How do character upgrades interact with Dispatcher's special ability?

Yes, this is a legal move, and it is clarified in the rules (page 5) (emphasis mine):

  When the Dispatcher moves a player’s pawn as if it were his own:

  • use the Dispatcher’s scars and upgrades, not those belonging to the
  character he is moving,

  • cards that need to be played or discarded (for Direct and Charter Flights
  or to enter a collapsing or fallen city) come from the Dispatcher’s hand.
  A card discarded for a Charter Flight must match the city the pawn is
  moving from.

The Pilot upgrade allows your character to take a Direct Flight without discarding the card. I don't see an upgrade that allows you to take a Charter Flight without discarding, however, so be sure you're using the correct action. Looking around on google, a Pilot Dispatcher is a very common combination, as it is very efficient to move players around that way.


Has black’s moyo already given them an advantage

Your big mistake was your slack move at 12. It's a bit scary to have Black make two shimaris. The reason he shouldn't have done this is that his two stones in the bottom left corner were left stranded. You should have played 12 one or two points to the left of 13, and chased these stones. This would have given you an initiative that would have more than compensated for the two shimaris. Assuming that you play as well as Black from this point, you should win the game.

When Black got to play 13, he fixed his main weakness AND limited value of your shimari in the lower right, killing two birds with one stone. Now it is your stone at 12 that is in the middle of Black's influence. The 13-14 exchange was all in Black's favor. Ditto for the 15-16 exchange, after he solidified with 17. Your 18 was basically forced, but the 18-19 exchange was again in Black's favor. After you played 20 and he played 21, your (ultimate) response at 26 was too little too late. You have fallen one step behind, all because of move 12.

You are about 20 points behind on the board, although komi will reduce Black's lead to less than 15. By falling a move behind at 12, you, in essence gave Black the equivalent of a "two stone" handicap instead of just playing White. You will probably lose this game, even with komi.

I've noticed a pattern that will likely cause you to lose as White. You "follow" Black around, playing 12 in response to 11, 14 in response to 13, 16 in response to 15, 26 in response to 21, etc. This gives Black the advantage of every exchange, and creates the Black moyo pattern you referred to. (You also have a bunch of moyos, but they are much smaller.)

Komi can offset only one such exchange, so you need to find ways to break the pattern (or punish Black for improperly doing so). Moves 8 and 10 were a good idea, because you had sente in that part of the board. Black needed to play J3 (give or take), and then you could have grabbed the kakari at C15 for 12.

The shimari at 11 was big; it's worth about 1.5 stones because of the synergy with the rest of the position. The pincer (or protective move) at J3 was even bigger, because it affected the fate of two stones. That is, your pincer would either have captured them, or more likely, yielded an equivalent benefit, that would have put you ahead (2>1.5).


Who's first in a battle in Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game (from 2010)?

Cards with Battle abilities can only be played before or after an attack on an enemy front (or starting a new front), not during the battle.

Animal husbandry can therefore only remove wound tokens from units who've survived with some damage.  Likewise, Mathematics can only add wound tokens to units already in fronts.  All these cards are resolved before the next card is played (which will kill any units who've suffered wounds equal to their strength) or also at the 'end of the battle' which in the rules, explicitly checks again for dead/surviving units.

In the case you listed, therefore, a wound token is removed then added or added then removed, then the unit is only 'checked' later after all cards have been resolved.

This means that if you initiate the mathematics, you might put more than a unit's strength in wound markers on an enemy if you want to guard against the use of animal husbandry.

Since this particular case doesn't matter, the more general answer is this, though there is no stack, the rules say that you take turns playing cards (defender first) and also that battle abilities are played immediately before or after playing a card.  This implies that you take turns playing battle abilities, just like cards.  After your opponent plays a card and the attack is resolved, you can ask him or her to explicitly give up control to you to play a card (asking them if they are going to use any battle abilities before you declare your action).  Once you declare, it's too late to use an ability on you, since it's your control now.


In this case Walking Ballista resolves under player B's control with counters.  That's because the mana has been already spent. Aethersnatch just gives the control of the spell to the opponent. On the stack the spell "remembers" how much mana was spent to cast it, and if opponent takes control of it, that doesn't change this fact.

From the comprehensive rules:

  107.3a

  If a spell or activated ability has a mana cost, alternative cost, additional cost, and/or activation cost with an {X}, [-X], or X in it, and the value of X isn’t defined by the text of that spell or ability, the controller of that spell or ability chooses and announces the value of X as part of casting the spell or activating the ability. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”) While a spell is on the stack, any X in its mana cost or in any alternative cost or additional cost it has equals the announced value. While an activated ability is on the stack, any X in its activation cost equals the announced value


Can I solve a puzzle I originally failed if there is a monster in the same room?

Yes, she does not have to attack the monster and can solve the puzzle.

Combat occurs in two ways:

If the character spends an action to attack the monster
During the monster attack phase of the Keeper's turn the Keeper has the option of attacking with any monster in the same room as an investigator. (And usually will!).


Yes.  The living rules reference v1.1 contains the errata:

HYPER METABOLISM
The text of the “Hyper Metabolism” technology should read as follows:
“During the status phase, gain 3 command tokens instead of 2.”


Citadels: Wishing Well card 'every other purple district' clarfication

I was 99% sure that that must mean "every purple district that is not this card", as you suspect.  But how to prove that for sure?  My first thought in such matters is to look at foreign versions of the cards.  Rules text that is ambiguous in English is sometimes much clearer when read in other languages.

I haven't (yet) found a scan of a foreign version of Wishing Well... but this French page, (which contains a comment by Bruno Faidutti the game designer himself, so it must be fairly respectable!) seems to suggest that the text of Fontaine aux Souhaits is along the lines of "autres batiments violets" counting for +1; and I think you'd be hard pressed to translate that as "every second purple building".

(link: http://www.auteursdejeux.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=707)

I'm going to keep looking for card scans I guess, but I'm pretty sure we're en route to the right answer here.  (What language was Citadels first published in, does anyone know?)


Does the " Heroic " special power protects you against the Ice Witches special power?

From the combined almanac on BGG:

Ice Witches by Andrew Capel A SPIDER’S WEB
Race Tokens: 5 (10 Max)
Power: Ice Witches collect 1 Winter marker for each Magic Souce (or Mystic Crystal Region) they control at the end of their Redeployment phase. At the end of their Redeployment phase, Ice Witches may place their Winter markers in their own Regions or any adjacent Region (there cannot be more than 1 Winter marker per Region, though). A Winter marker permanently augments the Region’s defense by 1. It remains on the board as long as the Ice Witches are active. Regions with a Winter marker that are not controlled by an Ice Witch earn 1 less Victory coin than usual.

Heroic SMALL WORLD
Race Tokens: 5
Power: At the end of your turn, place each of your 2 Heroes in 2 different Regions you occupy. These 2 Regions are immune to enemy conquests as well as to their Racial and Special Powers until your Heroes move. Your Heroes disappear when you go In Decline.

By my reading, I would say that the Ice Witches should not be able to place their Winter markers in a region containing a Hero. I could not find any specific ruling about the two, nor could I find any discussion about either Ice Witches or the Heroic power that would suggest otherwise.


The instructions that come with the game have the quote in the question and indicate that there are basic and advanced rules.

The basic rules state that cards without instructions must be saved and played in pairs. They say that "if you play matching pairs with no instructions on them," you can randomly steal another player's card.  With the later section, it is clear this only applies to "cat" cards with no instructions.

There is a later section "for advanced play" which specifically states that "play pairs .... no longer only applies to cards with no instructions on them, it now applies to ANY cards in the deck with the same icons in the corners".  It also gives the rules for three of a kind play and 5 different cards play.  This seems to be the only set of rules listed on the "official rules" webpage in the other answer.

Ergo: Whether you can play non-cat pairs is based on which rule set you are following.


Can I start with my identity card unrezzed?

At the very start of the Setup section the rules read:

  Choose Sides: The players decide who will play as the  Runner and who will play as the Corporation. Then, each  player places his
  identity card faceup in his play area and  takes a corresponding deck.

Initial identities go face up.  It's only subsequently that Corporation cards should be installed facedown.

"Rezzing" is furthermore defined as "the act of flipping a facedown card faceup"; so if the initial identities are faceup, there can be no question of them starting the game "unrezzed" (if that wasn't already obvious).


Pawns cannot capture in a forward direction, even though they move that way. If they could, there would be no way of blocking them. E.g. 1. e4   e5.  2. e4xe5. So the pawn cannot capture the blocking bishop.

Pawns capture only in a forward diagonal direction. But there are two such directions; left diagonal and right diagonal. Pawns are the only pieces in chess that capture differently from the way they move.


Is it possible to play a land card when the stack is filled up?

Is it possible to play a land card when the stack is filled with unresolved spells and effects waiting to do their work?

No.

  305.1. A player who has priority may play a land card from their hand during a main phase of their turn when the stack is empty.


How does regeneration work in Magic the Gathering?

A creature is destroyed when a resolved spell or effect says so (destruction by effect), or when the total damage it received this turn from anywhere is equal to or greater than its current toughness (destruction by game rules).

At any time you can regenerate a creature with an appropriate spell or effect. The only condition is that the regeneration has to happen before the destruction effect. You can regenerate a creature as often as you like, anytime. For each time you regenerate it, the creature gets a "regeneration shield" that lasts until the turn ends or until it is used up by a destruction effect, whatever happens first. If a destruction event would happen and the creature has a "regeneration shield" active, the following things happen:

One of those shields is removed
All damage received by the creature this turn is removed
If a destruction effect caused the event to trigger, it resolves but has no effect
The creature gets tapped (Note that this is an effect of regeneration. The creature does not have to be untapped to regenerate it)
The creature gets removed from combat, if it was regenerated during combat

Note that certain spells or effects state something like "Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated.". In that case, you can still respond with a regeneration shield, but the regeneration effect is ignored and the creature still gets destroyed.

  Is it attackable in any way after that? With spells or instants?

"Attack" has a defined meaning in M:TG: You attack with creatures only, during a combat phase. The only valid targets for an attack are opposing players and Planeswalkers.
The correct term to use for spells and effects is "target", if it is a targeted spell or effect.
And yes, regeneration provides no further protection from multiple damage sources or spells/effects. You can, as stated above, provide multiple regeneration shields, so as long as you can pay the costs, you can regenerate as often as you want.


How many Memory Cards are used with both "Tea Dragon Society" and "Autumn Harvest" card games?

A question about combining has been asked on BGG and the designer, Steve Ellis, answered as follows.

Please feel free to mix and match Memory cards as long as you use
select the appropriate number for your player count as referenced in
the Autumn Harvest setup. For the Market cards, shuffling these all
together is perfectly acceptable or you can customize the Market deck
as you see fit with cards from one or both games as you desire.


Does a monopoly in a commodity in Sheriff of Nottingham gain both bonuses?

As per the rules (may need a BoardGameGeek.com account to access):

  The player who has successfully delivered the most and the second most of each type of Legal Good is declared the “King” and “Queen”, respectively, of that Good.

I would interpret this to mean each player can either be the King or Queen (or split the points in a tie), but not both. Hence, even a monopoly on a Good would only net the King's bonus.

If the single commodity holder got both the King and Queen bonuses, you could also make the following argument: when there isn't a monopoly, the player with the highest number of goods also always ties for the second highest number of goods. That player would always get the King's points and some portion of the Queen's. This doesn't seem like a logical interpretation of the rules, and most people with the second most number of Goods would be pretty annoyed if this were happening. If a player only gets a single bonus when there isn't a monopoly, the same rule should apply unless otherwise stated by the rulebook, which in this case it isn't.


Can Kaalia of the Vast put Slumbering Dragon into play tapped and attacking?

After a bit of research, it seems my intuition is confirmed. I could quote 112.3d 506.4a, and 508.2a of the Comprehensive Rules, but the most explicit confirmation comes from the Tiller Nephilim rulings on Gatherer:

  The creature you put onto the battlefield from your graveyard is attacking, even if the attack couldn't legally be declared (for example, if that creature has defender or an effect says that no more than one creature can attack).

  Putting an attacking creature onto the battlefield doesn't trigger "When this creature attacks" abilities. It also won't check attacking restrictions, costs, or requirements.


Are Saprolings still Tokens after playing Life and Limb?

Yes, they are still tokens.
First of all, Token is not a card type:

205.2a The card types are artifact, conspiracy, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.

A token is any object on the battlefield that is not represented by a card. Note that a token is still a token even if you use an MtG card to represent it.

110.5. Some effects put tokens onto the battlefield. A token is a marker used to represent any permanent that isn’t represented by a card.
110.5e A token is subject to anything that affects permanents in general or that affects the token’s card type or subtype. A token isn’t a card (even if represented by a card that has a Magic back or that came from a Magic booster pack).

No effect can ever turn a token into a non-token or vice versa. All Life and Limb does is affect a permanent's card type which, as shown, has nothing to do with the object being a token or not.
That answers your questions 1 and 2. Tokens remain tokens under all circumstances and the same rules apply to them with or without Life and Limb.
Question 3 is only tangentially related to Life and Limb and is answered here:
What is Summoning Sickness


Should you play a Bunker Scar if you aren't likely to win the first game?

It depends

If by playing your Bunker scar, the Bunker will be located in a nice defensive position or choke point (i.e. Central America, Brazil, Southeast Asia), you open up the possibility that the winner of the first game might place a Major City reward on top of your Bunker. This will give them a pretty major advantage in the early games, because unless someone places their HQ first (and adjacent) to the Major City that player will get to start there and their HQ will get the +1 defensive bonus. Additionally, if the opponent doesn't start there, you or another player will have to sacrifice troops to move into (or to the other side of) the city.

If the Bunker will be located on a less high value territory (Middle of Asia, Europe, or North America), then it wouldn't be as helpful to an opponent who wins before you. It will make those continents more valuable (which is probably a good thing).

Does this answer change with different numbers of players or scars that have been played?

The only difference between the number of players, and the scars that have already been played is whether you will get a new scar next game. There are 6 starting scars, so if by playing the Bunker you will make it so that there will not be enough scars to pass out the next game, you might want to hold off on using it. This is especially true if the majority of scars played so far have been Ammo Shortages. You will have a a better chance to win next turn, and if their are more Bunkers than Ammo Shortage scars, you have a higher probability of getting a Bunker and being able to place it in a good location if you expect to win for your own Major City.


Progenitor Mimic copying a creature with counters

No, counters are not copied. The Progenitor Mimic, when copying a Nimbus Swimmer, would enter the battlefield as a 0/0 creature and immediately go to the graveyard.

The Progenitor Mimic copies the Nimbus Swimmer's ability. However, X is zero everywhere except on the stack, so it will enter without +1/+1 counters and go to the graveyard the next time a player would gain priority.

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

The spirit of 107.3f is mirrored in the rules for copying objects. The value of X can be copied, but only when it's on a spell or ability on the stack.

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


What makes King’s Court-King’s Court-Goons-Goons-Masquerade so powerful?

The combo is what is known as a "pin", although the biggest problem with it has been somewhat fixed in the 2nd version of Intrigue, which changed how Masquerade works.

For reference, the three cards are (using their 1st edition wordings):

  King's Court: You may choose an Action card in your hand. Play it three times.

  Goons: +1 Buy. +$2. Each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand.
  While this is in play, when you buy a card, +1VP.

  Masquerade: +2 Cards. Each player passes a card from his hand to the left at once. Then you may trash a card from your hand.

This only works in two-player games. First, you get yourself to a point where your deck consists solely of 2xKing's Court, 1xGoons, 1xMasquerade. Then:

Play a King's Court
  Choose King's Court
  Play King's Court (1st time)
    Choose Goons
    Play Goons 3 times (opponent discards down to 3 cards)
  Play King's Court (2nd time)
    Choose Masquerade
    Play Masquerade (1st time)
      You have no cards to pass
      Opponent passes you a card
      Trash the card
    Play Masquerade (2nd time)
      You have no cards to pass
      Opponent passes you a card
      Trash the card
    Play Masquerade (3rd time)
      You have no cards to pass
      Opponent passes you a card
      Trash the card

Note that playing Goons means they only have 3 cards in hand when you play the Masquerade, so you wind up trashing all of the cards they are holding and they start their turn with an empty hand. At some point, you end up trashing your opponent's entire deck, leaving them unable to do anything but purchase Coppers and Curses. You can choose to push the game to end by buying a couple of Estates (which will net you Goons points, and you can then pass the Estate to the opponent, get it passed back, and trash it) or just leave your opponent powerless and incredibly annoyed.


How much strategic depth is there in Quarriors?

Not much. The game is won or lost on creatures. The problem is, those creature dice usually only have a 50%-67 chance of coming up as a creature. It is quite possible to have the better dice bag, and just lose because of poor dice rolls.

With only one buy, the best purchase is usually obvious. Since most spells don't gain you glory and creatures that score also allow you to cull your weak starting dice, you are usually best off buying the most costly creature you can get. The most costly creature usually scores the most Glory, and usually has higher defense and attack power. Many times, whomever gets an early 8 Quiddy starting roll and can buy the Dragon or other 3-4 Glory creature first will usually win.

The game is usually pretty short. This is especially true of the 4 player game, where the game ends on 12 glory. This doesn't give the dice bags much time to develop a strategy.

The Advanced and Expert rules on page 10 of the newest rule book do add some important strategic changes. With the Advanced rule, you can buy two dice per turn, that makes you have to decide on multiple smaller quicker scores (less risk of not rolling a creature), or bigger creatures that are more likely to survive. The Expert rules require you to cull the creature that scores. This rule makes the game take longer, and gives dice bag strategies more time to develop.


MTG What happens if a creature's toughness is reduced to 0 but immediately raised?

First, damage is not the same as toughness reduction. After Lightning Strike resolves, the Grove Rumbler is still a 3/3, with 3 damage marked. This still causes the Grove Rumbler to die from state based actions, just for a slightly different reason.

Once you add Titanic Growth, the outcome depends on exactly when you cast it. If you let the Lightning Strike resolve, then decide to cast Titanic Growth, you can't save the Grove Rumbler, and it plays out like this:

Your opponent casts Lightning Strike targeting Grove Rumbler.
You choose not to respond.
Lightning Strike resolves. Grove Rumbler now has 3 damage marked on it.
State-based actions occur. Grove Rumbler has 3 toughness and 3 damage marked, so it dies due to rule 704.5g.
You now have another opportunity to act. At this point, you can't cast Titanic Growth targeting Grove Rumbler, because Grove Rumbler is already dead.

Alternatively, if you decide to cast Titanic Growth in response to Lightning Strike, you can save the Grove Rumbler, and it plays out like this:

Your opponent casts Lightning Strike targeting Grove Rumbler.
In response, you cast Titanic Growth targeting Grove Rumbler. Now the stack has Titanic Growth on top of Lightning Strike.
Assuming neither of you have any other responses, Titanic Growth resolves. Grove Rumbler is now a 7/7.
Again, assuming neither of you has a response, Lightning Strike resolves. Grove Rumbler now has 3 damage marked on it.
State-based actions occur. Grove Rumbler has 7 toughness and only 3 damage marked, so nothing happens.

Note: I omitted several irrelevant steps. Each player has an opportunity to act (priority) before each object on the stack resolves, and state-based actions actually occur every time a player gains priority.

If Lightning Strike were replaced with Last Gasp to make the scenario actually involve toughness reduction, each case would play out in pretty much exactly the same way. Grove Rumbler would have a lower power and toughness instead of damage, and it would die because of 704.5f instead of 704.5g.


Assuming your opponent had two copies of Grizzly Bear it would result in all three creatures being destroyed and afterwards you placing two 2/2 Black Zombie creature tokens into play tapped.

Overseer of the Damned has a triggered ability which is placed onto the stack the next time a player would get priority. Put more succinctly, the ability doesn't go onto the stack until after the board wipe has finished resolving.


Dealing with homophones when playing "Contact" (Conversation Game)

Since they're pronounced the same, there's no way of knowing that the guesser and defender are referring to different words. The reasonable thing to do in that case is accept the correct guess and move on appropriately (a loss for the defender, in this case, if I'm reading the rules correctly).

In this particular case, the guesser may have spoken the word so as to emphasize the difference in spelling (drawing out the 'o' sound in capitol). In that case, it seems very reasonable for the defender to respond with "not capitol" (again, drawing out the 'o' sound at the end). This will likely point to "capital" as being the next guess (especially with the addition of the 'a' from the defender).

Unless, that is, somebody asks which spelling of the word you are referring to (maybe red vs read). The standard rules linked don't say anything about homophones, so it's probably best to decide beforehand what happens in that case. Given that this seems to be a kind of party game, accepting the homophone as a correct guess seems the most appropriate, as it creates less conflict and more fun, and keeps the game moving.


Is there a functional difference between "all" and "each"?

There is no functional difference between "each creature" and "all creatures" in MtG rules.

The difference here is grammatical :
 - "All" considers creatures as an ensemble
 - "Each" considers all creatures in a group individually

So an effect that is usually considered "global" will use "all" :
 - Destroying a bunch of things -> Wrath of God
 - Giving a group of creatures -X/-X -> Engineered Plague

While effects that are relative to each permanent will use "each" :
 - Dealing damage -> Deafening Clarion
 - Giving some creatures +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters -> Song of Freyalise or Harbinger of Night


Does War Stomp exhaust me before I am the defender?

Yes.

According to answers on the wowtcg.com forums, War Stomp triggers in two different places, depending on whether the character with War Stomp is attacking or defending.

  If attacking, then War Stomp triggers at the beginning of the Attack Window, just after the attacker exhausts for that attack.
  Since this happens before the Protect Point, you can exhaust a protector before they can protect with it.

  If defending, then War Stomp triggers at the beginning of the Defend Window, just after the Protect Point.
  You cannot use War Stomp while defending to stop the current attack, but you can exhaust another character to stop them from attacking that turn."

The upshot of this is that when you are attacked by an ally with War Stomp, the attacker can exhaust your hero before the Protect Point, when you are still just the proposed defender. Since you're not yet the defender, you can't respond by exhausting your hero to pay Frost Trap's cost.


These are Metal Pokémon Tazos from Taiwan.

They were distributed as promotional items in Frito-Lays or Smiths products, more specifically, I believe these came in Cheetos packets.

They came in 3 sizes, but these seem to be the small variant.


After lethal first strike damage to an indestructible creature, will it still do damage?

Indestructible, as with most abilities, doesn't modify how combat works - it only does this:

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

The respective state-based action that 702.12b renders unaffecting:

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

This results in the following chain of events:

In the first combat damage step, the 4/2 will deal 4 damage to the indestructible 4/4 creature.
State-Based Actions are checked, but even though the creature has lethal damage marked on it, it won't be put into the graveyard and therefore not removed from combat.
In the second combat damage step, the 4/4 will deal 4 damage to the 4/2.
State-Based Actions are checked, see lethal damage marked on the 4/2, and put into the graveyard.


What happens to my Athreos triggers when my opponent has an Aegis of the Gods?

The ability is removed from the stack, and you do not get your creature back. See:

603.3

  603.3 Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that's not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 116, "Timing and Priority." The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it's countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.

and 603.3d

  603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.

You are required to choose a target, and since you cannot the ability is removed from the stack and does not resolve.


In Santorini, can Dionysus chain additional moves?

According to Gavan Brown of Roxley Game Laboratory,

You take another turn as Dionysus using opponent's workers as your own, therefore:
• You do not gain your opponent's God Power
• You can chain additional extra turns together


Can I use the Power Grid Expansion "Northern Europe / United Kingdom & Ireland"?

You can use the expansion with your existing copy of Power Grid,
with one caveat: the backs of the power plant cards have changed, which means you need to shuffle the deck while both the fronts, and backs are hidden when using the Northern Europe part of the expansion.

If you chose to use only the United Kingdom & Ireland part of the expansion no adjustments are needed.


Yes, your opponent can deal 1 damage to the 1/1, destroying it before the Aura resolves. This will counter the Aura on resolution, since it doesn't have a legal target to enchant.
Auras are an enchantment sub-type. When cast, they require a legal target of the type of permanent (or sometimes player) that they will enchant.

303.4a An Aura spell requires a target, which is restricted by its enchant ability.
114.1b Aura spells are always targeted. These are the only permanent spells with targets. An Aura's target is specified by its enchant keyword ability (see rule 702.5, "Enchant"). The target(s) are chosen as the spell is cast; see rule 601.2c. An Aura permanent doesn't target anything; only the spell is targeted. (An activated or triggered ability of an Aura permanent can also be targeted.)

Since Auras are targeted spells, if the creature they were targeting is destroyed, then all of the spells targets are illegal and the Aura spell is countered on resolution and is placed in its owner's graveyard.

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.
608.3a If the object that's resolving is an Aura spell, its resolution involves two steps. First, it checks whether the target specified by its enchant ability is still legal, as described in rule 608.2b. (See rule 702.5, "Enchant.") If so, the spell card becomes a permanent and is put onto the battlefield under the control of the spell's controller attached to the object it was targeting.


Is it possible to have the same planeswalker from different editions in a Commander deck?

No, this is not possible. The rules clearly state

  903.5b Other than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name.

Since there are different Jace planeswalkers, you can include multiple of them, but you can only have one Jace Beleren.


Increasing Savagery: can you change the target?

Yes, the new flashbacked invocation of Increasing Savagery is an entirely different instance of the spell, and you may choose a new target, even if the original target is still on the battlefield.


Are there viable alternatives to a "three level pre-empt" with a good seven card suit?

I have a friend that preempts at the two level with defense and at the three level without. He doesn't get very good results from that treatment.

In my opinion, AKQxxxx xx xx xx should be opened 3S in any seat and vulnerability. If you were 7321 instead of 7222, you could consider 1S if your partnership opens light. If you're in third seat and RHO opened, you might consider 4S nonvulnerable.

The larger question is a question of philosophy. Preempts can be used primarily destructively (that is, as an attempt to interfere in opponents' auction), or as a mix of a constructive and destructive bid. If you preempt destructively, partner can never raise you to game (either 3NT or 4 of your major) based on power. If 2S could be anything from KJxxxx xxx xx xx to AKQxxxx xx xx xx, what is partner to do with xx Axxx AKQx Axx? If you have the first hand, 4S is dicey and 3NT is hopeless. If you have the second, 6S and 6NT are excellent contracts. Partner just has to raise you to 4S and hope. If a three-level preempt contains both KQ-seventh and out, and 7-low and out, then partner can never raise you to 3NT, and even extending your preempt with a 3-card holding in your suit is  a risky proposition.

It comes down to this: If your preempts are primarily destructive, you'll often be making the final decision for your partnership based on 13 cards, while your opponents will be using 26 during the auction. Your partnership will miss some good games and make some bad sacrifices. You'll make bad leads on defense more often and opponents will have more information about your distribution. Against that, opponents will get to the wrong strain or level a little more often than at other tables.

I don't think that's a good tradeoff, and few experts do either.


In Axis and Allies, do infantry units start at the industrial complex or anywhere I want?

No.  New units can only be placed at industrial complexes.

From the rules, page 21, "Action Sequence 5 - Place New Units On Gameboard":

Place newly purchased land units and air units in territories where you have owned
industrial complexes since the beginning of your turn-not in just-captured territories
with industrial complexes.

Furthermore

Any units that cannot be placed in industrial complexes are lost and put back in the tray.

Rules: https://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/axis.pdf


Is there value to my misprinted Magic card?

Is the card from a set in the 8th Edition - Fifth Dawn range? If yes then this is not a misprint.
(if no, then that is an interesting find indeed...)
This was when the Magic card frame was changed and it was decided to print "mana symbols in running text in black-and-white instead of color" for a number of reasons. This decision has since been reversed.
This question was asked and answered on Ask Wizards in May of 2003. See the May 20, 2003 question from Philip, answered by Randy Buehler.

May 20, 2003
Q: "I saw one of the Two-Headed Dragon promo cards that was given away
at E3 last week. What's up with the red mana symbol in the text box?
It looks black or gray instead of red."
--Philip R
A: From Randy Buehler, Director of Magic R&D:
"You're right -- the red
mana symbol that appears in the 'firebreathing' ability in the text
box on Two-Headed Dragon is black text, and it will be the same on the
actual Eighth Edition cards. "We looked at all aspects of our printing
process when we were putting together the new card frames and it
turned out to be much simpler if we did the mana symbols in running
text in black-and-white instead of color. We've had problems with them
in the past, especially on foil cards, and by changing them to black
text we will be able to minimize these mistakes. R&D was initially
concerned that they would be harder to read and gameplay would be
affected by this change, so we had some playtest cards printed up and
tested with them in our Future Future League. After playing with them,
we realized that you never really notice the difference. In fact,
since the text box itself is colored, it tricks your eye into seeing
the symbol as colored too. Based on this playtesting, we concluded
that the advantages of making our printing process more efficient and
subject to fewer errors outweighed the drawback of making the cards
slightly less pretty and so we made the change. (Note that only mana
symbols that appear in text in text boxes are affected by this change
-- mana costs in the upper right and basic lands will stay the same.)"


dominion adventures, using tokens on duration piles

You only "play" the Duration once, on the turn when you, well, play it. The next turn it will just have an effect without you needing to play it.

So this means Durations don't work especially well with the +1 Card etc tokens. They'll still work okay, especially if your deck is reasonably big (so you don't often have Durations enduring over the reshuffle).


Is there something like Gatherer but with inventory management?

To manage my collection, I have used deckbox.org. Since it uses gatherer as a "database" to know what all the cards are, it stays up to date with the current set. You will have to tell it what cards you do own however, so there is some up front work to tell the collection manager what you have.

It also uses magic.tcgplayer.com to let you know both the individual pricing of your cards and the contents of your entire collection.


Refreshing Walk can only be played in the movement phase; the right to use the healing part of the effect expires before the combat phase (in which healing effects can't be played anyway).  By the time combat has finished, the window of opportunity to benefit from the healing qualities of the Refreshing Walk is long since over.

It would be quite bizarre to be able to save parts of an effect and have them happen in the distant future in general, I think (unless such a possibility was specifically allowed in writing).


Shuffling cards causes uneven mana distribution - ways to fix that?

The only thing you're doing wrong is trying to "fix" uneven mana distribution.

If your deck is shuffled correctly — that is to say, if it's actually randomized — there's almost always going to be clumps of lands. You will sometimes have games where you're mana-screwed, and you will sometimes have games where you're mana-flooded. That's normal; it's supposed to happen.

That 1-2 cards per land card thing you're describing is called mana weaving. It's the only way to really "fix" clumping — and it's a form of cheating because it's trying to fix your deck with an even spread and make your deck less random and not properly shuffled. You can see here where I asked about that a few years ago: Is Mana Weaving ok if it's followed by a thorough shuffle?. The explanations I received were pretty helpful in understanding what is really meant to happen with shuffling a deck.

In general pile shuffling (when you're not using it to mana weave) is fine and all, but it's not regarded as an effective way to randomize your deck. Tournament rules say pile shuffling alone is not a good enough way to do a shuffle. Here's what I'd recommend:

Sleeve your cards.
Do overhand and riffle shuffles.
If you can't do riffle shuffles, try mash shuffles. However they'll damage your sleeves if you do it poorly and force your cards, and sufficient damage will eventually mark a card, letting you know where it is in your deck — marked cards aren't permitted so you'll need to replace the sleeve.
Accept that you're going to get lands clumped in your deck; it's supposed to happen.
Use land fetches, tutors, draws, scrying, shuffle, and other forms of card advantage — they help you move past clumping.


Noxious Revival and Street Wraith interaction

Yes, you can do this.

Street Wraith has the ability

  Cycling—Pay 2 life.

which (as the reminder text states) is shorthand702.28a for

  Pay 2 life, Discard this card: Draw a card.

Since this is an activated ability, everything to the left of the colon (:) character is the cost that must be paid to use the ability.602.1a  You pay the cost (discard the card and pay 2 life) and the ability is placed on the stack.

Once the ability hits the stack, it follows all the usual rules for resolution - including allowing players to respond by using different spells or abilities.602.2b  At this point you can use Noxious Revival; it also goes on the stack.

Once everybody passes priority, the spells resolve in LIFO order: Noxious Revival resolves first, letting you place the Street Wraith on top of your library, followed by Street Wraith's cycling ability, which lets you draw a card.


Tool to search for cards with similar functionality

MythicSpoiler provides something they call "Thesaurus" (usually used for finding word synonyms).

Although not the site's primary functionality, you can search for specific cards and it will yield you similar cards in nature and functionality, and excluding any other factors, which has its own pitfalls - for example, it wouldn't give you just any other green card, but it might give you a non-green alternative with the same function. The range is limited to three cards at a time, though.
Searching for Fog, for example, you will get suggestions for Druid's Deliverance, Moment's Peace, and Moonmist.

This is an exclusively manual process, as stated by its creator. You can choose to partake in this process by submitting your own card suggestions.

There are attempts to solve this issue procedurally as well, such as this attempt to solve it via NLP (Natural Language Processing). They link to a GitHub repository, but unfortunately there seems to be no existing implementation to try it out yourself quickly.

That said, for the multitude of cards available as alternatives to Fog, you're better off doing a specific Gatherer search (or search the database tool of your choice in a similar manner), for example for all green spells with the phrase "Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn". This is the only process I can think of that will guarantee that you're not missing the card you're looking for, as long as you choose your search parameters sensibly - for example, the above search won't yield Terrifying Presence as a result.


Where can the Ladder card be placed in Saboteur 2?

This was answered by the Designer, Frederic Moyersoen on BoardGameGeek:

  Any card you place in the gallery must match with an existing corridor. There is no exception for placing a card with a ladder.

And here:

  As the ladder is always connected to the start card, you can place this card when the connection is interrupted.

Taken together, the ladder card must be placed so that it connects to a path.  That path need not lead back to the original ladder card.


As I read the description in Sensei’s Library (your own link), hidden moves are not considered to be played on the board until they are revealed; you may like to think of the stone as still in a special pot with a label on it. So a not yet revealed stone cannot be captured or in atari. It can, however, be used to prevent a move your opponent tries to make.

In your example, the hidden stone is therefore not in atari: neither it nor your hidden stone are even on the board. You next move does not capture the hidden stone. The board (which I suppose you mean by ‘table’) is not wrong. No third person is required.


If you have more than one face-down development card in Settlers of Catan, do you have to keep them distinguished?

The rules, section 3d, say "Keep your development cards hidden (in your hand) until you play them, so your opponents can't anticipate your play."

In games I've played people tend to stack cards in front of themselves rather than completely conceal them. Even so, long as they don't play a card on the turn it was purchased, there is nothing stopping them from stacking/ordering cards in whatever way they choose.

So, yes, players can certainly mentally keep track of how many development cards someone may have picked up, there is nothing requiring them to be visible to other players after that point.


Is there a traditional card game with similar rules to "Lost Cities"?

I don't think I've ever heard of such card game. To me it's pretty clear that Lost Cities were developed and designed using standard card deck, but I don't suspect it's actually based on some truly similar traditional card game. Maybe the basic idea was to design a 2-player game with simple rules, something a little like Solitaire, but competetive, with  piles shared between the players?

I heard Lost Cities being described as 2 player Solitaire with an extra portion of suspense - source. If there was more similar game to Lost Cities, maybe such descriptions would mention it.

I guess this isn't the answer you were looking for, although I can't give you any game title that would have the feel of Lost Cities. This is the interview with Reiner Knizia in which he mentions origins of Lost Cities. You also may want to take a look at this interview and this one.

  It started out as a two-player card game. I then tried to develop it into a larger game that would accommodate between two and four players. In the end, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to leave it as I originally had it [as a two player game]. When I start out with a game, it is usually unclear where I will end up with it. If you build up internal obstacles and say "this has to be a card game" or "this has to be a tile-laying game" then you restrict yourself. I think you need to do the game justice -- you need to let it develop. Lost Cities developed into a two-player game: it is clean, it is pure, it is simple, it is challenging, and it is fun.

You might also try checking Patience category on pagat.com


If you look at the base rules of the game it ends as soon as a player has no cards in their hand. Which means that the second player would not have a chance to play the draw 2 in response to the first players card.

Also should be noted that if you are playing in a situation where you want to continue playing till everyone but the last person runs out of cards it would be the same. As soon as a player plays their last card they would be out of the game and not impacted by any cards.

uno rules

  Scoring: When a player no longer has any cards and the game ends, he/she receives points. All opponents’ cards are given to the winner and points are counted. All number cards are the same value as the number on the card (e.g. a 9 is 9 points). “Draw Two" – 20 Points, “Reverse" – 20 Points, “Skip" – 20 Points, “Wild" – 50 Points, and “Wild Draw Four" – 50 Points. The first player to attain 500 points wins the game.


No.

This is answered in the rules in the description of the Diplomat:

You may not exchange the Keep district, any
districts in the Bishop’s city, or any districts in a
completed city of eight districts (seven with the
Bell Tower in play).
Note: If you are using the
Diplomat in your game, you must remove the
Cemetery from the deck since both cannot be
used together.

It is verified in the FAQ:

Q: Can the Diplomat exchange one of his districts for
a district from a completed city of eight districts?
A: No


Are there a limited number of counters that can be used?

The rules don't cover this, so you have to decide as a group. However, my advice is that there's no reason running out of tokens should limit the effect. You wouldn't run out in a 2-player game, so why should you run out when there are 6 players? If you have to give out 5 tokens and only have 3, how do you decide who gets one? The simplest solution is, as you said, just use something else to track them.


When survivors get knocked back from a range attack, do they get pushed in the cardinal direction closest to the vector from monster to survivor?

There's no official answer to this from the FAQ, or anywhere in the rest of the community, unfortunately.  Most people play that you would do it in the rough direction of the vector, alternating moving horizontally and vertically in a way as to match the line between the survivor and monster.

This makes some of the monster abilities work more sensibly - there is a monster that does knockback towards itself, pulling the survivors to it (ostensibly to then beat them to a pulp).  Doing the knockback in a cardinal-direction line would prevent this from working as intended, and potentially leave the survivors out of reach.


If you trigger Tree of Perdition's ability, then give the tree -13/-13, does the player go to 0 life?

No - the Tree's ability will fail to do anything when it resolves. After the -13/-13 effect resolves, the Tree will die as a state-based action. Thus by the time the Tree's ability resolves, it won't be in play so the exchange can't happen.

The general rule:

  701.8a A spell or ability may instruct players to exchange something (for example, life totals or control of two permanents) as part of its resolution. When such a spell or ability resolves, if the entire exchange can’t be completed, no part of the exchange occurs.

And confirming this, a specific ruling for a very similar card:

  If Tree of Redemption isn’t on the battlefield when the ability resolves, the exchange can’t happen and the ability will have no effect.


Is there a card that lets me draw whenever a card is put in an opponent's graveyard?

Just add Painter's Servant to your combo of Sphinx's Tutelage and Compost.

With Painter's Servant in play, every card your opponent mills will be Black and cause a Compost trigger.  So as soon as the Sphinx's Tutelage trigger first resolves, your opponent will mill (at least) 2, netting you two more draw triggers, causing 2 more sphinx triggers, leading to 4 more draw triggers causing 4 more sphinx triggers leading to 8 more draw triggers, etc etc.

Compost is a 'may' so you don't need to worry about milling yourself if you want to stop.


Does activating Priest of the Forgotten Gods ability trigger Korvold's last ability twice?

Yes, activating Priest of the Forgotten Gods' ability and sacrificing two creatures simultaneously triggers Korvold's last ability twice.
Rule 603.2c says this:

603.2c An ability triggers only once each time its trigger event occurs. However, it can trigger repeatedly if one event contains multiple occurrences.
Example: A permanent has an ability whose trigger condition reads, “Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, . . . .” If someone casts a spell that destroys all lands, the ability will trigger once for each land put into the graveyard during the spell’s resolution.

In this case, the single event of activating Priest of the Forgotten Gods contains two occurrences of sacrificing a creature, so Korvold's ability that triggers "Whenever you sacrifice a permanent" triggers twice.


Bridge Responders Jump shows a preempt or points...Playing Standard American

For questions about Standard American, you can always refer to the  Standard American Yellow Card System Booklet.

In this case, the booklet says that jump-shift responses are strong and slam invitational. The downside to the booklet is that it doesn't really cover followups for most bids.

Preemptive jump-shifts are quite popular among players who play a 2/1 system, but Standard American's inability to force to game at a low level makes slam exploration too difficult when responder holds a good hand with an excellent suit unless you play strong jump-shifts.