Bottom card drawn during epidemic: Are 3 cubes added to the city pictured, when the disease in that city's region has already been eradicated? I suspect not, because the rule on Eradicating Disease states:

  From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the
  Infector's turn. Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and
  place them back in the box - they will not be used again for the rest
  of the game.

However, Epidemics do not occur during the Infector's turn, and the Epidemic rules state:

  Take the bottom card from the Infection Draw Pile and add 3 cubes to
  the city pictured on the card, then place the card into the Infection
  Discard Pile.

There are more rules in this section but none of them clarify whether there is an exception.

So I don't know which of the two rules the game designers intended to take precedence. So I would like a definitive answer to the question: For the bottom card drawn during epidemic, are 3 cubes added to the city pictured, when the disease in that city's region has already been eradicated?

Further clarification isn't needed. Under the Eradicating a Disease section you quoted (emphasis mine), the rules instruct you to put the cubes away, they will not be used for the rest of the game.

  If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, ﬂip the Cure marker for the disease to the “Sunset” side. From now on, cards of this color have no eﬀect when drawn on the Infector’s turn. Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and place them back in the box—they will not be used again for the rest of the game.

The only exception to this rule would be from the Pandemic: On the Brink expansion Virulent Strain card Hidden Pocket, where it is possible for a disease that has been eradicated to come back.


Possible to add a single build with changed value onto a preexisting build? Got in a fight with my dad over this because I wouldn't allow the game to go on until I understood all the rules correctly.

So my dad had a single 7-build of 4 + 3, I had a single 3-build of 2 + A. He proceeds to add a 4 from his hand onto my build, changing the build value from a 3 to a 7. He then combines his new 7-build to his previous 7-build making a multiple 7-build. On his next turn he takes the multiple build with an another 7 he has in his hand.

Is it possible to add a single build with a changed value with a preexisting build?

I understand the rule below because both separate builds add up to 5 and is captured with a 5

but does this rule apply to a build that originally did not equate to the capture value of the build it was added to?

  I just started to play Casino and I'm still learning so I might not be articulating the exact question I have in mind but hopefully what I wrote
  makes enough sense.

I have always played that this is allowed. However, there are rule variations that might not allow it. You'll have to agree on what rules you want to play with and use those going forward.

As an example, take a look at the rules found at pagat.com - I think this is where you pulled your rule excerpt from. Rule 5 (Adding to a Build) says there are two ways to add to a build. The second one is this:

  You may add to any build, single or multiple, by playing a card from your hand which, either alone or combined with other cards on the table which are not yet in builds, matches the existing capture number of the build, provided that you hold a card which can capture the combined build.

Here it says you can add to a build by utilizing a card in your hand and cards on the table that are not yet in builds. Under this rule, your dad's move would not be allowed.

However, further down, under "Variations", the same page lists this variation:

  Some players treat a single build exactly like a single card of the same value, for the purpose of capturing it or extending the build. For example, if there is a build of 6 (5+A) on the table and a loose 4, a player who holds a 10 can capture the 6-build and the 4, and a player who holds two 10's can combine one 10 from hand with the 6-build and the 4 to make a multiple 10-build.

This would allow your dad to make his move, since the 3 build that you've made would act just like a single-card 3. He could then add his 4 to it to make 7 and then a double 7 with his previous build.

There are many sites out there with Casino rules on them, many with similar small (but important!) variations. Casino does not have as set rules as something like, for example, Bridge. Since it's a family game, you should take a look at the rule variations that exist and decide on what variations you wish to use.


Victory in Yugioh by Unusual Means My first question is: Is it true that if your opponents obtains more than 5 back field cards (traps, etc) that they automatically lose?  I realize you cannot lay more than 5 cards in that area, but suppose your opponent already has 5 trap cards, then you use a trap card (for example Creature Swap) to swap one of your monsters with theirs.... except that the monster you give them has 2 traps attached to it already.  Now they have a total of 6 trap cards on their side.  What happens?  I've heard that they instantly loose and there is nothing they can do.  True?  Additionally, any other cool ideas on how to win using such "glitches" in the game.

No, you do not win the game if your opponent somehow controls 6 Trap cards. There are only three ways to win a game of Yu-gi-oh (page 26 or 30 in pdf):

Winning a Duel
Each player starts a Duel with 8000 Life Points. You win a Duel if: you reduce your opponent's Life Points to 0; if your opponent is unable to draw a card; or if a card's special effect says you win. [...]

There are no "glitches", or other ways of winning a game.


Is there a complete database of Pokémon data? I'm looking for a database (in whatever format) that contains all official Pokémon data (~PokéDex). A good example is the data serebii.net has, but the owner of the site doesn't seem to be eager to hand his data over.

Thanks!

Can't vouch for its completeness, but http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-trading-card-game/database/ seems to be a similar resource to the Magic TCG's "Gatherer".

Certainly when I made a request for cards with the name "Pikachu" I got 27 card results, so it seems like it could keep a deckbuilder busy for quite a while...


Can each player fight a minion in each round in Roll Player - Monsters and Minions? In Roll Player - Monsters and Minions an addition action is added to the base game's market phase, The Hunt.

  MARKET PHASE
  During the Market Phase, players may do one of the following:
  1. Buy a card from the Market, as in the base game.
  2. Discard a card from the Market and gain 2 Gold
  from the supply, as in the base game.
  3. Go on a Hunt. (See Going on a Hunt below.)

The rules for the hunt include the step

  Reveal the top card of the Minion deck and place it face up on top of the deck.

Does this mean the new minion is available to be Hunted by the next player in the same round? We've had a bit of disagreement because this is different to the way Market cards are refreshed.

Yes.

On page 6 are the rules. The important bits are as follows:

Examine the face-up top card of the Minion deck. (If this is the first turn, this card will be the one pulled during setup.)

...

If the reward level does not have the trophy symbol, put the Minion card on the bottom of the Minion deck, because the Minion survived and ran away. (You did not defeat the monster, bottom deck it.)
If the reward level does include a trophy symbol, place the Minion card near the player’s Character Sheet as a Trophy: the player’s character has killed the Minion! Then gather information:... (You did defeat the monster, if it's a trophy keep it.)
Reveal the top card of the Minion deck and place it face up on top of the deck. (Draw a new monster.)

Regardless if a monster is defeated or not step 9 ensures that a new monster is placed. All the steps on page 6 occur when the current player goes on a hunt, not once per round. In short, the monster defeated or not gets replaced by a new monster that is available to fight for the next player in turn.

You can download the rules PDF on BGG


Can This Hand be made? I was on a cruise and we were given this quiz and I never got to find the answer.  I can see only 12 tricks.

The Contract is 7NT

The Opening Lead is the King of Spades

North
S A
H KQJ109
D 987654
C 2

South
S Void
H A
D AKQJ10
C A876543

Thanks

This is a lesson in a technique called "unblocking." And yes, the hand can be made in a "roundabout" way.

The first thing you should notice is that North has five tricks in hearts, from K down to 9. The thing that prevents you from taking those tricks is the "blocking" A in South's hand. So on the lead of the king of spades, declarer takes the ace of spades (one trick) in North and "unblocks" (discards) the ace of hearts from the South hand, thereby allowing North's hearts to "run."

The second thing you should notice is that North has six diamonds that can run, because they follow South's five HIGHER diamonds. But you need to get rid of South's diamonds, first. Fortunately, you can discard them on the KQJT9 of hearts. Then run your six diamonds from North, discarding 6 low clubs. Finally play the club 2 from North to South's ace.

You have one spade, five hearts, six diamonds, and one club trick, 13 tricks in all.


If I cast a spell that gives haste to all my creatures until end of turn, then cast a creature, will it gain haste? For example, I play Goblin Lackey, then I use Burst of Speed and it gains haste. I attack with it and my opponent doesn't block. I put a Siege-Gang Commander due to Goblin Lackey's effect.

Does the Siege-Gang Commander have haste?

Only creatures in play when Burst of Speed resolves are affected - it even says so in the rulings. But in your example, it won't matter because by the time Goblin Lackey lets you get your extra Goblin out, you're already well past your chance to attack (unless you somehow get a second combat phase).

If you're curious about the actual rules behind this, unfortunately, it's one of the more annoying nitpicky details. Spells and non-static abilities which modify characteristics (name, mana cost, color, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, abilities, power, toughness, loyalty, hand modifier, and life modifier) determine the set of objects they apply to when they resolve. Haste is an ability, which is a characteristic, so Burst of Speed only affects the creatures that are on the battlefield when it resolves.

On the other hand, spells and non-static abilities which don't modify characteristics are considered to be modifying the rules of the game and determine what they apply to continuously. For example, there's Dread Charge, which looks like it's granting something like fear, but since it's not actually granting an ability, will indeed apply to creatures which come into play after you cast it. Alternatively, in the context of your example, if hypothetically haste weren't an ability, and instead Burst of Speed said "Until end of turn, creatures you control can attack even if they haven't been under your control continuously since your most recent turn began", then it would affect subsequent creatures that enter the battlefield.

"Indestructible" was recently "fixed" to become a keyword ability, so like with haste and Burst of Speed, for example, Boros Charm now only applies to creatures in play when you cast it. On the other hand, "is unblockable" was changed to "can't be blocked" to emphasize that it's not an ability, so for example Glaring Spotlight's ability does apply to creatures which come into play after you use it.

Here's the full rule:

  611.2c If a continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability modifies the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects, the set of objects it affects is determined when that continuous effect begins. After that point, the set won't change. (Note that this works differently than a continuous effect from a static ability.) A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability that doesn't modify the characteristics or change the controller of any objects modifies the rules of the game, so it can affect objects that weren't affected when that continuous effect began. If a single continuous effect has parts that modify the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects and other parts that don't, the set of objects each part applies to is determined independently.

  Example: An effect that reads "All white creatures get +1/+1 until end of turn" gives the bonus to all permanents that are white creatures when the spell or ability resolves -- even if they change color later -- and doesn't affect those that enter the battlefield or turn white afterward.

  Example: An effect that reads "Prevent all damage creatures would deal this turn" doesn't modify any object's characteristics, so it's modifying the rules of the game. That means the effect will apply even to damage from creatures that weren't on the battlefield when the continuous effect began. It also affects damage from permanents that become creatures later in the turn.

Finally, static abilities also apply continuously. This isn't usually confusing; they're written as simple statements of fact, like Blur Sliver's "Sliver creatures you control have haste", which while in play gives all your Slivers haste, plain and simple. The full rule for that:

  112.3d Static abilities are written as statements. They're simply true. Static abilities create continuous effects which are active while the permanent with the ability is on the battlefield and has the ability, or while the object with the ability is in the appropriate zone. See rule 604, "Handling Static Abilities."


Two pay cards and a Just Say No If I play 2 rent cards and an opponent plays a just say no card, how many rents does it cancel? one rent or two?

"Just Say No" cancels the effect of a single card. So if you have two rent cards to play, you should play them one at at time to see if your opponent plays JSN to each.


Is it okay / does it make sense for another player to join a running game of Munchkin? In a "just for fun" session of the card game Munchkin, would it be okay to join a game in progress? Of course the joining person would be in a disadvantage.

Arguments against this, as far as I can think of for now:

The current order of the players is disturbed by adding another player.

I've played plenty of games where someone has joined mid-game, and it has worked very well them just starting as if from scratch (i.e. at level 1 and drawing the starting hand of 4 treasure, 4 doors).

In my experience, what tends to happen is the established players have no problem with helping them to fight monsters they can't beat, meaning they'll level up and get loot just fine without needing a level boost.

In terms of changing the play order, I have a feeling there's a card which influences turn order in one of the early expansion sets, something along the lines of "Player is now fighting this monster, and play continues as though this were the player's turn", effectively skipping everyone in between - although I can't find the card name or text with a cursory search. Also, I wouldn't have said Munchkin is a game which particularly relied on the turn order, so I don't really see how this could be a problem.

In my opinion, if someone gets upset over a new player joining mid-campaign in casual play, they're probably taking Munchkin too seriously.


If I draw an enemy that is discarded because it cannot spawn, do I draw another encounter? During the Mythos phase when each investigator draws an encounter card, if an enemy is drawn that spawns at a particular location that hasn't yet entered play, that card is discarded.

Do I then draw another encounter card in that situation, or did my investigator simply benefit from the lucky draw?

In the situation where no location in play is a viable place to spawn the monster, then you have lucked out and the card is discarded without drawing a replacement card.

From the rules reference (page 19 under Spawn):

  If an enemy has no legal location to spawn at (for example, if its spawn instruction directs it to a specific location that is not in play, or if no location in play satisfies its “spawn” instruction), it does not spawn, and is discarded instead.

Nowhere in the rules does it state that a replacement card should be drawn for the discarded monster.


MTG: Legion's initiative rulings? Card: Legion's Initiative

What does "at the beggining of the next combat" means. I used LI in my turn, the creatures do they return for my combat or my opponents combat?

Also if my creatures are tapped because I attacked during my turn... and if my opponent attacks me in their turn, can I use LI to exile my creatures and return them to the battlefield to block?

A turn in Magic is divided into five distinct phases:  the Beginning phase, where you untap, to anything that triggers in the upkeep step, and then draw; a Main phase where you have the opportunity to play lands and Sorcery speed spells and abilities, the Combat phase, a second Main phase, and then the End phase where end of turn triggers happen and then clean up occurs.

Combat begins after all players have passed during the first Main phase while nothing is waiting to be resolved.  That is when Legion's Initiative returns creatures to the battlefield. This transition is before the attacker has declared whether or not any creatures (and which ones) are attacking.

If you use Legion's Initiative's ability before this point you will get the creatures back on the same turn. If you use it afterwards, you'll get them back on the next turn.

When a player finishes their first main phase, their opponent(s) can always respond before the Combat Phase starts.  But because responding there is uncommon, it's not unusual (particularly in casual or low level play) for players to announce who they're attacking with without first announcing the end of the main phase.  Feel free to remind your opponent to announce the end of the phase if they haven't been, particularly if you have a card out that has a desirable use at that point.


Is it correct to play defensive high-lo or "echo" with two small honors? I'm sitting East, defending a two heart contract with the following hand: (s) QJ (H) J642 (d) K743 (c) T72. Partner, West, leads the king of Spades, from what is likely an AK sequence. With two random small cards, say 82, I would "echo" by playing the 8 followed by the 2. I did the same here, playing the Q, followed by the J on lead of the A. (With say, Qx, I would have made a judgment call.) But here, my playing of the Q was meant to encourage by showing that I had either a singleton Q or QJ doubleton.

Partner protested, saying that I should followed with the J, then Q. Then today, I read a Larry Cohen column https://www.larryco.com/bridge-articles/actual/real-deal-23 that said, "when playing third to a trick on defense, play the cheapest of touching honors."

Are these people right, and if so, why does what they say go against what I was taught about echoes?

Note: I do not believe that my question is context dependent. Even so, for the record, with neither side vulnerable, the bidding was North 1C, East (me) Pass, South 1H, West, pass, North 2H all pass. Lead, king of spades.

Larry's advice is for when the card you play is winning the trick. When you're playing an honor that is lower than some other honor already played to the trick, play the top of touching honors.

This isn't an attitude signal (ie echo). This is communicating the honor layout of the suit.

Never* play an honor under a high honor unless you have the touching honor below it or it is a singleton. This signal allows partner to underlead to get to your hand if necessary.

*Never say never in bridge, but this is closer to true than "third hand high" and "eight ever, nine never."


In Poker is it true that "you must give action to get action"? In your experience, do most players "fold" when someone who seldom plays enters the pot? Does this mean that it is a good idea to play in some borderline (presumably break even) situations, just to weaken perceptions of one's being tight? And how, if at all, does this vary from low to high limit games?

What you're talking about is called Table Image.

Table image is important because it represents what other players think they know about you and how you play.  If you play very tight (very few hands, only very good cards), and players see this, they're only going to stay in the pot with you, if they also have very good cards (in which case you should be a little worried).

It's not strictly true that you must LOSE hands (VPIP, or hands you voluntarily put into the pot), but you do need to play such that your opponents don't know what kind of cards you might have.  This may mean bluffing 10% of the time, or it could be more sophisticated, like always playing in position (when you're one of the last to bet), since then they won't know if you have good cards, or are just playing position.

In general though, if ALL you do is only bet when you have a tier 1 hand, then yes, people are just going to fold.


Can special cards with "discard" label in King of Tokyo be saved until later? In King of Tokyo, when I buy a special card with a "discard" label, do I have to use that card at the time of purchase? Can I save it to use later?

I infer from the rule book that I can save it... But the official text doesn't exactly state.

The rules explicitly state that Discard cards are immediately used and discarded.

It's in a text box right above "3. Buying cards".


How does Combat Damage Work with Undergrowth Champion? Undergrowth Champion is a 2/2 creature with an ability that reads:

  If damage would be dealt to Undergrowth Champion while it has a +1/+1 counter on it, prevent that damage and remove a +1/+1 counter from Undergrowth Champion.

If Undergrowth Champion had 1 counter on it (making it a 3/3) and was in combat with another 3/3, how much damage would Undergrowth Champion deal?  Would the counter being removed cause Undergrowth Champion to deal 2 damage?  Or would the removal of the counter take place after damage amounts have been assigned?  Would the opposing 3/3 live or die?

UC will deal three damage.

The key is that replacement and prevention effects change what you will perform. Necessarily, this happens before the replaced instructions are performed.

The event being replaced is

  All combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously.

In this case, the above means the following before prevention effects:

  Simultaneously, UC deals 3 damage to the 3/3, and the 3/3 deals 3 damage to the UC.

But there's a prevention effect affecting the second half. Even if we naïvely apply apply the effect, the answer is clear

  Simultaneously, UC deals 3 damage to the 3/3, and remove a +1/+1 counter from UC.

But as per 615.5, the additional part of the prevention effect is actually delayed, so we actually get

  UC deals 3 damage to the 3/3, and then remove a +1/+1 counter from UC.

Either way, it's clear it does three damage.

  615.5. Some prevention effects also include an additional effect, which may refer to the amount of damage that was prevented. The prevention takes place at the time the original event would have happened; the rest of the effect takes place immediately afterward.


Ticket to Ride trade original destination cards later in the game About your original destination cards in Ticket to Ride North America (the three you get at the beginning of the game):

Can you trade them later in the game? Our group is not sure.

You cannot trade destination cards at all: neither the ones you receive at the start nor any you receive later.

You get three at the start and can choose to keep all three or just two (discarding the other one). Rulebook:

  Shuffle the Destination Ticket cards and deal 3 cards to each player. Each player
  looks at their Destination Tickets and decides which ones they wish to keep. A player
  must keep at least two, but may keep all three if he chooses. Any returned cards are
  placed on the bottom of the Destination Ticket deck. This deck is then placed next to the
  board. Players keep their Destination Tickets secret until the end of the game.

For destination cards drawn during the game as an action, you draw three and keep one or more, discarding the one(s) you don't keep.

Again rulebook:

  – The player draws 3 Destination Tickets from the top of the deck. He must keep at least one of them, but he may keep
  two or all three if he chooses. Any returned cards are placed on the bottom of the deck.

There is no mechanism for trading them or discarding them later.


Mainland production numbers go to new islands (Settlers of Catan app) When a player reaches an island by ship, the hex they "land on" gets a production number. However, if the computer has run out of new production numbers to assign, the production number for the newly-reached island hex is taken from a hex in the mainland (i.e now a hex in the mainland has no production number).

When this happens, the computer lets you pick which number from the mainland you want to take to the island. I would like to know how the game decides which choices to give you. It doesn't always let you pick from all of the hexes you currently occupy on the mainland.

The rules are given at Catan Maps (and I believe somewhere in app, but I don't have it installed at the moment):

  After setting up the board as shown, set aside the following four number tokens, shuffled in a face-down pile:  3, 5, 8, 9, 10

  [...]

  As soon as a player’s ship reaches the intersection of a terrain hex belonging to one of the small islands, a number token is assigned to this hex. The first 5 number tokens are taken randomly from the face down supply.

  Once the supply is used up, the player whose turn it is must remove a number token from the main island. At first, only number tokens are available that obey the following 3 rules:

  The number token must belong to a terrain hex adjacent to which the active player owns a settlement or city.
  Each settlement or city on the main island must keep at least one terrain hex with a number token.
  On a small island, the numbers 6 and 8 must not be next to each other.

  If it is not possible to comply with all three rules, you may break the rules in consecutive order from 1 to 3.

The page at Catan Maps also notes that this scenario was included in the first edition of Seafarers, but was removed because it requires so many different sets.


How does city in a bottle work? If I cast City in a Bottle, what cards are affected? I remember hearing something about a rules change revoking the set symbol as a characteristic, meaning that cards like this would affect all cards first printed in the Arabian Nights set, is this correct?

I cant find anything in the rulings or on gatherer to that effect

According to the rule 109.3 which states:

  109.3. An object’s characteristics are name, mana cost, color, color indicator, card type, subtype,  supertype, rules text, abilities,
  power, toughness, loyalty, hand modifier, and life modifier. Objects
  can have some or all of these characteristics. Any other information
  about an object isn’t a  characteristic. For example, characteristics
  don’t include whether a permanent is tapped, a spell’s  target, an
  object’s owner or controller, what an Aura enchants, and so on.

Which means that the expansions symbol on the card is no longer a characteristic.

This might explain it more: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/255c&page=3

  109.3

  Expansion symbols are no longer a characteristic. Magic cards are
  recognized as individual game pieces by their English card names. One
  of the central tenets of that system is that all cards with the same
  name are considered the same for deck building and play purposes. This
  system lets us reprint cards, print promo cards, and have cards appear
  in many languages. But three older cards referred to cards from a
  specific expansion, and that runs contrary to the system. The Arabian
  Nights Bird Maiden and the Fourth Edition version should be the same,
  but City in a Bottle says they're not. In fact, it makes the original
  version worse!

  So, cards will no longer refer to expansion symbol as a
  characteristic. The three cards that used to do this (City in a
  Bottle, Golgothian Sylex, and Apocalypse Chime) will receive errata in
  a future update to refer to cards "originally printed" in the Arabian
  Nights, Antiquities, and Homelands sets, respectively). This means
  that City in a Bottle no longer affects any cards named Mountain. It
  also means that those three cards can affect cards that were in the
  appropriate set and then reprinted. City in a Bottle will affect the
  aforementioned Fourth Edition Bird Maiden.


Do you need to show what you draw? I've had exploding kittens for a while but haven't really played it because every time I try to play, nobody really knows whether they are supposed to keep what they draw secret or show it to everybody to prove it isn't an exploding kitten.

Are you supposed to show everybody what you draw when you draw it (allowing more complicated strategies based on remembering what cards people have) or do you just trust that nobody hides an exploding kitten?

The instructions make no mention of this.

The rules (which are available online) do specify that hands are secret. This is within the setup section:

Shuffle the remaining deck and deal 4 cards face down to each player.

Deal 1 Defuse card to each player so that everyone has a hand of 5 cards total. Keep your hand secret

The draw step is part of the normal turn order:

Finally, end your turn by drawing a card from the Draw Pile into your hand and hoping it’s not an Exploding Kitten.

So the game tells us that hands are secret and cards drawn are added to our hand - at no point does it tell us to reveal the drawn card.
The exception for an exploding kitten being revealed immediately is covered under the specific rules for exploding kittens:

EXPLODING KITTENS

You must show this card immediately. Unless you have a DEFUSE CARD, you’re dead. Discard all of your cards, including the EXPLODING KITTEN.

So yes, you trust people to admit when they have a kitten. Cheating is possible (i.e. hold a kitten, then steal a defuse and pretend the next card was a kitten), but apart from that specific case it won't stop them being found out by the end of the game.


Data on how large a particular Magic the Gathering tournament was? So I was looking through the official Wizards of the Coast site:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage

The formatting is kind of all over the place. I was trying to figure out how many people participated at particular events but I can't seem to find the official count.

I was wondering if anyone knows where I can get this data.

Further exploring the link you provided, it seems that, after selecting an individual event, you can see it's Coverage by days.

Among that information the number of assistants is reported. For example, on the United States National Championship 2018 event it reads on the first paragraph (emphasis mine):

  It was a weekend that comes only once a year – US Nationals, when players compete for the title of National Champion and a spot on the US World Magic Cup Team. On Saturday, 739 players arrived at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, ready and eager to play for their chance at the title of US National Champion.

The same seems to apply for any of the events they list, like this other, Sao Paulo's Celebration of the 25th anniversary:

  1,429 players gathered in São Paulo to celebrate Magic's 25th anniversary, making this the largest tournament South America had ever seen. Needless to say, they also came to play thousands upon thousands of matches of Modern!


Can The Card "Suppression Bonds" enchant a creature with Shroud So the description of Suppression Bonds states:

  Enchant non land permanent. Enchanted permanent can't attack or block,
  and it's activated abilities can't be activated.

The card doesn't use the word target so basically I was confused on whether or not I could use it on a creature with shroud. Any clarification is welcome and appreciated.

P.S. If it can enchant a creature with shroud using this method, could I also use other cards that do not specifically target a creature with shroud?

It depends on how you are enchanting the creature.

If you are casting the spell then no, you cannot enchant a creature with shroud. This is because aura spells target while they are on the stack.

  114.1b Aura spells are always targeted. These are the only permanent spells with targets. An Aura’s target is specified by its enchant keyword ability (see rule 702.5, “Enchant”).

If the aura is entering the battlefield due to some ability or spell just putting it there (like Starfield of Nyx's triggered ability) you can put it on a creature with shroud, because the aura is not on the stack, therefore it doesn't target.

  303.4f If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell, and the effect putting it onto the battlefield doesn’t specify the object or player the Aura will enchant, that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.


Crypt Incursion stack help So me and my mate are just looking for clarification about Crypt Incursion.

For example, I play Crypt Incursion, targeting my graveyard. In response he plays Crypt Incursion and also wants to target my graveyard.

Which Crypt Incursion goes first? And if his does go first, am I then able to respond and target his graveyard instead?

When you cast a spell, it goes on the stack before it resolves and takes effect. While it is on the stack, both players can cast instants or activate abilities "in response" to the spell or ability on the stack, and these responses will go on TOP of the stack. Once both players say that they don't wish to do anything else, the spell or ability on the TOP of the stack resolves. This means that the second Crypt Incursion will resolve first, so when the first one resolves, your graveyard will no longer have creatures.

You cannot change which graveyard you wish to target in response. You choose your targets as you cast the spell (as you put it on the stack), and you cannot change that choice later.

From the Basic Rulebook:

  The spell doesn’t resolve (have its effect) right away—it has
  to wait on the stack. Each player, including you, now gets
  a chance to cast an instant or activate an activated ability
  in response. If a player does, that instant or ability goes on
  the stack on top of what was already waiting there. When
  all players decline to do anything, the top spell or ability
  on the stack will resolve.

and

  You choose the targets for a spell when you cast it, and
  you choose targets for an activated ability when you
  activate it. If you can’t meet the targeting requirements,
  you can’t cast the spell or activate the activated ability.
  Once you choose targets, you can’t change your mind
  later.


Am I understanding the China Card right in Twilight Struggle? I want to make sure I understand this right.

Most cards, I can either choose the Event, or use the OPS Points in the top-left corner.  If I choose the Event, then the OPS points in the corner is irrelevant to that specific card play (unless the Event tells me otherwise).

However, for the China Card, if I choose the Event, I actually do use the 4 OPS points for that card.

Is that correct?  I am under the impression that OPS Points are only relevant if I ignore the Event.  But the China Card was throwing me off.

On a side note, I understand the concept that if I am holding a card that helps my enemy, and I choose to use the OPS points, the Event triggers anyway.

That's correct. The China Card is only used for operation points. What's unique about the China Card is the operations value differs depending on where you decide to spend the points. If you spend all of the points inside Asia (and Southeast Asia) you can use 5 OP instead of the 4 printed on the card. If you use the card anywhere else, or in combination with Asia, you can spend 4.

Additional notes from the Deluxe Edition rulebook:

  9.1 China’s role in the Cold War
  is abstracted through ‘The China
  Card’. Either player may play
  ‘The China Card’ as if it were part
  of his regular hand. ‘The China
  Card’ does not count towards the
  hand limit.

and

  9.2 Every play of ‘The China
  Card’ counts as one of the Actions
  (6 or 7) that a player is permitted
  during a turn. As a result, players
  may have more cards left in their
  hand than usual, if ‘The China
  Card’ is played.


Why does negating Lady Assailant of Flames' effect still require banishing cards? While playing Yu-Gi-Oh! (via Duel Links), my opponent had Lady Assailant of Flames face down. Its text reads as follows:

  FLIP: Remove 3 cards from the top of your Deck from play to inflict 800 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points.

I attacked it face down, which required it to flip face up. However, I attacked it with Element Saurus that had its negating effect active (I've bolded it below):

  This monster gets the following effect(s) while there is a monster(s) with the following Attribute(s) on the field:
  ● FIRE: This card gains 500 ATK.
  ● EARTH: Negate the effect of an Effect Monster that this card destroyed by battle.

The end result was the following:

Element Saurus declares an attack
Lady Assailant of Flames flips
The top three cards from my opponent's deck are removed from play (i.e. banished)
The animation plays for an effect being negated and no Life Point damage is dealt
Lady Assailant of Flames is destroyed

I was really surprised that Step 3 happened, and I would have expected that to be negated too (I would have expected it to not remove the cards nor inflict damage). Why does negating Lady Assailant of Flames' effect still require banishing cards?

As the only time this card was released was back in 2003, it is using an older wording standard. This effect can be broken up into two pieces:

  Remove 3 cards from the top of your Deck from play

and

  inflict 800 points of damage to your opponent's Life Points.

The key point of this effect is that it uses the word "to," which was the old way to indicate a cost. "[Do X] to [Do Y]" - X is the cost, and Y is the effect. Modern cards use a semi-colon instead of the word "to" to make a cost more explicit. If this card were re-released, its text would likely read like this:

  FLIP: Banish the top 3 cards of your Deck; inflict 800 damage to your opponent.

(These rewordings were done using a standard Konami called "Problem-Solving Card Text": an overhaul of effect wording to help clarify scenarios like this. Specifically, see bullet point 2 under "Action Structure" of this page for the guideline that relates to identifying costs)

When an effect is negated, paying its costs are not (see Activation Cost, paragraph 4), . Since this card does not use wording that implies using this effect is optional (such as "You may remove 3 cards...", see paragraph 3 of that previous link), the effect must be activated and its costs paid unless it is impossible to pay the cost (such as if you had less than 3 cards in your deck). Element Saurus then negates only the effect part.


How many plays of Pandemic Legacy until it is complete? I've seen and read a few spoiler-free reviews of Pandemic Legacy, and it looks great. As such I have a question I've not seen covered yet. I was wondering how many times the game is played until it is complete? I think I read somewhere that it's two plays per month - is that correct? So the game will be complete after 24 plays?

The Pandemic Legacy campaign runs over a single year. You play a game for each month, but if you lose then you play that month one more time before moving to the next one. So if you win every game, you will have 12 games, but if you lose each month then you will have 24. Before you use any of the Legacy components, you can also play an unlimited number of games of "standard" Pandemic (or something very close to it), but once you start opening packets and putting on stickers you're in for those 12-24 games.


Exploding Kittens- Slap to get out of multiple turns What I’m trying to find out is if you get slapped (let’s say triple) and you play something in-between (you don’t currently have a slap in your hand e.g. an alter the future and put another slap on top), can you now play that slap to push the rest of your turns on to another player (now that the alter is between it no longer adds onto the previous slap). Does that negate both your remaining turns and push the complete slap onto your chosen opponent or do you remove one of those for the 3rd turn or can you not do it at all?

You have been slapped thrice, so you now have 3 turns to complete.
If you have a slap card as return, you can shift all to another player. But if you don't have a slap card, you can not return.
But if you draw a slap card in an other turn, you can transfer all the remaining turns to another player. see The rules.

Double slap
End your turn without drawing a card and force any other  player to
take 2 turns in a row. This is not the same as drawing 2 cards in a
row! The target of this card should take their first turn (play cards
and/or draw). When their turn is over, it’s their turn again. If the
targeted player plays a Slap Card in return, they pick a player to
take ALL remaining turns (4 turns, then 6, and  so on). Play always
continues from the targeted player. If you draw and defuse an
Exploding Kitten during a series  of turns, you must continue taking
your remaining turns.

Example
You are targetted with a tripple slap and you have no slap to return. So you are forced to take the turn(s).

Turn 1, you draw a slap. You now have 2 turns to complete.
Turn 2, you play the slap. You target another player that gets the 2 turns of the card + your remaining turns (2nd and 3rd) for a total of 4.


Icons meaning in Awesome Kingdom: The Tower of Hateskull All the cards in in Awesome Kingdom feature a color-coded gem on the top.

Some of them have icons in the gem but I couldn't find their meaning in the rulebook or any card mentioning them...
I'm talking about the icons on the 6 leftmost cards on the picture below:

The Khan of Cons card was labelled as a bonus for the first print run of the game and is the only card with this icon so I assume it means goodie or something like that. The other 5 cards (plus some other in the game) all feature a crowned skull icon.
Does anyone have an idea of its meaning?

After a few games, I believe we came to a conclusion about those icons...
So I'll try and answer my own question (I hope it's OK ;-))

Some of the cards with the icons are thematically connected to the Tower of Hateskull Location (Lord Hateskull, Lady Hateskull and the Stick of 6 parts to name a few). I wouldn't be surprised if the plan is to later release expansion packs for the game featuring new locations with associated cards. Those icons would then come in handy to remove all the cards from the Tower of Hateskull Theme set and replace them with the new ones, only leaving the basic ones and one scenario at a time...


End game deciding on dead stones In a game of Go, we were in a strange position. If my opponent moved at one point to put my pieces in atari, his pieces would get taken. If I moved at that same point my pieces would’ve been taken.

So if neither of us move at that point, are our stones dead?

How do you count this kind of position in the counting phase?


Can stations be used to traverse empty routes in Ticket to Ride Europe? Ticket to Ride Europe introduces train stations to connect cities through routes that belong to other players. It recently became a point of debate whether stations can be used to connect cities over empty routes. Upon reviewing the rules I found them to be somewhat ambiguous.

The rules state that a station allows its owner "to use one ... of the routes belonging to another player."

  Building a train station

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

Further along the rules state that stations can be built on a city even if it currently has no claimed routes into it.

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

To me belonging to another player means the route must be occupied by another player. Yet stations can be built on cities that have no routes built into them.

I think the entire point of stations is to give players an opportunity to complete routes that have been taken by other players; otherwise, there should be nothing to prevent the player from building into their destinations. Allowing players to build stations on cities with no routes built into them opens the possibility to easily complete routes by placing a station without having to pay the cost of the route. This could prove decisive at the end of the game.

I don't actually see any ambiguity here. You've quoted the rule saying a Station allows you to use someone else's route. I don't see how that could imply that a Station can complete a route that hasn't yet been filled in by anyone.

The reason you are allowed to place Stations on any city, including currently unlinked cities, is to allow you to place a Station strategically, before anyone else. This is important, because only one player can control a Station in any given city. If you suspect that in the late game you will need a Station in a city, or you would like to block other players from placing a Station, then this could be a smart move.

The purpose of Stations is to give you the possibility of still completing routes, albeit at some cost (since you don't get your four points at the end for the unused Station). As you point out, if you could use them to effectively 'jump' the last leg of a route, then that would change the entire dynamic, and would indeed make Stations much more powerful.

So based on the rules, and the intended use of Stations, I'm quite confident that completing empty routes using Stations is not intended, or legal. Someone that's played the online version of the game could confirm this, though.


Warhammer Fantasy Tournaments Statistics I'm looking for raw tournaments result database/statistics, divided per format, date and including army distribution

something like this : tabletoptournaments.net

but where I cand filter by date and format, and with complete data (here, there are 165 victories on 3967 armies.. a lot of draws!)

does it exist?

thanks for helping me

Rankings HQ is probably the closest you can get to what you are looking for.  There are a couple of disclaimers to add though.

The pool of ranked games is going to be pretty small.
The ranking is elective, so there's going to be lots of missing data.
It won't track information about particular tournament formats, just the results.

Torrent of Fire is a paid service that comes closer to what you want, but it's only for 40K.  I think they where planning on branching out to Fantasy. With Fantasy's declining popularity and GW's current financial implosions, I don't know if we'll see that happen any time soon.


'Free City' with Babylon (B): How to play the special ability (2nd stage)? You can use the special ability of Babylon (side B, 2nd stage) to get a 7th turn (EDIT: well, apparently not) where you are allowed to play your last (7th) card (which would otherwise be discarded). You can use this ability in each age (if the 2nd step is built).

How does this work in a 2-player game where the 'Free City' (NPC) uses Babylon?

Let's say the 2nd wonder stage is already built. It's the 6th turn. Player Bob manages the 'Free City'. After playing his and the NPC's card, he has left 1 card on his hand. The 'Free City' pile has 1 hidden card left. Player Alice has also 1 card left on her hand. Now the NPC gets a 7th turn.

Bob plays his last card?
Bob draws the last pile card and chooses which of his two cards to play?
Bob discards his card, draws the last pile card and plays it?
Bob transfers his card to Alice, and Alice …

discards her card and plays the one handed over by Bob?
discards her card, draws the last pile card and chooses which of her two cards to play?

Alice plays her last card?
Alice draws the last pile card and chooses which of her two cards to play?
Alice discards her card, draws the last pile card and plays it?

(did I miss a possibility?)

Note that even if there would be no choice which card to play, it's still important which player has to play it for the 'Free City' (because this player has to decide whether to build the card or the 3rd wonder stage).

Also, if the last card of one of the players has to be played, it's important which player's hand is used, because one of the players might have the wonder Halicarnassus (which allows to build discarded cards).

The player controlling the Free City during the 6th turn plays the last remaining card in the Free City's draw pile.
The 7-wonders rules define each Wonder boards special abilities. (page 9)

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon the second stage gives the player the option of playing their seventh Age card instead of discarding it. This card can be played by paying its costs, discarded to earn 3 coins or used in the building of the third phase of the Wonder.
Clarification : during the sixth turn, the player can therefore play both cards they have in hand. If the second stage of the Wonder is not built, the Babylon player can then build it on their sixth turn and then play the seventh card instead of discarding it.

There isn't really a 7th turn in an Age, but it helps to think of it as an extra turn, since the resources used to build the 6th card as well as the 6th card itself are available to build the 7th and last card. This 7th card is normally the card that you would discard during the 6th turn of an Age, so that is the card that the player controlling the Free City can play to construct a structure, build their wonder, or if both if those are impossible to discard for 3 coins. (Page 7)

Clarification : The Free City cannot discard a card to get 3 coins unless it cannot play a card.
Note : during the sixth turn of the age, there is only one card remaining in the Free city’s draw pile. This last card is discarded at the same time as the seventh and last card of the players.


Moving across locations When can we move to different locations in Pathfinder ACG? We start the game already in a location. Can we move several times per turn? Say, explore once, move, explore by discarding something, move, etc?

Also, can we move only in our turn? If a player needs help on his combat, can we move in his turn to his location to play some card that requires being in the same location?

Finally, what happens when a location is closed? Do all players there instantly move to a new location? Or is the move done just when their turn starts?

You didn't say which Pathfinder ACG game you are referring to. I will answer from Rise of the Runelords...but the rules are mostly the same for all of the games.

  When can we move to different locations in Pathfinder ACG?

The order of actions for a turn is:

give a card (to a player at your location)
move
explore
discard cards

You can do each one or zero times.

You may get extra explores, as you have mentioned, in many ways. There are a few powers & spells that allow you extra moves. They tell you when you can use them.

  Can we move several times per turn?

No. Unless you've used a spell or power that allows it.

  Also, can we move only in our turn?

Yes. Unless you've used a spell or power that allows it.

  If a player needs help on his combat, can we move in his turn to his location to play some card that requires being in the same location?

No. Unless you've used a spell or power that allows it.

  Finally, what happens when a location is closed? Do all players there instantly move to a new location?

No.

  Or is the move done just when their turn starts?

Yes.

The default answer to everything in Pathfinder ACG is that you can ONLY do what a card says you can do. No more and no less.  And of course, you can do what is explicitly defined in the rulebook.

I found these FAQs very helpful:

Rise of the Runelords: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gk
Skulls & Shackles: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1gu
Wrath of the Righeous: http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1h4


What are some house rules to improve Pokémon Master Trainer? This past week's game of the week was the '99 (first) version of the Pokémon Master Trainer board game.

It was not the strategic challenge that I am used to, does anyone have any knowledge of variants to the game?

We personally came up with a few:

Type effectiveness: super-effective attacks do 1.5x damage against
weak Pokémon
Gym leaders: NPCs that are needed to be defeated before
entering new areas
Removal of the Trade Cards: they are horrible and
mean
Raise (or remove) lower limit to enter Indigo Plateau: players
enter the "final battle" far too unprepared

Does anyone else have any other variants?

In my circle we have played that game numerous times.

Some things that worked for us to adjust the 'strategy' of the game are:

EXP and LVL: if you have a lot of D6 lying around ( I buy them 18 at a time from our local dollar store) you can use them to track level on your pokemon. Then each time a pokemon wins more battles than they currently are in level you can roll the die up. Each level adds 1 to their power. We did this to try and balance the fact that it was fairly impossible to beat an elite four battle without having two +5 item cards.
Allow random battles: Instead of capturing being the only option when you land, allow the pokemon to fight. You roll two dice for the 'wild' pokemon and you can fight as usual. If the pokemon is 'defeated' you can place a marker on it. This marker acts as a permanent + or - 1 to catch. This adds a level of strategy because it may make more sense in the red area to try and defeat rather than catch first, however you better be sure you can get back to that square before someone comes in and snatches it up.
Allow rolls to 'ace': If a D6 is rolled in battle and rolls a six it can be rolled again. This helped again get around the fact that you needed +5 items to beat the final battle.

Now these things don't necessarily affect the strategy of the game, but it does lead to a more entertaining game and it does give incentives to use more than one pokemon. We found ourselves using the mystery dungeon or 'evolved combo' pokemon only and that was not fun. The level up system lets you use pokemon that are weak through to the end of the game.

The trade cards though 'horrible and mean' serve a very important purpose. They keep one person with a set of beastly pokemon from ruling the game. Without it you can easily get one person with three of the four mystery dungeon pokemon and that is more unfair than having one snatched from you.


Do the Collector's Sets (e.g. Premium Gold) contain/equal booster packs? Basically, I'm doing a Secret Santa and the person I'm buying for has asked for Yu-Gi-Oh booster packs. I know almost nothing about the game so I just want to get some clarification on what exactly constitutes one, so I don't buy the wrong thing. This is one I came across in the price range that I like the look of, but I want to be sure that this is the kind of thing he's looking for. Thanks in advance!

While the Premium Gold packs aren't really a booster pack in the traditional sense, they make for great gifts. You're getting much better cards for the price.

A newer product to look into would be an Invasion: Vengeance Special Edition box. These contain 3 boosters packs and 2 Super Rare cards.


How does Sundial of the Infinite help you avoid losing turns to Eater of Days? This article on Wizards of the Coast website claims that Eater of Days "lose your next two turns" can be avoided by use of Sundial of the Infinite.  I can't figure that out.  There are no rulings on Eater of Days, and it is not an "end of turn" type of effect.  Is the author just wrong?  [seems unlikely]  Or maybe the rules have changed?

A ruling on Sundial of the Infinite says

  Ending the turn this way means the following things happen in order: 1) All spells and abilities on the stack are exiled. This includes spells and abilities that can't be countered. 2) All attacking and blocking creatures are removed from combat. 3) State-based actions are checked. No player gets priority, and no triggered abilities are put onto the stack. 4) The current phase and/or step ends. The game skips straight to the cleanup step. The cleanup step happens in its entirety.

Eater of Days' ability is a triggered ability, so if you respond to it by activating Sundial of the Infinite, that triggered ability will be exiled and will never resolve. So, you don't have to skip any turns.


Pre-drawing cards or tiles This goes for many games where players take turns to draw cards, but I specifically wondered about Carcassonne:
Do you allow players to pre-draw tiles and look at those tiles before it's their turn? So they don't have to wait until it's their turn, but somewhere between their last turn and their new turn, they can draw?
I myself don't like this tactic too much, as the players now possess information which the game rules did not intend them to possess yet. Especially if you allow "discussion" or "persuasion" (no, lay your road there and take it - aha, now I got the perfect hole for my cloister!).
Pro's

Players can think ahead
Game advances faster

Con's

Unintended possession of early information
(only if the original order of drawing is broken:) less drawing choice for other players

We've played it slightly different than tttppp; we allow pre-drawing of tiles, as long as the drawing order remains unchanged, and there is no discussion of the tile you have pulled.

For example, if we have players 1, 2 and 3, and it is player one's turn, player 3 can draw their next tile as long as player 2 has already drawn their next tile.  Yes, tile drawing is random, but we prefer that the tiles are still drawn in order.

The no-discussion portion keeps the spirit of the game I think, because normally you wouldn't have pre-drawn a tile, and you wouldn't have that extra information from the pre-drawn tile.

Pre-drawing makes the game go much faster, since your decision making can be done in advance, as long as a player before you doesn't take the space you wanted, and our groups have no problem with it.


How/where can I get comments from strong players on my gameplay? I'd like to get advice from strong go players - let's say amateur 6D+ or pros. What are my options for getting that advice?

I am not necessarily looking for full game reviews, rather comments on one or two turning points in a game.

GoKibitz is a new website that offers a nice frontend for discussing games. I did not use it myself, but it looks promising.
I have no experience how strong the players are which are commenting regularly, however I saw at least many 1d or 2d comments.

If you are willing to spend money on getting regular full reviews on your games I can highly recommend In-seong's Yunguseng Dojang. It is available for American and European timezone. You are getting lessons and reviews of league matches from high amateur dan players. I participated in the school myself for 1 year.

As I am new to this site I am not sure if such an advertisement is considered good practice here. Please comment if it isn't. I am not completely sure if the question already is a good fit for the site, because there can be very many answers providing different resources. Selecting one of them as the one right answer is probably not possible.


Is using Quickshade a good way to finish miniature painting? Recently I've discovered that Army Painter is selling a can of pigmented varnish called Quickshare. Has anyone had any experience with this or other similar products? On the pictures I've found models finished with this stuff look really amazing, but I'd like to know if it's really that good, or were the pictures Photoshopped?

Here's a sample photo comparing different tones:

I have used Quickshade and the much cheaper but equally effective Minwax polyshade on roughly one hundred miniatures. This pictures most definitely are not Photoshopped, but it's not quite the magic bullet as it seems.

While it certainly is a way to quickly finish a large number of models there are a few disadvantages:

1) It leaves a gloss finish on your model that, except in a few cases, is generally undesirable, which requires the application of a matt varnish to eliminate. Often times, though, you will want to protect the paint anyway, so it may or may not be an extra step.

2) It requires a bit more prep work. Mold lines on your models, along with any imperfection, become accentuated with Quickshade, but again, that's the case if you use a wash anyway.

3) It's messy. I brush the stuff on, but the technique is called "dipping" because the technique first involved dipping the entire model into the poly and then shaking/spinning it to remove the excess. In my case, after I get it on, I carefully brush off the excess, but it can easily pool in certain recesses.

It's a great way to get a large number of figures painted and ready for the tabletop quickly. A small container of Quickshade is roughly thirty US dollars, and the Minwax Polyshade (I prefer Tudor Satin), is about 8 dollars for a few pints.

Here is how I do it:
http://hivezero.blogspot.com/2010/09/speed-painting-tyranid-termagant.html

There are a ton of other tutorials and galleries on the web. Search "40k dipping"


Does removing First Strike affect creatures with Double strike? Is a creature with double strike effected by 'creatures lose first strike and cannot be given first strike', for instance if an opponent has Archetype of Courage?

No.  First Strike and Double Strike are entirely separate abilities.

First Strike and Double Strike are different abilities with overlap in their effects.  Effects that care about First Strike ignore Double Strike, and vis versa.

From the rulings on Urborg (which has the ability "{T}: Target creature loses first strike or swampwalk until end of turn."):

  Urborg’s second ability affects only the first strike ability, not the part of the double strike ability that acts like first strike.


What do the abbreviations BB, SB and D mean in Texas Hold 'Em? http://www.flopturnriver.com/Holdem-Expected-Value-10-Players.php

Maybe D is dealer and B is blind, but what is BB?

BB = Big Blind

SB = Small Blind

D = Dealer


What happens when you roll "Off the top" of a result table? For example, on the Pegasus' various weapon stations, there is a result chart printed on the board.  It covers the possibilities of getting a die result of 1-8, on an 8-sided die.  But now suppose someone had played a Strategic Planning or Calculations card, adding +2 or +1 to the die roll, such that the die comes up a 9 or a 10.  What is the result?  The chart does not seem to cover this situation.  A similar situation arises on New Caprica with the human vs Cylon conflict rules.

This question has now officially been answered in the latest FAQ:

  Q: Can the result of a die roll be modified to be more than an
  “8”?

  A: No. After all modifications to a die roll have been calculated,
  any number greater than an “8” is treated as an “8.”


What are the differences between the oldest (EON) version of Cosmic Encounter and the newest (Fantasy Flight)? I played hundreds of games of the EON version of Cosmic Encounter when younger but have not played the Fantasy Flight version, which is now the 5th version of this game. Including the expansions from both sets, what are the differences between the two versions?

I'm most interested in any changes in strategy, rules, feel of the play, and types of powers. No need to discuss the specs of the game (numbers of cards, numbers of powers, etc.) which are easily found online.

Here are most of the major changes (including expansions).  (Since a lot of Eon Cosmic fans also played the Mayfair 2nd ed, I've mentioned a it where relevant.)

Main gameplay

The basic game mechanics are unchanged.
Hand size is now 8.
Flares are Eon-style, not Mayfair-style (once played they return to the hand, and are only lost when a new hand is redrawn).
FFG counters allows for up to 8 players with all expansions.  Team play rules have just been added for once you go over 6.
The fixed player boards of Eon/Mayfair are replaced by separate coaster-sized planets.  This seems like a cosmetic change but it's not; several powers and flares now take advantage of the fact that planets can be moved around independently.  (e.g. one alien power actually steals whole planets.)
The main deck contains positive attack cards, negotiates, reinforcements, artifacts and flares.  The confusing array of Eon / Mayfair zaps have been simplified down to the Cosmic Zap (unchanged), and the Card Zap, which zaps artifacts, flares, and zaps.  There's also a 'morph' challenge card, which duplicates your opponent's challenge card.

Optional rules

Destiny cards:

In addition to the wild cards, three special destiny cards are included which all pick a 'well-off' player (e.g. fewest tokens in the warp).
The 'rewards reversed' destiny cards have been improved into an entire expansion mechanic, the hazard deck.  One card in each colour is a 'hazard' card which calls for an alternate rule for the encounter to be drawn.  This deck includes the old 'reversed ally rewards' rule, but also many others that change the encounter feel and require tactical adjustments (e.g. one hazard sends both players to the warp if the total of their attacks is too high).  Three of the cards are long-lasting; they change the rules for all encounters until another one of the three replaces them.

Removed: Most of the more random or bookkeeping-intense optional rules.

In particular, moons and lucre are gone. (Along with all powers that needed them.)

Added: Several major optional card decks.  The hazard deck is mentioned above; there are also:

Tech research.  If this rule is used, each player starts with a random tech card, which can be researched by putting tokens on it at the rate of one a turn until its cost is paid.  This means having fewer forces available on-board, in return for a reward later.
These powers can be low-cost and small, or expensive but extremely powerful.  (e.g. one card creates an entire new planet.)
Rewards deck.  Intended to make being a defensive ally a stronger option; defending allies may draw rewards from the main deck or this one.  This deck includes attack cards (including some negative cards, and not going as high as the main deck attack-30 and -40, but averaging pretty high), crooked negotiates which penalise your opponent more for not dealing, kickers, artifacts, and some cards which retrieve lost ships.  Those cards in this deck also explode and destroy tokens if an opponent ever steals them from you.  (Reward cards have different backs, to discourage being taken by theft powers.)

Powers

In general, the full range of classic powers have been included, but where there were several similar powers, FFG have picked only one.
Powers are rated by complexity, so that the hardest-to-use can easily be removed for beginners' games.
There are no powers that depend on certain optional rules being in play.  Any power will work in any game.  Some powers get better with certain rules in play, of course.
Powers or flares which had ambiguous or interpretative effects (Judge, Witch, etc.) have been reworded to be unambiguous.  (For old-school Eon players, some of the reworded flares have the original version included as an alternative.)
A significant number of new powers are added.  Generally they're well-designed, and surprisingly original - several do odd things with the basic game mechanics, like destroy planets or change the victory conditions.  Many are previewed in the news feed at Fantasy Flight's Cosmic Encounter website, so check there for examples.


Explorers and pirates: Where can roads be built near undiscovered hexes? The note in the rules for explorers and pirates states that "Roads may not be built on paths adjacent to undiscovered hexes"  then goes on to state that "If you build a road in such a way that one of its ends points towards an undiscovered hex, you can't discover that hex.  You can only discover hexes by means of ships."  The second statement seems to contradict the first.  Can I play a road leading towards an undiscovered hex?

There is no contradiction. A road is built between two hexes, hence it is adjacent to both these hexes. You can't build a road if one of these two hexes is undiscovered. You can build a road between two discovered hexes such that at the end of the road is an undiscovered hex; it's just that building this road doesn't "discover" the hex.


In Smash Up, do I have to execute an effect when a card is played or can I choose to do it later in the turn? Fairy Circle from Pretty Pretty Smash Up says

  After the first time you play a minion here each turn, you may play an extra minion here or play an extra action

Do I have to play that minion immediately or can I just queue it up as "I can play another minion but I'll do a bunch of other things first?"

I would imagine the ruling on this to be in line with whatever ruling would apply to things you can do as a function of abilities on action and minion cards as well, i.e. any cards that say to play extra minions/actions, or other consequences for that matter. Do these have to take effect before any other actions are taken, or do they get to be queued up and their order of execution selected as desired?

The effect resolves on the spot, giving you a floating extra play. However, if it's not your main play phase (i.e. specials during scoring) you must use the extra play immediately.

From the most recent rulebook (Pretty Pretty Smash Up):

  Extra: An extra minion or action is one you can play in addition to the normal quota of one of that type per turn. Extra cards are optional, and you don’t have to play the extra card right away, unless the extra card was gained by a Special ability or outside the Play Cards phase.

This is explicitly different during scoring:

  If you get to play extra minions or actions while a base is being scored, you must play those extra cards immediately or not at all.


Where can I get my mtg-cube critiqued? I have reached a point in my cube building process where the decisions about what cards to include are getting tough. It's no longer as simple as "Card A is better than card B. Include card A.". Now I need to think about what archetypes to support and a lot of other stuff.

Where is a good place to get my cube critiqued by other cube enthusiasts?

The best place that I know of is http://www.reddit.com/r/mtgcube

Other options include tweeting the link to your cube with the hash tag #mtgcube.

Quite often if you do one or both of those, people will draft your cube using cubetutor, which will then give you drafting statistics about what cards are taken highest, and you'll usually get direct feedback from the person themselves as well.


Drafting without being able to look at your picks? I love drafting, but most of my experience with it is watching MTGO videos or playing on MTGO myself. There you can see your picks during the whole drafting part, sort your cards several ways, and even sideboarding the worst cards as the draft goes on, ending with a deck almost ready.

Where I draft IRL, we are only allowed to look back at our picks between boosters, and not during a very long time (casual, but still). Can I maybe separate my picks in (face-down) piles, so that I can at least see how many colors/creatures/whatever I have (possibly going to the extreme, with piles for each color/card type/cost) ? I have limited memory and have a hard time figuring if I should prioritize medium 2-drops, because of curve reasons and I already have too many removals anyway, etc, all of which would not be a problem if I could look at my cards.
Things I've considered focusing on remembering (all at once is out of the question) :

How many creatures/non-creatures
How many in each color
How many 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 drops
How many removals/spells that do nothing if I don't have a creature on the battlefield

What should I focus on ? Is there a better way to draft IRL compared to MTGO ?

Competitive rules does not allow players to look at their previous picks during or between picks, only between rounds (between each boosters).
You are also not allowed to reorganize your picks until the end of the draft.
These rules prevents cheating and/or player mistakes while drafting.

In a non-professional environment, these rules are optional, so be sure to check with your LGS which one are enforced.

As for what to focus on remembering, the best answer would be "everything".

Curve, removals, the pace of the game, and color synergies are all very dependent on the current format.
You can find format-specific breakdown and strategies guides on the internets, but the best way to improve in real life drafting is experience.

From my experience, if you were to choose one thing to track, it would be your creature/non creature spells ratio, as it is a very important part of deck building in limited, regardless of the current format.


Wurmcoil Engine vs. Oko, Thief of Crowns A Wurmcoil Engine becomes a 3/3 Elk creature due to Oko, Thief of Crowns’ second ability. Wurmcoil Engine is then sent to its owners graveyard. Does Wurmcoil Engine’s death ability trigger?

No, the ability will not trigger.

“When dies” triggers count how the object existed immediately before it moved to the graveyard to see if there were any relevant abilities that triggered; and Wurmcoil did not have any abilities at that time.

  603.10. Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions, and continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like. However, some triggered abilities are exceptions to this rule; the game “looks back in time” to determine if those abilities trigger, using the existence of those abilities and the appearance of objects immediately prior to the event. The list of exceptions is as follows:

    603.10a Some zone-change triggers look back in time. These are leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a card leaves a graveyard, and abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library.


Can I play blessed alliance after damage resolves to make him sac a creature I didn't kill? I was reading over various questions and it occurred to me that I might not be using Blessed Alliance as effectively as I could be. Am I able to cast Blessed Alliance after damage has been resolved, but still during combat, to make my opponent sac a creature that has been declared as an attacker? I believe I can, as 510.3 says active player gets priority and 510.2 is damage is dealt, and state based actions will be checked before active player gets priority.

Therefore, the specific example I'm asking about is, if my opponent attacks with two creatures, one I can kill with my blocker and one I cannot, can I block the one I can kill, and after it dies cast Blessed Alliance to make him sacrifice the other? I believe 510.3 means that it is still the combat phase, and his other creature is still "attacking" as defined by the rules of the game, but I am unsure.

Can instants be played after I decide not to block?
I believe this question is also relevant, as the linked answer states that you can play instants during each of those phases, and end of combat is one. Are creatures that attacked still "attacking creatures" when I get priority at the end of combat?

Yes this works how you want it to. Note however that the creature will die after it has already dealt its combat damage, so if you are trying to stop it from hitting you this would not work.

The combat phase has 5 steps:

Beginning of Combat
Declare Attackers
Declare Blockers
Combat Damage
End of Combat

A creature becomes an 'attacking creature' during the Declare Attackers step and remains an 'attacking creature' until the Combat phase is over (or it gets removed from combat some other way). Thus you are able to use Blessed Alliance during either the Combat Damage or End of Combat steps to have your opponent sacrifice a creature that survived the damage dealing part of the Combat Damage step.

  508.1k Each chosen creature still controlled by the active player becomes an attacking creature. It remains an attacking creature until it’s removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. See rule 506.4.


Twilight Imperium without the Agenda phase The agenda phase in Twilight Imperium 4th edition feels a little "bolted on", and adds a lot of time to an already long game for not that much impact.  I'm considering a house rule to remove the agenda phase.
I hope this can happen relatively straight forwardly for two reasons.  First, the agenda phase doesn't even happen in the first several rounds of the game, so the round structure already supports this.
Second, in a substantial change from 3rd edition, your planets refresh both before and after the agenda phase, so there's no need to budget influence for voting and that the only impacts this phase has on the rest of the game is the effects from agendas and riders.
However, there are other components and abilities that depend on this phase.  So far, I have identified the following:

There are several action cards that interact with agendas (such as riders) that would need to be removed from the deck.  This is pretty straight forward.
There is no longer a time when non-neighbors can trade, which would make the Hacan slightly more powerful.  If this turns out to be a problem, it's pretty easy to add this back in (allow cross-galaxy trading as a step during the status phase once Mecatol Rex has been conquered).
The Xxcha "Quash" ability wouldn't work and would need a replacement.
The Xxcha "Political Favor" promissory note wouldn't work and would need a replacement.
The Nekro Virus "Galactic Threat" ability wouldn't work and would need a replacement.

Are there any other parts of the game that need the agenda phase to work, either mechanically or for game balance?
I'm also open to suggestions for how to patch the pieces of the game that currently depend on the agenda phase; in particular, I'd love ideas for how to replace the Nekro Virus "Galactic Threat" ability since that seems important to their pace of technological acquisition.

Honestly, I think it would be pretty straight-forward to remove The Agenda Phase from the game. Not too many components actually rely on it. With that being said, none of the below suggestions have been play-tested and there may be things that I have overlooked in terms of gameplay. I've played this game quite a few times but am by no means an expert.
Here's a list of things I found, some of which are also noted in your question:
Factions
The Nekro Virus

Faction Ability: Galactic Threat

The problem with the Nekro Virus is that they cannot research technologies. When you would research technology you instead gain 3 command tokens. This can be super advantageous in the early game. You could instead allow the Nekro Virus to research technology as normal whilst keeping their combat-centric technology thievery intact. This faction has good starting units but not getting early command tokens may be slow their early game expansion. Their late game would depend on how they balance neighbor relations and stealing technology. Removing Galactic Threat and allowing Nekro to research technology makes The Nekro Virus marginally weaker but not terribly weaker.
The Xxcha Kingdom

Faction Ability: Quash
Faction Promissory: Political Favor

I feel like the main fun of Xxcha is being able to play around with the Agenda Phase and being able to sell off your faction promissory. Without these abilities I'm not sure Xxcha would ever be a better choice over any of the other factions. I would recommend removing them from selection if there is no Agenda Phase.
Action Cards
These action cards could be removed entirely from the action deck. My only concern is now the action deck is less saturated with "later phase" cards. What I mean is that you'll now have a better chance of getting things like Sabotage and Direct Hit cards that will directly effect the main Strategy Phase. Common action cards may need to be slimmed down.
15/80 (18.75%) of all Action Cards directly relate to the Agenda Phase. These cards include:

Ancient Burial Sites
Assassinate Representative
Bribery
Confusing Legal Text
Distinguished Councilor
Repel Law
Veto

All Riders:

Construction Rider
Diplomacy Rider
Leadership Rider
Imperial Rider
Politics Rider
Trade Rider
Technology Rider
Warfare Rider

There are no Objectives (public or secret) which directly rely on The Agenda Phase.

While I understand not enjoying the Agenda Phase it can provide a breather from a normally strategic and tense game. It also allows you to build relations with players who are not your neighbor. In my opinion, it's all part of the overall strategy of the game as half is playing the players and the other is playing the pieces.


How can I prevent my old card sleeves from sticking together? I've been playing Magic: the Gathering for a while now, and I have collected a fair amount of the "penny" card sleeves (clear plastic, no frills). Now they're old and, due to humidity or some other factor, they have a tendency to stick together. Is there a way to store them and/or play with them to fix/prevent this?

I'd say if your deck is even relatively valuable, I'd upgrade from the penny-sleeve treatment. Penny sleeves are fine for protecting bulk rares and draft decks but the premium stuff is usually a tighter, tougher sleeve with opaque backs (which matters if you want to do any serious competitive play). I would avoid Dragonshield Gloss though because the backs get scratched pretty easily from the pointy corners while shuffling. The Mattes are fine and actually real good.

On the topic of cleaning and storage, here's a few suggestions. if you live in a very humid area, throwing one of those silica packets in your deck box can do quite a bit of work. To avoid collecting those weird little dirt clumps, using a play mat removes the dirty table element and will prolong their cleanliness for a bit (and plus they're nice to play on). If they do get dirty, rubbing alcohol will clean them up decently but after awhile, just replace them.


Anje Falkenrath and Madness order Let's say I activate Anje Falkenrath to discard a card with madness. The madness card goes to exile instead. Do I get to draw a card before I decide to cast the madness spell? Do I get a choice to draw or cast first?

The rulings below the card in Gatherer state:

  If you discard a card with madness to pay the cost of Anje’s activated ability, you’ll draw a card last. You may untap Anje before or after you choose whether to cast the discarded card, but not after you’ve chosen to cast it but before that spell resolves.

(emphasis mine)

Why? The first object on the stack is the 'draw a card' ability, and you pay for it by discarding the card. That causes both the triggered ability part of Madness (see below) and Anje's last ability to trigger, and you may choose in which order you put them on the stack:

  702.34a Madness is a keyword that represents two abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with madness is in a player’s hand. The second is a triggered ability that functions when the first ability is applied. “Madness [cost]” means “If a player would discard this card, that player discards it, but exiles it instead of putting it into their graveyard” and “When this card is exiled this way, its owner may cast it by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost. If that player doesn’t, they put this card into their graveyard.”

Those abilities resolve first, while the 'draw a card' ability is still on the stack, and therefore drawing the card always happens last.

If you expect it makes a difference in your decision to pay the Madness cost or not, consider putting the Madness ability on the stack first, followed by Anje's untap ability. The untap ability resolves first, which gives you the opportunity to activate Anje's second ability again, and the card draw from that activation will happen before you have to decide to pay the madness cost for the first discarded card. (Then again, maybe you expect the next card draw to matter, so I'm not sure it will make much of a difference.)


When races are defeated, do the tokens all go back to the tray for redraw (if power allows)? As an example, take the Pygmies.  "Each time you lose a Pygmy token, roll a reinforcement die and receive as many new Pygmies from storage tray as you rolled pips on the die (up to the number of Pygmies left)."

So if you lose a Pygmy, it goes back to the storage tray and then if you roll a 1 or more you can get it back?

Does this work that way for all races/powers?  they always go back to the storage tray (unless another rule says otherwise) and are available for any power/gift that brings them back?

Yes. From the rules on conquering regions in the base game, on what to do if you have been conquered:

  Permanently discard one Race token
  back into the Storage
  tray

And from the rules for Sorcerers, for example"

  with one of
  your own taken from the storage tray.


In Takenoko, when rain falls on a segment that has the fertilizer improvement, how much does the bamboo grow? In Takenoko, rain specifically causes a selected segment to gain one piece of bamboo - but the fertilizer improvement doubles growth. So how much growth occurs as a result of rainfall on an irrigated segment with the fertilizer improvement?

This is covered in the official FAQ: http://www.jybe.ch/faq/takenoko_faq_eng.pdf

  If the target plot carries a fertilizer improvement, 2 bamboo sections
  are added to the plot.


Do most good pre-empters do so within "tight" point ranges? I'll use "weak two" bids as a frame of reference.

My understanding of a "weak two" bid is that it is usually made with six cards of a suit, and at least five high card points (hcps). If that's all, they will be in the suit, that is KQxxxx or AJxxxx, and this would be done mainly at favorable vulnerability (not vulnerable vs. vulnerable). At equal vulnerability, you need either another honor in-suit (e.g. KQJxxx) or a side suit honor. At unfavorable vulnerability (vulnerable vs. not), you need both, for a maximum of about 10 hcps.

A "strong "pre-empt" at the three level would have the values for a "weak two" bid with a seventh card.  The theory is that the extra "trump" would compensate (on offense) for the higher level, so you would go down as much as for a "weak two" bid.

A weak "pre-empt" would have the seventh card, but be about a queen lighter (and less likely to have the side value) than a weak two bid. It might range in strength from QTxxxxx to AQJxxxx with little or nothing outside. The theory is that the extra suit card compensates for a king "lighter," and your weaker defense (by one trick) means that you can "afford" to go down an additional trick on offense.

Are most expert pre-empters at least consistent within these two philosophies (or any other)? That is, do they pre-empt "narrowly" either with something like 5-10 hcps if using strong pre-empts, or 3-7 if "weak?" Or are there systems or experts that will run the whole gamut of say, 3-11 high card points for pre-empts?

The choice a partnership makes in this regard will influence their relative strength at Matchpoints vs IMPS. Opening wide-range pre-empts facilitate more frequent interference with the opponent's auctions, but make finding game or slam yourself more difficult. This is a clear Matchpoint strategy (as emphasizing the frequency of a winning result on the hand).

However opening narrow-range pre-empts eases the task of finding a good slam or game, but reduces the frequency of being able to interfere with the opponents auctions. This is both more constructive, which eases partnership harmony, and a clear IMP strategy (which emphasizes weighted value of results).

Most published systems tend to emphasize IMP -oriented systems, because this is also appropriate strategy for Rubber Bridge. Consequently, in their published works most authors recommend narrow-range pre-empts.

It is worth noting that Barry Crane, arguably the ultimate Matchpoint player and an avid proponent of early-in, early-out bidding, recommended in 1st and 2nd seat wide-range pre-empts in the majors, but narrow-range in the minors.

  "The rule of 1-2-3" means that you should be within one trick
  of making when vulnerable versus nonvulnerable, within two
  tricks at equal vulnerability, and within three tricks at
  favorable vulnerability. ....

  Generally, for an opening bid at the three level, you should have a
  seven card suit.  To open 3C or 3D, you must also have the A and two
  of the next three honors in your suit.  This facilitates getting
  to 3NT (and makes an opening bid of 3 in a minor alertable).

The reason given is that this gives opener's partner the most detailed information on how high to raise the pre-empt. It does sacrifice some capability to pre-empt at the three level in the minors, but his is probably the least effective, and most informative for the opponents, pre-empt range. One could do much worse than to follow Crane's guidance.


Can Runed Halo be used against the zombie tokens created by Field of the Dead? Is it possible to protect oneselves with Runed Halo against Field of the Dead's tokens? If so, what card name has to be named?

No, you cannot do that, sorry.
Runed Halo requires you choose a card name. This means your choice is limited to names that exist on actual cards printed for the game.(1) You cannot make an arbitrary choice: for example “Lightning Bolt” is a valid choice, but “Arnold Schwarzenegger” is not because no such card exists (alas).
Field of the Dead creates Zombie tokens, which are simply called “Zombie”.(2) There is no card by that name, so you cannot choose the name “Zombie” for Runed Halo. (Tokens aren't cards, so they don't count towards the pool of card names.)
Choosing the name “Field of the Dead” won't grant you protection from the Zombies it creates. It'll mean you can't be targeted or damaged by Field of the Dead, but it wasn't going to do that anyway.
There is a loophole for tokens that share a name with a card. For example, Goblin Wizardry creates tokens that will be named “Goblin Wizard”. There is also a card by that name: Goblin Wizard. This means it's a name you can choose for Runed Halo, which will then also grant you protection from those tokens because they have that name. You cannot however use this loophole for “Zombie”.

Citation 1:

201.3. If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name, the player must choose the name of a card in the Oracle card reference. (See rule 108.1.) A player may not choose the name of a token unless it’s also the name of a card.

Citation 2:

111.4 A spell or ability that creates a token sets both its name and its subtype(s). If the spell or ability doesn’t specify the name of the token, its name is the same as its subtype(s). A “Goblin Scout creature token,” for example, is named “Goblin Scout” and has the creature subtypes Goblin and Scout. [...]


Does the Candle item work with It Is Meant To Be? Can you use the "Candle item card" with the "It Is Meant To Be" event card, in order to roll 5 dice instead of 4 to use later as the card describes?

No, you cannot.

Candle says:

  If you draw an event card, roll 1 additional die (maximum of 8 dice) for that event's trait rolls.

(Emphasis mine)

It Is Meant To Be says:

  You can choose instead to roll 4 dice and write down the result. [...]

The dice rolling for It Is Meant To Be is not a "trait roll".

A trait roll is one where you are rolling a number of dice equal to one of your traits (Speed, Might, Sanity, or Knowledge). "Roll 4 dice" is not making a trait roll.

From the rules:

  Sometimes a card or room
  tile tells you to attempt
  a roll based on one of
  your explorer’s traits
  (Speed, Might, Sanity, or
  Knowledge). When that
  happens, roll as many dice
  as your explorer currently
  has in that trait. For
  example, if your explorer
  must attempt a Sanity roll,
  and she currently has a
  Sanity of 4, roll 4 dice and
  add the dots together to
  get the result. Whether you
  succeed or fail, the card or
  tile will tell you the results
  of your attempt.

This rule does not specifically define "trait roll", but it strongly implies that "trait roll" is either "sanity roll", "might roll", "speed roll", or "knowledge roll"; because it defines a "trait" as one of those 4 things.


What should we do if we realise the Queen should have been on the board? We forgot to return the Queen to the board after my opponent failed to cover it, and continued to play. What's the correct way to rectify this?

Treat it as covered.

According to these rules:

  96) If the Queen is pocketed by a stroke and is not covered, the Queen shall be taken out for placing. If not noticed by the Umpire or by the opponent, before the next stroke is made, the Queen shall be recorded as properly covered.

In a casual setting, however, I'd take it out and place it before your next turn (so you get the next shot on it).


Barrier Statue of the Abyss and Barrier Statue of the Heavens -- A Contradiction? If both of these cards are on the field, how are their effects resolved?

Barrier Statue of the Abyss(Effect Monster)
No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for DARK monsters.

Barrier Statue of the Heavens (Effect Monster)
No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for LIGHT monsters.

No Monsters can be Special Summoned. Both Monsters have a Continuous Effect (page 14 of PDF) that is active while they are on the field. BSotAbyss blocks all non-DARK Monsters from being special summoned, so when you Attempt to Special Summon a DARK Monster, it is BSotHeaven that blocks you, and vice versa when you Special Summon a LIGHT Monster, it is BSotAbyss that blocks you.

This effect is active while the Effect Monster Card is face-up on the field. The effect starts when the face-up monster appears on the field, and ends once that monster is gone or is no longer face-up; [...]

The Barrier Statues prevent any Special Summoning, unless the Monster is of a matching Atribute (page 11).

Barrier Statue of the Abyss - No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for DARK monsters.
Barrier Statue of the Heavens - No monsters can be Special Summoned, except for LIGHT monsters.


What is the name of the game where you bid for a hand in decreasing numbers? I play a game where the game play is much like hearts/spades/etc. Standard 52-card deck. Players play one card each "trick" and the highest card gets the trick. (Highest based on lead suit vs trump)

In this variant each player starts with 7 cards, and before the round begins, players must bid on the exact number of tricks the expect to take.

The next round you start with 6 cards, etc. down to 1 card.

I have played this game for a while and would like to look up the official scoring/rules, but cant remember the name of it.
Anyone know the name of this game?

I know that game, it goes by many names but is often called "Oh Hell!"

Here's a link for you: http://www.pagat.com/exact/ohhell.html


When is Dúnhere considered to be attacking alone? In The Lord of the Rings LCG, Dúnhere is a hero with a permanent effect:

  Dúnhere can target enemies in the staging area when he attacks alone. When doing so, he gets +1(Attack).

What does it mean for him to attack "alone"?

Does it mean that he cannot combine with other attackers when attacking the staging area?

Or does it mean that if you want to use this ability, no other characters may make an attack of any kind? For just you, or for all players?

An example to highlight: There's a Goblin Sniper in the staging area and an Eastern Crows engaging me. May I use (for instance) a Wandering Took to attack the Eastern Crows, and also use Dúnhere's ability to attack the Goblin Sniper?

Lets have a look at the rules. In the combat phase, after resolving the attacks by encountered enemies, it is the players turn to attack with hers/his heroes and allies. To attack a target the player declares the attackers and exhausts them. Then the combined attack strength will be determined and so on. Only encountered enemies can be attacked.

For Dúnhere this means the following. If you select him in the combat phase as an attacker, and he attacks alone, he can also attack enemies in the staging area. As mentioned on the card if he does so, he gets +1 attack. This does not mean that you cannot do other attacks.

See also this discussion.


What are my odds of drawing the rest of my deck Do to the deterministic nature of the game, if I have a decent memory I can easily know what cards are left in my deck, if not their order. I have two cards in my hand that let me draw a card (1 each) and I know there are 4 cards left in my deck, two of which will also let me draw a card. What are the chances I'll be able to draw my entire remaining deck?

50%

Symbolizing the cards that give you a draw a D, and the cards that do not as N, there are 6 possible permutations of draw vs no-draw.

In each permutation, the second N card represents the farthest you can get through your deck on this turn.  I have bolded it for easier visibility.

DDNN

DNDN

DNND

NDDN

NDND

NNDD