Coloretto vs. Aquaretto and Zooloretoo, what are the differences and how can I tell which to buy? Coloretto Aquaretto Zooloretto

What are some of the differences between the three? I've noticed that Coloretto is smaller and doesn't take as long to play (30min vs. 45min for the other 2). Zoo and Aqua can be combined and Coloretto seems to stand alone, but other than that I'm at a loss for which to get.

A few questions:

Are there any differences in gameplay between them?
Do they have different levels of strategy, player interaction, or replayability?
Any other prominent differences between them?

Coloretto is MASSIVELY different to Zooloretto and Aquaretto.  To be more specific: Coloretto is the mechanic on which the other two games are based, but to compare them is a bit like comparing, say, addition to mathematics.

In Coloretto, your move is either to play a card onto a pile, or pick up a pile.  Once you've done that long enough, you look at everything that all players have picked up, and then score.  In Zooloretto and Aquaretto, the piles have become "trucks", and the cards have become animals, or fish.  You still have the same basic mechanic - either draw and play an animal onto a truck, or take a truck - but collecting animals is no longer the sole object.  Once you take a truck you have to place the animals in various parts of your zoo.  There are placement restrictions, bonuses for filling areas, the chance to get extra free animals by placing breeding pairs in the same enclosure.  Players can, instead of taking their normal turns, pay to buy animals from each other, swap animals between enclosures, discard excess animals.

As you can see, just because the central idea of Coloretto is present and correct in all three of these Michael Schacht games, comparing them is like comparing milk and cheese!  I like all of them, but Coloretto is good when you want a quick, abstract game, and the others for when you want a moderately (but not very) complex game... with cute baby pandas.  (I think it's really the cute baby pandas, much more than the mechanic, that made Zooloretto a hit in my gaming group!)

ETA: One final point.  You might assume that Zooloretto and Aquaretto are fundamentally the same game but with mammals instead of fish, but they really aren't.  They have extremely different enclosure rules, animal behaviour rules, and ways of scoring points off specific animal configurations.  Essentially they are the Coloretto mechanic taken away and used in two different boardgames.  But they are of a similar complexity level.  I felt Aquaretto was a little bit more complicated, but maybe that's just because I've played Zooloretto a lot more.  I'm told that it's possible to combine Zooloretto and Aquaretto into one mega-zoo game, which would be intimidating but definitely fun.  Our group hasn't tried it yet, but it can only be a matter of time!


How does searching a library with Planar Bridge work? If I activate Planar Bridge, does it mean I can search my library for any permanent card I want or do I have to search until I find the first?

"Search" is a keyword action that is explicitly defined in the rules. Rule 701.17a says

  To search for a card in a zone, look at all cards in that zone (even if it’s a hidden zone) and find a card that matches the given description.

In the case of Planar Bridge, you look at all of the cards in your library, choose a permanent card from among them, and put it onto the battlefield.


Transports onload/offloading adjacent to enemy controlled sea zone We're playing the 2004 board edition of Axis and Allies. Page 13 of the rulebook states:

  A transport may not load or offload in a territory adjacent to a hostile sea zone

To me, that means that if Australia has a British infantry, and Britain has a transport on sea zone 40, but Japan has an aircraft carrier on sea zone 38 (on the total opposite side of Australia), the transport could not load the infantry.

Is that correct? Or does it mean that the Japanese carrier would have to be adjacent to the transport as well?

I believe you are correct. Australia is adjacent to a hostile sea zone, and therefore British transports cannot load or offload infantry in Australia while an enemy ship is in any of the sea zones around it. I base that on the fact that "territory" always refers to land, where-as "zone" refers to sea.

Seems incredibly overpowered. But that is how the rules read.


Did this player need to draw? We've just played a game of Fluxx, where the following occurred. There was a Draw3 and a Poor Bonus in play, so this player got to draw 4 cards. He then removed the Poor Bonus and changed the Draw3 to Draw4.

Option A: Since he raised the number of drawn cards, he needed to draw an extra.

Option B: Since the resulting rules require 4 drawn cards and he already had drawn that many he did not need to draw another.

So which one is it?

Option A, the player should draw an extra card. Here's why: The Poor Bonus happens at the start of a player's turn. Since the player already drew for Poor Bonus, and removed the Poor Bonus after the draw, that card is fully resolved. But the Draw X cards always say to draw extra cards during a turn, so the player would need to draw one more card to meet that rule change.


Betrayal at house on the hill haunt #13 (Spoilers) Me and the family bought the second edition of the game and from what we've played it's fun but.. but I'm so confused as to what tokens to use or how to set up the haunt. Is one of the players asleep? Or do we us a token? If it's a player and they are asleep and we have the pickpocket gloves can we steal from them? It's doesn't specifically say. Any help would be appreciated. Also what do we do with the tokens it says to use (e.g the triangular ones)

Disclaimer: I am going off of the first edition rules, as that is all I have access to. It's possible there are updates in the second edition for this haunt that I am not aware of.

The traitor's character is the one that falls asleep. This is described in the Traitor's Tome rulebook:

  Right Now

    Tip your figure over in the room it's in when the
    haunt is revealed. Your body is asleep. You can't
    move or take any actions. Drop all of your items.

This character cannot do anything for the rest of the game. So on the Traitor's turns, they just take the actions for their monsters.

The traitor will also drop all items when the haunt begins, so there will never be a chance to steal from them. Items that are dropped just sit on the floor of the room where they were dropped, and can be picked up by anyone who goes into that room.

For the tokens, the Traitor needs a set of nightmare tokens and a set of escape room tokens. In the first edition, there were specific "nightmare" tokens; in the second edition monster tokens are more generic, so you use any monster token. For the escape room tokens, they can be any token; it doesn't matter so long as they are all the same:

  Set aside a number of "escape tokens" equal to
  the number of escape rooms in the house. (Any
  distinctive set of tokens, such as Rat or Blob
  tokens, will do.)

The triangular tokens are just a way to count how many times you have succeeded in the action of trying to wake the dreamer. Each time you successfully roll a 5+ to wake the dreamer, you take a triangular token to mark that you have succeeded. Having you set aside the triangular tokens during setup is just because you will need them during the game; it's not actually important how many you set aside, or even which types. It tells you to take a might token when you succeed with might, and a sanity token when you succeed with sanity, but this doesn't matter; you just take a token to track that you have succeeded.

Unfortunately this game is infamous for having issues with the rules being unclear or confusing sometimes; even the second edition with its updates to the rules didn't fix everything. Having you use separate might vs sanity tokens for the triangular tokens just seems like a case of the game choosing to be more thematic rather than simple or clear.


When is the hydra considered a player with the "Face the Hydra" deck? Face the Hydra is a special game with special rules which can be found here.

I know that a spell that deals direct damage to a player cast on the hydra will deal the damage to one of its head. The same applies to trample damage, and so ons, for damages.

But is the hydra considered a player?

For instance, I have a creature that gets +1/+1 counters each time it deals damage to a player. Would that ever be triggered since you attack its heads directly?
What if that creature was unblockable?

is the hydra considered a player?

Yes, there is a player as normal.

  For instance, I have a creature that gets +1/+1 counters each time it deals damage to a player. Would that ever be triggered since you attack its heads directly?

Creatures attacking heads directly deal damages to the heads they attack.

Creatures not attacking heads directly attack the player as normal. However, damage that would be dealt to the player is dealt to a head instead. As such, you never actually deal any damage to the player.

In both cases, the attackers deal damage to the heads. The heads are creatures, not players. The ability in question would not trigger.

  What if that creature was unblockable?

It doesn't make any difference.


Dance with Dragons: Margaery Tyrell vs. Mance Rayder In the Dance with Dragons expansion, the house card for Margaery Tyrell reads "If you are defending your home or a territory that has power token on it, the final combat strength of your opponent is 2". The house card for Mance Rayder reads "Your final combat strength is equal to the wildling threat".

What happens when these two cards are played against each other? How is the final strength of the Baratheon player resolved?

Baratheon strength 2 is Final if the Throne ranking so determines :
which house executes first and next house executes after. So slightly counter-intuitively the lower Throne ranking would receive the benefit in this case.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/73198-house-card-questions/
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/867434/final-combat-strength


Does John Pain get cards drawn at the beginning of a player's turn or from Stage Coach and Wells Fargo? The "Wild West Show" character John Pain states:

If [John] has less than 6 cards in hand, each time any player "draws!", John adds the card just drawn to his hand.

I've always interpreted this as only applying to cards like Barrel, Jail and Dynamite or character attributes like Jourdonnais but not to the two cards drawn at the beginning of a player's turn or cards like Stage Coach and Wells Fargo.  Recently I was playing with someone and the question came up and I couldn't find anything in the rules about it other than the distinct use of the term "draw!" in certain instances.

Does John Pain get cards drawn at the beginning of a player's turn and from Stage Coach and Wells Fargo or just from cards like Barrel, Jail and Dynamite?

No, in this case draw! refers to flipping a card and checking the suit revealed for something to fire like barrel or dynamite. Players drawing cards for their turn, stagecoach/wells fargo/dodge/bible or any other ability that adds a card to hand does not count.

Here is a guide that gives some more information on the draw! ability.

http://bangcardgame.blogspot.com/2011/09/character-guide-john-pain.html


Can other Heroes and/or Monsters be purchased separately for Castle Ravenloft? Can I purchase additional monsters or heroes for the CR board game?  And if so, do they come with their stat cards?  Just want to get the most out of the game as possible.

A Gray Hag promo exists, but it was a fairly limited release.

Wrath of Ashardalon is fully compatible with Castle Ravenloft, and Wizards has released bonus adventures that combine the two games.

Legend of Drizzt is the latest game in the series and, according to the product information page, is also fully compatible with both other games.


Are creature effects considered an Instant? I played Magic a long time ago, and I remember activated abilities on creatures were considered instants. Reading through the rules today, it isn't quite clear to me. The reason I am wondering is for the combination of Prodigal Pyromancer and Fire Servant. The does the Fire Servant's doubling apply to the Prodigal Pyromancer's "{T}: Prodigal Pyromancer deals 1 damage to target creature or player."?

No, the doubling does not apply. Creature abilities are fast effects, a class which includes instants. But instants, like sorceries, are a distinct spell type.


Does the cooperative Lord of the Rings game require a decent amount of experience with the books to be playable? I love cooperative games, and Lord of the Rings seems to be fairly high on the list. (I have Pandemic, Forbidden Island, and Shadows over Camelot. I'm considering Space Alert and Space Hulk Death Angel).

I love the Lord of the Rings series, but how deep does the game get into the story line? If people who don't really know the Lord of The Rings books (however few of them there may be) can't play it I'll probably go with something else. How will having little familiarity with the books affect the other players' enjoyment?

It's absolutely not necessary for game play. Players that don't know the book will not get many of the story line references, but I don't think it means they can't enjoy the game.


How to search opponents library when playing remote via webcam? My brother and I are living several 100 miles apart, which makes playing MTG face to face a little difficult. We have been playing via web cam (mounted over the table) for several months now but are still facing some problems with this setup.

The most annoying one is the problem stated in the headline. If a spell allows me to search his library, I cannot really do so, because I cannot reach through the web cam. We discussed having full deck lists that we can pass on whenever this happens, but this list must be adapted each time such a spell is played, because the library is different every time.

Another problem is enslaving enemy creatures or putting enchantments on them. We created some workarounds but they are just that - workarounds.

How do others deal with this issue when playing MTG over web cam? Are there any software tools that can help us with that? We are using Skype and I considered editing the video stream directly with my web cam software, to indicate enchantments and stuff like that. This helps in many cases, but does not solve the "searching the library" problem. I am grateful for any solutions.

You need the proper tool. Webcams are not designed to keep track of MtG game states, so use a tool that can. There are many choices available MTG Online III (offical product, costs money for cards and packs), Apprentice (one of the first, but not a favorite of mine), Magic Workstation (my favorite), Magic Suitcase, Magic Studio, ...

The card manager keeps track of the game state, and the webcam allows you to observe the reactions of your opponent.


What is the name of this red creature card In Magic the Gathering I played a guy that was using a mono - red goblin deck which exploited Impact Tremors ability with a certain creature that "blinks" out of the game when another spell is cast now I cant for the life of me remember the name of the card.

I tried the card database on Magic wizards and got no luck. All that I can remember was that it was mono - red goblin creature of some sort. that had something a long the lines of this in its effect text:
"Whenever a spell is cast remove (said creature) from the game until end of turn then return it to the battlefield".

Can anyone help me out? I really want to obtain this card...

The card you are looking for is Norin the Wary. I found this by searching on magiccards.info for

  c!r t:creature o:"Exile ~" o:return

This searches for a mono-red (c!r) creature (t:creature) that has in its text "Exile [this creature]" and "return [to the battlefield]". That resulted in only two cards, and only one triggered on casting a spell.


Dominion Nocturne: Why is Raider not better than Gold The Raider from Dominion Nocturne (Plünderer in German) has a value of 6 (the same as the Gold card). It gives you +3 coins, and you may play as many as you have in your hand since it's a night card. It's essentially the same as Gold, except that the Raider also includes an attack against the other players.
This makes it significantly more valuable than Gold, yet it has the same price.
In my opinion, the +3 coins the Raider gives which are delayed until the next round does not diminish the Raider's usefulness.
Is Raider just a more powerful version of Gold that costs the same, or am I misunderstanding something about Raider’s strength?

There are 3 main factors at play which make it so that a Gold may the right choice over Raider sometimes.

Duration cards are inherently weaker than non-duration cards for 2 reasons:

First off, because you cannot play the same duration card every turn. If you have an engine that lets you draw through your deck most turns, which isn’t all that uncommon, then a single Gold will provide you with $3 to spend every turn. But a single Raider will not; you would need 2 Raiders in your deck to get the same $3 per turn.

The other reason is that Duration cards miss the shuffle more often, and thus get played fewer times on average throughout the game. If a card is in play when you shuffle your discard pile to make a new draw deck, then that card is said to “miss the shuffle”. This means that you don’t get to play that card this trip through the deck; you need to wait until you shuffle again. With treasure cards, it is very rare for them to miss the shuffle, because you don’t normally draw any cards while treasures are in play (of course there are many cards that can still cause this to happen). But with Duration cards, you will draw your next hand, as well as any cards you draw next turn, while the duration is in play. This makes it much more likely to miss the shuffle.

As mentioned in another answer, delaying the +$3 does hurt. Dominion has a snowball effect that makes it so that improving your deck early matters more than improving it later. You see this with trashing, where it is much better to trash bad cards early than it is to trash them later. If you play a Gold on turn 6, for example, then that means getting another Gold or a good $5 cost card into your deck on turn 6. Playing a Raider on turn 6 means getting that next good card into your deck on turn 7, which may or may not be one shuffle later, meaning 1 less time you play that good card throughout the game. Also, a Raider played on the final turn of the game gives you no money to spend at all, which means that even outside of missing the shuffle, the Raider is likely to help at least 1 fewer time than a Gold.

This one doesn’t impact things quite as much, but simply having the Treasure type has advantages over having the Night type in terms of various combos and interactions. Cards like Mint, Storyteller, Venture, and Ironmonger all combo with Gold while basically nothing combos with Night cards.

You can see other examples of Duration cards costing less due to the delay of their effects. Caravan is just like Laboratory except the +1 card is delayed. This difference is enough for it to cost $4 instead of $5. Similar with Caravan Guard vs Poacher, and Mastermind vs King's Court.
Finally, keep in mind that while Dominion does avoid ever having one card be strictly better than another card, it is true that some cards are generally stronger than others, and that’s part of the design. So it may in fact be that even despite all 3 points above, Raider is simply a better card than Gold most of the time.


Does anyone have experience playing Tokaido with only 2 players? I see Tokaido accomodates from 2 to 5 players. I am wondering wether there is aspects to the game that is problematic or less entertaining with only 2 players?

Note: I've played with two players exclusively, so I cannot compare it to 3+ player games.

Tokaido is inherently not a highly competitive game. You stroll across Japan taking in the sights, local cuisine, and having minor adventures (making new friends, bathing with monkeys, etc).

The neutral piece offers an element of minor sabotage; whoever is in the lead when it is the neutral piece's turn to move can bump it right in front of where the other player wants to go... alternatively you can just beeline the neutral piece to the inn. But no matter how spiteful you want to be by staying in the lead and controlling the neutral player, you're only shooting yourself in the foot by skipping so many spaces.

Ultimately it's a fun game to play when you don't feel like over-analyzing the game... it's not about "winners" and "losers" and more about which player had the most fulfilling journey.

TL;DR-- The two player rules add an extra element of gameplay through the inclusion of a neutral traveler and the removal of the secondary spaces. (two players can never share a spot on the road except at inns) Personally, I find it enjoyable.


Help with the rules of checkmate I am playing white and it is my turn. I am currently in check.

Can I capture the pawn in front of my king to escape the check, placing his king in checkmate? Or is it illegal and therefore I lose?

No, you may not ever move your king into a position in which it is threatened ("in check").  If you did, your opponent could just immediately capture your king, and you would lose.

Reference from the FIDE Laws of Chess:

  3.9. ... No piece can be moved that will either expose the king of the same colour to check or leave that king in check.


How does Over My Dead Bodies interact with combat-related abilities of creature cards in my graveyard? Over My Dead Bodies is an unstable card that has Graveyard creatures fight in a sort of undeath. We also know that whilst they're involved in combat, they're also effectively on the battlefield, at least for the purposes of global effects. From the Unstable FAQ:

Will global effects affect the graveyard creatures?
Here's where silver-bordered rules get fun. Over My Dead Bodies allows you to attack or block with creature cards in your graveyard. If you do, for the duration of combat, the attacking and blocking creature cards are treated as if they are creature cards on the battlefield which means they can be affected by spells or abilities that would affect creatures on the battlefield. That means, for example, if you have a Lord of Accursed on the battlefield ("Other Zombies you control get +1/+1"), all your attacking and blocking graveyard creatures (which Over My Dead Bodies makes into Zombies) would get +1/+1 while in combat.

I'm interested to understand how these creatures' abilities can interact with combat, if at all. Let's assume to that end that Over My Dead Bodies is out, and I have a Brutal Hordechief and a Raving Dead in my graveyard.
Raving Dead has an ability that enforces how it attacks at the start of combat, and triggers on it dealing damage:

At the beginning of combat on your turn, choose an opponent at random. Raving Dead attacks that player this combat if able.
Whenever Raving Dead deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half his or her life, rounded down.

Brutal Hordechief has an ability that affects my attacks, and lets me choose blockers:

Whenever a creature you control attacks, defending player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
{3}{R/W}{R/W}: Creatures your opponents control block this turn if able, and you choose how those creatures block.

Do any of these abilities function while these creatures are in my graveyard? (Let's assume they're going to attack either way.) Am I dealing with just a vanilla 2/6 and a vanilla 3/3, or do I have to take into account any of these abilities as well? Are there specific kinds of abilities that do work and ones that don't? Has Mark Rosewater mentioned anything to clarify this?

During combat, all creatures in your graveyard are treated as if they were on the battlefield. Anything they could do at this time while they were alive, they can do now even though they are dead.
This is covered in the Unstable FAQAWASLFAQPAFTIDAWABIAJTBT:

Do the graveyard creatures cause attacking or blocking triggered abilities to trigger?
Yes. Remember that they're treated as permanents on the battlefield while in combat, so a graveyard creature attacking will cause anything that triggers when a creature attacks (including its own abilities) to trigger.

With further confirmation that "on combat damage" abilities work on Mark Rosewaters Blogatog

wretchedor30 asked: I have out Over My Dead Bodies and attack with Phage the Untouchable. As she is in a graveyard, would it still cause game loss, or is the ability only relevant on the field?
MR: Her ability still works.

In regards to your specific examples:

Raving Dead's ability triggers at the beginning of combat (which is during the combat phase), so you will need to attack a random player. If that player doesn't block Raving Dead (perhaps they have no creatures in their graveyard) they will lose 2 life, and then half their remaining life rounded down.
If you control a Brutal Hordechief in your graveyard, when you attack during your turn each creature you attack with both alive and in the graveyard will cause the defending player to lose 1 life and you to gain 1 life. You also may use Hordechief's activated ability during combat, before blockers are declared.


What are the differences between the various versions of Axis & Allies? I used to play Axis & Allies all the time when I was younger.  I recently purchased the Axis & Allies Revised Edition, and was floored by all the added complexity/new units/new rules/map changes.  It was definitely a whole pile of fun, but I notice now that there are many other versions of Axis & Allies available as well.  Are the "new" rules the same across all the "new" versions?  Does each version have its own rules?  Are the differences in the rules relatively minor, or do I need to keep track of six different sets of infantry rules for six different games?

This is a community wiki

This is a running list of the changes to the the traditional 1942 version of Axis & Allies listing each progressive revision below it with all the changes from the previous version--just like software release notes.

Please add to the list if you see something missing.

Axis & Allies (Nova Games Edition) — 1981

Initial release

Axis & Allies — 1984

a.k.a. "Axis & Allies: Classic", 1986 reprint: "Axis & Allies 2nd Edition"

Map and setup is changed
Sequence of play has been revised
Costs and incomes are 1/100th that of the previous games
Bombardment is added
Neutral countries can no longer be occupied (previously, it could be done by paying a cost)
Fighters can no longer be built directly onto carriers; they must be built in land areas and then travel to carriers
Air units no longer add 1 to their movement if they start on islands
Loading land units on ships is now part of the land movement phase, rather than naval movement phase
Submarines now participate in normal naval combat, instead of firing a single salvo during their own phase prior to naval combat
National advantages have been removed
The option to produce an atomic bomb through technology research has been removed

Axis & Allies: Revised — 2004

a.k.a. Axis & Allies 20th Anniversary Edition

Map and setup has changed
The Artillery and Destroyer units have been added
Cost of fighters has been reduced from 12 IPCs to 10
Transports may now carry 1 armor + 1 infantry
Armor attacks and defends on a 3+
Victory cities have been added as a replacement for economic victory

Axis & Allies: 50th Anniversary Edition — 2008

Italy and China have been added as factions
A 1941 setup has been added in addition to the standard 1942 setup
The Cruiser unit has been added

Axis & Allies: Spring 1942 — 2009

a.k.a. Axis & Allies 25th Anniversary Edition

The changes from the 50th Anniversary Edition are not incorporated except as follows

The Cruiser unit has been added

Axis & Allies: Spring 1942 (Second Edition) — 2012

The Anti-aircraft Artillery unit has been added


Resources for studying gomoku Are there any online resources for studying gomoku? I am a beginner and I'd be interested to learn the fundamentals.

A google search on terms such as "gomoku strategy" or "gomoku tutorial" didn't return any relevant answer.

Instead of searching for "gomoku", search for "renju tutorial" and you find this useful site:

http://renju.net/study/advanced.php


What happens in multiplayer Magic when I'm forced to attack and one opponent has Propaganda? While playing a multiplayer game of commander I stumbled upon an interesting predicament. One player has a Thantis, the Warweaver out and I am forced to attack. There are three other players and one has a Propaganda so I can't attack them unless I pay {2}.

When I go to combat can I choose to target the player with Propaganda and not pay the {2} therefore not attacking, or am I forced to choose another player that I can attack and swing at them?

The rulings I glanced over said if I have to swing at someone with a Propaganda or the like, I may choose not to pay the costs and not attack, but I never saw anything dictating what to do if there are more players who I can attack.

Attacking doesn't target. Attacking doesn't use the stack. There's no such thing as choosing to attack, and then not attacking. A creature either attacks, or it doesn't. What I'm saying is your creature can't attack the player with Propaganda without paying the cost.
You have these options:

Your creature can attack the player with Propaganda (which requires paying {2}), or
your creature can attack a player without Propaganda.
your creature can attack a planeswalker.

As you've said, you are free to choose not to pay the cost imposed by Propaganda[117.3c, 508.1d]. But if you declare to have your creature attack the player with Propaganda, and if you choose not to pay the cost imposed by Propaganda, the attack becomes illegal[508.1c]. Since you can't choose to take an illegal action, the action is rolled back[508.1, 721.1], and you must choose a different player or planeswalker to attack[508.1d].
Only if there are no valid choices (e.g. every opponent has a Propaganda, no opponent has a planeswalker, and you refuse to pay the cost imposed by Propaganda) can you avoid attacking[508.1d]. This is an application of second Golden Rule of Magic, popularly paraphrased as «"can't" trumps "can"»[101.2]

117.3c Activating mana abilities is not mandatory, even if paying a cost is.
508.1. [...] If at any point during the declaration of attackers, the active player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the declaration is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the declaration [...]
508.1c The active player checks each creature they control to see whether it’s affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can’t attack, or that it can’t attack unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of attackers is illegal.
508.1d The active player checks each creature they control to see whether it’s affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature attacks if able, or that it attacks if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of attackers is illegal. If a creature can’t attack unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if attacking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed. If a requirement that says a creature attacks if able during a certain turn refers to a turn with multiple combat phases, the creature attacks if able during each declare attackers step in that turn.
101.2 When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence.
721.1. If a player takes an illegal action or starts to take an action but can’t legally complete it, the entire action is reversed and any payments already made are canceled. [...]


Wind-Scarred Crag "Add"? I know the question is really basic but I just started magic yesterday and I have this land card that I don't understand

On Wind-Scarred Crag, it's written that when the card is untapped I need to add a mana fire or light, from where should I add it ? from a land already in my hand?

Thank you

What it means is that, when you tap Wind-Scarred Crag, you get one red or white mana (your choice). So it behaves like either a Mountain or a Plains[1], depending on what you need, but with the penalty that you can't use it immediately (because it comes into play tapped). You do not need to play any additional card, you just get the mana.

[1] Although any card that specifically references Mountain or Plains will not affect this card, because it isn't actually either of them.


Dominion Seaside Treasure Map: do both copies activate? The Treasure Map text says:

  Trash this and another copy of Treasure Map from your hand. If you do trash two Treasure Maps, gain 4 Gold cards, putting them on top of your deck.

If I manage to play both Treasure Cards as actions, do they both activate their full effects? That is: do I get 8 Gold cards?

Or, the moment I play the first, I have to trash the other one so preventing it for being played as an action?

You play the first, performing its action of trashing itself and the second Treasure Map and gain 4 golds. You can't continue to play the second Treasure Map since it's no longer in your hand.

You also can't use Throne Room to gain more than 4 golds since the text states "If you do trash", and you can only trash a card once (I also tested on isotropic to make sure)


Is the Merchant ability mandatory if you have two identical tiles? In Libertalia, the character card Merchant says:

  Discard two identical booty tiles to gain 3 doubloons, or 3 identical booty tiles to gain 5 doubloons.

Is the ability mandatory? (I.e. If you had 2 chests and 3 treasure maps, would you have to discard at least two of one type?)

The rules note that booty tiles in your den remain hidden until needed. If you don't discard any identical booty tiles, are you required to reveal all your tiles to prove you have no duplicates?

An official FAQ, or designer response is what I am looking for.

Yes. If you are able to perform the Merchant's action, you must. This does involve a certain amount of trust, since you do not have to reveal your tiles to prove that you cannot perform the action. (On that point I would paraphrase the Love Letter rulebook on a similar point, which says "Don't play with cheaters".)

From the rulebook, page 5:

  Using a special action is mandatory unless otherwise written on the card. If the action is impossible, it is ignored.


Chess (and variations) Endgame Complexity My understanding is that the game of Go with Japanese Ko rules is, like most such games, EXPTIME-Complete, but that ladders are PSPACE-Complete and that Go endgames have been analyzed independently as being PSPACE-Hard.

Has any such research been done into Chess endgames?

There are a very large, but only finite number of possible chess games. This is a consequence of the 50 move rule, which limits the maximum theoretical number of moves to about 5000 (although in real life, chess games over 100 moves are extremely rare). To see this, we know that 50 moves without a pawn move is a draw. There are 16 pawns, and each pawn can move 6 times.

So we have 50 * (16 * 6 + 1) + 1 = 4851 moves.

This means that the complexity of chess is actually O(1), because in theory with a big enough lookup table, you could find the answer to any chess position immediately. This gives rise to the amusing idea, first described by Shannon, of a game between two perfect players:

  A game between two such mental giants, Mr. A and Mr. B, would proceed
  as follows. They sit down at the chessboard, draw the colours, and
  then survey the pieces for a moment. Then either: -

  (1)Mr. A says, "I resign" or

  (2)Mr. B says, "I resign" or

  (3)Mr. A says, "I offer a draw," and Mr. B replies, "I accept."

Of course, the size of that lookup table is completely impractical (larger than the number of atoms in the observable universe), but your question asked about computational complexity, not practicality!

It thus follows that all chess endgames are also O(1). Chess positions with up to 6 pieces have been perfectly solved, and lookup tables constructed in this way. However the size grows rapidly; the implemented 6-piece database is around 7GB, and the 7-piece database is estimated at 1.2TB.

If the constraints on threefold repetition are ignored, then chess becomes PSPACE-hard. If you're also willing to throw away the 50 move rule, then chess becomes EXPTIME-hard.


Can I build off a branch blocked by a troll? Saboteur Duel adds Troll cards into the game where there is path, but one of the branches is blocked by a troll.

The rules state:

  The troll blocks the path behind it. If a player wants to pass a troll, he has to bribe it with 1 gold nugget.

My question is: can I build off the blocked branch?

As precedent for being able to build off a blocked branch I would point to the coloured door cards from Saboteur 2. Any player can build off of a path blocked by a coloured door, but if the gold is exposed through a path through a coloured door, only that team wins regardless of who plays the final card.

Would it be for paths blocked by trolls that I could build off the blocked path but not be able to collect any exposed gold until someone bribes the troll?

I assume the answer is 'no', but the rules aren't explicit on this point and there is some debate in my group.

This is not covered in those rules but it is covered in the rules of the original game.

https://www.ultraboardgames.com/saboteur/game-rules.php

  Important: Newly placed path cards must always have an uninterrupted connection to the start card!

Since you are digging tunnels you will have to have a path to where you are digging the new one. Also it would greatly reduce the power of a card that blocks a path if you could continue building until you get a card to fix the blockage.


What is the meaning of dots in some of the Apex's cards? Some apex's cards from the Data and Destiny have dotted pattern (for exaple Harbinger). What does it mean?

It's a flavour text written in ITA2

  Harbinger: I AM BECOME DEATH

  Apocalypse: THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS

It's a reference to famous J. Robert Oppenheimer quote


If Realmwright is removed from the battlefield, do the changed lands remain dual colored? I just came by Realmwright and it didn't give any discussion on whether the changed lands are permanently changed or not if the creature leaves the battlefield.

Does anyone have any info on this?

The short answer is no, they'll lose whatever type they're given when Realmwright leaves the battlefield. The reason is that Realmwright has a static ability that creates a continuous effect that dictates that the lands are of the given type:

  112.3d Static abilities are written as statements. They're simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active
  while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the
  ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate
  zone. See rule 604, "Handling Static Abilities."

Since Realmwright's ability is the source of the continuous effect giving the lands the specified type, the effect will end as soon as Realmwright leaves the battlefield.


Do conditional triggered abilities check their condition again before resolving? Let us assume that Alice has 15 life, and Bob has 17. It's Alice's turn. Alice swings at Bob with a Runeclaw Bear and Grenzo's Cutthroat, a creature with dethrone.

In response to the dethrone ability, Bob casts a Dismember targeting the Bear, and paying 4 life. He is now at 13, less life than Alice. Does the dethrone ability still give the Cutthroat a counter?

Once an ability has been triggered, that's it: it's on the stack and you don't have to worry about the triggering condition anymore.

You can see this in the Gatherer rulings for Grenzo's Cutthroat itself:

  5/29/2014     Once dethrone triggers, it doesn’t matter what happens to the players’ life totals before the ability resolves. You’ll put a +1/+1 counter on the creature even if the defending player doesn’t have the most life as the ability resolves.

The exception to this is the "intervening if" clause, which is specialized rules text in the form "When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect]."


Are there any cards that can boost my gate deck I'm currently making a gate land-based deck. I was wondering if there are any cards that would be able to either duplicate or copy any of the lands. Also if there were any cards that could possibly change another lands typing to gate.

There are various ways to copy lands, but no cards can change a land's type to "Gate"

Cards such as Vesuva and Thespian's Stage copy a land directly, which is the simplest way of doing it.

Other methods exist, but are hardly practical, such as turning a Gate land into a creature through cards like Animate Land, then copying that land creature with another card such as Clone.


How to track turn-taking in Catan I play Catan rather competitively with a few friends, and since we're all seasoned players, the time taken for a turn is pretty quick, maybe around 20s per turn.

Sometimes because of the fast pace, some players may miss their die-roll turns, or a player taking consecutive turns, without the other players realising it. I want to know if there is a systematic way to log the die rolls taken by each player so that the occurrence of the above events are reduced. I am thinking of a mobile apps which preferably support die rolls of 1 to 12, and with a unique colour identifier for each player, but I can't seem to find such applications. Does anyone have a solution to my problem?

Use the dice themselves as a reminder of whose turn it is.  This avoids the need for any extra tokens or start player marker.

If players roll them in front of themselves and then they physically pass them to the next player once their turn is over. It should then be clear whose turn it is.

That way a player can't roll twice as dice are already in front of them.  A player can not be skipped as the dice are passed to them by the player ending their turn.


What is the expected duration of a game of War? In the card game War you deal a standard 52 card deck between two players. The players than flip cards with the higher card winning. In the case of ties (wars), each player plays N additional cards an the player with the highest Nth card wins all the cards (subsequent ties follow the same rules). The game can last a very long time and seems to never last a short time.

What is the expected number of "turns" until the game is completed?

I learned to play war with N equal to 3 (i.e., a total of 10 cards are played in a war: the original tie, 3 face down, and a final comparison card).

For completeness assume the game is over if a player has less than 5 cards and gets into a war (i.e., does not have a final card to flip).

Assume that upon playing your last card from your hand, you shuffle the winning cards into a random order and resume.

Assume the cards are in random order to start.

War is actually not a game but an Automata, as players don't have any options.

Wimpy Programmer already made this simulation, he found that when shuffling the winning cards, the mean number of turns is 262, the mode is 84, and the max (on a sample of 100,000 trials) is 2,702 turns.  He also found that without shuffles of the winning cards, the game might be endless.

He used N=2 while you play with N=3, higher N shortens the game, however I don't think that it will make a big difference.


When a Phantom Knight's Trap is Special Summoned back as a monster, and then is sent to the GY, is it still treated as a monster? Some Phantom Knight's Card have an Effect that says you can special summon it as a monster (This card is not treated as a trap). When it is destroyed, is it a monster or trap in the GY? (For example, could I use Monster Reborn on it?)

From: Trap Monster - Fandom.com

...and can in some cases be used offensively as well. Also, because they don't count as monsters while in a player's Deck or Graveyard, some effects might work on them as a Trap Card- ...

A trap monster is only treated as a monster whilst it occupys a monster zone. When it's sent to the graveyard it is reverted back to being treated as a trap.


City was not first a settlement. How to fix? In a recent casual game of Catan (base game), a novice player built a city and placed it on an empty intersection. No other players noticed the mistake that the intersection did not first have a settlement.

Much later in the game, the novice player made the same mistake, but it was noticed and corrected by the other players. The novice player admitted that they had previously made the same mistake much earlier in the game.

The novice player had been erroneously collecting two resources and benefiting from two victory points because of this city for several turns.

To rectify the mistake, the other players agreed that the novice player would keep the city on the board, but must play to 11 victory points to win, while all other players would only have to play to the normal 10 victory points to win.

As an experienced player in the same situation, what would you have done to rectify the mistake in a way that the game could continue being played and that no matter who won, the game would be considered fair?

If you don't notice a mistake until long after (or once you can no longer roll back the moves to correct the mistake) it happens then you should just let it stand. In this case the player should get full credit for the city as if it was built correctly.

The problem with trying to penalize the new player for the mistake is it is also the fault of the other players for not paying close enough attention to catch the mistake in the first place.

On the other hand if the player was intentionally making the mistake as a way to win more easily then they should be removed from the game instead.

You should always remember that when playing games with a new player mistakes will always happen and being a new player they have a smaller chance of winning anyways so it will even itself out in the long run.

This also applies to experienced players who make mistakes (everyone can make them) but need to be careful that someone isn't just trying to cheat. The main theory behind this is that everyone playing the game is responsible for ensuring that it is played correctly and also responsible when a mistake that is publicly knowable (like playing a city without a settlement there already) is made.


Can you pickup just the wild card on frozen pile in canasta? If the player before you in canasta freezes the pile with a wild card, can you pick the pile up if you have two wild cards in you hand? Do you have to take the entire pile or just the wild card on top?

No, you can't.

The discard pile can never be picked up while a wild is on top. In order to pick up a frozen pile, you must have 2 naturals in hand that match the card on top of the pile.

Rules quote:

  When the discard pile is frozen against you, you can only take it if you hold in your hand two natural cards of the same rank as the top card of the discard pile, and you use these with the top discard to make a meld.

And:

  Note that you can never take the discard pile if its top card is a wild card or a black three.


Differences between Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert? I own and play both Pandemic and Forbidden Island. In practice, I play Pandemic more...but like Forbidden Island too, when I think the former won't be quite accessible enough for someone.

I've now heard that Forbidden Desert has some neat new design choices.

What are the key differences between the two "Forbidden" games, and how do they play out?
Is the newest different enough that you recommend owning it in addition to the former?
For someone who doesn't have any of the above, how would you decide which "Forbidden" game to get them?

I own both, and will attempt to tackle each of your questions in turn:

  What are the key differences?

Forbidden Desert removes the 'shrinking map' clock, and adds two new clocks: each player has a canteen with a finite amount of water, and there are limited ways to refill peoples' canteens.  Each "Sun Beats Down" card causes everyone (there are exceptions) to have to drink some of their water.

The other new clock is the 'buried alive' clock- where tiles would be getting flooded in Forbidden Island, they instead accumulate more and more layers of sand.  If you run out of sand, the game   is over.

It also retains the "maxxed out the danger meter' clock.

Replacing the 'shrinking map' mechanic is a 'moving map' mechanic- the game board is basically a 5x5 sliding-square puzzle, and between turns, the map gets shuffled around.

The method for obtaining the MacGuffins is also changed, and player items are one-use-only and not shuffled back into the game.

  Is it different enough to be worth it?

In my opinion, yes; absolutely.  It's definitely harder to 'win', but is different enough from Forbidden Island to not feel like a reskinned version of the same game.

  Which to get first?

If you already are familiar with cooperation-driven games such as Pandemic, I would probably suggest Desert.  If you're also looking for a more introductory experience, I'd go with Island.  Both games would be good buys in the absence of the other, though, and if you prefer one theme to the other, let that make the decision for you.


Card game based on dropping 3 of a kind or minimum of a 3 card straight flush I am looking for the name of this game with a regular 52 card deck.

Each player (minimum 2) is dealt 9 cards. Before the game starts each player selects one card to "discard" and the discards are traded between players (e.g. if there is two players, player A gets player B's discard and player B gets player A's discard ). The player doesn't know the identity of the other players discard until the trade is made.

The game then begins by the first player placing the top card of the remainder of the deck face up next to the face down deck. Players take turns doing so until either someone wins or there are no cards left.

The point of the game is to get rid of all 9 cards by dropping cards in groups of a minimum of 3 cards into a drop area (per player) and the drop area must have 10 cards to win.

A game can end with no winner.

The dropped groups can either be:

3 of a kind
straight flush of a minimum of 3 cards.

If either player can use the last face up card to complete a group they can pick it up, drop the group, and must then drop an additional card face up onto the face up pile. Players can continue to add to groups in their drop area (e.g. if a player had dropped an A3, A4, A5 and the last card drawn was an A2, they can add it to the group and drop a card from their hand).

Also, groups can be re-arranged to create/complete new groups (e.g. player had dropped A3, A4, A5, A6. Player has a Q6 in their hand and last face up card is a 6D, they can pick up the 6D, take the A6 (preserving the group of 3 minumum straight flush) and combine with the Q6 to drop a 3 of a kind).

Regarding the needing 10 cards in the drop group to win, once all 9 original cards have been dropped the player waits until they can pick up a face up card that completes any dropped group to win.

There may be some other special cases that I can't think of at the moment but this is the gist of the game.

Any idea what the name is?

I used to play this game with my grandma, we called it "combinations", but I am not sure about the real name.

Rummy have tons of variations, maybe you can find it here:
https://www.rummypassion.com/rummy-wiki/rummy-game


How much strategic depth is there in Quarriors? I've played Quarriors a few times and I love Dominion.  The one game of Quarriors that I won, I just happened to roll my monsters attack side up many times in a row, I didn't make any coherent plans nor perform any tactical countering of my opponents.  This has me worried about the lack of depth in Quarriors.

How much depth is there to Quarriors?  Do good players analyze a board and come up with good, kingdom-specific combos?  How often do you pass up buys for the most expensive cards for something that better fits in your deck?

Not much. The game is won or lost on creatures. The problem is, those creature dice usually only have a 50%-67 chance of coming up as a creature. It is quite possible to have the better dice bag, and just lose because of poor dice rolls.

With only one buy, the best purchase is usually obvious. Since most spells don't gain you glory and creatures that score also allow you to cull your weak starting dice, you are usually best off buying the most costly creature you can get. The most costly creature usually scores the most Glory, and usually has higher defense and attack power. Many times, whomever gets an early 8 Quiddy starting roll and can buy the Dragon or other 3-4 Glory creature first will usually win.

The game is usually pretty short. This is especially true of the 4 player game, where the game ends on 12 glory. This doesn't give the dice bags much time to develop a strategy.

The Advanced and Expert rules on page 10 of the newest rule book do add some important strategic changes. With the Advanced rule, you can buy two dice per turn, that makes you have to decide on multiple smaller quicker scores (less risk of not rolling a creature), or bigger creatures that are more likely to survive. The Expert rules require you to cull the creature that scores. This rule makes the game take longer, and gives dice bag strategies more time to develop.


How should I modify Risk to play with 7 persons? I am planning on creating my own version of Risk in such a way that we can play it with 7 persons. For this I am planning to create my own map with a local theme.

What kinds of ratios/parameters are common in games with fewer players (e.g. countries per player, armies per turn)? Based on these, what kind of modifications do I need to make to the map (number of countries / connections between countries or continents) to make it suitable for 7 players? Or is the game playable with the current map  and 7 players?

We used to play Risk 2210 a lot, often with more than the recommended 5 players, and used the rule that if you are wiped out, when your turn comes around, you can start a rebellion.

Rebellions

Take two cards and choose one of the shown territories to rebel in.
Roll 3d6. That many troops in the chosen territory are replaced with your troops.
If there are any enemy troops remaining in the territory, you must fight them, but if you win, you can continue your turn as normal. If you lose,  your rebellion failed but you can try again on your next turn.

It leads to a more chaotic game but it's a LOT more fun that one or two people sitting around doing nothing for hours.


Does a buff remain in combat when the buffing creature dies to first strike damage? I've had a predicament recently: my good friend was playing an Ixalan vampire deck and he played a Legion Lieutenant, a 2/2 that gives your other vampires +1/+1. The following turn, he attacks with the Legion Lieutenant and a Forerunner of the Legion, a 2/2 vampire. It has +1/+1 thanks to the Legion Lieutenant, making it a 3/3.
I block the Legion Lieutenant with a 2/2 with first strike, so my creature will deal damage first, and when the normal damage is dealt the Forerunner of the Legion no longer has the buff and is now a 2/2 again. I would therefore only take 2 damage.
However, he believes that the buff lasts until the end of the combat phase. Am I in the wrong?

No, you're right.

  510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike.

After damage has been dealt, the active player gets priority (510.3) and state-based actions are checked; the Legion Lieutenant dies and its effect will stop (this is different from effects which say something like 'target creature will get +1/+1 until end of turn'). The Forerunner of the Legion is a 2/2 again.

Only then, a second combat damage step will be started, and damage done by the Forerunner of the Legion is calculated, which will only be 2 damage.


Psychic Battle and Rayne, Academy Chancellor Will changing targets with Psychic Battle cause Rayne, Academy Chancellor to trigger? What about Dismiss into Dream?

If an opponent casts a spell targeting you, and you win the "clash", can you change it to yourself and trigger Rayne twice?

Yes, changing targets with Psychic Battle can trigger Rayne or Dismiss into Dream. However, when you do want to change a target, you have to choose a different legal target, so you can't change the target of a spell from yourself to yourself.

For abilities that trigger when its permanent becomes a target, it doesn't matter whether the target was the original, i.e. when the spell or ability was played, or whether it became a target only afterwards, through Psychic Battle. "Becoming a target of a spell or ability" means the transition from being not a target to being a target of that spell or ability. Since Psychic Battle's ability is triggered rather than a replacement effect, the effects of multiple Psychic Battles can trigger Rayne multiple times from a single spell or ability.

That also answers your second question. When you are already the target of a spell, and you would change the target to yourself, there would be no transition and thus, no trigger:

  603.2d Some trigger events use the word “becomes” (for example, “becomes attached” or “becomes blocked”). These trigger only at the time the named event happens—they don’t trigger if that state already exists or retrigger if it persists. An ability that triggers when a permanent “becomes tapped” or “becomes untapped” doesn’t trigger if the permanent enters the battlefield in that state.

However, that situation couldn't occur to begin with, because you can never change the target of spell or ability to the same target that it already is:

  114.7a If an effect allows a player to “change the target(s)” of a spell or ability, each target can be changed only to another legal target. [..]


Does removing an anomaly that reduces an action point give back the lost point for that turn? An anomaly yellow alert card reduced the players' available action points by 1. Once someone removes the anomaly, do they automatically get another action point, i.e. the formerly reduced point, to use that turn?

Yes, once the anomaly is removed the normal action limit is restored giving the player back the action they did not have.


Clarifying Bearing off At the end of the game (bearing off), which of the following moves are valid?

No, the second one is not valid.

There are many different rule sets for Backgammon.  However, I'm unaware of any which would allow it.

This quote is from Wikipedia.  It is footnoted as coming from both Backgammon for Winners, and Hoyle's Rules of Games.

  A die may not be used to bear off checkers from a lower-numbered point unless there are no checkers on any higher points.


When a permanent is being made to copy another, does it count as entering the battlefield? I want to cast Polymorphous Rush on a strong creature on my battlefield so that my Hamletback Goliath's ability will trigger.  The creature that will become the copy is already on the battlefield, but when it becomes a copy of the strong creature, will this trigger my Hamletback Goliath's ability?

For reference, Hamletback Goliath reads:

  Whenever another creature enters the battlefield, you may put X +1/+1 counters on Hamletback Goliath, where X is that creature's power.

No, it will not trigger the Goliath since nothing is entering the battlefield, a creature is just changing characteristics.

What you can do, however, is wait for a new creature to enter the battlefield and trigger the Goliath. With the trigger on the stack, you can then Polymorphous Rush the triggering creature, and the Goliath will get counters based on the new power. This is because the Goliath's ability doesn't check to see what the power of the creature is when it enters, it checks as the ability is resolving.


If I can cast sorceries at instant speed, can I use sorcery-speed activated abilities at instant speed? So Teferi, Time Raveler is down, and I have +1'ed him. I may now "cast sorcery spells as though they had flash". My Adorned Pouncer is in the graveyard, and can be Eternalized "only as a sorcery".

Does this mean I can Eternalize at instant speed? I feel like it shouldn't but would love a rules clarification.

No, Teferi only affects sorcery spells. This is because the phrase “any time you could cast a sorcery” (or “do this only as a sorcery”[see note]) doesn't actually mean any point you are able to cast a sorcery spell, but instead it means whenever it's a main phase of your own turn and the stack is empty:

  307.5 If a spell, ability, or effect states that a player can do something only “any time they could cast a sorcery,” it means only that the player must have priority, it must be during the main phase of their turn, and the stack must be empty. [...]

To confirm this we can take a look at the rulings on Hypersonic Dragon which has a similar ability:

  You may cast sorcery spells as though they had flash. (You may cast them any time you could cast an instant.)

One of its rulings says:

  Hypersonic Dragon’s last ability has no effect on abilities that you can activate “any time you could cast a sorcery.” (2017-11-17)

There is no card that generally provides instant timing to abilities that can only be activated “any time you could cast a sorcery”, and such a card will probably never appear.

There are cards that let you activate specific sorcery-speed abilities at instant speed. Leonin Shikari lets you use Equip abilities with instant timing, Teferi, Temporal Archmage does the same for loyalty abilities. However there is nothing that lets you eternalize at instant speed.

Note: Eternalize says “Eternalize only as a sorcery” in its reminder text. This “do thing only as a sorcery” phrase is a short-hand for “any time you could cast a sorcery” that you may see in reminder text. (You'll see the same short-hand used for Equip abilities such as on Explorer's Scope.) The full text for the Eternalize ability is as follows:

  702.128a Eternalize is an activated ability that functions while the card with eternalize is in a graveyard. "Eternalize [cost]" means "[Cost], Exile this card from your graveyard: Create a token that's a copy of this card, except it's black, it's 4/4, it has no mana cost, and it's a Zombie in addition to its other types. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery."


Does 'Other creatures you control have intimidate' affect new creatures brought out? Bellowing Tanglewurm and Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen have abilities like

  Other green creatures you control [...]

and

  Other Elf creatures you control [...]

Do abilities like these only affect creatures that were already on the battlefield? Will creatures that enter the battlefield later also get the effect?

If the creature with the ability dies, will the effect remain on the creatures that had it?

It will affect all your creatures for as long as you control it; whether those creatures were there when you first cast it or not. Your creatures will lose the bonus as soon as you stop controlling it. This is called a static ability, which generates a continuous effect. It's described in detail in this rule:

  604.2. Static abilities create continuous effects, some of which are prevention effects or replacement effects. These effects are active as long as the permanent with the ability remains on the battlefield and has the ability, or as long as the object with the ability remains in the appropriate zone, as described in rule 112.6.


What does the "science book" symbol mean on "The Game of Life: Adventures Card Game"? Certain "Adventure" cards have a prerequisite icon that's a picture of a book with a nuclear symbol on it. There's only one card that involves science "Career: Rocket Scientist", and there's already a symbol for "degree", so I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean and what is required before playing it.

It's a Passport.

The symbol (shown here) is actually supposed to represent airplane travel around the world.

The Rules sheet (PDF) doesn't define this symbol explicitly, but does indicate the existence of a Passport symbol requirement:

  You can only have ONE Passport and ONE Wedding card in your life story at any one time.  If you 'Lose Your Passport,' you can replace it with another one later in the game.

Board Game Geek user Samuel Wolf posted this list of cards, which includes the symbol that is needed for each card.  Of all the symbols, all but this one are either specified in the rules (e.g. Wedding, Degree) or are self-explanatory (e.g. need an Airplane to "Learn to Loop-the-Loop").  The only symbol left is the one you refer to, so it must be the Passport.


If Conclave Mentor & Spike Feeder enter the battlefield at the same time, does the Spike Feeder get three +1/+1 counters? Conclave Mentor:

If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control, that many plus one +1/+1 counters are put on that creature instead.

Spike Feeder:

Spike Feeder enters the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters on it.

If I find these two creatures with Collected Company and put them into play at the same time, does the Spike Feeder enter the battlefield with two +1/+1 counters, or three?
I'm guessing three for the same reason Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle sees every other Mountain entering the battlefield at the same time after a Scapeshift, but it apparently doesn't work that way on MTGO.

No, the Spike Feeder will not "see" the Conclave Mentor, and it will not get the extra counter.
Both of these creatures' effects are replacement effects. The wordings of replacement effects are described in the subrules of rule 614.1. Conclave Mentor's is covered by 614.1a, and Spike Feeder's is covered by 614.1c:

614.1a Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. Most replacement effects use the word “instead” to indicate what events will be replaced with other events.
614.1c Effects that read “[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ,” “As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ,” or “[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . “ are replacement effects.

In particular, Spike Feeder's replacement effect modifies how it enters the battlefield, so the details of how that works are described in rule 614.12:

614.12. Some replacement effects modify how a permanent enters the battlefield. (See rules 614.1c–d.) Such effects may come from the permanent itself if they affect only that permanent (as opposed to a general subset of permanents that includes it). They may also come from other sources. To determine which replacement effects apply and how they apply, check the characteristics of the permanent as it would exist on the battlefield, taking into account replacement effects that have already modified how it enters the battlefield (see rule 616.1), continuous effects from the permanent’s own static abilities that would apply to it once it’s on the battlefield, and continuous effects that already exist and would apply to the permanent.

The last clause is the important one here: replacement effects from other cards can only apply to a permanent entering the battlefield if those effects already exist. Replacement effects modify an event before it happens, so if another permanent is entering the battlefield at the same time (Conclave Mentor, in this case), it is not actually on the battlefield yet so its abilities don't exist yet.

This works differently from Valakut because Valakut's ability is a triggered ability. Triggered abilities are checked for after an event occurs, while replacement effects are applied before the event happens.


About Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet's effect + pay cost for no effect Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet:

  Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 other "Chronomaly" monster, then
  target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; its ATK becomes 0
  until the End Phase.

Player A has on field Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet, and 1 more Chronomaly monster, so total of 2 monsters on his field.
Player B activated Enemy Controller and took control of Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet.

Q1: It says You can Tribute 1 other "Chronomaly" monster,.. without specifying which side of the field, so player B can tribute player A's other Chronomaly monster to fulfill this cost, right?

Q2: For any card in YGO, can you fulfill a cost without doing the effect? Like in this case, player B wants to fulfill the cost of Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet by tributing player A's monster, but player A doesn't have any more monsters to change their attack to zero. Can player B still activate Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet's effect?

Q1:
No you can't. You can only pay for costs with your own cards (so cards you control, in your grave/deck/hand...).
There are some cards that allow this, but it will be stated explicitly on the card.
E.g. the kaiju monster or 'chimeratech fortress dragon'.

Q2:
Won't work in this specific scenario for above reason, but to answer in general, this is also not allowed.
In the case of 'Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet' the reason is that as part of the cost, you need to target a monster on your opponents side of the field, so if there are none you cannot activate the effect.
To give a bit more obvious example of this, you can't activate 'Monster Reborn' if there's no monster in either players graveyard.


Removing enchantments from hexproof creatures I have some hexproof creatures in my deck and several enchantments. What I wish to know that if I put an enchantment like "Trollhide" on my hexproof creature like "Sacred Wolf" can an opponent remove it from my Sacred Wolf with an enchantment-removing spell, or my enchantment becomes hexproof too?

The enchantment doesn't become hexproof.  It is only the creature that cannot be targeted by [an opponent's] spells and abilities.

So supposing that you have a spell that says "destroy target enchantment".  This spell can remove an enchantment that's on a hexproof creature.

But suppose that you had an (imaginary) spell that says "exile all Auras on target creature".  This would not have any effect on your Trollhide-toting Sacred Wolf, because it needs to target the creature, not the enchantments, and this time this is illegal.

EDIT: Since there's a bit of a mania for quoting the Comprehensive Rules at the moment, here's the section on hexproof:

  702.11b "Hexproof" on a permanent means "This permanent can't be the
  target of spells or abilities your opponents control."

That's all it means.  The hexproof doesn't confer any immunity from targeting on anything other than the permanent that has hexproof.


Spades - Strategy for Nil Vs. Nil round In the game of Spades, if two players from opposites partnerships bid Nil[1], then the round plays very differently from a regular round.  This is because that each of the non-Nil players is trying to set their opponent Nil without setting their partner.
For the sake of the rest of the discussion, let's call the players A, B, C, and D, where B and C are the ones who made the nil bids, so A and D are leading rounds after the first (unless one of B or C takes a trick). Here are some specific considerations:
Advantages:

Player A (the cover-partner that plays before both Nilers), has a disadvantage, she don't know if she should play high card to cover her partner or she can play a low card to try setting her opponent's nil.
Player D (The cover-partner that plays after both Nilers), has an advantage since she can see if she needs to cover or not.

I build an AI player of Spades, and I want to add this special case of Nil Vs. Nil round.  My question is, what are the main strategy considerations, or what adjustments in game play should I add?   For refining reasons, assume its the first round of the game[2].

[1] Nil Vs Nil rounds are not too rare in normal games.  In the Suicide variant, every round is Nil Vs Nil.
[2] Occasionally, Nil Vs. Nil rounds happens at a "game winner round", that is to say, one partnership will win the game if she makes the Nil.  In this kind of situations, other considerations come in to play.  In order to refine the question, assume non of the partnerships is close to the game winning score.

Some of the strategy will depend on the bids of the non-nil players.  In Suicide Spades, the non-nil players must have each bid at least 4, but that could still be anything between 4 and 13.  A bid of nil is equivalent to a bid of 10 in terms of points (100 if you win, -100 if you lose), so a non-nil player who has bid in the realm of 10 is as concerned with making their bid they are with protecting their partner's nil bid.  Meanwhile, a player who has bid in the realm of 5 is much more concerned with protecting their nil bid partner.  Bags are also a concern, as bags are worth up to -10 points each.

For the sake of the rest of the discussion, let's call the players A, B, C, and D, where B and C are the ones who made the nil bids, so A and D are leading rounds after the first (unless one of B or C takes a trick).  Here are some specific considerations:

D has the benefit of going last in some rounds, which A never has.  Thus, D should keep some low cards to be able to capitalize on the situation where C has played the highest card.
C has the benefit of playing after B each round, and thus can play the highest card still covered by B each round.  This positional benefit may rival D's.
A and D, by leading far more often than usual, have a much easier time getting a void in a suit, and probably want to do so, as this allows them to use a spade on that suit or lead spades to allow their partner to get rid of any spades.  The risk of this is if they lead a low card, one of the two nil players is more likely to take the trick, but it's not necessarily clear which.
It is especially important for A to get a void if A wants to lead spades, as D can reduce A's options by not breaking spades.
If either of A or D knows that their partner has a void in a suit, they should definitely lead low in that suit, as this has a decent chance of forcing the other nil bid player to take the trick.
If you are playing suicide spades, or are playing regular spades and two players have already made nil bids, you may want to bid several higher than you were originally planning, as multiple players will be actively avoiding taking tricks.


Overcalls at duplicate Bridge As west, my partner opened 1 club; north, the TD, called one spade and in the east seat I replied 2 hearts.

Thereupon my partner alerted and advised the table that I was showing 5 hearts (a first reply in a major in our system shows 5 not 4 cards). The TD went into something of a flat spin and advised that there was no necessity for the alert because I had to have 5 hearts to overcall 2 hearts. After we'd finished playing she went to her rule book and demonstrated the rules of overcalls.

Was my bid actually what is defined as an overcall or merely a reply to my partner?

There are two questions here:

(Terminology) Is making a bid over an opponent still called an overcall if your partner has already bid?

There are two competing uses (from Merriam-Webster):

  Definition of overcall

  transitive verb
  :  to make a higher bid than (the previous bid or bidder) in a card game

  intransitive verb
  :  to bid over an opponent's bid in bridge when one's partner has not bid or doubled

The first sounds a bit old fashioned, and the second is what I'd expect in modern bridge books, which tend to (cf. this lesson by Larry Cohen) use the names:

West, Partner (Opener): 1 Club

North, TD (Overcaller): 1 Spade

East, You (Responder): 2 Hearts

South (Advancer): [to call]

Did your partner need to alert your bid, regardless of terminology?

No, at least not in the American Contract Bridge League. See the Alert Procedures:

  Definition of expected length for natural bids for the Alert Procedure

  Suit bids:
  
  Three or more in a minor suit
  (Also: An opening bid of 1♣ is natural if, by agreement, it may be exactly
  4=4=3=2 with two clubs, three diamonds, and four cards in each major.)

   Four or more in a major for opening bids, rebids and responses

   Four or more for an overcall at the one level, five or more for higher levels

   Five or more for a weak two-bid

   Six or more for a weak three-bid

Side Note: It doesn't matter to the result, but I couldn't find the definition of overcall that the ACBL Alert Procedures are using. I would expect from experience that it is the second one.


How common are offensive words in tournament Scrabble play? There are a number of different 'official' Scrabble dictionaries, but at least for this question I'm primarily interested in North American play, and so I'm interested in two word lists particularly: OWL2, the official tournament word list; and OSPD4, the 'Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary', which is used for school play and is the dictionary you can find in your favorite bookstore.  The difference between the two is that OWL2 includes a number of offensive words that aren't in the OSPD (you can find a good list of the differences here).

My question is, what's the effect of the larger word list in practice?  Scanning through the list I can only see two words that seem likely to get any substantial amount of play: LEZ (just as a short Z word - although note that LE isn't a legal two-letter word, so this doesn't provide a hook) and YID (which is a hook onto ID for playing a Y).  I'm curious whether this has been formally studied at all, and if anyone has any pointers as to how often these words actually come up in practice in tournaments.

Short answer: HO is used rather often. LEZ, ABO, GOY are the next most common.

Methodology: I have a database of about a million games played on a popular internet Scrabble server played under the standard Tournament Word List. I scanned this for all uses of offensive words. Roughly 360,000 of the 27,000,000 moves used a word from the expurgated list, or 1.3% of moves.

This table lists the top most-used expurgated words, sorted by the number of times they were played. The rating here is the average rating of the player when the word was used. All the words on this table represent 90% of the uses of offensive words in "average" play among enthusiast Scrabble players.

Word  |   Uses   | AvgRating|    % all
  HO  |  148182  |     910  |   41.01%
 LEZ  |   26387  |     947  |    7.30%
 ABO  |   25423  |    1043  |    7.04%
 GOY  |   22458  |     936  |    6.22%
 YID  |   16771  |     984  |    4.64%
 PEE  |   14862  |     906  |    4.11%
 JEW  |   12065  |     926  |    3.34%
 WOP  |   11739  |     999  |    3.25%
 WOG  |   10105  |     975  |    2.80%
 POO  |    7257  |     947  |    2.01%
FART  |    5532  |     870  |    1.53%
 POM  |    5075  |     955  |    1.40%
JEWS  |    4211  |     910  |    1.17%
 HOS  |    3482  |     918  |    0.96%
SHIT  |    3200  |     876  |    0.89%
TURD  |    3018  |     943  |    0.84%
DAGO  |    2900  |    1032  |    0.80%

HO is obviously strongly represented by virtue of being a two-letter word; appearing in 41% of the 1.3% of offensive moves means it's played in about 1 in 5 games. You can see some vocabulary effects in the data -- ABO is not natively in many people's vocabulary (this is mostly an Australian thing to my knowledge), whereas FART certainly is.

Other trivia about uses of these expurgated words:

The next word on this list starts with C and you can probably guess what it is
The first seven-letter word is FARTING (169 uses)
240 of the 324 expurgated words were used
The word NITCHIE was played 7 times, but only ever by people rated above 1450 (strong player)
No word longer than 8 letters long was played


Victory Point Cards at the End of the Game I had not played Catan in a long time, but I recently played in a friendly tournament and am wondering (1) if there was a rule change , (2) if the rule they  used is correct, or (3) if the rule I thought was correct was correct.

Scenario:

 Player A's turn
 Player A has 9 points on the board.
 Player B has 6 points on the board.
 Player C has 7 points on the board.
 Player D has 9 points on the board.

And

 Player A builds a city and reaches 10 points
 Player B then reveals 2 VP cards

Does Player B end the game with a score of 6 VP or 8 VP? (in 4th place or 3rd place (moving ahead of C)?)

Looking at the rules, on page 5, it states

  You must keep Victory Point Cards hidden. You may only reveal them during your turn and when you are sure that you have 10 victory points—that is, to win the game. Of course, you can reveal them after the end of the game when someone else wins. You may play any number of Victory Point Cards during your turn, even during the turn you purchase them

Based on the wording "after the end of the game", I would assume they don't count.

Also, it's not directly answered but it seems to be mentioned here that they don't count. See related here. See also BGG link.

The cards count, so 8 VP.
From the Victory Point Cards entry of the rules:

Each victory point card is worth 1 victory point. You only reveal your victory point cards when you or someone else wins the game.

The winner only reveals their VP cards after they win the game, so VP cards are worth points even before they are revealed.
Furthermore, the non-winning players are instructed to reveal their VP cards when the game ends. There would be no point in doing so if they didn't count.
Finally, a player by the name Daniel Wilson claims the following on the BoardGameGeek message boards:

I've played in the Mayfair Settlers of Catan World/North American Championship Qualifiers the last few years running at Origins, and this situation has occurred multiple times in the games I've been in.
The way this situation was officially scored is exactly the way you described. The points are there and still count, whether revealed or not.


If a "Protection from" effect negates damage, is it still considered "damage dealt"? If I have a Justice ("Whenever a red creature or spell deals damage, Justice deals that much damage to that creature's or spell's controller.") and a Thermal Glider (which has "protection from red") in play, and my opponent attacks with some red creature (say, a Goblin Chariot; 2/2).

I can choose to block with my Thermal Glider, and its protection from red will prevent the damage and it will survive the encounter.

But will Justice's ability trigger? Did the red creature "deal damage" even though all the damage was reduced to zero?

No, damage which is prevented is not dealt at all.

615.1a Effects that use the word “prevent” are prevention effects. Prevention effects use “prevent” to indicate what damage will not be dealt.
615.6. If damage that would be dealt is prevented, it never happens. [...]


Use of race tokens when conquering new regions When conquering a new region, do you deploy race tokens from other regions you have already conquered, or do you use your unused race tokens?

You only use your unused race tokens (those you took into hand at the start of your turn). The only time you can take race tokens from already conquered spaces is 1) At end of turn when you can reallocate tokens on conquered spaces, and 2) At the start of the turn when you can take race tokens from conquered spaces into hand.


Double faced cards multiple transform triggers Wizards recently changed the ruling for double faced cards:

  if a DFC has an activated or triggered ability that transforms it, that permanent transforms only if it hasn't since that ability was put on the stack.

Ok, so that means that you can't flip-flop a DFC card around with the ability on one side. Does that mean you can't activate/trigger the ability more than once, for other effects? (e.g. Elusive Tormentor's "{1}, Discard a card: Transform" and I want multiple Madness triggers)

Several points for the first question:

Elusive Tormentor's ability is not triggered, it is activated.
Discarding the card is not part of its effect, but part of the cost, and there is no limit to how often you activate that ability.
Even if it was part of the effect, you could still activate the ability several times and discard several cards, because the discard and the flip would be separate effects. If one effect of a spell or ability gets prevented or replaced somehow, the other effects are not affected.


Can a thief steal if he can't equip the item? If a thief is already wearing a hat in Munchkin, is it possible that he can attempt to steal someone else's hat, even if he can't wear it? What about if he sells it immediately?

From the rules:

All Items you have in play are considered "carried." Items that are actually giving you a bonus are "equipped."
Anyone can carry any Item (except for extra Big items), but you may equip only one Headgear, [etc.] ... If you are carrying two Headgear cards, for instance,
you can equip only one of them at a time.

This means that even if an item can't be equipped (because you already have an item equipped in that slot, or any other reason), it can still be carried, so a thief can still steal it and just carry it.


Can the card disintegrate destroy creatures with indestructible? I was playing magic the gathering with my friend, and I was using the card Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, which has indestructible. He wanted to play the card Disintegrate on the Zetalpa to destroy it, but we weren’t sure whether or not it would actually kill it.

No. Disintegrate cannot kill Zetalpa, Primal Dawn. Creature with indestructible cannot be killed with damage.

Rules quote from comprehensive rules:

  702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).

Disintegrate would exile Zetalpa only if Zetalpa would die. In your case Zetalpa won't leave the battlefield.


Can fire move ice in Sorry? The 2013 version of Sorry! adds fire and ice tokens. If my pawn with a fire token enters home can I move my other pawn that has the ice token?

The rules conflict. One one hand when the fire token pawn enters home it can move another pawn into home. On the other hand a pawn with the ice token may not be moved.

What is the correct ruling?

You can not bring the pawn with the ice token to your home

As you say in your question, a pawn with a fire token can move a pawn into home. It states that it can do it and a pawn that cannot be moved, can therefore not be moved into home.


What's up with the New X-Wing Core Set? 2015 The Force Awakens X-Wing core set is currently shipping now. There are new paint schemes for the X-wing and TIE fighter miniatures. The fantasy  flight website reveals this:

  The Force Awakens Core Set introduces rules for playing with your Resistance and First Order forces alongside the game’s three existing factions, and that means you can look forward to giving Luke Skywalker an Integrated Astromech, flying your swarm of TIE/fo fighters alongside “Howlrunner,” and shutting down focus tokens with Carnor Jax , only to Juke your opponents.

When can I get this?

Does anyone know the changes to the rules?

As for when & where, I'll leave you to Google-search that one, but the details of what's changed are actually really cool!
No rules changes, only additions
The biggest thing to know about the new Core set is that there are no rules changes, no new templates or dice. There are a couple of new maneuvers for the ships like the new Tallon Roll, but they're just like the additional actions introduced in expansions like the SLAM or Cloak rulings: just adding more flavor and options for ship and squadron design.
This is not your father's TIE fighter or X-Wing
"your father"... see what I did there??
The TIE Fighter included in the original Core set is the TIE/ln starfighter (the original TIE from Episode IV), but the TIE Fighter included in the new Core set is the TIE/fo starfighter, the version from the new Episode VII movie coming in December. Likewise, the X-Wing in the original Core set is the T-65 starfighter (commonly called an X-Wing due to the "X" shape the S-Foils make), while the one included in this new Core set is the T-70 starfighter also from the new movie. The stat lines, point costs, upgrades, pilot skills, and pretty much everything else are slightly tweaked to make these new ships distinct and different from their Original Trilogy counterparts without invalidating the originals in game play.
If I own the original Core set, should I buy the new one?
In my opinion, it's worth having two core sets just for the extra dice and templates, and this is a great way to get those and some of the new ships as well. If you already have two of the original Core sets, it's up to you as to whether it's worth buying this Core set, or just buying the individual ships when Wave VIII comes out.


How can I play Dominion with 5+ players without expansions? I am going to get a Dominion expansion (probably intrigue based on its popularity) but in the meantime I'm curious about what I can do with just the basic set. I know it was designed for 2-4, but I don't see any real solid reason why it can't go to at least 5. I'm perfectly fine with adding any sort of house rules.

The game ends when the provinces or gone or 3 stock piles are exhausted. I figure you could counteract running out of kingdom card piles by possibly adding a few more kingdom cards. To combat the number of provinces we could just add some regular playing cards at the bottom, since they won't go through shuffling too much. My games are pretty relaxed and fun oriented, so some little hacks like that would be fine if they let more people join in.

Does anyone with experience with playing Dominion with 5+ players, with or without expansions? Any other strategies to making it possible for an extra player or two to join in? How will the game change with more people and is there anything I should keep in mind to make things run smoothly?

To play with more than 4 players, the rules for Intrigue (link - page 7) give the following guidelines:

Provinces = players x 3
Curses = (players - 1) x 10
Exhaust 4 Kingdom piles (instead of 3) to end the game. Province pile still ends the game on its own.

Of course you'll need 3 more Estates per player at the beginning of the game, but for the Coppers you'll just have fewer in the supply.
All other rules are the same as in a 3- or 4-player game.

Keep in mind that more players can make a game feel slower, and can make some cards (especially attack cards) more powerful than in a smaller game. Also, Intrigue is the only "expansion" that comes with the common (Copper, Silver, Gold, Estate, Duchy, Province, Curse) cards, but once you have it you can use those to boost your supply. Until then I recommend using a few unused Kingdom cards to fill in the blanks. Between the Base set, Seaside and Alchemy I found I had at least fifteen blank cards, which my wife lovingly inscribed with appropriate verbiage to reduce our need for unused Kingdom cards.

EDIT: For awhile now Rio Grande Games has had a set of just the Base Cards for sale.


What do these special spaces do in Elefant Hunt? I recently dug up a very old Tom Wham board game that I cut out of a Dragon Magazine back in the 1980s (I want to say early 80s) called Elefant Hunt. I have all the pieces, and I remember the mechanics surprisingly well enough that I think I can play it without the rule book. I am just stuck on two spaces on the board: the Lost City and the Elefant Graveyard. I believe this is where you get relic and ivory counters, but I don't know how many or for how many points. Does anyone know the rules governing these two spaces on the board?

They score 3d6 points when returned to port.
From the rules:

When a player lands on the Elefant Graveyard, he
takes an Ivory marker. When he lands in the Lost City,
he takes a Relic marker. Ivory and Relics are worth a
variable number of points upon their return to port, as
determined by a roll of three dice.

The value of each Relic and piece of Ivory is determined by totalling the roll of three dice.


Can an ability that returns a creature to hand save it from an ability that would exile it? So I was playing a friend and he had a Lantern Spirit on the field. I used a card ability to exile it, but he said he could pay that one blue mana to put it back in his hand. I'm pretty sure that's not legal, but I couldn't prove it wasn't, so I let him (it was OK in the end I completely crushed him). Does anyone know where the rules regarding this kind of thing are?

When you put the exile ability of your card (call it E) on the stack, your opponent gets priority and will be able to react by playing e.g. an instant or in this case, any card abiltity which can be played as an instant. Lantern Spirit's ability is such an ability; it will be put on the stack as well, and unless you react on it (e.g. with another instant), it will resolve before E. This is a bit counterintuitive (unless you're a programmer and heard about stacks before) - why should an ability/spell which is cast later resolve earlier? – but this is how Magic works. Lantern Spirit will return to its owner's hand and E will (if Lantern Spirit is its only target) 'fizzle', i.e. have no effect, because its target has already changed zones. It won't exile the card from its owner's hand.