Rule 506.4a vs 509.3a (removing attackers/blockers during combat)

Yes, there are cards that remove creatures from combat like:

But there is also regeneration ability, which removes the regenerated creature from combat.
Rule 701.12a

If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case, “Regenerate [permanent]” means “The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat.”

From question:
Is a Regenerated Creature Removed from Combat?
There may be other examples as well, but this one comes to mind.

The rule 506.4a is written that way, because for example if a card prevents something from attacking, it doesn't have an effect on a creature that is already attacking. The rule 509.3a applies in all these situations where a creature is removed from combat.
The rule 506.4 also states other situations where a creature can or cannot be removed 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 701.13) 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.
506.4a Once a creature has been declared as an attacking or blocking creature, spells or abilities that would have kept that creature from attacking or blocking don’t remove the creature from combat.
506.4b Tapping or untapping a creature that’s already been declared as an attacker or blocker doesn’t remove it from combat and doesn’t prevent  its combat damage.
506.4c If a creature is attacking a planeswalker, removing that planeswalker from combat doesn’t remove that creature from combat. It continues to be an attacking creature, although it is attacking neither a player nor a planeswalker. It may be blocked. If it is unblocked, it will deal no combat damage.
506.4d A permanent that’s both a blocking creature and a planeswalker that’s being attacked is removed from combat if it stops being both a creature and a planeswalker. If it stops being one of those card types but continues to be the other, it continues to be either a blocking creature or a planeswalker that’s being attacked, whichever is appropriate.


Can a runner end the run before accessing all cards?

Accessing Cards in Netrunner

Access in Netrunner is highly dependent on server location.  The following draws primarily from the latest FAQ, and is supplemented by my notes/clarifications.

Accessing Archives

From the FAQ, with additional emphasis:

  When accessing cards in Archives, the Runner turns all cards
  faceup in Archives before accessing them. Then he accesses and
  resolves individual cards one by one, in any order he wants.

So, the runner has a choice in terms of order of access (if there are multiple agenda points and 3 Shocks, they can access the agendas first and theoretically win the game before the Shocks flatline them), but they must access every card in the archive.

One note about accessing archives, if the Runner uses a replacement effect based upon a successful Archives run (such as Retrieval Run), then none of the cards there get flipped (e.g., the runner does not get a free peek at what is hiding there).

Accessing Multiple Cards from HQ

When you are given multi-card access from HQ, you must access your required number of cards (e.g., if you are successful making a run using Legwork, you must access 3 cards).  You do so one at a time, and fully resolve each access before moving on to the next.  Cards accessed in this manner do not return to HQ until you are finished accessing all 3 (so you pick one card from HQ, look at it, put it aside, pull another, etc.).

Accessing Multiple Cards from R&D

Similarly, when accessing multiple cards from R&D there are a few notes in the FAQ:

  The Runner can intersperse accessing cards from R&D with any upgrades installed in the root of R&D.

and

  The Runner cannot choose to access the cards in R&D out of order.

So, with multi-access, you always start with the top card of R&D and work your way down, fully resolving each before moving onto the next one (e.g., you can't fail to trash an installable asset, see the next card, and then decide to trash the previously seen asset).  At any point during these accesses you can alternate between R&D proper and its root (in the case of upgrades installed in the server).

Accessing Cards in a Remote Server

When you choose to access cards in a remote server, it works in a similar fashion.  Once committed to accessing, the runner must access all cards in the remote server, however they are able to choose the order of access (and it should be apparent which card in the server has been advanced, as well as which card was placed in the server most recently, if applicable).  For example, the Corporation is not allowed to shuffle the cards in the remote server.

Circumventions of the Above Rules

While in the majority of cases the number of cards available for access is completely dictated by access location and board state (e.g., access all cards in Archives or in a remote server, access 1 card from HQ/R&D if running without any special card effects), there are a few cards that do give the runner slightly more leeway.

For example, Medium states: "Each virus counter after the first on Medium allows you to access 1 additional card from R&D whenever you access cards from R&D". This is not a required additional access, like the other cards described above.  According to the FAQ, how this plays out is as follows:

  Before accessing cards from R&D at step 4.5 of a run, the Runner
  chooses how many cards he wants to access when using Medium.

So, after the run is successful (by passing all the ICE and deciding that you will access cards), the player must commit to the number of cards that they will access.  If Medium has 7 counters on it, the Runner could choose any number between 1 and 7 - however, once that number is chosen, they must access that number of cards.  There is no window to jack out after the number of cards has been declared.

This is in contrast to cards like Legwork, HQ Interface, R&D Interface, and The Maker's Eye, which all are mandatory effects (if run is successful, "access 2 additional cards" - there is no room to declare a different value).

Finally, it should also be noted that even if you are using one of these cards that have a mandatory effect for additional access, you do have a window at step 4.2 of a run to jack out after passing all the ICE but before committing to access. This can be especially useful if, for example, you face-checked a Komainu, and fear that some of the cards you access will cause you to flatline. For the purposes of other card effects, such a run would be considered unsuccessful.


Is there a budget version of Collected Company for this Modern elf deck?

No, there isn't.

Collected Company is one hell of a card. It's 1) instant speed, 2) card advantage, 3) usually mana advantage and 4) half a tutor. CoCo (as it's often called) is the best card in the deck, and there's nothing that can compare.

You could potentially run Chord of Calling, but it's significantly worse because convoke works really badly with mana creatures which you have a lot of, and besides Chord of Calling is also an expensive card. Otherwise there is Lead the Stampede which will draw you cards, but does not put them into play; and Eldritch Evolution which will tutor a relevant card, but is not nearly as efficient (and isn't cheap either).

If you don't have 4 copies of Collected Company, you should still run as many copies as you can.


If you eat a spell with Nivmagus, it won't resolve, so you don't perform any of its spell abilities, so you don't perform its cipher ability. You'll get the +1/+1 counters, but that's it.

Now let's say you did let a cipher spell resolve, and you did attach it a creature. Since a copy of a spell is a spell, you can eat the copies created by cipher. But again, the spell won't resolve if you do. You'll get the +1/+1 counters, but that's it.

Note that you can't encode the copies created by cipher because you can only encode spell cards with cipher, so eating the spell copies is not as expensive as eating the original. It actually sounds like a good use of cipher to me :)

Note that the spell triggers after damage is dealt, so the +1/+1 counters it gets will only help it the next combat (except possibly if it has first strike or double strike).

Yes, multiple spells can be encoded on a single creature.


Are all the cards in High Caliber Ops supposed to be combined with the base set?

You are supposed to combine all cards in their respective decks with the exception of extra basic black market cards which go back in the box. The black market is supposed to have only nonbasic cards. The game is significantly harder with the basics in the dack so this might improve your winrate. :)


What happens if you cast a card that says "Target Opponent" in Two Headed Giant?

A Two-Headed Giant game has 4 players, two of which are your opponents. When you cast a spell, you choose a legal target, in this case one of your opponents.

  810.1. Two-Headed Giant games are played with two teams of two players each.


If somebody plays a wild card (without +4), is the next person's turn skipped?

No, it does not skip your turn. There is a separate card called “Skip” that does that, Wild only allows you to change the color being played.

From the rules:

  Wild Card - When you play this card, you may change the color being played to any color (including the current color) to continue play. You may play a Wild card even if you have another playable card in hand. If this card is turned up at the beginning of play, the person to the left of the dealer chooses the color to begin play and plays the first card.

Nothing about skipping a player is mentioned.


What happens when a miracle trigger is copied?

You can choose to play the card for its Miracle cost on either the original or the copied triggered ability, or not at all, but not twice.
From the comprehensive rules:

702.93. Miracle

702.93a Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability (see rule 603.11). "Miracle [cost]" means "You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it's the first card you've drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost."

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

The triggered ability that gets copied is the "you may cast it (the card) by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost" part.
So now you have the revealed Miracle card in hand, and 2 of those triggers on the stack.
When the first trigger resolves, you may choose to play the card for its Miracle cost.
If you do, you cast it, and eventually the 2nd trigger gets to resolve. However, the card the trigger refers to is no longer in your hand and the trigger simply vanishes without further effect. That also applies if another effect (such as Remand) returns the card to your hand before the second trigger resolves, because it's a new object.

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:

If you don't cast the card on the first trigger, the card will remain in your hand, revealed, and you may choose to cast it for its Miracle cost on resolution of the 2nd trigger.


Which commanders benefit from being in the Command Zone other than Oloro?

13 possible commanders interact with the command zone in an unusual way. 8 commanders have abilities that function in the command zone. All of them were created for the preconstructed commander decks or released in commander specific sets. They even eventually created the "Eminence" ability word for  abilities that function in the command zone.

Arahbo, Roar of the World has the ability "Eminence — At the beginning of combat on your turn, if Arahbo, Roar of the World is in the command zone or on the battlefield, another target Cat you control gets +3/+3 until end of turn." giving you a free boost to one attacker each turn.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician has the ability ": Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone." This lets you play the commander without casting it, so it cannot be countered as a spell (but as an activated ability, with Stifle) and avoids the commander tax* so it will always cost 4 mana.
Edgar Markov has the ability "Eminence — Whenever you cast another Vampire spell, if Edgar Markov is in the command zone or on the battlefield, create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token." giving you creature tokens for playing tribal vampires.
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist has the ability "Eminence — Whenever another nontoken Wizard enters the battlefield under your control, if Inalla, Archmage Ritualist is in the command zone or on the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, create a token that's a copy of that Wizard. The token gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step." allowing you to get a token copy of your wizards for one turn, potentially triggering ETB effects or letting you use their tap abilities earlier.
Liesa, Shroud of Dusk - Liesa has the ability "Rather than pay  for each previous time you've cast this spell from the command zone this game, pay 2 life that many times." forcing you to use life instead of mana for the command tax when casting her.
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - Oloro has the ability "At the beginning of your upkeep, if Oloro, Ageless Ascetic is in the command zone, you gain 2 life."
The Ur-Dragon - The Ur-Dragon has the ability "Eminence — As long as The Ur-Dragon is in the command zone or on the battlefield, other Dragon spells you cast cost  less to cast." effectively making him a Dragonlord's Servant on or off the field.
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow - Yuriko has "Commander Ninjutsu " functioning like ninjutsu from Kamigawa. This lets you bounce an unblocked attacker to put Yuriko into play. Like Derevi, this is not casting, so you will not pay commander tax.

Currently 5 other possible commanders interact with the command zone in an unusual way, but not through an ability that works there. None of them require the creature be your commander :

Captain Vargus Wrath - gives +1/+1 to all pirates (himself included) when he attacks for each time you have cast your commander from the command zone. He doesn't need to be your commander for this effect.
Jeska, Thrice Reborn - her starting loyalty is the number of times you have cast your commander this game. She does not need to be your commander for this effect.
Jirina Kudro - creates tokens when she enters for every time you have cast your commander this game. She does not need to be your commander for this effect.
Reyhan, Last of the Abzan lets you put counters on creatures when another creature with counters dies or when it is returned to the command zone.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools - Puts all commanders onto the battlefield under your control, taking them from other player's fields or their command zones.

There are also many other cards that interact with the command zone but can't be commanders, most with effects that scale based on the number of times you have cast your commander or move your commander out of the command zone into your hand or onto the battlefield.

* This is the cost increase for casting your commander from the command zone again every time it is sent back to the command zone.
With a recent rules change, commanders die like normal creatures before being moved to the command zone. This means Reyhan's ability handles dying commanders like it handles all other creatures. Commanders being sent to the hand or deck will still work as before, those replacement effects are unchanged. A commander being exiled will not trigger Reyhan anymore, since they are sent to exile as normal and then they are no longer a creature you control when they are sent to the command zone. This is still true of Skullbriar, the Walking Grave who, while he keeps his counters moving between zones, is not a creature you control when in the graveyard or exile, and won't trigger the effect a second time.


Timing/Stack question about abilities triggered during combat

Yes, both are triggered abilities and can be responded to, e.g. countering them with Stifle. If the ability triggered, it's too late to counter the ability by destroying the source with e.g. Naturalize. Even though the artifact is gone before the ability resolves, the ability itself is now a different 'object' and won't be affected by this.

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”
603.2b When a phase or step begins, all abilities that trigger “at the beginning of” that phase or step trigger.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 117, “Timing and Priority.” The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.


Can a pawn be promoted to queen if the player is missing a knight, bishop or rook?

You can promote a pawn to any piece (other than a Pawn or King), regardless of how many of that piece is on the board. In theory, you could have nine Queens by the end of the game (unlikely, of course).

Piece availability is not a concern, either. An upside-down rook (if available) is the recommended stand-in for a queen, though you may have to improvise due to limited resources (stacked checkers tiles also work well).


Yes, Plakoto is played elsewhere - in Bulgaria, where it is called Tapa. It seems to be the same game as "Jail", described here: http://www.vitalinfocenter.com/bckgmn/jail.html


Using a Joker with two tiles from my rack and one from the board

My rules state:

  The tile used to replace a joker must come from a player's rack and not from the table. A joker that has been replaced must be used in the player's same turn with 2 or more tiles from his rack to make a new set.

So, playing with my set of the rules, no, the example above would not be legal. The new set would need to stand alone. Adding that '7' midstream would not be part of the 'two or more tiles from his rack to make a new set.'


If Soulflayer exiles a Winged Sliver from the graveyard via delve does it gain flying?

No, the Winged Sliver does not have flying but grants itself that ability along with all other sliver creatures. The first ruling on the Soulflayer page says that it does not happen.

  Creature cards that have abilities that grant the listed keyword abilities to themselves won’t count. For example, exiling a Battle Brawler (a creature with “As long as you control a red or white permanent, Battle Brawler gets +1/+0 and has first strike”) with Soulflayer’s delve ability won’t cause Soulflayer to have first strike, even if you control a red or white permanent.

Also, for further clarification on the Winged Sliver page

  If the creature type of a Sliver changes so it’s no longer a Sliver, it will no longer be affected by its own ability. Its ability will continue to affect other Sliver creatures.


Not only LP, but all values in Yu-Gi-Oh are rounded up after being halved while odd.

Unfortunately, official sources verifying this are either nonexistent or are very difficult to find; however, this is something that can easily be verified by halving ATK, LP, etc repeatedly in any officially licensed Yu-Gi-Oh game - such as Duel Links or Legacy of the Duelist.

If I find any direct footage of this occuring, I'll add it to this answer right away.

EDIT: So, I wasn't able to find footage, but I was able to find this:
https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Card_Rulings:Solemn_Judgment

In the card rulings for Solemn Judgement, under "Previously Official Rulings", we have:

  If halving your Life Points results in a fraction, your Life Points are rounded up.

Now, of course, this is a previously official ruling, but unless there is a ruling that directly states to the contrary, this ruling can/should still be considered correct. This also technically is a ruling for Solemn Judgement specifically, but I think in this case it's a safe assumption that the idea is extensible.


Does Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper now provide mana for casting Planeswalkers?

Yes. Planeswalkers are legendary.  Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper gives mana for Legendary purposes.


Can Chandra, Acolyte of Flame cast Heartfire without the additional cost?

Chandra's ability does nothing to change the total cost of Heartfire, which includes sacrificing a creature.

  You may cast target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost 3 or less from your graveyard. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, exile it instead.

Note that it doesn't modify the costs, only where you can cast the card from (in this case, allowing you to cast it from your graveyard).  Compare the phrasing to Aluren, which allows you to cast specific creature cards for free.

  Any player may cast creature spells with converted mana cost 3 or less without paying their mana costs and as though they had flash.

Note that even if Chandra had the phrase "without paying it's mana cost" you would still have to sacrifice the creature as the sacrifice is an additional cost, not a mana cost.


Effect of using Two of a Kind or Favor on an empty hand in Exploding Kittens?

You have it right: the selected player gives you nothing. Whether you want to restrict playing the card (or pair) in that way (to no effect) is up to you (EK is not the kind of game to get official answers on such things), but since playing the card/pair that way is only bad for the player playing it, the restriction won't come up.


How does Flute of the Outer Gods work in Arkham Horror and when should I use/buy it?

The card specifies area because it could be either a location or a street. I'm pretty sure they already had the 'neighborhood' terminology worked out when the base set came out and they didn't use it here for a reason. The flute's use is basically 'Instead of rolling a combat check against a monster when you normally would, you can use the flute instead.' So you need to survive the monster's horror check before you can use the flute. If you don't survive the horror check, you don't make it to the combat phase, so you can't use the Flute.

Note that as the flute kills everything in the location/stree that you use it in, you can enter combat with a weak monster(Cultist, horror check auto-success), use the Flute, and kill everything in that space, which happens to be a Gug/Dhole/Color/Servitor/Mask/etc.

So with a regular gate opening, the flute doesn't give as much bang as it could, as there's usually only 1-2 monsters in a location. But after a monster surge or two and there a location full of monsters that just happen to all move on the same symbol, the flute becomes a great way to take out a horde that would've dealt that damage to someone anyway.

Granted, the Flute is also useful if you just happen to not have the resources available to take out something with good odds, as you strictly only need enough sanity to survive failing the horror check to use it. You don't even need the 3 stamina 3 sanity to use it you know! As the Flute does damage and isn't a cost, you could use it at 1/1! You'd be devoured of course, but that's the cost...

In my gaming group, it's pretty rare that someone will choose to buy the Flute over something reusable when they go shopping, but if it happens to be gotten for free, no one complains.


The fact that there are 10 is the good side.

This is similar to other races from the base Small World and its expansions. For example, ratmen get a larger number of tokens with no downside. Kobolds (never leave a kobold token alone), barbarians (no redeployment) and pixies (only 1 stays on the board in each region) all have even larger token numbers but have some kind of downside that let them play differently. Kobolds are good at spreading fast but only hold a normal amount of territory. Barbarians spread fast over lots of territory but can't defend it strategically. Pixies are like barbarians on steroids; even more tokens but even less ability to defend.

Mummies are similar; they get more tokens, allowing them to hold lots of territory, but they have a downside that makes them spread out more slowly. This can go well with powers that reward them for holding particular regions (the territory powers), or that want them to stick together (frightened). It also does well with certain powers, such as Tomb, by making the race much more resilient in decline. If you get a power or other ability that makes attacking easier (such as the rabbit sword), they can spread more quickly and hold more total territory.

Mummies are good when your goal is to build up a strong board presence, where consistency is more important than speed. As such, you generally don't want them as your first race unless they have a strong power combo. They'll do well when your previous declined race is still going strong, taking time to spread wide into their own large decline. Reborn is a great combo for your previous race, helping mummies spread quickly and then minimising the loss of previous pieces when they're ready to decline.

Additionally, as you mention, if the mummies aren't a great pick for the current game situation, they'll accumulate money as people skip them, making them more valuable later on.


How does Cairn Wanderer work outside the battlefield?

Cairn Wanderer's ability functions only on the battlefield. In any other zone it has none of those keyword abilities at all.

Here's how we find out

It's a static ability, so from CR 604: Handling Static Abilities we see:

  604.2 Static abilities create continuous effects, some of which are prevention effects or replacement effects. These effects are active as long as the permanent with the ability remains on the battlefield and has the ability, or as long as the object with the ability remains in the appropriate zone, as described in rule 113.6.

This points us to rule 113.6, which is the rule that tells us when abilities can actually function.

  113.6 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:

So Cairn Wanderer's ability functions only on the battlefield, unless it meets one of those (many) exceptions.

The closest we might get is a characteristic-defining ability:

  113.6a Characteristic-defining abilities function everywhere, even outside the game. (See rule 604.3.)

This points us to rule 604.3 which defines characteristic-defining abilities. It helps us identify them with some criteria, all of which must be met:

  604.3a A static ability is a characteristic-defining ability if it meets the following criteria: (1) It defines an object’s colors, subtypes, power, or toughness. [and some other criteria which don't matter at this stage]

Since it doesn't do those things, and instead defines abilities, it's not a characteristic-defining ability. It doesn't meet any of the other exceptions from 113.6 either. Therefore, this static ability functions only on the battlefield.


In rubber bridge, when should you "lead your partner's suit rather than your own?"

In general, you are correct not to lead that ratty heart suit with a bad hand. Instead lead DT hoping to catch a quack in dummy and partner with some cards in the suit. With luck you might get in again with a heart to lead the suit a second time for partner.

That being said however, the opponents bid game aggressively; in MatchPoints it might be better to try the heart 3 with the goal of not giving up an overtrick, rather than defeating the contract.

With the second hand, not playing MatchPoints I definitely lead the heart suit; or if the auction had finished 1NT - 2NT - 3NT I lead the heart because opponents have bid a minimum game. However in MatchPoints, with the opponents having bid to game strongly, I am leading the heart suit only because every other possibility is worse and so the heart lead is least likely to give up an overtrick.

Update:
As pointed out below by Ruds, if the opponents play CBS or NMF over 1NT in this auction, then the failure of responder to do so is a loud denial of a 5-card spade holding. In this case only a spade lead (highest spot usually, but dependent on leading conventions) can be considered at all vulnerabilities and styles.


How common are offensive words in tournament Scrabble play?

Short answer: HO is used rather often. LEZ, ABO, GOY are the next most common.

Methodology: I have a database of about a million games played on a popular internet Scrabble server played under the standard Tournament Word List. I scanned this for all uses of offensive words. Roughly 360,000 of the 27,000,000 moves used a word from the expurgated list, or 1.3% of moves.

This table lists the top most-used expurgated words, sorted by the number of times they were played. The rating here is the average rating of the player when the word was used. All the words on this table represent 90% of the uses of offensive words in "average" play among enthusiast Scrabble players.

Word  |   Uses   | AvgRating|    % all
  HO  |  148182  |     910  |   41.01%
 LEZ  |   26387  |     947  |    7.30%
 ABO  |   25423  |    1043  |    7.04%
 GOY  |   22458  |     936  |    6.22%
 YID  |   16771  |     984  |    4.64%
 PEE  |   14862  |     906  |    4.11%
 JEW  |   12065  |     926  |    3.34%
 WOP  |   11739  |     999  |    3.25%
 WOG  |   10105  |     975  |    2.80%
 POO  |    7257  |     947  |    2.01%
FART  |    5532  |     870  |    1.53%
 POM  |    5075  |     955  |    1.40%
JEWS  |    4211  |     910  |    1.17%
 HOS  |    3482  |     918  |    0.96%
SHIT  |    3200  |     876  |    0.89%
TURD  |    3018  |     943  |    0.84%
DAGO  |    2900  |    1032  |    0.80%

HO is obviously strongly represented by virtue of being a two-letter word; appearing in 41% of the 1.3% of offensive moves means it's played in about 1 in 5 games. You can see some vocabulary effects in the data -- ABO is not natively in many people's vocabulary (this is mostly an Australian thing to my knowledge), whereas FART certainly is.

Other trivia about uses of these expurgated words:

The next word on this list starts with C and you can probably guess what it is
The first seven-letter word is FARTING (169 uses)
240 of the 324 expurgated words were used
The word NITCHIE was played 7 times, but only ever by people rated above 1450 (strong player)
No word longer than 8 letters long was played


Should you reveal who was a spy and who wasn't at the end of a game?

I've never seen a single player (spy or not) being able to avoid cheering, asking "why you did that" or commenting a recently won/lost The Resistance match. This is an important moment of relief, discussion, curiosity satisfaction and laughter. It's like sharing an adventurous or humorous story with those at the table, maybe strengthening or creating friendship bonds between people.

It is true though, if you play this game a lot with the same group, they might find it easier to know if you're telling the truth or lying... but they will never be sure! And if you think they are, you can try to change your behaviour. One way to achieve that is to know what people expect you to do in certain circumstances, and to get to know that, you can talk about a recently played match. You can also try to copy or remix with your own approach another player's strategy, something that he also might tell you when the game ends. Bottom line: reinventing your play style and avoiding being obvious is also viable through conversation and experience exchange.

Keeping things secret allows you to keep your strategy to yourself and not being able to know what others know. Although mystery is also fun (The Resistance is all about mystery), I find it hard to understand how this way of being mysterious could be better then sharing the experiences in typical The Resistance play sessions. I must also add that some players might even end up frustrated, thanks to not being able to talk about what he and others were thinking.


In two-headed giant, does Nightveil Specter exile cards from both heads?

You only damage one player, so only one player will exile a card. You get to chose which player you damage in the Combat Damage Step.

810.7a Each team’s creatures attack the other team as a group [...]
810.7f As the combat damage step begins, the active team announces how each attacking creature will assign its combat damage. If an attacking creature would assign combat damage to the defending team, the active team chooses only one of the defending players for that creature to assign its combat damage to. Then the defending team announces how each blocking creature will assign its combat damage. See rule 510.1.


Is it ok to show my cards when I know I I’m the only one with spades left

The rules (in most spades rulesets) prohibit showing your cards, yes.

That said, what you describe is a pretty common practice in friendly games, as (as you note) the rest of the hand's play is foregone.

Note the Wiki entry's inclusion of the TRAM section (added in 2012, with no cited sources) also includes a paragraph on penalties for doing so prematurely -- penalties ultimately derived from the fact that showing the cards in your hand before playing them is not allowed.

None of the rules for spades that I've found (including all of the ones cited in the wiki page for Spades) allow it. Indeed I've only found one that mentions it at all, and it does so only to disallow the practice explicitly. From The Spades Connection:

  Each hand must be played to completion rather than announcing the rest
  are mine to avoid potential scoring errors.

  Cards dropped from any player's hand, (revealed to any other player)
  should remain face up on the table and played at the first
  opportunity.


You sure can. 903.9 says anytime a commander goes into exile, the graveyard, hand, or library from anywhere; you can instead put them into the command zone. This will, however, increase the cost to play them by (2) every time you do this, which is known as Commander Tax. E.g. First cast of Balthor from the command zone will cost the base of 2BB, 2nd time will be 4BB, 3rd time 6BB, etc.

Also, for older cards, make sure to check the oracle text on your card-viewing site of choice if the wording is confusing. (Gatherer is the official Wizards card-viewer.)


Can I redirect a spell that targets an "opponent" back to the caster?

In scenario 1, your opponent is still controlling Appetite for Brains, and since they aren't their own opponent, they are not a valid target for the spell. So you can't Redirect that spell back to them.

  102.2. In a two-player game, a player's opponent is the other player.

In scenario 2, Snake Umbra bestows an ability on the creature, which is now controlled by the opponent. You are the opponent's opponent, so they do get to draw a card.

Note that if Snake Umbra would've read "Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to an opponent, you may draw a card.", nobody would draw a card; you control the trigger, but you're not your own opponent.

Only if Snake Umbra would've read "Whenever enchanted creature deals damage to a player, you may draw a card.", you would have drawn a card.


Can I use Secret Invasion to transfer a trap card in front of me to another player?

No, you can't.

The trap is being kept in front of you as a reminder.  The effect has already been applied.

Arguably you could say that the reminder card moves, the the minus effect won't move with it.

Notice that the trap has no rules about discarding itself.  As currently worded, if it was applying the effect it would stay in front of you forever, giving you -15 until you found a way to discard it with a different card.  This doesn't happen because the card isn't officially in play - it's just a memory tool that you can discard freely once it's done with its purpose.


Yes, you can sacrifice a creature token to cast Fling, and it will work as you would expect. Fling just cares that you sacrifice a creature; it doesn't matter whether it's a card or a token. And Fling's effect just checks the creature's power, which works exactly the same way with a card or a token.


What rules are used in international events

There is no standardized international ruleset in Go.  Generally, a tournament will use the ruleset of the hosting country.

According to an article on Sensei's Library, at least in 2004 the Samsung Cup used Korean rules.

The Chunlan Cup is (again according to SL) the only international tournament played by Chinese rules.

The Ing Cup uses Ing rules.

I guess most other tournaments use Korean or Japanese (territory scoring) rules (?).


Could Cemetery Puca copy a Primordial Hydra?

Your initial thought is correct. It will get copied, become a 0/0 creature, and die (unless you have a way to save it through a static effect, like Anthem or Caged Sun).

Relevant rules:

  706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object's characteristics ... The "copiable values" are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by "as . . . enters the battlefield" and "as . . . is turned face up" abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.

So your Puca does have the "~ enters the battlefield with X counters", but that's irrelevant because it's not entering the battlefield anyway. The object already exists, it's just getting a facelift. (The X would be 0, but that doesn't matter because it isn't triggering.) As for the existing counters, the final clause states that counters are not copied. So you basically get to kill your own Puca by doing this. Which I suppose isn't so bad if you have a  Blood Artist or something. =)


Do creatures come into play tapped if they come into play at the same time as a card which says "Creatures come into play tapped"?

No, your opponent's creatures will not enter tapped.

The ability "Creatures your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped" creates a replacement effect on creatures entering the battlefield. Rule 614.4 says

  Replacement effects must exist before the appropriate event occurs -- they can't "go back in time" and change something that's already happened.

Since your Urabrask wasn't on the battlefield before your opponent's creature entered, it's ability does not effect that creatures.


Does someone really need to play Harry in the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game?

I'm the publisher. You CAN play without Harry's deck, but you run the risk of having an unsolvable board if you do.

Harry's Talent has the ability to rearrange parts of the board in order to move things closer that need to be cleared before other parts of the scenario can be taken on. So on some boards you might not need that — random shuffle being what it is. On others, it's make-or-break. The reason why it's necessary to play Harry might not be in the rules (frankly it's not necessary to explain the why in the rules); the statement "Always include the Harry Dresden deck" however is.


Why does Archfiend of Ifnir mention cycling, if it already mentions discarding?

With the current card pool, and under current rules the 'cycle or' part is unnecessary. It is most likely there as a reminder so that players don't need to remember that cycling involves discarding (for the cards that don't have reminder text for it). (It is possible for it to matter, if for example something replaces the discard, but there are no cards that do that currently)

I am unable to find a quote at the moment but I know people at Wizards have stated that they don't always try to make the shortest rules text they can. They are willing to make it longer if it improves clarity.

And now we have the Amonkhet Release Notes which state (emphasis added):

  An ability that triggers whenever you "cycle or discard" a card triggers only once if you cycle a card. The ability "Whenever you discard a card" is functionally identical to this ability; cycling is mentioned for clarity.


Is there a maximum duration for MTG official matches?

The MAGIC: THE GATHERING® TOURNAMENT RULES are the authority here.

The question of whether or not there is a time limit is covered by Appendix B. Essentially, there is no requirement, only a recommendation. In practice, most swiss rounds have time limits and most single-elimination rounds do not (though I have played in a tournament with timed single-elimination rounds once in my life).

Section 2.5 covers what happens if a match ends due to time.

If one player has won more games than the other, that player wins the match. Otherwise...
In swiss rounds, the match is declared a draw.
In single-elimination rounds, the winner is the player with the highest life total. If both players have the same life total, the game continues until someone loses due to having less life than the other.

  In single-elimination rounds, matches may not end in a draw. If all players have equal game wins at the end of
  additional turns, the player with the highest life total wins the current game. In the event all players have equal
  life totals (or are between games and the game wins are tied), the game/match continues with an additional statebased action: if a player does not have the highest life total, they lose the game. Two-Headed Giant teams are
  treated as a single player for determining a game winner.


If a permanent turns into a(nother) creature, has it entered the battlefield?

"Enters the battlefield" means moving from a zone besides the battlefield into the battlefield. As you say, it didn't actually enter the battlefield - it didn't change zones, it just changed from one thing to another within a zone. So no, it doesn't trigger evolve.
As for citations, well, there's a ruling explicitly for this land-becoming creature case on many of the lands that can become creatures (e.g. Celestial Colonnade):

When a land becomes a creature, that doesn't count as having a creature enter the battlefield. The permanent was already on the battlefield; it only changed its types. Abilities that trigger whenever a creature enters the battlefield won't trigger.

I don't think the comp rules really say this explicitly; they say the battlefield is a zone, and "entering" a zone clearly means coming from outside the zone into the zone. For example, there's stuff like this:

110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. A card or token becomes a permanent as it enters the battlefield and it stops being a permanent as it's moved to another zone by an effect or rule.
603.6a Enters-the-battlefield abilities trigger when a permanent enters the battlefield. ...

Nothing explicit, but consistently "entering" a zone is used to mean changing zones into that zone.


Pentad Prism interacting with Power Sink

Unfortunately not - Power Sink does not make the Pentad Prism more mana, it counters the spell unless you pay X. In the scenario above, you pay {r}{g} for the prism and {w}{u}{u}{b}{b} for the sink - so the prism enters with 2 counters.


MTG: What set is Seelenruhe (Tranquility in German) from?

This card is a Revised German Tranquility. For English sets without a set symbol only Alpha and Beta have black borders. But when Magic started out whenever a Core set was printed for the first time in a language it had black borders. The first printing of German Magic cards was Revised Edition, Strangely it seems that German Revised had at least 2 printings, one in black border and one in white.

Reference: Revised German Tranquility on Scryfall


If you give Seasons Past rebound it will still be placed on the bottom of your library. It will not be exiled and thus can not be cast during your next upkeep.

The rule for rebound says (emphasis mine):

  702.87a Rebound appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents a static ability that functions while the spell is on the stack and may create a delayed triggered ability. “Rebound” means “If this spell was cast from your hand, instead of putting it into your graveyard as it resolves, exile it and, at the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.

"Instead of" creates replacement effect that exiles the card in place of it going to the graveyard. Since Seasons Past is never put into the graveyard that event won't be replaced.


How does Imp Temple scale with multiple people and multiple discards?

It means once per turn. You can steal a single card once per turn.

It's hard to justify this beyond the wording of the card. The card says once per turn, so you can do it once per turn.

In your scenario, your player stole a card three times in a turn. That's not once per turn. Otherwise, it would say something along the lines of "one per turn for each opponent".

The ability refers to a singular card. "When you force an opponent to discard a card, put that card into your hand". If more than one card is discarded at once, you can choose which one to take, but you can't take more than one, because then you've done it more than once per turn.

The ability refers to a singular opponent. If more than one opponent discards, you can choose who to take from, but you can't take from more than one, because then you've done it more than once per turn.

For it to work on all discarded cards, it would say something along the lines of "Once per turn, when you force an opponent to discard any cards, put those cards into your hand instead." In your scenario, this would allow the player to get 2 cards from one of the opponents.

For it to work as your player believed, it would have to say "Once per turn, whenever you force any opponents to discard any cards, put those cards into your hand instead." Alternatively, it could just not have the once per turn limitation.


How can I mana ramp in a Commander game without helping my opponents?

In Commander, it's typical for decks of all colors to run "mana rocks" -- artifacts that generate mana. Some of the popular ones are: Sol Ring, Mind Stone, Thran Dynamo, Darksteel Ingot, Worn Powerstone, Dreamstone Hedron, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt. Some of these help with mana-fixing, others just produce colorless mana; the former is often helpful in a multi-color deck, but for mono-color you can just go with whatever's got the best resource yield. These cards are less sexy than straight-up mana doublers, but they'll give you a consistent edge right out the gate -- and usually draw less hate, to boot. (Spectral Searchlight is a pet card of mine I'd like to throw in here. It lets you play "friendly" by fixing someone else's mana or letting them cast some big spell a turn early, if you wish.)

Beyond mana rocks, any color deck can use Solemn Simulacrum, Pilgrim's Eye, Expedition Map (use it to tutor for cheaty lands like Coffers), and Doubling Cube. You can play mana Myrs if you seriously need the extra juice, but be ready for them to die to board wipes (Plague Myr deserves special notice -- slap some big equipment on him and he turns into a major threat).

There are colored cards that can do ramp, too. While green is known for ramping, being able to access almost the entire Vintage card pool (and getting to play higher-cost stuff because the game's not over in just a couple of turns) means every color has access to its own brand of acceleration.

Black's acceleration is surprisingly strong in the format. Cabal Coffers is very popular in black decks (or multi-color decks running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth). Magus of the Coffers and Nirkana Revenant give you even more Coffers-like effects. Black also has fast mana with old-school ritual effects like Dark Ritual and Soldevi Adnate.
White has rather little, but you can get extra lands with cards like Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer, and Knight of the White Orchid (get your land count lower than the rest of the table by using Ravnica bouncelands). Serra's Sanctum is strong in the right deck.
Blue's biggest asset is easy card draw. You can put a bunch of mana rocks in your deck without having to worry as much about them messing up your late-game topdecks. Drawing multiple lands per turn also combines nicely with Walking Atlas, Patron of the Moon, and Azusa (if you're blue-green).
Red has some pretty good fast-mana spells; for Commander, I like Mana Geyser and Brightstone Ritual. As far as more lasting options... Braid of Fire has already been discussed; Koth of the Hammer is solid, but will probably draw a lot of hate; Soulbright Flamekin is a quirky and underestimated dude who can buff your creatures and fix your colors at the same time. Red has something else going for it, though: plentiful land, artifact, and creature destruction spells you can use to knock out other players' key ramp component.

For a red deck, I'd look to artifacts for ramp first and foremost, just for efficiency's sake. Red's in-color rampy stuff is nifty but I find it difficult to use.

If you're looking to generate prodigious amounts of mana to power out X spells, you can also get more bang for your buck with damage doublers like Fire Servant, Quest for Pure Flame, and Furnace of Rath; and copy effects like Reverberate (copied spells have the same X values and kickers as the original).


"The Terrible Experiment" Mythos Card - How to deal with it?

The first time we encountered this rumor, we used Flute of the Elder Gods on it.  On reread, I suspect we were cheating but if you don't agree then that might be a strategy...which could be generalized as try and buy stuff to help (you do have a couple turns to prepare right after the rumor appears).
Note, the rumor also says "one or more monsters".  In subsequent runs I've definitely cherry picked the easy ones and let it build up again.  This is somewhat luck based and won't help you if they're all harder than you can defeat.  Similar to the above comments and other answer, if you have no-one who can fight at all, it is probably better to push on, so is dependant on the variables of the game (which make the game replay value skyrocket IMO=)).
I guess along with the above strategy if you have a bunch of easy monsters as trophies might be worth spending them to get them back in the pool.
It may also be noteworthy to newer players that the positioning of this rumor is between Hospital and Asylum so if you have a lot of money isn't a terrible position to recharge in between fights (well one stat anyway).  This is dependant upon how clean your streets are/your sneak, another variable :D
Really this answer and likely any answer could be applied to fighting in general.  The rumor just adds a terrible downside if you fail.


Dominion cards are always processed from the top down:

  To play an Action, the player takes an Action card from his hand
  and lays it face-up in his play area. He announces which card he is
  playing and follows the instructions written on that card from top
  to bottom.

-- Base rules PDF

However, "when you trash" cards interrupt the existing Action:

  Many cards in Dark Ages do something "when you trash" that card. These abilities function no matter whose turn the card is trashed on. The player that a "when you trash this" ability functions for is the player that had that card, regardless of whose card trashed the card. These abilities happen directly after the card is put into the trash, and can function in the middle of resolving effects for an Action card; for example, if a player plays Graverobber and uses it to trash a Cultist, he first draws three cards for trashing Cultist, then continues with resolving Graverobber and gains a card costing up to $8.

-- Dark Ages rules PDF

Therefore, you draw the card from trashing the Rats before the cards would be put back on top of your deck because Doctor has "Trash the matches." before "Put the rest back on top in any order." and the Rats trashing resolves during the "Trash the matches" section of Doctor.


When exactly does the black pawn gets placed on the board?

Yes, as soon as the player moves through the city you are in, you should interrupt them and inform them that you are in that city.  They then have the option of continuing with their original plan, or deciding to stop in that city and capture you instead.


Can a Pokémon attack more than once per turn?

As stated in the official Pokémon TCG rulebook:

  Once you attack, your turn is over (…)!

Pokémon TCG is a round-based game (just like Nintendo games) so you only get one attack as the last step of your turn. Even though you have enough energy to use an attack twice or to use two different attacks, you still need to choose only one attack and use it only once.


What happens if I give double strike to a creature right after the combat damage is dealt?

No, this won't create a second combat step. We only check for double strike (and first strike) at the start of the combat damage step, and not at any other time during. This means the rules have already determined there won't be another combat damage step. Here's what they saw:

Do any creatures have first strike or double strike? No.
Let's do regular damage then move on to end of combat.
End of combat.

So once combat damage has already started, it's too late to give anything double strike. You'll need to give your creatures double strike during the Declare Blockers step, before moving on to combat damage, so that the rules will see something has that ability and create that extra combat damage step at the start.

The relevant rule from the comprehensive rules for the combat damage step, emphasis added:

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

Side note (thanks to @Malco): In a different scenario, you could give double strike to a creature that already had first strike, once you get priority just after first strike damage has been dealt. This creature has already ensured that a first strike combat damage step exists, and giving it double strike allows the creature to deal damage in the regular combat damage step as well. This works since this is one of the points we do check for double strike in the middle of the step. From the end of the quote above, emphasis added:

  [If we created a first strike combat damage step, then] the only creatures that assign combat damage in [the regular combat damage step] are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike.


Yes, Wither applies to all damage, not only combat damage.

  702.79a Wither is a static ability. Damage dealt to a creature by a source with wither isn’t marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature. See rule 119.3.

Yes, Spirit en-Kor can still use its ability to redirect the damage. Olivia Voldaren is still dealing damage, it's just that the effects of that damage are different than normal, so the Spirit's ability can be used. And when the damage is redirected, the source of the damage is still Olivia, so Wither still applies.


Designing a 8x8 grid game, looking for example rules

Roborally does this on a far more complex scale.

Here you program the pieces 5 steps ahead and the board has obstacles, moving elements and traps. The board is also bigger and you have to complete a route in order to win.
Next you have some hitpoints so you won't die with one shot.


How can I beat green Tron with a control deck?

General Strategies:

It is a terrible matchup indeed. Your deck wins on the late game (except for possible reanimation auto-wins with Iona and Elesh) and the inevitability of Emrakul makes that impossible.

Anything that invalidates one of the threats of the deck will just be wasting time until Emrakul comes down, so I would try to attack the core of the deck: the lands!

From the two obvious land destruction lands I believe you are running the right one in Ghost Quarter. Tectonic Edge is probably terrible, since the deck can actually function with only 3 lands.
Crucible of Worlds can make a powerful combo with Ghost Quarter and that would force the Tron to bring in anti-hate from the sideboard.

Reanimation Targets:

I can only think of one: Terastodon, targeting his Tron pieces. If you can counter his threats and get that online on turn 5 he'll probably be in pretty bad shape.


Why is the card Earthcraft banned in legacy?

It is an infinite combo with Squirrel Nest.

Even though this probably is the main reason why Earthcraft remains banned, it isn't the reason why it was originally banned. To clear up the confusion, we need to take a look at the history of Earthcraft bannings:

  1999
  March
  Standard: Dream Halls, Earthcraft, Fluctuator, Lotus Petal, Recurring Nightmare, and Time Spiral are banned. Memory Jar is banned retroactively in mid March.
  ...
  September
  Extended: Dream Halls, Earthcraft, Lotus Petal, Mind Over Matter, and Yawgmoth's Will are banned.
  ...
  2003
  March
  Vintage: Berserk, Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall are unrestricted.
  Earthcraft and Entomb are restricted.
  Legacy: Berserk, Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall are unbanned.
  Earthcraft and Entomb are banned.
  ...
  2004
  September
  Vintage: Braingeyser, Doomsday, Earthcraft, and Fork are unrestricted.

From: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Banned_and_restricted_cards/Timeline

One of the reasons why Earthcraft is so broken (not in Legacy, but in Standard), is it was used to create infinite tokens with Wild Growth and Sacred Mesa. Wizards tried to fix all the fast combo decks with one go in the B/R announcement in March 1999.

Mark Rosewater posted this article on February of 2003. There is a explanation how Earthcraft was originally designed:

  Earthcraft (banned in Extended) – This card started as a simple idea. Ley Druid was an interesting green creature. How about an enchantment that gives the Ley Druid ability to all your creatures? The original card looked like this:

  Earthcraft

  Enchantment

  Each creature you control gains “: Untap target basic land.”

  At first glance, this might seem like the same card, but there is one key difference. The original version text spliced the ability onto creatures. This is important because it prevented endless loops since new creatures that were created would have "summoning sickness" and thus couldn’t be used to untap more lands to play additional creatures. (A quick aside – the term "summoning sickness" is no longer in the rules, but there is no new term to describe what "summoning sickness" used to mean and I refuse to use the term "doesn’t have haste" or "has been under your control since the beginning of your most recent turn" or whatever, so I have rebelliously used the term "summoning sickness." So there!)

  Why the change? Well, I happen to dig up the design notes from our database and discovered the culprit: JLM. (JLM, by the way, is Joel L. Mick, who at different times used to be Magic Lead Designer and Magic Brand Manager. The cards Jalum Tome and Jalum Grifter are both named after him. He was also the model for the art of Jalum Grifter. At the time of this note, he was Magic Lead Designer.)

  3.05 JLM Stop the needless text splicing. Word as “Tap an untapped creature you control: Untap target land.”
  3.07 MR We should examine whether or not this needs to only affect basic lands.
  I prefer basic lands.
  I think Joel’s wording is more complicated.

  The last two notes weren’t signed but were by either Bill Rose, Mike Elliott, William Jockusch, or Henry Stern. As you can see, while I’m not responsible for the de-splicing of the card, if left to my own devices you might see Vintage players using this card to untap Tolarian Academy or Gaea's Cradle.

Earthcraft is considered a broken card, even though it's not even close in power level as some of the other cards in the banlist. Unbanning probably won't change anything in the Legacy format, but it could make decks like Enchantress and Elves more powerful.


How do Chromatic Sphere, Archmage Ascension, and Panglacial Wurm interact?

can I start casting the Panglacial Wurm while I am still casting the other spell?

Yes. It doesn't matter at all that you are casting another spell[1][2].

If the game instructs you to cast (or gives you to option to cast) a spell, you must (or can) cast the spell. (And that's the only time you can cast a spell.) Most of the time, the instruction is in the rules, but it's on a card in this case.

You might say "But I'm casting a creature when the stack isn't empty, and it might not even be my turn." Doesn't matter. Pangalcial Wurm doesn't say "Cast Panglacial Wurm if it's you main phase and the stack is empty" like priority effectively does[3].

You cast the other spell (TOS):

You place TOS on the stack.
You makes some choices.
You determine TOS's cost.
You activate mana abilities:

You activate Chromatic Sphere's ability.
Chromatic Sphere's resolves immediately:

You add one mana of of the color of your choice to your mana pool.
You search your library for a card to place in your hand:

You cast Panglacial Wurm:

You place it on the stack.
You determine the cost to cast it.
You activate mana abilities.
You pay the cost to cast it.

You place the card in your hand.
You shuffle your library

You pay TOS's cost.

[People get to play spells and activate abilities here if they want.]
Panglacial Wurm resolves:

You place Panglacial Wurm on the battlefield.

[People get to play spells and activate abilities here if they want.]
TOS resolves

Notes:

Chromatic Sphere's ability is a mana ability, and it's possible to activate mana abilities while casting a spell. Casting a spell (or activating an ability) is to put it on the stack, make some choices (including targets), determine its cost, activate mana abilities, and pay its cost.
The stack isn't empty whether you use Chromatic Sphere's ability while casting another spell or not.
Priority could be defined as "Whenever you gain priority, Choose one — Cast a non-instant spell if it's you main phase and the stack is empty; ...; or pass priority unless all players have passed priority in succession."


From the rules describing the "Draw a card" symbol:

  If “any player”
  is specified (see that symbol),
  then you can draw a random
  card from his hand, or you can
  choose one in play in front of him.
  If no player is specified, draw the top
  card of the deck. In any case, cards
  drawn are added to your hand.

The rules don't explicitly clarify what happens when you're drawing from a player in range 1 rather than "any player", but it's reasonable to assume that the same rule applies to those two very similar cases. So yes you can take a blue card that's already in play and put it in your hand. And once it's in your hand, it's yours just like any other card so yes you can use that same card yourself.


If two people wanted to play, would each have to buy the cards?

Absolutely, for a reasonable expectation of "adequate". While there aren't enough cards included to create single-faction decks, you could easily make several, viable, multi-faction decks out of nothing but the base set. When you add in a couple of asylum packs, you're set for quite some time.


'Free City' with Babylon (B): How to play the special ability (2nd stage)?

The player controlling the Free City during the 6th turn plays the last remaining card in the Free City's draw pile.
The 7-wonders rules define each Wonder boards special abilities. (page 9)

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon the second stage gives the player the option of playing their seventh Age card instead of discarding it. This card can be played by paying its costs, discarded to earn 3 coins or used in the building of the third phase of the Wonder.
Clarification : during the sixth turn, the player can therefore play both cards they have in hand. If the second stage of the Wonder is not built, the Babylon player can then build it on their sixth turn and then play the seventh card instead of discarding it.

There isn't really a 7th turn in an Age, but it helps to think of it as an extra turn, since the resources used to build the 6th card as well as the 6th card itself are available to build the 7th and last card. This 7th card is normally the card that you would discard during the 6th turn of an Age, so that is the card that the player controlling the Free City can play to construct a structure, build their wonder, or if both if those are impossible to discard for 3 coins. (Page 7)

Clarification : The Free City cannot discard a card to get 3 coins unless it cannot play a card.
Note : during the sixth turn of the age, there is only one card remaining in the Free city’s draw pile. This last card is discarded at the same time as the seventh and last card of the players.


Does Soul Link give life twice in combat and fighting?

Yes, you are correct. When damage is dealt, 2 separate triggered abilities trigger. You will choose the order in which to put them on the stack, and then each one will resolve.

An example: Your Soul Link is enchanting a 3/3 creature, which is blocking a 1/1 attacker. When damage is dealt, your creature will deal 3 damage, and be dealt 1 damage. 2 abilities will trigger: "gain 3 life" and "gain 1 life". You will put them both on the stack, and get a total of 4 life.


Are the Pokémon TCG "Team Rocket" sets balanced against XY cards?

The newer cards will beat out the older cards very easily. If you want to play as an antagonist themed deck, then there have been Team Aqua, Magma, and Plasma sets recently. These sets will be able to keep up, plus you get the bonus of them being tournament legal (depending on the format).


What happens when you can't conquer regions?

You always have the option of picking up all your pieces and starting again from the edge of the board. You would probably be able to fairly quickly conquer all regions controlled by your opponent's inactive race.

From the rules, Page 6 - "Abandoning A Region"

  If the player chooses to abandon all the Regions he previously
  occupied, his next conquest must follow the same rules as its First
  Conquest


What is the Purpose of a "Ducking" Play In Bridge?

Ducking can be used for multiple purposes (not necessarily all on same hand, of course).

Some uses of ducking

Entry creation: This IMO is the primary use. Sometimes you duck in your side suit to make sure you have enough entries to establish the suit and cash it. Notice that the primary use of hold-up is to prevent opponents from having entries to cash a suit.

Example:

xxx
xx
AKxxxx
xx

AKx
AKx
xx
Axxxx

You are in 3NT, playing rubber bridge. Opponents lead a spade.

You have 5 tricks outside of diamonds and need at least 4 from the diamond suit. You have to hope diamonds break 3-2.

If you play diamonds from the top, on a 3-2 break, you will lose the third round, and establish the suit, but you will not have a way to cash them.

But if you duck the first round of the suit, then you have lost a trick while you hold a small diamond in your hand. Now once you get back in, you can play a diamond to dummy and play AK drawing the opponents diamonds and are in dummy to cash the rest of the suit.

Avoidance: You duck a suit making sure an opponent who cannot harm you will win the trick.

Example:

AQx
AKxxxx
xx
xx

9xx
xx
AKQJT9
AK

You are play rubber bridge and have gotten to a diamond small slam.

LHO leads the spade 7.

You have 11 top tricks, and the 12th can either come from either the spade finesse, or by establishing a long heart.

If you play the SQ at trick 1, RHO might with the K and knock out your spade A, thus removing your option of establishing the long heart too.

The correct play is a low spade from trick 1. The 9 in your hand ensure that your RHO has to win it, who cannot attack spades without giving your the 12 trick.

This play also lets you combine your chances.

Say RHO plays back a club. Now you can draw trumps, play AK of hearts and ruff a heart.
If hearts prove to be 4-1, you can fall back on the spade finesse.

Timing: You might duck to rectify the count of a squeeze, at a time it is convenient to you, etc.

A common example (for defence) which is cited for this is the following:

South is playing 6NT.

        KQJ
        AKJ
        AKQx
        Qxx
xxx           Axxx
xx            xxxxx
JT98          xx
JT98          xx
        xxx
        Qxx
        xxx
        AKxx

Say West leads a spade and East should hold up. Declarer wins and play a spade. East should hold up again. Now if declarer plays another spade, East can cash two tricks. If declarer abandons spades, no matter what he does he cannot avoid losing two tricks.

If east takes either the first or second spade, declarer's count is rectified and West gets squeezed in the minors.

As with almost every play, there are times where it would be a bad play. For instance, you duck and realize you just gave away the setting trick :-)


Can I play Yu-Gi-Oh! with only level 5 or higher cards?

Is it possible or recommended thing to do?

Possible yes. You can build your deck with the kind of cards you want. If that means a preference for lvl. 5 or higher monsters it's ok, as long as you respect the current banlist and card limits.

Recommended... perhaps not. Why? Because by only having lvl. 5 or higher monsters the only way to summon them would be by Special Summon or by Tribute Summon... as you have no lvl. 4 or lower monsters that you can Normal Summon without tribute, Tribute summoning your lvl 5+ monsters would be near impossible.

You would have to rely on strategies revolving cards like Cost Down or Ancient Rules to be able to summon your lvl. 5+ monsters without having to tribute... but that may not be the most efficient strategy to follow (of course, there could be an efficient strategy, but not easy to find).

However, there is an alternative that involves the use of house-rules: Specify the combat rules to be similar to the ones used on Duelist Kingdom Tournament as seen on the Anime. You can select only the ones you prefer, but the one that would solve your query would be, emphasis mine:

  Players could Summon monsters of any Level, without offering Tribute. This meant monsters such as "Dark Magician" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" could be Summoned immediately.

Of course, this would not be valid on official games or tournaments, but surely can work out if you are up to consider house rules.


From p12 of the rules (emphasis added),

  If you place a ship or road that connects to the intersection of an unexplored hex, you must immediately draw the top hex from the pile and place it face up in the empty space.

If you can ever build a settlement on an intersection, you must already have a road/ship connected to that intersection, so all those hexes should already be explored; exploring does not require a road/ship to be built on one of the hex's edges.


Are you remembering to pay the extra 1C per existing ice on a server when you install? If you install the 3rd ice, you have to pay 2C installation costs as well as the rez cost to then rez that ice.

There are also many cards which the runner has which can derez or trash ice once it is installed, Parasite being the most used example from the Core set.

The runner also doesn't have to get through every time; if they sit there gaining cash the corp won't be able to keep them out indefinitely. This means a rich runner puts the corp under a lot of pressure, since if the corp tries to score an Agenda, the runner can break into the remote server. If the corp doesn't try to score, they will soon have an HQ full of agendas which will be very profitable for the runner to run against.


Ora et Labora. Ideas for an alternative 2 player game ending rule?

The "extra turn" mechanism in Ora et Labora is something Uwe carried over from Le Havre. The intention is to avoid the The Kingmaker Dilemma, where a 3rd player is unable to win himself, but is able to choose between two actions that decide the winner. During the "extra turn", players can't be blocked out of actions, so each player acts in his own best interest to put the finishing touches on his board. There's a big stochastic factor in 3-4 player, where other players just happen to get in your way by accident; this is largely missing in 2 player.

Most of the points in the game usually come from buildings, and building them in a checkerboard pattern with settlements. Late-game buildings can be as many as 15-20 points just by sitting on your board between 2 or 3 settlements. If you're finding that 2-player games tend to find cycles which create lots of points (through relics, or wonders), you could try limiting them. Wonders are already limited at 8, but you could limit the relics (and pottery, books, and ornaments) to 16.


HeroScape is a miniature game where the battleground had complex 3D terrain. Line of sight was determined by where in the miniature the "eye" was.


If my opponent takes control of my creature, then it's exiled and later returns, is it still theirs?

The creature will return to play under its owner's control.
The comprehensive rules have the following to say on the matter:

610.1. A one-shot effect does something just once and doesn’t have a duration. Examples include dealing damage, destroying a permanent, creating a token, and moving an object from one zone to another.
[...]
610.3 Some one-shot effects cause an object to change zones “until” a specified event occurs. A second one-shot effect is created immediately after the specified event. This second one-shot effect returns the object to its previous zone.
610.3a If the specified event has already occurred when the initial one-shot effect would cause the object to change zones, the object doesn’t move.
610.3b An object returned to the battlefield this way returns under its owner’s control unless otherwise specified.

So exiling a creature is a one-shot effect, and Seal Away causes a creature to change zone from the battlefield to exile "until Seal Away leaves the battlefield", which means that 610.3 applies.
Thus according to the rules, as long as the Seal Away was still on the battlefield when its triggered ability resolved (so that the exiling happens at all, see 610.3a above), whoever owns the creature gets to control it when Seal Away is removed form the battlefield. Normally, that means whoever started the game with that card in their library (although there are exceptions, like a commander starting in the command zone, or cards brought into the game by the different wishes).


Can Gideon, Champion of Justice be exiled the moment he becomes a creature with his 0 ability?

Yes, while Gideon is a creature, you can target him with anything that targets creatures.

After Gideon's second ability has been activated; he is both a planeswalker and a creature. This means that he can be targeted by anything that targets either one of those.

  300.2. Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects combine the aspects of each of those card types, and are subject to spells and abilities that affect either or all of those card types.

At the time that you cast Final Reward, all that matters is that he is a creature, and so he is a legal target. When Final Reward resolves, he is also still a creature and still a legal target, so he will be exiled. There's nothing in the game that cares at that time that his being a creature is only temporary.

At the end of the turn, nothing will happen because the "until end of turn" was on a creature/planeswalker that no longer exists.


Can I sacrifice a creature before the creature spell resolves?

You can, but not exactly in the way you think.

First, Goblin Piledriver has to resolve before it can be targeted with Murderous Cut.

Second, once the Murderous Cut is cast, it goes on the stack and hasn't resolved yet.

At that point, both players get priority, and you then could cast Collateral Damage. Now, what's important is that the sacrifice of Collateral Damage is a cost, which is paid as the spell is put on the stack. That means that your opponent can't target it with a spell (say, another Murderous Cut) before it gets sacrificed.

You both pass priority.

Collateral Damage does its, well, damage, then Murderous Cut tries to cut your goblin, but it isn't there anymore, so it fizzles.


If player one has a meeple and a mayor and player two has just a mayor, then player one will win, as player one will have N + 1 strength vs player two's N strength, where N is the number of coat of arms (i.e. pennants) in the city.
From the rules:

The strength of your mayor is equal to the number of coats of arms in the city it occupies. If two or more players have meeples in the same city, it is scored as follows:
●Each normal meeple has 1 strength.
●Each large meeple has 2 strength.
●Each mayor has strength equal to the number of coats of arms in the city. If there are no coats of arms, the mayor has 0 strength.
When scoring a city, each player adds the strength of their meeples in the city. The player with the highest strength scores the points for that city. In case of a tie, all tied players score full points.

Note that "coat of arms" is the 2014 rules term for "pennant".  See When was "pennant" renamed "coat of arms" in Carcassonne? for more.


Can I peek at the cards under Bomat Courier whenever I search my library?

You can't look at the cards under Bomat Courier. The card's reminder text even says so explicitly. The fact that you could deduce that information doesn't change it.

This is covered by rule 406.3:

  Exiled cards are, by default, kept face up and may be examined by any player at any time. Cards “exiled face down” can’t be examined by any player except when instructions allow it. [...]


About Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet's effect + pay cost for no effect

Q1:
No you can't. You can only pay for costs with your own cards (so cards you control, in your grave/deck/hand...).
There are some cards that allow this, but it will be stated explicitly on the card.
E.g. the kaiju monster or 'chimeratech fortress dragon'.

Q2:
Won't work in this specific scenario for above reason, but to answer in general, this is also not allowed.
In the case of 'Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet' the reason is that as part of the cost, you need to target a monster on your opponents side of the field, so if there are none you cannot activate the effect.
To give a bit more obvious example of this, you can't activate 'Monster Reborn' if there's no monster in either players graveyard.


Personally, I like that goons opens up the possibility of winning without buying green cards as well as the possibility to have monstrous turns when you've stacked a few goons.

But fun is subjective, if it's not fun for a subset of the players in your group, it is simply not fun for them.

While attacks usually get meaner in Dominion games with more players, Goons isn't really one of the attacks that gets nastier in larger Dominion games.  Since being hit by 10 goons is no worse than being hit by 1, the number of players doesn't matter so much.  Contrast this with a card like witch, where the damage done scales in proportion to how many are played.

Messing with all 5 opponents isn't necessarily better than messing with a single opponent.  You still have to beat all of your opponents.  Imagine you could either get 5 points, or cost every opponent in the game 3 points.  In a 6 player game, you could theoretically cost each opponent 3 points, for a total of 3 * 5 = 15 points, but you'd still only have a relative advantage on each opponent of 3 points.  If instead you took the five point gain, you would have gained 5 points on each of your opponents.  Even though the "net damage" increases with the number of players, the "relative advantage per player" is really the important metric, which is often number of players invariant in Dominion.


Is there a good tic tac toe strategy for the second player?

As you know, tic tac toe is a solved game that end in a tie with optimal play.  And it's too short to really get any initiative as the second player, even for children.  Going second there is no way to force a win without 2 misplays from the first player.  So if you want a "strategy" for player 2, it really comes down to just not losing.

As for going first, I often liked taking a corner first because it offers more opportunities for my opponent to mess up (any square but the middle is a win for the first player with perfect play).


Magic: The Gathering - Can Charge Counters be put on cards that don't "use" counters themselves?

Yes, you can put Charge Counters anywhere that the ability/spell/whatever allows. For example, Coretapper's ability is limited to "target artifact", so any artifact it can target is fine. This sort of thing is exactly what Power Conduit is designed to take advantage of.


Yes, you have several opportunities to cast spells and activate abilities during the combat phase.

The combat phase is divided into several steps:

  506.1. The combat phase has five steps, which proceed in order: beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, and end of combat. The declare blockers and combat damage steps are skipped if no creatures are declared as attackers or put onto the battlefield attacking (see rule 508.8). There are two combat damage steps if any attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4).

At the start of each step (except end of combat), certain turn-based actions happen. At the end of each step, each player gets priority (the right to cast and activate abilities) in turn order before the game proceeds to the next step.

So as long as your vigilance attacker is on the battlefield, you can activate its ability. The Tap symbol in an ability's activation cost only means that the creature has to be untapped and without summoning sickness. It doesn't matter whether or  not it's attacking.


Eclipse 4 player FFA Convergent Strategy

In the pattern you propose, players A, B, and C all come out losing, and given what you propose, they should have known they would come out losing. Thus, they didn't make the best choice for them.

It is true that Eclipse, unlike most Eurogames I've played, rewards attacking weaker players, as opposed to encouraging you to go after the person in the lead to prevent him from winning. However, there are a few things that players could have done differently in your scenario:

Build up more. A shouldn't have attacked B when he did. If he knew that this would leave him weaker than C and thus be attacked by C, then he shouldn't have done it. Instead, he could have continued to build up, to a point where attacking B wouldn't weaken him when he does.

One way to do this is to rely on missiles instead of cannons. This tends to be very strong in the base game anyway. But when you win with missiles, you walk away as strong as you were when you went into the battle; rather than both sides taking casualties.

In games I've played, often attacking doesn't happen until the last several rounds. The beginning of the game is all about building up, and attacking only ancient ships that you are pretty sure you can beat without losses.
Teaming up. In the Rise of the Ancients expansion, you can officially team up, but even without that you can make alliances. If A was the strongest, then B, C, and D could have worked together to go after him. While you can't actually team up in a given battle, each player could attack a different one of A's territories, leaving him unable to defend them all.
Take chances. It doesn't require a "massive swing of luck" to defeat an opponent that has better odds than you do. Sometimes a better opponent may just have a 60% chance of winning. Even though you wouldn't generally attack someone in that position, there are times when taking that 40% chance of victory is your best hope at winning the game.

Similarly, on the other side, don't automatically attack someone just because the odds are in your favor. Even if you have a 75% chance of winning, often the penalty for losing will be enough that it's not worth the risk.
Rock-Paper-Scissors. This isn't a strategy to follow, but just a fact about the game. It is not always the case that just because A is stronger than B, and B is stronger than C, that A is stronger than C. A may be strong against things that B has, but weak against things that C has. This is especially true of things like missiles vs extra hulls. Consider this situation:

Player A has missiles and no extra hulls or cannons.

Player B has lots of cannons and a few extra hulls.

Player C has many hulls and a single cannon.

Here, A will usually defeat B. B will usually defeat C. And C will usually defeat A.

This shows that you can's simply order players in order of strongest to weakest.


Why do you get an extra point for each fenced stable in Agricola?

Unfenced stables give you a point by removing an unused farmyard space at the end of the game.

Since you get -1 point for each unused farmyard space, and stables count as a used farmyard space, they are also 'rewarded' with one point. In order to keep the balance, the rules ensure that you effectively get one point for each stable no matter where it is placed. This allows stable placement to be determined solely by your desired animal capacity instead of points for the stables themselves.

Alternatively, the game creators could have removed both of these benefits and given stables no points, but that would have made stables far too weak in the game.


Mansion Of Madness- Discarded combat cards specific type of combat(sharp,melee)

If a deck of cards runs out, the players shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck.

Source: Mansions of Madness Core Rulebook, page 25 - "Component Limitations"


In Bridge, Is "ruffing" a good enough reason to postpone drawing trumps?

There isn't really a single answer to this; when to draw trumps and when not to is probably the area where most judgement is called for, as opposed to applying rules.  You have to balance the probable gain from ruffing early against the possible loss if the opponents ruff your winners later (or, of course, over-ruff).  I realize this isn't necessarily helpful, so here's a list (non-exhaustive) of factors that weigh against taking out trumps:

You can use a trump in the short hand (ie one that would be swallowed if you take out trumps).

You have enough high trumps to ruff high without compromising control.

You have a long suit that can be established by a ruff or two (in which case of course you must take out trumps after the ruff).

After one or two rounds, the opponents have the high trumps: they're going to win anyway, no sense in letting them take your trumps as well.

You can see that normal play, such as taking out trumps, will leave you one trick short, so a gamble will give better returns than normal in the score.


In the Commander/EDH format, when a player's Commander/General would be either sent to Exile or to the Graveyard, that player may choose to instead send the Commander to the Command zone, as a replacement effect.

When a replacement effect takes place, the original event never happened. When a player returns their Commander to the Command zone instead of exiling it, you can pretend the exiling spell says something to the effect of "return target creature to the Command zone," instead of "exile target creature."

As to the question, the answer is: "it depends." What it depends on is not, in fact, the timing of the return to the battlefield, but the specific wording of the return. In particular, you must distinguish between referring to a card in the Exile zone ("the exiled card") and the card representing the object that left the battlefield ("that card," "it," etc.)

Flicker: "return it to the battlefield"
Momentary Blink: "return it to the battlefield"
Otherworldly Journey: "return that card to the battlefield"
Cloudshift: "return that card to the battlefield"
Oblivion Ring: "return the exiled card to the battlefield"
Voyager Staff: "return the exiled card to the battlefield"

If the "flicker" effect looks at "the exiled card," it will only look to the Exile zone to find the card to bring back. Otherwise, the flicker will look to the first public zone that the object moved to (ie, the zone which the flicker effect moved the object to, as modified by any replacement effects), and because returning your commander to the Command zone is a replacement effect and the Command zone is a public zone, the flicker effect will track your Commander there. (Note: If your Commander changes zones before the flicker effect brings it back, the flicker will lose track and won't return your Commander to the battlefield. This is because by changing zones it has become a new object.)

It is thus advantageous to return your Commander to the Command zone when it's exiled by "that card"-type flickers, as it will still return to the battlefield later... and if an opponent casts Stifle (or similar) on the return trigger or uses something like Time Stop to end the turn in response to the trigger, your Commander will merely be stuck in the Command zone (from whence you may re-cast it, paying the Commander tax), rather than stuck in Exile (from whence there are 3 cards in the game that could retrieve it).

Notes:

Natedogg rules on Cloudshift (Natedogg is a Net Rep for Wizards of the Coast)
Sheldon rules on Mistmeadow Witch (Sheldon is one of the creators of the Commander/EDH format, and for many years was a Level 5 judge)
Natedogg retracts a ruling against Glimmerpoint Stag
Natedogg spells out the ruling explicitly


Cylon loyalty card abilities and the New Caprica detention location

No. Abilities that are affected by the brig are affected by the detention area. The FAQ covers this under Pegasus Expansion (page 2), Brig, Sickbay, Detention Area, Medical Center

If you don't like that answer, the Pegasus Rulebook (page 14) states:

  As is the case with the Brig, players cannot use the reveal actions on loyalty cards while in Detention.


Is it better to learn to play bridge by reading about it, or just playing?

I think you'd be hard-pushed to learn Bridge just by reading about it.  There are many, many excellent books out there, but until you're sitting down at an actual table it will be hard to visualise what it actually feels like, having only partial information, trying urgently to communicate your hand to your partner despite your opponent continually getting in your way.

Equally, I think it'd be a slow process learning Bridge just by playing it.  Sure, you'll get better and better as the fundamental concepts begin to dawn on you; but Bridge is an immensely subtle and sophisticated game and some of the finest game-playing minds of this and last century have thought about it for millions of hours.  Reading some of the greatest writers on the subject will be a short-cut to ideas and epiphanies that would take you years or decades to stumble across in the course of playing with just the basics under your belt.

So to answer your question, yes I would "just master the most basic rules and then try playing"; but I'd make sure to keep reading more, then playing more, then reading more again!  Bridge is an incredibly deep game, perhaps unequalled in depth by any other game - you could easily spend your life playing it, mastering it, assimilating the ideas of others who have tried to master it.  It's well worth it though - I envy you your journey!


Can I use Smite the Monstrous on creatures given increased power/toughness?

if the enchantment is exiled/countered, the creature would revert to the 3/3.

This sentence is ambiguous. If the Enchantment spell was countered, the creature was never 4/4 in the first place. If the Enchantment was destroyed while enchanting the creature, then the creature would revert to 3/3. Let's go through both situations:

When your opponent plays the enchantment card it goes to the stack.
At this time it's a spell, not an enchantment.
You then have a chance to respond to it.
In this case, you need a counterspell to counter the enchantment spell. (Something that says "target spell")
(You can't cast Smite the Monstrous because the creature is still 3/3 at this time.)
If you do, the spell is then countered.

The creature was never 4/4 because the enchantment spell was countered. It never became an Enchantment and never did its thing.

Alternatively, you can let the spell resolve. It then becomes an Enchantment and will make the creature 4/4.
At a later time, when you have priority to play spells, you can cast Smite the Monstrous. Since the creature is 4/4, it is destroyed.

It doesn't matter if a bonus to power/toughness is temporary; it's 4/4 at this time. The whole point of playing the Enchantment was to give the creature +1/+1. You can't just pick and choose when it benefits you. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
(If I had a dime for every time a player tried to do that...)


Can I activate Dawn of Hope's ability twice while only paying its mana cost once?

As you stated, there are two lifelink events, both setting up an independent instance of Dawn of Hope's trigger. In order to draw two cards, you have to spend 4 mana; the second trigger doesn't 'remember' you've paid already for the first trigger.


Can Fabled Passage generate two mana with Amulet of Vigor?

Yes, you can get 2 activations out of the land you fetch with Fabled Passage if you also control Amulet of Vigor, though technically a little different than you describe.

When the land fetched with Fabled Passage enters the battlefield, it always enters tapped. That means Amulet of Vigor triggers, but the Amulet's ability does not go on the stack yet. It waits until Fabled Passage's ability has finished resolving:

  116.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 116.5.

Fabled Passage finishes resolving, and the land you fetched is untapped when it has finished resolving. Since an ability resolved, you as the active player get priority:

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

Before you get priority, Amulet of Vigor goes on the stack. You can now tap the land for mana and float it, then let Amulet of Vigor resolve, untapping the land again. You can now tap the land again for the second time. and use the mana as you see fit.


Where can settlements be built near undiscovered hexes?

An intersection is formed at the point where three hexes meet. The intersection is hence adjacent to these three hexes. A settlement cannot be built if any of these three hexes is as yet undiscovered. The rule means nothing else, hence a settlement can definitely be built closer to an undiscovered hex than two road lengths away; it just has to be at least one road length away.


Why do cards like Isochron Scepter have more than one "may" clause?

Warning: Clicking on the first link will download a .doc file.

From A Summary of Recent Rulings published by the Magic Rules Team in February 2005:

ERRATA -- ORACLE WORDING CHANGES

Isochron Scepter and Similar Cards

The Mirrodin(R) block contains a group of cards that create copies of cards and allow a player to play those copies.  The creation of the copy and then the playing of the copy are both optional.  The text has been clarified to indicate that each action is an optional choice.  If the spell can't be legally played, choosing not to use either option is acceptable.  There is no functional change in the way these cards are played.  The new Oracle text for the cards is as follows:
[...]

As spelled out here, the errata was not a functional change, which means that despite how the printed text may be interpreted today, each action has always been optional.

Why would I ever choose option 2? Is there ever a situation where choosing option 2 results in a different game state than if I had chosen option 1?

At the time this answer was written, option 1 and option 2 are identical. However, if a card were printed tomorrow with the text...

Whenever you copy a card, you gain 1 life.

... then suddenly the two options would be different.


How does fire on sidewalk spaces affect vehicles (outside of the building)

Fires spread outdoors and affect firemen/victims accordingly, but are removed at the end of the Advance Fire phase, so they shouldn't have any impact on vehicle movement.