, except when the haunt specifies otherwise.


According to 'Axis & Allies: Countdown to Invasion' article on the Wizards of the Coast website:

"2. The North Atlantic

The United States starts with a pair of fully loadable transports on turn 1. Where can they offload? Just two territories in the Eastern hemisphere, really. They can make it to the United Kingdom and Africa in one move, either preparing for D-Day or launching Operation Torch. Because they can't motor back and forth from Washington to Normandy (what many longtime players call the "shuck-shuck"), they must coordinate with their allies."

There was also an interesting 'How to prevent Shuck Shuck?' forum discussion about combating the 'shuck-shuck' strategy.

Hope that helps!

Dave (dmw71)


Why is the ruling on Torbran the way it is?

616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4).

Affected here means the 'target' of the event, not the 'source'. This is confirmed by the example on 616.1e:

  Example: Two permanents are on the battlefield. One is an enchantment that reads “If a card would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, instead exile it,” and the other is a creature that reads “If [this creature] would die, instead shuffle it into its owner’s library.” If the creature is destroyed, its controller decides which replacement to apply first; the other does nothing.


Can a Djinn Illuminatus make me draw my whole deck with Ancestral Visions?

No, this will not work. You cannot pay the replicate cost that Djinn Illuminatus adds to Ancestral Visions. Ancestral Visions has an unpayable mana cost, and Djinn Illuminatus says

  Each instant and sorcery spell you cast has replicate. The replicate cost is equal to its mana cost.

So, the replicate cost is also unpayable.


The correct response as an opponent is to tap all lands they control.

No, fizzle means to counter a spell on resolution. This is the result of a spell having zero legal targets. This spell isn't targeted, so it cannot fizzle. Since the Magic 2010 rules changes, mana burn no longer exists, so your opponents can just tap all their lands for mana to prevent someone else using the mana to cast their own spells.

If your opponents allow the spell to resolve and take no actions, the player that cast Piracy is likely the active player, which means that they would receive priority to cast spells. This would allow them to use any opponent's land to pay for casting their own spells.

No, there isn't anything interesting you can do with this spell now, it is a {U}{U} spell that taps your opponents out.


When do you progress to the next stage in the Lord of the Ring LCG?

You reveal the next stage of the quest as soon as you complete the previous one.  Depending on the quest, there can be advantages (or disadvantages) to doing this at a non-standard time, such as through Legolas's ability to add progress during combat, but this is intended.


Does the "Urgent wish for children" card in Caverna allow construction of all types of dwellings?

I don't think the capital D in "Dwelling" has any significance.  In the rule book Dwelling is always capitalized.  I would think that you could build any of the Dwellings.  If you couldn't, I think there would be a specific explanation in the rule book.

  There are 6 different types of Dwellings.  Every Dwelling provides room for one or two dwarfs. (P. 15)


Can players respond before vehicles are declared as blockers?

Yes, your opponent can respond.

When you activate your vehicle's ability, the ability will go on the stack.

  117.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or step ends.

Once all players pass, the ability will resolve.  Then players recieve priority again, and you won't move to the Declare Blockers step until all players have passed priority.

As a side note, if you are crewing your vehicle in the Declare Blockers step, you're doing it too late.  The action of declaring attackers or declaring blockers is the first thing that happens in that step, and you recieve priority afterwards.


No, there is not. The only stipulations for landmarks are the following, according to the game setup sheet:

  Each space may only contain one object.
  All similar objects must be placed at least four spaces apart.
  Statues may not be placed adjacent to the ocean.

If you're making the choice to not put trees or huts on lake tiles, while it is practical for "realism", there's no rule against it.


What happens when running out of Cherry Trees in Tokaido: Crossroads?

You simply don't get one.  The rules for crossroads state :-

  When a Traveler stops at a Panorama (Sea, Mountain, or Rice Paddy)
  space, he must choose between:  • Taking a Panorama card of the
  corresponding type (basic game rules).  • Taking a Cherry Tree card
  (if the card is available)

So if a Cherry card is not available you just don't get one and must take the panorama. Of course remembering the basic game rules :-

  Each traveler can create only a single panorama of each type; a
  traveler who completes a panorama can no longer stop on the spaces
  corresponding to that type (Sea, Mountain, or Paddy).

To clarify If you have completed the panorama corresponding to that space and the cherry tree cards have all gone you may not choose to land on that space.


Is Apocalypse still a rule set in 7th edition and are the books still useful

The most recent Apocalypse book came out in 2013, making it a 6th edition release. Since then, the 7th edition rulebook has already included many rules that were previously only mentioned in the Apoc book, such as Super Heavy Vehicles and Destroyers.

However, the Apocalypse book includes so many scenarios and Apocalypse-specific rules, formations and missions, the book is a must for you to run an Apoc game.

With that said, 40k: Apocalypse is still is in the GAW store.


Here are some useful calculations: Playing the probabilities in Settlers of Catan


Texas Holdem: How to Score this Hand - Single Pair, 3 kickers

It's a split. If you take the highest scoring set of five cards, each player is holding a double king, queen, ten and nine. The eight of clubs and four of hearts are never considered in scoring.

Here's an explanation of this five-card scoring rule. Especially:

  Five might be the most important number in poker, if only because five cards make a complete poker hand. This is true no matter how many cards you’re dealt, whether seven, as in seven-card-stud, or just two, as in Hold’em.


What (if any) is the relationship between your Active and In Decline race?

No, powers cannot be shared between races.  They are specific to one race only.

Sometimes though, powers carry on in to decline.  When you flip over your race/power tokens to go in to decline, it usually has symbols or graphics on the back that show what powers remain in decline.  If it is just blank then you have no decline powers (See backside of Dwarves, Ghouls, and Trolls race cards here (Courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com).  See also spirit power).  However, these decline advantages are still specific to that particular race.

For the second question, how does an active race occupy a region owned by your race in decline?..
Page 4, section 2, 2nd Column, says:

  A player may choose to conquer a Region occupied by
  his own In Decline token, if he wishes to: He will lose that
  token, but might gain access to a Region that is more
  profitable for his new Active Race tokens to occupy.

This is the only for your active race to occupy a region in control of your decline race.  The same rules apply as conquering any other region.


I think you missed something in the rules:

  A player is allowed to count how many cards are left in his deck, but not in his discard pile. A player may not look through his deck or his discard pile. A player may look through the trash pile, and players may count the number of cards left in any pile in the supply.

(I typed this from my copy of the Intrigue rules; it looks like it says the same thing in the original rules - it's in the Additional Rules section in both.)

So... you can do exactly what those rules say. If you want to do anything else, that's up to you and the people you play with. It seems pretty clear that keeping track of your discard pile on a sheet of paper is equivalent to counting it. Donald X would seem to agree, saying that using a notebook to keep a tally of score is not officially endorsed by the rules. (Thanks to Rob Renaud for providing that link!)


Can Adventure creatures always be cast from exile?

Resolving an Adventure spell puts the card into exile and allows you to cast it from exile. If the card was not put into exile that way, it cannot be cast from exile. The Throne of Eldraine Mechanics Guide says this on the topic:

  Now the fun part of going on an adventure: returning safely! If an exiled card you own is on an adventure, you can cast the creature. This could be the same turn in which you cast the Adventure or on a future turn. This works only if the Adventure spell resolves and the card remains in exile. If you cast the Adventure and it's countered, you're out of luck. Of course, you don't have to cast the Adventure at all. You could just cast Beanstalk Giant if you have need of smashing now or you don't want to risk Fertile Footsteps getting countered.


Multiple enchantments on a single player

There is no limit on the number of Enchantments that can be attached to an object or player.

In the case of Curse of the Bloody Tome, the ability of both Enchantments would trigger at the beginning of enchanted player's upkeep, after which both will be added to the stack, after which the enchanted player will be forced to mill two cards, then another two cards.


What techniques do high level SET players use when looking at a layout of cards?

For purposes of describing things, I'm going to divide sets in "easy" sets -- those with 2 or 3 matching characteristics and only 1 or 2 non-matching ones, and "hard" sets -- those with NO matching characteristics.  I think this corresponds to how hard the sets are to spot for most people -- the easy sets will get spotted right away by most people, while the hard sets are hard to see even when they're pointed out.

So when the cards are first revealed, I glance at them without concentrating on any particular card to see if there's an easy set.  If there is, it will generally get spotted by someone immediately.  If I don't see an easy set after a second or two, I start looking for a hard set.  First step there is to figure out which attributes are rare in the array -- if there's only a single red card or only a single solid card, any hard set will necessarily include that card.  Any attribute that appears on only two or three cards means that one of those cards will be in any hard sets.  This generally means you can narrow things down to 5-10 pairs of cards that differ in all attributes, and any possible hard set must include one of those pairs.  Then for each of those pairs, figure out what the third matching card is, and see if its on the table.

The process above will generally only take around 10 seconds or so.  By that point, if noone has seen a set there probably isn't one, but you can start looking for sets with 1 matching characteristic -- Look for the single most common characteristic on the table, and see if any three of those form a set.


Bestow and Intimidate - what color do I need?

Yes, only blue (or artifact) creatures can block it.

Cavern Lampad unfortunately doesn't include reminder text for Intimidate, but if it did, it would say "This creature can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it.". It's granting the ability to your blue creature, so it's that creature's color that matters. Yes, Cavern Lampad does also itself have intimidate, but that's irrelevant; you're attacking with the enchanted creature, not the Lampad.

Sometimes Auras do actually have abilities, as opposed to granting abilities to the creatures they enchant. For example, Crown of Flames has the firebreathing ability ({R}: Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn), while Dragon Mantle gives that ability to the creature it enchants ("Enchanted creature has {R}: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn."). But in the case of intimidate, it has to be like this, with the creature, not the aura, having the ability. You're attacking with the creature, not the aura, so for intimidate to do anything, the creature has to have it!


According to the rules, p8, "the [scoring] categories are scored one after another", so yes, if you consider these two categories in isolation, if you had a single unused space, you'd lose a point at the unused farmyard spaces scoring category stage, and then gain two in the bonus points category stage.

The card doesn't alter the way you score points in the unused farmyard spaces stage, it operates by providing you with (or costing you) bonus points. (For example, note that with this card, your first unused farmyard space, with only the two scoring effects operational, gets you a point, the second costs you three points, the third costs you four points, but the fourth only costs you one point.)

Don't forget that other cards might also add, or subtract, points for unused farmyard spaces and the game has to be designed so that all the pieces can interoperate with one another.
(For example, you might have a card that says something like "when calculating your score for unused farmyard spaces, you don't lose any points for such spaces"... in conjunction with the Land Parcel card, this would give you 2 points for one unused space, cost you 1 point for 2 unused spaces, and cost you 3 points for three or more unused spaces, because again the bonus points get accounted for after the unused farmyard spaces points.)


How difficult is Axis and Allies to learn and teach new players?

Moderate Difficulty

I assume you're talking about A&A Revised or perhaps the 50th edition rules. I mention this because both are slightly more complicated in terms of rules than now obsolete 2nd edition (i.e. the new editions have more units and more special rules).

That said, the following observations should apply across all versions, with the newer ones being marginally more difficult. I'll address how hard it is to teach into a few key categories:

Rules complexity

Axis and Allies is rules intense. I would put the rules complexity about equivalent to Diplomacy. Consider it a full tier above something like Monopoly, Risk, or Clue, but not quite as bad as Arkham Horror. Furthermore, unlike a game like Dominion, where the base mechanic is fairly straightforward and most of the rules are revealed on the cards themselves (i.e. instructions at the point of need), in A&A someone is going to need to have good grasp of the game from the start, or you're all going to be buried in the rule book for the first few games. Be prepared for the first game to take extra time.

Strategy complexity

Although there is a steep learning curve between the novice and expert player, this should not be a problem for a play group learning together. There are optimal buys and well tested strategies, just like in chess. But if none of you know then you'll all learn together; years from now you'll all have a great laugh about the crazy stuff you tried when starting out. So yes, you need to play several times to get it, but unlike some games, I think A&A is fun when you're learning, so it's not like you'll have to put in four or five games for it to pay off.

Game geekery

I don't think you have to be a true game-geek to enjoy it. I've found its appeal is well calibrated with its rules complexity. Casual gamers who only like the most mass market of games will probably be intimated. But you don't have to be a hard core gamer who thinks Arkham or Twilight Imperium are too simple to like it. That is your group will need to want a challenge beyond the most common games, but being a geek not required. An interest in history in general, WWII, or war games helps as well, as the theme in this game is obviously very strong. If your group wish Risk wasn't so simple and boring, this might be a good option.

Family appropriateness

Assuming your family meets the criteria above (ready to graduate to slightly more complicated games) then it might be appropriate. It's a long game, so your family will need to be willing to spend a few hours doing this (or have a big table to leave it set up between sessions). That said, the game is robust to people with different learning curves because it's a team game (Axis vs. Allies). You can team up the strongest and weakest players and/or give the best player the most challenging country. The game is also easy to handicap with bidding.

I say go for it.


How do continuous effects interact with the stack, your hand, and other zones?

The creature card would have 1 power and 1 toughness in all zones other than the battlefield

  609.2. Effects apply only to permanents unless the instruction’s text states otherwise or they clearly can apply only to objects in one or more other zones.

The only things that can change a creature card's power/toughness off of the battlefield are Characteristic-Defining Abilities, like what Tarmogoyf has.

  208.2a The card may have a characteristic-defining ability that sets its power and/or toughness according to some stated condition. ... This ability functions everywhere, even outside the game. ...


Why does the Humility/Opalescence interaction work?

You are correct on both points.

The entire ability will be applied in the appropriate layer, as mentioned in the first part of Opalescence's gatherer ruling :

  [...] the type-changing effect applies at layer 4, but the rest happens in the applicable layers. The rest of it will apply even if the permanent loses its ability before it's finished applying. [...]

Opalescence's type-setting ability works because it's applied in an earlier layer (layer 4) than Humility's abilities-removing (layer 6).

Edit : Also works because Opalescence's doesn't affect itself, as Benjamin Cosman mentioned.


Bonus points using card combinations in Tute

In Tute, "las 20" or "las 40" can be called when you have 11 & 12 (caballo & rey) of the same suit, STILL IN YOUR hand after you took one trick. 40 is if you have the pair matching the current trump, 20 is for the other suits. Each 20 points are signalled by putting one card (two cards for las 40) upside down on your pile of collected cards perpendicular to the rest of the cards. If you want to call more than one set (e.g. you have more than one pairs of 11 & 12 matching the same suit) you need to take al least one trick for each call. Other players may ask the caller to show their matching cards, but it's considered bad etiquette since everyone should be paying attention and know if one of the cards has already been played.

These points are added to the rest of your hand at the end of the round. Other cards are worth:

Aces: 11 points
Threes: 10 points
Reyes (12s): 4 points
Caballos (11s): 3 points
Sotas (10s): 2 points

All other cards have no value.

In Tute Cabrero, the person taking the last trick takes 10 extra points (las 10 de última). Also, if someone manages to take all tricks in a round, it's considered they did Capote and automatically win the game, regardless of current score UNLESS they had also claimed "20" or "40" on that round, in which case they lose.

You can read more details in https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tute and https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tute_cabrero.


Does mixing Dominion expansions lessen the power of card combinations in random kingdom setups?

Added: A fundamental property of Dominion is card interaction, so to claim (not that anyone has) that a certain expansion doesn't increase the amount of positive interaction between cards/sets would be quite a criticism of said expansion. It's possible, but I haven't seen it yet. (Of course, Alchemy does create a sort of artificial exterior game with the potions, and some dislike it for this reason. But I digress).

So what I should have said from the start is that every set is designed to make games more interesting, especially when combined with other sets. Also, the main way that I have developed strategy over the years is to look at a (random) set of 10 kingdom cards, and start looking at the interactions. As you'll see below, you can use (the cards that you add to your hand with) Scout for two major purposes: trashing, and discarding. So when Scout is in play, I quickly (?) decide if either of these is a viable option given the other cards out there, and then do the same for all the other cards and their main uses.

Consider the combo:
Golem (Tactician, then Library/Minion/etc)

There are other examples, but they aren't fresh in my mind (I quit playing after 2000 something games on isotropic, and 1000 on BSW...).

Added:
While I stand by my answer, it seems that the best answer to this question would involve, at the very minimum, an analysis of how every card interacts with [all the other] cards from other expansions. At worst, we'd have to consider all 10^14 possible sets of kingdom cards!

Here is my analysis of Scout:

Scout: Like the Apothecary, Scout can be used to add 3-4 cards to your hand (which may not have that great of a direct value - e.g. coppers/estates). Then you can combo (for different reasons, effects on your deck) this with:

Ambassador.
Warehouse
Vault (+ Tunnel = BOOM)
Apprentice
Transmute
Forge
Hamlet
Horse Traders
Young Witch
Hunting Party
Crossroads (!! Forgot about this one...)

Furthermore, with Hoard, the strategy of using Scout to get cards in your hand for the purpose of trashing opens up more possibilities. Scout is a good counter to Rabble. Scout might be the only +Action in the set, so then your only option to net an action would be to combine this with Golem, KC, or Throne Room. This is, of course, the last thing that crosses my mind when analyzing a set of 10 cards in-game.

And then there's Scheme, which in itself opens up combos with most Action cards!

Analysis of Black Market:

Besides gaining a card that no other player can have, Black Market opens up a unique set of possibilities due to its extra buy phase. So during the execution of Black Market, you can [put into] play all of the treasures in your hand, possibly leaving you with 1-2 Action cards. In any case, you still have the +$ to spend from those treasures! If the other cards are, say, Library or Minion, then you can draw a bunch more cards and have a longer turn. If you are left with a Tactician, then you can use that to start your next turn with 10 cards, and you still get to spend the money that was played during the Black Market!


No, it does not count as an item
The Rules, page 16 note on the middle of the right hand column:

Important: When adding up items before discarding
them, count all Common Items, Unique Items, and
Spells. In addition, the Deputy’s Revolver and the Patrol
Wagon both count as items. Allies, Skills, and other
cards do not count towards this total.

Since "Deputy of Arkham" falls under "other cards", it does not count when adding up items.


Can a settlement disrupt roads in Settlers of Catan

If you build a settlement on his road, you disrupt it yes.

See also: catan-longest-road-clarification.

You can build on any place if:

You can reach it by road or ship
The vacant spot has no neighbouring settlements or cities. (There must be at least one empty spot between two settlements/cities)


What happens when a creature enchanted with Soul Link would deal lethal damage to a player?

Soul Link's ability is a triggered ability. From the comprehensive rules:

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

  ...

  510.3. Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack.

State-based checks occur before the triggered ability is resolved, so Player A loses before gaining life from the Soul Link.


Can I cast a spell if I might be able to pay its cost but don't know yet?

Since it is a legal play under some outcomes of the process of casting it, it is a legal play.  If your opponent chooses the mode where you draw cards, it will become an illegal spell and the game will be reverted to the state it was in before you began casting it.

The precedent for this comes from a card specific ruling on Selvala, Explorer Returned:

  If you activate Selvala’s ability while casting a spell, and you
  discover you can't produce enough mana to pay that spell’s costs, the
  spell is reversed. The spell returns to whatever zone you were casting
  it from. You may reverse other mana abilities you activated while
  casting the spell, but Selvala’s ability can't be reversed. Whatever
  mana that ability produced will be in your mana pool and each player
  will have drawn a card.

From this, we can tell that you are allowed to cast spells you might be able to pay for.

As Hackworth and various members on the forum point out, the rules do not explicitly prevent you from attempting to cast spells you have no way of paying for in any circumstance, but doing so doesn't ever help you.  At best, it reveals a card in your hand with no other consequence.  At worst, it could get you disqualified in a tournament for repeat offenses of slow play or cheating (if you are attempting to cast an illegal spell to make an opponent reveal information in their reaction).


Is there an official Catan FAQ that is a supplement to the included rules book?

Yes. FAQ:

http://www.catan.com/faq.html


How have coop board games prevented a player(s) from taking over decision making

Simultaneous choice is another method of forcing players to stumble over each other a bit. Space Hulk Death Angel uses this to great effect - players have to choose between their available actions, placing the card facedown, before all choices are revealed simultaneously and then executed in order. Robo Rally can be played in teams, and there you can really get in each other's way by accident.

"Active Player chooses" is another mechanism a lot of FFG coop games use to pass the decision making load around. Yes, everybody else has to keep their mouth shut while the player makes a choice, but if you aren't following the rules you're not really playing the game, are you? In a way I think this is a good way to allow table talk most of the time but give players short, important windows where they can keep from doing it.

Keeping everybody busy with their own problems seems a reasonable approach, and the LOTR LCG does this fairly well - enemies are dispensed from a central "staging area" to engage with a particular player, and in this way they fade from everybody else's view a little bit. I suppose a succinct way to phrase this approach would be "specialization".

Hidden information can be pushed farther than it is most of the time. Hanabi is an example of a cooperative game in which information sharing is really the central mechanic, and it's the first coop game I've played that really couldn't possibly be done as solitaire.

Narrative can also help remove the "single decision maker" problem by engrossing all the players in the events and giving them agency. I recently played a game of Mansions of Madness in which my daughter made some choices against my advice that cost us the game, but really they were in character for her (too much curiosity is what did it), and I was glad she felt confident enough to go ahead. We also talked afterward about lessons learned. :)

Lastly, regarding distrust, Shadows and Resistance each have a "bad" player from the start, but in some games (e.g. the Insanity mechanism in Mansions of Madness) a player can become bad, or have other weird behaviors emerge unbeknownst to the other players as a result of game events.

@matt points out in another answer that randomness (which is essentially information hidden from all the players) can help.


What are useful guidelines for deciding when to power down in RoboRally?

There are several things to take into account:

Your position in the race. If I 'm comfortably ahead, I will be somewhat more inclined to power down (willing to accept a known handicap rather than possibly risk an unknown turn of events if I take much damage quickly). If I 'm trying to catch up, I will only power down if it seems my progress is getting way too slow due to locked registers.

Terrain. Contrary to other answers, I will be more inclined to power down on conveyor belts that take me closer to where I want to be. I might even power down when I normally would not consider doing so, because it's unlikely that I would be able to effectively utilize all 5 registers while at the same time staying on the belt. From that perspective, it costs less to power down in this situation. Of course all of this assumes that I will stay on the belt, which brings us to...

Proximity to other robots. Obviously powering down when near other robots is risky, even more so if there is deadly terrain nearby. In this situation I would consider powering down only if in imminent danger of being destroyed, and even then I might risk it if my last archive was close by.


Adding an extra deck definitely increases the chance that someone will get a Canasta because cards are drawn without replacement.

The point is easiest to see via a drastic oversimplification.  Take a number of decks, take out six cards that are the same from those decks, shuffle the remaining cards together, and then try to draw a seventh card to match the six.  Each deck you add contributes 54 cards in general (because of Jokers), 10 of which match (because 2s and Jokers are wild), but you have to subtract 6 from both the card total and number of matching cards for the six cards you have taken out to start.  The probability that the next card you draw matches the six you have of that with various deck sizes is as follows:

1 Deck: (10 - 6) / (54 - 6) = 8%

2 Decks: (10*2 - 6) / (54*2 - 6) = 14%

3 Decks: (10*3 - 6) / (54*3 - 6) = 15%

4 Decks: (10*4 - 6) / (54*4 - 6) = 16%

5 Decks: (10*5 - 6) / (54*5 - 6) = 17%


Do cards that prevent cards in graveyards from being targeted by spells and abilities stop cards such as Crucible of Worlds?

Your intuition is exactly correct - Crucible of Worlds doesn't target the land cards, so Ground Seal doesn't prevent it from working.

This is reinforced in the Gatherer rulings for Ground Seal:

  Only spells and abilities that target cards in graveyards will be affected. Abilities that don’t target cards in graveyards (like the one Tormod’s Crypt has) can still affect those cards.


Yes, lifelink is not a triggered ability like you might expect but a static replacement effect that replaces damage being dealt with the damage being dealt and you gaining that much life:

119.3f Damage dealt by a source with lifelink causes that source’s controller to gain that much life, in addition to the damage’s other results.
702.15a Lifelink is a static ability.

Note that this is not the case with cards that say "Whenever this card deals damage, you gain that much life"; that would be a triggered ability, and you would lose before it could resolve.


Can you tap land for mana without using it, specifically I am playing with Omnath, Locust of mana

You may activate mana abilities (for example the mana abilities of lands) whenever you may activate other, non-mana abilities, in addition to when you pay a mana cost.

Most mana-generating permanents, including most lands, have an ability that says something along the lines of "Cost: Add mana", where "cost" is usually the Tap cost. Those are mana abilities:

  605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn't require a target (see rule 114.6), it could add mana to a player's mana pool when it resolves, and it's not a loyalty ability.

Activated mana abilities are a special case of activated abilities. You can activate a mana ability whenever you could activate a regular ability:

  605.3. Activating an activated mana ability follows the rules for activating any other activated ability (see rule 602.2), with the following exceptions:

One key difference between mana abilities and regular activated abilities is that you can activate mana abilities whenever you have to pay a mana cost.

In a nutshell, you may tap lands etc. for mana whenever you could cast spells and activate abilities, including during your opponent's turn.


How to balance influence vs territorial plays on a 13x13 board?

Territory is more important on a 13X13 board than on a 19x19 board, because it's smaller. Therefore, a given chunk of territory is more valuable. That is because the corner josekis give a "fixed" amount of territory, while the resulting outer walls are worth less (and overlap more) on the 13 x13 board. So you should play a "lower" (near the edge) more territorial game on the smaller board.

I don't like to play this kind of game because it "corrupts" my thinking for the larger, regular board. The one advantage I see for 13x13 is that you get to the endgame faster (and it is a disproportionately larger part of the game, thereby giving you more "practice" in this part of the game. Endgame and opening are more important with the smaller board, while the middle game shrinks.


Try http://www.hand8foot.com/rulesandscoring/  , might be helpful for you


In Mancala, can you pick up the stones if your last stone lands in a hole that isn't empty?

I also grew up playing that way, and I was surprised to find out that the "standard" rules are different! I found a variant that fits that description: Kenyan Bao with laps.

"This version of Bao features "laps". When the last seed is sown, if it lands in a hollow with other seeds, the turn continues - the player picks up all the seeds from that hollow and continues to sow them."

I found it on this website: http://www.mastersgames.com/rules/mancala-rules.htm

There are so many variations of mancala; I'm sure this isn't they only one with those rules.


Are you allowed to attack creatures instead of a player?

Since this is a basic rules question, a quote from the basic rules:

  In your combat phase, you choose which of your creatures will attack, and you
  choose who or what they will attack. Each one can attack your opponent or one of your opponent’s planeswalkers, but not any of his or her creatures.

You say it'd be easier to just attack creatures. Sure - and that's kind of the point. If you could just use a bigger creature to kill off a smaller creature, combat wouldn't be nearly so interesting, and the game would lose a lot. You really do have to work out how to manage to attack your opponent and get through without losing too many creatures or leaving yourself vulnerable. It's more work, but it's part of what makes the game interesting and challenging, and gives you an edge if you're better at it than your opponent.


How does Hive Mind work with Counterspell in a multiplayer game?

You can counter the original Counterspell with your copy, ensuring that at least two copies of Wheel of Fortune resolve. This is true no matter whose turn it is or which opponent casts the Counterspell.
The important thing to note here is that Hive Mind's ability is a triggered ability that triggers when a player casts a spell. The first and last steps of casting a spell are

601.2a To propose the casting of a spell, a player first moves that card (or that copy of a card) from where it is to the stack. It becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has all the characteristics of the card (or the copy of a card) associated with it, and that player becomes its controller. The spell remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, or an effect moves it elsewhere.

[...]

601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, he or she gets priority.

This means that both the triggered ability and any copies that it makes go on the stack above the original spell, so when any other player casts Counterspell, the copy you make goes on the stack above it, and can target and successfully counter the original.


Your friend is right, though he should let you do it anyway outside of a tournament.

You cannot be forced to produce mana to pay for a spell.

  117.3c Activating mana abilities is not mandatory, even if paying a cost is.

And if a spell becomes uncastable, its casting is undone.

  601.2 [...] If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, “Handling Illegal Actions”). [...]

So it would seem that you can choose to abort the casting of any spell by not producing the mana required to cast it (assuming your mana pool doesn't already have the necessary mana in it).

BUT

When this came up on Wizards's Rules Q&A board recently, it was declared[1] that the intention of the rule is to handle the situation where the casting of a spell becomes illegal after it has started being cast (and possibly other situations), but it's not meant to be used to voluntarily rollback the casting of a spell. While the rule can be used to avoid casting a spell at all, you are committed to completely cast a spell you've decided to cast.

So, deciding to abort casting your spell wouldn't be legal in a tournament, and my friends wouldn't allow and such douchebag rule lawyering in casual. (They could very well allow me to rollback the action if I asked, but not because of 601.2.)

By general consensus among the rules-saavy, by bimmerbot (a very level-headed level 2 judge), and confirmed by Natedogg (the only person on that board capable of making official rulings).


Can the same ability be triggered multiple times?

Yes, that ability is a "free triggered ability" (RRG, page 3) and may be triggered in any player ability window as many times as you would like, so long as you can pay the cost (in this case, 1 resource).

One aside is to note that it says "You get...", so you cannot use talent cards such as these to buff other investigators.


Interaction between Vilis, Broker of Blood and Phyrexian Delver

They happen in the order they are written, so you will get to draw cards.

  Resolving Spells and Abilities

    608.2. If the object that’s resolving is an instant spell, a sorcery spell, or an ability, its resolution may involve several steps.

      608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written.

and

  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.

So at the time that you are losing life, Vilis, Broker of Blood is already on the battlefield; it's triggered ability triggers just as if it had been there even before Phyrexian Delver was resolving.


Does playing a ko add a dimension to the game?

"Ko" is effectively one of those situations where you can hope to get two moves in a row (e.g. if your opponent spends his next move filling, or otherwise removing the ko).

On the other hand, if your opponent chooses to allow you this, it means that the value of the ko is large. (Otherwise he would answer your ko threat and ignore the ko).

Balancing the value of a two move "ko threat" against a ko itself, adds dimension to the game. So does the art of creating these kos, that allow you to make these threats.