Flickering a Commander What happens when a Commander is hit with an effect such as Flicker or Otherworldly Journey, and that Commander's owner chooses to send the Commander to the Command zone instead of exile?

Will the Commander come back to the battlefield at the end of the turn, or will it stay in the Command zone and have to be re-cast again? Does the answer change depending on whether the exiling card would bring the creature back immediately (Cloudshift), at a specific later time (Vanish into Memory), or an unspecified point in the future (Oblivion Ring)?

In the Commander/EDH format, when a player's Commander/General would be either sent to Exile or to the Graveyard, that player may choose to instead send the Commander to the Command zone, as a replacement effect.

When a replacement effect takes place, the original event never happened. When a player returns their Commander to the Command zone instead of exiling it, you can pretend the exiling spell says something to the effect of "return target creature to the Command zone," instead of "exile target creature."

As to the question, the answer is: "it depends." What it depends on is not, in fact, the timing of the return to the battlefield, but the specific wording of the return. In particular, you must distinguish between referring to a card in the Exile zone ("the exiled card") and the card representing the object that left the battlefield ("that card," "it," etc.)

Flicker: "return it to the battlefield"
Momentary Blink: "return it to the battlefield"
Otherworldly Journey: "return that card to the battlefield"
Cloudshift: "return that card to the battlefield"
Oblivion Ring: "return the exiled card to the battlefield"
Voyager Staff: "return the exiled card to the battlefield"

If the "flicker" effect looks at "the exiled card," it will only look to the Exile zone to find the card to bring back. Otherwise, the flicker will look to the first public zone that the object moved to (ie, the zone which the flicker effect moved the object to, as modified by any replacement effects), and because returning your commander to the Command zone is a replacement effect and the Command zone is a public zone, the flicker effect will track your Commander there. (Note: If your Commander changes zones before the flicker effect brings it back, the flicker will lose track and won't return your Commander to the battlefield. This is because by changing zones it has become a new object.)

It is thus advantageous to return your Commander to the Command zone when it's exiled by "that card"-type flickers, as it will still return to the battlefield later... and if an opponent casts Stifle (or similar) on the return trigger or uses something like Time Stop to end the turn in response to the trigger, your Commander will merely be stuck in the Command zone (from whence you may re-cast it, paying the Commander tax), rather than stuck in Exile (from whence there are 3 cards in the game that could retrieve it).

Notes:

Natedogg rules on Cloudshift (Natedogg is a Net Rep for Wizards of the Coast)
Sheldon rules on Mistmeadow Witch (Sheldon is one of the creators of the Commander/EDH format, and for many years was a Level 5 judge)
Natedogg retracts a ruling against Glimmerpoint Stag
Natedogg spells out the ruling explicitly


Why do so many people play out of turn on the last lead? Is this a common play say in bridge or some other euchre where players just randomly throw their last card in. I notice its commonly done during a lone hand but also on regular play and I have to always defend that it was my lead.

It's common in all trick-based card games; since your 'move' is forced (you have to play the only card you're still holding), you're not giving away information to your opponents (or your teammate). By just playing your card the very moment the second-to-last trick is taken, you speed up the game.

Players who do this know who is in the lead; the player who took the second-to-last trick, not the one who throws his/her card first. They assume the other players know it, too. Even more: most of the times they probably already know who is taking the last trick, which can often be deduced by remembering cards played during previous tricks. E.g. it might be clear that there is one trump card left and only one person can have it.

If it's confusing you or one of the other players, e.g. because you/they are relatively new to the card game, just ask the out-of-order-throwing players politely not to do so. Card games are a social activity and if you ask nicely, they're likely to comply.


What's the Usefulness of Prognostic Sphinx's Second Ability? I have a question regarding Prognostic Sphinx and its second ability (as you'll probably be able to tell, I'm very new to this game).

According to its second ability, I can discard a card so that it "gains hexproof until end of term" at the cost of tapping it.

I don't know if I'm reading this correctly or not, but does this mean I can only tap it during my turn and my turn only, and as soon as my opponent begins his next turn, it becomes untapped, loses hexproof, and is therefore susceptible to spells anyways? If this is the case, what's the usefulness of this ability other than protecting it during my turn?

Prognostic Sphinx's ability has no restriction on timing, so you can activate it whenever you have priority. This includes on your opponent's turn, or in response to another spell or ability.

Abilities that have timing restrictions will always state it, either directly on the card or in the rules for that ability. For example, the rule for Outlast has a clause "Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery." This clause restricts when you can activate the ability.

Creatures do not untap on your opponent's turn unless an effect specifically untaps them.

Tapping Prognostic Sphinx is not part of the cost of activating the ability. It is an effect. This is important because it means you can activate the ability even when Prognostic Sphinx is already tapped (although the instruction to "Tap it." won't actually do anything).


What is the appropriate way to snipe a king that castles through check? In lightning chess matches (matches with time controls of 3 minutes or less on each side), some players play with the rule of "king sniping" - that is, to save time, if the opponent played a move that left his king in check, the other player can simply capture it (thereby winning the game) rather than forcing the opponent to retract his move.

Combined with the rule that the king cannot castle through check (cannot move two spaces if the space between the origin and destination is attacked by an opposing piece), the problem arises of what the appropriate way is to capture the king if this actually happens in a lightning match, as the king is not in a position of check either before or after the opponent's turn. Simply taking the king away might confuse the player because the other piece will have made a technically illegal move, but moving to the square that the king castled through (which amounts to a sort of "en passant" capture, capturing a piece/pawn that moved two squares in a special case as if it had only moved one square) captures the rook instead of the king.

Is there any convention for this?

When the king castled through check, your opponent made an illegal move. Call it, and you win.


Other "network building" style games, like Hackers and Illuminati? In these games (both from Steve Jackson Games) you build a network of cards you "control" over the course of the game.  The main difference between the two is that in Hacker's, the "card network" is shared and in Illuminati each player has one (though you can steal pieces of other players').

Its kind of fun in and of itself to build up these insane networks (the flavor of the games helps alot too), so I'm wondering...

Are there any other (good, hopefully) games out there with a similar mechanic?

Clarifying "network building" per Brian Campbell's request.

Players should assemble a connected set (or sets, as in Illuminati) of pieces over the course of the game.
There should be a notion of ownership (but not necessarily exclusive ownership), and the structure (the way the pieces are connected, and who owns them) should have a direct impact on the game.
The pieces used to build the network should be pretty varied.  In Illuminati and Hackers each piece is unique, although absolute uniqueness isn't required.

Carcassonne is a tile laying game where each player contributes to the same board while placing tokens to control different zones.

Farms
Cities
Roads
Cloisters

It is very easy to learn and there are a plethora of expansions that add a huge variety of different mechanics if you wish to make the game more challenging.


Does Ashiok, Nightmare Muse's ult allow affected adventure cards to be cast as adventures? This is a spoiler for Ashiok, Nightmare Muse, a planeswalker in the upcoming expansion. Their ult reads:

  You may cast up to three face-up cards your opponents own from exile without paying their mana costs.

Certainly, this applies to adventure cards the opponent has exiled by playing them as adventures.

The question is, may the controller of Ashiok cast those adventure cards as adventures, or does the restriction to the non-adventure part from exile apply to all players?

The rules on adventure cards say:

  715.3d Instead of putting a spell that was cast as an Adventure into its owner’s graveyard as it resolves, its controller exiles it. For as long as that card remains exiled, that player may cast it. It can’t be cast as an Adventure this way, although other effects that allow a player to cast it may allow a player to cast it as an Adventure.

The first half of the third sentence says

  It can’t be cast as an Adventure this way

Does "this way" refer to "anyone casting it from exile", or does it refer to "that player [the player who put it into exile by casting as adventure] casting it from exile"? I am not sure because the second half of the sentence says

  other effects that allow a player to cast it may allow a player to cast it as an Adventure.

which refers to "a player" rather than "that player".

So does that "other effect" specifically have to allow casting the card as an adventure, i.e. Ashiok would only allow the non-adventure part to be cast?

That ability on Ashiok allows you to cast the Adventure part of the card from exile.

When a card that is cast as an Adventure resolves and is exiled, it creates a continuous effect that allows you to cast the creature part, and only the creature part, from exile. This is what it means when it says that "it can't be cast as an Adventure this way".

Ashiok ability creates a separate effect that allows you to cast that same card. That effect has no restrictions on what types of spells it can cast, so it can cast either the Adventure part or the creature part of that card from exile.


What is the correct grade of Magic cards? I didn't find any questions regarding card grading in here, I hope it's fine anyways.

I was browsing a secondary market today and noticed that Scrying Sheets underwent a price increase, probably because of Modern Horizons. I went through my collection and eventually found one. Now I'm not that experienced when it comes to grading. I mean I know when a card is near mint and when it's not but other than that i find it hard to distinguish the range from Good - Played. Since I wanna sell it I'll have to set a grade for it. My first guess was good but the damage on the bottom right corner makes me concerned.

By what criteria are Magic cards graded, and how would they be applied to this card?

From TrollTraderCards:

  Near Mint / Mint:  Cards in NM-Mint condition show minimal to no wear
  from shuffling or general play

  Light Play:  Minor scuffing, drawing (including signatures or stamps)
  or slight bending.

  Moderate Play:  May show any amount of wear, and any type of wear,
  but usually still legal for tournament play once sleeved

  Heavy Play:  As moderate play, although much more excessive. May not
  be legal for tournament use, even when sleeved.

But for a more in-depth I would use Star City Games's guide as it provides with you example images. You can find that here.

I would grade your card (without personally looking at it) between PL and HP using Star City Games's grading system, as I can't see if the card has much dirt in it but has that white spot near the top on the left. If it is just a blemish and the bottom and the card is also clean, then PL, if the card has some gunk in it overall, then HP.


Shadow Hunters: Holy Robe versus black card weapon The text of a black card weapon is like that:

  If your attack is successful, you give 1 extra point of damage.

And the Holy Robe is:

  Your attacks do 1 less damage and the amount of damage you receive from attacks is reduced by 1 point.

So if someone attacks with a black card weapon a played protected by the Holy Robe and rolls a 1, what happens?
Does the player take 1 or 0 damage?

I think the best way of considering this is to imagine that Holy Robe reads "the amount of damage to receive from successful attacks is reduced by 1 point".  If so, it's clear that an attack with a black card weapon would deal 1 + 1 - 1 = 1 point of damage.

Otherwise you have to ponder the question of whether a Holy Robe could make an attack "unsuccessful" after damage is dealt.  I think it's easier just to go with the implication of the rulebook, which states in the Attack section "If both dice rolled have the same number, your attack fails and no damage is inflicted"; I take this to mean that an attack fails if it would do less than 1 damage based solely on the die roll, and succeeds otherwise.

Once we have determined that the attack is successful and would all else being equal deal damage, we apply all modifiers, which in the case of your question above cancel each other out.


How to count Splendor bonus gems In the game of Splendor when you have a developer card with prestige points on it, is that the number of gems it produces also? Or is it just one gem per card?

Each card only gives a bonus of one gem. Prestige points are purely points.

For example, on page 3 of the rulebook, there is an example of a player gaining 4 prestige points and a single blue bonus from a development card.


What factors should I consider when choosing card sleeves? There seem to be a lot of options when it comes to card sleeves.  What factors do I need to consider about different sizes, materials, and quality of sleeves when deciding which to purchase?

How much larger should the sleeves be compared to the cards?
What different materials are available, and how do they effect how well the cards are protected and shuffling?
What sleeves seem to be the best quality?

The most important aspect of sleeves is of course size. If the sleeves are to small then obviously your cards won't fit. But the sleeves being to big can also have a number of negative consequences:

sleeves can get in the way during suffling
harder to nicely stack the cards

Probably most common are the sizes for the dimensions used in trading card games but there's also an increasing selection for board and cardgames.

Next on the list is thickness and rigidity. While thinner sleeves tend to be cheaper too they will also be a bit harder to shuffle and offer somewhat less protection. If you play on clean tables that's not an issue but rougher surfaces (i.e. outdoor) can wear through the thin sleeves faster.

Finally there are many designs to choose from - especially among the more common sizes used for ccg's. Anything from a clear plastic on both sides, over single colored backs to elaborate patters and themes can be found. Sleeves with simple opaque backs are favored in tournaments because they make it harder to mark cards.

As a small addition I'd like to point out that shuffling with sleeved cards can be very different from what you are used to. Stripping can be difficult because some sleeves tend to cling to each other. Standard riffle shuffle is also harder because the sleeves do not grant the same fine control over the cards. Probably the easiest way to shuffle is by separating the deck in two stacks and pushing the corner of one stack into the side of the other. If the sleeves are sufficiently rigid it will be very easy to slide them together producing the equivalent of an almost perfect riffle shuffle.


Is there a way to "game force" with the following hand? NV versus Vul, you are opening with (s) Ax (h)--- (d) AKTxxxxxxx (c) x. The opener used 1 club (precision) with 12 hcps instead of 16. I don't agree.
2 clubs (strong) doesn't seem to work because I have too few high card points.
Could 3NT (gambling) be the solution? I'm showing a long, strong minor with 6 or more tricks. Responder can pass into game with stoppers in the majors and one minor (presumably not mine), otherwise remove to four clubs. If not, is there another way to force responder toward game?

I don't like 1C, because good players preempt strongly against it (and bad players preempt badly against it.  With this hand, it doesn't matter), and surely the opponents have lots of one of the majors.  I can see showing my suit for the first time at the 5 level, not knowing anything other than partner has some cards.  1C-X (majors)-1NT (GF BAL)-4S; your call?
After 1D-X (or 1M, or 2D), you'll get some more useful information from partner, and when they bid 4S, at least now when you bid 5D you're showing an incredibly offensive hand with limited defence and a self-suffcient suit.  1D-2D-X (interested in penalizing at least one major)-4S; 5D (not waiting to see if partner can double 4S) and you're much farther ahead.  And when they bid 5S, partner can make the decision with much more confidence than in the strong club auction.
Precision handles distributional hands very nicely; it's actually one of the strengths of the system that you can show a "strong, but not in high cards" hand much more easily than in standard.  So the only concern I have with opening 1D is that I'll get passed in it, and with 28 HCP out there, it's a pretty small concern.
Sure, if it goes 1C-p-1S-p, you're going to have all the time in the world to gadget out the cards you need to know about.  Call me a pessimist, but that won't happen.
Okay, looked at the story and they were able to introduce the diamonds at the 4 level.  Nice.  And the key to the hand - if it had gone 4H-5D-5H instead, are they cue-ing 6C?  Maybe - those names, anyway; but it's a lot less comfortable.  I also notice that we are at favourable - that means 7H can only go -6 to make a profit (and -4 if they want to beat the ones in 6).  Not surprised they didn't find it.


Where does a card that is recast with Rebound end up after resolution? The "Rebound" ability found on some cards has this reminder text:

  If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from Exile without paying its mana cost.

This means that, if I cast, for example, Blessed Reincarnation, and I decide to use his Rebound ability, the card will be replayed from exile.

The question is then the following: from the text of the cards, with regard to the Rebound ability, it is not clear whether, once the card is used for the second time - thanks to the rebound ability - the card in question ends up in the graveyard, or returns to Exile, this time definitively.

So for example, once Blessed Reincarnation's Rebound ability is used, -
1) this card will go into permanent exile; or,
2) this card will go to its owner's graveyard.

The card will go to the graveyard if you cast it from exile with Rebound.

When a spell represented by a card has finished resolving, then by default the card goes to its owner's graveyard.

  608.2k As the final part of an instant or sorcery spell’s resolution, the spell is put into its owner’s graveyard. As the final part of an ability’s resolution, the ability is removed from the stack and ceases to exist.

Since Rebound only applies to a spell when you cast it from your hand, it does not apply when you cast it from exile, so it doesn't get exiled as it resolves. Since no other effect takes place, it goes to the graveyard as normal.


Late Arrival: What to do with the other two cards? (Guillotine) The "Late Arrival" card tells to look at the top 3 cards, and add one of them to the end of the line. What should one do with the other two cards?

As the card doesn't tell you to do anything special with the other 2 cards they should remain on top of the deck in their original order.

This is supported by an answer to a similar question here.


Creature kill and resurrect effects on the stack interaction? For example, casting Murder on a creature while Rally the Ancestors is on the stack (and would effect the creature if it was in the graveyard)?

I would think so, because the creature should die and be in the graveyard once the Murder resolves. Or, maybe it is in the process of moving to the graveyard like the murder until the stack is empty.

Spells like Rally the Ancestors or Living Death that don't target only care what is in the graveyard when they resolve.  Thus, a creature that goes to the graveyard while Rally the Ancestors is on the stack will be returned to the battlefield by Rally the Ancestors on resolution.

This is not the case for spells like Resurrection or Proclamation of Rebirth, which, due to being targeted, need the affected creature(s) to be in the graveyard when the spell is cast.


Must a player disclose what deck they are using before play? Our family is just learning this game. We were wondering if each player typically announces which deck they are using beforehand. If yes, in how much detail?

I could not find anything in the rules about this but wondered if there's standard etiquette around this in casual play. In our starter games, one player sometimes feels surprised and annoyed the other player made changes to their deck without announcing it.

Mostly no, but it depends.

First, here's a relevant quote from the tournament rules (section 2.7):

  Generally, decklists are not public information and are not shared
  with other players during a tournament. At constructed-format,
  Professional REL tournaments (Pro Tour, World Magic Cup, Magic: The
  Gathering World Championship, and Grand Prix), copies of opponents’
  decklists will be provided to players in the single-elimination
  playoffs.

Now for some personal experience: In draft events I have played, it is not normal (although it happens occasionally) to give information about your deck before playing. Many times someone will finish the first game (best of 3) without revealing one of their win conditions, and will keep it a secret until it actually comes out in play in the 2nd or 3rd game of the match.

Thirdly, some reasoning: In casual play I think it makes even more sense to change and keep a secret the content of your deck. I play more Android: Netrunner than Magic, so this reasoning draws on my experience there as well, but in general my goal in constructing a deck is to make one that will be resilient to surprises, and have a chance at winning against a variety of deck strategies. To that end, knowing the contents of my opponent's deck is a hindrance. I would rather we constantly surprise each other to try and polish off the rough edges of each other's decks.

That said, this way of thinking works very well among confident, competitive people, but might be harder to swallow for somebody still learning the mechanics of the game. Especially at the beginning, you might choose to help somebody along by explaining the changes you're making ahead of time, and why you think they'll make your deck better. Well, we've taken a turn into the highly subjective world of interpersonal relationships, so I'd better sign off before I get myself in trouble.


Must a caught novice walk back to her cell even when passing out of sight? In Nuns on the Run, when a novice has been caught by one of the guards, she must walk the shortest route back to her cell so long as the abbess or prioress can still see her.

My question is, must the novice complete her 'caught' movement honestly even if it takes her out of sight, or can the novice jink to the side as soon as there's a door between her and the guards?

Example: Ann Marie is caught two spaces from the south door to the chapel.  Her first two moves have to be south, but do her last one or two also have to be south, or can she turn and head into the garden?

In short terms, no.

When the honest movement takes you out of the guard's line of sight, you may then take the last one or two steps (since you are only walking) in your preferred direction.

In longer terms: I've interpreted the rules literally. It says on page 3

  If you are caught by the guard, you are required to walk (not run) in the direction of your cell by the most direct route, as long as you are visible to the guard. Flip your novice status card over to "caught" as a reminder.


Who is "You" when the creature controller is not the owner? Assume I have both a Firedrinker Satyr and a Daring Thief out in play. My Daring Thief untaps and I swap ownership of the Firedrinker with another creature of theirs. If I then proceed to Lightning Strike the Firedrinker Satyr (which is now on their side) - who receives that damage that the Satyr deals?

The key line that is confusing me is:

  Whenever Firedrinker Satyr is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to you.

The main question appears to be whether "you" woud refer to the owner or the controller. My assumption is that it is the controller, as the owner is rarely needed or used - but that's not based on much but experience.

"You" always refers to the controller of the ability, which is the controller of the creature at the time the ability triggers. So in this case, the player who controls Firedrinker Satyr at the time the damage is dealt to it - your opponent - will have the Satyr deal damage to them.

  109.5. The words "you" and "your" on an object refer to the object's controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play, cast, or activate it), or its owner (if it has no controller). For a static ability, this is the current controller of the object it's on. For an activated ability, this is the player who activated the ability. For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object when the ability triggered, unless it's a delayed triggered ability. To determine the controller of a delayed triggered ability, see rules 603.7d-f.

from the comprehensive rules (or HTML version).


All armies and fleets destroyed - Still in Game? Quick Diplomacy question.

If a country has had all armies and fleets destroyed but still have a home supply centre that hasn't been taken are they still in the game ?

I believe yes but not sure. Cheers

The quote below is part of a rule.
So yes, I would play it like you suggest, because your situation matches this rule in the strictest sense (one center versus zero units).

  If he/she has more centers than units, he/she may build units by placing them, one in each unoccupied supply center, in his/her home country only (provided that such supply centers are still under his control).


Are the virus counters on Datasucker only for the current turn? When playing Datasucker virus (anarchs), are the virus counters permanent or do you have to clear them at the end of the turn?  Even worst, do you have to clear them at the end of a run?

  Datasucker: Whenever you make a successful run on a central server, place 1 virus counter on Datasucker.  Hosted virus counter: Rezzed piece of ice currently being encountered has -1 strength until the end of the encounter.

"Hosted virus counter" is the cost of the effect (i.e. all the words that come after the colon).

If you spend a virus counter to reduce ice strength, the counter is obviously gone immediately.  If you choose not to spend a counter, it won't get cleared, either at the end of the run or the end of the turn.


Warlock Quest is to take life from another player, but I'm not allowed to attack them. Can I complete the quest? We had a situation in Talisman 4th Edition Revised where a player got the Warlock Quest "Take One Life From Another Player".

  "Seek the one with the mark of the Talisman - a mark that only you will see. When you find him, vanquish him in combat. His blood shall be your key. His suffering shall be your salvation."

The trouble was that the character wasn't allowed to attack another player. We were playing with the Lightbearers alternative ending that disallows player versus player combat, but this could also happen if, for instance, you are the Knight and all other players are Good for the time being (or worse, they are characters like the Knight who are permanently Good), since the Knight can't attack Good alignment players.

Is there any way to complete this Warlock Quest if you can't attack other players?

If the particular game scenario (such as Lightbearers) prevents any player-player combat, then the quest is never achievable, and the quest should be discarded and another one picked instead. However, if there is a possibility that a character could die and be replaced by another that could be attacked, then the quest should be retained against that possibility. That would be one of the risks of taking a Warlock Quest! Of course, your group could decide together to discard any unachievable quests and pick another.


Do I make the sneak check on the patrol marker or confront monsters first? When I end my turn in the street where there are monsters and a patrol marker, do I encounter the monsters first or perform the sneak check to avoid being arrested. Do I get to choose?

The FAQ covers this.  You make your evade check first, and then monsters.

  Q: At the end of your Movement Phase, do you fight monsters
  before making the Evade check against Martial Law
  to see if you are arrested or after?

  A: After the Evade check against Martial Law.


Where can I find the rules? Many years ago, I bought a game called 'Elixir', in which the players represent wizards trying to obtain the ingredients for the Elixir of Life.

Unfortunately, I've lost the rules, and I can't find any reference to the game or its manufacturers on the Internet.

The main thing I need to know is the table that tells you the result of an attempt to brew a potion, based on the value of gems in the mix, and the die roll you throw.

http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/amiga/games/Elixir_of_Life_Manual.pdf

The table is at the bottom of page 2. When brewing, add the cost of your gem(s) to the dice roll. On a 3 or less, the brewing fails and you lose the ingredients. On a 4 or 5, nothing happens but you can attempt to brew again on your next turn. Finally, on a 6+, the potion is successfully brewed.


Warhammer Fantasy Dual Wield Ruling If you have any unit that was more than one attack and the unit is dual wielding how many attacks does he have?

I.e. if a unit has 3 attacks but is dual wielding, does he in turn have 4 attacks or does he get a total of 6 attacks as a result of 3 attacks with the dual wield?

So 'dual wielding' isn't a term that's used in Warhammer Fantasy's rules. But models frequently have more than one weapon.  As a general rule however, this is more for the ability to choose the right tool for the right job, as opposed to using multiple weapons at the same time.

There are two times when a character will use two different weapons at once:
1) Brace of pistols: Some characters have the option of taking multiple pistols.  They're stat block will explain exactly how they work, since 'repeater pistols' work slightly differently than 'repeater handbows' which are again slightly different from someone who is just covered in flintlock pistols.

2) Models with extra hand weapons can use them in combat for an extra attack.  There are a whole bunch of times where this doesn't work, but basically as long as the model is on foot, and not using any special weapons, or magical weapons, then an extra hand weapon will grant 1 extra attack.

If a model has multiple different kinds of weapons, the general rule is that you choose which one he is using at the start of the round.


In Eldritch Horror, how do you deal with cases when an event forces you to draw a condition card that you already have? The rules state that a player cannot choose to take a condition when he already has one of that type.

How do you deal with cases when an event forces you to draw a condition card?

As an example, let's say my character has a debt card and he is asked by an event in the game to draw one. Do you

simply ignore this step in the event resolution
flip the card you previously owned and that's it
flip the card you previously owned and draw another one (ouch)
other?

The very detailed reference guide covers this case. From p.4, "Conditions":

  An investigator cannot have multiple copies of the same  Condition. If
  he would gain a Condition that he already has a  copy of, he does not
  gain another copy of that Condition.


What are all the ways to win by card effect? With so many cards added in from ye original game:

What are new ways of winning by card effect?

I know of Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo, Exodia, and Destiny Board, but I am not sure if any more have been added in.

What are new ways of winning by card effect?

The following is a list of all the cards that have victory conditions1 for winning that I recall:

Exodia: All five cards in hand and you win. This archetype has several variants, like Exodia Necross. One variant is Exodius the Ultimate Forbidden Lord, which also has victory condition (similar, as you have to send all Exodia pieces to the GY to win).
Destiny Board: All five cards activated on your field, in order, and you win. This is an old set of cards, contemporary of Exodia.
Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo: 3 counters on it and you win. You place them by detaching XYZ material to Leo, which is done by not having Spells or Traps and skipping your Battle phase. Part of the Gimmick Archetype. Its Chaos version, Number C88: Gimmick Puppet Disaster Leo also has win condition, when it has no XYZ material and your Opponent's LP are 2000 or lower.
Ghostrick Angel of Mischief: With 10 XYZ material on it you win. Each turn you can add a Ghostrick card as material to it.
Jackpot 7: All three copies banished by its effect and you win. To banish them your opp has to destroy them while set on your field.
Final Countdown: Just like the song, after 20 turns of its activation you win. Pay 2000 LP to activate. This card was recently limited as some decks were abusing of it.
Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes: also 3 venom counters on it and you win. Part of the Venom Archetype.
Holactie the Creator of Light. Remember the Egyptian Gods? Meet their God. Summon it (by tributing the 3 Egyptian Gods) and you win.
Phantasm Spiral Assault: if your Phantasm Spiral Dragon destroys 3 effect monsters while equipped with Phantasm Spiral equip cards you win.

These are only the "legal" or playable cards. For others like the restricted Last Turn and other info about victory conditions and the winning player read here.

1 It is important to stress that conditions are not card effects. Unlike card effects, conditions cannot be negated. This means that Mind Drain can't "negate" Exodia's "effect", as it is a condition.

This is the same for Number 88; if it has 3 counters you win, period. However, you can cast Breakthrough Skill when Number 88's detach effect is activated, and negate the placement of the counter (ruining his strategy as now it doesn't have enough material to get to 3). But the condition you can't negate.


Does the One Hive rule apply to preserving a continuous hive for your opponent as well? Here are the rules.

Page 9 lists the One Hive rule.

  The pieces in play must be linked at all times.

I'm looking for confirmation that this means my move must preserve my opponent's hive's continuity.

I've realized that my question was posted out of a misinterpretation of the rules that made me think that BLACK is one hive and WHITE is another, and that all white pieces had to be connected while all black pieces had to be connected. I realize now that the one hive rule pertains to all pieces regardless of color needing to be connected in one big happy family (with bickering siblings).


Can I look at my deck before playing the Zombie Mason The text on the zombie mason says:

  Trash the top card of your deck. You may gain a card costing up to $1
  more than it.

Is this a "blind play", i.e. do I make my decision to play the zombie mason without knowing what the top card in my deck will be (potentially trashing a really valuable card like a province)? Or can I look at the top card and then decide if I want to trash it or not (basically deciding if I want to play the zombie mason or not)?

From normal rules, I would expect that it is a blind play, as typically we are not allowed to look at cards in our deck, unless instructed to do so and the zombie mason does not give this instruction.

However, if it is a "blind play", it seems far too risky to ever actually use it (or at least not in later stages of play where valuable cards are in the deck).

It is indeed a blind play, you cannot look at the top of your deck before choosing what to play with Necromancer (or however else you came to play the Zombie Mason). However, unless a pile has been depleted or you have 'unique' cards in your deck (Knights, Castles, cards from Black Market, etc.) you can always choose to replace the trashed card with an identical copy from the supply. It's not a good outcome of the play, but you don't loose a card in that case.

At the start of the game, the possibility to get rid of a Copper or change an Estate into a Silver or other 3-cost card is really good. If you trash an Action card, no problem, another potential card to play with Necromancer.

Later in the game you might be wanting to play either other Action cards trashed, or another Zombie. But if you are ahead in scoring, accidentally trashing a Province and replacing it with another isn't a bad outcome anyway.


Will Evoke trigger on a creature that's returned to the battlefield from the graveyard? When a spell or ability returns a card with Evoke from i.e. the graveyard to the battlefield, will it's Evoke ability trigger, or does it only trigger when it enters the battlefield from the stack, being cast with it's Evoke cost paid?

For example, if I blink Nevermaker using Brago, King Eternals ability, would Evoke trigger when it re-enters the battlefield?

A creature will never be considered "evoked" when entering the battlefield in any other situation than being cast.

Here's what the rules says about Evoke:

  702.73a [...] “Evoke [cost]” means “You may cast this card by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “When this permanent enters the battlefield, if its evoke cost was paid, its controller sacrifices it.” [...]

Evoke adds two things to the card :

The first is an alternative cost, meaning it can only be used at any time you would be able to play the card by paying its mana cost.

The second (the sacrifice part) is a triggered ability for the creature, that will trigger when entering the battlefield.
This trigger will make the controller of the creature sacrifice it, if and only if the Evoke alternative cost has been paid.

If a creature with Evoke was played paying it's Evoke cost, then leave the battlefield and later comes back (for example from Acrobatic Maneuver or Reanimate), it will be a completely new object, which Evoke cost hasn't been paid, and so the Evoke trigger won't make it's controller sacrifice it.


When a Warlock casts an Animus, is it still an Animus? So, I was playing a friend who plays a lot of Hordes yesterday, and he mentioned that when his Warlock casts an Animus as a spell, it still counts as an Animus.  This means that it cannot be cast on a model that already has an animus on it.  Is this true?

As an example, Say I am playing Legion.  I have a Carnivean and a Stinger in my battlegroup, and I want to cast the Stinger's animus (to get Bushwack) and the Carnivean's animus (to get the +2 armor).  Can I have both of them on me at the same time?  Or, as an even better example, say I have a Shredder in my battle group as well, and I want his animus up on my Warlock along with my Carnivean's animus - is that legal to do?  When I read the text of the Hordes rules, it did not seem clear to me.

A model can have only one friendly animus in play on it at time. If another friendly animus is cast on a model, th eolder friendly animus expires and is replaced by the new one when the affected model is hit by the animus. This applies to animi used by warbeasts as well as those cast as spell.
cit from the quickstart rules pag 4 right column ANIMI block.

To answer your question your friend is right :)


Prevent the next x damage and multiple unblocked creatures I got attacked by 2 Blighted Agent (1/1 infect unblockable), a Latch Seeker (3/1 unblockable) paired with Tandem Lookout (2/1 and when paired both creatures get "Whenever this creature deals damage to an opponent, draw a card") and Tandem Lookout itself (which was unblockable due to an effect).

I tapped my Hallowed Healer (tap: "Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn") to prevent 2 damage to me.

My question is: who's damage will be prevented?

Does my opponent decide the order in which the attacking creatures attack during the Declare Attackers Step? Or does he decide that during the Combat Damage Step?

We couldn't find this in the Comp. Rules, so my opponent said his Latch Seeker(3/1) was prevented by 2, but this way I got 2 poison counters and he drew 2 cards. I would have liked to prevent the two poison counters or to only let him draw 1 card (by preventing Tandem lookout).

You get to decide which damage to prevent.  And you don't have to prevent all damage from one source before preventing damage from a different source.

The first thing to note is that creatures do not attack in order - it just seems that way when you assign damage to blockers.  Attacking creatures are required to assign as much damage as is required to kill each blocker, but all the damage is dealt simultaneously.510.2  Furthermore, there is no assignment step for damage that will be dealt to a player.

The next thing to look at is the way that damage is actually processed.  From the comprehensive rules:

  119.4 Damage is processed in a three-part sequence.

  119.4a First, damage is dealt, as modified by replacement and prevent effects that interact with damage.
  119.4b Next, damage that's been dealt is processed into its results, as modified by replacement effects that interact with those results (such as life loss or counters.)  [ed: These are detailed in 119.3]
  119.4c Finally, the damage event occurs.  [ed: examples follow]

The final piece of the puzzle is in the rules regarding Prevention Effects (emphasis mine):

  615.7 Some prevention effects generated by the resolution of a spell or ability refer to a specific amount of damage—for example, “Prevent the next 3 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.” These work like shields. Each 1 damage that would be dealt to the “shielded” creature or player is prevented. Preventing 1 damage reduces the remaining shield by 1. If damage would be dealt to the shielded creature or player by two or more applicable sources at the same time, the player or the controller of the creature chooses which damage the shield prevents. Once the shield has been reduced to 0, any remaining damage is dealt normally. Such effects count only the amount of damage; the number of events or sources dealing it doesn’t matter.

Putting it all together, here's what happens.

After all combat damage has been assigned, all combat damage is dealt simultaneously.510.2  The damage event starts out as [7 damage dealt to player].
The prevention effect (from Hallowed Healer) is applied, and the damage event becomes [5 damage dealt to player].  Since all the damage is being applied at once, you get to decide which damage is prevented.615.7
The results of the damage are processed now.  Depending on your choices in step 2, one of several things could happen:

If you blocked 2 damage from the Blighted Agents, the 5 damage all gets converted into loss of life119.3a.  Both Latch Seeker and Tandem Lookout's abilities will trigger, and your opponent will draw 2 cards.
If you blocked 2 damage from Tandem Lookout, 2 damage gets converted into poison counters119.3b and the other 3 is converted into loss of life119.3a. Latch Seeker's ability triggers, and your opponent draws 1 card.  Tandem Lookout's ability does not trigger, since it did no damage.615.6
If you blocked 2 damage from Latch Seeker, 2 damage gets converted into poison counters119.3b and the other 3 is converted into loss of life119.3a.  Both Latch Seeker and Tandem Lookout's abilities will trigger, and your opponent will draw 2 cards.
Many other options are possible - see below.

Finally, the damage event occurs.

Since you get to decide which damage is prevented, you get to decide which creature(s) don't deal any damage.

Furthermore, you can prevent any amount of damage from any sources in any combination - you could prevent 1 damage each from Latch Seeker and Tandem Lookout if you wanted.  (In your particular case, it wouldn't be a good move - but there are conceivably situations where this would be advantageous.)


When the match time is called, does the current turn end immediately? In the Magic Tournament Rules, the End-of-Match procedure says:

  If the match time limit is reached before a winner is determined, the player whose turn it is finishes their turn and five additional turns are played in total.

In a Regular or Competitive REL tournament, does this mean the turn immediately ends (as though Sundial of the Infinite was activated), or does it mean the current player continues their turn through ordinary gameplay and draws it to a speedy conclusion so that the five extra turns can commence?

I've only been to a couple of pre-releases as far as tournament exposure goes, and I'm looking to better understand tournament procedure. I don't want to join a tournament and have an incorrect understanding of this situation cost me a game.

The active player takes the rest of the turn as usual, then the five-turn count begins. This is based on my own experience, but it is likely that if they wanted to end the turn immediately they would have used a wording that matched the corresponding effect template and said "End the turn".

Overall, it would not really make sense to end that turn like that. It would effectively be introducing a somewhat complex effect into a running game from the outside with no respect for the stack, priority, or turn-based actions. It would create arguments about what the game state is and what spells/abilities/effects have already resolved. Plus it wouldn't do much for timeliness because it would effectively say "The active player immediately stops what they're doing and ends the turn, then both players return to playing at their own pace for another five turns". Finally, the active player already has the disadvantage of getting only two of the five turns; adding this further disadvantage to the same player could unreasonably swing the game.

As some comments have mentioned, the quoted section of the Magic Tournament Rules was added before the concept of "ending the turn" was ever created in the Comprehensive Rules. So, the intention at the time that the tournament rules were written could not have been to end the turn in that way.


How should my strategy change for six players? I often play (and often win) the card-game Wizard with 3 players. I call somewhat aggressively and it works out well.

Recently, I played with more players, and my strategy didn't work as well in those circumstances. Especially with six players (the maximum), I don't have much success. How should I adjust my strategy for more players?

Call easy, Play aggressively

I've only played it up to 5 players but in my experience the game works best if you don't go overboard with you calls. I prefer to call one or even two tricks less than I tought if someone else calls big numbers. But then I try to persue those tricks aggressively.

Because even if the calls add up nicely people generally don't manage to follow through. So waiting towards the end to get you tricks is risky as the chances that someone messes up increases with the number of players. Fighting for you tricks to soon is risky too because that's an easy way to waste good cards to wizards.


Identify this card game with a 52-Card deck and two teams I played this card game without knowing its name and had forgotten some rules. So here is a description of the game.

It is for 3-12 players and players team up as the good or the bad. (Played using a 52- card deck) Players will sit in a circle.
A dealer will not take part in the game and will choose who to be good people and who to be bad people. This is done by giving a  red card (bad team) or a black card (good team) to the players by lying face down. (The identity of every player is unknown to the others at the start) The bad players must be lesser than the good players. (Ex: 3 Good Players and 2 Bad Players or 4 Good Players and 2 Bad Players)
A few special identities are given to some players like
-(The Queen of Spades - Leader of Good Team)
-(The Queen of Hearts - Leader of Bad Team)
-(The King of Spades and The King of Hearts which I had forgotten their role)

Once done, the players will "sleep" by putting their heads down.
a) The dealer will call up the bad players so they will know who their allies are. Then, they will be asked to sleep again.
b) Now, the Kings and Queens are asked to rise (Which I forgot too, so it might be untrue)
c) Then, everyone will be asked to sleep again. Once done, everybody rise and the game begins.
d) The dealer chooses a player to begin the game and he or she must choose two players to play with her.
e) Each chosen player (3 in total) will be given a black card (spades or clubs) and a red card (hearts or diamonds)
f) Then, they will choose a card to place at the centre (The good can only place black cards while the bad can place either one)
g) The motive here in part 1 is to win 5 points by either the good or bad. (The good wins if all the card placed in the centre are black while the bad wins if one of the cards at the centre is red)
h) Therefore, the good players have to identify their allies while the bad players have to trick the good players into choosing them to place their cards
i) The game continues with the left person of the last chooser and he or she now choose 3 players instead of two.
j) The increase in a chosen player will go on until a team reaches 5 points or the max number of good players are reached. (Ex: If there are 6 good players, the increase will stop until only 6 players are chosen per game)
k) The part one of the game ends when a team reaches 5 points.

Part 2- The part that I forgot (might be untrue)
a) Players are required to guess the leaders of each team and will try to prevent the other team from knowing their team leaders
b) The team who identifies the other team's queen wins.

The Resistance with Regular Playing Cards

and see

The Resistance (with Standard Playing Cards)


Betrayal at House on the Hill If it's meant to be card Last night I was playing with a group of friends. The player on my right had a "if it's meant to be card" with a dice roll he made of 5. So he can change the roll later in the game. When it got to me. I picked up a event card that the person on my right rolled a might attack of 4. And I had to roll dice equal to my might to battle it. He happened to have the spear as well so that if he won the roll it would increase his might by 2.

When I read the card aloud he changed his roll from 4 to 5. I said that the card says the roll and he can't change the roll that is on the card. But the whole table said that he can change the roll. Is that an actual rule?

By a literal reading of the cards, yes he can use the 5 instead of rolling.

I'm assuming that you are talking about the Creepy Puppet event. The real question is actually about how the Creepy Puppet event works, moreso than how "It is meant to be" works.

  The player on your right rolls a might 4 attack for the creepy puppet. If you take any damage from this attack, the explorer with the spear gains 2 might (unless you have the spear).

I think what you are misunderstanding is how the Creepy Puppet (same with the Bite Omen) works. The attack is still rolled; it's not that he just automatically gets 4 attack power. He rolls 4 dice. If the card just said that he's attacking with 4 damage, then he couldn't use "It is meant to be", because that only applies when rolling. But here we have a card telling him to roll some dice, and another card that tells him that on a dice roll, he can choose to use the 5 instead of rolling dice.

Note that he has to make this choice BEFORE you roll your defense though. So he doesn't know if he'll get any benefit out of using his 5; so it's a risk for him.

Now, there is a good argument to be made for the opposite conclusion (something that unfortunately can happen in Betrayal). When it says "the player to your right rolls a might 4 attack against you", it's easy to read that as being that the player to your right is just being used as a means of having the game itself roll dice; it's not really "his roll". It's the Creepy Puppet's roll, the player is just the physical means by which the roll is made. By that logic, he couldn't use the It is meant to be; because that can only be used on his rolls.

So the question is whether you want to be completely literal, or give a more relaxed interpretation of Creepy Doll (and Bite).


Do the UFOs over the continents get removed when they raise the terror level? Each round, during the Timed Phase, UFOs can wind up overflying various continental landmasses.  Each UFO that is not shot down by the intrepid forces directed by the Commander raises the terror level.  Do these UFOs then get removed, or do they persist (potentially raising the terror level again) into future turns?

The UFOs will remain over the continent, provided the continent's panic level has not reached orange (panic).  Once the panic level reaches orange, all UFOs over that continent are moved to orbit.

According to the electronic rules (Download the app -> Menu -> Rules -> UFOS) or the Rules Reference p11:

  If a continent has fallen into panic when updating the panic levels in the app, all UFOs in that continent are added to orbit.

Also as it has in the electronic FAQ (app -> Menu -> FAQ):

  Q: Do UFOs remain on the board after increasing panic?
  A: Yes, UFOs remain on the board until destroyed.


Pros and Cons of running a deck with no 1-mana spells? Sometimes I've noticed myself building decks that have no spells that cost 0 or 1 mana, and instead have extra spells that cost 2 mana to make sure I don't get crushed in the early game. 1-drops only really shine on turn 1 or when you squeeze them in on later turns, so switching them all out for 2-drops seems like it could potentially be advantageous. Am I making a big mistake by doing this?

I understand that this is highly situational in terms of deck-type and the cards in question. I would think an Aggro deck would want to run 1-drops just to get swinging by turn 2, even if they could've waited and got a more powerful creature later on. There are also some 1-mana spells that are good enough to be competitive with 2-drops anyway. But in general, what are the costs and benefits of running a deck with all the 1-mana cards shifted up to more powerful 2-mana cards?

(I primarily play limited formats, but I don't think constructed vs. limited would matter much in the context of this question)

When I'm playing standard, the game is typically decided in the first 5 or 6 turns. Consider how devistating a Titan was, and the number of extremely powerful 6 drops compared to extremely powerful 5 drops. Now in the current set, development actively tried to extend the game further out, but still in many cases the game is set in stone (barring a true bomb, of course) by turn 6. If you don't have a solid 1 drop in a standard game, you aren't so doomed that you scoop right away, but you are at a significant disadvantage because you lost the ability to play on one of the 5 game defining turns.

When I'm playing draft, assuming the opponent doesn't get mana screwed, mana flooded, color screwed, or some other 'lame' win, I expect the game to really not be decided until turn 8 or 9. And due to the sporadic nature of bombs in your draft decks, can completely turn around at any time. So missing out on a first turn creature and falling a little behind isn't a big deal. It's still not good to start at a disadvantage, but you're much more likely to come back from this in draft than in standard.

Now in something like Commander, when you have 40 life, a 1 mana creature doesn't do much at all. In fact, I only have 4 one mana spells at all (which, drawing 7 cards out of 100, means I have a about a 1/3 chance of getting one - not very high) in my main Commander deck, and none of them are creatures. They are all highly utility too: Sol Ring, which i consider more like a land than a spell, Shrieking Affliction, which isn't much of a turn 1 spell, but does a lot of damage over the course of the game, Virulent Swipe just because death touch is very important to the deck, and Quest for the Gravelord to profit from people fighting eachother. So really, only one of those cards is intended to be played on turn 1, and is still viable at any time in the game. (5/5s are always welcome!)

So, it's important to know what the tempo of the game is. I have control decks that don't mind not having a 1-drop. Multiplayer doesn't normally need one. It's all about knowing your deck, the tempo, and even your opponents. Like so many things... playtest, playtest, playtest!!


Why would Kathril, Aspect Warper's ability grant multiple hexproof counters? Kathril, Aspect Warper has this ability:

When Kathril, Aspect Warper enters the battlefield, put a flying counter on any creature you control if a creature card in your graveyard has flying. Repeat this process for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, trample, and vigilance. Then put a +1/+1 counter on Kathril for each counter put on a creature this way.

There is a ruling in Gatherer that is confusing to me:

If cards in your graveyard have multiple hexproof abilities (such as hexproof, hexproof from white, and hexproof from black), a counter of each variant kind will be put onto a creature.

Why would this be true under the ability's wording and the rules?

702.11d “Hexproof from [quality]” is a variant of the hexproof ability. “Hexproof from [quality]” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of [quality] spells your opponents control or abilities your opponents control from [quality] sources.” A “hexproof from [quality]” ability is a hexproof ability.

So we see that "Hexproof from white" is a hexproof ability, thus is would count for Kathril's ability. I would assume that "Repeat this process for..." means that you do this action:

put a flying counter on any creature you control if a creature card in your graveyard has flying

but replace "flying" with the keyword that you are repeating the action for. As we go down the list, we eventually repeat the action for hexproof, so we follow this instruction:

put a hexproof counter on any creature you control if a creature card in your graveyard has hexproof

Due to 702.11d, if you have a creature with hexproof from white in your graveyard, that would count as having hexproof just the same as if you had a creature with normal hexproof in your graveyard. In either case, the instruction you are following then is to "put a hexproof counter on any creature you control".
How can these set of instructions cause you to put a "hexproof from white" counter on a creature you control? There doesn't appear to be any instruction to ever put a "hexproof from white" counter on a creature you control.
Does somehow "repeat this process for hexproof" actually mean "repeat this process for hexproof and every possible hexproof variant"?
Same question for Odric, Lunarch Marshal:

At the beginning of each combat, creatures you control gain first strike until end of turn if a creature you control has first strike. The same is true for flying, deathtouch, double strike, haste, hexproof, indestructible, lifelink, menace, reach, skulk, trample, and vigilance.

Again I would think that by a literal reading of the wording, if a creature you control has "hexproof from white" then this would cause all of your creatures yo be granted normal hexproof (they gain hexproof if a creature you control has hexproof; and having hexproof from white counts). But the rulings say the same as Kathril.

Kathril will create a separate counter for each variant of hexproof creatures in your graveyard have. In the same vein, Odric will give your creatures each variant of hexproof a creature you control have.
The reason Kathril, Odric and cards similar to them work the way they do is because of the following rule:

702.1c. An effect may state that "the same is true for" a list of keyword abilities or similar. If one of those keyword abilities has variants or variables and the effect grants that keyword or counters of that keyword to one or more objects and/or players, it grants each appropriate variant and variable of that keyword.

Add to that the rule saying

702.11d. "Hexproof from [quality]" is a variant of the hexproof ability [...]

and we see why Kathril gives "hexproof from" counters and Odric gives "hexproof from" to creatures. If we look at the definition of landwalk,

702.14a. Landwalk is a generic term that appears within an object's rules text as "[type]walk," where [type] is usually a subtype, but can be the card type land, any land type, any supertype, or any combination thereof.

I think you'll agree that plainswalk, islandwalk etc. are variants of landwalk, and thus Cairn Wanderer gains all that are present (with the same reasoning used for protection).


How can I make Betrayal at House on the Hill less confusing? A love to play Betrayal at House on the Hill, it's my favourite game at the moment and I'm sure it'll stay that way for a long time. Some of my friends have complained that it gets long-winded and complicated (though I don't see that).

How can I make this game less confusing, given that we still have unknown haunts to play through?

I'm assuming that your biggest problem is the haunt rules, if you've already played the games several times.

The easiest way to make the haunts (and their special rules) simpler is to discuss the special haunt rules with other people - preferably people who know the rules well. The Heroes, of course, get to hash out the special rules with each other and come to some sort of consensus, but the Traitor is alone and needs to muddle through things himself.

There are three things that can help here:

If there's somebody not playing the game, have the Traitor talk it over with them. Even if they're not much of a gamer, simply discussing the rules can make things clearer. If there's nobody handy, then explain the rules to a rubber duck.
Go get the updated Hero and Traitor books from Wizards.  While you're there, get the errata for the regular rules.
Just relax and have fun. If there's serious confusion in the rules, make a quick ruling and work it out after the game.

If you're really worried, then have the whole group hash out the rules and/or check the errata, even if you reveal a few small things about the Heroes or Traitor while you're at it.

If your problems are with the regular game, then make two cheat-sheets: one for the regular rules, and one for the standard haunt rules (movement past enemies, combat, how the traitor & monsters ignore all bad effects, etc.).


Are there times NOT to bid 1NT with 15 high card points and a balanced hand? This refers to a strong (15-17) 1NT with hand shapes of 4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, or 5-3-3-2.

With "flat" hand like (s) Kxx (h) Kxx (d) KJx (c) KQxx, I would refrain from bidding 1NT, after deducting one point from my "bare" 15 for the 4-3-3-3 shape. (All the x's are 7 or lower; give me two or three tens or nines and I would probably open 1NT.) Instead, I would bid one club.

Change the hand slightly to (s) Kx (h) Kxx (d) KJxx (c) KQxx, and I'd probably bid 1 diamond since I'm 2-3 in the majors, even though my shape is technically 2-3-4-4. (But if the major and minor suits were switched, so I have two high card majors, I'd bid 1NT and hope to hear 2c (Stayman) or a transfer bid.)

With a 5-4-2-2 "semibalanced" hand, I wouldn't bid 1NT with 15-16, but might do so with 17-18, deducting a point or so for two doubletons.

Would most experts refrain from bidding 1NT with 15 high card points in the above situations, or similar ones that I haven't mentioned?

I can't speak for most experts, but I can speak for myself. I never downgrade a balanced 15-count. I occasionally upgrade a balanced 14-count, and I know several good players who do it more frequently (and announce "a good 14-17" when their partners open). Likewise, I never downgrade an 18-count into a 1NT opener, but occasionally upgrade a 17-count into a 1-level opening followed by 2NT rebid (almost always when holding a decent 5-card suit, more frequently when the suit is a major).

On the subject of 5332s, a national champion once told me that when you hold a 5-card major with 15 or 16 HCP, you should either almost always or almost never open 1NT. He was in the almost always camp; he would prefer to open the major if literally all of his high-card points were in two suits.

As to 5422 shapes, whether you should open 1NT depends on a couple of things. Most important is rebid problems. If you have 5 diamonds and 4 hearts (e.g. xx AQxx AKJxx Qx), you will have a rebid problem after partner responds 1S or 1NT. I don't think this hand is good enough to reverse, and rebidding 2D is terrible, so I would open 1NT. On the other hand, if your hand is AQxx xx Qx AKJxx, you have a good rebid after any of partner's likely responses, so there's no need to open 1NT. A difficult case is when you hold 5 clubs and 4 diamonds; if you play Crawling Stayman (i.e. that 1NT-2C-2D-2H shows that responder has a weak hand with length in both majors), you should avoid opening 1NT without at least three cards in at least one major.

Another consideration for 5422 hands is whether your values are in your long suits or your short suits. A hand like Kx Qxxxx Kxxx AK has values concentrated in the short suits; consider opening 1NT instead of 1H.


How does Underrealm Lich interact with Sidisi when drawing multiple cards? Suppose I have Sidisi, Brood Tyrant out:

  Whenever one or more creature cards are put into your graveyard from your library, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.

I also have Underrealm Lich:

  If you would draw a card, instead look at the top three cards of your library, then put one into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.

I then play Concentrate:

  Draw three cards.

Because of rule 120.2, I do this by drawing one card three times, each of which is replaced by Underrealm Lich's replacement effect:

  120.2. Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.

So, three times I will look at the top three cards of my library, put one into my hand, and put the rest into my graveyard.

Let's assume for simplicity that every card near the top of my library is a creature card. In this situation, does Sidisi create:

only one zombie, because of the single "draw three cards" instruction putting creature cards into my graveyard, or
three zombies, because of three separate instructions from Underrealm Lich putting creature cards into my graveyard?

You get 3 Zombie tokens.

Each card draw is processed separately from the others:

  120.6b If an effect replaces a draw within a sequence of card draws, the replacement effect is completed before resuming the sequence.

As you already noted, you can only draw one card at a time:

  120.2. Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.

The draw replacement effect ultimately causes you to move cards from your library to your graveyard ("move" for brevity). Since you can only draw one card at a time, and the replacement effects works on each draw individually in sequence, you also move 2 cards at a time, and Sidisi triggers on each of those moves.

Since the card draw is the event that, together with Lich's replacement effect, ultimately triggers Sidisi's ability, consider an analogous situation: Underworld Dreams triggers on each card draw. If you were to draw 3 cards, you would get 3 separate damage events, as the ruling on that card's gatherer page confirms. Therefore, any ability that is triggered by a replacement effect that replaced a card draw would react the same way.


Magic the gathering, ixalan standard, bristling hydra I have a Bristling Hydra on the battlefield, which states I can pay 3 energy and give him a +1/+1 counter and give him hexproof. My opponent has an Ahn-Crop Crasher, which states he may exert him and target creature can't block this turn.

My opponent exerts Ahn-crop crasher and targets my Bristling Hydra. In response, I pay 3 energy and give him hexproof. In response, my opponent played Lightning Strike, dealing 3 damage to my Hydra.

Wouldn't me activating the trigger ability of the Hydra on the Crasher still give him hexproof? I was told otherwise from the judge and my Hydra was destroyed. Was this a legal move?

Your opponent can do this.

After he exerted Ahn-Crop Crasher, the triggered ability went on the stack. Then, you activated Bristling Hydra's activated ability in response, which went on the stack above the triggered ability. Then, your opponent cast Lightning Strike, which went on the stack above your activated ability.

At that point, the stack looks like this (from top to bottom):

Lightning Strike
Bristling Hydra's activated ability
Ahn-Crop Crasher's triggered ability

If no one else does anything, the stack will begin to resolve, starting from the top. So Lightning Strike will resolve. At this point, your Hydra's activated ability has not yet resolve, so the Hydra wouldn't have hexproof yet.


You can play a land but you can't cast a land I was playing a game with some friends and I played a Mosswort Bridge and whiffed, hitting all lands. But then I noticed that Mosswort Bridge lets you play a card without paying its mana cost so could I still put a land under the Mosswort Bridge and play it when the conditions are fulfilled?

In m10 they use this convention: you activate ability, cast spell and play lands
So from mtg rules

Lands

305.1. A player who has priority may play a land card from his or her hand during a main phase of his or her turn when the stack is empty.
Playing a land is a special action; it doesn’t use the stack (see rule
115). Rather, the player simply puts the land onto the battlefield.
Since the land doesn’t go on the stack, it is never a spell, and
players can’t respond to it with instants or activated abilities.
305.2. A player can normally play one land during his or her turn; however, continuous effects may increase this number.
305.2a To determine whether a player can play a land, compare the number of lands the player can play this turn with the number of lands
he or she has already played this turn (including lands played as
special actions and lands played during the resolution of spells and
abilities). If the number of lands the player can play is greater, the
play is legal.
305.2b A player can’t play a land, for any reason, if the number of lands the player can play this turn is equal to or less than the
number of lands he or she has already played this turn. Ignore any
part of an effect that instructs a player to do so.
305.3. A player can’t play a land, for any reason, if it isn’t his or her turn. Ignore any part of an effect that instructs a player to do
so.
305.4. Effects may also allow players to “put” lands onto the battlefield. This isn’t the same as “playing a land” and doesn’t count
as a land played during the current turn.

So yes, you can choose a land and you can play it.
But it counts for the maximum amount of land played during a turn, because it's say that you play the land and not put it on the battlefield


15 years old card game with ancient battles theme and complex mechanics I used to play a PC game about 15 years ago that was based on a card game.
I remember the following details:

It contained cards
It had ancient battles theme
Each card represented battle unit
There were factions like Romans, Carthageneans, Egyptians, Maccabeans and more.
Some factions were inherently stronger than others. Battles were often assymetrical.
Game battles were based on real battles.
Some of the units were - heavy infantry, light infantry, phalanx, chariot, elephants.
Each player would put the cards in a row against the oponents row.
There was some rule on when to draw the cards from your own deck and how to put them.
Each card could attack only 3 cards which are approximate to it.
If a card was attacked from leftmost or rightmost, it was considered "flanked" and depending on the unit, the attack might have got significant bonuses.
The combat mechanics were not easy to understand

I've searched google with all the keywords I could think of, but can't find it.
Any idea?

Ok, after the comment about "Battle Line" (Thanks to @user30903) I started to view the game description and suddenly I saw a war unit called hoplite... and then I recalled.

The PC game is called "Hoplites". It is completely free and its manual is available here. It is based on a board game called SPQR. The game "Battle Line" is from the same company.


Do you load before paying? If you land on a space that requires payment, do you load resources before making the payment, or the other way around?

In fact, you cannot load and move at the same moment, and as payment can only happen after a move, the problem you describe never occurs.
First you make the morning action (move and eventually pay or load) then the evening action (move and eventually pay or load).

it's explained on the "island" #2 (Action Types) in the rules.


What cards have good potential for a combo with Mayor of Avabruck // Howlpack Alpha? In the Innistrad set, at least 1 of the double faced cards is a werewolf with the ability to upgrade other werewolves and wolves in play.  What other wolves have good potential to combine with the Mayor of Avabruck//Howlpack Alpha card?

I'm thinking primarily of Commander games, but if you think something fits a different format, please note that.

Why settle for two or three wolves when you can have seven or more of them instead?


Does Phantasmal Bear get sacrificed if its affected by spells or abilities that don't say 'target'? Phantasmal Bear says that if it becomes the target of a spell or ability that it must be sacrificed. If I played Phantasmal Bear and later in the game played a creature that gave all of my other blue creatures +1/+1, would the Bear still be sacrificed, even though the Bear wasn't 'targeted' specifically?

No, you will not have to sacrifice it. See:

  114.9a Just because an object or player is being affected by a spell or ability doesn't make that object or player a target of that spell or ability. Unless that object or player is identified by the word "target" in the text of that spell or ability, or the rule for that keyword ability, it's not a target.


If multiple players must make a choice, in what order are the choices made? For example, if Merciless Executioner enters the battlefield, and both players have multiple creatures, which player chooses a creature to sacrifice first? Obviously the latter will have an advantage. Technically it can't be done simultaneously, so who should go first?

When multiple players must make a choice simultaneously, they do so in "Active Player, Non Active Player" order. This means that first, the player currently taking their turn chooses, then each other player chooses in turn order.

Rule 101.4 says

  If multiple players would make choices and/or take actions at the same time, the active player (the player whose turn it is) makes any choices required, then the next player in turn order (usually the player seated to the active player's left) makes any choices required, followed by the remaining nonactive players in turn order. Then the actions happen simultaneously. This rule is often referred to as the "Active Player, Nonactive Player (APNAP) order" rule.


Are copied Flashback cards cast from the graveyard? Possible Duplicate:
  Are copied spells cast from the graveyard?

If a card like Increasing Devotion is copied and its Flashback cost has been paid, does the copy count as being cast from a graveyard? So would you end up with double the tokens with your copied spell?

No.

A copy of a spell isn't cast. Therefore, the "if Increasing Devotion was cast from a graveyard" clause won't trigger.

Rules reference:

  706.10. To copy a spell or activated ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn't cast and a copy of an activated ability isn't activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. (See rule 601, "Casting Spells.") Choices that are normally made on resolution are not copied. If an effect of the copy refers to objects used to pay its costs, it uses the objects used to pay the costs of the original spell or ability. A copy of a spell is owned by the player under whose control it was put on the stack. A copy of a spell or ability is controlled by the player under whose control it was put on the stack. A copy of a spell is itself a spell, even though it has no spell card associated with it. A copy of an ability is itself an ability.


When is International Tabletop Day? I have heard of "International Tabletop Day" being a celebration of board games and roleplaying games, and that some stores have events for it. When is that?

Also, do previous dates provide any clues as to when we can expect future dates to be so that stores etc. can plan accordingly?

International Tabletop Day has been hosted by Geek & Sundry every year since 2013,* but the schedule has been somewhat inconsistent as to when it is. I had a hard time finding the dates, especially for the early ones, but here they are:

March 30, 2013
April 5, 2014
April 11, 2015
April 30, 2016
April 29, 2017
April 28, 2018

If the pattern for the last couple of years holds, then one would expect that in the future it will be held on the last Saturday in April.

* The logo for International TableTop Day says that it's "since 2012", but I cannot find any evidence that it was actually held in that year. @PatLudwig in the comments provides supporting evidence that 2013 was the first.


Interaction between Vilis, Broker of Blood and Phyrexian Delver I resolve a Phyrexian Delver etb targeting Vilis, Broker of Blood. My question is whether the life lost as a part of the Phyrexian Delver etb will then cause Vilis's "Whenever you lose life, draw that many cards" effect to trigger. In a broad sense, because the return to battlefield and lose life effects are part of the same effect, do they happen at the same time? Or because they are written in an order, that they happen in an order?

They happen in the order they are written, so you will get to draw cards.

  Resolving Spells and Abilities

    608.2. If the object that’s resolving is an instant spell, a sorcery spell, or an ability, its resolution may involve several steps.

      608.2c The controller of the spell or ability follows its instructions in the order written.

and

  603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.

So at the time that you are losing life, Vilis, Broker of Blood is already on the battlefield; it's triggered ability triggers just as if it had been there even before Phyrexian Delver was resolving.


Deflecting Swat and Lich's Mastery A EDH deck I am wanting to build revolves around Lich's Mastery. I'm aware of the removal that may occur to it and that I can Stifle the ability of When Lich's Mastery leaves the battlefield you lose the game.
I know Deflecting Swat can redirect an ability on the stack and Lich's Mastery's last ability goes on the stack.
Can Deflecting Swat redirect Lich's Mastery's lose the game ability?

When Lich's Mastery leaves the battlefield, you lose the game.

That ability doesn't use the word 'target', so you can't redirect / deflect it.

115.1d A triggered ability is targeted if it identifies something it will affect by using the phrase “target [something],” where the “something” is a phrase that describes an object and/or player. The target(s) are chosen as the ability is put on the stack; see rule 603.3d.


How does Flute of the Outer Gods work in Arkham Horror and when should I use/buy it? First of all, what's the sequence of events in using this item?

If I would go insane/unconscious before using the flute, does that mean it would be useless to use the flute as I would be unable to actually make the combat check?
What is the difficulty of the combat check?
By area, does the the card mean all monsters currently in the exact same street area or location as you, or all monsters in the same street area and 2-3 corresponding locations?

according to the AH wiki:

  You must pass a Horror Check before using the Flute. If there are more than one monster in your area, you only need to pass one Horror Check.

What is the difficulty of the horror check? Is it as if you were making a normal horror check before engaging in combat?

Second, how can I know when to buy/use the Flute? It's extremely expensive in terms of both cash and sanity/stamina. It seems as if most of the time you'd be better off saving the money for an actual weapon that you can use more than once, and with the massive sanity/stamina cost it seems like it would only be worth using on the absolute strongest of monsters, like the Hounds of Tindalos or God of the Bloody Tongue.

Am I underestimating the power of this item? How do you tell if it's a good idea to buy it if it comes up in your 3 unique items? How can I tell if a situation warrants the tremendous cost of its use, especially since the investigator will be so weakened afterwards they will likely have to rush to both the hospital AND the insane asylum before being able to continue fighting without fear of loosing half their items, which would've been the penalty of failure against the monster you were fighting anyway?

The card specifies area because it could be either a location or a street. I'm pretty sure they already had the 'neighborhood' terminology worked out when the base set came out and they didn't use it here for a reason. The flute's use is basically 'Instead of rolling a combat check against a monster when you normally would, you can use the flute instead.' So you need to survive the monster's horror check before you can use the flute. If you don't survive the horror check, you don't make it to the combat phase, so you can't use the Flute.

Note that as the flute kills everything in the location/stree that you use it in, you can enter combat with a weak monster(Cultist, horror check auto-success), use the Flute, and kill everything in that space, which happens to be a Gug/Dhole/Color/Servitor/Mask/etc.

So with a regular gate opening, the flute doesn't give as much bang as it could, as there's usually only 1-2 monsters in a location. But after a monster surge or two and there a location full of monsters that just happen to all move on the same symbol, the flute becomes a great way to take out a horde that would've dealt that damage to someone anyway.

Granted, the Flute is also useful if you just happen to not have the resources available to take out something with good odds, as you strictly only need enough sanity to survive failing the horror check to use it. You don't even need the 3 stamina 3 sanity to use it you know! As the Flute does damage and isn't a cost, you could use it at 1/1! You'd be devoured of course, but that's the cost...

In my gaming group, it's pretty rare that someone will choose to buy the Flute over something reusable when they go shopping, but if it happens to be gotten for free, no one complains.


Recommendations for a wife who likes dominion My wife and I really enjoy playing board games IF we can find the right game.  Seems to be that there is a love it or hate it reaction from my wife (I'm pretty game for anything).  My wife likes the "classic" board games like Monopoly, Scrabble, and such.  I myself typically enjoy a strategic game with a few elements of chance of which my wife (says she) generally dislikes.

However I was recently surprised to find out that she absolutely loves Dominion, and is in fact one of her favorite board games to play.  Excited by this, since I too love Dominion, I attempted to play Carcassonne with her as I thought it would be of similar taste but found that she doesn't care for it at all.  Intrigued, I tried Pandemic with her thinking she might like a co-op game better and she had mixed feelings about it.

My wife is certainly not afraid of competition, and I think games we play that put us on a level playing field are the ones she enjoys most.  My question naturally is does anyone have any recommendations of a game/games that they believe would be enjoyable by both of us, given this history?  I am pretty open to anything, although do slightly favor a more "strategic" game.  Thank in advance!

Some recommendations follow. First though, here's how I would think about this. What your wife will enjoy playing will depend on a variety of factors (theme, mechanics, play time, competitive intensity, etcetera). As you try different things, hopefully you'll get a feel for some of those factors. For example, my wife prefers historical, fantasy or modern settings of sci-fi, having kids skews us toward shorter play time, and she likes competition, but disengages when she's frequently way ahead or way behind. I like most strategy games (and hate most party games), but I've found I dislike Citadels because it is too easy for someone to fall far behind early, and it plays incredibly slowly as you add more players. You'll probably also notice that I link to boardgamegeek pretty frequently. It's a great resource for getting more info about a particular game before you buy it. Some games you can also try online to get a basic feel, for example on brettspielwelt or octgn

The first thing I would recommend is to try some Dominion expansions. The base game is actually fairly boring compared to Intrigue. There are some good questions in here about in which order to try the expansions, like this one. For a really close relative of Dominion, try Ascension. It is so similar I almost didn't mention it, but it has a few interesting differences, simpler here, more complicated there, and a very different theme.

I second the Android: Netrunner recommendation. There are some terminology hurdles, and I think my first 5 games with my bro-in-law we hadn't figured out the rules yet, but it bears a lot of similarity to Dominion in that it depends heavily on card text, and you can have a lot of diversity within the game framework because there are so many combinations to play with. I feel like in Dominion you play to build an awesome deck and then suddenly the game is over...in A:NR you build an awesome deck before the game starts, and then play with it. That setup bit is a bit heavy, though.

7 Wonders is a good option to try. It doesn't have quite the diversity of Dominion, and it plays much better with 3-7 people than with 2, but it's fast and fun. Not a lot of downtime per player. Also note: this is a tableau-building game, not a deck-building game.

Race for the Galaxy is another good one to try, and it plays very well with 2 people. This is another tableau-building game, but with a bit more variety (I think) going on than 7 Wonders, and it has a role-selection mechanic that adds a very cool layer of strategy. And it plays well (better than Dominion) with up to 6 people. If RFTG looks too sci-fi or too complicated, check out San Juan.

You should also check out Infiltration. It's by the same designer as Dominion, and similarly has a basic ruleset with components you randomly swap out between games. It has a little bit of Uncle Wiggily in it, but also some strategic elements. And 3 out of the 4 times I've played it the player who won did so with a last-minute hat trick strategy, which is quite exciting.

Cooperative games can be fun, but I think of them as risky business. Check this out. My wife and I have had good luck with Elder Sign, which gives individual players a good degree of autonomy.

The Ticket to Ride series (e.g.)is another good idea to check out.


Android netrunner data and destiny deck lists As the data and destiny expansion did not come with any deck lists I was wondering if anyone had tips for how to construct decks for these new runners Apex, Adam and Sunny Lebeau

Yes!
Instead of answering here, I'll link you to netrunnerdb. It is one of several sites that provide tools for building and sharing Android: Netrunner decks. If you are looking for ideas around a specific card or group of cards, you can do a query like this one to see decks other people have built that include that card.


Fluxx - When should I carry out actions / use keepers? At the start of a turn before drawing cards? Or at the end?

(Zombie Fluxx in this case, but common to all variants of Fluxx I think?)

You always draw cards before playing cards.

EDIT:

The general turn outline is:

Draw cards (in following the current draw rule)
Play cards (in following the current play rule)
Discard cards (to follow the 'card limit' rule, if applicable)


If I block my opponent's Ornery Goblin with my Ornery Goblin, whose Goblin dies? Recently this situation happened to me on Magic: Arena. My opponent attacked with Ornery Goblin, and I blocked with my own Ornery Goblin. Surprisingly, my Goblin died while his did not.

I don't understand why. Here's what I think should happen:

He's the active player.
He attacks, I block. Both Goblin's triggers go on stack, but mine resolves first, since he's the active player (CR 101.4).
My trigger kills his Goblin.
Since his Goblin is dead, it can't deal damage anymore, so my Goblin survives.

Am I missing something or is this a bug?

Both should die. This sounds like an Arena bug.

Once an ability goes on the stack, removing the permanent that put it there doesn't stop it from resolving. The ability is now an entirely separate object that has no reliance on its source.

This means both Ornery Goblins' abilities resolve, killing each other. Your assessment is otherwise entirely accurate including ability ordering—it just doesn't matter here that one kills the other first because they'll both die anyway.

The only other thing I can imagine is they had a Mentor put a +1/+1 counter on their Ornery Goblin or something, boosting it to a 3/2 which could survive the ping damage from your goblin.


Can I tap a creature in response to it being tapped? My buddy uses Dromoka Dunecaster to tap my Humble Defector.  Can I in response activate Humble Defector's ability?

You can't respond to "being tapped"; you can only respond to spells being cast and abilities being activated or triggered.
And that's what you have here. Your opponent activated Dromoka Dunecaster's ability, after which you both get a chance to cast instants and activate abilities in response (i.e. before it resolves).
You are free to activate Humble Defector's ability at this time[1][2]. Having been placed on the stack last, it will resolve first. When it resolves, it will have you draw two cards and then give your opponent control of Humble Defector.
When Dromoka Dunecaster's ability then resolves, it does nothing[CR 609.3] since a permanent that's tapped can't be tapped[CR 701.17a].

If it's your turn, due to the limitation imposed by the ability.

Technically, your opponent gets first dibs since it's their ability to which you are responding[CR 601.2h]. That said, in a tournament setting, it's assumed that a player passes when they get priority in response to casting an spell or placing an ability on the stack unless they explicitly retain priority.

601.2h Once the steps described in 601.2a–g are completed, the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, he or she gets priority.
609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.
701.17a [...] Only untapped permanents can be tapped


Does the Quarriors "Shaping Charm" allow me to rotate creatures to same level but with a burst (*)? The Shaping Charm rules state:

  Cast this Spell to rotate all Creatures in your Ready Area up 1 Level, if possible.

Although the "level" of the creature is the number in the upper left hand corner, there are "sub-levels" for some of the creatures in which the level stays the same, but they gain a * ability.  We've been playing that the order of the faces on the bottom of the card is the "Level-up" order in this situation.

Is this an acceptable interpretation? Or should we just go with numerical level only, and if there is more than one option, allow the caster to choose which +1 level face to go to?

Also, on a related note, how does this affect the Demonic Overlord which has level faces of 1, 2, and 4.  Can I roll it from 2 to 4 with a shaping charm? Or must it be exactly 1 level higher than its current level?

You should go by the numerical level. If there is more than one option, the caster can choose which +1 Level die face to use. It is impossible for Demonic Overlord to rotate +1 Level from Level 2 (since the next level is 4), so it is unaffected. The rulebook covers what a Creature's level is.

Creature Dice that show a Creature Icon can be “summoned.” You must spend Quiddity equal
to the Creature’s level (in the upper left corner of the die face) to summon it.

Why settle for an unofficial FAQ (regardless of how nicely it is laid out):

Shaping Charm - Remember the upper-left number is the Level, so a die currently has a 1 then you can rotate it to any face with a 2, or if it is a 2 you can rotate it to any face with a 3.  We don't think you can change to a different face of the same level.  We also don't think you can increase the level of a Strong Primordial Ooze.

When an example in the rulebook explains a related rule, you cannot return a creature to the Ready Area on a different die face at the same level.

Shaping Cantrip - Reaction: Cast this Spell to return one of your just destroyed Creatures to your Ready Area (at its same level) instead of putting it in the Used Pile.
Example: Quinn’s beloved Scavenging Goblin has just been destroyed by a mean old Strong Deathdealer. Fortunately, Quinn has a Shaping Cantrip in his Ready Area, which he casts to save his goblin at the last moment! Though he would like to change the goblin to a face with the Burst, he cannot rotate the die, and must return the goblin to his Ready Area with the same (Burstless) face showing. Even though the goblin was saved, the Strong Deathdealer can still use his ability, immediately scoring Glory for his player.


What happens with mortgaged properties during bankruptcy? A player lands on my property and has no cash. They owe me only $26. They have 1 property, a railroad which is mortgaged. The mortgaged value is $100.

Do I get the mortgaged property and have to pay $74 to this other player or is this player out of the game?

The player is bankrupt and out of the game and you get the mortgaged property with some conditions. You will have to pay the bank 10% of the mortgaged value when you get it and before you unmortgage it if it is not on the same turn.

Rules

  If you have mortgaged property you also turn
  this property over to your creditor but the new owner must at once
  pay the Bank the amount of interest on the loan, which is 10% of the
  value of the property. The new owner who does this may then, at
  his/her option, pay the principal or hold the property until some later
  turn, then lift the mortgage. If he/she holds property in this way until
  a later turn, he/she must pay the interest again upon lifting the
  mortgage.


Is there a way to beat Standstill? If your opponent has a  standstill on an otherwise empty board, is there a way to remove it without your opponent drawing cards?

krosan grip doesn't work because split-second doesn't apply to triggered abilities, and stifle or trickbind don't work either, because they themselves will trigger the ability.

You need to look for abilities that can be activated from places other than the 'field, since abilities don't trigger Standstill.

You can cycle Resounding Wave targeting Standstill and a land, as cycling is an activated ability it won't cause Standstill to trigger.

  702.28a Cycling is an activated ability that functions only while the card with cycling is in a player’s hand. “Cycling [cost]” means “[Cost], Discard this card: Draw a card.”


Scoring first word with all 7 letters What scoring conditions apply if all 7 letters are used for the first word in Scrabble? Does the player get double points for the word AND 50 points for using all their tiles?

You get both.
In fact, there are three bonuses that you can get on your first turn, evaluated in this order:

Double letter score (if you play your word such that it hits one of the double letter scores that are 5 away from the starting square)
Double word score (from the starting square)
Bingo: +50 points for using all your letters

Let's say you play the word "LETTERS", with the L on a double letter score.  You would get 66 points:

Base 7 for tiles: all these tiles are 1 point
8 points post double letter score (the L is doubled to 2 points)
16 points post double word score
66 points post bonus