Does Abandoned Sarcophagus exile Rebuild if I cast it? I have recently built a cycling commander deck and have a question about an interaction between Abandoned Sarcophagus and Rebuild. If I have Abandoned Sarcophagus on the battlefield and cast Rebuild, is Rebuild exiled from Abandoned Sarcophagus's ability or does Abandoned Sarcophagus's ability not apply because the Abandoned Sarcophagus has been returned to my hand?

Rebuild will go to the graveyard, not exile, because the Abandoned Sarcophagus has already been returned to your hand.
The most important thing to note here is that Abandoned Sarcophagus's second ability is a replacement effect. You can tell because it uses the word "instead" [CR 614.1a]. This means that it applies at the time that the event it replaces occurs. In this case, that event is Rebuild going to the graveyard. By the time Rebuild finishes resolving and goes to the graveyard, it has already returned Abandoned Sarcophagus to your hand, so that replacement effect no longer exists and it no longer moves the Rebuild to exile.


Why is Bazaar of Baghdad supposedly such a good card? I've been looking at the card Bazaar of Baghdad:

  (Land) Tap: Draw two cards, then discard three cards.

Almost everywhere I've seen has it as over 200$, and most of the Arabian Nights set is much cheaper than that, so I assume its ability is extremely powerful. However, I can't really figure out why. It gives you a net loss of 1 card no matter what, and I suppose its ability could be compared to having the ability to mulligan later in the game but have a wider choice of cards to pick as your new hand. It would help you find a specific card in your deck if you're running a strategy based on that card (and I notice its most popular in vintage, where this is more prominent) I could see it being a decent card, I can't see where it might otherwise be valuable.

Is Bazaar of Baghdad an extremely good card? What decks would it work best in? How would I know when to use its ability in a game?

While all of these answers get at some measure of Bazaar's popularity, I should note (as Ian does somewhat in passing) that virtually all of Bazaar's value at this point comes from it being the key card in the Vintage Dredge deck; Madness and Flashback are both effectively moot, but in Vintage Dredge is an immensely powerful strategy.  Note that in the Dredge decks, Bazaar is all upside; drawing 2 cards means you have two opportunities to dredge, and the discard 3 puts cards in your graveyard where you want them - Dredge would rather not have cards in its hand!  See, for instance, the first decklist at http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/vintage/22161_New_Phyrexia_In_Vintage_Dredge.html - this is a pretty good example of Bazaar at its most powerful.


Animated Urborg and Humility We all know that a really messed up rules situation must involve a Humility. So here we go.

This site discusses the scenario when an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth becomes animated (e.g. via Nissa, Worldwaker), while a Humility is on the board.

The author of the mentioned article comes to the conclusion that all lands are now swamps, yet Urborg itself cannot be tapped for mana, since it has lost all its abilities to Humility.

What I don't understand is: Urborg looses its rules text saying that each land is now also a Swamp. So why do the lands continue to be Swamps? Would they loose their Swamp type if Urborg left play?

The lands continue to be Swamps because of the layer system. The layer system, described in section 613 of the comprehensive rules, is one of the most complex parts of the rules to understand and remember correctly. But basically, what it says is that when multiple continuous effects are being applied, (Such as Urborg's effect and Humility's effect), there is an order in which the different types of effects are applied.

Urborg's effect, as a Type-Changing Effect, is applied in layer 4. After it has been applied, (and all lands are now swamps in addition to their other types), layer 6 is applied, which is Ability Adding or Removing Effects, including the effect from Humility that removes the ability from animated Urborg.

Every time the game-state changes, these layers are re-applied to get the new current state of things. But whenever they are re-applied, Urborg's effect is applied before Humility's effect.

And yes, if Urborg left play, then the layers would be re-applied, and now there is nothing to change the lands into Swamps, so they would lose their Swamp type.

There is a good explanation of the layer system here.

I think an important key to understanding this is realizing that it's not so much that the other lands "lose their Swamp type" when Urborg leaves play (or when Urborg loses it's ability). Rather, it's that whenever the game-state changes, everything is re-evaluated, starting from what's printed on the card and adding the layers one at a time. So as opposed to the lands "losing" the Swamp type, they simply no longer have it added again.


Bridge convention after opponent opens 1NT -- specific question about D.O.N.T My partner and I have recently moved from T.O.N.T. to D.O.N.T., and are wondering if some of the latter's bids are useful even if there is interference. For example, if LHO opens the bidding with 1NT, your partner passes and RHO responds 2 clubs, do you still use 2 diamonds to show a distributional hand with at least 4 or 5 diamond pieces + 4 or 5 of a major?

That is something that you must agree with your partner. By default D.O.N.T is off in this situation, but you can agree that it is on. If you use this, it must be alerted. You must also consider how to show hands where the normal bid is impossible. Suppose, for example, your hand is clubs and spades, but the opponent bids diamonds. Obviously 2C is insufficient.


Pokemon Evolution across types Are you allowed to evolve a pokemon to a different type?  For example, I have a leaf Burmy.  I have a leaf Wormadam and a metal Wordamam.  Can I evolve my leaf Burmy to a metal Wordamam?

Yes, you can evolve.   Pokemon evolution doesn't depend on the type of either the basic or evolved pokemon.   What matters is that the name of the Pokemon listed as "evolves from" on the Stage 1 match exactly the name of the Basic Pokemon.    So, for example, your leaf/metal Wormadam state on the card "Evolves from Burmy".   Either can evolve from "Burmy", but neither could evolve from "Team Magma's Burmy" .


Does how you discard a Madness card affect whether it resolve before its source? Take two possible sources of discard, Sinister Concoction and Macabre Waltz. One has a discard as part of the cost, one has a discard as part of the effect.

In the first case (discard as part of the cost), if you discard a madness card, will it resolve before the source ability?
In the second case (discard as part of the ability), will the madness card resolve after the source ability?

Yes to both questions.
Madness is a two-part keyword ability:

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 his or her 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, he or she puts this card into his or her graveyard.”

If you discard a Madness card as part of the costs of a spell or ability, the Madness trigger will be on top of the spell or ability that had the discard cost, because putting that spell or ability on the stack is always the very first step, before costs are paid:

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. [..]]
602.2. To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect.

If the discard happens as part of the effect of a spell or ability, it can obviously only happen after that spell or ability has resolved, not before. The Madness trigger goes on the stack immediately after resolution of that spell or ability.


Player with the Stinkiest Armpits I bought a used copy of Munchkin (bundled with several expansions) to play with my family while we are on summer vacation. While reading the instructions of the game to the other players, we noticed that someone scratched out this rule...

  Decide who goes first by rolling the dice and arguing about the
  results and the meaning of this sentence and whether the fact that a
  word seems to be missing any effect.

... and, scribbled above it in pencil, was...

  The player with the stinkiest armpits goes first!

My family (especially the kids) decided that they love this rule, but we have no idea how to objectively determine who has the smelliest armpits. How can we determine this in a fair, preferably objective, way?

The most truly objective method may be to conduct a scientifically rigorous poll. You will need a random sampling of people from the world, we'll limit it to native English speakers to ensure that translation doesn't become a concern. Each will need to be kidnapped to prevent self-selection bias, and deprived of both sight and sound so that other factors don't influence the decision. A researcher not playing, and unaware of the order in which the respondents will present their pits will need to explain the experiment, then leave the room. At this point, each armpit should be passed over the respondent's nose at a set speed and distance in a randomized order, after which the researcher should reenter and ask the respondent to rate the stench.
After a representative sample, probably several thousand people, you should be able to say with conviction whose armpits are the stinkiest.

If for some reason the illegality of the prior method concerns you, a less rigorous result could be obtained by passing armpits in front of a single blindfolded volunteer impartial judge, or by a consensus of blindfolded players.


What happens to the Capitol City during a Temporal Anomaly? In Conquest of Planet Earth, the players are (usually green) bug-eyed space aliens doing the thing in the game title. There are ray guns, superheroes, strange events and, more to the point, temporal anomalies.
Here's the text of the Temporal Anomaly card:

PLAY IMMEDIATELY
Discard all Location cards on the board that do not currently have an Alien or marker on them, then shuffle all discard piles back into their respective decks.

The Capitol City lives in the middle of the board; it's put there at the beginning of the game. (All other locations are dealt from the Locations deck once someone moves a ship to an empty space.) It's pretty common for the Capitol City to have no Alien or conquest marker on it. (The capitol city is worth 5 victory points, in a game where victory happens at 8 points. It's also the best-defended location in the game.) However, the Capitol City is a truly singular card; it's a Location, but it quite definitely doesn't go in the Locations deck, because it's a double-sided card. (The other side is the Historical Monument, worth fewer victory points and less well-defended. If you play with that, it makes the game less of a race for the capitol.)
Since the Capitol City "can't" go in the Locations deck, what happens to it if it's unclaimed when Temporal Anomaly is drawn? Do you flip it to the other side? Randomly decide whether to flip it? Keep it intact? Shuffle it into the Locations deck anyway? Discard it, don't put it in the deck, and the Capitol City will never be seen again?

The Objective Location Card is unaffected.
The rules differentiate between regular Location cards, and the Objective Location card. (Page 2) Game Contents

35 Card Location Deck
1 Double-Sided Objective Location Card

You clearly cannot turn it over, since the rules tell you don't use the Historic Monument in the same game as the Capitol City (page 7).

(On the back side of this Objective Location card is the Historic Monument which can be used as an alternate Objective in later games once you have gotten a handle of the rules).


Do Thorncaster Sliver's triggered abilities go on the stack? I was guessing, since you actually target things instead of just dealing damage (similar to Hellrider), Thorncaster Sliver's triggered abilities would actually go on the stack.

This came up in a separate game this past Friday when the Sliver deck attacked with two Predatory Slivers, one Thorncaster Sliver, and two Manaweft Slivers while his opponent had a Blood Artist as well as some 2/2.

The reason this even came up was because, if the triggers went on the stack, you could target things so they resolve in the following order:

Predatory Sliver targets Blood Artist, killing it.
Predatory Sliver targets the 2/2, dealing one damage to it.
Thorncaster Sliver targets the 2/2, killing it.
and 5. Both Manaweft Slivers target the player, dealing one damage each to him.

Triggered abilities always use the stack. That includes Thorncaster Sliver's and Hellrider's.

  112.3c Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and include (and usually begin with) the word "when," "whenever," or "at." Whenever the trigger event occurs, the ability is put on the stack the next time a player would receive priority and stays there until it's countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack.

Here's what happens:

You attack with five slivers. Five instances of Thorncaster Sliver's ability triggers
You place the abilities on the stack in the order of your choice: (Best order used)

You place PS#1's ability on the stack targeting the 2/2
You place PS#2's ability on the stack targeting the 2/2
You place TS's ability on the stack targeting the Blood Artist
You place MS#1's ability on the stack targeting your opponent
You place MS#2's ability on the stack targeting your opponent

MS#2's ability resolves:

Deal one damage to your opponent.

MS#1's ability resolves:

Deal one damage to your opponent.

TS's ability resolves:

Deal one damage to the Blood Artist

The Blood Artist dies. Blood Artist's ability triggers.
Your opponent places Blood Artist's ability on the stack targeting you.
Blood Artist's ability resolves:

You lose one life.
Your opponent gains one life.

PS#2's ability resolves:

Deal one damage to the 2/2.

PS#2's ability resolves:

Deal one damage to the 2/2.

The 2/2 dies.
[Move on the Declare Blockers]

Result:

The Blood Artist and the 2/2 died.
The opponent's life went down 2, then went up 1.
Your life went down 1.


Does this Go-like game have a name? I remember playing a slightly Go-like game in primary school, using pen and paper. Both players have a pen of their own color (typically pencil and ballpoint) and take turns drawing dots at intersections of a rectangular grid. We called it Pistepeli ("point game" in Finnish) but Google doesn't find anything relevant with that name.

The objective is to surround some of the other player's dots, gaining a point for each one. This is done by completely encircling them, drawing a winding line connecting your own adjacent dots (along the 8 compass directions), only when you have managed to place all the required dots so the line will loop back to its starting point. You may not use your own dots that the opponent has already encircled, but you may re-use your own lines to draw an encircled area next to an existing one.

You may enclose as many areas as you can during your turn, after placing a dot. The game continues until time runs out or there's a dot at every intersection on the paper, and then the game is scored by counting opponent dots each player has surrounded.

I can't remember if there was a rule that drawn dots must be next to an existing dot or specifically also of the opposite color, and how edges of the playing area were treated. Possibly it was forbidden to surround your own dots and/or empty intersections.

In English, this game is called, appropriately enough, Dots.

There is a wikipedia page describing the game and showing an example of gameplay.


Leaders expansions: Is trade commerce allowed during Recruitment phase Sometimes you will need resources to build your stage of the wonder played. Is commerce allowed particularly in this phase. For example:

The game has begun and we are on the first recruitment phase. Here you are allowed to recruit, build a stage or discard. What if I choose to build a stage or my wonder but I don't have the resources. Am I allowed to trade?

Tl;dr: Yes.
A strict reading of the rules would imply that commerce isn't allowed for wonder construction even in the base game:

Throughout all 3 ages in a game, the players will get to build structures (cards) and Wonders (board).

...

Commerce
Often, a player will want to build a structure requiring resources he or
she does not produce.
If these resources are produced by a neighboring city...

However, the game designer has explicitly stated that you are allowed to use commerce for wonder stages. Given that clarification, it is reasonable to assume that when the Leaders rules are once again ambiguous on the matter, you can again use commerce for wonder stages there too.


Is there an online version of Bang!? Is there any app to play Bang! (Wanted) online (even solo or multiplayer) ?

There was an old ios app that is no longer supported due to the developer no longer having an agreement with the card games developer. After ios 11 the app can no longer be used due to it being a 32 bit app.

There is a thread on board game geek where there is talk of a new app in development but from what I can see that has been going on for a while with no end in sight.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1936091/bang-app-needs-ios-11-update


Does the Preacher affect the Booty/Loot on the ship or in a den? In Libertalia, the character card Preacher says:

  Discard all booty tiles but one.

Do you discard booty tiles from the ship, from your den, from every den, or some other variation?

An official FAQ, or designer response is what I am looking for.

The rules don't specify, but my interpretation agrees with this player aid in that it's meant to be your booty tiles.
EDIT: A BGG post from Stefan Brunell the American publisher here confirms this.

[Q2:] The Preacher has a Dusk effect of "Remove all but one booty token." Is this referring to that day's booty, or your own inventory? Do the removed tokens go back to the bag or do they end up in your inventory?
Second: Own inventory, to the bag.


Fight and first strike I was playing a game earlier and my opponent had a Drana, Liberator of Malakir that was a 4/3 and wanted to use a sorcery to fight Kozilek's Channeler that was a 4/4.

We were wondering if the Channeler would die first because of First Strike? Or would it not be counted as it wasn't combat?

First Strike does not apply because it isn't combat.

701.10d The damage dealt when a creature fights isn’t combat damage.
702.7a First strike is a static ability that modifies the rules for the combat damage step.


Talents after being overcome Can talents of the samurai be used after the attack overcame the samurai?

The rulebook doesn't specify anything about this at the talents and the only effects the overcome seems to have is that

  Case 3: If the total is GREATER THAN your Kiai value, you are overcome by raiders: Immediately remove one village Barricade.

and in the next round

  Important: If your Samurai meeple is already past your Kiai value (i.e. on the flame), then you MUST PASS.

For some talents it would make sense that it can still be used as they are passive looking (at least to me). For example if Gorobei is overcome, he should(?) still be able to ignore the penalty on a Raider with an even value.

The real, specific question is: after Kikuchiyo becomes overcome by an attack, can he still use his talent and choose to fight another opponent even though he is already overcome?

Antoine Bauza answered a question very similar to this one on BoardGame Geek:

[Question]1) After you have exceeded your Kiai value, but before you are obliged to pass on your next turn, can other players still pass on cards to you?
[Response]1) Sure ! (it's important )
When you exceeded your Kiaia Value, you have to brun immediately a barricade / farm. But you are force to tak ethe pass action on your next turn. So, a lot can happen before you're next turn (passing card, removing a card from your combat line). {Sic}

The direct implication to this is that:

Just because you've exceeded your Kiai value, your turn does not immediately pass.
Adding additional raider cards to a character who has exceeded his kiai value will not cause additional barricades to burn.
The character is still "in play" until the beginning of his next turn.

So, Kikuchiyo specifically, can take another raider, and either add it to his defense pile or his confrontation pile.


Reforming to gain extra rank in close combat If I have a unit that is 10 models wide. And an enemy unit is attacking me in the front with only one monster size model on the very far left side of my unit, can I reform my unit to gain an extra rank?

Or do I still have to reform around the center?

My unit only had one rank at the start of close combat.

Yes you can.

You can reform if:

You win the round of combat
Or if you lose combat, hold and pass an unmodified leadership test.

I believe there is a limit to how many columns you can adjust per turn (from memory I think it's 5) however there should be no problem going from 10 columns to 5.

Assuming your models are on 20mm bases this will give you 4 models from each rank in each rank attacking and a +1 rank bonus (until the monster kills another model at least!).

Where the rules begin to get a little vague is when you're "moving" your unit in the combat to get more attacks. It's best to agree with your opponent before you start moving models.

The rules are clear that can't reform out of combat - they're a little vague on reforming to get more attacks in (although bear in mind that this is what you're effectively doing when you add more ranks). In my opinion the simplest solution is to treat the centre of combat as the centre of the unit and reform around that.


Close combat after a rank is removed from an attack on any flank I asked a similar question recently. However, i believe this question to be different since that question was in regard to "incomplete" ranks. This question is in regards to a rank that is completely removed from a rear attack.

Legend:

Funit = friendly unit.
Eunit = enemy unit.

A few scenarios here.

FunitA contains a unit of infantry and my general. They are attacking EunitA in the front. EunitB is attacking FunitA's left flank. My general is on the far right flank of FunitA. The entire unit of FunitA is killed except my general. EunitB is no longer in base contact with my general. What happens in this scenario? Does EunitB automatically move into base contact with my general or can they still attack even though they are no longer in base contact?
FunitA contains a unit of infantry and my general. They are attacking EunitA in the front. EunitB is attacking FunitA's left flank. FunitB is attacking the rear flank of EunitB. FunitB kills the entire rear rank of EunitB and is no longer in base contact with any models from EunitB. What happens in this scenario? Does FunitB automatically move into base contact with EunitB or do they attack across the gap even though they are not in base contact with any model of EunitB.
Same scenario of number 2. Except there is a EunitC attacking the left flank of FunitB at the same time. FunitB kills all of EunitB's rear rank and loses base contact with EunitB. What happens now?

Thanks, and i know it is wordy. I tried my best to explain the scenarios. Let me know if you need clarification.

You've got some tricky scenarios there - I'll do my best (with diagrams)

Scenario 1

What happens if EUnitA kills FUnitA but not the general?

The first thing to test for is whether the general runs away, given he's flanked, outranked and has had his entire unit die around him this is a very real possibility. I'll assume he doesn't either because he's stubborn, unbreakable or has rolled snake-eyes.

The first rule to remember is that you cannot die out of combat deliberately, however it it occurs and EUnitA is released then they are no longer in the combat and can move, charge and shoot as per normal. This question considers what happens if they're not released from combat because of a challenge.

Scenario 2

What happens if FunitB kills the entire back rank of EunitA and is no longer in combat?

They take a step forward and remain in combat. Move as few units as possible.

Scenario 3

This one is vague, it's one of those scenarios which occurs so rarely it's not really covered in the rules and you have to use a little common sense.

The issue is that if FUnitB don't take a step forward you're losing a significant number of attacks per turn.

My advice would be to:

Keep it as a single combat
Move FUnitB forward
Allow your opponent to bring EUnitC with you so they do not lose any attacks in the process.

I don't have a rulebook quote to back me up but I would suggest that nudging the units so it's fair for everyone.

If you really can't decide which is fairest then both state your cases, roll a die and abide by the result. People can spend longer working out these tiny edge cases than playing the rest of the game - at the end of the day try to do what's fair and practical.


First-player advantage in Puzzle Strike? Does Puzzle Strike favor the player who goes first?

Puzzle Strike takes a lot of cues from Dominion, and Dominion is well-known for having a distinct advantage for the first player, as discussed in various other places.  However, Puzzle Strike also has a very different victory condition and a lot of back-and-forth "combat" that eventually determines it.  Does this fix the first-player-problem with its peers, and by how much?

Puzzle Strike is related to Dominion in its buy-new-chips mechanics, but its attack and defense mechanics are more strongly tied to Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, the video game without a prequel. Puzzle Fighter has much of the same dynamic as Puzzle Strike: the closer you are to losing, the more ammunition you're holding.

I don't have any hard numbers to back me up about any first-player advantage, but this article about slippery slope vs. perpetual comeback (written by someone involved in the creation of both Puzzle Strike and Puzzle Fighter) puts Puzzle Fighter firmly on the "perpetual comeback" side of the scale: being close to death is also being close to launching a huge attack on your opponent. Winning isn't about slowly wearing down your opponent and forcing them to jump on a slippery slope of "losing = less resources" (such as in an attack-heavy game of Dominion).  Instead, winning Puzzle Strike or Puzzle Fighter is about getting in the last, largest attack. Going first isn't quite irrelevant in that case, but winning is more about taking advantage of the current board state than buying cards one turn ahead of your opponents.


Board game about setting fairy tales right In my childhood (late '80s to early '90s) there was a board game around where you were part of sort of a book patrol. You had to set fairy tales right that went wrong.

The main story as far as I remember was about Long John Silver and the treasure he was after. The treasure island being the map you played on.
You gained "stars" whenever you did win out in a part of the game.
You fought the adversaries from different stories and also tried to overcome traps while you travelled the map.
You played as a group trying to achieve the same thing as sort of a party.

Edit:
I remember now that the stars you could use to increase your attributes. Also on some map fields there were traps where you had multiple choices (and or rolls?) which could lead to you becoming trapped, or succeeding in avoiding the trap.

One point I'm unsure about is... I always took it as a precurser (despite different setting) to The Dark Eye (thus maybe a Schmidt Spiele game). At least from what I remember of the box the box itself was similar to the later Dark Eye 1st edition boxes.

I found it in the meantime. The game was called:
Der Geheimbund des Schwarzen Auges   and nicknamed DSA Junior

Seemingly it is only available in german (which could be the reason why it was so hard to find out). Back then it seemingly did not have a long run as only a few boxes and books were released. Its purpose was to introduce kids with roleplaying games and also to some core concepts from dsa (english the dark eye).


Which of the Walsh bids are alertable? Our local 'standardized' system suggests we play Walsh. I wanted to know which of the bids under the following sequences are alertable according to WBF alerting policies, given 1C promises 3 and 1D promises 4 unless 4432:

1C - 1D - 1S (promise unbalanced distribution)
1C - 1D - 1NT (may conceal 4-card Majors)
1C - 1H (may bypass longer Diamond unless GF) - 1S (promise unbalanced distribution)
1C - 1H - 1NT (bypass 4-card Spade)

The ACBL alert chart explicitly calls out several of these bids as non-alertable. The others (1M rebid promising unbalanced) is covered by the "natural bids not otherwise mentioned" section. So in the US, at least, none of these bids requires an alert.


Can you spend one production unit to offset population loss from plague cubes on a population 0 location? At the end of a game in Pandemic Legacy Season 2, population is adjusted for locations which have supply houses and plague cubes (up and down, respectively). The manual specifically mentions the case where a location has both - the population does not change.

You can also spend production units to increase the population of a location. 1 population for 1 unit, except if the location has a population of 0, in which case 2 units are needed to bring it back to population 1.

Consider a case where I have a plague cube on a location with a current population of 1. The plague cube will decrease the population by 1, making it a 0 population location. I want to spend production units to keep it at 1, but do I need to spend 1 unit or two? That is, does the population adjustment from plague cubes happen before population adjustment from spending production units? Or do they happen at the same time?

As part of the game end, the manual has the adjustment due to plague cubes as step 1 and the adjustment due to spending production units as step 4 , so I'm guessing they happen in a distinct order and I would need to spend 2 units. I couldn't find any clarification though.

For Pandemic Legacy, always follow the rules in exact order, use the rule book as a check list. You can not progress through to subsequent steps until you have completed the entirety of your current step.

During end game, if the population decreases to 0 during step 1, then that city is forsaken. It remains at population 0 until you (may) spend 2 production points during step 4.

If you want to prevent a drop in population, then build a supply centre on that location during the game, as end game Step 1 is holistic in regards to supply centres and plague cubes.

When in doubt over any of the rules, do what is in the least interest of the players.


Does entering a fight prevent use of cards with effects during movement phase afterwards? According to the rules, entering a fight during movement phase ends movement. But as the fight itself is part of the movement phase, this does not mean, that the whole phase ends.

We interpreted "movement ends" as "all remaining movement points expire", so you cannot read books after fighting. But it is not clear, if using cards, that can be used during movement phase without requiring movement points, is still allowed.

The question came up, because we wondered if the following steps we did in a recent game were legal:

walk to Nightgaunt and sneak past, intentionally failing (by having a too low sneak value)
Nightgaunt deals combat damage immediately, causing investigator to get drawn into nearest gate
Use Key of Tawil At Umr, usable during movement phase, to instantly return to Arkham
End movement phase, close and seal gate during same round the gate was entered

Is using Key of Tawil At Umr after a fight or any other of the above actions against the rules?

No, it is not against the rules, and the sequence of events you followed is acceptable within a single Movement Phase.

Being drawn into combat of any kind only ends your movement - it does not end your Movement Phase, and some actions are still valid after combat.

While there is no specific case regarding the Key of Tawil  At'Umr, it can be inferred from an entry in the Arkham Horror FAQ regarding the Find Gate spell in an identical situation (on page 7 under Spells):

  Q: Can an investigator who entered the Other World
  during the Movement Phase because of the Nightgaunt’s
  combat ability immediately cast Find Gate and return to
  Arkham, experiencing no Other World encounters?

  A: Yes.

Neither Find Gate nor Key of Tawil At'Umr have any other pertinent trigger details except that they must be used during the Movement Phase, so it is logical that if one is valid after a Nightgaunt effect, the other is also.

Also on page 9 of the FAQ under Gates and Other Worlds it clarifies reasons why you would (or would not) gain an explored marker:

  Q: Do I receive an “explored” marker if I enter the first
  area of an Other World, cast “Find Gate,” and return to
  Arkham?

  A: Yes. In general, whenever you “return to Arkham,” you
  reappear at a gate that leads to the Other World you were
  in and gain an “explored” marker.

Since the Key of Tawil At'Umr specifically uses the phrase "return to Arkham" you do gain an explored marker when it is used in an Other World.


Is anyone aware of any score keeping apps (BB10 or Android) that can keep track of score (including extra meta-data)? I know there are lots of apps (eg: keepscore, scorekeeper, endless variations of those words) that can keep a simple tally for various players for generic games. I am looking for one that can:

Keep track of current scores, for players and/or teams.
I would like to be able to track bids for current rounds of many card games, eg: spades, bidwhist.

BONUS:

Keep histories of specific players, win records, stats, etc...
Integrate a dice and or timer.
Somewhere to track custom meta-data. For example bidwhist, has a rotating trump suit. I can jot down, Round 1=Spades, 2=H,3=C,4=D, 5=NoTrump, etc...

I had an IOS app that did some of this, but have yet to find an Android, or BB10 app. Does anyone know of or use one? I hate having to dig up a notepad.

My friends and I use rankade, which has an app both for iOS and Android (but I prefer the webapp, personally, as it has the graphs). You can use it for every game, and the thing I like the most is the fact that it gives you the whole history (and rankings) for both the group (collective matches) and for each single boardgame. I don't think it can track every single metadata you're asking, though.


Changing control of an attacking or blocking creature mid-combat I've happened upon a new scenario I didn't realise was possible: I attack or block with Jackal Pup, and after blockers are declared, I use Zedruu the Greathearted or Bazaar Trader to give the Jackal Pup to another player. I'd like to make sure I understand this interaction properly.

As far as I understand it:

Jackal Pup and the creature it's blocking or being blocked by still exchange damage as usual. It doesn't leave combat. Jackal Pup will deal a bunch of damage to whoever I gave it to.
I can even hand Jackal Pup to the player blocking it or attacking me, and that will still hold true. (They'll then control two creatures who exchange combat damage with each other!)
If a creature was declared attacking me (or my planeswalker), it is still doing so even after I block it with Jackal Pup and hand someone else control of it. If that creature has trample, the damage will go to me.

Do I understand this correctly? (These are some fun hijinks, if they work like they seem to.)

No, that is not correct. Rule 506.4 says

  A permanent is removed from combat if it leaves the battlefield, if its controller changes, if it phases out, if an effect specifically removes it from combat, if it's a planeswalker that's being attacked and stops being a planeswalker, or if it's an attacking or blocking creature that regenerates (see rule 701.12) or stops being a creature. A creature that's removed from combat stops being an attacking, blocking, blocked, and/or unblocked creature. A planeswalker that's removed from combat stops being attacked


Are Basic Lands (Mana) Block/Set Agnostic? What is the point in Wizard creating RtR Forests and M13 Forests, for example?  It seems like it would be a lot more efficient and cost effective to everyone involved if these basic land types were not specific to a set.  Wizard wouldn't have the cost of manufacturing (as many of) them and we wouldn't need to buy new ones just to stay legal.

You don't need to buy new ones just to stay legal.  You can use any card that has been reprinted in a recent set in Standard.  All the basic lands are printed in just about every set.

For Instance, it's perfectly legal for you to use your Urza's Saga Rancors or Onslaught Pacifisms.

Secondly, some people like collecting different land arts, so they produce lands with new arts every set, and many people try to collect one or more of each.


A player to skip combat phase in Two-Headed Giant What happens if a particular player is said to skip his/her combat phase in a Two-Headed Giant game (for instance, if someone had cast Moment of Silence)?

Is the whole team unable to attack, or is only that particular player unable to?

The whole team is affected, according to rule 805.8 as of the 28 August 2016 revision of the comprehensive rules:

  805.8. If an effect gives a player an extra turn or adds a phase or step to that player’s turn, that player’s team takes the extra turn, phase, or step. If an effect causes a player to skip a step, phase, or turn, that player’s team does so. If a single effect causes more than one player on the same team to add or skip the same step, phase, or turn, that team adds or skips only that step, phase, or turn. If an effect causes a player to control another player, the controller of that effect controls the affected player’s team.

(emphasis added)


Good travel games for two players, especially for playing on trains? I would be interested to hear if anyone had recommendations for 2-player games that are particularly suitable for playing while travelling on trains.  (I ask this as someone who mostly enjoys games like Carcassonne, Power Grid, Agricola, Pandemic, etc. around the table at home.)  To be specific, the things that I think are important properties for these games are:

Needing minimal table space.  Most trains have a small table you could use, but not much more.
Being quiet to play, so that other passengers won't be disturbed.  For example, I imagine that games that involve repeatedly rolling dice wouldn't be appreciated.
Packing down small, so that they don't take up much luggage space.
Not requiring batteries or a power socket.  (I appreciate that an iPhone or a Nintendo DS for each player might be a good solution more generally, but it's not what I'm after in this case.)
Not being so delicate to arrange that motion from the train will unduly disrupt the play.

I think it would be best to recommend one game (or class of games) per answer, if that's appropriate, and explain why you think it's particularly suitable.  (Incidentally, I've read the guidance on good questions about game recommendations and hope this question meets the criteria.)

Update: Thanks for so many excellent suggestions - we certainly won't be short of games for our next long train journey :)

Update 2: Unfortunately, I can't really playtest this many great games in any reasonable time period, so I'm going to accept the top-voted answer (Cribbage) and try out the others as soon as I can.  Thanks again...

I would suggest Cribbage. Not much space is required, it is quick to set up and put away, involves no more noise than any game between two players, and is a very good game. It is also best enjoyed with a glass of something in the other hand, increasing its suitability for a train journey.

If you don't know how to play (and it isn't terribly complicated, although rather different from other card games), have a look here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cribbage


Implement unique occurrence against each other I am trying to develop a card game, in which I have a situation like I need to present cards against each other in such a way so that they have never played with each other. So in general, I will have two different stack of cards, and they will be presented with each other. So it could be like

 A  B  C  D
 H  U  O  P

Any one of the card will be swiped away from infront of any letter, say user remove H from infront of A, the U will be presented to A, then U swiped away O will be presented.

In above scenario H, U, and O have played with A, so in future they should never play with A.

How to implement this.

Any light, anything that can help me, would be highly appreciated.

For more clarification, see image below

Thanks.

I think there are a few options for this, depending on the permanency of the effect:

Marker cards
Track the opposing cards that your card has faced on an object (e.g. Another card with the same title but instead of game text or an image it just has a list of the other cards and checkboxes, or just a section of each card that you mark).

Tracking sheet
If you use a separate object for tracking, like a score sheet or even just a piece of paper, it would be easy to track the cards you have played and the cards they have played against.

There are still two major problems here:

If the effect is permanent, you're eventually going to be unable to play a given card against any other card, placing a fixed lifespan on a copy of the game.
You're attempting to track a many-to-many relationship between cards, so depending on the size of your set this could be an extremely difficult task without some sort of spreadsheet or app or database to help.


Bouncing and moving in Diplomacy Specifically, if an invading fleet wanted to move from Naples to Rome, but the move was blocked by another fleet trying to move into Rome from the Tyrrhenian Sea, could a third player with a fleet in the Ionian Sea move into Naples, driving the invading fleet trying to move from Naples to Rome into the sea?
Or is that just wishful thinking?

All the moves will fail; everything will end up where it started. From the rules, p9:

  One unit not moving can stop a unit or series of units
   from moving. If a unit is ordered to hold, or is prevented
   from moving, and other units are ordered into its province,
   those other units can’t move. (It’s like a traffic backup!)


Buffing an Unblockable? I have a card that basically says any creature with power or toughness = one is Unblockable, is it possible to buff them after declaring blockers? Thanks ahead of time for the info

Yes.
There is a particular step of the game called the "Declare Blockers Step", and the very first part of it involves the actual act of choosing which creatures are blocking. After damage assignment ordering is chosen, the active player receives priority.

509.1. First, the defending player declares blockers. [...]
509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that’s become blocked, the active player announces that creature’s damage assignment order [...]
509.3. Third, for each blocking creature, the defending player announces that creature’s damage assignment order [...]
509.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority.

If your creature has one power (and is therefore unblockable) at the time blockers are declared, and then you later use, e.g., Giant Growth to increase its power, there is nothing that allows your opponent to "re-declare" blockers. The game has already moved on past that point, and the blocking choices made at step 509.1 are "locked in" for the remainder of combat*.
* Plus or minus any cards/effects that cause creatures to become blocked or unblocked (e.g., Curtain of Light).


Where can I read Mahjong game commentaries? To improve, I'd like to read game records of professional players, and to understand these commentaries would be useful. Do you know if these game commentaries exist, and where I can find them?

I kept searching for the past few days, but the only thing I found was tenhou's logging feature. It basically lets you replay previous hands, so you "only" need to find strong players and links to their hand records. I do not yet know how to do that.

Example: http://tenhou.net/0/?log=2008120919gm-0007-7447-xc9f52854acf6&tw=3. It starts with some Japanese advertisment, but just click the link at the bottom after a few seconds and you'll be lead straight to the game. Everything is self-explanatory from that point on. Sadly, I have no idea how strong the players in the link are, I just found it by accident.

Apart from that there is a number of youtube videos, but it's rather hard to follow so I can't recommend it really.

Sadly neither of these options offers commentaries, so it's only partly useful.

Edit: This page tells how to watch replays on tenhou.net. It's a very comprehensive guide. Also have a look at this page which explains how to watch live games of high dan players.

Replays on tenhou look like this:


What happens when you die in Munchkin? In the card game Munchkin, what happens when you die? I know you go back to level 1, and you lose all the cards in your hand and your items, but do you lose your class and race too?

And how does it work with the rest of the players taking your cards?

You do not lose Class, Race, Level, or Curses when you die. The other characters get to loot your body when you die, each getting one card from your revealed hand or the cards you had in play, starting with the highest level character. The remaining cards (non-Class/Race/Curse) are discarded.
The rules have a section labeled Death that clearly explains the consequences (page 3).

Death - If you die, you lose all your stuff. You keep your Class(es), Race(s), and Level (and any Curses that were affecting you when you died) – your new character will look just like your old one. If you have Half-Breed or Super Munchkin, keep those as well.
Looting The Body: Lay out your hand beside the cards you had in play. Starting with the one with the highest Level, each other player chooses one card . . . in case of ties in level, roll a die. If your corpse runs out of cards, tough. After everyone gets one card, the rest are discarded.
Dead characters cannot receive cards for any reason, not even Charity, and cannot level up. Your new character appears when the next player begins his turn, and can help others in combat . . . but you have no cards. On your next turn, start by drawing four cards from each deck, face-down, and playing any legal Race, Class, or Item cards you want to, just as when you started the game. Then take your turn normally.

The FAQ reiterates much of the same information.

Q. Exactly when do you die, and how long do you stay dead?
A. You die when you get Bad Stuff that says you're dead. (A very few other cards can cause Death as well.) If you were fleeing from other monsters, you are excused from their Bad Stuff, because you're dead. While you are dead, you cannot receive cards for any reason, and you cannot level up. You STAY dead only until the next person's turn starts. Your new character appears at that point and may join normally in the combat, though you will get no new cards until someone gives you charity, you get cards as payment for helping in a combat, or your next turn starts. Fortunately, death is temporary . . .
Q. What happens when you die? Do Curses that persist go away?
A. There are a number of Curses that persist, like Tiny Hands, Big Feet, Sex Change, Chicken On Your Head, and so on. Most of these Curses can only be gotten rid of with a Wishing Ring or perhaps some luck. If a Curse persists, its effects transcend death. Remember, your new character looks like the last one. So, if your sex was changed, you are still your new sex (but you very likely died because of combat, so that pesky -5 is gone), you still have Big Feet or Tiny Hands, and if you didn't have Headgear on when you died, that stinking Chicken is going to roost on the head of your new character. Sucks to be cursed, but, well, you knew that . . .


Responding to Fusion/Ritual Summons There are many spells in Yu-Gi-Oh that summon monsters. Some of the more common varieties are Fusion and Ritual summoning. These mechanics involve using a spell that, upon it's resolution, summons a monster.

My question is, am I allowed to chain a trap like Bottomless Trap Hole to a Fusion or Ritual summon (or any other spell that summons a monster on resolution?) I know you can use cards that specifically negate spells and traps that summon monsters like Solemn Warning, but am I able to use a card like Solemn Strike to negate the Fusion or Ritual summon, even though it only happens on resolution?

In short, yes.

A trap like BTH is of speed 2, and a counter-trap like Solemn Strike is of speed 3. Both of these can be chained to the summoning of a monster. Quick play spells only reach a speed of 2, so regardless of the spell/monster effect used to achieve these Fusion/Ritual summons, both regular, continuous, and counter trap cards can be legally used in response.

As for your question on resolution, it wouldn't matter. Solemn strike negates the summon, so essentially, the card used to summon resolves, and then Solemn Strike prevents the monster from ever actually hitting the field. This is an attractive effect to a lot of players against certain decks because this prevents effects that happen when monsters are summoned, since the spell spell resolves, but the summoning does not.


Dominion Money Purchasing When Actions Lacking When the action cards on board are lacking in gaining money additions, what's your strategy in purchasing money vs action cards in the early rounds?  More money, or look for actions that drill through your deck (+X cards and + actions?)?

Thanks.

The answer, of course, is it depends. It depends on what's out there and where your deck is going. As a general rule of thumb, buy more money than you think you'll need. It's rare to draw a hand full of silvers mutter a curse under your breath. Don't open not buying treasure or a money-producing card without good reason.

There's two issues tied up in this: making sure you have enough money to buy more/bigger cards later, and keeping the odds low of "collisions" of terminal actions so you can only use one. Buying a balance of action cards and treasure cards helps with both, but how much to buy depends on the specific action cards you're getting.

I try to create an overall strategy for the particular kingdom deck, and then try to get that deck working as quickly as possible. If you want several $3 or $4 card in your final deck, sure start buying them, but make sure you build the buying power to get the more expensive cards you want. Especially if you'll have extra buys (from Market, Goons, etc.) it's easy to pick up the small cards later. However, without Silver you might not get the big ones in time.

Some illustrative examples:

Village is a terrible buy before you have other actions. The point of village is to play 2 actions after it; if you only play one action after it having a silver would have been better. In most cases, I don't buy Village until I have a couple of terminal actions already. Great Hall is even worse, the only reason to buy a Great Hall early on is if you're going for a combo that it helps (e.g. Conspirator), but even then a first turn silver will probably help you more.

A card like Watchtower, on the other hand, can speed up your opening with it's card draw, and it mitigates the harm from collision with the ability to topdeck new buys, so Watchtower could work with another terminal or with money.

If there's a $5 or $6 card that you want to get ASAP (Witch, Mountebank, Goons), it might make sense to open Silver/Silver, though a Smithy or Watchtower could be just as effective. And an early Gold will help you buy those more expensive actions (and more Gold) for the rest of the game.

Caravan comes to mind as a card that doesn't produce money but I'll usually buy it whenever I hit $4 until there aren't any left.

Chapel is a great card and is most effective when bought before the first shuffle, but it needs to be paired with something that produces money so you can get rid of those coppers fast, which means Silver if nothing else is available. (This one probably has a lot of exceptions, Chapel/$5 attack card could be good, or Chapel/Wharf would be nice.)


Battlestar Galactica: meaning of a Quorum card that destroys ships I have a question regarding a specific Quorum card in Battlestar Galactica.  I don't remember its title, but it has in its text something like "Destroy 3 raiders, a heavy raider, or a centurion token".  The question is, how should this text be parsed?

1) Choose one of three: destroy 3 raiders, OR destroy 1 heavy raider, OR destroy 1 centurion

or

2) Choose one of two: destroy 3 raiders and one heavy raider, OR destroy 1 centurion?

Our playgroup ruled the variant (2) in the game we've played, but we still have our doubts, hence this question.  Ideally, the answer would have a link to an official source, but a good logical argument will also suffice.

Thank you.

The card is Authorization of Brutal Force. The exact text is:

  Destroy 3 raiders, 1 heavy raider, or 1 centurion.

The person playing the card can choose one of the three options.

I don't think you'll find any official rule that will answer the question. It really comes down to standard English grammar. Option #1 is the proper way to parse that sentence. If option #2 is what was intended, it would have to be written the way you wrote it, i.e. with the "and".


Using Commander Abilities from the Command Zone So I have Horde of Notions and I am wondering if I can use it's mana cost ability from the commander zone. The ability which by paying one of each color, I can bring a Elemental from the graveyard to the battlefield.

No, abilities of permanents usually only work when they're on the battlefield. Exceptions exist, but are generally explicit on the card.

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

Most permanents' abilities, including all activated abilities such as on Horde of Notions, will explicitely say so in their text if they work in any zone other than the battlefield. Horde of Notions' ability does not say that it works in any zone other than the battlefield, so it doesn't.


Why Exert Trueheart Twins? Why would anyone exert Trueheart Twins? It doesn't have an exert perk.

You may exert Trueheart Twins as it attacks. (It won't untap during
your next untap step.)
Whenever you exert a creature, creatures you control get +1/+0 until
end of turn.

To contrast it, here's Nef-Crop Entangler. Notice how this card says "when you do [exert], it gets..."

Trample
You may exert Nef-Crop Entangler as it attacks. When you do,
it gets +1/+2 until end of turn. (An exerted creature won't untap
during your next untap step.)

Here's a list of creatures with exert. Nearly all of them follow the latter format. (There are a couple, but not very many, that seem to have no exert perk)

Because it will still trigger its second ability "Whenever you exert a creature, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.", and sometimes you want your team to get the extra +1/+0 until end of turn.


Is it still possible to assign combat damage, and return the creature back to its owner's hand? Since, in 2010, there have been changes in the rules, I would like to ask if what I'm reporting here – although fairly trivial – is still a possible action.

If, during a combat phase, Savannah Lions is blocked by Whirlwind Adept, and therefore the latter suffered lethal damage, is it still possible to take it back to the owner's hand - for example, with an Unsummon - but after it has still dealt its amount of damage to the other creature?

I ask this question because I know that the damage no longer goes on the stack, and the thing matters in lots of situations.
I must say that I have not understood well if this can concern even a seemingly simple case like this.

So I wonder if, since I intend to assign Whirlwind Adept damage to Lions, but save the blocking creature too, you can cast an instant as Unsummon to still deal damage to the other creature, and - immediately after this - take the creature back into your hand before the Status Based Actions kill it.

Yes, this is exactly one of the tricks which is no longer possible after the Magic 2010 rules changes (scroll down to 5) Combat Damage No Longer Uses the Stack). It's even mentioned explicitly:

  How can you Unsummon your creature and have it still deal damage?

This didn't really make sense from a flavor perspective, and therefore they've fixed it:

  The Fix: As soon as damage is assigned in the combat damage step, it is dealt. There is no time to cast spells and activate abilities in between; the last time to do so prior to damage being dealt is during the declare blockers step.

So you either have to Unsummon your creature before damage is assigned (but then the other creature survives as well) or both of them will die.


Can you take a mortgage on a property if the other properties of the same color have a house? In Monopoly, suppose you own the brown color group ("Old Kent Road" and "Whitechapel Road"). Now further suppose you have built a single house on either one of these two properties (eg Old Kent Road).

Can you now take out a mortgage on the other (Whitechapel Road) one or do you have to sell the house (on Old Kent Road) first?

You must sell the house(s) before you can mortgage the property. From the rules, page 4 (emphasis mine):

  MORTGAGES… Unimproved properties can be mortgaged through
  the Bank at any time. Before an improved property can be mortgaged,
  all the buildings on all the properties of its color-group must be sold
  back to the Bank at half price.


Forbidden Pepsi Pogs I was looking through the Wikipedia page for POG and noticed the following under the "Sets" section.

  Pepsi (occasionally referred to as "Forbidden Pepsi Pogs")

Despite having grown up in the 90's with quite the collection of POGs, I'd never heard them called "Forbidden Pepsi Pogs".  I searched Google but none of the results seem to explain why they were referred to as such.

Why are Pepsi POGs referred to as "Forbidden"?

The most likely reason is that Pepsi went to court over them
Essentially, Pepsi tried to register a community design  (kind of like a trademark, but for shapes, lines, textures, colors, etc. that are associated with a product), but an organization named Grupo Promer had registered something similar first. The court cases were over whether or not Pepsi's pogs were distinctive enough to be granted their own protection. In other words, could a single company have exclusive rights to a plastic or metal disc included in food packaging? How distinctive would a competitor's have to be before they were unique enough?
From this summary of the court cases:

On 9 September 2003, PepsiCo filed an application with OHIM (Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market) for the registration of a Community Design pursuant to the CD Regulation. Grupo Promer then claimed priority for its Spanish design No 157156, which had been filed on 23 July 2003 and which application was published on 16 November 2003. Both registrations concern the design for "pogs" or "tazos": promotional items in the form of plastic or metal discs that are often included in food packaging and are intended mainly for children.
Grupo Promer started an invalidation action before OHIM against PepsiCo's design application, arguing (i) that PepsiCo's design lacked novelty and individual character (on the basis of Article 25(1)(b)) because of Grupo's Promer's earlier Community Design for metal promotional plate(s) for games; and (ii) that PepsiCo's design was "in conflict" with Grupo Promer's prior design (pursuant to Article 25(1)(d)).

As best I can tell, Pepsi wound up losing this case because there wasn't enough distinctiveness in their pogs compared to those of Grupo Promer. The last mention I can find is this from 2011:

PepsiCo then appealed to the ECJ on the grounds that the General Court had incorrectly interpreted and applied Article 25(1)(d) CD Regulation (conflict with prior design). The Advocate General urged that the appeal be dismissed, noting that a significant number of the grounds of appeal actually concerned findings of fact, and these are not suitable for appeal to the ECJ.

Since there haven't been any further mentions of this case, I'm going to assume that the appeal was dismissed.
I should note that this is a very plausible explanation for the term "forbidden pogs", but I could not find the term in any of the legal documents or summaries. There does not appear any documented use of origin of the term.


Who wins when the would-be last wizard standing is killed by a reaction? Say player A has a spell that kills player B (and any other survivors by the time B dies).

Well, it turns out that B has a reaction card waiting that will kill A (but not save B)! Who wins?

This depends on when reactions happen. Obviously at the table, reactions happen after you die, but in game terms they seem to resolve before, or at the same time as your death (evidenced by reactions that enable you to survive damage). Thus there are three potential outcomes:

A wins because they were were necessarily already the last wizard standing for the reaction to trigger. (reasonably likely)
A and B both win because each of them killed their last remaining foe. (most fun)
B wins because reactions take place before the lethal damage. (less likely)

When this happened, we agreed to go with the "most awesome" result that fits the game's flavour of rewarding (or not punishing) glorious death, which caused a joint win. Everyone was happy with this as a conclusion to a 6 player game with 5 LWS tokens.

Still, I'm curious if there's an official ruling.

Based on the rules, Player A should receive the sole LWS token. (For official ruling, see below the break.)
The relevant rule can be found on page 17 (emphasis mine):

When the dust settles and there is but one Wizard alive, the game ends and that Wizard earns a Last Wizard Standing token. In the unlikely event that a Wizard kills himself, leaving no Wizards alive, that Wizard still earns the token. Going out in a blaze of glory is never frowned upon in Epic Spell War!

As you've already noted, in order for a Reaction to happen, the player needs to have died according to the rules. This is confirmed by Matt Hyra from Cryptozoic on Board Game Geek:

Gregg Prendergast: Doers the "reaction" effect only take place at the time your character is killed, or does it take effect any time you are attacked (even if you don't die as a result of the attack)?
Matt Hyra: Only applies if you are killed. If you are not killed, any Reactions in your spell remain face down.

So the order of events would look something like this:

Player A kills Player B
Player B dies
Player A is the last remaining Wizard
Player B has a Reaction that kills Player A
Player A dies
Steps 4 & 5 don't really matter because Player A receives the LWS token even though they are dead

I asked this out on Board Game Geek to get an official answer. From Matt Hyra, Cryptozoic R&D, in response to my question:

The player had to die to trigger the Reaction, so unless the Reaction tells you you are resurrected, the Wizard who killed you gains the LWS token.


Butcher of Malakir timing I control Butcher of Malakir and Sakura-Tribe Elder and my opponent controls no creatures. They cast Duplicant targeting my Butcher of Malakir. If I react by sacrificing Sakura-Tribe Elder, does he has to sacrifice Duplicant?

Here is how it goes down:

Your opponent casts Duplicant, putting it on the stack. You both let it resolve(*), so it enters the battlefield. The Duplicant's ability triggers, and is put on stack, targeting the Butcher.

Before the ability resolves, you sacrifice the Tribe Elder and put its ability on the stack. The Butcher triggers, and its ability is put on stack. The stack now looks like this, from top to bottom:

Butcher's ability
Tribe Elder's ability
Duplicant's ability

Assuming no more interference, the Butcher's ability will pop off the stack first, requiring your opponent to sacrifice a creature (which has to be the Duplicant). Then you get to search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. Then the Butcher is exiled from the Duplicant's ability (which is unaffected by the Duplicant's fate).

(*) Say you sacrifice the Tribe Elder while the Duplicant is on the stack instead of letting it enter the battlefield first. Then after the Butcher's ability has triggered and been put on the stack, the stack looks like this:

Butcher's ability
Tribe Elder's ability
Duplicant

As before, first the Butcher's ability triggers. Since your opponent controls no  creatures, nothing happens. Then you get to search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped.

Then the Duplicant enters the battlefield, and its ability triggers. Your opponent targets the Butcher, and assuming no other interference, the Duplicant's ability triggers, exiling the Butcher and making the Duplicant a 5/4 Artifact Creature - Vampire Warrior Shapeshifter.


Are there quasi "official" rankings of board games? I'm interested whether there are surveys of the best board games put out by board game manufacturers or evaluators such as gaming magazines or boardgamegeek that are considered authoritative. Or is there an official popularity competition between board games or a world cup of board games?

BoardGameGeek is a very comprehensive list of board games, their relative rankings, and reviews, commentary, and more for all things board games. They also have a convention, the BGG.CON.


Why does Diregraf Colossus see itself in the graveyard? The release notes for Diregraf Colossus says:

  If Diregraf Colossus enters the battlefield from your graveyard, its first ability will count itself among the Zombie cards in your graveyard. Similarly, if it enters the battlefield at the same time as another Zombie card enters the battlefield from your graveyard, the ability will count that other Zombie.

and its ability is:

  Diregraf Colossus enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each Zombie card in your graveyard.

If it is entering the battlefield, how can it see itself in the graveyard?

Diregraf Colossus's ability has a replacement effect.

  614.1c Effects that read “[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ,” “As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ,” or “[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . ” are replacement effects.

This particular replacement effect requires information about the game (the number of zombies in your graveyard). This information is determined only once, when the effect is applied.

  608.2g If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. [...]

So, when is the effect applied? In the case of replacement effects, they are applied when the event they are looking to replace would occur.

  614.1. Some continuous effects are replacement effects. Like prevention effects (see rule 615), replacement effects apply continuously as events happen—they aren’t locked in ahead of time. Such effects watch for a particular event that would happen and completely or partially replace that event with a different event.

And finally, for completeness, the event actually happens when the spell or ability resolves, as you follow the instructions written on the card. The following rule is a subrule of "resolving a spell or ability".

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

Armed with these rules, let's walk through a scenario step by step to see what happens. Assume Anthony has Diregraf Colossus in his graveyard and no other zombies.

Anthony casts Dread Return, targeting Diregraf Colossus.
Both players pass priority, and so Dread Return begins to resolve.
The first instruction says "Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield."
This instruction is modified by Diregraf's replacement effect. After applying the replacement effect, it reads "Return Diregraf Colossus to the battlefield from your graveyard with a +1/+1 counter on it for each Zombie card in your graveyard." At the same time that we apply the replacement effect, we must determine how many zombies are in our graveyard. Currently Anthony has one zombie in his graveyard,
Now that we have applied the replacement effect, we can actually move Diregraf from the graveyard to the battlefield and put 1 counter on it.
There are no other instructions to follow, so Dread Return is done resolving.


Bridge guide for experienced Spades player? I'm a long-time online Spades player who's never played a single hand of Bridge, but I'd love to give it a try sometimes. I've always felt that the games seem rather similar, so I was looking for something like a quick guide to Bridge for Spades players. There's a rather nasty lack of unique search words for this, so I figured I'd ask the community.

So basically, two questions:

Are Bridge and Spades similar enough that you can learn one from knowing the other?
Is there a guide that you can use to learn Bridge, speaking from someone with experience in Spades?

The two games have some similarities. But they have a lot of differences too. Spades is a lot simpler, and so going from Bridge to Spades is relatively easy. Going from Spades to Bridge, well you're slightly ahead of the curve in having played a trick-based partnership game, but there is still a lot of other stuff to learn.
To be honest, any general introduction to Bridge would work for you. The bidding in Bridge bears absolutely no relation to bidding in Spades - this is the part you'll need to learn (and hence the section of the guide you want to pay attention to) - there are a lot of conventions to learn. The gameplay is relatively similar in Bridge, but a) there is a dummy hand which is controlled by his partner (declarer), and everyone can see it; and b) players know a lot more about other people's hands because the auction/bidding has a lot more detail than in Spades.


Playing pairs of non-cat cards I am unclear on a detail.  Can I play a pair of cards with instructions (such as shuffles)?

From the instructions: "If you play matching pairs with no instructions on them,....".

It seems like there might be "advanced rules" where this is allowed.

The instructions that come with the game have the quote in the question and indicate that there are basic and advanced rules.

The basic rules state that cards without instructions must be saved and played in pairs. They say that "if you play matching pairs with no instructions on them," you can randomly steal another player's card.  With the later section, it is clear this only applies to "cat" cards with no instructions.

There is a later section "for advanced play" which specifically states that "play pairs .... no longer only applies to cards with no instructions on them, it now applies to ANY cards in the deck with the same icons in the corners".  It also gives the rules for three of a kind play and 5 different cards play.  This seems to be the only set of rules listed on the "official rules" webpage in the other answer.

Ergo: Whether you can play non-cat pairs is based on which rule set you are following.


Checkers board game stages I have read there are 3 types of stages in checkers, i.e. opening, mid and end game. I am confused on how to determine when these three stages exist on the checkerboard. For example, how do I tell when the game is at the mid-game stage, is there a certain board layout or board configuration that allows me to ascertain the stage of the board?

There are very few specific board setups that detail early- mid- and late-games. It might be easiest to keep track of which stage you are in based on how many pieces and how many kings each player has and comparing to one another.

For instance, when very few pieces remain on either side, regardless of ratio of kings, this can be assumed to be the late game. Another example of late game is when one player is being dominated and has about one-third to one-half of the pieces that the other player has.

In the early-game, as another answer mentioned, some combinations are easy to memorize, especially if you play a lot. In the late game, some strong finishes are to be known in general, such as having all enemy pieces in a position where none of them can move (e.g. have your pieces block off your rear end) or sweeping the board with kings.

Mid-stage is more or less defined as the messy stage, where you're making up every move as you go and taking time to decide based on how you think the other player will react and how far ahead you can plan, aiming for the late stage. The two sides are approximately even and players are vying for the most profitable positions.


In Killer Bunnies do you replace a very special card when played? As I understand the rules, you can play a very special card from your hand at any time. However, what I can't tell is whether you then replace that card, or just continue playing,  one card short.

Do you replace it immediately, or do you draw two cards on your next turn?

The rules state that you can play a Very Special card from your hand at any time, even when it's not your go.

The rules also state (order of operations) that at the end of your go you should have 5 cards in your hand and 2 in the run. So you should take a card when you play a Very Special card, although it's not completely clear whether you should do so immediately or wait until the end of your go to do so. Unless you happen to pick up another Very Special card or a Play Immediately card I don't think the timing actually makes any difference.

Anyway, I've always played that you take a replacement card immediately when you play a Very Special card from your hand, it seems the most sensible approach.


What are the important differences for games with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 players? In 7 Wonders you add cards to the game depending on the number of players. So (for example) a 3 player game probably plays somewhat differently than a 5 player game.

What are the most important "facts" for a game with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 players? And how could I remember them?

Which building types (military, civilian, scientific, raw materials, manufactured goods, commercial, guilds) are rare, which are common?

When is a science strategy easy/hard?
When are there enough military structures for everyone, when not?
…

Which resources are rare/common?

When is it viable to try to bury certain resource cards?
…

This article on BGG is probably the definitive guide on differences with different player counts. To summarize some of its points here:

4p features the most basic (brown) resources per player of any player count. You can wait to draft what you need. By contrast, 3p and 7p have the least resources per player, and in those games you should draft the resource-granting cards you need immediately.
4p features the fewest advanced (gray) goods per player; 3p and 6p features the most; 5p has an average number, but they are concentrated in Age 2.
There are the most science (green) cards per player in 3p, followed by 4p. There are the fewest at 6p.
In 3p and 7p, the three science symbols are evenly distributed. In 5p, the symbols are evenly distributed, but there are fewer gears early and more later on. In 4p, there are 6 total tablet cards, 5 compasses, and only 4 gears!
In 3p and 4p, there is exactly one military (red) card per player per Age. In 5p, there is one extra in Age 3. In 6p and 7p, there is one red card "missing" in Age 1, but extras in Ages 2 and 3, and overall more shields total.
There is only one of the powerful Caravansery cards (the yellow wild basic resource card) in 3-4p. One is added in 5p and 6p.
There is only one Forum card (the yellow wild advanced goods card) in 3-5p. One is added in 6p and 7p.
Blue cards are always good and you can never have too many.


If James Baxter gives me a Creeper can I discard it In Adventure Time Fluxx, the James Baxter action card has each player draw a card, and causes all Creepers in play to be discarded.

If my drawn card is a Creeper (which is immediately put on the table and replaced with another card), is it immediately discarded?

If you look at the text on the card you will notice that the instructions are broken up into 3 sections. What this says to me is that first everyone will draw a card and if they get a creeper they will put it into play and draw a replacement card. Once everyone has drawn the card the next section will happen which causes all creepers in play to be discarded. So that will mean any creeper that is drawn as part of this action will also be discarded as part of this action.
If the action was not to discard the creepers already in play it most likely would have come before the draw step or would have been included in the wording of the draw step.

All Players draw a card.
All Creepers in play are immediately discarded
All Hand and Keeper Limit Rules are immediately discarded

Text came from a picture on this site


Card game, off color write-in responses. Ran into this game at a brewery out of state. Can't find it in stores, and internet searches have turned up nothing.

It involves a player drawing a card, and the respondents writing an off-color or silly answer on sheets of paper (that come with the game).

The player then chooses funniest/most creative amongst the responses.

Any help is appreciated!

I submit Balderdash as a possibility. Since the OP doesn't mention what is on the card the player draws, it's hard to say what the game might be. Also Balderdash players aren't directed specifically to be off color, but who isnt?


Is it valid to bid on a cargo with zero coins? In Cargo Noir, when one sends ships to the ports to bid on the cargo there, is it valid to bid zero coins?  The wording of the rules in various places seems to expect that at least one coin is always there, but we couldn't find anything that flat-out says so.

No, a zero coin bid is not valid. This was asked on BGG, and the clarification "no you cannot" is from Eric Hautemont, one of the game designers at Days of Wonder (who produced the game).


Scoring with "Triumphal Arch" and only one Action card in the deck Yesterday my son and I played the "Advanced Introduction" of the Dominion Empires edition. Among other cards, it contains the "Triumphal Arch" whose description states:

  When scoring, 3 VP per copy you have of the 2nd most common Action card among your cards (if it’s a tie, count either (*)).

The rule clarifications include the following text:

  The tie can be for either first or second place: if you had 7 copies each of Villa and Village, you would score 21VP. If you had 7 copies of Villa, then 4 copies each of Village and Wild Hunt, you would score 12VP.

So far, all is clear. However, in our second game, my son focused so much on the Wedding, that in the end he only had exactly one single action card.

We decided to grant him 3 VP for this card, but weren't sure if this was the correct way to do it. Since he didn't have a "second most common" action card and since he didn't have two tying for first place, either, the rules didn't seem clear on how to handle this situation.

Is the "second most common" action card count zero, because there was no tie for first place and nothing for the second place? Or was our way of falling back to the single action card count correct?

It didn't really make much of a difference with just the single card, but in a game where a player only bougt one single type of action card, but had bought 8 of them, the difference between 0 and 24 would be quite significant.

(*) Interestingly enough, in our German version, the translation of the card is slightly different from the English text, it translates back as "if it's a tie, count both" which I initially interpreted in a way that would have counted 7 villas, 4 villages and 4 wild hunts to yield 24VP instead of 12VP.

Most importantly, have fun playing with your son!

For your question, in case there is no second most common Action card in a player's deck, that number would be 0. Or maybe it's non-existent, but you certainly don't count the most common one (that's kind of the strategic point of the card). So your son should have gotten 0 VP from Triumphal Arch in that game.

Another way to think about this conceceptually is that at the end of the game, you write down how many copies you have of each Action card. You then omit then names of the Action cards (so you only have the numbers left), then order those numbers, starting with the highest. Whatever number is in the second spot after the ordering is the number you multiply with 3 to get your VP from Triumphal Arc.

The German translation is wrong in this case. I was confused as well first (not having seen the English text before), thinking you could increase the VP by deliberately producing a tie (say 4x most common Action card, 4x second most common Action).


What are the rules for the card game "High Nines"? A long time ago, my cousin taught me a card game he called "High Nines":

It was a trick-taking game, similar to Euchre, though it used the full card deck.
Trump cards were worth one point, except for the 9s, which were worth nine.
The 2s would stay in the score pile of the person who played them, even if they didn't take the trick.
There was a rule that let you double your score for the round, but it could be turned against you, somehow.

Does this game seem familiar to anyone, and can they point me to a full set of rules for it?

Not official, but at least a start:

  High 9

  Deck of 52 plus 2 Jokers (mark them "Big" and "Little")
  4 players - draw for partners (2 high cards and 2 low cards)
  High card deals
  Deal 9 cards to each player & keep the rest to pass out to the player who gets the highest bid.
  The player to the dealer's left starts the bid anywhere from 9 to 25. Must at least start at 9. Any player can "Shoot the Moon" at the first bid when it comes to their turn. Only the dealer can shoot over. No one else can. The bidder must get all 25 points & you will win the game. If you lose 1 point, then you will lost the game. If you are in the whole or a negative when you "Shoot the Moon", then you will only come to a zero.
  When the bidding starts, each player can bid or pass. When you pass, you are out of the bidding. Highest bidder gets to name trumps.
  Each player throws away all their cards that are not the trump except for the Off-Jack, Big & Little Joker, and off-nine.
  The dealer deals the remaining cards up to 6 per player, then gives the rest to the highest bidder.
  The highest bidder keeps all trumps, including the Off-Jack, Big & Little Joker, and Off-Nine and throws the rest away.
  If the bidder has more than 6 trumps, he/she can pass all over 6 to his partner. Game starts with the bidder. Bidder may start with a trump card or any off card. You must follow suit. If you do not have suit, you can play any card.
  Total of 25 points per hand. Total per game is 52.
  Point cards are: Ace=1, Jack=1, off-Jack=1, Big Joker=1, Little Joker=1, Ten=1, Nine=9, off-Nine=9, Two=1
  Cards catch in this order: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Off-Jack, Big Joker, Little Joker, Ten, Nine, Off-Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two

  From a printed rules with slight modification for formatting & grammar correction


Masters of Venice - On Delivering Guild Orders In the game Masters of Venice, what happen if after I have delivered a Guild Order, and upon drawing a new one, I still have enough goods to meet the newly drawn order?

According to the rules, I still take VP and adjust the prices of good as in my first order. However, do I count the second order as a new separate order (hence perhaps giving me more VP than the first order)?

And what does it meant by in the rules that "You do not get to deliver the order" in such cases?

There's an errata posted on BoardGameGeek that corrects the rules about delivering Guild Orders, and an updated set of rules (from the publisher's site, also available on BGG) which includes the correction. According to the errata and the new rules with the errata included, you do indeed count the second order as a new order, and thus get more VPs than the first gave you.

  • On page 8 under Guild Hall replace the last
  paragraph with the one below:

  IMPORTANT! – If you have just delivered a Guild
  Order, then picked a new Guild Order and happen
  to have the Resources with you to fill it, you may
  turn them in immediately. Adjust prices and Orders,
  and collect VP’s, as described above.

This is also confirmed by the designer in a thread on BoardGameGeek:

  Brian has it correct, the guild orders are placed in front of you to track how many you have completed. The value of the delivery increases for each you deliver. Hence, 3 for the first card delivered, 4 for the second, 5 for the third and 6 thereafter. Let's say you deliver two at the same time, and they happen to be your 2nd and 3rd cards delivered, you would thus receive 9 on that delivery of two cards.

I do not have the original rules before the correction, so I don't know what it said; in particular, in the updated version, I see nothing about "you do not get to deliver the order," so I'm assuming that's something that the updated paragraph has replaced.


Can I Advance an Unrezzed Ice in Netrunner? The rule book specifically prohibits advancing cards that cannot be advanced.

Ice generally cannot be advanced but there are a few exceptions.

Does the exception apply when it's face down?

What I'm asking is: Can you advance an advancable ice that is unrezzed?

Yes, unless otherwise noted on the card text.
I couldn't find this specifically addressed in the FAQ, but it's pretty easy to reason out the answer if you look at all the Ice that can be advanced. For example, several cards have something like this:

  Tyrant can be advanced only while rezzed

This implies that the others can be advanced while unrezzed. To really drive the point home, Wormhole says:

  Wormhole can be advanced and its rez cost is lowered by 3 for each
  advancement token on it.


What card game was played in "Solo: A Star Wars Story"? Han Solo won the Millennium Falcon at the end by playing a card game. What game was that actually?

The card game is called Corellian Spike, a variation of sabacc.


Can I activate Vehicle abilities without Crewing them first? Cultivator's Caravan is a vehicle with:

{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Crew 3.

Can I tap Cultivator's Caravan for mana of any color without providing creatures to crew it?

Yes, that works perfectly fine.

What the Crew ability of a Vehicle does is turning the artifact into an artifact creature.

  Crew N: Tap any number of untapped creatures you control with total power N or
  greater: This permanent becomes an artifact creature until end of
  turn.

As you see, it doesn't say anything about the abilities of the artifact. Cultivator's Caravan is an artifact with 2 abilities.

"{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool"
"Crew 3"

And you can use each of those abilities like you could use the ability of a normal artifact.

Do note however, that if you use the Crew ability to turn Cultivator's Caravan into a creature during the same turn during which you played it, then after the Crew ability resolves, the Vehicle is now affected by summoning sickness and cannot attack or activate its "{T}:"-abilities, including its "{T}: Add one mana to your mana pool". After the Vehicle ceases to be a creature at end of turn, you may use the ability again even if the Vehicle hasn't been under your control since your last upkeep.

  302.6 A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. ...


How fun is The Mind with two players? I'm deciding to buy The Mind, but before that, I wish to know how fun is playing this game with only two players? Is it worth buying if you can only play with two players most of the time?
I'm asking this, because the best way to play this game is 4 players according to BoardGameGeek.

This is subjective, but I think the game is fun with two players.

It is fun when you really get in sync with each other.


In Arkham Horror, can my investigator only use Dragon's Eye on the drawn gate if she is the 'first player'? Dragon's Eye says

  Any Phase: Exhaust and lose 1 Sanity after drawing a gate or location card to draw a new card in its place

Does this mean the investigator owning it must be the 'first player' in order to affect the drawn gate card?

No, this item does not affect the gate tokens as they are placed by the Mythos Cards.

It is referring to gate encounter cards that you draw when you are in an other world location.

Also, the rules contains the contents of the game and the gate cards are listed separately to the gate tokens and mythos cards


How does mana cost reduction interact with colored mana in a cost? My friends and I are relatively new to magic, and we're confused as to how mana cost reduction works — i.e. the effects which say something costs X less mana.

Can mana cost reduction reduce the colored portion of a mana cost, or can it only reduce the uncolored portion? If so, how does it interact with the mana cost?

I think some examples will make this clearer:

Can Nemesis of Mortals potentially be free to cast, or does it always cost at least 2 green mana?
Suppose I have Animar, Soul of Elements with two counters, meaning creature spells cost {2} less to cast. If I cast Lazav, Dimir Mastermind:

Does Lazav now cost less than UUBB to cast?
Can I choose to pay only UU to cast him, and let the discount take away the BB portion of the cost?
Can I choose to pay UB?

If I have Animar out with two counters, and I choose to cast Nemesis of Mortals instead, can I discount the forest mana and pay only the remaining 4 of any color?

Mana cost changes affect specific elements of a mana cost only. If a reduction says “Spells cost {1} less to cast” this will only affect generic portions of a mana cost. If a reduction says “Spells cost {U} less to cast” it can make spells cost {U} less or a corresponding amount of generic mana.

A good illustrative example is Khalni Hydra, which has a mana cost reduction specifying colored mana symbols (in this case green). This mana reduction can pay for generic mana costs (in the event an additional mana cost is added by another effect). However, the same is not true for generic cost reductions paying for colored mana symbols. This behaviour functions in exactly the same way as generally paying for spells, you can pay generic mana costs with any color of mana (or colorless) but you cannot pay color costs with colorless mana.

To summarise, Colored mana costs can only be reduced by effects that specify they will reduce that color of mana. Generic costs can be reduced by colored mana cost reductions OR colorless ones. All of this functions just like spending mana to cast spells.

To answer your specific examples:

Nemesis of mortals will always cost at least 2 green mana.
Lazav's mana cost will be unchanged. The mana cost reduction is colorless only, and he has no colorless mana in his casting cost.
You could discount 2 from the generic cost, but you would still have to pay the green portion of the mana cost. If you have 2 creatures in the graveyard and Animar with 2 counters, you will get a total mana cost reduction of 4 colorless.


Rummikub - Maximum number of tiles in hand When playing Rummikub, is there a maximum number of tiles that can be held in hand?
Something that I have noticed is while playing online, players just keep picking up tiles until all the tiles are gone and then lay them all down.
It just seems to defeat the intent of the game when that happens. there is no playing off other players, no shuffling tiles around to make new sets.
It feels like its not in the spirit of the game. It doesnt make for a fun game. So I just wondered, if there is a limit to how many tiles a player can have in their hand? or is what they are doing considered ok.

No, there is no maximum. I'll link the rules, but there's nothing to quote, as there is no limit.
Tiles in hand count against you, so there is some risk involved in this strategy.

The first player who manages to play all their tiles wins. The other players add up the numbers on the tiles remaining in their racks, counting jokers as 30. They each score minus the total of their remaining tiles, and the winner scores plus the total of all the losers' tiles.


Does 'shuffle your library' mandate that the cards actually change order? According to the comprehensive rules, the definition of shuffling is thus:

  701.16a To shuffle a library or a face-down pile of cards, randomize the cards within it so that no player knows their order.

If you use a proxy (an honest, third party entity) to search your deck for a desired card (let's say you used Demonic Tutor), then when the proxy has located and presented you with the card, you still have no knowledge of the order of the cards. [note 1]

Since as far as you or your opponent(s) know, the deck is entirely randomized, is it necessary to go through the act of physically moving cards around? It seems that it already meets the requirements of a randomized deck. Sure, the cards are in the same order as they were before, but since there was no prior knowledge, there is no present knowledge. [note 2]

Is it strictly necessary to go through the physical process of shuffling if you use a proxy to dig through your deck?

note 1: This assumes there were no previous 'place on top of your library' or similar effects.

note 2: This assumes your proxy will yield no information or provide assistance based on the knowledge gained by looking in your deck.

As Jefromi points out, the deck is not left in a randomised state unless there's only one of the card being removed in it.

Now, you could pick one of the matching cards at random, but that becomes complicated and error prone. (What if there are three matching card, but the 3rd party only sees two?) I would not accept this.

Original post follows.

In what circumstance would there be a neutral 3rd party handling your deck? But ok, let's assume that's somehow the case. From the tournament rules:

  Randomization is defined as bringing the deck to a state where no player can have any information regarding the order or position of cards in any portion of the deck.

So technically, it is randomised. I'm assuming you okayed it with your opponent, otherwise, the following could apply:

  If the opponent does not believe the player made a reasonable effort to randomize his or her deck, the opponent must notify a judge.

That said, (emphasis mine)

  At Competitive and Professional REL tournaments, players are required to shuffle their opponents’ decks after their owners have shuffled them. The Head Judge can require this at Regular REL tournaments as well.

Given this, a judge may insist you are also required to actually shuffle the deck. Why don't you ask your judge since it really comes down to what he thinks.

Quotes come from the Tournament Rules. They apply to Competitive and Pro REL, but that's the only place your question really matters.


A question about Mana Abilities and Activated abilities, then a question about a combo So I just want to make sure I understand the following two things about Activated Abilities and Mana Abilities correctly.

An Activated Ability is any ability a card has that is written as "[Cost]: [Effect]".
Mana Abilities are special types of Activated Abilities that don't use the stack and can't be reacted to and spells like "Quash" and "Stifle" can't be used to counter these effects either.

So if I am correct on my understanding of the two points above, then am I correct in thinking that if you combo Karn, the Great Creator (KTGC) and Mycosynth Lattice (ML) then you would effectively prevent your opponents from being able to tap for mana as the passive of KTGC states that "Activated abilities of artifacts your opponents control can't be activated." and the first ability of ML states "All Permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types." or am misunderstanding something here?

Yes, this is all essentially correct.

First, the format of activated abilities is defined in rule 602.1:

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

Then rule 501 and its subrules describe what counts as mana abilites:

  605.1. Some activated abilities and some triggered abilities are mana abilities, which are subject to special rules. Only abilities that meet either of the following two sets of criteria are mana abilities, regardless of what other effects they may generate or what timing restrictions (such as “Activate this ability only any time you could cast an instant”) they may have.

  605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t require a target (see rule 115.6), it could add mana to a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and it’s not a loyalty ability. (See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”)
  605.1b A triggered ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t require a target (see rule 115.6), it triggers from the resolution of an activated mana ability (see rule 605.1a) or from mana being added to a player’s mana pool, and it could add mana to a player’s mana pool when it resolves.

Mana abilities can be either activated abilities or triggered abilities that trigger from the activation of activated mana abilities. The activated mana abilities are like other activated abilities in most ways, and there is no reason that Karn's ability would not affect them. So you are correct,  Karn, the Great Creator and Mycosynth Lattice together prevent your opponents from activating any mana abilities.