Do creatures with enchantments on them keep the enchantments if they return to the battlefield from the graveyard? Do creatures with enchantments on them keep the enchantments if they return to the battlefield from the graveyard?

If a creature is sent to the graveyard from the battlefield, and has an enchantment aura on it when it does, if I were to play a card that allowed me to return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield, would it return with the enchantments that it had on it when it went to the graveyard?

No, nothing like that happens. Once the creature is in the graveyard, it's no longer associated with the aura in any way.
When the creature dies, the aura is sent to the graveyard as a state-based action (i.e. the next time a player would gain priority):

704.5n If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player, that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

And the creature card and enchantment card in the graveyard don't know they were ever associated:

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are eight exceptions to this rule:
[...exceptions that don't apply here...]

So if you return the creature to the battlefield, it's yet again an entirely new creature, nothing to do with the aura that was once attached to that creature card.


How many spades does my partner have when responding to my opening 1club bid and left overcalls 1 heart I open with 1 club.

Left bids 1 hearts.

My partner bids 1 spade.

How many spades can I assume my partner has?

Assuming that you have Negative Doubles, sometimes called Sputnik Doubles, in your arsenal of agreements, then partner is showing 5 or more Spades. With only four Spades partner would double instead.

The argument might be presented that partner is coming in with only 4 good spades as a lead directing call, but there is no reason for this. First, partner is odds on to have the opening lead if opponents win the auction; and second the double would also show a spade holding. Consequently this argument holds no water on this auction.

If you are not playing Negative Doubles then partner's call should either show five Spades and at least a minimum responding hand (normally 5+ HCP in standard systems), or four spades and a hand worth at least two free bids, normally 9+ HCP or so in standard systems).

The reason for the two-way call is that with the stronger hand partner must make it clear that your side likely owns the auction, and can compete possibly to the 2- or 3-level.  You can determine after partner's next call if he might have only 4 Spades, with extra points. Initially assume partner is only showing 4 spades in this case, though it is acceptable to make a single raise to 2 with only three-card support if you are minimum.


Is Lone Rider's ability checked every turn or just the turn it was summoned? The text of the card Lone Rider says:

  At the beginning of the end step, if you gained 3 or more life this turn, transform Lone Rider.

Does "this turn" mean only the turn the card is cast, or at the beginning of the end step of every turn?

I am reading the card as referring to "this turn" being the turn in which this card is cast, but a friend of mine is reading "this turn" as following "the beginning of the end step" of ALL turns. The card itself I think lends itself to being probably only meaning "the turn this card is cast", because it would be I think very overpowered if "the beginning of the end step" means "at the beginning of the end step of all turns".

So my question has two parts, lastly but perhaps more importantly, in the case of ambiguous MtG card text, what's the proper way to interpret the text?

It does in fact trigger every turn (both yours and your opponent's!) in which you gain 3 or more life.

From the Comprehensive Rules:

  603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[Trigger
  condition], [effect],” and begin with the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” They can also be
  expressed as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect].”

  603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability
  automatically triggers.

So in this case, the ability triggers every time it's "the beginning of the end step", not just the turn the card was played. (Actually there's one more technicality here:

  603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When
  the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers
  only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it
  resolves...

So if you haven't gained 3 life by the beginning of a given end step, the ability does not trigger at all during that end step.)

MtG has been around for a long time and by now is shockingly good at having one definitive meaning for the text, so in general if there's something you don't understand, your answer probably exists in at least one of these places:

The Gatherer page for the card in question - the "Rulings" section may have your answer (not this time though).
The Basic Rules.
The Comprehensive Rules. It'll definitely have your answer, but the answer may be hard to find because there's so much there.


What tap effect has precedence? Suppose I control Wellwisher:

  {T}: You gain 1 life for each Elf on the battlefield.

And my friend controls Ballynock Trapper:

  {T}: Tap target creature.

  Whenever you cast a white spell, you may untap Ballynock Trapper.

My question is who has precedence? Is there any way I can get my effect off and not be interrupted by his effect?

If I also control Seedborn Muse...

  Untap all permanents you control during each other player's untap step.

... Would that change who has precedence?

I get the feeling that at least on my turn I would be able to use my abilities before he can use his, am I wrong on this?

The short answer is that no matter what your opponent does with their Trapper, they cannot prevent you from activating your Wellwisher and gaining the life.

The long answer involves explaining some of the key systems in the Magic rules.

Magic resolves spells and abilities using a system called "the stack". When you cast a spell or ability, it goes on top of the stack, and then any player and put an instant or ability on the stack. Then once nobody puts anything else on the stack, the spells and abilities resolve from the top down. This allows player to respond to spells or abilities with other spells or abilities, and the response resolves first. More information can be found on the relevant wiki page.

Magic also has a particular meaning for the word "priority", which is different from how you used it in the question. Basically, only one player gets priority at a time, and each player gets priority before any spell or ability resolves, to give each player the opportunity to respond. You gain priority very frequently, including at the end of almost every step of each player's turn, whenever a spell or ability is put on the stack, and whenever a spell or ability resolves from the stack.

Whatever the situation is, either you have priority, or your opponent does. In the first case, the sequence of events looks like this:

You activate your Wellwisher's ability. This consists of the following steps (often condensed into one action):

You announce that your are activating the ability.
You tap Wellwisher to pay for the cost of the ability.

The ability is now activated and on the stack. You pass priority. Your opponent now has the opportunity to respond.
Your opponent activates their Trapper's ability. This has a similar sequence of actions:

They announce that they are activating the ability.
They choose Wellwisher as the target of the ability.
They tap their Trapper to pay for the cost of the ability.

Now the Wellwisher's ability is on the stack, and the Trapper's ability is on top of it on the stack. Both players pass priority (this is often assumed to be the case when neither player announces any responses).
The Trapper's ability resolves, and it taps Wellwisher. Wellwisher is already tapped, so this doesn't do anything.
Both players pass priority again, and the Wellwisher's ability resolves. You gain a bunch of life.

In the second case, where your opponent has priority, the sequence of events looks very similar:

Your opponent activates his Trapper's ability, targeting Wellwisher and tapping the Trapper to pay the cost.
The Trapper's ability is now on the stack and activated. Your opponent passes priority.
You activate your Wellwisher's ability, tapping Wellwisher to pay the cost.
Now the Trapper's ability is on the stack, and the Wellwisher's ability is on top of it on the stack. Both players pass priority.
The Wellwisher's ability resolves, and you gain a bunch of life.
Both player's pass priority again, and the Trapper's ability resolves, tapping Wellwisher. Wellwisher is already tapped, so this doesn't do anything.

As you can see, it doesn't matter who activates their ability first. Either way, you can gain the life from Wellwisher.


Do 3 Boros Elite attacking trigger Battalion? Say I have 3 Boros Elite in play, and I decide to attack a player with all 3. Does it trigger Battalion? Since the card sais:

  Battalion — Whenever Boros Elite and at least two other creatures attack, Boros Elite gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

Do the other 2 Boros Elites count as the 2 other creatures? Or do I have to attack with 2 different named creatures to activate Battalion?

Yes.

Whenever a card refers to itself by name, it is referring to that specific instance of the card. Other cards with the same name are not affected or considered.

For a card to work in the way you describe, it would be worded significantly differently. Something along the lines of "Whenever Boros Elite and at least two other creatures not named Boros Elite...", or "Whenever Boros Elite and at least two other creatures with different names...". Examples where these restrictions are put in place are Escaped Shapeshifter and Gifts Ungiven


Use of Instants During Combat Phase I declare Grizzly Bears as an attacker. My opponent moves to declare blockers, and decides to block the bears with an Air Elemental. Looking at the creature’s power and toughness, I notice my bears are going to die, so I cast Titanic Growth in order to make my bears more powerful. But, in response to my last spell, opponent casts Shock in order to kill the bears before the titanic growth resolves. In such a situation, do the Bears deal their 2 damage to Air Elemental, as the fight has been done just the same, or do the bears go directly to the graveyard without dealing their damage to the blocking creature?

The Grizzly Bears don't deal combat damage to the Air Elemental

Assuming no more instants or abilities are added to the stack after Shock, the stack will resolve.

First, Shock will resolve, causing your bears to die.

Then, Titanic Growth will resolve: it can't find the creature you targeted, so it effectively does nothing.

Finally, since the stack is empty and players have passed priority, we move to combat damage. There are no attackers, so no combat damage is dealt.


What are Death's stats for the “Chess with death” haunt in Betrayal at the House on the Hill? In the "Chess with death" haunt, death appears in a room and starts a chess game with the players. If a player isn't in the room to take their turn when death's turn rolls around, the players lose the game. However, if one of the non-traitor players is in the room, they get to play a game of chess with death.

death and the players must make a knowledge roll against each-other, death must win the roll or the traitor loses the game. if the player loses, all players (including the loser) take a penalty, usually stat-lowering effects.

There are holy symbols around that players can destroy to make death perform worse on their rolls. There are 4 symbols that the players can destroy. each destroyed symbol will subtract 1 or 2 dice from death's rolls.

The thing that puzzled my players is that there seemed to be no skills or stats for death in the traitor's tome, as confirmed by every player at the table. We assumed that Death had perfect 8 for every stat, but there are haunts where some creatures get up to 12.

What are Death's stats tor the "Chess With Death" haunt in the game Betrayal at the House on the Hill?

I assume you're referring to Haunt 37, titled Checkmate

As per the REVISED Traitor's Manual, Death has a Knowledge of 8 (and it cheats). It has no other stats, and cannot be attacked by any means. As per the (revised) Survivor's Handbook, Each Holy Seal token removes one die (two in 3- or 4-player games) from all subsequent knowledge rolls by Death. (in a 5-player game, the effective minimum knowledge for Death is 3, while in smaller games, it is possible for Death to be forced to take a 0 on the roll).


In Axis and Allies, do infantry units start at the industrial complex or anywhere I want? I love playing Axis and Allies but think I have been playing it wrong. I place my troops on all of my properties. Is that wrong? Where are they supposed to start when I buy them? At the industrial complex, or anywhere?

No.  New units can only be placed at industrial complexes.

From the rules, page 21, "Action Sequence 5 - Place New Units On Gameboard":

Place newly purchased land units and air units in territories where you have owned
industrial complexes since the beginning of your turn-not in just-captured territories
with industrial complexes.

Furthermore

Any units that cannot be placed in industrial complexes are lost and put back in the tray.

Rules: https://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/axis.pdf


Small World, what does "permanently discard" mean? In Small World, after conquering region for loosing player rules state:

  Permanently discard one Race token back into the Storage tray

Now I'm not totally sure what does that mean. For most races there really is no difference, but for skeletons and sorcerers I see two interpretations that lead to two different results:

  Move tokens back to the box/tray from where you took them, this means that skeletons and sorcerers can use them again, that is their maximum token count is not affected

OR:

  Move tokens back to the box, and not to the tray where you took them from. Meaning that maximum possible count for skeletons and sorcerers would be decreased this way.

While I understand that tray is place where you take tokens from, the word "permanently" is a bit confusing. I have been playing by second interpretation so far, and it seems kinda fairer. Though I'm not sure if this is the intended way to play game. Though difference would most likely be minor, only two races are affected, and the number of tokens is quite large and hard to deplete. Still theres a difference! So anyone knows what how this should be handled officially?

Because it says "back into the Storage tray", it is the first option; Skeletons and Sorcerers can reuse them. Note the limitation in the rules for both Skeletons and Sorcerers:

  If there are no more tokens in the storage tray...

Both Skeletons and Sorcerers state that the new unit comes "from the storage tray", and the rules for the loosing player state that the killed unit goes "to the storage tray".


Do Troll's Lairs remain in a region when Hordes of Trolls go In Decline if the only remaing race token is a Horde? The rules for Trolls specify:

The Troll's Lair augments your region's defense by 1 (just as if you had an
additional Troll token stationed there), and stays in the Region even after your Trolls go
into Decline. Remove the Troll's Lair if you abandon the Region or when an enemy conquers it.

The rules for Hordes of tokens specify:

They disappear when you go In Decline, however.

Assume a Troll player goes In Decline, and one or two of their regions have a single Hordes of token, which disappears. Does the Troll's Lair remain? I have been assuming that it does. However, I just played a game on the computer where the Trolls went In Decline, the Horde token was removed, but the Troll's Lair remained behind with no race token in the region.
Looking at the rules, the region has not been abandoned, and has not been conquered. But this behavior seems unintuitive, and I suspect that it is an issue of an expansion (Small World Cursed!) creating an unintended consequence when combined with the literal text of the base game. It seems that in the base game, the Troll's Lair remains in the region because an In Decline Troll token remains in the region.
So, does the Troll's Lair token remain when the Hordes of token disappears?

Yes, the Lair is lost, for the reason you say.
It has none of your race counters, so it has been abandoned.
See also: removing declined Lairs when another race goes into decline. (Same reason: the lair gets abandoned)


How can I identify games that would work better on the computer? What are the things that the electronic version can do to enhance gameplay? Conversely, what could the board game version do to overcome this view? Feel free to use examples if it would help clarify your answer.

Computerized board and card games can have an advantage when it enables automation of what would otherwise be mundane or tedious tasks:

Shuffling cards in Dominion is a good example; eliminating shuffling applies to lots of classic card games that have wide on-line audiences like hearts, spades, etc.
Computer versions also work well if they can abstract away math that is part of the game, but not really a part of the strategy. Think about a game where anyone at the table would be comfortable helping someone get the calculation right; a benign example would be calculating the 10% income tax in monopoly or figuring out the price to unmortgage a property.
Some players don't like the uncertainty involved in games with lots of dice rolling or probability calculations because they're not comfortable enough doing them in their heads to enjoy playing in person. Obvious examples include gambling games like poker or war simulations like Axis and Allies, both of which have active and thriving on-line communities.

Attributes that make a game ill-suited to being played on a computer:

A high degree of player interaction, especially if characterized by collaboration. Examples would be Arkham Horror (highly collaborative) or Pictionary (lots of in person interaction)
Games where access to the internet completely ruins them: Trivial Pursuit and Scattegories come to mind, as does Balderdash.
Games where a significant fraction of the enjoyment comes from the atmosphere created by playing, like Arkham Horror or Betrayal at the House on the Hill.
Games where players need to take in a lot of information at once. As Edward Tufte likes to point out, the resolution of the physical world is still much greater than the resolution of a screen and most board games take up much more real estate when played than a typical monitor size. I've never played, but looking at all the pieces in the box, Twilight Imperium seems like a potential example, and even playing Axis and Allies on the computer can suffer from a hindered ability to "see the whole board".


Do I lose if I have an empty library and cast Brainstorm? Brainstorm says "Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order."
If I have no cards in my library when I cast Brainstorm, do I lose? I imagine so - it feel pretty weird if I don't - but apparently state-based actions aren't checked during spell resolution, and by the time Brainstorm resolves I no longer have an empty library, so just checking.

You will still lose, even though your library will not be empty when you lose.
You will fully resolve Brainstorm, including drawing as many as you can from your library (none in this case), and then putting 2 cards onto your library. After Brainstorm resolves, state-based actions will be checked, including this one:

704.5b If a player attempted to draw a card from a library with no cards in it since the last time state-based actions were checked, he or she loses the game.

So because you had made an attempt to draw a card from a library with no cards in it, you will lose, even though your library now has cards in it.


Gatling and backfire in Bang! If a gatling is played by player A and player B uses a backfire (as it counts as a Missed!), is player A the target of a Bang! ?

Thanks

Yes.

From the rulebook:

  Even though the Gatling shoots a BANG! to all the other players, it is not considered a BANG! card.

(Emphasis mine).

And the Wikipedia for Bang! says:

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

When you play Gatling, you target every other player with a Bang!. So BackFire will respond to Gatling just like it would to a regular Bang! card.


Can I set up a chain reaction by placing gas markers on adjacent squares? If gas markers have been placed on adjacent squares, what happens when one of the gas markers is ignited (e.g. by shooting it)?

Background:

We were playing Defend The Manor House, I had placed one gas marker inside the Manor House and another one outside on an adjacent square. I wanted to ignite the gas marker that was outside and have it trigger the one inside too (I couldn't trigger the one inside the house directly because walls block ranged weapons).

We looked in the rules but couldn't find anything related to multiple gas markers. In the end I missed when I threw the lighter at the first gas marker so we didn't have to resolve this. The heroes lost on the next turn when the 9th zombie entered the Manor House.

Jason C. Hall the designer of Last Night on Earth was on BoardGameGeek.com and said this:

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/1730957#1730957

We have yet to see this happen, but it would be pretty sweet!

I would say that an exploding Gas Marker should have the chance to set off adjacent Gas Markers on the roll of 3+ (or auto if in the same space).  Everybody loves a big explosion.

-Jason


Can more threats be active than threat slots? Can there be more than four active threats in play at once?

There are exactly four scouter-shaped slots on the side of the board with which to place threat cards.  There can also be up to four players/characters, and the number of threats in play is implied to be equal to the number of players.  However, I cannot find anywhere where the rules explicitly state that the number of active threats are limited to these four spaces; it would simply be very unusual to design the board to have exactly four of these very deliberately-shaped notches if there was such a common scenario in which they would overflow.

The rules for adding new threats are:

  At the beginning of each round, reveal a number of Threat Tiles from the top of the stack equal to the number of players (e.g., in a 3-player game, reveal 3 Threat Tiles), then place those Threat Tiles face up next to the Cell Board.

Does this mean that, if you are playing a 4-player game and do not clear all of the threats in a turn, the uncleared ones linger around and four additional threats appear, exceeding the space on the board?  Or do you fill up to four so as not to exceed the very perfectly-designed card spaces?

Designer here. Uncleared threat tiles remain and 1 new tile per player are revealed, so it is possible to have more than 4 active threat tiles.


Can a Villager vote himself? Some roles, like the angel or the village idiot, want to be voted themselves.

Is it valid to any villager to vote for himself?

No version of werewolf I have found forbids a player from voting for him/herself during the day.

The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow

  The players, after much debating and arguing, must select one player that they want to eliminate when they vote.

Stellar Factory Werewolf (playwerewolf.co)

  Daytime is very simple; all the living players gather in the village and decide who to kill. As soon as a majority of players vote for a particular player to kill, the moderator says "Ok, you're dead."

Ultimate Werewolf

  Each day, the players discuss who among them is a werewolf, and vote out a player.


How does US/UK scoring work for the invasion of Japan? In the game Churchill, how does US/UK scoring work for the invasion of Japan?  We've been poring over the rules, coming to several different conclusions.

If all US/UK fronts invade Japan at once, how many points do the US/UK each get for the invasion:

24,
8,
or some other amount?

Japan can be invaded by four different fronts: the USSR from the north, and the US/UK from the west, south, and east.  For this question, we can ignore the northern front.

At the end of the game, anywhere from zero to three of these fronts could be occupying Japan.  According to the rules (p 18):

  A Front scores points for the furthest space it has advanced toward, or into, an Axis country.  A player does not score points for spaces that the Front passed through, just the last space it advanced into, to include an Axis country.

and, regarding how many points players get if Germany/Japan surrender:

  8 [points] per Axis country where they have a Front (all US and UK Fronts give 8 points to both the US and the UK)

So let's say all three fronts have made it into Japan (since we're ignoring the northern front).  How many points is that worth for the US/UK?

24 points, because (regarding surrendered Axis countries) "all US and UK Fronts give 8 points to both the US and the UK"
8 points, because players receive "8 VP per Axis country where they have a Front"

24 points seems unlikely, because that's an enormous number of points to get, in a game where the US/UK get only 8 points for conquering Germany.

8 points seems unlikely, because that would mean the US loses two points for invading past Kyushu and Okinawa.

How does the scoring actually work?

According to Q&A:

How many points does a player receive for Japan surrender if they have more than one front in that Axis country?
Per rule 9.4.G each player receives 8 VP per Axis Country (NOT front) where they have a Front. So, if the US Central and SW Pacific Fronts enter Japan during the same conference the US and the UK receive 8 VPs each , NOT 16. If in addition to this example the CBI Front also entered Japan, the same outcome would pertain. Additionally, since you only receive VPs for the last space that a front occupies this can lower a player’s potential score in some instances and is a known and intended result.

Link: https://www.gmtgames.com/churchill/ChurchillErrataClarifications2Sep2015.pdf


Can quarantine marker be refreshed as an action in Pandemic State of Emergency? Can I upgrade a quarantine marker from its “1”-side to its “2”-side as an action?

The rules only mention placing a fresh marker (on its “2”-side), and that it is not possible to place two markers...

No you can't as the rules specifically state that you place a quarantine market at level 2 as an action. If you where able to upgrade it then it would include that in the rules.

Rules

  As an action, a player may impose a quarantine on the city he is in by
  placing a quarantine marker in that city with its "2" side face up. A player
  may not put a quarantine marker in a city that already has one.


How do you fulfill Steven Seer's upperclassman goal? Steven Seer's upperclassman goal reads "You are affected by 'double symbols' 3 times on your turn."  It is not clear to me what 'double symbols' are thus not clear how to fulfill this goal.  Any insights?

There is speculation on https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1705755/rules-problemsclarifications that the 'double symbols' refer to the card backs of the school deck, which is also what I assumed.  However, that entire thread seems to be people asking and answering their own questions and I am hoping for a more official source (or at least some people voting this way).

If you have the same answer but a better source, I am happy to delete this answer and give you answer credit.


If Anafenza, the Foremost dies at the same time as another creature, will the other creature be exiled? Here is the situation: I have a Fetid Imp on the field, and my opponent has two Disowned Ancestors and Anafenza, the Foremost. Now I play Languish to give all creatures -4/-4.

Is Fetid Imp exiled due to Anafenza's ability, or is it destroyed and sent to my graveyard as Anafenza dies at the same time?

It will be exiled.

Anafenza's relevant ability is not a triggered ability. It's a static ability that creates a continuous replacement effect.

The effect from Anafenza's ability modifies the instruction "Put Fetid Imp, the two Disowned Ancestors and Anafenza into their owner's graveyard" because replacement effects must necessarily be applied before taking the action they replace, at which time Anafenza is still on the battlefield.

This is confirmed by a ruling on Void Maw. Void Maw has the ability "If another creature would die, exile it instead", and the ruling reads "If Void Maw and another creature would be put into the graveyard from the battlefield at the same time, [...] the other creature is exiled."

Also, @Vilmar points out this article, which specifically answers this question (in the "Anafenza and Day of Judgment" section).


Baker's Dozen: rule about kings I've seen various versions of the rules of "Baker's Dozen" (e.g. on about.com, Wikipedia) stating that the rule for kings is simply that they are placed to the bottom of the column they end up in.

But in the version given by Sheila Anne Barry in Great Card Games for One, it is stated that "If a King is lying on another card of the same suit, place it underneath that card".

Does anybody know of another source for that rule, and/or have any notion of which variant is most popular?

Given the game limitations caused by Barry's variant, and the vast number of resources that can be found contradicting her, I would think that the common rule is to place Kings at the bottom of columns.

You could do an exhaustive internet search for Baker's Dozen rules and never see the variant that Barry describes in her book. Other books, such as Hoyles, also follow the rule that Kings go to the bottom of a column. It seems that Barry is alone in her variation, and I think that's because it makes a more difficult game.

For the common rules of Baker's Dozen, "once all cards are taken out of a column, the column can never be filled." The reason you move all Kings to the bottom of columns is to ensure that the game is potentially solvable. If you don't move Kings to the bottom, they'll likely sit on top of differently suited cards and you'll have to clear the entire suit of that King before being able to start on the suit or suits it's covering.

For example, if you deal a tableau and it has a column (bottom to top) {2D} {7H} {9C} {KC}, under the common rules you'd rearrange to {KC} {2D} {7H} {9C}. In this case, you'll have a fairly easy time building up your columns and foundation piles. But in Barry's variant, you'd rearrange to {2D} {7H} {KC} {9C}. Before you can even move the two of diamonds and seven of hearts, you have to clear the entire club suit to the foundation piles. This gives you far less maneuverability over the course of the game.

It's possible you can get into a similar situation using the common rules, although the implications aren't as severe; you could have a pile that looks like {2S} {6D} {JC} {QS}, so you need to move the Queen and Jack in order to get to the lower cards. But with the common rules, there will be a King somewhere to move those cards to. If Kings aren't at the bottom of columns, and there is never anywhere to move them because columns can't be reused once depleted, then cards can get stuck beneath them until that King's suit is cleared.

I haven't found a copy of Barry's book, but there is the possibility that she allows cards to be moved into empty tableau spaces, like in Spanish Patience. If that's the case, then her description would seem to fall somewhere between the two games. It would also negate the difficulties caused by allowing Kings to sit above other cards.


In Haunt #43 - The Star Sickness: I'm a Traitor and Have the Serum, now what? During Haunt #43 - The Star Sickness, I was infected as a traitor early in the Haunt, but also previously harvested enough Mandrake root to make the serum. Not knowing what to do, I proceeded to the Lab and made the serum, but at this point it wasn't obvious what I should do.

The first thing the players asked was if I injected myself, which I did not, so they immediately suspected me of being a traitor. Given that I wasn't the last traitor to should I have just run away from the players to prevent them from curing themselves and hoping the damage rolls at the end of each turn eventually killed them?

If I was the last traitor to have been infected should I have tried to infect a weak player and hope they weren't strong enough to steal the serum from me?

You were in a very awkward position: you had one "obvious" thing to do, and if you didn't do it, you would clearly be a traitor. For best results, don't make the serum in the first place. Any advantages you get from remaining hidden for a few turns longer are vastly offset by creating the items that the Heroes require to win. (And you are only going to remain hidden for a few turns; any further requires a Sterling-silver tongue and extremely gullible players.)

You had three options:

Stall for time. Instead of making the serum, you harvest extra mandrake, while claiming that you're harvesting enough for two doses "to save time running around." Depending on how hard it is to get extra mandrake, this may be too obvious of a lie.
Run away. First, walk towards the lab to stall for a turn or two, then run as far away as you can.
MURDER. If you can't plausibly pass off your actions as innocuous (and frankly, holding the serum or enough mandrake to make it means it's very hard), then embrace your Traitor nature and try to infect or kill the un-infected players. If you already have the serum, then bring it into combat anyway. (You could drop it in a distant room, but that will make it too easy to recover.) Your optimal targets will be:

Weak against your attack (Usually Might, but it could be Speed or Sanity with the right items)
Far from other players
Already have some mandrake, so their death/infection will slow down the Heroes' victory


Bridge - 2 club opening (playing standard american) with shape and not HCP? If I have say,

S: AKQ1098
H: A32
D: KQJ10
C: -

With a hand like this, could I open 2 clubs?
Could the opponents call the Tournament Director on me?
What else could I bid to ensure my partner wouldn't pass on me...

This is a bit of a tough hand. I think that opening 2C is fine. You're not grossly distorting the strength of the hand (as you would be with e.g. AKQJxxxxx xx xx -void-). You'll rebid 2S; if partner supports then you can start cue-bidding and if not you can bid diamonds.

If you swapped your clubs and spades, you might open 1C, planning to reverse into diamonds, as 1C is unlikely to get passed out when you hold only 19 HCP.


What are the differences between Dwarves Brets and Empire in WHFB 8th ed I'm trying to choose an army for Warhammer Fantasy. Over the last few weeks I brought it down to 3:

Dwarfs
Bretonnians
Empire

I like their lore and models and the possible coloring, but I can't decide on one. I'm a total beginner at Warhammer, but maybe someone can help me out by providing strengths and weaknesses of these armies.

What should I know to help me choose which of these armies I should start building?

Unfortunately the stack exchange format doesn't really facilitate "discussion" but I'll try to give you an answer of objective statements that might help inform a decision!

Bretonnia: The army book is from 2003, so are most of the models.  There aren't even any rumors that there will be an update soon.  Heavy Cavalry overall was significantly weakened in the eighth (current) edition core rule book.

Dwarves: Army book authors try to spice it up a little bit, but fundamentally this army is about blocks of tough little dudes who trundle forward slowly while they shoot you up.  Some players are really into the thematic elements and love the traditional high fantasy dwarfy legion.  Others think it's just plain boring to have an army that spends a lot of its game turns saying "walk forward, shoot, your turn go."  You have to decide which you are.
Dwarves also tend to be covered head to toe in metal, which makes them an easy army to paint to a nice table top standard for beginning hobbyists.

Empire: Has a lot of variety and effective armies can be built in many different ways.  Swarms infantry, check, elite infantry, check, cavalry, check, shootiness, check, magic, check.  The downside of that is that there are also plenty of combinations that aren't effective and you can end up owning a lot of expensive models that you don't use if you shop without a plan towards a final working army list.  Look at army lists on a Warhammer discussion forum and maybe seek some advice on an army list, then build a shopping list from that.  (Unless you're just rich or something, then go to town)

WHFB vs WH40K is totally a regional thing.  Different cities/stores have different balances of # of people playing one game or the other and it shifts around over time.


How do trait cards work in Evolution? During Phase 3 when playing trait cards, the rules state a player may discard one or more trait cards.  Can a player just remove traits or must he replace traits?  Example: Player one has three trait cards on one species, one of them being 'carnivore'. Can that player choose to discard the carnivore card and become a vegetarian? Or must he replace carnivore with another trait?  Or can you even replace or remove the carnivore trait?
Can you have a long neck carnivore? Or does carnivore negate the long neck?
When changing a trait card, must you reveal what card you will be replacing immediately or do you reveal your traits and then determine what you will be replacing?

Can a player just remove traits or must he replace traits.
Yes, they can. While the original rules didn't allow this, the most recent rules allows one to remove any number of traits from any number of creatures in the Play a Trait step.

Play a Trait
A player may place a Trait Card facedown above one of his species.  A species may not have any duplicate Trait Cards and may not have more than 3 Trait Cards. A player may discard one or more Trait Cards from any of his species at this time.

Can you have a longneck carnivore?
Yes, but the Long Neck has no effect.

Carnivores may never take Plant Food, even with other traits such as Long Neck, Cooperation, or Foraging.

Do you inform what card you will be replacing immediately or do you reveal your traits and then determine what you will be replacing?
Before the next player starts playing cards.
The original version of the rules made it crystal clear that the discard must happen before you play the Trait Card facedown. The updated rules are a little laxer. Discarding Trait Cards is done as part of playing Trait Cards, and you must be done this before the next player starts doing the same.

Starting with the First Player, a player may play as many Trait Cards as he wants, or save them for the next round. There are three things a player can do (in any order) with each Trait Card when it is his turn.


Which resources are better at the start of a Catan game? Is it better to start with Wheat and Ore in order to rapidly upgrade settlements into cities, or is it better to start with Wood and Brick to build roads?

As a counterpoint to ICodeForCoffee's answer: I much prefer having access to brick and wood on initial settlements.

Initial brick and wood allow you to get to more positions on the map, to increase your ore and corn income. Initial corn and ore allow you to build cities, which get you... more corn and ore.

If you start on corn and ore, you can find yourself locked out of the other resources (brick and wood) much more easily than if you start on brick and wood.


Does Essence Scatter affect Artifact Creatures? Does the Instant Essence Scatter affect Artifact Creature spells such as Stuffy Doll?

Yes

From a ruling on the Essence Scatter Gatherer entry:

  A "creature spell" is any spell with the type Creature, even if it has other types such as Artifact or Enchantment. Older cards of type Summon are also Creature spells.


Can I get my Exquisite Archangel back by bouncing it in response to the lose the game trigger and still not lose? If I cast Boomerang targeting my own Exquisite Archangel in response to the Exquisite Archangel trigger will the trigger still reset my life total or will the trigger fizzle because it can't see the Exquisite Archangel? I think it would reset my life total and I'd end up with Exquisite Archangel in my hand because Exquisite Archangel doesn't say "target", but I just want to make sure before trying it out in a game.
Bonus question:
Would the same be true for a blink effect such as Cloudshift?

You cannot do what you suggest, because Exquisite Archangel doesn't have a triggered ability.
The ability on Exquisite Archangel is a static ability that creates a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. It never goes on the stack or gives you anything to respond to. Instead, it replaces the event of losing the game with a different event instead.
So the closest thing you can do to what you are saying is to use Boomerang or Cloudshift while an effect that would make you lose is on the stack. All that matters is if Exquisite Archangel is on the battlefield at the time that that effect resolves though. If you use Boomerang, then it wouldn't be on the battlefield when the other thing resolves and you would lose. If you use Cloudshift, then it would be on the battlefield, so it would save you from losing and be just as if you hadn't cast Cloudshift.

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”

614.1. Some continuous effects are replacement effects. Like prevention effects (see rule 615), replacement effects apply continuously as events happen—they aren’t locked in ahead of time. Such effects watch for a particular event that would happen and completely or partially replace that event with a different event. They act like “shields” around whatever they’re affecting.

614.1a Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. Most replacement effects use the word “instead” to indicate what events will be replaced with other events.


Is bringing packs that have a higher chance of a mythic rare to a draft cheating? There is an issue with US Eldritch Moon booster boxes so that all of the mythic rares in a box are in a single artwork.

My LGS has a policy where you may bring your own packs and only pay a table fee. Last week I won 3 packs, which I decided to save for the next draft. One of the other players opened their prize packs from the same box and with the same art as mine to find they contain a mythic rare.

Now that I know there is a good chance there is a mythic rare card in at least one of my prize packs, does using these packs with this knowledge constitute cheating?

Yes, it would be cheating. Your tournament organizer must either provide the booster packs or randomly distribute them before the drafting phase. If that does not happen and you try to exploit that fact, you are cheating.
Since you are well aware that your packs would give you an unfair advantage, you would be cheating. Whether or not your tournament organizer made it easier for this situation to occur by not pooling the packs is irrelevant.
From the Tournament rules:

7.3 Card Use in Limited Tournaments
Cards must be received directly from tournament officials. This product must be new and previously unopened.
If the Tournament Organizer allows players to provide their own product, that product must be pooled with the rest of the product for the tournament and randomly distributed.

The rules (Judging at Regular REL, Infraction Procedure Guide) don't cover your exact situation, because if the tournament rules were followed, it should never occur.
However, cheating is not allowed at any REL and must be sanctioned with disqualification. Going by the definition in the IPG, cheating occurs when a player does something illegal, tries to gain an advantage, and is aware of the illegality.


Is a creature considered to have died if it has negative toughness? Ok so let's say my opponent has a Festering Mummy (It's a 1/1 and when it dies put a -1/-1/ counter on target creature) and I cast Splendid Agony (Distribute two -1/-1 counters among one or two target creatures) and I put a -1/-1 on the Festering Mummy, is it considered to have died and does its death effect still occur?

Festering Mummy's triggered ability will trigger.

"To die" is synonymous with "to move from the battlefield to the graveyard" (for any reason). This includes when State-Based Actions move a creature to the graveyard for having negative toughness.


Do other players replenish their traded cards after a trading phase in Bohnanza? In Bohnanza say I have 5 cards during a round.
Another player is in his trading phase and I trade a card with him, I put the traded card on my trading area and then plant it on my field.
I'm now down to 4 cards so, do I have to take a card from the pile for the one I traded?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no "minimum hand size" rule in Bohnanza.

The active player draws three cards at the end of his round, but it's perfectly possible to start your round with no cards at all in hand!  As demonstrated by this line in the "1. Plant bean cards" section of the rulebook:

  If the active player has no cards in his hand, he omits this step.

So, no, you don't draw to replace cards you used in trades, at least not in any variant of Bohnanza I'm familiar with.


Summoning Surge: do you put the event card in the discard before taking event action? The Deep Dwarve's Summoning Surge event card states:

  you may remove up to 3 cards from your Discard Pile and place them on top of your Magic Pile.

The Illusionary Warrior event says this:

  Choose a common Unit that is in your Magic Pile. Place the chose Unit adjacent to a Deep Dwarf Champion or Gem Mage that you control.

Because of this second event card, the cards that go into the magic pile may have a certain level of significance.

My question is:

When you play the Summoning Surge event card, does the event card go into your Discard Pile first before adding 3 cards from the Discard to the Magic, OR do you take the 3 cards and THEN place the event card in the discard pile?

From the official FAQ version 1.3:

  Q: What happens if 2 powers trigger at the same time?
  A: The player whose turn it is determines in which order the Special Abilities will be resolved.

It seems since this happens on your turn, you can choose the order that is most benificial for you.


Abhoth - where should I put defeated cultists When I play Abhoth (from Under the Pyramids expansion) as the Ancient One, his Setup section says:

  Set aside 8 Cultist Monsters and all Abhoth Special Encounters.

Then the Reckoning effect for this Ancient One states

  The Lead Investigator spawns 1 Cultist Monster on a Wilderness space that does not contain a Cultist Monster. Then, if there are 6 or more Cultist Monsters on the game board, advance Doom by 1.

Cultist fights are special for this Ancient One, you do not have normal Combat Encounter, but as described on the Ancient One sheet:

  Whenever an investigator encounters a Cultist Monster, he draws and resolves a Spawn of Abhoth Special Encounter.

The Spawn of Abhoth Special Encounter cards do not specify what happens with the cultist card/token, you can just win/lose the fight.

When I played, I assumed that I spawn the Cultist from the Ancient One sheet, from these 8 Cultists I set aside.

What should I do when I defeat the cultist? Should I put it back on the Ancient One sheet, or should I put him to the normal monster pool, as with any other non-epic monster? (or some combination of both.. should I put the cultist back on AO, but only to the original count of 8, and then put the cultist to the normal monster pool..)

When I played, I did not think about it much, and just put them back on the Ancient One sheet. This could result in having more than 8 Cultists on the sheet, since you can draw Cultist Monster from the monster cup when you have Monster surge or open a gate (although the chance is lowered because 8 of them is already set aside).

But I started having doubts when the Ancient One awakened. Then you have to spawn all cultists from this sheet except 3, and then whenever Doom would advance, you spawn another cultist from the sheet. When there is no cultist left on the sheet, investigators lose the game. This condition is the one that made me doubt my decision to put them back on the sheet, since generally, in Eldritch horror, the rules are against the players, to make the game harder, so I started to think that I might be doing it wrong.

I did not find any mention about this in the rules for the expansion.

Okay, I went through all the rules in all the rulesheets I have from the expansions, and the answer is in the original Reference Guide.

In entry Set Aside, third bullet, it states:

  When a component that was set aside during setup is discarded, it is not returned to the deck or pool like other components of that type. Instead, it is set aside again.

So, the correct answer is to put the Cultist back on the Ancient One sheet (well to play perfectly by the rules, I should track the ones that were spawned by the reckoning effect only).


4 Color Burn + Dark Confidant decktech This is a theory/decktech question.

Lets say you're playing 4 color burn (R,W,B,G) and your opponent is running something with spikey lifegain (Feed the Clan and a few Tarmogoyfs for example), so each game gets dragged out longer than a burn deck would prefer. Would keeping Dark Confidant in hand and dropping him to help boost card drawing late in the game be a viable strategy?

Lets assume you have sideboarded out Eidolon for Confidant and you also have skullcrack to prevent lifegain. Let us also assume you've never heard of a particular leyline card. Finally, in keeping with our spikey lifegain example, our opponent is playing Junk.

This isn't a good idea for several reasons. I'll focus on the main one:
Burn decks don't want to play a grindy game where card advantage is paramount. Burn decks want to end the game as soon as possible with some haste creatures followed by burn spells. Playing a long game where drawing multiple cards actually becomes significant is not the plan. Sure it could happen, but if it does, it means something has gone wrong (in this case, opponent playing lifegain cards such as Feed the Clan).
This primer for Burn puts it very well:

Burn is one third of the premier trinity of aggro decks in Modern, alongside Affinity and Infect. Of the three, Burn is the slowest, but also the most difficult to interact with. It’s also scarily consistent, with virtually every card in the deck being interchangeable. This consistency aids it in mulligans, and also topdeck wars, where any non-creature spell will often be lethal. Barring extreme mana flood or screw, the typical Burn hand will kill on turn four or five.
It’s common to see only 8-12 creatures in Burn lists. Because every card must aid directly in the count to twenty, creatures have to meet very specific requirements for inclusion. Preference is placed on cheap mana costs, haste, and incidental damage generated outside the combat step. The gold-standard creatures—Goblin Guide, Monastery Swiftspear, and Eidolon of Rhetoric —each represent damage or virtual damage the turn they come down. These are used to soften up the opponent’s life total, priming them to die to burn spells on subsequent turns after the board has been stabilized.

("Eidolon of Rhetoric" above should be "Eidolon of the Great Revel".)
When you add Dark Confidant to your deck, you weaken two of the key strengths of Burn given above:

You are no longer as consistent. Your cards are no longer interchangeable. Usually it doesn't matter if you draw Goblin Guide or Monastery Swiftspear in your opening hand, but if you draw Dark Confidant, because the role is different, it will matter.
You are adding a creature to your deck that doesn't do damage to the opponent. If you play Dark Confidant and they Fatal Push it, you don't do damage. With any of the other three creatures, you do damage anyway (assuming opponent wasn't holding up mana). This means you are easier to interact with.

This neglects the fact that Dark Confidant mandates adding a color to a deck that's going to be primarily red. I know you're running four colors, but that's only going to make things worse (as you can see from the primer, the most common burn decks are 2 colors, red + white).
Another way to think about this is to calculate how much damage each card you play inflicts. For example if Monastery Swiftspear connects on turn 1, and then connects again on turn 2 with two prowess triggers, it's contributing 4 damage. That's substantial and better than Lightning Bolt. On the other hand with Dark Confidant, if it dies immediately it does 0 damage. If it manages to connect it does 2 (not trivial, it's a 2/1), and every time it draws you a card it does maybe 2 damage (since most burn spells are worth 3, but you might not draw one). Average that over all your games and you should find that it does a lot less damage than Eidolon in general, which is practically guaranteed to do at least 2 damage.
It's certainly possible you'll get games where the opponent stabilizes at 10 life and you're unable to finish them off, but you sign up for those games when you choose to play Burn. They represent your deck's fail case after all (or the opposing deck's best case). Consider: if you never get these games you'd also be winning most of your games, which makes your deck overpowered and bannable.
What about Feed the Clan and Tarmogoyf? Feed the Clan is a card people put into their decks specifically to counter you, so you must expect it to do something. The upside is that it's poor against the rest of the format, so most opponents are not going to have 4 copies in their sideboard. Fortunately as well, you do have some tools: Atarka's Command and especially Skullcrack are the main ways Burn decks beat lifegain.


In Bridge, What Are Some Defenses Against Squeezes? My understanding is that squeezes are most likely to occur when one defender holds all the key cards in say, two different suits. And in most cases, they are what I call "secondary" cards (e.g. Kx, Qxx, or Qx, after the ace or king has been played), meaning that you need to keep both the key card, and a guard. And the one defender holds both "sets" for a "crowded" or "busy" hand.

(In theory, one defender could protect one suit, the other defender a second suit, with both having to protect a common suit, but those situations are rarer, and harder to defend.)

If, say West, holds two or three of these "secondary" combinations, does it make sense to lead one of them out early, so that you're not "caught" with more than one at the end? If the spot card is low, might it be possible to discard it at some point in play and hope declarer doesn't "scoop" your king with the ace?

Perhaps it's best to try to transfer "control" to your partner in one suit (leading out a K or Q, let it be captured by declarer, and hope that East controls the suit with say, JTx, while you protect the other?

Another aspect of a squeeze is that declarer needs to get to and from dummy. Would moves like the "Merrimac coup" to try to disrupt communications make sense?

Are there bidding, playing, or cardholding sequences that should put a defender on particular guard against a squeeze?

Clyde E Love made an analysis, and in most cases decided that for a squeeze to be present (from declarer's point of view), we must have a condition called "BLUE". Of course there are other types of squeezes (see: Adventures in Cardplay by Ottlik and Kelsey) which might not fall under this, but most of them do.

BLUE is:

B : All cards in victim's hand are Busy.
L : Loser count is correct (Rectifying the count, typical one loser for most squeezes)
U : At least one threat is in the Upper hand (lies in the hand that plays after the victim)
E : The hand threat in the hand opposite the squeeze card has an Entry with it.

Defense can foil declarer by trying to disrupt any combination of the above.

Usually the defense depends on the hand, but to quote a few examples.

1) Defending by attacking "B".

Here defenders can play a threat suit repeatedly in order to nullify the threat.

Example:

        AKxx
        AK9
        AKx
        Txx

x                xxx
QJT              xxxx
xxx              xxxx
KQJxxx           Ax

        QJTxx
        xxx
        QJx
        xx

(Suit order is spades, hearts, diamonds, club from top to bottom).

South is declarer in 5 spades.

West leads the Club K which east overtakes and plays back a club. Which west wins with the J.

Now the only defense is for west to play a third club, making declarer play the T, which East can ruff. This removed the threat card: CT.

Suppose West returned a heart instead of a club.

Then declarer could win the A, draw trumps, cash the diamonds and some trumps and come to this ending:

        -
        K9
        -
        T

-                -
QJ               xx
-                x
Q                -

        x
        xx
        -
        -

Now when declarer plays the last trump from hand, West is squeezed. If he throws a club, the CT becomes good, otherwise the heart 9 becomes good.

If West returns a club a trick three, he can hold onto his hearts and throw clubs, as there are no threats there.

2) Defending by attacking "L".

Here the defenders can hold up their trick to prevent declarer from rectifying the count.

A common example which is cited for this is the following:

South is playing 6NT.

        KQJ
        AKJ
        AKQx
        Qxx
xxx           Axxx
xx            xxxxx
JT98          xx
JT98          xx
        xxx
        Qxx
        xxx
        AKxx

Say West leads a spade and East should hold up. Declarer wins and play a spade. East should hold up again. Now if declarer plays another spade, East can cash two tricks. If declarer abandons spades, no matter what he does he cannot avoid losing two tricks.

If east takes either the first or second spade, declarer's count is rectified and West gets squeezed in the minors.

3) Defending against "U".

When both defenders can protect against a suit, they could potentially discard so that "U" is destroyed.

The below example is not exactly breaking "U", but shows how correct discarding can be important in making sure the right stopper lie over declarers threats, ensuring there is no victim!

       xxx
       Axx
       Kx
       9xxxx

xxx              x
87x              QJT9x
87xx             QJ9x
QJx              Txx

      AKQJxx
      Kx
      ATx
      AK

Playing Matchpoints, South the declarer chooses to bid 7NT (grand slam in NT), instead of the cold grand slam of 7S.

West leads the Diamond 8. Declarer wins the K in dummy and plays another D to hand, East playing the J, showing the Q, but denying the T.

Now South cashes the club AK and starts playing spades. On the second and third round of spades, East throws the HQ and the H9, showing that he has the JT.

West knows that if he throws a heart on the spade, then East will come under pressure, as he will then have to protect both diamonds and hearts.

So West holds onto the hearts (throwing 2 diamonds on the 4th and 5th spade, and the club Q on the last spade).

East throws away all those hearts, and holds onto the DQ and the CT.

So West protects hearts, and East protects Diamonds and clubs.

(Note: there might be a better play for declarer, but this hand is there only as an example of how the right discarding can prevent squeezes on the defense).

4) Defending againt "E".

This is considered the most difficult squeeze defense. Trying to attack declarer's timing, sometimes by knocking out the entries required.

Here is an example:

         AQxxxx
         x
         xxx
         xxx

KJT9x               x
xx                  xxxx
QJx                 xxxx
QJx                 ATxx
         x
         AKQJT9
         AKT
         Kxx

You are East. Declarer overbids to a small slam in hearts, after partner overcalled 1S.
Partner leads the CQ.

You play too quickly without thinking to trick one and win the A of clubs (if you duck, you might be effecting a defense against "L"). But all is not lost.

You can still beat the contract, if you return a spade! right into dummy's AQ.

If you return anything else, partner will be squeezed in spades and diamonds.

Declarer can reach this end position:

         AQx
         -

         x

KJT                x
-                  -
Q                  xx
-                  x
         x
         9
         T
         x

Now when declarers plays the H9 (and will throw a club from dummy), west is squeezed. If he throws a spade, dummy becomes good. If not, the DT becomes good.

Playing a spade knocks out the entry to dummy and breaks up the squeeze, letting partner throw spades, and hold onto the diamond.


What's the impact of allowing other players to continue while you choose tickets? The rule book says that you need to decide on your tickets even before the next player takes his/her turn. How big a deal is it to allow a fellow player to decide on destination tickets while others are taking their turn?

Allowing play to continue can give the player who is choosing which tickets to pick up an advantage:

Other players may place a route blocking one of the tickets the first player was considering keeping.
Seeing what colours others pick up can indicate where they're going. Another round of this can only help decide which routes are worth keeping.
If play has gone full circle while you're deciding, you also are guaranteed to know which colours will be available for you to pick up once you've selected your tickets. This is huge.

I thought I remembered seeing advice somewhere on the site that said "always let play continue if you're choosing the tickets, never let it continue if it's someone else", but I couldn't find it. While this is certainly the most "effective" way to play, I personally think it's a bit underhand.

I prefer to play as written in the rulebook, but if it's a causal game and people want to keep playing, I'll generally let it happen (no matter who is choosing the tickets). It definitely gives an advantage to the player choosing their tickets, but it's not game breaking.


What counts as a counter? Does Chief of the Edge's ability count as a +1/+0 counter? I want want to use it for other cards such as Ainok Bond-Kin's ability ("each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter gets first strike"). I cant find confirmation anywhere.

Only things that are actually referred to explicitly as counters are counters. And since Ainok Bond-Kin cares specifically about +1/+1 counters, you should be looking for cards that explicitly create +1/+1 counters.

So no, Chief of the Edge does not put counter(s) on anything, because it doesn't say the word "counter(s)". Rather, it creates a continuous effect granting +1/+0 to all your Warriors as long as it's on the battlefield, whether they entered the battlefield before or after it. If Chief of the Edge subsequently leaves the battlefield, that effect disappears and those creatures will shrink back down.

By far the most common kind of counters are +1/+1 counters, though there are plenty of others. Counters are used for things that are created at a single point in time, are associated with the permanent you place them on, and will stick around indefinitely. For example, Drana, Liberator of Malakir gives counters to your other attacking creatures, and those counters exist on those creatures independently of Drana, so they'll stick around even if Drana dies.

Side note: there are, by the way, some old cards that use +1/+0 counters, rather than a continuous +1/+0 effect like Chief of the Edge. But those cards would still not work with Ainok Bond-Kin, because it looks for +1/+1 counters.


Should I cut the Ora et Labora reference sheets in half? I'm in the middle of my first game of Ora et Labora now. It comes with quick reference sheets with both Ireland and France references on it.

It seems, given my limited understanding of the game so far, that the reference sheets could be cut in half (so each piece contains only France or Ireland). Is this a good idea, or is there some reason to keep it all together?

They can be cut in two, there's no reason to keep them as one sheet.


Does activating Priest of the Forgotten Gods ability trigger Korvold's last ability twice? If I use Priest of Forgotten Gods' ability to sacrifice two creatures, does it proc Korvold, Fae-Cursed King's ability twice? My doubt stems from the fact that the sacrifice of the creatures occurs simultaneously.

I think it should proc twice since I believe to have seen Mayhem Devil's ability proccing twice under similar circumstances, but I'd appreciate some explicit reference to relevant rules if possible.

Yes, activating Priest of the Forgotten Gods' ability and sacrificing two creatures simultaneously triggers Korvold's last ability twice.
Rule 603.2c says this:

603.2c An ability triggers only once each time its trigger event occurs. However, it can trigger repeatedly if one event contains multiple occurrences.
Example: A permanent has an ability whose trigger condition reads, “Whenever a land is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, . . . .” If someone casts a spell that destroys all lands, the ability will trigger once for each land put into the graveyard during the spell’s resolution.

In this case, the single event of activating Priest of the Forgotten Gods contains two occurrences of sacrificing a creature, so Korvold's ability that triggers "Whenever you sacrifice a permanent" triggers twice.


Can extort be triggered for countered spells? Extort (Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay b/w. If you do, each
  opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.)

Questions:

If my opponent has a creature with extort out, then casts a spell that I counter, can he still pay the 1 mana to trigger extort?

And if not,

Does he have to choose whether to spend the mana before or after I have countered the spell?

Yes. If the spell wasn't countered, the following would happen:

He casts the spell. (Puts it on the stack, pays costs, etc.) Extort triggers.
Extort is added to the stack.
Players get priority.
Extort resolves. He chooses to pay the mana. Each opponent of his loses 1 life and he gains that much life.
Players get priority.
The spell resolves.

The spell can be countered in step 3 (in response to extort) or in step 5 (after extort resolves), but as you can see, extort has already been added to the stack at that point.

The choice of paying mana happens on resolution, so whether he chooses to spend the mana or not depends on when you counter the spell. If you counter in response to extort (step 3), he chooses after you counter. If you counter after extort resolves (step 5), he chooses before you counter.


Playing wildcard (Jacks or multiples of a role) for a role which I have in hand In Glory to Rome, is there any rule prohibiting players from playing wildcards if I have the role in hand? For example, can I play three (or two, depending on the cardset used) laborers and call that a laborer wild card?

There is no restriction on wildcarding that I have seen. It can be, in fact, a good idea if you need a particular ability to use a jack instead for the role, so that you can then play the card itself onto a foundation.


Halving Points in Yu-Gi-Oh! What happens if points (Life Points, Attack Points or Life Points) should be halved, but are a odd number?

Some cards like Solemn Judgement can half a variable, while some monsters like S39 Utopia Prime have weird stats that can generate odd stats by halving.

I tried to find out the answer and I found this talk: https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Forum:25_Life_Points_divided_by_2%3F

But I did not find some serious source. Is it halved up to the next integer?

Not only LP, but all values in Yu-Gi-Oh are rounded up after being halved while odd.

Unfortunately, official sources verifying this are either nonexistent or are very difficult to find; however, this is something that can easily be verified by halving ATK, LP, etc repeatedly in any officially licensed Yu-Gi-Oh game - such as Duel Links or Legacy of the Duelist.

If I find any direct footage of this occuring, I'll add it to this answer right away.

EDIT: So, I wasn't able to find footage, but I was able to find this:
https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Card_Rulings:Solemn_Judgment

In the card rulings for Solemn Judgement, under "Previously Official Rulings", we have:

  If halving your Life Points results in a fraction, your Life Points are rounded up.

Now, of course, this is a previously official ruling, but unless there is a ruling that directly states to the contrary, this ruling can/should still be considered correct. This also technically is a ruling for Solemn Judgement specifically, but I think in this case it's a safe assumption that the idea is extensible.


How many unique outcomes can be made from the 12 river tiles in Carcassonne? I have been pondering this question for some time now and it's a bit out of my scope to solve it. I am curious to know how many possible arrangements are possible for the river 1 expansion for Carcassonne.

The rules for playing the river are as follows: The source tile is played first, The lake tile is played last, and If two river bends are drawn in sequence they must have opposing orientation.

I understand the following: The first and last tile played will not factor into the counting so we just look at the 10 tiles inbetween. Each tile has 2 orientations and there are 8 unique tiles, 1 repeated corner, and one repeated straight. We must also exclude possibilities that become unplayable when the river curves in onto itself.

I posted an image of all the tiles from the river expansion.

My preliminary guesswork at counting is

(2^8)10!/2!2!

My rationale
10!/2!2! Because order of selection matters and repition tiles are excluded by dividing by 2!

2^8 Because each tile can be place in 2 ways( the 2 straight tile are not included because they are not unique)

I know this is wrong. It's just my first guess at it, and it has not excluded possibilities where the river curves into itself and creates an unplayable game. Any assistance would be much appreciated, thanks!

As mentioned in the comments, I think the U-turns of the river in your example board are invalid; see (this version of) the rules. If, as you say "We must also exclude possibilities that become unplayable when the river curves in onto itself.", the Java program at the bottom will calculate all possible boards, with the caveat that it distinguishes between the two straights with two grass borders and between the two bends with two grass borders (we can correct for those later). Here's an example board it generates:

The total is a whopping 1,715,761,152 boards, where I've already assumed the source always flows to the right (otherwise, you'd just get a rotated version of the full board). But some of those are equivalent according to your definition:

We can always swap the two bends with two grass borders
We can always swap the two straights with two grass borders
We can always rotate the first of those straights 180 degrees
We can always rotate the second of those straights 180 degrees
We can always rotate the straight with two town borders 180 degrees
We can always rotate the straight with two road borders 180 degrees

This means that we have to divide the total by 26, so there are 1,715,761,152 / 64 = 26,808,768, almost 27 million different (full) boards according to your definition.

The Java program is as follows:

package com.stackexchange.boardgames;

public class CarcassonneRiverSimulator {
    private static Tile endTile;
    private static Tile[] tiles;
    private static int numberOfBoards;

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // as shown in https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/q/43479, North -> East -> South -> West
        Tile startTile = new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Grass, Border.River, Border.Grass, Border.Grass }, false);
        tiles = new Tile[] { startTile,
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Town, Border.River, Border.Town, Border.River }, false),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Grass, Border.River, Border.Grass, Border.River }, false),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Road, Border.Road, Border.River, Border.River }, true),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.River, Border.Grass, Border.Grass, Border.River }, true),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Grass, Border.River, Border.Grass, Border.River }, false),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Town, Border.River, Border.Road, Border.River }, false),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Grass, Border.River, Border.River, Border.Grass }, true),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.River, Border.River, Border.Town, Border.Town }, true),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Road, Border.River, Border.Road, Border.River }, false),
                new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Grass, Border.River, Border.Road, Border.River }, false) };
        endTile = new Tile(new Border[] { Border.Grass, Border.Grass, Border.Grass, Border.River }, false);

        // Start with the start tile @ 0,0 in the indicated direction
        // x increases to the East, y increases to the South
        startTile.position = new Position(0, 0, North);
        Position nextRiver = new Position(1, 0, West); // i.e. the next tile needs to be at (1, 0) and needs to have a
                                                        // river in
        // the West position

        // Check next tile (recursively)
        nextTile(nextRiver, null);

        System.out.println(numberOfBoards + " valid boards found.");
    }

    private static void nextTile(Position nextRiver, Integer invalidNextRiverDirection) {
        boolean nonPositionedTileFound = false;
        for (Tile tile : tiles) {
            if (tile.position != null)
                continue;
            nonPositionedTileFound = true;
            tryToPlaceTile(nextRiver, tile, invalidNextRiverDirection);
        }
        if (nonPositionedTileFound)
            return;
        // Place end tile (this can fail because one of its grass borders blocks a town or road)
        tryToPlaceTile(nextRiver, endTile, invalidNextRiverDirection);
    }

    private static void tryToPlaceTile(Position nextRiver, Tile tile, Integer invalidNextRiverDirection) {
        // Try to add this tile to the mouth of the river in any of the directions
        // (North = don't rotate, East = rotate 90 degrees clockwise, etc.)
        for (int rotate = North; rotate <= West; rotate++) {
            int riverDirection = (4 + nextRiver.direction - rotate) % 4;
            if (tile.borders[riverDirection] != Border.River)
                continue;

            // Check other borders
            boolean valid = true;
            for (int border = 0; border < 4; border++) {
                if (border == riverDirection)
                    continue;
                int direction = (border + rotate) % 4;
                int x = nextRiver.x + getDx(direction);
                int y = nextRiver.y + getDy(direction);
                for (Tile otherTile : tiles) {
                    if (otherTile.position == null || otherTile.position.x != x || otherTile.position.y != y)
                        continue;
                    if (otherTile.borders[(6 + direction - otherTile.position.direction) % 4] == tile.borders[border])
                        continue;
                    valid = false;
                    break;
                }
                if (!valid)
                    break;
            }
            if (!valid)
                continue;

            // Find next river position
            Position nextNextRiver = null;
            for (int border = 0; border < 4; border++) {
                if (border == riverDirection)
                    continue;
                if (tile.borders[border] != Border.River)
                    continue;
                int nextRiverDirection = (border + rotate + 2) % 4;
                if (invalidNextRiverDirection != null && invalidNextRiverDirection == nextRiverDirection)
                    break;
                tile.position = new Position(nextRiver.x, nextRiver.y, rotate);
                nextNextRiver = new Position(tile.position.x - getDx(nextRiverDirection),
                        tile.position.y - getDy(nextRiverDirection), nextRiverDirection);
                break;
            }

            if (tile == endTile) {
                // Valid board found
                numberOfBoards++;
            } else if (tile.position != null) {
                // Check next tile (recursively)
                nextTile(nextNextRiver, tile.isBend ? (nextRiver.direction + 2) % 4 : null);
            }

            // Reset position
            tile.position = null;
        }
    }

    private static enum Border {
        Grass, River, Road, Town
    }

    private static final int North = 0, East = 1, South = 2, West = 3;

    private static int getDx(int direction) {
        return direction == West ? -1 : direction == East ? 1 : 0;
    }

    private static int getDy(int direction) {
        return direction == North ? -1 : direction == South ? 1 : 0;
    }

    private static class Position {
        public Position(int x, int y, int direction) {
            this.x = x;
            this.y = y;
            this.direction = direction;
        }

        public final int x, y, direction;
    }

    private static class Tile {
        public Tile(Border[] borders, boolean isBend) {
            this.borders = borders;
            this.isBend = isBend;
        }

        public final Border[] borders;
        public final boolean isBend;
        public Position position;

        @Override
        public String toString() {
            StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
            int direction = position == null ? 0 : position.direction;
            for (int border = 0; border < 4; border++) {
                if (builder.length() > 0)
                    builder.append(", ");
                builder.append(borders[(4 + border - direction) % 4].toString());
            }
            builder.insert(0, "[");
            builder.append("]");
            return builder.toString() + (position == null ? "" : " @ (" + position.x + ", " + position.y + ")");
        }
    }
}


Swapping Creatures in Troops Regarding the Creatures in troops:

May a troop with a creature have its creature replaced with a creature not currently on the board?

The rulebook doesn't say anything about recalling creatures, but you can't recall single units either, only a whole group and only after a battle. I guess it's safe to assume that it's not possible to recall a creature and put another one in the same group.

The only trick I see to achieve this is to move with the creature you want to remove from the group, split the group and take one unit with you. Go into a battle and call that unit back (or have it killed) and with the next recruitment put it back into the original group with a different creature. (Assuming the remains of the original groups are in your city.)

I think this solution may be too complicated to be actually worth to play though.


Why do cards have different rarity levels in Magic: The Gathering? I've been reflecting on this concept and trying to come up with a concise answer: Why do different levels of card rarity exist in MtG? In order for this concept of different numbers of different cards existing to be beneficial to MtG, it has to do one of a few things:

Make it easier to build decks.
Make the game more strategic.
Make the game more replayable.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

The first one is probably most relevant. If a Llanowar Elf was just as common as a Shpinx of Uthuun, and both were just as common as everything else, it wouldn't make any sense because the number of decks that need Llanowars and the amount of Llanowars in each deck that uses them is much greater.
To some degree, it makes the game more replayable, in that it takes longer to see all of the cards because some of them aren't as common, but I don't really consider this a good reason in itself.
Rares tend to be more powerful than other cards, and this seems to work exactly backwards from how it should. If tons of people want a Thrun, the last troll in their decks because it's really powerful, shouldn't it be common so the people with rares don't have an advantage over the people who don't? If you're going to make some cards weaker than others, why not make more of the good ones and not the bad ones? Making powerful cards more expensive does not improve the overall game.

Are these points somewhat valid? How does some cards being produced in smaller number make Magic a better game? How would the game change for the better or worse if all cards were equally rare?

NOTE: Saying that having certain cards be rarer than others makes the game better because of the 'ooooh shiny!' factor when you do get one does nothing to make deck building and playing the game more interesting or fun. I also know that it makes Wizards and card shops tons of money, but I do not want to focus on money in the creator's pockets being the reason for their existence. :D

The main reasons for rarity are:

To allow for complex cards without overwhelming new players. Rich interactions are part of what make Magic great, but the sheer volume of rules can be overwhelming. By limiting complex cards to uncommon, rare and mythic, it reduces the amount that new players need to worry about it.
To allow for interesting limited environments as well as powerful cards for constructed. By putting limited bombs at rare or even mythic rare, it reduces the effect they have on limited format games.
To sell cards.


Is it common in Munchkin to allow characters to reach higher than level 9 I only recently learned that you're not allowed to go above level 9, unless it's from combat (or some special cards).

I had played for years allowing higher levels, except you didn't win until you killed a monster.

Is this a common house rule? Or something similar?

It probably is a common mistake, although it seems pretty clear to me from the rules, page 1 under Starting and Finishing the Game

The first player to reach 10th level wins ... but you must reach 10th level by killing a monster, unless a card specifically allows you to win another way.

Some amount of people must make the same mistake since it is the first rule included in their FAQ.

Important Note #1: Reaching Level 10
The general rule is that you may not reach Level 10 except by killing a monster. If you are at Level 9 and something else happens that would normally let you go up a level . . . you don't. You stay at Level 9. If you have a card or an ability that lets you mess with another player and get a level in return, you cannot play that card or use that ability.

This is all under the assumption that you aren't playing Epic Munchkin, where the rule wouldn't apply. (But, a similar 19th & 20th level rule would apply instead)


What is the name of this solitaire card game? You start flipping cards over one at a time and holding them in one hand. When you have two cards of the same suit that are separated by two other cards (e.g. 4♣ 2♦ 7♥ 10♣), you discard the middle two. When two cards of the same value are separated by two other cards (e.g. 4♣ 2♦ 7♥ 4♥), you discard all four.

This game is neither Accordion nor Royal Marriage, but bears similarities to both. Somebody else asked this same question on Yahoo Answers five years ago and the response was unsatisfactory.

If someone can identify this game, I would also like to know what happens when you finish with two cards left: do you win, as in Royal Marriage, or not?

It sounds like a variant of Push-Pin.

  You can eliminate a card or a pair of adjacent cards between two cards of the same suit or rank. Select a card or a pair of cards you want to discard by clicking on them. The overall effect of successive plays is that length of the layout gets shorter and shorter. If the length is reduced to two cards the game is won.

The differences I see are:

In Push-Pin, you can remove two or one cards between cards of the same rank or suit.
In Push-Pin, if you don't remove all four cards when matching cards between cards of the same rank.
In your game, the cards are flipped in your hand as you go, not all at once, so there's no strategy required.

Since you can remove all four cards, it is possible to eliminate all cards in your described game. As there's no strategy required to "win" (the outcome is predetermined by the order of the cards) I don't think it matters which rule to win you use. ;-)


Can Dawnguard Scyir get 4 damage dice on a charge? Dawnguard Scyir has the ability Flank[Faction Warjack]. If a warjack was in melee with a given enemy model and the Scyir charged into combat with that model, would he get four dice on the damage roll?

The same question would then apply to Sword Knights, which have the same Flank ability.

With the proviso that I'm not personally a player of Warmachine, I found this link to the Privateer Press forums where the truly knowledgeable people hang out:

http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?19636-Dawnguard-Scyir

Quite close to the top of this thread, a chap who seems to know what he's doing says:

  Now the Scyir isn't a weapon master
  but has flank, so in order to get the
  three dice on damage (4 if you charge)
  you need to have a jack be in melee
  range. So the jack has to get in melee
  before the Scyir activates. But if the
  Jack activates before the Scyir it's
  drive is useless as it will not need
  to re-roll nothing.

I think that "three dice on damage (4 if you charge)" answers your question - a charging flank attack does indeed deal 4 dice damage!

As far as I can make out, multiple instances of flank don't stack, but there's no problem getting a bonus both from flanking and charging...


In bridge, can the "rule of 20" be used outside of opening bids (e.g for takeout doubles)? Here's another example from today's New York Post. West opened 1 club. (He had a 19 point 1NT hand, and was planning to re-bid 2NT.) North made a (takeout) double with (s) KQxxx (h) Qxxxx (d) xx (c) x, which according to partnership agreement, showed 5-5 in the majors. East passed, and South was forced to bid 1 H with (s) xxx (h) xxx (d) Kxx (c) xxxx. They went down three doubled vulnerable. East-West could have made game, but not slam in 3 NT or one of the minors.

The "rule of 20" says that you can OPEN when the sum of your HCP plus the length of your two longest suits is at least 20. That is, 10 HCP plus a 5-5 or 6-4 distribution, 11 HCP with a 6-3 or 5-4, 12 HCP with 5-3, and you need 13 HCP for a 4-3-3-3 distribution.

Here, I WOULD have doubled with  (s) KQxxx (h) KQxxx (d) xx (c) x (ten high card points plus 5-5), but not with North's actual hand (only 17).

Would you find the "rule of 20" useful in this context (takeout double, or even "unusual" NT overcall showing two minor suits)? Would you refrain from doubling even with my "hypothetical" hand? Or would you have doubled like North with a tally of less than 20? Would vulnerability affect your application of this rule?

What North and South did is not a take out double, but a conventional response to a strong club opening.

One of the most important things to do facing a strong club is to intervene, making it more difficult for the opposing side to reach the optimum contract. You don't want you opponents to relay themselves into a hard to bid (grand)slam that no one else will make.

One of the simplest defenses to a strong club is Mathe, where Double shows the majors, and 1NT shows the minors. This is the easiest way to convoy shape, so your partner knows where to intervene, or where to sacrifice.

In this particular auction it would probably be better for South to bid 1D asking for North's better major as South has no real preference, and North would be 1S.


How to analyse my own games? I try to review my own games in order to improve (I am maybe 16-15k).
For every move that I think is wrong, I try to find a better move.
My question is: how do I know the move I find in analysis in better then the one I played? (except for obvious cases, like when a group is killed and I find the move that would have saved it)

Should I use an engine like Crazy Stone in order to check this?

Is there a better way to analyse my games?

Your current approach to reviewing seems good and I recommend you continue this way. If you are not satisfied with a situation, find the reason that led to the situation. Sometimes it is an immediately prior move, sometimes a mistake in fuseki.

If you are having trouble to find the underlying reason, or a better solution to it, you should show your game to someone else who is as strong (more eyes see more) or stronger than you. In the past, there was the Go Teaching Ladder GTL (in which I participated, it was fun!), but it sadly shut down a while ago. You can still ask on KGS in the KTL room. Surely there are some other opportunities, too. One of the things that I find fascinating and enticing about Go is that many people really like to help.

I recommend strongly against using engines like CrazyStone. They always consider the whole board, and will recommend moves that are not helpful in understanding the problem. They might be more valuable when you are strong (definitely dan level, probably high dan level) - but when you are that strong, you can already find better moves yourself. Of course, This may change when stronger engines become available.

I also know of no Go engines that take future positions into account. (I believe it is different in chess!) That is to say, when you believe a certain move leads to trouble (much) later on, even in a sequence that can hardly be deviated from, then there is still not way to make the engine aware of that fact. It will happily suggest moves that are bad, only to notice its mistake a few moves later. It seems to be impossible to fix this in our current tools - search depth grows so quickly that letting it search longer often does not help.


Can I complete a quest during the "Waterdeep Harbor" phase? Can I place an agent in Waterdeep Harbor, complete a quest, and later, after all players have finished, place my agent on another space and complete a second quest?

Using this strategy, a player could potentially complete six (or eight) quests in a turn.

Yes. But if you have enough cubes to complete that many missions, you'll probably find the spaces at Waterdeep Harbor filled with enemies playing mandatory quests on you...

From the FAQ:

  Q: When you move (reassign) an agent out of "Waterdeep Harbor" to another building, are you taking another turn? Can you complete a quest?
  A: You can complete a quest after moving (reassigning) an agent out of "Waterdeep Harbor" - it is another turn.


Do cavern edge tiles count as their own tile in the Legend of Drizzt board game? In the Legend of Drizzt board game, cavern edge tiles contain two spaces where you could move.

Does the cavern edge tile count as its own tile, or does it count as part of the tile it is connected to?

Yes, they are their own tile.

The rule book defines Tiles and Squares in page 6:

A tile is the basic building block of the dungeon, drawn from the Cavern Tile stack.
A square is one of the spaces on a Cavern tile.

Unfortunately, this definition technically rules out the Cavern Edge Tiles, because the are not drawn from the stack. Still, on page 6, it still refers to them as tiles, just 1/4th the size.

Cavern Edge Tiles - Each of these tiles is about one-quarter the size of a regular Cavern tile. The most common use for Cavern Edge tiles is to create a cavern complex at the start of an adventure. See “Creating a Pre-Built Cavern Complex” on page 14.

Since the rules treat the Start Tile as two separate tiles that are already connected, I see no reason not to treat the Cavern Edge Tiles as separate tiles connected to normal Cavern tiles.


"Counter target ability from a [quality] source" -- changing [quality]? Some cards counter abilities, but only from some sources. For example, Ouphe Vandals can only counter activated abilities of artifacts.

I know that removing the source of an ability does not prevent the ability from resolving in the general case (the exception being relevant intervening if clauses). However, if I make a modification to the qualities of the source, does that affect what can target the ability, or are the qualities of the source "locked in" at the time of activation?

For a specific example: Mayael the Anima activates her ability. In response, I turn Mayael into an artifact using Liquimetal Coating. Can I then counter the ability (and destroy Mayael) with Ouphe Vandals, despite the fact that when her ability was activated, the ability did not come from an artifact source?

Rule 112.7 says

  The source of an ability is the object that generated it. The source of an activated ability on the stack is the object whose ability was activated. The source of a triggered ability (other than a delayed triggered ability) on the stack, or one that has triggered and is waiting to be put on the stack, is the object whose ability triggered. To determine the source of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d–f.

So, if you want to answer the question "Is the source of this ability an artifact?" for example, you just have to answer "Is the object whose ability was activated an artifact?" That object exists independent of the ability and can become an artifact after its ability is activated. So yes, in your example you can target Mayael's ability with Ouphe Vandals.

In addition, as 3C273's answer quotes, rule 608.2b says, in part

  If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process.

This means that in your example, if Mayael left the battlefield after Liquimetal Coating's ability resolved, it's last known information would include being an artifact, and Ouphe Vandals' ability would be able to target its ability. It would be inconsistent if this was different from the situation where it doesn't leave the battlefield.


What gets Destroyed? Given

Hang in There - Play on one of your minions. Ongoing: If this minion would be destroyed, move it to another base and destroy this action instead.
Nukebot - power 5 - Ongoing: After this minion is destroyed, destroy each other player's minions on this base.
Sacrifice - Choose one of your minions. Draw cards equal to its power. Destroy that minion.

I am have a bit trouble figuring out when destroy triggers.

I play Sacrifice on a Nukebot that has Hang in There, what happens?  Which cards get destroyed and why?

Stepping through it in order.

Start - Nukebot with Hang in There are on a base

Play Sacrifice

Choose one of your Minions - Choose Nukebot
Draw Cards equal to its power - draw 5 cards
Destroy that minion - prepare to destroy Nukebot, check Ongoing triggers
Hang in There triggers on If this minion would be destroyed
Move the Nukebot to another base
Destroy Hang in There

The trigger on Nukebot never fires because it is never destroyed.  The Hang in There prevents it.


In Multiplayer, if I attack all other players for lethal, who loses first? Is it simultaneous, like 1st me > several tied 2nd places? Or is there a sequence to it. I know 802.6. Combat damage is assigned in APNAP order. Other than that, the combat damage step proceeds just as in a two-player game. See rule 510, “Combat Damage Step.” under "Attack multiple players" is a thing, but does that just mean that turn player deals all his damage first, or is there a sequence to the order in which players lose to lethal damage?

All combat damage happens simultaneously.

  510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

802.6 is simply explaining a slight difference to 510.1:

  510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

So "defending player" in this case means each of the opponents being attacked, in APNAP order.

However, the premise of your question may be flawed. There is no "second place" in magic. It doesn't matter which player loses first, or if it is simultaneous. If I kill opponent A on turn 5, and then kill opponent B on turn 6, opponent B isn't "second place" while opponent A is "third place". They are simply both players who did not win the game.


Gin-Rummy with different number of cards Official Gin-Rummy is played with 10 cards.  I wish to implement in my game a shorter version with less cards.  What are the common/recommended number of cards?

I guess that removing/adding multiplications of 3?  So 7,10,13,... should be nice.  Is that true?
Any other rules modification when playing with less cards?

The standard 13 Card Rummy suggests you're OK to look to 13 as the basis of your pattern, yes.

For Gin, I'd say you have it right: hands should be 4 + 3*k cards for some positive integer k. 11 is conceivable, but strikes me as too confining.

When adjusting the hand size, you should also adjust the point limit barrier to knock. Since it's 10 points for a 10-card version, you might consider just keeping it the same as the number of cards.