In response to Meren's end of turn trigger, could I sacrifice a creature?

You cannot sacrifice a creature in response to Meren's triggered ability and then bring that creature back with the ability, but you can sacrifice a creature at any time before that in the turn and bring it back with the ability.

For all abilities and spells, including triggered abilities like on Meren, you choose targets as part of the process of putting the spell or ability on the stack. So by the time you have a chance to respond, the target is already set. In the situation you describe, the sequence of events plays out like this:

The end step begins. Meren's ability triggers.
You put Meren's ability on the stack. As part of the process of doing that, you choose the target, which has to be a creature card that is in your graveyard at this time.
You gain priority, which means that you have a chance to respond. At this time you can sacrifice a creature.
Meren's ability resolves and it returns the creature chosen in step 2 to the battlefield or your hand.

Adding in a Conjurer's Closet doesn't really change anything, but that situation plays out like this:

The end step begins. Meren's ability and Conjurer's Closet's ability both trigger.
You put Meren's ability on the stack first. As part of the process of doing this, you choose the target, which is a creature card that is in the graveyard at this time.
You put Conjurer's Closet's ability on the stack second, on top of Meren's ability. As part of this process, you choose the target, which is a creature you control.
You have a chance to respond with both abilities on the stack.
Conjurer's Closet's ability resolves. It exiles the creature chosen in step 3, then returns it to the battlefield.
You have a chance to respond to Meren's ability. At this time you can sacrifice a creature.
Meren's ability resolves and it returns the creature chosen in step 2 to the battlefield or your hand.


Can I copy a counter spell to then counter said counter?

Yes, that's a perfectly valid play.
For this specific case of Reverberate, these are the rulings you should take into account:

8/15/2010: Reverberate can target (and copy) any instant or sorcery spell, not just one with targets. It doesn't matter who controls it.
8/15/2010: When Reverberate resolves, it creates a copy of a spell. You control the copy. That copy is created on the stack, so it's not “cast.” Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won't trigger. The copy will then resolve like a normal spell, after players get a chance to cast spells and activate abilities.
8/15/2010: The copy will have the same targets as the spell it's copying unless you choose new ones. You may change any number of the targets, including all of them or none of them. If, for one of the targets, you can't choose a new legal target, then it remains unchanged (even if the current target is illegal).
8/15/2010: If the spell Reverberate copies is modal (that is, it says “Choose one —” or the like), the copy will have the same mode. You can't choose a different one.
8/15/2010: If the spell Reverberate copies has an X whose value was determined as it was cast (like Earthquake does), the copy has the same value of X.
8/15/2010: You can't choose to pay any additional costs for the copy. However, effects based on any additional costs that were paid for the original spell are copied as though those same costs were paid for the copy too. For example, if a player sacrifices a 3/3 creature to cast Fling, and you copy it with Reverberate, the copy of Fling will also deal 3 damage to its target.
8/15/2010: If the copy says that it affects “you,” it affects the controller of the copy, not the controller of the original spell. Similarly, if the copy says that it affects an “opponent,” it affects an opponent of the copy's controller, not an opponent of the original spell's controller.

Notice that, if you're copying a spell such as Disrupting Shoal, you'll probably not be able to counter it, since Disrupting Shoal requires the spell's CMC to be equal to X, and its CMC on the stack will always be X+2. The same is true for spells such as Remove Soul or Overwhelming Intellect, which have a specific requirement that says they can only counter creature spells.
Also, quoting Arcanist Lupus' comment:

Worth noting perhaps that if you use Reverberate and don't choose a new target for the copy, then your copy of the counterspell will counter the original spell, and the opponent's counterspell will be countered as a state-based effect. This has very little utility, but could come up in a multi-player game if, for example, one opponent was playing a Guile-based control deck, and they counter a spell that you also want countered.


Victory conditions with the "Limited Range of Influence" option

Anthony would force himself to draw that game.

  801.16. If the game somehow enters a "loop" of mandatory actions, repeating a sequence of events with no way to stop, the game is a draw for each player who controls an object that's involved in that loop, as well as for each player within the range of influence of any of those players. They leave the game. All remaining players continue to play the game.

Grand Melee is set up so that no matter who the Active Player is any given player is inside only one AP's range of influence[807.4d]. This is so that you can't have weird things happen like being within the range of influence of 2 different players at 2 different parts of their turn, because Magic doesn't really support, for example, being in both an upkeep and combat step at the same time.

Since there is no way for Anthony to progress any farther in the current turn than the Cleanup Step, the current turn can't end for him. If somehow someones range of influence were allowed to move into him that would then mean he was currently part of 2 separate turns and that just doesn't make sense in Magic.


This thread on BoardGameGeek asks the same question.  According to this post, the game developer provided this ruling:

  The user of the card does not need to be on the same tile as the pawns being moved.


You need to look for abilities that can be activated from places other than the 'field, since abilities don't trigger Standstill.

You can cycle Resounding Wave targeting Standstill and a land, as cycling is an activated ability it won't cause Standstill to trigger.

  702.28a Cycling is an activated ability that functions only while the card with cycling is in a player’s hand. “Cycling [cost]” means “[Cost], Discard this card: Draw a card.”


What's the current state of Magic: The Gathering online play?

There are two typical ways to play MTG online:

With the official client, where you spend money and build a collection of cards, just like with paper cards, except virtual. The community is very strong. The last number I seem to recall was that MTGO creates about as much revenue as the global paper MTG (and that was back in 2007), so the online player population is about as large as the offline population, except everyone is in one place, so it is infinitely easier to find a game at any given time. Managing large collections and building decks from it is of course also much easier.

The other way is to try one of the countless free clients out there, some of which provide rules checking. I'm not well informed of that scene, but a quick google search should get you started in no time. Of course, there is not much of a collecting aspect there, because you just put together your deck from the whole pool and play, but OTOH it's absolutely free, financially.

As for having a collection aspect AND doing so more or less free: AFAIK you could do that in the official online game. Money buys you tokens, and tokens buy you cards and entry fees to tournaments. In tournaments, you can win tokens. So, as the legend goes, if you're good enough, you can "go infinite", basically playing and increasing your collection for free. The existance of such players has been doubted, however, and I've never played MTGO, so I wouldn't know for sure.


How to build a multi-colour aggro deck to be more effective against control

You've stated that your card pool is limited, and your ability to buy more cards is even more so.  This restricts specific card advice significantly, so I'm going to give some general advice on the process of tuning the deck.

Running a 3 color deck is difficult, as you've already noticed.  Without some specialized cards which are in many cases quite expensive to obtain, it is hard to be competitive.  Here's what I would do:

Ensure the deck is 60 cards, you can go a little higher if you need to.  In no case should you be anywhere near 80+ cards though!  The more cards you add, the more likely you are to get some really weird mana fluctuations.  It's also difficult to sufficiently randomize a larger deck.
Make sure you have enough land!  For a 3 color deck, I'd want probably 24 land and a couple mana producers.  Upwards of 26 land if you have no other mana producers (artifacts/birds of paradise) to include.
Proxy some dual-lands.  Take 4 swamps and write "Red/Green" on them, take 4 plains and write "green/blue".  They are land that can generate either color as necessary (but only 1 mana a turn from each land).  When you are playing with friends, I think a little proxying is fine, but be sure to let them know about it before hand.  Encourage them to try out a few cool old cards as well!  Just because you didn't spend $2000 in 1996 on cards doesn't mean you shouldn't experience those cards every so often.
As you play the new tuned/proxied deck try to figure out which colors are most important.  Shift things around to try to favor 2 colors, focus the third color on being the "finishing" color.  This will allow you to decrease the mana supply for that third color and will make your deck run smoother.  An example would be just including a few mountains and a couple fireballs.  In other words, try to move your color mix from 40%/30%/30% to 40%/40%/20% or even 50%/40$/10%


As far as the rules go the only difference is that the end of the game is triggered by one person completing 9 objective cards as opposed to 7 and 8 with 3 or 4 players respectively.

Takenoko works great as a 2 player game, there isn't much difference between the player counts. In fact, the game might be slightly less random with less people, but luck still plays a large role either way.


How does Applied Entropy (Control) and Sealed Scroll interact?

No, the player can not target the sealed scroll.

The rules (emphasis from the printed rules) for fast actions State :-

  You may not use a Fast Action after you take your regular
  Action.  Also, you may not use a Fast Action in place of a Regular
  Action.

The Control spell, level 3 of Applied Entropy, says :-

  Action: use an opponents Treasure Card, exhausting it after use.

Sealed Scroll says :-

  Fast Action: Research a Legendary Spell of your choice, then place this into your personal discard pile.

So as the player is in his action phase he can not then go back and do anything that counts as a Fast Action from his own cards or that of another players.  As Control is 'Action' and Sealed Scroll is 'Fast Action' this is completely prevented.


Can I use two different cards with the same name in Commander?

No, card art or any other piece of information printed on a card doesn't matter. For card identity, the only factor is the English name being equal or not.
There are several reasons why cards with the same name can look different in print. They can be translated into another language. They can have alternate art in the same set (e.g. Hymn to Tourach). They can be reprinted in a different set, potentially with new art and/or general card style. Cards from different sets can have different printed characteristics, such as differently worded abilities, or different types (see THE GRAND CREATURE TYPE UPDATE
) due to changes in the rules or general wording conventions. Very early cards can even have misprints, such as Blue Hurricane.
However, ultimately the only factor in deciding whether or not two cards are identical is their English name; on a related note, the official characteristics of a card can be found on the Oracle website

108.1. Use the Oracle card reference when determining a card’s wording. A card’s Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card database at Gatherer.Wizards.com.
201.2. A card’s name is always considered to be the English version of its name, regardless of printed language.
903.5b Other than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name.


Is Flesh Allergy combined with Grave Pact counterproductive?

Question 1: Does my Grave Pact make it impossible to "destroy target creature" (Flesh Allergy) since my opponent would have sacrificed his creatures?

You can cast the Flesh Allergy targeting their creature, but the spell will fizzle when it goes to resolve since the creature will have already been sacrificed due to Grave Pact's trigger.

  Question 2: What if I first cast Flesh Allergy and after the spell has resolved I (as an interrupt so to speak) sacrifice 10 creatures to deal maximum damage? Then the second ability would resolve?

There is no opportunity to cast spells or activate abilities during a spell's resolution. Flesh Allergy checks to see how many creatures have died this turn when it goes to resolve, and creatures that die later in the turn will have no effect.


What happens to Poison Counters after the Player that gave them leaves the game?

They remain on the player who has them. Counters are not owned by the player that created them, they just are there once created and are not removed unless an effect specifically says to remove them. That means that even if only one player is using infect and is removed from the game proliferate can still cause another player to lose due to poison.

There is only one thing in magic that actually removes poison, the card Leeches.

A new game started with Karn Liberated will not keep the counters a player had when the new game begins. These counters, like everything else in the original game cease to exist.


In Terraforming Mars, do special tiles count as tiles you own when placing greenery tiles?

Yes.

Special tiles have your player marker on them, so they are your tiles, just like greenery or city tiles.

From the rules, page 5:

  Special tiles: Some cards allow you to place
  special tiles. Any function or placement
  restriction is described on the card. Place the
  tile, and place a player marker on it.

And

  Player markers: Each player uses his own color
  to mark TR, ownership of tiles, production
  (see page 6), and to indicate used blue card
  actions (see page 11).


Some of the strategy will depend on the bids of the non-nil players.  In Suicide Spades, the non-nil players must have each bid at least 4, but that could still be anything between 4 and 13.  A bid of nil is equivalent to a bid of 10 in terms of points (100 if you win, -100 if you lose), so a non-nil player who has bid in the realm of 10 is as concerned with making their bid they are with protecting their partner's nil bid.  Meanwhile, a player who has bid in the realm of 5 is much more concerned with protecting their nil bid partner.  Bags are also a concern, as bags are worth up to -10 points each.

For the sake of the rest of the discussion, let's call the players A, B, C, and D, where B and C are the ones who made the nil bids, so A and D are leading rounds after the first (unless one of B or C takes a trick).  Here are some specific considerations:

D has the benefit of going last in some rounds, which A never has.  Thus, D should keep some low cards to be able to capitalize on the situation where C has played the highest card.
C has the benefit of playing after B each round, and thus can play the highest card still covered by B each round.  This positional benefit may rival D's.
A and D, by leading far more often than usual, have a much easier time getting a void in a suit, and probably want to do so, as this allows them to use a spade on that suit or lead spades to allow their partner to get rid of any spades.  The risk of this is if they lead a low card, one of the two nil players is more likely to take the trick, but it's not necessarily clear which.
It is especially important for A to get a void if A wants to lead spades, as D can reduce A's options by not breaking spades.
If either of A or D knows that their partner has a void in a suit, they should definitely lead low in that suit, as this has a decent chance of forcing the other nil bid player to take the trick.
If you are playing suicide spades, or are playing regular spades and two players have already made nil bids, you may want to bid several higher than you were originally planning, as multiple players will be actively avoiding taking tricks.


Pulsar says when, tuningware says if.

When Pulsar is sent to the grave during synchro summoning is in the middle of a resolving chain, and nothing can occur other than the resolving chain.

However tuningware and similar cards that say if only require it to go to the grave sometime during a chain to have their effect go off


MTG Cards that interact with each other by name

Creating a search query that returns all cards that reference other cards, without having false positives or false negatives is difficult, but I will show the kinds of things to search for to find some of them. All of these queries are using MagicCards.info

  o:named

This is the most basic one, it searches for all cards with "named" in their card text. This generates a lot of false positives, mostly cards that refer to themselves like Accumulated Knowledge, cards that have someone name a card like Booby Trap, or ones that create tokens with names like Boris Devilboon.

This part is always required, and will be left out of future queries for brevity.

  -o:~

This removes any cards that have their own name in the text box. This creates some false negatives from things like Diligent Farmhand, but also removes a large number of false positives (It removes about 100 cards from the results).

  -o:"name a card"

This removes any cards that have the text "name a card" in the text box. I don't think this creates any false negatives, but doesn't remove that many cards from the result (less than 20).

  -o:"token named"

This removes any cards that have the text "token named" in their text box. Note that this only removes things with vanilla tokens (ie ones with no abilities), ones that have abilities like Wirefly Hive will still show up. It also removes the Helm of Kaldra since it produces a Kaldra token.

Combining all of these into (with -is:silver-bordered to remove Un-cards)

  o:named  -o:~ -o:"name a card" -o:"names a card" -o:"token named" -is:silver-bordered

We get a list of 18 cards, 3 are false positives, and several cards like the Helm of Kaldra that don't show up, but it gives you a starting place to work from.

The Unspeakable

Sift Through Sands
Peer Through Depths
Reach Through Mists
The Unspeakable

Kaldra

Helm of Kaldra
Shield of Kaldra
Sword of Kaldra

Nissa

Nissa Revane
Nissa's Chosen

Empire Artifacts

Crown of Empires
Scepter of Empires
Throne of Empires

Spiders

Arachnus Spinner
Arachnus Web

Scion of Darkness

Dark Supplicant
Scion of Darkness

Spirit of Night

Urborg Panther
Feral Shadow
Breathstealer
Spirit of the Night

Viashivan Dragon

Kyscu Drake
Spitting Drake
Viashivan Dragon

Alternate Timeline Weapon-makers

Renowned Weaponsmith
Heart-Piercer Bow
Vial of Dragonfire

Bant Angel

Angels' Herald
Empyrial Archangel

Esper Sphinx

Sphinx's Herald
Sphinx Sovereign

Grixis Demon

Demon's Herald
Prince of Thralls

Jund Dragon

Dragon's Herald
Hellkite Overlord

Naya Beast

Behemoth's Herald
Godsire

Bursts

Muscle Burst
Diligent Farmhand
Flame Burst
Pardic Firecat


How much damage do my other Goblins deal if my Goblin Chieftain dies during the first strike step?

First of all, Goblin Chieftain does not give any kind of counters.  It just modifies the P/T of goblins while it is on the battlefield.

Secondly, First Strike creates two combat damage steps.  One in which only Elite Inquisitor (and any other potential First Striker) deals it's combat damage.  In your scenario, this will kill the Goblin Chieftain.  In the second combat damage step, non-First Strike creatures deal their damage.  Since the Chieftain is no longer there, they do not get the +1/+1.

You will deal 3 damage.

  702.4b/702.7b If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike 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.


Ugin's Conjurant vs. un-preventable damage

If Ugin's Conjurant takes damage that cannot be prevented, it will both take the damage and lose that many +1/+1 counters. This is covered by rule 615.12:

  Some effects state that damage “can’t be prevented.” If unpreventable damage would be dealt, any applicable prevention effects are still applied to it. Those effects won’t prevent any damage, but any additional effects they have will take place. Existing damage prevention shields won’t be reduced by damage that can’t be prevented.

So, if the Ugin's Conjurant has 10 +1/+1 counters on it and it is hit with a Banefire for 5 damage, it will end up as a 5/5 with 5 damage marked and it will die.


Can the Mah Jong force out the Phoenix as part of a straight in Tichu?

Yes, the 7 is forced out in this case. The rule for the wish is that if a player has any legal play that involves playing the 7, then he must do so.

Note that if the player had 5,6,Ph,8,9; then he would NOT be forced to play that straight; because he doesn't actually have a 7.


Does the Event Card have to be drawn first when encountering a Town space in A Touch of Evil?

Generally, I would say that since the drawing of the event card is mandatory and the heal action is optional, the drawing of the event card happens first. However, the rules do say:

  The town of Shadowbrook is divided
  into a number of spaces.  Each of these
  spaces allows the Hero to draw an Event
  card when Encountering the space as well
  as a special ability that can be used when
  Encountering the space.

and

  Every other named space
  has game text printed on the board.  To
  Encounter any of these spaces, follow the
  game text listed there.  You will notice that
  most of the Town spaces also have one or
  more special abilities which may be used
  while Encountering the Space (for instance,
  at the Doctor’s Office you may Heal and
  /or Cure a Curse in addition to the Draw
  an Event game text).  These Town space
  special abilities are always optional.

That kind of sounds like the intent of the special abilities may be to help deal with the event cards drawn during the encounter. If that's the interpretation, I'd rule that you can heal first, but that might be a bit of a stretch. "Encountering the space" seems to mean the entire interaction with the space, not just the event card.

Since there isn't a definitive answer in anything I can find, I'd go with the rule-of-thumb that mandatory happens before optional.


Can damage be removed from creatures after it's already been dealt?

The only ways damage marked on a creature is removed are:

The cleanup step at the end of the turn
When a creature regenerates instead of being destroyed
When a creature enchanted with Totem Armor would be destroyed
When  Pyramids has prevented a land (which had been/is a creature with damage marked on it) from being destroyed

Note that the last three replace destruction of the creature with removing all damage, but it doesn't need to be the damage that causes the destruction.

  119.6. Damage marked on a creature remains until the cleanup step, even if that permanent stops being a creature. If the total damage marked on a creature is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed as a state-based action (see rule 704). All damage marked on a permanent is removed when it regenerates (see rule 701.12, “Regenerate”) and during the cleanup step (see rule 514.2).

  702.88a Totem armor is a static ability that appears on some Auras. “Totem armor” means “If enchanted permanent would be destroyed, instead remove all damage marked on it and destroy this Aura.”


Trying to remember card game I played a few years back

This looks like Skip-Bo or Spite and Malice:

Each player is dealt a stockpile of 30 cards. The winner will be
whoever manages to empty their stockpile first. Cards are played onto
four shared building piles in numerical sequence from 1 to 12. On each
turn, a player draws until they have five cards in their hand, and
then plays cards from: their hand, a top card of their discard piles,
or their stockpile. At the end of their turn, a player must discard
onto one of their four personal discard piles. Strategy involves the
organizing of cards into the discard piles, care in not setting up the
next players for good plays, knowing when to play from which option,
and especially the timing of playing a valuable "Skip-bo" wildcard.
Skip-bo is based on Traditional Card Games: Spite and Malice.


The travellers score sheets were not filled for two deals how is the scoring done

An adjusted score is awarded on a board (in MatchPoints) as follows:

The pairs playing the board are divided into two groups for each direction - a normal score group and an adjusted score group.
The pairs in the normal score group are scored normally against each other, and a tie (ie half matchpoint) for each pair their direction in the adjusted score group.
The pairs in the adjusted score group receive an initial score of average (equivalent to tie-ing every pair their direction in both groups). At this point the recap total is unchanged from its normal value for the movement.
Now the scores are adjusted for all pairs in the adjusted scores group for both directions:

A non-offending player that has been deprived of an opportunity to receive a normal result receives (Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge - Law 88)

  a minimum of 60% of the available matchpoints on each such board, or
  their actual percentage obtained on boards actually played if that is
  greater .

A not-at-fault pair that has been potentially damaged by improper actions of the other pair at their table receives the better of 60% of the available matchpoints and their actual result. This award is termed an Average-plus.
In very rare circumstances an artificial result will be constructed for a not-at-fault pair, in order to restore equity, and then scored normally.
An offending player that has not been either grossly unethical or grossly negligent receives the worse of 40% of the available matchpoints on the board or their actual result. This award is termed an Average-minus.
The recap totals must be corrected to account for the adjusted scores awarded.
An at-fault pair that has been either grossly unethical or grossly negligent receives a matchpoint score at the discretion of the Director, subject to it being strictly less than the worse of 40% of the available matchpoints on the board or their actual result. Such an award would often be a zero score for the board.

In this case, with results being completely omitted from a traveling score  but the boards having been played, an attempt should first be made to reconstruct the actual results. (Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge - Laws 82 & 84 & 85) If that is not possible for whatever reason, an adjusted score must be generated as above. For a first offense I would probably award an Average-minus to all players at the table.

It is the responsibility of all players at the table, both directions to record the traveling score properly, so the identical award must be made to all players. The only exception I would make here is for a repeat offense by experienced players against novices; in that case I would award Average-minus and a reminder to the novices, and a straight zero and reprimand to the experienced players. (Laws of DUplicate Contract Bridge - Laws 89, 90-B-7 & 91)

Note that a Director has an obligation to attempt to determine all possible relevant facts (the actual contracts and results in this case) before making any decisions. It would be quite appropriate (though not required), even once the actual scores had been retroactively determined and agreed by all parties, to assess a small procedural penalty under Law 90-B-7 against both pairs at the offending table. Such a penalty would typically be 10% of the available matchpoints on each of the two boards.


Rules to decide which wonder side (A or B) to play in 7 Wonders?

This is a tricky one. The rulebook makes seems to specify option #3 pretty specifically:

  Shuffle the 7 Wonder cards, face down, and hand one to each player. The card and its facing determine the Wonders board given to each player, as well as the side to be used during the game.

However, when I demoed the Leaders expansion from Asmodee at a convention, option #4 was used; the cards were dealt randomly but players were allowed to choose their own sides. This was the first I had seen this rule, but it seemed to work well and I immediately started using it in casual games as well. Not only do players get to choose the board they like better, but there's no worry about making sure to maintain the orientation on the Wonder card when revealing it. I encountered the same rule at GenCon 2012, when I played (with little success, sadly) in a tournament.


The rules on Trauma cards are on pg25 of the Rules of Play book.

  These cards can only be played by the keeper immediately after an investigator takes damage or horror.  The only exception to this restriction is if an investigator has zero sanity, in which case the keeper may play one insanity Trauma card on the investigator as a keeper action (once per turn per insane investigator).

The main way to get Trauma cards is to use Keeper actions, particularly the Evil Presence and Dark Ritual actions.  (All 5 stories in the base game have one or the other available to the Keeper)


Basically, you're trying to find an optimal balance between "I need mana to play my spells in a timely fashion" and "I want to draw active cards all the time (which usually means spells)."
For me, it boils down to a question of which lands drops do you need to make "on time".
Because players start with an opening hand of several cards but subsequently draw one card per turn (typically), your access to mana isn't linear. On turn 1, you've already seen about 7 cards (and you can mulligan bad hands); making your first land drop is pretty easy even with only a dozen lands in your deck. By turn 4, you've seen only three more cards, so making your fourth land drop (which implies that you also made your first, second, and third ones on time, by the way) reliably now demands that something like 40+% of your deck be land.
It gets even worse for decks trying to stick a six-drop on turn 6: on the face of it, it seems like you'd want over 50% of a deck to be lands! "Real" decks don't do that, though. Instead, decks that top out with some lethal six-drop either play ramp spells or other tricks to get there earlier, or they don't actually fret about resolving one on turn 6 (control decks with cards like Aetherling and Consecrated Sphinx, for instance, are more concerned with getting the mana for timely board control spells, like Supreme Verdict, than actually casting their finisher ASAP).
One important subtlety here is that which cards you need to cast "on time" actually varies depending on your matchup. For example, you might have a combo deck that can reliably "go off" with just two lands, but needs additional mana in order to play counterspells, targeted discard, or redundant combo pieces to overcome disruption. Likewise, in a control mirror, making your land drops is very important, because you need to play a threat and then back it up with your other spells.

As far as general rules of thumb:

Based on the logic above and general consensus among MTG players, a "midrange" deck that relies on its three- and four- drops for heavy lifting should run about 24-25 lands (i.e. 40% lands). 16-17 lands is the equivalent in (40-card) Limited, and is very common. Most of the intro decks WotC prints come with 24 lands.

Low-curve aggressive decks can get away with 20-22 lands. Some can function well on as few as 18-20. The idea here is that, unlike the "typical" deck above, you're only trying to hit your two-drops reliably, and being "mana-flooded" will usually cause a game loss as your deck runs out of steam.

Ramp decks tend to be over 50% mana sources or land-fetching cards, but only 24-26 lands, or even less in environments with super-strong mana acceleration. You can usually cut a land for every two non-land mana sources like Birds of Paradise or Azorius Signet that you play. (Why every two? Because you still need some land to cast your non-land mana sources, and because non-land mana sources are actually pretty pointless unless you're also making your land drops. Also, mana dorks are fragile!) Make sure your accelerators are low enough on your curve that they actually accelerate you, also — for example, Pristine Talisman can help set up Elesh Norn and Gideon Jura, but it's pointless to put one in a deck that's all about Hero of Bladehold or Runechanter's Pike.

Control decks generally run 24-28 lands, with card-draw and card-filtering to help them hit land drops. Low-cost card-draw or card-filtering cards, like Preordain, are kinda like mana dorks for land-count purposes — you'll see more cards, so you can afford to put fewer lands in the deck.

Look at mana requirements other than casting spells, as well. For instance, a deck with Ulvenwald Tracker benefits from being able to cast big dudes and have them fight your opponent's creatures on the same turn, so it might want more lands than a deck with an equivalent casting-cost curve but no mana-intensive activated abilities.

Decks for formats with super-efficient spells, like Legacy and Vintage, tend to run fewer lands than the numbers given above. You could reasonably see a 16-land aggro deck or a 23-land control deck in Legacy, for example.

When available, lands that do stuff other than just tap for mana are a great way to get more "action" in your deck without going land-light. Examples range from Karakas in Legacy, to manlands (like Mutavault) everywhere they're legal, to Teetering Peaks in budget red decks. I've won several games thanks to the relatively minor secondary ability of Minamo, School at Water's Edge.

Once your deck starts doing things with land cards other than tapping them for 1 mana each, the shorthand doesn't work. Two diametrically opposed examples here: Loam Assault is a deck that curves out at 3, but it plays around 28 lands because the goal is to hit the right mana to cast Seismic Assault, and then pitch your remaining lands to it (recycling with Life from the Loam); Green Tron decks play cards like Karn Liberated and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn but only run about 18-20 lands because they can make 7 mana off of three lands and are absolutely overloaded on land search and cantrips.

Though the option is rarely exercised, don't forget that you can side lands in and out. Usually this is done when there are important utility lands that a deck might want to play. If you have the lands in your sideboard already, you can use them to alter your land count in order to match which spells are most time-critical for a specific matchup.
For example, during the Innistrad and Return to Ravnica Standard seasons, some control decks would keep an extra Nephalia Drownyard or two in their sideboard. Drownyard was widely regarded as "the most powerful card in the control mirror, but playing too many lands put you at risk of mana flood against faster decks; having a lot of lands wasn't nearly as bad against other control decks because you got a huge advantage out of being able to play around Mana Leak, win a counter war, pay for a massive draw spell, or activate more Drownyards than your opponent.

If your deck is truly weird, you'll need to throw all conventions out the window and figure it out from scratch. For examples of these, look up Dredge (note the variety of land counts within one archetype, based on cardpool differences!), Belcher, and Legacy Lands.

Most of the suggestions above apply to non-60-card decks as well. Thus, a typical Limited deck will have 17-18 lands and a typical EDH deck will have 38-40, for instance. Additionally,

In Limited, if you don't have enough playables, it's okay to just go heavy on basic lands — at least you'll avoid mana screw. I usually end up playing 17-18 lands even in low-curve aggressive decks because I'll only have about 22-23 cards I'll actively want to run (sorry, Diregraf Escort!).
In EDH, decks of all colors have ample access to "mana rocks" (e.g., most notably, Sol Ring), and even aggressive decks tend to play cards that cost 6 mana or more. In some ways, nearly every deck is a little bit of a ramp deck.


When you cast a spell, it goes on the stack before it resolves and takes effect. While it is on the stack, both players can cast instants or activate abilities "in response" to the spell or ability on the stack, and these responses will go on TOP of the stack. Once both players say that they don't wish to do anything else, the spell or ability on the TOP of the stack resolves. This means that the second Crypt Incursion will resolve first, so when the first one resolves, your graveyard will no longer have creatures.

You cannot change which graveyard you wish to target in response. You choose your targets as you cast the spell (as you put it on the stack), and you cannot change that choice later.

From the Basic Rulebook:

  The spell doesn’t resolve (have its effect) right away—it has
  to wait on the stack. Each player, including you, now gets
  a chance to cast an instant or activate an activated ability
  in response. If a player does, that instant or ability goes on
  the stack on top of what was already waiting there. When
  all players decline to do anything, the top spell or ability
  on the stack will resolve.

and

  You choose the targets for a spell when you cast it, and
  you choose targets for an activated ability when you
  activate it. If you can’t meet the targeting requirements,
  you can’t cast the spell or activate the activated ability.
  Once you choose targets, you can’t change your mind
  later.


Can I attempt to activate an equipment's equip ability without a valid target?

No you may not, you need a target to activate the equip ability. Equip means from the Comprehensive Rules

  702.6a Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. “Equip [cost]” means “[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.”

Activating an ability is very similar to casting a spell, and most of the same steps need to be followed to activate an ability. If you cannot comply with all the steps, then you have performed an illegal action, and the game backs up the game state to just before that illegal action.

  602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. ... Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the activation of an ability, a player is unable to comply with any of those steps, the activation is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that ability started to be activated (see rule 717, “Handling Illegal Actions”). Announcements and payments can’t be altered after they’ve been made.

  602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b–h.

This is the important step that you are incapable of complying with. You cannot announce a valid target for the equip activated ability.

  601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. ...

BTW, if you did have a single creature that the Piston Sledge was already attached to, you could sacrifice an artifact to Equip the Piston Sledge to the already equipped creature. If the creature was an Artifact Creature, you could sacrifice the creature to pay the costs of the activation since costs are paid after targets are chosen.


What requires MTG players to remind their opponents of “may” parts of effects?

The Magic Judge Blog version of that IPG section has a more detailed description of why those examples are problematic:

  In each of these examples, a player takes an action or fails to take an action in a way that is impacted by illegal communication. In the first example, the opponent makes a choice regarding the discard spell assuming that the player has three cards in their hand, while they actually have four. In the second, the player has violated section 4.7 of the MTR by keeping a creature with their lands, and the opponent assumes that the player has no blockers. In the third case, the player violates MTR 4.2 by assuming that the opponent chose not to search. In each case, it isn’t the illegal information that causes the infraction, but rather the opponent acting on the illegal information. If a player keeps their Llanowar Elf with their lands, but the opponent doesn’t make an attack assuming that the player has no blockers, then no infraction has occurred. However, judges should step in to clarify the board state before an infraction occurs.

This is referring to the following statement in the Magic Tournament Rules section 4.2:

  During the resolution of one of their spells or abilities, a player may not assume their opponent has taken a shortcut. They must seek confirmation that a choice with no visible impact was taken.

The explanation for that statement makes this very explicit:

  A player must make sure an opponent has chosen not to use an optional effect from their spell or ability. If a player casts Path to Exile on the opponent’s Grizzly Bears, and the opponent does not search for a basic land, they must be told that the spell allows them to do so. (Failure to do so may be a CPV).


Is a runner card turned facedown still itself?

Facedown cards are no longer the same card they were before being turned facedown. In this example, Test Run's "if it is still installed" fails to trigger, and the cards stays where it is.

Based on Project ANCUR's answer to the question on twitter, which was favorited by Lukas (and therefore fairly authoritative, I suppose):

  No. By being turned face down, it is no longer the previous instance
  of Harbinger that Test Run has a reference to (it's not an instance of
  Harbinger at all, just an installed facedown runner card)


Copying Etrata, the Silencer, but not its name

Its copied abilities would definitely work, even though Lazav is still named Lazav. See rule 201.4:

201.4. Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.
201.4b If an ability of an object refers to that object by name, and an object with a different name gains that ability, each instance of the first name in the gained ability that refers to the first object by name should be treated as the second name.


What kind of cost is the effect on Trinisphere?

Trinisphere's ability is an effect that directly changes the cost and takes place after all cost reductions and increases have been taken into account.
This is covered in the rulings on it's gatherer page:

Trinisphere’s ability affects the total cost of the spell. It is applied after any other cost increasers or cost reducers are applied: First apply any cost increases. Next apply any cost reducers. Finally look at the amount of mana you have to pay. If it’s less than three mana, you’ll pay three mana.
Even with a cost reducer on the battlefield, spells can’t cost less than three mana to cast.
If a spell costs at least three mana due to additional costs, such as kicker costs, that’s fine.

So to simply determine the costs for spell that you cast normally while a Trinisphere is on the field you can:

Start with the mana cost or alternate cost of the spell. (Temporal Mastery's Miracle is an alternate cost.)
Add any additional costs (Kickers, Replicate, etc.)
Add any cost increases (effects like Chill).
Subtract any cost reductions (effects like Baral, Chief of Compliance).
Check to see what the total cost of you spell is, if it is 0, 1 or 2 CMC you will pay 3 instead. If it is 3 or more CMC you will pay that cost.

Note that this order is the same order outlined in the comprehensive rules (emphasis mine):

601.2f: The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can’t be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes “locked in.” If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.


Can Teysa, Orzhov Scion sacrifice itself and still use its 2nd ability?

You will still get the 2 spirit tokens. This is because when creatures die (are put into the graveyard from the battlefield), the game checks what the state of things was just prior to the creatures leaving the battlefield to see if there is anything that needs to trigger.

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


Does the pandamonium card counter blinding light's effects?

By explicit card text, yes. Blinding Light only affects Unicorns

... of your Unicorn cards...

and Pandamonium explicitly counters exactly that.

All of your Unicorns are considered Pandas. Cards that affect Unicorns do not affect your Pandas.


The White's are dead if the surrounding Black's are alive. The White's are two moves away from being captured by Black. White can make moves to prolong its dying but not prevent it.


Munchkin Booty Ships are 'items', but are Ship Enhancers permanently bound to the ship?

As Ships are big items, they cannot be stolen by any version of the rules I am familiar with (from Ships on page 5):

  The “Big” designation on Ships is to control
  what Traps and Curses affect them, and to keep Thieves in a
  blender game from pocketing them and walking off.

While I cannot find a specific rule or faq to verify it, my interpretation of the second query is the same as yours, for the same reason, as items that are ship enhancers have this text on them:

  enhancers cannot be stolen off the ship separately; ...

However, it is less clear to me whether ordinary item enhancers must obey the same rule. They do not have the standard text for steed/ship enhancers (from Ships on *page 5):

  ...; it follows the Steed[/Ship] if it is lost, stolen or discarded

In the absence of a FAQ stating otherwise, I would apply the same rule as for ship enhancers on the basis that the common text above from Steed/Ship Enhancers does not say "this enhancer"; it says the far more general "enhancers".


Does an Archetype affect summoning cost effects?

No, Archetype of Imagination does not interact with Warden of Evos Isle.

When Archetype, or any other card, refers to "creatures", it means creature permanents. So it does not affect creature cards or creature spells while they are in any other zone besides the battlefield. The relevant rule here is 109.2:

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


I can't see anyway that this would, or even could, be a winning strategy.

The odds of going alone and taking all 5 tricks cannot be more than about 10%. If we estimate the chance of Dealer's side making all 5 tricks as about 15%, and of being euchred as say 15%, then Dealer's side's point expectation is:

4 * 0.10 = + 0.40
2 * 0.15 = + 0.30
-2 * 0.15 = - 0.30
1 * 0.60 = + 0.60
Total = 1.00

Even in Third Seat (Eldest Hand's partner) any decision on ordering up Dealer as a sacrifice risks losing a big plus score by Eldest Hand.

One could quibble over my estimates above, but no reasonable values will ever approach remotely near the near-guaranteed loss of a euchre from over-aggressive oordering up.

Yes, the success estimates above assume average play by some definition. I am well aware that skillful play, relative to one's group, will significantly increase one's own point expectations, and likewise decrease the expectations of one's opponents. That is all the more reason not to make bad sacrifices - just collect one's skill reward and be content. In Contract Bridge it's called: "Partner; please stop trying so hard for a bottom."

Exception

The one exception to the above that I can see is if, with full knowledge of the score, the situation is exactly one of:

Up by precisely three or four points over precisely one opponent whom one is currently at the table with, having exactly one hand left to play. Conceding two points eliminates the low probability of a Lone Hand overtaking.
Up by seven or eight points over precisely one opponent whom one is currently at the table with, having exactly two hands left to play. Conceding two points eliminates the very low probability of two successive Lone Hands overtaking.


How to contact a moderator on boardgamegeek.com?

At the footer of every page, there's a link to their contactform, which doesn't require you to be logged in to use.

According to that form, you can also send an e-mail to contact@boardgamegeek.com.


Why does not being able to draw a card make you lose (in universe)

Put simply, losing due to trying to draw from an empty library represents succumbing to madness.

In the flavor of Magic, the library basically represents memories and knowledge that you draw on to cast spells. In turn, mill effects are often represented as causing insanity or memory loss. For example, the first printing of the card for which "mill" is named, Millstone has this flavortext:

  More than one mage has been driven insane by the sound of the millstone relentlessly grinding away.

You can see similar flavor in the names of cards like Mind Grind and Mind Funeral.

Keep in mind that in general, mechanics are only loosely related to flavor, if at all. Not all mill cards are directly related to this flavor, but many have some relation to madness, or mental pain, or some other (generally unpleasant) interaction with the mind.


What are the differences between the 2009 and 2011 reprints of Twilight Struggle?

As far as i can compare the specs on the GMT web site with my 2009 deluxe edition there are no differences.


The entirety of the ability is summarized in the italicized text: each creature deals damage equal to its power to the other. There are no special restrictions on "fight" beyond the normal rules for targeting and abilities on the stack (Ulvenwald Tracker can't make your Ravager of the Fells fight an opponent's Geist of Saint Traft, for instance, because the Tracker can't target a hexproof creature).

If one of those creatures isn't around when the ability resolves, no fighting will occur.

Here are the full comp rules for 'fight':

  701.10. Fight

  701.10a A spell or ability may instruct a creature to fight another creature or it may instruct two creatures to fight each other. Each of
  those creatures deals damage equal to its power to the other creature.

  701.10b If a creature instructed to fight is no longer on the battlefield or is no longer a creature, no damage is dealt. If a
  creature is an illegal target for a resolving spell or ability that
  instructs it to fight, no damage is dealt.

  701.10c If a creature fights itself, it deals damage equal to its power to itself twice.

  701.10d The damage dealt when a creature fights isn't combat damage.

Here's some minutiae about how this relates to other rules:

Abilities that only affect the assignment of combat damage, like
first strike and trample, don't do anything.
Lifelink, deathtouch, and infect/wither do still apply, since they modify all
damage that a permanent deals.
Damage can still be prevented or
redirected normally, just like damage from a Lightning Bolt.
In the case of protection, a creature with protection from the source
setting up the fight can't be targeted by it; a creature with
protection from the other creature but not the fight effect (e.g. if
you use Ulvenwald Tracker to make a red creature fight a creature
with protection from red) can still be made to fight, but protection
will prevent the damage it receives.
Note how the rules I quoted don't say anything about tapped or untapped creatures. Tapped creatures can fight just fine. Fighting will not cause an untapped creature to become tapped.


How much damage do I take when I Trample a Stuffy Doll that has Pariah attached?

You will take 8 damage from the Stuffy Doll's triggered ability.
In the combat damage step, every creature deals combat damage equal to its power, no matter how much toughness the defending creatures have:

510.1a Each attacking creature and each blocking creature assigns combat damage equal to its power. [..]
510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. If exactly one creature is blocking it, it assigns all its combat damage to that creature. If two or more creatures are blocking it, it assigns its combat damage to those creatures according to the damage assignment order announced for it. [..]

When a creature with Trample deals combat damage, you don't not have to assign all its damage to the blocking creatures; as long as all blocking creatures have been assigned lethal damage, you can assign the rest to the defending player:

702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it. Once all those blocking creatures are assigned lethal damage, any remaining damage is assigned as its controller chooses among those blocking creatures and the player or planeswalker the creature is attacking. [..]

From sources without Deathtouch, lethal damage is equal to the creature's toughness:

119.6. Damage marked on a creature remains until the cleanup step, even if that permanent stops being a creature. If the total damage marked on a creature is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed as a state-based action (see rule 704). All damage marked on a permanent is removed when it regenerates (see rule 701.12, “Regenerate”) and during the cleanup step (see rule 514.2).

From sources with Deathtouch, any damage >= 1 is lethal damage:

702.2b Any nonzero amount of combat damage assigned to a creature by a source with deathtouch is considered to be lethal damage, regardless of that creature’s toughness. See rules 510.1c–d.
702.2c A creature with toughness greater than 0 that’s been dealt damage by a source with deathtouch since the last time state-based actions were checked is destroyed as a state-based action. See rule 704.

You have to assign 1 damage (lethal) to the stuffy doll; you then have to distribute the remaining 7 damage between the Doll and the defending player as you like.
Whenever damage is dealt to an object, prevention and replacement effects are applied first:

119.4. Damage is processed in a three-part sequence.
119.4a First, damage is dealt, as modified by replacement and prevention effects that interact with damage. (See rule 614, “Replacement Effects,” and rule 615, “Prevention Effects.”) Abilities that trigger when damage is dealt trigger now and wait to be put on the stack.

Therefore, no matter how much damage you assign to the defending player, Pariah will redirect all damage to the Stuffy Doll; this is a replacement effect:

614.9. Some effects replace damage dealt to one creature, planeswalker, or player with the same damage dealt to another creature, planeswalker, or player; such effects are called redirection effects. [..]

The 8 damage are dealt to the Doll and its triggered ability goes on the stack.

510.3. Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

Finally, the active player gets priority and the combat damage step ends.


You guessed right!  (Sorry.)  There are (at least) two reasons this combo doesn't work.

First: "Playing a land" is different than "putting a land card from your hand onto the battlefield."  They're not interchangeable.305.4  This means that the choice you can make for Burgeoning's effect is not changed by Crucible of Worlds.

Second: Crucible of Worlds doesn't affect the separation between the hand and the graveyard.  It simply allows you to take the "play a land" action with cards from an additional zone.  Since Burgeoning uses the phrase "a land card from your hand," the land that you choose cannot be in the graveyard.

  305.4 Effects may also allow players to “put” lands onto the battlefield. This isn’t the same as “playing a land” and doesn’t count as a land played during the current turn.


Does Hospital Debts incur the 2 experience point penalty if the investigator is defeated?

This was fixed in the Official FAQ Document:

  Rules Reference page 10, column 1, “Elimination”
  Add the following, as step 0 (i.e. before step 1): “0. For the purpose of resolving weakness cards, the game has ended for the eliminated investigator. Trigger any “when the game ends” abilities on each weakness the eliminated investigator owns that is in play.  Then, remove those weaknesses from the game.”


Does an ability resolve if the source of the ability leaves the battlefield?

Yes, Player B still takes damage from the Goblin Fireslinger. Rule 112 covers this adequately. Rule 112.3a tells us that Activating an ability puts it on the stack, until it resolves, is countered (Stifle), or it otherwise leaves the stack (Time Stop). Rule 112.7a tells us that the activated ability exists independent of the source, and does not quality this separation with objects moving to a hidden zone.

  112.3b Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as “[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]” A player may activate such an ability whenever he or she has priority. Doing so puts it on the stack, where it remains until it’s countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 602, “Activating Activated Abilities.”

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

It is possible that they are confusing this with the rules regarding tracking objects that are moving between zones. Normally, objects have no memory of their previous existence in another zone, and become new objects. There are 7 exceptions, and (d/g) are probably the ones that they are confusing this with. These exceptions exist, because cards like Rancor exist that need to have rules that allow the cards to actually work.

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

  400.7d Abilities that trigger when an object moves from one zone to another (for example, “When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield”) can find the new object that it became in the zone it moved to when the ability triggered, if that zone is a public zone.

  400.7g A resolving spell or activated ability can perform actions on an object that moved from one zone to another while that spell was being cast or that ability was being activated, if that object moved to a public zone.


trigger priority and response to said triggers mtg

Yes, this is correct.

Rule 117.1b states:

  117.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time they have priority.

And rule 117.3b states:

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

Based on that, you will receive priority after the first trigger resolves, and may activate Steel Overseer's ability, putting it on the stack. After that resolves and each player passes priority, the Voltaic Servant's ability still on the stack resolves normally, untapping target artifact.


While not explicitly stated, it seems clear to me that the lake region no longer exists outside of Necromancer Island.

See the example of play on the smallworld-game website.  There is also a statement from the publisher on BGG agreeing to the statement, "Seafaring is hosed"

Reminder - the Necromancer only checks for victory on his own turn, not the other players.  He cannot spawn his way to victory on other players turns.


How does Magic handle “Type – Subtype” lines that don’t fit on the card when translated?

Generally—they just make the font size in the type line really tiny.

Some good examples are the Titans from Theros Beyond Death, which are Legendary Creature — Elder Giant. I've included other Giants in that search result so you can see that they just shrank down the font size a lot on Kroxa and Uro. They did the same for Thryx, the blue legendary card in those results, who is an Elemental Giant.

Here's three white cards in Russian side by side so you can see how much the font size might vary:

(Also the vertical alignment varies too apparently, probably for lack of attention/care rather than for any good reason. Oof.)

That's not limited to Russian, either. Here's some German cards undergoing the same treatment, where the middle one doesn't need any font size adjustment:


Can a player change perspective after entering the center?

I´ve sent an e-mail to Ludicreations and this is what they´ve replied:

"yes, you are allowed to change perspective after entering the center."


Yes, if you drive over a pit, gravity wins.

This is a game, not a cartoon.

This is mentioned in the rules page 8.

  Destruction: A robot is destroyed when:

  It receives its tenth Damage token.  OR
  It moves or is moved into a pit.  OR
  It moves or is moved oﬀ the edge of the board.

In the original version, there where pits that could be opened and closed, not sure if they still exist. But these where safe when closed but deadly when open.


Do any successful draft formats exist for Android: Netrunner?

FFG has now released an official draft format.

To participate in draft play, each player needs two components:

A draft starter pack, which is a fixed set of cards (Armitage Codebusting, Crypsis, PAD Campaign, Priority Requisition, special draft identities). These cards are "private" to each player, and can be reused for multiple drafts.
A draft pack, which contains a random selection of 40 cards of either runner or corp. In order to draft for both sides, a draft pack for each side is needed. These are the cards used for the draft. Draft packs are not indended to be reused, but the cards are legal for normal play unless otherwise noted.

The draft is done in 4 rounds of 10 cards each. Each round, each player starts with the top 10 cards of their draft pack. If drafting both sides, draft Corp decks first. After drafting, each player adds their draft starter pack to their pool of cards available for deckbuilding.

There are a few rules differences between draft play and normal play:

All players use the special draft identities, which are both neutral with a 30 card deck limit and unlimited influence. The Corp identity can use agendas from all factions.
Decks may include any number of copies of each card, instead of the normal maximum of 3 copies per card.
Games are played to 6 Agenda Points instead of the normal 7.

An informal introduction video can be seen here.


MTG Mirage Mirror copying Medomai the Ageless

"[Cardname] can’t attack during extra turns" places an attacking restriction on the card.

  508.1c The active player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it’s affected by any restrictions (effects that say a
  creature can’t attack, or that it can’t attack unless some condition
  is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of
  attackers is illegal.

Therefore, any creature with that restriction can not be declared as an attacker during extra turns. It does not matter how the extra turn was created.

Note that Medomai has two separate abilities. They happen to work together by design (or rather against each other), but they are not connected ruleswise.

Now the restriction only applies while declaring attackers. If Mirage Mirror was somehow attacking before it turned into Medomai (e.g. March of the Machines), that player would continue to get extra turns from Medomai's first ability. Similarly, it will also work if Medomai or a copy thereof is put onto the battlefield tapped and attacking (e.g. Ilharg, the Raze-Boar).


Does my counter to a spell have to be relevant?

If my opponent plays a creature, can I respond to that creature because technically it is a spell being cast?

Yes, you can. At the moment your opponent casts it (which means they reveal the card, pay the associated costs, and maybe even verbally declare that they are casting it), it becomes a spell, specifically a creature spell. It does not become a creature permanent, a.k.a. a creature, until the spell resolves. Before that happens, you get a chance to do things in response.

  If so, am I allowed to respond to the casting of a creature spell with a flame lash dealing damage to the player or must it concern the spell it is responding to?

Yes, you can cast Flame Lash targeting the player at this point. There is no rule that says the thing you cast must be related to the creature spell being cast; it can be anything you can play at that time, which generally means any instant or card with flash.

In detail, if we take the example of your opponent casting an Aether Herder with no other creatures in play, the process goes like this:

It is your opponent's main phase.

  Stack:
  (empty)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

Your opponent reveals an Aether Herder card from their hand and moves it to the stack (i.e. on to the table), pays the cost {3}{G}, and (maybe) says "Cast Aether Herder" or something like that.

  Stack:

  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

Your opponent may cast or activate something else: any instant, or any card with flash, or any ability whose activation is not restricted by the text "Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery" or the liky. Let's say they don't. (It would be very rare for them to do this.)

  Stack:

  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

You may cast or activate something (instant, flash card, ability). Let's say you cast Flame Lash. You reveal the Flame Lash card from your hand and move it to the stack, choose what to target (your opponent), pay the cost {3}{R}, and (maybe) say "Flame Lash you". (Note: you cannot target the Aether Herder. Flame Lash cannot target spells. It can only target creatures - that is, creature permanents on the battlefield - and players, as it says on the card.)

  Stack:

  Flame Lash (spell)
  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

You may cast or activate something else. Let's say you don't. (Again, it would be very rare for you to do this.)

  Stack:

  Flame Lash (spell)
  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

Your opponent may cast or activate something. Let's say they don't.

  Stack:

  Flame Lash (spell)
  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

Since all players have passed priority consecutively, the top item on the stack resolves. This is the Flame Lash. It deals 4 damage to your opponent. (Then, if they are at 0 life or less, they lose.)

  Stack:

  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

Your opponent, as the active player, may cast or activate something. Let's say they don't.

  Stack:

  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

You may cast or activate something. Let's say you don't.

  Stack:

  Aether Herder (spell)

  Battlefield:
  (no creatures)

Since all players have passed priority consecutively, the top item on the stack resolves. This is the Aether Herder. It stops being a spell and becomes a permanent. Your opponent moves the card from the stack to the battlefield.

  Stack:
  (empty)

  Battlefield:

  Aether Herder (permanent)


Is it unsportsmanlike to concede when you believe you cannot win?

In a two-player situation I could see how this might be acceptable, but with more players I'd be very cautious. For instance, it may appear to you that player three is the foregone winner, but perhaps player two has a victory Development Card, along with a Road Building that could catapult him to longest road, if he can just get another brick to make one more road along with it. Let's imagine this would steal the longest road from player three, and result in the players being tied neck and neck. To you, it may look hopeless, but for player two to refute your assertion that such is the case, he will have to reveal that he sees a path to winning, which could cause player three to be more cautious, resulting in the spoiling of player two's plan.

The last time I played I won, and was ahead the entire time, and yet until the very end at least two of the other players (six-player game) had a fighting chance, one unbeknownst to me (two victory points from Dev cards conveniently left in his lap). It's not fair to the other players for you to decide it's time to call it.


Cause of abbreviations on Yu-gi-oh! cards

As strange as it sometimes comes through, Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards are commonly being censored for the western market, not only visually, but also in text. One prominent example is the renaming of "Magic Cards" to "Spell Cards" shortly after the release of the third set "Magic Ruler", which was released as "Spell Ruler" in Europe. This renaming is probably due to Wizards of the Coast complaining about the similarity to their own game's name ("Magic the Gathering") and possibly even threatening legal action.

Notably, Konami was very strict in removing sexual, cultural, religious and political references as much as possible, but also several cases of copyright driven censoring (like the Magic thing mentioned above). Examples include

Premature Burial, Injection Fairy Lily or The Cheerful Coffin (the originals had cross symbols in their pictures, religious reference),
Sangan (who was originally called "Critter", which was too close to the unrelated "Critters" franchise/brand),
Tragedy (the original showed a Guillotine, which refers to European and notably French history as a symbol of the cruelty during the French Revolution) as well as
countless girlish characters whose clothes and bodily features were "adjusted" (most well-known example for this is Dark Magician Girl).

There are many, many more examples.

As for your examples:

Lord of Dragons doesn't seem to be offensive, so it's either a copyright thing (there are several "Dragon Lord" brands in gaming and entertainment) or one of the few cases where the name was already abbreviated in the OCG for style reasons. @Discord's guess is actually not that far off, avoiding the reference to the Dragon-type might actually have been a reason so as not to confuse the children this game was targeted at.
Red-Eyes B. Dragon is interestingly the only one (well, the only family) where they did it by abbreviating, but the word Black was entirely stripped from Yu-Gi-Oh!. I have no idea why they did this, but up to this day, nearly every single instance of the word Black has been categorically censored. Dark Magician, Dark Hole, Dark Magician Girl, Dark Magician of Chaos and many more all had the Black instead of the Dark when they were first released in Japan. Some of Red-Eyes' cousins share the transition to "Dark" (Red-Eyes Darkness (Metal) Dragon), some don't (Red-Eyes B. Chick). As far as I know, the only exceptions to the Black censorship are all objects without soul (such as Pitch-Black Power Stone), which supports the theory that this censorship is intended to avoid references to skin colour (as pointed out by @SQB).
The A. Forces, as has been noted by @ire_and_curses, is a reference to the Allied Forces, which is a term used to describe Germany's enemies during World War II (specifically, the USA, the UK, France and Russia), who ended up winning the war and dividing Germany, leading to a long history of cultural, economical and political tension known as the Cold War. The term has also been used in other military contexts, but always in conjunction with war.


Sea Searpent during invasion of Fire Giant in Blood Rage

The sea serpent counts as a ship but it is a Monster upgrade. It goes in the monster upgrade slot. Fire Giants don't destroy other monsters. The Fire giant won't destroy anything that goes in the monster upgrade slot.


Are old Magic: the Gathering boosters worth more sealed, or should I open them?

Logically speaking, it would never make sense for the expected value of an opened pack to be higher than the value of an unopened pack.  If that was ever the case, people would just buy unopened packs, open them, and sell them for a net profit.  Unopened packs have the potential to have a high value, and that potential reward comes with an associated increase in cost.


Is "meaningful decisions per hour" a good measure for how fun a game might be?

Meaningful decisions per hour is one of several contributory factors, not the only one.

Other important components of "fun", at least for me, include:

high ratio of meaningful decisions to total decisions
Interesting choices to make in those decisions
Interesting setting/backstory
visual appeal
link of setting/backstory/theme to mechanics.
interactivity of players.

It's important that meaningful decisions also be interesting - I find poker rather boring unless played for money (rather than just points), as the decisions are meaningful but boring.

Note also, burying meaningful decisions amidst many minimally meaningful decisions renders the senses numb to the meaningful ones.

Likewise, I'd rather play a good game with pretty pieces than a great game with ugly ones. I could easily make a Tsuro set, for example, but it wouldn't look nor feel as nice as the "real thing," and hence would get played less.

The setting and theme, if presented well and with mechanics that tie to it, makes a game more enjoyable.

Interactivity of players also matters. If the game is all meaningful decisions, but my turn is neither affected by nor affects the other players, then the game is less fun than if the do to a correct degree. (Some games can be too interactive, however. An example of this, for many, is Tongiaki. In Tongiaki, each player's action can cascade to totally change the situation, so ability to plan ahead is limited.)


Can I Wish for a card outside my Commander's colors?

Wishes are non-functional in Commander, unless your group specifically allows them and defines where they work.

The comp rules define the basics of the format but mostly point you to mtgcommander.net for the up-to-date official definition. Per mtgcommander.net,

  Abilities which refer to other cards owned outside the game (Wishes, Spawnsire, Research, Ring of Ma'ruf) do not function in Commander without prior agreement on their scope from the playgroup.

Basically the Rules Committee's reasoning was that using wishes in their original, casual-play way (searching your entire collection) wastes too much time in play1. So they used to restrict you to searching your sideboard, which is how wishes work in competitive MTG. However, Commander's sideboards are "optional" and Sheldon has generally come out against them, so the default is that wish cards don't work at all.

Sideboards still have to follow all the normal deck-construction limitations, like in any other format; for Commander, this means you can't have break the one-of restriction or violate color identity just because a card is in the sideboard. Thus, if you group agrees to play with wishboards, you'll still be limited to your commander's color identity.

(Note also that the official sideboard size is 10 cards, not 15 like 60-card constructed.)

1 – Which is also why Shahrazad was finally banned after some time as the only Vintage-banned card legal in Commander.


I tend to focus on one aspect of a game. How do I take the necessary balanced approach that's necessary in games like Seven Wonders?

7 Wonders is a game that rewards flexibility.  Moreso than anything else, the winner will be the one who has identified the key weaknesses in the rest of the players and exploits that.

The problem that many players have is they think "I'll go science" or "I'll go military" or some other strategy.  Alternatively, they just pick the juciest looking card every time, with no thought to the ultimate purpose for the card.

Both of these methods are bad.  7 Wonders is a game about optimising your draft options.  Sometimes that means forgoing wonder levels.  Other times that means forgoing brown resources and other times that means neglecting yellow buildings.  In all cases, what you should realise is that while your civ has strengths, your opponents are revealing vital information about their game plans in each and every draft.

In one 7 Wonders game I played I was Rhodes (who are very, very strong).  I went a very early military building and then pure science and won.  The reason that I did that was that I identified early on that nobody was going science and my neighbours were scared of me going military.  They went heavy brown resources and yellow/blue buildings.  In another game I didn't get a single science card but picked up early game blue cards (which were being ignored by the board), enough military to get my 18 points and denied my neighbours the use of their marketplaces (which were both pointing away from me) by snagging and preventing key resources for their strategy.

In all cases, realising that the game was not multiplayer solitaire was enough to give me resounding wins.  Remember not to fixate on a strategy, rather, fixate on your opponents strategies.  You won't be able to counter them all, but you will be able to identify the gaps in demand and exploit them.


Blood Bowl: Would a Dwarf team of mostly blockers be feasible?

No, it's not a competitive build.

Longbeards are very slow. Only treemen and mummies are slower in the modern game. Their agility is also poor, requiring a 4+ to pick up, catch or dodge, even without any negative modifiers.

Frenzy is not a weakness on the Trollslayers - it's a strength. Dwarf cages can be relatively easy to stall as it's very difficult for them to break the pattern of pillars that are often used to slow a cage down, particularly near a sideline. With frenzy you threaten teams that pillar near a sideline, as to do so risks their players to being pushed into the crowd.

Taking only one player with enough agility to handle the ball reliably is also a risk. A thrown rock or a fortunate armour roll against av8 and you will be left without the ability to score, or move more than 4 spaces without GFIs. For this reason it's more typical to run with both blitzers and two runners (though not universal).

You likely won't need five rerolls as you get more used to risk management. And you should seek out a newer version of the rules, as the one you're using is out of date - try googling LRB6, CRP (Competition Rules Pack) or Icepelt.


Must all three men be on the back line at once in Little Wars' "Blow to the rear" Variation?

Little Wars is not by any stretch of the imagination likely to constitute a watertight ruleset (give it a break, it was the first of its kind!) so I think we have to apply a bit of common sense to ruling on this issue.  I quote from the text:

  Moreover, in our desire to bring the game to a climax, we decided that
  instead of a fight to a finish we would fight to some determined
  point, and we found very good sport in supposing that the arrival of
  three men of one force upon the back line of the opponent's side of
  the country was of such strategic importance as to determine the
  battle. But this form of battle we have since largely abandoned in
  favour of the old fight to a finish again. We found it led to one type
  of battle only, a massed rush at the antagonist's line, and that our
  arrangements of time-limits and capture and so forth had eliminated
  most of the concluding drag upon the game.

This seems to indicate that "three men on the back line" constitutes something of "strategic importance".  In my mind, this suggests that the three soldiers have struggled through the enemy defences to capture the opposing HQ, or something of that sort.  It's hard to see three men reaching the back line only to be shot down as constituting that sort of victory.

So I'd definitely be inclined to think that you have to have three men reach the back line alive to reasonably "capture the enemy flag", or whatever else such a victory condition is meant to represent.  What's the alternative?  That covering the distance of the battlefield is in and of itself a victory condition?  That doesn't sound much like a "Little War" - more like some kind of running race :)


No, you can only leave Tokyo as the immediate result of taking damage (from an attack) while in Tokyo.

The rules (PDF) state (under "Becoming King of Tokyo"):

  If you are attacked while in Tokyo and you don't want to be there anymore ... you can yield to the Monster that attacked.

This is the only reference to leaving Tokyo in the rulebook, and the only opportunity to leave.

(It also makes sense thematically; monsters wouldn't just wander off, but would only leave if forced, and only long enough to lick their wounds before they dive straight back in.)


In Catan, how do you decide which "fifth" resource to neglect?

If you must neglect one of the resources, then there are several possibilities, the main three  are:

Neglect Ore.  Roads and settlements do not cost ore, thus it is possible to start without ore and build a settlement on a ore hex later.
Focus on Ore, Wheat & sheep, going for fast 2 cities and development cards, then with the extra resource production trade your way into another settlement.
Harbor 2:1 + Go heavy on a specific resource.

The best option depends on many aspects including:

The distribution of resource: abundant resource goes down in importance, scarce resource goes up.
Trade possibilities: either with the other players or with the bank. Does another player needs your resources? How trade-happy are your opponents?  Do they think you are a head (which will make them less inclined to trade with you)


Does "other" refer to that particular instance or all cards of the same name?

"Other creatures you control" means "Creatures you control which are not this object." Chief of the Edge further restricts things by only affecting Warriors.

If the ability did not affect creatures with the same name, it would read something like "Creatures you control not named "Chief of the Edge"..."


Is it valid to start a game without an open gate?

Yes, that's correct.

The only reason you would draw another Mythos card would be if it was a Rumor. Otherwise the first Mythos works just like every subsequent Mythos.


Can an Instant spell be played during upkeep to interrupt a triggered ability?

The sacrifice ability of the Demon token is not targeted, so you don't target the creature as the ability goes on the stack. You only choose the creature at resolution, during which no player can play other spells or abilities.
As you already quoted, the sacrifice ability reads:

At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice another creature. If you can’t, this creature deals 6 damage to you.

That means the beginning of the upkeep step is the trigger that puts the ability on the stack. Since it doesn't include the word "target", you don't get to choose anything at that point. Your opponent is then free to respond to the ability and kill any creature before it resolves. When the ability does get to resolve though, no player gains priority during the resolution, and you choose one of the remaining creatures to sacrifice, if any remain.

114.1a An instant or sorcery spell is targeted if its spell ability identifies something it will affect by using the phrase "target [something]," where the "something" is a phrase that describes an object and/or player. The target(s) are chosen as the spell is cast; see rule 601.2c.
116.1. Unless a spell or ability is instructing a player to take an action, which player can take actions at any given time is determined by a system of priority. The player with priority may cast spells, activate abilities, and take special actions.
116.2e Resolving spells and abilities may instruct players to make choices or take actions, or may allow players to activate mana abilities. Even if a player is doing so, no player has priority while a spell or ability is resolving.


When is it advisable to take Blue cards in the first age in Seven Wonders?

A good question to ask yourself here: does everyone in my playgroup have the same distaste for blue cards that I feel?  If so, if they're predisposed to ignore them in favour of "cooler" cards, you could easily make a killing by snapping them up.

I will agree that something like the Pawnshop (3 victory points, that's it), doesn't seem like an exciting card, though it could make for a perfectly acceptable last or second-to-last pick: better than nothing right?  But stuff like the Altar or Theater, which are the first stages in the Altar-Temple-Pantheon and the Theater-Statue-Gardens chain, may be deceptively good.  2 victory points for a pick doesn't seem great.  12 or 11 points (respectively) for 3 picks is slightly better.  Are you playing a resource-light game where something like the Pantheon will be way out of your reach in Age III?  Then Altar could prove a much better pick for you than some other random nonsense.

Remember that every time you pick a resource, it costs you a pick.  Is picking up 3 resources better value for money than getting 12 easy points from the Altar, Temple and Pantheon chain?  You're already 12 points down, pick for pick, due to your concentration on resources, so you'd better hope you can make plenty of profit out of spending them...

I wouldn't want to praise the blue cards too highly: resources are the backbone of the game and you definitely don't want to end up in a situation where you have nothing to do in the final Age apart from discarding for coins!  But an experienced player who understands the chains, and which early picks can get you valuable later picks for free, can definitely make a tidy profit.  Just make sure the players with all the resources don't buy "your" upgrades out from under you to screw you over!


What is the name of this game involving racing to the other side of the board and putting down barriers?

Not sure about the board, which looks like a homemade knockoff to me, but the game itself and its mechanics appear to be Quoridor.

— Image taken from http://boardgamegeek.com/image/110043/quoridor —


In Game of Thrones naval battles, do land units on the ship count?

In the board game A Game of Thrones: the Board Game, land units do not board ships, and thus do not occupy the same location. Rather, ship units allow you to treat two coastal locations as adjacent for the purposes of using March orders on land units.

From the 2nd edition rulebook, page 23:

  Any two land areas are considered adjacent for the purposes of
  marching and retreating when they are connected by consecutive sea
  areas (or a single sea area) each containing one or more friendly Ship
  units. In other words, Ship units in consecutively adjacent sea areas
  form a direct “bridge” for Knights, Footmen, and Siege Engines to move
  directly from a coastal area to another coastal area in one move.

As a further note, when using the Support order: whilst ship units are able to provide support to adjacent land or sea locations, land units can never provide support to sea locations; as on page 18:

  Ship units may support adjacent combat in a sea area or a land area.
  Footmen, Knights, or Siege Engine units, however, may never provide
  support to combat in a sea area.

However, it would be possible, for example, to use a ship with a Support order to transport land units into an enemy-controlled location, and then have that ship support the land units in the subsequent battle.


The sentence on that card is to be read as "Exile target creature that (blocked or was blocked) by a Zombie this turn"; parentheses mine. Both "blocked" and "was blocked" are linked to "by a zombie". You can confirm that from the rulings at the bottom of the oracle page of Time to Reflect that you linked:

Time to Reflect only cares that the second creature was a Zombie at the moment it blocked or became blocked by the target creature. If that Zombie has become a non-Zombie creature or left the battlefield, Time to Reflect can still target the first creature.

The two other cards containing the phrase "blocked or was blocked" are Heat Stroke and Sea Troll. Heat Stroke in particular would not make sense if "blocked" and "was blocked" were not both connected to "this turn", because "blocked" would not have any limitation in time. Similar for Sea Troll and Time to Reflect; if "blocked" was meant to stand alone, it would still contain some sort of time limitation, even if was something like "this game".
As for your second question regarding Time to Reflect, it can only target creatures. A creature is any object on the battlefield whose card types includes "creature" and that has values for its power and toughness. A creature card in the graveyard or anywhere else but the battlefield is not a creature, therefore it's never a valid target for Time to Reflect. Whenever you read a combination of card types without additional qualifiers, such as "creature", "land", "artifact enchantment" and so on, that is always shorthand for a permanent of those types, i.e. "creature permanent", "land permanent", "artifact enchantment permanent", and so on. Objects are permanents if and only if they are on the battlefield.

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.
114.2. Only permanents are legal targets for spells and abilities, unless a spell or ability (a) specifies that it can target an object in another zone or a player, (b) targets an object that can’t exist on the battlefield, such as a spell or ability, or (c) targets a zone.


Sheriff of Nottingham Negotiation Question

Before you [as the sheriff] inspect a bag, you may choose to threaten the bag's owner. That player may offer you a bribe to avoid the inspection.

  A deal is considered complete when an offer is accepted. An offer is a specific bribe proposed. Once the sheriff has made a choice it cannot be changed.

As you describe it, the sheriff made a vague threat, and then declined whatever offer you were making (possibly before you even specified the amount).

For better or worse, this is within the scope of the rules. Maybe in a future game, you will occasionally adopt the tactic of offering a bribe even when innocent, to make the sheriff's decision less obvious!


When the bio-terrorist is eliminated, do they discard their cards?

The rules don't specifically say:

  The Bio-Terrorist wins if the players lose and there is at least 1 purple cube
  on the board. The Bio-Terrorist immediately loses (and is out of the game) if
  the players eradicate the purple disease.

They are out of the game, but it doesn't say what to do with their cards. Personally, I would just have them discard the cards in their hand, since that should make it easier for the other players (a more diluted infection deck), and that is what normally happens when the Bio-Terrorist is captured.

  Capture (special player action) - Place the Bio-Terrorist’s pawn on your role card. The Bio-Terrorist must immediately discard all cards in hand to the Infection Discard Pile (without eﬀect).


Can a player get the second place points with no Maki Rolls in Sushi Go?

You have to have at least one Maki Roll to score. This clarification is missing from the Gamewright English rules, but some other versions (including this German one) include it.


Have you played with the San Juan expansion buildings from the Treasure Chest set?  While I agree that there are some cards that are simply better than others, the expansion tries to fix this.

For example, Park is a 3-cost building that gives you a discount of 6 instead of 3 if you overbuild it with a Crane, which might make the crane more enticing.

The Residence allows you to score points extra points for each set of 3 buildings with the same building cost.  This could convince you to build some of the less-desired buildings to get the bonus.

And personally, I like the Carpenter -- I've had a few games where I bought a ton of purple buildings, and was able to refill my hand quickly.  It could have been a few lucky draws, but the Carpenter is at least decent in my opinion.


If multiple players must make a choice, in what order are the choices made?

When multiple players must make a choice simultaneously, they do so in "Active Player, Non Active Player" order. This means that first, the player currently taking their turn chooses, then each other player chooses in turn order.

Rule 101.4 says

  If multiple players would make choices and/or take actions at the same time, the active player (the player whose turn it is) makes any choices required, then the next player in turn order (usually the player seated to the active player's left) makes any choices required, followed by the remaining nonactive players in turn order. Then the actions happen simultaneously. This rule is often referred to as the "Active Player, Nonactive Player (APNAP) order" rule.


Here's one variation, having a couple different names:

  Kings Cup (AKA Ring Of Fire or Circle Of Death) Is a popular card drinking game. To play the game you should have a medium size group (at least 4 players). You start by placing a red cup in the middle of everyone and spread a deck of cards around it face down. You then go around in a circle taking turns drawing cards following the rules below.
  The Objective?: Draw all of the Kings

I'm guessing there are many variations of this game, going by many names.


Yes, you can only downgrade a hotel to a number of houses if that number of houses is actually available in the bank. If there are no houses, you must sell the entire hotel outright. This fact can be used strategically:

  If there is a shortage of houses, players should consider buying the last houses rather than buying hotels because each hotel built returns four houses to the bank for other players to use. When there are no houses in the bank, no one else can build houses. Also, players with hotels can't easily convert them to cash in this situation; they would have to strip an entire colour group of its hotels to raise money since buildings must be removed evenly from a colour group and because the hotels cannot be exchanged for houses since there are no houses in the bank. The owners of inexpensive monopolies should be particularly eager to use this tactic to prevent the owners of expensive monopolies from fully developing.


In Checkers/Draughts, can a King jump multiple pieces and end up where it started?

Nothing disallows this sequence of jumps. Pieces do not need to end on a different space to which they started the turn, kings are allowed to move and capture in any direction of play, and multiple jumps may be made if they are additional captures.

Further, if these were the only pieces on the board, or if no other pieces could have been captured off the square instead of continuing around the square: this move is not just legal, but mandatory.

If at any point there was an option to capture off the square, for example by continuing past the bottom corner to capture again in a straight line, the player moving the king may choose which capture to make, but they must make one of them.