When to choose what colors I will play and vary my picks accordingly?

I think the question you should be asking is not "when to choose what colours I will play", but rather "when to stop choosing what colours I will play"?

Magic, and especially Magic draft, is a game that favours the adaptable.  When you make a first pick of a bomb in one colour, that does not commit you to playing that colour, but it suggests that you should weight all your subsequent picks accordingly.  If after the first two picks, your colour has completely dried up, then you need to be adaptable enough to let go of that colour.

This is not to say that, on the 10th pick of pack 3, you should still be open to moving into a new colour!  Hopefully your colours and the basic nature of your deck (aggro/control/mill/whatever) will be more or less settled long before then.  So how do you determine when to start taking cards that fit into your deck (as you currently envision it), as opposed to more powerful picks?

Unfortunately there is no quick and easy formula.  But I would say it's when you can actually visualise the deck you're going to play.  Let's say your first two picks are white bombs: lucky for you, but you still can't visualise a deck on the back of two cards!  Let's say white dries up thereafter.  Now you have to visualise a new deck in the colour that you're actually being passed.  Can you visualise it with a white splash?  You should certainly be trying, but not so hard that you end up shoehorning in cards that don't actually fit due to your attachment issues.

At some point you will have double figures of cards that you can see working and playing well in the same deck together.  It's at about this point that I would suggest that you should be committing.  With half a deck already now you'll need to consider optimising your curve and filling any gaps in your deck (too few creatures for instance).

I'm always wary of people who stubbornly try to force a deck that they've visualised before they have a good number of the cards for it.  Sometimes it can really pay off, but passing early bombs in pursuit of a deck that may or may not come, well, that's the drafting equivalent of refusing to mulligan a no-land-hand in the hope that all of your draws will be perfect, isn't it?


What happens when nobody is eligible for Chancellor in Secret Hitler?

According to the rules:

  If there are only 5 players left in the game, only the last elected Chancellor is ineligible to be the Chancellor Candidate; the last President may be nominated.

So in the situation you described the last President should have been nominated as Chancellor.


Finance was published by Dave Knapp and was one of the candidates to buy the patents of Elizabeth Magie who invented The Landlord's Game.

The other candidate was the company Parker Brothers which acquired the patents and turned The Landlord's Game into Monopoly.

If in good or even better mint condition, you'll get more than $50. As mentioned by Nancy H and I myself didn't find any version of the 1932' Finance (in comparision to the more common Parker Brother 36' and 58' publications) so you might want to get it curated.


Mistakes a beginner should avoid in Magic the Gathering with more than 2 players

Don't expect the game to end quickly.
In a MtG duel, there is a deck archetype called Aggro. Aggro decks use extremely low converted mana cost (CMC) cards that can efficiently deal damage to quickly reduce their opponents life from 20 to 0. This type of deck is trying to gain a tempo advantage. Aggro decks typically don't win in multiplayer free for all, because although they can quickly deal 20 damage against a single opponent before they can mount a defense, it is quite difficult to deal 40 (60, 80) damage to two (three, four) or more opponents. Duel decks need to deal with Aggro decks, so nearly all their card's have mana costs under 4, but multiplayer decks can afford to run higher CMC cards with bigger effects.

Don't pack your deck with cards that trade 1 to 1
In a duel, if you cast a card that destroys one of your opponents cards, you have a net card advantage of 0. In multiplayer on the other hand, you have a net card advantage of 0 with respect to one opponent, but you (and the opponent whose card you destroyed) are both down 1 card to the other players. When one of your cards destroys multiple cards of your opponents, you gain card advantage. In multiplayer though, the number of cards your single card must destroy grows with the number of opponents. This is because, for each card you draw on your turn, each opponent that is still alive draws a card. If your opponents believe you will win, expect that most of the cards they are drawing will be directed at you and your resources.

Learn the Animal Elements
Multiplayer decks use cards that excel in these areas impact (Gorilla), outlast (Cockroach), warning away (Rattlesnake), feeding-off (Pigeon), trapping (Spider), and helping others (Plankton). Anthony Alongi came up with the animals to make it easier to remember the concepts of what the cards do. Gorilla cards smash your opponents. They destroy boards, hands, and life totals. This typically means sweeper cards that effect multiple cards or players. Cockroach cards outlast your opponents cards. They cards tend to be reusable effects, are difficult to get rid of, or come back from the graveyard. Rattlesnakes warn your opponents to focus their attention elsewhere or suffer the consequences. These cards are usually permanents with no or low activation costs, whose power usually derives from not having to use them. Pigeon cards feed of of multiple opponents. These cards typically have words like, "each opponent", or "whenever [situation]" where [situation] is a lot more common because there are more players, creature, lands, etc. in multiplayer. Spider cards trap your opponents into making bad decisions. These cards are typically instants, because it is difficult to trick your opponents with cards that they can see in a visible zone. Plankton cards are all about sharing the fun. These cards allow your opponents to use them.

Concerning playing strategy
This is typically more important for larger multiplayer games than 3 player, because with more opponents there are fewer targets. You usually don't want to get into a feud with a single player. Don't attack someone, just because they attacked you last turn. Attack someone, because they are the biggest threat to winning the game. If your group allows table talk, freely explain why you are attacking someone or destroying some permanent. Helping everyone get better at threat assessment will make for better games.

Don't be an easy target
Sometimes players might get out an early aggressive creature (or several). Make sure your deck can survive early damage from aggressive decks. If your deck starts its mana curve to high (everything is 4 mana or higher), you probably can't survive even a couple of early creatures cast by your opponents.

The number combat steps steps you must survive is greater
In a duel, there is only one turn in which your opponent gets to untap and attack you or try to destroy your creatures. In multiplayer, you have to survive multiple combat steps, and your creatures have to survive multiple turns.

Life total is an important resource
Only the last point of life matters in Multiplayer, but how close your life total is to 0 controls how aggressive you can be. Unlike a duel, where gaining life doesn't put you any closer to victory, in multiplayer when you gain life you just might make other opponents easier targets for elimination, putting you closer to victory.


In Catan, how to ensure nobody lies when monopoly card is played?

Count the cards in the supply

In Settlers of Catan you are always allowed to count the number of resources left in the supply decks.  It is a perfectly legal move to count the deck before using the monopoly on a resource.

This also means that after you got the resources you can just check how many you have in your hand, and how many are left in the deck.  If you are missing one, then someone is cheating.

In the 4th edition of the game there are 19 of each resource card.

Even if you think that counting the deck is out of the spirit of the game, having someone do it after a monopoly reveals no new information, and just controls for cheating.


Yes, Walls will block ranged spells. From the rules (page 17) regarding Spell Range:

Note: If there are any walls between your spell caster and the target, the walls may block your spell (see “Walls” on page 21).
You cannot cast a spell or make a ranged attack through a wall that blocks LoS. (The icon that indicates this is a picture of an eye with the red diagonal line through it)

An example is also listed on page 21 diagramming Line of Sight for a spell.

When you count range to your target, you must also check if you have clear line of sight (LoS). Draw an imaginary straight line from the center of your creature’s zone to the center of the target’s zone. LoS is blocked if the line crosses through a zone border that has a wall on it with the blocks LoS trait. Walls do not normally block LoS if the line crosses diagonally through the corner of a wall border, as long as at least one side of that corner does not block LoS.

Normally, there is the commonly used spell Block, that allows you to avoid a targeted attack. This doesn't work though, because Firestorm is a Zone Attack and as the Unavoidable attribute.

Block - When this creature is attacked, you must reveal Block during the Avoid Attack Step. Block counts as a Defense, and the attack is avoided. Then, destroy Block. If the Attack is Unavoidable, destroy Block without effect.
Zone Attack or Spell - This attack or spell affects all creatures and conjurations in the target zone, without actually targeting them individually. Does not affect walls on the zone’s border. Zone attacks have the Unavoidable trait and make a separate attack against each object in the zone. See “Zone Attacks” on page 27.

Page 27 of the rule book actually shows the Firestorm spell within its example sidebar, and indicates that:

... Zone Attacks always target a zone, never a creature or object. Therefore, abilities and traits that allow a target to react when it is the target of an attack do not apply against a Zone Attack. Zone attacks always have the Unavoidable trait, so Defenses have no effect against them. ...


Monopoly: Do I Collect Rent If I Am In Jail?

Being in jail only prevents you from moving, and does not prevent you from doing any other action, including collecting rent. The rules state:

  Even though you are in Jail, you may buy and sell property, buy
  and sell houses and hotels and collect rents.

This is a very popular strategy late in the game, as the less you move, the less likely you are to land on your opponent's properties.

In addition, the rules specify that the only times you do not pay rent is when the property is mortgaged or if the property owner does not ask for rent before the next player's turn.


Can a tank attack across water within the same space (Germany to UK)?

Here's the snippet of map we're talking about:

There are three spaces of interest here:

England (a land zone)
The water surrounding England (a sea zone)
Western Europe (a land zone)

These are three separate spaces, and must be passed through in turn; Western Europe is not adjacent to England. You can't just jump from Western Europe to England, you need to pass through the sea zone on the way there. Unfortunately, tanks can't enter sea zones except by boarding a transport.

So getting a tank from Western Europe to England looks like this:

A German Tank starts in Western Europe. It can't enter the sea zone, because it's a tank.
Germany has a transport in the sea zone surrounding England, and there are no Allied sea units in that zone.
Tank boards transport, entering the sea zone in the only way it can.
Tank exits transport onto England, and gets involved in the combat there.


The Resistance doesn't work when resistance members don't care about losing

All games require people to be at least somewhat invested in playing properly, otherwise what's the point in playing in the first place?

I think the issue is made clear in your line about how there "was a social dynamic of people not wanting to argue, and 'let's just get on with the game'" - sorry, but arguing in The Resistance IS the game. Without the discussion, it's just a game of voting. It's already a short game (20-30 minutes), what is to be gained by rushing through it?

Sounds to me like the group weren't that up for playing. It is a game that requires the right group of people as you say. Although I will add the caveat that lots of people I didn't think would be into it will often surprise you with how invested they get.

Some people will take at least one game to establish properly how it works and what opportunities are available (and yes, you may need to artificially inflate the drama a little by throwing some accusations around perhaps more than you normally would). Some people however simply will not get it and won't get invested (my brother for example, couldn't understand why the spies would bother lying - which makes no sense, but whatever).


Looking for full spoilers for the Shadowrun CCG

Here's one link to start you on your way: a full text spoiler in PDF for the "Underworld" expansion, which was the only one released for the game.


Can Unity play Mechanical Golems when she gets to play a card outside of her turn?

Yes, she can play a mechanical golem outside of her play phase as if it was any other card. All that card is saying is you can't play it during the play phase and it does not mention not being able to play it like any other card.

  This card cannot be played during your play phase.

Take this card for instance

  Scrap Metal - "At the end of your turn, either take 1 Mechanical Golem from play back into your hand, or destroy this card.
  At the start of your turn, you may play a card. If you do, destroy this card."

What that card lets you do after you take a mechanical golem from play in into your hand you can then play it during the start phase of your next turn allowing it to  return the play with full health. What this means is that you can play a mechanical golem during your turn as long as it is not the play phase. The start of turn, user a power, draw a card and end of turn steps (or during any other player/environment/villain turn) are perfectly legal to play a mechanical golem as long as you gain the ability to play a card during those steps.


What happens when a fortified land stops being a land?

When the fortified land stops being a land, the fortification unattaches.
From Magic Comprehensive Rules (emphases mine):

301.5c An Equipment that’s also a creature can’t equip a creature. An Equipment that loses the subtype “Equipment” can’t equip a creature. An Equipment can’t equip itself. An Equipment that equips an illegal or nonexistent permanent becomes unattached from that permanent but remains on the battlefield. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.) An Equipment can’t equip more than one creature. If a spell or ability would cause an Equipment to equip more than one creature, the Equipment’s controller chooses which creature it equips.
301.6. Some artifacts have the subtype “Fortification.” A Fortification can be attached to a land. It can’t legally be attached to an object that isn’t a land. Fortification’s analog to the equip keyword ability is the fortify keyword ability. Rules 301.5a–e apply to Fortifications in relation to lands just as they apply to Equipment in relation to creatures, with one clarification relating to rule 301.5c: a Fortification that’s also a creature (not a land) can’t fortify a land. (See rule 702.66, “Fortify.”)


How to evaluate this board situation under Japanese or European rules

I will only discuss the Japanese pro rules, since as far as I know there are no official European rules. The tournament of the European Go Congress 2015, for example, was played with AGA rules. I think most European tournaments are played with "Verbal European-Japanese Rules" which usually require to fill all dame points and kos before the end of the game. Then I think the position would be counted as a Seki by the referee.

Senseis claims that these are the official Japanese pro rules in a translation of James Davies.
Two paragraphs are relevant for the question:

9.2 After stopping, the game ends through confirmation and agreement by the two players about the life and death of stones and territory. This is called "the end of the game."
9.3 If a player requests resumption of a stopped game, his opponent must oblige and has the right to play first.

and

13.1 After the game stops according to Article 9, if the players find an effective move, which would affect the result of the game, and therefore cannot agree to end the game, both players lose.

As you already noted the best B can get is a Seki and the best W can get is killing the black stones. Therefore the only interesting situation is when B wins in case of the Seki and W wins if W can kill. Then it is important which player has more ko threats, though most likely the kos where already played as the situation appeared after both players passed.
My interpretation is the following:

B has more ko threats: B claims resumption according to Article 9.3 and W plays first. W can play the ko but cannot win it. B wins.
W has more ko threats or no ko threats: B does not want to resume the match since B will lose the ko. In the case of no ko threats W takes first and B looses the ko as well. W does not want to resume the match since it would be B's turn and B will complete the Seki which results in a loss of W. Thus both players lose according to Article 13.1

On Senseis you can also find commentaries on these rules pointing out some ambiguities around these Articles and adding interpretation.
Edit: One of the comments there is this one which I think clarifies that the position in the question would result in a loss of both players. The relevant paragraph is §13 - Interpretation of the Rules of Play. The example there is similar to the position in the question. The point is that both players will agree that there is an effective move. Therefore Article 13.1 is to be used. W cannot claim that the stones are dead as long as this effective move exists. It is not important that this move will not be played as no player will ask for resumption.


How to win with Greyjoy in Game of Thrones board game?

The Greyjoys are a challenging house, and require a really aggressive play style. Out of the 6-player games I've played, the Greyjoys have won the least often, but not by a huge discrepancy, so take hope! There seems to be 2 working strategies, both based on the close relationship the Greyjoys have with the Lannisters.
Lannister Bloodbath
Screw the Lannisters early. With the support ships and larger army you start with, paired with the card that adds +1 to each ship, you're basically guaranteed two early victories over the Lannisters. Use these as best you can, because if you aren't in an advantageous position after that, you've lost. You should move into the Riverlands, stopping the Lannisters from growing early. Keep your ships present to support and harass, which helps stop the Lannisters from recovering. Take the Twins, at this point you should have 3 castles and a good control over the mainland.
Things to Avoid

Harrenhall. The cursed castle is cursed in this game as well. Taking it almost always means you're overstretching, leaves you exposed to Lannister, Stark and Baratheon attacks.
The Starks. They aren't a threat early. Don't waste time and precious momentum moving north, preparing for the Starks, etc.
Relaxing. If you do win the initial push, you need to keep up constant fighting to get your first cards back and finish off the Lannisters with them.

Outcome
After 2 or 3 turns, either you are hopelessly crippled, or the Lannisters are.
Uneasy Alliance
If the thought of essentially being out of the game after turn 2 sounds too risky, strike an alliance with the Lannisters. This is easier to do if the Tyrells are likely to be aggressive, as the Lannisters to not want to be stuck between you two. Give them the riverlands, make sure you keep the twins and your starting castles, and turn your attention North. You have a better claim on whiteshore and those Westernmost castles than the Starks do, use your early strength and sea support to take and keep them. Establish a strong base in the North, then decide whether to take Winterfell, turn to the Eeyrie and center of the Board, or betray the Lannisters.
Things to Avoid

Trusting the Lannisters. Don't attack them early because you need a quiet border, but at some point one of you will break the truce. Accept it and be ready.
Harrenhall. Once again, a cursed castle. Not worth it, it doesn't give the Lannisters anywhere else to go and encourages betrayal. Leaves you open to the Starks, puts you in contact with the Baratheons when you don't really need another front.
Raiding too far south. Sometimes you can encourage the Lannisters to stay faithfull by raiding the Tyrells. But it takes a lot of resources and stretches your navy thin with ultimately very little in it for you. And that sneak attack all the way to Highgarden that nobody expects because ship travel is so OP? Never, ever works.

Outcome
Slower game, expect a slog-fest with the Starks, a lot of back and forth pushing. You probably can't ever knock them out of the game, just contain them. Last few turns will be extremely aggressive and bloody. Pray that the Tyrells and Lannisters stay enemies.


How to tell which old cards can deal damage to planeswalkers

The Dominaria Frame, Template, and Rules Changes article has the set of rules they used to decide which cards to errata (under the "Planeswalker Redirection Rule" section).  To summarize:

"target creature or player" --> "any target" (ex. Lightning Bolt)
"target player"/"target opponent" --> "target player or planeswalker" (ex. Lava Spike and Jeskai Charm).  Exception: the text is unchanged if the amount of damage is calculated by using information about that player or objects they control (ex. Sudden Impact or Jovial Evil)
Everything else has not changed, except for Vial Smasher the Fierce, which can optionally damage any planeswalker that player controls.

Spells that deal damage to a player and then do something else to at least one permanent that player controls (like Bonfire of the Damned) have been additionally patched: “that player controls” → “that player or that planeswalker’s controller controls”.

These rules do not apply to cards printed in or after Dominaria. For example, Gravitic Punch cannot target planeswalkers as it was printed post-errata. You can tell that a card was printed before Dominaria if it meets one of these criteria:

It has a copyright date of 2017 or earlier.
It was from the Rivals of Ixalan set, which has the set code RIX and this set symbol:
It was from the Masters 25 set, which has the set code A25 and this set symbol:


Is a card with devoid colorless on the stack?

702.113a Devoid is a characteristic-defining ability. “Devoid” means “This object is colorless.” This ability functions everywhere, even outside the game. See rule 604.3.

'Everywhere' includes the stack, so a creature with protection from green can still be targeted by Unnatural Aggression.


In Arkham Horror, are Ally cards treated specially in setup?

I think the reason for this may be because there's no circumstance I've run into* where you pull a random ally, except in the case of discarding then it specifically says in the rules:

  For every point the terror level goes up, select one Ally card at random from the Ally deck and return it to the box.

So basically, it's not telling you to randomize them initially because there's no point.  The other decks draw from the top and have reasons to look at the bottom as well.
For the record, I generally randomize anyway but admit I end up having to look through during encounters and purchasing (or setup) to find the guy I want then re-randomizing.  So...ignoring might be smarter=)

*: I don't have all the expansions nor have I read every card/encounter etc but I do have 3 expansions and have played this game several dozen times.  But anyway, it's theoretical.


Despite not being able to trust any particular character is telling the truth, in some circumstances there appears to be a solution in favor of the good characters which takes advantage of the inherent asymmetry caused by the character Merlin and there always being more good characters than evil.

Here is an attempted mathematical solution for team good.

This relies on Merlin knowing all the evil characters. So will not work if the character Mordred is included (an evil character Merlin does not know about). If other special characters are used, it should not affect anything.  It is also a work in progress in that this strategy gives quite a bit of extra information to "team good", but there may still be some details that need working out. (For example, I've already had someone point out to me that one must be careful to pad out messages appropriately or just knowledge of the length is enough context to figure out who Merlin is with this strategy.)

After dealing character cards, a good person suggests:

the following strategy will allow good to win, so provably deviating from these rules will indicate you are evil
whoever is the first mission leader will be now referred to as player #0
players clockwise from #0 get numbered accordingly
each player (i) comes up with a secret phrase: phrase_i
from this, each player (i) generates a secret number for other player (j) as secret_ij = HASH( phrase_i + string(j) )
use these secret_ij numbers along with public key exchange to generate a crypto key between each player:  Key_ij = Key_ji = result of public key exchange between player (i) and (j)

Now with that setup, the good player goes on to suggest the following:

Special round of discussion: all players openly/publicly give encrypted messages to the other players stating one of the following:

7a) declaring themself as not-merlin

7b) declaring themself as merlin, stating who all is good, and providing his phrase_i so all keys and therefore messages from him can then be read by that person
Merlin should declare "merlin" to all good guys, and "not-merlin" to all evil. Normal loyal servants should just declare "not-merlin" to everyone.
if a good player gets a message deviating from this rule, they can immediately release the related key used for that communication to out the evil person.  So evil effectively must pretend to be normal good or merlin.
More generally, a good person should immediately expose any fake merlin (release his secret phrase) if they can prove they are fake without giving information about merlin.

For example, if a fake merlin ever claims another person claiming to be merlin is good, this outs themselves as fake, as the real merlin would never do this.  Unfortunately, a good person might need to keep this to themself, as revealing this could reveal information about Merlin.  However if multiple merlins choose groups such that there is no consistent way for one to be real (for example two merlins claiming each other as good, or three merlins claim such that it makes a cycle), then the entire group is fake and should be exposed.
Now a round of plaintext discussion (no encryption). Each player states which groups of good guys were declared to them by people declaring to be merlin. (Note: only the groups are released, not who claimed the group.)
If there is a group declared such that not everyone in the group states they were told they are in the group, then that group is clearly false (as good has no reason to deviate from the plan).

Since the number of good > the number of evil, any group with the correct number of people will necessarily include at least one good.  This means evil cannot usefully mislead here.
If there is a player who appears in all proposed sets of good players, he must be good.  All good players should release all secret phrases they know to this player.  Now even more restrictive than before, this player then can expose fake merlins whose group selections include each other in a revealing manner.
If there is enough information that every one should be able to deduce a guaranteed good team without revealing merlin, someone can just explain it.  Good, having superiority in numbers, can now ensure the correct group is sent each time.
If there is not enough information for everyone to determine good/evil, the mission leader picks a team which will eliminate as many proposed "good groups" from consideration as possible.  If Merlin was the mission leader, he could purposely pick a correct or incorrect group here, so no information about Merlin is lost here.  If the mission wouldn't actually eliminate a possible "good group", and the person still insists on this mission team anyway or calls a vote before discussion, it outs themselves as evil and good can vote the mission team down. (Note this of course does not indicate good/evil for the team they suggested though.) So evil has to play along here to try to help narrow down a team.
If the mission fails, it should by design eliminate at least one, if not more, proposed "good groups".  If the mission succeeds, it provides no information.  Proceed to pick the next one.

I may be missing something, but I do not believe team evil gains any information about merlin from this strategy.  I also am not sure how to prove it, but it appears to me there is enough information to always have good win.

First note that if every time a mission fails, at least one possible "good group" is eliminated, there have to be at least 3 fake merlins for team evil to have a chance.  So the only potential issue is in the 7-10 player version.

Second, note that the intersection of all proposed good sets must actually be good.

Third, if the intersection between two proposed sets has only one person, that person must be good.

This along with previous information and other simple deductions is quite restrictive.

For a concrete example, consider the seven person game: 3 evil, 4 good.

All three evil characters need to successfully claim to be merlin to have a chance. So if we can eliminate one by deduction, good wins.

If no fake merlins include an additional evil member in the proposed group, then there are E+1 people that have only been included in one group. The complement of this must be good.

If all fake merlins include an additional evil member in the proposed group, then there will be a cycle of fake merlins claiming other fake merlins are good, and thus out each other.

So at least one fake merlin must include G-1 good members in the proposed group.  Thus if there is a proposed group that doesn't have an intersection of size G-1 with at least one other group, it can be discarded. (Taking the number of groups down to 2, thus allowing the good to win.)

For a seven player game, there are three missions requiring <= G-1 people. So if no proposed group can be eliminated only with deduction, then always choose for the mission the intersection of at least two groups.  If evil fails the mission, they eliminate more than one group, and thus good again wins.


Can you discard inactive jobs in Firefly

Yes, you can end up with more than inactive 3 jobs in your hand after dealing, but you must immediately discard back to down to a maximum of 3.

Basically when dealing you consider 3 cards (these cards are not counted as being in your hand yet while you are considering them). You then select a maximum of 2 of these cards to keep depending on which ones you like (the selected cards, if any, are now placed in your hand). Then you must immediately discard back down to a maximum of 3 cards (so you would discard jobs you previously had that you didn't want to keep).

The FAQs hosted on flamesofwar.com are the official ones as they are linked to from this official page, although the version you linked to (v2) is outdated, the most recent FAQ is v4.1.


If Emrakul, the Aeons Torn somehow loses all abilities, and then dies, does it shuffle back into the deck?

Yes, your graveyard will be shuffled back into your library.
This is a bit of an unusual situation because it's a triggered ability using the unusual phrase “from anywhere”.
Normally triggered abilities look at the current state of the game: we care only about what cards look like now. There's an exception made for a handful of triggered abilities that instead “look back in time”, which means we look at what the game state was like previously to determine whether and how any abilities trigger. The most common one is when a creature dies: in that case we look at the game state when the creature was last on the battlefield. Deep Freeze or Humility would remove all abilities from a creature, so that means usually a “When this creature dies” ability wouldn't trigger, so God-Eternals wouldn't shuffle back into your library.
That's according to these rules (under the section Handling triggered abilities, emphasis added):

603.10 Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions [based on the game state and continuous effects as they apply now.] However, some triggered abilities are exceptions to this rule; the game “looks back in time” to determine if those abilities trigger, using the existence of those abilities and the appearance of objects immediately prior to the event. The list of exceptions is as follows:
603.10a Some zone-change triggers look back in time. These are leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a card leaves a graveyard, and abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library.

However, Emrakul's put-into-the-graveyard ability doesn't match any of these exception criteria. In particular it is never treated as a leaves-the-battlefield ability:

603.6c Leaves-the-battlefield abilities trigger when a permanent moves from the battlefield to another zone [...] An ability that triggers when a card is put into a certain zone “from anywhere” is never treated as a leaves-the-battlefield ability, even if an object is put into that zone from the battlefield.

This means we don't look back in time for Emrakul's ability, as surprising as that might be. We just do the default: we look at Emrakul's state once it's in the graveyard.
In the graveyard, Emrakul has all of its abilities intact. (Recall that Humility doesn't affect cards in the graveyard.) A trigger condition has been met—we know Emrakul has just been put into the graveyard—so we put that triggered ability on the stack. If it resolves, we shuffle your graveyard, probably including Emrakul, into your library.

Additional notes

If Yixlid Jailer is on the battlefield it will prevent Emrakul's ability from being triggered. This is because we check for Emrakul's triggered ability once it's already in the graveyard, but at that point it will have no abilities at all.
There are also various ways to stop the ability from doing anything useful: you can counter the triggered ability or exile all cards from that graveyard before the ability resolves.
Although Blightsteel Colossus has a similar effect it behaves differently because it is a replacement effect. If it loses all abilities on the battlefield then dies, it will be put into the graveyard and stay there. This is because we have to check the replacement effect in the previous zone before it reaches the graveyard, and on the battlefield the replacement effect doesn't exist.


What happens if neither player decides to do anything?

The most likely outcome is that one player loses when he has no more cards to draw:

  104.3c If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in his or her library, he or she draws the remaining cards, and then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority.

Other possible outcome is a draw during a tournament game with time limit, though a player will likely run out of cards before they reach the limit.


How can I handicap Ticket To Ride: USA, without seeming patronizing?

Some actions you can take, in increasing order of difficulty it will impose:

Don't aim for the Longest Route.
Don't draw from the visible options. This will reduce the 'skill' you can exercise, making your plays more dependent on luck.
Don't use wild Cards to fill out a color set. Makes it harder to get the longer routes. Knowing that they may gather in your hand, you can still use them as a full set to claim a route.
Don't use wild cards at all.
Increase the number of trains you have to collect to claim the smaller routes. Instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, use 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 6. This will drastically slow your ability to claim routes. Don't actually play the extra card, just collect them.


4-4 high approach - why is the defensive approach prefered?

The main reason why I think you think this is good is because this joseki looks a lot like another familiar 3-4 joseki: http://josekipedia.com/#path:qdodocncpcndqfjd

$$ Good possibilities
$$ --------------|
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . X . X . . . |
$$ . . . , X . . |
$$ . . . O X . . |
$$ . a . O O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . c b . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |

But even though the difference between these two positions is only one line it cannot be overstated, black is good in that situation because he's closer to the corner, and it's secure, it's difficult to attack black.  Because black is solid, he doesn't have to worry about follow up moves and he has nice follow up moves of his own against white.  But in your right side variation, because it's one line farther out, there are too many weaknesses, black's corner is not secure.  So he can't necessarily count on the same follow up moves.

$$ Maybe not an option
$$ --------------|
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . X . X . . . |
$$ . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . O X . . |
$$ . ? . O O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . ? ? . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . |

So it's becomes a trade, you're getting a little more corner "territory" for massive weakspots in that territory.  Later on white can even make an approach at the 8-3 point on the other side.  Black would normally want to pincer such a close approach, but cannot because the aji in the corner would become a big problem.  Black would need to play defensively, so white gets a free move, and black becomes overconcentrated and inefficient.  But it's either that or lose the corner, but if you were planning on giving up the corner then other moves would have been better suited.

As you can see from the given diagrams, black gets a large chunk of the side on the left as well and is difficult to attack.  On the right he's got a few more points in the corner, but because of the bad aji, he can't expect to get the side as well.  Even if he already has a stone at the 10-3 or 10-4, white has enough potential here to invade or reduce easily given the correct whole board situation.  There's not really an upside.  On the other hand, white's shape is ideal in the right side variation.

$$ The stuff of nightmares
$$ ----------------------|
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . a c . . . |
$$ . X . O . . e . d . . |
$$ . , . . . X . X . . . |
$$ . . . b . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . O X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . O O . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . O . . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . . . |

You pointed out the monkey jump.  Generally, monkey jumps are 10-point sente moves. (But that, of course, depends on the exact situation.)  Because it's normally sente for black, but gote for white, black is almost certainly going to get that move.  Those 10 points are 10 points you can count on if you're playing endgame correctly, because it's bigger for you to play it than your opponent.  If your opponent does get it that either means that you made a mistake and didn't play it early enough, or your opponent did and there's still larger points on the board.  So you can count on those 10 points.


Beast combat in Scenario 19 (The Beastmaster)

Consider the number of pips showing on any rolled die as a success.

Then, a standard creature/character rolling one die has a range of possibilities from 0-2.  Let's say a creature got to roll one die, but had one additional succcess.  Then that creature rolls a die (normal 0-2 distribution) and adds one.  So, their overall distribution is 1-3.

The impact of this is that the creature will always have some successes that must be defended against.


Can shootouts happen in the town square?

Yes, you can have Shoot-Outs in Town Square.

On page 18:

  As a Noon play, one of your unbooted dudes can choose a dude controlled by another player at the same location, and call out that dude (challenge that dude to a shootout). This doesn’t boot your dude, and so as long as your dude stays unbooted, they can call out an opposing dude each and every time it’s your turn to make a play."

And on page 12 it states:

  There are three types of in-town locations. Each deed is its own location. Each outfit’s home is a location (with a few special rules). And the area in the middle of the table is a location called the town square.

Shootouts happen when dudes are at the same location and there are three types of in-town locations, one of which is the town square.


Can I assign only some creatures to block Gorm the Great?

Yes, you can do that.
Gorm the Great needs to be blocked by at least 2 creatures:

Gorm the Great must be blocked if able, and Gorm must be blocked by two or more creatures if able.

If the opponent has any more creatures they can choose to block any creature with them (unless there are any other restrictions).


You have to specify the order of sacrifice when asked to, and you still have to propose a shortcut that involves sacrificing all your artifacts, as originally proposed.

Since the Ravager only allows you to sacrifice one artifact per activation, the proposal of "I sacrifice all of my artifacts to Arcbound Ravager" was technically not legal in the first place. From the CompRules:

  719.2a At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices.

Of course, if the order of sacrifice didn't matter to any player, it would still be an acceptable proposal. However, since it did matter, your opponent can force you to spell out the order of sacrifice. You may not modify your play as a reaction to your opponent asking about the order of sacrifice. From the Tournament Rules:

  4.3 Out-of-Order Sequencing

  All actions taken must be legal if they were executed in the correct order, and any opponent can ask the player to do the actions in the correct sequence so that he or she can respond at the appropriate time (at which point players
  will not be held to any still-pending actions).

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

  Players may not try to use opponent's reactions to some portion of an out-of-order sequence to see if he or she should modify actions or try to take additional ones.

While the examples for out of order sequencing don't include one similar to your scenario, combining individual actions that can't be combined arguably also fall under that rule.


The offical rules (bottom of page 5) state:

  ENDING THE GAME

  If you have 10 or more victory points during your turn the game ends and you are the winner!

Interpreted literally, this is a state of the game, not an action - if at any point during your turn, you have 10 or more victory points, you win, independent of what you say or do. "Declaring victory" is not something which is covered in the rules, so it can't end your turn. However, this literal interpretation of the rules leads to an obvious problem if somebody does have 10 victory points on their turn but doesn't declare victory - are they still the winner?

As such, this is going to depend on the context you're playing in - in any of my gaming groups, we'd give the person claiming victory a ribbing for not being able to count to 10 and let them continue their turn - but that's a decision for your group to make, not one the rules are going to make for you; you can't expect the rules to cover every mistake a player can possibly make. If you're in a more formal context like a tournament, this is the time to call the referee over to your table - that's what they're there for.


Are there any playable Twilight Imperium 2 player variants?

There is no official 2-player variant; the game just wasn't designed for it.

But as always, the internet provides.  Various fans have proposed two-player rule sets.

The Roland Wood variant is probably the most commonly used, building on earlier suggestions by other players.

(There was another popular version in the "Shattered Expansion", but I can no longer find a live link.)


What happens to the president's quorum card hand when he loses the title?

Good question. I don't think the rules or FAQ explicitly address this. The cards certainly don't get shuffled back into the deck; I don't think there's anything to suggest that would happen. The question is whether they are discarded or if the hand passes to the new President. The base game rule book really only has one statement that addresses this question:

  Whichever player has the President title has control over this hand of Quorum Cards.

This implies the hand of Quorum cards doesn't really belong to the President, rather the current President simply has control over the hand. So if the title transfers to another character, nothing happens to the hand, but control of the hand belongs to the new President.

The Pegasus rule book offers some confirmation of this. Regarding execution, it says:

  The player whose character was executed discards his hand of Skill Cards. (Quorum Cards in his
  hand are unaffected.) He also discards any Quorum Cards played on his character (for example the “Assign Mission Specialist” Quorum card).

And this about revealing:

  The player discards down to three Skill Cards (or to zero if he has been revealed as a result of execution). He also discards any Quorum Cards played on his character. (If the player was President, the hand of Quorum Cards is not discarded. It is given to the new President instead.)

Since the Quorum hand is not discard as a result of the President being executed or revealed, then it is not discarded as a result of the President title being transferred to another character (since transfer also happens with execution or reveal of the President).


Help me identify this old tile stacking game

My grandma has this game! I wanted to buy my own!
You turn them all over and put them into piles of 10. Separate the piles according to the amount of players.
Each player takes it in turns to flip over their top tile on the pile on the right hand side. The aim is to build up six piles from 1 to 20 in the middle.
If you turn over a tile and someone has a tile a number higher or lower (e.g. you flip over a 17 and someone else has a 16 or 18) you pass your tile over to put on their tile. The first player to get rid of all their tiles wins.


Is Lookout usually a good pick with a Big Money strategy?

I certainly agree. For the hand playing it, Lookout is a dead card. Since you're considering a Big Money (BM) strategy, the natural comparison is against Silver. The first time you play it, if you're lucky, you remove a single dead card from your deck (an Estate), you're back to where you started, and you had to play with a 4-card hand that, had you had a Silver instead, could likely have bought you a good $5 or Gold! By the time you've played the Lookout twice, it's probably turn 6-8; the game is close to half over. The Silver could have catapulted you to Gold or a good $5 twice now, and you'd have a Silver in your deck too.

Lookout is fine if the BM is flavored by Cursing, and Sea Hag in particular. In this case it removes negative points, hits more dead cards, and has a longer time to work in the more drawn-out cursing environment.

I would be very surprised if Lookout/Smithy/BM beats Smithy/BM, for the same reasons as above (and because the Smithy can draw the Lookout dead!) For Lookout to be good in the absence of Curses, you need to have an engine in mind.


How would Solidarity of Heroes work with Heroic counter abilities

Yes, you can do this, but no, you don't choose the order, so you don't get to choose whether it happens or not.

When you cast Solidarity of Heroes, you chose your targets, and once the spell is cast, anything it targets becomes targeted. This triggers heroic, which goes on the stack on top of Solidarity of Heroes. Heroic resolves, giving you 2 +1/+1 counters, and then Solidarity of Heroes resolves, doubling all counters on that permanent.

Casting a spell:

  601.2c Any abilities that trigger when those players, objects, and/or zones become the target of a spell trigger at this point; they'll wait to be put on the stack until the spell has finished being cast.


No you can not cast CMC 0, 2 or 4 spells with Sunforger while your opponent controls a Void Winnower.
Sunforger's ability gives your CMC 4 or less spells an alternate cost, but it doesn't actually change their CMC.

117.9: Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell's text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying the spell's mana cost. Alternative costs are usually phrased, "You may [action] rather than pay [this object's] mana cost," or "You may cast [this object] without paying its mana cost." Note that some alternative costs are listed in keywords; see rule 702.
117.9c: An alternative cost doesn't change a spell's mana cost, only what its controller has to pay to cast it. Spells and abilities that ask for that spell's mana cost still see the original value.

So even though you aren't actually paying for the spell, Void Winnower's ability still sees it as an even Mana Cost and prevents you from casting it.
Interesting side note brought up by @ikegami in the comments: Even though you can't actually cast the spells, you can still attempt to use Sunforger's ability, so if you will be able to pay RW, unattach Sunforger, look through your library, then shuffle it. Might be useful if you need to shuffle your library for some reason (ie. you control an Experimental Frenzy and have a land stuck on top).


What happens if I flip a token face down?

Yes, you can turn the token face down. It becomes a colorless 2/2 creature with no name or abilities. You can then turn it face up by paying its morph cost.

The first few rules about face-down cards say the following:

  707.1. Some cards allow spells and permanents to be face down.
  707.2. Face-down spells and face-down permanents have no characteristics other than those listed by the ability or rules that allowed the spell or permanent to be face down. Any listed characteristics are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics. (See rule 613, “Interaction of Continuous Effects,” and rule 706, “Copying Objects.”)

  707.2a If a face-up permanent is turned face down by a spell or ability that doesn’t list any characteristics for that object, it becomes a 2/2 face-down creature with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost. A permanent that enters the battlefield face down also has these characteristics unless otherwise specified by the effect that put it onto the battlefield face down or allowed it to be cast face down. These values are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics.

These rules say that permanents can be turned face-down, and there are no exceptions for tokens here or anywhere else. The token will have the face-down status and the characteristics described in rule 707.2a. Then rule 702.36e from the Morph rules says this:

  Any time you have priority, you may turn a face-down permanent you control with a morph ability face up. This is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule 116). To do this, show all players what the permanent’s morph cost would be if it were face up, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. (If the permanent wouldn’t have a morph cost if it were face up, it can’t be turned face up this way.) The morph effect on it ends, and it regains its normal characteristics. Any abilities relating to the permanent entering the battlefield don’t trigger when it’s turned face up and don’t have any effect, because the permanent has already entered the battlefield.

Again, this allows you to unmorph any permanent that would have a morph ability if it were face up, and there are no exceptions for tokens.


If my walker is in base with a vehicle can it shoot AND attack?

6th edition

An immobilized walker cannot pivot (p.74)--so while overwatch is still allowed (p.84)--you are limited precisely moving targets within the 45 degree horizontal and vertical arc present at the time of immobilization.

Despite the base contact, the tank is not locked-in combat (p.76). This means the tank is a valid target during the shooting phase on your turn (from both the walker and other shooters), also provided that your immobilized walker can target the tank by being in it's current, unchangable 45 degree shooting arc.

The walker can engage in the assault phase with the tank right after being rammed (p.84). However, because it is immobilized, it would have one less attack to a minimum of one attack (p.84). This reduction will apply to the subsequent assault if you remain btb.

7th edition

7th edition seems to keep almost identical text regarding walkers, ramming, and overwatch.

  If my walker isn't immobilized, what changes?

Lots would change if your enemy wasn't a tank, but since it is a tank, the differences are fewer: if you were not immobilized, you could 1) walk away, 2) overwatch in all directions, 3) have all available assault attacks and 4) pivot and shoot at anybody within range.


What is the value by percentage of Lindel's reroll special ability?

Assuming he plays optimally (only rerolling when necessary, and rerolling the higher die), the odds of rolling equal to or less than a given number on 2d6 with one reroll allowed are:

2: 7.4%
3: 19.9%
4: 35.6%
5: 52.3%
6: 68.1%
7: 80.6%
8: 89.4%
9: 94.9%
10: 98.1%
11: 99.5%
12: 100%

Note that this is equivalent to rolling 3d6 and seeing if any two of them sum to the target value (or less). So you can just take the 216 combinations there and check them, just like taking the 36 combinations in the basic 2d6 case and checking those.


What is the meaning of the starting player rules in Tzolk'in?

It's a joke, referencing the fact that many games these days have means of determining a starting player that are somewhat arbitrarily related to the theme of the game but where there's nothing stopping you from choosing the starting player however you like. For example, the player with the pointiest ears is meant to be the start player for Small World, while Chrononauts has everyone guess the time and the person closest to the truth gets to start.


Can I mix same races but different factions in one army 40k

Short answer

Yes.

Longer answer

Yes, but thinking in terms of "races" isn't the determining factor (it effectively is, as far as I know, but it isn't the language used by the rules).

In 8th edition 40k, there are three styles of play: Open, Narrative, and Matched. In Open and Narrative, you can just bring what you want and play. Though there are additional rules that can be added which may bring restrictions (like detachments). In Matched, you are required to use the detachments rules, where most detachments require the units in the detachment to be from the same faction. Factions are just keywords that are given with a unit's datasheet.

Since you're asking Drukhari and Harlequins (and I happen to have reference materials for them):

Harlequin's Troupe unit has the Faction Keywords "Aeldari", "Harlequins", and "<Masque>".
Drukhari's Kabalite Warriors unit has the Faction Keywords "Aeldari", "Drukhari", and "<Kabal>".

Since both these units share at least one Faction Keyword ("Aeldari"), they can be included in the same detachment.

Additional Information

If you are playing with the armies' codexes, each faction benefits substantially from being in a detachment with ONLY units from that codex (and potentially even more specific than the codex). Each codex has options for sub-factions that give additional abilities to your units, you probably noticed the Faction Keywords that had "<" and ">" above, these are to determine your units' sub-faction (Drukhari are especially complicated, as they have three types of sub-faction, "Kabals", "Wych Cults", and "Haemonculus Covens").

Update:

Per the 2018 Big FAQ 2: The Battle Brothers rule was updated to "All of the units in each detachment in your Battle-forged army must have at least one Faction keyword in common. In addition, this keyword cannot be CHAOS, IMPERIUM, AELDARI, YNNARI, or TYRANIDS, unless the Detachment is question is a Fortification Network. This has no effect on your army Faction."

This means that two detachments with the AELDARI keyword can be included in the same army, but the AELDARI keyword is no longer enough to include units into the same detachment.


What happens when you flicker a double-faced card?

Its front face (the one with the sun symbol in the top-left corner), so Huntmaster of the Fells.

It's a brand new object put onto the 'field, as if you had just resolved it after casting it. It has summoning sickness; it's untapped; it doesn't have any counters, enchantments or equipment; and it's front face is up.

  711.5. A double-faced card enters the battlefield with its front face up unless a spell or ability puts it onto the battlefield “transformed,” in which case it enters the battlefield with its back face up.


Where to buy or how to cut blank hexes for own game prototype?

Yes, you can buy blank hex pieces. Print&Play Productions offers cardboard hex tiles in several different sizes through Boards & Bits.

Chipboard Shapes - Hex 1.19" [35 pcs] $2.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 1.5"  [20 pcs] $2.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 2.2"  [11 pcs] $2.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 2.6"  [22 pcs] $3.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 3.9"  [8 pcs]  $3.00

You could also get wooden hexes from WoodNShop for $0.15-$0.42 each, or at a discount by the 100s. I am unsure if these would fit your purposes for tile laying, as I have heard complaints that the tile dimensions are not uniform enough for such a purpose.

 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 1 $0.15
 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 2 $0.20
 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 1 $0.32
 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 1 $0.42
 C/O HEXAGON 1/4 X 2 $0.20

There is also plastic tiles, if you are so inclined. With a little bit of work to remove the mesh backing, you could use actual hexagonal tiles from your local hardware store.

I don't know of any board game manufacturer that creates hex tiles with custom graphics. Board game maufacturers are capable of creating protype board games, but my guess is the cost is prohibitive.

If you want to cut your own uniform hex tiles, you are going to need a die cutter ($600), and a custom die.

You probably don't even need hex tiles for testing purposes. If the hex tiles need not be rotated, then square tiles can be offset every other row for the same effect as a hex tile. If orientation is important, wooden tiles/disks can be substituted for hex tiles.


Are there any magazines similar to InQuest Gamer in print today?

Looking around, I found a couple online magazines

http://www.meoplesmagazine.com/

http://www.flagshipmagazine.co.uk/index.php?a=home

I also found a list of magazines on the geek:

http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Game_Magazines

Not exactly what I was looking for, but it's better than nothing.


Clarification of the typo in the Almanac's entry for Intrigue

Ignore ", board)". From a different print,

  With this card you can displace an opponent’s knight without using a knight of your own. You can play this card even if you have no knights of your own. The displaced knight must be moved to an empty space. If he cannot, then remove him from the board (return it to its owner). After the knight is displaced, you can build there or move one of your own knights, following the normal rules.

It's just pointing out that now that the spot will become vacant, so you are able to build there. It's not allowing you play a knight for free.

The normal rules for placing a knight are:

  If you wish to “hire” a knight, you must pay one wool and one ore to the bank. This allows you to take a basic knight (open helmet/one ring) and place it on the board. Newly placed knights are always placed with the inactive up. You may place your knight on any unoccupied intersection connected to your roads.

  why the knight-hiring part wasn't specified in the card?

It's just pointing out a reason for which you might want to use the card. It's barely worth mentioning in the FAQ, much less on an already-full card.

  Lastly, if I don't have a basic knight to place, can I instead hire a knight of higher rank or, say, the same rank of knight my opponent removed?

No. You can only buy a basic knight.

  but only if his/her knight is blocking your road to a common intersection (which is very rare, considering no one wants their road to be interrupted or left open, lest the "Diplomat" strikes).

The knight actually protects its owner's roads in this example. That presents two additional uses for Intrigue:

Remove a Knight to leave a road vulnerable to the Diplomat.
Remove a Knight so you can place your own to protect your road from the Diplomat.


When should I send my current civilization into decline?

Well, there is no perfect answer to this question, or else the game wouldn't be fun at all for anyone. But…

1) If you guess that the next turn, you won't make more points than this turn, no need to move, then it is preferable to use this turn to decline.

2) If you spot a "perfect civilization" (for the given situation) in the queue and need to take it before anyone gets the same idea, go for it!

I have some trouble answering your question with a straight answer for one reason: this aspect of the game is purely second guessing; whatever you do depends of what the others will do and vice-versa. Having a neighbour that wants to destroy your civilization or being the border line between two enemies is very different (I am not speaking about pure strategy here but about the more or less logical desires of the players).

This is to say: no, there is no perfect strategy, but points 1) and 2) may be good hints.


Does a Sorcery with Support trigger Zada, Hedron Grinder's ability?

Support has this definition:

  “Support N” on a permanent means “Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to N other target creatures.” “Support N” on an instant or sorcery spell means “Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to N target creatures.”

So, "Support 2" on Press into Service is the same as if the card actually had "Put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to 2 target creatures" printed on it. This means that yes, if you cast a spell with Support N, and the only target is Zada, Hedron Grinder, then the ability triggers and the spell is copied.

However, note that this is impossible with Nissa's Judgement (and Press into Service if you want to actually take control of an opponent's creature), because they require you to choose another target besides the ones you support.


Catan - Discarding fish to draw more from the supply

Yes.

In the original scenario named The Fishermen of Catan, there was no limit to how many fish tokens could be kept. A revised version was published in Traders & Barbarians. This version included the following rule:

  7 fish tokens at most: You are not allowed to have more than 7 fish tokens at any one time. If you already have 7 fish tokens and would obtain another 1 or 2 fish tokens for a settlement or city, you may exchange one of your fish tokens with a fish token from the supply (hoping for a token with more fish on it).

So if you couldn't draw a fish tile because you already have 7, you may first discard one of your fish tokens.

However, it's not clear exactly when and how often this can be done.

What if you have 6 fish tokens and would obtain 2 from a city?
What if you have 6 fish tokens and would obtain 1 each of two settlements?
What if you have 7 fish tokens and would obtain 2 from a city?
What if you have 7 fish tokens and would obtain 1 each of two settlements?
What if you have 7 fish tokens and would obtain 1 from a settlement and 2 from a city?


Casting Goblin Matron with Plague Engineer on the battlefield

Yes, you can. The Goblin Matron enters the battlefield, and her ability will trigger then, and even though she's gone by the time the ability resolves, that doesn't matter.

  603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 117, “Timing and Priority.” The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.

There's no such rule as 'whenever the source of an ability dies, the ability is countered'. Actually, somewhere else is mentioned that

  113.7a 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.

A similar situation (with an activated ability and a spell to destroy the source) was asked about in Can I use Naturalize to "counter" an activated ability?


Yes. Lion's Eye Diamond is a mana ability (it produces mana, it doesn't target, and it isn't a loyalty ability), so you don't have to wait for it to resolve. LED is special among mana abilities in that it has a timing restriction, but that only limits when you can activate it.


Can a blocking creature fight? How is damage dealt if it dies?

If you cast such an instant after declaring blockers, the following will happen:

Your creature A will fight creature C and they will both die. Creature B will still be blocked, and thus will not deal any damage to you unless it has trample.


When is someone the controller of a permanent?

In most cases, the player who controls a permanent is the player who played it. In the situation you describe, if an opponent plays an aura with "Enchant Creature" attached to a creature you control, then your opponent still controls the aura.


What are the four Dutch exclusive cards in Munchkin Koethulhu?

According to this post on the Steve Jackson games forums, the four Dutch exclusive cards are Verwilderd, Inburgeringscursus, Ontlastingsdienst, and De Dodenrit.

Note that the linked post listed one of the cards simply as Dodenrit while this image on BoardGameGeek shows it as De Dodenrit - so I can't guarantee the listed names are 100% complete, or if there a slight difference in versions between the two sources.


Reforming to gain extra rank in close combat

Yes you can.

You can reform if:

You win the round of combat
Or if you lose combat, hold and pass an unmodified leadership test.

I believe there is a limit to how many columns you can adjust per turn (from memory I think it's 5) however there should be no problem going from 10 columns to 5.

Assuming your models are on 20mm bases this will give you 4 models from each rank in each rank attacking and a +1 rank bonus (until the monster kills another model at least!).

Where the rules begin to get a little vague is when you're "moving" your unit in the combat to get more attacks. It's best to agree with your opponent before you start moving models.

The rules are clear that can't reform out of combat - they're a little vague on reforming to get more attacks in (although bear in mind that this is what you're effectively doing when you add more ranks). In my opinion the simplest solution is to treat the centre of combat as the centre of the unit and reform around that.


What real-life buildings are the Settlers of Catan Victory point cards based on?

The chapel is a close depiction of the Gol Stave Church in Oslo. The palace, I don't know.


Where can I search by card for decks in major tournaments?

magic.tcgplayer.com allows you to search deck lists based on a particular card being used.  Here's the search for Tibalt.  You can also use their Deck search tools to limit by format and place finished in addition to specific cards.

Limiting your search to include decks using Tibalt, in the Modern format, that placed at least 1st through 64th returns zero results, indicating that no successful deck in the entire TCGPlayer database has ever used Tibalt.


Losing the player board ability in the middle of the turn

The relevant rules:

  It may happen that a Taoist loses his  power because of a ghost
  ability. He can recover it as soon as the  responsible ghost is
  removed from his board.

I can't find anything in the rules that explicitly states when you lose your power, but I would assume that if you get them back instantly, that you can lose them instantly as well.

Regarding the symbol on the ghost card:

  As long as  this ghost is not defeated,  the power of the board  where
  the ghost card has been placed cannot be used (place an  Inactive
  Power token on the power stone of the board)

Even though this symbol might be in the immediate actions part of the ghost card, it is a ongoing effect that transfers to a new board when it is moved.

  The blue Taoist can act in a heartbeat. He may request villager’s help
  AND attempt an exorcism in the  same turn, in any order

This isn't explicit either about when exactly your power is used. If the blue player's power is such that the use of the power occurs before the attempted exorcism, or the use of a village tile, than I would say that you can in fact still do both actions. But this seems to be a strange interpretation to me. Since every player in the game can already can use a village tile on their turn, I would interpret the use of the blue Taoist's power to be when he tries to exorcise a ghost after having already used a village tile.

Therefore, I agree with your interpretation that you cannot attempt an exorcism because you need to use your power in order to attempt an exorcism after having already used a village tile.


Is there a standard name for the card game "Elevenses"?

The name is Elevens from wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevens


How may it be possible to win and lose the game simultaneously?

The rule exists "just in case". It is not actually possible to win and lose at the same time under current rules and with current cards.

Ways to win/lose a game

The rules define all the ways to win and lose a game:

  104.2a A player still in the game wins the game if that player’s opponents have all left the game. This happens immediately and overrides all effects that would preclude that player from winning the game.

Since you can't lose the game when this rules makes you win, it's irrelevant to the question.

  104.2b An effect may state that a player wins the game.

  104.2c In a multiplayer game between teams, a team with at least one player still in the game wins the game if all other teams have left the game. Each player on the winning team wins the game, even if one or more of those players had previously lost that game.

  104.2d In an Emperor game, a team wins the game if its emperor wins the game. (See rule 809.5.)

It doesn't explicitely say so, but "have left the game" is the same wording as in 104.2a, so I would assume the same restriction about not being able to lose the game  also applies. Either way, I don't see how this could be exploited to create a "win/lose at the same time" situation. As for Emperor games, if a single player can't win and lose at the same time, the team that player is on can't either, so it's not relevant to the question either.

  104.3a A player can concede the game at any time. A player who concedes leaves the game immediately. That player loses the game.

No way to concede and win at the same time.

  104.3b - 104.3d

The 3 state-based actions that make a player lose the game. There are more state-based actions for team games and special game modes that make a player/team lose.

  104.3e An effect may state that a player loses the game.

So in summary, the only times when a player can win/lose the game are the result of a state-based action, the resolution of a spell, or when a player concedes, the last of which can have no other result than one player losing. Only state-based actions and spell/ability resolutions are potential sources of win and loss at the same time.

You can not win and lose the game at the same time

Two events that make a player win or lose happening at the same time means they all have to happen during a single state-based actions check, or they have to happen during the resolution of a single spell or ability. Events in any other situation are not simultaneous.

State-base actions can only make a player lose, rule 704.5:

player has zero life or less
10 or more poison counters on a player
player attempted to draw from empty library
several other ways to lose the game in multiplayer or special game modes such as Commander

There are no cards that could make a player directly win and lose at the same time with a single resolution of a spell or ability to satisfy 104.2b and 104.3e at the same time. Such a card would have to include the terms "win" and "lose" in its ability text at the same time in one of its abilitites. None of the cards that satisfy this condition could be used to create a simultaneous win and loss for a player. Multiple spells/abilities cannot resolve at the same time, they use the stack.
State-based actions checks and spell/ability resolutions can never happen at the same, so you can't win the game due to a spell/ability and lose at the same time to state-based actions.


If I have 8+ coins and no Gold, should I buy a Gold or a Province?

Generally you want to get a Gold before you buy a Province in order to sustain your Province buying.

Exceptions include:

Situations in which you are using action chains for money (e.g., Minion, possibly Conspirator) because the Gold does not contribute to your chain in a significant manner.
When your Treasure Maps hit. If you have 4 Golds from TM, you should have the coin density you need for the game.
If there is a trash-for-benefit card on the board that you can exploit (e.g., Salvager, Expand especially if there are Colonies in play, possibly Apprentice). This will be situational; you need to make sure that you're going to be able to stay ahead of your opponent if you trash the Province.
If the game is ending quickly (e.g., your opponent is rushing Gardens or Duke/Duchy and the game is going to end on piles before you work all the way through your next shuffle).
If you have cards that let you discard for substantial benefit (e.g., Horse Traders is probably enough; Cellar is definitely not), you might be able to avoid some of the penalty for greening your deck early. But, this is a higher variance strategy—sometimes shuffle luck will make you successful, and sometimes the shuffle gods will not be amused.


Can doublestrike kill a creature with totem armor?

Yes, a creature with doublestrike can kill a creature with totem armor in combat.
In a combat phase that involves first/double strike creatures, there is an additional combat damage step. In the first, only creatures with first/double strike deal damage, so the 3/4 deals 3 damage to the 3/3. Players then get a round of priority, which means state-based actions are checked and the 3/3 that received lethal damage dies. Totem armor replaces that death and, unlike with regeneration, the 3/3 remains in combat. In the next damage step, the 3/3 and the 3/4 deal damage to each other and the 3/3 creature dies for good.

Combat Damage Step

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage.
510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously.
510.3. Third, the active player gets priority.
510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step.
704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event.


Glory to Rome: play a role, perform no action

In Glory to Rome, I find the general answer to "Can I do X?" questions is yes.  Your question follows that pattern, or else I'd be very surprised for this reason:

If you were forced to have a valid move at the time that you followed, then you could never really follow a legionnaire, because you might have your hand reduced to nothing but jacks, in which case you couldn't actually demand anything.


Does heroic trigger when the creature is in a graveyard?

No. The Heroic ability only works if the creature you target is a permanent on the battlefield. Most abilities only work from the battlefield. From rule 112.6:

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:

There's a few exceptions, but the ones regarding activated or triggered abilities are i and j. They're quoted in full below. The basic gist of these exceptions, and rule 112.6, is that no activated or triggered abilities work outside the battlefield — unless it involves a cost or trigger condition that can't work on the battlefield, in which case it works wherever it can work.
A good example of these exceptions (specifically exception i) is Scavenge or Bloodrush. The former requires you to exile the card from your graveyard, and the latter requires you to discard it (and cards can only be discarded from your hand, nowhere else). Since those costs can only be paid somewhere outside the battlefield, Scavenge works inside your graveyard, and Bloodrush works inside your hand. (But that's the only places they work, since their costs can't be paid anywhere else.)
Since Heroic works just fine on the battlefield, though, it isn't covered by these exceptions (specifically the one regarding triggered abilities, exception j) and doesn't get to work elsewhere too.

112.6i An objects activated ability that has a cost that can't be paid while the object is on the battlefield functions from any zone in which its cost can be paid.
112.6j A trigger condition that can't trigger from the battlefield functions in all zones it can trigger from. Other trigger conditions of the same triggered ability may function in different zones.
Example: Absolver Thrull has the ability "When Absolver Thrull enters the battlefield or the creature it haunts dies, destroy target enchantment." The first trigger condition functions from the battlefield and the second trigger condition functions from the exile zone. (See rule 702.54, "Haunt.")


Is Brasilia a weak starting investment in Imperial 2030?

According to link below, some people think that Brazil is a good place to start investments (in a poll with 26 votes titled "And where do you put your money in the future?", 50% people choose Brazil). Joe Wyka user thinks Brazil is well positoned on board...

Rpggeek - Berkeley board gamers games played tuesday june 7 2011 - Imperial 2030
Rpggeek - Best new boardgames - Imperial 2030

A quote from there:

  [...]This was a weird game. I don't quite remember how things started out,
  but Adam was trying for a US/Brazil combo, and the rest of us were
  kinda spread around. For the first half of the game things went pretty
  slowly, but we all had a decent cash flow - countries weren't taxing
  for very much, but just enough that we were able to reinvest, and the
  countries were fairly balanced. India was looking good but fragile for
  a while, everyone was in Brazil, which was doing well (as usual) [...]
  Eventually though after a series
  of close Investor actions everyone except me had a big wad of cash,
  most of which ended up in Brazil. India and Brazil started moving up
  the power track fairly quickly (due to cross investments by Charles
  and Garrett, their owners), while China harassed the US (which was
  unable to slow Brazil) and Europe and Russia fought. Charles and
  Garrett had huge investments, Charles in India/Brazil, and Garrett in
  Russia/India/Brazil. I had a decent spread across all countries except
  China, and Adam was mostly in Brazil/US/Europe. The game ended
  semi-unexpectedly when Brazil jumped to tax to just make it to 25.
  Final scores:

  Brazil 5x India 4x US 2x China 2x Russia 2x Europe 2x

  Garrett 205 Charles 186 Deniz 144 Adam 129

  If Charles hadn't ended it right then, Europe and Russia would have
  each jumped up to 4x, which would have put me in a better position but
  would also have put Garrett even further into the lead. I was hoping
  all the countries would level out at about 4x, given how slowly it was
  going (I had about ~7 interest in non-Chinese countries), but those
  who were big in India and Brazil only (Charles and Garrett) won out.


Is there a standard file format for Magic the Gathering games?

Right now, the closest thing to an "industry standard" for sharing games is video, using services such as Twitch TV and YouTube. This is how Wizards does event coverage and how many Magic writers share their games.

Players often record their voice as they play or go back later and add commentary. Here is a fairly typical example.
Magic Online keeps a history of game states that could be used for replays, but access to the data has generally been limited (leading to players resorting to engine quirks and workarounds to get at it). Last I checked, the data's still not easily accessible, nor is it very portable or shareable.


Where do I insert the exit tile in a 1-2 player game

From the Rulebook

Setup

You will need the 6 main chambers and the 13 basic chambers (that is, all the chambers without the purple mask and/or treasure icon). Set aside the starting chamber and exit. Mix the remaining chamber tiles face down, then stack them as a draw pile. Place the starting chamber in the center of the playing area, then place 2 randomly drawn chamber tiles next to it, as shown in the illustration below. Finally, take the top 4 tiles of the draw pile, shuffle them together with the exit tile, then place them on the bottom of the draw pile.

Exception: If you are playing alone or with a second player, insert the exit tile in the middle of the draw pile.

Considering the rather loose and light nature of the game. I don't expect that the instruction was meant to be literal. But if you need a ruling I would remove half the pile. Place the Exit Tile and then call that done. So with 15 tile. Remove 8 tiles (7.5 rounded up) place the exit tile and then now you have two piles. 8 regular and 8 including the exit.


"Enters the battlefield as a copy" and Thryx, the Sudden Storm

When you cast Clever Impersonator, it is still Clever Impersonator and has all the properties of Clever Impersonator, most notably here having CMC 4. It is only when the spell resolves and it enters the battlefield that you choose which nonland permanent it is going to copy and it takes on the characteristics of Shark Typhoon.
Therefore:

Yes, it can be countered (because it has CMC 4)
No shark token will be created because it's a creature spell.
No, it still costs 2UU to cast.


Can I destroy a Planeswalker before its abilities are used?

You can only activate a planeswalker ability as a sorcery (when the stack is empty and it is your main phase). However, if your opponent casts a planeswalker, and it resolves, then he regains priority, which means that he will have the chance to activate an ability of his planeswalker before you can destroy it. You can cast Hero's Downfall in response, but that ability will already be on the stack and destroying the planeswalker won't stop it.
However, if there is an ability that triggers on a planewalker entering the battlefield, then it is different. In this case, the triggered ability will go on the stack before your opponent has a chance to activate a loyalty ability, and you can cast Hero's Downfall while that trigger is on the stack.
Here is a quote from the basic rules:

Planeswalker
Planeswalkers are powerful allies you can call on to fight by your side. You can cast a planeswalker only at the time you could cast a sorcery. They’re permanents, and each one enters the battlefield with the number of loyalty counters indicated in its lower right corner.
Each planeswalker has loyalty abilities that are activated by adding or removing loyalty counters from the planeswalker. For example, the symbol {+1} means “Put one loyalty counter on this planeswalker” and the symbol {-3} means “Remove three loyalty counters from this planeswalker.” You can activate one of these abilities only at the time you could cast a sorcery and only if none of that planeswalker’s loyalty abilities have been activated yet that turn.
Your planeswalkers can be attacked by your opponent’s creatures (if so, you can block as normal), and your opponents can damage them with their spells and abilities instead of damaging you. Any damage dealt to a planeswalker causes it to lose that many loyalty counters. If a planeswalker has no loyalty counters, it’s put into your graveyard.


The cards you draw to infect cities are independant from one another.
Let's say the infection rate is 2. You first flip one card, infect the corresponding city (eventually managing outbreaks) then you flip the second one and follow the same process. If the second city is close to the first one and in the same color, odds are that cities that got an outbreak due to the first card will get another one... Nasty indeed...

The limit is one outbreak per city per chain reaction, not an outbreak per city per Infection phase...

From the Rules (Classic Pandemic p.7):

  Draw cards from the Infection Draw Pile equal to the current Infection Rate and add one cube to the pictured cities,
  using a cube of the same color as each card. Resolve the cards in the order you draw them. If, however, the pictured city
  is of a color that has been eradicated, do not add a cube. If a city already has 3 cubes in it of the color being added,
  instead of adding a cube to the city, an outbreak occurs in that color.

then

  If any of these new cubes would cause the total number of cubes of that color in an adjacent city to exceed 3, additional
  outbreaks may occur, causing a chain reaction. Note that each city may only outbreak once in each chain reaction


May a player try to hunt again if his cards were sniped?

From the BGG FAQ about snipers and saboteurs

  Q. If a player has been sniped or sabotaged while resource gathering,
  is he still required to use or discard the other cards he played for
  hunting/hiring, digging, or drawing?

  A. No, only the card that was sniped/disarmed is discarded, and all
  other cards involved in that action can be taken back into hand and
  re-purposed to perform a different hunt/hire, dig or draw action, or
  to do something else entirely.

Yes, they can re-use the item(s) and attempt the action again (this is specifically stated in another thread by the designer).


How often can I activate planeswalker abilities with Teferi's emblem?

Since I can activite 1 planeswalker ability per planeswalker per turn could I activate Jace's +1 draw a card ability every player's turn as long as I have the emblem on board ?

Yes, you can.

Teferi, Temporal Archmage's emblem overrides rule 606.3, specifically the emphasized part:

  606.3. A player may activate a loyalty ability of a permanent he or she controls any time he or she has priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of his or her turn, but only if no player has previously activated a loyalty ability of that permanent that turn.

Which means you can activate any loyalty ability of any permanent (usually a planeswalker) you control at any time you could cast an instant, as long as you have not activated a loyalty ability of that permanent that turn.


Yes, you can.
There is nothing about being part of the supply that affects trashing; they are still "cards" and thus are affected by things that talk about cards.
The rules for trashing from the base game rulebook don't say anything that would restrict it to supply cards:

"Trash a card" - Put a card into the Trash pile.

This is a way of getting rid of a card; a trashed card is no longer one of your cards.

"Gaining" is different because of the rules for gaining itself; the rules for "gain a card" include that the card must be from the supply unless specifically said otherwise.

"Gain a card" - Take a card from the Supply and put it into your discard pile.

Sometimes a card will let you gain a card from a place other than the Supply, but by default
gained cards come from the Supply.

Now, your specific example of Improve and Horses is tricky because normally you wouldn't have a Horse in play at the start of cleanup; since it returns itself to its pile when you play it. But with things like Ways from Menagerie, there are ways to do it.


Is there a list of routecards for Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries?

BoardGameGeek has what you are looking for here. They require an account to download files, so I've copied the relevant information below:

24  KØBENHAVN – MURMANSK
21  OSLO – HONNINGSVÅG
18  KØBENHAVN – NARVIK
18  STAVANGER – ROVANIEMI
17  BERGEN – TORNIO
17  STOCKHOLM – TROMSØ
16  BERGEN – NARVIK
14  KØBENHAVN – OULU
13  HELSINKI – KIRKENES
13  NARVIK – TALLINN
12  GÖTEBORG – OULU
12  HELSINKI – BERGEN
12  KRISTIANSAND – MO I RANA
12  NARVIK – MURMANSK
11  NORRKÖPING – BODEN
11  TROMSØ – VAASA
11  ÅLBORG – UMEÅ
10  HELSINKI – KIRUNA
10  HELSINKI – KØBENHAVN
10  OSLO – MO I RANA
10  STOCKHOLM – KAJAANI
10  TAMPERE – KRISTIANSAND
10  TURKU – TRONDHEIM
10  ÖREBRO – KUOPIO
9   OSLO – VAASA
8   BERGEN – KØBENHAVN
8   HELSINKI – ÖSTERSUND
8   OSLO – HELSINKI
8   STAVANGER – KARLSKRONA
8   STOCKHOLM – BERGEN
7   BERGEN – TRONDHEIM
7   GÖTEBORG – TURKU
7   STOCKHOLM – IMATRA
7   STOCKHOLM – UMEÅ
6   GÖTEBORG – ÅNDALSNES
6   STOCKHOLM – KØBENHAVN
6   SUNDSVALL – LAHTI
6   TAMPERE – BODEN
6   TORNIO – IMATRA
6   ÅRHUS – LILLEHAMMER
5   HELSINKI – LIEKSA
5   ÅLBORG – NORRKÖPING
4   OSLO – KØBENHAVN
4   OSLO – STAVANGER
4   OSLO – STOCKHOLM
3   TAMPERE – TALLINN


Does Sutured Ghoul count cards exiled by other effects, such as suspended creatures?

It only counts cards exiled by the first ability, because they are Linked Abilities.

  Linked Abilities

    607.1. An object may have two abilities printed on it such that one of them causes actions to be taken or objects or players to be affected and the other one directly refers to those actions, objects, or players. If so, these two abilities are linked: the second refers only to actions that were taken or objects or players that were affected by the first, and not by any other ability.

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


Yes, it's correct. The rule you quoted implies that loyalty abilities are activated abilities. And since there is no rule that makes an exception for loyalty abilities, they can be countered like any other activated ability.

Remember that countering an activated ability only stops it from resolving. The costs paid are not returned. So the loyalty counters added or removed are not restored.


Show and Tell and permanents that target other permanents

can I destroy slivers with Angel of Despair's ability?

No.

The order[1] doesn't matter. Triggered abilities are only placed on the stack when a player would get priority, which is only after Show and Tell has finished resolving. By that time, every player's cards have already been placed on the battlefield, so the Angel's ability is unable to target Slivers.

  Can my opponent target my Angel of Despair with his Gilded Drake?

Yes.

When the abilities are placed on the stack once a player would get priority (when Show and Tell finishes resolving), they are placed on the stack in APNAP order. The following happens afterwards:

As the Active Player, you place your triggered abilities on the stack first. You choose target for the Angel's ability at this point.
Your opponent now gets a chance to place his triggered abilities on the stack. He chooses a target for his Drake's ability at this point.
Drake's ability resolves.
Angel's ability resolves.

The choices is made in APNAP order, but the card are are placed on the battlefield simultaneously. (There's a ruling on Show and Tell confirming this.)


Dominion Seaside cards. Wharf and Outpost in the same hand

Your opponent should have drawn the extra cards on the next turn (the bonus one awarded by Outpost).

From the Seaside rules, about Outpost:

  If you play Outpost as well as a "Now and at the start of your next turn" card, such as Merchant Ship, the turn from Outpost will be that next turn, so you'll get those coins then.

I think you can replace Merchant Ship with Wharf and get the same result.


Can items be added to the stack after it has started resolving?

The stack in Magic is, well, a stack. Spells you cast, abilities you activate, and abilities that trigger based on some game action or change in state, go on the stack. The system used to determine who gets an opportunity to put something on the stack is known as priority in the formal rules. When one player passes priority, the other gets a chance to put things on the stack. When all players pass without adding anything to the stack, the topmost item (and only the topmost item) of the stack resolves, and priority passes around again, meaning players can put additional things on the stack after a part of it resolves.

The most important additional rules are:

Most types of cards (e.g. creatures) can only be played when the stack is empty and it's your main phase.
You pay all costs (in mana and other required game actions, like sacrificing a creature) and make the relevant targeting decisions when you put something on the stack.
Mana abilities (e.g. on land cards) resolve instantaneously without using the stack, to allow you to pay costs for things. This prevents a lot of bullshit minutiae that might otherwise occur anytime you tried to cast a thing.
The stack is a game zone and things on the stack are game objects that can be affected by other spells and abilities (this is what allows counterspells to work).

Historically, Magic used to use what was known as the "batch" system, which was similar to the stack, but all effects on the stack would resolve once players were done putting new things on it.

Is the stack a rarely used in MTG? No. Serious players at any level need to understand priority and the stack.

I'm assuming the statement that gave you that idea is designers saying "We don't like it when the cards talk about the stack." That's not because it's not a central part of game play. Rather:

The goal is for newbies and really-casual players to understand the flow of the game without having to learn all the details.
This is a part of the game where the rules tell you how to use the cards more so than the cards tell you how to use the rules, kinda like creature combat or drawing your opening hand, so the cards seldom need to mention these rules.
The architecture for casting spells and activating abilities is so foundational to the game that a mechanic that mucks with the process is likely to be very risky and convoluted, design-wise.

If you want to understand priority and the stack in full formal detail, you'll need to read the MTG comprehensive rules; these are not designed for learning the game, however. The easiest way to get a feel for how the MTG stack works is to play some rounds in the Duels of the Planeswalkers video game.


Generally, score handicaps are the way to go. You don't have to worry about playing games and experimenting in order to find a balance, you can just use the knowledge you already have of how much you tend to win by.

Money handicap could possibly work, but I think it'd be pretty tough - you only have so much room to adjust before it basically becomes a "you have waste one early turn to build a lake right away" handicap.

That said, you can also just not make the handicap formal: try to do the best you can every game, and accept the fact that you're striving for a larger margin of victory instead of worrying about winning.


When does Sarkhan's Unsealing check power?

The creature spell's power gets locked in for Sarkhan's Unsealing immediately after you have finished casting the spell, which includes paying costs. The final step of casting a spell, described in rule 601.2i, says

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

Since this is the point where the ability triggers, it is also the point where characteristics are checked for the purpose of determining which ability triggers.

So, in the original scenario, Tishana will be seen as having 6 power, and the first ability on Sarkhan's Unsealing will trigger. If you refill your hand to 7 or more cards while activating mana abilities to pay the cost, then it will be seen as having that much power and the second ability will trigger instead.