In bridge, what are some exceptions to "second hand low?"

The going up to cash your winners is a good reason.

Another common reason to play second hand high is to deny an entry.

Here is an example.

South below is in 3NT, you are West and you lead a heart.

         AJT9x
         xxx
         xxx
         xx

Kxx              Qxx
QJTx             xx
xx               QJTx
Jxxx             xxxx
         xx
         AKxx
         AKxx
         AKQ

During the bidding East/West know that South has no more than two spades (say the bidding goes 2C-2S-2NT-3NT starting with 2C by South, and East/West remaining silent).

South has 8 top tricks and needs one more.

South wins your heart Q with the K and leads a spade. At this point, you must play the K!

If you play low, declarer will play the 9. If East wins, declarer will make many overtricks (by repeating the diamond finesse). So East will have to duck this, but declarer will make his contract.

If you play the K, declarer can setup dummy's diamonds, but will not have an entry to cash them, and will only be able to make 8 tricks.

Another reason to play second hand high is to prevent declarer from ducking a trick to a safe hand.

As an example:

         xxx
         xxx
         Kxx
         xxxx

AQxxx            Tx
Qx               JTx
xxx              QJTx
Jxx              xxxx
         KJx
         AK9xx
         Axx
         AK

South is in 3NT and you are East.

Partner leads a low spade, and declarer wins your T with the J. (If he ducks this, he is down immediately).

Now declarer plays a diamond to dummy's K and plays a heart. At this point, you must play the heart J or T. If you play low, declarer will stick in the 9, losing the trick to the safe hand, which cannot continue spades without losing a trick and a tempo.

If declarer ducks your heart J, then you can push a spade through and beat the contract. So declarer will have to play the A or K, and partner will have to continue the good defence by dropping the heart Q! (else declarer can next play a low heart).

Since declarer has no more entries to the dummy, your Tx is safe from being finessed with the K9, and declarer will go down ultimately.


Creatures Dying At Same Time Controller Loses

Player C can win with Blood Artist's triggered ability.
After First Strike damage, Player A would gain priority, so state-based actions are checked. The following ones actually happen:

704.5a If a player has 0 or less life, he or she loses the game. (Player B, in this case)

704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event. (Player B's Memnite, in this case).

Then rule 704.3 says

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. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority. This process also occurs during the cleanup step (see rule 514), except that if no state-based actions are performed as the result of the step’s first check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, then no player gets priority and the step ends.

So, simultaneously, Player B loses and Memnite goes to the graveyard. At this point, Blood Artists ability triggers. Rule 800.4 has a complete description of what happens when Player B loses; essentially, they take all of their cards and leave. Now, SBA's are checked again, and since no action needs to be taken, Blood Artist's triggered ability goes on the stack, with Player C presumably choosing player A as the target. Eventually, the ability resolves, putting player A at 0 life. The check described above repeats, and player A loses.
The important thing here is that there is no mention in rule 800.4 or any of its subrules that anything happens to abilities that other players own and control that happen to have trigger conditions associated with the losing player.


Are production boosters limited to production dice rolls?

Did some Googling and I found an exhaustive FAQ on the Catan website. Here's the answer to this question:

  Production boosters - Do production boosters have an effect when events occur and actions are performed, e.g., when I may choose any 1 resource or take 1 resource from my opponent?

  No.


Settlers of Catan cities and knights mighty knights maximum numbers

Yes, you are always limited to the number of pieces you have, no matter what that piece is.

In the case of Cities and Knights, the Fortress does only allow you to upgrade your two strong knights (level 2) to mighty knights (level 3), which in itself is only an upgrade of 2 strength. However, in doing so, it also means that you can have up to six knights on the board - 2 of each level - compared to the 4 you can build without the Fortress. And in terms of total strength, you go from a maximum of 6 to a maximum of 12, so you're actually doubling your capacity to defend against the barbarian. And that's not even looking at the options of displacing strong knights on your roads.


Multiple Investigators

After my last 2-Investigator game, I was explaining this issue to one of the players and proposed the "scale the time between events solution."

She said, "Why don't we just each run two adventurers?"

Why didn't I think of that?

I think that from now on, MoM will be a 4-investigator game, with players running enough investigators to make up the difference. It works great in dungeon-lords.

EDIT: There are additional benefits to this solution:

Scaling the time would drastically reduce the sense of urgency in MoM.
Not only the number of actions but the reduced breadth of abilities is unaccounted for in a fewer-than-four-Investigators game.

This is decidedly my preferred way to play the game now. I would only consider less than four Investigators as a way to bump the difficulty for players that consistently win too easily.


Where can I find 'no limits' Texas Hold'em game logs?

Building a Poker Playing Agent based on Game Logs using Supervised Learning

I found this paper on creating a Hold'em AI that refers to two external log files on page 100 of that paper. One no longer exists. The other, from hhsmithy, costs a couple bucks. They offer logs from various sources, including Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker and Party Poker.

They also offer a smaller, free set that you can use to build your setup.


Can I make a card that places a +1/+1 counter on an enchantment that isn't a creature?

There is nothing in the rules that disallows counters from being on particular permanents. This means that +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters (or as in your title, 0/-1 counters) can be on artifacts, lands, planeswalkers or enchantments. Additionally, there is no rule that stops those counters from being placed, although the number of scenarios where that will happen are pretty few and far between.

Example of a non-creature permanent with a +1/+1 counter on it: I crew my Heart of Kiran, then cast Oath of Ajani, putting a +1/+1 counter on each of my creatures. At the end of the turn, Heart of Kiran will no longer be a creature, but it will still have a +1/+1 counter on it. The introduction of vehicles to the game makes this a fairly common occurrence now, but even before it would happen often with lands, artifacts, or enchantments that had a way to become a creature temporarily.

Example of a spell that puts +1/+1 counters on a non-creature permanent: Earthen Arms. The obvious intention is that you either put the counters on a creature, or cast the spell with awaken and get the extra counters on the land you "wake up". There is nothing stopping you from using this spell to slap +1/+1 counters on a non-awoken land, or enchantment, or planeswalker, or anything else however.

Example of a non-creature that has a +1/+1 counter on it, and isn't meant to become a creature by itself: Llanowar Reborn gets a +1/+1 counter as it enters the battlefield, but isn't a creature, and doesn't have an ability on it that allows it to become a creature.

Note that the same thing works in reverse: counters that normally belong to some other permanent, or permanent type, can end up on a creature that doesn't "know" how to use them, given the right circumstances.

Example of counter weirdness, a non-planeswalker permanent with a loyalty counter on it: I activate Gideon, Ally of Zendikar's +1 loyalty ability, turning him into a creature until end of turn. I then activate Experiment Kraj's ability targeting Gideon to put a +1/+1 counter on him, giving Kraj all of his activated abilities. I can now activate Gideon's +1 loyalty ability on Experiment Kraj to give it a loyalty counter (and turn it into a 5/5 human soldier ally creature with indestructible, and prevent all damage that would be dealt to it this turn). When Gideon stops being a creature, Kraj will no longer have his loyalty abilities, but will still have the loyalty counter, with no real way to use it (at least, until it somehow gains loyalty abilities again).

ADDENDUM: Good or bad practice? As you can see, there are a few official cards that can put counters on non-creatures, and that have no intention of turning those non-creatures into creatures.

However, doing ANYTHING on a card without a reason is usually poor design by default, so I can't tell you whether or not your card is poor design without knowing the context. In a vacuum I can say that I think it's awful design, because it is a line of text that does nothing (if you wanted it to only be able to put counters on Enchantment Creatures, you would just have it say "target Enchantment Creature" after all). If it existed in a set where enchantments were prone to becoming creatures, it makes a little more sense, but I would still feel iffy about that as a design paradigm overall; there's a term, "parasitic mechanic", which refers to mechanics that only work within a single set. Placing counters on enchantment permanents is a VERY parasitic mechanic so you'd need a very good justification to convince me that it's good design.

That said, quality of design is at least a little bit subjective, so there's no true yes-or-no answer to whether or not it's a good or bad idea.


What is the Goods Station referred to in Scotland Yard

I believe it might refer to Bishopsgate, it was used as a goods (freight) station, near Shoreditch in Londons East End. ( I'm an old Cockney.)


How does the "Taken Over" event card impact buildings and zombie movement?

The building remains taken over even if it has no zombies in it. The Last Night On Earth wiki covers the similar situation of drawing the My God, They've Taken the... card when all your zombies are already on the board:

  with ‘My God, They've Taken the...’ the building is always Taken Over even if no new Zombies are placed.

I think the zombies you place stay put for a turn even if there's a hero in an adjacent space, the Zombie Hunger effect doesn't override the no movement rule.


I assume you mean the "War Raptor" (The original text was "Rapture").

The War Raptor text:

  Ongoing: Gains +1 power for each War Raptor on this base (including this one).

This means, that each War Raptor gives a +1 bonus to power on each other War Raptor on the same base. The power of each War Raptor is 2 + the total number of War Raptors on the base.

One War Raptor give 2+1 = 3 power
Two War Raptors give 2 times (2+2) = 8 power
Three War Raptors give 3 times (2+3) = 15 power
Four War Raptors give 4 times (2+4) = 24 power

This is a hint that a single raptor is weak, but they become deadly while fighting in packs.


What is the probability that a player is dealt 3 kings in a single euchre hand?

This is a hypergeometric distribution problem.  Luckily, calculators exist that let you just plug in the numbers and get an answer.  I used this one with

Population size = 24 (the size of the deck)

Number of successes in population = 4 (the total number of kings)

Sample size = 5 (the number of cards in your hand)

Number of successes in sample = 3 (the number of kings you are interested in)

The results show that the chances of getting exactly 3 kings is 1.79%.  If you also include hands with 4 kings, it goes up to 1.84%.


Regeneration specifics: activation of the ability in combat

In the declare blockers step, the attacker must specify the order of the blocking creatures.

What that means, in the scope of your question, is that the owner of the 5/5 creature must declare which of your 4/4s he is going to deal damage to first.  As such, you have a pretty good idea which creature you want to regenerate: the one the attacker put first into the firing line!  Unless something else happens, that creature will take 4 damage and be regenerated, the other creature will take 1 damage, and both your blockers will survive.


In two-player and solo Caverna, why is Round 9 with the Exploration action skipped?

TL;DR: Ultimately it's a matter of game balance

The Exploration action card is removed as a result of two factors:

1. The 2 player game is shortened by one round (and one harvest)

  In a 2-player game, remove one of the Harvest markers with a green leaf from the game. Then distribute the remaining 6 markers among the Round spaces 6 to 12 leaving space 9 empty.

Having one fewer round makes the two player game harder and reduces the amount of time the players have to implement their strategies and see the returns. The reason for this is because you have less competition over board spaces and so the main constraint/obstacle needs to be time instead of the other players

2. Because one of the action cards needs to be cut in order to remove a Round, one had to be chosen.

Exploration makes the most sense
In a game where time is the main obstacle instead of the other players, it's easier to play the actions of your strategy. Therefore, action spaces that provide a higher quantity of resources or a higher versatility of resources are more important. In this situation, the ability to embark on a level 4 expedition is both, and that heavily imbalances the overall strategy towards weapons.

This is problematic because Caverna aims to make all paths to victory equally feasible


Is Tribal a permanent type (for Muldrotha)?

Tribal is a card type but not a permanent type.  So Tribal counts for cards like Tarmogoyf, but not Muldrotha, the Gravetide.

From the comprehensive rules:

  110.4. There are five permanent types: artifact, creature, enchantment, land, and planeswalker.

  300.1. The card types are artifact, conspiracy, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.


what if you an your opponent die at the same times

The game is drawn the next time a player gets priority.

See also: If I simultaneously kill my opponent and deck myself at the same time, is the game drawn? which covers effectively the same question.


The damage will hit any valid target of a normal dice-based attack, so if you are in Tokyo (City or Bay) all players outside Tokyo are hit, but if you are outside Tokyo the player(s) in Tokyo are damaged. (Taken from the official-ish FAQ from BoardGameGeek)

The damage from Acid Attack does not count as an attack, and a monster in Tokyo cannot yield their place as a result of it. It is explicitly stated on page 4 of the rulebook:

  [Life] lost dealt from a Power card effect is different than [dice Claw symbols]. A Monster can only Yield Tokyo when losing from [Life] from [dice Claw symbols].


Am I required to correct my opponent's assumptions about my morph creatures?

You are required to say which card was the Deathmist Raptor when asked, and you are required to correct their mistake if they get it wrong.

The Magic Tournament Rules define free information as follows:

  Free information is information to which all players are entitled access without contamination or omissions made
  by their opponents. If a player is ever unable or unwilling to provide free information to an opponent that has
  requested it, they should call a judge and explain the situation. Free information consists of:

  Details of current game actions and past game actions that still affect the game state.
  The name of any visible object.
  The number and type of any counter that isn’t defined as status information.
  The state (whether it’s tapped, attached to another permanent, face down, etc.) and current zone of
  any object or player.
  The game score of the current match.
  The current step and/or phase and which player(s) are active

Putting the Deathmist Raptor onto the battlefield face down was a past game action that still affects the game state. The details of that action include the name of the card that was moved from the graveyard (which was free information at the time), and which face down permanent that card became (because you need to distinguish which face-down permanent is which as mentioned in the question). You must provide that information when asked, and you must correct them if they get it wrong so that you are not hiding the information by omission.

Strictly speaking, the current identity of the face down Deathmist Raptor probably counts as private information, because that information is not explicitly listed as free or derived information:

  Private information is information to which players have access only if they are able to determine it from the
  current visual game state or their own record of previous game actions.

  Any information that is not status, free or derived is automatically private information

There is no rule against misrepresenting private information, but the distinction between "This permanent is currently a face-down Deathmist Raptor" (private) and "This permanent was previously a visible Deathmist Raptor card that was put onto the battlefield face down" (free) is so small that I suspect that most judges would not look kindly on using it as a reason to misrepresent or omit that information.


Full explanation of how multi-phrase cards work

The two most important rules here are

Do as much as you can (609.3 below), but...
...if every target of your spell has become illegal, then the whole spell is removed from the stack without resolving. (608.2b below) (Commonly known as the spell "fizzles".)

So applying this to your examples:
Snap: If the target of Snap has become illegal (e.g. left the battlefield, been given hexproof, etc), then since it is the only target, the spell never resolves and you do not untap any lands. However, imagine instead that the target of Snap had some weird effect on it like "This creature cannot be returned to players' hands by spells or abilities." In this case, the first part of the spell would be unable to affect the creature, but since it's still a legal target the spell still resolves so you would proceed to untap two lands.
Subtle Strike: If you choose to do both and pick two different targets, then even if one of the targets becomes illegal you will still resolve the effect on the other.

609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.
608.2b .... If all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve. It’s removed from the stack and, if it’s a spell, put into its owner’s graveyard. Otherwise, the spell or ability will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal...

Note that 608.2b has been updated in the Dominaria rules update; previously a spell whose targets had all become illegal would be countered rather than simply removed from the stack.


Welcome to StackExchange!

You must complete each layer before starting a new one (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenga#Rules)
Only one hand at a time may be used to remove a block; both hands can be used, but only one hand may be on the tower at a time. (see the rules at BoardGameGeek.com)


There are several common situations with different handlings:

Opener to your right bids your best suit and you have 12+ points:
Pass and hope partner can make a balancing double, which you can then convert to penalty by passing. Update The rationale in this case is that opponents, if partner is bust or close to it, actually have sufficient strength to bid game and perhaps make it. Let them discover for themselves that the breaks are bad and that you are end-playable, hopefully too late to salvage a plus.

Opener to your right opens a weak 1NT and you have the same hand:
Pass; unless partner can act in the balancing seat you are more likely to be plus by defending 1NT then by attempting to make a higher contract.

Opener to your right opens a strong NT and you have the same hand:
It is common to double with this hand though many experts prefer to Pass as above. It is not clear to me that either approach is better in the long term than the other. The increased points held by you and opener make it much less likely that partner can reopen, but you may be able to make 8 tricks in partner's longest suit even when he has only 5 or 6 points.

Opener to your left opens your best suit, you have 10+ points, and you are put in the balancing seat:
Partner with likely shortness in opener's suit could not act, and so is weak. Either the opponents have underbid, or they are in trouble; either way you are best to let the auction die. The hand is either a misfit for both sides or opponents have failed to find their fit.

Opener to your left opens 1NT (either weak or strong) and you have the same shape and announced range:
Pass, especially if you have methods allowing entry over a 1NT opening to show various unbalanced intermediate hands. Nobody is getting rich on this hand, except by doubling over-aggressive opponents. Take your Average Plus result.

The fastest way to improve your scores is to become a better defender - by practicing your hand counting, your leads, your defensive signalling, and finally by practice. There is often much room for error by both defenders an declarer on these balanced low part scores. Taking one trick more on defence than your peers will often get you a very good score. Enjoy the opportunity of practicing your honed skills.
If the opponents are halfways decent they will declare as often as you and your partner, so you will be defending twice as often as you declare. Repeat that thought; again. Practice your defence, and practice your defence again. Any delusion that you can win at this game through constant sacrificing against their contracts is just that - a delusion.


You get 3 mana. Neither of those cards actually double mana production, they both explicitly state that they add 1 mana per land tap, hence for each land you'll get 1+1+1 = 3 mana.


Preventing/minimising damage from beer spills

You could potentially get sleeves for your cards.

In your case it looks like some companies make sleeves specifically for 7 wonders.


Can I disable Sliver Overlord's abilities with Pithing Needle?

Sliver Overlord's abilities are not mana abilities. Mana abilities are abilities that produce mana, like the ability on Sylvan Caryatid. (There are a few restrictions; not everything that produces mana is a mana ability. See rule 605.1 if you're curious.)

Sliver Overlord's abilities are simple activated abilities, with mana in their cost. Pithing Needle will work just fine against them, as will anything else that prevents abilities from being activated (e.g. Arrest), and anything that makes it lose abilities (e.g. Lignify).


How is co-operative play made more difficult in the Something Wicked expansion for A Touch of Evil?

Unfortunately, Flying Frog Productions seems to be very worried that people will not buy their expansions if the post the rules for them. With that being said, what the most likely mean by, "expanded challenge for cooperative play," is that a new Advanced Cooperative Mystery Phase Chart is rolled on (2d6) versus the old chart (1d6 - quoted below) before drawing and reading the Mystery Card.

1 Darkness Falls - The Shadow Track immediately moves 2 Steps closer to Darkness. The Heroes may collectively take 5 Wounds divided as they see fit to prevent this.
2 Creeping Shadow - The Shadow Track immediately moves 1 Step closer to Darkness. The Heroes may collectively take 3 Wounds divided as they see fit to prevent this.
3-4 Minion Attack! - Roll once on the Villain’s Minion Chart and place that Minion at a Random Location.
5-6 Scattered Clues - Draw a Random Location and place 2 Investigation in that space.


How many of each fish does Traders and Barbarians have?

According to the World of Catan Wiki:

Edit: According to this base game photo and this expansion photo  from BoardGameGeek:

Base game (Total 30 tokens):

29 Fish tokens:
  11 1-Fish
  10 2-Fish
  8 3-Fish
1 "Old Shoe" token

Expansion (Total 14 tokens):

14 Fish tokens:
  4 1-Fish
  5 2-Fish
  5 3-Fish


What's the etymology for the term "Bingo" in Scrabble?

There is a good detail on Scrabble Bingo's on the Wikipedia page here.

Bingo is a game where each player is issued a card with numbers. A caller calls out numbers drawn at random and the player will cross of numbers on their card. The first person to have all of their numbers crossed off will shout out Bingo! So there is a parallel between this game where all of the numbers have been marked on the card and using all of your tiles in Scrabble.

You can read more about the game Bingo on its wiki page. Note the wiki page mentions that game has its earliest recording in 1776. It is my assumption it was long popular before Scrabble and that is why the term was borrowed for Scrabble because of the parallel mentioned above.

I checked the Online Etymology Dictionary and it says the origin of the phrase is unclear.

If you want to know more about the word itself you should try asking as a separate question on https://english.stackexchange.com/


What are the odds of drawing a given card after discarding my initial hand?

Since no one has provided the correct answer, at least not they current way you have it worded, I will take a stab at it.

What are my odds of drawing at least 1 of that card in my initial 7 card hand?

Answer: 1-Hypergeometric Distribution(population=60,successes in population=4,sample size=7,successes in sample=0) = 1 - .600500 = 39.95%

Everyone got this right. I personally like corsiKa's answer, because if your aren't interested in drawing at least 1 success then it is easier to do the calculation (especially by hand) by figuring the odds of not drawing any cards and subtracting from 1.

If I discard those 7, what are the odds of drawing 1 of the 4 in another 7 card draw? (I guess you could think of a Wheel of Fortune type situation)

This is where everyone mucks it up. First realize that this question is fundamentally different than any of the following

What are the odds of drawing at least 1 of the 4 in 14 cards? 66.54%
What are the odds of drawing at exactly 1 of the 4 in 14 cards? 43.58%
After discarding 7 cards that aren't successes, What are the odds of drawing exactly 1 of the 4 in 7 more cards?
What are the odds of drawing at least 1 of the 4 in 7 cards, with two chances? (This is what I thought you saying originally. You wanted to know how unlikely you were to miss, then mulligan shuffling the cards back into the deck, and then missing again) 1 - (.6005 * .6005) = 63.94%
etc.

What you actually asked for was the bolded question above. So, what that means is that at that moment, you have removed 7 cards from the deck that weren't successes, leaving you 53 cards. The odds of drawing exactly 1 card can easily be found, HGD(53,4,7,1) = 36.29% or of getting at least 1 is (1 - HGD(53,4,7,0) = 44.27%).

Now that you have finally clarified what it is that you want. The answer that you seek is above. It is the last answer, which is = all possibilities - (chance of missing first 7 cards * chance of missing again after replacement) = 1 - (.6005 * .6005) = 63.94%

In general, you either multiply probabilities (when determining how likely two independent events will occur in a row), or add them together (when determining if either of two mutually exclusive events will occur). As for when to "add" these probabilities together and when to "multiply" them, it is very difficult to know when to do which.

In your above question, you might realize that there are 4 independent mutually exclusive events for drawing 7 cards, replacing those 7 cards, shuffling and drawing 7 cards again. From the answer from the first question, you know that you have about a 40% chance of drawing at least one copy, and a 60% chance of drawing zero copies. (0.60 + 0.40 = 1 these mutually exclusive events equal 100%, so that makes sense)

Miss twice in a row. (0.6 * 0.6) = 0.36
Miss the first time, succeed the second. (0.6 * 0.4) = 0.24
Succeed the first time, fail the second. (0.4 * 0.6) = 0.24
Succeed twice in a row. = . (0.4 * 0.4) = 0.16

Your first and second (draw 7 cards and see if you succeed) events are independent of each other, because you are replacing the cards you drew back into the deck. Neither event has any effect on the results of the other, so you can multiply the first and second events together to see how likely it is to get a particular result twice in a row. Finally, because you are interested in the chances of succeeding at least once, you can either add all the mutually exclusive results above that succeed one or more times, or just subtract 1 from the chance of missing twice. (realizing that those two values should be the same)


Can instants be played after I decide not to block?

I think the best way to answer your question is to give a brief outline of the rules regarding the game steps, and timing of playing spells and abilities

Game Phases and Steps

In a nutshell, here are the phases and steps in a turn of a game of Magic.

Beginning (3 steps: Untap, Upkeep, Draw)
Precombat Main
Combat (5 steps: Beginning of Combat, Declare Attackers, Declare Blockers, Combat Damage, End of Combat)
Postcombat Main
Ending (2 steps: End Step, Cleanup Step)

At the end of each step (except untap and cleanup*), any abilities that trigger at the start of that step are put on the stack, and then the active player (whoever's turn it is) receives priority.

Priority means you can cast spells, activate abilities or play a land. (Keep in mind that casting non-instant spells, activating some abilities and playing lands can only be done if it's your turn, if it's a Main phase, and if the stack is empty.) If a player is done, they may pass priority. Then, the next player gets priority to play spells and activate abilities.

When all players pass priority, any spells on the stack resolve. After each spell or ability resolves the active player receives priority again. He may play new fast effects (instant spells or activate abilities.)

If the stack is empty and all players pass priority, the game moves to the next step or phase.

* — Players don't receive priority during the Untap or Cleanup Step, with one exception during the Cleanup Step. Check the comprehensive rules 514 for more info.

The Stack

The stack is a holding area for spells and abilities that have been cast or activated (including pumping a creature or playing a spell like Holy Day.) After a spell has been played or an ability activated, it is put on the stack.

Once everyone has passed priority, the last-played spell or ability on the stack resolves. It's like a stack of dishes or paper. You deal with the one on top first. After each spell or ability resolves, the active player receives priority again. When all players pass, the next spell on the stack resolves, and so on, until the stack is empty.

Conclusion

You always have a chance to respond to your opponent casting spells and activating abilities to pump his creature (ignoring Split Second.) And your opponent can choose to pump his creature during phase 1 & 2, but usually it is most advantageous to do it during the Declare Blockers step of the Combat phase, after blockers are declared.

I hope that makes sense. I've tried to boil it down "When can I play instants?" to the essentials and a minimum of caveats and exceptions. Magic has many card interactions and rules to deal with these nitty-gritty details; browse the comprehensive rules if you really want to get into those!


How good is the AI in the iOS port of Haggis?

My perspective is having never played Haggis until i played it on the ipad.  I have quite a bit of Tichu experience.
The AI offered competition to me for about 5 games.  After that i can beat it 4/5 of the time.

So overall i think it is a good way to learn the game, but will not help you get ahead online


Spoons - How to evenly distribute the spoons when playing in a rectangle

Simply place the spoons in an oval pattern; with each spoon handle pointing towards the players; all equidistant from the players.


Does the priority antenna direct a line straight toward the main board before sweeping clockwise?

The antenna can face in any direction. Here's a crappy image I tossed together in paint:

Assuming the antenna is facing the direction of the arrow priority would be resolved in the order indicated.

That said, I strongly suggest you ignore the priority rules (except in case of resolving ties) and resolve priority in the order: Power ups -> Move 3 -> Move 2 -> Move 1 -> Backup -> Turns. Agains resolve at the priority of the move they are copying. This will make your game go much faster, and won't appreciably change the game play... If you program spam cards, resolve them first, then take your turn as normal (this includes virus!)


How does Swindler interact with Spoils (or other cards not in supply)?

The cost of Spoils is 0. When you 'gain(s)' a card, unless it specifically names a card not in the supply, you can only choose for cards from the supply.

Copper, Curse, and Ruins (when playing with them) are in the supply and cost 0. Making all valid choices for cards that can be gained when Swindler trashes Spoils.

http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Cost

  Every card in Dominion has a cost indicated in its lower left corner.

  A few costs are listed with asterisks: 0* is used on
  several cards that can be gained from outside the Supply; the asterisk
  serves to remind players that they cannot actually be bought for
  0


Do I play a hero's ability every time I draw it?

In Ascension you only ever use a hero's ability when you play the card. So in your case when you draw the Seer of the Forked Path nothing happens. However on your turn if you play that card you will draw an additional card and get the choice of banishing a card in the center row. The fact that the ability only happens when you chose to play the card is important because there are times when you do not want to activate a hero's ability because it has a drawback that you don't want to encounter.

If you look at the rules it describes what every area of the card does and for the area where the ability is it says:

  What the hero does when you play it

It should be noted that constructs unlike heroes stay in play and the effect happens every turn (though some of the abilities you have to chose to activate).

As a side note cards with the ability to draw other cards are generally pretty powerful and are good ones to look to acquire.


Is there a rule to prevent infinite games?

This is covered in the rules

  A draw may be agreed if both players are in a position where they are
  forced to move the same two pieces over and over again, without any
  possibility of the stalemate being resolved.


Is there a maximum amount of energy that can be attached to one Pokémon?

There is no limit.

Each turn you can only attach one energy to one of your Pokémon (either a benched or active Pokémon), and there is no rule limiting the total energy.

The downside of lots of energy on one Pokémon is that if your Mewtwo gets knocked out, all attached energy is put into the discard pile.


Short Answer: No?

Longer Answer: Not that I've used at least. The only Arkham-management-eqsue software I've used is the Arkham toolkit for iOS, but that only helps manage the location/OW decks and isn't really for distance play.

That said, there is a program/system called VASSAL that people can make modules for that allow network play of various games. I've never used VASSAL myself, but I know that it can be used to play rather complicated competitive games online, and a quick search reveals that there is a VASSAL module for Arkham plus every expansion here that got updated a few weeks ago. I see a note on the page that all of the common item cards are blank to make sure people own a copy, so I don't know what other modifications if any the modules would need after downloading to get it into a completely easily playable state. That may be your best chance at a good online method of playing Arkham. If you give it a shot, reply with your experiences in some fashion; it would be useful info to have here.


What rules were used wrong in Tabletop's episode for "Fortune and Glory"?

From my experience of playing the game I think they may have got something wrong in the camping down/press on phase of Dangers. That or they made a mistake when you fail a danger to do with cliffhangers.

The full rulebook is published on Flying Frog's website if you want to check while watching the episode.


Is more than one deck of cards ever used in Phase 10?

Yes, we have had an instance where we made it through the draw pile without anyone going out. (There were 5 of us). We used to play a lot, so I think it's rare. We just took the discard pile (except the top card) and shuffled it to make a new draw pile.  I didn't see this situation in the rules though, so it's unofficial.


The one I'm aware of is on boardgamegeek.com...
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Glossary

A similar one for RPGs is on the sister site, RPGGeek.com...
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/RPG_Glossary#
I include this because many of the terms overlap, and especially for dice, are not in the BGG glossary.


The "Resilient Population" card lets you remove one city from the discard pile.  If you are afraid you're about to get an Epidemic (or you have just gotten one!) and have the existing discard pile shuffled back onto the top, you can remove the most dangerous city so that there's no risk of an outbreak.


Looking for name of a double ended connector

This question would probably receive a better answer on Woodworking SE.

According to Wikipedia, as well as Canadian Woodworking, this is called a Dovetail key, Dutchman joint, or Butterfly joint. Another common name for it is a Bowtie joint/key. Below is the picture shown on Wikipedia:

Dovetail keys are used to hold together two boards or one board that has begun to split (to prevent further splitting). In this Youtube video, a woodworker further elaborates on its uses and also demonstrates how to make one.


There are quite a few ways to play around discard decks:

Play Leyline of Sanctity to make yourself Hexproof.

Since all relevant discard effects (except combat damage effects) come from spells and abilities that require you, the player, as a target, this one card hardcounters discard decks and, incidentally, also burn and many combo decks.

Play a deck without cards whose loss would cripple your strategy/combo

Sligh comes to mind, or White Weeny, or Stompy. Anything but Combo, basically, preferably Aggro. If there are no key cards in your deck, you can't lose them to discard.

Play a deck that benefits from discard

Nowadays, there are many cards, keyword mechanics mechanics, and deck archetypes that benefit from you having few cards in hand or many in your graveyard. Cursed Scroll, Ensnaring Bridge, Crucible of Worlds, Tarmogoyf, Hellbent, Threshold, and the Reanimator archetype are examples.

Draw more cards than your opponent can make you discard

All card advantage strategies apply. While this does not directly counter targeted discard, it allows you to draw more cards and therefore more copies of your win conditions, overwhelming your opponent's capability to discard them. Of course, if you lose all of your win conditions to discard, with no way to retrieve them from the graveyard, no amount of card draw will salvage the game.

Tutor for key cards

Nearly all discard, and AFAIK all targeted discard has sorcery speed. Use instant speed tutor effects like Mystical Tutor to get you the cards you need exactly when you need them, without an opening for your opponent. That increases your flexibility and allows you to carry 1 or 2 each of a wide range of strong cards.

Use targeted recycle to get the discarded card back

Use cards like Regrowth or Noxious Revival to simply return the card you had to discard. Either you get the card back immediately, or, if you have to put it on top of your library, play the recycler at the end of the opponent's turn. If enough cards are in your graveyard, this even acts as a kind of tutor, since you may get to choose from a variety of cards. Recyclers are not wasted, either, when your opponent doesn't play discard, so they can be easily integrated into the main deck.


You may be confusing Leader cards with Boss cards.
The rules do not say anything about leaving out Leaders; they only say that during the setup of the first scenario you won't have any Bosses (which is true; they show up as the game progresses).


Would Pillar of Flames get rid of a Blightsteel Colossus?

You are correct. The answer to the problem is no, the Colossus would survive.

The reason is within the Pillar of Flames' text:

If a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead

This works as a replacement effect that places the card in exile instead of the graveyard.

Blightsteel Colossus is indestructible, so it would not be destroyed by damage to begin with and never trigger the replacement effect.


Do effects that reduce a spell's casting cost also reduce its converted mana cost?

You can not find Æther Storm with Zur. This is because Augustin's cost reduction ability only effects casting the card, it doesn't apply at any other time. "White spells you cast cost 1 less to cast".

Also, the only thing that can change the CMC of a card is chooseing the value of 'X' while casting it. This is because CMC is what is printed on the top right of the card, not what you actually pay for it.

For example Divine Deflection costs {X}{W}, when you cast it you pick a value for X (let's say X = 5). That makes the CMC of the card 6 (5 from {X} + 1 from the {W}) even though with the Grand Arbiter out you only need to pay {4}{W} because of the cost reduction.

  202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.


Why is capturing mandatory in checkers/draughts? What if capturing was optional like any normal move? Would the game become completely unplayable?

No, the game does not become unplayable.

Years ago, I regularly played without mandatory capture rules, and found the experience enjoyable.

There is also something called the Huffing Rule variant, where the capture is not forced, but by not taking the capture you lose that piece after your turn.


It's as if the physical Clone card was replaced with a copy of the card being copied.
The Clone is black, so a blocker with protection from black will receive no damage. The blocker will still deal damage as normal.
The Clone is not blue, so a blocker with protection from blue will both receive and deal damage as normal.
(Its name isn't "Clone" anymore.)

An object's color is determined by its mana cost and its color indicator.

202.2. An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame.
202.2e An object may have a color indicator printed to the left of the type line. That object is each color denoted by that color indicator. (See rule 204.)

Becoming a copy of an object adopts the copied object's mana cost and its color indicator, replacing what the copier had.

When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.

Note: Only "printed" values are copied. The effects of Effects changing the copied object color are not copied. For example, if the object being copied is a normally-green creature enchanted by an enchantment with "Enchanted creature is black", the copy will be green.

Protection gives protection from being Damaged, Enchanted/Equipped/Fortified, Blocked and Targeted[CR 702.16].
A blocker with protection from black can't be damaged by a black attacker.

702.16e Any damage that would be dealt by sources that have the stated quality to a permanent or player with protection is prevented.


Does protection from a specific color help against an ability that cost a different color to activate?

Player A cannot target the creature with Zacama's ability.

It doesn't matter what the ability costs; abilities themselves do not have colors.

What matters for protection is what the source of the ability is, and the source of the ability here is Zacama, Primal Calamity. Because Zacama, Primal Calamity costs Red, Green, and White to cast, it is a Red creature, a Green creature, and a White creature. So Player B's creature has protection from Zacama, which includes all of Zacama's abilities.


Does it have to be exactly five quarks to win?

Extra quarks in the detector are irrelevant. The written rules say you win if at any time there is a pentaquark in the detector. If the pentaquark needed to be alone in the detector, the rules should state that explicitly. Fortunately, on their website they have a "How to Play" video made by the designer. In the video, he won with 6 quarks in the detector. The video is on YouTube at https://youtu.be/2WdbX97mUpQ and on the website at https://buttonshygames.com/pages/pentaquark


Does it mean spells with {X} sometimes have CMC 0 and sometimes X?

Yes, but thankfully it's simple:

If a spell is on the stack, {X} is treated as the value the caster chose for it.
Anywhere else, {X} is 0.

This comes from comprehensive rule 202:

  202.3d When calculating the converted mana cost of an object with an {X} in its mana cost, X is treated as 0 while the object is not on the stack, and X is treated as the number chosen for it while the object is on the stack.

However, the second ruling is referencing something else entirely: if you cast a card "without paying its mana cost", you always have to choose 0 for the value of {X}. You're not paying its mana, so you don't get to pick some other arbitrarily value. This means, more often than not, it is not worthwhile casting an {X} spell for free.

  Additionnaly, can I play a land from the revealed cards?

No. Sunbird's Invocation says you cast the card. Lands can't be cast, only played. See Stromkirk Occultist for an example of a card that lets you play lands.


MTG can you destroy a chosen sacrificed creature twice

In both scenarios, you would be unable to cast the second Murder because the Aerie Ouphes has already been sacrificed. Since they no longer exist, they can't be targeted.

Because Aerie Ouphes have Persist, they could very well return the battlefield before they even deal their damage, and you could target the new Ouphes with Murder, but that won't prevent the original Ouphes from dealing their damage.

You seem to think that responding to an activated ability is to do something before it has been activated, but that's wrong.

There are two parts to getting the effect of an activated ability:

First, the ability must be activated (or copied).
Then, the ability resolves.

In between activating the ability and it resolving, players will get priority (possibly more than once). To respond to the ability is to do something after the ability has been activated, but before it resolves.

Costs to activate an ability are payed when activating the ability, so paying the activation cost happens before one has a chance to respond to the ability.

The cost to activate an activated ability is found before the ":" in the ability. That means that sacrificing Aerie Ouphes is part of the cost of activating the ability, and therefore happens before one has a chance to respond to the ability being activated.

Note that everything I've said here also applies to spells (cast, then resolves) and triggered abilities (added to the stack after being triggered, then resolves).


Helm of the Host on Rakdos the Showstoper

Yes, a copy retains all abilities of the original card except any modifications specifically noted on the source that created the copy.  In the case of the Helm, the copy is not Legendary if the original is.  When the creature token "enters the battlefield" it's ability will trigger.

Rule:

  706.5. An object that enters the battlefield “as a copy” or “that’s a copy” of another object becomes a copy as it enters the battlefield. It doesn’t enter the battlefield, and then become a copy of that permanent. If the text that’s being copied includes any abilities that replace the enters-the-battlefield event (such as “enters the battlefield with” or “as [this] enters the battlefield” abilities), those abilities will take effect. Also, any enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities of the copy will have a chance to trigger.


With Carcasonne crop circles expansion, which meeples count as followers?

There is a clarification on page 206 of the rules you link to.

Followers

Every normal follower, big follower, mayor, wagon, or phantom follower is just one follower.

Special figures

Builders, pigs, barns, and shepherds belong to individual players but are not followers."

So if you are adding a follower with crop circles you may add any of the followers. The only exception to this being a Mayor can only be placed as a Knight in a city.


Pillar of Flame, Blood Artist and Goblin Arsonist Trigger Ability

Pillar of Flames replacement effect prevents the other cards triggered abilities from triggering, because it replaces the put into the graveyard event with exile.
Die is a new Magic 2010 keyword.

"When [this card] is put into the graveyard from the battlefield"

Pillar of Flame says:

Pillar of Flame deals 2 damage to target creature or player. If a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead.

When Pillar of Flame resolves, this is what the event looks like assuming it is targeting the goblin.

Pillar of Flame deals 2 damage to [Goblin Arsonist].
PoF's replacement effect is set up waiting to see if Goblin Arsonist dies this turn. "If [Goblin Arsonist] would [be put into the graveyard from the battlefield] this turn, exile it instead."
State-Based Actions are checked, (see rule 704.5g)
Goblin Arsonist would be destroyed because of State-Based Actions, but that event is replaced. The new event looks like:
move [Goblin Arsonist] from the battlefield to [exile].

Because Goblin Arsonist was never placed in it's owners graveyard, but instead was placed in exile, it never triggers the "dies" event.

704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.
701.6a To destroy a permanent, move it from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can't be carried out, in which case the impossible instruction is simply ignored.


Is house Baratheon meant to be able to expand this quickly?

This is a "well known problem". I'd suggest to check out the variants mentioned in this post and BGG.

We prefer the "Rumble in the South" alternative:

  In this variant, Stark and Greyjoy are unplayable and their lands are impassable. The impassable regions thus include: Bay of Ice, Flint's Finger, Ironman's Bay, Seagard, The Mountains of the Moon and The Narrow Sea. This variant is excellent at creating a true 4-way battle with shifting alliances! However I tend to make the win condition only 6 castles instead of 7 to speed up the game.

Using the above Lannister tends to be overpowered because of these things:

They don't have the Greyjoys at their backs all game long.
Stoney Sept is a strategic position by the capability of giving support to six other territories.
Stoney Sept has six barrels in its neighborhood and Lannisters almost always capture Blackwater because of it and end with a level six supply.
The Tyrells can't contain the Lannister ships at all (all the ships are going against them and Lannisters almost always have a larger army (because of the supply value).
Their strongholds are far from the line of battle.

We have two alternatives to refine this, I prefer the first one:

Stoney Sept and Blackwater is separated (like having a river): no support, no march, no raid
Weaken (or even ommit) Riverrun: changing it to a castle and removing the barrel

We also tried weakening Blackwater (removing barrels), but it was a failed attempt... it lowered the motivation of others to fight for it...

In the other hand, Baratheon gets weak as hell (because of the lack barrels... they weren't able to capture Blackwater in the games we played), if the cards doesn't come in a really good order...
So we decided to keep the area called "The Mountains of the Moon".


Amazon has a lot but look through boardgamegeek.com marketplace plus eBay and coolstuffinc. Try googling the game, normally there is a result that you can purchase it from.


In MTG, is there a collective name for cards that cost 1 mana and grant 3 of something?

I think the simple answer to his question is actually "no".  I've been playing and reading about Magic for over 15 years now, and I've never heard of a collective term for these cards, beyond the "boons".

It's obviously true to say that three is a bit of a magic number (excuse the pun) in Magic, and that there are symmetries and cycles everywhere in the cards.  Holy Strength and Unholy Strength are obvious symmetrical designs.  Likewise the 1/1 for 1 with some special ability is a longstanding Magic tradition.  Nowadays, what with power creep, a 1/1 for 1 mana rarely cuts the mustard: now the design principle you want to watch out for is the 1cc creature that has some way of attacking for 2 on turn 2.  (Innistrad even has a werewolf that can attack for 3 on turn 2, on a good day!)

Whether or not there was initially a design decision to give out three of something for one mana, I think, basically, they were quick to realise that it was a bad design principle.  Obviously they spotted that Ancestral Recall was about a million times better than Healing Salve in time to make one rare and one common; likewise, a Wall of Wood is a vastly worse card than Savannah Lions, and again, the bad card was common and the good card was rare (though a 2/1 for 1 wouldn't be rare any more).  Lightning Bolt may or may not have been too good, at 1 mana for 3 damage; and that's why, quite often, we have formats where only the fixed version, Shock, giving 2 damage for 1 mana, is legal.

I think players would no longer accept cards that are terrible just because they are symmetric.  Look at the "new" Holy and Unholy Strengths in Magic 2012, Divine and Dark Favor.  Because +3/+1 is considerably better most of the time than +1/+3, Dark Favour comes at a life cost compared with Divine Favor's life gain.  That's a much better design decision than just saying "2 mana = 4 resources, job done".  Without a shadow of a doubt!


It depends on what exactly the opponent is responding to. If they cast Cyclonic Rift in response to Regal Force the spell, then Regal Force ends up on the battlefield and you draw 1 card. However, if they respond to Regal Force's triggered ability, then Regal Force instead ends up in your hand and you draw no cards.

Responding to the spell

If they respond to the spell, then the sequence of actions plays out like this:

You cast Regal Force and pass priority. At this point, Regal Force is on the stack.
They cast Cyclonic Rift. At this point, Regal Force is on the stack, and Cyclonic Rift is on top of it.
Cyclonic Rift resolves, returning your two creatures on the battlefield to your hand.
Regal Force resolves and it enters the battlefield. Its ability triggers.
Regal Force's ability resolves, and you draw 1 card for the 1 creature you control.

Responding to the triggered ability

If they respond to the triggered ability, the sequence of actions instead plays out like this.

You cast Regal Force.
Your opponent declines to respond, and Regal Force resolves. It enters the battlefield, and its ability triggers. At this point, the triggered ability is on the stack.
They cast Cyclonic Rift. At this point, Regal Force's triggered ability is on the stack, and Cyclonic Rift is on top of it.
Cyclonic Rift resolves, returning your three creatures on the battlefield to your hand.
Regal Force's ability resolves, and you draw no cards because you control no creatures.


Should the information on match slips be protected?

What information are you worried about being exposed on this scrap paper that has your name and dci number? If you are really concerned the only thing you can do is ask that the shop destroys them. But it would be much better to not have that information on the slips in the first place. If this is a privacy concern after the fact it should also be a privacy concern during the event as well.

During a tournament like this there is no reason whatsoever for the match slips to need to include the players name and dci number. All of that information can be kept in a separate list by the organizers and each player is given a randomly assigned number that can be linked back to the name/dci number after the event for any updates that are needed.

In reality there is no need for your dci number during the event at all as it is just needed during signup and at the end for administrative purposes.


The support fails. From the bottom right of page 7 in the rules.

  A unit not ordered to move can be supported by a support order that only mentions its province.

and

  A unit ordered to move can only be supported by a support order that matches the move the unit is trying to make.


No. From p. 4 of these rules:

  [Pieces] cannot move into a onto a square occupied by another piece (unless attacking).

And from p. 5

  To attack on your turn, take your attacking piece and lightly tap your opponent's piece.

You can only attack your opponent's pieces, and your own pieces cannot share a square in any way.


Should I tell my opponent about a jump they don't see?

It depends on if you are playing with mandatory capture rules or not. If you are playing with mandatory capture and they make a move instead of capturing a piece then you should tell them because they would be required to make the capture instead of another move. If you are not playing with mandatory capture then it doesn't matter but you can still tell them if you chose to.


In the first release of the game there were 3 different types of artifacts: Poly, Mono, and Continuous. Poly Artifacts were artifacts that had activated abilities that could be used without tapping the artifact. Mono Artifacts were artifacts that required tapping to activate their activated ability. And Continuous Artifacts don't have activated abilities, however their abilities stop working when they are tapped.

Howling Mine was printed in Alpha as a Continuous Artifact, so its static ability didn't have an effect if it was tapped. The rules worked like this until 6th Edition, and at that time the rule was mostly just dropped, except for a few cards that received errata to maintain that functionality. Howling Mine was one of those cards, but there were a few others like Winter Orb.

One-drops that can be repeatedly used to tap them would include Trickster Mage and Vedalken Certarch. And yes, you draw one card for each Mine you have on the battlefield, so with 4 Mines you would draw 5 total cards.

Aside: with the right deck, you don't need to worry about your opponent having 4 extra draws / turn.  An example of this, is turbo fog.


Does a herbivore gain 1 star if he attacks but the damage is ignored due to armor plating?

Yes, Alieniod with Herbivore should gain 1 Star for not damaging anyone.

Herbivore specifically tells you to gain a Star if you don't damage anyone, so assuming Alienoid doesn't buy a card that damages anyone, they will gain 1 Star from Herbivore. The rules specifically call out the matter:

  If an attack somehow ends up doing no damage (due to Camouflage for example), then it is no longer considered an attack for the purposes of cards like Poison Spit or Herbivore.


What is the purpose of bonus points in Gin Rummy?

The most common way of betting money on Gin Rummy (according to this site) is to choose a rate per point (say $1) that the loser pays the winner - e.g. if you lose 70 to 220, you pay $150. When you're playing for money, there's probably an approximate stake you want to play for - smaller stakes will feel trivial (who wants to win one penny?) but larger stakes could be devastating if you lose. Without bonus points, a win could be anywhere from 1 point to ~150, and there may be no per-point rate which is non-trivial when multiplied by 1 yet non-devastating multiplied by 150. Bonus points - say 100 for winning - are a simple way to decrease this variance, since now spreads will be between 101 and ~250, so the worst possible loss is only ~2.5 times as bad (or good, for the other guy) as the closest possible spread.

As far as I can tell, best-of-5 matches tend to be played in settings where bonus points are not relevant, e.g. tournaments where all that matters is who wins the match.


Does the legend rule affect 2 creatures with the same general name?

No.

The following is the "legend rule":

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

There's nothing concerning controlling two or more legendary permanents with similar names.


Can a player return a card to discard pile if they are still touching it?

TL;DR : They are technically breaking the rules but you should allow it as it doesn't affect the game.

Looking at the rules here it says :-

  Draw a card from either the Draw Pile or the Discard Pile, and add it
  to your hand. And then, discard any card that you want onto the
  Discard Pile.

There is also nothing in the rules about 'still touching' anywhere that I can see.  So technically the answer to your question is no that is not allowed.

However, there is also an answer about just being nice person when playing games.  If a player picks up a publicly visible discard and decides that is not what they want to do, and the next player has not taken a turn, I see no good reason why they shouldn't put it be back and be able to draw a card.  Nothing has changed that can not be undone.  No new information was available.

Of course if a player drew a card from the deck and saw it then that would have to stick and shouldn't be returned as they have new information that was not available at the start of the turn.


Are permanent +1/+1 counters considered enchantments?

No. They are not objects on the battlefield, and they don't have the enchantment card type.

An enchantment is a permanent with the card type "enchantment".

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

A counter fails to match the definition of an enchantment for two reasons.

Counters aren't permanents. They aren't even objects.

  110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. [...]

  121.1. A counter is a marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics and/or interacts with a rule, ability, or effect. Counters are not objects and have no characteristics. Notably, a counter is not a token, and a token is not a counter. Counters with the same name or description are interchangeable.

Counters don't have the enchantment card type. They don't even have a card type. They aren't even objects.

  300.1. The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.

  109.3. An object’s characteristics are name, mana cost, color, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, expansion symbol, rules text, abilities, power, toughness, loyalty, hand modifier, and life modifier. Objects can have some or all of these characteristics. Any other information about an object isn’t a characteristic. For example, characteristics don’t include whether a permanent is tapped, a spell’s target, an object’s owner or controller, what an Aura enchants, and so on.

  109.1. An object is an ability on the stack, a card, a copy of a card, a token, a spell, a permanent, or an emblem.

  121.1. A counter is a marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics and/or interacts with a rule, ability, or effect. Counters are not objects and have no characteristics. Notably, a counter is not a token, and a token is not a counter. Counters with the same name or description are interchangeable.


When might a Standard American bidder "bend" the five card major rule?

First, note that playing 4-card majors an opening of 1 Heart or 1 Spade is about 80% likely to be on a five card or longer suit. Thus players of a 4-card major system are already almost playing five-card majors. Bridge theorists and players for the past century have determined that even this slight difference in probability (80% vs 100% for a f+ card bid suit) is significant enough to require a significantly different tool kit for accurate bidding.

That said, there is then one simple pre-requisite for bending the always shows five or more cards rule:

You have no desire to ever play with this partner again, or with any opponent or kibitzer present.

The only exception to the above is when all of the above conditions are met:

You are in 3rd seat.
You do not have a no-trumpish hand.
You have thoroughly discussed with partner the circumstances and hand types which make this bid, and even more importantly those which do not make this bid, and properly summarized those on your convention card.
You are playing a Drury variant which allows responder to inquire on suit length and hand strength.


If playing with the 10 point penalty, then the penalty would be incurred in this case.

First of all, the 10 point penalty is not a universal rule. Out of many different sources of Canasta rules, I only found two that mention a 10 point penalty for an illegal meld.

  If you put down an initial meld that doesn’t meet the minimum point requirement, you can put down additional melds on that same turn to make up the required total without penalty. You can also take back your attempt, but the minimum total you have to meet the next time you try goes up by 10 points — quite a severe penalty.

(https://www.dummies.com/games/card-games/canasta/playing-canasta-making-the-first-meld-for-your-partnership/)

And

  If a player melds fewer cards than the minimum count for his first meld, he may either add additional cards to the meld(s) until they reach the minimum count, or he may withdraw them, in which the minimum count increases by 10 points. If the opponents do not catch the error until after they've drawn, then the initial meld stands.

(http://www.rummy-games.com/rules/canasta.html)

Although the wording on the first one is not completely clear; the second one is clearer and sounds like it is meaning to say the same thing: That the only way to avoid the penalty is if you can just add to your illegal meld to make it legal. If you have to actually undo your meld, then you take the penalty.

For reference, here are 3 other websites with Canasta rules that do not mention any 10 point penalty:

https://www.bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/canasta/
https://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canasta#Picking_up_the_discard_pile


Taking counters from Hangarback Walker with Fate Transfer

Hangarback Walker will die without creating any Thopter tokens.

After Fate Transfer resolves, Hangarback Walker has no counters on it, making it a 0/0 creature.  At this point, state-based action 704.5f is applied, sending the Walker to the graveyard.  This triggers the Walker's ability, which checks the number of counters that were on Hangarback Walker immediately before it left the battlefield.  Since that number was zero, no tokens are created.

This is in contrast to the situation described in the Gatherer rulings:

  If enough -1/-1 counters are put on Hangarback Walker at the same time to make its toughness 0 or less, the number of +1/+1 counters on it before it got any -1/-1 counters will be used to determine how many Thopter tokens you get. For example, if there are three +1/+1 counters on Hangarback Walker and it gets four -1/-1 counters, you’ll get three Thopter tokens. That’s because Hangarback Walker’s triggered ability checks the creature’s existence just before it leaves the battlefield, and it still has all those counters on it at that point.

The key difference between the two situations is the manner in which the tokens were removed.  If Hangarback Walker is "killed" via -1/-1 counters, there are actually two state-based actions at play: 704.5f, which sends creatures to the graveyard if their toughness is 0 or less, and 704.5r, which "cancels out" +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters.  Since all state-based actions are applied simultaneously, the Walker loses its counters and goes to the graveyard at the same time, meaning that the Walker still had its counters before it left the battlefield.


MTG question about stack/effect resolving

What happens:

Your opponent casts The Instant targetting Zada. The Instant goes to the stack.
Zada's ability triggers and goes to the stack.
You cast Stasis Snare. Stasis Snare goes to the stack.
(I assume at this point you're both passing priorities until the whole stack resolves)
Stasis Snare resolves and enters the battlefield. It's ability triggers and goes to the stack.
Stasis Snare's ability resolves and exiles Zada.
Zada's ability resolves and creates copies of The Instant on the stack.
The copies of The Instant resolve, one by one.
The (original) Instant looks around to see if it's targets are still legal. They're not as Zada is not on the battlefield. The (original) Instant is countered by the game rules (and is put into the graveyard without resolving, as usual with countered spells).

As for the second question:
Once Zada's on the battlefield, removal won't allow you to counter it's ability.
Some other effects might, like "counter all spells" which will also counter the created copies.


Canasta rules for melding and picking up pile

Yes, assuming that your total point value of the meld meets your minimum. From various sites that gives rules for Canasta:

  A meld must contain at least two natural cards and not more than three
  wild cards.

Your meld would have 3 naturals along with 3 wilds, which meets both criteria.

It does not matter what the meld looks like not including the top of the discard. The top card of the discard is part of the meld, so you include that when seeing if the meld is legal. This is true both for determining if the meld meets the minimum points and if the meld has enough naturals.


You can record your matches - including handicaps, so that the winner is the winner - on our platform rankade. It's a free ranking system for sports and games, suitable for Chess, Go, Scrabble, and more. Rankade doesn't use Elo, but its algorithm (called ree algorithm), although more complex (here's a comparison), is similar to Elo if you play 1-on-1 matches only.


There really isn't a set strategy here, but a number of tips I've found useful from playing Power Grid, and I hope they can help you, too:

Look at what everyone is buying -- if you're playing 3rd in a 5 player game, and the first two players bought coal plants, consider going with a different fuel source, as coal could get expensive quickly if everyone is buying it.  Pay attention to how quickly fuel sources will replenish at the end of the turn as well.
If you are first to buy resources, consider buying the maximum amount.  It may cost you a little extra to buy them, but anyone else needing those resources is going to have to pay that much more.  Feel free to put the squeeze on people this way.
Don't overpay for Enrvironmental plants -- the environmental plants (the wind plants) are definitely a good buy, and everyone knows that.  If you get lucky and can buy one at the end of the round for face value, go for it.  If the #37 shows up and it gets bid up to $60 or $70 quickly, think very hard about how much you'll be saving if you buy it.  They're good, but don't overpay for them.
Beware the East coast -- there are lots of cheap connections in the East coast, which is great for expanding quickly, but if you buy lots of houses quickly, you'll be in first position, which means you'll be going last lots of the time.  Also, with cheap connections, people might crowd around you and block you in, meaning you may have to expand two or three hubs away, and pay some steep connection costs.  I personally like moving into the East coast during phase 2.
Nuclear plants are great later on -- early on, nuclear fuel is very expensive.  Within a few turns, however, the fuel can get down to $7 or $8 for a single piece.  Compared to how much coal and oil may end up costing, nuclear plants are good for mid- to -late game.
Time when you buy cities -- sometimes there may be a good plant on the table coming up, and you want first shot at it.  If everyone else is buying cities, consider staying at a lesser amount of cities so you have a better chance at going first.
Don't buy plants for the sake of buying plants -- If a good plant comes up, feel free to bid on it, but don't feel like you have to bid every turn.  Try to buy as few plants as possible.
Have a long-term strategy -- if the game will end when someone has built their 14th house, figure out what combination of plants will best get you to 14, such as a 4/4/6 setup, 4/5/5 setup, 3/5/6 setup, whatever.  There are some fantastic plants mid-game that you can use for the rest of the game.

If I think of anything else, I'll add them here.


In bridge, how much support do you need to raise a responder?

This is a matter of partnership understanding and taste more than systemic; most natural bidding systems may be played either way.

First, you would never make strong raises of partner's major (splinter, jump to 3M or 4M, etc) with only 3-card support. This is exclusively for the auction 1m-1M-2M. 4-3 fits are much less fun to play at the 4-level than the 2-level.

Second, the reason that you're bidding this way is that you expect that 2M will play better than 1NT. Many partnerships will only raise on three with shortness in an unbid suit. Very few partnerships will raise with a 4333 hand. Remember, ruffing values in the short hand are good; if you're forced to ruff in the long hand in a 4-3 fit, you may find yourself losing trump control. On this note, I don't like Qxx as a minimum; if you have shortness, 3 small trumps are probably fine because some of them will be winners.

Third, remember that partner may have enough to invite or bid a game after your limiting bid. If partner doesn't expect you to raise on 3, they may bid inaccurately. Make sure that their second bid differentiates between a 4-card suit and a 5-card suit. A common agreement is that 1m-1M-2M-3M is invitational with 5+ in the major, while 1m-1M-2M-2NT is invitational with 4; similarly 3NT by responder asks opener to make a choice of games. There are conventional treatments that are probably better: this article on bridgewinners describes the spiral raises convention.


To prevent skill from being a factor in rolling

Dice have an even distribution of the numbers around the faces to prevent (or at least reduce) the ability to modify your chances of a result by skillfully rolling the die. Dice are intended to be entirely luck based, and depending on how the numbers are distributed around the faces of the die, could lead to skilled rolling (generally considered cheating).

It is for this reason that Spindowns are generally not allowed to be rolled anywhere that a random result is required (IE Tournaments, Organized Play, etc). For the same reason, d10s shouldn't be rolled to get an Even/Odd result as you can very easily force the desired result.


In a game that just involves Unstable cards, does it ever actually matter that Just Desserts deals π damage instead of 3?

There are a few ways in which it matters that Just Desserts deals π damage instead of 3.

The simplest is the card's interaction with each other. A single Just Desserts has about the same effect as a single Lightning Bolt. But 8 Just Desserts deal a total of about 25.13 damage, while 8 Lightning Bolts only deal a total of 24 damage.

In addition, in combination with Super-Duper Death Ray, it can result in non-integer damage being dealt to a player. Hitting a creature with 4 toughness with Just Desserts then Super-Duper Death Ray deals π damage to the creature's controller. This alone doesn't make a big difference: 0.86 life keeps you alive just as well as 1 life does, because every other source of damage has integer values. Of course, Just Desserts interacts with itself here too, so doing this enough times will result in the player taking at least 1 more damage than they would if Just Desserts only dealt 3 damage.

Other than that, if any cards care about how much life you have, this could make a difference. One context in which it may matter exactly how much life you have is a cost that involves paying life. Rule 117.3 says

  A player can’t pay a cost unless he or she has the necessary resources to pay it fully. For example, a player with only 1 life can’t pay a cost of 2 life, and a permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped to pay a cost. See rule 202, “Mana Cost and Color,” and rule 602, “Activating Activated Abilities.”

In the context of this card, this means that a player with 0.86 life can't pay 1 life, and more generally a player with N+0.86 life can't pay N+1 life. There are two cards in Unstable with costs that include paying life: Spike, Tournament Grinder and Everythingamajig F. So, a player with just 0.86 life can't pay for Everythingamajig's second ability, and a player with just 1.86 life can't pay life for any of Spike's Phyrexian mana costs. These could matter if the player had Rules Lawyer for example, and would survive having 0 life.

There is also a planeswalker in the set, Urza, Academy Headmaster, so that damage could be redirected from the player to Urza. Mark Rosewater has ruled in the past that half counters exist, so it would make sense that with Just Desserts, other fractions can exist too. So Urza can have N + 0.86 loyalty counters. Rule 117.3 comes into play here: you can't pay for a cost unless you pay it fully, so you can't activate Urza's second ability unless he has at least 1 entire loyalty counter, and you can't activate his third ability unless he has at least 3 entire loyalty counters.

There is also another way in which Urza can be affected here: One of Urza's possible ultimate abilities says

  Create X 2/2 white Cat creature tokens, where X is your life total.

Unfortunately, I don't actually know what happens here. There do not seem to be any good rulings about handling fractional creature tokens.


How do Phenomenon cards work in the Eternities Map variant?

What I've been doing is to leave the Phenomena on the board and treat them as warp tunnels. When traveling to a phenomenal you encounter the phenomenal and then continue in a straight line to encounter a new plane (which may or may not have been visible).


Why creature enchantments aren't playable?

The simple, no-frills answer: creature enchantments aren't generally playable because they offer your opponent an easy 2-for-1 (or better, if you're the sort of person who likes to load creatures up with multiple Auras...)

Any removal spell that would have previously just taken out your creature now takes out all enchantments on that creature too, giving your opponent an easy route to significant card advantage.  Not a situation you want to enter into lightly.

EDIT: The OP asked in the comments about Totem Armor.  See this article by Mark Rosewater, in which he says:

  The idea behind totem armor was to offset the inherent card
  disadvantage of Auras. Normally when you play an Aura on a creature
  you have the vulnerability of being "two-for-oned"—that is, your
  opponent can spend one card (a kill spell) to make you lose two cards
  (your creature and your Aura). Totem armor prevents the two-for-one
  because it saves your creature. The Aura acts as a safety net.

Straight from the horse's mouth there!


Are the virus counters on Datasucker only for the current turn?

"Hosted virus counter" is the cost of the effect (i.e. all the words that come after the colon).

If you spend a virus counter to reduce ice strength, the counter is obviously gone immediately.  If you choose not to spend a counter, it won't get cleared, either at the end of the run or the end of the turn.


How many wounds does each Ripper Swarms model have in 40K 8e?

Each Ripper Swarm model has 3 wounds, as per the 8th edition codex.

A unit of Ripper Swarms is made up of anything from 3-9 models of Ripper Swarms. Each base is a model. Regardless of what you actually put on the model aesthetically, it will have 1 base, and that based model will have 3 wounds. So a unit composed of 3 models of Ripper Swarms would have 9 wounds total, 3 wounds each. A unit of 4 would have 12 wounds total, etc.

You can mix and match unit sizes to accommodate the number of models you have too. It's perfectly legal to run a unit of 3 Ripper Swarms and a unit of 4 Ripper Swarms in the same army.


Is the following considered battle-forged?

Your choice really. If you take a formation you generally aren't Battle Forged (you get formation benefits instead)... However all you need to be Battle Forged is an HQ and two Troops. If your formation includes that you can choose whether to play it as Battle Forged or as the Formation.


Does Mutate count as an alternative cost?

Yes, the Mutate cost is an alternative cost. No, you can't pay WUBRG for Mutate through Jodah, and that is because both are alternative costs.
A spell's mana cost is only what's printed in the upper right corner of the card, nothing else. In particular, an alternative cost is not a mana cost.

202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner.

The alternative cost granted by Jodah is independent of the Mutate alternative cost; alternative costs are an alternative only to the spell's mana cost, not to other alternative costs. You have to choose between paying the mana cost or one of the alternative costs. Only the associated effects, if any, of the cost you chose to pay actually happen.

118.9. 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. [..]
601.2b [..]  If the spell has alternative or additional costs that will be paid as it’s being cast such as buyback or kicker costs (see rules 118.8 and 118.9), the player announces their intentions to pay any or all of those costs (see rule 601.2f). A player can’t apply two alternative methods of casting or two alternative costs to a single spell. [..]

So if you control Jodah and cast Nethroi, you can choose between paying Nethroi's mana cost of 2WBG, Jodah's alternative cost of WUBRG, or Nethroi's Mutate alternative cost of 4(G/W)BB. You get to Mutate if and only if you paid the Mutate cost.


Can I attack a player directly if they still have a flying defender?

Yes, you can attack your opponent with your Spiked Baloth, and you will win if you do so. (Trample is relevant; it's the reason you win in this scenario.)

However, your question seems to indicate that you don't understand exactly how combat works. Combat goes in step:

In the Declare Attackers Step, you say what creatures are attacking which players. You can only attack players, and it doesn't matter what creatures they have to block. In your particular case, you would declare the Spiked Baloth as an attacker attacking your opponent.
In the Declare Blockers Step, your opponent says which of their creatures are blocking which of your creatures. This is where the flying becomes important. When they're blocking, the fact that the bird has flying just means that it can block your creature even if your creature has flying. In this particular situation, your opponent would declare that their bird is blocking your Baloth.
In the Combat Damage Step, all of the combat damage is dealt at the same time. Since your Baloth has trample, it only has to deal as much damage as the bird's toughness (1) to the bird, and it can deal the rest (3) to your opponent. The bird just deals 1 damage to your Baloth. Then your opponent would lose because they have -1 life.

In addition, flying and reach only affect what attackers a creature can block. They don't affect damage, or what creatures can attack.


What happens if I tap Aetherling to attack and in my 2nd main phase I exile it?

you are correct.

as long as you activate the exile ability before your end step, it will return untapped before your opponent's turn.

It does not return instantly however, if you exile it during your turn e.g. during the combat phase, it will not return until your end step. If you wish to cast sorcery or creature cards with it on the battlefield, you will not be able to until your next turn.


Can a sub attack a lone sub in axis and allies and the attacked sub submerge?

Yes. Submarines that are not under threat from an enemy destroyer can use their special ability to choose to make a surprise strike (either on attack or defense) or choose to submerge. This occurs before any dice are rolled by either side.

From Axis 1942 Second Ed. Rules, P14, General Combat, Step 2:

  Before the general sea battle takes place (steps 3–5), both
  attacking and defending submarines can choose to either make a Surprise Strike die roll or submerge.

If an English sub attacks a German sub, as there are no destoryers present on either side, both will have the option to make a surprise strike or submerge.

I am not sure where you get your understanding that a) other sea units (besides subs) need to be present, and b) only if attacker and defender both have submarines, these are both incorrect.

Two things to note about submarines:

As there are no other enemy (surface) warships present, any 'surprise' strike would effectively not be 'surprising'.. both submarines would get a suprise strike at the same time. The attacker rolls a surprise strike, and then the defender rolls the surprise strike on defense. Any hits are then removed.

The whole process starts over again once casualties are removed, so the choice to submerge or surprise strike (remaining in combat) is made before the attacker rolls attack dice.

Typically, the defending sub would choose to submerge, as it defends on a 1.


Can effects (like Majesty's Fiend) prevent Exodia from winning?

If all Exodia cards collected, does Exodia's player win?

Yes, the player will win.

The reason is because Exodia has a win condition not an effect. From its rulings, emphasis mine:

  When you add the fifth piece to your hand and declare that you win the Duel, you are using a victory condition. You are not activating a monster's effect, so "Divine Wrath" and "Gladiator Beast War Chariot" cannot be activated

This means that Majesty's Fiend, who negates effects, won't be able to prevent the player from wining. From its text, emphasis mine:

  Cannot be Special Summoned. Monster effects cannot be activated.


How do Lasso, The Judge and Belle Star interact with equipment cards?

Lasso and Belle Star would keep permanent (which I think are black-bordered?) equipment cards from having any effect. You can, however, still play one, since those cards don't specifically prevent playing cards. Since removing one by paying cost + 1 gold is an action (according to the Gold Rush rulebook), you should also still be able to do that even in Lasso or Belle Star are active. The cards don't have any effect, but they're still equipment.

I'm less sure about The Judge. It says you can't play cards in front of you or any player, but I think "play" refers to playing from your hand. Getting equipment cards is called "buying", so I'm inclined to say it's a different action and isn't affected by The Judge. I'm not completely sure about that, though, and I haven't found any errata about it.

The rules seem to indicate that equipment cards are identical to other cards in play when it comes to elimination. It does say that all equipment cards are discarded when eliminated, and the rules for Shadow-Gunslinger says "All the rules for the elimination of a player still apply: You discard all your cards in hand and in play (including all equipment)...." That tells me that a Sheriff who eliminates a Deputy would lose his equipment just as though they were regular cards in play.


When playing Phase 10 with 2 or more players, how do we conclude the hand?

Score is used when more than 1 player completes Phase 10 in the same hand. Completing a phase doesn't end the hand immediately; a player must go out by getting rid of all his or her cards. So a second player can complete Phase 10 after the first player has done so. Once a player goes out by getting rid of all of his or her cards; then if multiple players have completed Phase 10; score is used to determine winner.

  GOING OUT: The player who gets rid of the last card in hand, by discarding or hitting, is said to go out. This player wins the hand. The winner of the hand, and any other players who also complete their Phase, will advance to the next Phase for the next hand.

and

  If two or more players complete Phase 10 in the same hand, then the player with the fewest total points is the winner.

http://www.natlassoc.org/fun/games/phase10/phase10r.htm

Note that the terminology is a little confusing, because the rules say that whoever goes out "wins the hand", but "winning" the hand doesn't really mean anything other than getting 0 points for that hand. Anyone who completed the Phase moves on; and "winning" Phase 10 doesn't mean that you will win the game.


Is Avalon worth getting if I already own The Resistance

There are several new mechanics brought in the game with Avalon. The major ones play around two new characters Merlin and The Assassin. Merlin allows the good side to have some knowledge of who is good/evil but on the flip side The Assassin allows for the evil side to turn a loss into a victory by figuring out who is Merlin. In addition to those two there are some characters that add some other flair into the game such as a good character who knows who Merlin is with the flip side of an evil character to pretends to be Merlin and a evil character who is unknown to the rest of his team. There are some other characters that where kick starter specific and not sure if you can still get them or not but are worth getting.

Overall I think the changes to Avalon add a lot to the game and make it a little more interesting then the basic game of resistance.


Is it possible to live with false eyes, only?

Yes, this is possible. It requires the living group to circle back on itself like this:

$$Bcm0
$$ ............
$$ ...OOOOOO...
$$ ..OOXXXXOO..
$$ .OOX.XX.XOO.
$$ .OX.XOOX.XO.
$$ .OXXO.OOXXO.
$$ .OXXOO.OXXO.
$$ .OX.XOOX.XO.
$$ .OOX.XX.XOO.
$$ ..OOXXXXOO..
$$ ...OOOOOO...
$$ ............

Here, each of the eight black eyes is locally a false eye, but because the chains that they connect are also connected via the other false eyes, none of the false eyes can ever be attacked. The term for such a construction is "two headed dragon", and they are described in Sensei's Library at https://senseis.xmp.net/?twoheadeddragon (thanks to Karl Knechtel for the link).

The above example makes the circle explicit. However, much smaller forms exist which do not require encircling an opponents living group, where the two eyes are also false by the definition you gave:

$$Bcm0
$$ ........
$$ .OOOO...
$$ .OXXOOO.
$$ .OX.XXO.
$$ .OXX.XO.
$$ .OOOXXO.
$$ ...OOOO.
$$ ........

Here too, we have two eyes which are shared liberties of two separate chains, and again, the whole thing is only alive because those two chains are connected via the other eye. Most Go players would call these two real eyes, though. The two eyes are just so close together, and both groups rely on the exact same two liberties, so it's hard to call these eyes false, even though they fit the definition you gave.


What is the effect of a scout standing at an enemy barracks?

Military bonuses can be blockaded, but not stolen. So you get the trade, but nobody gets the combat advantage.

Source Blockading a Great General (Board Game Geek), from the the designer

  Military bonuses CAN be blockaded, however, scouts CANNOT steal
  military bonuses (military bonuses weren't originally icons, and I'm
  pretty sure that could be game breaking).

  Scouts can send home anything they're on top of except wonder
  abilities and military bonuses (even in another player's outskirts,
  even on top of a wonder, building, or great person).


Why do people refer to Blue color as "U" in Magic the Gathering?

According to Magic Head Designer Mark Rosewater's "Drive to Work" podcast on the subject, Wizards used "B" for Black and "L" for Land, leaving "U" as the next reasonable choice.

  Blue we represent with the letter U. Oh, real quickly. Why do we do that? I’ve talked about this in my column, but for those that haven’t heard me say it, when first Richard made the cards, the problem was that black and blue both start with B. So why not go to L then? Well, land...card colors are used to signify the border, the kind of card it’s on. And so land has its own border. So L is for land. Well, why not go to A for black? Well, A is artifact. And so U was the first we could get to in either of them, so we ended up going with U.


Can two Enduring Scalelords create an infinite loop?

To quote directly from the rulings on Gatherer:

  If you control two Enduring Scalelords, putting a +1/+1 counter on one of them will cause the ability of the other one to trigger. When this ability resolves, you’ll put a +1/+1 counter on the other Scalelord. This will cause the ability of the first one to trigger. This loop will repeat until you choose not to put a +1/+1 counter on one of the Enduring Scalelords.


Is it possible to play 2-player, 2-character Arkham Horror successfully?

Yes, We've played this way many times and it works quite well for an enjoyable game.  I highly recommend it.  You don't need to make any adjustment to the rules to do so, just make sure that you keep each character's possessions separate!  Also remember that certain game elements are based on the number of characters, not players.

One variation you might try is to play two people with one character each.  Just skip every other Mythos phase.  Essentially each character gets 2 turns between Mythos phases.  If you do this, consider yourselves to be playing a 4 character game for all relevant settings.  This will ease your bookkeeping headaches although it will also make the game a bit easier.

To address your statement that you find the game difficult under 4 people, you aren't the only one!  Here are the stats from 5200 games taken from the Arkham Horror statistics report.  If your winning percentage doesn't quite measure up to the below, keep in mind that folks submitting their games to this collection probably have quite a bit more experience playing Arkham Horror than most.

Investigators   Win %   Close % Seal %  Combat % Games
1               38%     3%      6%      29%      100
2               52%     4%      25%     23%      606
3               60%     7%      30%     23%      767
4               65%     11%     39%     15%      2,941
5               69%     16%     39%     14%      378
6               67%     16%     43%     7%       387
7               68%     16%     39%     14%      44
8               73%     25%     42%     7%       60

As you can see, as the investigator count decreases from 5, the game gets progressively tougher.  Also you will probably find more success if you are open to the possibility of a combat victory with 1-3 players


What happens if you do not have any cards left in the Infection deck? (Minor spoilers)

From page 14 of the rules

  In the rare case you get through the entire Infection deck, reshuffle
  it and move the Infection Rate marker forward 1 space on the Infection
  Rate track. If this causes the rate to change during the “Infect”
  step, use the old rate when determining how many cards to draw.

If there are no cards in the draw pile or the discard deck, you've lost. Like, REALLY lost. Even if you say that the Infection Rate just goes to max and then nothing happens when you have to draw an infection card and there is no deck, you can't win the game without adding cards to the infection deck (by connecting cities to the grid) and as soon as you do, you now draw that card repeatedly and will lose the game very quickly. Not to mention that at some point you had to have only a few cards in the infection deck, and you probably lost very quickly at that point too. Even better, you now lose every subsequent game during the setup phase. So, I'd recommend not doing that.