Are drawing an extra card and playing an extra card optional when the Party Bonus rule is in effect? Here is the wording on my Party Bonus card...

  If someone has the Party on the table, all players may Draw 1 extra card and may Play 1 extra card during their turns.

It's the word "may" that's throwing me off. With most of the other new rule cards that I've looked at, the description is very clear that you must do what it says. In this case, however, it seems to be left open to the player's discretion.

EDIT
I guess the other part that throws me off is that I read through all of the new rule cards and found that the Rich Bonus and Poor Bonus are inconsistent on the same subject. Only the Rich Bonus one says "may." The Poor Bonus is worded as though it's mandatory.

May is optional.
While I could find no direct rules citation there is this question from the Rabbit Wiki:

Q: When a card states that you "may" play 1 extra card (e.g., Rich Bonus or Party Bonus), and inflation is in play, it is treated as you may play 2 extra cards. Does this mean that you have to choose between playing 0 and playing 2, or can you also play only 1?
A: It's either zero or two. There is no one.

The answer clearly indicates that may is optional.


Failure to take a call for step in Pokemon If a mistake is made in a Pokemon game, and neither player catches it, does the player who failed to do the correct action lose the game, or is the game a draw, or do you continue to play the game since the mistake was overlook. Example: A coin was suppose to be toss and if tails the Pokemon could not attack. I failed to (overlook) the toss, several turns later I realize my mistake. This mistake may have put me ahead in the game (if the toss had been tails.) I forfeited the game and later try to look up an official rule on this to no avail.

It depends whether you are playing casually or in an official tournament. For tournaments, it also depends on its type - beginner-friendly Tier 1 tournaments like League Challenges are different to Tier 2 tournaments where players are expected to abide by the rules all the time.

In casual play, both players have to agree on the resolution of the game state, i.e.

ignore the mistake
try to rewind the game state to the point before the mistake
the opposing player draws a Prize card (or more of them)
player who made the mistake loses

In tournaments, everything depends on the official judge (or more of them) - they are the only ones who can rule the resolution of the game state. In addition to possible resolutions above, they can also give a Caution or a Warning to one or both players.

The main document for judges is Pokémon TCG Penalty Guidelines, available from Rules & Resources page of official website.

  A coin was suppose to be toss and if tails the Pokemon could not attack. I failed to (overlook) the toss, several turns later I realize my mistake.

Using Penalty Guidelines from October 2019, the actual resolution depends on "rewindability" and overall damage of the game state. Because several turns have passed, the problem would probably fall into 8.1.2. Gameplay Error - Major, but might also be closer to 8.1.3. Gameplay Error - Severe.

Both players are responsible for maintaining the game state. If the game state is irreversibly broken, the opponent might get a penalty for 8.1. Gameplay Error as well.

The actual penalties strongly depend on the particular situation.


What to do when you "return a Pokemon to your hand" I have several Pokemon that have the ability to return them to your hand as part of an attack.  For example:

  Phione: Auqa Boomerang - 20 damage - Return this Pokemon and all cards
  attached to it to your hand

and

  Shaymin EX - Sky Return - 30 damage - Return this Pokemon and all
  cards attached to it to your hand.

I understand that this happens in conjunction with my attack.  My attack is my last move, therefore do I have no Pokemon in the active position for my opponent to attack?  Or do I need to move a Pokemon from the bench to the active position after my attack?  This just seems to be a conflict of the rules...

Thanks.

The mechanics for this kind of attack on Pokemon Trading Card Game Online (PTCGO, Official Pokemon TCG) is that whenever a Pokemon uses a 'Return this Pokemon...' attack, the damage is inflicted to the defending Pokemon and then the attacking Pokemon (along with attached cards, this also means, if it's a Stage 2 Pokemon, also take the stage 1 and Basic Pokemon) goes back to the owner's hand. The owner must then choose a benched Pokemon to be their new active Pokemon. In the case that there is no benched Pokemon, you cannot use this attack as this will leave you with no active Pokemon and will cause you to lose the game.


Which card combinations are required to score 29 points in a hand? In the game of Cribbage, which card combinations are required to score 29 points in hand in the game of cribbage? If there are multiple, please list in decending order.

The only hand that will score a 29 consists of all four 5s and the Jack of nobs.
The scoring of this hand is nicely broken down in this Cribbage Corner post:

We score the 29 hand in the same way as any other: taking 15s first, then pairs, runs, flushes and nobs.
First count 15s. The Jack makes 15 with each of the 5s, that's 4 15s. Also, there are 4 ways of choosing three different 5s to make additional 15s. That's 8 in total, for 16 points.
Then pairs: there are 6 different pairs of 5s, for another 12 points. That's 28 so far.
There are no runs or flushes, so the Jack of nobs gives us a final point for 29.


Can I use Decoy Dragon's effect after Dream Sprite's effect? Both Dream Sprite and Decoy Dragon can change the attack target of a monster and if Dream Sprite was used to change the attack to Decoy Dragon would Decoy Dragon be attacked or would Decoy Dragons effect take place?

In short, Decoy Dragon would be attacked, due to an important part of Dreamsprite:

  When attacked by your opponent's monster, select another 1 of your Monster Cards and designate it as the attack's target, then calculate damage.

This means that damage calculation must be immediately performed, so the Battle Step has been skipped. As Decoy Dragon's effect is activated "when this card is selected as an attack target by your opponent's monster", it is only performed on the Battle Step (as that is when it is targeted), so is not activated in this case. An official ruling also backs this statement up:

  "Decoy Dragon's" effect is activated during the Battle Step when it is selected as the target for your opponent's attacking monster.

To back this up further Konami has also ruled the following two things about Dreamsprite:

  If you control "Dreamsprite", "The Legendary Fisherman", and "Umi" is on the field, "Dreamsprite"’s effect can still change an attack target to "The Legendary Fisherman" because he is not being targeted with an attack, but is being targeted with a monster effect.

This means that Decoy Dragon would NOT be being targeted by the opponent's monster, but by Dreamsprite's effect.

  If you control two "Dreamsprites" and one is attacked, you cannot continue to switch the attack target between the two "Dreamsprites" because the effect of "Dreamsprite" says that you must calculate damage on the new target.

This further emphasises the point that the Battle Step is ended due to the effect.

I hope this helps!

Source: Konami's Individual Card Rulings (web archive version as it has not been online since early 2013): http://web.archive.org/web/20090218205242/http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/yugioh/en/gameplay/faqs/cardfaqs/default.aspx?first=D&last=E


Defense to Strong Pass Systems "Strong pass" systems are classified as Highly Unusual Methods, so most players never worry about them. My understanding is that they are not particularly overpowered (otherwise all the pros would have switched to them) but that one needs highly detailed defensive methods to defeat them and it's not worth memorizing these methods for the casual player. I am curious what these methods look like. Has any team ever played a Strong pass system at the national or international level, and what sorts of defenses did their opponents come up with?

Strong Pass systems are very rare, and as a Highly Unusual method you will never encounter one outside extended team play or without notice.

In extremis, adopt your Strong 1C defence by substituting a 1C call for a double of a 1C opening, and warm up the Double cards if opponents open a fert (any call besides Pass that is definitely limited) instead.

Anecdotes and alternatives from BridgeBase.com:

  When I met it years ago, I played that a One Spade overcall said "I am
  present at the table". The next player bid 1NT, alerted as Stayman.

and

  "Need" is a strong word, but it's always a possibility to consider
  making your "opening bids", especially in the majors, be more akin to
  overcall strength than full openers. This is tougher for the minors
  because you might need to make convenient minor full opening bids and
  it can be harder to distinguish them from overcall-style openings.

and

  If they 'open' a pass bid as much as you can as fast as you can. If they open a
  fert be prepared to double them lots with balanced
  hands and your overcalls are more like opening bids with shape. If
  they open with something else then use your generic meta defence and
  bridge principles.

and even:

  Use an anti-fert over the fert.
  1H  = 0-8,
  1NT = 0-10.
  Its a lot of
  fun.


Final round conflicts in Lancaster In the final round of Lancaster do you only have to pay a ransom for knights involved in a battle that has been lost twice?

Yes, because you have to pay for any captured knights in any round (after the first round, obviously), and you fully play through the fifth round before scoring.

If you don't ransom a knight [at some point in the game, in particular the fifth round], that knight will not count towards your knight strength for end-game scoring.


Ticket to Ride multiplayer between OS X and iOS We've purchased Ticket to Ride for iPhone/iPad iOS and I was wondering if I purchase the desktop version for OS X would we be able to play locally between the two devices.

According to the game maker's website, yes:

  Online Play (WiFi or 3G) against other iPad, Android, Mac and PC gamers with Days of Wonder Online support

I would take that to mean that both device need to be online to contact their server to set things up, but cross-platform isn't an issue.


How should I start with HeroClix? I am interested in playing HeroClix but I'm not sure how to start. What starter set should I get? Are individual  figures expensive? How do I find a community of players?

Choosing a starter set:
Buy the starter set that most appeals to you. If you love Marvel, then look for something in that line. The latest starters will be the most up-to-date rules wise, but that shouldn't be the main thing driving your decision.

Personally, I love the Fantastic Four starter set: two great teams that form a perfect collection on their own.

Finding A Community:
Boardgamegeek.com is a great place to start. Check out the forums. I also recommend Google Plus, starting with a search for Heroclix. Lastly, search for Heroclix bloggers and ask them where they play. People who are active on the web have always been the most helpful to me.

There are ways to play HeroClix online. Look at hco.heroclix.com (although they might not be accepting new players) and www.vassalengine.org.

Getting Figures:
First focus on a starter set and a play group, then on getting figures. Players may have extra figures that they'll be happy to pass on if you're serious about getting started, and they can recommend good places to buy figures. Most of my collection has come from online contacts.

Learning the Rules:
YouTube. Again, people who are blogging or vlogging are a very helpful resource. Also, download the rules from the WizKids website.


Are numbers greater than 20 legal hints in Codenames? I.e., "911, 3" for "plane", "event", and "skyscraper" From what I could find in the rules,

Letters and numbers are valid clues, as long
as they refer to meanings. You can use X: 1 as
a clue for RAY. You can use eight: 3 as a clue
for BALL, FIGURE, and OCTOPUS

However, they didn't give any example of numbers greater than twenty like "twenty-one", "twenty-two", "four hundred twenty-six","nine hundred eleven", "nine eleven", and "nine one one"  which are borderline more than one word, and more than one word is clearly stated in the rules as not allowed unless it falls under the section "Flexible Rules" for pronouns and hyphenated words. Below 21, all numbers are one word like "thirteen", "seventeen" etc.
I'd like to do "911" aka "nine eleven" for the terrorist attack on 9/11 2001. It is probably equivalent in terms of ruling to "nine hundred eleven" and "nine one one", as in should probably be treated the same in the rules (whether allowed or not allowed).

Codenames enjoys a variety of flexible rules and often it's up to the opposing spymaster to allow cases like this. 9/11 could definitely fit in either of the following 2 flexible rules, but since they are flexible rules, it's best left to the group to decide if it's allowed or not.
While technically wildly different, 9/11 is not just a date, but it's the common name used for an event. Just like Super Bowl are two words, most groups would allow it as a compound word.

Compound Words
English has three ways to write a compound word. Greenhouse is one
word. Pack rat is two words. Mother-in-law is hyphenated. Technically,
only greenhouse can be a one-word clue. You can decide to allow any
compound words. However, in no case should a player be allowed to
invent compound words. Lunar squid is not a valid clue for MOON and
OCTOPUS.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Technically, CIA is not one word. But it is a great clue. You can
decide to allow common abbreviations like UK, lol, and PhD. And words
like laser, radar, and sonar are always allowed, even though they
originated as acronyms.

Remember, don't be too strict. If the opposing spymaster allows it, the clue is valid. If you aren't sure, ask your opponent. (Quietly, so the others can't hear.)


Is the Gargoyle's Tail Sweep virtually ineffective against players who are less than or equal to 1 node away? The gargoyle's tail sweep turns to the closest player and moves 1 step toward them, effectively giving the player the option to get pushed into the space just vacated by the gargoyle (behind it). This not only makes the attack miss but also puts the player in a position to attack its weak spot. Is this simply a very weak behavior or am I misplaying the push (or other) dynamics?

When bosses push players off their node, they must stay within the current arc relative to the boss (unlike when normal enemies push players). This prevents players from hopping behind a boss or to a convenient arc. Only dodging allows jumping to different arcs.


Agricola : In general, is a balanced play style more successful, or all in themed play style? Recently I have been trying more and more types of cards and play styles to simply see what works and work doesn't, and it has me wondering...

Has it been found that a more balanced play style works better than an all-in-themed play style, or vise versa?

For instance, if one is able to snag the flagon and a couple other cards that revolve around the well/village well, should the person use the 2 or 3 occupation moves and a couple of improvement turns to make the well a super power move? Or perhaps is it good to only do maybe 3 turns to enhance and get the well, not going overboard, leaving room to play a couple cards for animals,grain, etc...?

Or, does it really come down to the "chaos management" part of the game--meaning it flat out depends on what other people do?

The short answer is: it depends. Agricola is quite a complex game and there are all sorts of variables at play that determine your strategy. You have already said that you are trying out various different strategies. Keep doing that, and see what works!

The longer answer:

What I've found from my own experience is that going for an all-out strategy too early (i.e. in stage 1) is counter-productive. Time spent playing those minor improvements early means that you miss out on gathering resources for a room, and so you are the last to grow your family, or that you fail to get a food engine set up, and later have to spend too many turns taking "fishing" or "day labourer". In addition to this, by neglecting the more conventional moves like taking wood, you leave nice juicy piles that your opponents can take (particularly in games with fewer players).

Stages 2-3 are often the time to get your nice combi-strategy going, once you have got established a bit. It's early enough that you will still reap the benefits, but (if you've done your preparation well) not so soon that you'll starve. It's also nice and efficient since you can play your major and minor improvements in combination with family growth or renovation. Here you can be fairly single minded, as long as you don't neglect growing your family. Family growth is massively powerful since it gets you extra actions and extra points.

Late in the game, it's time to diversify. The scoring system of Agricola is heavily biased towards having a balanced farm at the end of the game. As @Samthere mentions, the best marginal gains are to be found by making sure that you don't have any -1 points - if you are lacking, it's fairly easy to pick up a single sheep for an instant 2 point gain. Because of this, and the caps at 4 points for most categories, the winning farm is nearly always one that is a good all-rounder. However, there's nothing to stop you from employing a single-minded strategy earlier in the game, as long as you balance things up at the end.

A final note: depending on your mindset, the victory points may only be half the story. To me, coming up with a great synergy of cards is fun, even if it's not necessarily the absolute best strategy at the time.


Should I shuffle the Visage tokens after an investigator gets devoured? The Ancient One named Ghatanothoa has a power called Annihilating Gaze.

  While Ghatanothoa stirs in his slumber, place the eight visage tokens facedown on this sheet. Each time an investigator gains 2 or more Clue tokens at once, he must turn a visage token faceup. If it has Ghatanothoa's face on it, he is devoured. If not, leave the token faceup. Once four visage tokens are faceup, turn them facedown and shuffle the visage tokens.

Perhaps I'm being overly pedantic, but it isn't clear what happens if Ghatanothoa's face is turned up and there are not yet 4 visage tokens face up.

After the investigator is devoured, are all 8 tokens shuffled?  Is the next pick "free"?  I was unable to locate a clarification for this in the rulebook.

From page 9 of the Innsmouth Horror rulebook:

  Remember, leave visage tokens faceup after revealing them
  unless either Ghatanothoa’s face is revealed or there are
  four visage tokens faceup after revealing the new token.

So while it doesn't explicitly tell you to turn them facedown and shuffle them, I'd say it's clear enough. So yes, no freebie clue harvesting after your poor friend gets devoured!


If a judge disallows "Direct" spells, can they still be played? I'm a bit confused on what to do, here.  My judge specifically disallows "Direct" spells, and his Judgement type is "Eject".  I thought that his disallowing "Direct" spells would just prevent us from using them, but if that's the case, he'll never Eject someone for cheating with those spells because they couldn't be cast in the first place, right?

Per the rulebook, page 6: "Special Effect: Any special effect of the judge.  Some have specific limitations for spells or unique judgements."

OK, that's fine. If we go to page 13 to the section on Judgement, it says "Eject: A more severe punishment, this fighter is ejected from the round.  The fighter's card is turned over, is removed from the round, and has no impact on the result for that round."

So are the players allowed to play "Direct" type spells on fighters, in order to get them forcefully ejected?  Or does the judge's disallowing of those spells mean that they can't be played at all?

Based off a cursory glance through the rules:
If a spell type is disallowed by a judge, it may not be used for its normal effect.
Using your example, given that Direct spells are disallowed, you would not be able to play Direct Spells while that Judge is active. So you wouldn't be able to get a fighter ejected by playing direct-type spells on them. Similarly, if you have a judge that disallows support spells, you can't Dimension Door them away as Dimension Door is a support spell and thus disallowed.
If a card is played that is disallowed by the current judge (excluding "Foul Play!" in round 3) or was played incorrectly, it is discarded and its effect ignored (see page 16, under Disallowed Use of Cards).
All spells played on a fighter contribute to their mana count.
Looking at page 13 shows an example where the only spells cast were Enchant spells (immediately before judgement, all face-down cards played on fighters are turned face-up). The judge is Lawty, mana limit 10 and intervention of Dispel. The Orc only has a Might enchantment applied, which places his mana at 4, well below the limit. The skeleton, though, has both Might and Giant Growth, which gives him 14 mana - over the limit. So the skeleton would be dispelled due to Lawty's intervention. If Lawty's intervention type were Eject instead, the skeleton would've been ejected.


In the new Tyranid Codex (6th Edition) is the Close Combat Weapons bonus included in Unit profiles? There have been some changes to the way Close combat weapons work for Tyranids.  The rule used to be, that Scything talons were the only CC weapon that would give a +1 Attack bonus.  Now it applies to all Tyranid CC weapons, but only when 2 pairs are used (basically a shift of where +1 attack bonuses will be in the Tyranid army for the CC Monstrous Creatures, and medium sized models with 4 arms)

Previously, the attacks were already reflected in Tyranid profiles.  I am wondering, with a new rule change, if this is still true.

If it is NOT reflected, then that would mean the Death Leaper is actually 5 attacks, and the Carnifex is actually 4 attacks using their basic set of weapons.

It used to be that this was reflected by the use of parentheses, e.g. 3(4)

This forum post talks about this(although not in relation to the models you mentioned). The consensus seems to be that if it is not explicitly stated that it is factored into the profile, then it's in addition to the profile.


How much do the Heroes and Traitor need to reveal while using their haunt-specific rules? In Betrayal At House On The Hill, the explorers will eventually reveal one too many Omens, causing some (random) explorer to become the Traitor and try to do something terrible to the remaining players (who are then called Heroes). There are 50 different scenarios that might happen, and each scenario has special rules for the Traitor, and different special rules for the Heroes. (Among other things, these rules say how each side can win.) The rules for each side are not to be revealed to the other side; instead, each side has a small paragraph in their rules about "What the other team knows".

During play, those special rules come up repeatedly: how the Traitor is permitted to move the Zombies, the deterministic rules on how the Banshee moves, special attacks, special defenses, special items required, etc.

How much of the special rules is each side required to reveal when using them? For example, several scenarios require that the Heroes perform a ritual/exorcism/silly dance with particular items and/or in particular locations, using a skill check. How much should the Heroes reveal while doing this? Should a Hero say "I'm searching for voodoo supplies here in the bedroom, which requires me to roll at least a 4 on Sanity" or simply "I'm making a skill check" (or even say nothing and just roll the dice)?  When Heroes have a special way of defeating monsters, do they have to describe the action ("I'm throwing a torch at the monster"), or simply roll an attack ("I'm attacking you with Speed.")?

In play, I've usually described only things that would be obvious: "Roll a Sanity check. Okay, you failed (I don't mention the target number); the Zombie won't act for the rest of the game" or "I throw a torch, it's a Speed attack." In the first case, the reason the Zombie shut down is only known to the Zombie itself, and it isn't communicating anymore. In the second case, it's obvious to the monster that I'm throwing a torch at it. Am I doing it right?

For a more concrete and official answer, this is from the Wizards of the Coast errata page for the game:

  How much do you have to reveal about what you are doing to the other side?
   You should announce the purpose of any action you are taking to the other side -- for instance, "I am making an exorcism roll now," or "This roll is to see whether the house blows up." You don't need to reveal what number you need to roll.


Is there a rule change in more recent versions of Bohnanza? The first time I played Bohnanza and according to the Wikipedia summary, there is a rule that allows purchasing a third field.

However, I can't find any reference to this in the rules of the game I have, which is version 5.0 (2016).

Is it the case that this rule was ommited, and what is the reasoning?

Yes, the rules were updated sometime around 2011.

There is a discussion about the rules change at boardgamegeek here.

It seems it was done because purchasing a third field was almost always a mistake; so he option added no real strategic value.


Does Redshirts Deluxe fix the stalemate issues of the original game? It took two hours to end the game originally, and by that point everyone was just glad to have finished. Does Redshirts Deluxe, the new version of Redshirts, fix any of the stalemate issues experienced in the base game or is it still stuck in an endless loop of attempting to end the game?  Is the new expansion worth getting to make the base game playable?

The new version clarified a lot of the rules, and fixed a lot of problems with the game including removing "play anytime" from cards.

If you were unable to end the game because people were playing too many cards out of turn, then the removal of the "play anytime" rule from all the cards should reduce this type of stalemate. It is still possible to play cards in response to a mission attempt, but the sequence is more clearly defined, as is when cards can be played.

The new version of the rules can be found here:
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/84529/redshirts-deluxe-edition-rules


Can shootouts happen in the town square? The rules are a bit confusing about where shootouts can happen. All of the examples, both in the Welcome to Gomorra tutorial and in the rulebook, show shootouts happening in order to contest control over a deed card. The rules consistently mention the "location" that a shootout is occurring, but don't seem to ever define what counts a location. Is it just deeds or does the town square count as well?

So can shootouts occur in the town square?

Yes, you can have Shoot-Outs in Town Square.

On page 18:

  As a Noon play, one of your unbooted dudes can choose a dude controlled by another player at the same location, and call out that dude (challenge that dude to a shootout). This doesn’t boot your dude, and so as long as your dude stays unbooted, they can call out an opposing dude each and every time it’s your turn to make a play."

And on page 12 it states:

  There are three types of in-town locations. Each deed is its own location. Each outfit’s home is a location (with a few special rules). And the area in the middle of the table is a location called the town square.

Shootouts happen when dudes are at the same location and there are three types of in-town locations, one of which is the town square.


Identify this board and card game relating to 19th century race horses Does anyone know the name of the board game in the picture below please?

I think this looks like a version of Minoru. Seems like a very old 19th century board. It would very difficult to actually identify it.


In Civilization do players discard defeated army cards at the end of a battle? In Civilization, at the end of a battle, do players discard defeated army cards or do the defeated army cards return to the players' hands?

According to the rules of the base game (p. 25), eliminated unit cards are discarded and put face up under the appropriate deck on the market board.  Any unit cards not eliminated during the battle return to their owners (this is true for both the winner and the loser of the battle).


Can Dash from Fate Reforged be used at instant speed? Fate Reforged is introducing a new mechanic called dash. It's reminder text is as follows:

  You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste,
  and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the
  beginning of the next end step.

My question is...  can dash be played at flash (instant) speed?

The official rules are not out yet, but my guess is no. The templating on the reminder text strongly suggests that "Dash" will function as an alternative cost that does not affect when you can cast a spell. In this regard, it would be similar to the "Evoke" mechanic.

For creatures with flash, you would be able to "Dash" at instant-speed (similar to Briarhorn)


Attack a creature you control with instants? While trying to build my dinosaur deck i was wondering if instants like Shock, Dual Shot, Lightning Strike may target one of your own creatures? (in this particular case some of my dino's).

According to another question here: https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/28550 you may not do this. However on the official magic site it states you may do it. https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/how-build/how-build-dinosaurs-2017-09-29 Section Build To Fight

  Rile replaces itself, gives a creature trample, and is cheap to cast, while Dual Shot and Slash of Talons present versatile options that can be used against enemy creatures as well as your own.

"Attacking" and "casting an instant" are completely different things.

In Magic lingo, "attack" has the very specific meaning of initiating combat. After your first main phase, you may declare creatures to attack your opponent and/or his planeswalkers, and your opponent may then block with his creatures. You are not allowed to attack yourself or your allies, and you may not attack specific creatures.

"Casting a spell" such as Shock means you select a valid target for it if necessary and pay for its cost. For example, Shock requires any one target creature (or player) as its target. Your creatures do qualify because they simply are creatures. There are spells that may target only creatures controlled by an opponent, but in that case, it would explicitely say so on the card itself.


The cost/benefit of Changed? In Kingsport, you can become Changed which confers rather a lot of nice abilities. However, I am not sure that the balance is right.  It takes 10 toughness or 2 gates or 1 gate & 5 toughness to get. In addition, it takes around 7/8 turns to get and be ready to use it.  This mean that the benefits are likely to be relevant for the last half-dozen or so turns before the game ends -- the end game basically.  This makes the Seal (part of changed) you get kinda useless since maybe one or two gates might open on its location and chances are small that they will be gate bursts.

Compare this with either the White Ship (link) or Deputy of Arkham (link) which in my not so humble opinion are of equal power to Changed and to each other and are well within reach in early to mid game.

So:

Is my analysis of Changed correct?
If it is broken, how can we fix it?

PS: I get that the last question might pool arguments and discussions. So, please adhere to the Good Subjective/Bad Subjective rules. Thanks!

My group decided on this house rule:  Changed costs 10 toughness or 2 gates or 1 gate & 5 toughness to get.  However, the path to get it costs two move points instead of one and you are not forced to stop on the way. This make getting there much easier while keeping the cost high.  It is not a perfect solution but it makes Changed worthwhile.


Play diplomacy offline I am with a group of friends and we want to play Diplomacy. However we don't have the map, or a printer.

So I was thinking that maybe there is some app or website in which there is the map and we can all play on. However if I search online for Diplomacy, all the websites are online multiplayer versions of Diplomacy. I am looking for something that serves just like a board game version, where the moves for all the players are done manually.

I like to use jDip. It is easy to use, and provides several maps.


Is it valid to place Draw 4 on a Draw 4, while having the colour set by the first Draw 4? I was playing Uno and one player placed down a Draw 4 card, and set it to a colour (let's say red). The next player played a Draw 4 card, even though they had the colour specified by the first player (let's say red).

Is that a valid play? So, if I were to challenge the second player, would I win the challenge?

You would win the challenge
The rule is, you may not play a Wild Draw 4 unless you do not have any card that matches the color of the top card on the stack.


In Hive, can Beetle hop over to another lane? Here. Is it possible to move this way?

I figure that neither the rule of hive continuity nor tile sliding rule are  violated here. The rules also don't mention any direct contact requirements like with the Spider. So... is the move valid?

No, the one hive rule is continuous, even during a move.  At least in the version of the rules that I have, the second example under the One Hive rule states

  Moving the black Queen Bee to a position where it re-links the Hive is
  also an illegal move as the Hive is left unlinked while the piece is
  in transit.

This would apply to your beetle move as well, since while it was in transit, it would not be connected to the hive at all.


Identical creatures entering the battlefield If I have two cards called Sin Collector in hand and I play my first, Sin Collector (A). I use its triggered ability.

"When Sin Collector enters the battlefield, target opponent reveals his or her hand. You choose an instant or sorcery card from it and exile that card."

Now, I play Sin Collector (B), I use B's triggered ability.

But now my question. Does Sin Collector (A)'s ability trigger again as well? 'Sin Collector' entered the battlefield again, right?

Nope, nothing weird like that happens. When a card's rules text uses that card's name, it's referring to just that specific object, not anything else that happens to have the same name. Think of it as shorthand for "this particular Sin Collector", if you like. Here's the relevant comp rule:

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

If a card is really referring to other cards with that name, it will use a phrase like "a card named X" or "all cards named X". This isn't necessary too often, but for example, Avarax says:

  When Avarax enters the battlefield, you may search your library for a card named Avarax, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you do, shuffle your library.

The first "Avarax" there is the card referring to itself; "card named Avarax" is of course another one.


Does a permanent that was a creature until end of turn remain tapped after it stops being one? If a non-creature permanent turns into a creature until end of turn and attacks, does it remain tapped after it stops being one?

For example, if I activate Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker's first ability, then attack with him, and then end my turn, will Sarkhan remain tapped when he stops being a dragon?

Yes: Being tapped/untapped is a part of the status of a permanent and is independent of its type (creature/not creature) or other characteristic.

110.6. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
110.6a Status is not a characteristic, though it may affect a permanent’s characteristics.

In your example, Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker will remain tapped even after your turn ends.


Is there an English name for this popular Lebanese card game? This is a trick taking game played with a standard suite of cards. There is a variant where the jokers are used, but I will be describing the standard game. The translation of the name is '400'.

It needs 4 players. Each player is dealt 13 cards. Hearts are trump.

At the beginning of a game, each player states the minimum amount of tricks they are going to win. If you claim that you will win 5 or more tricks, your score will be doubled (i.e 6. tricks means 12 points). If the total number of tricks between the players is not at least 11, cards are reshuffled and dealt out again.

The player with the 2 of clubs starts by placing it down. Each player then attempts to play a card of a matching suit, with the highest card winning the trick. If they don't have the matching suit they can play a trump card, which will automatically win the trick (unless someone plays a higher trump). Any card from another suit is considered 'dead' (i.e. no chance of winning the trick)

In the following tricks, players can play any cards except the trump suit unless the trump had already been played in previous rounds.

The game ends when one player reaches 100 points. If you lose a round, your bet gets deducted from your points total

Well, according to the fount of all knowledge it's called 400, is a Lebanese game, and bears some resemblance to Spades but with a few differences.


Where to buy or how to cut blank hexes for own game prototype? Fellow board game player wants to test his game prototype, which uses a number of hex pieces (prefreably smaller than Catan or Eclipse ones). Is there a place to buy some blank ones? We could then use adhesive paper labels printed on inkjet printer. Or maybe there is a place to send full-hex graphic design and receive cutted pieces? Alternatively, do you have working DIY methods for cutting uniform hexes?

Yes, you can buy blank hex pieces. Print&Play Productions offers cardboard hex tiles in several different sizes through Boards & Bits.

Chipboard Shapes - Hex 1.19" [35 pcs] $2.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 1.5"  [20 pcs] $2.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 2.2"  [11 pcs] $2.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 2.6"  [22 pcs] $3.00
Chipboard Shapes - Hex 3.9"  [8 pcs]  $3.00

You could also get wooden hexes from WoodNShop for $0.15-$0.42 each, or at a discount by the 100s. I am unsure if these would fit your purposes for tile laying, as I have heard complaints that the tile dimensions are not uniform enough for such a purpose.

 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 1 $0.15
 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 2 $0.20
 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 1 $0.32
 C/O HEXAGON 1/8 X 1 $0.42
 C/O HEXAGON 1/4 X 2 $0.20

There is also plastic tiles, if you are so inclined. With a little bit of work to remove the mesh backing, you could use actual hexagonal tiles from your local hardware store.

I don't know of any board game manufacturer that creates hex tiles with custom graphics. Board game maufacturers are capable of creating protype board games, but my guess is the cost is prohibitive.

If you want to cut your own uniform hex tiles, you are going to need a die cutter ($600), and a custom die.

You probably don't even need hex tiles for testing purposes. If the hex tiles need not be rotated, then square tiles can be offset every other row for the same effect as a hex tile. If orientation is important, wooden tiles/disks can be substituted for hex tiles.


Do I have to sacrifice non-token dragons to Day of the Dragons? The Card Day of the Dragons says the following:

  When Day of the Dragons leaves the battlefield, sacrifice all Dragons you control. Then return the exiled cards to the battlefield under your control.

Note the part I've highlighted. What exactly does that mean?

For example, if I invoke a dragon card after using the enchantment (Dromar, the Banisher for example), when the enchantment leaves play do I have to sacrifice both my 5/5 Dragon tokens and Dromar?

Yes, you would have to sacrifice all dragons creatures and creature tokens under your control, regardless of where they came from or when they were cast. All Dragons means all permanents (creatures, tokens) that have have Dragon in their supertype or subtype. "Under your control" should be clear.


Correlation between a destination ticket's point value and the leastnumber of train cars it would take to fulfill it I've been making my own new destination ticket for Ticket to Ride America. I noticed that for most of the destination tickets that come with the game, the point value is equal to the least number of train cards you would need to fulfill it (basically the distance between them). But then I found 2 tickets in the game that don't follow this rule:

  Sault Ste. Marie - Oklahoma City 9 points

  Sault Ste. Marie - Nashville 8 points

If this rule were followed, those point values should be flipped.

Is this an 'error' in the destination tickets, or was it done purposefully? I've looked at the difficultly to fulfill them and haven't found any significant reason for this.
When creating my own destination tickets, how should I set the point value? Should it always be the shortest distance between them, or should I account other factors, like availability of routes needed to complete them? If so, what other factors should I look for and how should I react to them when deciding the point value?

I understand that this is a really specific and nit-picky question that no one who actually had a life would care about, but I'm still very curious as to your opinions. :D

Was it a misprint?

It appears that the minimum number of trains required to complete a destination ticket was only the starting point for assigning each ticket a point value. The claim is made  (in this post by Days of Wonder Forums user "Caboose")  that Alan Moon (the game's designer) said the ticket values were not supposed to be the shortest route between two cities. Lacking the context that this may have been said in, I believe the intent was to put to rest worries that some ticket values were mistakes or misprints, rather than to deny all connection between tickets' values and their minimum lengths. (This post by Caboose from several years earlier shows (s)he had previously believed the issue was due to a misprint.)

Additionally, if the changes made in the 1910 expansion were to "fix" the tickets to match their minimum lengths, they didn't fix all of them. It's been pointed out  (in this post by Days of Wonder Forums user "DiscJet")  that the Los Angeles to Chicago ticket and the 1910 expansion's Las Vegas to Miami ticket are each worth more than their shortest length.

Most likely, Mr. Moon increased values for certain tickets to give a slight additional incentive to choose them (especially given the different mix of tickets that would be used in 1910). Was it to balance out a disadvantage of these tickets, or to slightly change gameplay with a small advantage to certain routes? I wouldn't have a clue. However, I doubt it was a misprint.

How should custom tickets be valued?

The majority of tickets should be valued at the minimum number of trains required to complete them. Then think through what your goal is for adding those tickets. Do you want to create more competition for certain cities? encourage more cross-country routes? discourage the use of 5- and 6-train sections? Once you've clarified that goal, you might adjust a few custom tickets' value up by one point (maybe two) based on play-testing or your anticipation of the results.

In general, adding a small number of destination tickets, even with tweaked
values, isn't going to have a very large effect. If you've played with the Mystery Train routes (but still without the other cards available in the 1910 expansion), that would probably give you a good idea of how much of an effect your changes would have on the game.

Attribution Note: The first section is partially an adaptation from my answer to the question "TTR: Destination ticket value changes in the America 1910 expansion". I don't have access to my copy of Ticket to Ride and the 1910 expansion at the moment, so I can't verify the route lengths or values myself.


Lochmere Serpent's ability If I want to use Lochmere Serpent's first ability, can I tap an island for mana and sacrifice the same island?

{U}, Sacrifice an Island: Lochmere Serpent can't be blocked this turn.

Yes, you can do this.
All islands have the (unwritten) ability of Tap: Add {U} to your mana pool. You can activate this ability any time you have priority. You simply tap the land to get {U} in your mana pool, which will remain there throughout the current step/phase. You can then spend that {U} and sacrifice your now-tapped Island to pay your Serpent's ability cost.


Are eliminated "Vulture Sam" and "Herb Hunter" triggered by "Ghost Town"? In High Noon expansion, there is a card named Ghost Town:

  During their turn, eliminated players return to the game as ghosts. They draw 3 cards instead of 2, and they cannot die. At the end of their turn, they are eliminated again.

Supposing that, when Gost Town is in play, there is an eliminated player with either Herb Hunter or Vulture Sam. When a ghost is eliminated, is the ability of these players triggered? i.e. Should Herb Hunter draws 2 extra cards whenever a ghost ends his/her turn?

For the sake of the question, this is the description of Herb Hunter:

  Each time another player is eliminated, he draws 2 extra cards.

And this is the description of Vulture Sam:

  Whenever a player is eliminated from play, he takes in hand all the cards of that player.

Yes, according to a dodge city faq from the developer. It should be noted that when ghost town is in play players who have been eliminated are still considered eliminated and not part of the game when it is not their turn. If a player had been previously eliminated any abilities their character had will not activate unless it is their turn.

FAQ

  Q15. How the ability of Greg Digger and Herb Hunter must be applied when a ghost leaves play due to the Ghost Town?
  A. Each time a ghost leaves play, Greg Digger regains 2 life points while Herb Hunter draws 2 cards from the deck.

It should be noted that when ghost town is in play players who have been eliminated are still considered eliminated and not part of the game when it is not their turn. If a player had been previously eliminated any abilities their character had will not activate unless it is their turn.


Sacrificing as part of a command, to fulfill other costs? It is covered well in other questions that sacrificing one creature cannot fulfill the requirements for two abilities that are both activated abilities (have 'Sacrifice a creature: do something', like Falkenrath Aristocrat), or other costs ("As an additional cost to cast Altar's Reap, sacrifice a creature"), but can cause multiple triggered abilities (like Zulaport Cutthroat's).

However, there's one other type of sacrifice that some cards call for; when you're commanded to ("Target opponent sacrifices a creature" as in Cruel Edict), or optionally "may sacrifice" (like Brain Gorger).

Are those "commanded to" or "optionally may" actions costs (and therefore must have a creature sacrificed specifically to it and no other cost), or some other sort of trigger?

A complete example: I have a Falkenrath Aristocrat and a Bane Alley Blackguard in play. An opponent casts Cruel Edict on me. Can I sacrifice the Bane Alley Blackguard to the Falkenrath Aristocrat's ability (she gains indestructable for the turn and a +1/+1 token), and have fulfilled the requirements for what Cruel Edict needs me to do?

No, you can't do that, because it is still essentially the same "can't sacrifice creature twice for 2 things", even if only one if an activated ability.

One way to reason it is to think about it with the stack. When an ability or spell is resolving from the stack, it has to fully resolve before doing anything else and it resolves separately from anything else resolving.

So, here you have Cruel Edict on the stack. If you let it start resolving, you can't activate the Aristocrat's ability until it finishes. If you activate the ability in response, the creature is sacrificed to put the ability on the stack. It resolves, then the Edict wants to resolve, and it needs its own sacrifice.


Mindslavering a Mindslavered player? If my opponent Mindslavers me, and then I Mindslaver myself, does it "override" my opponent's control? I assume it works the same as if someone, for example, Act of Treasons on a creature, and then someone else Act of Treasons it, simply gaining control again, but just making sure.

Yes, your own control effect will override your opponent's, and you will make your own decisions.

716.1a Multiple player-controlling effects that affect the same player overwrite each other. The last one to be created is the one that works.
716.9. A player may gain control of themselves. That player will make their own decisions and choices as normal.


When my opponent plays several spells at once, can I counter them all together? My opponent has all these zero cost equipments and laid them all down at once and played some of his creatures spells without passing priority to me to see if I had a response. At the end of his whole thing I played a counter spell to counter all of it since he laid it all down at once. So was it all countered or not?

No, it doesn't work like that, not unless you're doing something very unusual (which I'm not even sure is actually possible).

For starters, your opponent can't actually cast multiple spells at once. When they put all their cards down on the table as you described, they're proposing a shortcut where they cast all the spells, one by one, and you decline to respond to any of them (i.e. you decline to counter them or whatever). You do not have to accept this shortcut. In other words, your opponent cannot deny you the opportunity to respond to their spells.1 If you do want to respond, you can tell your opponent something like "wait, back up, I have responses" and then they have to take the cards back into their hand and cast the spells one at a time, passing priority to you after each one1, and you tell them when they cast each of those spells whether or not you want to play something in response.

The other issue is that, even if your opponent did have multiple spells on the stack at once (as in the situation described in the footnote2), Counterspell and similar cards only counter a single spell. Just because there are a whole bunch of spells to choose from doesn't mean that you can actually apply Counterspell's effect to all of them at once. There are a few cards that can counter multiple spells, like Counterflux (when overloaded) or Summary Dismissal (which technically exiles rather than countering), but they can only do this because they say so on the card. Note the difference in wording compared to a standard Counterspell.

1 Except when split second is involved, but that's very exotic these days.

2 If you were asking about instants or cards with flash, then things would be a little but more complicated. Your opponent could cast a spell, then immediately cast an instant or flash card without passing priority, and then could cast another instant or flash card without passing priority, and so on for as many as they want to cast. But that only applies to instants and cards with flash, not to typical artifacts and creatures (which don't have flash), as it seems you're asking about here. And even in this case, none of these spells could resolve without you having a chance to respond to them first. Your opponent can never take that away from you.1


MTG What happens if the player can't fulfil Iridescent Drake ability Iridescent Drake has the ability: "When Iridescent Drake enters the battlefield, put target Aura card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control attached to Iridescent Drake."

Can I play Iridescent Drake if there's no Aura in any graveyard?

If there's no valid target for the ability, nothing happens. After Iridescent Drake enters the battlefield, you put that triggered ability on the stack. This process includes choosing targets, and if you can't choose any valid targets, you simply don't put the ability on the stack.
The triggered ability rules describe exactly how this works:

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. [...]

[...]

603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.

601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. [...]


Why overlines do not count on Gomoku? I understand that in Gomoku the overlines (lines of 6 or more) do not count for a victory in most tournament ruleset, but may count in casual play. Fine.
WHY in Gomoku there is the rule of "overlines do not count"?
Is this a purely historical reason, like "this is the way", or it actually brings in some benefit to the game?

Because the goal of the game is to place exactly 5 stones in a row. Having it limited to exactly 5 pieces means there is more strategy involved in also making sure you don't make a chain to long.
https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Gomoku.html

In standard gomoku, rows of exactly five piece are required for a win, so if a row longer than five pieces (called an overline) is created, it does not count as a win. In free-style gomoku, overlines also count as wins.


Could Panther shark be played face-down defense when summoned by its own effect? Panther shark effect is :

If your opponent controls 2 or more monsters, you can Normal Summon
this card without Tributing. If you control "Eagle Shark", you can
Special Summon this card (from your hand). You can only control 1
"Panther Shark".

Eagle shark effect is :

If your opponent controls 2 or more monsters, you can Normal Summon
this card without Tributing. If you control "Panther Shark", you can
Special Summon this card (from your hand). You can only control 1
"Eagle Shark".

I would like to know if I can play Panther shark face-down defense position from its own effect.

If you control "Eagle Shark", you can
Special Summon this card (from your hand).

And also can I summon in face-down defense position Panther shark according to the first part of its effect?

If your opponent controls 2 or more monsters, you can Normal Summon
this card without Tributing

To sum up does the normal and special summon allowed by the effect of panther shark allows me to play this card in defense position face-down?
Thanks ;)

If you normal summon you can play in face down

but

If it is special summoned it has to be face up


What is a functioning power turret? One of the modifiers for table 5-6 Bomber Defensive Fire Resolution is:

  +1 for defensive fire by a functioning power turret (electrical power, hydraulic)

But I'm unsure as to what a "functioning power turret" is? Is that just another term for any of the twin guns(undamaged) on the B-17?, or just the Ball Turret?

The errata posted last year clarifies the definition of a power turret in rule 5.5.2.

Powered Turrets: Chin (B-17G), Nose (B-24J), Top
Turret and Ball Turret (All models of B17 and B24) and tail guns (B-24). The Tail Guns (B17) are
not powered.


Can You Shoot Yourself in Bang? Our group does like a bit of Bang!, but one of the problems we have with it is this: there's no reliable way to guess how long a game of it is going to take, which, combined with the fact that players can get knocked out very early on, means that sometimes it goes on and on long past the point where some people in the room or even still playing are fed up with it.

As such, can your gunfighter elect to do the decent thing and shoot themselves in the head to spare themselves the misery?  More importantly, if you shoot yourself from behind a Barrel, do you get to draw to see if your barrel protects you from damage?

(It's been a while since I last asked a question here, so I'm glad to be getting back into the fray with an issue as complex and important as this one.)

You can get yourself shot by playing a Duel and then not responding if the person you dueling with discards a BANG! Besides that and Dynamite, I don't know of other ways to hurt yourself with your own cards.

However, there are other ways to solve your problems:

(1) Problem of Player Elimination: Add the unofficial BANG! expansion, Death Mesa, to the game. In this expansion, dead players continue on as ghosts, draw from a specialized deck, and influence who wins (all ghosts, regardless of role, can still achieve victory). Visit http://bangcardgame.blogspot.com/p/death-mesa-expansion.html

(2) Problem of BANG! Dragging On: Give BANG! an internal clock through adding one of the following house rules:
-  Play only with 3 life point characters. If you have Dodge City, this gives you 7 characters; The Bullet, 8 characters; with Wild West Show, 9. Or make all 4 life point characters have 3 life points and only play with them.
- Players can shoot as many players as they want per turn (given distance constraints), but they can only fire 1 BANG! at each player per turn.
- If things are really getting slow, you can impose a new rule after a certain amount of rounds: Beer and/or Missed! are not reshuffled into the deck. They are placed in a separate discard pile and cannot be reused.

If you are interested in different house rules, visit http://bangcardgame.blogspot.com/p/fistful-of-bang-variants.html


If an action card turns a planet neutral, are the space docks and PDS units on it destroyed? If an opponent plays a card such as Local Unrest and targets my last ground force on the planet, that planet is turned neutral.  When that happens, do I lose any PDS's and Space Docks on that planet, or do they remain?  If my forces remain there, do I regain control when I land ground forces there again?

The Space Docks and PDS units are destroyed.

From page 3 of the official FAQ version 2.3

  Q: If a planet contains one Ground Force, one Space Dock, and one PDS,
  and “Local Unrest” is played on that planet, are the Space Dock and
  PDS destroyed?

  A: Yes. The Space Dock and PDS would be destroyed due
  to the planet changing ownership (becoming neutral).

And for good measure, on page 12 of the rulebook:

  If a PDS unit lands alone on a neutral or enemy planet, it is
  immediately destroyed.


What are some good tactics for Khet 2.0? I recently bought Khet 2.0 and I've played it a couple of times (we used the "Classic" starting position both times). I didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing as regards tactics / strategy, mostly I seemed to be waiting for my opponent to make a mistake.

What tactics or strategy can I use to help me win?

I feel there really two things that need to focus on in Khet:

The first is overall board position. You want to create a situation where you have multiple pieces capable of attacking at any given moment, but haven't actually lined up the shot on the main pharaoh. For example, keeping two mirrors positioned on opposite sides of a target, so that when you're able to move an intermediate piece, you have a better chance at an opportunity.
The other thing I really look at is misdirection. Playing in such a way that an opponent can't determine what direction an attack is coming from is perhaps the easiest approach to this strategy, such as mixing your moves between defense, attack and a few "nonsense" moves (moving pieces that aren't part of your actually strategy in vaguely threatening positions).

There are a few articles on BoardGameGeek regarding this topic as well:

Beginning, Middle and Endame Thoughts
Opening Moves for Classic Setup


How can I persist XP and gold when my players change between games? I've been playing Descent a few times with a few different players. Unfortunately players change, but we keep the XP and gold for the heroes that do play, and when a new player joins they are restricted to choosing only a hero that hasn't been picked yet.

However I'm really not sure how to manage the XP/gold when either

A new player joins halfway through the campaign (or whatever act they may be on).
The Overlord player wants to actually play a hero (because as much as I like being the Overlord.....it's nice to be a hero too).

I see only a couple of options:

The "New" person picks a hero and starts with starting equipment.
Some sort of house rule. To me maybe this would be a new person starting with whatever the "weakest" person has earned gold/XP-wise?

I really can't figure out a good way to do this. Having multiple campaigns with multiple sets of people would get really confusing, plus those who JUST played a certain act, wouldn't want to have to replay it. Plus, RP wise, new people join groups all the time so there is that?

What I've been doing is tracking XP/Gold per hero or Overlord, and not per player. So if someone new comes by and they want to play hero X, then they'd get all the benefits of that hero.

Anyone have any ideas for this conundrum?

I've found that Descent is really made for one-off games, and not for campaigning.  As much as anyone's tried to tack it on.
If every game is a new game, and everyone always starts again at zero, then this problem just disappears entirely.
For campaign-style play, we just stick to classic pen-and-paper RPGs.  Works well.


Can I Redirect a Retract to affect my opponent? Can I Redirect my own Retract to my opponent with a redirect? I'm just wanting to know before I try it and look dumb. I know you have to have a valid target for a Redirect but Retract targets me, a player, so I don't see why I can't Redirect to another player.

Redirect only allows you to change a spell's targets. Retract does not target; it just affects you. Rule 114.1a says

  An instant or sorcery spell is targeted if its spell ability identifies something it will affect by using the phrase "target [something]," where the "something" is a phrase that describes an object, player, or zone. The target(s) are chosen as the spell is cast; see rule 601.2c. (If an activated or triggered ability of an instant or sorcery uses the word target, that ability is targeted, but the spell is not.)

Retract doesn't use the phrase "target [something]" so it does not target and cannot be affected by Redirect. If you did cast Redirect targeting Retract, it would give you the chance to choose new targets, but since Retract has no targets, it wouldn't do anything.


How does the timing work on damage redirection? In Sentinels of the Multiverse, the villain Apostate has a card called the Orb of Delirium.  This card has 12hp, and it says: "Whenever a Villain Relic other than this card would be dealt Damage, redirect that Damage to this card."

Suppose that Apostate has the Orb in play and has three other relics.  Suppose that I use a power (for example, Tempest's area-of-effect attack) that deals 6 damage to each non-hero target.  Does this damage any relics other than the orb?

In other words, do I do this:

deal 6 damage to the orb
deal 6 damage to relic 2, redirect damage to the orb, orb dies
deal 6 damage to relic 3
deal 6 damage to relic 4

Or do I do this:

deal 6 damage to the orb
deal 6 damage to relic 2, redirect damage to the orb
deal 6 damage to relic 3, redirect damage to the orb
deal 6 damage to relic 4, redirect damage to the orb
the orb dies

If any relics other than the orb do get damaged, do I get to choose which ones, or does it happen in a specific order?

In a case like this you would chose the order that the damage happened one card at a time. If your goal was to destroy as many of the relics as possible you would do the damage something like this.

6 damage to the orb
6 damage to the relic you don't want destroyed this redirects to the orb destroying it
6 damage to the next relic
6 damage to the next relic

By remembering that each time you do damage it is considered separately, and if a response happens because of that damage then it takes place before the next damage from the original source is done. This is something that is important to remember and doing it all in the correct order can be the difference between winning and losing a game.

The only thing that needs to be done in the order they came out is the start/end of turn effects on a card. Such as the what happens during the villain/environment turn.


In Pegs and Jokers, is it legal to split a seven card between my peg and my partner's peg? In Pegs and Jokers, there are two teams of three each. Player A has four pegs in the castle and his fifth peg is two holes away from going in to have all pegs in the castle. Player A wants to play a seven card and move his last peg two holes into the castle (he would then have all five pegs in his castle) and use the remaining five moves to advance a peg belonging to his partner to his left. Is this legal?

I think it depends on the variant that you're playing. This site lists the rules that come into play here. First, the basic rules:

  In the basic game, except in special circumstances described below, you may only move your own pegs.
  ...
  When playing a 7, you may either move one of your pegs forward 7 holes, or split the 7 between two of your pegs, moving them 1 and 6, 2 and 5 or 3 and 4 holes forwards. Of course the split move can only be made if you have at least two pegs in play.
  ...
  When, and only when, all five of your pegs are in the home (safe) position, occupying the five holes of your home track, you use your turn to move the pegs of your left-hand partner, if that player still has playable pegs. If left partner's pegs are also all home, you move the pegs of the next partner around the table who still has playable pegs.

As I read this, the ability to move your partner's pegs depends on the state of the game at the start of your turn. Player A still has pegs out, so he would not be able to split the 7 with his partner's peg; he only has one peg out, so he could not split the 7.

If you're using Arizona Rules, then it would be allowed:

  Throughout the game, you may move any of the pegs belonging to your team (so for example any of 20 pegs in the 8-player game with 4 on each team). Therefore you may discard without moving only if you are unable to play a card (other than a joker) that moves any of your team's pegs.

and this situation is explicitly mentioned in the North Carolina Rules:

  As in the basic game, you can only move your own pegs until your last peg is home. After that you move the pegs of the partner nearest to your left. You can use a split move to take your last peg home and move your left hand partner's peg with the remainder.

Because it's explicitly mentioned in the last variant, I do not think it is permitted in basic play.


Can I use spells with dual mana symbols against Iona, Shield of Emeria? Can I use spells with dual mana symbols against Iona, Shield of Emeria?

For example, if my opponent names white, can I still cast Unmake?

You can't cast Unmake.

Those are called hybrid mana symbols.

105.2. [...] An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame. An object’s color or colors may also be defined by a color indicator or a characteristic-defining ability. See rule 202.2.
107.4e [...] A hybrid mana symbol is all of its component colors.

So Unmake is white and black, so Unmake is white, so you can't it.


Can piercing damage be inflicted on a monster that is unaffected by monster effects? There are in the current game plenty of monsters that are unaffected by opponents' monsters' effects. Can piercing damage (which is a monster effect) still be inflicted if they are the target of the attack?

The answer is yes. Piercing damage isn't an effect that affects the monster per-se, but it does affect the player. Think of piercing damage like burn that happens after the damage step, and just happens to be in increments of your monster's attack minus the opposing monster's defense. It is considered battle damage, but it's damage that is dealt to the player, not an effect that does anything to the monster.


Word mutations in Taboo Suppose one of the taboo words is "Chinese"; could the player say something like "Someone from China..."? We had a disagreement because the word is clearly a very close mutation but there aren't any subwords which match (like "baseball"<=>"ball"). We decided that it's technically allowed by the rules but I'm wondering if that is correct.

From the rules here

No form or part of ANY word printed on the card may be given a clue.
Examples: If the Guess Work is PAYMENT, "pay" can not be given as a
clue.  If DRINK is a TABOO word, "drunk" cannot be given as a clue.

So by looking at the Drunk/Drink example I'd say it was very clear that "China" can not be used when a taboo word is "Chinese".
I would chuck my usual caveat in here when answering question on games like this.  Always remember you're playing a party game and it's meant to be silly fun.  It's not an exercise in rules lawyering.  If there is a player who wants to have a lengthy debate of if China/Chinese are the same or not I'd probably avoid that player in the future!
If one team get very close to the breaking rules then I'd let it pass but let the other team get away once with veering close to rules breaking once as well.
In the UK there is a radio comedy party game called 'Just a Minute'. in this game the host will regularly give player what is called "the benefit of the doubt" if a rule is broken in a minor way or its ambiguous but will try to rule in favour of another player later in the game two keep things fun and light.


How do I identify the role of a singleton in a well-tuned deck? In this instance, I'm looking at Matt Sperling's Pro Tour top 8 Boros Burn deck, and there's one thing I don't get--what's the single Eidolon of the Great Revel doing here?

  Creatures:

  4 Young Pyromancer
  1 Eidolon of the Great Revel
  4 Chandra's Phoenix

  Spells:

  4 Shock
  3 Skullcrack
  4 Lightning Strike
  4 Boros Charm
  4 Stoke the Flames
  4 Warleader's Helix
  4 Searing Blood

  Lands:

  4 Mutavault
  3 Sacred Foundry
  9 Mountain
  4 Battlefield Forge
  4 Temple of Triumph

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

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

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

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

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

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


Priorities for Memory in Dominion Considering we all have limited memories (and scratch paper is frowned upon in over-the-board play), what sorts of things are highest priority for keeping track of and committing to memory over the course of a typical game?

Considering we all have differing memory capacities, list the 'memorable items' in order of priority, with an explanation of each.

Victory Point differential - This should be your highest priority, and is quite easy to remember if only playing two player. If playing 4-player, it is still only 3 numbers to memorize. It is important to know, because it allows you to know if you will win when ending the game.

Everything below is probably more important in some kingdom distributions, and less important in others.

Gold/Silver distribution - What you would really like to know here, is your average treasure value per hand, but that number gets exceedingly difficult to calculate as you consider card draw, victory cards, action cards with variable cash values, etc. It would also be good to know what your opponents AVG hand value is too, but I have a difficult enough time keeping track of my own.

Terminal Actions/2+ Action cards - The number of terminal action cards needs to stay below a certain threshold to prevent you from getting multiple terminal actions in a hand, and being unable to use them both. This threshold is dependant on the number of +2 Action cards and deck size.

Buys/Gains per turn - Important to know if you are losing (or winning), if you can out buy your opponents.

Defensive/Reaction cards - This is of course highly dependant upon the number of attack cards your opponents have, and how disruptive those attack cards are to your deck.

Individual Combo odds - Highly dependant upon the kingdom cards, but many times you want to be able to estimate the number of Barons/Estates, Treasure Maps, Scout/Great Halls, etc.

Not necessary to count

Deck size
Kingdom card piles
Trash contents


First blood on the same initiative step If two opposing forces completely destroy each other at the same initiative step in combat, who is regarded as the first casualty for the purposes of things like first blood?

When you have two simultaneous effects that need an order to resolve, the active player gets to decide the order.  So the player whose turn it was would probably choose themselves to receive the point for First Blood (though they could choose which either player to get it).

Alternatively if it's a friendly game you and your opponent might agree that both players score First Blood, or that neither player got it. Or even that it hasn't been scored yet.

That said there are several variants of First Blood out there since it almost always goes to the first player. Last Blood is fairly popular, where to score it you have to kill a unit and then not lose a unit on the opponent's turn.

This question has given an alternative idea which I plan on implementing when I can get my opponent's permission. I'm going to make a "Blood Trophy" and the first unit to kill another earns the Trophy. However if a unit kills the unit that controls the trophy, they gain the trophy. Whichever army controls the trophy at the end of the gain gets a victory point.


What does the game consider being the same instance of a card? I control one Synod Sanctum, exile some permanents with it, and then my opponent destroys it without me being able to use its returning ability.

If I later on draw another Synod Sanctum, can I return to the battlefield the cards exiled by the first one?

The wording is:

  Return all cards exiled with Synod Sanctum to the battlefield under your control.

What if I get the same Synod Sanctum back with Trash for Treasure? It's the same physical card back on the battlefield. Does the game consider it's the same instance or a different one?

You can not return the exiled cards once the Synod Sanctum that exiled them has left the battlefield.

When a card refers to itself by name it is referring only to that object, and not other objects with the same name. As stated in the Comprehensive Rules:

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

When a permanent leaves the battlefield it ceases to be the same object and the game "forgets" the linked cards. There are a couple exceptions (400.7a-f) but Synod Sanctum is not one of them.

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

Keep in mind this means that if the Synod Sanctum changes zones for any reason (it gets returned to your hand or even flickered with a Ghostly Flicker type effect) it will be treated as a new object and your exiled cards will no longer be reachable.


Game flicking chequers knocking opponents off My brother and I play this game using 8 white checkers and 8 black checkers on opposite sides of the board. We take turns flicking the checkers across the board to knock the opponent's checkers off the board. Once all the opponents checkers are gone, you win that round. We called this game "Chinese Checkers", but apparently Chinese Checkers is a different game using a star shaped board rather than a square one. So, what is this game supposed to be called?

I just googled "flicking Draughts game" and the first result was a wikipedia page on a game called Chapayev
Details from the article include:-

The game requires a checkerboard and checkers, eight pieces of each colour.

Which matches your question.

During the first round, white pieces are placed on the first row, and
black on the last.

Which fit requirement of "checkers on opposite sides of the board"

A player takes their turn by flicking one of his pieces with the index
finger to shoot it at one or more of the opponent's pieces.

Which again matches your description

The game continues until only one colour remains on the board, winning the round.

Which matched the victory condition you describe.


Cyber dragon infinity Example 1:
If I activate a card from my hand can cyber dragon infinity negate and "destroy it"

Example 2:
If I activate a monster effect from my hand and crystal wing synchro dragon tries to negate it does the negation happen and if so what happens to that monster

Example 1: Yes

The effect of Cyber Dragon Infinity can negate the activation of any card effect, regardless of its location, as it does not specify any area in which the effect need be activated.

  Once per turn, when a card or effect is activated (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.

As for the destruction of the activated card: if the card or effect whose activation is negated is in a zone wherein it can be destroyed, it is destroyed. This includes the hand, field, main deck and extra deck. If a card or effect whose activation is negated exists in the GY or is banished, the activation will still be negated, but the card cannot be destroyed in those zones.

Example 2: Yes, the Negation Occurs; Results Depend

As with Cyber Dragon Infinity, since Crystal Wing Synchro Dragon does not specify any area in which the activated effect need exist, it can negate the activation of any monster effect regardless of location. Now, as to the question of what happens: this varies depending on what kind of effect you activate in your hand.
Certain monsters, such as D.D. Crow, activate their effects by discarding themselves from the hand. Supposing that a player activates D.D. Crow's effect, Crystal Wing can negate its activation. However, examine the remaining clause (in bold):

  Once per turn, during either player's turn, when another monster's effect is activated: You can negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that monster, and if you do that, this card gains ATK equal to the destroyed monster's original ATK until the end of this turn.

So, the gaining of attack is wholly contingent upon the monster whose effect was negated also being destroyed as a result of Crystal Wing's effect.
As another example scenario, if a monster effect activates in the hand without discarding it, as is the case with the Danger! series of monsters, Crystal Wing can negate the activation and - provided the card is still in the hand when Crystal Wing's effect resolves - destroy that monster, and gain ATK equal to its original ATK.


Jeskai cards that will let me draw off of either scrying or spell cast or creature entering the battlefield? I have just finished a rough deck using Gnostro, Voice of the Crags as the commander. The deck works by using Emissary's Ploy (choosing 1) to cast the deck's creatures(most of which are 1-drops) to bulk-cast spells, then use Gnostro to scry and put more spells on top. If an opponent is causing grief, you can stall a few turns and use the other abilities to gain life or remove the problem creature. Once you've amassed an army and drawn into Flying Crane Technique, swing and most likely win.
One problem I knew I was going to find is running out of cards in hand, so I tossed in a dozen draw spells(winged words, drawn from dreams, preordain, etc), and a Clear the Mind/Izzet Chronarch combo so I could keep a decent hand and theoretically always have draw spells in my deck. This works okay...until you don't draw one. Another noteworthy card that helps with hand size is Dragon Mage, but he becomes useless if there's a card you need to hold on to(like Flying Crane Technique).
I want to not have to worry about running out of spells, so I'm looking for a permanent that will let me draw when I either play a spell, play a creature, or scry. Any suggestions?
Note- thought about it a moment, and in case it's causing confusion, it does not have to be red-white-blue, it just has to be legal in a deck with a Jeskai commander.

There are a several cards that fit your parameters. I found them by searching on Scryfall with the search string ci:uwr is:permanent o:whenever o:draw (o:creature or o:scry). This looks for cards in the Jeskai color identity that are permanents, and have the text "whenever" and "draw" on the card to look for repeated triggered abilties that draw cards, and have the text "cast", "creature" or "scry", to look for triggered abilities with those conditions. This finds a lot of false positives, but it only finds 100 cards total, which is small enough to examine manually.
The specific cards that match your criteria are:

Customs Depot, which has the ability "Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, draw a card, then discard a card."
Hazoret's Monument, which has the ability "Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card."
Jeskai Ascendancy, which has the ability "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may draw a card. If you do, discard a card."
Mentor of the Meek, which has the ability "Whenever another creature with power 2 or less enters the battlefield under your control, you may pay {1}. If you do, draw a card."
Whirlwind of Thought, which has the ability "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, draw a card."
Zephyr Scribe, which has the abilities "{U}, {T}: Draw a card, then discard a card." and "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, untap Zephyr Scribe."


What is the difference between an "Effect" and an "Ability", and how do you identify one from the other? I know in Magic the Gathering that permanents (Creatures, Atrifacts, Enchantments, etc.) can have either Effects or Abilities that can change the game state in many ways (tap creatures, give a +1/+1 buff to all creatures etc.). There are also some cards that interact with others by modifying or removing their Abilities, such as Humility and Gift of Tusks, or cards that are triggered by being targeted by abilities like Cowardice. Through playing the game you can learn to kind of intuit which is which, but I would like to know what the actual definitions are.

So the question is, what is an Ability and what is an Effect when it comes to Magic the Gathering?

and more specifically,

How can one quickly identify Ability from Effect during gameplay?

BJ Myers' CR quote answers your question pretty well.

An Ability is rules text on a card. With only a few exceptions, abilities all create effects.

An Effect is either the result of a spell or ability being cast/activated/triggered (and then resolving), or is a "continuous effect", caused by abilities or spells (for example, see Glorious Anthem).

There's more, though; Actions. Actions aren't effects, but they're still things that "happen".

Turn-based Actions happen at fixed points in the turn, and include you
untapping your permanents at the
beginning of the turn, and declaring attackers/blockers.
State-based Actions are checked/executed every time a player would be
given priority, and include removing creatures with lethal damage
marked and losing the game.
Special Actions are taken by players, and include playing lands and
flipping morph creatures.

Lastly, paying Costs. Aside from the obvious paying of mana, this includes tapping creatures for Convoke, the additional cost on Fling, or the exiling of cards on Grim Lavamancer's ability. Please note! Tapping lands/mana dorks to add mana to your pool is NOT paying a cost, even when you do it while casting a spell.

Example One; I cast Fatal Push on my opponent's Goblin Guide. When it resolves, Fatal Push has the effect of destroying Goblin Guide.

Example Two; I activate Grim Lavamancer's ability targeting a Goblin Guide, and it resolves. Here, an ability has been activated, and it's effect is dealing damage to the Goblin Guide. Then, as a state-based action, the game sees that Goblin Guide has lethal damage marked on it, and so it is destroyed. Note that Grim Lavamancer's ability didn't kill Goblin Guide; the action did.

Example Three; My opponent casts Fling, targeting my Grim Lavamancer, sacrificing their own Goblin Guide. The spell Fling was cast, with the cost of sacrificing Goblin Guide, and the effect of dealing 2 damage to Grim Lavamancer. Just like example two, the game will see the damage marked on Grim Lavamancer and kill it as a state-based action.

The distinction becomes important when cards look for "effects". The currently infamous example is the interaction between Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Anointed Procession.

Kalitas has an ability that replaces "creature XYZ dies" with "creature XYZ is exiled and you get a 2/2 token". Anointed Procession's ability looks for effects that makes tokens, and doubles the number of tokens you get for them. Both of these abilities cause "replacement effects".

So, let's modify our earlier examples. This time I also have Kalitas and Anointed Procession on the battlefield.:

Example One; The spell Fatal Push has the "effect" of killing a creature. Kalitas replaces the effect "Goblin Guide dies" with "Goblin Guide gets exiled and I get a 2/2". Then, Anointed Procession sees the effect giving me a 2/2, and replaces it again, with "Goblin Guide gets exiled, and I get two 2/2s". Net Result: Goblin Guide is exiled and I create two 2/2 Zombie tokens

Example Two; The ability of Grim Lavamancer has the "effect" of dealing 2 damage to Goblin Guide. Kalitas and Anointed Procession see nothing they can replace, so it occurs. The next time state-based actions are checked, the game sees that Goblin Guide is marked with lethal, and destroys it as a state-based action. Kalitas sees the action killing Goblin Guide, and replaces "Goblin Guide dies" with "Goblin Guide gets exiled and I get a 2/2". Anointed Procession doesn't see anything though, because the thing giving me a 2/2 is not an effect, it's an action. Net result: Goblin Guide is exiled, and I create one 2/2 Zombie token

Example Three; My opponent casts Fling, sacrificing Goblin Guide. Kalitas sees the Goblin Guide dying, and replaces the effect "Goblin Guide dies" with "Goblin Guide gets exiled and I get a 2/2". Anointed Procession doesn't see this trigger though, because Goblin Guide wasn't killed by an effect, it was killed as part of a cost! Kalitas doesn't affect your own creatures, so the Grim Lavamancer dying will be unaffected when Fling resolves. Net result: Goblin Guide is exiled, and I create one 2/2 Zombie token. Fling has been cast


Are activated abilities only abilities with mana costs? Example, if I had Archon of Redemption out and my opponent played Arrest on it (Arrest says that the creature's activated abilities cant be activated). When something with flying enters the battlefield can I still gain life equal to its toughness?

Archon of Redemption's ability is a triggered ability and will not be effected by Arrest. Arrest affects activated abilities, described by rule 602.1.

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

Examples: Ancient Silverback, Elvish Mystic, Heritage Druid, Fume Spitter

Triggered abilities, like the Archon's, are described by rule 603.1.

  603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[Trigger condition], [effect],” and begin with the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” They can also be as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect].”

In either case, whether or not mana is involved has no bearing on the classification of the ability (except in the specific case where mana is produced, but we'll ignore that for this conversation).

Activated abilities can have a mana cost (R: Shivan Dragon gets +1/+0 until end of turn) or not (T: Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to target creature or player).

Also, triggered abilities can have optional costs (Apothecary Initiate's Whenever a player casts a white spell, you may pay {1}. If you do, you gain 1 life). The Archon's triggered ability is an example of one that does not.


Which dual lands count as having the name of their respective basic land types for certain effects? For example, let's take a look at Arbor Elf, which has the ability "T: Untap target Forest"

Which types of dual lands count as a Forest and thus can be untapped by Arbor Elf?

Is there a comprehensive heuristic I can use for this? I've never actually seen the rule anywhere and these lands never mention that fact, nor have I seen it in errata or card rulings. But apparently it's a thing because I heard it mentioned in forums and cards that mention basic lands have worked on some dual lands before in MTGA.

There's an assumption you're making that's a bit off here, that assumption being that you are looking for something by name. Voltaic Key has the ability ", : Untap target artifact." that does not untap a card named artifact, but a card with the type artifact.
In the case of Arbor Elf, untap target forest refers to cards with the subtype forest, Dual lands such as Breeding Pool and Scattered Groves both have forest on their type line, and can be targeted. Even a few single colored non basic lands like Dryad Arbor and Sapseep Forest count, as they have forest in their type line.
We can see this method more clearly in cards like Nissa's Pilgrimage, which specifies basic forests, or Cabal Stronghold which specifies basic swamps. Specifying the supertype basic in addition to the subtype forest/swamp/etc means you can only find this info on the type line, though they could have said lands named forest or lands named swamp and got roughly the same result.
In addition to cards like this, there are effects that change the type of land, or turn things into lands, effects like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would make all lands swamps, so they would count for anything that looks at swamps, such as Cabal Coffers, and Life and Limb makes all creatures with the subtype saproling into forests (and vice versa) turning them all into creature land - saproling forest.
Currently there are 25 cards that are printed as forests, 2 of these are the basic lands (regular and snow covered) the other 23 are non-basics. For the other 4 basic land types, there are: 23 Plains, 23 Islands, 23 Swamps, and 23 Mountains. Generally these cards exist in cycles that have the same number of each, Dryad Arbor and Murmuring Bosk are the 2 exceptions, forests without a matching cycle in other colors.


Can I use a creature's ability on my opponent's turn? If I were to have a card on the battlefield such as Archers' Parapet and it was my opponents turn could I play the ability of Parapet if I had player priority?

  {1}{B}, {T}: Each opponent loses 1 life.

I am wondering if it is possible to play the ability during my opponents end step?

You may use a tap ability at instant speed, so as long as the cost is payed and the creature does NOT have summoning sickness you may use the ability whenever you have priority.


What happens when the attacking player dies to damage triggers after killing the blocking creatures in the first combat step of double strike? We were playing a commander game and the attacking player had a bunch of trample creatures, well call him Andy. The defending player, Bob, blocks with a Zulaport Cutthroat, Cruel Celebrant, Teysa Karlov, and at least 2 other creatures. Normally that would be enough to save him as he was at 37 life but then Andy played Savage Beating choosing to give his army double strike. Andy was at 3 life. So the question is does he die before the regular damage gets to kill Bob or is it too late and they're both dead?

You have left several crucial details out of your description of the situation, which makes it a bit difficult to analyze.
Under the assumptions that:

Andy was attacking with more than 5 creatures.
Andy's creatures that were not blocked, could do a total of 37 damage after the second phase (but less than 37 damage during the first strike phase).
Andy's creatures killed at least one of Bob's creatures.
No other shenanigans in play (trample, damage prevention, regeneration, no other first strike etc.).

Then:

First strike damage is assigned.
One or more of Bob's creatures die.
Triggers from Bob's creature deaths, due to Zulaport et al. go on the stack in Bob's chosen order.
After the resolution of each trigger, state-based actions are checked. One of those is whether or not Andy has more than 0 life.
When a trigger resolves that puts Andy at zero life, he is dead. He leaves the game, along with all permanents that he owns.
All remaining triggers on the stack that target Andy fizzle, and Bob lives.

For lots of info on exactly how all the edge cases of player death are handled, see this question:
In MTG, what happens when a player loses in multiplayer?
For when players actually die, see this question for a full explanation:
When do you check if you lose


Gaining and losing life at the same time I have a question about a specific scenario involving life loss and gain.

Say I have 3 life left, the creature Soulcage Fiend on the battlefield, and also the enchantment Exquisite Blood on the battlefield.

Now say my opponent kills Soulcage Fiend with some instant, would I lose the game? Or does the gain of life happen first, keeping me at 3 life when all is said and done?

The word "whenever" usually means that the card triggers, which goes on the stack.

From the Oracle Text for Exquisite Blood:

  If you and an opponent both lose life simultaneously, and this causes your life total to become 0 or less, you'll lose the game before Exquisite Blood's triggered ability can resolve.

You would lose the game.


Searching a library for something, failing to find it, the later discovering it was there If an effect would have you search your library for a specific card, say Elvish Aberration's forestcycle has you search for a forest, and you can't find it in your library, but it turns out later that there was a forest in your library that you just did not look hard enough, how do you resolve this issue?

You are never required to actually find a specific card when you search your deck, so if you don’t find it when you look, you have simply missed your chance.

  701.18b If a player is searching a hidden zone for cards with a stated quality, such as a card with a certain card type or color, that player isn’t required to find some or all of those cards even if they’re present in that zone.

So there is no difference between simply choosing not to find any Forest, or being unable to.

Note that this works differently if a card has you search for cards in general, such as Demonic Tutor. In that case you actually must choose a card.


Is there a list of the cards included in Scuttle! and its expansions? So I have the card game Scuttle! and two of its expansion sets: Scurvy and Curse of the Black Jack.

Stupidly, I shuffled all the cards together and now I want to separate them out again.

Luckily, 'the Scurvy' cards are pretty easy to find as they're very distinct. Now I'm just trying to separate the cards from the base Scuttle! deck and the Curse of the Black Jack cards.

Is there a list of the cards anywhere? I checked the jellybeans games website and there's nothing there. Help me please! Thanks!

You would expect a game inventory on the Jelly Bean website.

Took a little search, but here’s a YouTube that reviews the Black Jack game expansion, showing all of those cards. They are:

Black Jack rule card, Voodoo Queen, Governor, Dagger, Powder Keg, Sea Serpent, Black Jack, Ghost Pirate, Grappling Hook, Black Spot, Crow’s Nest, Grog, Buried Treasure, Sirens, The Plank, Poison, and Parrot.

That should allow you to finish splitting up your decks.