First things to learn about semeai? I would like to learn more about semeai and be able to quickly learn about how to handle the most common situations (determine quickly whether a group is alive, dead, or undetermined).

Now, there is the simple idea that counting liberties works in simple cases.

Then there is the idea that eyes generally require more attack moves that their number of liberties (along with pre-calculated values that are easy to remember), which is a special case of having to count approach moves.

That said, I am still at a stage where I have to mostly read the sequence in my mind and keep track of outside liberties, shared liberties, eye liberties, etc., which is slow and error-prone.

I have not yet looked further in details yet: what would be the fastest way of learning useful information applicable to most semeais encountered in real games?

There are some specific pages on Sensei's Library (no eye vs no eye, eye vs no eye, eye vs eye).

There are also two books (Counting Liberties and Winning Capturing Races and Capturing Races 1) and a more recent mathematical paper (I don't mind math).

What would you suggest is the most efficient way of getting practical semeai tools that cover most common situations?

PS: The pages at Sensei's Library give a quick overview that lacks details or even sometimes basic definitions, so they are not a good starting point.

There's also an extremely thorough coverage of semeai in "The Second Book of Go".  It's out of print, but it looks like there are used copies available.


How do continuous effects interact with "enters the battlefield" triggers? At what point do creatures entering the battlefield begin to be affected by enchantments and abilities of creatures already on the battlefield?

For example, Mentor of the Meek's ability triggers when creatures of power 2 or less enter the battlefield.

If I play a 2/2 creature while Honor of the Pure is in play does the Mentor's ability trigger?

Similarly if I play a 2/2 human creature while Mayor of Avabruck is in play (face up) does the Mentor's ability trigger? (It clearly has no effect if the card is transformed (face down) and the Mentor's ability would trigger.)

If I play a 2/2 creature while Honor of the Pure is in play does the Mentor's ability trigger?

No.

  Similarly if I play a 2/2 human creature while Mayor of Avabruck is in play (face up) does the Mentor's ability trigger?

No.

  603.6b Continuous effects that modify characteristics of a permanent do so the moment the permanent is on the battlefield (and not before then). The permanent is never on the battlefield with its unmodified characteristics. Continuous effects don’t apply before the permanent is on the battlefield, however (see rule 603.6d).

Note the ramifications if there is a continuous effect that reduced the power of creatures. You could draw a card if you played a 3/3 creature and Night of Souls' Betrayal was in play.


Return of the Dragon Lords and Torrential Tribute This just happened to me while dueling with a friend. I activated Return of the Dragon Lords and revived Red-Eyes B. Dragon from the graveyard. My opponent responded to the summon with Torrential Tribute. I then used the effect of Return of the Dragon Lords that allows me to banish it instead of destroying my monsters (when they would be destroyed).

My question is: Was this right? Should Return of the Dragon Lords had been in the graveyard by the time my opponent activated Torrential Tribute?

Thanks

Should Return of the Dragon Lords had been in the graveyard by the time my opponent activated Torrential Tribute?

Yes your ROTDL was already in the GY before your opponent had chance to activate TT.

This is true because to activate TT the summon has to resolve, and that only happens when ROTDL is already in the GY as the final link in the stack chain.

Putting it in sequence:

You activate ROTDL, target Red-eyes, opponent passes chance to chain and so do you. Thus, the stack starts to resolve.
ROTDL brings Red-eyes back, then you put it in the GY. The chain resolution ends and the summon is successful.
Given there was a summon, your opponent is able to activate Torrential Tribute. As you can see, ROTDL is in the GY by now...


How does tournament-level Puerto Rico deal with seat-order disparities? It is well-known that there are disparities between the strength of various seats in Puerto Rico. How do tournaments deal with this?

Please give details. I know that some competitions use bidding systems, but I haven't seen any specifics on how they work.

Here's how they did it at the 2010 World Boardgaming Championships and at EuroQuest:

BIDDING FOR SEAT POSITION, STARTING WITH THE QUARTER-FINALS: Starting with the quarter-final round games and continuing in the semi-finals and Final game, we will use mandatory bidding for all four seats. It will work as follows: Each player will randomly draw a random plantation tile (using the trading house values) to determine who bids first. For bidding in the semi-final round games, anyone advancing with a second place finish in the quarterfinals must pick last at his/her table (and hence will be assigned the lowest valued plantation). Similarly, anyone advancing to the quarterfinal round games with fewer wins will be assigned lower valued plantations than those with more wins, who shall be assigned higher valued plantations and therefore be among the first to bid.

Going around in plantation order value (coffee goes first), each player will place a matching plantation tile on a bid value ranging from 0 to 5.0 VP (in increments of 0.5 VP) on a chart to be furnished by the GM. Bids may be zero but in all instances must be higher than any previous bids for a particular seat. Any player who has been outbid will have his/her marker removed and will, when his or her turn comes, bid again--either a higher value for the same seat or a different amount for another seat. A player whose bid is not topped by another bid does not get another bid -- instead the bidding goes around to the next player without a bid marker in play. The process continues until all players' bid markers are on a different seat, with the resulting bid representing the VP handicap to be assigned for that particular game. These VP handicaps will be noted at the top of the particular seat position (1, 2, 3 or 4) on the scoresheet above the player's name and will be subtracted from that player's VP total at the end of the game.


Scoring Attractions in Ticket to Ride: New York I recently bought the new version of Ticket to Ride New York. One thing that is slightly unclear is the scoring rules on routes between two tourist attractions.
(Sorry if that is incorrect, but I don't have the English rules here and that is the exact translation from my language)

Anyways say you build the route between Times Square -> Empire State Building -> Chelsea.
- You get 1 point for the route TS -> ESB.
- You get 2 points for the route ESB -> C.
But then according to the rules you get one point per tourist attraction you connect.

Does that mean:
3 points (one for each)
or
4 points (2 points TS -> ESB and 2 points ESB -> C)

Image for reference:

The rules say

  Finally, each player scores one point for each
  Tourist Attraction that is connected to one or more
  of the Routes they claimed.

In your example, there are three Tourist Attractions connected to at least one your routes, so you get three points from Tourist Attractions.


What cooperative board games are there that I could safely play with my wife? My wife loves board games, but dislikes very competitive games, and is completely uninterested in aggressive "beat up the other guy" games. We recently discovered Pandemic, where each player works together to try and halt the spread of a number of deadly diseases. We really liked it.

What other games are there that are cooperative in nature?

Arkham Horror is almost completely cooperative.

It is the players against a Great Old One(GOO) of Cthulhu mythos.  Players need to work together to arm themselves and find clues that will enable them to seal gates that open from other realms.  There is a large number of expansions, but the basic game is very enjoyable.

Generally, the expansions make the game harder and should be avoided until you can regularly beat the GOO in the base game.

See Is it possible to play 2-player, 2-character Arkham Horror successfully? for a question about the viability of a popular 2 player variant for Arkham Horror.


Auction when player has not enough money to buy? A player puts a power plant up for auction.
Is that allowed if he doesn't have enough money to buy it himself?

No he is not.

According to the rules (Pdf):

  The player chooses one power plant from the actual market (top row) and then makes a bid to purchase it (the player must bid at least the minimum bid (number of the
  power plant), but may start with a higher bid.

The player starting the auction must start with the opening bid.

If he wins the bid he must pay the bank:

  He pays his highest bid to the bank and takes the power plant.

This implies that one must have enough money for the bid.


Question about Shuttle Flight (spoilers) Locations are connected to the grid if you can trace a line from them to the starting havens. The Shuttle Flight action allows you to move from a haven or supply center to another haven or supply center on the grid.

   Is a haven that has not yet been accessed, but has a sea lane to it (from another city on the grid) , a valid destination for the Shuttle Flight? Technically it is a haven connected to the grid, but RP-wise it seems like we shouldn't be able to shuttle to it.

Normally I'd leave this as a comment since it doesn't cite any official source, but it's answer-y enough and comments don't have spoiler tags.

   As you say, the plain text of the rules would seem to say this is allowed. And I think it does make sense RP-wise as well: "accessing" a haven basically means searching it (for tools, notes, inhabitants, etc), but in order to fly somewhere you just need to know where it is (it's on your map) and how to get there safely (you've charted a sea lane to it). The only problem RP-wise is if there's nowhere to land safely - you know havens have landing strips but you could argue it might be in sufficient disrepair that you can't use it, and that part of "accessing" a haven includes fixing up the strip.


How does Amass interact with Essence of the Wild? If I have an Essence of the Wild, and I play anything that will Amass, what happens? Do I make one Essence of the Wild token, or does Amass keep triggering after failing to find an army, giving me infinite tokens? I assume the first answer is correct, but I'm not quite sure.

You just get one Essence of the Wild token, and you don't put any counters on it. If you already control an Army creature, you instead create no tokens and put the counters on that Army.

Amass is a keyword action, meaning that it's a kind of instruction that will appear on spells or in the effects of abilities. So there's no way for it to "keep triggering". You just follow the instruction. Amass is defined in rule 704.43a

  To amass N means “If you don’t control an Army creature, create a 0/0 black Zombie Army creature token. Choose an Army creature you control. Put N +1/+1 counters on that creature.”

Following those instructions, you don't control an Army creature, so you create the token it specifies, but Essence of the Wild makes it enter the battlefield as an Essence of the Wild token instead. Then you still don't control an Army creature, so you can't choose one and the last instruction doesn't do anything. Then you're done with the Amass effect, and you continue resolving the rest of the spell or ability.


What are the mechanical differences between Adapt and Monstrosity? If we compare Incubation Druid with Ill-Tempered Cyclops, we see respectively:

  Adapt 3. (If this creature has no +1/+1 counters on it, put three +1/+1 counters on it.)

  Monstrosity 3. (If this creature isn't monstrous, put three +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes monstrous.)

Now I'm curious about the mechanical differences between the two abilities.

I can think of one difference: Monstrosity has more flexible prerequisites than Adapt: A non-monstrous creature could have other counters on it already (from a different source) and still become monstrous, while a non-adapted creature couldn't become adapted if it already has a counter on it.

Are there more mechanical differences between Adapt and Monstrosity?

In practice, there is little difference between Adapt on Monstrosity, but there are minor differences.

As you already pointed out, Monstrosity and counters are independent. You can make a creature monstrous even if it already has +1/+1 counters on it, whereas you can't adapt a creature that already has +1/+1 counters on it.

On the flip side, many monstrous creatures (such as Stormbreath Dragon) have a triggered ability that triggers when it becomes monstrous. Since an object can only become monstrous once, you can get that trigger at most once per object. Some adapt creatures (such as Growth-Chamber Guardian) have a triggered ability that triggers whenever +1/+1 counters are placed on it. This can happen any number of times: most commonly once through the adapt ability, but also through any other means of putting a +1/+1 counter on that creature.


Where can I find out-of-print Catan geographies? Anyone have any ideas? I see a bunch on the Catan shop, but only a select few are actually for sale. http://www.catan.com/board-games/settlers-catan/variants-and-scenarios/regional-editions

I've tried ebay, I've tried Amazon, a bunch of sites...  Any suggestions on where I would find a used "Austria" Catan Map (English edition), and the like?

Since the Mayfair (English) version is out of print, you'll have to rely on communities like boardgamegeek. Today, they have just one English version (new condition) but it only ships to the US.

The German version is on stock at Catanshop.de.


How to attack White’s corner in this beginner’s 9x9 game? I'm playing as Black and wasn't able to prevent White from forming a solid area from here with the following sequence:

$$Bc
$$ ---------------------
$$ - . . 6 . . . . . . -
$$ - 8 0 . 2 5 . . . . -
$$ - . 4 O 3 X . O . . -
$$ - 9 7 1 . . . . . . -
$$ - . . . . X . . . . -
$$ - . . . . . . . . . -
$$ - . . X . . . O . . -
$$ - . . . . . . . . . -
$$ - . . . . . . . . . -
$$ ---------------------

Here's the full game.  As you can see, White was able to eventually create a two-eyed, safe area.  This happens a lot to me as a beginner player and I'm wondering if there was a way to prevent it.

TimK's answer is right on point on how to kill white in the corner, but your question belies a more general concern: Thinking "I need to kill all the things" is a very common beginner's mistake.

Take a look at your final outcome; yeah, white lives. He lives small, blocked into the corner. You've got pretty much the entire lower left quadrant on lock, and you're poised to drive a wedge deep into white's right-side territory around G5 or diving into the top right corner and living there like he lived in yours.

Meanwhile, white is alive with three points.

As trade-offs go, this result really doesn't seem all that bad for black. If anything, I'd say black came out ahead here; territory-wise you're still about equal but black has a huge advantage in any future fighting since all of his stones are still ready to rumble while most of white's are locked up holding those three points in the corner. And black has sente, so how to bring this overwhelming force into play is entirely up to you. I really don't envy white here.

In other words, there's absolutely nothing wrong with letting white live in your corner, just make sure you're getting something at least as good if not better for the trouble.

(of course, if you can also kill it so you still have all your points and you also take all his points that's cool too)


Identify this strategic, war board & card game about Italy (not Carcassonne)? The name of this game was a word I'm not familiar with, probably an italian word, starting with a C and around 8 to 12 letters long (it wasn't Carcassonne!)

The goal of the game was to conquer 3 adjacent or any 5 territories in Italy by going to war with your fellow players.

Players would have a hand of 10 cards. The cards had point values that, when played, determined whose army was most powerful that round. Some of the cards were yellow, some red. Some of the cards were: Cardinal, Spring, Winter, Female Hero (ala Joan of Arc?).

This is Condottiere.

From Board Game Geek's description:

  The object of Condottiere is to acquire four connected provinces in renaissance Italy. To do this players auction off different provinces on the board and bid on these provinces with a hand of cards representing mercenaries, seasons, scarecrows, and political figures.


What are the mechanical differences between Doom and Descent from Fantasy Flight Games? I know that FFG's Descent and Doom board games use roughly the same mechanics, but my understanding is that there are numerous small differences that lead people to prefer Descent over Doom.

Beyond the differences in theme, what are the mechanical differences between these two games?

One significant difference that leads me to prefer Descent over DOOM is Ammo.
In DOOM, Ammo is "full of fail".  Ammo scarcity is a thematic element that happens to be implemented in an abstract way that is often flat out not fun.

The breadth of characters and skill and item combinations make Descent really come to life compared to the relatively lackluster variety in DOOM.

The surge mechanism in Descent is really novel and can give you a lot of interesting tactical options in battles.  DOOM has no analogue.


How many units can support in Starcraft TBG? Does only the first non-front unit in a skirmish add its support attack, or do all of them? If I've got, say, one scourge (9 attack) and two devourers (+2 support) going up against a single carrier, is the total attack 11 or 13?

All of them. The rules appear to be quite clear on this matter (page 27).

  Each supporting unit is then, one at a time, assigned to any of the skirmishes. Every supporting unit can be assigned to the same skirmish, or spread out among the skirmishes in
  whatever fashion the player chooses. A supporting unit adds its support value to the attack strength of the friendly front-line unit in its skirmish.

  Important: A player must assign all of his supporting units to skirmishes. That is, every unit in a battle must participate in a skirmish, either as a front-line unit or as a supporting unit.

Page 31

  Supporting Units: Each supporting unit in the skirmish adds its support strength (or other effects) to the player’s attack value. A unit’s support strength is listed on its owner’s Faction Sheet.

There is only one exception that I could find, but it isn't related to the number of supporting units. It is related to a support unit being unable to target the opposing player's front-line unit (page 34).

  As explained under “Compare Attack and Health Values” on page 31, a supporting unit adds its support value to its controller’s final attack value for the skirmish in which it is participating. However, this is only the case if the supporting unit is capable of targeting the opposing player’s front-line unit in that skirmish. If the supporting unit is not capable of targeting the opponent’s front-line unit, the supporting unit does not add its support value to its owner’s final attack value.


How to generate numbers from a Pareto distribution? I need to generate numbers from a Pareto distribution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_distribution) for a game I'm making. Ideally with xm=10, and alpha = 2, but approximately is good enough. Is there anyway I can do this? I want to do it an "analogue" way (like with dice, cards, etc.) Thank you.

One way you could sort of accomplish this for any distribution is to pre-compute a large number of samples (through any method, pulled either at random or evenly spaced) and then put them in a table indexed by your choice of analog randomizer. For example, put 100 samples in a 10x10 grid, and then have players roll two 10-sided dice and look up the corresponding value.

I suggest you stop reading now :)  but here's a silly alternate answer which gets you arbitrarily close to the exact distribution for a fixed level of precision and maximum value. Pick your precision - say, integers - so then pre-compute the values of the CDF at each integer up to your maximum. For Pareto, the first few values look like:
10: 0
11: 0.173553719
12: 0.3055555556
13: 0.4082840237
Give this table to the players. Then to pull from the distribution, repeatedly roll a d10 to generate digits of a real number, and stop when you can tell which thresholds it's between. So for example if the first roll is a 2 then you can stop immediately with result 11, because every real beginning with 0.2 is between the 11 and 12 thresholds. But if the first roll is a 3 then you have to roll again - after say 3-0-0 you would have the result 11, but 3-1 or 3-0-6 would be a 12 and for 3-0-5 you'd have to keep rolling. In this way you will achieve exactly a probability of 0.173553719 of drawing a 10, etc.


Ranking of Go Software Where could I find information about the level of Go playing software? In particular, I am looking for commercial software.

Ideally, I'd like to find a live ranking, as obviously this field is evolving fast.

Obviously, AlphaGo is the top AI now. Besides it, a simple way to find information about Computer Go Ranking would be to search for :

  Computer go tournament

Here is a list of Go AI from wikipedia

There's a special website called Computer GO that registers past and future tournaments.

There's also a website for KGS Computer Tournaments

According to the KGS tournament, the actual ranking is :

Zen
DolBaram
abakus
Darkforest
Hira
Aya

As for commercial AIs, I don't think their level match the ones quoted here. It would require much hardware resources to run on a smartphone or a personnal computer.


Skimming with full resources In our yesterday's Cuba Libre game, the Government was doing excellent with their resources and hit the maximum of 49 resources before receiving the Skim of all Syndicate casinos. In this case, what happens? Does the Syndicate still lose 2 resources for every Government-controlled space with open casinos, or do they get to keep the resources since the Government cannot receive them?

Rule 6.2.3. [...] any over 49 are lost [...]

So the Syndicate loses those resources but they are lost and no one receives them.

Maybe the Government henchmen kept the skim for them.


The travellers score sheets were not filled for two deals how is the scoring done The traveller score sheets were not filled up for two deals
What is the scoring  for the two pairs

An adjusted score is awarded on a board (in MatchPoints) as follows:

The pairs playing the board are divided into two groups for each direction - a normal score group and an adjusted score group.
The pairs in the normal score group are scored normally against each other, and a tie (ie half matchpoint) for each pair their direction in the adjusted score group.
The pairs in the adjusted score group receive an initial score of average (equivalent to tie-ing every pair their direction in both groups). At this point the recap total is unchanged from its normal value for the movement.
Now the scores are adjusted for all pairs in the adjusted scores group for both directions:

A non-offending player that has been deprived of an opportunity to receive a normal result receives (Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge - Law 88)

  a minimum of 60% of the available matchpoints on each such board, or
  their actual percentage obtained on boards actually played if that is
  greater .

A not-at-fault pair that has been potentially damaged by improper actions of the other pair at their table receives the better of 60% of the available matchpoints and their actual result. This award is termed an Average-plus.
In very rare circumstances an artificial result will be constructed for a not-at-fault pair, in order to restore equity, and then scored normally.
An offending player that has not been either grossly unethical or grossly negligent receives the worse of 40% of the available matchpoints on the board or their actual result. This award is termed an Average-minus.
The recap totals must be corrected to account for the adjusted scores awarded.
An at-fault pair that has been either grossly unethical or grossly negligent receives a matchpoint score at the discretion of the Director, subject to it being strictly less than the worse of 40% of the available matchpoints on the board or their actual result. Such an award would often be a zero score for the board.

In this case, with results being completely omitted from a traveling score  but the boards having been played, an attempt should first be made to reconstruct the actual results. (Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge - Laws 82 & 84 & 85) If that is not possible for whatever reason, an adjusted score must be generated as above. For a first offense I would probably award an Average-minus to all players at the table.

It is the responsibility of all players at the table, both directions to record the traveling score properly, so the identical award must be made to all players. The only exception I would make here is for a repeat offense by experienced players against novices; in that case I would award Average-minus and a reminder to the novices, and a straight zero and reprimand to the experienced players. (Laws of DUplicate Contract Bridge - Laws 89, 90-B-7 & 91)

Note that a Director has an obligation to attempt to determine all possible relevant facts (the actual contracts and results in this case) before making any decisions. It would be quite appropriate (though not required), even once the actual scores had been retroactively determined and agreed by all parties, to assess a small procedural penalty under Law 90-B-7 against both pairs at the offending table. Such a penalty would typically be 10% of the available matchpoints on each of the two boards.


What's better for Ork Nob in Warbiker Mob: Big Choppa or Klaw? I've been assembling a warbiker mob recently and I've wanted to make one unit a Nob. According to the Ork Codex I can then give him either a Big Choppa (+10 points) or a Klaw (+25 points). I know the Klaw is more powerful but it also carries the disadvantage to Initiative.

Is the Klaw really worthy the extra points or is it better to stick with the Big Choppa (which also looks much better on a model)?

Big Choppa - gives +2 Strength

Klaw - energy weapon (ignores armor) and doubles the Strength

There's a few things to weigh up here.

What else could you get with the points? It's easy to go overboard on your 'hero' units, and forget that you could spend that extra 15 points on more basic troops. With Orks, huge numbers is a core strategy. A few extra Boyz could be much more valuable to you.
Who do you expect to be facing? Ignoring armour is a much more useful ability against Space Marines and Necrons than it is against Dark Eldar or Tyranids. If you regularly play against a few particular armies, then this is particularly relevant. More tactically, consider whether your Ork Nob will be likely to be in a situation where he can make use of armour-ignoring abilities. Will he be attacking tanks, Dreadnoughts, or souped up heroes? Or is the primary role of the squad to act as cannon fodder, or take down more generic troops? Bottom line - there's no point taking expensive custom stuff if you don't make use of it.
What do your other models have? I like giving identical units different weapons, just for variety. This is also handy when you need to pull out a specialised weapon combo for a particular scenario.
What do you like the look of more? This is actually an important point, in my opinion. Warhammer is about aesthetics and cool models just as much as it is about optimising armies and strategies. If you think the Big Choppa looks much better, that's a strong argument for taking that as a weapon!

Without knowing the answers to these questions, I can't give you a straight recommendation. The Klaw is clearly a much more powerful weapon. But whether the cost (both points and aesthetic) is justified depends on all these factors.


What is the use of the return label in Pokémon TCG? In the image below, the trainer card "Return Label" states that you can put a card from your opponent's discard pile on the bottom of their deck.
What is the use of this card?
You wouldn't want your opponent to have a card from their discard pile back into their deck. Is there a strategy on how to use this card?

If so, please tell me how.

As ConMan mentioned, the value of the card is to prevent effects that happen in the Discard. Not only is Darkrai GX an excellent example of one such card, but if your opponent has various Trainer cards, attacks, or Abilities that can return cards from the Discard to their hand or field, then that's all the more reason to use it. Why? Because it's better for a card they want to be in their deck than in their hand.

The final reason is to plump the opponent's deck. Under normal circumstances, the opponent having 25 cards in deck or 26 cards with a specific card at the bottom of the deck won't change the odds of the 25 random cards. However, if an effect causes the opponent's deck to shuffle, you may have just weighed it down with one card that (by this point in the game) could be a dead card if they draw it, decreasing (ever so slightly) the odds of them getting the cards they need.

To be honest, it's not that powerful of a card. While it certainly has its uses, the opportunities to make quality use of it are so limited that you're looking at it coming into play maybe once in a blue moon. You're better off including cards that directly benefit your deck's winning image or to select a card that acts as a response to the decks that counter your deck. It should generally only see play if you have extra spots in your deck and you have nothing better to use OR if you know the META of the event you're going to will give you plenty of opportunity to make use of it effectively.

Happy playing!


Opening strategies in Chess 960 (Fisher Random Chess) I had a go at Chess 960 the other day, but whereas I thought I might do better against the computer as it didn't have an opening book, in fact the opposite happened as it quickly found holes in my position. Are there any good opening strategies? Is it best to try to massage your position into classical chess positions or to try to build a fortress around the castled king?

I am not an expert at 960 Chess, but the same basic rules apply: develop your pieces, take control of the center, and bring your king to safety as quickly as possible.


Reasoning for Soul Warden and Ajani's Pridemate interaction I play modern Soul Sisters and I understand that when I put an Ajani's Pridemate (or Archangel of Thune) down with a Soul Warden out, Ajani's Pridemate immediately gains a counter (and Archangel's trigger goes off as well).

I've had a few people at tournaments question this interaction and my understanding of how it works is a bit fuzzy, besides something regarding ordering the stack.

Why do the cards interact like this? It is more helpful if you can give me a response that I could explain to the person I'm playing against, so they also understand it.

It's pretty simple. Angel/Pridemate has to enter the battlefield to trigger Soul Warden. This means when the life-gain trigger resolves, the Angel/Pridemate will be able to see this and trigger themselves. So it's not actually a matter of specifically ordering the stack at all. It's actually just a chain of triggers.

As a list of steps (assumes no responses from anyone):

You have Soul Sister on the field
You cast Angel/Pridemate
All players pass priority
Angel/Pridemate resolves and enters the field
Sister's life-gain triggers because a creature entered your field
All players pass priority
Sister's trigger resolves and you gain 1 life
Angel/Pridemate's ability triggers because you gained life
All players pass priority
Angel/Pridemate gets a counter


Are the names of guilds in Ravnica protected intellectual property? I don't see a TM symbol anywhere and some searches of the interwebs reveals nothing but laughing cats...

I'm not wanting to infringe, just not step on toes.

(Very big, powerful toes)

It does seem that wizards has trademarked all of the guild names (list here), so I would avoid using them without express permission or a licensing agreement, as wizards could pursue legal action.

However, trademark is primarily for commercial endeavours, so if this is for personal use there shouldn't be an issue.


How to determine the edition of The Settlers of Catan? I know that there are four editions of The Settlers of Catan so far. But how do you tell which edition it is when buying? Is it written somewhere on the box? The titles for the products in online shops sometimes contain the edition and sometimes don't, and I don't want to end up buying an old edition.

There are differences in cover art and publisher. And there are counting different languages, over 50 different editions of the base game...

The most common US versions are US third and US fourth editions by Mayfair... other countries' edition counts may vary, plus the US editions have made the rounds...

The current, US 4th Mayfair edition shows a scene with several colonists on a road along a wheat field, with a large sun in the background. The water is a puzzle frame.

The third is basically off-white front, with red sides, with a crest in the upper left, and an inset of some individuals negotiating in the lower right. The water is hexagonal tiles.

Some people's 3rd edition copies will have a 4th edition frame, rulebook, and port markers; these were provided in an "Adaptation Kit."

Both 3rd and 4th edition have 4 colors of pieces, and specific colors seem to have varied slightly, with red, blue, white and either yellow or orange; black and neutral wood were in the 5-6 player expansion.

The first and second are brown boxes with a sun in the upper left. The 2nd edition was essentially the same as the first, save for extra rules and different colors, and 1st edition may have been reprinted at the same time as second. 1st ed colors are red, blue, green, and natural wood; 2nd are black, purple, yellow, and orange, and the box might be stickered as 2nd edition. Note that some people will have combined a 1st edition and second edition for play with up to 8 players.

Mayfair used the same illustration for the Travel Edition as on 3rd, but the front is basically red. The pieces are much smaller, have large stubs, and the hexes have circular voids for the fixed numbers in the plastic board. The art and rules are pretty much the same as third, but all components are smaller.

There also was a Simply Fun version, retitled "Simply Catan", which shows a city against a large sun, and water in the front. It's a frame version, and has 3d plastic road, settlement and city pieces in red, orange, white and blue, with the board comprised of strips, rather than separate hexes. Further, the frame includes many rules elements.

And that's not counting the other games: The Card Game, the Dice Game, etc.

BGG links:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameversion/20630/mayfair-games-first-edition
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameversion/42682/mayfair-second-english-edition-with-alternate-colo
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameversion/24859/mayfair-games-third-edition
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameversion/23765/mayfair-games-fourth-edition
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24511/simply-catan
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/17419/catan-3d-collectors-edition
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3972/the-settlers-of-catan-travel-edition


Identify this two-player game with wheels in a wall I'm looking for a two-player board game I played 20-25 years ago (in the Netherlands). The board is upright, as if it's kind of a wall, and players are sitting on opposite sides of the wall, not seeing each other's boards. The objective is to get small 'coins' from the top of the board to the bottom; the first player to do so wins. One player has red coins, the other one yellow. There are (blue, IIRC) wheels of various sizes in the wall; players take turns rotating these wheels. The wheels have 3-5 small cavities, evenly spaced, to hold the coins. The coins stay in the wheel because the rest of the wall holds them there, except for a few tunnels where they can fall to the next wheel. I think you cannot see where the cavities at your opponent's side are, this is the hidden information which makes the game interesting. Whenever you rotate a wheel to improve your own position, you might accidentally help your opponent forward as well.

This is a rough sketch of how a part of the board looks like:

In Dutch it was called "Onderuit". Also known as Downspin.

There where several discs that could be replaced to make the game harder or simpler. The later versions of the game worked with keys (one for each player) to avoid turning one disk when your opponent has just turned it. The early versions could be turned without key.

As far as I know, the board was blue and the disks where white. There where 4 sets of coins (4 colors) each player had to dock 2 sets. And they where numbered. So you could rule that you had to dock them in order to make the game harder.


In Euchre, can you call a misdeal with "No ace, no face, no trump"? In the game of Euchre I have been dealt a hand of nines and tens, none of which are trump.  May I declare a misdeal?  I have seen some groups play that the hand is redealt by the same dealer while other groups pass the dealer.  Is this an official rule or just a "house" rule?

This is a house rule.  I have seen it played in informal games, but never among serious players.  Once, I saw a person try to declare "ace, no face" in a $5 game.  Since this person shared information about their hand it was ruled that they should be bumped and forfeit 2 points even though no cards had been played.  All of the spectators and other players agreed with this decision, including the player's partner.  The person who declared "ace, no face" was told not to do that again.


Fury of Dracula 3rd ed. - Defeated Hunter and Skipping Actions In Fury of Dracula 3rd edition, when hunter is defeated, he/she is temporarily removed from the board, and placed at the nearest hospital at the next dawn (as per Rules Reference). This means that if it was a combat at dusk, the hunter skips their night action, and if it was a combat at dawn, the hunter skips both their day and night action, right?

Correct. When you are defeated you determine the closest hospital (the one that is the fewest roads away) and then the figure is removed from the board and placed at the hospital at the next dawn.

If the combat was at dusk, the hunter only skips the night action. If the hunter If the hunter is defeated at dawn they would end up losing both their next night and day action.


Can you attack yourself? Seems like there would never be any reason to attack yourself in Stratego.. unless you do screw up the placement of your pieces like a noob. So I ask, can you attack yourself? Of course, it doesn't say so in the rules, probably because they hope no one is stupid enough to need to. I'd like an answer with some kind of reference or "proof".

No. From p. 4 of these rules:

  [Pieces] cannot move into a onto a square occupied by another piece (unless attacking).

And from p. 5

  To attack on your turn, take your attacking piece and lightly tap your opponent's piece.

You can only attack your opponent's pieces, and your own pieces cannot share a square in any way.


Should I trash Copper or Silver with Mine? Assuming I've got both Copper and Silver in my hand, which is better to trash in general and why?

I'm going to have to disagree with Pat; I hate having Copper in my deck, and rather have a consistent deck of Silvers.  Yes, it's nice if you get Gold - Copper - Copper in your hand, but Silver - Silver - Copper will buy the same amount.  Once you start running out of Coppers (or if you only have a Silver in your hand along with the mine), then you can start upgrading to Golds.

It's kind of hard to answer this question in vacuum, because there are so many different possibilities that could make one answer better than the other; for example:

If you're running an early Moneylender, upgrade the Silver to Gold, and use Moneylender on the Coppers to really ramp up.
If someone is playing multiple Thiefs, I may not even bother with the Mine.  Or if I do get a mine, I'll upgrade Copper to Silver since losing a Silver isn't as bad as losing a Gold.


Is the Road Building Development card applicable for ships in Catan Seafarers? In the Seafarer's Expansion for Settlers of Catan, is the Road Building Development card applicable for ships?

Yes, the Road Building Development Card can be used for ships or roads.

From the Seafarers rules, page 5.

  When playing the “Road Building” Development Card in a game of Seafarers, you have the option of building 2 roads, 2 ships, or
  1 ship and 1 road.


Does Livewire Lash trigger if a spell is countered by Chalice of the Void I have a creature equipped with Livewire Lash and my opponent has Chalice of the Void in play.

I play a spell which targets the creature equipped with Livewire Lash but the spell is countered due to Chalice of the Void.

Does the Livewire Lash still trigger even if the spell was countered?

Yes, Livewire Lash will still be triggered. Here's how it'll go down:

You place your spell on the stack, pick your targets (including that creature equipped with Livewire Lash), and pay for it. Casting's now done.

That creature is now the target of a spell. Also, you've just cast a spell that the Chalice cares about. Both of you have a triggered ability to put on the stack. From this question, triggers go on the stack in APNAP order: active player first, then non-active player.

The creature's Lash-granted ability, and the Chalice ability, will go on the stack. (If it's your turn, the Chalice ability will be on top, otherwise Lash will be on top. Either way, the effect is the same.)

Now things will start resolving, if nobody does anything else.

The two triggered abilities resolve in whichever order is applicable. Chalice's ability resolves, and counters the original spell. The creature's Lash-granted ability resolves, and its damage is dealt.
(The spell would resolve here, but it was countered.)

So go ahead and fire off spells like this if you find it's worth the damage.


Is a merger between two players possible in Monpoly? We've had multiple games with three players left, where it became clear one player is significantly stronger than the two other players combined.  At one point the two weaker players realized this, and wanted to do a merger.

We've allowed this in a house rule when the two players' combined net worth is less than that of any other players.

Assuming every player is operating in good faith, is it possible to achieve "merger" to the same effect within the official rules framework?

EDIT: My question is, under official rules, can Players A and B operate under a united banner as if they are one player? Assuming both players have made the necessary officially-sanctioned arrangements so same-coloured lands are only held by one player so houses can be built? Can Player A and B allow each other to be effectively rent-free under official rules? In this way if Player X (not part of the union) loses, the game effectively ends, or under whatever arrangements needed for Player B to surrender under official rules?

Short version: With the exception of multiple players ending up winning, almost.

Longer version: There are a couple things where this is different from the official rules. Because trades are legal within the rules, there's nothing stopping Player B from trading all of his property and money to Player A, in exchange for a dollar or something like that, and then after he loses being an outside spectator who attempts to help Player A.

However, you cannot sell/trade properties that have any houses or hotels on them. This means that if you want to stay within the rules, Player B needs to first sell his houses to the bank (at half value), and Player A would have to buy them back after the trade. Aside from costing extra money to re-build the houses, there are 2 situations where following the rules could be different here:

If there are a shortage of houses remaining in the supply, and Player B has properties with hotels on them, then Player A would be unable to re-buy the hotel after he gets the property.
If there is a shortage of houses or hotels in the supply, and the third player could build the houses or hotels, then he can bid on them to attempt to win them in auction. Player A may either have to pay even more for them, or end up losing them to the third player.

The other thing that's outside the rules is that if Player A ends up winning, then by the official rules only Player A has won. But in your variant, Player B can claim to be as much the winner as Player A.


Power plants in Power Grid I've played Power Grid once so far. What is a good beginner's strategy in the initial accumulation of power plants?

Some mix of the following:

Buy the biggest one you can afford  - Remembering that you have to afford fuel as well.
Try to get a plant that has dual fuel sources
Don't buy a coal only plant if 2 other people already have coal fired plants.
Don't get into bidding wars with more experienced players

If the above isn't working out, switch tactics - save your money and get the cheapest one you can this turn and get a better plant next turn.


Auras on creatures with protection I have a question about a new Born of the Gods card.  The card is called Silent Sentinel.  It has the text that says:

  Whenever Silent Sentinel attacks, you may return target enchantment
  card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

I was listening to podcast Limited Resources episode 218 with Judge Joe Bono.  In that episode he says that Silent Sentinel could attach a Enchantment Aura to a creature that was protected from the color of the aura.  He then says that it would just drop off immediately. (This was right around the 1 hour mark in the show.)

I got to thinking about this and I wondered if any of the effects of the Enchantment would have any effect before they dropped off.

Here is an example to illustrate: My opponent has a White Knight in play. I have a Silent Sentinel in play along with 7 Swamps.  I have a Quag Sickness in my graveyard.

In my combat phase, I attack with my Silent Sentinel.  This allows me to bring back a Quag Sickness from my graveyard.  I attach Quag Sickness to the White Knight.  (Note: Because bringing an aura back with Silent Sentinel it does not require targeting to attach it.  So it can attach to White Knight despite it having protection from Black).

Now the arua will fall off right away, but before it falls off does any of the effects of it do anything?  (Meaning could it kill the White Knight.)

If the Quag Sickness in this example does not do anything, is there a scenario that would?

The Quag Sickness cannot be returned to the battlefield enchanting the White Knight.

The relevant rule about Protection, 702.16c, says

  A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality.

and the relevant rule about Auras, 303.4f, says

  If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn’t specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.

This means that, since White Knight has protection from black and Quag Sickness is black, White Knight is not a legal object according to "other applicable effects".


What should I do if a judge makes an incorrect ruling? This happened a while ago, back in the days of Mardu Vehicles. The situation was as follows:
I crewed a Heart of Kiran with my Veteran Motorist.
My opponent wants to use his Grasp of Darkness.
Due to confusion of the timing of the Motorist's triggered ability, a judge is called. The judge ruled that the triggered ability resolved after the crew ability. This is incorrect.
What is the best path to take in this circumstance?

Typically you would appeal the judge's ruling to the head judge. The head judge is much less likely to make such a mistake.

In many cases, like at a local store, you won't have a head judge, which complicates the situation. This person's word will be final, so you will need to make sure they don't close discussion until you have persuaded them. You will want to talk to the judge away from the table (if for no other reason than to not disturb other players) and ask the judge which relevant rule he or she is citing to back up the ruling. I mean, unless you want to just drop it and accept that they flubbed it. I'm guessing it's implied that you would like to somehow contest their ruling.

Calmly explain why you feel the judge is incorrect, never lose your cool, and be confident. For example in this case you could say something to John the Judge, about your opponent Barry,

  John, Barry's Grasp of Darkness can only target creatures. If he wants to Grasp my Kiran, it must be a creature. For it to be a creature it must have been crewed. The ruling on Motorist says "Veteran Motorist’s last ability resolves before the crew ability that it was tapped to activate. The +1/+1 bonus will be in effect as the Vehicle becomes an artifact creature." With this in mind, the -4/-4 from Grasp would not be enough to kill it. If you disagree with this, could you tell me what rule or ruling contradicts this ruling?

What you don't want to say is "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." or "How long have you been a judge?" You're dealing with a judge, so think like you're in court. Anything that a lawyer on TV would say "Objection!" to, don't say it. Stick to the facts, stay calm, and if you still lose your case, just play on. Sometimes you lose when you shouldn't. If it's small enough to not have an L2 or L3 judge who knows these kinds of things, it's small enough to just have some fun and not worry too much about the prizing.


Can my opponent force me to play out a demonstrated loop? We are at a Competitive REL tournament. With ten minutes left on the clock in game three, my opponent is at 5000 life. I control two Elite Arcanists. Each of them have Time Stop exiled. I also control a Subversion.

Subversion triggers and resolves (my opponent loses one life)
I activate Elite Arcanist and end my turn
I activate the other Elite Arcanist and end my opponent's turn

I demonstrate this loop to my opponent and offer to shortcut 5000 iterations. My opponent asks me to play it out. If I comply, the game will certainly end in a draw.

Can I call a judge and force my opponent to accept the shortcut unless he has an action to take?

They can't refuse a shortcut[1]; they can merely shorten it by naming a place where they will deviate from the shortcut. The game then advances to that point, and they must take a different action than the shortcut.

716.2b Each other player, in turn order starting after the player who suggested the shortcut, may either accept the proposed sequence, or shorten it by naming a place where he or she will make a game choice that’s different than what’s been proposed. (The player doesn’t need to specify at this time what the new choice will be.) This place becomes the new ending point of the proposed sequence.
716.2c Once the last player has either accepted or shortened the shortcut proposal, the shortcut is taken. The game advances to the last proposed ending point, with all game choices contained in the shortcut proposal having been taken. If the shortcut was shortened from the original proposal, the player who now has priority must make a different game choice than what was originally proposed for that player.

What you should do: After your opponent refuses the shortcut, ask at what point of the shortcut they would like to do something different. If they refuse to name one, call for a judge as they are refusing to take a mandatory action. If they name one, they gain priority. If they don't do anything different than your shortcut had proposed, call for a judge as they just violated 716.2c.

Obviously, they can refuse a shortcut if it's illegal. For example, they could refuse the shortcut by pointing a point at which the complete game state would no longer be known


Can you leave Tokyo voluntarily? In King of Tokyo, you gain victory points for entering (and starting your turn in) Tokyo, but it's very painful to stay there - all of the other monsters are trying to kill you. Can you leave Tokyo voluntarily? If so, under what circumstances?

This came up because there's a demo video that shows players leaving voluntarily, but the rules don't seem to have anything about it; I don't see any way to leave Tokyo except by yielding after taking damage.

No, you can only leave Tokyo as the immediate result of taking damage (from an attack) while in Tokyo.

The rules (PDF) state (under "Becoming King of Tokyo"):

  If you are attacked while in Tokyo and you don't want to be there anymore ... you can yield to the Monster that attacked.

This is the only reference to leaving Tokyo in the rulebook, and the only opportunity to leave.

(It also makes sense thematically; monsters wouldn't just wander off, but would only leave if forced, and only long enough to lick their wounds before they dive straight back in.)


Unable to destroy monster after negating its effects So, 10 minutes ago I played with friend in Dueling Nexus. I used Infinite Impermanence on his Number 101: Silent Honor ARK and he wasn't able to detach two materials in order to take one of my special summoned monsters. However, he could actually prevent destruction by detaching one material.

I activated Infinite Impermanence, then chained with Torrential Tribute; I assume that the problem comes from that both effects are in the same Chain Link. Could this be the case?

I activated Infinite Impermanence, then chained with Torrential Tribute; I assume that the problem comes from that both effects are in the same Chain Link. Could this be the case?

I see several problems here:

Activating Torrential Tribute as a chain to Infinite Impermanence is not a valid move (Missed Timing).

The text of Torrential Tribute specifies that you can activate it when a monster(s) is summoned (emphasis mine):

  When a monster(s) is Summoned: Destroy all monsters on the field.

This means that to activate Torrential Tribute, the last thing that must have happened is a monster(s) being summoned. In your case, the last thing that happened in the Chain was the activation of Infinite Impermanence, so you can't chain Torrential Tribute to that (see TT's card rulings).
Let's suppose for a moment that you could have activated TT that way...:

In this scenario, the reason why Number 101 was not destroyed was indeed due to the chain, specifically the Chain resolution order. When resolving Chains, they take effect in "reverse order" as they were activated (the Chain Stack):

Chain 0: Summoning Number 101
Chain 1: Infinite Impermanence to No.101
Chain 2: Torrential Tribute activated (if it where possible move)

Resolving...:

Chain 2: All monsters on the field are destroyed. As Number 101 still has it's effects enabled he can save himself by detaching an XYZ material.
Chain 1: Number 101 effects are negated by Infinite Impermanence

Next time, to successfully (and legally) negate and destroy Number 101 you should activate TT and II in reverse order: Summon->Torrential Tribute->Infinite Impermanence so it resolves Negate->Destroy.


Is it possible to generate mana at instant speed when tapped out Supposing my opponent is tapped out, has no floating mana, and has nothing on the battlefield capable of directly generating mana at instant speed (No Moxen or Loti, for example), or of untapping their lands, or otherwise being self-evidently relevant.

Is there any risk of the opponent acquiring new mana, or otherwise casting non-zero-mana spells?
Are there any zero-mana instant-speed spells?

Can you think of any abilities, that could really subtly end up with mana available, but might not be obvious at first glance?

Basically, does "tapped out + no obviously relevant abilities on the battlefield" equal "I am guaranteed that I can play un-hindered?"

Ideally, it would be good to know the answer for any given format (Standard, Modern, etc.)

You asked two different questions. For both, we are assuming that the opponent is tapped out with no relevant mana abilities on the field.

It possible for my opponent to generate mana at instant speed?

Yes, players can generate mana at "instant speed" (mana abilities technically don't use the stack and can't be responded to like an Instant spell). As an example, see Simian Spirit Guide.

Am I guaranteed that I can play unhindered?

Even without cards that can generate mana, like Simian Spirit Guide, the answer is no. Cards like Force of Will can disrupt you for an alternative cost. Cards like Pact of Negation or Slaughter Pact allow your opponent to pay later.
Three of the four cards I mentioned are legal in both Modern and Legacy. Standard rarely has effects like this, but it happens every now and then.


How do you play the Master Spy in Guillotine? Guillotine is a fun, quick, bloodthirsty little card game that would grace any group's collection.  It is very simple, which is just as well, as the rulebook errs on the side of vagueness.

There is one card, though, where it's hard to work out how the creators envisaged it to be played.  The Master Spy goes to the back of the line after any action card is played.

There are two ways of interpreting this.  Either the action card is fully resolved, and then the Master Spy goes to the back of the line.  This means that, basically, the Master Spy cannot be executed except fortuitously, when he is the only person left standing at the end of a day.

The other interpretation is that the action card is played, the Master Spy goes to the back of the line, and then the action card is resolved.  So, supposing you play an action that reverses the line: the Master Spy goes to the back of the line, then the line is reversed, and then THWACK!  It's off with his head.

The latter way of playing appeals to most of the groups I've been part of, simply because it allows for clever play (or at least as clever as you can get in a game like Guillotine).  I do suspect us of approaching the game too much like diehard Magic: the Gathering rules lawyers: drawing a fine temporal distinction between a card's being played and a card resolving is probably not something that would occur to casual card players.

I was wondering, if anyone else here has ever played Guillotine, how do you play the Master Spy?  (I can't imagine Guillotine is a serious enough game for there to have been an "official ruling", but if there has, that would constitute an even better answer!)

The Master Spy is quite hard to kill!

Boardgamegeek posed this question a while ago and got this response from Wizards of the Coast.

  there is no way to play a card to get the master spy to the front of the line without him just going back after the cards effects.

For further reference, a secondhand account but the ruling was during a WoTC run game.

This is the way I've always played it as well.  He's the Master Spy!  Of course he's hard to kill :)


What are artifact creatures in Magic lore? In terms of flavor/lore, what is an artifact creatures in Magic?  How are they made and how do they run?  Is it different on different planes, in different sets, or for different creature types?

I feel like there are a number of possible explanations.  Here's a starting list:

They are something in the realm of mechanical AI (similar to the clanks from Girl Genius).
They are very complex wind-up dolls and have nothing approximating intelligence (in line with the old Phyrexian Hulk flavor text "It doesn’t think. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t laugh or cry. All it does from dusk till dawn Is make the soldiers die. —Onean children’s rhymeby").
They are magically animated (Pinocchio is unfortunately my best fictional analogue here; somebody please come up with a better example).
They are vehicles with an organic pilot bundled together into a single card (as distinct from the new Vehicle artifact type).
They are biological in origin but have become mostly machine through modification (like Robocop or General Grievous).
They are the combination of a person/creature's spirit and a machine (such as Ghost in the Shell).

Karn, Silver Golem is likely a special case.  This is exemplified by the fact that none of the Karn Planeswalkers (such as Karn Liberated) are artifacts.

Artifact creatures don't have consistent origins or properties.

The name "Artifact creature" represents the intersection of two fuzzy categories. "Creature" would seem to mean "animate being," but it also includes illusions, walls, and illusionary walls. "Artifact" usually refers to something that someone built, but it includes some natural phenomena like eggs and flowers.

A creature can have artificial material grafted into its body and become an artifact, like Breya, or Robocop. The Mirari possessed intelligence and a will of its own as a non-creature artifact; then it became/gave rise to Memnarch, an artifact creature (arguably "the same thing as the Mirari" but able to walk around).

I'm not sure why Karn should be treated as a special case: Prior to his tenure as a planeswalker, he had a long and illustrious career as an artifact creature: Built by wizards, without any organic components, but with his own intelligence, volition, and personality—essentially the same kind of entity as Bosh. (The fact that he's not an Artifact on his planeswalker cards probably has more to do with the designers' willingness to let him be destroyed by Naturalize, or the amount of space on the type line, than his nature in lore.)

The flavor text on Saheeli's Silverwing indicates that it's intelligent enough to understand spoken instructions. Akroan Horse is clearly inanimate, but still qualifies as a creature (in another decade it would have been a "Horse Wall")—but, still on the plane of Theros, Gold-Forged Sentinel is "beholden to neither" gods nor mortals, and flies around doing whatever it wants.

The "Construct" creature type evidently denoted artifact creatures that were not created magically—according to someone, at some point in time. This proposition does not track with the evidence. There doesn't seem to be anything magical about the Akroan Horse, but it's still a Horse and not a Construct. Creepy Doll, a Construct, was probably nonmagical when it was first built, but if it's not magical, then how does it stab things to death?

Artifact creatures can be intelligent or mindless. They can be magical or nonmagical. They can be animate or inanimate. They can be robots or cyborgs or neither. Their nature isn't consistent within a plane, and it isn't consistent within a creature type. There's no set of criteria that define artifact creatures, but rather a family resemblance that characterizes them in the minds of the artists, loreweavers, and designers.

The nature of that family resemblance is hard to put into words without sounding dismissive, but I believe it really boils down to "An artifact creature is a creature that is, or at least seems, artificial."


How do Hexproof and Combat Damage interact? Here's a quick question: suppose your opponent attacks with an 8/8 with Trample, and you block with a 5/5 with Defender, Indestructible, and Hexproof. You also have Hexproof.

Trample is an ability, and Hexproof won't allow you to be targeted by abilities or spells. How would one assign damage then?

Or is Hexproof just not important at all by this point?

They don't interact at all.

The word "target" does not occur anywhere in the Comprehensive rules for 702.19, Trample, nor 510, Combat Damage Step (well, the latter does use the word "target" within some examples, but those uses refer to spells being cast, not to the combat damage itself).

The Comprehensive rules for Hexproof are short enough to include here in their entirety:

  702.11. Hexproof

  702.11a Hexproof is a static ability.
  702.11b "Hexproof" on a permanent means "This permanent can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control."
  702.11c "Hexproof" on a player means "You can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control."
  702.11d Multiple instances of hexproof on the same permanent or player are redundant.

Because combat damage is not targeted, and Trample does not target the blocking creatures nor the defending player, Hexproof will not protect creatures or players from this damage.


Can Bruna, Light of Alabaster take my opponent's auras? Bruna, Light of Alabaster says:

  Whenever Bruna, Light of Alabaster attacks or blocks, you may attach to it any number of Auras on the battlefield and you may put onto the battlefield attached to it any number of Aura cards that could enchant it from your graveyard and/or hand

It appears that you could attach enchantments you do not control taking them from other creatures you do not control. Is this correct?

Yes, this is true for all auras on the battlefield, regardless of their controller. There's no general rule that Auras can only be attached to their controller's own permanents, so Bruna can 'steal' other player's auras.
(They'd still control them, which is relevant e.g. for Curious Obsession. This gives an ability to the enchanted creature, so you would get to draw a card if you 'steal' your opponents Curious Obsession with Bruna and deal combat damage to a player. But, as @Arthur notes in the comment, your opponent might not attack the next turn, which causes him/her to sacrifice the aura because he/she still controls it.)

You might think this is too powerful, but it really isn't; auras generally see little competitive play because they tend to lead to card disadvantage (if the enchanted creature dies, you'll lose two cards at once). And a multicolored six mana card should better win the game for you; it's supposed to be your 'finisher'. Commander is more about fun and long multiplayer games, so there this card certainly has more potential.


Mirage mirror what happens when copying a creature If you use it to copy a creature and attack with it does it become tapped until next upkeep mirage mirror itself or revert back to to untapped artifact

Mirage Mirror stays tapped until your next untap step.
Mirage Mirror's ability creates a copy effect that copies characteristics, and being tapped/untapped is part of a permanent's status, not characteristics. Copy effects do not include the status of a permanent, so when the copy effect ends, it also doesn't revert the status.

110.6. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
110.6a Status is not a characteristic, though it may affect a permanent’s characteristics.
706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by its face-down status, and by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set power and toughness (and may also set additional characteristics). Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.


Bang! Is a Bang needed to shoot back with Backfire? The Backfire card says "The player who shot is the target of a BANG!"
Does that mean that the player who shot is automatically a target of a Bang, or does the player playing Backfire need to use a Bang with it to actually backfire on the other player?

From the wiki page for bang

  BackFire – Counts as Missed!. Any player who targeted you with Bang! is now a target of Bang!.

The card says it correctly that the payer who shot you is the target of a bang. If you needed to play a bang also for it to work that would be listed on the card as well.


Has there ever before been card text that had no effect with cards from the same block? In the second set of the Kaldesh Block, Aether Revolt, one card is Dark Intimations, which includes this text:

  When you cast a Bolas planeswalker spell, exile Dark Intimations from your graveyard. That planeswalker enters the battlefield with an additional loyalty counter on it.

This is notable because there are no Bolas planeswalker cards in the entire Kaladesh block, so in a format that uses only cards from that block, such as Draft or Sealed, that ability has no effect. Even more broadly, while there is Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, it was not printed in any Standard-legal sets as of when Aether Revolt was published.

Are there any other instances of this sort of thing in the history of Magic (excluding Time Spiral block, which was a block designed around referencing past and future Magic sets)?

Eye of Ugin technically existed in the same block as Eldrazi, but the next set, Rise of the Eldrazi, was drafted separately from Zendikar and Worldwake, meaning that in these limited formats its first ability did nothing.


Becoming better at sideboarding One of the keys to tournament performance in Magic is proper sideboarding. This seems to be a point of failure with many Magic players that want to move up from casual play and compete in tournaments such as Star City Games Open, Grand Prix, TCG Player MaxPoint Series, and even large Friday Night Magic tournaments.

The basic concept is easy: Take out cards that are bad and put in cards that are good. This basic advice relies on three important prerequisites:

You were able to correctly identify the metagame to determine which decks you would likely face
You were able to competently build a sideboard that fits with your deck
You correctly identified which cards to add and remove during sideboarding

Obviously, there is no canonical answer to the first point, but the second and third points should be able to be strategized in a general manner.

How do you approach the sideboarding conundrum?  Are there any shortcuts or rules of thumb that have served you well, or resources that you refer to? Do you build sideboards with different goals for the different archetypes you play such as aggro, control, midrange, or tempo?

In my experience, the hardest part of sideboarding is to know what cards to take out. There are some obvious cases like removing creature removal against a deck without creatures and such, but they're not the most common case. Sometimes you change one card for another with the same function (swapping Terror for Diabolic edict against a black deck), that's easy too. But what do you take out when you need grave hate against a deck with no obvious bad cards in your own?

Focus on what cards will make you win the game?

It really helps to know you deck well when you're going to sideboard. What cards are the core of your game plan. How many creatures/disruption cards/mana sources/sacrifice outlets/whatevers do you optimally want? And how many can your deck still manage to play well with. How is your mana curve? Can you manage that 4-cost spell that's better or do you need the cheap one. Make sure not to focus too much on hampering you opponents game plan so that you ruin your own!

No matter what cards you decide on, don't forget to playtest! That's what really shows you how the deck plays after you've sideboarded.

Tip: A common test strategy when you don't know which of 2/3 cards you want to bring in is to play them as split-cards when you playtest. You get to chose which one you play during the game and after a few games you have a good idea of what you want.


How does the timing of mana draining compared to ending phases? Consider the following:
It is Aaron's precombat main phase. He has two Nest Robbers in his hand (2/1 haste for 2). His opponent, Nick, has two untapped lands, a Plains and a Mystic Gate.
Aaron casts a Nest Robber. Nick uses his Plains and his Mystic Gate to make two blue mana, and casts a Spell Snare, leaving a blue mana in his mana pool.
Aaron fears another counterspell, and proceeds through his turn. Nick uses the blue mana in his pool to cast an Opt before the mana drains from his pool.
After the Opt resolves, can Aaron cast the second Nest Robber and swing with it? That is, is it his main phase or his beginning of combat phase?

Aaron can cast the second Nest Robber and swing with it.

Mana drains from the mana pool at at the end of each step or phase as per CR (emphasis mine):

  106.4: When an effect produces mana, that mana goes into a player’s mana pool. From there, it can be used to pay costs immediately, or it can stay in the player’s mana pool. Each player’s mana pool empties at the end of each step and phase.

So in order for Nick to cast Opt, he must cast the spell before Aaron's precombat mainphase ends. After Nick casts Opt and it resolves Aaron will once again receive priority as per CR:

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

Once Aaron receives priority he will be able to cast the Nest Robber as the stack is empty and it is still his precombat main phase (as per CR, emphasis mine):

  116.1a: A player may cast an instant spell any time he or she has priority. A player may cast a noninstant spell during his or her main phase any time he or she has priority and the stack is empty.


If condition cards run out, do investigators not gain the condition? I believe the reference guide may imply that a card of a certain type, when not found, is simply not obtained. In this case, if it is an Illness Condition, then the investigator simply doesn't gain the condition, I believe, and if it is a case where "an investigator may gain an Illness to etc" then he doesn't have that option to do that etc.

However, what about the Epidemic Prelude card in Under The Pyramids which reads

  Then each investigator gains 1 ILLNESS Condition and 1 Clue.

There are only 4 Illness cards, so if I have 8 investigators, do only 4 get the Illness, and do only those 4 likewise get Clues for the Prelude because the text implies the Illness and Clue must go hand in hand (I'm not even sure this wording necessarily implies that, although one could imagine wording it as "then each gains an Illness; then each gains a clue" would clarify they don't go hand in hand)?

If condition cards run out, investigators do not gain the condition.

  An investigator can gain a card or token only if it is available.

Source: Reference Guide, "Component Limitations" (page 3)

The Epidemic Prelude's "gains 1 Illness Condition and 1 Clue" is an identical situation as "recover 1 Health and 1 Sanity" or "discard 1 Item and 1 Trinket".
These loses/gains aren't dependent on each other, those are just lists.
If you can't do everything from the list you do as much as you can.
Not recovering health doesn't prevent you from recovering sanity.
Not losing a Trinket doesn't prevent you from losing the item.
Not gaining Illness doesn't prevent you from gaining a clue.


Do pre constructed decks refresh standard rotation? I'm a starting player, so I'll be getting the Fate Reforged Clash Pack coming next week to hopefully get playing into Standard. I get this clash pack can be made into a BG Dredge deck, which seems nice for starting a deck but I also noticed most of these cards are from Theros, which comes out of rotation soon, also the logo in these cards is different, also different from Khans of Tarkir or Fate Reforged logos.

So my question is if where are this cards found in the standard rotation, and when would they go out. Thanks.

Theros (Theros, Born of the Gods, and Journey into Nyx) is the previous block; the current block is Khans of Tarkir block (Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, and the as-yet-unreleased Dragons of Tarkir).  Both blocks are currently in Standard.  Under the current rules (which are changing next year), Standard always contains two blocks, and the older one leaves Standard when the next block is released.  Thus, unless they are reprinted in a newer expansion or Magic 2016, all Theros block cards will leave Standard when the next block starts in late September (or possible early October) of 2015.


Can I play 2 sets of 2 cards each one of the same color to avoid a Deal Breaker? For example: 2 groups of green color in order to avoid deal breaker, of this way the set is not completed

No. With four of the same color, you'd have a set of 3 and one extra.
From the compiled FAQ on BGG:

If you have more properties of one color than is needed to make a complete property set, you must form as many complete sets as possible, and group the remaining properties of that color together.


Is it okay to draw from the middle of the deck? This question is not related to "Ticket to Ride", but while playing Ticket to Ride, the following happened:

There were 5 us around the table, and to make it easier to reach for all players, we split up the draw deck into 2 decks, one on each side of the table.

Is that okay? In theory, drawing a card from the deck is meant to be "random", so drawing from anywhere in the deck is still "random".

On the other hand, once the cards have been physically shuffled, they are what they are, then it becomes more of a "fate" in regards to drawing.

So I wanted to get a response from others: Is it okay to draw from the middle of the deck?

Mathematically the probabilities are unaffected. Let's consider a simplified example with just 4 cards.

Let's say we draw one card from the 4 aces from a standard deck of playing cards. The probability of drawing the Ace of Spades is 1/4.

Now let's split the deck evenly and pick the first card from the first split to compare the probability of drawing the Ace of Spades. Using the Law of Total Probability, there is half a chance the Ace of Spades is in the first split of 2 cards. There is also half a chance that in the first split, the first card is the Ace of Spades.

Multiplying these out gives the probability of drawing the Ace of Spades as being (1/2)*(1/2) = 1/4, just as in the case of drawing normally.


How many adjacent intersections per harbor are available for trading in Catan? Each coastal area including a ship has three adjacent intersections. Are all three valid settlement positions for trading, or only the ones with jetties?

Each harbor provides exactly 2 spaces where a settlement can be built to gain access to the harbor. Because they are adjacent, only 1 of the 2 spaces in each harbor can ever be used in the same game.

The image provided by Acccumulation is very helpful, and gives the correct answer. However, I would like to provide an image and rules quote from the third edition of the game, because I believe this clears up any possible ambiguity. To know that the image in the other answer is correct, you have to know that a "harbor" is actually one of the stone jetties drawn on the border; not one of the ships drawn on the border.

In this edition (which uses the same rules for harbors as the newest editions), it is clearer that each harbor has 2 spaces; because of the 2 dotted lines connecting the resource icon to the building intersections.

Also, in the setup rules for placing the harbors, it says:

  Then, place harbor hexes in the open coastal spaces between the sea hexes. Each harbor hex should face the island, so that the 2 harbor corners (denoted by doted half-circles), align with the longest row of adjoining terrain hexes.

This rule clarifies that the rotation of the harbor tiles is important, because only 2 of the corners of the hex actually count as harbor spaces.

The newer editions replaced these water and harbor hexes with a border, but the rules for harbors stayed the same.


Identify game with 'Cataclysm cards and Sin cards' based on game end rules A friend has found some rules to a game he printed off several years ago and had in a box that wasn't the game.  The pages also seem to be just a print off of 'Advanced rules'.  Unfortunately the game doesn't have the game title on it (to our knowledge at least).   I don't want to type all the rules out but there are references to Cataclysm cards and Sin cards.    The came rules also have references to an 'Unnamed player', Corrupted Hero, completing quest cards and manning buildings.

I'm hoping that typing game end rules will help identify it best.

  The game ends when one of three things happens:

  1) When the players collect all 7 pieces of armor, and one of them has at least 30 points of might.  That player is the winner.  If several players have more than 30 might point, the player with the most points in the winner.

  2) When the last, 14th Cataclysm is played, the present turn is played until the end of the regrouping phase.  If non of the players acheived the connditions mentioned in 1), the game ends with the defeat of the players and a victory for the Unnames (and evil players if using advanced rules)

  3) The players closed the last of the portals, The player who contributed most to the closing of portals (the board hold a majority of his tokens) is declared the winner.  In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the most might points.

Hopefully this enough for someone to recognise it without typing all the rules out!

I could google the game: Its called "7".

Googling the first sentence of the second paragraph, I found the rule book. It does, for some strange reason, not contain the game name written anywhere. (The pdf was called "7_Rulebook_english.pdf", but I did not get that hint ;) )

However, at the end of the rules, it states the game designer, and googling him led me to boardgamegeek.

So, here you go:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/53376/7
https://tesera.ru/images/items/69366/7_Rulebook_English.pdf

Edit: Okay, the rulebook starts with the logo of the game, that includes a 7. I just did not get that thats the game name :D


Determining if/when to use trump in the "pre-game" of 2-handed Pinochle When playing two-handed pinochle, the 'normal' rules of the game are suspended during the initial phase (when melding takes place along with trick taking while depleting the deck of undealt cards).

In other words, you cannot yet renege, you are not penalized for not following suit, you are not forced to out-trump trump, etc.

In this phase of the game, what is the best way to determine if it is a good idea to use trump cards?

There may be other ways to think about this, but for me these are the reasons to play trump during the melding phase:

If you need to start the game with the lead.  If you have a lone Ace or if you have cards in every suit you don't want the other person to start the play because you will lose cards that would otherwise take tricks or may not get into the lead at all.  So you need the last trick in the melding phase - how big a trump to use is the question: I wouldn't use anything higher than a Jack to save a lone Ace because a higher Trump will probably get a counter in the main game anyway.
If you need to meld before it is too late.  If the other person might take the last trick in the melding phase and you don't have an extra 10 of trump then waiting until the last trick to meld your run won't work because you need the trump for the meld so you need to take an earlier trick - and you can probably do it with a low trump if it isn't the last trick.  Even if you do have an extra 10 of trump if your opponent has one of the Aces of trump and you are in the lead then they will take your 10 with their Ace - they get a counter and they keep you from getting your run so it is worth the Ace to them.  It is worth it to take an earlier trick to meld a run or 100 Aces even if you have to use a low trump to do it.
If you need to meld before it is too late.  If you are going to meld 80 kings don't do it after the sixth or seventh trick because you won't have time to use the non-trump kings to take tricks before the phase ends - and if you don't save them in the melding phase you will lose the kings to the opponent's 10s and Aces in the main game.  It is worth it to play a nine or Jack of trump to get the Kings on the table early so that you have time to save them by taking tricks with them.
If your opponent needs to meld before it is too late.  If your opponent decides to play a 10 of trump near the end of the melding phase and you have an extra Ace of trump then play it - you get a counter and they won't get to meld whatever they thought was worth spending a 10 of trump on.  Even if they are leading a low trump or a non-trump Ace it might be worth it to use a nine or Jack of trump to make sure they can't meld.

As always it depends, but if I knew I wasn't going to get a run (or I already melded it) the advice about nine and Jack might extend to King of trump especially if your opponent has both Aces of trump because if they are going to take your King anyway you may as well save it.

Having said all that, using trump in the melding phase is uncommon for me - I only do it in situations where I am confident that the points I am melding or stopping my opponent from melding is larger than the benefit of having that last trump on the last trick of the main game.  My father isn't as cautious and uses trump more often so I guess it depends on who you are.


Does copying a spell on the stack count as casting it? What happens if I have Paradox Engine but I use League Guildmage's ability. Would Paradox Engine’s ability activate?

No, the copy is not cast, and would not trigger Paradox Engine.

From the Gatherer Rulings on League Guildmage:

  10/5/2018     The copy is created on the stack, so it’s not “cast.” Abilities that trigger when a player casts a spell won’t trigger.

Paradox engine cares only if you cast the spell, and a copy of a spell made by League Guildmage is not cast.


Phyrexian Unlife and Necropotence So I have a 5 color deck and  I was wondering how Necropotence and Phyrexian Unlife interact in certain circumstances. I understand that once my life becomes 0 or less I cannot pay life to draw cards, but if I were to have 1 life left, would I only be able to pay one life or would I be able to pay  more than that and draw more cards dropping my life total into the negatives, like an attack when you have 1 life left for 5 damage would leave you with -4 life and 0 poison counters. The way I currently see it is I would only be able to pay 1 life exile a card then my life total is 0 and I can no longer exile anymore cards. Normally in this deck I'd be using Necropotence with Venser's Journal and Elixir of Immortality,but I was wondering if Necropotence might benefit from Phyrexian Unlife as well.

Also somewhat of an aside to this question but I also use Death's Shadow in this deck, am I correct in assuming that if my life total is -4 death's shadow would get +4/+4 making it a 17/17.

I you are at 1 life you can only activate Necropotence once, this is because paying the life is a cost and that happens when you activate the ability, before anyone gets priority again [601.2]. So by the time you have the ability to activate it a second time you are already at 0 life, and thus unable to pay more.

As for Death's Shadow it does indeed get +X/+X when you are at negative life totals. From the Gatherer rulings:

  If your life total is less than 0 and an effect (such as the one from an opponent's Abyssal Persecutor) is keeping you from losing the game, Death's Shadow's ability will actually increase its power and toughness. For example, if your life total is -2, Death's Shadow gets +2/+2.


Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic vs Starlight Road My opponent controlled "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" on their Pendulum zone and has 6 Spell counters scattered on his part of the field. I controlled 2 face-down cards on my S/T zone, one of which is "Starlight Road". My opponent activates the effect of "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" and removed 6 Spell counters as cost.
Can I activate "Starlight Road" in response to "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" Pendulum effect?

Pendulum Effect:

You can remove 6 Spell Counters from your field; Special Summon this card from the Pendulum Zone, then count the number of cards you control that can have a Spell Counter, destroy up to that many cards on the field, and if you do, place Spell Counters on this card equal to the number of cards destroyed. You can only use this effect of "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" once per turn.

No, Starlight Road cannot be activated.
In order to chain Starlight Road, it must be certain that 2 or more cards will be destroyed at the time of resolution; see various OCG rulings:
Dark Master Zorc/Time Wizard

"Starlight Road" cannot be Chained to the activation of effects like that of "Dark Master - Zorc" or "Time Wizard", since it is unknown whether or not the effect will destroy two cards on your side of the field.

Elemental Hero Stratos

If the effect of "Elemental Hero Stratos" which destroys Spell/Trap Cards is activated, then when resolving the effect its controller can choose to not destroy any Spell/Trap Cards. Thus, "Starlight Road" cannot be Chained to this effect, since it is unknown whether or not the effect of "Elemental Hero Stratos" will destroy two Spell/Trap Cards you control.

As Endymion's effect destroys "up to" that many cards on the field, the player can theoretically choose to destroy fewer than two cards, so Starlight Road cannot be activated.


When you use 'Rebound' does the card go to the graveyard? Someone suggested I read the basic guide of mtg because I'm new to the game, so I was reading it and on page 7 (Game Zones) where it talks about Exile it says:

  If a spell or ability exiles a card, that card is put in a game area that's set apart from the rest of the game. The card will remain there forever, unless whatever put it there is able to bring it back. Exiled cards are normally face up. This zone is shared by both players.

So if you played a card like Staggershock and next turn you use rebound, spell happens, does it remain in exile or go to the graveyard?

(Also, not a question but a side note, all players share the same exile? Thats interesting I didn't know that till just now.)

does it remain in exile or go to the graveyard?

Neither. It's moved to the stack when you cast it. From there, it will go to the graveyard on resolution (or upon being countered) as normal.

If you exercise the option to Rebound a previously-exiled Staggershock, you cast Staggershock. The first step of casting a spell is to move the card from the zone in which it's located (usually your hand, but exile in this case) to the stack.

601.2a The player announces that he or she is casting the spell. That card (or that copy of a card) moves from where it is to the stack. [...]

At that point, it leaves exile. This is that to which "unless whatever put it there is able to bring it back" refers.
When the spell resolves, it will then go from the stack to the graveyard as normal since it was cast from exile rather than your hand.

702.87a Rebound appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents a static ability that functions while the spell is on the stack and may create a delayed triggered ability. “Rebound” means “If this spell was cast from your hand, instead of putting it into your graveyard as it resolves, exile it and, at the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.”
608.2k As the final part of an instant or sorcery spell’s resolution, the spell is put into its owner’s graveyard. [...]


How is the rarity of cards in official preconstructed Commander decks determined? As far as I am aware, the rarity of Magic: The Gathering cards is determined by how many times a given card gets printed, relative to other cards in the same set. I believe the standard distribution is for every 120 cards, you get 1 mythic, 7 rare, 24 uncommon, and 88 common, with cards of a given rarity equally likely to appear. This, in turn, determines how likely you are to pull a given card from a randomized 15-card booster pack.

Commander cards aren't sold in booster packs. The only way to obtain them is to buy one of the pre-built Commander decks. These decks have fixed deck lists, so every deck you buy has the same 100 guaranteed cards in it.

However, the Commander cards do have different rarities. For example, the Commander 2016 card Army of the Damned is a mythic rare, while Windfall is an uncommon. These two cards both appear in the 2016 deck Entropic Uprising, and no others. In other words, when purchasing Commander decks, you will always get the same number of Army of the Damned as you do Windfall, but they are somehow different rarities.

In addition, the distribution of rarities in the deck is off as well. Again, using Entropic Uprising as an example, there are 5 mythic rare, 33 rare, 26 uncommon, 15 common, and 20 land.

How are these rarity levels determined if there is no randomness or normal distribution of cards in the set?

You mention that each deck is a singleton deck, so each card is printed exactly as much as each other card within that product. This is true when considering just one deck, but if you look at multiple decks that are part of the same product (e.g. all of the C16 decks), cards at lower rarities are printed in more decks than cards at higher rarities. Common cards can be printed in 4 or 5 of the decks, while mythic rare cards are printed in only one of them.

Rarity also has some meaning other than the print run frequency in sealed products. In particular, the Magic Online format Pauper allows only cards that have been printed at common. Similarly, the unofficial format Peasant is similar, but has slightly less restrictive deckbuilding rules and allows some uncommons. So, we can assume that power level plays a role in determining the rarity at which a card should be printed.

In addition, Wizards' "New World Order" design philosophy, which has been in effect for several years, dictates that more complex cards should be printed at higher rarity levels. This is a less important consideration in decks of singletons, but it's likely that they continue to follow the same principles for consistency.