What are the dependencies of the Werewolf games expansions? I want to buy the party game Werewolf, either "The Werewolves of Millers Hollow" or "Ultimate Werewolf" , but there seems to be different versions and expansions, and the dependencies are unclear for me. Which expansions needs the original game or not, or obsoletes other parts of the game?

The Werewolves of Millers Hollow

Original Game
New Moon - Requires Original Game?
Characters - Requires Original Game?
The Village - Standalone? Does it make the other games obsolete?
Special edition - Standalone? Can it be used in combination with any of the
expansions?
I know there is a big box version that contains many/all expansions. Is this the same as "The Village" or does it contain that and more?

Ultimate Werewolf

Original Game (?)
Classic Movie Monsters - Requires Original Game?
Night Terrors - Requires Original Game?
Artifacts - Requires Original Game?
Urban Legends - Requires Original Game?
Wolfpack - Requires Original Game?
Deluxe edition - This is the original game with an expansion? Does it overlap with the other expansions?

I found almost all the answers on boardgamegeek.com. That page is very handy for this purpose.

The Werewolves of Millers Hollow

The Werewolves of Millers Hollow - Original Game
The Village - Expansion which also contains Original Game.
New Moon - Requires Original Game (or The Village)
Characters - Requires Original Game (or The Village)
Special edition - It is standalone. Found no more info.
The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow: The Pact - Contains: Original Game + The Village + New Moon + Characters (so full game with all expansions)

Ultimate Werewolf

"Ultimate Werewolf" / "Werewolf" - Original Game
Ultimate Werewolf: Whitebox edition - Reimplements Original Game
Ultimate Werewolf: Ultimate edition - Reimplements Whitebox Edition
Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe edition - Reimplements Ultimate Edition
Classic Movie Monsters - Requires Original Game (or one of the reimplementations)
Night Terrors - Requires Original Game (or one of the reimplementations)
Artifacts - Requires Original Game (or one of the reimplementations)
Urban Legends - Requires Original Game (or one of the reimplementations)
Wolfpack - Requires Original Game (or one of the reimplementations)
Ultimate Werewolf: Deluxe Edition For Kickstarter - Contains: Deluxe Edition +  Classic Movie Monsters + Night Terrors + Urban Legends + Wolfpack (NOT Artifacts)


Can items and Tokens still be claimed from the Mansion even if the character is defeated? If a player explores the Mansion with more than one Explore (ie: +1 Explore from a Shotgun), they normally have the option to draw more than one card and resolve them both at the same time.  While this is fairly straightforward when both cards drawn are Infected, the situation when one of the cards is an Item or a Token is not quite as clear.

At what point would the Item/Token be resolved?  Is it immediately after the card is revealed, as would be the case if it was a single draw?  Or maybe it would be after the Infected itself is defeated.  Or maybe it's just after the Infected is battled, win or lose, so long as the player doesn't die.

I'm leaning towards the "just don't die" interpretation myself, but the rulebook is not particularly clear (I only have the base set to refer to, not sure if it's been clarified in the expansions).

You would apply the effect of any [Token][Item][Event], or any other Non-Infected card when it is revealed, before defeating or failing to defeat the infected. You resolve combat only after applying the effects of the Non-Infected cards.
The official Rules say:

Non-Infected Cards
Sometimes Events can be found when Exploring the Mansion instead of an Infected. In this case, When the Event is revealed, perform the effect listed on the card.

There is also the Comprehensive FAQ (which appears to be answered mostly by Alex_Bandai, who I assume is a Bandai Representative):

If I am defeated can I still collect Tokens or Items reveled?
Yes, you collect all tokens and items as soon as you discover them.


What are the component class names? One Hit Kill has four component classes. Green is Bio. Red is elemental. In the first expansion, black is Death and purple is Lore. What are the names of the yellow and blue components?

You should check out the web app. It has a lot of very detailed info about the game, including the names of each component class:


Should dying have won us the game when playing the voodoo haunt? We were playing the voodoo haunt in Betrayal at the house on the hill and a few factors came into play, to paraphrase the rules of that haunt:

  ...You win if all the dolls are destroyed and at least half of the explorers don't die.

And,

  ...If you die your doll is automagically destroyed...

We played with three explorers (one traitor, two heroes). After my friend destroyed his doll I ended up succumbing to the voodoo doll and died, thus my doll was destroyed. Half of the heroes still lived (as did the traitor), and all the dolls were destroyed. We won.

It seems a little odd that the heroes won by one of them dying. In fact had he been more ruthless, my partner may have killed me to win. It was bit of a let down. Should he have had to fight the traitor still? Or was this a legit win?

Sounds to me like you met the victory conditions: not too many people dead, and all the dolls gone. (Unless there's a "you can't win by dying" clause; I don't own the game.) True, it's not the best rules writing - the victory condition is basically equivalent to at least half the heroes destroying their dolls while still alive. But here's a lot of badly written rules text in the haunts in Betrayal; at least in this case it's still clear enough.

In terms of feeling let down: would it have bothered you as much if you'd died first, then your friend destroyed his doll? Probably not. But of course, it's silly for that to be a win and your game not to be.


STD. AMERICAN - 2 over 1, Bidding with a 5 card major and 16 points A question on which i think the Jury is still out - With a 5 card Major and 16 points - lets say 5-3-3-2 do I open 1 NT or bid 1 of the major.  And how do I show my partner a medium hand if I do open 1 Spade.  With a 5-4-2-2 I could bid 2 hearts as my 2nd bid but with a 4-5-2-2 I couldn't even do that as I would be reversing - which normally shows 17-18.

And if I bid 1NT then do I need to be playing Puppet Stayman?

Many thanks for your time and patience.

This is a matter of partnership agreement. In particular, it is reasonable either to almost always or almost never open 1NT with a 5-card major.

If you are in the almost always camp, assuming a 15-17 NT opener, you should open any 5332 hand with a 5-card major and 15-16 HCP 1NT unless all of your points are in your major and one of the side suits. These bidders will also likely open 1NT with the appropriate point count and semibalanced shapes that are difficult to rebid (e.g. 2=4=5=2, 2=4=2=5, but not 4=2=5=2 since you can raise or introduce spades without reversing). Puppet Stayman is not a necessity, but it is useful. Justin Lall has a useful post about Puppet Stayman.

If you are in the almost never camp, you should open those hands one of the major. The types of hands that would open 1NT with a 5-card major would be those that have positional stoppers or half-stoppers in 2 or 3 of the side suits (like QTx, Kx, Qx) along with a poor 5-card major.

The most important thing is to be on the same page as your partner.

As to how to rebid after opening 1 of a major with a semibalanced or balanced 15-17, here's a guide:

If you have a 4-card suit lower than the suit you opened, rebid that.
If your shape is 4=5=2=2, rebid 2C.
Otherwise, rebid your longer minor at the two-level, preferring to bid a 3-card club suit before a 3-card diamond suit. However, be sure to discuss this with your partner -- you may find that you both prefer to rebid 2D with something like xx AKJxx AKx xxx.

Obviously, if partner invites, you'll accept. If partner takes a simple preference to your first major, you will probably want to make a game try:

If you have 3-card support for partner's suit, bid it as cheaply as possible.
If you have a truly excellent 5-card major (AKJTx or better) and values that look better for a suit contract than NT (fitting honors for partner's suit, side suits with either no honors or with quick tricks), you might make a try by rebidding 3 of your major.
Otherwise, 2NT.


Legendary Encounters - Alien: Freeing captives in the "Who's laying the eggs?" objective (spoilers) When can you start freeing captives in the "Who's laying the eggs?" Objective ?

As soon as this objective becomes the current one
When this objective is the current one, but only after an Event card has been drawn
As soon as there are captives (no need to wait for this to be the current objective)
Other

You can begin to free the captives as soon as Who's Laying the Eggs? becomes the current objective.

From the rulebook (page 11):

  The players can only be on one “current objective” at a time. Whenever an Objective is completed, immediately put it on the bottom of the three Objective cards. Players can then work toward completing the next Objective.

This means that you cannot be working on future objectives, so could not use the text relating to buying captives before this objective becomes current.

As soon as the objective is the current one, you can use the text on it to buy the captives. While there is no explicit rules explaining this, the text for resolving events and for purchasing captives are separated, which indicates they are different abilities, so the second ability would not require the event trigger of the first.


Will Counterbalance counter storm copies? Counterbalance allows you to reveal the top card of your library whenever a spell is played, and counter it if the revealed card has the same mana cost.

If an opponent has cast several spells to ramp up to casting Tendrils of Agony, and I have Helm of Obedience on top of my library, do I get to counter all of the storm copies?

No, Counterbalance only counters the original Storm spell.

  706.10. To copy a spell or activated ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. [...]

Since the copies are not cast, Counterbalance never triggers for them.


Can I use Word of Seizing on a planeswalker? Word of Seizing says:

  Untap target permanent and gain control
     of it until end of turn. It gains haste until
     end of turn.

Can I take control of any permanent? Specifically a planeswalker?

I remember somewhere the rules said that if a portion of an effect is not legal or possible, it gets skipped and the rest of the ability resolves (barring any specific portions of effects that say explicitly otherwise)

Yes, you can target any permanent including a planeswalker. You're right that impossible parts of an effect are ignored - in the case of this spell an example is that you can still target a permanent that's already untapped. Untapping something that's already untapped is impossible, so you just don't and move on with the rest of the effect.

However, the part about gaining haste isn't actually an example of an illegal or impossible effect: the planeswalker, or whatever else you steal, will get haste. Most of the time this will be irrelevant (haste doesn't do anything on a non-creature), but if the permanent later becomes a creature it will matter. So if you steal my Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and then use its +1 to turn it into a creature, you'll be glad this spell gave it haste, because otherwise you couldn't attack with it.


Is priority reevaluated in between each robot's movement or do we keep how it was at the start of the register? In RoboRally 2016, we had a situation as follows. There were three robots on the board, which I have numbered 1 through 3 based on their priority and facing (thus "1→" is the first robot in priority order and is facing to the right).

Robot 1 did a "move 1" instruction and pushed Robot 2.

Note that of the two robots who haven't moved yet, Robot 3 is now closer to the Antenna than Robot 2. Do we keep the priority order, thus the one in the far right moves next?

Or do we immediately reevaluate the priority order as follows, thus the robot on the far left moves?

In other words, do we stick with priority that was set at the start of the register, or does it get reevaluated each time a Robot moves?

The rules for Robo Rally can be found here.
On page 4 it says the following (emphasis mine):

Determining Priority
In ROBO RALLY, when a player has priority, it is that player’s turn. Rather than taking turns based on where they are sitting, players take turns based on where their robot is sitting on the board.
At any given time, the player whose robot is closest to the priority antenna has priority. After that player takes their turn, the second closest player to the antenna has priority and takes their turn, and so on.

This means that priority is reevaluated after each player's turn.


Is it possible to counter cards that boost a creatures power during the combat phase? For example, if someone attacks with a 3/3 creature, and you have a 5/5 creature that will ultimately block and destroy his creature.

If they boosts their creature with a +3/+3 spell, can you counter the spell?
If they boost their creature with an equipment card, during his combat attack phase, can you counter that?

What, if anything, does this have to do with the "Stack"?

It depends on what he's doing, and what you have available.

If your opponent has a card like Serra Avenger, which is a 3/3, and he attempts to cast Giant Growth, giving the avenger +3/+3 until end of turn, then you can counter that with a spell like Cancel or by activating the ability of Judge's Familiar (assuming he can't or chooses not to pay the cost associated with the familiar). Otherwise, the aveneger, now a 6/6, will swallow a 5/5 in combat.

Note that he can cast the Giant Growth during his attackers step, or during your blockers step (after you've declared blockers). Consider the following scenario:

  Him: delcare attacks

  Him: declare Aveneger as attacker

  You: block with Thundermaw Hellkite, a 5/5

  Him: cast Giant Growth on Avenenger

  Result: Aveneger, 6/6 lives, has 5 damage on it, and Hellkite is dead

It's important to note that this is not equipment, but an instant speed spell. Equipment plays by different rules: here's how those scenarios might play out.

If your opponent has a card like Manaforce Mace then he can't equip that during his combat phase, because he can only attach it at sorcery speed. But if you had three basic land types, then you'd have +3/+3 allowing you to take out the Hellkite in the above scenario. Note that this wouldn't really be a surprise like the Giant Growth would be, because you'd have to do this during combat.

If your opponent has a card like Cranial Plating then he could equip that during his combat phase with the activated ability. You can counter this only if you have something that allows you to counter abilities (not spells), for example Stifle

Another option would be something that allows equipment at instant speed, like Brass Squire. You could do this:

  Him: delcare attacks

  Him: declare Aveneger as attacker

  You: block with Thundermaw Hellkite, a 5/5

  Him: tap Brass Squire, attaching Manaforce Mace (which was already on the field, not from your hand, and assuming you have 3 basic land types) to Avenger.

  Result: Aveneger, 6/6 lives, has 5 damage on it, and Hellkite is dead


How is an Uno stalemate handled? I had this scenario today where I played not to win but to just accumulate all the cards. The other player (just the two of us) was playing to win. You can argue this is unsportsmanlike however I was curious to see the outcome! I countered all their moves to the point there was no more cards left to pick up. The rules say to reshuffle the discard pile and use it as a new pickup pile. So we reshuffled and I continued to pick up cards without playing (except sporadically to force my opponent to pick up new cards or change the colour).

We repeated this until I held all the cards except two, which were held by my opponent. I deduced the colour they held (yellow and red), and the card on discard was blue (and I decided to pick up, so that final discard card became my pick up card). At that point there are no more cards to pick up.

There's nothing that I can see in the rules to specify what happens in this situation. So, how should it be handled? Is this a stalemate/tie? Is it decided by who has the fewest cards left? etc. Has anyone been so foolish to try this approach before?

According to the UNO rules, drawing without playing is a legal move:

  RENEGING
  You may choose not to play a playable card from your hand. If so, you must draw a card from the DRAW pile. If playable, that card can be played, but you may not play a card from your hand after the draw.

However, the intent of this rule is more likely to allow a player to strategically hang on to a card (for instance saving a wild card for later) than for someone to hold onto all the cards.

Given that the goal of the game is to get rid of your cards, in the normal manner of play this is a scenario that should never happen, so the rules do not cover this case.

A few possible options for a house rule for when this happens:

If a player can't play and can't draw, their turn is skipped and the next player goes
The game is a draw
If you're including the scoring rule, the game ends, and you each score points for the cards in your opponents hands


Where can I find an exhaustive inventory of cards in Ticket to Ride? I have fallen quite in love with Ticket to Ride on my iPad, but don't have the physical board game. As I attempt to master the game, I'm finding one difficulty, however- I don't have an exhaustive inventory of the destination cards in particular, nor do I know the odds of drawing any one color after a certain number have already been drawn.

Knowing, for example, the number of color cards would give me a better handle on the odds of drawing say, a 6th, 7th, or 8th white. As the game progresses, that is the kind of information that would allow me to plan a route.

Additionally, knowing all the destinations helps me know the best routes to take to maximize my ability to be able to draw a destination card I've already connected. (Even in the classic game, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and
Calgary, for example, appear to be far more common then, say, St. Louis.)

So, is there either a published list of all the destination cards, or else is somebody interested in posting the odds for them?

The card distribution for train cars is in the rulebook, it is 8 colors 12 of each, and 14 locomotive wilds.

There are 30 destination tickets, they can be read here in high resolution with a BGG account. They are listed here

Denver to El Paso (4)
Kansas City to Houston (5)
New York to Atlanta (6)
Chicago to New Orleans (7), Calgary to Salt Lake City (7)
Helena to Los Angeles (8), Duluth to Houston (8), Sault Ste Marie to Nashville (8)
Montreal to Atlanta (9), Sault Ste. Marie to Oklahoma City (9), Seattle to Los Angeles (9), Chicago to Santa Fe (9)
Duluth to El Paso (10), Toronto to Miami (10)
Portland to Phoenix(11), Dallas to New York City (11), Denver to Pittsburgh (11), Winnipeg to Little Rock (11)
Winnipeg to Houston (12), Boston to Miami (12)
Vancouver to Santa Fe (13), Calgary to Phoenix(13), Montreal to New Orleans (13)
Los Angeles to Chicago (16)
San Francisco to Atlanta (17), Portland to Nashville (17)
Vancouver to Montréal (20), Los Angeles to Miami (20)
Los Angeles to New York City (21)
Seattle to New York (22)


What are the differences between various versions of Citadels I'm shocked by the amount of rule differences between the US English version of Citadels (by Fantasy Flight) and the various European (non-English) versions.

I'm looking for a complete list of the differences between:

Citadels (US, Fantasy Flight Games)
Ohne Furcht und Adel (Germany, Hans im Glueck)
Machiavelli (Netherlands, 999 Games)
Citadelles (France, Millennium)

The inconsistency seems to be mostly between US and EU, even though there are so many different publishers. Presumably this is because most EU versions are directly based on the German version.

Took some time to compare the rules, but man there's more than I thought. Some are more subtle, others are complete game changers. Here's a complete list (unless I missed any):

Poor House

US: costs 5 gold to build.
EU: costs 0 gold to build.

Removing characters

US: First put down the face-down card, then the face-up cards. If needed, replace the king from the face-up cards. The starting player can not look at the face-down card.
EU: First put down the face-up card, then replace the king if necessary, then play the face-down card. The starting player can look at the face-down card.

End of turn

US: After all the characters have been called, each player returns his character card to the Character Deck.
EU: At the end of your turn, place your character card at the center of the table.

Discarded cards

US: Face-down at the bottom of the deck
EU: Face-up discard pile

Character abilities

US: Used after performing an action (choosing gold or cards)
EU: Can be used before or after performing an action

Queen ability

US: Receives three gold if you are sitting next to the King or the Emperor (eg the person with the King/Emperor card).
EU: Receives three gold if she sits next to the player with the wooden king piece.

Warlord ability (in combination with Bell Tower)

US: May not destroy a district in a city that is already completed by having eight districts.
EU: May not destroy districts from cities that already has eight districts.
receive any gold from the Poor House or from their Alchemist ability.

Emperor ability

US: The player who receives the Crown chooses to give you either one gold or one district card from his hand.
EU: (no such rule exists)

Diplomat ability

US: Used at end of turn. Can not exchange with a completed city.
EU: Used at any time during your turn. Can exchange with a completed city.

Identical districts

US: You may not build a district such that you have two identical districts in your city.
EU: (no such rule exists)

Bell Tower

US: Bonuses are awarded for seven districts instead of eight.
EU: (no such rule exists) bonuses are awarded for eight districts.

Cemetery

US: If you are using the Diplomat you must remove the Cemetery.
EU: If you are using the Diplomat, the Cemetery loses its function.

End of game scoring (in case of tie)

US: Most points wins. In case of a tie, only look at points from district cards. If there's still a tie, whoever has the most gold wins.
EU: Most points wins. In case of a tie, only look at points from district cards.

Everything on the list is based on these documents

English
German
Dutch
French

I haven't found any differences between the German, Dutch and French versions, they seem to be mutually consistent.


Rules do not explain the answers to these 2 questions What do you do when you don't have a discard during the game?  Also, what happens when you lay down a skip card?  Does the color change to what the next player lays down or do you have to use the color played before the skip card was played?

If you don't have a discard during the game, it means you have played all of your cards, so the round ends. You can end the round either by discarding your final card, or by playing all cards in your hand.

The color doesn't change in Phase 10. Perhaps you are thinking of Uno rules? You can discard any card you like; the color doesn't matter.


Are union cards activated from your hand, or only from the field? My Kaiba deck has the cards Y-Dragon Head, Z-Metal Tank, and X something.

Z-Metal Tank, for example, says:

  Once per turn, you can either: Target 1 "X-Head Cannon" or "Y-Dragon Head" you control; equip this card to that target.

It says other things, but this is enough to continue my question.

Can I activate this union effect when Z-Metal Tank is in my hand, as a sort of Special Summon, or can this only be done when it's already out on the field?

I guess this is a really basic question but neither the card text nor the beginner rule book accompanying the deck addresses this point.

Can I activate this union effect when Z-Metal Tank is in my hand, as a sort of special summon, or can this only be done when it's already out on the field?

This can only be done when it is on the field

The reason why is that it is because this is a Monster effect; when that card is in your hand you can't yet activate this effect, only when on the field is when you can do it.

This is also the standard way of work of all Union monsters. They can unite with each other or well come back as monsters, but those effects have to be activated on the field.

This we can see is backed up by the Union Monster ruling:

  In order to attach a Union Monster to another monster, you must first have the Union Monster as a monster on the field. So you must play the monster normally, then you can attach it. You cannot play a Union Monster as an Equip Spell Card directly from your hand.


Is The Online Version of La Guerre des Moutons Identical To the "Real" Game? I've been playing La Guerre des Moutons (aka Wooly Bully?) at boiteajeux.net and I have to say I'm all at sea.

It's a tile placement game very reminiscent of Carcassonne, but in boiteajeux's implementation I can't see any way of rotating a tile - as far as I can tell you have to fit the tile onto the map in the same orientation that it's presented to you.

I just don't see how, in the "real" game, the tiles wouldn't be rotatable.  Additionally, in the online implementation the tiles appear to be two-sided - this is obviously difficult to represent, but the tiles are presented to you as connected pairs, and if you play the top half of the pair A, you lose the option to play B.  Again I find it difficult to believe the tiles are two-sided in the "real" game, because then it'd be a nightmare to keep your hidden information secret from the other players.

Can anyone who has played this game in real life describe to me how it works?  Is the boiteajeux version a creative adaptation of the original game for online play, or have I just spectacularly failed to comprehend what's going on here?

EDIT: And, d'oh, I've just worked out how to rotate tiles in the online game before playing them.  Feeling a bit silly now for playing a couple of games with a serious self-handicap!  I'd still like to hear any answers that can tell me how/if online Wooly Bully differs from offline play; as I still don't understand if the tiles are double-faced or not... Amending question title accordingly.

As a great fan of this game, I can tell you that yes, the tiles are double-sided. You pick them from a bag, so you can't see anything and you put them in the palm of your had, as described in the rules:

Using this technique, you can easly hide all the tiles from your opponnents.

Hope it helped!


How can I determine whether two decks are equally strong? I am making a homemade TCG using cartoon network card wars as a backbone. How can I determine whether the deck of any two specific characters are equally strong, including the floops and not battling between the decks?

Playtesting is by far the best option (and how all major (and minor) trading card games) have been designed. Do not only pitch the two decks against each other, but also against other decks.

Other than that, if the rules are simple enough, you can do some mathematical analysis. E.g. for Magic: The Gathering, compare the mana curves of the decks, and if both are Aggro decks, you can compare the average Power/Toughness of the creatures. But given Magic's rich ruleset, that is bound to fail. Still, it might work for simpler examples, such as when comparing two non-standard chess armies by relative piece value.


What happens to enchantments that are attached to creatures when the creatures are returned to your hand? What happens to enchantments that are attached to creatures when the creatures are returned to your hand?

They go to the graveyard, just as they do if the creature leaves play in any other way. From the basic rulebook:

  Some enchantments are Auras. An Aura enters the battlefield attached to a permanent and affects that permanent while it’s on the battlefield. If the enchanted permanent leaves the battlefield, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

So: creature goes away, aura dies, nice and simple, whether the creature was destroyed, exiled, bounced back to its owner's hand, or stuck back in its owner's library.

Or if you prefer the detail of the comprehensive rules:

  303.4c If an Aura is enchanting an illegal object or player as defined by its enchant ability and other applicable effects, the object it was attached to no longer exists, or the player it was attached to has left the game, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)

The main exception is that if the enchantment happens to be an enchantment creature with bestow (for example, if you've attached a Baleful Eidolon to your creature), it instead stops being an Aura and becomes a creature.


Are Summoned Monsters shuffled with other monsters when "returned to the box"? My friend just got his Pathfinder Adventure Card Game set and I watched him go through a solo game. One point that came up quite a few times was Summoned Monsters. When returning them to the box, my friend shuffled them into the monster deck every time.

I pondered this: is "returning to the box" the same as Banish? Banish does say "put it back into the box, shuffling it with the other cards of the same type".

As is, I find it somewhat strange because it can lead to what happened to us: getting 3 Specters in a row, which was a horrible thing for a character with no magic, in a situation where the summoned monster needs to be defeated to close the location (Brigandoom, Farmhouse).

Yes,

Returning to the box is the same as Banish.  Check out the definitions on the last page of the rulebook.

  Banish: Put it back in the box, shuffled in with the other cards of the same type.


Mythos Card Resolution During Setup When setting up for Arkham, you are instructed to draw a Mythos card in order to place the first gate and monster(s).
Is it correct to resolve any headline that causes additional monsters to spawn? e.g. 2 monsters are released in the rivertown streets?

The reason I ask is that this occured in the last game we played and we were immediately on the back foot with two relatively weaker investigators 'trapped' by these monsters on the streets.

Yes, you do as per the setup rules (page 5):

14. DRAW AND RESOLVE MYTHOS CARD
Finally, the first player draws the top card of the mythos
deck and resolves it as described in the Mythos Phase
section of the rules.
...
After the mythos card has been completely resolved, the
first turn begins, starting with the first player.

If you are beginners, you may want to forgo #14 and only apply ongoing effects of the first mythos card, rather than the active effects (such as the one you encountered).


Which continuous effect happens if they enter at the same time I play a Warp World and reveal a Null profusion and a Price of knowledge, what is my handsize? The gatherer rules for Warp World state that revealed cards enter at the same time, so their time stamps are the same. So my question is which one goes first and what is my hand size then?

Assuming you're casting Warp World on your turn—since it is a sorcery—you get to choose which order the effects apply. If someone else cast the Warp World on their turn or you used something like Quicken to cast it on someone else's turn, the person whose turn it is would get to choose.

  613.6j If two or more objects would receive a timestamp simultaneously, such as by entering a zone simultaneously or becoming attached simultaneously, the active player determines their relative timestamp order at that time.


Magic The Gathering, Blinking the source of a transformation When the action that makes a card flip back-face up goes on the stack, I use a card ability like the Eldrazi Displacer to blink Archangel Avacyn

After the "blink" resolves, the card I have on the battlefield now is no longer the source of the ability I have on the stack.

In the ruling it says that

  112.7a. The source of an activated ability can perform an action even if it no longer exists.

So, the Avacyn source of the triggered ability no longer exists, but it should be flipped bottom-face up.

What will happen? Will a new object be created? Will the activated ability resolve without effect?

If you blink Archangel Avacyn while its transform trigger is on the stack, the new Archangel object will not transform.

You are correct in that the transform trigger will still resolve, even though its source object no longer exists. However, the Archangel that put the transform trigger on the stack was also the object to be flipped. When you blinked the original Archangel, the transform trigger lost track of that object. The transform ability will resolve, but it will not do anything.

  400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.


What are the key card combos to look out for in Agricola draft? I do quite a lot of Agricola drafting, and one thing I've been noticing is that just taking the most powerful Occupations each pick is often not enough - finding synergies is usually better.  To give an example, I'm just finishing a game where I took Mason, Architect and Wooden Strongbox inside of the first three picks: individually none of these would be considered especially strong, but as a team they allowed me to pull forward to an unbeatable lead in the late game.

I could give lots more examples of obviously good combos I have seen or managed to draft myself (Bricklayer/Clay Plasterer? Well Builder/Village Well/Water Carrier/Flagon? Renovator/Manservant/Plough Driver?) but what are the strongest combinations that a top player should always be on the lookout for from the moment they sit down to an Agricola draft?

It would depend on how you are drafting. If it's a passing draft you need to look for which cards are more powerful and probably build a synergy with those. But also notice which weaker cards are likely to come back around.

I can't really go into specifics as there are so many combinations you named a few there.

A baking strategy needs some card power to pull off well
Anything encouraging you to early renovation would go well with any of the
stone house occupations
Room builders can get ridiculous
Occupations that encourage more occupations
Several Day Labour/Travelling Players bonuses

Combinations that probably don't work are Axe and Clay room builders as they are working cross purposes.

Another thing to consider in passing drafts is you can draft for wood cards even if you pass them as they are likely to be played, Church Warden, a bad example would encourage you to draft for plenty of family growth, even late family growth as long as you could ensure five peeps by round 14.


What are my cards good for once they have rotated out of Standard? So I'm a little upset, but I am realizing this is just part of MtG.  I spent some time last year putting together some nice decks and stocking up on quite a bit of the M13 cards.  And then work / life got in the way I didn't get to play as much as I thought.

Now, M13 has rotated out.  I can still use my RtoR and GC and I've already ordered a deck builder's set for M14 which should get here today.  I realize that I can still technically use M13 for casual gameplay, but not sure I want to continue investing time deck building with them.

Should I just sell them?  Do I gain anything by holding onto them?  Maybe just keeping the rare cards?

Based on how your question is worded, I assume you are talking about standard.

I believe you're really asking a more general question, "What are my cards good for once they have rotated out of Standard?"

They can still be played in alternate formats, such as Modern, Legacy, and Commander (and casual, as you've noted)
Some cards may be reprinted in standard again in the future, in which case you can use your old printings instead of buying new ones
From an investment standpoint, some cards may appreciate in value

I personally hang onto all of my old cards as my collection hasn't gotten too unwieldly in size yet. Whether or not your want to sell yours off is really just a personal decision about whether you think you'll be interested in different formats in the future.

If you don't want them anymore, you might also consider trading them for more current cards with players who do play other formats.


Is there a Saint Petersburg strategy that doesn't involve buying Aristocrats? Is there a viable strategy in Saint Petersburg that involves focusing on buildings (blue cards) while buying at most, say, one or two aristocrats (orange cards)?

Please clarify whether your analysis is with or without the expansion.

If you can claim the aristocrats that provide income based on the number of buildings (or, to a lesser degree, workers) you have early in the game then a strategy that orients on maximizing that type of card, particularly cheap ones, becomes viable.


Is the zombie lord a zombie? We played the Zombie haunt (21) last night and found a hitch. The rules say the Heros win if they

  ...kill the zombie lord or all the zombies...

I went on an axe murdering spree and nailed all but one of the zombies before dying (such a good game!)

But at as my sole other companion ran the spear through the last zombie (with the zombie lord in the next room over!) and declared we had one, the traitor cried foul. They said that the zombie lord was a zombie, and 'Killing all the Zombies' meant they had to be vanquished too.

We argued that if the zombie lord had to be killed regardless it would have simply said 'Kill the Zombie Lord'. Eventually they relented.

What is the logic behind not having to kill the zombie lord? Was our decision right?

No, the Zombie Lord is not a zombie.

As you said, logically he wouldn't be a zombie, because if he was they would just say kill the zombie lord for the requirements for winning the game (page 25)

Additionally, the rules for that haunt remind you that the Holy Symbol that affects all Zombies, doesn't affect the Zombie Lord:

  If you have the Holy Symbol, all Zombies who make Might attacks against you roll two fewer dice. (This doesn't affect the Zombie Lord.)

It hasn't been confusion for many other players, so no additional information appears in the FAQ, or on BGG regarding the Zombie Lord.


Can I discard more than 1 card at a time if there are no draw cards left? Ordinarily no one would discard more than one card when there are no draw cards available. In this situation though, the player discarded down to one card on one turn, and then on the next turn played his remaining card, a Swap Hands card, on a player he suspected was on the opposite team, thus preventing the other player from playing.

It was a brilliant move, and I don't see anything in the rules specifically preventing this.

Is this legal?

Looking at rules here I think your interpretation is correct.  Although I suspect from the way you say "its a brilliant move, and I don't see anything specifically preventing this" makes me think whoever you did this against didn't agree!

anyway the rules quotes....

On a players turn one of there options is

  Pass and discard 1-3 face-down cards from your hand..... then draw 1-3 cards.

The note underneath clarifies

  When the pile is used up, no cards are drawn.

So if there were a situation where a player is to draw a card and can't they simply don't get a card.  So yes you can discard cards knowing you can't draw back and deliberately shrinking your hand size.

The rules for swapping state :-

  The player who plays this card chooses one other player and exchanges hands with them. Discard the action card, then the other player gets to draw 1 card!

So you swap your remaining hand of zero cards with the other player.  They are unable to draw a card as non left.

So yes the move seems entirely legal based on that.


In Monopoly, how do people determine who is the owner of a property? I am very new to Monopoly. I have never played it; I'm just learning all the rules. How do people remember who is the owner of each property?

  Whenever you land on an unowned property you may buy that property
  from the Bank at its printed price. You receive the Title Deed card
  showing ownership.

But I have looked at title deeds cards. They have a colored band, which is probably the district marker, and they also contain plenty of information about rent. But the title deeds do not specify who owns that property. How do players determine or memorize to whom they must pay their rent? Do I always have to simply hold it in my head?

When I've played Monopoly, the owner of property always kept the property card ("title deed") on the table in front of them, visible to all players.

The bank should also keep the unsold property cards visible to everyone; that way, you won't need to call attention to yourself if you land on an owned property.  That is, you shouldn't keep track of who owns property in order to pay rent; it's up to the owner to keep track of what property they own and ask for the rent.  "The owner may not collect the rent if he/she fails to ask for it before the second player following throws the dice."

An example of how each player can organize their properties, as well as their money, can be seen in the image below:


Expansion // Explosion and Alms Collector If I have an Alms Collector and my opponent casts Explosion where X is 4 targeting himself and my Alms Collector, should Alms Collector still replace the draw 4 effect?

I assume because Alms Collector doesn't leave the battlefield until state based actions are checked and that won't happen until after Explosion fully resolves.

Yes, Alms Collector will replace Explosion's draw effect, for the reason you mentioned.

The exact order of events is like this:

Explosion starts resolving.
Explosion deals 4 damage to Alms Collector.
Your opponent would draw 4 cards as the result of Explosion's second instruction, but Alms Collector replaces that effect. Instead, you and your opponent each draw 1 card.
Explosion finishes resolving and goes to the graveyard.
State-based actions are checked. Alms Collector dies because it has lethal damage marked on it.
The active player gains priority.


Can a hero move by spending fatigue without a move action? Can a hero move by spending fatigue without a move action? Can he do this more than once a turn?

Yes, fatigue tokens may be used as often as you like to gain movement points. These movement points are spent just like regular movement points, to perform Movement Actions or to move (gold chart page 16 shows examples).

From the rule book (page 18):

  Spending Fatigue for Movement - At any time during a hero’s turn, he may spend one fatigue to gain one movement point, even if he is currently taking the battle action. This may be done as often as the hero desires. Movement points gained in this manner are spent just like normal movement points


Are there any simulators for Monopoly that meet my specifications below? There are simulators for "deterministic" games like chess and Go that will estimate each player's win probabilities (probably using Monte Carlo simulation), and also combat resolution simulators for wargames such as Axis and Allies. I was wondering if there are simulators that will estimate your "win chances" in Monopoly, based on the positions that occur after a given trade.
Example: I won a game after giving an opponent the green monopoly in exchange for the maroons. I won the game because I had $1200 cash (and quickly built three houses on each) while my opponent had only $200 cash. (Consider the remaining properties to be "evenly" distributed, including two railroads and one utility for each person.) I would guess that the outcome might very well have been different if my opponent had the $1200, and I the $200.
This isn't a simulator, but it is a calculator that calculates the theoretical value of properties given various "states" of building development. The main thing that is missing is the role of players' cash positions in win chances, because more cash means that you can develop faster than your opponents.
Is there a simulator that can estimate my win chances given starting monopolies and starting cash, (and assuming that the other properties were evenly divided)?

Using the calculator linked in the question, you can do your own rough simulators. The calculator already calculates the theoretical value of each roll in your making money from each configuration. The condition that "other properties are evenly divided" equates to "outside of the properties in question, the net gain or loss between the players equals zero.
The thing that is missing from the calculator is the cash levels. To make matters simple, you could invest $900 of cash in three houses each on the maroons (which is what I did), as still have $300 left for emergencies. Your opponent probably needed to retain all of his $200 cash for "emergencies." He could not buy as much as one house each for his greens (unless he mortgaged some properties, and he didn't do that in the actual game).
Let's examine the states, $300 for you, three houses on each of the maroons; $200 for him, no houses. According to the calculator, each of his rolls is worth $35 to you. It takes about 5.85 rolls (averaging seven on a 40 square board) each time around, which is about $205 dollars. That is (slightly) greater than his $200 salary, which means he is on the verge of defeat. Add more houses or build hotels, and he should be sunk.
With the money reversed, the story is different. You opponent could build two houses on each of the greens, deplete his cash, and rely on mortgaging property for his turn to turn needs. You could build one house each on the maroons only by mortgaging for $100 above your cash. Each of your rolls is worth $32 each to him (average expectation for the two houses on each of the greens) and each of his rolls is worth $4 to you (one house on each of the maroons). With a net difference of $28, each time around the board, you are on the verge of defeat, and will be sunk when he adds third houses to each green.


Exactly when does an attacking creature stop being an attacking creature? I've been looking at the rules for the combat phase and its steps, but I can't find this. It's clear when a creature becomes an attacking creature (when it's declared as attacking, created as attacking, or an effect otherwise says it is), but when does it stop?

I'd expect it to be either the beginning of the "end of combat step" or the end of the combat phase, but the distinction is important.

The situation that made me question this was, if you were playing as Oracle (Vanguard), could you use its ability to untap a creature after combat damage during the "end of combat step"? That would allow you to then use tap abilities (e.g. Llanowar Elves) or keep them as a blocker, effectively giving your creatures vigilance. This also goes for cards such as Maze of Ith, or even Kill Shot if you really wanted to kill a creature after letting it deal damage.

Creatures are attacking until the end of the combat phase, so they're still attacking during the end of combat step.

This is indeed spelled out in the rules:

  508.1k Each chosen creature still controlled by the active player becomes an attacking creature. It remains an attacking creature until it’s removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. See rule 506.4.

(Rule 506.4 spells out ways a creature can be removed from combat.)

There's actually even a ruling on Maze of Ith about this:

  You can activate Maze of Ith’s ability targeting an attacking creature you control during the combat damage step or the end of combat step. It’ll be untapped and the damage it had already dealt won’t be undone.

Note also that, as that ruling implies, combat damage is dealt at the beginning of the combat damage step, so you can also do things during the combat damage step after damage, no need to wait til the end of combat step.

There's also a rather famous card whose main function relies on creatures still being attacking during the end of combat step: Desert.


Setup for more than 4 players in Dominion? We have the base Dominion set along with the Alchemy and Prosperity expansions. The rules cover 2-4 players, but elsewhere it implies that up to 6 players are allowed with expansions. Nowhere we could find does it explain if 5 or 6 players have a different setup or end game conditions.

Do you need a different setup for 5 - 6 players in Dominion? I get the impression that adding the Colony and Platinum is required, but not sure if the starting cards or end conditions change. Or is it a different expansion that allows for 5 - 6 players?

I am open to "official rules" and "recommended rules."

The official rules for 5-6 players in Dominion is outlined in the Dominion: Intrigue rulebook, as it requires the extra treasure and Province cards included with that expansion.

To set up for 5 or 6 players, combine the Treasure cards from Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue. Use 15 Provinces in the Supply for a 5-player game and 18 Provinces in the Supply for a 6-player game. All other Victory card piles (Estates, Duchies, and Victory Kingdom cards) remain at 12 cards per pile. Use 40 Curse cards for a 5-player game and 50 Curse cards for a 6-player game.
In a 5 or 6 player game, the game ends at the end of any player’s turn when one of two conditions is met: the Supply pile of Province cards is empty OR any 4 Supply piles are empty.

I would recommend using these rules with proxy cards for the extra treasures, Provinces and Curses if you don't have the Intrigue expansion.


How can we interrupt the Witherbloom Apprentice and Chain of Smog combo? (STX spoilers) A friend of mine was discussing the Witherbloom Apprentice and Chain of Smog combo (pictured below).
I was wondering if it would be easy to interrupt the combo easily, since Chain of Smog is a sorcery.
For example, if my opponent had Witherbloom Apprentice on the battlefield, and then cast Chain of Smog... me casting an instant spell like Pongify on Witherbloom Apprentice should negate the combo, correct?  Because Chain of Smog is a sorcery, my opponent wouldn't be able to put a copy of it on the stack while my removal spell was also on the stack.  Is that correct?
Also let's say I played a card with Split Second such as Krosan Grip, targeting a random artifact on the board that has nothing to do with the combo.  Since Split Second prevents any spells from being put on the stack, would this prevent my opponent's Chain of Smog from going on the stack?  Or would this not work, since the spell is being copied, and not being cast?

You can interrupt this combo with any instant or ability that removes the Witherbloom Apprentice or counters the Chain of Smog.
The most important thing to see here is that the copy of Chain of Smog is created as part of the resolution of the spell. The player it's targeting can't create the copy whenever they want, while the spell is on the stack. The fact that it's a sorcery is irrelevant. So, Pongify will work, because its an instant that removes the Witherbloom Apprentice.
On the other hand, Split Second on Krosan Grip is irrelevant here. Sure, while it's on the stack, the opponent won't be able to do anything else, but after it resolves, the Chain of Smog is still on the stack, and the combo still works.


Does Jourdonnais's ability negate all or half of Slab the Killer's attack on a successful draw? The other night we had Slab the Killer in play as well as Jourdonnais. Here are their abilities as listed on the cards...

Jourdonnais

  Whenever he is the target of a BANG!, he may "draw!" : on a Heart, he is missed.

Slab the Killer

  Player needs 2 Missed! cards to cancel his BANG! card.

When Slab the Killer plays a BANG! against Jourdonnais, how is Jourdonnais's ability applied? Obviously if his ability is unsuccessful, 2 Missed! cards would have to be played, but what happens if Jourdonnais successfully draws a Heart? Is the entire attack cancelled out? Or will an additional Missed! card still need to be played?

Jourdonnais' ability is essentially a built in barrel.
Another Missed! card is needed in addition to drawing the Heart to avoid Slab the Killer's BANG!
This was answered by the designer, Emiliano Sciarra on Boardgamegeek:

Yes. Even if the effect of the Barrel triggers by drawing a Heart card from the deck, you will need another Missed! card from the hand to avoid the hit from Slab.
Since Jourdonnais has a Barrel built in, he may "draw!" once to see if he plays an automatic Missed!. After that, if he drew a Heart he will need a real Missed! from his hand to dodge Slab's shot. Otherwise, he will need two Missed! cards, as anyone else.


When I acquire assets, can I receive the item into my possession one at a time? If I can acquire multiple assets, can I acquire some into my possession and then, during the same acquire assets action, acquire the final card which then acts on those newly gained possessions, for instance enabling me to give any number of Item possessions to another investigator?

I've been unable to find any references for this question.

If you think of the Acquire Assets action as a shopping trip it helps resolve the more common mistakes (replacing items as they are purchased instead of at the end and not being able to purchase more than one item. Shops don't restock immediately after you purchase an item, it takes time to do so; and your successes are each worth one currency, you can divide your total currency as you want)

I believe looking at it this way also resolves your question.

When you're shopping you're not buying items at random, you're selecting the items you want, deciding between multiple items and preferring certain items over other ones.

With that in mind:

You've purchased all your items at the same time. You own them all simultaneously. You can then choose the order to resolve any effects that occur as a result, and if that includes effects that allow exchange of items between players then the new cards are included.

Alternatively, you've purchased the items in individual transactions from multiple shops in the same shopping trip. The items you've purchased already have been paid for and are in your possession. Effects from items you've purchased later will still apply to these items (but not future purchases).

As I said, there are no official answers to this question that I can find, but hopefully this answer gives you some guidance.


Can I create a colour scheme for a custom chapter and the apply it to other chapters? So what I mean is, could I make a colour scheme for my Space Marines and then use that same colour scheme for Grey Knights or Adeptus Mechanicus or Astra Militarum?

You can honestly play the game with unpainted miniatures, nothing prevents you from using your own color schemes, and many people do, though if you intend to be using these forces together in a mixed imperial army, it's best your color scheme between the different subgroups of your army is clear, so effects don't accidentally get applied to a unit from the wrong arm of the Imperium of Man.

Coloring a Mechanicus unit the Yellow and Black of your Imperial Fists could cause you to accidentally apply First Captain Lysander's Icon of Obstinacy to them, when it only applies to his own chapter's units.


Do you have to give others a chance to say "Uno"? I have a friend "J" who will say uno when you say uno to make you draw the the penalty. Does he have to give you a chance to say uno?

From the original Uno rules:

  The game continues until a player has one card left. The moment a player has just one card they must yell “UNO!”. If they are caught not saying “Uno” by another player before any card has been played, the player must draw two new cards.

It doesn't explicitly specify that you must give someone a chance to say "Uno", though it does seem to advocate doing it as soon as you have one card left.

In my experience it has always fallen under the category of house rules as to how much time constitutes a "chance".  Agree on something.  If you can't, maybe ask "J" how much he likes playing Uno with you and if he would like to be invited back.


Custom Heroes Ascended Forms Custom Heroes is a new game (2017), and I need some clarification, if you were a playtester, rules writer, or game designer for it.

An Ascended Form can be played to beat any previous play. The rulebook example says "After an ascended form is used, play continues around the table as normal, though only another ascended form may beat a previously played ascended form ...."

It's the word normal that puzzles me. Is it simply referring to the order of play, or does it mean that the ascended form is like a wild card, but after that players can return to the basic pattern, for example

four 8s
ascended form
four 9s

I don't believe that's what it means, but if not, then playing an ascended form will quickly terminate that round/pile. It would be a power play to try to force the ascended forms into the shuffle.  Is that the idea?

Playing an Ascended Form can indeed shorten the round.

What that sentence means is that an Ascended Form does not immediately end the round. The round continues, but the only legal play is another Ascended Form  (which causes the following player's turn to be skipped, etc). One must match or beat the current set, and only an Ascended Form matches or beats an Ascended Form.

That said, an Ascended Form does immediately end the round in a two-player game. In a two-player game, you need to beat (not match) the current set, and nothing beats an Ascended Form.


What is this Soviet Russian game featuring a complex path on a black background? A Russian friend found this game from his grandmother, but doesn't have the name or any other details. A reverse image search didn't turn anything up. What is it?

I think it is a dice game. The rules of the game are indicated on the game itself: you need to play a two or more, throw a dice and move according to the fallen number


Is there any way to turn a token into a nontoken? Is there anything in Magic that can turn a token permanent into a nontoken permanent?

Within the actual rules definition for "Token", such a thing really isn't possible.

Tokens

111.1. Some effects put tokens onto the battlefield. A token is a marker used to represent any permanent that isn't represented by a card.

With this definition, something becoming a nontoken really means that the thing becomes a card. And to become a card, you need a physical real-world card to have a card in general.
So as long as something is a permanent, and it isn't represented by a card, then it is a token. The closest thing you could do is replace a token with a different non-token that does the same thing... i.e. you could have an ability that says "sacrifice target Forest token. Choose a Forest card you own from outside the game and put it on the battlefield."
But if an ability said something like "target token becomes a non-token", it would just be confusing... Even though effects on cards can override any rules in the rulebook; an effect like this would basically be just redefining the word "token" as it is in the rules. Assuming that you aren't talking about it actually becoming a card; then it becomes an entirely new thing that is a concept never thought of in the rules... a permanent that is neither a token nor a card. You would need to alter a ton of other rules to make it work... what happens when this non-token, non-card enters a graveyard? You would likely need to replace the rules that make tokens in graveyards cease to exist with a rule that applies to all non-cards in graveyards instead.


Pandemic - how many epidemic cards? We've got the 2013 edition of Pandemic, and the four of us are struggling! For instance, it says to prepare the Player Deck by using 4, 5, or 6 Epidemic cards for an Introductory, Standard, or Heroic game. We keep losing on 4.

To get some help, I watched the Youtube video from Tabletop Episode 14 for  Pandemic - which uses the older version - and they seemed to suggest starting with just 2 Epidemic cards. I know I'm an adult, so I can do what I want really - but is the 4 Epidemic cards in 2013 too hard for newbies?

I think 4 is a great number for an easy game. If you find yourself running out of cards in the player deck, then you should really evaluate how you use those cards during the game. Discarding cards to take a flight shouldn't be done too frequently since that depletes that resource used to cure the disease. Also, work together to Share Knowledge, even though it can be challenging since you have to be in the same city as the card. Hopefully, you are playing with roles that negate some of the drawbacks I described above. If you are still having trouble, try playing with 3 and see what that does for you. After while, you'll start to get the hang of the game, and will look forward to the challenge that 4, 5, or 6 epidemic cards adds to the game.


What effect do Strionic Resonator and Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger have together? If I have a Strionic Resonator and a Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger in play under my control, what will happen when I tap a land for mana, or when my opponent taps a land for mana?

You can't use Strionic Resonator when you tap a land for mana. Mana abilities do not use the stack. According to rule 605.1, a mana ability is an activated ability that creates mana, or a triggered ability that triggers off of mana creation and makes more mana itself (such as with Overgrowth or the last ability on Gauntlet of Power). Since Vorinclex's ability is never on the stack, you can't target it.

If you copy the second ability, it won't have any additional effect. The ability doesn't have any targets, it simply affects the same land twice during the next untap step (my comment below indicating that this may not be the case is wrong).


What's the least amount of pieces on an Othello board where black or white can't make a move? Say you're following the traditional rules of Othello. What is the least number of pieces possible on the board, producing a result where one of the two players(black or white) can't make a move, thereby passing play to the other player?

What is the least number of possible pieces on the board where both players can't make a move, therefore ending the game before the grid is completely filled?

Bonus question: An othello game can end with the board being entirely filled all one color. Is it possible for all the pieces on an Othello board to be one color, but the board isn't filled entirely? If so, can you give a sequence of moves that would result in that outcome?

For the bonus, the shortest possible game that results in all pieces the same colour (9 moves) is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ehiWOSp_wk


How to use Chapel card to its fullest potential? I've seen mentioned over and over that Chapel is a phenomenal card. But I have not seen detailed instructions as to how best to use it. As a relatively new Dominion player (<30 games, ~5 with Chapel card), I've experimented with it by trashing estates at earliest opportunity and after acquiring 2 or more silvers/golds, trashing coppers. However, I haven't managed to decisively win games with it yet against opponents who aren't using it.

Chapel is a terminal action so if it shows up with another action card that can get me a silver or gold (like Militia, Smithy, Council Room, etc.) I'm more inclined to get the silver or gold, and use the Chapel later. So Chapel can actually be dead weight in the beginning which slows getting the silver or gold I need to make it useful.

There seems to be near unanimity among highly skilled Dominion players that when this card is in the game, you use it early and use it often if you want to maximize your chance of winning.

So, in detail, how does one use the Chapel card to its fullest potential?

A good answer would discuss the decision-making process when Chapel and a silver-gathering action card come up in the same 5 card hand early in the game.

Chapel can be effectively used mid and late game, but that requires card draw or action branching or both.

The trick to chapel is to trash lots of cards with it early and not rely on it late game (turn 10 bad mid-late game cards into 1 dead card early). This means trashing your entire starting deck as soon as possible. Do not wait until you have plenty of silver + gold to trash coppers. You should consider trashing coppers immediately and buy 2 silvers (or something to get you to at least $3) when not trashing 4 cards.

Ideally using the above strategy you will end up with a deck <= 5 cards that contains 1 chapel and 2 silvers (or 2 cards that will make your hand >=$3 each turn). From here you have slim deck that can be quickly transformed to use whatever actions you want from the supply. The next couple of buys you make will see use almost immediately, while your opponents will each have a couple of hands before new cards get to see use.

If you hold off on trashing until later in the game, you are going to have to deal with the following situations:
1. drawing chapel when you do not draw anything you want to trash.
2. drawing chapel when you have a different action in your hand you want to play.


How do treasure tokens work? Some of the encounter cards in Wrath of Ashardalon have you put a treasure token on a tile. How do the adventurers pick up a treasure token? What can we do with the treasure tokens? They are worth gold, but I don't see anything to buy. Is it just for bragging rights?

P.S. Can someone with more rep than me create a "dnd-wrath-of-ashardalon" tag and add it to this question?

From the rulebook (source), under optional rules (page 15):

  Monster and Treasure Tokens
  Some Adventures use Monster or Treasure tokens to add an element of surprise or risk to a particular scenario. The Adventure explains how to use the tokens and when they are needed.

If an adventure gives no explanation for their use, then yes, they simply give the players bragging rights.


When a creature affected by a change-of-control effect is destroyed, where does it go? If I use Captivating Crew to gain control of opponent's creature before my combat phase and then attack with that creature, if that creature is then blocked and destroyed does it go to opponent's graveyard? Seems like it would. Just wanting to know for sure.

Yes, cards will always go to the owner's graveyard, not the controller's. The other answer quotes the rules dealing with specific cases of a permanent going to the graveyard, but there's another more general rule that ensures that it is impossible to lose track of which cards are actually owned by which player:

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

This rule is important, because "owner" is more than just an in-game term, it generally refers to the actual real-world owner of a card:

  108.3. The owner of a card in the game is the player who started the game with it in his or her deck. If a card is brought into the game from outside the game rather than starting in a player’s deck, its owner is the player who brought it into the game.

Of course, you may be playing with a friend's deck, etc, so the in-game owner may not be the real-life owner, but this is still a necessary rule for dealing with the common situation of players playing with their own cards.


Lifelink interaction with triggered abilities on creature's death I had this scenario with my wife and we couldn't figure out how to properly progress:

1.) Wife declares attackers (creature names are irrelevant)

2.) I declare blockers with one Vampire Nighthawk and two Epicure of Blood creatures.

When damage is dealt, one of my Epicure of Blood will die due to her attacking creatures. However, it says: "Whenever you gain life, each opponent loses 1 life." Do both of my Epicure of Blood's trigger from lifelink despite one of them dying? Or does the triggered ability not occur due to it being dead and removed from the game before it can check if life gain occurred?

My thought was that damage gets dealt, lifelink triggers, but only my remaining Epicure of Blood will trigger. Thanks for your help!

Both creatures' abilities will actually trigger; it doesn’t matter that one dies.

The key is that all damage is done simultaneously, and with Lifelink, the life gain happens simultaneous to damage dealt. So at the moment you gain life, both creatures are still alive, even though one of them has lethal damage now.

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

The creature with lethal damage doesn’t die completely immediately; it dies the next time state-based actions are checked, which is before anyone would get priority. When state-based actions are checked, the abilities that were triggered then go on the stack.

  704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated.

    704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.

The creature will be dead by the time they go on the stack, but that doesn’t matter.

  112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability.


How is 'The Homeworld' played correctly? In a recent Smash Up match we had the base 'The Homeworld', that has the following ability:

  After each time a minion is played here, its owner may play an extra minion of power 2 or less.

I played wizards (and something else that doesn't matter, because I had at this point mostly Wizard cards in the hand). I had a lot of creatures, because of a previous Portal and they were mostly Enchantress and Neophyte. We concluded I can them all play on The Homeworld, as they all have a power of two and playing one triggers the ability and allows me to play the next until my hand is emptied (or I decide to stop). Was that played correctly?

Yes. If it could only be triggered once per turn, it would read:

  After the first time a minion is played here each turn, ...


What is the timing of activation conditions for mastermind abilities? Specifically when playing with a Factor and a Brain, I was wondering about the timing of activating these abilities. Suppose the Brain is in the school which already has 1 Intrigue. During mastermind abilities, I now add 1 Intrigue to the school. Can I now also activate the Factor as a Conspiracy Theorist and add a Paranoia to a character in his location?

Similarly, can the Protagonists do this with a Rich-man's Daughter + Girl Student? (Add a Goodwill to the Girl Student, then use the Girl Student to remove Paranoia from the Rich-man's Daughter?)

When two mastermind-controlled abilities have identical timings, the Mastermind determines the exact order of resolution, with Mandatory abilities occurring first

When two or more abilities with the same timing occur, any Mandatory abilities will occur first, followed by any optional abilities. In the event that two Mandatory or two Optional abilities have identical timings, the Mastermind chooses what order they resolve in. (This is clarified in Cosmic Evil's player rulebook, but the base game doesn't have this issue due to no mandatory abilities having the "Mastermind Ability" timing. Midnight Circle, despite having one mandatory ability with that timing, doesn't clarify it.)

Should an optional mastermind ability cause a mandatory ability's requirement to be fulfilled and the timing is correct for that mandatory ability, then the mandatory ability must immediately be resolved. In all cases where the entire timing of two or more abilities is identical and the abilities can (or must) occur, the mastermind chooses which ability occurs first and resolves it.

Abilities with a specific timing only occur a single time during that specific timing (i.e. The brain's ability can only occur once per day during the Mastermind Ability phase). Abilities with the "Always" timing are considered passive and, if a condition is attached, are in effect while the condition is satisfied.

In the example scenario Teofrostus provided, using the Brain's optional mastermind ability to add a second intrigue to the school causes the Factor's first mandatory ability's requirement to be satisfied. This means that from that moment forward, the Factor can do the same ability as the conspiracy theorist. Because the Factor can then do the same ability as the conspiracy theorist (an optional ability with timing "Mastermind ability"), the mastermind may then immediately place 1 paranoia on any character in the Factor's location (including the Factor).

Goodwill abilities occur in the order that the protagonist leader requests them.

In the example that Teofrostus provided, the Rich Man's Daughter's goodwill ability is invoked (and presumed to have taken effect) and a second goodwill token is added to the Girl Student. Because the Girl Student now has enough goodwill (2) for her ability to be activated, the protagonist leader may now use her goodwill ability to attempt to remove one paranoia from the Rich Man's Daughter (a student, and thus a valid target).

The rules very explicitly state that if multiple goodwill abilities can be activated, the protagonist leader gets to choose which ones he activates and in what order they are activated in. The goodwill abilities phase only ends if one of two things happen: either there are no remaining abilities that can be activated or the Protagonist Leader does not want to activate the remaining abilities.


In Bridge, Is There A Way To Shorten "Reaction Time" For "Real Time" Play I like to solve bridge problems in newspapers. When I do this, I often get the correct answer, or at least come "within sight" (e.g. get the key idea but "muff" the sequence). This process typically takes 2-3 minutes, because I start by inventorying outstanding trumps and honors, plan the play suit by suit, and identify potential problems.

It's different, in "real time play." Here, when dummy hits the table, I get 15, at most 30 seconds to study it before beginning (e.g declarer) play. If I take longer, others at the table start to grumble.

So I end up playing "by instinct"; I need to clear suit X, or I need to draw trumps or no, I need to save trumps for "transportation." This works "quite well," (relative to my peer group). But I fear that I'm blowing hands, or at least relying on opponents' mistakes, when I actually have a "forced" win.

I do have two advantages in "real time" that I don't have with newspaper columns. 1) I see my hand beforehand. 2) I've heard the bidding beforehand. Whereas, with a newspaper column, I see dummy, my hand, and the bidding simultaneously.

If I were in a tournament, would I get a "reasonable" amount of time (say 1 minute) to study the board before I play?

Or does anyone know of a way that I can speed up my "newspaper" reaction time to that of the much faster "real time" play?

In tournaments, there is no time limit, official or unofficial for a hand or trick; taking 5 minutes to play to the first trick is not unusual.  Tournaments don't grind to a halt (i) because there is usually a time limit for a section or session (so you play most hands quickly and have time to spare on the tricky ones) and (ii) because by the time somebody has reached tournament level, he or she will have enough experience to recognize the simple situations (draw trumps/crossruff, duck a trick/cash winners), and will only take a long time for genuinely complex decisions.  The only way to reach this point, I am sorry to say, is practice. Find a group who take the game seriously enough to take time over it: join a duplicate club: make a mental note after every hand of the one thing you want to remember about it.  And then get some more practice.  It won't on its own make you a good player (ask any of my partners), but it will improve your speed.

(There is also the factor that tournament players have to write down their system of bidding and discards, so don't have to worry about remembering them; but it sounds like you shouldn't worry about that at present.)


Can you conquer 3 cities with the flight card? We played Civilization - A New Dawn twice now,

And I must say that it is rather 'difficult' to built a new city.
Meaning that you can only built 1 at the time with the masonery card, and that you can't build a wonder because of the 'or' statement on the card.

During these 2 games, we only build like 3-4 cities, and that again, most of them were on easy (to conquer) terrain.

What troubles me then, is that it is very easy to attack and conquer cities if you have the flight card.  My friend had a very good attack, and was able to take out 4 easy cities and 2 city states in 2 turns.

So while it takes a while to build a city (once at the time, you can conquer 3 at the time by flight), because the tokens doesn't matter anymore.

Did we forget about a rule, or is this unbalanced?

Yes, an attacker can conquer 3 cities with the Flight card as long as all three rival cities are within 5 spaces of one or more of the attacking player's friendly spaces at the start of his turn. (That is, an attacker cannot target spaces that have come within range due to spaces just conquered that turn.)

Based on your description, it seems you are playing by the correct rules, although the terminology is being confused. "Masonry" is the first level Military cards. The Industry cards are responsible for building cities (e.g., "Pottery", the first-level Industry card).

Strategy-wise, if you're finding Flight (the fourth and most powerful Military card) to be overpowered in your games, here are some suggestions:

Cut back on building cities on low-numbered terrain as it makes them easy targets for attacks (the exact symptom you're experiencing)
Make use of reinforced control tokens as they can greatly enhance the defense of surrounding friendly spaces. (Each adjacent reinforced control token adds +1 to its neighboring friendly space's defense.)
Allocate and stockpile trade tokens on the Military card to discourage would-be attackers.


Playing Desertion on a commander I'm not sure how playing Desertion on a commander works. I did a quick search and got even more confused, do the EDH rules overwrite it?

Commander Ruling:

If Commander would be put into a library, hand, graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the command zone instead.

  This is a replacement effect. It applies last (!!) and may apply multiple times to an event.

  The creature never goes to the original destination zone and will not
     trigger triggering abilities based on going there (e.g. "dies"
     triggers).

Desertion's Ruling:

  Counter target spell. If an artifact or creature spell is countered this way, put that card onto the battlefield under your control instead of into its owner's graveyard.

    https://magiccards.info/cn2/en/107.html

    This spell includes a replacement effect. If the target is an artifact or creature, it never goes to the graveyard.

And a 4-year old Quote for reddit.

  "The Comprehensive Rules cover the interactions in Rules 614.15 and 616.1a:

  616.1a If any of the replacement and / or prevention effects are self-replacement effects (see rule 614.15), one of them must be chosen. If not, proceed to rule 616.1b

  614.15. Some replacement effects are not continuous effects. Rather, they are an effect of a resolving spell or ability that replaces all or that spell or ability's own effect (s). Such effects are called self-replacement effects. When applying replacement effects to an event, self-replacement effects are applied before other replacement effects."

    "Desertion is an example of a self-replacement effect, and it should be chosen instead of the command zone replacement effect. This same rule applies to Hinder / Spell Crumple, allowing them to tuck a commander."

Desertion does work against commanders. Commanders no longer go to the command zone instead of the graveyard or exile as a replacement effect. Instead, rule 903.9a now says

If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that object was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. This is a state-based action. See rule 704.

As a result, when a commander is countered by Desertion, the only applicable replacement effect is Desertion's self-replacement effect, so Desertion's controller takes control of the commander.

Under the previous Commander rules, the answer would be as follows:
Desertion does work against commanders. The replacement effect on Desertion is a self-replacement effect, as defined in rule 614.15:

Some replacement effects are not continuous effects. Rather, they are an effect of a resolving spell or ability that replace part or all of that spell or ability’s own effect(s). Such effects are called self-replacement effects. The text creating a self-replacement effect is usually part of the ability whose effect is being replaced, but the text can be a separate ability, particularly when preceded by an ability word. When applying replacement effects to an event, self-replacement effects are applied before other replacement effects.

So, when Desertion resolves and counters a commander, there are two replacement effects that can apply. One is the commander replacement effect quoted in the question, that in this case would allow its owner to move the commander card to the command zone instead of the graveyard. The other is Desertion's self-replacement effect that would move the card to the battlefield under Desertion's controller's control instead of the graveyard. As the quoted rule says, we have to apply self-replacement effects first, so the commander card enters the battlefield under Desertion's controller's control. Once we apply that replacement effect, the commander replacement effect cannot be applied because the commander is moving to the battlefield. So, the end result is that it goes to the battlefield.


Can a “flung” creature that is destroyed still deal damage? I pump my Longtusk Cub up to make it a 6/6 and use Fling to deal 6 damage to my opponent. He responds with a Fatal Push on my cub. Does my cub still get through to deal 6 damage or does my fling spell fizzle and he takes no damage?

The situation described in your question can't happen. Your opponent cannot use Fatal Push on your Longtusk Cub. Sacrificing the creature is part of the cost of casting Fling, not part of the effect. This means that the parts of casting a spell, which cannot be interrupted (announcing, entering the stack, choosing targets, determining and paying costs) all occur before they get priority and can cast Fatal Push, leaving no creature for your opponent to target and destroy. This also means though if Fling is countered, you have lost your creature, since it is part of the cost, not the effect.

In simpler terms by the time your opponent knows and is able to react to the fact you are going to Fling Longtusk Cub, it's already gone and too late to respond with anything intended to target the creature.

Note that the reverse is not true, you can respond to Fatal Push by using Fling on your Longtusk Cub, since the destruction from Fatal Push is part of the effect, not the cost. This would cause Fatal Push to fizzle.


Do effects that reduce a spell's casting cost also reduce its converted mana cost? If I have Grand Arbiter Augustin IV in play, can Zur the Enchanter's triggered ability pull a card like Æther Storm from my library, which would originally have a converted cost of 4, but which is lowered by the Grand Arbiter's ability?

You can not find Æther Storm with Zur. This is because Augustin's cost reduction ability only effects casting the card, it doesn't apply at any other time. "White spells you cast cost 1 less to cast".

Also, the only thing that can change the CMC of a card is chooseing the value of 'X' while casting it. This is because CMC is what is printed on the top right of the card, not what you actually pay for it.

For example Divine Deflection costs {X}{W}, when you cast it you pick a value for X (let's say X = 5). That makes the CMC of the card 6 (5 from {X} + 1 from the {W}) even though with the Grand Arbiter out you only need to pay {4}{W} because of the cost reduction.

  202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.


What algorithm does Better Settlers use? I have been using Better Settlers and found that it sets boards that have even probabilities. I would like to understand the algorithm used to generate the board layout, and how it achieves a "fair" setup.

The code for Better Settlers is open-source and can be found at github.com/andrewflynn/bettersettlers. Not the easiest format to read on the algorithm, but hopefully that helps a little bit.

Also to answer Markus' concern above about taking away the tension of setup, Better Settlers still has that same tension (and arguably even more so because it's actually even more difficult to figure out what the best spots are).

The thing that Better Settlers tries to avoid is situations where combinations of starting positions are completely unbalanced. You still have the same pros/cons of placing first vs. last; it's just at the end of it, everyone stands a much better chance of still being in the game.


Can I cast Enchant Creature cards on Enchantment Creatures (Bestow) that are on another creature? Say I have a Nessian Courser which is enchanted by a Nylea's Emmissary. I want to cast an Enchantment - Aura on the Nylea's Emissary, for example: Ordeal of Thassa.

Perhaps for some reason, I know that the Nessian Courser is going to die at the end of the turn, or I just want to diversify my play so that one burn spell won't cost me two cards. Can I cast an Ordeal of Thassa on the EMISSARY? It is technically a creature, even though it's being used as an enchantment currently.

I wouldn't imagine that the Nessian Courser would get the bonus from the Ordeal of Thassa, but I would expect that the Nylea's Emissary would retain the Ordeal when the Nessian Courser dies and it bounces off.

Is this possible, and if so is my understanding of how it works correct? Thanks!

No, because whilst Nylea's Emissary is bestowed on another creature, it isn't itself a creature - it's just an Enchantment — Aura.

Its card type might be Enchantment Creature — Cat, but whilst it's bestowed, that's overwritten to just make it an Enchantment — Aura. That's thanks to the following two rules:

  702.102a (the expanded definition of Bestow): [snipped] "Bestow [cost]" means "You may cast this card by paying [cost] rather than its mana cost." and "If you chose to pay this spell's bestow cost, it becomes an Aura enchantment and gains enchant creature.

  205.1a: Some effects set an object's card type. In such cases, the new card type(s) replaces any existing card types.

The text I've bolded is something Nylea's reminder text points out, though it doesn't explicitly say how it remains an enchantment in the reminder text.

As a result, whilst Nylea's Emissary is a bestowed permanent, it's just an aura and not a creature. Note in particular the "it becomes a creature again" statement in Bestow's reminder text - that wouldn't make much sense if it was a creature to begin with.

Furthermore, Thassa's emissary says "Enchant creature". Whenever something simply says "creature", it means a permanent on the battlefield that's a creature. Nylea's Emissary isn't a creature whilst it's bestowed, so it can't be enchanted. This is flipside of the mechanic that allows a Mutavault to be enchanted with something that says Enchant creature whilst in creature mode, even if its card type doesn't include "Creature".


What is a good way to store multiple expansions of Dominion? At the moment I just have the base set of Dominion and Dominion-Intrigue, each of which are a full set so currently I'm storing each per the in-the-box organizers in their original boxes.

But when we buy another expansion (and more after that) I'm starting to wonder how we can best store all of these expansions. I've seen (but don't recall exactly where) various solutions for storing Dominion cards.

For us I think the following features would be needed:

easy and rapid setup (so no need to resort piles beyond counting out the numbers of some cards per the number of players - which in our case is usually two)
easy to clean up when the game is over and/or set up another game with a different set of cards
consistency in how the cards are organized - I've noticed that the default organization structure changed between the Base set's layout and Intrigue (the base set alpha sorted while Intrigue sorted the cards into more categories before alpha sorting)
Ideally space efficient so we can more easily travel with our games

I got a 3,000 card box from the local gaming store and then printed off a cardstock set of tab dividers from Board Game Geek (I use the Sumpfork tabs). All cards go alphabetically instead of by set, except for the cards common to all games. Prizes are stored with Tournament, because that's the only scenario in which you would need them.

To simplify setup of Victory/Curse cards, I change the direction of the cards. For Victory cards, the first 8 face forward and the second 4 face backwards so I can easily separate out the cards not needed for a 2 player game. I do the same with Curses: 10 forward, next 10 backwards, final 10 forwards. Estates get complicated; I do 8 forward, 4 back, then 4 sets of 3 alternating forward and back (for starting hands). I could do alternating sets of 7 Coppers as well, but I haven't gotten around to it.


Can doublestrike kill a creature with totem armor? The Battlefield
My opponent has a 3/3 creature in play, enchanted with a Mask token from Estrid, the Masked's -1, which grants the creature totem armor:

If enchanted permanent would be destroyed, instead remove all damage from it and destroy this Aura.

I have Samut, Voice of Dissent in play, who is a 3/4 with doublestrike.
It's my turn and we move to combat. I attack his planeswalker, and my opponent blocks with the enchanted 3/3 creature.
My opponent told me that Samut first would kill the 3/3 creature with her first strike, removing the Aura token instead, and then swing again killing the 3/3 creature. Is that correct?
Research
The rulings of 7/13/2018 from Estrid mention:

If a permanent enchanted with an Aura that has totem armor would be destroyed by multiple state-based actions at the same time (most likely because a creature with deathtouch has dealt damage to that creature greater than or equal to its toughness) totem armor’s effect will replace all of them and save the creature.

Does doublestrike count as multiple state-based actions at the same time? If so, the ruling of my opponent would've been wrong, and the totem armor would've saved his creature altogether. Right? Or am I missing something here? Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, a creature with doublestrike can kill a creature with totem armor in combat.
In a combat phase that involves first/double strike creatures, there is an additional combat damage step. In the first, only creatures with first/double strike deal damage, so the 3/4 deals 3 damage to the 3/3. Players then get a round of priority, which means state-based actions are checked and the 3/3 that received lethal damage dies. Totem armor replaces that death and, unlike with regeneration, the 3/3 remains in combat. In the next damage step, the 3/3 and the 3/4 deal damage to each other and the 3/3 creature dies for good.

Combat Damage Step

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage.
510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously.
510.3. Third, the active player gets priority.
510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step.
704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event.


Chandra, Awakened Inferno vs Gods Willing If Chandra, Awakened Inferno does its last ability for -x to my creature and I respond with Gods Willing to give my creature protection from red, does Chandra's -x to my creature fizzle?

I guess the specific question also, does Chandra's ability considered to be red colored?

Correct, protection from red would cause the ability to fizzle and your creature to survive.
A creature with protection from red can't be targeted by abilities from a red source:

702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.

When someone activates a targeted ability, the player has to check twice whether the target is legal: once on activation, and again on resolution. If all targets of that ability become illegal between the checks, the ability "fizzles", i.e. it is removed from the stack without having an effect.

Casting Spells

601.2c The player announces their choice of an appropriate object or player for each target the spell requires. [..]

The rules for casting spells and activating abilities are the same as far as targeting is concerned.

Resolving Spells and Abilities

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. [..] If all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve. It’s removed from the stack and, if it’s a spell, put into its owner’s graveyard. [..]


Is the partner of a no trump opener also the team "captain" on defense? If opener bids, say 1 NT, his partner becomes the team "captain" on further bidding because the NT opener has strictly limited both his point count and "shape" with such a bid. That is, partner can bid 2 clubs (Stayman) or any number of "transfer" bids, and opener has to rebid the appropriate suit.

But suppose the opponents intervene, and the bidding goes:

South 1NT West 2 spades North pass East 3 Spades.

North has (s) Jxxx (h) xxx (d) xxx (c) xxx. Is it North's prerogative (captaincy) as to whether or not to double, knowing that South has at least 15 hcp and (probably) xx in spades? Put another way, should South refrain from doubling on the off chance that North has both a Yarborough and a void in spades, even if South has good spades?

This is nonsensical reasoning.

In any sort of team game you would be frequently doubling the opponents in to game (minus 530 or 730) for a long shot at a doubled set (of plus 100 or 200). To make matters worse, the double will just refine the ability of declarer to place defensive cards properly, which is already tuned by the 1NT opening. This is simply losing bridge.  Even at match-points, white against red, I cannot conceive of a game situation where I am not better off to try and get a plus by defending better than the field.

Further, captaincy in defense is a separate concern than in bidding. In defense, the captain is the partner who first figures how to maximize defensive tricks, and is most often the defender with the most points. Captain, once that is known, is entitled to lie with defensive signals while non-captain should only make mandatory false cards and otherwise signal honestly.


Are you allowed to shuffle your library at any time? Of course, there are some spell cards that allow you to look through your deck to find some sort of card, usually sorcery cards that let you find basic lands in your library or something and then shuffle it.

Anyway, what if I am in a situation where I seem to only be drawing cards that are too expensive in mana cost or I'm only pulling lands? Am I allowed to shuffle my library at any time, or do I have to deal with what I get or cast some kind of sorcery or instant that lets me find a card/cards then shuffle my library?

You can't shuffle whenever you want; rule 401.2 explicitly handles this case.

  401.2. Each library must be kept in a single face-down pile. Players can’t look at or change the order of cards in a library.

Plus, if you could shuffle at will, it would make cards that let you shuffle like Ponder pretty redundant.


Can anyone identify this labrynth/marble maze? I have been advised it may be from the 70s, but I'm looking for any more specific info such as manufacturer. I can't find any information on the item at all.

It looks like an older variant of the game "Labarynth".  The modern ones, made by Brio, look like this: https://www.brio.us/products/by-age/6-years-and-up/labyrinth.

The goal is to get a marble from the start (on your board, one of the corners) to the end (on your board, the crown in the middle) without it falling in any of the holes, purely by manipulating the knobs on the sides.  The knobs tilt the board on the horizontal and vertical axes, causing the marble to roll in the direction of the tilt.  If the marble falls into a hole, there should be a spot on the side of the board where it will come out so that you can start over.

Brio did at some point make a round variant, whose pattern is closer to what you have: