Avoiding the "wrong" calamity We're early in a game of Advanced Civilization and I find myself stymied while pondering a trade.

I've been offered the most optimal trade possible.  However, as only 2 cards in a trade are guaranteed, I feel I'm almost certain to receive a calamity along with the two cards I need.

As Illyria, receiving Superstition and Slave Revolt would really hamper me right now.  I have only one city on a 2 area, the rest are on 1's.  Having to reduce 3 cities (which is what either works out to) would prevent me from building them back, not to mention not increasing my city count next turn.

What should I consider when making this decision?  When is the short term gain worth the risk of long term consequences?

My current hand is hides/timber/grain, 2xiron, 3xoil.  I'd receive iron/oil/XXX(possible calamity) for my grain/timber/hides.

You have to assume that the third card will be a calamity: the rules are designed to prevent you being certain, but it's always wise to expect the worst, and very likely in your position.

You need to consider

Which calamity will it be?  Depending on how many cities your trading partner has, there are several he may have picked up and wish to trade; if you are careful to specify three cards, you won't get more than one, which you may be able to survive.
And will the situation be any better next turn? If this is 'the most optimal trade possible', you really have either to accept it or resign yourself to a game without trading, which isn't likely to end well.

There may be other reasons to reject this specific trade: card-counting indicates that the two calamities you are worried about definitely came out this turn, or other people have decided not to trade with this person already.  But both are fallible; assuming you can actually use the trade cards for a Civilization card, I would suggest you accept.


Do I have to warn my opponent about abilities in Necromunda? We are going to start a Necromunda (1st ed) campaign and I have chosen spyrers.

Spyrers are a quality-over-quantity gang and they have a lot of nasty abilities. For example, the Jakara has a mirror shield that can bounce back laser, plasma and melta attacks.

My question is, do I have to warn my opponent of my gang's abilities?

In the mirror shield example, I could either:

Not tell my opponent and bounce attacks back
Warn them before they shoot
Warn them before the game

N.B. I am not advocating hiding anything. My opponent will always have access to the rulebook and my roster.

In theory, case #1. In reality, this depends on the game environment.

In a casual game, where the focus is enjoyment and learning how the game works, it usually pays to be as open as possible. People generally don't get fun out of "Oh, you forgot rule X, so I'm going to immediately exploit that information" and it's not supposed to be a viable strategy either (unless a "hidden ruleset" is supposed to be one of the mechanics.) Warning the opponent of these things helps with the fun and learning factor (You're not going to learn how to play the gang well by people accidentally triggering your reflections. You're going to learn how to play them well by utilizing the threat of said reflection to it's fullest, and how other players might counter it.)

In a competitive environment, all that goes out the window. Your opponent is expected to know the rules and abilities within the game. You would be right to assume that if they're shooting at you, they're cognizant of the consequences.


How does combat work in Fury of Dracula In the rules for Fury of Dracula after resolving combat cards it says players refresh hands. I understand how this works for Dracula redrawing a new fifth combat card, what is unclear to me is how this applies to hunter players. Does this mean hunters gain a new copy of the default 3 hunter combat cards? Or do they take back the combat card they played assuming the resolved combat doesn't force it to be discarded?

TL;DR - At the start of combat you add 3 Combat cards to your hand (1 Dodge, Punch, and Escape). The end of each combat round you pick up any cards played in previous rounds of combat, not including the current rounds cards. Finally, once combat ends you remove the 3 combat cards (1 Dodge, Punch, and Escape) from your hand.

Combat ( in short ) Works Like This:

  Pre-Combat The hunter takes 1 Dodge, Punch, and Escape card from the hunter
  combat card piles and adds them to his hand of item cards (these do
  not count toward his hand limit).

  1. Each player chooses 1 card from his hand and places it facedown. The
  hunter must choose one of his cards that has a banner (red or yellow).

Combat happens, players reveal and finally step 8:

  8. Refresh Hands: Dracula draws the top card of the Dracula combat deck. Combat cards played during this round remain in front of the
  hunter who played it. Hunter combat cards played during the previous
  round are returned to their owner's hand.

This limits the hunters options on what they can play if combat continues.

Anything played in this round of combat will not be available to play in the next round of combat.

Anything played in a previous round of combat is now available to be played in the upcoming round of combat ( if there is more combat to be had ).

Finally, if combat is finished you simply remove the 3 combat cards from your hand ( 1 Dodge, Punch, and Escape ):

  After combat ends, each hunter in the combat places his hunter combat
  cards (Dodge, Punch, and Escape) back in the combat card piles near
  the board. Dracula shuffles all Dracula combat cards into his deck.

Rules on BGG


Is buying older power plants than what you have disallowed? In a recent game of Power Grid, someone we play with regularly insisted on a rule that you're not allowed to purchase a "lower" technology power plant than you already have.  e.g. if you have 13,17,25 as your power plants, you can't buy 24 or lower if they come up.

He also insisted that if a player didn't win their power plant auction that the market isn't refreshed before they got another chance to bid.  e.g. Player A bids cost, player B bids cost + 1 and player A decides not to bid higher.  In this scenario player A only gets to choose from the 3 remaining plants next.

The question: are these official rules?  I have scanned the rule book and didn't see either, but may have missed them... I also found them quite hard to work with.

someone we play with regularly insisted on a rule that you're not allowed to purchase a "lower" technology power plant than you already have. e.g. if you have 13,17,25 as your power plants, you can't buy 24 or lower if they come up.

Incorrect.  You can buy any power plant that is in the market (the lowest four numbered plants).

  if a player didn't win their power plant auction that the market isn't refreshed before they got another chance to bid.

Incorrect.  After any power plant is purchased or destroyed, the market is immediately refreshed and realigned.

http://riograndegames.com/uploads/Game/Game_5_gameRules.pdf

Page 3, section 2b (this is retyped and not copy-pasted, so there may be typos)

  The player chooses one power plant from the actual market (top row) and then makes a bid to purchase it.  [...] He pays his highest bid to the bank and takes the power plant.  Players then immediately draw a new card to replace the card sold and place the new card in the market.


What is done with discarded Tides of Battle cards? In A Game of Thrones Second Edition there is an optional rule variant to use the included Tides of Battle (TOB) cards.

However, the rule book does not mention what is to be done with the discards.

We have been playing that after each battle, all the TOB cards are returned to the deck and it is reshuffled, such that each battle will have the same random chances of getting each card, the only exception being that when the Valyrian Steel Blade is used to draw a new card, the old card is not returned to the deck until after the combat, with the rest of the TOB cards.

I think the way we are playing is correct, because I don't think that the way one battle was fought should influence another in any meta-type way. However, some of the players in my group think that the cards should be discarded into a discard pile (like every other deck of cards in the game) and only when it is empty should they be reshuffled.

This would drastically change the way combat is played out, as players would remember the previous TOB cards drawn and know what advantages and disadvantages they might have in combat.

What is the official verdict on this? Should the cards be reshuffled each battle to create a more balanced system of combat, or should they only be reshuffled when they run out, so as to create much less balanced and much more calculated battles?

The FAQ indicates the cards should be reshuffled each combat, as you have been doing:

  Reshuffling the Tides of Battle deck: Immediately before the "Choose
  and Reveal House Cards" step of every combat, all Tides of Battle
  cards are reshuffled together to form a new deck.


Can a Mayor be used to create a Castle? We combined Abbey & Mayor with Bridges, Castles & Bazaars for the first time last night, and one situation cropped up for which I want to clarify the rules.

I created a small city (with no banners), as defined for the Castle requirements, but only had a Mayor to hand.  The Mayor rules state:

  When a city containing a mayor is scored, ...

IE the banner / number of followers rule doesn't come into play here as the city -> castle is specifically not a scoring event.

The Castle rules state:

  ... the owner of the city chooses whether to score 4 points, as normal, or to make it into a castle.

The CAR changes "owner" to "occupier", but otherwise is more or less the same.  Since I'm not scoring, my reading is that the Mayor is the owner/occupier.

Is my interpretation correct - can a Mayor become a lord in a castle?

Short and simple answer: The mayor cannot be placed in a castle.
(From footnote 161 in the Carcassonne Complete Annotated Rules)

If the mayor is in a city that is turned into a castle, you won't get any points from the mayor as there are no banners in a castle. In that case, the mayor will not be returned to you until the castle is scored (that is to say, an adjacent structure is completed).


Can you avoid the Boss in Munchkin Quest? Are you able to use magic/tricks (e.g. a Teleport spell) to circumvent the final creature, and thus win the game?

The rules seem pretty clear on this:

  No card or power will let you bypass this combat!
  The Boss ignores any rules, cards, or powers that
  would take it out of the Entrance. It can never be
  controlled and will never ignore a Level 10
  munchkin for any reason, even if its card says it will.
  It always fights.

You pretty much have to fight the boss... while teleporting him away would be the Munchkinly thing to do, you'll have to slug it out with the boss.


How can we keep Ren Faire fresh? After you've played Ren Faire with the same group for a while, the performance requirements seem old.  All of us have had to bellydance, act like a hyper kid, etc, etc.  I suppose we could crank out some more ideas for performances, but I'm wondering how others have kept it fresh.

How do you keep the performances from being "same old thing?"

This sounds like a job for peer pressure.  Perhaps the other players should have to vote on whether any particular performance is sufficient, with an understanding that doing the same old thing won't suffice.  Sing a new song, make up some new bellydance move, improvise a new reason for a tantrum... if players aren't doing it on their own, apply social pressure.  It doesn't have to be good, just new.

(I've never played Ren Faire, but I've seen games of Once Upon a Time get stale until the group applied social pressure to make people actually do something with the cards they play instead of just saying "and there was a prince there, and a horse, and a robber, and...".)


Can Ink Treader Nephilim's Electrolyze copies target players? I am curious if the Electrolyze copies created by targeting Ink-Treader Nephilim can be aimed at players for 1 point of damage or if all the damage must go to the creatures that Inky specifies the copies must target.

I have reason to believe no based on the wording of cards like Wild Ricochet, where it specifies on WR that you can pick new targets.

This sort of question also applies to cards like Liquid Fire and Arc Lightning.

No, you cannot, because the card specifically states that each copy targets "one of those creatures." So the target for the copy is specified in the rules of the card itself, there is no option to choose a different target.

Arc Lightning is the same, but Liquid Fire works a little differently. With liquid fire, there is only one target, the creature. How much damage is done to the creature vs the creature's controller is chosen as you cast the original Liquid Fire, and that same chosen number will be applied to the copies. (By rule Rule 706.10). So if you chose "x = 0", thus dealing 0 damage to  Ink-Treader Nephilim, and 5 to  Ink-Treader Nephilim's controller, then 0 damage will be dealt to each creature, and 5 to each creature's controller. (So players who control multiple creatures will take 5 damage for each creature they control, not just 5 damage total).


Thornwatch - How does paying for Hero Actions work? Reading the Thornwatch rules, I'm struggling to be clear about how hero actions are paid for and how much they cost.

There are two types of non-scenario based Hero Actions, "tracker" card ones every hero gets automatically and "action card" ones you slot onto your hero and then power by stacking cards underneath.

To pay costs, you discard cards up to that value. However, action cards need to be "powered" to use, by tucking other cards underneath them.

On a test run-through, I ended up with three related questions.

Do you also have to pay costs for "action cards" that you have powered? (e.g. you stack three "Brawn" cards under the action cards, and then have to also discard three brawn cards to use it?)

When you have used a "deck power", does it remain slotted onto your card to be re-used or do it and its "powering" cards get discarded?

Can you slot a card, power it, and use its action all on the same turn?

There are two types of powers - tracker powers and action cards. In order to use either you must pay for them either with slotted cards or discarded cards. See page 14 / 15 of the rules.

If you have stacked power cards under an Action Cards, then when you activate that Action Card the Action Card and all the stacked cards that are powering it are discarded. You do not pay a second time with cards from your hand.
When using an Action Card that you had slotted on your Tracker, it and all stacked cards powering it are discarded. You don't get to keep the Action Card to re-use again later.
Yes you can slot, power then use an Action card in one turn, on the understanding that you can only Act once a turn. In this case I don't think there is a difference between stacking cards to power the Action Card or simply discarding straight from your hand to power the Action Card.


Combat damage assignment with multiple blockers After reading the comprehensive rules, the answer to these questions seem clear, but I'm still having trouble reconciling them in my mind.

Here on some scenarios:
(1) My opponent attacks me with a 4/2 and I choose to block with a 1/5 and a 1/1. If he assigns damage to the 1/5 first, and then the 1/1, what happens? From my reading of the rules, no creatures would die because blockers only assign damage if all creatures "in front" of them are assigned lethal damage. Therefore the 1/1 does not assign damage.

(2) My opponent attacks with a 4/6, and I block with six 1/1s. What happens? My interpretation is that I would lose four 1/1s and the 4/6 would be assigned 5 damage. This implies that as long as an attacker has toughness at least 2 higher than its power, an army of 1/1s cannot kill it. Likewise an attacker with toughness three higher than its power cannot be killed by an army of 2/2s, etc.

(3) If the 1/1 in the first scenario had first strike, it would deal damage regardless of the blockers order. This would result in the 4/2 being assigned 2 damage.

Are all of these interpretations correct?

Nope, nothing weird happens with blockers - they always assign damage equal to their power, no matter what order you've put them in. The order is just about dividing up your attacking creature's damage.

The rule you were probably looking at is:

  510.1c  A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. ... However, it can't assign combat damage to a creature that's blocking it unless, when combat damage assignments are complete, each creature that precedes that blocking creature in its order is assigned lethal damage. ...

It sounds like the thing you missed is that this is only talking about the blocked creature (the attacking creature) assigning its combat damage to the creatures that are blocking it - it's an explanation of how that damage can get divided up among multiple blockers. The friendly/oversimplified version is "put them in order, then kill as many as you can starting with the first one" - pretty intuitive.

But the blockers? They always assign damage equal to their power:

  510.1a Each attacking creature and each blocking creature assigns combat damage equal to its power. ...

  510.1d A blocking creature assigns combat damage to the creatures it's blocking.  ...

There's no weird confusing rules here. The blockers always get to hit the creature they're blocking. (With the usual sorts of exceptions, e.g. they get killed before they get a chance to.) So your examples are pretty easy to deal with:

1) The 1/5 and the 1/1 both hit your 4/2, so it dies. If you put the 1/1 first, it'll take 1 damage (killing it) and the 1/5 will take 3; if you put the 1/5 first it'll take 4 damage and the 1/1 won't take any.

2) The six 1/1s all deal damage to your 4/6, so it dies. The 4/6 presumably assigns 1 damage each to the first four 1/1s you put in order, killing them. (Though you're actually allowed to deal more than lethal, e.g. 2 each to the first two, if you want to leave some of them alive for some reason.)

3) First strike doesn't change the result here; the 1/1 hits the 4/2 first, but then normal damage happens, and the 4/2 still gets to deal all 4 of its damage as you see fit. First strike would matter if instead you had a 2/1 with first strike; it'd kill the 4/2 before it had a chance to deal any damage.

If you want to make sure you understand the comprehensive rules (though it's probably overkill) read through that section again being careful to distinguish between "blocked creature" (an attacking creature which is blocked) and "blocking creature" (a creature which is blocking an attacking creature).


What are some good ways to transition to more complex strategic thinking games? What are some strategies that people have used to introduce novice players (kids or spouses...) to increasingly complex strategic gaming?

Ticket to Ride is a big hit at our house - we'd like to move along the continuum to Risk and then onward toward grand strategy - maybe not so far as Twilight Imperium, but into some more planning-centric and possibly backstabbing games.

In my experience, the order in which you introduce games is only of minor importance in comparison with understanding what kind of person you're dealing with and what games that type of person would like. So the key is introducing different types of games to identify the gaming personality type. Here are a few gaming personality types I've run across, and the progression that makes sense for them:

Nature-born game lovers. My son is one of these. He had mastered
the strategy of Sorry by the time he was 3 and by the time he was 4
wanted us to teach him every game we had in the house. He started
learning the card game of bridge at age 5. Progression: Order doesn't matter for people like him except for games that require reading and truly complex games like Bridge. He was not a fluent reader until age 7 but some games (i.e. Settlers) could be played anyway by memorizing the pictures on the card. More important than complexity is how interesting the games are. Nature-born game lovers usually want to keep learning new games and they end up getting bored with games of limited complexity and/or limited variation.
Socialites. You may think they hate games altogether but if you
find social enough games ("party" games) they'll play. Examples: Charades,
Pictionary, and many card games. It is interesting that many of
these people end up playing hard card games (i.e. Bridge) just
because it is easy to socialize around the games. But don't expect
these kinds of people to ever play Chess, Go, or any other
complicated game which limits socializing. Progression: Charades is a really nice one to start with. Kids will need the subject area(s) limited to things they know about. Most kids like to play the alphabet game on long car rides  (find a word you can see that begins with letter "a", then "b", and so on). There are other games like this with no components but as they get older you can introduce kids to games like Clue or Squint. Pictionary and some other similar trivia games are simple to learn and play but require extensive world knowledge so are going to be more appropriate for high school age and up.
Game haters. If you try a variety of different games on a person
and he or she hates them all, then give up. Some people just don't
care for games. At best, they may be willing to do 1 or 2 games they
learned as a kid and that's it. Progression: If they truly hate all games, then nothing you introduce will matter. However, be sure to have them try several completely different types of games, in case they only like one specific type of game.
Nature-born engineers. I have a friend who loves games but it
was looking like his son was in "Game hater" category. I gifted them
a copy of Settlers of Catan and we were all surprised that the son
loved it after a history of getting bored with every other game
tried. 2 months later, Eurorails become his favorite game. This kid loves building things so I'm guessing he would like
other games too where you see a network of pieces growing over a
board. Progression: Blokus is a good first one given how simple the rules are. Ticket to Ride is also fairly simple. Settlers and Eurorails are only slightly more complex. I'm not not sure if an empire-building game with economics such as Eclipse would eventually be appealing, as I don't know many people in this category.
Ordinary people (that don't fall into any of these extremes). I
have encountered a surprisingly small number of people who like
games a little but not a lot. Most people I know fall into the first
3 categories. With ordinary folks, I find that if you push hard to
get them to try many new games, or push games on them that take more
than about 90 minutes to play, or ramp up complication too fast,
then they end up not wanting to play at all. So just let them
proceed at a leisurely pace, playing the games they really enjoy. Progression: I would start with very easy traditional games like tic-tac-toe, dots, hangman, checkers, simple card games. You may be able to get them more interested in playing a game to fill in time like waiting for food at a restaurant (which is why I mentioned the first 3 games).
Word smithers. These people love word games and little else. Progression: This is far more age-dependent than any other category. For kids: Hangman, Boggle, Jotto, 25 words or less, Scrabble, might be a good progression. High school and older who already like crossword puzzles can jump right into scrabble.
Strategy-only. These people don't see the point in playing games
with random elements. They will play Checkers, Chess, Go, and
possibly logic and hidden information games like Mastermind or
Stratego. They may play them well - maybe even extremely well. But
the vast majority of games hold little interest due to the luck
element. Perhaps also in this category are people who tolerate modest amounts of luck so long as skill matters the most (Examples: Bridge and Poker). Progression: Tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess is a Western approach. Tic-tac-toe, Reversi (Othello), Go is an Eastern approach. Or a card track could look like solitaire, spades and/or hearts, bridge.
Other. Like the nature-born engineer type I described above, there are certainly other people out there who enjoy only one very specific type of game. The path to discovery is to experiment with very different types of games, and not necessarily with simple ones first.

Certain games are popular because they work well for at least 3 out of first 7 of the above categories of people. For examples, Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, and Settlers of Catan all work well for 1, 2, and 4. I have played a ton of Settlers over the past decade because it offers a particularly good balance for people in these three categories. (Our kid learned it before he could read. First we played without development cards, then he just memorized the pictures on the cards.)

It is likely I missed some types of people - if I did, please mention them in the comments.


What is this 4x4 board with black and white sided, numbered pegs? I found this little boardgame but cannot figure out what it is. Hopefully you can help me?

It's a "My First Sudoku / Child Sudoku" puzzle (a 4-number version of the usual 9-number pencil puzzle).

See for example this Etsy listing.


Gustcloak's ability vs. creatures with Vigilance Gustcloak Savior has

  Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, you may untap that creature and remove it from combat.

What about creatures with Vigilance? Attacking does not cause them to tap so they cannot be untapped. Can they still be removed from combat, after they become blocked?

Yes, you are allowed to use Gustcloak Savior's ability to remove an attacking creature from combat, even if it is not tapped.

Gustcloak Savior's ability is a triggered ability, that triggers in your Declare Blockers step for each of your attacking creatures that have become blocked. Then, when the ability resolves, it lets you choose whether to have the ability's effect happen. Rule 608.2d says in part

  If an effect of a spell or ability offers any choices other than choices already made as part of casting the spell, activating the ability, or otherwise putting the spell or ability on the stack, the player announces these while applying the effect. The player can’t choose an option that’s illegal or impossible

Rule 609.3 says

  If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

Since part of the effect can happen (removing the creature from combat) and it will just not do the impossible part (untapping the creature), it's not considered impossible, so you are allowed to choose it.

Then, once you choose to apply the effect, it tries to do both things: untap the creature and remove the creature from combat. Since the creature is already untapped, it is impossible to untap it, so it only does the part that is possible, which is removing that creature from combat.

This ruling has been confirmed by the official Ask A Magic Judge blog, which says

  "Untap that creature and remove it from combat" is the action you’re taking, so as long as you perform some part of that action, you can choose to perform the action and remove the creature from combat.


Bloom Hulk and Kronch Wrangler When you have a Kronch Wrangler on the battlefield

  Whenever a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, put a +1/+1 counter on Kronch Wrangler.

and a Bloom Hulk enters the battlefield

  When Bloom Hulk enters the battlefield, proliferate.

which ETB effect goes onto the stack first?

Are the triggers simultaneous, so I as an active player can choose to give my Kronch Wrangler a counter, and then proliferate it?

You chose the orders your triggers go on the stack.  If you want to give you Kronch Wrangler 2 counters, you would put the proliferate trigger on the stack first, thus putting it on the bottom of the stack, thus causing it to resolve after Kronch Wrangler's trigger.

  603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose.


What does "Gunblade" refer to in Netrunner? I'm just starting to look into Android: Netrunner and encountered some decks that referenced a "Gunblade". For context, I was looking at some Shaper decks that utilized Cloak/Dagger to break ICE. What is this actually referring to?

Is this in some way a reference back to Dagger (ie: a blade)? If so, where does the "gun" portion of the reference come from?

The "gunblade" combo refers to having both a Silencer (the gun) + Dagger (the blade) installed. Dagger is strength 0 killer unless a stealth card provides a credit to boost it (+5 for each credit).  Currently, the only stealth cards available that interact with Dagger are Shaper's Cloak (which uses 1 MU, and whose recurring credit can be used on any Icebreaker), and Criminal's Silencer (which is hardware, but can only be used with Killers - and has high influence to splash at 3 pips).  Silencer is prefered over Cloak due to memory limits, which allows you to have multiple Silencers out to stack the ability while also leaving room for other programs.

With 3 Silencers in  a deck and lots of draw (e.g., via Diesel), the idea is that it should come up fairly consistently, and with all the Shaper tricks for tutoring it should be very easy to find/install Dagger. This is a very efficient combo for breaking most sentries, and can be enhanced by Tinkering/Paintbrush to interact with other types of ICE.  Another trick is to boost the strength of Dagger, either via Dinosaurus or Personal Touches to get it to 6+ strength using only 1 stealth credit.


Why is "LGS" the standard term for a game store? Why is LGS the term of choice for gaming stores?  Is it to specifically refer to local gaming stores, as opposed to distant or non-local gaming stores?  I have never seen DGS or NLGS, so I don't know why it is necessary to specify local in the acronym, instead of just using GS.

If LGS is intended to convey a physical store as opposed to an online retailer, why not Brick & Mortar or B&M?  Most other retail industries I've read about (electronics and cigars come to mind) regularly use B&M when talking about physical establishments instead of online retailers.

But strangely, I've never seen B&M used in the Magic/TCG/gaming vernacular.

"Local" implies familiarity, and some connection specifically to you. It's a store near you, it's convenient for you, it's something from your area that you can be proud of, it's part of your community, it's a place you might see people you know. It also implies that it's not a chain. All of this adds up to a more warm and fuzzy emotional connection.

Brick and mortar, on the other hand, is really just about offline vs online. A brick and mortar store could still be a giant national big box chain store. The only important thing is that it's physical, so it still sounds pretty impersonal.

Note that this isn't just a gaming thing; for example LBS (local bike store/shop) is pretty common too.

You can also see a lot of other common "local * store" terms in the Google ngram viewer. "Local grocery store" is the most common, tying into the local food movement.


What happens when playing Throne Room / King's Court *twice* with Caravan? What happens if you play:

Throne room, choosing a Throne room, each time choosing a Caravan?
King's Court, choosing a King's Court, each time choosing a Caravan?

Specifically, what will your play area look like at the start of your next turn? How many cards will you draw at the start of your next turn?

This is different from this question; it is more complex than that!

The basic rule is given in the Seaside Rules, pg4

If you play or modify a Duration card with another card, that
other card also stays in your play area until it is no longer doing
anything.

If you have a chain of Throne Rooms or King's Court, you need to retain the cards necessary to correctly process everything on the next turn.
For your examples, discard the initial card (whether Throne Room or King's Court).  The remaining Throne Room is sufficient to indicate that each Caravan needs to be played twice at the beginning of your next turn.
On the next turn, each Caravan would be played twice for a total of +4 cards.
Two more examples should clarify the remaining edge cases here.
Example 1:

Throne Room (1)

Chose Throne Room(2), doubled by (1)

Chose Throne Room(3), doubled by (2)

Chose Caravan(A), doubled by (3)
Chose Caravan(B), doubled by (3)

Chose Throne Room(4), doubled by (2)

Chose Caravan(C), doubled by (4)
Chose Caravan(D), doubled by (4)

In this case, you will retain

All 4 Caravans obviously (ABCD)
Throne Rooms (3) and (4) as they directly modify the Caravans
Throne Room (2) as it will indicate that Throne Rooms (3) and (4) need to be doubled, subsequently doubling the Caravans again.

Throne Room (1) can be discarded as it is has no effect on the Caravans next turn.
Example 2:

Throne Room (1)

Throne Room (2), doubled by (1)

Throne Room (3), doubled by (2)

Caravan (A), doubled by (3)
Caravan (B), doubled by (3)

Caravan (C), doubled by (2)

In this case, all cards will be retained.  Throne Room (1) is needed to indicate that Caravan (C) needs to be doubled next turn.
King's Court will work the same general way, it just makes for even messier examples.
I've distilled this answer from a BoardGameGeek thread where the answers were provided by Donald X. Vaccarino, the designer of Dominion.
He recommends (as do I, for what it's worth) that you use some sort of tree format to help lay everything out as I've done above.  It will help remind you which cards are affecting which in these tricky situations.


Teferi's Time Twist on creature with +1/+1 counter If I control a River Sneak with a +1/+1 counter on it and then play Teferi's Time Twist targeting my River Sneak would the river sneak return as a 4/4 or a 3/3?

The River Sneak enters the battlefield as a 2/2 because it will have only a single +1/+1 counter on top of its base 1/1 stats. Rule 122.2 says

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

Teferi's Time Twist moves the permanent into exile, then back onto the battlefield. As it moves into exile, the counter(s) it originally had on the battlefield disappear. Teferi's Time Twist specifically puts a +1/+1 counter on the creature, so it enters with that single counter, for total stats of 2/2.

Teferi's Time Twist says that the creature enters the battlefield "with an additional +1/+1 counter on it". This counter is in addition to any other counters the creature would enter with for other reasons. Barkhide Troll, for example, will enter with a +1/+1 counter because of its own ability, plus an additional counter because of the effect from Teferi's Time Twist.


In Go, Why are "High Point" Openings Seldom Seen in Modern Play? I'm talking about opening with the "high point" of a "shimari, such as the 3-5 or 4-5 point.
The disadvantage is that it allows the opponent to enter near the corner, such as the corresponding 3-4 point. But having an "extra" move in the corner should compensate for that fact.

One thing I've noticed is that "high" and "low" playing styles alternates every decade or so. That is, "low" is all the rage for about ten years, until everyone knows how to play low, then "high" is rediscovered (after having been neglected).

Could "high" be about to be rediscovered after a period of neglect, and would this mean that we'll soon see more "high" openings, particularly by White.

I don't have a database at my disposal so I can't provide hard numbers over time to confirm this, but I believe one of the reasons high point openings saw emerging popularity was that white was attempting to play quickly in order to overcome the lack of komi.  There was also the "threat" of playing extremely complicated joseki such as the taisha, which would provide more opportunities for black to squander his first move advantage by making a mistake in fighting.  As the "New Fuseki" movement took hold, high openings continued to see play because of experiments using more influence-oriented openings, but over time things settled down and now with the extra handful of points white is not under pressure to play so severely.

That said, 3-5 point, etc, openings are perhaps uncommon relative to 4-4 or 4-3, but I would still not consider them rare. They are even more common if you include an approach to a corner that is ignored, and the attacker is first to continue locally - this is effectively the same things as playing a 3-5 or a 4-5 opening with a 3-4 "invasion"


Can Act of Treason allow a Detained creature to attack? Suppose an opponent plays a card such as Lyev Decree to detain one or two of my creatures until the opponents next turn. If I have Act of Treason in my hand, would I be able to use Act of Treason to gain control of, and attack, with target creature once my turn comes around again?

I know Act of Treason states that I gain control of target creature until end of turn and that creature also gains haste until eot. Just wondering if Lyev Decree would prevent me from gaining control again of my creature, basically countering Act of Treason.

No, you cannot do that. Changing control of the creatures would have no effect on the fact that they are detained. This is because changing control, just like changing characteristics of an object on the battlefield, doesn't cause it to become a new object, or reenter the battlefield, or anything like that. Even if you changed it into a non-creature, then back into a creature, it would still be unable to attack.

Note that you never lost control of your creatures, so Act of Treason would not cause the creatures to change control. Lyev Decree isn't preventing you from gaining control; you already have control. You simply can't attack or block with those creatures.

If you were able to blink the creature with something like Momentary Blink; this would work, because when an object changes zones; it becomes a completely new object.


Can I cast Mizzium Mortars for its alternate cost with Fires of Invention? Can I cast Mizzium Mortars for its alternate cost with Fires of Invention?

The Gatherer page for Fires of Invention says (emphasis mine):

You may choose to pay the mana cost or an alternative cost for spells you cast, even if their converted mana cost is less than or equal to the number of lands you control.

as well as

If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs (such as that of Fling), you must pay those to cast the card.

So yes, you can cast an overloaded Mortars, but the Fires will not help you to pay for it.


What's this board game with an old radio and some country flags on it? This is the boardgame in question. What is it?

The capital cities listed are Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin, Rome, and Vienna. There's a number of spaces that say "Tune" and it appears to have an old AM radio in the center.

Must be a specific version of the Radio Broadcast Game:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159448/radio-sende-spiel

While the images on boardgamegeek show slightly different boards, your board has the same features: namely exactly 100 spaces and old wartime flags for Germany and Italy. So the description fits perfectly and it must be some version of this game:

"This is a simple roll and move game with the objective of touring wartime Germany and being the first to reach the final (100) space.

However, the primary objective of the game was to encourage both patriotism and obedience to wartime rules, specifically the prohibition on listening to foreign broadcasters.

When landing on domestic transmitter spaces, the players must carry out certain actions: sing a ditty, send a message, make a weather report or sing a military song. But if they land on a foreign transmitter space, they must exclaim "I have committed a criminal offense", pay a pfennig into the pot and go back to start. Worst is if they land on London's transmitter, when they must shout "God punish England!" and pay 5 pfennig into the pot as well as start over. The pot is taken by the winner."

Not sure where you found this but the game is likely quite old (like 50s or so), I'ld like to own a copy of that if you're selling :)


Will Myth Realized still become an X/X when Humility's in play? Humility says "all creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1" and Myth Realized is an enchantment that can become a creature with P/T equal to the number of lore counters on it.

I'm thinking that due to the timestamp ordering if Myth Realized becomes a creature after Humility was cast that Myth Realized would be x/x and not 1/1, where x is the number of lore counters?

You are correct, Myth Realized will be a creature with power and toughness equal to the number of lore counters on it.

This is because both its own ability and Humility's apply in Layer 7b (613.3b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.) Since they are in the same layer and neither ability depends on the other you use timestamps (613.3. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described below. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order.)

Note that if Myth realized is already a creature when Humility is played it will become a 1/1 until the end of turn, but the next time it is activated it will be back to normal.

Myth Realized's ability is not a Characteristic-Defining Ability which would be applied in layer 7a and then get overwritten because cause CDAs require that

  604.3a A static ability is a characteristic-defining ability if it meets the following criteria: ... (2) it is printed on the card it affects, it was granted to the token it affects by the effect that created the token, or it was acquired by the object it affects as the result of a copy effect or text-changing effect;

Also from the Gatherer Rulings

  Activating the ability that turns Myth Realized into a creature while it’s already a creature will override any effects that set its power or toughness to a specific value. Effects that modify power or toughness without directly setting them to a specific value will continue to apply.

This would not be possible if its ability were a CDA


Missed! symbol cards against Slab the Killer Can I play a Bible, Shibata or some other Missed! symbol cards against Slab the Killer?

You can play any card with the Missed! symbol against Slab the Killer, however you will need a total of 2 of them in order to miss. What the means is if you only have one card that you can play and it lets you draw card after you use it, you can play the card, draw your card and if it provide you with a second Missed! symbol you can then play it and miss the shot. If you do not get another card that lets you miss you will still take the hit even though you played one miss card.


In a&a 1942 2nd edition, can bombers conducting a strategic bombing raid and fighter escorts retreat? Im guessing they cant because the book talks about retreats only in the "general combat" section; says nothing about sbr planes retreating, but i am not sure.

You are 100% correct. Retreating is part of general combat, Strategic bombing is a special type of attack that has no concept of retreating.

AA units only get one shot at the inbound bombers, so unless you changed your mind about the bombers actually carrying out the attack, retreating has no meaning with respect to strategic bombing.


In Lord of the Rings, can quest cards with stars be used to pay for events that require you to discard other cards of a specific type? In the Lord of the Rings co-op game, you can discard quest cards with stars on any activity track since they are considered wild cards; however, when an event requires you to discard cards with a specific type (travelling, hiding, friendship, or fighting), can a quest card with a star be discarded instead?

Firstly I will point out there are two versions of the game: Fantasy Flight and the Original

Original Edition

The FAQ states:

  Example: The Event cost at Speak Friend and Enter requires the players to discard a Friendship and Joker symbol. Frodo volunteers since he can discard any two white Hobbit cards to pay for the cost.

Frodo's ability is the same as a wildcard (or Joker as this edition calls them) and therefore I would say it is clearly correct in this edition to use a wildcard in this manner.

Fantasy Flight (Current)

The Rulebook states:

  Some cards have star symbols, which are wild. These
  may be played as any Activity symbol (Fighting,
  Friendship, Hiding, or Traveling).

It doesn't give a specific example like the older edition but given the older edition allows the usage of wildcards for events it would seem logical that it is still allowed.


Does Adarkar Valkyrie's ability target cards in graveyard? Adarkar Valkyrie's third ability targets a creature and creates a delayed triggered ability that returns that creature to the battlefield when it dies this turn. It clearly targets the creature on the battlefield to create the delayed trigger.

Does that triggered ability also target the card that goes to the graveyard?

For example, does Ground Seal prevent the trigger from resolving?

Adarkar Valkyrie's ability does not target anything in the graveyard.

As mentioned in the question, the activated ability clearly targets a creature on the battlefield using the phrase "target creature". That creates a triggered ability that effectively says

  When (that creature) dies, return that card to the battlefield under your control.

The creature that the trigger condition checks is fixed as the activated ability resolves. It is not a target that you choose while putting the triggered ability on the stack.


Rules for kings to take pieces In traditional draughts, the rules written on our copy of the game say a king can take in any direction even if there are empty spaces between the king and the piece it will take.

Is this right? Even if it is, I don't fully understand the rules.

For example, if the diagonal has b - - w - - w - and the black piece is a king, can the king jump over both white pieces and take them?
Also, can a king take a piece then change direction and take another one?

Some more Internet research suggests that this variant is actually called International Draughts with flying kings, despite what it says on our box.

Yes, a king can do that, but he has to land in between two pieces. If the diagonal had been b - - w w - - -, he wouldn't have been able to capture the pieces.

And yes, a king can change direction, but again, he has to land on the field where he changes direction. A player must capture as many pieces as possible.

There are many variants of draughts, as evidenced by the WikiPedia article. Pick one you like, or make up your own.


What is the value by percentage of Lindel's reroll special ability? Here is an image of Lindel's card.

  After rolling dice ofr an attribute test, you may reroll one die; you must accept the second resul

As you can see his stats are 6, 6, 6, 5. He needs to roll equal or under with 2d6 to succeed on a test. His ability allows him to reroll one of the d6's once after the initial roll.

How much does this ability increase his chances of success?

% of success on a 2d6 test

2 3%
3 8%
4 17%
5 28%
6 42%
7 58%
8 72%
9 83%
10 92%
11 97%
12 100%

Assuming he plays optimally (only rerolling when necessary, and rerolling the higher die), the odds of rolling equal to or less than a given number on 2d6 with one reroll allowed are:

2: 7.4%
3: 19.9%
4: 35.6%
5: 52.3%
6: 68.1%
7: 80.6%
8: 89.4%
9: 94.9%
10: 98.1%
11: 99.5%
12: 100%

Note that this is equivalent to rolling 3d6 and seeing if any two of them sum to the target value (or less). So you can just take the 216 combinations there and check them, just like taking the 36 combinations in the basic 2d6 case and checking those.


Can a sub attack a lone sub in axis and allies and the attacked sub submerge? If an English sub attacks a German sub (by itself in a sea zone), can the German sub submerge? From my understanding subs can only conduct a surprise strike or submerge if there are other sea units (besides subs) in the sea zone with it, and only if the attacking and defending players both have submarines.

Yes. Submarines that are not under threat from an enemy destroyer can use their special ability to choose to make a surprise strike (either on attack or defense) or choose to submerge. This occurs before any dice are rolled by either side.

From Axis 1942 Second Ed. Rules, P14, General Combat, Step 2:

  Before the general sea battle takes place (steps 3–5), both
  attacking and defending submarines can choose to either make a Surprise Strike die roll or submerge.

If an English sub attacks a German sub, as there are no destoryers present on either side, both will have the option to make a surprise strike or submerge.

I am not sure where you get your understanding that a) other sea units (besides subs) need to be present, and b) only if attacker and defender both have submarines, these are both incorrect.

Two things to note about submarines:

As there are no other enemy (surface) warships present, any 'surprise' strike would effectively not be 'surprising'.. both submarines would get a suprise strike at the same time. The attacker rolls a surprise strike, and then the defender rolls the surprise strike on defense. Any hits are then removed.

The whole process starts over again once casualties are removed, so the choice to submerge or surprise strike (remaining in combat) is made before the attacker rolls attack dice.

Typically, the defending sub would choose to submerge, as it defends on a 1.


Play set folders too small I play the Dragon Ball Super TCG and collect play-sets of every card. these cards are standard size. In the earlier sets I could easily fit this in to one Ultimate Guard Quadrow folder but the sets are getting larger so the cards for the set don't fit into a single folder anymore, leaving me with folders with many empty slots.
In an attempt to clean up my collection I'm hoping to have one folder per set. Are there any products out there that store more than the 480 cards that the Quad Rows do, preferably in the same style. I'm not a huge fan of the binder style with loose pages.

I haven't seen anything bigger than 480, unfortunately, that wasn't a binder.  Quadrow Collector Albums like this one are probably your only real shot at more than 480, and of course they're binders.  They can hold 30 pages of quad row, double-sleeved cards (so, 24*30=720 cards), or 36 (single sleeved) or 48 (not sleeved).  Quite a lot.
There are some 3x3 page ones that are bigger from smaller companies, but I have to imagine the quad-row is a big benefit to your particular storage needs.  I guess a 9-card page could hold 2 cards (x4) plus one blank space in the middle or something, and still hold all in one binder (like this one); that's 720 cards, so if you only used 8 per page you'd get 640 out of it - but not as neat looking as a quad row for sure.
I think the issue is that the thickness of a 480 is about the maximum thickness people are comfortable with - plus probably some construction issues.  That 720 one looks really, really thick to me, uncomfortably so, and I'd worry it may bend the cards more than a smaller one would.


Do you get two actions when you return from space with Starbuck? In Battlestar Galactica, "Starbuck" has a special ability that when she starts her turn in space, she gets two actions instead of one. This makes sense because as a snazzy pilot, she can out-manuever everyone.

However, what happens if she decides to move back into the Galactica?

More specifically, does she get two actions inside the Galactica if she started her turn in space and discarded a card to go back into the Galactica?

Yes, she does. The rule is stated quite clearly, no need to second-guess it. Maybe she's on such a rush from piloting that for the rest of the turn she can still get stuff done, even on Galactica.


Legend of Drizzt - How may items per Hero Phase? I didn't notice anything in the rulebook about how many items can be used in each player's Hero Phase.  Is it just 1, or are multiple items allowed to be used?

You can use as many items as you like, as long as you follow the rules on the card. For example, if you have two Potion of Healings you can use them both during your Hero Phase, but not during another player's turn. You may use a Heavy Cloak on the Villain Phase during your turn, or another player's turn. A Flask of Oil is used instead of attacking, so you can only use one on your turn.

From the rulebook:

  You can benefit from multiple Treasure cards in play that apply
  to your Hero. For example, you can use both a Fortune and an
  Item to increase the bonus to an attack roll.

"Multiple Treasure cards" includes using multiple Items (subject to the rules listed on them). However,

  The only exception to this rule applies to Items that provide
  attack or defense bonuses. A Hero can gain only one attack
  bonus and one defense bonus from Items at a time.

This exception means that you cannot use two Belt of Storm Giant Strengths at the same time.


Is it possible to get 3 success markers on an unopposed story? Played my first game of Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game the other day and I was able to get 3 success tokens out of the 5 required from my first story due to the other player not having any characters on the board.

I played a character that had one investigator icon, which means he wins the investigation struggle and gets a success token, and then he wins another success token for having the most skill, and then the third for the story being unopposed.

Is this correct? Would you still get three tokens even though the character does not have an investigation icon?

So after playing this a lot more times and going through the rules as well, this is the case.

Winning an investigation icon gives you one success token immediately.
Winning the story based on the skills of your committed characters gives you another, and finally, if at the end there are no opposing characters on the story, you get another success token for winning unopposed


Is there a reliable free cell solver? I am trying to find a solution to game 9371310 and the online solver at
https://fc-solve.shlomifish.org/
instructions try to use 6 free cells when only 4 exist. Here is where the instructions go terribly wrong.
Is there a more reliable solver out there?

The solver you mention do solves this deal with 4 free cells.
For MS Freecell Deal #9371310
: TD 2S 8H 4S JC QC 6S
: 2H 4C 7S 8S 9D KD 3D
: 5S 3C 9S 9H 7D AC KC
: 5D 7H 9C 5C AD 6D JD
: TC 4D 3H AS QD KS
: 3S 8C QS AH KH TS
: 2C QH 8D 4H JH JS
: 5H 2D 6C 6H TH 7C

Used the default settings, it solved it in few seconds:


How does Ashaya, Soul of the Wild interact with Blood Moon? What happens when you play Blood Moon while your opponent controls Ashaya, Soul of the Wild? What happens when you play Ashaya, Soul of the Wild and the opponent already has a Blood Moon out? How do the layers work?

When Ashaya and Blood Moon are on the battlefield at the same time, no matter their relative timestamps, Ashaya will die immediately as a state-based action. Your other creatures are briefly mountain creatures with no relevant abilities.
Blood Moon's effect depends on Ashaya's effect:

613.8a An effect is said to “depend on” another if (a) it’s applied in the same layer (and, if applicable, sublayer) as the other effect; (b) applying the other would change the text or the existence of the first effect, what it applies to, or what it does to any of the things it applies to; and (c) neither effect is from a characteristic-defining ability or both effects are from characteristic-defining abilities. Otherwise, the effect is considered to be independent of the other effect.

Both effects are applied in layer 4, type-changing effects (a), applying Ashaya changes what objects Blood Moon would apply to (b), and neither are characteristic-defining effects (c). Therefore, Blood Moon depends on Ashaya, and the normal timestamp system for ordering effects within a layer is not used:

613.8. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is sometimes done using a dependency system. If a dependency exists, it will override the timestamp system.

Because of the dependency, Ashaya is applied first:

613.8b An effect dependent on one or more other effects waits to apply until just after all of those effects have been applied. [..]

Your creatures are now non-basic forests with all their abilities intact, plus "T: Add G":

305.8. Any land with the supertype “basic” is a basic land. Any land that doesn’t have this supertype is a nonbasic land, even if it has a basic land type.

305.6. The basic land types are Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. If an object uses the words “basic land type,” it’s referring to one of these subtypes. An object with the land card type and a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add [mana symbol],” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain that text or the object has no text box. [..]

Next, Blood Moon is applied and can affect your creatures. By setting a land to mountain, that land loses all abilities from its printed rules text, it loses the "T: Add G" ability from the forst type, and it gains "T: Add R" from the mountain type:

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

That means all your non-token creatures, including Ashaya, are mountain lands in addition to their other types, and they have no abilities except "T: Add R".
Ashayas's power and toughness are defined through a characteristic-defining ability. Her power and toughness are undefined if she loses that ability, and thus treated as zero.

107.2. If anything needs to use a number that can’t be determined, either as a result or in a calculation, it uses 0 instead.

Ashaya is now a 0/0 creature, and goes to the graveyard the next time a player would gain priority. All other non-token creatures you control revert back to being only creatures, with all their abilities.
You will generally not be able to generate mana from any of your creatures while they are mountains. Mana abilities don't use the stack, but you still need to have priority (or be required to pay a mana cost) in order to activate them.


In chess, how many times can a piece be attacked at once? Sometimes a chess player concentrates many attacks on a single enemy piece (including pawns).

For example, on the diagram provided above the black pawn on d5 is attacked by ten white pieces. One of the two white bishops is obviously promoted from a pawn. So if it's white turn, they can capture the black pawn in 10 different ways.
But does anybody know what is the maximum number of chess pieces of the same color which can attack/threaten the same enemy piece simultaneously?

There are 16 ways a piece can be attacked in chess, 8 positions where a knight can attack from and 8 directions which all other pieces use to attack. However there is no way in chess to fill all of these spots, as the bishops are on opposite colors. The most I have been able to find to answer this is 15, using pawn promotion to get more knights:

UPDATE as corsiKa pointed out, En Passant does exist as a 17th way a piece can be attacked, though it is limited to pawns attacking pawns, when the pawn being attacked has made it's fist move two spaces to come beside the attacking pawn. This can be done here, however it still leaves a maximum of 15 attacks. That would look like this:


Can I have multiple copies of a creature with Cipher? As far as I understand, Cipher works like so: when a card that contains Cipher is cast, you encode it onto a spell on the battlefield, like a creature for example. Every time that creature attacks and deals damage to a player, a copy of the encoded creature is made.

If the opponent does not have anything to block a flying creature I've encoded, and for 3 turns straight I can deal damage with the creature that was encoded, does it result in 3 copies? Can you only make one copy?

Cipher copies the encoded spell, not the creature - have another look at the reminder text:

  Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of this card without paying its mana cost.

"This card" is referring to the card it's printed on, the spell with cipher. So if for example you cast Last Thoughts (allowing you to draw a card) and encode it on a creature, each time that creature deals combat damage to a player, you get to re-cast Last Thoughts for free (and draw another card). This can happen as many times as you can manage to deal combat damage to a player with the creature.

I should also point out: you can only encode it onto a creature, not anything else on the battlefield. (And, I know it sounds pedantic, but there's no such thing as a spell on the battlefield - things on the battlefield are called "permanents", a word you'll see on some cards.)

Hopefully this makes more sense to you than copying the creature - you're encoding the spell onto the creature, tying them together, so that the creature can cause the spell to be cast again.


Can I find a recorded game of nine mens morris? I was trying to find dataset from some nine mens morris professional games. But I couldn't find it.

Is there someone who can help me with this?

Board Game Arena has an implementation of the game with
15,156 of games played.
https://en.boardgamearena.com/#!gamepanel?game=ninemensmorris

I think they might share with you this data, if they do, please let us know
https://en.boardgamearena.com/#!contact


Emissary of Grudges vs. Annihilator If I have Emissary of Grudges on the battlefield and my secretly chosen player controls a creature with Annihilator which attacks me, can I activate Emissary of Grudges and choose a new target for that creature's Annihilator?

No, there is no interaction. Emissary of Grudges can change a target, but the Annihilator ability does not target.

"Target" has a specific meaning in Magic. If an ability does not specifically include the word "target" somewhere, then there is no target for Emissary to change.

  115.10a Just because an object or player is being affected by a spell or ability doesn’t make that object or player a target of that spell or ability. Unless that object or player is identified by the word “target” in the text of that spell or ability, or the rule for that keyword ability, it’s not a target.

Annihilator does not target anything:

  702.85a Annihilator is a triggered ability. “Annihilator N” means “Whenever this creature attacks, defending player sacrifices N permanents.”


How does Conspirator work with Throne Room / King's Court? If, for example, my turn starts by playing a King's Court and choosing Conspirator, how many cards will I draw?

This is explained in the Intrigue rules

  Conspirator – You evaluate whether or not Conspirator gives you +1 Card and +1
  Action when you play it. If later in the turn you play more Action cards, you do not go
  back and reevaluate a Conspirator played earlier.

  For the purposes of counting actions,
  if you Throne Room an Action, that's one Action for the Throne Room, one for the
  selected Action played the first time, and one for the selected Action played the second
  time. For example, if you play Throne Room on Conspirator, the first Conspirator will
  be your second Action, and won't give you +1 Card or +1 Action, but the second
  Conspirator will be your third Action, and you will get +1 Card and +1 Action for that
  second Conspirator. Action - Victory cards are Actions

For your example, if you play King's Court and choose Conspirator, you would draw +2 cards and get +2 actions.  The first copy of Conspirator would count as your second action, and then the second and third plays would qualify.

The sequence would be:

Play King's Court (Action #1)
Choose Conspirator (Choosing does not count as playing an action)
Play 1st Conspirator (Action #2 - no bonus from Conspirator)
Play 2nd Conspirator (Action #3 - receive bonus from Conspirator).
Play 3nd Conspirator (Action #4 - receive bonus from Conspirator).


Does the Medic remove all cubes of cured diseases from the cities he travels through? Does the Medic remove all cubes of cured diseases from the cities he travels through? Let's say he:

drives to one city (3 cured cubes)
drives to another city (2 cured cubes)
drives to another city (1 cured cube)
drives to another city (1 cured cube)

does he remove all 7 cubes on the way or just at the last city?

All of the cubes. This is not an action.

  The Medic may remove all the cubes of a single color (instead of 1)
  when performing the Treat Disease action. Also, if the Medic at any
  time finds herself in a city that contains cubes of a disease that
  has been cured, she may immediately remove all of those cubes.  This
  unique ability is in effect during all players’ turns and does not
  cost any actions to perform.

Emphasis mine.


What's the "biggest change we've ever made" in Magic? I'm currently catching up on Head Designer Mark Rosewater's "Drive to Work" podcast. I've been out of the loop for about a year.

In Episode 460: Announcements, which aired in August of 2017, he says:

  "There is a big revamp in behind the scenes of how we make Magic. A
  big one. Like, probably the biggest we’ve had since I have worked at
  Wizards."

He goes on to say that he will write an article in the fall to announce it, and that it's "the biggest change we've ever made."

Well, fall has come and gone and I'm still clueless. I've perused MaRo's articles from August through now, but I still haven't found anything that indicates or announces any sort of major paradigm shift.

What is the big change MaRo is referring to? And, if possible, What articles/podcasts cover this announcement?

This was to do with Vision design (see podcast #495 and #496) and the introduction of the design play team. There's an article here where Maro talks about it from October of 2017.

It's a very interesting article and gives me high hopes for the future of Standard considering how much of an issue they've been having in terms of creating balanced and fun Constructed environments recently.


Can a clue giver let team know they are almost right? Can a clue giver let his team know that they have the right word, but he wants a different form?  For example, the team players respond with “symphonic” and the word is “symphony”.  Can the clue giver say, “that word is right” and then gesture to keep trying other forms by rolling his hands?

I struggled to find a copy of the printed rules for this online, only various guide.  There is a Rules summary on BGG that clear says -

The Clue Giver cannot use hand gestures

So 'rolling his hands' is technically against the rules.
I also wouldn't say "that word is right". because in the example you gave it wasn't.   I can't see anything in the rules that says you can't say "that's almost right"
The important thing to remember is you playing a fun party game.   In games like this if a player becomes to strict and rules lawyering that it stops being fun.  If a player makes a minor rules violation then keep it fun and let it go the first time.  In the UK there is a radio show called "Just a Minute" which is a silly party game.  when players do minor things wrong the Host gives player "The benefit of the doubt" to let players get away with small things but that they will try to redress later.  I think this is good practice in all party games.
If you look at the rules queries for Taboo on BGG there are lots with 'Dispute' in the title.   Its a fun silly game and not worth a dispute about, Don't let the rules get in the way of just enjoying playing.


Is there an official way to speed up Elixir? We've been playing a bit of the excellent (and silly) Elixir, but we often end up with long periods of inactivity. When players are unable to cast spells, we have several rounds where all players draw their card and then pass, since they don't have the right ingredients. This can go on for some time.

We've tried doubling the draw rate so players pick up more ingredients - this seems to work, but might unbalance some of the "draw X cards" magic items.

Is this a problem others have encountered? Are there any official or well-tested solutions - do any of the expansions (which we haven't tried) address this problem?

Yes, others have encountered this problem. At least one poster on BGG (Tim, it isn't you, is it?), posted that the game drags and proposed a Draw 2 Variant.

No, there is no official variant to my knowledge. No variants are listed in the rule books for Elixir or any of it's three expansions. No variants are listed on the designers websites.

I am not sure precisely how your Draw 2 cards/finds is a better solution to just drawing 1 card and passing. You only pass half as often (since you are drawing 2), but how long does it take to Draw 1 and Pass in the first place? How much time are you actually saving?


Whispersilk cloak - does it protect from Sudden Spoiling and Condemn? If my creature is equipped with Whispersilk Cloak, can my opponent play Sudden Spoiling and then they play Condemn to put my creature on the bottom of my library?

Both Whispersilk Cloak and Sudden Spoiling generate continuous effects (even though Sudden Spoiling says 'until end of turn'), so this situation is covered by rule 613. Interaction of Continuous Effects:

613.1. The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:
...
613.1f Layer 6: Ability-adding effects, ability-removing effects, and effects that say an object can’t have an ability are applied.
...
613.2. Within layers 1–6, apply effects from characteristic-defining abilities first (see rule 604.3), then all other effects in timestamp order (see rule 613.6). Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a layer. (See rule 613.7.)
...
613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.
613.6a A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.
613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it’s created.

Since Sudden Spoiling is cast after equipping Whispersilk Cloak, it has a later timestamp and it 'wins'; the creature doesn't have shroud. Therefore, it's a valid target for Condemn.


Can I enter a non-target foreign home in Chinese Checkers? Given a game of Chinese Checkers
And that I have a marble next to a foreign home which is not the taget opposite

Can I place my marble in that foreign home?

Can I jump in and out of that foreign home if it takes me back outside?

It depends on the version of the rules. Some versions let the unused homes occupied by unused pegs making them unusable. But some versions let them open so they can be used.

This also implies that you can uses unoccupied foreign homes of other players.

Source.


Can a werewolf kill himself? I was moderator in a game and one of the nights, one of the wolves chose himself to die.

I was a little disconcerted, but later he explained that it was because he trusted that the witch would save him and after that, the villagers would trust him.

It is a solid but risky strategy. But ... is it a valid strategy? Can a wolf (if the majority agrees) be one of the victims of the attack?

Werewolf is the name of a family of games, not a specific game. So the answer will vary depending on the rules of the specific game. I think the more common answer would be "No, because they have to pick a 'villager', and the werewolves aren't 'villagers'."

e.g.,:

https://www.playwerewolf.co/rules

But other rulesets vary in their phrasing, with some even explicitly allowing the selection of a werewolf.


Is there a good place to keep updated on Carcassonne News? I'm not sure if this fits, if not let me know and I'll delete it.

I have many/most of the Carcassonne expansions and have spent way too much money doing so.  However my biggest problem is finding out when new expansions are going to become available.  This is a royal pain and I was wondering if anyone has a website or email list that can be watched that gives good timely announcements?

Boardgame Geek's Carcassonne family page; which collects information on all of the Carcassonne games. You can also search for "Carcassonne" and get a list of all the games and subscribe to the individual games of interest.

Just sign up, click "Subscribe" and you will stay up to date on all Carcassonne news.


Is the Radioactive Potato passed before the goal is checked? The text on the Radioactive Potato says "Any time the goal changes, move this card in the counter-turn direction".

When the rule card You Also Need a Baked Potato is in affect, you must have the radioactive potato in addition to the goal requirements to win.

Suppose a player has the Radioactive potato creeper and the Milk and Cookies keepers in front of them, and no other creepers or keepers. On their turn, they play the Milk and Cookies goal. Do they win (since they have the goal requirements plus the potato) or do they not (since the potato passed to someone else)?

This is Generic Fluxx v4.0.

No, they do not win.
The Looney Labs FAQs include a question about timing issues:

Q. Does the total effect of playing a card have to be resolved before checking for win conditions, or could someone win partway through?
A: As a matter of fact, yes, in Fluxx all consequences of a card play are considered to be functionally simultaneous, so there are a lot fewer timing issues than people sometimes think.
A good rule of thumb is that things in Fluxx (and many other Looney Labs games) are considered to happen simultaneously, so if there are timing issues, assume that things take place all at once, and then consider the outcome.

So the Goal change and the Potato move are simultaneous, meaning that the You Also Need a Baked Potato condition is not met, and the player does not win.


Objectives in collectible card games The majority of deck building card games use the following winning condition:

You and your opponent are the central figures on the battlefield, and the game ends as soon as one of you (or both) is killed.
You start the game with some positive amount of life that goes up and down (usually down) as you battle.
Whenever your life total is at or below 0, you are dead and you lose.

A slight variety of that is when there is no central figure and you have to destroy all your opponent's creatures to win.

I was able to find only two games that use different winning conditions: Gwent the Witcher and Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer. Could you please name some more?

In particular, I'm interested in the following condition: you and your opponent start at 0 points, you earn (or lose) points as you play and whoever has more points at the end of the game wins. (Both Gwent and Ascension seem to be examples of this mechanic.)

They are not CCGs strictly speaking but Fantasy Flight Games' Game of Thrones Living Card game and the new Keyforge have very different victory conditions.

The latter has Aember, basically victory points, that can be won, lost and stolen. They are automatically used to unlock keys at the beginning of you turn. When you unlock 3 keys, you win. The game still uses, creatures, artifacts and instants, but all serve to earn Aember.

Killing creatures only slows your opponent down. I like this system a lot!


Where are token creatures created from? I got a challenger deck with Sarkhan the Masterless which can create dragons.

In the deck there are two dragons. Do they just count as part as your library and if you have only one you can only create one dragon (given it dies) and if you have 5 you can create 5?

They also have a front and a backside. Can I only use them once?

I think you're confusing tokens and token cards.

Tokens are game objects that are generated by various spells and permanents. They are never part of your deck and indeed can not exist outside the battlefield. If a token moves to, for example, the graveyard, it vanishes instantly after moving, as far as the rules are concerned.

When an effect tells you to create tokens, you just do it—they exist now on the battlefield and don't “come from” anywhere inside the game. You can represent them with anything you want, even dice or scrap paper or a basic land with sharpie on it, but Wizards of the Coast also prints token cards you can use.

Token cards are cards that you can use to represent tokens. While they're by no means the only way to represent tokens (see above), they are by far the most convenient way to do so, as you can use the cards to easily represent various game effects, like their tapped state or whether or not they have counters on them.

Token cards don't go in your deck. You keep them with you while you're playing, maybe left inside your deck box. When an effect instructs you to create a token you can take one of those out and put it on the battlefield to represent the token.

You can find token cards from various booster packs, and pre-constructed products. They are not in any way tied to these products and can be used anywhere. Various sites also offer custom token cards with their own artwork. Some are two sided, so you can use the side you need (ie. the side that represents the token that was created). As far as the rules are concerned, the other side does not exist.


How does one set up a 1/4 board for Go – and is it a good way to start? As a beginner, I was handed a full go board. And, somehow figured it out.

A beginner friend wants to start "small" on something like 1/4 of the board.

Personally, I think that we should start with the entire board.

There is a lot of discussion on whether starting on 19x19 or 9x9 is preferable, the general consensus tends to 9x9. Personally, I started on 19x19 but would have preferred 9x9.

As a beginner, you first need to understand the most basic melee fighting tactics (atari, ladder, snapback, basic life and death, etc). Those can be learned on both big and small boards, but small boards avoid introducing complex strategic issues and make for faster games that are easier to review.

You probably should stick to small boards until you are familiar enough with the game to stop making "obvious" mistakes (crawling with a dead group on the first line, playing out ladders, stuff like that).


What if three players are "the closest investigator"? In Eldritch Horror, when a monster causes the closest investigator to move one space closer to the monster, but more than one investigator is on the closest space, who moves?

The final decision is always down to the active investigator when you are deciding the nearest but two or more targets are an equivalent distance.

From the rules reference (page 9):

  When determining the “nearest” space or token, find the space or
  token separated by the fewest number of interconnected paths.

  If two or more spaces are tied for nearest, the active investigator
  chooses


What happens if Always Watching is destroyed mid-combat? At the start of my turn, my Always Watching is on the battlefield, granting my creatures +1/+1 and vigilance.

I attack with my Shadow Glider (a 2/2) and my Kitesail Scout (a 1/1).

My opponent blocks my Shadow Glider with his Shadow Glider.

At the end of the declare blockers step, when we can cast instants and before damage is dealt, my opponent casts Naturalize to destroy my Always Watching.

My question is this: do I lose the benefits from the Always Watching,
so both Shadow Gliders die, or does his Shadow Glider die and my Glider lives? What happens to vigilance for the Kitesail Scout?

The ongoing effects from Always Watching end as soon as it is destroyed, so your creatures no longer have vigilance and +1/+1 by the time combat damage is dealt, and both Gliders will die.
However, your Kitesail will remain untapped because vigilance is only important at the moment attackers are declared:

702.20a Vigilance is a static ability that modifies the rules for the declare attackers step.
702.20b Attacking doesn’t cause creatures with vigilance to tap.

So your Kitesail remained untapped when it attacked because it had vigilance at that time, and the game does not rewind and tap it just because it lost vigilance later.


Would it be possible to play through Pandemic Legacy more than once? I am about to start a Pandemic Legacy campaign. I have managed to avoid spoilers so far, but I have read enough to know that the game is essentially designed to be played through once - changes are made during the campaign that are not easy to reverse (e.g. stickers added, components destroyed). How practical would it be to modify the process so that the entire campaign could be replayed? I realise that the experience a second time around would be less exciting since you would know what was coming, but I can still see potential value in trying out different decision paths, trying a different number of players, etc.

Rather than adding stickers, could one just keep a written record of the relevant information? Or could the stickers be peeled off afterwards?
Rather than destroying components, could one just put them to one side?
Are there any other changes required to the game components that would be irreversible?

No spoilers please!

Yes, it is possible. Someone on BoardGameGeek has designed a Reset Kit, which gives full instructions for keeping various components separate, rules reminder cards so you don't have to sticker the rule book, and other stickers to go over the ones on the board/cards to set them up afresh.

If you're really careful, you can remove the stickers from the board and have something that is 99% vanilla Pandemic, which is also an option.

However, for many people the permanence of the game is part of the experience. You don't just get the excitement of winning, you get the visceral feeling of finality when you tear up cards and mark the board. I understand that that experience is not for everyone, but there is a lot to recommend it.


Is an emphasis on card reading/counting well placed for a learner? I am a "developing" bridge player who has come to the conclusion that card reading/counting ability is the most important skill to learn; more than say, new bidding conventions.

There may be a precedent in chess, whereby a number of world champions were the best endgame players of their time, without being the best at the opening. (The endgame also "informs" middle game play.) The analogy would be that bidding is the opening, and cardreading is the endgame. After all, if you can "see" all the cards, you'll know how to play.

Were there any world class/world champion bridge players who were reputed to be the best card readers/counters of their time, even while having other skills (e.g. bidding) that were not top notch? A lot of the "glory" of world championships goes to new bidding styles, but could card reading be a "stealth" road to high level play?

I cannot emphasise enough that card-counting is the fundamental underlying skill for all others in Bridge. Until one has mastered counting every card, every hand, every session, until it has become both habitual and an obsession, one cannot even be considered a top-intermediate player. If you are not already counting the opponent's hands, the range of distributions and points possible, every time they call Pass, one cannot even be a competent bidder.

All advanced card-play techniques, including opening lead, are derivative of and dependent on accurate counting of the points and distribution around the table.

Further, if one has a demonstrated ability to count the hand, stronger players will take an interest in mentoring you and even having a game or two on occasion to check on your skill progression.

On your second point, you have confused "complexity of bidding system" with "accuracy of bidding system". Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroth have been a regular partnership for nearly 30 years now (collectively known as Meckwell), and have an encyclopediac record of their bidding system (maintained by Rodwell) and are widely thought of as the best partnership in the world for much of that time.

By contrast the late Barry Crane played a very straightforward (and aggressive) Four-Card Majors system that any strong player could master in a matter of days. He in turn is regarded as the top Matchpoint player of all time.

Note that Crane's phenomenal success was achieved playing part-time (weekends only) while most of his competitors were able to play the full 5 days of most Regional tournaments. This may have influenced his desire for a simpler system, as he also played with more different partners.

Barry Crane Stories #1
Barry Crane Stories by Grant Baze
Barry Crane Stories by other authors


Does activating Sensei's Divining Top make me miss my counterbalance trigger? I have Sensei's Divining Top and Counterbalance on the table, with plenty of mana. My opponent casts a spell (for the sake of argument, lets say they cast Naturalize).

I say "In response, spin the top" i.e. Pay 1 mana to look at the top 3 cards of my library and put them back in any order.

Have I missed my Counterbalance trigger?

Clarification

I am looking for an answer based on the Missed Triggers Policy that relates to tournament play of Competitive Rules Enforcement Level (REL) or higher. I would like to know whether, by activating my Divining Top without acknowledging the trigger, I have implicitly "chosen" not to reveal the top card of my library.

There have been some changes to the MtG Tournament rules.

Regular Rules Enforcement, there are really only two "rules." You aren't allowed to miss your own triggered abilities, and your opponent isn't required to remind you about them. The second one is a change that was put in at higher RELs a few months ago. Please note that this part applies only to triggered abilities. [...]
The new rules require the controller of a triggered ability to "demonstrate awareness" of a trigger before certain times for different types of triggered abilities. If a player fails to do this, the triggered ability is considered missed. What counts as demonstrating awareness? Let's look at the four cases:

Since you need to make a choice to reveal the top card of your library or not, this trigger is not considered missed at this time. Your opponent would likely need to ask, "Resolve?" with respect to their spell, and you would have to choose to pass, which would cause the trigger to become "missed".

A triggered ability that causes a change in the visible game state (including life totals) or requires a choice upon resolution.
The controller needs to acknowledge the change or choice before taking an action that he or she couldn't take before the ability would resolve. We want to make sure that the triggered ability is actually missed, so we allow for the possibility that you may cast instants or activate abilities in response. For example, if you attack with Geist of Saint Traft and then cast an instant before putting an Angel token onto the battlefield, the rules will assume that Geist's triggered ability is still on the stack. Only after you do something that necessarily has to be after the ability resolved, like attempting to assign combat damage, is the triggered ability considered missed.


What are the differences between the 2009 and 2011 reprints of Twilight Struggle? I'm interested in getting a copy of "Twilight Struggle", having enjoyed "1960: The Making of the President" and seeing that the former is currently the top ranked game on BoardGameGeek.  It seems that there are two versions that are available to buy new at the moment:

The 2009 Deluxe Edition reprint.
The recently released 2011 Deluxe Edition, available from GMT games.

The slightly earlier reprint is rather easier for me to get hold of, but I'm having trouble finding out whether there are any significant differences between these editions.  Could anyone here give me an idea of how different the 2011 edition is?

As far as i can compare the specs on the GMT web site with my 2009 deluxe edition there are no differences.


Does Ajani's Chosen allow adding creatures from Enchantments played before this card? I believe that Ajani's Chosen cannot use it's ability from Enchantments played before this card, but since I was asked about this and I'm not 100% sure myself either, I thought of making sure about it.

No, it can't do anything about enchantments played before the card comes into play. Triggered abilities don't activate retroactively as if the permanent was there all along — it missed out, the opportunity has passed, and nothing happens.

Ajani's Chosen was not there to see previous events, so it can't do anything about them. You will not get creature tokens for enchantments that have already entered the battlefield, nor be able to attach them to tokens you create.


There's this card type in Yu-Gi-Oh that I can't quite put my finger on. It has to do with nature Back in ~6 grade there was a yu-gi-oh archetype that I really liked. I liked this because of the play-style and the art/character design in general, but I can't quite remember the name of the deck and/or monsters in 10th grade.

What I do remember though is that these cards are somewhat new, are themed around nature, not literal trees but from memory the people featured in these cards would wear leave-like clothing, kind-a anime/cutesy art style and would have many different cards with this "archetype" in the card name.

From memory, some of them in the card art would be riding flying beasts. Would anyone have the slightest idea what these cards would be?

It's not completely clear yet what year was this. From your post one can suppose you mean around 2015 (you said 6th grade and you imply you are now on 10th, so 4 years have passed).

--If clarification is made I'll gladly update my answer--

Assuming the cards are around 2015, and that are nature-ish themed, and some of them ride beasts, I think you are talking about the Ritual Beasts Archetype.

They were introduced mostly on the Secrets of Eternity booster expansion, and on the The Secret Forces expansion as well, which were launched on TCG January/February 2015, respectively.

Here some images of some cards of that Archetype to depict the theme they display (nature-ish, riding beasts, anime/cutesy, etc.):

Ritual Beast Tamer Lara:

Ritual Beast Ulti-Gaiapelio:


Creatures pumping each other and combat damage Suppose I have two Myr Galvanizers, so they give a +1/+1 to each other.

If I attack with both, and my opponent blocks one with a 5/5 creature and kills it, does the surviving one still deal 3 damage to the defending player? Or the damage to players is assigned after the blockings among creatures are solved?

Three damage would be dealt to the defending player. All combat damage is assigned and then dealt simultaneously. Rules 510.1 and 510.2 explain this:

  510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. A player assigns a creature’s combat damage according to the following rules:

(Those rules are explained in the next few rules, but they aren't relevant for this question.)

  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.
  Example: Squadron Hawk (a 1/1 creature with flying) and Goblin Piker (a 2/1 creature) are attacking. Mogg Fanatic (a 1/1 creature with the ability “Sacrifice Mogg Fanatic: Mogg Fanatic deals 1 damage to target creature or player”) blocks the Goblin Piker. The defending player sacrifices Mogg Fanatic during the declare blockers step to deal 1 damage to the Squadron Hawk. The Hawk is destroyed. The Piker deals and is dealt no combat damage this turn. If the defending player instead left Mogg Fanatic on the battlefield, the Fanatic and the Piker would have dealt lethal damage to one another, but the Squadron Hawk couldn’t have been dealt damage.

(emphasis added to both rule quotes)


What spells affect Planeswalkers in MTG? Does anyone know which spells can affect or Target Planeswalkers in MTG?

There are a ton of such spells, in several categories. A spell might affect (or target):

any permanent (e.g. search for "target permament")
nonland permanents, noncreature permanents, etc (e.g. search for "target nonland permanent")
just planeswalkers, but this is rare (and there are things that say "target creature or planeswalker", so it's a little trickier to search for - this works, but has false positives)

Along with those searches, you can also search for things like "all nonland permanents" to find plenty of things that don't target.

And if a source you control deals non-combat damage to an opponent, you can redirect that damage to a planeswalker they control.


When using prestige bonus during two player, can I choose Consume VPx2 as my second action? When playing 2 player (or solitaire) and playing the prestige bonus card, can you choose the second action to be the Consume, VPx2, scoring VPx5 (x3 from the prestige bonus, x2 from the Consume stage)?

The prestige bonus card applies only to one phase card:

  In the 2-player advanced game, place the prestige/search action card and the action card for the other phase you selected, naming the phase receiving the prestige bonus as you flip your action cards over.

So... you get exactly the appropriate bonus for the phase you choose to apply it to. It's easier to look at the nice pictures in the rules, but there are text descriptions as well:

  Consume: Trade

  Sell a good, drawing 3 additional cards; then consume any remaining
  goods doubling the number of VP chips received (as the Consume +x1 bonus
  applies) and, optionally, discard up to two cards from your hand for 1 VP
  apiece.

  Consume: 2x

  Triple (not double) the number of VP chips (only) that you receive.

So the most VP you can possibly get is 3x (by applying it to the consume 2x), and if you want to get fancy trade bonuses (by applying it to the consume trade) you'll get 2x VP.

(Note that in both cases, the prestige card adds 1x VP. It doesn't actually say 2x or 3x on the card.)


Eye of the Storm - can I still counter spells? Eye of the Storm exiles an instant or sorcery card 'when played', and adds it to its effect. When is it considered 'played', when the costs are paid, or when it resolves?

More specifically, if my opponent plays Shock, and it moves to the  stack, can I still gett a Counterspell in to remove it from the stack and keep it from triggering Eye?

Yes, countering a spell will prevent Eye of the Storm from "absorbing" it, but it won't stop the spell's owner from casting copies of the cards previously exiled by EotS.

"Play" was replaced with clearer terminology 7 years ago. The current text of the card (as you can see at the link you posted) is the following:

  Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery card, exile it. Then that player copies each instant or sorcery card exiled with Eye of the Storm. For each copy, the player may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.

So Eye of the Storm's ability triggers before you have to a chance to counter the spell. But you get priority before it resolves, meaning you get to cast instants and such while Eye of the Storm's ability is still on the stack.

Countering Shock will move it to the graveyard, causing the object on the stack to cease to exist. When Eye of the Storm eventually resolves, it will be unable to locate the card to exile it[CR 400.7]. Since EotS wasn't able to exile the card, it doesn't count as an "instant or sorcery card exiled with Eye of the Storm".

Note that even though EotS's ability can't find Shock, the ability wasn't countered (since it doesn't target), so  it still finishes resolving (by doing as much as it can). Thus, the player who cast Shock will still get to cast copies of earlier spells exiled by EotS (which includes Counterspell in the presented scenario).

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