Can I play a card for its miracle cost in this situation? A friend and I were discussing this situation:

Player A attacks with all creatures, opponent (player B) have no blockers and gonna be lethal. Before damage step, player B plays Opt, resolves, and draw a Terminus. He reveals it, so miracle triggers go to stack. In response, before the miracle triggers resolve, player A activates an Aether Vial with two counters, resolves, and put a Kitesail Freebooter in the battlefield. Kitesail Freebooter triggered ability triggers, and player B decides that it resolves, so player A removes the Terminus from his hand. Now, while the miracle trigger is still on the stack, player B casts Path to Exile, exiling the Kitesail Freebooter. Terminus returns to his hand.

The question here is: when the miracle-triggered ability resolves, will player B be able to cast Terminus for its miracle cost, or is it considered another different card, like when you blink a permanent to save it from being a target?

(NOTE: We know already that player B could respond to the Kitesail Freebooter with the Path to Exile, so player A sees the hand and discards nothing, as the Kitesail Freebooter is not on the battlefield, but this is not the question we have).

No, Terminus could not be played here
As you already suspect, that the Terminus is a new object at the end of the sequence of plays you describe. It's still in playerB's hand where the miracle trigger would expect it, but it's a new object regardless, because it changed zones.

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 complete rules for miracle also mention what happens when the Terminus in this case leaves the hand:

702.93a Miracle is a static ability linked to a triggered ability (see rule 603.11). “Miracle [cost]” means “You may reveal this card from your hand as you draw it if it’s the first card you’ve drawn this turn. When you reveal this card this way, you may cast it by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost.”
702.93b If a player chooses to reveal a card using its miracle ability, they play with that card revealed until that card leaves their hand, that ability resolves, or that ability otherwise leaves the stack.


How Can I Identify How To Beat My Computer At Chess? This is an embarrassing question to have to ask, but here goes.  Recently I've gotten a new Mac laptop which has a chess program on it.  I'm not a chess expert by any means: I can beat casual players most of the time, but I suspect I wouldn't stand a chance against anyone who was actually good at the game.  But it's becoming humiliating being utterly crushed by my computer every time!  I'm meant to be the boss of this relationship, but in our battle of wits I am utterly outclassed.

Obviously powerful modern computers have certain advantages over human beings when it comes to a game of pure analysis like chess; but I feel as though there must be some way I can up my game.  Are there any strategies I could adopt that would give me a chance of escaping defeat, or at least securing a draw?  Even if I can't win against my computer, I suspect that even attempting to get better at doing so will make me better aware of the weaknesses of my approach and thus a much less awful chess player.  Any ideas?

Different computers play chess at different levels. How can I find out how well my computer plays, and then beat that level?

Basically, you have to find out what level your computer plays at. And then train to beat that level.

Computers are very good at looking deep into "branches" of moves. That's where they have an advantage over humans, and that's why the best ones can beat Gary Kasparov.

Computers aren't quite as good at certain "judgmental" aspects of chess, like when to sacrifice a pawn for a positional advantage. They tend not to do as well in a middle game as in either the opening (when there are few pieces out) or the endgame (when there are few pieces left).

Basically, you need to get to the point where your "branching" reading is almost (but not quite) as good as your computers. Then you have to steer for a complicated middle game, where the computer's branching algorithm may break down, while your better judgment prevails. (That's what Kasparov tried to do.) As good as they are, it's fun to see a computer get confused when you throw a "curve ball" at them, in any application.

That should happen to your computer at "some" level of play. Hopefully it won't be too much higher than yours.


Mishra's Factory - Rarity and Peasant/Pauper Legality So, I'm getting my feet wet with Peasant Magic, and wanted to know what exactly Mishra's Factory counts as in terms of rarity.

For those who don't know, Peasant is an inofficial constructed format allowing cards from all expansions - the only limitations are that you aren't allowed to use rares, and your deck may only contain a maximum of 5 uncommons. If it was ever printed as uncommon or common, you can bring it along.

Now, there's this card called Mishra's Factory that I'm really fond of, and that I'd like to include in my deck. Mishra's Factory is listed as uncommon, and as such can be used. So far, so good.

But:

The rarity of one of its alternative-art prints is listed not as (U1), but as (C1) instead - which is weird because they're from the same set, and any later reprint too is listed as uncommon.

 VS

Now, here's my question: Is this particular old print in fact common? And as a consequence, does that mean I may freely run a full playset of Factories in Pearsant (or Pauper, even) without using up my uncommon slots on them?

If anyone could clear this up a bit, they'd be more than welcome.

C1 means it is an Uncommon even though it was printed on the Common sheet.

Back when Antiquities was printed they only had 2 printing sheets, an Uncommon sheet and a Common sheet, then on each sheet there was a variable number of each card printed to create its rarity. This designation of rarity is written like U1 or C4, denoting one copy on the Uncommon sheet and 4 copies on the Common sheet respectively. U1 cards are considered Rares, U3 and C1 cards have the same rarity and are considered Uncommons, C4 cards are Commons, U2 and C2 cards are a little weird and seem to get classified as Uncommons even though they are actually more rare/common respectively. (Source)

When in doubt you can always check Gatherer. As you can see it considers 3 of the arts to be Rare (since they were printed at U1) and one of them to be Uncommon (because it was printed at C1)


One Night ultimate werewolf Hunter Question So I just bought One Night ultimate werewolf and I am about to play it for the first time in about 2 hours but I have a few questions:

I know that in the night, you do the action of whatever was your card at the start of the game, regardless of if that card was switched. But what about the Hunter? So if I start with the hunter, but later on it gets switched and I don't know that. At the end of the game I die, can I still point at someone that also dies? Or do I actually need to have the hunter card.
Likewise if someone dies and figures out they have the hunter card, are they allowed to use the hunter power?
If a doppelganger copies the hunter power, how does she prove that the hunter was the card that she looked at? I don't think my friend group would cheat but I also don't like having the option for someone to lie outside of the game content (lieing inside the game is of course great).

Let me know if that didn't make sense. I have searched for these answers but can't seem to find them so it must be something simple that I am overlooking.

For voting, it matters who has the hunter when voting, not who started with it. What you started with only matters for what you do during the night phase. Similar with the Tanner and the Werewolves.
For the doppelgänger, you just have to trust them. You always have to trust them to tell the truth about what they copied, no matter what it is.


"Enchantment Creatures" and "Enchanted Creatures" Is a enchantment creature card considered to be a creature that is enchanted? I need to know for Winds of Rath, which destroys all creatures that aren't enchanted.

No. An enchanted creature is one that has an aura enchantment enchanting it.

  303.4b The object or player an Aura is attached to is called "enchanted."


Checking target legality (esp for removal) When an opponent targets a creature and I give it hexproof in response (e.g. with Dive Down) it becomes an illegal target for the spell or ability.
This is because target legality for the spell is checked once when putting it on the stack (usually when casting or activating it) and once when it would resolve. Correct?
Then why does the same not work for a spell that cares about power or toughness (e.g. Smite the Monstrous). Why can I not change the power in response to Smite the Monstrous being cast (with some sort of buff effect, e.g. Giant Growth) and make it an illegal target?
Am I wrong in some assumption?

You can change the power of the creature targeted by Smite the Monstrous to make it an illegal target. However, a buff effect like Giant Growth won't help there because Smite the Monstrous targets a creature with "power 4 or greater"; if a creature is already a valid target when the spell was cast, increasing its power with Giant Growth won't change that. You would need to decrease its power to less than 4 to make the target illegal. Befuddle, for example, would do it if the creature starts out with power 7 or less.


How does the Office room work? I read the basic rules, but they mention nothing about the term "overhang". How does the office work, exactly? Is this explained anywhere?

It means that for double-wide tiles; you can place them so that they are only half on your board, with the other half hanging off the board. There is an illustration of it in the appendix in the rules.  Basically, it allows you to fit more things on your player board.

Note that there is a minor error in that illustration; as you cannot have a double pasture hanging off the board (since building a double fence requires being built on top of 2 adjacent meadows). Details about that can be found here.


Hive's freedom of movement rule - can you 'pass over' a gap that you can't go into? Imagine the unpassable gap exists in both directions. Can a piece move over it?

I'll just illustrate my question with an example, can the ant move to the tiles marked yellow?

Yes,

the ant can move to all spaces marked in yellow. The only restrictions to movement are that it must remain attached to the hive and you can't move into spaces you cannot slide into.

It can cross these "caves" because it continues to be touching the hive when it moves, and that continual touching to the hive (and the sliding rule) are the only requirements.

When moving any piece (but the hopper and when jumping the beetle up onto the hive), it must always remain in contact with at least one tile during the entire movement from beginning to end.


Android netrunner: may I trash a card before I am forced to discard? As a runner, if I am tagged and the corp spends a click to destroy a resource of mine, if the resource can be trashed for some good, may I trash it before it gets discarded?

(as an example of such a resource: Tallie Perrault)

No because, unlike magic, Netrunner doesn't have a stack. Situations resolve in order the based on who's turn it is. If the corp spends a click to trash your resource you cannot "as a response" trash the resource for its ability. It is the corps turn so their click goes through first and by the time a paid ability window gets around for you to use the ability your resource is already gone.

Edit: As Andrew mentioned in the comments, there is one exception to this. Cards that have prevent or avoid as a "keyword" (most of these are related to damage and/or tags) CAN be used as a response.


Spells with multiple free abilities I am very new to the game, and I have a basic question about the mechanics. Some spells have multiple abilities; for instance, the creature Azorius Guildmage has two abilities, and it is my understanding that you can play any one of them whenever you have priority and have enough mana to pay the cost.

However, spells with abilities that cost nothing confuse me. Take Intellectual Offering, for example. Are you forced to play both abilities when you cast the spell? Is that because those are spell abilities, whereas in the first example above they are activated abilities? Is the following outline of what is supposed to happen when you play that spell correct? (Assuming we have priority.)

Pay the mana cost, add Intellectual Offering on the stack.
If it resolves, do as instructed (choose one opponent for each ability and apply the effects).

Since the abilities are both spell abilities, they don't go on the stack. So there is no counterplay possible once Intellectual Offering resolves. Is that correct?

Are you forced to play both abilities when you cast the spell?

Yes. Unless there are qualifiers ("may"/"up to" are popular ones), you must resolve all of a spell's effects.

  Is that because those are spell abilities, whereas in the first example above they are activated abilities?

Not quite. It is because you are never forced to activate (pay the cost) of an activated ability.

For the spell, you are rarely forced to cast a spell, but if you do choose to cast the spell, you must resolve all of the spell's effects.

  Is the following outline of what is supposed to happen when you play that spell correct?

You've got it. Normally, as part of putting a spell on the stack, you must also choose all of the targets of the spell. These targets are then checked for validity upon resolution. But that particular spell doesn't target, you "choose" the opponent(s) upon resolution.

  Since the abilities are both spell abilities, they don't go on the stack. So there is no counterplay possible once Intellectual Offering resolves. Is that correct?

You can (nearly) always respond to a spell on the stack, but if the spell has multiple effects, you must resolve all of them (and they cannot be responded to any longer) once the spell starts resolving.


What might these inscriptions added to an «Easy Money» board mean? These inscriptions, for example S153 and P330, appear to have been added to an Easy Money board.
Does anyone know of house rules that might explain their addition?

(click to enlarge images)

The P looks like the payoff value for the mortgage: It's the M value plus 10% (mostly -- it looks like some of the numbers are just approximations to this value or round in arbitrary ways: 175 + 10% is rounded down to 192, while 395 + 10% is rounded up to 435). So: a remedy to having to calculate mortgage payoffs on the fly (and perhaps to avoid arguments over rounding).
The S value is similar: it looks like the B value minus 10%. Perhaps this was a house rule that allowed a player strapped for cash to sell some houses instead of mortgaging the property: selling a house would thus incur a 10% loss.


In Robinson Crusoe, once you build the brick, what happens to it? As I understand it, the brick increases the palisade level by 1 when it is built. Then what? Do you discard the brick? Turn it over and can build it again? Get a permanent +1?

As I understand it, the brick increases the palisade level by 1 when it is built. Then what?

It is placed in the invention spaces.
Rules, p. 18:

At the end of the Action Phase, any Inventions in the Future Resources space will
trigger their effect, be flipped to the Item side and then placed in the Invention
spaces on the board (even personal Inventions).

It is not turned over to be built again on its own, but if some effect turns it over, then it

undoes its effect (you lose 1 palisade level)
Can be built again.

Rules, p. 18:

The Brick increases the Palisade level by 1. If, later in the game, it is flipped
to the Invention side, the Palisade level must be reduced by 1. If this is not
possible, nothing happens.

Rules, p. 18:

During the game, an effect may force players to flip Items back to their Invention
side. From the start of the following round, such an Item ceases to be available
(it is still available for the current round). It must be built again before it can be
used.


If I am going to build a small ship, which direction should I build toward? The center of your spaceship board is on the '7's in all four directions. Since the odds of rolling a certain number increases as that number approaches 7, it seems reasonable to build toward one side if persuing a small ship strategy.

You cannot look at the event distributions until you have placed a single component, so what is the best side to build toward (based on all card events per level), so that you can choose the possibility of a small ship that will take the least damage, before having a chance to look at the events?

Should I only place a component with 1 or 2 open connections as my first piece, and if so on which side?

This question is related to When should I avoid a small ship strategy?

For reference (rulebook), here is the Small I, Medium II, and Large III maximum ship sizes for each stage.

A reference of the 144 ship tiles (original size is available with a BGG account), until I can discover a way to describe the components in text.

I find it's more important to get a solid, sizeable piece in early than it is to worry about exactly what that piece is. Since you're building in real time against opponents, part of the strategy is not letting them have the chance to take all the good pieces. Solid choices are most 4-ways, or cargo, or a gun/engine at the ship bottom. Avoid powered pieces if you can, until you know that you're going to want to build for/with them.

Avoid crew for the first piece if you can, due to epidemic. Shields and batteries become more useful with the expansion, where you can perfectly protect a ship with boosted shields. That said, if there's incoming laser fire that you see and you're going to have to deal with it,

As you mentioned, 7 is the single most likely result. Having guns covering each 7 row/column is a good safety measure.

A couple of side/backwards guns are great for protection from meteors.

As with all ships, more important than the exact piece in the middle is that the middle is connective, and that the ship is built without open connectors.


Bridge - Counting and Visualising Been playing Bridge for a couple of years now. Have improved in bidding, strategy and other stuff. But one place where there is no improvement is counting and visualising.

At best, I can keep track and visualise trumps in opp hands. Becomes very difficult to do any more than that. If I try anything else - i.e. tracking/counting a 2nd suit, visualising opponents hands etc, I lose even the trump count. Basically, my mind just can't visualise and juggle these things. I have tried all standard ways to improve. But of no avail. Anyone have any radical methods to help with this?

I am looking for people for who this didn't come easy.

There are many books written on this subject; Ron Klinger's 'Improve Your Bridge Memory' was the one I used, but I imagine your public library or bridge club will have a selection.  The problem is that nobody but yourself knows what methods work for you.

Two examples from Klinger, one easy and one harder; you don't need to count how many of your own trumps (or other important suit) have gone, so long as you pause at the beginning of the hand, say to yourself 'I have four trumps and dummy has three; that means they have six between them', and then count each time one of the six is played.  And secondly, always try to make up a mnemonic for a principle: playing Roman Blackwood, 5H shows two aces the same colour, 5S either two major-suit or two minor-suit aces, and 5NT two either hearts and clubs or spades and diamonds. That's hard to remember, but if you think of clubs and hearts as both a rounded shape, and remember C for colour, RA for rank and SH for shape, C-RA-SH should be enough to remind you what your response should be. (You make up your own mnemonics based on what helps you to remember, of course).

Personally, I found the second tip useful and the first counter-productive; but only you can tell what will work for you, and only after hard work both in finding methods and in practising.  (Don't believe anyone who says 'it just comes naturally'; usually they have been playing for thirty years, and have forgotten how long it took before it all came together.)

Edit: I gather the real problem is remembering everything at once. In that case, try to build up your memory gradually, and try to separate the problems. So don't try to remember the exact probability of every possible distribution, start with '3-1 is 50%, while 3-2 is 60%'; you can add more, and refine the numbers, as you get better.  And having made your plan based on the assumption that trumps will split 2-2, you don't need to remember why you came to that conclusion, just to count how many have shown up.


Diplomacy solo practice site Are there any sites online that will allow me to practice
a) submitting orders accurately.
b) allow me to run through attack scenarios online, to see how they end up going?

Yes, the online Diplomacy playing site Backstabbr has a "sandbox" feature that does that.

It is perfect to go through attack scenarios and see how they end up.

For practicing submitting orders, you enter orders by clicking on the map, and see how they would be written by hand. You don't submit textual orders. I guess you could write them down by hand first, and see whether the generated order is the same.


Do creatures with summoning sickness count as tapped? My friend played Sheer Drop (Destroy target tapped creature) and targeted a creature of mine with summoning sickness. Is a creature with summoning sickness considered tapped?

Saying a creature has "summoning sickness" just means that it hasn't been under its controllers control since the beginning of their turn and it doesn't have haste. Such a creature cannot attack and cannot cause itself to become tapped (i.e. you can't pay a Tap or Untap cost in an ability on that creature - it can still become tapped or untapped by other sources).

A "tapped creature" simply means a creature which has been turned sideways for one reason or another.

In other words, Sheer Drop only cares about whether or not the creature has been turned sideways, it doesn't care at all about when the creature entered the battlefield. If your creature is sick but hasn't been tapped, Sheer Drop can't target it.


A complicated interaction with Sakashima's Student I want to be able to do the following chain of events, but am not sure if it's possible. Please help!

Setup. At start of turn I have Etrata, The Silencer on the battlefield with Grappling Hook equipped and a Strionic Resonator ready to fire. Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow is in the Command Zone. I move to combat and declare Etrata attacking an opponent with 3 creatures on the board.

The damage goes through as First Strike damage and the Etrata trigger goes on the stack.
In response, I activate Sakashima's Student (SS), returning Etrata to hand as part of the activation cost.
With SS Ability on the Stack, I cast Flash.
Flash resolves, and I put Etrata back on the battlefield, paying the extra UB.
SS ability resolves, and he enters the battlefield as a copy of Etrata.
The Etrata trigger resolves and exiles one of OP's creatures, but because the Etrata on the battlefield is not the same creature, it remains on the battlefield.
Normal combat damage resolves. SS puts another Etrata trigger on the stack.
In response, I activate Yuriko, returning SS to my hand, AND I activate Strionic Resonator, targeting the Etrata ability.
These all resolve, I exile two more creatures and my opponent loses the game. SS is in my hand, and Etrata is back on the battlefield, ready to go again.

Right, so, apart from the implausible set-up, I'm concerned about that Step 5 assumes that I resolve SS's copy ability only as the SS Activated ability resolves, rather than when it goes on the stack. If I'm wrong, then my dream dies.

After Step 5, you would have to sacrifice Sakashima's Student or Etrata, The Silencer.

706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by its face-down status, and by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set power and toughness (and may also set additional characteristics). Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.
704.5j If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

(Emphasis mine)

But let's say the legend rule didn't apply.
Your plan would work. The following choices are made when activating an ability:

Choice of mode[CR 601.2b]
Choice of targets[CR 601.2c]
Choice of how to divide/distribute an effect among one or more targets[CR 601.2d]
Choices that affect the cost to activate or how it's paid

All other choices, such as choice of creature to copy as Sakashima's Student is placed on the battlefield, are made on resolution.


Do dead Adventurer's count? In playing a round of Betrayal at Baldur's Gate we ran into an interesting situation. We got haunt 44, and in the first round before the traitor is revealed one of the players killed another. Three of us were gathered on the Gladiator's Pit, wanting to pick up a point of Might before the traitor was found. The Wizard had found the fake amulet and the Cleric had failed to pick up his. So the Warlock looked at the Cleric and the Wizard and decided to attack the Cleric. The Warlock's intention was to edge the odds of one of us becoming the traitor. And since we didn't know at the time that the traitor would become a monster, he also wanted to weaken the traitor. However, he rolled 12 on his attack and the Cleric rolled 2. The 10 mental damage killed the Cleric.

When the Wizard turned traitor, we had to think for a moment how many cultists he should get. Either he gets 4 (there was a Fighter as well, 4 players total) or 3. We quickly picked 4 and moved on but wanted to see if we choose correctly. Our logic was that the Wizard was also dead, yet he should still count for the Adventurer total, so the dead Cleric should as well. Did we make the right call or should the traitor have only gotten 3 cultists?

Unless the Haunt specifically says to not count dead adventurers, then you should always include them when calculating goals and other numbers.

And as long as the Haunt says number of adventurers and not number of heroes, then yes, the traitor would receive 4 cultists.

From the rulebook (page 13 under Playing the Haunt):

  Certain haunts require something to be done a number of times equal to the number of adventurers or heroes. Unless the haunt states otherwise, that number includes any adventurers or heroes who have died during the haunt.


Do you get a counter for each Tempered Sliver on the battlefield I'm building my first sliver deck.

If I have two Tempered Slivers on the battle field and a Sliver I control deals damage to a player, would it get one +1/+1 counter or two.

My gut is telling me it would be just the one.

The sliver in case would, in fact, get 2 +1/+1 counters.

This is because of rule 113.2c, which I quote, with the relevant bit emphasized:

  113.2c An object may have multiple abilities. If the object is represented by a card, then aside from certain defined abilities that may be strung together on a single line (see rule 702, “Keyword Abilities”), each paragraph break in a card’s text marks a separate ability. If the object is not represented by a card, the effect that created it may have given it multiple abilities. An object may also be granted additional abilities by a spell or ability. If an object has multiple instances of the same ability, each instance functions independently. This may or may not produce more effects than a single instance; refer to the specific ability for more information.

The part in bold font means that your slivers (including your Tempered Slivers) have, besides their other abilities, two instances of

  "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it".

Both instances will trigger independently, giving your slivers two +1/+1 counters.


interaction of "Foreclosure" and "Crop Insurance" cards In the game Farmageddon, if the Foreclosure card is used to "buy" a crop from another player with a Crop Insurance card on it, is the crop acquired complete with the Crop Insurance, or does the Crop Insurance get kept buy the original owner? The Crop Insurance card mentions that it is added to the harvest pile when the crop is "lost"-- and thereby there seems to be an ambiguity: it is "lost" from the point of view of the original player, but otherwise the crop is not "lost" per se.

The way I played was to leave the Crop Insurance card to the player to who had played it while the crop ownership was transferred to the other player. Then we played the same rules otherwise where if the crop is destroyed in some fashion then the player who put down the Crop Insurance card received the insurance. This would further what I believe was the intention of the card, which is to deter other players from acting on the crop. If they took the crop, the owner of the insurance would have more reason to try to destroy that crop since they would receive their insurance back.

When we played this way, we would have the card facing the owner of the card, so the Crop Insurance moves with the crop, but is rotated to face the correct owning player.

I'm unsure if this ruling was read somewhere or if we just locally decided to play it that way.


Countermeasures to "analysis paralysis"? Several of my gaming friends are victim to more or less chronic analysis paralysis, which can drag down even the simplest of games.

We've occasionally used an hourglass to combat this, but it tends to aggravate the slow-playing contestants and doesn't work well in interactive games (such as when trading in Settlers of Catan).

What kinds of countermeasures to this common issue you have found to be effective?

Gentle prodding is probably the best suggestion, but if that doesn't do the trick sit them down after the game and let them know what they're doing. A player that over analyzes every move generally isn't much fun to play with, and telling them that (nicely) can help.

If that doesn't work, try practicing with some simple games (for example poker). Once they get used to making faster decisions, it often translates into other games, especially when combined with gentle prodding.

As a final resort, try playing timed games, where the impulse to think long and hard about a decision is countered by a running clock. Good examples are chess/go with a timer, outburst, trivial pursuit, and cranium.


What happens when I have 10 Yaroks out? In the middle of a game right now. I have 10 Yarok, the Desecrated out. I play Spine of Ish Sah.  How many triggers?

On Gatherer, Yarok has the following ruling:

  If you somehow control two Yaroks, a permanent entering the battlefield causes abilities to trigger three times, not four. A third Yarok causes abilities to trigger four times, a fourth causes abilities to trigger five times, and so on.

So, a tenth Yarok causes abilities to trigger eleven times.


Does the "Urgent wish for children" card in Caverna allow construction of all types of dwellings? The B side of the "Wish for children" card titled "Urgent wish for children" requires you to build a "Dwelling" prior to family growth. Dwelling is written with a capital D on the card. Does that mean that you are required to build the regular dwelling priced at 4 wood, 3 stone that gives you 3 goal points or are you allowed to build any of the different types of dwellings?

I don't think the capital D in "Dwelling" has any significance.  In the rule book Dwelling is always capitalized.  I would think that you could build any of the Dwellings.  If you couldn't, I think there would be a specific explanation in the rule book.

  There are 6 different types of Dwellings.  Every Dwelling provides room for one or two dwarfs. (P. 15)


Does playing one virus from my hand allow me to get all copies from my deck? The text on virus cards states:

  Viruses are not unique. Whenever you play a virus, you may play another copy of that virus from your deck, then shuffle your deck.

At first I assumed that playing one virus from my hand would allow me to get two total viruses, the one from my hand plus "another copy" from my deck.

Now I notice that the card says that I "play" the copy from the deck. Does that mean that each virus card I search for will itself allow me to search for another copy, potentially putting all 4 copies of the virus into play immediately?

Your initial impression is correct, when you play a virus card, you may play another copy of it from the deck onto the play area (two total).  Otherwise, it would be OP to have that many resources down at once, plus the card would likely say something like you may play 'all' copies of the card when you play it, rather than 'you can play a copy, then shuffle'


Are Starter Deck Yugi Reloaded and Starter Deck Kaiba Reloaded balanced against each other? I'm a fan of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, but don't want to spend the money to buy lots of booster packs. I recently found that there are two new Starter Decks featuring the archrivals from the original series:

Starter Deck Yugi Reloaded
Starter Deck Kaiba Reloaded

The idea of just buying two off the shelf decks for characters of the original series and playing them against each other appeals to me. Are these two Starter Decks balanced against each other so that each deck will win close to 50% of the time against the other? Or is one much more likely to win in a duel?

The starter decks are well, starter decks.  I have both of the decks mentioned.  They play OK, and are fairly balanced against each other.  However, they brick often and have a hard time getting started.  They are starter decks, and are a good introduction to the game.  They do not play like a good competitive deck.  If you want to check out the game, it is a good investment.  However, you will find the game is more enjoyable by collecting additional cards.

Also, please note, there is at least one tournament forbidden card, and several restricted cards in those sets.


How do I fix the statistical distribution of using 3 dice to handle Chance and Community cards in Monopoly? I bought a Grab & Go edition of monopoly and realized they changed the Chance and Community cards.
Instead of physical cards, they have you roll 3 dice, and pick out of a list (3-18) of effects.
Right off the bat, I know this will bell curve the effects toward the middle.
How would I use 3 dice to best replicate the 16 card distribution of the original game?

If I understand it correctly, you're looking to generate a uniformly distributed random integer in the range 1-16 using only regular d6s.
You'll need two distinguishable dice; if you don't have distinguishable dice, then roll one die, note the result and then one die again. Call the dice "die A" and "die B".

Map the result of die A as follows: 1-2 => 0, 3-4 => 6, 5-6 => 12
Add die B to the result of step 1 - you now have an integer in the range 1-18.
If your total is 17 or 18, go all the way back to step 1. Do not just re-roll die B until you get a value of 1-4.


Should you overcall with a (slightly) weaker hand if it is more "disruptive?" In bridge, if you overcall two clubs over an opening one spade, you haven't taken up much bidding space, because your overcall hasn't kept your opponents out of any suits, only one NT.

If you overcall two clubs over one diamond, you've done quite a bit more damage, because you have prevent your opponents from bidding a major (or no trump) at the one level.

Does it therefore follow that you can overcall two clubs with a slightly weaker hand over one diamond than a one spade bid because the "disruption" to the opponents is significantly greater?

That is, assuming all other things being equal, like vulnerability and part scores. Perhaps the type of game might make a difference in the answers.

I like to think that 1-level overcalls have three purposes, at least two of which should be fulfilled to justify the overcall:

Showing values
Directing the defense (ie showing a good suit you want partner to lead)
Preempting the opponents

So eg I'm happier to overcall 1S over 1C with a weaker hand than over 1H.

2-level overcalls are trickier. It is far easier for opponents to penalize you at the 2-level, and it's more difficult for your side to make the game-partscore decision when you have the bulk of the high cards because there's less bidding room.

One rule I've heard is that a minimum opener with 5332 shape is insufficient for a 2-over-1 overcall, but many ten-counts with a good 6-card suit are sufficient. And it does seem reasonable to stretch a little to bid 2C over 1D, but not too far. As a friend of mine likes to say, 2-level overcalls are serious business.


Is there a standard name for the card game "kabou"? The game is played with french cards (4 colors: ace, 2 - 10, Jack, Queen, King; jokers). You need at least 2 players, but you can have more. A game of Kabou has arbitrary many rounds. In each round, each player gets an integer amount of points (which might be negative). The less points, the better.

One round

Each player gets 4 cards (hidden) in front of him. The order may not be switched. There is a order among players in which they get to play their turns. Each turn consists of:

(a) Drawing a card or (b) taking the top most card of the stack
If you drew a card, you may either (a) play it (put it open on the stack) or (b) exchange it with one of the cards in front of you.

When you exchange it, you put the exchanged card open on the stack.
When you play it some effect happens, depending on the card (see below)

When the card is put on the stack, the turn of one player ends and the next begins.

In every situation, players may put a card they know (from the ones lying in front of all players) on the stack, if the value (ace, 2-10, jack,queen king, joker) is the same. If they put it on the stack from another players cards, they can give that player one of their cards.

When a player thinks he is in a good situation, he can say "Kabou" right before he does anything in his turn. He skips his turn, the game goes on until he would get his turn again. Other players may not exchange cards from him, but besides that the turns are just normal.

Card effects

7, 8: take a look at one of your cards
9, 10: take a look at another players cards
Jack, Queen: Exchange 1 card from another player with 1 of your cards. Don't look at any of them.
heart king: Take a look at one card of another player. Then decide if you want to exchange that card with one of your cards.

Card values

higher is worse

joker: -1
black king: 0
Ace: 1
2 - 10: Card value (2 - 10)
Jack: 11
Queen: 12
red king: 13

What is the name of this game?

The Game you are looking for is called "Cabo". Have a look at the Wikipedia description:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_%28game%29


How many monster cards / what is the bonus value in the Alvin and Dexter Ticket to Ride expansion The Alvin and Dexter expansion looks like an interesting one, and one you could quite easily do yourself.  To that end, how many cards of each type of monster do you get in the expansion pack and what is the value of the bonuses for each monster.

There are 40 cards (20 for each figure) and the bonus cards are worth 15 points each.

I would strongly urge you to buy the expansion yourself though - it's not all that expensive really, Days of Wonder games always have above averagely beautiful components, and games designers need to eat too!


Trample + Deathtouch If I attack with a  Primeval Titan (6/6 Trample) that has  Necrobite (Deathtouch), what happens if my opponent blocks with another  Primeval Titan?

When you're assigning the damage that will be dealt by your Primeval Titan, you have to deal lethal damage to each blocking creature before you can deal any damage to the defending player. Normally, "lethal damage" means the defending creature's toughness minus whatever other damage it's already taken that turn. But if the creature dealing the damage (here, your Titan) has deathtouch, "lethal damage" is 1. Period. So your Titan has to deal 1 damage to your opponent's Titan. The rest (5) can then be assigned to the defending player. (It doesn't have to, though - you can still assign any amount of damage to your opponent's Titan if you want to.)


How many squares is this rectangle on the Clue board? See the photo for context. My boys had a dispute about moving through this rectangle, whether it counts as one square or whether it should be thought of as containing smaller squares.

Do the rules address this?

Movement occurs between rooms, not across them. As soon as you reach a room, the movement phase ends. As soon as you start to move, you must leave the room to do so.

The rules don't address this directly, but there are clear implications that a room is considered a single location (not a square, but similar) when it comes to movement. For example:

  It is possible that your opponents might block any and all doors and trap you in a room. If this happens, you must wait for someone to move and unblock a door so you can leave!

Also,

  You may not forfeit a turn to remain in a particular Room.

If a room constitutes of multiple squares, it's possible to move your character without leaving the room. It seems to me that this is not in the spirit of the game.


What could 1NT mean opposite a partner's takeout double? Here, for reference, is the entire hand that inspired the question. With only us vulnerable, left hand opponent bid one spade, partner doubled for takeout, right hand opponent passed, and I have (s)943 (h) A52 (d) AQJ (c)8732.

Normally, a bid of 1NT opposite an opening bid (and partner's takeout double suggests this range) would mean a balanced hand, 6-9 points. If the opponents have bid meanwhile, it would also suggest a stopper in opponents' suit.

The columnist (Frank Stewart) suggested a "craven" bid of 2 clubs. I disagree because that could mean (c)8732 with no honors, and seriously mislead partner into thinking that the hand belongs to the opponents when my 11 points means that the balance is in our favor.

My preference is to bid 1NT to alert partner to the fact that I have "real" strength. I assume that since I'm not making a "forced" suit bid, that it suggests the usual 6-9 points, not a bust. I don't have a stopper in the opponents' suit, but I do have a balanced "threesome," and two points over the presumed nine.

Is my 1NT response better than the columnist's suggested response? (With the queen of spades, I'd go to 2NT, but I don't have that.) Is there an even better response? I might cue bid two spades with a singleton or void in spades, but I don't have that either.

Absolutely not - just bid 2C (in tempo so as to not present partner with an ethical problem).

The hand you are attempting to protect against, a balanced 12-14 count, is explicitly denied by partner's take-out double. If partner has that range then a singleton small Spade is almost guaranteed; a doubleton at most absolutely guaranteed.

Likewise partner does not have a 15-18 point hand with a spade stopper, as that hand has been denied by the failure to overcall 1NT.

Further, the 4333 distribution with an empty 4-card suit is deadly. This hand could easily play two or more full points weaker than its alleged 11 HCP if partner does not have at least 4 diamonds.

Since there is no right call to make with this hand, as all possibilities and the hand itself have significant flaws, follow the Golden Rule: Never overbid a bad hand. Just bid a craven 2C as recommended.


Adding units to an existing front Can you have more than one unit on a front?

Say A plays a new front with an Archer 3. Then B attacks with an Archer 2. This resolves to B dying, and A surviving with attacking strength 3 and defending strength 1 (3 - 2 wounds).

Is there any way A can now add another Archer 2 to the same front as his wounded Archer 3/1, or MUST he start a new front/attack another unit?

If he can add to the existing front, how would he do this?

When playing units in battle the only choices available are to start a new front, or attack an existing enemy front if there are any - you cannot add more units to an existing front.

From the rulebook (page 24 under the section Starting A New Front):

  There can never be more than one unit in a front.


How to interpret the reward after defeating an monster The manual states that after a monster is defeated, e.g. a gor, the players receive  2 gold and/or willpower. We assumed this means one of the following:

2 gold
1 gold and 1 willpower
2 willpower

to be divided between the players fighting and defeating it. However, based on the wording we aren't completely sure.

Is this assumption correct?

What if we look at other monsters, for example a skrall? The reward is then 4 gold and or willpower.

You are correct.

The hero receives an amount of gold equal to the monster’s gold icon (found on the monster strength track) OR an amount of willpower equal to the monster’s willpower icon OR a combination of the two. Example: After defeating a gor, the hero may take 2 gold, 2 willpower, or 1 gold and 1 willpower.

[Edit] and of course, if you win 4, you can chose any combination of gold and willpower.


Can a creature's sacrifice benefit be taken when it is sacrificed to Eldrazi Monument? I asked a general question about double sacrifice bonus, but thought it better to ask a specific question. If a creature has a "Sacrifice this creature for X" ability, can you sacrifice it for that ability and satisfy the requirement of the Eldrazi Monument with the same sacrifice (assuming it is done during the upkeep)?

Oracle Text:

Creatures you control get +1/+1, have flying, and are indestructible.
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice a creature. If you can't, sacrifice Eldrazi Monument.

No.

Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules:

  117.10. Each payment of a cost applies to only one spell, ability, or effect. For example, a player can't sacrifice just one creature to activate the activated abilities of two permanents that each require sacrificing a creature as a cost. Also, the resolution of a spell or ability doesn't pay another spell or ability's cost, even if part of its effect is doing the same thing the other cost asks for.


In Keyforge, does an attacked, exhausted creature deal damage to the attacking creature? The Fight rule says:

  Each of the two creatures deals an amount of damage equal to
  its power (the value to the left of the card’s title) to the other creature.

However, if the attacked creature is exhausted, does it still strike back when attacked ?

Update after Arcanist Lupus's answer: Creatures unexhaust at end of turn, but I used Persistence Hunting to exhaust the enemy creature before I attacked it.

Yes, they deal damage back (but they are probably not exhausted in the first place).

The rules you quote do not say anything about the exhausted status of a creature affecting how it fights. Therefore there is no effect.

That said, cards unexhaust at the end of your turn, not the start. Unless you have cards that allow you to exhaust your opponent's creatures, the creatures you are attacking will be unexhausted.


Can minions have negative power? For instance Mr. Grumpers from the Kitty Cat faction says

  Choose a minion. It has -2 power until the end of the turn

Can a minion be rendered with negative power, or is it always at least zero as one might expect in a realistic attack situation--you know, one of Zombies, Pirates, Dinosaurs and Kitty Cats attacking an alien home world.

Glymmer from the Fairy faction has this power

  Talent: Until the start of your next turn, either another minion has -4 power (minimum power 0), OR this minion has +1 power.

Can I play Glymmer, and then, on my next turn, use his talent to force another minion to 0 power, then play Mr Grumpers to send him to -2 because there is no "minimum power 0" clause in Mr. Grumpers?

No.

While the core rules don't answer this, it is explicitly covered in the expansions. From the most recent expansion, Pretty Pretty Smash Up, page 12:

  The power of a minion not in play is only the number printed on it, but
  once in play its power includes all modifications. Its power may never go below zero.


Can I buy a development card in the special building phase? Can I buy a development card in the special building phase that occurs between player turns?

yes.

Taken from the  5-6 players rules pdf: http://www.catan.com/files/downloads/settlers_5-6_rv_rules_100107.pdf

emphasis mine:

  • Special Building Phase – Your opponents may build as outlined below. The
  Special Building Phase occurs just after the end of your turn (i.e.,
  between player turns). All the other players may participate in the
  Special Building Phase. Each player then takes his turn clockwise
  around the table, and is allowed to build anything he can create with
  his resources. 3 Note that no player is allowed to play Development
  Cards during the Special Building Phase. Also note that players are
  not allowed to do any trading with other players—nor are they allowed
  to use Maritime Trade—during this phase. They may only use the
  resources they have in their hands. For this reason, players are
  advised to trade as much, and as advantageously, as possible with the
  current player during his trading phase. They will then have the
  resources they need to build during the Special Building Phase. The
  Special Building Phase is an opportunity for all the other players
  (who are not currently taking their turn) to build roads, settlements,
  and cities, and/or to buy Development Cards. This phase allows each
  player to influence the game, even though it is not his turn! ...

This is also supported by the catan faq:

  Development Cards in General - If I have bought a Development Card
  during the special building phase right before my turn, may I play
  this card on my turn?

  Yes.


Is there a way to point chess moves? I know there are points for each chess piece, but is there a way to - imprecisely, for sure - measure/point chess moves?

Sure, that's how computer engines work.

For instance, if you start up ChessMaster and hit ctrl+m ("mentor"), it will give you a list of all the moves, and how the chess engine rates each of them.

How it works is that the engine looks as far as it can for every move, assuming best play for both sides, and rates the final position.  That final position's rating is the value of the move.

To rate the position, the computer looks at material, space, pawn-structure, king-safety, known patterns and endgames, etc. etc. - basically, all the same things a human looks at, but the computer's not as good at it, because this is pattern matching, something computers are notoriously bad at.  The only reason computers can beat humans is that the computer can see so far ahead so fast, and never makes mistakes.

Thus, looking a computer's rating of different moves might help settle an argument, or help point out mistakes in your games after-the-fact, but learning how computers rate positions is not going to help you get better.


What do the sides of the movement dice in Runebound look like? I lost my movement dice from Runebound. So I am trying to figure out what is on the different sides so I can use a normal D6. Anyone have images of the different sides or can give me a list of what is on each side?

Ok so based on the answers below the sides should be:

Plain, Mountain, Road
Hills, Plains, Road
River, Forest
River, Road
Hills, Plains, Road
River, Swamp

As previously mentioned, someone made cards to replace the dice.

The following cards are in his deck: (Ignoring "city" he added to every card)

6x Road, Plains, Hills
3x Road, Plains, Mountain
3x Road, River
3x River, Forest
3x River, Swamp

So it's safe to say the following represent the face of the dice:

Road, Plains, Hills
Road, Plains, Hills
Road, Plains, Mountain
Road, River
River, Forest
River, Swamp

So you were correct.

If these dice are all identical, they have the following faces:

            +-----------+
            |       Ro  |
            |          >|
            |  Ri       |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|     Hi    |       Mo  |  Ro ^ Pl  |
|           | Rd       >|           |
|  Pl v Ro  |       Pl  |     Hi    |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+
            |       Ri  |
            |          >|   Ro Road
            |  Fo       |   Ri River
            +-----------+   Hi Hills
            |       Ri  |   Mo Mountain
            |<          |   Fo Forest
            |  Sw       |   Sw Swamp
            +-----------+

^, v, < and > denotes the top edge of the face. The icons are already correctly placed within the square. This indicates which way they should be facing. e.g. The Swamp will appear in the top-left corner of the face, while the Forest will appear in the bottom-right corner.


Can Road Building Progress Card be played with only 1 road remaining? Let's say that I have already placed 14 roads and have the Road Building Progress Card. Am I able to play it and place my single road, or must I be able to play 2?

Here's the full description in the Almanac:

  Road Building: If you play this card, you may immediately place 2 free roads on the board (according to normal building rules).

It seems like if I may place 2 free roads I may place only 1 road, but someone suggested that I must place 2.

Yes. There are no rules providing conditions that must be met to play development cards other than playing only 1 per turn, and not playing them the turn you buy them. So you would play the card, and then just do what you can to follow the instructions. If the instructions are impossible to follow, then you just do what you can. The same would go for playing a Year of Plenty if there's only 0 or 1 resource cards left in the resource piles.

I don't have a particular rule to quote for this, but it seems like the only logical way to handle it. The rules are clear about when you can and can't play development cards, and there's no mention of requirements of having enough roads left.


Can the first player choose where to put cards down? The rulebook seems unclear to me, as to whether they must be placed left-to-right, or if the first player gets to choose what columns they go into.
https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/7d/9c/d0-kanagawa-rulebook.pdf

They are placed left-to-right.
Although you are correct that the rulebook is not completely explicit on this point, the example given on page 8 provides the answer.

In a 4-player game, draw 4 Lesson cards and place them on the first row of the board as follows: the first and second cards face-up, the third card face-down, and the last card face-up.

The key is that the third card is the one that is placed face-down, as shown in the third space on the play mat. If you could choose the order, it wouldn’t always be the third card that went face-down.


Entering Tokyo - 2 specific questions Just got new version of KOT. Rules for "Enter Tokyo" phase say "If no one is in Tokyo, you must enter and place your Monster in Tokyo City". So apparently they did away with the rule that first claw damage point enters, correct?

Does this also mean that if you damage the monster in Tokyo during the "Resolve Dice" phase, and they leave Tokyo that you MUST enter Tokyo?  I have not seen a clear statement of this either way.  But seems implied.

they did away with the rule that first claw damage point enters, correct?

It certainly appears that way. From the manual I'm looking at, there's a note on page 5:

  NOTE: No Monster starts the game in Tokyo. The first player must enter Tokyo City during this step.

  Does this also mean that if you damage the monster in Tokyo during the "Resolve Dice" phase, and they leave Tokyo that you MUST enter Tokyo?

Yes. On the previous page, under "Smash", "If you are outside of Tokyo":

  These Monsters can then decide to Yield and leave Tokyo or stay[...]

Plus the rule from "3. Enter Tokyo" on the next page:

  If no one is in Tokyo, you must enter and place your Monster in Tokyo City.

If you roll a Smash, deal damage to a monster in Tokyo, and that monster decides to leave, when you get around to the Enter Tokyo phase of your turn, there won't be a monster in Tokyo; as a result, you must enter Tokyo yourself.


Hokusai and Bernice Mai timing What is the jack-out and rez timing of upgrade traps that need to be rezzed.

For instance, let's say the runner has passed the last piece of ice.  Does the corp rez Hokusai Grid after the runner has committed to succeeding at the run, or when they say they will access?

The gist of it is: when should you rez Hokusai Grid or Bernice Mai to force the user to take the net damage or trace without the opportunity to jack out?

Is it when the runner states that they wish to "continue" or "access"?  What is the official step name that I can use to make sure they have committed to whatever it is that they need to commit to so that they cannot jack out and I have time to rez?

The timing structure for accessing the server is:

  4 The Runner APPROACHES the attacked server.

    4.1 [Paid abilities]

    4.2 The Runner decides whether to continue the run.
        ...Either the Runner JACKS OUT: [end the run unsuccessfully]
        ...Or the Runner continues the run: go to 4.3.

    4.3 [Paid abilities and non-ice can be rezzed]

    4.4 The run is considered to be successful. (‘When successful’ conditionals meet their trigger conditions)

    4.5 Access cards, then [end the run].

Effects triggered by a successful run fire in 4.4. There is an opportunity to rez upgrades (4.3) before this step and after the Runner has committed to accessing (4.2).

To answer your final question directly, when I play, I normally say: "Would you like to access?", then, if they confirm, I say "Before you do, I rez...". (I actually ask if the Runner would like to access regardless of what's in the server.)


Does untapping an attacker stop its attack? If someone declares an attacker and that creature does not have vigilance, if I untap that creature, for example with Burst of Energy, does it stop the creature from attacking?

No, it does not.

Once an attacker is declared, it is attacking. Tapping or untapping it after it has been declared as an attacker will have no effect on that.

  506.4b Tapping or untapping a creature that’s already been declared as an attacker or blocker doesn’t remove it from combat and doesn’t prevent its combat damage.

While untapping does not stop an attacking creature, you can use an effect like Tumble Magnet in a player's "Beginning of Combat" step to prevent a specific creature from being tapped to attack. It is important to note, however, that you must do this BEFORE your opponent taps their creatures to attack.

There are cards such as  Gustcloak Savior which do behave in the manner described in the question. However, these cards explicitly remove the creature from combat. The untapping element is unrelated and incidental. If an effect only untaps an attacker, it is still attacking. Similarly, if an effect only removes a tapped attacker from combat, it is still tapped unless the effect explicitly untaps it.


What are those magic symbols? Having found a nice vector graphics for magic symbols, I wonder what the symbols on the second-to-last row are:

I recognize tap, untap, infinite and half, and the last one as the earlier white, but what are the others?

They are old versions of the tap symbol.

As it is explained in this article posted on Daily MTG, the symbol with the T is the tap symbol from Revised through Fallen Empires and the one with the rectangle is the tap symbol from 4th Edition through Scourge.

The article includes an image with old versions of Royal Assassin making it pretty intuitive that they're tap symbols:


How does adding Inquisitors to an army work, and can they form their own army? The Inquisition don't seem to follow normal rules around building an army.
How does adding them to an existing army work, and can they form their own army?
This answer covers normal allies, but not Inquisition.

Adding Inquisitors to an army works in one of two ways, according to this Goonhammer article:

If you have an inquisition detachment, you can only include one INQUISITOR. This is presumably intended to make a detachment represent a single Inquisitor and their retinue.
If your army has no INQUISITION detachments and every unit in your army is either IMPERIUM (excluding FALLEN) or UNALIGNED you can add a single INQUISITOR unit to any other detachment without using up a detachment slot. This does not prevent that detachment from benefiting from abilities like Chapter Tactics, and also doesn’t prevent your army benefiting from abilities requiring your whole army to share it (like the most important example, Combat Doctrines).

So you can either add an Inquisition detachment with only one Inquisitor, OR add a single Inquisitor to any number of your existing detachments.


Rules when using a Joker I had on my rack among other tiles, a black 9, 1 x blue 10, and a black 12.

On the table was a set of 3 x 10s including a Joker(no blue 10), and other sets of tiles including an available black 11.

Can I replace the joker with my blue 10 and then set out :

my black 9, the joker(representing a black 10), a black 11 from the table, and my black 12?

Note: all quotes taken from this set of rules.

Yes, you can replace the Joker with either of the missing 10s (in this case, a blue 10)

  In the case of group consisting of two equal tiles and a joker, the joker can be replaced by a matching tile of either of the missing colors.

Yes, you can use the retrieved joker as any tile; you are free to change the color and/or rank it represents.

  a player who has in hand the tile which is represented by a joker on the table, the player can substitute the real tile for the joker and then re-use the joker in some combination on the table.

And note: this is "yes" only if you've already set out your initial meld. You can't retrieve a joker before putting down your first meld.

  The first meld made by each player must consist of one or more combinations formed entirely from that player's hand


In Unstable Unicorns, does the Pandamonium card cancel unicorn card effects? Scenario:

A player (John) has the Queen Bee Unicorn card in their stable. The effect of the Queen Bee Unicorn card is that basic unicorns can no longer enter the stables of other players:

  "Basic Unicorn cards cannot enter any other player’s Stable."

Another player (Jane) plays the Pandamonium card into the John's stable. All of John's unicorns are now considered to be pandas:

  "All of your Unicorns are considered Pandas. Cards that affect Unicorn
  cards do not affect your Pandas."

The Pandamonium card is a downgrade card. It has a pretty powerful downgrade in that a player with it in their stable would be unable to win (since they need seven unicorns, not pandas).

However... does the Pandamonium card cancel out the effects of the existing unicorn cards? Does the effect of John's Queen Bee Unicorn card cease simply because it's now a Queen Bee Panda? Or does the effect continue?

NOTE: I would suggest from reading the descriptions that the effect would continue. But does anyone know? or have thoughts?

From the Unstable Games Wiki:
http://unstablegameswiki.com/index.php?title=Masquerade

"Do my Unicorn card effects work if Masquerade card is in my Stable? Yes, their effects remain the same. (~2018)"


Can I pump my blocker after the attacker has chosen their order, before damage assignment? The answer to this question about blockers and summoning sickness, reminded me of a seldom treaded area of the combat phase, which has caused confusion in a number of games.

When blockers are declared, the attacker chooses the order damage will be assigned to them. Then, they assign damage, assigning at least lethal damage to the first one in line, before moving on to the next, and so on.

Can spells be cast between the ordering of blockers by an attacker, and the damage being assigned?

for example, is blocking a  4/4 creature with 4 1/1 soldier tokens, and then casting Giant Growth on the "first in line" so the other 3 soldiers survive a legal play?

In response to the comment, it is true that combat damage no longer goes on the stack.  However, the fact that combat damage no longer goes on the stack does not affect the answer to your question.  Assigning the order of blockers is part of the Declare Blockers step:

  509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that's become blocked, the active player announces that creature's damage assignment order, which
  consists of the creatures blocking it in an order of that player's
  choice. (During the combat damage step, an attacking creature can't
  assign combat damage to a creature that's blocking it unless each
  creature ahead of that blocking creature in its order is assigned
  lethal damage.) This turn-based action doesn't use the stack.

After that, you get priority, still during the Declare Blockers step:

  509.5. Fifth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

So you can use Giant Growth to save all your soldier tokens.

(Unless the attacking creature has Deathtouch.  In that case, one damage is considered lethal, so a 4/4 can kill four blocking 4/4 creatures.)


Hammer of Purphoros doesn't let me destroy my opponent's lands; why is that exactly? The text on Hammer of Purphoros reads:

  Sacrifice a land: Put a 3/3 colorless Golem enchantment artifact creature token onto the battlefield.

I know that this doesn't allow me to destroy my opponent's lands but I would like to know why. What wording would allow me to do that? "Destroy target land"?

"Sacrifice" and "Destroy" are 2 separate things, though they both result in sending a permanent to the graveyard. You can only ever sacrifice a permanent that you control:

  701.14. Sacrifice

    701.14a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.

And you are correct about the second part, a card like Pillage would let you destroy an opponent's land.

"Sacrifice" happens only when an ability tells you to "sacrifice" something (or keywords whose rules require sacrificing, such as Annihilate). "Destruction" can happen either from abilities that say "destroy", or from state-based effects such as a creature having taken too much damage. Things like "Indestructible" can prevent Destruction, but not Sacrificing.


Can one choose a card with Bestow when searching for an Aura? Sovereigns of Lost Alara says "you may search your library for an Aura card that could enchant that creature".
Could it find a card with Bestow (that can be cast as an Aura), e.g. Ghostblade Eidolon?

No.
In your deck, cards with Bestow are just normal Enchantment Creatures because that's what is written on the type line.
The Bestow ability only functions in zones that the card cast be cast from (normally your hand). Bestow does nothing at all to a card in your library.

702.102. Bestow

702.102a Bestow represents a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on.

Even if the Bestow ability did function, Bestow doesn't change your card into an aura unless it is put onto the stack stack by casting it using the Bestow cost.

702.102b As a spell cast bestowed is put onto the stack, it becomes an Aura enchantment and gains enchant creature. It is a bestowed Aura spell, and the permanent it becomes as it resolves will be a bestowed Aura.


Kaya's ghostform and hanged executioner So on MTG Arena today, I enchanted my Hanged Executioner with Kaya's Ghostform.  Hanged Executioner reads in part:  "{3}{W}, Exile Hanged Executioner: Exile target creature."

I activated this ability to exile both HE and one of my opponent's creatures, expecting both to go into exile and then Kaya's Ghostform to return HE to the battlefield.  However, HE remained in exile.  Never saw the poor guy again.  Am I misunderstanding something, or was this an arena mess up?

Yes, Kaya's Ghostform should return Hanged Executioner to the battlefield.

Kaya's Ghostform's ability says

  When enchanted permanent dies or is put into exile, return that card to the battlefield under your control.

Exiling Hanged Executioner to pay the cost to activate its ability puts it into exile, which triggers Kaya's Ghostform's ability and should put the Hanged Executioner back on the battlefield.

If Arena did not do that, that is an error on Arena's part. I suggest that you make the developers aware of this bug by following the instructions on this page.


How many counters does Kalonian Hydra get with two Corpsejack Menaces on the battlefield? Suppose I have 2 Corspejack Menaces on the battlefield. I play a Kalonian Hydra which is given haste by another effect, and decide to attack with it right away.

How many counters are actually put on the Hydra by the time damage is resolved?

One of the issues were if the Corpsejack Menace reacts to the Hydra being played. Since the Hydra comes into play with 4 +1/+1 counters on it, is that considered counters placed on it?

And does one Corspejack Menace react to the other Corpsejack Menace?

Both Corpsejack Menaces will double the counters, so if you would get 4 counters, you will now get 16 instead. (First doubled to 8, then doubled to 16). So in this case, the Hydra will enter with 16 counters, then when you attack, 16 more would get placed on it, which is doubled twice, so 64 more get placed on it, meaning that it is 80/80 when it attacks.

Both questions are addressed in the rulings on Corpsejack Menace:

  If a creature you control would enter the battlefield with a number of +1/+1 counters on it, it enters with twice that many instead.

  If you control two Corpsejack Menaces, the number of +1/+1 counters placed is four times the original number. Three Corpsejack Menaces multiplies the original number by eight, and so on.

The reason this works is described in rule 615:

  Interaction of Replacement and/or Prevention Effects

  615.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4).

  615.1a If any of the replacement and/or prevention effects are self-replacement effects (see rule 613.14), one of them must be chosen. If not, proceed to rule 615.1b.

  615.1b If any of the replacement and/or prevention effects would modify under whose control an object would enter the battlefield, one of them must be chosen. If not, proceed to rule 615.1c.

  615.1c Any of the applicable replacement and/or prevention effects may be chosen.

  615.1d Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply.
  Example: Two permanents are on the battlefield. One is an enchantment that reads “If a card would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, instead exile it,” and the other is a creature that reads “If [this creature] would be put into a graveyard from the battlefield, instead shuffle it into its owner’s library.” The controller of the creature that would be destroyed decides which replacement to apply first; the other does nothing.

Note that entering the battlefield with counters is itself a replacement effect:

  614.12. Some replacement effects modify how a permanent enters the battlefield.


Going Out Concealed in Classic Canasta I'm new to Canasta, so I've been reading a lot of rules on the internet and found out that there are many variations. Luckily, the rules to Classic Canasta seem to be pretty consistent from site to site, but I still have this question about "Going out concealed"...
Let's say that my partner has already gotten a Canasta. I haven't laid down a single card yet, and then (by some miracle), I'm able to meld everything in my hand all at once and go out, but I don't have a Canasta.
All the rules that I've read say that I have to have a Canasta, but since you only have to have one Canasta per team, and my partner already has one, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to do it without one and get the extra 100-point bonus for "Going out concealed".
Also, is it true that I can't play on my partner's pile at all in order to "go out concealed"? If we're playing together, our pile is one and the same, so I don't see why I couldn't do that either.

Yes, you can do this. There are no special rules or restrictions regarding going out concealed, so you are just subject to the rules for melding normally, along with the rules for going out normally.
Melds belong to both your partner and melds by either of you can be placed in front of either of you; there is only one set of melds for your partnership.

All the melds of a partnership are placed in front of either partner.

A player may add additional cards to a meld by their side, provided that the melds remain valid (having no more than three wild cards).

A player goes out when they get rid of the last card in their hand by discarding or melding it, provided that their side has melded at least one canasta or they complete a canasta while going out. Failing this requirement, a player must keep at least one card in their hand.

A player goes out "concealed" when they meld their entire hand in one turn, including at least one canasta, without having made an earlier meld and without previously having added any card to melds that their partner has made

So it only matters if your partnership has a Canasta, not if you personally do. And you can always add cards to your partnership's melds; it makes no difference if the cards were melded previously by you or your partner. Whether you are just melding some cards or going out makes no difference there.
Source: https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/canasta/


Destroying units due to a crisis card In a game of Xcom: The Board Game, a crisis card came up that said we needed to destroy two interceptors.

Can I destroy the interceptors from the reserves or do they need to be destroyed from the board?

Please note that I am not referring to the recruitment pool of units

Neither the FAQ nor the rules seem to address this directly, but lacking a specific ruling I would say that you can lose them from either reserves or the board.  If they had specifically wanted you to lose ones from the board, the card would've said so (like the one that says that you lose a soldier on the mission, rather than just saying lose a soldier).


Was South's bidding really as "edgy" as an expert suggests? Here is a Frank Stewart hand.

You, South hold, ♠K986 ♥KT7 ♦875 ♣KQ9

Both vulnerable, North dealt and opened 1C.

North  East  South  West
1C     Pass  1S     Pass
2S     Pass  3C     Pass
3D     Pass  3NT    All Pass

Stewart characterized South's 3 clubs bid as "a bit bold," and 3NT as "living on the edge--or beyond."

I do consider South's bidding "bold" but not "edgy." I was taught to "bid to make," to freely bid contracts with a better than even chance of making.* (More to the point, I believe that Stewart was trained in that school as well.) Even so, South had 11 hcps opposite an opening hand. In subsequent bids, North had shown support for South's spades and a stopper in diamonds, and more than a bare minimum hand.

Dummy had (among other things) ♠AJx, ♥A, ♦A, enough make the contract if a spade finesse works. Given that the Q was "offside,"  Stewart showed a "hairaising" winning line that involved using the A of diamonds as "transportation" for a (successful) second club finesse.

Under IMP scoring, you will come out ahead if you bid and make contracts with a 40% chance of success when vulnerable, and a 50% chance when not vulnerable. Given this fact,

Is Stewart among only a few experts who would condemn South's bidding?

*This does not include sacrifice bids, where I have enough trumps to reasonably expect to lose less going down than allowing the opponents to have the contract.

Absolutely.

While the South hand has 11 HCP it should deduct one for the 4333 distribution. That's just a given. After that the spots are good but the Q is in the wrong suit - it will usually help the hand much more in Spades than in in Clubs. That's a wash so call it 10  Points even.

With this flat 10 and partner denying a 15-17 balanced hand or 4 spades with an upgrading distributional feature in the red suite, I am happy to pass 2S. To push twice more in hopes of finding partner with a magic 14 count is going to end up badly much more often than it will end well.


How do we speed things up in Bohnanza? Whenever I have a one hour window to play, I try this game, and it tends to take more like 2 hours. So far, I find the negotiating really entertaining - so I'm not sure if I want to go crazy trying to enforce time constraints on play.

The box says a game takes 45 minutes. Does that hold true for anyone? Are there things you do that speed up the game that don't feel heavy handed?

I've never had it take more than an hour, even with 6 people. Odds are you guys are analyzing the trades too much.

There's a variant I always play with that I think improves the game immensely, and that's play with everyone's hand face-up in front of them. This makes it easy to see who has what, so you won't have to ask 'does anyone have a blue bean?' because you can just look around the table and see for yourself. If anything, this actually adds more strategy to the game as you can use what other players have more to your advantage: "Normally this wouldn't be a good trade, but since you're going to have to plant that next turn and prematurely harvest one of your valuable fields why don't you do it anyway?"

If you still find this doesn't speed things up, you can try one of these variants to adjust when the end of the game arrives:

Have everyone draw one more card per turn, 4 instead of 3 in a 3-5 player game and 5 instead of 4 in a 6-7 player game. This is probably the least intrusive as just gives you more trading options.
Only go through the deck 2 times instead of 3. This will make for a shorter game, but IMHO it's a little less interesting.
Put a timer on 45 minutes and stop at the end of the players turn when it goes off. This should only be an absolute last resort, but it will make people play a bit faster since they know that they only have a limited amount of time. Of course, you'll have to be careful people don't purposely waste time to deny their left-hand opponent that last turn he needs to plant his cocoa been before time runs out...


Does this checkers-like game exist I had a dream where my wife taught me a game she called Serendipity. I woke up and quickly programmed it. I don't believe that anything is invented in dreams, so I'm now searching for the real game that slipped into my dream. I want to know what the proper rules are. I'm tagging this as checkers for now because it is very much like checkers, but a completely different game.

If you want to simply see the game, it is at: http://shaunwagner.com/serendipity
Note: I wrote this very quickly this morning, so expect plenty of bugs.

The game is like checkers. All the chips are the same color (I call them stones to make it obvious this isn't checkers). The board is set up like checkers, but all the stones on both sides are the same color. The goal is to capture 13 stones.

Each turn has 3 steps: (1) Pick a stone and move it diagonally. It can be any stone on the board that can move. It can move in any direction. This is like a "kinged" chip in checkers. (2) Repeat step one, moving another stone. It has to be a different stone. (3) Pick any stone not used in steps 1 and 2 and jump with it. It jumps like a "kinged" chip in checkers. You can multi-jump or chain your jumps. You capture each stone you jump.

If, for any reason, you don't want to or cannot complete a step of your move, you pass to the other player. If both players pass, the game is a draw.

This strikes me as a modified two player version of Peg Solitaire, rather than checkers.

Notably:

Players alternate turns except that a player is granted additional consecutive moves (i.e., captures) during a single turn, under certain circumstances.
Players must readjust two separate pegs prior to their first move of a turn, then they must move using a third peg. Consecutive moves must be made with that same peg.

This, of course, changes the win condition from "remove all the pegs, but one" to "mess up your opponents peg-capturing board state, worse than they mess up yours, and whoever gets the most captures, wins"

Best of luck marketing this game as well as the new Pandemic-killer, "fully cooperative peg solitaire," coming soon to your dreams!


Can a "crippled" aircraft carrier launch airplanes in Midway? In Midway, a large aircraft carrier (all of the Americans and two of the Japanese) can take five hits. If a ship has received one less hit than the critical number (four in this case), it is deemed damaged, to the point where its firepower capabilities are reduced to 1 (vs. ship) and 1 (vs. air), down from x y where it started, (where x and y are usually greater than 1). And I believe its movement factor is also reduced from 2 to 1.

In the Q & A of the 1960s version, a question was asked, that given the fact that an aircraft carrier with "ready" (fueled and armed) planes  would require one less hit to sink it, would getting planes "ready" after an attack sink an aircraft carrier? The answer was no, the ship would not be sunk, because the "readying" of the planes would not happen simultaneously with the bombing.

But a more important question is that would a crippled aircraft carrier be able to launch or retrieve planes, or would a carrier on its "last legs" have a ruined flight deck or crippled launching mechanism that would prevent this?

I don't remember the 1960s version of the rules addressing this point. Did the 1990s version do so, or were the 1960s rules clearer on this point than I remember? And if the answers were no, would the above be a reasonable interpretation that is in the "spirit" of the game?

I don't think this idea is a valid simulation. The two most critical tasks of an aircraft carrier, in order, are staying afloat and launching/retrieving it's planes. Provided the crew is not fully dedicated to staying afloat (ie there remains one or more hit points), the crew will continue to launch and retrieve plans.

Remember the reaching of zero hit points may not be a simulation of actually having sunk - but rather of having become unoperational as a carrier.

Of course these classic TAHGC games simulate in very broad brush strokes - it is common now to improve the simulation with more complex rules. I have not played Midway specifically, but at the cost of additional complexity I would consider slowing a carrier's launching and retrieval of planes once it had only one or two hit points left. This would simulate the difficulties of continuing operations a damage built up. However a carrier that cannot launch and retrieve at all is a sitting duck. Somehow, someway, some planes will be launched until the crew is forced to abandon ship.

Additionally, as a simulation of the different national characters and cultures of Japan and America, I would constrain damaged American carriers to only launch planes that could reasonably be expected to be retrievable - but make this optional for the Japanese captains.  An early kami kaze option if you will.


God-Pharaoh's Statue and Finale Of Promise I am bringing forward a case to the judges of Magic. Was I screwed by Magic Arena, or do I not know how to play?

Opponent has a God-Pharaoh's Statue.
I play a Finale of Promise with X = 2. I pick a Shock and a Chart a Course.

Now as the jury can clearly see, both of my picked spells are below the converted mana cost of 2. Also as the Finale of Promise states "You may cast up to one target instant card and or up to one target sorcery card from your graveyard each with converted mana cost X or less without paying their mana costs.

So the spells trigger, I play my shock. I then go to play my chart a course and the game asks me to pay mana to play it. Of which I have none. Shouldn't this spell be free as stated by Finale of Promise?

When you cast a spell without paying its mana cost, you are still required to pay any additional costs that other effects might impose.
This is reflected in one of the rulings on Finale of Promise:

If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, such as that of Spark Harvest, you must pay those to cast the card.

Basically the formula for a spell cost is as follows:

601.2f [...] The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order.

Choosing to cast a spell without paying its mana cost is an alternative cost, one that treats the cost of the spell as {0}. But God-Pharaoh's Statue still increases that cost by {2}, meaning your spells are not actually completely free: you are not forgoing all mana costs, you are just forgoing the initial mana cost of the spell before cost increases apply.
In order to cast Finale of Promise for X=2 targeting two spells while God-Pharaoh's Statue is out, you will pay 10 mana total ({8}{R}{R}). Finale will cost {2}{R}{R} normally plus another {2} from the Statue, then you must pay {2} for one of the free spells, then {2} for the other free spell.
Both of those spells are still definitely legitimate choices for Finale of Promise. Shock still has a converted mana cost of 1, and Chart a Course still has a converted mana cost of 2, because the converted mana cost formula does not factor in any cost increases or reductions we might face when actually casting the card:

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.
Example: A mana cost of {3}{U}{U} translates to a converted mana cost of 5.


Does turning a card face up cause it to lose any counters it had on it? If a card is played face down for some reason, like Guardian Shield-Bearer:

  Megamorph 3G (You may cast this card face down as a 2/2 creature for 3. Turn it face up any time for its megamorph cost and put a +1/+1 counter on it.)

  When Guardian Shield-Bearer is turned face up, put a +1/+1 counter on another creature you control.

Let's say I play Guardian face down, and then I get a card that says I can put a +1/+1 counter on one of my creatures. I choose to put it on my face-down Guardian to make it a 3/3.

When I turn Guardian up, does it lose the +1/+1 counter, since it is transforming (or rather, morphing) into a new creature? What about enchantments or other things attached to it?

What type of creature is the 2/2 when it is face down? Just a "Creature" type creature?

Any enchantments or counters that were on the creature when it was face down will remain when it is turned face up. The creature never changed zones. It is still the same object.

Morphs and Manifests have the "Creature" card type, but no subtypes.

  701.31a, 702.36a It becomes a 2/2 face-down creature card with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost.

When it gets turned face up, it just regains its normal characteristics, but it is otherwise the same object:

  702.36e Any time you have priority, you may turn [a morphed card] face up. The morph effect on it ends, and it regains its normal characteristics.

Transform means something special and is not what happens with morphed cards. I like to say "morph" and "turn it face up".


The fear of door knobs and being moved by the keeper There is an insanity card (one of my favorite as a keeper) that says that the investigator has to roll will+2 everytime he/she walks through a door. What me and my players haven't been able to agree upon is whether the investigator should roll the dice even if it is the keeper who forces the player to move.

My gut says yes as in the same manner that you need to roll horror if the keeper moves you into a room with a monster as well. What is your opinion and are you able to find any basis for it in the rules?

The investigator should roll even if they're forced through the door by the Keeper. It isn't covered explicitly in the rules, but it is essentially a horror test and the entire benefit of the trauma is that the Keeper should be able to exploit it.

I would say that, as with normal horror tests, passing through the same door more than once in the same turn should only force one test however.


Where does Æmber captured from own side go after creature leaves play? I've got a card (Mars Needs Æmber) that has the following play ability:

  Play: Each damabed enemy non-Mars creature captures 1 Æmber from their own side.

I was wondering what happens when this creature leaves play? My interpretation of the rules would suggest that the Æmber would then go into the pool of the player who played the Mars Needs Æmber card. Is this right?

No, but Yes!

It doesn't matter who played Mars Needs Æmber, all that matters is who controls the Martians when they leave play. There are a variety of effects that can temporarily gain control of a creature. Who the Æmber was captured from doesn't matter, only who controls the creature at the time it leaves play. Since Mars Needs Æmber doesn't deal damage, or remove creatures from play, once it's played, who played it is forgotten as far as the Æmber is concerned. This is a small, but important distinction!


Is it possible for a board wipe to happen after first strike damage but before regular damage? What happens if someone attacks with a bunch of 5/5 or smaller creatures and you block with Child of Alara and then cast Flaming Sword on one of the 5/5 making it a 6/5 first strike that would kill your Child of Alara on purpose during the first strike step of combat damage.

Would it die and wipe the board before the second step of combat? Or would regular combat damage still occur since the combat damage step had been entered?

Yes, players get priority between first strike and regular damage steps; so they can cast spells, and state-based actions will be checked, and triggered abilities will resolve.

First strike and double strike create an additional combat damage step; pretty much just like the normal one. And players get priority after damage is done during the combat damage step. So in your example, you would be able to prevent any regular combat damage from being done by destroying creatures after first strike damage was done.

  Combat Damage Step

    […]

    510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

And

  510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step.


Kruphix and Omnath, what color is the mana Both Kruphix, God of Horizons and Omnath, Locus of Mana stop unused mana from emptying from your mana pool at the end fo each step. Omnath only works for green and keeps it green, while Kruphix works for all, but makes it colorless. If I have both on the field at the same time, which one takes priority? Do I get to pick?

If I have 2 blue mana, 1 white mana and 2 green mana at the end of a step, do I get to keep 5 colorless or 2 green and 3 colorless?

You would have 2 green and 3 colorless.

Kruphix creates a replacement effect that applies to unused mana that would empty from your mana pool. But the text on Omnath modifies to normal game rules:

  101.1 Whenever a card’s text directly contradicts these rules, the card takes precedence. The card overrides only the rule that applies to that specific situation.

So because of the currently modified rules, the green mana doesn't empty at all, therefore the replacement effect doesn't happen for the green mana, only for the other colors.

If you had only green mana in your pool, Kruphix's ability wouldn't kick in at all, because nothing "would empty from your mana pool".


Are there any published games of Bobby Fischer as world champion? Between the World Championship Match against Spassky in 1972 and his rematch against Spassky in 1992, Bobby Fischer played no tournament games, not even to defend his title.

Are there any published games in existence played by Fischer during this period?

Chessgames.com has three games Fischer played against the Greenblatt computer program.  Those seem to be the only gamers recorded for Fischer during this time period online.  There don't appear to be any copies of Fischer's five minute 1981 games with Peter Biyiasas online.


The Resistance doesn't work when resistance members don't care about losing Was playing a game of The Resistance with some people who haven't played it before. What I found, is that of the five games we played, the Resistance only won one of them.

I think the reason for this, was a social dynamic of people not wanting to argue, and 'let's just get on with the game' so vote for the mission to go ahead, even though there's a good chance there's a spy on the mission.

Are there any good strategies for getting people more vested in the outcome of the mission, or is this simply a matter of 'playing with the right people'?

All games require people to be at least somewhat invested in playing properly, otherwise what's the point in playing in the first place?

I think the issue is made clear in your line about how there "was a social dynamic of people not wanting to argue, and 'let's just get on with the game'" - sorry, but arguing in The Resistance IS the game. Without the discussion, it's just a game of voting. It's already a short game (20-30 minutes), what is to be gained by rushing through it?

Sounds to me like the group weren't that up for playing. It is a game that requires the right group of people as you say. Although I will add the caveat that lots of people I didn't think would be into it will often surprise you with how invested they get.

Some people will take at least one game to establish properly how it works and what opportunities are available (and yes, you may need to artificially inflate the drama a little by throwing some accusations around perhaps more than you normally would). Some people however simply will not get it and won't get invested (my brother for example, couldn't understand why the spies would bother lying - which makes no sense, but whatever).