What happens when additional costs can't ultimately be paid, but the spell is on the stack? I have a question that bothers me after reading a part of the big book of rules :).

It's about the rule 717, illegal actions.

  717.1. If a player realizes that he or she can’t legally take an action after starting to do so, the entire action is reversed and any payments already made are canceled. No abilities trigger and no effects apply as a result of an undone action. If the action was casting a spell, the spell returns to the zone it came from. The player may also reverse any legal mana abilities activated while making the illegal play, unless mana from them or from any triggered mana abilities they triggered was spent on another mana ability that wasn’t reversed. Players may not reverse actions that moved cards to a library, moved cards from a library to any zone other than the stack, or caused a library to be shuffled.

For example, player A plays a Goblin Grenade.

  As an additional cost to cast Goblin Grenade, sacrifice a Goblin.
  Goblin Grenade deals 5 damage to target creature or player.

It goes on the stack. Player B gains priority and casts a Terror on the only goblin of Player A.

  Destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. It can't be regenerated.

The terror goes on the stack. Then both players agree to resolve the stack. The terror kills the last goblin standing and then the Goblin Grenade can't be cast because of the additional cost which can't be paid. So in my opinion that leaves two possibilities:

The Goblin Grenade returns to the zone it was previously from (the hand of Player A)
The Goblin Grenade becomes illegal and gets countered, so it goes to the graveyard

Based on rule 717 I think it goes back to the hand but I'm not quite sure. :)

When the opponents gets a chance to cast Terror, the Goblin has already been sacrificed as part of the cost to cast Goblin Grenade. It's not available to be targetted by Terror.

Additional costs are part of the total cost to cast a spell or activate an ability. To paraphrase 601.2e,

  total cost = mana cost or alternative cost + cost increases and additional costs - cost reductions

The total cost to cast a spell is payed as part of casting the spell. To paraphrase 601.2's subsections, to cast a spell is to

(601.2a) Place the card on the stack.
(601.2b-d) Make some choices including targets.
(601.2e) Determine the total cost to cast the spell.
(601.2f) Activate mana abilities.
(601.2g) Pay the total cost to cast the spell.

All of this, including sacrificing a Goblin, happens when you cast Goblin Grenade. When the opponents gets a chance to cast Terror, the Goblin has already been sacrificed.

The illegal action in your scenario is the casting of Goblin Grenade for the wrong cost. In a casual setting, you should rewind the casting of Terror, finish paying the cost of Goblin Grenade (i.e. Sacrifice a Goblin), then proceed from there.

Things are different at Pro and Competitive Rule Enforcement Levels (REL). For starters, there would be two errors. You failed to pay the appropriate cost (Game Play Error — Game Rule Violation) , and your opponent allowed the game to proceed in a bad state (Game Play Error — Failure to Maintain Game State). The consequences are detailed in the Infraction Procedure Guide (IPG) rather than CR 717.1.


Regal force and cyclonic rift Say I have 2 green creatures out and I cast  Regal Force. My opponent responds by overloading Cyclonic Rift. Do I draw 3, 1, or 0 cards, and does Regal Force get bounced?

It depends on what exactly the opponent is responding to. If they cast Cyclonic Rift in response to Regal Force the spell, then Regal Force ends up on the battlefield and you draw 1 card. However, if they respond to Regal Force's triggered ability, then Regal Force instead ends up in your hand and you draw no cards.

Responding to the spell

If they respond to the spell, then the sequence of actions plays out like this:

You cast Regal Force and pass priority. At this point, Regal Force is on the stack.
They cast Cyclonic Rift. At this point, Regal Force is on the stack, and Cyclonic Rift is on top of it.
Cyclonic Rift resolves, returning your two creatures on the battlefield to your hand.
Regal Force resolves and it enters the battlefield. Its ability triggers.
Regal Force's ability resolves, and you draw 1 card for the 1 creature you control.

Responding to the triggered ability

If they respond to the triggered ability, the sequence of actions instead plays out like this.

You cast Regal Force.
Your opponent declines to respond, and Regal Force resolves. It enters the battlefield, and its ability triggers. At this point, the triggered ability is on the stack.
They cast Cyclonic Rift. At this point, Regal Force's triggered ability is on the stack, and Cyclonic Rift is on top of it.
Cyclonic Rift resolves, returning your three creatures on the battlefield to your hand.
Regal Force's ability resolves, and you draw no cards because you control no creatures.


Is accepting new survivors mandatory? In dead of winter Plaid Hat game, when I draw a card that add survivor(s), do I have a choice:

to ignore the card?
to make noise to find another type of card?

Outsiders cards are just like any other card when you are searching.  You can absolutely make noise and choose not to keep them.

Once you do keep them, they go in your hand and don't take effect until you decide to play them.  You might want to hold a card that will add too many helpless survivors if you are short on food this turn.  Or maybe you're the betrayer and you want to surprise everyone by playing a bunch of helpless survivors at an inopportune moment.

Outsiders can even be requested if someone else decides that they really need another character.

Here's a post from one of the game's designers on BGG confirming these rulings.

  yes, you add them to your hand like any other card, and can play it,
  request them, and give them to a request.


Sacrificing Sengir Autocrat and his Serfs at Same Time Say I have Sengir Autocrat with his 3 serfs out. Am I able to sacrifice him, his 3 serfs, and an additonal creature to pay for Westvale Abbey's transform ability? Or does his effect make it impossible to sacrifice him together with his tokens, as him leaving exiles all tokens leaving me with only 2 creatures (Sengir Autocrat and the additional creature) to sacrifice?

Yes, you may sacrifice all three serf creature tokens to help pay Westvale Abbey's Costs.

This is because Sengir Autocrat's second ability is triggered when he leaves the battlefield. By the time you've finished activating this ability, all your serfs have already been sacrificed to the Abby and are no longer on the battlefield to be removed.

Let's break down the interaction step by step:

You have a Westvale Abbey, Sengir Autocrat, 3 serf tokens, and a zombie token.
You activate Westvale Abbey's ability, tapping it, paying five mana and sacrificing all 5 creatures. All the creatures goto your graveyard per comprehensive rules:

  701.15a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.

With its costs paid Westvale Abbey's ability goes onto the stack.
The game sees that Sengir Autocrat has left the battlefield, his ability goes onto the stack.
Assuming no responses, the stack starts to resolve. Sengir Autocrat's ability resolves and checks for any Serfs you control, but they are already gone so nothing happens. Westvale Abbey's ability now resolves and you get your Profane Prince.


With Print&Play board games, should the focus be beauty or simplicity? Many Print & Play (P&P/PNP) board games come from a designer's desire to get people to play their game. If the intent of designing a P&P board game is getting the most people to play it, should the components be designed to look the most beautiful (full color images, art, etc.), or should the components be designed to be functional and less ink intensive (grayscale/b&w images)?

Does the need for a large amount of printed components scare too many people away? If functionality isn't affected too greatly, can substitution components be used?

Example: a randomizer without replacement (a deck of cards), with just a chart/look-up table showing what each card represents vs. creating card art and rules text for a brand new deck of cards?

Basically, do people who PNP prefer a good looking game, or a cheap and easy to create game?

Generally, the best solution is to have a very functional design first, with a "pretty version" using the exact same underlying design, but with full color pretty images, including both in the package. The simple functional version will often be the trial - it needs to be low ink, and preferably grayscale.

If the underlying design isn't functional, the game won't get played, no matter how pretty...

As an aside: for a P&P, if people wouldn't play the cheapass games edition of it, they're unlikely to play the fancy versions, either. Note that several of Cheapass Games' could-have-been-laser-printed games later had much pricier full color versions sold. Some examples include Cartagena, Give Me The Brain, and Lord of the Fries.

Hell, people will play some DAMNED F'UGLY games... so long as the play is good.


What would happen if I used regeneration on a creature that was the target of Annihilating Fire? For example, what would happen if a freshly cast Lotleth Troll were to be regenerated in response to Annihilating Fire?

My hypothesis is that it depends on whose turn it is. The regeneration being essentially a replacement effect, when two replacement effects were to be applied simultaneously, they are to be chosen in APNAP order. Is this correct?

I haven't thought this through to the end, though, so I'm not sure what would happen in the end.

Summary: Annihilating Fire replaces the effect of destruction, but regeneration replaces the destruction itself. Annihilating Fire would not exile.

Replacement effects are not applied in APNAP order; they are applied in the order the affected object's controller or the affected player decides [CR 616.1]. But that doesn't matter here.

The effect of the state-based action being replaced is as follows [CR 704.5g]:

  that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed.

which is to say [CR 701.6a]

  that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed [move it from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard].

Say Annihilating Fire replacement effect is applied first:

  that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed [exile it from the battlefield].

Regeneration doesn't replace death, it replaces destruction [CR 614.8], so we get:

  that creature has been dealt lethal damage, has all damage marked on it removed, and is tapped. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat.

We get the same result by applying the effects in the opposite order.


When a player is killed in Bang! can they still talk? When a player is eliminated, can they still talk and discuss strategy on the table or do they have to stay silent?

The rules don't explicitly cover this, so we must use our own judgement.

When a player dies, they reveal their role and their cards. The dead player has no more hidden information. Therefore, I see no reason why they should be required to remain silent. Additionally, one could argue that they aren't even playing the game any longer, and therefore can't possibly be bound by its rules. (In before someone comments that some Bang! character I don't know about can revive.)

If your play group really has an issue with dead players influencing opinions after death, then introduce a house rule. Dead players can't speak (at least about the game).


Model positioning during multiple close combats after removing models Here is the scenario.

A multiple close combat scenario. 3 units are attacking one of my units. One is attacking the front. 1 on my left flank. 1 on my right flank. I have 15 models in the unit.

3 models are killed from the frontal attack. I remove 3 units from the rear of my unit. Now 2 models are in the rear of my unit. Who can those 2 models attack? Do they slide over to the right flank or the left? Or does the controller of the unit get to decide where they slide to? I read a rule that said they are assumed to slide over to engage in combat, but which side? Do they slide from side to side during one phase of combat?

If they are on the right flank, can the enemy at the left flank claim an extra model is in base contact with the last row even though they are not touching the actual model that is there?

Thanks

This exact situation is covered under Incomplete Ranks in the Close Combat section of the rules (pg 49.)

  If the unit is fighting to its rear (or fighting to both flanks) some
  enemy models might not end up in base contact because of the models in
  the incomplete rear rank. In this specific situation, the models can
  fight across the gap, even if not physically in base-to-base contact.
  In reality, the chargers would not have stopped one step away from the
  enemy and would have moved in to continue the fight — treat these
  models as being in base contact with the enemy.

They count as being in base contact even though there is a gap.


Identify the Game: reach the other side of the board, while avoiding barriers I was at a friend of a friend's house last weekend and played a cool game.  Here is what I remember:

The game is played on a square board
2 or 4 players
The goal of the game is to reach the opposite side of the board from which you start (before your opponent(s))
On your turn you may

a) Move you piece forwards/backwards/left/right (not diagonal)
b) Place a barrier which you and your opponent cannot cross.  A barrier is a length two piece that goes between squares.

Anyone know the game?

Sounds like you are describing Quoridor.

  This abstract strategy is surprisingly deep for its simple rules. The
  object of the game is to advance your pawn to the opposite edge of the
  board. On your turn you may either move your pawn or place a wall. You
  may hinder your opponent with wall placement, but not completely block
  him off. Meanwhile, he is trying to do the same to you. First pawn to
  reach the opposite side wins.

There is a similar game called Blockade, but unlike Quoridor, the board for that one isn't square.


Do Interrupt cards work against players playing as the aliens? If a player dies and takes control over the aliens can you use the "Interruption" card against them? The card it states you cancel a "player" action. Is the person controlling the aliens still a player?

I'm assuming by "aliens" you mean "intruders" as the rules define "Intruders" as "the name give to the alien organism by the ship AI".
If so then this is covered in the Nemesis FAQ

Can an Interruption card be played to stop an Action of the Intruder
player?
No, it can only be used against other Characters.


How many counters for each turn for Abzan? I've just started playing mtg like a week ago and the first deck I've bought was Abzan Siege. Problem is I'm a bit confused on one thing, how many counters can you put on a creature at each turn? Is it only one +1/+1 per turn or as many as I want as long as I have sufficient lands?

The deck Abzan Siege has several different ways of putting +1/+1 counters on creatures and how often you can do it depends on exactly which card is doing it.

For any of the cards with Outlast like Abzan Battle Priest you can normally only activate the ability once each turn since tapping the creature is part of the cost of the ability in addition to the mana you need to pay. If you can find a way to untap the creature on your turn you can activate it again, but since you can only activate Outlast as a sorcery your Ivorytusk Fortress will not help you get additional activations out of it.

For ones with a triggered ability like Armament Corps you get to distribute the counters only once when the creature enters the battlefield.

For ones with an activated ability that doesn't require tapping like High Sentinels of Arashin you can activate the ability as many times as you want as long as you have the mana to pay for it.


How do Panglacial Wurm and Imoti interact? Let's say I control Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty. I then cast Panglacial Wurm while searching my library. Panglacial Wurm will have cascade.
Since the library is kept in the same order while searching, I will know exactly what Panglacial Wurm will cascade into, and I will have access to this information before making the decision to cast Panglacial Wurm, is this correct?

No, you won't know what it cascades into.
Cascade is a triggered ability. This means that the ability triggers when you cast the Wurm, and then goes onto the stack once players receive priority. This only happens once you're done resolving whatever spell or ability let you search in the first place. At the end of the search, you are almost certainly instructed to shuffle your library (I don't know any searching effects that doesn't make you shuffle your library afterwards, but I don't know that none exist).
So here is the order of events:

You search your library, cast the Wurm, the cascade triggers
You finish your search, and shuffle your library as instructed
The cascade is put on the stack
Players have opportunities to cast instants and activate abilities
The cascade resolves and you exile cards from the top of your library

So the search that let you play the Wurm does not let you know what it cascades into. You would have to do something like a scry in step 4 above in order to know that. But by then you have already decided to cast the Wurm.


What do shiny ovals mean on Magic the Gathering cards? I have just bought a set of Oath of the Gatewatch cards, and a few of them have a small shiny oval on the bottom center, like Corrupted Crossroads.

What does this mean?

As of the Magic 2015 redesign, rare and mythic rare cards will have a spot at the bottom of the card frame containing a small holofoil stamp. This has two effects:

It makes it harder to produce counterfeit versions, so it's a sign of authenticity.
It makes the card seem more special. Look, shiny!


What is the difference between an artifact and a creature? My opponent (we're both beginner players) casts a Renegade Freighter, which is an Artifact — Vehicle. Can he attack me with it on his next turn? They are attacking me with it like it is a creature, but this doesn't seem right to me.

Also, it says "Crew 2", which, when enabled, turns it into an artifact creature. What is an artifact creature?

An artifact is simply a card type, like "land", "creature", "instant" etc. After you cast an artifact card, it just sits there on the battlefield and only does whatever its own text says it does.

A creature is also a type of card, but creatures are different than other card types in that they can attack and block.

An "artifact creature" is just an object that is both an artifact and a creature. So Renegade Freighter, as an artifact, cannot attack or block. But because it is also a vehicle, it has a "crew" ability that lets it become an artifact creature, so that you can attack and block with it.


How many trucks can line up in one dock outside a speakeasy? Each speakeasy has 3 docks (majority, minority, and public), but within each of those docks/bays, how many trucks are allowed to queue?  For example, say there is a speakeasy with 4 minority holders (no majority), can each holder put a truck in the minority (two star) loading dock?

The space on the board between the front of the speakeasy and the placeholders for Men of Action cards is only big enough to comfortably fit 2.  But there is nothing in the rules (as far as I could see) which limited the number of trucks allowed in each dock.

Well, I'm going to risk making the obvious answer.  There is nothing in the rules which limits the number of trucks allowed in each dock... probably because there is no limit to the number of trucks allowed in each dock.

Looking at this example paragraph in the rulebook (p11):

  b. If the demand has not been fulfilled, the Speakeasy must continue
  buying Crates from the Truck(s) at the Minority Dock, again paying the
  Wholesale Purchase Price to the Crate supplier.  The Trucks are lined
  up in Muscle card order, so Mobsters with higher Muscle cards are more
  likely to sell their Crates.  Any Crates in excess of demand go unsold
  and are lost.

Truck(s) clearly implies that there can be multiple trucks at the Minority
Dock.  All the stuff about lining trucks up in Muscle card order suggests to
me, albeit more vaguely, that there can be quite a few trucks there.  If there were only 2 trucks allowed at the Minority Dock, you'd expect some kind of phrasing such as "the Mobster with more Muscle cards", rather than "Mobsters with higher Muscle cards", wouldn't you?


In what order are several properties auctioned by the bank? When you go bankrupt to the bank, all of your properties are returned to the bank and auctioned.

Rule :

  Should you owe the Bank, instead of another player, more than you can
  pay (because of taxes or penalties) even by selling off buildings and
  mortgaging property, you must turn over all assets to the Bank. In
  this case, the Bank immediately sells by auction all property so
  taken, except buildings.

Source : The Rules of Monopoly - Hasbro

If you have surrendered several properties to the bank, in what order are they auctioned, one at a time: by order of value, or randomly?

Since the rules don't specify this, in the answer, I would appreciate an authoritative quote (e.g. tournament experience, book author), not just an opinion or house rule.

The following ruling was received from Hasbro, publisher of Monopoly and organiser of International Monopoly Tournaments. I have therefore completely rewritten this answer.

My questions to Hasbro :

  The rules of Monopoly state that when a players goes bankrupt to the
  bank, the player turns all assets over to the Bank. The Bank then
  auctions off these properties.

  Are all of the properties auctioned off at once as a single lot?

  If they are auctioned one at a time, in what order are they auctioned? By value or randomly selected?

Hasbro agent's answers:

  1. Are all of the properties auctioned off at once as a single lot?

  No. All properties should be auctioned off one at a time.

  2. If they are auctioned one at a time, in what order are they auctioned?
      By value or randomly selected?

  No specific order needed . The banker can randomly select. I have
  also included the proper way to hold a Monopoly Auction just in case
  it's needed.   There is nothing terribly special with the process of
  holding the auction, just a few simple rules.

  When a property comes up for auction, whether a player declines to
  purchase or a player goes bankrupt, the banker holds the auction.

  There is no minimal bid so the starting price will always be $1 and
  the property will goes to the highest bidder and the price is binding.
  So if a player bids more than they have they can unintentionally
  bankrupt themselves during the auction.

  The auctioned property cannot be mortgaged by the highest bidder in
  order to complete the purchase.

  Important Note:  All players can participate in property auctions –
  this includes the banker, any players who may be in jail, and the
  person who originally declined to purchase the property in the first
  place.


When to choose what colors I will play and vary my picks accordingly? In the first round of a draft, I usually just pick the best card from every pack. After that I look at what I've picked, try to pick good on-color card in the second pack, and pick whatever my deck needs in the last round.

I've noticed in some of the commentated drafts I've watched online that the players often establish their colors by the fifth pick and then avoid picking anything off-color unless its a ridiculous bomb. For example, if you open something like a Sorin or Garruk on the third pack, you should probably pick it whether its on color of off-color unless there's some amazing uncommon that would work perfectly with the cards you've picked so far. Aside from monetary reasons, its often worth splashing just for that one card, and at the very least you deprive some one else of an ideal bomb. Otherwise they remain faithfully on color no matter what passes by.

When should I determine what colors I'm playing in an MTG draft? Should I try to start staying only on color as early as the middle of the first pack, or what until the beginning or even middle of the second pack? If I pick early I get a wider variety of card in my color, but I may end up not playing another color/deck that could be far better due to my narrow-mindedness. How can I establish a successful balance between these two?

I think the question you should be asking is not "when to choose what colours I will play", but rather "when to stop choosing what colours I will play"?

Magic, and especially Magic draft, is a game that favours the adaptable.  When you make a first pick of a bomb in one colour, that does not commit you to playing that colour, but it suggests that you should weight all your subsequent picks accordingly.  If after the first two picks, your colour has completely dried up, then you need to be adaptable enough to let go of that colour.

This is not to say that, on the 10th pick of pack 3, you should still be open to moving into a new colour!  Hopefully your colours and the basic nature of your deck (aggro/control/mill/whatever) will be more or less settled long before then.  So how do you determine when to start taking cards that fit into your deck (as you currently envision it), as opposed to more powerful picks?

Unfortunately there is no quick and easy formula.  But I would say it's when you can actually visualise the deck you're going to play.  Let's say your first two picks are white bombs: lucky for you, but you still can't visualise a deck on the back of two cards!  Let's say white dries up thereafter.  Now you have to visualise a new deck in the colour that you're actually being passed.  Can you visualise it with a white splash?  You should certainly be trying, but not so hard that you end up shoehorning in cards that don't actually fit due to your attachment issues.

At some point you will have double figures of cards that you can see working and playing well in the same deck together.  It's at about this point that I would suggest that you should be committing.  With half a deck already now you'll need to consider optimising your curve and filling any gaps in your deck (too few creatures for instance).

I'm always wary of people who stubbornly try to force a deck that they've visualised before they have a good number of the cards for it.  Sometimes it can really pay off, but passing early bombs in pursuit of a deck that may or may not come, well, that's the drafting equivalent of refusing to mulligan a no-land-hand in the hope that all of your draws will be perfect, isn't it?


Catan starting strategies -- actual data? I'm new to Settlers of Catan, and I quickly learned the importance of having a source of Brick and Lumber at the start of the game. And some googling showed that others agree ... and others disagree.

Whatever you value most at the start ... brick, wood, grain, ore, (ok, not wool so much), diversity of resources, diversity of numbers, access to ports, etc., you can find a blog post confirming your belief.

What is much harder to find is actual data. Has there been any significant study of competitive games and/or computer simulations that give substantial support to a particular initial placement strategy?

Although I wouldn't call it a "significant study" as far as initial placement strategies, there is a blog that I found a while ago which gets into an analysis of playing (and winning) SoC from a mathematical perspective.

The blog is called "Developing Catan", and includes the application of several types of mathematical analysis to the game based on the writer's personal experience playing SoC on a frequent basis, both in person and online. In particular, some of the analysis in this pdf discusses probabilities of winning without starting on any particular resource, which answers at least part of your question.


If a creature has both hexproof and shroud, is it functionally the same as just having Shroud? If a creature has both hexproof and shroud, is it functionally the same as just having Shroud? What happens when a creature has both shroud and hexproof?

Having Shroud and Hexproof is currently the equivalent of having just shroud.
This is because Shroud is a more restrictive form of Hexproof:

702.11a Hexproof is a static ability.
702.11b “Hexproof” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.”

702.18a Shroud is a static ability. “Shroud” means “This permanent or player can’t be the target of spells or abilities.”

"Spells and abilities your opponents control" (the restriction of Hexproof) are also "spells and abilities" (the restriction of Shroud).  Thus, there are only two cases to consider:

A spell or ability controlled by your opponent: blocked by both shroud and hexproof.

A spell or ability controlled by a player that is not your opponent (such as yourself or your teammate): blocked by shroud.

In both of these cases, Hexproof only does things Shroud is already doing.  It is the equivalent of adding Fear ("can't be blocked except by black or artifact creatures") to Covert Operative ("can't be blocked").  Covert Operative already can't be blocked at baseline; adding additional reasons it can't be blocked does nothing extra.
The exception would be if an ability existed that interacted with Shroud (or permanents with Shroud) but not Hexproof (or permanents with Hexproof).  If Arcane Lighthouse only removed Shroud, there would be a difference.  To my knowledge, there are not currently any such abilities.  There currently exist abilities that interact with just Hexproof and not Shroud, such as Glaring Spotlight, but these don't matter for this discussion because Hexproof is the less restrictive of the two abilities.
While not strictly necessary to answer this question, one of the philosophically relevant core rules of Magic is that "can't" abilities take precedence:

101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence.

In this case, the effect directing something something to happen is the spell or ability that would have you chose targets, and the effect preventing it from happening is Shroud and/or Hexproof (rule 101.2 is necessary for Shroud and Hexproof to work as abilities without causing endless rules headache).  Given Shroud has a more general "can't" than Hexproof, Hexproof is essentially redundant.


How does Hazoret's Undying Fury work with Aftermath cards? I cast Hazoret's Undying Fury, and of the four exiled cards, one of them is Appeal//Authority, which, according to the April rules change, now has a CMC of 3. I cast Appeal, placing it in my graveyard at resolution.* Can I now also cast Authority for free? The Gatherer rulings on this don't seem that clear to me. If it has a combined set of characteristics in any zone except the stack, then would Hazoret's Undying Fury see both halves as valid free casts? When Appeal//Authority moves from exile to the graveyard, does the zone change cause Hazoret's Undying Fury to see the card as a different object?

*Note that I'm not asking whether the Aftermath half of a card can be cast from exile. It's clear in the Aftermath reminder text that it can't:

  (Cast this spell only from your graveyard. Then exile it.)

This is specifically asking whether after resolving the top half of an Aftermath card using Hazoret's Undying Fury a player could cast the Aftermath half from their graveyard for free.

You can't cast Authority from the graveyard for free.
Appeal//Authority is not in the graveyard when you are instructed to cast the cards Undying Fury exiled. If you haven't cast Appeal, it's in exile. If you have cast Appeal, it's on the stack.
Keep in mind that Undying Fury only has you cast spells (which is to place it on the stack, make some choices, and pay its costs). They don't resolve immediately. The spell will only resolve when it's the top item on the stack after all players have passed priority in sequence, which can't happen before Undying Fury has finished resolving.
The only way Appeal//Authority could be present in the graveyard when Undying Fury instructs you to cast it is if some replacement effect caused Undying Fury to place the card in the graveyard instead of in exile. This effect would be phrased "If a card would be exiled, put it in the graveyard instead." If such an effect existed and was applied, then you could cast either Appeal or Authority for free (but not both) since Undying Fury is the one that put it in the graveyard.[CR 400.7][CR 400.7h]
You can't cast Authority from exile.
Undying Fury could cast Authority from exile, except Aftermath forbids Authority from being "cast from any zone other than a graveyard",[CR 702.126a] and restrictions take priority over instructions.[CR 101.2]
You can't cast Authority from the stack.
Casting Appeal places the card on the stack. At this point, the Appeal//Authority card that Undying Fury exiled no longer exists as far as Undying Fury is concerned.[CR 400.7]

101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence.
Example: If one effect reads “You may play an additional land this turn” and another reads “You can’t play land cards this turn,” the effect that precludes you from playing lands wins.
400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:
400.7h If an effect causes an object to move to a public zone, other parts of that effect can find that object. If the cost of a spell or ability causes an object to move to a public zone, that spell or ability’s effects can find that object.
702.126a Aftermath is an ability found on some split cards (see rule 708, “Split Cards”). It represents three static abilities. “Aftermath” means “You may cast this half of this split card from your graveyard,” “This half of this split card can’t be cast from any zone other than a graveyard,” and “If this spell was cast from a graveyard, exile it instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”


What is the penalty for the dummy failing to follow suit? I failed to have the dummy follow suit because the remaining card of that suit was accidentally hidden under a card of another suit. This was discovered later in the game, and treated as a normal revoke. Should the penalty have been reduced because the dummy is face up and everyone (opponents included) failed to notice that it had only 12 visible cards to begin with?

The actual answer is in Law 64D

  there is no trick penalty for the established revoke ...3. if the revoke was made in failing to play any card
  faced  on,  or  belonging  to  a  hand  faced  on,  the
  table, including a card from dummy’s hand.

But a clearer view is given in In bridge, is there a penalty if dummy incorrectly lays down his hand? (not quite a duplicate but very close).


Are there cards that turn opponents' life loss into my life gain? I was wondering if there is a card that says something like "whenever opponent loses life, you gain life." It doesn't matter how much life gain, just need to know if a card like this exists.

Yes. As this query reveals, there's the following card:

  Exquisite Blood
  {4}{B}
  Enchantment
  Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life.

It combos nicely with Sanguine Bond and a number of other cards.


Is there a term for defensive effects that only/primarily function for attacking creatures? There's a category of effects in Magic that I'd like to be able to name & categorise effectively, but I've never known the proper label for them: effects which minimise risk & harm to attacking creatures. Usually these effects grant first strike or indestructible to attackers, or prevent damage from being dealt to them. Whilst annotating the functions of cards in decks, I'd like to have a descriptive category name saying "I included these cards to protect my attackers, but they don't really help me defend at any other time."

Some example cards:

Ankle Shanker: "Whenever Ankle Shanker attacks, creatures you control gain first strike and deathtouch until end of turn."
Iroas, God of Victory and Dolmen Gate: "Prevent all damage that would be dealt to attacking creatures you control."
Frontline Medic: "Whenever Frontline Medic and at least two other creatures attack, creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn."
Stonehoof Chieftain: "Whenever another creature you control attacks, it gains trample and indestructible until end of turn."
Winds of Qal Sisma's Ferocious effect: "[...] prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn by creatures your opponents control."
Legion Loyalist: "Whenever Legion Loyalist and at least two other creatures attack, creatures you control gain first strike and trample until end of turn and can’t be blocked by creature tokens this turn."

Potentially in this category, or potentially not, are effects which let you control who's blocking, which lets you maximise damage, minimise losses, and potentially evade completely:

Brutal Hordechief: "Creatures your opponents control block if able, and you choose how those creatures block."
Odric, Master Tactician: "Whenever Odric, Master Tactician and at least three other creatures attack, you choose which creatures block this combat and how those creatures block." (A ruling suggests you can just choose that each creature won't block, which also makes this potentially an evasion effect.)

It's never felt right to call these effects any of the following:

Fog effects: they don't simply protect everyone like Fog does.
Anthem effects: they don't simply make everyone more powerful like Dictate of Heliod does.
Defence effects: they're not in the same category as Ghostly Prison or Blazing Archon.
Evasion effects: they don't evade the way Barrage of Boulders or Archetype of Imagination function.

Is there a commonly accepted name I should be using to categorise and describe these kinds of effects? If I'm actually conflating multiple categories which I should be naming separately, what are those category names I should be using? If it is commonly accepted to call them something like fog/anthem/defence/evasion effects, please do point that out to me.

There isn't really an overarching term for these effects (official or unofficial, that I've heard anyway), as they're so broad. For many of them, it's simply abilities that trigger off of attacking

Winds of Qal Sima, Iroas and Dolmen Gate have one-sided fogs. Also in this category would be Endure and (depending on deck construction) Moonmist. This is less of a category and more of a sub-category of fog effects.

Legion Loyalist has a word for its ability on the card itself: Battalion, which is a triggered ability that encourages attacking with multiple creatures. A little specific for widespread use though...

I've head Hordechief and Odric's abilities and their ilk described as Battle Tactics or simply Tactical, with Odric as its namesake, but again, this style of ability doesn't show up often enough to really warrant its own name.

Lastly, someone commented to add Gustcloak Savior and its ilk to the list. I've heard to this kind of ability as Gustcloaking, or Recon, the latter name coming from the similar (but not identical) ability on the enchantment Reconnaissance.


How long are magic cards actually "printed"/"In production" Basically I'm wondering how long Magic cards are actually printed/in production. IE: Being made.

I would assume it's just whatever is in the standard block? but it could go further back. Wizards has a reprint policy, but it has more to do with specific cards and not decks as a whole.

Thanks!

I cannot speak towards any product printed and packaged for general consumption (ie. booster boxes, theme decks, special sets such as Planeshift or Commander, and Fat Packs, among others), but Wizards does list redemption guarantee dates for sets redeemable from Magic: the Gathering Online.

From their Magic Online Product Release & Redemption Schedule:

As a general rule, Magic Online sets will be available for redemption roughly one month after they are released. If a redeemable set runs out of stock before its Redemption Guarantee Date, the set will be reprinted. After a redeemable set's Redemption Guaranteed Date has passed, such set will be available while supplies last or until its Cutoff Date, whichever comes first. All cutoff times are 9:00 AM.

At the very least, it appears that Wizards will print new product at least until approximately one month after a set rotates out of the Standard Format (if the initial print run is not sufficient to meet the Magic: Online redemption demand.)


When using the Influence action, can you influence a hex adjacent only to the newly claimed hex? The Influence action allows a player to move up to two Influence Discs to a hex that is "adjacent to a hex where you have a disc or a Ship."

In a case where the first Influence Disc is moved to an adjacent sector, it is possible to move the second Influence Disc to a hex that is only adjacent to the hex just claimed?  Or must both sectors be adjacent to hexes controlled at the beginning of the Influence action?

From what I've read and understood you are allowed to move it to a hex adjacent hex to the hex just claimed. For instance it would be perfectly legal to do the following:

Start of influence action ( | is a partial wormhole and |   | is an empty hex)

| A || B || C ||   ||   |

Move the first influence disc:

| A ||   || C || B ||   |

Move the second influence disc:

|   ||   || C || B || A |

Hope that was an understandable schematic :)


Advancing Tzolk'in past the end of the game In Tzolk'in, the starting player space lets one advance the calendar 2 days, instead of the normal 1.  The rules specify a few times when you cannot use this power, and what happens if the calendar is advanced past a Food Day.
But, the rules don't say anything about the possibility of this mechanic interacting with the end-of-game conditions.
So, what happens if you are in Turn 26, take the starting player space and advance the calendar 2 days?
Do you advance to Turn 28 and play out a 28th day?   That doesn't seem to make sense, as the game is only supposed to last 27 days.  (Note: this is what happens when you try this tactic on Board Game Arena)
Or, do you advance, skipping Turn 27, and just feed your workers before the end of the game.  This is the only way that the "advance 2 days" mechanic is useful in Turn 26.

The rule for using this power right before any food day would still apply normally to the final food day of the game.

It is not possible to use this privilege to avoid Food
Days. If the next day on the Tzolk'in gear is a Food Day,
you may still advance 2 days, but the new round will be
the Food Day that was skipped over.

Turn 27 is a food day; it just so happens that it also is the final food day that ends the game. So you can turn the wheel 2 spaces, to 1 space past the final food day space, and then play the final turn like you normally would.
This matches what you say happens on Board Game Arena. I think it does make sense, because it’s not so much that the game is supposed to last 27 days, but rather that the game ends after the 4th food day. All food days normally happen on the indicated space on the wheel, but with the skip a day power and the quoted rule above, it is possible for a food day to take place 1 space later instead.
This can still be useful to do in turn 26, because it means that for the final turn, all workers are one space further along their wheels than they would have been otherwise. This could allow you to take an action that you couldn’t have otherwise, or also mess up your opponents' plans by forcing them to pay extra corn to take the action they were planning on taking.
The only way in which the power is different on turn 26 than at any other time in the game is that normally, the total game length is shortened by 1 turn for each time someone uses it, but that doesn’t happen if used at the end.
This interpretation was discussed and confirmed here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/910514/double-wheel-move-penultimate-space


In axis and allies, how are casualties allocated when two allies both defend a single zone? For instance, suppose there are two American armies and two Soviet armies defending American-owned Sinkiang, which is attacked by the Japanese. The Japanese inflict two casualties and "back off." Who absorbs those two casualties, or are they split one and one between the Americans and the Soviets?

My way of playing is that the owning power (America in this case) absorbs casualties until they are wiped out, then the allies absorb the remainder.

Do any of the rule books for the different variations say differently? If so, what do they say?

According to page 19 of the rulebook at https://www.wizards.com/avalonhill/rules/axis.pdf

Defending together - when a multiple force is attacked, the attacker fires first as usual.  If a hit is scored, the defenders mutually agree which unit is chosen as the casualty (if they cannot agree, the attacker chooses).  When counterattacking, each defender rolls separately for his or her units (including casualties).


Is there a Magic intro deck that focuses on lifestealing? I just started playing Magic using the Android app, and I really like it.  Now I would like to start playing Magic with real cards as well. In the Android app I chose the deck that focuses on stealing enemy life,  and adding it to your own.  Is there any pre-made intro deck for this play style?

One of the clearest "life stealing" mechanics is Extort, which is a triggered ability permanents have that says

  Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay {W/B}. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain life equal to the total life lost this way.

Extort is from the Return to Ravnica block, and there were two intro packs built around it and related mechanics: Orzhov Oppression from Gatecrash and Orzhov Power from Dragon's Maze.


How does Donate work? Donate is a pretty useful yet useless card. I have two questions about it.

  Target player gains control of target permanent you control.

Does this mean the "target permanent you want your opponent to control" has to be on the battlefield? And also, when your opponent takes control of that card, does it go into their control (command) on the battlefield? Or does it go into their hand?

Target permanent you control refers to a card on the battlefield. So yes it has to be on the battlefield and it would stay on the battlefield when it comes under their control.


Can I move to mortgaged property when rolling 'Mr Monopoly' on Speed Die If I roll Mr. Monopoly on the speed die, and all the properties have been bought, according to the rules I have to move to the next place that I have to pay rent.
What is the rule, if the next place I would have to pay rent happens to be mortgaged - and I do not therefore have to pay rent. Do I have to go to a non mortgaged property?

From the rules here

From mortgaged properties rules.

  If the property is mortgaged, no rent can be collected.

From the speed dice rules -

  If you roll a Mr. Monopoly after all of the properties are owned, make
  a normal move according to the white dice, then move ahead to the
  first property on which you need to pay rent. If all other players
  properties are mortgaged, stay where you are.

Together, these rules mean that the first property on which you need to pay rent cannot be a mortgaged property.  You must therefore move to the next non-mortgaged property owned by another player, in order to pay rent.  The rules also clarify that you don't move if all other players' owned properties are mortgaged, which is further evidence that you cannot move to a mortgaged property when you roll Mr. Monopoly.


Is there a site to play Go online against a computer, in 2018? Apparently there's an old question Is there a site to play Go online against a computer? already but that's in 2014.

As we know AlphaGo/Master/Zero permanently changed the Go world, and many AI are competing the “2nd strongest” after AlphaZero retired. Is there a site to play Go online against one or (nowadays) more computers?

The accepted answer in your linked question is still valid: ELF (the Facebook go bot, account name "ELF") or variants of LeelaZero play on the Kiseido Go Server (usually bots have "LeelaZero" or "LZ" in their names). You can find a list of these bots in the room "Computer Go" (Menu "Rooms" > Room List > Social > Computer Go)


What happens if both players get to 7 points at the same time? Let's say the runner and corp are both at 4 points.  The runner is tagged.  The runner runs on archives and accesses 3 Quantum Predictive Models and a Restructured Data Pool.  This would put both players at 7 points.  Who wins?

The runner chooses who wins (and presumably chooses themselves) with the order they access they access the cards.  From the Rules Reference:

  When the Runner accesses cards in Archives, the Runner turns
  all cards faceup in Archives, then accesses and resolves each
  card in Archives one by one in the order of their choosing.

Also, as @LScottJohnson Points out in the comments:

  "If the Runner scores an agenda that gives him seven or more points, he immediately wins the game, even if he would otherwise access more cards."


Can you collect a resource of your choice if you have no production due to the robber? In "Cities and Knights" there is a city improvement which allows you to "collect a resource of your choice" if "you don't receive production on a turn."

Does this privilege apply when the following are true?

a number near which I have a settlement is rolled
the robber is on that hex
I own the city improvement described above

In other words, can I collect a resource card of my choice in this situation. According to the description of the privilege I should be able to because I received no production. A friend, however, is saying that I received production but the robber stole it away. Is there a definitive answer for this scenario?

From the original Catan rules:

  Important: If the production number for the hex containing the robber
  is rolled, the owners of adjacent settlements and cities do not
  receive resources. The robber prevents it.

I think it's clear from that that a player doesn't receive production in the scenario that you outline, even if production in some sense occurs.

As such, you should be able to collect a resource of your choice from your improvement.


In 7 wonders when you buy resources from neighbor do you take the card? When you buy resources from neighbor do you take the card or just get access to the resources you need?

No, you do not take the card. The neighbor retains the card; you are simply allowed to use your neighbor's cards, for a fee of course.

You can also buy the resource from the top corner of the civilization cards as well.  It doesn't need to be a "card".


In bridge, how do you tell when to use holdup versus blocking plays? You are the declarer at a 3NT contract (1NT, 3NT, no opposing bids). West leads what appears to be a five card suit, and you have Axx in dummy.

Your main concern is that East can get the setting trick by attacking a vulnerable tenace you have in hand; something like Jxx in the led suit, or AQx in a side suit (and maybe the the answer to the question below is found in the difference between one and the other).

At times, you should go up with the ace in dummy (if East has an honor and a small card) to "block" the suit. At other times, you should hold up the ace until the third round to exhaust East of the led suit. How do you tell the difference?

A club kibitzer gave the opinion, "You use a blocking play if you're worried about what will happen in the LED suit (e.g. if your tenace is Jxx, above), and you use a holdup play when you're worried about what will happen in a different suit (e.g, your AQx tenace)." Is there any truth to this statement?

I haven't stated whether West led from "top of a sequence" or "fourth best," but maybe the answer to question lies in the difference between the two.

Because another take of this matter is "avoidance." That is, if the priority is to keep East off lead, then let West win if he led a high card, and cover if West led fourth best, to prevent East from getting the lead.

I have been told that if I have something like Axx in hand opposite xx in dummy, I should hold up, and hope to exhaust East of the suit. But if I have Axx opposite xxx, West led the queen (denying the king), and East plays low, I might take the trick to "block" the king in East. Does this make sense?

To prevent the lead form RHO through your tenace, you want to win the ace when RHO plays his last card in the suit. If it looks like LHO has 5 cards, with three in dummy and your hand, win the second round with the ace. If you have only two in had with three in dummy, win the third round with the ace.

In regards your Club Kibitzer - yes, the proffered advice is in general sound - however, the cardinal rule is always Count the hand. If you have counted the hand, the answer is often obvious and possibly counter-intuitive from the general rule suggested by heuristic analysis.


Geek Chic Rail System Dimensions? I am working on building my own gaming table and was wondering if anyone could provide me with a detailed set of dimensions for the Geek Chic rail system and a cupholder.

I think the rail designs are pretty clear from this picture off their website.  The exact numbers aren't important if you're building it yourself.

Assuming this desk is 1/2" thick, then the rail groove entrance is roughly 3/8" thick, and the rail is roughly 1/2" deep.  There is a groove going up behind the rail, that looks to be 1/4" wide, that "locks" the desk into place.  Notice, that most of the force of the desk here is getting absorbed not by the thin piece of the desk going into the groove, but the "side wall."

These are beautiful tables!  Good luck with your project.


Is Olympia wonder ability void for first age? On the Olympia wonder board, the first Wonder to build provides the alpha effect: it is explained that it enables us to build for free the first age card of each age.
I am French and I have the second French edition of the game. Here is a link to the French effect of the cards.
Here is my question: during the first age, this effect cannot be applied? Because to get it, I need to play one card (and this card is then the first card)...but the effect just applies for the first card...the effect is void for the first age...am I correct?

Just to clarify, this is the 2020 version of 7 wonders, in which some of the wonders are a bit changed compared to the original version. Olympia is one that's heavily changed.
Here is a nice video explaining the differences: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXZND4aG1Lk.
Now to answer you question.
This is not an official answer, as I have none. But I am curious and as soon as I find out I will come back and post a link here.
But this is how I interpret it and how I play it.
I have the Romanian version, so not sure if stuff got lost in translation.
This is what my rule book says about the alpha symbol (translated by me).
"After this symbol comes into play, you can build the first era card for free in every era."

Is Olympia wonder ability void for first age?

No.
There are cases in which you can benefit from it.

you build the wonder stage with the first card in era 1. This means the second card you "play" is the first card you build. So it's free. I still have doubts that I'm right here.  Anyway, this cannot happen with only the regular game because it would mean that both your neighbors have to produce stone on their wonder. And there is only one wonder that produces stone in the regular game (Gizah) and you would need 4 coins to pay for them but you start with 3. But it is possible if you play with the wonder pack extension or with the community extensions and extensions that give you extra money when you start.
you play with the leaders extension and you build the first stage of your wonder using the leader you should play before stage one. Since a leader is not an "era card", the first card you play in the first era is free. This is more plausible but still highly improbable for the same reasons as above (you need 2 stones around you from the beginning). If you play with the leaders extension you start with 6 coins, that's why it's theoretically possible.


How do I Decide to Sacrifice or Preserve "Smaller" Naval Units  (E.g. Subs) In Axis and Allies? In the Pearl Harbor attack, people like Don Rae advocate sacrificing a battleship or bomber (instead of a cheaper fighter) as a "second" casualty as a "gambit" just to get American air forces to head for the Pacific instead of the Atlantic. Can one also make a case for electing NOT to take the sub as a (first) casualty?

Likewise, in a first turn Med naval battle, should Germany use its sub off France as "cannon fodder" in an attack against the British battleship off Gibraltar? Or should it have the sub try to take out the U.S. convoy off the Atlantic and let larger units deal with the battleship (and suffer the consequences).

Basically, is it sometimes better to take big warships or planes as potential casualties over a smaller, but more strategic unit such as a sub? Or is the loss in IPCs too much to bear (12 or 15 versus 8)?  How do you make these choices?  And, how, if at all, would your answer change if you had "super" subs.

After having left a "partial" answer to try to frame the discussion a week ago, I'll now try to finish it.

In purely NAVAL terms, a sub is worth more than 8 IPCs. Specifically, a 24-IPC battleship has four attack and four defense rolls. So do two subs. On this basis, a sub might be worth 12 IPCs, about the same as a fighter. And more than a transport PLUS an infantry.

A sub also has "first strike" and "early withdrawal" capabilities that battleships and fighters do not, adding to their value.

Unlike the others, a sub cannot fight air or land units. You could say that diminishes the value of the sub, or at least that this balances out the sub's special capabilities.

So if we're valuing the units for their purely naval capacities, there's probably nothing better (for the money) than a sub. The reason to use the sub as "cannon fodder" is if we want to save planes or battleships for non-naval functions like land bombardment or anti-aircraft. And that these needs took priority over what was going on at sea.


In Secret Misson Risk which player is the winner when 2 missions are simultaneously achieved? When playing the North American 1993 version of Secret Mission Risk, which player is the winner when 2 missions are simultaneously achieved?

Example: If your mission is, “Conquer Asia & Africa” and you have just one more territory to conquer to complete your mission, let’s say Madagascar which also has the last red troop on the map while another player has the mission “Destroy all Red Troops”, who wins when the last red troop dies and Madagascar is captured?

Does the other player holding the mission “Destroy all Red Troops” win as the red troop died before Madagascar was occupied? Does the player holding the mission “Conquer Asia & Africa” win as that player was the contributor to the final action accomplishing both missions? Would this game be considered a tie as both missions where accomplished simultaneously? Would the winner be the first to reveal their mission?

From these rules:

  The player who completes his or her mission first-and reveals the Mission
  card to prove it-wins.

The rules make no mention of ordering, or of only being able to win at a specific time. If both players achieve a mission at exactly the same time, and both reveal their completed missions, then they have both fulfilled the win condition. You could assign a single winner in any arbitrary manner, but personally I'd say they both win; after all, does victory have to be exclusive?

Extra note: regarding the timing of defeating the final army and capturing a territory, the rules say:

  As soon as you defeat the last opposing army on a territory, you capture that territory and must occupy it immediately.

While the rules don't specifically set out timing, I'd say that the "as soon as" and "immediately" mean that capturing a territory happens at the same moment as defeating the last army.


Heroic leader after his unit is eliminated If the unit with the heroic leader dies but no star is rolled, does the enemy still get one victory medal for the destroyed infantry unit?

Action Cards 8 - Heroic Leader

Yes! Both the infantry unit just eliminated and the Heroic Leader are worth a Victory Medal, as the only meaningful interpretation of the bullet point on the card itself (my emphasis):

  When infantry unit with a heroic leader is eliminated, roll two Battle
  dice; if at least 1 star is rolled, leader is lost and counts as a
  Victory Medal; if heroic leader survives, move him to nearest friendly
  infantry unit.

There is no mention of the destroyed infantry unit not counting as a Victory medal, so that must be taken as unchanged from the standard rule. Clearly then the destruction of the heroic leader, either through a star being rolled or through there not being a friendly infantry unit to relocate to, counts as an additional Victory medal.


What is a creature's power when it has some equipment equipped? I would like to use Rite of Consumption by sacrificing a creature that is using equipment (e.g. that has a +1/+2 bonus). Is the creature's power then increased by the equipment effect, and thus available for the Rite of Consumption?

Yes - spells like Rite of Consumption check the last known information on the most recent public zone (in this case, the battlefield, where the equipment will be attached when that power is checked).

From the comprehensive rules:

  608.2g If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself or a target that's become illegal, the effect uses the current information of that object if it's in the public zone it was expected to be in; if it's no longer in that zone, or if the effect has moved it from a public zone to a hidden zone, the effect uses the object's last known information. See rule 112.7a. If an ability states that an object does something, it's the object as it exists -- or as it most recently existed -- that does it, not the ability.


What is a solid basic strategy for surviving Eldritch Horror? Is there a solid strategy that you can apply to increase the chances of a win?

Of course the Eldritch Horror statistics do help in working out what can go wrong/right. But they do not offer a specific strategy -- if there is one.

I'll enumerate some general tips below (followed by keener insight after having played over 150 hours):

1) Do not obsess about keeping the world tidy, clear of gates, of monsters, of clues. Accept that it is messy and will just get messier. Think more about taking from it what's useful to you at any point in time.  You have so few turns before that mythos deck runs out, before that doom counter reaches zero. Think of it like you're standing at the doorway of the shack in the middle of the pen filled with walking dead zombies. Bee-line it.

2) Make your optimal clue-gathering plan. Some characters are particularly effective in obtaining, dispersing clues, which are generally good as dice saving graces and often essential for mysteries. Assess if you have a better plan than simply "let's see where the clues fall and get there fast". Example: Use the spy's special action to generate clues every turn; keep a partner close by to hand them off.  Move the Psychic one space over and park her in Arkham to try to get spells and score the Clairvoyance spell likely to make her a clue factory (and pair with her ability to send clues to players around the world).

3) Think about what your character does best and specialize. This might be obvious to seasoned co-op gamers, but became more obvious to me when realizing how fruitless it was to try to clean the board systematically and how much more useful it was just to tune out what a creepy bug in south america is doing at the moment. Take the politician; just sit in San Francisco with him for the first 2 or 3 rounds acquiring assets for your fellow team members and make the best of boosting their stats and equipment as early as possible where it will give you the best return.

These are only a handful of observations from 5 play throughs (1st loss, then 4 wins with very few players and an even number at that since I suspect the odd numbered teams have a tougher time after looking at the gate/clue spawn rate on the reference cards).  The takeaway is to make an initial specialized plan and then reassess 2 or 3 rounds in because, at that point, you probably have acquired assets, conditions (hopefully blessed), and spells that require you to shift your strategy to fully optimize your best chances of winning.  Stay nimble in that regard.

Edit: After having now played over 40 campaigns across all the expansions, I thought it would be nice to write down my thoughts on things to consider for optimizing success in Eldritch Horror.  In reviewing my old answer, I feel the advice I gave was more high level and hand-wavy, while the tips I'll list below will aim to be more focused and specific

1) Take Debt and Acquire Assets

The penalties for a collected debt are often well worth the extra bonus 2 successes. If you have a spare action to waste removing a debt, go ahead, but I usually reserve this strictly for investigators who have such high influence that they spend their turn removing debt and then acquiring assets again (i.e. Politician).  Having a large number of assets on hand is so valuable and can be handed down even after your investigator dies.

2) Take one (dark pact) for the team

When given the option to take a Dark Pact or advance doom, strongly consider taking the Dark Pact.  If the pact results in you or another being devoured, doom advances anyway, and thinking of the investigators as expendable allows you to get fresh characters and not hang onto someone who is flailing.  The Sanctuary asset card can sometimes come into play to remove the Pact before you suffer that 1 of 6 roll anyway.

3) Stand together

Look for ways to strengthen each other by moving together.  Many items and abilities work with others on the same space (Urban Guide Asset, Actress additional roll passive ability, Secretary's amazing abilities(!)). The certainty that comes with strengthening each others' rolls often outweighs the disadvantage of covering less space.  Often, key items such as the Mi-Go Brain Case and Plumb the Void altogether alleviate travel issues largely.

4) Tokyo

Look to Tokyo as a potential base of operations for sniping monsters across the board. The ability to damage and discard will minimize both the damage and uncertainty of combat encounters, and the wasted turns traveling (spend those turns acquiring assets, etc)

5) Specialize skills first

Take your best skills and lean toward improving those, not creating a 'renaissance' investigator.  This is just basic common strategy to try to assign roles quickly, such as the 'gate closer' (Shaman is great for that) or the 'spell accumulator' (Astronomer is great, and acquiring flesh ward and install bravery are very useful to soften damage to health and sanity).


In Catan, why do knights allow you to move the robber and steal? What do knights have to do with making a robber go where you want and steal from your competition for you? Are they all corrupt knights in league with the same robber?

Thematically, the knight is maintaining order by chasing away the robber from your lands. Mechanically though, if knights could only move the robber then developing and activating knights wouldn't be as interesting and worthwhile, so you get to steal too. Which means thematically, the robber... sends you a gift for not jailing him instead?


Can I respond to the mana payment for Oppressive Rays? Oppressive rays has the text:

Enchanted creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays 3.

Say I have oppressive rays attached to an opponent's creature, and I have Ardenvale Tactician in my hand with sufficient mana.
When does my opponent pay the 3 mana to permit his Oppressive Rayed creature to attack?
Is it possible to cast Dizzying Swoop and tap the creature before it attacks?  i.e. to prohibit his creature from attacking me?

No, you have no opportunity to tap your opponent's creature after they have decided to pay the {3} to attack, but before they are already tapped and attacking.
The choice to pay mana is done as part of the declare attacker steps; they actually tap their own creature as part of attacking with it right before they pay the {3}, and you don't get priority to do anything until after they have finished declaring all attackers.
From the rules:

Declare Attackers Step

508.1. First, the active player declares attackers. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. To declare attackers, the active player follows the steps below, in order.

508.1a The active player chooses which creatures that they control, if any, will attack.
508.1f The active player taps the chosen creatures. Tapping a creature when it’s declared as an attacker isn’t a cost; attacking simply causes creatures to become tapped.
508.1h If any of the chosen creatures require paying costs to attack, or if any optional costs to attack were chosen, the active player determines the total cost to attack. Costs may include paying mana, tapping permanents, sacrificing permanents, discarding cards, and so on.
508.1i If any of the costs require mana, the active player then has a chance to activate mana abilities (see rule 605, “Mana Abilities”).
508.1j Once the player has enough mana in their mana pool, they pay all costs in any order. Partial payments are not allowed.

508.2. Second, the active player gets priority.

You of course could tap their creature during the start of combat step, but you won't know whether or not they plan to pay the {3}, and if you choose to do so then they won't waste their {3} to allow it to attack. But once they declare it as an attacker, and you get to cast Dizzying Swoop, it will already be tapped and Dizzying Swoop would have no affect on it (though it would still be a legal target; it would be generally pointless).


Barbu - should the declarer pass after every hand? The wikipedia page for Barbu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbu_(card_game)#Preliminaries) states:

  The declarer names each one of the contracts once. After this declarer
  has played all seven contracts, the roles of declarer and dealer pass
  to the left for the next seven hands, and so on, until all have done
  their seven contracts.

However, my game group has always passed the declaring of the contract to the next player after each hand, while still observing the "each player calls each contract only once" rule. We feel this choice keeps the game more interesting without materially altering the rules of the game. Wikipedia call this variant "Quick Rotation Barbu".

What is the usual practice? Do others see an advantage to each player calling 7 contracts in a row and passing the declaring only once?

In France, it's not considered a house-rule, but a variant. It's usually played that way with newcomers because it makes the game more active and seems more "fair" since people don't have to do their contracts in a row.

This way, this make it less of a challenge for the last player who, in the normal game, might be frightened and decide he can't do better than one of the previous score.

This variant is quite efficient to avoid this, that's mainly why we play this way since it also mitigates successive "bad" draws.

The "bad" thing with this is that it's quite hard to read what will come next, I usually don't raise a fuss about it but one of my mates prefer the original way of playingbecause it's more ordered.


How important is it to avoid bagging out in Spades? I'm very new to Spades, and am trying to grasp the basic strategy.  In the few games that I've played so far, I've been sort of paranoid about bagging out; 100 points seems like a lot to lose.  (Of course, I might be wrong about that.)  Because of this, I've ended up overbidding several times in order to avoid bags.  So, I was wondering, how important is it for me to avoid overtricks and bagging out?

What's the alternative to bagging out? If you over bid, you risk losing the number of points of your bid. If you under bid, you have a good chance of making your bid, and any bags are effectively minus points for that hand, but you still get the points for your hand.

For example, a bid of 9 that doesn't make it sets you back 90 points. A bid of 5 with 3 bags effectively nets you 20 points. So what's better, -90 points, or 20 points?

One flip side of under bidding is that you might make your opponents over bid, causing them to go set.


Can Fragmentize destroy artifacts with converted mana cost greater than 4? Fragmentize, a white sorcery, has this wording:

Destroy target artifact or enchantment with converted mana cost 4 or less.

The wording seems clear enough, but I see a potential loophole in the wording. This can be read two ways:

Choose one:

Destroy target artifact
Destroy target enchantment with converted mana cost 4 or less

or

Choose one:

Destroy target artifact with converted mana cost 4 or less
Destroy target enchantment with converted mana cost 4 or less

I believe the first version is the intended effect, but an argument could be made for the second (maybe operator precedence?).
To make an analogy:
Buy me a car, or a plane if it's less than $50.000

I would interpret this as "Buy me a car, but if you find a plane that costs less than 50k, that would also work"
Which is correct?

No, Fragmentize cannot destroy artifacts with mana value/converted mana cost 5 or higher
There are several cards with rules text worded similarly to Fragmentize. One such card, Eliminate from Core Set 2021, reads "Destroy target creature or planeswalker with converted mana cost 3 or less."
One of the Oracle rulings for Eliminate specifies "If a creature or planeswalker on the battlefield has X in its mana cost, X is considered to be 0."
If the intention for Eliminate was that its text be read as "Destroy [target creature] or [target planeswalker with converted mana cost 3 or less]", then the word "creature" would not need to be in that ruling, since that version of Eliminate wouldn't care about a creature's CMC. (The digital implementation of Eliminate on MTG Arena also doesn't allow targeting a creature with CMC > 3. Also, it's worth noting that a spell that unconditionally destroyed any creature for 1B, and ALSO could destroy some planeswalkers, would be more powerful than for example Doom Blade, which is a very good card in its own right.)
From this we can conclude that Eliminate is intended to be read as "Destroy target [creature or planeswalker] with converted mana cost 3 or less." Further, since the wording of Fragmentize is nearly identical to the wording of Eliminate except for the slightly different CMC and types of permanents it targets, it can be demonstrated that the intended reading of Fragmentize is "Destroy target [artifact or enchantment] with converted mana cost 4 or less."


An Outlaw gets Married. Where should the Origin Token be placed now? A player had the Outlaw status with the Origin token placed in a city and she also had the Married status.

What do we do with the Origin token in a case like that?

From this FAQ document provided by the game publishers,

  If some other game effect forces you  to  move your Destination or Origin marker, you lose the effect (i.e. the status) associated with that marker!

When the player became Married, and moved the Origin Token, they lost their Outlaw status.

The Origin Token goes in the location which resulted in the Married status.


Connect 4 with 2 slots name? Alright, so I had this game for a while, it's a connect 4 , but each column has 2 slots. Some pieces, (called "blockers" take up both slots in the column) I'm not sure if I have enough pieces and blockers, to look it up I need the name. But I no longer have the box and cannot remember it.

Do anybody know?

Sounds like "Connect 4x4".
Is this it:
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42685/connect-4x4


Board games for two players My wife and I enjoy playing board games (having gotten hooked on Settlers of Catan and expanded from there) but we don't often have the opportunity to play with other people. The question What cooperative board games are there that I could safely play with my wife? is similar but we're less concerned about avoiding conflict and more interested in gameplay. (The question Good board games for single player is also similar.) What board games are good for two players?

Edit: Having done a poor job in limiting the scope of my question, since there are clearly too many board games to list them all, let me try to clarify. I'm looking for games with similar scope, time requirements, cost, and complexity to Settlers of Catan that play well with two adult players. I'm not especially concerned by the level of cooperation or competition required, but I'd like to avoid anything especially blood-thirsty.

I'm a big fan of Carcassonne -- the game is better with more people, but you can certainly play it with two people, and since it's a tile-laying game, the board will always be different.

In my opinion, the game bogs down with expansions, but the core set (with or without the River Expansion), is a lot of fun.


How to make Settlers of Catan less cut-throat? I know some people enjoy playing this way, but the other 50% of players seem to prefer a more casual game. This often stops people wanting to play at all, and so Settlers gets left on the shelf.
The issues we have are often:

Unfair/endless trades
Meaning the board is split between those who make ridiculous demands (3 to one trades as described in the link), and those 'who don't ask for enough', which is equally annoying to the other players.

Unscrupulous tactics
Again splitting the table evenly (both sides find each other's options non-agreeable).

Playing to block
A player knows you want resource X for your road, so blocks you off, again and again. To the point you feel there is no need to bother playing again.

Whilst the answers in the questions above1,2 combat this if players agree on one of the answers, I feel sure there must be some middle ground introduced by a house-rule or convention to make Settlers more friendly.
Edit: Added another 'nasty' trick I've seen for 'fun'.

3:1 trades are not unfair; they're bank rate. At which point the trading partner should simply trade with the bank, as that is a winning strategy. Anything better than 2:1 is better than dedicated port trades, and is only useful when you will gain more than your trade partner.

My recommendations for curing both at once are straightforward, but brutal. And they are not exactly "Tournament Catan"...

restrict the nature of offers.
one pass only on a given resource offer.
reply in sequence only.
no "counter offers"
No rejection of particular opponent.

By restrict nature of offers, limit it to offers of "I have 2 X and am looking for a Y". I'd allow the following rates: 1:1, 2:1 & 3:2. (3:1 should be restricted to bank trades via a port only.) Likewise, if you have the resource port, you should be required to use it instead of making a 2:1 trade offer.

One pass only means, if no one bites on the offer, you can't try it again that turn. If it is accepted, it can be repeated.

Reply in sequence only: if players are (in order) A, B, C, &  D, and it's A's turn, he makes the offer, and B either accepts and holds out the asked for resource, or B rejects with a "No." then C gets the same option. If C rejects, D gets the offer. If D rejects, it's dead. Offer something else or yield the turn.

No "counter offers" - either they accept or reject the offer at hand. No discussion, no "how many will you trade?" It really speeds up play to disallow counter-offers, as it eliminates the whole negotiation mindset and the attendent waste of time for others.

No rejection of players: by eliminating trade preference, one forces trade to be quick and about getting what you need. This one should not be a permanent solution - half the strategy in real play is avoiding trade with the leader.

I've played with these restrictions in force. It REALLY speeds play, and reduces the ability to play favorites. I did so with a group of 6th graders, and ones with strong issues with each other at that. The No Rejection was a means of overcoming a couple of players racial biases... but it also changes the nature of play, hence later changing it to "once you make an offer, you may only refuse to trade with someone if they have more VP than you."


How does The Ozolith work with Modular? The Ozolith has this ability:

Whenever a creature you control leaves the battlefield, if it had counters on it, put those counters on The Ozolith.

Let's say I control Arcbound Worker, which has Modular 1:

This creature enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it. When it dies, you may put its +1/+1 counters on target artifact creature.

If I have two Arcbound Workers in play as well as The Ozolith, and one of the Arcbound Workers die, do both The Ozolith and the other Arcbound worker get counters? If not, which one does?

The other Arcbound Worker and the Ozolith both get the counters.
Functionally, The Ozolith is not actually moving counters around or taking those counters away. It is simply saying: “whatever counters that thing had as it died, put those kinds of counters on the Ozolith.” These are brand new counters, unrelated to the other ones, they just happen to be the same types and quantities. This is clarified in a ruling on The Ozolith itself:

The Ozolith’s first ability doesn’t move counters off the creature that’s left the battlefield. Instead, it causes you to put a number of counters of each kind of counter that was on that creature onto The Ozolith. Notably, if you somehow control a second The Ozolith, each one will receive the same number and kinds of counters that were on the creature that left the battlefield. [...]

This is also covered by rule 122.8, which was added specifically for the Ozolith:

122.8. If a triggered ability instructs a player to "put those counters" or to "put [an object's] counters" on another object and that ability's trigger condition or effect checks that the object with those counters left the battlefield, that player puts a number of counters on the second object of each kind the first object had before it left the battlefield. The player doesn't move counters from one object to another.

Modular is similarly not moving the exact counters around or taking them away. In fact, the rules on Modular clarify that it comes with two abilities, one of which is this:

When this permanent is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target artifact creature for each +1/+1 counter on this permanent.

Just like the Ozolith, this isn't actually moving the counters themselves around, it just happens to be creating new, unrelated counters that happen to be the same type and quantity.
So in this situation, we effectively have two abilities:

Modular's ability, which functionally in this situation says “When Arcbound Ravager dies, because it had one +1/+1 counter on it, you may put one +1/+1 counter on another target artifact creature.”
The Ozolith's ability, which functionally in this situation says: “When Arcbound Ravager dies, because it had one +1/+1 counter on it, put one +1/+1 counter on The Ozolith.”

Both trigger, and both resolve, both handing out brand new counters to the Ozolith and any one artifact creature.


Ways to handicap in Magic the Gathering? I play Magic the Gathering with my kids a bit.  But, the games are often very one sided (in my favor) as they haven't mastered all the rules, and intricacies of game play.  For most board games, I can come up with reasonable handicaps when playing with them.  I haven't found a way for Magic the Gathering that feels right.  Things I've tried include:

Having them add 3-4 land to their initial hand (so they start out
with 10-11 cards).  (not enough advantage if game goes long)
Making sure they draw a land if they are mana screwed.  (Not enough advantage if game goes long)
Having them draw two cards per turn (way too much advantage for them)

Are there any other house rules that you have used to address this situation?

My friend and I have used the following and we think they work pretty well.

Start with a lower life total.  Start yourself off at 10 or 15.  As the kids get better, slowly increase it until you are back at 20.
Remind the kids about all their triggers or abilities they should be using.  Especially when learning, having someone remind you to activate a useful ability at the end of an opponent's turn or that a trigger with a "may" in it has happened is quite helpful in learning how to keep track of a lot of things at once.
Use simpler decks.  When teaching someone, introduce only a few concepts / interactions at once.  Starting with green fatty vs. white weenie lets someone learn the basics of a turn and how combat works without (usually) too many tricks via instants, etc.  Once they have a pretty good grasp on that, introduce something else.  Work your way up to the more complex things so as not to overwhelm them.
Stack their deck a little.  We will occasionally "fix" a child's deck when they aren't getting lands or creatures or something.  We don't mind because we aren't looking to win, we are looking to teach and practice.
Don't play as aggressively as you normally do.  When I play against my friend, it is no holds barred, all out play.  Against his kids, I might "forget" to use an ability or play a spell that would save a creature.  Not always, because they do need to learn how to deal with those things, just not every time.
Give the child a stronger deck.  Fighting an uphill battle gives you a little bit of a challenge.  You need to use your experience to overcome the power difference.


Was I right to bid something other than one club with the following hand? This was a Baron Barclay's problem.

Both vulnerable, I was sitting South after three passes with the following hand: (All x's are 6 or lower).
(s) AT7x (h) Kxx (d)9xx (c) AJX.

I elected to pass. I have 12 high card points but no five card suit. And my distribution is 4-3-3-3, so I deduct one point. I have one T, one 9, and one 7, but less than what was expected in intermediate cards (no 8s).

My second choice, with the "right" partner, would be 1 spade. Rule of 15, opposite a passed hand in third or fourth seat. Switch my hearts and spades and I would just pass; the other side is more likely to have spades.

But the answer given in the problem was one club. The two partners got to a precarious, but makeable 3 spade part score because partner had, (s) KJ8x (h) Qx (d) KT9 (c) T87x. Partner had his "quota" of 9 hcps, something extra in intermediate cards, and above all, four pretty good spades.

Was this a "lucky" result that I did well to shun? Was this a "natural" result of an opening one spade bid? Or should I follow Baron Barclay's supposedly expert line and bid one club?

It's not even particularly close - just open 1C.

In 4th seat the overriding consideration is the ability to make a plus score, and the use of Pierson Points to make that evaluation is widely regarded as the best (to date) means of assessing that prospect.

Here you have 12 HCP with 2.5 QT, well placed J and T, and another good spot card (albeit unsupported) in the Diamond suit. Additionally you have 4 Spades. The Pierson Count for your hand is therefore:

12 HCP
4 Spades

Total = 16.

Even with a deduction in terms of overall strength of 1 point for the 4333 distribution you clearly make the 15 PP cut-off and should open 1C. Unless you are playing 4-card Major system (such as Goren or ACOL) do not lie and open 1 Spade here. Your possession of 4 good Spades is a defensive as well as offensive value, and if partner holds 5 hearts you want to make it easy, not hard, for that suit to be introduced by partner - you cannot bid it over a Negative Double. If partner calls a Negative Double over a 2H overcall you will be delighted to rebid 2S and land in the 8-card Major fit.

If you want to "play games" on this hand: after a 1D overcall and a negative double by partner, just rebid 1H and pass partner's response.

;-)

But don't open 1S playing a 5-card major system.

The appropriate time to open this hand 1 Spade is in 3rd seat, not 4th. The goal of that call is to buy the contract in 2S or 3S and go down one (undoubled) for a smaller minus than opponents' part score. In 4th seat you are opening only if a plus looks to be in the cards, as a pass out is better still than a small minus.

I have always seen a description pf Pearson Points given as HCP + Spades - never as total points + Spades. In the absence of an analysis otherwise, take that at face value.


Moss-Pit Skeleton and Skyclave Shadowcat - sacrificing as cost of a triggered ability and triggering another ability when the first one resolves Suppose Alice has Moss-Pit Skeleton and Skyclave Shadowcat in game and Bob has a Kazandu Stomper (or some other strong creature, it does not matter).
It is Bob's turn and he attacks with his Kazandu Stomper. In return Alice blocks with Moss-Pit Skeleton. After blocking and before damage is dealt she wants to sacrifice Moss-Pit Skeleton to Skyclave Shadowcat (knowing that Kazandu Stomper stays blocked but no damage is dealt and Kazandu Stomper isn't damaged nor killed, that does not matter here). Her plan is the following (and here is my question, i want to get sure whether i understood everything correctly):

Skyclave Shadowcat's first ability is activated, mana is paid and Moss-Pit Skeleton is sacrificed as additional cost of this ability.
Moss-Pit Skeleton is placed in her graveyard because of the cost of Skyclave Shadowcat's first ability.
Skyclave Shadowcat's second ability is triggered, as Moss-Pit Skeleton had +1/+1 counters on it and Alice therefore draws a card.
Skyclave Shadowcat's first ability resolves and it gets a +1/+1 counter.
A +1/+1 counter is put on one of Alice's creatures and Moss-Pit Skeleton is in her graveyard, therefore Moss-Pit Skeleton's last ability triggers and Alice can put it on top of her library.

I am especially unsure about the last point. In short: Is it possible in this case to sacrifice Moss-Pit Skeleton as part of the activated ability cost of Skyclave Shadowcat and directly afterwards put Moss-Pit Skeleton on top of the library when the activated ability of Skyclave Shadowcat resolves? Or is there some waiting mechanism that places Moss-Pit Skeleton only in the graveyard after the ability of Skyclave Shadowcat is finished?
In even shorter: Is Alice in this case allowed to put Moss-Pit Skeleton on top of her library?

Moss-Pit Skeleton can go back to your library after the ability resolves.
You are correct in saying that the ability on Skyclave Shadowcat includes sacrificing a creature as part of the cost.  The Skeleton would go to your graveyard and then the ability to put a +1/+1 counter on Shadowcat will go on the stacke.  At this point, both players would have to pass priority in order for the ability to resolve.  Note that the +1/+1 counter has not gone on Shadowcat yet but the Skeleton has already entered the graveyard.
Once the ability resolves, Skeleton is in your graveyard and therefore it's ability would trigger, allowing you to put it on top of your library.

Just to point out in your example, however.  Your statement

After blocking and before damage is dealt she wants to sacrifice Moss-Pit Skeleton to Skyclave Shadowcat (knowing that Kazandu Stomper stays blocked but no damage is dealt and Kazandu Stomper isn't damaged nor killed, that does not matter here)

If you replace Kazandu Stomper with a generic 6/5 creature, this statement would be correct.  However, Kazandu Stomper has Trample.  This changes how combat damage is dealt, and therefore Kazandu Stomper would still do 6 damage to you if it was attacking.


Do geologists ever count as "winners" in Saboteur 2? In Saboteur 2, the number of dwarves who win a round matters quite a bit: the more dwarves who win, the fewer points are awarded to each.

Geologists play by funny rules, though, and get points in another way. My question is: do geologists count toward the number of "winners" for a round, thus reducing all the other winners' points? Or are they left out of the winner count?

No.  The geologist does not count as a winner.

As noted in the rules, they are indifferent as to who wins and loses, caring only about the crystals.


Betrayal at House on the Hill, Haunt 42: can Explorers be used if they are killed by an event? (spoiler) For Haunt 42, Comes The Hero,

   the Traitor needs a 'sacrifice' to open a gate to Hell, consisting of an Explorer

If an Explorer is killed by an event, can they be used, or does the Traitor have to be responsible for the kill?

The Traitor's Tome says of the Traitor,

   You must sacrifice (kill) one of the  heroes using a weapon ...

which excludes a death due to an event.


Does Emrakul, the Promised End trigger if the player casting it is being controlled? Say I cast Emrakul, the Promised End and am now controlling my opponent during their turn. As it turns out, they also have an Emarkul, the Promised End.
If I cast their Emrakul (while controlling them) does the effect trigger? This effect says:

When you cast this spell, you gain control of target opponent during that player's next turn. After that turn, that player takes an extra turn.

But it's unclear to me if I am casting this spell, or if opponent is.
Related: When controlling an opponent's turn after casting “Emrakul, the Promised End”, who is “target opponent”? which seems to indicate that if the effect triggers, then opponent gets to control me, but doesn't clarify if the effect triggers in the first place.

Emrakul's ability will work as normal when cast by a player controlled by another player.
When a player (A) is controlling another player (B), player A makes all of the game decisions for player B, but player B is still the one taking those actions. This is stated in a different way in rule 716.3:

Only control of the player changes. All objects are controlled by their normal controllers. A player who’s being controlled during their turn is still the active player.


Can you re-use millitary power to conquer two worlds on the same turn (with Improved Logistics) Does Improved Logistics allow you to re-use your military power to settle two new worlds in the same turn?

Yes
You military in race for the galaxy is never spent.  Not even in the two moments between playing two worlds with Improved Logistics.
Even when using Space Mercenaries and paying cards to increase your military, the new military score will apply to both worlds played, and does not need to be divided

The only exception to this is the Imperium Supply Convoy card in the Alien Artifacts expansion, which explicitly calls out that the second world it can occur is with excess military only.


Increasing Savagery: can you change the target? In MTG can Increasing Savagery flashback to a different target if the original target is removed from the battlefield?

Yes, the new flashbacked invocation of Increasing Savagery is an entirely different instance of the spell, and you may choose a new target, even if the original target is still on the battlefield.


What is a good modern miniatures Tank combat game/system? Short story; I'm working on a 3-d printer, and I have a passion for tanks and games. So I thought I would make a miniatures game! a friend gave me a reality check, and now I'm checking around to see if there already is a system out there that does what I want, namely;

Modern armored vehicle warfare with miniatures. I'm hoping for something that's fairly realistic, dealing with modern vehicles and equipment and goes into some depth; perhaps accounting for things like armor thickness and shot angles? I'm not terribly interested in infantry (even if they would play a huge role in real life) but I'll take just about anything under advisement.

I'm hoping someone can point me to a good system. Or if there not one, then one that could act as a base for one...Or even chicken scratches that someone once made. I feel like I'm going to have to homebrew what I want anyways, but any sort of base to work with would be appreciated.

Google "Jane's Naval Wargame." It forms a turn based structure, using the statistics of real life systems, to establish analogs for the game.

Actions are interpreted from the Jane's Fighting Ships books.

A similar system could be developed to reflect the nature of ground combat.