At one point there was a rules ruling via e-mail that it wouldn't be trashed to OverSight AI, and separately that Chum wouldn't do the damage. In the latest FAQ It has been clarified that this didn't make sense, and so for consistency "all" would apply to "0" and so all the subroutines are broken, and so chum does not do damage and oversight AI means the ice is trashed.

  “All”

  The word “all” includes the number zero.
  Example:
  The Corporation plays an OversightAI
  and rezzes a Woodcutter. The Runner encounters the Woodcutter while it has
  zero subroutines. The Runner is considered to have broken all the
  subroutines on the Woodcutter, and the ice is trashed.

(Previously, it was decided that since there were no subroutines the number broken was unknowable and so effects wouldn't trigger, but that gets rather confusing rather quickly with rules effectively throwing null pointer exceptions!)


What pauper cards are legal in paper but not MTGO

According to Wikipedia, all sets since (and including) "Invasion" have been released on MTGO. This means the Masques, Urza, Tempest, Mirage, (most of) Ice Age, and Homelands blocks are not included in MTGO. In addition, core sets up until 6th edition and the Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Revised, Legends, The Dark, and Fallen Empires expansions are also excluded from MTGO.

Rather than searching gatherer for these sets, it is better to exclude the sets that are in MTGO, because that will exclude cards from early sets that got re-printed in later sets.

As of the release of Magic Origins, the following gatherer search should provide a list of all commons that were only printed in the sets before MTGO was released.

shortened url: http://goo.gl/O8OdKM

full url:

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&set=+![%22Magic%20Origins%22]+![%22Seventh%20Edition%22]+![%22Eighth%20Edition%22]+![%22Ninth%20Edition%22]+![%22Tenth%20Edition%22]+![%22Magic%202010%22]+![%22Magic%202011%22]+![%22Magic%202012%22]+![%22Magic%202013%22]+![%22Magic%202014%20Core%20Set%22]+![%22Magic%202015%20Core%20Set%22]+![%22Invasion%22]+![%22Planeshift%22]+![%22Apocalypse%22]+![%22Odyssey%22]+![%22Torment%22]+![%22Judgment%22]+![%22Onslaught%22]+![%22Legions%22]+![%22Scourge%22]+![%22Mirrodin%22]+![%22Darksteel%22]+![%22Fifth%20Dawn%22]+![%22Champions%20of%20Kamigawa%22]+![%22Betrayers%20of%20Kamigawa%22]+![%22Saviors%20of%20Kamigawa%22]+![%22Ravnica:%20City%20of%20Guilds%22]+![%22Guildpact%22]+![%22Coldsnap%22]+![%22Time%20Spiral%22]+![%22Planar%20Chaos%22]+![%22Future%20Sight%22]+![%22Lorwyn%22]+![%22Morningtide%22]+![%22Shadowmoor%22]+![%22Eventide%22]+![%22Shards%20of%20Alara%22]+![%22Conflux%22]+![%22Alara%20Reborn%22]+![%22Zendikar%22]+![%22Worldwake%22]+![%22Rise%20of%20the%20Eldrazi%22]+![%22Scars%20of%20Mirrodin%22]+![%22Mirrodin%20Besieged%22]+![%22New%20Phyrexia%22]+![%22Innistrad%22]+![%22Dark%20Ascension%22]+![%22Avacyn%20Restored%22]+![%22Return%20to%20Ravnica%22]+![%22Gatecrash%22]+![%22Dragon%27s%20Maze%22]+![%22theros%22]+![%22Born%20of%20the%20Gods%22]+![%22Journey%20into%20Nyx%22]+![%22Khans%20of%20Tarkir%22]+![%22Fate%20Reforged%22]+![%22Dragons%20of%20Tarkir%22]&rarity=+[C]

Edit: Looking at the results, it looks like the query wasn't perfect. But it's a good start.


Is Bioshift affected by Doubling Season?

Yes it does. See the rulings on Bioshift:

  To move a counter from one creature to another, the counter is removed from the first creature and placed on the second. Any abilities that care about a counter being removed or placed on a creature will apply.

The ruling stems from the following rule:

  121.5. If an effect says to “move” a counter, it means to take that counter from the object it’s currently on and put it onto a second object. If the first and second objects are the same object, nothing happens. If the first object has no counters, nothing happens; the second object doesn’t get a counter put on it. If the second object (or any possible second objects) is no longer in the correct zone when the effect would move the counter, nothing happens; a counter isn’t removed from the first object.


Does this have an official name and rule set?

You're talking about Liar's Dice, an individual hand variant, which is also covered in the Wikipedia entry you shared:

  In "common hand" liar's dice games, each player has a set of dice, all players roll once, and the bids relate to the dice each player can see (their hand) plus all the concealed dice (the other players' hands). In "individual hand" games, there is one set of dice which is passed from player to player.

Spanish and French versions of this game only cover the individual hand variant, as reflected in their own Wikipedia entry:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%B3ker_mentiroso
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_menteur
Spanish rules establish losing when reaching 9 points, as those are the
number of letters for the word liar in Spanish: mentiroso. While French rules fixes the losing points up to five (has nothing to do with French word for loser this time, as its menteur).

As it seems to be a game without any official organization behind it, there isn't such a thing as an official ruleset, despite in Spain is very common in universities and seems to exist some tournaments there.


What reasons would a designer want to employ squares over hexes in a battle simulation game?

Well one point towards squares is simplicity. It is a much easier system to grok (outside of weird rules for diagonals)

The most important thing to consider is what your playing field is. If you are talking about a mostly open plain with very few obstacles, then a hex field is great as it avoids the diagonal rule cleanly.

However if you were going with, say, an urban layout, then a hex system would have a harder time with all the straight edges (not impossible, but difficult) while also not helping too much, since diagonals aren't a huge deal with hallways.


Base rules state that the runner accesses all cards in Archives when they access Archives.  When they do, they resolve the effects of the cards normally.  This goes for things like Shock, NAPD Contracts, and Shi.Kyu.  However, text on the card always overrides basic rules in the game.  You can see this with cards like Snare! and Fetal AI where they specifically do not trigger their abilities if they are being accessed from Archives.  However, Fetal DOES still cost the two credits to steal from Archives, as that ability is not suppressed in Archives.

This is why a Jinteki thousand-cuts deck is deadly.  Even if a Shock is trashed, it's still deadly in Archives and will happen every time the Runner tries to access that server.  Another thing to note is that Personal Evolution still happens after the Runner steals any agenda from Archives.

One note on this, however.  Even though the Runner has to access everything if they want it to be considered a successful run, they are allowed to choose the order in which they access these cards.  So, if you would access Archives and steal your final few points, you do not flatline as a result of other cards doing damage to you.  Nice to know when Jinteki starts really burying their agendas in there.


1. The 6/6 will die, and the 3/3s won't take any damage.

In the first strike Combat Damage Step, both 3/3 deal three damage to the attacker. It is destroyed shortly after for having marked damage matching its toughness. The 6/6 won't be around in the normal damage Combat Damage Step to deal damage to the 3/3s, so they'll survive intact.

If the attacker was a 7/7, it would survive the first strike Combat Damage Step and a second Combat Damage Step would get created for the remaining creatures (the 7/7) to deal their damage (destroying the blockers).


Why is this corner enclosure considered to be safe against 3-3 invasion?

First of all, note that, unlike the more popular shape with a kosumi instead of a keima, this shape carries a lot more aji and is vulnerable to yose tesuji and approach moves.

$$ A lot less aji
$$ ---------
$$ -........
$$ -........
$$ -.....X..
$$ -...X....
$$ -..X.....
$$ -........
$$ -........

Oh, and by the way, an invasion is supposed to live in gote. Invading and living in sente is something you definitely don't want your opponent to be able to. In a shape with 3 (!) black stones vs a single white stone, living has to be super hard, and even a ko is a success for white.

Killing the invasion

The shape you showed, as is, is indeed save against an invasion. It involves a tesuji you need to remember though, and you also need to be able to read tsumego at, I guess, strong kyu level to be able to kill.

$$Wcm1 The invasion
$$ ---------
$$ -........
$$ -....2...
$$ -..1..X..
$$ -...X....
$$ -........
$$ -..X.....
$$ -........

B2 is tesuji to kill.

$$Wcm1 White can't live
$$ ---------
$$ -.98.....
$$ -.5..X...
$$ -0.O..X..
$$ -.7.X....
$$ -6134....
$$ -.2X.....
$$ -........

Why can't black simply block?

$$Wcm1 Black fails - white gets a ko
$$ ---------
$$ -..98....
$$ -.7.56...
$$ -..12.X..
$$ -..3X....
$$ -..4.....
$$ -..X.....
$$ -........

Aji

How is this shape dependent on the outside? Well, first, any approach move is virtually sente:

$$Wcm1 If black tenukies, the invasion becomes a huge danger again. But answering locally likely leads to overconcentration.
$$ ----------
$$ -.........
$$ -.........
$$ -.....X.1.
$$ -...X.....
$$ -.........
$$ -..X......
$$ -.........

Also, even nearby stones affect the tsumego severly:

$$Wcm1 Thanks to nearby stones, the fight is tough for black, he should not have tried to kill white in the corner.
$$ ------------
$$ -.OX........
$$ -XO..X......
$$ -X.O56X...Q.
$$ -OO.X79.....
$$ -XOOX8......
$$ -.XX13......
$$ -...........
$$ -..2.4......
$$ -...........
$$ -..Q........
$$ -...........

In short, the shape works, but it's so packed with aji that usually, it's better to hold back a little and play more solid.


In Poker, What is the Significance of "Betting on the Come"

It can be a bluff or it can be a calculation.  If you have QJ and the board shows 10 9 3 then you have 2 overcards to the board and an open ended straight draw.  If you have 4 cards to a flush you are probably favored nearly 2 to 1 to an over pair even.

If you sense weakness in your opponent you might be able to scare them off of a hand like two 5's, that while leading as it stands, could be behind if you even have a 10 or 9.

Your opponent could also have a single ace or of the suit that has 2 on the board you do not want that over card pair or another card towards his flush to come.  So you can bet to scare him off now.

Generally betting the come you really want to take the hand down right there.  But you do not want to commit yourself to playing a hand out if the next card doesnt come in your favor.


Can you retreat with Attacking Infantry in Axis and Allies Original - 2nd Edition

"Retreat" is not counted as a move. So the attacking infantry can move "back" to their original square. Or maybe a better way of looking at it was the attacking infantry moved to the border between its original square and the defending square, and then was stopped at the border.

It is the defender who cannot move or retreat during an attack. The defender has to beat off the attack or lose every piece (except for submarines). But the attacker always has the option to stop the attack.


How do I place stations in Ticket to Ride on Steam?

Just in case StartPlayer doesn't put in an answer. Once he does I'll mark his as correct.

  Have you tried dragging a card to the city? That's what you do in the
  iOS app. You said you tried dragging to the route and clicking on a
  city but not dragging wagon cards to a city.

  StartPlayer


How does the graveyard work in citadels?

According to BoardGameGeek, you can take any district that has been destroyed, so long as you were not the Warlord (you can't take a district you just destroyed), and the Graveyard was not the card destroyed.

  1) Can the player owning the Graveyard claim another palyer’s District just destroyed (e.g. Palyer A destroys Player B’s Observatory and Player C, who owns the Graveyard, spends 1 Gold to claim the Observatory for himself) ?
  Answer: Yes


No, you won't get priority during a spell's or ability's resolution. If the effect instructs you to 'repeat this process', then you have to repeat the process for as long as you can.
Instructions of effects are always mandatory, unless the effect itself offers you a choice. "If you win, repeat this process" does not involve a choice. You keep clashing, losing life, and drawing cards, until you fail to win a clash. There are cards that allow you to either continue or stop a process, but they include "may" somewhere in their wording, as do all cards when taking an action is voluntary.

Resolving Spells and Abilities

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

The active player gets priority only after the current spell or ability has finished resolving:

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

Each instance of "lose 2 life" is separate. If there is an ability in your game that triggers on you losing life, it will trigger each time you lose 2 life during Hoarder's Greed. Since you can lose life regardless of your current life total, as opposed to "paying 2 life" which you can only do if you do have 2 or more life, the lower limit to your resulting health depends only on the number of repetitions of the process, and thus on the number of cards in your library.

119.3. If an effect causes a player to gain life or lose life, that player’s life total is adjusted accordingly.
119.4. If a cost or effect allows a player to pay an amount of life greater than 0, the player may do so only if their life total is greater than or equal to the amount of the payment.

The process stops only when you fail to win a clash, i.e. you reveal a card with lower or equal CMC, or when you can't reveal a card at all because your library is empty.

701.22d A player wins a clash if that player revealed a card with a higher converted mana cost than all other cards revealed in that clash.

Note that you don't lose the game during the resolution of a spell, since state-based actions are not being checked at that time.

704.4. Unlike triggered abilities, state-based actions pay no attention to what happens during the resolution of a spell or ability.

If, in the process of resolving Hoarder's Greed, you go to 0 life or less, or try to draw from an empty library, you will lose as soon as the spell has resolved and the active player would gain priority, because at that time, state-based actions are checked.

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 117, “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.


Help identify: multi-player but single character role playing game

Perhaps you're thinking of Everyone is John?

  The main concept is that every player but one plays a voice in "John's" head. All of these voices are trying to get John to do something that they like.

Other similarities:

Shared character: Everyone is John, obviously.
Hidden goals: EiJ gives each "voice" three hidden goals of varying feasibility, worth points based on their difficulty.
Points: Voices bid to get control of John at various points in the game


From the Redemption rulebook:  In the detailed Hero Wins section:  " your opponent
must select and surrender to you one available Lost Soul from his Land of Bondage. "
(Redemption Rules)

Since it's always your opponents choice, this card is valuable in situations where the Lost Soul you rescue matters.   It allows the Hero to choose instead of the Evil opponent.


Are Risk 2210 A.D 3.0 MODs considered as 1 unit or 3 units?

Risk 2210 uses the same base rules as classic Risk.

From the rulebook, page 2:

  If you have a question not answered in the  RISK 2210 A.D.™ section,
  then refer to the Classic RISK® rules

In classic risk, "units" and "armies" are synonymous.  The higher denomination pieces are just for player convenience.  Thus, with a 1.0-MOD and a 3.0-MOD, you would roll 3 dice on the attack, just the same as if you had four 1.0-MOD's.


Among good players, should one base one's play on the assumption that the opponents will play deceptively?

First, let's address some vital points:

East has a nearly complete picture of the hand as soon as his partner plays the D6 at Trick 2:

South has exactly 3 Diamonds because Partner is echoing to show on even number.
West has 5 Spades because Declarer didn't hold  up the suit at Trick 1.
All missing high cards are in South for his 15-17 rebid of 1 NT.
East knows that West holds Club Nine because that is why the Diamond suit is being played at Trick 2 instead of the Clubs.
The only outstanding question is whether South is 35 or 44 in the round Suits (Hearts & Clubs). However this is irrelevant at this time because South requires at least two Diamond tricks for his contract; unless East wins with the Q to alert Declarer to the bad Diamond lie.

Hence East's win of the Ace at Trick 2 is  a mandatory falsecard; all near-expert and better players will make the play, as it is the only way to set the contract. An expert East will still make this play, smooth as silk, with doubleton AQ of diamonds.

Let's answer these questions one at a time:

No. Count the hand and learn (at least the common) mandatory false card situations. The Diamond line illustrated here is 67% (50% for the D finesse + 68%/4 for all onside Kx Club holdings).
No. See above. There are times to adopt a mixed strategy in Bridge play, but this is not one of them. Such cases are most common when holding two equivalent cards (such as a QJ holding), and one should be prepared to decide, smoothly, which one to play in a way that your opponent cannot predict. See Restricted Choice.
No - because that requires a column of its own. CA followed by low to the CJ is 74% (68% for a 3-2 break + 30%/5 for all singleton CK in a 4-1 break). Leading the CJ for a finesse is just the same 68% as the Diamond line, but with risk of additional undertricks.

Finally, to answer your question: East's play is a mandatory false card. When playing against experts, you must expect mandatory false cards to be made.

However, even World Champions occasionally miss a mandatory false card if pressured early enough in the hand, as this hand from the 1976 Bermuda Bowl Final demonstrates. After leading a Heart to South's low ruff. West failed to rise with KC on the low Club lead by Declarer.


If I resurrect a previously enchanted creature, does it get its old auras back?

ConMan's answer is very good, but it goes explaining auras, their effects and characteristics but I think this rule is more important to explain the answer to your question.

  217.1c An object that moves from one zone to another is treated as a new object. Effects connected with its previous location will no
  longer affect it.

Answer to your question: No, it will not have any auras or equipment attached to it.

This is because every time an object moves from one zone to another, this is a new object. Whether this new zone is graveyard, battlefield, exile, library or hand.

A good and relevant example of this is a card by the name of Animate Dead with the following text:

  Enchant creature card in a graveyard When Animate Dead enters the
  battlefield, if it's on the battlefield, it loses "enchant creature
  card in a graveyard" and gains "enchant creature put onto the
  battlefield with Animate Dead." Return enchanted creature card to the
  battlefield under your control and attach Animate Dead to it. When
  Animate Dead leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller
  sacrifices it.

Very convoluted text for a simple, return creature to the battlefield isn't it? The gatherer explains why:

  Animate Dead is an Aura, albeit with an unusual enchant ability. You
  target a creature card in a graveyard when you cast it. It enters the
  battlefield attached to that card. Then it returns that card to the
  battlefield, and attaches itself to the card again (since the card is
  a new object on the battlefield). Animate Dead itself never moves into
  a graveyard during this process.

As Animate Dead attaches to the creature and enters the battlefield, the creature is still theoretically in the graveyard, the effect from Animate Dead then brings the creature to the battlefield which means that as it is now a new object, Animate Dead has to attach itself to it again.


Occupations and minor improvements break the game?

Not everyone feels the way you do.  Agricola is rated #7 on BoardGameGeek seven years after it was released.  Agricola is rated as "Medium-Heavy" on BGG with a 3.6 rating out of 5 which means that most people see it as among the more complex games they've played.

If you enjoy the family game, there's nothing wrong with just playing that.  Without knowing other games that you enjoy, it's hard for me to say whether Agricola is the right game for you, it's one of my favorites.

Play with the E deck only!

The base game comes with three decks, each with a different purpose. Make sure you are only using the E deck for your first few games to limit the complexity.

The decks are:

E - Everyone
I - Interactive
K - Complex

If you've been playing with just the E deck already, there are a couple ways to ease into the full game.

Play solo - this will let you play at your own pace and get some familiarity with the cards.  Despite the large number of cards, many of them are quite similar, or just deal with difference resources in the same way.
Draft - Each player draws their cards, picks one of each and hands their cards to the next player.  Repeat until all cards are taken.  This takes a long time to go thru the first couple times.  But it allows everyone to take cards they like.  In most cases, the last few cards you get can be ignored.  Not all 7 are winners :)
Draw 7, discard 3.  As I said above, not all 7 are winners.  Force everyone to make the choice up front and they'll be quicker during the game


Aligned Hedron Network and Ulamog's Despoiler

Ulamog's Despoiler makes no limitations as to what cards can be moved from exile to graveyard except the cards' owners. Therefore, you can move any of your opponent's exiled cards, no matter how they got exiled. Note, however, the rulings on the Despoiler's Gatherer page regarding face-down exiled cards.

If the Aligned Hedron Network was destroyed after Despoiler has had its effect, the Network's effect would end and return all cards exiled with it to the battlefield. Unless a few specific exceptions apply (which they don't here), effects do not track objects across zones, and the Network would not return the cards put into the graveyard by Despoiler.


Power Grid removing lowest plant if first player passes

No, this is no part of the original ruleset; the base-game rule has never changed and remains as you quoted: if nobody buys a Power Plant, then at the end of Phase 2 you discard the lowest Power Plant and draw a replacement. Source: it simply doesn't exist.

On the contrary, your friend's house rule is imbalanced; discard the lowest one only if the first player passes? This really tilts the balance in favor of the other players. Not to mention that it completely breaks 2-player games by disincentivizing players from getting the pole position.

edit: Please note that this is the base game rule: all players have to pass to remove the lowest power plant. The Russia map from Power Grid: Russia & Japan (2010) amends this base-game rule (source, p. 2)

  Starting in game turn 2: when the first player in a game turn does not
  offer a new power plant for auction and instead passes, remove the
  smallest power plant in the actual market and replace it with a new
  power plant from the stack. This rule replaces the base game rule, so
  that players DO NOT remove the smallest power plant from the
  market when all players pass and nobody buys a new power plant.

Emphasizing: please note that this is an amended rule on a specific expansion map (Russia). Otherwise, the rule is as stated: all players have to pass.


Is the Elder God Health affected by the number of board expansions in play?

I'm of the same mindset. The final battle's difficulty shouldn't change based on how many boards there were to run around on; the battle isn't any harder because there was more space to run around on, things to get done, etc. There's just as many opportunities to gain weapons and spells, why should the fight be any harder? There was a thread on this topic on the Fantasy Flight messages boards some time ago, but I can't seem to find it.

Edit: Here we go! From the Kevin Wilson answers thread on the forum.

  [KH] 10. While using Kingsport and Dunwich together you count the # of Investigators as one less for monster limit, outskirts, etc. due to there being so much ground to cover. I take it this does not apply to the number of successes needed to remove a doom token in the final battle? (06/13/08)
  Correct. Otherwise the final fight would be a lot easier than intended.

  -Kevin Wilson
  Fantasy Flight Games


What difficulties occur in a three sided version of Space Hulk?

TLDR

Three sided play should be entirely possible, and sounds fun!
The game mechanics should not be affected to any great degree.
I see the game progressing for each individual action as though the game is only a one on one.
Players would need to simply keep the bigger picture in mind as the game progresses.
Whether there is two or three players one full turn still ends when the same player starts his turn again.
You may want to develop house rules for the total number of AP in a turn, to avoid bottle-necking?

I have only ever played the tabletop version a couple times; but I have played the steam version quite a few, though it has been a few years. Personally, I foresee no issues playing a three sided match in this game. Simply progress the turns as you would normally. When you take an action against another player the game would progress as though it was simply a one on one; strategically you would just have to pay attention to where the other third player is.

In my mind I see Marine -> Genestealer -> Chaos for a turn order. As this would play out I see the Terminator entering overwatch at the end of his turn. The game would of course progress as normal for the Genestealer turn. Then on the Chaos turn the Terminator would remain in Overwatch and the game would essentially progress as if it were only Marine vs. Chaos for that turn. Then when the Marine starts his new turn the game progresses as normal.

Looking at the broad picture each player would look at the game as "me vs. whoever's turn it is" and on their turn they would look at it one action at a time as "me vs. whoever I want to attack this with this action."

The only trip up that might come into play that I can think of is the number of free actions/ actions points/ command points that you have. I feel like you might want to have some house rules in this case. If you only have the standard maximum number of actions in a turn it is possible that the game will not progress quickly enough (kill off opponents) and all three players will bottleneck in one area limiting everyone's choices?

Perhaps I have forgotten something that would come into play and hinder this progression. If so let me know... otherwise I hope this helps.


What if Magic gives the second player a Lotus Petal, similar to what Hearthstone does?

There are already decks that win on turn one, giving one extra mana on that turn enables these decks to be more reliable.

One example of a deck that wins turn one, and already wants to be on the draw, is Flash Hulk. While Flash has been banned in legacy and restricted in vintage, the combo only needs two mana, one of it blue, to win turn 1. This two mana is usually accomplished with Gemstone Caverns, Elvish Spirit Guide or Simian Spirit Guide and the land drop for the turn, usually an Island. Adding one free mana would mean you no longer need one of those three cards, just Flash and Protean Hulk and your land for turn in the opening hand.

Flash is used to put Protean Hulk into play, which must be sacrificed since you can't pay the 4 generic mana required by Flash (creature's CMC-2), triggering Protean Hulk's death effect. That effect could search for many things, 4 Disciple of the Vault and X cost artifact creatures like Phyrexian Marauder and Shifting Wall, using the 0 toughness artifact creatures dying to trigger the Disciples, or 4 Virulent Sliver and a Heart Sliver to swing 5 poisonous 4 hasted creatures turn 1, doing double the lethal poison count.


Does exchanging a dead card count as a move for loss of a card?

Based on the wording, Dead Card exchange is basically a free action that you can do before taking your normal turn. Losing your draw is a result of the next player placing and drawing, which is effectively them finishing their turn. This strongly implies that you have until the next player finishes their turn to draw your new card.

In the scenario above, A is a 100% right to draw a card because B hasn't moved yet. Generalized, though, is technically vague but I think what I've said is the intentions of the rule.


Bloodbowl - throw a rock, roll for injury or casualty?

Always roll for injury first.

Roll against casualty table if injury roll result is 10-12.

This is similar what you do when a player gets pushed or knocked off the pitch and gets beat up by the fans.

My rule interpretation:
The rule would most likely also say "No Armour roll is required and No Injury Roll is required" if the intent was to go directly to the casualty table.


Can I give my creature Persist and Sacrifice it to Greater Good to save it from destruction by Beast Within?

It's up to you. Since both of the leave the battlefield effects on Child of Alara are yours, you choose the order they go on the stack. This gives you two options:

Persist on the stack first - Persist goes on the stack, and then the destroy all nonland permanents goes on the stack. Destroy comes off the stack first and resolves, destroying all nonland permanents, Then persist resolves, returning Child of Alara to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter.
Destroy on the stack first - Destroy all nonland permanents goes on the stack, and then persist goes on the stack. Persist resolves first returning Child of Alara to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter. Then destroy resolves, destroying all nonland permanents including Child of Alara. A new destroy trigger goes on the stack and will resolve.

Usually option 1 would be the better option, as it leaves you with a creature, but if your opponent has a lot of persist themselves, or effects that make tokens when their creatures or other permanents die, you may want to use option 2, so that Child destroys all nonland permanents, including itself, making it destroy all nonland permanents again when it dies the second time.

Beast Within is put into the grave yard doing nothing no matter which choice you make, since it no longer has a legal target.


In all of your cases A chooses the next power plant. The rules are quite clear:

  When a player other than the player who started
   the auction wins the auction, the auctioning player may choose a new plant to auction from the actual market or pass

A will keep putting power plants up for bid until either

A wins a power plant auction
A passes (and is out for the entire phase, they will not get a power plant this turn)

Remember, that when choosing a power plant A must make the first bid for at least the minimum printed on the power plant card.


How to protect a tribal deck from Extinction?

Playing Around Board Wipes

For your purposes, Extinction is just a board wipe, like Supreme Verdict. In fact, at CMC 5, it's a slow board wipe. In a no-holds-barred Legacy environment, you'd be having to deal with faster sweepers like Perish and Terminus.

So you could try to get cute with instant-speed creature-type changing here, but nothing really prevents your friend from switching to more conventional mass removal to get the job done — even a card like Marsh Casualties will clean out mana dorks very efficiently.

So, what do you do if you're unprepared for a sweeper? General strategy is to be faster but don't overextend. Aggro decks commonly try to put a lot of pressure on their opponents right out the gate, forcing opponents to scramble to stabilize. "Curve-toppers" (especially creatures with haste or evasive abilities) and burn spells (like Lightning Bolt) help get the last few points of damage in after that Supreme Verdict has dropped.

But, in your case, you're playing a combo deck that uses creatures for mana instead of constantly pressuring life totals, so racing the sweeper is a bit of an all-or-nothing arrangement: if you fail, you've lost a lot of resources with basically nothing to show for it.

So, what do you do?

Combo Deck Fundamentals

Most combo decks want to be fast. That's basically their whole value proposition: devote most of your deck to doing weird, kinda useless-seeming stuff in order to quickly work your way up to a devastating finish.

So, can you tune up your combo engine to make your deck faster? For example:

Tournament-grade elf decks often use Heritage Druid+Nettle Sentinel as a mana engine. Heritage Druid will help speed up hands where you didn't get a Concordant Crossroads.
Tournament-grade elf decks tend to use Glimpse of Nature (or Beck) to chain lots of cards quickly.

Replacing some of your slower elves with these cards might help you gain a turn or more.

You can also speed up your deck by improving its consistency. If you're "going off" on turn 3 50% of the time and turn 4 50% of the time, then getting that ratio down to 90%/10% is effectively the same as speeding your deck up by half a turn. Card filtering, tutors (not just for your endgame piece but for the cards you need to get there), and better access to redundant cards will all help get you there.

But, unless you're playing a truly degenerate format, your opponents will be able to interact with you, and your deck needs to be able to go off despite their best attempts at disruption — especially in post-sideboard games where they might bring in specific countermeasures against you. Some tried-and-true strategies here:

Lots of redundant pieces. Elf decks usually naturally have this covered, since they play a lot of highly interchangeable cards.
"Plan B." A second combo (e.g. slower but simpler), going offensive with your creatures, or the ability to play for the endgame like a control deck.
Disruption. Protect your combo with disruptive elements of your own.

Deckbuilding Suggestions

Your deck already has a fair bit of redundancy to it. "Plan B" is pretty easy: go on the offense with your little elves, perhaps using Ezuri's Overrun ability.

Let's focus on that third pillar: disruption. The best colors for this are blue and black, which are the colors of counterspells and targeted discard, respectively. I prefer targeted discard for true combo decks, because it allows me to go after my opponent's disruptive resources on my own schedule rather than having to wait and hold open counterspell mana (if you want to do that, build full-on combo-control, or play an instant-speed combo deck). Targeted discard also works well in combo decks because oftentimes your opponent only has a few cards that can truly interact with yours — you don't need to deal with all of their cards, just the handful of reactive cards or hosers they're using to slow down your combo.

So, let's just use targeted discard to rip our opponents' hands apart before they can nuke our elves away. As a bonus, we'll get the ability to see their hands, which makes it much easier to play around whatever they still have in hand. The optimal targeted discard cards are Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, Duress, and Inquisition of Kozilek; in your case, IoK is suboptimal (you care about some CMC 4+ spells, but in a pinch you can chump-block with an elf or two, so you don't particularly need discard spells that can hit cheap creatures), but all the other ones have their appeal:

Play Cabal Therapy for maximum value, if you're comfortable guessing strategically.
Play Thoughtseize if you want a targeted discard spell guaranteed to hit something.
Play Duress if you're budget-limited or you think Thoughtseize exposes you to too much risk from aggro deck.

Going green/black, even if it's just a splash, also opens up access to a number of other interesting options:

Shaman of the Pack lets you turn elves into life drain.
Black/green gives you access to a lot of great removal, including Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse (and Pernicious Deed, but that's suicide for your deck).
Golgari Charm is a multifaceted spell that can protect your elves from some (but not all!) sweeper effects.
Black is a great color for digging stuff out of the graveyard. You've even got some mass revival options like Patriarch's Bidding (perfect for a "tribal" deck). Since such spells are costly, I don't really recommend them for one-on-one, but they may be a good addition to a deck for multiplayer.

These are all secondary to the pure defensive benefit or running discard spells to protect your combo, though.


How does "casting without paying mana cost" work with additional costs?

You must pay additional costs separately, so you would still have to pay {1} for Sphere of Resistance.

Casting without paying is an alternate cost:

  117.9. Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell's text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying the spell's mana cost. Alternative costs are usually phrased, "You may [action] rather than pay [this object's] mana cost," or "You may cast [this object] without paying its mana cost." Note that some alternative costs are listed in keywords; see rule 702.

Additional costs are added separately from alternate costs:

  117.9d If an alternative cost is being paid to cast a spell, any additional costs, cost increases, and cost reductions that affect that spell are applied to that alternative cost. (See rule 601.2f.)


Do you receive the Mortgage value of a property every turn?

That's not how a mortgage works in Monopoly or real life!  A bank does not give you a perpetual income and ask you pay that amount plus 10% back once.  A Mortgage is a one-time loan based on the property value.  It is not a perpetual income.

The rules you need are all here. There is no reference anywhere that you get a mortgage value every turn.

  MORTGAGES: Unimproved properties can be mortgaged through the Bank at
  any time. Before an improved property can be mortgaged, all the
  buildings on all the properties of its color-group must be sold back
  to the Bank at half price. The mortgage value is printed on each Title
  Deed card.

  No rent can be collected on mortgaged properties or utilities, but
  rent can be collected on unmortgaged properties in the same group. In
  order to lift the mortgage, the owner must pay the Bank the amount of
  the mortgage plus 10% interest. When all the properties of a
  color-group are no longer mortgaged, the owner may begin to buy back
  houses at full price.

  The player who mortgages property retains possession of it and no
  other player may secure it by lifting the mortgage from the Bank.
  However, the owner may sell this mortgaged property to another player
  at any agreed price. If you are the new owner, you may lift the
  mortgage at once if you wish by paying off the mortgage plus 10%
  interest to the Bank. If the mortgage is not lifted at once, you must
  pay the Bank 10% interest when you buy the property and if you lift
  the mortgage later you must pay the Bank an additional 10% interest as
  well as the amount of the mortgage.

Also think of the effect this would have on the game.  No one would ever lose.  Turn one I buy a property,  I then Mortgage it and I've an income every turn meaning I can't go bankrupt.  Every player would have all their properties mortgaged getting richer and richer so it would never end.


The solver you mention do solves this deal with 4 free cells.
For MS Freecell Deal #9371310
: TD 2S 8H 4S JC QC 6S
: 2H 4C 7S 8S 9D KD 3D
: 5S 3C 9S 9H 7D AC KC
: 5D 7H 9C 5C AD 6D JD
: TC 4D 3H AS QD KS
: 3S 8C QS AH KH TS
: 2C QH 8D 4H JH JS
: 5H 2D 6C 6H TH 7C

Used the default settings, it solved it in few seconds:


Does anyone have experience playing Tokaido with only 2 players?

Note: I've played with two players exclusively, so I cannot compare it to 3+ player games.

Tokaido is inherently not a highly competitive game. You stroll across Japan taking in the sights, local cuisine, and having minor adventures (making new friends, bathing with monkeys, etc).

The neutral piece offers an element of minor sabotage; whoever is in the lead when it is the neutral piece's turn to move can bump it right in front of where the other player wants to go... alternatively you can just beeline the neutral piece to the inn. But no matter how spiteful you want to be by staying in the lead and controlling the neutral player, you're only shooting yourself in the foot by skipping so many spaces.

Ultimately it's a fun game to play when you don't feel like over-analyzing the game... it's not about "winners" and "losers" and more about which player had the most fulfilling journey.

TL;DR-- The two player rules add an extra element of gameplay through the inclusion of a neutral traveler and the removal of the secondary spaces. (two players can never share a spot on the road except at inns) Personally, I find it enjoyable.


Publishing a board game with an existing game company

That deal doesn't seem very likely. You plan to cover any expenses they may incur during production, marketing, and distribution, but I do not believe you have considered their opportunity cost for taking on the project. Whatever time and resources they are devoting to your game (even if you are footing the bill) could be spent elsewhere on a product with a greater expected return on investment.

It sounds like you are looking for the board game equivalent of vanity publishing (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_press), which is usually not a good idea for anyone except the publisher. If you do find a company willing to let you cover all costs, it may not be as good of a deal as you think.


In Bridge Play, What is Meant by "Combining Your Chances?"

You have two ways of making your sixth trick given this ending.  You can find the outstanding hearts divided 3-3, or you can find the spade Queen onside.

The beauty is that you can take both chances.  First, play the hearts.  If they break 3-3 (or somebody has done some lousy discarding in the build up to this end position), you're set for your sixth trick with your baby heart.  If they do not break, you can then play the Ace of Spades (in case somebody has the singleton Queen), and finesse the Jack.

Your chance of success now are the 36% chance the hearts split, and the 50% of the time that the Spade Queen is onside in the case that the hearts do not break, or:

36% + (50%) * (64%) = 68%

Note that you have to start with the Hearts.  Testing the hearts does not result in the loss of a trick, it only establishes a trick for the opponents if the suit does not break.  Testing the Spade finesse will lose a trick if it is not correct.


Can someone fully explain link summoning?

Let's see...

Short answer

Link Summoning is the act of using monsters you control as Link Materials, to summon a Link Monster from your Extra Deck.  It's basically Contact Fusion mk.2.

Long answer

Link Summoning is the act of using monsters on your side of the field as Link Materials, for the Link Summon of a Link Monster in your Extra Deck; these Link Materials are sent to the Graveyard, just like tributes, Fusion Materials, and Synchro Materials.

The number of Link Materials that must be used is equal to the summoned monster's Link Number (i.e., a Link 2 monster needs 2 materials, and a Link 4 monster needs 4 materials); if a Link Monster is used as a Link Material, you can use it as a number of monsters equal to its Link Number, but this isn't required (i.e., a Link N monster can count as either 1 material or N materials for a Link Summon).  Link Monsters can also specify a number of required materials (e.g., Decode Talker requires 2+ monsters), along with other qualities such as types or attributes (e.g., "Decode Talker" requires Effect monsters), all of which must be met (e.g., since "Decode Talker" requires 2+ Effect Monsters, it cannot be summoned using another Link 3 monster as the sole material, even though that would satisfy the Link Number requirement).

This Link Monster, due to residing in the Extra Deck, must be summoned to an Extra Monster Zone (the two in the middle of the field, between both players' sides).  If there are already one or more Link Monster(s) on the field, and one or more of their Link Markers point to one of your Main Monster Zones (the original five, on your side of the field), then that pointed-to zone(s) is a Link Point(s), and can be treated as an Extra Monster Zone when summoning from the Extra Deck.

To my knowledge, those are the only rules specifically regarding Link Summoning.  Related rules would be the rules regarding Link Monsters themselves (such as that they're unaffected by effects that change Battle Position, or anything regarding Link Markers), and rules regarding Extra Monster Zones and Main Monster Zones (as mentioned in the final paragraph, above).


Hammer of Purphoros doesn't let me destroy my opponent's lands; why is that exactly?

"Sacrifice" and "Destroy" are 2 separate things, though they both result in sending a permanent to the graveyard. You can only ever sacrifice a permanent that you control:

  701.14. Sacrifice

    701.14a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.

And you are correct about the second part, a card like Pillage would let you destroy an opponent's land.

"Sacrifice" happens only when an ability tells you to "sacrifice" something (or keywords whose rules require sacrificing, such as Annihilate). "Destruction" can happen either from abilities that say "destroy", or from state-based effects such as a creature having taken too much damage. Things like "Indestructible" can prevent Destruction, but not Sacrificing.


Bolas's Citadel doesn't allow you to cast anything for free.

To play a Planeswalker card or a Creature card is to cast it as a spell. You will need to pay life instead of mana if you play one from the top of you deck.

A spell is a card on the stack.[1] It doesn't matter if it's an instant, a sorcery, a creature, a planeswalker or something else. Cards of any type can be spells.[2] All that matters is that it's on the stack.

Bolas's Citadel imposes an alternative cost to spells when they are cast from the top of your library.[CR 118.9] Alternative costs replace the mana cost of spells.[CR 601.2f]

total cost to cast
= mana cost or alternative cost
+ additional costs and cost increases
- cost reductions

In this case, to cast a card from the top of your library, the cost would be calculated as follows:

total cost to cast
= mana cost or [life equal to the card's converted mana cost]
+ additional costs and cost increases
- cost reductions

For example, if you wanted to cast Llanowar Elves from the top of your library, you would have to pay 1 life (but no mana).

Spells cast from elsewhere (e.g. from your hand) are cast normally (because they aren't "spells cast this way").

It could also be a copy of a card on the stack (e.g. see Isochron Scepter) or a copy of spell (e.g. see Bonus Round).[CR 112.1, 112.1a, 112.1b]
Lands are never cast, so they never go on the stack, so there can never be a land spell.[CR 305.9]

Bolas's Citadel does allow you to play a land from the top of your deck, but it's played normally (because it's not "a spell cast this way"). It even counts towards the limit on the number of lands per turn.[CR 305.2]

  112.1. A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see rule 601, “Casting Spells”), the card becomes a spell and is moved to the top of the stack from the zone it was in, which is usually its owner’s hand. (See rule 405, “Stack.”) A spell remains on the stack as a spell until it resolves (see rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities”), is countered (see rule 701.5), or otherwise leaves the stack. For more information, see section 6, “Spells, Abilities, and Effects.”

  112.1a A copy of a spell is also a spell, even if it has no card associated with it. See rule 706.10.

  112.1b Some effects allow a player to cast a copy of a card; if the player does, that copy is a spell as well. See rule 706.12.

  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. Alternative costs are usually phrased, “You may [action] rather than pay [this object’s] mana cost,” or “You may cast [this object] without paying its mana cost.” Note that some alternative costs are listed in keywords; see rule 702.

  305.2. A player can normally play one land during their turn; however, continuous effects may increase this number.

  305.9. If an object is both a land and another card type, it can be played only as a land. It can’t be cast as a spell.

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


In Pandemic, why take the extra step of eradicating a disease after you've cured it?

Eradicating a disease relieves pressure on the game board. Those infection cards that correspond to the eradicated disease remain in the deck, and continue to get drawn but have no effect other than counting as a drawn card.

If a quarter of your infection deck is red and you are drawing 3 infection cards each turn, and you eradicate red, then a quarter of the infection cards have no effect, and your effective is 3/4*3 = 2.25 cards per turn.

If the top of the infection deck is weighted to a particular colour, the change can be more noticeable. If 2/5 cards are of the same colour and you eradicate it, your effective draw rate at 3 cards per turn will be 1.8 cards per turn.

The less infections on the board, the easier your team will have managing the rest of the infections. The game has a limited number of total actions possible (by the number of cards in the player deck) by the players, and removing a colour from the board frees actions that would be spent controlling the disease and allows more actions spent on other colours. It's a fine balance between how many more actions it takes to eradicate a disease and what that frees up in the future.

As James mentioned in a comment below, there's another factor for eradicating a disease:

  You also care if you run out of blocks of a particular color and are required to place another one, because that is a game loss.

And as gambler22 says, you get a potential relief on the Infect step of the Epidemic cards:

  You don't only get potential relief at the top of the deck, but at the bottom of the deck as well if an Epidemic card is drawn.


How does a firefighter "recover" after being knocked down?

This seems to be pretty explicit in the version of the rules I have, found here. Under Knocked Down in the Experienced Rules, it very specifically states:

  When a Firefighter is Knocked Down, the Firefighter is placed in one of the two spaces of the Ambulance's current Parking Spot.

My interpretation of this is that the Firefighter has to go to where the Ambulance is parked, since the Ambulance can only have one current Parking Spot when a Firefighter is knocked down. So you shouldn't have to get the Ambulance moved to where the Firefighter goes because the Firefighter should already be going right to the Ambulance.


How many Auras can enchant one Creature?

You can have any number of Enchantments attached to a given Creature, unless the cards themselves say otherwise.


No, you can not

From the Comprehensive Rules (Ixalan (September 29, 2017))

Splice is a static ability that functions while a card is in your hand.
“Splice onto [subtype] [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you cast a [subtype] spell. If you do, copy this card’s text box onto that spell and pay [cost] as an additional cost to cast that spell.” Paying a card’s splice cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2c

Seeing as the card is still in the graveyard, it's not a legal target for the Veil, and all spells you cast needs all its costs paid and legal targets (If it does indeed target anything.) before you can cast it.

source


Can a hero move by spending fatigue without a move action?

Yes, fatigue tokens may be used as often as you like to gain movement points. These movement points are spent just like regular movement points, to perform Movement Actions or to move (gold chart page 16 shows examples).

From the rule book (page 18):

  Spending Fatigue for Movement - At any time during a hero’s turn, he may spend one fatigue to gain one movement point, even if he is currently taking the battle action. This may be done as often as the hero desires. Movement points gained in this manner are spent just like normal movement points


What mechanics exist that trigger Burning Vengeance?

Non-flashback options include:

(Standard/Modern) Creatures you can cast from the graveyard, like Gravecrawler and Havengul Lich.
(Modern) Retrace cards like Raven's Crime, Worm Harvest, Flame Jab.
(Modern) Haakon, Stromgald Scourge, especially played with Tribal cards like Nameless Inversion -- this is a "real" Modern deck, although not "tier 1".
(Modern) Toshiro Umezawa, although really that's flashback by another name.
(Modern) Chandra Ablaze.

Overall I feel like it plays best in a "Jund"-style deck (basically a huge pile of two-for-ones, building up card advantage incrementally while pressuring the opponent to keep tempo). In particular, I could see using Burning Vengeance in place of Seismic Assault in an Aggro Loam variant that doesn't mind losing a little bit of speed for card advantage -- pitching a land to Raven's Crime and getting your Burning Vengeance trigger only cost {B} more than pitching it to Seismic Assault, but you get to force your opponent to discard.

I don't like trying to combo out in one turn with Burning Vengeance because I feel like it's weaker than Pyromancer's Swath in that kind of deck.


Is there a reasonable suit preference signal on this lead?

The basic idea is reasonable but unpopular, perhaps justifiably so.

The main problem with using SP here is that declarer may hold no stopper in the suit. East needs a way to encourage with Qxx.

Some top pairs never the less agree to use SP extensively on the opening lead. I have not used this method, but having three suits in play seems impractical. East's card will often be difficult to read, and usually dummy will furnish enough of a clue to rule out one of the side suits.

If you do use attitude here, as I do, I suggest following the suggestion of the late Helge Vinje from his New Ideas in Defensive Play in Bridge. He used upside down attitude and would discourage with the J from Jxx. Now when East plays a high card lower than the J West may be well placed to continue with a low card at trick two.


If I can't win, but can stop my opponent from winning, is the game drawn?

No. If you in a situation like that in paper magic, you'll have to create a shortcut per CR:

  720.1b Occasionally the game gets into a state in which a set of actions could be repeated indefinitely (thus creating a "loop"). In that case, the shortcut rules can be used to determine how many times those actions are repeated without having to actually perform them, and how the loop is broken.

Also per MTR 4.4, you can't ‘opt-out’ of shortcutting a loop:

  A player may not ‘opt-out’ of shortcutting a loop, nor may they make irrelevant changes between iterations in an attempt to make it appear as though there is no loop. Once a loop has been shortcut, it may not be restarted until the game has changed in a relevant way.

The game could be drawn if both players were involved in a loop both would choose to continue indefinitely, but this is not the case:

  If two or more players are involved in maintaining a loop across turns, each player chooses a number of iterations to perform, or announces their intent to continue indefinitely. If all players choose to continue indefinitely, the game is a draw.


"Target attacking creature gets -3/-0 until end of turn" Help a noob out!

The -3/-0 of Elven Palisade is the effect of its activated ability. It's not something that happens when you cast the palisade (which indeed will usually happen on your turn).

You can activate the ability (and pay the cost of sacrificing a forest) any time you have priority. But (as noted in the comments by Gendolkari) you must choose an attacking creature as the target, so generally you will do this during the opponent's turn after they declared attackers and make one of the attacking creatures less powerful until the end of their turn.


The rules state - "players should push the disc by hand in the opposite direction of the direction the previous disc moved".

It shouldn't be to hard to know which way it previously went as it only happened a moment ago.  Also the rules do state that the river is "usually alternating, but not always".  If a group really can't remember which way the river just went then just randomly decide the next direction.

I find if a player gently holds the board down either side of where the board fold is and the river splits that prevents the river discs from getting jammed.

I use the fact the discs fall at the bottom of the river and leave a leave a disc there as a reminder which fell last. there are 3 spare discs so one pile always has 2 and the other always has one meaning the river should fall there next.


Can anyone tell me what game these dice come from?

Could it be you have Dragon Dice? Looks like this particular photo includes D8 not D10.


Re-equipping monsters to a ranked up monster

Would my equip monster be destroyed or would it stay on the field attached to the new utopia on the field?

Say you got some card, like ZW - Leo Arms, attached to your Number 39: Utopia.

If you rank-up your Utopia, it becomes an XYZ material of the new card you rank-up summoned. In this case, as Utopia is no longer face-up on the field, Leo Arms would then "lose" its target, and be destroyed and sent to the graveyard (or wherever it should go).

From the Equip cards wikia page:

  If the equipped monster is no longer face-up on the field, or is no longer a valid target, the Equip Card is immediately destroyed.


Can players in single-elimination rounds agree to split prizes unevenly?

You are referencing the wrong part of the MTR for you question the relevant part is a few paragraphs above that.

  Players are allowed to share prizes they have not yet received in the current tournament as they wish and may
  agree as such before or during their match, as long as any such sharing does not occur in exchange for any game
  or match result or the dropping of a player from the tournament. As an exception, players in the announced last
  round of the single-elimination portion of a tournament may agree to divide tournament prizes as they wish. In
  that case, one of the players at each table must agree to drop from the tournament. Players are then awarded prizes
  according to their resulting ranking. [MTR 5.2]

So what they are allowed to do is combine their prizes (4 + 1 in this case) and split them anyway they choose to, from 5-0 to 0-5 or anything in between. Then one of the 2 players drops from the tournament and they get their prizes and split them up as previously agreed.

The portion you quote is intended more for when you are in single elimination brackets, but you haven't gotten to the final 2 yet. For example at an FNM after 4 rounds of Swiss and a cut to Top 8, it is 1am and everyone wants to go home to sleep, as long as all the players and the TO agree they can stop the tournament there and split all of the prizes that would go to the Top 8 spots evenly between all of them. The rules do not state what happens if the prize payout in this case is not evenly divisible by the number of players.


I presume from your description that this incident is from a Rubber Bridge game (as opposed to a Duplicate or Tournament game). In this case the Laws of Rubber Bridge - 2017 apply; specifically Law 67 B:

  Law 67 – Trick Either Appropriated in Error or Defective

  ...

  A trick containing more or fewer than four cards is defective. When one player is found, during play, to have fewer or more cards than all of the other players, the previous tricks should be forthwith examined, face down; if
  a defective trick is discovered, the player with a correspondingly incorrect number of cards is held responsible.
  The defective trick is inspected face up and

  ...

  B. after the responsible player has played to a subsequent trick,

  the ownership of the defective trick cannot be changed and

    if the offender has failed to play a card to the defective trick, he forthwith faces and adds a card to that trick, if possible one he could legally have
    played to it.
    if the offender has played more than one card
    to the defective trick, [not applicable].

Note the three key points:

The offending player must add a card to the defective trick when it is discovered.
The card added must be one that could legally have been played to the trick.
The card added does not change the ownership of the trick.

This is different from the Laws of Contract Bridge - 1981 (personal copy), where the text reads:

  (b) After all four hands have played to a subsequent trick,

  (penalty) the defective trick, if won by the offending side, is transferred to the non-offending side;

  and [the trick is corrected similarly to above]

I do not know in which year the change occurred in this rule.

If however you had been playing in a Tournament game then the Director should have been called immediately upon discovering the irregularity, with the stricter Law 67 B of the Laws of Duplicate Bridge - 2017 applying. Both because Duplicate players are expected to play in a more conscientious manner, and because irregularities affect the results of more than just the players at the table, penalties are often (and are in this case) stricter than in Rubber Bridge. The Revoke penalty applies in this case, with the offending player deemed to have revoked to the defective trick.


In two-player games with perfect information, if both players play optimally, will the game always end in a draw?

Accurding to Zermelo's theorem, in finite two-player games of perfect information in which the players move alternately and no affect of chance, one of those three possibilities is true:

First player can always win.
Second player can always win.
Both players can force a draw.

For example, Tic-Tac-Toe is known to have a strategy by both players that will force a draw.  In 4-in-a-row it is known that the first player has a winning strategy.  Chess haven't been solved yet, I think that the conjecture is that a draw can be forced.

A list of solved games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solved_game
The field of this question is called Combinatorial game theory (CGT)
see: Solving Chess


Can a Space Marine army consist of units from different chapters?

TL;DR Yes they can, however the rules for alliances vary by edition
As well as with some others...

History of Allies
Previously in second edition there were rules in each codex for who could ally with who, specifically mentioning which armies you were allowed to team up with. From what I can tell you could just add any unit you wanted to your force.
Come third edition, these rules had gone and been replaced with a system for using multiple force organization charts to field multiple armies. (Page 131 of the 3rd edition rule book)
Space Marine Chapter allies backstory:
Quoting from 'Using Allies in Warhammer 40,000' here is a view of space marine allies in previous editions:

Space Marines:  Space Marines hold the "typical" Imperial view of other races:  They are untrustworthy Heretics who should only be regarded as subjects for conquest.  However, Space Marines also have a history of looking down their noses even at other military forces within the Imperium, regarding Imperial Guard and Ministorum forces as "only human".  Even so, Space Marines will work with other Imperial forces, as all are fighting for the best interests of Mankind.
When circumstances dictate, Space Marines will sometimes fight alongside Eldar or Ork forces, especially in times of war against the Chaos forces.  While it is degrading to the average Space Marine to fight alongside such heretical filth, it is sometimes necessary to do so in order to protect their Emperor.

There are however some caveats, quoting again:

Space Wolves and Dark Angels:  These two Space Marine chapters do not work well with each other, as they have a long-standing feud going back to the days of their Primarchs.  But this feud is always put aside in the face of a dangerous foe.  However, it is not forgotten.  Before battle, one Marine is picked from both chapters to act as a "champion", and these two champions fight a duel in memory of the duel between their two Primarchs, so many years ago.
Dark Angels/Black Templars:  Dark Angels and Black Templars have always been extremely anti-alien, refusing to work with them even in the most dire of circumstances.  Though most Space Marine chapters will ally themselves with alien forces if the needs dictate such an alliance, these two chapters will never work alongside any force that is not human.

(emphasis mine)
That covers some of the backstory of the armies, and some of the history from the hobby side.
6th edition
With the new ally rules out in 6th edition you are able to combine two different spacemarine armies together, most of which are battle brothers or allies of convenience. There is, as I have linked, a look-up table or matrix to reference when pairing up allies. Also note that the minimum number of units needed to be fielded in a secondary army is far fewer than your primary, but there is room for your force to grow if you so wish.
See page 113 of the 6th edition rule book for details.

6th edition ally matrix
Of the other chapters space marine allies include:
Battle Brothers:

Black Templars
Blood Angels
Dark Angels
Space Wolves

Allies of Convenience

Grey Knights

I've linked them through to the articles about them on the WH40K Lexicanum.
Whilst I don't want to list every ally of the specialized space marine chapters, they mostly show the above pattern, baring Space Wolves and Dark Angels whom consider each other only Allies of Convenience.
7th Edition
This edition behaves much like the previous edition, except it has an updated matrix of Allies:

Seventh edition allies matrix
The biggest difference is that all units from the Armies of the Imperium are Battle Brothers
8th Editon
The most comprehensive guide I've found to the 8th edition allies is here.
In short you're free to make an army with any number of different component units, in free play. Competition play has more rules, as described in this other Goonhammer article.
This edition has a marked change to how allies work. Now armies now have Faction Keywords, and each detachment of your army must all have have the same 'Superfaction' keyword. Then to gain the benefits of a faction, the members of that detachment must be members of that faction:

These keywords, and adhering to the above Superfaction, faction and subfaction keywords give you access to more Command points allowing special actions during play.
The article is very well written, and goes in depth into how to form an army. Suffice to say, it's much more nuanced how to build an army with different allies than previous edition, but still possible.

So yes, now you can combine spacemarine armies.


What are the key card combos to look out for in Agricola draft?

It would depend on how you are drafting. If it's a passing draft you need to look for which cards are more powerful and probably build a synergy with those. But also notice which weaker cards are likely to come back around.

I can't really go into specifics as there are so many combinations you named a few there.

A baking strategy needs some card power to pull off well
Anything encouraging you to early renovation would go well with any of the
stone house occupations
Room builders can get ridiculous
Occupations that encourage more occupations
Several Day Labour/Travelling Players bonuses

Combinations that probably don't work are Axe and Clay room builders as they are working cross purposes.

Another thing to consider in passing drafts is you can draft for wood cards even if you pass them as they are likely to be played, Church Warden, a bad example would encourage you to draft for plenty of family growth, even late family growth as long as you could ensure five peeps by round 14.


What happens if 7 Soldiers block a Phyrexian Obliterator?

The Phyrexian Obliterator takes 7 damage.

Besides first strike and double strike (which create a separate combat damage phase for first-strike damage), all creatures exchange combat damage simultaneously. So the Phyrexian Obliterator takes all 7 points of damage even though it only has 5 toughness.

To add insult to injury, its triggers go on the stack after state-based actions are checked (meaning it and 5 Soldiers are dead), so you'll have to sacrifice 7 permanents in addition to the 5 tokens you lost blocking it.


The spell on the stack will resolve successfully, even if you name it with Meddling Mage.
The rulings for Meddling Mage say the following:

2/1/2006 If you somehow manage to cast this while other spells are on the stack, those spells won't be countered.
5/1/2009 Spells with the chosen name that somehow happen to already be on the stack when Meddling Mage enters the battlefield are not affected by Meddling Mage's ability.

To clarify the old "played" phrasing (which some people confuse with resolve), the Oracle text actually says:

The named card can't be cast.

Since the named spell has already been cast, the existing spell on the stack will still be on the stack after Meddling Mage has entered, and will still resolve.
If you did have a creature that was able to counter or exile a spell on the stack (as opposed to the "named card can't be cast" effect) like Spellstutter Sprite, you could put that into play with Æther Vial and have it work they way you're intending.


I spoke to someone in Games Workshop today, this is what they told me.

Firstly it's important to remember that you can't die out of combat. The first model to remove would be the outer one.

If you do get into the situation above (for example if there are characters involved). There are a few ways to resolve. You can remove the flanking unit from combat by moving them back an edge or you can slide one of the units in so that the combat can continue. Locking the flank unit in the combat but unable to strike could be argued but it's not really in the spirit of the game.

There's nothing official in the book so it's a matter of agreeing with your opponent which scenario is fairest. If in doubt roll for it!


Losing Control of Bestowed Enchantment Creatures

Your opponent never had control of Herald of Torment. When he took your creature, he only took the creature; he did not take control of any auras (or equipment) attached to it. So in this case, he would have control of a creature that has an aura that you control on it. This means that the creature would have +3/+3 and flying like usual; and YOU would lose 1 life per turn, not him.

So when the Bestow falls off and becomes a creature, it will be a creature under your control. It always was under your control.


In my experience, memorizing games is more of an effect than a cause: Memorizing games won't improve your own game so much as improving your own game will help you memorize them.

Fundamentally, Go is all about recognizing and applying patterns, and the more patterns you have in your arsenal, the easier it is to recognize and apply them in the future (be that during actual gameplay or memorizing). The trick when memorizing pro games is seeing those patterns and understanding exactly why a pro made a particular move; when the intended result is understood, the progression of stones toward that result tends to flow naturally. Well, as naturally as they can considering the opponent is usually going out of his way to stop it.

(Side note: Attempting to memorize low-level amateur games is often an exercise in frustration and futility because so many of their moves don't (seem to) make any sort of sense at all.)

As far as actively trying to improve your memorization, I'd say focus on your own games; if you can't yet replay your games more-or-less from scratch, learn how. Not only is the ability to recreate and review troublesome situations after a game you just played an invaluable learning tool, but this is typically far easier than memorizing pro games: Unlike pros who tend to be thinking a thousand moves or so ahead, you (presumably) know what you were actually thinking when you made each and every one of your moves.

Of course, if you weren't thinking when you made most of your moves, you might want to work on that first.

Memorizing pro games can be nice, but I'd use that more as an exercise in how well you actually understand them than an end in and of itself. You don't want to just be all "And then white played at j10 and then black played at j11 and then white played at o9 for some reason" so much as "White extended, black blocked and then white threatened black's weakness on the right side to give himself some more room to maneuver". The first is only useful if the board position in your actual game is more-or-less exactly the same (which, let's be honest, will never be the case), while the second can be abstracted out and applied to almost any scenario.


Galactic Progression Chart: If you view the original size it should be big enough to read, and maybe even print off as a replacement.


Which board game released in the 90's involved medieval combat?

You are most likely referring to Weapons & Warriors. Here is Board James playing it. The rulebook can be found here.

The game had several expansions. It contained cannons and ballista. You rolled dice to move your soldiers forward, which allowed you to move your firing pieces forward or fire your weapons.

Weapons & Warriors: Castle Siege Game (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Pirate Battle (1996)
Weapons & Warriors: Power Catapult Set (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Star Fort (1994)
Weapons & Warriors - Lashout Launcher (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Cavalry Attack Set (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Weapon Pack 2 (1995)
Weapons & Warriors Castle Storm / Pirate Clash Game (1997)


Can players use cards from a core set in a Block Constructed tournament?

None of the currently sanctioned Block Constructed formats include any core sets.

All players in a sanctioned Block Constructed tournament must be using the same block.

The list of currently available Block Constructed formats that can be sanctioned is in the Magic Tournament Rules, that you can find here:

http://wpn.wizards.com/en/resources/rules-documents


What can dead Werewolves players be doing?

A simple game variant is that dead people can become ghosts.  This means that they still close their eyes, but do not vote.  During the day, they can still talk and participate in discussions.  Obviously, one's status is NOT revealed when one is killed.  It's up to the moderator to say when the game is over.

This changes the game, since it's not possible to eliminate 'leaders', but it can keep everyone engaged.


How to capture unoccupied enemy-controlled territories?

On an island, there wouldn't be an opportunity for a tank blitz (unless it started from a land zone two zones away).

But tanks or infantry can assault an island (or any coastal region) from a transport, possibly with air or battleship support. If they "outlast" the enemy defenders, the survivors can move ashore and occupy the island.

Tanks or infantry attacking an unoccupied island have "outlasted" the enemy defenders, by definition.


How does Dreadhorde Arcanist interact with split cards?

708.4. In every zone except the stack, the characteristics of a split card are those of its two halves combined. This is a change from previous rules.
708.4b The mana cost of a split card is the combined mana costs of its two halves. A split card’s colors and converted mana cost are determined from its combined mana cost.
Example: Assault/Battery’s mana cost is {3}{R}{G}. It’s a red and green card with a converted mana cost of 5. If you cast Assault, the resulting spell is a red spell with a converted mana cost of 1.

So Collision / Colossus has a converted mana cost of 4 and you won't be able to cast it in the first scenario when the Arcanist is a 2/4.

708.3. A player chooses which half of a split card they are casting before putting it onto the stack.

So in the second scenario, where the Arcanist is a 5/5, you can cast either Collision or Colossus, but not both.
There's no way to cast both halves, not by paying extra mana and not even when it's a Fuse split card, because that ability only works when the card is in your hand:

702.101. Fuse
702.101a Fuse is a static ability found on some split cards (see rule 708, “Split Cards”) that applies while the card with fuse is in a player’s hand. If a player casts a split card with fuse from their hand, the player may choose to cast both halves of that split card rather than choose one half. This choice is made before putting the split card with fuse onto the stack. The resulting spell is a fused split spell.


What's this board game with an old radio and some country flags on it?

Must be a specific version of the Radio Broadcast Game:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159448/radio-sende-spiel

While the images on boardgamegeek show slightly different boards, your board has the same features: namely exactly 100 spaces and old wartime flags for Germany and Italy. So the description fits perfectly and it must be some version of this game:

"This is a simple roll and move game with the objective of touring wartime Germany and being the first to reach the final (100) space.

However, the primary objective of the game was to encourage both patriotism and obedience to wartime rules, specifically the prohibition on listening to foreign broadcasters.

When landing on domestic transmitter spaces, the players must carry out certain actions: sing a ditty, send a message, make a weather report or sing a military song. But if they land on a foreign transmitter space, they must exclaim "I have committed a criminal offense", pay a pfennig into the pot and go back to start. Worst is if they land on London's transmitter, when they must shout "God punish England!" and pay 5 pfennig into the pot as well as start over. The pot is taken by the winner."

Not sure where you found this but the game is likely quite old (like 50s or so), I'ld like to own a copy of that if you're selling :)


You get to choose! On page 5 of the rules, under "scars":

  Characters can be mentally or physically damaged over the course of play. When this happens, choose an available scar and add it to your character’s
  card.


What is the difference between lands and mana?

Quick Summary

Lands don't pay for spells directly.  Instead, lands on the battlefield (both basic and non-basic) tap to produce mana, and that mana is what is used to pay for mana costs of spells and abilities.

Lands vs Mana vs Mana Cost

Lands are a type of permanent that can exist on the battlefield.  They are reusable, and you are usually allowed to play one land to the battlefield under your control on each of your turns.  Most lands1 have an ability that lets you tap them to produce mana.  Lands then untap at the beginning of your turn during the untap step.

Mana is an abstract resource that exists in a player's mana pool.  Mana costs are the mana symbols that appear in either the top right corner of a card or before a colon in an ability on a card.

Here is a rough sequence of using Lands and Mana to pay for a cost:

You tap any number of your lands to produce mana.1, 2
Mana is added to your Mana Pool.
You spend mana from your Mana Pool to pay for costs (such as spells and abilities).

For example, when a player taps a Mountain to cast Lightning Bolt, what's actually happening is that the Mountain is being used to add red mana (written as ) to that player's mana pool, and then the  in the mana pool is being used to pay the  in Lightning Bolt's mana cost.

The reason for the mana pool is that it allows a player to hold mana that they are not spending right away.  This matters for many reasons, including using the mana from Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary to pay for multiple things, or use a series of mana generating abilities to get the mana they need for a spell.  Examples of cards that need a mana pool to work include: Dark Ritual, Selesnya Signet, and Doubling Cube.

Normally, your mana pool empties at the end of every step and phase of the turn, so any combination of abilities you want to use to generate mana need to be done in the same step/phase.3
  (See Where can I find a chart or diagram explaining Magic's turn structure? for more detail on steps and phases.)

1. Some non-basic lands (such as Maze of Ith) do not have mana producing abilities, although due to the confusion these cause, Wizards hasn't printed one since 2010 aside from lands that fetch other lands from your library (such as Evolving Wilds).

2. Lands also aren't the only thing that generate mana.  See the section below.

3. If Upwelling (or a similar effect) is on the battlefield, you can hold mana in your mana pool indefinitely.

Nonbasic Lands

Non-basic lands actually work pretty similarly to basic lands.  The giant white mana symbol on a plains is just shorthand for ": Add ." The older versions of these lands actually said that explicitly.  So, the only difference between a Plains and say Coastal Tower is that Coastal Tower lets you add  or  to your mana pool when you tap it (your choice) whereas a Plains just lets you add  when you tap it.

Note that: "Add " is the modern rules text for the older "Add  to your mana pool".

Things Besides Lands can Generate Mana

You can get mana from any type of card or permanent, not just lands.  There is no difference between the  mana generated by Llanowar Elves and that generated by a Forest 4.  Any of the main card types can generate mana, as can tokens.  Here are some examples:

Land: Forest
Creature: Llanowar Elves
Artifact: Moss Diamond
Enchantment: Frontier Siege
Planeswalker: Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Instant: Dark Ritual
Sorcery: Geosurge
Token: Eldrazi Spawn generated by Skittering Invasion

4. The only mana that is different is mana with a condition on how it can be spent, such as that from the second ability on Corrupted Crossroads.

Basic Land Types

The basic land types of "Plains", "Mountains", "Island", "Swamp", and "Forest" give a land the ability to tap for mana of a particular color.  For example, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth adds the "Swamp" type to all lands; this actually allows any land to be tapped to add  because the ability ": add " is a property of the Swamp land type.

Thus, basic lands have the ability to tap for mana of their color by merit of being one of the basic land types5.  The giant mana symbol on them is actually reminder text, not rules text.  Some lands (such as Canopy Vista or Steam Vents) have multiple basic land types and can tap for different varieties of mana.  Likewise, they have reminder text emphasizing that the basic land types grant their mana abilities.

5. The exception being Wastes.  Wastes has no basic land type, and as a result has to have rules text allowing it to tap for mana.  In the case of Wastes, the giant colorless mana symbol is actually a standin for the rules text: " add "


Learning and retaining a bunch of words is easy; any basic flashcard system can help you do that.  However, all those fancy Scrabble words you stuff into your brain won't help you win any tournaments unless you can get them back out again on demand.

The tricky part isn't retention, it's recall.

Now, ideally, you want to start learning new words when you're about five or six years old, and just read absolutely everything you can get your tiny little hands on.  Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, what have you.  That will give you a few decades of practice with your vocabulary, which you can then pull out at your leisure when you're ready to hit the world of serious Scrabble.  All the best players I've met have been avid readers for most of their lives.

Of course, not everyone lives in an ideal world.  Sometimes you're stuck being twenty years too old to start afresh; you have to play the tiles life deals you.

Worry not!

As mentioned earlier, learning the words is easy.  Write all the words you want to learn on flashcards.  Read through a dozen or so at a time (your mileage may vary, adjust according to taste and local custom), wait a few minutes, then try to write them all back down again.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

Once they're in your brain, they're pretty much in there for good.  However, in order to pull them out at will, you need to use them.  Use them a lot.  Use them every chance you get; the more avenues of attack you open up, the easier it is to recall them later.  Write words down.  Say them out loud.  Read them back.  Translate them into Spanish.  Model them out of Play-doh.  Be creative.

I've not used the Zyzzyva program myself, but it sounds like an excellent resource for developing recall.  You don't want to limit yourself to only the one system though.

The traditional method of learning new words, one which will have English teachers worldwide nodding their heads, is the simple yet effective "Use it in a sentence."  This may not always be the easiest route, especially when dealing with the wonderfully archaic words Scrabble professionals so know and love, but it's a great starting point.  Try to work whatever words you learn into your daily conversation; don't concern yourself with the fact that you now sound like a total nerd, that's just a sacrifice you'll need to make.  This is Scrabble we're talking about here.  Serious business.

Another effective tool is to do a lot of word games.  A LOT of word games.  Do the word search and the crossword puzzle in your local newspaper.  Go to your local magazine rack, they almost always have a huge tome that says something like "Super Giant Book of Awesome Word Puzzles".  Buy one and solve them all.  It'll be worth it.

One trick I personally use is to do a normal crossword puzzle one day, and then the next day I pull out a sheet of graph paper and redo the puzzle entirely from memory as a diagramless.  Effective, but not for the faint of heart.

Also, learn all the two-letter words.  It's crazy how useful those can be when you're playing combinations.


On the contrary, studying tactics for go is essential. Books or online resources on Joseki, Tesuji,  and Life and Death situations are good places to start, followed by general opening strategy as you gain experience.

Playing games on 13x13 boards as well as the standard 19x19 will assist you in gaining experience in the balance between influence to the centre and territory along  the sides and corners.

However, programming go is considerably more complex than programming chess, leading to fewer good trainers available.


Can I use a bus ticket straight away after rolling a double?

From the rules here

If doubles entitle you to roll again, you may use a Bus Ticket in
place of rolling the dice.

The rules for birthday gift say

BIRTHDAY GIFT If you land here collect $100 from the Bank, or draw a
Bus Ticket for use on a later turn. Your choice.

So the question is is rolling again due to a double is the same turn or a new turn. The rules state the following.

After you have completed your play, the turn passes to the left.

So reading that it sounds like rolling again it part of the same 'turn' or 'play' and not a new and separate turn.  So if a bus ticket is taken for 'use on a later turn' then they would not get to use it immediately.
However this terminology is contradicted in rules for getting out of jail by rolling a double.

Even though you rolled doubles, you do not take another turn.

So it seems the rules are confused on what is 'a turn' and if that differs from 'rolling again'
Personally I would let them as that seems to make more sense thematically that you can use a ticket straight away, maybe one to discuss as a house rule before you start as there is an argument in the rules for both.


Am I required to shuffle my opponent's deck?

Competitive and Professional REL

You are always required to shuffle your opponents' decks. From Section 3.9 of the Tournament Rules:

  At Competitive and Professional REL tournaments, players are required to shuffle their opponents’ decks after their owners have shuffled them

Regular REL

You are usually not obligated to shuffle your opponents' decks. However, the Head Judge may optionally require it. The very next sentence of the aforementioned section in the Tournament Rules:

  The Head Judge can require this at Regular REL tournaments as well.

Casual (No REL)

You are never obligated to shuffle your opponents' decks.

Is cutting acceptable?

The rules do not care whether or not you cut the deck. You can cut if you want, but you don't have to.

You are always obligated to give your opponent the opportunity to shuffle your deck, even if they elect not to. If you are physically unable to shuffle, you can ask a judge to shuffle for you.


Deciding when to vote for team approval when people are disagreeing.

When the leader chooses a team, the mechanics say it's time to vote. If people aren't respecting that and keep arguing anyway, the leader should overrule them and force the issue.

Note that if the leader tries to rush through a vote "too quickly", the team is likely to be rejected and the leader likely to fall under suspicion, so this is self-policing.


No.

Any valid meld in Canasta needs to have at least 2 naturals in it, so wilds by themselves are not enough.

From Bicycle:

  A meld is valid if it contains at least two natural cards of the same rank - aces down to fours inclusive - and not more than three wild cards. Jokers and deuces may never be melded apart from natural cards.

Note that there is a variation of this rule that is seen in some places; according to canasta.net:

  However, there may never be more wildcards than natural cards within one meld.

In most situations, these 2 rules work the same way; they both mean that a meld of 3 -7 cards must have at least as many naturals as wilds.

The difference is that one of the rules allows you to add a 4th wild to a Canasta that has 4 naturals and 3 wilds, while the other does not, but this rarely could matter, as you can likely just add that wild somewhere else instead if you need to.


In a&a 1942 2nd edition, can bombers conducting a strategic bombing raid and fighter escorts retreat?

You are 100% correct. Retreating is part of general combat, Strategic bombing is a special type of attack that has no concept of retreating.

AA units only get one shot at the inbound bombers, so unless you changed your mind about the bombers actually carrying out the attack, retreating has no meaning with respect to strategic bombing.


In Pass the Pigs, when is the optimal point to stop?

This is a much more complex issue than it at first seems.  The game of pass the pigs is derived from an older, simpler game called Pig.  In Pig each player takes turns with a six sided die and may roll as many times as they like, or until they roll a 1.  If they roll a 1 they score nothing for the round, otherwise they score the total rolled.

Pass the Pigs is roughly equivalent to this.  Think of a game with a weighted n-sided die, with sides "Pig out", "Double trotter", "Razorback", etc.  A player may roll this die until they roll "Pig out", and their score for the round is the cumulative score, or zero if a "Pig out" was rolled.  The difference is the inclusion of "Making Bacon" (reset your score to 0), and "Piggy Back" (player is out of the game).

In Pig each player's optimal play is dependent only on the current scores. This means that when you receive the dice, you can calculate what your target score for the turn should be.  If you reach that score then you should bank it, and pass the dice on.

Wikipedia is a good starting point for further information about optimal play.  Also this website has graphs and an AI opponent to demonstrate the best play in pig.

So finally, it should be possible to apply the same methods to Pass the Pigs if you knew the probabilities of the various pig rolls.  These probabilities have been calculated here (see Table 4), using a data set of 6000 throws.  They have also calculated the value you should aim for to maximize your expected score in a turn in Section 3.2 (the target is about 21 or 22).  I can't find a similar analysis corresponding to multiplayer Pass the Pigs though.


Can I deal extra damage if I copy Booby Trap's ability with Strionic Resonator?

You can copy the triggered ability with Strionic Resonator, but after the copy resolves, the original won't do anything.

Booby Trap's triggered ability is

  When the chosen player draws a card with the chosen name, sacrifice Booby Trap. If you do, Booby Trap deals 10 damage to that player.

If the ability is on the stack and you copy it with Strionic Resonator, you copy the whole thing. So, once the copy of the ability starts to resolve, you sacrifice Booby Trap, then it deals 10 damage to the opponent. Then the original ability starts to resolve, but the Booby Trap is already gone, so you can't sacrifice it and it doesn't deal any damage.


Moss-Pit Skeleton and Skyclave Shadowcat - sacrificing as cost of a triggered ability and triggering another ability when the first one resolves

Moss-Pit Skeleton can go back to your library after the ability resolves.
You are correct in saying that the ability on Skyclave Shadowcat includes sacrificing a creature as part of the cost.  The Skeleton would go to your graveyard and then the ability to put a +1/+1 counter on Shadowcat will go on the stacke.  At this point, both players would have to pass priority in order for the ability to resolve.  Note that the +1/+1 counter has not gone on Shadowcat yet but the Skeleton has already entered the graveyard.
Once the ability resolves, Skeleton is in your graveyard and therefore it's ability would trigger, allowing you to put it on top of your library.

Just to point out in your example, however.  Your statement

After blocking and before damage is dealt she wants to sacrifice Moss-Pit Skeleton to Skyclave Shadowcat (knowing that Kazandu Stomper stays blocked but no damage is dealt and Kazandu Stomper isn't damaged nor killed, that does not matter here)

If you replace Kazandu Stomper with a generic 6/5 creature, this statement would be correct.  However, Kazandu Stomper has Trample.  This changes how combat damage is dealt, and therefore Kazandu Stomper would still do 6 damage to you if it was attacking.