Is there an order in which the leaders effect applies? I know this is irrelevant in most of the cases because leader effects are independent or can be combined achieving the same effect, but I found a case in which the order matters.
We are playing with the anniversary leaders pack and let's say we got the following scenario.

Alice has played both Acanice (first row second column in the image above) and Eniheduanina (first row, third column).

Acanice allows you to switch one of the science symbols, basically transforming one of the green symbols into a wildcard (similar to the guild).
Eniheduanina gives you an extra science symbol where you have the most.

At the end of the game Alice has in front of her 5 science symbols like this:

1 gear (1g)
2 compasses (2c)
2 stones. (2s)

Case 1

Applying the effect of Eniheduanina first, will let Alice have the following configuration: 1g, 2c, 3s (or 1g, 3c, 2s - it's irrelevant).
Then applying the effect of Acanice will let Alice have 2 complete sets by changing one stone to a gear, scoring 26 points.

Case 2.
Applying the effect of Acanice first, Alice can get the max score by chaging one compass to a stone (or the other way around - again irrelevant).
Applying Eniheduanina effect will get Alice the the following configuration 1g, 1c, 4s (2s + 1c turned to s to 1 extra s).  This totals up to 25 points.

As you can see, switching the order of the leaders ends up in 2 different scores.

Main question
Is there an order in which the leaders effects are applied, or Alice can choose the order in such a way that her "profit" is maximized?

None of the rulebooks specify an order to scoring the cards at the end of the game (leaders or otherwise), so it looks like Alice can apply them in whatever order she chooses.


If you pass GO, do you collect 200 at the end of the turn or as you pass GO? This is to settle a current dispute with our game. Here's the scenario: Someone rolled the dice and landed on Community Chest, passing GO in the process. They picked up the card and it read 'Pay 10 pound or Take a Chance'. They took a Chance, and the Chance card said 'Go back 3 spaces.' They landed on Mayfair, passing back over the GO square to get there. They argued that they should still receive 200 pound because they already passed GO, and you receive the money when passing it NOT at the end of your turn.

I believe that this is correct and you should get the money as you pass GO rather than at the end of your turn (therefore removing the money you got by passing if you went backwards and landed on a square before GO). I've looked in the rules and I think you get the money as you pass, rather than after the consequences of your turn.

What's the official stance on this?

Original answer
You collect $200 each time you pass over or land on the GO. See the official rules.

Each time a player's token lands on or passes over GO, whether by throwing the dice or drawing a card, the Banker pays that player a $200 salary.
"The $200 is paid only once each time around the board. However, if a player passing GO on the throw of the dice lands 2 spaces beyond it on Community Chest, or 7 spaces beyond it on Chance, and draws the "Advance to GO" card, they collect $200 for passing GO the first time, and another $200 for Advancing to it the second time by the instructions on the card."

Your question is quite interesting, it has been asked before here and here.
What I think, is that player should collect $200 only if passing GO in the clockwise direction or landing on it (also by advancing to or over the GO using card). The rules state that it is possible to collect $200 more than once in a turn, however in this case I think that the player in question should:

Collect $200 for passing GO.
Take the chance card, go back 3 spaces to Mayfair. Do not collect $200 for passing GO this time.
Collect $200 for passing  GO in the next turn.

I might be wrong though.

Edit
There were some good comments posted that made me think more about this particular situation. I'm making this edit to answer all of them comprehensively, hopefully. Sorry about the long post.
Pay a $10 fine or take a Chance
Comment from @ColinD made me look for more information about the card. I've found information on Wikipedia  that this card was omitted in U.S. editions since 1936. I'm assuming it wasn't ommited just in U.S. editions, since I've never actually seen this card in real life and I live in Europe.
This might be what makes things complicated here. As @ColinD suggested later, situation described in the OP's question might be the only way to achieve passing GO in the counter-clockwise fashion. Since the card allowing this to happen was omitted, there was no need to address this issue in the official rules - that's why they might not be crystal clear about this. I'm also afraid that looking at the rules from 1936 wouldn't solve this issue.
If you would like to learn more about the history of Monopoly game, take a look on this and this.
Authorities
I wasn't completely sure my answer was correct and there were some good points made by other users. So, I decided to contact authorities for consultation. This is what I was told.
Hasbro Customer Service
After contacting them by online form and describing situation (without mentioning my thoughts on how this should be resolved) I received following response:

Thank you for contacting Hasbro Customer Service regarding the rules
for Monopoly. I'm delighted to help!

The player collects $200 for passing GO. They can choose to ask for it as soon as they pass the space or at the end of their turn.
Either way, no matter when they ask for it, it's owed to them for
passing GO.

Players do not collect $200 for passing GO counter-clockwise.

Yes, the player should collect $200 again as they passed GO.

I hope this helps! Happy gaming!

Ok, so this answer doesn't provide much reasoning behind this, but the results of rules interpretation seem to be the same as mine.
Main Judge of the Polish Monopoly Championships
I've contacted Mr. Michael Stajszczak, who was the main judge in all editions of the Polish Monopoly Championships. He judged many other games in tournaments and made a fair amount of rules translation for different board games. Again, I didn't suggest any particular interpretation of the rules in this situation. This is what he replied:

If described situation was to happen in the tournament, the decision would be like this:
Player should immediately collect $200 for passing GO, before drawing Community Chest card. He doesn't collect money for passing over GO in backward direction. However in the next move,
when he will be passing GO again, he should collect another $200.

This is the way I understood the rules. However, @Johno made a good point that maybe the player shouldn't collect another $200 when passing GO on the following turn due to the The $200 is paid only once each time around the board clarification, because he's already had the return for completing that circuit. I've also asked Mr. Stajszczak about this interpetation of the rules:

Indeed, this sentence could be interpreted in more than one way.
However, I think it addresses different issue. This was to resolve the
situation where player finishes his move on the GO - so that he
won't get the money twice (first time for landing on GO and second
time for leaving it).
By the way, the quoted sentence isn't present in Polish set of the
rules. That's why this wasn't an issue in any of the Polish
tournaments. Unfortunately we can't ask the game designer about this
since he passed away.
Just in case of doubt, there was always an information in the
Championship rules that the game rules are as main judge interpets them.

I believe this is probably the best answer you could get for this situation. That's the way the issue would most likely be resolved in the official tournament.


What happens if both players misunderstand the game state until it's too late? Let's take two players, Alice and Bob. Alice has a Tarmogoyf. She asks Bob what card types are in his graveyard. Bob fans out his graveyard, they do the math, and conclude Alice's Tarmogoyf is 5/6.

Alice attacks, Bob blocks, and Alice casts Temur Battle Rage. That turns the Tarmogoyf into a lethal double striking trampler. Bob goes into the tank to see how he can possibly avoid dying, and then he notices that the Tarmogoyf is actually 4/5. In other words they miscounted, and not only does he survive, Alice dies in the counterattack. Oops.

What happens now? Can Alice rewind the attack? If so, what happens to the fact that she revealed she's holding Temur Battle Rage? I imagine the answer to this question depends on what the REL level is; if so I'm interested in all RELs.

First, players should never rewind game actions on their own; they should always call a judge to resolve problems like this.

In the particular situation you describe, it is ambiguous whether any rule was actually broken. In this scenario, Tarmogoyf's power and toughness are derived information (see section 4.1 of the Magic Tournament Rules), and both players calculated it incorrectly based on all relevant information. The communication rules do prohibit misrepresenting free or derived information, but it is not really clear if that rule is broken here.

At any level, a judge could reasonably determine that a game rule was violated, or that it was a simple game play mistake that the players have to live with. The Judging at Regular REL document provides for remedies for "player errors", so it would be reasonable for a judge to choose to rewind the game to the point where the error in calculation was made.

Higher REL levels are governed by the Infraction Procedure Guide; at that level if the judge thinks a rule was broken, it would be handled based on section 3.7: Tournament Error — Communication Policy Violation. That would result in a warning for whichever player(s) are found to be in violation of that rule, and a possible recommended remedy is to rewind actions taken based on the erroneous information. How far they rewind would probably depend on who is found to have violated the rule.


How to make cards for a card game? I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this kind of question but here it is.

I'm making a board game where there is a deck of monster cards and I'm interested - is there some tool/script that allows to make images for cards from some text file that contains all the needed information (.txt, .xml or something else)?
What i would like is something like:

1) make a .psd with labels for name and defense values (also background and other images that can be anything)

2) have some file that lists all the monsters names and defense values (where i can quicly change them and regenerate images from that)

Also you can add somehing new later both in psd and this file (like I/II/III for monster difficulty). Optionally - not just change text, but also images (that would allow to change icons from the file, ect.) #dreams

Is there some tool that allows for this kind of fast iteration?

Not quite what you are after, but maybe one of these may help:
Adobe InDesign
InDesign is (as far as I know) the industry standard for card design, and while it is not specifically made for this purpose, it can most certainly do it, and is the only solution I know of that can directly import a PSD file.
The actual card data can be kept in a separate file (spreadsheet, or possibly other formats) and combined with the card template via the data merge feature, including the image source.
The only real downside for InDesign is price.
For a bit more information on what InDesign can and can't do, see this answer to my own question on the Software Recommendations SE.
Magic Set Editor
Magic Set Editor was originally built for one specific game (Magic the Gathering), but now has support for a large number of games through plugins. I've never actually created an original card type with it, but I have used a few mods and looked into their source as well as used it extensively for creating power cards for 4th ed D&D.
The library of cards is handled internally within each file (each file is a "set" of cards, however you choose to separate sets for your own work) and content can't be merged from an external file, but it does still provide the separation of template and content you would need to allow updating the template without updating every single card.
It hasn't had a release since 2011, but I have never found any bugs with it in the 4-5 years I've used it, and best of all it is free (actually open source).
Strange Eons
Initially built for creating custom cards for Arkham Horror, Strange Eons has excellent support for plugins to handle other games and card styles, and while I've never created a plugin for a different game, I did do a bit of development on Arkham Horror-specific plugins a few years ago, and since then its plugin support has only grown better.
Once you have a plugin created for your card type each card you make is saved to a separate file, but cards can then be arranged into decks within the program for printing/organisation.
The documentation also seems to be fairly thorough and helpful, and it is free as well, but is listed here last since it is probably the furthest from what you are actually asking.


Can I rez PAD Campaign before my turn starts? PAD Campaign is an Asset that reads:

  Gain 1 [Credit] when your turn begins.

Am I allowed to rez it (or other similar Assets such as Adonis Campaign) before the start of my turn so I can benefit from it immediately and not give the runner a chance to react to it?

My understanding is that I can rez it after any action by either player, and that includes the last action of the runner's turn. Am I right in thinking this?

If you look at the revised timing diagram from the Netrunner FAQ, it shows a chance to rez cards just before the corp's "Start of turn effects trigger". So yes, you can rez these assets just before the start of your turn and take advantage of the benefit immediately.

You can rez the PAD Campaign after the runner's last action, just before they discard cards, or just before you draw a card, and still gain the credit. It seems best to rez on your turn so if they have to discard they do so not knowing that your asset was a PAD Campaign.


Placing advancements on non-advanceable cards I know you can't advance something that is non-advanceable, but what about the Runner?

In the new Opening Moves Data Pack, there is a card called "Queen's Gambit" (according to the pics). It says:

  Place up to 3 advancement tokens on an unrezzed card in a remote server. Gain 2[Credits] for each advancement token placed.

Can anyone say that works? The Runner doesn't know what can be advanced or not..

Queen's gambit doesn't specify that the card has to be able to be advanced. If you compare it to Matrix Analyzer, you will see the difference:

  When the Runner encounters Matrix Analyzer, you may pay 1 [Credits] to place 1 advancement  token on a card that can be advanced.

Normally the Advance action is used to advance cards. This is where the corp pays 1C and 1click to place an advancement counter on a card which can be advanced. When another card places advancement counters, its not actually "advancing" the card, and so it doesn't need to be an advanceable card. However, most effects which add advancement counters specify the card has to be advanceable. The only exception at the moment is Queen's Gambit, since the runner obviously won't know, and is in fact gambling that the card isn't advanceable, to avoid helping the corp.


Can Relic of Progenitus be used to prevent a card being fetched from the graveyard? I played a Relic of Progenitus on my first turn. My opponent (who went first) activates a fetch land, then casts Wrenn and Six. Can I force the opponent to exile a card from their graveyard in response to stop them from returning the fetch land to their hand?

Planeswalker abilities are activated abilities; they go on the stack and can be responded to with instants, or other abilities which can be activated 'at instant speed', like either of Relic of Progenitus' ones. So that would work to stop them from using the fetch land twice.
Note that returning the land to the hand is part of the resolution of the effect, not the cost. This is different from the situation where they would activate the fetch land and sacrifice it as part of the cost; then, instant-speed land destruction would not work.


Will Splinter Twin and Combat Celebrant provide an indeterminant number of combat phases? If Combat Celebrant is enchanted with Splinter Twin, and tapped during the Beginning of Combat portion of the Combat Phase to produce a token that is a Copy of Combat Celebrant, could this result in an indeterminant number of combat phases?

Chain of events:

Beginning of Combat: Tap enchanted Combat Celebrant to generate the token copy.
Declare Attackers: Declare the Token Copy and any number of other creatures attacking. Exert the Token Copy, untapping all other creatures including the original Combat Celebrant.
Declare Blockers: Opponents involvement.
Combat Damage: no surprises.
Additional Combat Phase Happens: Return to Beginning of Combat above, repeating the cycle.

Yes, you can have an infinite amount of combat phases with Combat Celebrant and Splinter Twin.

As long as you are exerting a new splinter twin copied Combat Celebrant each time, your enchanted Combat Celebrant will be untapped and able to create a new token. This is covered in the gatherer rulings on Combat Celebrant:

  If you exert multiple Combat Celebrants in one combat phase, you’ll have that many additional combat phases, but all of your creatures are untapped only during the current combat phase. You’ll need to exert the Combat Celebrants one at a time, in multiple combat phases, to untap your attacking creatures and attack with them in each combat step.


Information gain from discarded tiles in Mahjong What information do you gain when another player discards a tile apart from seeing which tile it is? In particular from the position from which the tile is discarded. I neglect the timing side-channel in this context.

You can sort your tiles, but no good player will do that, since it increases the information your opponents gain while giving you no advantage.

As I understand the rules at http://mahjong-europe.org you can't regularly shuffle the tiles. In particular not between taking and discarding a tile.

From this I conclude you can find out in which turn the discarded tile was drawn(all initial tiles count as a single turn), but nothing more.

Is that correct, or did I miss a way to gain additional information, or hide information about when the discarded tile was drawn?

Like you said, you can't shuffle your tiles at will, but if I'm remembering correctly, you can put the tile you just drawn anywhere in your "hand", so you can't know when the discarded tile was drawn (at least not if you haven't a perfect memory ;) ).

However, each player has his own discard location, so you can easily see all tiles he has already discarded and maybe find a pattern in his discards which may prove useful to guess what he is waiting.

A player which is always discarding quickly the tile he just drawn is also a strong indicator that he is close to finish.


How does the example of rule 601.2h work? I'm having trouble understanding the example of rule 602.1h in the Magic Comprehensive Rules.

  601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.

  Example: You cast Altar’s Reap, which costs {1}{B} and has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. You sacrifice Thunderscape Familiar, whose effect makes your black spells cost {1} less to cast. Because a spell’s total cost is “locked in” before payments are actually made, you pay {B}, not {1}{B}, even though you’re sacrificing the Familiar.

If the costs are locked in before the sacrifice lowers them, why does it say only {B} is payed instead of {1}{B}? Should it not be the other way around?

The language ("even though...") also seems to suggest the costs were mistakenly exchanged.

When it says that the spell's cost is "locked in" before payments are made, it means that you calculate the cost, including all modifiers, then you pay for it. This matches up with the steps described in the rules: you calculate the cost in step 601.2f, then pay the cost in step 601.2h.

So, when calculating the cost of that Altar's Reap, you take the base cost: {1}{B}, and apply any relevant cost reductions; in this case, you reduce the cost to {B} due to Thunderscape Familiar's effect. Then you pay the cost: you pay {B} and you sacrifice the Familiar. Since you do the sacrifice after you calculate the cost, the Familiar's cost reduction applies, even though it won't be on the battlefield when you're done casting the spell.

Note that sacrificing the Familiar is not what lowers the cost. The Familiar has a static ability that reduces the cost of black spells. Sacrificing it is, separately, part of the cost of casting Altar's Reap.


What other games can I play with the zombies from Zombies? What other games can I play with the zombies from Zombies?

It seems like a waste to have so many of the little guys and not use them to maximum effect.

What other rulesets or alternate games are people playing with their zombies?

What can't you do with a giant pile of zombies?  If you do the table-top RPG thing regularly, the zombies make great generic bad guys.  Some friends of mine created a variant of Frag called Frag Zombies that used plenty of the zombie figures during the game.  Pretty much any board game that uses miniatures is a potential use case for the zombies.  Imagine playing a zombie in Monopoly.  You could build a Zombie army in Risk.  How about using the glow-in-the-dark zombies in a game of Last Night on Earth?  The possibilities are endless.


Can you crew a Vehicle that is already a creature? Let's pretend I control a Mobile Garrison and a Veteran Motorist.

I crew the Garrison with my Motorists (sweet +1/+1 bonus).

I attack with the Garrison, and I untap the Motorists with the triggered ability.

At this point, can I tap the Motorists to crew the Garrison again and get another +1/+1?

You can activate a Crew ability multiple times. Normally doing so doesn't do anything (other than tapping the creature used to crew the vehicle), however since the Motorist has an triggered ability that triggers on crewing a vehicle the trigger will still occur.

From the Gatherer rulings on every vehicle:

  You may activate a crew ability of a Vehicle even if it’s already an artifact creature. Doing so has no effect on the Vehicle. It doesn’t change its power and toughness.


Where is this six-sided die from Gaming with my daughter's boyfriend, I noticed this die. I asked him about it, but his tl;dr was it was a found die, and he has no idea what it's for or from. Any ideas?

I do note that 3 & 4 are the average of a d6, 6 & 7 are the average of a d12, and 10 & 11 are the average of a d20. But other than that I've got nothing. Google has failed me... or I have failed Google.
Who knows where this die is from?

It seems to be from the board game 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', according to
this post on reddit:

  I own the US/English version of the game. The dice numbers are 4, 6, 11, 7, 3, 10.

...in particular, this picture:


How can I mitigate the luck factor of drawing destination tickets in Ticket To Ride? I get the feeling that a big part of how well someone does in Ticket to Ride, is the drawing of their initial destination tickets, and the drawing of subsequent destination tickets, and how well they fit within the player's existing route, etc.

Are there any house rules for mitigating this? One suggestion might be that three destination tickets can be placed face up on the table, and players can draw from those, or elect to scrap them before drawing from them.

Note: I'm specifically asking about how luck dependent the game is, and if there are any house rules to reduce the luck factor. I'm not asking for strategies used to deal with the standard rules.

Find a new game.

Taking of tickets in Ticket to Ride is supposed to be a high risk/high reward action that has the potential to lose you a significant amount of points. Once you try to mitigate an aspect of a game, you're changing how the game plays in ways that weren't intended by the designer. At this point, it's better to find a new game that more closely aligns with your board gaming preferences. There are over 82,000 games in the Board Game Geek database, and one of them is sure to have the aspects of Ticket to Ride that you enjoy while eliminating the randomness of drawing cards.

My suggestion would be Hansa Teutonica. This is also a strategy game that focuses on taking routes, but instead of taking tickets for points, you are taking actions over the course of the game. One game session should take you about the same amount of time as Ticket to Ride. Hansa Teutonica also has the benefit of multiple paths to victory, so it will have a longer shelf life than Ticket to Ride.


Can Aquamoeba beat Glory Seeker with discards? Can Aquamoeba beat Glory Seeker if the Aquamoeba owner discards one or more cards during the fight?

  Discard a card from your hand: switch Aquamoeba's power and toughness until end of turn. 1/3 creature

  2/2 creature - human soldier

It used to be the case that you could do this:

Declare attackers and blockers
Activate the Aquamoeba's ability
Resolve the stack
Put 3 combat damage on the stack
Activate the Aquamoeba's ability again
Resolve stack

This would cause the Aquamoeba to have 3 power when damage was assigned but have 3 toughness when damage was resolved, killing the 2/2 but leaving the Aquamoeba alive.

However, changes to the combat rules for Magic 2010 were made that specifically prevented this. Now damage does not use the stack and is assigned and applied in one step, so the Aquamoeba can be either 1/3 at the time (and both survive) or 3/1 at the time (and both die).


Pokemon Gliscor GL 62/111 I have a Gliscor card from the Rising Rivals Pokemon set which says it's an 'Elite Four's Pokemon' but on the top left-hand side it's written GL (Gym Leader) instead of the usual Elite Four icon (see picture below). Would this be a misprint?

This is a fake card.

Pokémon maintain a high quality of their manufacture process. Even though it is possible that misprints are produced, they are usually either well known or they are just printer errors, not problems with card design itself.

Your card uses different fonts and text is not aligned and spaced properly. These problems indicate that the card can't be a misprint.


Scythe: Can I leave resources in the lake? Playing with the Polania faction in Scythe, I built the mech than unlocks "Submerge". This allows my leader and mechs to travel in and out of lakes. At one point my leader was carrying resources with him during a lake-walk and I didn't want to bring them ashore. The reason was that the other faction would have a great opportunity to steal my resources while on dry land.
Question: Was I allowed to go ashore leaving the resources(the oil :)) floating in the lake?

According to https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/20771925#20771925

  SUBMERGE: Your character and mechs may move to and from lakes and move from any lake to another (similar to tunnel movement, but with lakes). If a mech moves workers onto a lake or if a character or mech moves resources onto a lake, you may not leave those workers or resources on the lake after moving off of it, nor may a worker move off of the lake without the assistance of the mech.


Should a temple always be built on turn 2 in Antike? I played my first game of Antike with 5 other people.  Everyone but me started at Marble, then paid one resource on the next turn to jump to Temple.  Having never played before, I went another way, just to be different.

Getting a temple built on turn 2 obviously kick-starts your economy, but is it really the best way to start?  Did everyone know something I didn't or were they all just mirroring each other?

FWIW, I went Gold-Arming-Know How and claimed the first VP on turn 3.

While getting a Temple is a very good first move, there's a lot to be said for getting the first Technology.
I would immediately follow it up with a Temple though.


Multi-Game Deck Building Tool I play Magic: The Gathering, one of my son's plays Pokemon, and the other plays Yu-Gi-Oh!

I got a deck building tool for my iPad to build Magic decks, but I am curious if there is an app for building decks for all three card games. Ideally one that knows the rules about different styles of decks and card games too.

The ideal tool would sync the decks between my iPad, Mac and Windows computers, but that may be asking to much.

You might be interested in these projects:

Generic Collectible Card Game

OCTGN

MWS

For the first one, last updated end 2009 apparently and it seems there's no yugioh support (to be verified) Lots of addons though and scripting language so that might be doable.

You could also try to dig in that list here:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=56796

PS: I hate you for reminding me that this game is terribly addicting :)
I'll keep the link above in my favorites but will refrain from installing anything! ;)


How does Asmira, Holy Avenger respond to manifested cards? I was wondering what happens if a non-creature, manifested card (thus it's a 2/2 at the time) dies with Asmira, Holy Avenger on the field? Does Asmira get +1/+1 from that creature or not?

Yes, you get the counter.

  109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn’t include the word “card,” “spell,” “source,” or “scheme,” it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

Because Asmira, Holy Avenger says "creature" and not "creature card", it is only referring a a creature permanent on the battlefield, not anything about the card type. Because a "creature" by definition can only exist on the battlefield, Asmira can only be talking about what object was on the battlefield that went to the graveyard. The object that now exists in the graveyard is irrelevant.

  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.


Confused on helping and wandering monsters in munchkin zombies There are 5 players. Player 1 kicks down door, there is a monster he needs help with. A player agrees to help. Can the other three players all use a wandering monster card and a monster card?

If so are the two players now fighting 4 monsters or 3 because the first monster dies at the moment the player said he/she would help?

If the two beat all the monsters, do both get levels per monster killed or just player one?

The two players would have to defeat all 4 monsters. After getting help, the other players are allowed a reasonable amount of time to interfere before you can claim levels and treasure.

And just like normal getting help, only player 1 gets the levels, but both share the treasure.


How can I get my heavy card stock game board to lie flat? I have a game board made of heavy card stock that doesn't lie flat at the creases, and the sections bow a little. Is there a way to keep it lying flat? Maybe a way to mount it?

The board is from Commands & Colors: Ancients.

From the discussion about protecting board sufaces comes the idea of placing a sheet of Plexiglas on top of your board. That just might have enough weight to push it down. If it doesn't you'll still have a flat albeit slightly tilted surface.


Blocking creatures with menace and an equipment giving 'can only be blocked by one creature' I ran into an interesting interaction tonight when I played Magic. So here's the setting:

I have a Pyreheart Wolf out and the equipment known as Vorrac Battlehorns.
Pyreheart Wolf's ability says: when this creature attacks, your creatures have to be blocked by two or more creatures this turn, the ability that we now know as menace.
Vorrack Battlehorns ability is: equipped creature has trample and can only be blocked by one creature.

I also have one other creature out.
I have the equipment equipped to said other creature. I go to attack phase. I attack with both my creatures.

My question: does the Pyreheart Wolf's ability trigger first or does the equipment's ability trigger first?

Both abilities are active (and Vorrac Battlehorns' ability doesn't 'trigger', it is always in effect).

  509.1b The defending player checks each creature they control to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't block, or that it can't block unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of blockers is illegal.

Your opponent won't be able to block the creature with the Vorrac Battlehorns, since it can't be blocked by more than one creature (due to the equipment) and it can't be blocked by less than two creatures (due to the Wolf). Both are restrictions and the rules above state they must be obeyed. Note that they are free to block the Wolf or not, but need at least two creatures to do so.

Incidentally, this means a Pyreheart Wolf equipped with Vorrac Battlehorns is unblockable.


What do you do when one or more adults is upset or acting inappropriately? As a host (and as a guest) to a gaming session, I like to help make the experience as gratifying for as many people as possible. I sometimes run into certain types of people or behaviors that are sometimes, but never always, anticipated.

Sore Loser Crankiness:
gets increasingly irritable as the certainty of his failure to win approaches.

Self-Pitying: repeatedly moping sadly and verbally over how desperate, pathetic and impossible his situation is.

Vendetta-bound: out for blood beyond any intra- or inter-meta-game statistics or standing reason. Spouses, Significant others, Politically mis-aligned players, someone who took the last pizza roll.

There are more, and I listed these as behaviors, not so much as 'types of people', although we probably all know various people who tend to repeatedly show these behaviors. Some might be "tolerate" and others might be "kick to the curb", but do people have good approaches that help address these issues and in the end make their gaming sessions and gaming groups stronger?

I'd also like to add that I'm more interested in courses of action during the ongoing game session or social event (excluding something like pulling the person aside for a word).  I feel there are various common carefully thought out ways to confront or appeal to people after the fact and that these approaches (in person, calling, email, tone of appeal/confrontation) could easily be another question/topic.

I've edited the original question to specify adults as interacting with children adds in a whole extra complexity of boundaries especially when they aren't your children and you're then thinking about how to interact around or with the parents.

It's usually easier to prevent these things than it is to fix them.

Set the mood
Make sure everyone's doing alright. Put on some music, get some food and drinks on the table (or a lot of drinks, if you really want to be sure).

Pick the right game
The type of games can also make a big difference. Some games are really harsh on those who fall behind. There's nothing that says 'get grumpy' like sitting at 3-5 VP during a 90 minute game of Settlers. If the skill levels in your game group are miles apart, try to level the playing field by picking games that require less skill, like Yahtzee or Pictionary.
Even when the whole group settles on a complex and long game, I find that it helps to throw short and simple games in between.

Invite the right people
The harshest truth is that some people just don't fit well with the rest of the group. You can't please everyone.


How is Inventor's Apprentice affected by multiple artifacts? If I have 3 artifacts and 1 Inventor's Apprentice. Does my apprentice get +1/+1 or +3/+3?

Inventor's Apprentice gets +1/+1 as long as you control an artifact. It's only +1/+1, and this is true no matter how many artifacts you control. If it was the other way, it would say "Inventor's Apprentice gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control", as it does for Cranial Plating.


Jace's Erasure with Prosperity If I have a Jace's Erasure (Whenever you draw a card, you may have target player mill 1) out and cast Prosperity (Each player draws X cards), since we both draw at the same time, for each card drawn would it be

  I draw, I can make opponent mill, opponent draws

or

  Opponent draws, I draw, I can make opponent mill

Also, if I have Jace's Erasure and instead my opponent casts Prosperity, does the outcome change?

The order of events in this case is as follows:

Prosperity resolves
Resolve the text on the card in its entirety, so each player draws X cards.
Jace's Erasure's ability is triggered once for each card drawn, but we wait until the resolution of Prosperity is complete before putting the triggers on the stack.
The triggered abilities of Jace's Erasure resolve one at a time, and you mill cards from your opponent's library one at a time as they do.

Summary:
You both draw, then you mill the cards from your opponent's library. Changing whoever cast the spell does not affect this outcome.


Trying to remember a classic board game I'm trying to remember the name of a game so I can look up strategies for it for my discrete math class.

The game is laid out with however many rows of marbles or stones and each player can choose however many stones they want from one row per turn, where the object of the game is to have their opponent choose the last stone.

It's a very old game and I'm interested in the math behind the game. I just can't remember its name.

It's called Nim, and it's an excellent (and common) game for discrete math studies.
Wikipedia's article.


Source for significant historical events I'm designing a game that involves identifying historical events, and I'm looking for an online source that I can use to generate a set of event cards.

For my prototype, I'm using a copy of the game Chronology, but to publish a print-and-play version, I'd need to find or create my own set of cards. If I could find an online source with a permissive licence, that might not be too much work. Other games like Chronology that could be used for prototyping would also be helpful.

The best source I've found so far is the Wikipedia timelines.


Does gaining +x/+x trigger "when counters are added" abilities? If I had a Fathom Mage and played Giant Growth onto it would the "gain +3/+3" activate the ability to draw a card when a counter is added, or are stat improvements and counters completely separate?

Or are stat improves and counter completely separate

This is correct, unless it says counter, it is not referring to physical counters on the card itself.

Additionally note the duration included on Giant Growth, while counters do not have a duration (or if they do they have a separate wording to remove them explicitly).


Would a duel model between Khadors' Sorcha and Circles' Kaya seem realistic? It's for a model painting competition but I don't know if it fits in with any fluff... Opinions? O.o

I will interpret the question as, is there anything in the game rules that would preclude modeling these two figures in combat with each other.

I have not played this one but given my understanding of what's allowed and what's not from various codex-based miniatures games this seems like a plausible pairing. Sorcha is a warcaster (https://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/Sorscha) and Kaya is a warlock (https://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/mkiiKaya) from armies that can and will clash.

You can find in published blogs first person accounts of battles involving both personalities, supporting the view that the two of them actually meeting in close quarters could happen.


Is there any configuration of Free Cell that cannot be solved? When I have free time in small durations, I often play Free Cell on my phone. The app that I use permits unlimited undos, and because of this I currently have a run of 603 wins, with 655 total wins and 10 total losses.

As is demonstrated by those statistics, my 10 losses occurred during my first 52 games. Prior to using this app, I had only played Free Cell very rarely.

As my statistics approach a 1% loss rate, I have to wonder: Given an unlimited ability to undo your moves, is there any initial deal of Free Cell that is impossible to solve?

A proof one way or another would be ideal (although I admit that I doubt I'd be able to comprehend such a proof), although an authoritative source would be a good alternative.

It's not hard to prove that an unsolvable start exists. Just imagine a start where the only possible first moves would be moving cards to the extra cells. In some versions, -1 and -2 are examples of this though the only way to play them is to choose that seed.

If you only count setups which can exist in normal play, seed 11982 in the Windows version is an example of this:

Of the original 32000 games in Freecell, 11982 is the only one for which no legitimate solution was found. Since then, several computers and players have failed to find a solution- to the point where every possible combination of moves has been tried and has failed.


Can smoke be placed on a POI? We played for the first time last night, and we tried the family version to start to understand the game. The situation arose where a smoke marker came up on top of a POI marker.

The POI marker was still unknown. We searched the manual and couldn't find any reference to it, so is it ok to put the smoke marker underneath a POI marker?

Placing Smoke on a POI

Yes, you put the smoke on the same space as the POI, and the POI is unaffected.  If the smoke later turns into fire, the POI will then be removed.

Placing a POI on Smoke

In the family version (page 6 of the rules), yes.  They even eliminate the smoke for you!

  If the Target space has a Fire or Smoke marker, remove that Fire/Smoke
  marker before placing the POI marker.

However in the experienced game (page 10 of the rules), you adjust their position instead.

  In the Experienced game a POI may only be placed in a space without a
  Threat marker (Fire or Smoke), Firefighter or another POI. If the POI
  Replenishment Target space is invalid, then use this diagram to
  redirect the POI. Begin in the Target space and follow the path
  created by the arrows as shown until you reach a valid space. The
  arrows are also placed on the board for easy reference during the
  game. If there are no valid spaces on the path, reroll.


Which Faction Power will result in the greatest bonus troops and/or fewest troop losses? Without taking into account any other packets that might be opened over the course of a game (no spoilers please, only use the starting rules, starting scars, starting stickers).

1) What is the best starting power for each faction that is likely to result in the most bonus troops or fewest troop losses in the first game?

2) Which faction is the best overall at this?

Die Mechaniker

1) Your starting HQ is always treated as FORTIFIED (+1 to both dice) when you defend it.

2) If your defense roll is two natural 6s, that territory cannot be attacked again for the rest of the turn.
The Saharan Republic

1) You can make your maneuver at any point during your turn.

2) When making your maneuver, you may maneuver between any two territories you control, even if they are not connected.
Imperial Balkania

1) When recruiting troops, round up when dividing your territory and population by 3, not down.

2) You still draw a resource card at the end of a turn where you expanded into 4+ territories, even if you didn't conquer a territory.
Enclave of the Bear

1) The defender subtracts 1 from his lower defense die in the first territory you attack during your turn.

2) If your attack roll is a natural three of a kind, and at least one defending troop is defeated, you conquer the territory. Remove all defending troops.
Khan Industries

1) At the start of your turn, place one troop in each territory that has an HQ you control.

2) When drawing a territory card, you may place one troop into that territory if you control it.

Die Mechaniker

1) Your starting HQ is always treated as FORTIFIED (+1 to both dice) when you defend it.

2) If your defense roll is two natural 6s, that territory cannot be attacked again for the rest of the turn.

Reason: The odds of getting two natural 6s on a single roll is 1/36. Therefore, the odds that we have not rolled a pair of 6s by the nth attack is, (1-1/36)^n. This is roughly 50% by the 25th-26th attack. This means that in half the games that you roll with two defenders 25 times, you will still not have recieved a bonus from this power. I would say on average, the first game lasts anywhere from 3-5 rounds, and considering you will probably only get 3-5 troops per round, for a total of 8+[(3*5)|(5*5)]=[21|33] troops. If you only received the minimum troops each turn, you more than likely would never get the faction bonus. Even if you are lucky enough to roll 66, the only fair way to count troops saved would be to divide the troops that you could have lost by the odds of you rolling 66 (approximately 21/25 or 33/25, somewhere close to 1 troop. If you could get the 5 troops per turn (probably only likely by getting a continent bonus from Australia/South America/Africa, you would be much better off with a FORTIFIED Headquarters.

A fortified HQ gives you +1 to your High and Low dice. This bonus will result in you losing ~0.388 troops when compared to a normal unmodified attack. This means that you only need to have 4-5 troops within your HQ before this faction power is certain to have a greater effect than the pair of natural sixes power.

The Saharan Republic

1) You can make your maneuver at any point during your turn.

2) When making your maneuver, you may maneuver between any two territories you control, even if they are not connected.

Reason: While neither of these power directly results in fewer troop loses, the ability to maneuver at any point in your turn could allow you to move troops that were previously on one of two different fronts (South America/Africa), for a final assault against two opponents HQs. I will edit this with a little more detail later on troop loses that could be avoided because of this.

Imperial Balkania

1) When recruiting troops, round up when dividing your territory and population by 3, not down.

2) You still draw a resource card at the end of a turn where you expanded into 4+ territories, even if you didn't conquer a territory.

Reason: You aren't likely to be able to get 10+ territories in a 5 player game. At least with the second faction power, you will most likely get 1-2 resource coins. This will amount to at least 2 troops over the course of a game.

Enclave of the Bear

1) The defender subtracts 1 from his lower defense die in the first territory you attack during your turn.

2) If your attack roll is a natural three of a kind, and at least one defending troop is defeated, you conquer the territory. Remove all defending troops.

Reason: From the same statistics link above (Die Mechaniker), you can see that -1 do the defenders low die will result in 0.14 less troop loses, but only for the first territory that they attack in a turn. A clever opponent though can place a 1-2 troops in front of their main defenses to mitigate this power somewhat. The odds of rolling a natural 3 of a kind that kills at least one troop is 125/7776. The number of turns before that is likely to happen is about 43 attacks with 3 troops. I don't think you are likely to see this within the first game. Even if you did, you probably would only kill at most 5 troops, saving you about 5 troops yourself (5/43=0.116). Two attacks with Enclave of the Bears first power would already save you more troops in the long run, and is much more likely to happen.

Khan Industries

1) At the start of your turn, place one troop in each territory that has an HQ you control.

2) When drawing a territory card, you may place one troop into that territory if you control it.

Reason: You are certain to get 1 troop as long as you control your HQ. This will likely gain you 3-5 troops before the first game ends. The second power only gets you a troop if you defeat an enemy, and if you have that territory under your control at the end of the turn. You might have to waste a maneuver to bring those troops to the front lines, but you will earn more troops with the first power.

Overall, I think that Khan Industries is likely to earn/save you the most troops in the first game. With Die Mechankier placing a close second, if you can place your HQ at a good choke point.


Do I have to reveal all allies found by Munda, Ambush Leader? When I cast Munda, Ambush Leader and choose to look at the top four cards of my library, do I need to reveal all ally cards, or can I choose which ally cards I reveal and put the rest beneath my library?

You choose which ally cards you reveal. The text on the card says "Reveal any number of Ally cards from among them". "Any number" means you can choose to reveal 0, 1, 2, 3 etc Ally cards. And all the revealed cards are put on top of your library in any order.

Note that MTG never has instructions long the lines of "Reveal all Ally cards in your hand", because if you had 4 Ally cards but only revealed 3, your opponent couldn't have any way of knowing that you didn't reveal them all. MTG never requires "trust" in that way.


Engines that play Mangala? Mangala is the Turkish version of mancala, with its own set of rules.

I am planning on doing a project in it. Are there any game engines that either specifically play it, or universal Mancala players that plays it after supplying the options?

EDIT:

I am not looking for an app, but for a game engine. For example in chess, Deep Shredder is a playing app, while Stockfish is an open-source engine.

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but the name is correct. Here is Mangala game available on the AppStore. I haven't played it, so I can't confirm that it's using Turkish variant of the rules rather than the most popular one from Mancala.

I guess we have to wait until you introduce a playable game of Mangala! :) Of course if that's what your project is about.

You could specify in your question (list) what rules are important to you to be included in the version you're looking for. Take a look here, maybe one of those games is similar enough.


Fluxx - when is the winning condition reached? I recently bought Cartoon Network Fluxx and have quickly become a big fan. I've been playing it a lot lately but we keep going back and forth on when the winning condition has been reached. Help?

Example:
1) Goal is Super Geniuses (Dexter + Mojo Jojo)
2) Dexter is on my side of the table
3) Mojo Jojo is in my hand
4) It is not my turn

Do you play it and win instantly or do you wait your turn?

The rules say: "The game continues until someone meets the conditions of the current Goal. That player wins instantly, no matter whose turn it is!"

The confusion comes from whether having the second card in your hand (not on the table) is considered meeting the conditions of the current Goal.

I think both cards must be on the table because the Goal rules say "These cards show the specific Keepers you must have on the table in front of you in order to win." but I don't totally disagree with the opposing theory that following that would make it much more difficult to win if you had a big group playing (only played with 2 so far) and thus it was likely never designed that way in the first place.

For the record, so far we have followed the rule as "wait until both are on the table" but we still keep wondering if we're doing it wrong and we'd like to know for sure.

So is it "no matter whose turn it is" or is it "on the table in front of you"?

Thanks for any help on this.

Do you play it and win instantly or do you wait your turn?

The cards have to be on the table, so in this case, sounds like you need to wait until your turn - you can't play the necessary Keeper when it's not your turn. Once you play it (on your turn), you win instantly.

In a different situation, though, you could win instantly, for example if the Goal changes into one whose conditions you already meet.

  So is it "no matter whose turn it is" or is it "on the table in front of you"?

It's both; there's no contradiction. The rules say you win instantly, no matter whose turn it is, when you meet the conditions of the Goal, and the conditions of the Goal are that the cards be on the table. The rules definitely don't say that if there's some way you can win instantly by breaking the rules (e.g. changing what the Goal means) you're allowed to do so!


How early should I move my king in Hnefatafl? In Hnefatafl (with these rules) the aim of the white player is to move their king to one of the corner squares. How do I know when it's safe to move the king? Are there 'signs', for example, the other player not having many pieces, or those pieces to mostly be on one side of the board?

In my experience (albeit with a slightly different tafl variant), a key part of white's strategy is maintaining the ability to play towards any of the corner squares.

The throne square isn't intrinsically all that much safer than any other square on the board. Initially, keeping your king near the center makes it easier to take advantage of momentary gaps in unexpected places. Moving your king is mostly about maintaining this sort of flexibility -- if there are a lot of enmeshed pieces near the center, for instance, running your king off to one side might open up the ability to both play towards the two nearest corners and cut around the jam to get to one of the far ones.


Put twice as many tokens/counters If I control 2 copies of Primal Vigor which reads:

  If one or more tokens would be put onto the battlefield, twice that
  many of those tokens are put onto the battlefield instead.

  If one or more +1/+1 counters would be placed on a creature, twice
  that many +1/+1 counters are placed on that creature instead.

Marath, Will of the Wild reads:

  Marath, Will of the Wild enters the battlefield with a number of +1/+1
  counters on it equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it.

  {X}, Remove X +1/+1 counters from Marath: Choose one —
  Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature; or Marath deals X damage to
  target creature or player; or put an X/X green Elemental creature
  token onto the battlefield. X can't be 0.

When Marath, Will of the Wild enters the battlefield if I have spent 3 mana to cast it, he enters with 3 counters, because those tokens weren't placed on it, but it had them already when it entered. A: Is this Correct?

When I pay 3 and remove 3 +1/+1 counters from Marath and put them on itself, it now has 12 counters, because both Primal Vigors trigger, the first replacement effect changing 3 counters to 6, and the second replacement effect changing 6 counters to 12? B: Is this correct?

Or does Marath die, because between payment and when the ability resolved, it ended up with 0 toughness? I guess the removing is part of the cost, as it comes before the colon.

Marath will enter the battlefield with 12 counters, because of this rule:

  121.6. If a spell or ability refers to a counter being “placed” on a permanent, it means putting a counter on that permanent while it’s on
  the battlefield, or that permanent entering the battlefield with a
  counter on it as the result of a replacement effect (see rule 614.1c).

If you use Marath's ability to remove all the counters, it will die before the abilty resolves unless you are increasing its thoughness in some other way. But you are right that it will get four times the number of counters you removed.


Game of Thrones Catan: Can Othell move a road segment from an “interrupted” road chain? PlayerA has the longest road, via a long road-chain, like this:

A - - - - - A

PlayerB interrupts that road-chain with a settlement, like so:

A - - B - - - A

PlayerA has now lost Longest Road, because they no longer have an “unbroken road of at least 5 segments”.

Now the question we have is: can PlayerA use Othell Yarwick to move the segments of this now-broken road?

The text of Othell’s card is:

  “Remove 1 of your roads from the board and rebuild it for free at a
  different legal location. The road you remove must only be connected
  on 1 of its 2 ends to your own pieces. Ignore opponents’ pieces when
  checking connections.”

...so that means that PlayerA can’t use Othell, right?

(I think I’ve just answered my own question by typing this up, but I wanted to post this question in case others also had it!)

No, Othell cannot move PlayerA's road segments.

Even though PlayerA lost their longest-road, they cannot move these road segments - because, as Othell's card says, "The road you remove must only be connected on 1 of its 2 ends to your own pieces. Ignore opponents' pieces when checking connections."


Taking hit from Plague Zombie The Plague Zombie card says:

If undefeated, banish the Plague Zombie, and each character at this location must succeed at a Constitution or Fortitude 6 check or be dealt 1d4 Acid damage.

This means: if it was me who encountered this card and had not defeated it, I would have to take the usual combat damage and after that execute the "if undefeated" text or just the "if undefeated" text?

You'll take damage and then trigger the "if undefeated" effect

This is covered under the Encountering A Card section on page 10 of the rulebook where it outlines the specific steps to resolve an encounter, and under the Attempting A Check section on pages 10-12 which details out one of those steps with several sub-steps.

The steps to resolve an encounter are:

  Evade the Card (Optional)
  Apply Any Effects That Happen Before The Encounter, If Needed
  Attempt the Check
  Attempt the Next Check, If Needed
  Apply Any Effects That Happen After The Encounter, If Needed
  Resolve the Encounter

When you get to the Attempt the Check step, you follow these sub-steps:

  Determine Which Die You're Using
  Determine the Difficulty
  Play Cards and Use Powers That Affect the Check (Optional)
  Assemble Your Dice
  Attempt the Roll
  Take Damage, If Necessary

So you'll take the damage from failing to defeat the Plague Zombie first during the Attempt the Check step's Take Damage, If Necessary sub-step. Then, during the Resolve the Encounter step, you have not "succeeded at all of the checks required to defeat a bane", so it is undefeated, triggering the special effect on the card.


Is there a rule to prevent infinite games? It is possible for player to keep repeating the same moves. Chess has a Threefold repetition rule and  Fifty-move rule.

Are there similar rules for Hive? If no, how (in the context of tournaments) are the issues those rules are designed to address tackled in Hive? Note, that hive has something called "tournamets rules" (which prohibit placing a bee as one's first move), so I'm assumuing there are tournamets.

I found a similar question being asked here but no reasonable answer were given.

This is covered in the rules

  A draw may be agreed if both players are in a position where they are
  forced to move the same two pieces over and over again, without any
  possibility of the stalemate being resolved.


Kozilek vs Stonecloaker So what i wanted to ask is this... Kozilek, Butcher of Truth goes to graveyard and I have Stonecloaker in hand!
My queston is can I exile Kozilek with my Stonecloaker before Kozileks ability resolves ?

Yes you can. Because when Kozilek goes to the graveyard, the "shuffle it into library" goes on the stack. Before that resolves, you can exile it from the graveyard with Stonecloaker.

The "shuffle it into library" is a so called triggered ability, therefore it goes on the stack and you can put your (instant or flash) spells on the stack before resolving that ability.


Do you have to choose a target for a spell, or can you just cast it with no target and let it fizzle? Let's say I have Lightning Bolt and my one opponent has a Leyline of Sanctity and no creatures in play. I might still want to cast Lightning Bolt to delve it later or to buff up my Tarmogoyf or whatever. My question is...  can I cast Lightning Bolt without targeting anyone? Can I just decline to name a target and let the spell fizzle? Or if either I or my creatures are the only valid targets do I have to target myself?

You cannot cast a spell without choosing all specified targets. In the process of casting a spell, we have these rules

  601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions"). Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made.

  601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. A spell may require some targets only if an alternative or additional cost (such as a buyback or kicker cost), or a particular mode, was chosen for it; otherwise, the spell is cast as though it did not require those targets. If the spell has a variable number of targets, the player announces how many targets he or she will choose before he or she announces those targets. The same target can't be chosen multiple times for any one instance of the word "target" on the spell. However, if the spell uses the word "target" in multiple places, the same object, player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the word "target" (as long as it fits the targeting criteria). If any effects say that an object or player must be chosen as a target, the player chooses targets so that he or she obeys the maximum possible number of such effects without violating any rules or effects that say that an object or player can't be chosen as a target. The chosen players, objects, and/or zones each become a target of that spell. (Any abilities that trigger when those players, objects, and/or zones become the target of a spell trigger at this point; they'll wait to be put on the stack until the spell has finished being cast.)

So, when you cast a spell, you have to choose legal targets to legally cast the spell.


Can my opponent tap lands for mana when I have Sen Triplets on the battlefield? I have been wracking my brain, trying to come up with interesting ways to use Piracy.

UU, Sorcery
Until end of turn, you may tap lands you don't control for mana. Spend this mana only to cast spells.

With Sen Triplets in play, target opponent can't activate abilities of their permanents:

This turn, that player can’t cast spells or activate abilities and plays with their hand revealed.

Since tapping a land for mana is an activated ability (activation cost is T:), then does this mean that the opponent can't tap their lands?
If so, can I then cast Piracy to use their lands to generate mana in addition to my own, safe in the knowledge that when I pass priority, the opponent won't just tap their lands?
Bonus: Further, if I have Strionic Resonator in play, then could I do so to multiple opponents in a multiplayer game, by copying the Triplets' triggered ability?

Yes, activated mana abilities are regular activated abilities as far as Sen Triplets are concerned, and the chosen opponent(s) can't activate them. You can copy Sen Triplets' ability with Strionic Resonator, and you can choose another opponent with the copy, allowing you to tap lands from all chosen opponents with Piracy.

605.1. Some activated abilities and some triggered abilities are mana abilities, which are subject to special rules.

605.3. Activating an activated mana ability follows the rules for activating any other activated ability (see rule 602.2) [..]

As soon as Sen Triplets' ability has resolved, your opponent can't tap lands or activate any other mana ability, and if you cast Piracy later that turn, you can be sure that the opponent can't tap their lands in response. They could, of course, tap their lands and other mana-producing permanents in response to the Sen Triplets ability on the stack, especially if they know you are running Piracy.
Sen Triplets' ability is a triggered ability, so it can be copied by Strionic Resonator, and you can choose another opponent for the copy.

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


Can you change the order of cards in a Graveyard? My friend was counting the number of Creatures in his Graveyard and then randomizing the order the cards are in. Is this allowed?

By default you are not allowed to change the order of cards in a Graveyard. This is because there are some cards that care about the order that cards are in the Graveyard.

  404.2. Each graveyard is kept in a single face-up pile. A player can examine the cards in any graveyard at any time but normally can't change their order. Additional rules applying to sanctioned tournaments may allow a player to change the order of cards in his or her graveyard.

However, since they haven't printed any cards since before Urza's Saga that care about Graveyard order the Magic Tournament Rules contain this rule.

  3.14 Graveyard Order
  In formats involving only cards from Urza’s Saga™ and later, players may change the order of their graveyard at
  any time. A player may not change the order of an opponent’s graveyard.

This means that Legacy and Vintage are the only common tournament formats that you can't rearrange your own Graveyard, you are allowed to in Standard, Modern, Draft and Sealed formats.

In casual play generally as long as nobody is playing with any cards where Graveyard order matters it isn't a big deal if graveyards get reordered.


What happens when a Reward that is a character card loses its hitpoints? While playing the Oblivaeon expansion to Sentinels of the Multiverse, we completed the Mission card “Time and Time Again”, giving us the Reward character card “The Chronoist”. He has 14 HP.

Unfortunately, he was also destroyed by losing all his hit points. What happens to him then? Does he go into my trash? Get removed from the game? Something else?

From looking I see a thread on board game geek the card goes to the hero's trash when destroyed.

https://videogamegeek.com/thread/2074878/incapacitation-and-rewards

  2) The Reward card is killed. It is sent to that hero's trash. When that hero is incapacitated, does the trashed Reward card go under the hero's character card as well? It SEEMS that way, since no exception is made for trashed rewards in the Incapacitation rules section

The response to this in the thread is that it is correct


Count Theft card as card in front on the player In the rules of the first Saboteur is specified that each player can have in front of them a maximum of 3 cards ( doesn't specify if blocking cards or other ).

In case I use a Theft card and I put it in front of me, does it occupy a slot for the number cards in front of me ? If the answer is yes, means that I can be blocked with maximum of 2 blocking cards.

You appear to be referring to this passage from the rules:

  At any given time, a maximum of three such broken tool cards may be in front of a particular player, but only one card of each type.

Given that each player has three tools, that is a meandering way of saying

  At any given time, only one broken tool card of each type may be in front of a particular player.

The point of the rule is that it's useless to break a tool twice. This has nothing to do with the Theft card.


Can I still trade 4:1 with the bank if I own any 3:1 or 2:1 port(s) just to get rid of more cards? Even if I have a more favourable trade with the bank, can I still do a 4:1 trade to get rid more excess resources (e.g. to avoid the robber)?

Based on my read of the rules, specifically the section in the Almanac on Maritime Trade, I don't see any reason why you couldn't trade at the 4:1 rate even when you have a better rate available. I even see this text:

  Generic Harbor (3:1): Here you may exchange 3 identical resource cards for 1 other resource card during your trade phase.

The use of the word "may" makes me think it's optional. If they wanted you to only be able to trade 3:1 after getting a port, they probably would have used stronger language.


In Arkham Horror, does a third separate instruction after a pair of pass/fail clauses imply that it occurs in both cases? Here is the text in question from the Celeano world:

  On a failure, a monster appears from the book. On a success, you are drawn into the book for a time. Stay here next turn.

I know the last sentence sort of seems to follow from being drawn in for a time, but I'm used to considering separated sentences as always being applied (pass or fail). What is the ruling here?

I think the rest of this cards text is relevant:

  Pass a Luck (-1) check or the book is a prison. If you fail, roll a
  die. On a failure, a monster appears from the book. On a success, you
  are drawn into the book for a time. Stay here next turn.

So, you basically only deal with the consequences if you fail the luck check (due to the book being a prison). The consequences of failing are either bad or worse.

If you pass the first roll, good for you! If not, roll and then if you fail again, you have to face a monster, otherwise, you just get delayed for one turn.

I don't think you can extract some hard and fast rule regarding the sentence structures without looking at them in context.


MTG: Zegana, Mul Daya Channellers and Green Suns's Zenith Suppose I have Mul Daya Channelers (only her) in play and have some creature on top of the library so Mul Daya is 5/5. Now I play Green Sun's Zenith and find Prime Speaker Zegana and put her into play. Now her ability triggers, but is this before or after I shuffle Green Sun's Zenith into the library? Potentially Mul Daya could be 2/2 if I shuffle first and end up with a non-creature up top.

Short answer:  Prime Speaker Zegana will get 5 +1/+1 counters, and you'll draw 6 cards.

Long answer:
This is what happens, step by step:

1: Search your library for a green creature card with converted mana cost X or less.

Note that technically, we can't change the order of the library while we search it, even if in practice we often do so because it matters only in very corner cases (like this one). It's usually not a problem because the cards that let us search the libary always make us shuffle it afterwards. So the top card of the libary will be the same one until we shuffle.

2: put it onto the battlefield.

We put Prime Speaker Zegana on the battlefield. Its replacement effect see a 5/5 Mul Daya Channelers on the battlefield, and thus it enters the battlefield with 5 +1/+1 counters. Prime Speaker Zegana triggered ability triggers (but it doesn't go on the stack yet).

3: then shuffle your library.

The library is shuffled. Now a new card will become the top card of the library. We must reveal that card because of Mul Daya Channelers ability.

4: Shuffle Green Sun's Zenith into its owner's library.

We shuffle Green Sun's Zenith into the library. Technically, we are shuffling a second time. Usually it's just fine to use a shortcut and shuffle just once, but because shuffling a second time will cause another card on the top of the library to be revealed, we can't use a shortcut this time.

5: Prime Speaker Zegana triggered ability is put on the stack.

Triggered abilities wait to be put on the stack until a player would get priority. After this, and when both players has passed priority, the triggered ability will resolve and 6 cards will be drawn.

Note that spell don't resolve as one big event, they can have several steps that we must follow in order:

  608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. However, replacement effects
  may modify these actions. In some cases, later text on the card may
  modify the meaning of earlier text (for example, “Destroy target
  creature. It can’t be regenerated” or “Counter target spell. If that
  spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner’s library
  instead of into its owner’s graveyard.”) Don’t just apply effects step
  by step without thinking in these cases—read the whole text and apply
  the rules of English to the text.

PD: also, even if the top card of the library when Green Sun's Zenith starts to resolve is the same Prime Speaker Zegana that we'll put into play, it would still get 5 +1/+1 counters. Because the replacement effect look at the other creatures just before Prime Speaker Zegana enters the battlefield, and at that time Mul Daya Channelers was still a 5/5.
It's for the same reason why Prime Speaker Zegana entering the battlefield at the same time that another creature (for exampel with Tooth and Nail) won't count that other creature for getting +1/+1 counters.


Does River Heralds' Boon with one target count as one or two instances of adding +1/+1 counters? River Heralds' Boon says:

  Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature and a +1/+1 counter on up to one target Merfolk.

Winding Constrictor says:

  If one or more counters would be put on an artifact or creature you control, that many plus one of each of those kinds of counters are put on that permanent instead.

If the same Merfolk is both the creature target and the Merfolk target, does Constrictor see two separate instances to replace, or one?

There's only one event in your scenario, so it would only get one extra +1/+1 counter.

River Heralds' Boon has only one verb, so there's only one instruction, so  it places the two counters simultaneously.

If you chose the same creature to receive both counters, there's only one event of "placing counters on an artifact or creature you control" since the counters are placed simultaneously, so three +1/+1 counters are placed instead.

If you chose different creatures to receive the counters, there are two events of "placing counters on an artifact or creature you control", so each creature will get two +1/+1 counters.

Finally, if there were multiple instructions to put a counter (as is the case for Lifecrafter's Gift and Common Bond), then each instruction would place an extra counter.

The same answer has been given (in less detail) by a judge in the Cranial Insertion article titled  "Don't Forget the Merfolk!"

Also of interest is the following ruling found on Winding Constrictor:

  If an effect includes multiple instructions to put one or more counters on an artifact or creature, such as Lifecrafter’s Gift does, Winding Constrictor’s effect applies to each of those instructions.

Extra! Let's play "Count the events!"

  700.1 [...] The text of triggered abilities and replacement effects defines the event they’re looking for. One “happening” may be treated as a single event by one ability and as multiple events by another.

Start by identifying the instructions because each instruction is performed atomically (all at once), and instructions are performed sequentially. This is done by identifying verbs.

"Do X. Do Y." has two instructions.
"Do X, then do Y." has two instructions.
"Do X, and do Y." has two instructions.
"Do X and Y." has one instruction.

Then you match the instruction's effect against the events defined by triggered abilities and replacement effects.

For the instruction "put two +1/+1 counters on target creature you control",

2 "placing a counter on a creature you control" events
1 "placing counters on a creature you control" event
1 "placing counters on creatures you control" event

For the instruction "put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control and on a different target creature you control",

2 "placing a counter on a creature you control" events
2 "placing counters on a creature you control" events
1 "placing counters on creatures you control" event

For the instructions "put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control, then put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature you control",

1 "placing a counter on a creature you control" event, then another.
1 "placing counters on a creature you control" event, then another.
1 "placing counters on creatures you control" event, then another.


When I put the robber on someone in Settlers of Catan, does the resource I take HAVE to be random? Say I have 3 ore, 2 wheat, and a wood, and player B has a wheat, a wool, and a brick. Player B puts the robber next to one of my settlements and has to take one resource at random. Player B wants to get my wood so they can build a settlement, and I actually want them to take the wood so I can upgrade one of my settlements to the city. If they had to take a resource at random, they might get something else that would be sub-optimal for both of us. If I could just give them the wood, it would be to both of our advantages.

Is the resource taken with the robber required to be random? If they want a specific resource and I want to give them that resource, can we just do that instead of player B having to pick randomly, possibly resulting in a situation that would hurt both of us, me by losing some I needed and them by not getting what they wanted?

It must be random as Pat said, but you could immediately offer to trade whatever he draws with the card you'd rather give him.


Is there a viable corn-only strategy for Puerto Rico? In the last Puerto Rico game I played I wound up with all corn. I tried to make this work with the following strategy:

Office + large market + small market for income
Harbor + wharf to ship all my corn for maximum points

This didn't work as well as I had hoped. In particular, even with the markets my income was lower than any other players, so it took me a long time to build the other buildings I needed for this strategy. I didn't get the large building I wanted, and I never occupied it. At the end of the game I did have the most point chips of any player, but the other players more than made up for it with their large buildings and other bonuses.

Is there an alternate strategy that would make all-corn a viable route to victory?

With most games of this type, the key to winning is balance.

My Puerto Rico strategy is to think of the game in 3 equal strategic phases

Phase 1 - get money
Phase 2 - get money/VPs
Phase 3 - get VPs

You can make a corn only strategy work, but only if you are playing against below-par players. But to get money in phase 1, corn doesn't really help you. To be able to make victory points in phase 2 and 3, a corn only strategy really stops you from preventing your opponents from shipping. Whilst a Wharf will help you, it will not be enough to win in most cases.

If you are playing against solid players, balance is the only option. I try to have 3 to 4 different goods being brought in, which gives great options for shipping and selling.


In Bridge, Is "ruffing" a good enough reason to postpone drawing trumps? Most bridge teachers (and books) teach players to draw trumps at the first possible opportunity. The reason is that you don't want your opponents to take tricks with low trumps. (If they have the A, or Kx or Qxx "offside" your ace, their high trumps will take tricks.)

One exception is a cross-ruff. Then you want to take your top card winners in side suits, before cross-ruffing, so that your opponents can't discard those suits and later ruff your high cards with their remaining trumps.

Another example that was given in a bridge write-up was when you want to ruff low cards in one hand with trumps in the other hand (after it runs out of the suit). If you do this, you leave opposing trumps outstanding. On the other hand, is it true that the act of your ruffing (thus playing trumps from one hand), "qualifies" as a trump play so that you don't leave yourself unprotected? Or put another way, does it often make sense to ruff before drawing trumps?

There isn't really a single answer to this; when to draw trumps and when not to is probably the area where most judgement is called for, as opposed to applying rules.  You have to balance the probable gain from ruffing early against the possible loss if the opponents ruff your winners later (or, of course, over-ruff).  I realize this isn't necessarily helpful, so here's a list (non-exhaustive) of factors that weigh against taking out trumps:

You can use a trump in the short hand (ie one that would be swallowed if you take out trumps).

You have enough high trumps to ruff high without compromising control.

You have a long suit that can be established by a ruff or two (in which case of course you must take out trumps after the ruff).

After one or two rounds, the opponents have the high trumps: they're going to win anyway, no sense in letting them take your trumps as well.

You can see that normal play, such as taking out trumps, will leave you one trick short, so a gamble will give better returns than normal in the score.


Can Circle of Protection:White prevent the damage from Leeches (Circle of Protection / Leeches Combo)? Can the damage caused by removing poison counters using Leeches be avoided using a Circle of Protection:White?  If it can be avoided, would the damage be considered "once" and cost {1}, or would it be {1} times the number of poison counters?

The current Gatherer text for Leeches is the following:

  Target player loses all poison counters. Leeches deals that much damage to that player.

Circle of Protection White:

  {1}: The next time a white source of your choice would deal damage to you this turn, prevent that damage.

When you cast the spell, there is only one copy on the stack. All the damage is dealt at once. You only need to activate the CoP:White once.

Leeches is a white source of damage by 609.7a and thus may be prevented by CoP:W

  609.7a If an effect requires a player to choose a source of damage, he or she may choose a permanent; a spell on the stack (including a permanent spell); any object referred to by an object on the stack, by a replacement or prevention effect that's waiting to apply, or by a delayed triggered ability that's waiting to trigger (even if that object is no longer in the zone it used to be in); or, for certain casual variant games, a face-up card in the command zone. A source doesn't need to be capable of dealing damage to be a legal choice. The source is chosen when the effect is created. If the player chooses a permanent, the effect will apply to the next damage dealt by that permanent, regardless of whether it's combat damage or damage dealt as the result of a spell or ability. If the player chooses a permanent spell, the effect will apply to any damage dealt by that spell and any damage dealt by the permanent that spell becomes when it resolves.


Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons and "enters the battlefield" triggers Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons's second ability reads:

  Whenever you put one or more -1/-1 counters on a creature, create a 1/1 green Snake creature token with deathtouch.

Additionally, there are some creatures that enter the battlefield with one or more -1/-1 counters. For example Carnifex Demon, which reads

  Carnifex Demon enters the battlefield with two -1/-1 counters on it.

My question is, does the ETB involve "putting" a -1/-1 counter on that creature and, in turn, trigger Hapatra's second ability? Or does the creature enter the battlefield with the counters already on it?

Both your questions can be answered with "yes". Carnifex Demon always has -1/-1 counters on it on the battlefield, AND Hapatra would trigger off Carnifex Demon entering the battlefield. Any object entering the battlefield with counters on it triggers abilities that listen for counters being placed on that kind of object.

121.6. Some spells and abilities refer to counters being put on an object. This refers to putting counters on that object while it’s on the battlefield and also to an object that’s given counters as it enters the battlefield.

When a creature "enters the battlefield with X counters on it", it's a replacement effect and the game never sees that creature on the battlefield without counters. This is in contrast to a triggered ability that can have the same result in the end but the ability goes on the stack and can be responded to, and the creature enters the battlefield without counters.

614.1c Effects that read “[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ,” “As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ,” or “[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . “ are replacement effects.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities.

The event to be replaced is "a creature enters the battlefield", and the modified event is "a creature enters the battlefield with counters on it".


Can you use Trader to gain a Silver instead of a Farmland, but still get the buy side-effects of Farmland? Can I buy a Farmland, trashing a card from my hand and gaining one costing up to 2 more, but then reveal Trader, and gain a Silver instead of the Farmland?

I always think of the "buy" operation as containing a "gain" operation, so any cards that trigger on gain also trigger on buy, but not vice-versa.  However, when does the "gain" reaction actually occur?  Is it after you have already resolved the "buy" reactions or operations?

A follow-up question is this:  because I converted the Farmland to a Silver, can I still put my Treasury cards back on my deck at the end of this turn?

I predict that the "correct" answer is going to look like the following algorithm, but I'm not 100% on this, hence my question here:

You "buy" a Farmland.
That triggers any "buy" reactions or actions on the card, using Farmland, (e.g. you can trash a Gold from your hand and gain a Province)
Add Farmland to the set of cards you "bought this turn".
You then "gain" the Farmland.
You reveal Trader, and gain a Silver instead.
That triggers any "gain" reactions, using Silver (e.g. Watchtower, to put the Silver on deck)
(Note, this does not trigger any gain reactions using the Farmland, e.g. imagine a new reaction card like Fool's Gold, except it triggers whenever anyone gains a victory card)
Add Silver to the set of cards you "gained this turn".
On cleanup, you cannot put your Treasury on deck, because the "cards bought this turn" includes a Farmland, which is indeed a victory card.
The next player will be able gain Silver via Smugglers because the "cards you gained last turn" includes a Silver, but it does not include a Farmland, so they will not be able to gain a Farmland via Smugglers.

On buy effects are resolved before on gain effects. So, you would buy the Farmland and follow it's on-buy effect of trashing a card, etc. Then, you are going to gain the Farmland. At this point, you can reveal the Trader to gain the Silver instead of the Farmland.

Your algorithm is correct, and your assumptions about Smugglers and Treasury are correct.


Can Apex Install Non-Virtual Resources via Assimilator? Apex has the abilities:

You cannot install non-virtual resources.
When your turn begins, you may install 1 card from your grip facedown.

Assimilator says:

[click], [click]: Turn one of your facedown installed cards faceup. If that card is an event, trash it.

Can I install a non-virtual resource face down using Apex's second ability and then turn it face up with Assimilator?
The second sentence of Assimilator indicates that Apex's second ability allows you to install things that you couldn't normally install, such as events.

Yes you can.  First, you can include non-virtual resources in your deck, since there is no restriction on this.  Then, the rules reference says the following on facedown runner cards:

  Runner cards that are installed or turned facedown do not have a name, type, or subtypes, and their abilities are not active.

Since you are installing the resource facedown, it is not a resource and thus not subject to Apex's install restriction.

Finally, turning it face up with Assimilator is not an installation, so is also not subject to Apex's restriction.  Support for this can be found in the rules reference:

  Turning an installed facedown Runner card faceup does
  not trigger install effects


What happens if I use the Huge Rock to pay the Income Tax? The player who draws the Income Tax curse must discard an item.  Each other player must discard an item (or items) of at least as much value as the player who drew Income Tax.  If that player discards a Huge Rock, what must the other players discard?

Since the rock has no value, is that equivalent to 0 gold?
Can the other players discard zero cards?

An item is any treasure card that has a GP value or no value in the bottom right corner.  In this case, yes, the equivalent to "No Value" is 0 gold.
You must discard a card to satisfy Income Tax.  Since the Huge Rock has no value, you must discard at least one card with a value of at least 0, so basically any item will work (note that cards like Impressive Title don't even state "No Value", so it's not an item).


What is the status of Fruitcake elemental? I have found a card called fruitcake elemental.

This card does that does not appear to be on gatherer, but is on magiccardinfo.com.  It is a 7/7 green indestructable creature costing: 1{G}{G}.
At the end of your turn it does 7 damage to you, and for 3: you can change control.

Apparently this is a promotional card?  What is it's status?

In typing up the question, I found the answer.   This was a special promotional card given to finishers of the great design search and some of WotC business partners.
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1240

There are a number of such cards that exist:
http://magiccards.info/hho/en.html

They appear to be quite expensive, even if they are not playable.


Can you choose the role with the "New Assignment" event? In Pandemic: On The Brink there are several new event cards.  We are curious as to whether the "New Assignment" card lets you choose, or whether you pick one at random (as at the start of the game).

As a follow up question, the card suggests that any player may swap their role with the unused roles, does this mean each in turn gets the opportunity, or any one player?

You can play it on any player (not just yourself) at any time.  That one player is then allowed to choose a specific role from the available ones.

The thread here has the game's designer clarifying that it is intended to only affect a single player.  He doesn't specifically comment about choosing versus random, but since earlier people mention choosing and he doesn't correct them, it seems this is the correct interpretation.

This makes the card quite powerful, but choosing a random role would be too weak (you're just as likely to get something less suited to your current situation), and allowing everyone to switch roles would be ridiculously overpowered.


Do the prices of cards drop when they leave Standard? I'm looking to build a Commander deck with a number of cards from Kaladesh through Hour of Devastation, which are still Standard legal as of this writing but will drop out soon. I would expect that players who focus on formats like Standard and Brawl might decide to get rid of those cards when the new sets come out, leading to a price drop. I'm curious if this can be seen looking at historical price data.

I've tried to research this on various sites that show price histories, but I don't know enough about Magic's recent history to separate the signal from the noise. That's why I'm looking for your expert opinions here. A good answer would consider a representative sample of cards that were popular during their Standard season and show how their prices behaved after, especially if those cards continued to be popular in Commander. If there is often a price drop, knowing about when it happened (release day, a week prior, a month later?) would also be helpful.

I do not want any speculation about future prices. "Here's the historical data but Guilds of Ravnica will be different because xyz" is not an answer. I'm only interested in past results. Also I'm interested in prices for paper, not online.

TLDR: Great cards do not significantly drop in price when they rotate out of standard, as great cards are usually playable and viable in other formats.

When a card is great, and used across many formats, there is no reason for someone to reduce the card's price when they sell it. This includes when it rotates out.

Though, there are some things that DO cause card prices to drop. If you are looking to buy a card at a drop, try and look for one of the Three Rs.

Remember however, that predicting when these can happen is very hard to do. It is very similar to the stock market, for predicting both upwards and downwards price spikes.

Reprints, removals, and realizations. This is because a great card in standard can be used across multiple formats, and thus has a cross format value. So unless something impacts it greatly (like one of the Three Rs) it will not drop in price. That being said, if a card is only seeing play in Standard and Standard alone, then the Three Rs are pointless, and the card will probably drop when it leaves (but if that is the case, the card is probably not a great card). This drop however is not sudden, and is usually over the course of the end of the lifespan of the sets.

  Reprints: When a card is reprinted, no matter how good it is, it will go down in value. This is because there are now more of the card.
  Even if it is still a valuable card, there are more of it,  and thus it is
  less valuable.

On the other hand, a card that has been confirmed that it will never be printed again will go up in price, such cards like Black Lotus or Bayou. This applies to very old cards most of the time, but some rare versions of cards have their cost raise in a similar way (such as Kaladesh Masterpieces or Zendikar Expeditions). This may change if the lottery cards get reprinted eventually.

Example: Seedborn Muse is a card that has been worth a lot in recent time. When it was released, it was not worth much, but as time passed, it went from a card worth ~2.5 USD up to a card worth ~30 USD. But, it was reprinted as of recent in the set Battlebond. Since then, it's price has dropped excessively, going down towards ~13 USD (Specifically the Tenth Edition one, the Battlebond one is worth even less).

  Removals: When a card gets removed from a format (through a banning), it instantly loses a lot of value it has. While this could be looked at similarly
  to a card rotating out, the shock of an important card getting banned
  has people rushing to sell it. This causes the price to drop
  as a lot of them are pushed into the market at once.

Example: Emrakul, the Promised End was an extraordinarily powerful card in standard. But, come January 2017, it was hit with the ban hammer, and was removed from standard. It dropped by around 50%, going from ~20 USD to ~10 USD, and stayed rather low for a while. (Recently, it has began to climb back up however, but this is assumed to be because another format has began to use this version of Emrakul).

Another example: Smuggler's Copter was a card that was seeing an absurdly high amount of play in Standard. Along with Emrakul, the Promised End, it got banned in January of 2017 from Standard. Before the ban, it's price had been steadily declining from ~20 USD to around ~10 USD, but when the ban hit, it began to rapidly drop in price. Within a week, it dropped down to ~6 USD. From here, it slowly declined to ~2 USD, where it has stabilized and been for a long time.

The main reason for this type of downwards price spike is people rushing to sell their copies before the price reaches it's lower stabilized price.

  Realizations: Very often, during spoiler season or when new cards are released, cards will get over hyped and over priced. Eventually,
  they will go down once people realize they are not as good as they
  thought.

This can work in the other way as well, where a card that was under the radar gets realized for hidden potential. Examples being cards that fit in a combo or cards that counter a popular deck type nicely.

Example: Karn, Scion of Urza, was very expensive shortly after his release (reaching around ~60 USD at his peak). But, once players began to realize he was not as good as people made him out to be, his price slowly fell back down to his original price (~40 USD), and eventually even lower (~30 USD).

As you can see, those are some major ways prices drop. If a card is good outside of Standard (such as EDH), do not expect it's price to drop until it receives a reprint, a banning (from a format it sees play in), or it is replace/realized to be not as good as it is.

An example of a good card not dropping after it rotated out is Thought-Knot Seer. Once the hype for it died down, it stabilized at ~6 USD, and is even climbing today. This climb has been happening even after it was rotated out of Standard (as it became a staple in a Modern deck).

Conclusion: If a card in standard is truly great, it will not lower significantly in price when it rotates out of a format. This is because a truly great card will see play across multiple formats, and thus keeps some level of value across them. It takes something much more ground shaking to have a card spike downwards in price, such as a reprint, a removal, or a realization.

A note: the opposite is true for upwards price spikes, as it seems those happen a lot more often in comparison. People are faster to sell high than to sell low, as it is logical when running a card selling business/selling cards for profit.