Is there a card that makes an enemy play my spell? I'm an amateur player in Magic: The Gathering (Modern format) and I was looking for a card that makes an enemy play a spell from my hand.
For example if I had a "Discard your hand" card I could make him play that as if it was him (making him pay the mana cost or not).

I'm aware Hive Mind enchantement exists; are there any other cards with a similar effect?

Thank you

Hive Mind is definitely the simplest. Apart from that, there are other ways but they're a lot more convoluted. Things like:

Put your One with Nothing on an Isochron Scepter. Donate the scepter, then Mindslaver your opponent and make them cast it.
Put One with Nothing on top of your library (perhaps with Brainstorm or Insidious Dreams), then cast Knowledge Pool. Then use Mindslaver and have them cast any spell, and choose to turn it into One with Nothing.

There are a couple of other ways that are just as complicated.


Does Keep score points when another Keep is completed? In Carcassonne Bridges, Castles, and Bazaars expansion you may build a keep on a completed 2-tile city and it will score points once other features are completed in its vicinity. What if the other feature is also a keep? Does it score as a 2-point city, or does it not count?

If a Keep is built next to another Keep, neither are completed as a city. The next feature that's scored next to either of them, though, will trigger both. First the Keep that's next to the feature, and then the other Keep that's adjacent to the now-finished Keep.


Is it legal to pick up cars from a previously claimed route and replay them elsewhere? On two occasions, I have been one train car short of claiming a route. I would like to pickup cars from routes I've already claimed, and replay them elsewhere.

Early in the game, those routes had been blocked. Later in the game, I had the tickets to claim a new route, but not the train cars. While removing the cards would cause a loss of the points for that route, being able to pick a larger route later in the game, or complete a Route, would provide a net gain of points.

Since there isn't a rule in the Rule book saying that I can or can't remove train cars from a claimed route, can the Internet settle this?

You cannot pick up cars from a previously claimed route in order to claim a new route. Resource management is one of of the control factors of the game; you only get 45 cars to achieve your routes. The game meets its ending condition when a player has 2 or fewer train cars remaining.

Review the rules for the game. They are written from a permissive stance, instead of a restrictive stance. For instance, the actions you can take on your turn:

  Draw Train Car Cards – The player may draw 2 Train Car cards. He may take any one of the face-up cards or he may draw the top card from the deck (this is a blind draw). If he draws a face up card, he immediately turns a replacement card face-up from the deck. He then draws his second card, either from the face up cards or from the top of the deck. (See Train Car Cards for special rules for Locomotive cards).

  Claim a Route – The player may claim a route on the board by playing a set of Train Car cards that match the color and length of the route and
  then placing one of his colored trains on each space of this route. He then records his score by moving his Scoring Marker the appropriate number
  of spaces (see Route Scoring Table) along the Scoring Track on the board.

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

The text is filled with "may" statement qualifiers. From that, if the rule book doesn't say you can take an action, you can't take that action.


Planeswalkers and Summoning Sickness When I play a planeswalker, I know there is no summoning sickness. So, does that mean that I can increment or decrement its loyalty counter and use its abilities right after I play it since there is no summoning sickness?

A planeswalker can use it's loyalty abilities the turn it enters the battlefield.  The rules on "summoning sickness" only apply to creatures:

  302.6. A creature's activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can't be activated unless the creature
  has been under its controller's control continuously since their most
  recent turn began. A creature can't attack unless it has been under
  its controller's control continuously since their most recent turn
  began. This rule is informally called the "summoning sickness" rule.

The only restrictions on loyalty abilities are that they are sorcery speed and you haven't used a loyalty ability on that planeswalker already this turn:

  306.5d Each planeswalker has a number of loyalty abilities, which are activated abilities with loyalty symbols in their costs. Loyalty
  abilities follow special rules: A player may activate a loyalty
  ability of a permanent they control any time they have priority and
  the stack is empty during a main phase of their turn, but only if none
  of that permanent's loyalty abilities have been activated that turn.
  See rule 606, "Loyalty Abilities."

Note, however, that if a planeswalker becomes a creature the turn it entered the battlefield (such as from abilities on Gideon Jura, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Gideon, Champion of Justice, etc. or from some combination like Mycosynth Lattice + March of the Machines), it then becomes subject to summoning sickness, as it is now a creature that you did not control continuously since the start of your most recent turn.  For example, this means you cannot attack with an animated Gideon planeswalker that you cast this turn.


What happens if you submit orders for another player? In Diplomacy you submit written orders for your units each turn on a slip of paper.  Once everyone has submitted orders, all orders are revealed.  The culture of Diplomacy allows various sorts of shenanigans.

What happens if you submit an order slip for another player's units?

For example, let's say you're playing Turkey and someone else is playing Germany.  You submit two pieces of paper: one for Turkey and one for Germany.  The German player submits orders for only Germany.  When the orders are revealed, everyone can see that two different sets of orders were submitted for one country.

Back when Allan Calhamer (the inventor of Diplomacy) was playing the game, a move called a "Flying Dutchman" was sometimes used.  In this move, Turkey would include among its orders an order to move a German unit.  If no one noticed (or no one objected), the order would be executed as written.  According to him, it was never really outlawed in the game, it just got rarer over time.  What I'm asking about is only a small escalation above a Flying Dutchman, I think.

I believe the traditional response is to feed the game board to a tiger and award the offending player a toothbrush covered in jam.

Which is to say, you're asking what the rules say should happen in a scenario that cannot happen if you're following the rules. That implies a contradiction, and contradiction implies anything.

The rules of the game say "...each player writes an order for each of his/her units on a piece of paper." (emphasis added). If you choose not to play the game that way, you're pretty much going to be on your own when it comes to deciding what the implications of your alternative rules are.


Did I "really" have too many points for the following bid? Not vulnerable versus vulnerable, I was sitting third position  with the following hand: (s) KQx (h) --- (d) KJ9xxx (c) K8xx. (All x's are 7 or lower.)

I opened 2D, a "weak two" after two passes. One of the opponents protested that my holdings exceeded the 6-10 hcp point range for a weak two. Technically, I had 12 hcp, but I downgraded my hand for the following reasons:

I subtracted 1+ points for the lack of aces and Ts.
My KQx of spades was a "clunky" holding whose true value was closer to 4 points (a single ace) than 5.Between this and 1), I adjusted the value of my hand to 10 hcp.
My lack of hearts meant that the opponents would have a heart fit unless partner had six. A bid of one diamond would be easily overcalled 1H, an opening bid of two diamonds would have some preemptive value.
Partner either had less than six hearts, or if he did have six and passed, he was very weak, meaning that with my RHO also having passed, LHO (fourth seat) would be very strong.*

The opponent felt that my bid preempted partner. I said that I have "barely" an opening hand (with a minor suit), and partner's pass said he didn't, so I had little fear of missing game. Was I really too strong to open one diamond instead of two?

*If I had 12 hcps in say first seat, I would attribute an average of about 9 hcps to the remaining three players. With two passes to my right, I guessed that they would average 7 hcps each, 14 in total. Adding 12 for me would leave 14 for my LHO, and most finesses would be "onside" for him.

I'd rather bid 1d there, not 2d. I think it's as likely you have game as they do; unlikely in either case, really.  But you're discounting your partner having, first seat, something like ten points and a five card spade suit.  That's 4S in the bag, if the points are useful ones (not wasted QH or whatnot).  6-7 spade tricks, a few in diamonds and clubs, and you're all set.  You don't want to miss that!

Really, you have more like a 14 count here anyway - with the diamond length and the void, your hand is worth more than a normal 12 counter.  Bid 1d and see what happens - you might end up in a makeable 3NT, 4S, or who knows what else.

If your 4th seat opponent has a 12-14 count, they're probably not in game anyway - as you said, they have 7 opposite them on average, right? - and so you're not preempting anything useful.  On the other hand, if they have an 18 count or whatnot, where a game is a likelihood, your preempt was pretty useless in my opinion - they can double, get some information from their partner since they have to bid over the double, and be in just as good of a position as if you hadn't bid at all.

One other thing: if you're going to do this regularly, you'll need to annotate your convention card to indicate that your weak 2 range is 6-12 3rd seat.


How to build cities in Catan without any ore? When playing in a Catan game (basic edition) last week, I got a couple of good starting spots, with dice rolls 5,4, and 6 and 10, 5, and 8. Except that there was no ore in those settlements, and none that was obtainable on the map. I was able to quickly get 7 points (5 settlements + longest road) before any of my opponents had 5, but I couldn't get any more quickly enough because of my lack of ore, and ultimately ended the game with 9 points in second place. In the future, I feel like this is possibly a good starting strategy, but how can I plan my endgame for this strategy so that I can get the cities or points necessary to win?

Yes, those are good numbers and might be worth not having access to ore. It's hard to tell without seeing the rest of the board.

Convince other players to trade ore with you; even though they'll probably notice you don't have access to ore, you might hold other resources that they absolutely need.
Use a harbor to trade with the bank in better ratios than 4:1.


Can the Paladin be summoned mid battle? In Dungeon Lords, there is a spell that forces you to pay your monster(s) cost or withdraw it from combat. If you have a vampire and are just below the evil-o-meter level needed for the paladin to show up, but no one had breached the level yet, will he show up mid combat if you pay the cost to keep your vampire from withdrawing? What about if someone else had already summoned the paladin, and you became more evil than them, would doing this bring him to your dungeon?

Yes

See this paragraph on p19 of the rulebook:

  Order is important. During battle, your rating on the Evilometer can
  change. This might make the paladin choose a different dungeon (as
  explained in the Paladin section above). The paladin will move
  immediately (along with any Damage Counters that are on him) so it
  is possible that the paladin will fight in multiple dungeons in the
  same round. Once the paladin is eliminated, however, he will move no
  more, regardless of the Evilometer.

The Paladin's justice is swift - if you become the most evil player at
any point, he will swoop down to punish you at once!  I believe I read
the game designer saying somewhere that you know you've gotten really good
at the game of Dungeon Lords when you are deliberately manipulating the
Paladin's movements - e.g. sending him to trash another player's Dungeon,
but then having him come back to yours with a few damage counters on him,
so he's easier to defeat.  I think it's very hard to pull off stuff like that,
though!

EDIT: Regarding whether the Paladin can enter play when  a player crosses
the "evil threshold" for the first time in the year during a battle, I see
no reason why not.  Here's the rules from the Paladin section:

  If your Evil Counter lands on or rises above the paladin space on the
  Evilometer, the paladin sets out to attack your dungeon. Take the
  Paladin Tile from the Central Board and put it in the large space near
  the entrance to the dungeon. The paladin will always be at the front
  of the party. Any new warrior will push ahead of everyone but the
  paladin. The paladin himself is a mighty warrior. And a priest. And a
  wizard. And even a bit of a thief. For the purposes of the rules, he
  does not count as any of these, but anyone who faces the paladin will
  realize that he is an adventuring party all by himself. If you cross
  the line, you attract the paladin immediately.

Yes, it's true that these rules normally entail the Paladin joining the
adventuring party while they're still outside the dungeon, preparing for
their attack.  But crucially, there's no contradiction between the above rules and the Paladin joining mid-battle.  During battle the adventurer tiles are still in the spaces near the entrance, and it's easy for the Paladin to join them.  Just because in some sense the party have left the entrance and are now several tiles deep into the dungeon, doesn't mean that it's hard for the Paladin to find them.

Fundamentally, attracting the attention of the Paladin happens instantly at any point that a player becomes evil (or more evil) enough.  The rules are quite clear what happens whenever this occurs, and there's no reason to suppose there should be any exceptions.


In Uno, if I play a Wild Card and pick a color, can I also play a card in that color? If I put down a Wild Card and choose a color, can I then also straight away play a card in that color?

No, you can only play one card per turn.

Let’s Play

  On your turn...
  Example: If the card on the Discard pile is a red 7, the player must put down a red card OR any color 7. Alternatively, the player can put down a Wild Card...

Functions of Action Cards

  Wild Card – When you play this card, you get to choose the color that continues
  play (any color including the color in play before the Wild card was laid down)...

Here's a great place to read the rules for yourself:
From mattel.com: UNO Rules 2018


Online Scrabble-like game with play-ahead feature? I just played my turn in Words with Friends, and notice I can make a
killer word on my next turn, unless my opponent plays too close to
that area and blocks my making that word.

Are there any online Scrabble-like games that let you say: "on my next
turn, play this word, unless, of course, my opponent makes it
impossible to do so".

I realize there's the possibility that my opponent's play will give me
an even better word, but I'm OK with sacrificing that chance in return
for a faster and more unique mode of play.

EDIT (to answer comment): my opponent and I are on different
schedules, so the push notifications would come in the middle of my or
his night.

Several hours may pass between turns, and a play-ahead option could
speed up the game by a factor of 2 or more. The speedup would come
because of the time that passes between turns, not because it takes so
long to play a word.

Also, when I play a word, Words with Friends already gives me my next
set of tiles (it refills my tile tray to have 7 tiles), so that's not
an issue.

If you play on any Play-by-email site, such as http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/scramble.html, then you could tell your email client to automatically respond to their move with your preplanned move. If your new move is invalid, it would just get bounced.


what is "the next time in this round" in Ascension? I have just started playing Ascension Storm of Souls. Since i have no previous experience from other card games like this, i find the description of some of the rules to be not quite as clear and precise as i would have liked. Which, to some extent, might be explained by the fact that English is not my mother tounge. Anyways..

After playing a about ten games, i think that most of my questions have been worked out. But one.

Many of the cards have effects that are worded like:
Example 1 - "Gain 2 runes. The next time you acquire a Hero this turn, you may put it on top of your deck." or
Example 2 - "Gain 1 rune. You pay 1 rune less the next time you acquire a Hero this turn." or
Example 3 -"You may destroy this to pay 2 runes less the next time you acquire a Mechana Construct this turn."

How should "the next time you do X in this turn" be understood? In example 1 do i get the effect for the second Hero i acquire during that turn?

If my reading comprehension dosen't fail me completely, that's what i think it says. But, if so, then i almost never get to use those effects, because i rarely acquire more than one hero per turn. Which makes me believe that I just maybe is reading it wrong.. and that the effects are supposed to be read when i draw them from the card and put them out on the table in front of me. Which would mean that "the next time you acquire a Hero/destroy a construct etc" is actually the first time i acquire/destroy something, because "next" i just refering to a later time in the same round...

Śo, which is it?

Thanks!

When you buy the card in Example 1, you don't get 2 runes. Why would you think that "The next time you..." is applied?

All of these things happen when you play the cards, not when you buy them.

Many times, the order in which you play cards from your hand does not matter. Bt if you are planning to buy two cards in a turn after playing the card from Example 1, make sure the one that you buy first is the one that you want to go on top of your deck.


How does the full-size board change the game of Go? My Go board has two playing surfaces, one big and the other small. As a Go beginner, I have been playing on the reduced size board. I assume this is recommended because it makes games shorter, and there is less to keep track of. But as a beginner, I'm having trouble seeing what benefits playing on a larger board might bring.

Why would I want to play on a bigger board? How does the game change? Or another way of putting this - why doesn't everyone play on the smaller board size?

The small board focuses on close fighting. You're right; it is recommended for beginners for developing fighting skill and tactics, but the strategy component is lacking--at least when compared to a 19x19 board.

The big board is not just like playing 4 small board games next to each other. Through ladders and potential escape routes, the stones on one side of the board interact with the stones on the other side. When you start playing on big boards this is a very hard part of the transition because on a 9x9 or even 13x13 board you don't have to keep thinking about stones that seem to be far away. This is related to the concept of "influence", which is largely absent on smaller boards, but is of great strategic importance on the bigger board.

A Go teacher in my area likes to say that what makes professional Go games really interesting is the trades. You see professionals let massive groups die yet come out ahead, because in so doing they gain forcing moves that make up for it elsewhere. A popular example is the Yi Sedol ladder game. These sorts of trades are nearly impossible on a small board, and the game is much more exciting with them.

Overall, on a big board Go

is more complex, which many would argue means more interesting
uses both tactics and strategy
for an amateur, allows for more mistakes. You can mess up in one area, but still come back, playing better elsewhere and using leftover aji
allows for more varied games. There are many different opening styles on a full size board, and they will lead to games that feel very different.
is more fun!


mice and mystics rules clarification We played chapter 3 of Mice and Mystics.

We defeated Brodie on a tile who appeared as the result of the special surge.

On the next tile, the clock wheel was again full of cheese and the special surge was again Brodie. Should he appear again, even if he has been defeated just before ?

Also, when a mouse or a minion attacks and there is no sword or bow appearing on the dice, is it necessary for the opponent to defend ? (and to obtain possibly some cheese).

Finally, after the dice game, if no rats were defeated, do we agree that 2 elite rats and 3 regular rats are on the tile ?

I would recommend breaking this up into 3 separate questions, which would help searchers to find specific answers better and help with keeping answers 'on topic'. That being said, here's what I know about these 3:

'Defeating' Brodie doesn't mean he's dead, it just means you made him leave the area. So you poked him a few times, he ran off to (literally) lick his wounds, and then came back in the next tile for revenge. So yes, it is entirely possible for you to encounter Brodie in a tile, defeat him, and then on the next tile encounter Brodie 2: Brodie's Revenge.

In the rule book under Battle: Melee Attack (pages 10 & 11), it instructs you to roll your attack and (Emphasis mine):

  Add the number of sword and sword/shield symbols rolled for that attack. This is the number of hits the mouse has inflicted.

  If a mouse inflicted one or more hits, the player to the left of the active player rolls defense for the targeted minion and adds the number of sword/shield results rolled.

So you only roll defense dice if one or more hits are rolled. No free cheese!

Your last question isn't ringing any bells, but it has been a couple of months since I've played M&M, so I might just need to pull out the scenario book when I get home, but if you could clarify it a bit here it might jog my memory and I could edit this and answer that one as well.


Putting opponent’s cards in your hand in canasta What happens when a player — who just took a very large deck — accidentally picks up her opponent’s hand of 6 cards and adds them to her hand? It was impossible to identify which cards she should not have picked up other than two of them. Should that make the game null and void?

The Official Rules of Canasta describes optional point penalties for certain Irregularities in the play.

  Point Penalties

    Penalties paid in points, rather than by forced plays that rectify the error, are unpopular with many players. Therefore players may choose either to use or to omit the following point penalties, In all cases these penalties are additional to the penalties prescribed in rules 51 to 60.

One of these is for illegally taking the Discard Pile, which seems to clearly apply here:

    For taking the discard pile into the hand illegally, 200.

As play on the hand cannot possibly continue, and neither can it be scored in any meaningful sense, it should be redealt by the same dealer after applying the Point Penalty above. THis seems a natural extension of Rule 52:

  52. There must be a new deal by the same player if it is ascertained, before each player has had a turn to play, that a card is faced in dealing or found faced in the deck; or that the dealer departed in any respect from the rules of correct procedure in dealing; or that a player was dealt an incorrect number of cards. After this time limit, the deal and any incorrect hand stands as regular.

The Official Rules of Rubber Bridge note two points which I believe are pertinent, and should apply to all attempts at remedying irregularities of any card game:

  The Scope of The Laws

  The Laws are designed to define correct procedure
  and to provide an adequate remedy whenever a player
  accidentally, carelessly or inadvertently disturbs the
  proper course of the game, or gains an unintentional
  but nevertheless unfair advantage. An offending player
  should be ready to graciously accept any penalty set
  forth in these Laws or any adjustment or decision of an
  Arbiter.
  These Laws do not deal with dishonorable practices
  where ostracism is the ultimate remedy.

  1. General Principles:

  These Laws cannot cover every situation that might
  arise, nor can they produce equity in every situation covered.
  Occasionally the players themselves must redress
  damage. The guiding principle: the side that commits an
  irregularity bears an obligation not to gain directly from
  the infraction.

I would extend this to say that an egregious offence, even when inadvertent, should always carry a penalty when it is impossible to restore play - in order to prevent even the possibility of temptation to commit such an offence intentionally. Further, to be so careless as to pick up an opponent's hand when picking up the discard pile is exactly such an egregious offence - as it could otherwise be used to force a likely redeal when the current situation is disadvantageous.

Yes, Rubber Bridge is a different game; but carefully note this commentary on the Canasta Rules:

    "The Canasta procedure and Irregularities as described here, and adopted by the Association of American Playing Card Manufacturers, are the same in substance as the rules given in the books of Oswald Jacoby, Ottilie Reilly, Albert H. Morehead, Geoffrey Mott-Smith, Ralph Michaels, Charles Goren, Fly Culbertson, Richard L. Frey, Samuel Fry, Theodore A. Lightner, and others, and endorsed by the Regency Club of New York and other clubs."

    Arranged by Albert H. Morehead.

All of Oswald Jacoby, Ottilie Reilly, Albert H. Morehead, Geoffrey Mott-Smith, Ralph Michaels, Charles Goren, Fly Culbertson, Richard L. Frey, Samuel Fry, and Theodore A. Lightner were world class bridge players as well as Canasta experts. Both Morehead and Mott-SMith were at one time chairman of the ACBL Laws Commission. They applied the same standards of fair play to all the card games which they played and excelled at.


Name of card game of lowest sum in four cards with half-blind trading Each player is dealt 4 cards face down, 3 cards are placed in line and the fourth card is placed horizontally on the top of the other 3. Each player will take a card from the deck and replace any of the 3 bottom cards from left to right.
The goal is to keep the lowest value in these 3 cards, Joker is -1, and starting from number 10 each hand this number will be zero, in the first hand 10=0, second 9=0 and so on. Once the deck of cards is empty, each player shows the total value in the 3 cards, the fourth card then is shown by putting in your forehead, and then negotiate to exchange your card from the other players. trying to steal the lowest nomination, the player with the lowest amount of points wins and the number of cards for this player decrease by one. The player who finishes with 1 card wins.

This is a Golf variation.
This is a mix of the card game Golf / Cabo with Blind Man's Bluff added for the final deduction/bluffing/betting/negotiation round, plus the addition of the two series elements, zero cards and hand size reduction.
I can't find any reference to a specific game/name with this combination, however.


Abusing my watchtower? In Dominion, can I play my treasure cards first, and watchtower last to gain more cards? I tried this last night, and my friend read the rule that says you only play treasure cards in your buy phase.

Your friend is correct.  You may only play treasure cards during your buy phase, at which point you are no longer able to play action cards.


When to choose Lantids and how to make the most from them I love Gaia Project. But there are some races I havn't quite "cracked" yet. So I figured I would try to start a thread here for each race.

I will then provide a response with the do's and don'ts that I've figured out so far.

Some things are always relevant before you choose a race. Such as the amount and layout of the planets. The more planets of the right colour, the better. Even more so, if there are planets nearby, that only needs to be terraformed a single step to become habitable. And hopefully they are not all situated near the border of the map. You also want to start near other players. No need to address these points each and every time.

So: When to choose Lantids, and how to make the most from them?

Summary of the Lantids, for those who do not remember : Lantids has the ability to build mines on planets already colonized by other players. The Lantids won't have to pay anything for terraforming when doing so, but will not be able to upgrade these mines, and these planets will NOT count, when a check is made for number of Gaia planets colonized or the amount of different planet types colonized, as these planets were not originally colonized by the Lantids. When the Planetary Institute is built, the Lantids will get a bonus 2 tech every time they build a mine on a planet already colonized by another player.

Lantids will become more attractive to pick, the more of the following are true:

It will be easier to find suitable planets to colonize in games with high player count. So they will be more attractive in a four player game, than in games with fewer players.
During the first or second turn, you will get bonus points for building your Planetary Institute
The round booster giving points for each mine is in play. Lantids should on average have a high number of mines in play already midgame.

Lantids will become less attractive to pick, the more of the following are true:

One of the endgame bonuses is for number of colonized Gaia planets.
One of the endgame bonuses is for number of different planet types colonized.
It's a two- or three-player game.

During the game, you will probably want to:

Get your Planetary Institute on the board early, enabling your special ability to get tech every time you build a mine on another players planet.
Once your Planetary Institute is in play, you should spam mines. This will elevate your income of Iron, and net you a nice boost in tech.
Save one or two mines, though. And be very careful to only build these on planets that have neighbours. Thus you will be able to upgrade them to Trading Stations at the cheap rate, and get the mine back for colonizing new planets later on.

(My personal best score with Lantids at the time of writing this is a mere 148 points. So take my advices for what they are. I'm sure there's more to consider.)


Castling when in check Chess has a rule that forbids castling when in check. What is the practical value of this rule? How would chess without this rule compare to chess with this rule?

One important reason to check a king is to prevent him from castling later by forcing him to move. The reason is that a king that has already moved (and remains in the center) cannot later "castle" his way into relative safety on the side. Nor can a king castle while in check, so this prevents him from castling for at least that move.

There are two other ways to defend a king in check without moving him. One is to capture the checking piece, and the other is to "interpose" another piece between the checking piece and the king. If the king can then be prevented from moving, he can castle later. But these remedies expose the defending side to other risks, which are probably included in the reasons to check the king.


Munchkin vs Munchkin Deluxe I'm debating between the two versions as it is only a few dollars difference. Would any of you who own the Deluxe version say this is worth it? The board piece sounds appealing but I hear the packaging box takes up a lot of space. I can't seem to find Deluxe copies in my area to compare the size and will have to order online.

My friends do have other packs such as Munchkin Cthulhu and its expansions, if that's helpful at all.

I own the deluxe addition and am very glad I bought it. The board gives a nice way to track the game and can easily be converted if you are going to use the optional Supermuchkin rules (advance to level 20 to win). Yes it can be done with paper and dice but I have kids and the board makes it easier for everyone to use.


What happens if I play Cloudshift during combat? Would playing cards like Cloudshift end my combat phase? And if not could I attack then Cloudshift then attack again with the same card that was Cloudshifted? Also would cards like Amulet of Vigor allow me to untap a Cloudshifted card that has already attacked?

No, playing Cloudshift would not end your combat phase, but the creature it targeted will no longer be in combat. If this leaves you with no attackers, then the rest of combat is uninteresting and can usually be skipped.

When you Cloudshift a creature, it enters the battlefield as a new creature, and has no memory of its previous existence. This means that it loses all counters, enchantments, equipments, and status. This means that (unless it says otherwise), it will enter untapped, unflipped, face up, and phased in. The specific rule about status is 110.6. It will also have summoning sickness because it just entered the battlefield.

Combat follows specific steps: beginning, declare attackers, declare blockers, damage, and end of combat. So if you declare a creature as an attacker, and then you cloudshift it, you can't declare it as an attacker again because you're already done declaring attackers.


In Elder Sign, does the "Bind Monster" card avoid an Ancient One effect? When playing Elder Sign against Yig, I ran into a question I couldn't quite puzzle out from the rules and FAQ. Yig's card reads "Each time an investigator complets the task on a Cultist monster marker [...] the investigators lose 1 Elder Sign, if they have any."

This, in itself, seems straightforward. However, if you use the "Bind Monster" spell (the card reads "After rolling, discard to defeat 1 monster.") the cost of completing the monster task does not have to be paid, per the FAQ. Does this include the Elder Sign that would have to be discarded for Yig's ability?

In other words, do Ancient One effects count as "costs" to be paid when completing a monster task?

No, it does not include the Elder Sign that must be lost per Yig's abiliy

The rules are not very clear on this matter:

  Defeating Monsters with Items and Spells - Some items or spells instruct the player to defeat a monster. When using such an item or casting such a spell, the player chooses any monster in play and flips its marker facedown, ignoring all of its tasks. If the monster marker is in a partial monster task, the uncovered task requirements must still be satisfied in order to resolve the adventure. After either resolving or failing the adventure, the player collects the defeated monster marker at the end of his Resolution phase. (page 17)

Tasks are ignored (including costs), which might lead you to believe that Yig's Elder Sign loss wouldn't occur, but the FAQ says:

  What do items mean when they say “defeat” a monster? - When a player uses an item/spell that “defeats” a monster, that player chooses a monster in play (not necessarily at the same adventure his investigator is at) and turns that monster facedown. None of the monster’s costs must be paid (such as advancing the clock or losing sanity/ stamina) and all of that monster’s tasks are considered to be completed. The monster is collected as a trophy when the player’s turn ends (and not before), whether the investigator succeeds at the adventure or not. Note that if a monster is only partially covering a task, any uncovered parts of the task are still uncompleted for purposes of succeeding at the adventure. (page 5)

The operative words there are "considered to be completed." Yig would trigger one time for each task on a Cultist monster defeated by Bind Monster, causing the investigators to lose one (or more) Elder Signs.

  Each time an investigator completes the task on a Cultist monster marker [...] the investigators lose 1 Elder Sign, if they have any."


How do I organise my cards in the Dominion big box insert? I have a Dominion set that includes the base set plus Alchemy and Prosperity. The box contains a plastic insert with many slots of various sizes. I have stored the cards in alphabetical order mixing the three sets together, but this seems suboptimal. This probably has a really obvious answer, but is there a way to organize the cards so the plastic insert makes sense? Any recommendations?

There is a standard way to store those cards in the big box. Your big box should've come with a couple of large bookmark-shaped cards. One side has a bunch of card names upon decorative scrolls, like this:

photo from Board Game Barker

What you're supposed to do with this organiser card is to lay it down in the center of the box, between all the card slots. In the big box, that will look like this:

photo from the Board Game Geek page

If you put it down the right way, each card's name will sit directly beside a card slot. This organiser card will tell you which slot to put each card in. The thicker slots (e.g. the money slots) will have more corresponding spacing on the organiser card, so make sure those line up.

This organiser card also means I can check very easily where cards are: I can just look at the organiser, search for the name I'm after, and pull the cards out of the corresponding slot, which beats having to pull various piles out one by one trying to hunt for the right one. In the first photo, I can tell the Adventurer was put in that top left slot, the Bureaucrat beneath it, Cellar beneath that, etc.

The reverse side of the organiser card, with a bunch of blank scrolls, is for you to fill out if you ever come up with an alternative organisation scheme you'd like to use instead. (E.g. maybe you'd like to group all the attack cards together in the box, or something.)


Hail of Stones Multiplayer Action: Exhaust X characters to deal X damage to an enemy in the staging area.

When playing multiplayer, can other players exhaust characters to contribute to this damage?

The rules talk about "paying costs" on page 25 and say this (emphasis added):

  Many cards are written in a “pay or exhaust X to do Y” manner. When confronted with such a construct, everything before the word “to” is considered the cost, and everything after the word “to” is considered an effect. Costs can only be payed with cards or resources that a player controls. If an effect is canceled, the cost is still considered to have been paid.

Hail of Stones' text matches the scheme described here, and therefore it doesn't seem that you can exhaust characters that other players control for this purpose.


When can I activate the special Halicarnassus effect? The rules say what the effect does but not when to use it.

Once per era?
At the time the wonder upgrade is done?
At the end of the game?
Something else?

The rules do say it (English base game rules, page 8 and also page 9, for the wonder The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus):

  Clarification: this special ability takes place at the end of the turn in which
  this stage is built. If players discard cards this turn (as in the case of the 6th
  turn of an age), the player can also choose from among them.

So when you build this wonder stage, you wait until everyone finished their action, and then you go through the discard pile and build one of its cards for free. One time only (per wonder stage).

Special cases:

if others use the same ability in the same turn (tl;dr: there is a defined resolution order)
if the Babylon (B) player discards the 7th card for money (tl;dr: it gets added to the discard pile before the Halicarnassus player goes through it)


How to grant haste en masse in a mono-green Commander deck? In my Elf Commander Deck (edited version of the Guided by Nature 2014 Commander Deck), I have Nissa Revane and as I was looking through the MTG tag of BCGSE I saw this question asking about if elves summoned with Nissa's -7 ability have summoning sickness. Since the answer is yes, I was wondering if there is a green or colorless card that I would be able to use to counter their summoning sickness (preferably an elf that grants other elves haste). Is there a card that would be able to fit into the restrictions of my deck?

A simple search for cards with the words "creatures" and "haste" in their text boxes reveals a couple cards with Green color identity that grant mass haste:

Akroma's Memorial is an artifact that grants your creatures Haste, along with a few other abilities.
Concordant Crossroads grants all creatures Haste, not just yours.
Reflex Sliver gives all your Slivers Haste and Hivestone makes all your creatures Slivers, so together they give all your creatures Haste.


Online Resources for Go Tutorials on specific topics It is well-known that learning about Go is a never-ending process. This question is on resources that I believe to be useful in a certain stage of this learning process.

In the very beginning, there are a lot of fundamentals to be grasped (and really understanding them fully takes way longer of course) and this question addressed resources that may be helpful for beginners.

I am now advancing into the SDK stage and find that these resources are not helping so much anymore. On the other hand, I also have trouble profiting from the analysis of pro games, because I still have a lot to learn about the reasoning behind moves.

What I found to be most effective for me at this stage, are resources like these youtube videos or these articles on opening patterns.

Is there a place, where learning resources are available that are similar to the above?
To make this question a bit more concrete and answerable, I am looking for material that fits the following criteria:

suitable for SDKs
not a simple listing of fuseki/joseki/whatever
not life&death problems
focuses on the reasoning behind moves
suitable for broadening one's knowledge (i.e. do not cover one topic in immense depth, but concentrate on the underlying principles)
bonus points, if grouped by topic (so you can f.ex. quickly get material related to micro-chinese, or leaning plays, or large knight jumps, or counting, ...)

In terms of textual resources (though I'm open for videos/podcasts/sgfs/...), I am looking for roughly something along the line of one-two pages per discussed topic.

A few resources that I know about, but do not fit these criteria:

sensei: Way too deep coverage of topics. I believe it is an awesome reference for dans and higher SDKs, but I mostly found it more confusing than helpful. Not to mention, that every second word links to more information.. there is the point of TMI.
eidogo: Great for looking up names of josekis.. which I would then like to read up upon in the resources I am looking for in order to understand the underlying principles.
various pages of L&D problems: while interesting and certainly helpful to learn, they do not help much in terms of opening and mid-game strategies.
various books (at least those I have) : they either are for beginners, or they cover a topic very well, but in frustrating depth (meaning you'd have to invest into an extra library room if you want to get a broader picture).

How to study Go wrongly, a practical reference

Even though you already directly pointed in the right direction, let me disregard part of your actual question and answer differently first. Consider it a supplementary answer.

A common mistake in studying

I believe there is a typical trap many Western players easily fall into (I'm guilty of this myself): Relying on books too much.

Around 10 kyu, studying books should take only a small part of your time. Instead, focus on playing games and reviewing. I'll try to explain my reasoning.

Why you should not study pro games

  On the other hand, I also have trouble profiting from the analysis of pro games, because
  I still have a lot to learn about the reasoning behind moves.

As you said, studying pro games at your level is of lower efficiency since you simply won't be able to understand the moves. This applies to dan players, too, but they possess enough shape and (midgame and corner) joseki knowledge to grasp the basic ideas. So apart from seeing what a game should look like and potentially learning a few common shapes, you won't gain much from pro games. It's just not suited to your level yet.

As a student of a foreign language, you will eventually read lots of texts in that language and learn a lot from first hand resources, but before that you have to learn the basics in your native language.

Why you should not study fuseki (yet)

  What I found to be most effective for me at this stage, are resources like these
  youtube videos or these articles on opening patterns.

Josh's videos are just as excellent as Matthew's lectures, but again, you won't gain much from studying fuseki. While I most certainly agree that it's fun, I can't say for sure that it will benefit your games.

You have to both remember and understand the fuseki shapes, which is not easy at all since every stone on the whole board is very important.

Are you sure you can remember the basic Kobayashi openings until around move 40? If you do and you are not high dan you were setting wrong priorities! ;)

Disregarding that, actually every stone is important and may change the meaning of moves considerably. For instance, you know the basic Chinese Fuseki, right? Consider this board:

$$ ---------------------------------------
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . 4 . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . 2 , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Did you know some pros call 5 a mistake due to the position of 2 at komoku (3-4) instead of hoshi (4-4)? White could make a corner enclosure and the main direction of the Chinese opening, the lower side, will be a lot less interesting all of sudden. Subtle differences like this are very important if you really want to benefit from fuseki study.

So while you definitely will gain some insight from intense study of fuseki, this activity becomes way more efficient at strong SDK to lower dan level. By the way, I recently read how insei nowadays don't study fuseki as much as they used to but instead focus on tsumego - the improved reading helps more than a few moves more depth of knowledge in fuseki.

Why having superior fuseki is useless

Another point to consider is your reading ability. Personally, I grew up with fuseki study and was able to easily solve strong SDK level fuseki problems as a DDK. But in my games, the opponent simply played a move I did not know and I had no clue how to continue - I was completely unable to read how to punish, and ended up losing even though I was supposed to be ahead. That eventually made me study fighting more, and that in turn massively increased my understanding of the fuseki positions I played earlier.

And still, there are actually high dans who have a far worse position during fuseki in even games with me, but their insane reading power makes more than up for it and I always lose even with very high handicap. There is a saying that you should not start to study fuseki until there is nobody who can beat you at 9 stones, and it should be considered.

Why you should not memorize patterns

"Memorize joseki, lose 3 stones."

By always playing known sequences, your will grew unable to see other moves. You won't notice subtle differences compared to the position you know, and miss sharp moves that a player with better fighting senses will spot immediately.

Notice that I am not only talking about actually "memorizing certain sequences" but also "blindly only considering known sequences and shapes instead of actually reading each move". This is exhausting but hey, noone said improving in Go is easy ;)

If you don't know the sequence to play, you have to consider all options, forcing you to read carefully. Eventually, you'll decide on a move, and your understanding of the position has been increased so next time you'll be able to decide on the right move faster - depending on the surrounding position.

This means you will have a deeper knowledge of the position and the moves involved, and you will be able to explain with actual sequences why your chosen move is the best. Or why it was a mistake, which is fine, too.

Why playing games and doing reviews is important

We just noticed that you should try to play lots of games to learn patterns by understanding the moves. If your understanding of the position is flawed, this could lead to mistaking good and bad results. This is why you should have someone stronger review your games to point out wrong decisions that you did not consider as such. Gaining this knowledge will in turn directly affect all your decisions in similar positions - practical reasoning behind high level ideas is one of the points that distinguishes strong from weak players with a shallow understanding.

Why this answer is wrong

It's not. Not yet at least (for DDK players). Or not completely.

If you closely follow the approach explained you'll eventually have excellent fighting abilities and win all the (local) fights but still lose the war (game). How is that possible? It's because you did it wrong to the other extreme: Not caring about theory at all.

By slowly applying more and more theoretical study as you grow stronger, you'll not only understand high level concepts (e.g. in fuseki), but also (thanks to your acquired raw abilities) be able to punish opponents for their overplays.

The actual answer to your question

With all that being said, the original question already contains the important hints:

  not a simple listing of fuseki/joseki/whatever
  focuses on the reasoning behind moves

In fact there are books that help with these, as mentioned in other answers, so I won't go into them here. Books about tesuji, hopefully with exercises, are likely the most useful kind you will find.

Even with these books, you should keep the basics I was talking about earlier in mind. Many players capture stones out of habit because they know the awesome tesuji to capture them, but they miss that all groups were already alive and the capture was only worth 2 points.

The fastest way to strong SDK level

Apart from the mentioned kind of books, at weak SDK level, playing games and reviewing them is still the most valuable resource. Make as many mistakes as possible, remember them and never do them again, and you will be strong SDK in no time. Theoretical study could never have advanced you that quickly.

There also is a very simple but difficult to follow hint I can give to players who are willing to put in a lot of effort for quickly improving. It is to simply read 4 moves ahead on every turn in the game. This requires more self-discipline than you may think at first, but it ensures you applied enough reading to a) not make stupid mistakes and b) consider all (or at least most) of the options the opponent has in answering. Which boils down to "avoid sloppy reading". You should literally sit on your hands.

And once you find yourself puzzled about situations more often, unable to find the right direction even though you can see the sequences, it's time to switch to theory and study  aspects not easily visible.


Children's version of Rummy? Rummy is one of my favourite card games - we used to play it endlessly when I was at uni using various different rulesets.  So I'm now trying to teach my children the basics of Rummy, as they love playing [children's] card games, but being 5 and 7 they are a bit young to fully comprehend matching runs in the same suite (though matching the same numbers is fine).

I came across some basic rules for a children's version of rummy on Wikipedia (described as "Children's Rummy" or "Ruckus"), but the rules there are not entirely clear (and Ruckus itself uses its own set of cards, so that's not too helpful).

Can anyone clarify some basic rules for a children's version of rummy, or have any other ideas about simplified rules for children to learn rummy [EDIT: using a standard deck of cards ideally]?  (I'm talking basic rummy here, not Gin rummy or other variants).

Wikipedia describes the "children's rummy" rules thus:

  Children's Rummy or Ruckus is played by young children; each player is dealt 7 cards. Players immediately put down all cards of the same value (example, two 6's or three Kings) face up. If another person has a card of that value, they can put it down on the pile and take the pile to their part of the table. All players do this at the same time. Once all play has stopped, the dealer hands out new cards, and the pile building and taking is repeated until all cards have been dealt. The player with the most cards in piles at the end wins.

Thanks!

Far be it for me to answer my own question, but...  I've play tested the partial rules from wikipedia with my children, and have worked out the following fuller set of rules, if it's helpful (also trying to make it more rummy-like):

For 2 players, each player is dealt 10 cards.  For >2 players, each player is dealt 7 cards;
Players immediately put down all cards of the same value (example, two 6's or three Kings) face up in piles in front of them;
Once everyone has put down their starting-hand matches, players take it in turn to put down cards matching other people's matches (this differs from the wikipedia rules: wikipedia said to do this extra laying off all at the same time - that becomes rather frantic with children as they argue who put down a card first if there is more than one match).  If they lay down a match, they take the pile to their part of the table;
Once all above starting play has stopped, the dealer hands out a new card to each player in turn, and the pile building and taking is repeated by each player in turn until either:

all cards have been dealt and no more matches have been played (most of the time, all cards would be matched by now, but sometimes they can't be, e.g. with 4 players each player could end up with one of the same card number);
a player manages to lay off all the cards from their hand (this is again different to wikipedia's rules, but makes the game shorter if you have young children playing - keeps their attention a bit better by allowing more rounds to be played);

Once either of the above conditions is met, the cards in front of each player are counted (count of number of cards, not face values).  The player with the most cards wins.  Optionally, you could subtract any cards left in players hands from their score if using the second of the above ending conditions.

My children picked up these rules pretty well and really enjoy playing it!


How does stacking and resolving work exactly? I understand that every card that is put onto the stack is resolved in the opposite order that it is put on (meaning the first card to be put onto a stack is the last one to be resolved), but here is my question.

Say I cast a Lightning Bolt. That goes onto the stack. My opponent passes priority back to me. Then, I cast Twincast, and that also goes onto the stack. Would Twincast copy Lightning Bolt, effectively doing an additional 3 damage to my opponent?

Or, would Lightning Bolt Resolve, do 3 damage, then Twincast would resolve and do nothing?

Twincast copies Lightning Bolt, dealing 3 damage to whatever target you choose, then the original Lightning Bolt resolves as usual - a total of 6 damage. The first sentence of your question pretty much explains why. To be specific (and correct the detail about priority):

You cast Lightning Bolt, putting it onto the stack.
You gain priority before your opponent does. (Note that by default, it's assumed that you pass it - if you want to hang onto it, you should say so explicitly.)
You cast Twincast, targeting Lightning Bolt. (The stack now has Lightning Bolt and Twincast on it.)
You and your opponent both pass priority.
Twincast resolves. It creates a copy of Lightning Bolt, optionally with a new target, and puts it on the stack. (The stack now has the original Lightning Bolt and the copy on it. Just one copy - not sure why you asked if it'd copy it twice.)
You and your opponent both pass priority.
The copy resolves, dealing 3 damage to whatever target you chose.
You and your opponent both pass priority.
The original resolves, dealing 3 damage.

For the record, the relevant rules about who gets priority when:

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
116.3c If a player has priority when he or she casts a spell, activates an ability, or takes a special action, that player receives priority afterward.

This is slightly important in this case because it means that you have to cast Twincast before you see if your opponent wants to respond to Lightning Bolt; if you pass priority to them before casting Twincast and they do nothing, then you've both passed and Lightning Bolt will resolve.


Does Harvester of Souls trigger its own death trigger when it dies Specifically, does a player draw a card when Harvester of Souls dies?

No, Harvester of Souls does not trigger its own death trigger

Read the card carefully, it says

  Whenever another nontoken creature dies, you may draw a card.

It specifically doesn't count itself. For other creatures, it depends on the exact wording of that card and cannot be stated generally.


Hypermetabolism in Twilight Imperium In Twilight Imperium 4th Edition, the card Hypermetabolism reads:

  During the status phase, gain 2 command tokens instead of 1

You already get 2 command tokens during the status phase, and is likely a misprint.  This has been discussed on many threads, but is there an official errata from FFG?

Yes.  The living rules reference v1.1 contains the errata:

HYPER METABOLISM
The text of the “Hyper Metabolism” technology should read as follows:
“During the status phase, gain 3 command tokens instead of 2.”


Want to find a website listing MTG groups in Japan I want to find a group to play MTG with in Japan near my area that speaks English rather than Japanese, but I have been unsuccessful in finding a website  that lists groups other than those located in a few main areas (Tokyo, Kyoto, etc.) I would be very grateful if someone could provide me with information of a website or page where I can make contact with local players.

If this is not the correct place for this question, I would appreciate any tips on where the proper place would be.

How about using WOTC Store & Event locator: http://locator.wizards.com/ ?


Bob win conditions with Machine Gun So if bob uses his ability of hitting 2 damage with machine gun equipped, would it be counted as his win if he rolled a 2 damage to 2 people holding equipment with 3 on his own and dying from the machine gun?

Yes, assuming he chose to use his ability to steal the other players equipment instead of doing damage to them as he would then meet his win condition of having 5 peices of equipment.

He would also win if the damage to the other players was enough to kill them as you gain a piece of equipment from a player when you kill them so in either case Bob would immediately  win the game

From the rule book

Bob Neutral Robbery: If you inflict 2 or more points of damage to another character, you can take an Equipment Card of your choice from that character instead of giving him/her the damage.

As a player takes damage during the game, they move the HP piece onto the number on the board corresponding to how much damage they currently have. HP pieces are used to show the damage levels of all players. A player's character dies when they have accumulated damage equal or more to the HP listed on their character card. When a character dies, the player must flip their character card face up if they have not already and remove their HP piece and Player piece from the board. If a player has killed another player, they are allowed to take one Equipment card from the dead player and discard the rest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Hunters


Why is Bind The Monster useful? I have Bind the Monster. I really don't see a use for it. Is it useful, and how?
It's an Aura Enchantment for {U} with

Enchant creature
When Bind the Monster enters the battlefield, tap enchanted creature. It deals damage to you equal to its power.
Enchanted creature doesn't untap during its controller's untap step.

Bind the Monster is the newest card from a decent list that both taps the creature when you play it, and keeps it tapped. Most of these that do only that cost 3 or 4 mana, the ones that cost only 1 have significant downsides to them:

Tangle Kelp only works at most every other turn - since it keeps it tapped only if it attacked last turn.
Paralyze lets them pay mana to untap it, they can decide if it's worth 4 mana to have their big threat back for the turn.
Bubble Snare doesn't tap unless you kick it, making it a 4 cost.

And then we have the new 1 cost, Bind the Monster, which also has the creature do damage to you when you use it. It does that damage only once however, then it can't attack, it is also not combat damage - so effects like Fynn, the Fangbearer giving poison counters, or Master of Cruelties setting your life to 1 point won't happen. The creature being kept tapped means it won't be able to attack or block, or use any effects that require it to tap, so no more using Elvish Archdruid to generate a ton of mana in an elf deck.
Most of the time it's easy enough to remove a creature instead. Most kill spells cost 2 or 3 mana like Poison the Cup, most spells that exile cost 3 or 4 - neither of these are things that blue tends to do, kill spells tend to be black, exile spells tend to be white. Blue usually deals with creatures three ways:

Countering them before they resolve - this is very time specific, you need to do this when the creature is cast, but it's usually the most efficient and permanent solution.
Unsummoning them. This sends the creature back to the hand, so it's only a temporary fix, your opponent can usually just play it again next turn, but this tends to be the cheapest option at 1 or 2 mana.
Tapping the creature and keeping it tapped. This is the middle ground. The creature is still on the battlefield, but it can't do much while there. It usually costs about the same as more permanent removal in black or white.

There's a few bad habits and ways of thinking that tend to take players a while to get out of, I suffered from these myself when I started:

Avoid losing life - life is a resource just like mana, and it's only the last point that matters. Winning with 20 or more life counts just as much as winning with only one point left.
Play the strongest cards - It's really a balance between how much it costs and how much it does. Low cost spells that have good, if not spectacular effects can often be better in the long run, you can play them easier when you need them.
Auras on my own creatures - Auras can go on whatever they say they can go on, when it says "Enchant Creature" that means it can enchant any creature you can target - not just yours. Most of the creature auras in Magic are meant to give a boost to creatures, but there are still a good number meant to weaken or hinder a creature, those ones you want to put on your opponent's creatures.


Are powers cumulative in Smallworld? when playing Smallworld, we were wondering how to handle some cumulative effects. It says in the rules that all effects are cumulative unless otherwise stated. Still, we had mounted Tritons and we were wondering if they get really a +2 bonus on all hills and farmland next to the lake or coast (+1 because triton get that for any region next to water, and +1 for being mounted on hills and farmland)?

The rule you reference is correct: powers are cumulative so you can get a +2 bonus like that. Some race/power combinations are indeed much more powerful than others in Small World; a key balancing feature is that powerful options will usually be claimed higher up the list, which means you have to pay several points to claim them, while weaker options will sit around at the bottom collecting those points until they're not looking so bad anymore. Also, remember that you always need at least one token to conquer a region, so a +2 bonus does not help any more than a +1 if the region is empty.


In Settlers of Catan, is it possible to avoid "losing a won game?" Here's the kind of sequence I'm talking about. You finished your last turn with eight victory points (VP)s. Between then and your current turn, one opponent interrupted another opponent's longest road, and you now have longest road and ten VPs at the beginning of your turn. If you have the required VPs at the end of your turn, you win.

Is it true (in some variants), that you might possibly draw a card that increases your VP requirement from 10 to 11 so that you don't win at the end of the turn?

If the above is true, is there an antidote for this? Is it possible for you to follow a course of action that doesn't prevent you from having the requisite victory points at the end of your turn? Or does every course of action (in a particular variant) have a chance (however slight) of derailing your victory?

10 Points On Your Own Turn = You Win!

If you have 10 or more points at any time during your turn, you win the game outright immediately.

From the University of Catan FAQ (emphasis added):

  Q:    Can a player win the game when it is not her turn? For instance, during another player's turn, the player remembers that she has a victory point card and that card along with other points that she accumulated gives her 10 points. Can she win during another player's turn or does she have to wait her turn to play the victory point card and declare herself the winner?

  A:    You can only win during your turn. If somehow you earn enough points to win during another player's turn (such as getting Longest Road because another player broke the longest road, or because you remember your victory point card) you must still wait until your turn. However, you can win at any point during your turn, even before you roll the dice. On the other hand, if another player earns 10 points before your turn, that player will be the winner even though you had 10 points first!

Fear the Boot

So, there's a particular mini-expansion called Fishermen of Catan. You can find the rules online (PDF link). This expansion contains the "Old Shoe." Every time your fisheries produce resources, there's a chance you'll draw the Old Shoe card, which can turn your 10/10 VP into 10/11 VP. Oh noes!

Here's a rules quote (emphasis added):

  D. That Old Shoe

  One of the tokens shows an "old shoe" that you might
  accidentally draw while collecting a fish token. If you
  draw the old shoe, you must reveal it immediately! Keep
  the old shoe face up in front of you. As long as the old
  shoe is in your possession, you will need 1 additional
  victory point to win the game! So, you would need
  11 victory points to win the basic Settlers game!

  There is good news, however! During your turn after
  rolling the dice, you can give the old shoe away! You can
  give the shoe to any other player who has the same or
  more victory points than you. But, if you alone have the
  most points, you must keep the old shoe for yourself!

So, it looks like the Old Shoe can, in fact, "turn a win into a loss" if this scenario happens:

You get 10 VPs on some other player's turn (per the Longest Road example in the question).
Then another player's roll generates resources for you, and you end up with the Old Shoe.
You can't win on your turn because of your new VP threshold.
Another player goes after you, gets to 10 VP, and wins.

However, if an opponent already has a lot of VP on the board just like you, you can do this on your turn:

(same) You get 10 VPs on some other player's turn (per the Longest Road example in the question).
(same) Then another player's roll generates resources for you, and you end up with the Old Shoe.
You roll the dice, then give the Old Shoe away.
Claim your victory immediately (as above)!

This is yet another case where it's useful to hide your +VP dev cards in your hand until the exact moment you claim the win (sine it makes it easier to dump the Shoe).


Inspiring unicorn vs shock I’m fairly new to Magic and still learning but got the basics.
My problem is as follows.
My friend person A : white deck (basic starter)
Me person B : red deck (basic starter)
Scenario
Person A declares attack with Inspiring Unicorn “when this declares attack each creature you control gains +1/+1 until end of turn” alongside another generic 2/2 creature.
Person B casts an instant, Shock, before declaring blockers, then proceeds to block other creature with 2/3 creature.
Now this is where I was confused as I thought shock would resolve first killing the unicorn before it could apply its ability or am I wrong?? As person A said they were right and the unicorns ability resolved first as he declared an attack so gains the stat increase before shock so shock would be useless.

Once person A declares attackers, the Unicorn's ability triggers, and a Shock won't help to stop it. However, if you cast Shock in reaction to the trigger (of course, it's better to cast it before the combat phase), it will resolve before the Unicorn's ability resolves, and will hence kill the Unicorn. I think that person B cast it 'too late' but it's hard to tell; 'before declaring blockers' can be during the remainder of the declare attackers phase.
However, even without the Unicorn around, the ability still resolves, and the other attacking creature will get the +1/+1 bonus. See Does an ability resolve if the source of the ability leaves the battlefield? for more details.


Effect of Viper's Kiss on Heroic creatures I was battling my brother recently. He had a purely green deck, and summoned Anthousa, Setessan Hero. I then used a Viper's Curse on Anthousa.

Anthousa has a heroic effect that allows it to turn lands into attackers whenever a spell targets it, but Viper's Curse prevents effects from being activated. So, does the heroic ability get activated or not?

Viper Kiss only prevents activated abilities, ones that contain a :.

Anthousa, Setessan Hero has a triggered ability, since it contains "whenever", this is a different kind of ability and is thus not affected by Viper Kiss


Betrayal at House on the Hill - Scenario 50 - Do the Clue Tokens drop when a character dies? During this haunt, the adventures collect clue tokens.  According to the haunts special rules, the clues can be

Traded, like any other item
Stolen, like any other item

Do they 'drop' in an item pile when the character dies, like other items?  The rules seem silent on this issue.

Page 12 of the rule book says:

  Many haunts put one or more item tokens in the house, which have special rules for their use. Unless the haunt says otherwise, item tokens can be traded, dropped, or stolen just like item and omen cards.

I'm not sure why they felt it necessary to mention that they can be stolen or traded in the haunt, since that would already be the case according the above rule. However, it does not say they cannot be dropped, therefore they can. If they can be dropped, then I would assume they are also dropped when a character dies.


Can the other player put Draw 2 if your Draw 2 was the last card? Imagine a scenario where there are only two players. One of the players has only one card left, which is Draw 2 card.

If he/she puts the card in the field, can the other player counter act with a Draw 2, or is the game over?

The game is over.

After the first player plays their Draw 2, their turn is over. If their turn ends and they have no cards, they win the game. There is no opportunity for a counter-play in this situation.


A Problem with Hidden Move Go I have just learned about Hidden Move Go and I have a problem.

Let us assume that one of our opponent’s hidden stones has only one liberty, i.e. it is in atari. But they don’t know that, because one of our three surrounding stones is hidden. So they play somewhere else and we play a stone filling the last liberty of their hidden stone. In this position we have no idea that we have captured a stone and our opponent has no idea that their stone is captured. Because of this, the table is wrong and it mustn’t be. How can we avoid that situation without the help of a third person? Any ideas or experiences?

As I read the description in Sensei’s Library (your own link), hidden moves are not considered to be played on the board until they are revealed; you may like to think of the stone as still in a special pot with a label on it. So a not yet revealed stone cannot be captured or in atari. It can, however, be used to prevent a move your opponent tries to make.

In your example, the hidden stone is therefore not in atari: neither it nor your hidden stone are even on the board. You next move does not capture the hidden stone. The board (which I suppose you mean by ‘table’) is not wrong. No third person is required.


Can Actions Be Played on 1 base and "jump" to affect play on other bases? Can you play an action on one base ("Base A") (e.g., Hidden Ninja Special Action "before a base scores, you may play a minion there") and thereby affect play on another base ("Base B") where there is an action-blocking card (e.g., Ornate Dome)?

Ornate Dome:

  Play on a base. Destroy all other player's actions played here. Ongoing: Other players cannot play actions on this base.

An Ornate Dome on base B only prevents players from playing cards on base B (i.e. playing cards with "play on a base" on base B). I don't understand the scenario you are presenting in your question, but it doesn't seem to include anything affected by an Ornate Dome on base B. Specifically, Hidden Ninja is not played on a base, so it's not affected by Ornate Dome.


How do Moldgraf Monstrosity and Feldon of the Third Path interact? Say I'm discarding to hand size and I discard a Moldgraf Monstrosity. When I create a token copy of it with Feldon of the Third Path and I sacrifice it at the end of the turn, would I be able to return two creatures? I'm thinking that the token needs to go to the graveyard in order to "die" and once it does it immediately disappears?

You would get to return two creatures from your graveyard.

Feldon of the Third Path's ability's effect says

  Create a token that's a copy of target creature card in your graveyard, except it's an artifact in addition to its other types. It gains haste. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.

"Sacrifice" is defined in rule 701.15a:

  To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.

And what it means for a creature to "die" is defined in 700.4:

  The term dies means “is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.”

Moldgraf Monstrosity's ability says

  When Moldgraf Monstrosity dies, exile it, then return two creature cards at random from your graveyard to the battlefield.

So, sacrificing it triggers its ability. One other thing to note is that the effect has two different instructions, "exile it", and "return two creature card at random from your graveyard to the battlefield". These are two separate instructions, so if you can't complete one, you should still follow the other. This is specified in rule 101.3, which says

  Any part of an instruction that’s impossible to perform is ignored. (In many cases the card will specify consequences for this; if it doesn’t, there’s no effect.)

Specifically, the exact order of events plays out like this:

The delayed triggered ability from Feldon's activated ability goes on the stack.
The triggered ability resolves. You sacrifice the token copy of Moldgraf Monstrosity. Moldgraf Monstrosity's ability triggers.
State-based actions are evaluated, and the token disappears.
The triggered ability is put on the stack.
The triggered ability resolves, and you can't exile the token, but you still get two creatures back.


Game I thought was called "By Popular Demand" Where I work we have a quiz every Friday.  I'm trying to find a quiz like game we can do by email instead whilst many of us are working remotely.
I'm trying to find online rules to a game that I thought was called By Popular Demand.  I recall playing it online in the early 2000's I think on the now defunct psychozine website.
The rules as I recall:

Players are given categories.
They write down a (correct) answer in each category
They score 1 point for every one else who gave same answers.
Highest overall scores win

There was also an opposite game that I thought was called By Unpopular Demand.  Same rules except lowest score wins.
Have I dreamt these or are they real games known by a different name?  I'm trying to find an online rules link to send with the game tomorrow or I will just write rules out for my fictional game.

By Popular Demand is still played in games 'zine Variable Pig (and possibly others) and their rules are online at https://www.variablepig.org/rules/bypop.html


If I sacrifice a creature for a spell and it creates a token, can I sacrifice that token for the spell too? I have to sacrifice multiple creatures to pay for an ability, e.g. Flashback - Sacrifice two creatures.

How does the stack interaction work if I sacrifice one creature with an enters the graveyard effect that makes a token?

My current reasoning is that the sacrificed creature enters the graveyard putting its token generating trigger on the stack.  This trigger resolves making the token which enters the battlefield. Can I now sacrifice the token to pay for the remaining creature sacrifice for the flashback which is still on the stack?

Your reasoning is only partly correct: you can't use that extra token to help pay for the spell, because it won't exist yet. You have to sacrifice two creatures that you already have at casting time. If you want extra creatures and tokens to sacrifice, they have to be there first.

That's because of the spell casting process. During that process, nothing else happens — no abilities get to happen or be used, with the exception of mana abilities, not even triggered abilities get to happen yet — and we follow steps that go like this for a Flashback spell:

Announce you're casting the spell and put it on the stack: I'm playing Dread Return using Flashback.
Make the choices you must make: It will target this creature card.
Determine the cost: I need to sacrifice three creatures.
You can use mana abilities, like those your lands possess, if you need to. That isn't relevant to this spell though.
Pay that cost. I sacrifice this one, this one and this one.

It's only after this entire process — by which time you need to have paid for the spell in full — that triggered abilities go on the stack. Someone gets priority, so we check for each triggered ability that could've just now happened, and put those on the stack after the spell.

So, now, after you've paid for the spell, the stack will look like this:

Top: A triggered ability that will create a token.
Bottom: Dread Return.

At this point, the token ability hasn't resolved yet, and it'll resolve before Dread Return does. But Dread Return's already there, cast, and has been paid for in full, and paying for it is ancient history. The token wasn't there, and still isn't even there yet, and couldn't possibly have been involved in paying the cost for Dread Return.

Then if nobody does anything else (such as Voidslime the token ability, or Cancel Dread Return), you'll get your token, and then Dread Return will resolve.


After the initial meld, can I do multiple moves in the same turn? I have to code a program that suggests what to do depending on the situation of a Rummikub game. More about Rummikub: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummikub

In Wikipedia's explanation, I quote:

  Once a player has made his initial meld, he can, on each turn, play one or more tiles from his rack, making or adding to groups and/or runs.

I have never actually played Rummikub (and I seriously don't want to try the online multiplayer game), so here's my question: after the initial meld, if I can do multiple things (say, put a Run and also a Group), can I do them both in the same turn? Or am I limited to one "move" per turn?

You can do as much legal "moves" as you like in the same turn. After making the initial meld, rest of this player's turn is treated just like any other turn.

Things you can do in your turn (multiple times):

add tile to existing group/run
put set of tiles creating new group/run
break existing set (group/run) into separate tiles, as long as all of them will be left on the table at the end of your turn, and each one will be part of some legal set.
obtain Joker, by putting the tile it's replacing in the Joker's place on the table. Remember that you can't take any tiles from the table, so the Joker has to be used in some way before you finish your turn!

I know you said you're not interested in playing the game online, but this seems like the easiest way to grasp this. I feel that explanation like this is much more confusing.

If you want, please take a look at official rules.


Spell targets player in multiplayer game, and that player leaves. Does it still resolve? Let's say I have infinite mana, Soulfire Grand Master and Crater's Claws. I play a multiplayer game with 5 other players. I use Soulfire Grand Master last ability with infinite damage crater claws on first opponent. He doesn't wait until the spell resolve, and leave the game.

Will the spell resolve, so I can take it back to my hand and kill 4 other opponents?

No, the spell will be countered by the game rules.

If all targets of a targeted spell or ability become illegal before resolution, the spell/ability will be countered and nothing that would happen on resolution will happen.

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. If the spell or ability is not countered, it will resolve normally. However, if any of its targets are illegal, the part of the spell or ability’s effect for which it is an illegal target can’t perform any actions on that target, make another object or player perform any actions on that target, or make that target perform any actions. If the spell or ability creates a continuous effect that affects game rules (see rule 613.10), that effect doesn’t apply to illegal targets. The effect may still determine information about illegal targets, though, and other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them.


Rival Executioner draws Robespierre...does this end the day? The Rival Executioner card requires that, upon his execution, you take the noble from the top of the deck and "collect" it. My friend drew Robespierre, who, when collected, ends the day.

We didn't like the way it affected the game (my friend was in second place, and it was day three), so we let it go. But I'm still curious...do you reap the side effects of the card drawn after beheading the Rival Executioner?

Rival Executioner reads:

  Collect the top noble of the noble deck after you collect this noble

Robespierre reads:

  The day ends after you collect this noble. Discard any nobles remaining in line.

Yes, you end the day if you collect Robespierre via the Rival Executioner.

The game only has one verb for the process of operating the guillotine: "collect." When a noble is collected, you do all of the side-effects of that noble. Guillotine is a mix of tactics and luck, so drawing Robespierre due to the Rival Executioner is well in line with the way the game typically plays out.


Splice and Arcane combo What are the current rules for spliced spells? Can they still be spliced again as long its mana cost is paid? or each spell can be spliced only once? If they an arcane spell can be spliced only once then if it goes to the graveyard the counter is reseted and be spliced again?

For a Desperate Ritual + Past in Flames combo

EDIT: Thanks for your response everyone.
Now is clear to me that cards that fill the requirements can be spliced only once and as long they are in your hand.

The rules for splice onto arcane (currently the only form of splice, and described in CR 702.46) are as follows:

While you are casting an arcane spell, if you have a splice onto arcane card in your hand (hereafter called a splice card), you may reveal the splice card.
If you do, pay the splice cost on the splice card.
The arcane spell gains the effects of the splice card.

Nothing happens to the Splice card. It stays in your hand. The original card resolves (plus the splice effects) then, usually, winds up in your graveyard.

You cite Desperate Ritual + Past in Flames as a combo. You cannot splice onto Past in Flames because it is not arcane. I hope you are instead just planning on using Past in Flames to re-cast an Arcane card from your graveyard.

An arcane spell is a spell with the Arcane subtype, i.e. one of these: t:arcane. These cards all have a type line that reads “Instant — Arcane” or “Sorcery — Arcane”. This means they have the Arcane subtype. This is just like how a Creature may be a Zombie, and cards may care about Zombie cards. The exact same way, splice onto arcane cares about Arcane cards.

If you do happen to cast an Arcane card from your graveyard, such as via Past in Flames, you can still splice Desperate Ritual onto it if Desperate Ritual is in your hand at the time you cast it.


Multiplayer version of Quizl I recently started playing David Parlett's Quizl. It's a word game that is something like a cross between a word search and Battleship, and I really enjoy it. It's a two-player game, but I was wondering if anyone has adapted it for more players, along the same lines as multiplayer Battleship or Salvo. I did some searching, but all I found were some solitaire grids.

I've not seen any multiplayer versions before, but why couldn't you play this the same way that you play multiplayer battleships?

I've played a few variations of multiplayer battleships. One where you select a square in a single opponent's grid, another where all shots hit all grids.  I've even played a version where your shots hit all opponent's grids, but not your own (which made it very tempting to shoot at your own ships).

Players would score for guessing a password as in the original game.  You could implement a score penalty for an incorrect guess, otherwise there would be significantly less benefit in revealing an opponent's square.

If you want to enlarge the search space (for example, if playing that all shots hit all grids) then each player could create several 5x5 grids, only one of which contains a five letter word.


Does a Myr Welder token created with Mimic Vat retain abilities added to the original? Suppose I play Myr Welder, then later I play Grindclock (or any artifact) and it gets countered or destroyed. Next turn I exile grindclock from my graveyard with Myr Welder's activated ability and play Mimic Vat. Myr Welder dies on the opponent's next turn and is exiled with Mimic Vat's imprint ability. Then on my next turn I activate the Vat and put a token copy of Myr Welder into play.

Does the token have Grindclock's abilities after Myr Welder had been exiled? Since the myr hit the graveyard first, I know it loses counters. But does the Grindclock remain "exiled with (Myr Welder)" allowing the use of its abilities?

No.

When an object refers to itself by name, it refers specifically to that object (regardless of its name). It does not refer to other objects with the same name.

The Myr Welder card in exile never exiled anything.

The Myr Welder token on the battlefield never exiled anything.

  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.


How to tell if someone is saboteur? What are some general clues that indicate if someone is playing the role of saboteur? Obviously if player is going to put a troublesome dead end on the only path he's a saboteur. But some players are more subtle, and they come out of cover late in the game. How can I spot a saboteur early on in the game?

Obviously, if you are a digger and someone is continuously destroying your
tools, you might expect them to be a saboteur.
A less obvious
way is to detect who are diggers and use deduction. You know ahead
how many saboteurs there can be in your game so if you can eliminate
some players the chances for others to be saboteurs are getting
higher.
Look at who is an obvious digger, and look at who is
destroying their tools, or blocking their paths. Obvious diggers are
easily targeted by saboteurs, so that is another way to spot a
saboteur.
You could argue that in the end the best saboteurs are those that remain hidden
for a long time, but this could also be a weakness, if you are a
digger and you find it hard to detect whether a player is a digger or
a saboteur, maybe they are playing hard to read because they have
something to hide. Arguably diggers have no advantage having their identity hidden so a player who is hard to read is more likely to be a saboteur.

And if you still don't know, just call them a "saboteur" and see what the general reaction is. :-)


Is it ok to show my cards when I know I I’m the only one with spades left Is there any formal rule, or perhaps etiquette, that prevents me from showing my cards once I know I am the only one with spades left? I was recently playing a game and I got down to 5 spades left and knew the other players did not have any (I led with a spade and nobody else played one).

I considered just notifying the other players to save us a couple of minutes but wasn’t sure if this was allowed.

I also couldn’t think of any strategic advantage or disadvantage there might be to not letting the hand play out normally.

The rules (in most spades rulesets) prohibit showing your cards, yes.

That said, what you describe is a pretty common practice in friendly games, as (as you note) the rest of the hand's play is foregone.

Note the Wiki entry's inclusion of the TRAM section (added in 2012, with no cited sources) also includes a paragraph on penalties for doing so prematurely -- penalties ultimately derived from the fact that showing the cards in your hand before playing them is not allowed.

None of the rules for spades that I've found (including all of the ones cited in the wiki page for Spades) allow it. Indeed I've only found one that mentions it at all, and it does so only to disallow the practice explicitly. From The Spades Connection:

  Each hand must be played to completion rather than announcing the rest
  are mine to avoid potential scoring errors.

  Cards dropped from any player's hand, (revealed to any other player)
  should remain face up on the table and played at the first
  opportunity.


Which player is affected by Tolarian Winds? Tolarian Winds says

  Discard all the cards in your hand, then draw that many cards.

Seems simple, but my opponent and I disagree. I take the text literally, draw is directed at the controller - he tries to play it if worded "Have target opponent (or any player)...

I tried looking at gatherer for this, but no relevant rulings. He claims 'house rules'. I say boo-ya, I want MTG rules only.

You are correct, the effect will apply to the Tolarian Winds' controller. I believe the relevant rule is 608.2c:

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

As the controller is the one following the instructions they are the one designated by "your" in the card text.


What should be considered in constructing a balanced team of investigators? I haven't played much Arkham Horror, but from what I've seen it's important to have a balanced team of investigators. What key attributes need to be represented by the team as a whole to have at least a fighting chance at survival?

For example, in my first game I played a "street sweeper" who basically hung out in the streets all game mowing down monsters and clearing paths for others; however, I didn't have any magical items so there were some monsters I really had no chance against without some help or a special item.

Also, to what extent are the particulars of a balanced team impacted by individual player's styles, any expansion packs in the mix, and which dark one you've drawn?

Really, the most important thing is to have the ability to deal with monsters that are in the way without having significant delays. Whether that is being able to effectively sneak past things or just kill them outright.

If you're trying to jump around to locations to pick up clues to seal, you want to make sure you can get to locations and not have (sealing critical) people sit in the streets or stay in the same location because they can't deal with the baddie that is sitting in the streets. Similarly, it is frequently worthwhile to have a monster beater rush a gate (and get sucked through) just to clear the way for someone with the ability to seal.

Also note, that it's important to make sure there's someone in Arkham that can deal with monsters in a pinch should the regular monster beater be unavailable (healing, in an OW, etc.).

Pretty much everyone can gather clues equally well, and fully healed people with a health of 5/5 are more likely to survive the OW trip (although it's important to remember that they may have to fight something during their trip, so you don't want them completely defenseless), and there really aren't many people that can't make either the Fight or Lore check to close.

Other than that though, it's always nice having someone that starts with some money to pass around if healing cash is needed in a pinch. Having at least one Magical and Physical weapon to deal with things is nice (Although depending on the expansion, you may want to tote around spells).

All of this can be greatly affected by with AO that is in play. If Shub is on the board, you'll need really good monster fighters to not have the game slow to a crawl.


Can I use Secret Invasion to transfer a trap card in front of me to another player? In a game of Munchkin: Marvel Edition, a trap is played on me that says I get -5 in my next combat, an additional -5 at night and an additional -5 if it’s raining for a whooping -15 to my next combat. The card explicitly states to "keep this card in front of you as a reminder."

I have in my hand the Secret Invasion trap card that says "immediately exchange all cards in front of you with the person on your right." Can I play Secret Invasion on the person on my left and give them the trap?

No, you can't.

The trap is being kept in front of you as a reminder.  The effect has already been applied.

Arguably you could say that the reminder card moves, the the minus effect won't move with it.

Notice that the trap has no rules about discarding itself.  As currently worded, if it was applying the effect it would stay in front of you forever, giving you -15 until you found a way to discard it with a different card.  This doesn't happen because the card isn't officially in play - it's just a memory tool that you can discard freely once it's done with its purpose.


What does MAX apply to on the Memory Cards in "Autumn Harvest: A Tea Dragon Society Card Game"? In Autumn Harvest: A Tea Dragon Society Card Game, some memory cards have score wording on them that are unclear to me.
For example, the Winter Memory Card Crisp Evening has a score of "4+?" and the card text says

?=1 point for each token you have at game end. MAX 12.

I am unclear about if the MAX applies to the total card score (the whole bottom of the card that says "4+?") or only the "?" that is part of the score equation.

In the example above, if the maximum refers to the card's total score then it would only count up to 8 tokens and would get up to 12 points for this card.
The other way to read it is that the maximum refers to the "?" alone, so you can count up to 12 tokens and would get up to 16 points for this card.
There are some card instances where both the score and "?" are the same so the maximum applies to both, but in this instance because of the "4+?", the score and "?" are not the same and it is unclear which the maximum applies to.
Clarification on this would be very helpful, as there is nothing about this in the Autumn Harvest rule book.

MAX is intended to be the maximum amount of points that may be scored with the card.


Is an Enchantment Creature card an Enchantment card? is it possible to return an enchantment creature card (like
Baleful Eidolon) with Dawn to Dusk from the graveyard? I'm not sure if an enchantment creature is a special type or just two types (enchantment and creature).

I appreciate your help!

Yes, you can. Baleful Eidolon is an enchantment and a creature. Anything which targets or affects either of these permanent types can target or affect it.