Sideboard for Modern U/G infect against Gideon I'm playing Modern U/G Infect (example list). I need help dealing with Gideon of the Trials and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. The first Gideon's emblem means I need to attack twice to win, and his +1 ability also stops me from doing damage if I have only a single infector out. The second Gideon keeps the first Gideon's emblem active, plus makes an endless stream of blockers for my attackers. What can I do about these cards?

There are some common sideboard cards that are effective here.

Spell Pierce can keep Gideons off the field for just 1 mana. Gideons cost a lot of mana (for modern), so they should rarely be able to pay. It can also deal with removal and nasty sideboard cards like Solemnity

Echoing Truth can help manage a resolved Gideon. It can remove a Gideon from the field to turn off his emblem and can remove all the Knight Ally tokens at once (though note that both Inkmoth Nexus and Blighted Agent go around them anyways). It can also handle infect hosers like Solemnity or Melira.

Spellskite is probably the best way to deal with Gideon of the Trials's +1. It also deals with Path to Exile, a common sight in decks that play Gideon.


What extra roles have you used with Werewolves? The standard game Werewolf, has just a few roles: Citizen, Werewolf, Witch, Cupid, Hunter, Seer, Thief.  I know there are lots of other roles created.

Which roles do you use and what is the impact.

Default Roles

Citizen, cast a vote during the day.
Wolf, citizen, knows other wolves, chose each night a victim to eliminate from the game.
Witch, has two potions, each night the witch knows the victim of the wolves. She has one potion to save a victim and one to poison another player (hopefully a werewolf).
Cupid, choses two players the first night. These are the lovers. The lovers know each other and they have to survive together. If one dies the other dies too. If a werewolf and a citizen are lovers, they have to kill the others to win.
Hunter, if the hunter dies, he choses another player to die with him.
Seer, the seer can query a players role each night.

Other roles

Executer, during the voting, the executer can present himself and execute another player. Voting continues afterwards. The executer can execute only once.
Priest, if the votes are counted, the priest can present himself and use holy water on the victim. If it is a werewolf or the witch the victim dies, else the victim lives. Priests can have one or more bottles of holy water.
Guardian Angel, each night a guardian angel can protect a player. This player cannot be eaten by the werewolves. The guardian angel cannot protect himself.
*Alpha Werewolf *, this werewolf, can select another player to become a werewolf. This can happen only once.
Soul mates, soul mates are citizens that know each other. They can't become werewolves, if the Alpha werewolf tries to convert a soul mate, the attempt is failed.

I've played with several of the roles invented by The Graduate Mafia Brotherhood of Princeton University, but the most memorable was the Kingmaker:

A despotic regime has siezed power, usurping democracy. Each turn, there will be a King or Queen who has the sole power to decide who will be lynched. Open debate is allowed, but the day ends as soon as the King/Queen makes his/her choice.
The Kingmaker is a civilian, who, each night, names a King/Queen for the following round. The Kingmaker cannot choose himself, and he cannot choose the same person for two consecutive rounds. The Kingmaker must choose someone.

One game in particular, the Kingmaker's pleas of "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" went entirely unheeded.  We played the rest of that game democratically.
I also noticed that with too many roles in use, moderation can get ridiculously hard.


Opened Legendary Dragon Decks; wrong card order? Hi guys I’ve bought the Legendary Dragon Decks pack from Amazon.

My problem is the order that the cards were in when I opened the pack was not the right order. For each deck the first few cards were in the right order. However after that the spells & traps came up before monsters. Most the monsters were at the end of each deck.

I have picture showing on the left the fake card and right the real one. As you can see the left on is lightly coloured.

Are these cards fake?

Are these cards fake?

tl;dr: No, they seem original. Cards may have slightly different details (like coloring) between different printings. Also, cards appear ordered by card number and not by card type.

I doubt it. Besides, I also doubt that Amazon would sell fake products advertised as legit.

You mention that the order were some monsters first, then spell/traps, and then other monsters. However, cards appear ordered based on their card number, not by card type.

The Legendary Dragon Decks cards have a specific card number, for example Dark Magician, the Dragon Knight is number "LEDD-ENA00". This card, as it is number 00, should come first in the order. Then number "LEDD-ENA01" comes, etc...

If we check the first link I included we can see that this is true. Some monsters come first, then a bunch of spell/traps, and finally other monsters, all based on the card number and ordered in ascending manner.

Edit given card images:

Judging by the images you included, I'd say that those cards seem to be legit. Be careful, as they are from two different sets, so the newest version (the one on the left, from the LEDD collection) may have slightly different coloring (as it's newer), but that doesn't make either fake:

We can see that the card number corresponds to the official one: LEDD-ENC23. The one on the right also displays it's corresponding number from the Yuya Starter Deck: YS16-EN040
We can see the dimensions fit, and all parts of a YGO card are there (type, the frames, copyrights, etc.).
The First Edition golden Millenium Eye sticker on the corner seems like the original ones (holographic). Do check both of them more closely but from here it seems ok).
The card code matches for both of them: 77826734


In which order are cards drawn from the dungeon pile In "Welcome to the Dungeon" in what order does the hero draw cards from the dungeon pile? So is the last card added to the dungeon drawn first or last?

In many cases this does not make a difference, but for example for a mage it may be important which card comes after the demon.

According to the publisher, you do not shuffle the cards, you simply flip over the most recently added card, and then proceed, finally ending with the card that was added first.

So as you play you are building up the stack of dungeon cards, and then you go back through them in LIFO order (last in first out).


Is the Diver able to turn when swimming across a flooded or abyss tile? In the instructions it says the Diver can swim "across" a flooded or abyss tile for one action. Does this means he can make a turn and go to the tile diagonal from his location?

Yes, he can turn.

Page 4 of the rules state

  The Diver may move through one or more adjacent missing and/or flooded tiles for 1 action.

There is a thread on BGG here where the designer confirms that turns are allowed.


Does Touch of Moonglove need another "this turn?" So, this question is pedantic, but still I must ask.

Here is the current oracle text for Touch of Moonglove:

  Target creature you control gets +1/+0 and gains deathtouch until end
  of turn. Whenever a creature dealt damage by that creature dies this
  turn, its controller loses 2 life.

Normally when card text discusses something dealt damage by a creature, it looks for "dealt damage by X this turn" (e.g. Abattoir Ghoul), or for a delayed trigger in a spell, it looks for "dealt damage this way" (e.g. Aggravate; not appropriate here because Touch of Moonglove doesn't deal damage).

So, I think a literal reading of Touch of Moonglove means it would apply to all creatures that have ever (in any turn) been dealt damage by the target creature as long as they die this turn. ("This turn" after "dies" I think can syntactically only apply to the duration of the delayed trigger.)

Clearly this is not the intended reading. If this was intended, it would perhaps be worded like Diseased Vermin ("previously dealt damage", but in this case probably worded something like "dealt damage this turn or previously dealt damage"). But, such a card has memory issues at the very least.

The correct wording is I think "Whenever a creature dealt damage by that creature this turn dies this turn, ...", but it is maybe a bit awkward.

Note that although damage is cleared at end of turn, the "dealt damage" clause cannot be understood to rely on marked damage. It should work with wither or infect which do not mark damage (and last beyond this turn), and I think it still works after regeneration or other effects that would remove marked damage (if it still dies later).

Note also that I am reading that "dealt damage" can refer to damage before Touch of Moonglove resolved. This could even be previous damage dealt "this turn," which is how I understand the card should work.

Is this criticism correct? Is this some reason that Touch of Moonglove doesn't need another "this turn?" Are there other cards with similar issues? (I didn't find any others yet.)

Given the Oracle wording on Bone Shaman (as pointed out by @ArcanistLupus in the comments), I would say it probably should have another "until end of turn".

Bone Shaman's Oracle text

  {B}: Until end of turn, Bone Shaman gains "Creatures dealt damage by
  Bone Shaman this turn can't be regenerated this turn."

Clearly someone at Wizards decided that Bone Shaman needed similar wording to be more clear as to the purpose of its ability.  I would guess that Touch of Moonglove's wording is just an oversight (or maybe whoever wrote Bone Shaman's Oracle text wasn't involved with Touch of Moonglove).

Ultimately though, as you've pointed out, the intent was obviously not to deal with all creatures damaged throughout the course of the game.  You could try to rules-lawyer it that way, but I doubt any reasonable judge or playgroup would allow it to happen.


How much mana does tapping a Forest make, with Nikya of the Old Ways & Nyxbloom Ancient? I have Nikya of the Old Ways out on the battlefield:

Whenever you tap a land for mana, add one mana of any type that land produced.

I play Nyxbloom Ancient:

If you tap a permanent for mana, it produces three times as much of that mana instead.

I tap a Forest. How much green mana do I make?
Which of the following answers is correct?

(1+1)x3=6
1×3+1=4

I'm confused about the order of the calculation. An explanation is much appreciated.

Nikya's ability doesn't cause the Forest to produce {G}{G}; it still produces {G} and Nikya's triggered ability produces another one. You don't tap Nikya for mana, so Nyxbloom Ancient only applies to the original {G} from the forest and you make 4 green mana.

Now, two Nyxbloom Ancients would stack, cf. the following ruling on Mana Reflection:

  The effects of multiple Mana Reflections are cumulative. For example, if you have three Mana Reflections on the battlefield, you’ll get eight times the original amount and type of mana.


What are the order of actions in Monopoly? Another question arose from my previous question: What is the order of actions in Monopoly?

There are a number of actions that may take place:

Roll dice
Move token
Purchase property
Pay rent
Improve properties
Trade with players
Go to jail

I'm sure there are others too.

I checked the rules and didn't notice any specified order for your turn.

Also, what actions can I take when it's not my turn? For example, can I trade with another player, or improve my properties?

Given the way the rules are themselves ordered...

Throw the dice
move the indicated distance or to jail (if 3rd double in a turn)

collect $200 if land on or pass Go

resolve space

ownable properties

pay rent if owned and not mortgaged
buy it if unowned (optional)
aution property if still unowned (not optional)

non-ownable properties

resolve as indicated.
collect $200 if resolving puts you passing Go.

Pass the dice or roll again, as appropriate.

The only action which is doable outside one's turn (according to the instructions I've got off-line, in my deluxe box) are buying auctioned properties, buying or trading properties with other players, and using cards that say "use at any time."

All other actions (buying houses/hotels, selling houses/hotels, mortgaging properties, unmortgaging properties) can be done at any point in your own turn.


Can you destroy your own starbases? The title says it all.

  Can I destroy my own starbase?

Why would you want this? You might want to 'move' the starbase to another system. By destroying your own starbase you can build a new one at the desired new location. Only of course when you have built all starbases and have none left.

If so, should I have to shoot it? or pick it off the board (is it then a build/move action)?

No, you cannot. The rules don't specifically clarify this; but there is nothing that would ever allow you to destroy a starbase or ship of your own. A combat only occurs when multiple ships/starbases belonging to different players are in the same sector; and combat is the only way that the rules allow for something to be removed from the board.


How concise can I get the Soulbond boilerplate in a homebrew card without functional changes? The Soulbond ability represents a couple of very long and wordy abilities:

When this creature enters the battlefield, if you control both this creature and another creature and both are unpaired, you may pair this creature with another unpaired creature you control for as long as both remain creatures on the battlefield under your control
Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, if you control both that creature and this one and both are unpaired, you may pair that creature with this creature for as long as both remain creatures on the battlefield under your control.

Suppose I want to make a card with Soulbond, but I want to give it a way to pair with creatures other than these two ETB triggered abilities: specifically, I want to give it an activated ability that pairs it with something. I'd need to recreate Soulbond's rules text for the activated ability, but that's quite a lot of text to put on the card.
Sometimes, however, rules text is deliberately redundant just for clarity's sake — for example, Ashcloud Phoenix had a few words added to its first ability that only served to remind players of what the rules already did — so maybe not all of those words are strictly necessary, and just add clarity.
Under current rules infrastructure, if I'm homebrewing a card that has Soulbond and an activated ability that pairs it up, how much of the Soulbond boilerplate can I drop from that activated ability's text?
Or in other words, are these all functionally equivalent? At what point have I taken out enough that I've fundamentally changed the nature of Bonding? (Assume these are on a creature with Soulbond.)

Full template:

{T}: Choose a creature you control. If you control both the chosen creature and {this card} and both are unpaired, you may pair the chosen creature with {this card} for as long as both remain creatures on the battlefield under your control.

Dropping most of the "if":

{T}: If {this card} is unpaired, you may pair an unpaired creature you control with {this card} for as long as both remain creatures on the battlefield under your control.

Dropping the "as long as":

{T}: If {this card} is unpaired, you may pair an unpaired creature you control with {this card}.

All three wordings have the same effect. The last one looks different in that it doesn't say that the bond goes away if control changes or they stop being creatures, but the rules cover that; the wording of soulbond is redundant.

With none of your wordings does the ability have a target. This has some minor effects, like allowing you to pair with a creature with shroud or protection and the not making you choose the creature to pair with until the ability resolves.

The first two could also be changed to say "this one" instead of "this creature", like the original.


How do other auras interact with Gift of Immortality? I'm pretty sure that if a creature is enchanted with some other aura, say Rancor, and then you put Gift of Immortality on it and the creature dies, Rancor falls off when it comes back to the battlefield. Is this true? My instinct is yes because the creature goes to the graveyard and becomes a new object and all that but I'd like to be sure. As an added question would Rancor's and Angelic Destiny abilities work off a creature that dies while enchanted by Gift of Immortality?

After a creature dies, but before triggered abilities are placed on the stack, State Based Actions are performed. The SBAs will cause both Rancor and Gift of Immortality to go the graveyard because they are not attached to anything [CR 704.5n].

Then, it's time to place on the stack the abilities that have triggered. Gift of Immortality's ability and Rancor's ability are placed on the stack in whatever order you choose.

When Rancor's ability resolves, it returns to your hand. When Gift of Immortality's ability resolves, it returns the creature to the battlefield and creates a delayed triggered ability, which puts Gift of Immortality back on the battlefield, attached to the creature at the beginning of the next end step.

Angelic Destiny's ability works the same way Rancor's does, so it would also return to your hand.


What does the Yoke card mean when it says "Plow"? I played the Yoke minor improvement, and there was some disagreement as to whether it referred to the number of fields currently on the board, the number of times the "Plow 1 Field" action has been taken, or the number of "plow" minor improvements that had been played.  What is actually meant by this card?

Card Text:

  When you play this card, you can immediately plow 1 field for each Plow that
  has been played (by any player) or Harrow if it has been played.

The Yoke is talking about the other minor improvements with "Plow" in the name: the Swing Plow, Stump-Jump Plow, Riding Plow, etc. So, for each one that's been built (and is still in play) at the time you build the Yoke, you can immediately plow one field.

If nobody has played any of the Plows/Ploughs/Harrow, then it's not useful. It's cheap to build (as long as you have cattle), but it's also not very powerful.


Are lands colorless? My opponent plays a vampire deck and has Vampire Nocturnus out. It says

  Play with the top card of your library revealed. As long as the top
  card of your library is black, Vampire Nocturnus and other Vampire
  creatures you control get +2/+1 and have flying.

The top card of their library is a swamp. Does the swamp count as a black card (giving their vampires +2/+1 and flying), or is it colorless (meaning the vampires remain unbuffed)?

The color of a card is determine by its mana cost and by its color indicator.
As you can see from this search of the complete database of Magic cards, no land has a mana cost, and only one land has a color indicator, so all lands are colorless except for that one land, Dryad Arbor.

202.2. An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame.
202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. [...]

202.1b Some objects have no mana cost. This normally includes all land cards [...]

202.2e An object may have a color indicator printed to the left of the type line. That object is each color denoted by that color indicator. (See rule 204.)

Note that Commander has the separate concept of a card's color identity, which is not to be confused with a card's color (despite the names). Color identity counts all mana symbols appearing anywhere on the card. This concept is exclusive to commander, though, and while a swamp has a color identity of black, Swamps are still colorless.


Agricola: Fireplaces and Cooking Hearths Last night I played my first game of Agricola and I was amazed how great game it was.

But one thing  is not clear to me, when owing Fireplace / Cooking Hearth, can I trade for example 2 x vegetable for 4 food (or for example 3 sheep for 6 food) in one Fireplace ? Or is it allowed to trade only one vegetable / animal for food ? And can I trade vegetables and animals at the same time ?

When I played with my friends yesterday we played so that we can convert as many vegetables/animals for food as we can. But when I reread rules I've noticed line saying:

  A player may own several Fireplaces and Cooking Hearths.

So why would I build more Fireplaces / Cooking Hearths if I can convert as many vegetables / animals to food in my turn ?

Yes, you can use each as much as you want. The reason to own more than one is mostly if you get a better one later when you could only afford a cheap one earlier; or to deprive other players of them.


What joseki, if any, yields this position on page 60 of 38 Basic Joseki? When introducing pincer joseki on page 60 of 38 Basic Joseki, Kiyoshi Kosugi and James Davies use this position as an illustration:

$$Bc Illustration of pincer
$$ ---------
$$ ........-
$$ .....O..-
$$ ..X.OX..-
$$ ..O.OX..-
$$ ...OX...-
$$ ...OX...-
$$ ...XX...-
$$ ........-
$$ ........-
$$ ....,...-
$$ ........-
$$ .....1..-
$$ ........-
$$ ........-
$$ .....O..-
$$ ....,...-
$$ ....X...-
$$ ........-
$$ ........-
$$ ---------

I have tried without success to find this joseki/position with pattern search on Sensei’ s Library and Eidogo and by experimentation on Josekipedia. I also could not find it in 38 Basic Joseki, nor in Ishida’s Dictionary of Basic Joseki, though perhaps I erroneously skipped some positions that seemed to me to be excluded.

Does this position arise from a recognised joseki? If so, which, and how might I have been able to find it on-line or in a book?

Since Black has seven stones to White’s six, he must have started (probably 3-3, 3-4 or 4-5) or White must have played tenuki, but I cannot find a very plausible order.

Update: partial match

While mafu correctly remarked that it looked like a hoshi approached from both sides, low and high, with black then jumping into the corner after white attached on top of the high approaching stone, I found the following partial position in Josekipedia:

$$Wc Partial sequence
$$ ---------
$$ ........-
$$ ........-
$$ ....18..-
$$ ....54..-
$$ ...76...-
$$ ...32...-
$$ ....a...-
$$ ........-

which it attributes to Encyclopedia of Joseki - Diagram 2.9365. White 3 is a trick move, this is the refutation, but it continues at a (reverting to a standard 1-point high joseki), so this is not the answer.

The joseki
This is, as mafu pointed out, the result of a joseki starting with high and low near kakaris against a hoshi, shown in  38 Basic Joseki, page 188, Dia. 4 (with colours swapped and rotated to match the question), and in Josekipedia:
$$Wc Double kakari joseki
$$ -----------
$$ ..........-
$$ ......c7b.-
$$ a...X.54..-
$$ O...9.O6..-
$$ d....38...-
$$ .....1X...-
$$ .....20...-
$$ ..........-

N.B. The pincer is not visible in the diagram mentioned in the question.
The position is also shown in Ishida’s Dictionary of Basic Joseki, Vol II, p. 186, Dia. 96, but with the White pincer (Black in Ishida as the colours are reversed) at a; in this case, after White 9, Black exchanges b for White c before connecting at 10, and finally White plays at d.
This joseki appeared not to be in Senseis Library, though it belonged on the page 4-4 point, low-high double approach, hane; I have since added it there. Eidogo appears to contain only double high and double low kakaris against hoshi, but not the high/low variant.
How to find it
To be worked out

I tried without success to find this joseki/position with pattern search on Sensei’ s Library and Eidogo. That was reasonable, as it appears not to have been in either source, though I have since added it to Sensei and it is now found. I also failed to find it in 38 Basic Joseki, and in Ishida’s Dictionary of Basic Joseki; that was mainly due to not guessing correctly how the joseki started.  I also failed to find it by experimentation on Josekipedia, again through not trying guessing the start. To add: suggestions for more effective searching.
Since Black has seven stones to White’s six, he must have started (probably 3-3, 3-4 or 4-5) or White must have started and then played tenuki.


How do you keep track of the diplomas you've previously left? When you leave a diploma, you're not allowed to ever choose to take it, on a future turn. It's not too complicated a game, so it's probable you'll remember correctly, but there's nothing I can find in the rules about how to mark it for a better guarantee.
https://cdn.1j1ju.com/medias/7d/9c/d0-kanagawa-rulebook.pdf

You can tell because you can only take a diploma right when you place a painting that causes you to meet the requirements. So if you are placing a card with a tree on it, and it is your 4th tree, then you can see at that time that you must have chosen not to take the 3-tree diploma previously.
In other words, you don’t need a list of everything you have passed up previously; when deciding to take a diploma you can know based on the card you just finished playing which diplomas you are now allowed to take. Placing a 4th tree only enables you to take the 4-tree diploma; placing a card that has 2 trees on it, when you already had 2 other trees, would allow you to take either the 3-tree or the 4-tree diploma.


Can you have a permanent become all permanent types at the same time? Is there any combination of cards that could make a permanent all permanent types simultaneously? (planeswalker, land, creature, artifact, enchantment). I'm hitting a roadblock making something a planeswalker AND a land.

Yes

Play Gideon Blackblade. He will be both a creature and a planeswalker on your turn.

Play Mycosynth Lattice to turn it (and everything) into an artifact.

Play Enchanted Evening to turn it (and everything) into an enchantment.

Play Xenograft, naming saproling, to give all your creatures the saproling creature type.

Play Life and Limb to turn the Gideon Saproling into a land (forest) as well.

I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but this might involve some of the least complicated rules.

It's worth mentioning that there are other types that can apply to permanents:
Basic, Snow, Tribal, and a few other silver-bordered ones.

If you add a March of the Machines, everything is a Artifact Enchantment Creature, and your permanents are Artifact Enchantment Creature Lands - Forest Saproling. Be careful, as this will probably destroy your lands (well, your land cards in play, since they have CMC 0 and will be 0/0 creatures. I believe Forests will be OK, remaining at 1/1 creatures.)
Any planeswalker you play from that point on will be a Legendary Artifact Enchantment Creature Planeswalker Land.


Do movement cards need to be played continuously? In Quest for El Dorado can movement from cards be interspersed?
For example with a 3 machete and 1 sailor could I move forest-forest-sailor-forest?

I've not played this game but reading the rules here it seems clear you can not.  The rules say (emphasis mine).

If you have “leftover” power, you may use it to continue moving to the
next space. The same 2 requirements apply, but you first subtract the
power you already spent from the played card’s power value. You can
stop moving at any time. In that case, you lose any unspent power
immediately.

If you have left over power on a card it can only be used for the next space.  if it is not then then the power is lost.   As soon as the sailor card is played to move then any power left on the card with machete symbol are lost.
I did not see any indication in the rules that would allow you to use unspent power on a card after a new card for movement has been played.


Ben and Mabel (Mable) cardgame? What's the "real" name? My friends play a game they call "Ben and Mabel". I believe they learned it from their Dutch brother-in-law.

This is my memory of playing it.

You play with multiple decks mixed together. Maybe two or three. Jokers included (they're wild).

You start with three cards. You play 13 rounds; in each subsequent round, your hand grows by one card. Each turn you draw a card and discard a card. You can draw from the face-up discard pile or the face-down pile. You play melds of runs in the same suit or groups of three of a kind or more. If you are initially dealt three cards, threes and are wild. If you are dealt four cards, fours and jokers are wild. Eight cards, eights and jokers are wild.

Round one is easy because there's only three cards. Round five is the hardest because you have to get five of a kind (wilds OK) or a run of five in the same suit. Once the rounds get big it gets easier too.

There is some scoring involved at the end once someone goes out.

Sound familiar?

What's the "real" name?

This sounds like a form of Contract Rummy.

There are dozens of variations of Contract Rummy which have different rules of how many and what size of sets and sequences are required in each successive round. In my brief overview of different variations on pagat.com, I didn't find an exact match to the clues you've given, I suggest you have a look there and try different contracts!


Endless flickering with Naru Meha? While looking at this Possibility Storm puzzle I wondered if it would be possible to do something along those lines:

Tap the mana dork for 1 colorless, making it 7 total mana.
Cast Supernatural Stamina on Naru Meha, Master Wizard.
Cast Illusionist's Stratagem on one Academy Journeymage and the Arcanist, and on top of it cast Vicious Offering, sacrificing Naru Meha as its kicker.
Naru Meha will return on the battlefield, its ETB will then copy Stratagem, the copy targeting Naru Meha again and the same Journeymage.
Journeymage's ETB bounces one of the opponent's creatures.
Repeat step 4 and 5, to end the loop use the same targets as in 3.
Attack with the unused 4/3 Journeymage.

Are these steps legal?

The puzzle, again:

The steps are legal.  The only thing you need to remember is to let Supernatural Stamina resolve in step 2 before proceeding to step 3 (otherwise Naru Meha won't come back).  Also, when you get to step 6 and are repeating the loop, you need to go back to step 4 and use the targets there, not step 3.  Also note that in a tournament setting you would need to explicitly state where you are retaining priority to cast multiple things in a row.


Dropping the first three blocks on the top When playing Jenga, if you drop the first three blocks on the top, does that count as you losing or you can continue the game?

It counts as losing.

From the rules:

  The game ends when the tower falls -- completely or if any block falls from the tower (other than the block a player moves on a turn).


Do I get to fetch a basic land when putting my commander in the command zone for Path to Exile? Someone told me this a couple of day ago, and I want a second ruling. I was told if your commander gets Path to Exile'd and you choose to put it in the command zone, you don't to search your deck for the basic land, just like with Swords to Plowshares you don't gain life, due to the way the card is written.

This concerns the following rule:

  CR 903.9. If a commander would be exiled from anywhere or put into its owner’s hand, graveyard, or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event. This is an exception to rule 614.5.

If the Commander's owner chooses to apply the replacement effect, you perform the following instructions when resolving Path to Exile:

  Exile target creature.Move target creature to the command zone. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle his or her library.

There's nothing preventing the rest of the ability from resolving, so you do get to search your library for a land.

Similarly, you perform the following instructions when resolving Swords to Plowshares:

  Exile target creature.Move target creature to the command zone. Its controller gains life equal to its power.

So, you do gain life.

Let's consider a different scenario. Say there's a creature on the battlefield with the following ability:

  Whenever a creature dies, ...

Then, let's say you cast the following spell targeting a Commander:

  Destroy target creature. Draw a card.

If the Commander's owner doesn't replace the effect,

You perform the following instructions when resolving the spell:

  Destroy target creature (by moving it to the graveyard). Draw a card.

The triggered ability will obviously trigger.
If the Commander's owner chooses to apply the replacement effect,

You perform the following instructions when resolving the spell:

  Destroy target creature (by moving it to the graveyardcommand zone). Draw a card.

Since the creature never died (never went to the graveyard from the battelfield), the triggered ability won't trigger.

Either way, you draw a card.


When controlling an opponent's turn after casting "Emrakul, the Promised End", who is "target opponent"? Say that I am playing a 1v1 limited game and I have just cast an Emrakul, the Promised End, and I am currently controlling my opponent's turn. If I cast (from my opponent's hand) Voldaren Pariah, and sacrifice three of my opponent's creatures to flip Voldaren Pariah, then the back side of Voldaren says:

  When this creature transforms into Abolisher of Bloodlines, target opponent sacrifices three creatures.

Who can the "target opponent" be in this situation - must it be me, or can it also be the opponent that I am currently controlling?

You are only controlling that players actions, nothing changes about which player controls various objects or who the various players' opponents are. So when they activate that ability (it doesn't matter if you control them or not) you are the one that will have to sacrifices creatures when the triggered ability resolves.

  712.3. Only control of the player changes. All objects are controlled by their normal controllers. A player who’s being controlled during his or her turn is still the active player.

  102.2. In a two-player game, a player’s opponent is the other player.

  109.5. The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play, cast, or activate it), or its owner (if it has no controller). For a static ability, this is the current controller of the object it’s on. For an activated ability, this is the player who activated the ability. For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object when the ability triggered, unless it’s a delayed triggered ability. To determine the controller of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d–f.


Henry Block and self Cat Balou in Bang When playing Henry Block, if you Cat Balou or Panic the rattlesnake from yourself for example, are you the target of a bang! ?

Edit:

Henry Block

  Any player drawing or discarding one of your cards (in hand or in play) is the target of a BANG!

Cat Balou

  Discards a random card from the hand of any player or any card in play

Panic

  Pick a random card from the hand of a player or any card in play (at range 1)

Sorry if the wording is not correct, I'm trying to translate from the french version

I have not seen an offical answer or FAQ on this topic but I do know that there is another answer on this site that references playing a bang against yourself which says that is not possible. That answer references a post elsewhere which it says is from the developer that says the rule is in place to prevent unfair behavior.
Post

As I said, the "no-killing-yourself" rule is the official one to prevent unfairy behaviours in tournaments.
However, if you sure to play with fair people, you can allow self-shot, which adds strategic elements to the game as well (think of Bart Cassidy, for example).

Answer where the information came from
What I get from that is if you play a Panic or Cat Balou on yourself as Henry Block you will not have a bang shot at you.


Infect vs first strike Let's say a creature with infect attacks and the opponent blocks with a creature that has first strike. How does the combat resolve? Does the blocking creature with first strike still get the -1/-1 counter?

The two relevant rules for this are 702.7b and 702.89c; 702.7b does not stop 702.89c from occurring unless the creature with infect dies before it can deal damage itself.

Essentially if the infect creature either has first strike itself, or survives the first strike damage step, an appropriate number of -1/-1 counters will be added to the creature with first strike.

  702.7b If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step

  702.89c Damage dealt to a creature by a source with infect isn’t marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature.


Can a monster split its move action? Can a monster, similar to a hero, move 2 spaces, execute another action, like attack, or open a door, and move 2 spaces again?

Yes. From p. 8 of the rulebook:

"Monsters follow the same movement rules as heroes when moving except that monsters cannot suffer fatigue to receive additional movement points."

In case you're still not convinced, p. 3 of the FAQ specifically calls out "When a large monster interrupts its movement to perform an action" as part of a question referring to large monster movement.


How to Maintain the Balance of Power on Risk? How can I stay strong enough to avoid being eliminated while at the same time avoid being too strong and making myself a target?

Hold a medium-to-small sized continent (like South America or Africa) and avoid aggression while you build up.  Attempting to take Asia, Europe, or North America will raise a lot of red flags, and Australia's defensibility makes it suspicious too.

RISK is defined in the later game by the ridiculous armies you get when trading in cards, so your main task is to be in the position to trade in for a lot, then bust out of your home and take another continent.


Is there a card that has opponents discard cards whenever they lose life? I was wondering whether I could create an infinite loop using Fell Specter and a card with an ability similar to or exactly like this one:

  Whenever an opponent loses life, that player discards a card.

Does anyone know of such a card? Thank you in advance for the help!

No, as this search reveals.

Noteable:

Mindcrank: "Whenever an opponent loses life, that player puts that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard." Extremely close to what you requested, but it doesn't trigger Fell Specter's ability.
Exquisite Blood: "Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life." It forms a similar combo with Sanguine Bond and Epicure of Blood instead of Fell Specter.


How many completed routes is typical in Ticket To Ride (for each number of players)? I played Ticket To Ride for the first time yesterday.  I found myself wondering how many routes one typically "should" have completed at the end of the game if playing moderately well.  I assume this varies based on the number of players; more contention on the board means less opportunity to build for new routes.  I'd like to get a sense of this so I can calibrate my play in future games, and no one in our group has much experience with the game.  (Of course, knowing when to draw more and how to select them are related questions, but that's not what I'm asking.)

I understand that there are variants of this game.  We were playing from a set that was just called "Ticket To Ride" and used a US map.

In my experience, the answer to your question actually varies less based on the number of players (except for at the very top end) than on what strategy you prefer to pursue. This is because the biggest limiting factor for the most part isn't route competition as much as it is simply running out of trains (or time, if someone else goes through their trains more quickly) to build more routes with, and those factors don't change as much with the number of players.  So how does strategy affect the number of routes you complete?  Well, the core USA version of Ticket To Ride supports a few different strategies, including most notably:

A 'transcontinental' long-route strategy, featuring routes like LA to Boston or Seattle to NY (tiny note: I haven't vetted any of these routes specifically; my copy of the game is at home and I'm not.)
A 'hub and spoke' type strategy featuring many roughly-parallel shorter routes, typically around the eastern seaboard and along the Mississippi River corridor; this might include routes like NY-Dallas, Pittsburgh-Houston, Duluth-Houston, etc.

For the transcontinental strategy, it's not unusual to have just two or three routes successfully filled, and to make a large proportion of points on the routes themselves, especially since the preponderance of five- and six-train segments run primarily east/west so they're relatively straightforward to pick up while completing one's routes.  Contrariwise, a successful shorter-route strategy will need many routes to work, often completing as many as 6-8 or sometimes even more.

One thing to note is that a number of players consider the base TTR USA set to be unbalanced in favor of the long-route strategy, for various reasons - a player who starts with the right routes to pursue that strategy is more likely to be successful than a player whose starting routes force them to play the 'short game'.  If you have the opportunity you might consider picking up the USA 1910 expansion for the game, which does a fine job IMHO of correcting many of the strategic flaws with the original game.


In the Star Wars VCR board game, which die face has the Stormtrooper symbol? In Star Wars: The Interactive Video Board Game (a.k.a. the VCR board game), the instructions say that the die has a Stormtrooper symbol on it:

  If you roll the Stormtrooper symbol, move the Stormtrooper forward three spaces.

Unfortunately, my used copy doesn't come with a die, so I'm not sure what the die looks like or which side has a Stormtrooper symbol. Can I use a regular d6? If so, which number should I use to indicate the Stormtrooper symbol.

And yes, I am playing this in 2017. The video is online, so I don't have to plug in a VCR player.

Based on evidence from a few photos online, it appears that the Stormtrooper symbol replaces the 1 on an standard die.

The Board Game Geek gallery for this game includes a few pictures of the die.

This image shows that the Stormtrooper does not replace the 3 or 5...

... and this image shows that it does not replace the 2.

Another image from VintageStarWars.net shows that it does not replace the 6.

I was unable to locate a picture with either the 1 or 4 showing, but since a standard 6-sided die is oriented such that opposing sides add to seven it seems reasonable to conclude that the Stormtrooper must replace the 1, since the 4 would be opposite the 3.  (It would also seem more logical to replace either the smallest or largest number, rather than one in the middle.)


How do I deal with or avoid a full map? I played a game of power grid with 6 players using the map of Italy, with one zone removed. In step 2, I had power plants to produce electricity for 11 (6-4-1) houses with cheap resources, and built 13 houses, preparing to end the game (14 houses) once a suitable plant is in the market. However, one of the players had plants to power 15 houses, so I didn't buy a 4-house plant in the market, fearing that once I bought it, he would build up to 15 houses immediately to win the game (he had 11 houses at that time), and waited for better plants.

Afterwards, step 3 was entered. My player order was 2 at that time. I bought a 6-house plant, replacing the 1-house plant, preparing to end the game with 16 houses, fully powered. However, the other players had filled in all the cities in the map immediately, with no more space left, making me unable to build the 3 additional houses to win the game.

Is this a rare scenario? Can this happen when everyone plays the game normally? Should I instead try to end the game earlier when I already had 13 houses?

If all the cities on the map have been filled in (35 cities in 5 regions), then SOMEONE will have built 14 cities and so the game ends -- 13 cities each for 6 players is only 78 of the 105 available places.

Its not necessary for a player to be able to power all 14 cities -- they just have to build them to trigger the end of the game.  The player who powers the most cities at the end of that turn (even if it is less than 14) wins.


Can commander tax be proliferated? Can you proliferate someone's commander tax?

For example, after you send your opponent's commander to his/her zone you proliferate the commander tax and make sure it cant be cast again by making it too expensive to cast it.

No.

Proliferate only deals with counters.

  701.26a To proliferate means to choose any number of permanents and/or players that have a counter, then give each one additional counter of each kind that permanent or player already has.

The commander tax has nothing to do with a counter. A counter is a physical object that is used when an effect tells you to use one.

  121.1. A counter is a marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics and/or interacts with a rule, ability, or effect. Counters are not objects and have no characteristics. Notably, a counter is not a token, and a token is not a counter. Counters with the same name or description are interchangeable.

The commander tax does not use counters at all.

  903.8. A player may cast a commander they own from the command zone. A commander cast from the command zone costs an additional {2} for each previous time the player casting it has cast it from the command zone that game. This additional cost is informally known as the "commander tax."


Terra Mystica - Taking a bonus card with coins on the final turn as an Alchemist The Alchemists' special ability is to turn gold into victory points at any point in the game.

So on the last turn, when passing, could I take a bonus card with coins built up on it, and immediately trade them in for victory points? I assume you gain the stacked-up coins as soon as you gain the card.

But my friend thinks it is illegal to make the trade to victory points, as my game is technically over. Who is right?

No, you can't do this.

When you pass at the end of the last round, you do not take a bonus card. From the rules about passing:

  ...immediately return your Bonus card and take one of the three available ones. ... (Exception: Do not take any Bonus cards in the last round of the game - round 6.) ...

So you don't even get a bonus card in the last round.

Any coins you do have at the end of the game, however you got them, can be converted into VP. Everyone can do this at 3 coins per VP, and the Alchemists can do it at 2 coins per VP. But you can't get those coins in the way you mention in the question anyway.


How do I replace lost plastic tiles for Scrabble? Two of the letter tiles from my Hungarian language Scrabble set are lost.  These are bright gray plastic tiles with the letters etched and painted on them.  Is there a way I can obtain replacement for just those tiles?

Obviously I'm interested only if replacement is significantly cheaper than buying a complete new set.

Try emailing Hasbro.  It is a bit hard to find where to contact customer support.  This should work:

https://hasbro-new.custhelp.com/app/ask


What's the highest score that can be achieved by pegging? Nearly every cribbage player knows that 29 is the highest-scoring hand that one can achieve, and that 19 and some others are impossible to score.

However, I'm curious to know what is the highest score one can achieve during the play of the cards (also known as "pegging"?  What cards would need to be played, in what order, and what would your opponent's pegged score be?  This question is meant to exclude the final count of points in one's hand.

I'm sure the answer probably differs between 2, 3, and 4-player games because there are more cards available when there are more players.  My question is focused on the two player game.  If anyone happens to have answers for the others as well though, those would be interesting to know.

If you scroll down to "Pegging Maximal Score", they outline how the dealer can peg 30 points.
I found that page from an answer to the question that you linked above... not sure how you missed that!

Added:

Joe O'Brien showed, that dealer can score 30 points (not 26 points as we stated before with a dealer's hand 4,4,4,7, pone's hand 4,8,10,K, and the jack as a starter).
In Joe's example Dealer hand 7,7,4,4 ; Pone hand 7,7,4,4. Sequence of play is as follows:
Pone 7 7 4 4
Dealer 7 7 4 4
Dealer Points 2 13 2 13
Dealer Totals 2 15 17 30
This example of dealer maximal cribbage hands is in the article based on the letter of Joe O'Brien.
Update - Joe O'Brien showed that there is a hand that will give the
pone a total of 24 in pegging. The Pone holding 5 5 4 4, and the
Dealer holding 5 4 4 (na/). The Pone hits both the fifteen and the
thirty-one, picking up a triple at the 15 mark and a pair and four of
a kind on the way to the thirty-one mark. Kyle Graham showed, that
pone can score 22 points (in opposite to other articles, that states
max pone score is 18 points). Pone's hand: A, A, 3, 3; Dealer's hand
A, 3, 3, NA. The sequence of play is A, A, A, 3, 3, 3, 3, NA; Pone
gets 6+2+14 = 22 points. Later our player Kenneth Anderson showed,
that the maximum cribbage scoring for Pone pegging is 23. Pone's hand:
5 (or 6) 4 4 4; Dealer's hand: 5 (or 6) 4 9 9 (9 9 could be any cards
worth 9 or above). Total Pone points: 5+6+12 = 23 . More examples of
pone maximal cribbage hands are in the article based on the letters of
Joe O'Brien, Kyle Graham and Kenneth Anderson.


What is Devoid and what is special about it? What is so special about the ability Devoid-This card has no color?

What advantage does that give the Creature?

Why does all the Devoid set around a creature type called "Eldrazi"?

What difference is it when it doesn't have a color?

These are new cards that I have ordered a few days ago, and I don't know a single thing about most of the abilities. They are all new to me.

Unnatural Aggression

Ulamog's Reclaimer

Silent Skimmer

Hand of Emrakul

Normally a card’s color is defined by the types of mana required to cast it. Devoid changes this default so that a card can cost colored mana while still being colorless.

This has a number of benefits when combined with various other cards. For example, Eldrazi Temple produces 2 mana, but it can only be used to cast colorless Eldrazi cards or activate abilities of colorless Eldrazi.

Herald of Kozilek has Devoid itself, and also makes other colorless spells cheaper.

Devoid also makes it so that  from things with protection from certain colors don’t work. For example Goblin Piledriver has protection from blue. Without Devoid, Ulamog's Reclaimer wouldn’t be able to block the Piledriver.

Eldrazi by theme are colorless; but giving them colored mana in the cost makes them harder to cast, and makes it so that they don’t all fit in all the same decks. Devoid allows these cards to be colorless while still having those restrictions.

Note that it’s not only an advantage. It can hurt you as well; cards such as Honor of the Pure will not work with your Devoid creatures, even if they cost white mana to cast.

See this article about the development of the mechanic, which goes into more detail about the decisions they made.


Can the anti-whale tile be used to defend against the giant squid? In Survive: Escape from Atlantis with the giant squid mini-expansion, the whales and squids are treated as being roughly the same critter.  Does this mean that the anti-whale tiles can be used to defend against marauding squids?

Yes, you can use the anti-whale tiles to defend against the giant squid.

Although I was unable to find a FAQ for the game on Stronghold-Games website, Kevin Nesbitt who is a credited designer of one of Survives other mini expansions said the following:

  The Giant Squid and Whale are meant to be largely interchangeable, at least in how they are brought into and out of play. Since a player must select either a whale OR a Giant Squid, they may also choose to harpoon either by play of the defensive whale tile (but only one "harpooning" per tile, please!)


What happens if a creature that would fight isn't on the battlefield anymore? Ulvenwald Tracker is a specific example of a creature with an activated ability for the fight mechanic. If this ability is activated and put on the stack, but then Ulvenwald Tracker is destroyed somehow, does the fight ability still resolve given he no longer exists?

It depends what the targets are.  The ability will resolve, but it may not do anything.

Scenario 1:

You activate Ulvenwald Tracker targeting your Grizzly Bears and your opponent's Runeclaw Bear
Your opponent responds with Lightning Bolt targeting your Tracker

In this case, the Tracker dies, but that doesn't affect anything.  The Tracker's ability resolves and the two Bears fight each other and both die.

Scenario 2:

You activate Ulvenwald Tracker targeting itself and your opponent's Suntail Hawk
Your opponent responds with Lightning Bolt targeting your Tracker

In this case, the Tracker's ability still resolves, but it doesn't do anything.  Spells and abilities don't track targets when they change zones.  That means that when the Tracker's ability resolves, the Tracker is no longer a legal target.  The ability still has at least one legal target (the Suntail Hawk), so it resolves.  It attempts to do as much as it can with the remaining targets, but the Hawk doesn't have anything to fight, so nothing happens.


Interaction between Ethereal Absolution versus Edgar Markov with Captivating Vampire Situation
An opponent has the commander Edgar Markov:

Eminence — Whenever you cast another Vampire spell, if Edgar Markov is in the command zone or on the battlefield, create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token.

I play Ethereal Absolution:

Creatures you control get +1/+1.
Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1.

So whenever he plays a vampire, he creates a 1/1 token that immediately dies to my enchantment.
Next turn, he plays Captivating Vampire:

Other Vampire creatures you control get +1/+1.

Interpretations
According to my opponent, whenever he plays a vampire the 1/1 vampire tokens now do survive as they enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 on them (from the Captivating Vampire).
According to me, his vampire tokens still die after entering the battlefield. As soon as they hit the battlefield they become 0/0 creatures due Ethereal Absolution: creatures with 0 toughness go to the graveyard. I say this happens before the tokens get their +1/+1 bonus, since the Captivating Vampire doesn't state that other vampires enter the battlefield with that bonus.
Clearly we were both biased to a ruling that's beneficial to ourselves. We went for his ruling, because he's the more experienced player. But what do the rules actually say about this situation? Is anyone correct?
In other words: when exactly does the "get +1/+1" from Captivating Vampire and "get -1/-1" from Ethereal Absolution happen once a 1/1 vampire gets summoned? And in which order to they happen?

The vampire tokens will enter as 1/1 creatures and remain on the battlefield.
Both the -1/-1 effect from Ethereal Absolution and the +1/+1 effect from Captivating Vampire are continuous effects, generated by their respective static ability. These effects do not grant counters, and the abilities are not triggered. They are simply true, and immediately affect any object they do affect; there is no delay. Objects that are affected enter the battlefield with the modifications already active.
Continuous effects are handled in layers. Power/Toughness-changing effects happen in layer 7:

Interaction of Continuous Effects

613.1g Layer 7: Power- and/or toughness-changing effects are applied.

Within layer 7, there are sublayers for the different kinds of P/T-changing effects:

613.3. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described below. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order. (See rule 613.6.) Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a sublayer. (See rule 613.7.)
613.3c Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don’t set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.

Both the +1/+1 and the -1/-1 are in that layer.
Within a layer or sublayer, the effects are applied in timestamp order, i.e. generally the order in which the abilities that generated the effects started working. However, in this case it doesn't matter, the +1/+1 and -1/-1 just cancel each other out, no matter which is applied first.


When exactly do you get the coin from the map in Civilization? The rules are clear about how long can you keep a coin that's on the map

  Coins on the map

  Coins gained from squares on the map – whether from a natural  gold deposit in the mountains or from a building placed in a  square – are only kept as long as the player retains control of the square (i.e., the square is contained in the outskirts of one of the player’s cities or one of the player’s scouts remains in the square to gather from it).

But when do you get them, in which phase? Does it happen in the Trade Phase, like with other resources?

Haven't played this in many years but checking rules link here it seems my memory is right.  You dont 'gain' coins in the same way you get trade or production.  Your coin dial is just showing how many coins you have in total.  If you read the bit after what you quoted it should be clearer.

  Coins gained from squares on the map – whether from a natural
  gold deposit in the mountains or from a building placed in a
  square – are only kept as long as the player retains control of the
  square (i.e., the square is contained in the outskirts of one of the
  player’s cities or one of the player’s scouts remains in the square
  to gather from it). If an enemy figure blockades the square
  containing the coin, it is lost while the enemy figure remains
  there (see page 27). Similarly, if a building granting a coin to a
  player is destroyed, the coin is lost.

So if I move a scout on on to a space giving me a coin I move my dial up straight away.  if I lose that space then I lower my coin dial.   Its not a resource thats gained every turn and goes up each time.  if it was a player with 3 coins on tech and city outskirts would win in just a a few turns.


Settlers of Catan play takes hours I was under the impression that the play time in Settlers of Catan was more modest than say, Risk. However it seems almost as long. This is often due to a lot of trading and talk which drags on for a lot of time as people propose variations on a declined trade. Have any of you found similar problems? How would you solve this?

First, make sure you're following the rule that the person who's turn it is must be involved in all trades during that turn. If you let everyone trade during the trading phase, discussions could take a while.

Assuming you're following that rule, it really shouldn't take that person very long to figure out all of the available trades. If you start out by saying "I'm looking for sheep and ore. Is anyone willing to trade those to me?", you can very quickly get a sense of whether any trades will be possible. If anyone says "yes", you say "I have wood or brick that I'm willing to trade, are you interested in either of those?" Now you allow them to propose the precise details of the trade, or you let them say "I'm interested in brick" and you propose a precise trade. There really shouldn't be much of a back and forth; either there's a trade that both of you are interested in, or there isn't, and it shouldn't take more than a few seconds to figure that out. Yes, occasionally you will have a back-and-forth negotiation, but it shouldn't happen in the majority of trades.

It can take some practice to get into the habit of trading quickly and efficiently. I'd recommend trying out Bohnanza(bgg|wikipedia) with the group; it's a fairly quick and easy game that consists almost entirely of trading, so if you play it, you will get in the habit of trading quickly and efficiently or else the game will drag on forever.

Beyond that, it's really a matter of being disciplined while you play. In almost any game, if you allow people to take too long making up their minds or getting distracted by something trivial, it will take a while. Try and set a reasonable pace for the trading by example and by encouraging other players to trade efficiently, and it should speed up after a little while.


Where is this die from? The die appeared in my old room, lying perfectly on a table, and nobody knows where it came from.

I would be thankful if you would help me identify this die.

This die is from the Star Wars: Galactic Battle Game.  This was a game that involved individual action figures being purchased which came with cards & dice for use in the game. Some models like Yoda or Amidala came with black & gold dice, and others like Captain Rex or Ahsoka came with blue & white dice.

(blue dice source)

(gold dice source)


Can you play the Village Well (minor improvement) even if you don't own the Well? The card says "Return Well" in the top left hand corner, but that doesn't state whether you can only play that card if you own the well, or if in fact, anyone who has already bought the well must "Return Well" when you play the improvement.

If it is only you who must return the well (assuming you own it), then can you still play the card if you don't own the well or is it only playable once you have already bought the well? (in which case, it is a very specific card to the point that it is invalid, useless and unusable if anyone else gets to the well before you!)

Any thoughts?

The "return well" wording is a cost to play the card, just like when other cards show "1 wood" or "2 clay" to play them. So you cannot play a card that says "return well" unless you pay the cost of returning a well. So you need to first purchase the well before you can play Village Well.


In a multiplayer game, who can see a player's revealed hand? If a player reveals their hand in a multiplayer game, does everyone get to look at the player's hand, or only the controller of the ability that forced them to reveal?

You reveal the card to all players.

701.13. Reveal
701.13a To reveal a card, show that card to all players for a brief time. If an effect causes a card to be revealed, it remains revealed for as long as necessary to complete the parts of the effect that card is relevant to. If the cost to cast a spell or activate an ability includes revealing a card, the card remains revealed from the time the spell or ability is announced until the time it leaves the stack.


Can I cast spells right before the end of my opponent's second main phase? It is a known strategy in MTG to wait until the last moment to use some instants, and it's common to see the following:

My opponent: "Ok, I'm done, your turn."
Me: "Wait. On your end step, I cast X."

But in some rare situations, I might want to play something right before my opponent's end step begins (perhaps because there is some effect that triggers at the beginning of the end step, and I want to play something before that triggers - see the first item in this blog post for a real example).

Main question: Can I do the following?

My opponent: "Ok, I'm done, your turn."
Me: "Wait. On your second main phase, I cast X."

Or must I guess that he is about to end his second main phase and play it in response to some sorcery or something else that he is doing in his second main phase?

Also, it is not unusual for a player to complete their combat phase and immediately say "Ok, your turn", effectively skipping their second main phase entirely. In this case, can I still do something in his second main phase?

Note: from the blog post linked above, apparently the answer is yes, but that wasn't stated explicitly and does not seem obvious to me. I know a bit about priority but I'm not sure if players must pass priority around to end their second main phases, for example.

Bonus question: I'm pretty sure that, if what I'm asking is possible, most likely my opponent will still be able to continue his second main phase, possibly casting sorcery-speed things, right? Or is there a clever way to do this "right before the second main phase ends" in a way that it ends immediately after, without giving him a chance to cast other sorceries? (I doubt that though, just asking for the sake of completeness)

Yes, you will always have a chance to play you spells and abilities at the end of each step and phase where players get priority, including the post-combat main phase. If you do, you can't prevent your opponent from continuing his main phase after your spell.
A step or phase when players get priority ends if and only if the stack is empty and every player in turn order has passed priority. Since you want to play your spell during your opponent's turn, he will have to pass first, which gives you priority and the opportunity to cast your spell.
If your opponent passes priority and you cast a spell or activate an ability, when you are done doing that, priority will pass back to your opponent, allowing him to continue his main phase with everything that involved, including casting sorceries. That's because not every player has passed priority in succession.

500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the phase. The beginning, combat, and ending phases are further broken down into steps, which proceed in order.
500.2. A phase or step in which players receive priority ends when the stack is empty and all players pass in succession. Simply having the stack become empty doesn’t cause such a phase or step to end; all players have to pass in succession with the stack empty. Because of this, each player gets a chance to add new things to the stack before that phase or step ends.

Also note that if your opponent says "your turn" or something similar, what he's really doing is proposing a shortcut to the end of his turn, i.e. that both players pass priority and do nothing until the beginning of your turn. You are not obliged to accept that shortcut, and regardless of agreed-upon shortcuts, all steps and phases happen every turn, even if nothing happens during them.

500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the phase. [..]
720.2a At any point in the game, the player with priority may suggest a shortcut by describing a sequence of game choices, for all players, that may be legally taken based on the current game state and the predictable results of the sequence of choices. [..]
720.2b Each other player, in turn order starting after the player who suggested the shortcut, may either accept the proposed sequence, or shorten it by naming a place where they will make a game choice that’s different than what’s been proposed. [..]


Citadels: Can two Circus Tents be built in the same city? In the latest German edition of Citadels, there is an action card Circus Tent. It is played from your hand without paying any gold (and in addition to your normal building action). It's text says:

  You can put the Circus Tent in front of you. At the end of the game it counts as a building without points and without color. It cannot be destroyed by the Warlord.

Is it possible to have more than one of these in your city? This is not allowed for "normal" districts, but the card only states that it counts as a district at the end of the game.

I would say technically yes, but that it wouldn't be as much of an advantage as it initially seems. Going from a purely literal interpretation of the rules you are right that the Circus Tent is an action and doesn't count as a building until the end of the game. That would lead me to say that during play having more than one is allowable. However, having two (or 3 as there are 3 in the deck) of your city elements leading to ending the game being worth no points and not counting toward any of your bonuses (except perhaps the 4 points for being the first to complete 8 buildings) seems to limit the usefulness of such a tactic. Especially since they would have been worth one point in your hand at the end of the game anyway.

With all that said, it is enough of a rules interpretation required issue that disallowing it would not be any sort of stretch either as it may very well have not been intended to be used that way regardless of how it was worded. Also, I think once this tactic is used in a game or two I believe it would be revealed rather quickly whether allowing this is unbalanced or not.


Meklord Emperor Wisel vs Dragonic Diagram Meklord Emperor Wisel:

  Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned by its own
  effect, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. When a face-up
  monster you control is destroyed by a card effect and sent to the
  Graveyard (except during the Damage Step): You can Special Summon this
  card from your hand. Other monsters you control cannot declare an
  attack. Once per turn: You can target 1 Synchro Monster your opponent
  controls; equip that target to this card. This card gains ATK equal to
  the combined ATK of the monsters equipped to it by this effect. Once
  per turn, during either player's turn, when your opponent activates a
  Spell Card: You can negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.

Dragonic Diagram:

  All "True Draco" and "True King" monsters on the field gain 300
  ATK/DEF. The first time each Tribute Summoned "True Draco" or "True
  King" monster would be destroyed by battle each turn, it is not
  destroyed. Once per turn: You can destroy 1 other card you control or
  in your hand, and if you do, add 1 "True Draco" or "True King" card
  from your Deck to your hand.

Player A has Dragonic Diagram is already on field. Then player B summons Meklord Emperor Wisel. Then player A wants to activate his Dragonic Diagram's effect. Can player B negate it with Meklord Emperor Wisel's effect?

No, you activated the effect of a Spell Card, not the card itself. All instances of activating a Spell Card is activating a Spell Card effect, but it is not the case that all instances of activating a Spell Card effect is activating a Spell Card.


San Juan variant to balance prices San Juan is a admittedly a game with a good deal of luck involved.  However the luck element seems to be emphasised when we play, as some of the cards seem significantly better than other cards of the same value.  For example, given the choice we would always pick a smithy over an archive, a poor house over a crane or a prefecture over a carpenter.

Does anyone know or have experience of a variant that attempts to balance the cost-to-quality ratio of the buildings?  Or is our perception wrong - are the buildings priced appropriately?

Have you played with the San Juan expansion buildings from the Treasure Chest set?  While I agree that there are some cards that are simply better than others, the expansion tries to fix this.

For example, Park is a 3-cost building that gives you a discount of 6 instead of 3 if you overbuild it with a Crane, which might make the crane more enticing.

The Residence allows you to score points extra points for each set of 3 buildings with the same building cost.  This could convince you to build some of the less-desired buildings to get the bonus.

And personally, I like the Carpenter -- I've had a few games where I bought a ton of purple buildings, and was able to refill my hand quickly.  It could have been a few lucky draws, but the Carpenter is at least decent in my opinion.


On-Demand Cards Deck printing service? I'm designing a card-based rpg game and I'm looking for an equivalent to http://lulu.com but for printing online cards on demand.

The card would be either playing cards like Magic or similar, or Tarot cards (big cards).

Any suggestions? Any feedbacks on the suggested services?

Artscow.com is the site I always hear about. I've never used it but it's constantly mentioned on boardgamegeek.com as the place to go for printing custom cards. See:

http://www.artscow.com/photo-gifts/card/multi-purpose-cards-rectangle-394


Robb Stark house card. Need some help understanding what it can do Can the house card "Robb Stark" retreat the losers troops to a place that is not adjacent to the losers troops? Can he move the routing troops back two countries or past a river/ocean? In other words does the rule for retreating to an adjacent area still apply.

Normal retreat. No jumping rivers, no going two countries. Can use ships.

Optimal usage : Attack a big force with Robb to win, retreat them somewhere where you can attack them with one footman and slay the lot.


Good first leads in sheepshead In most trick-taking card games when you have a strong hand (as the bidder should in sheepshead) it's good to lead with high cards to retain control. However, in sheepshead players tend to hold on to the point-cards until they know who the partner is -- and they definitely won't drop points on tricks the bidder is clearly taking -- so I usually try to deliberately lose control, without making it too easy.

I don't want to play below the 10 of diamonds, because then the Ace or 10 of diamonds will often be played and I won't get them. Similarly, I don't like leading low non-trump. I suppose if I had an Ace as my only card in a suit I might lead it, or if I've put an Ace or 10 down in a suit I might lead a lower card in it, but generally I lean toward jacks -- as low of jacks as possible. I hope this will flush out some trump yet discourage anyone else from taking points. What do you think is a good first lead?

I play a lot of dopplekopf (aka double sheepshead although there are more differences than just the deck size).

A bare fail-suit (non-trump) Ace has a reasonable chance of taking a trick and certainly helps your team. The odds that your partner(s) had a better legal play had they known you were on their team are small, so this seems like a good lead.

If you're the picker's partner, leading a jack (or sub-10 diamond, though jacks are better) to your partner's presumed high trump is a very good play. If you're the picker, consider leading a red queen early to attempt to force opponents into difficult decisions (especially before partners are known).

Leads that might fish out partners are generally more valuable if you have a strong hand (trump) or a lot of points (especially in fail suits), because in both those situations, your hand will be vastly improved by good teamwork. If you have a more middling / balanced hand, letting things go unknown for longer may result in teammates overtrumping each other.


Go: How to count territory in this example? I am very new to go and therefore I have some problems to count the territories. In the following example (13x13) in my point of view black wins.

But I still have some questions:

Does the black territory (marked with grey) take half of the board? What's with the red marked area? Doesn't white has an eye here and hence is still alive? So how many points are there for black? 27? Or 36?
Does the white area (marked with white, right side of the board) make 23 points here? And does white get one point for the red marked area?
How to handle the blue marked area? Is it neutral territory?
During the game black caught 24 white stones and white caught 21 black stones. Do they simple add up to the total points?

We played a subset of a larger 19x19 board, so in this photo our 13x13 area is delimited by the dots.

For ease of reading, here's the same board position rendered with markdown:

$$ +-------------+
$$ |.X.X.X.XXXOX.|
$$ |X..X.XXX.XOOO|
$$ |XX.X.XOXXXO..|
$$ |.X.,XXOX.,XOO|
$$ |..XXOOOX.XXXO|
$$ |.XX.XO.OXXXO.|
$$ |X.XXXO,OO..OO|
$$ |..XXOOO..OOOO|
$$ |XXX.XOO..O..O|
$$ |..XXXXOO.OXXX|
$$ |XXOOXXXO.OOXO|
$$ |XOOOOXOOOOOOO|
$$ |.XO.OXO.O.O..|
$$ +-------------+

The white stones in the lower left are dead, the black ones in the lower right and the one stone in the upper right are dead.

Using Chinese scoring (stones on the board plus territory,) black wins 95 (59 stones + 36 territory) to 78.5 (49 stones + 23 territory) + 6.5 (komi).

To use Japanese scoring, we'd have to know how many stones were captured during the game, but we can guess based on what is on the board. Black has 64 stones on the board and white only has 57, so presumably black captured 7 or 8 stones during the game? That would mean that black has a score of 36 (territory) + 7 or 8 (captured) + 8 (dead on board) = 51 or 52. White has 23 (territory) + 5 (dead on board) + 6.5 (komi) = 34.5.

Either way, black won by at least 16.5 points.

Another note regarding the two blue spaces. They are neutral and don't count for either side in either scoring system. If you had been using Chinese scoring, then the players would want to fill them for extra point. It is likely that each player would get one of the spaces and therefore the relative score would be unchanged.


What are some good general strategies for Eclipse? I was recently introduced to Eclipse via Big Daddy's iPad implementation. I've been mainly playing the AI as I try to get the hang of this relatively complex game. I'm getting better but I hope that veterans of the board game version can share some of their wisdom with us iOS newcomers.

While researching the below comments (but after posting the question) I found this excellent post, Five Thousand Words about Eclipse on the Tao of Gaming blog. It has some great thoughts about ship size, virtual fleets, and turn nine.

I thought I would answer with a few of my own observations regarding strategy to start off. Some of this answer is summaries of some articles on the BGG Eclipse Strategy Forum

As a general rule, only keep hexes in your territory if they provide at least two colonies. Territory with zero colonies (which you might have acquired to make a discovery) should be ditched immediately. Territory with one colony can be tolerated a short period of time (especially if they help you get to new territory). The easiest way to get rid of territory is to go bankrupt. i.e. take a few extra actions that will "force" you to remove influence the end of the round.
Plasma missiles seem to be the key to military victory. (At least in the base game, which is all that is currently available on iOS.) By mid game you must either be using them, or have a strategy to defend against them. I have no super successful defense, but improved hull and perhaps shield seems key: you need to be able to survive that first missile assault.
As a corollary to the above comment about plasma missiles, you should always have a consistent strategy for your ships. Don't invest in a lot of power generation or hull upgrades if you plan to take a missile based strategy. Don't duplicate techs (shields, computers, drives). If you think you will get the +3 later, don't buy the +2 now.
Be stingy with your turns. Avoid taking a turn to build if you don't have two things you can build. (Or three if you have an ability/race that lets you build three.) Same for upgrades: don't upgrade if you don't have two ship parts that need replacing. There are some exceptions, but turns are extremely valuable. Things that save turns or partial turns (like a ship discovery, tech discovery, or part discovery) or often worth taking.
Consider your turn order carefully. At the beginning of the round, contemplate how many turns you will likely be able to take. Consider your current money, how much money you are generating, how much territory you will likely control at the end of the turn (given expansion & combat), and any changes to those that will happen due to colonization/research. Perform actions that are likely to be "competitive" first, such as grabbing a newly available tech, or using a move to pin a ship, using a move to avoid being pinned. Upgrades/builds can often be deferred to later in a turn. (And can sometimes even benefit from being deferred since your opponents won't be able to react to them as effectively.)
Consider your ability to build a fleet, if needed. I've heard this referred to as your "virtual fleet". If you have spare minerals, spare turns, up to date ship designs, and available ship slots you can often build ships "as needed" to respond to an attack or to exploit a vulnerability. As such, I often avoid building my last few space stations/dreadnaughts except in response to an emergency. Conversely, when you attack, consider what your opponent will be able to bring to bear in response. An opponent with a developed fleet can be easier to attack than an opponent with a strong "virtual fleet".
The galactic center is very valuable. Not only do you get a discovery and a hex worth 4 VP, but the colonies themselves can turbocharge your production. The difference between a hex that produces 2 colonies and a hex that produces 4 (or more) is much more than double since you only have to pay the one influence. And, the galactic center also likely gives you roads to most or all of the other players. Which can be valuable diplomatically or militarily.
Some key "value" techs are: Neutron bombs (critical if you are going on offense), and improved hull.
Key "game changer" techs are plasma missiles (military game changer), techs that allow you to develop colonies (advanced labs etc.), advanced robots/quantum grid (saves huge money).
One quandary I still have is how much to "balance" your various resources. If human, I thought there might be benefit in pushing one as far as possible because the tracks aren't linear. i.e. if you get all of the way down minerals you can get 5 minerals per colony while the first few tracks of research are only a 1-2 research per colony. Why not try to push one all of the way and then just exchange at 2:1 if needed. In practice this seems to not work very well, however. Having one deliberately weak resource just causes to many problems.
Obviously exploit your racial advantages.


Gideon Jura vs an opponent with multiple combat phases Say I've played Gideon Jura's +2 ability:

  During target opponent’s next turn, creatures that player controls attack Gideon Jura if able.

My opponent has attacked with Combat Celebrant and exerted them for another combat phase:

  If Combat Celebrant hasn’t been exerted this turn, you may exert it as it attacks. When you do, untap all other creatures you control and after this phase, there is an additional combat phase.

On their first attack step, they attack Gideon Jura and he dies. Then on my second end step, what can they do?

Gideon Jura creates a requirement that they attack him if able.

In the second combat step, Gideon Jura is no longer around and able to be attacked, so they have no need to attack him. The player may attack freely, including you directly or any other planeswalker you control. They may also not attack at all since they have no  more requirement to do so.


In chess, may a player resign, offer a draw or claim a draw at any time, or not? My question is mostly about pure rules and not about etiquette.
I wonder if during a chess game I am allowed to resign, offer a draw or claim a draw at any time. But I want to ask about two specific situations.

My opponent has just put my king in check. It is not a checkmate though. According to the rules of chess, instead of making a move, do I have the possibility of resigning, offering or claiming a draw? (If I do so, my king will remain in check in final position, but the game will end.)
The game is still in its opening. Suppose my opponent, who is a very strong player, put me in the situation where checkmate is inevitable, for example, he/she captured my queen and both rooks, or activated Légal trap etc. May I resign (it's the opening)? Or must I let my opponent checkmate me?

You may resign at any point during the game, there are no restrictions at all.

Draws are regulated in article 9 of the FIDE Laws of Chess:

You offer a draw after making your move, before you press the clock (9.1.2.1). The offer stands until the opponent touches a piece to make his move (or he accepts or declines or the game ends some other way).

If you offer it at another time, the offer still stands, but it may be counted as disturbing your opponent and you could get a warning from the arbiter. Besides that, your opponent will just not react to the offer, wait for you to make a move and then make his decision.

So in particular in your case 1), you do not have the option of offering a draw then -- you need to make a move first.

You claim a draw on your own move only, before you touch a piece to move it. Once you do that, you have to move and can't claim anymore (9.2.1 and 9.4).


Why does Cascade exile? From a design point of view, I cannot figure out why Cascade should specifically exile the cards involved, then return them to the bottom of the deck instead of revealing them (like Spellshift or Reweave do)? Is there some sort of interaction I didn't notice?

Cascade works with exile rather than revealing because of the possibility of one Cascade triggering another Cascade.

The full meaning of Cascade is (702.84a):

  When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell's converted mana cost. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then put all cards exiled this way that weren't cast on the bottom of your library in a random order.

With this definition, if one Cascade spell finds another Cascade spell, the way you handle it is easy: the cards exiled by the first Cascade are still exiled, so you keep going through your library until you find another appropriate spell. It's simple and a very literal cascade through your library.

What if you were simply revealing cards from the top of your library? Well, the "reveal" doesn't actually move the cards from your library. So if you needed to Cascade again, you have to put those cards back and then look through them again! Then, making the "put all cards revealed this way" phrasing work becomes much more complicated, because some of the cards are subject to two or more Cascade effects.

In short, I don't believe that there's a deep gameplay reason, but it makes the Cascade mechanism (specifically, its recursive nature) and the wording simple and elegant.


What happens when I gain control of a creature that's a different color from my deck? If I take control of a black creature using a white deck, how do I pay the mana cost to attack if I don't have swamps in my deck? Please help, I'm new to the game.

You don't need to pay mana to attack unless a card specifically says so. So, if you take control of a black creature using a white deck, you can attack with that creature.


Does setting a new type clear the rules text for non-lands? In CR 305.7:

  If an effect sets a land’s subtype to one or more of the basic land types, the land no longer has its old land type. It loses all abilities generated from its rules text, its old land types, and any copy effects affecting that land, and it gains the appropriate mana ability for each new basic land type. Note that this doesn’t remove any abilities that were granted to the land by other effects. Setting a land’s subtype doesn’t add or remove any card types (such as creature) or supertypes (such as basic, legendary, and snow) the land may have. If a land gains one or more land types in addition to its own, it keeps its land types and rules text, and it gains the new land types and mana abilities.

is the phrase "It loses all abilities generated from its rules text" unique for land changers like Blood Moon or Spreading Seas, or is it derived from another rule?

In other words: is there a rule about setting types, from which we could derive, that if a "All creatures are elves" card existed, then it would turn all creatures into vanilla elves?

That rule you quoted right there is the one that makes lands lose all other abilities in that situation. There is no more general rule that applies to subtypes of other types, so your not-so-hypothetical "All creatures are [specific creature type]" would not remove any abilities (see Conspiracy). You wouldn't have to search the whole Comprehensive Rulebook to be sure that such a rule does not exist. The rule you quote is in the Type section, Land subsection of the rules. Logically, if such a general rule existed, it would be in the General subsection of the Type section. That list is pretty short, and it's clear that that rule is not there.

In fact, it wouldn't even make sense for that rule to be derived from a more general rule like the one you propose. The rule you quote specifically applies to setting a land's subtype to a basic land type (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest), so setting a land's subtype to another land type like "Gate" or "Locus" or "Urza's" doesn't do anything to the abilities.

More broadly, rules in the Comprehensive Rulebook are generally not "derived" from other rules. You can find some duplication in there, with specific rules listed under multiple numbers, but other than that each rule is there for a reason and does something that none of the others do.

Functionally, the rule you quote acts as a dual to rule 305.6:

  The basic land types are Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. If an object uses the words “basic land type,” it’s referring to one of these subtypes. A land with a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add [mana symbol],” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain that text or the object has no text box. For Plains, [mana symbol] is {W}; for Islands, {U}; for Swamps, {B}; for Mountains, {R}; and for Forests, {G}. See rule 107.4a. See also rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”

With rule 305.6, adding the type "Mountain" to a land makes it act like the card Mountain in addition to whatever else it does. With rule 305.7, setting a land's subtype to "Mountain" makes it act like only the card Mountain.


Can I play Yu-Gi-Oh! with only level 5 or higher cards? I only have level 5 or higher cards. I am not sure if I can build a deck and play with only such cards. Is it possible or recommended thing to do?

Is it possible or recommended thing to do?

Possible yes. You can build your deck with the kind of cards you want. If that means a preference for lvl. 5 or higher monsters it's ok, as long as you respect the current banlist and card limits.

Recommended... perhaps not. Why? Because by only having lvl. 5 or higher monsters the only way to summon them would be by Special Summon or by Tribute Summon... as you have no lvl. 4 or lower monsters that you can Normal Summon without tribute, Tribute summoning your lvl 5+ monsters would be near impossible.

You would have to rely on strategies revolving cards like Cost Down or Ancient Rules to be able to summon your lvl. 5+ monsters without having to tribute... but that may not be the most efficient strategy to follow (of course, there could be an efficient strategy, but not easy to find).

However, there is an alternative that involves the use of house-rules: Specify the combat rules to be similar to the ones used on Duelist Kingdom Tournament as seen on the Anime. You can select only the ones you prefer, but the one that would solve your query would be, emphasis mine:

  Players could Summon monsters of any Level, without offering Tribute. This meant monsters such as "Dark Magician" and "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" could be Summoned immediately.

Of course, this would not be valid on official games or tournaments, but surely can work out if you are up to consider house rules.


May I use "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring" to negate the effects of cards that send from deck to grave, but not in the specific scenario? Let us assume that my opponent is playing a Shaddoll deck, and has activated "Shaddoll Fusion" on the first turn of the game. Since I have not taken a turn and have no monsters special summoned from the extra deck on my side of the field, the opponent is unable to send the Fusion materials from deck (part of "Shaddoll Fusion"'s effect), but can still Fusion summon using materials from hand.

Even though they can't use the part of the effect that sends monsters from deck to graveyard, am I still able to chain "Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring" to negate the effect of "Shaddoll Fusion"?

You will be able to chain Ash Blossom to the activation of Shaddoll Fusion.

Ash Blossom reads:

  When a card or effect is activated that includes any of these effects (Quick Effect): You can discard this card; negate that effect.

Because Shaddoll Fusion includes the effect to send cards to the graveyard it counts towards being Ash'd. It doesn't matter if you actually have a special summoned monster on your field, simply having that effect in its effect text makes it viable.

Source: https://www.db.yugioh-card.com/yugiohdb/faq_search.action?ope=5&fid=20586&request_locale=ja


What pauper cards are legal in MTGO but not paper? I am trying to collect most cards relevant to pauper. All cards that have ever been printed at the common level on paper are legal for pauper, except for 10 cards on the pauper ban list.

Because MTGO pauper is more popular than paper pauper, and because it is so easily available electronically, it is easy to find data and analysis on the most frequently used cards in pauper. I did this.

The problem is that there are some cards, such as Chainer's Edict, that are common on MTGO but have never been printed as paper commons. They are therefore not legal for play with paper pauper.

Is there a list maintained of cards printed at common for MTGO, but not paper? If so, please provide link. If there is no such list but it turns out to be very few cards, then the answer should contain that short list of cards, followed by "as of x date."

Note: For the exact opposite list of cards, see: What pauper cards are legal in paper but not MTGO

I have a program that lets me do weird queries, this was an interesting one to code.  Here are the results:

Adarkar Sentinel                  Addle                             Aeolipile
Afterlife                         Alluring Scent                    Anaba Ancestor
Anaba Spirit Crafter              Armored Griffin                   Arrogant Wurm
Balduvian Conjurer                Barktooth Warbeard                Battle Screech
Beetleback Chief                  Bone Flute                        Brass Man
Brilliant Plan                    Brindle Shoat                     Chainer's Edict
Circular Logic                    Citanul Druid                     Claws of Wirewood
Coal Golem                        Dauthi Mercenary                  Death Spark
Demonic Torment                   Desperate Charge                  Drift of the Dead
Ebony Horse                       Elephant Guide                    Elven Lyre
Exile                             Fellwar Stone                     Feral Thallid
Fire Drake                        Flying Carpet                     Foul Spirit
Gilded Light                      Glasses of Urza                   Goblin Commando
Goblin Firestarter                Goblin General                    Gravebind
Heavy Fog                         Hunting Cheetah                   Hyalopterous Lemure
Icatian Lieutenant                Icatian Phalanx                   Icequake
Icy Prison                        Ironhoof Ox                       Jedit Ojanen
Jerrard of the Closed Fist        Just Fate                         Killer Whale
Kjeldoran Elite Guard             Kjeldoran Skycaptain              Knights of Thorn
Kobold Taskmaster                 Lady Orca                         Lava Flow
Lesser Werewolf                   Library of Leng                   Lightning Blow
Mana Prism                        Mightstone                        Mistmoon Griffin
Oasis                             Obsianus Golem                    Ogre Taskmaster
Onulet                            Peach Garden Oath                 Phantasmal Forces
Phantasmal Mount                  Phantom Monster                   Predatory Nightstalker
Primal Clay                       Ramirez DePietro                  Red Cliffs Armada
Righteous Avengers                River Merfolk                     Rockslide Ambush
Roots                             Royal Trooper                     Sea Sprite
Shield Sphere                     Shu Elite Companions              Shu General
Shu Soldier-Farmers               Shyft                             Sir Shandlar of Eberyn
Sivitri Scarzam                   Skirge Familiar                   Skirk Drill Sergeant
Slashing Tiger                    Sol Grail                         Soltari Emissary
Spoils of Victory                 Strategic Planning                Tangle
Tawnos's Wand                     Telekinesis                       Thallid Devourer
The Lady of the Mountain          Thermokarst                       Thrull Retainer
Tobias Andrion                    Torsten Von Ursus                 Tribute to the Wild
Trip Wire                         Wall of Kelp                      Wall of Light
Wanderlust                        Warp Artifact                     Wei Elite Companions
Whiteout                          Wu Longbowman

EDIT: forgot Tempest Remastered:

Armor Sliver                      Barbed Sliver                     Bottle Gnomes
Elven Rite                        Horned Sliver                     Mnemonic Sliver
Patchwork Gnomes                  Skyshaper                         Staunch Defenders
Telethopter                       Verdigris                         Whispers of the Muse