When I cast an encoded cipher spell, can I encode the copy on another creature? When my creature successfully attacks with an encoded cipher card attached, does the copy also have cipher? Wouldn't I be able to encode the copy of the original spell onto a new creature, having 2 creatures encoded, 1 from the original cipher and 1 from the encoded copy?

The first rule for Cipher says

  Cipher appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two abilities. The first is a spell ability that functions while the spell with cipher is on the stack. The second is a static ability that functions while the card with cipher is in the exile zone. "Cipher" means "If this spell is represented by a card, you may exile this card encoded on a creature you control" and "For as long as this card is encoded on that creature, that creature has 'Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may copy the encoded card and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.'"

When you first cast the spell with Cipher from your hand, it is a card, so you can encode it on a creature. When that creature deals combat damage to a player, you can cast a copy of the encoded spell. That copy is not represented by a card, so you can not encode it on a creature.


In Bridge, Do You Count Defensive Points In the Opponents' Suit When Making a Takeout Double? Left hand opponent opened 1 heart. Partner doubled for takeout. Right hand opponent passed. I "had to" bid 2 clubs with something like (S) xxx (H) xx (D) Jxxx (C) Jxxx.

We were doubled for penalties, and went down five, (vulnerable) after partner partner laid down:

(s) Axxx (H) Kxx (D) Kxx (C) Qxx

In defending the takeout double, partner said, "I had 12 points and four spades. That's a standard takeout double."

I said, "I need 14 points for a vulnerable takeout. I don't even consider your hand worth 12 points (even though technically that's the case), because of the 4-3-3-3 distribution." What bothered me most about the double was not the minimum point count, but the "stranded" king, and three cards in the opponents' suit.

Give partner a better distribution by changing her hand to  something like: (s) Axxxx (h)--- (d) KQxx (c) Kxxx, and I wouldn't have complained. Because all her "values" would have been OUTSIDE the opponents' suit, for offense, not defense. (FWIW, Kaplan and Rubens evaluates this hand as 15 points, and the actual hand at 11 points because of the flat distribution and stranded honors. That's true, even though the traditional Milton Work count for both hands is 12 points.)

Was partner right to make the double? Or was I right to protest it? Is vulnerability the deciding factor? In either case, why?

Nearly all American experts would not make a takeout double here, and my impression is that most Europeans would not as well.  Having 3 cards in their suit is a flaw when deciding to try and declare the hand rather than defend, and points outside their suits do matter: with only 9 points outside of their suit, your offense-to-defense ratio is low.

If opener has 6 hearts, and partner 3 or 4, your K will not take a trick on offense (it will be ruffed).  And if partner has 1 heart, the K could be useless as well.  But it will always take a trick on defense, so the heart K should be discounted slightly when considering the takeout double.  Qxx of hearts would discounted heavily because it would be useless on many hands.

There are several ways to lose by doubling here: partner has 3 hearts, partner gets you into a 4-3 minor fit, partner competes over 2H and gets you too high, partner drives to game expecting more.

Partner is still there.  He will reopen after 1H P P if he has one of the hands you want, and I would recommend playing a pre-balancing style where partner can double light after 1H P 2H... then he will protect you from having passed this hand.

In all, too many flaws: only 9 points outside their suit, poor shape, no spots, bad vulnerability.  If opponents were vulnerable that's another flaw since you might be able to get 100 or 200 by setting them.


Progressive Draw 2 and Draw 4 Uno When playing with progressive Draw 2 and Draw 4 and (say that there are 2 players playing) and

Player 1 goes out with a Draw 2
Player 2 puts down a Draw 2

Does player 1 have to pick up 4 cards?

If you look at the base rules of the game it ends as soon as a player has no cards in their hand. Which means that the second player would not have a chance to play the draw 2 in response to the first players card.

Also should be noted that if you are playing in a situation where you want to continue playing till everyone but the last person runs out of cards it would be the same. As soon as a player plays their last card they would be out of the game and not impacted by any cards.

uno rules

  Scoring: When a player no longer has any cards and the game ends, he/she receives points. All opponents’ cards are given to the winner and points are counted. All number cards are the same value as the number on the card (e.g. a 9 is 9 points). “Draw Two" – 20 Points, “Reverse" – 20 Points, “Skip" – 20 Points, “Wild" – 50 Points, and “Wild Draw Four" – 50 Points. The first player to attain 500 points wins the game.


Gaining control of an opponent's hideaway land Suppose my opponent plays a hideaway land (e.g. Spinerock Knoll) and then I gain control of it with Zealous Conscripts.

Can I look at the card that was exiled face down with the hideaway land?
What happens if I attempt to use Spinerock Knoll's ability to cast the exiled card, and I find that it has mandatory additional casting costs that I am unable to pay?

Hideaway is defined in the rules as:

  702.74a Hideaway represents a static ability and a triggered ability. “Hideaway” means “This permanent enters the battlefield tapped” and
  “When this permanent enters the battlefield, look at the top four
  cards of your library. Exile one of them face down and put the rest on
  the bottom of your library in any order. The exiled card gains ‘Any
  player who has controlled the permanent that exiled this card may look
  at this card in the exile zone.’”

(Remember that the reminder text is only a condensed summary of the actual rules.  It rarely has all the nuances of the rules to handle weirder situations.)

Since the rules state "Any player who has controlled the permanent that exiled this card may look at this card in the exile zone", you can look at the exiled card.  There isn't a way you could start casting the card and not know about what is required to cast it.

Also, the last ability of Spinerock Knoll says you may cast the exiled card.  So as that ability resolves, you have the option of casting the card (or not).  If you can't pay all the costs to cast the spell at that time, you can't cast it and the ability from Spinerock Knoll still resolves (it just didn't do anything useful for you).


What is the outcome if my board state is as follows, Bludgeon Brawl, Mycosynth Lattice, and any Planeswalker? If I control any planeswalker, Mycosynth Lattice

All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.
All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

and Bludgeon Brawl

Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment with equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0," where X is that artifact's converted mana cost.

can someone attack the "equipment" planeswalker? Can I still use the loyalty abilities while the planeswalker is an equipment?

The planeswalker is a colorless artifact equipment with equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0". It is still a planeswalker with its original planeswalker subtype and it still has its loyalty abilities. Your opponent can still attack the planeswalker and you can still activate its loyalty abilities.
Rule 306.6 says, very simply

Planeswalkers can be attacked.

This is unconditional. It doesn't matter what other types it has, or whether it's attached to something as an equipment. As long as it's a planeswalker, it can be attacked.
Rules section 606 describes loyalty abilities. There isn't really anything specific to quote here, but there aren't any restrictions on what kinds of permanents can have or activate loyalty abilities. The planeswalker in question doesn't lose its loyalty abilities, so it can still activate them.

To fully understand how Mycosynth Lattice and Bludgeon Brawl interact, we need to use the "layer system" described in rules section 613.
If we split the abilities up by the layers we effect, Mycosynth Lattice's first ability says

Layer 4: All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.

and its second ability says

Layer 5: All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

and Bludgeon Brawl's ability says

Layer 4: Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment.
Layer 6: Those artifacts have equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0," where X is that artifact's converted mana cost.

Putting those together, we can see that both Mycosynth Lattice and Bludgeon Brawl have an effect that applies on layer 4. The order in which they are applied is determined by timestamps and dependencies. The relevant rules about dependencies say this:

613.8. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is sometimes done using a dependency system. If a dependency exists, it will override the timestamp system.

613.8a An effect is said to “depend on” another if (a) it’s applied in the same layer (and, if applicable, sublayer) as the other effect; (b) applying the other would change the text or the existence of the first effect, what it applies to, or what it does to any of the things it applies to; and (c) neither effect is from a characteristic-defining ability or both effects are from characteristic-defining abilities. Otherwise, the effect is considered to be independent of the other effect.

613.8b An effect dependent on one or more other effects waits to apply until just after all of those effects have been applied. If multiple dependent effects would apply simultaneously in this way, they’re applied in timestamp order relative to each other. If several dependent effects form a dependency loop, then this rule is ignored and the effects in the dependency loop are applied in timestamp order.

These two effects are in the same layer, Mycosynth Lattice's effect changes which permanents Bludgeon Brawl's effect affects, and neither one is a characteristic-defining ability. So, Bludgeon Brawl's effect depends on Mycosynth Lattice's effect, so Mycosynth Lattice's effect is applied first. The resulting sequence of effects is this:

All permanents are artifacts in addition to their other types.

Each noncreature, non-Equipment artifact is an Equipment.

All cards that aren't on the battlefield, spells, and permanents are colorless.

Each permanent previously affected by Bludgeon Brawl's effect has equip {X} and "Equipped creature gets +X/+0," where X is that permanent's converted mana cost.


Inherited thousands of Magic Cards I have inherited over 20,000 Magic cards. What is the best way to find out what they are worth for selling. Do I need to look up each card? How? Where?

Your first goal is to separate bulk from value. Bulk cards are usually valued by the inch (for example, they'll buy for $0.20 an inch, which works out to about $0.005 per card) so getting value cards out of the bulk pile is paramount in properly valuing a collection.

The first thing you'll want to do is sort the cards by set. This will make them much easier to look up. I suggest you do this with the cards upside down if you're right handed so it's easier to thumb through them. Remember that cards will naturally have some order to them, so you will likely have a lot of runs in the same pile. If you find there's too many sets, then only pick out a couple of sets per pass (ideally the ones that have the most, to reduce the amount of picking on the next pass). I sorted a collection of 10,000 cards in five passes, but I used my knowledge of the block structure to help with that.

There's a very nice guide to identifying sets on this site.

Once you have them sorted by set, you'll want to go through each set and find the value cards. Go to a website of your choosing that lists the prices by set, and filter by the price so you only see prices over a certain threshold. (When pricing collections, I use $0.75 as my threshold, since they're the ones likely to pop over $1.00 on occasion...)

Separate your commons and uncommons into one pile and your rares and mythics into another pile. This can easily be done by flipping the pile upside down and thumbing from left to right. Commons are black, uncommons are silver, rares are gold and mythics are red. Now go to your price list for the set and identify if there are any commons or uncommons over your threshold. Don't let the Lightning Bolts and Ponders get lost in your bulk pile! Next look at the number of rares or mythics in the set on your price list - if it's like 8 or less, just find those 8 by name in your rare pile. If it's more than that, sort your rare pile by name, and sort your price list by name, and go down both the list and pile at the same time. You can skip large chunks of the set this way, and you'll find that sorting by name gets a lot easier after you've done it a few times.

I find on average it takes around 1 hour per 1000 cards using this method. You end up looking at each card 4 times doing this:

Separate by block (so you only have about 20 or so piles)
Separate blocks into sets (one pile into four piles)
Separate into common/uncommon and rare/mythic
Picking out commons, or picking out /sorting for rares

So a 20,000 card collection should take around 20 hours or so to sort.

This doesn't take into account foil cards. As a general rule, just to save time, any full art card, foil card, or dual-mana producing land I will set aside and look up separately.


BlackJack Basic Strategy I have been practicing basic strategy in BlackJack, and I have noticed that with every basic strategy chart I find that in terms of hard totals they all stop at 17. Why is this? And if I want to find my best course of action for a hard 18 (Jack, Queen King) and an 8, how would I figure this out? I'm sure there's something I'm certainly, missing, I'm just not sure what it is. Examples:

I am dealt a hard 18, King and 8. Blackjack basic strategy charts don't dictate how do this, why? and how do I figure this out?

I am dealt a hard 19, King and 9. Same questions as last time.

My chart is Here

Wikipedia's article for basic strategy says to stand when dealt a hard 18-21, at all times, regardless of the dealer's face up card.

Given a game with the following parameters:

Four to eight decks
The dealer hits on a soft 17
A double is allowed after a split
Only original bets are lost on dealer blackjack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack#Basic_strategy
Source:  "4-Deck to 8-Deck Blackjack Strategy - Wizard of Odds". Wizard of Odds Consulting, Inc. Retrieved April 30, 2014. http://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/strategy/4-decks/


Would multiple Trepanation Blades Stack? I have a couple of Trepanation Blades, and I was wondering if the effect would stack if I have multiple equipped to one creature.

Yes. When the equipped creature attacks, both triggers go on the stack at the same time (in an order of your choice), then are resolved one at a time.

So, for example, I attack with an Invisible Stalker wielding two Trepanation Blades. Both triggers go on the stack. We resolve the first: spell, spell, land; the Stalker gets +3/+0 until end of turn. We resolve the second: spell, land; the Stalker gets +2/+0 until end of turn. Now my Stalker is a 6/1.


Where can I find strategy discussion about Dots? !!! Before reading the post, I'm not talking about Dots and Boxes, but Dots (a paper-based game).

I've been playing the game for some time and to become better at it, I started to search for different strategies for the game, but as this game is not so fame/popular there is only one (wikipedia) article to it. Can you share some different experience you've had with the game? Eventually how would you place more and more dots?

This game is pretty similar to go, the only difference is, that you don't have living points (I guess they're called breathing points?), but the only thing that counts is to circle the enemy. You start in a position where in 2x2 dots the opposite corners are of one player, and the other two dots are from the other.

Can I just assign Go-strategies here? Because it looks like I can't use them.

PS. Add 'dots', 'paper-based' tags for the forum, if possible. (Or if this forum is strictly for board games, are paper-based games board-games?)

Since the main rule of breathing is different, the players need to achieve completely different goals: In go a group can breath within another group, and the chips may get removed by being killed, while in dots a dot stays forever in game. Both games have the main goal to have the highest possible area, in where some strategies may be similar, but mostly your main goal in dots is to surround enemies dots/area and avoid having your own surrounded. Some of strategies that can be used, are:
Strategy #1: Keeping one dot free space
If the opponent is being surrounded and prefers to build walls, you will be able to catch him by building the perimeter with one dot empty space between every new dot, this helps surrounding faster and is more effective then just trying to catch at the same speed. However you still need to fill every dot you avoid at first to continue surrounding. (x and o are different colors)
x x x x x ...   -> x x x x x
ooooooooooo ... -> ooooooooox (Redirection of o’s)

Strategy #2: Know when you need o give up area
When your enemy has succeeded by occupying one of your zones, you need to know if you can fight for it, or can’t. There are not real parameters you can search for, as it’s very position-depended, but you can look at:

Size of your area
Shape
How much is occupied. (and how is it occupied? Keeping free dots? Any way to break through?)

Strategy #3: Building areas on top of areas
If you have a large area, you can build more small areas onto your large area as in example of green below

Green simply have an area and build all other areas using some of the dots of the main area.


What are the rules updates for Catan in the 5th edition? Are there any? Page 6 of the new Seafarers rulebook states:

"A general note on Catan rules. This is the 5th English-language edition of Catan Seafarers. Over the years, the rules have been clarified, refined, and occasionally updated. As of January 1, 2015, all of the rules in this version of Catan take precedence over any previously-published rules."

Is this notice simply a formality for the 5th edition release, or is there actually something that was changed, refined, clarified? (And I ask regarding any of the expansions, not just this one.) Because I can't find what it is.

Also, does anyone know if any of the default map layouts changed?

Changes to the base game

The biggest change in the base game is that the name has switched from "Settlers of Catan" to just "Catan".  They've also updated the art (citation).

Changes to seafarers

Many of the scenario maps are different.  It seems they used the maps from the 2008 German printing of seafarers when making 5th edition.  The big change is that there are now separate maps for 3 players vs 4 players on the first four scenarios.  Additionally, the layouts of "The Fog Islands" has been completely changed.  For a look at historical Catan scenarios, see this compilation.

Prior to fifth edition

Between third and fourth edition of base Catan, they added a rule allowing you to move the robber to the desert, and renamed the "Soldier" card to a "Knight", presumably for terminology consistency with Cities and Knights.

Between third and fourth edition of Seafarers, they changed the game border from rectangular to hexagonal, meaning all of the scenario maps got changed then as well.

Also, see What are the differences between the four editions of The Settlers of Catan base game?


How can I make Dominion play better with 5+ players? I just got Intrigue, and it seems cool that it opens up the game to 5 or 6 players. However, the common consensus seems to be that its possible, but not recommended. Is there anything I can do to make Dominion play better with 5 or 6 people?

The biggest problem with extra players that I usually see is down-time. Dominion is partially a group solitaire game. There is some interaction between players with attack cards, but otherwise your opponents turns won't matter a lot besides keeping an idea on what piles are low and the game end. I find with 5 the main problem is "I know what I'm going to do, I just have to wait through 3 more people's turns to do it". You also might want to tweak the number of kingdom card piles to somewhere between 11 and 13.

The first and easiest thing you can do is lessen the cards that take longer to resolve. Spy, Throne room, Adventurer, Contraband, Counting House, Possession, and many others tend to make turns take a little longer. This doesn't mean that they are bad in any way, it just means if you are worried about long down-times with 5 or 6 people you might want to forgo them. Removing certain cards may annoy hardcore players who want a truly random layout, but my games usually aren't super serious and its worth it to fit in the extra person.

Another thing you can do if you are adventurous with 6 is play 3 teams of 2. Turns pass from one team to another. Both members of that team take their turns at the same time and have totally separate decks. Their attack cards only affect the players on the other teams. It helps to use attack cards that don't depend on order very much in case you both attack. What do you do if one of you plays a spy and the other a thief? What order do they go in? Instead of trying to make rules about this, just use attacks that don't clash with others too easily, like militia and witch. The team mechanism is mainly to allow some simultaneous turns; you can play as a team and do some minor collaboration, like who should buy what or who should focus on attacks vs. victory points, or still make it every man for themselves and have the player with the most victory points win.


Copying Etrata, the Silencer, but not its name If I copy Etrata, the Silencer, but not its name as in the case of Lazav, the Multifarious; will its copied abilities work since Etrata's ability states "When Etrata deals damage" and Lazav doesn't copy Etrata's name? Or would it require the card to possess both the ability and name?

Its copied abilities would definitely work, even though Lazav is still named Lazav. See rule 201.4:

201.4. Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.
201.4b If an ability of an object refers to that object by name, and an object with a different name gains that ability, each instance of the first name in the gained ability that refers to the first object by name should be treated as the second name.


Does "on your opponent's 3rd turn" mean after 3 turns? The text of "Swords of Revealing Light" reads

After this card's activation, it remains on the battlefield, but destroy it during the End Phase of your opponent's 3rd turn.

In previous versions it has specified

This card remains on the field for 3 of your opponent's turns.

So it has been changed from that, presumably for a reason.
In my mind, my opponent's 3rd turn is not the same as 3 (of my opponent's) turns after I activate the card and would imply the card is not destroyed if I activate it on or after my opponent's 4th turn.
How should the text be interpreted?

The function of the card hasn't changed, but the wording change isn't great.
The new wording creates ambiguity in what "third turn" means, but only one interpretation makes logical sense for gameplay, even if it's the less likely meaning under the rules of English. It looks like they wanted to be more specific on when it's destroyed (the end of your opponent's turn rather than the start of yours) which was a bit unclear in the original wording. There's definitely a better middle ground between the two card wordings, one that specifies 3 turns from when it was played perhaps something like this:

After this card's activation, it remains on the battlefield for 3 of your opponent's turns, destroy it during the End Phase of your that turn.

There's no real way to know what made Konami change the wording to this unless the company tells the players, anything else is really just speculation.


Carcassone scoring for a city with a mayor and a cathedral How do you score a city that has both a mayor and a cathedral? We ended up making each tile worth 3 points for the cathedral plus 1 point for each shield/banner in the city for a total of 6 points per tile.

Was that correct?

I'm playing with the Inns and Cathedrals and the Mayors and Abbeys expansion packs.

The Mayor doesn't affect the number of points received for completing a City.  The Mayor only affects WHO might get the points.  If someone has a meeple in a city and you get your Mayor in the city, the mayor counts as the number of pennants in that city.

So if the City had 0 pennants, then your mayor would be 0 and the other meeple would be 1, allowing them to have 'more' meeple.  If there was 1 pennant, then you would tie and both get the score.  If there were 2 or more pennants, than you would have more meeple (the number of pennants) and would 'win' and get all the points your opponent getting nothing.

The Cathedrals as you've noticed changed values from 2 points/tile and pennant to 3 per.  So a city with 8 tiles and 2 pennants would go from 20 points to 30 points.  Who ever has the most meeple in the city gets all the points (tie both get the same)


Betrayal at House on the Hill - Mystic Elevator We did not see anything about this in this rules, but we encountered a situation where the monster that our traitor was controlling entered the mystic elevator. Our only remaining hero was wearing armor that was slowing her down, meaning she had a speed of one. At this point, the monster could effectively use the mystic elevator over and over, leaving the hero unable to catch up and fight the monster. Are there rules we missed that would prevent this situation (only using the elevator once maybe?) or is this just a case of "don't be an idiot and ruin the game for everyone else"?

There are errata pertaining to the mystic elevator, but I don't believe that they would fix your situation:

  Mystic Elevator -- Can a group of heroes or monsters use the elevator in a group to
  attack their enemies, then retreat to safety?

    No. Add the following rules:

      Monsters and traitors can both use the Elevator to go wherever they wish without
      rolling. However, the elevator may only be moved once during each entire
      traitor/monster set of turns, the first time a traitor or monster enters it. In other
      words, if the traitor uses it during his turn, then it will not work later on if a
      monster enters it.
      Heroes must roll for their destination floor each time they enter the elevator, or at
      the end of each entire movement phase that they spend in the elevator without
      moving.

If I understand your question correctly, you are talking about a monster using the Mystic Elevator just once each turn; and because of this, you couldn't ever catch the monster. The thing is, this isn't a situation unique to the Mystic Elevator. Depending on the layout of the house, if you only have 1 movement, and the monster has more than 1, then it would be easy for the monster to always avoid you, even without the Mystic Elevator.

If the win condition for the traitor is simply to have the monster survive long enough, then it sounds like a clean with for the traitor. If the win condition requires the monster to kill the heroes, then the traitor shouldn't be just running away the whole time.

To advise how to handle your specific situation, we would need to know the actual win conditions for both teams. But if the game cannot end without the monster and hero fighting each other, then it sounds like a clean stalemate to me, and a legitimate move for the traitor to make if he is sure he can't win in combat.


Does the game end immediately when one player reaches 0 life? Player A is at 6life, Player B at 20 life. Player A resolves a Scapeshift and sacrifices 9 lands for 3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacles and 6 Mountains. This will trigger 18 times 3 damage (I think). In answer to that, Player B resolve Divine Deflection where X=6 targeting Player A. Is this game a draw, player A or player B wins?

Player A loses.

Eighteen instances of Valakut's triggered ability will go on the stack.
Divine Deflection is cast and eventually resolves.
Trigger #18 resolves. It deals no damage and Divine Deflection deals three damage to Player A.
Trigger #17 resolves. It deals no damage and Divine Deflection deals three damage to Player A.
Player A loses the game for having non-positive life.
Player B wins the game for being the only player left.


Improve the Power of creatures in the graveyard? So I have a deck that relies a lot on the Scavenge1 mechanic, and I was wondering if there was a good, effective way to improve the Power of creatures in the graveyard, so that I get more +1/+1 counters when I Scavenge it.

I already have Corpsejack Menace for +1/+1 multiplication, but it struck me as a neat idea to be able to pump up the Power of, e.g., Slitherhead to get more “free” +1/+1 counters. I’m playing Standard (as of writing, Return to Ravnica, M14, and Theros), but I’d be happy to hear about cards in other formats that work. I’d appreciate markings of the legal formats for any card suggestions, since I’m kind of new to Magic and am not familiar with older blocks.

1 Creature ability: pay a cost and exile the creature from the graveyard, add a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the creature’s Power to another creature.

I split your question into three, because I thought it was less ambiguous that way.

Is there a way to put a creature with improved power into the graveyard?

Only one that we know of. Someone mentioned Skullbriar, the Walking Grave in the comments. Skullbriar takes his counters with him to the graveyard, where they continue to modify his power and toughness.

Is there a way to improve the power of a creature in the graveyard?

This is the question you actually asked.

The only way I can think of to actually change the power of a creature that is in the graveyard is to play with creatures like Spellheart Chimera, whose power and toughness are calculated. These are static abilities that function in any zone, including the graveyard.

If you had Spellheart in your graveyard and then you played Grisly Salvage and flipped over 5 instants, Spellheart would suddenly have 5 (plus one from the Grisly Salvage itself) more power than he had before, thereby improving his power.

Is there a way to put high power creatures in the graveyard?

Yes. You can discard a creature card like Bearer of the Heavens by having too many cards, or by being forced to discard it with something like Thoughtseize (which can target yourself). You can also mill with a card like Grisly Salvage, mentioned earlier.

The answer I think you were hoping for was a card like "Target creature in your graveyard gets +3/+3 until end of turn" (a buff) or "becomes a 10/10 until end of turn" (a static ability) or even something that affects the power of all creatures in your graveyard. No card like that exists. I doubt one ever will, because the "status" of cards in your graveyard would become unmanageable. Cards like Spellheart Chimera are exceptional in that their status is printed directly on the card, making it impossible to forget.


Does the wording "each land" also include Basic Lands? I have a Bountiful Harvest. It's a Sorcery that reads "You gain l life for each land you control."

Does this refer to only cards that say Land and not Basic Land, or does it count for both?

A Basic Land is still a land. Any card with "Land" in the type line is a land.

205.1. The type line is printed directly below the illustration. It contains the card's card type(s). It also contains the card's subtype(s) and supertype(s), if applicable.
205.2a The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, plane, planeswalker, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard. See section 3,"Card Types."
305.5. Land subtypes are always a single word and are listed after a long dash. Land subtypes are also called land types. Lands may have multiple subtypes. See rule 205.3i for the complete list of land types.
Example: "Basic Land — Mountain"means the card is a land with the subtype Mountain.


What HQ to take for my 1500pts codex Space Marine army list I have the following list

10-man Tactical Squad (flamer + rocket launcher) + Rhino
10-man Tactical Squad (flamer + rocket launcher) + Rhino
10-man Tactical Squad (flamer + rocket launcher)
10-man Assault Squad (Sergent has combat shield + fist)
10-man Scout Squad (Sergent has power weapon) => Outflank with lots of combat blade + shotguns
5-man shooting Terminator Squad
Dreadnought Multi-melta
Dreadnought Plasma Cannon

What HQ should I take to compliment my army list?

Currently, I am fielding

Librarian in Terminator armor (no other wargear).

The total is exactly 1500.

I am planning to fight against Chaos, Necron, lots of infantry Imperial Guard, lots of Las-cannon Blood Angel.

Captains and Masters are OK.  They are good at combat, but they don't really do anything to support the army.  They make a good second HQ choice unless you want to run bikes as troops.

Chaplains can boost a single squad, but he'll really only get one or two opportunities to earn his points.

Master of The Forge can be good, but he can get pretty expensive and never is quite as efficient as a Captain or Master.  Take him only if you want to run a list with 6 dreadnoughts.

The Librarian is the best generic HQ option for this list. Join him to the Terminator Squad and he will be protected by the independent character rules.  I'd personally just run him in power-armor to save on points, but Terminator armor with a storm shield is also a good setup.  Power-wise, I'd give him Null Zone and Gate of Infinity.  Gate will allow him to move the terminators around the board and Null Zone will help against any annoying invulnerable save death star units

If you want a good special character option to run with your list, I think Shrike would be the best fit.  Infiltrating fleeting terminators or assault squads can be lots of fun.


Can I return Verdant Eidolon with the spell I casted with? Can I return Verdant Eidolon to my hand with the muticolored spell I cast with mana from its ability? Is it in the graveyard as soon as I sacrifice it?

For example: if I sacrifice Verdant Eidolon to cast Boggart Ram-Gang, can I return it to my hand from the graveyard?

The latest possible time you can activate the Eidolon to pay for (part of) the multicoloured spell is during the process of casting that spell, right before paying for it (601.2a-i details the process of casting a spell, in order):

601.2g If the total cost includes a mana payment, the player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, “Mana Abilities”). Mana abilities must be activated before costs are paid.
601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.

(This is the reason some mana abilities, in particular random or unpredictable ones, have a restriction to only be activated whenever you could play an instant: It would be very strange to activate them at this stage, when you've revealed the card from your hand, chosen targets and modes, and then hope you can afford it.)
The trigger for a spell being cast comes later (emphasis mine):

601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then 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, they get priority.

At this stage, regardless of how you chose to activate the Eidolon, the mana ability has already been activated, paid for, and the mana received and used, so the Eidolon is in the graveyard, and it will therefore trigger.


Ticket to ride end of game dilemma At the end of a 4 player game, 3 of the players had fewer trains than spaces required to complete the smallest trip (we each had 8 trains and you needed a minimum 9 trains to complete the smallest trip available).  Only one player could continue to select train cards to reach a destination.  What happens in that scenario.  Does that player continue picking destination cards until he finds one where he could complete the trip or is the game over?

It sounds as though you have misunderstood how playing train cards to claim routes works.
On your turn, you can either draw train cards, draw destination tickets, or "claim a route". A "route" is the spaces between any 2 adjacent cities; routes are from 1 to 6 trains long. You can claim any route that is still available if you have the correct train cards to pay for it; you don't have to have a matching destination ticket or anything like that.
Importantly, you can only claim 1 route at a time, so for example you would not be able to claim Los Angeles to New York on a single turn, even if you have that destination ticket and enough train cards in your hand to play all of those trains. Instead, a single turn would be for example playing 2 green cards to claim New York to Pittsburgh, and then scoring 2 points because that's what a 2-length route is worth.
So in your example, someone with 8 train cars will always have a route they can claim. Even if they can't finish their destination ticket with only 8 trains, they can still play those trains on the board for points, 1 route at a time.
From the rules:

The object of the game is to score the highest number of total points. Points can be scored by:

Claiming a Route between two adjacent cities on the map;

A player may claim any open route on the board. He is never required to connect to any of his previously played routes. A player may only claim a maximum of one route, hence connect two adjacent cities, never more, on his turn.


Can I tap Sliver Hive to pay for Hive Stirrings? I am playing a game and have no white mana to play Hive Stirrings, but I do have a Sliver Hive under my control. Am I able to tap the Sliver Hive to play Hive Stirrings (assume I have enough mana to play Hive Stirrings)?

Would this work?

No, you cannot use the coloured mana from Sliver Hive to cast Hive Stirrings.

Sliver hive says

  Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast a Sliver spell.

But Hive Stirrings is not a Sliver spell, it is only a Sorcery. This means you cannot use the coloured mana from Sliver hive to pay for the spell.

You can use the mana from Sliver Hive to play Creature - Sliver spells, or to play tribal sliver spells. There aren't any tribal sliver spells I can see, but you could play a changeling one such as Wings of Velis Vel.


Can I summon Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon using Witch of the Black Forest's effect Just wondering if this is a legal use of the card's effects since IPPT Dragon's effect does state that when a monster on my side of field is destroyed I can special it. Considering that my card being destroyed is Witch of the Black Forest, and that the card I choose using Witch's effect is IPPT dragon, would I be able to special IPPT Dragon?
I know Witch is a banned card, this is for my own personal duels.

IPPT= Interplanetarypurplythorny

You will not be able to get the Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon from the effect of Witch of the Black Forest's and activate its effect.

This is because the last thing to happen isn't a monster being destroyed but rather a monster being added to hand.

If you already had Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon in your hand and Witch of the Black Forest is being destroyed, you still retain the priority to activate an effect after the mandatory effect of Witch of the Black Forest goes on the chain.


What version of rummy is this? I was taught this as a young child by my grandmother. It's how my family plays what we call rummy, but I cannot find anything like it online:

Two plus players (we've played up to 4), all dealt 7 cards. Deck is placed face down and one card turned up, player to the right goes first. They can either pick up the face up card or the top card from the deck, then discard a single card. Next player can either pick up the top card from the discard pile, or the entire discard pile, or a single card from the deck, then discard a single card. Play continues like this.

Players can put down runs of 3 or more and melds of 3 or more at any time during their turn. Following this, a player that has put down a run or a meld of their own can on their turn add to other players runs and melds (keeping them with their own cards, so say player one had 7, 8, 9 and 10 of hearts down... player two as long as they've also go their own run/meld placed down can put down just a jack of hearts, player one could then place down just a queen of hearts, etc.)... you can choose to put down your runs and melds immediately upon getting them or you can hold them and half the deck in your hand (if you keep picking up the discard pile) until you can go out, by having no cards left in your hand. It's up to you. You don't need to give any warnings before going out, and going out does not require discarding a card.

It seems to exactly fit the rules of the French game Rami, which must be one of the variations of the Rummy, i guess. I did not even know there were different kind of Rummy.


Do Gild's Gold tokens go into play under the caster's control? Gild says "Exile target creature. Put a colorless artifact token named Gold onto the battlefield. It has "Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."". I assume that that means that the token goes into play under your control (assuming you were the one who cast Gild) and not the person who's creature you exiled?

Yes, the token comes into play under the control of the player who played Gild. This is specified by rule 110.2a:

  If an effect instructs a player to put an object onto the battlefield, that object enters the battlefield under that player's control unless the effect states otherwise.

Gild's effect instructs you (the player who controls the spell) to put the token into play, so it comes into play under your control.

A ruling on the Gatherer page states this explicitly:

  You will control the token, no matter who controls the target creature.


Splitting Movement and Power Tokens When resolving a march order, you can split the movement of your troops into several adjacent territories, but only one of those territories may contain units of another house. Does moving into an area containing another house's power token (but none of the house's combat units) count as an act of aggression precluding you from attacking from the same territory?

For example, can Baratheon use one footman in Harrenhal to attack Lannister's footman in Stoney Sept and the other to take Blackwater, which is controlled by Lannister's power token?

Yes, this is allowed. From page 13 in the rulebook:

  If marching units enter an area containing one or more enemy units, a combat ensues (only one combat, however, may be initiated for each March Order).

So there's only a problem if you try to initiate two battles with the same marching order (which you're not permitted to do. But as described on page 24 in the rulebook:

  A Power token on the game board is returned to the Power Pool only after an opponent takes control of its area. Marching into an area containing only an opponent’s Power token (i.e., no enemy units are present) does not result in combat, and the Power token is simply discarded to the Power Pool.

No combat occurs in this instance, therefore it is an allowed action.


Does a Trumpet card count as following suit? Trumpet includes three "trumpet" cards without a suit that always trump any other card.  However, the rules aren't particularly clear on whether they are truly "wild" in the sense that they could count as a card of any suit.  In particular, if you have another card of the suit that has been led, are you allowed to play a trumpet card instead?

In most games with a trump suit, you must follow with a card of the suit that has been led, unless you are void in that suit (have no cards of that suit), at which point you may play a trump card. Given that, I would assume the rules in Trumpet are the same, and you cannot play a Trumpet unless you're void in the suit led.

This thread on BoardGameGeek agrees, so I'd say it's fairly common to play by that rule, even if the original rules are unclear.


Unbound Flourishing and Alternative costs The rulings for Unbound Flourishing state

  Spells with additional costs that include X won't be affected by Unbound Flourishing. X must be in the mana cost.

Avacyn's Judgement has a cost of {1}{R}, but has a madness cost of {X}{R}. Am I right that if I pay the madness cost, {X} will be in the mana cost and the spell will be copied? Likewise for Flashback costs and Mutate Costs.

Alternative costs such as Madness do not change the mana cost of a spell. The mana cost is not defined as the cost you paid to cast the spell; it is simply defined as the cost in the upper right of the card. Avacyn's Judgement still has a mana cost of {1}{R} even when cast for its Madness cost and Unbound Flourishing won't respond to it.

From CR 202:

  202.1 A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner.

Nothing in the rules for casting spells changes the mana cost of the spell, even when alternative costs are paid. Essentially, what you're finally pay ing when using an alternative cost is the total cost of the spell: that's defined as the mana cost or—if you elected to use one, which you did—the alternative cost, plus any cost increases/decreases.


How can I hold pieces in place between turns? Let's say you want to play a longish board game over the course of several days. For many games this is a fairly unwise idea that entails a bunch of problems. Among them: People are going to bump into the table. Cats are going to sit on the board. The pieces are going to get shifted around. How can you prevent this? How can you make those pieces stay put?

The issue arose for me because I'm designing a game intended to be played in this long-term fashion. But I think the issue has applications for lots of gamers, especially those who play with their families, partners, or housemates. So I'd like to explore options that can be applied to existing games, either by modifying the original game elements or by building a custom set with readily available materials.

This question is concerned with fixing pieces or tokens in place on a single flat board, to the exclusion of the many other complications that this style of play will create depending on the game. However, most any game played in this manner is going to involve some recordkeeping between sessions, so when you get back to the game you'll know whose turn it is or what phase you're in the middle of. You could preserve a board's state by folding it into this recordkeeping task, either by writing down all the necessary information or by taking a picture of the board so you can reconstruct it later. Besides being no fun at all, this method could be prohibitively complex for games with enough objects on the board. So this is a last resort (or, not really a solution).

There are travel editions of many games that fix pieces in place either with magnets or with friction (popping little plastic pieces into a plastic frame). I don't know how I'd create or modify a game board to use either of these methods, short of painting a Pandemic map onto a baking sheet. There might be a more practical method I haven't thought of.

The other idea that occurred to me was adhesive. For certain types of game piece, an attractive option is replacing them with tabbie-sized Post-it notes. For certain other types of game piece (like player tokens that have to be visibly unique and moved around often) sticky tabs don't work as well.

What's the best method for preserving the physical state of pieces on a game board?

Use an acrylic or polycarbonate overlay designed to fit over the game board, with fitted slots that the individual pieces fit in.

One example is an official expansion for Azul called "Crystal Mosaic."  The overlay itself is shown below:

Here is the overlay in use:

An overlay isn't going to solve every possible scenario, but in my anecdotal experience, the main thing here (which is not exclusive to long gaming sessions) is that someone accidentally jostles the board or table and pieces move.  This overlay may solve that.  Plus, it is apparently cheap enough to manufacture that the above Azul expansion is being sold for about 10 US dollars at time of writing.

This answer assumes nothing about copyrights associated with such a solution - if the plan was to market such a thing as Azul's publisher did (in 2020)


How does the double strike mechanic interact with other mechanics like lifelink or trample? I understand that the double strike mechanic allows a creature to attack in both a first strike combat damage step and a normal combat damage step.

It's clear that when a creature with no other abilities aside from double strike is blocked that even if the defender has lethal damage marked in the first strike step that the additional damage does not carry forward to the player.

How does this view of double strike change with relation to trample and lifelink?

I believe the correct interpretations are (not accounting for other effects or abilities) that 2 times the attacker's power is marked as damage on the defender.  For trample this amount is reduced by the defender's toughness and additional damage carries forward as normal.  Similarly for lifelink the active player gains life equal to 2 times the attacker's power.

Thus a 10/10 trampling double striking life linker blocked by a 1/1 creature would deal 19 points of trample damage and the active player would gain 20 life.

Is this interpretation correct?

I think the answer to this is actually not as complicated as first appears.  (I'm assuming you  aren't confused about what happens when a trampling, lifelink creature without double strike gets blocked.)  It all hinges off the following simple (ish) rule for resolving trample:

  702.18c If an attacking creature with trample is blocked, but there are no creatures blocking it when damage is assigned, all its damage
  is assigned to the player or planeswalker it's attacking.

Recall that a double striker deals damage in both the first strike combat damage step, and the normal combat damage step.  Now, it may very well be that the blocking creature was dealt lethal damage in the first strike combat damage (and some trample damage may additionally have carried over to the defending player).  In this case,  the blocker is in the graveyard by the time of the normal combat damage step, but, crucially, this doesn't mean that this damage step doesn't happen.

If the double striker didn't have trample, then the normal combat damage step would be basically irrelevant: the double striker still counts as having been blocked, and blocked creatures deal no damage to the defending player. ETA: Additionally, the dead blocker is no longer in combat to take more damage (which may be important if the attacking creature had lifelink). However, tramplers can deal damage to defending players; in fact, any amount of damage that isn't "soaked up" by a defending creature.  Which in this case is all the damage dealt in the normal combat damage step, as the defending creature isn't around to soak up anything.  As suggested by Rule 702.18c.

The lifelink is a bit of a side issue, I feel: it doesn't change anything in regards to the double strike or trample.   It just gives an equal amount of life to the creature's controller to the damage that creature deals, in either combat damage step, and whether that damage is to a blocking creature or a defending player!

So, yes, your interpretation is ultimately correct, I'd say!


What to bid in this situation (xx-Kx-AQTxx-AQxx, 1D-1S-2C-2D...)? (System: Simple SAYC) I open 1D -- Partner 1S -- I bid 2C (my holding was xx-Kx-AQTxx-AQxx) -- Partner bids 2D --
What do I bid, and why? (since I have to respond when partner keeps changing suit and no NT has been yet bid)

Your 2C was nonforcing; partner could have passed 2C but instead showed a preference for your first suit with 2D. This is to play. Depending on your responding style, partner could have as little as

KTxxx
xxxx
xx
xx

or as much as

KQxx
Qxx
Jxx
xxx

In any case, you don't have quite enough to take another bid and should pass. To bid again, you should have at least reversing strength (e.g.

Kx
Kx
AQTxx
AQxx

which in my opinion is not quite enough to make a game-forcing jump-shift after partner responds).


how to find that 8 number puzzle is solvable or not? I'm working on 8 number puzzle, where 8 numbers are randomly generated and placed in 9 cell board. One cell at bottom right corner is kept empty where we can swap with adjacent (top-bottom-left-right) cells if any available.

The puzzle can be solved if all numbers are arranged in sequence starting from top left cell.

Now after some trials, I found that some arrangements of (randomly generated) numbers in starting of the game are not solvable.

I think, after generating random numbers, we can find mathematically that random numbers can be solved after placing on board or not.

Can anybody help to find the solution/algorithm/mathematical formula to determine that numbers can be solvable or not?

This article has an extensive discussion of the solution:

http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~mdr/teaching/modules04/java2/TilesSolvability.html

The summary for the 3x3 board is:

  Lay out the board as a 9x1 row (row 1, then row 2, then row 3).  Count the number of inversions (instances of a higher number coming before a lower number on this row).  The board is solvable if and only if the number of inversions is even.

For example,

8   1   3
2       5
7   6   4

Written as a row is:

8, 1, 3, 2, , 5, 7, 6, 4

The 8 gives 7 inversions, the 1 gives none, the 3 gives 1 inversion, the 2 gives none, the 5 gives 1, the 7 gives 2, and the 6 gives 1.  This example has a total of 12 inversions, which is even, so it is solvable.


How to find people to play Magic the gathering with? I started playing Magic about six years ago, and I live in a very "Intelligence Deficient" Town. I have tried playing online and I Don't have a game shop nearby. Help me please??????

It's illegal, but you can always play for free on cockatrice or mws (never tried mws). Look the link in mtgsalvation.com forum (im typing from mobile).

You can also play on mtgo, which is legal, but i think doesn't worth it.

You can also ask your friends to play it too.

Good luck


Could B-17 bombers identify individual ships in Midway? This is a reference to the Avalon HIll Board game.

One of the possibilities offered to the American player in the game is one or two B-17 attacks a day. A die roll of five inflicts three hits on a target ship and a die roll of six inflicts five hits. (This possibility did not play a role in the historical version of the battle.)

I'm going to begin by assuming that the B-17s could identify the main Japanese ship types - battleship, aircraft carrier and cruiser - and that they would target the carriers. Even so, there were two types of heavy carriers on the first day, the two larger ones (the Akagi and the Kaga) that required five hits to sink, and the two smaller ones (Hiryu and Soryu) that required three hits to sink.

Given the opportunity, an aggressive player might target the two heavier carriers and hope to roll sixes, while a conservative player might target the two smaller ones, succeeding with either a 5 or 6.

The Q &A of the (1960) rules of the game state that ship ID from search planes (and by implication B-17s) was not sufficiently accurate in 1942 for a long range bomber to make this kind of identification, "even identification of ship types was often erroneous. " But planes attacking at close range could (usually) identify individual ships. Which is why the defending player places his ships face up.

Should the rules allow the targeting described in the previous paragraph, as they seem to?

Or does it make sense to institute a rule change/house rule so that the Japanese player would turn over his four carrier counters face down and force the American player to choose his targets at random when using B-17s? Would such a rule change reconcile the game play with the Q&A text?

Attacking B-17s would have a better view than reconnaissance planes and would be able to id a carrier by class...
Dedicated reconnaissance aircraft (as opposed to fighter patrols) would fly at very high altitudes and typically would avoid overflying large formations of enemy ships. First it was dangerous and second, they did not want the enemy ships to know they had been spotted. At high altitude and at oblique angles, identifying a carrier by its class while maintaining a specified distance might well have been impossible in some circumstances, even with binoculars.
B-17 bombers also flew and attacked at high altitudes, but by necessity they would have to directly overfly any ships they wanted to bomb, and the bombardier would be looking at the vessels through a bombsight providing some magnification. It is likely that the B-17s crew, especially the bombardier, would be able to identify a Japanese carrier by class.
That being said, other factors such as ship positioning, ship maneuvering, and defensive fire could make it difficult for the planes to launch an attack against the carrier of choice. The one B-17 attack that I know occurred against a carrier at Midway was against the Hiryu (you can see a photo of the bomb pattern on the Battle of Midway Wikipedia page. It shows you the resolution the bombardier would have had, which was easily enough to id the carrier by class). Whether that B-17 was after the Hiryu or would have preferred one of the larger carriers, I do not know.
In short, the game's mechanic for B-17 and reconnaissance plane identification and B-17 choice of attack isn't that unrealistic.
...but B-17s were poor in the naval attack role in 1942
The problem that the Army and Navy encountered was that although B-17s could bomb from altitudes at which many Japanese fighters could not even reach them, they were woefully inaccurate from the high altitudes that doctrine dictated they fly at high altitudes (c. 25,000 feet) while bombing and without the Norden bombsights they would have later in the war. The early estimates for the B-17 in a naval attack role was that about 1% of their bombs hit. This is due in large part to the difficulty of dropping bombs from 25,000 feet at a target that is both moving and maneuvering. The B-17s at Midway were completely ineffective. You'll note that the previously mentioned photo on Wikipedia shows a miss by more than the length of the ship.
Later in the war, with better bombsights and a change in doctrine to allow lower altitude bombing runs, B-17s were more effective in the Pacific, though they were never deployed to that theater in very large numbers.
So as far as B-17 attack rules go (which I realize is getting beyond the scope of the question), any game mechanic that assigns them a decent chance of hitting a ship in 1942 is not realistic, and if the mechanics give the B-17 an equal or close-to equal chance to hit as a dive bomber or torpedo bomber, then the rules are wildly unrealistic.


How can one use the "Guest Option" in Rankade? Just discovered Rankade (in a comment here somewhere) and still learning the ropes...

I've read about the Guest option in the FAQ but can't find a way to add one to a match...
Is it a particular type of ghost player?
What if the guest finally end up being a regular member? Can he be upgraded like a ghost player?

Thanks!

Got the answer directly from the Rankade team:

  You can add a new player during the faction step. Just type their email, and
  then choose if you want them to be a 'member' or a 'guest'. Guest user
  cannot access group data and is not listed in the rankings.
  You can 'upgrade' a guest by reinserting them in another match and calling
  him 'member'. Ghosts are users that are not linked to an email address.
  They're managed by the group's admin.
  A Guest user is not listed in the rankings, but he has his (hidden) ranking, indeed. So, yes, the guest "changes the ranks even if he isn't ranked himself" [it's a quote from the question], and you have to insert the actual order (ree calculations depend on all standings, so you need to correctly enter the full results, not just the winner).
  We recommend the use of actual users, because some features (matchup
  stats and more) are not available for guest and ghosts.


How do the Investigators Collectively Decide? So in Arkham Horror, we're playing with the "Lurker on the Threshold" expansion.  It introduces the idea of 'pacts'.  When these pacts are received, cards from the 'reckoning' deck are resolved.  We pulled a card in the middle of a game with the title "Prisoner's Dilemma":

The investigators must choose: either the investigator with the most
Power is devoured, or the investigator with the least Power is driven
insane.
Card Info

Nowhere in the rules does it specify how that choice is arrived at.  The pluralization of 'investigators' suggests that it is not up to the First Player, but how is this meant to be resolved?  In our game, we deadlocked on the issue for a time, as there was fierce and spirited debate over the best course of action.  We eventually settled it with a roll-off, but how should this be resolved?  Specific citations of applicable rules would be highly appreciated, as various theories were bandied about throughout the remainder of the night to the vague dissatisfaction of all.

"If players cannot agree, then the first player chooses" ...

(It reads something to that effect, though I could only locate it in the Headless Hollow version of the rules on short notice)


Order of multiple triggered abilities What happens if two of my creatures, have triggered abilities, which trigger on attack, in what order it resolves?

For example I have on board Prognostic Sphinx and Narset, Enlightened Master, and attack with both. Can I scry first put something on the bottom of my library and then exile 3 cards from top of my library, or it resolves at the same time so I scry 3 cards and same 3 cards + 1 additional are exiled?

This is the general rule: when the same event triggers multiple triggered abilities, the controllers of the abilities decide what order to place them on the stack, in APNAP (active player first, then non-active player) order (rule 603.3b).

In your example, you get to choose. If you put the Sphinx's ability on the stack first, then Narset's resolves first, so you exile the top four cards, then scry the next three. If you put Narset's ability on the stack first, you scry 3 first (which will set up better cards for Narset), and then exile. In most situations you would want to put Narset's ability on the stack first.

Note that what you describe as resolving "at the same time" never happens in Magic. Spells and abilities are always on the stack in some order, and they always resolve in that order.

To extend the example, if your opponent controlled a Blood Reckoning, no matter what order you placed your two triggered abilities on the stack, your opponent (the non-active player) would place two triggered abilities from the enchantment (one for each attacking creature) on top of them, and they would always resolve before your abilities. If you had a life total of two when you attacked, even if you knew that you would be able to cast a lifegain spell for free off of the cards Narset exiled, you would still lose life from Blood Reckoning -- and lose the game -- before Narset's ability resolved.


Tsumego only solvable under NZ rules? The most significant difference between the New Zealand rules and the other rules for Go is that suicide is not forbidden.  In most cases, the only time this can come in handy is that you can suicide for an extra ko threat.  However, are there any instances where suicide can make the difference between life and death of a group?

Yes, there are many examples if you look up a go "bestiary" (=

One such position:

$$B Status?
$$ -----------------
$$ | O O X . O X . .
$$ | O . X . O X . .
$$ | X X X O O X . .
$$ | . . O , O X . .
$$ | O O O O O X . .
$$ | X X X X X X . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .

If it is Japanese, Chinese, or AGA rules (basically anything without suicide), then white is dead. Black can fill all the inner liberties then capture the 3 stones like this:

$$B Death for W -2,4,6 = Pass
$$ -----------------
$$ | O O X 1 O X . .
$$ | O 7 X 3 O X . .
$$ | X X X O O X . .
$$ | . 5 O , O X . .
$$ | O O O O O X . .
$$ | X X X X X X . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .

After capturing black has 3 liberties to white's 1.

If you are playing NZ rules however, the status totally changes:

$$B W is alive! W2 is a suicide play at 'a'
$$ -----------------
$$ | . 6 X 1 O X . .
$$ | 4 a X 3 O X . .
$$ | X X X O O X . .
$$ | . 5 O , O X . .
$$ | O O O O O X . .
$$ | X X X X X X . .
$$ | . . . . . . . .

Play up through W6 is seki. By being able to make a suicide move, white can make an eye inside and black does not have access to these extra liberties.  If black makes a move inside his own big eye space (playing at 5 at 6 for instance), he will not have enough liberties to win the capturing race, it will become an eye vs. eye seki.

The amusing this about this position is that no matter who plays first in either instance, the status will not change, it may be left as is until the scoring phase of the game*.
Whether white is scored as unconditionally alive or unconditionally dead will vary with ruleset, even though the position is identical.

*Clarification - Under NZ rules, black may wish to play out this sequence as ko threats, however the status of the group will not change based on who plays first.  Under non-suicide rulesets white does not even have ko threats.


Does Spy Kit have any use outside of a Conspiracy Draft? Both flavor-wise and mechanically, Spy Kit is designed to work with hidden agendas from Conspiracy such as Adriana's Valor.  You can use Spy Kit outside a Conspiracy Draft, but you can't use the eponymous conspiracy card types.

The obvious thing to do with it would have been to create legendary name conflicts via Leyline of Singularity, but the legend rule is now player specific, and spy kit is an equipment, so you can't equip it to an opponent's creature (easily).

Given all that, can you do anything with Spy Kit outside of a Conspiracy Draft?

There are two general categories of things you can do with it.

First, you can use it to power up cards that look for other permanents with a particular name.  Biovisionary is probably the strongest example here.  Here are a few more examples: Cleric of the Forward Order, Shadowborn Apostle, and Urborg Panther.

Second, you can use it to exploit cards that care about things with the "same name".  This works because Conspiracy: Take the Crown added the following rule to Magic:

  201.2b If an object has more than one name, it has the same name as another object if there are one or more names that both objects have in common.

The best use of this I can think of is to get Spy Kit on an opponent's non-black creature (such as via Donate or Act of Treason) and then target that creature with Eradicate, which will exile all non-legendary creatures from their hand, library, and graveyard, which is absolutely devastating to many decks.  You can also use this for slightly less grand effects, such as exiling all non-legendary non-token creatures with Detention Sphere or bouncing them with Echoing Truth.  If all your creatures are legendary, these can be pretty one-sided; you trade one creature (equipped with Spy Kit) for a bunch of theirs.


How many actions can you take per turn? In Settlers of Catan can you conduct multiple transactions on your turn?

You roll, collect your resource cards, and then:

Can you build a road and a settlement?
Can you build a road and do a trade with another opponent?
Can you do a trade and buy a resource card?

We have been playing one transaction per turn but not sure what the rules are pertaining to this.

Yes, from the turn overview of the game rules:

  You may build as long as your resource supply allows for it.

Also, the Combined Trade/Build Phase section of the Almanac states that

  After rolling for resource production, you can trade and build in any order. Naturally, you can trade, build, trade again and build again.

You are restricted to playing only one Development Card, however, and you cannot play a Development Card that you bought on your current turn.


Can House Arryn be used under the rules of the base game? In the Feast for Crows expansion a new house (House Arryn) was introduced along with a new set of rules for a 4 player game that changed the way you scored victory points. Is it possible to use House Arryn (i.e. the cards and unit setup) with the normal Game of Thrones rules, or perhaps with the Dance of the Dragons expansion cards and setup? This could lead to some new ways to play 5/6 player games. Has anyone tried it or thought about it?

Pypok made objective cards to play 6 player feast of crows style game of thrones:

http://enter-there.com/expansions/dance-with-dragons/


Would I level up if I "automatically defeated" a monster but someone wandered in a monster that killed me afterwards? This question arises when we saw this in the FAQ:

Q. I used an ability to automatically kill a monster. Another player used Wandering Monster to add a monster to the fight, and then played Transferal Potion to move the monster to himself. He beat it. Who gets the level and Treasures for the monster I killed?
A. You do; you killed it. (This has been ruled different ways at different times, but we got a ruling directly from Steve, so it trumps everything else.) You get your level and Treasures after the whole combat is resolved.

Say for example in Zombies, Player A was a Level 9 Atomic Zombie (and therefore had flaming hands). He kicks open the door to find a Mascot which he automatically defeats with fire. Someone wanders in an Action Hero, which for the sake of argument ultimately kills Player A.
Would the combat resolve as "Player A goes up to Level 10 and then gets killed." or "Player A gets killed and doesn't level up." because of the "after the WHOLE combat is resolved" clause?

The Mascot is defeated, but Player A must defeat (but not necessarily kill) the wandering monster before being awarded levels or treasure (or the win).

Basically, the rules state that after you kick open a door, you give a "reasonable time" to allow other players to intervene.

In the FAQ, the following Q/A answers your question:

  Q. Does the "reasonable time rule" apply to defeating a monster
  without killing it, or just to killing it?
  A. Any sort of defeat. If
  you defeat it without killing it, other players still have a
  reasonable time to play an applicable card to frustrate you. However,
  if you removed the only monster from the fight (with Magic Lamp, for
  instance), they cannot play Monster Enhancers or other similar cards
  that affect a specific monster, because there isn't one there to
  fight, and they can't use any special rules for bringing in monsters
  (such as the Shark rules from Munchkin Booty) that depend on having a
  monster in the fight. They can play Wandering Monster to bring in an
  entirely new monster, though, but they must do it at once.

Basically, any ability that will auto-defeat the door mob still grants your opponents a "reasonable time" to respond, in which they can Wander in any monster they choose, which you have to fight just the additional monster.

Per this Super Moderator in the MunchkinForums:

  Automatically defeating a Monster removes the Monster. Cards that rely
  on a Monster can't be played, but that doesn't mean that combat is
  over UNLESS the card that automatically defeated the Monster says
  otherwise. This is a situation where cards could be played, but not
  those that affected a non-existent Monster.

As far as why your other outcome couldn't happen, "Player A goes up to Level 10 and then gets killed":

Per the Munchkin Zombies ruleset:

  You cannot collect rewards for defeating a monster (e.g., Treasure, levels) in the middle of a combat. You must finish the fight before gaining any rewards.

And finally, this gets spelled out in the FAQ, Important Note #3:

  "Killed" means that you defeated the monster with your Level and
  bonuses in combat, or used some card or special ability that
  specifically states that it kills the monster. For this, you get
  levels and Treasure. Some Monsters say that they can be defeated
  immediately, based on circumstances. Unless the card says otherwise,
  this usually means an instant kill of the Monster, so you would get
  levels and Treasure in those situations, too. However, even in a case
  where a single monster is instantly defeated, other players get a
  chance to play Wandering Monster to add a new foe that you must defeat
  before claiming the spoils.

TLDR; defeating (or auto-defeating) a monster does not end combat; the monster is removed, but other players have a "reasonable time" to play any such as wandering monster--if done at once.

Should all additional monsters be defeated (or lamped, etc.), combat is then resolved and you can claim victory with the kill granted by your auto-defeated monster.


Two person wooden peg board game? What is the name of this game?  Board is a one-piece solid oak plank (approximately 7-3/4 inch by 13-3/4 inch) with 247 holes in three areas.  Appears that each player begins with 39 black or white pegs parked in separate and opposite "home" areas (each home area is 13 by 3 rows).  Playing area consists of a central 13 by 13 grid of holes.  I presume that pegs are moved from home area to playing area in turns.  I have the game but no idea of the name or rules.  I understand that this game was a favorite in "Games Magazine" in the mid-1980s.  Well made board and wooden dowel pegs.  No box (not sure there ever was one) or instructions.  Does this ring a bell with anyone?

It could be a travel variant on a Go board. If you're not familiar with Go, it's an ancient game played by two players, usually played with white and black stones. While the standard size of a Go board is 19x19 lines, 13x13 is a common "beginner" variant.

The main objection to this theory is the number of stones: you usually have enough to cover the whole board between the two players, so I would have expected 84 black pegs and 85 white ones.


Hexproof vs enchantment affecting all creatures My opponent controls Plated Crusher, a 7/6 hexproof creature. I control two Dampening Pulses, which give opponents' creatures -1/-0. Would Dampening Pulse affect the hexproof creature? I think it would because it's not directly targeting the hexproof creature.

Yes, Dampening Pulse will affect creatures your opponents control that have Hexproof. The entire relevant part of the definition of Hexproof (rule 702.11b) is

  “Hexproof” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.”

Then, rule 114.9a says

  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.

Dampening Pulse doesn't use the word "target" and it doesn't have any keyword abilities (targeted or otherwise), so Hexproof doesn't affect it.


What Mahjong set of rules can be recommended to beginners? I play Mahjong with friends every now and then, using a set of rules that we sort of invented along the way: we knew the basics, but had no internet connection for one summer and played with what made the most sense. Now, we'd like to settle on established rules, but there are so many of them... I'd like to have rules that are:

stable (no changing every year like American Mahjong)
uses a 14-tiles hand, 4 winds, 3 dragons, flowers and seasons, no jokers
scoring doesn't have to be zero-sum operation (we don't play money)

This set of rules for Chinese Mahjong might be a little terse, but are essentially the rules I have always played with.   The last chart gives a nice limited set of honor hands too.


In Flash Point: Fire Rescue can you "pick up" a victim marker with the Ambulance by driving past it? Quite often while playing Flash Point: Fire Rescue my wife and I end up carrying a victim from the building through an exterior wall that has been destroyed. We know an ambulance can only drive to certain parking spots. If a victim is outside of the building, can we "pick up" that victim with the ambulance as we drive past it?

You cannot

The rules say that:

  In the Experienced game Victims must be carried to the Ambulance to be Rescued

And

  Vehicles may be driven by
  the Firefighters, but only to their respective parking spot

So an Ambulance can only be in a parking spot and you have to carry victims to the Ambulance. You need to bring the victims to the parking spot.


How much damage do my other Goblins deal if my Goblin Chieftain dies during the first strike step? I was playing against my son tonight and an issue came up that we disagreed on. We looked in the rules, but that just made things murkier for us.

I attacked with Goblin Chieftain (2/2), Goblin Fireslinger (1/1) and Blisterstick Shaman (2/1). My Goblin Chieftain gave +1/+1 to the other two creatures.

My son chose to defend with Elite Inquisitor (2/2 with First Strike) and block the Chieftain.

So, the question is, do my two remaining creatures deal 3 damage to him or 5?

My son argues that since the Chieftain died, the other two creatures no longer have the +1/+1 effect. I thought that damage in battle was resolved before that would happen.

First of all, Goblin Chieftain does not give any kind of counters.  It just modifies the P/T of goblins while it is on the battlefield.

Secondly, First Strike creates two combat damage steps.  One in which only Elite Inquisitor (and any other potential First Striker) deals it's combat damage.  In your scenario, this will kill the Goblin Chieftain.  In the second combat damage step, non-First Strike creatures deal their damage.  Since the Chieftain is no longer there, they do not get the +1/+1.

You will deal 3 damage.

  702.4b/702.7b If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step.


Do I or my planeswalker need to take damage for Blood Reckoning to trigger? If I have Blood Reckoning on the battlefield and an opponent targets me or my planeswalker with his creatures, but I block the full attack with my creatures, does this still activate? Or do I or my planeswalker need to take damage from the creatures for this card to take effect?

Also, if my opponent attacks with multiple creatures does this card activate per creature?

Short answer: all your opponent has to do is declare attackers. As soon as they do that, they lose the life. Blocking and dealing damage come later. And yes, it triggers separately for each creature your opponent attacks with.

Longer answer: You're confusing terminology a bit here. "Target" has a specific meaning (spells and abilities can have targets), and attacking with creatures doesn't target. "Attack", as in "Whenever a creature attacks you" also has a specific meaning - it means in the declare attackers step, that creature is declared as an attacker*. Blood Reckoning's triggered ability sees that happen, triggers, goes on the stack, then resolves, causing your opponent to lose life. All of this happens before going on to the next step, declaring blockers.

For reference, the steps of the combat phase are beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, assign damage, and end of combat. (Often nothing happens in the beginning and end steps.) The sequence of combat steps is summarized in the basic rulebook, and there's a great detailed walkthrough of combat (and all the details you could want to know about assigning damage) about halfway through this article. (The article's actually about rule changes from Magic 2010, so there's a bit of "this is the new way", but it's a good walkthrough nonetheless.)

As for the per-attacker triggering, there's not much to say - triggered abilities just trigger for every bit of the game that matches their trigger condition. Blood Reckoning cares about "a creature is declared as an attacker" so if there are five of those, there are five triggers. Note though that this is helpfully mentioned in the rulings at the bottom of the card's Gatherer page!

* As pointed out in the comments, "a creature is declared as an attacker" is different from "a creature on the battlefield is attacking". There are cards like Geist of Saint Traft which put a token creature onto the battlefield already attacking. That creature was never declared as an attacker, so it doesn't trigger abilities like Blood Reckoning's.


About Farkle Threshold Score What is the threshold score you would require yourself to have in order to bank with three,four,five dice left? Assume you are trying to maximize the expected value of this one turn (so ignore things like how many points you or your opponents need to win).
Rules

Here's an analysis of the game of Zilch, whose scoring only differs slightly compared to the scoring you've given:

Three pairs scores 1,500 instead of 750.
You may score 500 points if you roll all 6 dice and have no other scoring combinations
Multiples of the same dice score 100*n^(x-2) instead of 100*n*(x-2), where n is the value of the die and x is the number of dice in the combination.  I.e. 4 twos would score 800 instead of 600, 5 twos would score 1600 instead of 800, etc.
Scoring a "Zilch" (a score of zero) in three consecutive rounds costs 500 points.

The first three rule differences will slightly increase the expected value of a roll.  The fourth rule difference can be ignored by only following the Zilch strategy when you have zero Zilches.


Avalon Hill Gladiator Recently got my hands on this old gem, but the rules are a bit vague on some points.

When doing the defence action, do I defend only that combat phase or all of them?
Do I need to specify what area I defend?
How does shield damage work?

(Note: I'm using the fan-revised and clarified rules. If you feel these answers contradict official rules, please update your question with quotes from the appropriate sections of the rules.)

Just that phase. When doing special defense actions (Duck, Block, etc.), record the defense letter "during the Combat Allocation Step". Quoted bit implies that it's for that phase, since you do this each phase: "Each combat phase, gladiators allocate their CF for attack, defense, net attacks and escape"
You allocate CFs for attacks and defenses to specific body areas, yes. And then: "ATTACK RESOLUTION: Conduct each attack by declaring the target body area and the attack CF allocated, then subtract any defense CF allocated to the same body area."
From the Shield Damage section (12) :

  When a gladiator suffers a shield hit (’S’ or ’S*’) from a
  non-net attack [see 9.6], add the Combat roll WHITE dice
  (2D6), the attacker’s ST, and the modified CF (+1 DRM for
  an ’S*’ result) for possible shield damage.
  NOTE: CF gained from a Weakened Defender do not modify shield
  damage rolls [see 9.4.7].
  12.2.1 Compare the result to the shield’s damage points
  (highest unchecked box) on the Shield Damage display [see
  3.14]. If the result is < the shield’s damage points, check
  off a number of shield boxes (right to left) equal to the
  shield damage result, minus the shield’s damage points [see
  3.18].
  12.2.2 If the shield edge (‘S*’) was hit [see 9.6], also add the
  Combat roll WHITE & BLACK dice (3D6) for shield drop.
  12.3 When the last shield damage point is checked off, the
  shield is battered useless, and must be discarded [see 13.1].
  12.3.1 If a ’P’ or ’H’ shield damage box is checked off, the
  defender suffers the appropriate CRT result [see 9.6].


How does the Prestige Leader mechanic work? I just got the Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War expansion and it adds Prestige mechanics to the game. Those I understand. The Prestige Leader mechanic, however, I don't understand and the rulebook isn't too clear. Why is it there? How does it work?

The instructions in the rules are pretty clear if you read them and follow them directly. If it helps, it pretty much boils down to:

if there's a single prestige leader, and they gained prestige last turn as they became prestige leader or afterwards, they get 1VP and 1 card
if there's a single prestige leader, but they only gained prestige on earlier turns, they get 1VP
if there's a tie for prestige leader, all tied players get 1VP

In practice, the condition for getting 1VP and 1 card (the first bullet point) is pretty much always equivalent to whether the sole prestige leader gained prestige on the previous turn. The only time it's not is if, say, they became prestige leader during Develop, they lost it/became tied during Settle, and they became sole leader again during Consume; that's of course quite rare.

In order to remind yourself of all this, you pass around the prestige leader token. Whenever there's a single leader, they get that token, and they put any prestige they gain on it as a reminder that next turn they'll get 1VP and 1 card. When they get that bonus, they take their prestige back as a reminder that next turn they'll just get the 1VP. When there's a tie, you flip it over to the tie side, and the former leader takes back their prestige, as a reminder that it'll just be the 1VP bonus next turn.

And... the point of this is to provide small ongoing rewards for prestige! In some cases, it's even enough to make prestige a good overall plan for your game.


Choosing early round paintings to auction in Modern Art One game that still leaves me stumped for good strategy is Reiner Knizia's auction game Modern Art.  The last time it hit our table, I noticed that when it was my turn to auction a painting early in the round, I had no clue which of my paintings to select first.

Do you play cards of an artist that you have fewer of (hoping someone will buy it because they have some to sell as well), or one you have a lot of (and run the risk that nobody else is interested in it)?
How much is the artist tiebreak worth thinking about?  If all else is equal, sure, play a Lite Metal over a Krypto, but is it more important than that?
What kind of auction do you play?  I would think that an open auction would generate the most interest, but is that the case, and is it worth worrying about?
Do you play a double painting to saturate the market, or do you hold out and try to cash the double in later, hopefully as the third and fourth painting of the round?
In later rounds, how much do the carryover values from the previous rounds matter?  Sure, they are worth more, but conversely there are less of them left to sell and people may not be interested anymore?

Does anyone have a better feel for this game, and can provide some insight?  I'd love to have a couple rules of thumb ready for when I play this game next.

There are no hard and fast rules about Modern Art, as so much depends on the mentality of the fellow players.  However, general rules of psychology, bidding games, and trading can help.

To start with consider these things:

1) The threat of being out-bid is more powerful than outbidding someone.  This means you always want to have more money than your fellow players.  Too often newer players will buy up paintings that will score early, then allow the remaining players to get the same artists at lower prices (since they're out of money).  Try playing with losing every auction first round, to see how it feels to be really rich.  With this strategy, you'll want to end round one as quickly as possible.

2) Don't overpay.  It sounds simple, but there's an opportunity cost (to buy something else) whenever you buy something.  Here's some math to estimate prices.  In an optimal game, every round consists of 3 artists only in proportions of 5/4/4 (=13) with an aggregate 'price' of 5*30 + 4*20 + 4*10 = 270 / 13 = ~20.  This means all things equal, don't pay more than 20 for a card, first round.

3) Keep track of # of remaining artist cards!  This is a game of psychology.  It's important to know what your opponents are likely to have in the their hand.  Likewise, keep track of your opponent's play styles over rounds or multiple games.

4) Tips on auctions:

In Free Auctions, psychology tells us that players tend to overbid.  This is due to 'loss aversion' and the mistaken belief that you're denying an opponent something he wants.  Try to bid up your opponent, if you have the guts, to make him outbid you and pay too much.
In one-round auctions, you have the advantage as the auctioneer if and only if you have a big pile of cash (see #1 above).  If the last player bids too high, let him have it, else take it for yourself.
In secret auctions, players are trying to read each other, and tend to overbid because they think that adding 'just a few extra' will win them the auction.  Try lowballing these auctions just in case someone gives up with nothing (bidding nothing is a terrible idea)
The fixed price auction is your best opportunity to play strategically.  Only play one of these when you know an opponent will overpay.  No one will let you buy it too low, so never offer these under-value (unless you have ALL the money).
The dual auctions are wonderful ways to grab art.  Try using it only late in the round with the one-round auction.  If you have a pile of cash no doubt this is an opportunity to get a lot cheap, or get a pile of money for next round.

To answer your specific bullet points:

As for which artist to play, you want to 'team-up' with a specific other player.  A win for you and one other player means a relative gain against two other players (assuming a 4 player game).  Concurrently, this means that you play cards already in play and hoard artists that haven't been seen yet (they will later).
The artist tie-break is game balance, but doesn't quite fully balance things.  The artists with the more cards are therefore slightly more valuable.
Play most auctions to well-below value, and play the one-rounds to win as auctioneer.
Doubles are more powerful later in the rounds, but only if you have a cash advantage.
4 rounds * 3 winners per round / 5 artists = 2.4   So, each artist, on average places 2-3 times a game.  That's quite significant.  Keep track of the artist and place: if the 12-card artist places first, forget about him scoring the rest of the game, but if the 16-card artist places 2nd or 3rd, that's a good bet to try to win in subsequent rounds.

Hope that helps!


Pieceworker and Landing Net This came up in an online game I was playing yesterday and I wasn't confident in what would happen...

I have the Pieceworker Occupation:

Whenever you receive wood, clay, reed, stone or grain on an action space, you can buy one more of the same good for 1 food...

as well as the Landing Net Minor Improvement:

Whenever you receive reed on an action space, you receive an additional 2 food...

Suppose I have no food  in my supply and take the Reed action space. Can I use the additional 2 food gained with the Landing Net to buy an additional Reed with the Pieceworker?

From the compendium

  The Pieceworker is used before other cards, so you cannot convert goods that your receive from an occupation or improvement


In EDH/Commander, what is the 'color identity' of a double-faced card? The official deck construction rules for Commander (nee EDH) at http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php say that 'A card's colour identity is its colour plus the colour of any mana symbols in the card's rules text.'  How does this apply to dual-faced cards with faces of different colors, such as Civilized Scholar / Homicidal Brute out of Innistrad or Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound from Dark Ascension, where the color of the transformed face of the card is different from the color of the 'main face'?  The spirit of the rules would seem to suggest that these cards are the colors of both faces for deck construction purposes, but not only are these spells always cast as the front face, the front face is the only one 'seen' in other game zones: for instance, when the card's in the library, you could find Elbrus by searching your library for an artifact, but you couldn't find Withengar Unbound by searching your library for a creature card.  Could Elbrus then, for instance, be played in any Commander deck, or just one with a (partly) Black general?

Yes, both sides of DFC count towards its color identity.

903.4c The back face of a double-faced card (see rule 711) is included when determining a card's color identity.
Example: Civilized Scholar is the front face of a double-faced card with mana cost
{2}{U}. Homicidal Brute is the back face of that double-faced card and has a red color
indicator. The card's color identity is blue and red.

So, Elbrus can only be used in a Commander deck where Black is part of your Commander's color identity.


Table-top Golf game with coins? About twenty years ago I saw this game board. It was huge, the size of a table. Made of wood. And on it was an 18-hole golf course, complete with pegs and barriers for hazards.

You played with coins (or at least, when I saw it people were using coins). Using your thumb, you'd slide a quarter or penny or nickel, whatever you had presumably, and you'd bounce it off the sides of the board and the barriers and pegs, hoping to get it in the next hole. Each hole was an indented circle drilled out of the wood and was numbered.

Players took turns, and could hit each others coins out of the way.

I've been looking to find it again for ages without any luck. As big as it was, it was probably expensive and produced in a limited quantity. I've search the net for penny golf, quarter golf, coin golf, for years with no luck. Now that I see a board/card game section of stackexchange, I though I'd give it another shot.

Anyone heard of this?

Thanks!

I originally posted this question as a guest and am unable to select an answer, however, thanks to everyone who posted here, I have my answer and I'd like to share a little information with you all on the topic.

World Wide Games of Colchester originally made the game. It was indeed called "Fore Par", and it included wooden pucks with little rubber rings on the outside of them to help them bounce. It was a large, plain wooden board (the exact dimensions of which I am still trying to pin down) with pegs and recessed "holes". At one time, the game sold brand new for $158.50. Here is an archived article from the NY Times that mentions the company and the game and cost, as well as other games made by WWG:  http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/12/nyregion/from-adi-to-skittles-to-yoot-making-fun.html

In some instances, Fore Par was included in a "cabinet" set of games you could purchase from World Wide Games.

World Wide Games was eventually purchased by S&S Worldwide. Sometime later, SSW would build a similar game known as "Bumper Golf". I didn't recognize the game because of the graphics and I thought for sure they weren't the same game (since it didn't use coins), but since I found a picture of the original Fore Par, I've been corrected. In fact, looking closely at both of them side by side, you can see that the layouts are EXACTLY the same, the only difference being the starting point for the 4th hole is shifted slightly to a different position. (See photo).

I wish I knew a little more history about the original Fore Par game, and a history of the company World Wide Games. Seems they cared about making a quality product that was used by many educational institutions (schools, YMCA's, etc). It makes perfect sense that I originally played this game as a child at my elementary school.

At my school, the wooden pieces were long gone, and the board had been played with coins for many years. So long that years of coin-impacts had worn away at the wooden sides and hazards at the best places to bounce the pieces.


How does Swindler interact with Spoils (or other cards not in supply)? The Swindler card says:

  Each other player trashes top card of his deck and gains a card with the same cost that you choose.

We've encountered a situation when Swindler stumbled upon Spoils card, which is not in the supply, and hence does not have a cost defined. What is to be done then? The owner of the Swindler would of course be happy to give Ruins to the affected player instead, but I am not quite sure what the right way to resolve this is.

The cost of Spoils is 0. When you 'gain(s)' a card, unless it specifically names a card not in the supply, you can only choose for cards from the supply.

Copper, Curse, and Ruins (when playing with them) are in the supply and cost 0. Making all valid choices for cards that can be gained when Swindler trashes Spoils.

http://wiki.dominionstrategy.com/index.php/Cost

  Every card in Dominion has a cost indicated in its lower left corner.

  A few costs are listed with asterisks: 0* is used on
  several cards that can be gained from outside the Supply; the asterisk
  serves to remind players that they cannot actually be bought for
  0