If an opponent unsummons my Goblin, does it spoil my Goblin Grenade? If I'm launching a Goblin Grenade (that requires the sacrifice a Goblin) and my opponent uses an Unsummon on the Goblin (or similar effects like the ability of a Time Elemental) does this effectively counter my spell?

It is impossible for your opponent to unsummon your Goblin after you have chosen it to be the grenade victim.

When you cast a spell, announcing the spell, choosing its targets and modes, and finally paying its costs (and yes some other more fiddly things), is all a single action that you take at once.  Other players do not get priority to interrupt you in the middle.

Because sacrificing the goblin is part of the cost of the spell, it is part of that one big action and other people can't jump in the middle to do something.  By the time your opponent gets priority again after you have chosen the goblin, it is already in the graveyard.


How does a duel work in the game BANG? Not sure how a duel works in the game BANG! If both the person playing the duel card has a single bang card, and the person they challenge has a single bang card - is it a draw?
Or does the person playing the duel card have the advantage of going second - meaning when the person they challenge runs out of bang cards - they win without having to put down a bang card? Like can they win without throwing down a bang card?
Or does it work like an actual gun duel works - where each player has to throw down bang cards head to head until someone runs out?
Can there be a "draw" if both players have the same number of bang cards?  Or is the challenged player always disadvantaged...?

A duel is a special attack that must be responded to by discarding a bang. If the person the duel is played on is unable to discard a bang they take a hit. If they are able to it goes back to the person who played the duel. If they can't discard a bang they take a hit however if they can the process repeats by going back and forth between the players until one of them is no longer able to discard a bang and that player takes a hit.

Duel

  With this card you can challenge any other
  player (staring him in the eyes!), regardless
  of the distance. The challenged player may discard a BANG!
  card (even though it is not his turn!). If he does, you may
  discard a BANG! card, and so on: the first player failing to
  discard a BANG! card loses one life point, and the duel is
  over. You cannot play Missed! or use the Barrel during a
  duel. The Duel is not a BANG! card. BANG! cards discarded
  during a Duel are not accounted towards the “one BANG!
  card” limitation.


Car, jets and bikes card games When I was a kid, I played these games with cards that came in a set, for example:

Sports cars
Luxury cars
Jets
Trains

and so forth.

Each set had some properties, for example, the cars had properties like:

Torque
Max speed
0-60
Weight
Length
...

We then held these cards in our grubby little paws, and took the top one. We chose a property that was considered good for our chosen card, and asked others to compare their top card's property by the same name. The winner then took all the cards, and started the next round, until someone won the game, landing up with all the cards.

I have two questions:

What were these games called? I do not know what to Google for.
Are these games still found on the market?

After a lot of searches, I finally figured out they are called "Top Trump Cards".

http://www.toptrumps.com (site appears to be down, from my side, though)

But it does appear that I have either recalled the rules incorrectly, or we made our own rules when we were kids (latter is the most probable).

I also found out where I could buy them in South Africa (where I live):

https://www.takealot.com/all?filter=Brand:Top+Trumps


Can you tap the same land twice in a turn? So i am wondering if you could use cards to allow you to play a land, tap it, send it back to your hand, then tap it again.

For example:

Play forest, tap it
Play Selesnya Sanctuary, send forest to hand
Play Urban Evolution
Play forest, tap it

And maybe

Untap it with Kiora's Follower to tap it a total of 3 times

Does this work?

I think the other answer by doppelgreener puts too much emphasis on 400.7. I don't think that that rule is relevant at all. Rather, we have

  107.5. The tap symbol is {T}. The tap symbol in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” A permanent that’s already tapped can’t be tapped again to pay the cost. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since their most recent turn began.

along with

  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.

  110.6b Permanents enter the battlefield untapped, unflipped, face up, and phased in unless a spell or
  ability says otherwise

So nothing in rule 110.6 says that a permanent remembers that it has previously been tapped; it is either tapped or untapped, and that's it. Nothing in rule 107.5 cares what has happened to a permanent earlier when you decide whether the tap symbol is a cost you're allowed to pay (except summoning sickness on creatures). Only its status in that exact moment.

If a permanent is untapped (regardless of why), then you are allowed to activate abilities it has with the tap symbol in the cost (unless it's a creature with summoning sickness). When you play the forest in step 4, it comes into play untapped as per 110.6b. You can then tap it to get a green mana. When it has been untapped by Kiora's follower, it is untapped, which means 107.5 once again allows you to activate its ability.


What is the difference between Draughts and Checkers? Other than draughts is British English and checkers is American English, what is the difference between the two?

"Draughts" is a family of closely related games, so you need to be more specific about exactly which game you mean.

English draughts is exactly the same game as (American) checkers, the one played on an 8x8 board - and as someone brought up in the UK, I can confirm that is what people in the UK mean by "draughts".
International draughts (also called Polish draughts or international checkers) is the game played on a 10x10 board.

There is no "global" standard for these; in Italy, Latvia, Norway and the UK, the 8x8 version is the standard with the 10x10 version very rare, while in the Netherlands the 10x10 version is the standard with the 8x8 version being very rare.


Does pKreoss' Purification spell clear out Cloud Effects like Murder of Crows? Does pKreoss' Purification spell (which causes Upkeep Spells, Continuous Effects, and Animi to expire) remove Murder of Crows from the table?  If so, at what distance?  Does the cloud have to be entirely within range?  Does the center of the cloud have to be in range?  Does the edge of the cloud have to be in range?  Or does the caster who is upkeeping the cloud have to be in range?

Murder of Crows is an upkeep spell, so it would be removed.

It would be removed if any part of the Murder of Crows AoE was within range of Purification.  Like with a model, something is within if any part of it is within.  If you used purification to take Arcane Shield off an Iron clad, you would only need to make sure the edge of the Ironclad's base was within the spell's effect.  It would be the same with any other "thing" that was getting dispelled.


Can I discard Funding anytime to remove a debt? When can an investigator discard funding to remove a debt? Can he do it during anyone's turn anytime to remove it immediately?

Also, can he discard it after the mythos card reveals there is a reckoning coming? My thinking is no because the reckoning has been "declared" so there is no turning back at that point, but it is permissible right before the mythos card is drawn. Is there any documentation on when "discards" are allowed that refutes this?

Found this in the faq. The answer is that the funding can be used anytime, even after discovering that there is a reckoning phase, as long as the reckoning effect of either card has not yet begun being resolves (i.e. the card hasn't been flipped).

Q. When can an investigator discard a Debt Condition with a Funding Condition?
A. If an investigator would gain a Debt Condition and he already has a Funding Condition, he may discard the Funding Condition instead of gaining the Debt Condition.
If an investigator has both a Debt Condition and a Funding Condition, he may discard both cards at any time so long as the effect of neither Condition is currently being resolved.
For instance, a Mythos card instructs investigators to resolve reckoning effects; an investigator may choose to discard both Conditions before resolving the reckoning effect of either Condition, but he cannot begin resolving his Debt Condition, decide he doesn’t like what he sees, and then discard both Conditions before finishing the effect.


In what location do assets gain "advertisement" via Rebranding Team? Rebranding Team says

  All assets gain advertisement.

Does it matter where the asset is located? Say, do assets from HQ or Archives also gain "advertisement"?

From the FAQ:

  Cards always have their subtypes, even while inactive.

Always means this applies in all zones, including R&D, HQ and Archives

For example: Rebranding Team can be used in conjunction with Ad Blitz to retrieve any Asset from archives.


MTG AER: Tezzeret's Touch and Audacious Infiltrator artifact interaction Tezzeret's Touch specifically indicates that the artifact it enchants is a Creature in addition to other types, rather than Artifact Creature. Does this mean this enchanted artifact can block Audacious Infiltrator as it is not specifically an Artifact Creature or does it become an Artifact Creature by default as it is both an Artifact and a Creature?

'Artifact Creature' is not a thing by itself, it is two separate things. What it means is 'this permanent/card/spell is an Artifact' and 'this permanent/card/spell is a Creature'. Since the permanent is both a Creature and an Artifact it is effected by things that effect Artifact Creatures.

  205.2b Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects satisfy the criteria for any effect that applies to any of their card types.


Programme to help with face to face diplomacy Can anyone suggest a programme or website that will allow playing diplomacy with all players on one computer.  Ideally this should not involve logging in and out, or having a window open per player.  I would like to use it purely as a movement judge, so once all orders are submitted on paper, then they can be copied onto the screen, and the "Go" button clicked to show the results (ideally with nice arrows showing where units bounced, convoyed etc.).  I have found many programmes and websites that provide great interfaces for play-by-email or play-by-web for a single player, but nothing for helping with face-to-face games.

jDip is an exact fit for that. It is a free java program so can run on any platform.


Can you trade equipment between combat with multiple creatures? Combat is often referred to as a unit of activity against one monster (i.e. do _ during this combat, or gain _ for this combat). Does this mean that investigators are able to trade items in between combatting two different monsters?  The rules under Trading Equipment say:

  An investigator in the same street area, Other World area, or location as another investigator may trade money, Common Items, Unique Items, and Spells. This may be done before, during, or after movement, but not during combat.

So, the question is whether once you're finished combat with a monster if there is a slice of time where you're not 'in combat' before you face off with the next one.

The FAQ attempts to clarify this but the answer to the Q here is still not crystal clear even after the clarification=)

  Q: Exactly where, when, and what can investigators trade?

  A: Investigators may trade any time during the Movement Phase when they are in the same location, street area, or Other World area except during combat. They may trade before, during or after movement, which means trading does not end a move.

I would say "yes, there's a period of time in between combats you can trade" however.  I think it is pretty clear all the combats do not happen at the exact same time (and rather are sequential).  Without the FAQ, I would have said "no" because the word phase was not used (and it is other places "end of Mythos Phase") and would have guessed they meant actual movement rather than the Movement Phase.  However, the FAQ specifically says "Movement Phase" which I think makes this more clear.  While you are still fighting it's still the movement phase and being that it's not over you can trade as long as not in combat.

The other thing I looked for was a multi-monster combat example, to see if they used a word like "immediately" but there was no such example I saw in the FAQ or the Rules.  This might be an additional guider if you can find it.


Questionable borders on seazone 3 When my friends and I play Axis & Allies 1942 we have trouble distinguishing a couple borders along seazone 3, pictured below. In each case you can see a little sliver of land that is barely touching seazone 3, one in the UK and the other in Karelia. However, the other seazone-territory borders are pretty clearly indicated, so do we assume UK and Karelia are not intended to border seazone 3 because they are not as clear as others?

As per the official FAQ here

  Q: Does Sea Zone 3 connect to the United Kingdom?
  A: Yes,

If my memory serves correctly, that is Scapa Flow.


Is it possible to die out of a combat? I have a question about a particular combat scenario and it's going to need a diagram!

This is a scenario which came up in our game last week. My units are blue, I'm in the front and the flank of a single unit of 3 monstrous cavalry (bloodcrushers I believe). My champion from the unit at the bottom is engaged in a challenge with the champion of the Bloodcrushers.

In my last turn of combat the marked bloodcrusher was killed by my flanking unit. As such they are no longer in base contact with the enemy unit (and even if they were they would touch the champion and so couldn't hit the regular troop).

What happens in this scenario? We came up with several options but couldn't agree.

The flanking unit are released from the combat
The flanking unit move into base contact with the champion but due to the challenge they cannot strike or be attacked
The flanking unit moves into contact with the champion however they can only strike against the unit

I spoke to someone in Games Workshop today, this is what they told me.

Firstly it's important to remember that you can't die out of combat. The first model to remove would be the outer one.

If you do get into the situation above (for example if there are characters involved). There are a few ways to resolve. You can remove the flanking unit from combat by moving them back an edge or you can slide one of the units in so that the combat can continue. Locking the flank unit in the combat but unable to strike could be argued but it's not really in the spirit of the game.

There's nothing official in the book so it's a matter of agreeing with your opponent which scenario is fairest. If in doubt roll for it!


What is an extra move in Mancala, and can you have more than one? When playing mancala, when you get a stone that lands in your mancala and get an extra move, is it just one move or do you start over like in the beginning and pick a group of stones on your side and go unil they run out?  Also, if you end up landing in your own mancala again, do you then get another free move, or is there just one free move before your opponent goes?

Note: Mancala is actually a family of games, not a game itself. Since you call the game 'Mancala', I'm going to assume you have a commercial Western version of Mancala, which means you're very likely actually playing Kalah.

A move in Mancala always means "take the group of stones from one of your pits, and sow them all again". So yes, it is just "like in the beginning".

For any move, if the last stone in the move falls on your store, you take another move. You can have many extra moves if you keep finishing your moves in your store.


Vintage Monopoly Game: What Year is it? I have a nearly complete Monopoly set that I've been researching, and some dates I found tossed around are 1947 and 1955 (on selling pages), but I still can't even confirm the decade it was made. Here are the details of my set:

BOX:

Similar to this picture (taken from here) - but the border and sides are red, not white, and the bottom text is

PROPERTY TRADING BOARD GAME [black text]
Manufactured in N.Z. by [red]
THOS. HOLDSWORTH & SONS LTD.
LONDON & LEEDS
Another HOLDSON Product

BOARD:

Bright green, with "TRADE MARK 711981" written below the logo

CARDS/MONEY:

Chance and Community Chest cards have rounded corners, no pictures, and the Chance cards are more pinkish than orange or red.
Money colours are: yellow ($1), light blue ($5), greyish blue ($10), green ($20), pink ($50), yellow-orange ($100), red-orange ($500).
Title Deeds: the mortgage side is red text, and my set has the error described here where the '1 house' rent for the last yellow property is $120 instead of $110 like the other two cards.

PIECES:
Houses/hotels are wooden, with houses being smaller and green, hotels red. Dice are plastic, red with white dots. My 6 tokens are plastic cone-like things with thin tops and round bases.

I'm sure this is enough information to come up with some possible years, I just can't find them! Thanks in advance for any input on this :)

EDIT: I can't find a copyright year anywhere but I found at the bottom of the rules it says "W. & H. LTD. - 13288"

If the box looks like the images below, I'd say it's from the 1950's which is when all the mentions of a board with that trademark number appear to be dated.  I've found examples estimated at 1955 and 1957 for year of production (linked below).

http://www.cathyscollectables.co.uk/pages/Vintage_Game_Waddingtons_Monopoly_Board_Only_P_711981_Circa_1957_England_258870-z=879773&p=108919.cfm

https://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/toys-and-games/games/john-waddinton-vintage-1955-edition-monopoly-trade-mark-711981-hd_101549207


Carnivore vs carnivore In Evolution (North Star games) if two carnivores attack each other can they both go extinct? Does player order matter?  Would player 1's carnivore live while player 2's dies off?  Do they eat each other at the same time?

Feeding is entirely sequential:

Feeding Species

Beginning with the First Player and continuing clockwise, each player must feed one of their Hungry species.

So if player 1's attack causes some other species to go extinct, then that species will not get a chance to feed regardless of who that species belonged to and whether it was a carnivore or not.
Also note that if Carnivore 1 attacks Carnivore 2, Carnivore 2 can't normally attack back even if it does survive because a predator must always have a strictly greater Body Size than its prey. That said, the Pack Hunting trait can create a scenario where this is possible.


Do +1/+1 counters accumulate? This might be quite basic. I am just a beginner and searched through the web and the rule book and couldn't find the answer.

For instance, Ajani's Pridemate lets you,

  Whenever you gain life, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Ajani's
  Pridemate. (For example, if an effect causes you to gain 3 life, you
  may put one +1/+1 counter on this creature.)

Then does that counter(s) last across turns and accumulate making Ajani's Pridemate much stronger creature as the game progresses until it dies? Say, you have a staff that lets you

  Whenever you cast a black spell or a Swamp enters the battlefield under your control,
  you gain 1 life.

Every turn you put down a Swamp you gain 1 life and hence Ajani's Pridemate gets another +1/+1 counter. It can even become like 2/2 + 1000*(+1/+1 counter) making it 1002/1002. Am I right?

Yes it can. Every instance if lifegain grants another +1/+1 counter. So if you play 10 Swamps, you have 10 instances of lifegain, which grants 10 +1/+1 counters. If you have a creature with lifelink which deals damage, you gain life, so Ajani's Pridemate gets a +1/+1 counter. There is no limit to the amount of +1/+1 counters it can get.


Multiplayer Rules Considering Enchantments Rule 810.5 about the Two-Headed Giant game variant says:

  810.5. With the exception of life total and poison counters, a team’s resources (cards in hand, mana,
  and so on) are not shared in the Two-Headed Giant variant. Teammates may review each other’s
  hands and discuss strategies at any time.
  Teammates can’t manipulate each other’s cards or
  permanents.

Now, my question is: Is it possible to enchant or target my teammates' permanents or does this rule forbid this?

That rule is using "manipulate" in the sense of "physically interact with". It's saying that you can't grab cards out of your teammate's hand or tap your teammate's permanents, for example. This does not prevent you from targeting or enchanting your teammate or their cards/permanents.


Dominion: Doctor + Rats I play Doctor and name Rats.  I reveal the top 3 cards and find 1 Rats, so I trash it.  Which happens first: re-ordering the other cards, or drawing my card from trashing Rats?  And if the draw happens first, what do I draw?  The first non-Rats card that Doctor revealed, or the first unrevealed card in my deck?

Dominion cards are always processed from the top down:

  To play an Action, the player takes an Action card from his hand
  and lays it face-up in his play area. He announces which card he is
  playing and follows the instructions written on that card from top
  to bottom.

-- Base rules PDF

However, "when you trash" cards interrupt the existing Action:

  Many cards in Dark Ages do something "when you trash" that card. These abilities function no matter whose turn the card is trashed on. The player that a "when you trash this" ability functions for is the player that had that card, regardless of whose card trashed the card. These abilities happen directly after the card is put into the trash, and can function in the middle of resolving effects for an Action card; for example, if a player plays Graverobber and uses it to trash a Cultist, he first draws three cards for trashing Cultist, then continues with resolving Graverobber and gains a card costing up to $8.

-- Dark Ages rules PDF

Therefore, you draw the card from trashing the Rats before the cards would be put back on top of your deck because Doctor has "Trash the matches." before "Put the rest back on top in any order." and the Rats trashing resolves during the "Trash the matches" section of Doctor.


Does order matter when drawing player cards? (Efficient to Sequence + Epidemic) One of the positive disease mutations in Pandemic: Legacy is Efficient to Sequence.  A disease with this mutation is cured immediately when a player discards the correct number of cards.  The rules note that this doesn't have to occur on your own turn.  (For example, another player can, on his turn, give you the last card, and you can immediately cure the disease if you are at a research station or don't need to be.)

How does this interact with drawing player cards at the end of the turn?  If one of the cards you draw is the last card you need then clearly you can cure the disease -- if you can do it on someone else's turn then you can do it during the draw phase of your own turn too.  But what happens if you draw the last card you need and an Epidemic?  There are three possibilities:

cure the disease first
resolve the epidemic first
process the cards in the order drawn

The order matters if there are currently no cubes of that color on the board -- curing the disease would also eradicate it, so the epidemic city wouldn't gain cubes if of that color.  (I realize this is a corner case, but the question has come up in our group.)

Order does not matter; you draw both cards at the same time. And if either is an Epidemic, you must resolve it first before curing a disease.

From the FAQ

  If we have the 2nd beneficial mutation, exactly when can we discover the cure?

    You can do it out of turn, but you can’t so it halfway through an epidemic. It’s also worth noting when drawing player cards, you’ll have to discard down to hand size before curing.


Solid openings for Blitz Chess Is there an accepted repertoire of openings that are solid in Blitz (3-5min per side) Chess? I guess the primary factors should be:

reasonably solid
simple structures
minimal number of tactical traps to fall into
maximal number of tactical traps for the opponent to fall into
quickly reach positions that make your opponent think

And possibly secondary factors:

surprise openings?
modifications based relative strength versus opponent
mouse movement!? (i.e., if the moves require less physical movement, they will a) be faster to execute, and b) be less prone to mouse errors - probably more a factor in Bullet games (1m per side)

Generally, the standard accepted openings in regular chess are the same that apply to blitz chess.

Gambit openings are more risky in blitz, as they generally involve long-term gain resulting from short-term disadvantages.  Unless you are very comfortable in a gambit opening that returns significant results fairly early, I would generally avoid them.

Some openings that have fallen into disfavor in standard chess may be more valid in blitz chess, as blitz is far more forgiving of slight flaws in strategy (at least at the casual level).

The most important factor for determining what openings to use in blitz, though, are how familiar you are with the opening.  The more you play the opening, the more familiar you will be with the good responses from your opponent, and the less time you will have to take to think about your response.  The best is if you play non-blitz for a while (quick chess with 10 minute clocks, for example) and really familiarize yourself with the opening lines you are interested in.  This will give you a depth of familiarity that will make your blitz game play a lot more solid, and will also result in you being able to play faster with fewer errors.

Surprise openings suffer from the same problem in blitz chess that they do in other forms of chess: if an opponent is decent enough to not be caught off guard by the opening, they are very likely to punish you by exploiting the weaknesses of the opening (i.e. most "fast mate" openings rely upon premature queen development, and hoping that the opponent doesn't notice the danger; good players will immediately become wary upon early queen development, and respond by putting heavy pressure on your queen, taking the initiative from you).


Can 0 or negative power creatures deal direct damage? If I have a creature that has 0 or negative power and it has a Viridian Longbow attached to it, does it still deal 1 damage because of the effect the equipment gives it, or does it not because of the negative or 0 power?

Magic: the Gathering cards usually mean exactly what they say, nothing more and nothing less.

The power of a creature is only relevant when

Dealing combat damage
An effect explicitly mentions the power of that creature (albeit maybe hidden behind keywords, like "fight")

The ability granted by Viridian Longbow doesn't mention the power of the equipped creature, so therefore it doesn't care. One damage is dealt regardless.


What happens if a player exiles Wurmcoil Engine when it dies with Mimic Vat? My guess is that the player who controlled Wurmcoil Engine doesn't get the tokens because Mimic Vat's exile resolves first and the creature doesn't land in the graveyard. Am I correct?

Your interpretation is incorrect.
Each card has a triggered ability. The current oracle rules are:
Wurmcoil Engine

When Wurmcoil Engine dies, put a 3/3 colorless Wurm artifact creature token with deathtouch and a 3/3 colorless Wurm artifact creature token with lifelink onto the battlefield.

Mimic Vat

Imprint — Whenever a nontoken creature dies, you may exile that card. If you do, return each other card exiled with Mimic Vat to its owner's graveyard.
{3},{T} : Put a token onto the battlefield that's a copy of the exiled card. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.

So both triggered abilities go on the stack when the non-token Wurmcoil Engine dies. What is confusing you is that they do not immediately resolve. (See section 603 of the Comprehensive Rules.) Technically, whoever has priority puts their triggered ability on the stack first, but in this case, it doesn't matter much.
Therefore, the controller of the Wurmcoil Engine gets the two artifact tokens and the controller of the Mimic Vat may have the Wurmcoil Engine imprinted on their Mimic Vat. If they choose to do so, the Wurmcoil Engine card is exiled and any other imprinted card is returned to the owner's graveyard.


Uno discard and draw pile empty? So my friend had an Uno dilemma over the weekend...

They ran out of discards and draw pile somehow.  Then what?

I'm guessing this is impossible "mathematically" or they were missing cards, but is there a solution?

There's always a card on the discard pile. Even when you reshuffle, you have to leave the top card of the former DISCARD pile as the start of the new DISCARD pile. (That is: you always have a card there showing what needs to be matched.)

Even if all the other cards are in players' hands, that card is still there. At this point, players can pass, but they draw nothing for doing so. Eventually someone will play.

If no one wants to play for whatever reason, then call it a draw: there's no point to playing when no one playing wants to play.


White token in Catan cities and knights Catan cities and knights has four colored circular tokens.  There is a yellow, blue, and green to indicate when someone has acquired the metropolis for trade, politics and science respectively.  There are also a white and grey one.  My question is what are the white and grey one for?  I couldn't find any reference to it in the rules.

It's a spare piece. Usually these kinds of tokens are printed on a sheet of cardboard that's big enough to fit in the game box, and if there's a bit of extra space then a few extra things might be put on the board to fill the space. Those tokens can then be used as replacements for the main tokens - so if, for example, you lost the green one, you can just state that the grey token replaces the green.


Polymorphous Rush targeting Young Pyromancer and X Tokens If I cast Polymorphous Rush targeting X tokens, turning them all into copies of a Young Pyromancer, do I get an elemental token from each copy, similar to Scapeshift with Valakut on the battlefield?

Young Pyromancer triggers when you cast a spell. Polymorphous Rush is just one spell, no matter how many targets you give it, so it triggers your Pyromancer just once. Once it resolves, you'll have plenty of Pyromancers around, so if you cast another spell you can trigger all of them.

Remember, you cast a spell, it goes on the stack, and then it resolves. (After anything else that happened in response, of course.) Young Pyromancer triggers when it's cast, and the tokens are turned into copies when it resolves.


Can you cast Hangarback Walker for X=0 and have it survive with Hardened Scales? I'm building a deck with Hangarback Walker and Hardened Scales, and I was wondering if I could cast Hangarback for X=0, and it would activate Hardened Scales. Just a thought.

No, and for a very straightforward reason: Hardened Scales requires that at least one counter be placed on the creature before it adds any additional counters:

The key text here is 'If one or more'.  You're trying to put zero counters on the Hangarback Walker, and so Hardened Scales never processes.


What can Protectorate do to counter Epic Haley's Feat? So, I have a friend who plays Cygnar in Warmachine.  I play Protectorate, and he has been playing a LOT of Epic Haley.  Her feat basically makes you 1) Forfeit either an action or a movement and 2) He chooses the order your units activate in.

This causes me some problems, as the style of Protectorate I play is all about synergies and moving correctly.  I have been struggling against her for months now, and am trying to find some kind of strategy against her, whether that be play-style, units/casters, etc.

It is incredibly obvious when this feat will be used. In competitive games it will most likely be turn 2 if the Cygnar player went first, or MAYBE turn 1 if you went first, so plan for it and know that your second turn will be spent largly doing nothing. Play that turn defensively, cast defensive spells and back up, or duck into terrain. Depending on your caster, you might be able to hide a significant portion of your force only to have it bust out of the trees the next round and deal maximum damage. Just don't let the Haley player bog you down. Insist that he pick which models activate in what order in a very timely fashion so that you can end your turn and be on to the next quickly.
If you make the Cygnar army unable to see your army he can't really capitalize on knowing that your next turn is going to be rubbish.


How would changing the timing of the "starter" affect strategy/tactics? As we know, the non-dealer cuts for the "starter" before the play happens. Is there any strategic/tactical reason why you couldn't cut for the starter after the play?

Just before the play, the players' hands (and therefore, the crib) have been decided. Does knowing the starter have any impact on the play? If so, how would this change if the starter were determined after the play?

There are edge cases where it matters. If

you threw a card in your opponent's crib
that card came up
your opponent is close to winning
you are also close to winning

You would consider making more aggressive plays when scoring to try to out-peg your opponent. You may open yourself up to your opponent scoring more off your aggressive plays, but it's a risk you have to take because if you don't then you expect with high probability your opponent will win.

If you concealed the card, you wouldn't have that information about your opponent's crib during the pegging hand.

Also, if a Jack comes up, that player gets points and can win on the spot if they're close enough. (I forget if it's one or two pegs... but assume they're on the last one to win.) If you are close to pegging out too, you might win on pegging when your opponent would have won if the Jack would have given them the win.


Is there a way to play The Generals without a referee? I've recently introduced The Generals (a.k.a Game of the Generals) to my girlfriend's brothers. They took to the game pretty quickly and we three end up doing matches with one of us as referee or arbiter to determine who wins a battle.

However, when they want to play by themselves, they can't, because no one would arbitrate battles for them whenever their pieces clash.

I wanted to know if there is a way to play The Generals without a referee that still keeps the secrecy of the pieces whenever they battle.

The referee's job is fairly simple, so a computer can fill in for them.

There was an electronically-assisted version released in the '80s, which did exactly that. You may still be able to find a copy online, but be careful to check the condition — some may have busted electronic components.

Wikipedia suggests that there are online clones of the game as well, probably under the name "Salpakan."

Stratego is a commonly-available game with a lot of similarities, that simply has players reveal the pieces to each other when they clash. It's also got different special pieces (including, notably, immobile 'mine' tokens). Depending on the particular dynamics of play you enjoy, you may find it a good alternative or a pale imitation.


Proper way to play character cards? I have a few questions below.

1) Do we play the character card to the center of the table (stacking on previous character)? or we place in front of us?

2) I also understand from the rules that the assassinated character suppose to act stupid upon their character is called. Question here is, at the end of the round, does the king have to verify who are the assassinated character is? or it's like poker where u can return the card without revealing yourself?

3) Can we purposely skip our character (act like it's assassinated to avoid tax collector)?

4) When the last character is called and someone still holding non-assassinated character, how should we deal with such situation?

Thanks for clearing my doubts :)

The rules explicitly state [italics mine]:

  When the name of your character card is called, you must reveal your character card, place it face up in front of you, and take your turn.

If your character has been assassinated, you say nothing and do not acknowledge that you have been assassinated in any way. It will be obvious by the round's end, however, that you did not play a turn and that you were the assassinated character.

Using the most sensible interpretation of the above rules, it follows that it would be considered cheating to pretend that your character was assassinated when it in fact was not.

Since every character is called in numeric order, there shouldn't be any unplayed characters left in anyone's hands at the end of the round, except of course for the assassinated character.


Are tokens permanents? I need help to settle a disagreement. During a recent Commander game, my opponent played a Devastation Tide, Return all nonland permanents to their owners' hands. He had 4 tokens out, and claims this did not apply to the tokens. His logic was that tokens would not return to his hand since they never were actually cast, so they should remain.

I disagree for 2 reasons, first I play Duels as well and the table version, and that game counts tokens as permanents. Second, from my understanding, with a few minor exceptions, a nonland permanent would be ANYTHING except an instant, sorcery, artifacts, equipment, etc. that is not 'permanently' on the battlefield.

In the above scenario, the tokens should have been eliminated, I believe. Is this correct?

You are correct.  According to the comprehensive rules (emphasis mine):

  110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. A card or token becomes a permanent as it enters the battlefield and it stops being a permanent as it’s moved to another zone by an effect or rule

and

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

So tokens on the battlefield are permanents, and if they are not lands Devastation Tide will return them to their owner's hand (and since they're tokens, they will immediately cease to exist after leaving the battlefield).


When do dead Evil Elders join the villain? The rules say that dead elders should keep their Secrets.

  The reason that they keep their Secrets is that if they turn out to be evil, it is assumed that they faked their own death and still join the Villain.

But so far, the only way I can see of this ever coming into play is if a player uses Accusation at the beginning of a Showdown and points at a dead elder, who turns out to be evil. Is that it? Are there other possibilities and which game modes are they valid for?

Note: I've played one Basic game so far, so maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I did read advanced rules and didn't see anything about this.

What you are missing is that the rules are slightly different for Competitive and Cooperative play. In a competitive game, the rules allow each player to accuse a single Town Elder of being evil, thereby showing that the Town Elder faked his death, and subsequently joining the Villain. The Evil Elder will add +1 Combat to the Villain, and will add +1 wound to the Villain (if the Villain is about to take its last wound). Preventing an opponent from winning is a good strategy if you want to win. (page 19)

  4. Accusations - One other advantage of investigating the Town Elder’s Secrets ahead of time is that when a player starts a Showdown, each other player may make up
  to one Accusation of a Town Elder, calling them out as being evil! [...] If the revealed Secrets turns them into an Evil Elder, they immediately join the Villain.

  Winning the Game - The first player to fight a Showdown with the Villain, AND defeat it, saves the town of Shadowbrook and wins the game.

In the cooperative game though, dead Town Elders have their secrets revealed immediately. If they were evil, they become Evil Elders and join the Villain. (page 20)

  Town Elder Secrets - [...] When a Town Elder is killed, move the Shadow Track as normal and then reveal all of that Elder’s Secrets. Any Keyword Evil Secrets they have immediately take affect, turning them into an Evil Elder instead.


Where/how does the Magic: the Gathering Quick Start Guide booklet actually get distributed in the physical world? Magic: the Gathering has a basic rules PDF, aka the Quick Start Guide, that was instrumental in my understanding the basics of the game (like the stack and spellcasting). The M15 version is available from the Wizards site.

Despite being such a great resource, I've never actually seen this in the form of a physically printed booklet even once. It explains so much about the game, and if every MtG player had one of these, I bet we wouldn't have half the confused beginner questions we get. I've heard from several sources that M:tG intro decks used to come with basic rulebooks, but that's no longer the case.

Instead, the only physical rules printing I've ever seen are these little fold-outs that come in the intro packs and fat packs, which are good enough to get you started but skip many vital details:

(photo credit: youtube)

I live in Australia, I started shortly after M14 was released, and at various points I've opened booster boxes, fat packs, intro decks, and duel decks and been to pre-release events and the M:tG booth at a couple of Penny Arcade Australia Expos. All of that, and I've never seen even one of the Quick Start Guide booklets.

So: Where and how do the Basic Rules booklets actually get distributed, if at all? Where would I expect to find or see one in real life?

I can confirm that these kind of booklets were available up to at least 8th Edition as physical copies: I bought some kind of introduction pack which contained two 40 card theme decks and a quick start guide (see archive.wizards.com, it's the rulebook that's available as a PDF).

So far it doesn't look like they're still available as physical copies. My first guess was to look at the Magic 2015 Core Set 'Deck Builder's Toolkit' because according to the Wizards website it contains:

  The support you need to build your own Magic: The Gathering decks. Includes 125 semi-randomized cards suitable for building several different decks, four 15-card booster packs from a variety of recent Magic sets, 100 basic land cards, a deck builder’s guide, a Magic learn-to-play guide, and a card box. (Emphasis mine.)

However, a youtube video (I will link in the first comment, since I don't have enough reputation for more than two links) shows that it's the same 'Rules Reference Booklet' as mentioned in the question, as well as a 'Deck Builder's Toolkit' fold out which I think contains deck building tips. Clash Packs seem to contain similar kind of fold outs (see second video linked in comments). Together with Jefromi's answer it seems unlikely that this rule book is physically available anywhere else.


Whose Grifter goes first? In Doomtown Reloaded, Grifters are characters who allow you to look at your starting hand and, if you don't like them, boot them. For instance, Travis Moone allow you to boot him and then redraw your hand.

Recently I played a game where both of us had Grifters and it was important to know whose Grifter went first. Basically, my opponent was on the fence about using his Grifter and wanted to know if my Grifter was going to start the first round booted.

Since Grifters activate after the initial hand draw but before the first lowball round, we didn't have an established way to decide whose Grifter went first. So whose Grifter goes first? Or do you just count to three and decide simultaneously?

The November 2014 tournament floor rules answers this:

  Before the first turn of the game if there are effects/reacts that
  could be conflicting before a winner has been determined by lowball
  (E.G. Grifter abilities), use the following procedure:

  All players make a choice as to whether they are going to use or pass on the grifter ability. Each player then holds their hand out
  with a concealed token in there, with an agreed colour code, red for
  use and blue for no use.
  If a player fails to hold out a token of either colour then they pass the use of the grifter.
  Both players open their hands at the same time and use the ability or not as indicated.

In friendly games, we usually don't worry about this, and even in tournaments in my experience it is resolved without resorting to this 90% of the time.


Thespian's Stage, attacking, and damage I have Thespian's Stage in play copying Raging Ravine. I animate Thespian's Stage, give it vigilance in some way, and attack. My opponent flashes in Ambush Viper and blocks. I decide I don't want to trade. Can I activate Thespian's Stage to copy a non-animated land and get out of combat that way? What happens to the damage?

Gatherer doesn't say anything about this - only that I need to activate the animation costs after Thespian's Stage has copied a land.

No, you cannot turn it into another land to remove it from combat.  The issue is due to layers.
Layer 1 is copy effects (Thespian's Stage).
Layer 4 is type changing effects (Raging Ravine's ability).
Since it is still the same object, both layers are applied in order.  So, for layer 1 you have a Thespian's Stage that is copying a Raging Ravine that is copying a land (say, a Forest).  Then you apply the type changing effect in layer 4 that turns it into a 3/3 creature.
So, you'd end up with a 3/3 Creature Land - Forest (with a +1/+1 counter from attacking as Raging Ravine)

613.1a Layer 1: Copy effects are applied. See rule 706, “Copying Objects.”
613.1b Layer 2: Control-changing effects are applied.
613.1c Layer 3: Text-changing effects are applied. See rule 612, “Text-Changing Effects.”
613.1d Layer 4: Type-changing effects are applied. These include effects that change an object’s card type, subtype, and/or supertype.
613.1e Layer 5: Color-changing effects are applied.
613.1f Layer 6: Ability-adding effects, ability-removing effects, and effects that say an object can’t have an ability are applied.
613.1g Layer 7: Power- and/or toughness-changing effects are applied.


In Bang!, can you use two beers? The rules say you can only use one Bang! per turn and one copy of each card can be out in front of you. Does this mean that I can still use two barrels or two Gatlings on my turn?

Yes, you can use multiple Gatlings or beers in a turn. These cards are not played in front of you, they are played directly into the discard pile. They are also not "BANG!" cards, so you can play more than one a turn (only the card "BANG!" is a "BANG!" card).

You cannot, however, use multiple barrels. You can only have one of each blue (or green) card in front of you at a time.


What would casting a card with Sunburst do with an effect like Jodah's? If I cast a card with sunburst, like Clearwater Goblet with an effect like Jodah, Archmage Eternal, how many charge counters would it get?

You would get 5 counters.

The reminder text and the comprehensive rules for Sunburst say “for each color of mana spent to cast it.” So all that matters is how many colors you spent to cast it; not what the casting cost is or anything like that.

  702.43a Sunburst is a static ability that functions as an object is entering the battlefield from the stack. “Sunburst” means “If this object is entering the battlefield from the stack as a creature, it enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it. If this object is entering the battlefield from the stack and isn’t entering the battlefield as a creature, it enters the battlefield with a charge counter on it for each color of mana spent to cast it.”


If I cast Reality Ripple with Eon Hub out, is the target Permanently phased out? Reality Ripple reads, "Target artifact, creature, or land phases out. (While it's phased out, it's treated as though it doesn't exist. It phases in before its controller untaps during their next untap step.)" This seems to indicate to me that it phases in during the untap step. If a player skips their untap step, from an effect such as Eon Hub, does this mean that whatever is phased out just stays phased out?

Yes. From the comprehensive rules:

  702.25m If an effect causes a player to skip his or her untap step, the phasing event simply doesn’t occur that turn.

If by 'permanently' you mean 'until something is done about the thing that prevents untap steps', yes.
However, if that thing is removed, untap steps will happen again, and phased out permanents will phase back in.


Cribbage score going out i.e. Player needs 4 points to go out.  The hand value is 3.  Does the Player get to go out with the added 1 point "Go"?

It's fine to go over in standard cribbage; the game is won by the first player or partnership to reach or exceed 121 points.

But remember the way things are scored: as they happen.

If that three points you mention was in play, such as opponent leads a 9, you play a 5, opponent plays a 6, and you play a 7, scoring three for the run in play, then the go from the opponent puts another 1 point score on the pile.

If it's a run in hand, however, it's scored only after the last card, starting with the player to the dealer's left and going left around the table (same as play order). If you are at 117 points, have a 3 point hand (say AJQK and a 2 up), and get the last card for 118, and the other guy is at 110 and gets 16 (AA23), it is determined by who scores hand first. If you dealt, you lose; if he dealt, you win. In three or four player non-partnership, if he's to your right, you've lost.

And remember: muggins can't be claimed until after the peg has been moved. Only on an overpeg would it prevent victory.

Also remember: if your scoring sheet shows last card separate from Go, there is no "go" on last card.

There is a common variant, called exact out, where you have to hit 121 exactly, and any score that would take one over is lost (but must be called out to prevent it being muggins-claimed).


Mtg creature spells, instants, priority? A Friend and I were playing a game last night.
I tapped 4 mana, and I had 4 Creatures in my graveyard to help reduce Ghoultree's mana cost. So I summoned him, my friend then cast an instant that exiles creatures from my graveyard. Does Ghoultree then fizzle, because I now don’t have enough mana to cast it?

Or because he wasn’t countered he still enters battlefield because I am the active player and have priority?

Your Ghoultree will still resolve fine; your opponent can’t prevent it by exiling cards from your graveyard after you have cast Ghoultree.

The casting cost of a spell only matters when you are casting it. You declare your spell, put it on the stack, pay it’s costs; and only then does your opponent have a chance to respond.

Your opponent could have cast his instant earlier; before your main phase, but he would have had to know that you were planning to cast Ghoultree. There is no time between you declaring you are casting Ghoultree and you paying the cost where your opponent can act.


Does anyone remember this game from the seventies? This might be a tough one. My mom and dad are trying to remember the name of a game they played before I was born (I am 36 so we’re going back). All they can remember is that it was a card game, it had a plastic board with slots that you put the cards into, lying down flat. They can’t remember if they were face up or face down. They think it was sort of a solitaire type game, but for two players. I know this is not a lot to go on. Google is failing me so far.

I agree with comment that the question really needs more details but based on what you've said I will assume your describing Guess Who

It fits your description in following ways...

It came out in 1979 and was certainly around when I was a child and I'm only a little older than you.

The game board had plastic slots in which meant you could have cards standing up or face down.

It was a two player game that was really each player playing their own solitaire game until one of them won.


What happens to Poison Counters after the Player that gave them leaves the game? If a player playing with infect loses the game are the poison counters they have dealt out removed, similar to how curse enchantments they own would leave the game. Or do they remain, similar to how a -1/-1 counter on a creature would stay?

They remain on the player who has them. Counters are not owned by the player that created them, they just are there once created and are not removed unless an effect specifically says to remove them. That means that even if only one player is using infect and is removed from the game proliferate can still cause another player to lose due to poison.

There is only one thing in magic that actually removes poison, the card Leeches.

A new game started with Karn Liberated will not keep the counters a player had when the new game begins. These counters, like everything else in the original game cease to exist.


If both players are killed at the same time, do they both die? I play Magic: The Gathering and I just had a really strange game with my opponent. We were both about to die (both sides with 2 life) when we both set down instants that damaged each other (at the same time). I played the red instant Shock, and she played the red instant Staggershock. It was my turn. It was kind of an awkward coincidence, so we called a draw. Is that logic correct?

No, it's not correct, and no, it wasn't a draw.

As you know, if they were killed at the same time, it would be a draw. But they weren't killed at the same time. MTG is a turn-based game. It's impossible to cast two instants at the same time (at least under normal circumstances), and it's completely impossible for two instants to resolve at the same time.

Whoever had priority[1] got to cast their instant. Their opponent then got a chance to cast an instant in response. The instant cast in response, being cast last, will resolve first.

The game would have ended before the first instant had a chance to resolve.

It's not possible to determine who had priority from the info you provided. Being your turn, chances are it was you unless you just finished casting a spell.


You are a sympathetic Cylon I'm still pondering over our Cylon's greatest loss in the last 6 player game we played.
In turn 3 the first Cylon player got executed by an Admiral Chooses crisis card (Kain-player resolved that one true to character). Soon thereafter the 2nd Cylon revealed himself, turn 6 if I remember correctly, which was quickly followed by the Sleeper Agent phase. Now, what happens at this moment is that one of the Cylon players is dealt the You are sympathetic Cylon loyalty card. Which he, according to the rules must reveal immediately, and he becomes revealed Cylon. This seemed and felt a bit redundant, and quite a disadvantage for the Cylons.

From the base game rules:

  If a player receives a You
  are a Sympathizer card, then he must immediately reveal
  and resolve it. If he is a revealed Cylon player, then he may
  first give the card to any other player (who then immediately
  resolves it).

Pegasus rules instead say:

  When a human player receives this card (You are a Sympathetic Cylon) during the Sleeper phase, he must immediately reveal it. However, rather than following normal Sympathizer rules, this player becomes a revealed Cylon and draws an Agenda from the Sympathetic Agenda deck.

What I would like to know is if we interpreted the Pegasus rules correctly in the way that the part of the rule rather than following normal Sympathizer rules also affects passing on this card to another player as was done in the base game.

For those interested, Humans won with 4 fuel, 8 Food, 5 Morale and 9 Population, two civilian ships where destroyed while in space (Blind Jump by Kain), only one civilian ship was left behind on New Caprica. All the Raptors were accounted for and only one Viper was damaged. Only three Jumps were made to reach New Caprica.

A revealed Cylon player must always pass the You are a Sympathizer and You are a Sympathetic Cylon cards to another player. The Pegasus rule you quoted is for "when a human player receives" the card. See page 7 of the Pegasus rulebook:

  Sleeper Phase: When a Cylon player receives Loyalty Cards during
  the Sleeper Agent phase, he looks at all of his facedown Loyalty
  Cards and gives them to one human  player of his choice. If the Cylon
  player receives a “You Are Sympathizer” or a “You Are a Sympathetic
  Cylon” card, he does not reveal it.  Instead, the human player he
  passes it to must immediately  reveal this Loyalty Card as if it had
  been dealt to him.

So the original rule in the base game hasn't changed. It's just been expanded to include the You are a Sympathetic Cylon card.


How are missing alerts handled? If a side misses an alert and the other side protests, the tournament director
must decide if the missing alert is a disadvantage for the protesting side.

It is not possible to check, if the situation is prepared by the side or not,
so the tournament director must decide, if this is the case or not.

Is it true that making a "strange" bid twice in a row without alert leads to the assumption that the situation is prepared ?

It is important to note that your partnership agreements of which the opponents must be made aware specifically includes all inferences from repeated occurrences. So yes, if you make the same unusual action twice in a short span of time the burden of proof is on you to establish that the action is not a partnership agreement.
From Laws of Duplicate Bridge - 2008 Revised Authorized Edition

Law 40
Partnership Agreements
A. Player's Systemic Agreements
1 (a): Partnership understandings as to the methods adopted by the partnership may be reached explicitly in discussion or implicitly through
mutual experience or awareness of the players.


"Taking the rest" in the card game Hearts So I understand most of Hearts and love to play it on my phone. That's where I learned it. There is one thing that I don't get, though.

It seems like when a player takes the trick 3 times or so in a row he/she will "take the rest".

I was trying to shoot the moon earlier and gave away all my low number cards. After a few rounds (the queen of spades was not even played at that point) the app said that I will take the rest and the others all got 26 points because I took all the tricks.

Can anyone explain this situation? When does someone take the rest? I couldn't find anything.

This feature by Karman Games is called "auto-complete". It is also utilized in other games they make, such as Euchre.

Basically, if there is only one mathematical outcome, then there is no point in playing the rest of the hand out (or at least, that's how Karman Games sees it).

Although it doesn't (and can't) occur to the same extent, you can technically apply this feature on tabletop as well:

If you know you have the top X cards in Hearts (or Euchre), then some people will flop their entire hand down, rather than playing each card individually.

Note that you may not even have the top X cards in Hearts/Euchre to do this... if you do the math correctly and/or remember what cards have already been played, you can figure out the number of hands/tricks you are guaranteed to win (so long as you play them in the correct order).

If your calculation ends up being incorrect, and you flop down your hand mistakenly, it is called a "renege" and you will be penalized for it.


Feeding The Baby After The Next Harvest In Agricola the rules say something like if family growth occurs in the round before a harvest, the baby only needs one food.  Do you think this could be a rules "typo" and they actually meant to say in the "stage" before a harvest?  It would sure make feeding the family easier.  Any thoughts?

The only time that a family member is only fed 1 food instead of 2 food is if that family member was just added to the family in the round that immediately preceded that harvest. In other words, if that family member has never yet taken any actions.


Why was SPYRAL Quik Fix limited instead of banned? When this card is normal or special summoned, you can add 1 SPYRAL Gear card from your deck to your hand. If this card is in your graveyard, you can discard 1 card to special this card, but banish it when it leaves the field.

Konami "fixed" this card by limiting it to 1. Even if you're lucky enough to draw an Effect Veiler, Ash Blossom, or a Ghost Ogre before the player can use his effect, they can just use it's effect multiple times. Even then you still have a problem, Ghost Ogre may destroy it, but it still gets to activate it's effect and can just add SPYRAL Gear - Big Red to bring it back. And Ash Blossom or Effect Veiler may stop it from searching, but it doesn't destroy it. So someone can still do damage with it. And if you aren't lucky enough to draw those cards, it basically will most likely end in a OTK. And trust me. I've dueled enough SPYRAL decks to know how easy that one card can make it to win in 1 turn.

And also even if someone doesn't start out with it in their hand. It's easy to search for. They can search it with SPYRAL Resort, SPYRAL Master Plan, etc. Or you can special summon it with it's own effect, SPYRAL MISSION - Rescue, SPYRAL Gear - Big Red, etc.

So with this in mind. Why has this card been limited rather than banned?

Why has this card been limited rather than banned?

Konami rarely bans a card directly after it being unrestricted. Usually they gradually restrict cards: first semi-limit, then limit, and if it is still Overpowered then they ban it.

For that to happen the card has to be really broken or well be some key resource that Top Championship Decks abuse of (as to balance the format).

Another reason is that Konami usually lets their new archetypes "live" longer before nerfing them. SPYRAL archetype is rather recent to date, so they probably don't want to kill it when many competitive players are still investing heavily on those decks (an economic move if you ask me).

Banning that card would heavily affect all SPYRAL decks, therefore strongly affecting many players throughout the world as well as notably changing the balance of the current format.

Surely there must be other reasons they did this, but those are probably internal to the company and not something they openly share.


double royal marriage and a roundhouse How do you score a double royal marriage and a roundhouse if you are playing double deck or triple deck pinochle?

I got that tonight playing and wanted to score it 50 points, thirty for the double royal marriage and the 20 for the roundhouse instead of 24 to subtract the trump marriage from the roundhouse.

I got shot down like I was nuts and they only wanted to let me have six points for the roundhouse.

A roundhouse normally doesn't have any special scoring involved; it is simply a nickname for a set of other things that score, that happen to add up to 24. In your case:

Double Royal Marriage: 8
Queens around: 6
Kings around: 8
3 Marriages: 6

This adds up to 28 (which is 24 for the roundhouse, plus 4 for the extra royal marriage).

Thus, by default rules, you should have scored 28.

There are variants that some people play where a roundhouse does score higher than 24. However, you and your playgroup would have to discuss and agree to such a thing before the game; as it isn't part of the standard rules.

  Roundhouse

    This consists of a king and a queen of each suit. It normally scores 24: royal marriage + 3 marriages + kings around + queens around. However some players give a roundhouse a higher score of 32. Some score a roundhouse with a run as 39 (24 + 15, allowing the royal marriage to contribute to the roundhouse as well as being part of the run). Some score a double roundhouse as 240 (it should normally be 160 = 8 + 3*4 + 80 + 60).


Is it possible to wait for some cards to leave the stack to use them for delve? Imagine the situation:

I am at 2 life;
I have five Forests untapped in the battlefield;
I have 4 Giant Growth and 1 Become Immense in my hand;
I have a Brainstorm in my graveyard;
I have a 1/1 creature with no abilities

My opponent has 19 life;
My opponent has a 2/2 creature with no abilities.

I attack with my creature without casting any cards.
My opponent doesn't block.
Can I cast the 4 Giant Growths (+12/+12) using four of my five Forests and then cast the Become Immense (giving me a total of +18/+18) delving the four Giant Growth and the Brainstorm using the last Forest?

Yes, you can. After each spell resolves but before the next one on the stack, both players get priority. You can cast more instants or activate more abilities then. Become Immense is an instant, and you are able to pay the mana costs, so you can put it on the stack.

A simpler way to look at this particular example is, you can cast Giant Growth (resolves), then Giant Growth (resolves), then Giant Growth (resolves), then Giant Growth (resolves), and with the stack empty, cast Become Immense.


In Android: Netrunner, can the Shaper event Scavenge install the program that was trashed to pay for it? This question touches on the timing when an event card is played. If a runner plays Scavenge, they must trash an installed program as part of the cost. Is that program already in the heap by the time that Scavenge's effect is triggered, thus allowing the program that was just trashed to then be installed?

If so, this appears to have some strong interactions with cards like Dinosaurus and Femme Fatale.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:  Scavenge says "As an additional cost to play this card, trash an installed program".  That means that when you play Scavenge (paying the 0 credits), you trash a program as a cost.  After you have trashed the program, it then states "Install a program from your grip or heap lowering the install cost of that program by the cost of the program trashed".

Since you trash a program as part of the cost, that program is now in your heap.  You then can look at the number of credits to install another program from your grip or heap - including the program you just trashed, since it is already in your heap.

You are correct, this is a fantastic way to retarget Femme Fatale, or to move an installed breaker onto Dinosaurus.  The other main use is to Test Run out a breaker for 3 creits, and then Scavenge it to install it permanently for free.


Can an Investigator move directly to the balcony without using the stairs in the Foyer? The rules say that it costs 1 movement point to move into a different area of the same tile.

In the case of the Foyer it doesn't seem logical to move from the floor (1) directly to the balcony (2) without going through the central hallway/stair entrance area first.

Have I missed a rule to cover this special case?

No. There's no special case. The division between those areas is marked with a white border. The movement cost to cross a white border is 1.

I believe the FAQ addresses this issue specifically and says that it represents characters climbing over the banisters.

EDIT: I realized that if you read just the title of your question, it seems like I'm saying the opposite of what I really am. So:

YES - you can move directly to the balcony. NO - there is no special case, you haven't missed anything!


Is there an online site to play Titan Boardgame I know of ACTS and it works quite well. But in times of Web 2.0 I wonder -- is there an alternative to play Titan against friends (and mybe foes)?

There's not a site I know of, but there is Java-based software:

http://colossus.sourceforge.net/


Sage's Reverie + Imprisoned in the Moon Suppose you have Imprisoned in the Moon a creature (turning it into a land) and then cast Sage's Reverie. Would you draw a card for Imprisoned in the Moon? My assumption is no, since the enchanted creature is a land, not a creature, but I figured I should ask just in case I misinterpreted the rules.

You are correct. You do not get to draw a card for Imprisoned in the Moon.

Your reasoning is also correct. You do not draw the card because the enchanted creature is not a creature anymore. Only the current card types count here.


Summoning Buster Blader from graveyard Are there any ways to summon Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman from the graveyard?

Are there any ways to summon Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman from the graveyard?

No, there are not.

The card text explicitly forbids it, by stating it can only be Fusion Summoned. From the card text, emphasis mine:

  Must be Fusion Summoned and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card cannot attack directly. This card gains 1000 ATK and DEF for each Dragon-Type monster your opponent controls or is in their Graveyard. Change all Dragon-Type monsters your opponent controls to Defense Position, also Dragon-Type monsters in your opponent's possession cannot activate their effects. If this card attacks a Defense Position monster, inflict piercing battle damage to your opponent.


Ancestor dragon. Inclusive or cumulative If I have Ancestor Dragon out and attack with 3 creatures does it trigger for creatures attacking and I gain 3 life or does it trigger for each attacking creature and I'd gain 3 life for each of the 3 attacking creatures thus gaining 9 life?

Ancestor Dragon says:

  Whenever one or more creatures you control attack, you gain 1 life for each attacking creature.

It triggers only once for each attack if you attack with one or more creatures. If you attack with 3 creatures you gain 3 life.

To clarify, the ability doesn't trigger for each attacking creature, just for each time you attack.

If you attack the second time (for example if you have an additional combat phase) then the ability will trigger again.


Why does this ability have its mana cost written twice? Korozda Monitor reads:

  Scavenge {5}{G}{G} ({5}{G}{G}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a sorcery.)

I would like to know why the 5(G)(G) is listed twice, outside of the parentheses and inside. I've seen this format on other cards too.

It's written like that because that's what the ability means; "Scavenge [cost]" means "[Cost], Exile this card from your graveyard: Put a number of +1/+1 counters equal to this card's power on target creature. Scavenge only as a sorcery.". The italic text in parentheses is called reminder text, and it's there in this case to tell you what scavenge does.


Catan - Cities & Knights - Barbarian Attack Player A have 2 cities and 1 active knight point, player B have 2 cities and 2 active knight points and player C have no city and no active knight.

What will happen when the barbarians attack?

No one will loose city as player C is the least contributor and have no city
Player A will loose a city as least contributor with 2 cities

One ignores players with no cities when determining who loses a city, so Player A must convert one of their cities into a settlement.

If the barbarians are stronger, they are victorious! If the barbarians win the battle, they pillage one or more cities. Pillaged cities are reduced to settlements (replace the city piece with a settlement). The barbarians pillage one city belonging to the player who had the lowest total strength of active knights when the barbarians attacked. Any player who contributed no knights are automatically considered to have the lowest total strength of active knights. If various players tie for having the lowest total strength of active knights, each of those players loses 1 of his cities.
Important: When determining which player has contributed the weakest group of knights, do not count any player who has no cities or any player who has only metropolises. These players are immune to the effects of the barbarian attack.

5th ed rules


Bang blue cards question I know how many cards you have to end with in your turn I was wondering if the blue cards that you played like mustang or scope counts as part of your hand

The number of cards in your hand equals the number of lives (bullets) you have left.

Cards played do not count as being in your hand. So you can have as much blue cards on the table as you like.


Euchre - Calling a a renege after the hand is closed before the next deal? Can you call a renege after the hand is closed before the next deal??

Once the hand is closed the renege is much harder to verify, once the cards played that round have been returned to the deck. A renege should be called immediately when it is noticed. Taken tricks should be kept separate from each other, organised so the order they were taken is clear, this allows a renege to be verified and not rely on everyone's memory.


If I counter a planeswalker what happens to them? If I counter a planeswalkers activation, with say something like Sinister Sabotage or Unwind, does the planeswalker return to the players hand, or do they die?

A planeswalker is a spell while it is on the stack. Any spell you counter will go to the graveyard unless the counterspell says otherwise, such as with Remand. Thus, a planeswalker will be put into the graveyard. Not sure if this is a question confused on whether planeswalkers are treated differently than other spells or not? If you had some other reasoning why you think a planeswalker might be treated differently than another spell, feel free to add it to your question! It may help newer players to understand it better in the future.


Dungeon! Quick opening strategy for wizard We have been playing the wizard for some time, but it looks like the wizard has a lot of challenges: The wizard cannot do well unless it makes it to levels 5 or 6. Having said that, one alternative is to blow the secret door on the way to the levels. Otherwise, it has to travel till it reaches a chamber on level 4, and then tele-porting to 5, then level 6.

So both ways typically take a up (on an average) much longer time, then by the time the wizard gathers the treasure, it is usually too late.

What is a quick opening strategy for the wizard which at least lets the wizard start at nearly the same time as the others?

After consulting this guide :
How about walking to level 5, and using teleport cards to get back from a level 5 chamber to a relatively close level 4 chamber and then to level 3? I managed to win a game or two like that.


Crushinator and Bom Boy Factory Does Bom Boy Factory allow Crushinators effect come into play or was I forced to discard Bom Boy Factory and therefore not allowing Crushinators effect come into play? Take into effect Bottomless Pit and Recycling Center wordings also.

Short answer: No, you can't activate Crushinator when you are forced to destroy the factory.

The Crushinator has an ability that you can activate. That activation has a cost (destroying a room). When a hero enters a room, you can choose to activate any spells or abilities you have. After that, you apply damage to the hero and resolve any effects that might trigger, but you can't activate more abilities until the hero enters the next room.

So when the hero enters the factory, you could choose to destroy it at that time, but then the factory would not deal damage to the hero. If you wait for it to deal damage, it will then be destroyed by its own text and you will not get a chance to activate the Crushinator's ability and pay for it by destroying the factory.


How can we play a shorter but satisfying game of Arkham Horror? I've only played about half a dozen games of Arkham Horror, and they ranged in length from about 3 hours to aborting after 8.  These were all games with 5-6 players, with just the base game (no expansions).  I'm not an experienced enough player to know what factors caused that amount of variability.  (It wasn't the players or analysis paralysis.)

What can we do to complete a satisfying game in about 3-4 hours?  Are certain investigators (or combinations) better?  Are there house rules that would help?

3-4 hours is good.  8 is way too long!

Without seeing you play it's hard to say with precision where your time is being spent inefficiently, I do have a couple suggestions though.

Setup efficiently

Setup can be done in 5-10 minutes but can easily drag on for half an hour.

Setting up is a job for several people.  The most experienced person should be handing out tasks like:

Shuffle the Mythos deck
Get clue tokens on every space with this red diamond on it
Hand out character cards to everyone, figure out what fixed items are needed and search for them.
etc

Play Cooperatively

My group got a lot more efficient when we started talking before we moved.  A simple 30 second discussion of what each player's plans are for that turn can end up saving a lot of time.  For example: I found that big stalls happened when the 2nd player to move took the clue tokens I was aiming for.  With a brief chat, that sort of conflict can be hammered out.

This also allows an opportunity for someone to mention that they really can't do much unless someone else kills that pesky Dark Young hanging out in the streets.

Upkeep as well as Encounters (Arkham or Offworld) can generally be done simultaneously.  However my group prefers that all encounter cards be read aloud so the whole group can enjoy them.  The shuffling and drawing is done ahead of time so there isn't much waiting though.

Job 1 - Closing Gates

Arkham Horror is a great game, dripping in style.  It is a lot of fun to have encounters, kill monsters and collect a lot of items and spells.

The game plays a lot faster if you keep closing gates as job 1.  With 5 players several people should be tasked with collecting clues and hopping off world as quickly as possible to close the first couple gates.

Injury and Madness

The Dunwich Horror expansion added Injury and Madness cards.  These cards greatly change what happens when an investigator loses all of her sanity or stamina.

Under the original rules losing all of your sanity or stamina causes

loss of half your items
loss of half your clue tokens
reset the sanity or stamina to 1

With the Injury and Madness rules

No loss of items
No loss of clue tokens
reset sanity/stamina to maximum
Gain an injury or madness card

Either way you move to Saint Mary's Hospital or the Arkham Asylum as appropriate.

Whether or not you own Dunwich Horror, I would encourage you to use these rules.  The original rules are too harsh and potentially cost the player many turns to regain the lost items/clues/stamina/sanity and results in a slower game while the player recoups.

If you don't have the cards, just ignore them.  Or pick a couple that sound cool off of the Arkham Horror Wiki and make your own custom chart and roll a die to get a result.

The Great Old One equals Game Over

If our game is running long, we declare that we have lost if the Great Old One shows up.  In the first edition of the game (late 80's) this was the rule.  Fantasy Flight adjusted it when they remade the game.

This can depend a lot on the GOO as well.  Some of them, particularly in the base set, make for long combats.  They neither kill the investigators very fast or have the decency to die quickly themselves.

You can easily just skip all that and stay true to the the Chthulu Mythos by admitting that the world is lost when the GOO shows up.

Note - if you follow Job 1(noted above), you'll be seeing a lot less of the Great Old Ones!


Are there specific deck combinations to avoid in Smash Up? I just got the game, and haven't had a chance to play yet, but I did a quick run through on the decks (I got the basic version; no expansions yet), and it seemed like some of the combinations might be actively detrimental (e.g. some decks have Actions that target Minions with a power of 1, so pairing that deck with one of the decks with power 1 Minions might make those Actions less useful).

When picking the two decks to combine, which ones should I avoid pairing?  Why?

Plants/Steampunk and Ghost: Plants and Steampunk have ways to draw additional cards every single turn, but the Ghost deck is trying to discard all of its cards, and is often most powerful with an empty hand. (The Wizards get a pass here; they draw cards on demand rather than every single turn.)

Wizards and Robots: the Robot deck is light on action cards, and the Wizard deck has too many ways to allow you to play extra actions (which you won't be able to take advantage of).

Bears/Pirates/Aliens: Bear and Pirate have a lot of move-minion cards, and Alien has a lot of return-minion-to-hand cards; you're only going to find it useful to move/evict minions so many times during a game. They can still work well together, but you're more likely to have several extra move-minion cards that you can't think of a use for.

Of course, if your deck is too powerful, then your opponents are more likely to team up against you; a weak deck will keep more heat off of you. The game is powered by Rule of Cool (warning: TV Tropes) anyway, so don't sweat it too much. (Robot Bears vs. Ninja Plants!) It's much more fun to pick your deck-halves randomly than to dither over which decks to pick together.


Procession and pillage interaction If I use Procession on Pillage, what happens? I'm guessing that I would gain 4 Spoils, but no action worth 6, since the Pillage was already trashed by the time Procession finished resolving?

This is the best I can find, which seems to be a definitive answer.  The text in the Dark Ages rulebook is enlightening (page 7):

  In rare circumstances an effect may try to move a card that is not
  where that effect expects the card to be.  In those cases, the card
  does not move - the effect has "lost track" of the card.  Losing track
  of a card prevents it from being moved, but does not stop anything
  else from happening.  For example, if you Procession a Madman,
  Procession first puts Madman in play; then you resolve Madman, getting
  +2 Actions and drawing cards and returning Madman to the Madman pile; then Procession fails to put Madman into play again, because
  Procession expects to find Madman in play, but it is not there, it's
  int he Madman pile; then you resolve Madman again, only getting +2
  actions this time, since it says "if you do" before the card-drawing,
  and you did not actually return it to the pile this time; then Process
  fails to trash Madman since Procession again expects to find Madman in
  play and it is not there; and then you can an Action costing (1) if
  you can. [...] Things lose track of a card if something moves it, if
  it is the top card of a deck and gets covered up, or if it is the top
  card of a discard pile and gets covered up.

(emphasis mine).

This seems to say that the Pillage card goes into effect twice, even though it has been trashed at the end of the first time it goes into effect.  So yes, you get 4 Spoils (assuming there are enough Spoils left in the supply).

From the explanatory text for Procession (page 16):

  [...] then gain an Action card costing exactly more than it (even if
  somehow you failed to trash it). Gaining a card is not optional once
  you choose to play an Action card but will fail to happen if no card in the Supply costs the exact amount needed.

Which is to say, the text on the card doesn't say if you trash it, gain a card, only that you both a) trash the chosen card (if possible), and b) gain an action card costing one more than the chosen card (if possible).  So yes, you do in fact gain an action card costing (6) in this case.


Is there a "consensus" definition of what constitutes a "strong" or "weak" deck? In various Magic the Gathering posts, I've seen references to "strong" and weak" decks, and specifically to decks that are "too strong" or "too weak" to be "playable.

Is a deck that is "too strong" one where a player can win after a trivial number of turns based on luck, without much skill? And deck that is "too weak" one with which a game will drag on endlessly because no one can get the upper hand?

Even if people reasonably disagree as to what constitutes "strong" or "weak," deck is it possible to measure "stronger" or "weaker" (e.g., a strong deck will allow a resolution in fewer turns and a weak deck will allow a resolution in more turns)? That is, can these terms be defined comparatively?

Roughly, to most people, a "strong" deck is one that'll tend to win against other decks in its format, and a "weak" deck is one that'll tend to lose. It's about winning and losing, though, not as much how you win. Note that "in its format" is a pretty big deal - strong Standard decks are completely different from strong Vintage decks.

Why isn't speed of winning a good way to look at this? Well, not all decks with the same chance of winning do so at the same speed. Especially in Standard, it's normal for there to be aggro decks, midrange decks, and control decks that are all reasonably strong (they all have a good chance of winning a lot facing diverse opponents' decks). The aggro decks can win fast, the midrange decks take a bit of time, and the control decks always take a while. But people will quite reasonably say there's a strong deck in each of those categories, and if they try to compare, it won't be based on speed (then the aggro deck would always be "best"), it'll be based on which they think they can win the most.

If you want to try to measure, I'm afraid playtesting is really the only way. You have to try playing the decks against all the other decks you think might be strong (or find others who have done so), and play plenty of matches. This is why there's so much debate about what decks are strongest: it's difficult and time-consuming to measure, so people try to shortcut by testing just a bit and then using their experience and knowledge to fill in the gaps.

Once you look more closely, a few things make those statements a bit difficult to evaluate and measure.

First of all, people's subjective preferences do come into play, and on top of that, they'll tend to exaggerate, or at least be a bit cavalier with claims. People can also have objective preferences; they might be better at playing with some types of decks than others, and thus consider them stronger.

Next, "tend to win" might not indicate as large of a probability as you'd think. For example, someone might reasonably say "that deck is really strong" when it's going to win 55% of its games against other decks. That may not really sound that strong, but on the other hand, if a decent number of people play the deck at a tournament, that makes it likely that a large fraction of the top N players of the tournament will be ones playing that deck.

So if people are talking about "strong" and "weak" in the context of a tournament (or serious competitive play in general), the difference between the two might be relatively small, and hard to discern unless you're a fairly skilled player and have played plenty of games with the decks in question (or otherwise have data). If you want to measure strength of strong decks, this is pretty much the only way - look at a large number of games played by a large number of people, figure out who's playing the same decks (or similar enough to group together, at least), and see. (On the other hand, determining that a deck is very weak is pretty easy; you'll tend to notice that it loses all the time.)

Perhaps most importantly, "in its format" covers up a ton of complexity. You might think that just picking a format pins everything down, but in reality there's room for a lot of variation in the metagame: what kinds of decks everyone chooses to play. Generally, a given deck will be strong against some decks but weak against others. Depending on which of those decks are being played by more people, the deck could turn out to be strong or weak.

If you're talking about casual games, the range of power is enormous, especially when people have limited budgets and are perhaps building decks to suit their preferences, not just to be competitive. A deck that's "strong" among you and those you play with might be seen completely differently by another group of people. Of course, in casual play, you're also likely to be a bit less concerned with "playable" and eking out small edges in win probability, and more concerned with just having fun.


What are some options on using the blank cards in the The Gathering Storm Expansion? I just got the Race For The Galaxy: The Gathering Storm expansion and it come with 18 blank cards.  What are my options for setting up these blank cards?  I'm worried I'll drastically alter the game play if I'm not careful.  Any ideas on how I can find a way to add these cards to the game without breaking the game?

I haven't got the expansion (only the original game), but I've had a few ideas:

Duplicates. If there are existing cards in the deck which you find
are key and don't have a duplicate, consider making another of those
available. I'm specifically thinking of the cards that score 3VPs on a 6-development, but there's only one copy of it.
Copying but changing colour. If you find there's a really
useful Mining card, but no equivalent for Alien, you could consider
making an Alien version of it.
Looking at existing cards' limits.
e.g. If you're making a 6-development, look at what the maximum
points it's possible to score with the existing ones, and make sure
the ones you make don't exceed that.


Are you allowed to play Blackjack on your own with one hand? My dad said the house has the advantage in Blackjack because you can't play one hand against the dealer, you can only play on your own if you play two hands, and this gives them an edge.

I know their edge actually comes from playing last (as if you both bust, you don't push, the player loses), but would playing 1 or 2 hands against the house make a difference, or would their edge stay the same?

A lot depends on how the house perceives you as a customer. If you are a "regular" and have played many rounds with them in the past, they will likely deal to you alone today, even if you only play one hand.

If this is your first time, and you've been betting the minimum, that's kind of a different story. The house may then decide that it's not worth the dealer's time and effort, and may require a "two hand minimum" to run the table, either from you, or between you and another party.


What resolves first? Creatures abilities or instants? Can instants be played after I decide not to block?

I've been reading through this forum and google for this answer for a while now, the closest I have come to my answer is the thread linked above. Specifically this answer here. https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/a/12216/18889

Now to the specifics of the question. I'll use Longtusk Cub and Shock.

Opponent attacks with Long Tusk without pumping it up, leaving it at 2/2. I do not declare any blockers. Opponent decided to pay energy to make it a 3/3. In response, I cast shock.

Does shock take effect, since its an instant, before Long Tusk becomes a 3/3?

Thanks for the help in advanced.

Yes

In this example, the Longtusk Cub's pump ability is placed on the stack, Shock is placed on the stack and the stack resolves in reverse order. Shock deals 2 damage to a 2/2 creature, killing it; the pump ability fizzles as its 'target' is no longer on the battlefield.

A couple of comments on the way you've worded your question:

  Does shock take effect, since its an instant, before Long Tusk becomes a 3/3?

The fact that Shock is an instant is irrelevant on when it will resolve, that's what the stack is for. The stack is what determines in what order effects are applied to the game. Shock being an instant allows you to place it on the stack at a good time - as a reaction to your opponent activating this pump-ability.

Also, in this case, it doesn't matter whether you declare blockers or not, or even if all of this is in the attack phase.


Are you allowed to attack creatures instead of a player? Are you allowed to attack creatures instead of a player during the combat phase? Because it seems to me it's much more easier to block (because you can actually choose what you attack) than to just throw all your critters at the player and hope the right ones don't get blocked.

Since this is a basic rules question, a quote from the basic rules:

  In your combat phase, you choose which of your creatures will attack, and you
  choose who or what they will attack. Each one can attack your opponent or one of your opponent’s planeswalkers, but not any of his or her creatures.

You say it'd be easier to just attack creatures. Sure - and that's kind of the point. If you could just use a bigger creature to kill off a smaller creature, combat wouldn't be nearly so interesting, and the game would lose a lot. You really do have to work out how to manage to attack your opponent and get through without losing too many creatures or leaving yourself vulnerable. It's more work, but it's part of what makes the game interesting and challenging, and gives you an edge if you're better at it than your opponent.


Weird Problems with Starving Venom Fusion Dragon My friend and I were dueling, and he summoned Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, and Starving Venom Fusion Dragon can copy an opponent's card's effect. So he copied my Cyber Dragon Infinity's effect. Cyber Dragon Infinity's effect allows you to target one face-up monster on the field and attach it to Cyber Dragon Infinity as material.
However, my friend used Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's newly gained effect to add my Cyber Dragon Infinity as material to his Starving Venom Fusion Dragon. My first question is can a Fusion monster ever have Xyz materials?
The next turn, my friend used Starving Venom Fusion Dragon to copy my Cyber Shadow Gardna's effect. Cyber Shadow Gardna is a Trap Monster and part of it's effect says that during the End Phase, set this card back. So my second question is, can a monster be set like a trap?
Starving Venom Fusion Dragon's Effect:

2 DARK monsters on the field, except Tokens
If this card is Fusion Summoned: You can make this card gain ATK equal to 1 opponent's Special Summoned monster, until the end of this turn. Once per turn: You can target 1 Level 5 or higher monster your opponent controls; until the End Phase, this card's name becomes that monster's original name, and replace this effect with that monster's original effects. If this Fusion Summoned card is destroyed: You can destroy all your opponent's Special Summoned monsters.

Cyber Dragon Infinity's Effect:

3 Level 6 LIGHT Machine monsters
Once per turn, you can also Xyz Summon "Cyber Dragon Infinity" by using "Cyber Dragon Nova" you control as material. (Transfer its materials to this card.) Gains 200 ATK for each material attached to it. Once per turn: You can target 1 face-up Attack Position monster on the field; attach it to this card as a face-up material. Once per turn, when a card or effect is activated (Quick Effect): You can detach 1 material from this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy it.

Cyber Shadow Gardna's Effect (Trap):

Activate only during your opponent''s Main Phase. After activation, Special Summon this card, it is treated as an Effect Monster Card (Machine-Type/EARTH/Level 4/ATK ?/DEF ?). (This card is still treated as a Trap Card.) If this card is selected as an attack target, the ATK and DEF of this card become the ATK and DEF of the attacking monster. This card is Set in its Spell & Trap Card Zone during your opponent''s End Phase.

You asked two questions, but the real answer why your friend couldn't do that is:

Starving Venom Fusion Dragon explicitly says that it can only target Lvl 5 or higher monsters.

Nor Gardna not your XYZ apply to that, as Gardna is lvl 4 and Cyber Dragon does not have a level (as it is an XYZ monster, it has Rank instead). Although the XYZ is Rank 6, Rank is not the same as Level.

To answer your other questions, only XYZ monsters can have XYZ materials. That means that such effect couldn't have been activated even in this erroneous play scenario.

Now, in YuGiOh some monsters can be set as Spell/Trap cards, such as the Artifact Archetype. However, they specifically indicate that you can set them in such way. Finally, even supposing you copied Gardna's effect and supposing you Starving Venom as Spell/Trap, the effect copied explicitly reads at the end (emphasis mine):

  [...] This card is Set in its Spell & Trap Card Zone during your opponent''s End Phase.

So it is specifying it has to be set in its corresponding Spell/Trap zone. As Starving Venom does not have one it is logical that the effect can't be activated by failing to meet the requirement.

Finally, as mentioned in comments, Starving Venom copy effect ends at the end phase. Thus, it will never reach the opponent's end phase for the setting effect to take place.