Is Talisman the same as or associated in any way with Heroquest? I've been looking into Heroquest as apparently its an amazing game, however I can't seem to find a copy of it anywhere. There is another game called Talisman which looks similar.

Does it just look similar or is it related in any way?

While both games are 1980s fantasy settings and they share a few similar elements (and were originally published or developed by the same company), the game play is quite different between the two.

With Talisman, players move around the edge of a board by rolling dice to determine movement distances. The player's choice in movement is limited to going clockwise or counter-clockwise. The player then follows the instruction on a location, often encountering and battling a monster for the goal of obtaining equipment or gaining Strength and Craft. The eventual goal is to complete a fixed sequence of events and obtain the Crown of Command. Expansions might add other victory conditions or opportunities for other exploration, but they do not really change this ultimate goal.

With HeroQuest, players are able to move around a board that defines a series of rooms and hallways, battling monsters represented by miniatures on the board. The game is more of a "system" than a fixed game, as it is intentionally designed so that players will play different scenarios using different maps and enemies each game, resulting in more of a board-game adaptation of classic fantasy pen-and-paper Role Playing Games (RPGS) like Dungeons & Dragons.

Talisman was most recently published by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) as the Revised Fourth Edition. While FFG has recently stopped publishing Talisman, it is still commonly available through many retailers.

HeroQuest was published by Milton Bradley, and while there have been several newer editions (including Advanced HeroQuest), it has not been republished in quite some time, so finding it for sale will be difficult (and expensive).

When researching HeroQuest, several different sources (Reddit, Board Game Geek forums, multiple game review blogs, etc.) frequently reference another FFG game for similar mechanics and play-style called Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) so if you're looking for a HeroQuest-like game, that appears to be a common answer.


What is a good modification of rules to make a game of Dominion slower? In Dominion my family sometimes complains, that the game is over to fast because they couldn't build up their deck. While Dominion is designed to work that way, it might be useful to try some rule modification to slow it down somewhat while people still can buy the different action-cards. Have you a way to this that you recommend? How for instance would making money and point-cards more expensive would work out?

Things that require no actual house rules:

1. Get and use the Prosperity expansion (or the Dominion Base Cards set), and play more games with Colonies/Platinum.

Games with Colonies usually last longer, because it is not often worth buying Provinces. Instead of trying to get to $8 for Provinces, you are trying to get to $11 for Colonies.

2. Use setups that create longer games.

Some setups make the game go longer than others. Games with attacks will last longer on average than games without attacks. Games with more powerful cards like Wharf or cards that gain more cards like Workshop will be shorter on average.

Cards like Philosopher's Stone (from Alchemy), and Counting House (from Prosperity) become better in longer games. Any cards that give out Curses usually make the game go longer, because people's decks will be clogged. Strong trashing cards like Chapel will usually make the game go much faster.

Finally, alternate VP cards like Vineyards (from Alchemy), Duke (from Intrigue), Gardens (from Dominion), and Silk Road (from Hinterlands) can make the game go much longer, because one player can ignore Provinces completely and go for points with those cards instead (if the rest of the setup makes that a viable strategy). It takes 1 person a very long time to drain the entire Province pile, so if (in a 2 player game) 1 player is avoiding Provinces completely, he can make the game go long enough that his Vineyards and Dukes will be worth more than the Provinces that the other play managed to get.

I have not personally tried either of the following (as I prefer to play multiple faster games than fewer slower games), but a couple ideas that come to mind:

3. Increase the number of Provinces available.

If playing 2 player, you can use all 12 instead of 8. For 3 or 4 player, you could use 15 or 16. Either take the extra cards from the Intrigue set if you have it; or just use blanks or unused cards as proxies. The biggest issue here is that players will need to learn to not start buying Provinces as early as normal. If they start buying Provinces as soon as they hit $8, then the first 8 Provinces may be bought up, but then it may become unlikely to ever be able to buy the last few because your decks are clogged. This will also not make any difference for some setups.

4. Increase the cost of Provinces, like you suggested.

You do have to be careful with this, because in certain setups it can be literally impossible to ever reach certain amounts on a given turn; like if there's no way to increase your handsize. This will also not make any difference for some setups.


Is it possible to destroy Dragon Mantle without the owner successfully activating it? I was playing last night, and the following situation arose.

I had a creature out with Dragon Mantle on it, which allows me to spend a red mana to give it +1/+0. My opponent wants to swing in with his larger creature, but doesn't want to have his large creature die to me pumping up my small one with Dragon Mantle. He's holding a Destructive Revelry. Is there a time he can play it such that I fail to pump my creature?

My understanding is that

If he plays it before I start pumping, I can pump in response and I will succeed as my pumps will resolve before the enchantment is destroyed.
If he plays it after I start pumping, my pumps are already on the stack and will still resolve after the enchantment is destroyed. (I am not 100% sure about this)

Is this correct? Are there situations where he can succeed? (i.e. if the wording on the enchantment was slightly different)

He cannot prevent you from pumping it. As you say, you can either pump on your own or pump in response to the destruction, either way the pumps will resolve and his creature will die. The only way to prevent this is to kill the creature it's attached to.

If the enchantment was to read "R: Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn as long as ~ is attached to it" then things would work as your opponent would want. Obviously this isn't the case, and I am not aware of a card that functions in this way.

Similarly, if he has priority and you have not pumped yet, he can prevent you from activating it with a card like  Krosan Grip.


Quick engaging card games that can be learned quickly by a new group Possible Duplicate:
  What are good games to play during a one-hour lunch break?

I'm looking for some games to play in short 10-15 minutes breaks in between classes. Here's some of my priorities, more or less in order:

Quick to learn. Total teaching time preferably less than 3 minutes before gameplay starts. Have to be able to teach new people quickly.
Transportable. I'm mainly looking for stuff with regular decks of cards, but if other inexpensive proprietary games meet this criteria they're fine.
Short playing time, preferable less than 10 minutes. Obviously I'd love to be able to play a full game of Settlers, but we just don't have enough time for playing or even teaching it.
Engaging. Fairly quick turns, more or less constant action. Inter-player interaction is always good.
A moderate level of luck is fine, but not a TON, like Uno, if possible.

Any suggestions for 'in-between-classes' games that meet the criteria?

Fluxx springs immediately to mind: almost zero teaching time ("The rules are on the table!  Draw a card then play a card!"), can easily be over inside of ten minutes, inconsequential enough that no one will really mind if the bell goes and you have to quit before anyone has won the game.

Lunch Money could probably work inside the given timeframe, but a disturbing game about children beating the crap out of each other in the playground might get you some strange looks, or even disciplinary action, in an academic environment :D

I thought of a couple more good options, so I'm editing them in:

Parade has really taken off in our group lately - it's simple but brilliant.  There are 6 suits of (Alice in Wonderland-themed) cards, valued from 0 to 11.  Beginning with a "parade" of 6 random cards, each player adds a card to the end of the parade.  You must then add to your collection all cards that are equal-or-higher-valued or same-suited as the card you just played - except for the n cards immediately in front of your card, where n is your card's value.  (i.e. if you play the 10, you pick up nothing unless the parade is now 12 cards long.)  At the end of the game, you score negative face value of card, UNLESS you have the most cards in a suit, in which case they're only -1 each.  Trust me, it's really good.

Coloretto is a simple card game which happens to be the engine behind popular boardgames like Zooloretto and Aquaretto.  Players either draw a card and add it to a pile or take a pile.  Most of the cards have a colour: at the end of the game, you score positive points for cards in 3 of those colours, and negative points for cards in other colours.  Pick up piles too early and you may end up short of cards; wait too long and the other players will screw you by leaving you with a pile of cards of multiple different unwanted colours.  Simple but a lot of fun!


What is the Goods Station referred to in Scotland Yard I'm playing the 1996 version of Scotland Yard.

By 174 on the map is Goods Station. I can't find any reference to this in historical London geography.

Was this a real place? If not, what does it refer to?

I believe it might refer to Bishopsgate, it was used as a goods (freight) station, near Shoreditch in Londons East End. ( I'm an old Cockney.)


Does the Paladin count as an adventurer for the purposes of the Magic Key spell? Do Paladins count as Adventurers?

Year one, I kill the Paladin, and no adventurers.
Year two, the first spell is Magic Key (a slow spell):

  Discard one of your imprisoned adventurers (if you have any).

Assuming I can't kill an adventurer and/or all the magic users, do I lose my first year paladin?

Good question! From the FAQ: What rules and cards affect the paladin in combat?

  The paladin is still an adventurer, so
  anything that affects adventurers
  affects him (including traps and
  attacks that damage all adventurers).

So in your example, you lose your Paladin. Dungeon Lords is indeed a brutal game...


Returning cards to their owner's hands in MTG So I have two cards that say "Return two target creatures to their owner's hands," but there is no target location from where those cards may be. So could I recover two creatures from exile, and put them into my hand? What about my graveyard?

For reference, those cards are Floodwaters and Grasping Current.

A "creature" by definition means a permanent on the battlefield.

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

So whenever something says "Target creature", it always is referring to the battlefield.

Whenever a spell wants to refer to a card in another zone, such as the graveyard, it will use the phrase "creature card" or "creature spell". See Reanimate as an example.

Worth noting that there is another, somewhat redundant rule, dealing with targeting specifically:

  114.2 Only permanents are legal targets for spells and abilities, unless a spell or ability (a) specifies that it can target an object in another zone or a player, (b) targets an object that can't exist on the battlefield, such as a spell or ability, or (c) targets a zone.

This rule clarifies that if the spell isn't specific about targeting something in another zone, etc, then it can only target permanents.

  110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield.


MTG reacting instant speed on creature entering game When I play MTG, sometimes I can't kill creature which entered the battlefield under opponent's control right away. To give example Lurrus of the Dream-Den entered the battlefield but I could not kill him instant speed even when I had both mana and spell. But at other occasions (if I remember correctly) I could kill a creature which entered the game before it could activate its ability (not ability activated "When entered" but something like use mana to deal damage so similar to Lurrus).
Should not I be able to react instant speed on Lurrus and since his ability is casting from graveyard which is not instant speed he should not even be able to react with it on my instant removal?

This has to do with priority. When anything goes on the stack (a spell being cast, a trigger from anything etc), players get "priority" (a word to describe the chance to do something) in APNAP order (active player, non-active player).
When a creature enters the battlefield and has a triggered ability that triggers when it enters the battlefield, that trigger goes on the stack and then all players get priority before it resolves. When a creature does not have such an ability, then the active players gets priority until they either pass actively (such as "moving to end step") or cast/activate something else.
To go into your example, they have a moment with Lurrus on the battlefield where they have priority (i.e. you cannot cast/activate something) and they can for example cast a creature from their graveyard. Only when they do this, you get priority and can then kill Lurrus in response.


Settlers Cities and Knights + Fish: Cost of a commodity When using fish, the card states that 4 fish are used to buy a resource.  What is the cost, in fish, of a commodity?

You cannot buy commodities using fish.

http://download.catan.com/en/download/?combination-Fishermen_Cities-and-Knights.pdf

  If you discard 3 fish, you may draw one card from the hand of one of your opponents  (Resource or Commodity Card).
  If you discard 4 fish, you may take resource card but not a commodity.
  The following applies also for the combination with Cities & Knights: Fish are no resources  – and no commodities. This implies
  that fish are never affected by Progress Cards,  particularly not by
  the yellow Progress Cards.


How do bunkers work in Risk Legacy? What are the dice modifiers for bunkers in Risk Legacy? Can you give some examples of dice rolls and how they are modified by the presence of a bunker?

A bunker adds 1 to the highest defender's die as long as it is less than 6. For example, a defender's roll of 4+3 becomes 5+3; 5+5 becomes 6+5, 6+1 stays 6+1, and 2 becomes 3 (the case where you're only rolling one die).

Note that this roughly flips the normal attacker's advantage - ordinarily, as long as both sides are rolling max dice, the attacker loses 0.9 units and the defender loses 1.1 on average, but with a bunker it's 1.1 and 0.9 the other way.


Can I use an altered art card in tournament? I have investigated a lot but I'm still not sure if I can use an altered art card in a tournament. I know that the golden rule is: The head judge will determine if the altered card is legal or not. But I don't want to paint my card if it will obviously be rejected.

To be more specific I want to make a border extension of my commander. The tournaments in which I am interested are mainly FNM and local shop little tournaments.

If someone doesn't know what border extension is, here is an example:

Here, Iona, Skithiryx and Thundermaw Hellkite have a pure border extension with no further modifications.

I have read a related post in this site but it doesn't clarify if this can be done or not because for one side it says:

  If the card is legal then the card has black or white borders

and then it says:

  Artistic modifications are acceptable in sanctioned tournaments, provided that the modifications do not make the card art unrecognizable, contain substantial strategic advice, or contain offensive images. Artistic modifications also may not obstruct or change the mana cost or name of the card.

Moreover I've read that if I use sleeves the card is most likely to be accepted by the judge. Considering that Commander is a more casual format and the commander(or general) almost never go into the deck I would like some help to decide if I do this art extension or not.  Maybe one judge can point me in the right direction.

The image of the cards you sent are a perfect example of acceptable altering for tournament play. As far as commander games go, you can sometimes get away with not even having a legal copy of your commander and instead playing with an oversized version of the card. Commander is very lenient and you can usually get away with altering cards so that they don't have any rules text. So long as there is some way to identify that the card is what it is, people will be accepting of it.

Altered art mostly just falls in the category of DBAD. Don't draw porn on your cards, don't draw children being decapitated, don't try to alter your Misdirection to look like a Force of Will.


Retreat in case of slide trap in Dungeon! In a game of Dungeon! there is Slide Trap in Level 3 which says:

Gain 1 Treasure and move to any chamber on Level 4

What happens when I encounter a monster in the level 4 chamber, attack it insufficiently, the monster hits back, and I have to retreat a step? Where do I retreat?

Now I do not know of an official ruling, but in this instance my group has always practiced that retreat is not the same as return.

That is to say the rules are telling you, that you are to no longer occupy the same chamber/room as the monster, not that you must go back the way you came.

I have not played Dungeon! but I have played New Dungeon which was a precursor to that game.

We always played that retreat simply means you move out of the chamber/room you are in, in whatever direction you fancy.

To pretend for a moment: While you are fighting a monster you are moving all around. Who is to say you are on the same side of the room as you started and near the same door you entered through?


What is the History of foiling in MTG? Foiling has changed over the years, and it made me wonder about all of the types and processes of foiling, and when they happened.

The big thing that made me wonder, is that older foiling is considerably different than modern day foiling. Along with using different types of foiling, they also appeared to have extra symbols, such as a comet going along the bottom.

Urza's Legacy was the first set to feature foil cards available in booster packs. However, the previous set (Urza's Saga) had a foil prerelease promo card. [Source]

From Urza's Legacy until 8th Edition, the "old-style" foil treatment (with the Wizards of the Coast shooting star across the bottom) was used. The process to create these cards involved a problem where certain foils would include a "cutline": a seam in the foil treatment across the face of the card (see below for an example; the seam runs through the shark in the background).

Details on the modern foil treatment can be found here: Where the Foil Goes.

Note that special releases (e.g., the "From the Vault" series) may use a different foiling process from standard sets. [Source, search for "varnish"]

Additionally, many promos have unique foil treatments, like this Sudden Shock:


Is Tribal a permanent type (for Muldrotha)? I am building a Commander deck with Muldrotha, the Gravetide as the Commander. During my deckbuilding, I remembered there is such a thing as a "Tribal" card type. Is Tribal one of the supported card types that can be cast from the graveyard using Muldrotha's ability?

Tribal is a card type but not a permanent type.  So Tribal counts for cards like Tarmogoyf, but not Muldrotha, the Gravetide.

From the comprehensive rules:

  110.4. There are five permanent types: artifact, creature, enchantment, land, and planeswalker.

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


Would it matter if I mark a Star Realms deck on the front? I bought a pair of Star Realms decks to allow play with up to 4 people. To make it easier to separate the decks for 2-player play, I was thinking I'd mark one of the decks on the front, with a small mark.

However, does this somehow convey any information that wouldn't be available with unmarked cards? Or is knowing which deck the card came from irrelevant in gameplay?

No relevant information is conveyed by marking the front of a card. All cards with the same name are totally interchangeable, regardless of whether they are marked.

Logical example

You have two Vipers in your deck. One is marked, and one is not. There are four possible situations.

You draw both Vipers.

You know that both Vipers are in your hand.

You draw the marked Viper.

You know that one Viper is in your hand and one is in your deck.
You know that the Viper in your hand is marked. This provides no benefit to you.
You know that the Viper in your deck is unmarked. This provides no benefit to you.

You draw the unmarked Viper.

You know that one Viper is in your hand and one is in your deck.
You know that the Viper in your hand is unmarked. This provides no benefit to you.
You know that the Viper in your deck is marked. This provides no benefit to you.

You draw no Viper.

You know that both Vipers are in your deck.

Notice that the relevant information available to you is identical in situations 2 and 3. Only the irrelevant information is different.

Less logical example

Consider Magic: the Gathering along with every other card game that has foil, promo, alternate art, artistically modified (with restrictions), or otherwise "premium" cards. These are all tournament legal. If premium cards compromised the integrity of the game, I think someone would have spoken up by now.


Can experts roll dice with non-uniform distribution? Is it possible to roll a fair, n-sided die with a controlled throw such that a particular face is landed on with a probability higher than 1/n?  The golden touch craps claims that he can teach you dice control.
EDIT:  Is there a statistical proof that someone can manipulate the dice?  (even only without a cup, without hitting the wall etc...)

In theory, yes (the macro nature of the dice and the table overcoming any quantum-level randomness, leaving you with classical physics). In practice, the bulk of the evidence says no, that the chaos in the system is greater than human skill can overcome, but some people claim such a special skill.
See the short wiki article for (the scant) details.
In response to the addition to your question: "is there statistical proof"? The answer is (in 2018, at least): "no", according to this article in the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

We do not assert whether dice control is possible or not (there is a lack of published evidence).

This assumes that you throw them in a standard way. If you "throw" a die in an obviously forced way (pick it up and drop it from a small height with no shake and no bounce), then obviously the side that was on top in your hand has a greater likelihood of staying on top. Any throw of a die with the usual features of a throw (shake and roll, true roll) will be too chaotic to control.
Exception: for n=2 in the particular expression of a coin, it is possible to "not flip" the coin but instead make it wobble in the air, fooling most people and yet resulting in significant deviation from fair. Again, this deviates from a true "roll" of the die, but unlike other faux rolls, this one can be mistaken for a true roll.


Interaction in Race For The Galaxy In Race For The Galaxy, I'm usually focused on my own cards, and only find out who wins during the scoring at the end of the game.

Is this a feature of the game — that is, is it low on interaction? Or is my strategy inadequate?

While low interaction is a frequent critique of the game, I think most experienced players would tell you that you're not playing the game as effectively as you could. First, I'm assuming you're playing the game without the Brink of War rules which add direct player conflict to the game. Second, a large part of the subtlety of the game is the need to very carefully make decisions about role selection - optimally, you want to balance your selection against the roles you think other players will select while avoiding selections that benefit other players more than they benefit you (in other words, you want to maximize the value/activity you achieve during a term while minimizing the value/activity of your opponents).

Another subtle point is the need to review other player's tableaus for point scoring combos - when you see someone else's combo fall into place, it's generally advisable to move the game to its end (unless of course your own combo is up and running and superior). The last tidbit that is typically overlooked is card denial. In most games of RftG, the deck will be shuffled a few times, increasing the odds that your opponents will get the chance to play rarer cards that can shift the victory point totals significantly. Holding on to cards that you intend to spend for a bit longer can mean that a useful card never sees play due to the timing of shuffles!


Understanding the rules of Knock-out Whist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knock-out_Whist

  For the first deal the dealer deals seven cards to each player and one card is turned up to indicate that its suit is the trump suit for the first round.

Q: Trump suit here means that even if the category of the card is lowest, it will be considered higher than ACE too?

  The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick; any card may be led.

Q: What is the "first trick"? What is the meaning of "card may be led"?

  A player with no cards of the suit led may play any card, either discarding or trumping.

Q: What is the meaning of "discarding or trumping"?

  The trick is won by the highest card of the suit led, unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins.

Q: "unless a trump is played" - What is the trump in this case?

  At the end of each hand any player who took no tricks is eliminated from the game.

Q: What is a hand?
Q: What is the meaning of "player who took no tricks"?

Q: Trump suit here means that even if the category of the card is lowest, it will be considered higher than ACE too?

A. Yes. By category, you mean Rank.  Any card in the Trump suit is stronger than any non-trump suit card.

Q: What is the "first trick"? What is the meaning of "card may be led"?

A. in a trick each player play 1 card.  The stronger of the 4 cards wins the trick.  Leading the trick is the first card in the trick

Q: What is the meaning of "discarding or trumping"?

A. Players must follow the leading suit, however when they don't have that suit in their hand they can either play another non-trump suit and lose that trick for sure (discarding) or play a trump card (trumping)

Q: "unless a trump is played" - What is the trump in this case?

  one card is turned up to indicate that its suit is the trump suit for
  the first round

Q: What is a hand?
A. the cards a player is holding

Q: What is the meaning of "player who took no tricks"?
A. player that didn't win any trick when the round is over (all cards in hands where played).

Those are general Trick-Taking-Game questions.  I would start by reading the rules of simpler trick-taking card games like Whist and Spades, see https://www.pagat.com/whist/whist.html


What makes King’s Court-King’s Court-Goons-Goons-Masquerade so powerful? A while ago while reading, I read about the King’s Court-King’s Court-Goons-Goons-Masquerade combo it was stated to be very powerful, and I was wondering why it was considered as such.

The combo is what is known as a "pin", although the biggest problem with it has been somewhat fixed in the 2nd version of Intrigue, which changed how Masquerade works.

For reference, the three cards are (using their 1st edition wordings):

  King's Court: You may choose an Action card in your hand. Play it three times.

  Goons: +1 Buy. +$2. Each other player discards down to 3 cards in hand.
  While this is in play, when you buy a card, +1VP.

  Masquerade: +2 Cards. Each player passes a card from his hand to the left at once. Then you may trash a card from your hand.

This only works in two-player games. First, you get yourself to a point where your deck consists solely of 2xKing's Court, 1xGoons, 1xMasquerade. Then:

Play a King's Court
  Choose King's Court
  Play King's Court (1st time)
    Choose Goons
    Play Goons 3 times (opponent discards down to 3 cards)
  Play King's Court (2nd time)
    Choose Masquerade
    Play Masquerade (1st time)
      You have no cards to pass
      Opponent passes you a card
      Trash the card
    Play Masquerade (2nd time)
      You have no cards to pass
      Opponent passes you a card
      Trash the card
    Play Masquerade (3rd time)
      You have no cards to pass
      Opponent passes you a card
      Trash the card

Note that playing Goons means they only have 3 cards in hand when you play the Masquerade, so you wind up trashing all of the cards they are holding and they start their turn with an empty hand. At some point, you end up trashing your opponent's entire deck, leaving them unable to do anything but purchase Coppers and Curses. You can choose to push the game to end by buying a couple of Estates (which will net you Goons points, and you can then pass the Estate to the opponent, get it passed back, and trash it) or just leave your opponent powerless and incredibly annoyed.


Looking through the discard pile in canasta Suppose I have cards enough in my hand to pick up the discard pile in canasta.  For this scenario, it does not matter whether the pile is frozen or not.

Can I look through the cards of the discard pile to see if it would be worth my while to pick up the pile?

or

Is there a rule against browsing through the pile before picking it up?

No, you cannot.

One of the important skills in Canasta is keeping track of what has been discarded so far. Not only to decide if it is worth picking up, but to figure out which cards are safer to discard without letting your opponent pick up the pile.

I did not find a specific rule quote stating this, the rules generally only state what you are allowed to do, and there is no rule allowing you to do this. Some rule books do clarify that the pile is kept squared up; the purpose of this is so that only the top card be visible.


What does Divine Intervention do when it resolves in a multiplayer game? What happens in a mulitplayer game when the last counter from Divine Intervention is removed and the ability ends the game in a draw? Does it resolve as normal the only real difference being a 4-way tie instead of a 2-way tie? What exactly happens?

The rulings below the game clarify how the card works in multiplayer games:

  In a multiplayer game played with the limited range of influence option, Divine Intervention won’t necessarily end the entire game when its third ability resolves. All players within range of Divine Intervention will leave the game. They’ll neither win nor lose; as far as they’re concerned, the result of the game is a draw. All other players will continue playing.

So it depends on the range of influence (rule 801 in the Comprehensive Rules) and the specific variant's rules for draws; in a Free for All (806), the entire game is drawn; in Emperor (809) too (your team's Emperor is always in your range of influence). In Grand Melee (807) it's only a draw for a few players.


Does the 3-3 invasion work with 3 stones already placed? With the three black stones placed, I did the 3-3 invasion.

$$Wm1
$$ ----------
$$ ........|
$$ ...X....|
$$ ...X.1..|
$$ ....X...|
$$ ........|

I tried tried to force a KO and did get 2 moves elsewhere, but I would rather have lived.

$$Wm1
$$ ----------
$$ ........|
$$ ...X..5.|
$$ ...X.O.7|
$$ ....X236|
$$ ......4.|

Does 3-3 invasion work here?

Liam showed a good way to kill the invasion already, but you can be even more mean and play 2 at 4:

$$Wm1
$$ ----------
$$ ........|
$$ ...X....|
$$ ...X.1..|
$$ ....X...|
$$ ......2.|

If white then plays 3, you just draw back instead of playing below 1, and you avoid a cut at 4:

$$Wm1
$$ ----------
$$ .....c..|
$$ ...Xb.a.|
$$ ...X.1..|
$$ ....X.3.|
$$ .....42.|

Then, a, b and c are miai to kill.

The cut would not usually be dangerous, but it at least allows white to get 1 or 2 outside sente moves in the area, which is more than she should get - the original invasion at 3-3 was way too deep (the deepest possible would be white 1 at 2 in the above diagram, but that is a bit advanced, don't worry about it too much).

White may try to be sneaky and return to the variation with the cut present like this:

$$Wm1
$$ ----------
$$ ........|
$$ ...X....|
$$ ...X.1..|
$$ ....X...|
$$ .....32.|

In that case, you can easily play at 6 instead of a to gain more and avoid white's sente atari at 6. The white inside group is still dead as per what we saw above.

$$Wm1
$$ ----------
$$ ........|
$$ ...X....|
$$ ...X.1a.|
$$ ....X45.|
$$ .....32.|
$$ ......6.|


Does Epic Spell Wars actually contain profanity? I'm trying to judge the suitability of Epic Spell Wars for one of my kids and wanted to know if the sticker on the front was accurate?

Having watched the table-top episode there was a lot of swearing from the players but it wasn't obvious that the cards were actually the cause, just the general setup and flavour (Pisster and testikill for example).

No, aside from the rulebook's preamble, it does not contain profanity.

Samples:

Sir Lootzor's // Polished // Snakedance
Ben Voodoo's // Boulder-iffic // Bedazzlement
Pam and Hecuba's // Two-faced // Cone of Acid
Midnight Merlin's // Devilicious // Power Vortex
Whirly Do's // Burst-o-Ramic // Meatier Swarm

At worst, it's just a couple of cards that can be removed.

The rulebook of the sequel (Rumble at Castle Tentakill) is clean, and the following are the only offending cards:

Bitch Witch
Sexsquatch
Dr Gravelovers (the art is iffy)
Auto-Erotic
The F-U Suit (spelled exactly like this)


Can I give a creature First Strike in order to prevent it dealing any damage that combat? This is getting into some nitpicky corners of the rulebook.

First Strike damage and normal combat damage are dealt at separate times, and I believe there is a chance between the two resolving to play instants and other effects.

Does this mean that Swift Justice (for example) can be used to cause a creature to deal no combat damage in a turn?

First Strike damage is assigned and resolved (my opponent's creature does not have first strike, and therefore deals no combat damage during this step).
I cast Swift Justice on my opponent's creature.
Normal combat damage is assigned and resolved (my opponent's creature does have First Strike, and therefore deals no combat damage during this step).

Does this work if there are no creatures in combat that have First Strike normally? (i.e. Do we skip the First Strike damage step if no creatures have First Strike?)

Long story short, no: you can't give a creature First Strike after the first strike combat damage step in order to stop it dealing damage.  It will deal its damage as soon as it gets a reasonable window of opportunity.

Here's the relevant portions of the Comprehensive Rules:

  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.

  702.7c Giving first strike to a creature without it after combat damage has already been dealt in the first combat damage step won't
  prevent that creature from assigning combat damage in the second
  combat damage step. Removing first strike from a creature after it has
  already dealt combat damage in the first combat damage step won't
  allow it to also assign combat damage in the second combat damage step
  (unless the creature has double strike).


Can I counter a creature with Shroud? I was playing with a counter deck, and my opponent played Algae Gharial, which has shroud. Could I counter it?

Yes, Shroud on a card only works if the card is on the battlefield. In order to not be able to counter it the spell would have to have "~ cannot be countered [by spells or abilities]".

702.18a Shroud is a static ability. “Shroud” means “This permanent or player can’t be the target of spells or abilities.”
110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. A card or token becomes a permanent as it enters the battlefield and it stops being a permanent as it’s moved to another zone by an effect or rule.


How does Inquisitor's Flail interact with Trample? Lets say I am attacking with a Runeclaw Bear with an Inquisitor's Flail equipped.  My opponent uses a Runeclaw Bear of his own to block.  I then use Kessig Wolf Run to give my creature +3/+0 and trample.

How much damage can I deal my opponent in this scenario?

Inquisitor's Flail doesn't let you assign damage any differently, it is merely a replacement effect for how damage is dealt.  So essentially, you have a 5/2 trampling Runeclaw Bear up against a regular 2/2 Runeclaw Bear.  You must assign lethal damage to the blocking Runeclaw before you can assign any damage to the defending player, so you can only assign a maximum of 3 to the defending player.  When damage is dealt, Inquisitor's Flail doubles everything, resulting in 4 being dealt to each Runeclaw Bear, and 6 being dealt to the defending player.


If face down permanents have no abilities, why are they affected by "loses all abilities"? The Khans of Tarkir Release Notes say:

  If a face-down creature loses its abilities, it can’t be turned face up [...]

This implies that Morph is an ability. However, the community here seems fairly certain that Morph is not an ability.

  Answer - Why is Morph not considered an ability?

If Morph is not an ability, then how does losing all abilities prevent a face down permanent from being turned face up?

the community here seems fairly certain that Morph is not an ability.

Morph is an ability.

702.36a Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on [...]

But the face-down permanent doesn't have it.

707.2. Face-down spells and face-down permanents have no characteristics other than those listed by the ability or rules that allowed the spell or permanent to be face down. [...]
702.36b To cast a card using its morph ability, turn it face down. It becomes a 2/2 face-down creature card, with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost. [...]

This is confirmed by a ruling on Muraganda Petroglyphs.

Muraganda Petroglyphs gives a bonus only to creatures that have no rules text at all. This includes true vanilla creatures (such as Grizzly Bears), face-down creatures, many tokens, and creatures that have lost their abilities (due to Ovinize, for example). [...]

how does losing all abilities prevent a face down permanent from being turned face up?

The special action that allows a face-down card to be turned face-up checks the morph cost of the card as if it were face-up.

702.36d If you have priority, you may turn a face-down permanent you control face up. This is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule 115). To do this, show all players what the permanent’s morph cost would be if it were face up, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. (If the permanent wouldn’t have a morph cost if it were face up, it can’t be turned face up this way.) The morph effect on it ends, and it regains its normal characteristics. Any abilities relating to the permanent entering the battlefield don’t trigger when it’s turned face up and don’t have any effect, because the permanent has already entered the battlefield.

The effect suppressing the abilities of a face-down card with morph would continue to affect it once it's turned face-up too[1], so it wouldn't have a morph cost if it were face-up, so it cannot be turned face-up by the special action described in 702.36d.
This is confirmed by the The Khans of Tarkir Release Notes.

If a face-down creature loses its abilities, it can't be turned face up because it no longer has morph (or a morph cost).

If the effect wouldn't affect the face-up permanent (e.g. "Permanents with no names lose all abilities" created by a static ability), then you could morph it.


Do you get a gold when playing Trading Post? The symbols for Trading Post show a one gold symbol above the symbols for the resources.  Does this indicate that playing the card gives you a gold (in addition to getting a discount from it), or is it just supposed to remind you that you now only have to pay one gold for the resources shown?  We've always played that you get a gold for playing it, but the rules don't seem conclusive either way.

No, you do not receive any coins. It is indicating a discount. You only pay {1} Coin instead of the normal {2} from the neighbor in the direction to which the arrow points. You can contrast this with the Tavern card.
7-Wonder's rule book (page 12).

Tavern Icon - the card is worth the amount of coins pictured, the coins are taken from the bank only once, when the card is played.
Trading Post Icon - starting on the turn following the one in which this building was constructed, the player purchases raw materials from the neighboring city indicated by the arrow for 1 coin instead of 2.
Clarification for the Eastern Trading Post, the Western Trading Post and the Marketplace: arrows show to which neighboring city or cities to which the discount applies.


Interpretation of "If x R.R.'s are owned" The railroad cards in my Monopoly set state different rent amounts "if x R.R.'s (sic) are owned". The obvious interpretation is that the player collecting rent has to own multiple railroads for this to apply. However, in a recent game one of my players suggested that since the cards don't specify who owns the railroad, the rent increase should take into account the total number of railroads owned by any player.

I couldn't find anything clarifying this in the rules that came with my set. I'm guessing tournament play would use the common-sense interpretation of only the rent-collecting player's ownership counting, but is there anything in official rules (or possibly a newer version of the card) that clarifies this further?

The use of passive language here is quite annoying, and the official Monopoly rules from the Hasbro website don't actually provide enough detail to give a definitive answer. There are plenty of websites that argue in favour of the interpretation that it's based on how many Railroads are owned by the player collecting rent, but for a definitive answer? We have to go back.

In fact, the version of the rules that seems to most clearly explain how to collect rent on the railroads is the 1904 version of the Landlord's Game, by Lizzie J Magie, whose design was taken and rebranded as Monopoly (and Clarence Darrow credited as inventor) about 20 years later. In these rules:

  If one player owns 2 railroads, he charges $10 fare; if 3, he charges $20; 4, $50.

This is reflected in several versions of the rules available on the linked site. Unfortunately, I've found it hard to find exactly where the rules stopped bothering to explain this, but as far as I can tell this has always been the common interpretation (but Monopoly is famous for having rules that "everyone knows" even though they aren't official, so this doesn't necessarily mean much).


What is the best strategy to avoid large farms in Carcassonne? Whenever I play with my housemates and friends, Carcassonne often becomes 'farm wars'; everyone who understands the nuances of farm play gets caught up in playing meeple (or as I call them, 'dudes') whether or not it helps, as we know how much of a game winner it can be.

Often it results in everyone wasting 2-3 farmers when someone gets the super farm at the end, or players who don't place a farmer dude seriously lagging behind. It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't always get one large farm that everyone goes for.

How do we avoid the trap of focusing on farms too much?
(would house rules help us out?)

We're using the third edition scoring rules and no expansions.

There are a couple of expansions I think could help, as well as some strategery. First, expansions:

The River II tends to at least break the board up into 2 or 3
big farms, if not lots of smaller ones.
Abbey & Mayor adds a Barn piece that can really change the way
fields are played.
I think the dragon from The Princess & the Dragon might play in
here as well, but I haven't ever actually played that expansion, and
it doesn't appeal to me generally.
Inns & Cathedrals can really beef up city and road scoring,
rendering farms less important.

Other expansions could also help simply by adding tiles. Since more players means fewer tiles per player, adding more tiles can hold off the farm rush a bit. Adding other scoring mechanisms also helps de-emphasize farms.

Now for strategy:

Push for big cities. In general, my friends and I tend to fight over big cities, with some scoring over 30 points. Cities score more points this way than as field consumers, so if you exclusively focused on this while your friends exclusively focused on fields, you'd win every time. In reality, putting meeples on fields too early in the game tends to cripple players from playing on cities and cloisters, so take advantage and "share" their cities once they are out of meeples to fight back.

Make little fields pockets. If you spot an area where there are going to be three or four cities, try to isolate it and own it with just one farmer. This happens all the time in games I play, and is really annoying to be left out of.

Toward the end of the game, it's natural for everybody to start going for the big fields, but picking the right moment to really start pushing for this is part of strategy, so just enjoy it. If you are playing with 4 or 5 players, you have many fewer tiles per player than with 2 or 3, so farm rushing happens earlier. One possible way to take advantage is to just try to share in lots of features, rather than winning all of them. If you share every other players big cities or farms, you will do better than if you try to hoard the features to yourself. Obviously this is not true in a 2-player game, and not as true in a 3-player game.


Can I simply ignore some effects on a card when there's no target for them? While playing a game with a friend, I faced a problem we couldn't agree on how to solve :

He played a card (Decimate) which had 4 distinct effects.

For a combined cost cost of 4 mana, this card had:

  Destroy target artifact, target creature, target enchantment, and target land.

Without any "chose one, chose two, etc" indication.

There was no artifact for him to target, could he still have cast this spell while simply ignoring the "destroy target artifact"?

No, he could not legally cast the spell in the first place.

Declaring targets is one of the steps of casting a spell. For each instance of the word "target", you must choose a legal target. You haven't legally cast the spell until you have chosen all the targets.

You can never just ignore a part of a card instruction unless it says "may" or "choose".

  601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires.

Decimate works as a good example of what you are talking about. Because the word "target" is used 4 times, you must choose an object 4 times. See the Gatherer rulings for Decimate:

  [...]If the spell or ability uses the word target in multiple places, the same object or player can be chosen once for each instance of the word “target.” For example, you could choose Tree of Tales for both the artifact and the land. You still need a legal target enchantment and creature as well.

Note that if any of the targets become illegal before the spell resolves, then the spell will still resolve unless every target becomes illegal. So if you were the only player with a creature; but wanted to cast Decimate for the other effects; you could target your own creature, and then if you had a way to make it illegal (bounce or flicker effects, shroud, etc); then the spell would still resolve as you want.

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal.


How does color identity work in Commander? I recently began playing commander, and have run into a few questions, mainly about color compatibility with a commander. I think I can lump them all together into this one question:
What exactly determines color identity in cards?
And then just a few specific examples to make sure I'm understanding this correctly:

If my blue commander has an activated ability in non-blue color(s), what colors can I run in the deck? e.g.: Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest

For a mono-blue commander deck, can I have a card with a non-blue color(s) activated ability in the deck? e.g.: Cloudheath Drake

For a mono-blue commander deck, can I include in my deck a card with a hybrid mana cost that can be cast with either blue or non-blue mana? e.g.: Covetous Urge

For a mono-blue commander deck, can I have a card that makes non-blue mana? e.g.: Iron Myr

The color-related deckbuilding rules of Commander are centered around a specific characteristic named 'color identity'
Color identity is distinct from the color of the card itself, which is only determined by the mana cost and color-defining abilities

903.4. The Commander variant uses color identity to determine what cards can be in a deck with a certain commander. The color identity of a card is the color or colors of any mana symbols in that card’s mana cost or rules text, plus any colors defined by its characteristic-defining abilities (see rule 604.3) or color indicator (see rule 204).
Example: Bosh, Iron Golem is a legendary artifact creature with mana cost {8} and the ability “{3}{R}, Sacrifice an artifact: Bosh, Iron Golem deals damage equal to the sacrificed artifact’s converted mana cost to any target.” Bosh’s color identity is red.
903.4a Color identity is established before the game begins.
903.4b Reminder text is ignored when determining a card’s color identity. See rule 207.2.
903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card’s color identity. This is an exception to rule 711.4a.
Example: Civilized Scholar is the front face of a double-faced card with mana cost {2}{U}. Homicidal Brute is the back face of that double-faced card and has a red color indicator. The card’s color identity is blue and red.
...
903.5c A card can be included in a Commander deck only if every color in its color identity is also found in the color identity of the deck’s commander.
Example: Wort, the Raidmother is a legendary creature with mana cost {4}{R/G}{R/G}. Wort’s color identity is red and green. Each card in a Wort Commander deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color. Each mana symbol in the mana cost or rules text of a card in this deck must be only red, only green, both red and green, or have no color.

What this means is that if a mana symbol appears on a card, it is part of that card's color identity. It doesn't matter if the symbol is in the mana cost, an ability cost on the card, or is produced by an effect of the card.  If the card has rules that grant it other colors (like Transguild Courier) then it has those colors as well. The exception is if that symbol appears in reminder text: Trinisphere still has a colorless identity, and Crypt Ghast still has a mono-black color identity.
If a card has a color identity that includes a color that is not part of your commander's color identity, it cannot be added to your deck.
To address your specific examples:

Shu Yun has a WUR color identity.
Cloudhearth Drake has a WU color identity
Covetous Urge has a UB color identity
Iron Myr has a R color identity.


Can Vesuva copy a land that comes the same time into play as itself? When I tutor Vesuva and another land with my Primeval Titan, can I let Vesuva be a copy of that other land?

No. From the comprehensive rules:

  614.12a If a replacement effect that modifies how a permanent enters the battlefield requires a choice, that choice is made before the permanent enters the battlefield.

Vesuva and the other land enter the battlefield at the same time. However the choice of which land to copy must be made before Vesuva enters the battlefield, which means the other land isn't on the battlefield yet either, so it can't be chosen.


Optimal Leading Card in Cribbage In the "Play" phase of Cribbage (31's), what is the optimal leading card to play. I have always played a 4 if I had one, because it can't be fifteened and is less likely to result in a run, because an opponent is unlikely to play a 5 or a 6. It is also not as useful as 1s, 2s or 3s at the later part of the Play when it gets close to 31.

However, I fear that this tactic is becoming too predictable, and my fellow players will know that my hand lacks a 4 if I have not played it immediately as a Leading card.

What other cards are optimal leading cards.

Having spent some time trying to work out probabilities and carrying out some research, I have come up with a few conclusions.

Almost NEVER lead with a 5 or a 10.

There are 16 cards that value 10 in the pack (30%), so playing a 5 gives a very high probability that the other player will get 2points for 15.
Same theory for leading with a 10. Although far fewer 5s are in the pack, these are highly valuable cards and often not sent to the crib.

Keep back Aces for the end

They come in very useful for getting 31 for 2, and possible doubles or triples.

6s, 7s, 8s, 9s

These are strong cards in a hand, so are often quite easy to 15. Leading with a 9 or 6 allows the other player to get a 15 with little worry of a run occurring. 7s and 8s can trick the other player into going for a 15 to gain you a run, but can be followed by another card to make a further run from the other player. This would give the other player 7 points and you 3 points. Not a great return.

Deuces and Treys

2s and 3s are what is left. A 2 is probably useful to hold back for the same reason as the Aces, but 2s and 3s are the safest options for leading.

So, the answer to vary the leading card (i.e. instead of always playing a 4) is to use a 3, or even possibly a 2.


Can Selective Adaptation be used to get equipment or enchantments? Selective Adaptation, a green sorcery, says:

Reveal the top seven cards of your library. Choose from among them a card with flying, a card with first strike, and so on for double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, trample, and vigilance. Put one of the chosen cards onto the battlefield, the other chosen cards into your hand, and the rest into your graveyard.

Will this work for equipment and auras? For example, Basilisk Collar says

Equipped creature has deathtouch and lifelink.

If I understand keywords correctly, Basilisk Collar gives Lifelink to equipped creature, but it doesn't have lifelink.
So - can I put Basilisk Collar on the battlefield with Selective Adaptation?

Basilisk Collar gives lifelink to equipped creature, but it doesn't have lifelink.

Correct, therefore Selective Adaptation cannot fetch Basilisk Collar. For example, if an unequipped Basilisk Collar is animated with Karn, the Great Creator's +1 ability:

+1: Until your next turn, up to one target noncreature artifact becomes an artifact creature with power and toughness each equal to its converted mana cost.

the collar itself won't have deathtouch.
While Selective Adaptation can't fetch Basilisk Collar itself, there are some non-creature non-vehicles which have either indestructible or hexproof and therefore can be fetched with Selective Adaptation, for example:

Darksteel Axe, an indestructible equipment
Lotus Field, a hexproof land
Nine Lives, a hexproof enchantment

(Credit to mreux and the Scryfall folks for the query!)


Does Marchesa and a creature with modular work together? I control Marchesa, the Black Rose and Arcbound Ravager.

When Ravager dies, will the abilities of Marchesa and Ravager both trigger? If you can confirm it with rules, that would be great.

Yes.

Both are triggered abilities, both would be added to the stack when the Arcbound Ravager dies and resolve independently. It's certainly possible, and indeed happens quite often in the game, that multiple triggered abilities trigger from the same event.


Order of extra actions/minions? So far, we have always played under the assumption that you can play an extra action/minion before playing the standard one. Another player just challenged that interpretation claiming, "it's not an 'extra' until you've played the normal one first."

Can you play an extra action/minion before playing the standard one?

Most instructions must be followed immediately. For example, if you are instructed to move or to destroy a minion, you must do so when instructed. "Play an extra minion" and "play an extra action" are special. The instruction simply raises the limit on the number of minions or actions you can play this turn. (Rule quoted at the bottom.)
For example, Insta-Grow (Action from the Plants) reads

Play an extra minion.

It means

You may play one more minion than you otherwise could this turn.

Before playing Insta-Grow, you can play up to one Action and one Minion on your turn.
After playing Insta-Grow, you can play up to one Action and two Minions on your turn.
Minions and Actions can be played in any order — they can even be intermixed — and you need not play all the cards you can play.

Extra: Normally, you can play one minion and one action each turn. A card that lets you play an extra minion or action lets you play an additional card of that type during that turn. You don't have to play the extra card right away unless the extra card was gained by a Special ability.
[Accompanying example of "Extra" is "Spreading the Word". Action: Play up to two extra minions with the same name as a minion in play.]

("Unless the extra card was gained by a Special ability" wasn't present in the original game's rules. This quote comes the Cthulhu set.)


Is putting multiple counters onto a target an atomic action? Consider these two cards:

Fathom Mage

  Whenever a +1/+1 counter is placed on Fathom Mage, you may draw a card.

Dragonscale Boon

  Put two +1/+1 counters on target creature and untap it.

Would Fathom Mage's effect trigger once or twice?

The rulings for Fathom Mage indicate that a single effect placing multiple counters on it, causes its ability to trigger multiple times.

  1/24/2013: If multiple +1/+1 counters are placed on Fathom Mage simultaneously, its last ability will trigger once for each of those counters.

As a result, Dragonscale Boon would cause the ability to happen twice, and you could draw up to two cards.

Hypothetically if Wizards wanted you to only draw one card when you cast Dragonscale Boon, they'd probably word Fathom Mage the way they did Hardened Scales.

  Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters is placed on Fathom Mage, you may draw a card.

In this case, the ability only triggers once for each discrete event. Dragonscale Boon would only cause the ability to happen a single time.

If we gave Fathom Mage an ability like "RRR: put a +1/+1 counter on Fathom Mage", then you would be able to draw a card once for each time you activate the ability, regardless of how the triggered ability was worded. If you're adding more than one counter, you're activating the ability more than once, and each ability generates a brand new event.


Necron Monolith movement speed Necron codex says that Monolith is a skimmer that can move up to 6". Then it can fire it's weapons.

Does that mean that instead of firing I can move it to another 6" like with any other vehicle or am I allowed to only move it 6" a turn?

The Monolith is a verrrrrrrrrry slow skimmer -- it can only move 6" per turn, but it can also ignore terrain features while moving.

I don't have the Codex handy, but I'm fairly certain the Monolith says it can only ever move 6" per turn.


Is K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7 a valid hand in Dou Dizhu (aka "Fighting The Landlord")? QUESTION

In dou dizhu, is K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7 assumed to be a standard hand type?

BACKGROUND

I understand the '飞机带小翼' (i.e. "airplane with small wings", or consecutive triplets with added cards, for example: K-K-K-A-A-A-4-7 ) hand type to be a valid hand by way of the Pagat rules and by Wikipedia.

Wikipedia also refers to a hand type called '航天飞机带小翼', or "space shuttle with small wings", which consists of consecutive quads with added cards (e.g. K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7).  I'm not sure where to find an official, standardized set of rules for dou dizhu because I don't speak Chinese, so I'm trying to figure out if the quads thing is a regional variant.

As far as I know, no, quads cannot be sequenced, let alone "with wings".

That said, Dou Dizhu, like many other games of Chinese origin, is a game with many local variantions and house rules. (Most variations comes in how the landlord is determined.)

While I will not be surprized if some people play with quad squences, it would rarely make a difference because

it is already unusual that a player has an "airplane" or a bomb, having two consecutive quads are much rarer. (By my calculations, ~.1% for the landlord and ~.02% for the peasants)
like the quad sets ("quad with two" and "quad with two pairs"), it is seldom advantageous to play it and give up the bomb

At least in my area, "space shuttle" (穿梭機) refers to a sequence of three triplets.


When you "sacrifice 3 creatures" as a cost, are they sacrificed one at a time? If you want to activate the activated ability of Teysa, Orzhov Scion, does "sacrifice 3 creatures" count as 1 cost, or 3 separate costs? And, does it matter which it is at all?  601.2g says The player pays the total cost in any order. Does this mean that the creatures are sacrificed in any order; or are they sacrificed all at the same time, as 1 cost?

Further, is it any different if they are sacrificed all at the same time, or one after the other? I believe it wouldn't matter, because no triggered abilities would go on the stack until a player is about to receive priority anyway. 603.6d says ...will trigger based on their existence, and the appearance of objects, prior to the event rather than afterward. But what is "the event" that it looks prior to? Is each sacrifice of a creature a separate event? If this were the case, then sacrificing Teysa before the other creatures would mean that you don't get the tokens for Teysa's triggered ability. Or, is "the event" the activating of Teysa's ability, in which case the order makes no difference?

When you “sacrifice 3 creatures” as a cost, are they sacrificed one at a time?

No. "Sacrifice 3 creatures" only has one keyword action. This differs from "Sacrifice a creature. Sacrifice a creature. Sacrifice a creature."

When a payment consists of more than one action, those action aren't performed simultaneously as per the rule you quoted ("in any order"). That is practically never relevant.

It means that if part of the cost requires that you sacrifice a permanent, and that part of the cost requires that you tap a permanent, you could tap a permanent then sacrifice that same permanent. If all parts of the payment was done simultaneously, I don't think that would be possible.

In this case, there's only one action ("sacrifice"), so asking about order makes no sense. All three creatures are sacrificed at once since there's only one instruction to sacrifice.

So yes, for each black and white creature you sacrifice at the same time as Teysa, Teysa's second ability will trigger. Because of 603.6d, all that's relevant is that the Teysa was on the battlefield immediately before the sacrifice, and that the sacrificed creatures were black[1]. This is supported by a ruling on Teysa:

  You may sacrifice Teysa itself to help pay for its first ability, but unlike other white and black creatures, it won't cause its second ability to trigger. Any other white and black creatures you sacrifice to pay for the first ability will cause the second ability to trigger.

It doesn't matter that Teysa left the battlefield during, that Teysa isn't on the battlefield afterwards, or that one of the creatures became a colorless artifact card when it got sacrificed.


Is there a Risk World Championship? Is there any national or world level governing body that holds an annual Championship?

The Risk Tournament of Champions celebrated their 20th championship in 2008, the 2009 championship was cancelled.  The web page @ risktoc.org is defunct. You can view the old web pages via The Internet Archive Wayback machine.

The replacement is the new Annual Risk Classic.  The 1st championship will be decided November 6-7, 2010.


Does "creature with flying" count creatures that gained flying from an enchantment? Clip Wings says you have to sacrifice a creature with flying. Assume the opponent has a non-flying creature (Rancid Rats for example) enchanted with Gryff's Boon (creature gains flying). Will Clip Wings kill the enchanted creature (Rancid Rats in this example)?

Yes. A "creature with flying" is any creature that currently has the ability "flying" for any reason - whether its own card text, an enchantment, or even a temporary source like Aerial Maneuver which grants flying until end of turn.


Limit to the amount of resources a player can spend when handling a crisis In Archipelago is there any limit to the amount of resources a single player can spend to deal with an internal or external crisis?

There is a strong opinion on the communities that no limit exist. In fact, at page 7 of the rulebook, the following passage supports this: "Obviously, the first players will tend to use up the resources present on the domestic market board (I) first. Then they will use up their own resources, if they so wish".


Can Link monsters be switched to defense? One thing I've noticed is that Link monsters don't even have defense points. A card I like to use is Book of Moon, which lets me switch a monster into face-down defense mode. Since Link monsters don't even Def category, is it still possible to switch them into face-down or face-up defense?

From the Official Ruling, page 15, first paragraph:

  Link Monsters have no DEF and cannot ever be in Defense Position.
  They can’t be changed to Defense Position by a card effect. They
  can’t even be flipped into face-down Defense Position.

We can see that Link monsters can't ever be in Defense position, not face-up or face-down. This also excludes changes from card effects like Book of Moon.

More info on this answer and question.


Re attack after “noping” a chain of attacks In a game of Exploding Kittens, what happens when a chain of attack cards is followed by a Nope card, and the previous person attacks again?
For example:

Player A plays an Attack card
Player B plays an Attack card
Player C plays an Attack card
Player D plays a Nope card
Player C plays an Attack card

What happens exactly? It re starts with only 2 turns, or 6 turns for player D?

As I understand it, a Nope card cancels only a single card (or one action with multiple cards in the case of a special combo) so player D will play 6 turns.
From the rules:

Stop any action except for an Exploding Kitten or a Defuse Card. Imagine that any card beneath a Nope Card never existed.
You can play a Nope Card at any time before an action has begun, even if it’s not your turn. Any cards that have been noped are lost. Leave them in the Discard Pile. You can even play a Nope on a SPECIAL COMBO


Does Sultai Ascendancy interact with cards that care about surveil? Does Sultai Ascendancy interact with cards that care about surveil? Like
Dimir Spybug for instance.

No, Sultai Ascendancy does not interact with cards that care about surveil. Surveil is a specific keyword ability defined in rule 701.41. Cards that trigger when you surveil only trigger if the instruction contains that keyword. The oracle text of Sultai Ascendancy describes an action that is the same as surveil, but it does not use the word "surveil".


Can I counter a land-creature? Say my opponent plays Dryad Arbor. Can I counter it with a Cancel from my hand? I know that lands can't be countered because they don't go on the stack, but what about land-creatures?

The short answer is that Dryad Arbor can't be countered because it can only be played as a land, not a spell. Here's the supporting statement from the card's Oracle rulings:

  Dryad Arbor is played as a land. It doesn't use the stack, it's not a
  spell, it can't be responded to, it has no mana cost, and it counts as
  your land play for the turn.

And the card's reminder text:

  (Dryad Arbor isn't a spell, it's affected by summoning sickness, and
  it has "{T}: Add {G} to your mana pool.")

If you prefer rules over rulings, let's start with the rule saying you can't counter land:

  305.1. ... Playing a land is a special action; it doesn't use the stack (see rule 115). Rather, the player simply puts the land onto the
  battlefield. Since the land doesn't go on the stack, it is never a
  spell, and players can't respond to it with instants or activated
  abilities.

Moreover, you'll want to note this section of the comp rules:

  305.9. If an object is both a land and another card type, it can be played only as a land. It can't be cast as a spell.

Essentially, this rule is saying that the Land card type overrides the normal behavior of the various spell card types.

This rather esoteric rule isn't actually required for Dryad Arbor to work the way that it does -- simply having no listed mana cost would mean that you can't play it like a normal spell, while being of the Land type would allow it to be played as a land. My best guess as to why it's there is that the original multi-typed lands, Mirrodin's artifact lands, were much more "land" than "spell," so this was codified in the rules for playing them. I take it as not so much saying that a land with a mana cost would still be uncastable as precluding the existence of such a card altogether.


How to open with Baratheon at Game of Thrones Board Game? I've played a couple of games as Baratheon or closely observing the Baratheon player, and in my experience, there are two initial strategies that people choose. I'm undecided which one is better.

The problem is centered around Storm's End - is it better to take it, or leave it to Martells, who will in 90% of cases take it right in the 1st turn. You have the advantage of moving first though, so you can do it before them.

In the games where I chose to take it, the Martells usually didn't engage me and attack it right away, so I managed to basically confine them to Dorne throughout most of the game. On the other hand, I always ended up stretching my forces thin, and ultimately I had a hard time defending it from Martells/Tyrells, also leaving King's Landing exposed, and weakening my northern defences against the Starks.

If I decided to leave it to Martells however, I gave them more space to breathe and grow, and they ended up constantly harrassing my lands, and the support orders they gave from Storm's End's port helped them a lot in war against me. This option has the benefit of not antagonizing the Martells so early on, but I'm not sure about the gain of it, since from what I have seen, Martells usually ally with the Tyrells, not Baratheons, who stand in their way to go north, so they mostly end up attacking Baratheons anyway.

Which strategy is better?

I have done some research on it on various game boards, and most experienced players recommend not to take Storm's End, and offering to leave it to Martells on the condition that they don't muster units there.

After a moment of thinking, I think it's about right. Storm's End is, after all, just one regular castle. But it basically confines Martells to Dorne, so it encourages betrayal, and since Dornish Sea is rather impregnable early game, it will suffer constant raiding orders from there, reducing its usefulness almost to zero. If Martells try to muster there, you can always raid them from Shipbreaker Bay anyway. Out of your two closest enemies - Martells and Starks, the former are usually not the weaker side, so striking an alliance with them seems like a better option.


Can a team-match VP score be negative? I am not sure if here is a correct place for this kind of question.

We had team-matches last weekend(total VP score being 20 for each match). In the first match our teammates in the other table were not ready on time. The rule was like this: -1 VP for each 5 minutes. They were exactly 23 minutes late and so the directors agreed for -5 VP penalty for the match.

Then we played and could only take 4 VP out of 20. Score was 16-4 (we lost). Then directors applied -5 VP late penalty and we got -1 VP for the match.

Directors said that if we hadn't play the match we would get 0 VP. We played and got -1 VP. They say that the idea behind the decision is 'We tried out our chance. By playing we may have earn more than 0 VP, so negative VP is possible.'

But I am looking from a different perspective. With a sporting perspective (I think) a team should not get less point than not-playing the match.

Can anybody enlighten me about this issue?

I am asking this here because I noticed that they were not confident about the decision. At the end of the weekend we were eliminated from the tournament for just 0.9 VP.

Thanks in advance

Until a few years ago most Victory Scales awarded negative VPs to a blitzed team. (This link makes reference to such.)

However, by not being at the table on time, ready to play, your teammates are introducing a very disruptive effect on the entire tourney. Your opponents have paid to have an opponent and you have declined to show, for no good reason, and with inadequate warning to allow alternate arrangements to be made. Read the fine print - once you paid your entry fee you contracted to appear and play according to the conditions of contest. Accept your medicine and learn better for next time.

Update:

Alexander Woo's comment to the questions inspired me to check out the ACBL General Conditions of Contest for Swiss Teams. In those it is clear that penalties for tardiness to arrive are assessed in IMP's even when the match scoring is in VP's, although the penalties for slow play are assessed in VP's.

  TARDINESS

  A team that fails to seat four players by the announced start of a match is subject to
  penalty. The record of a team whose opponents incur a penalty will not be affected
  (improved).
  In addition, one board shall be removed from play eight minutes after the start of the
  match and another board removed seven minutes thereafter. Three IMPs will be
  awarded the non-offending team for each board so removed. If a team has not seated
  four players when one-third of the time of the match has expired, that team shall forfeit
  the match. At any method of scoring, the teams are assigned a result as though the nonoffending
  team had won by three IMPs and the loser is assigned zero. ....


What is the smallest territory in go that can be successfully invaded? Let's stay one player has a corner of the board totally enclosed, but with no stones in it, like this:
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . X .
$$ | . . . . . . X .
$$ | . . . . . . X .
$$ | . . . . . . X .
$$ | . . . . . . X .
$$ | . . . . . . X .
$$ | X X X X X X X .
$$ | . . . . . . . .

How big does this space have do be before the other player can successfully invade it?  Successfully invade here means build an alive structure despite the owner of the territory defending it move-for-move with expert play on both sides.  The defender's surrounding stones should be assumed immortal.
It seems obvious that 4x4 and smaller is not invadable, and I strongly suspect a 5x5 space isn't invadable either.
This page on Sensei's Library suggests that a 6x6 space is not invadable under optimal play, but there is some dispute.  Is that true?  How about 6x7 or 7x7?

I've seen and played a version of this were you put the black stones along the center lines of a regular 19x19 board so you carve out a 9x9 space. White is then supposed to create a living group inside. For players of equal strength this is approximately a fair game. I'm not sure what the result of perfect play for either side would be but I'm pretty sure this is the edge case. So 8x8 should be killable if both sides know what they are doing and 10x10 should live. The interesting lines of play for a 9x9 space usually start with white playing the 3-3 point and black answering on the 2-2 point.


If Thanos has an attack of 0, do I still need a hero with the attack symbol to fight him? This seems unusual, but I encountered this last night. I was playing solo with Thanos as the mastermind and Steal the Weaponized Plutonium as the scheme. This scheme adds a villain group to the villain deck, bringing the deck total to 29: 16 villains, 8 scheme twists, 3 henchmen, 1 master strike, and 1 bystander.

When playing solo, the rules note that Thanos gets -2 attack for every villain in your victory pile. The way I was drawing cards off the villain deck caused me to be able to build up my victory pile very quickly, and I was at 12 villains in my victory pile about halfway through the game. This brought Thanos' attack to 0.

In order to fight Thanos in this situation, do I still need to play a hero with any attack value? The alternative seems to be me taking free shots at him for the rest of the game regardless of what I play on my turn, which seems sort of odd. Is there something else that I'm missing about this situation that would lead to a clearer ruling?

The specific text for the Solo Mode Thanos variant reads:

  When fighting Thanos in Solo Mode and using a Villain Group besides Infinity Gems, Thanos gets -2 (attack symbol) for each Villain in your Victory Pile from that Group.

Firstly, if you are using the Infinity Gems Villain Group, this rule does not take effect, and his attack is only reduced by Infinity Gems.

Secondly, note that it does not state "every Villain in your Victory Pile", it specifically says "each Villain in your Victory Pile from that Group".

This indicates that you have to pick one Villain Group in the Villain Deck to replace Infinity Gems as his weakness.

Thus only one Villain Group in the deck would count against him, and since there are only 8 cards in any given Villain Group, the most that this could reduce his attack by is 16.


Set A Watch: Is Goblin Chief a Goblin? The location I was in was the Goblin Cave, which states:

Increase the health of all goblins by 3

Now, Goblin is a creature type that's noted on the bottom of the creature cards. I revealed a Summon in the Line, and the Unhallowed that came into play here was the Goblin Chief. The type box of the Goblin Chief states Unhallowed, not Goblin.
Should I assume it is also a Goblin for the Location's ability and increase its health?

I asked the creator, Mike Gnade, on Twitter. His response was:

Goblin chief? No he’s an unhallowed.

Goblin Cave therefor does not boost Goblin Chief.


When is a creature's toughness calculated At what point is a creature's toughness calculated? If I have Korozda Guildmage where I can sacrifice a creature and put X 1/1 token creatures onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature's toughness.

If I have a creature that is 4/4 and cast Giant Growth to give it +3/+3 then sacrifice it? Do I get 4 tokens or 7?

Also what if my 4/4 creature was dealt 2 combat damage before I sacrificed it? Do I get 2 or 4 creatures?

Finally, what about counters? If my 4/4 had a +1/+1 do I get 4 or 5 tokens?

At what point is a creature's toughness calculated?

It's continually calculated. The real question is when does Korozda Guildmage's ability check the creature's toughness.

Korozda Guildmage's ability checks the creature's toughess as it resolves because it's not needed before then [CR 107.3e]. Since the creature no longer exists at that point, last known information is used [CR 112.7a]. Effectively, that means the total toughness of the creature at the time it was sacrificed is used.

  If I have a creature that is 4/4 and cast Giant Growth to give it +3/+3 then sacrifice it? Do I get 4 tokens or 7?

7. Giant Growth increases the toughness of a creature.

  Also what if my 4/4 creature was dealt 2 combat damage before I sacrificed it? Do I get 2 or 4 creatures?

4. It's a 4/4 with 2 damage marked on it. Damage does not reduce toughness. (Well, damage from a source with wither or infect can reduce toughness, but only indirectly, by virtue of giving -1/-1 counters.)

  Finally, what about counters?

+1/+1 counters, -1/-1 counters and any other similar counters affect toughness.

  If my 4/4 had a +1/+1 do I get 4 or 5 tokens?

5. Effects that modify toughness (such as Giant Growth's or Glorious Anthem's) modify toughness.


Must you decide to activate shields before entering a nebula or asteroid field? Xia is full of opportunities for hotshot stunt pilots: there are plenty of nebulas and asteroid belts to whiz about in, but it's a risky maneuver. You roll a d20, and if the result is from 1 to 10, you take that much damage (or, in a nebula, lose that much Energy). The rules call out that shields can protect you from these hazards, but it's unclear when you must place arming tokens on your shields in order to do this.

If you must place the arming tokens before entering the field, then there's a 50% chance that you wasted both energy and actions. This is a very steep cost, considering that the most common use of shields, defending against enemy fire, doesn't cost you an arming token and has a guaranteed benefit. (Or rather, you don't need to save an arming token from last turn, and you're allowed to re-arm immediately after the attack; it costs energy, but not actions.)

So do you need to activate shields before rolling for the result of entering hazardous spaces, or can you do it afterward?

You roll the shields after you roll the damage from a nebula or asteroid field

Source: Rule book, page 7, Shields

http://www.faroffgames.com/images/games/xia-legends-of-a-drift-system/Xia_Rulebook.pdf


Bridge and limitations for Dummy One of my partners is nearly blind and has trouble distinguishing between hearts and diamonds and between spades and clubs.  Is it proper for me, as Dummy, to call out the cards as they are played on the table so the my partner leads the proper suit?

From the Laws of Rubber Bridge:

  Law 42 – Dummy’s Rights
  Dummy is entitled to give information as to fact or
  Law but may not initiate the discussion.

So if declarer asks, dummy can say what suit was led. It looks like dummy can not do so without being asked, but I'd assume that if you explain the situation to your opponents (or a tournament judge), they'd allow you to dispense with the asking as long as you are consistent (e.g. naming the suit every time should be fine, but naming the suit sporadically might get you accused of some kind of signaling scheme).

Note that Law 42 for Duplicate Bridge is slightly less permissive; definitely clarify with your opponents first under those rules.


In Scrabble, What is the big deal with playing with etched in tiles? Some people raise the issue of "brailling" tiles and refuse to play with etched in tiles, such as those that which commonly come with a store bought version of Scrabble.  Is this a big deal?  Have there been issues in the past with "brailling" in top-rated tournament play?  Unless if someone is super good at it, I would imagine it would be easy to see if someone is taking too long to draw their tiles.  It seems like too big a fuss for me.

Apparently there is enough of a concern, because according to the latest tournament rules:

  Tiles that can be distinguished by feel are not permitted, except as deemed appropriate by the Director for players who are blind.

In addition, to keep players from swapping tiles with adjacent games:

  Adjacent games should not use identical tiles.

My finger sensitivity isn't good enough to tell tiles apart, but I'm more than certain that people with better-than-normal finger sensitivity could easilty tell tiles apart.


Is there a significant advantage to being at an 8 person pod over a 6 person pod? From this question and from experience at a local shop, when there are 14 people who want to draft at Friday Night Magic then they are split into 2 pods, 1 pod of 8 and one pod of 6. Anecdotally, I have noticed that the larger pod tends to have the better decks. One reason I can think that might account for this is that the card pool is bigger, so more specialized cards that only go in very specific decks (for example: Rise from the Tides in a spell heavy deck) are more likely to make their way to the person who needs them. Are there any advantages to being in a small pod? Is there a clear total strategic advantage to being in the 8 person pod over the 6 person pod?

Note: I understand that within a pod there is no advantage, I'm curious about what potential advantage there would be in games between people who drafted from different pods.

The number of players in a draft certainly affects the draft, but the effect is symmetrical; all players are affected similarly.

One reason that 8 players is optimal is because the pairings work out perfectly; no one is going to get paired up/down.

From your opening pack you get:

the 1st, 7th and 13th pick in a 6 person draft
the 1st, and 9th pick in an 8 person draft
the 1st, and 11th pick in a 10 person draft

In a smaller draft the signals are clearer, you see the same pack more times. Correctly reading the signals is rewarded with more information about what cards might wheel (come back around to you).

In a larger draft the signals are weaker, you see more packs, but less picks per pack, nothing worthwhile wheels in a 10-person pod. In an 8-person pod, wheeling cards is rarer than in a 6-pod, but still happens occasionally.

  Is there a clear total strategic advantage to being in the 8 person pod over the 6 person pod?

No, if anything the advantage goes the other way; a 6-person pod will favor the players who read signals the best. The large the pod the more it favors card-evaluation skills. Different skills are rewarded differently depending on the pod size.


Can you block with a creature and then sacrifice it? I block a Territorial Allosaurus with a Brindle Boar. I sacrifice the Brindle Boar. Does the Territorial Allosaurus still do damage to me?

Yes, that works; you won't take any damage, unless the Allosaurus somehow has trample. The Allosaurus remains a 'blocked' creature after the Boar is assigned to block it:

  509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

  510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage.

After declaring blockers, before the combat damage step begins, there is an opportunity for both players to play instants or activate abilities like the Boar's.


In mahjong, how will joker tiles change the game strategy? I'm developing a new ruleset of mahjong. It's supposed to be a hybrid of Japanese rule and Chinese rule. I'm also considering including the joker tile, also known as baida (百塔). Here is the sketch of how it works:

There are 8 joker tiles in total.

Upon calling Mahjong (和了):

if you have 2 joker tiles, they are considered as an arbitrary Pair (対子).

if you have 3 joker tiles, they are considered as an arbitrary Chow/Pong  (順子) / (刻子).

if you declared a concealed Kong with joker tiles, they are considered as an arbitrary Kong (槓子).

It is possible to declare Pon, Kan, or Ron to a joker tile.

It is not possible to declare Chi to a joker tile.

A Dora tile declares itself as a Dora. This also applies to a joker tile. But if the tile is a flower tile, it doesn't declare a Dora.

But I'm unsure how this will change the game strategy. How will the game strategy change, and why didn't Japanese rule and Chinese rule use joker tiles at the first place?

I don
t see that this would significantly change strategy or play. I concur that playtesting would be a good idea.
My understanding is that the "joker" was never a part of the traditional game, and was added when the "American" rules were defined. I learned to play with slightly modified Chinese rules, and the jokers were never used. But if you are defining a new rules set, you can use them however you wish, of course.


Must you have an uncompleted destination card in Ticket to Ride? Put another way, once you complete the destinations on your initial destination cards, do you have to draw a new destination card or can you play without having an uncompleted destination?

Drawing Destination cards later in the game is optional - the only time you have to draw Destination cards is at the start of the game.

If you finish all of yours early enough then it may be worth drawing more, but if you finish them later in the game it would be unproductive to draw more, and your efforts are better spent trying to block other players.

Since Destination cards are always kept secret from other players until scoring, any rule that did say you had to have incomplete Destination cards would be based entirely on trust.


What happens when I reanimate a creature with protection from black with Animate Dead? What happens when I reanimate a creature with Animate Dead which has protection from black? Will the creature keep being in play without the enchantment or die? Or can the creature be a legal target even in the graveyard?

You can cast Animate Dead on a creature card with protection from black because protection doesn't work in the graveyard. The creature will return to the battlefield and protection starts working again, so Animate Dead will go to the graveyard immediately. As a consequence of that, you have to sacrifice the creature, but the creature will stay on the battlefield long enough to interact with it through instant-speed spells and abilities.
Animate Dead starts out as an aura that can "Enchant creature card in a graveyard". While a card is in the graveyard, it has all its abilities including protection, but they don't work unless otherwise stated:

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows: [none apply]

Therefore you can target and enchant that creature card with Animate Dead. While resolving, its effect will try to attach it to the creature, but that creature, in contrast to the creature card in the graveyard, has a functional protection from black, so it will not attach:

702.16c A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality. Such Auras attached to the permanent or player with protection will be put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)
701.3a [..] An Aura, Equipment, or Fortification can’t be attached to an object it couldn’t enchant, equip, or fortify, respectively.

Animate Dead has finished resolving. The active player gains priority:

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

When a player gains priority, state-based actions are checked first:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. [..]

Animate Dead is not attached to an object, so it goes to the graveyard:

704.5m If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player, that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

Therefore, before the active player gains priority, Animate Dead will leave the battlefield and its sacrifice ability triggers. It is a normal triggered ability that uses the stack, so the creature remains on the battlefield without Animate Dead attached to it until that ability resolves. Players can respond to that ability with instant-speed spells and abilities, for example by bouncing the creature or using its activated (non-tap) abilities.


How do Sliver Overlord and Mirror Entity react together? If you activate Mirror Entity's ability to give all your creatures all creature types, can you then search for any creature in your library using Sliver Overlord's ability?

I understand that you don't "control" your library, but you do control cards on the battlefield and stack. But when you search your library, does it not become part of your stack, or at least doesn't the card you find in it?

Btw I stated "cards" because I know the word permanent means something else.

Mirror Entity does not allow Sliver Overlord to find any creature

"Creatures you control" always refers only to the Battlefield, never to cards in any other zone (those will be referred to as "Creature Cards").

Mirror Entity interacts with Sliver Overlord in the following ways:

Sliver Overlord can search for or gain control of Mirror Entity
Mirror Entity can change the creature type of Sliver Overlord (and all other creatures (on the battlefield) you control) to all types.

There are no other interactions between these two cards.


What happens to a losing player's cards in Exploding Kittens? When a player draws an Exploding Kitten and cannot defuse they are out. Do their cards go back into the draw pile or discard pile?

So if you have a Streaking Kitten and an Exploding Kitten and you pick up a second Exploding Kitten, then you end up discarding 2 Exploding Kittens. So this means there are 2 less Exploding Kittens than number of people remaining.

So there is no clear winner?

They go back into the Discard Pile.

  EXPLODING KITTEN
  ... Unless you have a Defuse Card, you're dead.
  Discard all of your cards, including the Exploding Kitten.

Since there are one more Exploding Kitten Card to start with than normal, there still can be a winner.

  STREAKING KITTENS
  ... 6. Insert enough Exploding Kittens back into the deck so that the total number of Exploding Kittens is equal to the number of players - this is 1 more Exploding Kitten than normal because the Streaking Kitten Card allows a player to hold an Exploding Kitten in their hand without exploding!

Exploding Kittens Rules
Exploding Kittens with Streaking Kitten Rules


Does a saga's ability resolve in time to save the saga? Suppose I have a Time of Ice and Opalescence on the battlefield. My Time of Ice (which is a creature) is at two lore counters and won't untap during my next turn because of my opponent's sleep.

Does Time of Ice's third chapter ability return Time of Ice to my hand before it is sacrificed?

For some reason the rule on this isn't intuitive to me: it appears that the game waits until after a saga's final ability resolves to be sacrificed.

You will get to return the Saga to your hand.

  714.4. If the number of lore counters on a Saga permanent is greater than or equal to its final chapter number, and it isn’t the source of a chapter ability that has triggered but not yet left the stack, that Saga’s controller sacrifices it. This state-based action doesn’t use the stack.

The bold part makes it so that as long as the "return to your hand" ability is on the stack; the state-based action that would make you sacrifice it doesn't do anything yet.