Is Festering March cast repeatedly via the suspend ability? The card text of Festering March is as follows:

  Creatures your opponents control get -1/-1 until end of turn. Exile Festering March with three time counters on it.

It appears that you can cast this card repeatedly as you suspend it as part of its resolution.

Yes, that's right. Otherwise, it would just be an overcosted Make Obsolete. Even though the phrase is "Exile Festering March with three time counters on it." and not "Suspend Festering March with three time counters on it.", the card is still suspended according to the Comprehensive Rules,

  702.61b A card is “suspended” if it’s in the exile zone, has suspend, and has a time counter on it.

and removing time counters and casting the spell without its mana cost works just like if you had suspended it from your hand:

  702.61a Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with suspend is in a player’s hand. The second and third are triggered abilities that function in the exile zone. “Suspend N—[cost]” means “If you could begin to cast this card by putting it onto the stack from your hand, you may pay [cost] and exile it with N time counters on it. This action doesn’t use the stack,” and “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this card is suspended, remove a time counter from it,” and “When the last time counter is removed from this card, if it’s exiled, play it without paying its mana cost if able. If you can’t, it remains exiled. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of the spell or the permanent it becomes.”


Magic the Gathering: Hero's Blade vs Lightning Bolt My opponent has Hero's Blade on the battlefield. He plays Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and attempts to attach Hero's Blade to it. In response, I cast Lightning Bolt and attempt to deal Yisan 3 damage and kill it before Hero's Blade is able to attach. My question is, am I able to do this? Can I cast Lightning Bolt so that its effect will resolve AFTER Yisan enters the battlefield but BEFORE Hero's Blade is able to be attached?

Yes, you can. Hero's Blade's ability triggers "Whenever a legendary creature enters the battlefield under your control," which means that the order of events goes like this:

Your opponent casts Yisan
Yisan finishes resolving and enters the battlefield. This causes the Hero's Blade's ability to go on the stack. At this point, Yisan is on the battlefield
You respond to the triggered ability with your Lightning Bolt.
The Lightning Bolt resolves, and kills Yisan.
The triggered ability resolves, and does nothing.

As a side note, the Equip ability can only be activated "whenever you could cast a sorcery," so your opponent would not be able to Equip the Hero's Blade in response to your Lightning Bolt.


How to decide if I should use a counterspell in MTG? I always have a hard time to decide if I should use a counter spell in a given situation and one step earlier if I should save enough mana for a counter spell this round.

I am currently facing this problem with my variation of Solar Flare. The main idea of this deck is to stall the game for at least 5 to 6 rounds while building up your graveyard and overpower the opponent with fat creatures afterwards when the fifth or sixth land is out there.

My counter spell of choice is Mana Leak. My dilemma is, that I usually want to use it early in the game, because it is harder for my opponent to pay the additional mana cost and my plan is to stall him anyway in the beginning. On the downside I have used my counter spells often before the real threats are out there and my opponent feels comfortable in the middle to end game because he knows that it is unlikely that I have any more counter spells available. I also do not want to use my counter spells after round 5, because I usually need my mana in those rounds to pump out and resurrect creatures. Without any ramps in this deck I have no flexibility to save up mana each turn instead of playing my creatures.

What is the expert opinion on that dilemma? How do I decide when to use my counter spells? Can I even formulate such a strategy without knowing the deck of my opponent well?

Considering your link to Solar Flare builds, I'll assume you're talking about the Standard format as of right now.

The timing of your counters relies heavily on what deck your opponent is running.  To some extent, it does rely on knowing your opponent's deck, but most Standard decks fall into an archtype.  Recognizing those archtypes isn't too difficult if you spend some time in the format, and recognition means you'll know what some of the more commonly-run threats for those decks are.

Assuming your opponent is running aggro and is effectively racing to see if they can take you down before you can start to get some of your meaner cards (traditionally Sun Titan into a Liliana via Unburial Rites, etc.), you need to be able to survive their early game.  This may mean throwing counters away early on, on things that could build into bigger threats (e.g. Lord of the Unreal, Phantasmal Image, Stromkirk Noble, etc.) to slow them down.

Assuming your opponent is running control, you're looking for bombs and other counters.  They're doing the same thing as you; playing the waiting game, looking for the opportunity to get something game-winning through.  This often means a slow game, where each player will play a land and then pass, leaving mana open for counters and their-turn fun (like White Sun's Zenith, Blue Sun's Zenith, and Forbidden Alchemy).

Midrange decks are much harder to gauge - you'll often have to play a game before you get a good feeling for what their bombs are, what you're watching out for.

Lastly, one of the strongest things you can do is threaten a counter.  Whether or not you have one in hand (and whether or not you're even playing them, if you're still playing blue), if you leave mana open for a counter, they may not play a more threatening card for risk of it getting countered.  Never let your opponent feel comfortable - even if you've played three Mana Leaks, what's to say you don't have another counter (Dissipate, Negate, etc.), or destruction, or a Snapcaster!  For this reason, I'd caution against tapping out, as you lose this threat entirely.

One more note - there's a reason Snapcaster Mage is so popular! Every Snapcaster (ideally used) means another Mana Leak, Dissipate, Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, or Dismember that you've already used once.


Is there a standard file format for Magic the Gathering games? I like to play games of Magic solitaire to test my decks (particularly Commander games, but the same would apply to any game). I also like to share the raw data from the game with my friends. Currently, I simply record the state of the game, transcribe it, and send it - but that requires them to keep a constant mental image of the entire game, including hand contents.

Naturally, using a computer program for this would reduce the mental burden. But if I'm going to do that, I really need to have a file format I can send the game files in. So my question is... is there a standardized file format for describing the events of a Magic game? Something like what PGN does for Chess, but for Magic.

Right now, the closest thing to an "industry standard" for sharing games is video, using services such as Twitch TV and YouTube. This is how Wizards does event coverage and how many Magic writers share their games.

Players often record their voice as they play or go back later and add commentary. Here is a fairly typical example.
Magic Online keeps a history of game states that could be used for replays, but access to the data has generally been limited (leading to players resorting to engine quirks and workarounds to get at it). Last I checked, the data's still not easily accessible, nor is it very portable or shareable.


Can the Armory district card destroy a district in a completed city? Armory/Powerderhouse/Poudrière: During your turn, you may destroy the Armory in order to destory any other district card of your choice in another player's city

We are wondering if this district can be used against a player who just finished it's citadel.

Apparently Bruno Faidutti (the game designer) intended to allow this.
The Warlord has the following limitation (as found in the official Citadels rules):

You may not, however, destroy a district in a city that is already completed by having eight districts (or seven districts when the Bell Tower is in play).

But apparently Faidutti intended for the Armory not to have this limitation.
As found on BoardGameGeek, the Warlord would even be able to destroy a district from a city that once was completed, but became uncompleted because of the Armory:

Nonetheless, here is how, according to Bruno Faidutti's ruling, a the final round may play out:
Assume Ashley (a Magician) should build an eighth district first, triggering the end of game condition.
Brad (the Bishop) pops his Armory to destroy Ashley's Cathedral (her only religious district). Even though she has seven districts, the game will still end when the round finishes.
Clara (using the Architect) builds twice, bringing her district count to nine.
Finally, David (acting as Warlord) wants to destroy a district (the gold is useless to him otherwise). David cannot destroy anything of Clara's, since her city is complete, and Brad is the Bishop, so he is safe. Ashley's is no longer complete, so David destroys another of Ashley's districts.

There is some ambiguity as to whether the game would still end after such a round (imagine that Clara in the previous example would not have completed her city) and as to which bonuses Ashley in the previous example would receive.


What scale are Warhammer Fantasy models? What scale are the models in Warhammer Fantasy?

I have searched for the answer to this and found many different values. Can someone please provide me with the correct scale in the "xmm" and "x/xx" format.

Where it would be something like "28mm" and "1/35" scale. These are just examples and some of the numbers i have seen.

Gaming miniatures are usually described as Xmm rather than 'X/Y(th)' as is used in scale modelling.  The distance is from the base to the eyes on a normal human.

Current new models coming out for Wahammer Fantasy are 32mm Heroic scale.  GW has been pushing up the scale of the game in recent years, ostensibly so that more detail can be fit onto plastic models.  Older models, many of which are still the current sculpt that's for sale, are 28mm heroic.

'Heroic' just means that certain features, like heads and weapons, are not to scale with the body.  This makes them look better and easier to recognize when viewed from comparatively far away on a gaming table.  It does however make it hard to use parts from true-scale models, since a model that is the same height will look like it has a tiny head and twig for a weapon next to gaming models.  If you do a straight conversion based on the model's height you will come out with approx. 1/56th for a comparable true scale model, but in reality that will look very silly and most people use more like 1/35th when incorporating true scale parts into a gaming army.


Do I draw cards from playing Lich at negative life? I have negative 10 life, such as due to Platinum Angel and I play Lich.  Lich says:

As Lich enters the battlefield, you lose life equal to your life total.
If you would gain life, draw that many cards instead.

Does playing Lich in this situation cause me to draw 10 cards (by means of causing me to gain 10 life and then replacing that with card draw)?

Nothing happens. You lose 0 life, which is the same as not losing any life. You don't draw cards.

I think what you're imagining is "losing negative ten life" = "gain 10 life".  However, you cannot lose negative life.

  107.1b Most of the time, the Magic game uses only positive numbers and zero. You can’t choose a negative number, deal negative damage, gain negative life, and so on. However, it’s possible for a game value, such as a creature’s power, to be less than zero. If a calculation or comparison needs to use a negative value, it does so. If a calculation that would determine the result of an effect yields a negative number, zero is used instead, unless that effect doubles or sets to a specific value a player’s life total or a creature’s power and/or toughness.

The first bolded section is pretty clear cut ("You can't [...] gain negative life") but the second part also explains the principle behind it. The principle is that when you're gaining life, you gain +number life, but the calculation sees you would gain -number life instead, so we replace the negative with 0: you gain 0 life.


How can I best assess the quality of a game of Scrabble? As a child, I played Scrabble with my grandmother. At the end of each game, she would tally the total score (i.e. both players' combined), and consider the game a good one if the total was high, a worse game it was lower.

Is that a common way to determine whether a game of Scrabble is good? Is it the common way?
Are there any other common ways to determine a good game? (Perhaps — and, as a novice player, I'm just guessing — number of bingos, number n-ple-word squares covered by tiles, how many times the expensive tiles were used (across and down or just once), how many tiles were left unused at the end, how many squares were used along the edges of the board, vel sim.)

Either of those may depend on the level of play, in which case I'd like to know answers both for the novice level I played her at and for more advanced levels.

Another measure of a good Scrabble game, used amongst serious tournament players: equity points loss. Let me explain.

As another commenter highlighted, sometimes strategy determines that you should play defensively and get lower score instead, in which case high-score may not measure how well the player plays (if that's your definition of good/quality, as opposed to excitement). Similarly, a game where a player has lousy tiles but played well given the circumstances may score lower than one where a player has abundance of easy bingos and can afford to miss one or two good plays and still win.

If what you want to measure if how well the player plays, one other way is to benchmark it against the theoretical best play. Usually what is used is the play made by a powerful Scrabble-playing software in similar circumstances. This is a common practice amongst serious Scrabble tournament players who are trying improve their play quality.

A couple of popular software that can be used for this are Quackle and Elise. I personally use Quackle so my explanation will be based on that, but the same concept applies for all software (and Elise plays better, albeit slower, than Quackle).

What I do is I will key in the racks (i.e. the 7 letters held by a player) for every turn, and also the actual move played, into Quackle. I will ask Quackle to also choose its optimum play (or list of possible plays, ranked in descending order from the best). Quackle can then run a simulation on what happens for the various plays, and calculate the equity point for each move.

Equity point is the nett point for a move, instead of the score itself. By nett point usually it means the score, minus the score of the opponent's reply, plus my score for the next move. This will account for both defence (reducing opponent's score) and tactics (sacrificing current score for me to score bigger next move). Since Quackle can calculate equity points for all moves, I can then compare the equity difference between my move and Quackle's best move. The number of equity point my move is lower than Quackle's best move's equity point, is the equity loss. The lower the equity loss, the better the play was. Sum up the equity loss for each play, and you have the equity loss for the whole game.

A 0 equity loss means a perfectly-played game (even if it's one which is lost to an opponent with better luck in that particular game). This is rare but has been achieved by a few top-flight players. I myself would be very happy with an equity loss below 50 for a whole game. To give a bit of a sense, missing a bingo can easily lead to equity loss of 50 in a single move. Similarly, failing to restrict opponent from scoring an extra 5 points each turn may add up over the 10 moves to be a 50 point loss (not accounting yet for suboptimal scoring on my part).

There are two flaws to this approach of benchmarking against a software:

it assumes the software used plays a perfect game. They don't - Elise
is better than Quackle, for example, and occasionally top players
have identified a better move than the software can (typically for
very unorthodox situations). But by and large, it's safe to say vast
majority of the times, measuring loss of equity is a good indication
of quality of play in a Scrabble game.
it takes effort to get the figure. One must key in the information
into a software to do its calculation. Serious players may put in the
effort, but casual players won't have this information and may prefer
a measure that can be seen at a glance (e.g. score).


Scenario: Can monster be targeted? H░░█░
░░█░M

Is the Monster (M) a valid target for a ranged Hero (H) attack through the Obstacles (█)?

TL;DR No

For reference, "Line of Sight" (pg 12) from the Rules of Play:

  In order for a figure to have line of sight to a space, a player must be able
  to trace an uninterrupted, straight line from any corner of that figure’s
  space to any corner of the target space.

  If the line passes through the edge of a map tile, a door, or a blocked space
  (a space containing a figure or obstacle), the target space is not in line of
  sight (see “Line of Sight Example” on page 12).

  If the line passes along the edge of a blocked space (see “Line of Sight
  Example” on page 12), the target space is not in line of sight. However,
  if the line only touches the corner of a blocked space (without passing
  through the space itself ), the target space is in line of sight.

Now let's address the possible lines from the Hero's space:

Top left corner

Any line from this corner must pass through the Hero's space. The Hero is a figure, so the Hero's space is a blocked space. So all lines are invalid because they pass through a blocked space.

Bottom left corner
Bottom right corner

For both of these corners, any line must pass through or along the Obstacle space. An obstacle space is a blocked space, therefore all lines are invalid.

Top right corner

Only a single line can pass from this corner through the obstacles. By geometry, that fixed line does continue to the Monster's bottom right corner, but passes through the Monster's space. A monster is a figure, so therefore the Monster's space is a blocked space. Therefore, the line passes through the edge of a blocked space and is invalid.

Summary: All possible lines are invalid; the Monster can't be targeted by the Hero.


Does the Void's power cancel out the Spiff's? In cosmic encounter, one player is the Void (destroys ships instead of sending them to the warp), and another player is the Spiff (attacking player still gets a colony if they lose by 10 or more). If the Spiff attack the Void and lose when they have 5+ ships, do they still get a colony, or is the ship that would become the colony destroyed?

The ship is destroyed. Both abilities are trying to interact with ships that would be going to the void. The FAQ for the Fantasy Flight version (the most recent to date),  indicates that Void trumps all other abilities.

Q: Is there an official ruling on Zombie vs Void?
A: Void trumps Zombie. Zombie's power kicks in when it should go to the warp, however the intent for Void is that it never sends its opponents to the warp at all.

This ruling is not at all obvious when you consider the text on the various cards, and their updated errata. (from the CE Cosmodex)

Spiff - Receives Colony as Loser (G) You have the power to Crash Land. As the offense, if both players revealed attack cards and {your total was 10 or more less than the defense's} you lost the encounter by 10 or more, you may use this power to land one of your ships that would otherwise be lost to the warp on the winning planet. {The ship coexists with the ships already there. This power does not allow you to coexist in places or with aliens that state otherwise.}
Void - Eradicates Opponents' Ships (R) You have the power to Eradicate. As a main player, when you win an encounter, use this power to remove the losing side's ships from the game rather than sending them to the warp. This occurs before any other game effects that affect ships headed to the warp. A player cannot be reduced to fewer ships than the number of foreign colonies needed to win the game. Any eradicated ships that would reduce a player below this number are sent to the warp as usual.


What would happen if you target a animated land with Mirrorweave? If I target an animated Mutavault with Mirrorweave, will all creatures become lands until end of turn?

Yes, the other creatures will be Mutavault lands until end of turn, but they will not be 2/2 creatures. You can, however, animate each of those lands through their copied animation ability.
A copy effect only copies what's printed on the original card and other copy effects, but no other effects. The animation effect from Mutavault is such an "other effect" that will not be copied. The example given in the rule covers pretty much exactly your situation.

706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by its face-down status, and by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set power and toughness (and may also set additional characteristics). Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.
Example: Chimeric Staff is an artifact that reads “{X}: Chimeric Staff becomes an X/X artifact creature until end of turn.” Clone is a creature that reads, “You may have Clone enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield.” After a Staff has become a 5/5 artifact creature, a Clone enters the battlefield as a copy of it. The Clone is an artifact, not a 5/5 artifact creature. (The copy has the Staff’s ability, however, and will become a creature if that ability is activated.)


Did tactics training improve your chess significantly? There are quite a few sites for training in chess tactics. For those having experience with using any of these, how did these affect your rating? Is there a strong correlation between e.g. http://chess.emrald.net rating and ELO? Has the use of these sites made a significant change to your ELO?

As BlueRaja said, chesstempo is good, but you can train tactics @ FICS, chess.com, gameknot.com, chesscube.com...etc

Famous quote "1 problem a day keeps the patzer away"
Indeed when you start doing tactics regularly you immediately see results.
You tend to do a lot less blunders (which obviously takes you a rank up), remember some positions and tactics.

There's also some tactics training that I will describe as an answer to your other question.


Can you sacrifice a creature after it has dealt damage to a creature? Let's say, I have a 1/1 saproling token, a Thallid Omnivore, and my opponent has a 1/1 token of some sort. I attacked with a 1/1 saproling token and a Thallid Omnivore, and my opponent blocks it with his 1/1. Can I then sacrifice the token after it has dealt damage to the other token so that my Thallid Omnivore gains a +2/+2 while still killing his token?

Section 510 of the comprehensive rules details the combat damage step. First, 510.1 is about assigning damage, where all attacking and blocking creatures decide where they deal combat damage and how much they deal. Then we get the following (emphasis mine):

  510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action
  doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time
  combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.

So no, once the game has passed to the point where you decide which creatures are eligible to deal combat damage at all, you cannot play anything until after damage has been dealt and creatures have died from it.

Historically (before the M10 core set), you would've been able to both let your token deal its damage and sacrifice it to the Omnivore, as "combat damage" was put as a single entity on the stack, and was something one could respond to just like spells and abilities.

However, even then, if you had let your token deal damage, the Omnivore would deal 3 damage. Neither in modern rules nor old would you have been able to both deal damage with the token and deal five damage with the Omnivore. In the other hand, with the old rules, you would've been able to deal damage with the token and at the same time allow the Omnivore to survive combat against a 3/3 or a 4/4. That is no longer possible.


What (if any) is the relationship between your Active and In Decline race? If the special power of the active race pertains to regions occupied by the race you have in decline, are you allowed to collect coins for that?

For example, you control the Iron Dwarves which are in decline and occupy Mining regions. Your new Active race are Mining Drow.

Can you collect extra coins for the Mining regions that the Iron Dwarves occupy even though it's the Drow special power that allows you to collect extra coins for occupied mining regions?

What is the relationship between races that are Active and In Decline?  Can your Active race occupy a region that's already occupied by a race you have in Decline?

No, powers cannot be shared between races.  They are specific to one race only.

Sometimes though, powers carry on in to decline.  When you flip over your race/power tokens to go in to decline, it usually has symbols or graphics on the back that show what powers remain in decline.  If it is just blank then you have no decline powers (See backside of Dwarves, Ghouls, and Trolls race cards here (Courtesy of BoardGameGeek.com).  See also spirit power).  However, these decline advantages are still specific to that particular race.

For the second question, how does an active race occupy a region owned by your race in decline?..
Page 4, section 2, 2nd Column, says:

  A player may choose to conquer a Region occupied by
  his own In Decline token, if he wishes to: He will lose that
  token, but might gain access to a Region that is more
  profitable for his new Active Race tokens to occupy.

This is the only for your active race to occupy a region in control of your decline race.  The same rules apply as conquering any other region.


How has the composition of Catan's development card deck changed over time? Has the number of Knight/Year of Plenty/Road Building/Victory Point/Monopoly cards in Settlers of Catan's development card deck evolved across editions, or is the latest edition the same as the first?

If so, what was its progression?

It has stayed the same from the beginning (though Mayfair has changed some rules and the map in the last edition):

14 Soldiers
5 Victory Points
2 Monopoly
2 Road Building
2 Year of Plenty


How can I find games similar to a certain type? I have recently been playing a lot of the game "Patchwork" (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163412/patchwork) and really am enjoying it, but it becomes redundant quickly as it is a two player game. I'm looking to find more games of this type so that I can have a game rotation. I'm just not sure on how I can find games that are similar in quality, fun, game time, complexity, etc.

So what would be a good way other than reading all the reviews on websites or forums to find same style games?

If you look under the "Classification" section on the game's BGG page, you can click one of those tags to see other games with similar features. E.g.: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamemechanic/2041/card-drafting


Is the cast keyword triggered from the graveyard? If Conduit of Ruin or any other card states that when it is cast, does this mean that it can trigger when it returns from the battlefield? Such as Conduit of ruin is in the graveyard, I return it to the battlefield from the graveyard. Does the first ability trigger and allow me to search my library for an eldrazi card 7 or more to place on top of my library?

No, "casting" a spell has a more specific meaning

What does casting mean?

  601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect.  [..]

Normally, you are only allowed to cast spells from your hand, unless a card says otherwise. There are cards that allow casting spells from somewhere other than the hand, such as Bring to Light (casting from exile), Descendants' Path (casting from library), or Karador, Ghost Chieftain (casting from graveyard). The Commander game variant allows you to cast your commander from the Command zone.

Casting a spell or ability with a reanimation effect such as the namesake Reanimate never counts as casting the reanimated creature itself. It is simply an effect of that spell or ability.


How do I search for cards without a casting cost (excluding {0})? Ancestral Vision is an example of a card with a total absence of any casting cost: you can't cast it the ordinary way. In this case, you have to cast it using its Suspend ability.

I've just found that I have no idea how to search for these cards in Gatherer or in MagicCards.info. I can search for cards with a mana cost or converted mana cost of 0, but that also gets me cards like Accorder's Shield.

How can I search up cards with no mana cost in either Gatherer or MagicCards.info?

Lands are also in this category — it's fine if this search turns lands up as well; I can exclude those by their type easily enough.

You can search for cards that have a CMC of 0 but don't have a mana cost of 0 or that contains X. Here is an example on Gatherer. Many of them are transform cards or tokens.


Does it count as me landing the killing blow if a monster dies to a Wound that I inflicted? Some of the personal quests involve killing a certain number of monsters. The official FAQ has clarified that the character must be the one to land the killing blow in order for it to count towards the quest. What happens if I perform an attack that inflicts Wound on the monster, and they later die as a result of that Wound. Do I still get credit for killing that monster? We ruled that it did just because it seemed reasonable to give the character credit in that way, but I'm curious if there is an official ruling on this.

My question: When a monster dies due to the wound I've inflicted, does it count as my kill?

The answer Isaac Childres emailed me:

  if a monster dies from wound, no one would get credit.

Isaac has now repeated this answer on BGG.


Can I use a Murder to kill a planeswalker if it is a creature? Assume the other player has used Sarkhan the Masterless +1 to turn all of their planeswalkers into 4/4 Dragons can I cast Murder and destroy one of the planeswalkers, since they become creatures?

Yes, that's exactly how it works. Note that Sarkhan makes them not planeswalkers anymore (until end of turn), but even if they'd become a creature in addition to being a planeswalker, Murder would still work.


When does Niv-Mizzet's trigger resolve? While playing a Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind EDH deck. If I cast a spell which would cause me to lose the game via drawing too many cards, but would deal lethal damage to the last opponent e.g a wheel effect with a hand larger than my library, do I draw all the cards before Niv-Mizzet's trigger resolves and lose or deal damage after each card drawn and win?

In a 2-player game, you would lose the game and the Niv-Mizzet triggers would not resolve.
The Wheel of Fortune you played would resolve as the only object on the stack. After the Wheel has finished resolving, before the damage triggers would even be put on the stack, you would lose the game for having attempted to draw from an empty library.

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.
116.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event (see rule 704, “State-Based Actions”), then repeats this process until no state-based actions are performed. Then triggered abilities are put on the stack
704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions
704.5b If a player attempted to draw a card from a library with no cards in it since the last time state-based actions were checked, he or she loses the game.


Stifling a storm card Can I play Stifle on the storm trigger on cards like Grapeshot to prevent any copies from being made?

Yes. The reminder text for Storm says "When you cast this spell..." You can know that this is a triggered ability because of the "when".

  603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[Trigger condition], [effect]," and begin with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." They can also be expressed as "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect]."

And we can check the rules about Storm itself:

  702.39. Storm

    702.39a Storm is a triggered ability that functions while the spell is on the stack. “Storm” means “When you play this spell, put a copy of it onto the stack for each other spell that was played before it this turn. If the spell has any targets, you may choose new targets for any number of the copies.”

Therefore, the Storm ability triggers and goes on the stack like any other triggered ability, at which point you can respond to it with Stifle.


What's the point of Xaxos' power in Aeon's end? I've started playing Aeon's end lately, and on the base set there's one Mage that seems hardly fair, but somehow he ends up way too strong or way too weak, depending at how one interpret his power.

The power is written this way :

  Metaphysical Link (5 charges): Activate during any player's main
  phase: Allies collectively gain 4 charges. Reveal the turn order deck
  and return the revealed cards in any order

At first we tought it shuffled the turn orders with it , hence it allows a "semi" infinite loop since it would be almost self-sufficientand allowed you to chain ally turns until the monster is beaten.

Then, we thought this was too powerful to be left, as is, it must be only the turn orders not played this turn. Thus, the power is near useless since it needs you to play first or so in order for it to be somehow effective, otherwise you could have only the nemesis' turns left in the draw, or some of them + 1/2 ally. I hardly find this worthwhile especially since the power costs so much. The "give energy to the team" thing is quite good, but if you got spells or gems that give charges for free, it would be easier and more flexible to use it directly.

So I'm quite confused. Is this power supposed to be terribly effective ? Is this power supposed to be lackluster? In which situation would Xaxos be a good pick ?

Context, Cost, and Timing are the definition of Xaxos power

Xaxos power is amazing: its ability to manipulate the turn order deck can save the game from being lost or set up some really amazing combos, it is one of the 'cheapest' powers in the game, and it can be extremely useful when combined with certain other mages.

Lets look at each part of his power:

Cost of 5: this is pretty much normal, and powers that only cost 4 are usually weaker than the ones that cost 5+.
Activate during any player's main phase: You don't have to activate this on your turn which means it doesn't matter who goes first in a round, you can immediately set up the entire round to go the way you want it to go. More on this in a minute but since a lot of powers are restricted to your own main phase, this definitely gives this power an advantage.
Allies collectively gain 4 charges: This effectively refunds almost the entire cost of your ability to your team, making this one of the most efficient powers in the game. While there are a lot of cards and abilities that grant charges to 'yourself or an ally',  granting that charge to an ally means you don't get to use your own power as often. Not so if you're granting that charge to Xaxos, since he refunds those charges back to the other players when his ability triggers. In most games I play with him, the Xaxos rarely generates more than 1 charge for himself but he still ends every round with full charges, refunding them to the rest of the team at the start of the following round.
Reveal the turn order deck and return the revealed cards in any order: This can be used in two ways: control the nemesis turns or set up player combos (or both). Controlling exactly when the nemesis turns trigger can allow your team to knock out a critical bad guy before he destroys someone, or it can allow you to set up a teammate with just the right discard trigger to get rid of a nasty power card before it goes off, or even just break up the nemesis turns so he doesn't go back-to-back and toss out (and immediately trigger) a strong Power 1 card with no chance for your team to respond to it. Setting up player combos can also be very powerful and there's too many combos for me to list them all (e.g. letting the mage who just prepped a full load of powerful spells go before the nemesis forces everyone to discard prepped spells), but Xaxos' own unique starting spell benefits from this too by allowing you to set up a Player turn order card immediately after your own and amp up the power of your spell.

There are probably a ton of other examples of how this is useful, but to me Xaxos is definitely a strong contender for a position at the table in almost any game of Aeon's End I play.


How can I make Wall of Roots's toughness 0 and still sacrifice it? In the ruling about Wall of Roots is written the following:

2017-11-17: If you must sacrifice a creature to pay a casting or activation cost that also includes mana, such as that of Bubbling Cauldron’s abilities, you may put a -0/-1 counter on Wall of Roots to make its toughness 0 and then sacrifice it to pay that cost.

I do not understand this properly. Compared to the state based actions this seems wrong. You would get the mana and then the creature dies. Mana ability are for normal not using the stack, and can't be responded to. But this is a mana ability, and a 'put a counter on a creature ability'. Does that mean, that the 'put the counter ability' is still on the stack, when you already got the mana? A creature can't have toughness 0 and then become sacrificed.
I hope someone can explain to me this strange card.

This ruling describes an unusual interaction with Bubbling Cauldron, which says:

{1}, {T}, Sacrifice a creature: You gain 4 life.

Specifically it requires mana and a creature sacrifice, and that ruling is attesting that you can use Wall of Roots for both. This is because of two quirks of the game:

State-based actions are only checked when a player gets priority. This means they are not checked during the process of putting a spell or ability on the stack; they are just checked before and after. (The same is true for whilst a spell or ability is resolving, but that's not so relevant here.)
Wall of Roots's ability is a mana ability, and mana abilities can be activated during the process of putting a spell or ability on the stack. They do not themselves use the stack and simply immediately resolve.(1)

The process works like this:

You announce you're activating Bubbling Cauldron's ability.
During the process of activating the ability, because the cost includes a mana cost, you may activate mana abilities. You activate Wall of Roots's ability, pay its costs (put a -0/-1 counter on it, reducing it to 0 toughness), and add one green mana. It will now die the next time state-based actions are checked, but they're not going to be checked yet.
After activating mana abilities you may now pay costs. You pay the one green mana and sacrifice Wall of Roots.
The process of activating the ability is now finished. State-based actions are checked. If there's a creature with 0 or less toughness, it will now die, but there isn't one anymore.

You can do the same thing with other spells or abilities that require both mana and a sacrifice as part of their cost, such as Eldritch Evolution or Evolutionary Leap.
If you were to reduce Wall of Roots to 0 toughness outside the process of casting a spell or activating an ability, it would immediately die as you expect, and you would not also be able to later sacrifice it.
(The citations above are from the procedure of casting spells. The rules for activated abilities say that we announce we're activating the ability, and then follow the spell casting procedure after that.)

(1) From these rules in the section on mana abilities:

605.3a A player may activate an activated mana ability whenever they have priority, whenever they are casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it’s in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability.
605.3b An activated mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. Rather, it resolves immediately after it is activated. (See rule 405.6c.)


Why can cards like Frost Breath tap creatures that are already tapped, but Teferi, Hero of Dominaria can’t untap lands that are already untapped? 609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

Because of this rule, I would expect Frost Breath to not work on creatures that are tapped. Why is it possible to tap a tapped creature, but it’s impossible to untap an untapped land with e.g. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria? This seems to be a contradiction to me. Can someone explain why it’s not? Thanks!

The main difference between those cards is that Frost Breath targets the permanents and Teferi's ability does not.

Frost Breath's text says

  Tap up to two target creatures. Those creatures don't untap during their controller's next untap step.

The targets are chosen when you cast the spell, and since it just says "target creature", you can choose any creature, even a tapped one. Once the spell resolves, it tries to tap those specific creatures. If it can't, it just moves on to the next instruction.

Teferi's ability, on the other hand, does not target. It just says

  Draw a card. At the beginning of the next end step, untap two lands.

This effect just tries to untap any two lands, so you have to choose lands that can actually be untapped. This effect still follows the quoted rule 609.3; if there is only one tapped land on the battlefield when the ability resolves, you untap just that land.

You have to choose tapped lands because rule 701.20b says

  To untap a permanent, rotate it back to the upright position from a sideways position. Only tapped permanents can be untapped.

and in part of the description of the process of resolving a spell or ability, rule 608.2d says

  If an effect of a spell or ability offers any choices other than choices already made as part of casting the spell, activating the ability, or otherwise putting the spell or ability on the stack, the player announces these while applying the effect. The player can’t choose an option that’s illegal or impossible [...]

It is impossible to untap a permanent that is already untapped, so you can't choose to do so.


When combining number in Parchesse May I use a 6+4 in substitution of a double 5 to enter two pieces into play in Parchessi? Since I may use any combination which adds up to five to enter one piece and I am allowed to enter two pieces with a double 5, the rules been vague in this, It seems only logical that it may be allowed.

No. Each die is used in toto of itself. You cannot re-combine the pips in other combinations. As for the special case of entering, the rules are clear on this.

Pieces may only leave the nest with a roll of a five on a single die or the sum of the dice. A double five can be used to move two pieces from the nest simultaneously.


What happens if someone Doomblades a creature in response to you trying to give it Indestructible? I got a bit confused about what would happen in this situation since the stack resolves in reverse order. So, the situation: I have a creature, and then I cast Adamant Will on it causing it to be indestructible, my opponent then casts Doom Blade- that would usually kill the creature. But the stack is in reverse so would doom blade kill the creature BEFORE it got indestructible?

Your creature will be destroyed

As you correctly noted, the stack resolves in reverse order of casting, and if your opponent casts Doom Blade while Adamant Will is still on the stack, Doom Blade will indeed resolve first and destroy the creature. When Adamant Will would resolve, it will go to the graveyard without resolving  because it has no more legal targets.


Does the "CDC Planes Grounded" emergency event prevent the First Responder's ability? The emergency event CDC Planes Grounded prevents players from moving by flight actions, as well as the Airlift event. The rules denote some specific exceptions such as the Dispatcher's ability, but do not mention the First Responder or his ability to move out of turn after an Epidemic. Is that ability prevented by this emergency event?

CDC Planes grounded states

Players cannot move by direct, charter, or shuttle flight (or the event airlift).

The First Responders ability is

• As an action, you may move to any city with a research station.
• Immediately after an Epidemic, you may – out of turn – move to the epidemic city and Treat Disease there (before Infections).

Neither of these abilities are a direct, charter or shuttle flight, and so should not be affected by planes being grounded.
This thread on boardgamegeek comes to the same conclusion.


Can you ron with these hands? Can a person ron from a person that sits across or right next to him but the last tile he takes from discard pile are sequence melds? (assume all hands are closed)
Can a person call ron and the last tile he need to complete are the pair? And if this can, can it call ron from everybody or just some people who sit left to him?

Generally yes, but it will depend on which variant you are playing and any special rules. It sounds like you are playing Japanese Mahjong (since you use the term "ron"), in which case you will need to be sure your hand has at least one yaku if you use someone else's tile to win, and obviously you can't be in a "no ten" state.

Precedence rules may also apply if two players are trying to simultaneously win off of the same discard.


Income Tax and Halflings Income Tax curse:

  Discard one item of your choice. Every other player must now discard an item or items, totaling at least as much value as the item you discarded. If they don't have enough to pay the full tax, they must discard all their items and lose a level.

The Halfling ability:

  You may sell one item each turn for double price (other items are at normal price).

So the question is:

When the Income Tax curse is played, can a halfling use its 'double price' ability when discarding?

Selling is selling.  Paying tax, is paying tax.  Different actions.  Halfling's ability doesn't help in paying taxes.


Sea Searpent during invasion of Fire Giant in Blood Rage John controls Sea Serpent in the fiord. Alice decides to invade an adjacent province with Fire Giant. Does the Sea Serpent get destroyed?

Fire Giant is supposed to destroy everything except for monsters. Sea Serpent is supposed to be treated as a ship for all intents and purposes.

The sea serpent counts as a ship but it is a Monster upgrade. It goes in the monster upgrade slot. Fire Giants don't destroy other monsters. The Fire giant won't destroy anything that goes in the monster upgrade slot.


Question regarding when a player gains Ascend Opponent has 9 permanents in play and it's opponents turn.

Opponent plays Storm Fleet Swashbuckler (has Ascend: "If you control ten or more permanents, you get the city's blessing for the rest of the game.").

I want to respond with Moment of Craving (Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn. You gain 2 life).

Questions (both options assume opponent has no further response):

Can I target Storm Fleet Swashbuckler with Moment of Craving (thus killing it)?

If I can, does the opponent get Ascend?

If, while Storm Fleet Swashbuckler is on the stack, I target another creature that has 2 or less toughness with Moment of Craving (which would kill it), does my opponent gain Ascend after everything resolves?

I'm new to magic, but my interpretation tells me that I could theoretically do either option 1 or 2 and my opponent would not gain Ascend.  Is this right?

You can respond to spells with Ascend on the stack, but once a permanent with Ascend is on the battlefield, its controller will immediately gain the city's blessing, as a continuous effect that doesn't use the stack, the moment the condition (controlling ten permanents) applies.
This is a bit confusing if you just go by what's on the cards, but it's spelled out in several secondary sources.
The detailed rules
Your intuition is good, but it's a little off this time — mostly because the actual mechanics don't quite match the reminder text.
If you look at the rulings text for Storm Fleet Swashbuckler, you'll see:

1/19/2018 Ascend on a permanent isn’t a triggered ability and doesn’t use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your tenth permanent, but they can’t respond to getting the city’s blessing once you control that tenth permanent. This means that if your tenth permanent is a land you play, players can’t respond before you get the city’s blessing.

To understand why, take a look at the way the MTG comprehensive rules define Ascend:

702.130a Ascend on an instant or sorcery spell represents a spell ability. It means “If you control ten or more permanents and you don’t have the city’s blessing, you get the city’s blessing for the rest of the game.”
702.130b Ascend on a permanent represents a static ability. It means “Any time you control ten or more permanents and you don’t have the city’s blessing, you get the city’s blessing for the rest of the game.”

So, based on the wording in the comp rules, it's a continuous effect and not a triggered ability. And that "if" in the card's reminder text is just misleading, pretty much.
The Rivals of Ixalan set FAQ spells out exactly what this means for play:

If you cast a spell with ascend, you don't get the city's blessing until it resolves. Players may respond to that spell by trying to change whether you get the city's blessing.

Ascend on a permanent isn't a triggered ability and doesn't use the stack. Players can respond to a spell that will give you your tenth permanent, but they can't respond to getting the city's blessing once you control that tenth permanent. This means that if your tenth permanent is a land you play, players can't respond before you get the city's blessing.

If you control ten permanents but don't control a permanent or resolving spell with ascend, you don't get the city's blessing. For example, if you control ten permanents, lose control of one, then cast Golden Demise, you won't have the city's blessing and the spell will affect creatures you control.

If your tenth permanent enters the battlefield and then a permanent leaves the battlefield immediately afterward (most likely due to the "Legend Rule" or due to being a creature with 0 toughness), you get the city's blessing before it leaves the battlefield.

Your example
To understand what happens, let's start with what happens if you do nothing:

Alex's main phase. Alex has nine permanents in play (assume one is a small creature, like a Swab Goblin). Alex casts Storm Fleet Swashbuckler.
Priority passes to Jens. Jens passes.
Once priority passes back to Alex and nothing is above Storm Fleet Swashbuckler on the stack, it will resolve.
Alex will gain the city's blessing as soon as Storm Fleet Swashbuckler resolves, before any triggers from that event are put on the stack.

Here's how you can use Moment of Craving to block Ascend by removing another creature:

Alex's main phase. Alex has nine permanents in play (assume one is a small creature, like a Swab Goblin). Alex casts Storm Fleet Swashbuckler.
Priority passes to Jens. Jens casts Moment of Craving targeting the Swab Goblin.
Alex passes, Moment of Craving resolves.
Jens passes, Storm Fleet Swashbuckler resolves. Alex now has only nine permanents, so Ascend does nothing until Alex somehow gains a tenth permanent.

Using Moment of Craving to kill the Swashbuckler will not stop Ascend:

Alex's main phase. Alex has nine permanents in play (assume one is a small creature, like a Swab Goblin). Alex casts Storm Fleet Swashbuckler.
Priority passes to Jens. Jens passes.
Once priority passes back to Alex and nothing is above Storm Fleet Swashbuckler on the stack, it will resolve.
Alex will gain the city's blessing as soon as Storm Fleet Swashbuckler resolves, even before any triggers from that event are put on the stack.
After Alex passes priority, Jens casts Moment of Craving targeting the Swashbuckler.
The Swashbuckler dies, but Alex retains the city's blessing.


Painter's Servant combo with Progenitus in library This question is related to this one. What happens when you have the Painter's Servant / Grindstone combo and your opponent has a Progenitus in his / her library? How do those abilities resolve?

If your opponent has exactly one Progenitus card in their library, then they end up with every other card in their graveyard, and exactly that one Progenitus card for their library, and Grindstone ends at that point and play resumes.

If your opponent has more than one Progenitus card in their library, the game ends in a draw due to an infinite loop. In a tournament, you'd take a game draw on your scoresheets and move to the next game with each other (if there is one).

You may want to cast Lost Legacy naming Progenitus before doing this if you know they have at least one.

How this happens

To recap the Painter's Servant / Grindstone combo: every card will share a color, so activating Grindstone means we put every single card from the opponent's library into their graveyard.

If either revealed card is Progenitus (or both cards!), Progenitus's rules instruct us to instead put Progenitus back into their library and shuffle their library, when Grindstone would otherwise put it into their graveyard. We do this during Grindstone's resolution because it's a replacement effect that tells us to resolve Grindstone slightly differently for this card.

(This is different to doing this with Emrakul, whose triggered ability has to wait until the end of Grindstone's resolution to do anything.)

What this means is we'll reach a point eventually where every non-Progenitus card has been removed from their library, and every Progenitus card has been put back. This is where it matters how many Progenituses there are.

If there's just one Progenitus, events unfold like this:

We reach their last two cards. We take their last non-Progenitus card, put it into their graveyard, and put a lone Progenitus back into their library. They have a library of one card, which we can't meaningfully shuffle. Grindstone saw they shared a color, so it told us to repeat this process.
We take Progenitus out of their library. Grindstone has no second card to compare against, so it does not see two cards that share a color. Grindstone won't tell us to repeat the process. We put their Progenitus back into their library.
Grindstone finishes resolving. Your opponent has a Progenitus card for their library. Play continues.

If there's more than one Progenitus, we have to end the game in a draw:

We've filtered out every non-Progenitus card from their library. They now have a pile of 2-4 Progenitus cards for their library.
They take two Progenitus cards from their library. We reveal them, see they're both Progenitus, and see we have to put them back into their library and shuffle their library of 2-4 cards. They shared a color, so we repeat the process.
They take two Progenitus cards from their library. We reveal them, see they're both Progenitus... put them back... repeat.
Grindstone now repeats infinitely, effectively just telling someone to keep shuffling their library of 2-4 cards forever. The game cannot continue, and gameplay ends in a draw.

Proposing a shortcut for this

If you activate the Grindstone combo and your opponent reveals a Progenitus, they won't have to shuffle their library through every step. They could theoretically have to shuffle their library like fifty times, if Progenitus winds up back on top every single time somehow. This is a lot of unnecessary card damage and time wastage.

In an informal setting, you could explain the infinite loop to them, and show them it means they'll dump every non-Progenitus card in their graveyard and then be left with all their Progenitus cards. Ask them to do that, and ask them to tell you how many Progenituses they will have left because if they have more than one, the game's about to end in a draw, and if they have only one, they'll leave that for their library.

In a tournament setting, I'd call a judge over, tell them the situation, and ask them if handling it like this is OK. (I don't, myself, know how this would be handled in tournament rules enforcement levels.)


Stonecoil Serpent with X = 0 + The Great Henge If I cast Stonecoil Serpent with X = 0, but I have The Great Henge in battlefield, does the Serpent die, or get the +1/+1 counter and stills alive?
And also, if it dies, I still draw a card, or not?

The Serpent dies and you draw a card.
The timing is as follows:

The Serpent enters the battlefield with 0 counters. The Henge triggers.
State-based actions are checked and performed. The Serpent dies because it has zero toughness
The ability from the Henge (and anything else that triggered during point 1 and 2) is put on the stack.
You gain priority and can play instants and activate abilities. Then your opponent gains priority.
Eventually, the triggered ability from the Henge gets to resolve. It tries to put a +1/+1 counter on the serpent, but fails. It then instructs you to draw a card.

The first points can be deduced from rule 116.5:

116.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions
as a single event (see rule 704, “State-Based Actions”), then repeats this process until no state-based
actions are performed. Then triggered abilities are put on the stack (see rule 603, “Handling
Triggered Abilities”). These steps repeat in order until no further state-based actions are performed
and no abilities trigger. Then the player who would have received priority does so.

For point 5, consider the Gatherer ruling on the Henge:

Once The Great Henge’s last ability has triggered, you’ll draw a card even if you can’t put a +1/+1 counter on the creature for some reason (most likely because it has left the battlefield).

This originates from rule 609.3:

609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.

The Henge's ability tries to put a counter and the serpent and making you draw a card. It can't do this. It therefore does as much of it as they can, which is just making you draw a card.


Does Sosuke, Son of Seshiro's deathtouch-like ability combo with Matsu-Tribe Sniper? Let's say I have a Sosuke, Son of Seshiro and a Matsu-Tribe Sniper on my field.

Sosuke's ability is:

  Whenever a Warrior you control deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature at end of combat.

and Matsu-Tribe Sniper's (which is a "Snake warrior archer") effect is:

  {T}: Matsu-Tribe Sniper deals 1 damage to target creature with flying.

(only listing the relevant effect for this question)

If I tap Matsu-Tribe Sniper to deal 1 damage to let's say Courier Griffin, which  is a 2/3 flying creature, would that destroy Courier Griffin because a warrior dealt damage? Or does that not count as combat damage? I'm pretty sure this isn't how that works but I would like a second opinion.

The damaged creature will not be destroyed.

"Combat damage" is a specific subcategory of damage. The only way to deal Combat damage is during the combat damage step in the combat phase of a turn. From the Glossary in the comprehensive rules:

  Combat Damage

    Damage dealt during the combat damage step by attacking creatures and blocking creatures as a consequence of combat. See rule 510, “Combat Damage Step.”

Any other damage dealt, such as from the activated ability of Matsu-Tribe Sniper, is just damage; it is not "combat damage". Even if it took place during the combat step; it wasn't damage that was dealt as a result of attacking or blocking.


How can I speed up a game of Axis and Allies? I find Axis and Allies takes a long time to play.  Does anyone have any house rules that would shorten the game?  I actually own A&A Europe, but general answers are welcome.

This is an excellent question!

For a board game I love but never play now since me and my friends, all working, can never get the 50 hours needed to finish it :) (ok, it's more like 8 hours no kiddin') if we don't simplify the rules and/or shorten the terms.

We have successfully used gentlemen's agreeements, as follows:

Shortened victory conditions (classic, revised, 1942, anniversary edition and 1940s):

We use the shortest victory conditions, always. It still takes many hours
Capital conditions: If a capital falls; the game is over even if it can be retaken. In practice that is a game winner anyways. I am sure there can be exceptions, but not if you play aware of that condition. It affects mostly the crucial Russia/Germany stalemate.

This helps a lot since you may reach a point at which Germany has good chance of taking Moscow in two rounds, or die so you can simply resolve only the moves and battles that affect that and call it a game.

Japanese stalemate settlement (classic, revised, 1942, anniversary edition and 1940s):

Our housee rule is: If japan has been wiped out from the mainland and has lost its fleet while there are at least scattered Allied ships in the Pacific, give all VP cities to the Allies and check if game is over.  Taking Tokyo is a 6 round affair at this point, that takes hours.

Europe and Pacific 1940:

For Germany: if USSR is advancing while the Atlantic has protected Allied transports unloading troops in Europe for two rounds or more, we call it a game. (Even if Italy is huge, because it failed to counter the previous.)
For Japan: If Japan land troops are both in Caucasus and eastern Russia (3-4 territories) while Japan holds the biggest Pacific fleet, we call it a game as well.

If you are new or almost new to the game:

I think turn time limit helps a lot. Agree on one, just make sure Germany and Japan have a bit higher limit than the allies
If you will play often, play at least 3 games of limited rounds (for instance, 3). Discuss who would win and why. For games like 1942 or Revised this helps a lot because you will better understand what can be achieved at that round and will have an idea about how long your games will take.

And the golden house-rule: Accept the dice, be a gentleman.

Agree on these kinds of conditions when the game starts and accept that the game is over at any of these points.

I am serious on this, because most games finish with a bitter taste of no conclusion with statements like "but I could still attack here and win that and..." which mostly leads to hours of playing to reach the same apparant result.

Not surprisingly there are these A&A chess and "Low luck" (tripleA videogame) housee rules that to me are based on this bitterness. The game is not designed for that, thus making the game somewhat scripted after a while.


I have cards to buy a road or settlement, can I buy settlement first and not place it on the board? Of course if you have cards to buy a settlement you can buy a road, but I want to buy a settlement first in case my cards get stolen by another player. Can I buy the settlement first and not place it anywhere until I have a road network that would allow me to place it in accordance to the distance rule?

No, you may not.

As per the rulebook, under "Build" (on page 4) it says:

  Take the appropriate number of roads, settlements, and/or cities from your supply and place them on the game board.

An explicit part of the building process is putting the built items onto the board, so no, you can't buy it and place it later.


Activation of character's effects (RE: DBG) If you have enough decorations to activate lvl 1 and lvl 2 character's effects, can you activate BOTH effects or you must choose ONLY ONE of them?

From the ruleboook (source), page 10:

  LEVEL UP!When a Character has received a certain amount (or more) of the indicated Decorations, that Character “levels up”, giving you access to more powerful effects to aid you in your escape. When a Character becomes Level 2, that Character has all of the abilities of Level 1 as well as Level 2.

So yes, when a charachter becomes level 2 they can use all abilities of level 1 and level 2.


What’s the name of this three row solitaire? Start building three rows/piles, one card at a time in each. When three adjacent cards in the same row together add to 10, 20 or 30, remove them and put them in the bottom of the draw pile (in your hand). If you empty a row entirely, don’t put any more cards in it. The goal is to empty all three rows, thus having all 52 cards in your hand.

IRL this game sometimes uses an entire table, so it’s better to play electronically. I had it in my computer some 20 years aco, but don’t remember the name and haven’t been able find it again. Anyone here who recognises it and can help me?

The solitaire game you are looking for is a variant of 10-20-30 (ten-twenty-thirty), but with only 3 tableau piles (instead of the standard 7 tableau piles).
10-20-30 is itself a variant of Decade and it also in some meaning resembles Accordion.
A couple of versions of 10-20-30:

Catalyst Deluxe - with 7 tableau piles - for both Windows, OSX and Linux
https://www.lostluggagestudios.com/projects/CatalystDeluxe.php

10-20-30 - with 4 tableau piles - not working on 64-bit Windows computers
https://10-20-30.soft32.com/

A description of the game from Duke University
https://users.cs.duke.edu/~ola/courses/cps149/problems/week2/solitaire.html

10-20-30 (ten-twenty-thirty)
A simple solitaire card game called 10-20-30 uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards in which suit is irrelevant. The value of a face card (king, queen, jack) is 10. The value of an ace is one. The value of each of the other cards is the face value of the card (2, 3, 4, etc.). Cards are dealt from the top of the deck. You begin by dealing out seven cards, left to right forming seven piles. After playing a card on the rightmost pile, the next pile upon which you play a card is the leftmost pile.
For each card placed on a pile, check that pile to see if one of the following three card combinations totals 10, 20, or 30.

the first two and last one,
the first one and the last two, or
the last three cards.

If so, pick up the three cards and place them on the bottom of the deck. For this problem, always check the pile in the order just described. Collect the cards in the order they appear on the pile and put them at the bottom of the deck. Picking up three cards may expose three more cards that can be picked up. If so, pick them up. Continue until no more sets of three can be picked up from the pile.
For example, suppose a pile contains 5 9 7 3 where the 5 is at the first card of the pile, and then a 6 is played. The first two cards plus the last card (5 + 9 + 6) sum to 20. The new contents of the pile after picking up those three cards becomes 7 3. Also, the bottommost card in the deck is now the 6, the card above it is the 9, and the one above the 9 is the 5.

If a queen were played instead of the six, 5 + 9 + 10 = 24, and 5 + 3 + 10 = 18, but 7 + 3 + 10 = 20, so the last three cards would be picked up, leaving the pile as 5 9.

If a pile contains only three cards when the three sum to 10, 20, or 30, then the pile "disappears" when the cards are picked up. That is, subsequent play skips over the position that the now-empty pile occupied. You win if all the piles disappear. You lose if you are unable to deal a card. It is also possible to have a draw if neither of the previous two conditions ever occurs.


Can you purchase a hotel when you have 4 houses on a colour set? Do you need 4 houses on a colour set or 4 houses on a property to buy a hotel?

From the rules you must build up properties evenly

https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Monopoly/Official_Rules

  The player may purchase up to four houses or one hotel per property (and only if there are properties to hold the houses), which raise the rents that must be paid when other players land on the property.
  The properties in a color group must be developed evenly, i.e. each house that is built must go on a property in the group with the fewest number of houses on it so far.
  A hotel may be built on a color group only after all properties in the group have four houses. A player purchases a hotel by paying the price of an additional house, and returning the four houses on that property to the Bank in exchange for a hotel.


Do Combat Celebrant and Helm of the Host give me infinite combat phases? I have a Combat Celebrant equipped with a Helm of the Host. At the start of combat on my turn, Helm of the Host creates a token copy of my Combat Celebrant. I attack with the copy, exerting to gain another combat phase. After damage, I move to another combat phase.

Here's where the wording on the Helm has me questioning the next steps. I assume another token will be created, and I can repeat the exert and the additional combat phases. But the Helm specifies that the token is created at "the beginning of combat on your turn...." Do each of these additional combat phases create another beginning of combat trigger?

Yes, you will have as many combat phases as you want.

When Combat Celebrant's ability resolves, you get an additional combat phase.

Rule 506.1 defines what steps the combat phase contains:

  506.1. The combat phase has five steps, which proceed in order: beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, and end of combat. [...]

As you can see, I've emphasized that the combat phase begins with a "beginning of combat" step, during which cards such as Helm of the Host will trigger. Since you'll be getting another Combat Celebrant from the trigger, which will in turn be exerted to give you another combat phase, you'll get an arbitrary number of combat phases as long as nothing disrupts the sequence "Helm trigger resolves > Combat Celebrant is exerted > new combat phase".


Best Light Strategy Party Games? I'm wondering, what are some good games for mixed gamer/non-gamer parties?  I've had good luck with some light strategy games in the past, but nothing too serious.  What's good, quick, and can easily incorporate a lot of people?

There are of course different definitions of light strategy games, so I will just mention some games, which I have introduced to nongamers in parties, and which have been interesting both for them as well as more experienced gamers (in random order).

Games which can be explained in 5 min

Small pure card games:

Saboteur: 3-10 players, 30 min
6 Nimmt! or Category 5: 2-10 players, 45 min (usually less)
Coloretto: 2-5 players, 30 min (this one I really like despite its simple rules)

Cards and some bits:

Citadels: 2-7(8 with usually included expansion) players, 60 min - this one is a must have
DiXit: 3-6 players, 30 min - almost no strategy but very good and can be easily played with upt to 8 players even using just the expansion and writing points down on a paper

Abstract:

Rumis(+): 2-4(6 with expansion) players, 45 min
Blokus: 1-4 players, 20 min

Other:

Ca$h'n Gun$: 4-6 players, 30 min
Fast food or any other reaction game like Halli Galli, jugle speed are all around 2(3)-6(8) players and 10-15min
Roll through the ages: the bronze age: 1-4 players, 30 min (this is a nice gem, also pure gamers love it, and when you have taught all others some games and don't have anything to do, you can play it by yourself ;))

Games, that require a little longer explanation, but are still manageable

Bohnanza: 2-7 players, 45 min. Even though this is an easy game, explaining it always takes me more time than I like
Bang!: 4-7 players, 30 min. This one is really good for more players, but explanation takes some time. Can be modified so, that healing beer cards make the player drink a tequila shot ;)
Dominion: 2-4 players, 30 min. Everybody loves this one, and it can be played as fast filler. Just don't overdose with expansions in the first session. If you have an expansion, you can run more than one parallel game.
Agricola (Family version): 1-5 players, 120 min. If you are really adventurous explainer and have longer time to kill in a small party, this actually can work really well. My nongaming in-laws understood the family version on ~10 min and really liked it (even though their score wasn't great)
7 wonders: 2-7 players, 30 min. As previously mentioned it might look intimidating, but is easily explained and a fast game.

In my opinion one of the most important things for a game to be successful with non-gamers and casual gamers is the capability of "getting in the game fast" - you must generalize the important rules and guidelines and delve into details as you go. If you do so, and the game is not a total brain burner and doesn't exceed some 2h, you will be able to play almost any game with nongamers.
Basically:

Persuade them, how cool the game is
Don't scare them away before they get into it

Also, a good advice by Tynam - with some exceptions, like bang and saboteur, try to split the group in several smaller gaming sessions with similar expected game time, so they can mix the games during the evening.

Edit: Added hyperlinks as promised


Multiple alteration spells? Can a player attach multiple alteration spells to the same unit? If so, can a player attach multiple alteration spells of the same type?

Yes, multiple alteration spells may be attached to the same unit.
From the top of page 3 in the Plaid Hat Games FAQ about Ashes:

Q: Can a unit have multiple alteration spells attached to it? Can they be the same spell?
A: Yes to both. You may have multiple alteration spells attached to a unit, and you may have multiple copies of a single alteration spell attached to a unit.


Is there a German version of the "game" Mad Libs? I am looking for a German version of the game/activity Mad Libs. I played it in English before and it was always fun. But some of my friends do not speak English well enough to participate in the game.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a German version yet.

It appears that Mad Libs has not been translated into German.

Also, there seems to be a similar German game named

  Onkel Otto sitzt in der Badewanne

In the German Wikipedia entry for Mad Libs, the following is stated (in German ):

  A similar game is known in Germany under the name "Uncle Otto sitting
  in the bathtub". The English language, in which nouns, verbs and
  adjectives are hardly inflected, offers far more favorable conditions
  for this game than the German one.


Does anyone know the Campaign Badges for the Second Purging of Lastrati or the 3rd War for Armageddon? I am in the process of painting an obscure Space Marine army of mine called the Storm Giants. Due to having a similar name to the Storm Lords, I was looking to include a campaign badge from either of the aforementioned campaigns. However, I am having trouble finding images online of badges from either campaign. Does anyone know where I can find these badges, or know what they look like?

Campaign Badges are often conflict, and chapter, specific, and finding any definitive one is proving quite difficult.

From what I can remember of playing the actual 3rd War for Armageddon campaign (showing my age now!), there wasn't an overall Campaign Badge for Imperial Forces, but there were a number of area/region specific badges that were used.

Generally, they are reasonably simple geometric design (i.e. quartered diamonds, triangles etc).

I did find this image showing a Salamanders Librarian with an Armageddon Campaign marking, but whether it's 2nd or 3rd War I don't know, and I know that there's been a bit of discussion about it on Warseer/Dakka.

I will see if I can dig up some more though


Does my creature get stunned after killing Pip Pip with a Red Planet Ray Gun? I equip a creature with a Red Planet Ray Gun:

  This creature gains, “Reap: Choose a creature. Deal 1 damage to that creature for each Mars creature in play.”

Afterwards I reap with that creature and kill the only Pip Pip in play. Pip Pip has the following effect:

  After an enemy creature reaps, stun it.

I would assume, that the effect of Pip Pip doesn't trigger, because Pip Pip dies during reaping, and the effect would only trigger after reaping. But I am not sure about the ruling. Does my reaping creature get stunned?

The active Player chooses

Do you want your creature to be stunned? If there are multiple abilities that trigger after the reap, the active player chooses the order to resolve them in. So, if there was some reason you wanted your reaping creature to be stunned, you could resolve Pip Pip first, then the Ray gun. If you didn't want to be stunned, you could resolve the Ray Gun first, killing Pip Pip before it's ability could be applied.


Help identify an old board game with three rooms in a castle and a ghost Some things that I can remember:

There is a castle with 3 rooms. There are tree treasures in each of the rooms
Maximum about 4 players
Someone plays as a Ghost and others as people
Ghost is hunting on humans and may kill them
There are some cards with some actions, players should do that actions
Goal: visit all three rooms in a castle, gather 3 treasures from each and leave the castle. Ghost's goal: kill all people before they leave the castle with treasures.
Gameplay: each player roll the dice, moves his chip on a map. Some cells may has some specific rules (extramoves, take a card. etc).
Initially I played it in Belarus and I'm not sure if it was just a localized version of an existing game or if it was invented there and is only played in Ex-USSR region.

Some pictures:

It appears to be Le Fantôme des Mac Gregor
Since this one appears to have been published in 2005 this is probably a reprint and might have some rule changes.


Multiplayer with Phyrexian Swarmlord Phyrexian Swarmlord's last ability is that you create infect tokens based on the number of poison counters on your opponents. Let's say I'm playing a 1v1v1 and I have him on the battlefield with opponent A having 2 poison counters and opponent B having 9, and I proliferate. If I choose player B's poison counters as part of my proliferate that player loses from having 10 poison counters, but as the game continues, would I still get 10 tokens from them where the player lost with that many counters on them? Or should I exclude them from proliferate as long as possible to continue getting 9 infect tokens because they need to be alive in the game to get the tokens?

You will not get to count the counters from the player who has lost.
When a player loses the game in multiplayer, that player leaves the game, which means they are not in any way a part of the game. They are no longer an opponent, they no longer have poison counters, they do not exist at all as far as the game is concerned.

800.4. Unlike two-player games, multiplayer games can continue after one or more players have left the game.

And

102.1. A player is one of the people in the game.
102.3. In a multiplayer game between teams, a player's teammates are the other players on their team, and the player's opponents are all players not on their team.

So a person who has left the game is not "in the game", which means they are not "a player", and "an opponent" must be "a player".


Monopoly deal - charging rent multiple times A 2 player scenario: I have two rent cards, worth 2M each. I can see that my opponent has 6M in their bank - consisting of a 4M card and two x 1M cards. If I play my first rent card they are likely to give me the two x 1M cards. If I then play my second rent card (within the same turn) they will be forced to give me their 4M card as well (as they can’t get change)... Is that just good strategy? Or is my opponent entitled to wait until I’ve played all my cards in that turn so that they will know the total amount they will need to pay me? (Thus avoiding having to give me the 4M and the two x 1M cards.)

Each card play is separate, so your strategy works just fine.
From Play Rules

Each player can play up to 3 cards per turn. A play is considered any time a card is played on the table

And from Rent Rules

Once played, this wild rent card forces only one other player (whom you choose) to pay rent for the properties you choose based on what is laid in front of you.


Does the Traitor automatically get all items that a dead Hero had? I'm the Traitor and I've just killed a Hero who had two Items and an Omen card. Do I get to immediately pick up and use both the Items and the Omen?

If you kill the Hero on the Hero's turn (or during your monsters' turn), then you don't get to do anything with the items; you can only pick up items on your own turn. (Though you can steal an item on your opponent's turn in lieu of inflicting at least 2 points of damage, as normal. But then you didn't kill the Hero.)

If you killed the Hero on your turn, then the answer is both yes and no; per the official errata, an item can only be picked up or used on a given turn. You can pick up all of the items immediately, but you can't use any of them until a future turn. (This also prevents abuse from the Heroes; if there's an item you need to hold in order to make a Haunt-related roll, you can't pass around the item and make a Haunt-related roll with the item in the same turn.)

On a future turn, you can use all of the items. For items like the Armor that have a passive effect, they are effective immediately; it's only the items that you use during a turn (like the Bell or Medical Kit) that cannot be used during the turn you pick them up.


How do you make Settlers of Catan work well for 2 players? (Problems and play-tested solution described, alternatives requested) The basic Settlers of Catan game is designed to work for 3-4 players (or more with 5-6 Player Extension). No 2 player variant is suggested by the rules, and for good reasons:

Trades (an exciting part of the regular game) rarely make sense
No slow-the-leader mechanisms like trade embargoes or coordinated robber placement
The normal board setup offers too little constraint/competition
An early game non-moving robber too strongly influences game outcome

Normal rules/setup therefore result in quick but dull games where whoever gains the early lead wins over 90% of the time.

The question is how do you modify Settlers of Catan to make it good for 2 players, without including auto-generated additional players?

I provide one such answer below that we've used in many games, but I'm totally open to suggestions for improvements on my answer, and/or alternative play-tested systems developed by other Catan enthusiasts.

We've played many enjoyable games with the following system that does nothing to deal with the loss of trading, but handles the other issues raised above quite well:

Change hex setup to barbell shape (see picture)
3 of each resource hex (ores always placed as shown with 3-8-11,
rest randomized)
8 randomized ports (5 2:1, 3 3:1)
A set of randomized numbers on either side of barbell (set 1:
4,5,8,9,10,11) (set 2: 2,3,5,6,9,10)
12 victory points
7's get rerolled for the first 6 rounds of play (we call this
"Robber Delay")
Use Robber Equalizer rule:

The Robber Equalizer rule is our slow-the-leader mechanism, and it works by making rolls of 7 less and less likely to stick the further behind you are. First determine how far behind you are by counting up victory points in the normal manner for settlements and cities (but don't include longest road or largest army). Then add 1/3 for each played soldier, each road link, and each unplayed development card.

A 7 rolled by someone who is behind always counts. Each time a 7 is rolled by the player who is ahead, reroll the dice and the 7 sticks if the roll is high enough according to the chart - for example if you're ahead by 1 and 2/3, you need to roll 6 or higher for the robber to stick:

Point  Minimum
Diff.  Roll
1/3    2
2/3    3
1      4
1 1/3  5
1 2/3  6
2      7
2 1/3  8
2 2/3  9
3      10
3 1/3  11
3 2/3  12

If the robber does not stick, then then the dice must be rerolled, and only a number other than 7 will count.

We've played dozens of games with these rules and the games are fairly balanced thanks to the Robber Equalizer rule, though the rule does lead to not being so afraid about having to discard half your hand later in the game as the 7 may not stick, which can be an advantage to the player in the lead.


Does Mutate count as an alternative cost? I have Jodah, Archmage Eternal on the battlefield:

You may pay {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} rather than pay the mana cost for spells that you cast.

I want to Mutate Nethroi, Apex of Death onto, let's say, a dragon. Nethroi states:

Mutate {4}{G/W}{B}{B} (If you cast this spell for its mutate cost, put it over or under target non-Human creature you own. They mutate into the creature on top plus all abilities from under it.)

In the rulings I find:

(2018-04-27) Jodah’s ability is an alternative cost to cast a spell. You can’t combine this with other alternative costs, such as flashback. You can pay additional costs, such as kicker, in addition to this alternative cost.

Can the Mutate cost be paid by Jodah's ability? In other words, does Mutate count as an alternative cost?

Yes, the Mutate cost is an alternative cost. No, you can't pay WUBRG for Mutate through Jodah, and that is because both are alternative costs.
A spell's mana cost is only what's printed in the upper right corner of the card, nothing else. In particular, an alternative cost is not a mana cost.

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

The alternative cost granted by Jodah is independent of the Mutate alternative cost; alternative costs are an alternative only to the spell's mana cost, not to other alternative costs. You have to choose between paying the mana cost or one of the alternative costs. Only the associated effects, if any, of the cost you chose to pay actually happen.

118.9. Some spells have alternative costs. An alternative cost is a cost listed in a spell’s text, or applied to it from another effect, that its controller may pay rather than paying the spell’s mana cost. [..]
601.2b [..]  If the spell has alternative or additional costs that will be paid as it’s being cast such as buyback or kicker costs (see rules 118.8 and 118.9), the player announces their intentions to pay any or all of those costs (see rule 601.2f). A player can’t apply two alternative methods of casting or two alternative costs to a single spell. [..]

So if you control Jodah and cast Nethroi, you can choose between paying Nethroi's mana cost of 2WBG, Jodah's alternative cost of WUBRG, or Nethroi's Mutate alternative cost of 4(G/W)BB. You get to Mutate if and only if you paid the Mutate cost.


Can Dracula choose not to move and engage the a hunter on purpose? In Fury of Dracula 3rd Edition, Dracula's move turn comes up when he is in a city with a hunter, can Dracula choose not to move and engage the hunter in combat at dawn on purpose?

Dracula has to play something during his movement step. Current location is on the trail and playing any other location card will move Dracula to that location, and we don't want that, so our options are limited to power cards. Let's look at them:

Wolf form requires you to place a location card, so that won't work.
Misdirect specifically forbids using it on Dracula's current location.
I didn't find anything that prevents the other 3 power cards (Feed, Dark Call, Hide) from being used when Dracula is revealed, so this is your answer.

Dracula can stay at the same revealed location to fight again by playing Feed, Dark Call or Hide power card.


What is this notation for dimensions: 2-11/16" x 3-13/16" I am looking for dividers to order a card collection. I find some on a website but I really don't understand the dimensions: 2-11/16" x 3-13/16".

Is it (2*11/16)" x (3*13/16)"? It would be rather complicated...

Thanks in advance for your help.

The " in 2-11/16" denotes inches. The number of inches is written using a common notation for representing improper fractions using only ASCII characters. The represented fraction is

2-11/16" means "two inches and eleven-sixteenth", so the number of inches is actually 2+(11/16) = (2*16+11)/16 = 2.6875, or about 68.3 mm.

Similarly, 3-13/16" means 3.8125 inches, or about 96.8 mm.


Kalamax and Conspire Kalamax, the Stormsire reads

    Whenever you cast your first instant spell each turn, if Kalamax, the Stormsire is tapped, copy that spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.

The wording for conspire is

    As you cast this spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control that share a color with it. When you do, copy it and you may choose new targets for the copy.

This brings up this question: If I tap Kalamax as one of the creatures to conspire an instant, does his ability see that he is tapped for his ability to trigger?

Yes, if Kalamax conspires to cast your first instant of the turn, you get 2 copies of that spell.

Tapping Kalamax for conspire happens before the spell becomes cast, since it's an additional cost:

  702.77a Conspire is a keyword that represents two abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the spell with conspire is on the stack. The second is a triggered ability that functions while the spell with conspire is on the stack. “Conspire” means “As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may tap two untapped creatures you control that each share a color with it” and “When you cast this spell, if its conspire cost was paid, copy it. If the spell has any targets, you may choose new targets for the copy.” Paying a spell’s conspire cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.

By the time the spell becomes cast, Kalamax is tapped and its own ability will trigger.

  601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, they get priority.


do basic lands count against sideboard total? http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/legacy/21524_The_Long_And_Winding_Road_Legacy_Elves.html

All the spells in that deck are green as are all the creatures. And yet the deck has two fetch lands - Misty Rainforests - which fetches islands and forests - and Verdant Catacombs - which fetches forests and swamps.

Some of the cards in the sideboard are blue and black I note. My guess: basic lands can be swapped out without needing to live in your sideboard?

You cannot swap in basic lands during a match or tournament in constructed unless they are part of your sideboard.

The fetch lands are in the deck to filter the lands as soon as possible. They only fetch forests in this deck. When you fetch a forest, there are less cards in your deck, so the chance of drawing a card you want (not a land usually) is bigger.

The black and blue cards in the sideboard are traps, they can be played for free in certain circumstances, so therefore you need no black or blue mana.


What happens to a permanent I gained control over using Agent of Treachery, and I leave a multiplayer game? Let's say Alice took control over Bob's Leyline of Abundance using Agent of Treachery, and then Alice leaves a multiplayer game. What happens with Leyline of Abundance? According to rule 800.4a

  800.4a. When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game, any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end, and all spells and abilities controlled by that player on the stack cease to exist. Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled. This is not a state-based action. It happens as soon as the player leaves the game. If the player who left the game had priority at the time he or she left, priority passes to the next player in turn order who’s still in the game.

I thought the permanent would be exiled, but there is a ruling on Agent of Treachery that states

  Agent of Treachery’s effect lasts indefinitely. It doesn’t wear off during the cleanup step, and it doesn’t expire if Agent of Treachery leaves the battlefield. In a multiplayer game, it does expire if you leave the game.

Which I assume means that the controlled permanent goes back to Bob. However, looking at a similar card Beguiler of Wills, which also takes control of a permanent (creature), there are no special rules that state "In a multiplayer game, it does expire if you leave the game.". Which means that the controlled creature will be exiled when Alice leaves the game (according to ruling 800.4a if I am not mistaken).

Here are some similar questions:

Do I lose control of a creature if the aura which granted me control of it is destroyed?
In MTG, what happens when a player loses in multiplayer?

When a player leaves the game, all objects (see rule 109) owned by that player leave the game, any effects which give that player control of any objects or players end, and all spells and abilities controlled by that player on the stack cease to exist.

(emphasis mine)

So Alice's control of the Leyline ends, and Bob controls it again. The Leyline won't be affected by

  Then, if there are any objects still controlled by that player, those objects are exiled.

This sentence rarely matters, but as @Hackworth notes in the comments, Command the Dreadhorde is one of those situations. The Rulings under that card mention it as well:

  In a multiplayer game, if a player leaves the game, all cards that player owns leave as well. If you leave the game, the creatures and planeswalkers you control from Command the Dreadhorde’s effect are exiled.

Regarding Beguiler of Wills, you can think of the Rulings in Gatherer as a sort of FAQ about the card. All Rulings can be traced back to the Comprehensive Rules; apparently Wizards didn't feel the need to add it. The situation is the same as with Agent of Treachery; the 'stolen' creature won't be exiled but will once again be controlled by its owner.


Usual size for D6 dice? Whilst looking for new dice I have noticed that the sizes differ.

What is the standard size of D6 dice in table top, card, and ball games?

My assumption is at least 15mm add it seems to be the most common for sale.

This page on DiceGameDepot has an exhaustive article about it. A visual aid from that article:

From my experience and the info from article, the 16mm die is the most common plastic die, used in the most packaged tabletop games, likely for it's good balance between readability and usability, while taking up fewer space in boxes or storage than the bigger ones.
Smaller dice are often hard to roll because of their lower weight, while larger dice more easily roll off the table and are louder.

From a player's perspective, I feel that the 19mm die looks and feels better, especially in direct comparison. Using 16mm dice instead is likely a business decision. For some corner cases, such as marking counters on Magic: The Gathering cards, I prefer 12mm dice, as you don't need to roll them, they obscure the card less, and it's easier to carry large quantities of them.

As for wood dice, which ship more frequently than plastic dice in older German tabletop boxes that I own, those have 15mm, 18mm and 30mm lengths after a quick measure. I wasn't able to find any sources on the numbers there, but I've been able to come up with 15mm dice much more often than any other within my collection.


When can I take additional actions in Grand Austria Hotel? The rules for Grand Austria Hotel contain this section:

On your turn, you take the following actions:

Take a guest from the game board. (optional)
Take a die and carry out the corresponding action. (mandatory)

You can also take additional actions (see “Additional Actions”).

It does not seem clear whether additional actions have to be taken after step 2, as part of step 2, or if they can be taken at any point during the turn.
For example is it possible to pay a krone to move dishes onto a guest and then move the guest to a free room, so that you have a table free to take a new guest (step 1)?

On of the games designers clarified this on Board Game Geek, but you can take an additional action at any time during your turn, with the caveat that in order to increase the number on a die you must have the needed Krone when you take the die.

Page 8 of the rulebook contains the unorder list of "Additional Actions".