Here is how it goes down:

Your opponent casts Duplicant, putting it on the stack. You both let it resolve(*), so it enters the battlefield. The Duplicant's ability triggers, and is put on stack, targeting the Butcher.

Before the ability resolves, you sacrifice the Tribe Elder and put its ability on the stack. The Butcher triggers, and its ability is put on stack. The stack now looks like this, from top to bottom:

Butcher's ability
Tribe Elder's ability
Duplicant's ability

Assuming no more interference, the Butcher's ability will pop off the stack first, requiring your opponent to sacrifice a creature (which has to be the Duplicant). Then you get to search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. Then the Butcher is exiled from the Duplicant's ability (which is unaffected by the Duplicant's fate).

(*) Say you sacrifice the Tribe Elder while the Duplicant is on the stack instead of letting it enter the battlefield first. Then after the Butcher's ability has triggered and been put on the stack, the stack looks like this:

Butcher's ability
Tribe Elder's ability
Duplicant

As before, first the Butcher's ability triggers. Since your opponent controls no  creatures, nothing happens. Then you get to search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped.

Then the Duplicant enters the battlefield, and its ability triggers. Your opponent targets the Butcher, and assuming no other interference, the Duplicant's ability triggers, exiling the Butcher and making the Duplicant a 5/4 Artifact Creature - Vampire Warrior Shapeshifter.


Is there a mechanism to bring Mordheim characters into Fantasy?

There is no official method of doing this.

However at out local club we do things like this all the time as we often play casual games for fun.

I would advise looking for the lord/hero with the closest stat line and use his base points, make sure you don't have any lower stats that the codex character though.
Use his equipment list for any items you have and for any items that character cant take but you have look to other entries starting with those closed the the characters you used as your base point. if you have a hero look at the other heroes but if you used a lord choice look at the other lords before the heroes.

Make sure you agree this with your opponent first, it would work best if both of you are trying to do this. And remember this type of thing is just for fun, don't expect it to be balanced or even competitive.


East reneged (played an out-of-suit card when they had a card of the correct suit), but fixed the error before the next trick; since they're the defender, two things happen:

East's small spade is left face up on the table in front of East. It's a "major penalty" card, and must be played by East as soon as it is legal to do so, on some future trick. (Furthermore, if that card is still face up when West leads, you get to pick whether West must lead spades for that trick, or must not lead spades until he loses the lead.)
You can change the card you played, so that you played the king of clubs and took the trick.

If the declarer made an error (you as South, or you playing the dummy North hand), then you get to fix the error, and everyone playing after the corrected player may also change their play. Declarers don't get penalty cards.

Short Answer: you get a chance to take the trick, and there are additional penalties for East playing incorrectly.

If it's an informal game, then maybe you don't worry about the penalty card (how friendly is your game?), but you definitely get to change your play.


Does "tournament experience" show "too many players" in a game of monopoly?

Board Game Geek has some session reports for Monopoly.

The main problem with having more players is that starting order becomes increasingly important as you add more players. If you're going 6th, 7th or 8th then your chances of landing on an unowned property are very low. You're pretty much screwed from the start.


Can I cast a Slaughter Pact on a Spellskite after I played Lightning Storm and I already discarded some lands?

Given the situation you described (2 Slaughter Pacts and 15 lands in hand, and a Lightning Storm on the stack), you can definitely win.

I assume that you started by targeting your opponent with Lightning Storm. Then you still have priority, so you cast Slaughter Pact targeting the Spellskite. You also discard 7 lands to Lightning Storm's ability (failing to choose new targets) so that it has 14 charge counters and still targets your opponent.

Your opponent gets priority after each of those abilities goes on the stack, so they can activate either Spellskite's or Lightning Storm's ability to redirect Lightning Storm, but each of your activations redirects it back to targeting them, so that doesn't matter. After you have resolved the ability 7 times, pass priority with only Lightning Storm and Slaughter Pact on the stack. Your opponent should then activate Spellskite's ability once to change Lightning Storm's target to Spellskite.

After that ability resolves and your opponent passes priority, you should pass priority and allow Slaughter Pact to resolve, then activate Lightning Storm's ability once to redirect it to target your opponent. Your opponent should then activate the ability using the one land card in their hand to redirect it back to you. You can then use one of your remaining lands to activate Lightning Storm's ability one final time.

At this point in the game, your opponent has no non-land permanents, no mana, and no cards in hand. You have 1 Slaughter Pact and 6 lands in hand. The stack has a single Lightning Storm with 20 charge counters on it targeting your opponent. Once you both pass priority, Lightning Storm resolves and deals 23 damage to your opponent, who then loses the game.


The monsters combine their strengths: you don't fight them one at a time.

This was confirmed by the "Munchkin Czar" at the Steve Jackson Games Forums, and who would dare to argue with a Munchkin Czar?  (You may find extra clarification of how multi-monster fighting works by reading through the thread, if you're still at all confused.)


Since Living Card Game is a trademark of Fantasy Flight Games, you should just be able to check their product page and find out.
You are missing:

Android: Netrunner the Card Game
Star Wars: The Card Game

If you are asking if there are any expandable card games, where there isn't any randomness in the cards you get with each expansion (I.E. This is unlike Magic: the Gathering's Trading/Collectible Card game model, with booster packs that are random so you have no idea what you are getting), then it would be difficult to track. There have been other games using the LCG model, but cannot use the term for Trademark infringement reasons.

Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games
Killer Bunnies by Playroom Entertainment


7 wonders Alexandria side A special ability

I assume you inquire about stage #2 of side A. According to the Rules, p. 8:

  the player gains a resource of their choice from the 4 Raw material types
  [Stone, Clay, Wood, Ore] every turn.
  Clarification : this resource cannot be sold through commerce.

In other words, each turn you have a wild, exclusive raw material at your disposal, for free, just like if you had bought the Caravansary Age II yellow card. Other players may not buy this resource.


Do Dunwich monsters get removed from gate closings?

Yes, monsters on the Dunwich board would also be removed.
From the Arkham Horror Rules (page 18):

Monsters and Closing Gates
When a gate is closed, all monsters in Arkham, the Sky,
and the Outskirts that have the same dimension symbol
(see “Monster Movement,” page 10) as the closed or
sealed gate are removed from the board and returned to
the cup.

and from the Dunwich Horror Rules (page 5):

The Phrase “in Arkham” on Cards
Cards that refer to “Arkham” also apply to locations and
areas in Dunwich.

Thus all monsters on the Dunwich board are also considered to be "in Arkham", and would be removed.


Can the climber jetpack to a buried tile?

I would say no.  Other cases where players special abilities combine (Navigator and Climber) or where a player's special ability combines with equipment (Explorer and Dune Blaster) are explicitly mentioned.  The Climber says they can move to blocked spaces, not that they treat blocked spaces as unblocked. So I don't see anything that suggests you would be able to modify the jet pack's explicit statement that you can only move to unblocked tiles.


What types go well together in a Pokémon deck?

Check out the World Champion Decks to see which type synergies the top-ranked players are using

World Champion Decks have been released since 2004 and contain non-tournament-legal cards matching the decks of several high-ranking players in the Pokémon World Championships.

Regarding Water types specifically, the only Water decks released between 2004 and 2017 were:

Pure-Water decks (x7)
Water/Electric decks (x4)

Therefore, I think it's fair to say that Water and Electric go well together, possibly better than others.

Check out which type synergies are used in Theme Decks

You might also check out other Theme Decks that have been released to see other combinations that might go together. There isn't any guarantee that they'll be good, but presumably the deck synergies that are released will be functional, and types that work well together will probably get multiple releases.

For instance, there have been more Water/Electric and Water/Psychic decks released that Water/Fighting decks, and no Water/Darkness or Water/Fairy decks. Therefore, I'd infer that the former are probably more likely to go well together than the latter, since the Pokémon Company keeps producing decks with those synergies.


When playing the Rumble in the South variant, what adjustments should be made to the neutral forts?

I think they would be as they would for a 6 player game, as the south would have the same number of players in it. They serve a purpose to balance out things out, such as Storms End being very easy for Dorne to take, and so it would be the same in Rumble in the South


Can you cast Hangarback Walker for X=0 and have it survive with Hardened Scales?

No, and for a very straightforward reason: Hardened Scales requires that at least one counter be placed on the creature before it adds any additional counters:

The key text here is 'If one or more'.  You're trying to put zero counters on the Hangarback Walker, and so Hardened Scales never processes.


Can creatures with summoning sickness block?

Yes, you can block with a creature affected by summoning sickness.

This is the Comprehensive Rule about "summoning sickness"; I emphasized the relevant parts in your case:

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

As you can see, at no point the rule states that you cannot block with a creature affected by "summoning sickness".


You're right that the Action Phase is unique to the Brood Wars Expansion. A quick search of the phrase "Action Phase" in the digital version of both rule books only turned up results in the Brood Wars version.

Like you, I found a lot of people saying that the Action Phase was synonymous with the Execution Phase (example here). The most convincing piece of evidence is straight from the Fantasy Flight Games forums. This question is answered by saying that the Action Phase is identical to the Execution Phase, but since it's on the game designer's website, I would imagine a moderator would have corrected it had it been wrong. It looks like questions are answered by people from FFG at least occasionally, so they are probably looking in on rules questions to make sure information was correct. Not the solid answer you were looking for, but I think it confirms the two are the same.


Does the Thief card work for a dwarf with broken equipment in Saboteur 2?

Yes,

There is no reason per the rules to suspect that Theft does not work for someone who is trapped.  As one exception for Theft is explicitly listed (Trapped!), someone would need to make a compelling argument as to why broken equipment should keep Theft from working.


In general, -1/-1 counters do not count as damage. However, in the case where an ability (such as Wither or Infect) says that damage is dealt in the form of -1/-1 counters, it does count as damage. When a creature with one of those abilities deals damage to another creature, it still counts as dealing damage to the other creature, but instead of marking damage, you put that many -1/-1 counters on the other creature.

This means that damage dealt by a creature with Wither or Infect would trigger Rite of Passage.


Every turn has a combat phase (unless some card like Fatespinner tells you to skip it). The game proceeds to the combat phase after you're done with the first main phase.

The combat phase consists of five steps:

Beginning of combat — this phase is mostly for abilities that trigger at the beginning of combat; in multiplayer, you also choose which players will be "defending," though you don't have to assign any attackers at this point (then priority passes between players)
Declare attackers — you choose attackers at the beginning of this phase (then priority passes between players)
Declare blockers — you choose blockers at the beginning of this phase (then priority passes between players)
Combat damage — damage is dealt at the beginning of this phase (then priority passes between players)
End of combat — this phase is for resolving "at end of combat" triggers (then priority passes between players, and we move on to the next phase)

You choose your attackers during the "declare attackers" step. If you select zero attackers, the game skips the "declare blockers" and "combat damage" steps.

So, you will always get a combat phase, even if you have creatures but choose not to attack, or have no creatures. Any combat in which you don't attack won't include the "declare blockers" or "combat damage" steps, though.


What happens if I exile The Grand Calcutron with Do-It-Yourself Seraph?

Players are initially unable to play cards.

The Seraph gains the following ability:

When The Grand Calcutron enters the battlefield, each player's hand becomes a program (an ordered row of revealed cards).

It will never trigger because Seraph is already on the battelfield when it gains the ability.

The Seraph gains the following ability:

Players can only play the first card of their program.

Players are unable to play cards (play lands or cast cards) except the first card of their program. Since nothing placed cards in their programs, they are initially unable to play cards.

The Seraph gains the following abilities:

If a card would be put into a player's hand from anywhere, that player reveals it and places it anywhere within his or her program instead.
At the beginning of each player's end step, if that player's program has fewer than five cards, he or she draws cards equal to the difference.

These provide means of adding cards to one's program, allowing the players to play cards again.
In particular, the cards in one's hand are not counted when counting the cards in one's program.


Checking target legality (esp for removal)

You can change the power of the creature targeted by Smite the Monstrous to make it an illegal target. However, a buff effect like Giant Growth won't help there because Smite the Monstrous targets a creature with "power 4 or greater"; if a creature is already a valid target when the spell was cast, increasing its power with Giant Growth won't change that. You would need to decrease its power to less than 4 to make the target illegal. Befuddle, for example, would do it if the creature starts out with power 7 or less.


Ticket to Ride United Kingdom Map Collection competing technology cards clarification

The rules for longest path say, "In the case of a tie for the longest
path, all tied players score the 10 point bonus."

So all players whom have the longest path or most tickets would qualify to score the bonus from the permits if they had them.


Is it legal to make trade deals before using a monopoly card?

This is a perfectly legal, and quite common tactic.

The Monopoly card has no play restrictions other than the typical "once per turn, not on the turn you got it" Dev card restrictions. It affects all resources of the named type in play, regardless of how long the other players have owned those resources.  Trading resources away and then Monopolizing them back is therefore perfectly legal because there is no rule against it.

There is a cost in player interaction, though

If the other players feel that you've taken advantage of them, they may stop trading with you.  Whether this cost is enough to make you skip this tactic depends on where you are in the game. Trading typically drops off near the end anyways, as it becomes obvious that trading with the lead player will help them win more than it will help you catch up.  Stealing their resources with bad faith trades merely runs the risk of cutting off your trades sooner rather than later.

Of course, if the other players really feel that this tactic is unsportsmanlike, they may stop playing Catan with you. Some players don't enjoy aggressive play styles, and playing aggressively is incompatible with playing with them.   This is going to vary depending on the social contact of each specific game group (some players will dramatically declare unending revenge if you pull this on them, but consider it part of the game and would happily do these same to you, while others are genuinely bothered by it) and is something you will have to judge for yourself.


How would first strike and deathtouch interact with multiple blockers in this scenario?

You would only be able to destroy two of the blocking creatures.  For deathtouch to have an effect, you must do damage to a creature. On the plus side, an attacker with deathtouch only needs to assign one damage to each blocker.  In your scenario, your creature is only a 2/2, and so even with a team of blockers, only two damage can be shared among them.
Based on your scenario's here is the change needed to leave your creature alive yet destroy all blocking or attacking creatures: your Entangler must be at least a 5/1.  I say a 5/1 because toughness can't be 0 and you must be able to deal at least 1 damage to all blocked or blocking creatures. Using a card such as Giant Growth would allow your creature to live assuming it has both first strike and death touch.  Without the first strike as long as you have 1 power for all attacking or blocking creatures you would be able to take them out as well.

702.2b Any nonzero amount of combat damage assigned to a creature by a source with deathtouch is considered to be lethal damage, regardless of that creature’s toughness. See rules 510.1c–d.
704.5h If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and it’s been dealt damage by a source with deathtouch since the last time state-based actions were checked, that creature is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.


What are good reasons to lead dummy's first bid suit?

A couple of reasons

You have a singleton in dummy's suit.
You hold, say K8, in dummy's suit, and want declarer to commit to
    finesse in that suit/some other line (i.e. refusing the finesse), on
    the opening lead. You do this by leading the deceptive 8 (feigning
    singleton 8 or 8x). This has actually happened, with success, on real play.

The reason of cutting off dummy's communication is good, but unlikely to come up on the opening lead. Leading dummy's suit can lose a much needed tempo, especially when you are not even sure if the suit is solid etc.

Breaking up a squeeze on the opening lead? Well, if you can do that knowingly, you should play bridge for money :-) I guess it is theoretically possible, though.


"Whenever you draw a card" trigger w/ an empty library

Psychosis crawler would not trigger.
This is, in part, because Psychosis Crawler has a triggered ability and Ormos, Archive Keeper's ability is a replacement effect, and one that prevents the default action of drawing a card from happening. Replacement effects like Ormos's are explained in the Comprehensive Rules:

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

Because Ormos is one of the replacement effects that completely replaces the original event, it never happens, and anything that was looking for that event doesn't trigger:

614.6 If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can’t be carried out, in which case the impossible instruction is simply ignored.

In addition to this, Psychosis Crawler isn't looking for an effect to tell you to draw a card, it's looking for the actual effect of drawing a card. If you had some effect that prevented a game loss for drawing from an empty library, like Platinum Angel you still have not drawn any cards, so the trigger conditions on Psychosis Crawler have not been met.
Think of it similarly to how Teferi's Ageless Insight interacts with Psychosis Crawler but in reverse. When you draw two cards you've still got a single event making you draw those cards, that event just had a replacement effect making you draw an additional card. Psychosis Crawler will trigger twice since two cards were drawn, if replacing 1 draw with 0 cards drawn still triggered Crawler once, replacing 1 card drawn with 2 would do the same.


You can bid whatever you like, as long as it is within convention agreed between you and your partner, and when the opposition ask your partner (not you) they can say what the bid means.

When you have a weak hand and a 7-long suit, bidding at the 3 level (i.e. jumping two bids) is called a pre-empt. The point of a pre-empt is to take away the bidding space your opponents would use to find their best contract; while making a bid that (if it becomes a doubled contract) you would not lose too many points over. ("Too many" being defined as more than your opponents would have got if you'd never bid and they'd made a contract themselves).

In the convention I play, 3c (i.e. jumping one club bid) would mean a strong hand. 4c would be a pre-empt (i.e. a weak hand). BUT in order to bid 4c over 1s you'd need a stronger hand than needed to bid 3c, as if the contract is doubled you're one trick further off the contract.

Without knowing how many picture cards you have (especially in clubs), I can't answer for certain, but I think your best bid would probably have been to pass.


How do you handle two epidemics in a row in pandemic?

You completely resolve one epidemic card and then the other. I don't have any concrete rule to back that up but consider what would happen if you drew the two cards separately:

In this case it would be obvious that you resolve each card.

And now consider if there should be a difference to what happens in the game depending on how you draw your cards...


Will Splinter Twin and Combat Celebrant provide an indeterminant number of combat phases?

Yes, you can have an infinite amount of combat phases with Combat Celebrant and Splinter Twin.

As long as you are exerting a new splinter twin copied Combat Celebrant each time, your enchanted Combat Celebrant will be untapped and able to create a new token. This is covered in the gatherer rulings on Combat Celebrant:

  If you exert multiple Combat Celebrants in one combat phase, you’ll have that many additional combat phases, but all of your creatures are untapped only during the current combat phase. You’ll need to exert the Combat Celebrants one at a time, in multiple combat phases, to untap your attacking creatures and attack with them in each combat step.


If you decide to play for "top or bottom" in duplicate, are you supposed to consult with partner?

It's neither - it's simply terrible bridge. Good bridge is to make those choices during the play instead of during the bidding, when one actually has enough information to make a sensible risk assessment.
Further, you are talking about a change in partnership bidding style - this is simply not allowed during a session, and the meaning of a call is not allowed to vary depending on which partner makes it:

from Law 40 A - Players' Systemic Agreements (my emphasis)
2 Information conveyed to partner through such understandings must arise from the calls, plays, and conditions of the current deal. Each player is entitled to take into account the legal auction and, subject to any exclusions in these Laws, the cards he has seen.
from Law 40 B - Special Partnership Understandings
1(b) Whether explicit or implicit, an agreement between partners is a partnership understanding. ....
2 (a)... the meaning of a call or play shall not alter by reference to the member of the partnership by whom it is made.

Remember, the opponents don't know whether you are having a good, bad, or indifferent game; but partner does. To make decisions based on that information, which partner is privy to but the opponents not, is blatantly violating the requirement that opponents have a right to full disclosure of your partnership agreements.
So, if one feels compelled to take a flyer late in a session, one should do it as Declarer when there is no issue of Partnership Agreement. Adopt a second best line of play and cross your fingers. Play for the finesse missing Qxxx, or the drop missing Qxxxx, and see if it works. If one wants to be an improving player, one has to play like one.


If I try to kill a face down creature, can my opponent save it by flipping it?

Yes morphing will save it because your opponent will get a chance to respond after you cast your spell and there is a ruling related to morphing the card that would apply here.

  Any time you have priority, you may turn the face-down creature face up by revealing what its morph cost is and paying that cost. This is a special action. It doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to. Only a face-down permanent can be turned face up this way; a face-down spell cannot.

So this would allow him to morph it and turn it into a 0/5 creature which would save it.


Glaring Spotlight anti-hexproof work on enchantments

Glaring Spotlight affects hexproof from all sources, regardless of their type or the timestamp order of their effects.

In many cases in Magic, when two continuous effects do opposite things, we must look at their "timestamps" to figure out the final result.

Glaring Spotlight, however, doesn't remove hexproof from anything; what it does do is change the rules for hexproof. This modification applies to all instances of hexproof on creatures your opponents control, including hexproof granted by enchantments and artifacts.

From the Oracle rulings for Glaring Spotlight:

  Creatures your opponents control don’t actually lose hexproof, although you will ignore hexproof for purposes of choosing targets of spells and abilities you control.


Friday Night Magic runs at Regular REL, and is covered by Judging at Regular. The Tournament Rules and Infraction Procedure Guide cover Competitive and Professional REL. This answer borrows from all three documents and covers all three RELs.

Should I call a judge?

Absolutely.

Am I required to call a judge?

No. According to the Infraction Procedure Guide, it is acceptable for players to agree on a fix without calling a judge.

  If a minor violation is quickly handled by the players to their mutual satisfaction, a judge does not need to intervene.

Should a judge intervene if I don't call?

Judging at Regular describes that a judge should intervene, since you did something illegal.

  You should intervene if you see something illegal happen in a match, but beyond this you have a lot of room to tailor your actions. For example, whether you step in when you see a player miss a trigger should be determined by the tone you want to strike for your event – it may be appropriate to provide this extra help in a more causal environment, but not appropriate if your play group is more competitive.

This is reiterated in the Tournament Rules:

  Judges do not intervene in a game to prevent illegal actions, but do intervene as soon as a rule has been broken or to prevent a situation from escalating.

What is the ruling?

At Regular REL, you will simply lose the extra cards. They'll be shuffled back into your library. From Judging at Regular:

  If the identity of the card(s) were known to all players, return them to their proper location. Otherwise, determine how many extra cards have been drawn, take that many cards at random from the player’s hand and place them on top of the library. If the extra cards were drawn while drawing the opening hand, shuffle the extra cards back into the deck instead and allow the player to continue making mulligan decisions.

At Competitive or Professional REL, the ruling is different. You receive a warning, and then you have a choice. You may choose to allow your opponent to see your hand and remove cards equal to the excess number. If you do, then you can choose whether or not to mulligan. Otherwise, you must mulligan. From the Infraction Procedure Guide on Game Play Error — Mulligan Procedure Error:

  If the player has too many cards in hand, he or she may choose to reveal his or her hand, and his or her opponent chooses a card from it to be shuffled back into the library. If more than one excess card was drawn (for example, eight cards drawn during a mulligan to 6) his or her opponent continues removing cards until the correct number has been reached.

  If cards are not removed from the hand this way (either due to an error that didn’t lead to too many cards, or by the player choosing not to reveal), that player takes an additional mulligan.

  Players may continue taking mulligans after the remedy has been completed.

Examples:

You mulligan to six, but accidentally draw seven. You choose to reveal your hand. Your opponent removes cards equal to the excess (one card). You are left with six cards, and  and you retain the option to mulligan.
You mulligan to six, but accidentally draw seven. You choose not to reveal your and. You are forced to mulligan. You are left with five cards, and you retain the option to mulligan.


It would be returned; Isareth’s last sentence doesn’t do anything.

The replacement effect doesn’t actually apply, beause “instead of putting it anywhere else” means “instead of going to Exile”. Because it is going to Exile anyway; it doesn’t matter.


Would using 2 progressions of evil and 2 heroic actions per turn destroy the balance of Shadows Over Camelot?

This would make the game much easier.  The ability to focus effort on quests is how the knights win.  Travel time relative to card draws would go down.

Quick example, 5 player game, you have fought cards 1-5, so you go to the Picts quest.  It starts as your turn:

Progression of Evil / You move to quest
PE / You play 1
8 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 2
PE / You play 3
8 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 4
PE / You play 5 -- Quest Completes

Total PEs possibly ending your quest in a loss: 22

In the original rules, it looks like this:

Progression of Evil / You move to quest
4 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 1
4 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 2
4 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 3
4 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 4
4 other PEs from other players
PE / You play 5 -- Quest Completes

Total PEs possibly ending your quest in a loss: 26

So, by focusing the effort, you've saving 4 progressions of evils (the other player's turns) on your quest.


Special summoning two Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragons consecutively

Yes you can

The other answer is not correct (although a comment under the answer points to the correct solution).

The reason is that Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon's effect reads "If a monster", and it does not read "When a monster". Cards that read "if" do not miss timing and can be activated at the first opportunity after the effect occurs.

From the missing timing Wiki Page, emphasis mine:

  Some Trap Cards, Quick-Play Spell Cards, and optional effects must be activated in response to a particular event (such as the Trigger Effect of "Peten the Dark Clown"). These optional effects are marked by the usage of the word "when" in their activation timing. Trap Cards, Quick-Play Spell Cards, and optional effects that use other words instead of "when" (such as "if" or "each time") do not need to be activated in response to the event, but simply at the first opportunity after the event occurs. Likewise, mandatory effects do not need to be activated in response to a particular event, always being activated at the first opportunity after the event occurs (regardless of whether they use "when" or not).


Does Nightpack Ambusher's second ability trigger if I cast spells during the end step?

This is an example of an ability with a so-called 'Intervening "if" clause' - this condition is checked during both trigger and resolution. So if you cast an instant while Nightpack Ambusher's ability is on the stack, it won't do anything as it resolves.

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

You can still cast the instant after the ability resolves; unlike the cleanup step, players do get priority during the end step (cf. rule 500.3.)


No.  The rules state "Note that each city may only outbreak once in each chain reaction."


Where can I find a Complete Spoiler list of Risk Legacy's packets & pockets?

A complete list of what is in each packet can be found in this PDF I have made publicly available.

I wasn't able to find any one distinct source, however by reconstructing the starting powers with the help of this question Which Faction Power will result in the greatest bonus troops and/or fewest troop losses? and reading a series of blogposts giving a breakdown of a campaign on BoardgameGeek I was able to come up with a comprehensive list to help me and my friends play a new campaign with our existing map.


If my opponent casts a spell that exiles a card with flashback from my graveyard, can I play it in response to their spell?

Yes. You can cast an instant whenever you have priority. All spells give all players the chance to respond to them, before they resolve. Mtg Rules:

116.1a A player may cast an instant spell any time he or she has priority. A player may cast a noninstant spell during his or her main phase any time he or she has priority and the stack is empty.
116.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, he or she announces what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
116.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or step ends.
702.32a Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one that functions while the card is in a player’s graveyard and the other that functions while the card is on the stack. “Flashback [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.” Casting a spell using its flashback ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e–g.


When cards refer to "forests," they are always referring to the land cards and not to the mana they produce; when referring to mana, they specifically say "mana" or use the appropriate mana symbol (including X where necessary to be abstract).  That means that in both cases, it is referring to the principle you are thinking about in your first statement.

For example, contrast the wording on Dungrove Elder with that on Omnath, Locus of Mana. One refers to "the number of Forests you control", and the other refers to "each green mana in your mana pool".

The difference between the phrasing "you control" and "in play" is the difference between controllers - in the former, it only counts forest cards on your "side" of the board, where as in the latter, it refers to all forests controlled by all players, totaled up.


According to the rules, tapped creatures cannot attack or block.  The only time that it matters whether or not they are tapped is when they assign to attack or block.  This means:

If you tap the creature before combat and have a way to untap the creature again, still before combat (such as Thousand-Year Elixir), it will be able to attack or block (it only matters that it is untapped when you assign it to combat).
If you tap your opponent's creature before combat (such as with Trip Noose), that creature will be unable to attack unless they have some means to untap it.
If a creature has been assigned as an attacker or blocker and subsequently becomes tapped, it will still be in combat (so you can block with Orim, Samite Healer and then tap it to use it's ability after you have blocked and it will still be a blocking creature).  This is consistent with the fact that creatures normally tap when attacking.
Because creatures normally tap when attacking, you cannot both attack with a creature on your turn and block with it on your opponent's turn (exceptions: if the creature has vigilance or you have a way to untap it).

Also of note: Masako the Humorless.


Implementing a map exploration mechanic cheaply

There are several methods.

instead of tiles, cards. Less cost to produce.Benefit: cheapdrawback: usually not square.
a pile of larger geomorphs with just the rooms, not the contents thereof; cards by room typeBenefit: sturdy board chunks, highly flexible modedrawback: rooms fall into well known patterns
movable chunks of wall on a gridded boardBenefit: extreme flexibilitydrawbacks: component costs, setup time, easily disrupted.
laminated grid board with overhead pen, cards for what to draw.Benefits: the most flexibleDrawbacks: lots of work, lamination required.


Iron will and negative pass-effects. Loophole?

You're correct.

However, Iron Will's second part will still trigger and cause a loss of morale if the check is 0 or less (e.g. if you Jury Rigged on a 7 check and get 0).

Iron Will doesn't make you pass. It just stops the labelled fail effect from triggering. It isn't a loophole in general; sometimes you miss out on good stuff on the pass, occasionally you can avoid bad stuff on the pass.

Note that if you have a 12 check with an 8+ effect, Iron will won't stop the 8+, only the effect labelled with "fail".


Is it possible to not pay a conditional counter with the cost set at 0?

Rule 117.5 states:

  117.5. Some costs are represented by {0}, or are reduced to {0}. The action necessary for a player to pay such a cost is the player’s acknowledgment that they are paying it. Even though such a cost requires no resources, it’s not automatically paid.

So, it is possible to refuse to pay an optional payment with a cost of 0 mana, and a person can counter their own spell by refusing to pay the cost of 0 mana.


If you block an attack, can the blocker be killed with an instant before you can sacrifice it?

TL;DR

No, your opponent does not have an opportunity to react to you paying the cost to activate the boar's ability, and the creature you blocked remains blocked.

It does not quite work the way you think. To use the Boar's ability you had to pay its cost. Its cost was to sacrifice it. So the boar is gone before any other spell put on the stack would resolve.

The creature the boar blocked remains blocked, and no damage would go to you. Also your opponent would not be able to target the boar because it would not exist at that time.

The relevant rules here start with 509.1h:

  509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature;...A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

Looking at the rules for casting a spell, you will see in 601.2g that all costs must be paid before the spell is 'cast'. In the case of the boar's ability:

  Sacrifice Brindle Boar: You gain 4 life

which follows the universal {cost}:{effect} template of MTG; sacrificing the boar is the cost. Before the ability can go on the stack and priority can pass so your opponent could cast a bolt, the boar must be sacrificed.


Is it possible for a person to lose "Pirate Islands" Seafarers scenario before the game even starts?

This is a problem with this scenario in its current form. Sebastian Rapp, Catan's Product Manager, suggests lowering the points required to 8 since the point of this scenario is more to build ships and defeat pirates that to develop the starting island.

Your idea of being able to build on the pirate islands is another fix, possibly with the stipulation that you can only build an additional settlement on the pirate islands if it is a position that doesn't produce any resources.


How can we adjust starting conditions in Twilight Struggle to favour the USSR?

Me and a friend of mine play this a lot and we had to explain it a bit to a new player, so we also had to give the USSR an advantage because it would be first time player against a veteran.
We found that there are three ways to make this a bit more fair:

Give the USSR more starting influence to divide (this can be in Eastern Europe or in any other continent)
Give the USSR some starting points, that way America has to accumulate more points to win the game, I think that 5 or 3 is fair but you can choose that for yourself
In the first headline phase: USSR plays a card and America doesn't, this can give the USSR an advantage if they have good cards so it's a gamble.

EDIT

You could also give the USSR player a partial mulligan, discard the cards he doesn't want and let him pull that many new cards


If partner's double of 3C would have been negative, double here is not for penalty. It shows a hand with shortness in the overcalled suit and tolerance for responder's bids. Your plan here is to double and correct partner's potential 3D to 3H. Partner may have passed with a hand like Qxx x AJxx KJTxx, which might make 3NT but also probably beats 3CX by 3 tricks or more, in which case you need to double to protect partner's holding.

If partner's double of 3C would have been for penalty, then your choice is between pass and 3H. Even though partner needs very little for you to make 3H (essentially Kx in hearts and Qxx in spades is enough to give you chances), you could easily go down 3, which is a terrible risk. Therefore, pass is probably the best choice.


Yes, you can do that.

The combat phase is divided into 5 separate steps:

1) Beginning of Combat
2) Declare Attackers
3) Declare Blockers
4) Damage Assignment
5) End of Combat

In the Declare Blockers step, after the defending player has decided how to block the attacking creatures, each player gets priority before moving on to Damage Assignment. When the attacking player has priority, they can cast an instant or activate an ability that would pump the attacking creatures.

From the Basic Rulebook:

  Combat Phase

    c. Declare blockers step

      Your opponent decides which, if any, of his or her
      untapped creatures will block your attacking creatures,
      then they do so. If multiple creatures block a single
      attacker, you order the blockers to show which is fi rst
      in line for damage, which is second, and so on. Players
      can then cast instants and activate abilities.


How do I properly place handicap stones?


Can player meeples enter the exact same grid space?

This has been clarified by the designer Jordan Draper on the BGG forum

  players and trains can occupy the same space.

I think the old adage of rules applies.  IF it was a rule that only one piece was allowed per space then the rules should say that.  If that wasn't explicitly stated I would assume that to be the case.


You can add it to an existing run or set, the only time you have to play 2 tiles with it is if you are replacing it from the board.


Do I get to use non-bonus abilities from items I don't have equipped?

Page 6 of the Arkham Horror FAQ here says

Q: Do I have to be using the Bullwhip or Cross in combat to gain their special abilities?
A: No, in the case of these two cards, you do not have to use them in combat to make use of their secondary abilities.

This implies to me that any other such weapon that has a secondary ability (i.e. one that isn't +N to combat checks or something similar) can also be used similarly without being equipped.


All cards run out and all cards in play, still has card draws

As far as I know there is no official or semi-official ruling on a situation like this, but my group played it the same way you did.

The rules state that you reshuffle your discards as soon as you need to draw a new card. As you mention the rules also say that played cards are not cycled into your discards until the end of your turn. The only exception to this I can think of is cards that are discarded to trigger another card's power - these definitely are sent directly to your discard pile.

But if your discards are empty and you have a card that tells you to draw, you can't reshuffle to have a deck at that time, so you can't draw any more cards until after the end of your turn.


Twilight Imperium 2 Planetary Defence Units per planet question

It's powerful, but remember that you're limited by the number of pieces you have.  And if I recall correctly, then you only get the 6 PDS units.  So while yes, the PDS wall is strong, it is just a Maginot line.  You can just go around it, since the PDS units have to be transported or rebuilt.


When is it a good time to offer a draw in chess, and when should I accept one?

In casual play, the main reason to offer a draw is if the game is going on forever and shows no sign of concluding soon. Consider the motivation for the game. Maybe you're playing a game for fun after dinner, but at some point your wife is going to start making loud yawning noises. Maybe you're playing a grudge match with a friend, but both of you are hopeless at rook endings - which is where you've ended up. Maybe you made the mistake of starting a game with someone who takes hours to make any move. I've been in all of these situations! In these cases, achieving the win is secondary to the experience of playing the game. As soon as the experience becomes compromised, or real life starts to intrude, an escape becomes appealing.

One player may actually have an advantage, but if it's going to be necessary to grind out a difficult endgame to convert that advantage into a point, then it may not be considered worth it by the players to continue. A couple of times I have even conceded casual games that I believed I was winning, simply because I wasn't willing to continue to invest the time.

Another reason is if the players are amateurish enough that forcing a win is difficult or impossible. I once spent a frustrating afternoon watching two friends with very basic chess playing abilities circle uselessly for several hours, trying to figure out how to achieve a checkmate. It was like watching Brownian motion on a chessboard; essentially random checks with the vague hope of accidental checkmate. In the end, they gave up and declared a draw. This situation is depressingly common among the large group of casual players who possess no knowledge beyond how to move the pieces.

A final, rather dishonest reason is to protect the ego of your opponent. Too many casual players take losing at chess as a personal failure, or worse, an insult or demonstration of superiority by their opponent. If your opponent is your boss or your grandfather, and they take losing very badly, maybe a draw is a more political decision. In this case, the game is just part of a larger game - the game of maintaining workable relationships in the real world.


Can an on buy effect move the bought card?

TL;DR; there are "When-Buy" effects that move cards from the supply, but there will never probably be an effect that moves a specific, just-bought, card.

I've had an extensive discussion with Donald X. Vaccarino, the designer, on discord before answering here. To thoroughly answer to your question, the following aspects have to be clarified first:

When you buy a card, you pay for the "name" of the card and not a physical copy of it. The physical copy comes as a consequence of buying it.
There will probably never be an effect that moves a just-bought card, because you don't buy a specific physical card.

These are clarified in subsequent sections with the related sources.

Current when-buy effects

There are currently no "when-buy" effects that move a specific just-bought card, as of the time of writing this reply (before Dominion: Nocturne). Here is a comprehensive list of all "when buy" events. Most likely, there will never be an effect in the lines of "when you buy this, move it to ...", because it will be too confusing. This will become clear in a subsequent example.

Owning a card before you gain it

According to the Inheritance FAQ, as @Gendolkari also mentioned, when you buy a card, you own it immediately. Here is how buying an Estate works, if you have inherited Noble Brigand:

You declare that you are buying an Estate and pay for it.
The Estate that you are going to gain now is yours, thus it immediately inherits the Noble Brigand's text.
The "when-buy" activates and you attack every other player.
Then, you gain the top Estate card from the Estate pile to your discard pile.

How Buying works

When declaring "I am buying card X", you do not pay to buy and gain the topmost card of that name at the time of paying, but the topmost card of that name after all "when-buy" effects have been resolved. You are essentially buying an abstract card. Sadly, there is a no clear writing of this exact mechanism. Source: DXV on Dominion Discord channel, at 2017-08-27, 18:00 UTC+02:00.

For your information, here is the order of events: (summarizing from Base rules, p. 5, "Buy Phase", Hinterlands rules, p. 4, "Additional Rules")

You choose a card to buy and pay for it.
No cards have been moved from the supply yet.
Any "when-buy" events are now triggered, which might move cards (Port, Messenger).
You now gain the top card of that pile, with the name of the card you paid for, to your discard pile (unless otherwise stated).
Any "when-would-gain" events are now triggered.
The card moves to its final destination (e.g., discard pile) and it's gained.
Any "when-gain" events are now triggered.

This will become clear with the notorious Messenger example.

Messenger example

TL;DR; in a 2-player game, if there are 2 Messengers left in the supply, you buy Messenger and name "Messenger", you will only gain one, not both. This is how the official digital implementation is working.

Suppose that in a 2-player game, there are at least 3 Messengers left in the Messenger pile: Messenger A, Messenger B and Messenger C, in that order, with Messenger A being the top card. Here is what happens when you buy a Messenger and choose Messenger for the "when-buy" effect:

You spend $4 to buy a Messenger.
"When-Buy" ability triggers; you name "Messenger".
Due to step (2), you gain Messenger A from the Messenger pile (the top one).
Since step (3) was successful (e.g., no Trader was revealed), then every other player gains a Messenger; your opponent gains Messenger B.
"When-Buy" ability ends.
Due to buying a Messenger in step (1), you now gain a Messenger from the Messenger pile; Messenger C is moved to your discard pile.

Here's what happens if there are only 2 Messengers in the Messenger pile:

Due to buying a Messenger in step (1), you now gain a Messenger from the Messenger pile and fail, as there are no more Messengers there.

Talisman Example

You play a Talisman and buy a Ruined Village. Let's name Ruined Village A the top card. Here is the order of events:

You spend one buy and $0 to buy a Ruined Village.
The "when-buy" of Talisman is triggered, because Ruined Village costs up to $4 and is not a victory card.
You gain Ruined Village A from the supply, due to the "when-buy" effect in step (2).
Now, you gain a Ruined Village because you bought one in step (1).

If the next card is Ruined Village B, then you gain that one.
Otherwise, if the next card is Ruined Market, you gain nothing.

Note that in the last case you failed to gain a Ruined Village after buying one. The one you gained was from the "when-buy" effect. However, this effect did not move the specified card you were about to gain; it just instructed you to gain another copy of it.

As you can see, there are "when-buy" effects that move cards from the supply (Messenger and Port). You first resolve any "When-Buy" effects and then gain the top card from the respective pile, if there is one. For this reason, I assume there will never (probably) be an effect in the lines of "When you buy this, put it ...", because it would be too confusing.


When is it beneficial to freeze the discard pile?

When your team doesn't have enough points to start, but the other team has started, they will be able to take the pile more often and you don't want to keep cards because they have them open.

Sure, freezing the Box costs a wild card, but a lot of time I prefer to lose a wild card instead of giving the box to my opponents over and over.

Also a really good strategy is to freeze the box to let it grow; you keep a trap in your hand to get the box.


Must you decide to activate shields before entering a nebula or asteroid field?

You roll the shields after you roll the damage from a nebula or asteroid field

Source: Rule book, page 7, Shields

http://www.faroffgames.com/images/games/xia-legends-of-a-drift-system/Xia_Rulebook.pdf


If I buff an infect card, is the new damage infect as well?

Yes, your opponent is dead. As you can see from the description of Infect on the card,

  (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

Like with every other creature, it deals damage equal to its power. Its power is 11, so it does 11 damage. The infect keyword means you do damage in the form of poison counters, so your opponent gets 11 poison counters and loses the game. Infect doesn't say you do poison damage equal to the printed power and the rest in normal damage; it converts all the damage to poison damage.

(There are exceptions to some of these blanket statements of course, e.g. if opponent has Melira, Sylvok Outcast then he doesn't get poison counters [although he takes normal damage since Melira's effect removes infect], but these exceptions would be printed on the card.)


I found the contact form from the company: https://www.clementoni.com/it/slug-assistenza-form/

I presume you should be good enough with Italian to be able to file in an enquiry to ask them if it would be possible to download the PDF manual.


MTG Arena - casting during opponent's upkeep

There're two ways to do this. The first way is to hold full control. The default keys to do this is Ctrl + Shift, and it'll keep full control on until you turn it off.

The other way is to set a stop on your opponent's upkeep. You do this by clicking on the icons under their avatar (not the ones just above the "pass" button on the bottom right), and the game should auto-pause on their upkeep and draw steps.


According to the very old rules from the beginning of munchkin you could cheat if the other players didn't catch you.

Likewise, you may also use only one headgear, one suit of armor, one pair of footgear, and two “hand” items (or one “two hands” item), unless you have a card that lets you cheat or the other players don’t catch you.

That was in an earlier version of the rules and doesn't appear in the newer rules, so probably a no. On the Munchkin FAQ the fifth question under General Questions is

Q. But don't the rules say it's OK to cheat if you don't get caught?
A. Not anymore, and even when they did, it was a joke. If you want a game where cheating is in the spirit and the letter of the rules, try Illuminati.

So again no.
Anyways, cheating is breaking the rules and makes the game not very fun, so I'd say no to cheating.
If you want to read those rules, I accessed them from https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/3069/rulespdf. You need a boardgamegeek account to download them. To find that specific passage, hit Ctrl+F then write "cheat" in the box that appears.
Also see this old cheat card:


First, you cannot have mana on the battlefield. Mana is something that only exists in your mana pool after being generated (usually by tapping a land, though there are other things that can do this too like Sol Ring or Dark Ritual or Elvish Mystic). Now for your questions:

You pay for a spell when you cast it, so if you are casting a Gray Ogre you would need to generate 3 mana (1 red and 2 of any kind). You would generate this mana by tapping lands in most cases.
You do not need to pay any mana for a creature to attack (unless an effect like Propaganda requires you to).

From the MTG Quick Start Guide
Casting spells:

You must pay mana for each of these symbols in order to cast Shivan Dragon. The symbol {R} means one red mana. The symbol {4} means four mana of any kind. So you have to pay two red mana and four mana of any kind to pay this cost.
When you want to pay a mana cost, tap (turn sideways) the necessary lands on the battlefield. This shows that you’ve used those lands to produce mana.

Attacking:

During your turn, you decide which of your creatures, if any, will attack. You can’t attack with a creature if it’s tapped or if it entered the battlefield this turn. You have one combat phase in the middle of your turn, and all the creatures you decide to attack with attack at the same time.
Once you’ve decided which of your creatures are attacking, tap those creatures. Your tapped creatures, like your tapped lands, will untap at the beginning of your next turn.


What happens when all heroes and elite heroes are dealt in Boss Monster?

There is an answer from one of the game's creators in this thread on BGG.  It states

  If a turn ends and all Hero cards have been claimed or removed from
  the game, the tiebreaker rules apply.


Evolution the Beginning - Scavenger card

No, you can only eat or scavenge as much food as you have population slots for. You simply do not collect food tokens after you reach that maximum, regardless of any further carnivore attacks.


Can I win with a "you lose" effect on the stack?

In general, you could win while a "you lose" effect is on the stack. Winning/losing is a state-based action and the stack doesn't finish resolving if the game is over (e.g. a 2 player game).

However, with the Immortal Coil situation you describe, you lose. This is because the Immortal Coil in question won't create another triggered ability on the stack until the first one isn't there.

  603.8. Some triggered abilities trigger when a game state (such as a player controlling no permanents of a particular card type) is true, rather than triggering when an event occurs. These abilities trigger as soon as the game state matches the condition. They'll go onto the stack at the next available opportunity. These are called state triggers. (Note that state triggers aren't the same as state-based actions.) A state-triggered ability doesn't trigger again until the ability has resolved, has been countered, or has otherwise left the stack. Then, if the object with the ability is still in the same zone and the game state still matches its trigger condition, the ability will trigger again.

So the Immortal Coil can't trigger for your opponent until you've already lost the game, unless you're otherwise able to prevent or counter the ability on the stack.

Here's the bit I'm not certain about and will look up, but I think if you could flicker the Immortal Coil once the opponent controls it, it will trigger, because the "new" Immortal Coil has no memory of being attached to the previous ability (still on the stack) and thus will create a new one.


Can you trump the first trick in Spades?

No trumping the first trick is definitely a house rule, insofar as rules for the game actually exist (there are no official ones). It's hard to say exactly how common it is; for what it's worth I think most people I've played spades with used it. But I haven't found it listed as an actual rule in any of the versions of the rules I've found. So sure, you could call it "just" a house rule, but at the same time, there are obviously people out there successfully playing spades with it.

So can you? Depends who you play with. And honestly, even if we could take a quick representative poll, it doesn't matter that much what most people do. It matters how you and your family want to play. If you want to try to talk them into your version, go for it. Or you can just play their way; it's not going to drastically warp the game.

The real problem you had this game was that different people had different versions of the rules in their head, and you didn't find out until you were actually playing, not necessarily that anyone's version was clearly right or wrong. You can avoid the dispute simply by settling on a rule before you play; no need to get into a big argument about what the correct rules are, or annoy anyone by flat-out stating that your rules are the rules.


can you activate abilities during a resolving stack?

It sounds like you're trying to determine which of two possible models is the real one:

If all players pass priority in succession, then every spell/ability on the stack resolves, with no further opportunities to respond until it is empty. If this is the real model, then you can't sacrifice the goblin token to Goblin Bombardment before Doom Blade resolves.
If all players pass priority in succession, then only the top spell/ability on the stack resolves, and players may continue to respond to spells/abilities remaining on the stack. If this is the real model, then you can sacrifice the goblin token to Goblin Bombardment before Doom Blade resolves.

So which is the real model? It's the second one. Items on the stack resolve one at a time, rather than all at once.

  116.4. If all players pass in succession (that is, if all players pass without taking any actions in between passing), the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves or, if the stack is empty, the phase or step ends.

and

  116.3b. The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

With these in mind, the play-by-play goes like this. I'm assuming it's your opponent's turn, but this only matters for order of priority. The outcome would be the same otherwise.

It's your opponent's turn, so he is the active player. He casts Doom Blade targeting Krenko.

Stack: Doom Blade.

Your opponent passes priority to you. You activate Krenko's tap ability.

Stack: Doom Blade, Krenko.

You pass priority. Your opponent passes priority. The top spell/ability on the stack resolves. You receive one goblin token.

Stack: Doom Blade.

Your opponent passes priority. You activate Goblin Bombardment, sacrificing a goblin and choosing a target. Krenko's "untap me" ability triggers and goes on the stack.

Stack: Doom Blade, Goblin Bombardment, Krenko's untap ability.

You pass priority. Your opponent passes priority. The top spell/ability on the stack resolves. Krenko untaps.

Stack: Doom Blade, Goblin Bombardment.

Your opponent passes priority. You pass priority. The top spell/ability on the stack resolves. Goblin Bombardment deals one damage to whatever you targeted.

Stack: Doom Blade.

Your opponent passes priority to you.

At this point, you can pass priority, letting Doom Blade resolve and destroy Krenko. Or you can go back to step 2 and make another goblin token. In fact, you could repeat the loop as many times as you wish.

(This is all assuming that your opponent has no more plays to make after Doom Blade. He could play additional spells and abilities any time during this process where it says "Your opponent passes priority". For instance, if he plays a second Doom Blade on Krenko during step 3, then your infinite damage combo will be foiled)


What happens after using Spinal Embrace on a Theros God?

Your opponent will gain control of Phenax, then at the end of your turn they will sacrifice it and gain zero life.

When Spinal Embrace resolves, it creates two continuous effects:

You control that Phenax.
Phenax gains haste until end of turn.

and a delayed triggered ability:

  At the beginning of the next end step, sacrifice Phenax. If you do, you gain life equal to its toughness.

So, right after Spinal Embrace resolves, your opponent controls Phenax and it has haste. Then, at the beginning of the next end step, the delayed triggered ability triggers and they sacrifice Phenax. Then they gain life equal to its toughness. However, rule 302.4 says

  Power and toughness are characteristics only creatures have.

and rule 107.2 says

  If anything needs to use a number that can't be determined, either as a result or in a calculation, it uses 0 instead.

When you sacrifice Phenax, it is not a creature, so it doesn't have a toughness. So, they gain zero life.


It does more than just special summon, so it cannot be an inherent special summon.
That makes it a special summon by effect, which cannot be activated due to majesty's fiend.


When Omega is banished it is banished to the owner's side of the field (not the controllers) so when Omega does return to the field, it returns at the owner's Standby Phase and to the owner's field.

According to Yu-Gi-Oh! Official Rulebook Ver 9.1 page 49 and the wiki, when the Omega and a card from your opponent's hand is banished, they're sent to your opponent's (the owner's) Banished Zone. So when it's your opponent's Standby Phase, the effect kicks-off under his/her control.


Can I activate an ability if that ability has no legal targets?

The rulings on Cruel Entertainment state:

While controlling another player, the controlling player makes all choices and decisions that the player being controlled is allowed to make or is told to make during that turn. This includes choices about what spells to cast or what abilities to activate, as well as any decisions called for by a triggered ability or anything else.
The controlling player can’t make any illegal decisions or illegal choices—that player can’t do anything that the player being controlled couldn’t do. The controlling player can’t make choices or decisions for that player that aren’t called for by the game rules or by any cards, permanents, spells, abilities, and so on.

So it comes down to whether, if it were a normal turn, the player could choose to activate Phrexian Reclamation's ability despite there being no legal targets.
Well, the comprehensive rules state that:

602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Only an object’s controller (or its owner, if it doesn’t have a controller) can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says otherwise. Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the activation of an ability, a player is unable to comply with any of those steps, the activation is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that ability started to be activated (see rule 720, “Handling Illegal Actions”).

Then it goes on to say that as part of activating the ability, the ability's controller must choose all relevant targets. Thus, if there are no legal targets for the ability, it is illegal to activate the ability and the game reverts back to the point just before the controlling player tried to activate it.
However, suppose there is one legal target (i.e. creature in the active player's graveyard). Then the controlling player could activate the ability, paying the appropriate cost. Before it resolves, they can then activate the ability again, targeting the same creature (since it's a new instance of the ability, and the creature is still in the graveyard). They can then keep doing that as long as they have the mana/life to do so. Then, the topmost copy of the ability on the stack will resolve, putting that creature in the player's hand. All other copies of the ability will then try to resolve, but since their target is no longer legal, they will be countered with no effect - except that the mana and life used to pay the cost is gone.


What is the reason for investigators not being eliminated when Yig awakens?

The player chooses a new investigator and keeps playing, which isn't the case for most ancient ones.


what happens to an injured pokemon shuffled back into the deck

If a Pokémon changes zones, The Game essentially loses track of it. If it comes back into play, it is considered a new/different Pokémon, even if both players know it is the same card.
So yes, the damage (as well as all other markers etc.) on it would indeed just vanish.

To back it up with rulings from the official Rulings Compendium on http://compendium.pokegym.net/compendium-bw.html:

  Q. If I use Pokemon Communication to put a Pokemon into my deck, am I
  allowed to voluntarily fail and choose to take no Pokemon out of my
  deck?

  A. The contents of your deck is not public knowledge so the deck
  search can fail, even if you've just put a Pokemon into the deck. (Feb
  4, 2010 PUI Rules Team)

  Q. Can I play Unown onto my bench, activate its "Farewell Letter"
  ability to discard it, and then use Revive to put it back onto the
  bench and use "Farewell Letter" again?

  A. Yes, you can. (Dec 3, 2015
  TPCi Rules Team)


Targeting an exchanged creature with a hexproof equipment

No, you will not be able to target the creature while your opponent controls it.

This is covered in the gather rulings on Swiftfoot boots:

  If an opponent gains control of a creature equipped by your Swiftfoot Boots, that creature can’t be the target of spells and abilities you control.

The reasoning behind this is that the equipment is granting the creature Hexproof, to the game this is treated pretty much the same as if the creature had Hexproof written in its own text box. As a reminder Hexproof's definition is:

  702.11b: “Hexproof” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.”

So when your creature changes control from you (Player A) to your opponent (Player B), Player B is the controller of the permanent and Player A becomes the opponent that can't target it.


What to bid in this situation (xx-Kx-AQTxx-AQxx, 1D-1S-2C-2D...)? (System: Simple SAYC)

Your 2C was nonforcing; partner could have passed 2C but instead showed a preference for your first suit with 2D. This is to play. Depending on your responding style, partner could have as little as

KTxxx
xxxx
xx
xx

or as much as

KQxx
Qxx
Jxx
xxx

In any case, you don't have quite enough to take another bid and should pass. To bid again, you should have at least reversing strength (e.g.

Kx
Kx
AQTxx
AQxx

which in my opinion is not quite enough to make a game-forcing jump-shift after partner responds).


What happens when a gate moves onto a vortex?

Moving gates cannot move onto Vortexes.
From a post on Fantasy Flight's forum:

Gates can't enter Vortexes. In this situation, the vortex is treated like an open gate, and gates can't move onto gates.
If a gate has to move into a vortex, it just stays in place instead.

I do not believe that the answerer, Tibs, is an official representative of Fantasy Flight.  However, he has nearly 4000 posts in their Arkham Horror forums and seems to have a very good grasp upon the rules.


No, because even if it's not printed on the card, they're still Legendary due to errata:

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

If you look at the Oracle text of Liliana, Death's Majesty, it says

  Types: Legendary Planeswalker — Liliana

instead of just "Planeswalker — Liliana" so it is legendary and you can only have one of her in play. But there could be newer planeswalkers printed in the future which aren't legendary, and of those you would be able to have multiple at the same time.

A few currently existing options to make non-legendary or at least multiple copies of planeswalkers (thanks to @AlexP and @ArcanistLupus for the suggestions):

Jace, Cunning Castaway
Helm of the Host for a planeswalker turned into a creature (e.g. with Memnarch and March of the Machines)
Mirror Gallery


Milling cards with discard an draw abilities

Here is what happens when the active player casts Day's Undoing:

The active player shuffles his or her hand and graveyard into his or her library and then draws seven cards.
Sphinx's Tutelage triggers seven times, but those triggers do not go on the stack just yet.
The nonactive player shuffles his or her library hand and graveyard into his or her library and then draws seven cards.
The turn ends.

"The turn ends" means something special in Magic. Specifically, rule 713.1a says that any triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack cease to exist.

713.1. Three cards (Time Stop, Sundial of the Infinite, and Day’s Undoing) end the turn. When an effect ends the turn, follow these steps in order, as they differ from the normal process for resolving spells and abilities (see rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities”).
713.1a If there are any triggered abilities that triggered before this process began but haven’t been put onto the stack yet, those abilities cease to exist. They won’t be put onto the stack. This rule does not apply to abilities that trigger during this process (see rule 713.2).

And here is the rule that says explains why the active player draws first.

120.2a If an effect instructs more than one player to draw cards, the active player performs all of his or her draws first, then each other player in turn order does the same.


Wurmcoil Engine vs. Oko, Thief of Crowns

No, the ability will not trigger.

“When dies” triggers count how the object existed immediately before it moved to the graveyard to see if there were any relevant abilities that triggered; and Wurmcoil did not have any abilities at that time.

  603.10. Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions, and continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like. However, some triggered abilities are exceptions to this rule; the game “looks back in time” to determine if those abilities trigger, using the existence of those abilities and the appearance of objects immediately prior to the event. The list of exceptions is as follows:

    603.10a Some zone-change triggers look back in time. These are leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a card leaves a graveyard, and abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library.


How can I play a bot with expansion cards in Dominion Online?

You have to purchase a subscription to the expansion sets. While the base-game cards are free, the expansion cards are not. After you log in, go to the Store tab and you shall find two different types of subscriptions available:

Silver, which includes the following sets: Intrigue, Seaside, Prosperity, Cornucopia, Hinterlands, Guilds
Gold, which includes all sets from the Silver subscription, plus Alchemy, Dark Ages, Adventures, Empires

These are per-day subscriptions, not permanent purchases, but you can define the expiry day of your subscription; e.g., if you would like to test the expansions, you can even subscribe for a day or week. Note that there is a transaction fee to be paid as well (0.35 EUR, as of 2017-04-08).

Note that you need to purchase the expansions to open a new table on your own. This, naturally, includes playing alone against a bot. Nevertheless, you can always join for free any table, even with expansion cards, as long as the table administrator has paid for them.


From: https://icf-media.beepworld.de/laws-of-carrom.htm

Relevant rules:
43) The player who is to break shall have the white C/m during that board leaving the black C/m to his opponent. The Queen shall be the common C/m.

49) a) i) In the first game the player who chooses to break the first board shall have the white C/m. The turn to break shall pass alternately during the game.

49) a) ii) In the second game the player who did not have the first turn to break shall have his turn first.

49) a) iii) In the third game, the turn to break passes on to the first player.

Summary:
a) Whomever is breaking plays the white c/m.
b) The first break of the first game will be taken by whomever is chosen to break first.  The second board of the first game will be broken by the other player, and so on.
c) The first break of the second game will be taken by the player who did not have the first break in the first game.
d) The first break of the third game will be taken by the player who did have the first break in the first game.

Sample match can be seen here: https://youtu.be/MTLHyG5ov44


Whenever you gain life put a counter. At the end of turn or by each time you gain life?

Archangel of Thune's trigger happens exactly when it says it does.. "whenever you gain life".

When Seraph of Dawn deals damage, you gain that much life due to Lifelink, and this triggers Archangel of Thune. However, all combat damage is dealt simultaneously, so the Seraph and the Archangel will deal their damage at the same time. This will actually cause 2 separate "whenever you gain life" triggers, so all your creatures will get 2 +1/+1 counters. But by the time you get your +1/+1 counters, your creatures will have already dealt combat damage, and it will be too late for them to benefit from the counter during that combat phase.

From the Basic Rulebook, page 16:

  Once players decide how the creatures they
  control will deal their combat damage, the damage is
  all dealt at the same time.

And the comprehensive rules:

  Combat Damage Step

    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.

As for the question of "or at the end of turn"... don't read more into a card than what it says. It says "whenever you gain life", so that's all there is to it. If the card gave you a +1/+1 counter at the end of turn, it would say "at the beginning of the next end step, if you gained life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature." Cards say what they mean.


Can Taigam grant rebound to spells I already cast before his attack?

It would only count instants or sorceries that you cast after Taigam attacks.
Taigam's ability only triggers at the time that you cast an instant or sorcery, and at that moment it checks to see if he has attacked that turn. Each time you cast an instant or sorcery, his ability triggers if he has attacked that turn. Any instants or sorceries you cast when he hasn’t attacked that turn don’t meet the requirements for triggering.
Note that Taigam's triggered ability has an intervening if clause:

603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule.

This means that when you cast an instant or sorcery spell, if he hasn’t attacked this turn, the ability doesn’t trigger at all. But even if it were not an intervening if clause (such as “whenever you cast an instant spell, it gains rebound if Taigam has attacked this turn), then the ability still wouldn’t work in that case. It would trigger and go on the stack, but when it resolved it would have no effect because the condition wouldn’t be met.
In order to affect instants and sorceries that were cast before attacking, it would have to have a completely different wording; such as something that triggers when he attacks instead of triggering when you cast the spell.


Is the player being bribed allowed to see how much cash is offered?

The player who is being bribed can see the offer (in page 11 of the manual, the example shows that the player sees the offer). However, other players cannot see it and then it is secret from them.


How to properly play activated abilities of twilight drover and other creatures?

1: Activated abilities always have the pattern "cost:effect", and as long as you can pay the costs, you can activate it as often as you like. There are a few exceptions where you have a limited number of activations per turn, but those will always be printed on the card. Note that the TAP symbol is a cost like any other, and if you manage to untap your permanent, you can use that ability again without issue.

2: You can activate non-mana, non-Planeswalker abilities at instant speed. Again, exceptions are printed on the card.

3: There are no such restrictions, except for Planeswalker abilities.

4: Yes, but very few cards do that, like Stifle. An ability is not a spell, so cards that counter spells do not work on abilities.


This is purely off the top of my head, but the following come to mind:

Learn the most likely die rolls
Look at paths of contact (eg, you can only get to Australia through Siam)
Find "choke points" (building off the contact paths)
Note that Continent bonuses are in proportion to not only size, but difficulty in holding/winning them
Gameplay can be wildly different with two players instead of 3, 4, 5, or 6

ultimately all games devolve into 2 player games, but knowing how to handle the higher number of players is key to surviving long enough to be in the final pairing

The Neutral player in a 2 player game can have some interesting consequences when playing strictly

because they are not required to be eliminated to win, you might only attack to gain a Risk card
depending on how the cards were dealt, they can be used to your (or the other player's) advantage as a buffer to weaken attacks (or strengthen defense), forcing the attacker to expend more armies to defeat the defender

Everything else I can think of come with time and practice:

like when to attack / when not to attack

for example, if your contact territories are heavily defended, but your non-contact territories only have one or two armies, it may be a Bad Idea™ to attack from there if the enemy territories are moderately-well defended (ie, they could attack back form multiple directions easily against a weakened contact territory and wipe-out the middle of your holdings)

when to hold cards / when to turn them in

for example, if you know that your opponent must turn his cards in on his next turn (he has 5, and therefore has a set), but you have the option (perhaps you have a set, but you have four cards, and can therefore wait a turn), it may be worthwhile holding yours till after he turns his in to get the next-higher army value from them
in my experience, holding your trades only notably impacts the game early on (before the turn-in exceeds 10 armies)

etc

And don't forget the psychology of the game, too:

Some players "want" Africa and will do [almost] anything to get/keep it (for example)
Aggressive vs non-aggressive play styles
etc


Can I give a creature First Strike in order to prevent it dealing any damage that combat?

Long story short, no: you can't give a creature First Strike after the first strike combat damage step in order to stop it dealing damage.  It will deal its damage as soon as it gets a reasonable window of opportunity.

Here's the relevant portions of the Comprehensive Rules:

  702.7b If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins,
  the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those
  with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of
  proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat
  damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step
  are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike
  nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as
  the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double
  strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.

  702.7c Giving first strike to a creature without it after combat damage has already been dealt in the first combat damage step won't
  prevent that creature from assigning combat damage in the second
  combat damage step. Removing first strike from a creature after it has
  already dealt combat damage in the first combat damage step won't
  allow it to also assign combat damage in the second combat damage step
  (unless the creature has double strike).


What is the no agressive variant (Peaceful Variant)?

I assume this is the same as the "Peaceful Variant" from p19 of the rules:

  Remove all Aggression and War cards. You probably also want to remove the Pacts that lose their usefulness when no one can attack.

As the rules proceed to explain, this can be more fun for new players so they don't get crushed quite as badly. Military cards are acquired as normal - they are less useful without war but not totally useless (e.g. there's still Colonization). There is definitely less player interaction in this variant, but still some (e.g. competition for particular cards).


I generally think of Axis and Allies as being like advanced Risk.  Also there are all of the different Risk clones, 2210, LoTR, Star Wars, Godstorm and others which introduce slight variants in maps and rules.  Of those I'd recommend 2210, but if you can handle the complexity, which isn't bad in the grand scheme, Axis and Allies is the way to go.


How many different variations/editions of Monopoly are there?

It depends on how you define "variations" of the game. At this moment the monopoly wiki has 1144 versions of the game, but it includes fictional editions (Monopoly Capitol City Edition from the Simpsons), predecessors (The Landlord's Game), and so on.


How many monsters should be drawn in a 5 player game during an encounter?

No. The draw 2 rule for 5+ players only affects the number of monsters placed on newly opened gates in the Mythos Phase.

It does not affect the number of monsters drawn at any other time in the game.

The actual rule from the Arkham Horror rulebook (page 10) states:

  Exception: If there are five or more investigators playing, then draw and place two monsters instead of one.

Note that while the rule itself is worded vaguely enough that it could be misread as affecting other cases where you draw monsters, the placement of the rule within the rulebook is specific - this exception is only ever stated within the section that explains the Mythos phase, and is never repeated elsewhere.

The entry in the Arkham Horrom FAQ (page 2) is even more specific about this:

  When opening a gate in a location where there is no elder
  sign or gate, if there are five or more investigators playing,
  then draw and place two monsters instead of one.

This passage refers to the page where the Mythos phase is explained, thus it is only ever applied to drawing monsters when placing Gate markers during this phase.


Dominion: when playing the Big Money strategy, when should you switch from buying Gold to Duchy?

For 2 player, the generally accepted tipping point is when there are 5 Provinces left, buy Duchies (and Estates when there are 2 Provinces left). This has been shown as optimal according to simulator testing for BM-based strategies (e.g., BM only or BM + any given card, e.g., Smithy). For race games (e.g., Gardens or IGG), the tipping point is much earlier, although it depends on the set in question. The answer will also change if you or your opponent is playing a mega-turn engine deck.

For multiplayer, the key is to remember that 3 player games have 4 Provinces/player, just like 2 player, but 4 player games only have 3 Provinces/player. So, the Duchy-buying should occur earlier in a 4-player game.


Is there a single player PC game with similar mechanics to Twilight Imperium?

The Master's of Orion series is probably the closest PC game to Twilight Imperium, and a great game as well.

Other people seem to think this as well, see here, or here.

You could also go full circle, and say that TI ispired the Masters of Orion boardgame.


Can Etrata 'hit' commanders and count them toward game loss?

Yes, you can exile a player's commander this way now, and you can cause that player to lose the game this way if it's the third card of theirs you exiled with a hit counter. This happens even if the player wants to move their commander to the command zone—because they lose the game before they get the option to do that. However, it still won't be helpful to pick their commander for the first or second 'hit'.
The events now unfold like this:

Etrata deals combat damage to a player.
Her ability goes on the stack. You choose their commander as the target.
(Let's assume players do nothing in response and let the ability resolve.)
Etrata's ability resolves. As part of resolution, the target creature is exiled with a hit counter on it. Then, that creature's owner loses if they have three or more cards in exile with hit counters on them. Then, Etrata gets shuffled into her owner's library.
Now that Etrata's ability has finished resolving, state-based actions are checked. As part of this, the player whose commander was just exiled has the choice to move their commander to the command zone:

If they choose to move their commander, it vanishes from exile and is now in the command zone without a hit counter on it. It will not count toward future 'hits' anymore.
If they choose to leave it in exile, it will stay there with a hit counter on it.

You'll see that during ability resolution their commander is still in exile. This means if you've exiled two other cards and then the player's commander, that player now loses the game. They don't have the option yet to move their commander out of exile.
If you exile their commander for the first or second hit, then they won't lose the game and can subsequently move the commander out so it won't count as a hit for the next time. So that's still not a good choice.
What if I have multiple Etratas, or I copy her ability with Strionic Resonator?
State-based actions still get checked between any two abilities resolving. If you want to pull this off, Etrata still needs to exile their commander for the last 'hit' and not the first or second. This means target the commander with the first such trigger that goes on the stack.
This would work:

Attack with three Etratas (using Helm of the Host) that all deal combat damage to the player.
Because the abilities go on the stack simultaneously, you choose the order. Choose their commander for the first ability to go on the stack, then two other creatures for the next two.
The topmost Etrata ability resolves, exiles one of those other creatures, and doesn't cause the player to lose the game.
The next Etrata ability resolves doing the same with another creature.
The last Etrata ability resolves, exiles their commander, and causes them to lose the game.

This would also work:

Have a card owned by that player in exile with a hit counter on it from a previous turn.
Attack with one Etrata and deal combat damage to that player.
Etrata's ability goes on the stack — choose their commander for the target.
Using Strionic Resonator, copy the ability and choose another creature for the target. This goes on the stack on top of the original trigger.
The copied ability resolves first, exiling the other creature for the second 'hit'.
The original ability resolves next, exiling their commander for the third 'hit' and causing them to lose the game.

However, if you choose the commander for the first trigger that resolves, the player will be able to move their commander out of the command zone before the next ability resolves. This means the next ability won't count that 'hit'.


How many artifact lands can I play a turn?

Artifact lands may be artifacts, but they are also lands, and all the usual rules about how often you can play and land (i.e. once a turn, on your turn) still apply to them.  The same goes for creature lands like Dryad Arbor from Future Sight: if you've played a land already that turn, you can't then play your Dryad Arbor.

If you want to dump out a ton of mana production on your first turn, you're going to have to invest many thousands of dollars for a large collection of Moxes, I'm afraid to say.

From the Comprehensive Rules, section 305, Lands:

  305.2. A player may normally play only one land during his or her
  turn; however, continuous effects may increase this number. If any
  such effects exist, the player announces which effect, or this rule,
  applies to each land play as it happens.

  305.9. If an object is both a land and another card type, it can be
  played only as a land. It can't be cast as a spell.

Essentially, the fact of an Artifact Land being an artifact doesn't mean it is no longer bound by the rules for lands; it must follow all the normal rules for lands, and all the normal rules for artifacts too - so it is a valid target for Shatter, and so on.


How do I identify the role of a singleton in a well-tuned deck?

I'm not familiar with this deck in particular, but it looks like this is a good example of a miser's copy (a singleton, usually with the connotation that it has a unique effect within your deck but you have no way to tutor for it). Some things to note about that card:

It is really good in some situations
It is really bad in others
In the situations where it is bad, it is horrible in multiples
Even if it is overall bad, drawing one is probably not the end of the world

(1) is the argument for running the card at all. (2) argues against running the card. (3) and (4) are where you might come to the conclusion to run exactly one.

I suspect "potentially horrible in multiples" was a major contributor here. Drawing too many of the Eidolon means you're not drawing targeted burn, and therefore not burning your opponent (or your opponent's blockers). They trigger each other, so casting multiple copies risks just killing yourself instead of your opponent; it's easy to envision situations where you lose a close race because you drew the second Eidolon, but literally any burn spell would have worked. Running too many also reduces the effectiveness of your other creatures, which need a lot of instants and sorceries to work at their full potential. Finally, "damages self" is not a drawback that stacks well; you only have one life total, so you can only eat into it so much before you need to gain life somehow or be certain you can kill the opponent first[1].

Adrian Sullivan has written about singletons in the past; in his terms, I'm arguing that the Eidolon suffers from diminishing returns.

[1] I didn't notice this until after I wrote the answer, but the deck only has 3 Sacred Foundry. This is a clue that avoiding too much self-damage was a factor in tuning the deck.


Hardened Scales + Champion of Lambholt + Token Generator

Four.

When the two tokens enter the battlefield, Champion of Lambholt's triggered ability triggers twice. It will be placed on the stack twice. When the topmost instance resolves, it would add a +1/+1 counter to Champion of Lambholt. Instead, it adds one extra, so two. When the other instance resolves, it will also add two, so a total of 4 +1/+1 counters are added to Champion of Lambholt.