When should Italy NOT take over Tunisia on its second turn in Diplomacy? Tunis is the only supply center that Italy is guaranteed to have by the first fall of the game, but are there any playable openings or situations where Italy should delay getting this guaranteed build? If Italy moved their fleet to the Adriatic Sea, it could help attack Trieste or convoy into Albania, and if it moved to the gulf of Lyon it could attack Marseilles or convoy into Spain.

It looks like the extra unit outweighs the benefits of an early attack on either Austria-Hungary or France because they could repel the attack or re-take their territory before you build a fourth unit. However, I was curious if anyone preferred an opening that didn't involve ordering a fleet into Tunis in the second round.

Well quickly to address the last sentence. It is actually quite common for Italy to take Tunis with an army rather than a fleet. Then with F ION and A TUN, there are options for ION-AEG, ION-EAS and the convoys TUN-ALB, TUN-GRE which aren't possible with a fleet in Tunis.

But to answer the question in the title, there are certainly occasions when Italy does not take Tunis on the second turn (and is still playing intelligently), but these are rare.

Occasionally Italy will forgo the Tunis build to try to take Greece. The other case one sees is if Austria has let Italy into Trieste in the spring, Italy is now guaranteed a build and can order ION-AEG instead of going to TUN in order to gain position in an attack (allied with Austria) against Turkey.

But I should emphasise that not taking Tunis is a minority opening, and almost always played with an expectation that Italy will be getting a build elsewhere.


Would stealing control of my opponent's commander with Control Magic and killing it let me maintain control of it? If I played Control Magic and enchanted Marath, Will of the Wild, then took off the 3 counters, would Marath return to my opponent's command zone or would I retain control and have the option of casting him for his mana cost?

No, you won't retain control. Your enchantment will fall off and go to your graveyard, and Marath will go to your opponent's graveyard or command zone.

The primary reason is that when a creature changes zones, this rule kicks in:

  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.

Also, whenever a creature dies, it moves to its owner's graveyard - not its controller's. You don't become Marath's owner, just its controller temporarily. (There are lots of different rules covering the situations a creature might  die, but they all handle it the exact same way.)

When Marath dies, he (she? I don't know) is going to move to his owner's graveyard like any other creature. If Marath is your opponent's commander, your opponent has the option to instead move him to the command zone.

  903.11. If a commander would be put into its owner’s graveyard from anywhere, that player may put it into the command zone instead.

Either way, Marath changes zones. From the perspective of your Control Magic enchantment, the creature it enchanted has vanished completely, and so the enchantment goes to your graveyard. It doesn't move with Marath, just like how cards don't stay enchanted when they move to your graveyard. Elsewhere, in another zone, a brand new object called Marath, Will of the Wild appears, with no relation to the creature the enchantment once enchanted.

Your opponent regains total control of Marath, and can cast him from the command zone as usual (if your opponent chose to move him there, instead of to their own graveyard).

Even if you manage to take "permanent" control of Marath (e.g. with Perplexing Chimera), you still don't own him, and he'll return to your opponent's graveyard or command zone when he dies. Control of Marath is returned to your opponent completely thanks to 400.7 and business as usual resumes.


Land ratio vs mana curve When choosing cards for a deck, one of the most important things to consider is the number of land you put in. The biggest issue is mana curve, of course. What shortcuts are best for determining the proper amount of land with a given mana curve?

Basically, you're trying to find an optimal balance between "I need mana to play my spells in a timely fashion" and "I want to draw active cards all the time (which usually means spells)."
For me, it boils down to a question of which lands drops do you need to make "on time".
Because players start with an opening hand of several cards but subsequently draw one card per turn (typically), your access to mana isn't linear. On turn 1, you've already seen about 7 cards (and you can mulligan bad hands); making your first land drop is pretty easy even with only a dozen lands in your deck. By turn 4, you've seen only three more cards, so making your fourth land drop (which implies that you also made your first, second, and third ones on time, by the way) reliably now demands that something like 40+% of your deck be land.
It gets even worse for decks trying to stick a six-drop on turn 6: on the face of it, it seems like you'd want over 50% of a deck to be lands! "Real" decks don't do that, though. Instead, decks that top out with some lethal six-drop either play ramp spells or other tricks to get there earlier, or they don't actually fret about resolving one on turn 6 (control decks with cards like Aetherling and Consecrated Sphinx, for instance, are more concerned with getting the mana for timely board control spells, like Supreme Verdict, than actually casting their finisher ASAP).
One important subtlety here is that which cards you need to cast "on time" actually varies depending on your matchup. For example, you might have a combo deck that can reliably "go off" with just two lands, but needs additional mana in order to play counterspells, targeted discard, or redundant combo pieces to overcome disruption. Likewise, in a control mirror, making your land drops is very important, because you need to play a threat and then back it up with your other spells.

As far as general rules of thumb:

Based on the logic above and general consensus among MTG players, a "midrange" deck that relies on its three- and four- drops for heavy lifting should run about 24-25 lands (i.e. 40% lands). 16-17 lands is the equivalent in (40-card) Limited, and is very common. Most of the intro decks WotC prints come with 24 lands.

Low-curve aggressive decks can get away with 20-22 lands. Some can function well on as few as 18-20. The idea here is that, unlike the "typical" deck above, you're only trying to hit your two-drops reliably, and being "mana-flooded" will usually cause a game loss as your deck runs out of steam.

Ramp decks tend to be over 50% mana sources or land-fetching cards, but only 24-26 lands, or even less in environments with super-strong mana acceleration. You can usually cut a land for every two non-land mana sources like Birds of Paradise or Azorius Signet that you play. (Why every two? Because you still need some land to cast your non-land mana sources, and because non-land mana sources are actually pretty pointless unless you're also making your land drops. Also, mana dorks are fragile!) Make sure your accelerators are low enough on your curve that they actually accelerate you, also — for example, Pristine Talisman can help set up Elesh Norn and Gideon Jura, but it's pointless to put one in a deck that's all about Hero of Bladehold or Runechanter's Pike.

Control decks generally run 24-28 lands, with card-draw and card-filtering to help them hit land drops. Low-cost card-draw or card-filtering cards, like Preordain, are kinda like mana dorks for land-count purposes — you'll see more cards, so you can afford to put fewer lands in the deck.

Look at mana requirements other than casting spells, as well. For instance, a deck with Ulvenwald Tracker benefits from being able to cast big dudes and have them fight your opponent's creatures on the same turn, so it might want more lands than a deck with an equivalent casting-cost curve but no mana-intensive activated abilities.

Decks for formats with super-efficient spells, like Legacy and Vintage, tend to run fewer lands than the numbers given above. You could reasonably see a 16-land aggro deck or a 23-land control deck in Legacy, for example.

When available, lands that do stuff other than just tap for mana are a great way to get more "action" in your deck without going land-light. Examples range from Karakas in Legacy, to manlands (like Mutavault) everywhere they're legal, to Teetering Peaks in budget red decks. I've won several games thanks to the relatively minor secondary ability of Minamo, School at Water's Edge.

Once your deck starts doing things with land cards other than tapping them for 1 mana each, the shorthand doesn't work. Two diametrically opposed examples here: Loam Assault is a deck that curves out at 3, but it plays around 28 lands because the goal is to hit the right mana to cast Seismic Assault, and then pitch your remaining lands to it (recycling with Life from the Loam); Green Tron decks play cards like Karn Liberated and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn but only run about 18-20 lands because they can make 7 mana off of three lands and are absolutely overloaded on land search and cantrips.

Though the option is rarely exercised, don't forget that you can side lands in and out. Usually this is done when there are important utility lands that a deck might want to play. If you have the lands in your sideboard already, you can use them to alter your land count in order to match which spells are most time-critical for a specific matchup.
For example, during the Innistrad and Return to Ravnica Standard seasons, some control decks would keep an extra Nephalia Drownyard or two in their sideboard. Drownyard was widely regarded as "the most powerful card in the control mirror, but playing too many lands put you at risk of mana flood against faster decks; having a lot of lands wasn't nearly as bad against other control decks because you got a huge advantage out of being able to play around Mana Leak, win a counter war, pay for a massive draw spell, or activate more Drownyards than your opponent.

If your deck is truly weird, you'll need to throw all conventions out the window and figure it out from scratch. For examples of these, look up Dredge (note the variety of land counts within one archetype, based on cardpool differences!), Belcher, and Legacy Lands.

Most of the suggestions above apply to non-60-card decks as well. Thus, a typical Limited deck will have 17-18 lands and a typical EDH deck will have 38-40, for instance. Additionally,

In Limited, if you don't have enough playables, it's okay to just go heavy on basic lands — at least you'll avoid mana screw. I usually end up playing 17-18 lands even in low-curve aggressive decks because I'll only have about 22-23 cards I'll actively want to run (sorry, Diregraf Escort!).
In EDH, decks of all colors have ample access to "mana rocks" (e.g., most notably, Sol Ring), and even aggressive decks tend to play cards that cost 6 mana or more. In some ways, nearly every deck is a little bit of a ramp deck.


Journey to Eternity and Thrashing Brontodon How would this interaction work?

I've got a Thrashing Brontodon out, which has the ability

  {1}, Sacrifice Thrashing Brontodon: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

I enchant it with Journey to Eternity:

  When enchanted creature dies, return it to the battlefield under your control, then return Journey to Eternity to the battlefield transformed under your control.

Is it legal to use Trashing Brontodon's ability targeting the Journey to Eternity attached to itself? If so, what happens?

I'm assuming that it is legal and that the Journey to Eternity would return transformed but would love some clarity on this.

Yes, the Journey to Eternity will return to the battlefield transformed and the Thrashing Brontodon will also return to the battlefield.

The exact sequence of events is as follows:

You activate Thrashing Brontodon's ability targeting Journey to Eternity. While paying the cost, you sacrifice Thrashing Brontodon, which triggers Journey to Eternity's ability.
Journey to Eternity is no longer attached to a creature, so it is put into your graveyard as a state-based action [CR 704.5m]
Journey to Eternity's triggered ability goes on the stack on top of Thrashing Brontodon's ability.
Journey to Eternity's ability resolves, returning Thrashing Brontodon to the battlefield and returning Journey to Eternity to the battlefield transformed.
Thrashing Brontodon's ability starts to resolve, but it no longer has a legal target because the Journey to Eternity left the battlefield, so it is countered by the rules [CR 608.2b]


Looking for a board game I once ran into a computer implementation of an old board game that seemed rather interesting, unfortunately I am unable to recall either. What I do remember:

Probable

Java (advertised support for linux)
hex tiles
recruit squads of magical beasts for combat

Possible

recent IOS (or Android) version, unrelated to the Java version
hex tiles arranged in concentric "terrain" zones, the goal being to reach the center
special (angelic/guardian) creatures with greater powers
two modes, one for recruiting and one for combat

This sounds very much like Titan. The Java version may be Colossus.


Dominion: Can travellers (Peasant, Page) be Upgraded or Trade Routed? The upgrades of Peasant and Page (Soldier, Fugitive, Disciple etc) are not in the supply. But can they still be trashed by Trade Route, or can they be upgraded by Upgrade? For example, a Disciple has a technical value of 5 - can it be upgraded to Gold by Upgrade?

Yes. The cards in the traveler lines have costs so that they can be considered for cards such as Upgrade - in all such cases, you just ignore the "*" in their cost (just as you do for Peddler). So it is perfectly legitimate to trash a Disciple with Upgrade in order to gain a Gold.

The main thing that you can't do with those cards is interact with their piles outside of the exchange mechanism - you can't return them with Ambassador, and you can't gain them with something like Workshop.


How to Handle Red/Yellow Secured Dice In Elder Signs, you can cast a spell to secure a die. Let's say this is the situation:

A player needs two terror results to complete the final task in an adventure and rolls 2 green dice and the red die. The two green dice come up with terror and the red die comes up with wild. The player opts to use the two green dice to complete the task and casts a spell to secure the wild die.

On the next player's turn, can that person use the red "wild" that was secured, even if red wouldn't have been part of that player's roll (as in that player did not play a unique item to add the red die to their rolls) or, in order to get access to the wild that is secured on the spell, does that player need to play something to get access to the red die?

Players have access to the Red 'Wild' Die and need not play anything.

From the Elder Sign revised rules (page 12, Adding Dice to the Dice Pool)

  Unique Item cards often show a red die icon. During his turn, a player may discard one of these items to add the red die to his dice pool.** [...] A die that is added to the dice pool stays in the pool until the player either uses it to complete a task or discards it after a failed roll. Unless dice are locked or secured by a spell, the player returns any dice granted by common or unique items to the supply at the end of the Resolution phase.

and (page 13, Securing Dice with Spells)

  Many spells allow a player to secure a die result for later use. These are signified by the securing icon. [...] When a die is secured on a Spell card, it remains there until any player chooses to use it to complete a task, removes it from the spell to roll it (see “Removing Secured Dice” on page 14), or until another effect locks that die (see “Locked Dice” on page 12). [...]

the breakout box on (page 14, Removing Secured Dice)

  Dice secured by focusing or assisting can only be removed by the player who secured them, and they return to the dice pool at the end of his Resolution phase. Dice secured by a spell can be removed from the spell by any player during his turn for use in a roll.

From the Elder Sign FAQ

  Spells and Held Dice

  Spells that secure dice are cast after a player’s roll, not before. The player looks at the roll results. Then, if he wishes to secure a particular die, casts the spell and places the die on the spell. The secured die remains on the spell card until a player uses it to complete a task or until it is otherwise removed (as described below).

Barring any of the reasons below, the secured die is available to complete a task. (Like your aforementioned playing a unique item)

  • Dice may have their results modified by items/abilities before being placed on a spell, but not afterwards.

  • Before any roll, a player may remove some or all of the dice held on spells in order to roll them.

  • Any spell that has no dice remaining on it is discarded.

  • New dice cannot be added to a spell to replace those that
  were removed from it.

  • If a die becomes locked while it is on a spell, the die is removed from the spell and locked. If the spell has no dice remaining on it, the spell is discarded.


Stranded on a tile in Forbidden Island In Forbidden Island, if a player (not pilot or diver) is stranded on a tile with all surrounding tiles sunk, is the game lost or can he be rescued?  Can he give away his treasure to a pilot or diver such that other players win but he (personally) dies?

If a player is stranded on a lone island piece, then they can still be moved using a Helicopter Lift card. Note these can be played by anyone, on anyone's turn, to fly a stranded player to safety (e.g. to Fool's Landing).

If no one has a Helicopter Lift card by the time the island piece needs to be removed from the board, then the player drowns (and everyone loses).  On page 7 of the rules under Pawns on Flooded Tiles:

  If a pawn is on a tile that must be removed, it must immediately "swim" to an adjacent tile (up, down, left, right) that is still part of the island (even flooded). If a pawn is on a tile that is removed and cannot move to an adjacent tile, it sinks into the abyss and everyone loses the game!

  Exception: The Diver may swim to the nearest tile. The Explorer may swim diagonally. the Pilot may fly to any tile.

One special case to note is if the tile has to be removed and you have a helicopter card.  In this case you can save the sinking player as clarified by Matt Leacock in this Board Game Geek thread.

Note however that you may not use a Sandbags card for this purpose, as specified in the rules:

  Note: You cannot play a Sandbag card to save a flooded tile once you've revealed the matching Flood card.

Remember that all players win or lose together, so if one player drowns but the others survive then it still counts as a loss.


Have I missed a trigger if I announce it but then forget to resolve it? Nathan controls a Seeker of the Way and a Favored Hoplite with two +1/+1 counters.

Alice casts Languish.
Nathan casts Gods Willing,
targeting Favored Hoplite. He announces that Heroic and Prowess have triggered.
Alice acknowledges.
Nathan resolves God's Willing. He scries 1.
Alice resolves Languish.
Nathan puts Seeker of the Way into the graveyard.

Nathan waits for a few seconds and then asks if it is his turn. Alice states that Favored Hoplite is dead. Nathan says that he forgot to put a +1/+1 counter on it from Heroic. Alice claims that the trigger was missed.

The Tournament Rules (TR) define a missed trigger as:

  Triggered abilities are considered to be forgotten by their controller once they have taken an action past the point where the triggered ability would have an observable impact on the game.

By the TR definition, the trigger was missed, because Nathan has taken an action beyond the point where the trigger would have an observable impact on the game.

The Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG) defines a missed trigger as:

  A triggered ability triggers, but the player controlling the ability doesn’t demonstrate awareness of the trigger’s existence the first time that it would affect the game in a visible fashion.

By the IPG definition, the trigger was not missed, because Nathan demonstrated awareness of the trigger's existence long before it would affect the game in a visible fashion.

I must be misinterpreting one of the two documents. Was the trigger missed or not? Please answer for both Regular and Competitive REL, and make it clear if they differ.

The trigger is considered missed.

Because demonstrating awareness doesn't mean stating that it triggered, it means acknowledging it at a specific point in time generally when the visible game state changes. According to the IPG the point that needs to be acknowledged in order for the trigger to be not missed is:

  A triggered ability that causes a change in the visible game state (including life totals) or requires a
  choice upon resolution: The controller must take the appropriate physical action or make it clear what the
  action taken or choice made is before taking any game actions (such as casting a sorcery spell or explicitly
  moving to the next step or phase) that can be taken only after the triggered ability should have resolved.
  Note that casting an instant spell or activating an ability doesn’t mean a triggered ability has been forgotten,
  as it could still be on the stack.

The Judging at Regular REL has a similar definition:

  These abilities are considered missed if the player did not acknowledge the ability in any way at the point
  that it required choices or had a visible in-game effect.

Since Nathan did not make the visible change to the game state of adding the counter he did miss the trigger.

At Competitive REL the appropriate remedy is:

  If the triggered ability isn’t covered by the previous two paragraphs, the opponent chooses whether the triggered
  ability is added to the stack. If it is, it’s inserted at the appropriate place on the stack if possible or on the bottom of
  the stack.

And at Regular REL the remedy is:

  If the ability includes the word “may,” assume the
  player chose not to perform it. Otherwise, use your judgement to decide if putting the trigger on the stack
  now would be too disruptive - don’t add it to the stack if significant decisions have been made based on the
  effect not happening!

So at Competitive REL Alice will probably choose not to allow the trigger to go on the stack. At Regular REL since nothing has really changed it would not be unreasonable to put the trigger on the stack, but it depends on if the judge thinks too much has changed since the trigger should have occured.


When do I discard a card for Skeleton Key? Skeleton Key states: "whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card."

My question is - do you discard the card before you draw the card or do you get to see the drawn card before you discard?

You draw the card first. You can even discard the card that you drew. In general, you always follow instructions in the order written on the card.

Interestingly, this doesn't appear to be specified in the basic rulebook or quick start guide. But here's the rule from the comprehensive rules for it:

  608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. However, replacement effects may modify these actions [...]


Collected company + Eternal witness I cast Collected Company and one of the creature cards I choose to put into the battlefield is Eternal Witness.

By the time Eternal witness enters the battlefield, will Collected company be already in the graveyard so I can put it back to my hand?

Yes, you can add Collected Company to your hand.

It works like this:

Collected Company resolves choosing Eternal Witness
Eternal Witness is put onto the battlefield and triggers (but is not put on the stack yet)
Collected Company finishes resolving and is put into the graveyard as the last action of casting a spell
State based actions are checked and see that Eternal Witness has triggered and it's ability is put onto the stack and targets are chosen

By the time Eternal Witness' ability is on the stack and it's time to choose targets, Collected Company is in the graveyard and can be chosen to be returned to hand


Does Kill Shot-ing a morph during combat prevent damage? I just started playing Magic this year, so this might a super-newb question, but here it goes:

My opponent declares that he will attack with this 2/2 colorless morph.
I declare no blockers because I figure I can take 2 damage.
My opponent pays the morph cost to morph his attacking creature into a 5/3 Krumar Bond-Kin.
Then I decide to play Kill Shot.

What happens now? Do I take 5 damage? Do I take 2 damage? Can I even play Kill Shot?

Also, technically speaking, during what phases are the steps I've detailed above happening? I was under the assumption that you can morph whenever you want, but I've read that you can't morph during combat damage resolution, which leads me to believe that I take no damage.

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

More specifically, the actions happened in this order:

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

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

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


Can I use a spell after I complete all the tasks? Can I use a spell to heal all my stamina after I complete the final task?

Yes, you can use spells at the end of an adventure after completing all tasks.  This includes using Dice Lock spells, allowing you to lock unused dice that may be useful for other players on their turn, such as the red die on a wildcard result.


Can I use sleeve protectors for Dominion cards and still fit them back into the box? I am considering getting card protectors for my dominion game. Do the cards still fit back into their slots in the box?

The ones I was thinking about were the ones advertised in the box with dominion from Mayday Games.

I use the Mayday games sleeves for all my Dominion cards.

The sets of 10 Kingdom cards will still fit in their slots in the box just fine.  More numerous cards (like the Treasure and VPs) either will not fit at all, or will have to be jammed in pretty tightly.

Personally, I put Dominion, Intrigue, Seaside and Alchemy into two "long boxes" that you see used for CCGs, with little labeled tabs I printed from BGG separating them.  This takes up a lot less room than the 3 large boxes and half-size Alchemy box, and makes the game portable.

Prosperity is still in its original box since I'm out of space in my long boxes.  I keep all the Kingdom cards in their original slot, but keep Colony and Platinum in some of the larger unused slots rather than the ones labeled for them, because I don't like the tight fit.


Axis and Allies 1941: Transport Rules for on loading and offloading units No House Rules

So My main question is: Can an infantry and a tank (Cargo Option 01) board a transport, then have the transport be moved to a territory which is empty. But hostile, and drop those units there in the same turn?

I ask this because for the longest time. I had the thought that when you move an infantry unit on a transport, it counts as ONE move. So that being said, the infantry unit is stuck on that transport till the next turn.

But a recent video I saw on youtube explaining the rules for transports, mostly not mentioned in the rulebook. Explains that you can indeed move an infantry unit and a tank and/or 2 infantry units on a transport and then on the same turn drop them off somewhere valid to the transport movement of 2 sectors. Which would count as one move for the cargo units. So the tank has one more move left, but infantry is stuck at that territory.

So ->Onload units -> move transport -> offload units -> thats one move for all the units.

Is this the case? Or is this not true?

I hope this is explained well! Thank you in advance!

Yes, what you are describing is possible and called an Amphibious Assault.

However, the sequence load -> move transport -> offload is not limited to situations in which you land in hostile territory, but is also true for offloading into friendly territory.

Here's all your transport options for one single turn:

Board a transport from an adjacent territory, leave the units onboard as cargo or offload into an adjacent territory (which is called bridging)
Board a transport and move the transport, leave the units onboard as cargo or offload them into an adjacent territory
Move a transport, then board it with land unit(s), then leave the units onboard as cargo or offload them into an adjacent territory
Move a transport one space, then board it with land unit(s), then move the transport another space, then leave the units onboard as cargo or offload them into an adjacent territory
Board a transport with one unit, move the transport, board with an additional unit (keeping the transport's capacity in mind), then leave them onboard as cargo or offload one or both units into an adjacent territory
Board a transport with one unit, move the transport one space, board with an additional unit, then move the transport another space and finally leave them onboard as cargo or offload one or both units into an adjacent territory

Do any of the above offloads into hostile territory and it is an Amphibious Assault, which requires you to offload all units on the transport (you cannot choose to offload none or only one). Keep in mind that Amphibious Assaults are conducted during the Combat Move Phase, while transports into friendly territory take place during the Non-Combat Move Phase.

Also, remember that a transport can only offload once per turn and cannot afterwards load, move or unload, again - which is also and especially true for the aforementioned bridging maneuver.

One mistake in what you are describing though: Loading or offloading does not count as ONE move, but as a unit's ENTIRE MOVEMENT. So, if it either boards or leaves a transport or both, a land unit cannot otherwise move during this turn. Therefore, a tank cannot move 1 space and then board a transport, or leave a transport and then still move a space.

All of this is explained in the Unit Profiles chapter of the Rulebook, in the section on Transports, p.28f.


What does "each other player" mean on Unwinding Clock? If I am playing a four man free for all, when do my artifacts untap using Unwinding Clock's ability? I'm having trouble understanding. The card says "each other player". If I am player one, are players two three and four "other players" or is player three the other player since it says "each other player"?

You untap your artifacts during player two's untap step, player three's untap step, and player four's untap step.

This isn't anything that's in the comprehensive rules or anything, it's just the meaning of the words on the card. "Each other player" could be explained as "each player who is not you" or to be really clear "every single player who is not you". None of those players is you, so you untap your artifacts during each of their untap steps.

I think you might have been wondering whether "each other" meant alternating (yes 1, no 2, yes 3, no 4...) like "every other" sometimes does. But "each other" doesn't ever mean that, so there's no ambiguity here!

You can see this demonstrated indirectly a few places in the rules, for example:

  103.4. ... First, the starting player declares whether or not he or she
  will take a mulligan. Then each other player in turn order does the same. ...

Obviously that applies to all players, not alternating players! And of course, all the cards that say "each other player" wouldn't really make much sense if they meant alternating starting with you - in a two player game, that'd be just you.


How should I determine how many lands of each different color to put in my deck? Situation: You've built your at least 2 color deck, know exactly what number of lands you want in it, but don't know how many to put in of each basic-land type.

How do pro-players figure this out? Obviously it seems like a deck that is about 50-50 color-wise would have equal numbers of each basic-land for those colors, but what if the deck is 60-40, 70-30, 80-20, etcetera? Or perhaps its a tri-color deck with a 40-30-30 or a 50-40-10 color distribution? Obviously it will depend on the mana-curve and the cards in the deck, but I'm just looking for some general guidelines.

Not getting any land in your side-color is bad, but not getting any in your main color is even worse. How do you manage these problems to get the best chance of success?

This question addresses how many lands to put in a 40-card deck, and This one addresses the general issues of building a multi-color deck but I'm specifically interested in color distribution of lands. It would be awesome if answers could address both 40 and 60 card decks. I'm talking only about basic lands, as I believe addressing the entire issue of "What lands should I put in my deck?" is far too big for one question.

As an unscientific method for quickly throwing lands into a draft deck, I could up the number of coloured mana symbols in the casting costs of my cards, and use the results as a ratio to choose my lands.  So, if my deck has 20 white mana symbols and 10 blue mana symbols, and I need to select 17 lands, I'd typically be thinking about 11 Plains and 6 Islands.

Though of course it's not quite as simple as that.  You also need to factor in coloured activation costs, of course; and then, consider when you need your different colours of mana.  In the example given above, if many of the white cards cost 4W or 5W, and all the blue cards cost U or UU, then evidently I need to draw my islands early and can get away with drawing plains later on.  That sounds like a pretty peculiar deck, but if for some reason it did exist you could easily be considering even 9 Islands and 8 Plains.

Another example: suppose your deck is pretty much mono-white, with a red splash.  Your red mana symbols may be less than 10%  of your total mana symbols: you may even only have one red card!  Even so, it might not serve you well to dogmatically have 1-2 Mountains and 15-16 Plains.  12 Plains should be more than enough to run your white spells off (assuming none of them cost WWW, anyway!) and you can make up the difference with 5 Mountains, to make sure you have a good chance of playing that red spell in any game you draw it.

Unfortunately I don't think there's any simple magic formula for answering this question: it's just the sort of thing that becomes more and more intuitive the more Magic you play.  But one last tip: if you're playing a lot of Limited games where your mana is letting you down, consider the possibility that it might not be your choice of lands that's letting you down at all - maybe you should be trying to assemble decks that are less ambitious about the range of spells they are trying to play!


Is this play involving Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon & Lightpulsar Dragon valid? I was playing against a kid on dueling network and he swore that this play wasn't legal and I pretty much just ended the match to avoid arguing. I know I might be wrong, but here's how it went (basically OTK cause he had no Effect Veilers, Battle Faders & only 2 cards on backrow which he didn't activate):

In my hand I had 2 Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragons. On the field I had Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (I'm going to write REDMD for short) & Lightpulsar Dragon.

I special summoned Galaxy Eyes Photon Dragon tributing REDMD & Lightpulsar. Since they technically should both go to grave together I special summoned REDMD using Lightpulsar's effect.
I special summon Lightpulsar using REDMD effect.
Special summon another Galaxy Eyes from hand, again special summon REDMD using Lightpulsar's eff, then special summon Lightpulsar.
Overlay for Heiratic Overlord, detach one, tribute REDMD first (important) & then Lightpulsar to pop his backrow. Lightpulsar effect I special summon REDMD again, REDMD special summon Galaxy Eyes photon & attack for OTK.

This rulings page for Lightpulsar Dragon says:

  If "Lightpulsar Dragon" and "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" are
  destroyed on the field simultaneously by the effect of "Dark Hole",
  that "Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon" can be Special Summoned from the
  Graveyard by the effect of "Lightpulsar Dragon".[6]

And that is allegedly a ruling from an official Konami FAQ, though the link to it was broken.

If REDMD and Lightpulsar Dragon are fine to combo in this way then I don't really see the problem with your OTK.  It's not like Lightpulsar Dragon isn't known for featuring in lots of OTK decks... anyone can just google it to see that!


Effect of nope card mid attack Playing exploding kittens and the game is unclear about the effect of nope cards mid attack. If a player has already drawn one of their attack and it's a nope, can they play it? What happens?

While not explicity stated in the rules, my understanding is that Nope reacts to a card (or pair, or triple) just played, in which case once you've drawn the Attack has already resolved and you can't "Nope" it.


Do all the haunts in Betrayal at House on the Hill follow a pattern? So, I've recently received Betrayal at House on the Hill, and I'm smitten. I'm also learning Java in my spare time. I thought it would be pretty cool to team up with my friend, who's had more experience with this, and make a very similar game in Java.

The issue we have is that we don't know all of the Haunts yet, so we can't program them either. My though was that all of the Haunts follow one of a set of patterns we could emulate:

Find items before X happens
Find items AND do Y before X happens
Kill Monsters X (and/or y)
Kill Monster X with Weapon Y
Destroy item

Granted I haven't played more than a handful of haunts, but they all seem to play along a pattern.

Is there a full list of all the ways haunts play out?

This is a little tough to answer without spoilers, but to put it simply, there are a lot of haunts with hero win conditions that are similar to the ones you mentioned, but subtly different, or where the lose condition varies, and some where it doesn't fit your options.
The nature of Betrayal is that each haunt does change the rules of the game in a unique manner, and so after basic functionality the program would have to be deal with haunts on a per-case basis.

Answer by proxy for Samthere's comment. Comment if he posts his own answer and I will delete.


Was it ever the case that Scrabble tiles had to be placed contiguously? I learnt to play Scrabble with my grandma in the 80s, and for years she was the only person I played against (I didn't have a board). She played the rules she was taught when she first learnt the game as a young woman. One such rule was that you had to play all your tiles contiguously. I.e., you can add PEA to an existing L to make PEAL or LEAP, but not
PLEA because the latter would involve splitting your placement either side of an existing letter.
Of course, this is not a rule. But has it ever been? Had she misremembered the rules, or just not reread them since the 50s?! I would be interested to know.
I still play this rule sometimes in memoriam, and it makes for a different challenge.
Her last ever word (played in 2007) was LEGACY for 42 on a triple word. She won the game.

It seems it has never been a rule.
I've found a (non-HTTPS) site here that shows previous rules from different version of the game.  The oldest rules they have are from 1948, the year the game became Scrabble.
In the rules examples, they show the word "FARM" being played intersecting with "HORN", so that is clearly using "FA" and "M", splitting placement either side of the letter "R".


Can Aminatou, the Fateshifter target herself with her -1 ability? Can Aminatou, the Fateshifter target herself with her -1 ability?

If this is the case, does it mean that she can create an infinite loop of "ETB" by herself?

Aminatou, the Fateshifter cannot target herself with her -1 ability, because her ability says "another target permanent", which means she can target any permanent you own except for herself.

  −1: Exile another target permanent you own, then return it to the battlefield under your control.


Can an indestructible creature die by a combination of damage and -X/-X effects? Say I have a 5/5 indestructible creature. An opponent plays a 3 damage spell on this creature. After that spell resolves, the opponent then plays a spell which gives the creature -2/-2 until end of turn. Does the creature die?

No, he would be a 3/3 marked with 3 damage. This 3 damage would be 'lethal', but since he is indestructible, he is immune to such deaths.

  702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).


Are there any cards in Yu-Gi-Oh that let me interact with face-down banished cards? Pot of Desires is a card where you banish 10 cards from the top your deck, face-down to draw 2 cards. Is there anyway I can change those cards, like flipping them face-up or returning them to the Graveyard?

There are a few cards that allow you to put these back in the graveyard or deck.
E.g. "Psyframelord Omega" and "Necroface".

The rule around this is that you cannot use cards that limit you to a certain card type (for example 'escape from the different dimension' can only summon back a monster).
The cards I gave as an example do not have these limitations but can put back any type of card, so they still work with face down cards.
Of note is, you yourself can still look at these cards, so you do not have to pick them blindly to put back in the graveyard/deck


In Magic, when and why did the rules change to check life totals “continuously” instead of at the end of each phase? In the old days, the rules of Magic specified that players' life totals were only checked at the end of a phase, or at the beginning or end of combat. The modern rules, however, specify that life totals are checked as a state-based action, every time a player would receive priority.

This means that by the time somebody's life hits 0, it's too late to play spells or resolve triggered abilities that would save them. The correct play is to take preventative action before the fatal event would occur.

When did this change take place? Was there any specific reason for it, aside from obvious factors like streamlining and consistency?

Wikipedia suggests this as the reasoning for the 6th edition rules changes:

  This brought that loss condition in line with the only other loss
  condition specified by the rules; a player being forced to draw a card
  when he has an empty library has always been an immediate loss.

Which is certainly more pleasingly symmetrical.

Thinking about the modern approach to Magic design, there are almost certainly other good reasons: like mana burn, it's a corner case that doesn't come up all that often (at least, not often enough for it to be worth having special rules for it); like damage on the stack, it's the sort of thing that might be counterintuitive for the new player ("What do you mean, you killed me after you were already dead? I'm not playing this stupid game...").  In general, weird intricacies of the rules that only "experienced players" are able to exploit are not favoured at Wizards any more!


When a land becomes a creature, is it untapped? A friend had the land Mobilized District on the battlefield. He was activating its ability to change this land to a 3/3 Citizen creature. When he activated this ability, he also tapped Mobilized District to add one more mana to pay the costs of this activated ability. Now, when this land becomes a creature, does this creature untap or does it stay tapped because he also tapped this land to produce an additional mana?

The creature will still be tapped because nothing has untapped it.
Tapped vs untapped is one of the four categories of statuses that a permanent has.  Status is not affected by permanent type, and changing permanent types does not make the permanent a new object.  See the relevant rules:

110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. A card or token becomes a permanent as it enters the battlefield and it stops being a permanent as it’s moved to another zone by an effect or rule.
110.6. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
110.6c A permanent retains its status until a spell, ability, or turn-based action changes it, even if that status is not relevant to it.


Which of these rules for a Scrabble first turn play are official? I've played scrabble with different groups of people and their rules on first turns vary a lot.  The rules I've seen used are:

Double score for first turn (Scrabble rules confirms this and is the first thing a scrabble player learns)
The word's middle letters have to be dead-center. ("JUG"'s "U" must be in the middle of the board)
You can only play a word horizontally. (Never seen this in writing but noticed that I haven't seen anyone play vertically either.)

Which of these are official?

Like you said, the center tile counts as a Double Word Score tile, so whoever plays first gets double the points.  That is an official rule.

The second and third rules mentioned are house rules, and are not supported in the Scrabble rules.  The second rule would prevent you from hitting one of the adjacent Double Letter Score spaces, as even a 7 letter word wouldn't be long enough to reach it, since they are 5 spaces away.

Even the most recent Scrabble Tournament rules clearly indicate that the first word played must simply cover the center tile, and be spelled top-to-bottom or left-to-right.


Are 1/1 creatures sent to the graveyard from one damage before Rite of Passage's ability activates? Rite of Passage gives creatures I control a +1/+1 counter whenever they are dealt damage.

If a 1/1 creature was dealt one damage, would it be sent to the graveyard first or would the creature be saved by getting a +1/+1 counter? Is the same true for being dealt one damage by combat?

My opponent and I had 1/1 spirit tokens and I also had rite of passage under my control and whenever I blocked his spirits with mine, he insisted that they have been dealt damage, therefore their toughness is brought to zero and they die before receiving a counter, but I argued that rite of passage's ability triggers instantaneously and they become 2/2 with a given counter, then he said "if that were true, that would be op". Which version is correct?

You opponent was correct and the creature will die.

In Magic the Gathering there is virtually nothing that "triggers instantaneously". With the exception of abilities that only create mana all abilities go on the stack. There are a few special actions that a player can perform that do not use the stack as well, but these are not considered "abilities" by the games rules. Also if there is an effect that says to do something "instead of" something else then the new action will occur when the original would and not go on the stack.

None of these exceptions are relevant here so when combat damage happens the the trigger will go on the stack, then state based actions will be checked and the creature will die before the ability resolves or any player gains priority. Even if you had a special action you could perform that would save the creature it will be dead before you have a chance to do it.


What is this oversized playing card deck for, with numbers 11-15 and Barons and Knights? Just this past weekend, I got my hands on these playing cards. They contain all of the amino acids encoded as numbers ranging from 2 to 15, Aces, Barons, Knights, Jacks, Queens, Kings, and two Jokers. Barring the Jokers, there  is one of each number/face card per suit. The suits resemble those of your standard decks of cards. The game came with some sort of instructions that are in Japanese (I don't know enough Japanese to translate them), but I was wondering if anyone could point me towards the name off this set of cards (if it actually exists) or at least some games that I can play with them. I know that I can take out 11-15 and the Barons/Knights, but it would be cool to play something with all of the cards.

The deck wasn't made with 20 cards in each suit to match a particular kind of game — it was made with 20 cards because that's the number of amino acids.
Google translate gives us some indicators of that from the product description:

4 to one of the base 4 in one of the suits, 20 of amino acid 1 from 20 (...)
Normal playing cards 13 compared to the sheets, because the number [ed: of amino acids] is large, J (Jack, 18 th), Q ( Queen, 19 number ) , K (King, 20 th) in front of the 16 as the number K N (Knight, Knight) , 17 as No. B are (Bishop, priest) the picture card of the addition.

Though very rough (very rough), they're acknowledging playing cards are usually 13 to a suit, but they voluntarily expanded the number and added a couple of picture cards because there's a larger number of amino acids than just 13.
The page consistently says it's for Trump (the Japanese name for our standard 52-card playing cards) and never identifies any other game for which you'd use these.
Instead, it's something brand new, as they close off saying, and it's for you to figure out what you might like to do with these cards:

Because it is a new playing cards, to devise how to play, while having fun, the root of the living world is a principle DNA should understand the relationship between the amino acid.


When a card instructs an opponent to do something, how does that work in a multi-player game? Using "Demonic Hordes" as an example, since that's the card that made me think of this:
https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1154
If I have two opponents and don't pay the upkeep cost, who gets to choose which land I sacrifice? Is it simply the next player in turn/APNAP order? I can't imagine what else it would be, but is there a specific section in the comprehensive rules where this is explicitly stated?

You choose an opponent. That opponent chooses a land for you to sacrifice.

At the beginning of your upkeep, unless you pay BlackBlackBlack, tap Demonic Hordes and sacrifice a land of an opponent's choice.

(You may choose a different opponent each upkeep that you do not pay BlackBlackBlack.)
From a 1995 ruling:

Choose a different opponent each time the effect applies.

(That link has a long list of such rulings for the cards that were available at the time)
For a more recent rules compilation, see
https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Multiplayer
According to the comments, theses are now in section 601.5a


Casting Emry, Lurker of the Loch with Gilded Goose & food tokens Emry, Lurker of the Loch costs 1 generic mana less for each artifact I control. Gilded Goose can turn my food tokens into mana.

Let's say I have Goose, food token, and a land in play. Emry is supposed to cost 2 mana, but after I sacrifice the food token Emry costs 3 mana. I can pay two mana, but not three. Can I cast Emry or not?

Yes, you can cast Emry this way.
As you are casting a spell, you have an opportunity after you calculate the final cost but before you pay the cost to activate mana abilities. If you activate the Gilded Goose's last ability at that time, then the Food token gets factored in to the calculation of Emry's cost and you get the mana from sacrificing it to spend on the cost to cast Emry.
In the rules section about casting spells, the final few steps of casting a spell are as follows:

601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can’t be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes “locked in.” If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.

601.2g If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, “Mana Abilities”). Mana abilities must be activated before costs are paid.

601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.
Example: You cast Altar’s Reap, which costs {1}{B} and has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. You sacrifice Thunderscape Familiar, whose effect makes your black spells cost {1} less to cast. Because a spell’s total cost is “locked in” before payments are actually made, you pay {B}, not {1}{B}, even though you’re sacrificing the Familiar.


How fast effects work when played at end of turn So i just played a game with my buddy and he used a fast effect when i said i end my turn. The effect said until end of turn a creature gains shroud and you draw a card. I thought it meant until end of his turn but he said no it was until the end of my turn because it was at the end of my turn when cards effect was played .

How does this actually work.

The end phase has two parts: the beginning of the end step, and the cleanup step.

At the beginning of the end step, any ability that reads "at the beginning of the end step" or "at the beginning of the next end step" will trigger.  This only happens once each turn, and players will get priority (meaning that they can cast spells (if the are instants or have flash) and activate abilities) afterwards.

Then the cleanup step happens, and all "until end of turn" effects end (among other things, such as discarding down to your hands limit). If this causes a change in board state (such as a creature dying), then players will get priority again, but there will also be another cleanup step. This can repeat several times, but it always ends in a cleanup step. cleanup will always be the last thing that happens in a turn

Since the effect that you describe is an "until end of turn effect", it is removed during cleanup, and will never persist between turns.

Incidentally, the difference between the Beginning of the End Step and the Cleanup Step led to the existence of the strangest keyword ability to ever exist in Magic: Substance.

Substance was never printed on a card, didn't do anything, and doesn't exist any more.

So what was it?

Back in Ye Olden Times, there was no "beginning of the end step", and triggers that happened at "end of turn" happened after cleanup.  When they introduced the modern turn structure with the Sixth Edition Rules, these two swapped, and it became possible to cast spells after end of turn triggers happened.

This mostly didn't effect things much, but there was a small set of cards that would generate a game object (like a token, counter, or card) at instant speed and then remove it at end of turn using an "end of turn" trigger.  With the turn order swap, it was now possible to cast them at the end of one turn and have their effect persist until the next turn, which had not been intended effect of the cards.  Also, toughness pumping cards (such as Armor of Thorns) would get removed before the damage that they were protecting against was erased, possibly causing the creature it was enchanting to die unexpectedly.

In order to retain the original functionality, these cards were errataed to grant their objects "substance" until end of turn, and then attached the "remove from play" trigger to the loss of substance instead of until end of turn.  This meant that they would get removed from play during the cleanup step instead of the beginning of the end step, guaranteeing that they wouldn't last from one turn to the next.

Eventually, however, it occurred to someone that they could just have these abilities trigger during the cleanup step instead of the beginning of the end step, and substance was removed altogether.


How does Ithaqua's "Icy Winds" ability work with Healing Stone? The Ancient One Ithaqua's "Icy Winds" ability reads as follows:

  Each time an investigator uses either a unique item or a spell, he loses 1 stamina.

The unique item "Healing Stone" reads as follows:

  Before rolling, discard to fully restore your stamina and sanity.

If my investigator has max 5 stamina and I use the Healing Stone, will my resulting stamina be 4 or 5? Additionally, can I use the Healing Stone if my investigator only has one stamina remaining?

There is no official ruling, so you will have to house rule it
There seems to be some concern with Fantasy Flight Games slow FAQ releases and lack of designer feedback on rules clarifications. One do the designers, Richard Launius, has answered some questions sent directly to him, but they aren't considered official rules clarifications.
This particular question has been asked on the FFG forums (Q3), but without an official answer. The question is also on BGG, but again lacks an official response.
Neither the revised rules nor the FAQ address the timing of the application of the Ancient One's (AO) abilities and Item effects. So, you have two choices:

Apply the AO effect first: This would mean that a Healing Stone would restore your stamina to the maximum (5 in your example). It also means that if you are 1 stamina you would be devoured. Which means that while nothing in the rules prevent you from using the Healing Stone at 1 Stamina, you probably wouldn't for strategic reasons.

Being Devoured - If at any time an investigator loses sanity or stamina that causes him to drop to zero or less, he is devoured.
When an investigator is devoured, that player adds one doom token to the doom track and returns his investigator card and marker to the game box. [...]

Apply the AO effect after the Item - This would mean that Healing Stone would restore your Stamina to the maximum minus one (4 in your example). It also means you have nothing to fear when using Healing Stone at 1 Stamina.


Full explanation of how multi-phrase cards work So, consider Snap or Subtle Strike

and generally other spells that do multiple things, whether as 1 sentence, 1 sentence with commas, 2 sentences, 2 separated sentences, etc. etc.

I struggle with understanding when failure to do or be able to do parts of a spell will stop other bits from happening. As far as I can tell sometimes the spell fizzles, sometimes you go "up to the bit you can't do", and sometimes you get to keep going anyway?

Obviously, for an individual card the gatherer errata generally tell you such things.

Is there a complete description of the rules for this.

Ideally a complete readable description, rather than "here are the 17 formal rules clauses that apply", though obviously having a record of those clauses would be a useful addendum, and might be the only viable answer.

The two most important rules here are

Do as much as you can (609.3 below), but...
...if every target of your spell has become illegal, then the whole spell is removed from the stack without resolving. (608.2b below) (Commonly known as the spell "fizzles".)

So applying this to your examples:
Snap: If the target of Snap has become illegal (e.g. left the battlefield, been given hexproof, etc), then since it is the only target, the spell never resolves and you do not untap any lands. However, imagine instead that the target of Snap had some weird effect on it like "This creature cannot be returned to players' hands by spells or abilities." In this case, the first part of the spell would be unable to affect the creature, but since it's still a legal target the spell still resolves so you would proceed to untap two lands.
Subtle Strike: If you choose to do both and pick two different targets, then even if one of the targets becomes illegal you will still resolve the effect on the other.

609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.
608.2b .... If all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve. It’s removed from the stack and, if it’s a spell, put into its owner’s graveyard. Otherwise, the spell or ability will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal...

Note that 608.2b has been updated in the Dominaria rules update; previously a spell whose targets had all become illegal would be countered rather than simply removed from the stack.


Can you select role which gives you money but you can't use it in Puerto Rico? I have a situation where a player chooses the Trader because it has 5 coins even though he has nothing to sell in the trading house. Can he do it?

Taken from the rules:

  Implementing the action of a character is voluntary (exception: Captain)

Note: You can still choose Captain if you have no goods, the exception just means that if you pull Captain and have goods, you have to ship.


Tournament rules for RftG, how to ensure fair play? I am going to run a Race for the Galaxy tournament at WBC this year. You should all come and play! I received a message that last year, one of the competitors suspected another player was underpaying for the cards he was building.

Is there a reasonable way to make sure players play Race fairly? We want that no one can pay less for their builds than they should, that no one is keeping extra cards from explore, etc. Is there some way to do this that isn't overly burdensome to the players and the pace of the game?

You could discard cards face down in-front of yourself, splayed out so that a count can easily be made, before discarding the cards to the common discard pile. Alternately, until the next reshuffle, you could place those cards face down under the development/planet (splayed slightly) that they are paying. This would give players a much longer time to verify that they didn't cheat.

I am not exactly sure how someone would keep extra cards from an explore. During the explore phase, don't you keep either 2 cards of 3 (normally, without any development/planet bonuses) or if you explore deep you keep 1 of 7 cards. How exactly is someone keeping extra cards from this? Are they merging their hand and their Explore, or keeping them in different hands?


In Gin-Rummy, when both players Pass, can the active player make a Pickup? In Gin-Rummy, if both players pass the first face-up card, does the first player must Draw from the pile or she can Pickup the first discard?

Obviously, there is no benefit in first pass a card, then when the opponent also show no interset by passing, to pick it up, however, does the rules allow it?

Pagat says the first player cannot go back and take the face up card but must draw from the stock:

  If both players refuse the turned-up card, the non-dealer draws the top card from the stock pile.

It seems to be the common rule.
Wiki, Spruce Crafts, WikiHow all agree


Dice Masters Casual Setup I recently purchased the Civil War dice-masters starter. After playing the starter scenario a few times, I would like incorporate the rest of the cards into a game.

Question - How do we setup a game not using the starter scenario?

In the starter scenario, each player receives two heroes who each have two die. Additionally, three cards are placed in the middle and "shared" between the players.

If we decide not to use the starter scenario, how do we pick heroes, dice, and the shared middle cards for a game? How many of each?

The different options for setting up games are located on pages 22 and 23 of the starter set rules. I have no idea if WizKids replicated these in the rulebook for the Civil War starter, but the link should get you going. Assuming you only have the starter set, you're best off going with the draft option for now. If you start buying additional packs it will become more feasible to build teams before a game using the Basic Teams setup. And if you really get into the game, the Tournament Teams setup will probably be what you'd use at your local gaming store. Below are the rules for each.

Draft:

This is a useful style of play when only one player has a set of dice.
Choose a number between 8 and 20, based on the size of the collection being used. Both player will field up to that number of dice, and start the game with that many life. Shuffle the basic action cards and choose three or four of them at random to use. This makes for a different environment to consider when drafting.
Place all the dice, sorted by type, in the center of the table. Place all the available  character and action cards in the center, stacking cards that share the same name together, even if they have different subtitles. Determine the first and second players. The second player picks first, choosing one card stack. If that player picks a stack with more than one card, that player must choose which card to use. The second player also takes all the dice for that character and decides how many (up to the max listed and the chosen team limit) to use. The first player then chooses. The players alternate until all cards have been chosen. Players use all cards for which they have dice. Cards that have no dice to them (e.g., the player drafted them after reaching the team limit) are not used in the game.

Basic Teams:

Use this variant when you want to explore new potentials and try new strategies. Each player starts with 15 life. Build your team to the following specifications.
Choose two different Basic Action cards. You cannot bring two of the same Basic Action card. However, when you play, it’s possible that your opponent may have chosen the same card(s) as you did. That’s fine; there are just twice as many of those dice as normal.
Choose up to 6 cards. You can choose any mix of characters and actions (except Basic actions), and you can mix teams, etc. However, you cannot choose more than one card with the same title on it, even if the cards have different subtitles. For example, if you choose Iron Man, Philanthropist, you cannot also choose Iron Man, Inventor. Choose up to 15 dice. Note that all cards have a limit on how many dice can be on the card. You cannot bring more dice than the card allows. You can bring less, of course, to make room for dice on other cards. However, each of your six cards you choose must have at least one die assigned to it.
Each player reveals the two Basic Action cards they want on the battlefield. It is possible that both players choose the same Basic Action card(s); in that case, there are two sets of those dice available. Assign colors to each of the Basic Action cards revealed, place them in the center of the table, and place the three matching dice on each one.
Then both players reveal their personal cards, and place their matching dice on them. Choose a first player and start fighting!

Tournament Teams:

For tournament competition, each player starts with 20 life. Build your team to the following specifications.
Choose two different Basic Action cards.  Choose up to 8 cards. You can choose any mix of characters and actions (except Basic actions), and you can mix teams, heroes with villains, etc. However, you cannot choose more than one card with the same title on it, even if the cards have different subtitles. Choose up to 20 dice. Note that all cards have a limit on how many dice can be on the card. You can bring less, of course, to make room for dice on other cards. However, each of your eight cards you choose must have at least one die assigned to it.
At the tournament, reveal all the cards and dice you chose at the same time, and simultaneously with your designated opponent.


Can a kinged piece jump another king? Can a kinged piece jump another king piece?

As was indicated by @JaysonSmith, a king can always be jumped by another king. This holds for any variant of draughts/checkers.

The privileges that a king obtains differ by variant, however.

backward movement: in all variants, kings can move backward, but men cannot.
backward capture: in all variants, kings can jump backward, but men cannot for American/English checkers/draughts, Italian, Spanish, Czech and Thai draughts.
long range movement and capture: a king can move and capture long ranged (like a bishop in chess) for International, Frisian, Russian, Spanish, Czech and Thai draughts, as well as for Pool checkers, whereas men are short ranged in all variants.
invulnerable being captured by men: a king cannot be jumped by men in Italian draughts.


Controller change mechanics How do abilities work when card controller changes?
Playing MTGA I saw these:

Taking control of Rekindling Phoenix and having it die creates the egg for the new controller, which makes sense to me.

But taking control of a creature with Rogue's Gloves and damaging opponent lets HIM draw a bonus card, not the creature's current controller.

Is that a bug in MTGA or some strange rule?

These are both correct. You see a difference because the abilities are on different permanents.

When you take control of an opponent's creature that is equipped with Rogue's Gloves, the Rogue's Gloves stays attached to the creature but the equipment itself is still controlled by the opponent, and the triggered ability is on the equipment. So, when the creature deals combat damage to the opponent, the opponent controls the Gloves' triggered ability and they get to draw the card.

  301.5d An Equipment’s controller is separate from the equipped creature’s controller; the two need not be the same. Changing control of the creature doesn’t change control of the Equipment, and vice versa. Only the Equipment’s controller can activate its abilities. However, if the Equipment grants an ability to the equipped creature (with “gains” or “has”), the equipped creature’s controller is the only one who can activate that ability.


How does the strategy of attacking a support unit in a skirmish work? I found strategy guide here
that states:

  Killing supporting unit Imagine you want to kill a special unit (say,
  a hero) but don’t have the force to kill all units in his area. Let’s
  imagine you want to kill the Gantrithor, supported by a Zealot. Now,
  your enemy will be confident since the Gantrithor can’t be splashed by
  simply killing off the Zealot, a tactic you would normally use. But
  there is another way: simply set a air-unit like the Valkyrie against
  the Zealot. It shouldn’t be hard to penetrate its health, and then the
  supporting unit will be destroyed. The only defense against such
  things except of course to avoid these pairings in your areas is to
  build the Defense Module.

I understand that the Gantrithor should be immune to ground splash damage since the Zealot is a ground unit.

However the Valkyrie can only target air so it can't target the Zealot, did I miss a rule somewhere? Can you attack a support like this? Or is it just an air splash damage that triggers? You normally need to kill the front line unit for a splash to happen, if this was a Wraith I could see this working, but can someone help?

Edit:(I did miss a rule) The strategy is done WITHOUT using splash damage at all, see bolded part in the answer.

I've had a response here
From a user named: David F:

  It's invoking this rule. Bolded the part that's relevant for this.

    rulebookwrote: Front-Line Unit Combat Capability Effects When
    resolving a skirmish, if a player’s final attack strength equals or
    exceeds the final health value of the enemy, that player’s attack is
    said to have “sufficient strength,” meaning that he normally will
    destroy an enemy unit in the skirmish. However, the involved units’
    types, combat capabilities, and arrangement in the skirmish will
    affect whether and which figures are actually destroyed. The following
    factors govern this determination, and are considered during the
    “Destroy Units and Discard Cards” step of skirmish resolution.

    If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit’s combat capability allows it to target the opponent’s front-line unit,
    the opposing front-line unit is destroyed. (The combat rules and
    examples on pages 26–33 assume this.)

    - If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit’s combat capability is unable to target the opponent’s front-line unit,
    but is able to target one of the opposing supporting units in the same
    skirmish, such a supporting unit is destroyed instead. (If multiple
    opposing supporting units are possible targets, the player who
    controls those units selects which one is destroyed.)

    If a player has sufficient strength, and his front-line unit is unable to target any opposing unit in the skirmish, no opposing units
    are destroyed.

  Deliberately put a Valkyrie in front, go "oh sorry I can't hit the
  Zealot. I guess I'll hit the air unit behind it then".

  To counter this, use the Defensive Module from Brood War (ruled here
  that you can switch units within the same skirmish).


Can you confirm these DEFCON verbs for Twilight Struggle? For example, DEFCON is currently at 3.  Due to some trigger (event card, end of turn, etc.) it needs to move.  Can you confirm my understanding of the verbs?

INCREASE: Move DEFCON to left to 4

IMPROVE:  Move DEFCON to left to 4

DECREASE: Move DEFCON to right to 2

DEGRADE:  Move DEFCON to right to 2

LOWER:    Move DEFCON to right to 2

You've got them straight.  The rule book uses all of those terms.

The rules are pretty clear on improve, decrease, degrade, and lower:

4.5 A. Improve DEFCON Status: If the DEFCON level is lower than 5, add one to the DEFCON status (towards Peace).
6.3.4 Any Coup attempt in a Battleground country degrades the DEFCON status one level (towards Nuclear War).
8.1.1 DEFCON status measures nuclear tension in the game. The DEFCON level begins the game at its maximum ‘peace’ level of 5. It can go down and back up due to events and actions by the players, but if, at any point, it decreases to , the game ends immediately.

The Extended Playthrough uses increase:

TURN 2
(DEFCON increases to 3, Mil Ops requirements met by both players, no lost points)

[Emphasis added to rule citations]


Can I legally make a boggle variant? Is it legal to create a boggle version that has a different name, language and rules without being sued by hasbro?

Copyright only covers specific implementations, i.e. the exact wording of the rules.  Patents are a nonissue in this case, Boggle was released in 1972 so any patent applying to it would have expired years ago.


If the starting card is a Wild, does the starting player still play after picking a color? I've noticed that while playing Uno with friends we had a situation that came up that I am not 100% sure with, again we are playing official rules.

If the first card off the top of the deck is a wild card, I understand the person to the left of the dealer chooses a colour but does he/she also place/draw a card in the same turn or is it up to the player next to him/her?

http://www.unorules.com/

  If the first card turned up from the Draw Pile (to form the Discard
  Pile) is an Action card, the Action from that card applies and must be
  carried out. The exceptions are if the Wild or Wild Draw Four cards
  are turned up, in which case – Return them to the Draw Pile, shuffle
  them, and turn over a new card.


Do I have to pay commander tax when casting my commander using Geode Golem's ability? Hey guys I have a question regarding Geode Golem. Its text says "Whenever Geode Golem deals combat damage to a player, you may cast your commander from the command zone without paying its mana cost. (You still pay any additional costs.)". Does this means that when I deal combat damage with this creature to an opponent and my commander has commander tax, I have to pay the commander tax also?

Yes.
One of the rulings for this card on The Gatherer:

If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs, such as bestow costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, such as the commander tax, those must be paid to cast the card.


Is the ability of Sphinx of New Prahv cumulative? The passive ability says

  Spells your opponents cast that target Sphinx of New Prahv cost {2} more to cast.

If I have two copies in play, does the opponent has to pay {4} extra to target one Sphinx with a spell?

No, just {2}; in this case, Sphinx of New Prahv refers only to itself. (Also, if the card's name somehow changes, it would still refer to itself.) The relevant rule is

  201.4. Text that refers to the object it's on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.

It would be different ({4}) if the card would read

  Spells your opponents cast that target a card named Sphinx of New Prahv cost {2} more to cast.

but it doesn't.


Munchkins Combat Shenanigans Level 1 sock puppet says players may not play cards from hand to aid or help this combat. May they use the cards that are in their unequipped zone?

If the items are marked "play during any combat" then yes. If the items are to be equipped, then no, you may not change what items are equipped in the middle of combat.


Splitting up a run containing a joker If I have a run of 7, 8, 9, 10, J, 11, can I move the 7, 8 and 9 to begin another run, leaving the 10, joker, and 11 in a run of 3 or more?

Rummikub allows you to break up sets and runs to form new groupings as you wish, as long as all groupings on the board are valid at the end of the turn.  This means all sets and runs must consist of at least 3 tiles and follow the other rules for creating them.  Therefore you can always split a run into two (or more) smaller runs, provided that each of the smaller runs still has at least 3 tiles.

However, it's difficult to answer your question as written because the initial state of the tiles on the board is invalid.  A joker tile must "stand in" for another tile that would be valid in the run, so you can't have "10, J, 11" - there can't be a tile in between the 10 and 11.

If we assume that your initial state is a run of 7, 8, 9, 10, J, 12, then it is legal to pull the 7, 8, and 9 away to form a new run, leaving the 10, J, 12 as a valid run.


What are the rules for playing with this unusual Mancala board? I recently received a Mancala set hand-made from Africa.  It has an unusual set up, and I was hoping someone knew the rules for playing on this set up.

The board is an arrangement of circle and square pits in a board.  There are 4 rows and 8 columns arranged as follows (o = circle pit, x = square pit)

oooooooo
oooxoooo
ooooxooo
oooooooo

Has anyone seen a board like this before?  Does anyone know if there are rules for playing on a board like this?

Sounds like you've got a Bao board.

Bao, an East African Mancala, is the only known Mancala to make use of square pits as well as round ones. These are called nyumba (house), one for each player, and marks your starting position. There are also some extra rules for the nyumba in the main variation Bao la kiswahili. The Wikipedia article I've linked to has detailed instructions for both simplified (Bao la kujifunza) and Bao la kiswahili.

You can also use the same board, and ignore the shape of the special pits, to play other four-rank Mancala variants. One example would be Omweso. Enjoy the cool board!


Uno: With a last card power card, are you allowed to play it after you draw a card? Assuming you play with the following rules:

You can't end on a power card (+4, color change)
If you can't play and draw a card you are allowed to play it immediatly if that card does match

If you're holding a power card and you draw a card since you can't end on a power card, can you then play the power card instantly (in the same turn like rule 2) since you have 2 cards now?

According to these rules

  If the player has no matches or they choose not to play any of their
  cards even though they might have a match, they must draw a card from
  the Draw pile. If that card can be played, play it. Otherwise, the
  game moves on to the next person in turn.

You need to play the card you just drew. So you can not use the power card.


Gloomhaven - movement dance to gain momentum The Brute in our party has an attack that is based on movement. Using 4 movement, does using 4 Move to back out of their hex and back into it 2x count as moving 4 spaces?

If they moved 4 spaces then it counts as four.  Where they end is irrelevent.

From the rules on moving :-

  A “Move X” ability allows a character to move up to X number of hexes on the map. Figures
  (characters and monsters) can move through allies, but cannot move through enemies or
  obstacles. Traps and other terrain effects of hexes must be resolved when a figure enters them
  with normal movement. A figure cannot end its movement in the same hex as another figure.
  Figures can never move through walls.

Note what it doesn't say.  There is nothing to prohibit finishing in the same space.  There is nothing to prohibit moving back and forth between two spaces.  For some attacks and items where number of spaces moved is taken into account then this is a valid tactic.

There is also This question asked on BGG. The designer gave a thumb up to answer confirming a player can finish a move where they started.


Backgammon board for 3 players I've been thinking about how backgammon might be extended to 3 or more players. Below is a mockup of my current idea of what the board might look like. The concept could technically be extended to any number of players, but it would be less and less fun with more players probably, because each player only encounters the checkers of the players on either side of him or her.

I'm excited to try this out with some friends but haven't been able to yet because of COVID-19. So for now I'm looking for feedback on problems that may make the game unworkable, or improvements to the board layout (the flow of the pieces is a little awkward but it's the best I've come up with so far).

It looks like these have already been done, and done well:

Trigammon

Quadgammon

The Quadgammon board is very cleverly designed!


What does an Evil Twin of an opponent's Essence of the Wild look like? Let's say I have an Evil Twin entering the battlefield under my control, and my opponent controls an Essence of the Wild. I choose the Essence as the creature that the Twin will copy.

When the Evil Twin enters the battlefield, what will it look like? What abilities will it have?

More importantly, when I cast a Diregraf Ghoul after all that, what will it look like? What abilities will it have? Does it enter the battlefield tapped or untapped?

First, the Twin enters the battlefield as a modified copy of the Essence. It's a green 6/6 Avatar named “Essence of the Wild” that costs 3GGG and has two abilities. These are:

“Creatures you control enter the battlefield as a copy of [this] Essence of the Wild.”
“UB, T: Destroy target creature with the same name as this creature.”

It's not blue or black, and it's not a Shapeshifter.

When the Diregraf Ghoul would come into play, two replacement effects are relevant. One is a copy effect that causes it to become Essence of the Wild, and one is a regular effect that causes it to become tapped. Rule 616.1 specifies that the copy effect is applied first. Once the copy is applied, the creature no longer has Diregraf Ghoul's text, so the tap effect ceases to exist and is never applied.

  616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object‘s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4).

  [...]

  616.1c If any of the replacement and/or prevention effects would cause an object to become a copy of another object as it enters the battlefield, one of them must be chosen. If not, proceed to rule 616.1d.

  616.1d Any of the applicable replacement and/or prevention effects may be chosen.

  616.1e Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply.

Diregraf Ghoul comes into play as a copy of your evil Essence of the Wild. It has all the characteristics of your evil Essence, including the destroy-same-name ability and the name “Essence of the Wild”. This is because characteristics modified by a copy effect are themselves copyable (706.9a). It has none of the characteristics of Diregraf Ghoul. It's not black, and it's not a Zombie.

  706.9a Some copy effects cause the copy to gain an ability as part of the copying process. This ability becomes part of the copiable values for the copy, along with any other abilities that were copied.

You now have two copies of Essence of the Wild, both with the extra ability granted by Evil Twin. Your opponent's Essence probably doesn't have long to live!


Before the haunt, can players agree to automatically crack the Vault? This came up while playing with a bunch of rules lawyers this weekend:
There doesn't seem to be anything in the rules that you must explore a new room every turn, or leave the room you're currently in, or prevent you from ping-ponging between rooms, or basically just waste your turn, which my question hinges on.
Consider the following scenario:

a person discovers the Vault;
that person has a high enough Knowledge trait that a 6+ roll is statistically possible;
the Haunt has not begun yet, so there is no Traitor

The question is:

Based on the assumption that the player in the Vault is statistically guaranteed to open the Vault at some point in the future, can all players not in the Vault simply agree that they will all pass their turns until the Vault is unlocked?  Basically guaranteeing an eventual successful unlocking of the Vault?
Or, to put it more succinctly: before the haunt, if all players agree, can a person in the Vault with enough skill to open it automatically open it?

I can imagine the characters sitting around in a haunted house, bored out of their minds, getting impatient, "Have you opened it yet?", the sun rises, and sets again, everyone is getting hungry, and the person in the vault says, "No, but I think I'm close!"
It seems kind of unsporting but it does run the risk of giving the traitor two sweet, sweet items, and I can't find anything that seems to prevent this.

You don't have to do anything on your turn, so if all players agree there's no reason you couldn't give the player who discovers the vault all the turns until they open it.

However, I'd suggest this is tactically a bad idea for the players not in the vault. Until the haunt starts you don't know who is on your team. An individual player could increase his or her own chance of winning by grabbing the sweet, sweet loot for themselves. It would make more sense for all the players who stood a chance of opening the vault to rush there as soon as it is discovered, personally I think that would be much more fun.


Any good way to add a handicap in Dominion? I play Dominion pretty regularly with one group of friends, but only occasionally with another group. This creates a pretty big experience gap between me and the second group, and I'm afraid they might lose interest in the game if I win the vast majority of the time.

What are some successful handicapping methods you have tried?  Something that still challenges me, but levels out the playing field a bit.

As an informal handicap, when I'm playing in a game like this I usually try to make myself take my 2nd strategy - instead of doing the most obvious thing on the board, I come up with something more oddball and see if I can make that work.

Another thing that's not a huge handicap but can help is letting the less experienced players choose the 10 Kingdom cards, so they can pick things that fit into their own comfortable strategies.

I use both these techniques when playing with my wife (she plays every few months while I play 3 times a week at lunch) and thought I still win a lot, she has more fun this way.


Recommended strategies for the MTGO Cube MTGO Cube Drafts were offered online a few weeks ago, and they'll be appearing again later this week. I didn't play any cube drafts the first time, largely because I was intimidated: I've never drafted any kind of cube before, a large portion of the cards are unknown to me, and there was no way I was going to be able to read through the 720 cards in the list and find a strategy on my own.

However, I'd really like to play the cube this time around, so I'm wondering: what strategies are recommended? How should I approach cube drafting in general, and the MTGO cube in particular?

Here is the current cube list. Have at it.

To provide a different perspective on thesunneversets' answer: the most important concept in cube drafting isn't power level, it's synergy.  It's easy to look at your deck after you've drafted - or while you're drafting - and say 'this is chock-full of great cards, it should be awesome.'  The problem is that everyone's deck is chock-full of great cards; to put yourself above the pack, you need to have more than just great cards.  And that's where synergy comes into play.

It's impossible to provide a full list (or even a reasonable partial list) of the synergies in the MTGO cube just because there are so many there; instead, just look for potential little synergies and combos when you're drafting.  Already snagged Channel?  Keep an eye out for high-cost artifacts and colorless cards that you can run out in the first few turns - surprisingly few decks can beat a turn-2 Ulamog or Karn.  Picked up Recurring Nightmare?  Maybe you want that Myr Battlesphere a little more; maybe Entomb or Buried Alive or even just Careful Consideration bump a bit higher up your pick order.  These sorts of synergies are what you want to be looking for.

This strategy extends to your first few picks, too - there you want to keep an eye out for cards that can synergize with a number of different cards.  I'd cheerfully pick Survival of the Fittest over many other cards in the format, for instance, simply because I know I'm likely to pick something up to go with it: maybe it'll be Vengevine for a green aggro deck (and boo on Wizards for skipping Basking Rootwalla!); maybe it'll be Recurring Nightmare or just Animate Dead for a reanimator deck; maybe it'll even be Myr Battlesphere and Goblin Welder for different sorts of reanimator shenanigans.  Maybe it'll just be a collections of walls, Acidic Slime and its kin, and Birthing Pod up to Elesh Norn for a toolbox-style deck.  But any way it shakes out, I've got good chances of finding something that'll work with Survival.

As far as specific card advice, there are a few things that come to mind:

Artifact acceleration is sparse, and key for the high-end control and board control decks - maybe even moreso than plain fixing is.  Early on cards like Prismatic Lens were being overlooked and you even had a reasonable chance of tabling them, but at this point they've moved much higher up peoples' pick orders and need (and deserve) to be picked highly: I've gladly first-picked Grim Monolith - and then used it to cast a turn-3 Grave Titan in multiple games.  The non-accelerating mana fixing (duals, fetchlands, etc.) is important especially for many-color decks, but I've tried to avoid splashing beyond 2 as much as feasible, so it's been less crucial for me.
Similarly, being able to delay color commitment for a bit is a useful thing - cards like Wurmcoil Engine and Myr Battlesphere are high picks in part on raw power, but even more because they're universally applicable, and I'd gladly snag either with my first few picks.
Artifact removal has some value, but most people leave enchantment removal (unless it's something universally versatile like Acidic Slime) in their boards, and many decks don't even have access to that sort of effect.  Because of this (and of course the general power level of the creatures), the control enchantments - Control Magic and Treachery - are even more powerful than they might appear at first glance.
The red deck is strong and it is the clock of the format, but it doesn't seem like quite the beast that people are making it out to be.  If one person is drafting it then they get all the goods, but there isn't enough redundancy in the MTGO cube for it to comfortably support multiple drafters; if you don't have Goblin Guide or Keldon Marauders, for instance, then you probably won't be nearly fast enough to keep up with the accelerated high-end decks.  Mind you, I have a mild allergy to red aggro so I can't speak from the other side of the table, but in the few drafts I've played against it I've had quite a bit of success - it's something you have to keep in mind and it does force a reasonable curve, but it's not something to actively fear.


How can I ensure the Commander deck I'm creating is appropriate for my group's meta? Our group's been playing Magic since mid-2013, and Commander 2013 since a while after that. A couple of us are keen on building our own commander decks now. We're aware the Commander format can easily be very powerful, and that different groups vary from decks that finish within a few turns to those that easily last 15-20 turns (like the C13 decks do). We're having some trouble working out how to gear our decks to be at a suitable power level for our table's current meta.
We can tell when a card's just going to outright break things and be un-fun. However, we encounter fairly powerful cards and we're not sure if they're too powerful, or OK because it's just what that deck does, or maybe it should be considered a bomb like Serra Avatar. Is Pontiff of Blight too powerful or just right in our C13-based environment (pay a few {W/B}, cause life loss and get 3-4 life for each mana spent this way because multiplayer) — how do we tell?
How do Commander groups usually work this out? Are there design standards available? Is there a well-defined tier list that can guide our deck construction? What do people go by to ensure they match their game's meta effectively without breaking it? Or is it just done by feel and experimentation and group moderation of "don't use that card, it won't be fun for us, use this one instead maybe"?

As a subjective question, this will be governed by the Stack's Good Subjective, Bad Subjective guidelines and the subjective questions guidance offered at the bottom of this help page.
This means answers need to adhere to the back it up principle: your solution must be accompanied by based on either something that happened to you personally, or something you can back up with a reference. In general that means cite direct experience (your own or someone else's) that demonstrates the effectiveness of solutions you provide. A solution that comes with no experience of its effectiveness is low quality.

If there's one thing you can learn from Mark Rosewater's "Making Magic" articles (check out the section on "Empires"), it's that the best way to find out if a deck is unfair and/or miserable is to play it. This may seem like something you could shortcut, but card evaluation is really hard, and cards or decks that seem oppressive at first glance may turn out to be actually really fun and exciting; and vice versa.

The key thing here is to have a group happy to communicate that your deck is stopping them having fun, and to be able to tell which deck it is that's doing it. The best way to tell this is the same way you'd analyse anything; change one thing and see what happens.

For example, if everyone turns up with a new deck, and one can't compete, one's horrifically broken, and one just feels like it could be fair if the removal suite in the opposing decks were different, you change the broken one, and see how it fits. If you change all of them, suddenly you could get massive swings against the "could be fair" which you weren't expecting.

Also, be aware that if your deck is requiring people to significantly adapt their decks to deal with it, then even though it seems fair, it's actually warping.

Another issue is play skill; for example, Black Lotus is an entirely reasonable card as long as you're using it to ramp into Centaur Courser on turn 1. The deck may seem reasonable, and then suddenly stop being reasonable in the hands of a more experienced player. So it's worth agreeing that, just because a deck was fine originally, it could now be time to retire it as it starts to cause issues.