Can you place a meeple on a tile you didn't place? In Carcassonne, the rules (in the Z-Man games edition)  imply that your meeple for the turn has to go on the tile you just placed rather than any unclaimed and uncompleted feature on the board ("on that tile"), but they don't specifically forbid the latter interpretation or state it outright (e.g. "only on the tile you just placed")

So when you place a meeple, does it have to be on the tile you played this turn?

Bonus: If you house rule it the other way, what effect would it have on the game?

You can only place it on the tile you just placed. From the Rio Grande edition rules:

After the player places a land tile, he may deploy one of his followers, using the following rules:

The player may only play 1 follower on a turn.

The player must take it from his supply.

The player may only deploy it to the tile he just placed.

While the Z-Man edition rules don't have a specifically spelled out restriction; you can go based off of what they do allow you to do:

Placing a meeple:
The player may place a meeple from her supply onto the tile she has just placed.

The sections on Highwaymen and Knights say something similar. While the rules don't say "you cannot place a meeple on a different tile", they don't need to, because the rules are there to tell you what things are are allowed to do. You are automatically not allowed to do anything that the rulebook does not give you permission to do.
As an extreme example, the rules don't say that you aren't allowed to take one of your opponent's meeples off the board, but it is assumed that it is not allowed because they don't say you are allowed.
That being said, the Z-Man rulebook just doesn't seem as clear over all. It awkwardly states the rule for placing a tile multiple times; for each of the types of terrain, and then gives the rule about placing a meeple for each one. Under the rule for placing a meeple a a monk, it actually says "You can place
a meeple on a monastery as a monk." which fails to mention that it must be on a monastery that you just placed. You need to use the context of how placing meeples in general works to realize that you can't just place a meeple on any monastery.


Playing "Executive Orders" on self I just played my first game of BSG (solo using the official fully cooperative rules). I've got the german edition so my card names might be a bit off...

The green skill cards 1 and 2 say something like:

Action: Choose 1 player. This player may move his character and do 1 action OR may keep his character where it is and do 2 actions

Now if it is my turn. Can I move to a location in my move phase, play that card in my action phase, choose myself and do the location's action 2 times? It seems a bit overpowered but I've not seen anything in the rules that forbid this use...

The English version of this card specifies OTHER players:

So, no, you cannot play this card on yourself.


Can my opponent respond to an "enters the battlefield" ability? I played Shadowborn demon. It has the ability

  When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield, destroy target non-Demon creature.

Can my friend play Fall of the Hammer on the target creature that would be destroyed to have it deal damage to my Shadowborn Demon, or would his creature be destroyed because of the ability?

Both things happen. First, your opponent's creature will deal damage to Shadowborn Demon (thanks to Fall of the Hammer); then the Demon's ability will kill the creature — even if Fall of the Hammer already killed your demon.

When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield, you get to choose a target for its ability. The ability then goes on the stack, just like spells do when you cast them. (Check out the MTG Basic Rulebook for more information about the stack and casting spells.)

While the Demon's ability is on the stack, your opponent can respond to it by activating abilities or casting Instant spells, including Fall of the Hammer.

So, now the stack looks like this (most recent thing on top; that's why it's a "stack"):

  (top)
  Fall of the Hammer
  Shadowborn Demon's "destroy" ability
  (bottom)

When nobody else has more actions (you could respond to Fall of the Hammer by casting Giant Growth on your Demon, for instance), we resolve what's on the stack.

So, the Fall of the Hammer happens first, allowing your opponent's creature to deal damage to the Shadowborn Demon. If this is enough damage to kill your Demon (for example, the opponent's creature is an Arbor Colossus), you'll put the Demon into your graveyard.

After you're done resolving Fall of the Hammer, you'll resolve the Demon's ability, destroying your opponent's creature. Even if your Demon is already dead, though, the opponent's creature will be destroyed. That's because the "destroy target non-demon creature" ability doesn't directly depend on your Demon if you've already put it on the stack.

So, your opponent's creature will damage your demon first (potentially killing the Demon, if it was a lot of damage), and then afterward the creature will be destroyed.


How should I ship cards? Is there an agreed upon standard on how cards should be packaged and shipped when they're sold online on places like Cardmarket or similar websites? I have some valuable cards I'd like to sell, but have never done so before.

Do I simply ship them in a sleeve with an envelope? Or is something more secured the standard? We're talking single card sales here, so each card is out on the market individually.

A soft plastic sleeve (like the ultrapro or dragonshields used when playing a deck) in the mail is not enough support, and cards shipped that way that I have received have come in damaged. The best way to ship is in the rigid plastic top loaders, after that between two pieces of cardboard or poster board, something more rigid than the card(s) in the middle that will protect what you are shipping. Almost all cards I have received are one of these two ways, and none of those have ever been damaged during shipping.

If you use cardboard or poster board, you need to tape the pieces together, so they do not slide apart and the card slide out during shipping. A single piece of tape over the opening of a top-loader can also help, particularly with some top loaders that are larger than others. There is less risk of the card sliding out of the top-loader than there is of it sliding out from between two free floating pieces of cardboard, but the risk is still there.

As for what you ship them in, any envelope card size or larger will do. Magic the Gathering cards are Poker* sized cards are 3.5" by 2.5" and top-loaders are 4" by 3". The smallest envelope according to USPS rules that qualifies as a letter (for standard stamp usage) is 5" by 3.5" so anything around that size works perfectly to fit a top-loader.

*Yu Gi Oh cards are slightly smaller Bridge size cards at 3.5" by 2.25"


Mirage Mirror + Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun If I use my Mirage Mirror to copy another player's Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, will my copy be this version of the double sided card, or the original front face of the card, Growing Rites of Itlimoc?

If you copy a Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, you get an Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, not its front face. The most relevant rule from the Comprehensive Rules:

  711.4b While a double-faced permanent’s back face is up, it has only the characteristics of its back face.

The further down in 711.5, the rules also acknowledge the possibility of copying the back face of a card:

  Example: A Clone enters the battlefield as a copy of Wildblood Pack (the back face of a double-faced card). The Clone will be a copy of the Wildblood Pack. Because the Clone is itself not a double-faced card, it can’t transform.

See also rule 706 for more on copying.


Is Root really asymmetrical and balanced? As in the title, I wonder if the game really has different win conditions and gameplay between factions, I wasn't able to grasp it  in reviews.

Also are every factions equally inclined to win or are some of them stronger? (Difficulty not included, if it requires to be really good to play well with faction A and faction B is really easy to play but both of them win as often, it's balanced in my eyes)

Root is highly asymmetrical

While each faction has technically the same goal (reach 30 victory points), and there are some universal ways of gaining victory points (destroying your opponents' cardboard, and crafting items), each faction has its own unique mechanics for playing and earning other victory points.

The Marquis of Cats earn victory points by building Sawmills, Garrisons, and Workshops (possibly not the actual names?).  No other faction even has these buildings, let alone gets victory points for building them.

The Eyrie have a building of their own (Nests), but they don't get victory points for building them - instead they get victory points based on the number of nests they own every turn.

The Woodland Alliance earns victory points for spreading Sympathy, which superficially resembles the Cat's method of earning points, but the Cats build using wood (which the other factions don't interact with at all) in areas they control, and the Woodland Alliance spreads Sympathy without needing control (or even board presence) by discarding supporters (an extra 'hand' of sorts, which the other factions don't have.

The Vagabond earns points for giving cards to the other players and completing quests.  The other factions can't even do these things, much less get victory points for them.

The asymmetry of Root comes from the highly asymmetric mechanics of the factions, rather than an asymmetry in the factions' goals.

Root isn't perfectly balanced, but it's practically balanced

Perfect balance is nigh impossible to achieve.  Even if every player has identical abilities, any game with sequential player turns will have at least a slightly unbalanced nature, meaning that the only games with the potential to be perfectly balanced are ones that involve simultaneous play, like Set or Bananagrams.

But a game is practically balanced if the advantage difference between the factions (or turn order positions) is smaller than advantages created by randomness, player skill, and play dynamics (i.e. who's being beaten on by all the other factions this time).

Root is practically balanced.  The differences in overall strength of the factions is slight enough that it's not obvious who will have the advantage in any given setup, and vagarities of play have more of an effect on the winner than any inherent advantage that faction has.

Slight caveat
I'm pretty sure that the Lizard Cult from the expansion is weaker than the other factions.  Certainly nobody in my playgroup has managed to win with them, and I've heard that they're getting some power errata with the newest expansion.  But the four base factions are extremely well balanced.


consequence for illegal double word plays When a player uses tiles that do not properly spell an acceptable word and their opponent successfully challenges, the offending player loses their turn.  What is the consequence when a player makes two or more words without remaining in the required row/column that they started?

Not an official rule, but common sense.

In the ideal world, we all follow the rules. But sometimes people "forget" a rule or they try to cheat. The best way is to call them out and let them correct their mistake. And if they persist in this behaviour, find somebody else to play with.


Triggered abilities: Whenever a creature deals damage I have among others the following two permanents in play under my command:

Derevi, Emyrical Tactician, which has "Whenever Derevi, Empyrical Tactician enters the battlefield or a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent."

And a creature enchanted with Presence of Gond, which reads "Enchant creature. Enchanted creature has "{T}: Put a 1/1 green Elf Warrior token onto the battlefield."

Now I am not certain if the following reasoning is correct:

If I attack with four creatures and all deal damage to my opponent, then Derevi's ability is triggered four times, and four instances of "You may tap or untap target permanent" go onto the stack.

The comprehensive rules state for the combat damage step:

  510.3. Third, any abilities that triggered on damage being assigned or dealt go on the stack. (See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities.")

  510.4. Fourth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

I.e. I get priority while those four Tap-Untap-abilities are still on the stack. I activate the Make-Token-ability of the creature enchanted with Presence of Gond and it goes on top of the stack. When all pass priority, this one resolve and a token enters the battlefield, when all pass priority again (assuming nothing triggered when the token entered the battlefield), the first of the Tap-Untap resolve and I can untap the enchanted creature. While I have priority I tap it again for another token. Rinse and repeat.

Does this work? Can I make this way five tokens (with the enchanted creature ending up tapped)?

Yes, you can do that. Each creature you control that deals damage to a player triggers the ability and puts another copy on the stack. Then after each triggered ability resolves, each player gets priority, so you can again tap your enchanted creature to put another token into play.

Note that you must choose the targets for each instance of the triggered ability when they are put on the stack. Importantly, this means that if the enchanted creature is destroyed in the middle of this process, then the rest of the untap abilities still on the stack fail to resolve, and you can't use them to tap or untap anything else.


4-4 high approach joseki question I have a question about 4-4 high approach joseki. Everything is clear until move 4. I don't know how to respond if black plays C15 instead of the expected C17 (stone number 5). It leads to the following variation:

Where I think stone 4 is lost, unless white wants to play D17 which will lead to something like this:

Now black can tenuki, the stone 8 is his, stones 5, 7, 15 are white's. Seems good for white. Is this the best white can play here?

In your shoes, I'd play e16 (atari), Black pulls out to d17, White, e17, threatening to capture two stones, Black c17, you f15 to "capture" the Black stone on f16. But that assumes that the top is the most important part of the board.

If, in fact, the left side is more important, the way you outline is better.


When does an opponent make the decision to pay extra mana in response to a spell? I have a rules question.  Let's say I have 2 Judge's Familiar's in play and an opponent casts
Lightning Bolt on another one of my creatures.  In response, I sac one of the Judges to counter the spell.  Here are the questions:

When does my opponent make the decision to pay the extra mana?  Is it when the spell is cast, or do I have to pass priority first and let it resolve before they make the decision?
Would I get priority after they make the decision to pay the mana (so if they did pay the mana, I could sac the other Judge and they couldn't insert anything into the stack beforehand)?

The opponent has to decide whether to pay if and when the Familiar's ability resolves. If it does resolve, the Familiar's ability will always resolve before the spell it tries to counter, because the stack works on the LIFO principle - Last In, First Out.

Starting with the active player, each player in turn order gets priority whenever a spell or ability resolves, so if the first Familiar's ability resolves and your opponent decides to pay, then you still have the opportunity to sacrifice the other Familiar. The second Familiar's ability then becomes the top-most object on the stack and that too will resolve before the spell you want to counter.

Here are the rules on who gets priority when:

116.3. Which player has priority is determined by the following rules:
116.3a The active player receives priority at the beginning of most steps and phases, after any turn-based actions (such as drawing a card during the draw step; see rule 703) have been dealt with and abilities that trigger at the beginning of that phase or step have been put on the stack. No player receives priority during the untap step. Players usually don’t get priority during the cleanup step (see rule 514.3).
116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
116.3c If a player has priority when he or she casts a spell, activates an ability, or takes a special action, that player receives priority afterward.
116.3d If a player has priority and chooses not to take any actions, that player passes. If any mana is in that player’s mana pool, he or she announces what mana is there. Then the next player in turn order receives priority.


Mercurial Pretender and Typhoid Rats interaction Player A has Mercurial Pretender on the board (copied a 4/4 creature)

Player B attacks with Typhoid Rats

Player A blocks Typhoid Rats with Mercurial Pretender

Player A then pays 4 mana to "Return this creature to his owner's hand"

Player A returns Mercurial Pretender to his hand, then says Typhoid Rats dies and goes to graveyard.

Player B thinks that player A cannot both successfully block and return Mercurial Pretender to his hand, considering Typhoid Rats Deathtouch ability.

Who is right?

As noted by Hackworth, Player B is correct under the current rules that the Pretender can't kill the Rats if it is returned to hand. However, it did still block them successfully and the rats won't deal combat damage to Player A or anything else this combat.

One possible source of confusion in the situation is that it used to work the way Player A thinks. You could "put damage on the stack" then play abilities in the combat damage step in response, before the damage resolved.

This was removed with the 2010 major rules update (the one that also changed Lifelink and Deathtouch). Now, player B is correct, because there is no place to respond between assigning and resolving damage.


Does anyone know what this peg game is? I was just given this game from a box in my grandmothers house and we have no idea what it is. We think there may be some pegs missing and it uses a round solitaire board with two sets of pegs.

It’s the French and Swedish version of (Peg) Solitaire.

https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/solitaire-rules.htm

  The Rules of Solitaire

  Equipment

  The game of Solitaire is most commonly played on a 33 point board (as pictured above left) in a cross shape with 32 pegs, marbles or pieces. In France and Sweden a 37 point board is more common with 36 pegs, marbles or pieces.

  Solitaire can also be played on other shapes of board - two of the most interesting are a 41 point board (take the 33 point board and add 3 extra points at the 4 ends of the cross) and the 45 point board (take the 37 point board and add a single point in the middle of each of the 4 square ends - to makes a square).

  Preparation and Objective

  The game is set up so that pieces fill every hole except the middle hole.

  The objective is to remove every piece except one, with the final piece ending up in the centre hole. Solitaire is played by one person and is therefore technically not a game at all, but a puzzle.

  Basic Play

  The player makes successive capturing moves, removing a single piece each turn until is it impossible to make any more capturing moves.

  Each turn, the player captures a piece by jumping over that piece orthogonally (not diagonally) from one adjacent point to the vacant adjacent point on the other side.

  Therefore, the first turn can be made only by jumping a piece into the middle hole from one of 4 possible points.

  Advanced Play

  Once you have mastered the basic game, target a different hole as the hole that the final piece should finish in. You can also aim to get certain patterns of pieces left over.

  Interestingly, it has been deduced that the 37 point board is less complex than the 33 point board.


Rewards and punishments for card games With playing a long board game you have the satisfaction of the endurance and outsmarting your opponents. It's a struggle and winning is the glory.

When you play something like poker or Uno you are playing several games over and over again.

When I play with friends we play with points or with poker chips and have either rewards or punishments to the winner or the loser.

We try and avoid gambling with poker but this can result in people going all-in after less than 10 hands.

Do you have any suggestions for how you spice up games like Uno and poker to make them interesting without resulting to gambling?

Chores

When we went on holidays we'd often play card games in the evening to determine who had to get up in the morning to get fresh bread from the bakery.


Is it legal to trade 1 wood for 1 wood + 1 hay? I ran into this situation. I had helped out a player by not placing the robber on them with my knight card. To sweeten the deal, she agreed to give me 1 wood + 1 hay in exchange for 1 wood. Is this legal?

The board mentions that trading 1 wood for 2 wood is illegal, but is 1 wood + 1 hay considered legal?

I would argue the rules say this is not legal.  Quoting from rules found on Catan Website

  However, you cannot give away cards, or trade matching resources (“trade” 3 ore for 1 ore, for example).

Your example in effect breaks both those rules.  You are trading wood for wood which is illegal.  The exact amounts don't matter, the example is 3 and 1 ore but if there is a matching resource in both sets then it is not a trade.

If you take out wood cards from your trade then you are in effect giving away a Wheat card for free which is also against the rules.


In Monster My Neighbor, how is the Rumor card resolved? In Monster My Neighbor the Rumor card states:

  Each player draws 1 card from the hand of the player to their right.

How is this card resolved?

I assumed that the player playing the card would draw a card from the player to their right, and then each player, clockwise, would follow, but the rules doesn't clarify this.

Based on this thread on BGG this card is resolved simultaneoously. I'd say you can resolve it in turn order if you want to, just set aside newly drawn cards.


what happens to an injured pokemon shuffled back into the deck Heracross can perform an attack which forces the opponent to »shuffle his active pokemon back into his deck«.

What happens if this pokemon is already injured? I did not find the rules adequate about this—does the injury vanish or does the pokemon keep its received damage?

If a Pokémon changes zones, The Game essentially loses track of it. If it comes back into play, it is considered a new/different Pokémon, even if both players know it is the same card.
So yes, the damage (as well as all other markers etc.) on it would indeed just vanish.

To back it up with rulings from the official Rulings Compendium on http://compendium.pokegym.net/compendium-bw.html:

  Q. If I use Pokemon Communication to put a Pokemon into my deck, am I
  allowed to voluntarily fail and choose to take no Pokemon out of my
  deck?

  A. The contents of your deck is not public knowledge so the deck
  search can fail, even if you've just put a Pokemon into the deck. (Feb
  4, 2010 PUI Rules Team)

  Q. Can I play Unown onto my bench, activate its "Farewell Letter"
  ability to discard it, and then use Revive to put it back onto the
  bench and use "Farewell Letter" again?

  A. Yes, you can. (Dec 3, 2015
  TPCi Rules Team)


How can I make a game of Memoir '44 last longer? Whenever I have a game of Memoir '44 I feel as if you take ages to set up, and the game is over really quickly, before you have had time to develop tactics. When I win I don't feel like a winner and when I loose I feel cheated. I have tried playing one army just defeat the other, and this became very boring for both players, I have likewise tried increasing the number of victory points you need to win and this has the same problem.

Do you play each scenario twice (switching side each time)?

This has a double advantage:
First, you set the scenario up once every other game instead of once each game.
Second, as the scenarios are based on true events, they are not always 50/50 balanced. The idea by playing on both sides is to get a global score (sum the medals up to get an overall winner).

If you feel it's still too short you might want to investigate the Breakthrough mode which can be enhanced by the Winter Wars Expansion


Is it possible to convert a settler ship into a settlement without moving and then build or is it considered a move? Is it possible to purchase a settler during the build and trade phase, then load him onto a ship, move him, and then on a next turn convert him into a settlement during build phase?

Or is it considered to be a move and can it be done only during the movement phase?

Edit:

The things I find confusing are:

Manual says: you can not build after moving phase (spend resources) with exception of converting because it does not cost resources
Manual doesn't say I can not convert during build phase
Manual says I can convert anytime when my ship points hex
Manual says I can build a ship on a hex occupied by pirate ship without paying tribute because its not moving (so why converting would be moving ?)

So based on this info I would assume that I can convert setter ship into settlement during my build phase if it is in a correct position already, and then I could upgrade and/or build other stuff.

Converting a settler to a settlement is done as part of the movement phase, and can't be done during the build and trade phase.

This restriction to the movement phase can be missed in the English version of the rules because the sectioning is somewhat unclear;
luckily we can clarify things a little using the title in the German version of the rules: bewegungsphase: siedlung mit siedlerschiff gründen or Movement phase: Establish a settlement with a settler ship.

as a general rule:

In the build and trade phase you do things for which you need
resources.
In the movement phase you do everything for which no
resources are needed (exception: buying additional movement points for wool)


Does a copy of your commander count as your "Commander"? The new Commander edition introduces a keyword Lieutenant, which gives bonuses as long as you control your commander.
Is that bonus still granted if you control a clone of your commander only?
And what happens if you steal an opponent's same named commander?

No, only your own original commander counts.
Generally, if the Lieutenant ability refers to your Commander, then the opponent's Commander would not count, since it's not yours, even if it has the same name. Also, a clone of your Commander would not count, because the Commander-ness of a card cannot be copied.

903.3. Each deck has a legendary creature card designated as its commander. This designation is not a characteristic of the object represented by the card; rather, it is an attribute of the card itself. The card retains this designation even when it changes zones.
Example: A commander that’s been turned face down (due to Ixidron’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A commander that’s copying another card (due to Cytoshape’s effect, for example) is still a commander. A permanent that’s copying a commander (such as a Body Double, for example, copying a commander in a player’s graveyard) is not a commander.


Does untapping a creature save it from a spell that destroys a tapped creature? My opponent cast Murderous Compulsion, which says "Destroy target tapped creature". In response, I cast Aim High, which says "Untap target creature. It gets +2/+2 and gains reach until end of turn. (It can block creatures with flying.)"

Does my creature gets destroyed? I think not because of the stack, being my spell was the last to be cast.

That is correct, the target is essentially checked twice for validity, once while the spell is cast and again before it resolves. If the tapped creature is untapped before the spell has resolved then it is no longer a valid target and Murderous Compulsion will "Fizzle" (become countered), having no effect. Rule 608.2b covers this:

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it
  was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game
  state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its
  characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the
  text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it
  was in, its last known information is used during this process. The
  spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance
  of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not
  countered, it will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be
  affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re
  illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not
  illegal may still affect them. If the spell or ability creates any
  continuous effects that affect game rules (see rule 613.10), those
  effects don’t apply to illegal targets. If part of the effect requires
  information about an illegal target, it fails to determine any such
  information. Any part of the effect that requires that information
  won’t happen.


Where can I find a Complete Spoiler list of Risk Legacy's packets & pockets? In short, I need a list of all the cards contained in all the packets and pockets.

Background: I completely played through a copy of Risk Legacy with some friends at the beginning of this year, it was great, we all enjoyed ourselves and noted we would like to do it again. However, one of the friends involved in Risk Legacy play through has moved to the otherside of the country and I am setting up to run a campaign of it on Roll20, but I realized our lack of meticulous documenting on our physical playthrough has now caught up to us (we tore up all the cards we were told to destroy after using them) as I am missing a bunch of cards and faction stickers to recreate the vanilla game. Does anyone know where i could find such a list?

A complete list of what is in each packet can be found in this PDF I have made publicly available.

I wasn't able to find any one distinct source, however by reconstructing the starting powers with the help of this question Which Faction Power will result in the greatest bonus troops and/or fewest troop losses? and reading a series of blogposts giving a breakdown of a campaign on BoardgameGeek I was able to come up with a comprehensive list to help me and my friends play a new campaign with our existing map.


Some UNO rules questions I just have some questions about the rules of UNO, since me and my cousins are relatively new to it.

Assuming we're only 2 players left, and I already placed my last card (Example, a +4 Card), but then my opponent also played a +4 on top of my +4 card, is it invalid? Or do I get to draw 8 cards?
When I play a +4 card, can I immediately place another card on it? (Example, I played a +4, then called out YELLOW, then placed a yellow "5" on top of the +4 without shifting my turn)
Also the same question as #2, but if I get to place a "Skip/Stop" card on top of my +4, will that pass the +4 effect to the next player? (Example, I placed a +4 then a skip on top of it. The +4 is dedicated to Player B. By putting a stop, the +4 gets passed to Player C instead.)

Here's a great place to read the rules yourself:
From mattel.com: https://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/42001pr.pdf

Now to your questions which has been answered by L_Church, even though not completely correct
(you are not allowed to "chain" a draw card - instead of drawing the cards from the pile yourself):

Yes it's invalid, it's not allowed by the next player (opponent) to play +4 card on top of a +4 card.

If you have played your last card you have won, no matter what happens next.

But even if that wasn't true, it's not valid to play a +4 card on top of a +4 card,
instead it's MANDATORY to DRAW 4 cards from the pile and then it's the next player's turn who then can play another +4 card if wanted.

Anything else is just house rules...

  Wild Draw 4 Card - This card allows you to call the next color played and REQUIRES the next player to pick 4 cards from the DRAW pile and FORFEIT his/her turn.

Yes, in a 2 player game, but not in a game with 3 or more players.

If you play a Wild Draw 4 / Draw 2 / Reverse / Skip Card or and you are only 2 players, then it's okej to play another card immediately after you played the first card - since it's your turn again.

If you are more than 2 players, then you are not allowed to play another card - since it's not your turn.

  Rules for Two Players - The following special rules apply to two-player UNO.

  Playing a Reverse card works like playing a Skip card. By playing the Reverse card, you may immediately play another card.
  By playing a Skip card, you may immediately play another card.
  After playing a Draw 2 card or a Wild Draw 4 card, your opponent draws the number of cards indicated, and play is back to you.

No, you are not allowed to play 2 card in the same turn.


Sacrificing a creature I control that my opponent owns If I were to cast Hijack on one of my opponent's creatures then, while that creature is under my control for the turn, I cast Blood Divination choosing to sacrifice the creature I took from him/her, does that creature go into my graveyard (since I control the permanent), or does it go into my opponent's graveyard?

This happened recently while playing with friends and we just decided to put it in the original owner's graveyard.

Because Magic has physical cards worth money, they go to some lengths to ensure your cards don't accidentally end up with another player. So there is NO way one of your cards ends up in another player's deck, hand or graveyard. (The other zones are shared.)

  400.3. If an object would go to any library, graveyard, or hand other than its owner’s, it goes to its owner’s corresponding zone.

That said, things don't get that far in this situation. Sacrificing instructs you to place the card in its owner's graveyard.

  701.16a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. [...]

There used to be an exception when playing for ante, but that doesn't exist anymore.


If I were to "cheat" a card into play, would Kurgadon activate? If I had a Kurgadon and a Didgeridoo, hacked to say "beast" instead of "minotaur" with Artificial Evolution, in play, and I used Didgeridoo to put Symbiotic Beast into play, would Kurgadon's ability trigger?

I am thinking no, since I am not casting the Symbiotic Beast, just putting it into play.

Reading the gatherer wording for older cards can make the analysis easier.

Didgeridoo:

  {3}: You may put a Minotaur permanent card from your hand onto the battlefield.

Kurgadon

  Whenever you cast a creature spell with converted mana cost 6 or greater, put three +1/+1 counters on Kurgadon.

So you are correct, clearly the Didgeridoo does not cast a creature spell, so the Kurgadon's ability will not trigger.


Until end of turn effects and Doubling Season Alright so I'm pretty sure doubling season and like cards don't affect actions related to +X/X until end of turn or -x/X until end of turn because it doesn't physically say counters. My friend on the other thinks the opposite. For instance I have doubling season up, opponent gives me a -1/1 counter it would give my creature -2/2 due to doubling seasons wording, I give the negative counters to Quillspike to get +3/3. Here's where the difference comes in. He believes that for each negative counter given to Quillspike, Quillspike would receive +6/6 until end of turn even though they aren't worded as counters. Is this correct?

Your friend is not correct. As you identify, Doubling Season's second ability only cares about counters being placed on permanents you control.

If your opponent put a -1/-1 counter on a permanent you control, Doubling Season applies and two -1/-1 counters are placed instead.

Quillspike's ability cost doesn't place counters on permanents. It removes them. Quillspike's ability doesn't place counters, it just gets +3/+3 until end of turn. Neither part of this ability interacts directly with Doubling Season.

However, because Quillspike is "fuelled" by -1/-1 counters, Doubling Season does ensure that you get double the fuel (as long as the creature receiving the counters isn't reduced to 0 toughness). You still have to pay the mana costs to activate Quillspike's ability more than once.


Does Thrumming Stone ripple after ripple The card Thrumming Stone says:

  Spells you cast have ripple 4. (Whenever you cast a spell, you may reveal the top four cards of your library. You may cast any revealed cards with the same name as the spell without paying their mana costs. Put the rest on the bottom of your library.)

Does this mean then when I cast a spell (e.g. Relentless Rats):
I look at the top 4 cards which contains a Relentless rat,
I cast this card and then ripple again?

And if I find two rats in one ripple does this mean I can look at my next 8 cards?

It does work like that.  That's part of the point of Ripple... if your deck is built correctly, you can just keep on Rippling all the way through it.

This ruling on Thrumming Stone in Gatherer may be instructive:

  If you cast a spell that already has ripple (such as Surging Flame,
  which has ripple 4) while Thrumming Stone is on the battlefield, both
  ripple abilities will trigger separately. Assuming you choose to do
  all "you may" actions, when the first instance of ripple resolves, you
  reveal the top four cards of your library, cast all Surging Flames,
  and put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library. Any new
  Surging Flames are on the stack on top of the other instance of
  ripple, so they'll resolve next. Each of them also has two instances
  of ripple, which trigger separately, and the process continues until
  the ripple abilities don't reveal any Surging Flames.

As you can see, each new copy of Surging Flames has not one but two instances of Ripple (one granted by Thrumming Stone) which resolve.  Ripple keeps on going until there's nothing with Ripple left to cast.


I missed scoring a base I played my first game last night and on several occasions I missed scoring a base - miscounting, forgetfulness, etc.  My daughter, ever vigilant, noticed the missed scoring and brought it to my attention. Even though I had already completed the turn, we just scored the base. But I don't think this is the right thing to do.

What do the rules say about this?  I wasn't able to find anything.

Would scoring be done at the end of the next player's turn in the proper ordering?  This would be my assumption and allow the next player to take advantage and add additional minions or move minions off to tip the base in their favor.

Or would scoring be done as it is noticed, even if it's out of order?  I would assume this is incorrect even though this is what we did since we were just figuring things out.

The rules don't say anything about it, because they assume it won't happen.  Making rules for it would potentially allow people to game the system by claiming that they forgot.  I think the best way to handle it is make all players (not just the current one) responsible for ensuring that no base is ready to score.  Make a habit of going through each base as a group and counting up the power on it.

If you still realize that you made a mistake before the end of the next turn, correct it as soon as you notice it, reversing state as needed.  If you get to the end of the next turn and then realize the mistake, just score it then.


7 wonders: copying science I'm playing 7 Wonders with the Cities and Leaders expansions.

If your neighbours has less science buildings than you have mask, then I assume you cannot use them all. You can only copy the symbol of 1 building once?
If one of your neighbours has a leader which carries a symbol, can you copy this?7

The rules state:

At the end of the game, each mask allows the controlling player to copy the scientific symbol of a green card present in one of the two neighboring cities.
If a player possesses multiple [mask] symbols, he or she can only copy a given card once, and must thus copy as many different cards as they have [mask] symbols.
A player can copy two identical cards (if they have enough masks) if both neighboring cities have a copy (copy a Workshop card in the left city and a second Workshop card in the right city).

Example: At the end of the game, Alex has 2 cards with the [mask] symbol. The player to his left only has one green card, with the compass symbol. The player to his right has played no green cards. Alex’s first [mask] therefore counts as a [compass] symbol, but his second [mask] is useless as there are no other symbols to copy. If the player to the left of Alex had had 2 green cards with a [compass] symbol each, Alex’s 2 masks could’ve counted as [compass].

So the wording is pretty clear. For each mask symbol you control, you may copy the symbol of a single green card owned by either adjacent player. Hence,

You may not copy the same building, even if you have more masks than buildings.
You may not copy the symbol on a leader, since they are not a building / green card.


Liege of the Tangle with awakening counter - how does it work? I just got a MTG card named Liege of the Tangle: card details.

I'm a little confused here. What does that "awakening counter" mean? How long will it remain? Can it be removed from the land?

A counter in Magic: The Gathering is permanent. This means it will stay in the game as long as it doesn't get removed by a spell or ability or the card to which it is attached leaves the battlefield (i.e. by dying, by getting exiled, etc.) This means that every land on which you put an awakening counter will stay a 8/8 green Elemental creature until it leaves the battlefield or something removes the counter.

Nobody can remove the counter without an appropriate spell or other mechanic as mentioned above.

You should be careful how many lands you want to transform. If your opponent has a mass creature destroyer in his hand like Day of Judgment, and he gets to play it, you could lose a lot of lands because they are creatures now as well. I played Liege of the Tangle myself a while ago and I adjusted the amount of lands I transformed based on the deck of my opponent.


What rules were used wrong in Tabletop's episode for "Fortune and Glory"? In the opening of the Tabletop episode for Fortune and Glory, a tabletop gaming series with Will Wheaton, there is a disclaimer in the opening saying that many rules were used wrongly. I liked the game, but I'm wondering: what was done wrong?

From my experience of playing the game I think they may have got something wrong in the camping down/press on phase of Dangers. That or they made a mistake when you fail a danger to do with cliffhangers.

The full rulebook is published on Flying Frog's website if you want to check while watching the episode.


Can I choose an encounter if I am unable to complete the clues requirement upon passing the test? The Dimensions Collide mythos card is a rumor card that says "As an encounter, an investigator on space 11 may attempt.... If he passes, he puts an end to their rituals; he may spend Clues equal to half the number of investigators to solve this Rumor"

If I have no clues, can I do this encounter (strategically as a means to avoid any ill effect should I fail the test), and then simply to do nothing if I succeed?

Because order of operations is important and there is an option in the description, the above situation would be a possible way of avoiding a potentially 'bad' encounter.  Since the card is written in a way to say "First, attempt a  check.  Then, you may spend  clues to remove this rumor.", that means that you can always attempt the check as an encounter, regardless of your clue token total.  The card would need to be written differently if it wanted to use clue tokens as a prerequisite.  Something like "If the investegator has  number of clue tokens, they may attempt to remove this rumor as an encounter."  So, yes, you can use this instead of doing another encounter on the space.


Account Siphon on the corp with < 5 credits in the bank I use the "Account Siphon" ( https://netrunnerdb.com/en/card/01018 ) and the corp has only three credits. No ice is installed on HQ. How many credits will I get? 6?

Yes, the corp can lose up to 5 and you would gain double whatever the corp loses.

Account Siphon says:

  If successful, instead of accessing cards you may force the Corp to
  lose up to 5, then you gain 2 for each credit lost.

So in your example, if you decide to siphon, the Corp would lose 3 and you would gain 6. Note that this is a replacement effect, and when the run is successful you can choose not to trigger it (accessing a card from HQ instead). This might be beneficial if, for example, the corp spends their remaining money on rezzing assets/ICE and there are no credits left to siphon.


Can you force a player to **Bang** themselves when Dorothy Rage is in play? When playing with the Wild West Show expansion and Dorothy Rage is in play, can you force a player to play a Bang against themselves (or any other card where the effect can be applied to another player, distance-based or otherwise)?

From a post by the designer of Bang!, Emiliano Sciarra:

  ... you cannot play Bang! on yourself ...

Also, this official ruling from the FAQ for the Wild West Show expansion

  The action you describe must be possible for the player

By combination of these two rulings, Dorothy Rage cannot force a player to play a self-targeting "Bang!".


Which US states have the highest Magic: the Gathering participation? How can I determine which US states have the highest Magic: the Gathering participation? To make the question less subjective, we'll define participation as any of the following:

Number of Friday Night Magic participants
Number of [some major series of tournaments] participants
Total amount of Magic: the Gathering product sales

Do any of the popular tournament organizers report on stuff like this? Does Wizards report on the amount of product sold per state, or the number of FNM participants per state? Is there a centralized place where I can find turnouts for Grand Prixs or Star City Open tournaments? Just to be clear, these are supplementary questions, and I am not expecting an answer to all of them.

I ask this question because last weekend was States. I think that the players in states with high participation are likely to play better decks than players from other states. This may be a poor way to gauge deck quality, but for a player who wants to be on the bleeding edge of meta (sometimes), I think it is at least better than using decklists from tournaments two weekends ago.

At least in Texas, the number of players allowed at States was capped. I'm not sure if the cap is the same in every state, or whether the cap simply depended on the venue that was available, or whether the cap was predetermined based on a history of participation in that state.

When I click on any of the States events on starcitygames.com, I can view the top eight decklists for that area. However, there is no indicator that I can find of the total number of players in that event. I also tried to Google average Grand Prix turnout by state, and could only find scattered articles about record turnouts in various locations across various years.

As one might guess it seems the states with the largest number of Magic players are also the ones with the largest populations.

I am assuming that the number of players in a state is directly correlated with the number of judges in that state. To get the number of judges in each state I used the WotC Judge Center tools to find all of the Level 1+ judges in the US that had a state listed (37 out of 3067 judges in the US didn't have a state listed).

The top 5 states by number of judges are (in order): California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. These also happen to be the top 5 states by population (in the same order). Once you get past the top 5 only Colorado has the same exact ranking for both (#22), but most of the others are fairly close between the lists. You can find the data I used in this Google Sheets document.


Search for card and put it into play. What if the card is already in hand? Let us assume I use
Behemoth's Herald's ability to search for a card named Godsire. If Godsire can be found in the library the situation is clear. But what if no Godsire is in the library and I have Godsire in my Hand? Can I still use Behemoth's Herald's ability to put Godsire onto the battlefield at no mana cost?

The official rules on searching (Comprehensive Rules, Section 701.17, Aether Revolt, January 20 2017) do not seem to answer this question. But I guess it is also relevant that the words "and" and "it" appear in the card's ruletext.

When instructed to search your library, you can only search your library. If the card you're looking for isn't in your library, you can't find it. You can't search zones other than your library for the card.

Rule 701.17a says

  To search for a card in a zone, look at all cards in that zone (even if it’s a hidden zone) and find a card that matches the given description.

The relevant part of Behemoth's Herald's ability says

  Search your library for a card named Godsire and put it onto the battlefield.

"Your library" is the zone that you are instructed to search, so you can look at cards in your library. And "card named Godsire" is the description of the card you are trying to find, so you can only find cards named "Godsire" in your library.


How does metalcraft work in Two-Headed-Giant? I'm playing Two-Headed-Giant and have a creature with metalcraft. I control 1 artifact and my teammate controls 2. Does my creature's metalcraft ability 'trigger'?

I know metalcraft says "if you control 3 or more artifacts", but since THG obscures the idea between player and team so much I'm having trouble figuring our what 'you' refers to in this case.

In a word, no.
Players do not share control of permanents in Two-Head Giant.
In addition, with the exception of "attacking player" and "defending player," all of the referents in THG are the same as regular Magic. "You" is you. "Target player" and "target opponent" refer to a single player. "Your opponents" are two players, individually.
Here are the relevant comp rules:

810.5. With the exception of life total and poison counters, a team’s resources (cards in hand, mana,    and so on) are not shared in the
Two-Headed Giant variant. Teammates may review each other’s    hands
and discuss strategies at any time. Teammates can’t manipulate each
other’s cards or    permanents.
810.7b Any one-shot effect that refers to the “defending player” refers to one specific defending    player, not to both of the
defending players. The controller of the effect chooses which one the
spell or ability refers to at the time the effect is applied. The same
is true for any one-shot effect    that refers to the “attacking
player.”
Any characteristic-defining ability that refers to the " “defending player” refers to one specific    defending player, not to
both of the defending players. The controller of the object with the
characteristic-defining ability chooses which one the ability refers
to at the time the nonactive    players become defending players.
All other cases in which the “defending player” is referred to actually refer to both defending    players. If the reference involves
a positive comparison (such as asking whether the defending    player
controls an Island) or a relative comparison (such as asking whether
you control more    creatures than the defending player), it gets only
one answer. This answer is “yes” if either    defending player in the
comparison would return a “yes” answer if compared individually. If
the    reference involves a negative comparison (such as asking
whether the defending player controls    no black permanents), it also
gets only one answer. This answer is “yes” if performing the
analogous positive comparison would return a “no” answer. The same is
true for all other cases    that refer to the “attacking player.”


Are normal infection cards still drawn after a player draws an epidemic card? I didn't see a clear explanation for this in the rule book so I wanted to double-check.

If a player draws an epidemic card during their turn do they still need to draw from the infection pile as normal? Or is that skipped since the epidemic card already added diseases somewhere?

You still perform the normal draws from the infection deck, after increasing the infection rate, infecting a new city with 3 cubes, and increasing the intensity of the infection.

If a card is an Epidemic card, instead of taking the card in hand, refer to the rules for Epidemics, below. After drawing the required cards, take on the role of the Infector. See Playing the Infector on page 7.
Playing the Infector - Draw cards from the Infection Draw Pile equal to the current Infection Rate and add one cube to the pictured cities, using a cube of the same color as each card. (Page 7)


What incentive do humans converted into aliens have to keep playing? In Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space, humans who are killed are turned into aliens and continue to play as such. However, the rules state that they have automatically lost and cannot win in the event of an alien victory. What incentive do the converted aliens have to forward the alien victory, if they can never win? Has anyone house ruled a win condition for them, perhaps if the converted aliens kill all the true aliens?

Consider a special rule used in some scenarios for Betrayal At House On The Hill.

If a player is "converted" to the Traitor side, they will lose despite a Traitor win, unless they can demonstrate that they have notably contributed the success of their new side - this invariably means either killing or converting another player who has not yet joined the Traitors.

This provides motive for any players converted prior to the endgame. They can still win if they begin playing in favour of their new side as quickly as possible, and achieve results for them.

Applying a similar condition to humans-turned-aliens would allow almost all players a second chance to achieve a victory in some way, and reduce the number of players unable to win, and reduce the time of play in which it is known they're unable to win. You could consider including any other important milestones as counting towards this condition.


When a general goes to the graveyard in EDH, does his casting counter reset in the command zone? 11) While a Commander is in the command zone, it may be cast. As an additional cost to cast a Commander from the command zone, its owner must pay {2} for each time it was previously cast from the command zone. (ie: it costs 6WW to cast for the third time.)

In a game last night someone tried to allow their commander to go to the graveyard as a method of resetting the casting penalty from the command zone.  While I agreed that the general could be brought back from the graveyard through normal means and cast without the penalty, I disagreed that allowing the general to go to the graveyard reset the counter in the command zone.

His argument was that it's in the graveyard, counters on a creature go away.  I argued the counter is not on the general at all, but rather is part of the state of the game/command zone.

Who was correct?

You were correct in the assumption that the tracking of casting cost is not a counter, but a separate attribute of the game.

The official EDH rules state:

  While a Commander is in the command zone, it may be cast. As an additional cost to cast a Commander from the command zone, its owner must pay {2} for each time it was previously cast from the command zone. (ie: it costs 6WW to cast for the third time.)

The Magic comprehensive rules state:

  903.10. A player may cast a commander he or she owns from the command zone. Doing so costs that player an additional {2} for each previous time he or she cast that commander from the command zone that game.

Neither of these refer to "counters" at all - it's a static "every time you play this again, it costs {2} more."


What happens when you flicker a double-faced card? If I were to cast  Restoration Angel targeting  Ravager of the Fells, What side would Ravager of the Fells be on when he came back into the battlefield?

Its front face (the one with the sun symbol in the top-left corner), so Huntmaster of the Fells.

It's a brand new object put onto the 'field, as if you had just resolved it after casting it. It has summoning sickness; it's untapped; it doesn't have any counters, enchantments or equipment; and it's front face is up.

  711.5. A double-faced card enters the battlefield with its front face up unless a spell or ability puts it onto the battlefield “transformed,” in which case it enters the battlefield with its back face up.


How can I teach kids how to play Battleship? I like playing Battleship, and I would like to teach my nieces to play.  What's a good, simple strategy to teach someone new to Battleship?  In my particular case they are 8-12.

Teach them two things:

Don't let your ships touch each other.
Don't let your ships touch the sides.

By doing that, no matter where a ship is hit, there are at least two adjacent places to target that will be misses.

Children less familiar with spatial concepts might take longer to place their ships, but there's also a lot of flexibility given those rules, so one niece could put all her ships facing the same direction while another one could have them alternating back and forth across the board.

It may be useful to remember that there is a difference between teaching the game itself and teaching the game as you or someone else might play it. There will be time to teach them more specific strategies later if they become interested in the game and also show interest in strategic thinking; with this in mind, pay attention to how they respond to what you teach. If one niece doesn't seem interested in planning, let her put her ships where she likes. If another one questions you right away as you explain how to set up your ships – "But if I do that, you'll know what I'm doing!" – then you could probably go straight into more advanced techniques with her.


How does this Interaction between Lifeline and Lethal Vapors work? In Magic: The Gathering, Lethal Vapors will Destroy a creature when it enters the battlefield.  And Lifeline reads:

  Whenever a creature dies, if another creature is on the battlefield,
  return the first card to the battlefield under its owner's control at
  the beginning of the next end step.

So, if a creature dies while these two cards are in play and at least one other creature is on the battlefield when that happens, what happens at the end of the current turn?

The creature that died will return to the battlefield from the graveyard, and then be destroyed, again.  But then what?  Since it's the end of the turn, does he immediately return, triggering an infinite loop?

No, there will not be an infinite loop. The card will not return to the battlefield until the following turn.

Once the end step has begun, and Lifeline's delayed trigger is put on the stack, it is too late for more “beginning of the next end step” stuff to happen during that end step.

  513.2. If a permanent with an ability that triggers “at the beginning of the end step” enters the battlefield during this step, that ability won’t trigger until the next turn’s end step. Likewise, if a delayed triggered ability that triggers “at the beginning of the next end step” is created during this step, that ability won’t trigger until the next turn’s end step. In other words, the step doesn’t “back up” so those abilities can go on the stack. This rule applies only to triggered abilities; it doesn’t apply to continuous effects whose durations say “until end of turn” or “this turn.” (See rule 514, “Cleanup Step.”)

So what will happen is that every end step, the card will return and then be destroyed right after (assuming no one responds to either ability). This will repeat every turn, but only once each turn.

If instead of Lifeline, you have something that brings the creatures back immediately (such as an undying creature with Solemnity on the battlefield), then it would be an infinite loop, and the game will end in a draw unless one player chooses to respond by breaking the loop (such as activating Lethal Vapr's other ability).


Is this corner dead? Played a game on KGS.  We are both 4K.  He was good at life and death, and I am rusty.

Was B1 sente?

$$ ------------|
$$ . X O 2 1 . |
$$ X . X O . . |
$$ . . X O . . |
$$ . . X O O . |
$$ . . X X O . |
$$ . . . O X . |
$$ . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . |

Since T14 allows a sente hane, the initial board effectively looks like this:

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

The usual attempt is to hane from the outside, then kill by playing at the vital point:

$$ ------------|
$$ . X O 4 3 . |
$$ X . X O 7 2 |
$$ . . X O . 6 |
$$ . . X O O 5 |
$$ . . X X O 1 |
$$ . . . O X 8 |
$$ . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . |

But after 8, play cannot play at 1 to remove the eye due to atari.

Let's try a vital point in the corner directly:

$$ ------------|
$$ . X O 6 . 8 |
$$ X . X O 4 1 |
$$ . . X O . 5 |
$$ . . X O O . |
$$ . . X X O 7 |
$$ . . . O X 2 |
$$ . . . X 3 . |
$$ . . . . . . |

After 8, the situation becomes a 2 step ko in b's favor.

Next, consider this sequence:

$$ ------------|
$$ . X O . 4 5 |
$$ X . X O 1 2 |
$$ . . X O . 3 |
$$ . . X O O . |
$$ . . X X O . |
$$ . . . O X . |
$$ . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . |

After B5, the position is a direct ko. Black wins the ko by playing at 2, creating a dead shape inside. The same position arises if B1 is at B3.

However, thanks to the marked stone, black should try this:

$$ ------------|
$$ . B O 6 5 . |
$$ X . X O 1 4 |
$$ . . X O 9 . |
$$ . . X O O 8 |
$$ . . X X O 7 |
$$ . . . O X 2 |
$$ . . . X 3 . |
$$ . . . . . . |

The shape is dead without ko.

In the original diagram, black can still aim for the same shape:

$$ ------------|
$$ . X O O X . |
$$ X . X O 1 . |
$$ . . X O 5 . |
$$ . . X O O . |
$$ . . X X O 4 |
$$ . . . O X 2 |
$$ . . . X 3 . |
$$ . . . . . . |

After B5, white is short of liberties and dies.


Counter a Counter. What happens? My friend and I were playing MTG and I cast Archetype of Imagination, except he countered it. Then I countered his counter, so does my creature stay on the battlefield or go to my graveyard?

Your creature enters the battlefield, as though your opponent had never tried to counter it in the first place.

If you counter your opponent's counterspell, then their counterspell never resolves, so it never does anything to your creature spell.

Magic uses the stack to resolve spells and abilities. Whenever you cast a spell, it goes on top of the stack, and everyone gets a chance to respond. If they respond with another spell or ability, it goes on top of the stack and the process starts again. If nobody responds, then the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves, and everyone gets another chance to respond to whatever is now on top. The important thing to remember here is that spells and abilities don't actually do anything until they resolve.

Rule 701.5 describes what countering a spell means:

  701.5. Counter

  701.5a To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.
  701.5b The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn’t get a "refund" of any costs that were paid.

This means that in your scenario, the sequence of actions goes like this:

You cast your Archetype of Imagination. The stack now looks like this:

Your Archetype of Imagination

Your opponent responds with a counterspell targeting the Archetype. The stack now looks like this:

Your opponent's Counterspell
Your Archetype of Imagination

You cast a counterspell targeting your opponent's counterspell. The stack now looks like this:

Your Counterspell
Your opponent's Counterspell
Your Archetype of Imagination

Nobody responds, so your counterspell resolves. It counters your opponent's counterspell, which goes to their graveyard without doing anything. THe stack now looks like this:

Your Archetype of Imagination

The Archetype resolves and enters the battlefield.


Control Effects - Interaction between Molten Primordial and Willbreaker Okay I stumbled upon a weird situation of control abilities between two creatures.
However, there may be more instances of this...

Say I controlled a Willbreaker and then cast a Molten Primordial, targeting one creature that each of my opponents controlled, Would i take control of them until I lose Willbreaker or would it be until end of turn with primordial?

Willbreaker requires that I target a creature an opponent controls to gain control of it for as long as I control will breaker. This would mean that the spell/ Ability targeting said creature would have to resolve am I correct?

If that is the case, would the primordial take control of them first making them Illegal targets for Willbreaker as it states it has to be a creature an opponent controls. My thinking is that they are already under my control after I targeted them with Primordials ETB ability...

Or can I choose which Trigger happens first in this instance?

The creature will come under your control by Willbreaker's effect, Molten Primordial's ability will not be applied.
Let's break down the interaction step by step:

Aaron (Active player) controls a Willbreaker. Nick (Non-Active Player) controls a Bear Cub.
Aaron casts Molten Primordial, there are no responses, and it enters the battlefield. Stack is Empty
Molten Primordial's ability goes onto the stack, then you choose targets for it. Aaron chooses to target Nick's Bear cub. Bear cub is a legal target, as it is a creature that Aaron's opponent controls.
The Bear cub has been targeted, so this triggers Willbreaker's ability, which goes onto the stack.

The Stack now looks like this:
(Top) Willbreaker Control ability
Molten Primordial's Control ability
and begins to resolve.

Aaron gains control of Nick's Bear Cub (through Willbreaker).
Bear cub is no longer a legal target for Molten Primordial's ability, as it is not a "creature that player (Nick) controls". As a result it is countered as per the comprehensive rules(emphasis mine):

608.2b: If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them. If the spell or ability creates any continuous effects that affect game rules (see rule 613.10), those effects don’t apply to illegal targets. If part of the effect requires information about an illegal target, it fails to determine any such information. Any part of the effect that requires that information won’t happen.

Final Result:
Aaron control's Willbreaker, Molten Primordial, and Bear cub. If at any point Willbreaker leaves the battlefield, Nick will gain control of the bear cub again, even if it is this same turn.


In Elder Sign, what is the distinction between completing and defeating a task? The faq says that Mandy Thompson's ability should read

  Once per day, after any player has rolled, Mandy may re- roll 2 dice before determining if the active player was able to defeat a task.

The actual card says "complete" instead of "defeat", so what is the reason for the errata claiming it should say "defeat"?

There is no difference between completing a task and defeating a task.

The difference in wording is - as suspected - for consistency. Additionally, because some tasks are in fact monsters, defeating is a better fit for being the general term than completing.


Opponent has a run in trump Can't find the answer to this anywhere, it happened to us last night. I got the bid and didn't make my run. BUT, the opposing team did get a run in Trump. Is their meld 150 points? Or just a marriage and dix?

They get the full 150 for their run.

A run is by definition an A, 10, K, Q, J of trump suit; which is what they had. It is not required to be the person who won the bid in order to have a run.

From the rules:

  The values of the melds are:

    A,10, K, Q, J of trump suit (flush, or sequence) 150


Do the Saar need to wait a whole round to build a Space Dock? Most races in Twilight Imperium need to wait a whole round in order to build a Space Dock from the moment they take control of a system, that is because of the following requirement in the rules (emphasis mine):

  The active player must have controlled the planet for the entire
  current round. Thus, it is not possible to build a Space Dock on a
  planet that has just been acquired during the current round.

However, the Saar do not build their Space Docks on planets, as specified on their racial sheet. So, can they build a Space Dock wherever they want immediately as they control a system, or do they need to wait a round like all other races?

From page 10 of the Twilight Imperium FAQ (version 2.5):

  Q: What are the restrictions for building a Saar Space Dock?

  A: The player must control 1 planet in the system per space dock he wishes to
  build. Trade stations do not count towards this restriction.

From this the Saar need to have control of a planet, so I would think that why the rule you quoted on needing to have controlled the planet for the entire round would apply.


Does "sacrifice those creatures" happen all at once? Do the sacrifice triggers of Wake the Dead happen at the same time, or do I get to stack them?

As an example, say I cast Wake the Dead targeting Liliana, Heretical Healer and another creature. Assuming no other creature dies until it's time to sacrifice the two, can I "save" Liliana into her Planeswalker form by sacrificing the other creature first?

The sacrifices happen all at once. You cannot sacrifice them sequentially and use the death of the other creatures to flip Liliana.  But it works a little differently than you think.

First, the sacrificing happens all at once (similarly to how board wipe cards like Wrath of God destroy all creatures at once).  However, rule 603.6d applies here.

  603.6d Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions. 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 must be treated specially.
  Leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a
  permanent phases out, abilities that trigger when an object that all
  players can see is put into a hand or library, abilities that trigger
  specifically when an object becomes unattached, abilities that trigger
  when a player loses control of an object, and abilities that trigger
  when a player planeswalks away from a plane will trigger based on
  their existence, and the appearance of objects, prior to the event
  rather than afterward. The game has to "look back in time" to
  determine if these abilities trigger.

This means that Liliana's ability will trigger and go on the stack!  However, when the triggered ability resolves and tries to exile Liliana, she no longer exists on the battlefield and does nothing.

For reference see these other questions:

What happens when a creature with “Whenever a creature dies” dies simultaneously with multiple other creatures?
Does the 2nd ability of Teysa, Orzhov Scion trigger with mass destruction?
When a permanent has a “When a creature dies” ability, and gets destroyed at the same time as creatures, does that ability trigger?


Are there any card games that enforce "Dealer's Respect"? When playing card games like President at school, the dealer often declared "Dealer's Respect", which required that no player pick up their cards before the dealer had finished dealing, because the dealer could not do the same.

Is this actually a rule, custom, or convention in any games?

It's a common convention wherever cards are involved; the game doesn't have to be a traditional card game played with a poker or bridge deck.

I think the convention evolved from the trick-taking family, especially Bridge, and the manners and social conventions thereof. Poker, and its emphasis on ensuring a clean deal, is another good possibility for the origins of the convention.

In general, it's just a good idea; here are a couple of reasons why, off the top of my head.

If nobody touches the cards, then any discrepancy in the number or order dealt is on the dealer, making "misdeals" a little easier to spot.
Picking up an incomplete hand can be very distracting to the dealer who is attempting to count the cards dealt, which can cause a misdeal.
The dealer, when dealing across a larger table, often uses the pile of cards already dealt as a target and backstop for the ones he's now skimming across the table. Picking up that pile makes the target go away and can cause the dealer to miss.
The cards you're picking up, if the dealer isn't very accurate, may not be your own, and if that happens you've just forced a misdeal, when otherwise the errant card can simply be pushed over to the correct player's pile.

I've commonly heard the superstition that it's bad luck to pick up an incomplete hand. Theoretically that's hogwash, but it actually has some merit; those of us with terrible poker faces give others at the table information not only about the hand, but about each individual card picked up as it's dealt.

However, I can't think of or find any set-in-stone rule (outside of a casino) that requires it to the point of prescribing a penalty for the specific action of picking up or looking at an incomplete hand. It is simply good manners.


What to keep in mind when copying a small card game? There's an old card game I want, but it's been out of print for 15 years and currently going for >$1000 used. There are just 80 cards in the game, and I've got a friend who does own it.

My plan is just to scan the cards, print them two-sided, laminate them and cut them out with a knife. I could also get plastic pockets and print the front and back separately.

What are some common pitfalls in printing a card game, and what am I likely to have missed?

(Don't worry, of course I'll mail a fit donation to the manufacturers.)

As commenters have pointed out, the copying that you are describing is illegal in most countries.

This isn't legal advice (and it depends on where you're located), but a quick Google search about copying and protecting card games seems to suggest that you probably can make a copy if you don't directly copy the artwork or wording used in the original game. It sounds like you can write out the rules in your own words, and make your own cards. Of course, some would say this is ethically questionable. And who knows what the issues are if the game mechanics are patented in some way.

  (Don't worry, of course I'll mail a fit donation to the manufacturers.)

There's a better way. If the game is out of print, but the manufacturers are still contactable, why not just write to them? You can avoid the issue of illegal copyright infringement if you have permission.

Something like "I am really interested in a copy of this game. Is it possible to buy it from you still? Are you likely to reprint it anytime soon? If not, would you mind if I photocopied my friends copy and mailed you $70?"


Specific case when Berenice is in play I have the following scenario in a 7 wonders game played with leaders and cities that can be interpreted in at least 2 ways.

Alice has in play the leader "Berenice" (From the moment she enters play, each amount of coins taken from the bank is increased by 1. This increase is limited to one coin per turn).

In Age A, turn T, Alice plays a card that would allow her to take 3 coins (not counting Berenice's effect) from the bank.
In the same age, same turn, Bob plays a black (cities) card that makes every other player discard 3 coins.

Let's assume that Alice does not want to take debt tokens instead of discarding the coins.
This makes the total coin delta for this turn for Alice be 0 (zero).

Question:
Does Alice get 1 coin from the bank because of Berenice or not?

Same question but rephrased.
Taking coins from the bank and discarding coins are 2 separate actions in the same turn, or there is only one action "take / discard" depending on the sum of the coins to be taken minus the sum of coins to be discarded?

The Cities rules say about "Debts" (on page 4):

  Important: monetary losses are always resolved at the end of a turn, after players have played their cards, possibly having paid for trade and/or obtained money...

So Alice takes 4 coins (3 + 1), and then she decides whether she wants to

pay 3 coins,
pay 2 coins and take 1 Debt token,
pay 1 coin and take 2 Debt tokens, or
take 3 Debt tokens.


Is an Enchantment Creature also an Enchanted Creature? Is an Enchantment Creature also an Enchanted Creature? For example, Spiteful Returned states

  Whenever Spiteful Returned or enchanted creature attacks, defending player loses 2 life.

If I have Spiteful Returned and Nyxborn Eidolon on the battlefield - both cast as creatures, not bestowed - and attack with both, does the defender lose 2 life or 4 life? Nyxborn Eidolon is an Enchantment Creature, but it has no enchantments on it. Is it technically an enchanted creature?

In addition to the answer you've already gotten, I want to point out that Spiteful Returned doesn't say 'another enchanted creature'; it specifically uses the phrasing 'when enchanted creature attacks'.  This refers to the creature that Spiteful Returned is enchanting, and that creature only; if you have Spiteful Returned in play and, say, a Bloodcrazed Hoplite that has a Hopeful Eidolon bestowed onto it, then attacking with the Bloodcrazed Hoplite won't trigger Spiteful Returned's ability.


Can devotion of just one colour satisfy a multicolored devotion condition? If I play Athreos, God of Passage, but I only have 7 to devotion to black, does this devotion count to devotion to white and black?

Or do I need at least 1 to devotion to white to have devotion to white and black?

Devotion to either color is fine. You don't need to have devotion to both. "Devotion to A and B" just counts all mana symbols of color A and/or B in permanents you control. (Notably hybrid symbols are just counted once.)

See a Gatherer ruling found on Athreos and all the other two-color gods, emphasis added:

  Your devotion to two colors is equal to the number of mana symbols that are the first color, the second color, or both colors among the mana costs of permanents you control. Specifically, a hybrid mana symbol counts only once toward your devotion to its two colors. For example, if the only nonland permanents you control are Pharika, God of Affliction and Golgari Guildmage (whose mana cost is {B/G}{B/G}), your devotion to black and green is four.

You do however have some devotion to white, from Athreos himself. As long as he's out he's giving you +1 white devotion and +1 black devotion; a god's own mana cost counts towards its own devotion. This also means Athreos actually only needs 5 white and black devotion from sources other than himself.


Can I use the Idol during other player's turns? If I have the Idol in Betrayal at House on the Hill, can I use it on someone else's turn, say in a defensive roll? Or is it just for your turn? If I used it on someone else's turn can I also use it on my turn?

The text states:

  Once per turn...

And doesn't specify which turn. Should it say round?

No. Idol is an item, and may only be used on your own turn.
From the FAQ at wizards

Can you use an item card outside of your turn (for instance, when you were attacked)?
The only items you could use outside your own turn are the Angel Feather, the Lucky Stone, and the omen Skull.


Can Amber Prison prevent multiple permanents from untapping? Amber Prison reads

  You may choose not to untap Amber Prison during your untap step.

  4, Tap: Tap target artifact, creature, or land. That permanent doesn't untap during its controller's untap step for as long as Amber Prison remains tapped.

If during my turn I tap a creature, and then on my next turn I untap Amber Prison and use it to tap another creature, do both creatures remain tapped during the next untap phase?

If not, why not?

The only way it can be done is by copying the ability (such as through Rings of Brighthearth.  With just one copy of the ability, it works as follows:

"As long as" denotes the duration of the continuous effect. The effect ends when Amber Prison is untapped, and when it ends, there is nothing preventing the first creature from untapping.

  611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it
  (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts
  until the end of the game.

Even if Amber Prison is  untapped while its ability is on the stack and activated again, it wouldn't be possible, becase the effect from the first instance of the ability would not even start:

  611.2b Some continuous effects generated by the resolution of a spell or ability have durations worded “for as long as . . . .” If the “for
  as long as” duration never starts, or it ends before the moment the
  effect would first be applied, the effect does nothing. It doesn’t
  start and immediately stop again, and it doesn’t last forever.


How does Diver movement work in forbidden island? I played my first few games of Forbidden Island last night, and one of the roles we played was the Diver. We weren't 100% sure of the meaning of his special ability, so I wanted to ask if anyone had any clarification to make sure we play correctly in future.

The Diver's ability (from memory, edit if incorrect) says:

  The Diver may move through any number of flooded or sunken tiles for 1 action

does this mean that the Diver can move to any land tile connected by flooded/sunken tiles? Or does it mean that moving through any number of such tiles is 1 action, and emerging onto land again is a second action?

to illustrate, here is an example:
let X be a sunken tile, T be a regular tile, and FT be a flooded tile.

T1 - FT1 - X - FT2 - T2.

Does moving the diver from T1 to T2 constitute 1 action, or 2 (one to move to FT2, and one to move the last square)?

You got it right the first time. In your example, it takes the diver 1 move action to go from T1 to T2. The Diver is incredibly useful for quickly getting around the island while it's flooded. It's not as overpowered as it would initially seem... until tiles start sinking, the Diver hasn't any other special abilities. In later stages of the game, you can ensure he'll probably survive.


What happens if I pocket both players' last C/m and the Striker in one shot? Suppose I pot the last red C/m, the last white C/m and the Striker together. The Queen isn't on the board. Is that a win for me or do I return the C/m with a penalty?

According to the ICF rules, it's a loss for you.

Depending on who covered the Queen, your opponent will get 1-3 points, +1 for the Striker, and +1 if it was an improper stroke.

  a) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by a proper stroke he shall lose the Board by one point, if the Queen has been covered by him. One additional point for the pocketed Striker shall be awarded if demanded by the opponent.

  b) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by an improper stroke, he shall lose the Board by one point, if the Queen has been covered by him. Two additional points shall be awarded, if demanded by the opponent.
  a) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by a proper stroke, he shall lose the Board by 3 points, if the Queen has been covered by the opponent. If the score of the opponent is 22 or more, he shall get one point. One additional point shall be awarded, if demanded by the opponent.

  b) If a player pockets the last C/m of his own and of his opponent together with the Striker by an improper stroke he shall lose the Board by 3 points, if  the Queen has been covered by the opponent. If the score of the opponent is 22 or more he shall get one point. Two additional points shall be awarded, if demanded by the opponent.


Which are chess variants that are helpful in teaching chess? Some chess variants are really helpful in teaching chess to beginners. Here is an example variant. This one is similar to knight chase.
Both players have only a knight. White has a knight at a8 and black has one at h1. White starts first and then players make alternate moves. A player moves his knight and marks the square previously occupied by his knight. Marked squares are no longer available to any player. The player who cannot move his knight at his turn loses. This game is useful to teach the movement of knight to beginners in a fun way.

Are there any other chess variants that are actually helpful in teaching chess and fun to play at the same time? (I am not much interested in bringing in new pieces or new rules, focus is more on teaching chess rules the fun way). Thanks

Pushing the pawn

White has a king with its pawn, black only has a king (all at their usual starting locations). White wins if the pawn savely (so either protected by its king or the black king more than one square away) moves to the last row, black wins if he survives 40 rounds (each player has 40 moves).

Teaches opposition

Checkmate for two

White has a king and first a queen, next a rook, then two bishops, then two knights (no forced checkmate possible), then a bishop and a knight. Black has only the king and white wins if he ckeckmates black, black if he survives 40 rounds.

Teaches checkmate options for different pieces.


What happens if a wizard uses a spell against a monster that is immune to it? In Dungeon! a wizard must choose to use a spell, let's say lightning, before the monster of a room is revealed. What happens if the monster is revealed and it appears to be immune to lightning, as shown by the "-" sign?

It is treated the same as if they rolled a number that was too low.  They are defeated and suffer the usual consequences.

There are various different versions of the rules.  The ones here show it on page 10, third paragraph.


What's the easiest way to prototype a board game design? In an idle moment I had an idea for a simple war game simulation. (Really simple - honest!) I'd like to prototype it, just to see if the game mechanic I thought of has any merit. I don't want to spend hours, though.

What it would need is a map (think Ticket to Ride), stackable tiles (eg the tiles in Carcassonne) with half a dozen possible values, and some little figurine-y things.

The simplest way seems to be to draw the map out on a big sheet of paper, and maybe use Scrabble tiles (each letter representing something...) Wondering what other people do in this situation?

Your instinct is correct. In the first stage you're only interested in seeing if your mechanics are feasible so all you need are some abstract representations of your game components. A game may consist of roads, towns and cities but to test, all you really need are three different things.

You can either:

Repurpose components from other games
Have a collection of generic components in various shapes and colors (Maybe even something like Piecepack)
Do everything on slips of paper or cardboard

Anything beyond that would probably be overkill at this time. I've recently read an article about 3 German game designers (1 aspiring, 1 first-timer and 1 "pro"). Among other things the article described the pro's design room, which had a huge selection of meeples, dice, cubes, chits and other generic game pieces in various colors. Such a selection takes time and money to build but is probably the fastest way to test an idea.


How would cooperative and foraging chain work? Imagine a Long Neck + Foraging + Cooperative combo.
It gains 2 foods from the food bank and feed the species at its right.
If the species at the right has foraging + cooperative, how many does it gain?
And how many gains the third species?

It seems like the first would gain 2, the next 2 and the next 1, but I am not sure. Someone said the first should gain 2 and the next 4 and the third should have 2.

As clarified in the Climate rules, and as the system does it in the digital version, the food distributed would be 2 - 2 - 1.
-Creature A gets one food from long neck, it gets an additional from foraging.  Because it ate, the species to the right gets one plant food.
-Creature B gets one food and then an additional food from foraging. Because it ate, the species to the right gets one plant food.
-Creature C gets one food.  If it also had foraging it would get an additional food.

The designer (Dominic Crapuchettes) also clarified it in this thread here:  https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1419292/foraging-cooperation-and-order-eating

They also plan to post an official FAQ after the digital version is released.


Smallworld: scoring points during decline of second race If I have a race in decline and choose to decline my current race, do I score both races or just the new race in decline? I am assuming that just the new race, since we (normally) cannot have two races in decline.

You are correct, when you choose to decline your current race, the previous markers of the previous race in decline are immediately removed and not scored (Unless of course the previous race in decline has the Spirit special power.)

See Entering in Decline on page 6 of the rulebook. Emphasis mine.

  Each player can only have a single race In Decline on the map
  at any given time. If the player still has tokens from an earlier
  In Decline race left on the map, those are all immediately
  removed from the map and placed back in the storage tray,
  before flipping the new tokens into Decline.

  The Race banner of the now vanished race is placed at the
  bottom of the stack of Race banners, or in the lowest empty
  slot in the banner column, if any. The same is also done when
  the last token of a race In Decline is wiped off the map as the
  result of their last Region being conquered.

  The player can make no conquests during the turn his race
  goes into decline; his turn ends immediately after scoring! He
  gains 1 Victory coin for each Region his newly In Decline tokens
  occupy, but unless stated otherwise, he scores no Victory coins
  from his now In Decline Race banner power or discarded Special
  Power benefits.


What is a proper bidding sequence after a "weak 2" bid? In the opening game of a rubber, I dealt and opened two diamonds (weak) with the following:

(s) J3 (h) 54 (d) KJ7532 (c) A42. Partner responded two hearts. I passed with my two weak hearts, fearing a "misfit" and we made five because partner had the following:

(s) 65 (h) AKQ32 (d) A84 (c) KQ5.

Basically, we lost the two spades and took the rest (the opposing hearts divided 3-3).

Even allowing for the favorable heart break, we felt that we could have bid higher. Partner said that if she had it to do over, she would have raised diamonds.

Was there, in fact, a better bidding sequence? What should I have bid if we were playing "Raise only non-forcing" (RONF)?

Given that partner and I hadn't discussed this matter before, I was afraid that partner might have bid 2 hearts with as little as  (s) 65 (h) AKQ32 (d) T84 (c) 765 (as some others in our bridge circle might). Is partner supposed to have an opening hand (or better) when she takes me out of 2 diamonds with 2 hearts?

I'm not at all sure what the prevailing agreement is by rubber players, but the Standard American Yellow Card is marked "RONF" (raise-only non-forcing), which I suggest you and your partner adopt. The SAYC booklet has this to say:

“RONF” on the card means “Raise Only Non-Force.” A new-suit response is
forcing one round and shows at least a five-card suit. Opener should raise a major
suit response with a three-card fit, or perhaps with a doubleton honor.

With no fit for responder’s suit, opener rebids:
 With a minimum weak two-bid (5–8 points), rebid the suit at the lowest level.
 With a maximum weak two-bid, name a new suit or bid notrump.

The reason for playing RONF is that it is very rare that you can profitably improve partner's preempt to a new suit when you hold a weak hand and a void in partner's suit (which is one situation in which many beginners try to bid 2H over 2D). On the other hand, it is not so uncommon to have the potential for a game across from partner's preempt with a hand that has its own suit (as your partner had here). What's more, the gain from finding those games is much higher than any loss that may be prevented by improving a partscore with a nonforcing bid.

In fact, your hand is not weakish. Your suit is not so good but you have an outside ace. I would put in 2NT with your hand. Now you should discuss further bids with partner, but I would suggest that responder's next bid should be taken as a concentration trying to determine whether 3NT is the correct contract (unless opener rebids the suit), so I think a reasonable auction is:

2D   2H
2NT  3C
3D   3H
4H   5D (1)

(1) Partner may also consider passing given that you've shown a heart doubleton and denied a spade card; they can see two spade losers are likely but a club loser is not (would you have bid 2NT without a spade stopper and without the club ace?), but that a diamond loser is also possible. If hearts are 3-3 (36%), you'll (usually) take the same number of tricks in hearts and diamonds, meaning you can make 4H when 5D goes down. When hearts are 4-2 (48%), you'll likely make one fewer trick in hearts than diamonds (making 4H when 5D makes). It's only when hearts are 5-1 or worse (16%) that hearts is likely to be a a worse contract than diamonds.


If Koth of the Hammer's plus one ability ends at end of turn, doesn't it make it useless? How does Koth of the Hammer's plus one ability work when it ends right after you use it and the Mountain turned into a creature has summoning sickness (part of the rulings on Gatherer)?

I think you've misunderstood the ruling:

  If Koth's first ability animates a Mountain that came under your control that turn, it will have "summoning sickness" and be unable to attack. It will also be unable to be tapped to activate an ability with the {T} symbol in its cost, such as the Mountain's mana ability or the ability granted to it by Koth's emblem.

If the mountain has been under your control since before the beginning of this turn, it does not have "summoning sickness". It's only unable to tap and attack if it's a mountain that you played this turn.


How does the addition of the Potion treasure from Dominion: Alchemy change the game? These questions give a good explanation of the general changes each of the Dominion expansions add to the game.

But in this question I really want to zoom in the focus, particularly on how the potion card affects the game in Dominion: Alchemy. 10 of the 12 cards require a potion to buy, but there may be varying amounts of them in a given kingdom set. Without having actually played Alchemy I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how it will change things.

How do you evaluate how many potions and how to balance it with your other treasures?
How much complexity does the dual-economy of income add?
How does the potion treasure otherwise affect your strategy when cards from Alchemy are in the kingdom set?

Generally, if you're going to be buying cards with a potion in the cost, you will buy a potion right away on a 3/4 split. If you wait, then you won't have the potion shuffled into your deck early enough to get the potion-cost cards into your deck quickly.

Deciding whether to buy the potion-cost cards or not really depends on the setup. There are some situations in which a single card with a potion cost is worth purchasing (e.g., Golem in setups with poor +action, Vineyard in action-heavy setups). In other cases, it's better to ignore the potion-cost cards--if there's a Possession and Embargo on the board, lots of players will choose to embargo the Possession instead of dealing with that card.

Finally, whether to get multiple potions also depends on the setup. Setups with +buy and cheap potion cards like Vineyard or Transmute make it less painful if you draw multiple potions in one hand. If you have cards that are fueled by potions, like Alchemists, it may be worthwhile to have an extra potion in your deck.

Although it seems really complicated initially, and the strategy can end up pretty involved, my experience was that it was rather straightforward to actually play with Alchemy once I had a good grasp of the base game. I certainly made lots of bad strategic choices initially, but I was not really confused by the dual economy.

If you've played with Black Market, it's a similar kind of calculation to playing with potions: you need to have that card in your hand in order to get access to other cards (potion cost cards or the BM deck), and you decide how many to purchase based on your needs at the time and your current deck composition.