How to resolve Loser Wild Flare The Loser wild flare lets the player declare that both sides lose the encounter. The actual text is:

  As a main player, before encounter cards are selected, you may declare
  that both sides lose, sending all involved ships to the warp.

I am not clear on how exactly to resolve this. The loser flare must be played before encounter cards are played, but it doesn't explicitly state that encounter cards don't get played even though the outcome is already determined. Should the main players still play their encounter cards? This could matter for example for the Oracle super flare:

  As a main player, you may end an encounter after your opponent reveals
  his or her card. Your opponent takes back his or her card, all ships
  in the gate return to colonies, and play continues as if a deal had
  been made.

or perhaps for the Vacuum wild flare:

  For each main player other than you who reveals an attack card, you
  may retrieve one ship from the warp.

and the Chosen super flare:

  You may keep any non-encounter cards drawn from the deck while drawing
  for divine intervention.

If cards don't get played, is there still a Reveal phase? I haven't read every card in detail so it's possible that this actually doesn't matter, but I would still like to know.

One of the main things to remember here is that you "play" your encounter card face down, and then reveal it after both main players have done so. For reference, the rules for this phase are the following:

  Play Encounter Cards: After alliances have been formed, the offensive
  player and the defensive player each choose an Encounter card (Attack or
  Negotiate) from their respective hands and place them face down.
  Reveal Encounter Cards: Encounter cards are turned face up
  simultaneously. Or as close to simultaneously as possible in this
  imperfect universe.
  Determine Outcome: There are three different outcomes to an
  encounter, depending on what type of Encounter card (Attack or
  Negotiate) is played by each player. After Encounter cards are revealed,
  the encounter is resolved. Then Encounter cards are discarded. Details of
  encounter resolution are shown below:

The Loser Flare needs to be played before any player even selects encounter cards, as emphasized below.

  As a main player, before encounter cards are selected, you may declare
  that both sides lose, sending all involved ships to the warp.

This would move the turn to the Determine Outcome phase since the outcome has been determined already (i.e.: both players lost, sending all ships to the warp). Since no cards are selected, no cards are played so no cards can be revealed.

  Should the main players still play their encounter cards?

No. It specifically says that you must play it before encounter cards are selected. This creates an outcome so there is no outcome to be determined by playing encounter cards.

  If cards don't get played, is there still a Reveal phase?

Again, no. If there are no cards selected and then played face down, there is nothing to reveal. An outcome has already been determined.


What exactly does the "structures in a row" end game bonus mean? The rulebook says the following:

  Number of your structures in a row (any continuous straight line is fine; only count the longest row of structures you have; rivers do not break continuity).

The last bit is obvious: rivers don't matter.  The "straight line" part is in parenthesis, so I assume that it isn't as important as the "in a row", so what does that mean?

Is it any continuous grouping, or is the straight line part more important than I assume, and the structures need to be along one of the hex rows?

The parenthesis disambiguates the phrase before it. "In a row" has its natural meaning, which is further clarified to be "any continuous straight line" (of hexes). A contiguous grouping is not the same thing.


What to do after flipping the discard pile in Uno Flip? Uno Flip, I'm wondering what to do in this scenario:

Gameplay starts, eventually someone plays a Flip Card.
We flip the discard pile, and the card now facing up is an action card, what happens?

Example 1: The card facing up is a Draw Five Card. Does the next person pick up 5 cards?

Example 2: The card facing up is a Wild Card. Who chooses the color?

Example 3: The card facing up is a Wild Draw Color Card. Who chooses the color and draw the cards?

No action should be taken.

After a Flip Card is played, the UNO FLIP rules only state that the Discard Pile is to be flipped. Not that there should be any action taken regarding to the new face up card.

  Flip Card – when you play this card, everything flips from the Light Side to the Dark Side.
  Once the Flip card has been played, flip over the Discard Pile (the card just played will now be on the bottom), then the Draw Pile, then everyone’s hands must flip to the other side.
  This new side will remain in play until another Flip card is played, changing it again.
  This card may only be played on a matching color or on another Flip card.

The card turned face up (after a flip) will always be another Flip Card. Except for the first "flip" of the game (which will produce the back of the first card turned up at the beginning of play) or if the Discard Pile is being shuffled due to lack of cards in the Draw Pile.

If a "flip" produces a Wild Card, Wild Draw 2 Card or Wild Draw Color Card, then the rules are not clear as to who gets to choose the color.

My interpretation is that the next person (aka the person to the left) gets to choose the color.

  Wild Card – ... If a Wild card is turned up at the beginning of play, the person to the left of the dealer chooses the color that continues play.

But another interpretation would be that the person playing the Flip Card gets to choose the color.

UNO FLIP Rules


Do multiple instances of Arcbond stack? For example, someone deals 10 damage to one of my creature, and I have enough mana to cast two Arcbond.

  Choose target creature. Whenever that creature is dealt damage this turn, it deals that much damage to each other creature and each player.

If I cast both Arcbond on the creature that is taking damage, will that inflict double the damage to all players?

The effect of Arcbond stacks. If you cast Arcbond on the same creature twice, it will deal twice the amount of damage that it takes to each other creature and each player.

The damage for each Arcbond will be dealt separately. If you were trying to force a draw by dealing 20 damage to both players, but you accidentally kill yourself after the first 10, that is too bad for you.

Here's an example of how multiple Arcbond triggers behave:

Cast Arcbond twice on a creature.
The creature takes 10 damage.
Both Arcbonds trigger.
The first Arcbond trigger resolves. The creature deals 10 damage to stuff.
The second Arcbond trigger resolves. The creature deals another 10 damage to stuff.

Make sure you cast Arcbond before the creature takes damage (not after, and not at the same time). Here are a few more examples:

  Opponent: "Attack with my 10/10."
  You: "Block with my dude."
  Opponent:"Okay. Damage?"
  You: "Before damage, I'll cast Arcbond twice on my dude."

Another example:

  Opponent: I'll Lightning Bolt your dude.
  You: "In response, I'll cast Arcbond twice on my dude."


What is the best way to deal with cheats? I play TCGs a lot, and often, the same cheater would challenge me to a duel. I know they are cheating, but I don't have any proof. What is the best way to deal with it? A few examples of the bad actions include:

Looking at my set cards
Peering at my hand
Changing LP
Removing Damage Counters

All I need is a simple way to deal with the issue.

If you're playing in any kind of organised play, there should normally be a store owner, tournament organiser or some kind of official you can report this to. This is normally the best approach as you don't then accuse the person directly and it's then in the hands of the official to investigate and discover what has happened. If you then report over time it builds up a profile of this persons continued actions (this is based on my experience playing competitive Magic the Gathering)
I'd even consider reporting it if it was casual games if you're playing in a store. Letting the owner know someone is coming in and cheating others let's them become aware of the sitation.

To ensure you can accuratly report things I'd make note of things like life totals and just being aware of the sitation. The moment something happens you should ask the person to stop the game, and go report the sitation.

If you're just talking about casual games, I'd suggest you just stop playing with this person. "Punishing" them by refusing to play games with them will teach them that if they want to ruin run for other people then you aren't going to let them play in your group at all. I'd try and talk to them and explain that it's meant to be fun and by cheating you take the fun away from other people and only add to their own experience.


Thawing Glaciers return to hand interaction I have a Thawing Glaciers, a Thespian's Stage, and  Deserted Temple on the battlefield in addition to four other mana producing lands. In the previous turn I tapped Thespian's Stage to make it a copy of Thawing Glaciers.

I tap the Thespian's Stage (Thawing Glaciers Copy) to search my library for a basic land.

I then use Deserted Temple to untap Thespian's Stage

Finally, I use Thespian Stage's copy ability to copy the basic land that just entered the battlefield.

When I end my turn and enter the cleanup step, the text from Thawing Glacier's ability attempts to take effect, "Return Thawing Glaciers to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next cleanup step"

Does my Thespian's stage get returned to my hand, or does nothing happen because the card that activated the ability is no longer a Thawing Glaciers?

Thespian's Stage will return to your hand.

It doesn't matter that it became a copy of a different land. The effect "Return Thawing Glaciers to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next cleanup step." is still around. The "Thawing Glaciers" wording in that text only means "this permanent", it doesn't matter that it isn't actually named Thawing Glaciers.

  706.11. If an effect refers to a permanent by name, the effect still tracks that permanent even if it changes names or becomes a copy of something else.

and

  201.4. Text that refers to the object it's on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.


How do two copies of Irencrag Feat interact? The recently released preview card for ELD, Irencrag Feat reads:

  Add seven {R}. You can only cast one more spell this turn.

Would this wording allow me to play another Irencrag Feat, which would in turn allow me to play one more spell this turn?

You cannot cast another spell after casting the second Irencrag Feat
While I don't think the Golden Rule quoted by Arcanist Lupus in his answer necessarily applies here, simple logic will get you there:

You cast the first copy, which creates a condition "Condition A" that says you can only cast one more spell this turn
Trying to cast the second copy, you need to check existing conditions, namely "Condition A". Since you haven't cast another spell this turn, you cast the second copy, which creates a condition "Condition B" that says you can only cast one more spell this turn
Trying to cast another spell, you need to check existing conditions, namely "Condition A" and "Condition B". You haven't cast another spell since "Condition B" has been established, but you have cast another spell since "Condition A" has. This means that casting another spell would necessarily violate "Condition A", so you won't get to cast another spell this turn.

Keep in mind that cards like this will usually receive rulings upon or close to their release for clarification.


Odd Monopoly situation: rolling doubles to get out of jail is ALSO third double in a row! I'm simulating Monopoly with a computer program and came across this situation:

Roll: 4 + 4 = 8 (first double)
Moved from "Tennessee Avenue" to "Atlantic Avenue".
Roll: 2 + 2 = 4 (second double)
Moved from "Atlantic Avenue" to "Go To Jail".
JAILED!
In jail!
Roll: 6 + 6 = 12 (third double)
FREED FROM JAIL!
3 DOUBLES!
JAILED!

3 doubles were indeed rolled in a row, so the poor fella was jailed once again. I'm assuming this is not how it should be though.... how should this work?

As per the official rules, "[y]our turn ends when you are sent to jail". So in that situation, having landed on the "Go To Jail" space, the player gets put in jail and his turn ends so he has no opportunity to roll the third time.


Which games have ever been rated #1 on Boardgamegeek.com's Geek Rating? What are all of the games that have ever reached the #1 rank on boardgamegeek.com's Geek Rating list?  The current #1 is Pandemic Legacy, and prior to that it was Twilight Struggle.

Strangely, Wikipedia had this information:

  Paths of Glory (August 19, 2001 - February 20,2002)
  Tigris and Euphrates (February 20, 2002 - 2002)
  Puerto Rico (2002 - August 2008)
  Agricola (August 2008 - December 2010)
  Twilight Struggle (January 2011 - December 2015)
  Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (January 2016 - Present).

As Jefromi's answer shows, the dates aren't quite as nicely laid out as Wikipedia shows, but these are the games that have been #1 at some point in time based on persistent user ratings.

If we expanded it to games that rose to #1 because of bugs or user coordination, three more games are added: (1) The Game of Life, (2) Monkey Auto Races, and (3) Die Macher. The specific reasons for each are described on the Wikipedia page.

The games that have hit #1 are also listed on BGG in one of the Completely Useless Statistics threads.

Update:

As of December 29th, 2017, Gloomhaven is the #1 rated board game.


What do you recommend putting in an Arkham Horror quick reference sheet? I've played Arkham Horror twice and am still boggled by the complexity of the mechanics and the number of rules. During both games I wished for a quick reference guide to summarize the turn order and key mechanics (e.g. combat order, a key to interpret the icons on the monster tokens, the definition of a successful roll and how the roll modifiers work, etc.).

I did some searching and found some Arkham reference sheets (#2), but the first was way to long to be accurately called a quick reference guide (IMO) and the second spent an entire page just to explain combat.

Neither seemed to be what I was looking for, but I'm inexperienced enough that I can't even really define what I was expecting. (The best example of a good reference guide that I could think of is from Warhammer Fantasy.)

What information would you recommend including in a one- or two-page Arkham Horror reference manual?

Alright. I'll look for an actual reference guide later, but I'll do a summary of the rules, followed by a brief turn summary now. Here goes.

The game is divided up into four phases. Upkeep, Movement, Encounters, and Mythos.

The game starts with a Mythos.

Phases:

Upkeep: Pass first player token. Refresh Exhuasted Cards, use items/spells that get used during upkeep.

Movement: Starting from first player and going clockwise, investigators get to move. Delayed Investigators stand up and they're done, that's it. Investigators in Arkham can move a number of spaces up to their current speed, barring odd environmental effects. If playing with expansion boards, it costs 1 'movement' to move between two locations with a train symbol, or a location/street with a train symbol and the train station. If an investigator attempts to leave a location/street that has a monster or attempts to end movement in said location, combat starts. Investigators in the first area of an Other World move to the second area. Investigators in the second area of an Other World return to Arkham in a location with an open gate that matches the Other World they're coming from. If no such location exists, they're Lost In Time and Space (lose the rest of this turn and all of the next turn).

Encounters: Arkham encounters come first. Starting from first player and going clockwise, Investigators in a location in Arkahm draw a card for the neighborhood they're in, and read/resolve the encounter for the location they're in. Investigators that are standing on an open gate get drawn through to their respective Other Worlds. Investigators that have returned from an Other World can attempt to close the gate by making a combat or a lore check (Investigator's choice) at the modifier printed on the gate token. If there is a single success, the gate has been closed. When an Investigator closes a gate they can choose to spend 5 clue tokens after the fact to 'seal' the Arkham Location. Then comes Other World encounters. Starting from first playing and going clockwise, Investigators in an Other World location draw Other World encounter cards until they get a card that matches a color of the Other World they're in, and then they resolve that card.

Mythos: The first player draws and resolves a Mythos Card. These get resolved from the bottom up, oddly enough. Bottom left of the card shows the location in Arkham where a gate opens up. With 1-4 players 1 monster accompanies the gate. With 5-8 players you get 2 monsters. If a gate opens in a location where there's already an open gate, a Monster Surge occurs. (Though the exact specifics of this are debated...) Starting from the surging location and going clockwise around the board, place one monster on each gate, for a total of new monsters equal to the number of open gates or the number of Investigators, whichever is greater. If the mythos card shows a location that's been sealed, nothing happens. If a new gate trophy is placed on the board, add a doom token to the Ancient One's doom track. Next up is monster movement. Monsters in a location/stree with an Investigator do not leave. Monsters with symbols that match those in the black rectangle move along the paths in arkham indicated by the black arrow. Monsters with symbols that match those in the white rectangle move along the paths indicated by the white arrow. Monsters with symbols that don't match any on the mythos card do not move. The color of the monster tokens modifies how they move.

Black: Normal
Red: Moves Twice
Yellow: Doesn't Move
Green: Has special text on the token that explains what happens
Blue: If in a location/street and adjacent to an Investigator, moves to them. Otherwise moves to the Sky. The Sky is adjacent to all streets. If in the Sky and adjacent to an Investigator, moves to the Investigator with the worst sneak score.
Purple: Moves to an Investigator in an adjacent street or unstable location. Otherwise it moves normally.
Orange: If in an aquatic location, moves to another aquatic location with an Investigator. Otherwise it moves normally.

Next, a clue is placed on the board in the indicated location. If there's an open gate there, no clue, period. If an Investigator is there, they get the clue.

Finally, the text of the mythos card is resolved.

Combat:

The Monster Token:

On the front of the token is a number in the top corner, that's the awareness modifier. The symbol in the bottom corner isn't important for battle, it's used during the mythos phase for monster movement. The back bottom left of the monster token is for horror checks. If there's a number present, that's the horror check modifier. Under the modifier is a number of ovals for how much sanity damage you'll take for failing the check. The back bottom right is the modifier for the combat check. Under this modifier is a number of hearts for how much stamina damage you'll take for failing the check. The back bottom middle has a number of blood drops, this is the monster's Toughness. This is how many successes you'll need to pass the combat check. Monsters may have additional text at the back top of the token. These effects include:

Ambush: Cannot flee once combat has started
Endless: Don't get the trophy if you win
Physically Resistant/Immune: Physical Weapons give half (rounded in your favor) or none of the bonus they usually do
Magically Resistant/Immune: Magical Weapons/Spells give half (rounded in your favor) or none of the bonus they usually do
Weapon Immune: Weapons give none of the bonus they usually do. Spells are still ok.
Nightmarish X: If you pass the horror check, take X sanity damage. If you fail the horror check, ignore this.
Overwhelming X: If you pass the very first combat check, take X stamina damage. If you ever fail the combat check, ignore this.

Combat Procedure:

At the very beginning of combat, you can attempt a Evade (which is Sneak + anything with evasion bonuses) check at a modifier equal to the monster's Awareness (number on the front top corner). If this check passes, pretend like combat with this monster never happened. (Elusive monsters present in expansions have a green awareness modifier. You can't fight them unless you pass the Evade Check.) If you fail the evade check, you take combat damage from the monster. If combat is still going at this point, you lose the rest of your movement for the turn. Now make the horror check. If the check has no successes, take the horror damage. If you're still alive, start making combat checks. You can also choose to make additional evade checks. If you pass a combat check, the monster is defeated and you claim the trophy. If you pass an evade check, combat ends, the monster remains where it is, and you still don't have any movement. If you fail either a combat check or an evade check, you take combat damage. Repeat this step until combat is over.

Misc.

Getting knocked out/driven insane: If at any point while in Arkahm an Investigator's stamina is reduced to 0, they lose the rest of the current turn, move to St. Mary's Hospital, and are set to 1 Stamina. Same story for sanity except move to Arkham Asylum. If an Investigator is reduced to 0 Stamina or 0 Sanity while in an Other World, lose the rest of the turn, lose the next turn completely, move to Lost In Time and Space, and the relevant stat is set to 1. During the Upkeep phase following the lost turn, the Investigator can appear in any location/street in Arkham. If an Investigator is reduced to 0 Stamina and 0 Sanity simultaneously or are reduced to 0 Sanity or 0 Stamina during Final Combat, or an Investigator's Maximum Sanity/Stamina is reduced to 0, they are devoured. Discard everything except trophies and start with a new character, as though you were setting up.

Monster Limit: There can only be (# of Investigators + 3) monsters on the main arkham board at one time (doesn't include expansion board or the Outskirts). If a monster is placed on the board and the limit is exceeded it goes into the outskirts. The outskirts can support (8 - # of Investigators) monsters. If a monster is placed in the Outskirts and the limit is exceeded, all of the monsters in the outskirts to back into the cup and the terror level increases by one.

Terror Level: Each time the terror level increases, an ally is discarded from the ally deck. Additionally, when the track hits 3, the general store closes; 6 - the curiositie shoppe closes; 9 - The Magic Shop Closes. 10 - Monster Limit is doubled.
Winning: If there are 6 sealed locations in Arkham, or if there are no open gates in Arkham and the Investigators collectively have a number of gate trophies equal to the number of investigators, or the Ancient One is defeated in Final Combat.

Losing: If everyone is devoured in Final Combat

Final Combat: Begins when

There are 9 - (# Investigators divided by 2 rounded up) open gates on the board
The Ancient One's doom track fills up.
Terror Level is 10 and the doubled monster limit is exceeded
No gate trophies left to use when one is needed
No monster trophies left in the cup when one is needed

Final Combat: At the start, the Ancient One's doom track fills up. Final Combat has three phases. Upkeep, Investigator Attack, Ancient One attack. Upkeep is the same as before, also item trading can occur. During Investigator attack, make a combat check at the Ancient One's Combat modified and count the successes. Successes are cumulative across all Investigators and all rounds. A # of successes equal to the # of Investigators removes a single doom token from the Ancient One's doom track. If the doom track empties, the Investigators win. During the Ancient One attack, resolve the printed effect on the card. Usually each Investigator has to pass a skill check of some sort at increasingly difficult modifiers or discard something and when they run out they're dead.

Quick Summary

Upkeep: Refresh, move first player
Movement: Move around the arkham board, fighting/sneaking past monsters or move 1 space in an Other world.
Encounter: Draw an Arkham Encounter, move into an Other World, close a gate, or draw an Other World Encounter
Mythos: Gate opens, doom token, monsters appear, monsters move, clue appears, text is resolved.

Combat:

Evade Check (optional)
Horror Check
Combat Check or Evade Check (repeat this step until dead)

Yeah...the summary got a bit away from me, but that about covers it save for odd corner cases. Hopefully that'll help a bit.


Contingency planner question If it's my turn and I am the contingency planner, can I use a special event card then use an action to put the card on contingency planner then use that event again in the same turn?

Yes, assuming the Contingency Planner isn't already "storing" a different event, that is perfectly within the rules and the text of the Contingency Planner.

During your turn, you (or any other player) can play an event card from hand, and that event goes to the discard pile.

You can then use the CP's ability to spend an action to pick up that event and store it on his card.

The stored card can be played at any time, as normal (but is then removed from the game rather than being discarded).


Do you find that with the Dragon Expansion characters more powerful? The reason I ask is we like to play by picking characters at random, so maybe we should pick at random from the Dragon Expansion characters or pull them out.

I found the expansion as a whole to be amazingly out-of-balance with the rest of the game. The characters and events seemed only balanced with respect to themselves.

My suggestion is to remove all the characters and event cards. One possible compromise that might be reasonable is to shuffle the events into the deck only once a player has passed into the middle region. Likewise you could allow a player who has died to choose their second character from the Dragon Expansion characters.

This is all presuming you are talking about Talisman 2nd Edition and Talisman Dragons.


Splendor: Visibility of reserved development cards When one reserves a development card, the rules state

  The reserved cards are kept in hand and cannot be discarded.

And when reserving a card drawn blindly from one of the three decks

  without showing it to the other players.

My question: Can you, and should you, or must you keep any reserved card hidden from the other players so that they cannot see the cost of the card and strategize against your purchase?

It's clear that after you have purchased any card, it must remain visible to other players. The phrase "in hand" could imply that you can keep the reserved card hidden, but it would be better if it was unambiguously stated.

Can you keep any reserved card hidden from the other players

Definitely. You can keep the information to yourself. That's the point of the hand. There would be no point in drawing a card without showing it to others only to place it somewhere others can see.

  Must you keep any reserved card hidden from the other players

This is the interesting question.

A rule on whether you can share private information is rarely stated explicitly unless it's forbidden because the game sees keeping the information private as an advantage for you, so the default position I take is that you can share private information as long it's not explicitly prohibited.

Unless the game has some kind of team or co-op element, when a game indicates that information is private except for one player, it's for that player's advantage. They won't mention that you can reveal the information because there's rarely any reason to do so.

Rules clarifying that you can share private information would usually be found in tournament rules, not the game's rule. For example, the Magic: The Gathering tournament rules include the following passage:

  players may choose to reveal their hands or any other hidden information available only to them, unless specifically prohibited by the rules.

I feel that's the default position one should adopt for any game. Games where information must absolutely be kept secret will state this. In Splendor, I wouldn't hesitate to show a card I had reserved if I had a reason to do so.


What's The Strongest Base Strategy in Thurn & Taxis? It seems like you can take any number of different paths leading in the general direction of victory.  Build short routes and grab points for being the first to complete a region.  Build long routes and grab points for being the first to build long routes.  Concentrate on finishing one big region for a hefty points boost.  Spread your houses all over the board to be the first to have a presence in every region.  Play out as many houses as possible to be in the best position when the game ends early.  Play conservatively to maximise the value of the houses you do play.

It just feels like any of these opposing and contradictory strategies could win the game, depending on the right cards being available on your turn, of course!  But I can't believe that T&T is that random - I must just not have "gotten" it yet.  Therefore, what are the best ways to sit down at a table with other relative newbies and do well at Thurn & Taxis? Mega bonus points for describing how/if this changes if you're playing with the quite different rules in the sequel ("The Power and the Glory" I believe?)

In my experience, this is exactly the fun of the game and all its expansions (and a few others like it): there is not one strategy that is guaranteed to do well, but you have to constantly adapt your strategy to what cards are available, what the other players do, etc. I would consider this a virtue of the game, and would typically consider a game that has one winning strategy to be broken.

It often happens to me that I play a game that's new to me, lose to someone more experienced who did better in one particular area, and decide that improving that area is going to be my strategy because I now see that it is 'obviously' better than concentrating on other areas. Then in the rematch, the positions are reversed and the other player creams me with my 'original' strategy. The lesson is that the difficulty of the game is not in implementing a strategy - anyone can do that - but in recognizing which of the many available strategies is called for in a given situation.


When is my earliest opportunity to destroy a creature I couldn't counter? My friend has been playing a sliver commander deck and uses Root Sliver which is a thorn in the side of my control.

Lets say I have an instant in my had that can destroy the Root Sliver and a counter creature card that I may want to use on the next sliver (and the mana to do both). I can't cast it while Root Sliver is still on the stack as it is not on the battlefield yet so I cannot target it.

As I understand it after the stack resolves however my opponent regains priority meaning they can put their next sliver spell on the empty stack before I have a chance to play my card to destroy the Root Sliver.

I was originally thinking I could put both the counter and the destroy in the stack but the counter would have to go on first so that it would resolve after the destroy, but since before the destroy resolves the sliver on the stack is not a valid target for the counter so this move is illegal.

Is it possible to kill the Root Sliver in time to counter the next sliver?

Your opponent gets to put their silver on the stack first. However, you can then add your incinerate to the stack, targetting their Root Silver.

Incinerate
New Sliver

You can then pass so the Incinerate resolves, destroying the Root Sliver. Stack is now:

New Sliver

Then you cast your counterspell so the stack is

Counterspell
New Sliver

Your counterspell resolves, and the New Sliver is countered.


Clarification of the typo in the Almanac's entry for Intrigue I'm confused with the Intrigue Politics Progress Card. I've learnt it's easily the most useless Progress Card. It's fundamentally equal with the Deserter card, the sole difference is that instead of removing, the opponent only has to displace their knight (without using your own), but only if his/her knight is blocking your road to a common intersection (which is very rare, considering no one wants their road to be interrupted or left open, lest the Diplomat strikes).

If an opponent has displaced their knight from our common intersection to another, do I have to build a basic knight on the spot that their knight originally was, as with Deserter? Can I do that only if they had no choice but to remove said knight? The Almanac says

  The displaced knight must be moved
  to an empty space. If he cannot, then remove him from the board (return it to its owner). After the knight is [sic] displaced, board), you may place a basic knight instead, following the normal rules.

Did the phrase "displaced, board" meant "removed from the board"? What's with the word "board"? Why wasn't the knight-hiring part specified in the card? If I don't have a basic knight to place, can I instead hire a knight of higher rank or, say, the same rank of knight my opponent removed?

Ignore ", board)". From a different print,

  With this card you can displace an opponent’s knight without using a knight of your own. You can play this card even if you have no knights of your own. The displaced knight must be moved to an empty space. If he cannot, then remove him from the board (return it to its owner). After the knight is displaced, you can build there or move one of your own knights, following the normal rules.

It's just pointing out that now that the spot will become vacant, so you are able to build there. It's not allowing you play a knight for free.

The normal rules for placing a knight are:

  If you wish to “hire” a knight, you must pay one wool and one ore to the bank. This allows you to take a basic knight (open helmet/one ring) and place it on the board. Newly placed knights are always placed with the inactive up. You may place your knight on any unoccupied intersection connected to your roads.

  why the knight-hiring part wasn't specified in the card?

It's just pointing out a reason for which you might want to use the card. It's barely worth mentioning in the FAQ, much less on an already-full card.

  Lastly, if I don't have a basic knight to place, can I instead hire a knight of higher rank or, say, the same rank of knight my opponent removed?

No. You can only buy a basic knight.

  but only if his/her knight is blocking your road to a common intersection (which is very rare, considering no one wants their road to be interrupted or left open, lest the "Diplomat" strikes).

The knight actually protects its owner's roads in this example. That presents two additional uses for Intrigue:

Remove a Knight to leave a road vulnerable to the Diplomat.
Remove a Knight so you can place your own to protect your road from the Diplomat.


4-4 high approach joseki incomplete? I have a problem with the 4-4 high approach joseki - the left variant:

In the left variant, black ends the joseki and white can play anywhere else, i.e. has sente. But the position is pretty weak for white! Black can invade at 6-1, leaving white in a very bad position - it takes a lot of points from white and it seems like the two white stones at 4-3 and 5-3 will not form any kind of territory and are pretty much useless. So it seems that the Joseki shouldn't end here but fix the position by playing 4-2 for white, leaving the black in sente.

Or am I wrong? Why is this joseki ending in this weak position?

First of all, simply playing joseki does not mean the result will be even (or even good for you) on a given board.

A joseki is a sequence that is considered as often optimal given a particular situation. If the situation changes, a joseki which was fine before might suddenly become a terrible choice.

The situation depends on the whole board. In particular, ladder breakers have a huge impact, as does thickness (or the opposite, existing weak groups). Lots of other stuff can be considered in addition.

The high approach and the following moves are, to my knowledge, pretty much exclusive to only two situations:

As a ko threat
To enforce central and top side influence

If played as a ko threat, the situation is completely different, and white will certainly not continue locally in case black answers. Thus I'll talk about point 2 only.

This is played for instance when white already has a lot of central influence and feels compelled to expand it at any cost.

Comparison with the low approach

Let us suppose this situation.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.1...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...2.........
$$ |.............

Approaching high instead of low mostly removes the possibility to invade at 3-3, because there is no good connection between 6-4 and 3-3 possible. If it were low, a connection would be easier to achieve in good shape: Contrast white 1 with white a.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |..3..a.......
$$ |...X.1...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...2.........
$$ |.............

Typically, black can block at 2 and draw back to 4, which leaves white in an uncomfortable position that is actually not easy to live (depends on a ladder). Either way black will get great influence, which is contradictory to white's initial move.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |..12.........
$$ |.3.X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |.4.X.........
$$ |.............

I'm not certain, but black might possibly consider simply drawing back, to continue with a or b to harass the white shape, which would not be possible if white had approached low.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |..13ab.......
$$ |..2X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

So we see that the high approach has less nice continuations locally. Why is it ever played then? Because sometimes we don't really care about the corner! We are rather interested in the center and top side.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.....1.2.....
$$ |...X....a,...
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.............

Had we played low, black could easily pincer us with a move like 2 or somewhere around a. It would then be reasonable to enter the corner:

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.....7.......
$$ |..35.1.2.....
$$ |..4X6....,...
$$ |......8......
$$ |.............
$$ |.............

Now black controls the outside and possibly the top side, while we "only" got some comfortable corner territory. We will see why this is not always good for black below.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.......a.....
$$ |...X.1.b.,...
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.............

It is possible to pincer around a or b instead of responding, but this pincer has much weaker continuations. White has a bunch of options how to continue, and it will be very difficult to refuse white center access.

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.....1.2.....
$$ |...X.4...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |.............
$$ |.............

With the low approach, it would be questionable to tenuki. Black can connect his stones and gain a quite strong outside shape once he covers white with 4.

There are a lot of additional variations of importance here, but I'll leave them to you do discover. I'll now try to answer the actual question :)

After joseki

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |..4..........
$$ |..213....5...
$$ |...X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

In the above situation, white established a reasonable base for herself. As we found out earlier, black will usually follow a path similar to this, so white can expect this result with rather high probability.

$$B
$$ --------------
$$ |.....a.......
$$ |..X..........
$$ |..XOO..b.O...
$$ |...X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

We discussed that white will only chose the high approach if she is fine with yielding local profit. We can assume white to have more influence in the other quarters of the board, possibly a large framework of stones on the fourth row.

You correctly recognized that black 4 is a very big move - if white were to play there, the corner territory white is very important in endgame would be white's. At the same time, 4 opens up continuations against white, which we will look at now.

$$B
$$ --------------
$$ |...5314......
$$ |..X..26......
$$ |..XOO....O...
$$ |...X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

Let's start with the monkey jump. I would expect something similar to the above line. White is confined to a narrow space, and locally, it seems like white is too tight. However, white was also made quite strong - the white group will find life without problems (possibly playing a tiger mouth shape with 6 instead).

White being strong means black won't have a target to attack, which further implies black won't be able to start a running battle with a white group. A running battle might be a great way to destroy white's framework (which we implied earlier). Black might be a little sad to lose this opportunity.

In case everything else on the board is settled and black is winning, the monkey jump is likely a good idea. Just don't play it too early.

$$B
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |..X..........
$$ |..XOO..1.O.a.
$$ |...X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

We could also invade at 1. This invasion may be difficult to handle for white. This means that black should consider this option instead of blindly monkey-jumping and forcing white to become very solid.

My knowledge of this particular shape is too thin to explain much about it. You may be interested in looking it up or exploring it in your games. Obviously, a stone around a will be greatly helpful for b. I would consider a checking extension to a as probably sente for black.

Note that there are other invasions to consider in addition.

$$B
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |..X.....e....
$$ |..XOO.c.dO.a.
$$ |...X.Ob..,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

Black b or c are conceivable. With support at a, black can also think about moves like d or e.

If white is afraid of an invasion, she might simply extend less far:

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |..4..........
$$ |..213...5....
$$ |...X.O...,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

With 5 being one space closer, it will be almost impossible to invade. However, white had to slow down her speed considerably, and obviously the monkey jump will leave white even more concentrated.

Result

We found that white will only play the initial joseki if she strives for certain influence. Locally, white is worse off. If white is not fine with that (i.e. the influence is not worth it), then white should simply not pick the high approach.

Your proposed move at 4-2 is large yose and also somewhat strengthens the white group. However, it would be contrary to white's original goal and thus should only be played later.

Variation

Note that it is also possible to play a high extension (this applies to quite a lot of josekis, actually).

$$W
$$ --------------
$$ |.............
$$ |..4..........
$$ |..213........
$$ |...X.O..5,...
$$ |.............
$$ |...X.........
$$ |.............

Once space closer and higher is fine as well. Obviously, this aims even more for the center. White is unlikely to gain much territory at all in this situation, but she won't care, because her whole attention is on the center.


Can I use Mentor of the Meek on small guys with buffed stats? If I have Vanquisher's Banner and The Immortal Sun on the battlefield, and a 1/1 creature enters the battlefield under my control, assuming the creature matches the creature type I declared with Vanquisher's Banner, would I be able to pay 2 mana and use Mentor of the Meek to draw an additional card?

No.
Both abilities of Vanquisher's Banner and The Immortal Sun that gives creatures you control +1/+1 are static abilities.

611.3. A continuous effect may be generated by the static ability of an object.
611.3a A continuous effect generated by a static ability isn’t “locked in”; it applies at any given moment to whatever its text indicates.
611.3b The effect applies at all times that the permanent generating it is on the battlefield or the object generating it is in the
appropriate zone.
Example: A permanent with the static ability “All
white creatures get +1/+1” generates an effect that continuously gives
+1/+1 to each white creature on the battlefield. If a creature becomes white, it gets this bonus; a creature that stops being white loses it.

But what comes first when the 1/1 creature enters the battlefield zone. The trigger from Mentor of the Meek or the static abilities?

611.3c Continuous effects that modify characteristics of permanents do so simultaneously with the permanent entering the battlefield. They
don’t wait until the permanent is on the battlefield and then change
it. Because such effects apply as the permanent enters the
battlefield, they are applied before determining whether the permanent
will cause an ability to trigger when it enters the battlefield.
Example: A permanent with the static ability “All white creatures get
+1/+1” is on the battlefield. A creature spell that would normally create a 1/1 white creature instead creates a 2/2 white creature. The
creature doesn’t enter the battlefield as 1/1 and then change to 2/2.

The 1/1 creature enters the battlefield as a 3/3, given that it's the type needed for Vanquisher's Banner. So Mentor of the Meek won't trigger.


What is the definition of an unused Station? In the rules for the European game, the last sentence under "Building a Train Station" states

  A player is never required to build any Stations. For each Station a
  player has not used, four points are added to his score at the end of
  the game.

Does this mean that

four points are added if he does not build a train station, or
the points are added only if he builds the station but does not use it for one of his routes, i.e. he may put a station in but then not use a route which the station opens up?

It means for each Station that you don't play, you get four points at the end of the game. The idea is to force you to weigh up the cost (cards, loss of bonus points) against the benefits (completing your route).

It would be a pretty weird rule if it rewarded you for placing Stations, but making sure you don't use them on any route...


Is playing on a 9x9 board a solved problem? I would think that on a 9x9 board, the number of possible moves is small enough that computers could exhaustively search all possible permutations and compute a line of play that always wins by moving first.  If so, by how many points are you guaranteed to win by?

Has this been done, and was it determined where the perfect move is for a 9x9 board to guarantee a win when going first.  Can you guarantee a win even with some number of handicap due to the perfect first play?

Go was solved up to 5x6 only as of 2009. This table by Erik van der Werf and Mark Winands shows how many points komi to give white such that the solution is a draw for boards up to that size. For instance, on a 5x6 board White should be given 4 points; on a 5x5, White should be given 25 points.
Notice that 25 points is the size of the 5x5 board; ergo, White cannot make a living group on a 5x5 board given optimal Black play (which, I'm not positive, but I think can begin with play in the center). With the 25-point komi, using territory scoring, it becomes optimal play for Black to begin by passing, as it is the case that if Black places a stone, White can win by passing.
I would imagine that with the current state of algorithms and processing power, we're not too far off from solutions for 6x6 and 7x5 Go. But to give a sense of how the problem scales, their 2009 paper about solving 5x6 Go states:

The question now is when would 6×6 be solved? In 6 years time we went from a surface
of 25 (i.e., 5×5) to a surface of 30 (i.e., 5×6) of solved Go boards. This was not
only because of better hardware but also due to a better search engine.
We can try to predict when MIGOS II would be able to solve 6×6 in a reasonable amount
of time by extrapolating the current results....
An optimistic extrapolation suggests that on current hardware MIGOS II would require a
few years to solve 6×6. However, we could easily be underestimating by a factor of
100. Nevertheless, we believe that with some effort αβ-based solvers, such as MIGOS
II, should be able to solve 6×6 within the next 5 years, especially because signiﬁcant
improvements in the evaluation function are still possible.


Does a Joker has the value of the number it represents? I played Rummikub yesterday and you know: To start a game, one has to lay down a minimum of 30 Points with new rows created.

However, yesterday, my Mom laid out following:

[11] [11] [JO]

In my Computer Rummikub, this isn't allowed. But my Mom said we will keep this rule. But I said that I will ask on a very good forum, if this is allowed.

So: When attaching the Joker to a row, will it get assigned the value of the number it represents? Or will it only stand for this number, as I think, with having a value attribute of zero?

Thank you!

It is clearly stated in the rules (section "The Joker:"):

  A joker used in the opening set scores the value of the tiles it represents.

So your mom was right and the Computer uses its own rules.


How are holographic trading cards printed in an industrial setting? Are printing techniques trade secrets?  I'm wondering what type of printer, foil, cardboard, etc., is required to print holographic cards of the sort you might see in Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh.  I can find nothing about this online, and I'm wondering how the companies themselves source the industrial printing equipment.

This is only a partial answer.
The core technology originated out of 3M. I'm not sure their Laminates & Security Features page describes the "actual" technology used in the cards, but this is an application of that technology.
3M developed the first holographic driver's licenses etc.


Whenever you gain life put a counter. At the end of turn or by each time you gain life? I control an Archangel of Thune and a Seraph of Dawn. My opponent attacks and I block with seraph of dawn. I gain life, do I put the counter right away on my archangel of thune so I can block the other creature as a 4/5 archangel of thune instead a 3/4. Or the life gain effect triggers at the end of the turn?

Archangel of Thune's trigger happens exactly when it says it does.. "whenever you gain life".

When Seraph of Dawn deals damage, you gain that much life due to Lifelink, and this triggers Archangel of Thune. However, all combat damage is dealt simultaneously, so the Seraph and the Archangel will deal their damage at the same time. This will actually cause 2 separate "whenever you gain life" triggers, so all your creatures will get 2 +1/+1 counters. But by the time you get your +1/+1 counters, your creatures will have already dealt combat damage, and it will be too late for them to benefit from the counter during that combat phase.

From the Basic Rulebook, page 16:

  Once players decide how the creatures they
  control will deal their combat damage, the damage is
  all dealt at the same time.

And the comprehensive rules:

  Combat Damage Step

    510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

As for the question of "or at the end of turn"... don't read more into a card than what it says. It says "whenever you gain life", so that's all there is to it. If the card gave you a +1/+1 counter at the end of turn, it would say "at the beginning of the next end step, if you gained life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature." Cards say what they mean.


Can a properly summoned monster, that was returned to the hand, be discarded to the graveyard and special summoned from there? Let's say for example I summon Black Luster Soldier - Envoy of the Beginning properly, by banishing one light and one dark monster from my graveyard.

Then, my opponent uses Compulsory Evacuation Device to return Envoy of the Beginning to my hand.

Can I then send Envoy of the Beginning to the Graveyard (by discarding it) and special summon it from the graveyard? Given that I already summoned it properly before. I'm not sure if returning it to the hand would make it considered not summoned properly.

This is just an example. I would have the same question regarding a ritual monster or an extra deck monster:

If they are summoned properly and then returned to the hand or extra deck. If I send them directly from the hand or extra deck to the graveyard after summoning them properly in a previous turn, can they be special summoned from the graveyard?

Short answer: In this specific scenario you mention (back to hand) you can't.

Longer answer: Lets see some of the card text of BLS:

  Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set.

This card cannot be normal summoned or set.

  Must first be Special Summoned (from your hand) by banishing 1 LIGHT and 1 DARK monster from your Graveyard.

emphasis mine

The key part here is the "first" in the text. This means that you first have to summon it in the required way but after doing that you can Special Summon it by other means. This is the case for all cards that say the "must first be...", unless otherwise indicated.

Also, as Compulsory Evacuation Device does not negate the summoning then your BLS was indeed successfully summoned by the required way; if the case where that you opponent negated the summoning by any means (like with Solemn Warning), then you will not be able to bring him from the GY.

However, this case is a bit different as per the effect of Compulsory Evacuation Device. These type of cards are referred as Special Summon-only monsters (or semi-nomi). And yes you could bring your BLS back after succesfully summoning him, but that only lasts while it's on the field (from that link):

  After being properly Special Summoned, as long as that Monster Card remains on the field (even if face-down), in the Graveyard, or banished, it is considered properly Special Summoned.

So this means that you did successfully summon BLS... but it was immediately returned to your hand, where it's condition "resets"; you will now have to banish two more monsters to summon again.1

On the other hand, other cards like Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon, are not able to do this, as they specifically restrict the summon to certain way:

  Must be either Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned by sending the above monsters you control to the Graveyard (in which case you do not use "Polymerization"), and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways.

1 This "resetting" thing if I am not mistaken is not rare on other card games. In Legend of the Five Rings (RIP) this was the case when cards returned to hand, and my vague MTG knowledge says that this is also true there.

Think of it this way: when that cards returns to your hand/deck, it is no longer public knowledge which specific card that copy was. There is no way to officially take track of what physical copy it was, nor tell apart from possible multiple copies in your hand, etc..


Can I return a card from the graveyard that is active? Say that I have a Salvager of Ruin and Deliver Unto Evil and then I activated Deliver Unto Evil then use Salvager of Ruin to return it before it fully activates and if yes can I use this to return a card activating that exiles it at the end of the activation?

No, that doesn't work for no less than three reasons:

First of all, Deliver Unto Evil is a sorcery, while Salvager of Ruin's ability refers to permanents.
Secondly, Deliver Unto Evil resolves while it is on the stack, and is only put into a graveyard after it full resolves. But before that happens, it exiles itself, so it never reaches your graveyard.
Thirdly, you can't activate abilities while a spell is resolving (mana abilities are an exception in certain cases).


Do face-down creatures have "the same name" as each other? My opponent has three face-down morphs on the battlefield.

I play Sever the Bloodline targeting one of them.

Do we exile all three because they all have the "same name"? Or do we exile just one because "no name" indicates a lack of a characteristic altogether?

They don't have names:

  702.35a Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on, and the morph effect works any time the card is face down. “Morph [cost]” means “You may cast this card as a 2/2 face-down creature, with no text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost by paying {3} rather than paying its mana cost.” (See rule 707, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents.”)

If they don't have names, they can't have the same name, so only the morph targeted by Sever the Bloodline will be exiled.

For an official source, see the fourth ruling in Maelstrom Pulse:

  A face-down creature has no name, so it doesn't have the same name as anything else.

Bonus: Why "no mana cost" gives us a converted mana cost of 0 instead of no converted mana cost?: That's because there is a specific rule about this:

  202.3a The converted mana cost of an object with no mana cost is 0.


Earthquake - does it affect units in docks? So in a game of 'Mine a Million' aka 'The Business Game' the production card came up with Earthquake at Newport. The card's description officially says:

  All Warehouse stocks belonging to all players are lost

So the question is, if stock is kept inside a barge at the barge dock (or a ship in the ship berth) does that make it safe from the earthquake as technically the goods aren't in the warehouse?

Many of the cards in my version of Mine a Million are open to a bit of interpretation, but I think this one is fairly clear.

This card specifically mentions "warehouse stocks". It does not mention barges or ships.
Similar cards for losses at the pithead specify "on the ground (not in lorry/barge)" and/or "in lorry/barge" (wording not exact, I couldn't quickly find the wording online and I'm not at home to check).

On the basis that the cards make it very clear when stocks in a barge at the pithead are at risk, I suggest the interpretation that stocks in a barge or ship are safe against earthquakes.

In fact, just last night when that card was showing, I put all my stocks (from both my players) in a ship and left my wife's stocks (from both her players) sitting in the warehouse. Unfortunately she managed to sell them before anyone rolled a 1 or 6 :(


Is there a competitive version of werewolf/mafia? I'm trying to devise a point-based scoring system for a variant of Mafia/Werewolf. The idea is that there are teams coming in, and so individual players should be able to earn points regardless of role which add to the overall team score. Is there anything like this out there that might help me balance the point values?

I am going to answer this assuming this is a convention, you are GMing the game, and there must be winners written in on a card at the end
If you are going to play 1 or 2 games you should pick the winners yourself.  Just decide who did the best job.  Did someone manage to lie to the group really well, or did anyone lead the group, get them past the chaos, and lynch for victory?  If you do not feel comfortable picking, let the players vote, but let them only pick from the winning team.

If you are going to have 5+ games you could consider a point system.  Maybe just giving a point to everyone on the winning team.  Whatever you do, do not let the players know the scoring  If  people know how the game is scored they will game the system.  If this happens it will most likely ruin the game for everyone, (and probably let the wolves cakewalk their way to victory in later games).

Players will quickly think “he is winning, lets lynch him just in case”.

Again, if there are ties, I recommend just picking winners yourself; let the players vote on who they thought was most helpful.


Can I make Vitu-Ghazi Indestructible with Nissa's Emblem? If I used a Nissa, Who Shakes the World -8 Emblem in conjunction with an Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi, could I make Vitu-Ghazi indestructible in a sense that a creature is indestructible?

Yes, after you -8 Nissa, lands you control have indestructible, including the land animated by Awakening of Vitu Ghazi. It does not matter what other types, if any, your lands have.
Nissa's effect says that "Lands you control have indestructible". "Land" is shortcut for "land permanents". Therefore, every permanent you control that is a land has indestructible, and indestructible extends to the whole permanent, not just the land part of it. A permanent is a land if it has the land type, and that's all the Nissa effect cares about. It does not care whether or not that land is also a creature. Awakening of Vitu Ghazi states that the permanent retains its land type, so it will be affected by Nissa's -8.

109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn’t include the word “card,” “spell,” “source,” or “scheme,” it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.
300.2. Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects combine the aspects of each of those card types, and are subject to spells and abilities that affect either or all of those card types.


How is the board game version of Words With Friends different from Scrabble? I like to play a game called Words With Friends, which is a freenium version of Scrabble. I thought it was however functionally the same. However, I've just seen that Zynga, the creators of the game, have released a boardgame version.

Here is a picture:

How does this compare to Scrabble? What are the differences?

The board layout - the positioning of the bonus squares is different.

Words With Friends:

Scrabble:

Also, the distribution and points scored for the letters in Words With Friends is slightly different to Scrabble. For example, B and C score 3 points in Scrabble, but 4 points in Words With Friends.


How is gameplay improved in the Cities & Knights Expansion? I've played both regular Settlers of Catan and the Seafarers of Catan Expansion, but I haven't yet played Cities & Knights and I’m curious about how it plays.  I've noticed a lot of people speak very favorably of Cities & Knights, some even claim it’s the only way to play Catan.  I've read about how the game works, but I'm skeptical about the changes made in the expansion.  How does the expansion improve gameplay in Catan?

I often describe Cities and Knights as "the version of Catan where every limitation has a way around it." You can only hold seven cards… unless you build these walls. You only get cards when your numbers roll… unless you have an aqueduct. Etc.

Cities and Knights takes Catan and adds a layer of interesting shortcuts, passthroughs, special cases and escape hatches on top. There's slightly more to learn, but it's still a simple game. But the increase in complexity is outweighed by the vast increase in interesting mechanics between players and events in the gameworld.


How to build a budget-friendly manabase for a 5-color deck? I am a commander player who operates on a very tight budget. I recently started brewing for a 5-color Jodah chaos deck, but am having trouble building an affordable manabase. I can't afford shocklands, fetchlands, original duals and the like. I am looking to see if there are any land cycles that I have missed that might help me out, for example, I am running pain lands. I am trying to stay away from things like guildgates/thornwood falls cycle, tri-lands, etc, because they are too slow for my deck and my playgroup. I am aware of the issues trying to build a budget manabase for a 5-color deck that is still fast enough to be viable in a good meta, but I'm just wondering if there are any cycles of lands that I could use? Trying to stay away from nonland cards, my deck is already very filled out.

Here are the lands that will work in a 5 colour deck, I ordered them in roughly the order I think they are helpful speed wise to an EDH deck and will include the lands you already run for completeness. Prices rounded to the nearest quarter and are from TCGPlayer based on the results returned by Scryfall. (For sake of site rules, I have no affiliation with either site)
Without knowing your budget, I can't really limit myself to that budget, but I will give a more general overview of less expensive lands and cycles for 5 colour EDH.
Bond Lands
You're building EDH, a multiplayer free for all format, and bond lands care about how many opponents you have, allied colors being released in Battlebond, the 2HG set, and enemy colors in Commander Legends. Their prices range from Spectator Seating (/) at $5.75 to Morphic Pool (/) at $28.25. These are all but guaranteed to come out in EDH untapped, until the game is almost over when one land drop won't matter so much anymore.
Shock Lands
These have always been an EDH staple, having the basic land types to allow them to be found by some effects (Farseek) and being able to choose to let them come in tapped when the cost (2 life) was not worth it. These were at one time more expensive lands, however with the two further visits to Ravnica each having full reprints of the cycles, the price to get ahold of these lands has gone down quite a bit, they now run from Hallowed Fountain (/) at $7.75 to Breeding Pool (/) at $20.
Filter Lands
There are a few cycles of filter lands, The first cycle from Odyssey requires you to pay 1 mana of any colour to get 2 mana of specific allied colour pairs, cost wise they range from Sungrass Prairie () at $0.25 to Shadowblood Ridge () at $0.50.
The second cycle came out in Llorwyn block, it requires you to spend one mana of the colours it can produce to get two mana in any combination of those two colours. Recent reprints in masters sets have brought this cycle down in price, from Graven Cairns () at $4.25 to Sunken Ruins () at $18. Unlike the Llorwyn cycle, the Odyssey cycle cannot tap for mana without paying into it, the Llorwyn cards have tap for colorless.
Also worth mentioning here is Crystal Quarry () which filters 5 mana into one of each color for $6.75 and Cascading Cataracts for $4.75 which turns 5 mana into 5 mana of any color combination you want.
Pain Lands
These lands tap for colorless, or one of two colors if you pay one life. These lands run in cost from Llanowar Wastes (/) at $0.75 to Adarkar Wastes (/) at $8.75.
Mana Confluence ($20.75) and City of Brass ($16.25) can also be considered here, as they tap for 1 of any colour at the cost of one life, with slightly different wording (cost/vs damage effect). Murmuring Bosk ($1.25) can also be included here, it is a forest so taps for , but can alternatively tap for  or  for 1 life, it will come in untapped if you reveal a treefolk card from your hand. All of these cards, other than City of Brass cannot be used for coloured mana if you are prevented from paying life (effects like Angel of Jubilation or Platinum Emperion) however preventing damage from City of Brass does not prevent it from being used.
Pathway Lands
Zendikar Rising introduced a partial cycle of 6 lands in 2 allied and 4 enemy colour pairs and Kaldheim finished the set with the other 4 pairs. These lands tap for one colour, but when you play them you choose which side enters face up, and thus which of the two possible colours they can tap for. They run from Cragcrown Pathway/Timbercrown Pathway (/) for $2.75 to Darkbore Pathway/Slitherbore Pathway (/) for $5.75. Note if they enter the battlefield in some way other than being played (being flickered or Scapeshift perhaps) they enter with the front face up, no choice about side.
Check Lands
These check that you have one land of the matching colour basic land subtypes out on the field and come in untapped if you do, they don't care if they are basic so Shock, Battle and Bicycle lands will work for this also. Price wise they range from Sunpetal Grove (/) at $3 to Hinterland Harbor (/) at $7.
Reveal Lands
These lands come in untapped if you can reveal a land from your hand with a matching basic type, though it does not need to be basic, so Shock, Battle and Bicycle lands will work. Price wise these go from Fortified Village (/) at $2.25 to Choked Estuary (/) at $3.75.
Battle Lands
These come out untapped if you have at least two basic lands in play, though this makes it less and less likely you will get them untapped the more non-basics you have in your deck, these do unfortunately only exist in allied colours and the costs run from Prairie Stream (/) at $0.75 to Canopy Vista (/) at $2.25. These also have the basic land types, so they will matter for other land types listed, like Check and Reveal lands.
Fast lands
These come out untapped if you have 2 or less other lands can conditionally be faster. They run from Concealed Courtyard (/) at $2.75 to Blackcleave Cliffs (/) at $16.25. These are a little less useful in EDH due to the game format being longer, the deck size larger and the lands limited to one each, the likelihood they will come in untapped is low, they are much better in formats like modern where early advantage means more.
Tainted Lands
These lands tap for colorless, unless you have a swamp, if you do they tap for  or one other color. They go from Tainted Field (/) at $0.25 to Tainted Peak (/) at $4.25. This is a cycle of 4 lands, as the 5th land would be / if you control a swamp, and be a strictly worse than a swamp itself. These also do not care about the land being basic, so Shock, Battle and Bicycle swamps all apply, as do all lands turned into swamps by an effect like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Thriving Lands
Jumpstart added a new cycle of lands, 5 lands that come in tapped, one for each colour of mana. The up side to these lands is they let you pick the other colour they can tap for as you play them. While they do come in tapped and are slower than most of the rest here, the guarantee of giving you the colour you need as your 5th land can mean a lot. They run from Thriving Bluff () at $0.50 to Thriving Isle () at $1.75.
Vivid Lands
Vivid lands always come in tapped, but tapped status really only slows you down if it is the 5th land, completing the set of colors. The major benefit of Vivid lands is they come in with two charge counters, allowing the land to be used for any color twice. They run from Vivid Grove () at $0.25 to Vivid Marsh () at $1.50.
Triomes
Triomes, or tricycle lands (tri color lands with cycling), are an evolution of Bicycle lands seen below. There are 5 lands (half cycle) with a pair of allied colours and their mutual enemy (Khans of Tarkir colors). They come in tapped, but because they have three basic land types they are easy to find and synergize with many of the other effects. They run from Indatha Triome (//) at $5.50 to Zagoth Triome (//) at $10.
Bicycle Lands
These lands will come in tapped, however I am mentioning them because they synergize with Check lands if played earlier and Reveal lands if in the hand. They range in price from Irrigated Farmland (/) at $0.25 to Fetid Pools (/) at $3.75.
Slow Lands
These lands you can only tap once every other turn and come in untapped, there are two cycles, both ally coloured only. The first uses a counter put on when tapping for mana that is removed instead of untapping. These run from Timberline Ridge (/) at $2.95 to River Delta (/) at $4.25.
The other cycle is actually two cycles of 5 which are functional reprints of eachother, all less than $0.25 from Rootwater Depths (/) to Cinder Marsh (/), these can tap for colorless without staying tapped, and use more familiar "does not untap" language.
Other Lands
There are lands that make colours conditionally that could be useful in your deck, like Reflecting Pool ($22) and Exotic Orchard ($0.50) making mana based on what colours you, or your opponents could make. Spire of Industry ($1) costs one life and needs you to have an artifact to make any coloured mana and Glimmervoid ($2.50) makes 1 mana of any colour but is sacrificed if you have no artifacts in play, Thran Quarry ($6.50) works the same but needs creatures. Aether Hub ($0.25) costs one energy to make any coloured mana and Forbidden Orchard ($20) which gives opponents a 1/1 creature for every mana you make with it, but makes any colour. Holdout Settlement ($0.25) and Survivors' Encampment ($0.25) both need you to tap a creature to make coloured mana.
A little less useful cards that make multiple but not any colour, River of Tears ($2) makes  before you play a land for turn or  after. Nimbus Maze ($4.50) can tap for  if you control an island and  if you control a plains, giving you the opposite once you have the other colour's basic land type. Grove of the Burnwillows ($4.25) taps for  or  but gives one life to each enemy, something that rarely matters in EDH where overwhelming damage, poison, commander damage and mill are the usual ways of winning.
Other lands restrict how mana can be spent, but without knowing the deck type can't really be suggested. If it's eldrazi(with devoid) there's Corrupted Crossroads ($0.25), allies have Ally Encampment ($0.25), creature heavy decks can make use of Ancient Ziggurat ($4), dragons have Haven of the Spirit Dragon ($2.75), elementals use Primal Beyond ($9.75), Slivers use Sliver Hive ($27), if most of your spells have more than one color in them then use Pillar of the Paruns ($12.50) and Unclaimed Territory ($2) works for any tribal deck since you name the creature type when you play it. Changeling decks will benefit from all these tribal lands. (except Corrupted Crossroads, and Pillar which care about other characteristics)
Path of Ancestry ($0.50) and Command Tower ($0.25) can both tap for any colour in your commander's identity, which means any colour in your deck and should be pretty much automatic included in any non-monocoloured EDH deck.

These costs can change wildly, Sliver Hive for instance was $7.50 when this post was first written, so check the costs for yourself for these cycles, the header for each section has been made into a link to the results for those cards on scryfall.


Can I reveal a card from my hand whenever I want legally? Is there a rule that would make it illegal to reveal a card from my hand as an intimidation tactic or incentive strategy?

If there is not, I still might not do it (and just stick to hoping people belive me when I say it). I just want to know if I could legally reveal my Group Hug cards from my hand and show the other players in my playgroup that I have things to benefit them.

Yes, you can reveal cards from your hand whenever you want.
The regular comprehensive rules don't address this one way or the other, but in the tournament rules, section 3.12 entitled "Hidden Information" says

Hidden information refers to the faces of cards and other objects at which the rules of the game and format do not allow you to look.
Throughout the match, a draft, and pregame procedures, players are responsible for keeping their cards above the level of the playing surface and for making reasonable efforts to prevent hidden information from being revealed. However, players may choose to reveal their hands or any other hidden information available to them, unless specifically prohibited by the rules. Players must not actively attempt to gain information hidden from them, but are not required to inform opponents who are accidentally revealing hidden information.


Proper use of stations, only as connecters/extenders or in place of built track? I had a destination ticket of Palermo to Constantinople.

An opponent built the segment Palermo to Smyrna so I placed a station on that segment. The same opponent built Smyrna to Constantinople so I placed a second station there.

I believe the purpose of stations is to allow a "backup plan" when someone builds on track you need. If that is truly the intent of the game designers, I believe 2 stations on 2 segments completes a 2 segment destination.

A player sacrifices 4 points per station, 8 points total to accomplish a 2 segment destination card.

My opponents believed stations only connect track, so they cannot be the only contribution to the destination card. This point of view, outlawing this use of stations, would seem to assume rules that are not written.

The rules on stations are a bit complex. But there is nothing in the rules that either:

prohibit the use of two or more stations in a single route.
force the route to have at least one section without a station.

But since each unused station gives 4 points to the end score. And short routes don't give that much points. It is probably only wise to do, if the sections with stations are used with other routes.

  Building a train station
  A Train Station allows its owner to use one,
  and only one, of the routes belonging to  another  player,  into  (or
  out  of)  that  city  to  help  him  connect  the  cities  on  his
  Destination Tickets.

So you can use stations to borrow a route from another player. Each station borrows only a single route.

  Stations may be built on any unoccupied city,
  even if it currently has no claimed routes into it.

This is a bit vague, but later on, it implies, you can build a station on an unoccupied city and in the end chose one of the routes (taken by another player) to claim.

  Two players may never build a Station in the same city. Each player may build a maximum of one Station per turn, and three Stations through- out the
  course of the game.

(Skipped part on using cards to pay for stations)

  If a player uses the same Station to help connect cities
  on several different Tickets, he must use the same route into the city
  with the Station for all of those Tickets. The Train Station owner
  does not need to decide which route he will use until the end of the
  game.

So it can be an advantage to claim a city using a station to avoid a later clogged bottleneck. Which also implies only one station can be build on a single route. (It does not solve the situation in which two players each claim a different city on the same route...).

  A player is never required to build any Stations. For each
  Station a player has not used, four points are added to his score at
  the end of the game.


Re-equipping monsters to a ranked up monster If I have an equip monster attached to Utopia and I use the rank up spell to bring out another utopia. Would my equip monster be destroyed or would it stay on the field attached to the new utopia on the field?

Would my equip monster be destroyed or would it stay on the field attached to the new utopia on the field?

Say you got some card, like ZW - Leo Arms, attached to your Number 39: Utopia.

If you rank-up your Utopia, it becomes an XYZ material of the new card you rank-up summoned. In this case, as Utopia is no longer face-up on the field, Leo Arms would then "lose" its target, and be destroyed and sent to the graveyard (or wherever it should go).

From the Equip cards wikia page:

  If the equipped monster is no longer face-up on the field, or is no longer a valid target, the Equip Card is immediately destroyed.


In bridge, how would you bid the "worst" 14 point hand? You are playing 15-17 point no trumps, five card majors, four card diamond bids, and three card club bids listed on many convention cards. And you have an unusual 14 high card point 4-4-3-2 hand that basically violates all the rules, like this:

(s) QJTx (h) QJxx (d) KQx (c) Kx.

Give me another T (or even a 9) in one of the major suits, and I might consider this a "weak" 15 for 1NT. Upgrade my spade Q to a K (and compensate by downgrading K of clubs to Q of clubs), and I would consider bidding a "strong" four card major. But as the hand stands, I wouldn't do either of these things.

What would most people do? Perhaps a three-card one diamond is the least of evils? Or would "pass" be a viable option, even though most people wouldn't pass 14 point hands? (Downgrade one of kings to a Q, and I'd pass the resulting 13- point hand.)

You bid it like you’d bid any other minimum balanced hand with no five-card major.

Open one of a minor. Rebid NT, raise partner’s major, or pass partner’s 1NT as appropriate.

Which minor you open is a matter of partnership agreement. The usual agreement in the US is that 1D can be on three with this shape, but there are some who prefer to have 1D always be four, and so open 1C here.

Passing is a poor plan, even if you made it slightly weaker, as is upgrading it if it had slightly better spots; it’s a perfectly respectable minimum balanced hand, and pretending it isn’t is just going to lead to reaching the wrong contract.


In Shadow Hunters, can Bob’s special ability be triggered before damage is reduced? If Bob attacks a character equipped with the Holy Robe and rolls a 2 for damage, can Bob's special ability be immediately triggered? Or, does the Holy Robe reduce the damage Bob would inflict before Bob can choose to activate his special ability?

Bob's special ability:

  If you inflict 2 or more damage to a character, you may take an Equipment card of your choice from that character instead of giving them damage.

Holy Robe's ext:

  Your attacks do 1 less damage and the amount of damage you receive from attacks is reduced by 1 point.

I would say no, Bob's special ability does not trigger.

Bob's ability requires you to inflict 2 or more damage, and while you may roll 2 damage, you only inflict 1 point of damage.


Why does the dealer in blackjack receive only one face-up card, not two like the players? In Blackjack, at the start of each hand, every player is dealt two cards face up. The dealer receives only one card face up.

What is the reason for this difference? Why aren't the dealer's cards dealt the same way as the players' cards?

In Black Jack, you play against the dealer, not the other players, and one of the main mechanics is deciding whether to hit or not. This decision becomes trivial and meaningless if you could know exactly what the dealer has. You hit if you have less than them; stand if you have more than them (if they have 17 or more so that they won’t hit). Hiding one dealer card is necessary to make it so that there’s a non-trivial choice to make.


What happens when, and can I return face-down non-creature cards to my hand? Say I manifest an instant or sorcery card which I'd like to use, and I have a card like Temur Sabertooth in play. Can I use Temur Sabertooth's ability to return the card to my hand, and do I have to reveal it?

Yes, you can return the face-down card to your hand, and yes, you do have to reveal it.

The first rule about Manifest, 701.31a says

  "Manifest [a card]" means "Put [that card] onto the battlefield face down." That permanent is a 2/2 creature with no text, no name, no subtypes, and no mana cost. That permanent is a manifested permanent as long as it's face down. The effect defining its characteristics works any time the card is face down and ends when it's turned face up.

In addition, rule 707.9 says

  If a face-down permanent moves from the battlefield to any other zone, its owner must reveal it to all players as he or she moves it. If a face-down spell moves from the stack to any zone other than the battlefield, its owner must reveal it to all players as he or she moves it. At the end of each game, all face-down permanents and spells must be revealed to all players.


How does Bolas's Citadel work? If I play the card Bolas's Citadel, do I have to pay mana costs for Planeswalkers and Creatures or do I play them for free?

Bolas's Citadel doesn't allow you to cast anything for free.

To play a Planeswalker card or a Creature card is to cast it as a spell. You will need to pay life instead of mana if you play one from the top of you deck.

A spell is a card on the stack.[1] It doesn't matter if it's an instant, a sorcery, a creature, a planeswalker or something else. Cards of any type can be spells.[2] All that matters is that it's on the stack.

Bolas's Citadel imposes an alternative cost to spells when they are cast from the top of your library.[CR 118.9] Alternative costs replace the mana cost of spells.[CR 601.2f]

total cost to cast
= mana cost or alternative cost
+ additional costs and cost increases
- cost reductions

In this case, to cast a card from the top of your library, the cost would be calculated as follows:

total cost to cast
= mana cost or [life equal to the card's converted mana cost]
+ additional costs and cost increases
- cost reductions

For example, if you wanted to cast Llanowar Elves from the top of your library, you would have to pay 1 life (but no mana).

Spells cast from elsewhere (e.g. from your hand) are cast normally (because they aren't "spells cast this way").

It could also be a copy of a card on the stack (e.g. see Isochron Scepter) or a copy of spell (e.g. see Bonus Round).[CR 112.1, 112.1a, 112.1b]
Lands are never cast, so they never go on the stack, so there can never be a land spell.[CR 305.9]

Bolas's Citadel does allow you to play a land from the top of your deck, but it's played normally (because it's not "a spell cast this way"). It even counts towards the limit on the number of lands per turn.[CR 305.2]

  112.1. A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see rule 601, “Casting Spells”), the card becomes a spell and is moved to the top of the stack from the zone it was in, which is usually its owner’s hand. (See rule 405, “Stack.”) A spell remains on the stack as a spell until it resolves (see rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities”), is countered (see rule 701.5), or otherwise leaves the stack. For more information, see section 6, “Spells, Abilities, and Effects.”

  112.1a A copy of a spell is also a spell, even if it has no card associated with it. See rule 706.10.

  112.1b Some effects allow a player to cast a copy of a card; if the player does, that copy is a spell as well. See rule 706.12.

  118.9. Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell’s text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying the spell’s mana cost. Alternative costs are usually phrased, “You may [action] rather than pay [this object’s] mana cost,” or “You may cast [this object] without paying its mana cost.” Note that some alternative costs are listed in keywords; see rule 702.

  305.2. A player can normally play one land during their turn; however, continuous effects may increase this number.

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

  601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell. Usually this is just the mana cost. Some spells have additional or alternative costs. Some effects may increase or reduce the cost to pay, or may provide other alternative costs. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on. The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can’t be reduced to less than {0}. Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes “locked in.” If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.


Can one use alternate evaluation methods, e.g. "K&R" to defend actions that appear to violate your convention card? I'm playing in a tournament, and I fill out a convention card that says I will open with 13 or more points. I pick up a certain 14 "worst" point hand (per Milton Work's 4-3-2-1 count) and decide to pass. The tournament director calls me on it.

I found out yesterday that Kaplan and Rubens (K&R) (or some equally accepted authority) evaluates the hand as barely over 12 points. Is that an adequate defense for my apparent convention violation?

My convention card also says that I need 13 points for a takeout double. I do so with the following "11" point hand: KJT4-5-QJ98-AT93. But K&R evaluate it as 13. Am I OK?

Or is the best idea to write on the convention card: "I reserve the right to base my decisions on alternate hand valuations such as K&R?"

Finally, I make five or so of these decisions in a single tournament. Four out of five are on the money. In one case, I really didn't have my bid (per K&R), because I miscalculated. Would it be seen as such, or would people be thinking in terms of a violation?

This issue was discussed on the Bridge Laws Mailing List a few months ago:

Do players have to describe what they play?

Cribbing from my own post there:

  Edgar Kaplan (the "K" in K & R) wrote to the effect that the
  convention card is an understanding with partner, not an undertaking
  to the opponents.

  HCP are an approximation of a hand's value. The laws do not mention
  them. Absent regulation to the contrary players must be allowed to
  evaluate their hands using their own judgement, promoting and demoting
  as they deem best. Some such regulations have been passed. While I
  consider them harmful to the spirit of the game they are lawful.

For what it's worth I use K&R evaluation at the table, as do some of my partners, but I don't do it on every deal. It is time consuming, so I use it only when I'm not confident how to evaluate the hand. I do not indicate this on my convention card, and I'm not sure how I would. It's a complex method that cannot be explained in a short paragraph.

=======

Update Jan 1, 2016

I think I let myself get sidetracked, missing the heart of the issue. The K&R evaluation method is merely an example. Tom does not use it at the table, nor I suspect is he likely to. More to the point, there is nothing magical about K&R. It was intended to reproduce the judgement of one particular expert, Edgar Kaplan. For instance he devalued a hand if it was 4333, as do most experts, so the algorithm does the same. Likewise for stray queens and a host of other factors.

The real point is that Tom, or any of us, can evaluate a hand as we please. If I list a range of "15-17" for 1NT on my convention card it does not mean that my partner, my opponents, or anyone can count on me to hold exactly that many points. Rather it's a shorthand for saying that I will open hands that I evaluate to be in that range. I might well hold an excellent 14 or an ugly 18. For me neither happen often enough that I would write "14+ to 18-" -- that would only be misleading. My partner plays me for 15-17 and he and my opponents are equally well informed.

Those who've read Victor Mollo will remember the Walrus, who blindly follows the point count no matter where it leads. Nothing in the rules or regulations of the game requires us to do likewise.


After playing a Swap Your Hand card should the player draw in Saboteur 2? When player A plays a Swap Your Hand card he or she changes his or her cards with somebody else (player B). Then player B draws a card. Should player A draw a card too?

The general rules say that

  Play an action card... then draw 1 card.

, but in this case player A gets an extra card. On the other hand the rules of the Swap Your Hand card say

  Discard the action card, then the other player gets to draw 1 card!

Does it mean that player A should not draw?

Player A should not draw.  The player the card was played on is the one who draws.

Another way to think about it:

Before the swap turn, Player A has X cards and Player B has Y cards.  Player A plays a swap on Player B.  Assuming the deck has cards in it, afterward Player A should have Y cards and Player B should have X cards.

Another way to think about it:

If both players have a full complement of 6 cards, and a swap is played, both players should end up with 6 cards when the dust settles.  Assuming there are cards left in the deck, of course.


Can you use the green Mosque tile more than once per turn? I have a question about the green Mosque tile:

The rules say:

  When using one of the three Warehouses 2 3 4, you may pay 2 Lira to gain 1 additional good of any type.

On your turn, may you use this ability more than once?

The rules for the yellow tile include "Once on your turn", and the rules for the red tile say "(1x)", so one would guess that the rules for the green tile would include a restriction like that if it would be limited. However, the "1" (in "1 additional good") is printed in bold, while the "2" (in "2 Lira") is not. Is this a hint that you can only ever get one good per turn?

According to a thread on boardgamegeek.com about the same question:

You can use this ability only once per turn.

Grzegorz Kobiela (who is credited as English translator of Istanbul’s rules) and André Bronswijk (who works for Istanbul’s publisher Pegasus Spiele) both confirmed this.

The reasoning is: You can use this ability when using a Warehouse, and you only use a Warehouse once per turn.

It’s probably an oversight that a clarifying "1x" is missing in the rules for the green tile (or that it was added to the rules for the red tile, which follows the same logic).

(For reference, another thread about it.)


Do experience counters remain when the card creating them leaves the battlefield? For example, my Mizzix of the Izmagnus created two experience counters but then gets destroyed. What happens to the counters? Do they leave as well, or stay?

Yes, you keep the experience counters if Mizzix leaves the battlefield.

Mizzix's ability says

  Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost greater than the number of experience counters you have, you get an experience counter.

The counters go on you, the player, rather than on any other object. When creatures die that has no effect on counters on players.


Can I view rules for Crayon Rail games online? Where can I find the rules to a given crayon rail game online?  I have tried looking on a game page (i.e. EuroRails), but there is no link to the rules there.  I did manage to find a link to the Empire Express rules, but I'd like links to the other rail games, if possible.

While I don't see a complete rulebook for EuroRails, the BoardgameGeek page does contain a number of reference sheets. I'd start with the BGG page for each game you're interested in and go from there.


Are Twilightsworn considered Lightsworn? What is the official ruling for Twilightsworn cards? Are they considered Lightsworn?

For example, using Judgement Dragon, would Twilightsworn can be used as one of the "Four Lightsworn in the graveyard"? I've searched the web, but I haven't found a definite answer.

Yes they are also considered Lightsworn cards.

The key part is to notice that "Twighlightsworn" also contains the word "Lightsworn" on its name, so they are also considered part of the Lightsworn archetype.

Another case are the Tellarknight achetype, which include cards with "Satellarknight" or "Stellarknight" on their names. Example cards that belong to this archetype are Tellarknight Ptolemaeus, Satellarknigth Vega, and Stellarknight Triverr.

Other strange cases are cards like Darktellarknight Batlamyus (also Tellarknight archetype), and Satellarknight Zefrathuban (which is both Tellarknight and Zefra archetypes).

In case this was not convincing, there is another reference from the Yugioh Wikia that states:

  "Twilightsworn", known as "Twilightlord" (トワイライトロード Towairaitorōdo) in the OCG, is a series of DARK monsters introduced in Code of the Duelist, and a sub-series of the "Lightsworn" archetype.

Furthermore, if we compare the Japanese names of both we can see they share a same root which enables them to belong to the same archetype.

Lightsworn or "Lightlord" in the OCG is spelled "ライトロード Raitorōdo", and Twilightsworn or "Twilightlord" is spelled "トワイライトロード Towairaitorōdo".

This is similar to the case of the Archfiend archetype, which due to translation from Japanese, includes now all cards that in their OCG names include the "Daemon" character (デーモン).

This means that cards like Summoned Skull, which OCG name is デーモンの召喚 (Summoned Daemon, translated), are part of the Archfiend archetype.


Pokemon Call of Legends Starter Cards My son got a bunch of Pokemon cards.  One set he bought used was the Call of Legends expansion.  The instructions say that there are two preset decks that you can use to start with to understand the game.  But all the cards are mixed together since its used.  Is there a specific icon on the card, to identify the starter decks of cards?  Or, is there any other designation?

There is a set symbol for Call of Legends.    I can't link to it directly, but you can find the set symbol at the URLs below for the starter decks.

Call of Legends refers to a set of about 100 cards, some of which were used to assemble the starter decks.   The Set icon above would be used on all cards from Call of Legends, those that were included in one of the starter decks and also those cards that were included only in booster packs.   There isn't a symbol specific to the starter decks.

There were two starter decks for Call of Legends: Retort and Recon.   You can see the cards from each deck at the links below

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Retort_(TCG)
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Recon_(TCG)


Where can I find a printer friendly version of the settlers of catan rulebook? My copy of Settlers of Catan has been missing the rule book for a while. The Catan official site has the rule book available for download, but since it contains a lot of block backgrounds, it's not really printer friendly.

Is there anywhere I can download a printer friendly version of the base game full rules?

This appears to be a version of the original rules. The only rules differences (from 4th Edition) would be:

That now you can move the Robber to the desert.
Trading and Building are not distinct phases.
Harbors are now part of the island border.