How does Imprinting and the affinity work together? I'm currently working on a artifact deck (casual). I am thinking of imprinting Somber Hoverguard on Soul Foundry. But how do I dertermine the imprint cost, and will the activation cost of Soul Foundry change as the numbers of artifacts change on my battlefield?

You don't get any benefits from Affinity.

The activation cost of Soul Foundry's activated ability is based on the Converted Mana Cost (CMC) of the imprinted card, and Somber Hoverguard's CMC is 6.

  202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.

  202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. [...]

Affinity doesn't affect the mana cost. It's a cost reduction that reduces the cost to cast the spell, not its mana cost. To paraphrase 601.2e,

  cost to cast a spell
  = mana cost or alternative cost
  + additional costs and cost increases
  - cost reductions


Do I effectively lose two opportunities to have an encounter when I get arrested by patrols? When I get arrested by patrols during the movement phase, I get moved to the jail and am told to become delayed and skip the entire next turn. Does this mean I miss this turn's encounter phase and next turn's as well, merely standing up during the movement phase of that next turn and sitting idle in the polic station? This would mean effectively sitting out of two potential encounters (granted you could say not quite two, as the first turn would sometimes simply be spent in the streets, not necessarily a location).

Delayed means two things

The investigator cannot move during his turn
The investigator does not receive movement points during his turn

Everything else is still on. You'd get your normal encounter for the area you are in, you can trade items, etc.

Arrested is worse.
Yes, you would miss your entire next turn, including the encounter.  Thereby effectively losing two encounters.


What's a good way to shuffle sleeved cards? I usually use a riffle shuffle with unsleeved cards. Riffle shuffling sleeved cards however is, uh, slightly disastrous as cards frequently get caught in the sleeve openings.

What's a good way to shuffle sleeved cards? i
Is there's good riffle technique?

While cards are equally thick across the surface, cards in sleeves are not. They get thinner near the edges. This makes for a very easy faro shuffle.

But generally, just make sure you're shuffling the cards along their long edges. This prevents cards falling out of their sleeves and sleeves intertwining.


In Settlers of Catan: Explorers and Pirates, who gets the gold when the pirate is paid? In SoC: E&P, one can pay the pirate gold in order to move one's ships. Who receives that gold? The pirate owner or the bank?

From the Explorers and Pirates rules under the Paying Tribute to the Pirate section (page 11):

  The tribute costs 1 gold, and you pay it to the supply.

From earlier in the rules, in the Preparation section (page 6):

  Place the resource cards and dice from the base Catan game beside the game board to form a supply area.

So it is paid to the supply, which is commonly referred to as the bank.


Can a Colorless commander use cards with the {C} symbol on them? Hope of Ghirapur has no assigned color, but I want to use it as a general. Can I use cards that are colorless that require Wastes in the deck, for example Deceiver of Form?

Quoting from the Commander rules:

  Cards in a deck may not have any colours in their color identity which are not shared with the commander of the deck. (The identity of each card in the deck must be a subset of the Commander's)

Colorless isn't a color, and since Deceiver of Form doesn't have any additional color symbols in its rules text, you are allowed to play it.

Examples of cards you're not allowed to play in a deck with a colorless color identity Commander:

Culling Drone (black color identity because of its mana cost, regardless of Devoid)
Boros Signet (red and white color identity because of mana symbols in the rules text)
Elbrus, the Binding Blade (black color identity because of its color indicator on the back face)

You also won't be able to use any lands with a basic land type, such as a Swamp, due to this rule:

  Lands whose type includes swamp, island, plains, forest and/or mountain (basic lands, shocklands, dual lands, Shadowmoor special-basics, etc) also have the corresponding color identity. (...)


When do spells go to the graveyard? Suppose I have a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy with 3 cards in my graveyard. My opponent casts Lightning Bolt on Jace. Can I attempt to Path to Exile my Jace, and then in response to my own Path, use Jace's ability to loot so I have the 3 cards, Path and the newly discarded card in the graveyard, so that Jace flips, and Bolt and Path are both countered because they lost their target?

No, you can't do that.

Spells don't go to the graveyard until they're done resolving:

  608.2k As the final part of an instant or sorcery spell’s resolution, the spell is put into its owner’s graveyard. As the final part of an ability’s resolution, the ability is removed from the stack and ceases to exist.

Of course in your situation, you're hoping for Path to Exile to be in the graveyard before it even starts to resolve. If you do something "in response" to casting Path to Exile, that means Path to Exile is still on the stack. The stack is its own game zone; spells that are there can't be in the graveyard (or any other zone).

So this definitely doesn't work. You'll loot with Jace, have four cards in the graveyard (so he won't transform), then Path to Exile will exile him (now you have 5 cards in your graveyard, but too late), then your opponent's Lightning Bolt will have no target and be countered.


Was I unlucky or outplayed in Afrika Korps? This is a reference to an Avalon Hill game I played decades ago as "Rommel." My opponent, "Chuck" was one of the best players in our group, I was considered above average, but an underdog compared to Chuck. (This evaluation applied to chess, monopoly and other games, not just AK.)

Playing England, Chuck left a token force in Tobruk, and dared me (Rommel) to capture it. I did so in June, 1941 (basically the first opportunity), using my whole force. He then besieged me in Tobruk, counting on the mountains to double the defense value of his forces. I had two turns to roll for resupply. I would fail only if I rolled a one or two (on a six sided die) BOTH times, one chance in nine. I failed, lost the Afrika Korps, and the game. We had discussed the possible outcomes during the dare so I went in with eyes wide open.

Do you like those (presumed) 8 to 1 odds for Rommel? Did Chuck know what he was doing when he made the dare? Even if this is the case, was my strategy a reasonable do or die strategy that gave me the best chance to win against a better player?

I would give the most weight to answers from people who have actually played the game, but would consider answers based on real life. E.g. "Tobruk was such a major objective historically that it's worth staking everything on it, if the game mirrors real life." Or, "you needed to do something before England receives reinforcements in November."

More tidbits about the game. 1) The British have more combat factors overall. 2) The Germans have more combat factors until November, 1941 when the British receive heavy reinforcements. 3) The Germans have fewer, but more powerful units (e.g. tank divisions with a value of 7, versus a maximum of 4 for British armor, and 3 for British infantry. 4) The British have "automatic" supply, the Germans have to roll for  supplies.

Both actually.

You were unlucky to not roll for a supply in time to avoid supply death;
but the first supply to arrive was only keeping you alive, not allowing you to  use the greater mobility of AK to effect.
I have never seen, and have difficulty imagining, a situation where a "token force" in Tobruk would have prevented you from using one or two 2-2-4's to restrict the Brit from bottling you up.
Even if you rolled supply at better than the expected rate, I suspect the loss of time you suffered from this escapade was sufficient for the Brits to land their November '41 reinforcements and wall up Alexandria.

Great game - I played it extensively in High school, and occasionally in the many years since. Have you checked the archive of The General for the many fine articles on this game and its strategy and tactics? The General Archive

Update:

The key advantage that the Axis have early in the game is speed. A successful Axis player must use this to compress the British maneuverability early on to ensure a win. Allowing yourself to be bottled up in Tobruk is an anti- pattern for the Axis player, regardless of the importance of Tobruk.


Are two Indestructible creatures safe from each other, or do they somehow cancel each other out and destroy each other? My friend attacked with Colossus of Akros (Monstrous 20/20 indestructible) and I blocked with my Xenagos, God of Revels (6/5 indestructible). I believe that our creatures are safe since indestructible prevents them from dying by combat damage.

My friend though believes that the indestructible ability would cancel each other out and his Colossus would destroy my Xenagos. Are there any rules that explains what happens in this situation?

No, nothing like your friend's idea happens. Indestructible simply means they can't be destroyed, period. They can be exiled, returned to their owner's hand, sacrificed, have their toughness reduced to zero, shuffled into their owner's library, or even turned into frogs, but if anything tries to destroy them, including lethal damage, it just doesn't happen.

  702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren't destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).

There's no secret "...unless..." clause in the rules like your friend believes. The only way to actually destroy an indestructible creature is to make it stop being indestructible; usually that means causing it to lose all its abilities, like if you turn it into a frog!


In Hearts, impossible to play first hand? I understand that this is extremely unlikely, but what happens in a game of hearts if you only have point cards in your hand after the deal. For instance, what if your hand is every heart in the deck, or 12 of the hearts and the queen of spades. The rules state you cannot play a card on the first hand, but is that waved in this specific situation? If so, there is also no way to play without revealing your hand to the rest of the players, so what would happen in this situation?

Both the rules about not leading a point card until hearts have been broken, and not being allowed to lead a point card, are not applicable if you have no other choice.

There's no one official rulebook to point to for hearts, like most other card games. But various sources such as here and here all say the same thing:

  There are two exceptions to play to be aware of:

    You may not play a point (a Heart or ♠Q) on the first trick of a hand

    You may not lead a point card until a Heart or ♠Q has been dumped on a prior trick (a game option can change this to only a Heart being dumped; see Options, below)

    In each case, you may play or lead a point if you have no alternative.

You do not have to show your hand to "prove" that this is the case; Hearts, like most card games, often has restrictions on what you can play (you must follow suit if you can); yet when you can't follow suit you don't show your hand to prove that your play was legal. If you illegally play this way, players will likely notice later when you play a different card that you should have played previously.

Also, it is worth noting that the rule about not being allowed to play a point card on the first trick of a hand is not universally used. It is not mentioned at all on some Hearts rules pages, and the second link I provided above mentions it as

  Some play that is illegal to play points on the very first trick, unless of course you have you have nothing but penalty cards in your hand.


What happens if a blocking creature with flying loses flying? Lets say that both  my opponent and I both have a 1/1 white flying spirit. Now lets say I declare my spirit as an attacker, and my opponent declares their spirit as a blocker.  After they declare their spirit as a blocker I cast Turn to Frog, which causes their spirit to lose all abilities and become a 1/1 blue frog until end of turn.  What happens?

Your creature is still blocked. The blue frog will still deal damage.
If you cast Turn to Frog after attackers are declared, but before blockers are declared, your spirit can't be blocked by that creature.

509.1b The defending player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't block, or that it can't block unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of blockers is illegal.
A restriction may be created by an evasion ability (a static ability an attacking creature has that restricts what can block it). If an attacking creature gains or loses an evasion ability after a legal block has been declared, it doesn't affect that block. Different evasion abilities are cumulative.
Example: An attacking creature with flying and shadow can't be blocked by a creature with flying but without shadow.

The check for evasion ability blocking restrictions is made before blockers are declared, but is not made again. If the attacker gains or loses evasion abilities it doesn't matter. It's not explicitly mentioned in that rule, but it logically follows that if the defender gains or loses the ability to block flying creatures after the block is declared, it doesn't matter.


How come this solution to Tsumego is working? From the application Tsumego Pro, I found this problem (on Today's daily):

$$ ------------------
$$ . . . X . . X O . |
$$ . . . O X . X O . |
$$ . . . O O X X O . |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

The application suggests the following solution:

$$ Problem Solved
$$ ------------------
$$ . . 2 . 4 1 X O . |
$$ . . . O X . X O . |
$$ . . . O O X X O 3 |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

How come this is solved? What should be black next move?

(I'm a beginner, so take anything I say with a grain of salt).

Two things about Tsumegos (which I actually learned on this very site):

You're looking for the best possible solution, which is not always "black lives unconditionally". If, like it seems here, black cannot make two eyes, live in seki, or run out, then living in ko is the best solution.
You should not make any assumptions what the rest of the board looks like (a tsumego is a local situation, but it's not meant to be understood as "the rest of the board is empty"). In particular, the situation elsewhere on the board might just favor black, in which case black can live.

If black has a good ko threat somewhere, but white does not, then this happens after your second screenshot:

$$ 1: ko threat, 2: response, 4: (ignored) ko threat
$$ ------------------
$$ . . O 3 O X X O . |
$$ . . . O X . X O 5 |
$$ . . . O O X X O X |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

After white now takes back the ko, black kills the three white stones and is out, but even more -- as far as I can tell it can actually make two eyes right here (if white 6 elsewhere, then either 8 at 6 instead, leaving the same result at what's described below, or black fills the ko with 9 and makes a second eye that way):

$$ ------------------
$$ . . O X 6 X X O 7 |
$$ . . . O X . X O X |
$$ . . . O O X X O X |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

If white now plays the vital point at 8, black plays 9, and a and b are miai to make the false eye true:

$$ ------------------
$$ . . O . O X X a X |
$$ . . . O X . X 8 X |
$$ . . . O O X X b X |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X 9 |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

If white plays 8 anywhere else, black takes that point instead, and has two eyes (even if white plays a and b in 8 and 10, black takes with c, after which a would make the false eye true, and b would create a third eye, so black lives in either case):

$$ 8: anywhere
$$ ------------------
$$ . . O . O X X . X |
$$ . . . O X . X 9 X |
$$ . . . O O X X . X |
$$ . . . . O O O X a |
$$ . . . . . . . X b |
$$ . . . . . . X . c |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

One thing I didn't address was the possibility for white to play 4 locally like this:

$$ ------------------
$$ . . O X 6 X X O . |
$$ . . . O X . X O . |
$$ . . . O O X X O X |
$$ . . . . O O O X 4 |
$$ . . . . . . . X 5 |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

so maybe one black ko threat isn't enough.

Anyway, given enough ko threats, black can live. That's not as good as living unconditionally, but if the latter is not possible, a ko is the best result.


How do damage increases and redirects interact? I ran into a weird situation today. I was playing Absolute Zero on Insula Primalis. Two obsidian fields were drawn:

Obsidian Field
Increase all Damage dealt by 1. At the end of their turn, 1 player may discard 2 cards to destroy this card.

I had the Isothermic Transducer in play.

Isothermic Transducer
When Absolute Zero is dealt Fire Damage, Absolute Zero deals 1 Target that much Cold Damage.

Now my power is to deal either cold or fire damage to myself. So how do these two interact? It seems like one of two different things should happen:

I deal myself 1 + 2 == 3 fire damage, and then deal 1 target 3 cold damage. This is what I ended up doing. Or

I I deal myself 1 + 2 == 3 fire damage, and then deal 1 target 3 + 2 == 5 cold damage.

2 is what I would like to do, but this seems kind of cheaty. Is this really how these two cards interact?

Isothermic Transducer is not a redirect

Isothermic Tranducer is a triggered effect that deals damage.  Like any other instance of damage, it will be boosted +2 by the two Obsidian Fields.

The amount of damage that Absolute Zero (AZ) deals is calculated from the amount of damage AZ takes - that is, the amount of life he lost.  The initial number stated by the ability dealing damage before increases and decreases doesn't matter, only the final number.

So if AZ tries to deal himself 1 Fire damage, it will be boosted +2 and he will take 3 Fire damage.  Then Isothermic Transducer will react and he will deal 3 damage +2 and deal 5 cold damage to the target of his choice.

(If he choose to deal that damage to himself and he has his Null-point Calibration Unit in play, he will heal 5 hp)

There are true redirects in the game, such as Visionary's Decoy Projection, Baron Blade's Elemental Redistributor, and Legacy's Lead from the Front.  For a redirection effect, once you have determined who the damage is finally pointing at, recalculate the damage increases and decreases from scratch between the source and the final target.

For example, Obsidian Field is in play, Legacy had Fortitude (-1 damage taken) and Lead from the Front, and Tempest has Localized Hurricane (+1 damage taken) in play.  Baron Blade tries to deal Tempest 1 damage.  That would be 3 damage (+1 from the Hurricane, +1 from Obsidian Field), but Legacy redirects that damage to himself.  So we recalculate from scratch as 1 (base damage) + 1 (Nemesis with Baron Blade) - 1 (Fortitude) + 1 (Obsidian Field) = 2 damage taken.  The fact that Tempest would have taken 3 damage is irrelevant.*

Well, mostly irrelevant.  There are a few redirects that only trigger for certain amounts of damage.  But once the redirect has been triggered, it doesn't matter if the final calculated damage is different from the amount that triggered the redirection.


How Do You Catch A Player Who Takes A Quick Lead In Alhambra? I really enjoying playing Alhambra, but I'm a bit worried that my strategy may be overly simplistic.  Basically, I play according to the following principles:

Try not to build buildings unless I can pay exactly for them, except in emergencies
Prefer to pick up several small currency cards over one large one
Prefer to pick up a currency card that will help me buy a building for exact money
Walls are good, staying competitive in different colours is good, taking too big a lead in buildings of any one colour is unnecessary

And these rules of thumb work pretty well to give me a fair chance of winning the games of Alhambra I play.

What I don't know is, what do in a game where the above strategy isn't winning the game for me?  I'm playing a game online at the moment where one player just raced ahead of everyone else really early one.  I guess his starting currency cards were a really good match for the  buildings that were available early and all his tiles were unusually cooperative in allowing him to build a really good wall.  (Either that or he's just a much better Alhambra player than the rest of us - always a possibility!)

So I'm finding my above strategy isn't very enjoyable in a game where a player is miles ahead.  Therefore: is there a way of adapting my Alhambra methods to aggressively "go after" another player who is doing rather too well?  Or is Alhambra just one of those unfortunate games where a player developing an early lead is overwhelmingly likely to win?

From my experience, early leads in Alhambra tend to not indicate victories.  In most games in my circles I am last after the first scoring round, and then win the game.

My strategies:

First scoring round is all about walls.  These walls if played right
will make you points two more times in the game.  The color points
are meager, and the game will change quite a bit before the next
scoring round.
Before first scoring, stacking up on money can be more useful than buying.
Small exact change is nice, but don't undervalue big money.  Having to later drop 4 cards to pay for something loses all the advantage of taking two consecutive actions.  In a perfect world you have some 8s and 9s, and some 1s and 2s to adjust them.
Buy almost always for exact change, but don't feel bad taking something for too much if you need it (if it's an emergency).
The endgame grab of tiles can decide the winner.  Be ready for it when taking money late game.
If you can, memorise EVERYTHING.  There is actually no unknown information.  You have seen every card in every player's hand.


Can a tapped creature attack or block? If I tap a creature to use its activated ability before combat, can I use the same creature to block or attack on the same turn?

My guess: you cannot block and/or attack with a tapped creature on the same turn.

According to the rules, tapped creatures cannot attack or block.  The only time that it matters whether or not they are tapped is when they assign to attack or block.  This means:

If you tap the creature before combat and have a way to untap the creature again, still before combat (such as Thousand-Year Elixir), it will be able to attack or block (it only matters that it is untapped when you assign it to combat).
If you tap your opponent's creature before combat (such as with Trip Noose), that creature will be unable to attack unless they have some means to untap it.
If a creature has been assigned as an attacker or blocker and subsequently becomes tapped, it will still be in combat (so you can block with Orim, Samite Healer and then tap it to use it's ability after you have blocked and it will still be a blocking creature).  This is consistent with the fact that creatures normally tap when attacking.
Because creatures normally tap when attacking, you cannot both attack with a creature on your turn and block with it on your opponent's turn (exceptions: if the creature has vigilance or you have a way to untap it).

Also of note: Masako the Humorless.


How is Test of Faith resolved? This is the scenario: He attacks with a 4/4, and I block with a 1/1. I cast Test of Faith on my 1/1.

I say his creature dies, because I block three damage and become a 4/4, killing him, but he says that the +1/+1 counters don't come into play until all damage has been effected, meaning the 4th damage point would kill my creature.

Who is right?

P1 controls A: 4/4 attacker
P2 controls B: 1/1 blocker

Since Test of Faith has been cast and has resolved (probably during the declare blockers step, after declaring your blocker), it is not on the stack. When it resolves it creates a prevention shield that floats around, waiting for damage to prevent or the end of the turn to expire.

The declare attackers and blockers steps finish and the combat damage step begins:

P1 announces how attacking creatures assign damage (in this case, the only option is 4 damage from A to B).
P2 announces how blocking creatures assign damage (in this case, the only option is 1 damage from B to A).
Combat damage is dealt simultaneously as originally assigned, so your creature will only ever deal 1 damage in this combat even if its power changes now.
Creature A takes 1 damage; creature B would take 4, but the Test of Faith shields change that: 3 damage is prevented, and 3 (permanent) +1/+1 counters are put on Creature B and it takes 1 damage.
Even if the 4th point of damage lands before the counters are put down, neither player gains priority and so state-based effects (such as a creature dying) are not checked before the counters are placed. For more on this point, see thesunneversets' answer below.
Both creatures are 4/4 and have taken 1 damage this turn.

The combat damage step ends and the end of combat step begins.

Result: neither creature dies; neither of you were correct!

See: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Combat_Phase


Close to winning means no go for you? A long while back I was playing crib with a friend, and his crib board (I might be imagining things here, but I'm fairly certain) was shaded in the 118, 119, and 120 point area.  This three-point zone before the "I won!" hole was a special area within which you were no longer allowed to peg a "go" point.  You could peg a go into the zone, but once you were there you needed to get your winning points from some (any!) other source.

I didn't see mention of this 'no-go zone' in the rules, so is this just a common variant? Or did I managed to get my leg pulled by someone who had penciled a shaded area onto their board?

Short answer: There is no such rule in cribbage and your friend owes you a drink (and 120 pts in your next game)

Even among variants of the game, I've never heard of this rule.  The closest I could come is a variation where in order to win you must peg out exactly.  But even then, Go's are allowed (and encouraged as it's amazingly difficult to get a 1 otherwise).

Sorry you got hoodwinked, but kudos to your friend for his attempt.


Ticket to Ride United Kingdom, should the technology cards be in a stack or do we get to choose? I find the rules very unclear in how the technology cards should be used. It is not mentioned that they should be in a stack with which players get to buy the card on top of the stack.
But it is neither explicitly said that the technology cards may be bought of our choosing. I figured that there are so many it may become a complex and players would have to commit the different cards to memory before being able to play the game.
So do we get to buy those tech cards we want, or are we depended on whatever the stack pops up?

As further evidence all cards are on display,  This image is taken from the official app where for U.K. map the tech cards are all displayed and the player can select any they can pay for.


Does adding a +1/+1 counter count as "gaining attack?" The Mystique Main Character has the following Level Up Power:

Bitter Fury
Level Up (10) - Whenever Mystique gains ATK, she gains that much XP.

The rules have this to say about +1/+1 counters:

Many effects put +1/+1 of -1/-1 counters on characters. These numbers alter a character's ATK and DEF until something removes the counters.

Does adding a +1/+1 counter to Mystique cause her to "gain attack," which  triggers her Level Up Power?

From the FAQ at VsSystem2PCG.AlterVista.org, regarding Mystique's Bitter Fury:

Question

  Does adding counters count as her gaining ATK? What about Trickster God switching her ATK/DEF, would she gain 5 xp as she turns into a 6/1?

Answer

  Yes and Yes.


Is there any card game where the cards' back color is meaningful? Many card games are played using a double deck of 52+2 cards where the back colors are different (e.g., in Italy it's customary to have red and blue).

Is there any game, played with such a traditional set of cards, where the back's color is meaningful?

E.g., if I play a blue 7 of Spades the outcome could be different from playing a red 7 of Spades.

PS new to the site, I probably need help with tagging...

Nertz requires a different color back (or back design) for each player to determine the score at the end of the game, so two-player Nertz would match your description.

  Each player (team) scores one point for each of their own cards that they managed to play into the common area. To determine this, the foundation piles have to be sorted out according to the owners of the cards - this is why it is necessary that the decks have different backs.


Calculating luck as a factor in board games? I´m hooked on Carcassonne but feel that after you learned the basic tactics it is mostly a game of luck. This has me wondering, when designing board games how would one go about calculating the luck factor? Are there any known good methods?

A reasonable empirical measure of luck is the probability that the best player can beat a good player in a given game.  So if you can get data about a large player population (I have done this with Race for the Galaxy), you can get an implicit measure by looking at the Elo rating difference at various skill percentiles.

On the other hand, this only tells you about the amount of luck in the game as a whole, not in a particular game.


Gate and monster appear when returning to Arkham from Other world A gate and a monster appear when returning back to Arkham from Other world.

I want to close the first gate which I came from, so I wait a round.

Does the other gate draw me in next round or can I close the first gate before the other gate draws me in?

I think the "Gate and a monster" effect still needs to follow the basic rules on placing a gate. This means if you are at a location with an Elder Sign, the gate doesn't open, and if you are at a location with an open gate, then a monster surge happens.

So, you are on a location with an open gate, and you have explored it. A gate opens in your location. This means a monster surge happens, and no second gate.


Question about mana. My friend and I are new to Magic and we're in disagreement about something. I'm going to describe the situation:

I have six mana cards on the field. I have laid down a creature on the battlefield, say it costs three mana.
Do I
(1) Tap the three mana that's detailed on the creature's card? Or not tap it? Is it just simply in my pool? I'm not attacking at this point, only laying it down.
(2) When I attack with a creature, or use a spell or instant, do I not  tap (as in turn to the side) the mana that is detailed on that specific card?

Am v confuse. V confuse indeed.

First, you cannot have mana on the battlefield. Mana is something that only exists in your mana pool after being generated (usually by tapping a land, though there are other things that can do this too like Sol Ring or Dark Ritual or Elvish Mystic). Now for your questions:

You pay for a spell when you cast it, so if you are casting a Gray Ogre you would need to generate 3 mana (1 red and 2 of any kind). You would generate this mana by tapping lands in most cases.
You do not need to pay any mana for a creature to attack (unless an effect like Propaganda requires you to).

From the MTG Quick Start Guide
Casting spells:

You must pay mana for each of these symbols in order to cast Shivan Dragon. The symbol {R} means one red mana. The symbol {4} means four mana of any kind. So you have to pay two red mana and four mana of any kind to pay this cost.
When you want to pay a mana cost, tap (turn sideways) the necessary lands on the battlefield. This shows that you’ve used those lands to produce mana.

Attacking:

During your turn, you decide which of your creatures, if any, will attack. You can’t attack with a creature if it’s tapped or if it entered the battlefield this turn. You have one combat phase in the middle of your turn, and all the creatures you decide to attack with attack at the same time.
Once you’ve decided which of your creatures are attacking, tap those creatures. Your tapped creatures, like your tapped lands, will untap at the beginning of your next turn.


Phase 10 - Can you hit on the same turn as playing a phase? Reading the rules it states that you must have a phase before you can "hit" on other people's phases.

That said, do you have to have that phase at the start of your turn? Or can you play a phase, and then immediately hit the other player's phase?

The rules seem to make it seem like you can, but that would make playing your phase first the least advantageous, since all the players after you would get a chance to hit on your phases after they play their own (and you didn't get to hit anywhere because you were first)

I don't have the rules in front of me but I have always played that you could play on other players right away.

I could see that argument in a 2 player game that going down second would have an advantage but if both players are playing that way it is more likely that your opponent will just go out when they put down their phase and therefore stopping you from playing your phase and sticking you with a lot of points.  I would argue it better to move on to the next phase and get a small amount of points then not to go down at all.


Canasta Melding with insufficent points Opponent melded and at same time picked the discards. Subsequently she finds out she has too few points to meld and therefore picks up her meld and returns the discards. I believe at that point the ten point penalty is applied.
On the same turn she then picks a joker and can meld if the ten point penalty is not applicable. It is her belief that since she picked the joker on the same turn, no penalty is applicable. I believe that the penalty is incurred because she had to pick up her meld and at that time she had no other cards in her hand to add to the meld to reach the required point total.

Is there a set of rules addressing this issue?

If playing with the 10 point penalty, then the penalty would be incurred in this case.

First of all, the 10 point penalty is not a universal rule. Out of many different sources of Canasta rules, I only found two that mention a 10 point penalty for an illegal meld.

  If you put down an initial meld that doesn’t meet the minimum point requirement, you can put down additional melds on that same turn to make up the required total without penalty. You can also take back your attempt, but the minimum total you have to meet the next time you try goes up by 10 points — quite a severe penalty.

(https://www.dummies.com/games/card-games/canasta/playing-canasta-making-the-first-meld-for-your-partnership/)

And

  If a player melds fewer cards than the minimum count for his first meld, he may either add additional cards to the meld(s) until they reach the minimum count, or he may withdraw them, in which the minimum count increases by 10 points. If the opponents do not catch the error until after they've drawn, then the initial meld stands.

(http://www.rummy-games.com/rules/canasta.html)

Although the wording on the first one is not completely clear; the second one is clearer and sounds like it is meaning to say the same thing: That the only way to avoid the penalty is if you can just add to your illegal meld to make it legal. If you have to actually undo your meld, then you take the penalty.

For reference, here are 3 other websites with Canasta rules that do not mention any 10 point penalty:

https://www.bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/canasta/
https://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canasta#Picking_up_the_discard_pile


Is a spell with split mana in its cost a multicolored spell? Say I play a Noggle Bandit (or any card with split mana in its cost). Does its color depend on what mana I use to play it, or is it always both red and blue? It seems a little weird that this card would return Aurora Eidolon from my graveyard to my hand AND be able to block red creatures with intimidate if I only paid blue mana for it, but I highly doubt that it would 'remember' the mana-color used to play it. Likewise, Reaper King would always be 5 colors no matter how I pay its cost, right?

A card's color is all colors contained in its mana cost, be it regular mana symbols and/or hybrid and/or Phyrexian mana, plus the color of its color indicator, if any:

  202.2d An object with one or more hybrid mana symbols and/or Phyrexian mana symbols in its mana cost is all of the colors of those mana symbols, in addition to any other colors the object might be. (Most cards with hybrid mana symbols in their mana costs are printed in a two-tone frame. See rule 107.4e.)

Also, it's not at all unusual that a card has a color that is different to what you pay to cast it. There are numerous cases where those two properties are unrelated.

Examples include:

Creatures that have no mana costs at all or cost zero mana
Creatures that have their colored mana costs reduced to zero
Creatures that are brought into play without paying its mana costs through other means
Creatures that have alternative costs that do not include mana at all
and so on.


Do abilities still trigger if there are no legal targets? For example, suppose I cast Wicked Wolf when my opponent has no creatures on the board. Wicked Wolf says:

  When Wicked Wolf enters the battlefield, it fights up to one target creature you don't control.

Does Wicked Wolf's ability trigger even though opponent has no creatures? This usually won't matter, but if I'm e.g. intending to cast Ghalta, Primal Hunger afterwards opponent might want to remove Wicked Wolf before I get priority.

My intuition is that the answer is "yes", but there are things that cannot be put on the stack if there are no legal targets (e.g. Path to Exile) so I would like to confirm.

Yes, this ability will trigger and go on the stack even if there are no legal targets, because it targets "up to one" creature.

First, an ability triggering and being put on the stack are two separate events [CR 603.2, 603.3]. The full trigger condition for this ability is "When Wicked Wolf enters the battlefield" [CR 603.1]. This triggers unconditionally as soon as the creature enters the battlefield.

Then, the next time a player (you) would gain priority, you put the ability on the stack in a process that is mostly identical to casting a spell [CR 603.3a-d, 601.2c-d]. That includes choosing targets. In this case, the ability says "up to one target", so you can legally choose zero targets whether or not there are any legal targets available. If your opponent controls no creatures, you must choose zero targets. Since that is a legal choice, the ability will stay on the stack and there will be the normal round of priority before it resolves.

If the card was instead Ravenous Chupacabra, which has a similar ability but no "up to one" rider, the ability would still trigger but it would be removed from the stack before any player gains priority, because it would require a valid target and none would be available.


How to choose initial directives for Adam? Since fourth directive came out, Adam players got to choose which 3 directives to pick at the start of the game. There are 4 options:

Always Be Running
Safety First
Neutralize All Threats
Find the Truth

There are 2 main factors that affect this decision:

Corp ID
Runner deck composition

Let's focus on Corp IDs for simplicity's sake. If one understands why each directive is good or bad vs certain ID by itself, the task of re-evaluating it based on supporting cards is much easier. But if presence of some other cards in runner's deck drastically affect the answer, feel free to point that out.

How do you assess which directives to pick (or, rather, which one to omit) based on corporate ID you see?

Say, when facing Controlling the Message ID runner probably doesn't want to Neutralize All Threats, because that will surely get them tagged. On the other hand, CtM decks are very likely to pack Hard-Hitting News, so one wouldn't want to Always Be Running either. So what should a runner do?

Safety first - Avoid this when playing against Sync, you will have a much harder time surviving BOOM! with a 3 card hand size. The same is true for Jinteki and Weyland IDs in general, most of the damage in the game is in one of these two factions, so the reduced hand size helps the corp to flatline.

Always Be running - Weyland has some of the biggest ice strength wise in the game, and they have very cheap ways to res this ice. Though neither side of this is as good as it once was, the runner lost e3 Feedback Implants and Weyland lost Oversight AI, Priority Construction still makes it very easy to rez space ice, like making Wormhole free. That click to break ability can help a lot here. That forced first run every can be a problem however, particularly against Jinteki due to traps that work in archives like Breached Dome or Shi.Kyū. When playing against Haas-Bioroid, particularly IDs like Architects of Tomorrow this can be redundant.

Neutralize All Threats - Like you said in your question, Controlling the Message punishes trashes, being forced to trash the first card you access can really make that hurt. Punishing trashes is starting to be more common in general, with cards like Wake Up Call, but CtM on the ID is worse due to consistency. There isn't much else ID wise that will let you know that trashing is going to be a bad thing.

Find the Truth - This one is relatively safe in general, no major upside, no major downsides with regards to the corp you face. The corp knowing what's in the grip shouldn't matter unless your deck has an unusual gimmick they will now know to play around, but knowing when it's worth making a run on R&D definitely can help.

For some matchups two of the directives are an issue, like you mention for CtM, that's why Adam needs Dr. Lovegood. Or perhaps he could pawn off his bad directives to Aesop. Just remember the good comes with the bad in directives, you can't just shut off the downside.

There are ways to play around these situations, For instance I've Had Worse or Beach Party can help offset the downside of Safety First, but for the purposes of this question we're looking at the corp, not the runner, and building around the objectives makes it harder to switch them based on the corp, Beach Party's click loss can really be an issue if you aren't getting the free draw from Safety First to offset, for instance.


What happens to companions when a player dies? In Betrayal at House On the Hill, we had a player who died while having custody of the Madman. The Madman omen card states that it can't be "dropped, traded, or stolen", which are actions you can do with items. Companions, however, are not regarded as items, and players have "custody" of them. Usually, when a player dies, items in their possession get dropped in that room.

So what happens when a dead player loses custody of the Madman/Girl/Dog through death? Do they stay in the room, waiting for another player to gain custody, do they go back into the omen deck, or are they removed from the game entirely?

Page 12 of the rules book (you can download a copy from WotC here) says that those companions remain in the room and are picked up whenever another explorer enters that room (this appears to be mandatory, whereas it is optional for explorers to pick up dropped items).


Reveillark death trigger If I control a  Reveillark and a few other creatures of power 2 or less and my opponent uses Wrath of God, can I get back creatures that are dying to the wrath or do they have to have been in the graveyard before the wrath was cast? I'm unsure how the stack should work here

It's not necessarily the stack that you need to figure out, it's triggered abilities and abilities resolving.

Here's what happens.

Opponent casts Wrath.
Wrath resolves, placing your creatures in the graveyard.
Reveillark's ability triggers. Since it and the other creatures are already in the graveyard, they are legal targets (well, not the Reveillark itself)
Reveillark's ability resolves, returning the other two creatures.


Sacrifice inferno fist after creature died If my oponent attacks me with a 5/5 creature and I block it with a 2/2 creature with a inferno fist attached to it, can I sacrifice the Inferno Fist after damage has resolved, so I can kill the 5/5?

No, you can't.
Any time a player would get priority and the chance to do anything (in your case at the end of the combat damage step after combat damage has been dealt), so-called state-based actions are checked. These are a series of automatic effects during which no player can do anything. One of those effects cause enchantments to become unattached (they fall off) off dead creatures. Another effect is that unattached auras go to their owner's graveyard. By the time you can take any action, Inferno Fist is already in a graveyard and can no longer be sacrificed.
Combat damage step:

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

Before a player actually gets priority and can do things, state-based actions are checked first:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated;
704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.
704.5n If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player, that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.


How does AlphaGo calculate? Anyone knows the algorithm of AlphaGo? I heard that it's related to neural networks. But don't know the details? So it does not find the solution to win in a deterministic way, right? I think so, because Lee Sedol won one game. Is it true that in chess the DeepBlue solves for the unique solution to win, so there is no way human beings can beat her?

Here's the AlphaGo team's paper that has all of the details (behind a paywall): http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v529/n7587/full/nature16961.html

I gave a couple of tech talks about this recently.
This one is about how AlphaGo works and the match with Fan Hui 2p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTDxpxmFRGo

I gave another talk last year about why it's hard to create a good Go AI.  This one also briefly explains the rules: http://blog.fogcreek.com/go-and-artificial-intelligence-tech-talk/


How do you deal with the edge of the table in tile laying games like Carcassonne When playing a tile-laying game, like Carcassonne or Qwirkle, what rule should we use for reaching the edge of the table?

Play "off the table" is illegal
Play is legal, and we'll faff around moving tiles around to make things fit
something else?

Obviously the best answer is to play on a bigger table in the first place, but sometimes these things happen.  How does your group handle it?

Everyone I play with move the tiles to accommodate when possible.


Is there a term for: "Doesn't untap during next untap step"? There are a lot of cards that have the effect

  Target permanent does not untap during next untap step

For example:Kashi-Tribe Elite and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger.

Is there a term for this? Because it's kind of a mouthful to say "that permanent is not allowed to untap during the next untap step."

Short answer, "no".
Long answer, "noooooooooo".

However, in casual games I [personally] tend to use the term "locked" or "locked down" if something doesn't untap during untap phases at all.

As SocioMatt suggested in the comments, "exhausted" would be a good turn for a single-hit of this on creatures. For permanents in general, you could say "delayed" - or for flavour representing disruption of a player's magical link to their permanent, something along the lines of "obscured" or "tangled".


How does one evaluate a hand responding to a "strong" two clubs? When opener bids a "strong" two club, responder bids two diamonds (waiting), and the opener rebids his suit, e.g. two spades, the responder is now the "captain" of the partnership. That's because s/he knows that opener has 8-9 tricks in hand, and what partner's suit is. In most cases, it's now the responder's job to evaluate his own hand at 0, 1, 2 or more tricks for the final contract. Nevertheless, some cards in responders' hands are more valuable than others.

Where would these (responder) tricks come from if s/he's relatively weak. An ace is a sure trick, but opener might have most of these. Can a king be counted as a trick on the theory that opener has the ace, or maybe the queen for "synergy?" How about other assets such as the queen of "trumps" (the opener's named suit), small "trumps," or "distribution?" I don't give as much weight to random queens and jacks (outside the named suit), even if they add up to 5-6 high card points or should I?

How do various systems or experts formulate their responses to two clubs, two diamonds, followed by a rebid of two of a suit or 2NT?

The system I have played for many years is as following:

1. Opener rebids NT to show a balanced hand with a well defined point range:

Responder evaluates his hand as balanced unless making a transfer bid into his own suit. These auctions are very similar to 2NT openings except with greater strength having been shown by Opener.

1a. Opener rebids 2NT with a semi-balanced hand of appropriate strength (usually a range of 22-23 HCP) and a 5-card major (not longer) with an agreement enabling Puppet Stayman. Advantage is that Responder's second negative doesn't place Notrump contracts in his hand with the strong hand exposed and led through.

Responder will almost always rebid 3C (Puppet Stayman) to allow Opener to reveal a hidden 5-card major (or 6-car minor).

2. Opener makes a simple rebid in his Major suit:
Responder bids 2NT as a second negative with either less than 3-card
support or 3 cards only and a bust hand.
Responder raises to 4 of Opener's major with 3 or 4 card support and a few scattered points.
Responder raises to 3 of Opener's major with 3+ card support and slam interest, but no outside control.
Responder bids a new suit to show a control (either A or K) in the suit bid, 3+ card support for Opener's major, and no reason to deny slam interest.
Responder jumps in a new suit to show 4+ card support and shortness in the bid suit with no reason to deny slam interest. Generally this call is preferred to the simple cue-bid, as controls can be asked for later.

3. Opener makes a simple rebid of his minor suit:
Responder rebids as above, but with the change that all bids above 3NT emphatically deny interest in 3NT (obviously).
Responder rebids 3NT with a balanced 7 or 8 count well scattered and lack of interest in slam. The inference is that responder believes 9 or 10 tricks are available through sheer power, but that the fit is insufficient to make slam realistic. Opener continues only if a) his hand is completely unsuitable for notrump; or b) his hand requires only 2-card support to play well in his minor.

Miscellaneous comments on the situation:

It is vital to remember that will not be Captain for the auction will not be the 2C opener but rather responder. The key descriptive features of a 2C opener are that it is a strong hand, and can be described adequately in 2 calls so that partner can be captain. More complex hands should not be opened 2C, and both members of the partnership needs to be aware of that.

As such, all attempts at step and control responses to the 2C opener have been abandoned by serious players (with the possible exception of pure relay systems, which you cannot play in most tournament events).

For instance, the hand xxxxx-xxxx-x-xxx can be golden if opener's suit is spades with three worthless diamonds, and garbage if opener's suit is diamonds with three worthless  hearts. No bidding system can hope to describe the range of partner's hands adequately to opener, especially  when that conversation has to start at the three level, which is why responder is the captain as soon as the 2C opener is made, until and unless the opener can glean enough information to bid Blackwood.

Update

One of the ways in which opener becomes captain if he has support for a quality 5-card suit (or longer) shown by responder as a positive response. When this happens opener sometimes is in a better position to judge the combined playing capability of the hand by bidding Key-Card Blackwood in responder's suit.

Update #2:

Only the captain can ask for key-cards, because the premise is that the key-card responses will allow the asker to place the contract, both denomination and level, and only the captain can make that call (or make the requisite invitation).

Opener can take over as captain only when responder leads opener to believe that his (responder's) hand is fully described - there are circumstances where it may be appropriate for responder to have a stronger hand and/or a different fit in mind than he has lead opener to believe, but that is an advanced bidding technique that intermediate players have difficulty handling.

Also, it is critical that all responder's calls while opener believes himself captain be in sente rather than in gote, so that responder will have the guaranteed opportunity to make the final correction.  This can require responder to have considerable foresight in planning the auction.


How do encounter card vampires work in combat? (third edition question)

Do you also draw 5 cards from the Dracula Combat Cards pack and continue with combat as you would with Dracula?

If so, what is the point of the Escape and Flee cards for a non-Dracula vampire?

From 3rd edition rules reference:

  Vampire Encounters

  Combat with a vampire can be initiated from
  Dracula’s “New Vampire” and “Reckless Vampire” encounter cards. The
  rules in this section apply only to vampire encounters; when the word
  “Dracula” is used, it is referring to the Dracula player.

  † If a hunter either resolves a search action or is ambushed in a hideout or
  lair and an encounter card is revealed that reads, “fight this
  vampire,” a combat occurs.

  † Combat against vampires uses the same
  rules as combat against Dracula with the following exceptions:

  “New Vampire” and “Reckless Vampire” encounter cards have their own health
  values. When one of these vampires suffers damage, it is tracked on
  the card using damage tokens. If a vampire has a number of damage
  tokens on its card equal to or greater than its health value, that
  vampire is defeated.
  When a vampire is defeated, its encounter card
  is discarded. If combat ends without the vampire being defeated, the
  damage it suffered remains on the card.

  † If Dracula plays “Escape as
  Mist” or “Escape as Bat” before he has played a number of combat cards
  greater than the number of despair tokens on the time track, the card
  is canceled.

  If Dracula resolves “Escape as Bat,” combat ends, but
  neither Dracula nor the vampire are moved from their current
  locations.

To summarise: combat is played out almost exactly the same, except fledgeling vampire tracks their own health and escape cards don't move it.

Also, if a combat ends and vampire wasn't defeated, it stays in location (retaining damage), and if revealed vampire reaches end of the Trail, it still can trigger its matured effect.


How do I become a professional game designer? How I can become a full- or part-time professional developing games? Are there specific courses? What specific knowledge should I be looking to learn? How do I enter the industry?

An assortment of advice:

Don't forget the Board Game Designers Forum.

Attend Protospiel, or Protospiel South, or Protospiel North or West.

Play lots of games, and a wide variety of games, both modern and classic.

Start designing games, taking them all the way from concept to completion.  Do it over and over again.  I designed and released one free print-and-play game each month at Invisible City Productions.  I did this from January 2000 to December 2010.  The first seven games were pretty hard, but it got easier after that.

Learn how to playtest your games, and how to integrate feedback into your designs.

Attend the GAMA Trade Show.  Talk to publishers - especially smaller ones.  Take them out to dinner and ask them about the industry.

Brush up on your math – especially probability and statistics.  Learn how to mathematically  model dice pools, bags of beads, and decks of cards.


Can I discard a race or class card directly from my hand to avoid charity? In Munchkin (or any of its various sets) the rules say that "You can discard a Class card at any time, even in combat: "I don't want to be a wizard anymore." When you discard a Class card, you become classless until you play another Class card." It also says the same thing for Races, Accents, etc. for the various game sets.

This wording suggests that the intent is that you can discard an "in play" Class at any time, but it isn't clear about such cards in the player's hand. I would prefer to discard the extra Elf card in my hand so that my opponent doesn't get it during the Charity phase. Can I discard the card rather than give it away?

Note: The rules I am using are the most current rules from the 1st Edition, 23rd printing of Munchkin published May 2012.

You can't voluntarily discard a card from your hand, you can only play it or give it away.  But you can freely discard races and classes in play or sell items in play. During charity you can play cards instead of giving them away if you want to.

So, you can play a race, discard it, play a race, discard it, wash, rinse, repeat.  Unless you had some type of curse preventing you from discarding your race; then you are stuck having to give it away to someone else.


Can I play Marrow Shards in my second main phase in MTG? Is it possible to play Marrow Shards in the second main phase after combat is completed? Marrow Shards says:

Marrow Shards deals 1 damage to each attacking creature.

My opponent played this card only to do the same damage with his Rage Extractor. I think he is allowed to do this, because there are no prerequisites like a valid target or something like that. If this is really possible, what happens to creatures that attacked in the combat phase? Do they still count as attacking creatures and so take damage from the spell?

You are correct: the spell doesn't target and has no restriction about when you can cast it, so you can cast it outside of combat to do "nothing" (i.e. just to trigger the Rage Extractor).

Casting it on your second main phase won't damage any creatures, since creatures are only "attacking" for the duration of the combat phase. Once the opponent has made a valid selection during the "declare attackers" step,

  508.1j Each chosen creature still controlled by the active player becomes an attacking creature. It    remains an attacking creature
  until it’s removed from combat or the combat phase ends,    whichever
  comes first. See rule 506.4.

Note that there are still opportunity to cast Marrow Shards after damage is dealt but before combat ends:

During the combat damage step, after damage is dealt.
During the end of combat step.


Why do people call an n-sided die a "d-n"? e.g. "d6", for a 6-sided die.
Put the letter after the number, and that makes sense. That's an abbreviation for "six-dimensional".
When you've got a tuple, for example, you just call it an "n-tuple". Why not an "n-die"?
I read Wikipedia but it's not enough information for me to comprehend the convention. I don't understand why an abbreviation is necessary, especially verbally. "Die" is only one syllable, and three letters.
Note: This sort of naming is common in source code, as most programming languages don't allow type or variable names to start with numbers. (See Table 2.3 here for examples. An int3, for instance, is a data type that comprises three integers. It should actually be called 3Ints, but that name won't compile.)
You might name a type, in code, Die6, but in English, a reversal of the position of the number is standard. e.g. As a Vector3 is really a "3-vector", so I'd expect a "Die6" to represent a "6-die".

It's a Dungeons & Dragons convention
The "d" dice notation originates with Dungeons & Dragons, which innovated in the use of multiple types of polyhedral dice and often requires multiple such dice to be rolled at once. The frequency with which rolls are required necessitates a dice notation in order to present it in an abbreviated form. It dates back at least as far as 1977.
Dice notation did not appear in the original 1974 D&D box set, requiring writers to type it in full. For example:

Prior to the character selection by players it is necessary for the referee to roll three six-sided dice in order to rate each as to various abilities, and thus aid them in selecting a role.

In a 2013 article, RPG historian Jon Peterson traces it to the fanzine Alarums & Excursions, issue #1 (June 1975), in the article Dice as Random Number Generators by Ted Johnstone, an alias for writer David McDaniel:

It is the intent of this monograph to examine the statistical distribution of different numbers and combinations of the five types of dice available to us: 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 10-sided and 12-sided, referred to hereinafter for convenience's sake as D4, D6, D8, D10, and D12. [...]
To demonstrate this thesis in its simplest form, compare one D12 against two D6.

This illustrates the original meaning and purpose of dice notation:

D-number (e.g. d8) is an abbreviation for the benefit of brevity in written form. Most gamers in 1977 were not mathematicians or computer programmers, and the Web did not exist for research. As such, they would not have been influenced by these concepts, and terms like "n-tuple" would have been unknown to them. Johnstone, or someone who influenced him, simply decided that "D-number" was a sufficient syntax.
The syntax for multiple dice, e.g. 2d8, literally means two "d8"s. One eight-sided die is d8; 2d8 is literally two of them.

Use in D&D
The earliest instance of its use in D&D which I can find is Dragon Magazine #7 (June 1977), in the article What To Do When the Dog Eats Your Dice, by Omar Kwalish, an alias of the magazine's editor Tim Kask. The AD&D Monster Manual (1977) did not adopt dice notation, but the Player's Handbook (1978) officially introduced dice notation to the game's standard rules. For example:

The cleric has an eight-sided die (d8) per level to determine how many hit points (q.v.) he or she has.

Kask worked at TSR and was heavily involved in the development of AD&D 1st edition. It's unclear whether Kask introduced the term to D&D, or its appearance in Dragon #7 represents that a tendency already in use internally at TSR. We also know that Gygax read Alarums #1, and wrote a letter which was published in the second issue, though TSR didn't adopt the dice syntax for another two years.
The "d" is usually pronounced "dee", though there is a regional variant which pronounces it "die" (see “Dee-twenty” and “die-twenty” pronunciations on RPG Stack Exchange). It's certainly an abbreviation for "die" or "dice".
It's unclear whether or not "d8" was intended to represent an extant spoken form (e.g. "die 8"). The RPG community in 1977 was fragmented, and connected largely by regional word-of-mouth and fan-typed newsletters like Alarums & Excursions. What I do know is that reading "d" as "die" was actually practiced by a certain subset of gamers. We see this in some much later self-published works by Len Lakofka, an RPG writer from Chicago who was also an active fanzine author.
However, Gary Gygax was also connected to Lakofka via many of the same fanzines and groups. We might infer from the fact that Tim Kask speaks it as "dee" in his videos, and no TSR book that I'm aware of wrote "die", that TSR did not interpret it that way. I suspect that "D" was an abbreviation necessitated by limited pagecount of fanzines, and that "die 8" was a reading some groups made from the abbreviation.
If you're interested in more specific detail as to which exact individual coined the "d" notation and the circumstances of came to enter D&D, you might leave a comment on the current latest video on Tim Kask's YouTube channel. He frequently answers viewer questions on such matters.
Addendum
Some commenters have suggested that the XdX notation comes from a need to avoid ambiguity in cases such as "20d6", which if written "20 6D" could be misheard in speech as "26D". I disagree with the notion that this was the origin of the notation, for the following reasons:

The problem only happens when rolling exactly twenty, thirty, or another multiple of ten dice. "19 6D" and "21 6D" aren't ambiguous in the way "20 6D" is.
Rolls as high as 20 dice were almost unheard of in June 1975 when Johnstone defined the syntax. The only D&D books published at this point were the original boxed set and possibly the first printing of Greyhawk, which was brand new at the time (source) and first introduced rules for magic users of up to 20th level who would be capable of using twenty dice. There were no rules for 30th level characters. It was also common for characters to retire around level 14 when their high power levels meant the game was no longer sufficiently challenging.
If you thought someone did say "roll 26D", it wouldn't make any sense anyway, because all other die rolls specify the die type. Twenty-six of what type?
XdX notation actually creates a more common problem in this regard. 4d6 can be misheard as "forty-six"; similarly 6d6 as 66, 7d6 as 76, 8d6 as 86, and 9d6 as 96. Rolling four dice is considerably more common in D&D than rolling 20 dice.
Considering why Johnstone (or whoever may have coined the syntax before him) selected XDX rather than X XD would only be speculation. While can certainly debate which format is superior or more sensible, the main reason that we use XdX notation is simply that it was adopted by TSR beginning with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition Player's Handbook (1978), and this work was so influential that it became standard in roleplaying games.


Which board game released in the 90's involved medieval combat? In the game, you could have castles and fortresses. There were ballistae and catapults and little sets that could be purchased to build upon your original set. The game had a rulebook and turn-based gameplay. Some units rolled special dice to determine actions' outcome.

What was this game called?

You are most likely referring to Weapons & Warriors. Here is Board James playing it. The rulebook can be found here.

The game had several expansions. It contained cannons and ballista. You rolled dice to move your soldiers forward, which allowed you to move your firing pieces forward or fire your weapons.

Weapons & Warriors: Castle Siege Game (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Pirate Battle (1996)
Weapons & Warriors: Power Catapult Set (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Star Fort (1994)
Weapons & Warriors - Lashout Launcher (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Cavalry Attack Set (1994)
Weapons & Warriors: Weapon Pack 2 (1995)
Weapons & Warriors Castle Storm / Pirate Clash Game (1997)


Choosing new targets for a spell with a variable number of targets Rolling Thunder can have any number of targets. I play the Rolling Thunder choosing three target creatures. I copy the Rolling Thunder with Reverberate and can choose new targets for the copy.

Can I choose a different number of targets, or am I only changing the choice of target for each of the three already chosen targets?

You cannot choose a different number of targets. The rules make it clear that when you copy a spell, you copy the targets of the spell. Reverberate allows you to change the targets, because it specifically says so, but the normal rules for copying a spell just copy the targets as they were. Any unchanged targets remain targeting their original objects.

  706.10. To copy a spell or activated ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. ...

  706.10c Some effects copy a spell or ability and state that its controller may choose new targets for the copy. The player may leave any number of the targets unchanged, even if those targets would be illegal. If the player chooses to change some or all of the targets, the new targets must be legal. Once the player has decided what the copy’s targets will be, the copy is put onto the stack with those targets.

Reverberate errata:

  8/15/2010 The copy will have the same targets as the spell it's copying unless you choose new ones. You may change any number of the targets, including all of them or none of them. If, for one of the targets, you can't choose a new legal target, then it remains unchanged (even if the current target is illegal).


Reuse Quorum cards with "Give this card to another player" Many quorum cards feature an effect that says "give this card to another player". That player then receives some kind of passive privilege (does not require an action) like determining the next FTL jump destination.

My question is: Can the receiving player use that card's action too (and pass it on to yet another player) or is it only to remind people of the passive privilege?

My instinct tells me that it's only a reminder but I couldn't find a clarification for either alternative.

Even if this were allowed, how would the other person play it?  It's not creating a new hand of cards and new delegated political powers.

There's no precedent in-game for cards to be 'read' twice.

And if this worked this way it would be deeply weird.

For those reasons I say no "pass[ing] it on to yet another player".


Traditional 1-stone handicap before komi In "traditional" handicap, when there is a ranking difference of 1, black plays first and there is no komi (Sensei's Library uses this term). But if you play without komi anyway, this is no handicap. In the days before komi, how was the 1-stone handicap handled? Or did the weaker player just take black, and handicap started at two stones?

In Edo period go, the system worked like this:

Even: Taiga-sen (Alternating Black and White)
One Dan difference: San-Ai-Sen (Black two out of three games)
Two Dan difference: Josen (Always Black)
Three Dan difference: Sen-Ni-Sen (Black two games, two stones on game)
Four Dan difference: Sen-Ni (Alternating Black and two stones)
Five Dan difference: (Always take two stones)
Six Dan difference: (two handis twice, three handis once)
Seven Dan difference: (three stones twice, two stones once)
Eight Dan difference: (always take three stones)

It is important to note that you had a different handicap against each player, based of your individual results against each other. Also it was expected that you would play many games. Almost like tennis where you try to break the serve, if you won consistently while playing white, it was impressive (Black is expected to win more often, getting the first move)


What is the name of this game where you place colored cubes on a tiled grid? I played a game about 5 years ago; pretty sure it would be classified as a Euro game. You have a player mat made by putting a few tiles together, I think a 2x2 square of square tiles. Each tile has a grid on it, I think it's a 6x6 grid or so.

On your turn, you take small cubes and place them on your board; 1 cube per grid space. You can place up to 2 cubes on a turn as long as the 2 cubes are adjacent to each other. There might be 2 or 3 different color cubes you can choose to place, I can't remember for sure. The object is to end up with the most coverage or to cover specific areas, something like that.

Ring any bells?

Tracked it down... Mykerinos.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21441/mykerinos


Commerce in Seven Wonders: possible to buy the same resource more than once in the same turn? Situation: one of my neighbors has a single resource card; I want to build something that needs two of that resource; my neighbor's card is the only way I have access to that resource (i.e., I have none, and my other neighbor has none). Can I pay my neighbor for 2 of that resource (i.e., double the price) even though s/he has only one card? Or am I simply unable to build the structure which requires 2 of that resource?

For example: I want to build an Aqueduct, but only have a Stone Pit. My left neighbor has a Mine. My right neighbor has no stone. Can I pay my left neighbor 4 coins and get the 2 stones that I need? Or am I unable to build?

This is not clear to me from reading the official rules. All the rules state is, "It is possible, during the same turn, to buy one or more resources from both neighboring cities." It does not clarify if the neighboring player must have 2 available stones in order for me to purchase two, or if one is sufficient.

You may only construct structures/wonder stages if you can produce the required resources in their cost, or your adjacent opponents have the missing resources you require (and you have the coins necessary to purchase those goods).
The rules are probably not as specific as they should be, but you can glean the correct answer by looking at the examples given. Unless a structure is free, you must have the resouces to build it and/or the coins necessary to buy the resources from your neighbors.

Some cards have a resource cost. To construct them, the player must produce the corresponding resources AND/OR buy them from one of his or her two neighboring cities.

The rules then give an example of the Giza board, its current production, and the fact that it cannot build the Aquaduct.

The resources of a city are produced by its Wonder board, its brown cards, its gray cards, and some yellow cards. To build a structure, a player’s city must produce the resources indicated on its card. Example : Giza produces 2 Stones, 1 Clay, 1 Ore, 1 Papyrus and 1 Textile :

its player cannot build the Aqueduct (cost : 3 Stones) as his city only produces two of the three stones required by that structure.

It is clear that since Giza requires 3 Stone to build the Aquaduct and cannot build it, but it would be quite odd if its neighbor's could buy 3 stone from Giza and build it themselves. This is further driven home buy the split '/' resource icon explanation on the last page of the Quick Rules or the regular rules tells you that only one of the pictured resources is available to you and your neighboring cities, not both. As well as the double resource icon providing two of the pictured resource.

the card produces one of the two pictured raw resources each turn.
Clarification : the player can use one OR the other resource to build a structure (or a wonder phase) but NOT both in a given turn. Neighboring players may purchase either, regardless of what the owner chooses to produce.

And finally, the last 2 Stone example from the rules, showing that both neighboring cities can buy her 2 stones and she can also use the same 2 stones in the same turn. This indicates that the resources a city has a available is the maximum that they can produce, and that both neighbors can buy 0, 1, or 2 stone the same turn the that the city owner uses 0, 1, or 2 stone.

Example B: during a game turn, both neighboring cities buy from her 2 Stones for a total of 8 coins (2 per resource). In the same turn, she can build a Library (cost : 2 Stones + 1 Textile) thanks to her resources, even though she has sold them to her neighboring cities.


How does Paranoid Delusions work with Ingest Lets say I've ciphered Paranoid Delusions on a Mist Intruder and successfully deal combat damage to a player, which card would get exiled and which go to the graveyard?

Does the first card on the players library get exiled and the next three go into a graveyard? Or the other way around?

You choose which happens first.

After you cipher Paranoid Delusions on the Mist Intruder, there are two relevant triggered abilities: Mist Intruder's Ingest ability, which says

  Whenever Mist Intruder deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of his or her library.

and the cipher triggered ability, which says

  Whenever [Mist Intruder] deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of [Paranoid Delusions] without paying its mana cost.

Since those both trigger on dealing combat damage to a player, they both trigger at the same time. Specifically, rule 510.3 says that the third step of the Combat Damage Step is

  Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

And rule 603.3b says

  If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. (See rule 101.4.) Then the game once again checks for and resolves state-based actions until none are performed, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority.

So, since both of those triggered at the same time, you put them on the stack in any order you choose. Then they resolve in the reverse of that order (since the one you put on the stack last is on top).


Are there budget replacements for Ugin and Karn removal abilities? I am building a mono green Tron deck with a 60$ budget and looking for cheaper alternatives to replace planeswalkers listed below:

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
Karn Liberated

I need a replacement for Ugin's -X ability because its kinda hard to deal with humans, spirits and similar creature spam decks.
I also need a replacement for Karn's -3 ability which kinda helps a lot in mirror matches or when you need to take their combo piece away without them having a chance to get it back.

Obviously these two cards are unique in their capabilities and you should expect a decreased power level without them. However, there are cards that can fit the roles that these two planeswalkers fill even if they won't be quite as good.

World Breaker is a good choice to replace Karn as it is removal as well as a threat. It's a bit tougher to cast turn 3, but it also provides recursive removal which may help the U/W match-up.

Spot Removal

Ugin has a Lightning Bolt and Karn can exile a permanent. The following cards can help fill this role.

Spine of Ish Sah: Like "Karn, -3". Potentially recursive.
Walking Ballista: Threat + Removal
Warping Wail: Limited removal with some flexible utility.
Scour from Existence: A colorless Instant, not as good as Spine can be.
Titan's Presence: Possibly viable in Eldrazi Tron.
Brittle Effigy: Creature spot removal for 5.
Universal Solvent: Poor-mans Spine.

Mass Removal

Ugins -X can destroy multiple permanents, so we need something to cover that as well.

Oblivion Stone: Probably already in the deck, but could increase to 4.
Ratchet Bomb: Excellent against tokens, configurable destruction.
Blast Zone: Mass removal on a land, similar to Ratchet Bomb but starts at '1'.
Boompile: Fast, but random.


Are Saprolings still Tokens after playing Life and Limb? After playing the enchantment Life and Limb all Saprolings and all Forests become "creature-land-saproling-forests" (see card rulings). My question is: Do they still have the card-type token?
Meaning:

Is it possible to use cards which explicitly say "sacrifice a
nontoken creature"?
Can I keep the saprolings on my hand if my opponent bounces them?
(Tokens would be discarded.)
The rulings also say, newly played lands get summoning sickness. So
they can't attack right away. Does it also apply for the mana
ability?

Yes, they are still tokens.
First of all, Token is not a card type:

205.2a The card types are artifact, conspiracy, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.

A token is any object on the battlefield that is not represented by a card. Note that a token is still a token even if you use an MtG card to represent it.

110.5. Some effects put tokens onto the battlefield. A token is a marker used to represent any permanent that isn’t represented by a card.
110.5e A token is subject to anything that affects permanents in general or that affects the token’s card type or subtype. A token isn’t a card (even if represented by a card that has a Magic back or that came from a Magic booster pack).

No effect can ever turn a token into a non-token or vice versa. All Life and Limb does is affect a permanent's card type which, as shown, has nothing to do with the object being a token or not.
That answers your questions 1 and 2. Tokens remain tokens under all circumstances and the same rules apply to them with or without Life and Limb.
Question 3 is only tangentially related to Life and Limb and is answered here:
What is Summoning Sickness


What does it mean for a game to be 'Caylus-like'? Forgive me if this is a dumb question, but while browsing board-game related forums I've often heard the term 'Caylus-like' used to describe a game (One usage I remember is that the family version of Agricola was called 'Caylus-like' when compared to the full version). Never having played Caylus, I have no idea what it means, and haven't been able to figure out a good definition from the context. If I had to guess, I'd say it meant that the game had a lot of strategy with very little luck, but I still think I'm missing something.

What exactly does 'Caylus-like' mean? What are people saying about a game when they describe it in this way?

The four distinguishing features of Caylus are

It's a worker placement game.
It has perfect information - you know everything about the state of the game, and nothing is hidden.
It has a clever and unusual turn-order mechanic, which is complex to play well, and absolutely critical to the strategy.
It has no luck. Like chess, there are no sources of randomness in Caylus.

Someone describing a game as Caylus-like can be referring to any of these fairly unusual characteristics. In your example, the Family version of Agricola is "Caylus-like" partly because it is worker placement, but also because there are no Minor Improvements or Occupations, so no cards held in hand, so there is no hidden information.

I play this game fairly regularly, and I have to say, it's pretty special. Other games often share one or more of these features, but the combination of mechanics is unique to Caylus.


MTG: Fiend Binder and wider implications of Rule 508.1d I am trying to figure out rule 508.1d - I initially got down this path whilst trying to figure out Fiend Binder's requirements.
Fiend Binder's text says:

Whenever Fiend Binder attacks, tap target creature defending player controls.

My friend and I cannot decide whether this reads as an implicit "must" (since most cards will say "may" when something is optional), or an implicit "may." I argue that if all my creatures are tapped, or if I have no creatures on the battlefield, he cannot use Fiend Binder to attack with; he argues otherwise.
To resolve this we turned to the rules, and I find 508.1d:

The active player checks each creature they control to see whether it’s affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature attacks if able, or that it attacks if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of attackers is illegal.

... so far so good, but then it says:

If a creature can’t attack unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if attacking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed.

Which is downright weird...

If there is a cost for attacking, the player doesn't have to pay that cost and can proceed anyway? What's the point then?
the rule doesn't specify "mana cost" but I presume that is what it means, as opposed to a requirement, like "sacrifice a creature"?

Is there any extra rule or resource that can add clarity?
I really wish the card instructions conformed to RFC-2119 ...! :-P

You're getting combat requirements mixed up with triggered abilities.
Triggered abilities:

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”

Now, you know that if there isn't any targets, there's a problem, but that's handled by:

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

So, if your opponent has no creatures, the ability triggers, but since there are no legal targets, it's immediately removed from the stack.


Identify game: Intergalactic United Nations Trying to identify a game I played at a convention a couple years ago. (No, it was not Diplomacy.) It was a fairly light and lighthearted game where you play the “Space UN” and debate what laws to pass. Every player has a species — one guy was the “Klingons” (but not), and I was the mind-controlling space slugs.
The name of the game was an outer-spacey pun of some sort — on “bureaucracy”, or “diplomacy” or the like.
You drew cards to determine what legislation to debate — card would have blanks in the topic, and you would draw from a second deck to fill in the blanks(?) — then two players would debate that legislation. Then other players voted who won each debate. One of the debates I recall was regulations on how many prosthetic limbs a being was allowed to add to their body (insert “arms control” joke here).
I believe it was a relatively recent game at the time, but it could have been a reprint of an older one. I probably played it three or four years ago

I just did an advanced search for party games + science fiction (weight < 2) and Cosmocracy was 10th on the list.


Play all but one + hand limit zero + draw one = stalemate? If the current rules include "Hand Limit 0", "Play all but 1", and "Draw 1", doesn't the game just kind of... stall?

This has never actually happened but thinking about it, we figured we'd probably have to count that as a case of "everyone loses" and just start over! :)

Future printings have been revised to:

  Play all but 1 of your cards. If you started with no cards in your hand and only drew 1, draw an extra card.

https://faq.looneylabs.com/archives/faq-tags/play-all-but-1

That avoids this situation.


Which country spends the most on board & card games? I've been wondering which country spends the most money on board / card games? Are there any statistics available?

So looking online I found this from 2015.

It says

  More are sold per capita in Germany than anywhere else on earth

Magic the Gathering is big, with something like 20 million players worldwide, however that will pale in comparison to board game sales so I'd be likely to ignore card games as they won't add a huge amount overall compared to board games.

So in conclusion, Germany looks like the best bet


When a face-down permanent dies, do other cards responding to its death see its face-up side? Say if I have Scrap Trawler on the battlefield, which watches for when artifacts die. I have a manifested Colossus of Akros that dies while still just a manifested 2/2 creature. Per the rules, I turn it face up and put it in the graveyard face-up.

Does it trigger Scrap Trawler's ability (and get considered an artifact that leaves the battlefield and enters the graveyard) or not?

Does Colossus leave the battlefield as an artifact?

It was a face-down creature when it left the battlefield, so it wasn't an artifact (creature) to trigger Trawler's ability.
As for why that's the case:

603.10. Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions, and continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like. However, some triggered abilities are exceptions to this rule; the game “looks back in time” to determine if those abilities trigger, using the existence of those abilities and the appearance of objects immediately prior to the event. The list of exceptions is as follows:

603.10a Some zone-change triggers look back in time. These are leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a card leaves a graveyard, and abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library.


What is the purpose of having randomizer cards for the non-kingdom cards? I understand having randomizers for the kingdom cards because that's how you randomly choose them, but I find it odd that there is a randomizer for every card including the basic Curses, Coins and Victory cards. Why are they there?

They are there to mark each pile.  The game ends when 3 piles are empty.  Once you see 3 randomizer cards showing, the game is over.

This is on page 5 of the rules:

  Players may also use the Randomizer cards as Placeholders to mark the card piles so empty piles are easily seen

The way my group lays out the Kingdom cards is organized by cost, so it is not always obvious that there is a pile missing.  The kingdom cards help remind us.

I agree with your comment that the Randomizer cards are a bit too similar to the normal cards, one solution is to put them into different colored sleeves than your regular cards.  Or perhaps, just sleeve the randomizer cards.


If I cast Flicker on an unearthed creature, does it remain exiled? The rules for the Unearth ability are as follows:

  702.82a Unearth is an activated ability that functions while the card with unearth is in a graveyard. Unearth [cost] means [Cost]: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

If I unearth a creature, and then cast Flicker to exile and return it, does the replacement effect cause Flicker to lose track of it, or is Flicker still able to see the exiled card and return it to the battlefield?

(Are there similar combinations of spells or abilities that would result in a different outcome?)

"If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else." means that if the creature would leave the battlefield for some zone other than exile (because exile doesn't fit the condition of "anywhere else"), it's exiled instead. Therefore unearth replacement effect doesn't apply here. Obviously flicker won't lose track of the creature and will return it to the battlefield just fine.

But even if the unearth replacement effect could apply, the creature would still return. Replacement effects modify other actions, they don't do anything by themselves. It's still flicker who is exiling the card even if we could apply unearth replacement effect, therefore it can track the card because of rule 400.7g. Rule 400.7g doesn't actually apply here, because it refers to cards that changed zones while the card/ability was being played/activated. Flicker finds the card because it doesn't need to know that it was the same card that was on the battlefield. It just knows that there is a card in exile that is going to be put on the battlefield.

Note: I'll edit this and quote the rule to support that replacement effects don't do anything by themselves when I get home, right now I can't access the rules (I couldn't find a rule talking specifically about this, but there is an official ruling here that talks about the same thing)


Do Cascade and Epic work together? Spells that have Epic, such as Neverending Torment prevent you from casting any more spells outside of the copy that you cast of it each turn. But, does playing a card count as casting a spell? I am specifically asking about cards that give Cascade, such as Maelstrom Nexus.

Would I get a Cascade trigger off of the Epic spell copy?

No, Cascade and Epic don't work together.

Epic creates a copy of that spell on the stack, which then resolves.

Cascade responds to spell casting. Copying a spell is not casting it. You can frequently see that on the rulings on cards that copy spells, such as on Insidious Will:

  The copy is created on the stack, so it’s not “cast.” Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won’t trigger.

The final nail in the coffin is that Epic says “you can't cast spells”. If somehow you did trigger Cascade, you would not be allowed to cast the spell you cascaded down to. Of course, you wouldn't be able to cast spells to trigger Cascade in the first place. (Thanks @Gendolkari.)

Only the original casting of the Epic spell will trigger Cascade. That will be the final Cascade you will see this game.


What happens if the text of Hardened Scales is changed from "if one or more" to "if zero or more"? The card More or Less, from Unstable, has the text:

  Add or subtract 1 or one from a number or number word on target spell or permanent until end of turn.

Suppose I use More or Less targeting Hardened Scales, which has the text:

  If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on it instead.

I choose the number word "one" in the condition of the replacement effect to change the text from "if one or more" to "if zero or more".

When will this replacement effect apply? I know that when 0 damage would be dealt, the game treats that as no damage being dealt. But are there any rules that cover zero +1/+1 counters being placed? If not, conceivably I would put one +1/+1 on each creature I control each time a spell or ability doesn't put any +1/+1 counters on a creature I control. Is that really how it works?

And furthermore, if that's how it works, does the replacement effect only apply to spells and abilities, or are there other game objects that the replacement effect would apply to, so that I would need to put +1/+1 counters on my creatures at times I might not have expected?

There's a few clear options to handle Hardened Scales at "zero or more".

Method 1, the black-bordered method: putting zero counters on something isn't a thing that happens; it's a non-event. If no counters were put, no counter-putting has occurred.

However, we're dealing with the silver-bordered world, and in that case we should seek out more awesome options. If something wants to care about zero +1/+1 counters being put on things, we can decide that must now be a thing that can happen.

There's two silver-bordered ways I think we can handle this. Method 2 below hardly works; method 3 I think works well.

Method 2, counters-on-everything-always: Things which have nothing at all to do with putting +1/+1 counters on a permanent are recognised as putting zero counters on that permanent by Hardened Scales, which makes that thing put a +1/+1 counter on that permanent.

The trouble with this method is "things" here can be anything based on what your group works out, from spells and abilities to even rules for progressing through phases and steps, to the several dozen state-based actions we check constantly. Depending on how wide you cast the net, it's fairly awesome but also proportionately unmanageable. Each turn through the game would put an arbitrary number of +1/+1 counters on everything, and make everything arbitrarily huge (but not infinitely huge). I don't recommend this because it's messy.

Method 3, things that put zero counters on stuff: If something can put +1/+1 counters on things, and would put some number on a specific permanent or set of permanents, but that number works out to be zero, Hardened Scales at "zero or more" makes it one +1/+1 counter instead for those permanents. This is the method I recommend.

This primarily affects two kinds of effects:

Creatures that enter with a number of counters: if that amount would work out to zero, they enter with a +1/+1 counter. If Academy Elite enters while there's 0 cards in graveyards, it enters with a +1/+1 counter. If you devour no creatures for Bloodspore Thrinax, it enters with a +1/+1 counter. Endless One cast for {0} enters with a +1/+1 counter.
Cards that put counters on things. If a creature with 0 power dies with Death's Presence out, you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature you control, and similarly Kresh the Bloodbraided would gain one +1/+1 counter from his own ability. Ezuri, Claw of Progress puts one +1/+1 counter on something when you have 0 experience counters. Lifecraft Awakening cast for X=0 puts a +1/+1 counter on something. A Bloodspore Thrinax that has no counters on it (maybe it was Aether Snapped) makes sure your creatures enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it, because it would give them 0 +1/+1 counters, which gets bumped up to one +1/+1 counter.

This scenario is a bundle of edge cases, but it lets us work in a silver-bordered but manageable way.