How are you supposed to fight a discard deck?

Against decks that rely on 3-8 precision cards to disrupt you but mostly consist of another strategy, I recommend these resources:

B&CG: How can I play around targeted discard? — general advice
Reid Duke: Thoughtseize You — to understand what your opponent is
doing

Against decks that are practically wall-to-wall discard, here are some techniques that may help:

Get "under" them

Play out your hand faster than they can rip it apart. This is what your red aggro deck is doing.

Rely on strong topdecks

One of the biggest weaknesses of discard decks: most discard cards are sorcery speed. Even once you're "hellbent," you'll usually be able to draw your card and play it on your turn. So you'll still be making land drops and you'll be able to cast most of the permanents and removal spells in your deck.

The worst thing about playing a dedicated discard deck is that half the cards in your deck just do nothing once your opponent is topdecking. So, focus your resources on taking out the cards of their that still have value — finishers, combo pieces, and engines of advantage.

Play out of your graveyard

With some exceptions, discard typically puts stuff in your graveyard. Flashback spells, reanimation effects, self-reanimators (like Gravecrawler).

Incidental Hosers

Some staple creatures are also, incidentally, discard hosers — for example, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Loxodon Smiter, and Obstinate Baloth.

Precision tools

This is a quality sideboard card:

You can drop it on turn zero, for free. It blocks all of Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, Inquisition of Kozilek, Duress, and Hymn to Tourach. It's also a strong card against burn decks, many combo decks (e.g. Tendrils).


How to explore with wormhole generator in Eclipse?

You are correct that you must select the unexplored space you wish to explore before drawing the hex tile from the appropriate stack. And yes, if you have the wormhole generator technology, you may explore a space adjacent to a side of your controlled hex that does not have a wormhole half. However, you must then make sure you orient the new hex so that a half wormhole is positioned next to that side of the new hex. If you look at the examples on page 9 of the rulebook the hex marked D, which is a legal placement for a player with a wormhole generator, is an example of the above described situation.


Assuming you're playing an edition by Parker Brothers (where the game is played over multiple hands and the first to 5,000 points wins), you get a hundred-point bonus for each safety played, and another 300 bonus if you play all four safeties, according to https://gamerules.com/rules/mille-bornes-card-game/ and https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/MilleBornes.pdf :

  SCORING

  Score as many points as miles traveled ... X

  Bonus for 1000 mile trip ............... 400

  Bonus for safety card .................. 100

  All 4 Safety Cards played by 1 team .... 300

  Each Coup Fourré ....................... 300

  Delayed Action ..........................300

  Safe Trip .............................. 300

  Shut Out ............................... 500

The 300 points bonus for al four is explicitly "in addition" to the 100 points for each one:

(Again from https://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/MilleBornes.pdf ):

  All four Safety Cards played by the same team (add this bonus to the 100 points scored for each safety card): 300

And also confirmed on Wikipedia

  All 4 safeties: 300 bonus in addition to the standard 100 points for each of the safeties individually plus any coup-fourré bonuses.

ADDENDUM:

If you're playing the Dujardin edition, the games is just one hand (ending at 1,000 miles), and there's no bonus for playing all four safeties.


How do you use the boss monster spell respawn

Based on Rules for 5th edition, page 5 (Rooms), this would only affect your visible cards.

http://www.brotherwisegames.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Boss-Monster-5th-Edition-Rulebook.pdf

  B. Ability: The rules text of the card is active as
  long as it is visible and in play.

The Respawn calls for all of your rooms, but technically the text of the rooms that are not visible is not active, so it wouldn't matter if they had just been spawned -- they are not available to trigger the room ability text.


Is it better to close gates or save up clue tokens to seal them?

It depends. Mostly on how likely a gate is to open again at that particular location.

It's better to wait and seal gates with lots of gate mythos cards in the deck, to prevent them from continuously re-opening.

It's better to quickly close gates with few gate mythos cards and many clue mythos cards, as it will be unlikely to open again, and blocking access to valuable clues while it sits unaddressed.

The specific frequencies can be found in this document.


Do type-changing static abilities allow triggering?

Soul Warden's ability will trigger.

  603.6d Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions. [...]

That means it's the types the Signet has on the battlefield that are checked by Soul Warden's triggered ability.

  604.1. Static abilities do something all the time rather than being activated or triggered. They are written as statements, and they’re simply true.

That means there isn't a moment that a non-creature artifact on the battlefield is not affected by March of the Machine.

As such, the Signet is seen as a creature by Soul Warden's triggered ability, and it will trigger.


How can I document that I Moated an enchantress?

The moat says :-

  When another player plays an Attack card, you may first reveal this from your hand, to be unaffected by it.

So you are not 'playing' the moat.  To defend against an attack you merely show it from you hand.

Now if the moat is in your hand it's likely you have defended against an attack card so would just remember.   If however you need a reminder you revealed a moat to defend you could do many things such as

place it face up in front of you and pick it up at start of turn
if you want to hold your hand look at cards you could could turn it back to front so moat is 'revealed' to other players
you could just put your hand down and leave moat face up on top to show you defended.

The game its self doesn't have any markers to remind you you defended. But when it gets to your turn and the duration effect is in effect it shouldn't be to hard to recall you defended (unless you've got some player who tries to dispute it!).  Ultimately I would always assume you've defended unless you want the attack to affect you.

Don't forget that even if you defended against on attack you can choose to let another affect you.  ie you might find being attacked by Minion useful to cycle hand.


When scoring in Prosperity, is there a maximum limit for research?

I found the official answer on BGG:

  The space with the magnifying glass is the top space, and you cannot move beyond it. If more than one player reaches the top space, they are tied.


How do I allocate variable damage to multi-wound models?

With variable damage against multi-wound models (or models with a Feel No Pain equiv.) you need to roll the damage rolls one at a time. The damage is not rolled and then assigned. The only choice you would have is if you had a weapon whose profile changed based on hit/wound roll (for example d6 instead of d3 on a 6 to wound). In this case you would make two groups of wound pools, and the firing player could decide which should be applied first, the defending player would then make the saves against these. If the defending models had differing saves (or some had FNP) the saves and damage rolls would need to be made individually.

The important thing to remember is that technically group rolling is a shortcut. Each weapon is intended to be fired individually. This is of course tedious, so where possible, when it doesn't actually matter, we group rolls together.


What do we do if we need to place a large minion and all minion entry spaces are occupied?

I agree, it isn't completely clear from the rule book what to do. Page 14 covers, Placing Minions on the Board, and notes to add new Minions to (not full) minion entry spaces. Luckily, the designer, Jerry Hawthorne, responded to that question on BGG:

Q: We had a situation where a surge called for a centipede, but every spawn space was taken by either a small monster or a mouse. We just didn't spawn the centipede because it couldn't "fit" in any space; was that correct?
A: That is correct.


Impersonation in regional pro tour qualifier

There are several possible, and likely, punishments if you get caught.
First of all, if you are caught, you are all but guaranteed to be disqualified from the event you're participating in on behalf of your friend. Impersonating another player would be "Lying to a tournament official" when you register for the event, and therefore fall under Cheating in the Tournament Rules.
The Head Judge still has the authority to issue rulings even if the situation is not covered in the tournament rules:

GENERAL PHILOSOPHY

Only the Head Judge is authorized to issue penalties that deviate from these guidelines. The Head Judge may not deviate from this guide’s procedures except in significant and exceptional circumstances or a situation that has no applicable philosophy for guidance. Significant and exceptional circumstances are rare—a table collapses, a booster contains cards from a different set, etc. [..]

Your behaviour will be reported to Wizards, where it will be reviewed according to the Wizard Terms of Use and additional penalties might follow:

ORGANIZED PLAY.

b. Rules and Enforcement. By participating in organized play, you expressly acknowledge and agree to comply with any official organized play and tournament rules (see rules for Magic: The Gathering and Kaijudo) updated and published by Wizards from time to time and incorporated herein by reference (see applicable game websites for current rules). Organized play events are adjudicated by members of the Wizards’ community who provide us with reports regarding play (win/lose records) as well as player behavior, conduct, and violations of tournament rules and the Code of Conduct, and recommendations regarding disciplinary actions.  [..] You also agree that all disciplinary decisions regarding actual or alleged violations of tournament rules and the Code of Conduct are final, at Wizards sole discretion, and that Wizards has no liability to you whatsoever in regards to such investigations and decisions.

By impersonating another player, you are breaking the Wizards of the Coast's Code of Conduct, which explicitely states:

Do not impersonate other persons, including fellow users or Wizards of the Coast staff, by screen name or self-representation, or attempt to obtain sensitive information from other members.

If you demonstrate that you cannot follow this Code of Conduct, the Terms of Use, or the Privacy Policy, then you may lose access to ALL of your accounts and all associated content, usernames and screen names.  You may also be suspended or expelled from organized play and the Wizards Play Network.

Therefore, it's entirely possible your and/or your friend's account might be temporarily or permanently banned.


In Conquest of Planet Earth, Do I conquer a Location with my remaining Alien Ships after Losing the final Fight Round?

I don't think the line "you may start a new Fight Round" means that the Alien Ship can stay on the Location, or claim a victory.  I think it means "you may carry on trying to defeat the Resistance by starting a new Fight Round... or choose another valid option".

What other valid options are there?  See the next section of the rules:

  After each Fight Round is resolved, the Aliens have the opportunity to
  escape; immediately ending the Battle as though the Aliens had lost.

I think it's completely intuitive, based on other similar boardgames, that you should have to keep attacking until you either win fairly or are forced to flee.  No sneaky short cuts!


Is there any complete downloadable Pokémon TCG text database?

Here's a SQL database for cards from Base Set => Double Crisis:

https://github.com/Guernouille/pokeplayer/tree/master/database

http://pokeplayer.com/cardex/search


In what order do unblocked creatures assign damage?

Player B gets to choose exactly which of the 6 damage is prevented.
The two creatures deal damage simultaneously. Rule 510 deals with the combat damage step, and days among other things (emphasis mine):

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action
doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time
combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

So how does the prevention happen? Rule 615 speaks about prevention effects, and we find that the affected player (or the controller of the affected permanent) decides freely what damage to prevent if multiple sources deal simultaneous damage:

615.7. Some prevention effects generated by the resolution of a spell or ability refer to a specific
amount of damage—for example, “Prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to any target this
turn.” These work like shields. Each 1 damage that would be dealt to the “shielded” permanent or
player is prevented. Preventing 1 damage reduces the remaining shield by 1. If damage would be
dealt to the shielded permanent or player by two or more applicable sources at the same time, the
player or the controller of the permanent chooses which damage the shield prevents. Once the shield
has been reduced to 0, any remaining damage is dealt normally. Such effects count only the amount
of damage; the number of events or sources dealing it doesn’t matter.


Would a duel model between Khadors' Sorcha and Circles' Kaya seem realistic?

I will interpret the question as, is there anything in the game rules that would preclude modeling these two figures in combat with each other.

I have not played this one but given my understanding of what's allowed and what's not from various codex-based miniatures games this seems like a plausible pairing. Sorcha is a warcaster (https://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/Sorscha) and Kaya is a warlock (https://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiKaya) from armies that can and will clash.

You can find in published blogs first person accounts of battles involving both personalities, supporting the view that the two of them actually meeting in close quarters could happen.


How does vertical movement work in 40k eighth edition

In 8th you just measure the actual distance you move. It likely will be worth discussing with your opponent before the game how you want to treat different pieces of terrain. Things like if you're going to have to use ladders/stairs or if you both want to just assume any unit can move the 2-4" vertically. Also whether you want to measure diagonal or "L" that is... measure to below where you go up, then directly up. Depending on the terrain you have, it might be easiest to just say going up/down a floor is 3" of movement and not worry about it too much, the main thing is to get on the same page at the start of the game.


Is the Road Building Development card applicable for ships in Catan Seafarers?

Yes, the Road Building Development Card can be used for ships or roads.

From the Seafarers rules, page 5.

  When playing the “Road Building” Development Card in a game of Seafarers, you have the option of building 2 roads, 2 ships, or
  1 ship and 1 road.


Rules for bribes when "Asking For Help" in turn vs bribing outside of a turn

There's nothing in the second rules quote that contradicts the first rules quote. Regardless of in-turn versus out-of-turn, giving an item to a person requires that the item is in your inventory (it's on the table in front of you, regardless of whether it's equipped or not).

This doesn't mean that's the only way to affect a combat or bribe your opponents, of course: you could threaten/promise to play a potion, one-shot item, or monster-enhancer on the current combat (or someone's future combat), either for or against the player(s). You wouldn't be giving the player an item, but you would be using the item in a way that could affect their current decision. There's nothing requiring you to follow through on a promise, of course, but it's going to affect your reputation: if you don't follow through on a promise, your fellow players probably won't believe you the next time you promise something.

Some clarifications that may help:

Equipped items are face-up in front of you (i.e., part of your inventory), and they add to your Levels because you have sufficient slots to use them. (Potions and some other items are slotless, but most other items take a slot: one hand, headgear, armor, etc. Potions can be played from your hand or your inventory.)
Carried items are in your inventory; they're whatever you're not equipping. You don't have to drop them, and you don't have to apply Charity to them, but they're not adding to your Level. If you have three one-handed items, then you're going to equip two of them and carry the other one. I usually turn carried cards sideways to make it clear what I'm equipped with.
Your hand is not your inventory, and is unrelated to your equipped and carried items. It's always referred to as "your hand" in the rules.


You only count successes once all rerolls have been made. This can be inferred from this clause in the rulebook:

  Rerolling Dice
  Immediately after rolling dice during a test, an investigator
  may spend a Clue token to reroll one die. He may perform this
  multiple times, as long as he spends a Clue token each time. He
  determines whether he passed or failed after resolving all rerolls.

(Emphasis mine)

Also, in the reference guide, you'll find:

  When a die is rerolled, use the result of the reroll, even if the new
  result is worse.

So, clearly a reroll can remove a success if that dice is rerolled! This makes it entirely clear you are just manipulating the result of a roll of a fixed number of dice. You can never get more successes than the original number of dice in the pool.

This becomes even clearer when you remember that there are effects that allow an investigator to roll additional dice. If the intent was to allow rerolls to create additional successes, there wouldn't have been any need for the additional dice mechanic.


Is it right to refrain from making a takeout double in borderline situations?

This is in part a matter of style, but I would happily make a takeout double with that hand.  In my experience (which I think agrees with prevailing expert opinion), it is better to be aggressive in competitive bidding at low levels, and get more cautious when the bidding reaches the 3 level.

Advantages to bidding:

You have the opportunity to find a contract for your side
You interfere with the opponents' bidding, giving them a chance to make a mistake and making it harder for them to use their conventions (though this is not a big factor for takeout doubles)
You give partner information which may be useful on defense

Disadvantages:

You may end up in an impossible contract and go down badly (perhaps doubled)
You give the opponents information which they can use if they win the contract (as happened in this case)

If your partner is good, he is less likely to push you to a crazy contract.  On the other hand, experienced opponents are more likely to double if you end up somewhere bad.

The most important factor, though, is the possibility of finding a contract where you can make.  RHO (North) is potentially no stronger than you, so there is a good chance that you have half the points or more.  You should have a shot at making something.  However, if you pass and LHO bids, your partner will likely have trouble bidding unless he has a good enough hand and suit to overcall, and he will likely need to bid at the 2 level or possibly higher if South jumps.  You are probably the strong hand in this partnership, so if you pass now, there's a good chance you are giving up any opportunity to win the contract.

Naturally, there are no guarantees.  Sometimes you make the right bid and it ends up hurting you.  Bidding well and playing well are both a matters of percentages -- you should make the play that has the best expected outcome.


Pandemonium's triggered ability checks the power of the creature when it resolves, not when it triggers. A ruling on Pandemonium says the same thing.

  The triggered ability does not check the creature's power until the ability resolves. If the creature is not on the battlefield when the ability resolves, it does damage equal to the power of the creature right before it left the battlefield.

By the time the ability resolves, Muscle Sliver is already on the battlefield, and his power is being modified by his own ability. You may have it deal 2 points of damage.

Still not convinced?

There are cases when a creature's power is checked when an ability triggers and when it resolves. To illustrate this, consider the case where we play Muscle Sliver when we already have an Experiment One on the battlefield. Will Muscle Sliver trigger evolve?

The answer is yes. This is because of rule 611.3c (although it is mentioned in a few places).

  611.3c Continuous effects that modify characteristics of permanents do so simultaneously with the  permanent entering the battlefield. They don’t wait until the permanent is on the battlefield and then change it. Because such effects apply as the permanent enters the battlefield, they are applied before determining whether the permanent will cause an ability to trigger when it enters the battlefield.


Monopoly : Is buying properties second time round a house rule or official rule?

From what I gather from your question the rule you are talking about is a house rule. In the basic rules it is intended for all properties to be sold the first time anyone lands on them. Either from the person that landed on it making the purchase or it being sold in auction.

In general the basic rules tend to make the game faster.


Exert, untap with spell, tap and attack. Does it untap?

It does not untap.
To exert a permanent, you choose to have it not untap during your next untap step.[CR 701.37a] Period. Its status when it was exerted is irrelevant.[1] Changes to its status after it was exerted are irrelevant. Unless the creature ceases to exist at some point before your next untap step, it won't untap during your next untap step.
Blinking the creature (e.g. using Cloudshift) shakes off the exertion, but only because the creature with which you are left is a brand new object that's never been exerted.[CR 400.7]

The complete rules regarding Exert:

701.37. Exert
701.37a To exert a permanent, you choose to have it not untap during your next untap step.
701.37b A permanent can be exerted even if it’s not tapped or has already been exerted in a turn. If you exert a permanent more than once before your next untap step, each effect causing it not to untap expires during the same untap step.
701.37c An object that isn’t on the battlefield can’t be exerted.
701.37d “You may exert [this creature] as it attacks” is an optional cost to attack (see rule 508.1g). Some objects with this static ability have a triggered ability that triggers “when you do” printed in the same paragraph. These abilities are linked. (See rule 607.2g.)

You can exert a creature will it's untapped. For example, this happens when attacking with a Battlefield Scavenger that's been given Vigilance.


Arkham Horror: Is there any thematic introductory text out there for first time players?

Each of the investigators has some flavour on the back of their investigator card. I've found using that gives the player some insight in to the strange going ons in Arkham, but leaves them just enough in the dark for it to remain mysterious.

Make sure you read out all the encounter cards and not just get to the business end of things in order to roll dice. Without all the flavour text from the encounters, things can get rather...maddening


By default, alien powers are revealed after everyone has one. The rulebook does not make this clear up front, but it must be true since the other option you mention is in the Variants section on p14:

Hidden Powers
In this variant, players leave their alien sheets facedown after
selecting them at the start of the game. While a player’s alien
sheet remains facedown, its power cannot be used. A player
may turn his or her alien sheet faceup at any time in order to
use it. Once turned faceup, the player’s alien sheet remains
faceup for the rest of the game.


Return of the Dragon Lords and Torrential Tribute

Should Return of the Dragon Lords had been in the graveyard by the time my opponent activated Torrential Tribute?

Yes your ROTDL was already in the GY before your opponent had chance to activate TT.

This is true because to activate TT the summon has to resolve, and that only happens when ROTDL is already in the GY as the final link in the stack chain.

Putting it in sequence:

You activate ROTDL, target Red-eyes, opponent passes chance to chain and so do you. Thus, the stack starts to resolve.
ROTDL brings Red-eyes back, then you put it in the GY. The chain resolution ends and the summon is successful.
Given there was a summon, your opponent is able to activate Torrential Tribute. As you can see, ROTDL is in the GY by now...


Does "Destroy all creatures with power 4 or greater" also affect *my* creatures?

It will destroy your creatures as well. Just read the card literally. There's nothing there to imply that your creatures would be excluded. As for players' hands, the word "creature" by default means "a creature card or token on the battlefield." You cannot have a "creature" in your hand, you can only have a "creature card" in your hand. Finally, note that "destroy" would have no meaning when used on a card in your hand, it would have to say "discard" to remove a card from your hand.


Assumption:

Your partnership agreement for Capelletti is as outlined on Wikipedia

Absolutely Advancer can pass; the work of interference has been performed. Doing so is a de facto statement by Advancer that he is uninterested in continuing the auction, either because of a paucity of points or lack of fit or both.

The general philosophy is the same for a preemptive opening at the 2-level or higher: the initial bid should be so descriptive that there is no temptation by the initial caller (Intervenor in this case) to continue the auction unilaterally.


What the value of a misprinted Graverobber Spider?

Due to their rarity and inconsistency, there isn't really an established market for misprint cards. You may be able to find individual collectors who are willing to purchase misprints, but the value will often depend both on which card it is and how it was misprinted.


Does anyone use the P-K4 type of chess notation anymore?

The new way of notating - algebraic notation - has pretty much completely replaced the old way - descriptive notation.  Most people nowadays use algebraic notation, except old players who are very stuck in their ways.

However, there is still a purpose in learning descriptive notation:  reading old books.  Some of my favorite old chess books are only available in descriptive notation, so you have to be able to keep track of long series of moves in descriptive notation.


In Stratego, what happens if in the setup a player puts all six bombs in the front row but not behind the lakes?

If you can't move, you lose the game.

Here is an excerpt from the rules:

  If all of your movable pieces have been removed and you cannot move or attack on a turn, you must give up and declare your opponent a winner.

You have zero movable pieces and they are all removed so it is a loss.


No, you can't, because

  no player can have 2 action cards of the same type affecting them at the same time.

This is part of the passage that introduces cards like Theft, so while you're technically not "affected" by a Theft in front of you, it would seem that a loose interpretation is in order.

Hands Off uses wording that implies a player could have multiple Theft cards ("remove one Theft card from in front of any player"), but that's probably just more imprecise wording.

The following are the other restrictions on on playing actions:

You cannot break a player's tool when that player's tool is already broken.
You cannot fix a tool that's not broken.
You cannot play a Theft card while trapped.

Based on the above, it's conceivable one might be forbidden from taking following useless actions, but they aren't actually forbidden by the rules:

Playing a Hands Off card on someone who doesn't have a Theft card.
Playing a Free At Last card on someone who isn't trapped.
Playing a Trapped card on someone who is trapped.


Are there any resources available for building custom battle decks?

I would buy enough of the Duel Decks for each player to have one. Even though each set is not balanced against the other sets, they are going to be the best value you will find for pre-built decks from wizards. They have a very reasonable power level for the most part.

Wizards is releasing the older duel decks in December as part of an anthology- it might be worth waiting for that, depending on your timeline.

Once you you have played with them a few times you might want to supplement the decks with a booster pack or two, or cards from your existing collection.

One reason I suggest these instead of building your own is that there's no way to see what decks you could really build with the cards & budget you have without going through your card pool and building the decks myself. I also find that having a base deck that is not packed full of great cards really lends itself to learning how to build fun decks by tweaking the existing deck.

Good idea about the star format. I really enjoy the tension that having the mixed enemy/ally groups provides. For some playgroups it is valuable to have a prescribed target so that people don't get analysis-paralysis trying to decide who to attack.


Who wins when both teams score above 500 in Double Deck Pinochle?

There are many different sets of rules for Pinochle, most are the same but almost every household I've played at has something 'different'.

However, my understanding of the winner (in what ever variation being played) was the one who won the bid will be the winner regardless of the scores if both are winning scores.  This is because it forces each bidder/team to make a serious attempt at the final bid.  The one who wins the bid is putting their money where their mouth is so to speak.  If I win the bid and just make the min score, and you only needed 1 point so you are much farther ahead, you could take it easy and assume a win and not bother trying to bid your hand.


Mascarade - When must you swap your card?

There is always a responsibility of the players to swap with players who know their cards.  The reason that rule exists, is because there would be no one in place to run "defense" against player 2.

Player 3 does have someone to interfere; player 2. So no one gets a free ride as long as player 2 plays correctly.


Exceeding the monster limit due to an encounter

I know there is a card listed in the FAQ that does exactly this but in the graveyard, I don't remember one from the library, but the ruling would be transferable.
From the Arkham Horror FAQ

Q: A Graveyard encounter summons "all Undead monsters in Arkham, the Outskirts, and the Sky" to the Graveyard. If this would bring the number of monsters in Arkham above the monster limit, which ones are sent to the Outskirts?
A: Any monsters that were in the Outskirts when this encounter was drawn are the first to be returned to the Outskirts if the monster limit is exceeded. In the event that not all monsters that came from the Outskirts need to be returned there, the first player decides which monster tokens are placed back in the Outskirts. If more monsters still need to be moved to the Outskirts, move the monsters that came from other towns (Dunwich, Kingsport, or  Innsmouth) to the Outskirts until the number of monsters in Arkham is again at the monster limit. In the event that not all monsters that came from another town need to be returned there, the first player decides which of those monster tokens are moved to the Outskirts.


Stealing a "play at any time" item as a thief in Munchkin?

You say the thief went to steal the item, but here's no such game mechanic. Either the thief has stolen the item, or they haven't. Stealing is not something that has a duration, so you can't "interrupt" it. There's no mechanism for time travel or precognisence in Munchkin, so an action (e.g. stealing) must be completed before another one can be started.

If the thief hasn't stolen the item, the owner original (and current) owner can play it.

If the thief has stolen the item, the owner original owner can't play it since they no longer own it.


Warhammer 40K 7ed: Haemonculus Covens "It Will not Die" rule effect on units with 1 wound

Nope, IWND is absolutely useless on any model with only one wound...and thus, wracks do not benefit from it in the slightest.

The only models which will really benefit from IWND are characters and Grotesques, since they have multiple wounds each.  In practice, however, Grotesques are the primary benefactors of the ability, since it is pretty easy to Instant Death a T3 or T4 character.


Affecting win percentages in turn based games

There are many different options:

Hex uses the "swap rule", which states that after the start player makes his first move, the other player can decide to switch colors and play as if he were the start player and had made that move. This means that the start player must choose a move that's not obviously great (like going directly in the center).
Magic the Gathering has the player who takes the first turn skip his initial draw, so he starts with one less card. Certain types of decks prefer to still take the first turn, while others prefer to draw the extra card. Similarly, Innovation has the first player only take a half-turn on the first turn. Or the first 2 players in a 4 player game.
Dominion has the loser of a game go first in the next game. This only works when playing multiple games in a row with the same people; but it's designed to be played that way. Dominion also has the second player win tie games if the first player got an extra turn (if he was also the player who ended the game).
Many games give extra starting resources to players in later turn orders. Temporum, Castles of Burgundy, Agricola, and many others do this. Sometimes it is as simple as the start player receiving fewer than the rest, other times it is each player getting 1 more of something than the previous player. (So players will get 2, 3, 4, and 5 workers respectively in Castles of Burgundy).

Some games give later players a victory point bonus.  Go and Castles of Mad King Ludwig do this.  This can also overlap with the starting resources handicap in games where resources are directly converted to victory points at game end.

Many games only end when all players have had the same number of turns. Whether due to having a specific number of rounds, or having the game continue until the last player has a turn after the game-end has been triggered. Even in games like this, there may be a first player advantage, though there can also be a last-player advantages instead.
Catan evens out the setup by reversing the placement order in the second round of setup. In theory, this gives the initial player a great location and a poor location, while the last player gets two average locations. In this arrangement,
the second last player might be in the worse position, because the last player has the advantage of placing twice in a row.

Some games don't try and balance first player advantage at all and instead rely on player politics to do so.  These tend to be high luck games such as Munchkin or Fluxx.


Does copying a spell on the stack count as casting it?

No, the copy is not cast, and would not trigger Paradox Engine.

From the Gatherer Rulings on League Guildmage:

  10/5/2018     The copy is created on the stack, so it’s not “cast.” Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won’t trigger.

Paradox engine cares only if you cast the spell, and a copy of a spell made by League Guildmage is not cast.


How serious is forgetting my life gain triggered abilities?

Your understanding of the missed triggers is correct. Since the required triggered ability (number 2) is only beneficial to you, there is no penalty for missing it.

The other triggers do not work exactly how you think because they are covered by a slightly different part of the rule than you quoted. The first part of rule 603.5 says:

  Some triggered abilities' effects are optional (they contain "may," as in "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may draw a card"). These abilities go on the stack when they trigger, regardless of whether their controller intends to exercise the ability's option or not. The choice is made when the ability resolves.

Those abilities always go on the stack and they do not have a default choice, so you must make the choice when they resolve. If you do not, it is a missed trigger like any other.


Forcing the combat in Warhammer: Invasion

You are not defending you quest and kingdom zones enough.  There is no reason for him to attack your battlefield if your defenses are weak in the other two zones.  It's better for him to attack those and win than fight your battlefield.


Which creature deals damage with the Ninjutsu mechanic, and can I block the creature that comes in?

Only one creature deals combat damage, the unblocked creature or the Ninjutsu creature. There is no second combat phase or declare blockers step.
The complete rule for Ninjutsu is:

702.48. Ninjutsu
702.48a Ninjutsu is an activated ability that functions only while the card with ninjutsu is in a player’s hand. “Ninjutsu [cost]” means “[Cost], Reveal this card from your hand, Return an unblocked attacking creature you control to its owner’s hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.”
702.48b The card with ninjutsu remains revealed from the time the ability is announced until the ability leaves the stack.
702.48c A ninjutsu ability may be activated only while a creature on the battlefield is unblocked (see rule 509.1h). The creature with ninjutsu is put onto the battlefield unblocked. It will be attacking the same player or planeswalker as the creature that was returned to its owner’s hand.

A creature can be an unblocked creature only during combat, while it's attacking, as the Ninjutsu rule and rules reminder on every Ninjutsu card says. It becomes an unblocked creature only after the declare blockers step. Once combat ends, it's no longer attacking or unblocked, so it can't be Ninjutsu'd any more.

Declare Blockers Step

509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

As for unblockable creatures: Contrary to your assumption, the declare blockers step still happens normally, you just can't assign any creature to block an unblockable creature during it. A creature becomes unblocked only after the declare blockers step, and there will not be an additional declare blockers step just because you couldn't block any creatures at that time.


From the rules "When To Play Cards" (page 5):

  Monsters

  If drawn face-up, during the “Kick Open The Door” phase, they
  immediately attack the person who drew them. If acquired any other
  way, they go into your hand and may be played during “Looking For
  Trouble,” or played on another player with the Wandering Monstercard.

Monster cards can only be played during the "Kick Open The Door" phase or by other cards like Wandering Monster which explicitly allow them to be played. Thus you cannot simply play and fight them prior to charity.

Theoretically if you happened to also be holding a card that allowed you to play a monster as part of its effect, then you could play that card and the monster, depending on the conditions of the card. For instance, Wandering Monster itself doesn't help here as it is played on a player already in combat, but there could come along a new card someday (or there could be one in some expansion I don't have) that could allow it.


What happens if the auction nominator is outbid?

Your understanding is exactly correct. From the rules:

  When the auctioning player wins the auction and gets the power plant, the next player in turn order takes his turn at offering a power plant for auction, if he has not
   already purchased a power plant this round. If he has, the next player in turn order may start an auction, and so on. When a player other than the player who started
   the auction wins the auction, the auctioning player may choose a new plant to auction from the actual market or pass.


Weed Eater: This cannot be played to replace a
Sprout, since it does not lower its power until it is
in play. Its power goes back up to 5 after the end
of the turn in which it is played.


When a spell targeting a creature with heroic gets countered, does heroic still trigger?

You are correct that the Heroic ability does trigger and successfully resolve, but your understanding about how and why it does is a little off.
Fist of all, there is only one Stack. The Stack is a game zone just like the Battlefield or Exile, it is always there even if there are no abilities or spells in it.
So what happens when you cast Divine Favor is you finish casting it targeting Tethmos High Priest and put it on the Stack. Then before either you or your opponent have a chance to do anything the priest's Heroic ability triggers and goes on the Stack. When you put the Heroic ability on the Stack you chose the target you want to return to the Battlefield. Once the ability is on the Stack and you pass priority your opponent has the opportunity to cast Negate, so the Stack now looks like this:

(top)

Negate (targeting Divine Favor)
Heroic ability (targeting something in the Graveyard)
Divine Favor (targeting the High Priest)

(bottom)

When the Negate resolves it will counter the Divine Favor, but as you can see the Heroic ability is already on the Stack, so it doesn't care that the reason it triggered isn't there anymore, it will still happily resolve.
This is a generic case for all Heroic abilities, they only care that they were targeted by a spell, what happens to the spell after that doesn't matter.


In what location do assets gain "advertisement" via Rebranding Team?

From the FAQ:

  Cards always have their subtypes, even while inactive.

Always means this applies in all zones, including R&D, HQ and Archives

For example: Rebranding Team can be used in conjunction with Ad Blitz to retrieve any Asset from archives.


How can we use multiple Carcassonne expansions without the game taking forever?

The simplest way is to simply shuffle up the tiles, then pull about 60-150 of them for use. This will typically mean a 1-3 hour game, depending upon player speed and exact number of tiles. It also limits the needed table space. It does, however, also mean it is possible to not have any tiles turn up from a given expansion.

Also, don't use the River nor River II, nor the Count. The River I & 2 simply lengthen setup and increase think-time needed at start.... in addition to taking time to start, and adding 10+ tiles each. The count, by allowing reinforcement as it does, really adds to tactical think-times.

If using princess and dragon, you may want to hold out one volcano, and shuffle it into the play stack after generating the ones you're going to play with. This way, you know the dragon WILL show up, but might not be showing up twice. Same for Tower tiles from The Tower.


First, make sure you're following the rule that the person who's turn it is must be involved in all trades during that turn. If you let everyone trade during the trading phase, discussions could take a while.

Assuming you're following that rule, it really shouldn't take that person very long to figure out all of the available trades. If you start out by saying "I'm looking for sheep and ore. Is anyone willing to trade those to me?", you can very quickly get a sense of whether any trades will be possible. If anyone says "yes", you say "I have wood or brick that I'm willing to trade, are you interested in either of those?" Now you allow them to propose the precise details of the trade, or you let them say "I'm interested in brick" and you propose a precise trade. There really shouldn't be much of a back and forth; either there's a trade that both of you are interested in, or there isn't, and it shouldn't take more than a few seconds to figure that out. Yes, occasionally you will have a back-and-forth negotiation, but it shouldn't happen in the majority of trades.

It can take some practice to get into the habit of trading quickly and efficiently. I'd recommend trying out Bohnanza(bgg|wikipedia) with the group; it's a fairly quick and easy game that consists almost entirely of trading, so if you play it, you will get in the habit of trading quickly and efficiently or else the game will drag on forever.

Beyond that, it's really a matter of being disciplined while you play. In almost any game, if you allow people to take too long making up their minds or getting distracted by something trivial, it will take a while. Try and set a reasonable pace for the trading by example and by encouraging other players to trade efficiently, and it should speed up after a little while.


Gloomhaven: road events and scenario reset

You understand the rules correctly. If you fail and retry the scenario, the Road Event effect no longer applies. Thematically, retrying the scenario isn't like loading your save in a video game. The failed attempt actually happened (which is why you only exhaust instead of die, and why you get to keep coins, treasure contents and experience). You could also view it as a balancing measure: if the scenario was too hard with the Road Event penalty, maybe it'll be just the right difficulty without one.

On the flip side: positive Road Event effects and Bless cards from donations also don't apply to retries.

And yes, you can game this system by dying intentionally, but then you could also repeatedly die intentionally to go through your entire stack of City Events in one go. With cooperative board games, the game kinda has to assume that you're willing to experience the game as intended, since no one can stop you from cheating if you would like to.


Ship Movement Question Axis and Allies 1940 Global (Rules 2.0)

Here is a 2 part answer to your question:

From the Rules (http://www.axisandallies.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Axis-Allies-Pacific-1940-Second-Edition.pdf):

  Move as many of your units into as many hostile territories and sea zones as
  you wish. You can move into a single hostile space from different spaces, as
  long as each moving unit can reach that space with a legal move.

I added in bold the important part. During your combat move, you can move into a single, hence only one hostile space. So no he cannot continue to move to a second hostile territory afterwards.

From the Non-combat move rules:

  In this phase, you can move any of your units that didn’t
  move in the Combat Move phase or participate in combat
  during your turn

Once again in bold, units that DIDN'T move can move in the non-combat phase.

Exception: I know that your question was about sea units, but tanks have a special "blitz" ability which allows them to continue moving after combat. Just look for the "blitz" ability in the units part of the rulebook.

Hope this answers your questions.


The tournament rules now clearly cover pile shuffling:

  Pile shuffling alone is not sufficiently random and may not be performed more than once any time a deck is being randomized.

The description from the update bulletin explains a bit more:

  Section 3.9 (Shuffling): This change has to do with "pile shuffling." Pile shuffling alone is not a sufficiently random form of shuffling. Update states that a player may only pile shuffle once each time a deck is randomized. The one pile shuffle is allowed in order to count the number of cards in the deck.

So, pile shuffle once, and you're okay, as long as you still actually shuffle your deck - it will not be considered slow play. Pile shuffling more than once would be against the rules, though it's not clear whether it'd be deemed slow play or just improper shuffling.


It may or may not be legal, depending on which rules you're using. Some rulesets require you to match a joker retrieved from the board with two tiles from your hand for the new meld -- prohibiting you from using both jokers from the board together with only one tile from your hand.
See the discussion of "Variations" under https://www.pagat.com/rummy/rummikub.html

A lot of confusion has been caused by the rule from the "Official Rummikub® Book" that says that when a melded joker is replaced it must immediately be used in a "new" meld. What restriction, if any, does this place on the way the retrieved joker has to be used? The rules supplied with various editions of Rummikub® sets have interpreted this rule in different ways.

A still stricter interpretation, which seems to be preferred by many players, is that the joker must be reused in a new meld formed by combining it with two tiles from your hand. I have seen two sets of rules which support this view. The J W Spear & Sons rules (1988) say: "A joker that has been picked up in this manner must be used in that player's same turn, as part of a new set, along with tiles from his rack." The Pressman Toy Corp rules (1987, 1998) say even more explicitly: "A joker that has been replaced must be used in the player's same turn with 2 or more tiles from his rack to make a new set." But even this is ambiguous: it is not clear whether the new set can also contain tiles from the table. Some players allow this. For example: on the table is a set of four 4's and a run of blue 8-7-joker; in your hand you have two blue sixes and a blue three; you may substitute one blue 6 for the joker and make a new blue run of 6-joker-4-3, stealing the blue 4 from the set of 4's. The new run uses two tiles from your hand, along with the joker and one other tile from the table.


Effects depending on an impossible effect?

If a creature explores an empty library, the creature gets a +1/+1 counter and nothing more happens. There is no general answer to what happens with multiple, partially impossible instructions.

The relevant rules of the explore mechanic are:

  701.39a Certain abilities instruct a permanent to explore. To do so, that permanent’s controller reveals the top card of their library. If a land card is revealed this way, that player puts that card into their hand. Otherwise, that player puts a +1/+1 counter on the exploring permanent and may put the revealed card into their graveyard.

You can't reveal a card because there are none remaining in the library. Therefore, no land card has been revealed, so you can't put it in your hand and you continue resolving the ability with the "otherwise" instructions. Note that the "otherwise" condition refers to both the "card" and "card type: land" requirements that both have to be true to make you take the first branch of the instructions.

In the second branch, you do as much as possible: You put a +1/+1 counter on the creature and, since you didn't reveal a card, can't choose to put the revealed card into your graveyard, so nothing happens on that instruction.

It would have been possible to word the second branch so that the creature gets a counter if and only if you actually put a card into the graveyard, i.e. the creature would not get a counter on exploring an empty library. In that case, it would get another instruction branch nestled into the second branch:

  Otherwise, you may put the revealed card into your graveyard. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

Because of the flexibility of the rules, it's impossible to give a general answer as to what happens when there are multiple instructions and some of them are impossible. It always depends on the wording of the card(s) involved.


What are the correct official abbreviations for Commander's Anthology & Arsenal?

The comment to your question is exactly right in that you're not going to get a more official set name than the official set name. I'd say it's not intentional that those sets have the same name, but that's hard to say for certain.

However, in order to differentiate between sets, even WotC will have to choose different set abbreviations internally, and looking through the Gatherer source code, specifically the set icon URL, you can find within the parameters that WotC has indeed chosen CM1 as the abbreviation.

In the interest of completeness, here's a table of all Commander-related sets to date, and their codes:

SET NAME                   ABBREVIATION     GATHERER ABBREVIATION (if different)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commander                  CMD
Commander's Arsenal        CMA              CM1
Commander 2013 Edition     C13
Commander 2014             C14
Commander 2015             C15
Commander 2016             C16
Commander Anthology        CMA

In other words, CM1 seems to be used by WotC at least internally, and either way it seems less ambiguous to rely on that as the abbreviation for Commander's Arsenal than CMA

The Gamepedia MTG Wiki, which list CM1 as the official abbreviation, also link to that URL as proof.

My guess is that they have always used CM1 as the abbreviation for Commander's Arsenal, and that it's simply a mistake in the blog post you linked. With little relevance to MTG in general (containing only reprints, and being relatively rare), I can see why it never got addressed or changed again.


The part of the "fizzling" rules that your question is about haven't changed recently. The rule quoted in the page you linked to, 608.2b, says in part

  If all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn't resolve.

In the example you gave, one of the targets is still legal, so the spell still resolves.

The part of the rule that changed recently is that it used to say that the spell would be "countered", but now it says that the spell "doesn't resolve".


Where can I find a good Joseki database?

Josekipedia

http://www.josekipedia.com/

This is a kind of wiki for joseki. This system has the big advantage of offering explanations, deviations from joseki and refutations,... But I don't know how complete or accurate it is.


Can I deal indefinite amounts of damage to an indestructible creature?

Yes, you can keep dealing an indestructible creature damage.

Magic doesn't have any concept of “health”, although digital games might misrepresent this by appearing to reduce the toughness of a creature that's been dealt damage (no such thing actually happens in the game rules). The only relevant factors are that creatures have toughness and can have damage marked on them, and while creatures normally die when the damage equals or exceeds the toughenss, that doesn't happen for indestructible creatures. Since the indestructible creature is still there it can and will be able to still keep taking damage from effects.

This behaviour is seen in combos such as a Stuffy Doll enchanted with Pariah: any damage dealt to you is instead dealt to Stuffy Doll which then deals an equal amount of damage to your opponent. Stuffy Doll could take dozens of points of damage, or frankly millions, even though its toughness is only 1.

Yes, you could make an Enrage creature indestructible, ping it indefinitely, and indefinitely trigger its Enrage ability.


Does showing my opponent I have an effective win condition qualify as improperly determining a winner?

The key phrase in that rule is in the first sentence:

  A player uses or offers to use a method that is not part of the current game (including actions not legal in the current game) to determine the outcome of a game or match.

Importantly, it is not a violation of this rule to take an action that is legal in the current game to determine a winner. For example, Magic Tournament Rule 3.12 says in part

  players may choose to reveal their hands or any other hidden information available to them, unless specifically prohibited by the rules.

So, it would be perfectly legal to determine a winner by having a player reveal a card from their hand.

Regarding the specific examples:

At that time, Alice is not legally allowed to search through her deck, so determining the winner that way would violate that rule.
The decklist slip is not part of the game, so using it to determine the winner that way also violates that rule.
Alice's statement that she cannot legally show a win condition is correct. Bob is allowed to choose to concede at any time. Alice is allowed to lie about the existence of a win condition, according to the commentary on Magic Tournament Rule 4.1:

  Private information is the catchall category for everything that is not free or derived information. For example, the contents of hidden zones (i.e., library and hand) and the identity of face-down cards in public zones are considered private information. Players are allowed to give their opponents false information about the contents of a hidden zone. ...

So, every part of this example is perfectly legal.


Will double strike still do anything if I Cloudshift my blocker?

If you cast Cloudshift during the Declare Blockers Step, specifically rule 509.5, than your creature will not suffer combat damage (506.4), but the Creature with Double Strike is still considered Blocked for the Combat Damage Step. It will assign no damage for either the first strike or normal combat damage portions.

  510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage.


Can I activate ninjutsu between first strike and normal damage steps

The comprehensive rules say about ninjutsu that, among other things,

  702.48c A ninjutsu ability may be activated only while a creature on the battlefield is unblocked
  (see rule 509.1h). The creature with ninjutsu is put onto the battlefield unblocked. It will be
  attacking the same player or planeswalker as the creature that was returned to its owner’s hand.

Since it's referencing 509.1h, which happens to be in the section on the declare blockers step, let's see what that rule says:

  509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a
  blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked
  creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that
  it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature
  remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

So yes, a creature which is attacking and unblocked stays that way until combat is over (which includes a step after all damage is dealt but before your second main phase), unless something happens to it. Note that it is only an unblocked creature once blockers have been declared. You can even ninjutsu out your ninja after regular combat damage has been dealt. Or, as you say you want to do, after your attacking, unblocked creature has dealt its first strike damage, but before regular combat damage is dealt, for an effective "double strike".

There is a funny subtlety here, though. If you, for some reason, have a ninjutsu creature with first strike on your hand, and there are no creatures with first strike in combat, and you want to ninjutsu out your creature so that no damage is dealt to the defending player neither by your attacking unblocked creature nor by your ninjutsu creature, then that cannot be done. That's because if there are no creatures with first strike or double strike in combat as the declare blockers step ends, then there is no first strike damage step. So either you ninjitsu out your creature after blockers are declared, and you get a first strike step, or you wait, which means the game goes straight to the regular damage step, where the unblocked attacking creature deals its damage.

And even if there is a creature with first strike in combat (say one of your other creatures that got blocked), so you do get a first strike step, it wouldn't help, as who deals damage in the second damage step actually doesn't really care whether creatures have first strike. In that step, damage is dealt by creatures that have double strike, as well as creatures that didn't deal damage in the previous step. So if you ninjutsu after first strike damage is dealt, then your ninjutsu creature with first strike deals regular combat damage.

There are more important applications of this subtlety, though, and what I suspect is the reason behind why the regular damage step doesn't care about first strike directly: giving first strike to an opponent's creature with the right timing doesn't prevent it from dealing its combat damage. Similarly, there are a few instances where a creature could lose first strike. But no matter how you try to time it,  that would not give it an opportunity to double strike.

Back to your situation, it would also mean you would get to deal damage with both creatures even if the ninjutsu creature had first strike. I can't find any such creatures in Gatherer, but an effect like "creatures you control have first strike", of which there are several, would actually make this situation happen.


Settlers of Catan 15th Anniversary Edition?

I held this in my hands last week.  (Closed box)

All wood, large painted set
It is not 3D, but the tiles looked quite thick (nearly domino sized)
English version
Retailed for $150 I believe
Has the 5-6 player expansion in it as well

Here is the page at Mayfair.


The key is that killing the black stones doesn't give White an eye.  After White captures the two stones, Black will throw in at the same place he played in #3.  White can capture that stone too, but later in the game the stone above the capture will be placed in atari, and White will have to fill in the "eye" on the right.  Because that can happen, it is a false eye, and the White group is dead.


How to build MtG duel decks out of a set of older cards?

It appears that what you have is actually two 60 card decks already, plus a few extra cards.

Make a Blue deck and a Black/Red deck with 24 lands and 36 spells in each using your existing cards. In the B/R deck make sure to split your colors in the same ratio as your lands are divided. In both decks try to have at least 2/3 of your spells be creatures.
I didn't take a close look at your cards to see if there are any synergies or obviously good/bad cards.

Following the above guidelines should get you to a good starting point for the decks. Play them a 5-10 times and then consider if there were any cards that were either far too good (you always win when you resolve it), too bad (you never wanted to cast it), or unfun (maybe Capsize later in the game). Take those cards out and replace them with ones that are more interesting.

After you've done that for a few play sessions then you might consider actually buying cards, either by increasing the count of the cards you like best to 4 (the limit), or by finding a theme or strategy that you like and moving the deck in that direction by cutting cards that don't fit and adding some that do. Searching the internet for "mtg {cardname} combo" or "mtg {cardname} deck" will often yield results that will give you some specific cards to look at. It appears to me that perhaps you are asking how to do this step, and really the answer is that you have to play the decks to find out what you like or don't like about them- there are thousands of cards that could be added to each deck, and each one will take it in a different direction. The one person who is qualified to determine what you like or don't about your decks is you.

Once you have selected some cards that you'd like to buy, you can find them lots of places online simply by searching for "buy mtg {cardname}". Do compare prices of the cards and shipping- online stores often have wildly different prices. Retalier aggregators like TCGPlayer can be useful in this regard.


How can I arrange a Christmas gift exchange for board game geeks?

If there's one wrapped gift per person, you could do it as a white elephant exchange with pick position determined by a game of Settlers.  Or Dominion, or Agricola, or anything else that produces a score that can be used to determine not just who won but 2nd place, 3rd place, etc.

Whoever got the low score opens a present.  It's theirs!  For now.

Now, everybody takes turns choosing a present, starting with the second-lowest scorer and working up to the winner.  When it's your turn to choose, you may either open a new present, or steal an opened present.  If your present gets stolen, you're presented with the same choice; steal somebody else's, or open a new one.  (A given present may only be stolen once per round.)  The round lasts until somebody finally grabs a previously unopened present.

Thus, whoever goes last gets the choice between the best of the N-1 known quantities, or take a chance on the Mystery Box Of Mystery.

I do this with both friends and family every Christmas, with the order being determined by random draw rather than a game.  Makes for a good time.


What are the limitations on pillaging and battling a region?

The rules for Blood Rage describe the phases of play, in particular with page 17:

  To Pillage, choose a province that has at least one of your figures in it (or in a supporting fjord) and has not yet been successfully pillaged this phase (its Pillage token is showing the reward side up).

Ipso facto, each province may be pillaged repeatedly until a pillage is successful, and then it cannot be pillaged again.


The idea is, that you move clockwise (the normal direction) on the board until you reach your destination. If you passed Go, you collect the $200. If you did not pass Go, you did not collect $200.

In your case:

You are on Mayfair, rolled 8 and land on Chance. You passed Go, so you collect $200. Next the card sends you to Pall Mall. In this case, you did not pass Go, so you did not collect (another) $200.

And of course, you need to stop when you reach the destination for the first time (you can not go around the board several times to collect several times $200 ;-) ).


This isn't a good idea for several reasons. I'll focus on the main one:
Burn decks don't want to play a grindy game where card advantage is paramount. Burn decks want to end the game as soon as possible with some haste creatures followed by burn spells. Playing a long game where drawing multiple cards actually becomes significant is not the plan. Sure it could happen, but if it does, it means something has gone wrong (in this case, opponent playing lifegain cards such as Feed the Clan).
This primer for Burn puts it very well:

Burn is one third of the premier trinity of aggro decks in Modern, alongside Affinity and Infect. Of the three, Burn is the slowest, but also the most difficult to interact with. It’s also scarily consistent, with virtually every card in the deck being interchangeable. This consistency aids it in mulligans, and also topdeck wars, where any non-creature spell will often be lethal. Barring extreme mana flood or screw, the typical Burn hand will kill on turn four or five.
It’s common to see only 8-12 creatures in Burn lists. Because every card must aid directly in the count to twenty, creatures have to meet very specific requirements for inclusion. Preference is placed on cheap mana costs, haste, and incidental damage generated outside the combat step. The gold-standard creatures—Goblin Guide, Monastery Swiftspear, and Eidolon of Rhetoric —each represent damage or virtual damage the turn they come down. These are used to soften up the opponent’s life total, priming them to die to burn spells on subsequent turns after the board has been stabilized.

("Eidolon of Rhetoric" above should be "Eidolon of the Great Revel".)
When you add Dark Confidant to your deck, you weaken two of the key strengths of Burn given above:

You are no longer as consistent. Your cards are no longer interchangeable. Usually it doesn't matter if you draw Goblin Guide or Monastery Swiftspear in your opening hand, but if you draw Dark Confidant, because the role is different, it will matter.
You are adding a creature to your deck that doesn't do damage to the opponent. If you play Dark Confidant and they Fatal Push it, you don't do damage. With any of the other three creatures, you do damage anyway (assuming opponent wasn't holding up mana). This means you are easier to interact with.

This neglects the fact that Dark Confidant mandates adding a color to a deck that's going to be primarily red. I know you're running four colors, but that's only going to make things worse (as you can see from the primer, the most common burn decks are 2 colors, red + white).
Another way to think about this is to calculate how much damage each card you play inflicts. For example if Monastery Swiftspear connects on turn 1, and then connects again on turn 2 with two prowess triggers, it's contributing 4 damage. That's substantial and better than Lightning Bolt. On the other hand with Dark Confidant, if it dies immediately it does 0 damage. If it manages to connect it does 2 (not trivial, it's a 2/1), and every time it draws you a card it does maybe 2 damage (since most burn spells are worth 3, but you might not draw one). Average that over all your games and you should find that it does a lot less damage than Eidolon in general, which is practically guaranteed to do at least 2 damage.
It's certainly possible you'll get games where the opponent stabilizes at 10 life and you're unable to finish them off, but you sign up for those games when you choose to play Burn. They represent your deck's fail case after all (or the opposing deck's best case). Consider: if you never get these games you'd also be winning most of your games, which makes your deck overpowered and bannable.
What about Feed the Clan and Tarmogoyf? Feed the Clan is a card people put into their decks specifically to counter you, so you must expect it to do something. The upside is that it's poor against the rest of the format, so most opponents are not going to have 4 copies in their sideboard. Fortunately as well, you do have some tools: Atarka's Command and especially Skullcrack are the main ways Burn decks beat lifegain.


What if every suit were trump, and partners hated each other?

The play would be a lot less strategic than at Spades, because it won't be possible to draw trump, and it certainly won't be possible to draw trump and then run a side suit.  This is one major consideration of play that would be lost.

Indeed, you would never lead your trump suit unless forced to, because that burns your trump but not other players' trump.

I'm also afraid that the game would never end if no one wanted to lose.  If a player is close to winning, it's quite easy to make sure that they end up in a 13 contract - when the player is 3rd or 4th to bid, the first two players bid 1 in the same color; when the player is 1st or 2nd to bid, some sacrificial lamb bids 13 in the other suit of their color.


Why does a blocking 1/1 creature with double strike kill a 3/2 creature?

Here's how the combat actually goes:

First strike damage: Attacker marks one damage (they are still 3/2, but with 1 damage marked), Blocker is at 1/1 with no damage marked.
Normal strike damage: The two creatures exchange damage simultaneously. The attacker marks another damage (still at 3/2 but with two damage), and the Blocker is a 1/1, but with 3 damage marked.
State-based actions are checked. Both attacker and blocker have at least as much damage marked than they have toughness, so both die.

(Technically state-based actions are checked after first strike damage, because they are checked when player priority changes, but there are no actions to check.)
Really, the only difference is that the damage doesn't take effect immediately, so read up on state-based actions to learn more.


Can I survive every enchantment, creature, and artifact in the game entering the battlefield at the same time?

The key here is that Lich's ability is an "enters the battlefield" replacement effect. It modifies your life total before anything is actually on the battlefield. Then you lose the game the next time state-based actions are checked after everything enters the battlefield. Trying to do anything after that point won't save you. This is covered by rule 614.1d and 614.12:

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

614.12. Some replacement effects modify how a permanent enters the battlefield. (See rules 614.1c–d.) Such effects may come from the permanent itself if they affect only that permanent (as opposed to a general subset of permanents that includes it). They may also come from other sources. To determine which replacement effects apply and how they apply, check the characteristics of the permanent as it would exist on the battlefield, taking into account replacement effects that have already modified how it enters the battlefield (see rule 616.1), continuous effects from the permanent’s own static abilities that would apply to it once it’s on the battlefield, and continuous effects that already exist and would apply to the permanent.

Because none of the effects created by the other enchantments already exist while they are entering the battlefield, none of them can modify or stop this ability on Lich.
Looking at the specific options:

Curse of Death's Hold will kill all of your permanents because Opalescence only affects non-Aura Enchantments. But this won't help because all of those permanents will die as state-based actions are checked, at the same time you lose.

Phyrexian Unlife, Transcendence, and Lich's Mastery will all be affected by the Opalescence/Humility combo mentioned in the quoted section, so they will not have any of the abilities that would keep you from losing.

Using Gideon to save yourself would work here, but it requires modifying the initial problem. I would argue it's not a valid solution to the question posed in that article. Gideon will be affected by Opalescence/Humility, but I can't think of any enchantment that would remove its Planeswalker type, so it will still be Gideon and the emblem's ability will still save you.

Kiora would be another modification to the initial problem, and it won't help you anyway. If the plan is to activate Kiora's ability after everything enters, you would already be dead and it wouldn't have any abilities anyway. If the plan is to instead activate the ability before everything enters, then after everything enters the emblem's triggered ability wouldn't even have a chance to be put on the stack before you lose.

There are two problems with Imprisoned in the Moon here. First, an Aura cannot enter the battlefield attached to a permanent that's also entering the battlefield at the same time. So you can't even attach it to any of the enchantments when it enters. Second, even if you could attach it to Lich, that would only happen after you lose all of your life. It is already too late to save you at that point.
If you could attach Imprisoned in the Moon to one of these enchanments, then attaching it to either Opalescence or Humility would save you here. Breaking that combo would allow all of your other enchantments to retain their abilities, including the ones that stop you from losing the game.

Like the other enchantments in point 2, Illusions of Grandeur will be affected by the Opalescence/Humility combo, so it won't do anything either.


What is the 'duration' of Charmed Sleep?

It lasts permanently (as long as it's enchanting the creature). It simply states something which is true, so it will apply to all untap steps (of the creature's controller), not just the following one.


Is there a good casual online place to practice/learn bridge?

If you are looking for free online site, I would strongly recommend BridgeBase Online, or BBO for short.

You can create an account by just specifying a username and password and either login using the web browser or using their downloadable windows version of the software.

BBO has a lot of features, like partnership bidding rooms, GIB robots (which you have to pay a minimal fee, if you want to use them), tons of free tournaments. They also have two 'clubs', the Main Bridge Club and Relaxed Bridge Club, where you can play casual games (the Relaxed Club being more casual). Anytime I have logged on, there were at least 3000 players online!

There is also the added bonus that a lot of great players play there (look for some of the 'stars') and they have an excellent broadcast line up of high level bridge tournaments, with commentators giving insights, etc.

They also have a supporting forum where a lot of good players visit and you can discuss bridge/the BBO software/ or even Global Warming!


What happens to enchantments that are attached to creatures when the creatures are returned to your hand?

They go to the graveyard, just as they do if the creature leaves play in any other way. From the basic rulebook:

  Some enchantments are Auras. An Aura enters the battlefield attached to a permanent and affects that permanent while it’s on the battlefield. If the enchanted permanent leaves the battlefield, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

So: creature goes away, aura dies, nice and simple, whether the creature was destroyed, exiled, bounced back to its owner's hand, or stuck back in its owner's library.

Or if you prefer the detail of the comprehensive rules:

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

The main exception is that if the enchantment happens to be an enchantment creature with bestow (for example, if you've attached a Baleful Eidolon to your creature), it instead stops being an Aura and becomes a creature.


No, there is no such replacement for Painter's Servant.

There are some permanent cards that change the colors of all creatures, such as Shifting Sky or Darkest Hour, but none of them add colors to creatures, they all replace them with a single color.

With Sleight of Mind or similar cards you could replace all of occurences of "black" on Teysa with "white" or vice versa. That would allow that specific Teysa to do the combo with any 3 white (or black) creatures. However, with all such cards being blue, they would be outside of your commander's color identity and thus not legal for a Commander deck.

For future reference, under http://gatherer.wizards.com you will find the Oracle database, the official and searchable MtG card database.


Order of enter the battlefield effects in multiplayer (Warp World)

During Warp World's resolution, you have to put enchantment creatures on the battlefield as creatures. However, during Warp World's resolution, no triggered abilities enter the stack either, so for Murderous Redcap's ability, this specific order doesn't matter. Ultimately, you can't prevent Grenzo from fetching the Faithless Looting.

Warp World gives clear instructions on the order in which to place permanent cards on the battlefield: you put all artifact, creature, and land cards down in any order, then enchantments (so that auras have something to attach to), and the rest to the bottom of the library. Enchantment creatures are creatures, so you put them down together with the other non-enchantments.

During the resolution, ETB effects trigger as normal. However, they do not enter the stack yet, so you don't to choose any targets yet:

  117.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn’t yet been put on the stack is put on the stack.

Therefore, by the time you have to choose a target for Murderous Redcap, all permanents will be on the battlefield to choose a target from, so it would not matter whether you put down enchantment creatures as creatures or enchantments. Consequently, it also does not matter whether, in the non-enchantment part of WW, you put down the Redcap or the Grenzo first.

When the Warp World has finished resolving, the order of triggered abilities is determined by priority: The player with priority orders their abilities first, then all other players in turn order.

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

That means that only when Warp World has finished resolving will the abilities go on the stack, and player 1 has an opportunity to activate Grenzo before Redcap's ability resolves. You have no way of preventing that in your scenario.


Note, the agreed meanings of bids must be agreed in advance, they may not be changed on the fly. In serious duplicate play, players have a written description of their agreements available to the opponents.

This changes it from an exercise in cryptography to a problem of card play and deduction. The idea is that a players opponents will have as much knowledge about what his bids and plays mean as his partner does. They are not entitled to know what the player holds or intends, merely what his agreements are.  It is also put that one may make a bid or play not according to the agreements, provided that one's partner is as surprised as ones opponents.

You may not instruct partner during the play what response is wanted for what holding -- this must be pre-arranged, and a system in which 2D showed the Ace of clubs in response to a 2C bid would fail on far too many hands.

Secret agreements provide a too-easy means to cheat, by conveying more information than open agreements allow, particularly by combining with hand-signals, body language, tone of voice, and the like. (those are still used by dishonest players, but less easily.)

It is true that ate the very top levels of play, screens prevent some of this kind of illicit information exchange, but there is a good deal of 'serious' play below the level where screens are normally used, and the standards for bridge play were set long before screens were in common use. And if bidding systems were secret, and subject to change on the fly, there could still be information exchange of a kind which many think would harm the game. Besides, a significant part of the game, especially at high levels, is the attempt to determine from the overall auction what each player holds. it can never be totally accurate, but a good player can get surprisingly close. Allowing secret unexplained bidding systems would destroy this aspect of the game. And allowing this only in top-level bridge  would make that a very different game.

The question says:

  For example, if meanings were secret, then they can be pre-arranged by partners and later used to deceive their opponents.

They may not be secret or used to deceive, but they are indeed prearranged. A high-level pair may spend hundreds or thousands of hours deciding on just what the meaning for each possible bidding sequence should be, and how the various possibility interact to give the best results in play. A pair with superior bidding tools may have a very large advantage over a pair with inferior tools. A sound bidding system allows a pair to reach the best contract more often, to make it harder for their opponents to reach their best contract, and to exchange information which can significantly aid in defense if the opponents win the contract.


Can I summon Blue Eyes Chaos MAX from my deck?

No you can't.
This simply isn't how ritual summons work. Unless any card states otherwise (e.g. the nekroz ritual spells) you must tribute monsters from your hand or field to summon a ritual monster from your hand.

In general you cannot interact with cards in your main deck, unless another cards specifically states otherwise.


The rules are clear.

  Whenever you enter a Crystal Cave room, you become exhausted while wandering its maze-like passages and cannot use any more Boots this turn. You may still be able to move by Teleporting (described in Advanced Maneuvers), but you won’t be able to use Boots until your next turn.

(Emphasis mine)

A Crystal Cave doesn't cause you to lose unused boots; it prevents you from using any for the remainder of the turn. That means all boots on cards and Secrets played during the remainder of the turn are ignored, and so are boot gained on acquiring cards from the Dungeon Deck. You simply can't use them.


In Sorry, can I be forced to move out of my "safe zone"?

Yes. From a PDF version of the rules, you are required to move if a legal move is available:

  ... if at any time you can move, you must move, even if it's to your disadvantage.

and from the description of the Safety Zone, moving backward out of the zone is legal:

  ... however, a pawn may move backward out of its SAFETY ZONE and on subsequent turns move back into the ZONE as cards permit.

Note that trading places on an 11 is an exception to this - you may decline to switch places with another pawn if you like - but yes, in your situation, you must move a pawn out of your safety zone.


From a strict reading of the rules, I would say no. Presumably, the dolls still do damage to you until they are destroyed. It wouldn't make much sense if you could remove them from their precarious positions and still take damage.

Then you must find the dolls in the room and destroy them.
Once you find a doll, you can automatically destroy it if it corresponds to you. You can find the location of any doll, but you can only safely destroy your own doll.


What are the characteristics of a flip card in my library?

In your library, a flip card has only the characteristics of the top half of the card. You cannot use Enlightened Tutor to find Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant, because

  In every zone other than the battlefield, and also on the battlefield before the permanent flips, a flip card has only the normal characteristics of the card. (CR 709.2, emphasis added)

(From 709.1a and 1b, the top half defines the "normal characteristics", and the bottom half defines the "alternative characteristics".)

Basically, until it's actually flipped, the card/spell acts as if the flip version wasn't printed on it, so neither the tutor nor the enchantress will ever do anything with it (since it's not an enchantment either when you cast it).


Is there any configuration of Free Cell that cannot be solved?

It's not hard to prove that an unsolvable start exists. Just imagine a start where the only possible first moves would be moving cards to the extra cells. In some versions, -1 and -2 are examples of this though the only way to play them is to choose that seed.

If you only count setups which can exist in normal play, seed 11982 in the Windows version is an example of this:

Of the original 32000 games in Freecell, 11982 is the only one for which no legitimate solution was found. Since then, several computers and players have failed to find a solution- to the point where every possible combination of moves has been tried and has failed.


Tl;dr: No, bid 1♠.

There are many different sets of bidding conventions in bridge. In the one I learned (some further information here: http://www.rpbridge.net/3j00.htm), 4♠ is a preemptive bid that signals a very long spade suit (which you have) and several points below the regular opening strength of 12 high card points. Your hand is too strong for that (even if you play where the unprotected Qs aren't worth points), so you should bid 1♠ instead and then further tell your partner about your amazing spade suit by rebidding it at your next opportunity, probably jumping a level when you do so (e.g. 1♠ - 2♣ - 3♠).

While other conventions may differ somewhat, it is unlikely that any will tell you to open 4♠ with that hand. This is because, although your hand is quite likely to make 4♠, if your partner has any strength you might be able to make a slam instead, but if you start the bidding high then there's very little bidding space for you and your partner to figure that out.


Activating an ability that affects blocking after Declare Blockers step

Your friend is wrong.  His creatures are blocked.

Blocking goes through a series of steps outlined in rule 509.  The first step is declaring blockers (509.1).  To sum up, you declare which creatures are blocking, what they are blocking, check any restrictions and pay any costs.  At the end of all that we get to 509.1h:

  509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures
  declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This
  remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect
  says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends,
  whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the
  creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

That's it.  Your opponents creatures are blocked.  The only chance he has to activate abilities or cast spells are once he receives priority which comes much later (outlined in 509.4).  Once 509.1h happens, restrictions (like menace or flying or whatnot) are never checked again.  And since nothing in Swarm Guildmage's effect instructs you to make a creature unblocked, those creatures are still considered blocked.

If your opponent wanted to use Swarm Guildmage's ability to give his creatures menace and have that effect blocker legality, the last chance he has to do so is after attackers are declared and each player gets priority but before the declare blockers step starts.


Does "an attacking creature" count as "a creature that attacked"?

The Hypersonic Dragon will be untapped.
It is well established that to attack is to declare as an attacker, so a creature that attacked is one that has been declared as an attacker earlier in the current turn.

508.2. Second, any abilities that triggered on attackers being declared go on the stack. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)
508.2a Abilities that trigger on a creature attacking trigger only at the point the creature is declared as an attacker. They will not trigger if a creature attacks and then that creature’s characteristics change to match the ability’s trigger condition

The rule and ruling for "put on the battlefield attacking" further supports this:

508.4. If a creature is put onto the battlefield attacking, [...]. Such creatures are “attacking” but, for the purposes of trigger events and effects, they never “attacked.”
2011-9-22 Although the token is attacking, it was never declared as an attacking creature (for purposes of abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks, for example).


You can only buy the amount that they have.  Here are the relevant rules:

The resources of a city are produced by its Wonder board, its brown cards, its gray cards, and some yellow cards.  To build a structure, a player’s city must produce the resources indicated on its card.  Example: Giza produces 2 Stones, 1 Clay, 1 Ore, 1 Papyrus and 1 Textile.
Often,  a  player  will  want  to  build  a  structure  requiring  resources  he  or  she does not produce.If these resources are produced by a neighboring city – players sitting directly to the left or right of that player – the player will be able to purchase the missing resource(s) through commerce.

You are buying resources that they produce and the rules for production indicate that each symbol only produces one resource.
Note that you buying these resources does not prevent the owner or the person to the other side of the owner from using it.  The rule is a little weird, but each player can use each produced resource once:

Selling a resource to a neighboring city DOES NOT prevent a player from using it, during the same turn, for his own construction purposes.


Stone age expansion How trading works question

According to the rules: http://www.zmangames.com/uploads/4/7/1/7/47170931/en-stone-age-ext_rules.pdf

  A player may:

  Trade only once his marker has moved off of space 0 of the    merchant track.
  Only trade in order to acquire a Civilization card or Building    tile.
  Trade the resources and jewelry of their choice.
  Improve his trading ability by advancing on the merchant track,    allowing for  2 to 1 ,  1 to 1 , and even  1 to 2  trades.
  Trade    even if he did not place two figures at the merchant this round.
  Important: A player may only trade once per round.

So you can only make one trade per round


What happens if The Grand Calcutron leaves the battlefield after players hand cards have already become programs?

Mark Rosewater, the Un-set rules manager, has answered this question directly:

What happens to a program without the Grand Calcutron? Does it returns to hand? Can I play cards from it? Do I still need to follow the order?
If The Grand Calcutron every leaves play, the cards in the program return to your hand.


Teysa, Orzhov Scion sacrificing one creature multiple times to exhile

The cost must be payed all at once.

The triggered ability that provides the Spirit token would not be placed on the stack, much less resolve, before you finish activating the ability. This happens the next time a player would get priority.

As such, you will not have a Spirit token to sacrifice before you finish activating the ability, which means you won't have a Spirit token to sacrifice to activate the ability, which means you are unable to activate the ability.


It looks like a flower loom for knitting/crocheting, not a game at all.

See for example  from https://www.prym.com/en/flower-loom-624156?c=5726


Leonin of the Lost Pride and undying creature

Your opponent can control what happens, i.e. whether or not you can exile his undying creature before he can return it.
When the undying creature dies, both Dictate of Erebos and Undying trigger at the same time. Since your opponent controls both abilities, he can choose the order in which they go on the stack. Your Leonin is still alive at this point, since it only dies when Dictate actually resolves.

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

If your opponent puts the Undying trigger on the stack first, and the Dictate trigger second, i.e. on top, the Dictate trigger resolves first. You sacrifice the Leonin, which triggers its own death trigger, which becomes the topmost object on the stack. You can choose to target the undying creature in the graveyard and exile it. Finally the Undying trigger resolves, but the undying creature card is no longer in the graveyard and nothing happens.
If your opponent puts the Dictate trigger first, and the Undying trigger on top, the undying trigger resolves first and that creature will return. Then the Dictate resolves, you have to sacrifice a creature. If you sacrifice the Leonin, its ability will trigger, but you can no longer exile the Undying creature because it already returned to the battlefield.


May I use "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring" to negate the effects of cards that send from deck to grave, but not in the specific scenario?

You will be able to chain Ash Blossom to the activation of Shaddoll Fusion.

Ash Blossom reads:

  When a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate that effect.

Because Shaddoll Fusion includes the effect to send cards to the graveyard it counts towards being Ash'd. It doesn't matter if you actually have a special summoned monster on your field, simply having that effect in its effect text makes it viable.

Source: https://www.db.yugioh-card.com/yugiohdb/faq_search.action?ope=5&fid=20586&request_locale=ja


Can you prep a spell outside your main phase in Aeon's End?

Focusing a breach and prepping a spell to a breach are separate actions.

Rules p. 3:

  "The only time that spells can be prepped to a closed breach is during the player's turn in which that breach was focused."

So when an ally focuses your breach, that doesn't help your prepping, because the focus didn't happen on your turn. (But it does make future opening cheaper. And it did happen on their turn, so if they had the ability to prep a spell to your breach that could work.)

When a spell you cast focuses your breach, that did happen on your turn, so you can prep a spell to it that turn (in the main phase) without focusing it again.


Do cards acquired with The Amazing Spider-Man count as extra draws?

Unfortunately no, putting cards in your hand is distinctly different to drawing cards. Wolverine's Berserker Rage only counts for cards gained through an ability that says to "draw a card", or "draw that card", or "draw X cards" etc.

Devin Low (designer of the game) clarified this point in this question on boardgamegeek.


The rulebook only ever mentions being able to give a Treasure card as your action, so no you cannot use an action to take them from another player, you must wait until their turn to receive the card.

Also note that under the Give a Treasure Card action description on page 5, you cannot give special action cards (Helicopter Lift and Sandbags) to another player, you can only give the cards that match the four treasures in the game.