How does Exquisite Archangel work with different ways of losing?

There is actually a variety of possible outcomes of the Exquisite Archangel's ability, depending on how you would lose the game.

Life Loss: In this case, the ability works as you would expect: instead of losing the game due to having 0 or less life, you gain life so that your life total becomes equal to your starting life total (20 in a normal game) [CR 118.5].

Exception: If an effect says that you can't gain life, such as on Erebos, God of the Dead, then the Archangel's ability will not cause you to gain life, so you will remain a 0 or less life and lose immediately after exiling the Archangel.

Poison Counters: If you get 10 or more poison counters, the Archangel will not save you. You will exile it and change your life total the first time State-based actions are checked, but once that is done, State-based actions will be rechecked immediately, and this time the Archangel won't be there to help, so you will still lose.

Commander Damage: In a Commander game, you normally lose if you take 21 damage from a single commander. Similar to the case with poison counters, the Archangel's effect will apply once, but the damage will still be marked, so you will still lose immediately.

Mill: If you try to draw a card from an empty library, the Archangel will save you once, but you will still have an empty library and you will lose the next time you have to draw a card. You don't lose immediately because of how that specific state-based action is worded:

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, he or she loses the game.

"You lose": If an effect directly says that you lose the game, from a card such as an opponent's Door to Nothingness or your own Demonic Pact, the Archangel will replace that effect, and you won't lose the game.

Exception: If you lose due to the effect of the card Transcendence, the Archangel won't be much help. The replacement effect will reset your life total to your starting life total, which will usually be at least 20, and then Transcendence's triggered ability will trigger again, and you will lose.

"You Win": If your opponent has an effect that says "you win the game", the outcome varies depending on whether the game is a multiplayer game using the limited range of influence option:

Games without limited range of influence: In a standard two-player game, or any multiplayer game without the limited range of influence option, winning the game immediately ends the game, without requiring the opposing player to lose the game. In this case, the Exquisite Archangel's ability will simply never apply.

Games with limited range of influence: In these games, rule 104.3h applies:

In a multiplayer game using the limited range of influence option (see rule 801), an effect that states that a player wins the game instead causes all of that player’s opponents within the player’s range of influence to lose the game. This may not cause the game to end.

So if a player has an effect that says "you win the game", instead each of their opponents in their range of influence loses the game, but the Archangel's replacement effect will apply and save you if you are one of those players.

Exception: If that player wins due to the effect of a state-based triggered ability such as Darksteel Reactor, then the replacement effect will save you once, and then the triggered ability will trigger again, and you will lose.


We've played it slightly different than tttppp; we allow pre-drawing of tiles, as long as the drawing order remains unchanged, and there is no discussion of the tile you have pulled.

For example, if we have players 1, 2 and 3, and it is player one's turn, player 3 can draw their next tile as long as player 2 has already drawn their next tile.  Yes, tile drawing is random, but we prefer that the tiles are still drawn in order.

The no-discussion portion keeps the spirit of the game I think, because normally you wouldn't have pre-drawn a tile, and you wouldn't have that extra information from the pre-drawn tile.

Pre-drawing makes the game go much faster, since your decision making can be done in advance, as long as a player before you doesn't take the space you wanted, and our groups have no problem with it.


Can Scion of the Ur Dragon's ability fizzle a spell?

You can't reliably counter the spell.

Changing into a copy of something else doesn't make the Scion a different object. However, if the dragon it becomes is an illegal target (for example, due to having hexproof, or any other attributes that the target relies on) then that would work.


The first unwritten rule of cooperative games is if a rule can be interpreted in several ways, the right one is the least helpful to the players.  Therefore conditions only disapear on a 5 or 6 regardless of other effects.

This is the answer from the official FAQ:

  Q. Is every roll considered a test?

  A. No. An effect that tells you to
  roll a specific number of dice, such as the flare effect on a Cursed
  Condition, is not a test. These rolls cannot be re rolled or modified
  by effects that affect tests.


Does Nature's Way deal damage like an instant?

Sort of. Your thinking is correct that Nature's Way is similar to an instant in that it causes damage. If you choose a creature with 3 power as the first target, it would behave similar to a Lightning Bolt.

On the other hand, there are many differences between Nature's Way and Lightning Bolt. Nature's Way is not the source of damage. Your creature is. This matters if, for example, your creature has deathtouch. Also, Nature's Way is a sorcery, which restricts when you are allowed to cast it.

Can my creature attack afterwards?

Sure. Your creatures don't give up and die (or tap) for no reason. Nature's Way makes your creature deal damage, but it doesn't make the other creature deal damage back. If the card said "fight" then it would become a two-way exchange.


Yes, that's how they work. If the text on the cards isn't enough for you, it also explicitly says it in the rules:

  You get a bonus depending on what type of card you gained. A card with 2 types
  gives you both bonuses; if you use Ironworks to gain a Great Hall, you will then draw a card (because Great Hall is a Victory card) and may play another Action (because Great Hall is an Action card).

This is really another case of "do exactly what it says on the cards" - it says on Ironworks that if it's an Action you get +1 Action, so you do, and it says on Ironworks that if it's a Victory card, you get +1 Card, so you do.


Can Dismember kill my Gloryscale Viashino after I cast Armadillo Cloak?

Your opponent can kill your creature, because he can respond to the trigger that gives it +3/+3 until end of turn. Here's the sequence of actions:

You cast Armadillo Cloak, putting it on the stack. Then the triggered ability from Gloryscale Viashino goes on the stack.

  Stack:

  triggered ability
  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a 3/3.

Your opponent casts Dismember.

  Stack:

  Dismember
  triggered ability
  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a 3/3.

Both players yield priority (decline to cast anything), so the top item on the stack resolves.

  Stack:

  triggered ability
  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a -2/-2. It gets put in the graveyard for having 0 or less toughness.

Both players again yield priority, so the top item on the stack resolves. That's the triggered ability, but it doesn't do anything because Gloryscale Viashino is no longer in play.

  Stack:

  Armadillo Cloak

Both players again yield priority, so the top item on the stack resolves - or would resolve, except that it's a spell with an illegal target, so instead Armadillo Cloak gets countered.

For educational purposes, here's what could happen if your opponent cast Dismember at the wrong time (for him):

You cast Armadillo Cloak, putting it on the stack. Then the triggered ability from Gloryscale Viashino goes on the stack.

  Stack:

  triggered ability
  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a 3/3.

Both players yield priority, so the top item on the stack resolves. This is the triggered ability which pumps the Viashino.

  Stack:

  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a 6/6.

Your opponent casts Dismember.

  Stack:

  Dismember
  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a 6/6.

Both players yield priority, so the top item on the stack resolves.

  Stack:

  Armadillo Cloak

  Gloryscale Viashino is a 1/1.

Both players again yield priority, so the top item on the stack resolves. This time, the target of Armadillo Cloak is still legal, so it resolves as normal.


How do Possession and Throne Room interact?

From page 3 of the Alchemy Kingdom Card Description pamphlet:
  — Possession is cumulative; if you play it twice in one turn, there will be two extra turns after this one.

Also, for reference:


How can I practice my opening leads in bridge?

Evaluating opening leads objectively can be very difficult. In fact, it would be hard to do so without doing an extensive computer simulation in many cases (which in itself, is a hard problem). Of course, there will also be situations where one call tell what a good/poor lead is, without any simulations.

To answer your other question, yes there is more guesswork in opening leads, than in the rest of the play.

That said, when thinking of opening leads, you need to listen to the bidding, look at your hand, try to decide what might happen during the play and then come up with a general strategy before deciding what suit/card to lead. (Note: scoring might also change the way you think).

Some typical categories of the general strategy are:

1) Active Defense:

Do you think you need to get your tricks in a hurry? Then you might want to consider an Active lead, like underleading Kings/Queens in order to set up your tricks.

For instance you hold Kxx, Axxx, xxx, xxx. Opponents are in a small slam in clubs, after a normal auction. Many good players will consider leading a spade (from Kxx), hoping partner has the Q and setting up a spade trick before the heart A gets knocked out.

2) Passive Defense:

Does declarer need to work to make his tricks? Then you consider a lead which is less likely to blow away tricks.

3) Forcing defense :

In game or lower level contracts, if you know that the trumps split badly (like 4-1), you might consider a strategy where you lead your suits, forcing declarer to ruff and lose trump control.

4) Trump leads :

Does it look like declarer will use dummy's trumps to ruff out his losers? A trump lead might be called for.

There are lots of good books on opening leads which teach you to think in these general terms (the link in thesun's answer is good with examples, and overlaps with this answer partly).


Are TCG's the only class of games that have lists of Banned or Restricted pieces?

Miniatures games often have units or models banned if they are over powered or "break" the game. Generally it's less frequent than w/ some CCGs, but it does happen. That said bannings are often specific to a specific tournament rules set (LVO vs ITC for 40k) rather than issued by the creators of the game, especially when the game creators don't actively support tournaments. On the other hand most miniatures companies that do support tournaments tend towards errata rather than outright bans (See X-Wing Miniatures from FFG).


Why doesn't Djinn of Wishes let me play a land on my opponent's turn?

There are two parts to 305.3.

The first part ("A player can’t play a land, for any reason, if it isn’t their turn.") is directly contradicted by Djinn of Wishes's activated ability's effect, so it's ignored.

The second part ("Ignore any part of an effect that instructs a player to do so.") isn't contradicted by the effect.

Since a player must ignore the effect's instruction to play a land when it's not their turn, they are never instructed to play a land when it's not their turn, so the rules aren't contradicted.

Of note, the rules were different before Jul 13th, 2013. See the "Playing Additional Lands" section of Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Preview. Djinn of Wishes is specifically mentioned in the examples. This only shows that the ruling is in line with the intent of the game designers.


When do I play with the full board in Neuroshima Hex?

Looking through the Neuroshima Hex 3.0 rules (pdf), I see the following:

So the extra hexes are for when there are five to six people playing. The rules suggest that if there are four people playing, you might decide to use the expanded board as well.

This rule book doesn't mention scenarios. However, I looked up one of the expansions: Neuroshima Hex: Babel 13 (pdf), and it mentions scenarios:

  A Neuroshima Hex scenario is a single game which applies additional conditions to the basic rules of the game. These can include Terrain, unequal distribution of forces, conditional events, etc. Campaigns for Neuroshima Hex consist of a series of interrelated scenarios.

This would imply that a scenario might make use of the extra hexes for, perhaps, unequal distribution of forces.


I think the big drawback is simply the cost. If you hit Gauntlet of Might on turn 4, you can play 8/10-cost cards on turn 5. That's pretty strong, and much stronger than getting 12/14-cost cards on turn 7, at least in non-multiplayer games.

In general, you want your mana acceleration to be as cheap as possible, else by the time you can play it you don't need it. That said, Rise of the Eldrazi does bend that rule.


Bet process when 2 players and Big blind is all in on the Pre-Flop

When the big blind goes all in that leaves the small bline with one chose if they would like to continue and see the hand and that is to call the bet by either going all in if they don't have enough to cover the bet or call it by betting the required amount. This is similar to if the big blind did a raise on the pre flop as the small blind would still need to match the difference.

In this case betting would end, both players would reveal their cards and the dealer would play the deck until all 5 cards have been played and a winner has been determined. There would be no side pot as in a two player game there is no other player to bet against so the only money that could be in the side pot would be the small blind's.


Activating Charnel Troll's ability during upkeep

Sometimes the client predicts actions that you may be able to take.  Sometimes it does not.  This is one of those instances.
To guarantee that the client will operate properly in a case like this, you have two options.

Enter a stop. i.e. you click on the upkeep step, and force the client to let you take an action.
Enter "Hold Full Control" mode, (Default is by Left Shift+Ctrl).

I play tested both scenarios you described above, and putting in the stop or entering Hold Full Control mode allows one to play out the scenario you describe.  i.e. you can respond to the trigger, discard a creature card, get it into your graveyard, and then exile the card for the upkeep trigger.
One might reasonably assume that "full control" mode would work in this scenario.  My play testing indicates it does not.  You have to put in the stops to get the desired behavior.  The reason for this, is that "full control" mode turns off as you transition between turn phases (possibly even turn steps).  You can't turn on full control in time.  This is the point of stops.  To force the game to stop in a phase and to give you priority.


After using Act of Treason and Cloudshift, does a creature re-enter the battlefield under my control?

It works just as you hope.

Previous "flicker" effects returned the target to play "under its owner's control".  Cloudshift returns it to play "under your control".

Act of Treason gave you control of the creature, making it a valid target for Cloudshift.  Cloudshift returns it into play under your control, and with no memory of its previous life as either the opponent's creature, or of having had Act of Treason cast on it.  It's yours for keeps, or at least until the game ends or another control-changing effect takes place...

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


Can a 4-length road ever be Longest Road in Settlers of Catan?

You lose longest road; by definition, none of you have a road with a length of at least 5.

From the rules:

  Set the “Longest Road” card aside if—after a longest road is broken—several players tie for the new longest road or no one has a 5+ segment road. The “Longest Road” card comes into play again when only 1 player has the longest road (of at least 5 road pieces).


Replenish internal sensors when the computers are offline

The internal sensors do draw cards from the skill deck as needed to ensure that there are always 3 cards available when it and the computers are online. Once the computers go offline the cards that are currently in the internal sensors remain but there is no longer any skills for it to draw.

The rules are pretty bad about explaining how all the systems work but in this case the card itself talks about drawing cards and the only place you draw cards from is the skill deck which can't be done when there is no skill deck do to the computer being offline.

The reason why you don't see any other examples of one system directly impacting another is because the other systems are not as closely related as these two are in dealing with the same end result (skill card) in a slightly different manner.


Who wins when the Inquisitor kills somebody in Blood Bound?

Nobody has met the win condition for their team in the game.

Blue did not capture the Red leader or capture someone besides the Red leader.
Red did not capture the Blue leader or capture someone besides the Blue leader.
Nobody captured the Inquisitor.
The Inquisitor did not place the True Curse in front of the winning leader (because no winning leader exists).

Nobody wins. Everybody loses. That is the price of outing the Inquisitor early and then giving them the position to end the game as a kingmaker or peasantmaker.


Can you choose not to assign damage to a second blocker?

You can always assign more than lethal damage to a creature. In your example, you can assign five damage to the 2/3 and not touch the 2/2.

  510.1c A blocked creature assigns combat damage to the creatures it’s blocking. If it isn’t currently blocking any creatures (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. If it’s blocking exactly one creature, it assigns all its combat damage to that creature. If it’s blocking two or more creatures, it assigns its combat damage to those creatures according to the damage assignment order announced for it. This may allow the blocking creature to divide its combat damage. However, it can’t assign combat damage to a creature that it’s blocking unless, when combat damage assignments are complete, each creature that precedes that blocked creature is assigned lethal damage. When checking for assigned lethal damage, take into account damage already marked on the creature and damage from other creatures that’s being assigned during the same combat damage step, but not any abilities or effects that might change the amount of damage that’s actually dealt. An amount of damage that’s greater than a creature’s lethal damage may be assigned to it.

The Judge's Corner has a great video that covers the specific scenario in your question and more.


Mermaids: city spanning over many river branches

No. The Mermaids' ability only lets you use one river hex to connect a city together. From the rules:

You may skip one River space when founding a Town. (You decide if and when you want to use this ability. When founding a Town in this fashion, put the Town tile on the skipped River space. Of course, you may build Bridges as usual.)

The reminder text also supports this fact since it emphasizes that you place the "Town tile on the skipped River space" which would be ambiguous if you were not limited to using only one river hex. Without this clarification, it would be hard to determine where one directly-adjacent city ends and the next begins on the river.


Revised Farmers of the Moor expansion on the non-revised based set

The simple answer is no the updated Farmers of the Moor is not directly compatible with an unrevised Agricola.

Mostly this is due to changed terminology and art between the classic and revised versions of Agricola.

The longer answer is that you can use the new expansion with the unrevised edition, but you will need to spend a little bit of time "patching" the rules to be compatible with the base game.

Helpfully Harry Bosch over on BGG has done most of the work for you:

Solo game
2 player game
3 player game
4 player game


Does my Dryad Arbor stop being a creature with a Blood Moon in play?

It does not.

Taken from the rulings found here:

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=282542

"If Dryad Arbor is changed into another basic land type (such as by Sea’s Claim), it continues to be a creature and a Dryad."

Blood Moon would turn it into another basic land type, in this case a Mountain, so it would continue to be a creature and a Dryad.

========

Edit:

With regards to Blood Sun, this too will not stop Dryad Arbor being a creature.

Blood sun simply removes any abilities that are not mana abilities (i.e. abilities that generate mana). Being a creature is not considered an ability, but a type, so Dryad Arbor would still be considered a creature. See below:

305.7. If an effect sets a land’s subtype to one or more of the basic land types, the land no longer has its old land type. It loses all abilities generated from its rules text, its old land types, and any copy effects affecting that land, and it gains the appropriate mana ability for each new basic land type. Note that this doesn’t remove any abilities that were granted to the land by other effects. Setting a land’s subtype doesn’t add or remove any card types (such as creature) or supertypes (such as basic, legendary, and snow) the land may have. If a land gains one or more land types in addition to its own, it keeps its land types and rules text, and it gains the new land types and mana abilities.


What to do with multiple invulnerable saves?

(Note: I am assuming you are playing 9th edition here since it is the latest ruleset)
The Shimmer Shield is definitely redundant on the Exarch.
From the rules (page 19 under Invulnerable Saves):

If a model has more than one invulnerable save, it can only use one of them – choose which it will use.

So the player would never have a reason to choose the Shimmer Shield unless the player (for some reason) wanted the Exarch to have a higher chance of dying.


Can I use Helm of the Hosts to copy artifacts enchanted by Ensoul Artifact?

Yes, you can copy the animated artifact, but it will not necessarily be a creature token. It will be a token copy of the original artifact. The effect of Ensoul Artifact will not be copied.

For example, if the artifact with Ensoul Artifact on it was Damping Sphere, then the copy you create will simply be the original, non-creature version of Damping Sphere. If the original was a Guardians of Koilos, the copy will be a 4/4 as the original, not 5/5.

  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 is the origin of the term "Alpha Strike" in board gaming?

It seems very likely to have originated in the US Navy, and referred to the practice of committing all of a carrier's air resources to a single mission rather than rotating them as per usual.

See the wikipedia entry here.


Should "standard errata" be applied to silver-bordered cards?

One of the wonderful things about silver-bordered cards is that we can do stuff that maybe doesn't technically work but that players would have lots of fun trying to make work.

  —Mark Rosewater

In other words, the Un-sets were never designed to perfectly follow the rules of Magic. That's probably a big part of why they don't bother giving them rulings and errata in Gatherer.

So, what should you do? It sorta depends on what your goals are.

Serious casual play: play 'em like any old cards

How do people play old cards without looking up Oracle rulings all the time?

Well, if you get familiar enough with the comp rules and the general shape of Oracle errata, you don't really need to most of the time. Sure, I might need to look up the rules for Chains of Mephistopheles every time, but I can just look at most cards in Legends and know what they're trying to do, even if the words are all backwards and the text is terrible inconsistent about "sacrifice" vs. "destroy" vs. "bury."

You can apply the same approach to your Unglued/Unhinged cards. What does "cards in play" mean? It's clearly old-Magic language for either "permanents" or maybe "non-token permanents." When someone proposes a crazy nonsense reading instead, give them an angry look and tell them they're just wasting time. (Or laugh at their joke, haha — and then tell them that they're wasting time.)

Note that some of the Un-cards are too crazy to really stand up to this kind of rigor. You will have to just do your best to make sense of a weird situation at times, but honestly this isn't nearly as big of a muddle as trying to play Magic with old-school rules.

Easygoing casual play: use "common sense" and don't sweat it

The Un-sets aren't really designed for attention to detail and exacting technical play anyway. Arguably part of the "joy" of them is experiencing Magic with a newbie's sense of wonder and discovery (though this is rather personal and your mileage may totally vary).

So, just play like you're still figuring out the game. Try to do what the cards say as best as you can. Don't stress about what the "real" rules are. Don't get technical or demand precision from players at the table. If the game state gets too complicated due to some interaction of the cards, have the group make up something that sounds halfway fair and just move on.

If it helps, imagine you're twelve. (No offense to twelve-year-old "Spikes" who play tournaments and love the comp rules. In fact, mad props to twelve-year-old "Spikes" who play tournaments and love the comp rules!)

I recommend this approach if there's a significant skill gap within the group, or if you intend to play Magic while intoxicated.

Zany nonsense: make stuff up

  "If Floral Spuzzem attacks an opponent and is not blocked, then Floral Spuzzem may choose to destroy a target artifact under that opponent's control and deal no damage."

  "But... how does it decide?"

Some people look at Unglued/Unhinged as an opportunity to joke about playing Magic rather than play Magic per se.

If that's what your group is doing with their silver-bordered cards, then all sense of consistency goes out the window (with the exception of appeal to precedent, maybe).

At this point nothing an outside authority says about the rules is meaningful at all. So just make up your own interpretation and accept that you're playing Mornington Crescent.


Play all but one rule is into play. What if play one extra card rule is also in play?

Since the dutch fluxx card says "the one with the most keepers can play one more card" (as opposed to must play one more card) then it would be that player's choice if they want to play the last card or not.

The key is in the compulsion, since "can" is not compulsory. It is possible that the wording in dutch has different compulsory connotations, but based on the English translation, I can only conclude that it is not required.


Star Wars: Rebellion - How many mission cards can have leaders assigned to?

Yes you can. The only limits for the number of mission you can run in a single turn are your number of available leaders, and the number of cards in your hand.


Cluedo and the Great Museum Caper characters

http://www.theartofmurder.com/ is probably the most comprehensive list I know of. It goes through all the editions, variants, spinoffs etc of Clue/Cluedo. Which are mostly the same game.

The Great Museum Caper is a 1991 variant in the US.


In Diplomacy, Should You Have Separate Country "Draws" For Players of Different Experience?

I don't think it would've changed the outcome at all.  A strong player will walk all over weak ones regardless of which country they are assigned.

A better plan might be to play several "mini-games".  Play for the most centers at the end of 1904, then take 15 minutes to "debrief" so that the newer players can get an idea of the strategy that was going on "behind their backs".  Draw for new countries, and repeat, maybe playing a little longer this time.

Knowing that their entire day isn't ruined by a bad start and that they only have to wait a little while to start over should keep you from losing the new players, and the experienced players should be challenged by trying to repeatedly pull off strong showings.  While ending at a particular year does result in some weird tactics toward the end, it should still serve as a good learning session that hopefully leaves everyone wanting more.


Only things that are actually referred to explicitly as counters are counters. And since Ainok Bond-Kin cares specifically about +1/+1 counters, you should be looking for cards that explicitly create +1/+1 counters.

So no, Chief of the Edge does not put counter(s) on anything, because it doesn't say the word "counter(s)". Rather, it creates a continuous effect granting +1/+0 to all your Warriors as long as it's on the battlefield, whether they entered the battlefield before or after it. If Chief of the Edge subsequently leaves the battlefield, that effect disappears and those creatures will shrink back down.

By far the most common kind of counters are +1/+1 counters, though there are plenty of others. Counters are used for things that are created at a single point in time, are associated with the permanent you place them on, and will stick around indefinitely. For example, Drana, Liberator of Malakir gives counters to your other attacking creatures, and those counters exist on those creatures independently of Drana, so they'll stick around even if Drana dies.

Side note: there are, by the way, some old cards that use +1/+0 counters, rather than a continuous +1/+0 effect like Chief of the Edge. But those cards would still not work with Ainok Bond-Kin, because it looks for +1/+1 counters.


Yes. The WoW TCG wiki says:

  Elusive - A keyword power that cards can have. It means, "This card can't be proposed as a defender."


How can I persist XP and gold when my players change between games?

I've found that Descent is really made for one-off games, and not for campaigning.  As much as anyone's tried to tack it on.
If every game is a new game, and everyone always starts again at zero, then this problem just disappears entirely.
For campaign-style play, we just stick to classic pen-and-paper RPGs.  Works well.


In player v player combat, can a player resume attacking after I have passed?

pg. 10, Ranged and Siege Attacks, #6

  After resolving the attack, the other player gets his chance to be
  the attacker, and the Ranged and Siege Attack phase continues
  with both players alternating the roles of attacker and blocker.
  If both players pass on attacking in succession, the phase ends.

This is worded in a slightly confusing manner because of:

  both players alternating the roles of attacker and blocker

as opposed to

  If both players pass on attacking in succession, the phase ends.

These seem to be at odds with each other. However, the latter wording is more definitive because it specifies the conditions that need to be met for the phase to end: both players must pass in succession. The wording before it must then be an oversight.

That said, the usefulness of this is questionable. The only reason I can see to want multiple attacks is to "waste" your opponent's "big block" cards, which are fairly rare, while stacking attacks has a number of benefits (only suffering "rounding down" effects once, having a choice of targeting units, etc).

tl;dr

Yes, you can attack using separate attacks as long as you want.


What state and trigger events apply when you "put creatures onto the battlefield?"

It is distinct from casting or summoning. It is placing the creature onto the battlefield without casting. Normally creatures enter the battlefield by casting, but it's not the only way.

So:

It doesn't trigger any "when you cast" abilities
The creatures enter the battlefield, so they trigger "When this creature enters the battlefield" abilities
The creature wasn't under your control since the beginning of the turn, so they have summoning sickness.


What variations are there on Solo whist?

The Pagat site is very useful:
http://www.pagat.com/boston/solowhist.html

It explains the main game "Solo Whist", and also lists some minor variations, and other similar games in this "Boston group".

They say that it is mainly played in Britain. Here in Australia we also play it. Solo Whist was taught to us as children to introduce us to card games, and has held us in good stead for Bridge.

Regarding the "Prop and Cop": We believe that that is an important aspect of the main game.  We do have that bid, and we find it to be very enjoyable. It is an opportunity to collaborate as two teams, rather than three people collaborating to defeat the solo declarer. If a Prop-and-Cop does not eventuate, then we also sometimes do the "Goulash" deal.


Yes, the tokens created by Krenko, Mob Boss are creatures with the subtype Goblin. That subtype is exactly what the word 'Goblin' on Skirk Fire Marshal is referring to, so you can use them. (They also count for Krenko, Mob Boss' ability if you activate it a second time. Goblin exponentation FTW!)
The relevant rules are:

110.5c A spell or ability that creates a token sets both its name and its subtype. If the spell or ability doesn’t specify the name of the token, its name is the same as its subtype(s). A “Goblin Scout creature token,” for example, is named “Goblin Scout” and has the creature subtypes Goblin and Scout. Once a token is on the battlefield, changing its name doesn’t change its subtype, and vice versa.
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.
110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield.


The rulebook doesn't say anything about recalling creatures, but you can't recall single units either, only a whole group and only after a battle. I guess it's safe to assume that it's not possible to recall a creature and put another one in the same group.

The only trick I see to achieve this is to move with the creature you want to remove from the group, split the group and take one unit with you. Go into a battle and call that unit back (or have it killed) and with the next recruitment put it back into the original group with a different creature. (Assuming the remains of the original groups are in your city.)

I think this solution may be too complicated to be actually worth to play though.


The rules don't specify this, but you would not want to do that anyway, since you seem tot have the pvp attack rule wrong:

  If a survivor is chosen [to attack], roll the spent action die. If the result is equal to or less than the chosen survivor's attack value, ...

This makes sense, since the better a survivor is at fighting (low attack value), the harder it is to beat them (you have to roll lower).

So you would not want to increase the result of this die.

But suppose you wanted to do so anyway, I think you still can't. The rulebook refers to playing food cards when exiled to increase action die results, but if you are not exiled, you can only increase unused action dice as an action. I would assume that when exiled, this action becomes 'play a food card' instead of 'consume one food from the colony', but the effect is unchanged. The action die you roll for the attack is considered spent at that point (you used it to initiate the attack), so you can't increase it this way anymore. Also, spending food is an action, and it seems reasonable that you can't use one action in the middle of another (eating in the middle of a fight does not sound like a good idea)


The game tends to be much easier for the Hunter player. They have 8 pieces that can kill animals, while the animals only have the 2 bears. Yes, hunters can only attack in a certain direction, but they can move as far as they want, while Bears have to creep up on the hunters.


Does the Valkyrie have to win to earn extra glory?

The player controlling Valkyrie will gain points for all destroyed figures in that battle, even if it is destroyed.
From the official FAQ on CMON's site:

Q. Does the Valkyrie (gain 2 Glory per enemy figure destroyed) get glory for destroyed enemy units if she is destroyed in the course of a battle?
A. Yes, with the Valkyrie you get Glory for all figures destroyed from the Call to Battle to the battle’s Resolution, even if she is destroyed at any point during the battle.


In Monopoly, Does It Make Sense NOT to Buy a "Second" Property in a Color Group?

According to Kaz Darzinskis' Winning Monopoly:

  Buy from the bank any property that
  will give you ownership of two
  properties in any monopoly group,
  unless you already own a killer
  monopoly.

(I believe he refers to a killer monopoly as being the New York group and up, though it's been a long time since I read the book and could be wrong.)

The theory here is that if you do not already have a strong monopoly, angling to get a weak monopoly to bootstrap your future endeavors is not a waste of time.  If an opponent gets the third of the color group, then you have a much stronger trade platform with that opponent rather than if the power is dispersed amongst three players.

Darzinskis frames purchasing the third of a group as having "veto power" over trades in that color group, and gives the following rule:

  Buy the third remaining property of a
  color group owned by two different
  opponents when those same opponents
  share complete ownership of one other
  killer monopoly.

If you can devalue the trade pieces between the two players who could come together and form a strong monopoly, it's obviously in your best interest to prevent that from happening.  If not, then it's safe to let it go up for auction.

Railroads and Utilities are special cases, as they cannot be developed and so the upsides for monopolizing them are lessened.  As such, having only one of a group will, on average, return more than the face value over the game, so there should not be a reason to not buy them.


Betrayal at house on the hill #43 the star-sickness

Spoilers Ahead

Turn back now...

Here's my interpretation based on the haunt rules.

It's never stated that the traitor is dead nor does it sound like the traitor is the real enemy it's just one of your party has an alien infection and may be turning into an otherworldly specimen.

   Ever since I touched that meteorite, I can feel the change working in
 me... If I do not succeed [creating an antidote], perhaps these notes will help whoever comes after. I pray, though, that this disease will die with me.

Personally, if someone dies during the attack against explorers immune system I would think that the explorer is no longer an explorer but in a transitioning state. The book says:

   If a traitor dies for any reason... a transformation to the third stage takes place. The transforming traitor skips their next turn.

Since the transforming traitor cannot do anything on their upcoming turn since they're in the process of transforming into the 3rd stage alien, I would assume they're no longer an explorer and would not be able to interact with any of the explorers in the house which includes trading monster tokens.

There's so many haunts that need clarification which unfortunately can't all be verified by the rulebooks. The last page of the rulebook states:

  What if there isn't a rule that for x scenario? In such cases, come to
  an agreement as a group for what makes the most sense and go with it.

The most important rule is to have fun!


UNO Stacking a Draw 4 Card instead of picking up 4 cards?

Not under the standard rules - there is no ability to respond to a Wild +4 (or a +2 for that matter). If the previous player to you played one of those cards, you take the cards and the turn pass.

"Stacking" + cards is a common house rule, but we obviously can't tell you what your house rules are.


Recommendation for D&D players who want a faster dungeon/questing game after dinner?

For Dungeon Questing, your best bet is, sadly, long OOP¹: the GW game HeroQuest² or it's sequels Advanced HQ and Warhammer Quest. Note that the rules are available for free from Hasbro, but the bits aren't, so if you find it on ebay, you can replace the rules.

Another excellent, light, but not actually short, ans sadly in between printings, game: Wiz-War. (The more expansions, the longer it plays...)

If your players like medium length (30min to 2 hours) PVP, Dungeoneer (Example: Tomb of the Lich Lord is also excellent. It's a series of standalone games (which can be combined) of dungeon-crawling hack-n-slash. It is PVP, tho', and brutally so. It can be a blast with the right players, tho'.

Order of the Stick is popular; if I could stand OOTS at all, I'd probably enjoy the game, but the art is utter drekh, and interfered with my ability to enjoy the game. It's also longer than I care for.

Another fun one, very different, is Aye, Dark Overlord. It's not of need a dungeon crawl, but the descriptions needed are usually dungeon crawl-ish.

¹ Out of Print
² Not to be confused with the Issaries RPG of same name.


Looking to identify an unusual type of solitaire

This sounds like it's equivalent to Clock Patience, but with a less space-consuming layout and using the aces as the starter pile rather than the kings.  I've also seen it referred to as "Travellers".


How many Empire Cards can I play on my turn?

According to the rules, you get two empire cards at the start. You can get additional empire cards if you land on a empire square, but these must be played immediately:

  Take the top Empire card and do what it says. Once you’ve played it,
  return the card to the bottom of the pile.

There is no mention on when to use them. But on the wikihow page, there is a more expanded section on empire cards:

  8 Give everyone two empire cards and one tower. Everyone starts the
  game with two Empire cards. Look at them, but don’t share them you’re
  your fellow players. Wait until your turn to use them.

This implies you can use them both onto your turn, not specifying when, so yes, you can play them right after you played the one you got from the empire square.


Conspiracy (Diplomacy Android app) possible bug or rules misunderstanding?

Indeed, there was a problem with the resolution engine to manage this kind of situation in Conspiracy.

I've worked on it and it's now fixed. From now on the server has been updated and all the next resolutions will be managed correctly. In application side, the analyse engine will keep displaying this error as long as players are using the version 2.9.0 and lower. I invite anyone to update their application to the new version (v2.9.1), it's available in the PlayStore from March 21st 2020.

Thank you for reporting me this problem.

Here are screenshots that show you how things is now managed :


From the rules, p16:

  Your Belt

  If an Item is not worn and does not require Hands, then it is carried
  “on your belt.” Typical belt items are one-shots, mostly Scrolls and
  Potions. You may have any number of Items on your belt.


Yugioh: Sacrifice a field card to destroy target monster

Snipe Hunter is your guy. He can discard as many cards from your hand as you like to target any card on the field. Then you roll a die and if it's 2, 3, 4 or 5, the card is destroyed.

A good once-per-turn option is Scrap Dragon. He allows you to target one card on each side of the field which then get destroyed.

Spell and Trap wise, there's Raigeki Break, Phoenix Wing Wind Blast and Dark Core. There might be more of them, see my advice below.

Other than that, there are mainly only specific cards which won't work with Hyperion, such as Exiled Force or Chiron the Mage. That kind of card isn't that rare.
You might want to look for Cards that destroy cards on the field on the wikia. Most of them have a drawback, which is often discarding or Tributing cards.


It's a spare piece. Usually these kinds of tokens are printed on a sheet of cardboard that's big enough to fit in the game box, and if there's a bit of extra space then a few extra things might be put on the board to fill the space. Those tokens can then be used as replacements for the main tokens - so if, for example, you lost the green one, you can just state that the grey token replaces the green.


How to make The Tower less of a pain in Carcassonne

We rarely play with either the Tower or the Dragon, mostly because neither my wife or I like having to worry about 'randomly' losing our Meeple like that. and of course the fact that to stop the tower, you have to sacrifice another piece.

But your question got me thinking, so my idea is to add extra Meeple to each player.  I have two whole sets of Meeple, but you could add them in depending on the number of people playing.

There are 18 tiles with tower places so if playing a 2 person game, add 6-7 extra Meeple, 6 person game 2-3.  The closer you want it to be toward game design the fewer extra Meeple you add in.

2 players = 6-7 extra Meeple
3 players = 5-6
4 players = 4-5
5 players = 3-4
6 players = 2-3


Yes. (As Anti-Matter's opponent, anyway. As an ally, Warrior is just fine.)

Anti-Matter's power isn't so much unclear as kind of complicated:
 - Anti-Matter's tokens subtract.
 - Ally tokens subtract.
 - Opposing main player's tokens add.
 - Low total wins.

And if you think Warrior's bad against Anti-Matter, spare some sympathy for the poor Virus. (No? Not really surprising.)


In backgammon, can you resign, and how can you tell when you should?

Since the edit, there are two parts to the remaining question: "When have you definitely lost?" and "How can you tell when you've probably lost?".  The first is easier to answer than the second, so I'll start with that.

The minimum you can roll on a go is a two and a one (note that a double one would give you four moves).  The maximum is double six.  So (assuming all pieces have passed each other) you can determine if you have definitely lost by assuming you will roll double sixes for the rest of the game, and assuming your opponent will roll two/ones.

It would be really nice to include a formula here that takes pip count, piece count and whose turn it is, and computes if you've definitely lost, but such a formula escapes me.  There are some situations that depend on more than these three variables - for example:

|24  23  22    |24  23  22
+---+---+---   +---+---+---
| O   O        | O       O
| O   O        | O
|              | O

In both these finishing positions the pip count and piece count are the same.  However the maximum number of rolls to finish is two in the left hand picture, but three in the right hand picture.

There are two main metrics of backgammon positions (other than pip count).  These are the Thorp count and the Kleinman ratio.

The Thorp count is calculated for each player as:

Start with the pip count.
Add 2 for each checker still on the board.
Add 1 for each checker on the 1 point.
Subtract 1 for each occupied home board point.
If the player on roll's count is greater than 30, multiply by 1.1.

There is an article here explaining how the Thorp count can be used to estimate the game winning probability.

The Kleinman ratio is calculated as:

(D * D) / S

where D is the pip count difference of the two players, plus 4 to compensate for the player on roll's additional pips; and S is the pip count sum, minus 4 to compensate for the player on roll.

There is an article here explaining how the Kleinman ratio can be used to estimate the game winning probability.

Finally there is an article here which overlaps the previous two, but which recommends using the Kleinman ratio over the Thorp count assuming you are able to learn a large table of logarithms!


You can only get one Mentor trigger, the one from Blade Instructor.

If a triggered ability that targets something does not have a legal target when it triggers, it will be removed from the stack as part of the triggering process, and you won't get a chance to resolve anything beforehand. This applies to Boros Challenger's ability as there is no legal target when it triggers.

  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.


When should I mulligan in Android: Netrunner?

Your initial analysis is pretty good, but perhaps overemphasising the risk to the corp.  The real issue is that five cards from 45 is a very variable draw, and the results are a pretty unpredictable.  I'll examine the two cases separately.

Runner

As you say, the runner can mulligan fairly freely - there isn't much of a downside.

Obvious mulligans:

No icebreakers, or only a code gate breaker.
No economy boost, combined with high-cost icebreaker.  (If you have a cheap starter icebreaker, consider living without the economy boost - time is always on the corp's side, so press the pace while you can.)
If your deck's based around a key three-card combo or the like, and you haven't drawn any of them.  (But don't try for two; your odds aren't good enough.)

However, you still need to understand what your 'typical' opening hand looks like, because you don't want to make the situation worse while trying for better!  It's important to understand the odds of getting what you want - they're often not as good as your intuition says.

For example, if your deck is 1/3 icebreakers in a 45 card deck, your chance of getting at least two in the opening hand is only about 55%.  If you have 8 specifically anti-sentry icebreakers, your chance of drawing one of them is about 65%.  (If it's crucial to have one, you have the same chance again in a mulligan, of course, for a total chance of about 90%)

A runner deck usually needs to be more tactic-focussed than the corp, but that's mitigated by your comparative ease of draw.  Unlike the corp, you can afford to push your draws early if you're missing a useful element.  Understand which kinds of cards your deck actually needs to open with, and be prepared to let go of ones you merely want.

Corporation

There's nothing inherently more risky about mulligans for the corp - since cards are reshuffled, the corp gets the same chances the runner does.  The problem is that draws are highly variable, and the corp is more vulnerable to extreme hands than the runner, so - appropriately - you need to be more risk-averse.

Obvious mulligan conditions:

Multiple agendas, obviously.  Three must be mulliganned, but even two should be strongly considered - it's too many to protect, and you don't know if you're about to draw a third.  (If you have 9 agendas in deck, your chance to draw two or more of them in a mulligan is only about 26%, so if the rest of your hand doesn't defend those two quickly, redraw.)
Lack of ICE.  What this means is highly situational, however, and depends on your opponent.  Against an Anarch virus deck, it's vitally important to protect HQ / R&D with something quickly, but usually not a panic to ramp to your high-power stuff - favour fact ICE over economy or power.

If you're playing Jinteki ambushes, on the other hand, it can be more important to get decoy servers up early than heavy protection - burn the runner early and he'll be more cautious about remote servers in future.
Economic development is usually more important but less urgent for a corp, but that depends a lot on your deck.  Weyland economy powerhouses shouldn't actually worry that much if they don't draw credit boosters to start with; there should be one along shortly.  NBN tag decks should consider drawing for one if they start with high-cost ICE and not enough ways to rez it.

More than the runner, the corp needs to understand what their deck is intended to do.  Corp decks are often broader-based than runner ones; you should be able to "settle" for a wider variety of opening hands.

Summary

Mulligans are pretty low-risk in Netrunner; if your hand is worse-than-average you should try to improve it.  However, it's very important to understand what an "average" hand look like for your deck - if your hand is a better than average draw, but doesn't have the key cards you want, it's still risky to try for them.  You're likely to make it worse.

For the mathematically inclined, grab a spreadsheet.  Your chance of drawing a card or card type in your opening hand, if there are N of that card type in a deck of D cards, is

1 - HYPGEOMDIST (0, 5, N, D)

(Excel syntax used here, but all spreadsheets should have something very similar)


No, that's just scenery. The inns all have lakes next to them.

This copy of the rules appears to be for the new edition (it says ©2002, 2015 and it doesn't look quite like my copy of the original edition) and the inns all have an obvious lake right next to them. For example:


Your oxen count is not based on the number of supply cards you have - it is as you mentioned that you just have an automatic 2 oxen.  When calamity cards affect your oxen they will just affect/kill all of them, and a single oxen supply card can save you from being stranded without new ones.


Is the total damage dealt from a source effectively parceled out across any number of assets?

This is detailed in the Rules Reference Guide (relevant section below, from page 7 under "Dealing Damage/Horror"), but the short answer is that damage is allocated in two steps - first it is assigned and then it is applied. The only restriction for assigning damage is that you cannot overload it (so if you have an ally who can take 1 sanity and 1 damage, you cannot put a 3 sanity tokens on it).
But yes, otherwise, damage or horror can be split among your investigator and any assets as you deem fit.

When an investigator or enemy is dealt damage and/or horror,
follow these steps, in order:

Assign Damage/Horror: Determine the amount of damage and/or horror being dealt. Place damage and/or horror tokens equal to the amount of
damage and horror being dealt next to the cards that will be taking
the damage/horror.
Apply Damage/Horror: Any assigned damage/ horror that has not been prevented is now placed on each card to which it has been assigned,
simultaneously. If no damage/horror is applied in this step, no
damage/horror has been successfully dealt.


Can a card copying a double-sided planeswalker transform?

You are correct about the outcome, but it is a different set of rules that deals with what happens here.

In the case of a Jace token, it can’t transform because tokens cannot exist outside of the battlefield, and can’t ever come back to the battlefield after leaving. With a non-token copy, we have this rule:

  711.8a If a player is instructed to put a card that isn’t a double-faced card onto the battlefield transformed, that card stays in its current zone.

So the Duplicate will remain in exile.


Does Pillar of Flame exile creatures with undying?

Yes. Pillar of Flame stops undying creatures.

To explain why, let's take a look at the specific wording of the cards.

The Undying ability (e.g. on Butcher Ghoul) says:

  Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it.)

This is a triggered ability. It goes on the stack after the specified event (in this case, the creature going to the graveyard) occurs.

Pillar of Flame says:

  If a creature dealt damage this way would die this turn, exile it instead.

This is what's called a replacement effect. A replacement effect happens in place of some other event.

So, the creature never dies — when a situation would normally cause it to die, you exile it instead. This means "When this creature dies" never triggers at all. (Because of how the Pillar of Flame card is worded, this happens even if it is killed by something else, like combat damage or getting -1/-1 from Golgari Charm or whatever.)

(Note, however, that Pillar of Flame doesn't defeat regeneration. The creature never "would die" because regeneration replaces the event that would send it to the graveyard in the first place.)

Pillar of Flame was designed specifically to remove undying creatures in this way, both to balance Constructed games and to evoke the flavor of holy power driving back the darkness in Avacyn Restored.


Why can't I find a copy of Crystalline Sliver printing from the Tempest Remastered Set?

You are not going to find anyone selling physical copies of Tempest Remastered cards because it was an Magic Online-only set.

One main reason for it to be online only is that it has cards from the Reserved List on it which cannot be printed as paper cards, but can be created as digital ones.


Is there a quick comparison list of the different Warhammer 40k Space Marines Chapters?

Space Marines are part way through a redux at the moment so a few chapters are still waiting for new books (Imperial Fists and Salamanders) which should launch shortly.

The tactics pages on 1d4chan can be useful but they are not family friendly! The go into a lot of detail but the pros/cons section can give a good overview. The space marines page covers most loyal chapters and then the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Grey Knights and Deathwatch get their own pages.


From the American Cribbage Congress Rules of Cribbage:

  straight (or run), single: Sequence of three or more consecutive cards in any order during the play of the cards; for example, 3-5-6-7-4 (counts three when the 7 is played and counts five when the 4 is played)

When the second 4 is played by Player 1 the last 4 cards played are:

3, 5, 6, 4

This set of 4 consecutive cards clearly meets the definition above of:

  ... Sequence of three or more consecutive cards in any order during the play of the cards ....

Player 1 is entitled to score 4 for this run.

In regards to your claim above that:

  ... he can't count the second run of four cards because they were not in the sequence of play (clockwise).

Nowhere in the Rules is there a necessity to identify the qualifying cards for a score in a specified order. Your claim otherwise is entirely bogus.

The sequence counts solely by virtue of the required cards, having been played, meeting the criterion of being "Sequence of three or more consecutive cards in any order".  Any such identification of qualifying cards is purely informative, and instructive, to assist beginners in learning the game.


Can resources in Alexandria's side A second wonder be bought by other players?

As the asker points out, the rules specifically clarify that the resources are like those provided by yellow cards and cannot be bought by neighboring cities.


Is the target for an ability part of the cost?

You can't cast a spell unless it has legal targets.

When a spell resolves, it will be countered if all of its legal targets are gone.

However, your Manic Vandal spell (the thing that you cast to create Manic Vandal the creature) doesn't actually target. Instead, it just summons a creature. Then, after he enters the battlefield, Manic Vandal's ability -- "When Manic Vandal enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact" -- triggers, and you put the effect "Destroy target artifact" on the stack. If there are no valid targets, nothing is destroyed. But you still get to keep the Manic Vandal creature.


Does it count as me landing the killing blow if a monster dies to a Wound that I inflicted?

My question: When a monster dies due to the wound I've inflicted, does it count as my kill?

The answer Isaac Childres emailed me:

  if a monster dies from wound, no one would get credit.

Isaac has now repeated this answer on BGG.


What's the game with a 5x5 array of words, players who give clues, and players who guess the words?


Will Journey to Eternity come back if the enchanted creature comes back as a land?

Yes, you can get both cards to return transformed:

Both Golden Guardian's and Journey to Eternity's abilities are triggered abilities. When the enchanted Guardian dies, both abilities trigger simultaneously, and the player who controls the abilities gets to choose which one will be put on the stack first.

  603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. See rule 101.4.) Then the game once again checks for and resolves state-based actions until none are performed, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority.

Then, after choosing what will be on the the stack in what order, you start resolving those abilities. If the enchantment's ability resolves first, it'll return the Guardian, not transformed, to the battlefield, and the Guardian's ability will be removed from the stack since it can't return the object to the battlefield, as it's already there.

If you let the Guardian's ability resolve first, it will be returned transformed to the battlefield, and then the enchantment's ability will resolve. Since the enchantment's ability is not conditional to the enchanted creature being returned from the graveyard, it'll just not bring anything back, and the effect will keep resolving normally, and it will return to the battlefield transformed.

  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.


Can I sacrifice a permanent to pay an ability cost while the permanent's spell is still on the stack?

A card on the stack is not a permanent, so you may not sacrifice it.

When a card refers to a permanent type, like "artifact" or "creature," it refers only to permanents — meaning a card on the battlefield. Note that this includes the Lightning Bolt spell in your question — you can't sacrifice the creature until it is on the battlefield, but your opponent can't Bolt the creature until it is on the battlefield, either.

Cards in other zones are referred to as cards — e.g. Unburial Rites: "Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield." — or spells if they're on the stack — e.g. Essence Scatter: "Counter target creature spell." (Compare to Murder, which affects creatures on the battlefield: "Destroy target creature.")


Can I place a bridge that has no hope of completion?

From the Carcassonne FAQ:

  Q: I have memorised all the tiles.  Am I allowed to play a tile when I know that by doing so I am creating a space which can never be filled, either because the required tile doesn't exist or because all the possible tiles have already been played?

  A: Yes, that is permitted. But be aware that, if by doing so, you have prevented your opponents from finishing a road, cloister or city (especially a Cathedral city!), they may seek revenge!

I know I've had my fair share of putting pieces that make it impossible for other players to complete a large city they've invested several meeples into.  Bonus points if multiple players are fighting for the city and you make it impossible to complete, therefore cutting down their meeple supply and taking away precious points in the end!


Not yellow, but that sounds like Don't Break the Ice: http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-4784-Dont-Break-the/dp/B00000IVZJ

These variations have yellow tiles:

Summ Bumm (Spielkiste Bee edition)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1283724/dont-break-the-ice
Wer andern eine Grube klopft (German First edition, 1976)
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/1070084/dont-break-the-ice


Short answer: No, 55% winning chance for the Inspector.

Here is a quote from the designer Bruno Cathala on balance in the game.

It is taken from a reply on Boardgamegeek

  concerning balance of the game, i just want to give you some statistics.
  The final balance has been made with testors belonging to the top of the mr jack players on internet (http://mrjack.hurricangames.com)

  And, moreover, an artificial intelligence has been developped to help us.

  I will speak here only about games played exactly with the final set rules.

  If i consider games played by human player against an other human player:

  196 games have been played
  108(55%) won by inspector (96 by primal goal, and 12 after hunting jack because he got 6 hourglasses at the same time he was identified)
  88 (45%) won by jack (53 by primal goal, 33 staying invisible after being hunted, and 2 by "dawn")

  now let's see what happens when the computer plays against himself:
  340 games have been played
  187(55%) won by inspector (140 by primal goal, and 47 after hunting jack because he got 6 hourglasses at the same time he was identified)
  153 (45%) won by jack (97 by primal goal, 55 staying invisible after being hunted, and 1 by "dawn")

  So.. that's the reason why i know that the balance is slightly in favor of inspector, but not enough to really create a problem. (Experience and/or tactic competence is much more important to win ;-))

  Hoping these results will interest you..
  all the best
  bruno


There is no one best way to win 7 Wonders. It is a game all about adaptation - adapting to the cards you get and to what your opponent(s) play. Certainly there are different considerations for 3- or 4-player games vs more players (as with fewer players you will get to see the beginning hands in an age again).

Gunning for resources does you no good if the guilds you wind up being able to play aren't very useful - or the other cards you have to choose from need different resources than what you have. On the flip side, having a lot of resources can be a boon if you build some of the later yellow cards. Chain building is good, except when you need to build a guild or some of the blue cards not on the tech tree.

One or two military cards can be all you need, or you might need to play two per age to keep up with opponents. Or you might decide to just throw in the towel on military and focus on other aspects of your city. Military is worth at most 18 points (or a 24 point differential), but if you can at least win in the third age that drops to 8 (14) points. Building a 3-shield card in the 3rd age can be a nice way to offset some of your early losses.

All that said, you do want a few of your own resources available - that's inevitable. Depending on your wonder, the combination brown resources are great for this. Having trading posts can allow you to operate with fewer of your own resources, and the yellow resource cards (Marketplace? Don't have the game in front of me) are a lot more flexible than a single brown or grey resource (plus your opponents can't trade for those resources).

One other aspect is that green cards can be quite powerful, if you can get the right combination (a lot of one symbol or a lot of sets; having 5 cards of various symbols doesn't lead to a lot of points). Unfortunately, your opponents may see that strategy and start to build / bury the green cards before you can get them.

In the end, though, it all comes down to what cards you're dealt and what cards your opponents are playing.


Can I claim a route longer than the number of trains I have left?

No, you cannot claim a route longer than the number of plastic trains you have left.

Ticket to Ride Rules

  Claim a Route
  The player may claim a route on the board by playing a set of Train Car cards
  that match the color and length of the route and
  then placing one of his colored trains on each space of this route...

  Claiming Routes
  ... When a route is claimed, the player places one of his plastic trains in each of the spaces of the route...


Can Calamity Janet play a Punch as Missed?

No she can not play a punch as a miss. BANG! are specific cards and those are the only one she can use as a miss. There are other cards that can be used to damage players but they are not considered a BANG!. One of the key parts of a BANG! is you can only play one of them a turn unless you got a card that says otherwise and a punch or other damage card can be played as many times as you want.


What is the best way to play with someone in another location?

Play by Email (PBEM)
There are lots of board games around which a play-by-email communities have sprung up. This site appears to have a list of hundreds of games that have been adapted to distance play and links to help you get started.
Personally I've played A&A by email over at AAMC.net, which has a entire player ladder, ranking system, and server that logs games and rolls dice (to eliminate the tedium of documenting real rolls and the problem of how to prevent cheating).
Most of these communities have established combat nomenclature for communicating moves and other information to the other player(s)--somewhat akin to chess or go notation. Furthermore, they typically have message boards to help PBEM newbies get started and/or find people to play with.


Can you chose fewer targets than a spell permits?

No, you can't. You need to specify all targets. It would say "up to two targets" if you could target less. That is also for example the downside of the card Hex.


How does Valakut trigger with a card like Harrow or Scapeshift putting multiple mountains into play?

Valakut, The molten Pinaccle's trigger uses an "intervening if" clause to control the trigger. this means that the condition of triggering is checked both when the trigger condition is met (when a mountain is played, check if there are 5 other mountains) and when the trigger resolves (if there are still 5 other mountains when the trigger resolves, nothing happens)

If at either point there are not 5 other mountains in play, then the trigger does nothing. this gives opponents an opportunity to destroy some of your mountains to prevent the trigger from dealing them any damage.

With regard to the actual question, in the situation where multiple lands are put onto the battlefield at once - 2 by harrow, and as many as are sacrificed in scapeshift - the situation is always resolved in the same way.

All the mountains finish entering the battlefield before any of the mountains have an opportunity to "trigger" valakut's ability. When the mountain enters the battlefield as part of a spell, valakut "remembers" to trigger its ability the next time a player would get priority, after state based actions are checked. by this point, all of the other mountains (and all of the other triggers) are also on the battlefield and queued up ready to trigger.

This means that when you put any number of mountains onto the battlefield at once through a spell or ability, as long as there are 5 other mountains on the battlefield when you are finished, all mountains put onto the battlefield that way will trigger valakut's ability and deal 3 damage.

in the specific examples,
Harrow will put 2 mountains onto the battlefield as it resolves, when the valakut triggers are checked each mountain's trigger acknowledges there are 5 other mountains and is put onto the stack (and targets for each are chosen). When they come to resolve, providing there are still 5 other mountains left on the battlefield, they will deal damage to the chosen targets totalling 6 damage in 2 triggers.

Scapeshift sacrificing 7 lands to find 1 Valakut and 6 mountains - in this situation all 6 mountains and Valakut enter at the same time, but the resolution is still the same, each mountain waits to trigger Valakut the next time a player would get priority, sees 5 other mountains on the battlefield at that point, and thus 6 triggers are put onto the stack. These 6 triggers then resolve, and providing there are still 5 other mountains, they all resolve and deal damage to their targets, totalling 18 damage in 6 triggers.


What is this game with a 12x8 pegboard and 59 double sided pegs?

your pegboard looks like an earlier or a later edition of the plastic pegboard we have at the psychology museum. All pegs have two colors like yours. Among other things these and other pegboards were developed for testing dexterity in recruitment contexts and for testing and training eye-hand-coordination in neuropsychology. In neuropsychology it helps to assess neurological damages. Our version has the imprint "U.S.E.S. PEGBOARD". The abbreviation stands for "United States Employment Services". We got our exemplar donated though from the psychological laboratory of the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna, a psychiatry.


Would Averna, the Chaos Bloom allow you to get out all of your lands if you cascade and don't have a lower CMC spell in your deck?

No.
Cascade is defined as:

702.84a Cascade is a triggered ability that functions only while the spell with cascade is on the stack. “Cascade” means “When you cast
this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a
nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell’s
converted mana cost. You may cast that card without paying its mana
cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren’t cast on the
bottom of your library in a random order.”

So if you don't have a lower CMC spell in your deck, you will exile your entire library one card at a time.  Once all cards are exiled, you get to put a land card onto the battlefield tapped.  Then you are done.


Can players at other locations play multiple cards to help you in combat?

After thoroughly searching, I think I found the answer in the FAQ's about encountering cards:

  Each player may play no more than 1 card of each type during each step; for example, no one player may play more than 1 blessing while attempting a check, though multiple players could each play 1 blessing during that check.

So in other words, no. Valeros could play 1 weapon to help, but not two. The rule is regardless of who is having the encounter.


Can the Wonder that pulls from the discard pile be used multiple times?

You can use this ability one time only: exactly at the end of the turn in which this stage is built (not at the end of the Age!).

(And note that it’s not only for cards from the "previously played ages". The discard pile may also contain cards from the current Age and even the current turn.)

The relevant explanation is on page 8 of base game rules, "The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus":

  Clarification: this special ability takes place at the end of the turn in which
  this stage is built.


Can you collect a resource of your choice if you have no production due to the robber?

From the original Catan rules:

  Important: If the production number for the hex containing the robber
  is rolled, the owners of adjacent settlements and cities do not
  receive resources. The robber prevents it.

I think it's clear from that that a player doesn't receive production in the scenario that you outline, even if production in some sense occurs.

As such, you should be able to collect a resource of your choice from your improvement.


Can you build a settlement anywhere if you have the resources for a settlement and a road?

No

Your first two settlements (placed during set-up) are special and can be placed in any valid position on the board, after that new settlements must be connected by road to existing settlements.

The relevant parts of the rules are:

Under building roads (bottom of page 4) it says "A new road must always connect to 1 of your existing roads, settlements, or cities."
Under building settlements (top of page 5) it says "Each of your settlements must
connect to at least 1 of your own roads."

Note that you can build as much as you like per turn, so you could build several road segments and a settlement in the same turn (as long as you have the resources).


Scoring when two triple word squares are covered in one play

If you cover multiple bonus squares, all of their effects are applied -- multiple letter modifiers first, and the full word score added up, then all multiple word modifiers are applied.

That means that if you cover two triple word squares, your letter count (including the one double letter you cover along the way, assuming it wasn't already covered) is multiplied by three, and by three again, so total of nine times the letter count before adding the Bonus for a full tray play.

Your 293 seems like a correct count.


What are the standards for algorithmically forecasting metagame evolution under certain conditions of TCG design?

It is likely that making this kind of prediction to any useful degree of accuracy is beyond the current state of the art in computing.

First, consider that forecasting the future metagame that uses unreleased cards is essentially equivalent to "forecasting" the current metagame using the current card pool. This actually helps, because that means that you can validate your methodology against every current and past metagame.

So, the task is now to create a simulation that takes the existing card pool, and produces the current metagame. In order to do that, you need to understand and reproduce the reasons that the metagame exists as it currently does. There may be a variety of reasons that a deck may be stronger or weaker in a metagame, including raw deck strength, how easy the deck is to pilot, and how flexibly it can handle different matchups. There are also additional reasons that a deck may appear more or less in a metagame, including card availability, card prices, people's existing decks and collections, and how well it matches popular deck-building heuristics.

In order to understand the strength of any single deck, you would need to be able to pilot it at a pro level to evaluate how it would perform in real top-level tournaments. To my knowledge, there are currently no programs that can play trading card games that well. The cutting edge of research into making computers play games better than humans is probably AlphaGo, and that task is probably simpler because it plays deterministic games on a single pre-defined board.

If you do somehow manage to produce a program that can accurately simulate how any particular matchup would play out, you would need to figure out what matchups are worth testing and evolve that into a stable metagame. This may require independently reconstructing modern deckbuilding strategy, while also allowing for potential rogue decks that exist outside of that strategy. This is the point where you may need to account for the factors like card availability and price. Price is also heavily dependent on metagame popularity, so that would also need to be simulated and fed back into the main simulation. This is also where you would need to evaluate whether a human could and would actually pilot that deck effectively.

Let's say you do manage to put all of that together into a working prediction machine. There are still some potential pitfalls to be aware of. You may miss a rogue deck that is outside of your search space that completely breaks things. Your players may fail to think of a specific deck that features heavily in your simulated metagame, unbalancing the rest of the metagame. You may mispredict whether players would actually be willing or able to use a deck in tournaments, again potentially unbalancing the metagame.


Can an illegal target that will become a legal target before the spell resolves be targeted?

You can't choose to target an illegal target. Period. When the Harbinger of Tides enters the battlefield, it can only target creatures that are tapped at that time.

To be specific, the following rules are relevant:

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

[...]

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

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


Can I move a wildcard after melding if I get 3 natural cards in canasta?

No.

There is no specific rule that I can point to in the various online resources I know to quote; but there is nothing in the rules that says that this would be allowed.

You can add additional cards from your hand to an existing meld; if the rules intended for you to be able to move or remove cards from a meld they would list that as an option.


There is no official color scheme for chip values, and it varies from venue to venue and by country or governing body if any (Nevada does not regulate chip colors). New Jersey does have a Gaming Control board that does regulate the chip colors. (I couldn't find an official link). These colors match up with many of the standard colors you find in home sets. This site lists the same NJ chip colors, and has some recommendations for chip distributions based upon the number of players, the gametype, and the small blind. They recommend you use whichever colors you prefer.

$1 - white
$5 – red
$10 – blue
$25 – green
$100 – black


Does an ability that refers to the name of the ability’s card have to refer to that instance of the card?

The untap Soliton isn't a targeted effect; it only untaps the Soliton which used it. When a card's name is used it really means [THIS-CARD]. If it said U:Untap target creature named Soliton, then you could untap any Soliton, but it just says Untap Soliton, which translates as Untap ~this card~.

You will still clone the ability though, and one will resolve before the other allowing you to untap your Soliton, then tap it to mill 2 cards, clone the mill ability to mill 2 more cards, then untap it again, and mill 4 more cards! So you get 8 cards for 1 mana instead of 2 cards for 1 mana.

If you start with a tapped Soliton, it works like this:

U:Untap Soliton added to stack
Bracer's Fires, adding a second untap Soliton to the stack (Has to be the same card)
Let one untap resolve, stack still has 1 untap pending
tap soliton to add mill 2 cards to the stack
a second mill 2 cards added to the stack
4 cards are milled, then pending untap fires, soliton is untaped
tap soliton again, add mill 2 cards to stack
bracers add a second mill 2 cards
4 cards are then milled, stack empty.


Which cards feature direct manipulation of counter types on permanents?

Clockspinning, Gilder Bairn and Vorel of the Hull Clade allow you to add another counter of a kind that already exists on a permanent, and so does the Proliferate keyword.

And then there's Doubling Season which doubles the number of counters placed on permanents.


From the comp rules glossary:

  Text on an object that explains what that object does or can do.
  An activated or triggered ability on the stack. This kind of ability is an object.

Every item of rules text in the text box (the box in the lower half of the card) is an ability. Doesn't matter whether it's keywords or full statements; static, triggered, or activated. In addition, lands with a basic land type have an implied ability: "T: Add 1 [color] mana to your mana pool."

In handwavy terms, "lose all abilities" means "pretend there's nothing printed in the card's textbox".

More precisely, you apply effects that add or take away abilities in "timestamp" order. So, for example:

I have a Stampeding Rhino. It has one ability: trample.
I enchant my Rhino with Trollhide. This gives my Rhino a second ability: "1G: Regenerate this creature" (the ability is printed on the Trollhide card, but it as an ability that the card gave to the Rhino).
My opponent plays Turn to Frog on my Rhino, which includes the text "loses all abilities". My Rhino now has no abilities, until end of turn. Both the Rhino's built-in trample and its enchantment-granted regeneration are removed.
After my Rhino is turned into a Frog, I activate Alabaster Mage to give it lifelink until end of turn. Now my Frog has one ability: lifelink.

(Power/toughness-modifying effects are actually a bit trickier, since they are applied in layers. So the Frog is 3/3, not 1/1. That's a different question.)


Is the Mystery Train expansion for Ticket to Ride available in sizes matching the 1910 expansion?

I found this in my digging through the web (posted Friday, May 7, 2010 4:48 pm):

  The other day I was following some links and clicked on the URL for the Mystery Train expansion: http://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/mystery/

  I noticed that the page for this was no longer valid (though it had been live just a few months ago)

  Curious about this, I wrote Customer Support at Days of Wonder, and they replied:

    Thank you for your request.

    Support for this expansion has been discontinued.

    Best Regards,

    Yann Corno - Customer Service -  Days of Wonder - Come out and play!

  Now, luckily, I had archived the old Mystery Train pages before they disappeared. My mirror of that site can be found here: http://www.tannerworld.com/mysterytrain/

There are statements on two other pages on BoardGameGeek (1 and 2) that say there's no such thing available.

One workaround would be to resize the cards (and fix the images so they look okay at the new scale), but distributing the modified PDF could be copyright infringement.


Creative handicaps in Settlers of Catan?

The best handicapping is to require the more skilled player to have no 6's nor 8's in their chosen starting spots; a step harder is to also block the 5's and 9's, but that often results in not being able to find a spot to place starting bits.

Commensurately, the biggest problem for casual players is NOT picking at least one common number spot...

An additional option is to restrict the number of cities and settlements for the experienced players. Reducing one each still makes the 10 point win possible ((3x2)+4), but only just.


Does Kill Shot-ing a morph during combat prevent damage?

The end result of these plays is that the Krumar Bond-Kin dies, and deals you no damage. If you did not play the Kill Shot, you would take 5 damage instead. If your opponent did not morph the creature, and you played Kill Shot, the creature would still be dead and you would still take no damage. I think that covers it.

More specifically, the actions happened in this order:

During your opponent's Declare Attackers Step, they declared a face-down 2/2 creature as an attacker.
During your opponent's Declare Blockers Step, you chose to declare no blockers.

Your opponent then gained priority and morphed their creature. Morphing a creature is a special action, and it does not use the stack. It happens immediately, and cannot be responded to. The face up creature counts as the same object that the face down creature was. It is still tapped and attacking.
You gained priority, and cast Kill Shot targeting the face up Krumar Bond-Kin.
The Kill Shot resolves, and destroys the Krumar Bond-Kin.

The Combat Damage Step starts. There are no attacking creatures, so no damage is dealt.


What does an enemy do when the target of its movement is on a space with 3 models?

If there are already three models on a node and another model moves onto that node, the players must push one of the three models already on the node.

The emphasized text above gives you your answer, the players themselves must decide who stays on the node and who is pushed off so as not to break the 3 model rule.

I would say this is enforced by the wording of "the players must" and the lack of listed priorities anywhere in the rule book for who should be pushed off first. It can be logically assumed that without an order provided, the players can decide an order for themselves.


What can Protectorate do to counter Epic Haley's Feat?

It is incredibly obvious when this feat will be used. In competitive games it will most likely be turn 2 if the Cygnar player went first, or MAYBE turn 1 if you went first, so plan for it and know that your second turn will be spent largly doing nothing. Play that turn defensively, cast defensive spells and back up, or duck into terrain. Depending on your caster, you might be able to hide a significant portion of your force only to have it bust out of the trees the next round and deal maximum damage. Just don't let the Haley player bog you down. Insist that he pick which models activate in what order in a very timely fashion so that you can end your turn and be on to the next quickly.
If you make the Cygnar army unable to see your army he can't really capitalize on knowing that your next turn is going to be rubbish.


Do enchantments of Crew carry over to Vehicles?

No to both. Crewing a creature doesn't cause he vehicle to be related to the creatures that crew it in any way unless the creatures have an ability that triggers when they crew a vehicle. Crew means nothing more than what the ability says; that you tap creatures  to make the vehicle into an artifact creature until end of turn.

From the gatherer rulings on Smuggler's Copter:

  Creatures that crew a Vehicle aren’t attached to it or related in any other way. Effects that affect the Vehicle, such as by destroying it or giving it a +1/+1 counter, don’t affect the creatures that crewed it and vice versa.

Also note that "enchantments such as a +1/+1 counter" makes no sense. A counter is a completely different thing from an enchantment. If you meant an aura enchantment that gives the creature +1/+1, this is unrelated to a +1/+1 counter.


What are the most frequently used Dominion cards in winning decks?

councilroom.com hosts stats for millions of online games played at dominion.isotropic.org.

It's currently down but it should give you the most accurate answer when it goes back up again.

For example, here is a ranking of the best openings from google's cache


I'll be assuming you're playing Riichi, that's the only ruleset I know which has "dead hands".

If I understand your question correctly, I don't see why she would declare your hand dead at all in this situation. I take it you declared Riichi in that game. If she called you dead because you could not win, since she kept your winning tiles, that is not a valid action for several reasons:

She would be dead as well (unless she had another wait).
You (or she) could still deal into another players hand.
Not being able to win does not make your hand dead, it is simply "not able to win anymore".
Neither you nor her should even know about which tiles are in possession of which player.

Maybe there was a misunderstanding and she meant to say "you can't win anymore"?


What exactly was so broken about Urza's Block?

Preface: I've been drafting this for a few days now. I focused on the cards that were banned, because those were the most broken. I'm sure there were dozens of other combos not included here, and this is by no means giving the fullest extent of how the cards could be used to maximize their broken-ness.

The first step is to take a look at what cards were available at the time. Mirage had just rotated out, which leaves us with the Tempest block and of course Urza's block. This leaves us with some very powerful 0 and 1 mana artifacts: Lotus Petal, Mox Diamond, Ornithopter, and to a lesser extent, Spellbook.

Note that with Lotus Petal and Mox Diamond, you have yourself 2 mana available on your first turn without playing a land. (To be fair, both of those are part of Mirage, not Urza's.)Those mana can go into a Grim Monolith, which in turn gives you 3 mana when tapped. Make your land drop a Tolarian Academy and suddenly you have 6 mana available on your first turn, and you only needed four cards to do it. I think we can agree that 6 mana on the first turn is broken in an innumerable number of ways. This led the Academy to be the first to be banned.

Along with the Academy was Windfall. This was broken for a couple of reasons. First, consider a card like Divination, which has a card advantage of 1 for 3 mana at sorcery speed. (You draw two cards, but you had to spend 1 card to do it). When you also consider Azure Mage it becomes clear that in blue, 3 or 4 mana is appropriate for 1 in-hand card advantage. Now, consider how fast you blow through cards here: you dropped four cards (lotus, mox, grim, and academy) as well as any other 0 drop artifacts, and use a Windfall. You discard your 0 or 1 non-playable cards and pick up 7 more. Your opponent dumps all 7 of his and draws 7 more. You just gained 6 or 7 card advantage for 3 mana. That just isn't competitive.

The other aspect of Windfall is that your opponent is also playing combo. It was not uncommon for people to mull down to 4 to get their combo. While this will lower the card advantage you get from Windfall, it essentially wastes your opponent's mull! He now has to settle for whatever 4 or 5 crap cards are on the top of his deck. If you went first, then your opponent has not had an opportunity to play, but now is facing you with at least 6 cards on the battlefield, the ability to generate 6 or more mana a turn, and to top it all off, you just gave him a complete crap hand instead of the one he mulled to get. Bummer. So understandably, those were the first two to get banned.

In the next round of bans, you see Dream Halls get the axe. Now, without Academy and Windfall to pump up your early mana, this isn't as effective. It was costed such that you can't use it until turn 5, and you have to use two cards to do it instead of one. So since they were expecting you'd use this on turn 4 or 5, it would end up being very damaging. And under normal circumstances, it is. But there's one small problem. You discard that other card instead of paying the cost. This is supposed to make it so you can't use it. But Yawgmoth's Will made it so you could use it. If you Dream Halled two cards, you could cast the other two cards with Yawgmoth's Will. And with all the mana you have and card draw available, it's reasonable to pull this off.

Another one that was banned was Earthcraft. This card used to look like this:

  Creatures you control have: T: untap a target basic land.

However, it was decided that splicing text onto cards was a bad thing. So it was changed to

  Tap an untapped creature you control: untap a target basic land.

in the name of being easier to work with. Unfortunately, it had the side effect of making creatures with summoning sickness able to tap for mana, which is decidedly overpowered.

Fluctuator was banned because there's about 40ish legal cards with cycling, and they're all (Cycling 2). So they all basically let you loot them for free to burn through your deck. Cycling for free is broken. This combo didn't take much to come together.

Lotus Petal was banned for the combo listed out above, and I'm sure there were dozens of variants of it.

Recurring Nightmare was banned because three mana and a creature (probably 0 mana) was too little to return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield, considering it goes back to your hand, not the graveyard (even if Yawgmoth's Will is active). It's even worse when the cards coming back are Great Whale, which yields infinite mana (although the infinite mana combo requires four lands on the board, and most games didn't last even that long!)

Time Spiral was the last of the second round to be banned from standard. It had the same problem windfall did, where you got to draw seven cards (including spells you've already played! How convenient!) and get the massive card advantage. Now this is 6 mana, not 3, and we know there's a gigantic difference between 3 and 6 (way way way more than twice as much). But as we've established, you can get 6 mana on your first turn... And to top it all off, you get to untap 6 lands. Umm, yes that's just a little too powerful.

The next big card to get the axe is Mind over Matter. This is simple: you discard (which we've established there's already massive card advantage here, which lessens the penalty...) and you get to untap an artifact (with academy, mana, or the mana artifacts themselves), creature (with earthcraft, mana, or Birds of Paradise), or land (mana). So you get even bigger mana amounts.

Memory Jar was so broken it was the only card to get an emergency ban. Basically you get to draw and play with 7 cards. As we've established your hand empties faster than a AK with a 14 round clip, you're going to get most of those cards out the turn you play it. And since 5 mana isn't all that much to get on turn 1, you might end up with this on turn 1, which when combined with another draw combo will give you access to 20 or more cards on turn 1. Broken? Yep. Unlike windfall, this doesn't kopper your opponents starting hand, as he'll get it back at the end of the turn. But you'll have another 4 or 5 permanents on the board, so what's he really going to do to you at this point anyway?

Like I said, these probably have even better ways to get the most out of them. But hopefully this gives an idea of exactly how these things were broken, and why Wizards reacted the way they did with all the bans. For what it's worth, this is the first genuine test of Wizards reacting to the fan base, and I would go so far as to say their biggest mistake up until that point and even to this day (needless to say they learned many lessons from it!)