Monopoly millionaire mortgaging of a property to pay for another property

I would say no, you are just out of luck.

Defining Bankruptcy

Since the rules I found here don't explicitly define bankruptcy, but merely list the changes from standard Monopoly rules, I will refer to the standard rules. It states

  BANKRUPTCY ... You are declared bankrupt if you owe more than you can
  pay either to another player or to the Bank.

Since the rules for Millionaire state about mortgage (and other things)

  IMPORTANT: You can ONLY do these things if you’re bankrupt, not under
  any other circumstances!

Since buying property is optional (the standard rules say that you may buy property when you land on it, it is not required), you don't qualify as being bankrupt.  Since you are not bankrupt, mortgaging is not an option.


Pandemic - Can an action be performed by different players during action phase?

No, Flexible Aid Package specifically says that "the current player" takes 1 additional action per card you discard.

So if player 2 uses Flexible Aid Package during player 1's turn, player 2 will discard 1-3 cards from their hand, and that will give player 1 extra actions. Player 2 cannot take the extra actions.

Same with the Borrowed Time event; it only gives the "current player" (the player who is taking their turn" the extra action.


1A: Kill 1 Zombie:

  After moving into a Room, you may kill 1 Zombie. [...]

So 1A can be performed each time you enter a room.

1B: Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token:

  After moving into a Room (and killing a Zombie if necessary), [...] you may then use Room abilities and/or interact with Tokens. [...]

So 1B can clearly be done in addition to 1A. There's no reason to believe 1C is any different, so all of 1A to 1C can be done each time you enter a room.

Since you have three moves, you shall be entering three rooms, and thus go through 1A to 1C three times.

Then, you search your current store

  After completing 3 Moves, the Human Player flips over the facedown
  Search Card in front of them and places this card face up next to the
  Store they are in. [...]

So, in the right conditions, you could perform 10 actions per turn (13 if you count "Use Room's Ability" and "Interact with a Token" separately). Keep in mind the some actions (1B and 1C) can only be taken if the store is devoid of zombies.

Move 1 Room

Kill 1 Zombie
Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
Collect Items

Move 1 Room

Kill 1 Zombie
Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
Collect Items

Move 1 Room

Kill 1 Zombie
Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
Collect Items

Search Current Store


In the English version of Citadels, what is the action text on the card named Armory/Weaponry?

From this thread on BoardGameGeek, someone posts:

  The card says:
  During your turn, you may destroy the Armory in order to destroy any other district card of your choice in another player's city.

The Wikipedia page for Citadels refers back to that thread.

Later in the thread, the game designer (Bruno Faidutti) mentions that the ability to destroy one district can be used when a player builds an eighth district (which would end the game at the end of that round), even though normally you can't destroy a district in a city that's already completed.

  BF: I admit the rules are ambiguous on this, but my idea was that it is allowed.
  Q: Would the game still end, as the card says the game ends after the turn, even though the condition is no longer met?
  BF: Yes, it would.


Athreos, God of Passage and Gift of Immortality

We're dealing with two triggered abilities here that trigger upon death and move the card around:

  Gift of Immortality's ability: When enchanted creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. Return Gift of Immortality to the battlefield attached to that creature at the beginning of the next end step.

Movement: Graveyard → Battlefield

  Athreos, God of Passage's ability: Whenever another creature you own dies, return it to your hand unless target opponent pays 3 life.

Movement: Graveyard → Hand

The important rules

Both abilities attempt to move the card out of the same place. Because of rule 603.6, they're in a sort of race: the one to do the move first 'wins', whilst the other will fail to find the card in the graveyard and do nothing to it. Important part emphasised:

  603.6. Trigger events that involve objects changing zones are called "zone-change triggers." Many abilities with zone-change triggers attempt to do something to that object after it changes zones. During resolution, these abilities look for the object in the zone that it moved to. If the object is unable to be found in the zone it went to, the part of the ability attempting to do something to the object will fail to do anything. (ed: the rest snipped)

From rule 603.3b, you get to define the order these two go on the stack, and thus you choose which one will resolve first and win the race.

  603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order1, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. (ed: the rest snipped)

1 This refers to the "Active Player, Nonactive Player order" rule, defined in 104.4, and modified by 805.6 for teams. In short: the player/team whose turn it is puts their stuff on the stack, then the next player/team in turn order, and so on until everyone's done.

Therefore: what happens depends on the order you choose.

If you let Gift of Immortality resolve first...

Put Athreos's ability on the stack first, and Gift of Immortality's ability last. They resolve in this order:

Gift of Immortality's ability returns the card to the battlefield. Gift of Immortality will return attached to it later.
Athreos's ability triggers. It will do nothing regardless of your opponent's choice, because it can't move the card.

If you let Athreos's ability resolve first...

Put Gift of Immortality's ability on first, and then Athreos's last. They resolve in this order:

Athreos's ability offers your opponent a choice to pay 3 life, or do nothing.

If they pay 3 life, the card stays in your graveyard. (They will probably not choose to do this, because it works out badly for them.)
If they do not, it returns to your hand. (They will probably choose this.)

Gift of Immortality's ability resolves.

If the card's still in your graveyard, it moves to the battlefield, and Gift of Immortality will return attached to it later.
If your opponent made it return to your hand, Gift of Immortality does nothing and becomes a benign card in your graveyard. It will not return from the graveyard even if you re-cast the card, because of rule 400.7: the newly summoned creature will be considered a new and different creature to the one the Gift of Immortality remembers. None of 400.7's exceptions apply here.


If I gain control of an equipped creature, do I keep the equipment when it dies?

No.

You don't control the equipment.

Control of the equipment is separate to control of the creature. The same is true for attached auras, or any other kind of permanent. If something gives you control of one, you only control that one unless stated otherwise.

If timing allowed it (e.g. if you took control of the creature permanently, or with an instant-speed equip ability such as Cranial Plating), the equipment's controller could attach it to something else.

However, a lot of equipment cards give abilities to the creature. For example, Hankyu gives the equipped creature the ability to add or remove counters on the Hankyu. You could, for example, tap the creature to waste any counters they built up.

Conversely, Umezawa's Jitte's ability is on the equipment itself. The controlled creature's attacks would generate counters for the equipment, but the controller of the Jitte would be the one to activate its ability.

If you gained control of the equipment (e.g. Steal Artifact), it would remain attached to their creature, but you could use the equip ability to attach it to something else.


Yes, that's perfectly legal, assuming that you started with 6 clue tokens. Hard to point to a specific rule saying so, but there's 2 things to keep in mind:

1 - The legend rule, which you quoted, doesn't say anything about restrictions on which of the duplicates you have to choose, so there's no reason you can't choose the tapped one to get rid of and the untapped one to keep.

2 - Tamiyo's Journal doesn't care where the clue tokens came from; it doesn't have to be the same tokens that it created.

Of course, as described, you will get no benefit from this: you'll have just wasted 3 clue tokens and 5 mana. But it could be good with various combinations.


Is the Pandemic expansion "In the Lab" available in multiple languages?

Check the versions listed on BGG, it appears there's no Dutch version:
https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgameversion?linked_src_objecttype=thing&linked_src_objectid=137136

Also, I haven't found a Dutch version for this on several Belgian and Dutch web shops.

(On a side note: the Dutch version of Pandemic has some textual errors on the role cards. Just in case you didn't know.)


Making a family card game playable online

VASSAL was made for precisely this: it's a game engine/website where you can build games, and then play the games you built online. There are a wide variety of existing games already built for VASSAL, but Muggins is not one of them.

This will not be simple: you're going to need to learn how to program the game using VASSAL's editor. It'll take time and effort, but you will be able to re-create your family game of Muggins, house rules and all. Once you've built the game (the site calls it a "module"), VASSAL will host the game, so your family can join; you don't need to worry about the details of building a website yourself. VASSAL is free, though the site appreciates donations to keep it running.


Can an untapped creature "become untapped?"

No. There must be a transition. As per the English definition, "to become untapped" is "to begin to be untapped".

In fact, the ability you mentioned won't even try to untap it. It's impossible untap a permanent that's already untapped. That's why you can't activate an ability with the untap symbol ({Q}) in its cost if the source of the ability is already untapped.

Similarly, it's impossible to tap a permanent that's already tapped. That's why you can't activate an ability with the tap symbol ({T}) in its cost if the source of the ability is already tapped.

This wouldn't stop you from casting a spell that would try to do these impossible actions. The spell will simply do as much as possible, and skip over the impossible instruction. e.g. Gerrad's Command on an untapped creature would effectively become "Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.", and Crippling Chill on tapped creature would effectively become "Target creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step."


Yes, your Riddleform will keep the +1/+1 counters on it.

Permanents don't generally care what counters are on them unless they have and effect that says they should care. So even when your Riddleform turns back into an an enchantment it will still have it's +1/+1 counters on it (even though those counters won't do anything).

One special case to note is that your Hadana's Climb can only place +1/+1 counters on creatures. So even if your Riddleform has already received a counter or two, you will not be able to place additional counters on it with Hadana's Climb (and then cause the transform) if it is not currently a creature.


Four stones is an enormous handicap on a 9x9 board. With perfect play by Black, White probably can't make a living group. If you're taking four stones, you presumably aren't going to play perfectly. The main thing to do here is stay out of trouble. Connecting below 5 is a nice solid move. Playing to capture the two stones is fine, too. As long as you keep one of the upper corners alive after that, there's no way for White to win. White has to play very unreasonable moves in a situation like this, so thinking too much about them won't teach you much.


Can Disallow prevent me from crewing a vehicle?

Yes, Disallow will prevent you from crewing your vehicle: your vehicle will not become a creature, and the creatures you tapped to pay the crew cost will remain tapped.

From the comprehensive rules on Crew:

  702.121a Crew is an activated ability of Vehicle cards. “Crew N” means “Tap any number of untapped creatures you control with total power N or greater: This permanent becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.”

This is an activated ability with a cost of tapping creatures and an effect of turning the vehicle into a creature. It's a legal target of Disallow, so we can prevent its effect from resolving.

Note that even despite the crew ability being countered, Veteran Motorist's ability would still trigger (because you tapped it to pay a crew cost), and the vehicle will still receive +1/+1 until end of turn. If you manage to turn the vehicle into a creature later this turn, that +1/+1 will start to apply.


How does US/UK scoring work for the invasion of Japan?

According to Q&A:

How many points does a player receive for Japan surrender if they have more than one front in that Axis country?
Per rule 9.4.G each player receives 8 VP per Axis Country (NOT front) where they have a Front. So, if the US Central and SW Pacific Fronts enter Japan during the same conference the US and the UK receive 8 VPs each , NOT 16. If in addition to this example the CBI Front also entered Japan, the same outcome would pertain. Additionally, since you only receive VPs for the last space that a front occupies this can lower a player’s potential score in some instances and is a known and intended result.

Link: https://www.gmtgames.com/churchill/ChurchillErrataClarifications2Sep2015.pdf


House rules to make the cloister less of a game winning tile in Carcassonne?

There are a couple of expansions that reduce the usefulness of cloisters. You don't get the points until all the surrounding squares are filled, which is a safe bet in 'vanilla' Carcassonne, but not such a sure thing with expansions. The Tower expansion makes it less attractive to leave meeple on the board for any length of time, because they are sitting ducks for capture by a tower. The Catapult expansion makes it possible to remove Meeple from the board, or replace them with your own. The Princess and the Dragon expansion also encourages Monk removal as dragon-food.

You could ban the 'instant cloister' case, disallowing the dropping of a cloister into a hole for an immediate 9 points. I personally don't find this a huge problem though. You have equivalent 'instant city' and 'instant road' cases. Ultimately, there is quite a lot of luck involved in Carcassonne, by design, I think.


Real Answer

Unhinged cards bend the rules. You and your friends should decide how to handle the situation.

How I Would Settle It

If someone in another game gives you an Ass Whuppin', there's nothing that Gleemax can do about it.

Gleemax must to be referring to spells and abilities in your current game. Otherwise, you would have to choose all targets for all spells and abilities for every game in the entire world. That's impossible to do in a timely manner. Also, by the time Ass Whuppin' crosses over between games, it's too late! It has already been cast, and the targets have already been chosen.

Multiple Gleemaxs follow timestamp rules. The controller of latest played Gleemax gets to choose all targets for spells and abilities.


Where can I find a list of Magic expansions?

You can find the list of existing products along with their logo, symbol and release date on the Magic's official card archive page.

The page is available in french as well.

While this page doesn't contains informations about border colors, each products page links to the corresponding card gallery on the Gatherer.


Do Monstrous Creatures still only have AP6 when using Scything Talons?

In 7th edition, all Monstrous Creatures are AP2 (Hammer of Wrath excepted). MCs have the Smash rule, and Smash gives all attacks AP2. The only other exception would be if the creature had a BETTER AP weapon.


Is there an in-game mechanic reason for placing action cards face down during the planning phase

It is to promote communication between players.

If you and I (try to) use the same lift/elevator in the same turn, one of us will be delayed - and this send all of that player's subsequent plans back a turn!

Likewise for shooting guns, firing missiles, certain energy transfer actions... you can get really messed up if two players "do" the same thing in a single turn.

So what does that have to do with why it is required?
The crux of Space Alert is solving a puzzle in a short amount of time. One aspect of the puzzle is the face-down action cards.
It is common for new players/teams to play with cards face-up. This is, obviously, a "house rule". If you feel that the missions are too challenging, or just want an easier pass at things, then go for it!

Playing with cards face-up allows you to avoid duplication, and make it easier for someone to verify that the mouse is going to be wiggled this phase!


Is it a good strategy for the Seer to reveal his identity at the beginning?

It is almost never wise to claim to be the seer. And it seldom happens. But sometimes it can be a smart move. Especially if another player claims to be the seer.
If two people claim to be the seer, it is almost certain that one isn't. And that is most probably a wolf. The true seer can check this. And start a discussion. There are three possibilities:

The true seer fails to convince and is killed by the vilagers. Next day, the fake seer will almost certainly be killed.
The false seer is killed by the vilagers. Next night, the real seer will almost certainly be killed.
The vilagers decide not to kill any of those. In that case, if the wolves are killing the real Seer, the fake seer will almost certainly killed by the vilagers.

All three cases link the death of the seer with the death of a wolf. And that is not a bad ratio. Yes you lost the seer. But he took a wolf too.

But beware, sometimes a mean game master can add two seers to the party. And that can become a bloodbath.


Your opponent is confused. As you can see in the rules:

  The Joker:There are two jokers in the game. They can be used for any
  tile in a set. A joker used in theopening set scores the value of the
  tiles it represents. A joker can be retrieved from a set on thetable
  by a player who can replace it during his turn with a tile of the same
  numerical value andcolor it represents. The tile used to replace the
  Joker must come from a player's rack and notfrom the table. In the
  case of a group of 3, the joker can be replaced by the tile of either
  of the missing colors. A joker that has been replaced must be used in
  the player's same turn with 2 or more tiles from his rack to make a
  new set. Players cannot retrieve a joker before they have laid their
  initial set(s). A set containing a joker can have tiles added to it
  and can be split apart or have tiles removed from it. The joker has a
  penalty value of 30 points if it remains on a player'srack at the end
  of a game.

You can play a single joker from your hand. But, if you replace a joker with another tile, you have to play it with two tiles of your hand.

So you can play the joker.


Order of triggered abilities - will the abilities on the stack resolve after the player who owns the ability loses?

The Comprehensive Rules say:

  405.3. If an effect puts two or more objects on the stack at the same time, those controlled by the active player are put on lowest, followed by each other player’s objects in APNAP order (see rule 101.4). If a player controls more than one of these objects, that player chooses their relative order on the stack.

  101.4. If multiple players would make choices and/or take actions at the same time, the active player (the player whose turn it is) makes any choices required, then the next player in turn order (usually the player seated to the active player’s left) makes any choices required, followed by the remaining nonactive players in turn order. Then the actions happen simultaneously. This rule is often referred to as the “Active Player, Nonactive Player (APNAP) order” rule.

  800.4a When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game and any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end. Then, if that player controlled any objects on the stack not represented by cards, those objects cease to exist. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled. This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game. If the player who left the game had priority at the time they left, priority passes to the next player in turn order who’s still in the game.

Without loss of generality, suppose the turn order is Alice->Bob->Carol->...

If it's Alice's turn, her triggers are put on the stack first, then Bob's. Bob's triggers will resolve first, making Alice and Carol lose the game simultaneously. By rule 800.4a, Alice's triggers will leave the stack, leaving Bob alive and kicking at 10 life (this is important if there's someone else still in the game).
If it's Bob's turn, the reverse happens: Alice's triggers will resolve first, killing Bob and Carol and leaving Alice alive.
If it's Carol's (or somebody else's turn), Alice is before Bob in turn order and situation 1. applies.


How do I play a card if it has two colors within the one mana symbol in its cost?

Mana symbols such as  are called a hybrid mana cost. You can pay that cost with either of the 2 colors shown. Here is a brief summary of hybrid mana rules:

  Hybrid mana symbols represent a cost that can be paid with either of two colors. For example, a cost represented by the  symbol can be paid with one white mana or one blue mana. It’s both a white and a blue mana symbol, and a card with  in its mana cost is both white and blue.


"Go" is when the count is less than 31 and the player whose turn it is to play has no legal plays (all cards remaining would put the count over 31). That player says "Go", the other person scores one point, and then plays any remaining cards in their hand (without going over 31).

The explanation at cribbage.org from rule 1.5.e.2 ...

  Players alternately play (place face up on the table) one card at a time, starting with the pone. The cumulative value of the cards played is announced as each card is played.
  When a player cannot play a card without the cumulative total exceeding 31, that player calls "go", and the opponent continues to play all cards possible (not exceeding a 31-count). The player who calls "go" plays first in the following 31-count sequence.
  Points are scored during this play of the cards (see scoring chart in rule 1.7).

Scoring occurs normally on these cards – points for pairs, runs, etc. are still scored – except that if such play takes the count to 31, that player scores an additional point: you get two for reaching 31 or one for Go, but not both.

See the definition here and the scoring rules below.

The impact is generally small. It's unlikely that you'd get much more than two points during this time, as it takes at least two cards from your hand to reach a state where the other person would call Go, leaving you only two to play. You might be able to score a triple, but more likely you'd just get two or maybe four (with a pair) ... and your opponent might get those points back if you end up playing your remaining cards, e.g. by having 4-5-6 and being able to play them consecutively (after you've played your last card following Go).


Is a Boros Guildgate considered a mountain?

No it is not. Mountain is a subtype of a land cards; for Boros Guildgate, the subtype is "Gate".

However, Steam Vents is a mountain and can be enchanted with Chained to the Rocks, because it has subtypes "Island" and "Mountain".


MTG: Modal cards and graveyard targeted effects

No, if you reanimate a double-faced card (modal or transforming), or otherwise do something that isn't casting it, you can generally only operate on the front face.
The most important rule here is 711.4a:

While a double-faced card is outside the game or in a zone other than the battlefield or stack, it has only the characteristics of its front face.

If you are trying to target a double-faced card in the graveyard, you can only target the front face, because that face is the only one it is considered to have there.
The other important rule covering reanimation is 711.10:

A double-faced card put onto the battlefield from a zone other than the stack enters the battlefield with its front face up by default.

Casting is different because modal double-faced cards have a special rule that allows you to cast either face, in 711.7:

If a transforming double-faced card is cast as a spell, it’s put on the stack with its front face up. A player casting a modal double-faced card as a spell chooses which face they are casting before putting it onto the stack. See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”


Sacrificing in response to a triggered ability that would place -1/-1 counters

Yes, you can sacrifice the creature in response to targeting it with the enter the battlefield triggered ability and that will result in the ability being countered (fizzle) because it has no legal targets when it resolves and no -1/-1 counters will get placed on anything.

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. [...] The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal.

You should know that you must indicate that you wish to maintain priority as you identify the creature that you are targeting with the ability (e.g. "I will target my Oashra Cultivator with this ability and maintain priority. In response to the ability on the stack I will sacrifice my Oashra Cultivator"). This is more important when playing online or in formal play settings but it's a good habit to be in.


How to resolve illegal targeting that was allowed?

The correct answer (since this appeared in a tournament setting) is to call a judge as soon as you notice.

The judge is likely to act according to section 2.5 Game Play Error
— Game Rule Violation of this pdf: http://www.wizards.com/contentresources/wizards/wpn/main/documents/magic_the_gathering_infraction_procedure_guide_pdf2.pdf

If the error is discovered in a reasonable time frame one possibility outlined is a rollback of the game state.

If the error is not discovered in a reasonable time frame (likely you scenario as a couple turns have passed) the judge can leave the game in its current state after resolving state based actions.

From my interpretation of the pdf, your dragon remains exiled in the Chained to the Rocks example, but in the pacifism example the pacifism would be removed.


Do I only discard down to 10 after drawing 2 cards on my turn?

Yes.
Your hand limit only applies after your draw step.
From the most recent rulebook, "This Is How You Roll" turn order on page 5:

4. Draw 2 Cards
Just what it says: draw 2 cards. If you need to draw, reveal, search for or look at a card and your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile. Put it on the table face down — that’s your new deck. Start drawing from there.
The maximum number of cards you can have in your hand at this time is 10. If you have more than 10 after drawing, discard down to 10.


Neither you won nor lose the game, keep the Queen on board and pocket along with your C/m


Your friend is right. The model taking the wound makes the role, not the model 'saving' him.


I think you're talking about one of the following:

Take 5
Take 10
6 Nimmt!
11 Nimmt!
Category 5
Hornochsen

All are variations on the same theme, so take your pick.


How is a Gin Rummy hand scored if both the knocking and defending player have Gin?

Your opponent gets 25 points plus 0 points. You do not get a chance to undercut. According to Pagat:

  A player who goes gin can never be undercut.

You do not get a gin bonus because you did not declare gin. You don't have a chance to declare gin because play ended. Play ended because your opponent knocked. Again from Pagat, emphasis mine:

  You can end the play at your turn if [...] Ending the play in this way is known as knocking [...]


When someone is being forced out of a round of gambling everyone has a chance to counter, including the person being forced out. The actual card does not finish resolving until counters have been played.
From the official rules (page 3):

Forcing a Player to Leave a Round of Gambling
Some cards force a player to leave a Round of Gambling. When a player is forced out of the Round, each player, including the one being forced out, has a chance to respond (for example, with "Oh, I guess the Wench thought that was her tip...", "They might not know you're cheating, but my Goddess does!", or another anti-cheat card).


Victory Point differential - This should be your highest priority, and is quite easy to remember if only playing two player. If playing 4-player, it is still only 3 numbers to memorize. It is important to know, because it allows you to know if you will win when ending the game.

Everything below is probably more important in some kingdom distributions, and less important in others.

Gold/Silver distribution - What you would really like to know here, is your average treasure value per hand, but that number gets exceedingly difficult to calculate as you consider card draw, victory cards, action cards with variable cash values, etc. It would also be good to know what your opponents AVG hand value is too, but I have a difficult enough time keeping track of my own.

Terminal Actions/2+ Action cards - The number of terminal action cards needs to stay below a certain threshold to prevent you from getting multiple terminal actions in a hand, and being unable to use them both. This threshold is dependant on the number of +2 Action cards and deck size.

Buys/Gains per turn - Important to know if you are losing (or winning), if you can out buy your opponents.

Defensive/Reaction cards - This is of course highly dependant upon the number of attack cards your opponents have, and how disruptive those attack cards are to your deck.

Individual Combo odds - Highly dependant upon the kingdom cards, but many times you want to be able to estimate the number of Barons/Estates, Treasure Maps, Scout/Great Halls, etc.

Not necessary to count

Deck size
Kingdom card piles
Trash contents


Begginer question about lifelink and Evra

Lifelink on a creature causes you to gain life whenever that creature deals damage in any way. In combat, unblocked creatures deal damage to the defending player, and blocking creatures and blocked creatures deal damage to each other. So if Evra is in any of those situations then it will deal damage and you will gain that much life. One common exception is if Evra blocks or becomes blocked, then the other creature is removed from combat before the damage is dealt. Then Evra will have nothing to deal damage to, so it won't deal any damage and you won't gain any life.

Regarding Evra's other ability, you are correct that if Evra's power somehow becomes 0 before the ability resolves, the ability will make your life total 0 and you will lose.


Are "permanently" gained abilities copiable?

Artisan of Forms will not be indestructible.

When you copy a card, you always copy only exactly the printed values of the card you're copying, ignoring everything that's happened to modify it, including the fact that Fated Return gave that creature indestructible. The exception is when you're copying, say, a Clone that's copying something else - in that case, you become a copy of that too.

There's an example that makes the quirks of this very clear: you can have Artisan of Forms target a Mutavault whilst it's in its creature state, and Artisan of Forms will become a land (not a creature).

As much appears in the rulings on the Gatherer page of Artisan of Forms herself:

  Artisan of Forms copies the printed values of the creature plus any copy effects that have been applied to it. It won’t copy any other effects that have changed that creature’s power, toughness, color, and so on. Artisan of Forms won’t copy any counters on the creature, but Artisan of Forms will retain any counters it already had on it.

  If another creature becomes a copy of Artisan of Forms, it will become a copy of whatever Artisan of Forms is currently copying (if anything), plus it will have the triggered ability.

These are derived from rule 706.2 on Copying Objects:

  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 “as . . . enters the battlefield” and "as . . . is turned face up" abilities that set characteristics, and by abilities that caused the object to be face down. Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.


How to attack White’s corner in this beginner’s 9x9 game?

TimK's answer is right on point on how to kill white in the corner, but your question belies a more general concern: Thinking "I need to kill all the things" is a very common beginner's mistake.

Take a look at your final outcome; yeah, white lives. He lives small, blocked into the corner. You've got pretty much the entire lower left quadrant on lock, and you're poised to drive a wedge deep into white's right-side territory around G5 or diving into the top right corner and living there like he lived in yours.

Meanwhile, white is alive with three points.

As trade-offs go, this result really doesn't seem all that bad for black. If anything, I'd say black came out ahead here; territory-wise you're still about equal but black has a huge advantage in any future fighting since all of his stones are still ready to rumble while most of white's are locked up holding those three points in the corner. And black has sente, so how to bring this overwhelming force into play is entirely up to you. I really don't envy white here.

In other words, there's absolutely nothing wrong with letting white live in your corner, just make sure you're getting something at least as good if not better for the trouble.

(of course, if you can also kill it so you still have all your points and you also take all his points that's cool too)


Should dying have won us the game when playing the voodoo haunt?

Sounds to me like you met the victory conditions: not too many people dead, and all the dolls gone. (Unless there's a "you can't win by dying" clause; I don't own the game.) True, it's not the best rules writing - the victory condition is basically equivalent to at least half the heroes destroying their dolls while still alive. But here's a lot of badly written rules text in the haunts in Betrayal; at least in this case it's still clear enough.

In terms of feeling let down: would it have bothered you as much if you'd died first, then your friend destroyed his doll? Probably not. But of course, it's silly for that to be a win and your game not to be.


What does the "science book" symbol mean on "The Game of Life: Adventures Card Game"?

It's a Passport.

The symbol (shown here) is actually supposed to represent airplane travel around the world.

The Rules sheet (PDF) doesn't define this symbol explicitly, but does indicate the existence of a Passport symbol requirement:

  You can only have ONE Passport and ONE Wedding card in your life story at any one time.  If you 'Lose Your Passport,' you can replace it with another one later in the game.

Board Game Geek user Samuel Wolf posted this list of cards, which includes the symbol that is needed for each card.  Of all the symbols, all but this one are either specified in the rules (e.g. Wedding, Degree) or are self-explanatory (e.g. need an Airplane to "Learn to Loop-the-Loop").  The only symbol left is the one you refer to, so it must be the Passport.


Moment of selecting a target from an ability of a planeswalker

Nissa will not be put into the graveyard until after you are done activating her ability (including choosing a target) so she will not be a legal target for her ability.
The process of activating an ability involves (among several other things) choosing targets and paying costs; these happen before the ability can go on the stack. Planeswalkers are put into the graveyard as a state-based action, these are checked every time a player would gain priority. Players don't gain priority during the process of activating an ability so there is no way for Nissa to be in the graveyard when you choose targets for her ability.

602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Only an object’s controller (or its owner, if it doesn’t have a controller) can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says otherwise. Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in order. [...]
602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b–i.
601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. [...]
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.
601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, 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.
116.2d State-based actions happen automatically when certain conditions are met. See rule 704. They’re dealt with before a player would receive priority. See rule 116.5.
704.5i If a planeswalker has loyalty 0, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard.


Do conquered locations still help the Resistance?

Conquered Locations text is still in effect after being conquered. Demolished Locations text is not in effect after being demolished.
The rules don't make any mention of conquered locations losing their rules text. The demolish markers replace the text of the locations they are in, so naturally the locations rules are no longer in effect. This in confirmed by the lead designer and president of Flying Frog Games, Jason C. Hill in this BBG thread

Location Text remains in effect, even after that Location is conquered. The only time a Location's text is canceled is if it has a Demolished marker on it (which has its own text that replaces the text of the Location).
Location text DOES apply as soon as it is placed, so yes, Aliens do have to roll to see if they stumble into the powerlines with the Electric Power Plant as soon as the Location is revealed in their space.


Magic the gathering question about exiling a flashback card

If one casts Cremate in response to someone casting a card from a graveyard, Cremate won't be able to target the card just cast. By the time the card in the graveyard is cast, it's no longer in the graveyard; it's on the stack, where it's not a valid target for Cremate.

  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. [...]


Does Hallowed Burial search all libraries for creature cards and put them on the bottom too?

“Creatures” (and “creature”) specifically means a creature permanent on the battlefield. So it will not affect creature cards anywhere else.

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

And

  609.2. Effects apply only to permanents unless the instruction’s text states otherwise or they clearly can apply only to objects in one or more other zones.

In order to refer to objects in other zones; an effect would specifically use the word “card” and specify the zone. See Birthing Pod for an example.


How do the Dragon and Monster Packs affect Monster Deck size?

As written, they're additive.
The event pack is purely additive explicitly, lending further support for this interpretation of the monster pack(s).
Also the dragon banner is confirmed additive in this BGG thread, lending further support for the idea.
As to whether they have been balanced for that, well, that's a subjective call. In some cases, the questions of balance either don't come up or are not sufficiently weighted against other questions of marketing and so on. Whether that's the case here I cannot say.


Can the first zombie player spawn the second zombie player's zombies?

No.

According to the rules:

  If there are two Zombie Players, each of them has a separate Zombie Pool of 7 Zombies each. One player takes all the Green Zombies, the other all of the Brown Zombies. Players may never use Zombies from the other player's pool (only their own color of Zombie).


Can Gearseeker Serpent's cost be reduced below two mana if exiled by Gonti, Lord of Luxury?

The Serpent will cost at least {2} to cast
The effect of Gonti does not make anything an alternative cost. An example of a card that grants alternative costs would be Fist of Suns.

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

All Gonti does is that it allows you to pay the non-generic part of the card's mana cost with any type of mana.

117.7a Effects that reduce a cost by an amount of generic mana affect only the generic mana component of that cost. They can’t affect the colored or colorless mana components of that cost.

Therefore, the Serpent's ability (which is equivalent to "Affinity for artifacts") reduces the amount of mana you have to pay for it to {U}{U}, and Gonti makes it so you can pay {2} instead. The mana cost of the Serpent remains {5}{U}{U}, and can never change, because it's a characteristic of the card. Gonti does not change the mana symbols on the card it exiled, only how you may pay for them.
The steps involved in casting a spell that are relevant here are cost reduction, followed by paying the cost:

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

601.2h is where Gonti's ability takes effect, whereas the Serpent's ability affects 601.2f


Good sites for trading unwanted board/card games and expansions?

BoardGameGeek provides several ways to sell or trade boardgames online.

The first is to simply list it as available for trade. Once you have an account on BoardGameGeek, at the bottom of every game page you can add the game to your collection (click on the "user info" link at the top to get there quickly; for example). You can then click "add a copy to your collection" to list the fact that you own the game, and then fill in information on it; check boxes to indicate that you're willing to trade the game, fill in information on the condition of the game, etc. For games that you would like in trade, again go to the page for the game, go down to the "user info", click "record information", and check the "want in trade" box.

Once you've filled in some games you have available for trade, and want in trade, you can try and find trades. Go to the "My Geek" menu at the top, and select the "Trades" option. This will bring you to the Trade Manager, where you can find potential trades and track the process of trades in progress. Click "Direct Matches" to find people who have games for trade that you want, and who want games that you have for trade. You'll likely get a long list of matches, telling you what games they want and what games they have. You can then propose a trade with them, which will send them a GeekMail proposing the trade, that they can accept or decline. If they accept, you work out the shipping details with them, and then send each other the games. If you leave games listed as available for trade, other people who find them through the trade finder may also initiate trades with you, so if you're hoping to trade some games, check back relatively often to see if you get any GeekMail with trade offers.

There are also other ways to trade games via BGG. Some of the popular ones are "ultimate trades" and "math trades". The principle behind both is the same, to try and create circular trades, though the mechanism is different. The idea is that if you have game A and want game B, you might not be able to find someone who has game B and wants game A; but there might be one person who has game B and wants game C, and another who has C and wants A, so you can do a circular trade, where you send A to the person who wants it, he sends C to the person who wants it, and that person sends B to you.

Ultimate trades are generally posted as a GeekList, where someone starts the trade off by listing a game that he has for trade (so, it will start off as a list of one item). Then anyone who wants that game will come along, and post a new game that they would offer up for the original game (the new game should be of roughly equal value, or if it's a bit cheaper than you might also throw in a "sweetener" of a cheap game to even it out). This goes on, with each person in turn saying that they'll be willing to take the last item in exchange for a new one that they post. Eventually, the person who started the trade will see a game he likes, and close the loop by saying that he'll take that game. Then everyone shares shipping information with the person before them in the list, and sends their games to the people who claimed them. You can find examples of ultimate trades by searching for such GeekLists.

Math trades are a generalization of ultimate trades. The problem with ultimate trades is that they'll sometimes lose steam before you complete a loop, and so you will never complete them; or sometimes people have games to trade but don't want to initiate an ultimate trade nor do they find an existing, open one with games that they want. In a math trade, each person lists one or more games that they have for trade. Once they've done so, a list of games available is compiled, and everyone lists, for each game they have available for trades, one or more games from the list that they would like in exchange. Once all of this information has been submitted, someone runs one of several tools that will crunch all of the numbers, and try and find a set of trades that will maximize the total number of trades completed. It may find one big circular trade, but more likely it will find several smaller cycles, that satisfy more people than one big circular trade would have been able to. Then you all exchange shipping information, and ship the games. You can find examples of math trades by searching for them.

All of these trading methods allow you to leave feedback on the reliability of the person you're trading with, just like eBay. I've only done a few trades through BGG, but I've found everyone that I've dealt with honest and prompt about shipping their games.

Finally, there is the BoardGameGeek Marketplace, where you can buy and sell games. If you list games for sale on there, they will appear on each game page, so people interested in the game can buy them quickly and easily. I have never used the marketplace, so I can't speak about it much, but you can find some more info on it on the BoardGameGeek wiki.

And not exactly trade related, but similar, are the Secret Santa or other gift exchanges that go on. These are usually intended for new games (thus not directly relevant for trading purposes), but they are good ways for sharing your love for games with others. They will frequently be started as threads listing the rules for the exchange (the target price point for the games, any theme or other restrictions), and people can sign up to be given targets. It used to be run manually through GeekMail, but now there is a tool for creating and browsing gift exchanges, which can be private or public.


In Rummikub, can you split a run on the end or it must be within the ends? ex- 34567 turned into 234...&...567

If 34567 is on the table and you have a matching 5, you can split into 345, 67 and add the 5 to the 67 to get 567.

If 34567 is on the table and you have a matching 2, you can add the 2 to get 234567. You can then split into 234 and 567, but you can also keep it a full set.


In Takenoko does the player have to choose both their actions before performing either

The actions are chosen and resolved sequentially as you have been playing, so you can see the result of your first action before choosing and resolving your second action.

While the original rules do seem to indicate that your two actions must be chosen before you resolve anything, it was clarified in the official FAQ:

  The two actions are chosen sequentially. This means that if a player choses to draw a new objective card, he can look at it before deciding what his second action will be.

Note that most of the official links to the FAQ now seem to be dead, so I assume that since the FAQ was released in 2012 these changes may be included in newer editions of the game.


What's the name of this co-op card-based game?

Sounds like The Grizzled or in its native language, Les Poilus.

An excerpt from a description I found

  Players take on the role of French soldiers in World War I. You can
  choose your difficulty level, which means how many cards are in your
  hand. On your turn, you can either play a card from your hand or
  withdraw. There are two types of cards; ones with symbols on them
  (night, rain, bullets, gas mask, etc) and ones with a lightning bolt
  and text on them. If you play a symbol card, it goes into the river.
  If you ever play a card that would cause you to have three of the same
  symbol, you lose.


Swap Plays For Draws and Play X with fewer than X cards on hand

This is answered in the Fluxx FAQ:
http://faq.looneylabs.com/question/272

  if you have 3 plays left, you get to draw 3 cards, even if you only have 1 card left in your hand. Of course, now you’ve used up your plays, so you can’t play any of those cards on the current turn.


It was still targeted.

You choose targets as part of the process of casting a spell, which has to happen before a spell can be countered. And the moment you have chosen something as a target, it has been targeted.


There are a lot of zones on the yugioh board. If you look at this playmat (not currently up to date with the newest rules for link summons, but it's fine for this purpose), you can see that there is a "Banished Zone".

Now, this is not an official zone in Yugioh, since "banished" used to mean "removed from the game" and cards that are banished are supposed to be in "no particular zone". I will however refer to the place where you put banished cards as the "Banished Zone" for simplicity's sake.

To "banish" a card from anywhere means to put the card from wherever it was before faceup into the "Banished Zone". Both players may look at their own or the opponent's face-up banished cards at any time. Each player has his own Banished Zone.

A card in the Banished Zone can usually not be accessed again, but there are some cards that allow you to get back your banished cards.

Cards that interact with banished cards (examples):

Kycoo, the Ghost Destroyer
Necroface
D.D. Warrior Lady
Breakthrough Skill

Card can be banished from anywhere, be it your field, your hand, your graveyard (your discard pile), or your deck. Cards may be banished facedown if a card tells you to do so. You may not look at your opponent's facedown banished cards, but you may look at your own.

For any further information, see the wiki article on this topic: Banish | Yu-Gi-Oh! Wikia


You can only activate Crypt Rats on the battlefield. You can activate Rot Farm Skeleton from your graveyard because its ability specifies "from your graveyard."
As a rule of thumb, you can only activate an ability from the battlefield unless its text would only make sense in another zone.
From the comp rules:

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:[...]
112.6b An ability that states which zones it functions in functions only from those zones.[...]
112.6k An ability whose cost or effect specifies that it moves the object it’s on out of a particular zone functions only in that zone, unless that ability’s trigger condition, or a previous part of that ability’s cost or effect, specifies that the object is put into that zone.
Example: Reassembling Skeleton says “{1}{B}: Return Reassembling Skeleton from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.” A player may activate this ability only if Reassembling Skeleton is in his or her graveyard.


Does attempting a puzzle require a movement point or an action point?

I would say movement point or use the action as a move. So yes you are correct. I believe the manual says somthing about that if you encounter a locked door you stop your movement in front of the door.


I believe you are looking for Shut the Box.


If no cards in discard pile, when playing swashbuckler but have 4 coffers, are you allowed to take the treasure chest?

No; the “if your discard pile has any cards in it” applies to the rest of the text.
From the official FAQ:

You cannot get the Treasure Chest unless your discard pile had at least one card.


What is the process for determining if an infinite loop will be a draw?

What you are describing is a loop of mandatory actions. Unless someone breaks it, the game ends in a draw.

  720.4. If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw. (See rules 104.4b and 104.4f.)

That said, noone is forced to break it even if they could.

  720.5. No player can be forced to perform an action that would end a loop other than actions called for by objects involved in the loop.

You seem to be asking how to get the game declared a draw. 104.4i allows the players to mutually agree to a draw.

  104.4i In a tournament, all players in the game may agree to an intentional draw. See rule 100.6.

If the other player refuses to accept, you can't just keep passing, because that would be Slow Play.

That leaves the option of creating a shortcut. The active player should propose passing until the loop is broken (or until they get priority in the next phase/step for a loop that doesn't span phases/steps). If the opponent accepts the shortcut, the game is officially a draw because neither player ever gets priority again.


How to tell whether a Pokémon Card is fake or not

The best way to tell a real Pokémon card from a fake one is to compare it to one you know for sure is real

The YouTube web series "Bootleg Zone" did an episode on bootleg Pokémon cards and compared them to real ones. Consider this picture of a Professor Oak card. One of the English ones is fake and the other is real. Can you tell which one?

The middle one is the bootleg, but it's a pretty good imitation. By comparing it to the real one, you'll notice that the color is off a bit, but without knowing the correct shade, you can't tell. The bootleg also has some blurry text at the bottom, but that's tough to spot.

Of course, sometimes it's painfully obvious to any Pokémon fan.

I especially love how Gyardos is a Fire Horse Pokémon, and that these are rare 2nd Edition cards!

The full video shows lots of other examples, but the difference between a real card and a bootleg really ranges between "blatantly obvious mistake" or "almost imperceptible difference from the original". Some examples of tells were:

Slight miscolorations
Blurry text
Text in a different font
Text with different line breaks
A different card feel (paper quality, etc)
A different style of holographic film, especially one that goes all the way to the edge of the card (most holographic real cards are only on the Pokémon portrait)
A different card size
Being part of a set that it wasn't originally part of (e.g. a card with the Neo Genesis icon when it was really part of the Jungle set)
Blatantly wrong information (e.g. Bellsprout evolving into Mewtwo)

In most of these cases, comparing it to a real card is the best way to tell if it's fake. There is the official Pokémon Trading Card Database, which will help you spot any text or stat differences, but isn't great for differentiating colors (since your monitor may not precisely match the colors a printed card would appear in your room), and of course it can't help you with determining the feel of the card.

That said, if you got a pack of cards and some of them have obvious typos, I'd be surprised if the rest were legitimate.


In Sorry!, do you have to move past safety zone or forfeit turn?

You forfeit your turn.

From the rules (3 separate places):

  You must bring all four of your pawns into HOME by
  exact count!
  If at any time you cannot move, you forfeit your turn.
  When moving along
  the outside track, you may not move your pawn
  forward beyond your own SAFETY ZONE entry.

Also a note under the rules for the 11 card:

  You may forfeit your move if you do not wish to change
  places and it is impossible to go forward 11 spaces.


Is there a penalty in Uno for incorrectly accusing a player of failing to call "uno"?

I assume that yelling out "one card" is the way your group has decided to implement this rule:

  If [the player with one card is] caught not saying “Uno” by another player before any card has been played by other players, the player must draw two new cards.

That rule does not establish a penalty for incorrectly "catching" another player not saying Uno. You could add a house rule to this effect, especially if people abuse the rule by yelling "one card" incorrectly very often. However the house rule would itself be open to abuse since it would encourage people to mask how many cards they have, so I would only add it if people are being really annoying with the incorrect calls (and in that case why are you playing with really annoying people anyway?)


Yes, you can choose not to move. The rules on movement state:

Moving
On your explorer’s turn, you can move up to number of spaces equal to your character’s
current Speed.

"Up to" includes 0 spaces.
Note that if you stay in the elevator for your entire turn, then the elevator will move again. From the FAQ:

Heroes must roll for their destination floor each time they enter the elevator, or at the end of each entire movement phase that they spend in the elevator without moving.


Catan cities and knights 2 player variation

Looking at rules here it says

  As is customary, each player rolls the dice two times when beginning his turn; for this, all three dice from C&K are used (white die / red die / Event Die). If the second dice roll gives the same result as the first roll, the second roll is repeated – but only the two number dice are used, without the Event Die. The Event Die result is resolved immediately. Therefore, even though you may have to roll the number dice more than two times, the number of Event Die rolls is limited to two.

So if the second roll matched the first you carry out the event die and resolve again.  If you hadn't already fully resolved the first roll you would then be resolving the 2nd event before the 1st due the 'immediately' instruction which feels odd to do unless explicitly told too.

The basic game rules here state :-

  Each player who has a settlement on an intersection that borders a terrain hex marked with the number rolled receives 1 Resource Card of the hex’s type. For an example see resource production

As the original rules say you get resources if you have a settlement on intersection rolled then I would do that straight away and resolve the even. and then make second roll and resolve that.

Also there is a video demo of the rules here and go to 2:40 you will see the demonstrate roll 1st, resolve 1st, roll 2nd, resolve 2nd.


Yes, they get the tokens.
Since they control the Chasm Skulker, they also control its triggered ability ("When Chasm Skulker dies..."). And then since they control the ability, they're the ones who follow the instructions to put tokens onto the battlefield.

110.2a If an effect instructs a player to put an object onto the battlefield, that object enters the battlefield under that player’s control unless the effect states otherwise.
112.8. The controller of an activated ability on the stack is the player who activated it. The controller of a triggered ability on the stack (other than a delayed triggered ability) is the player who controlled the ability’s source when it triggered, or, if it had no controller, the player who owned the ability’s source when it triggered.

In combination with 603.6d which is a bit long but essentially says that for death triggers like this one, you look before the creature died to see how the trigger works.

603.6d. 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.

Note that they also own the tokens, since the tokens entered the battlefield under their control. This doesn't generally matter, but just in case!

110.5a A token is both owned and controlled by the player under whose control it entered the battlefield.


What is the advantage to starting your meld and laying it down when it isn't complete? Why not just wait until you have all seven?

If you have four cards to meld in your hand, and if you don't play them, then how is your partner going to add the three cards he potentially has in his hand?


In response to an opening bid of 1 spade by my partner, why do I have to have at least 5 pieces in hearts (+ the usual points) in order to respond 2H?

In addition to the other two great answers here, I'll expand a bit more on the "why".
Basically, your goal is to describe your hand as low as possible and as accurately as possible, right?  So you want to show partner whether you have 4 hearts or 5 hearts at the earliest moment possible, while showing other details about your hand too.
If you play 2H shows 5, then you have these choices for most hands (in base 2/1) that are game-interested or game-forcing:
1NT: 6-11, nothing else exciting to say
2C:  12+, Hearts 4 or less, Diamonds 4 or less, Spades 3 or less
2D: 12+, 4 or more diamonds, Hearts 4 or less, Spades 3 or less
2H: 12+, Hearts 5 or more

Plus the various "spade support" options, of course.
Now you've told your partner (who's mostly in the drivers seat) what you have without taking up almost any space.  Your partner can then tell you their next most interesting thing: whether that is a 4 card heart suit (by bidding 2H), can explore NT, can explore all sorts of things, especially over 1NT or 2C, which are the "least informative" bids.  This is a generally good idea in bidding - the higher the bid, the more space is gone, so the more information you need to convey!
2H steals all that space; after that, what can P bid?  2S to show longer spades or maybe if they're stuck, 2NT to decline but not leaving a lot of room to explore NT; or 3 level bids.  Ick.  If you're going to have to be in a long conversation that might end up with having to really think hard about how safe 3NT is over a 5-2 4S, you want to have that conversation at the 2 level, not the 3 level, as you have only so many chances to show stoppers or shape.


What are the strengths and weaknesses of the factions in the Call of Cthulhu LCG?

I've done a bit of my own research, so I can provide what I've learnt so far. It's worth mentioning that this is not what I've learnt from extensive play, but rather what I've gleaned from comments and articles about the factions.

Agency - Quite straightforward strength in combat, plus some have Willpower which offers resistance to being driven insane. Supposedly they're well balanced and a good "support" faction.

Syndicate - Sneaky. Lower play costs allow them to be played early, plus the ability to manipulate other characters (via exhausting and reducing stats) and stories (via switching) make them hard to pin down. Decent at combat but vulnerable to insanity.

Miskatonic U - Tons of investigation, plus decent arcana, but pretty awful combat and terror effectiveness. Also has decent deck control (drawing and filtering) and can sometimes manipulate the struggles to their advantage.

Cthulhu - Very powerful combination of combat and terror. The downside is that it's an expensive faction to play so takes a while to get moving. Card destruction is the big theme within the faction.

Hastur - Terror (plus lots of non-struggle insanity) and hand manipulation, as well as the ability to prevent effects are the strength of this faction. Weaknesses include the inability to actually destroy other cards, and a shortage of decent characters.

Yog-Sothoth - Card filtering and discard pile manipulation, but with some weakness to insanity. No particularly great characters, but they'll keep coming back.

Shub-Niggurath - Acceleration and characters that improve each other when they're all on the board together. Decent combat and terror, but lacking in arcana and investigation and not particularly good at removing opponent's characters.

Hopefully these notes can give a decent starting point.


Do players have to discard when a Knight card is played?

No, you don't lose half your hand if a knight card is played.
The rules for 'rolling a 7 and activating the Robber' state

every player who was more than 7 Resource Cards must select half (rounded down) of his Resource Cards and return them to the bank.
The you must move the robber Proceed as follows.....

then steps 1 and 2 are stated for stealing a resource.
The rules for a solider cards state

you must immediately move the robber.  See activating the robber and and follow steps 1 and 2

It does not state everyone loses cards if they have 8 or more.
To clarify the rules for losing cards if you have more than 8 are only triggered for rolling a 7 and in no other way.


Can a player sacrifice a creature after declaring that creature as blocker while taking lethal damage?

Yes, that's possible. Declaring blockers is one of the steps of combat, and after declaring blockers the Hydra becomes blocked:

509.1h 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. [...] A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

After that, there is time for the players to play spells or abilities:

509.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, "Timing and Priority.")

Combat damage is only dealt in the next step:

Combat Damage Step

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. ...

so it's possible to sacrifice the Magus before it's killed by the Hydra, and the Hydra won't deal combat damage to your opponent (unless it somehow gained Trample) since it's still blocked.


How can I keep track of which outbreaks I've resolved?

I normally place the 4th cube on top of a triangle of the three existing cubes in the infected city. Then, place a cube in all it's neighbours and move the outbreak meter up 1. Move the 4th cube off the stack of three and place it on the board (making a square) to show you've resolved that outbreak. Repeat for any other cities which just received a 4th cube (which is on top of the pile of 3). Once you have finished, remove all the 4th cubes which are on the board.


How many times will we go through the deck before the island is sunk?

In Forbidden Island the treasure deck has the following breakdown:

5 each of the 4 treasures
3 Waters Rise!
3 Helicopter Lifts
2 Sandbags

Depending on the difficulty the Water Meter will begin between the 1st and 4th tick, giving you between 8 and 6 remaining ticks respectively.
This means in a game that you can cycle through the treasure deck between 2 and 3 times.

You can find a breakdown of the game contents in the rules


Can invocation of nehek heal a lone character?

Yes.

According to Forming Units (8th Edition Rulebook, pg 5), "A unit usually consists of several models that have banded together, but a single, powerful model such as a lone character, a chariot or a Dragon, a war machine and its crew, and so on, are also considered to be a unit."

Everything is a unit, even a lone character.

Though bear in mind the rules for Invocation of Nehek. "Models with the Vampiric, Ethereal or Large Target special rules can never regain more than 1 Wound per successful casting." (Vampire Counts 8th Ed, pg 60). So a lone Vampire for example will only gain a single wound.


Revealing an effect of a card after player makes their choice

You could borrow from the "Crossroads" idea used in Dead of Winter and Gen7 - in those games there's a deck of Crossroads cards, and on your turn the player to your left draws one of them, and if its condition triggers they read it out and let you know what the choices are.

So you could have it that cards are drawn by the next player in turn order, and there's a part they read out, followed by a part that triggers only when the choice is made. Note that there's a risk that the players will learn what the effects are unless you either have too many cards to memorise or near-duplicate cards with slightly different effects.

Alternatively, you can just let the player make their decision based on the full text of the card, but make it so that the decisions aren't obvious choices. For example, make money a scarce resource so that while it would be nice to pay $100 to get +1 Credit it might put you at risk of not being able to afford something else; or make it so that paying the full amount gives 0, 1 or 2 Credit based on some other factor so it isn't a uniformly good bonus.


Can Fragmentize destroy artifacts with converted mana cost greater than 4?

No, Fragmentize cannot destroy artifacts with mana value/converted mana cost 5 or higher
There are several cards with rules text worded similarly to Fragmentize. One such card, Eliminate from Core Set 2021, reads "Destroy target creature or planeswalker with converted mana cost 3 or less."
One of the Oracle rulings for Eliminate specifies "If a creature or planeswalker on the battlefield has X in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0."
If the intention for Eliminate was that its text be read as "Destroy [target creature] or [target planeswalker with converted mana cost 3 or less]", then the word "creature" would not need to be in that ruling, since that version of Eliminate wouldn't care about a creature's CMC. (The digital implementation of Eliminate on MTG Arena also doesn't allow targeting a creature with CMC > 3. Also, it's worth noting that a spell that unconditionally destroyed any creature for 1B, and ALSO could destroy some planeswalkers, would be more powerful than for example Doom Blade, which is a very good card in its own right.)
From this we can conclude that Eliminate is intended to be read as "Destroy target [creature or planeswalker] with converted mana cost 3 or less." Further, since the wording of Fragmentize is nearly identical to the wording of Eliminate except for the slightly different CMC and types of permanents it targets, it can be demonstrated that the intended reading of Fragmentize is "Destroy target [artifact or enchantment] with converted mana cost 4 or less."


In Android: Netrunner, is there a bias towards a particular sub-type of ICE in corp decks?

I'll answer the question of "are particular corporations more inclined to use certain types of ICE".

The answer?  Kind of.  If you look at the whole list of ICE and where the 'good' ones are, you'll get a sense of what each corporation likes to use to stop a runner from getting in.  Just to be sure, each corporation has one of each type of the basic three ICE (Barrier, Code Gate, Sentry).  And, while some of the corporations have different 'affinities' for one type or the other (such as Jinteki and NBN having more code gates then anyone, and Weyland having more Barriers), you'll see more paradigms then straight-out "corporation X uses ICE type Y".

So, as Kit, will you want to use just Decoders?  Absolutely not.  Will you want to take good Decoders?  Absolutely yes.  You should use the best Decoder you can get your hands on as your main Icebreaker, and have copies of the other types for when there are more ICE on the server (consider Omega, if you can get it).


Is there a German version of the "game" Mad Libs?

It appears that Mad Libs has not been translated into German.

Also, there seems to be a similar German game named

  Onkel Otto sitzt in der Badewanne

In the German Wikipedia entry for Mad Libs, the following is stated (in German ):

  A similar game is known in Germany under the name "Uncle Otto sitting
  in the bathtub". The English language, in which nouns, verbs and
  adjectives are hardly inflected, offers far more favorable conditions
  for this game than the German one.


What happens if an action card makes another queued action card impossible?

My word here is by no means final—there is no clear answer to your question that I can find—but I have a good argument for resolving your case based on the existing rules, FAQ, and card text.

There is no rule that states that Emergency Repairs cannot be played in an action cycle began by a player announcing a card that turns out to be a Direct Hit!.

(The following is worth mentioning: Sabotage—another action with ‘immediately’ in the Play text is explicitly said to not be announced, which would mean there is no cycle of actions played by other players, as that text only takes effect after an action is announced. It would seem ideal that other immediate Action Cards be given a similar non–announced status, but no one asked me.)

The use of ‘immediately’ in the Play text of Direct Hit! implies that it happens before any other actions could possibly be announced— except for others with the same same trigger in its Play block. The closest thing a player being attacked has to Direct Hit! is Recheck, which instead reacts ‘immediately’ to the die roll— before the damage has been inflicted.

I believe there is a reason for the lack of contradictory immediate actions that are triggered by the same state. The only exception is the pre–combat phase, and the FAQ has a solution for resolving those actions. (Rulebook effects are treated here as actions, as well— which demonstrates that immediate effects on Action Cards are treated with the same priority as immediate rulebook effects are.)

So… if we got to the situation where Emergency Repairs is played in an action cycle began with the announcing of an Action Card that turned out to be a Direct Hit!, it would still resolve.

Emergency Repairs does not target a ship or fleet, but rather the system that it resides in (the targeting text is simply “Choose a system”). Other ships (if any) in the system, for example, would still be repaired. You could technically play it on a system you have no ships on, as it does not require you to have any ships in said system. (It has not received an erratum which requires presence like Direct Hit! has.)

It would be possible to play Emergency Repairs in an action cycle started by a Direct Hit!, and then use Sabotage on the Direct Hit!, though…


You still must draw like normal; the only way to reduce your hand size is to hit on existing phases.
From the rules about taking your turn:

On your turn, draw one card, either the top card from the draw pile or the top
card from the discard pile, and add it to your hand. End your turn by discarding any
one of your cards onto the top of the discard pile.

There is no rule listed under going out or making a phase that contradicts or changes this, so it still applies.


What is the best way to shuffle a large deck without damaging the cards?

With the implied restriction on time combined with the explicit restriction to keep the cards pristine, I'd suggest using extra space to shuffle.  Here's what I do with large decks of cards:

Divide the large deck into several smaller piles.  For 80 cards, I'd make about 8 piles of 7-15 cards
Select two piles at random and combine them using a hindu shuffle (unlike in the video, when I do it, I do it by grasping the wider-side rather than the narrower side of the cards for better control of larger decks.
After a few shuffles, grab another random pile and add it to the deck
Continue until all decks have been added.
Continue with several more Hindu shuffles until you're satisfied.

If you cannot keep all cards in your hand, recombine/shuffle half the cards, then recombine/shuffle the other half, put the two halves together (just stacking them) into 1 full deck again.  Finally, repeat the entire process two or three times (this is only necessary if you had to do a simple stacking).


First, Guardian of the Gateless doesn't get 10 +1/+1 counters, but rather a temporary boost until end of turn. Assuming Guardian blocks all 10 attacking creatures, he will get a temporary +10/+10, making him a 13/13 until end of turn.

Now then, during the declare blockers step, you'll order the attacking creatures into a block order and your opponent will order your blockers into an attacking order. This second part is only relevant when there's multiple blockers to an attacker. After this is done, the Guardian's ability will trigger, making him a 13/13.

Now that declaring blockers is done, you will move to the Combat Damage step where you can now assign damage to them. You must assign lethal damage[1] to an individual creature before assigning damage to the next. So for example, you could assign all 13 damage to the first creature and none to the rest, or 4 to first creature and 9 to the rest, any combo really as long as it totals your power of 13 and follows the above guideline.

Depending on what your goals are, you have a few options. From what I'm understanding Guardian will die anyway if the creatures attacking have a combined power of at least 13. Therefore you should assign lethal damage to the creatures you want to get rid of the most. Or if your opponent is attacking with a bunch of small creatures, it might make sense to instead destroy a bunch of little creatures. You need to look at the quality vs. quantity of attacking creatures and what needs to be eliminated for you to survive or win.

Finally, since all 13 attacking creatures have been be blocked, none of them will deal damage to the attacked player or planeswalker (unless they have trample), whether the Guardian deals damage to them or not.

A lethal amount of damage (usually shortened to "lethal damage") refers to an amount of damage that would be sufficient to destroy the creature being damaged, ignoring anything that would prevent the damage or its destruction (e.g. Indestructible). This is usually means an amount of damage equal to the toughness of the creature being damaged, but it could be less (if the creature to which damage is being dealt has previously received damage, or if the creature dealing the damage has deathtouch).


Can you pickup just the wild card on frozen pile in canasta?

No, you can't.

The discard pile can never be picked up while a wild is on top. In order to pick up a frozen pile, you must have 2 naturals in hand that match the card on top of the pile.

Rules quote:

  When the discard pile is frozen against you, you can only take it if you hold in your hand two natural cards of the same rank as the top card of the discard pile, and you use these with the top discard to make a meld.

And:

  Note that you can never take the discard pile if its top card is a wild card or a black three.


Can I resolve this effect that has been destroyed, banished, or sent to the deck?

Does XYZ Effect resolve?

In all scenarios you mention XYZ Effect resolves

Why? Because neither MST, Cosmic Cyclone, or that card that returns to deck have the ability to negate effects; they "just" destroy the card, but never negated its activation and thus it resolves.

This situation is similar to one answer I gave recently. The only cases where a card like MST or similar (that just destroys) can prevent a spell/trap card effect from activating is if that spell/trap card has a continuous effect.

For example, if your opponent activates Fire Formation - Tenki and you cast MST on it your opponent will not be able to search for a beast-warrior. This is because cards with continuous effects must remain face-up on the field to resolve their effects.


Not sure which Dominion expansions are you running, but there are several cards that can counter this.

If you have prosperity, you can add the Watchtower to the kingdom cards which blocks curses gained in this manner, priced at only 3$. With Masquerade from Intrigue, or Ambassador from Seaside you can give those curses back to your opponent. Dark Ages has several cards which work with trashing.

On the other hand, if you put a more valuable 5$ card you can rush that instead of going for IGG. Embargo from Seaside also works wonders.

As the other poster states, if there is no counter focus on going for duchies as well as any other victory cards placed in the kingdom set.

Source: http://dominionstrategy.com/2012/02/06/hinterlands-ill-gotten-gains/


Does having 2 Flickerwisps and an Impact Tremors win me the game?

No, the first Flickerwisp will come back at the beginning of your end of turn step. The creature it exiles wouldn't come back until the beginning of the next end of turn since after they wont trigger at the begging of the end step.

Ruling on the card:

  If the permanent that returns to the battlefield has any abilities that trigger at the beginning of the end step, those abilities won't trigger that turn.

It is worth noting that the ruling on the card is just a clarification of the usual "beginning of phase" effects.  Since all beginning of phase effects are put on the stack first, and then are resolved in LIFO order any new "beginning of phase" effects that are put into play don't fire.  The "beginning of the phase" has already ended.

Fiend Hunter will work for this combo, but you would need three of them. We'll call them A, B, and C. The pattern would follow:

A enters
B enters, capturing A
C enters, capturing B, which releases A
Repeat


I can imagine this system working better if implemented as an additional layer to the general action system, rather than a standalone concept of managing actions - let me outline what I have in mind:

each action a unit can take has a cost
each player has an amount of action points that regenerate each turn (not all have to be used, but you can't save any for the next round). Depending on your game's nature, you may want that limit to be different between factions or similar distinguishing factors
there's a shared, infinite momentum range for both players that starts at 0 and never changes on it's own (such as, at the end of a player's turn)
players may (in addition to spending any amount of action points for any number of actions) shift the momentum bar towards their opponent for the amount of an action's cost that exceeds the action points of that player's current turn
they may only take a single action per turn that moves the momentum bar on their opponent's side, but as long as momentum is in their own favor, they may use as many actions as they'd like, spending momentum in addition to action points

Here's an example of how that could play out, using only movement as an example for simplicity:

Both players have 5 action points and control 5 Soldiers with a movement cost of 2. The momentum bar is at 3 in favor of player 2.
Player 1 moves 3 Soldiers by spending 5 action points and shift the momentum meter by 1 (to 4) in favor of player 2. Because the momentum is in the opponent's favor and player 1 has already used momentum this round, they may not use further momentum
Player 2 moves 4 Soldiers by spending 5 action points and shift the momentum bar by 2 for their third, and another 2 for their fourth Soldier, ending with the momentum bar at 1 in favor of player 2. Since the momentum bar is still in their favor, they could spend more points, but they decide to keep it this way to retain the edge over the opponent.

By making the momentum bar an isolated element, you're giving players a better chance to judge how their actions will shift the battle in their favor, as with your initial solution, the momentum bar would shift crazy amounts every turn - with this solution, it's an optional element that doesn't "regenerate" on it's own, and therefore represents a more fair, yet also unforgiving investment for players, as every action that doesn't pay off shifts the meter towards your opponent, and now they have the upper hand in deciding whether to save it for later, or spend it on a counter attack.
It makes it especially interesting if your unit action costs force players to spend momentum points or waste some of their action points, rewarding players for planning accurately. I can also imagine that certain units could have action costs so high that they could only be paid using momentum in the first place. By never being able to use momentum once per turn unless it's in your favor, you're not allowing any "rushes", other than if your opponent has decided to give you that advantage due to their excessive use of momentum.
All in all, this sounds like an element to make battles less predictable in a non-random, tactical way.


I know this is like 4 years late but I think you're looking for a game called Got'em!

I haven't played either. But you can find it on boardgamegeek.


Is attacking population and influencing hexes done at the end of battle, or at the end of the combat phase?

I would say option 3. That seems to follow the Course of Battle as detailed on page 20-21:

Missiles
Engagement Round(s)
Retreat
Stalemate
Attacking Population
Reputation Tiles
Influence Hexes
Repair Damage
Player Elimination

Where 1 through 4 occur for every battle. Step 5 through 9 occur after all battles across the board are resolved with the exception being step 6, since drawing reputation tiles occurs after every battle.

Attacking population and influence hexes doesn't necessarily have to be done in descending hex order.


Can an Investigator move directly to the balcony without using the stairs in the Foyer?

No. There's no special case. The division between those areas is marked with a white border. The movement cost to cross a white border is 1.

I believe the FAQ addresses this issue specifically and says that it represents characters climbing over the banisters.

EDIT: I realized that if you read just the title of your question, it seems like I'm saying the opposite of what I really am. So:

YES - you can move directly to the balcony. NO - there is no special case, you haven't missed anything!


Cornucopia: Can Horn of Plenty be used together with normal treasure cards?

Horn of plenty doesn't give you money, it lets you gain a card costing up to the number of different named cards you have in play.

This means you should always play it after your other treasures, you then gain a card from Horn of Plenty. Afterwards you then do your buys as normal. Horn of Plenty doesn't use up a buy or any coins. If you don't want to buy anything afterwards, you don't have to. Playing treasures gains you coin to spend, it doesn't obligate you to buy something with them!


Minds Aglow with X is 100 while Nekusar, the Mindrazer is on the field

You are correct, the players would lose do to a mill effect before Nekusar, the Mindrazer would do any damage.
Nekusar's triggered ability only goes on the stack the next time a player would receive priority. Before this happens, state-based actions would be checked, and players who were unable to draw would lose.
During the resolution of Minds Aglow, players draw cards. This triggers Nekusar:

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.

Once Minds Aglow is completely done resolving, the active player gets priority. But before he does, state-based actions are checked.

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

704.5b If a player attempted to draw a card from a library with no cards in it since the last time state-based actions were checked, that player loses the game.

So not only do players lose before Nekusar's ability resolves, they would lose before they could even have a chance to do something like counter the ability, or cast anything else. Once Minds Aglow starts to resolve, there are no more chances to do anything.


What cards give +1/+1 counters to all friendly creatures?

Ajani Goldmane's -1 ability will give counters to all your creatures and also give them vigilance until end of turn:

  −1: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn.

Ajani Steadfast's -2 ability will also give counters to all your creatures

  −2: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and a loyalty counter on each other planeswalker you control.

Abzan Ascendancy also gives +1/+1 counters to all creatures you have on the battlefield at that moment:

  When Abzan Ascendancy enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Archangel of Thune will work awesome with Abzan Battle Priest(the one you already have):

  Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Borborygmos may also be used to get +1/+1 counters. And it's a big 6/7 Trample creature

  Whenever Borborygmos deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

But Cathars' Crusade might actually be (one of the) best for your scenario. That card and Krenko, Mob Boss... I'm adding red to my Abzan deck!

  Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Celestial Ancient can also give +1/+1 counters to all your creatures:

  Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Decree of Savagery for four +1/+1 counters

  Put four +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.

Mikaeus, the Lunarch a Legendary Human Cleric that will only cost you 2 mana to get a +1/+1 counter on all your creatures(Mikaeus might die in process)

  {T}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Mikaeus: Put a +1/+1 counter on each other creature you control.

Phalanx Leader's Heroic ability can also give all your creatures a +1/+1 counter

  Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets Phalanx Leader, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Tempt With Glory

  Tempting offer — Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Each opponent may put a +1/+1 counter on each creature he or she controls. For each opponent who does, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Titania's Boon

  Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

As Mephy pointed in his comment, Gavony Township can also be used to give all your creatures a +1/+1 counter.

  {2}{G}{W}, {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.


Does a cafe card bonus apply to all players?

We have always played it so that the Café bonus applied to all players.

I can find no direct rule citation on this however if they were meant to only apply to the person who played the card it would have specifically said, "While a Café card is in your room" much like many other cards do.


Does Ada Wong's Level 1 ability trigger Infected text?

Ada Wong's ability allows her to look at the top card of the mansion deck, and either leave it on top, or place it on the bottom of the mansion deck. Although the rule book is unclear about a lot of aspects of the game, I don't think it is unclear what to do about Infected with Effects. The rules say that if an infected is revealed and it has an effect, take note of it, and apply it when the effect says so. Ada Wong's ability allows her to look at the card, not reveal it (a specific game term, that would make the top card open information), so no effects are triggered. I can also be determined from the rules, that only after revealing the top card of the mansion that you either defeat the infected and add it as a decoration to your character, or not defeat it is placed on the bottom of the mansion deck. So, any infected effects that trigger on not being defeated would only do so after being revealed.


Are there red cards that offer protection against mass token destruction?

Honestly, your options aren't great.  Enchantments are a designated weakness for Red, and as such they have basically no options for dealing with them.

If you search on Gatherer for mono-red cards that have "enchantment" in their rules text, you get only 20 results.  Of those, 3 have off-color activations, 2 destroy nonenchantments, 2 are Licids (which become enchantments), 3 create enchantment creature tokens (they're from Theros), two are a split card with the enchantment destruction on the white side (Gatherer doesn't really handle split cards very well), one only cares about enchantment creatures, 4 have miscellaneous effects that don't help, and one is Warp World.

The only two cards that might possibly be of use to you are Aura Barbs and Enchanter's Bane.  Aura Barbs does a measly 2 damage to your opponent for each Virulent Plague they have (which is terrible), and Enchanter's Bane is only 3 damage a turn, which isn't really a fair trade for shutting down the rest of your deck.  Also, Enchanter's Bane is from a Commander deck, so it's not legal in Modern, if that's what you're playing.

If you dig a little broader you can find some other cards that might work, such as Bearer of the Heavens or Capricious Efreet, but they tend to be expensive and/or random in effect, making them pretty useless for your purposes.

The other classic red solution is to simply win the game before the hoser can wreck their field, but a 3 mana enchantment comes down a little too fast for that to be really viable.

If Virulent Plague is a frequent participant of your local metagame, you're probably going to have to splash white or green if you want your token deck to have a prayer.


Can I use Naturalize to "counter" an activated ability?

Once the ability is put on the stack, destroying the Isochron Scepter in response will not take that ability back off the stack.  First the Naturalize will resolve, destroying the Scepter; then, next the Scepter's ability will resolve and you can copy the imprinted instant card (using the last-known-information rule).

I'm not quite sure what you mean about "replaying the Scepter's ability in response" - the Scepter has been tapped in order to play its ability.  Of course, you can use a spell or effect to untap the Scepter in response to the Naturalize, and pay 2 to pay its ability again.  In which case the Scepter's ability would resolve twice, once before Naturalize resolves and destroys the artifact, and once afterwards.  If this is what you're asking?

This para from the Comprehensive Rules may help to understand the finer points of destroying a permanent while its ability is on the stack:

  112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source
  after that time won't affect the ability. Note that some abilities
  cause a source to do something (for example, "Prodigal Pyromancer
  deals 1 damage to target creature or player") rather than the ability
  doing anything directly. In these cases, any activated or triggered
  ability that references information about the source because the
  effect needs to be divided checks that information when the ability is
  put onto the stack. Otherwise, it will check that information when it
  resolves. In both instances, if the source is no longer in the zone
  it's expected to be in at that time, its last known information is
  used. The source can still perform the action even though it no longer
  exists.