Royal favours in Caylus When building a prestige building by using the 4th row of the royal favours table (e.g. after winning a royal favour as the player who built the most houses on the castle) that gives you more favours, is it permitted to use these very favours to construct another buidling? In other words, is it considered "building" the blue building, part of the same phase? I know that in general, during the same phase you're not allowed to use the same row.
Let's say I've already placed my marker at the first column of the 4th row at the royal favours table. After I win another favour, am I allowed to advance my pawn to the 2nd column, even if I don't have the materials to build a wooden building?

Rules reference here

1)  No, you may not build another building.  As you are aware the rules say: -

  If a player gains several favors during the same phase (for
  instance, during a count or when the monument is built), the
  favors must be used on different lines. So, it is impossible
  to gain more than 4 favors in a phase.

You gained the favour allowing you to build in phase 6, building the castle.  If you build a building that give you more favours the phase has not changed.

2) Yes,  You advance your marker unless prevented by the stage of the game (ie building the keep, walls etc).

  Whenever a player earns a favor, they must choose a line at
  once, and, if it is possible, advance their marker to the right.
  Then, the player can use one of the effects provided on the
  chosen line, between level 1 and the level currently indicated
  by the marker.

The restriction on moving the marker is the stage of the game, not if you are able to carry out the action.  Don't forget when moving on the favour track you don't have to carry out the action you move to, you can select any of the action you passed on that row.  Also if you are the end of the row you can still keep selected that row and carrying out any action.


Can you force property onto players in Monopoly The Monopoly rules state that if your debt to another player is greater than the cash at hand, you can give property at its original (or higher, if mutually agreed) price to the person you owe.

However, if you have, say, 3 stations (worth 600) and 100 at hand, and you have to pay a debt of 500 to another player, and no other player wants to buy them from you (or no other player exists). Can you force the player you owe to take 2 stations plus 100, or even 3 stations, to pay your debt, or is it at his will, in which case he/she can refuse the deal, and declare you bankrupt to him/her, and take all 3 stations and the 100? (Since mortgaging is inadequate.)

I cannot find anything close to what you have quoted in any of the rules I have looked at online.

However, the general rule is: Whenever you would owe money, you have the opportunity to do trading with other players to raise the funds, including with the person who you owe money to, but they are not obliged to accept.

This site backs this up and claims it is from official tournament rules.

http://mospaw.com/monopoly/some-obscure-monopoly-rules-explained/12/information#comment-5

  If you do not have enough cash to cover rent, you may sell any other
  asset you have in the game, such as unimproved properties to raise the
  rent. You can sell the properties for whatever amount the market will
  bear.

  You may also make a trade of unimproved properties (or properties and
  cash) to the landlord, which is effectively selling the properties to
  that person for the amount in question.

  The only time a sale cannot take place is if a player will be cheated.
  For example, Player A lands on Boardwalk with hotels and owes $2,000
  to Player B. Player A cannot raise enough cash or make a trade with
  Player B, so he is effectively bankrupt and should turn over all
  assets. Player A would not be able to make a deal with Player C to
  sell some properties for less than their value (say the red properties
  for $1) since that would cheat Player B. He could sell them for more
  than their purchase value, however.

  There is a lot of flexibility in how you can finance your debts. Most
  limitations are that the deal is limited to the game (you can’t trade
  a cookie or a kiss) and that you don’t cheat the player due money by
  making a deal with another player when owing money. Other limitations
  involve the inability to grant immunity to someone. It’s simply not
  allowed.

Further, from the official rules on the Deluxe edition of Monopoly has this to say and supports the general rule I mention above:

  Using a Mortgaged Property to pay a debt: If you owe money to any of your opponents, you can offer them a piece of mortgaged property to
  cover all or part of your debt. Your opponent has the option of
  deciding whether or not to accept it. If you opponent accepts, he/she
  must immediately pay 10% of the mortgaged value.

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/DeluxeMonopoly.pdf


What happens if a tribute effect has no valid target? What happens if I play a card that has a tribute ability with the word target in it, my opponent chooses not to pay the tribute, and ability that applies has no valid targets.

Will the ability simply do nothing, can I not play the card because it will resolve illegally, or will my opponent be forced to pay the tribute?

The Tribute ability and abilities that trigger if the tribute wasn't paid are separate. It is perfectly legitimate for an opponent to not pay a tribute when there is no target for the ability that will trigger afterward. As with any such cases, that ability will then be countered automatically.

Why this is the case is not quite as straightforward, since the rules are a little roundabout about it, but tribute, being a static ability (like unleash) is just something that goes on as the creature enters the battlefield (what makes it feel very different is the delay introduced by the opponent choosing instead of you). The tribute-bound ability will trigger after that, when the creature is on the battlefield, and depending on the opponent's choice. At that point, if it has no target, it will fizzle normally (the same as when you control no other creature and cast Breaching Hippocamp).


What is the difference between add damage counters and attack damage On Dusclops(Flashfire 39/106), on the moved cursed drop it says that i can put 4 damage counters on my opponent's pokemon in any way I like. What is the difference from saying this as in do 40 damage to your opponents pokemon?

Damage:

Is affected by Weakness and Resistance, unless specified otherwise
Is affected by effects like "Whenever an attack does damage"
Can be prevented by "prevent all damage"
Can be reduced by "any damage done to this Pokémon by attacks is reduced by XX", "divide that damage in half", etc.

Damage counters:

Is prevented by "prevents all effects...", since placing damage counters is an effect of an attack.
And you can pretty much revert everything that applies to normal damage.


Update to partial fizzle I'd like to have a more precise answer to when a spell fizzles.
The rule seems to have changed to when not all targets are invalid.

For example: If an opponent casts Essence Capture to counter my creature spell and add a +1/+1 counter to a creature he controls and I destroy his creature in response, the second target is now invalid and his creature won't get the +1/+1 counter. Is my creature spell countered or does Essence Capture fizzle?

The part of the "fizzling" rules that your question is about haven't changed recently. The rule quoted in the page you linked to, 608.2b, says in part

  If all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn't resolve.

In the example you gave, one of the targets is still legal, so the spell still resolves.

The part of the rule that changed recently is that it used to say that the spell would be "countered", but now it says that the spell "doesn't resolve".


Do the back side of double-faced cards have a color? For example, would Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's minus ability affect Westvale Abbey transformed?

  −X: Exile each permanent with converted mana cost X or less that's one or more colors.

Yes, they can have a color, and Ormendahl would be exiled.

Do you see the little black dot to the left of "Legendary Creature"?

That dot is called a color indicator, and means that the card is black. The CMC of the back of a double-faced card is the same as the front, which, in this case, is 0.

Here's another example of a black color indicator.


Fortifying an already fortified city (or placing a caravan in a city with a caravan) In Civilization Fame and Fortune expansion, a player may disband his army/scout figure in one of his cities. Disbanding a army figure is called fortification, and this gives an additional one-time-use +2 combat bonus. Discarding a scout is called sending a caravan, and it gives a one-time-use +2 production to the city.

Is it a legal move to discard scout/army figures voluntarily and without benefits to an already fortified/'caravanicated' city?

Yes. This was covered by the FAQ, v2.0:

Q: Can a player disband an army figure in a city that already contains a fortification marker, or a scout in a city that already contains a caravan marker?
A: Yes. However, the player does not add an additional fortification or caravan marker, or gain an additional bonus.


Is there a special name for the following kind of "tenace" and are there "special" kinds of tactics regarding it? If you hold an AQ or KJ of a suit, with a low card being led up to it, you have a "tenace," and you hope that the missing card is "onside" with the right hand opponent (RHO).

If you hold, say an AJ or a KT or a Q9 (and the missing cards are not in your partner's hand), is that also called a tenace, or is there a special name for this kind of a holding?

More to the point, if there are two missing cards, A and B, is it usually good technique to refrain from covering the first one, and only cover the second one?
For instance if you have KTx, should you duck when RHO plays that J, and wait till he plays the Q, then you cover with the K, A captures, and your T is now high?

I don't think there is a special name for this holding.  I think they are still tenaces.  (After all, at least one etymology for "tenace" is "ten-ace"!)

If you look at the suit in isolation, it doesn't matter whether you lose the first trick or the second trick; either way, if you lead twice towards AJx, you can get 2 tricks if KQ are both onside.

However, in an actual hand, there are going to be many timing issues associated with when you would prefer to lose a trick.  There may be endplay or squeeze possibilities that make it more beneficial to lose a trick early or late.  If you lose a trick very early, you may have the advantage that defender doesn't have enough information to figure out the best return.  There may be possibilities for Morton's Fork coups or discarding a loser anyway that only work taking the first trick or losing the first trick.  You might have a vulnerable entry in one hand that you don't want knocked out, or a different tenace that you want led to.

A lot of times, the question boils down to which defender you want on lead more assuming the honors are split, given that you have a possibility of discarding the second loser at a later point.


When must you resolve spells cast with Diluvian Primordial? Yesterday I have cast Diluvian Primordial, and my playgroup was trying to convince me, that I can cast one of their spells during the entire turn I had cast it, and that I could cast a spell from one of them, then cast a sorcery speed spell from my hand, and then continue casting spells from other players graveyards (the ones I had not targeted before). I think that this is nonsense. Can I cast a creature or a planeswalker from hand during the resolution of the Diluvian Primordial enter the battlefield trigger?

You're right, you can't.

603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority. See rule 116, “Timing and Priority.” The ability becomes the topmost object on the stack. It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics. It remains on the stack until it’s countered, it resolves, a rule causes it to be removed from the stack, or an effect moves it elsewhere.
603.3d The remainder of the process for putting a triggered ability on the stack is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2c–d. If a choice is required when the triggered ability goes on the stack but no legal choices can be made for it, or if a rule or a continuous effect otherwise makes the ability illegal, the ability is simply removed from the stack.
601.2c The player announces their choice of an appropriate object or player for each target the spell requires. ...

So when the ability triggers, in the process of putting the ability on the stack, you must already choose the appropriate target spells in the graveyards. Then (assuming the ability isn't countered) while it resolves, you cast (not resolve) all target spells, one after another, including choosing targets for them. While that happens, nobody can do anything else except that you can activate mana abilities:

608.2f If an effect gives a player the option to pay mana, they may activate mana abilities before taking that action. If an effect specifically instructs or allows a player to cast a spell during resolution, they do so by following the steps in rules 601.2a–i, except no player receives priority after it’s cast. That spell becomes the topmost object on the stack, and the currently resolving spell or ability continues to resolve, which may include casting other spells this way. No other spells can normally be cast and no other abilities can normally be activated during resolution.

so you'll end up with a stack full of spells (those you targeted with Diluvian Primordial's ability) waiting to resolve. Opponents may still counter those spells, or cast a spell or activate an ability to e.g. return a creature they want to protect to their hand. As you thought, you can't cast sorceries, creatures or planeswalkers from your hand in the normal way, since the stack is not empty. You'll have to wait for that until all 'stolen' spells have resolved.


"Whenever you draw a card" trigger w/ an empty library In Magic: The Gathering, let's say you have out Ormos, Archive Keeper as well as Psychosis Crawler and you're down to an empty library. Something allows you to attempt to draw a card from the empty library and you trigger Ormos's ability, but what about Psychosis Crawler? I would guess since no card is literally being drawn, Psychosis Crawler's ability wouldn't trigger, but I wonder if the act of drawing in the first place would trigger it anyways, regardless of whether a card was taken to hand from the library or not.

Psychosis crawler would not trigger.
This is, in part, because Psychosis Crawler has a triggered ability and Ormos, Archive Keeper's ability is a replacement effect, and one that prevents the default action of drawing a card from happening. Replacement effects like Ormos's are explained in the Comprehensive Rules:

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.

Because Ormos is one of the replacement effects that completely replaces the original event, it never happens, and anything that was looking for that event doesn't trigger:

614.6 If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can’t be carried out, in which case the impossible instruction is simply ignored.

In addition to this, Psychosis Crawler isn't looking for an effect to tell you to draw a card, it's looking for the actual effect of drawing a card. If you had some effect that prevented a game loss for drawing from an empty library, like Platinum Angel you still have not drawn any cards, so the trigger conditions on Psychosis Crawler have not been met.
Think of it similarly to how Teferi's Ageless Insight interacts with Psychosis Crawler but in reverse. When you draw two cards you've still got a single event making you draw those cards, that event just had a replacement effect making you draw an additional card. Psychosis Crawler will trigger twice since two cards were drawn, if replacing 1 draw with 0 cards drawn still triggered Crawler once, replacing 1 card drawn with 2 would do the same.


Room Boundaries in Blood Ties In Blood Ties, what counts as a room boundary for the purpose of Horror Tests and Item Abilities? (e.g. Elder Sign)

For example, my girlfriend raises a zombie in the graveyard. Do all my investigators out in the open have to take a horror test, or only those in the graveyard?

Alternatively, Gloria Grant is surrounded by 4 zombies, all within 1 range. Does her successful Elder Sign roll drive all the zombies back, or only those that are on her tile?

You should go by the definition in the rule book on page 8

Room - An area of the map tile that has a name and is separated from the other rooms by solid brown walls, doors, or the edge of the map tile. ...

Raise a Zombie in the graveyard: Only those in the Graveyard room.

Whenever a monster enters (or is placed) in an investigator's room (or vise versa), the investigator must immediately make an attribute test called a HORROR TEST. ... If multiple investigators are in the room, the must each make a horror test.

Elder Sign: although poorly worded (the Elder Sign rules text), all monsters in the room are moved two spaces away from her. (Keep in mind that a map tile may have as many as 3 rooms on it, you cannot use the terms interchangeably)

Tile - A single piece of punchboard that contains between one and three rooms.
Elder Sign - "Pass: The keeper must move each monster in your room 2 spaces away from you."


Does a person playing an illegal Draw 4 in Uno still get to pick the color? If you play an illegal Draw 4, then are challenged and fail, do you still get to pick the color? I know the player who got caught playing the illegal card has to Draw 4 cards, but it's unclear if whether or not they still get to pick the color.

As per the (2008) Rules sheet from Mattel (emphasis in second paragraph mine):

  Wild Draw Four Card - When you play this card, you get to choose the
  color that continues play PLUS the next player must draw 4 cards from
  the DRAW pile and lose their turn. However, there is a hitch! You may
  only play this card when you do NOT have another card in your hand
  that matches the COLOR on the DISCARD pile (but it is acceptable to
  play this card if you have matching number or Action Cards). If turned
  up at the beginning of play, return this card to the deck and pick another
  card.

  NOTE: If you suspect that a Wild Draw 4 card has been played on you illegally (i.e. the player has a matching card), then you may challenge that player. The challenged player must show you (the challenger) their hand. If guilty, the challenged player must draw the 4 cards instead of you. However, if the challenged player is innocent, you must draw the 4 cards PLUS an additional 2 cards (6 total)!

The takeaway from this: Since the penalty on this states that the challenged player draws 4 cards instead of the challenging player AND since the rules never state that an illegally-played "Wild Draw 4" card is taken back, the card remains on the discard pile and the declared color remains in effect. This means you can't prevent an unfavorable color change from an illegally-played Wild Draw 4 card.

Official Uno Videogames handle this the same way: the Wild Draw 4's declared color remains in effect (at least one version recolors the Wild cards after a color's been declared to make it clear what color the top card is).

Some rule revisions, such as the 2003 Rules Sheet from Mattel, also specifically refer to playing a Wild Draw 4 while still having cards matching the current color as bluffing.


Checking a +1/+1 counter requirement Abzan Battle Priest has an ability that reads

  Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has lifelink.

Does it grant lifelink to creatures with two +1/+1 counters?

A creature with two +1/+1 counters has a +1/+1 counter, so Abzan Battle Priest's static ability will grant that creature lifelink.

Note that being granted +1/+1 and having a +1/+1 counter are very different. If you control Dauntless River Marshal, Abzan Battle Priest and an Island, the Marshal won't be granted Lifelink.


Does it have to be exactly five quarks to win? I have sets in the detector like this:

Green Up / Red Up / Blue Charm
Anti-Green Anti-Up / Green Down
Anti-Red Anti-Charm / Red Strange

The rules say the player needs to "assemble a set of 5 quarks at the detector," but this set of 7 contains a winning set. Is this game considered a win, or did I need to contain the quarks more concisely?

Extra quarks in the detector are irrelevant. The written rules say you win if at any time there is a pentaquark in the detector. If the pentaquark needed to be alone in the detector, the rules should state that explicitly. Fortunately, on their website they have a "How to Play" video made by the designer. In the video, he won with 6 quarks in the detector. The video is on YouTube at https://youtu.be/2WdbX97mUpQ and on the website at https://buttonshygames.com/pages/pentaquark


Roll dice to see who goes first in Monopoly In Monopoly, at the start of each round players roll the dice to determine who goes first. But what if the highest number are the same for 2 or more players?

Let's say player 1 got 12 and player 2 also got 12 while others got less than that. Does the official rule states if everyone has to roll the dice again or just the highest players?

All the official rules say is " Starting with the Banker, each player in turn throws the dice.The player with the highest total starts the play: "

However I have never seen a system for determining who goes first where if the top place is a tie all players re-roll, only the players that actually tie re-roll.


Can a player return a card to discard pile if they are still touching it? My family believes that you may pick up a card from the discard pile and return it, as long as you are still touching the card, and then draw From the draw pile in the same turn. I disagree and think once the card is picked up it is yours to keep or discard and end your turn.

What is the correct rule?

TL;DR : They are technically breaking the rules but you should allow it as it doesn't affect the game.

Looking at the rules here it says :-

  Draw a card from either the Draw Pile or the Discard Pile, and add it
  to your hand. And then, discard any card that you want onto the
  Discard Pile.

There is also nothing in the rules about 'still touching' anywhere that I can see.  So technically the answer to your question is no that is not allowed.

However, there is also an answer about just being nice person when playing games.  If a player picks up a publicly visible discard and decides that is not what they want to do, and the next player has not taken a turn, I see no good reason why they shouldn't put it be back and be able to draw a card.  Nothing has changed that can not be undone.  No new information was available.

Of course if a player drew a card from the deck and saw it then that would have to stick and shouldn't be returned as they have new information that was not available at the start of the turn.


Winning with the merchants May I use the Merchants to achieve victory by having the complete set of resources cards (1 through 9 and the Inca relic)? When should I show my cards and achieve victory?

I found a thread on BGG where the game designer answers this question.

Do traders work for the 1 to 9 + Inca gold victory condition? In other words, if I have 1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 + Inca gold + trader 'X → 7/8/9', do I win the game?
Yes, traders work in that situation. Your trader changes the 1 into a 9.. and you win !
— when do I display the perfect combination? When it is my turn in the progression step (meaning that a combination I simply 'get' from the draw stacks has to survive the trading)? Or can I show it at any one time?
You have to display your combination on your turn during the progression step.

So, yes, you can use Merchants to achieve victory through the full set of resources. Your hand is shown in the progression step, after the trade step.


I'm searching for Ricochet Robots, travel version Years ago I played a game similar to Ricochet Robots, but a single player travel version.

This game has a small board (something like 5x5 tiles) and several robot pieces.
It includes cards with puzzle configurations (about 100 I remember) that the player should solve.

The mechanics of the game are similar to Ricochet Robots (or a Zelda ice and blocks puzzle), where you move a Robot in one direction until it collides with another element. The objective is to get the robot to a selected position on the board.

I don't remember the name nor the company that made this game but I want to try it again. Does anyone know it?

Here's the game I think I was thinking of: LUNAR LOCKOUT

http://www.funagain.com/control/product?product_id=010971&reviews_show_all=Y

Here's how one of the reviews describes it:

  This is a great little solitaire game. It's quite similar to Ricochet
  Robot in theme, but there are some important differences. There are no
  walls--not even around the edges. You must get your man to the center
  solely by bouncing him off robots. The goal-spot is always the red
  square in the center. Instead of random board and piece placement, you
  must solve puzzles as provided on cards. If you think these
  differences would make it more simple than Ricochet Robot, then you're
  in for a big surprise. The puzzles, especially at the top levels, are
  tear-your-hair-out difficult. Solutions are thankfully provided on the
  backs of the cards, but that's cheating. The components are very high
  quality. The robots all have their own 'look' beyond being different
  colors. The base of the board slides out nicely, has storage space for
  the robots and cards, and snaps together snugly. My only complaint is
  that I'd like to see an expansion set soon with new puzzles to solve.


Methods for handicapping chess My four-and-a-half year old son is learning chess.  He's got the moves of the pieces down and understands how to checkmate with two rooks (or rook and queen).

I've read some good suggestions in this question for how to teach chess other than by playing games.  This question is more concerned with how to make a normal game between the two of us fun for both players.

So, what are some ways that I can handicap myself so that I can play as best I know how, but still not win every game we play?  I've tried starting without some of my pieces, and that seems to work well, but I've read in a couple of places that this is not a good idea -- why?  The other option I've considered but not tried is a very short time limit for my moves.

Note: I'm hoping for answers that will apply to two adults with varying skill levels as well.

There are a variety of ways to level the playing field in chess. The two most common methods are material advantage and time odds, although there are also a number of more exotic handicaps that one can conceive of (e.g. giving away free moves, requiring a given piece to give checkmate, allowing the King to move two squares, etc).

With material handicaps, you give up some of your pieces, to the advantage of your opponent. This type of handicap has the advantage that it is simple to tune, and can be easily adjusted to correspond to the difference in strength between the two players. This form of odds was very common in earlier centuries, prior to the invention of the chess clock.

The main disadvantage to material handicaps is that a game played with such a handicap is quite different to an equal game. Without a Rook, for example, one cannot castle on that side. Strategic decisions may also be skewed by the weaknesses arising from the missing pieces. For example, you might prefer to focus your efforts on the side of the board missing your opponent's Knight, simply because the piece is absent. In this sense, one can argue that strictly speaking, the game you are playing is chess-like, but it is no longer chess. So there is a philosophical argument here as well - material handicaps are inelegant, and inherently unfair.

With time handicaps, a chess clock is used to disproportionately limit the thinking time of one of the players. For example, you might play with only two minutes of time, while your son has, say, 15 minutes. This effectively limits the depth of your thinking, without changing the conditions of the board itself. Time handicaps are preferred among chess players with even a little skill, because they do not change anything about the game itself, and they allow both players to have a satisfying experience. Psychologically, time handicaps feel more fair than arbitrary material adjustments. However, playing against a clock is a skill in itself, as is making effective use of the extra time you have available. This makes time advantages less effective for chess beginners.

Recommendations: For beginners and children, I would start with material advantage. It's easy to do, and children can easily understand the advantage ("oh, you don't have a Queen!"). As they improve, you can steadily reduce the advantage, until ultimately if all goes well you will be playing on even terms. The problems of material handicaps are just not an issue when you are still learning the basics. Equally important, having more time is not much help without reaching a certain minimal level of competence. You need to know what to think about before being given extra time to think is helpful. Once you have a bit more experience, consider moving to using a chess clock with different time limits for each player.


Can I use my Dark Angels with my Space Wolves? I got a Dark Vengeance box recently so I could use the Dark Angels with my Space Wolves, but after reading the history about them it made me think.

Can I use Dark Angels with Space Wolves?

Yes you can.  Wolves and Dark Angels are qualified as "Allies of Convenience" under the 6th edition allies rules.  This allows you to field 1 HQ, 0-1 Elites. 1-2 Troops, 0-1 Fast Attack, and 0-1 Heavy Support options from the Dark Angels codex with your Space Wolves detachment.

In game-play rules they are treated as enemy models that cannot be directly target by your weapons and abilities.  The DA troop options do count as scoring units for you though.


What happens if an attacking creature is blocked by a creature with equal power and toughness? What happens if you block an attacking creature with a creature that has equal power and toughness as the attacking creature? Do they both die or bounce off each other?

It will depend on their actual power and toughness. If their power is higher than or equal to their toughness (two 2/1 creatures or two 1/1 creatures blocking each other) they'll both die; if the toughness is higher (two 1/2 creatures) they'll both survive.

That's the story for vanilla creatures (i.e. without abilities); some abilities, like First strike and Deathtouch, might influence the outcome.


Can Echidna's ability be used during the turn in which it is purchased? An interesting scenario came up while playing Five Tribes this weekend.

In Five Tribes, the djinn Echidna's ability states

  Double the amount of GCs your Builders get this turn.

Tribe actions are done before tile actions, so if I dropped a blue meeple on a tile with other blue meeples and a scared place, I get the GCs from the blue meeples first. I then have the option to buy a djinn, and activate its ability immediately if desired (and if I have the necessary resources to do so).

All of the other djinn's abilities specifically call out when the ability may be used (e.g., "When placing a palm tree") or the actual timing is irrelevant within my turn (e.g., "Draw the top resource card").

However, Echidna's ability refers to the GCs my Builders get this turn, which technically does include the Builders that acted before I had even bought the djinn - that was part of my turn. Is this reasoning correct?

Tile effect occurs AFTER Tribe effect.
So it's too late in this case: when you score your builders you don't have the Djinn yet.

From the rules (Section 2.5 Tile Action):

  Once your Meeples’ Tribe actions are over, perform the Action for the Tile your last Meeple ended on ...


How does the Innistrad "no spells / two or more spells cast last turn" transform trigger work? On some of the two sided cards the cards ability says "At the beginning of each upkeep, if no spells were cast last turn transform (card name)".  Mayor of Avabruck

Does "turn" refers to the opponents last turn, or the opponents turn before the other player?

I have a entire deck that has these cards but it don't understand it.

If it's your upkeep, the last turn is the turn that has most recently concluded (usually your opponents). If it's your opponent upkeep, the last turn is usually yours.

What is a turn?

  500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these
  phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the
  phase. The beginning, combat, and ending phases are further broken
  down into steps, which proceed in order.

So a turn contains all the phases. But when is the upkeep?

  501.1. The beginning phase consists of three steps, in this order: untap, upkeep, and draw.

It is in the beginning phase. The whole turn before this point is the turn of the previous player.

  603.2e If a triggered ability’s trigger condition is met, but the object with that triggered ability is at no time visible to all
  players, the ability does not trigger.

That whole turn will be checked to see if the condition has been met to so it can trigger.


Is it possible to count cards by literally counting cards? Typical card-counting, which treats 2,3,4,5,and 6 as "+1" and 10's as "-1", requires card counters to keep track of each card as it's dealt. I wonder if you can get a reasonable approximation of this by just counting the number of cards that are on the table and ignoring what cards they are.

For example, when a player stands after exactly two cards, they usually have something like 10-8, 10-10, 9-7 (against dealer 6), etc. so the count is usually negative.  If a player stands after three or more cards, there's usually a 2 thru 6 in there, often more than one, so the count is usually positive.

Through simulation, general averages could possibly be determined; for example, hypothetically, Two cards = -0.75; Three cards = +0.6, Four cards = +1.8, Five or more cards = +3.25.

I'm envisioning a system where instead of counting +1, -1 as each card gets dealt, you begin with a negative "x" count (under the assumption that each player will use exactly 2 cards), and then increase the count by "y" for each card beyond the second that any player receives, regardless of its value.

Edited to add: This would be a cumulative count, and at the beginning of each new hand you'd continue by again subtracting "x" from your current count.

Could such a system provide enough advantage to be useful to a beginner?  Thank you very much.

The answer is almost certainly no. Card counting is used primarily to determine how much to bet - a standard strategy might look like:

-1 or smaller: find a better table
-1 to +1: bet table minimum (still in casino's favor but worth waiting around)
+1 or higher: start betting big (the game has tilted in your favor)

Now I haven't run the simulations, but my guess is that the correlations you'd find are too small, e.g. Two cards = -0.05; Three cards = 0, Four cards = +0.05. Unless any of the numbers are greater than 1 or less than -1, you can't do anything useful with the information.

Ultimately, I think if it were as easy as counting the cards on the table, everyone would be doing it.


Do cards that prevent cards in graveyards from being targeted by spells and abilities stop cards such as Crucible of Worlds? If my opponent has Ground Seal in play and I have a Crucible of Worlds, can I still play lands from my graveyard? I know Crucible of Worlds says nothing about targeting, so I assume it would not stop me from playing lands from my graveyard.

Some other cards that I assume would fall under the same roof as Crucible of Worlds are Karador, Ghost Chieftain and Gisa and Geralf.

Your intuition is exactly correct - Crucible of Worlds doesn't target the land cards, so Ground Seal doesn't prevent it from working.

This is reinforced in the Gatherer rulings for Ground Seal:

  Only spells and abilities that target cards in graveyards will be affected. Abilities that don’t target cards in graveyards (like the one Tormod’s Crypt has) can still affect those cards.


How do Mistform Dreamer and Conspiracy interact? I actually have two questions concerning Conspiracy:

1) If I put the enchantment Conspiracy onto my battlefield, and choose "Wall" for creature type, will all my creatures automatically become "defenders" since walls can't attack?

2) If I have a Mistform Dreamer on the battlefield, and play Conspiracy (and choose Wall for creature type), will the Mistform Dreamer activated ability be able to overwrite Conspiracy's effect, or will the Mistform Dreamer just get an additional creature type besides being a Wall? Or will Conspiracy overwrite Mistform Dreamer activated ability thus making it a Wall only?"

1) No; in fact, the creature subtype 'Wall' has long since lost any rules weight, and there's no reason that Walls can't attack other than that they have (either through print or via errata) the 'defender' ability: if a Wall were printed without defender, then it would be able to attack just like any other creature.  This is confirmed in the rulings you can find on the Gatherer page for Conspiracy:

  8/1/2005  If you choose Wall, then your creatures can still attack because
  creature types don't confer abilities such as defender (any more than,
  say, choosing creature type Bird would confer flying).

2) This becomes a bit more complicated.  The key notion is the concept of timestamping; you can find the specific details in section 613.6 of the comprehensive rules, but the key pieces are these:

  613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an
  earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

  613.6a A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of
  the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.

  613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it’s created.

Because the effect generated by the resolution of Mistform Dreamer's ability to set its creature type is 'newer' than the effect generated by Conspiracy, the subtype change from Conspiracy is applied first, then the subtype change from the Dreamer's own ability, leaving the Mistform Dreamer as whatever subtype you set it with its own ability.  But note that this effect will wear off at EOT when the ability is cleaned up, and whenever you haven't activated Mistform Dreamer's ability in a turn, it will be whatever creature type Conspiracy is set to.


Can you play a spell on your opponent's turn? In Adventure Time's Card Wars game (the physical card game, not the computer game), can I play a 0 action spell on my opponent's turn?

No, this is explicitly forbidden in rules
According to section "Playing cards → Rainbow cards" of the rule book (page 5):

Creatures, Buildings, and Spells with an Action cost of 0 are always Rainbow cards. They may only be played during your own turn (even after spending your 2 Actions), but require no Landscape types to play.

Link to the rule book is taken from this page


Do I have to move all units in the area I have attacked? In game of thrones, if I attacked the opponent with army of several units, and I used all of them to make sure to win. Should I also move all the units to the conquered territory in case of victory or I can choose to leave some units in their position?

Yes, you already moved those troops during the March Orders step.
The rule book indicates that all troops are moved or not moved during the March Order, before combat begins. If you wanted to leave some troops behind, you need to do so before you begin combat and you cannot add those units to your combat strength.

-When a player moves one or more units into an area containing units from another house, he starts a combat as the attacker.  See rules for combat on page 17.
-Before resolving combat, all other non-combat movement from the area assigned the March Order must be completed.

This is further supported by the rules for retreating on page 21. The retreating units are currently in the embattled area, and must retreat back to the area they marched from.

If the attacker lost the combat, his surviving units must retreat back to the area from which they marched.


Beefy assault marines I'm going for a very expensive but hopefully good assault marine setup, but I require advice. The setup is 5 marines total in the squad with one wielding an evicerator, two wielding flamers and the sergeant wielding a power fist, a lightning claw, melta bombs and being a veteran. The cost of this squad comes out to 175 points. My questions are as follows:

Is this a gross over use of points for an ultimately useless squad and what would be improved in it?
As far as I am aware, the box doesn't contain a lightning claw. What would be the best method for getting a single lightning claw to match with the power fist in the box?

I have found that the more upgrades on assault marines makes people want to kill them quickly, but the beauty of assault marines is when they are vanilla with meltas (bolt pistol, chainsword) with more bodies, people ignore them because of bigger more terrifying units on the board, like terminators or HQ squads. But they make enemies fold really quickly with weight of dice regardless of the unit (i.e. terminator 2+ save is nice but try making it against 31 times at once).
GW sells a sternguard weapons upgrade kit that comes with combi weapons, powerclaws, flamers etc. that way you get a few spare weapons as well for upgrades on other units if you want.


If someone surrenders can I check their graveyard? If someone surrenders because they saw something in their graveyard because of a mill effect, for example a "mill half your deck" effect sends all of the enemy win conditions to the graveyard, am I allowed to see the graveyard if I request it?

Also if I request to see the graveyard can the enemy check the graveyard before me and decide to surrender instead of showing me?

Once a player concedes they aren't required to show you their graveyard, as at the same time the player leaves the game so does their graveyard (rule 800.4a.).
While rule 400.2. means that you can look at their graveyard at any time because it's a public zone, rulings relating to 104.3a. mean that a player can concede prior to actually showing you the graveyard after you have requested to see it.
However, as the cards that are being milled are entering a public zone it is entirely within your rights to ask to view them as they enter the graveyard, again the player can concede at this point, but you may be more likely to see what's being milled if you view the cards at the same time as the other player.
Related rules:

104.3a. A player can concede the game at any time. A player who concedes leaves the game immediately. He or she loses the game.
400.2. Public zones are zones in which all players can see the cards’ faces, except for those cards that some rule or effect specifically allow to be face down. Graveyard, battlefield, stack, exile, ante, and command are public zones. Hidden zones are zones in which not all players can be expected to see the cards’ faces. Library and hand are hidden zones, even if all the cards in one such zone happen to be revealed.
800.4a. When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game, any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end, and all spells and abilities controlled by that player on the stack cease to exist. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled. This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game. If the player who left the game had priority at the time he or she left, priority passes to the next player in turn order who’s still in the game.


Coup: Can you assassinate yourself? While playing Coup I have often pondered whether you can target yourself with the assassin. This might seem counterproductive at first, but actually has several very exciting use cases:

Turn Skip. Allow time to challenge, and block with a Contessa. At a very high price of (most certainly) giving away some information on your cards and running a high risk of challenge due to board information known by others and paying 3 coins, you could potentially earn a turn skip.
Bluff opportunity. Especially when paired with a Contessa, but also when maintaining the expectation of using the Contessa afterwards, and in tight end-game situations, using the assassin against yourself can provoke others to challenge.
Threat management via loss. As a subclass of aforementioned strategies, you may want to give away information, or lose either a card and/or coins to be perceived as less of a threat.
Chaos. I love Coup so much just because it lets you to play with the minds of others. What could throw someone off balance more than this?

As you can see from this image of the entire set of Influence cards, the Assassin's text is transparently brief. With my emphasis, that text is

  Pay three coins to assassinate another player

Thus, you cannot target yourself with your own Assassin, however interesting that choice might end up being!


How does Dread work in a Two-Headed Giant game? Dread has the following ability:

  Whenever a creature deals damage to you, destroy it.

If we are playing a Two-Headed Giant game and one player puts a Dread onto the battlefield, can I attack the other person in the team to avoid losing my creatures?  (I know with certain effects like Crosis, the Purger I can choose who I attack to make them discard a card, but I'm not sure on how Dread would work.)

Comprehensive rules, 810.9:

  [In a Two-Headed Giant game, d]amage, loss of life, and gaining life happen to each player individually. The result is applied to the team’s shared life total.

If Player A has a Dread on the battlefield, "you" refers to its controller, Player A109.5.  Dread's ability will only trigger if player A is dealt damage.  Attacking A's partner will not trigger the ability.


Betrayal at House on the Hill characters: Strength and Weaknesses? The character cards for Betray at the house on the Hill are very complicated, in so much as the track you move the traits along are not linear. Different character's traits start in different places and progress at different speeds.
How can I factor this in when picking a character?
I can easily tell that Ox/Flash are the two physical characters and that Reinhardt/Longfellow represent the mental characters, but is it that simple? I've heard from articles that Flash, despite his speed is a weak character, but when I played him last he seemed balanced.
How should I interpret the other 6 characters, who seem to have a blend of traits?  What are their strengths and weaknesses?
Are all the characters born equal?
Are any of the characters weaker, overall, due to their traits? Or are they all balanced? Are there other strengths/weaknesses not shown in their traits?
A good answer would have a run down of the strengths, weakness and general strategies for playing as each character.

Short answer: They are all balanced in their own way.

Long answer: Each character has strengths and weaknesses, some are harder to spot than others. For example the professor and priest as you pointed out, are mental, but if you look at their stat growth and starting abilities, the priest has more stats that go up to 8, but the professor as more stable stats. It's like this for all the characters. Flash and Ox are both relatively weak mentally, but they each can grow in different directions.

Sorry if this answer doesn't make much sense, honestly this is a difficult question to answer.


Are Keeps and Mage Towers the only sites where failing to defeat an enemy forces you off the space? Since one can visit other sites such as Ruins and Dens and choose not to enter or engage, if you fail in battle against enemies here, I believe you are not forced off the space. Are Keeps and Mage Towers then the only space types where losing a battle forces you to leave the space?

Fortified sites are the only spaces that require you to withdraw to the space you attacked from when you lose.

On page 9 of the rulebook, under section 3 of Combat Outcomes:

  d. If you failed to defeat all the defenders of a fortified site, you have to withdraw back to the space you were attacking from.

The rules regarding ruins and monster dens are different. The Combat Outcomes section mentions leaving any revealed enemies on the space, but doesn't explicitly mention having to withdraw. We can use some sections from other parts of the rulebook to clarify. On page 6, section 4 under Movement (emphasis mine):

  d. Entering a space with an adventure site (ruins, monster den, spawning grounds, dungeons or tombs) does not necessarily end your movement; you may ignore it and treat it as an empty space, even if there are enemy tokens.

And on page 7, under section 1 of Combat with Enemies (emphasis mine):

  b. If you are at an adventure site containing enemies (dungeon or tomb, unconquered monster den or spawning grounds, or ruins with enemies), you may announce that you are entering the site as your action. This initiates combat with all enemies in the site.

Given these conditions, these spaces are treated as safe spaces (page 6; rule 7d) and don't require a player to withdraw after a loss.

The main purpose of moving back to the attacking space when losing to a fortified enemy is to ensure that Forced Withdraw rules (page 9; rule 2) don't apply immediately. It prevents players from having to take additional wounds when they've already lost and likely taken wounds. This isn't a concern with adventure sites because they are already considered safe spaces.


Which card has the highest number of mana symbols in its mana cost? Color doesn't matter. No Un-Sets. In case of a tie, one card tied for highest number suffices. I need such a card as a test case for a computer program involving MtG cards.

Progenitus has 10.  This is easy to check in gatherer, just use CMC >= 10, and see that it's the max.

Draco has the largest generic mana number, at 16.  (Observed using the same query.)

If you include unsets (I know you didn't want that, but for completeness, and because I love them) Big Furry Monster from Unglued has 15.  And Gleemax has generic mana requirement of 1,000,000.


Can a joker be played on its own? I was down to a single tile, a joker, and I wanted to place it next to any set already on the table. However, my opponent said a wild tile must always be played with two other tiles from your hand.
Could I have played the joker in this case?

Your opponent is confused. As you can see in the rules:

  The Joker:There are two jokers in the game. They can be used for any
  tile in a set. A joker used in theopening set scores the value of the
  tiles it represents. A joker can be retrieved from a set on thetable
  by a player who can replace it during his turn with a tile of the same
  numerical value andcolor it represents. The tile used to replace the
  Joker must come from a player's rack and notfrom the table. In the
  case of a group of 3, the joker can be replaced by the tile of either
  of the missing colors. A joker that has been replaced must be used in
  the player's same turn with 2 or more tiles from his rack to make a
  new set. Players cannot retrieve a joker before they have laid their
  initial set(s). A set containing a joker can have tiles added to it
  and can be split apart or have tiles removed from it. The joker has a
  penalty value of 30 points if it remains on a player'srack at the end
  of a game.

You can play a single joker from your hand. But, if you replace a joker with another tile, you have to play it with two tiles of your hand.

So you can play the joker.


"Repeat this process" Rulings How does repeat this process work?

If for example I cast Hoarder's Greed and win the clashes all the time until I deck myself or am out of life. Do I have priority between the repeat this process clause? Before I repeat what is standing on such a card?

If not, do I have to repeat the process, even if I am out of life? Does the "you lose 2 life" part in hoarders greed come at the end, after repeating as long as I win the clash? Or do I lose life each time before I repeat the process and die before the spell is fully resolved?

No, you won't get priority during a spell's or ability's resolution. If the effect instructs you to 'repeat this process', then you have to repeat the process for as long as you can.
Instructions of effects are always mandatory, unless the effect itself offers you a choice. "If you win, repeat this process" does not involve a choice. You keep clashing, losing life, and drawing cards, until you fail to win a clash. There are cards that allow you to either continue or stop a process, but they include "may" somewhere in their wording, as do all cards when taking an action is voluntary.

Resolving Spells and Abilities

608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written. [..]

The active player gets priority only after the current spell or ability has finished resolving:

117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

Each instance of "lose 2 life" is separate. If there is an ability in your game that triggers on you losing life, it will trigger each time you lose 2 life during Hoarder's Greed. Since you can lose life regardless of your current life total, as opposed to "paying 2 life" which you can only do if you do have 2 or more life, the lower limit to your resulting health depends only on the number of repetitions of the process, and thus on the number of cards in your library.

119.3. If an effect causes a player to gain life or lose life, that player’s life total is adjusted accordingly.
119.4. If a cost or effect allows a player to pay an amount of life greater than 0, the player may do so only if their life total is greater than or equal to the amount of the payment.

The process stops only when you fail to win a clash, i.e. you reveal a card with lower or equal CMC, or when you can't reveal a card at all because your library is empty.

701.22d A player wins a clash if that player revealed a card with a higher converted mana cost than all other cards revealed in that clash.

Note that you don't lose the game during the resolution of a spell, since state-based actions are not being checked at that time.

704.4. Unlike triggered abilities, state-based actions pay no attention to what happens during the resolution of a spell or ability.

If, in the process of resolving Hoarder's Greed, you go to 0 life or less, or try to draw from an empty library, you will lose as soon as the spell has resolved and the active player would gain priority, because at that time, state-based actions are checked.

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 117, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event.


Shall monsters reveal their traits When the haunt begins, shall the betrayal reveal to everyone their stats - might, speed, etc. or they should keep them secret?

All information in the traitor's tome is for the traitor's eyes only. Generally, this includes monster stats as well. If the heroes are allowed to know it; then it would be written in their scenario rules as well.

However, because die rolls need to be made publicly; the first time a monster actually uses one of its stats; the heroes will find out what value that stat is. Though many scenarios have the monsters change stats based on number of turns or some other value; in which case the heroes will only know the monster's current stat; not what it might become later.

From the official FAQ:

  When do the heroes find out the traits of a monster?

    When the monster has to roll dice for a trait. All dice rolls are open.

Also:

  How much do you have to reveal about what you are doing to the other side?

    You should announce the purpose of any action you are taking to the other side -- for instance, "I
    am making an exorcism roll now," or "This roll is to see whether the house blows up." You don't
    need to reveal what number you need to roll.

Also see this question dealing with when you are allowed to know whether or not a monster actually has a particular stat.


If a card with a pull has an effect that boots the character, do they boot only if successful? Consider a card like Soothe from Faith & Fear:

  Noon Miracle 10, Boot: Boot this Blessed to unboot another dude at this or an adjacent location.

This card has a pull and an effect that includes booting the character. Am I right in saying that the character only gets booted if the pull is successful, and the character is not booted if it is not? (The Miracle would of course be booted either way, since that is the cost).

I believe you are correct that the character is only booted if the pull is successful.

Per the rulebook page 29, under 'Spells':

  If the skill check equals or exceeds the spell's difficulty, the spell succeeds and you use that ability. Otherwise, the spell fails and nothing happens.


Can Ghired, Conclave Exile and Helm of the Host go infinite? So in a Commander match a buddy threw down Helm of the Host and Ghired, Conclave Exile. He attached the equipment to his Commander and swung out. Given the cards' rules texts, what goes onto/off of the stack and does this interaction would result in an infinite combo?

No. Ghired does not go infinite with Helm of the Host. Whenever ~ attacks abilities trigger when those creatures are declared as attackers - You will be able to attack with the original Ghired and the token created by Helm of the Host, both of which will trigger populate, but the tokens that those populate abilities create will not have their abilities trigger.
Each turn you can more than double the number of Ghired creatures you have, and gain 4/4s from his enters the battlefield, but the populate abilities on those new tokens will not trigger. This is covered by rule 508.2a and 508.3a of the comprehensive rules (emphasis mine):

508.2a Abilities that trigger on a creature attacking trigger only at the point the creature is declared as an attacker. They will not trigger if a creature attacks and then that creature’s characteristics change to match the ability’s trigger condition.

508.3a An ability that reads “Whenever [a creature] attacks, . . .” triggers if that creature is declared as an attacker. Similarly, “Whenever [a creature] attacks [a player or planeswalker], . . .” triggers if that creature is declared as an attacker attacking that player or planeswalker. Such abilities won’t trigger if a creature is put onto the battlefield attacking.

It is also in the rulings for Ghired on gatherer (emphasis mine):

Although the token is an attacking creature, it was never declared as an attacking creature. This means that abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks won’t trigger when it enters the battlefield attacking.

Since the tokens were not declared as an attacker, but forced in attacking, the populate does not trigger.


Root's list of Victory points Is there a quick-short list of each of the Root's factions and something like bullet points concisely explaining how each one scores? While playing I am constantly finding I need to ask for everyone's base sheet, or the rule book to try and guess out my opponent's strategies, or niche things they may attempt to pull. I enjoy the game but the asymmetry is a little hard for me to keep track of.
Reading the rules book is accurate, but long winded, all I really would like is a quick reminder of an aspect. The player board's are written more concisely but their layout is sometimes a little random, or lacking in some minor cases, not to mention that someone else is usually using it and can't afford to pass it around every time one asks.


In Chess what is the Queens or Kings Indian? In Chess what is the Queens or Kings Indian, and why might it be useful?

At a high level, an "Indian" in Chess is just advancing the pawn which is in front of a knight by one square.

King or Queen indicates which side the advanced pawn is on.  This move will usually be followed by the fianchetto of the bishop nearest the pawn.  This puts the bishop in front of the knight and allows him to control one of the long diagonals on the board from a safe location.

Two common openings using this are:

The King's Indian Attack, usually done in response to the French defense.  A famous example is from 1967.  Bobby Fisher against Lhamsuren Myagmarsuren.
The Queen's Indian Defense starts like this 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6


If I buff an infect card, is the new damage infect as well? Let's say I have Rogue's Passage and Phyrexian Hydra and I use Rogue's Passage's ability to make Phyrexian Hydra unblockable.  Then, after no spells are played that effect Phyrexian Hydra, I play Titanic Growth on the Phyrexian Hydra. Does the 11 infect kill the opponent that I am attacking as long as no other spells are cast?

Yes, your opponent is dead. As you can see from the description of Infect on the card,

  (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

Like with every other creature, it deals damage equal to its power. Its power is 11, so it does 11 damage. The infect keyword means you do damage in the form of poison counters, so your opponent gets 11 poison counters and loses the game. Infect doesn't say you do poison damage equal to the printed power and the rest in normal damage; it converts all the damage to poison damage.

(There are exceptions to some of these blanket statements of course, e.g. if opponent has Melira, Sylvok Outcast then he doesn't get poison counters [although he takes normal damage since Melira's effect removes infect], but these exceptions would be printed on the card.)


Cryptoplasm Counters If you were playing a Cryptoplasm (which can copy any creature on the battlefield at the beginning of your upkeep) and copy something like Lumberknot (who gains counters for any creature that dies), if you gain your own counters as a copy of Lumberknot would you lose those counters if you then change Crytoplasm to a copy of a different creature?

No, you don't lose them. Copying merely causes the object to acquire new characteristics, and changing an object's characteristics doesn't cause it to lose counters.

There are only three instances when counters are removed from objects by the rules, and none of them are relevant to the current situation.

Dealing damage to a Planeswalker removes loyalty counters.
State-based actions cancel out +1/+1 and -1/-1 counter pairs by removing them.
State-based actions remove extra counters when a permanent has a limit to how many of a given kind of counters it can have.

That's it. Counters are never removed from objects except in those circumstances, to pay for costs (e.g. for Planeswalkers loyalty abilities), or by abilities that instruct you to move or remove them[1].

Under normal circumstances, a counter are never removed from the object on which it is paced; it stays on the object until the object ceases to exist (at which point they cease to exist too).

  121.2. Counters on an object are not retained if that object moves from one zone to another. The counters are not “removed”; they simply cease to exist. See rule 400.7.

This includes three keyword abilities that remove counters:

Fading (fade counter)
Suspend (time counter)
Vanishing (time counter)


Blackjack: Why use a Suit Aware card counting system? In my recent study of card counting systems, I've run into a few systems that are "Suit Aware." A couple of examples include the KISS 2 and KISS 3 methods.

Specifically, in the KISS 2 system, the values assigned to each card are as follows:

A,7,8,9 = 0
2 = 0/+1
3,4,5,6 = +1
T = -1

Depending on the color of the suit, the 2s are counted differently. You would add +1 for a red suit (Hearts or Diamonds) but would not add anything if the 2 was a black suit (Spades or Clubs).

I can't find nor think of any reason this is efficient in Blackjack card counting since the suit of the card has no meaning in a traditional Blackjack game. Does this perhaps have something to do with possible side bets a casino might do in a Blackjack game to match a suit to the dealer's shown card? Any explanation as to why you would want to use a Suit Aware card counting system is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

After doing a lot more research and sometimes even stumbling across answers for this while looking up other topics, I found a few good reasons why someone would use a suit aware system. I had way better results found when looking up the more well-known Red Seven counting system rather than the KISS II and KISS III methods which are not as commonly known as the Red Seven.

The Red Seven System

For those interested, most guides explaining how and why you should use Red Seven makes a point of boasting about its ease of use combined with its professional edge you would usually only see in more complicated systems.

Red Seven Card Value Assignments:

2,3,4,5,6 = +1
T,A = -1
Red 7 = +1
Black 7 = 0

Effects of Removal

To appreciate what a Suit Aware system is trying to accomplish, I'd like to introduce EoR or "Effects of Removal." This table represents the effect each card has on the player's advantage if it is removed from the deck. The table values represent how the player's advantage % is affected in a single deck game of blackjack. (It will be a little different in an 8-deck shoe game but this single deck chart can be used for example). The values of this table was taken from the online book, Modern Blackjack (https://www.qfit.com/book/)

2 = +0.38
3 = +0.44
4 = +0.55
5 = +0.69
6 = +0.46
7 = +0.28
8 = 0
9 = -0.18
T = -0.51
A = -0.61

The most common and easiest card counting systems such as Hi-Lo and KO tend to assign a value of 1, 0, or -1 to each card. This is mainly for ease of use and are known as level 1 systems.

Hi-Lo's card values are:

2,3,4,5,6 = 1
7,8,9 = 0
T,A = -1

Aimed more towards simplicity, the easier level 1 systems ignore the fact that a 5 taken out of the deck gives almost twice the advantage of a 2 being taken out of the deck. Level 2, 3, and 4 systems exist that take these ratios into consideration and assign point values that have more correlation with the effect of removal value each card has. For example, Revere RAPC is a highly complicated system that focuses more on the accuracy of EoR card values at the risk of having more player errors.

Revere RAPC Values:

2,7 = 2
3,4,6 = 3
5 = 4
8 = 0
9 = -1
T = -3
A = -4

You can imagine that human error tends to be much higher in this system, especially when compared to something easier such as the Hi-Lo.

Advantages of Red Seven or other Suit Aware Systems

Now with a firm understanding of Effects of Removal(EoR), we can see how a Suit Aware system may help. The goal of a Suit Aware system is usually to keep things at a level 1 difficulty level while adding in a bit of advantage that only more complicated systems would use. In fact, all suit aware systems I've found online claim to be level 1. Another interesting trend is that they are all Unbalanced systems which tend to be easier for many players because it does not use division to find a true count of the cards remaining. By using a Suit Aware system, you keep the simplicity of only adding and subtracting 1 to the count, but get the advantage of not adding +1 for every 7 in play. (More relevant to the 7's EoR value).

Another interesting bit I found on some Blackjack forum posts, is that using 0.5 for a value of 7 instead of +1 or 0 depending on the suit actually decreased the accuracy of the Red Seven system. I believe these tests were run using simulations in the CVData app but can't say for sure.

Personally, in conclusion, I would still prefer a level 1 or level 2 balanced system. I'm just more comfortable with starting at 0 and having to divide rather than starting with a large negative number that unbalanced counting systems have to use. Nearly all famous Blackjack experts strongly suggest its not about which counting system is the best but about which system you are most comfortable with.

If I find any other helpful or interesting information, I'll be sure to update my post here. Thanks everyone.


How does Wizard's Lightning stop Archfiend's Vessel? So, I'm watching this youtuber play Magic: the Gathering Arena, and he was able to stop an Archfiend's Vessel from triggering when it is pulled from the graveyard by casting a Wizard's Lightning, targeting it.  You can see the interaction starting around the 13:50 mark here:  Wizard's Lightning stops Archfiend's Vessel  For reference, Archfiend's Vessel says that when it enters the battlefield from or is cast from your graveyard, exile it.  If you do, create a 5/5 black Demon creature token with flying.  Wizard's Lightning deals 3 damage to any target.
I'm confused about how this works, and my question is just: how?  When the Vessel enters the battlefield, its ability triggers immediately, Wizard's Lightning is played, deals 3 damage, kills the Vessel, but the Vessel's ability was already on the stack, shouldn't it have still been able to go off?  Is this a quirk or bug with Arena, or is this how the interaction is actually supposed to resolve?

Wizard's Lightning was surely used in response to Archfiend's Vessel's triggered ability, which means the spell was cast and resolved after the ability triggered, but before the triggered ability resolved. The Archfiend's Vessel is on the battlefield as a 1/1 until its triggered ability resolves, and thus easily succumbs to Wizard's Lightning.
The triggered ability does go on to resolve, and it does attempt to exile Archfiend's Vessel, but it fails to do so since Archfiend's Vessel doesn't exist anymore.[CR 400.7] And since Archfiend's Vessel can't be exiled, the "if you do" clause is false, and the Demon isn't created.

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule: [None of them are relevant here.]

A ruling on Gatherer confirms this conclusion.


When and where can scrolls, curses, and potions be used? This is a pretty unclear portion of the rules. Potions which affect combat which can be played "at any time" are pretty self explanatory-- you have to be in an adjacent room or same to use it. What about curses and scrolls which affect combat? Some of them seemingly can impact combat without being near it.

Thus far, the best use cases I've seen have been that scrolls and curses can be used at any time whatsoever even if you aren't in an adjacent room. You do have to read some of the cards carefully, as it may determine before or during a combat phase. Potions are still as they were, only adjacent or same room. With the portal expansion, potions can be used across portals.

There's an older discussion I found on Munchkin Quest forums that seems to back up this train of thought. Seems to also be backed by Steve Jackson.


Crypt incursion on servos Will Crypt Incursion work on artifact creatures such as snakes that have been destroyed?

I tried it on my friend who made 22 snake artifact creatures and almost all of them died so they went to his graveyard, and I used it, but he said it did not count.

It sounds as though you are talking about artifact creature tokens, not just artifact creatures. If this is the case, then your friend is correct. You know it is a token because some effect created them, rather than them existing as actual cards in the game.

  110.5. Some effects put tokens onto the battlefield. A token is a marker used to represent any permanent that isn’t represented by a card.

Note that it is common to use things that look like cards as the markers to represent these tokens, but those things are not "cards" in the sense that a Mountain is a card; they don't go in your deck, etc.

Tokens work differently than cards when they die. While they do enter the graveyard, they immediately cease to exist before you have a chance to do anything such as casting Crypt Incursion. Therefore you cannot exile them from the graveyard.

  110.5f A token that’s in a zone other than the battlefield ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704.

Also note that even if the tokens did stay in the graveyard, it wouldn't matter, because Crypt Incursion specifically says "creature cards"; and as mentioned earlier, tokens are not cards.


Does anyone know this card game I like to know the name of a card game. It has a pack of cards and someone nominates someone to do an action on that card, e.g.:

"crawl on your hands and knees like a cat and meow at each person"
"go around each person and kiss them on the nose"
"walk up and down in a red dress like your on a catwalk"

Unfortunately I have no clue as to when and where the game was produced. This game is a family game, no rude ones in there as far as I can remember. I've looked at Cranium, but that's not it.

I don't have any real pictures of the game, other than a very low-resolution image I pulled out from another photo I have, showing a back card with an orange or red border and white text:

I have been hunting high and low for it and for the life of me I can't find it anywhere! Its silly little actions are hilarious.

Is it "We Didn’t Playtest This At All"?
It has cards with really strange rules like you describe and there are indeed booster packs.


What was the game with a plastic Bigfoot that left footprint counters? When I was a child in the late 1970s, I had a Bigfoot-themed game in which you moved around a track in spaces around the board. The setting was Alaska, and the track went up and down a mountain, and I recall that there was a saloon with trapper and prospector type characters.
The main thing I remember was a plastic Bigfoot piece into which you loaded round cardboard tokens and when the Bigfoot moved, you would press it down on certain spaces and leave usually a footprint counter, but I think there were other things the Bigfoot would leave.
While the game is explicitly set in North America, it may have referred to Bigfoot as an “abominable snowman,” and the playing piece and game art may have shown him with white fur.
Can anyone help me identify the game?

It was called simply "Big Foot" (Milton Bradley, 1977)

The game centers around a model of the BigFoot. 10 plastic disks (5 blank and 5 with the footprint of the Bigfoot) are secretly loaded into the base of the creature.


Can an Influence Disc be moved to an adjacent hex if there is no other influenced hex adjacent to that target hex? The rules state the requirements of moving from and to hexes, but don't clarify whether the action of moving a disc "from" a hex invalidates that hex as an influenced neighbor.

Put another way, can I move a disc from one hex to a neighboring hex if there is no other influenced (or ship-resident) hex next to that destination hex?

When you move the influence disk, pick up the disk from the hex and place according to the rules i.e.

to a hex that does not contain an Influence Disc or an enemy
Ship and is adjacent to a hex where you have a disc
or a Ship.
to a hex where only you have a Ship.

The disk cannot move across the explored space on it's own

  Q: Using the Influence action, I can move an Influence Disc from a hex to its neighbor through a Wormhole connection. May I move the Disc that created this connection in the first place?
  A: No. If you move the disc, there is no longer a connection.

Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/711246/eclipse-official-faq


What's this circular board with a spider in the middle This was hung on the wall at a BBQ restaurant, but I'm not familiar with the board. It's almost like a dart board, but it's wooden with triangles on the sides and holes in the corners.

Well, the easy answer is that it's definitely a Carrom board. In particular, American Carrom which has much larger pockets than traditional Carrom boards: Your board exactly matches this image from BoardGameGeek, which is one of the board layouts the Carrom Company used for their Crown Combination Game Boards.

Of note, it's likely that the board is double-sided and would've originally had nets in each of the corner pockets (it looks like OP's picture shows the remains of one on the top right).

However, the design on the surface really has nothing to do with Carrom except possibly for the black line around the edge representing the base line (not sure if the measurements are correct for that) and the markings in the corner representing the diagonals. It's not uncommon for Carrom boards — especially American Carrom boards — to be printed with designs suitable for other games — often using the Carrom rings/discs themselves as playing pieces — so it can serve multiple purposes (checkerboards are quite common, for example). Many of these types of combination board were sold with the promise of "Plays more than 100 games," and the BGG page on American Carrom claims there are over 500 possibilities although that really depends on (a) what boards (if any) are printed on the other side, and (b) how loose a definition of 'different game' you use when counting.

The circular layout in particular seems to be used for a game called "The Spider and the Flies". I suspect the triangles around the border were meant for playing Backgammon (or any of the many many games one could play on a Backgammon board). The numbers on the corners, I can't even begin to guess at.

I do doubt darts was one of the games this was meant for though.


How does the Feedback Loop card work in Gloomhaven? I've seen a lot of FAQ's about the Feedback Loop Card in Gloomhaven, but they always refer to the augment portion which seems straight forward to me. However I am a little confused about the bottom portion of the card:

Is this like saying "all the enemies I moved through I now target with muddle"?

Or is it like saying "the enemies I moved through are muddled and I now target them with this attack"?

Or another way to phrase it. Do I get to attack my freshly muddled targets? Or do I get to muddle my freshly moved through targets

This would help my upcoming scenario any help greatly appreciated.

Edit: Can I use the bottom half of this card to target and the top half of another card to attack those targets

You get to muddle the targets you moved through. In gloomhaven, the top and bottom halves of the card are separate, once you have chosen to use the bottom half of this card, you ignore the top half completely, this means you:

  Perform muddle, targeting all enemies you moved through.

With no other enhancements that would mean you have moved through up to two enemy occupied hexes, and back to your starting position in a triangle shaped movement.

This also does not change the targets of the card you chose to play the top half of. You can attack your freshly muddled targets by using this move, then another attack, but it will target as normal.


Where can I find new map ideas for Settlers of Catan Seafarers? basically my group has played through all the scenarios in the book and I was wondering if anyone knows of a place to get more map layouts?? is there like a sequel book or anything? i didn't have much luck online.

There are no official "sequels" but there is some stuff you can find online.

CatanMaps.com is the largest library that I've found. They have about 50 Catan maps or scenarios (mostly for Seafarers), and they add to it regularly. The collection includes info on setting up official scenarios that didn't make it into the current handbook (Greater Catan, Enchanted Land, Desert Raiders, etc) as well as fun adaptations like Middle Earth, Westeros, World Map, etc.

EDIT: The site seems to have closed but the maps are saved on their Facebook page.

MenzGaming.com is another site with about a dozen Seafarers scenarios. I have only tried the Race to Cities of Gold one, but they all look fun.


When is it advisable to take Blue cards in the first age in Seven Wonders? I've played several games of Seven Wonders now, and I'm still figuring out a lot of the strategy. I've learned that every card has its place and advantages, but the one group of cards that seems most useless is the blue cards in age 1.

It's not that the blue cards in Age 1 are bad, it's just that the other alternatives seem better. If you can take almost any brown, gray, or yellow card instead it seems like it's almost always a good idea to do so because the will help you get more points for every single turn in the future instead of just being worth 2 or 3 at the end of the game. If I can take a green card instead of a blue I'll usually do it unless I'm really short on money and have to pay my last coins for it. I'll also usually prefer red over blue in the first round because they usually give you close to the same point value at the end of the round as well as help you win future wars.

If you don't need the extra 3 coins from discarding or are planning on using them to get some Age 2 blue cards I can see them being valuable. But won't you usually be able to use the money to get something much better? And isn't it usually a better idea to focus on getting resources so you won't need to use the free-construction benefit? When is it a good idea to pick the Civilian Structures in the first Age?

A good question to ask yourself here: does everyone in my playgroup have the same distaste for blue cards that I feel?  If so, if they're predisposed to ignore them in favour of "cooler" cards, you could easily make a killing by snapping them up.

I will agree that something like the Pawnshop (3 victory points, that's it), doesn't seem like an exciting card, though it could make for a perfectly acceptable last or second-to-last pick: better than nothing right?  But stuff like the Altar or Theater, which are the first stages in the Altar-Temple-Pantheon and the Theater-Statue-Gardens chain, may be deceptively good.  2 victory points for a pick doesn't seem great.  12 or 11 points (respectively) for 3 picks is slightly better.  Are you playing a resource-light game where something like the Pantheon will be way out of your reach in Age III?  Then Altar could prove a much better pick for you than some other random nonsense.

Remember that every time you pick a resource, it costs you a pick.  Is picking up 3 resources better value for money than getting 12 easy points from the Altar, Temple and Pantheon chain?  You're already 12 points down, pick for pick, due to your concentration on resources, so you'd better hope you can make plenty of profit out of spending them...

I wouldn't want to praise the blue cards too highly: resources are the backbone of the game and you definitely don't want to end up in a situation where you have nothing to do in the final Age apart from discarding for coins!  But an experienced player who understands the chains, and which early picks can get you valuable later picks for free, can definitely make a tidy profit.  Just make sure the players with all the resources don't buy "your" upgrades out from under you to screw you over!


Can ionised ships return fire? In Star Wars X-Wing if a ship has an ionising token can it shoot?

For example:

TIE Fighter skill 5
Y-wing skill 8
TIE Fighter moves
Y-wing moves
Y-wing shoots and scores damage with ion cannon

The TIE hasn't fired yet but it's been ionised. Is it still allowed to return fire?

According to the Ion Token reference card, the TIE Fighter would be able to return fire, as you are in the Combat Phase.


Do cards like Cranial Extraction, Slaughter Games, and Memoricide get around protection? Let's just use Memoricide as an example since all 3 cards have the same effect.
The card's oracle text reads:

Choose a nonland card name. Search target player's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with that name and exile them. Then that player shuffles their library.

Perhaps it's worth noting that the oracle text is slightly different from the printed card text, which reads "name a nonland card" rather than "choose a nonland card name". I know protection prevents a card from being targeted, but from the text of the card it seems like the target of the spell is the opposing player, not the named card. My question is: Does naming a card count as targeting it? I guess intuitively it should, but I know MTG rulings aren't always intuitive. The main reason I'm asking this question is because I'm wondering if I can throw one of these cards in my deck to deal with my opponent's Emrakul, the Aeons torn. Thanks!

Yes, those cards "get around" protection.
Protection only helps with a specific set of things. Specifically, cards with protection (from x) cannot be:

Damaged by sources with the specified quality. (All such damage is prevented.)
Enchanted, equipped, or fortified by permanents with the specified quality.
Blocked by creatures with the specified quality.
Targeted by spells with the specified quality, or by abilities from sources of that quality.

("DEBT" as a helpful reminder).
In addition to the fact that Memoricide does not do any of the above 4 things, protection also won't do anything because protection is a static ability, which only permanents can have. Cards in the graveyard, hand, or library cannot actually have protection.

702.16. Protection

702.16a Protection is a static ability, written “Protection from [quality].”

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 113.6.

113.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:

(None of the exceptions involve protection).


Are basic lands legal in every format by definition? I've been told offhand that basic lands are always legal in every sanctioned format, as a special rule. This would mean that I could play a Wastes in a Standard deck, since they're basic lands.
However, the five "core" basic lands have also been reprinted in every set, and every sanctioned format allows at least one set. So they could be legal for that reason, not because of a specific rule—which would mean the Wastes would not be legal in Standard.
Which (if either) is correct? The Comprehensive Rules don't seem to cover format legality questions.

Basic lands are only legal in a format if they were printed in a set that is legal in that format.
The formats are defined in the Tournament Rules, not the Comprehensive rules, and that is where deck legality for each format is defined, specifically in section 6.
The rules do not explicitly say that basic lands are allowed, rather they say what sets are legal for each format, and what cards are banned. As you mention, every one of Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest have been printed in every set, so they are therefore legal in every format. Any other basic land is only legal if a set in which they were printed is legal.
The Standard deck construction rules in particular say

When Snow-Covered Lands are not legal in Standard, they are treated as the equivalent basic lands. Players must replace them when discovered, but no infraction is committed.


What happens if you are unable to scry because your library is empty? What happens to a player if they have to scry (for whatever reason), but are unable to scry a card because their library is empty? Does scrying an empty library trigger a loss?

Related to What happens if you are unable to draw because your library is empty?

You lose when you draw a card in an empty library due to rule 104.3c:

  If a player is required to draw more cards than are left in his or her library, he or she draws the remaining cards, and then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

Scrying doesn't cause you to draw cards. It only allows you to look at the top X cards of your library and put them on the top/bottom of your library. See rule 701.17a:

  To “scry N” means to look at the top N cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order and the rest on top of your library in any order.

emphasis mine

If scry made you draw it would say draw and not look.

source 1 2


Can you tell spymaster you know the word they gave a clue for? In a game of Codenames, Team 1 field operative guesses a wrong choice for a word. During or before their next turn they say, "oh, I know which one you meant for last code".

Would that be against the rules?

Field Operatives are only allowed to discuss the clue after their Spymaster provides it, until their team's turn is over.

Rules, P.4
"MAKING CONTACT

When the spymaster gives a clue, his or her field operatives try to figure out what it means. They can debate it amongst themselves..."

Same page:
"Number of Guesses

...Any wrong guess ends the turn immediately..."

This is reiterated and summarized on page 5:
"GAME FLOW

Spymasters take turns giving clues. After
a spymaster gives a clue, his or her team starts
guessing. Their turn ends when they guess
wrong, when they decide to stop, or when they
have made the maximum number of guesses
for that clue. Then it is the other team's turn"

Any other discussion of a previous clue, during another team's turn or on an operative's own turn prior to the new clue being read, is therefore out of scope of the rules (i.e., it's not allowed).  This conveniently addresses any clue-related discussion among the operatives, but also any directed towards the spymaster (whether or not it is acknowledged by the spymaster).  This would apply equally to basically harmless and vague discussion like "Oh, I know what you meant now" or, taken to its logical conclusion, a field operative explicitly instructing their spymaster to add 1 to the number of guesses on their new clue (effectively providing +2 potential guesses).

So if you're a field operative, unless you want to talk about getting snacks for the table when it isn't your turn or before your team's clue is read, don't say anything!


Can Android: Netrunner be played with more than two people? I've heard that in the old CCG version of Netrunner, there were rules which allowed the game to be played with four players, similar to two-headed giant in Magic: The Gathering.

Were these rules official? How did they differ from the normal two-player rules? Do they still work in the modern LCG version of Android: Netrunner?

I do not believe that there is an official 4 player variant for Android Netrunner, however the "Big Sell Out" variant from the original Netrunner has been reimplemented, unofficially:
http://anr.phtn.de/formats/ANR_BigSellOut.pdf

A bit of discussion can be found in this thread.


Will I lose the game if I dip below 0hp whilst there's a spell that'll heal me on the stack? Take the following situation

I'm at 2 life, I cast Sphinx's Revelation for 2 life gain on the stack.
My opponent casts something like Warleader's Helix which deals 4 damage to me
I then cast another Sphinx's Revelation for 1 life gain.

Stack wise my life would go like this:

Start with 2 life
Gain 1 life, for 3 total life
Take 4 damage, go to -1 life
Gain 2 life, ending in a total of 1 life.

So I end up at 1 life, but at one point, my life total was -1. My question is this: Does the stack continue to be carried out until it's complete, or would the game end the moment my life becomes 0 or less?

If I understand the situation you are describing correctly it is as follows:

A player at 2 life casts Sphinx's Revelation with X = 2. this is put on the stack.
His opponent responds by casting Warleader's Helix
The initial player in turn responds by casting Sphinx's Revelation with X=1
Both players pass priority until the stack is resolved or some other event occurs

This being the case, the following would happen:

Sphinx's revelation with X = 1 resolves, you gain 1 life to be on 3.
State based actions are checked (technically, twice immediately in succession as both players pass priority) and everyone is still alive
Warleader's helix resolves (because the players have initiated a shortcut of passing priority until the stack resolves), you take 4 damage to be on -1
State based actions are checked. You are dead. the game ends.
Nothing to see here, the game finished. Sphinx's revelation with x = 2 never happens.

State based actions occur whenever a player would get priority, not just when the stack resolves.


Are cards of the same "rarity level" really equally rare in MTG? In Magic the Gathering there are 4 rarity levels: common, uncommon, rare and mythical rare. In a booster pack you usually get 10 commons, 3 uncommons and 1 rare or 1 mythical rare. In Innistrad that changed a little. Instead of 10 commons you only get 9 and a dual-side card of random rarity. In addition you have the chance to get an additional foil card or a land or a token. As far as I know the cards who actually fill those card-slots are chosen randomly from the card-pool.

I wonder if all cards of the same "rarity level" are really equally rare within this card-pool. Lets take "Army of the Damned" and "Liliana of the Veil" for example. Both are mythical rare. When I buy a booster pack, are the changes of getting "Army of the Damned" the same as "Liliana of the Veil"? Did Wizards of the Coast ever made a public statement about that or are there statistics available?

I believe that, these days, a card at one level of commonality is pretty much equally common (or rare) as a card at another level.  However, it's pretty hard to work out exactly what the chances of getting a card of a specific rarity is, due to the complications introduced by premium foils, and other maverick card slots such as Innistrad's double-faced cards, which are going to get a slot all of their own.  I dug up the following information from Wikipedia to demonstrate quite how arcane the system of putting together a modern booster pack is:

  15 cards per booster: 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 11 commons; Core Set
  boosters contain a basic land as one of the commons. Starting with the
  Shards of Alara block, booster packs for both Core Sets and Expansions
  began to contain 1 land, 10 commons, 3 uncommons, either 1 rare (7/8
  chance) or 1 mythic rare (1/8 chance), and either a tip card (which
  explains the new rules in the set, such as exalted in the Alara Block
  or Infect in the Scars of Mirrodin Block) or a token (which is of a
  type produced by a card in the set). Also, roughly one in every four
  booster packs contain a foil card, which can be of any rarity,
  including basic land. Since foil cards replace a common, no matter
  what the rarity of the foil, it means that there is a chance that a
  booster pack could contain 2 rares, a rare and a mythic rare, or even
  2 mythic rares. Also, the presence of a foil card means that there is
  a chance that there are two of the same card in the booster pack (one
  foil and one regular), which would not occur otherwise.

  Note: Innistrad boosters, first released in September of 2011, contain
  a slightly different proportion of cards due to the introduction of
  double-faced cards. In Innistrad boosters one of the 10 commons is
  replaced by a double-sided card. This double-sided card can be of any
  rarity and either regular or foil, with the likelihood of a specific
  card being present depending on its rarity. Also, there is roughly a
  3/4 chance that the basic land will be replaced by a checklist.
  Finally, non-double-sided foil cards may still be present, probably
  still in roughly 1/4 of the boosters.

I believe this means that in Innistrad, you could get a pack containing
3 Mythics - one in the normal rare slot, one in foil replacing a common,
and one in the double-faced card slot.  And of course, you still hear rumours of errors at the factory producing all-rare packs from time to time!

To answer your more specific question, though, I believe Wizards have print runs of commons, uncommons and rares, in which each card at a specific rarity is printed once per sheet; so in theory at least any given rare (or whatever) should occur exactly as often as any other given rate.  This wasn't always the case: in the old days you had things like "C1" and "C3" rarity, which meant that the first card would be printed only once per "common sheet", making it exactly three times as rare as a "C3", that is to say about as rare as an uncommon! There were also accidents of history, such as when only half of the Legends uncommon sheets were shipped to certain locations (such as the UK, where I lived at the time), making some uncommons easy to get hold of in my location, and some like gold dust...

As I say, I'm pretty sure they don't do this kind of thing any more though.  A rare is a rare is a rare... unless it's a mythic of course!


Is there a limit to a player's hand size in Summoner Wars? May a player have more than 5 cards in his hand at any time? This may happen when a card allows you to draw cards instead of attacking.

No, there is no hand limit size listed in the rules, but remember that you will not draw cards at the start of your turn.

  Phase 1: Draw - Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand (Example: if you start your turn with 3 cards in your hand you will draw 2 cards). If your Draw Pile is empty, you can no longer draw cards and must finish the game with the remaining cards on the Battlefield (including the Magic Pile) and in your hand.