How damages from an attack applies to a player? Context :

We're playing a mtg multiplayer game with 3 people (2 friends and I).
Let's say player 1 has no creature on the board and no way to defend himself and 1 Life left, player 2 has some big creatures on the board and plenty of Life, and player 3 has three 3/3 creatures on the board, each with lifelink and vigilance, but player 3 doesn't have much life left (he could die next time player 2 attacks him with full power).
In order to survive the next turn, player 3 has to gain life with the 3 of his creatures AND keep them alive for defense purpose) so he decides to attack player 1 with everything.

Question :

How do you apply the damage from player 3's attack to player 1 ?

We're lacking information and can't tell if player 1 will die from the blow of the first creature to damage him (thus healing only 3 life to player 3), or if all three creatures hit him at the same time, letting player 3 heal 9 Life this turn.

All combat damage happens at the same time, barring abilities such as first strike. That means player 3 gains 9 life from the attack (and player 1 ends up at -8 life before losing).

From the CR:

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


How can you get around the lack of early stone in two-player Agricola? In two-player Agricola, the first Take Stone action space appears in Rounds 5-7. Apart from one or two Minor Improvements, there is no way to get stone earlier than this. Having played quite a few such games, I feel that this is an unfortunate limitation, as certain cards such as the Axe and the Peat Charcoal Kiln (in Farmers of the Moor) are very useful if played early. But as they cost stone, you might have to wait until round 7 to have a chance, and this almost completely negates their usefulness.

Games with 3-5 players have ways of picking up small amounts of stone before the Take Stone cards appear. I feel like an equivalent would make the two-player game more flexible. Would it break the game to modify the rules slightly (e.g. including the "Take one building resource" 3-player action card, or something else along those lines), or should I just accept the limitations? In most respects the game seems very well balanced but I feel like this is an exception.

As far as breaking the game goes you'd have to experiment. Since those cards don't always come up it's hard to say with out play testing how early stone would affect a 2-player game with and without those cards.

My suggestion would be to as you say accept the limitation and use the draw 10 pick 7 method for Minor Improvements and Occupations. That way if you are playing a 2-player game and draw a great card but it requires stone you can decide not to keep it.

Ultimately house ruling things is about having more fun, so if you add a path to early stone for 2-player games and it's more enjoyable for everyone then go for it. That said, in my opinion, Agricola shines at making you feel like you never have enough time to do stuff so removing that from the game (even in a small way) diminishes one of the core qualities of the game.


Settlers of Catan cities and knights mighty knights maximum numbers Playing Settlers of Catan there have been a few instances where one runs out of Settlements or Cities (the pieces). How I have been playing it is that if you don't have it you can't build it.

However playing the expansion Cities and Knights for the first time I explored the Politics Calender which gives you the special of "Fortress: You may promote strong knights to mighty knights" Only then did I realize that there are only 2 Mighty Knight Token pieces. If the Politics special is to promote to Mighty Knights but only able to perform this for two knights(if they've not been promoted already) then it seems under powered compared to the other Building tree abilities.

My question is: Can you only play the 2 mighty knights during a game because there are only 2 mighty knight pieces?

Yes, you are always limited to the number of pieces you have, no matter what that piece is.

In the case of Cities and Knights, the Fortress does only allow you to upgrade your two strong knights (level 2) to mighty knights (level 3), which in itself is only an upgrade of 2 strength. However, in doing so, it also means that you can have up to six knights on the board - 2 of each level - compared to the 4 you can build without the Fortress. And in terms of total strength, you go from a maximum of 6 to a maximum of 12, so you're actually doubling your capacity to defend against the barbarian. And that's not even looking at the options of displacing strong knights on your roads.


Hammerfist Giant with Lifelink? I have a Hammerfist Giant with a Felidar Umbra on it (enchantment aura that gives the creature Lifelink). There are 3 players and 7 non-flying creatures on the battlefield. I tap the giant to deal 4 damage to each player and non-flying creature. Do I gain 4 life, or do I gain 40 life?

40 life.

Hammerfist Giant is dealing 40 total damage, so you gain 40 total life.


Can I counter or Nix an aura swap? I am playing magic with my friends and we have a problem with the ability Aura Swap on a card called Arcanum Wings.

Does it count as casting when you activate Aura Swap and put new aura on the battlefield with Arcanum Wings? If a player uses the Aura swap ability, can I counter the new aura with Nix?

Aura swap says to "exchange this permanent with an Aura in your hand". The new Aura is not cast, it's simply put onto the battlefield. Since it's not cast, and is put on the battlefield during resolution of the effect, it cannot be countered by spells or abilities. There's never a time when the new Aura exists on the stack - the Aura swap ability goes on the stack with the new Aura in your hand, and upon resolution, the new Aura goes on the battlefield.

You could get around this by countering the Aura swap ability itself (e.g. Stifle), or by removing the permanent that has Aura swap (perhaps by bouncing the creature it's attached to). In either of these cases, though, your opponent will still have the new Aura in his hand afterwards.


Can I play a different colored Draw 2 Card on top of a Draw 2 Card in Uno or Uno Flip In a three player game:
- Player A plays a Yellow +2 Card
- Player B picks up 2 cards
- Player C plays a Green +2 Card

Is player C allowed to change colors, on the basis of a punishing card?

Yes, Player C can play a different colored Draw 2 Card on top of Player A's Draw 2 Card.

  Draw 2 Card - ... This card may only be played on a matching color or
  on another Draw 2 card.

Here's a great place to read the rules yourself:
From mattel.com: https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/42001pr.pdf


Does Paelleall's Wrath of the Volcano ability affect Heroes on her tile and the Entrance Tile? Paelleall's Summoner Ability reads (emphasis mine):

Wrath of the Volcano
At the beginning of your turn, choose the shortest path from your current tile to the Dungeon Entrance tile. All other heroes within that path receive one wound marker. If multiple paths exist, choose 1.

Clearly her ability should affect heroes that share a dungeon tile with her, or they wouldn't have noted "All other heroes." Does reasoning follow that heroes on the Dungeon Entrance would be wounded as well?
Is this path inclusive of the start and end point?

It looks like you cannot get any more definitive than the designer himself, Mr. Bistro:

Q: Is Paelleall's Wrath of the Volcano ability include hitting all other heroes on Paelleall's current tile, and any figures standing on the Entrance Tile as well? I would assume that it does, but it isn't clear to me.
A: Yes, that is the intent. Every tile in the path is hit.


First strike and bioshift Player A's board consists of:

1/1 first strike with 4 +1/+1 counters
1/1 creature

Player B's board consists of:

2/2 lifelink creature

Player B has 5 life and has to block the creature with 4 +1/+1 counters.

Can Player A, after dealing first strike damage, transfer the remaining counters to the 1/1 creature and then deal lethal damage to Player B?

Yes, given that Bioshift is an instant.

The combat unrolls as follows:

...
Declare Blockers [CR 509]

Blockers are declared. [CR 509.1]
Damage Assignment order for attacking creatures is decided. [CR 509.2]
Damage Assignment order for blocking creatures is decided. [CR 509.3]
Players get priority. [CR 509.4-5]

Combat Damage Step (First Strike) [CR 510]

Attacker assigns damage. [CR 510.1]
Defender assigns damage. [CR 510.1]
Combat damage is dealt. [CR 510.2]
Players get priority. [CR 510.3-4]

Combat Damage Step (Normal Damage)

Attacker assigns damage.
Defender assigns damage.
Combat damage is dealt.
Players get priority.

End of Combat Step

Players get priority.

First Strike damage is dealt in 3.3 above, leaving you free to shift counters in 3.4 before normal damage is assigned and dealt in 4.1 and 4.3.

Note that the counters could also have been transferred in the Declared Blockers Step (2.4 above). However, it's more advantageous to wait until the First Strike Combat Damage Step (if possible) since two creatures get to take advantage of them.

  510. Combat Damage Step

  ...

  510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

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


Can I use Duke to immediately restore sanity right after I discover I'm going to lose it? If I were to discover that losing sanity would drive me insane, can I use the ally Duke to immediately heal my sanity first?  It sounds like I would be cheating time doing this, so my thinking is that the answer is no.

No, you couldn't use Duke in that situation. Certain cards such as Flesh Ward specifically allow interrupting the order of things to prevent you from taking damage, but Duke does not.

You would need to choose to use Duke before whatever action you were taking (such as drawing an encounter), or afterwards, but it cannot interrupt the resolution of a card once it has started.

From the Arkham Horror Complete FAQ (page 14):

  Q: When can a character perform actions during a phase?
  For example, if a player with the ally Duke (“discard to
  immediately restore your Sanity to its maximum”) draws
  an encounter and has to roll a die and lose that much
  Sanity, when can he discard Duke to restore Sanity: not at
  all once the encounter card is drawn, before the roll, or
  after the roll?

  A: He may discard Duke after the roll, provided he
  has not been driven insane. Actions can be performed
  at any time during their listed phase as long as any given
  conditions are met. However, once an encounter is drawn,
  it must be resolved before any more actions can be performed.
  So, in the case of Duke, you can use him before
  or after drawing an encounter card, but if you draw the
  encounter card and it inflicts Sanity loss that reduces you
  to 0 Sanity, you go insane before you can use Duke. Flesh
  Ward is one exception to this rule because it prevents a
  Stamina loss and is intended to be used in response to such
  events. The Premonition Spell [CotDP] is another exception.


In what zone do the lingering effects of spells reside? Cyclopean Tomb, for example, creates an effect that continues for the rest of the game, even if it is destroyed.

Is there a name for the conceptual "board" of lingering effects whose originating cards are no longer on the battlefield?

They do not reside in any special realm. They just continue to apply. CR 611.2a states

  A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by
  the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until
  the end of the game.

What is interesting is, that these effects continue to apply even if the controller of the spell or ability that generated it leaves the game in a multi-player. So, if you turned some of your opponent's lands into swamps and then are killed, those lands continue to be swamps as long as they remain on the battlefield with the counters. Since you already left the game, your turn will be skipped and no counters are removed by the tomb's second ability.


When does the game end when the last player pushes the first player over the 40-point limit? In a three-player game, the first player had about 38 points.  It is the last player's turn, and he uses a Free Agent which gives the first player (whose turn will normally be next) 41 points, triggering the game ending condition.  The last player then ends his turn and collects points, which also pushes the last player over 40.  Does the game end immediately, or does it go for one more round?

We played one further round, under the logic that: 1) the first player went over 40 first, off-turn. 2) the rules state that "When a player reaches 40 points at the end of their turn..." and 3) since he was first player, everyone else gets a turn to act so that everyone would get the same number of points.

On the other hand, the argument for the game ending immediately is: the last player went over 40 at the end of his turn (his turn ended on 40 first), and since everyone had played the same number of turns, the game ends.

Which is correct?

The game ends immediately after someone has 40+ intel points. You must have a different version of the rulebook. The copy on the playtheagents website states twice:

The Goal - Your goal is simple - to be the first player to reach 40 intel points.
Reminder: the first person to reach 40 intel points, wins.

There is no mention of ending the game only on a players turn when they have 40+ intel points, nor requiring all players to have the same number of turns.


Space combat game with standard deck of cards About a year ago I was clicking around on the net and I found someone's personal blog with a description of an invented card game.  It was played with a normal deck of cards.  Face cards were ships, and they could be augmented with shields, phasers, torpedos etc... which were represented by the pip cards.  I've searched for hours and can't find it.  Has anybody seen this game?

Sounds like it could be InterPlaNet War by John Buenavides. His description:

  54 cards. The deck will have markings on the corners equivalent to a
  standard deck of playing cards. Each player takes a suit to represent
  his army: Martians (Spades), Terrans (Diamonds), Jovians (Clubs), or
  Venusians (Hearts). One card will represent your home Colony, the
  other 12 cards represent your Cohorts -- your combat units

And looking at the pics, the face cards are indeed marked as ships. And some of the cards reference torpedoes.

Here's his post on the BGG forums back in 2012. The links he provides to PnP files are all google drive links, though, which seem to be private now.


Why does Mana-Burn exist in Magic: The Gathering? My understanding of Mana-Burn is that if you have any left over mana in your mana-pool at the end of your turn, you loose that many life. But why is this rule necessary? The only time I see it come into play is when you have cards that give you multiple mana like Dark Ritual and Black Lotus, and isn't wasted mana penalty enough? I can't think of many times when I would purposely want to have extra mana left over in the first place.

When and how does mana burn usually happen? Why was the rule added? How would Magic be different without it?

Mana burn has been removed from the game in the magic 2010 rules update. From the comprehensive rules glossary:

Mana Burn (Obsolete)
Older versions of the rules stated that unspent mana caused a player to lose life; this was called "mana burn." That rule no longer exists.

When the rule was still in effect, you lost all unspent mana in your mana pool at the end of each step and phase (not turn), and you lost life equal to the amount of mana lost.
As for the reason why it was there: As you said, it was meant to punish anyone who didn't manage his or her mana well. Also, there were a few cards that had the mana Burn rule in mind. They would add Mana to a player's pool during on of his/her game phases. Some would reward you for being tapped out or punish the opponent for not being tapped out, mostly in the Prophecy edition.
Why was it removed? As you noted as well, it was practically irrelevant a rule as it only very rarely happened, and when it happened, it confused most players about the details of how it worked exactly.


If I can't "win the game" in multiplayer, do my opponents still lose? Let's say I'm playing a multiplayer game, and I'm drawing from an empty deck with Laboratory Maniac out while an opponent has Platinum Angel.

  104.3h In a multiplayer game, an effect that states that a player wins the game instead causes all of that player’s opponents to lose the game.

Is 104.3h a replacement effect created by the game rules, or does it modify the effect "win the game" on the card?

A different angle: Platinum Angel says "your opponents can't win the game". Does this refer to the game action "win the game", which instead causes your opponents to lose, or to actually winning the game? (or both?)

If 104.3h is a replacement effect, and "can't win" precludes following the "win the game" instruction, then nothing would happen. The event for 104.3h to replace didn't occur. I think this is the more likely outcome.

Otherwise, if we can follow the Maniac's instruction, then each opponent loses the game, except Platinum Angel's controller, because they can't.

Paraphrased from a comment for clarity: This question might boil down to "can game rules be replacement effects?" I haven't seen why not. The question I have regarding PA's effect is does it stop just the game event of "you win", or does it stop everything that, due to language, looks like "you win"? i.e. if 104.3h changes the game to mean the game action "you win" has nothing to do with winning, it might slip through, but if 104.3h is a replacement effect then it never sees LM's ability to replace it.

Further development: @ikegami commented: The confusion stems from the fact that 104.3h effectively turns "win (the game)" into a keyword action with a different effect than "actually winning the game". So which one does PA prevent now, the pseudo-keyword, or "actually winning the game"? or both?

No player will lose the game, and the game continues normally

  104.3h In a multiplayer game, an effect that states that a player wins the game instead causes all of that player’s opponents to lose the game. (...)

This multiplayer rule that modifies how winning and losing works normally makes Laboratory Maniac's ability work different in multiplayer games. While in a two-player game, a player would win with Laboratory Maniac and drawing from an empty library, that rule makes each opponent of that player lose instead.

Now, if one of those players controls a Platinum Angel which has a continuous effect stating that they can't lose the game and opponents can't win the game, it will prevent any opponent of that player from winning the game.

  101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence.

Platinum Angel will effectively prevent Laboratory Maniac's ability from going through with the event of winning the game, meaning the rule 104.3h never applies to this situation.

This course of events is backed by Matt Tabak's response to a question asked by Samthere:

  In a multiplayer game, if P1 tries to win via Laboratory Maniac but P2 controls Platinum Angel, what happens? Nothing, or do P3, P4, etc, lose the game?

  Nothing. LM’s replacement effect does apply, and then P1 winning the game just doesn’t happen.

This is actually independent from whether rule 104.3h is actually a replacement effect or not, and whether this has been discussed at large in answers, comments and in chat to the point where everyone seems to be agreing to disagree.
Until further enlightenment in this regard, let's cover both cases, and why they're largely identical...

If the rule was considered to be a replacement effect, since the event of winning the game wouldn't actually happen (with Platinum Angel preventing it), the following rule prevents the entirety of the respective replacement effect (in this case, rule 104.3h) from taking place:

  614.7. If a replacement effect would replace an event, but that event never happens, the replacement effect simply doesn't do anything.

For a concrete example, Leovold, Emissary of Trest can prevent people from drawing cards, and has a ruling which notes that "Replacement effects can’t be used to replace draws that Leovold disallows." Replacement effects replace the event as they happen; if the event is prevented from happening, there's nothing for them to replace. Therefore, similarly, replacement effects can't replace winning the game if you're prevented from winning the game.
If it wasn't considered a replacement effect, the game would just as well never reach the event of that player winning the game, seeing as there's "you win the game" simply clashing with "you can't win the game", which is settled by rule 101.2. Again, rule 104.3h would never be applied, as the event of a player winning the game is never reached.


How do I (self) promote a board game? I design a board game. It has a Middle Eastern folklore theme.

It’s a casual family board game for 2-6 players.
It takes about 90 minutes for each level to play. There are total 5 levels and more than 25 scenarios.

I have no idea how much paid marketing will really work.

need feedback where and how do I (self) promote to make a reasonable audience?

First you'll want to build up a fan base.  To do that, you could:

Introduce it at board game meetups and conventions.
Send print and play files to interested people over the internet.
Show it off on board game forums.

Once you have a fan base, then it's time to think about options for publishing the game.  I wouldn't recommend spending any money on marketing until you have a publishing route worked out, since you won't have a product to sell yet, and (depending on which way you go) your publisher will probably already have their own marketing ideas and budget.


Why is the card Earthcraft banned in legacy? A similar card called Cryptolith Rite never did anything in legacy why is Earthcraft banned. Now I do understand you can tap summoning sick critters to the Earthcraft, but it can only untap basic lands so it cannot give you rainbow mana as the rites do, I do think they are comparable in power level, I really cannot understand that ban.

It is an infinite combo with Squirrel Nest.

Even though this probably is the main reason why Earthcraft remains banned, it isn't the reason why it was originally banned. To clear up the confusion, we need to take a look at the history of Earthcraft bannings:

  1999
  March
  Standard: Dream Halls, Earthcraft, Fluctuator, Lotus Petal, Recurring Nightmare, and Time Spiral are banned. Memory Jar is banned retroactively in mid March.
  ...
  September
  Extended: Dream Halls, Earthcraft, Lotus Petal, Mind Over Matter, and Yawgmoth's Will are banned.
  ...
  2003
  March
  Vintage: Berserk, Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall are unrestricted.
  Earthcraft and Entomb are restricted.
  Legacy: Berserk, Hurkyl's Recall, and Recall are unbanned.
  Earthcraft and Entomb are banned.
  ...
  2004
  September
  Vintage: Braingeyser, Doomsday, Earthcraft, and Fork are unrestricted.

From: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Banned_and_restricted_cards/Timeline

One of the reasons why Earthcraft is so broken (not in Legacy, but in Standard), is it was used to create infinite tokens with Wild Growth and Sacred Mesa. Wizards tried to fix all the fast combo decks with one go in the B/R announcement in March 1999.

Mark Rosewater posted this article on February of 2003. There is a explanation how Earthcraft was originally designed:

  Earthcraft (banned in Extended) – This card started as a simple idea. Ley Druid was an interesting green creature. How about an enchantment that gives the Ley Druid ability to all your creatures? The original card looked like this:

  Earthcraft

  Enchantment

  Each creature you control gains “: Untap target basic land.”

  At first glance, this might seem like the same card, but there is one key difference. The original version text spliced the ability onto creatures. This is important because it prevented endless loops since new creatures that were created would have "summoning sickness" and thus couldn’t be used to untap more lands to play additional creatures. (A quick aside – the term "summoning sickness" is no longer in the rules, but there is no new term to describe what "summoning sickness" used to mean and I refuse to use the term "doesn’t have haste" or "has been under your control since the beginning of your most recent turn" or whatever, so I have rebelliously used the term "summoning sickness." So there!)

  Why the change? Well, I happen to dig up the design notes from our database and discovered the culprit: JLM. (JLM, by the way, is Joel L. Mick, who at different times used to be Magic Lead Designer and Magic Brand Manager. The cards Jalum Tome and Jalum Grifter are both named after him. He was also the model for the art of Jalum Grifter. At the time of this note, he was Magic Lead Designer.)

  3.05 JLM Stop the needless text splicing. Word as “Tap an untapped creature you control: Untap target land.”
  3.07 MR We should examine whether or not this needs to only affect basic lands.
  I prefer basic lands.
  I think Joel’s wording is more complicated.

  The last two notes weren’t signed but were by either Bill Rose, Mike Elliott, William Jockusch, or Henry Stern. As you can see, while I’m not responsible for the de-splicing of the card, if left to my own devices you might see Vintage players using this card to untap Tolarian Academy or Gaea's Cradle.

Earthcraft is considered a broken card, even though it's not even close in power level as some of the other cards in the banlist. Unbanning probably won't change anything in the Legacy format, but it could make decks like Enchantress and Elves more powerful.


Does a light fourth seat opening work on the same principle as fourth seat "balancing?" If dealer opens. second seat needs to be at least somewhat careful taking actions such as doubling or overcalling. That's because third seat may theoretically having "everything" (not held by first and second seats), leaving partner with nothing.

But if left hand opponent opens, partner passes, opponent's partner passes, then right hand opponent is limited, meaning that fourth seat can double or overcall light. That is, s/he can "balance" with a king or so less than in second seat by "borrowing" it from partner, who clearly has something.

Likewise, I was taught that a fourth seat person could open a major suit with about a queen less than in the other seats, because both opponents (as well as partner) was limited. That is, while one needs something like (s)AQxxx (h)Qxx (d)xxx (c)Ax to open in the early seats, it would be ok to open with (s)AQxxx (h)xxx (d)xxx (c)Ax in fourth seat.

Do most experts feel that way? And how would they feel about opening a junky five card major in fourth seat with 11 high card points, something like (s)97532 (h)KQx (d)Qxx (c)Ax?

It is critical when opening in Fourth Seat to make a plus on the hand - you have passed a simple opportunity to score zero, so should have a good reason to believe opponents cannot outbid you or set you. If holding less than full values you must have both length and strength in the Major suits.  This is an excellent (light) fourth-seat opening of 1S (even playing 5-card majors)

S: KJT3
H: QT6
D: A842
C: 52

and this is a very poor (light) fourth-seat opening of 1D:

S: 52
H: QT6
D: KJT3
C: A842

It is also important to be playing some agreement such as Drury raises that allows partner to show limit-or-better support at the two-level, in case you are light.

Update - Further to @ruds' mention of Casino Count, in order to open  in Fourth Seat one should have a reason to believe that one has the best hand at the table. Otherwise, someone else's hand is better than yours, and you are no longer favoured to get a plus from opening. Holding length in the Majors, and especially Spades, is often the slight edge one is looking for to achieve this belief.


What can we do with a player who camps in a table top game? We have a group of 8 people in our campaign and we usually do 2 table top battles at a time (not enough table space in our area). The game we are currently playing is Mordheim and for those who have not heard of it, just think of Warhammer but with 10-20 models in a crowded city and the goal of the game (mainly) is to get your opponent off the table by removing their models by range weapons or going in close and winning on the die roll. (very quick summary)

We have a player who just camps at his table edge and hides until your close enough where he charges you when he gets a chance (hides to a point where you cannot shoot any of his units via range).

Unfortunately, since the point of the game is to knock out the other opponent, the player who is going up against the camper has to take 7-10 turns to reach the opponent, not able to shoot at them and the opponent just simply skips his turn once hes behind other buildings until hes at charge range.

We have brought up a few points (ex: on turn 7 and the camper does absolutely nothing, the opponent gets free EXP and the game is ended as a draw) however this only agitates the camper stating that this is strategy, part of the game and comes up with excuses why you don't just go out in the middle of the battlefield.

What can we do with this? Should we let him continue to play his "strategy" or come up with concrete house rules that this is not how the game is intended to be played?

Thanks,

There are already quite a few ways you could deal with this, some based in the rules, and some beyond the rules:

As long as one of your units can see the hidden unit, it stops being hidden

From the rulebook (page 11):

  If an enemy moves so that he can see the hidden warrior, the model is no longer hidden and the counter is removed.

It may be worth sacrificing a fast-moving but weak unit to remove the hidden counters from the opponent's units, thus allowing the rest of your warband to use ranged weapons against them, or charge them first.

Units within a number of inches equal to your initiative are automatically spotted

From the rulebook (page 11):

  Enemy warriors will always see, hear or otherwise detect hidden foes within their Initiative value in inches. So a warrior whose Initiative value is 3 will automatically spot all hidden enemies within 3"

So even if you can't get into direct line of sight, again sacrificing a unit may reveal some or all of the enemy warband.

If terrain permits, you may also be able to move one of your own units with a high initiative into a position where line of sight cannot be drawn to it, but its initiative reveals some or all of the enemy warband.

The All-Seeing Eye of Numas allows you to see hidden units

From the rulebook (page 100):

  The bearer of the All-Seeing Eye can see all models on the table top, even if they are hidden or out of sight.

If you are lucky enough to have one of these, the enemy can never hide from you!

Arm your troops with spears

This will make his charge much less useful, since the Strike First ability means you will hit him before he can hit you.

Use terrain set up to destroy his chances at the edge of the board

If you are playing the standard rules for terrain placement for most scenarios, you are within your right to place terrain at the edge of the board that is horrible to defend. Then if you manage to win the roll for first set-up, choose the side he has designed with defence in mind and leave him with nothing worth hiding around.

Play a different scenario

If you play scenario 3 (wyrdstone hunt), scenario 4 (breakthrough), scenario 5 (street fight), scenario 7 (hidden treasure) or scenario 8 (occupy), there is a very high chance he will lose by using this tactic.

Meta-game things that may help you

Whenever he initiates this tactic declare a temporary alliance with someone (or everyone) else (if playing with more than two of you), and mob him in his nest. There may be some casualties to your alliance, but you should make quick work of this player's warband and teach him in the process that using this tactic is going to make the game less fun for him.
Teach yourself to measure distances by sight. Your opponent will end up out of cover and ready for shooting/charging if he declares a charge, but falls a half inch too short.
Talk to the player (as a group, and as nicely as possible) and just explain that while, yes, his preferred tactic is technically legal, it makes the game much less enjoyable to play for the rest of you.
Use his tactic right back against him. If you just hide at your starting location and keep passing exactly like him, he will quickly realise just how un-fun it is to be on the receiving end of it.
Create a list of your own scenarios, making sure that many of them either cannot be won by playing defensively (like scenarios 3, 7, & 8), or actively deter defensive or stationary play.
If none of these things work, then I would suggest trying to play some games when he isn't invited.


Dominion Last Province When the last province is acquired can the person finish their turn or is the game immediately over? It seems like the rules dictate that a player may always finish their turn.

You can always finish your turn. Whether you picked up that last Province in the action phase or the buy phase, you'll be able to keep playing until you're done with your turn, possibly picking up another victory card or two. Note that the only cards you can possibly find useful at this point are cards that give you victory points. (If you have Gardens, then you might buy any old cards just to make your deck bigger. Similarly, you might pick up Silvers if you have a Feodum.)


Help me identify this card playing board game. Hello all you card game aficionados!

Back in the day, my Mom & Dad played a card game that used this game board (see image).  I do not remember the name, OR, how to play. I don't really need the name of the game, but that would help. The rules are what I need. Does anyone recognized the game?

Incidentally the game board is about 2 x 2 masonite. My Dad cut up a deck of cards and glued them in the order illustrated, then shellacked the surface etc. voila.
I would be happy to share any info collected. I remember that the game was fun and unique.

Hope anyone can help.

Cheers

Grayley McWatters
Barrie, Ontario

A board game of sorts, popular in the Eastern USA, known as One-Eyed Jack, Jack Foolery, Jack Off, and Sequence.

Setup
Players: 2-4 (4 players is done in teams of 2)
Materials:
The board you've pictured
Two standard playing card decks, Jokers removed (104 cards total).
A set of 50 chips for each player.

Play:
Shuffle the 104 card deck, dealing 7 cards to each player in a two player game, 6 in a three, or 5 in a four. The cards not dealt are retained as a drawing stock for the course of the game.
Game is played in turn, clockwise starting with the player after the dealer.
Each players turn proceeds as thus: Play a card from your hand, place a counter of your color on the indicated square, then draw a card from the stock.

Special Cards: since their aren't jacks on the field, they cause a special action to occur.
Two Eyed Jack: Wild Card
One Eyed Jack: Remove an opponents counter.

Win Condition: Form two uninterrupted lines of 5 counters, with one allowed intersection.

Source: http://www.pagat.com/misc/jack.html
Google Fu: board game 10x10 playing cards


What are some interesting starter games for a very young child? I'm interested in playing some games with our very young (16 months) son.

I think he's a little young for most things yet - I'm familiar with Old Maid, Dominoes, and similar games that involve a little bit of matching; those seem like they will be good points of entry for him shortly.  Marbles, while also great, involves tiny pieces that can be swallowed.

I want to avoid games like Candyland and probably even Chutes and Ladders - they annoy me.  :-)  Other games with a lot of cards or paper products involved are probably right out - they'll get slobbered on or destroyed.  Small parts get eaten.

What are some concrete, not commonly known games that might be interesting to him?

I was going to say CandyLand and Chutes and Ladders, because as annoying as they are they are still a huge hit with my 4 year old. I am hoping that she will soon be old enough for Catan Junior! She already wants to play Catan with Mama.


Why choose tsuke-nobi after a double keima against hoshi? I have been looking at §28 of 38 Basic Joseki, which deals with a double keima kakari against a stone on hoshi. I realise that this book is old and restricts itself somewhat, but I am taking it as a way of getting a grounding in joseki.

Most of the variants treated start with tsuke-nobi to pressure a squeezed stone:

$$B
$$ ---------------------
$$ - . . . . . . . . . .
$$ - . . . . . . . . . .
$$ - . . a x . W . . . .
$$ - . . b X . . . . . X
$$ - . . d w e . . . . .
$$ - . . O 1 3 z . . . .
$$ - . . v 2 c y . . . .
$$ - . . . . . . . . . .

Other variants are given, with reasons for choosing them, but I cannot formulate a strategic reason for Black to choose tsuke-nobi because White can choose so many different responses to it with different results. Of course Black could play it from habit or just hoping for a certain response, but that seems less satisfactory.

The variants considered

Tsuke-nobi: 1-3 as shown.

W4@a —

B5@x — White: side + corner; Black: large top, can swallow marked stone, sente.
B5@d — White: corner + small top, sente; Black: side high and strong.

W4@b — White: side, option on corner; Black: big top, sente.
W4@c, B5@y —

W6@z — Fight White: top weak, side medium, sente; Black: corner + cutting stones.
W6@a — Tricky White: side weak, small corner, sente; Black: strong but little territory.

W4@d — White: weakish top + side, sente; Black: decent corner, connected to centre.

Tsuke-osae: 1-2 as shown, 3@d — Peaceful White: see variants; Black: decent corner.

W probably connects at v — White: moderately strong on both edges, option to reduce corner; Black: connected to centre, sente.
W tries to enclose B (W4@3) — White: weak wall, sente; Black: shut in.

Kosumi to 5-5: B1@e, W2@a, B3@x  — Simple White: decent side + corner; Black: strong top, sente.
Kosumi to 3-3: If B has stones on both edges B1@a, W2@e, Black cuts — White: two weak groups, sente; Black: alive in corner.

My question

Examining these variants, it is clear that Black can choose tsuke-osae, 5-5 or (given pincers against both kakaris) 3-3 to achieve the results in the last three options above. But what strategic purpose is served by tsuke-nobi, regardless of where White plays 4 (a/b/c/d)?

What I hope for from the answer

It is along the lines of If you want do do X, play A, but if you want to do Y, play tsuke-nobi, i.e. states the strategic goal served, maybe even gives an algorithm for choice. Obviously that will leave me to make some judgement(s), but at least I will know which.
It assumes that I restrict myself to the above variants, and presumes my opponent does too, unless that assumption entails a severe loss for me. This because I am trying to impose some sort of limit on how much I learn for an initial grounding in this (and other) joseki. Comments on other variants may also be interesting, but are of subordinate importance to me.

Black at the 3-3 point is a special strategy that requires supporting stones in the area.

In the fuseki, without supporting stones, black's objective is to separate white, with 3 main options:

tsuke nobi against the pincer stone (your diagram)
tsuke nobi against the pincered stone
5-5 point

38 Basic Joseki is an older book that favors the first option. In more modern play you'll see the two other options as well. The tsuke nobi keeps the white stones separated, while the 5-5 point will put more emphasis on cental influence.

This page shows a very recent variation from AlphaGo.


Why don't I get an chance to respond to the Extinction Event choice? Extinction Event reads

Choose odd or even. Exile each creature with converted mana cost of the chosen value.

Why can't I respond to my opponent's choice of odd/even, for example by activating my Witch's Oven? Making this choice is the part of the spell so once the player chooses, shouldn't I be able to react as it still should be on the stack? Is this just an Arena bug?

You cannot react to the even/odd choice in Extinction Event because that choice is made during the spell's resolution.
In general, you don't make all kinds of choices while casting a spell. As specified in rules 601.2b-d, you choose modes, splices, other cost modifiers, targets, and how to divide or distribute an effect among targets. Any other choice, like even/odd in Extinction Event, doesn't happen until the spell resolves.
While the choice on Extinction Event may look similar to a modal choice, a modal choice specifically requires you to choose from a list of actions, so an instruction to "choose" other things is different.

This fact is also mentioned in a Gatherer ruling on Extinction Event:

You choose odd or even while Extinction Event is resolving. Players can’t take any actions between the time you make that choice and the time some creatures go extinct.


Can I redirect a spell to another type of target in MTG? M12 features the card Redirect, which allows you to choose new targets for a spell. Innistrad introduced the card Into the Maw of Hell, which deals 13 damage to target creature.

Can I redirect the damage from Into the Maw of Hell to target player with the spell Redirect or must the type of target (in this case creature) stay the same?

You can't redirect Into The Maw of Hell to a player.

Redirect allows you to choose new legal targets for a spell.  As such, you must choose one valid target land and one valid target creature for Into The Maw of Hell to (newly) target.  If (for instance) there is only one creature in play - yours - you could Redirect Into The Maw of Hell such that it destroyed a different land, but you would still have to keep it targeting your creature, because there are no other available legal choices.

The relevant section of the Comprehensive Rules (and the most relevant paragraph highlighted by me):

  114.6. Some effects allow a player to change the target(s) of a spell or ability, and other effects allow a player to choose new targets for
  a spell or ability.

  114.6a If an effect allows a player to "change the target(s)" of a spell or ability, each target can be changed only to another legal
  target. If a target can't be changed to another legal target, the
  original target is unchanged, even if the original target is itself
  illegal by then. If all the targets aren't changed to other legal
  targets, none of them are changed.

  114.6b If an effect allows a player to "change a target" of a spell or ability, the process described in rule 114.6a is followed, except that
  only one of those targets may be changed (rather than all of them or
  none of them).

  114.6c If an effect allows a player to "change any targets" of a spell or ability, the process described in rule 114.6a is followed, except
  that any number of those targets may be changed (rather than all of
  them or none of them).

  114.6d If an effect allows a player to "choose new targets" for a spell or ability, the player may leave any number of the targets
  unchanged, even if those targets would be illegal. If the player
  chooses to change some or all of the targets, the new targets must be
  legal and must not cause any unchanged targets to become illegal.

  114.6e When changing targets or choosing new targets for a spell or ability, only the final set of targets is evaluated to determine
  whether the change is legal. Example: Arc Trail is a sorcery that
  reads "Arc Trail deals 2 damage to target creature or player and 1
  damage to another target creature or player." The current targets of
  Arc Trail are Runeclaw Bear and Llanowar Elves, in that order. You
  cast Redirect, an instant that reads "You may choose new targets for
  target spell," targeting Arc Trail. You can change the first target to
  Llanowar Elves and change the second target to Runeclaw Bear.


Trying to find the name of this patience-style game I was taught this two-pack version of patience a few years ago and want to know if it has an official name or not.

Two packs are shuffled together. 8 columns of 8 rows of cards are layed out face up on the table- 64 cards in total. The rest of the cards are faced down to the side of the table and turned over one at a time.

Any card may be placed on any other card with a value one above it (ie. Any 3 can be played on any 4 etc) but only if they are the same suit can cards be moved in groups. The only cards that can be placed on an empty column is one of the kings.

The aim is to clear the table into 8 stacks from ace to king above the table like in 'traditional' solitaire games.

Does anyone know if it has an official name?

This sounds like a 2-deck variation of the game, 'Golf'. The wikipedia page lists it as a starting with a 7 x 5 card layout. This website has a 2-deck version, which starts with a 9 x 7 card layout.

More rules or game play example might help to narrow it down.


How is morale resolved when the Bonding Knife and Tormentor rules are in effect? I recently ran into an issue where two different rules conflicted without an obvious intended solution.

Tau have their Bonding Knife Ritual rule: "If you roll a 6 when taking a Morale test for this unit, the test is automatically passed."
Likewise, the Drukhari Incubi have the Tormentor rule: "When a Morale test is taken for an enemy unit within 6" of any INCUBI units from your army, and the result of that Morale test is equal to the highest Leadership characteristic in that enemy unit, the test is failed and one model flees that enemy unit."

In our situation, a unit with Leadership 7 lost 1 model and rolled a 6 for their morale test. In this event when both conditions are triggered, what happens?

With the release of 9th edition, the new core rule book contains a "Rare Rules" item that addresses the situation above
Morale Priority: If a unit is affected by conflicting rules, those that automatically pass Morale tests or cause no models to flee take precedence.
With that rule in place, Bonding Knife Ritual takes precedence and the test will be passed.


When is the last time tribal decks were competitive? More or less what it says on the tin. I see a lot of meta decks that revolve more on a (thematically) random group of cards that only share a strategy.

When is the last time a tribal deck was competitively viable in Standard? (Let's say, the last time a tribal deck made it into the top 4 at a major M:TG tournament.) What tribe was it?

Was there ever a time when tribal decks dominated the Standard meta?

If you consider "Tribal decks" as decks with

  core cards in the deck [that] care about a certain creature type,

there's plenty of examples out there.

This will be a very broad answer that'll brush over many specifics of the metagame and the differences between physical and digital plays, focusing only on information available from resources such as MTGTop8, which accounts mostly for MTGO tournaments.

In the current (as of 09/09/19) standard meta, Orzhov Vampires represent 11% of the (MTGO) field, while Jund Dinosaurs represent about ~5%.

Both of those decks focus on aggressively dishing out their creatures and hitting for as much damage as possible, using those same creatures to create card advantage (such as Champion of the Dusk and Ripjaw Raptor), or decrease the clock to end the match more swiftly (such as Legion Lieutenant, Sanctum Seeker, Marauding Raptor and Rampaging Ferocidon).

Both these decks are currently posting good results consistently in standard play, as you can see from the links provided.

When talking about Modern, the obvious examples are 5 Color Humans which focus on Human creatures, while some Eldrazi variants focus on Eldrazi creatures and fast mana. It's also worth mentioning the Spirits deck, which focuses on Spirits. All three of these currently post good results in the modern metagame, although they're not as dominant as they once were, especially the eldrazi decks.

Legacy has always had some tribal decks being represented, although not many with expressive results. The currently most represented tribal decks are Goblins, Humans and Slivers, although they're only about ~4% of the whole Legacy field, which favours more controlling and combo decks due to faster mana and cheaper countermagic.

As @Veskah noted, Elves has been very represented in Legacy at some point, but its power has dwindled lately due to the more controlling meta for the format. That said, Elves is one of the original tribal decks in Legacy, and it veers from the usual strategy by being something of a combo deck, relying on generating huge amounts of mana and putting many creatures on the board to finish the game with a Progenitus or a Craterhoof Behemoth.

Vintage has also has some tribal decks in the meta for a while, specifically Fish, which used to be Merfolk tribal decks, although today the term has been adapted to mean any kind of (mainly blue) deck with cheap creatures and lots of countermagic. Along with Fish comes the ever-present Eldrazi, although once again it's more of a hate/control deck than an actual tribal deck.


Best method for evenly distributing epidemic cards in Pandemic setup? The rules for Pandemic call for shuffling the Player deck and distributing the initial cards to each player.  The remaining 50 or so cards are then seeded with epidemic cards by this rule:

  Divide the remaining Player cards into a number of piles according to how diﬃcult you’d like to make the game. Make the piles as equal in size as is possible.

  Shuﬄe an Epidemic card into each pile. Stack the piles on top of each other to form the Player Draw Pile. (If the piles aren’t exactly the same size, stack them so that the larger piles are above the smaller piles.) Put any excess Epidemic cards back into the box.

In practice this is the longest setup step for a game which already has a substantial setup phase.  Does anyone have any tips or tricks for getting this done faster?

I've done this in the past, and it tends to work well.

Roughly divide the piles into the # of Epidemics you want (just eyeball the piles, don't count).  Stick an Epidemic card at the bottom of each pile.  Stack the piles.

This makes each epidemic come up fairly predictably, which helps even out the randomness of the game, but since the piles themselves are rough, it doesn't make it exactly predictable.

Plus, it avoids the silliness of the occasional double-epidemic, which more often than not makes the game easier instead of harder.


Do Marchesa the Black Rose and Nightmare Shepherd work together? I heard recently about Nightmare Shepherd and thought it might work great in my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck. If I have a creature with a +1/+1 counter on it and the creature dies, both triggers would go on the stack.

If I choose to use Nightmare Shepherd's ability and exile the creature card from my graveyard, would it still return to the battlefield under my control at the end of the turn via Marchesa's ability?

Marchesa's ability will try to bring the creature back but if you chose to use Nightmare Shepherd's ability it won't find it. As written in the gatherer ruling for Marchesa:

  If the creature card leaves the graveyard before the delayed triggered ability resolves, that card won’t return to the battlefield, even if it’s back in the graveyard when the delayed triggered ability resolves.


Clone-ing a Vesuvan Doppelganger If a Vesuvan Doppelganger is in play having assumed the characteristics of, say, a Royal Assassin, would cloning the Doppelganger at this point be tantamount to having cast a second Doppelganger? (...that could then change into something else next turn, after spending a turn as another Royal Assassin, but with summoning sickness?)

The Clone would enter the battlefield as a copy of whatever Vesuvian Doppelganger is cloning, with the Doppelganger's extra ability. In fact, the rules about copying objects have an example covering this specific scenario

  The copy’s copiable values become the copied information, as modified by the copy’s status (see rule 110.6). Objects that copy the object will use the new copiable values.

    Example:  Vesuvan Doppelganger reads, "You may have Vesuvan Doppelganger enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield except it doesn’t copy that creature’s color and it gains ‘At the beginning of your upkeep, you may have this creature become a copy of target creature except it doesn’t copy that creature’s color. If you do, this creature gains this ability.’" A Vesuvan Doppelganger enters the battlefield as a copy of Runeclaw Bear (a 2/2 green Bear creature with no abilities). Then a Clone enters the battlefield as a copy of the Doppelganger. The Clone is a 2/2 blue Bear named Runeclaw Bear that has the Doppelganger’s upkeep-triggered ability.


Does removing a token from play trigger effects that happen when a dude is discarded or aced? Say that I have a Gunslinger token in a shootout and he gets discarded or Aced. Per the card's text, you need to "Remove this token from the game after this shootout."

I presume that this means they go neither to the discard pile, nor to Boot Hill after a shootout. Does that mean that effects that trigger when a dude is discarded or aced happen to the Gunslinger? For instance, the Undertaker deed has an effect that happens whenever a dude is aced. If the Gunslinger is aced in a shootout, does the Undertaker effect still happen even though the Gunslinger doesn't go to Boot Hill?

If you assign 2 casualties to a dude (token dudes are still dudes!) they're considered aced unless they're Harrowed in which case it'd take 3 casualties!  Per the FAQ:

  When a Token Dude is aced or discarded it is removed from play instead of going to the discard pile or boot hill.
  It will still trigger events like collecting a bounty or the Undertaker giving its controller 2 ghost rock.


How does Shadowborn Demon work? A question about the rules on Shadowborn Demon:

  When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield, destroy target non-Demon creature.

  At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are fewer than six creature cards in your graveyard, sacrifice a creature.

Firstly, I understand that you have to destroy a creature (even if it's your own), what if there are no other non-demon creatures out? Can you play the card?

If Shadowborn Demon is the only card on your side and you don't have six or more creatures in your graveyard do you have to sacrifice it?

You can play the card even if there are no non-Demon creatures. The "When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield" ability is a triggered ability, it doesn't happen until after the Demon is finished being cast and resolves. Once it does, if there are no legal targets, then the triggered will be removed from the stack immediately after being added; it won't even try to resolve[CR 603.3d].

For your second question, yes, you would be forced to sacrifice the Demon if there are no other creatures to sacrifice. The "Sacrifice a creature" is not optional, it is an ability that is triggered at the beginning of your upkeep. So long as you don't have 6 or more creature cards in your graveyard, you must sacrifice a creature.


Dominion remodel card -can I trash a card already played? Can you trash a card that you have already played, when remodelling? E.g. I play a village, then a Worksop, then Remodel - trashing the Workshop I just played? It says from your hand, but am unclear if there is a distinction between hand and play.

No, you cannot do this. Your "hand" always refers to cards that you physically keep in your hand. Cards that you have played this turn are in a different place, the "in-play" area.

On page 6 of the rulebook:

  To play an Action, the player takes an Action card from his hand
  and lays it face-up in his play area.

Pages 9 and 10 also show picture examples of the different places cards might be; including hand, deck, discard, or in-play.


How can I use Scavenging Ooze's abilities to save it from a Lightning Bolt? I cast Scavenging Ooze with 3 open G mana and there are three creatures in the graveyard, my opponent has open R mana and I suspect they have a Lightning Bolt in hand. If I use the Scavenging Ooze's ability to exile a creature three times gaining 3 life and putting 3 +1/+1 counters on it, what happens if they respond by targeting the Ooze with a Lightning Bolt?

The way to save your Ooze is to activate the ability one time. Two things can happen:

your opponent casts the Lightning Bolt. You respond to that by activating the ability two times; they'll resolve before the Lightning Bolt resolves, and your now 4/4 Ooze isn't killed by it. Then, the first activation will resolve and you have a 5/5 Ooze (with 3 damage marked on it).
your opponent does nothing, and the ability resolves. You have a 3/3 Ooze, and activate the ability one time. The opponent could cast Lightning Bolt while the ability is on the stack, but again you activate the ability one more time, that resolves before the Lightning Bolt does, and just like the first case, you'll end up with a 5/5 Ooze with 3 damage marked on it.

(If they don't cast Lightning Bolt at all, which is probably the best decision for them, you can activate the ability a final time.)


For Monarch, how do you consider which are Garments and Beasts? For Monarch, there's no way to know if a court card is a beast/garment. Such as for example: The court card Wardrobe Master states that "get 3 crown values per each GARMENT court cards". Is it just going to be a consensus among sisters if they consider a card as a garment card? Such as the Ceremonial Comb court card? Or how about for beasts? Is a pomeranian court card a beast?

I've consulted the official manual.There, it says you can identify certain card sub-types by their emblems. All Beasts have a white beast-emblem printed behind the text, all Garments have a cloak, etc. Here's an excerpt from the rulebook, page 4:

See the white emblem laced in the text on the lower part of the card?

Also, this exact question is featured in their FAQ.


Are there 3 or 12 MTG FNM cards for 2018? Usually FNM issues 12 cards per year. For 2018 we see only 3 cards in that year. Is Scryfall not up to date or has WotC stopped the FNM series?

12, only the 3 double sided tokens were numbered for FNM 2018 the other 9 used their set collector number.
In 2018, Wizards started giving out double sided tokens as FNM promos, this was not a popular decision, so after the first three of those tokens they changed the system. They started giving out versions of cards from the current sets. They had a different frame, promo rarity "P" and the "FNM" name on their collector number line, which had the collector number matching regular pack pulls. Opt was the first one:

The rest were: Cast Down, Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Elvish Rejuvenator, Militia Bugler, Murder, Conclave Tribunal, Sinister Sabotage, and Thought Erasure. To find all 12 you can use this query on scryfall.
Now, however, they have stopped making specifically FNM promos and instead are having packs of promos using this frame that can be given out by stores how the stores want to.  These promos are marked with the set they are from and numbered as alt art promos are currently, with a just a number higher than the set count, and that count is excluded, They have the rarity "P" and "Promo Pack" for where they came from. At the moment, FNM prizes are digital for MtG Arena, where FNM events are currently played, this may change once the pandemic ends and we get back to playing in store events again.


Can a Diplomacy player pick and choose which unit to support? This question brought back memories of a situation that occurred to me about 40 years ago. (I haven't played much Diplomacy since then.)

I was playing France, worried about England and Germany, and England made an "alliance" offer to me arguing, "You will have 5 supply centers at the end of 1901, Germany will have 5, and I should have 5, to preserve the balance of power. Will you support me into Belgium against Germany using the army that you moved into Burgundy in spring, 1901?"

I "temporized" by saying that I would support a British fleet into Belgium, but not an army. So in my Fall, 1901 orders, I wrote, "A Burgundy supports fleet only, N Sea to Belgium."

England's orders read, "A Yorkshire to Belgium, F N Sea convoys." This was against my express intent, and after an argument, we took the issue to the host/organizer (who was playing Turkey). The host ruled into favor of England, who argued, "The army went to Belgium via the fleet N. Sea, and the supporting French army couldn't know until after the fact whether it was the fleet or army that occupied Belgium."

To this day, I think that the host (and England) were wrong. Were they?

From the rules:

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

The support order was: A Bur S English F Nrs - Bel
The move order was: A Yor - Bel (Possible because of F Nrs C A Yor - Bel)

There are two conflicts:
- The supported unit is a Fleet, the moved unit is an Army. This alone could have been a typo.
- The supported unit is the unit in Nrs, the moved unit is from Yor. And those are clearly two different units. There is no quesion that these do not match.

So the orders where conflicting, they should have failed.


Does fire go away after saving? When you save the game in The 7th Continent, does fire go away, given that there isn't any way to mark this in the save stack? Or are you just supposed to remember which tiles had it?

Using the saving mechanism found in the rules, all exploration tiles except the one on which every explorer is standing are discarded. Any fire tokens on these discarded cards are also discarded. While the card on which the explorers are standing is saved rather than discarded, a fire token on that card is also discarded because the mechanism does not provide a means of saving its presence.

That said, the saving mechanism provided by the rules is meant to be quick and simple to use, and nothing stops you from using a more thorough saving mechanism. For example, you could store a fire in the dice bag to indicate there was a fire present on the explorer's tile. Or you could note the detailed state of the game (perhaps in the Cartographic Notebook add-on or this printable version (.pdf, 1.2 MB)) to perfectly restore the state of the game.


Adding more monsters than provided tokens During Scenario 2 we ran into an issue where there were more of a certain monster type on the board than monster tokens of that type were available. So, we didn't have the correct pieces to put onto the board nor did we have space on the sleeved tracker to track their damage.

What happens during this instance?

Do we not put the monsters out since there are no more of that type available? Do we supplement the monsters with something else and still track them separately off the tracking sleeve? Do we do something else?

Once you run out of standees for a specific monster, you do not spawn any more.

From Page 19 of the rulebook:

  It is possible to run out of specific types of monster standees when
  revealing a room. If this happens, place only the standees that are
  available, starting with the monsters closest to the revealing
  character.


Dixit variations to increase replay value? I recently got Dixit, and it's been a big hit with a couple groups of friends, however we're already finding it's replay value to be declining. I'm sure in a few months it would be very fun again (though never again as good as the first time, marveling at the beautiful artwork), but rather than wait it out I thought it might be nice to try some variations.

We played one game where each player had a second hand of the description cards from Apples to Apples, which we used instead of coming up with our own descriptors, and that worked pretty well. (We played that you kept 4 cards in that hand, and when you played one you could discard up to 2 others for new cards.) Has anyone tried anything else to successfully vary the Dixit gameplay?

Yes! You simply have to fix rules about the sentence you want to use when it's your turn to play. For example: you must say a movie title, or lyrics from a song, or you can only make a grimace of some sort, or just a sound, and so on.

We've tried something else that completely changes the game: first, the other players give you a card of their choosing, and then you choose a title for your card. Note that it's still your card that must be guessed, but knowing what cards will be in the game, you can choose a sentence differently. This works well when all the players know all the cards and know exactly what words they have to use when playing a given card.


Do you have to pay the commander tax if you have an Omniscience in play? If you have an Omniscience in play, will you still have to pay the commander tax or do you get to play your commander completely for free? Or is it the case that Omniscience will only ever make my Arcanis the Omnipotent 6 mana cheaper?

The commander tax is only applicable when casting the commander from the command zone.

  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.”

But Omniscience says

  You may cast spells from your hand without paying their mana costs.

(emphasis mine)

If your commander has been bounced back to your hand, you may cast it for free, thanks to Omniscience.

Side note: it's rather hard to have an Omniscience in play if Zo-Zu the Punisher is your commander. I thought there was a red card which lets you exchange control of permanents (maybe after a coin flip) but I'm not sure...


In what order does Scale Blessing place counters? I have two creatures in the field:

2/2 creature
2/2 creature with 2 +1/+1 counters on it,

I then play Scale Blessing. Does it work on the creature that has more than one +1/+1 counters on it? With the result being:

2/2 creature w/ +2/+2
2/2 creature w/ +2/+2

? Please help!

You'll end up with a 2/2 with two +1/+1 counters, and a 2/2 with three +1/+1 counters.

There are two separate things to do, in the order they're written on the card:

Bolster 1: put a +1/+1 counter on the 2/2 that doesn't have any counters yet. (It's your creature with the least toughness.) You now have one creature with one counter, and one with two. It's good for you that the bolster comes first, because next...
Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature that has a +1/+1 counter on it. It says "each creature that has a +1/+1 counter on it", not "exactly one +1/+1 counter", so that's both of your creatures! Now you have one creature with two counters, and one with three.

It's true that the reminder text for bolster is at the very end, but it's just a quick explanation of what bolster means. The actual text instructing you to bolster 1 is is the first thing on the card, so it's the first thing you do.


Different kinds of "two direction" finesses in bridge? I once read in a book about a "backward" finesse. You, declarer, have AJ9, and dummy has Kxx.
Ordinarily, you would finesse twice from dummy toward AJ9. Except that your left hand opponent has indicated by a bid (or double) that he has the queen. If that's the case, you apparently finish "backwards" by leading the J, and covering with the K in dummy if the left hand opponent covers. Then you lead back an x to the A9 on the theory that right hand opponent is more likely to have the T. Why is that?

Another, apparently similar type of finesse is what I call a round trip finesse. You have K854
opposite QT32, and you're apparently finessing for the A, J, and maybe the 0.

How do you decide which way to finesse for an ace?

So you finesse toward the QT32, then back toward K854.

A third kind of finesse is sometimes called a two way finesse. That is, you have ATxx in hand, dummy has KJxx, and you are finessing for the queen. By counting, or other means, you determine that West/East is short in the suit. Then you win the K/A, to drop a presumed singleton, and then finesse the other way for the queen.

All of these finesses differ from what I call "one way" finesses, low in one hand toward, say AQ, or AQT.

What are the rationale behind the two directional finesses? Is the two way finesse a special case of the "one way" finesse or more like the other two directional finesses. And is the reason for a two directional finesse the fact that opposing honors are more likely to be split than to be concentrated in either opposing hand?

The simple, unhelpful reason/rationale is that it gives you the best chances under the circumstances.

For instance

Kxx

AJ9

You need 3 tricks and know that LHO has the Q. Your best shot is to play RHO for the Ten, (which is ~50% assuming no other information is given). Playing the J first sets up the finesse position for the Ten. (Consider a similar one way situation, xxx opposite AJ9. Needing two tricks, you first play to the 9)

You can try playing the AK to drop the singleton Q or doubleton QT, but that is inferior in terms of chances.

I remember reading a book where in one of the problem hands, the right play in trumps was to  finesse one way, and if that wins, repeat the finesse the other way! (I might add the hand later if I remember it).

Not sure if that helped.


Support order, when losing a battle If a unit with a support order, supports the losing side in a battle, is it routed or can It support again in another battle?

It can support again another battle. Supporting units simply provide their strength in combat without participating in any other way. Routing only happens to retreating armies. See manual page 21 ("Retreats and Routing").


How does Humility affect creatures with an Echo cost? If I cast a card with Echo and Humility is in play do I still have to pay the echo cost?

You will not have to pay the echo cost. The comprehensive rules definition of Echo:

  702.29. Echo

    702.29a Echo is a triggered ability. “Echo [cost]” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this permanent came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay [cost].”

    702.29b Urza block cards with the echo ability were printed without an echo cost. These cards have been given errata in the Oracle card reference; each one now has an echo cost equal to its mana cost.

As you can see, echo is a triggered ability just like any other. It would normally tigger at the beginning of your upkeep, but because of humility, the creature no longer has the ability, so there's no ability to trigger.


Bite Omen Card (and other similar cards) Says person to the right rolls a Might 4 attack.  What does that mean? Do they roll 4 dice?
Also, after they roll and I roll, what damage do I take, if any?
There are other similar cards, as well.

It means that you get attacked following all the normal rules of an  attack from a person or monster with a might of 4. The person to your right is simply taking the role of rolling the dice.

So he will roll 4 dice, and you will then roll dice equal to your might. If his total is greater than yours, you will take physical damage equal to the difference of the rolls. If you tie or win, nothing happens.


Arkham Horror Put a Clue Token on this card? I can't seem to quite figure out how cards like Amanda Sharpe's Pass/Fail work where it states:

  ...put a Clue token on this Card

Do these clue tokens become usable as a bank of clue tokens, such as when sealing a gate?  Do you get to use them once the condition has passed or failed, and they are put into your normal clue token pool?  Or are these simply markers, unusable and lost when passed/failed?

They're just markers; effectively you have to draw three unique items to pass her story.

Rules-wise, there's nothing that explicitly says this, it's just that the tokens are on the card, not in your possession, and there's nothing that says you can ever gain them or use them. I wouldn't say they're "lost" when passed/failed; you never actually had them as clue tokens. They just go back to the supply once the card doesn't need them, their purpose served.

A lot of cards in Arkham Horror use tokens of various kinds as markers. Many of the rumors use clue tokens to keep track of "how bad is it" (for example The Great Ritual). When possible, they'll use an appropriate type of token for the function of the card, like the Golden Trumpet which prevents sanity loss and uses sanity tokens to track it. But most things don't have an obvious choice like that, so clue tokens are a nice generic choice that you're unlikely to be out of.


How do mutate and ownership rules interact? Assume this state: I have Anax, Hardened in the Forge, which I own, on the battlefield. I've attacked with Robber of the Rich and exiled Chittering Harvester. Chittering Harvester has the "standard" mutate text on it:

  If you cast this spell for its mutate cost, put it over or under target non-Human creature you own

To select a valid target I'm looking at the rules. Rule 109.5 says:

  The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play, cast, or activate it), or its owner (if it has no controller).

Rule 601.2a says:

  To propose the casting of a spell, a player first moves that card (...) from where it is to the stack. It becomes the topmost object on the stack. (...), and that player becomes its controller.

According to these you on the Chittering Harvester should refer to me and I should be able to target Anax.

On the other hand rule 702.139a forbids this:

  (...) targets a non-Human creature with the same owner as this spell

And based on 112.2, Chittering Harvester's owner is my opponent:

  A spell’s owner is the same as the owner of the card that represents it.

According to the above two rules you on the Chittering Harvester should refer to my opponent and I can't target Anax.

So do rules 109.5 and 601.2a contradict rules 112.2 and 702.139a?

Reminder text is not rules text. The reminder text for mutate is shortened for readability, since owner and controller of a mutate spell are usually the same. Only the Comprehensive Rules are ultimately relevant.
On reminder text:

Reminder Text
Parenthetical text in italics in the text box of a card that summarizes a rule that applies to that card, but is not actually rules text and has no effect on play. See rule 207.2.

The rules for mutate say:

702.139a Mutate appears on some creature cards. It represents a static ability that functions while the spell with mutate is on the stack. “Mutate [cost]” means “You may pay [cost] rather than pay this spell’s mana cost. If you do, it becomes a mutating creature spell and targets a non-Human creature with the same owner as this spell.” Casting a spell using its mutate ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs (see 601.2b and 601.2f–h).

The reminder text on mutate cards is shortened from its actual rules text. This has been done to improve readability and to fit the lengthy text on the card. However, when it comes to special cases, it's important to remember that it has no relevance for the actual rules.


Rule Example in Backgammon I don't know of a scenario that is an example: if either number can be played but not both, the player must play the larger one. Can someone please explain when this rule should be used.

Just to make it an easy and fast rule, a player MUST play the larger part of the roll, if he can play ONLY one part of his dice.

In the above example, if red rolls 21, he MUST play 3/1, and is not permitted to play 3/2, this is not a choice, its a mandatory move.


Does Skirmish apply to both attacking and defending? We're a bit confused about the Skirmish ability. The helper text on Quixo the "Adventurer" says the following:

  Skirmish. (When you use this creature to fight, it is dealt no damage in return).

We're confused about when a character is "fighting" for the purposes of this ability. Is that when it is attacking, defending, or both?

No, Skirmish is only active on attacking

You can only Fight on your turn. This means that Skirmish is only active when you select that creature to Fight as an action, negating any damage you would be dealt.
If a creature with skirmish is targeted with a Fight action by an opponent, it will still take damage.

From the official rules:

  Any ready creature of the active house may fight. When a creature
  is used to fight, its controller chooses one eligible creature controlled
  by the opponent as the target of the attack. Each of the two creatures
  deals an amount of damage equal to its power (the value to the left
  of the card’s title) to the other creature


Munchkins: Apocolypse Preparing for the 7th seal Ok, so we are mid-game and the pressure is thick. My so called "friend", has been stealing all my small items the entire game. The host of tonights game has favored his apocolypse doors for every knock, and consequently this game is nearing the 7th seal. For those of you that know, this is the hail mary Game Over play. My thief of a friend does a quick count of his combat bonuses and then whispers to me, "we are tied for first...." I didn't come here to split the glory. Once the disaster that flips up the 7th seal is played, I try to equip some items for a bonus.

May I equip cards to "buffer" my combat bonus, in response to the apocolypse 7th seal attempt to open?

OK, I looked up the rules. On page 5 is a section called 'WHEN TO PLAY CARDS'. In it you find:

  Items – Playing Them

  Any Item card may be played to the table as soon as you get it, or at
  any time on your own turn other than in combat (unless the card itself
  says otherwise).

So, if you have no combat and it is your own turn, you can play item cards.


Are there any nonland Plains? There's a card called Emeria Shepherd that reads (among others, emphasis mine)

  Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, return target nonland permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. If that card is a Plains, you may return that nonland permanent card to the battlefield instead.

Is there a nonland permanent card that is a plains?

Your text is slightly off.  It's actually:

  Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return target nonland permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. If that land is a Plains, you may return that nonland permanent card to the battlefield instead.

So, it's referring to the land that triggers landfall, not the nonland permanent you're targeting in your graveyard.


Monopoly: Can you go bankrupt by having someone else go bankrupt on you? Here's an example with 3 players:

Player 1 has $0, and only owns the cheapest property, which is not mortgaged
Player 2 has $0, and a lot of properties which are all mortgaged
Player 3 has $0 and no properties

Is this interpretation of the rules correct: Should Player 2 land on Player 1's property, Player 2 would go bankrupt; Player 1 would then owe the bank 10% of the value of all of Player 2's properties, and would therefore go bankrupt to the bank, causing Player 3 to win the game.

Could Player 1 do anything to not lose the game?

Also, if Player 3 went bankrupt before Player 2, would Player 1 win the game because Player 1 would be the only player left before going bankrupt to the bank himself?

And a side question: if instead of landing on Player 1, Player 2 got the "Pay $50 to each player" card, what would happen? He would instantly owe money to both players, and going bankrupt to either would cause the other to win the game.

If Player 1 does not want to lose the game, one thing (and the only thing) he can do is to mortgage the (only) property that he owned. So although he will still lose $15 from this deal, at least he would not go bankrupt when Player 2 lands on his property.

Doing this move is a gamble as Player 2 might not land on his property at all (For obvious reasons, you can't do anything in the time interval between when the opponent rolls the dice and moves his token to the square). This includes mortgaging too. (Although I don't have a source for that, unfortunately, this should be quite obvious to understand -- otherwise there would be people instantly upgrading houses to hotels once someone rolls a 7.)

Though look at the chances of this happening -

The cheapest property would be either property in the brown set, right after GO, and thus if Player 2 was to land on it, he would have been able to pay the $2 or $4 rent after collecting $200 from GO. Thus, the ONLY chance of this repeated bankrupting happening as described is when Player 2 lands on Community Chest, then drawing the Go Back To Old Kent Road/Baltic card. If Player 2 rolled a 2 or 3 AFTER passing go, owing a $4 rent, Player 2 will definitely have either some cash or some unmortgaged properties, as he will collect $200 from passing GO. Thus, this case is impossible.

For any further hope of Player 1 winning the game, he has to survive up to one round of the monopoly board without paying a single dollar, and collect the $200 upon passing Go.

For the side question -

This situation occurred in a Monopoly Tournament

"Phil Orbanes, who wrote The MONOPOLY Companion and is the official Judge at the World Championships provided me with this answer when it came up in tournament play a few months ago:

  If you cannot pay a debt to ONE player due to a card, you go bankrupt to that player and turn over all asset (std. procedure here).

  If you cannot pay a debt to TWO or MORE players (after calculating any money you could get from the bank by mortgaging and selling houses) due to a card, you go bankrupt to them all. The issue then becomes: fairness. How do you divide your assets as evenly as possible? Procedure: after selling any houses for 1/2 price to the bank, the bank then rebuys your properties at face value if unmortaged, or for 1/2 value if mortgaged. You divide the resulting cash as evenly as possible, with the player(s) to your left collecting any odd dollar(s). The bank then auctions all properties it purchased to the highest bidders."

Source : Quora.com : Kevin Tostado, Director of "Under the Boardwalk: The MONOPOLY Story." MonopolyDocumentary.com AND a previous question that also discusses on this situation

Conclusion: The players may get a lot more than the $50 that they were originally owed.


Black creatures that cause loss of life when they enter the battlefield? I'm looking for creatures that cause loss of life when they enter the battlefield, can you recommend any?

So far I've found Gray Merchant of Asphodel and would love to find more like it.

Thanks!

Technically, there appear to be only three black creatures that deal damage when they enter the battlefield, and for color pie reasons they're all black/red: Anathemancer, Hellhole Rats, and Murderous Redcap.  However, if, as your example indicates, you're also after creatures that cause loss of life (which doesn't count as damage; this matters for things like Curiosity), you also have available:

"When ~ enters the battlefield, target player/opponent loses X life."

Geralf's Messenger
Inquisitor Exarch
Laquatus's Champion
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Singe-Mind Ogre
Soul Scourge

"When ~ enters the battlefield, target opponent loses X life and you gain X life."

Bleak Coven Vampires
Bloodhunter Bat
Dakmor Ghoul
Ghost Council of Orzhova
Highway Robber
Obzedat, Ghost Council

"When ~ enters the battlefield, each player/opponent loses X life."

Blood-Toll Harpy
Howling Banshee
Maggot Carrier
Rathi Fiend
Netherborn Phalanx

"When ~ enters the battlefield, each opponent loses X life.  You gain life equal to the life lost this way."

Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Malakir Bloodwitch


What is the area icon? Page 29 of the rules discusses the area icon and refers to the arc diagram below the attack icon, but what is the symbol to the left of the image?  Is that the area icon and simply serves to denote that attack is an area attack, and serves no other purpose?

The image on the left IS the area icon. The image on the bottom tells you two things, what arcs are affected by the area attack, and which arc(s) are currently weak to attacks (granting an extra black die). Anyone in an affected arc within range will be hit by the attack... Not so bad if it's range 0, but if it's range 2  it'll hit practically the whole board. Also remember that anyone on the line between two arcs counts as being in both... so someone to the North East of the boss would be in both the front arc (and get hit) and in the right arc (and do extra damage).


In Bridge, when should third-hand defender overtake partner's honour? Sorry for the confusion. Here's the full hand and bidding:

    T54
    A874
    KQ32
    A7
872         AKQ6
962         KQ5
JT98        A654
Q106        J5
    J93
    JT3
    7
    K98432

North   East    South   West
                        Pass
1D      Double  Pass    2C
Pass    2NT     All pass

Opening lead was the 4 of Clubs.

After a low Club lead to North's Ace and winning the return with Club King, South switches to hearts. They play the Jack and North knows that declarer at least has the Queen. So as a rule, should I always overtake with my Ace?

In NT, the Ace will usually be good eventually. In this situation, playing the Ace guarantees East those two heart tricks. By holding out, I might still be able to capture the other one. I can't seem to find stats about this. It could be the right thing to do usually and this is just an edge case. Or vice versa.

Thanks!

Agree with what Forget I was here said about the bidding. And also what they said about counting. What I want to explain is that I think the defence will prevail, if North lets the heart Jack run to declarers Queen. If declarer then runs the spades, North can pitch a diamond.

  Then if declarer exits in diamonds, North will get in, and now play Ace and another heart. This promotes the 13th heart, and endplays declarer.

Observe that it is not good enough for North to exit with a low heart, for then declarer can endplay him with his small heart (this was already explained in the other answer). In a way playing the Ace and a third heart removes declarer's exit card of a low heart.

So this time it was essential for North to wait the ace. The rule of thumb of using the ace to win opponents honors would have served well. On some other hand it would be more difficult but now it is rather likely that declarer has KQ hearts.


Infinite Chain of Smog Does Chain of Smog behave like Chain Lightning?

I mean I target an opponent, he copies the spell and targets me, then I copy the spell and target him back, etc...
More, can I target myself and copy the spell to myself and again?

Yes, Chain of Smog works that way - whoever you choose to target can copy the spell, and whoever they choose to target can copy the spell, and on and on and on. Note that this does not constitute an "Infinite Loop" as per the rules, however, as these are not mandatory actions that will repeat without intervention. Each player targeted by Chain of Smog has to choose whether or not to copy the spell or not, so the loop doesn't just run forever without intervention. Even if you target yourself, you could choose to copy the spell 1 million times, but you can't choose to copy an infinite number of times to force a draw.


Does drunkenness / poisoning / death interrupt ongoing abilities? In Blood on the Clocktower, the Bad Moon Rising edition has a few characters that have ongoing effects. I notice in particular the Courtier and the Pukka, who have abilities that span multiple days.
Normally, drunkenness or poisoning prevents an ability from successfully happening. However, I'm not clear on when happens if these characters become poisoned or drunk while their effects are still happening.
For example:

The Courtier uses their ability on the Mastermind. The next evening, the Pukka attacks the Courtier. Is the Mastermind still poisoned from the Courtier's ability? What about the following evening, after the Courtier dies?
The Pukka attacks the Tea Lady, poisoning them. The next evening, the Courtier chooses the Pukka to poison. Does the Tea Lady die due to the Pukka's ability?

From what I can determine both effects are still in play for the full duration regardless of the character losing the ability dying. The courtier even lists on the page that it can only be used once per game and getting it off to learn something before you die is a good thing. It however doesn't mention the effects going away when they die.

You can only use your ability once per the entire game, so time it well! The later you make your choice, the more information you will have the game's state and what characters are in play and causing mayhem. On the other hand, the evil team will be keen to target you as soon as they possibly can, so using your ability early can ensure you get it off and learn something before you die. It's up to you to judge the landscape of your particular game and make your choice!


"Investing" in other players in Monopoly I once played a (somewhat crazy) game of Monopoly where there were too many players, so not enough properties to go around. I ended up with close to zero property but lots of cash. So I made an "investment" in another player. She had great properties (the dark greens) but very little cash; I gave her a couple thousand dollars to build with the agreement that I would get a certain percentage of all income from those properties (I believe it was a 50/50 split) and I would not need to pay if I landed on one of the properties in question. Is this a legal deal? We considered it a form of trading -- I gave her money and in return I would get money in the future.

From the Official Monopoly Rules by Hasbro (my emphasis):

  MISCELLANEOUS:
  Money can be loaned to a player only by the Bank
  and then only by mortgaging property. No player may borrow from or
  lend money to another player

Any exchange of money for future considerations is a form of loan, so by the official monopoly rules your actions are illegal. One is always allowed to invent a new game based on an existing one, through the use of common agreement on house rules, but one cannot then meaningfully call it by the name Monopoly.


Are there any reputable chess openings which begin a4, b4, g4, or h4? I have heard of 1 b3 and 1 g3, but never any of those in the question title.  Is this because they do not work in practical play?

I've tried 1. g4 d5 2. h3 e5 3. d4 Nc6 etc. with a good chance of a strong Bishop-pair and Queen for White.  White must castle Queenside, and will develop his Knight to f3 soon.  I played a couple trial games with myself, and haven't yet tried it on anyone else.  Perhaps some variation on this brash opening is more effective?  I'd like to know if anyone's studied this type of opening.

These would be classified as A00: Irregular Openings.

Starting with 1. a4 is Ware's Opening; 1. b4 is Sokolsky's Opening; 1. g4 is Grob's Attack; 1. h4 is the Desprez Opening.

As you've noted, these are not played often. The database at chessgames.com shows only 548 games starting with 1. b4, 260 with 1. g4, and just 10 each for 1. a4 and 1. h4. White has only a small advantage within all A00 openings, 38.5% to 35.1%.


Can you collect resources from a roll if you move the robber after rolling? If we are playing catan and the robber is on an 8 and an 8 is rolled, but someone plays a knight card and the robber is moved..... Can that player then collect resources because the 8 was opened on the same turn and is no longer blocked?

By the time you roll, it's too late. You can play the card before rolling, in order to move the robber and hope for the best. But when you roll the die, you immediately dole out the appropriate resources, so if the robber is still there, you don't get anything.


Can Astral Slide plus Viridian Shamen kill Glimmervoid living off of Blinkmoth Nexus? I'm slightly uncertain about the finer points of the rules and how they might play out in a match-up between the 2004 world championship decks of Julien Nuijten (slide) and Aeo Paquette (affinity).

Suppose Nuijten controls an Astral Slide and a Viridian Shaman and can cycle a card whenever he wants to. Suppose that Paquette controls Glimmervoid and Blinkmoth Nexus but nothing more.  Can Nuijten force Glimmervoid to be sacrificed?

(I'm much more interested in expanding my understanding of the rules than I am in whether the answer happens to be yes or no—the why is much more important than the what.)

Yes, Paquette will have to activate the Blinkmoth Nexus at some point or lose the Glimmervoid. The two scenarios are:

Nexus is activated during the endstep with the glimmervoid trigger on the stack. Simply slide out the nexus after it becomes a creature (but before the glimmervoid trigger,) it will be gone until the next endstep because this endstep has already begun!
Nexus is activated before the endstep.

If its your opponents turn, slide out your Viridian Shaman, and target the nexus during the endstep, the glimmervoid will be destroyed during your next endstep*. If you slide the nexus, your oppenent would be able to reactivate it on their turn because of the APNAP** ordering of triggers, (better to destroy the artifact now.)
If it is your turn, Simply slide out the nexus after it has become a creature but before the endstep* and the glimmer void will be destroyed before the nexus returns. Due to APNAP** your slide trigger is below their glimmervoid trigger, and they won't have the nexus back until the glimmervoid is already dead.

*because of the intervening if clause, the trigger will not trigger if the clause is not satisfied at the beginning of the end step (intervening if clauses are checked twice, once to trigger, and once on resolution!)

** APNAP is Active Player, Non-Active Player, it is how simultaneous triggers are resolved.

N.b. it seems Paquette's best play in this, contrived, situation is to simply let the glimmervoid die, that way they can keep the nexus.


In vanilla Twilight Imperium 3rd ed., should you always take Imperial if it's available? Sometimes, when we're playing Twilight Imperium, if we're in a tight spot or a position to advance, our play group tends to pick the strategy that will help their board position (for instance, Diplomacy) over an available Imperial, but this doesn't necessarily seem optimal.  You do get an advantage on the board, however, those two victory points are now someone else's.  Should you always take Imperial if you can, even if it seems like another strategy will help you more on the board?

For straight Twilight Imperium, unless you are at a guaranteed win, your first two choices are Imperial, followed by Initiative. If you don't take either of those, then you'll essentiall get skipped over the circle and be two points behind.


How does Conversion affect dual lands? Conversion states (among other things) that "All Mountains are Plains.".

My question is...  how does this work with dual lands? If you have a Plateau (a RW dual land), for instance, does it, hence forth, only produce W mana, or does it still produce R or W mana at it's owners discretion?

As long as Conversion is on the battlefield, any lands that would otherwise be Mountains are instead only Plains, and can tap for {W}, but not for {R} or for any other color that they would produce because of having another basic land type (for example, if one was originally an Island Mountain). In addition, those lands will lose any other abilities printed on them.

First, rule 205.1a says

  Some effects set an object’s card type. In such cases, the new card type(s) replaces any existing card types. Counters, effects, and damage marked on the object remain with it, even if they are meaningless to the new card type. Similarly, when an effect sets one or more of an object’s subtypes, the new subtype(s) replaces any existing subtypes from the appropriate set (creature types, land types, artifact types, enchantment types, planeswalker types, or spell types). If an object’s card type is removed, the subtypes correlated with that card type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a card type the object currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the object’s card type is removed. Removing an object’s subtype doesn’t affect its card types at all.

So, Conversion's "All Mountains are Plains" effect removes any other land subtypes from the land. The land subtypes are listed in rule 205.3i:

  Lands have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called land types. The land types are Desert, Forest, Gate, Island, Lair, Locus, Mine, Mountain, Plains, Power-Plant, Swamp, Tower, and Urza’s. Of that list, Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp are the basic land types. See rule 305.6.

Finally, rule 305.7 describes additional specific rules for setting a card's subtype to a basic land type:

  If an effect sets a land’s subtype to one or more of the basic land types, the land no longer has its old land type. It loses all abilities generated from its rules text, its old land types, and any copy effects affecting that land, and it gains the appropriate mana ability for each new basic land type. Note that this doesn’t remove any abilities that were granted to the land by other effects. Setting a land’s subtype doesn’t add or remove any card types (such as creature) or supertypes (such as basic, legendary, and snow) the land may have. If a land gains one or more land types in addition to its own, it keeps its land types and rules text, and it gains the new land types and mana abilities.