As of '8-25-17', coinciding with Games Workshop's "General's Handbook 2017," Warhammer Community has released updated FAQs for the Grand Alliances, as well as updated the legacy Compendiums for the old armies (Bretonnia, Beastmen, Tomb Kings, etc). In these Compendiums, at the very end, there are list of units with Substitute Warscrolls, as was stated by user 'aslum' on '7-31-17' that now includes not just Named and out-of-production models, but also models that have had their unit's name changed for the Age of Sigmar lore (Empire Greatsword -> Freeguild Greatsword for example) and updated Pitched Battle profiles for legacy units. Here is a direct link to them.


In Spades, what is the probability a suit is distributed in a way, given I hold n cards from that suit?


Do "interaction" effects cause people to buy buildings in tandem in Puerto Rico?

I don't think you can just sit down with a strategy as precise as knowing your end buildings and stay competitive against a more flexible player.  The game does not have a lot of randomness but the distribution of plantations does play a huge role on the rest of the game.

It's well balanced in the sense that if you are too out of control in one dimension then you are not giving the other dimensions enough attention and the other players should be able to exploit that.  Once you have a competitive advantage then by all means exploit it, but like most Euro games you should probably spend the first half building an engine and the second half running after VPs.

All that said, your engine will probably be built around selling, shipping, or building and each of them has big buildings which work best with them.  The wharf and/or harbor can be more powerful than one of those big buildings if used well.

In terms of defensive buying you have to decide if the person you are targeting is ahead of you and if you are in second by a wide margin.  The VP cost of the defensive purchase is the marginal difference in VPs between your ideal purchase and the one you are considering.


Carcassone Hills & Sheeps - how do the sheep rules make sense?

Yes,  you are missing something.

'Lucky guy' in your example gains the same benefit as 'clever guy', despite playing fewer field tiles.

Each time you place a tile and cash in the accumulated points for that field you are foregoing a chance to (maybe) increase those points. The optimal number of points accumulated before cashing in depends strongly of the distribution of tiles.


What happens if a creature that would fight isn't on the battlefield anymore?

It depends what the targets are.  The ability will resolve, but it may not do anything.

Scenario 1:

You activate Ulvenwald Tracker targeting your Grizzly Bears and your opponent's Runeclaw Bear
Your opponent responds with Lightning Bolt targeting your Tracker

In this case, the Tracker dies, but that doesn't affect anything.  The Tracker's ability resolves and the two Bears fight each other and both die.

Scenario 2:

You activate Ulvenwald Tracker targeting itself and your opponent's Suntail Hawk
Your opponent responds with Lightning Bolt targeting your Tracker

In this case, the Tracker's ability still resolves, but it doesn't do anything.  Spells and abilities don't track targets when they change zones.  That means that when the Tracker's ability resolves, the Tracker is no longer a legal target.  The ability still has at least one legal target (the Suntail Hawk), so it resolves.  It attempts to do as much as it can with the remaining targets, but the Hawk doesn't have anything to fight, so nothing happens.


What is the purpose of having randomizer cards for the non-kingdom cards?

They are there to mark each pile.  The game ends when 3 piles are empty.  Once you see 3 randomizer cards showing, the game is over.

This is on page 5 of the rules:

  Players may also use the Randomizer cards as Placeholders to mark the card piles so empty piles are easily seen

The way my group lays out the Kingdom cards is organized by cost, so it is not always obvious that there is a pile missing.  The kingdom cards help remind us.

I agree with your comment that the Randomizer cards are a bit too similar to the normal cards, one solution is to put them into different colored sleeves than your regular cards.  Or perhaps, just sleeve the randomizer cards.


You get 5 experience counters, because the "with converted mana cost greater than the number of experience counters you have" is checked only when determining if the ability triggers. It is not checked when the ability resolves.

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.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose.

Note that this would work differently if the ability were worded

Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, if its converted mana cost is greater than the number of experience counters you have, you get an experience counter.

In that situation, the ability has an "intervening 'if' clause", which would cause the "if" condition to be checked again when the ability resolves, and the "if" would only be true for the first trigger to resolve; it would fail for the rest.

603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. (The word “if” has only its normal English meaning anywhere else in the text of a card; this rule only applies to an “if” that immediately follows a trigger condition.)

Only mentioning this to point out that Mizzix does not have an intervening "if" clause, and thus it doesn't matter how many experience counters you have when each ability resolves.


What is the proper way to split uneven draft pods?

In my LGS it's solved this way.

6 players => 1 x 6

7 players => 1 x 7

8 players => 1 x 8

9 players => 1 x 9

10 players => 1 x 10

11 players => 1 x 11

12 players => 2 x 6

13 players => 1 x 6 + 1 x 7

14 players => 1 x 6 + 1 x 8

15 players => 1 x 7 + 1 x 8

16 players => 2 x 8

17 players => 1 x 8 + 1 x 9

18 players => 3 x 6

19 players => 2 x 6 + 1 x 7

20 players => 2 x 6 + 1 x 8

21 players => 1 x 6 + 1 x 7 + 1 x 8

22 players => 1 x 6 + 2 x 8

23 players => 1 x 7 + 2 x 8

24 players => 3 x 8

The idea behind is to not have a draftpod with less than 6 people, which yields in just too less cards in the entire cardpool. 9 players is still quite doable, 10 and especially 11 player pods are really bad (you basically won't see any card coming back to you).

To summarize:

Don't go below 6
Avoid going above 9
Try to fill as many 8 pods as possible


MUs from Memory Strips for Deep Data Mining?

The memory from MemStrips counts towards Deep Data Mining.  This is because Deep Data Mining doesn't actually use memory, it just looks at how much memory you have vs how much you are using.  MemStrips gives you memory, with a restriction on what types of programs can use it.

I've seen MemStrips used with Data Folding and Overmind for some powerful combo potential under this same principle.


Can you build a house on a colour group property while another property of that colour group is mortgaged?

No you are unable to build houses on any property in a color group where any property is mortgaged. While it does not mention it in the rules about houses it does mention that all hotels and houses must be sold prior to mortgaging any property of that color group. The rules also follow up with an explicit statement that you may begin to buy houses back once all properties in that group are no longer mortgaged.
Rules

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

When all the properties of a
color-group are no longer mortgaged, the owner may begin to buy
back houses at full price.


Armor can move 4 hexes and still battle at full strength.

From p. 5 of the Terrain Pack rules:

  Armor may move 4 hexes on a road and still battle.

The main rulebook makes it clear that Armor's battle strength is unaffected by its movement (p. 9):

  [Armor] always combats at 3 dice.

P. 15-16 of the FAQ has a concise summary of the effects of Roads on all units, which might be of interest if you have questions about other units.

  Armor - 4 hexes and battle


Can you eradicate a disease without finding a Cure first?

From the rules, page 4, when describing the Discover a Cure action:

  At any research station, discard 5 City cards of the same color from your
  hand to cure the disease of that color. Move the disease’s cure marker to its
  Cure Indicator.

  If no cubes of this color are on the board, this disease is now eradicated.
  Flip its cure marker from its “vial” side to its “blocked” side.

And, in the sidebar on that same page:

  Removing the last cube of a disease that is not cured has no effect.

Eradication is described as part of discovering a cure, so a cure is necessary for the disease to be eradicated. If you remove all of the cubes of the color, but don't have a cure, it is not eradicated and you place new disease cubes normally.

See also this thread on BGG, where Matt Leacock (one of the game's designers) weighed in:

  Eradicating a Disease

  If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and there are no disease cubes of that color on the board, immediately flip the Cure marker for the disease to the “Sunset” side. From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the Infector’s turn.

  Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and place them back in the box—they will not be used again for the rest of the game.


What are these wooden dice with X's and O's on 2 sides?

The game is Quixo; here are the rules. The only game component you're missing is a 5x5 board to put them in, and the game should be playable without that.


At what point does a spell 'target' its target?

Yes, you will know all targets of a spell as soon as it is cast.
From the Comprehensive Rules:

601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, “Handling Illegal Actions”). Announcements and payments can’t be altered after they’ve been made.
[...]
601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. [...]
[...]
601.2h Once the steps described in 601.2a–g are completed, 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, he or she gets priority.

Note that depending on the card-specific wording, there are some spells and abilities that have choices that are made when they resolve, not when they are cast. Once a spell or ability starts resolving, there is no way of countering it, so in those rare cases, you have no way of knowing for sure what it will do.
For example, Hex Parasite's ability lets you choose the number and kind of counters to remove when it resolves, which matters when the target has more than 1 kind of counter on it.
Another side effect of this rule is that there is usually no way of preventing abilities that trigger on its permanent being targeted from triggering, aside from hexproof or shroud. Once you target such a permanent (usually a creature), the ability will trigger, even if you counter the spell that triggered the ability.


If damage is redirected infinitely, does the game end in a draw?

These are replacement effects, and you can't apply any single replacement effect to any single event more than once. So, once you apply both effects, you stop, the damage is dealt, and the game continues.
These are the relevant rules about Replacement Effects:

614.1. Some continuous effects are replacement effects. Like prevention effects (see rule 615), replacement effects apply continuously as events happen—they aren’t locked in ahead of time. Such effects watch for a particular event that would happen and completely or partially replace that event with a different event. They act like “shields” around whatever they’re affecting.

614.1a Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. Most replacement effects use the word “instead” to indicate what events will be replaced with other events.

[...]

614.5. A replacement effect doesn’t invoke itself repeatedly; it gets only one opportunity to affect an event or any modified events that may replace it.

For example, say an effect would deal damage to you. Then you would resolve the effect as follows:

First, only Pariah's effect applies. It's not optional, so we apply it, and the damage would now be dealt to the creature instead of to you.

Now Blood of the Martyr's effect applies. This one is optional, so you can choose to have the damage dealt to you instead of the creature.

Now, no matter what choice you made, all applicable replacement effects have now been applied. The effect resolved, and the damage is dealt either to you or to the creature, depending on the choice you made.


The god can attack the turn it becomes a creature, as long as you had it for more than 1 turn like you said. Summoning sickness only affects a creature if it entered the battlefield since the beginning of your turn, and it did not enter the battlefield upon meeting its devotion requirement, it simply changed to a creature. This won't trigger "when enters the battlefield" triggers either.

  302.6. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can’t attack unless it has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the “summoning sickness” rule.

The god creature HAS been under your control since the beginning of your turn; it just wasn't a creature before.


In Santorini, does my opponent win if I pull them onto a third level with the Siren?

No.

The win condition is stated as follows:

  If one of your Workers moves up on top of level 3 during your turn, you instantly win!

This doesn't happen in the scenario you described. Your opponent's Worker moved up on top of level 3, but it didn't happen on their turn.


Does an enchantment curse go to grave if the cursed player loses?

The Fraying Sanity is put into your graveyard when the player enchanted with it loses and leaves the game. From the Comprehensive rules:

  303.4c If an Aura is enchanting an illegal object or player as defined by its enchant ability and other applicable effects, the object it was attached to no longer exists, or the player it was attached to has left the game, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)


Magic The Gathering - Jace, Cunning Castaway's +1

You draw cards equal to the number of combat damage steps where your creatures have dealt damage.

If you attack with any number creatures, none having first strike or double strike, there is only one combat damage step. The delayed trigger will be met once.

If the creatures you control do damage during the first strike and the non-first strike combat damage step (eg. a creature with double strike or mix of creatures with and without first strike), the delayed trigger will be met twice.

If you have multiple combat phases during the same turn, the delayed trigger will be met once for each non-first strike and first strike combat damage step that occurs.

Combat damage is dealt all at once (or in two steps if you have first/double strikers) instead of once per creature. To break it down (simplified) combat looks like this:

Attacking Player declares attackers
Defending Player declares blockers
Combat Damage Step (Comp Rules 510):
a. If at least one creature has First Strike or Double Strike, only creatures with first strike or double strike assign damage this step.
b. Players announce how their creatures will assign damage (eg. Attacker is blocked by multiple creatures, trample etc.)
c. All assigned damage is dealt simultaneously. (Jace's Ability Triggers here).
d. If this Damage step was for first/double strikers only return to step 3.b but this time all creatures except first strikers get to assign damage. If not proceed to step 4.
End of Combat Step


"At the beginning of the end step" versus "Until end of turn"

Yes.  "At the beginning of the end step" abilities trigger at, well, the beginning of the end step, while "until end of turn effects" expire at the beginning of the cleanup step, which is after the end step.  Thus, Biovisionary's ability will trigger and resolve while all your creatures are still Biovisionaries.

Comprehensive Rules references:

  512.1. The ending phase consists of two steps: end and cleanup. [This appears to be the closest thing to an explicit statement that end precedes cleanup.]

  514.2. Second, the following actions happen simultaneously [during the cleanup step]: all damage marked on permanents (including phased-out permanents) is removed and all “until end of turn” and “this turn” effects end. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.


Tri-dimensional board games: How does the additional dimension extend possible player requirements & game structure?

While I've not seen serious work on it... I have played trek-style 3d chess

Take the pawn. In 2d, it has one move option. in 3d, given the start locations, it has 2, sometime 3, options Twice that many "covered" squares it can attack to.

The 3D has several effects:

increasing piece movement options
different board shape reduces flat move options for many pieces
perception of good versus bad moves is more difficult
occasional adjustment of board results in different dynamic (small boards are mobile)

this al means a direct comparison is difficult as the needed strategies change.

3D tic tac toe, however, merely gets more move options - the same strategies apply.
 So it varies by how the 3D is done.


What is the most mana that can be produced by tapping a single permanent in future standard?

At least 3^(2^^^^39)

Decklist:

4x Nyxbloom Ancient
2x Thousand-Year Storm
1x Repeated Reverberation
1x Narset's Reversal
1x Quasiduplicate
1x Dance of the Manse
1x Wilderness Reclamation
1x Teferi, Time Raveler
1x Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi
4x Izzet Guildgate
4x Simic Guildgate
4x Boros Guildgate
4x Swiftwater Cliffs
4x Temple of Epiphany
4x Azorius Guildgate
3x Gruul Guildgate

Setup for combo

The setup involves the following:

Drawing cards until we have Wilderness Reclamation and 7 other cards in hand, and discarding Wilderness Reclamation to hand size.
Drawing cards and playing lands until we have drawn and played 4 Izzet Guildgate, 3 Simic Guildgate, and 1 Boros Guildgate and all other non-land permanent cards, and drawn all of the instants and sorceries.
Casting Dance of the Manse with X=6 targeting Wilderness Reclamation to put it onto the battlefield as a 4/4 creature.
Casting Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi targeting a

This takes 14 turns to draw all of those cards, and we can finish playing them earlier than that.

Combo

We have no way to untap lands, so we can construct a "loop" that is ultimately limited by the mana that can be generated by the lands on the battlefield.

A loop iteration is as follows:

Cast Repeated Reverberation. Allow all Thousand-Year Storm triggers, previous Repeated Reverberation triggers, and copies to resolve, but leave the original spell on the stack. This copies the next spell to be cast a number of times equal to 2 * (2 * storm count + previous RR triggers). This costs {2}{R}{R}.
Cast Narset's Reversal targeting the Repeated Reverberation card. By now, the storm count is at least 1, so both of the Thousand-Year Storm triggers make at least 2 total copies of Narset's Reversal. Have 1 copy target the Repeated Reverberations card, and the other target the original Narset's Reversal card. The result is that we get 1 more copy of Repeated Reverberation, and all cards on the stack return to the hand. This costs {U}{U}.
Allow all of the copies of Repeated Reverberation to resolve.

This loop iteration costs 6 mana in some combination of {U} and {R}, increases the storm count by 2, and makes twices as many of the next spell to be cast. For the loop, we tap a land for {U} and a land for {R} (both modified by Nyxbloom Ancients), and repeat this loop until we have 5 mana remaining. We spend that 5 mana to cast Quasiduplicate targeting Nyxbloom Ancient, allow all of the copies to resolve, and cast Narset's Reversal to return both cards to the hand. Then we tap another two lands for much more mana, and repeat the process.

When performing this loop on a full set of untapped lands, when spending the last mana on Quasiduplicate, target the awakened Izzet Guildgate instead of Nyxbloom Ancient. When performing the loop during the main phase, target the animated Wilderness Reclamation instead

Then, in a full turn, we do the following:

Activate Teferi's first loyalty ability so that we can cast sorcery spells at instant speed.
Perform the loop described above, copying Nyxbloom Ancient, and with the last lands, Wilderness Reclamation
For each Wilderness Reclamation trigger, perform the same loop, copying Nyxbloom Ancient, and with the last lands, Izzet Guildgate

In the long run, the doubling from Repeated Reverberation far outpaces the storm copies from Thousand-Year Storm, so we can approximately say that each loop iteration doubles the number of copies 8 times. So, after we tap a pair of lands for M =  2 * 3^N mana, where N is the number of copies of Nyxbloom Ancient on the battlefield, we can make approximately 2^((M-5)/6) copies of Nyxbloom Ancient. In the longer run, the multiplicative factors don't even matter that much, so we can say that the number of Nyxbloom Ancients we get from tapping one land is about 2^(3^N), where N is the number we previously had.

2^(3^N) is much greater than 2^(2^N), so we can say that every time we untap our lands, we get more than 2^...^K Nyxbloom Ancients and Izzet Guildgates or Wilderness Reclamations, where K is the number of Nyxbloom Ancients we untapped with and the number of 2s is equal to the number of Izzet Guildgates we untapped with. In Knuth's up-arrow notation, this is much greater than 2^^N, where N is the number of Izzet Guildgates. So, each turn we get 2^^N Wilderness Reclamations and repeat that process in response to each Wilderness Reclamation trigger. That gives us 2^^^(2^^N) Izzet Guildgates.

We repeat that process for the 39 turns it takes to draw the rest of the library, getting more than 2^^^^39 Guildgates, Nyxbloom Ancients, and Wilderness Reclamations. In the end, we tap the last land for more than 3^(2^^^^39) mana.

This cannot go infinite because every land in the decklist unconditionally enters the battlefield tapped, and we can only untap lands during the untap step and a bounded number of times each end step because of Wilderness Reclamation. So, creating more lands can only increase the amount of mana available the next time we untap lands, and the number of times we can untap lands each turn is bounded.

Credit to Arcanist Lupus's answer for the idea of using Wilderness Reclamation, and using Dance of the Manse to be able to copy it with Quasiduplicate.


Are Power Crystals a finite resource in Clank in Space?

Yes.

There's a Major Secret that gives victory points for each Power Crystal one possesses. An unlimited supply of Power Crystals would provide a unlimited supply of points for the owner of that Secret. Anything that encourages a player to spend the entire game walking back and forth between two squares is a problem.
There's a cards whose effect is multiplied by the number of Power Crystal one possesses. An unlimited supply of Power Crystals would provide a unlimited benefits from those cards. Anything that encourages a player to spend most of the game walking back and forth between two squares is a problem.
There is precedent for limited quantities of resources, namely the items in the market.


Can I tap fewer than 7 creatures with Lullmage Mentor?

No you can't.  due to rule 117.3

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

the text: "tap 7 merfolk" is before the :, and therefore it's a cost.  You can't pay or attempt to pay that cost unless you are able to pay it fully.


How can I get my heavy card stock game board to lie flat?

From the discussion about protecting board sufaces comes the idea of placing a sheet of Plexiglas on top of your board. That just might have enough weight to push it down. If it doesn't you'll still have a flat albeit slightly tilted surface.


Nekusar and the new damage redirection to planeswalkers

Correct.

Most cards that previously dealt damage to a player received errata to allow them to target a player or planeswalker, but as Nekusar’s ability is not targeted; the standard errata wouldn’t have made as much sense (mostly because you don’t choose or target a player).

You can see the current wording of any card in Gatherer; the wording there is what counts. And with the planeswalker damage redirection rule change; the question is simple for any card; because cards that can damage planeswalkers will specifically say so (or they will say "any target").


How many times can you cast a card exiled by Release to the Wind?

Yes, that limit is one time.
When a spell is cast, it moves to the stack and by then it fails to meet the "remains exiled" criterion mentioned by Release to the Wind. The Stack and Exile are different zones.

Stack

405.1. When a spell is cast, the physical card is put on the stack (see rule 601.2a). When an ability is activated or triggers, it goes on top of the stack without any card associated with it (see rules 602.2a and 603.3).

Exile

406.1. The exile zone is essentially a holding area for objects. Some spells and abilities exile an object without any way to return that object to another zone. Other spells and abilities exile an object only temporarily.
406.2. To exile an object is to put it into the exile zone from whatever zone it’s currently in. An exiled card is a card that’s been put into the exile zone.

Of course, if you'd cast another Release to the Winds on the same card, its owner will be able to cast it again.


If I put down a draw 4 card and call uno out, can another player place a draw 4 ontop?

Per Uno Rules, Once a player has no cards remaining, the game round is over, points are scored, and the game begins over again.
So, there's no placement once you are out, the round is over.


Can I have two similarly-named legendary creatures on the field?

Legendary permanents trigger the Legend Rule only if they have the same exact name.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre have two different card names, so you can have both out simultaneously (even though they're both variants of Ulamog, lore-wise).

  201.2. A card’s name is always considered to be the English version of its name, regardless of printed language.

  201.2a Two objects have the same name if their names are identical.

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

Planeswalker cards used to have a slightly different uniqueness rule:

  306.4. Previously, planeswalkers were subject to a “planeswalker uniqueness rule” that stopped a player from controlling two planeswalkers of the same planeswalker type. This rule has been removed and planeswalker cards printed before this change have received errata in the Oracle card reference to have the legendary supertype. Like other legendary permanents, they are subject to the “legend rule” (see rule 704.5j).

This used to be the case if you, for example, controlled Ajani Goldmane and Ajani Steadfast. One of them would die, not because they have similar names, but because they both have the same planeswalker type, Ajani.

The planeswalker uniqueness rule has been removed with the Ixalan rules update. All planeswalkers have received errata to be legendary, they follow the regular legendary rule now, and their planeswalker type does no longer matter for uniqueness.


When resolving "destroy X when Y enters the battlefield", must I choose a target if the only available one is my own?

Yes you must destroy your own artifact if it is the only one on the battlefield. If it were optional it would have the word 'may' in the ability like Acid Web Spider.
When an ability triggers and it has a legal target it will always be put on the stack and a legal target chosen. Then when the ability resolves if it has a 'may' in it you can choose not to have its effect occur otherwise it does.

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.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.
603.5. Some triggered abilities’ effects are optional (they contain “may,” as in “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card”). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability’s option or not. The choice is made when the ability resolves.


What is a "Small Area" when talking about Cluster Mines?

From Codex Space Marines, under the Cluster Mine entry in the Glossary:

  ...may booby trap a single piece of battlefield terrain...

That reads as a specific, identified piece of terrain as placed during set-up. I.e. woods, ruins etc.

The only mention of "small" is the suggestion to place a small marker to remind both players of the booby trapped terrain.

I'm not sure where you have seen the "small area" - can you provide a reference (it could be a variation between printings perhaps?)


Can you play three skips then a reverse?

Yes, in a 2 player game, playing a skip would make it your turn again, so you could play another skip if you have one.

Playing a reverse will also skip your opponent’s turn, only in a 2 player game.

From the rules:

  Rules for Two Players - The following special rules apply to two-player UNO:

    Playing a Reverse card works like playing a Skip card. By playing the Reverse card, you may immediately play another card.
    By playing a Skip card, you may immediately play another card.


3 Parcheesi Use Cases Not Covered in the Rules - Help!

They get bumped. Covered in the rules:

A piece may not be placed on a safe space (generally colored light blue) if it is occupied by an opponent's piece.1 The exception is the safe space used when a piece leaves its nest — a single piece occupying such a safe space is sent back to its nest when an opponent's piece leaves the nest and occupies the space.[3]

Can't happen (see above)

Yes, you can move one of the existing pawns on your entry space 3 spaces FIRST to "make room" to use the 5 to get another pawn out. Covered in the rules:

In the case of a non-doubles roll, a player may move one or two pieces, either one piece by each of the numbers on the two dice or one piece by the total. If no move is possible, the turn is forfeited.1


How does Thought Sponge interact with Yarok, the Desecrated?

Unfortunately for you, Thought Sponge won't trigger again. In fact, it doesn't even trigger at all, since it is indeed a replacement effect:

  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.

and as you noted, replacement effects are unaffected by Yarok's ability.

A similar card which is affected by Yarok is Propeller Pioneer which has the Fabricate 1 ability:

  When this creature enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on it or create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.

This is a triggered ability:

  603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”


When was the Lord Licorice character added to Candy Land?

According to the Candy Land 50th Anniversary Edition Rules:

1985: “The Legend of the Lost Candy Castle” story and characters introduced to game.

I presume, Since Lord Licorice is the antagonist of that story, that he was introduced then.

'They'll never find the hidden King or his Castle,' Lord Licorice says sourly... 'for I have hidden them from sight so that all of Candy Land will be mine!' His heart is as hard as rock candy. Always gloomy, always grim, Lord Licorice lives very much alone, except for the few Bitter Chocolate Bats to keep him company!
'Utter nonsense,' Queen Frostine says of Lord Licorice's evil plan. Peacefully adrift on an Ice Cream Float in an Ice Cream Sea, warm-hearted Frostine thinks the Candy Land Kids will surely find the King. 'And no matter how many times Lord Licorice plots and plans,' she adds, 'Candy Land will sparkle once again.'

EDIT:
I found the History Page on Hasbro's site. It appears that the version labeled "1980s" has Lord Licorice, while the "1970s" version does not. According to the Candy Land wikipedia page, there was a version published in 1978, and another in 1985. I've done some web searches, and "1984 edition" comes up in searches. Perhaps there were different copyright/publishing dates in different countries?
Anyway, I can't find any reference to Lord Licorice on boards for the 1978 or earlier editions…


Munchkins: Apocolypse Preparing for the 7th seal

OK, I looked up the rules. On page 5 is a section called 'WHEN TO PLAY CARDS'. In it you find:

  Items – Playing Them

  Any Item card may be played to the table as soon as you get it, or at
  any time on your own turn other than in combat (unless the card itself
  says otherwise).

So, if you have no combat and it is your own turn, you can play item cards.


When planeswalkers become creatures, are they no longer planeswalkers?

It is rule 205.1a:

205.1a Some effects set an object’s card type. In such cases, the new card type(s) replaces any existing card types. Counters, effects, and damage marked on the object remain with it, even if they are meaningless to the new card type. Similarly, when an effect sets one or more of an object’s subtypes, the new subtype(s) replaces any existing subtypes from the appropriate set (creature types, land types, artifact types, enchantment types, planeswalker types, or spell types). If an object’s card type is removed, the subtypes correlated with that card type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a card type the object currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the object’s card type is removed. Removing an object’s subtype doesn’t affect its card types at all.

This is why certain other cards like Blinkmoth Nexus, when they change type, have to include "it's still a land", for example, when the ability is made to retain the existing type. Or alternatively "in addition to its other types" in the case of something like Liquimetal Coating.
There is also an exception for when the type is set to "artifact creature":

205.1b [...] Some effects state that an object becomes an “artifact creature”; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes. Some effects state that an object becomes a “[creature type or types] artifact creature”; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes other than creature types, but replace any existing creature types.

So if you use Karn, Silver Golem's ability on an artifact land, it would be an artifact land creature afterwards.
Final note about activating the Loyalty Ability of a planeswalker that is no longer a planeswalker; it's allowed normally because the rules for Loyalty Abilities don't restrict or limit them to planeswalkers in any way; nothing stops a creature or any other non-planeswalker from having Loyalty Abilities:

606.2. An activated ability with a loyalty symbol in its cost is a loyalty ability. Normally, only planeswalkers have loyalty abilities.


Do Increasing Vengence and Swerve form an infinite combo?

If by "itself" you mean having Increasing Vengeance target itself, then no, you can't do that because rule 114.4 says

  A spell or ability on the stack is an illegal target for itself.

Even if you could do that, it wouldn't do much because no matter how many times an Increasing Vengeance were to resolve copying itself, you would still end up with a single Increasing Vengeance.

If, on the other hand, you mean having Increasing Vengeance target Swerve, then you can do that but it wouldn't do much because once Increasing Vengeance starts to resolve Swerve would no longer be on the stack so the Increasing Vengeance would be countered for having no legal target.


How do you tell the difference between Alpha and Beta Star Trek CCG?

The white bordered alpha edition was produced in 1994 and bears 1994 on the copyright line.

The white bordered beta edition was produced in 1995 and bears 1995 on the copyright line.

The sets are otherwise indistinguishable.  Additionally there is a silver bordered collector's edition that was distributed in a metal container.

The cards with changes between Alpha and Beta are:

ARMUS - SKIN OF EVIL — changed lore from "Malevolent being formed when the inhabitants of Vagra II rid themselves of all the evil they have inside." to "A malevolent being was formed when the inhabitants of Vagra II rid themselves of all the evil they had inside."

DISTORTION FIELD — changed "prevents any beam down here" to "...prevents beam down/up here..."

EMERGENCY TRANSPORTER ARMBANDS — changed "Beam Personnel up or down at any time, even during a battle before the winner is determined." to "Beam your Personnel up or down at any time, except during a dilemma (unless specifically permitted). May be used during battle before the winner is determined."

EVACUATION — changed "Strength" to "STRENGTH"

FIRESTORM — changed "... unless thermal deflectors present. Discard dilemma." to "...unless thermal deflectors present OR Away Team escapes using emergency transporter armbands. Discard dilemma."

GIUSTI — corrected misspelling of "consol" to "console"

**INVESTIGATE TIME CONTINUUM — corrected misspelling of "Dividia" to "Devidia"

KHITOMER RESEARCH — changed from Romulan to Romulan and Klingon mission

LWAXANNA TROI — corrected misspelling of "Lwaxanna" to "Lwaxana"

MENDON — corrected misspelling of "specialist" to "specialists"

'T'PAN — added MINDMELD skill

THE JUGGLER — corrected misspelling of "Lwaxanna" to "Lwaxana"

TORAL — changed "...bidding of half sisters, Lursa and B'Etor." to "...bidding of Duras's sisters, Lursa and B'Etor."

TSIOLKOVSKY INFECTION — added "(Not cumulative.)"

U.S.S. OBERTH — moved staff icon to center of art block.

WESLEY CRUSHER — removed apostrophe from "Protege' of the Traveler." to read "Protege of the Traveler."

WIND DANCER — corrected misspelling of "Lwaxanna" to "Lwaxana"


Will an object trigger if the source is sacrificed to pay a cost?

If a creature with a triggered ability leaves the battlefield before the triggered ability's condition occurs, the ability is not triggered. Rule 603.6d says

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

In your specific situation, rule 601.2h says

  Once the steps described in 601.2a–g are completed, 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, he or she gets priority.

One of those steps is paying costs. Activated abilities follow the same steps. So in both of your examples, the creature is no longer on the battlefield by the time the spell is cast or the ability is activated.


Transports onload/offloading adjacent to enemy controlled sea zone

I believe you are correct. Australia is adjacent to a hostile sea zone, and therefore British transports cannot load or offload infantry in Australia while an enemy ship is in any of the sea zones around it. I base that on the fact that "territory" always refers to land, where-as "zone" refers to sea.

Seems incredibly overpowered. But that is how the rules read.


Seating is very important in Puerto Rico.

The seat that wins the most is 1st Corn (based on World Boardgaming Championship stats).
Here's one of the tourney pages with stats, if you look around you'll find more.

Here's the compilation of stats from 2002 to 2009:

Seat 1 indigo 41.53 scoring average, 19.9% of wins
Seat 2 indigo 40.73 scoring average, 19.5% of wins
Seat 3 corn   43.48 scoring average, 30.8% of wins
Seat 4 corn   43.35 scoring average, 29.7% of wins

Having corn allows you to produce sooner, and more, so you can make more points shipping.
It requires less men, so you can do more with the men you have.

One of the big reasons that it gives an advantage is that it's a simple strategy, just make corn and ship.  The other strategies take more thought and hard decisions.

One other factor that comes into play in Puerto Rico is that you have to change your tactics and maybe your strategies based on the player to the left and what he does.


How can I find the price of non-english cards?

Starcitygames.com has a built-in foreign language price/ordering. The search page for Hypnotic Specter has a link to the old german version.


Can a creature with megamorph block then morph?

Yes you can. Morph/megamorph can be used any time you have priority. After declaring blockers but before combat damage is assigned and dealt, there will be a priority pass where you can megamorph your creature.

  702.36e: Any time you have priority, you may turn a face-down permanent you control with a morph ability face up. This is a special action; it doesn't use the stack...


I believe you are talking about Gaps (or some variant of it).

  The cards are dealt into four rows of thirteen. The aces are removed and discarded from further play. The gaps that they leave behind are filled by cards that are the same suit and a rank higher than the card on the left of the gap. (For example, 4♣ can be placed beside 3♣.) However, any gap at the right of a King is considered dead and no card can fill it.

Quote from: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaps


Standard rotates once a year, in the fall. New cards printed in a core set or expansion set stay in Standard for between one to two years after their printing.

Currently, the normal set release schedule is:

One block (like Theros) on a yearly cycle: one sets each for fall, winter, and spring.
One core set (like M14) each summer.
A couple of specialty products throughout the year, like Commander decks or Modern Masters. These aren't part of Standard.

Both the structure of Standard and the release schedule have varied over time, but there's no particular reason to think Wizards of the Coast will change them anytime soon.

Modern-day Standard environments consist of:

The current block.
The previous complete block.
Any core sets released since the previous complete block.

The cards in Standard rotate once a year, when the first set of the new block is released in the fall. At its smallest, Standard is one old block + one set from the new block + one core set. At its largest, just before rotation, Standard is two complete blocks + two core sets. Because rotation happens in the fall, the cards in the summer core sets effectively "age out" the fastest (after about 1 1/4 years).


It's tough for the Type A personalities so often attracted to competitive games like Bridge, but all criticisms of partner should be reserved until after the match. I suggest noting to your partner "Make a note of that hand, and we'll discuss it after the game." One or two violations per game, that accept such a comment with a positive attitude, can be tolerated in a partner - any more than two you should be looking for a new partner, as the problem will get worse not better.

All criticisms of anybody else in the room are out of bounds - give your partner one warning and then have a word with the director. If you partner persists in this behaviour during the game look for another partner, and report offenses to the director as they happen by calling him/her to the table. Otherwise you are liable to get branded by other club members as a cohort of like mind.


Can you spend more than 2 gold on the House of Wonder to purchase more than one Cleric or Wizard?

No you cannot spend more than 2 Gold, yes you get 2 Adventurers.
The rules (page 5) under Assign Agent require that a building has an unoccupied action space to place your Agent. Immediately below that, the parts of a Basic Building are diagramed, showing what an Action Space looks like. On page 8, the House of Wonder is detailed, showing a single Action Space and the following text:

Action: Spend 2 Gold ( G G ), and then take 2 Adventurers from the supply and place them in your Tavern. These Adventurers can be only Clerics ( C ) or Wizards ( W ).

So, yes you get 2 Adventurers with spending 2 Gold. You cannot get 4 Adventurers, because the Action Space would be occupied by your first agent.

Assign Agent - If you have any Agents in your pool, you assign 1 of them. To assign an Agent, place it on any unoccupied action space of a Building, whether a basic Building or one that has been put into play. You cannot place an Agent on an action space that contains another Agent (yours or another player’s) or on Buildings that are not yet in play.
When you assign an Agent, follow the instructions for that action space. You take that action just once.


Do you die instantaneously if your life total hits 0?

104.3b If a player’s life total is 0 or less, he or she loses the game the next time a player would    receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

When the Force of Nature damages you, Spirit Link's trigger goes on the stack. If, between sustaining the damage and getting 8 life back from Link, your life total hits 0, you'll die.

This is confirmed by the Oracle text for Spirit Link:

  You only gain the life when the triggered ability resolves. If you are
  reduced to zero life before the ability resolves, you will lose before
  gaining the life.

Luckily, you can avoid this problem by replacing Spirit Link with Lifelink.


Following the official rules of Jenga, what is the highest possible level that can be placed?

51 levels. Achieving this requires 97 moves.

Let's start with a fresh tower, and let's try to minimize the number of blocks in the top levels. The rest of the tower will consist of one-block levels.
I shall denote the state by the number of blocks on the top level, followed by the number of blocks on the next level down, etc. So a fresh tower is 3,3,3,...
One can't remove a block from the uppermost complete level, so our attempt goes as follows:

1,3,2,... ⇒ 6 in top 3.
2,3,1,... ⇒ 6 in top 3.
3,3,1,... ⇒ 7 in top 3.

And from there it loops.
Jenga has 54 blocks, so the tallest tower can have at most 51 level.

1,3,2,<48 levels with just 1> after 97 moves.
2,3,1,<48 levels with just 1> after 98 moves.

From the above, we can also determine that the tallest tower with a complete top level will have 50 levels. This takes 96 moves.


Is Loyal Cathar's ability a "delayed triggered ability"?

You are partially right. Loyal Cathar's ability is actually a triggered ability that creates a delayed triggered ability.

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[Trigger condition], [effect],” and begin with the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” They can also be expressed as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect].”
Loyal Cathar's ability can be parsed as follows [When][Trigger Condition], [effect]:

[Loyal Cathar dies], - is the Trigger Condition.
[return it to the battlefield transformed under your control at the beginning of the next end step] - is the effect.

The effect of the triggered ability sets up a delayed triggered ability that triggers at the the beginning of the next end step (see example below).

603.7c A delayed triggered ability that refers to a particular object still affects it even if the object changes characteristics. However, if that object is no longer in the zone it’s expected to be in at the time the delayed triggered ability resolves, the ability won’t affect it. (Note that if that object left that zone and then returned, it’s a new object and thus won’t be affected. See rule 400.7.)
Example: An ability that reads “Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end
step” will exile the permanent even if it’s no longer a creature during the next end step.
However, it won’t do anything if the permanent left the battlefield before then.

The original question that spawned your question still has the correct checkmarked answer. Loyal Cathar's ability will fail to find the card in the graveyard, because Undying Evil already returned it to the battlefield. So, when the delayed triggered ability resolves at the beginning of the end of turn, it will fail to do anything. If Loyal Cathar dies again before the beginning of the end of turn, the original delayed triggered ability will still fail to do anything, because the Undying Evil returned Loyal Cathar is a new object.


This sounds more like a question of sportsmanship and the play-style of people you choose to play with rather than an actual rules question.
Yes, discarding is the last thing you do on your turn; when you make a meld you do so during your turn before discarding your card.
However, as long as the next player has not taken a turn, or provided any additional information, there is no reason to not allow a player to still play their meld.
It is unclear from your question why your opponent did not lay down the meld first. In Phase 10 there is never a reason to hold onto a meld that you could play instead. So is it that he didn’t notice that he didn’t have the meld until just after he discarded? Or he didn’t understand that melding should happen before discarding? Or was it just his style of laying down all his cards to lay down the discard right before the meld; just messing around? In any of these cases, I and the people I play games with would consider it poor sportsmanship to tell the person that they cannot play their meld because technically the discard card hit the table before the meld cards did. What matters is that they all happened on the same turn.
This could be different in other similar games where there is sometimes a reason to not play a meld when you can. In that case a person could choose to not play a meld, but then change their mind at last second after they discard a card; perhaps because something in their opponent's face told them that the card they chose to discard means that this turn was their last chance to meld. But in Phase 10, laying down your meld as soon as you have the required cards is an automatic decision; there is no skill or strategy in deciding when to meld.


You cannot Stifle Heritage Druid's ability since it is what is called a mana ability

  605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t have a target, it could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and it’s not a loyalty ability

  605.3b An activated mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated.

If instead of the Heritage Druid's ability if your opponent was trying to Stifle Imperious Perfect's activated ability your Perfect and lets say the Forest you tapped for the {G} would remain tapped.

  701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.

  701.5b The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn’t get a “refund” of any costs that were paid.


Can I choose an encounter if I am unable to complete the clues requirement upon passing the test?

Because order of operations is important and there is an option in the description, the above situation would be a possible way of avoiding a potentially 'bad' encounter.  Since the card is written in a way to say "First, attempt a  check.  Then, you may spend  clues to remove this rumor.", that means that you can always attempt the check as an encounter, regardless of your clue token total.  The card would need to be written differently if it wanted to use clue tokens as a prerequisite.  Something like "If the investegator has  number of clue tokens, they may attempt to remove this rumor as an encounter."  So, yes, you can use this instead of doing another encounter on the space.


Can you store cargo on your outfit's "unused" spaces?

You cannot store cargo on the unused spaces of an outfit. The unused spaces are there to add complexity to the placement of your outfits and to also have a place for you to put damage on an outfit without it being disabled


Interpretation of the word "immediately" in Phase 3 or Phase 4

I can't see any reason why Trade Master would circumvent the normal rules for playing an Action.  I think all that the "immediately" implies is that, when you play the card during phase 2, you get the resources straightaway at that point.

Why this particular card would use the word "immediately" when all action cards are specified by the rules as taking "immediate effect" isn't very clear - but in situations like this I usually assume a slightly loose translation from the original German, rather than reading a special meaning in.  Perhaps a native speaker could tell us what the wording on the German cards are?


Another possibility is to just create house rules that will go along these lines:

Remove the card from the deck before play, and explain new players why.
Extend the amount of levels needed to win ie. 15-20 (this will only delay, but may help prevent surprise wins.)

Personally, I'd keep it! Although it sucks to lose to it, just deal with it and maybe luck will sway in your favor next game.

I've lost to it before, but because of Munchkin's randomness, I've come back from level 5 to win while 4 other players at level 9 were fighting each other and preventing each other from killing the winning monster.


Yu-Gi-Oh Magic/Trap cards that are based on how many tributes I had that turn

are there any magic or trap cards that give me effects based on how many tributes I had that turn or if I tributed at all?

Perhaps the most effective and generic card that comes to mind is Trial and Tribulation:

You can only activate 1 "Trial and Tribulation" per turn. during the End Phase of the turn this card was activated, apply this effect, depending on the number of monsters you Tributed from the field and from your hand this turn, except Tokens.

1: Draw 1 card.

2: Add 2 monsters from your Graveyard to your hand.

3+: Destroy up to 3 face-up card on the field.

As you can see it is quite powerful and will benefit from tributing monsters (even from your hand).


Where do I get the mana from for cards that give me mana?

You get the mana from the card itself, and you just remember that you have it for now.

I suspect you may be confusing lands with mana and thinking that this card gives you a forest card. They're different concepts completely. This is a common way for new players to get confused.

Mana is a currency that goes up and down during your turn. Lands, and creatures like Heart Warden, are ways to get this currency. Forests, for example, implicitly have exactly the same ability, and in fact that ability used to be written on the card:

Nowadays forests just have the symbol for green mana instead, but it means the same thing:

Forests give you green mana. Llanowar Elves will also give you green mana. To cast a spell that requires 3 mana, you can tap 2 forests and 1 Llanowar Elves to get 3 mana, then spend that 3 mana to cast the spell.

For more information on this, I suggest you read the Magic 2015 Quickstart Rules, page 4 on Lands.


Can the card disintegrate destroy creatures with indestructible?

No. Disintegrate cannot kill Zetalpa, Primal Dawn. Creature with indestructible cannot be killed with damage.

Rules quote from comprehensive rules:

  702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).

Disintegrate would exile Zetalpa only if Zetalpa would die. In your case Zetalpa won't leave the battlefield.


Diplomatic Immunity, card's self abilities and equipments

Target is a special word in Magic; if a spell or ability targets, it will say "target" in the rules text. The only time it doesn't is if it's hidden away inside a keyword - in which case the reminder text for the keyword (if present) will say "target". (Or I suppose a card subtype - Auras target.)

In the first case, the creature doesn't target itself, so that's fine, the ability still works.

In the second case, the Equip ability does target, as you can see from its reminder text, for example:

  Equip {3} ({3}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)

It says target, so you can't equip your creature. But it only targets as you're activating the ability, so if the equipment is already attached to the creature when you enchant it with Diplomatic Immunity, it'll stay there. You might be interested in this rules summary for Equipment, which in fact mentions these very things:

  The equip ability can't target a Gigapede, because it can't be the target of spells and abilities. There's no real way around this, even though being untargetable wouldn't cause the equipment to fall off. If the Warhammer is equipping a Glimmering Angel, making the Angel untargetable won't make the Warhammer fall off.


How does the effect of tile 22 (from Tower of Babel) apply to tokens (from Great Projects)?

Despite not having, yet, a Project that hands out defeat tokens as penalties, the phrase "apply to Conflict tokens from the Great Projects" is still in the rules just in case a relevant Great Project will be released, either as a promo or in a future expansion. That's my best guess.


Assuming that you're referring to the original version of Evolution. (I'm pretty sure the North Star Games version doesn't have mimicry). The new target must be eligible for attack by carnivore. You can not force it to attack an invalid target.


Yes. Wirewood Lodge's ability will go on the stack. Once it resolves, Timberwatch Elf will be untapped and the active player will get priority. Yamabushi's Flame won't resolve until all players pass priority, so your opponent has a chance to activate Timberwatch Elf's ability targeting itself.

Of course, there will need to be at least one other elf in play in order for the ability to actually save it from the 3 damage Yamabushi's Flame will deal.


In "Prophecy", when going onto a space that has a villain on it, are you required to fight it?

The short answer is yes, if you end your movement on a space with a revealed monster on it you must fight it.

This is set out in the rules, under Adventure Cards, the two parts that govern this are the following:

  You are always affected by the Adventure cards located in the space where you end your movement.

and

  If you encounter a Creature you must battle it (unlike using an Opportunity,
  fighting a Creature is mandatory).


What game uses dice with compass point arrows, forbidden signs, explosions, arrows and targeting reticles?

These are survivor dice from the cooperative world-of-survival-horror board game Dark, Darker, Darkest.

(The picture is labeled as "an expansion", but it's just a set of dice in each of the player colors. The base game uses these dice but shares a set among players.)


Can I respond to the mana payment for Oppressive Rays?

No, you have no opportunity to tap your opponent's creature after they have decided to pay the {3} to attack, but before they are already tapped and attacking.
The choice to pay mana is done as part of the declare attacker steps; they actually tap their own creature as part of attacking with it right before they pay the {3}, and you don't get priority to do anything until after they have finished declaring all attackers.
From the rules:

Declare Attackers Step

508.1. First, the active player declares attackers. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. To declare attackers, the active player follows the steps below, in order.

508.1a The active player chooses which creatures that they control, if any, will attack.
508.1f The active player taps the chosen creatures. Tapping a creature when it’s declared as an attacker isn’t a cost; attacking simply causes creatures to become tapped.
508.1h If any of the chosen creatures require paying costs to attack, or if any optional costs to attack were chosen, the active player determines the total cost to attack. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on.
508.1i If any of the costs require mana, the active player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, “Mana Abilities”).
508.1j Once the player has enough mana in their mana pool, they pay all costs in any order. Partial payments are not allowed.

508.2. Second, the active player gets priority.

You of course could tap their creature during the start of combat step, but you won't know whether or not they plan to pay the {3}, and if you choose to do so then they won't waste their {3} to allow it to attack. But once they declare it as an attacker, and you get to cast Dizzying Swoop, it will already be tapped and Dizzying Swoop would have no affect on it (though it would still be a legal target; it would be generally pointless).


how does Argothian Enchantress interact with Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant?

Was a spell cast? No, self-evidently. Then "Whenever you cast an [x] spell" triggers won't trigger.
Did a new permanent enter the battlefield? No: an existing permanent changed its characteristics. So "Whenever an [x] enters the battlefield" triggers won't trigger, either.


Does blinking a Planeswalker restore its loyalty?

Yes, a planeswalker will return as if you had just played it, with full loyalty counters.
Blinking a Planeswalker means to first exile it, which indeed removes all counters from it, and then returning it to the battlefield, with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to the loyalty printed on the card.

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.
121.2. Counters on an object are not retained if that object moves from one zone to another. The counters are not “removed”; they simply cease to exist. See rule 400.7.
209.1. Each planeswalker card has a loyalty number printed in its lower right corner. This indicates its loyalty while it’s not on the battlefield, and it also indicates that the planeswalker enters the battlefield with that many loyalty counters on it.

It doesn't matter how or from where a planeswalker entered the battlefield, it will always gain as many loyalty counters as it has loyalty printed on it whenever it does enter the battlefield.


Most games of checkers have cool designs and stack and are pretty durable. They're obviously not poker chips. They generally only come in red or black, but I've spray painted them different colors to make generic Magic the Gathering tokens (the fact that they stack is nice for things that make lots of 1/1 dudes...) and they come out pretty good. Just a quick coat, let it dry, flip it and do another quick coat.

You can often buy checkers games for cheap from thrift stores.


Going to ground behind a Aegis defense line

The same rules of true Line Of Sight apply regardless of gone-to-ground status.  We can assume the enemy has radios, some M41 version of IR scanners, etc and knows there's somebody there.

From a practical standpoint, it's just bad game balance/design to allow someone to shoot you without moving if you weren't able to shoot them on your turn.

Warhammer 40K is very much an abstract game played with pieces that look like soldiers.  It does not try to be a simulation.


Does Guttersnipe's ability count as attacking?

No, Guttersnipe's ability does not count as "attacking".

In Magic the word "attacks" as used on Revenge of Ravens specifically refers to declaring a creature as an attacker in combat. Guttersnipe's ability does not do that; it just deals damage to players.


Which features are scored first in Carcassonne?

According to the Carcassonne Wiki here the rule is :-

  When players tie on a feature or when multiple features are scored together, gold is distributed to the involved players one bar at a time, beginning with the active player.

This view is also backed up by the complete annotated rules.  This document also says Rio Grande Games (RGG) and Hans Im Gluck versions both printed the rules slightly differently.

  The RGG version of the rules states “all players who score completed features with gold bars
  take one gold bar for each feature they score and that has gold bars.” This seems different from the
  HiG rules, where the rule is to only take one gold piece at a time.


No. Permanents that are on the battlefield, but change their types, do not trigger enter-the-battlefield or leave-the-battlefield effects. The Mutavault is changed into a creature while it is on the battlefield, so it did not enter the battlefield as a creature and cannot trigger Mentor of the Meek or Suture Priest.

Wizards of the Coast has made this rule an explicit ruling for other lands that become creatures, e.g. Celestial Colonnade, but it applies identically to any permanent that is on the battlefield and then changes its type: In all such cases, it does not enter the battlefield and so no enter-the-battlefield triggers of any kind will fire.


Yes, Meteor Golem can target and destroy a planeswalker on the battlefield. The player is a "planeswalker" only in lore terms. As far as game mechanics are concerned, "planeswalker" has a defined meaning, and a planeswalker object is not a player and vice versa.
A planeswalker in the mechanical sense is a type of object, a game entity that interacts with players and other objects:

102.1. A player is one of the people in the game. [..]
109.1. An object is an ability on the stack, a card, a copy of a card, a token, a spell, a permanent, or an emblem.

A planeswalker is not a creature, as you already noted, but its own permanent type alongside creatures and others:

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

Therefore, if Meteor Golem can destroy a non-land permanent, then that does include a planeswalker on the battlefield.


What are the rules regarding mutual support?

A unit that is supporting is also holding and is always eligible to receive support in its hold.
The relevant quote from the rulebook is:

A unit not ordered to move can be supported by a support order that mentions only its province.  A unit that is ordered to hold, convoy, support, or not ordered at all can receive support in holding its position.

The most relevant thing to notice here is that a unit that is not moving is holding.  A support or a convoy is also a hold.  If a supporting unit is attacked, the unit does not revert to holding (this is a useful flavor justification but is not technically accurate), but rather the unit was holding the whole time.  All that happens is that it is no longer able to support in addition to holding as it is under attack (the support is cut).
As a result of this, two units can support each other, assuming they can each legally support the other (based on adjacency and unit type).  Since each unit is supporting, they are each also holding, and thus each is eligible for support in holding its position.  If one unit is attacked, it's support for the other unit will be cut, but it will still hold and the other unit will support it's hold.
An opponent needs a minimum of three units to dislodge one of your units and thus disrupt your position.  They can do this by either doing a doubly supported attack on a single unit, or by doing a singly supported attack on one unit and an unsupported attack on the other unit to cut it's support.
This is consistent with the basic principle of diplomacy: equal numbers create a standoff, whereas superior numbers (eventually) win.  Your two units can defend against an attack of two units but not against an attack of three units.
Note that you can also support the hold of a fleet that is convoying an army.  This will help prevent the fleet from being dislodged if it is attacked while convoying.


When must you resolve spells cast with Diluvian Primordial?

You're right, you can't.

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.” The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.
603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.
601.2c The player announces their choice of an appropriate object or player for each target the spell requires. ...

So when the ability triggers, in the process of putting the ability on the stack, you must already choose the appropriate target spells in the graveyards. Then (assuming the ability isn't countered) while it resolves, you cast (not resolve) all target spells, one after another, including choosing targets for them. While that happens, nobody can do anything else except that you can activate mana abilities:

608.2f If an effect gives a player the option to pay mana, they may activate mana abilities before taking that action. If an effect specifically instructs or allows a player to cast a spell during resolution, they do so by following the steps in rules 601.2a–i, except no player receives priority after it’s cast. That spell becomes the topmost object on the stack, and the currently resolving spell or ability continues to resolve, which may include casting other spells this way. No other spells can normally be cast and no other abilities can normally be activated during resolution.

so you'll end up with a stack full of spells (those you targeted with Diluvian Primordial's ability) waiting to resolve. Opponents may still counter those spells, or cast a spell or activate an ability to e.g. return a creature they want to protect to their hand. As you thought, you can't cast sorceries, creatures or planeswalkers from your hand in the normal way, since the stack is not empty. You'll have to wait for that until all 'stolen' spells have resolved.


As far as I can tell they are standard Tarot cards. Shown are Judgement and The Tower.

While there are games that can be played with them, they are not from a specific game.


Can I still use Profane Memento if I have out Silent Gravestone?

Silent Gravestone has no interaction with Profane Memento. Silent Gravestone's static ability says

  Cards in graveyards can't be the targets of spells or abilities.

Profane Memento's ability does not try to target anything in graveyards or otherwise. It simply reacts to cards moving into the graveyard. So, the ability keeps working even if you have Silent Gravestone on the battlefield.


Copyright only covers specific implementations, i.e. the exact wording of the rules.  Patents are a nonissue in this case, Boggle was released in 1972 so any patent applying to it would have expired years ago.


Though not exactly the same, Zareth San's ability is very similar to Ninjutsu, and even referred to here.
702.48c states:

A ninjutsu ability may be activated only while a creature on the
battlefield is unblocked (see rule 509.1h). [...]

And when we follow up on 509.1h, we see that

An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers
for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as
blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged
until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it
becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever
comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures
blocking it are removed from combat.

Since you added that your opponent cast Stomp during the declare attackers step, it wasn't determined yet whether your duelist is blocked or not. Therefore you weren't able use Zareth San's ability.


How do I make this zombie mill deck faster?

You are correct in your assessment that this deck is too slow. You should select one direction and go with it - either Zombie or Mill - rather than trying to do both. I recommend removing the Mill strategy, as it is likely to slow for the format, given the current metagame.

I suggest you look at sites such as mtgtop8.com for reference when building decks. There you will see decks with good winning records played by the top players, and be able to use those as a basis for your deck.  For example, this deck finished in the top 32 at the recent Pro Tour in Hawaii.

As for specific feedback on your deck, Standard is a fairly creature heavy, aggressive format. You are playing expensive removal (Sever the Bloodline) in favor of cheap (Tragic Slip, Go for the Throat (play more of those!)). Black Sun's Zenith is probably bad for you, as many of your creatures are low toughness.

Examine the mana curve of your deck. You can do this pretty easily by using any of the deck building sites (like TappedOut), or by arranging your cards by casting cost. In this deck, you have very few cards that you can cast for one or two mana, and as a result you'll lag behind those decks which can play something on turns one and two.

Hope this helps!


Can I use Word of Seizing on a planeswalker?

Yes, you can target any permanent including a planeswalker. You're right that impossible parts of an effect are ignored - in the case of this spell an example is that you can still target a permanent that's already untapped. Untapping something that's already untapped is impossible, so you just don't and move on with the rest of the effect.

However, the part about gaining haste isn't actually an example of an illegal or impossible effect: the planeswalker, or whatever else you steal, will get haste. Most of the time this will be irrelevant (haste doesn't do anything on a non-creature), but if the permanent later becomes a creature it will matter. So if you steal my Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and then use its +1 to turn it into a creature, you'll be glad this spell gave it haste, because otherwise you couldn't attack with it.


What happens to "usable once only" cards when Illusion is played?

I don't have an official ruling to cite, but my interpretation would be that Illusion only removes the monster and any Monster Enhancers specific to that monster, but does not affect any one-shot items or other "±X to either side" cards.

What's confusing here is that, instead of using the standard term "Monster Enhancer" (like, say, the Mate card does), the Illusion card text just says to discard "any cards that have been played to modify [the monster]".  However, as far as I can tell, these two terms as effectively synonymous; the rules essentially define a Monster Enhancer as any card played to modify an individual monster:

  Monster Enhancers

  Certain cards, called monster enhancers, raise or lower the combat strength of individual monsters. (Yes, you can have a negative enhancement.) Monster enhancers may be played by any player during any combat.

  All enhancers on a single monster add together. If there are multiple monsters in a combat, the person who plays each enhancer must choose which monster it applies to. Exception: Anything that enhances a monster also enhances its Mate … if Ancient, Enraged, and Mate are played on a single monster, in any order, you are facing an Ancient Enraged monster and its Ancient Enraged Mate. Good luck …

(The Mate card text was changed to explicitly refer to Monster Enhancers in The Great 2010 Changeover; I suspect that the lack of a similar change to the Illusion card may have been an oversight.)

The essential difference between Monster Enhancers and one-shot items is that Monster Enchancers modify a specific monster (and possibly its Mate, per the explicit exception quoted above), whereas one-shot items add a bonus to a side in combat.

In particular, if there are multiple monsters involved in a combat (e.g. due to Wandering Monster cards being played), a one-shot item granting a bonus to the monsters' side will not be tied to any specific monster, and will not disappear even if some of the monsters are subsequently removed from combat by any means.

Of course, if all the monsters leave combat with no replacement (and no new wandering monsters appear within the rules-prescribed 2.6 seconds), then the combat is over and any bonuses of any kind become irrelevant.


Can Sarkhan, Fireblood pay for Mirror Image if it copies a dragon?

No, you cannot pay for Mirror Image with that mana generated by Sarkhan.

The ability on Mirror Image modifies how Mirror Image enters the battlefield. You decide that at the time that the Mirror Image spell resolves. But you pay for the spell earlier, when it's just a Mirror Image, and not a dragon.


The Clone would enter the battlefield as a copy of whatever Vesuvian Doppelganger is cloning, with the Doppelganger's extra ability. In fact, the rules about copying objects have an example covering this specific scenario

  The copy’s copiable values become the copied information, as modified by the copy’s status (see rule 110.6). Objects that copy the object will use the new copiable values.

    Example:  Vesuvan Doppelganger reads, "You may have Vesuvan Doppelganger enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield except it doesn’t copy that creature’s color and it gains ‘At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have this creature become a copy of target creature except it doesn’t copy that creature’s color. If you do, this creature gains this ability.’" A Vesuvan Doppelganger enters the battlefield as a copy of Runeclaw Bear (a 2/2 green Bear creature with no abilities). Then a Clone enters the battlefield as a copy of the Doppelganger. The Clone is a 2/2 blue Bear named Runeclaw Bear that has the Doppelganger’s upkeep-triggered ability.


Contract Bridge and the short club convention

As Alexander Woo says in a comment, there is no "short club convention" - at least, no single one.  Frankly, there is no "X convention" for any X - you will find people who play X a different way than you, and will insist theirs is the right way (or even the only way).  The correct answer to your question is "what have you and your partner agreed to?" and "how are your responses tuned to fit that agreement?"  It is always a risk to say "we play X" and assume partner plays it the same as you do.
"Short Club" systems common enough for me to think of immediately include:

The most common "short club" played by thousands of (usually weaker) players at home and in tournaments: "5-card majors, 4-card diamonds, 3 cards clubs, with 4=4=3=2 opened 1 club instead of 1 diamond" (= is a writing convention meaning "suits in order", so 4=4=3=2 is 4 in both majors, 3 diamonds, 2 clubs).  Perfectly playable, as long as it doesn't evolve into "I couldn't raise on 5, what if you only had two!" or other monstrous convolutions to care for this very rare (3% in a strong NT) hand type.  In this case, no, 1 diamond does not promise 5 (1D is opened on 3=3=4=3, for example).

A very common system in my area is "Montréal Relay", where 1 diamond does promise 5, 1 club is frequently 2 (the key of this system is that the "relay", 1C-1D is catchall, and only "denies a 5-card major" (and a few other rare hands)).  Now the issue is what to do with 4=4=4=1; some put it into 1C, some into 1D, some play some sort of 2D 4441 bid,...
I am amused by the fact that there are more players of Montréal Relay where I live out West, than there are in Montréal itself.

Becoming more common in the ACBL (due to convention liberalization), and very common elsewhere, is 1 club "clubs or balanced", usually with transfer responses (so 1C-1D shows 4+ hearts, 1C-1H shows 4+ spades,...)  Here, 1D is almost always unbalanced, almost always 5 (could be 4=4=4=1, many play not 3=3=5=2 or (32)=5=3).

Then there are all the two-way and three-way club systems like Swedish ("weak NT or strong hand") and Polish ("weak NT or 15-19 clubs or strong hand") Clubs. The rules for those vary a lot as well, but we're leaving the world of what would be called a "short club" convention.

Of course, there's the really old-fashioned "short club", where as well as the clubs hands, you open 1 club with a hand not quite strong enough to open a strong 2.  1C is "not forcing", but partner knows not to pass it, "just in case".
This system works much better with the similarly old-fashioned spoken bidding clues, where, as Ron Andersen (prolific bridge author, teacher and expert player) said about his "mother's bridge club" (quoting from memory):

If a player has 13 or so with real clubs, she opens "one club".  If it's 3 poor (or 2) clubs, she opens "a club".  If she has a strong hand that shouldn't be passed, it's "I'll start with a club".

In case it wasn't obvious, this "help" is highly unethical if done by habit, and cheating if on purpose.  Don't.


Has Ash ever appeared on any Pokémon TCG cards?

As the Pokémon TCG follows the console games rather than anime, Ash was never a star in the TCG (because he was never in any console game). However, to commemorate few films in Generations III and IV, few promotional cards depicting Ash's Pokémon were released (along many other Owner's Pokémon originating from the films), although all are Japan-exclusive. No Trainer card named just Ash exists.

Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (M07)

Ash's Torkoal

inserted in a children magazine

Ash's Treecko

Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (M08)

Ash's Grovyle
Ash's Phanpy
Ash's Swellow

Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea (M09)

Ash's Aipom

Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life (M12)

Pikachu
Pikachu  LV.X
Staraptor

As @JonathanJ mentioned in comments, there is also a card named Ash-Greninja  depicting a Bond Phenomenon Greninja originating in Gen 6 anime. It was released in both Japanese and English, but only the second Japanese print features a picture of Ash.

As @Thunderforge mentioned in comments, in April 2017 a new Japanese-exclusive subset named Ash vs Team Rocket Deck Kit was released, based on Alolan episodes of anime. Some artworks of Pokémon that Ash owns also depict himself. The subset also includes the first Trainer card with Ash in its name.

Rowlet
Ash's Pikachu
Tauros
Ash's Friendship


Can Sundial of the Infinite interrupt multiple-card draws while drawing?

No.

In order to activate an ability or cast a spell, a player must have priority. During the resolution of spells and abilities, players do not receive priority.

One advantage of declaring "multiple draws are done one at a time" is multiple card drawing cleanly interacts with cards like Abundance, Alhammarret's Archive, or cards that say, "whenever you draw a card"


It can support again another battle. Supporting units simply provide their strength in combat without participating in any other way. Routing only happens to retreating armies. See manual page 21 ("Retreats and Routing").


How to make a game of Yu-Gi-Oh! quicker?

What are house rules that could make the game a lot more quicker, without spoiling the "skeleton" of the game?

To be honest, Yu-Gi-Oh is actually quite fast-paced, even more now with all the changes that have been to the format (and I am not the only one that thinks this is a thing). In some cases, if you or your opponent pull out a OTK or FTK the game could well last less than 5 minutes.
In official tournaments, the rulings indicate that rounds have a 40 minutes duration. Each round is played in a best-of-three Duels, meaning that you have about 13 minutes per game. We can see that Duels are already fast enough, and that the official rules consider time limits according to this average duration.
With this being said, we can see that one Duel should at most last 13 minutes, so it is reasonable that a single duel can well last 10 minutes or less. Perhaps a duel can take longer if there is debate or argument while playing it, as to the correct ruling of a card, or on legal aspect of some move.
In this case, to effectively speed your games it would help to reduce the time spent debating or arguing so you have more time to actually play. This can only be achieved if both parties understand and know the rules on a decent or high degree, so there is no room for misinterpretation. Also, the more you play with someone the better you know each other's decks and possible moves, thus you will be able to play your games more swiftly.

Now, if you and your friend(s) are still taking longer than that to play a single game there could be other options (besides being swifter on the debating of rules) you may consider:

As you already suggested, reducing Life Points to 4000 can effectively speed some duels. You even say that "Kind of removes the length of the game significantly", but isn't this what you are asking for?
A slight variant of this idea is to reduce LP to 2000 points, as it was done in the anime/manga on Duel Monsters. This way you games will be really swift on the current format, while not deviating much from the real game (actually, it would be even more like the anime).

Other option I once tried with some friends was to penalize a player that takes much time deciding their moves. The penalty was represented by a fixed deduction of LP (say 500?) each time that player stalls or takes much time to decide. Of course, this is better when done with a third person that can oversee the game as judge and call the penalties. This encouraged fast-play while actually capping each game if a player stalls too much.

Yet another option you got is to perhaps try playing those swift duels on an app or similar, like the well-known YGO Pro. This way you spare yourself from interpreting the rules and timings, so you "just" play and let the game automatically carry out the legal actions for you. Of course that YGO Pro and similar may have some bugs, bit if they do they are minimal.
Then, when you got more free time, you can play with your physical decks and take all the time you need to debate if a move or strategy is valid or not. As a final suggestion, sometimes it is better to postpone a game and play it when you have time to play it properly, without rushing and being able to enjoy it more.


Your creature enters the battlefield, as though your opponent had never tried to counter it in the first place.

If you counter your opponent's counterspell, then their counterspell never resolves, so it never does anything to your creature spell.

Magic uses the stack to resolve spells and abilities. Whenever you cast a spell, it goes on top of the stack, and everyone gets a chance to respond. If they respond with another spell or ability, it goes on top of the stack and the process starts again. If nobody responds, then the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves, and everyone gets another chance to respond to whatever is now on top. The important thing to remember here is that spells and abilities don't actually do anything until they resolve.

Rule 701.5 describes what countering a spell means:

  701.5. Counter

  701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
  701.5b The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn’t get a "refund" of any costs that were paid.

This means that in your scenario, the sequence of actions goes like this:

You cast your Archetype of Imagination. The stack now looks like this:

Your Archetype of Imagination

Your opponent responds with a counterspell targeting the Archetype. The stack now looks like this:

Your opponent's Counterspell
Your Archetype of Imagination

You cast a counterspell targeting your opponent's counterspell. The stack now looks like this:

Your Counterspell
Your opponent's Counterspell
Your Archetype of Imagination

Nobody responds, so your counterspell resolves. It counters your opponent's counterspell, which goes to their graveyard without doing anything. THe stack now looks like this:

Your Archetype of Imagination

The Archetype resolves and enters the battlefield.


Does the Ward keyword trigger Baral's card draw clause?

Yes, this is confirmed by the Strixhaven mechanics guide:

Ward is a triggered ability.

More generally, a triggered ability is defined as (Comprehensive Rules 603.1):

Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”

The reminder text for Ward meets that pattern; while reminder text formally has no bearing on the game, it is intended to be helpful and it would be very unhelpful for the reminder text to meet the pattern of a triggered ability without being one.


What is the name of the game called "Ace" in south Asia (specifically India)?

I've found several references to it online as being called "Bhabhi":

http://s193890092.onlinehome.us/malton/bhabhi.htm

http://www.zymbiotic.com/bhabhi/rules

Also, someone on BoardGameGeek really likes it, so it must be bona fide:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/471299/the-perfect-card-game


Cosmic Encounter Can I attack an empty planet

You absolutely can attack a planet with no defenders.
On page 8 of the rulebook it states:

Defending with Nothing?
Even though a player may no longer have a colony
on one of his or her home planets, that player
must still defend it.

Which certainly confirms that you can attack an unoccupied world.


If the three most recent cards form a run (with the total still at or below 31), the player who played the last card gets one point per card in the run.  Any combination of 5-6-7 as the most recent three will do this, regardless what any player might have said about "breaking the run."


No, you only collect $200 dollars, not $400. From the official rules:

  Each time a player's token lands on or passes over GO, whether by
  throwing the dice or drawing a card, the Banker pays that player a
  $200 salary. The $200 is paid only once each time around the board.

You only land on GO once, so you only get one payout. The message on the card is just to remind you that landing on GO also pays out.

However, there's nothing stopping you playing this variant as a house rule, which is not uncommon:

  According to the official rules each player receives $200 for passing
  Go. However, due to the Chance and Community Chest cards which
  instruct players to Advance to Go and Collect $200 - A popular house
  rule is that you collect $200 for landing on Go plus $200 for actually
  passing Go. Therefore, it is common to pay someone $400 for landing
  directly on Go: $200 for actually landing on Go plus the $200 as an
  advance for their next move when they literally pass Go.


No-thanks: What if a player has no card? | If a player hoards cards?

First off, did you remember to randomly remove 9 cards from the deck? This would greatly reduce the chance of a player getting lucky enough for that to be a good idea.

Other than that, it is certainly possible that a player could get negative points (though I don't think I've seen it happen). If you have a player that is purposefully losing the game by just taking every card, and thus making the game unplayable for the other players, then it is simply an issue of sportsmanship, and not one of rules. The rules do not prevent a player from ruining the game in this way.


When an ability triggers, all the game does is make a note of it. The triggered ability is only placed on the stack the next time a player would get priority. This is only after Hypergenesis has finished resolving.

  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.

  603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. [...]

So 1) yes, and 2) no.


Can a player take both a madness and injury card if his investigator gets reduced to zero stamina and sanity?

The investigator is devoured.

The Dunwich Horror rulebook reiterates the basic rule

  If an investigator is reduced to both 0 Sanity and 0
  Stamina at the same time, that investigator is devoured.


Is there a way for Braille-Cribbage players to find each other?

I didn't have much luck because I couldn't take the time to sign out and getting recommendations not based on my preferences is apparently quite hard. But have you tried MeetUp? On the continent I know it's a very popular website for finding local gamers. You might be able to use MeetUp as Hao Ye suggests to find a blind meet up and see if anyone is interested in cribbage. The best I could find was this Singles Group but there might be others and you might be able to create one if you're interetsed. You could also scan your local subreddit.


Can I build on a different tile to the one I terraform?

No, you can only build on the space that you terraform. From the rules:

  First, you may change the type of one Terrain space. Then, if you have changed its type to your Home terrain, you may immediately build a Dwelling on that space.

If you are using the 2 free shovels power action, then you can use the second one to terraform a second adjacent space if the first one was enough to make your first space into your home terrain.

  (If these Spades do not suffice to transform a given Terrain space into your Home terrain, you may exchange Workers* for the missing Spade – at the current Exchange rate on your Exchange track. If you only need one Spade to transform a Terrain space into your Home terrain, you may spend the second Spade on another Terrain space. However, you may not place a Dwelling on this other space.)


Does Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K.'s ability used by a copy make the copy retain the rules text beyond end of turn?

The effect created by Phoebe's ability will affect the object permanently (i.e. until the object ceases to exist by leaving the battlefield).

  611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.

Copying an object whose text was "stolen" will still copy its original text.

  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)