Is Fluxx a game of skill or luck? In a recent question, a link was posted to a BGG member that attempted to objectively measure whether skill exists in the game Fluxx. This wasn't published in a peer reviewed journal, but was just a small project by a dedicated Fluxx fan. This got me thinking about the methodology used to determine if Fluxx should be considered a game of luck.

200 games were played, resulting in a 71%-29% split. Is this significant? (What would a statistical analysis tell us the Confidence Interval (CI) was for 200 games, Chi^2 analysis, etc.)
This game was played only 2-players. Would a 3-player+ game result in similar two times more likely for a thinking player to win?
This Basic Player still made random plays, unless taking those actions would immediately win them the game (example if the standard rules, Draw 1 and Play 1, a basic player would not play one of the cards Keeper:Dog, Keeper:Tree, and the Goal:Walk the Dog even if all of them were in their hand, because they wouldn't win immediately.) Are the results of this experiment similar to the results you would have from a game with no luck, but similar 2-card win goals?

To expand on the last point, imagine a game where each player had access to all of the cards in the Fluxx, and was allowed to "draw" the card of their choosing. Would a Basic Player in this game of no luck have a similar win percentage?

There's a modicum of skill involved.  You can do some things to increase the odds that random draws will go your way.  Any or all of these could be used to augment Basic Player's behavior.

Recognize that some keepers appear more often in goals.  Prioritize The Brain and generally anything to do with food.
Playing keepers toward the current goal is usually a waste of time, especially with lots of players.  The goal may change several times before your next turn.
Avoid Draw X rules when you don't have Play X to back it up.  Otherwise you hand all your opponents extra card draw before your next turn.  A fistful of cards increases your chances of going off on your next turn, but it does so for everybody at the table.  Risk/reward.
Play your cards in the proper order, e.g., by not reducing/trashing the current Play rule before you've played all your cards.
Hang on to cards like Let's Do That Again and Take Another Turn until the board has some favorable Draw and Play rules.  Setting up a Dominion-style 5-minute turn is soooo much fun.

Ultimately, Fluxx is a fun game because of the crazy combinations that make everyone's heads spin.  Actively trying to win is of lesser importance.  In my opinion, the better skill to master is to make sure you don't make the game boring for everyone else:

Hand Limit 0 is an awesome card, provided you still have plays left for yourself to change it before your turn ends.  Draw 1/Play 1 with 0-card hands is painful.
Play All with Draw 1 is similarly bad, though it gets less painful with more opponents.


Should the basic resources from the first two Resident Evil boxes be combined? Both the base set of Resident Evil and the Alliance expansion are standalone games, and come with a complete set of the basic resources (Ammunition, Handguns, Knives and Herbs).  I know that the Mansion cards of both sets can be combined and played together if you want a longer game (the Daykiller), but the rules don't appear to specify what to do about the basic resources themselves.

Does combining the piles from the two sets unbalance the game?  Should the basic resources from both sets be combined, or only one set used while playing?

The Resident Evil:DBG rules don't specify because you are not supposed to combine the other cards, just the mansion cards.

  Advanced Note 5: The Day-Killer - Feel like Resident Evil™ action all day long? Combine the Mansions from Set 1 and 2 and rejoice in the Infected hunting fun! The game ends when both “Albert Wesker” and “Uroboros Aheri” have been defeated.

It is your game, so you can play it however you like. Officially though, you are only supposed to combine the Mansion Cards for the Day-Killer variant.

As for what effect this might have, and if it would be any unbalancing, it depends.

A common tactic in a four player version of the game it to buy up the Ammo x30 (and sometimes Ammo x20) cards before your opponents have the ability to draw into a hand with enough cash to buy those cards themselves. This will deny them from buying the really expensive weapons in a particular 18 pile distribution. If you double the Ammo cards from fifteen to thirty copies, this tactic probably won't be possible.

Normally, there is only one Burst-Fire Handgun, and one Survival Knife. Players with additional buys have a greater chance of picking up those weapons for their own use, or to deny them from other players that might benefit from them more (i.e. Jack Krauser). Having multiple copies of the Survival Knife in the Basic Resources makes it harder to deny Jack Krauser at least one Survival Knife. If Jack happens to get two copies of the knife, things could get even worse. This is of course somewhat balanced by the fact that there are now twice as many regular knifes that Jack has to cycle through before he gets to the special one.

The other Basic Resources Green Herb and Ammo x10 will have little effect on the game when doubling their number.


Which of Magic's 1v1 tournament constructed formats is most popular? The formats I'm interested in are:

Vintage
Legacy
Modern
Pioneer
Standard

(I'm not interested in Archenemy, Commander, 2HG, etc)

Is there some way to rank these five formats in terms of popularity? If so, how?

In my answer I only discuss the large, official tournaments like Pro Tours and Grand Prix, since they are the only ones with readily available data. Everyone can register a sanctioned event of their own, and there doesn't seem to be an overview with attendance numbers or format used. The best numbers to obtain would probably come from WotC's own market research, but they're never going to publish that in any detail.

In terms of all-time number of events and players, Grand Prix are the most important event type. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Limited and Standard are the most common formats, accounting for 446 of total 654 GPs.

Limited: 290 events, 294,076 players
Standard: 156 events, 172,203 players
Modern: 76 events, 115,227 players
Legacy: 31 events, 47,223 players
Pioneer: 5 events (3 played, 2 planned), 4276 players
Vintage does not have any GP or PT events.

Going by average number of attendees per event, the ranking looks almost inverted:

Legacy: 1,523
Modern: 1,516
Pioneer 1,425
Standard: 1,103
Limited: 1,014

The inversion in ranking of the non-Pioneer formats from total numbers to average numbers per event seems to show that the less-supported formats still have a dedicated player base that makes use of any opportunity to play competitively, while the more supported formats spread out their player base over more events.

Pioneer meanwhile does show a strong popularity, going by average number of players per event. Since it's a brand-new format with all events played in 2020, only time will tell if its popularity is sustainable, or if it's just due the novelty of the format that will eventually wear off.

Pro Tours are harder to quantify by format since they are mostly played in mixed formats, but since their total numbers are much lower and proportionally similar to GPs, they don't change the overall picture. Combinations of Standard and Limited formats account for the plurality of players and events.

In terms of prize pool, however, PTs are much more significant. GPs range from $10K to $80K, while PTs range from $100K to $850K, an order of magnitude more.

Sources:

Mtg Pro Tour, List of events

MtG Grand Prix,
 List of events


Does trample damage hurt players even if the creature dies? I'm playing myself with two Avacyn Restored decks from a 6-booster sealed prerelease tournament, and wonder whether a 6/4 creature with trample blocked by a 4/1 creature would still allow damage through.

Short Answer
Yes, that's what trample does - any damage beyond lethal can be assigned to the player or planeswalker the trampling creature is attacking.

Long Answer
Combat damage is all dealt simultaneously (in two steps, the first of which is exclusive to creatures which have First Strike or Double Strike) - assuming the attacker and blocker both do not have First strike or Double strike, the four damage from the blocking 4/1 is dealt to the 6/4 trampler at the same time that the 6/4 with Trample deals one to the blocker and five to that creature's controller (assuming there are no other blocking creatures).
Thus, if you are at five or less life, and have a 4/1 without First Strike or Double Strike blocking a 6/4 with Trample, lethal damage will be assigned to you (and dealt, unless it is prevented somehow).
If your 4/1 blocker does have First Strike or Double Strike (and the 6/4 Trample does not), your blocker's combat damage will be dealt in a combat damage step earlier than the 6/4, and if the 6/4 is dealt lethal damage (which it would be, assuming no combat tricks), the 6/4 would be destroyed and would not be present for the second combat damage step, so you would avoid damage altogether.
See the following from the 5/1 comprehensive rules:

703.4k Immediately after combat damage has been assigned during the combat damage step, all combat damage is dealt simultaneously. See rule 510.2.
510.2. Second, all combat damage that's been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it's dealt. This is a change from previous rules.
510.5. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.


When is Garbage time and when to scoop to it? This is a dual question but the answer from the first part directly leads into the second.

Watching Magic the gathering streamers I've heard the term "Garbage Time" used occasionally. It typically refers to when the opponent is losing the game, but do we have any definitive definition for the term or a possible set of conditions that indicate it is Garbage Time?

In what settings is appropriate for a player to scoop to Garbage time? Such as if a deck is caught in a Teferi lock, as posted in this question. Or in the case a deck has their main or only win con peeled from their deck, such as Unmoored Ego removing all copies of  Lotus Field from the Pioneer Lotus Storm deck. Would it be expected for an opponent to concede a game they have virtually no chance at winning*?

*excluding if the opponent was trying to push the timer in order to get a draw

Wikipedia has a Garbage time article that defines it as follows:

Garbage time is a term used to refer to the period toward the end of a timed sports competition that has become a blowout when the outcome of the game has already been decided, and the coaches of one or both teams will decide to replace their best players with substitutes. This serves to give those substitutes, who are usually less experienced or younger players, actual playing experience, as well as to protect the best players from the possibility of injury.
Garbage time owes its name to the fact that this period in a game is frequently marked by a significant drop in the quality of game play...

Magic: the Gathering can similarly have games where the winner is effectively already decided but neither player has officially lost.
Players are often expected to concede in situations like that, and in many cases it is strategically a good option for them to do so, but the rules do not require them to do so. As long as a player is progressing through their turn and taking individual game actions in a timely manner, they are not in violation of slow play rules.


Paying madness costs with Dark Ritual If you cast a card with Madness by discarding it in the cleanup step, are you able to pay for it's alternate casting cost with a Dark Ritual?
From my basic knowledge of the game, you wouldn't be able to, as neither player gets priority before the cost of the discarded card needs to be paid, and as Dark Ritual isn't a mana ability, you cannot pay costs with it. Though reading through the comprehensive rules gives me a headache, and it's not obvious to me what the answer is.

You can pay for madness using dark ritual
Madness needs to be a little bit complicated in order to work within the rules properly.

702.34a Madness is a keyword that represents two abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with madness is in a player’s hand. The second is a triggered ability that functions when the first ability is applied. “Madness [cost]” means “If a player would discard this card, that player discards it, but exiles it instead of putting it into their graveyard” and “When this card is exiled this way, its owner may cast it by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost. If that player doesn’t, they put this card into their graveyard.”

The important detail here is that the madness cost is paid as part of the resolution of a triggered ability. While normally no player gets priority during cleanup, there is an exception if abilities are triggered

514.3. Normally, no player receives priority during the cleanup step, so no spells can be cast and no abilities can be activated. However, this rule is subject to the following exception: 514.3a At this point, the game checks to see if any state-based actions would be performed and/or any triggered abilities are waiting to be put onto the stack (including those that trigger “at the beginning of the next cleanup step”). If so, those state-based actions are performed, then those triggered abilities are put on the stack, then the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities. Once the stack is empty and all players pass in succession, another cleanup step begins.

So Dark Ritual can be played while these madness trigger is waiting on the stack.


How can we adjust starting conditions in Twilight Struggle to favour the USSR? My girlfriend and I play Twilight Struggle. She likes playing as USSR. I'm a bit better at the game, which leads to a frustrating situation where I win most of the games.

Are there any generally accepted thoughts on altering the starting conditions to better favour the USSR player, balancing our relative skill levels?

Me and a friend of mine play this a lot and we had to explain it a bit to a new player, so we also had to give the USSR an advantage because it would be first time player against a veteran.
We found that there are three ways to make this a bit more fair:

Give the USSR more starting influence to divide (this can be in Eastern Europe or in any other continent)
Give the USSR some starting points, that way America has to accumulate more points to win the game, I think that 5 or 3 is fair but you can choose that for yourself
In the first headline phase: USSR plays a card and America doesn't, this can give the USSR an advantage if they have good cards so it's a gamble.

EDIT

You could also give the USSR player a partial mulligan, discard the cards he doesn't want and let him pull that many new cards


MTG Enchantment vs instant During the main phase my opponent plays an enchantment on my creature. I respond with an instant to give my creature hexproof. Is my creatue enchanted or not because of my instant?

Say that we have two players, Alice and Bob. Assume that Bob has a German Foil Storm Crow out and its Alice's turn. Alice wants to cast Pacifism because god, that's a scary Storm Crow. So the enchantment goes on the stack, targeting Storm Crow. Now priority gets passed to Bob and say this German Foil Storm Crow holds sentimental value to Bob. He casts Blossoming Defens targeting the Storm Crow. Now Blossoming Defense is on the stack targeting Storm Crow. Priority gets passed back to Alice and she has no response. The Blossoming Defens resolves first, giving Storm Crow indestructible and hexproof. Now the Pacifism resolves attempting to target Storm Crow.
Because of:

Resolving Spells and Abilities

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally. However, if any of its targets are illegal, the part of the spell or ability’s effect for which it is an illegal target can’t perform any actions on that target, make another object or player perform any actions on that target, or make that target perform any actions. If the spell or ability creates a continuous effect that affects game rules (see rule 613.10), that effect doesn’t apply to illegal targets. The effect may still determine information about illegal targets, though, and other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them.

The Pacifism tries to target the Storm Crow but now that its an illegal target it just fizzles and goes to the graveyard. Bob precedes to then beat Alice's face in with a Storm Crow and win.
TL;DR the creature becomes an illegal target and the enchantment fizzles, just going to the graveyard.


What game is this wooden die from? What game, possibly a children's board game, is this die from or used to play?

This looks a lot like a dice from the game Tipsy Tower, specifically the Dutch version called 'Toren van Pisa'.

The goal of the game is to add pawns to the tower without it toppling. The colour rolled marks the floor where your pawn has to be placed. The star is a wildcard.


Where can this FAQ be found on an official site? On this site, there is a list of crayon rail games FAQ and accompanying answers, presumably from Mayfair games.  I don't want to doubt the authenticity of that list.  Rather, I'd like confirmation that the information given in there really is from Mayfair Games.  Ideally, I'd like an FAQ from an official source, but confirmation that this is really from Mayfair would work.

There doesn't seem to be any information about why the FAQ is being hosted at the fan site, and not at Mayfair Games itself, but there are several circumstantial pieces of evidence.

Mayfair Games don't have a FAQ for Empire Builder.
Mayfair Games links to the fan site (implying endorsement) from their official Empire Builder page.
That site is also the developer of the official computer version (i.e. licensed from Mayfair Games).
The resources for the game are comprehensive. It's unlikely they would make the FAQ up and then claim it was from the publisher.
There is another FAQ on the same site which indicates it is the set of rules by which the largest tournaments are played. That argues that this site is indeed the keeper of the de-facto most "official" FAQ.

For completeness, I did do some digging in the Internet Archive for a FAQ from 2008 hosted at Mayfair Games, but found nothing.

Interesting question. The linked FAQs look detailed and helpful. Now I'm curious as to why you require proof of provenance.


When is it ok to king-make? The other day whilst playing an epic, 4-deck game of Munchkin, I found myself well behind and in a position to let someone win so we could quit. I didn't want to leave early (I did anyway!) but the game had gotten out of hand somewhat.

Would it have been ok to King-make? I'm considering a non-game specific answer to this wherever possible. I realise this isn't the sort of thing you do in munchkin.

In general, king making is contentious.

In my mind, it's best reserved for when it will allow ending a game "Now-ish" in order to either facilitate a different, more generally enjoyable game, or to allow players to leave.

There are a few other conditions where I find it less than unacceptable. These basically boil down to "not letting A have a runaway victory by aiding B."

In some cases, it's a matter of allying with B (publicly or not) so that A has some competition because A is in a clear runaway. I've seen this a lot in a variety of public scoring track games.

In others, it's quietly avoiding helping A because of A being in the lead, which results in B having a chance. This is most frequent in my plays of Settlers of Catan - no one trades with the leader... In this case, it generally lengthens the game needlessly, as the leader often is able to stay the leader.

The other condition is when the game allows for alliance victories, or as with Dune, one or more players has a kingmaking victory condition. In Dune, the Bene Gesserit win by correctly predicting the turn of victory and the victor - the BG player works very hard to king-make.


Why can't I find a copy of Crystalline Sliver printing from the Tempest Remastered Set? Gatherer lists Crystalline Sliver under the Tempest Remastered set with a Block of General.  I would like to purchase that specific printing but have been unable to locate any physical copies of the card. Does any one know why these cards are so difficult to find?

You are not going to find anyone selling physical copies of Tempest Remastered cards because it was an Magic Online-only set.

One main reason for it to be online only is that it has cards from the Reserved List on it which cannot be printed as paper cards, but can be created as digital ones.


Can I choose not to fly? In Magic: The Gathering, can I choose not to use the "flying" ability of a creature when attacking (so that it can be blocked by non-flying creatures)?

No, you cannot choose for a creature to behave as though it did not have Flying unless a card specifically says that you can.

While Flying is an ability, it is not one that you "use". It is just a fact about the creature, like the fact that it it is Blue or has 3 power (for example).


Card for changing the type of lands in the library Are there any cards that convert lands that are in the library to any other permanent type (creature, enchantment, etc.)?

Or maybe a converter that converts all cards, that are not in play to any type, different from land type.

I want to use this to mill someone's library using Sphinx's Tutelage.

Mycosynth Lattice is not a option as it does not affect cards that are not in play.

There is no card with such effect.

The only card with an effect like the one you describe would be Painter's Servant, but it doesn't change cards type, only color.

In the case of Sphinx's Tutelage, there is no 1-card-trick that would allow milling and entire deck with lands in it.

In legacy, a similar effect is usually achieved using the Painter's Servant + Grindstone combo.


Can I name cards that are not legal in the format I am playing? When using cards like Demonic Consultation or Spoils of the Vault can I name cards that exist but are not legal in the current format I am playing? For example, could I name a uncard like Booster Tutor or one of the conspiracy cards like Backup Plan which even if they were legal could never be in my deck?
Also Demonic Consultation has a ruling saying you must name a card that exists in Magic, I assume this is also true for Spoils of the Vault, which is why I am specifically asking about if I can name cards that exist but are not in the current format I am playing.

Yes.
You must state the name of a card in the Oracle, but the card doesn't need to be legal in the format of the game being played.

201.3. If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name, the player must choose the name of a card in the Oracle card reference. (See rule 108.1.) A player may not choose the name of a token unless it’s also the name of a card.
201.3a If a player is instructed to choose a card name with certain characteristics, the player must choose the name of a card whose Oracle text matches those characteristics. (See rule 108.1.)
Example: Dispossess reads, in part, “Choose an artifact card name.” The player can choose the name of any artifact card, even one that’s not legal in the format of the current game. The player can’t choose Island, even if an Island on the battlefield has been turned into artifact by some effect.

Emphasis mine.
This wasn't always the case. There used to be a requirement for the card to be  legal in the format of the game the player is playing. The rules were changed to remove this requirement when Guilds of Ravnica was released.

We've removed the forgettable requirement that names chosen when choosing a card name must come from the format being played. This was originally added to protect players from accidental misnamings in tournament settings (for example, "Shackles" in Modern—you meant Vedalken Shackles, not the white Aura Shackles) but tournament policy has evolved to protect players in other ways (you may recall some arguments around naming "Borborygmos" in Modern that led to this evolution) so the game rules don't need to do this anymore. The game rules are generally agnostic to the format being played, so this is a nice change.

Thanks to @murgatroid99 for pointing out the change.


5 card major/weak NT bidding systems In the part of the UK where I live, a common set of conventions played at clubs and EBU tournaments is Acol based with 5 card majors, weak NT, weak jump overcalls/truscott (and often also Benji/reverse Benji: 2C 23+/9t, 2D 20-22/8t, 2H/S weak).

(Stayman, UNT/Michaels, and transfers are usual as well, but less relevant and more "stand alone", so I'm ignoring them here, and looking at the core of the bidding system.)

I'd like to be more clear how these work together and especially how to bid and interpret the "edge cases", but most books on 5 card major bidding seem to be based on other bidding systems so there's not really any clear guidance I can learn from.

Which would be the closest widely used 5 card major system to this, and what would the main adaptations be from it?

WJO and Truscott are generally separable from your system. They are part of your defense and are more like a "component" rather than a part of your system methodology.

Kaplan-Sheinwold (KS) adopts a 5-card Major approach with a weak No-trump opening, ranging from 12-14 HCP. However, its only strong opening is 2C, with 2D, 2H and 2S all being standard weak two bids. However, reverse Benji can be easily incorporated into KS without greatly changing the one-level openings and their continuations.


Variations in scoring "his nobs" and "his heels" I've been playing cribbage for a greater portion of my lifetime, and until recently I haven't really played any games where the rules and customs varied much from what I was taught by my grandfather.  Every online reference I've read, and electronic version of the game, has generally agreed with my understanding of how cribbage is played and scored.

So, it was a strange moment when I was playing against an uncle from the other side of my family and found that he expected the scoring of "his nobs" and "his heels" to be opposite of what I'd learned.

By common rules, "his nobs" refers to when any player holds a Jack in his hand which has the same suit as the starter card.  "His heels" is awarded to the dealer when the starter card itself is a Jack.  Both my uncle and I agree on this.  What we disagree on is the value of each.  I (and, it seems, most of the rest of the world's cribbage players) understand "his nobs" to be valued at one point, and "his heels" at two - my uncle believes the reverse.

I imagine he's probably been playing cribbage for longer than I've been alive, so this has me wondering:  Is this a common variant in cribbage rules?  Are there others like this?

This is not a common variation that I have heard of, and research on multiple cribbage sources seems to agree that Knobs (starter hand jacks) are always 1 point and heels (or flipped/dealer jacks) are 2 points.

This may very well be a case of a small player group misunderstanding or altering the rules. Rules for games like cribbage can often be changed in the same way that playing a game of "telephone" or telling a story by word-of mouth can change the original wording in subtle or not-so-subtle ways.


Can you finish a job without starting it? Let's say I have a job card that says:
Start job: Load 2 contraband on planet X;
Finish job: Deliver 2 contraband to planet Y"

I have obtained contraband via some other means.
Is it possible to fly straight to planet Y and take a "Work" action that consists of just finishing the job and delivering the contraband?

If the job has pickup & drop off locations, you need to visit the two locations in the correct order to finish the job. If the job only has a target location, then you only need to go to one location for completion.

From the official FAQ on page 5:

  Question: I don’t get doing Jobs: how do I do them?

  ..... Each Job will have either a Target or Pick-up
  Location on the card. You then need to use a
  Move Action to get your Firefly to the correct
  location ..... Once you’re at that
  Location, use a Work Action to progress the Job.

  ..... If the Job also has a Drop-Off Location,
  you’ll need to Fly again to the Drop-Off Location
  to deliver the Goods before completing the Job. If
  the Job only has a Target Location, you’re done.

Note the use of the word "need" - it never says that the pickup location is optional.

Think of it this way - if you told someone you'll give them $10 to pick you up a burger from your favourite burger joint, and they give you a burger they already had in their car from somewhere else, they haven't really done the job you were paying them to do.


Exchange two footmen for knight anytime? Game of Thrones Is it possible to exchange two footmen for a knight anytime? For example, in an area without any castles or strongholds (no mustering points) can I at any time during the game exchange two footmen for a knight?

Absolutely not! Nowhere in the rules is this permitted (also it doesn't make any thematic sense :))

As per page 9 of the rule book, you may upgrade a footman to a knight for the cost of 1 muster point, but otherwise no. Note there is also no mechanism by which a player may willingly remove troops from the board (obviously you are forced to remove troops if you exceed your supply limits)


Underworld Connections: Tapping the Land for mana and ability? Let's say i enchant a land with Underworld Connections. Would i be able to tap said land for mana, and use the ability of Underworld Connections concurrently?

No.

Tapping a land doesn't actually produce mana, activating its ability does. Tapping is merely the paying of the cost to do so.

Unlike abilities that read "Whenever enchanted land is tapped"[1], it's not actually tapping the land that causes Underworld Connections's effect. Tapping is merely paying part of the cost to do so.

As part of activating either the abilities, you will need to tap the land, which will leave you unable to activate the other ability.

Like in real life, just because two abilities have the same cost doesn't mean you can pay the price just once for both.

An example of such an ability is Utopia Sprawl's. Tapping the enchanted Forest for mana produces {G} as normal and triggers Utopia Sprawl's ability to produce a second mana.


Changing the order of phases in Axis & Allies Can I change the order of two of the game's phases: Buy units and Combat move? What will it change? What are the benefits?

Regarding the order of play, the game is designed so that you buy your units guessing on what you will need next turn, after the results of all the combats from now until then, including the results of your turn

What if the order of buy units and combat move are exchanged?

So the players would first make the combat moves, then buy their units.

What will it change? As long as you do it before any dice is rolled (resolving any combat) you will still have to buy according to your guess on the results of the battles of your turn, so that aspect will not be changed.
What is the benefit? More insight.  For beginners and for big maps (excessive maps, actually) like 1940, the player has definitely much more insight of what he can loose and he can need after the combat is resolved.

After introducing the game to a few new players, actually just finishing a game right now :), I wanted to share this small detail. It makes life a bit simpler.
In tripleA (computer game similar to this) one of the maps actually implements this modified rule.

[based on kirst's answer below]

I'd include the AA gun's combat move fire after the purchase. First place the aircraft in their destination with a die on each that passed through an AA gun, after buying units, resolve AA fire and after that resolve combat.

A list of the games that use AA fire during combat and non combat move would be useful, I think this rule was abandoned for the mos recent editions


Why are Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale and Pendrell Mists worded differently? Tabernacle says the following:

  All creatures have "At the beginning of your upkeep, destroy this
  creature unless you pay 1."

Pendrell Mists says the following:

  All creatures have "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this
  creature unless you pay 1."

So one says "destroy" and one says "sacrifice". That seems surprising. If so then indestructible creatures would be immune to Tabernacle's effect whereas they would not be immune to Pendrell Mists effect. And similarly, Sigarda, Host of Heron would protect you against Pendrell Mists whereas it wouldn't against Tabernacle of Pendrell Vale.

Is this assessment correct?

That is completely correct.

Indestructible and regeneration prevent/replace destruction but not sacrifices.

Sigarda prevents sacrifices but not destruction.


Thornbite Staff and mana cost With Thornbite Staff, do you need to pay two mana to untap this card if a creature is put into the grave yard or is the mana cost only for doing one damage to target creature or player?

The mana cost is only for the first ability, dealing the damage.

Thornbite Staff gives the creature 2 complete separate and unrelated abilities. The first is an activated ability; because it has the format {cost}:{effect}. The second is a triggered abilitty, because it starts with the word “whenever”. Each ability is surrounded separately by quotes, with “and” in between.


Can special actions in the location card be attempted more than once during a scavenge? Can the special actions in the location cards be attempted more than once?  I'm talking about the ones that say "Return N cards to etc" and have you look up a numbered note in the journal.  These are in a black background sideways on the location card

As long as you have enough cards to return and the situation text does not tell you otherwise, you can perform these actions multiple times.

Check Script 600 under Exploration Cards.


Risk Legacy: Is it better to roll 1 or 2 defense dice when defending a bunkered location? In Risk Legacy, there is a Bunker that always adds (+1 to the highest defense die, except when the high die is a 6).

Is it better to roll 1 or 2 defense dice when defending a bunkered location.

I ran a script to calculate probabilities of attacker losing two troops (D wins), defender losing two troops (A wins) and each losing one troop (Tie).  The following table shows these probabilities, along with the difference from standard play in brackets.  The final column shows the troop loss ratio per die.

Number of  | Win Probabilities (Difference due to bunker)            | Troop loss ratio
 Dice      |                                                         | (A loss : D loss)
-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+------------------
D: 1, A: 1 | D: 0.722 (+0.139), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.278 (-0.139) | 0.722 : 0.278
D: 2, A: 1 | D: 0.861 (+0.116), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.139 (-0.116) | 0.861 : 0.139
D: 1, A: 2 | D: 0.583 (+0.162), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.417 (-0.162) | 0.583 : 0.417
D: 2, A: 2 | D: 0.533 (+0.085), T: 0.320 (-0.004), A: 0.147 (-0.081) | 0.693 : 0.307
D: 1, A: 3 | D: 0.506 (+0.166), T: 0.000 (+0.000), A: 0.494 (-0.166) | 0.506 : 0.494
D: 2, A: 3 | D: 0.352 (+0.060), T: 0.408 (+0.073), A: 0.239 (-0.132) | 0.556 : 0.443

If you look at each pair of rows then you can compare the defender rolling one or two dice.  In each case the defender's troop loss per die roll is decreased by rolling two dice, so it is always theoretically better to roll two dice.


Magic the gathering question about exiling a flashback card Possible Duplicate:
  Does Cremate counter flashback, scavange, and their ilk?

If my opponent uses Think Twice for the flash back cost, and I in response use Cremate to exile it, does the effect of think twice still happen?

If one casts Cremate in response to someone casting a card from a graveyard, Cremate won't be able to target the card just cast. By the time the card in the graveyard is cast, it's no longer in the graveyard; it's on the stack, where it's not a valid target for Cremate.

  601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. [...]


Question regarding strong 2c opening Partner opened with 2C -- I responded with 2D (I have 2 pts)-- Partner responded with 3C.

Is the rebid 3C by partner forcing me to bid (I don’t have enough clubs) or can I pass here?

It's just that I heard from some sources the advice "with strong hand '2C' - the partnership must get to game."

On the other hand however, we might have 25 pts, but not have 8-card fit, or stopper in suit for NT play.

Is it legal to pass?

It's "legal", as in not against the law; but ill advised if you expect and desire to play with this partner again.

Modern agreements tend to the line of "forcing to 2NT, or 3 of a major, or 4 of a minor".

This guarantees the 2C opener 3 calls to define the hand, and infers that a 2C opening based on a strong minor suit must either be suitable for NT or about a trick better than one based on a strong major suit.

Also, consider partner's problem with a strong club or diamond hand. How could partner possibly describe this hand without the assurance of not being passed in a 3C or 3D rebid?

Update:
In regards to your specific situation, I would rank possible bids over partner's 3C rebid in this order with 2 HCP as follows:

Bid 3 of any 6-card suit
Bid 4C with 3 or more of them
Bid any 5-card suit at the three level
Bid 3D with Qxxx or JTxx of diamonds in an unbalanced hand, in case partner want to show a two-suiter
Bid 3NT otherwise

Your 3NT should never end up as the final contract, because partner has denied all interest in NT by bidding 3C. This bid denies any extremely unbalanced hand, by failing the criteria for all the higher preferences; this is valuable to partner in assessing level and denomination.

If partner continues with 4C over any of these calls, you can pass. If partner bids a new suit this continues the force, and you must choose between:

bid a new suit to show your value and promise 4+ support in partner's second suit;
Jump in a new suit to show a singleton and  4+ support for partner's second suit;
single-raise partner's suit with 3 or 4 of them.
preference back to clubs with exactly 2 of them.

No other possibilities exist. This scheme is not in any way conventional, but simply common-sense natural bidding. Even the splinter jump has become a natural call, as what is termed an "impossible value-showing hand", and thus must be the exact opposite of it's literal meaning: instead of strong, length-showing denying support, it must be weak, shortness showing, and confirming support. While not all partners will recognize this call, all experts will.

If partner bids 4NT over your rebid this is Blackwood (with clubs as trump if you play key-card), and consequently forcing.


Koth of the Hammer (-2 ability) Will the mana that has been added to your mana pool by Koth of the Hammer's -2 ability empty as your turn ends, or is the mana from the -2 ability added for the rest of the game?

Mana empties from every player's mana pool at the end of each step and phase.

  500.4. When a step or phase ends, any unused mana left in a player’s mana pool empties. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.


What happens to exploded kittens? If I am eliminated by an exploding kitten, the instructions say to discard all my cards, including the kitten. So they go to the discard pile.

Now, if I play a combo of five cards, can I take the kitten from the discard pile? And if so, what happens with it? There is nothing in the rules prohibiting me from taking the kitten, and also nothing about what happens with the kitten. Is it just dead weight, or does it actually explode?

The wording on the exploding kitten card from the rules

  You must show this card immediately. Unless you have a Defuse card, you’re dead. Discard all of your cards, including the Exploding Kitten.

That wording does not indicate that it only happens when you draw it from the deck. So no matter how the card gets into your hand, once it is in there you will have to follow the instructions for it.


Can you pass GO backward? There are some reasons in Monopoly that your piece might be moving backward.  Picking up "Go back to Xyz Road"
The word "Pass" doesn't have an implicit direction, it just means to go from one side to the other side.
Its possible you might pass GO while doing so, but in reverse.  Since you're passing GO, do you collect the $200?   Or only while travelling clockwise around the board?
Inspired by In Monopoly, if your Community Chest card reads "Go back to ...." , do you move forward or backward?

In short - this situation can't arise in Monopoly as long as the normal official rules are being followed.
The text on the chance card says

Go back to Old Kent Road
Do not pass GO.

Since Old Kent Road is the very first property, there is nowhere you can go back to it and pass GO.
All movement is in the direction of the GO arrow, unless you're instructed to go "backward"

If there are strange house-rules then that's up to the house to decide what happens.


Warhammer 40K 7ed: Haemonculus Covens "It Will not Die" rule effect on units with 1 wound In Warhammer 40K 7ed, the Dark Eldar's Haemonculus Covens "power from pain" rule gives their wracks the "it will not die" (IWND) special rule by turn 4.

My question is this: Does a unit with one wound (wracks for instance) stand to gain anything from "it will not die"?

In my reading of the rules this would be useless because "IWND" rolls occur at the end of your turn while models that are reduced to 0 wounds are automatically removed from the game as casualties.

Does this mean they never get a chance to use "IWND" to get their wound back before they die?

Nope, IWND is absolutely useless on any model with only one wound...and thus, wracks do not benefit from it in the slightest.

The only models which will really benefit from IWND are characters and Grotesques, since they have multiple wounds each.  In practice, however, Grotesques are the primary benefactors of the ability, since it is pretty easy to Instant Death a T3 or T4 character.


Can you owe a player in monopoly A player lands into someone´s property and they are supposed to pay $1000, they don't have enough cash (only have $600) but have property and houses they can mortgage. Can the two players agree to say I owe you $400, will pay later when I get the money?

You must do everything in your power as the debtor to pay off the debt

Count your cash
Sell houses
Mortgage properties

If you then still don't have enough you can ask other players to buy the mortgaged properties from you to raise enough cash.  This could come from the person you owe money to.  Otherwise, you are declared bankrupt.

In practical terms, not many players want to continue playing with no money and wholly mortgaged properties, therefore usually bankruptcy is the best option.


Can a continuous effect that gives haste wear off? For example, let's say I have a Thopter Engineer which has the ability:

  Artifact creatures you control have haste.

I then cast an Artifact Creature. If my opponent were to cast Lightning Strike targeting Thopter Engineer in response, it would go on top of the stack and resolve first, destroying Thopter Engineer.  The Artifact Creature would then resolve, enter the battlefield, and not have haste.

Otherwise if I cast the Artifact Creature with no response, it resolves, enters the battlefield, and gains haste thanks to Thopter Engineer's continuous effect.  What would happen if I passed priority after this and my opponent decided to then cast Lightning Strike on my Thopter Engineer?

Would the Artifact Creature keep haste and be able to attack during combat that turn? Or would it lose haste due to the continuous effect no longer applying and not be able to attack?

The Artifact Creature would lose haste if the Engineer was destroyed because it is a continuous effect from a static ability whose source has disappeared. As you mentioned, this means the creature will be unable to attack this turn.

The one difference in your two scenarios is that in the second one, if the Artifact Creature had an activated ability with the tap or untap symbol in its cost, it could use that ability in response to the Lightning Strike being cast against the Engineer.


How many stones for small go boards? I know the full-size game of Go is played on a 19x19 board and comes with 181 black stones and 180 white stones. This is to accommodate filling every spot on the board with a stone. I want to know if there are suggestions for (much) smaller boards.

While for other typical board sizes (9x9 and 13x13), I'm guessing we could adopt a similar rule for the number of stones to include (41/41 and 85/84, respectively), but what about very small boards?

I made this 3x3 novelty board for a friend, and I'm not sure how many stones to include with it. Because of the size, I am certain many games could involve a lot of capturing, and I wouldn't want him to run out of stones. He doesn't own a full-size game, so he has no pieces to use with this little board (we have been playing on my full-size board).

For folks who have played on small boards, how many pieces do you think I should include?

Extended Question: Do you have suggestions for other small sizes -- say, the 5x5 "capture go", or some irregular sizes?

Edit: I'm not looking for a theoretical upper/lower bound on the number of stones, but rather a "from a practical standpoint, how many might I include to prevent players from having to borrow captured stones to continue playing" kind of number.

The number of stones for a board is meant to be effectively infinite. The typical procedure if players run out is to exchange captured stones in equal quantities and continue with them.

This means that enough stones so that either player could completely fill the board is guaranteed to be enough stones.


Bottom card drawn during epidemic: What happens if there is already more than one disease cube in the city? How do you handle a situation where the bottom card drawn in an epidemic is for a city with 2 or 3 cubes (of the same color) on it already?

For example, if Mumbai has 2 black cubes on it due to prior outbreaks in Chennai and Delhi, what happens if Mumbai is then drawn as the bottom card in the epidemic?  The first cube placed would put the total number of cubes up to three, the next would cause an outbreak, but would the third cube cause a second outbreak?

While a literal reading of the rules would seem to imply as much, it seems almost guaranteed to cause cascading outbreaks and almost certain loss.  Is my literal reading accurate?

This is actually explicitly mentioned in the rulebook, on page 6, under Epidemics:

  2)   Infect: Take the bottom card from the Infection Draw Pile and add 3 cubes to the city pictured on the card, then place the card into the Infection Discard Pile. Note: No city can contain more than 3 cubes of any one colour. If the Epidemic would cause the city to exceed that limit, any excess cubes are returned to the stock and an outbreak is triggered. See rules for Outbreaks on page 7.

Note that this is only one outbreak:

  any excess cubes are returned to the stock and an outbreak is triggered

If Mumbai has 2 black cubes, and comes up during the Infect phase of the epidemic, Mumbai only outbreaks once, and ends up with 3 cubes. Of course, this outbreak might cause chain reactions as usual (which, as usual, cannot cause Mumbai to outbreak a second time during the chain reaction).

The best way to prevent this situation is to keep track of the cities that might outbreak (3 cube cities that aren't in the infection discard pile, or if the infection discard pile is getting large, all 3 cube cities), and reduce them to 1 cube cities. I think it's also important to deal with cities that have just had outbreaks - since if they pop again, there will be a large group of interconnected 2/3 cube cities, leading to the loss situation you describe.

Keep in mind that the particular draw of the setup, affects the difficulty a lot - in my opinion, much more than the number of epidemic cards in the deck. One way to deal with this is to choose the number of epidemic cards to play with after you've set up the initial infected cities.


Can explorers choose not to move? Can explorers choose not to move? So instead of rolling dice or playing an action can a survivor skip their own turn so they don't leave a room? One example would be to stay in the mystic elevator and then each turn use the mystic elevator to travel around the house.

Yes, you can choose not to move. The rules on movement state:

Moving
On your explorer’s turn, you can move up to number of spaces equal to your character’s
current Speed.

"Up to" includes 0 spaces.
Note that if you stay in the elevator for your entire turn, then the elevator will move again. From the FAQ:

Heroes must roll for their destination floor each time they enter the elevator, or at the end of each entire movement phase that they spend in the elevator without moving.


Is Athelas guarded by Forest Grove A Journey to Rhosgobel actually has an interesting scenario where you can add Athelas to the staging area. Is it guarded when added by Forest Grove?

No, it is not guarded when added by Forest Grove.

According to the FAQs, on guarded:

  Surge, Doomed, and Guarded keywords should be resolved any time the card on which they occur is revealed from the encounter deck, including during setup.

The word revealed here is not mentioned in the actual rule book and is the cause for confusion. If we assume that Guarded is only triggered when a card is revealed then Athelas enters the staging area unguarded when added by Forest Grove.


How many allowed scrabble words are there in different languages I just read about Nigel Richards winning the french scrabble championship after learning 370,000 french words by heart. There was also mentioned that the Islandic scrabble society invited him to the local championship, saying that they had over 2 million allowed words. So I wondered how many allowed scrabble words there are in the different languages.

Obviously I don't expect any single answer to be exhaustive, there are a lot of languages out there. Maybe start with English (and there seem to be differences between UK/US) and then see for whatever other languages you can find the relevant information.

The answer will vary widely per language and will depend on how new words are created in a language.

In an agglutinative language, words are created by joining words together. For instance, a chair you use at a desk in the office, an office chair, is one word in German, "ein Bürostuhl" (literally a "deskchair").

As you can see, that way new words are created easily and on the fly. That is why Icelandic has such a large dictionary, which is not even exhaustive — it can't be.

So the answer to your question will be it depends. Perhaps you should restrict your question to a specific language, as not all languages are as liberal in word formation.

Dutch: 652,000 words

The Dutch Scrabble association, the  Scrabble Bond Nederland (SBNL) uses the Scrabble Word List (SWL) for words up to 9 letters and publishes separate lists for 10, 11, and 12 letters.

The SWL contains over 242,000 words, the supplemental lists contain about 125,000 words, about 141,000 words, and about 144,000 words respectively, for a grand total of 652,000 words of length 2 to 12.

English: 279,000 words

The World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA) states in its rules

  Global word source
  The word source used in global Scrabble, known as Collins Scrabble Words or CSW (formerly Official Scrabble Words or OSW) is actually not a single dictionary, but an amalgam of three: Collins, Chambers and TWL, the current Northern American wordlist.

  TWL (Tournament Word List) is itself drawn from a range of sources, mostly different editions of Webster's. Americans and Canadians play by CSW rules in international tournaments and TWL in 'domestic' North American tournaments. But they are increasingly introducing CSW grades in various tournaments, and even some solely CSW tournaments. WESPA hopes this North American isolationism will end one day, for the good of global Scrabble.

Collins states on its website:

  Based on Collins English Dictionary, Collins Official Scrabble™ Words 2019 is the most comprehensive Scrabble™ word list ever, including World English from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, and USA brought together in a single list.

  With more than 279,000 permissible words, including inflected forms, this is a must for anyone playing Scrabble.

  (Emphasis mine)

French: 393,670 words

The French Scrabble association, La Fédération Internationale de Scrabble Francophone (FISF), uses L'Officiel du Scrabble which is currently in its seventh version, containing 393,670 words from 2 to 15 letters.

German: 180,000

The German Wikipedia article on Scrabble quotes a source about "120,000 words".
Scrabble Deutschland e.V. states the official list contains 179,998 words of 2 to 9 letters.

I'll add more sources and languages as I find them.


What general strategy exists for countering a white swarm/pump deck? A white swarm/pump deck is a deck with a lot of small, inexpensive white creatures that are subsequently improved by enchantments such as Honor of the Pure or other bonuses.

The goal of this deck is to kill off the opponent before they can develop their strategy.

What deck types are effective in countering this sort of deck?

"Kill off the opponent before they can develop their strategy" is the standard gameplan of aggro decks. The question "How to prevent being overrun in the early game?" addressed some general aspects of dealing with aggro decks.

One way to deal with aggro is to play like a control deck: force your opponent onto your timetable by dedicating your early plays to negating his, while the natural momentum of playing land every turn moves the game closer towards your big endgame strategy. This article explores this idea in detail.

Among creature-based aggro decks, the "classic" white weenie deck is notable for several qualities:

Poor reach: What white distinctly lacks is the ability to get damage in despite a board stall. At best, you've got flyers, which still compare unfavorably to red's direct burn.
Good creatures: White's low-curve creatures, like Champion of the Parish and Blade Splicer, tend to have excellent stats and combat-enhancing abilities.
Strong answers: White has some of the easiest access to multifaceted removal, with cards like Path to Exile, Disenchant, and Oblivion Ring. In most formats, white also has at least some powerful hosers, like Grand Abolisher and Leonin Arbiter.

The lack of reach means that creature damage is pretty much this deck's only way to win (whereas against red decks you also have to worry about cards like Shrine of Burning Rage even after you've set up adequate creature defense). Therefore, your main goal is to deny your opponent the ability to attack profitably.

The typical tools used by control to combat creature-based aggro are:

Sweepers like Supreme Verdict are one of your most effective tools. These are really strong because you can set back several turns of your opponent's development with one spell, but often you need support from other cards to avoid getting hammered long enough to use them. In the early game, 2-for-1 spells like Arc Trail are like cheaper sweepers. Since this is traditionally creature aggro's biggest weakness, you can expect a well-built deck to have some way to reduce the impact — for example, like Doomed Traveler, Boros Charm, and Moorland Haunt.
Spot removal and counterspells are the classic answers to individual threats. 1-for-1 removal isn't great against big gangs of cheap guys, but, in this case, its value generally increases with the number of anthem effects your opponent plays (since their decks are running fewer net creatures). One advantage of counterspells over removal is that you get to stop nasty ETB abilities (e.g. Blade Splicer, Stoneforge Mystic) and you can handle spells that create multiple creatures (e.g. Midnight Haunting) more easily; generally players don't run a lot of counterspells against aggro decks because removal is more efficient and doesn't constraint your timing nearly as much, though.
Blockers are handy for reducing incoming damage. Ideally you'd like to be able to kill some of their creatures every time they attack, but sometimes just a few turns of chumping is sufficient (which is why Timely Reinforcements and Kitchen Finks are great cards).
Bounce and life gain essentially force your opponent to spend a turn making the same attack or summoning the same creature he used last turn. These aren't as effective as straight-up destruction but are often available more cheaply or in colors your deck can more easily use. Life gain is best when it's attached to something else, so that you're not just giving your opponent a free turn to develop a superior board position.

Which you should play generally depends on your deck, since you'll want to pick cards that are useful to you in many different situations. Sweepers work best when they don't constantly destroy your own guys, for instance, while even aggro decks make use of some spot removal to clear the way for their attackers or pick off particularly nasty utility creatures.

When playing against anthem effects like Honor of the Pure, generally it's more useful to kill creatures than to remove the anthem. The exception is when the pump-up is super-significant, either due to the size of the buff (e.g. Tempered Steel, True Conviction) or the volume of creatures receiving it (like Intangible Virtue in a deck that's routinely creating 3-4 tokens a turn; ideally you want to shut down the token maker, though). If your opponent is running Swords, those are usually worth directly removing as well.

...

There are times when this advice doesn't apply:

When your deck is faster than your opponent's. If that's the case, you can "race" instead of adopting a control posture. Do note that some white decks include several control-oriented cards like Timely Reinforcements and Day of Judgment in their sideboards, allowing them to play control against faster aggro opponents.
When you opponent isn't actually trying to swarm you with creatures. With access to a "deeper" card pool, like Legacy and Modern, a critical volume of powerful utility creatures allows mono-white to run in a rather untraditional aggro-control kind of style normally more common in blue decks (U/W, Bant, RUG). I'm assuming that's out of scope for this question, though.


Would Panharmonicon give my Myojins extra divinity counters? If I control a Panharmonicon and I play a Myojin of Seeing Winds (or any of the Myojins for that matter), would the Myojin enter the battlefield with two divinity counters instead of just one?

Panharmonicon will not double the divinity counters on any of the Myojins because the ability that adds a divinity counter is not a triggered ability. Myojin of the Seeing Winds' ability says

  Myojin of Seeing Winds enters the battlefield with a divinity counter on it if you cast it from your hand.

This is a static ability that creates a replacement effect of the type described in rule 614.1d that modifies how the creature enters the battlefield.


Pentad Prism interacting with Power Sink I'm playing with a five-color deck, and I cast a Pentad Prism  using Green and Red mana.

Opponent responds with Power Sink and, having noticed that I only have four untapped lands available, puts X equal to 5.

He doesn't know that I have in my hand Dark Ritual, which I immediately cast in response, using mana from an untapped Swamp.

However, I don't use all three black mana to cast the Prism (just two of them), but I use the other three untapped lands that I have instead, giving two White and one Blue mana.

Since I have used all five mana colors to cast the Prism, at this point, thanks to that card's sunburst ability, I should have 5 counters on it, one for each color. Is this correct?

Unfortunately not - Power Sink does not make the Pentad Prism more mana, it counters the spell unless you pay X. In the scenario above, you pay {r}{g} for the prism and {w}{u}{u}{b}{b} for the sink - so the prism enters with 2 counters.


Does spreading a bite effect at the colony affect helpless survivors? Does spreading the bite effect end at the colony if the last player survivor dies, or does it spread to helpless survivors?

Helpless survivors are not affected by the spreading of a bite effect.

Bite effects spread to the character with the lowest influence first. Helpless survivors do not have any stats (If they did, I would assume that they would have the lowest influence out of all the survivors).

The exact wording in the rules (page 11) is as follows:

  Roll the exposure die again. On a blank result, the survivor that the
  bite effect spread to is not killed and the bite effect stops
  spreading. On any other result, the survivor that the bite effect
  spread to is killed and the bite effect spreads again. The bite effect
  will continue to spread until a player either chooses option 1, rolls
  a blank result after choosing option 2, or there are no more survivors
  at the location.


Making 2-player Starcraft more enjoyable In theory and according to the rules book, Starcraft can be played by 2-6 players. From my own experience and what I heard from others, it does not work at all for 2 players. The random factor gets really high and the game--which takes quite some time to set up--is over within a few moves if one party attacks early on. It is not fun that way.

I have heard from others that it starts getting interesting with 4 or more players. Unfortunately we don't have that many players available, so I am looking for ways to make the game more enjoyable for 2 players. Can anyone provide such house rules or strategies?

The Brood War expansion includes a number of scenarios, one of which is explicitly designed for two players.  The gameplay in a scenario is pretty much the same as the core game, except with predetermined galaxy layout and often some form of "capture the objective"-style mechanic added (the two-player scenario, for example, prevents either side from moving onto the Terran's home planet unless they have control of a "bridge" zone first).  I don't have the rulebook handy for reference so I don't know if the two-player scenario is entirely playable with only base-set pieces.

Fantasy Flight Games offers this scenario for free download, which is for four players (two teams of two players); there's no reason it can't be played with two players each playing both factions of a team.  It does however require pieces from the expansion.


Can infinite scry 1 be shortcut by searching through your deck? One of my standard decks is a 4-Color Rites deck.  It has a few combos where infinite "dies" triggers are used.  One of them involves having a Catacomb Sifter in play with a Brood Monitor and an Eldrazi Displacer.

The combo involves sacrificing the 3 scions created by the Brood Monitor, which creates 3 "scry 1" triggers from the Catacomb Sifter and adds 3 colorless mana to your pool.  The mana just created then is used to activate the Eldrazi Displacer's ability to flicker the Brood Monitor.  The Brood Monitor then enters the battlefield and it's triggered ability causes it to create 3 new Eldrazi Scions.  This can be repeated infinitely, creating an infinite number of scry 1 triggers.

At regular REL events like FNM, I describe this to my opponents and ask if I can just cut to the card I'm looking for as long as I keep my deck in order.  At competitive REL events would this be an appropriate shortcut to propose?

Another question: if the infinite triggers were scry 2 or more, then could you stack your deck as well? Are you allowed to just grab your deck and cut/stack it as a shortcut or is that not an appropriate shortcut for all RELs?

An Official Ruling (requires a Judge Apps account to view) by high-level tournament judges explicitly says that you can take those shortcuts:

  A player with the ability to scry 1 ‘infinitely’ may shortcut this action by examining the library without reordering it and cutting it to a specific location. A player with the ability to scry 2 or more infinitely may shortcut this action by rearranging her library in any way she likes, but she must do so quickly. Players are not required to know the mathematics or technical steps behind this.

Technically, by the definition in the Comprehensive Rules, each of those situations would actually involve two shortcuts. The rule that's relevant here is 716.2a:

  At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. This sequence may be a non-repetitive series of choices, a loop that repeats a specified number of times, multiple loops, or nested loops, and may even cross multiple turns. It can’t include conditional actions, where the outcome of a game event determines the next action a player takes. The ending point of this sequence must be a place where a player has priority, though it need not be the player proposing the shortcut.

The highlighted part is what makes this tricky. Technically, you can't say "I scry until I see a particular card", but we can work around that.

Scry 1

In the case where you can only Scry 1 a number of times, and you want to search your deck for a particular card and cut to have that card on top, you would use two shortcuts to technically make this work:

Scry 1 N times, where N is the number of cards in your library, and choose to put the card on the bottom each time. This is functionally equivalent to looking at your entire library without changing its order.
Choose a card with K cards on top of it, then Scry K and choose to put the card on bottom each time. This is equivalent to cutting the deck just above the card you are looking for.

Scry 2+

This case is a little more complicated. When you want to stack your deck, you're not just scrying a certain number of cards to the bottom; you're taking a large number of steps of reordering two cards at a time to eventually end up at the desired order. But it still can be done according to the rules using these shortcuts:

Scry 2 N/2 times (rounded up), where N is the number of cards in your library (or enough to see your whole library), and choose to put the cards on the bottom each time. As in the first case, you have to know the current order of your library to deterministically make the next shortcut.
Technically, to be fully compliant with the rules, here you would lay out exactly the sequence of scrys you would do to get the order you want (like "Put the top card on bottom, then put the second from top card on bottom, then put the top card on bottom, etc."). Unfortunately, working out that sequence and reciting it would probably take as long as just doing it manually, which would probably count as slow play. However, it's likely that your opponent would accept "Now that I know the order of my library, I could give a sequence of scrys to arbitrarily reorder my deck, so I would like to skip that and just stack my deck".


What happens when you create a gap on your board in Wingspan? With the base game, whenever you play a bird, it's final. However, with the expansions, there's options to create empty spaces on your board. What happens when you do this?
Imagine this scenario:

play a regular bird
play one of the "play this bird sideways so it covers to fields" birds
play another regular bird
play a bird that can be played on top of an existing bird, on top of the sideways bird

Now what happens?

Do I get to pick which of the two fields the new bird goes in? Or must it be the left one?
Do the birds to the right of it move inwards after playing it?

If they don't move in:

can I play a new bird in the hole? (Or must I, even, when playing a bird on that row?)
What happens when I take that action? Do I skip the hole? Do I start from the hole and skip the birds to the right? Do I resolve the action shown in the hole? (That last one seems too powerful, but you never know?)
If I use a bird that moves when activated, does it go into the slot and become trapped, or does it go to the right-most opening?

there's options to create empty spaces on your board.

No. From the FAQ:

How do I play a bird on top of a sideways bird?
Some birds like the European Roller allow you to place the card sideways on your player mat, filling two spots. If you then play a bird like the Common Buzzard on top of a sideways bird, the Common Buzzard would also be placed sideways, completely covering the sideways bird.


King of Tokyo (2016 version): Battery Monster and Friend of Children In the 2nd edition of King of Tokyo (2016 version), the Battery Monster Power Card states:

  (Keep) When you buy Battery Monster, put 6 [energy symbol] on it from the bank. At the start of each turn take 2 [energy symbol] off and add them to your pool. When there are no [energy symbol] left discard this card.

The Friend of Children Power Card states:

  (Keep) When you gain any [energy symbol] gain 1 extra [energy symbol].

If you have Friend of Children and buy Battery Monster, does this then mean that you get 3 energy cubes each turn for the next three turns? I am unsure about this because Battery Monster does not explicitly say "gain energy". On the other hand, other Power cards like

  We're only making it stronger (Keep): When you lose 2 [heart symbol] or more gain 1 [energy symbol].

and

  Metamorph (Keep): At the end of your turn you can discard any KEEP cards you have to gain their full cost in [energy symbol].

do explicitly say "gain" so I would expect that these two cards synergize with Friend of Children?

No you don't because the card does not say to gain the energy but to transfer it from the card to your pool so you are not gaining but moving so it is available.

Battery Monster:

  (Keep) When you buy Battery Monster, put 6 [energy symbol] on it from the bank. At the start of each turn take 2 [energy symbol] off and add them to your pool. When there are no [energy symbol] left discard this card.

The Friend of Children Power Card states:

  (Keep) When you gain any [energy symbol] gain 1 extra [energy symbol].


Ikora mutate game objects If I mutate and place the mutate creature on top of a card that was tracking state will this be a new game object and forget whatever state it was tracking. For example, if I mutate and place the mutate on top of Circu Dimir Lobotomist will the card still remember what Circu removed from game or will this function like I flickered the card?

Also if the previous example is a new game object does top or bottom affect whether it's a new game object?

Sorry Circu is a bad example because he's human but the effect that I was looking for was on the card.

The resulting creature is the same game object that you already had on the battlefield before; all it does is change characteristics. Similar to if someone cast a Turn to Frog on it.

This is the case whether you put the original creature card on top or on bottom of the new mutate card.

From the Ikoria mechanics article:

  It simply makes the creature that was already on the battlefield change characteristics. If that original creature was tapped, the new merged creature is tapped. If it had any counters on it, or Auras or Equipment attached to it, it still does.

Also in the overview video, it says

  It’s still the same creature it was; it just changed characteristics.


Can creatures abilities target that creature itself? Can Spikeshot Goblin have itself as a target with its ability: "Tap: Spikeshot Goblin deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player"?

Yes or No?

I'm unsure as I read some things like "Rule 114.5. A spell or ability on the stack is an illegal target for itself." But I don't know if that Goblin's ability is on the stack or if it is an ability meant by that rule. Also for me an ability is another thing as a creature - so "itself" would mean the ability is targeting the ability, not "the ability is targeting the Goblin which has that ability".

That's why I ask for a simple answer as Yes or No to the Spikeshot Goblin example above.

Can Spikeshot Goblin have itself as a target with its ability: "Tap: Spikeshot Goblin deals damage equal to its power to target creature or player"?

Yes. Spikeshot Goblin is a creature, and unless it somehow gains protection from red, shroud, etc. it's a valid target for its own ability.

  114.5. A spell or ability on the stack is an illegal target for itself.

This only means the ability can't target itself, i.e. the ability itself. This is only relevant in rare cases; one example (for spells) would be that you can't change the target of a Counterspell on the stack to itself. (If you want to counter a Counterspell with e.g. Misdirection, you have to retarget Counterspell to Misdirection; when Counterspell tries to resolve, it will then fizzle because the Misdirection is no longer a valid target, and the original target of Counterspell will not be countered.)


Zombicide Black Plague Intro game board blocked? My friends and I were playing the tutorial mission. We hit a wall (literally) when we were trying to move and couldn't find on the map where the entrance to the "2nd half" of the map was. It looks like that all of the walls are sealed off.

I'm sure that we are missing something super simple, what is it?

As shown in the example diagrams on page 36 of the rulebook, multiple Vault doors of the same colour will both link to the vault of that colour.

Thus you would use the vault door on the left side of the map, enter the vault, then leave by the vault door on the right side of the map, allowing you access to the final area.


Can I use Act of Aggression to steal their attacking creature and block with it? My opponent declares two creatures as attackers. I want to play Act of Aggression to gain control of one of their creatures and so I can have it block their other creature. Is this possible? Is so, during what step do I need to play my Act of Aggression? If I played it during my declare blockers step, would the creature that I now controlled still be attacking me?

Yes, that's fine.  You would play the spell during the declare attackers step, after attackers are declared, but before proceeding to the declare blockers step.  Then you are free to declare it as a blocker.  If you wait for your declare blockers step, it's too late to block with the creature.

The ordering is:

Declare Attackers Starts:
Turn Based Action - Attackers are declared
Players get Priority <- Cast Spell Now!
Declare Blockers Starts:
Turn Based Action - Blockers are declared
Players get Priority <- Too late
to use as blocker if cast now!

Any time a creature changes controllers, it is automatically removed from combat, so it will no longer be considered attacking you (or attacking/blocking at all if it previously was).


how does Argothian Enchantress interact with Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant? If Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant successfully transforms would Argothian Enchantress's ability kick into effect during that transformation?

Was a spell cast? No, self-evidently. Then "Whenever you cast an [x] spell" triggers won't trigger.
Did a new permanent enter the battlefield? No: an existing permanent changed its characteristics. So "Whenever an [x] enters the battlefield" triggers won't trigger, either.


Tools to test surface control mechanics by computer I'm currently working on designing a board game involving capturing and controlling points on a surface and was wondering if there are ways to test my rules in an application. I've been playing many rounds and it seems to do what I want it to do but I'd like to put 2 computers at it against each other and see if one manages to win.

There seems to be such tools for deck building games as outlined here:
What is a quick way to test or simulate card strategies for deck building games?

So my guess is maybe there are other similar tools for testing surface control, like something that could be populated with the rules of chess or checkers for example. Does this exist?

I doubt this exists. The best board game implementation tools you can get currently are tabletop simulator and tabletopia and both shy far away from implementing the actual rules.

I'm currently designing a board game myself and am in multiple communities regarding board game design and no one has ever brought anything like that up. I've seen a lot of tools being mentioned, from the directly usefull like card generators or the aforementioned TTS/tabletopia to more meta things like anydice, but I've never seen someone mention a board game AI simulation tool.

The closest thing you might get is VASSAL which is a free open source game engine, but that has ZERO AI support as of now (but being open source, that could be changed by you).


7+ Players in Carcassonne - Problematic? I currently have the Carcassonne base set plus Inns & Cathedrals which expands the game to 6 players. I've found that I can buy extra sets of Meeples in different colors which would effectively add additional players. Are there any potential downsides to doing this? Should I also get additional expansions to maintain some sort of "tiles per player" ratio?

You might want to consider getting another expansion or two -- with the base set plus Inns & Cathedrals, you'll have 90 tiles (72 core + 18 expansion) to play with.  Assuming seven players, you'll have 12-13 tiles per person to play with.

Traders & Builders will give you an extra 24 tiles to play with, including some really funky shapes for finishing those hard-to-finish cities.

If you want to keep the game shorter, you can just use the two sets listed.


Spy Kit + Oddly Uneven: How can I determine what should occur? Suppose a creature is equipped with Spy Kit, and Oddly Uneven gets cast. Then in order to figure out whether the creature is destroyed, I need to determine whether the total number of words in all names of non legendary creatures is even or odd.

What is the best way (i.e., simplest database query) to accomplish this?

(This originally came up on Mark Rosewater's tumblr.)

Having "all the names" does not mean the creature has one mega-name; it means it has multiple distinct names.

Does it have a name with an odd number of words in it? Yes.

Does it have a name with even number of words in it? Yes.

Therefore, it will be destroyed no matter which mode is chosen.


Double Spawn in the last zone If I draw a Double Spawn card in the last zone in a spawning spree, I must use that for the first zone. But since I already spawned one card there, should I spawn one more or two more cards? Example: I have 3 spawn points. Spawn first, one walker, second, 1 fatty, third, double zombies. Now should I draw one or two cards for the first zone?

If the Double Spawn card is drawn for the last Spawn Zone
  or building Zone, use it for an extra double Spawn on the first
  Spawn Zone or first building Zone (even if you previously
  spawned Zombies in it!).

"Extra" means "added to an existing or usual amount or number", so two more cards.


Canasta- using the top card of a non frozen pile to a canasta meld OK- so I understand when the pile if NOT frozen you can take the discard pile if you can use the top to make a meld from your hand OR take the top card and add it to a meld on the table. The question is- can you take the top card and also add it to a canasta (meld) that you previously made that also is the table?

Yes, a Canasta is not diffferent than any normal meld when it comes out adding more cards to it. You can add another card to your Canasta whether that extra card comes from your hand, or if it is the top of the discard pile.

From Bicycle cards:

  A completed canasta is squared up with a red card on top to indicate a natural one and a black card on top to indicate a mixed canasta. Additional cards may be added to a canasta to score their point values, but these do not affect the bonus - except that a wild card added to a natural canasta reduces it to a mixed canasta (and a black card replaces the red card that was previously on top).


What are effective strategies for passing cards in Hearts? In Hearts, before three out of every four hands you get to pass three cards to another player. Some people seem to always pass the Queen of Spades while others like to keep her under certain conditions. Some people like to drain themselves of a suit, while others seem to like ditching hearts as a top priority.

What strategies/considerations do you evaluate when deciding what to pass, and why? Does your decision depend on if you're passing left, right, or across?

As with most strategy games, I don't think there's an optimal way to answer this.  I tend to focus on what cards I want to keep.  I'll address a non-Shoot-The-Moon hand because that's the majority of hands I play.

I like the Ace of Clubs.  Having the early lead puts you in control.
I prefer to void Clubs or Diamonds as soon as possible.
I won't ever pass 2 through Jack of Spades to void the suit.  That leaves you open to get passed a single high spade that might stick you with the Queen.
I'll hold the Queen of Spades if it's protected by several other spades and I can easily void another suit.  Otherwise, I say pass it so you reduce the risk of being stuck with it.  Again, it's about being in control.
I like holding A-2 of Diamonds.  I'll pass middle Diamonds to set that up.  You can usually win an early trick (before Hearts are broken) with the Ace, then lead the 2 (or similar low card) to void the suit.
I don't mind holding a high Heart or two.  At worst it's 4-8 points, and you have a play to stop a Shoot-the-Moon by someone else.

I've never really considered where I'm passing cards.  I probably should, but I'm not serious enough of a player to learn why it might matter.  My main goal is flexibility.  Unless I'm holding 2-5 of each suit, I'd rather not have to play follow-the-leader.


Without breaking the game, how can I fix Memoir 44's problem with having no cards to order units in a certain section? I find Memoir 44 very interesting and exciting, but it seems everyone I introduce it to has the same gripe. They (and I) don't like having a unit getting pummeled by the opposing force without being able to fight back. It doesn't fit in with the game's realistic/historical feel, and/or it weakens the game's element of strategy.

I'm not sure how to fix this issue with a rule modification without undermining some of the basic elements of the game like the luck of the draw.

It sure is frustrating when this happens to one or more sections of an army, I agree. I wonder though, if it would actually decrease historical realism if it was somehow removed or mitigated.  The lack of order cards in a certain section could be analogous to:

The commander losing radio contact with his troops.  He is then unable to tell them when or where to fight back.
A unit experiencing mechanical difficulties and is unable to move or return fire.
A unit having run out of ammunition.


How does an Oblivion Ring interact with a Commander in EDH? When a commander is exiled, it can go to the command zone if the owner chooses. What if a commander is exiled by an Oblivion Ring?

I am assuming the commander can still go to the command zone. If it does, then what happens when Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield? Does your commander return to the battlefield? Is the additional cost of casting your commander affected in any way?

The Commander can still go to the command zone, or exile, its' owner's choice.

  903.12. If a commander would be put into the exile zone from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead.

When Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield, it triggers an ability that attempts to "return the exiled card to the battlefield under its owner's control." When it can't find the card in the exile zone, it fails to do anything.

You do not get your Commander back on the battlefield (as he is currently in the Command Zone).
The +2 additional mana cost can never loose/subtract/lower in cost, it always increases for each previous time you have cast your Commander from the Command Zone.

  903.10. A player may cast a commander he or she owns from the command zone. Doing so costs that player an additional {2} for each previous time he or she cast that commander from the command zone that game.


Does a countered Mimeoplasm still exile creatures? If I use Counterspell on a The Mimeoplasm that's being cast, are the 2 creatures that have to be removed still removed? Or is this a ETB effect? I ask because of the fuzzy wording on The Mimeoplasm that says as he comes into play first...

The wording clearly says

  As The Mimeoplasm enters the battlefield, you may exile two creature cards from graveyards. If you do, it enters the battlefield as a copy of one of those cards with a number of additional +1/+1 counters on it equal to the power of the other card.

(emphasis mine)

So if it's countered, it will not enter the battlefield, the replacement effect won't happen and the creature cards won't be exiled from their graveyards.


Looking at your the last card played Is it legal for declarer to look at his/her last card played after the cards from that round are all face down?

Yes, as noted in Law 66 B of The Rules of Duplicate Bridge, with a certain restriction:

B. Own Last Card
Until a card is led to the next trick, declarer or either
defender may inspect, but not expose, his own last
card played.

As the collection of tricks is mechanically different under the Laws of Rubber Bridge Law 66 - Inspection of Tricks is similarly a bit different:

Law 66 – Inspection of Tricks
Declarer or either defender may, until a member of
his side has led or played to the following trick, inspect
a trick and inquire what card each player has played to
it. Thereafter, until play ceases, quitted tricks may be inspected
only to account for a missing or surplus card. ....


How does the elf level 2 magic ability work in Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms? When elves reach the 2nd level of their magic book, they gain this ability:

  If you pay for war only using [mana], -1 war cost.

However, mana always counts as 2 for war:

  Win or lose, both players must pay their war cost. To pay your war cost, subtract any war cost abilities and then pay the remaining value with resources at the rate noted on the resource track: Mana is worth 2,...

I have 2 questions:

In multiplayer games, does this mean I have to choose an odd number war value to take advantage of this ability? I.e. odd -1 is even, then I can pay purely in mana
In solo play, the war cost is set to either the number of armies that the dummy player has, or this number times 2 (depending whether it is day or night). Does this mean the ability is only valid for odd numbered war values?

A similar post for the 1st edition rules is on boardgamegeek. The designer says:

  Actually, it's not ... The "+1 War Power" is a resource discount (you can bid 7 but only pay 6). This is much clearer in 2nd edition.

This implies that you can dial an odd number and pay the even number cost.

For the solo play, this only useful if the war cost is odd.


Will any route (built without a destination ticket) be counted as points? Will any routes, built without a destination ticket, be counted as points?

In other words, can you get any points if your built any segments without the appropriate destination ticket?
Can you build them anywhere?

You score points for EVERY route you claim, based on its length (length 1 is 1 point; length 2 is 2, 3 is 4, 4 is 7, etc), at the time that you claim it. Destination cards are awarded (or penalized) at the end of the game.


Can you play fuel cards without moving Is it possible to play a fuel card without moving?

Fuel card: "WASTE PILE: Play this card when moving a survivor you control..."

Rule book: "Play a card: as many times as he likes during his turn, a player may play a card from his hand. To play a card, place it on top of the waste pile."

Thanks!

I see no mention of any exception, and the wording doesn't specify the option such as by saying "you may move a survivor etc", so it sounds like the answer to your question is no, you may not opt to play it without moving.


Casting a creature and hexproofing If I play Krenko, Mob Boss and retain priority and cast Swiftfoot Boots on Krenko Mob Boss and at the same time my opponent casts Unsummon on Krenko Mob Boss, will my creature be safe or will he be removed from the battlefield?

If I play Krenko Mob Boss and retain priority [...]

First, let's clear up this confusion. If you cast Krenko and retain priority, then Krenko has not resolved. You need to wait until after Krenko resolves, at which point you will have priority because you are the active player.
Now, after Krenko resolves, you decide to equip Swiftfoot Boots to Krenko. Equip is an activated ability. That means it will not resolve until all players pass in succession.

702.6a Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. “Equip [cost]” means “[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.”
608.1. Each time all players pass in succession, the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves. [...]

Your opponent may choose not to pass, and cast Unsummon instead. If they do that, then Krenko will be returned to your hand. Then, the equip ability will attempt to resolve, but will fail because Krenko is gone. Here's a little diagram to illustrate the process:

activate ability -> stuff happens -> ability resolves if target is still legal


Will Eidolon of Rhetoric also prevent Cipher from working in the same turn as another spell? Say Eidolon of Rhetoric is on the battlefield and an opponent has a Cipher card (Hidden Strings for example) encoded on one of their creatures. If that player casts a spell and then deals damage with that creature in the same turn, would they be able to cast Hidden strings? Would it work because the Ciphered card turns additional casts into an ability or would it not work because the cipher ability says "cast"?

They cannot cast the ciphered spell because they've already cast a spell. Rule 101.2 says

  When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.

The cipher ability allows the player to cast a spell, and Eidolon of Rhetoric says that they can't cast any spells after their first each turn. So, Eidolon prevents them from casting the spell.

From the Cipher rules, as long as the card is encoded on a creature, that creature has an ability that says

  Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may copy this card and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.

So, when the creature deals damage to a player, the player can make a copy of the spell, and then they can cast the spell just like they would cast any other spell except that when they pay the cost, they don't have to pay the mana cost. This spell is affected by Eidolon of Rhetoric, just like any other spell


Physical representation of static effects As has been discussed many times, a +1/+1 counter is a physical object placed on a card, and is totally distinct from a +1/+1 static effect buff from something like Glorious Anthem. Is there any accepted method for marking static effects in order to make the board more "readable"? I typically play casual kitchen table games, but I'm also curious about more serious settings.

For example, with a Glorious Anthem on the board, I'll usually put a coin on each creature I control to represent the +1/+1 effect. If I cast a Nightmare (power and toughness equal to the number of swamps you control) with 5 swamps on the board, I'll stack 5 coins on the card and add more as I play more swamps. In games that also have potential for true +1/+1 counters, I'm very careful to keep separate the true counters from the static effect markers by stacking them in different corners of the card.

Is there a better way I should be doing this? I find the marking of the static effects handy so I don't have to re-count all my swamps or triple check all my P/T values when attacking, blocking or anything else. On a scale of "never do this" to "useful among friends but not acceptable in tournament play" to "that's legit", where does this practice fall, and what are some other options?

If you do need something physical, the important thing is that it be totally distinct from counters.
My general suggestion would be a different type of marker, not placed on your creatures. This is especially true for anthems: they're pumping everything, so you only really want one indicator. For Nightmare, you could use a die next to the card, perhaps at the bottom since that's where power/toughness usually are. It'd best if you used something totally different from what you use for counters, e.g. a larger black die for Nightmare and smaller colored dice for counters. (You do see something like this in competitive games sometimes: a die for prowess triggers, or for Tarmogoyf power, but it's pretty much always off to the side for clarity.)
But the problem with all these things is that you can get out of sync. If you play a swamp and forget to update your Nightmare, instead of helping you, that physical reminder is now misleading you. I suspect you'll end up periodically counting anyway just to be sure. In contrast, physical markers are great for counters because you naturally make them correct: something adds a counter, so you do. You don't have to manually tie two things together.
And yes, I'd say that using coins on creatures for this is just asking for trouble, and I just wouldn't do it regardless of how casual the game is: it's not about formality, it's about not messing up. You have to take so much care to avoid mistakes, and if you do make them and end up adding counters instead of anthem-markers, there's not really a good way to sort out afterwards.

As far as legality in tournaments, this can be an issue, but the Tournament Rules are naturally not specific; judges have some discretion. The underlying principle is that players are responsible for "maintaining a clear and legal game state." There's a bit about applying this to game markers:

3.8 Game Markers
Small items (e.g. glass beads) may be used as markers and placed on top of a player’s own library or graveyard as a reminder for in-game effects. These markers may not disguise the number of cards remaining in that zone nor completely obscure any card.
Players using markers to represent in-game components (e.g. permanents) must have a way of clearly representing any in-game status, such as whether a permanent is tapped. Sleeves or card backs that appear similar to any player’s sleeves or card backs may not be used as markers. A tournament official may disallow the use of game markers that can cause confusion or that are deemed inappropriate or offensive.

(emphasis mine)
So, in the end it's up to the judges. If your physical representation of static effects is confusing your opponent, and they call a judge, the judge can ask you to stop using those markers. And if you make any sort of mistake due to confusion from those markers, you can face consequences just as you could for any mistake; you're always responsible for maintaining game state.


Meaning of "it's still a land" When a land turns into a creature, but the effect that did that says "it's still a land", does that mean it can still produce its original mana? Or does it only have the Land type as an additional type?

When a land becomes a creature (or any other permanent type) but is still a land, it retains all subtypes associated with being a land it may have had previously, such as "Mountain" or "Plains". If the rider that says "It is still a land" were not there, it would lose those types. The main reason this is significant is that each of the land types comes with the ability to tap for the appropriate colour of mana, so if you lose the subtype "Mountain", for example, you can no longer tap for red mana.

Example 1: Suppose you turn a basic mountain into a plant creature, and it is still a land, as in your original question. Its type-line now reads: Basic Land Creature - Mountain Plant. It can still tap for red mana, because it is still a mountain.

Example 2: Suppose you turn the basic mountain into a plant creature, but this time it is not still a land (I'm not sure if there are any cards that work like this, but it is possible). The type-line now reads: Creature - Plant. It has no activated abilities, as tapping to add red mana is something associated with being a mountain, and this creature is no longer a mountain.

Example 3: Suppose you turn a nonbasic land with the ability "T: Add C to your mana pool" (that is, you can tap it for colourless mana) into a plant creature, but this time, it is not still a land. You end up with the type-line: Creature - Plant, but it still has the tap ability to add colourless mana.