Can you have an aura attached to an aura that is itself attached to the first aura? This question was inspired by this post on /r/BadMtgCombos.

In the post, the user makes use of three copies of Feedback and Aura Graft to get Feedback 1 attached to Feedback 2, Feedback 2 attached to Feedback 3, and Feedback 3 attached to Feedback 1, creating a "Feedback Loop".

Is it possible to remove a Feedback from this bad combo, and have two Feedbacks attached to each other?

Yes, and I think you only need two Feedbacks and Aura Graft (and an arbitrary other enchantment). Just use Aura Graft on Feedback 1 and have it enchant Feedback 2.

While the rules mention that

  303.4d An Aura can’t enchant itself. If this occurs somehow, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

there's no such rule forbidding 'mutual' enchantments.


Commander damage from Mimic Vat token? I've exiled my commander using Mimic Vat. Do the tokens it creates from it deal commander damage?

No. The Commander rules state (CR903.3) state: "[Being a commander] is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones." and drives the point home with the last example: "A permanent that's copying a commander (such as a Body Double, for example, copying a commander in a player's graveyard) is not a commander."


Instructions for Pegs and Jokers by Fundex Does anyone have the instructions and rules for the Pegs and Jokers Game made by Fundex? They used their own deck of cards instead of a poker deck.  I would also be interested in obtaining a complete game since the company no longer makes it.

Shelly Christopher at Fundex sent me rules which are a copy of the rules found here


In the first mission Crossfire, is it better to end the scene just before the starting player takes his turn? In the Crossfire mission, there are 3 scenes where you face off with N, N+1, and N+2 obstacles in turn.  The Crossfire card is drawn at the start of the turn of the player who started the game (not the player who started the scene necessarily). I.e., if there are 4 players, the crossfire is drawn every 4 turns, and if the scene ends after 3 turns, the crossfire isn't drawn until the second turn in the next scene.

Is it more advantageous to end scenes as soon as your team can or to align the ending of a scene with the drawing of a crossfire event?

The benefit of ending as early as possible is that you can have a number of turns with no crossfire event active, particularly useful when you have a fresh batch of obstacles that could be pressuring or hindering your team in any number of ways.

The benefit of waiting is that the scene you are wrapping up could be very light on obstacles and offer a few turns of low or zero damage where you could draw 2 cards into hands with 3 or less cards and potentially heal allies, buy cards (although arguably not a benefit since you buy cards at the end of the scene), etc.

I lean toward ending the scene as soon as possible as the unpredictability of the crossfire puts me on edge, but I find I'm very close to being on the fence when tempted with giving my hand an extra two cards.  Because cards are drawn after one's turn, there is very little unknown when the obstacles are revealed, so it seems pretty important to have at least 3-5 cards in your hand if possible when the obstacles are drawn. The greatest likelihood, I'm thinking, is that this is simply best a judgement call given the state of people's hand sizes and health levels when the end of a scene is visible.

Being able to start the next set of obstacles without having to deal with a new crossfire card can be an advantage. Not to mention the fact that having a few extra turns to work on them might allow you to eliminate them with minimal crossfire cards going into the discard pile which will help you in the long run as you will get fewer hard obstacles to deal with.


Help Determining a Card Game w/ 4 Stacks and Hidden Card Bidding I played a game about 5 to 8 years ago with the following rules:

The deck was similar to a Skip-Bo deck (Numbered cards with no suits)
Each player was dealt a hand and 4 "piles" were created
On each round the players would each secretly bid a card and reveal it all at once.
Starting with the (don't remember either highest or lowest card), you get to play your card in increasing numbers on one of the 4 stacks.  If you cannot play, you have to keep your card.  Object to to clear through all cards in hand.

Thanks for your help!

I belive the game is 6 Nimmt! Each card has a big picture of a bullhead on it and it seems to fit the description.

Here are the rules from http://www.gamecabinet.com/sumoRulesBank/Take6.html

  6 Nimmt! (Take 6)
  Translated by Michael Schloth.

  Goal
  Take no cards. If you must take cards, take as few Cattle Heads as you can. Each Cattle Head is worth (- 1) point. The winner is the player who at the end of the game has taken the least number of Cattle Heads.

  Preparation
  You'll need paper and a pencil.

  Shuffle the deck and deal each player ten cards. The players keep their cards secret and they should arrange them numerically. Four cards are taken from the deck and placed face up on the table. Each of the four cards is the first card in a row. Each row may never contain more than 5 cards. The illustration (Abb.1) on page 2 shows the 4 rows at the start of a game.

  The Course of the Game
  Part I: Playing Cards
  All players choose one of the cards from their hand and place it face down before themselves. They are revealed at the same time. Whoever played the lowest card goes first. That player places his card into one of the four rows, then the player who played the next higher card places his card into one of the four rows etc. until all players have placed their chosen cards. The cards are always placed in a row side by side. This process is repeated until all players have played their 10 cards.

  How are cards played?

  There are two rules:

  Rule 1. : Ascending Numerical Order
  The card to be placed in a row must be greater than the last card already placed in the row.

  Rule 2. : Lowest Difference
  The value of a row is the numerical value of the last card in the row. If a card may be placed in more than one row (by Rule 1.), then compare its numerical value to the value of each eligible row. The row with the closest value gets the card.

  Example: (page 3)
  The last cards in the four rows are 12, 37, 43, and 58. Four players play the following cards: 14, 15, 44, and 61. The "14" card is lowest and so is placed first. By Rule 1, it can only be placed in the first row next to the "12". For the same reason, the "15" must be placed next to the "14". The "44", by Rule 1, may be placed at the end of rows 1, 2, or 3. However, because of Rule 2 it must be placed in the third row next to the "43". The "61" is then placed in the fourth row for the same reason.

  Abb. 2: Shows the 4 rows after the first round.

  Part II: Taking Cards
  Each of the four rows may hold only 5 cards maximum. What happens when a row must receive a sixth card? What happens when a card needs to be placed but it is lower than the last card of all four rows? In both cases the player will have to take cards because of the last two rules.

  Rule 3.: Full Row
  A row has 5 cards and a player, whether by Rule 1 or by Rule 2, must place the sixth card in the row. That player must take all five cards from the row and his sixth card now becomes the new first card for that row.

  Example: (page 4.)
  The same four players now choose the following cards to play: 21, 26, 30, and 36. The "21" and the "26" are placed in the first row after the previously placed "15". The first row now has 5 cards. The next card to be placed is the "30". By rule 1, it too must be placed in the first row after the "26". Because this will give the first row six cards, the player takes cards "12", "14", "15", "21", and "26". He places his "30" as the first card in the first row.

  The "36" is then placed in the first row after the "30".

  Rule 4.: Lowest Card
  Whoever plays a card that is too low to be placed at the end of any of the rows must take cards. That player selects any one of the rows and takes all of the cards from that row. His card now becomes the first card in the row.

  Example (page 5.):
  The same players now choose the following cards: 3, 9, 68, and 83. The "3" is the lowest so it must be played first. It is too low to be placed at the end of any of the rows. To make it fit, the player of the "3" must take one of the rows. He decides to take the second row as it contains only one card. The "3" is now the new start card for the second row. Next the "9" must be placed. This player is lucky as now it can be safely placed next to the "3". The "68" and the "83" are both placed in the fourth row.

  Remember: When a player must take a row because his card was too low to fit any of the rows, that player decides which row to take. As you do not want to take Cattle Heads if you can help it, you will usually take the row that has the least number of Cattle Heads.

  HORNS = NEGATIVE POINTS.

  Each card has a certain number of Cattle Heads (from 1 to 7).

>All Cards have at least 1 Cattle Head.
Cards with values that end in "5" have 2 Cattle Heads.
Cards with values that end in "0" have 3 Cattle Heads.
Cards with values that are multiples of 11 have 5 Cattle heads.
Card value "55" is both a multiple of 11 and ends in "5". It has 7 Cattle Heads.

  Each player keeps the cards they had to take because of Rules 3 and 4 separate from the cards they are trying to place into the four rows. These "Take" cards make up your "Horn Pile". (I guess because you are being gored by them?).

  When all players have played their 10 cards, the round is over. Each player counts the number of Cattle Heads in their "Horn Pile" and the scorekeeper records the amount. All of the cards are gathered and reshuffled. Each player is dealt 10 cards and another round is played.

  The game is over when one or more players reach 66 Cattle Heads. The player with the least number of Cattle heads wins.

  Game Tips
  Example 1
  This example emphasizes the point of Rule 2. You MUST place your card using the Least Difference rule. Here the player needs to place "45" and would love to place it at the end of the third row but Rule 2 forces him to place it in the fourth row as the sixth card. He must take up the fourth row into his "Horn Pile".
  Example 2
  This example emphasizes the point that you should not take anything for granted. Player 1 chose "62" to place thinking that it would be an easy placement in the first row. Unfortunately for him, Player 2 chose "29" to place. As "29" is lower than any of the last cards in any of the rows, player 2 must take one of the rows. He selects the first row. Now Player 1 has lost his safe play. "29" is the last card in the first row so by Rule 2 player 2 must place his "62" in the already full fourth row and take that row into his "Horn Pile".

  Variant
  All previous rules hold. There are two new ones:

  All players will know exactly what cards will be in the round. The rule is: Cards in the Round = ((# of players) x 10) + 4.

  example:

  3 Players
      Use Cards 1 through 34.
  4 players
      use cards 1 through 44.

  Each player takes his own 10 cards himself. The cards are turned face up and spread on the table. In turn, each player takes one card. When everyone has 10 cards, there will be 4 cards left. These 4 cards are the start cards for the 4 rows.

If you're still not sure if this is it or the rules seem confusing you can play it online here:
http://www.onlinebrettspiele.de/6nimmt/Default.asp?l=en


What are the rules to the card game “Queenie” This is a very old game that was played by my previous generation however no one can remember the rules and there seems to be few people who actually rember how to play it.

Quoting from the rules on this page:
Queenie
Build stacks of cards in alternating colors as in Klondike, move arbitrary groups of cards as in Yukon, and deal waves of cards onto to the tableau, as in Spider.
Objective
Place all cards on the foundation in sequence.
Deck
One standard deck of 52 cards.
Layout
Stock

When selected, deals one card to each tableau pile.
Only a single pass through the stock is allowed.

Foundation

Four empty foundation piles.

Any Ace may be played to any empty foundation pile.

A card may be built on a card in a foundation pile if it is one rank higher and the same suit.

An Ace may be played on a King, continuing the sequence.

Tableau

Seven tableau piles with one card dealt to the first pile, two to the second, and so on.

All cards are face-up.

An empty pile may be filled with any King.

A card may be built on a card in a tableau pile if it is one rank lower and a different color.

Stacks of cards may be moved from a tableau pile if they are each one rank lower and a different color.


How long does it take to play Le Havre with different numbers of players? BoardGameGeek says Le Havre takes about 150 minutes, but I'm curious if the time varies with the number of players as it does in Puerto Rico and Agricola. Approximately how long does it take to play Le Havre with 2, 3, 4, and 5 people?

The rules say this (for the long version.  I don't play the short version and don't know anyone who does).

Players   Minutes(Rules)    My estimates
1           60               Depends on YOU (30-300)
2          120                 90
3          180                135
4          200                180
5          210                225

I've played about 20 games with at least a sampling of all player sizes.  I don't think Solo is worth considering time-wise.  You'll spend however much time you want, nobody will be uncomfortably shifting in their chairs or humming the Jeopardy theme song to hurry you up.

From experience I can tell you that a 2 person game runs 90 minutes if you are both fairly familiar with the game and have a good setup procedure.  If, when you last played you dumped all the components in the box without organizing them, add an extra 30 minutes...

Each player after that is going to add a fairly static amount.  Perhaps 45 minutes.

This assume mythical standard players of course!  :)  If anything Le Havre is going to bring out the worst in the players that like to know they are making the right move by calculating out as many possibilities as they can.

Each additional player is going to add a good amount of time to the game.  Le Havre is also difficult to plan ahead.  Your options can really shift depending on what the other players do.  Unlike say, Agricola, where you may know on certain turns what you have to do (like acquire food) or Puerto Rico (time to SHIP!), Le Havre doesn't really have forcing actions.  There are always options.

The player right in front of you can easily open up options by buying a building unexpectedly, or moving off of a crucial building.  They can also screw you up by sitting on a needed building for a third dang turn!  I find that these sorts of things happen quite often which doesn't reward folks for thinking ahead (at least in terms of reducing the time it takes to play the game).  It's likely that folks with more experience than me will see more gains here.


How does poison work in Commander? In Commander / EDH players have 40 life. In normal magic 10 poison counters results in a player being eliminated. Is it still 10 poison counters in Commander / EDH?

In Commander / EDH a player is eliminated if they receive 21 commander damage. If the commander does poison damage does this count double toward the poison threshold, or somehow different than normal poison counters?

The Comprehensive Rules cover Commander rules (903) in about a page. It only lists one additional rule for winning/losing the game.
Yes, 10 poison counters kills you in Commander.
No, poison damage doesn't count double, Commanders that deal poison damage, deal damage as any other poison creature would deal damage.

903.13. The Commander variant includes the following specification for winning and losing the game. All other rules for winning and losing the game also apply. (See rule 104.)
903.13a A player that’s been dealt 21 or more combat damage by the same commander over the
course of the game loses the game. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)


When can abilities be used in Elder Sign? Some Elder Sign abilities seem really powerful in big groups.  One of them allows you to re-roll 2 dice every turn, and several others do things like switching a die from Terror to Scroll, or similar.

When can these abilities be used?  Are they only for the current player, or can they be used on other players' turns?

You aren't the only one confused. Several threads on BGG indicate that many people have had the exact same question.
The Elder Sign FAQ has made some clarification on this matter (page 2), at least regarding Mandy Thompson (she has the "re-roll 2 dice every turn" ability):

Mandy Thompson’s ability should read: Once per day, after any player has rolled, Mandy may reroll 2 dice before determining if the active player was able to defeat a task.

Carolyn Fern and Vincent Lee have received similar errata that modifies their "once per turn" into "once per day." Character abilities are further clarified (page 4), by how the ability is worded.

Abilities
Can investigator abilities be used on other players’ turns? - Most investigator abilities have a trigger that determines when they can be used. So, for instance, Bob Jenkins’ Shrewd Dealer ability (When Bob gains 1 or more Common Items, he gets 1 extra Common Item) can trigger during any investigator’s turn, if Bob somehow gains a Common Item. ...
What does “Once per roll” mean? - These abilities may be used only on that investigator’s turn, once per roll of the dice. Note that re-rolling the dice via Clue tokens or other effects does not give another use of the ability. ...
What does “Once per day” mean? - Several investigators have been errata’ed so that their abilities function “once per day.” This means that once the investigator has used his ability, he cannot use it again until after midnight has occurred. Once per day abilities can be used during other investigators’ turns. Exactly when is detailed in the ability itself


Will Roalesk, Apex Hybrid, trigger Sharktocrab twice? Sharktocrab reads

  Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on Sharktocrab, tap target creature an opponent controls. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step.

If I were to put two +1/+1 counters on it at once, by playing Vivien of the Arkbow, then its ability would only trigger once.

But what about Roalesk, Apex Hybrid, which reads

  When Roalesk dies, proliferate, then proliferate again.

The first ability is placing a counter on Sharktocrab, just like when I use Vivien. But the Roalesk then places another counter separately. Would Sharktocrab therefore trigger twice?

Yes, it would.
Even though no one gets priority in between the instructions "proliferate" and "then proliferate again"; each instruction is still a separate instance, and Sharktocrab's ability will trigger after each of them.
Abilities trigger as soon as the relevant event happens; they don't wait to trigger until an entire ability is done resolving.

603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.


Behavior of Linked Abilities if their Source Object Changes Zones I have Karn Liberated with 20 loyalty counters.  I have exiled an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn with Karn.  I activate Karn's -14 ability:

  −14: Restart the game, leaving in exile all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn Liberated. Then put those cards onto the battlefield under your control.

In response, my opponent casts Beast Within targeting Karn to destroy him.

When the game is restarted, do I have Emrakul?

  400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.

Since cards stop tracking other cards when they change zones, does Karn's ability use the cards that were tracked by Karn when the ability was activated or when the ability resolves?  If it is the later, then presumably the same thing happens when Karn's ability is activated when he has exactly 14 loyalty counters and is destroyed as a result of the activation.

What if Karn is targeted with Flicker instead?

[Karn] is destroyed as a result of the activation.

It doesn't matter if Karn is destroyed. Once activated, an ability exists independently of its source.

112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. [...]

  Cards stop tracking other cards when they change zones.

Cards never track cards; only effects and abilities can "track" cards, and only under specific circumstances. This is one of those circumstances specifically allowed by the rules.

607.2a If an object has an activated ability printed on it that instructs a player to exile one or more cards and an ability printed on it that refers either to cards “exiled with [this object],” these abilities are linked. The second ability refers only to cards in the exile zone that were put there as a result of an instruction to exile them in the first ability.

If it couldn't do this, the ability would never work. There is no rule that says "If the source changes zones, linked abilities suddenly stop working."

So we've established that the ability doesn't disappear, and that it can act on the cards that were exiled by (now destroyed) Karn. As you can see, there's no mention of checking if Karn still exists. There's no rule causing the cards to forget they were exiled by Karn either. All that matters is that Emrakul was exiled by the source of the ability. Therefore, in all of the situations described, you get an Emrakul.


Machi Koro Millionaire's Row Moving Company and renovation questions I have two rule clarifications that we've run into that we haven't been able to find an answer to while playing the Millionaire's Row expansion of Machi Koro:

Can you use a Moving Company to move itself?
Is a renovation token removed from cards when the number is rolled but they don't do anything. For instance, a Corn Field activates on 3-4, but only if you have less than 2 monuments. Would a renovation token be removed from a Corn Field if 4 was rolled but the player had 2 or more monuments?

According to the Note for the Moving Company card in the rules

  The Moving Company can be given to other players

So the answer to the first part of your question is "yes."

The same rules also say

  The next time a rollwould activate this Establishment and earn income, remove the token instead ...

They go on to give some examples of how card color (activating on your own rolls or other player rolls) behave. In the example you provided, the Corn field would not activate and earn income, therefor the renovation marker remains.

It makes sense if you think of it as the next round of income for the card paying for the required renovations and re-opening the establishment. If it never earns any income, the renovations never happen.


What if someone attacks with Master of Cruelties and another creature? My mate constantly plays Master of Cruelties which can only attack alone,

  Master of Cruelties isn't forced to attack, but if it does, it must do so alone. If you control another creature with an ability that says it must attack if able, that creature must attack and Master of Cruelties won't be able to.

  If Master of Cruelties attacks alone, another creature entering the battlefield attacking will have no effect on it. Master of Cruelties continues to be an attacking creature. The other attacking creature will assign combat damage normally, regardless of whether Master of Cruelties's last ability triggers.'

He always makes the mistake and attacks with multiple creatures with Master of Cruelties. What would the ruling be on this? I am unsure but I would guess maybe it just taps out?

Attacking with Master of Cruelties and other creatures is an illegal action, so they should just undo it and declare attackers again. Specifically, from rule 508.1c:

  The active player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't attack, or that it can't attack unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of attackers is illegal.

Illegal actions don't have consequences in game, they are just reversed. Rule 717.1 says:

  If a player realizes that he or she can’t legally take an action after starting to do so, the entire action is reversed and any payments already made are canceled.


Can Jinxed Idol be activated many times in a turn? Irecently played a game with my group and I used Jinxed Idol at the beginning of my end step so I sacrificed a small 1/1 token to pass to 1 of my 3 opponents (next in turn after me) but then a game of hot potato began.
Me sacrificing token and passing it to next person in turn.
Them “I sacrifice this to pass to another person”
2nd person does same thing to third person,
3rd P does same to me, so I sacrificed another token and pass it to next person, they then sacked another creature and this is how it went until one person (not the person who’s turn it was at the end of my turn) controlled the idol but no creatures left to sac.
So is this allowed or have we been too ambitious with the wording as it doesn’t specify when you can do it but it’s not an instant either.
Also can I in response to my own sacking of a creature sacrifice another creature using jinxed idol and repeat process until I sacrifice as many as I want? Then let it resolve and pass to opponent?

You played correctly.
Jinxed Idol has an activated ability (in addition to the triggered ability that causes its controller damage). Activated abilities can be activated by a player who has priority, and unless there is a restriction written into the ability itself, there is not a limit to how many times it can be activated on a single turn. As long as you can pay the cost, you can activate the ability.

602.1. Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as “[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]”

117.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time they have priority.

Once an opponent gains control of Jinxed Idol, they can now use the activated ability the next time they have priority.
While the activated ability is on the stack, you could activate it again in response, but unless you get some benefit from sacrificing creatures, this wouldn't help you. The second activation would go on top of the stack, and after everyone passes priority, it would resolve, giving control of Jinxed Idol to your opponent. Then, if everyone passes priority again, the other activation would resolve, which would also give control of Jinxed Idol to your opponent. But because your opponent already controls it at that point, there would be no effect from trying to give control of it to your opponent again.
Technically, your opponent could activate Jinxed Idol after your second activation resolves but before your first activation resolves... in which case you would gain control of Jinxed Idol back temporarily, before your original activation resolves and control goes back to your opponent. But unless your opponent actually wants Jinxed Idol; they can just wait until all your activations have resolved, and then activate it themselves to get rid of it.


If I target my own Rancor with a Terastodon will the effect still take place and give me a 3/3 elephant token? If I target my own Rancor with a Terastodon will the effect still take place and give me a 3/3 elephant token?

I ask this question because there is a ruling on Terastodon that says:

  If a targeted permanent has indestructible or regenerates, its controller won't get an Elephant token for it. Similarly, if the targeted permanent is destroyed but a replacement effect moves it to a different zone instead of its owner's graveyard, its controller won't get an Elephant token for it.

So I suppose the question is, does the effect of Rancor returning to its controller's hand count as a replacement effect?

Yes, you will still get the 3/3 Elephant token when you destroy your Rancor with your Terastodon.

Rancor's ability is not a replacement effect, it is a triggered ability. The ability triggers and moves Rancor to your hand after it has already moved to the graveyard. The relevant rule is 112.3c:

  Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and include (and usually begin with) the word "when," "whenever," or "at." Whenever the trigger event occurs, the ability is put on the stack the next time a player would receive priority and stays there until it's countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities."

So, when your Terastodon's ability resolves targeting Rancor, a few things happen. First, your Rancor is destroyed (and moved to the graveyard) and you get an Elephant token. Then, when the ability has finished resolving, you get priority and Rancor's third ability is put on the stack. Finally, Rancor's ability resolves and it moves from the graveyard to your hand.


Can I play an instant when my opponent taps their lands to cast an instant? I have a Creature spell and Duress in my hand, I cast the creature spell. My opponent starts tapping lands to cast a counter spell on the stack. Can I interrupt him and cast Duress to make him discard the instant card from his hand?

To answer the titular question:
No, you can not play an instant when your opponent taps mana to cast an instant.

This when a player is allowed to preform a certain action is a fairly in depth topic, and if you want to learn more about it I would recommend the following sources:

In plain English, how does casting spells and using creature abilities work with the stack and priority?
Magic's Comprehensive Rules

However to summarize, you can not cast an instant "in response" to your opponent tapping their lands because of two reasons:

You do not receive priority (and therefore can not act) until after your opponent finishes casting a spell. This is outlined throughout 601.2 (Rules for casting a spell) with the relevant part here (Italicized text mine):

  601.2i: Once the steps described in 601.2a–h (Steps to casting a spell including, paying costs and choosing targets) are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, he or she gets priority.

Mana abilities (such as tapping lands) do not use the stack and can not be responded to. This is outlined here:

  605.3b: An activated mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated. (See rule 405.6c.)

To address the specific example in the body of your question, No you can not cast Duress to force your opponent to discard the counter spell before he finishes casting it. In addition to the reasons above, you can not cast Duress in response to anything as it is a sorcery. Sorceries may only be cast during one of your main phases when the stack is empty (Comprehensive Rules 307).


Canasta: Rules to pick up discard pile when frozen or not frozen Is this a correct understanding of when you are allowed to pick up the discard pile?

If not frozen, you can pick up the discard pile if you can use the top card to make a meld from your hand OR to simply take the top card and put down and add to an existing meld on the table.

If the discard pile is frozen you can only pick up if the top card can make a meld from cards solely in your hand.  In other words if the top card is an 8 and you have an existing meld of 8's on the table but no 8's in your hand ( or wild card and 8) -you can't pick up the frozen discard pile?

You are mostly correct; except in your understanding of the wilds.

To determine if you are allowed to pick up the (entire) discard pile; follow these rules:

If the discard pile is frozen, you can only pick up the discard pile if you can immediately meld that top card along with 2 more of the same card from your hand. A wild cannot help you here; you need 2 natural matches, not including wilds. If you have never melded before; you need to also meet the minimum meld value (by melding whatever else you want from your hand at the same time). You can count the top card in the points for part of that minimum meld; but you cannot count anything else in the discard pile.
If the discard pile is not frozen, you can only pick up the discard pile if you can legally meld the top card of the discard pile. This could be melding it by just adding it to an existing meld; or melding it along with more cards from your hand (which could include wilds). There is no minimum meld to worry about, because if the discard pile is not frozen, you have already melded.

In either of the 2 cases, if you pick up the top card of the discard pile, you also pick up the entire pile.

The discard pile is frozen (for your team) if either there is a wild in the discard pile, or if your team has not yet melded at all.


Chained to the Rocks and shocklands Chained to the Rocks says:

  Enchant Mountain you control.
  When Chained to the Rocks enters the battlefield, exile target creature an opponent controls until Chained to the Rocks leaves the battlefield. (That creature returns under its owner's control.)

Does mountain in this instance mean a card that is named "Mountain" or a card with a mountain sub-type? For example Sacred Foundry has the sub-type "Mountain Plains". Could I enchant this land with Chained to the Rocks?

A permanent with the Mountain land type. Sacred Foundry can be enchanted with Chained to the Rocks.

"Mountain" could mean mean two things:

An object whose name is "Mountain". e.g. Mountain
An object which has the land (sub)type "Mountain". e.g. Mountain and Sacred Foundry

When a card refers to something that can be a name or a type, it always refers to the type[1]. As such, Chained to the Rocks looks for objects with the land type "Mountain".

For example,

A Mountain does have that type. It can be enchanted by Chained to the Rocks.
A Mountain enchanted by Contaminated Ground does not have that type. It is a Land, it is a Basic, and it is a Swamp, but it is not a Mountain (despite having that for name). It cannot be enchanted by Chained to the Rocks.
A Sacred Foundry does have that type. It can be enchanted by Chained to the Rocks.
A Boros Guildgate does not have that type. It is a Land, and it is a Gate, but it is not a Mountain. It cannot be enchanted by Chained to the Rocks.

For references to permanents, this is covered by 109.2.

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

The same is understood to apply for references to non-permanents, though this is not explicitly stated in the rules.


Can I use the Angel's Feather to roll higher than the dice would allow? For haunt 41 (Invisible Traitor) they are allowed 3 dice for their sneak attack, which is a max roll of 6. Can he use the Angel's Feather and choose 8 like the card says, even if the max roll he could have gotten using the dice would be 6?

Yes, you can.
The Angel's Feather reads:

When you attempt a roll of any kind, you can call out a number from 0 to 8.  Use that number instead of rolling the dice.
Discard this item after you use it.

The feather explicitly says it can be used for a roll 'of any kind'.  That's different from a lot of effects in the game which only apply to skill rolls.  The feather can be used for a skill roll, the Mystic Elevator roll, a haunt roll, or anything else.  That includes the sneak attack roll that you're interested in.
Of course, some rolls, (Like the Mystic Elevator, for example) are undefined for values that are normally not achievable on the roll.  This being Betrayal, the rules don't really define what happens if you choose a value outside of the available options.  But the feather specifically says that you can call out a number from 0 to 8 on any roll.  So I believe that you can use it as written, even if the specified number would normally be impossible.
I would say that the card tells you what happens when you roll any of those numbers.  Since you don't 'roll' any of those numbers, you do none of the indicated events, and hence, nothing happens.


Can you construct a railway to Toulon through Marseille? (Paris Connection) A round in Paris Connection will end, when someone constructs a route to Marseille.

If player A has enough pawns to construct a route also to Toulon, can he/she also make a route to Toulon on the same turn as he/she places a marker on Marseille? (see the attached picture).

According to this response on BoardGameGeeks, immediately means after you are done completing the action that causes the game to end. This is a poor wording then in the game rules, and it should say instead of 'immediately' "at the end of the current turn", or something similar.


Playing Trump in Rage If a player has two action cards and one trump card and trump hasn’t been played yet, can they play their trump card or do they have to play an action card?

If you can follow suit, you must. Otherwise you can play any card you want.

In this situation, you can play any of your three cards. It doesn't matter whether anyone has played a trump or not unless it was the first suit that was played (trump was led) in which case you'd have to follow suit.

PDF of the rules


buying Monster Batteries w/ Parasitic Tentacles Say Player 1 has the Parasitic Tentacles card, which allows purchase of cards from other players for energy value. Player 2 has Monster Batteries, with some amount of energy on it (which was doubled and then recouped two energy per turn).... what happens to all the energy if that card is bought?
Does Player 1 get half of the energy still on the card, and the rest is returned to the bank? Does Player 2 get any of the energy?

This boardgamegeek thread has a poster who appealed to iello's site and got this response

  "The energy cubes that were already on Monster Batteries go back into the bank pile, and the purchaser of Monster Batteries may then use the effect upon purchase."

So it seems like whatever cubes are left on there are simply lost to the bank, meaning the longer you can keep that card once you activate it, the better (before someone resets it with Parasitic Tentacles.


What is the correct creature type for Lesser and Greater Werewolf? I noticed that the text of the Lesser/Greater Werewolf card reads Lycanthrope but the oracle text at Gatherer reads the type as Werewolf.

I think that the Gather errata (oracle) should be the observed interpretation, but how can I put this in a simple way that will be accepted by other players and is consistent with the established rules?

I see this as a relevant question, as this card could be teamed with Mayor of Avabruck//Howlpack Alpha and gain the +1/+1 no matter which side was facing.

The creature sub type "Lycanthrope" has been removed from the game; "Werewolf" is correct as per Oracle reference.

Oracle is always the final authority on all questions about a specific card:

  108.1. Use the Oracle_(TM) card reference when determining a card's wording. A card's Oracle text can be found using the Gatherer card database at http://gatherer.wizards.com.

A rule specifically tackling your question:

  205.3f Many cards were printed with subtypes that are now obsolete. Many cards have retroactively received subtypes. Use the Oracle card reference to determine what a card's subtypes are. (See rule 108.1.)

I don't see any way to convince other players of that fact if they choose not to believe you, except by showing them the Oracle reference. Note also that in the Comprehensive Rules, section 205.3m, there is a list of all currently legal creature subtypes, and it does not list Lycanthrope.

For reprinted cards with that issue, you could take 1 of the reprinted cards as a sample and prove it that way.


What are the most popular formats for Magic The Gathering? I have been playing Standard Constructed (Type 2) games so far but it seems that there are a lot of formats which are gaining popularity. I'm looking for the most popular ones which are recognized officially as well so I can attend competitive matches.

WotC has a page with basic explanations of the different sanctioned tournaments formats. You can refer to this page to learn more about the various tournament formats.

Constructed formats

"In a Constructed format, you build your deck in advance, using the cards in your collection. A Constructed deck must have a minimum of 60 cards, with no more than four copies of any card (excluding basic lands)."

In order of popularity, they are:

Standard: Standard (formerly called Type 2, a long time ago) is by far the most popular constructed format. It's relatively easy to "buy into," since it only uses cards from the most recent sets, but players usually update their decks extensively to keep up with new set releases and rotation. The Standard metagame moves very fast because there's a major tournament every weekend, and numerous online events as well. Most Friday Night Magic events are Standard or Limited.
Legacy: Legacy is the most popular "eternal" format, meaning that it incorporates cards from all of Magic's history. Legacy has a fairly extensive banned list to balance the format (which is what differentiates it from Vintage). New cards still make a big impact in Legacy from time to time, but generally the metagame is more stable. Much of the contemporary Legacy tournament scene exists thanks to third-party support from major Magic vendors like Star City Games.
Modern: Modern is a fairly new tournament format. Like Legacy, cards never rotate out of Modern due to their age. Unlike Legacy, you can only play cards newer than Mirrodin block / Eight Edition (in most cases, an appropriate shorthand is "with the new card frame"). Modern is more accessible financially than Legacy. However, currently the tournaments tend to be a bit "seasonal" — many competitive players get excited about Modern when it's the format for PTQs or the Pro Tour itself, then ignore it for a few months afterward as they shift their attention to Standard or Legacy.
Vintage: Vintage is the closest to an "anything goes" sanctioned format. Vintage players enjoy playing the most powerful, game-breaking cards in Magic's history. Costs of entry are prohibitive, however, and Legacy has a much greater following. (Many US tournaments allow some proxies, which greatly reduces the price barrier.) As far as I know, the best way to play Vintage consistently is to live in an area with a strong local community, but there are occasional large events like the Bazaar of Moxen as well.
Block Constructed: Block Constructed has the smallest card pool of all Constructed formats, encompassing only the cards from the most recent block. Because cards are primarily designed for Limited and Standard, the Block Constructed metagame tends to be pretty stagnant and one-sided. With the exception of a small following on Magic Online, most people only really care about Block Constructed when it's the format for a Pro Tour.
(Extended is dead as a doornail.)

Note that support for Legacy, Modern, and Vintage outside the US varies greatly by region.

Limited formats

"Unlike Constructed formats where you play with an already built deck, Limited formats require you to build a deck from a defined pool of cards. This pool might be defined by the contents of a few booster packs that you open at the event, or it may be from cards that you select in a Booster Draft."

The two Limited formats are (once more, in order of popularity):

Draft: Booster draft using the most recent block or core set.
Sealed: Sealed-deck Limited using the most recent block or core set.

Every Pro Tour includes a Limited component, and many Grand Prix tournaments are Limited. Limited is also very popular at the FNM level, at about the same level as Standard.

Team tournaments

Rarely, a tournament will be a team event. These are essentially labels that modify one of the Constructed or Limited formats above.

Team ______: Tournaments that just say "Team Standard" or "Team Sealed" involve playing individual duels, but players combine their scores to determine the team's overall standing.
Two-Headed Giant: Two-Headed Giant is a specialized two-on-two multiplayer format.

(Most often, when players refer to a Magic "team," they just mean their practice buddies. Top players tend to prepare for tournaments with other top players, because it's the best way to hone your skills and try to predict the metagame.)

Non-sanctioned competitive formats

There are many Magic formats that are not officially approved for DCI-sanctioned tournaments. To my knowledge, the most popular non-sanctioned formats with serious competitive scenes are:

Peasant/Pauper: A commons-only format. "Pauper" is the name on Magic Online, where it is most popular. (Peasant and Pauper are different because of how cards are "printed" on MTGO — for example, Hymn to Tourach is a common in paper Magic but only exists as an uncommon in MTGO.)
Duel Commander: Also known as "French EDH," this is a modification of Commander for two-player duels. Most popular in Europe. It has its own official site.

It's also not uncommon to find multiplayer Commander tournaments at major gaming conventions, but these aren't really part of a large competitive circuit with a defined metagame.

Okay, but how can I find out what's popular in my area?

Wizards of the Coast has a Store & Event Locator feature on their website. Note that you can search by formats and event types; note also that it will mostly show game stores unless you filter out events like Friday Night Magic, Prerelease, and Game Day. When you click on a store, you'll see a schedule of their events, which will usually give you an idea of the formats they support. This list is only as good as the information that retailers feed back to Wizards' staff; the game stores do at least offer a reasonable starting point — you can visit a promising site in person and find out more information about what the local players are doing.

MTGMom is a calendar that lists major tournaments and qualifiers in the US and Canada in one handy page. Her list includes SGC and TCGPlayer events as well as WotC-sponsored ones.

For MTGO players, Magic Online has its own calendar page.


Does taking first strike damage before gaining life from normal lifelink cause me to lose the game? Two creatures are attacking me and one has first strike and I have one blocker with lifelink.  If I block the creature without first strike and take lethal damage from the first strike creature, would I lose the game before I gain the life to live from my blocker with lifelink?

Essentially do you lose the game at the end of the first strike combat step or is this checked at the end of both combat steps?

You lose the game. Each player gets priority in the combat damage step, after damage is dealt. When there is a first strike or doublestrike creature attacking there is a second and separate combat damage step. So you would lose when state based actions are checked, before players receive priority in the first combat damage step.

  Combat Damage Step

    510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously.

    510.3. Third, the active player gets priority. (See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.”)

    510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) 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.


Does drawing a card still end your movement after the haunt has begun? After the haunt does your turn still end in a newly discovered room that has an event or omen? If so this seems to make it very difficult to get away from monsters.

Yes, your movement will always end after you enter a newly discovered room with a symbol in it. This does mean you can have some claustrophobic haunts, but it is the way the game is played.


Reef route movement rules The kids boardgame, Reef Route, seems to be missing some rules from the rulebook. Nothing too serious, but it still bothers me.

In the rules is stated that a small fish gets eaten by a predator when the predator moves to the same space with the smaller fish. It also says that a small fish cannot move to the same space as another small fish, and if the player is unable to move small fishes indicated by the dice, any other small fish can be moved. But I cannot find anything about moving a small fish to the same space with a predator.

So, can a small fish rush head on into the mouth of a predator? In that case one could feed other players fishes in some situations. Intuitively I'd say it shouldn't work like that, but I'd like to get confirmation for it.

I contacted the publisher and got the official rule:

"In concept, a small fish moving into a square occupied by a predatory fish means the small fish gets eaten."

So, the small fishes can indeed rush head on into the mouth of a predator. Seems like my daughter can continue feeding my beautiful little fishes to sharks, and there's nothing I can do about it.


Does "new city" mean a city no other players are infecting? There is an Event Card which has the text:

Massive Bird Migration
You may move 1 of your disease cubes from a city you are currently infecting to a new city.

Does new city here mean a city which isn't already infected by another player?

A new city means one that you are currently not infecting.

From the infect a city infection rules,

  You can infect a new city OR a city you are currently infecting.

  new city: Discard 2 cards whose color must match the city you
  wish to infect. Place your disease cube(s) on the uppermost
  available row (without any cubes).

  City you are currently infecting: Discard 1 card whose color must
  match the city you are currently infecting. Place your disease
  cube(s) next to those already on the City card.


Amulet of Sun artifact: lasts one turn, or the whole round? Amulet of Sun reads

  If played during the Night, ...

It doesn't say whether it lasts just one turn, or the whole Night (one round). Which is it?

All effects last only until end of turn. This includes the effects of Amulet of Sun.

The rules are unambiguous. From page 5:

1) Artifacts are Deeds.

  If an effect tells you to gain a new Deed card (Advanced Action, Spell, or Artifact)...

2) Effects come from Deeds, and last only until end of turn.

  Effects

  Deed cards... provide a variety of effects that may be used on a given turn.

  b. Other effects might allow you to modify the rules for the turn, or to gain something you wouldn't normally be able to gain...

  If the effect modifies some values or rules, the change always lasts until the end of the current turn (unless stated otherwise).

3) Amulet of Sun is an Artifact:

  Amulet of Sun

  Gain a gold mana token.

  [Basic]

  If played during the Night, forests have their move cost reduced to 3, you can use gold mana, and you reveal garrisons of nearby fortified sites and all ruins as if it were day.

  [Strong]

  Same as the basic effect, except you get three gold mana tokens instead of one.


What is the best way to keep everything organized and spend less time setting up? When playing Dominion, how do you go about organizing all of the various cards and sets while maintaining a priority to getting games started quickly?

For card selection, I highly recommend the iDominion iPhone app.  Lets you specify which sets to include, blacklist individual cards, require Reactions if there are Attacks, and even re-roll one card of the 10 if you just hate the Smithy.  There's also a "lite" free version.

I have all of my cards (Dominion, Intrigue, Seaside, and Alchemy) in two collectible-card-game "long boxes", sorted by set and by name.  (Mine are sleeved as well, but that's not required).  Use one of the many dividers on BoardGameGeek to assist in locating cards.

It's easy to have one person take each box and pull out the cards you need, and for others to chip in parceling out the gold, VPs and starting decks as they're pulled from the boxes.

You can divide up the work this way with the original boxes, but card boxes take up a LOT less table space and the ordering of cards in the original boxes can be highly confusing.


Cities and Knights: Played to virtual deadlock Recently I have been playing cities and knights with fish and harbor master.  Victory points needed to win is 15.

The last two times we have played we have basically played to a deadlock.  No one with enough points to win, and no real way to get more victory points.  The only way to get additional points would be through the defender of catan, but by the time the pirate ship comes around the players in the running to win can match knight strength.

It has kind of ruined the game for me.  Any ideas or suggestions?

Let's see...

5 settlements 5VP
4 cities =8 VP
Longest Road = 2VP
Metropolis = +2VP (above the city it's on) (3 of them).
2 1VP progress cards

6 Defender of Catan VP's as well.

There is a progress card that allows removal of an opponent's knight. Time it for just before the barbarians, and make him pull one, then you get your VP for Defender of Catan.

Remember - Defender of Catan is earned for there being enough knights... and being the man with the most strength when that happens.

If you have misplayed so that your cities and settlements are more than 2 apart, then you've simply played poorly.

It is possible that, through particularly poor play, you might be stuck at 13 VP; if all the VP cards are out, and you're out of spots to play, it is time to call it, and I'd call it a double loss.

I'll note however: The Fishermen of Catan does not increase VP to win (unless you hold the old boot), and the Harbor Master variant only increases VP needed by 1.


How are M:TG cards printed in regards to the rarity of each card? I've seen pictures of the source sheets. They pack many different cards per plate, not one card repeated a hundread times in the same plate.

Suppose that a set contains 300 cards and there are 3 plates with 100 cards each. If there are 100 rares, 100 uncommons, and 100 commons, I'd imagine that there is one plate with rares only, one with uncommons only, the third with commons only. Is this how they distribute the cards' rarities?

Note that Wizards tends to be fairly secretive about the specifics of how their print runs work, and exactly what a print sheet looks like. We occasionally get articles like the one that Zags linked to showing an entire print sheet, but most of the information we 'know' about the print runs has to be inferred from answers Wizards employees give or mathematical analysis of print runs.

Currently for a regular large expansion a set has 269 cards broken down as follows

101 Commons
80 Uncommons
53 Rares
15 Mythic Rares
20 Basic Lands (5 Different Lands with 4 arts each)

A sheet of cards is 11x11 (121 cards total) as far as we have been able to tell so far the sheets are split up as follows (Source)

2 of each Rare + 1 of each Mythic
2 each of 60 Commons + 1 extra Common
3 each of 40 Commons + 1 extra Common (the same Common as on the previous sheet)
3 each of 40 Uncommons + 1 Blank
3 each of 40 Uncommons + 1 Blank
6 of each Basic Land + 1 Blank

For the 2 Common sheets they are printed in a 3:2 ratio so that every common has the same rarity. The one exception is the 1 extra Common which has a rarity of 5:6, so it is very slightly rarer that the other hundred commons. This 101st Common is generally an artifact or land depending on the set.

These sheets are then printed so that the rarities are preserved both within and between each rarity, so each of the Uncommon sheets will be printed the same number of times so each Uncommon has the same likelihood of getting opened in a pack, and each of those sheets will be printed 3 times for every Rare/Mythic sheet that is printed.

This ends up with a booster pack that has 1 Basic Land, 1 Rare or Mythic Rare (7/8 chance of Rare, 1/8 chance of Mythic Rare), 3 Uncommons, and 10 Commons (one of the Commons has a chance of being Foil, about 1/6 (Source))

Note that all this information is about current large expansions. Small expansions have ratios that work out similarly. Special releases like the Commander decks, and other preconstructed decks have their own print runs (as Zags shows in their answer) and these cards are in addition to any cards in a normal print run, so for example any Rares in the Magic 2015 Intro Packs are more common than normal Rares that aren't in Intro Packs. Also as Zags also noted older sets had different print sheets where one card might appear on it 4 times, another card 5 times, and a third card 11 times (these numbers are based on Arabian Nights) Wizards has not done sheets for normal expansions like this for a while though.


How to protect a large piece of side territory I've played several games where I have gained a good chunk of side territory, but lost it due to invasion by the other player.

Below is an example, ignore the placement outside of the area black surrounds and focus on solving the problem inside.

$$ Defending the side
$$ .............
$$ .....OOOOOOO.
$$ ..XXXOOXOX.XO
$$ OOX..XX.X.X.O
$$ OX.....X...X.
$$ XX.........X.
$$ X..........X.
$$ -------------

White has several points of injection, what would be some good strategies to make any attempt at minimizing or taking away this territory fruitless.

The answer is: Don't, unless you really have to.

The situation shown in your question is already solid territory. In this case, adding any inside stone to "protect" your territory further will reduce your score.

You should try to decide if there is anything that can be exploited in your area. Let's see how it is in your case:

$$ Initial position
$$ .............
$$ .....OOOOOOO.
$$ ..XXXOOXOX.XO
$$ OOX..XX.X.X.O
$$ OX.....X...X.
$$ XX.........X.
$$ X..........X.
$$ -------------

As a simple rule of thumb: Imagine your opponent playing all inside forcing moves in sente, then try to find the vital point. Is there a way to live?

$$Wcm1 Is there a way to live? Even if black plays very simple, white cannot do anything after B10.
$$ .............
$$ .....OOOOOOO.
$$ ..XXXOOXOX.XO
$$ OOX.0XX6X4X8O
$$ OX219..X537X.
$$ XX.........X.
$$ X..........X.
$$ -------------

If not — as in this example — do not add stones. If you are unsure, it is good practice to still play away (this is vaguely related to the concept of kiai). As sole exception, if you're far ahead and it's an important game, well, I suppose you may add an inside move to make 110% sure.

Of course, sometimes you do have to defend without question. Usually, you should try to defend actively, by moving out or attacking a weakness of your opponent's stones to make your own stones more secure. If that is impossible, simply add a move at the vital point.

Where is the vital point? Shape sense will tell you. Around 10 kyu you should see spots that defend most or all weaknesses. Until then, there is no recipe, so just keep playing until you've built up enough experience.

Again, as a rule of thumb, try to fix potential cuts, make sure every part of your group has enough eyespace or is solidly connected. If the inside area is very large, play somewhere in the center to make divide the potential invasion space in two fractions, each too small to do anything.


Can all all ability bonuses aside from weapons "+" effects be stacked? By ability bonus, I mean any quality of an asset at all, not just the "+N" to an attribute. My question centers around how to compound effects on assets. The quick reference explains that weapon "Gain +N to " bonuses do not compound and that you simply pick the strongest one. Does this mean any non-weapon "+" bonus does compound, i.e. from items and allies for instance? Some example questions:

If I have 3 assets that each grant +1 to an attribute, do I have +3 (in addition to my best weapon "+" bonus?
If I have 3 assets that each say I can reroll a die, do I get 3 rerolls?
Is there any other clear case aside from the weapon "+" bonus to attributes where assets are not compounded?

1) +N bonuses do not compound. From rules (Section Additional Rules - Tests p.12:

  An investigator can use only one card effect that provides a skill
  bonus during each test (for example, an Asset that reads “Gain
  +1 [”). If he has multiple card effects that provide a bonus, he
  uses the highest bonus.

An ally is an asset just like a weapon, so having +1 to Strength from an ally and a +1 to Strength from a gun will result you in having a +1.

2) Yes. From reference guide (Section Reroll):

  If multiple effects allow an investigator to reroll a die, he may
  resolve each effect separately. There is no limit to the number of
  times a die or test can be rerolled, so long as the investigator has
  the means to do so.


Is a card considered the same card if it is from a different set? With the brand new Rivals of Ixalan set coming out soon, I was looking at the card library and I saw they had the Legion Conquistador in again. It is exactly the same as the Legion Conquistador from Ixalan, and I want to know if it is considered the same card if it has the same name and effects as another card, but is from a different set? So could I have 8 Legion Conquistadors, 4 from Ixalan and 4 from Rivals of Ixalan? Or are they the same card?

Yes they are the same card. Cards are determined by their English name, not by any other statistic of the card, including text, art, and set information. For all cards, other then some of the cards in the new unstable set like Very Cryptic Command, cards with the same English name will have the same effect based on oracle text, though printed text may vary, as newer copies will have the oracle text at the time of printing. There have been cards which are functional reprints, where the effect is the same but the card name is different, like Dragon Fodder and Krenko's Command, these cards are different cards, as they have different English names, even though everything else about them is identical.

From the comprehensive rules:

  100.2a In constructed play (a way of playing in which each player creates his or her own deck ahead of time), each deck must contain at least sixty cards. A constructed deck may contain any number of basic land cards and no more than four of any card with a particular English name other than basic land cards.

This of course only applies to constructed play, not limited play. If you were playing in the prerelease this past weekend and got one Legion Conquistador in both Ixalan packs and in all 4 Rivals of Ixalan packs for a total of six, you are free to play all six copies. (unlikely to happen but possible)


What is the starting side of the "SYNC: Everything, Everywhere"? What side of card should I use when starting the game with the "SYNC: Everything, Everywhere" Id?

The one with deckbuilding info (minimum deck size and influence limit), of course. That is, the one that reads "The Runner pays 1 credit more when spending a click to remove a tag (not through a card ability)."


How to effectively have three (3) combat phases with Aurelia, the Warleader + Legion's Initiative I am trying to figure out how to effectively have three (3) combat phases by using Aurelia, the Warleader and Legion's Initiative.

I play Aurelia first and so the first combat phase begins. All my creatures are untapped and there is an additional combat phase after this one. Should I exile my creatures at this very moment with Legion's initiative? The additional combat phase stays like saved or something?

Yes, there is a way to get three combat phases with Aurelia and Legion's initiative.

Your first combat.

a. Attack with Aurelia.  This trigger her attack trigger, and since it's the first time she attacked this turn, you get an extra combat step and immediately untap all your creatures.

b. Let combat damage be dealt, and wait to active Legion's Initiative during the End of Combat Step (see rule 511).  Aurelia must survive this long in order to get 3 effective combat steps.  If you active Legion's Initiative before combat damage is dealt, you still get 3 combats, but this first one might not matter much because you aren't actually doing damage.  Still useful for other attack triggers though.

c. This exiles all of your creatures who survived combat until the next combat step.  After this phase ends, you'll momentarily control 0 creatures because they've been exiled by Legion's Initiative.
At the beginning of the next combat (your second for the turn), the creatures exiled by Legion's initiative come back and get haste.

a. Attack with Aurelia.  Since this creature has changed zones, it is considered a new instance of Aurelia, and it has no memory of previously attacking (rule 403.4). The attack trigger will happen because this is the first time that this Aurelia has attacked.  You'll get an additional combat after this one and uptap all creatures.
Start your third combat.

This obviously only works if you can keep Aurelia alive to do damage during your first combat phase.  You can take advantage of similar mechanics with any other way of blinking Aurelia, for example Cloudshift as discussed in another question.  The only tricky thing about using Legion's Initiative is getting the timing right so that you get three combats where you actually do damage with your creatures.


Clarification on Support in Diplomacy The relevant moves are as follows.

England:
Denmark -> Kiel
Sweden Support Denmark Hold
North Sea Support Denmark Hold

Germany:
Berlin -> Kiel
Skagerrack -> Denmark
Blatic Sea Support Skagerrack -> Denmark
Helgoland Bight Support Skagerrack -> Denmark

Does the support fail for Denmark because Denmark attempted to move to Kiel, even though it bounces.

The support fails. From the bottom right of page 7 in the rules.

  A unit not ordered to move can be supported by a support order that only mentions its province.

and

  A unit ordered to move can only be supported by a support order that matches the move the unit is trying to make.


Why are Chinese stones half-convex? Unlike regular ishi that come in full-convex shape, Chinese stones are flat on one side. I found those stones difficult to work with, as they are not easy to pick up from the board. Granted, they lay more solid on get shifted out of place less easily.

Is this the only reason, though? Why do only Chinese people use this kind of stones? Is use of those stones in decline, possibly?

From the manufacturing standpoint, a few thousand years ago it was easier to produce stones that were convex on both sides. Before the Tang dynasty, because of this, all the stones were convex on both sides (just like ishi stones).

During the Ming dynasty, crafting skills progressed and stones could be shaped with 1 flat side and 1 convex (good for stability).

Japan imported the game of Go during the Tang dynasty (at that time the stones were all convex on both sides) and since Japanese are attached to their traditions, it stayed like this until now. (Which doesn't mean that the quality is inferior, it's just to stick with the tradition.)

With the years it also became fashionable.

For some people, Japanese stones make a better sound on the board, are easier to manipulate or are just pleasing to the eye. For others, Chinese stones are more stable and can be used on both sides to make temporary moves.

source: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/265925385.html

PS: To answer your last question, the use of those stones is absolutely not in decline.


Question about Warrior mechanics The instructions for the warrior state:

  For each Traveller you have in play (including this) each other player
  discards the top card of his deck and trashes it if it costs $3 or $4.

So let's assume I have played some card that gives me +2 actions and I also have two warriors which I play for those two actions.

Does the attack on the first warrior take the second warrior into account (i.e. there are two travellers in play on both attacks, forcing my opponents to discard (and potentially trash) 4 cards)?

Or does the first attack only have the one warrior in play and only the second attack counts both warriors, forcing my opponents to discard 3 cards (1 + 2)?

Cards are always played and resolved one at a time, so your opponents will discard (and potentially trash) a total of 3 cards.

The specific sequence of events:

Play a Village

Draw 1 card
Add 2 to the number of actions you can play this turn

Play a Warrior

There is 1 Traveller in play (the one you just played), so each other player discard the top card of their deck and trashes it if it costs $3 or $4.

Play another Warrior

There are 2 Travellers in play, so each other player does this twice: discards the top card of their deck and trashes it if it costs $3 or $4.

The first Warrior will be completely done with everything it does (except being exchanged when discarded) before anything in the game knows you are going to play a second Warrior.


Can Sacrificial Construct be uses to prevent the trash of cards like Clone Chip or Shiv? Sacrificial Construct says:

  [Trash]: Prevent an installed program or an installed piece of hardware from being trashed.

Does this mean it can be used to prevent the trashing of cards like Clone Chip or Shiv when you activate their trash ability?

Yes and no.

While you are free to use Sacrificial Construct to prevent sacrificing your Clone Chip or your Shiv, this means the cost was not paid and nothing happens, other than the Sacrificial Construct being trashed.

Compare Clone Chip with Acacia: Acacia will still work and can be saved by Sacrificial Construct, Clone Chip will not, since Clone Chip's cost was prevented.

From the official FAQ:

  If the cost of a paid ability requires a card to be trashed, then preventing that card from being trashed prevents the cost from being paid and the paid ability does not resolve.


Flexibility of number of players in Fluxx I've played Fluxx in groups from 2
  through 10; Zombie Fluxx seems to work
  even better at the ends of that range.

from here

The boxes of all the Fluxx games say 2-6 players, but how well do the games play with 7+ players? I have Zombie Fluxx and the regular Fluxx, is there anything I can do to make the game play better with more people? Does anyone with experience of 7+ player Fluxx have any advice? I know combining different versions can often make it impossible to fulfil some goals, but I'm still curious.

In my group, Fluxx tends to end by accident, regardless of number of players.  Actively trying to win pretty much ensures that you won't.  Having lots of players (I think my largest was 10) doesn't seem to change that.  I've had large games end in 5 minutes and I've played in games where we got bored and quit.  I see what you mean by your question though.  Intuitively it seems like a large group would make it harder to win.  In practice, I think there are so many ways to win that the number of players doesn't really change the game.

The only group size where Fluxx isn't as much fun is 2.


Charterstone - Does "Gain card type" via a building include the Market Charterstone is a legacy game, so I'm trying to avoid specific spoilers. Please excuse the roundabout phrasing.

After playing the first game of Charterstone a number of new buildings and advancement card types are unlocked within the game. Generally these new advancement card types come with a building that allows you to get them directly. The behaviour of which is clarified After Game 1 section of the FAQ.

At least two of these have corresponding Persona card. These Persona cards give you a benefit if you "gain the card from using a building". Does this mean only the specific building that grants those card types, or does using the general "Market" building to gain advancement cards also trigger this bonus?

If I understand your question correctly the AfterGame 1 section you linked says:

  Persona cards: The first persona card with an ability that each player receives will say something like, “After using a building with a pumpkin cost, gain 1 VP” (the exact resource will vary). This ability only applies when the printed cost on the building includes at least 1 pumpkin icon, not buildings with the “any resource” icon. It is possible to have persona cards that don’t look like your original persona. Also, you may only mark personas as used if you actually use their ability during the game. This wording on Rule 5 (card 15) is a little ambiguous.

It looks to me, that if the persona specify advancement card type, but you are using Market which does not give the exact card type, you do not get the bonus.


How many Magic The Gathering cards have been printed? I wonder how many Magic: The Gathering cards have been printed I in total (including all languages, all editions).

And I don't mean unique different cards, but really actual printed cards.

It must be billions, but exactly how many?

Duelist Magazine released the size of the print runs for Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, The Dark, and Fallen Empires. Between those five sets, there were approximately 429 million individual cards printed. (Those may just be the numbers for English cards, though, I'm not certain.) The print run sizes for those sets increased dramatically going forward from Arabian Nights at 5M to Fallen Empires at 312M.

To my knowledge, no other Magic set has had the print run size explicitly revealed.

Edit – Some searching around has revealed some estimates at the print run sizes for other sets:

Alpha: 2.6M
Beta: 7.3M
Unlimited: 35M
Revised: 500M
4th: 500M
Ice Age: 500M
Chronicles: 180M
Mirage: 400M

(I'm also going to speculate that Renaissance had approximately the the same numbers as Chronicles, since Renaissance was essentially the German/French/Italian version of the English/Japanese Chronicles.)


In Robo Rally, do robots that get pushed onto a conveyor by a pusher also move via conveyor? If a pusher pushes me onto a conveyor belt, do I then apply the movement of the belt on my robot as well?

The order of board element movement is in the rules (page 6).

Express conveyor belts move 1 space in the direction of the arrows.
Express conveyor belts and normal conveyor belts move 1 space in the direction of the arrows.
Pushers push if active.
Gears rotate 90° in the direction of the arrows.

The belt moves first. So if you are pushed on the belt, you are not also moved because it has already moved this phase.


Ticket to Ride Strategies Hey!  A few of my friends have gotten into ticket to ride, and we've been trying to determine a few strategies - obviously there's the build long trains and ignore tickets, or just accumulate a lot of tickets.  But what are some of your other favorite TTR strategies?

Finish your routes, prevent others from completing theirs

Ticket to Ride doesn't strike me as a strategy-heavy game.  It's all about making good tactical decisions - completing your tickets in light of random card draws and other players' actions.  Remember that unfinished tickets count for negative points at the end of the game.  My basic gameplay goes like this:

Choose tickets I think I can finish.  The big routes are much harder to complete in a 4- or 5-player game.
If possible, avoid telegraphing where my routes are going.  Others can block you easily if they know you need a certain leg.  That leads directly into...
Claim the critical legs first.  If I need a one-train leg, get it as soon as I have the card.
If you can block, do it, but make it a good block.  Spending your turn solely to block probably only scores you a few points.  If that player then goes around your block, he scores more points and he still completes his route.  Not worth it.
Once my routes are done, decide if a new route(s) is worth the risk.  There's a chance you could pull all 20's, basically guaranteeing you won't win.  With fewer trains remaining, I think the better play is to go for long links of opportunity.  A six-train link is 15 points, even if it doesn't connect to anything else.


Balancing a Momentum Mechanic We're booting around ideas for a tactical skirmish board game and stumbled onto what we think is a cool idea for a mechanic, the trouble is we're not sure how to balance it.  The mechanic works like this:

Momentum is tracked on a slider numbered 11 to 0 to 11.

Each action in the game has some momentum cost.  This moves the slider away (towards 0) from that player.

When a player ends their turn, their opponent moves the slider towards themselves by 5, and can take actions until they're satisfied, but can't move the slider past the 3 on their opponent's side of the track.

So, i have two intertwined and related questions:

1) is this mechanic too 'weird' or odd for a tactical board game (think Final Fantasy Tactics), and are we better off going with something else?

2) What process would be used to balance this mechanic, IE make it so one player isn't dominating the game.

Edit to clarify the mechanic:
if they end their turn, the other player will move the marker 5 towards them. So if you and I are playing, and the momentum is at 6, you'll move the marker 5 towards you. I'll then take a turn with 1 momentum point. When i decide i'm done, say at -2, you'll slide it towards you to -7. If you don't have the marker on your side, you don't have momentum, you skip your turn (including the step that lets your opponent slide the marker towards them)

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

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

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

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

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


Interesting boardgames to play with children I have two children aged 8 and 6 and they like to play board games.  Some of the ones they have are for very young children and boring for an adult to play.  Are there any suggestions for games that they will understand and I can enjoy?

Legendary Uno. Its card game. Description from BGG:

  Players race to empty their hands and
  catch opposing players with cards left
  in theirs, which score points. In
  turns, players attempt to play a card
  by matching its color, number, or word
  to the topmost card on the discard
  pile. If unable to play, players draw
  a card from the draw pile, and if
  still unable to play, they pass their
  turn. Wild and special cards spice
  things up a bit.


Does devoid make a card's color identity colorless in Commander? Certain Battle for Zendikar Eldrazi cards have:

  Devoid (This card has no color.)

According to a video by Mark Rosewater, that means regardless of the colored mana required to cast the card, the card itself is colorless.

So then, just like the example with Extort: even though there are color mana symbols in the reminder text, those do not count towards color identity.

Given this, if I have a colorless Commander (e.g. Kozilek, the Great Distortion, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Karn, Silver Golem, etc.), can I include Devoid cards - as they are colorless? I checked various sources and seem to come up with equal support pro and con. The last line of 105.2 reads:

  An object’s color or colors may also be defined by a color indicator or a characteristic-defining ability.

Devoid is such a defining ability...

No, the reason that you cannot use Devoid cards in a Commander deck with a colorless commander is that a card's "color" is not the same thing as it's "color identity". "Color identity" dictates what cards that can go in your Commander deck, not "color".

Devoid changes a cards color.

  105.2. ...An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost...

Devoid does not affect the card's color identity.

  903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).

If the rules text for Devoid said "This card's color identity is colorless" then things would be different.


What is the board game featured in this Houkago Saikoro Kurabu picture? Can someone identify the game in this picture? It comes from the manga Houkago Saikoro Kurabu, which has a history of showcasing real board games (particularly eurogames) so it is very likely not just made up for the manga:

Here's a higher-resolution image of the board itself, which shows better details on the pieces and the map:

The author has confirmed on Twitter that it is an imaginary game:

Translation courtesy Google Translate:

Hello! Thank you very much. The game with that illustration is my imaginary game and doesn't really exist ~ (^ ω ^)


Can I use level/rank changing effects on Xyz monsters? I believe that there is Xyz monsters that consist of ranks and Monsters with levels. There are some cards out there that state that you can change the level of a monster on the field (such as raise the level of a monster by n). Can I do this on Xyz monsters?

An Xyz Monster's Rank is not its Level; Xyz Monsters do not have a Level. Consequently, Xyz Monsters cannot be used for Synchro, Ritual, or Xyz Summons (unless specifically permitted); and any effects that would refer to the Level of a monster, such as those of "Gravity Bind", "Level Limit - Area B" and "Burden of the Mighty", cannot be applied to an Xyz Monster. Since Xyz Monsters do not have Levels, cards such as "Star Changer", "Scanner" and "Give and Take" cannot be used on them at all. Cards that modify Levels such as "Harmonic Waves", "Feedback Warrior", "Synchro Boost" and "Demotion" also cannot be used on Xyz Monsters.


Is it better to go first or last in Vinci? My son is convinced that it's best to go last in Vinci because you have the more complete information of seeing where other players have started their civilizations and you always get last turn (like having home field advantage in baseball). I see these 2 advantages, but I wonder if these outweigh the disadvantages such as not having first pick on civilizations, not being the first to go into decline, and perhaps other factors I haven't even considered (we're all new to the game). So:

Is it better to go first, last, in between, or is the game so well balanced that it hardly matters?

This is very difficult question to answer because so much of it depends on your experience, play-style, and how the random elements of the game turn out.  These games have sufficient complexity that, based on how they are played by humans, going either first or last might be an advantage.

It's certain that one's play-style preferences will affect this decision.  If you are one who more often likes to find a best response to your opponent's moves, then going later will be 'better' since it suits your play-style, this you'll win more often going later than going earlier.  However, if you're one who prefers to be more strategic, going earlier might yield you more wins.

Two things to note:

If you have the choice of consistently going in a certain order, keep choosing the one you have the most experience with.  This will enable you to remove one variable of the game, and allow you to improve your skill in the game faster.
There ARE certain combinations of races and powers that are clearly better, especially in terms of how they interact, than others.  This means that in certain games, it will be more advantageous to grab them, thus go earlier.  However, it's not at all clear that these situations happen often enough to offset any advantages (if they exist) from going later.


How does Hallar, the Firefletcher work with Multikicker? Does Hallar, the Firefletcher's ability trigger each time a multikicker spell is kicked? Or just once for a kicked spell?

The ability happens once.

Hallar, the Firefletcher's ability trigger whenever you cast a spell, checking if the spell was kicked. Since multikicked spells are still a single spells, there is only one copy of the ability.


Why you can't summon face-up monsters in defense position? I know it is the rule you can only summon in attack position or set (face-down defense position), but I'm curious about why it is a rule that you have to place all the defense position's monsters face-down.

Is there some overpowered strategy if I'm allowed to put face-up defense position's monsters or something like that?

I know it is the rule you can only summon in attack position or set (face-down defense position)

To correct on your phrase, one can only Normal Summon in Face-up attack position.

Unless otherwise restricted, you can Special Summon in Face-up defense position.

The actual reason for doing so I guess is something only Konami knows. If I were to conjecture on the reason, I would say that it is because not only is your monster in defense, which could be tactical advantage, but you will also be able to activate its effects.

To prevent this abuse, the rules force you to Normal summon in Attack position (possibly a disadvantage, or at least open for battle damage) if you wish to activate your monster's effect. Think of it as "if you want to activate this effect you have to take some risks".

On the other hand, I also think this could be a "Legacy" rule, one that has lost its original impact, as now there are many ways to summon in face-up defense position (one barely Normal summons now days). Perhaps Konami decided to let it be, to prevent possible abuse.


Why is the first tile inactive in Burgle Bros? In the Burgle Bros FAQ, the first tile of the first floor you are burgling is inactive:

  When entering a new floor for the first time, does the tile trigger when you move into it?

  Yes, except for at the start of the game, entering the first floor.  Also you can peek before moving up.

This doesn't seem thematic to me at all. What if the first tile is deadbolt? It seems reasonable to me that a bank's big heavy door would try to prevent burglars from coming in whether it is the start of the game or not.

My question is, why did the designer make entering the first floor so easy?

The rule in question is actually spelled out precisely in the second printing's rulebook. Emphasis mine:

  Break in, step 3: Choose any tile on the first floor for your team to enter the building [...] Starting on this tile does not trigger any effects, such as setting off an Alarm, but after your first action, you trigger the tile's effects normally.

The first tile's effects are ignored when you first arrive on floor 1 for a few reasons:

Pregame setup does NOT specifically involve any player performing normal turn actions. This means some room effects that would otherwise occur if a player ends their actions in them don't trigger. For all game rules, they are NOT considered as having moved into the tile, just being on the tile.
In the case of an Alarm (E.G. Thermo), having the alarm trigger on the first turn would put an alarm token on the starting point, possibly causing multiple players to lose stealth tokens before they even had a chance to react when they otherwise wouldn't be in danger (in a four-player game, if the alarm occurred during setup, in order for nobody to lose stealth tokens, either an event would need to occur to disable the alarm OR the guard would have to be 10 spaces away (in total path length) for all four players to avoid losing any stealth tokens, as opposed to the 7 spaces away if the tile they picked were just a normal patrol destination)
Deadbolt in itself doesn't block all movement, it just requires 3 actions to enter if there's nobody there (guards count as a person there). Certain special movement also ignores the action cost (e.g. Walkway directly above a Deadbolt), and the initial setup also ignores this restriction because it's a tile effect.

If anything, that rule exists to very slightly tip the balance in the favor of the players by way of ensuring they're not screwed over by the first tile being an alarm tile. It also mitigates the potential issue of the first player automatically getting a Tool item due to the first tile being a Laboratory without any other player getting a say.


Do the destination tickets in Ticket To Ride require that the player completes the routes, or only that the tickets are completed? In other words, if the two cities are connected, is that sufficient for gaining the points on the destination ticket, or does the holder of the destination ticket have to connect the two cities using his own trains?

I have read over the official rules but it does not seem to be explicit about it.

I would appreciate a citation for answers if possible.

The holder of the destination card has to connect the two cities with their own trains. The route can be as roundabout as you like though, as long as they are connected.

In the Ticket to Ride: Europe version, you can build stations which then let you count another player's route as if it was your own for the purposes of scoring destination cards.


Catan - Discarding fish to draw more from the supply In The Fishermen of Catan, if a player has 7 fish tokens and a roll would have them receive more, can they discard the ones they don't want to draw the new ones?

Yes.

In the original scenario named The Fishermen of Catan, there was no limit to how many fish tokens could be kept. A revised version was published in Traders & Barbarians. This version included the following rule:

  7 fish tokens at most: You are not allowed to have more than 7 fish tokens at any one time. If you already have 7 fish tokens and would obtain another 1 or 2 fish tokens for a settlement or city, you may exchange one of your fish tokens with a fish token from the supply (hoping for a token with more fish on it).

So if you couldn't draw a fish tile because you already have 7, you may first discard one of your fish tokens.

However, it's not clear exactly when and how often this can be done.

What if you have 6 fish tokens and would obtain 2 from a city?
What if you have 6 fish tokens and would obtain 1 each of two settlements?
What if you have 7 fish tokens and would obtain 2 from a city?
What if you have 7 fish tokens and would obtain 1 each of two settlements?
What if you have 7 fish tokens and would obtain 1 from a settlement and 2 from a city?


Checkers - with customized starting setups and AI agents Does anyone know a Checkers program that allows customized starting setups when playing vs an AI?

My current app - Dammen (in Dutch) - has the possibility to customize the setup, but then I have to play both sides myself. If I could play against the computer, I could learn a great deal from it.

I found a Windows program on https://dammen.startpagina.nl/ (checkers is called 'dammen'in Dutch). On this page I installed the program "dam 2.2". This is amazing. I can customize the setup (positions of the pieces on the board) and save the game. Then I can choose for two players, one player against the computer, or only the computer. This last option is awesome, because now I can learn from the computer what is best and see why it is so.


In Bridge what happens if a player has more points than their bidding suggests For example:

              NORTH
            ♠: KJ10986
            ♥: QJ9
            ♦: K
            ♣: Q106
    WEST (Dlr)            EAST
  ♠: 75                 ♠: Q43
  ♥: AK7642             ♥: 1083
  ♦: 8762               ♦: 54
  ♣: 8                  ♣: A9752
              SOUTH
            ♠: A2
            ♥: 5
            ♦: AQJ1093
            ♣: KJ43

Or, for those desiring accessibility assists;

(S, H, D, C)

W: 75 AK7642 8762 8

N: KJ10986 QJ9 K Q106

E: Q43 1083 54 A9752

S: A2 5 AQJ1093 KJ43

W opens bidding with 2H which usually shows 6-10 points and 6+ hearts and then N/S bid to game in 3NT.

East leads [to West's] A then K of hearts and exits on a 3rd heart. You can guarantee the contract by making the Q of hearts, A & K of spades, and 6 diamonds. However you can make +1 by giving up the A of clubs early. The only danger in doing this would be if West turned up the A of clubs and ran the rest of their hearts.

Giving the bidding you should be safe to assume East has the A of clubs since if West had it they would have to have 11+ points. If you played to this assumption to make +1 (important for match points) and West did turn up with the A of clubs making the contract go down then is there anything you can do? Would you need to have asked what their preempt means during the bidding?

No you won't have a recourse, at least in ACBL. (for eg see here: http://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/play/Convention-Chart.pdf). I expect Forget I was ever here to come up with a better answer with better references to you might want to wait for it :)

E/W are allowed to deviate from their agreement as long as there is no hidden understanding and such deviations are not too frequent (not sure how that is enforced).


Munchkin: Charity: Giving cards to someone who has 5 already In the charity phase of munchkin when you have to reduce your hand to 5 cards.

A rule states:

  Charity: If you have more than five cards in your hand, you must play
  enough cards to get you to five or below. If you cannot, or do not
  want to, you must give the excess cards to the player with the lowest
  Level.

Q: what if the player with the lowest level already has 5 cards?

Do you?

Still give them to the player
Discard them

You still give them. But those players must discard extra cards at their charity phase (if they are still the player with the lowest level).

This rule gives a slight advantage to players with the lowest level. Although they mostly get the less usefull cards (gee two halfling and a thief card, I'm really happy now!)

To add some reference to the rules:

The answer is in the rules (the relevant part in bold):

  Your Hand: Cards in your hand are not in play. They don’t help you, but
  they can’t be taken away except by cards that specifically affect “your hand.”
  At the end of your turn, you may have no more than five cards in your hand
  (see Charity, p. 2).

It clearly states, that the hand limit is checked at the end of your turn. So it is no problem if you have 25 cards because of the charity of several players. At the end of your turn you need to level it to 5 (or 6 if you are a dwarf).

And charity is defined as:

  (3) Charity: If you have more than five cards in your hand, you must play
  enough cards to get you to five or below. If you cannot, or do not want to, you must give the excess cards to the player with the lowest Level. If players are tied for lowest, divide the cards as evenly as possible, but it’s up to you who gets the bigger set(s) of leftovers. If YOU are the lowest or tied for lowest, just discard the excess.