Do other wolves wake up during the werewolf phase in ONUW?

Other than the Dream Wolf, all wolves wake up at the start of the Night phase. That's what makes the Dream Wolf special. The Daybreak rules, in describing the roles, make this clear:

Alpha Wolf:

  At night, the Alpha Wolf wakes with the other Werewolves. Afterwards, the Alpha Wolf wakes up separately.

Mystic Wolf:

  The Mystic Wolf wakes with the other Werewolves. Afterwards, the Mystic Wolf wakes up separately.

Dream Wolf:

  The Dream Wolf does not wake up with the other Werewolves.


Why didn't whomever created EDH allow Planeswalkers to be Commanders?

The simple answer is because they didn't exist yet.  The origins of the Commander (or Elder Dragon Highlander) rule set date back to 1996, as discussed in this forum post.  They've been modified many times by various people since then.

So the real question is, why didn't the official Commander rules get modified to include Planeswalkers when they were introduced?  The most likely answer seems to be that many Planeswalkers would not be well balanced for Commander.  Searching the internet will reveal a whole lot of complaining when WoTC started allowing any Planeswalkers to be used in Commander, and Mark Rosewater discusses in this article about introducing them that

  Ethan knew there were two major hurdles the team had to overcome. One,
  they had to prove that they could make designs that would work.
  Planeswalkers are not always a perfect fit for the Commander format,
  so the design was going to be tricky.

So it seems that rather than allow them, but then go through banning a bunch that didn't work, they were just disallowed completely, and exceptions like the recent ones are just written on the card itself.


Understanding: Why is Spark Double triggering enter the battlefield abilities of the copied creature?

Spark Double triggers the copied creature's ETB effects because its copy ability works as a replacement effect, not as its own ETB ability. On the battlefield, there is no time when the game sees the non-copied version of Spark Double, and copied creature's ETB's can trigger as they would on the original.

Spark Double's copy ability and the other modifications (counters, non-legendary) are replacement effects:

  614.1c Effects that read "[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ," "As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ," or "[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . " are replacement effects.

That means if you choose to copy a creature or planeswalker, the game does not see the non-copied Spark Double enter the battlefield, but only the copied creature/planeswalker:

  614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. [..]

The event to be replaced is the Spark Double entering as a 0/0 creature, which is the consequence of a creature spell resolving. That means all applicable ETB triggers will happen, whether they are on the copied creature, or on other sources that apply to the copied permanent entering.

Hypothetically, the only way that the copied creature's ETB's would not go off was if the copy ability itself was an ETB. If Spark Double would copy a creature as e.g. an ETB or activated ability, it would be too late to trigger the copied creature's ETB's. Also, practically speaking, the copy ability could not be its own ETB, because if Spark Double entere the battlefield as a 0/0, it would generally die to state-based actions before it could assume its copied form.


Can multiple 40k psykers cast the same spell in the same phase?

So I've found out where the rule is in the book. The rule is found under the Matched Play Mission Rules, found at the bottom of page 215.

Psychic Focus

  With the exception of Smite, each psychic power can be attempted only once per turn, rather than once per psyker per turn.

So this only applies to Matched Play, involving point limits and restrictions for organized events or tournament play. If you're playing Open or Narrative play matches, this does not apply.


Chesscademy exercise: material part 2 - why doesn't this move result in a 2 point material lead?

f3 x e5 - Knight takes Pawn - does give you a 1 point advantage on your turn. However black can retaliate with c6 x e5 taking your knight without fear of any retribution which resets the advantage in black's favour. Interestingly note that this move also defends against c4 x f7 which also results in a positional advantage to black.

c4 x f7 - Bishop takes Pawn - gives you a 1 point advantage as well but crucially results in a check. Black cannot retaliate with e8 x f7 since that would result with check from your queen on b3. Interestingly this is also a check; you are forcing black to move his King thus preventing him from developing any defence/offence for this turn.

It is important to consider how the material advantage will change on your opponent's turn as well as your turn when making your move.

As Pieter Geerkens stated the key difference is the guaranteed loss. Theoretically you could lose a 3 point piece from c4 x f7 (i.e. the Bishop), however your loss is not guaranteed in the next turn and any attempts to threaten the Bishop with another piece allows you to respond before the Bishop is taken.


Are there any house rules for combining Munchkin and Fluxx?

As much as I love Munchkin and Fluxx, the game mechanics are so different that combining them would just cause a headache. How would keepers interact with Kicking down the door? Do goals change the requirement to reach level 10? It would be so confusing and weird to play that I would suggest staying away from combining these card games. However, there were expansions for both games if you want to freshen up gameplay.


Can "quick tricks" be a guide to defense in bridge?

No - primarily because the spot cards are never irrelevant. (Assume standard leads here for simplicity, though similar inferences are available for all lead agreements.)

For instance if you hold Ace three times and partner has led a (presumed 4th best) 8 spot, partner holds the King as well. Partner also holds exactly one Quack (Queen or Jack).

Read that again.

Why you ask? Because partner isn't holding three honours with two contiguous (He would have led the higher of the two contiguous honours in that case), and that leaves only the following possible holdings

KQ98x
KJ98x

With any of the following holdings the best lead is another card:

KQJ8x => K should be lead
KQT8x => K should be lead
KJT8x => J should be lead
QJT8x => Q should be lead
QJ98x => Q should be lead
KT98x => T should be lead
QT98x => T should be lead
JT98x => J should be lead

If partner has lead the 7-spot and you can see the 8-spot in your hand or dummy (or played by declarer to the first trick) all the same inferences are available with appropriate substitution. Likewise if partner leads the 6-spot and the 7- and 8-spot are both visible. Or if partner leads the 5-spot and and the 6-through-8 show up by trick one.

You now know where 3 of partner's point are, guaranteed, on a hand where partner doesn't have many points apparently because you have 7 or 8 (your Ace in his suit and another possible early entry). You are almost ready, before trick one is over, to know Declarer's entire hand.

These situations are all identified by having a Rule-of-Eleven-Count (value of spot-card led plus count of visible higher spots) of eight with Ace seen in your own hand.

Count; count again; and again; until it becomes an obsession. Visualize the possible holdings around the table, and vet them against the information available from the bidding and play so far. Only when these inferences start to become second nature to you will you be a competent intermediate-level player.

Note that as third hand in these situations, you know more about the distribution around the table than Declarer does. That is the Defenders' Advantage, and typically only lasts a couple of tricks. Now is when you can lay a ruse for an unsuspecting Declarer.


I believe that Jungle Speed uses 80x80mm cards with rounded corners.


Because it will still trigger its second ability "Whenever you exert a creature, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.", and sometimes you want your team to get the extra +1/+0 until end of turn.


Survival of Live Groups in the game of Go

A group with two true eyes (not "false eyes") is and remains alive even if surrounded by the other player, and cannot be captured by an sequence of moves by the other player. That is what being a "living group" means.

An invading stone that is not able to be included in a living group will be considered dead at the end of the game, and its stone will be treated as having been captured. If black invades a white group and white must answer each move to prevent black from creating a living group, then the net score will be unchanged. If white can safely leave black's plays unanswered without black being able to form a living group, black will lose a point for each such move. But if white is in error and black can make a living group, or cut off a white group and connect to a living group, black will make significant profit.

If the players do not agree on whether a group is alive or not, play is not over; if the disagreement is only discovered while scoring, play is resumed to settle the status of the group(s) in question.


The most likely reason is that Pepsi went to court over them
Essentially, Pepsi tried to register a community design  (kind of like a trademark, but for shapes, lines, textures, colors, etc. that are associated with a product), but an organization named Grupo Promer had registered something similar first. The court cases were over whether or not Pepsi's pogs were distinctive enough to be granted their own protection. In other words, could a single company have exclusive rights to a plastic or metal disc included in food packaging? How distinctive would a competitor's have to be before they were unique enough?
From this summary of the court cases:

On 9 September 2003, PepsiCo filed an application with OHIM (Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market) for the registration of a Community Design pursuant to the CD Regulation. Grupo Promer then claimed priority for its Spanish design No 157156, which had been filed on 23 July 2003 and which application was published on 16 November 2003. Both registrations concern the design for "pogs" or "tazos": promotional items in the form of plastic or metal discs that are often included in food packaging and are intended mainly for children.
Grupo Promer started an invalidation action before OHIM against PepsiCo's design application, arguing (i) that PepsiCo's design lacked novelty and individual character (on the basis of Article 25(1)(b)) because of Grupo's Promer's earlier Community Design for metal promotional plate(s) for games; and (ii) that PepsiCo's design was "in conflict" with Grupo Promer's prior design (pursuant to Article 25(1)(d)).

As best I can tell, Pepsi wound up losing this case because there wasn't enough distinctiveness in their pogs compared to those of Grupo Promer. The last mention I can find is this from 2011:

PepsiCo then appealed to the ECJ on the grounds that the General Court had incorrectly interpreted and applied Article 25(1)(d) CD Regulation (conflict with prior design). The Advocate General urged that the appeal be dismissed, noting that a significant number of the grounds of appeal actually concerned findings of fact, and these are not suitable for appeal to the ECJ.

Since there haven't been any further mentions of this case, I'm going to assume that the appeal was dismissed.
I should note that this is a very plausible explanation for the term "forbidden pogs", but I could not find the term in any of the legal documents or summaries. There does not appear any documented use of origin of the term.


"Creature" means "creature permanent", which means "creature card or token on the battlefield".

As such, an Aura with "enchant creature" can enchant a creature token.


Lifelink interaction with triggered abilities on creature's death

Both creatures' abilities will actually trigger; it doesn’t matter that one dies.

The key is that all damage is done simultaneously, and with Lifelink, the life gain happens simultaneous to damage dealt. So at the moment you gain life, both creatures are still alive, even though one of them has lethal damage now.

  603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.

The creature with lethal damage doesn’t die completely immediately; it dies the next time state-based actions are checked, which is before anyone would get priority. When state-based actions are checked, the abilities that were triggered then go on the stack.

  704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated.

    704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.

The creature will be dead by the time they go on the stack, but that doesn’t matter.

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


Targeting question in regards to illegal target

No that is not what that means. What happens is

Your Shambleshark is on the battlefield
You opponent casts Assassin's Strike targeting Shambleshark. At this time this is perfectly legal, so Assassin's Strike goes on the stack.
You respond with Ranger's Guile targeting Shambleshark as well.
Your Ranger's Guile resolves granting Shambleshark +1/+1 and Hexproof
Your opponent's Assassin's Strike tries to resolve, but when it does it checks to see if it still has a legal target. When it does this it sees that Shambleshark now has Hexproof and is no longer a legal target. Assassin's Strike then gets countered due to a lack of legal targets, this works just like any other countering; the card has no effect (so you won't discard a card either) and goes to the graveyard.

This is all because of this rule (relevant parts only):

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. ... The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal.


Are there times it's actually advantageous to wait to pay mana abilities until casting a spell?

I can think of one that I used to use back in the Mirrodin days using Mycosynth Golem and Krark-Clan Ironworks. The short version is that in the case where you cast the spell before paying its cost, you can save yourself from sacrificing more artifacts than necessary.

As an example, you have five artifacts on the battlefield, so your affinity is five. You also have two available land that produce two mana, and an Ironworks. Here are the two ways you could play it:

You pay the costs first. You tap your 2 land, so now you need 9 more. In order to get this to work, you have to sacrifice 4 artifacts to generate an additional 8 mana. This leaves you with an affinity of 1, which gives you enough to pay for the Golem.
You cast the Golem first. The Golem goes on the stack with an affinity of five, reducing the cost to six mana. You then pay the six mana by (1) tapping your two land and (2) sacrificing two artifacts to the Ironworks for four mana.

In most cases, the second option is better (unless you are wanting to sacrifice more artifacts for some reason). This is a case where casting your spell before paying costs is beneficial.

In a more general sense, the cases where you'd want to cast the spell before paying costs are ones where you want to lock in a casting cost that has the potential to change as you're paying for it. The example above illustrates this principle, and rule 601.2h in JonTheMon's answer has an equally important example.

This is going to be a little verbose, but the standard is probably something like:

"If you are going to be paying a reduced cost for your spell because of effects of cards on the battlefield, but in paying the cost for your spell you will be removing those cost-reducing cards from the battlefield, you should put the spell on the stack first and then pay costs."


Sinuous Striker query around pump in reaction to combat/defending

Sinuous Striker will die without dealing combat damage.  Your opponent's creature will remain blocked, but will not be destroyed.

The problem with this combo is that there is no way to activate Sinuous Striker's ability without state-based actions being checked immediately afterwards.  State-based actions are checked immediately after any ability resolves.

Let's assume that the Declare Attackers Step is complete.  Here is the order of events:

You declare that your Sinuous Striker will block your opponent's creature.509.1
The active player (your opponent) gets priority.509.4
Your opponent passes, giving you priority.116.3d
You activate Sinuous Striker's ability twice.  You and your opponent both pass (twice) allowing both of those abilities to resolve.  Sinuous Striker is now a 4/0 creature.
The active player (your opponent) will get priority after the spell resolves,116.3b so a check for state-based actions is triggered.704.3
Sinuous Striker is destroyed by a state-based action.704.5f
Combat damage is assigned.510.1  Your opponent's creature remains blocked510.1c but takes no combat damage.


When does the "choose a color" part of a spell happen?

The ability reads as follows:

  When Sejiri Steppe enters the battlefield, target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.

The color is chosen when the ability resolves. At that point, there's no chance for anyone to respond. Here's what happens in more detail:

The ability triggers. Its controller chooses a target for the ability.
Both players have a chance to cast spells or activate abilities.
The ability resolves. A color is chosen, and the target gets protection from the chosen color.

Here's a ruling on Feat of Resistance, a card that has similar wording:

  9/20/2014 You choose the color as Feat of Resistance resolves.


If the last surviving human mutates to an alien, do they win with the aliens?

As written in the rules book, humans loses only when killed by aliens. Therefore it seems logical that a mutated human wins with aliens even if he is the last one.

Said this, I agree with you, this is definitely an unsatisfactory winning. To avoid it, I suggest you to set as "house rule" that the Mutate card cannot be played by the last human. This will make the human to fight for his life!


It's option A). From the Comprehensive Rules:

  120.2. Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.

Each individual card draw gets replaced by "instead look at the top three cards of your library, then put one into your hand and the rest into your graveyard."

In fact, this very situation is mentioned in the Rulings below the card on Gatherer:

  If an effect instructs you to draw multiple cards, each draw is performed—and replaced by Underrealm Lich’s ability—one at a time. This means that if you’re drawing two cards, you’ll look at the top three cards of your library, put one into your hand, put the other two into your graveyard, and then repeat the process with the next three cards in your library.


4-4 pincer variant - not in joseki dictionary


What happens when additional costs can't ultimately be paid, but the spell is on the stack?

When the opponents gets a chance to cast Terror, the Goblin has already been sacrificed as part of the cost to cast Goblin Grenade. It's not available to be targetted by Terror.

Additional costs are part of the total cost to cast a spell or activate an ability. To paraphrase 601.2e,

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

The total cost to cast a spell is payed as part of casting the spell. To paraphrase 601.2's subsections, to cast a spell is to

(601.2a) Place the card on the stack.
(601.2b-d) Make some choices including targets.
(601.2e) Determine the total cost to cast the spell.
(601.2f) Activate mana abilities.
(601.2g) Pay the total cost to cast the spell.

All of this, including sacrificing a Goblin, happens when you cast Goblin Grenade. When the opponents gets a chance to cast Terror, the Goblin has already been sacrificed.

The illegal action in your scenario is the casting of Goblin Grenade for the wrong cost. In a casual setting, you should rewind the casting of Terror, finish paying the cost of Goblin Grenade (i.e. Sacrifice a Goblin), then proceed from there.

Things are different at Pro and Competitive Rule Enforcement Levels (REL). For starters, there would be two errors. You failed to pay the appropriate cost (Game Play Error — Game Rule Violation) , and your opponent allowed the game to proceed in a bad state (Game Play Error — Failure to Maintain Game State). The consequences are detailed in the Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG) rather than CR 717.1.


Excellent question: I play it a lot, often with the same people (my wife, family, friends). It's one of the few games for two that I really enjoy.

To answer your question, maybe we haven't fully explored the possible strategies, but we find that the game is quite biased in favour of the Inspector. Other people who have played with us seem to agree. Also, I discovered while browsing the web that there are extensions (referred to here, for example) that make the game more balanced.

On a related note, while Jack sometimes win, I have only once seen him win by escaping (and that was because of a terrible mistake made by the Inspector). All the other times I've seen Jack win, it was by reaching the last turn, or by the inspector accusing someone at random because time was short anyway.


Short and simple answer: The mayor cannot be placed in a castle.
(From footnote 161 in the Carcassonne Complete Annotated Rules)

If the mayor is in a city that is turned into a castle, you won't get any points from the mayor as there are no banners in a castle. In that case, the mayor will not be returned to you until the castle is scored (that is to say, an adjacent structure is completed).


In Risk Classic, are territory cards drawn by players kept face-up or face-down?

If the rules don't specify it, I guess house rules are required! I've always played that they're drawn face down, so noone else knows whether you'll be handing in a set this go or not.


Is the Gargoyle's Tail Sweep virtually ineffective against players who are less than or equal to 1 node away?

When bosses push players off their node, they must stay within the current arc relative to the boss (unlike when normal enemies push players). This prevents players from hopping behind a boss or to a convenient arc. Only dodging allows jumping to different arcs.


What happens if the Queen and the striker are pocketed together and there are no other pieces on the board?

This can't happen.

From these rules, the Queen can't be left without a piece from each team still being on the board.

Pocketing either player's final piece with the Queen still on the board is a foul, which returns the pocketed piece and a penalty piece.

If the Queen and the striker were pocketed together while pieces were left, this is also a foul. Since a foul ends the turn, this means that the Queen can't then be covered, so it will return to the board.

However, from the ICF rules:

Somebody will already have won. Pocketing your own, or your opponent's final piece while the Queen is on the board causes you to lose.


Does Monopoly Follow Standard Auction Procedures?

If you can't bid more than once in an auction, then you would want to go last. But everyone can't do this.

The standard auction procedure is to sell to the highest bidder. So if someone tops your bid, you have the right to top their bid. Until one person runs out of money, or otherwise gives up bidding. Then the bank is supposed to give the property to the highest final bidder. This is in the interest of the seller, because they get the highest possible price.

If, however, you are using a "one bid" rule, then it should be a secret bid. Everyone writes down their bid on a piece of paper and exposes it simultaneously, so that no one has an advantage by knowing what others bid and reacting to it.


Researcher with the coworker relationship (spoilers)

Yes,

Since the only restriction on the researcher giving cards is that they are in the same city if they get that relationship sticker they can give cards to the person they share it with at any time. This is a really useful combination that can be very powerful for the players.

In your example the researcher could to that and they can trade as many cards as they have actions with the co-worker.


Do my games in the GoKGS get deleted after some time?

The mentioned list of games is the list that is displayed in your profile. It only displays games from the last 180 days and only the games in the last 180 days are considered for the rank graph. You can review these games directly (right click on a game in the list --> Load in ... or Load in (P)).

All games (even these which are older than 180 days) are listed in the archive. There you can access all games which are not private. Unlike the games which not older than 180 days you must download them first to review them. I just don't know if private games are just not accessible in the archive but accessible on demand or are even deleted.


Victory point counting and Sanguinary Priests

I don't know about this, but I had a look around for you and found this: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/261515-sanguinary-priest-spam/

in it, Xenith states:

  Individual models are each a kill point. KP is not based upon how many
  force org slots are taken up.

  Case in point being dedicated transports.

  Sorry

Hope this helps :)


In bridge, is an "uppercut" a special case of a "forcing game?"

I don't think there is a strict definition of the terms, but usually forcing game is reserved for cases where you strive to get opps to lose trump control.

Uppercut is to create trump tricks. If people thought it was like forcing, they might not have chosen to name it :-)

In the third one, east is not obliged to overruff. so not so sure about that. Crossruff comes to mind...


If the convoy is not dislodged, the army can use it as long as it has enough strength to enter the area.


Is there a strategy PVP board/card game with Negative Feedback loops?

The great granddaddy of deck-building actually does have a negative feedback loop in it:

In Dominion, victory points come in the form of green cards which you add to your deck[1]. In every game of Dominion you will have access to three basic Victory cards - Estate, Duchy and Province - and there are others that get added as part of choosing the kingdom for a given game. The basic Victory cards, and many of the others, have no playable effect, meaning that a player who jumps straight into buying them gets an initial boost in their score, but will soon find that their hands are full of junk cards that they can't use to progress the game. By comparison, a player who focuses on building up a strong engine in their deck may not have any meaningful score until the 10th turn, at which point they can buy multiple Provinces to end the game and win.

Another game which has a kind of negative feedback loop is Power Grid. In Power Grid, the turn order is determined based on increasing number of cities. If you have more cities (and can power them), you get more money, but you also get last pick when buying resources and building new cities. This can mean you get screwed out of both, putting you at a severe disadvantage. This effect is actually so strong that positioning yourself correctly in turn order is an important part of the strategy of the game, and some people dislike it because it becomes such a major component of the game.

[1] In a couple of the expansions, namely Prosperity and Empires, there are ways of acquiring victory point tokens which do not clog up your deck. And in many of the expansions, there are Victory cards that can also be played as Actions or Treasures, so they're not completely useless during the game.


Can a spell fizzle because a cost-reducing effect is removed?

No, a spell can never fizzle because you're unable to pay the cost.

Among the steps involved in casting a spell are the following:

you announce that you're casting the spell
you determine what it costs
you pay the cost that was previously determined1

These steps (and a few others) occur immediately back to back; your opponent can't do things between them. The whole process of casting a spell is one "block" of actions that can't be interrupted. Once the "block" finishes, the spell is considered paid for. Period. If the spell's cost were somehow to change later, that doesn't matter; all that matters is that you paid the cost that was required at the time you cast the spell.

Even if you find yourself unable to pay the cost of a spell during the casting of the spell (i.e. at the third bullet point), the spell does not fizzle. Instead, you back the game up to before you started casting the spell in the first place (unless you are using Selvala, Explorer Returned, then you call a judge and watch them cry).

There are some effects, for example Mana Leak and Frost Titan, which counter a spell unless its caster pays a certain amount of mana (or takes some other action, e.g. Reality Smasher). It's important to note that these do not change the casting cost of the spell, and even if they did, it wouldn't matter because the spell has already been paid for. What Mana Leak does is create an entirely separate cost, which has to be paid at the time that Mana Leak resolves, long after the spell has been cast.

1In rare circumstances the action of paying the cost can change what the cost would be, but it doesn't change the amount you actually have to pay. For example, suppose you wanted to cast a Soldier spell costing {1}{B}{B} that said "As an additional cost to cast [this], sacrifice a creature", and you have Ballyrush Banneret in play. You would first determine the cost you need to pay, which is {B}{B} and sacrificing a creature. That gets "locked in" before you start paying it. So you can safely sacrifice Ballyrush Banneret, and it doesn't mean you have to pay any more mana.


Menace means "This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures."

This means when it comes to blocking, your opponent either assigns 2+ creatures to block it or none at all.

You'll see its reminder text on cards from other editions like Insolent Neonate, but it looks like none of the Menace cards in Kaladesh had reminder text for the ability. Menace became a keyword ability during the Origins set.


What happens if you go bankrupt trying to pay the bank?

From my understanding they all go back to the bank. They all then actually got auctioned off (I thought they went back for sale like at the start of the game).

  Should you owe the Bank, instead of another player, more than you
  can pay (because of taxes or penalties) even by selling off buildings
  and mortgaging property, you must turn over all assets to the Bank. In
  this case, the Bank immediately sells by auction all property so taken,
  except buildings. A bankrupt player must immediately retire from the
  game. The last player left in the game wins.

Taken from the final Bankruptcy page from the offical Hasbro Rules

I would add that I would treat the properties as unmortgaged for the purposes off re-selling them and deem that as the mortgage loan was owed to the bank, they would write off that debt if required.


As Replicate is just the Marvel Munchkin version of the Mate card, if you take a look at the FAQ (search for 'is Mate an enhancement card') you'll see that it works like a Wandering Monster card and adds an additional monster.

This means that the Wakanda dungeon prevents players from playing either a  Wandering Monster or Replicate (or Mate if you're playing with non-marvel as well).


When playing the road building card, can a settlement be built between a free road and a free ship?

No, it cannot. From the official Catan FAQ:

  Development Cards – Progress – Road Building - May I use a Road Building card to build 1 road and 1 ship?

    Yes. You must build them one after another though. You are not allowed to first build a road via a Road Building card, then build a settlement adjacent to that road by paying the required resources, and finally use the Road Building card once again, this time to build a ship.


The key idea here is that you first resolve your march order. Then, if you march one or more of yours units "into an area containing units from another House, combat ensues" (rules, page 17).

So, you must first move all your units to the areas that you want. Then if you did move into an area that contains units from another House, you resolve combat. This means that units moved into King's Landing would be able to support the combat as if they were there in the first place.


The alien die resets between tasks.  The only exceptions are that you don't reset between mission tasks, and you don't reset between base defense tasks.

You reset between each science task and each global defense task, so you'll start each science card and each continent at 1.  For missions and base defense, you start the first one at 1, but from then on it will keep increasing until you move to the next type of task.


In Bridge, when should third-hand defender overtake partner's honour?

Agree with what Forget I was here said about the bidding. And also what they said about counting. What I want to explain is that I think the defence will prevail, if North lets the heart Jack run to declarers Queen. If declarer then runs the spades, North can pitch a diamond.

  Then if declarer exits in diamonds, North will get in, and now play Ace and another heart. This promotes the 13th heart, and endplays declarer.

Observe that it is not good enough for North to exit with a low heart, for then declarer can endplay him with his small heart (this was already explained in the other answer). In a way playing the Ace and a third heart removes declarer's exit card of a low heart.

So this time it was essential for North to wait the ace. The rule of thumb of using the ace to win opponents honors would have served well. On some other hand it would be more difficult but now it is rather likely that declarer has KQ hearts.


What is the maximum allowed number of repeats in a Pokémon deck?

The official website does have the rules, and the maximum limit for any card is 4, unless the format restricts the card further.

  1.1 Constructed - In a Constructed event, players arrive at the tournament with a 60-card deck. The cards used to build the deck come from each player's personal collection. Decks may not contain more than 4 copies of a single card, as defined by the card's English title, with the standard exception for basic Energy cards. Some cards may have additional construction restrictions on them, which are treated as exceptions to the 4-copy rule. Matches are played for 6 Prize cards.


What to do in "Elfenland", if stuck in the desert

Are you playing with the Caravan rules?  From the rulebook:

  If a player cannot play the Travel
  Card(s) required by the type of
  transportation, he can play any three
  Travel Cards (including Raft Travel
  Cards) instead. This move is called a
  “Caravan”. “Caravans” only move on
  roads that provide a type of
  transportation. Caravans do not travel
  on rivers and lakes. If there is an
  Obstacle on the road, the player must
  play any four instead of three Travel
  Cards.

As I understand it, Elfenroads did NOT have this rule, making it easier to get stranded.  Apparently some people hate the Caravan rule because it means players don't have to be supremely careful not to get themselves stuck any more...


Can I use a reaction card in response to Minion being used for +2 coins?

Yes, you can reveal Secret Chamber in response to Minion no matter what.

Secret Chamber is a Reaction that can be played in response to Attack cards, and Minion is an Attack card.  The fact that the person played the card in a way that wasn't "attacky" doesn't change the fact that it is an Attack card.

The same goes for Pirate Ship when using its +$ option. Yes, this makes Secret Chamber an amazing counter against Pirate Ship.


No, you cannot do that.

You cannot target Elesh Norn with Teysa before Elesh is on the battlefield. However, as soon as Elesh is on the battlefield, its static -2/-2 ability is in effect, and your tokens will die as a state-based effect, before anyone gets priority and the opportunity to use regular spells or abilities. Note that Elesh's ability does not resolve, because it does not go on the stack. As long as Elesh is on the battlefield, the ability is permanently active.


From the ACBL Rules:

Law 62.D is first applied:

On the 12th trick, a revoke, even if established, must be corrected if discovered before all four hands have been returned to the board.

In Switzerland we have the same ruling for a trick 12 Revoke.
So the revoke will be fully corrected without penalty and the hand is one down.


Can non-exile related return effects bring a card out of exile?

Karakas' ability:

  Tap: Return target legendary creature to its owner's hand.

Karakas returns a creature. Creatures only exist on the battlefield, everywhere else they are usually creature cards (or spells, on the stack).

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

So Karakas can not target cards in exile.


In Settlers of Catan, how do you overcome bad initial settlement placement?

I think the main thing you need to do is correctly identify your strengths and weaknesses, and don't try to force a strategy you're not set up for.  If you don't have abundant brick and wood, don't even bother going for Longest Road.

Even the worst placement will have some resources they are rich in.  Try to get a port that capitalizes on your resources, and make the necessary trades with other players to get the resources you're poor in.

If you're rich in...

Brick or Wood -- try for longest road and build plenty of settlements
Grain or Ore -- upgrade your starting settlements to cities and buy development cards
Sheep -- go for Largest Army via development cards, or depending on your next best resource, you'll probably follow one of the other two basic strategies

Of course even with all of this, sometimes the dice just won't drop your way :)


Does having protection from Grapeshot work against the storm copies?

Yes, they have the same name, so you have protection from them.

702.39a Storm is a triggered ability that functions on the stack. “Storm” means “When you cast this spell, copy it for each other spell that was cast before it this turn. If the spell has any targets, you may choose new targets for any of the copies.”
706.1. Some objects become or turn another object into a “copy” of a spell, permanent, or card.
706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by its face-down status, and by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set power and toughness (and may also set additional characteristics). Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.

(emphasis mine)
IIRC the Faerie Rogue example you mention didn't work because there is no card named "Faerie Rogue" so it's not a legal choice for Runed Halo's "choose a card name".


The relevant rule is Law 45 (C) from the Laws of Duplicate Bridge (2017)

  LAW 45 - CARD PLAYED

  ...

  C. Card Deemed to be Played

  A defender’s card held so that it is possible for his partner to see its face is deemed played
  to the current trick (if the defender has already made a legal play to the current trick, see
  Law 45E).
  Declarer is deemed to have played a card from his hand if it is:
  (a) held face up, touching or nearly touching the table; or
  (b) maintained in such a position as to indicate that it has been played.
  A card in the dummy is played if it has been deliberately touched by declarer except for the
  purpose either of arranging dummy’s cards, or of reaching a card above or below the card
  or cards touched.
  (a) A card is played if a player names or otherwise designates it as the card he proposes to
  play (but see Law 47).
  (b) Declarer may correct an unintended designation of a card from dummy until he next
  plays a card from either his own hand or from dummy. A change of designation may be
  allowed after a slip of the tongue, but not after a loss of concentration or a
  reconsideration of action. If an opponent has, in turn, played a card that was legal before
  the change in designation, that opponent may withdraw the card so played, return it to
  his hand, and substitute another (see Laws 47D and 16C1).

So to answer your question: No, a Defender's card is not played simply because an opponent (Declarer) can see which card it is; rather it is played if it is held so that the Defender's partner can identify it,

Further clarification through Minutes of the W.B.F. Laws Committee, where necessary, are available here.


Should I cut the Ora et Labora reference sheets in half?

They can be cut in two, there's no reason to keep them as one sheet.


How does Perplexing Chimera work with multiple triggers on the stack?

Quoting directly from the Born of the Gods Release Notes:

  In some unusual cases, you may not control Perplexing Chimera when its triggered ability resolves (perhaps because the triggered ability triggered again and resolved while the original ability was on the stack). In these cases, you can exchange control of Perplexing Chimera and the spell that causes the ability to trigger, even if you control neither of them. If you do, you'll be able to change targets of the spell, not the spell's new controller.

Note that, because both Perplexing Chimera and Shock are controlled by your opponent when the first triggered ability resolves, exchanging their control doesn't change anything by itself, but it does give you (yes, you, even though you still don't control anything) the option to change the Shock's target.

I'd also like to quote another item in the section on Perplexing Chimera which addresses a misconception you seem to have:

  You make the decision whether to exchange control of Perplexing Chimera and the spell as the triggered ability resolves.

That is, the triggered ability goes on the stack regardless of whether you want to make the exchange at that time; you don't decide whether or not to do the exchange until the ability resolves.


Can we extend the game by playing Multiple Boards At Once?

Firstly, to extend the game you will need to add twice the train pieces as well as 2 boards. Maybe you should double the tickets too. This soon degrades into playing two different games at the same time, where you choose which one to play each round.

The second problem is all the advantage is on the side of playing on only one board. This is because adding more trains to a single board makes it easy to get more tickets on that board, while trains on both boards leads to spreading yourself thin. My solution to this is to modify (or replace) the longest railroad card to include a benefit for using both boards.
(eg. longest railroad on board A * longest railroad on board B)

I think this variant is not a good idea, but you can try it and see what its like. Seems to me  an interesting experiment at least.


Can I save my spark trooper with a delayed flicker?

It doesn't matter when the beginning or end of a specific step is. The rules state that any permanents that trigger during the End Step, do not trigger until the next end step. This means that if you exile Spark Trooper with Mistmeadow Witch in response to the sacrifice trigger, it will be removed until your opponents EOT, and you won't have to sacrifice it until your next end step. Voidwalk, due to it being a Sorcery, would require you casting it during the Second Main Phase, so you would need to save the targeted Spark Trooper at the end of your opponents turn as well.

  513.3. If a permanent with an ability that triggers "at the beginning of the end step" enters the battlefield during this step, that ability won't trigger until the next turn's end step. Likewise, if a delayed triggered ability that triggers "at the beginning of the next end step" is created during this step, that ability won't trigger until the next turn's end step. In other words, the step doesn't "backup" so those abilities can go on the stack. This rule applies only to triggered abilities; it doesn't apply to continuous effects whose durations say "until end of turn" or "this turn." (See rule 514, "Cleanup Step.")


Why is Whitby missing in Fury of Dracula (FFG, 3ed)?

The lack of Whitby is consistent with earlier editions
First Edition

Second Edition

In all these editions, Manchester exists in the United Kingdom region, but not Whitby.
However, Manchester is more or less in its proper location in both of these versions. It would appear that Manchester's seaside location in the 3rd edition is an error, perhaps in an effort to create more space on the board between it and Liverpool.
Or they confused it with Manchester-by-the-Sea.
There does not appear to be any designer statements about this change
Given that the game first came out in 1987, not a lot of information about its design or release is available online. In fact, the only reference I could find to Whitby in the game were players of the 3rd Edition with similar concerns as yours.
The game designer for the first edition (who has credit in later editions) is Stephen Hand. I thought about reaching out to him and asking about this, but it doesn't look like he has a website, Twitter, or other way to publicly contact him, so we're out of luck there.
If I were take a guess, the game was designed with some recognizable cities in mind, rather than a strict adherence to the source material. Besides, the first edition was released in 1987 and the internet and electronic books were still in their most primitive forms. It's quite possible that it was simply an oversight, and then later editions just remained consistent with earlier ones rather than correcting it.


How does Hallar, the Firefletcher work with Multikicker?

The ability happens once.

Hallar, the Firefletcher's ability trigger whenever you cast a spell, checking if the spell was kicked. Since multikicked spells are still a single spells, there is only one copy of the ability.


Responding to a Triggered Ability, multiple times

Yes. Every time something on the stack resolves, there's another round of priority before the next thing resolves, so you can activate your creatures' abilities before the "destroy Slimefoot, the Stowaway" effect resolves.


In Monopoly, Can I mortgage properties during an auction time?

Yes.

For mortgages the rules state:

  Unimproved properties can be mortgaged through the Bank at any time.

and for building houses:

  you may buy and erect at any time as many houses as your judgement and financial standing will allow.


Sacrifice creature question (Magic the gathering)

You can't sacrifice the creature to pay for the ability and then because of D.Edict. If you are left with no creatures on board though, that means you can't sacrifice any. It's the only way that play would work out, if Insolent N. was the last creature you controlled.

It goes like this:

Player 1 puts Diabolic Edict on stack and pays for it.
Player 2 can respond with an instant or ability, chooses to sacrifice  Insolent Neonate to draw a card it goes on the stack. The ability "price" is payed at this moment (discard and sacrifice)
Stack is resolved, "draw card" ability resolves first, as the stack is FILO (First In, Last Out, that means the first thing on the stack, is the last to be resolved, and the last thing is the first to be resolved)
Target player sacrifices a creature is resolved in 2nd. Player 2 is target player, and he needs to choose the creature when the ability is resolved. If there are no other creatures to sacrifice, player 2 sacrifices none.

EDIT: Likewise the discards are 2 separate things. The discard in your cards is a "cost", and you have to pay it. The discard on your enemy card, is an action you have to do, so you'd just end up discarding twice. Again this would only be useful if you were left with no cards in hand (so he couldn't force you to discard).


Does attacking Ochran Assassin ( with +1 counter) kill both Swiftblade Vindicator and Garrison Sergeant with double strike?

In this situation, the Assassin dies in the first strike combat damage step, before it has a chance to deal any damage. Your opponent chooses the order in which the Assassin deals combat damage to your creatures, but that doesn't affect when your creatures deal their combat damage.

Both of your creatures have double strike, so in the first combat damage step they deal a total of 4 damage to the Assassin and the Assassin dies.

If the Garrison Sergeant did not have double strike, this would play out differently. In the first combat damage step, the Vindicator would deal 1 damage to the Assassin. So the Assassin would have 1 damage marked on it so it would still be alive. Then in the second combat damage step, simultaneously, the Vindicator would deal 1 damage to the Assassin, the Sergeant would deal 3 damage to the Assassin, and the Assassin would deal 1 damage each to the Vindicator and the Sergeant. Then all 3 would have taken lethal damage, so they would all die.


Stalingrad Pocket 2nd ed Air Power Barrage Shift

Yes.

Yes.

The modifier is listed on the barrage table and applies to barrage combat regardless of source. It does not draw distinction between air or artillery.


Is there a limit to the number of special lands I can put in my deck, like the Temples?

All cards are limited to 4 per deck except Basic lands, and cards that say they bypass this limit (currently Relentless Rats, Shadowborn Apostle, Rat Colony, and Persistent Petitioners). In the case of Basic lands, this means that the type line, which is the text between the image and the text box, has to start with the word "Basic". The rule that covers this is 100.2a. This limitation does not apply to limited play.

The cards you mention are not Basic lands, so you can only have 4 of each in your deck. The only basic lands are:

Plains
Island
Swamp
Mountain
Forest
Snow-Covered Plains
Snow-Covered Island
Snow-Covered Swamp
Snow-Covered Mountain
Snow-Covered Forest
Wastes


Why doesn't the enemy's afterlife resolve first?

Yes, on your turn your opponent's Afterlife triggered ability gets put on top of the stack, so it resolves first, and then your Dreadhorde Butcher's triggered ability resolves.

However, that isn't enough to kill the newly created spirit token with the Butcher's ability. You choose targets for abilities when you put them on the stack, so the Butcher's ability needs to target a player or a creature or planeswalker already on the battlefield at that time. This happens before the Afterlife ability resolves or is even put on the stack, so the spirit token won't be available to target.


Penalties for forgetting to draw/discard cards

Irregularities like this are rarely covered explicitly in a ruleset, so most of this comes down to "use your judgement."

For the first situation, since everyone always draws and plays 1 card, it makes the most sense to let them draw the card once they have realized their mistake. Since there's nothing more than draw 1 play 1, the only way a player would have less than 5 cards is if they forgot to draw afterward, so that would be the best way to resolve the situation in a casual game. (Of course, they don't get to "undo" any of their previous turns due to "I would have played that card instead", that would be the penalty for forgetting to draw.) Even in a competitive game, I cannot think of any reason why someone would benefit from not drawing, waiting for a while, and then claiming they had too few cards and drawing one to refill, so this would probably work then as well.

For the second situation, either they played a card and then picked it back up by mistake, or they didn't play a card and therefore didn't take a turn. If it's the former, then they should discard the card they shouldn't have (and if it's a competitive setting get some sort of formal warning, as they should know better.) Should the card already have been played...well that's a bit of a predicament, as you can't really recover a legal game state. (Bear in mind that that since all the cards are unique, the opponents should have noticed it, so all parties are somewhat at fault.) In a super casual game, perhaps just discard a random card, and ensure this doesn't happen again. In anything even somewhat competitive, a game loss is the fairest outcome.

For the latter (drawing, not finishing the turn by playing and moving, and therefore having an extra card) in a casual environment forcing the player to discard a random card is a decent option. They've already served their penalty by losing a turn, there's no need to make it worse. It should be a random card due to the fact that the player might have gotten a possible "combo" that they wouldn't have gotten if they actually played. However, this option should not be used in a competitive game, as there are situations where a player would want to "pass" (because they like their current position,) but the rules would force them to play and do something. The safest option would be a game loss (although again, both sides are at fault for not paying attention and letting things get to this point.)


Untapping a creature enchanted with Charmed Sleep

But when someone has an instant or activated ability that causes the creature to untap? Does this creature untap then?

Yes, it does. Note that the aura says "doesn't untap during its controller's untap step", so it explicitly does not say anything about the rest of the turn.

  What happens to this Aura? Is it destroyed?

The aura stays on the creature (since it does not have any text like 'Enchant tapped creature'), so if the creature is tapped again in the future, it won't untap automatically during its controller's untap step.


Are multiple Cloak of Confusions redundant?

You can use multiple.

Going by the Oracle wording, which is the only wording that counts, the ability on Cloak of Confusion is a triggered ability; so when the creature attacks and isn't blocked, both abilities will go on the stack. You can order them however you want (it makes no difference as they are identical), and when each one resolves, you can choose to make your opponent discard a card at random.

Note that if you were to only choose the "you may have it assign no combat damage this turn" for one of the two abilities; the creature would still assign no combat damage, and your opponent would only discard 1 card. So you would want to make the same choice for both abilities.


Reanimating a creature with X in its cost

It would enter with 0 +1/+1 counters, then get put back into the graveyard for having 0 toughness as a state-based action.

  107.3f If a card in any zone other than the stack has an {X} in its mana cost, the value of {X} is treated as 0, even if the value of X is defined somewhere within its text.


Can legions in Cardfight!! Vanguard be broken/un-legioned?

Yes, although it can only happen as part of the effect of another card - it's not something you can choose to do when your vanguard is in Legion. For example, Star-vader, Blaster Joker can retire one of the opponent's legion mates.

In the case where Legion is broken, the vanguard is no longer considered to be in Legion, and it cannot Legion again. You must ride a new Legion Leader and activate Legion with it.


Is there a term for defensive effects that only/primarily function for attacking creatures?

There isn't really an overarching term for these effects (official or unofficial, that I've heard anyway), as they're so broad. For many of them, it's simply abilities that trigger off of attacking

Winds of Qal Sima, Iroas and Dolmen Gate have one-sided fogs. Also in this category would be Endure and (depending on deck construction) Moonmist. This is less of a category and more of a sub-category of fog effects.

Legion Loyalist has a word for its ability on the card itself: Battalion, which is a triggered ability that encourages attacking with multiple creatures. A little specific for widespread use though...

I've head Hordechief and Odric's abilities and their ilk described as Battle Tactics or simply Tactical, with Odric as its namesake, but again, this style of ability doesn't show up often enough to really warrant its own name.

Lastly, someone commented to add Gustcloak Savior and its ilk to the list. I've heard to this kind of ability as Gustcloaking, or Recon, the latter name coming from the similar (but not identical) ability on the enchantment Reconnaissance.


What is the name of this tabletop multiplayer card game

I always called it B.S. growing up, but it is also knows as Cheat, as well as a couple other names.
From Wikipedia:

Cheat (also known as Bullshit, B.S., Bluff, or I Doubt It[3]) is a card game where the players aim to get rid of all of their cards.[4][5] It is a game of deception, with cards being played face-down and players being permitted to lie about the cards they have played.


How does the whole EX/GX thing work? (Pokemon TCG)

The only things needed to know the rules of a particular card are just a rulebook[1] and the card itself.

Regarding EX cards, there's nothing written on them about limiting them to one per deck so this rule from rulebook applies[1]:

  When you are building a deck, you can have only 4 copies of a card with the same name in it, except for basic Energy cards.

Also the text "Evolves from X" on Evolution cards (= not Basic) is important because it's the name of the card you can only play the Evolution card onto. In your case, Lucario-EX is Basic, M Lucario-EX is Mega evolution that "Evolves from Lucario-EX" so you only need Lucario-EX in play to be able to evolve to M Lucario-EX, any other combination won't work[1].

In the rulebook there are appendices for both Pokémon EX and Mega Pokémon explaining the rules that are written on the cards if you'd like to know more.

In tournament, as long as you have at least one Basic Pokémon card in your deck, you can't be punished for playing an impossible evolution cards (like Riolu+Lucario with M Lucario-EX), you would just have cards in your deck that you are not able to play under any circumstances (you can't put M Lucario-EX into play without Lucario-EX). On the other hand, don't forget to check the actual format of the tournament, all premier events nowadays use either Standard format (cards released in last ~24-36 months) or Expanded (Black & White and newer)[2] and your M Lucario-EX is legal only in the latter one. If you showed with M Lucario-EX on a Standard event, than you would really have an illegal deck[3].

As you pointed out, the difference between Pokémon EX and Pokémon GX is that the former ones are always Basic whereas the latter ones are always the stage they are supposed to be[1] (except for Tag Team GX cards which are also always Basic). However this difference is conceptual and has no impact on the game itself. You just read the cards and you are fine.

[1] Pokémon Trading Card Game Rules (Sun & Moon rulebook)
[2] Play! Pokémon TCG Rules and Formats
[3] Pokémon TCG Penalty Guidelines


Are progress cards awarded if the barbarian strength is 0?

Yes,
This is answered by the online Catan FAQ.

Can the players win against the barbarians if there is not one single city on Catan?
Yes


How do you score the Mayor in an unfinished city?

The Mayor's ability allows him to count as more than one follower. So at the end of the game, an unfinished city is scored as normal - compare the Mayor's effective follower number with that of any other player present in the city. The player(s) with the most followers each score one point per city tile, and one point for each pennant.
The only special case is that if the city has no pennants, then the Mayor doesn't count as a follower, and can't score anything.
Here are the relevant rules:

On his turn, a player may place his mayor instead of a follower. He
may only place his mayor in a city, which has no knight or follower.
The usual follower placing rules apply. When a city is scored, the
mayor counts for as many followers as there are pennants in the city. For example, if the city has 3 pennants,
the mayor counts as 3 followers. If the city has no pennants, the mayor counts as no followers. A normal follower counts as 1 follower. The large follower from Inns & Cathedrals counts as 2 followers. The value of the city is not changed by the presence of a mayor. After scoring the city, the player takes his mayor back.


Should Commander Farsight's crisis suit be blue instead of red?

In a recent article on the Warhammer Community page author Phil Kelly puts a footnote to the effect that T'au blood has always been red.

  It’s been red from the first ever account of the sacred ta’lissera blood bond. We tried different coloured blood for our alien races – Orks had green blood at one point – but it just didn’t look right on the miniatures, nor in the art.


Bob Jenkins is:

Rich!  $9 -> Go shopping for Unique Items
Has stuff: 2 common and 2 uniques, hopefully he starts with some good stuff
Well rounded: 4 Sanity and 6 Stamina is a great split.  Enough Sanity to allow missing a horror check or two, and enough stamina to get down and dirty.
Reasonably fast - speeds 4 and 5 are not out of the question.  Bob can get from place to place quickly.
Has a strong will, minimum 3
Can hopefully compensate for his somewhat poor fight skill with some good items

When playing Bob, you should be aggressive.  Bob has the stats and should have the items to allow him to survive most bad things.  If you get lucky and start with an Elder Sign, go off world as quick as you can.  If not, see if you can buy an Elder Sign, or start grabbing clue tokens.  Favor the locations where common items are found to take advantage of the Shrewd Dealer ability.  Bob may not be the best investigator at any particular thing, but odds are, he is the second best at most things in a normal group.  Use him to fill in for whatever your team is lacking.

According to the Arkham Horror Statistics Report, Bob has the 7th highest winning percentage (out of 48 characters) in October 2010.  For November, he has moved to 6th.


In Alien Frontiers, how does Raider's Outpost work after a ship has been teleported to another Orbital Facility?

Actually, there has been official errata posted on this very question:

Bumping Ships from The Raiders' Outpost
A question has been raised about how the "Bump Rule" works for the Raiders' Outpost if one or more ships in the original run have been removed, either by the Plasma Cannon, the Orbital Teleporter, or by losing control of the Relic Ship. Does the new run have to be bigger than the original run or just bigger than the ship that are left over?
Here is the text from the rulebook...
Raiders’ Outpost
You must dock a set of three sequentially numbered ships to use the Raiders’ Outpost. There are docking ports for one set of three ships. If the Raiders’ Outpost is occupied, you may dock a higher-value sequence here and move the original ships to the Maintenance Bay.
While docked at the Raiders’ Outpost you may steal a total of four resources from any mix of players or one alien tech card of your choice from one player. If you steal an alien tech card that you already have, the stolen card is discarded immediately and you gain no benefit from doing so.
Example : If a 1-2-3 is docked at the Raiders’ Outpost and the next player rolls a 2-3-4 then that player may remove the 1-2-3 and dock their 2-3-4 at the facility to conduct their own raid. If another player rolls a 3-4-5 or a 4-5-6 then they may remove the 2-3-4 and dock their own sequence and conduct their own raid.

The addition of a second example should clear up this question.

Example 2: RED has docked a 3-4-5 at the Raiders' Outpost. On his turn GREEN uses the Plasma Cannon to send the 5 back to the Maintenance Bay, leaving a 3 and 4 on the Raiders' Outpost. To dock a higher-value sequence at the Raiders' Outpost GREEN must use a run of three ships that totals more than the sum of the ships currently docked there. The remaining ships total 7 so GREEN may not dock a 1-2-3 since they only total 6. GREEN may dock a 2-3-4 (total 9), a 3-4-5 (total 12) or a 4-5-6 (total 15) to use the Raiders' Outpost.

Errata can be found on BoardGameGeek.


Do the rules in the "Open the first time a faction is eliminated" packet apply retroactively?

The card included in the packet covers what to do:

   The card in question reads
 "The player controlling the eliminated faction chooses a comeback power and places it on to the blue slot on his faction card. From now on, whenever a faction with an empty blue slot is knocked out or eliminated, the controlling player chooses a comeback power and places it on to the blue slot on his faction card." These two statements are independent of each other, so the first faction to be eliminated does add a comeback power to their card.


House rules for Spade bids of nil, blind-nil, and 10-for-2?

The main rule I strongly endorse is that you only trade ONE card, on blind-nil bids only.  No trading cards in any other situation - the only purpose is to avoid the "oops, guy going blind nil has the Ace of Spades" case which makes the whole round more or less pointless.

Other than that I have also frequently played with a "must be X points behind" rule on blind nil.  Is it really happening (successfully) so often that it overshadows all else?


Are there cases where an Enchantment Aura effect remains on a creature when it is returned to owners hand?

Comprehensive rules 400.7:

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

and none of the exceptions apply here. Therefore the object in your hand is the card Lorescale Coatl, and if you successfully cast it then it will be a "regular" Lorescale Coatl with its normal abilities.
Related to this, Frogify itself will go into its owner's graveyard.


An activated ability of a card that affects that card

Monstrosity does not target, so it is not affected by Shielding Plax. Something is only a "target" if the spell or ability uses the word "target" in its text, or the rules text for a keyword ability, or if it is an Aura spell, which is always targeted.

  114.10a Just because an object or player is being affected by a spell or ability doesn’t make that object or player a target of that spell or ability. Unless that object or player is identified by the word “target” in the text of that spell or ability, or the rule for that keyword ability, it’s not a target.

Shielding Plax only prevents the creature from being targeted, so it has no affect at all on things like Monstrosity.


Does the Cosumi Go site sometimes get the score wrong?

You are right that the top right belongs to White with correct play, but according to the programme Sabaki White wins by one point (because they have a captive). It is conceivable, but somewhat unlikely, that White could make enough errors for Black to win.
The score
Sabaki calculates the score like this for area scoring:

and like this with territory scoring:

The top right
To be on the safe side, I plugged your SGF into KataGo (via Sabaki), and it showed me a ko in the top right that Black cannot win: not only do they have hardly any threats, even if they did, they could not finish the ko in their favour.
The sequence that KataGo found was this:
$$Bcm1 Trying for a ko
$$ +---------+
$$ |..XOO.a25|
$$ |.X.XO.O1c|
$$ |..,XXO4d3|
$$ |.XXXXXOOO|
$$ |..XOXOXXO|
$$ |XXOOOOX.X|
$$ |OOOOOX.X.|
$$ |....OX.X.|
$$ |.O..OOX..|
$$ +---------+

Unfortunately for Black, White simply has to connect with ➅ at a and Black has no way of finishing the ko to kill White. White can just wait for Black to run out of threats and then capture at c and d.
Black’s only chance is if White plays the ko wrongly, for example:
$$Wcm6 White messes up (9 retakes, 13 @ 7)
$$ +---------+
$$ |..XOO36OX|
$$ |.X.XO2OX1|
$$ |0.,XXOO.X|
$$ |9XXXXXOOO|
$$ |57XOXOXXO|
$$ |XXOOOOX.X|
$$ |OOOOOXxX.|
$$ |....OX.X.|
$$ |.O..OOX..|
$$ +---------+

capturing ➅ instead of connecting at ⓫,
threatening with ➉ instead of the deadlier threat at x,
missing x again after Black takes at ⓫ and therefore giving up the ko, so
Black wins by 27 (area) or 26 (territory).


What happens if I have two Pledges of Loyalty attached to a creature?

Once the second Pledge enters the battlefield, the first one again starts granting protection from white to the Gnomes, which causes the second aura to fall off. This happens as a state-based action just after the second Pledge resolves.


Identify a 70's board game involving finding objects a house using cards

This is a Ravensburger children's game, called Spielhaus in German, and Race to the Roof in English. The art is different though, it looks like yours is a Janosch version.


Are there any single-screen human-vs-human go clients/programs available?

Almost any SGF editor. Most common choice would be - cgoban (KGS client). Just create an empty board, and begin playing.

Alternatives: MultiGo (windows only?), eidogo (online, but the board is small), SmartGo.


Does the game end if all current investigators are defeated?

From the FAQ (Page 3)

  Q. If all investigators are defeated at the same time, do investigators lose the game?

  A No. At the end of the Mythos Phase, each defeated investigator will choose a new investigator to play as. However, if being defeated would cause a player to be eliminated, such as if the Ancient One has awoken, all players could be eliminated. In this case, investigators lose the game.

As for when players are eliminated when defeated, the Reference Guide (Page 5) provides:

  Eliminated players do not choose new investigators after being
  defeated.
  If an investigator is defeated and there are no undefeated
  investigators available, that player is eliminated.
  If an investigator is defeated or devoured after the Ancient One
  awakens, that player is eliminated.
  If the investigators win the game, any eliminated players win as
  well.
  If all players have been eliminated, the investigators lose the game.


Probability of drawing duplicates of a card in magic

This is not math.stackexchange, so I don't have access to any formula formatting. I'll try to make it readable regardless. The basic mathematical construct used here are the so-called binomial coefficients:

  (a choose b) means a!/(b!*(a-b)!), it says how many different possible hands of b cards there are when you have a unique cards to choose from. I will pretend that you can see the difference between the duplicates, say they are reprints from different sets or something. It's just easier that way.

Say you have seen k cards of your deck (the seven you start with, plus any you have drawn). And you have one particular card you're looking for duplicates of (if you're asking about having any duplicate at all, then this becomes messy). I am going to pretend that you just keep drawing cards, never playing any and never discarding, so that all the cards you've seen are in your hand. It's easier to phrase this way.

The probability of having drawn none of your cards is (56 choose k)/(60 choose k). The numerator is the number of hands of size k that do not contain your card, and the denominator is the total number of hands with k cards. The probability of having drawn exactly one is 4*(56 choose k-1)/(60 choose k). The probability of not having duplicates is the sum of these two. The probability of having duplicates is 1 minus that:

  Probability of duplicates: 1-(56 choose k)/(60 choose k) - 4*(56 choose k-1)/(60 choose k)

Here is a table of the first few values.


List of blue counterspells that can be played for free?

There are 5 Blue counterspells that can be cast for alternate costs:

Daze
Disrupting Shoal
Foil
Force of Will
Thwart

I found these with the following search on Scryfall:

  o:"rather than pay ~'s mana cost" o:counter c:u

This searches for spells with alternative costs (first clause) with "counter" in the text (second clause) that are blue (third clause).

In addition, Mental Misstep only costs {UP}, so you can pay life instead of mana.

If you also want to count spells with mana that needs to be paid later, Pact of Negation has a mana cost of {0}, but it also says

  At the beginning of your next upkeep, pay {3}{U}{U}. If you don't, you lose the game.

Besides that, there are 3 spells that can be used to effectively counter a spell that can be cast without paying any mana:

Commandeer lets you take control of a spell and change its targets. You can choose a target that is (more) beneficial to you, or, if the other spell is a counterspell, you can redirect it to target Commandeer so that it is countered for having an illegal target after Commandeer leaves the stack.
Mindbreak Trap lets you exile any number of spells, but you can only cast it for free if your opponent has cast at least 3 spells this turn.
Misdirection also lets you choose new targets for a spell. Of course, it is only useful for dealing with targeted spells, and you can use it to deal with counterspells the same way you can use Commandeer.


Instants in response to your own abilities

Yes this works the way you're hoping.
If Alchemist's Gift resolves and then the dragon is killed, the ability on the stack will also retain the deathtouch due to the "last known information" rule (113.7a in the MtG Comprehensive Rules as of February 2021):

Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability. Note that some abilities cause a source to do something (for example, “Prodigal Pyromancer deals 1 damage to any target”) rather than the ability doing anything directly. In these cases, any activated or triggered ability that references information about the source for use while announcing an activated ability or putting a triggered ability on the stack checks that information when the ability is put onto the stack. Otherwise, it will check that information when it resolves. In both instances, if the source is no longer in the zone it’s expected to be in at that time, its last known information is used. The source can still perform the action even though it no longer exists.


On page 12 of the rule book, it states the following

  When a card says you must "decrease"
  your population, you return 1 yellow
  token from your Unused Workers Pool.
  If you have no Unused Workers, you
  must remove (and return to your
  Yellow Bank) a Worker from one of your cards. Do not forget to adjust
  your indicators.

Therefore, you must lose a worker from your Pool (or one of your cards if no workers in your pool).


How to Maintain the Balance of Power on Risk?

Hold a medium-to-small sized continent (like South America or Africa) and avoid aggression while you build up.  Attempting to take Asia, Europe, or North America will raise a lot of red flags, and Australia's defensibility makes it suspicious too.

RISK is defined in the later game by the ridiculous armies you get when trading in cards, so your main task is to be in the position to trade in for a lot, then bust out of your home and take another continent.


Are there times to double for a one trick set in duplicate, when you would not do so in rubber?

Absolutely! It's a key strategic ploy in competitive auctions.
The key factors that I have always made the decision on is if all of the following conditions are true:

Opponents are Vulnerable, so the one trick set is worth 200 Points. The maneuver is a risky one, and can only be justified if the gain is near certain to get one a top in exchange for the certain Bottom being risked.

We have no further competitive actions available at the Two Level. Attempting to score 110 in a Major, or 120 in NT, has a better risk-benefit trade-off as long as it is available. This usually, though not always, means the Double is made of a Three Level bid.

There is good reason to infer that getting the Undoubled 1-trick set is not just a bad board, but a very bad or bottom board. Worse than 2 out of 12. Converting a passel of 2's and 3's into 0's will ruin a game, so avoid that nonsense.

From the bidding, one knows both where the setting trick is coming from and how the Defense should go. No nonsense making this double and then huddling over Opening Lead - if you don't know what to lead, and how to follow up, this Double is out of place.

Remember that a plus score, especially in a competitive auction, is rarely a Bottom. The key to successful Duplicate Bridge is avoiding the Bottoms - as the Opponents will always throw a Top or two your way. If you can average 7 (or even 6.5) Match Points over 24 or 25 Boards, and then throw in a gift top or two that weren't gifted back, that's a session score of 176 to 182 on a 156 average. That's a successful game.
The key risk with tight Doubles (as with all attempts to create action in the Bidding) is the lack of detailed information. One can more reliably create good scores in the Play, whether as Declarer or Defender. Throwing away a hard-earned overtrick or undertrick on an over-confident speculative Double is not successful Bridge.
Finally, I have known very successful players who occasionally make this for a not Vulnerable set. It's part of their success. But on those occasions when I've been playing up, not once has the remark been made that "I" should have made such a call. I'm looked for and at as a reliable, if not quite regular, partner because I will bid steadily and reliably; find a few extra undertricks and overtricks in the play; and give nothing back unforced.

Update
Reading the comments, there seems to be a presumption that your only option is to Pass or Double.

That's not true. Learn to balance if the Opponents are buying more than 1 hand per session in 1NT, and burying you with them; that's just absurd. Those are your hands. Why aren't you in the auction? Play old-fashioned ASTRO promising a 4-card Major and a longer lower suit if need be. Setting 1NT is hard - harder than making 7 tricks in a 2-level contract of your denomination - so get into the auction.

There will be anywhere from 3 (Good day. Yeah!) to 6 (Bad day. Boo!) where the Opponents are in control. The goal on these hands is to: (1) Identify them; and (2) Get out with an Average Minus. These are not the hands to try for Top or Bottom on; these are the hands to play steady on. Some days you're simply not dealt a possible 200 score.


How does color identity work in Commander?

The color-related deckbuilding rules of Commander are centered around a specific characteristic named 'color identity'
Color identity is distinct from the color of the card itself, which is only determined by the mana cost and color-defining abilities

903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).
Example: Bosh, Iron Golem is a legendary artifact creature with mana cost {8} and the ability “{3}{R}, Sacrifice an artifact: Bosh, Iron Golem deals damage equal to the sacrificed artifact’s converted mana cost to any target.” Bosh’s color identity is red.
903.4a Color identity is established before the game begins.
903.4b Reminder text is ignored when determining a card’s color identity. See rule 207.2.
903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card’s color identity. This is an exception to rule 711.4a.
Example: Civilized Scholar is the front face of a double-faced card with mana cost {2}{U}. Homicidal Brute is the back face of that double-faced card and has a red color indicator. The card’s color identity is blue and red.
...
903.5c A card can be included in a Commander deck only if every color in its color identity is also found in the color identity of the deck’s commander.
Example: Wort, the Raidmother is a legendary creature with mana cost {4}{R/G}{R/G}. Wort’s color identity is red and green. Each card in a Wort Commander deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color. Each mana symbol in the mana cost or rules text of a card in this deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color.

What this means is that if a mana symbol appears on a card, it is part of that card's color identity. It doesn't matter if the symbol is in the mana cost, an ability cost on the card, or is produced by an effect of the card.  If the card has rules that grant it other colors (like Transguild Courier) then it has those colors as well. The exception is if that symbol appears in reminder text: Trinisphere still has a colorless identity, and Crypt Ghast still has a mono-black color identity.
If a card has a color identity that includes a color that is not part of your commander's color identity, it cannot be added to your deck.
To address your specific examples:

Shu Yun has a WUR color identity.
Cloudhearth Drake has a WU color identity
Covetous Urge has a UB color identity
Iron Myr has a R color identity.


Can I target Nicol Bolas, the Ravager/Arisen with its own -4 ability?

No, you cannot target Nicol Bolas using his own ability like that.
First, the rules for planeswalkers describe loyalty abilities as follows in rule 306.5d:

Each planeswalker has a number of loyalty abilities, which are activated abilities with loyalty symbols in their costs. Loyalty abilities follow special rules: A player may activate a loyalty ability of a permanent they control any time they have priority and the stack is empty during a main phase of their turn, but only if none of that permanent’s loyalty abilities have been activated that turn. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”

The relevant steps for activating an ability are as follows:

602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Only an object’s controller (or its owner, if it doesn’t have a controller) can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says otherwise. Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the activation of an ability, a player is unable to comply with any of those steps, the activation is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that ability started to be activated (see rule 721, “Handling Illegal Actions”). Announcements and payments can’t be altered after they’ve been made.

602.2a The player announces that they are activating the ability. [...]

602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b–i. Those rules apply to activating an ability just as they apply to casting a spell. An activated ability’s analog to a spell’s mana cost (as referenced in rule 601.2f) is its activation cost.

[...]

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

[...]

601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.

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

Then, at the end of this process, the state-based action rules come into effect:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. [...]

704.5. The state-based actions are as follows:

[...]

704.5i If a planeswalker has loyalty 0, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard.

So, it is only at this point, after you have finished activating the ability, that Nicol Bolas actually goes to the graveyard.


Action selection in a hidden movement game that may require more information to be complete

Most games that let you select a variable number of something in secret, will either give you small tokens that you hold in your hand, or by giving you a screen to hide items behind. Some also give you duds that you can place instead of something useful, to bluff about what you're doing.

For example, Shogun lets each player pick an action for each province they have. Each action can only be picked once. What they do is give the player a card for each province they own, and they put their province face-down below the icon for the desired action.

When you want to expand this mechanic so that you can select additional options, you could for example slide additional cards under that action, then give each player a few blank cards that they can use to bluff about where they are taking serious actions.

Alternatively, if the players take one action at a time, it's easy enough to just give them a screen. They put all the stuff that is used in the action on one side, and everything else on the other. That lets them completely hide what they are doing from everyone.

Some games also do the same thing, except they use a bag. This works really well with tokens; you put all the tokens you want to use in the bag and the rest you keep behind your screen. Or you can use a dial for selecting amounts (used by many games).


Is flip summon considered a normal summon?

A flip summon does not count as a normal summon. For this effect to activate you would have to summon it from your hand in face up attack position (a normal summon as stated).

It is not specifically stated in the rules as such but the implications are made by statements mentioning flip summoning as many times as you want and that a flip summon does not take up a normal summon.

Source: Flip Summon wiki


Actually, if you have 8 walkers in one zone and there are 2 valid paths to get to the most noisy zone, you literally split them : you get 2 groups of 4 walkers.

There can only be one zombie added when splitting: in the case you have an even number of zombies. Eg: If you have 9 zombies in one zone, 5 go one way (A), 4 go the other way (B) + an additional one (B)

You apply that rule for each type of zombies (except Abominations that never split).

The idea is for the zombie turn to be as simple as possible to get it over with as quickly as possible. It is not the interesting part of the game, the players' turn are. Deciding randomly where each zombie goes would slow down the game without adding much. Adding the extra zombie when splitting even groups, makes things straight forward. I think it is a purely mechanical (opposed to themed) driven rule.


There is a set symbol for Call of Legends.    I can't link to it directly, but you can find the set symbol at the URLs below for the starter decks.

Call of Legends refers to a set of about 100 cards, some of which were used to assemble the starter decks.   The Set icon above would be used on all cards from Call of Legends, those that were included in one of the starter decks and also those cards that were included only in booster packs.   There isn't a symbol specific to the starter decks.

There were two starter decks for Call of Legends: Retort and Recon.   You can see the cards from each deck at the links below

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Retort_(TCG)
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Recon_(TCG)


Stewart's recommendation is reasonable in any standard system, whether 1NT is forcing or not.

Unless your partner's hand was very unusually distributed, it sounds like your partner was at fault for reversing with only 13 points.

Reversing means bidding at a new level (here 2 spades over 1 NT) in a higher ranking suit (spades ranks higher than hearts) than your opening bid. In essentially any natural system this promises 16+ points.

Why is even a forcing 1NT not an issue?

The hand shown has a 7 card club suit and two singletons. Whether 1NT is forcing or not, this hand expects to play best in clubs. Two clubs directly shows too much strength. Bidding 1NT followed by Clubs (presumably 3 Clubs) typically shows this type of hand.

There is a decision whether to ignore the 4 card spade suit or not. Once the hand is this distributional it can make sense. You'll have a hard time getting to clubs after you bid 1 Spade because a second suit by responder usually shows extra strength (and is often artificial).

Notice that if you had had the same hand but with 3 spades and 2 diamonds, there would be no question that 1NT is the bid.


Can one ask for a "time out" to study the hand in bridge?

Victor Mollo addressed this problem in one of his books (I forget which). His suggestion, if you wished to stop and think at your turn of play, was to place the card you plan to play face down on the table, announcing that you were playing that card, and then do your thinking. Provided your thinks don't take inordinately long, no-one will complain.


Is K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7 a valid hand in Dou Dizhu (aka "Fighting The Landlord")?

As far as I know, no, quads cannot be sequenced, let alone "with wings".

That said, Dou Dizhu, like many other games of Chinese origin, is a game with many local variantions and house rules. (Most variations comes in how the landlord is determined.)

While I will not be surprized if some people play with quad squences, it would rarely make a difference because

it is already unusual that a player has an "airplane" or a bomb, having two consecutive quads are much rarer. (By my calculations, ~.1% for the landlord and ~.02% for the peasants)
like the quad sets ("quad with two" and "quad with two pairs"), it is seldom advantageous to play it and give up the bomb

At least in my area, "space shuttle" (穿梭機) refers to a sequence of three triplets.


How do I replace lost plastic tiles for Scrabble?

Try emailing Hasbro.  It is a bit hard to find where to contact customer support.  This should work:

https://hasbro-new.custhelp.com/app/ask


Here is my current understanding, based on the Gatherer rulings for Opalescence

  This is the current interaction between Humility and Opalescence: The type-changing effect applies at layer 4, but the rest happens in the applicable layers. The rest of it will apply even if the permanent loses its ability before it’s finished applying. So if Opalescence, Humility, and Worship are on the battlefield and Opalescence entered the battlefield before Humility, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments. (Opalescence). Layer 6: Humility and Worship each lose their abilities. (Humility) Layer 7b: Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4. (Opalescence). Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility). But if Humility entered the battlefield before Opalescence, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments (Opalescence). Layer 6: Humility and Worship each lose their abilities (Humility). Layer 7b: Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility). Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4 (Opalescence).

According to this ruling, the fact that Titania's Song removes abilities from artifacts is irrelevant. The continuous effects still happen.

So starting with layer 4, we have Mycosynth Lattice turning things into artifacts and Titania's Song turning things into creatures. Since Song has a dependency on Lattice (because it changes the set of things that Song effects), Lattice is always applied first regardless of timestamps. So they're both artifacts, and then become artifact creatures in layer 4.

In layer 6, they both lose all abilities

In layer 7, they become a 4/4 and 6/6 respectively, despite the fact that they lost their abilities in a previous layer.

All lands will turn into 0/0s and die, regardless of timestamps.

This seems like a weird result, but it's the best I can determine based on the rulings I've seen.


Overcall of 3S over 1C opening, what does it show? (assuming bidding system SAYC)

A jump overcall is pre-emptive and generally shows the same values as a pre-emptive opening bid.

So in this case 3S could show as little as 6 HCP with 7 spades.


Does Nyxbloom Ancient replace the entire mana ability or just the part that produces mana?

Nyxbloom Ancient only modifies the mana produced. Empowered Autogenerator still gets a counter.

Rule 106.12b says

  A replacement effect that applies if a permanent “is tapped for mana” or tapped for mana of a specific type and/or amount modifies the mana production event while such an ability is resolving and producing mana or the specified type and/or amount of mana.

Empowered Autogenerator's activated ability has two separate instructions: first you add a counter, then you add mana. Only the second part is the mana production event, so only that part gets modified by Nyxbloom Ancient's ability.


What happens if I push another mech with skewer?

Here is the text on Skewer:

SKEWER
[1] Move forward 1 space.
[2] Move forward 2 spaces.
[3] Move forward 3 spaces.
If Skewer kills a Minion, place it on this card (max of 1). Before drawing damage, you may instead scrap the Minion.

Here are the rules for "stomp" (under the Minions section):

Minions will also die if a Mech stomps on them (moves
into the same space).

And, finally, the relevant rules for "Push":

Player Mechs can Push [..] other player Mechs [...].
[...]
Executing a Move Command that would put the Mech into a space containing another Mech [...] pushes that object forward in the same direction, which could push another Mech [...].

Now that we have the rules established, here is your first question:

If my Mech has a Skewer card and I push someone else into a Mech do I get the minion on my card?

In light of the cited rules, the answer is... unclear. The answer depends on your interpretation of what exact event is taking place when the minion is killed.
That is, is the stomp a sub-event within Skewer or is stomp a result of Skewer? If your interpretation is the former, then yes the minion would be placed on the card. If your interpretation is the latter, then no.
At this time, there is no official clarification that distinguishes the granularity of stomp within the context if its causal action that could be used to resolve this ambiguity. My personal interpretation is the Skewer is triggering stomp and thus the minion is not killed via Skewer directly. This interpretation also makes more thematic sense as the pushed Mech does not necessary have Skewer equipped (and thus it has nothing to physically skewer with!).
We do have enough information to firmly answer your second question, however:

If another player has Skewer and I push them into a minion do they get the minion?

The answer is no, they do not gain the minion. The card specifically says "If Skewer kills a Minion".
Killing a minion any other way does not trigger the ability. If the card could be triggered by other means, the text would have been written as such (e.g., "When your Mech kills a minion...").
Regardless of the thematic implications, the rules are clear.
Source: Printed rules (rulebook and card)