Is there an instant win condition by abusing a loophole in Bang? I apologize for not using the exact names of the cards as I did not play the English version of the game.

In a gaming session with some friends the following situation arose:

A player had the character which allows to draw a new card when he remains with no cards.
We were playing with the expansion pack which contained random effects whenever a stagecoach was activated. The special effect in this round was "every card can be used as a Bang card, and Bang cards can be used as missed"
That player acquired a volcanic pistol, allowing the use of unlimited bang cards in a round.

Isn't that an instant win, by being able to eliminate all players, one by one? If not, what rule did we miss?

The cards in question are: Showdown

Showdown - All cards may be played as they were BANG!. BANG! cards may be played as they were Missed!.

The designer notes what the card should read.

Actually, the correct text should be that BANG! card must be played as Missed!, otherwise Suzy Lafayette armed with a Volcanic could shoot the whole deck!

and the cards Volcanic and Suzy Lafayette

Volcanic - (Weapon) Max distance: 1. You may play as many BANG! cards as you wish.
Suzy Lafayette - As soon as she remains with no cards in her hand, she draws a card from the deck.

This response differs from the publisher's answer, or lack there of:

Q: Shootout. There are questions about how this interacts with player abilities: Calamity Janet ... Willy the Kid..... Suzy Lafayette. If she has a Volcanic card during a Shootout, she can keep drawing new cards and using them as Bang!s until she kills all the other players, if she wants. Should there be some way to limit these situations??
A: About your questions: please consider that unpredictability is a BANG! feature and it is part of his style. We want BANG! to be characterized by two sides: strategy (bluff) and luck. Characters in Wild West Show are powerful, and sometimes the interactions between two of them can be "lethal" for the opponents, but we think this "chance component" is what makes this expansion so crazy and exhilarating! Have fun with BANG!


2 draw piles for convenience? Sometimes when the table is large enough, or people don't want to reach too far, a single draw pile is split into multiple draw piles.  This has always bothered me.

Does it bother anyone else?  Are there any statistical reasons to not split the draw pile?

Hypothetically, there's nothing wrong with splitting the draw pile. Splitting a randomized deck into multiple decks, won't affect the randomization. However, you need to carefully consider how you interact with the draw pile during the course of the game.

Do cards ever get put back on top of,
into, or under the draw pile? If so,
having multiple draw piles would
affect the game. For example, if
players can put a card on top of the
draw pile, can I choose to draw from
either pile?
What happens when the
draw pile runs out? If the normal
rule is to shuffle the discard pile
to create a new draw pile, you
probably need to wait until all draw
piles run out before doing so.
If    you have multiple draw piles,
will    you also have multiple
discard piles?    If so, you need to
consider how you    interact with the
discard pile, also.


What's behind the "Duck of Doom" card? "You should know better than to pick up a duck in a dungeon."

Should I, really? Most of the cards in basic Munchkin are humorous references to Dungeons & Dragons or other tabletop RPG culture. I'm fairly familiar with both, though my history of personal involvement in them may not be long. But I just don't get the joke here.

Is this meant to be an "inside joke" for D&D/RPG fans, or is it just some random humor made up for the Munchkin universe? If it is an existing cultural reference, what is it referring to?

There is a long and storied tradition of unspeakably awful deathtraps showing up in dungeons. Kind and generous dungeon masters would allow such traps to be found, but others would skip the tedious step of permitting the party Thief to check for traps, and simply spring the trap upon the unsuspecting victim, sans saving throw, sans opportunity to escape, and sans chance to survive.

These evil Dungeon Masters often point to Gary Gygax as their inspiration. Gygax was, by most accounts, a tough-but-fair DM, but he also created the module Tomb of Horrors: the most trap-filled, instantly-lethal, no-saving-throw dungeon published at that time. (It may still remain the most-lethal professionally-published dungeon, for all I know.)

Some examples of the kind of traps Gygax used in the Tomb of Horrors:

A tapestry that, when torn, fills the entire room with green slime (which is nigh-instantly fatal).
A variety of cursed things: a Cursed Spear of Backbiting (does exactly what it says on the tin, to your back), valuable items that summon demons when taken, and a gem seems to grant you a wish, but then explodes (killing all within 15 feet)
An archway that causes you to reverse gender and alignment if you walk through it.
A variety of teleport traps that take you back to the beginning of the dungeon, sans your equipment.
A giant face, with a 3' wide mouth you could crawl into – it's actually a Sphere of Annihilation (die immediately, no save). Some of the teleport traps mentioned above  dump you right in front of said face (instead of at the dungeon entrance), possibly giving you the impression that if you walk into the face, you'll end up back where you were before you teleported.

On a personal note, I have played through a few Gygax-inspired dungeons. The twisted traps that a clever DM can come up with are truly amazing, truly enlightening, and truly lethal. (It was good fun; we all expected to die horribly, and were not disappointed.)

The Duck of Doom, then, is likely inspired by exactly that sort of Evil Dungeon Master. A duck that curses you horribly the instant you pick it up is exactly the kind of thing that an Evil DM would put in.

For the phrase "Duck of Doom", the oldest role-playing-game-related results I found on Google were from Munchkin, so Munchkin itself is likely the originator. (There's some ancient Australian bird, Bullockornis, occasionally called the Demon Duck of Doom, but it's utterly unrelated to "harmless" rubber ducks in dungeons and cursed items.)


Games that are quick to teach to new people, yet still fun and strategical I love board games and don't mind sitting down for 10-15 minutes with some experienced players to learn how to play a complex game. However, I don't think most of my friends are as tolerable of complexity as I am. I have a feeling they might get a little spooked at seeing a shadows over camelot board, but might be able to handle something like dominion.

What are some good games that newcomers can get started at quickly and feel proficient within a couple turns? I love games where brand new people can start developing good strategies within a few minutes.

related: How can I recognize games I should avoid buying if I only play with non-hardcore gamers?

Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne are the two games that we generally use. We have been so successful with Ticket to Ride Europe that not only have friends bought the game but they have taught it to friends of friends who have also gone and bought the game.


Can I use Improvise to pay for activated abilities? The card Inspiring Statuary states:

  Nonartifact spells you cast have improvise.

From the Comprehensive Rules (Ixalan (September 29, 2017))

  702.125a Improvise is a static ability that functions while the spell with improvise is on the stack. “Improvise” means “For each generic
  mana in this spell’s total cost, you may tap an untapped artifact you
  control rather than pay that mana.”

From the Comprehensive Rules I understand that I can tap artifact to pay {1} of the spells cost. However does the same apply for activated abilities with {X} mana cost on permanents on the field. Example: Mirage Mirror

  {2}: Mirage Mirror becomes a copy of target artifact, creature,
  enchantment, or land until end of turn.

No. Improvise only works for casting spells. Activating abilities, while similar is not casting a spell, thus it cannot be paid for with Improvise.

111.1. A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see rule 601, “Casting Spells”), the card becomes a spell and is moved to the top of the stack from the zone it was in, which is usually its owner’s hand. (See rule 405, “Stack.”)
112.1b An ability can be an activated or triggered ability on the stack. This kind of ability is an object.


Can you become the deputy of Arkham after another player has? If someone has taken this card, is another player able to seize it from them by trading in trophies at the police station to become the deputy themselves? If so, do they take the Patrol Wagon (whether it has been discarded or not) and/or the Deputy's Revolver? It isn't clear whether this would be officially having it lost or stolen.

This is explicitly answered in the FAQ:

Q: Can an investigator trade in trophies to become the Deputy if another investigator is already the Deputy (the existing Deputy would stop being Deputy)? If so, do they acquire the Patrol Wagon and/or Deputy’s Revolver if they are still in the other investigator’s possession?
A: No.


Why didn't my station complete the route? I needed to get from Riga to Bucaresti. I had trains connecting Riga to Kyiv, but the route from Kyiv to Bucaresti was taken by another player. I played a station on Kyiv, but the route did not complete (I'm playing the iPhone version).

What am I misunderstanding about the use of stations?

A Train Station allows its owner to use one, and only one, of the
  routes belonging to another player, into (or out of) that city to help
  him connect the cities on his Destination Tickets.

As per the instructions (emphasis mine), a station can only be used on a single route into or out of the city on which it's placed.  Even if the route from Riga to Kyiv was complete (and I'll assume you double-checked that), the Kyiv station could not be used to complete the ticket if it was already being used to connect a different route (i.e. via Kyiv-Warszawa, Kyiv-Smolensk, Kyiv-Wilno, Kyiv-Kharkov or Kyiv-Budapest).

If the Kyiv station was already prescribed to a different route, you could still complete the ticket by activating the Kyiv-Bucaresti line through a station placed on Bucaresti instead.

As for the electronic version of the game, it does not immediately show tickets as complete if they rely on stations; since only one of the routes out of any given city can be used, and which route that may be is not decided until after the game is over (but before the score is calculated), the game doesn't know which route you want to use until the end of the game. It will give you credit for routes completed with properly-used stations when it tallies up your score at the end.


How to improve Blessed vs Cursed duel deck? I bought Blessed vs Cursed as my first contact with magic. I've played with friends to the point I regret not buying card sleeves (I played ~40 games of ~60 games played in total). I also went to my local store and they let me play with other decks.

I'm going to the prerelease of karesh so I'm starting there building a deck and playing with the locals. But there are lots of fiends I love to play with, they already love the game (after playing with Blessed vs Cursed) but have no money to spend.

I want to still play with the Blessed vs Cursed decks with friends, but having 'more fun cards'. What I mean is a more complex set of cards. Playing with decks in the shop, all have a strategy in mind and it was a bit more complex and interesting.

My experience with the duel deck, usually when one of the two is winning there is little the other can do. The matches usually are a bit short. I got the feeling they are balanced because I won with either one with no problem.

I think some problems could be consistency in the hands, yesterday playing with a friend I won 3 out of 4. Because he was really unlucky and there was little he can do.

My plan for both decks:

Blessed:

I want to take advantage of this combination:

  Champion of the Parish and Gather the Townsfolk with blinking.

Something in this line when blessed improves on some warriors and creates some extra weak forces but great in number. I don't know if increasing the number of copies will create this effect.

Cursed:

We don't seem to find any place for Cobbled Wings or Driver of the Dead, and we like the horde of zombies cursed could bring to the table, but we like more zombies.

Adding more Gravecrawler and Moan of the Unhallowed.

I want to go to the shop with an idea this week and expand this month card budget in this idea. But I don't know if it's any good or it's just plain stupid. Also having so many cards available to buy, I just want some guidance and advice. Is my idea any good or reasonable?

To clarify my question. Based on my idea to improve Blessed vs Cursed is there any there is any card (or list of cards) I should take into account? I'm looking to show more of what magic has to offer just with this two decks.

Other things I'll experience are Planeswalkers, there is fun to play with. But the decks have none.

Some cards I've seen:

Battlewise Hoplite
Diregraf Colossus
Endless Ranks of the Dead

You're on the right track. Finding combos and abusing them is the way to go. However, mtg is a very p2p game. Look into a format called pauper that uses only commons for a cheap way to get in. Also, vampires and madness can be made for standard cheaply with onli shadows over innistrad and Erdrich moon.


Is there a (tournament) standard for character picks? The Dark City expansion increases replay value for casual play by adding extra character roles. But what about tournament play? Is there a combination of characters that is commonly used in a tournament setting? Or maybe there's a character (or combination of characters) that's banned/excluded from official events?

There already is a (somewhat subjective) question about balance and preference. I'm looking for a source with authority, like a publisher, or (inter)national tournament host, or anything that comes close.

No; FFG don't host official Citadels tournament events (evidence includes this page which lists games supported for store championship events).

The only tournament I could find online run by players was this one, which used only the base game (not the Dark City cards).


What game does this black die belong to? Bought a house and found this die in the backyard. The icon is in the spot where the 1 would go. This has peaked my curiosity and have tried to search google image but have had no luck. I also thought it looked like a boxer's glove. I have asked friends & family if they knew. Thank you for your help!

These dice are from the Pokèmon XY Furious Fists Elite Trainer Box.

source: https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/product-gallery/xy-furious-fists-elite-trainer-box/


How does the cost of designer board games compare to other forms of entertainment? Some people complain about the cost of designer board games. With most board games near the $50 mark, and some approaching $100, they might look at the price of a movie ticket, DVD, or video game and think that this is an expensive hobby.

What do you think is the approximate cost of playing board games per hour of enjoyment when compared to other forms of entertainment?

I'm an aging grog... For me, I judge a game based upon player-hours of play. At about $1 per player-hour. Same rate I've used since the late 80's...

And at that rate, the $30 supplement I just got for TTR/TTRE has some way to go. 1st two plays were 4p @ 2.5h and 3p @ 3h - so far, $19 of the $30. One more large play should do it.

Dominion and Intrigue got enough time to "pay off"... and did so rapidly, even tho most were 2p games.

The $50 Cargo Noir is close. At 1.5 to 2h per play, and 3-4p per play, I've gotten 7 plays out of it since mid Dec.

Now, I will say, I never adjusted for inflation, and find most movies on DVD today not worth the $1/person/hour, so that metric still works for me.

You might, however, consider a more movie based metric. A movie is $5 at matinee, per person, and typically 1.5 to 2 hours.  If we add the anticipation and post-movie discussions, we can justify calling them 3 hours. That calls for $2 per person-hour.

I'll note also that I'm 56 hours in on a $50 videogame (Skyward Sword) and 30 in on another (Ocarina of Time 3D), so that $1-$2 per player-hour is quite well holding. Mario-Cart, at that rate, paid off in the first week: 10 hours, 3 players, two days; $20 paid for the disk.

Update for Dec 9 2012: The latest supplement I got for TTR paid off with another $12 of play.

Update for July 2013: All the mentioned games have since paid off. And the Wii has paid off.


Where does the term "cube" come from? In Magic, a cube is a collection of cards that is handpicked to make a good draft. A cube draft is a type of limited format that uses a cube to draft from. But what does "cube" mean? Does it refer to a collection of cards in the general sense, or is it Magic-specific terminology? Where did this term originate?

Mark Rosewater offered this explanation on his blog:

  I believe the first cube was kept in a box that was a cube.

I wouldn't call that explanation definitive, but a quick Google search demonstrates that there are Magic players who would back up Rosewater's memory.


To trash an estate or to curse my opponents? I'm playing Dominion, 3-player game, I get a 5-2 split on the opening and get a Witch and a Pearl Diver. Other players have 4-3, they both open Jack of All Trades and Silver. I pick up a Jack and Silver my second time through, and my Witch shows up at the very bottom, so I draw it on turn 5 with the hand:

Witch, Jack of All Trades, Estate, Copper, Copper.

The question: which one do I play? It's still very early in the game, no one else has a Witch at this point, is it better to try to slow my opponents down by cursing them or to speed my own deck up by gaining a silver and trashing an estate?

Of course, as in all Dominion strategy questions, this could depend on the other Kingdom cards, but I'd like to keep answers general. That said, in case you're curious I'll provide context for this game because I don't think any of the other cards impacted my decision much: there weren't many other tempting kingdom cards.

$6: Harem, Fairgrounds
$5: Witch, Horn of Plenty
$4: Bureaucrat, Gardens, Jack of All Trades, Smithy
$3: Smugglers
$2: Pearl Diver

The only other $5 was Horn of Plenty--which I definitely don't want to pick up too early. My general strategy was to get either a Smithy or a second Jack depending on whether my opponents picked up Witches, and otherwise buy money and Provinces.

You should play Jack of All Trades

You will not be slowing your opponents down much with Witch, because they are buying Jack of All Trades as well, and will just trash the curse you give them.

  DoubleJack/Big Money crushes attacks.  Sea Hag?  Trash the Curse.  Militia?  Draw back up.  Rabble?  Chuck the Victory card.  And all throughout it’s gaining Silver.  Attacks barely matter at all to DoubleJack: in the simulators, it obliterates Sea Hag/Big Money and DoubleMilitia, solidly beats ChapelWitch and ChapelMountebank, and goes toe-to-toe with DoubleMountebank and DoubleWitch.


Are heavy bolters and storm bolters a viable anti-Imperial Guard option? I am playing against an Imperial Guard player at 1500 pts. He has ~ 7 lascannon squads + an assault cannon squad. He just sits there and shoots at me while I try to advance.

I have since switched away from anything coming from reserve since my army would be eaten piece by piece. Instead I am going for a lot of troops:

3x Rhino (with Storm bolter) + 10-man Tactical squad (heavy bolter, flamer), sergeant has storm bolter
5-man Scout squad (all with combat blades)
10-man Assault squad
5-man Devastator Squad (3 lascannon, 1 heavy bolter)
Librarian in Terminator Armour (Avenger, Force Dome) + 5 Shooting Terminators
Dreadnought with Multi-melta
Dreadnought with Assault Cannon

Since most Imperial Guard troops have 5+ armour, any hit I make with the storm bolter or heavy bolter means death. Since each Rhino has a sergeant and a flamer guy, I can move 6" and still fire 4 shots (+template if I survive long enough). Is this a viable tactic to help my main force get into close combat action?

List tailoring is a bit of a Faux Pas in miniature gaming.  You, shouldn't build a list specifically to beat a single opponent.  Massing heavy bolters would be a step down on that path.  Heavy bolters are also a fairly limited weapon, since they are nearly useless against most armor.  A better weapon choice would be autocannons or asssault cannons.  They strike a balance that makes them good for anti-infantry and light anti-armor work.

I would say that your current list does lack in long range anti-infantry fire power. This would make you easy pickings for a foot heavy guard list.  Here are a few units that you could add to your army to try to address that:

Predator with Autocannon and Heavy Bolter sponsons.  This is a cheap option at 85 points each.  They bring front armor 13 and 2 ST 7 shots and 6 ST 5 ones.  Taking 3 is a good use of your heavy support slots.
Dreadnought with two twin-linked Autocannons.  For 125 points, you get 4 ST 7 shots with re-rolls.  This is a great fire support unit as it will also give your guard opponent trouble if he decides to mount his army up in Chimeras. It's fairly common to see 2 or 3 in a Marine army.
Speeder with Multi-Melta and Heavy Flamer.  Not specifically long range, but they are fast and can deep strike.  You can drop them right on your opponent's infantry squads and use that Flamer template to kill plenty of guardsmen outright.

For your tactical squads, Missile Launchers or Multi-meltas should be your choice 90% of the time.  You'l get the most use out of them.  You should give your sergeants either power fists or a combi-weapon.  You already have plenty of ST 4 firepower in a tac-squad; you need your sergeants to cover your weaknesses.

Another completely different approach is to load up on flame template weapons, mount up in drop pods, and land in his face.  He won't ever want to run foot guard again after that.


When must an Instant be played that prevents damage? Consider the card Harm's Way or similar. The Oracle text states:

The next 2 damage that a source of your choice would deal to you and/or permanents you control this turn is dealt to target creature or player instead.

When does this instant need to be cast to prevent a creature from dying? I guess the latest point by which it needs to be cast when blockers are assigned, if it were assigned later then it seems it would not longer be of any help.

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt. This is a change from previous rules.
510.3. Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack. (See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”)

Yep, in order to prevent a creature from dying in combat, the spell needs to be cast before combat damage is dealt. And the last opportunity to cast spells before combat damage is dealt is during the declare blockers step, just after blockers are actually declared.

There is one exception: if any creatures with first strike or double strike are involved in combat, there will be a combat damage step to handle their damage, prior to the time when other non-first strike combat damage is dealt. As part of that combat damage step, you get a chance to play spells and abilities, which could include the Harm's Way. So you could get away with playing it later than the declare blockers step if there is a first striking or double striking creature in combat, as long as it's not the one you want to prevent the damage from.

To make everything explicit, here's an outline of the combat phase:

Beginning of combat step

Play spells and abilities

Declare attackers step

Actually declare which creatures are attacking
Play spells and abilities

Declare blockers step

Actually declare which creatures are blocking and how
Play spells and abilities

First strike combat damage step, only if creatures with first (or double) strike are involved in combat

First strike combat damage is assigned and dealt
Play spells and abilities

Combat damage step

Non-first strike combat damage is assigned and deal
Play spells and abilities


What are examples of Go played on non-flat surfaces, like on a sphere? I know there was some thought put into how Go looks or feels like if it's not plaey on a flat, rectangular surface, but the surface of a 3-d object like a sphere or a donut. I'm mostly interested in:

How is the grid mapped to the surface, so that every node has 4 neighbors (the number of neighbors is important for how hard it is to capture stones)?
What does the absence of a border and corners mean for the game?
What are variants that are actually taken seriously as a game and played, and not only seen as obscure applications of weird topologies?

I started writing another comment, but it got too large, so I'm putting this as an answer instead.

Your other question suggests that you're envisaging playing go on the surface of an actual sphere/torus. In particular that question mentions that you want "all nodes more or less equidistant".  Searching on the internet, I didn't find much evidence that this is how go is played on other topologies.

There are a few reasons why I doubt torus/sphere go has been played on actual spheres or tori. Firstly - who has a suitable torus lying around that they could use? Secondly - getting the stones to stay in place would be awkward, and examining the position would be even worse!

Instead I suggest that the usual* way to convert a flat board game into one on a sphere/torus/Klein bottle is by imagining that the edges are joined up.  For some diagrams of how the edges of the board should be joined see here.

I found a few references to playing tic tac toe and gomoku (5-in-a-row) on different surfaces, and one to playing go.  All of these assumed a standard square grid with the edges defined to be connected in some way.  The main differences from standard go seem to be:

Fewer corners and edges: A cylindrical board has just two edges, and a torus or Klein bottle surface game has no corners or edges.
The lack of corners and edges makes it harder to create immortal groups.

I did also come across a game of go on a cylindrical surface which was not just made of a standard board with edges connected. Each point still has four liberties, but the regions between edges are not all square:

*I'm not sure a 'usual' actually exists here, but this is at least the usual way to draw diagrams on these surfaces in mathematics.


Do I draw a card in this situation with Oblivion Ring in MTG? Situation:

My opponent has an Oblivion Ring exiling my Wirewood Savage. I play Beast Within targeting the Oblivion Ring.

The following things will happen:

The oblivion ring will be destroyed
A beast will be put on the battlefield
My Wirewood Savage will come back

But in what order? I want to know whether or not I'll be able to draw a card by Wirewood Savage's effect.

You will not draw a card.

When a spell or ability resolves it resolves fully, then all abilities that were triggered during that resolution are put on the stack immediately after.

Beast Within resolves fully, destroying Oblivion Ring and creating a beast.
Oblivion Ring's 'leaves the battlefield' ability it put on the stack.
The ability resolves, bringing back Wirewood Savage.

Modern versions of Oblivion Ring such as Ixalan's Binding use a different template.  For those, you would draw a card.

Ixalan's Binding reads

  When Ixalan's Binding enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Ixalan's Binding leaves the battlefield.

This creates a one-shot effect (exiling a permanent) that lasts "until" Ixalan's Binding leaves the battlefield.  As per rule 610.3:

  610.3. Some one-shot effects cause an object to change zones “until” a specified event occurs. A second one-shot effect is created immediately after the specified event. This second one-shot effect returns the object to its previous zone.

Wirewood Savage would return to the battlefield immediately after Ixalan's Binding leaves play.  Then you would create a Beast token, and because Wirewood Savage is in play, Wirewood Savage would trigger.


Changing bot difficulty in Dominion Online Regarding the new online version of the deck-building card game Dominion, my friend complains that the bot is too challenging. Is there any way to decrease the difficulty when playing bots 1-on-1 in Dominion Online?

No, there is not currently any difficulty settings for the AI.

I cannot find an official source stating this to quote/link as reference, but you can read through the official FAQ and see some mentions of playing against the AI, with no mention of a difficulty setting.

As this is a pretty new implementation of the game, it is constantly in development with improvements and bug fixes happening often. So it is reasonable to expect such functionality to happen; though I have not heard about any expected timeline or priority for that feature. You can request that feature at the feature requests board on the Shuffle iT forums.


Distributing the player mats The setup rules for Scythe say:

Faction Selection:
Randomly shuffle the the Faction Mats and Player Mats, then deal 1 of each to each player.
Starting Player:
The player with the lowest number in the label on their Player Mat will go first. Play proceeds clockwise from there.
Designer's note:
The higher-numbered Player Mats offer slightly more lucrative starting track positions than the others, as those players are more likely to have 1 fewer turn by the end of the game than the player who goes first.

The question here is - when setting up the game - say I'm playing with three people - should I just randomly assign the three lowest ranked player mats, or I randomly assign three of total five?
The thing that I'm thinking about, is what say I randomly assign the 1,2 and 5 ranked player mats, if the person who has the five ranked player mat - has a larger advantage than if they'd been assigned the three ranked player mat.

It's really simple, actually:

The rules say

  Randomly shuffle the the Faction Mats and Player Mats

Do they say "shuffle a number of mats equal to the number of players, starting with the lowest ranked mat"? No, they don't. If they wanted you to do it so, it would have been written there.

You bought the game. It's your property.

Think it would be better using the lowest ranked mats? Do it, it's your game, you can do whatever you want. Or you can go for a bidding, even. Or you can directly allow people to chose their faction mat -like we always do, so to try different factions every time. Or you can stop someone on the street to chose one for every player. Or maybe give all the players the same faction.

Luckily there is no law preventing you to experiment with a game that you own, and luckily the game will not self destruct after the first play. Do whatever you want, and if you don't like the outcome do it differently the next time you play. Simple, right?


Does Lighting Shriekers ability activate if it dies or was exiled? So if anyone noticed I've been asking a few random unrelated questions since last night
Im new to magic and I bought a box of bulk common cards to get started (Theres been a few I added to my main deck, but mostly Im using it to learn how the game works.)

So I have a Lightning Shrieker

So it says "At the begining of the end step, Lightning Shrieker's owner shuffles it into their library."

Does this take effect if it died or was exiled? And if so what can keep it from being returned to the library?

I actually did find an answer to this question (But it was on tumblr so I don't really trust they know, because of what I say next) and they said if it dies it does mot return to the library, and it can only be returned from the battlefield

The main reason I don't trust this is because while reading my bulk of cards I've seen a good number of cards that say "Return (Creature name) to (Place) from battlefield"

And this one does not say "from battlefield"

Edit: Sorry I should have been more clear, I know it doesn't activate by being exiled or destroyed, my question was when I get to the end step does the trigger still activate from exile or the graveyard?

There's no conditional on that effect, except "At the beginning of the end step".

Roughly speaking, any effect is going to apply only when the card is in play, "on the battlefield", unless the effect specifies otherwise.

So the effect takes place when it says it does, roughly at the end of the current turn.  Not when it dies or is exiled.  Since the card has Haste, in effect, you get a 5/5 attacker with flying & trample for one turn only that then gets shuffled back into your deck.  Unless you have some other way to tinker with the mechanics, that effect will always take place at the end of any turn.

To clarify further, your tumblr information is correct; if it dies, and is in the graveyard at end of turn, the effect will not apply, and it will stay in the graveyard.

Something that can exile the card and then bring it back the next turn would, temporarily, circumvent the effect, if you want to keep it in play. (I thought there was a Blink card that would do this, but cannot find it now).


Can I sacrifice creatures that are attacking before they are blocked? If I declare my attackers as two 1/1 goblins, and my opponent declares his blockers as two 2/2 cards, before the creatures deal damage to each other, can I sacrifice my goblins to Goblin Bombardment? The 2/2 cards would still have 2 toughness before Goblin Bombardment triggered. None of the abilities require attacking as a trigger, so let's just say I was "testing the waters" and if one of my goblins was blocked, I would have sacrificed it and the other would have attacked.

Yes, you can sacrifice one of you attackers after blockers but before combat damage.

116.1b A player may activate an activated ability any time he or she has priority.
116.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).

At this moment you are the active player and will receive priority after the declare blockers step. Now that you have priority you may activate an activated ability, so you can activate your Goblin Bombardment and sacrifice one of your creatures to kill one of your oponents blockers, for example.


Monopoly Deal - JSN Card If you steal a property and your opponent doesn't play their JSN card at that time, then you lay a matching property down to make a complete set, and then your third card is to charge rent - can your opponent then decide to use his JSN card to take his property card back, or is the JSN card only good to get out of paying the rent at this point?

The time to play "Just Say No" is when the action they want to "Say No" to is happening. If they didn't stop you taking their property, and you're now claiming rent, then they can only "Say No" to the rent.

(This is assuming that you didn't rush through all three plays so quickly they didn't have time to react.)


Milling cards with discard an draw abilities I have a Blue Black Mill deck with Sphinx's Tutelage and Day's Undoing (Whispering Madness works in the same way). If I had all four Tutelages on the field, and cast Days Undoing / Whispering Madness, how would the card draws work afterwards?

I am under the impression that either way this would give me the game, but would the opponent draw first, then me so that I could start milling them or do I draw first, start milling them, then they draw seven?

Here is what happens when the active player casts Day's Undoing:

The active player shuffles his or her hand and graveyard into his or her library and then draws seven cards.
Sphinx's Tutelage triggers seven times, but those triggers do not go on the stack just yet.
The nonactive player shuffles his or her library hand and graveyard into his or her library and then draws seven cards.
The turn ends.

"The turn ends" means something special in Magic. Specifically, rule 713.1a says that any triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack cease to exist.

713.1. Three cards (Time Stop, Sundial of the Infinite, and Day’s Undoing) end the turn. When an effect ends the turn, follow these steps in order, as they differ from the normal process for resolving spells and abilities (see rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities”).
713.1a If there are any triggered abilities that triggered before this process began but haven’t been put onto the stack yet, those abilities cease to exist. They won’t be put onto the stack. This rule does not apply to abilities that trigger during this process (see rule 713.2).

And here is the rule that says explains why the active player draws first.

120.2a If an effect instructs more than one player to draw cards, the active player performs all of his or her draws first, then each other player in turn order does the same.


When does Heroic trigger? Suppose Player 1 controls a Favored Hoplite and casts Ordeal of Heliod targeting it. In response, player 2 casts Magma Jet on the Favored Hoplite.

Does the Heroic trigger from Ordeal of Heliod happen before Magma Jet, thus saving Favored Hoplite? Or does Magma Jet kill Favored Hoplite, with Ordeal of Heliod no longer having a valid target?

Favored Hoplite won't be saved. Ordeal of Heliod will have no valid target, will be considered countered, and will be sent to Player 1's graveyard.

When do Heroic abilities trigger?

Heroic abilities always follow this format:

  Heroic — Whenever you cast a spell that targets {this card}, {do something special}

They trigger right after a spell is cast. A spell is considered cast when you place it on the stack, having paid its costs, chosen its target, and so on. This is the point when you and other players can put other spells and abilities on the stack to respond to that spell. It's also before the spell resolves. (Tangentially: even if a spell gets countered, that doesn't change that it was considered cast at some point. It just doesn't get to resolve.)

So you cast a spell targeting your Favored Hoplite, triggering its ability, which goes on the stack on top of the spell. The Heroic ability resolves before the spell does:

Ordeal of Heliod (bottom)
Favored Hoplite's Heroic ability

However, these haven't resolved yet. At this point, before either resolves, you and the other players have an opportunity to place other spells and abilities on the stack. If you're confused about how the stack works, check this question: In plain English, how does casting spells and using creature abilities work with the stack and priority?

What happens in this scenario?

In this case, your opponent may immediately cast Magma Jet (since it's an Instant) before either the Heroic ability or Ordeal of Heliod have a chance to resolve. That would make the stack look like this:

Ordeal of Heliod (bottom)
Favored Hoplite's Heroic ability
Magma Jet

Magma Jet will resolve first and kill your Favored Hoplite before the Heroic ability or Ordeal of Heliod get to do anything about it. You'll need to find another way to save it. That could include casting any instant targeting Favored Hoplite, which will trigger its Heroic ability again - and that one will resolve before Magma Jet and save it.


When I cast a Cascade spell with Jodah, Archmage Eternal, do I cascade for 5 or the spell's original cost? I have a question regarding Jodah, Archmage Eternal and cascade mechanic. If I cast a 10 drop, but I cast it for WUBRG with Jodah, does cascade trigger for 10 or the 5 that I paid?

10

Let's look at Cascade.

  702.84a Cascade is a triggered ability that functions only while the spell with cascade is on the stack. “Cascade” means “When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell’s converted mana cost. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren’t cast on the bottom of your library in a random order.”

Cascade is dependent on the CMC, so let's look at that.

  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.

Finally, the CMC is dependent on the mana cost, so let's look at that.

  202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. Some cards from the Future Sight set have alternate frames in which the mana symbols appear to the left of the illustration.

Whatever cost you actually paid to cast the spell is irrelevant; only what's printed on the card matters. Alternative costs, whether they are casting for {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} with Jodah or casting for free, do not change or replace the converted mana cost of the spell, as the following reminder rules tells us:

  117.9c An alternative cost doesn’t change a spell’s mana cost, only what its controller has to pay to cast it. Spells and abilities that ask for that spell’s mana cost still see the original value.


What's actually good against Jund? "Jund" is the red-black-green shard from Shards of Alara.

More importantly, however, it's a term for a midrange archetype in those colors, using a mixture of quick disruption, multi-faceted removal, and powerful creatures, with lots and lots of 2-for-1s, via cards like Bloodbraid Elf, Hymn to Tourach, or Thragtusk. This is clearly a powerful strategy since we've seen periods where Jund decks were ascendant in Standard, Extended, Modern, and Legacy — often multiple formats at the same time!

Magic pros have said things like, "Jund is at best 55% and at worst 45% against everything." Still, having a "55%" matchup against Jund is much better than a "45%" matchup; and when Jund decks are powerful, it's useful to at least have a good sideboard plan against the deck.

For example, the Jund Standard decks at Pro Tour Gatecrash featured these elements:

Hand disruption: Liliana of the Veil, Rakdos's Return, Duress
Resilient threats: Thragtusk, Garruk, Primal Hunter
Powerful removal: Dreadbore, Abrupt Decay, Victim of Night, burn spells
Plentiful sources of card advantage: Thragtusk, Huntmaster of the Fells, Olivia Voldaren, Mizzium Mortars, Rakdos's Return
Incidental lifegain on cards that are great even without it: Thragtusk, Huntermaster of the Fells
Aggressive utility lands: Kessig Wolf Run (compare to the plentiful use of manlands in other formats)
Occasional mana acceleration: Deathrite Shaman, Farseek, Arbor Elf

What kinds of cards and strategies are particularly strong against Jund?

("Jund" is a broad category of decks, but it is a very clear archetype. Feel free to focus your analysis on one format, e.g. Standard.)

Jund is the prototypical midrange deck - serving as a control deck in the matchups vs. aggressive decks while playing a more aggressive role itself vs. 'true' control decks.  Unfortunately for the Jund deck, it's difficult to do both of these things at once - generally decks of this kind want to be tuned for a particular environment, and guessing wrong can be a problem for the deck.  What's more, while resilience is its strong suit, there isn't any one thing it does better than any other deck can do it, and so it's vulnerable to both ends of its range.

This points to the core ways of dealing with it (note that I'm primarily focusing on Standard here as it's what I'm most familiar with, but most of the core concepts here should apply to other formats) :

Go under it.  A deck like the Saito or Christiansen G/R decks or the 'aggro Jund' decks (which are more 3-color decks that happen to be in the appropriate colors than the sort of resilient Jund deck this post talks about) can easily kill before Jund has a good chance to establish itself, and often build enough board presence early that by the time the Jund player hits 5 mana and starts running out Thragtusk the aggro deck is able to kill them around it.  This seems to be the preferred approach at the moment, judging by the results of the Quebec City Standard Grand Prix where the top 8 was flooded with more aggressive decks; but much of this may be a result of the Jund decks tuning themselves more against the control and midrange (including mirror) matchups than against the aggro decks (for instance, the rising numbers of Olivia Voldaren in Jund lists); I would expect this plan of attack to have more problems as the Jund decks start adapting with e.g. more Vampire Nighthawks.
Go over it: this is the typical control approach, of course.  Right now it might be more accurate to call this plan the 'go around it' plan — the goal is to be a slower, more powerful deck than Jund by playing on axes where Jund has a harder time interacting.  The Nephalia Drownyard/Jace, Memory Adept mill plan is the perfect example of this — rather than trying to beat Thragtusks or Olivias in a fair fight, the Esper control decks just ignore them outright and go for the library.  Backed with cards like Witchbane Orb to keep the Jund deck from attacking spots where the control decks are actually vulnerable, this strategy can be a trump; typically most Jund decks have no actual defense against a mill plan.
Another way of "going around it" is via combo — since Jund has no way (in the main deck, and very few in the board) to actually prevent its opponents from resolving spells, a deck that can win the game from any board position with a single resolved spell is a difficult matchup.  The prototypical example of this in Standard are the combo reanimator decks like Tzu Ching Kuo's from the Quebec City GP; even having its Unburial Rites discarded by Liliana or Rakdos' Return isn't a major problem, since that deck is just as happy to cast it out of the graveyard and win from there.  Birthing Pod decks in Modern work similarly, since just a single resolved Birthing Pod will generally overwhelm the Jund deck with too much card advantage to be effectively dealt with — any creature becomes a serious threat at that point.


How are excavation permits handled if the turn you dig in straddles a year-end? In Thebes, you're an archaeologist digging up ancient ruins around the turn of the 20th century. When you show up at a dig site, and dig for some variable amount of time, you expend your excavation permit for that site. There are five sites to dig at, and your excavation permits are restored when you complete a game year.

The trouble is that the duration of a turn is variable in Thebes; you spend one week for every space you move, and up to 12 weeks digging. It's quite possible for one of your digs to straddle a year-end: you start before the year ends, and finish sometime in the new year.

Can you dig at a site if you have no permission, using the "refreshed" permit to dig? (And thus starting the year with a used permit for that site.)

If you have a permit before you dig, do you spend it before you dig and then have it again after you're done digging?

Finally, consider this odd case: you're in week 51. You spend three weeks moving to Mesopotamia (arriving in week 2 of the new year), and then start digging as part of the same move. Is this legal if you have no permit? (In theory, it would refresh in week 1, but the game doesn't break down your turn into components; it's "all one move.") If you had a permit, would you have a permit again once you were done digging?

I think the key phrase in the rulebook is this one:

  At the end of his turn, the player pays any costs in weeks he has
  incurred by moving his time marker.

By this token, you wouldn't be able to dig without permission just because, after the weeks taken up by movement, you would be "into next year".  If you start your turn in one year, then everything counts as taking place in that year; excavation permits can only flip at the end of a player's turn.

If you have a permit, you can of course use it at the very end of one year, and then have it flip back up again at the end of the same turn...


What does the "Ice" word means in terms of Netrunner's Lore? Why defending programs in the game of Android Netrunner are called Ice? Is it an acronym? Or something else?

According to the original Netrunner rulebook (and as recorded in the Wiki ):
The corps in Netrunner view it as an acronym for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics.
The runners view it as an acronym for Insidious Cortical Electrocution.
The original rulebook included it in the corp (runner) glossary thus:

Ice: A program that protects our data forts from intrusion. An acronym for "intrusion countermeasures electronics." (An acronym for "insidious cortical electrocution.")


which has precedence when they conflict On a creature card is says when creature dies return it to the owners hand and the enchantment says when a creature you do not control dies return it to the battlefield under your control and put a +1/+1 counter on it.

Does the creature go to the hand and then to the battlefield under my control?

When the creature dies, both abilities go on the stack.  They are placed on the stack in "Active Player, Non-active Player" (APNAP) order.  This means that the player whose turn it is places all of their abilities that triggered on the stack, and then the other player will place all of their abilities that triggered on the stack, above the active player's abilities.  If both abilities belong to the same player, that player chooses the order.  Then the top ability on the stack resolves, moving the creature.  When a card changes zones it becomes an entirely new object, and the only ability that can track it to the new zone is the ability that caused it to move.  So when the second ability tries to resolve it won't be able to do anything because it can't find the creature it is trying to target.

This means that the exact result depends on who controls the effects, and whose turn it is.

If you control Endless Cockroaches that you enchanted with False Demise, then when the cockroaches die you choose which order the effects go on the stack.  If you order them so the cockroaches' ability is on top it will return to you hand.  If you order them so the False Demise ability is on top, it will return to the battlefield.

If you control Endless Cockroaches, and your opponent enchanted it with False Demise and the Cockroaches die on your turn then the Cockroaches ability will be placed on the stack first, and then False Demise will be placed on top of it.  False Demise will resolve first, and your opponent will get your Cockroaches.

If instead it was your opponent's turn, then the False Demise trigger will be placed first and the Cockroach trigger will be placed on top, meaning that the Cockroach trigger will resolve first and the roaches will be returned to you hand.

From the description, it sounds like the enchantment in question is Grave Betrayal.  If that is the case, then the roaches will always go back to their owners hand.  That's because Grave Betrayal reads

  Whenever a creature you don't control dies, return it to the battlefield under your control with an additional +1/+1 counter on it at the beginning of the next end step. That creature is a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.

Grave Betrayal's ability triggers and goes on the stack the same way I described above.  But even if it resolves first, it doesn't try and move the creature until the beginning of the end step.  That means that when the Cockroaches' ability resolves, it will still be able to find the Cockroaches and will always move the roaches to their owner's hand, and when the Grave Betrayal trigger tries to move the roaches at the beginning of the end step they won't be able to find them.


What happens if you steal an Elixir of Immortality and then use it? In an EDH (Commander) game recently, Alice used Thada Adel, Acquisitor to steal an artifact out of Bob's deck, the Elixir of Immortality, and cast it.

That artifact's ability says:

  {2}, {T}: You gain 5 life. Shuffle Elixir of Immortality and your graveyard into your library.

When Alice uses that ability, what happens to the artifact? Does it go into Bob's graveyard or get shuffled into Alice's library? Does Alice still even shuffle her graveyard into her library and gain 5 life?

It goes into Bob's library (the owner of the card).

From the Comprehensive Rules:

  400.3. If an object would go to any library, graveyard, or hand other than its owner’s, it goes to its
  owner’s corresponding zone.

There is also specific errata on the Elixir

  Elixir of Immortality - {1}
  Artifact
  {2}, {T}: You gain 5 life. Shuffle Elixir of Immortality and your
  graveyard into their owner's library.

  This new wording correctly instructs the player as to what to do in
  the case where the controller of the ability does not own Elixir of
  Immortality.

  Please pass this information on to other interested parties who may
  not have received it.


Multiple delayed triggers from Massacre Girl interaction Recently on my usual EDH playgroup, we had an interaction of which we couldn't tell the outcome for sure.

I had a Massacre Girl out on the battlefield, enchanted with Kaya's Ghostform. I then cast an Altar's Reap, sacrificing Massacre Girl as the additional cost. After resolving the relevant triggered abilities, I had now a Massacre Girl on the battlefield and a delayed trigger that's been created by Massacre Girl's ability.

My turn then proceeds uneventfully until my end step, during which I use the ability from my Conjurer's Closet to 'blink' my Massacre Girl.

Assuming a creature died from the Massacre Girl's latest ETB trigger, both delayed triggers will trigger at the same time: the one created now, and the one created earlier this turn.

Both triggers read:

  Whenever a creature dies this turn, each creature other than Massacre Girl gets -1/-1 until end of turn.

My question then is: Will the delayed trigger created earlier in the turn also give -1/-1 to my current Massacre Girl, since it's considered a new object? And which are the relevant rulings for this interaction?

Whenever a creature dies after the second Massacre Girl's ability resolved, the second MG will get -1/-1, while all other creatures get -2/-2.
As you noted, the two Massacre Girls are different objects even though they were represented by the same card.

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

The triggered ability of MG creates two one-shot effects. The first of those effects gives every other creature -1/-1 until EOT. The second creates a delayed triggered ability that exists independently of the MG that created it and triggers whenever a creature, including the MG, dies.

603.7. An effect may create a delayed triggered ability that can do something at a later time. A delayed triggered ability will contain “when,” “whenever,” or “at,” although that word won’t usually begin the ability.

The DTA created by both MGs only refer to the MG that created them, respectively.

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

When the second MG returns from exile through Conjurer's Closet, it creates another DTA that is identical to the first except it refers to the second MG. Both DTAs are active because the turn hasn't ended yet. So when a creature dies after the creation of the second DTA, both DTAs will trigger and do what they say, namely give -1/-1 to every other creature. The first MG is no longer exists so it can't get -1/-1, but the second MG exists and will get -1/-1 from the first DTA. All other creatures get two instances of -1/-1 until EOT.


Do I need On The Brink to play In The Lab? I bought the Pandemic base set, and In The Lab, as I saw it plays up to six people. (Though I notice now that's for team play).

When I got home, I saw the box says that you need both the base set and On The Brink to play.

Is this correct?

Yes, it's correct, in that to use everything in the box, you absolutely need the base set and On the Brink. There are things in there that directly add on to things from On the Brink, and would be useless without it.

But you can still use most of it without On the Brink. You can add in the roles and events, and you can play the lab, solo, and team variants. This is all summarized in the "overview" section at the beginning of the rules, and the other sections make it explicit:

Lab Challenge: "This challenge can be played with just the base game or combined with other challenges, except the Team game."

Solo Game: "The solo game pits you, with a little help from the CDC, against all the diseases. It can be combined with other challenges, except the Bio-Terrorist challenge."

Team Game: "The Team game can be combined with other challenges, except the
Bio-Terrorist or Lab challenges."


Single player variant of pandemic? Is it possible play the base version of Pandemic with one person?

One thing I've consider is you could just play for four players with open hands.

Yes, for basically any no-hidden-information co-op game, including Pandemic, you can play by yourself, acting as the appropriate number of players. I'd probably play as four, as you said, since I think the game is pretty good with four, but you could certainly try it with three or two if you prefer.

I don't think the open hands are really a big deal. You can already tell everyone all the cards in your hand all the time in the normal game, so it's not really a big leap to just play with open hands. A lot of people just play with open hands despite the rules, because they want to just play the game, not waste time constantly asking everyone what's in their hands. If you find that it makes it a little easier, just add an epidemic card.

If you have the In the Lab expansion, there's also an actual solo version of the game, using a single role and the CDC (which has its own special actions), which can be combined with whichever other variants you like (except the bio-terrorist, of course). Up to you whether you prefer that or playing as multiple roles, but if you're looking at only the base game, you don't have much choice.


When you King's Court a King's Court, when must you pick the three target cards? Bear with me here.  In Dominion: Prosperity you can play King's Court and choose another King's Court as the target:

The rules are clear on the basics of what happens here: you pick three cards and play each one three times.  My question is when, precisely, the picking happens.

If all three of those cards must be picked before executing any of them, it's a whole lot different from if you choose the cards one at a time.

Up-front

You must choose all three cards before playing card #1 three times.

One-at-a-time

You choose card #1 and play it three times, then choose and play card #2, etc.

We played it one-at-a-time since that seemed like it made a little more sense (and was more fun too).  If the first card you choose draws any cards at all, you have a high probability of picking up another action card to be the second target.

Anybody know for sure which method is correct?

Short answer: You do the "one at a time" option as you described.

Long answer:

This case is precisely identical to the more common question of using Throne Room on a Throne Room, as the two cards are worded identically except for the number and a "you may".

The official Dominion rules PDF says:

  You completely resolve playing the Action the first time before playing it
  the second time. If you Throne Room a Throne Room, you play an Action,
  doing it twice, and then play another Action and do it twice; you do not
  resolve an Action four times.

In your case, this means "completely resolve playing King's Court the first time before [starting to] play it the second or third time". This means that yes, if your first Courted action was a Smithy, you're going to have lots of choices for the second and third King's Court.


Is using 1 die when all but 1 piece is in home and the last piece near home ok, or do I use both dice like usual? Parcheesi is a race between four players. Each player moves four pawns from their starting point, around the board and then into the center.

In Parcheesi, is it possible to use just 1 die at the end rather than 2 for moves less than 7 spaces? I play by the rules, and there is no rule on dice usage at the end of the game.

If there is no specific rule that allows you to change the dice usage at the end of the game, then you must roll the dice as always. However, after reading the rules more carefully, rolling only one die would actually be a disadvantage. The dies are used separately, not necessarily added together to move. That is, if you are 3 spaces away (a move less than 7 as you stated) and you roll a 4 and a 3, you use the 3 and it's done.

From this website...

  Die may be combined to move one piece, or may be used separately to
  move separate pieces, but you may not split a singular die to move two
  pieces.


What is 5/5/2 variant of the Machi Koro? Can someone explain this variant in details?

Do we need the expansions for this variant to work? Or is it also applicable to the base game?

This variant seems to have been introduced with the Harbor Expansion and I'm not sure it would work well with just the base game. It's a way to avoid having only low (resp. high) numbered buildings when using the draw cards rule (instead of having all the buildings available at once).

The idea is apparently to split the deck into 3 decks :

one with the buildings 1-6 (except purple ones)
one with the buildings 7-14 (except purple ones)
one with all the purple buildings.

Now, when drawing the cards to prepare available buildings, you draw from the first deck until you have 5 different buildings, from the second one until you have 5 different buildings and 2 different purple buildings.

During play whenever someone depletes a pile, draw from the corresponding deck until you reach the wanted number of buildings in this category (5, 5 or 2).

I didn't know about this variant and this made me curious... I found about it in this forum thread on BGG.

I might as well give it a go myself ;-)
Thanks for a good question!


To play one of the Catan expansion extensions do I need the extended version of the base game? I’ve got the base version of catan and was going to buy the explorers and pirates expansion and the relevant extension for extra players. Do I also need to buy the extension of the base game?

Thanks!

I'm not sure about the American editions (by Mayfair IIRC?), but for the German editions by Kosmos the answer is yes. The base game as well as the expansions had the material for 3 and 4 players, and all expansions and the base game each had an individual extension for 5th and 6th player.
The expansions and their 5/6-extensions only contain the additional material, you are supposed to use the roads, settlements and cities from base game, so you need the base game's 5/6-extension, too.


My god, they've taken the ... that I've got to get to! There's a card "I've got to get to the...", which requires a player get to a building before searching again. There's another card "My god, they've taken the..." which takes over a building.

When a building is taken over, a player can't enter it.

What happens if a player needs to get to a building, but that building has been taken over? Can the player never search again, or does one of the effects go away?

The card text says

  Play this card at the start of a Zombie Turn on any Hero and roll a
  Random Building.

  That Hero may not search. Discard this card when the Hero moves into a
  space of that building. If the Hero is already in the building or
  cannot enter it, Re-roll.

Your scenario renders the hero unable to enter the building, so a re-roll is required.

This is confirmed on a BGG thread by an answer from the game designer:

  If the building is made unavailable to the Hero, then you must re-roll to determine a new building for the Hero to get to.


Can sheriff replenish his extra life point? Sheriff always starts with one extra health point. Can this extra point be replenished through Beer or through other means?

Beer can replenish the extra bullet that the Sheriff gets. From the Bang! rulebook:

  The Sheriff plays the game with one additional bullet: if his character card shows three bullets, he is considered for all effects to have four; if he has four bullets, then the Sheriff plays with five.

"All effects" includes Beer.


Can Sakashima change its name to Lazav? Sakashima the Impostor has the following text (and more, but this is the relevant part):

  You may have Sakashima, the Impostor enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except its name is Sakashima, the Impostor

Lazav, the Multifarious has somewhat similar text (also shortened to the relevant part):

  {X}: Lazav, the Multifarious becomes a copy of target creature card in your graveyard with converted mana cost X, except its name is Lazav, the Multifarious

Between these two cards, it's possible to have Sakashima enter the battlefield as a copy of Lazav, and then use Lazav's ability. In most situations, text on a card which refers to that card by name is treated as "this card", so even though the creature in that circumstance is named "Sakashima the Impostor", activating its ability which says "Lazav, the Multifarious becomes a copy" will cause Sakashima to become a copy. However, I don't know whether the same applies to the part of the ability which affects the resulting name as well.

There are various other cards which would have similar effects when combined with Lazav, such as taking the ability directly with something like Necrotic Ooze that I assume would work the same way, but if not then feel free to limit consideration to just Sakashima.

In short, if a creature not already named Lazav, the Multifarious has and activates the ability of Lazav, the Multifarious, does its name change?

Yes, if a creature that is not named Lazav, the Multifarious activates the ability from Lazav, its name will become Lazav, the Multifarious.

Rule 706.9c says this:

  Some copy effects modify a characteristic as part of the copying process. The final value(s) for that characteristic becomes part of the copiable values for the copy.

In this case, Lazav's ability modifies the name as part of the copying process, setting it to "Lazav, the Multifarious", so the creature will have that name after the ability resolves no matter what name it had before.

With Sakashima in particular, after the ability from Lazav resolves, you will have two copy effects: one copying Lazav, the Multifarious, with the modifications made by Sakashima's ability, and one copying the target of the activated ability, with the modifications made by Lazav's ability. The second one has a later timestamp, so it overwrites the first one, and the resulting object just has the characteristics set by that second copy effect, including Lazav's name.

This would work differently if the ability said that it "doesn't copy" the creature's name, the way Vesuvan Doppelganger doesn't copy the creature's color.


Can Wall of Blood and Transcendence be used to gain infinite life? Just checking to make sure I am correct about this interaction.

Transcendence on the field.
Wall of Blood on the field.
Life total 19.

Pay one life to wall, Transcendence trigger on the stack, pay another life, trigger on the stack, etc. Repeat until down to 0 life. Allow the top 9 triggers to resolve, putting me to 18 life and leaving 10 "gain 2" triggers on the stack. Repeat until infinite transcendence triggers are on the stack. Nature's Claim the Transcendence on the stack, allow all triggers to resolve.

Am I correct on this interaction? I see no reason why not, but one of my friends is skeptical.

Yes, that should work (with the caveat that you can never gain 'infinite' life, you have to specify an (arbitrarily large) number, how often you are going to repeat the cycle, upfront). It's important to note that you can't pay life you don't have (even with Transcedence on the field) but you've already accounted for that.

One may expect for a combination of three cards (two of which are rather bad/mediocre on their own) in three different colors to be so powerful. It's a rather risky one as well; if Nature's Claim gets countered, you'll lose the game.


When there are multiple "enters the battlefield" effects but "lasts until end of turn" is said once, do they all last until end of turn? For example, Cavalry Drillmaster has two enters the battlefield effects separated with an and:

  When Cavalry Drillmaster enters the battlefield, target creature gets +2/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.

Do both effects last until the end of the turn or just first strike? Where is this defined in the rules?

They all last until the end of the turn, not just first strike. Since it's hard to keep track of these abilities for a longer period, permanent boosts (or curses) almost always use 'counters', like a +1/+1 counter, which stay on the card as a visible representation. (There are a handful of exceptions like Figure of Destiny.)

So if the +2/+0 boost would be permanent, it would have read something like this:

  When Cavalry Drillmaster enters the battlefield, choose target creature. Put a +2/+0 on that creature. That creature gains first strike until end of turn.

Note that the effect has now been split in two sentences, to indicate the difference in duration.


Chance Encounter/As Luck Would Have It and reflips/rerolls I'm making an Uncommander deck based around rolling dice and flipping coins, and I'm planning on including Chance Encounter and As Luck Would Have It as alternate win conditions. Both of them place luck counters on themselves when you win a coin flip or roll a dice (respectively), and win you the game if you have enough counters. There are several cards that allow a reflip or a reroll, but I have questions about three.

  Goblin Bookie

  {R}, {T}: Reflip any coin or reroll any die. (Activate this ability only any time it makes sense.)

Goblin Bookie's wording is fairly standard for effects that reroll dice or reflip coins (apart from the timing), but Krark's Thumb - and its Unstable counterpart, Krark's Other Thumb - are worded a bit differently - instead of reflipping, you're ignoring a result.

  Krark's Thumb

  If you would flip a coin, instead flip two coins and ignore one.

  Krark's Other Thumb

  If you would roll a die, instead roll two of those dice and ignore one of those results.

If I reflip/reroll with Goblin Bookie, does the original roll still earn me luck counters? What about with Krark's (Other) Thumb? Does "ignoring" one of the coins means that it doesn't count as a win for me? There might not be a ruling on dice rolls, since only Unsets (as far as I know) have used dice as a mechanic, but coin flips have been used on a number of cards. Chance Encounter is from Odyssey, Krark's Thumb is from Mirrodin; heck, Mana Crypt uses coin flips. I would expect there to be an official ruling on flips at least, but neither Krark's Thumb nor Chance Encounter have any Gatherer rulings that clarify things.

As Luck Would Have It works fully with rerolls.
Chance Encounter doesn't work with reflips.
The entire game only sees one result from any kind of Krarkish prestidigitation.

Mark Rosewater (the Un-Rules Manager) rules on Goblin Bookie/ALWHI in this blog post:

mikedoesstories asked: If I use Goblin Bookie to reroll a die, do both die rolls count for As Luck Would Have It or just the rerolled die?
Both rolls count.

MaRo later clarifies that it's based on whether the dice roll would trigger this ability regardless of the outcome (posted here):

tarectarec asked: In your FAQ you said that As Luck Would Have It would get counters from the original dice in case of a reroll. But would Chittering Doom give me a squirrel token if I rolled a 6 but then decided to reroll it (Rolling a 1 this time for example)?
No. Counting die rolls is different than triggering things based upon on a particular outcome.

This wouldn't work with Krark's Other Thumb since you're specifically instructed to ignore one of the rolls (as far as the rest of the game is concerned, it never happened). For the same reason, Krark's Thumb won't work with Chance Encounter.

By following this logic in the second case, we can see that a reroll can't trigger Chance Encounter twice because Chance Encounter only triggers on a particular outcome (rather than the flip itself), and there's only one outcome.
Note that we're safe following un-logic in this case, as reflips and rerolls can currently only exist in silver-border.


Not enough cards for both players when casting Wheel of Fortune What happens if both players have only 3 cards in their library and I cast Wheel of Fortune (Each player discards his/her hand and draws seven cards) ?

Is it any different if one player has 1 card and the other player has 3 ?

Here are the relevant Comprehensive Rules:

  104.3c If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in his or her library, he or she draws the remaining cards, and then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

Nothing happens until a player would get priority, so the order in which the players drew the cards doesn't matter.

  704.4. Unlike triggered abilities, state-based actions pay no attention to what happens during the resolution of a spell or ability.

All the SBAs are performed simultaneously.

  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. [...]

All the players would lose simultaneously if it were not for the following exception:

  104.4a If all the players remaining in a game lose simultaneously, the game is a draw

In both cases, the game ends in a draw. Because the rules pay no attention to what's happening during the spell's resolution, having more cards doesn't protect you in this case. As soon as state-based actions are checked (i.e. after the spell resolves) you both lose the game at the same time and it's therefore a draw.


Red eyes darkness metal dragon ruling If I use red eyes dmd effect to bring a dragon from the graveyard then send red eyes dmd to the graveyard and then bring it back in the same turn, is it treated as a new monster resetting it so I can re-use its effect to special summon another monster?

Yes, you can do that.

This comes down to the same rulings involving this question:
Tri-Gate effect

Basically, the rule with once per turn effects is as follows:

If the cards simply says, "once per turn you can..." or any variation on this. It basically means once per turn, per card. If the monster is removed from the field and summoned again, this state resets because it no longer counts as the same card.

On the other hand if the cards states something along the lines of "you can only use this effect of "Monster Name" once per turn", then the effect can only be used once per turn for any card with that name. That includes any other physical copies of that monster you would summon.


What happens if an Ice's subroutine can't be resolved? I've got an Ice with subroutine: "Trash 1 program". What happens if the subroutine triggers and the runner does not have a program? The question is motivated by the next facts:

There are obligatory and optional abilities ("... if able", Enigma for example).
There is a rule clarification in the official FAQ: "A player cannot trigger an action/ability unless he is also able to resolve it".

The subroutine isn't broken (matters for stuff like Oversight AI), but doesn't actually do anything (so, technically, not "resolved", based on the unresolvable effects ruling from FAQ 1.5 - but there are no currently-released cards for which "resolved" matters).

Update: @user30903 pointed out that Persephone is coming out soonish, and will care whether a sub "resolved" or not. It seems to me that a subroutine should not be considered resolved unless it has an effect on the game state, but FFG could possibly rule to the contrary. We'll have to wait and see.


Can "Produce a Miracle for the Masses" be used to replace multiple cubes? The card states:

  Once per round, whenever you take an action that provides any [white],
  you can also replace [orange], [black], or [purple] with [white].

The white cube is qualified by "any", but the text does not indicate "a cube" or "one cube", though the flavor text may imply only one:

  "Another cleric called to the cause."

You can only do it once.

When you see a cube on a card, it means one cube. This isn't explicitly stated in the rules, but it should be apparent from the way cards always show a number of cubes, and any time there's not a known number of cubes, it's qualified. For example, this very card says "...any {white}..." rather than just "...{white}..." to make it clear that it triggers just once when you receive any number of clerics. If you look through other cards, I think you'll find you've always interpreted a single cube to mean a single adventurer.

So you could more clearly transcribe the card as:

  Once per round, whenever you take an action that provides any clerics, you can also replace a fighter, a rogue, or a wizard with a cleric.

And since it says you can only make that replacement once, you can only replace one cube.


Diplomatic Immunity, card's self abilities and equipments I have card Diplomatic Immunity (from Mercadian Masques)

It says that both the enchantment itself and the creature enchanted can't be target of spells or abilities (called shroud now, it seems).

If I enchant a creature that have, for e.g., R: Gets +1/+0 until end of turn, will this card block the creature's self-ability also?
Considering any Equipment (which have a cost for equipping on something), does that card block the equip also? If yes, if I equip first then enchant, will the equipment be removed or will it stay shrouded also?

Target is a special word in Magic; if a spell or ability targets, it will say "target" in the rules text. The only time it doesn't is if it's hidden away inside a keyword - in which case the reminder text for the keyword (if present) will say "target". (Or I suppose a card subtype - Auras target.)

In the first case, the creature doesn't target itself, so that's fine, the ability still works.

In the second case, the Equip ability does target, as you can see from its reminder text, for example:

  Equip {3} ({3}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.)

It says target, so you can't equip your creature. But it only targets as you're activating the ability, so if the equipment is already attached to the creature when you enchant it with Diplomatic Immunity, it'll stay there. You might be interested in this rules summary for Equipment, which in fact mentions these very things:

  The equip ability can't target a Gigapede, because it can't be the target of spells and abilities. There's no real way around this, even though being untargetable wouldn't cause the equipment to fall off. If the Warhammer is equipping a Glimmering Angel, making the Angel untargetable won't make the Warhammer fall off.


Can anyone identify board game with 2 rows 2 holes wide each and 2 upright metal pins? The Gatorade bottle has been placed for scale

This is a basic cribbage board.

The pegs are moved alternatively to track score for each of two players. There are sixty holes so that each player completes a number of "laps of the board" to reach a winning score of 61 or 121.


Do I earn two energy cubes if I end my 5th register on an energy space? The rules on page 8 say

  When you end a register on an energy space, if there is an energy cube there, take it. If you end the fifth register on an energy space, take an energy cube from the energy bank.

I take this to mean that you take a cube from that space if you land there after executing the fifth register, but you additionally take one from the bank, so could gain two.  Is that right?

Short answer: Yes.

If you end any register on a space that has an energy cube you get that cube. If you end the 5th register on an energy space you get a cube from the bank. These statuses are both checked independently.


Casual playing of Magic the Gathering MTG me and my GF started playing casual MTG together. I used to play so I know alot about the game and i taught her already so we know about playing. I had alot of cards from past but now we bought "a set of 3000 cards". They are mostly common, uncommon, few rares and its mostly War of the Spark, Throne of eldraine and so on. So now we are digging into this pile of cards but we are kinda lost about what should we do.
I was thinking about some page or a software, where I could put all the cards and it would tell me what decks consist of some of my cards so I could buy the rest or something like that.
Also we were looking at the Duel decks, but there are so many and alot of people say that they are unbalanced or not worth for the money.
Or should we just find decks lists we like and go buy them to our local store?
We have lot of cards, but kinda dont know what to do with them, because most of all they are commons and uncommons.

This may be closed as opinion-based, but there isn't a "right way" to play MTG casually or to build decks. However, I find that you are approaching it from the wrong point of view, and are missing out on what is (in my opinion) the most fun part about playing Magic, which is the deck-building.
Sure you can find a deck list online that uses some of your cards and just build a deck that someone else has thought of. But then you are only getting half of what Magic has to offer... you are getting the play-the-game part, but you are missing out on the build-the-deck part.
My recommendation would be to avoid looking at any deck lists, and instead just look through the cards you have. Get some ideas based on the cards you have and then build the best deck you can with only the cards you have. Of course it won't be as strong of a deck as it would if you were buying whatever specific cards you need to make a great deck, but it should be balanced against the deck that your girlfriend made since it came from the same pool of cards.
It sounds from the question wording like you are thinking of a Magic deck as one of a bunch of different possibilities that you can find and use. But really a Magic deck is any set of at least 60 cards that doesn't contain more than 4 of the same card (except basic lands). So there's no "right" or "wrong" decks to make, there are just ones which will win more often or be more fun to play. But challenging yourself to build a deck without the ability to just use any card you can think of can be a lot of fun.
The one thing you may need to get outside of the cards you already have is basic lands, depending on what basic lands your collection came with. You can get a lot of these very cheap, but you will need several of them to build almost any deck.


Casting instants between first strike/normal strike combat phases Let's say I have a 1/1 with first strike that's attacking and blocked by a vanilla 4/4.

It deals first strike damage, but that's not enough to kill the defending creature. Right now, the attacking creature will have to take damage from the blocking creature.

Before the attacking creature takes that damage, can I “finish off” the blocking creature by casting Lightning Bolt and avoid it taking damage?

I am unsure whether,and when,a player gains priority during that step.

What, in my opinion, distinguishes this question from the others with which it can be associated, is the exact moment in which the players have the priority to cast spells again, which I believe should be placed exactly between the conclusion of the "first strike damage assignment phase" - in which first strike creatures assign their damage - and  the "ordinary combat phase" - in which other creatures without first strike assign their damage.

It should be specified when players gain priority and it is possible to cast spells able to damage creatures during combat, and if it is possible to do so; and, above all, if these damages due to spells are assigned without the possibility,for creatures without first strike, to respond to them.

I don't think these are trivial things ...

Yes, that's a thing you can do.

It works out like this:

The first strike combat damage step begins:

All creatures with first strike or double strike assign combat damage. Your 1/1 deals its damage to the 4/4, which now has 1 damage marked on it.
All players get priority.
You cast a spell—Lightning Bolt—and deal 3 damage to the 4/4. It now has 4 damage marked on it and dies.
All players (including you) choose to do nothing else, passing priority to let the next step begin.

The regular combat damage step begins:

All creatures still present now deal damage, except your 1/1 because it already dealt its first strike damage. The 4/4 is no longer around, so it won't do anything.

Your 1/1 survives this combat.

Naturally we'd normally see this scenario if you can't deal a whole 4 damage with any one spell or creature, but you can combine these damage sources to get the job done. However, you're also definitely not limited to eliminating the creature via damage in the middle of combat: if you have a spell like Murder or Final Reward you can also remove the creature that way after first strike combat damage and have the same outcome. You may choose to do things that way if your 1/1 has Lifelink, to gain some life before eliminating the enemy creature.


MTG Conspiracy cards allowed in modern So I always thought that the Conspiracy set was allowed in Modern Format but I recently discovered that there are 65 cards that are not allowed. Can any give me a list or a link for a list of the cards that are or are not allowed in Modern play?

Cards from Conspiracy are not legal in Modern unless they were already printed in a Modern legal set. There were 65 new cards in that set, 52 are legal in Legacy and Vintage the remaining 13 are not legal in any Constructed format. The 13 that aren't legal are the ones with the Conspiracy type.

The only things that add new cards to the Modern card pool are sets that are Standard legal. Supplementary sets like Conspiracy, Commander, or Planechase do not, new cards from those sets are only legal in Legacy and Vintage.


Stalled Active Auction Plants in a 2- person Power Grid game? In a two player version of Power Grid we normally get to a point in the game where 2-3 of the Active Auctions have little to no value to add to our grid. Either they power too few cities than what I currently power or cost more resources to power the same number of cities. This creates an issue where only 1 power plant in the active auctions has the possibility of helping a player but if no one buys it then we will never get a new plant in the auction. Sometimes even that 4th plant is not in the long term plan of either player so the auctions get stuck.

Our normal way of handling this is to agree on a certain number of plants to discard from the game (2 or 3), yanking them from the bottom of the active auctions, then pulling the next 2-3 cards off the top of the draw deck and place them in their proper order int he auction. Usually this will push 2 possibly helpful plants into the active auction and get the purchasing part of the game going again. Do other players do this or have run into this issue with a stalled auction especially in Step 2? Is it possible to buy a power plant you do not want and immediately discard it as your extra plant? What other ways could we handle this situation?

I haven't played a great number of 2 player games of Power Grid, but I haven't seen the problem you are noting.  Perhaps you are missing out a few of the key rules?

Rule changes with 2 players

Check the table on page 7 of the rule book on how to change things up for different numbers of players.  When playing with 2 players:

Each player may keep 4 power plants
Remove 8 power plants from the deck after preparing the market.

If nothing is sold

From page 3:

  If, in later rounds, no power plant is sold in a round, the players remove the lowest numbered power plant from the market, placing it back in the box, and replace it by
           drawing a power plant from the draw stack. They then rearrange the market according to the rules

Remove small plants

From page 5:

  If, at any time during the game, there is a power plant in the actual market with a number equal to or lower than the number of cities any player has, players
          immediately remove it from the game and replace it with a new card from the draw stack. This rule does not affect power plants owned by players.

This should increase the turnover of the smallest, most worthless plants.

At the start of Step 2

  To start step 2, remove ONCE the lowest numbered power plant from the game and replace it with a new one from the draw stack, rearranging the market as always.

If you are using all these rules, please let me know by comment and I'll see if I can adjust my answer.


Double that is not acceptable At our bridge game last night LHO opens 1C, overcaller bids 1H, RHO passes, the Partner of overcaller bids DOUBLE, thinking of making a negative double, how should the director rule this.

Diagramatically:

LHO   OHO   RHO  IHO
 1C    1H  Pass  Dbl

How should Director rule?

OHO = Opposite-Hand Opponent; IHO = In-Hand Opponent. This phrasing seems particularly apt for this particular question.

tx

According to the Laws of Duplicate Bridge, 2008:

  Law 35
  Inadmissible calls

  A. A double or redouble not permitted by Law 19. Law 36 applies.

  Law 36
  A. Offender's LHO Calls before Rectification
  If offender's LHO calls before rectification of an inadmissible double or redouble the inadmissible call and all subsequent calls are cancelled. The auction reverts to the player whose turn it is to call [IHO  in this case] and proceeds as though there had been no irregularity. The lead restrictions of Rule 26 do not apply.

  B. Offender's LHO Does Not call before Rectification
  When A above does not apply:
    1. any double or redouble not permitted by Rule 19 is canceled.
    2. the offender must substitute a legal call, the auction continues and the offender's partner must pass whenever it is his turn to call.
    3. Law 23 [] may apply. The lead restrictions in Law 26 may apply.
    4. If the call is out of turn .... [not applicable in this instance]

From your description it seems that case B applies:

You must substitute a legal call;
your partner is required to Pass for the remainder of the auction;
Director may award an adjusted score at his discretion according to the guidelines of Law 23; and
if the opponents win the auction there will be lead penalties at your partner's first opportunity to lead, including if he is on Opening Lead.

The lead penalty in this case will be under

  Law 26
  B. Other Withdrawn Calls

  For other withdrawn calls, declarer may prohibit offender's partner from leading any one suit at his first turn to lead, including the opening lead; such prohibition to continue for as long as offender's partner retains the lead.

Morale: Pay more attention to all those multi-coloured cards on the table in front of you before pulling one out of the box.

Update:

When I was a practicing director, many years ago, it was ACBL Policy that a Director was required to carry a rule book on his person whenever called to the table, and that any player present at the table where a ruling was being made could ask for the applicable Law to be read aloud. I cannot find this in the Rules themselves, and no longer have a current copy of the ACBL Guide for Directors, but I would expect that any polite request to that effect would be accepted by a Director.

If you believe a Director may be erring in his ruling at the table this is a possible defence; however I would caution against using this wholesale. Directors do not have infinite patience, and are there to make rulings not to teach the Laws. Spend a few bucks; buy yourself a copy of the rules; perhaps even take the Director's Exam to ensure you have a good grasp of the rules. It will help you become a better player and partner in the long run.


in Klondike-Solitaire, how likely is a deal with no legal moves? In Klondike solitaire with standard rules (Draw 3 cards, Re-Deal infinite), a 'null' hand is a hand where you cannot play any card.
Statistically, is it more common to win the game, or have a null game?

In Klondike Solitaire there are 7 cards face up on the table, 21 face down on the table, leaving (out of the 52 card pack) 24 cards in the deck. If you're dealing 3 cards at a time, only 24/3 = 8 of these cards are available. So only 15 cards are available at the start of the game.

In order for there not to be any valid moves at the start, you would need:

No aces
No adjacently numbered cards

This is easily achievable with 15 cards. For example:

4 Kings
4 Jacks
4 Nines
3 Sevens

According to Wikipedia, which answers the probabilities:

  About 79% of the games are theoretically winnable
  The number of games a player can probabilistically expect to win is at least 43%
  In addition, some games are "unplayable" in which no cards can be moved to the foundations even at the start of the game; these occur in only 0.025% of hands dealt

You are therefore far more likely to win the game (even if your decisions are far from perfect) than get an unplayable/"null" hand.


Permanent to let a creature tap for two mana? I know there are cards like Gemhide Sliver which let slivers tap for mana. Convoke lets all creatures do this once. Paradise mantle gives a creature this ability. But these examples only let the creature(s) tap for one mana.
Is there a permanent that lets creature/creatures tap for two mana rather than one?
I know there are creatures that can tap for 2 or more mana (like Incubation Druid and Gyre Engineer) but I want to give a creature the ability rather than have a creature with the ability.

A few cards do allow creatures to be tapped for 2 mana, each with its own restrictions:

Grand Architect has the ability "Tap an untapped blue creature you control: Add {C}{C}. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts."

Joraga Treespeaker has the ability "Elves you control have '{T}: Add {G}{G}.'" as long as it has at least 5 level counters.

Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro has the ability "Shamans you control have '{T}: Add {G}{G}.'"


Is it possible to win in MTG when you don't have enough cards in your library to complete your draw phase? I am confused about the following MTG rule:

104.3c. If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in his or her library, he or she draws the remaining cards, and then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

The following scenario came up in a Magic game I played recently.
My opponent had 3 untapped Howling Mines at the start of his turn. Each Howling Mine makes him draw an additional card during his draw phase, which means he needed to draw 4 cards. However, his library only had 1 card left in it.
Is it possible for my opponent to win the game here? It seems like priority passes basically when my opponent does anything at all, so why does the rule not just say they lose the game immediately? What is the point of allowing them to draw the one card and then move on from the draw step to their first main phase?  I'm assuming there is some scenario in which they can still win, but I don't know what that could be.
Me and my opponent are both new to Magic, so we actually assumed "priority" meant the next time it was my turn he would lose. We ended up letting him play out his whole turn and he actually beat me on that turn by playing a couple spells I couldn't stop. But after looking up what priority actually is I think I probably won?
Thanks!

Sure it's possible, but you'd need to win at instant speed. An example: your opponent has 3 life left, and you're holding a Lightning Bolt. Then when the Howling Mine triggers but before it resolves (which would kill you), you point Lightning Bolt at him and kill him. You could also do this on your upkeep, before the draw phase.
Or are you asking why the rules says "he or she draws the remaining cards, and then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority" as opposed to simply "he or she loses the game the next time a player would receive priority"? That would be because it's possible to not lose the game even though you are supposed to lose. For example, if you are controlling Platinum Angel, then you don't lose for trying to draw from an empty library. In that case it makes sense for you to draw the remaining cards anyway.