Efficient to Sequence - do you have to discard cards first? The Efficient to Sequence positive mutation allows a disease to be cured as soon as one player discards the necessary number of cards

My question is, what happens if a player draws their eight card? Would they have to immediately discard a card before being allowed to cure, or can they cure immediately and keep them card they drew?

You have to discard first. From the FAQ:

  If we have the 2nd beneficial mutation, exactly when can we discover the cure?
  You can do it out of turn, but you can’t so it halfway through an epidemic. It’s also worth noting when drawing player cards, you’ll have to discard down to hand size before curing.


How to handle extra settlements if a player cannot continue playing? I had a situation at a graduation party recently where a game of Catan was setup with 5 players, using the 5-6 player expansion and the base game.  However, after only one or two full rounds, one of the players had to leave.  The remaining players unanimously wanted to continue playing, but a new person could not be found to take over as a 5th player.

So, the question I pose is how to continue play with 'derelict' settlements, assuming there are still at least 3 active players.  More specifically, I am looking for possible solutions that do not involve restarting, as the situation could arise further along in a game, by which point players are likely too invested in that particular game to consider restarting.

As far as I know, there are no official rules.

There are two issues:

What to do with the units of the leaving player.
What to do with the victory condition.

Units of leaving players

You can remove the units. But this changes the board (it opens possible great positions to other players.) This is an advantage to the first player with settlements nearby. So I recommend that you leave the units.

Victory Conditions

The board is optimized for the number of players (for example 5-6). If you play with less players, the board is to easy. You can solve this by increasing the number of needed victory points. You can use these guidelines":

If the number of players stays within the limit of the board (for example play with 4 players on a board for 3-4, and one leaves), no change.

Else, follow these steps:

Take the surplus player capacity (number of players needed to be within the range of the board) and multiply that with the original number of needed victory points. Call this V1.
count the number of settlements and cities on the board that belonged to the player that left and multiply that by 1.5. Round this down and call that S1.
Subtract S1 from V1 and divide the result by the number of players left, round the result down and call this V2. This is the amount of extra victory points that need to be gained in order to win.

This way, you keep the game challenging and fair.

Example

A game with 5 players on a board for 5-6 players, 13 victory points. One of the players has 5 units on the board and leaves the game.
We now have 4 players on a board for 5-6 players. So V1 = 13 x 1 = 13.
The leaving player has 5 units on the board. So S1 = 1.5 * 5 = 7.
And V2 = (V1 - S1) / 4 = (13 - 7) / 4 = 6 / 4 = 1.

So now each player needs to get 14 (13+1) points to win.

Note, the swap can create an instant win if the leaving player has either the largest knights or the longest road.

Note, because you can only win on your turn, it is possible, that you have enough points, but because the player before you stops, you now need more points to win. If you think this is not fair, you can check victory conditions just before the player leaves. This can cause a tie.


Is Haphazard Bombardment legal with fewer than 4 nonenchantment permanents under my opponent's control? Haphazard Bombardment is worded slightly, so I assume intentionally, different from cards I can find that seem similar. Particularly in that it doesn't target the chosen cards.

Granted this is unusual, but suppose my opponent on the draw missed 3 land drops and has only 3 land on the battlefield on my turn 6. Can I cast Haphazard Bombardment given there are only 3 things (specifically not targets) I can possibly choose? Or does it count as part of the cost that 4 nonenchantment permanents be chosen? My understanding is, if it said "choose 4 target nonenchantment permanents" and there were only 3 options, it would be uncastable. Is the same true without the "target"?

If there are 4 or more options, I'm fairly confident I can't choose fewer but I'm unclear if I can get away with it when there aren't enough choices.

Yes, you can cast Haphazard Bombardment even if there are fewer than 4 valid choices for its ability, and you put aim counters on permanents even if there are fewer than 4.

Haphazard Bombardment's first ability is an "enters the battlefield" triggered ability. If you cast Haphazard Bombardment, the ability triggers after the spell resolves and becomes a permanent. Even if it did require you to choose targets, it would have no effect on whether you could cast the spell.

The ability itself has no conditions that might prevent it from triggering or resolving. So it will trigger and resolve no matter what the board state is. Then when it resolves you choose the permanents to put counters on. Rule 609.3 says

  If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

So if it is impossible to choose 4 permanents you don't control, you choose as many permanents as possible and put counters on them.


What are the chances of losing Pandemic on the first turn? I like probability questions, and it has been a while since tttpp's excellent analysis of losing in the first turn of Forbidden Island. I figured it might be interesting to calculate how likely you are to lose on the first turn in Pandemic. This was inspired by JoeGolton's question about impossible setups, and tttppp's answer referencing a BBG session report.  This question is only interested in figuring the odds of losing the game during the first players turn. To figure out the odds of losing, you will need to the following:

The rules for Pandemic.

Calculate how likely you are to lose by running out of 24 cubes of a single color.
Calculate how likely you are to lose by Outbreaking 8 times.
Calculate how likely you are to draw an Epidemic cards  on the first turn.
Calculate the odds of being able to remove 0 or more cubes from possible chain outbreak cities.
Calculate the odds of no player receiving a Special Event (linked all 5) card that will prevent a loss.
Determine the effect of each difficulty level (4-6 Epidemic cards in evenly divided piles), and for 2-4 Players on the result.

Assume the following:

The First Player character is randomly determined.
The other players out of the 5 roles are randomly determined.
Assume players do not know which Infection cards will be drawn (unless a Special Action card allows it)
Standard Rules and Characters (none from On the Brink)

The hardest part of computing the probability is determining the best strategy for the players.  I have used a script to simulate games where players use a few simple tactics, and estimated the probability based on these strategies. Given that the strategies I implemented are not the optimal strategy, these figures provide an upper bound on the probability of a first turn loss.

Most of this answer assumes that the players are playing on "Normal" difficulty, that is with five epidemic cards.  To find equivalent probabilities for other difficulties, see the section below entitled "The player deck".

To summarise the results, here is a table showing my estimate of the probability of a first turn loss for different strategies.

Strategy        | Probability of first turn loss at Normal difficulty
Do Nothing      | 0.0018
Drive/Treat     | 0.0013
Drive/Fly/Treat | 0.0011-0.0012

The probability of losing in the first turn, given that the players do their best to prevent it, is therefore less than 1/900.

The Player Deck

To set up the player deck, some cards are dealt to the players and then epidemic cards are distributed throughout the deck.  The number of cards dealt to the players, d, varies with the number of players.  We either have d = 8 in 2 or 4 player games, or d = 9 in 3 player games.  The remaining (53-d) cards are split into e roughly equal piles, and an epidemic is shuffled into each, before they are restacked (with any larger piles on top).

We observe that to lose in the first turn an epidemic must be drawn.  The probability of drawing an epidemic as one of the top two cards of the deck is:

P(Epidemic drawn) = 2 / (ceil((53-d)/e)+1)

where ceil is the ceiling function.  This results in the following table:

d | e | P(Epidemic drawn)
8 | 4 | 2/13 = 0.154
8 | 5 | 2/10 = 0.200
8 | 6 | 2/9  = 0.222
9 | 4 | 2/12 = 0.167
9 | 5 | 2/10 = 0.200
9 | 6 | 2/9  = 0.222

During the rest of the discussion we assume e is 5 ("Normal" difficulty), but the above table can be used to compute equivalent probabilities for other values of e and d.

The "Do Nothing" Strategy

By far the simplest strategy is for the players to do nothing.  This is also a strategy that maximises the chance of losing in the first turn.

For the calculation I employed a python script to simulate a million games, assuming that an epidemic card is drawn.  It picks nine cities to infect for the set up, and then one more to infect for the epidemic.  It repicks two cities to re-infect, and counts the outbreaks and cubes used.

This gave the probability of losing, given that an epidemic is drawn is about 0.009245.

Combining this with the probability of drawing an epidemic card we get:

P(Lose first turn on Normal | Players do nothing) ~= 0.001849

The "Drive/Treat" Strategy

As a simple improvement on doing nothing, I assumed the first player would ignore their cards, and drive to the nearest city with three cubes, removing as many as possible.  If they couldn't remove any from three cube cities, they would try for the nearest two cube city, and finally they would try for the nearest one cube city.

This gave the following probability:

P(Lose first turn on Normal | Using "Drive/Treat" Strategy) ~= 0.001343

The "Drive/Fly/Treat" Strategy

Finally, as an improvement on the "Drive/Treat" strategy I considered trying to fly to a city infected with three cubes.  If anyone has the "Airlift" or "Government Grant" special event cards, then they can be used to get the first player to any city in 0 or 1 actions respectively, meaning that three cubes can be treated.  Similarly if any other player has the Atlanta card it can be passed, and the first player can charter a flight, leaving two actions to remove cubes.

I also considered the case where the player has the card of a 3-cube city, or Atlanta, and they use that to fly and remove three cubes from a city.

There are further variations on this that I did not consider in this tactic, such as moving to Washington, chartering a flight and treating two cubes.

Using this strategy gave the following probabilities:

P(Lose first turn on Normal | 4 players using "Drive/Fly/Treat" Strategy) ~= 0.001208
P(Lose first turn on Normal | 3 players using "Drive/Fly/Treat" Strategy) ~= 0.001145
P(Lose first turn on Normal | 2 players using "Drive/Fly/Treat" Strategy) ~= 0.001167

I don't think my simulation is evidence enough to say that the deviation between these three results is significant, but I think they're good enough to give a first-turn-lose probability between 0.0011 and 0.0012.

Potential Improvements

If you have played the game then I'm sure you can think of situations in which these strategies are not optimal.  Here are a few things that could be included, that I think would make a significant improvement to the strategies:

Treat more than one city if possible.
Target infected cities that are next to each other in preference to isolated ones.
Use "One Quiet Night" or "Forecast" to prevent the first turn loss (this is a big one - it's possible about one game in three).
Use "Resilient Population" to lower the chance of a first turn loss.
Take the researcher into account for passing cards.


Does Deserter's Quarters get overriden by Horizon Boughs? In a game of Planechase, suppose we're on Horizon Boughs, which says:

All permanents untap during each player's untap step.

I have Deserter's Quarters out, tapped using its second ability to keep another creature tapped.

You may choose not to untap Deserter's Quarters during your untap step.
{6}, {T}: Tap target creature. It doesn't untap during its controller's untap step for as long as Deserter's Quarters remains tapped.

Would this mean I can choose not to untap Deserter's Quarters during the untap step, and keep the other creature tapped, or do both of them untap anyway?

Deserter's Quarters becomes next to useless.

If someone casts Burst of Energy targeting your Deserter's Quarters, it would untap since it's not your untap step. Same thing here.

When in Horizon Boughs, your Deserter's Quarters untaps in the other players' untap steps since you only have the option of not untapping him in your untap step. (The creature held in Deserter's Quarters remains tapped.)

Similarly, the creature held in Deserter's Quarters untaps in your untap step since Deserter's Quarters only prevents it from untapping in its controller's untap step.

Horizon Boughs makes Deserter's Quarters really inefficient. At best, you could retap a creature every turn for 6 mana in a two-player game.


Do we continue to draw additional tiles after the initial meld? The rules in my Rummikub set state that if you cannot play the initial 'meld' of 30 points then you take an extra tile on your turn.

Once the initial meld is over, do you still draw an extra tile if it is your turn and you cannot play any tiles?

yes.  this is very clear stated in the rules

  After players have made their initial plays, they can also build on
  other sets on the table with tiles from their racks. If a player
  cannot add onto the other sets, the player picks a tile from the pouch
  and the turn ends.


Am I allowed to use archaic words in Quiddler/Scrabble? While playing Quiddler tonight, I played both words "SIC" and "QUO". Both got challenged and both were in the dictionary that we agreed upon (dictionary.com).

But the question of whether I can use "QUO" because the dictionary defined it as "Verb - Archaic: Quoth."

I said it's allowed because it's in the dictionary and used in common vernacular.

My opponent said I couldn't use archaic English words because they are no longer part of the English language.

Is this true for Quiddler? Scrabble?

The word legality rules of Quiddler appear to be slightly more relaxed than those of Scrabble - according to Wikipedia, capitalized adjectives such as "Iraqi" and "Scottish" are acceptable in Quiddler, where to the best of my knowledge they still aren't in Scrabble.

Archaic words, by contrast, have always been allowed in Scrabble.  Again per Wikipedia:

  "Variant spellings, slang or offensive terms, archaic or obsolete
  terms, and specialized jargon words are allowed if they meet all other
  criteria for acceptability."

So I'd say they were definitely fair game for Quiddler too.  Having said all that, both Scrabble and Quiddler are games that lend themselves well to house rules.  If you're playing with your grandmother you're probably going to dial back on the offensive terms; likewise some people get so offended by the idea of allowing slang or archaisms that it can become easier just not to use them!

As a side note, the funny thing about "quo" is that I suspect most people try to use it as part of the phrase "status quo" - which would be a foreign phrase and therefore not acceptable!  But luckily your dictionary contains a legitimate form of it also.


Strategy for studying professional games? I recently took A. Dinershtein's Go style test. It was useful to me, as the test is aimed at finding professional players who might think the way you do, for study purposes. It has definitely worked for me. But what should I bear in mind while studying professional games?

A lot depends on your strength.  I find that memorizing them is useful for me.  I've also heard a lot of people suggest that you need to play them out on a real board.  It helps teach your fingers where the pro moves are :)

If you're not a dan-level player, you probably shouldn't focus too much on fighting sequences - you won't be able to understand all of the variations the players are considering.

It's a really good idea to look at each sequence or exchange in the game and try to tell what each player got out of it.  From an amateur perspective almost everything that happens in a pro game is an even trade, so you should look for sequences that don't seem even to you and try to figure out why they actually are.


Is there a way to make Splice effects cheaper? Is there a way to make the Splice costs cheaper? For example, if I am splicing Splicer's Skill onto a spell, is there a way I can reduce the cost that I must pay?

Because using Splice creates an additional cost, anything that reduces the normal cost of casting a spell can be used reduce the total cost.
For example, if you have 3 Goblin Electromancers in play, instant and sorcery spells cost you {3} less to play. You could play a Shock and reveal Splicer's Skill for the Splice ability. Your total cost would normally be {3}{R}{W}, but it would be reduced to {R}{W} by the Goblin Electromancers; you would not have to pay the other {3}.

702.46a Splice is a static ability that functions while a card is in your hand. “Splice onto [quality] [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you cast a [quality] spell. If you do, that spell gains the text of this card’s rules text and you pay [cost] as an additional cost to cast that spell.” Paying a card’s splice cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.
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.

Note that only cost reduction will help; if you have something such as Fires of Invention or anything that allows you to pay an alternative cost (not having to pay mana at all is an alternative cost); you will still have to pay the normal Splice cost, because additional costs are calculated after alternative costs.


What's the name of the board game with dinosaur cards? I remember having and playing this game in early to late 90's when I was a kid. There was a deck of dinosaurs with stats like "length", "ferocity", and two others I cannot remember. When you finished your turn on one of four special fields which were located in the corners of the board, you'd have put down one of your dinosaur cards and compare the specified stat with other player(s) cards. I faintly remember that whenever you would win, you would move your other indicator away from the volcano which was pictured in the middle of the board. HELP!

Could it be Lost Valley of the Dinosaurs? While technically published in 1985, it could easily have been a staple in the '90s.

The description from BoardGameGeek:

  You have discovered an ancient chart to a lost valley. It shows that once the valley was occupied by a fierce tribe of natives who had collected a vast wealth of treasure and used vicious dinosaurs to help protect it.

  No humans inhabit the valley now and the chart shows that the 'treasure' is still hidden in a temple at the top of the valley but the dinosaurs are still there!

  The secret of the valley and its treasure have been stolen and you know that other expeditions are currently journeying to discover the lost secret of the valley.

  As your party enters the valley a volcano which has been dormant for centuries rumbles and threatens to engulf the valley in lava.

  The race is on, who will win the fabulous riches of the temple and who may die?

It appears to use "Adventure Cards", and involves the adventurers being chased around the board by dinosaurs while collecting treasure.


Issues with Infinite Mana Loop and Grindclock/ Clock of Omens Combo I have an idea for an Instant mil combo involving the below cards:

Grindclock
Clock of Omens
Palladium Myr x2
Myr Galvanizer x2
Darksteel Forge (just so they cant be destroyed, always helpful)

I'm wondering how I would have to order my tapping to allow me to build up 60+ counters on Grindclock, to then mil for 60+ cards.

I know I'd need to tap Palladium Myr and Grindclock first, but then it gets slightly difficult. Can anyone provide me with the Order in which I would have to tap these permanents to create the infinite mil and manna Loop in kind?

Tap Grindclock
Tap both Palladium to float 4x colorless
Spend colorless to activate Galvanizer and untap Palladiums
Tap both Palladium to untap Grindclock (clock of omens)
Tap Grindclock
Spend colorless to activate Galvanizer and untap Palladiums and Galvanizer
Tap both Palladium to float 4x colorless
Spend colorless to activate Galvanizer and untap Palladiums and Galvanizer
Goto step 4.


How little strength should I have in bid suits for a negative double? In bridge, a "negative double" after my partner's opening bid, and my right hand opponent's overcall means, "Partner, I don't like your suit, and I don't fancy defending the opponent's overcall. I prefer one (probably both) of the other suits.

How weak should I be in partner's bid suit to make a negative double (as opposed to a raise)? Even if I like the two unbid suits, should I raise instead of doubling with three little ones opposite my partner's opening five card major? What about my partner's opening minor, and the opponent's one of a major overcall?

Should I refrain from a negative double if I have fair defense (say, Kxx or better) in my opponent's suit? Or should I make a negative double with (s) Kxx
(h) xxxx (d)Kxx (c) Qxx if partner bid one club and the opponent one spade?

First the general points - if you and partner have a fit, opponents are almost guaranteed to have a fit also. Values in the opponents' suit detract from the overall playing strength of your hand, and should be evaluated accordingly, but that does not relieve you from the obligation to share information with partner.

The scoring table clearly favours major suits over minors, and generally it is true that with both a 4-4 fit and either a 5-3 fit or 5-4 second fit, the 4-4 fit plays on average almost a trick better. Of course in a minor you must contract for a full additional trick for game, and often for the privilege of outbidding opponents. This analysis leads the following guidelines:

Don't pass if you have the values and support required for any type of raise. Your known fit improves the opponents' expected fit at about 75%, and you must inform partner of this valuable datum.
Prefer to look for a 4-4 major suit fit in preference to raising partner's known major or minor suit unless you have 5-card support for partner's major.
Prefer to raise partner's major in preference to looking for a 4-4 minor suit fit.
Don't pass in expectation of passing a reopening double by partner unless you expect a doubled penalty greater than your game (500 white, 800 red) - if you can't yet set the opponents this much you owe partner a bid first. Bridge is a partnership game.
After the auction 1C 1D a negative double shows at least 4-4 in the majors - otherwise just bid one; such a response at the one-level should not require a 5-card suit or you are letting the opponents steal bidding room too cheaply.
After the auction 1D 2C a negative double shows at least one 4-card major, to protect against partner having one also, playing 5-card majors.
In other low-level auctions you are promising at least 4-3 in the unbid suits, or extra values and an inability to bid any of notrump, trap pass, or a raise.


How difficult is Puerto Rico to learn for first time players? I've heard a lot of good things about Puerto Rico, but from the 12-page manual it seems a little complex. I revel in the challenge of learning new and difficult games, but sadly the friends I play with aren't as hardcore as I am and are slightly less inclined to reading gigantic rule books. I have no experience whatsoever with Puerto Rico, and want to get some advice before buying. :)

How difficult is the game to teach to new players? Can non-board-game-geeks handle it with some good coaching in the beginning? Are there any other games I should be adding to my collection before Puerto Rico if I'm concerned about new player friendliness but still want  a good flexible strategy game?

Puerto Rico is one of those games that if you play a 'sample' round or two, the game mechanics and the different role cards can be quickly learnt. It is also such a great game that first time board gamers get hooked on board games because of it. The mechanics of the game are actually pretty simple, but has a good depth of skill required to be a good player.

We often use Puerto Rico as the first game to play with new players. Our second choice is Power Grid.


Why does negative life and Platinum Angel not cause a draw? I was looking at the Transcendence, Platinum Angel interaction. As it is explained in a few places online

  Transcendence has what is called a 'State Trigger'. It triggers
  whenever the condition is met provided there isn't a copy of that
  trigger on the stack already.  What will happen is Transcendence will
  continue to trigger over and over again since you don't lose the game
  due to Platinum Angel. There is no way to stop this without a player
  doing something and that is not required so the game ends in a draw.

But why does this not happen if the player reaches negative life? I know from playing MTGO a player can continue playing the game with negative life if the Platinum Angel is in play.

  119.6. If a player has 0 or less life, that player loses the game as a state-based action. See rule 704.

What prevents the death trigger from firing over and over similar to Transcendence? When is loss checked if Platinum Angel leaves the field if it's not done continuously?

The normal loss condition of having zero or less life happens only once per check of state-based actions. The Transcendence loss ability triggers continuously in an infinite loop, with no way to continue playing.
The loss to zero or less life happens due to state-based actions. They are checked often, but not infinitely often. They are checked whenever a player would gain priority, which happens only at specific points during any given turn.

117.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
117.3c If a player has priority when they cast a spell, activate an ability, or take a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
117.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, they announce what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.
117.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event [..]

Platinum Angel prevents that single loss event each time a player would gain priority, and that's that.
The loss ability of Transcendence, however, has a state trigger. It will trigger whenever the game state in question has been reached and no instance of that ability is currently on the stack. As soon as the trigger leaves the stack (or doesn't enter it) for any reason, and the game is still in the necessary state, the ability will trigger again right away, without anyone being able to react. Platinum Angel's ability removes the Transcendence trigger from the stack by preventing it. The Transcendence ability never enters the stack, it immediately triggers again, and no player will gain priority, resulting in a draw.

603.8. Some triggered abilities trigger when a game state (such as a player controlling no permanents of a particular card type) is true, rather than triggering when an event occurs. These abilities trigger as soon as the game state matches the condition. They’ll go onto the stack at the next available opportunity. These are called state triggers. (Note that state triggers aren’t the same as state-based actions.) A state-triggered ability doesn’t trigger again until the ability has resolved, has been countered, or has otherwise left the stack. Then, if the object with the ability is still in the same zone and the game state still matches its trigger condition, the ability will trigger again.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. [..]
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority.

So what happens is, Transcendence triggers. The next time a player would gain priority, the Transcendence trigger wants to enter the stack, but Platinum Angel prevents that. Transcendence immediately triggers again, Platinum Angel prevents it again, and so on, before the player can ever gain priority. Therefore, it's a draw because there is a loop with only mandatory actions.

721.4. If a loop contains only mandatory actions, the game is a draw.


Catacombs: Chain Shot Modifier and misses As per the rules of Catacombs 3rd Ed.:

  The chain shot modifier indicates tha the same target cannot be damaged consecutively in a shot sequence [...]. If the same target is hit twice consecutively, damage that would have been inflicted by the second hit is ignored.

Does a miss in a shot sequence count as a "change of target" (can't find a better wording)?

Let's say Xoric the Barbarian plays the Berserker Battle Axe Item card:

  (Melee) > (Melee) > (Melee) > (Melee)

Xoric uses the first (Melee) to hit a Minotaur (flipping it over) then aim a Zombie with his second one but misses it. Can he use his third (Melee) to kill the Minotaur he hit in the first shot?

While this is slightly ambiguous, the "consecutively" refers to shots taken in the sequence. If you hit A on shot 1 in a sequence, you won't be able to damage A on shot 2 no matter what, but shot 3 is fine.

If I hit A on my first shot, then on my second shot hit B then A, A would still only take the one damage (despite the "change of target").

This limit isn't to force you to change targets but to encourage it, and to limit the damage a sequence can do to a single target. This way the Overseer can't take a boss sequence and just eliminate a single player trivially, and the Barbarian can't use items to take down the boss in two turns.


March of the Monarchs vs Negate Tribute Summon Player A already has March of the Monarchs active on their field, which protects their tribute summoned monsters from being targeted or destroyed.

Player A attempts to tribute summon a monster face-up, but player B activates Solemn Judgement.

Question: Can player B activate Solemn Judgement?

Yes, Player B can activate Solemn Judgement.

Note the activation timing of Solemn Judgement (emphasis mine):

  When a monster(s) would be Summoned,

I.e., the monster's summon has not been completed.

It is therefore not yet a Tribute Summoned monster, and receives no protection from March of the Monarchs.


How do you calculate the likelihood of getting at least one combo after drawing so many cards in a deck with more than one combo? With a game like Magic the Gathering, I can use a hypergeometric calculator to determine the probability of getting a specific card after so many draws. What I would like to know is how you determine the probability of drawing into a combo (for the discussion that follows, I'm only considering combos that consist of two cards) after so many turns.

Say I have a standard deck of 60 cards with 24 lands and 36 other cards. Each of these other cards have a powerful synergy with another card, making 18 combos possible in the deck. What is the probability of getting at least one of these combos, that is having the two combo cards in your hand, in 3 turns, 6 turns, etc.? I don't care which combo it is, just that I have one in hand.

Alright, I finally have the time to give this an actual answer.  Unfortunately, the board game stack exchange doesn't support Mathjax, so this won't be as nice to read as it could be.

In a set of only matched pairs (which is not the deck described, but give me a minute), the probability of drawing at least one pair in a hand of N cards is equal to 1 - P(no pairs).

If you're drawing cards in sequence trying to get no pairs in a deck of D cards, the first card can be any of the N cards (P = D/D), the second card can be any of the remaining cards except the paired card (P = D-2/D-1), the third card can be any remaining except the two paired cards (P = D-4/D-2), etc.

In other words, P(no pairs in a hand of N cards from a deck of D cards) = (D!!/(D-N)!!) /  (D!/(D-N)!), or (D!!*(D-N)!)/(D!*(D-N)!!), where !! is the double factorial function (not a factorial of a factorial)

Which is great, except that if you draw a land there is no matching pair at all.  The easiest way to deal with this is to find the probability of drawing N non-land cards in a hand of 7 cards (or 8 cards, or whatever hand size you're looking for), multiply that by the probability of a pair in N cards, and then sum over all the values of N.

The probability of drawing N non-land cards in hand of 7 cards in a deck of 36 non-lands out of 60 cards is C(N,36)*C(7-N,24) / C(7,60)

So the total probability of drawing any pair in a hand of H cards in 60 card deck with 24 lands is

Sum(from n=1:H, C(n,36)*C(H-n,24) / C(H,60) * (1 - (36!!*(36-n)!)/(36!*(36-n)!!)))

Total probabilities for a hand of:
5 cards: 10.0 %
6 cards: 14.8 %
7 cards: 20.3 %
8 cards: 26.3 %
9 cards: 32.8 %
10 cards: 39.5 %
11 cards: 46.3 %
12 cards: 53.9 %
13 cards: 59.5 %

Of course, this doesn't factor in the odds of getting the lands you need to play your combo, or using mulligans to improve your odds.  And the odds become a lot trickier to calculate if any of the combo pieces overlap (if, for example, you have 4 copies of the same card in your deck, or one card that combos with two different cards.)


Nope card following a chain of Attack Cards In a game of Exploding Kittens, what happens when a chain of attack cards is terminated by a Nope card?

For example;

Player A plays an Attack card
Player B plays an Attack card
Player C plays an Attack card
Player D plays a Nope card

What happens exactly?

Player D nopes the attack card of player C. So it is still player C's turn and he/she has to resolve the double attack.

See this question for the resolution of the double attack.


Settlers of Catan Cities and knights - Knights VS Barbarians From the official introduction video of Settlers of Catan Cities & Knights, it mentioned that if barbarians value is "equal" or less than the knights value, catan wins. If there's a tie, each one player gets a progress card.

So doesn't "eqaul" values of barbarians and knights = a tie?

Often, the overall amount of knights value is the same as the cities (barbarian value), and in that case, player with more knights cover those with extra cities, which is a win or tie?

And in that case, do we all get progress card? or does that player who has the most knights get 1 VP?

First, you check if Catan wins or not by comparing the strength of the barbarians (the number of cities) against strength of the knights (the sum of the value of active knights). In the event of a tie in the strengths, Catan wins.

If the barbarians win, the player who contributed the least has one of their cities pillaged. In the event of a tie for the lowest contribution, all players who contributed the least have one of their cities pillaged.

If Catan wins, the player who contributed the most gets a Defender of Catan card worth 1 VP. In the even of a tie for the highest contribution, all players who contributed the most get a progress card of their choice instead.


Bohnanza - If no one wants the cards drawn in Step 2, does the active player HAVE to plant them in Step 3? We love this game, but we have one big question about the rules for Step 2/Step 3.

For the 2 cards flipped in Step 2. If no one at all wants them, does the active player have to plant them come Step 3, or do they go in the discard pile?

Yes,

They have to be planted by the active player if not traded to another player.  However,the active player can plant one (ripping out whatever was there) and then, if all his bean fields have no more than one bean planted, plant the second in the same field (ripping out the first bean).

Don't forget that the active player can donate those beans too.  Sometimes it is the best option.


Is a rotated solution valid in Q-Bitz? new here and couldn't find anything related to Q-Bitz, so I hope it's ok to ask this question. It has my family arguing!
So in Q-Bitz the challenge is to match the pattern on the card with your own set of blocks. Fastest and/or most exact wins, depending on the variant.
If your blocks match the pattern rotated through ninety degrees, have you matched the pattern? Or not?
Trivial example to visualise... let's say the pattern on the card is entirely black apart from one white square in one corner, and, if you had a compass and aligned your table, you could say the white square was the north-east corner.
So it's an dead easy pattern to remember of course, and everyone reveals their solution. Three people have their white square in the north-east corner, yay. One person has their white square in the south-east corner. But they say their solution is correct, because the pattern is exactly the same. Hmmm!
Unfortunately the rules of the game don't help on this point.
Help us avoid family break-up please... who is right?
PS I couldn't create a q-bitz tag, as new here.

I don't know the game well, but looking it up it looks like there is nothing that specifically identifies an orientation for the player boards, nor is there anything on the pattern cards that show what part of the pattern is up. When playing a game like this, players are probably sitting around a table, each of them will see the pattern card from a different direction then, from their perspective a different direction on the pattern card will be "up". Given these things, I would say that there is no directions in the game, that as long as the pattern card and/or players tray can be rotated to match, then the pattern does match.
Though it's not conclusive (the rules are pretty short) on the MindWare company website page for the game they show an image of a game in progress with the player boards in all different orientations, most of them roughly 90 degrees rotated from the pattern card, see here:

This suggests even more that rotation of the board does not matter.


Can the active player receive free cards in Bohnanza? The rules state that you can give a player free cards, if both players agree.

Does this mean that the other players can offer free cards to the active player, (in order to get rid of them).

Yes, but (as you note) the donations need not be accepted.

From the rulebook, page 5:

  Although trading is preferable to donating, it is often in a player’s
  interest to donate cards rather than keeping them, since cards kept
  must eventually be planted. The active player may donate the two face
  up cards he drew or cards from his hand. The other players may only
  donate cards to the active player and from their hands. Donations
  need not be accepted.


Edmond Tanair scoring criteria What exactly is Edmond Tanair's (scenario #03) scoring criteria? Is it "a mountain per tile score you a victory point"?

I contacted Ludically and here is the designer answer:

  You need to count the number of visible regions (hexes) that you have discovered and legally placed on the archipelago containing some mountains.
  If it has some textured mountains on the tile then it's counted as one, no matter how much mountain there is on the tile. Some islands for example also have mountains, such an island tile would be then worth 1 point towards your ranking.


What is the actual world ranking of Fan Hui I've read somewhere that Fan Hui was ranked between 600th and 700th world Baduk player. Knowing he's 2P whereas some players are up to 9P, it seems reasonable to me.

Is there any official and accessible world ranking ? What is the exact rank of Fan Hui ?

Just to add a few notes in addition to Pieter's answer, and with a hint to your implied question (can AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol?):

First off, I'm not sure if you thought being 9p automatically means being stronger than 2p. This is not the case.

However, in this particular instance, other matters are of more importance. Fan Hui has not been competing in Asian (i.e. highest level) tournaments for many years, and his competition in Europe is limited - that's why he's the current European champion, after all.

However, this also means that it can be assumed that he's not quite as sharp as an active, competing pro in Asia. His focus simply shifted towards teaching, as teaching was the reason he came to Europe. That is to say, and with no disrespect to Fan Hui's great skill, Lee Sedol, an active top level competitive pro, is quite a bit stronger than Fan Hui - 2 stones, goes the rumor among pros.

Obviously, the closer we get to perfect moves, the more difficult it becomes to improve further: For instance, doubling AlphaGo's calculation power does not at all lead to doubled strength. Think of it more like a logarithmic scale: To improve another stone in strength, you have to put in just as much work as you did for all previous stones together (roughly speaking). It remains to be seen if AlphaGo's improvements since the Fan Hui games are large enough.

About comparing pro Go players

While we cannot compare pros by their rank, we can get a rough idea of their relative strength by using Dr. Taeil Bai's chart, of which I reproduce the beginning of the most recent version I could find (from cyberoro, 2014):

I am not aware if Fan Hui is included in the list, too - if he was, that might be the source for your 600th-700th information.


Discarding a card in Phase 10 that allows the next player to go out We are enjoying the game Phase 10 but are unsure about one rule. According to the rules, is it ok to discard a playable card allowing the next player to go out? This ends the hand and causes each other player to have remaining cards in hand scored against them.

Is this considered fair play, to lose a particular hand on purpose?

Yes, it is permissible ... and there are some occasions where you may find it to be advantageous. For example:

One person may be on the same Phase as you and well ahead of the others, but she may not have made her current Phase yet. If you feel she is close and you are not, it may be worthwhile to "end" the hand so that neither of you can advance.
Similarly, one person may be leading in terms of points, but he may have not laid down any sets or runs yet. It may be to your advantage to discard a card the next person can use to go out so as to (hopefully) stick the leader with a lot of points.

However, as is the case in many games, what is legal according to the rules may not necessarily be acceptable according to your group. Discarding such a card in this case may lead to cries of bias for the person to your left or against the perceived victim of your play. It may be wise to determine which is the primary concern in your group, winning or enjoying the game, before you decide how to play the hand.

Of course, this assumes that you have multiple cards to discard, and that you have not yet made your Phase. If you have made your Phase, then any card in your hand that the next person could play is also playable by you; you should play that one yourself and discard a different card.

It may be the case that no matter what you discard, the next person will pick it up and go out, particularly in the Phases that require you to lay down 8 or 9 cards. For example, you may be on Phase 6, but you only have 8 cards to your run of 9, and the other two cards are playable. You draw a playable card: all three cards are playable, so you have no choice but to discard one. In that case, it may help to explain during scoring that you had no choice.


What are the names for Magic's different colour combinations? For example, Esper refers to decks made up of White, Blue and Black cards.

What are the names of the other colour combinations? In particular, how do we refer to a Red-White-Black deck?

One color
In the most common environments, decks with a single color are not competitive in tournaments (due to the fact you're settling for the top ten cohesive cards in a color instead of two sets of the top five in two colors. The difference in power level between the top 1-5 and the top 6-10 can be massive and game deciding. The other colors also make up for each others weaknesses.) But they do exist, especially in older formats where consistency is required to win in a couple turns and where you have such a large pool of powerful cards to pick from, and are then referred to as "Mono X".

 Mono red
 Mono black
 Mono blue
 Mono green
 Mono white

Two colors
Each of these corresponds to a guild of Ravnica. Since the guilds were released (and especially now that we've returned) the color pairs have become common names for duo-color decks. Both allied and enemy color pairs are common to see, although allied more so (due to higher deck cohesion).

 White + Blue = Azorius
 Blue + Black = Dimir
 Black + Red = Rakdos
 Red + Green = Gruul
 Green + White = Selesnya
 White + Black = Orzhov
 Blue + Red = Izzet
 Black + Green = Golgari
 Red + White = Boros
 Green + Blue = Simic

Three colors
The first of these are the shards of Alara. They jive well because they give two sets of allied colors each. The less commonly used are the wedges, which involve two enemy color combinations: they're derived from the dragons of Planar Chaos, the volver cycle from Apocalypse, five clans from Khans of Tarkir, or more recently the the triomes of Ikoria. Having only one allied color pair (the two enemies of a single color will be allied) limits deck cohesion, making their use infrequent, although this obviously varies as the meta changes.
Note that if one of the colours is not particularly present in the deck, for example there's only a single card of a given color, you may see a two color name with a third listed as a "splash."

 Red + Green + Black = Jund
 Green + White + Blue = Bant
 Blue + Black + Red = Grixis
 Red + Green + White = Naya
 White + Blue + Black = Esper
 Blue + Red + White = Jeskai (clan on Tarkir), Raugrin (Ikoria triome), Numot (dragon from Planar Chaos) or Raka (from Rakavolver)
 Red + white + black = Mardu (clan on Tarkir), Savai (Ikoria triome), Oros (dragon from Planar Chaos) or Dega (from Degavolver)
 Black + green + blue = Sultai (clan on Tarkir), Zagoth (Ikoria triome), Vorosh (dragon from Planar Chaos) or Ana (from Anavolver)
 Green + blue + red = Temur (clan on Tarkir), Ketria (Ikoria triome), Intet (dragon from Planar Chaos) or Ceta (from Cetavolver)
 White + black + green = Abzan (clan on Tarkir), Indatha (Ikoria triome), Teneb (dragon from Planar Chaos) Necra (from Necravolver), Junk citation, or Doran citation

Informal usages:

Red + white + black = Borzhov
Red + white + blue = USA/American/Patriot
(although note that Team America is actually black + blue + green)
Red + green + blue = Grizzet
(although it's usually Simic splashing red)

In addition, it's especially common for red + blue + green and black + blue + green to be called by their abbreviations — "RUG" and "BUG" — because these are names that are easy to remember and pronounce, even though those are not the proper color orders.
Four colors
Most decks do not have four full colors. As with three color enemies, if they reach this many colors, it's a shard with a splash of another color. So you're more likely to see something like "American splash black" instead of "Yore", and lately simply "four color" is rising in popularity.
Names for four-color identities come from one of two sources:

The names of the Nephilims from Guildpact.
The names of the four-colour “guild identities” defined during Commander 2016's design.
Reference the one color the four-color combination is missing, thus Non-(color).

The four colour identities' names are:

 Blue + black + red + green = Glint-Eye, or Chaos, or Non-white
 Black + red + green + white = Dune (or Dune-Brood), or Aggression, or Non-blue
 Red + green + white + blue = Ink-Treader, or Altruism, or Non-black
 Green + white + blue + black = Witch (or Witch-Maw), or Growth, or Non-red
 White + blue + black + red = Yore (or Yore-Tiller), or Artifice, or Non-green

Occasionally, some informal usages of four color decks, especially when it involves a typical three color deck with a splash of a fourth, will be to include some kind of pun or other indicator to an established name. For example, taking a Jund (Red, Green, and Black) deck and adding Blue would be more likely to make it something like "Wet Jund" than it would be Glint-Eye or Chaos. Or if only splashing Blue for a single card might make it "Moist Jund", that is Wet Jund that is slightly less wet than Wet Jund. Similar puns can be made for Dark Jeskai (Blue, Red, and White adding Black) and I could envision something along those lines for a splash like Dim Jeskai (Blue, Red, and White splashing Black) although admittedly I've never seen it in the wild.
Five colors
Decks with all five colors usually revolve around a single combo that they hope to pull off. It takes a lot of mana fixing and a massive amount of playtesting to get a reliable five color deck. For this reason, you don't often find them in tournaments. You find them often in Commander (giving the player access to every card ever, greatly increasing the power level of the deck) and in skill challenges where a player just tries to come up with a crazy deck idea to see if he can make it work. Obviously there's only one five color deck, it uses all five:

 Rainbow/Domain/Five-Color/WUBRG (pronounced Whoo-Burg)

Sometimes, four color decks will also be called Rainbow just because they have so many colors.
No colors
Sometimes, particularly in formats with a very large card pool, you'll see colorless decks as well. The most common name for these is a reference to the old card frame for artifact cards:

 Mono brown (not to be confused with BrownTown which is a draft deck leaning heavily on minotaurs)

 Some newer colorless decks have come to be referred to as "Diamond" decks in reference to the diamond-like new symbol for colorless mana


What happens to Infiltrating Cylons on New Caprica when Galactica jumps away? If a Cylon leader is infiltrating and still on New Caprica when Galactica jumps away, do they count as a "human character left on New Caprica", thus triggering their execution? This could be relevant for the agenda cards: Join the Colonials and Show Their True Nature.

Pegasus rulebook, pg 7:

  A Cylon Leader is considered a “human
  player” when he is Infiltrating and a
  “Cylon player” when he is not
  Infiltrating.

I don't see an exception for infiltrating cylons on pg 17:

  Once the Admiral has ordered Galactica
  to leave and ended the game, destroy
  all civilian ships still on New
  Caprica, and execute any human players
  still on a New Caprica location. If
  after resolving those losses, no
  resource has been reduced to 0 or
  lower, the humans win the game!

Therefore, infiltrating cylons are humans and would be executed.


King of Tokyo card question+ dice read Jets says

  You suffer no damage when yielding Tokyo.

If the monster in Tokyo has 3 health and he should receive 3 attacks, he should die or he can just leave Tokyo?

In 5 players game Gigazour is in Tokyo, Tokyo Bay is free and CyberBunny 8 health rolled 2 heal and 3 attack (Gigazour doesnt't want to leave Tokyo). So CyberBunny can recover 2 heal, then
hits 3 times Gigazour and then go to Tokyo Bay, right?

Yes, that's basically the point of the card.  Here's a BGG thread confirming it.
CyberBunny is not currently in Tokyo, so he is definitely able to heal.  And since he is not in Tokyo, the damage he deals is applied to monsters in Tokyo.  Since Gigazour does not leave Tokyo, CyberBunny is placed in Tokyo Bay.  So yes, your resolution is correct.


Will returning a creature trigger Prowess? Pre-amble
So I am currently building a Blue & White Prowess + Heroic deck in Standard. The idea that I can boost my heroic creatures with instants and auras and reap the benefit across all my prowess creatures.

Possible combo
I'm interested to know if the below combination will work. The Lotus-Eye Mystics would be in the graveyard, and then I would play Rally the Ancestors. In an ideal scenario the Rally the Ancestors would trigger the Lotus-Eye Mystics Prowess because it's an instant. Then I can return an enchantment aura back to my hand also.

Assumption
I am assuming that Prowess has to be on the battlefield for the effect to trigger, which means that Rally the Ancestors would return the Lotus-Eye Mystics to the battlefield, but because they were in the graveyard when the instant was cast, the Prowess effect cannot trigger.

Is my assumption correct?

The creature with Prowess has to be on the battlefield to trigger it.

Prowess is a triggered ability that only works while the card it's printed on is on the battlefield, i.e. as long as it's a permanent. Therefore, if you return Lotus-Eye Mystics with Rally the Ancestors, the Mystics will not get the Prowess trigger from that.

You will, however, get the enters-the-battlefield trigger from the Mystics.


For Star Realms, what's the appropriate ratio of Wealth-per-Card-per-Faction? I have lots of cards for Star Realms (2 decks of the standard game, 1 expansion deck), and I'm trimming everything down to fix balance issues and the overall deck size.

However, the tricky part is adjusting for the viability of certain Factions between the early-late game phases, the viability of Explorers throughout the game (2 cost, 2 Trade, Scrap: 2 Combat), and the prioritization of early-game resources (Trade) vs. late-game resources (Draw, Combat).

For example:

Red (Machine Cult) and Green (Blob) are very effective in the late game stages due to their high Combat values and deck efficiency/combo potential.
Yellow (Empire) is good for mid-game, due to the fact that their easy draws can accelerate your early game (when draws would normally be impossible) and their discard effect synergizes with itself to gain effectiveness in late-game.
Blue (Trade Federation) is good for early-game, since it deals mostly in accelerating your deck by producing a massive amount of Trade and purchase high-impact cards earlier than your opponents.

What is the ideal curve that should be used?

E.G. Should Blob have a limited amount of early-game Trade to force players into splitting off into other solutions that have less late-game potential?

By 'ideal', I'm referring to any mention of this topic from the developers, common trends of the various sets, or reasoning from experienced players.

Alright, so I found google docs with cards, added some more data concerning base sets and made a diagram with it. I used a sophisticated formula of counting only half of the trade from ally and scrap abilities and counting optional abilities as full trade.

Google docs data

Here are some diagrams I came up with:

This one shows generated trade by card costs, I didn't do other factions because they only have trade-generating cards up to a cost of 4 (with a single exception).

Initial source of data I used: BGG files


Is Dungeon! biased towards the Cleric? My group of friends have now played almost a few dozen games of Dungeon! and we have consistently noticed that the Cleric wins.

The Cleric has a target of 10,000 and works very well across all levels till level 4.
The Rogue has a small target too, but it cannot perform very well beyond level 3.
The Fighter has a larger target of 20,000, but can perform as well as the Cleric (till about level 4). It gets difficult in level 5 or 6.
The Wizard has a very high target of 30,000, so its best bet is level 5 or 6 to gain a lot of treasure very fast.

So I am not sure if the game is biased towards the Cleric - any thoughts?

I have not crunched any numbers for "proof" but experience and a quick sort through the monster deck would tend to support your supposition.

Rogue hit numbers are notably lower than the Cleric's and their secret doors special power is not good enough to compensate, especially given that it's not reliable and can be replicated with certain treasure cards.

Fighter hit numbers are only notably higher than the Cleric on low-level monsters. So it's more a case of being more reliable than really adventuring at higher levels. That doesn't seem a good enough trade off for the extra 10k gold.

Wizards can do much better than Clerics, but it's a crapshoot: draw monsters that happen to be vulnerable to your spell selection and you'll win easily. Don't, and you're monster bait.

But to be honest, you don't play Dungeon for the sort of strategic gameplay where balance is important. You play it for laughs, for stories and for being about the only family-friendly boardgame with an unashamedly geeky theme.


Cloudshifting Angel of Serenity in the middle of combat I have a very specific situation in mind.  My friend attacks me with some flying creatures, one of which is Angel of Serenity.  Before I declare blockers, I cast a Moonmist and an Atarka's Command on my werewolves to block them.  My friend then plays a Cloudshift on Angel of Serenity; does her ability happen at that moment while we're fighting?  That is, does he exile three of my werewolves and remove the angel from combat?

Your friend can play Cloudshift before or after you have declared blockers. Either way Cloudshift will resolve before the combat damage step. This means their Angel of Serenity is removed from combat, your friend may choose to exile up to three creatures, and any previously exiled cards are returned to their owner's hands.

If I'm correct this is the order in which everything happens, assuming your friend casts Cloudshift after you declared blockers:

Opponent casts Cloudshift targeting Angel of Serenity, this goes on the stack and it resolves (assuming no counter spells and no further combat tricks).
Angel of Serenity gets exiled (is removed from combat) and its leaves the battlefield ability triggers. Then the Angel of Serenity card returns to the battlefield, creating a new instance of the Angel, and its enters the battlefield ability triggers. Both triggers then go on the stack in either order.

As the enters the battlefield ability goes on the stack, opponent may choose up to three target creatures.

Angel of Serenity's enters the battlefield ability resolves and the chosen target creatures are exiled.
Angel of Serenity's leaves the battlefield ability resolves and any previously exiled creatures are returned to their owners hands. These are any creatures that were exiled when the original instance of Angel of Serenity entered the battlefield.

When the stack is empty and both players pass priority you move to the combat damage step.


Is casting a commander from the command zone considered casting a spell? For example, say I have God-Pharao's Statue in play:

  Spells your opponents cast cost {2} more to cast.

Would my opponents have to pay the two extra mana when playing their commander from the command zone?

Yes, they do have to pay extra mana.

  903.8. A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the “commander tax.”

(emphasis mine)

It's a creature spell, just not cast from their controller's hand as normal.

  701.4a To cast a spell is to take it from the zone it's in (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. A player may cast a spell if he or she has priority. See rule 601, "Casting Spells."

  701.4b To cast a card is to cast it as a spell.


Fight - can black stones be killed? I just tried a fight that ended up this:

Can the black stones be killed? It's whites move.

First, let's assume that white's chain is safe and look at it as tsumego. I tried several sequences but it seems that black is dead:

Second, is this fight naive or realistic? I was just trying to cope with black invasion stone at F3 and tried to seal it. Maybe there is a better approach how to treat it? Let him live peacefully and just build wall on the 4th line?

In general, this kind of fight is going to get you into trouble - you have a bunch of separate groups to take care of.  If your strategy before Black's invasion was sound, then you should be able to get a useful wall out of the invasion.  In that case, it's generally better to just keep extending along the fourth line.  So, instead of 20, I would just extend.  Black gets two points/move, and you're getting thickness that's worth more.

In the first diagram, if 39 is at 40, then isn't Black alive?


Why creature enchantments aren't playable? I've read an article recently about the M 2013 core set and it states that:

  Well, everyone knows creature enchantments aren’t playable...

Why exactly creature enchantments aren't playable? I'm talking about the context of Constructed games.

The simple, no-frills answer: creature enchantments aren't generally playable because they offer your opponent an easy 2-for-1 (or better, if you're the sort of person who likes to load creatures up with multiple Auras...)

Any removal spell that would have previously just taken out your creature now takes out all enchantments on that creature too, giving your opponent an easy route to significant card advantage.  Not a situation you want to enter into lightly.

EDIT: The OP asked in the comments about Totem Armor.  See this article by Mark Rosewater, in which he says:

  The idea behind totem armor was to offset the inherent card
  disadvantage of Auras. Normally when you play an Aura on a creature
  you have the vulnerability of being "two-for-oned"—that is, your
  opponent can spend one card (a kill spell) to make you lose two cards
  (your creature and your Aura). Totem armor prevents the two-for-one
  because it saves your creature. The Aura acts as a safety net.

Straight from the horse's mouth there!


May I attack myself? Could I attack myself with  sengir vampire, block with a creature, and get a +1/+1 counter on it

No, because the rules specifically say that you attack the other player in a two-player game, or opponents in a multiplayer game. There are no cards which change this.
Here are the full relevant rules:

506.2. During the combat phase, the active player is the attacking player; creatures that player controls may attack. During the combat phase of a two-player game, the nonactive player is the defending player; that player and planeswalkers he or she controls may be attacked.
506.2a During the combat phase of a multiplayer game, there may be one or more defending players, depending on the variant being played and the options chosen for it. Unless all the attacking player’s opponents automatically become defending players during the combat phase, the attacking player chooses one of his or her opponents as a turn-based action during the beginning of combat step. (Note that the choice may be dictated by the variant being played or the options chosen for it.) That player becomes the defending player. See rule 802, “Attack Multiple Players Option,” rule 803, “Attack Left and Attack Right Options,” and rule 809, “Emperor Variant.”
[...]
802.1. Some multiplayer games allow the active player to attack multiple other players. If this option is used, a player can also choose to attack only one player during a particular combat.
802.2. As the combat phase starts, the attacking player doesn’t choose an opponent to become the defending player. Instead, all the attacking player’s opponents are defending players during the combat phase.

(There are additional rules for multiplayer variants where there are restrictions on who you can attack, but rather than quoting absolutely everything, I'll just reiterate that nothing ever says you can attack yourself.)


Do I need to call Uno after swapping hands? I play the card Swap Hands. As it happens I got the hand of the person who said Uno when he was down to his last card the turn before me. Now I have his one card. Do I need to say Uno now? I ended up winning and I was called out for it.

TL;DR: While there is some room for argument, it seems that according to a literal reading of the official rules you do not need to call "UNO" if you go down to one card by swapping hands (or by any other means that don't involve placing a card on the discard pile; see below).  However, to avoid any ambiguity, you may still choose to do so if you want.  In any case, as long as nobody called you out on it before the next player started their turn, you won fair and square.

The unorules.com site cited by Nij does not seem to be in any way affiliated with Mattel, the makers of the game, and the rules there do not seem to be official in any sense.  The official rules are available on the Mattel & Fisher-Price customer service site, under "instruction sheets".  The page for UNO® Card Game (Product # FFK04) there currently links to this set of English rules, which say (emphasis mine):

  When you play your next-to-last card, you must yell “UNO” (meaning “one”) to indicate that you have only one card left. If you don’t yell “UNO” and you are caught before the next player begins their turn, you must draw two cards.

In fact, the paragraph quoted above is the only part of the rules, except for some of the suggested custom rules in the "Using Customizable Cards" section, that says anything about calling "UNO".

Notably, the paragraph quoted above says that you must call "UNO" when you play your next-to-last card, not when you go down to one card for any reason.  So, according to a literal reading of this paragraph, you do not need to call "UNO" if you go down to one card by some means other than by playing your second-to-last card — e.g. by giving your hand to some other player and receiving only one card in return.  (Of course, if Swap Hands was your second-to-last card, then you would still need to call "UNO" when you play it.)

(As an aside, another edge case which the official rules cover only implicitly is what happens if you play Swap Hands as your last card.  However, the official UNO Twitter account — of course there is one — has explicitly confirmed that, according to the latest rules, in this case the player you choose to swap hands with wins.  Unfortunately, the official account never seems to have replied to this question in the same thread asking about the very case being debated here.  And this reply to what might or might not be the same question — the phrasing is kind of ambiguous about whether "the person" refers to "you" or "someone" — just repeats the official rules as written.)

A possible counterargument to the literal reading above is that one of the suggested custom rules in the "Using Customizable Cards" section reads (again, emphasis mine):

  Tell a joke. If someone laughs, discard down to 1 card (don’t forget to yell “UNO!”). If no one laughs, draw 4 cards.

Reading between the lines, one might claim the parenthetical note as evidence of the intent of the rules being that one must call "UNO" whenever going down to one card, regardless of how that happens.  However, there are at least two reasonable counterarguments to that:

While the rules do not explicitly define what "playing a card" means, the wording of the "Let’s Play" section clearly implies that one plays a card by placing it "on top of the DISCARD pile".  If one is willing to infer designer intent by reading between the lines, one could therefore also argue that, by extension, any placement of cards on the discard pile implicitly counts as "playing" them, and therefore that the instruction to "discard down to 1 card" necessarily means having to "play your next-to-last card" (at least unless you only had one card left anyway, in which case you would've already had to call "UNO" when you played the custom wild card anyway).
In any case, the quote above comes from a suggested custom wild card house rule.  There's no particular reason to assume that it reflects the intended standard rules in any way (to put it in context, the next suggested custom rule in the list requires the following player to play without bending their elbows until someone calls "UNO"), nor, in any case, that the suggested requirement to call "UNO" when that particular custom card is played is anything but a special exception to those standard rules.

Still, if somebody's going to argue that you do need to call "UNO" when receiving a one-card hand from Swap Hands, that suggested custom wild card rule is probably the closest thing to be found in the current official rules to support their position.

Anyway, it's worth noting that the UNO rules have changed over the years, and in any case many groups play with longstanding house rules that they may even believe to be official (because who reads the rules leaflet anyway?).  Some of the more common (and most blatantly non-standard) such house rules I know of include being able to play multiple cards with the same number (or even multiple action cards of the same type) at once, being required to play a card instead of drawing one if you can, having to keep drawing if you don't have a playable card until you get one (instead of just drawing once and then ending your turn if you can't or don't want to play the card your drew) and not being able to play an action card as your last card.

I'm sure the same goes for having to call "UNO" after swapping hands with someone with only one card in their hand, and if your group is used to playing with such a rule, insisting on following the official rulebook may not be the best or most tactful approach.

In any case, there's (officially) no penalty for calling out "UNO" at any time, even when you don't have to(!).  So the cautious approach may be to call "UNO" any time you go down to one card in your hand for any reason, no matter what the rules say — at least unless you're playing with a house rule that forbids you from saying "UNO" when you don't have to.

Ps. For the historically curious, the old official UNO rules from 2001 also used very similar wording regarding when to call "UNO":

  Before playing your next to last card, you must say “UNO”.

and even the 1983 rules from International Games, Inc. phrased it in pretty much the same way:

  As a player plays his next to last card, he must call out “UNO” (meaning “ONE”).

Of course, neither of those old versions of UNO had the Swap Hands card, or any other means of getting rid of cards without playing them, so this issue never arose with them in the first place.


Which crystals can a Geologist collect? The rules say  "When the treasure is split, a Geologist gets as many Gold Pieces as there are crystals visible in the maze of tunnels."

I find this ambiguous. How should I interpret this?

Is it that:

"visible" means "visible to the people playing the game", that is, any crystal card that was played but not rock slid? OR
"visible" means "visible to the miners", that is, if there is no connection between a ladder and a crystal, it is not counted?

Frederic Moyersoen, the designer of the game, clarified it should be option 1 on BGG here (emphasis mine).

  Consider the geologist as someone who picks up the crystals as they are discovered. As the crystals are printed on the cards and cannot be physically be picked up, we just count the points at the end of the round. We don't care if a path connects to the crystals or gold.


Pandemic chain reactions During the infect cities step, if an outbreak occurs and causes a chain reaction, then another city card is pulled which was involed in the chain reaction, does the chain reaction occur a second time? This can bump the outbreak track up very quickly (i.e. 0-8 in a turn).

The cards you draw to infect cities are independant from one another.
Let's say the infection rate is 2. You first flip one card, infect the corresponding city (eventually managing outbreaks) then you flip the second one and follow the same process. If the second city is close to the first one and in the same color, odds are that cities that got an outbreak due to the first card will get another one... Nasty indeed...

The limit is one outbreak per city per chain reaction, not an outbreak per city per Infection phase...

From the Rules (Classic Pandemic p.7):

  Draw cards from the Infection Draw Pile equal to the current Infection Rate and add one cube to the pictured cities,
  using a cube of the same color as each card. Resolve the cards in the order you draw them. If, however, the pictured city
  is of a color that has been eradicated, do not add a cube. If a city already has 3 cubes in it of the color being added,
  instead of adding a cube to the city, an outbreak occurs in that color.

then

  If any of these new cubes would cause the total number of cubes of that color in an adjacent city to exceed 3, additional
  outbreaks may occur, causing a chain reaction. Note that each city may only outbreak once in each chain reaction


Does Shepherds/Ambassadors give me gold when I build by moving a settlement? The Nomads expansion has a Shepherds Ambassadors Kingdom Builder cards, which give you gold during the game for building in certain places (solo terrain hexes and next to other players, respectively). Do you get gold by moving a settlement into a qualifying hex via locations like Paddock and Caravan?

I would say no. Moving a settlement is not building it.

The rules say:

  The active player must check whether the conditions on red cards have been met after building each single new settlement. If these conditions have been fulfilled, the player immediately records the gold earned on the score track.

This interpretation is confirmed by the BoardGameGeek’s FAQs Shepherds only gives points for built, not moved, settlements and Ambassadors only give points for built, not moved, settlements. Both reference the thread Questions on rules, in which Kingdom Builder’s game designer Donald X. answered:

  No. Shepherds and Ambassadors do not score for moved pieces.


Does new target need to be chosen after the original has become invalid? Hypothetical situation:
Player A has one creature and player B has also one creature. Now the player A casts a black spell to destroy the creature  and targeting player's B creature. If creature B gets protections from black does the player A need to target the only possible target left in the game and that is his creature? What if the creature B would be returned to hand instead? Is it the same?

I am no Magic expert, but I think the answer is no.

The target is chosen and needs to be valid when the card is played. Then the stack system kicks in, so the state of the game can change. When the card is resolved, you check whether the target is still valid. If it is, the effect happens, if it isn’t, the effect does not happen. In fact, you are not allowed to choose a new target then, even if you want to.

From the basic rulebook, page 10:

  Target

  When you see the word “target” on a spell or ability, you have to choose one or more things for the spell or ability to affect. You’ll be able to choose only certain kinds of things, such as “target enchantment” or “target creature or player.”

  You choose the targets for a
  spell when you cast it, and you choose targets for an activated ability when you activate it. If you can’t meet the targeting requirements, you can’t cast the spell or activate the activated ability. Once you choose targets, you can’t change your mind later.

  When the spell or ability resolves, it checks the targets to make sure they’re still legal (they’re still there, and they match the requirements stated by the spell or ability). If a target isn’t legal, the spell or ability can’t affect it. If none of the targets are legal, the spell or ability is countered and does nothing at all.


Wooden felt-lined tray with numbers It's a wooden felt-lined tray with twelve wooden toggles--for lack of a better term--across one of the long sides.  They are numbered one through twelve, and you can flip them up or down.  Same numbers on both sides of each.  Also has two dice. It appears that the dice are intended to be thrown into the tray, and then something is to be done with the wooden numbers. That's it.  Anyone?

I believe you are looking for Shut the Box.


Are effects from attacks mandatory or optional? Very new Pokémon tcg player (father trying to learn the rules here).

I wonder if the effects of an attack are mandatory or optional. Like I have a Alolan Sandslash whose Smash Turn attack  (requires 3 energies, deals 50 points) says to switch with a benched Pokémon afterward. This can be: very annoying if I am forced to switch with a base or otherwise weak Pokémon or it can be helpful if by switching I remove some condition or it can be impossible if I don't have benched Pokémon.

So, is it mandatory or optional? What if it is impossible to fulfil, can I attack nonetheless?

They are mandatory. With a simple comparison:

You can see that Alolan Sandslash's attack is mandatory, because it uses imperative tense, whereas Hitmonchan's first attack is not, because it uses "You may ..." phrase.

If you'd like a more reliable source, there is a list of official rulings named Pokémon TCG Rulings Compendium BW that contains many explanations how rules work with particular attack, card, or their combination. Here, you can find that there is a ruling for Bounce that we can use here:

  Q. Can I use Emolga's "Bounce" attack if I have no bench?

  A. Yes, you do as much of the attack as you can. First you do the damage, then you perform the switch if Emolga is able to go to the Bench. (Next Destinies FAQ; Feb 9, 2012 TPCi Rules Team)

This official ruling must be followed by all Pokémon that has the same attack (regardless its name), including your Alolan Sandslash. That means that you do the damage and then, unless you have no Pokémon on your Bench, you must switch it with with 1 of them.


Looking for full spoilers for the Shadowrun CCG I'm looking for full-text (or even better, image) spoilers for the old Shadowrun collectible card game (interchangeably known as Shadowrun TCG or CCG).  Basically, I'm looking for a list of all the cards, plus their rules in one convenient package.

There used to be a Geocities site that had them, but the site is long gone now, so I wondered if anyone knows of another site that might have them.  I've done a fair amount of searching, and nothing has come up yet, for what it's worth.

Here's one link to start you on your way: a full text spoiler in PDF for the "Underworld" expansion, which was the only one released for the game.


What happens when multiple "when this creature dies" triggers happen at the same time? In Magic the Gathering, If I have Gate to the Afterlife and Shadows of the Past on the battlefield and one of my creatures die which ability activates first?  Would I have to scry first or would I have to heal/draw/discard first?

Both capacities will trigger in the same time. You choose the one to apply first. (you put them on the stack in the order that you want)

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

APNAP order is Active player/non active player order. This means that effects from the active player, the one who's turn it is, get put on the stack first, in the order they choose, then the next player in turn order and so on. The last thing put on the stack is the first to resolve, so the person who's turn is farthest away will have their triggers resolve first.


Why would you want to play with a deck bigger than 60 cards in MTG? In Magic the Gathering, the decks are required to be no less than 60 cards, but can be larger.  Since you can only have 4 of each card (except for basic lands), it seems you would want the limit size to improve your chances of getting the cards you want.  Why would you want to play with a larger deck?


Can I suspend Ith, High Arcanist as my commander directly from the command zone? When Ith, High Arcanist is in command zone, can I use its suspend ability?
Does the suspend activity cost increase the second time or is the additional cost is only applied to casting cost?

No, you cannot.
Suspend means:

702.61. Suspend
702.61a Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with suspend is in a player’s hand. The second and third are triggered abilities that function in the exile zone. “Suspend N—[cost]” means “If you could begin to cast this card by putting it onto the stack from your hand, you may pay [cost] and exile it with N time counters on it. This action doesn’t use the stack,” and “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this card is suspended, remove a time counter from it,” and “When the last time counter is removed from this card, if it’s exiled, play it without paying its mana cost if able. If you can’t, it remains exiled. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of the spell or the permanent it becomes.”

You can only use Suspend from your hand. Since the Command zone is a zone different from your hand, you cannot use Suspend.
This is also summarised in the reminder text for Ith's Suspend ability, which can be read on Gatherer.


Brand new Pokemon Cards bent in packaging! I just opened my new Enchanted Echo starter deck and found two fairy energy cards bent in the box! These cards are completely unusable and buying this deck was primarily for getting the fairy energy cards! Im outraged! Is there any way that I can contact the Pokemon Trading Card company and file a formal complaint and maybe try for a refund, or do I need to talk to the store I bought it from? The cards were bent in the unopened packaging, so this is a defect. I can't find any information on the Pokemon Trading Card company though! Does anyone know where I should file my complaint?

According to the Pokemon.com FAQ

My cards were ruined, can you replace them?
Company policy dictates that we only replace products damaged through manufacturer error. In addition, we do not keep inventory of individual cards here, and are unable to offer 'card for card' replacements. We recommend that you try to return your purchase to the retailer if your cards are damaged for any reason other than manufacturing error.
If you feel your cards were damaged or altered due to a manufacturing error please scan each card in question front and back and send in a ticket to prodhelp@pokemon.com with your first and last name, your proof of purchase, your date of birth, and address.


Citadels: Price of the poorhouse from Dark City What is the price of the poorhouse from The Dark City expansion? I'm asking, because in my (German) edition the poorhouse doesn't have any coins printed on it, so I suppose this is an error by the publisher.

In the US version, the Poor House costs 5 gold. In European versions, it costs 0 gold. The general consensus is that you should play the Poor House with its face value. If your version says 0 cost, that's what you should play it as. If you don't want to do that, make sure you inform everyone about this before the game starts.

It's not clear which publisher is in error, as the creator of the game, Bruno Faidutti, never spoke on the subject.

There are a lot of inconsistencies between European and US versions of Citadels. Someone on BGG once claimed that the 0 cost version is a misprint, but as far as I could tell they had no official source for that information, and it caused a bit of debate.


What is the official name of this game? In India, it is called kaali teeri (3 of Spades) This game can be played by 4 or 6 people.
with 6 people you take out all 2.
10 points are associated with each of the face cards(A,K,Q,J and 10) , and 3 of Spades has 30 points associated with it making it a trump card. And 5 has 5 points. Everything else has no value.

Players wage their scores depending on how good their cards are (maximum is 250), and player with the highest wager ask for a partner with a specific card and creates trump suit(pick a color of cards which has higher value to take hands). Partner then assists the player reach the target points, either openly or secretly.

I want to know the official name of this game. Is there any game named
'Three of Spades'?

Regarding the game rules and origin: It appears that this game is not widely know in English on the Internet. However, I found two families of card games played in other parts of Asia that appear to be related.

Regarding the name: "Kaali Teeri" or in English "Three of Spades" is of course a perfectly normal and logical name for a game of this nature. Based on how card game names typically evolve, it may have been coined when the 3 of spades first received its special role - or later in a cultural environment where this is an unusual feature. Some other features of the game may have changed since then, without causing changes to the name. It is quite possible that the game's Hindi name is just a translation from another language. In the same way, it's perfectly sensible and logical to call this game "Three of Spades" in English. Alternatively, one could call it "Kaali Teeri" in English.

The following are all the possible relatives that I could find. Let's start with the Rook family:

Rook is an American card game with special cards, invented in an American Christian community that disapproved of standard playing cards because of their association with gambling. The deck consists of 4 suits with 14 cards each (numbered 1 to 14) plus a joker-like extra card representing a rook bird. The game has many variants, some of which make it more similar to Kaali Teeri. For example, there are variants in which the player can call a partner instead of playing in fixed partnerships. Remaining major differences:

The game is only played with ranks 5 to 14, corresponding to the ranks 5 to King and Ace (high) when playing with ordinary cards, plus the Rook, corresponding to a Joker or perhaps the 3 of Spades.
Card values are 5: 5, 10: 10, Jack/Queen/King: 0 (not 10), Ace: 10, Rook: 20 (not 30).
Every player gets only 9 of the 41 cards. The remaining 5 cards form a 'nest', from which the highest bidder may improve his hand.

Shelem or Rok is an Iranian game that is obviously connected to Rook. Major differences to Kaali Teeri:

There is no equivalent to the Rook, Joker or 3 of Spades.
Card values are 5: 5, 10: 10, Jack/Queen/King: 0 (not 10), Ace: 10.
Every player gets only 12 of the 52 cards. The remaining 4 cards form what is normally called a widow in English, from which the highest bidder may improve his hand.

Another apparent Rook variant is Oochlee, played by the Christian minority in Syria.

Now we come to the picture-taking family:

Etori is an almost extinct Japanese game. A modern variant that is still played is called Kakeya Toranpu. Major differences to Kaali Teeri:

The partnerships are fixed.
The trump suit is not determined by bidding but in one of several much less interesting ways.
Regardless of trump suit, the highest card is always the Ace of Spades (not the 3 of Spades). Optionally a Joker may be added which is then the highest card. (It is not reported what other card if any is removed in this case.)
The object is for a partnership to win more than 8 of the 16 scoring 'picture cards' Ace, King, Queen, Jack of all four suits. (This is equivalent to making Ace, King, Queen, Jack score 10 and everything else 0.) For this reason, this kind of game is called a picture-taking game.

Japanese Napoleon has a lot of differences to Kaali Teeri, but it is obviously related to Etori and has some features that are actually closer to Kaali Teeri than Etori is:

10 is also a counting card, making the scoring system even more similar to Kaali Teeri.
Players bid for the game. The winner calls for a partner by calling for a card.
There is a variant in which a Joker is added as a 'trump hunter' and the 3 of Spades(!) has the role of a 'Joker hunter'.

The Korean game Mighty is very similar to the Japanese games described before.

Overall, I would bet that Kaali Teeri connects the American game Rook and its close relative in Iran with the Japanese picture-taking games. This even fits the geographic situation very well.


In Magic, can an ability target a permanent that is being sacrificed as part of that ability's activation cost? Suppose my opponent has a Darksteel Colossus in play, and I have Attrition and no creatures. During my turn I cast Act of Treason to gain control of the Colossus and attack with it. So far I haven't done anything controversial.

Now, at this point what I want to do is sacrifice the Colossus to my Attrition, so that my opponent doesn't get him back at the end of the turn. However, Attrition's ability requires a target, and the Colossus is the only potential target on the battlefield. Is it legal to activate the ability and target the Colossus, even though I also want to sacrifice him as part of the ability's cost?

In other words, can I target a creature with an ability, and also sacrifice that same creature as part of the ability's activation cost?

(The ability won't resolve, of course, but that was never the real goal. Normally it would be better to target another of the opponent's creatures, but in this case he doesn't have any, so the Colossus is the only potential target.)

Yes, you can target one of your permanents with a spell or ability, then sacrifice that permanent to pay for that very spell or ability.
When casting a spell or activating an ability, you first put it on stack, then choose targets (the creature you are about to sacrifice), then pay all costs (sacrifice the creature).
These are the relevant steps for casting a spell or activating an ability:

602.2a The player announces that they are activating the ability. If an activated ability is being activated from a hidden zone, the card that has that ability is revealed. That ability is created on the stack as an object that’s not a card. It becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. Its controller is the player who activated the ability. The ability remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, or an effect moves it elsewhere.
602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b–i. Those rules apply to activating an ability just as they apply to casting a spell. An activated ability’s analog to a spell’s mana cost (as referenced in rule 601.2f) is its activation cost.
601.2c The player announces their choice of an appropriate object or player for each target the spell requires. [..]
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. [...]
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. [..]

So in a nutshell, first you determine targets, then you pay costs. If all targets (Darksteel Colossus in this case) are illegal by the time the ability would resolve, the ability will fail to resolve, but the sacrifice to pay for the ability was still legal.


Handicapping an experienced Agricola player. One of my friends and I often play Agricola, and he's considerably better than me at it - I'm getting better, but he seems to be advancing at a faster rate, and it's getting to the point that although I like playing the game I'm finding it less fun to be constantly losing.

Are there any good ways of creating some custom/'house' rules to disadvantage him slightly, so that we're a little more even? I don't want to make it impossible for him to win, or to make it too easy for me.

(I know the purists out there will think this abhorrent, but hey, the goal is to have fun right?)

Play an open game

If your friend is willing, why not play a completely open game?  All players show all of their cards and explain why they're taking each action.  If your friend really is significantly better, you could learn a lot by discovering why he makes certain moves.  Perhaps there's some critical flaw in your strategy that's preventing you from scoring enough points to be competitive.


Monster attacking directly considered as "battled"? So if monster attacked directly, is it considered "battle"? So if Michion, the Timelord attacked LP directly, his effect of halving LP activates?

I'm asking this because of Michion, the Timelord's effect:

  Cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. If you control no monsters,
  you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. Cannot be destroyed
  by battle or card effects. You take no battle damage from attacks
  involving this card. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card
  battled: Halve your opponent’s LP. Once per turn, during your Standby
  Phase: Shuffle this card into the Deck.

Yes, the effect of Michion will activate; direct attacks are included in what are considered "battles".

From Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Official Rulebook ver9.1 p48

  When a card requires a
  monster to have “battled” (past tense), the attack had to have reached the
  damage calculation portion of the Damage Step in order for the monster to
  have “battled”. If the attack stops before damage calculation, the monster
  did not “battle”.

So, provided Michion's attack reached damage calculation without being interrupted, the effect to halve the opponent's LP will activate at the end of the Battle Phase.


Can I cast Bloodrush from my hand? Bloodrush is confusing my friends and I. Suppose I have a Ghor-Clan Rampager in my hand:

Can I cast Bloodrush from my hand (discarding Ghor-Clan Rampager straight from there), without first having summoned Ghor-Clan Rampager to the battlefield? If so:

Can it be cast from the had as an instant?
Why is this the case? Can activated abilities really be used from the hand, or is there just something special about Bloodrush?

We're having genuine trouble understanding definitively whether it can be used from the hand or not. I'd imagine that as an activated ability, the creature has to actually be summoned first, but then there's this quote from the Gatecrash mechanics feature on Wizards:

  The warriors of the scattered Gruul Clans spend a lot of time fighting for territory, for loot, or simply for enjoyment. A creature with a bloodrush ability is so eager to get into the fight, it might not even wait for you to cast it.

It's hard to know whether this is flavoursome description for which our interpretation has gone awry, or an author writing about how a creature with Bloodrush actually doesn't have to be on the battlefield before you use its ability. Plus this answer about Bloodlust quotes rule 602.2a which talks about using abilities from hidden zones, but that might not be the hand. We're trying to stick to the Basic Rules though and not overcomplicate things, and I can't find what those have to say about this.

Bloodrush is an activated ability that you can activate from your hand and only from your hand. You cannot use bloodrush if the card is already on the battlefield.

Most ability in Magic are only used from the battlefield, but abilities with costs that only apply in other zones, like "Discard this card," "Reveal this card from your hand," or "Exile this card from your graveyard," can only be activated from those other zones instead.

For an in-depth explanation, let's look at the text of Ghor-Clan Rampager:

  Bloodrush — {R}{G}, Discard Ghor-Clan Rampager: Target attacking creature gets +4/+4 and gains trample until end of turn.

First off, note how Bloodrush is italicized on the card. That means it's reminder text, not rules text. Specifically, it's an "ability word" (207.2c in the comp rules). I'm only pointing this out because it means that, unlike trample or deathtouch, the word itself doesn't imply any extra rules. Everything about bloodrush is printed right on the card.

The ":" indicates that it's an activated ability — pay a cost, get an effect. However, how do you discard a creature that's on the battlefield?

  701.7a To discard a card, move it from its owner’s hand to that player’s graveyard.

So, the answer is, you don't. You can only discard the card while it's in your hand. Which means...

  112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack.
  Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The
  exceptions are as follows:

  ...

  112.6i An object’s activated ability that has a cost that can’t be paid while the object is on the
  battlefield functions from any zone in which its cost can be paid.

So, because the ability says "discard Ghor-Clan Rampager" as a cost, you can activate it from your hand, even though most abilities are only used from the battlefield.

Some other things to note about bloodrush, based on the text:

Using bloodrush is activating an ability, not casting a spell. It still goes on the stack but it doesn't trigger "When a spell is cast" triggers and can't be countered by cards that say "Counter target spell."
You can't activate the ability at all without an appropriate target (an attacking creature, in this case).