Multiple blockers with first strike Scenario:

Player A attacks with a 6/6 creature.
Player B assigns TWO blockers to block the 6/6 creature, each is 3/3 with first strike.

Which of these happens?

B's first strike blockers deal their damage first, destroying A's larger creature before it deals any damage
Each blocker must take its turn blocking. So the first 3/3 blocker does first strike damage, then dies. Then the second blocker does first strike damage, and lives.

1. The 6/6 will die, and the 3/3s won't take any damage.

In the first strike Combat Damage Step, both 3/3 deal three damage to the attacker. It is destroyed shortly after for having marked damage matching its toughness. The 6/6 won't be around in the normal damage Combat Damage Step to deal damage to the 3/3s, so they'll survive intact.

If the attacker was a 7/7, it would survive the first strike Combat Damage Step and a second Combat Damage Step would get created for the remaining creatures (the 7/7) to deal their damage (destroying the blockers).


Will a God Eternal enchanted with Deep Freeze shuffle back into the deck if it dies? God Eternals such as God-Eternal Oketra have an effect which says:

  When God-Eternal Oketra dies or is put into exile from the battlefield, you may put it into its owner's library third from the top.

Deep Freeze on the other hand says the enchanted creature loses all abilities. Does that mean that if God-Eternal Oketra is enchanted by Deep Freeze, and then dies, it will not shuffle back?

You're right, it won't shuffle back.
I can see why one would think it does; when a creature dies, auras on it die as well. God-Eternal Oketra will enter the graveyard unenchanted, so it 'seems to have' its third ability again, and it should trigger, right? No:

112.6. ... Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. ...

There follows a list of exceptions, e.g. "An object’s ability that modifies how that particular object enters the battlefield functions as that object is entering the battlefield.", but leaving the battlefield (by dying or by being exiled) is not one of them.
So the third ability functions only on the battlefield (or more precisely, it's a special case of 603.10a; the game looks backs to the state on the battlefield), and while it's on the battlefield, it's still enchanted and loses all abilities due to Deep Freeze.


Can player meeples enter the exact same grid space? In Tokyo Metro, the player meeples each occupy a single grid space on the map. We had owever I can't find anywhere in the rules claiming that meeples can't enter the same location.

After some discussion at our table, we couldn't come up with a strong argument why we should assume they couldn't when it's unstated. The design of meeples nearly the same size as grid spaces could be meaningful, but it also fits with the general minimalism of the game. Blocking could be a strategic element, but it's not necessarily hugely relevant when station builds are much more about turn order and liquidity.

Effectively there are actually 3 separate movement questions here, sorted roughly from weakest to strongest restriction:

Can meeples end their movement in an occupied space?
Can meeples pass through an occupied space?
Can meeples ride trains that already have a player passenger?

This has been clarified by the designer Jordan Draper on the BGG forum

  players and trains can occupy the same space.

I think the old adage of rules applies.  IF it was a rule that only one piece was allowed per space then the rules should say that.  If that wasn't explicitly stated I would assume that to be the case.


In Axis and Allies, Should Germany build a first turn transport and try and control the Med/Africa? When playing Germany in A&A 2nd Edition, is it a feasible strategy for Germany to buy a Italian transport on the first turn, for the purposes of cementing Germany's Mediterranean naval presence and enabling it to sustain troop transports into Africa?

Don Rae's essay on purchasing recommends this buy, but I rarely see it used and I wonder why. Is it because people think it's a flawed strategy (and thus never give it a shot), because they've tried it but not successfully executed (thus giving up on it), or because most people have simply never heard of (or independently come up with) the idea?

If you think this strategy works, what does it change about your first turn German attacks (i.e. presumably your med Battleship and Transport do not engage in naval battles, so how do you re-balance your attacks accordingly)?

Germany has a small window in which it can afford to bolster its navy. Presuming the Russians are building a suitable wall in Karelia and the US and UK are planning to shuck-shuck, Germany needs every IPC later in the game to build infantry and armor and cannot afford to build a transport, sub, or (gasp) air craft carrier or battleship.

For that reason, Germany's only chance to improve her navy is first or second turn. Moreover, she must build it in the Mediterranean Sea, as attempting to build a navy in the Baltic Sea Zone is suicide given the proximity to UK and Russia's air forces.

Without that extra Mediterranean transport, Germany's options in Africa are limited (presuming the Allies make it a priority to eradicate the German navy). The transport buys a little insurance for Germany, an extra few turns in which it has to secure Africa and enjoy her IPCs before the Allies come storming into Algeria. And if the UK player is bent on building a South African factory that second transport is a requisite to have any hope in taking it out before enough of a defense can be constructed.

  If you think this strategy works, what does it change about your first turn German attacks (i.e. presumably your med Battleship and Transport do not engage in naval battles, so how do you re-balance your attacks accordingly)?

Personally, I almost always use Don Rae's suggested first turn buying advice for Germany: purchase a transport and 8 infantry. Since this immobilizes my battleship and transport, I use a sub and fighter to off the British battleship and a bomber to nix the sub.

If those attacks fail, Germany is pretty much screwed, though. That's one thing I dislike about Axis & Allies in general - the first turn or two really has rippling effects through the rest of the game. A couple of bad dice rolls in the early game almost guarantees defeat, especially as the Axis where the margin for error is so narrow.


How are creature token cards used? Me and my mom had a small conflict over this. Can you summon token creatures if you have the token, without a card effect that says to use it? I don't think so, but I don't know how to verify this.

Can I summon a token?

No.

The "standard" way to cast a spell is to follow these steps (this is an extremely condensed version of comprehensive rule 601.2):

Take the card out of your hand and put it on the stack
Announce the spell (e.g., "I cast Elvish Mystic.")
Pay the costs of the spell

Tokens are not real Magic: the Gathering cards. They cannot exist in your hand. They do not have mana costs. You cannot add tokens to your deck. The rules simply do not allow you to cast them.

What are "tokens", exactly?

Tokens are markers that represent permanents.

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

How are tokens created?

It goes something like this:

You cast spells and activate abilities.
Spells and abilities create effects.
Effects create tokens.

What about those cards that come with booster packs that look kinda like real cards?

Those are tokens, and again, they are not real Magic: the Gathering cards. They exist only to give you, the player, something to use as a marker. They usually look like the thing they are representing, which makes them far more player-friendly than, for example, a die, or a piece of torn paper. You can't exactly turn a die sideways to show that it is tapped.


How can Hot Spots be cleared? In the advanced version of the rules for the Flash Point board game, there are Hot Spots which cause Flare-ups when targeted in the Advance Fire roll.
How are the players supposed to get rid of a hot spot? I haven't found a specific mention of it in the rules, so I just assumed it is removed when the fire and smoke in the given square are completely extinguished.

I have checked the official web, but the rule explanations there are only available for the Family/casual difficulty setting.

The Urban Structures expansion contains a role that allows you to remove hotspots:


What are some good games or techniques for helping kids learn to "lose gracefully"? This is a good question asked as example on Area51.

I remember when I was a kid I hated to lose, and worse; I would try to cheat to win. I don't remember when or how this attitude changed but I started to hate players who tried to cheat or make the game too serious and don't accept losing.

In my personal opinion, accepting a loss after doing your best has a significant role in every person's life. What are some good games or techniques for helping kids learn to "lose gracefully"?

Well, I personally suffered from this condition for a long time---and still do to some extent.

In my opinion, the ability to lose gracefully is dependent on one's self esteem. It is much easier to shrug off a defeat if your self esteem is secure than when your whole life is a battle for every scrap of validation. With age (I'd say 20+) it does get easier to recognize and control such tendencies in oneself.

Things that help:

Playing games where no one loses. There are games that do not employ the competitive aspect of most games. A good game shop should be able to help you find them.
Playing games where winning and losing is shared among multiple players. Team based or completely cooperative games.
Not rubbing in defeats. Kinda obvious but there it is.
Help the child see what they did well. Point out good moves, complement them when they show self restraint during a loss.

Things that don't help:

Telling the child they're a bad loser. The child is not going to see it that way. Any insistence on the topic is just gonna piss them off even more. Not only does it rub in the fact that they failed to win the game, but it aggravates the damage by insisting that they also failed at failing to win the game.
The amount of self reflection necessary to recognize one has this problem comes only much later in life.
Letting the child win. While sometimes effective as a stop gap measure it bears two dangers:

Children are quite smart. If they figure out that you've let them win they're gonna be pissed off even more.
The child is not going to learn without having to face defeat.

Playing more so it can get accustomed to defeat. Without the inner strength to withstand one defeat you can't train someone how to withstand ten of them.

Disclaimer: I'm not a psychologist or child expert - just someone talking from his own experience. Take all of this with a grain of salt.

Final Toughts: In my opinion such behavior - especially if it persists - is only a symptom of an underlying problem. As I said in the beginning, it's a matter of self esteem and that can be heavily eroded over the years even by the smallest things. Do you often have arguments with the sore loser because they're stealing attention from their siblings at social events? Are they by any chance the older or middle child? Are they the less reliable one? If your answer is yes to any of these questions I suggest you go see a professional to determine IF you are unwittingly undermining that child's self esteem. I don't want to paint you a horror picture - I might easily be wrong.


Can neutral cards be used as a resource? Very straightforward question, can neutral cards be added to a domain as a resource?

I can't seem to find anything that says you cant, but just wanted to make sure.

You can add them to the domain as a resource.  You do need at least one card from a non-neutral card's faction in order to pay for that card though.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/612548/playing-neutral-card-domain-question


Are there times to double for a one trick set in duplicate, when you would not do so in rubber? In rubber bridge, I would "never" double a part score contract for a one trick set. The reason is that a successful double will increase your score from 50 to 100 if the opponents are not vulnerable, and from 100 to 200 if vulnerable, that is produce a gain of 50-100 points. On the other hand, doubling opponents into game will add a 500 to 700 game bonus to their score, plus 50 in penalties, and double the value of their original part score contract if they make it. The "skewness" of the two possible outcomes argues strongly against a "hair trigger" double.
In match points, a successful double of a part score will increase the penalty from 100 to 200 when opponents are vulnerable, likely enough for a "top" if this is truly a part score battle. It will be a "bottom" relative to other part scores if it fails. But at least the results are "symmetric."
Given the difference between "skewed" and "symmetric" results, are there situations in matchpoints where one would double for a one trick set when one would not do so in rubber?

Absolutely! It's a key strategic ploy in competitive auctions.
The key factors that I have always made the decision on is if all of the following conditions are true:

Opponents are Vulnerable, so the one trick set is worth 200 Points. The maneuver is a risky one, and can only be justified if the gain is near certain to get one a top in exchange for the certain Bottom being risked.

We have no further competitive actions available at the Two Level. Attempting to score 110 in a Major, or 120 in NT, has a better risk-benefit trade-off as long as it is available. This usually, though not always, means the Double is made of a Three Level bid.

There is good reason to infer that getting the Undoubled 1-trick set is not just a bad board, but a very bad or bottom board. Worse than 2 out of 12. Converting a passel of 2's and 3's into 0's will ruin a game, so avoid that nonsense.

From the bidding, one knows both where the setting trick is coming from and how the Defense should go. No nonsense making this double and then huddling over Opening Lead - if you don't know what to lead, and how to follow up, this Double is out of place.

Remember that a plus score, especially in a competitive auction, is rarely a Bottom. The key to successful Duplicate Bridge is avoiding the Bottoms - as the Opponents will always throw a Top or two your way. If you can average 7 (or even 6.5) Match Points over 24 or 25 Boards, and then throw in a gift top or two that weren't gifted back, that's a session score of 176 to 182 on a 156 average. That's a successful game.
The key risk with tight Doubles (as with all attempts to create action in the Bidding) is the lack of detailed information. One can more reliably create good scores in the Play, whether as Declarer or Defender. Throwing away a hard-earned overtrick or undertrick on an over-confident speculative Double is not successful Bridge.
Finally, I have known very successful players who occasionally make this for a not Vulnerable set. It's part of their success. But on those occasions when I've been playing up, not once has the remark been made that "I" should have made such a call. I'm looked for and at as a reliable, if not quite regular, partner because I will bid steadily and reliably; find a few extra undertricks and overtricks in the play; and give nothing back unforced.

Update
Reading the comments, there seems to be a presumption that your only option is to Pass or Double.

That's not true. Learn to balance if the Opponents are buying more than 1 hand per session in 1NT, and burying you with them; that's just absurd. Those are your hands. Why aren't you in the auction? Play old-fashioned ASTRO promising a 4-card Major and a longer lower suit if need be. Setting 1NT is hard - harder than making 7 tricks in a 2-level contract of your denomination - so get into the auction.

There will be anywhere from 3 (Good day. Yeah!) to 6 (Bad day. Boo!) where the Opponents are in control. The goal on these hands is to: (1) Identify them; and (2) Get out with an Average Minus. These are not the hands to try for Top or Bottom on; these are the hands to play steady on. Some days you're simply not dealt a possible 200 score.


Table for both 2-person and multi-person games Is there a type of table that can be arranged for both 2-person games, like chess and then re-arranged for a round-table game like Dungeons & Dragons?

I have looked at trapezoidal tables. They do ok when two are placed together for roundtable, but they do not work efficiently in 2-player mode.

Have you considered rhombus tables? One alone is excellent for two people.

If you then require a greater amount of tablespace for four people or need to fit six-plus people at a round table, three rhombuses together make a hexagon.

The hexagon can then be extended by adding two more tables to two adjacent sides, allowing larger and larger subtables to be added, or crescents around a central game manager or leader to be formed.


Has anyone made regular-themed version of the Star Trek Catan role cards? I see that "Star Trek" catan has some extra role cards, which add a new element to the game (and are the only things that do).  I'd like to try these, but I don't really like the "Star Trek" theme, and it's expensive.

Has anyone made some printable versions of these cards that fit the original Catan theme?

The Star Trek theme included the German language mini-expansion Die Helfer Von Catan ("The Helpers of Catan")

An English translation is available as a PDF on BGG.


How does Companion work after sideboarding? I've asked around among friends and also Reddit but we've not reached a consensus: How does Companion work after sideboarding?

I can find the following relevant rule snippets.

  Your companion's deckbuilding rule applies only to your starting deck, which is the deck you begin play with each game. It won't consider any cards in your sideboard, so those cards don't have to follow the deck-building rule.

(Source: Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths mechanics)

  In Magic: The Gathering, a match is a multiplayer game or a two-player series of games (usually best-two-of-three) played in a tournament.

(Source: https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Match, referencing the official rules)

I cannot find the concept of a "starting deck" being mentioned anywhere in the rules.

Reading the above snippets makes me believe that in games following sideboarding a Companion card cannot be chosen as the Companion for that game if any of the cards in the new deck obtained after sideboarding violate the Companion requirements.

Is this correct?

Your interpretation seems valid.

The Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths mechanics rule snippet you quote addresses this directly.

  Your companion's deckbuilding rule applies only to your starting deck, which is the deck you begin play with each game.

The comprehensive rules currently don't directly address any issue of a "starting deck". However, the "deck" referred to in rule 103.1 is a pretty solid candidate. 103.1. At the start of a game, each player shuffles their deck so that the cards are in a random order.
Each player may then shuffle or cut their opponents’ decks.
The players’ decks become their libraries.

The wording is probably intended to prevent confusion due to card interactions from the other part of your quote.

  It won't consider any cards in your sideboard, so those cards don't have to follow the deck-building rule.

You choose your companion before starting the game, as per the same article.

  Just before the game begins, reveal your chosen companion to all players. Once during the game, you may cast your chosen companion from your sideboard.

So if your starting deck contains only cards of CMC 3 or greater, you can choose Keruga, the Macrosage as your companion. After the game begins and your deck becomes your library, if you cast the Research half of Research//Developement (legally over CMC 3 as per rule 202.3d) and shuffle some 1 or 2 CMC cards from your sideboard into your library, it shouldn't affect the legality of your chosen companion. Similarly, some companions could make your library not match the criteria even if your deck did. A copy of Lutri, the Spellchaser in a deck and one in your sideboard with all other cards of different names would be perfectly legal.

However, newer players may not realize "deck" does not equal "library" and the additional wording "starting deck" may be intended to mitigate confusion.


In Spades, what is the probability a suit is distributed in a way, given I hold n cards from that suit? In Spades, (or any other trick taking game), when I hold n cards of a certain suit, what is the distribution of the other 13-n cards in that suit?

In particular, what is the probability that ♦'s are distributed either 4-4-4-1 or 5-4-4-0, given I hold 4 ♦ cards? (my partner and one of the opponents both hold at least four ♦'s, and one opponent is holding either 0 or 1 ♦'s)?

The situation that led to this question:  I bid nil with 4 ♦'s cards, after 3 ♦'s tricks were played, the opponent led a fourth ♦, I had to play my A♦ hoping that by the fourth trick my partner will be able to cut, however my partner had also 4♦'s, thus the nil was set :( .


Does Silence stop working in the Cleanup step, allowing more spells to cast in the same turn when discard triggers effects? In a recent CEDH game of Playing With Power MTG, one player played Silence during the turn of a The Gitrog Monster player. The Gitrog player then uses the Dredgmooor combo in his endstep and afterwards plays spells with the understanding that the effect of the Silence ended in the cleanup state and they can play more spells that turn.
Is this a valid play?

Yes, the play was legal.
Normally, during the cleanup step, no player gets priority to cast spells or activate abilities. However, since the player affected by Silence controlled The Gitrog Monster and had to discard cards during cleanup, one of which was a land, players got rounds of priority. By that time, Silence had already ended and that player was allowed to cast spells.

Cleanup Step

514.1. First, if the active player’s hand contains more cards than their maximum hand size (normally seven), they discard enough cards to reduce their hand size to that number. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

The Gitrog player discarded 3 cards here. One of them was a land (Mana Confluence), so the Gitrog Monster ability triggered and was waiting to enter the stack.

514.2. Second, the following actions happen simultaneously: all damage marked on permanents (including phased-out permanents) is removed and all “until end of turn” and “this turn” effects end. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

Silence ended here.

514.3. Normally, no player receives priority during the cleanup step, so no spells can be cast and no abilities can be activated. However, this rule is subject to the following exception:

514.3a At this point, the game checks to see if any state-based actions would be performed and/or any triggered abilities are waiting to be put onto the stack (including those that trigger “at the beginning of the next cleanup step”). If so, those state-based actions are performed, then those triggered abilities are put on the stack, then the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities. Once the stack is empty and all players pass in succession, another cleanup step begins.

The Gitrog Monster's ability entered the stack here and players get rounds of priority, allowing everyone to cast spells.


What are the most frequently used Dominion cards in winning decks? Which cards are most bought by players, and most often associated with winning decks?

councilroom.com hosts stats for millions of online games played at dominion.isotropic.org.

It's currently down but it should give you the most accurate answer when it goes back up again.

For example, here is a ranking of the best openings from google's cache


How did sorcery counter spells work? How exactly were the rules contrived as to make False Summoning actually able both be a sorcery spell and a counterspell?

Has there been any official discussion as to how this came to be or how it worked, I know it happened years ago but I'm a little curious as to how this happened.

There's two parts to this.

False Summoning is actually an Instant.
False Summoning was introduced in a Portal set. Portal sets didn't have Instants.

Gatherer actually has the wrong card image for the Masters Edition print; they just re-used the image from the Portal Second Age print. Scryfall has the correct image in which the card is an Instant.

But, back to how this happened to begin with: back in 1997 thru 1999, Wizards released three Portal sets (Portal in 1997, Portal Second Age in 1998, and Portal Three Kingdoms in 1999). These products targeted new players as a teaching aid to introduce them to the game. In an effort to simplify the game, it did things like:

use sword/shield icons for power and toughness
rename blockers to interceptors (only in Portal '97)
never call a card an Instant
and more!

A great example of all three of these particular differences at once is the card Defiant Stand. You'll notice it's an Instant in the Oracle text on Gatherer.

That third one is the operative factor here. If a card needed instant timing, then in Portal it was instead printed with “Sorcery” on the type line, and it was printed with a specific instruction as to when you could/must play the card, and that meant you could cast it at that time (and only at that time). Hence we also get Sorcery counterspells that say you can cast them in response to someone else casting a spell. Make no mistake: this wouldn't work at all in regular Magic rules (you still don't have permission to cast a sorcery at those times) but Portal was operating on simplified rules.

Now, teaching the player the game this way has some major problems. In particular, it's teaching the player poorly about how Sorceries work. Wizards of the Coast eventually decided this was the wrong approach too, and the Portal sets are no more. When Starter 1999 was released, instants were correctly labelled as such.


Should You Take "Your Opponent's" Sheep In A 2-Player Game? As you may well have guessed by now I play a lot of online Agricola; here's a situation that comes up all the time.

If I'm the second player, and sheep come up as the round one action card, quite often my second action will be to take starting player, take 2 Clay at the beginning of round two, positioning myself to get an early Fireplace and score a sweet 6-8 Food in round four.

Obviously this is a powerful sequences of plays and if left unchecked sets you up quite nicely to expand without food worries in rounds five through seven.  Nevertheless, I'm always quite surprised at the alacrity with which most of my opponents like to take the sheep in response to my building a Fireplace, obviously having to release all but one into the wild.

I feel like I'm continually soundly beating the players who "waste a turn" depriving me of sheep; obviously I'm not overjoyed to be losing a few "free" Food, but equally I'm delighted that my opponent has spent a crucial early turn doing virtually nothing except trying to annoy me.

My question is simply, have I miscalculated the value of the sheep-stealing move?  If you are playing an opponent who aggressively takes 2 Clay and builds a Fireplace hoping to celebrate the first Harvest with an enormous sheep barbecue, would you spend an action taking sheep from under his nose and why?  Can anyone effectively break down the pros and cons of such an action for me?

I've been allowed to cook 4 sheep in a 2er before and still lost the game.  Badly.  I do think in general, your opponents are over-valuing "scattering the woolies" (as one BGGer puts it) if they're just making a knee-jerk response to your First Fireplace.  Assuming you keep one, it's theoretically a 2-point move, but only if you don't cook it later and never take Sheep the rest of the game.  Otherwise you're spending an action (that you would've done anyway later) just to block.  Blocking is necessary in 2ers, but you need to do it in a way that's a net positive in score for you (e.g., if your opponent gets begging card(s) because of it).

I think if you're that worried about your opponent getting 8 food, you're probably already behind.  There are enough ways to get food in a 2er that "stealing" some sheep isn't likely to make up the difference.


tap and sacrificing an already tapped land to get it's ability I was looking at Evolving Wilds the other day, and I wondered: Could I put down Evolving Wilds as a land, use it for 1 colorless mana by tapping it, and then sacrifice it to search my library for a basic land?

As opposed to only tapping and sacrificing for a search through the library.

Pretty much, mana AND ability, not ability and nothing else.

No, for two reasons.

Evolving Wilds' ability has the tap symbol in its cost. If it is already tapped, then you can't pay that cost, so you can't activity the ability.

Worse, you can't even tap it for 1 colorless mana in the first place! Evolving Wilds has no ability that lets you tap it for mana whatsoever.

You can tap basic lands for mana because the rules grants them an ability to do so, but that ability is only granted to basic lands (Plains, Islands, Mountains, Forests and Swamps). You can't tap other lands for mana unless they have an ability allowing it.


Is chest loot in "real gold" or "gold tokens"? I looted a chest and looked up the reward in the back to find "10 gold". Does that mean that I add 10 gold to my character right away, or do I get 10 "gold tokens" which are multiplied based on the difficulty level at the end of the scenario?

user30903 is correct that the rules are consistent in referring to the tokens as "money tokens", so it seems safe to assume that the gold amount for looting a chest is fixed, and does not get multiplied based on the difficulty level of the scenario.


Is it possible to have more than one active artifact in Redemption? I have tried to look on the official Redemption REGEX and site, and have googled but can't seem to find a clarification to this question.

My brother and I got into Redemption recently. There aren't as many player groups around in our area anymore so it becomes difficult to ask rules questions.

What I am curious about is if it is possible (and legal) to have more than one active artifact in play?

Here are the specific scenarios I am curious about:
The Solomon's Temple fortress (and its equivalents like Zerubbabel's Temple, The Tabernacle, etc.). Since the artifact moves from your pile to your fortress, does this mean you can turn up a second artifact (not on the same turn though)? So there is one active in the Temple and one active on the artifact pile?

And what about the Priestly Breastpiece? Since that can be attached to a high priest, does that mean that another artifact can be activated? (For that matter is it possible to have three artifacts, one on the artifact pile, one in a Temple, and one assigned to a Priest?)

Just wondering what the ruling is out there and if there is clear documentation on this.

Yes, you may have two Artifacts active.

Solomon's Temple's rules text seems pretty clear on the matter:

  Holder may activate a second Artifact from Artifact pile or hand on this Fortress if that Artifact was found in Solomon's Temple. Artifact takes immediate effect.

The rules for Artifact Activation only prevent one artifact from being active on the artifact pile.

  Artifact Activation: Only one artifact in the artifact pile may be active at a time. Once per turn, you may select one artifact to be activated and flip it face up on your artifact pile.


Do investigators who start with blessing need to check for discard in their first turn? For investigators that start with a Blessing or a retainer, do they need to roll to check if they discard the blessing or retainer during their first upkeep?

Also, do investigators that gain one of these cards during the game roll to check if they discard after holding that card for one turn or do they check on their first upkeep as well?

From the Arkham Horror rulebook (page 6: Upkeep: Perform Upkeep Actions)

  Bless, Curse, Bank Loan, and Retainer cards do not require an upkeep roll during the first Upkeep Phase after an investigator acquires them.

Regardless of when and how you acquire the card (including during setup), you always have one Upkeep for which you do not roll to lose the card.


How well do differently-sized units of Fire Warriors work? I've heard varying opinions on the 'best' sizes for FW squads, mostly at 6 or 12 warriors to a unit. Pros and cons of that I've heard for each are:

A unit of 6

Smaller footprint - easier to hide
Large amounts of drawn fire is wasted on a smaller unit

A unit of 12

Benefits from fewer marker lights
May survive more gunfire

I'm not sure if that covers all of the advantages/disadvantages. How do different sized units of FW play out?

edit:

Has anything changed in 7th edition?

Six edition has had a big impact on fire warrior squads.  While some of the points in the article user1873 links to in his answer are still valid there are other factors that should be considered.

The short answer is you probably want to go either min or max on squad size.  Other numbers are acceptable but situational(like if you got some extra points and no better option to spend them on; going from 6 to 8 guys in a squad is OK to do).

Here's some changes in 6th edition that will have an effect on whether to go min or max.

Transports

Transports for units in the new edition have lost some usefulness. In 5th, taking a min squad to get a transport was often a no-brainer. Even a transport with as limited offensive punch like a Devilfish was worth it due to the overall strength of vehicles in the last edition.

Now transports are not scoring or denial units.  Even squads inside can't score or deny.  That means to take an objective, you will need to disembark.  That's a difficult thing to do effectively when you have a very fragile 6 man unit inside.

Overall the game is lighter on scoring units, so you can't treat them as transport upgrades anymore.  While the Devilish is one of the more survivable transports in the game right now, a Tau army needs to prioritize on high firepower and scoring units first.

Rapid Fire Weapons

The big change to rapid fire weapons is that they can fire up to their full range even when moving.  This gives Firewarriors a nice 36" reach on a given turn.  With this kind of range, Firewarriors don't have to rely on transport mobility to effectively engage targets.

Wound allocation

Wound allocation is now done against closest models.  This means you can use drones or attached battlesuit commanders(preferably with Iridium Armor and a pair of shield drones)  to soak incoming fire.  This is a big survivability boost, making large squads hard to kill and great at camping objectives.

Morale

Units can now almost always regroup.  This makes playing the morale numbers game much less important.   The new Cadre Fireblade and updated Ethereals also help keep your units around thanks to higher leadership and re-rolls.

Allies

Tau troops aren't great, but fortunately now you can bring someone else's much better troop options along to the party.  You'll get much better ROI for your points with a maxed out Marine tactical squad versus a maxed out Firewarrior squad.

Conclusion
Updated for the new Codex

The new codex does increase the play-ability of Fire Warriors, but they are still defensively a weak unit. With the slight points decrease and the extra shots you can get from Ethereals and Fireblades, there's more reason to max the squad size now than to minimize it.

I still think it is better to leverage ally troops to score and deny objectives.  That is if your ally's troops are better.  (Though you should pick an ally option with better troops IMHO.  Something like Space Marines, Grey Knights, Okrs, or Necrons.)

I would suggest going max on the squads.  Upgrading to the shas-ui is no longer necessary since you can stick an Ethereal of Fireblade to the unit and get a bigger efficiency boost. I could see the Devilfish having use in some list, but overall you should probably stick to foot squads.


Forbidden Island: Can the navigator move another player 4 tiles for 2 actions / 6 for 3? The navigator's action is moving another player 2 tiles for 1 action - it does not specify once per turn. Does this mean he could move another player 3 or 4 tiles for 2 action points, or is there a rule/clarification about this?

According to the rulebook:

  The Navigator may move other players up to 2 adjacent tiles per action

As it states it's per action so yes you could repeat that same action 3 times. It's a very useful ability.


Elusive cards rule clarification We've just started out playing the WoWTCG that I bought recently, and I'm having trouble with one of the rules regarding a keyword.

The keyword in question is 'Elusive' and we are just not sure under what conditions this card is actually able to be damaged.

The rules (and card) state that it can't be attacked, which leads us to believe that it can't be proposed as a defender but can be targeted using abilities.

Is this correct?

Yes. The WoW TCG wiki says:

  Elusive - A keyword power that cards can have. It means, "This card can't be proposed as a defender."


Does Cabal Paladin's ability trigger when playing an artifact land? If I have a Cabal Paladin onto the battlefield, and I play an artifact land, such as Seat of the Synod, does the Cabal Paladin's ability trigger?

No, it doesn't trigger. Lands are played but not 'cast'. There is a ruling below the card in Gatherer which explicitly states so:

  Lands are never cast, so abilities that trigger “whenever you cast a historic spell” won’t trigger if you play a legendary land. They also won’t trigger if a card on the battlefield transforms into a legendary land, as the Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan double-faced cards do.


In Puerto Rico, When should I NOT take a Quarry when I have the opportunity to? It's fairly easy to choose between the different plantations when the settler phase comes around as you just have to evaluate which you have the production capacity for or which you would be able to buy the production capacity for, and take into account what other goods you can produce and what other players can. However, Quarries are a little different, and sometimes I find it difficult to choose if I should take one or not. Here's some rules I use:

If I don't have 2 quarries yet and there's at least 4 builder phases left.
If there's no plantations I want.
If there aren't many left and I want to deny another player the privilege of having one.
Only take a 3rd or 4th Quarry if it will make a big difference in being able to get a very valuable building, usually from the third or fourth tier.

What rules do you use when determining if you should take a Quarry? What are the most notable situations when you should NOT take a Quarry when you are able to?

The simple answer to this question, is how much value is the quarry going to gain you over and above the other options your have to choose from. This comes down to the stage of the game, the competing products of your competitors and the value the goods that are on offer as alternatives.

A quarry saves you money when building, but only a maximum of 1 coin per build.

You may already have all the buildings you want/need, without triggering an end of game scenario
You may have plenty of money so an extra coin is of little value to you
You may not be using a building strategy to win the game, but be cautious with this one, as balance is key
You may get an extra worker for building, if you have that specific tile with that function.

A good offers you the opportunity to sell / ship

There may already be too many plantations and not enough goods to go around, so this may not be a good option
You may need a factory to produce your good (with the exception of corn) and not have time to build this, so plantation has no value
You may already have a factory with a spare space, so another good of a particular type may allow maximum efficiency from your factory
A good may be of high value (like coffee/tobacco) that gives you far more money than you would hope to gain from a quarry, by someone visiting the Trader.

And needless to say, all of this depends on your opponents positions, and your future potential actions.


When is a card returned to the owner's hand? I'm after some explanation on the rules returning a card to the owner's hand the question was raised by Darking Merfolk

Consider the scenario where I have Darting Merfolk in play

My opponent plays Hand of Death

I decide to tap an island and return the Merfolk to my hand. Is the card destroyed or is it returned to my hand? Is Hand of Death put in the graveyard?

It would return to your hand.

I don't have access to the MTG site to be able to cite the rulebook, but it's all down to the stack.

The stack is played out in order, so new items go to the top of the stack and then the stack resolves from the top down. In this instance Hand of Death was cast and went on the stack, then you activated the Merfolk's ability which went above Hand of Death on the stack.

When the spells and abilities on the stack resolve:

Darting Merfolk's ability resolves, returning it to your hand.
Hand of Death tries to resolve, but the card it targeted is no longer on the battlefield, and does not exist to be targeted.
Hand of Death is countered and has no effect. (It goes to your opponent's graveyard.)

I recommend reading up on the Stack, understanding it is vital to getting the most out of Magic: The Gathering: Guide to the Stack


Canasta - initial pickup Is it permissable to table initial meld and then pick up discard pile with a wild card and one natural card which matches the one on the top of the discard pile all in the same turn?  Thank you for your assistance.

No, this is not allowed.

Drawing cards, whether from the deck or the discard pile, is always the first step in a turn. You cannot play any melds until after you have drawn.

  After drawing, but before discarding, you may sometimes be able to play some cards from your hand face up on the table.

From https://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html


Are Hand-Based Stat Monsters prone to abuse? I'm talking about cards that gain attack based on how many cards you have in your hands.

Say if I had 3 "Slifer The Sky Dragon" copies and had a massive draw deck. I'd have the "Veil of Darkness"x3, "Pot of Greed"x3, a few draw spells, a few monsters with draw effects, and a bunch of DARK monsters.

Veil of Darkness lets me draw a card if I draw a dark monster in the draw phase, and is a continuous spell. If I have 3 Veils, I can draw 3 cards for discarding a single dark monster. if one of those 3 cards are a pot of greed, I can draw 2 more, but then I have an endless draw chain because of my various pots and draw spells.

This means that if my starting hand after summoning Slifer is 5 and I've drawn 21 cards total, I will have had a total of 26000 ATK on Slifer, making almost any attempts to win very slim.

The chances of my opponent having a set card like Magic Cylinder or some counter-effect monster are also nearly impossible. This means that a card like Ascension Sky Dragon are prone to abuse by the same tricks, given that it doesn't rely on the Nordic Archetype and can easily be supported by Pots and various Draw cards.

Does anyone have another example or an answer?

Does anyone have another example or an answer?

I think that yes, they could be abused... but the situation you portray is by itself hard to achieve.

To summon Slifer, the Sky Dragon you must tribute 3 monsters first, something that takes time and surely cards from your hand to achieve.

Next, cards like Pot of Greed that you mention are Forbidden in competitive play (why, check this other post). Unless you want to play Traditional format you can't use cards like that. And even if you did, in Traditional format you would be able to have 1 copy of Pot of Greed, not 3...

Now, regarding Veil of Darkness. Yes, you may draw another card if you draw a Dark monster, but the card also requires you to discard the Dark monster you drew (so no hand number increase). From its text, emphasis mine:

  During your Draw Phase, if you draw a DARK monster(s): You can reveal any number of them; send them to the GY, then you can draw 1 more card.

Finally, there are several other ways to get rid of a monster, regardless if they have 26,000 ATK points:

You can return it to the hand (say, Compulsory Evacuation Device)
You can send it to the GY (say, Dark End Dragon)
You can destroy it (say, Soul Taker)
You can banish it (say, Dark Core)
You can take control of it (say, Creature Swap)

etc... So as you can see, using Slifer and hand-number strategy is not as easy as one may think, as there are several ways to counter those cards, as well as some you thought useful are actually not that useful for this scenario.


When should I start collecting Victory Points in Dominion? When is a good time to start collecting victory points... is it good to wait until toward the end, or seldomly through the beginning of the game?  The tradeoff too early is they can clog up your deck, but too late then you can't acquire enough victory points to win the game...

Any strategies?

This question is really dependent on the Kingdom cards available and no overreaching general rule can be made without a lot of major caveats.

One good strategy would be

Always buy a province when you can afford it
(Unless you don't have a gold yet, and the game is still young)
Start buying Duchies once one pile is empty if you think the game will end by 3 piles disappearing
Start buying Duchies once half the provinces are gone if you think the game will end by province depletion.
Start buying Estates when you think you have at most one shuffle left in the game.

Again, this is general advice and specific cards can change things up drastically!


Playing a draw 4 after another player has played a draw 4 The first player lays down a draw 4 card.
The second player draws 4 cards.
The third player lays down a draw 4 card as well.

Does that mean the second player puts back their 4 cards. While the fourth player has to draw 8 cards?

No.
The first player's action caused the second player to draw four cards and skip their normal turn; there is nothing in the rules which can cause that to be "undone". The third player's turn then proceeds as normal.
It may be worth noting here that "stacking" Draw 2 or Draw 4 cards is not part of the official rules even if it is a common house rule.


Can you place units in an Industrial Complex the turn you place it? Me and my friends were playing Axis and Allies: spring 1942 and one player placed an industrial complex on a country and then placed their units there, in the same turn. We looked through the entire rule book and we couldn't find it. We looked under the section for placing units and the appendix for Industrial Complex. Are you allowed to to this in Axis and Allies?

No, you cannot use industrial complexes you captured or purchased this turn. You must have missed it, top of page 22.

Phase 5: Mobilize New Units
Move the newly purchased units from the mobilization zone on the game board to eligible spaces you have controlled since the start of your turn, with the following exceptions (below). You cannot use industrial complexes that you captured or purchased this turn.


Why is this the solution? I'm a very weak go player, playing very occasionally. I however enjoy easy tsumego problems on the train on my phone, as I find it more fun than, say, crosswords or sudoku.

However, the app I use (Tsumego Pro) presented me with this problem, and gave me a "complete" mark on a solution I don't think will work. The hints in the program point to this "solution".

As far as I can tell, black is dead and white is fine despite this. In every scenario I play out myself, white is able to kill the black inside the formation and be fine. Is this really the solution? If so, what am I missing? If not, what is?

My apologies if I have screwed up tags, formatting or the question itself, I'm not a regular poster here :)

The key is that killing the black stones doesn't give White an eye.  After White captures the two stones, Black will throw in at the same place he played in #3.  White can capture that stone too, but later in the game the stone above the capture will be placed in atari, and White will have to fill in the "eye" on the right.  Because that can happen, it is a false eye, and the White group is dead.


Is there any way to rehabilitate the "junk rare" Lost In The Woods? I've really been enjoying the incredible Innistrad set, and advance previews of Dark Ascension (on the Wizards official site and elsewhere) have been living up to it so far.  However, I had to do a double take when I read the text of this rare, Lost in the Woods, it seemed so bad:

  Lost in the Woods, 3GG [Enchantment]

  Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, reveal
  the top card of your library.  If it's a Forest card, remove that
  creature from combat.  Then put the revealed card on the bottom of
  your library.

I feel like the ability on this card would be bad if it Fogged all creatures on a Forest reveal, not just one creature.  I feel like the card would still be bad if it cost G and you could cast multiples of it in early turns - but as an expensive late game card, it seems totally unplayable.

Obviously it's a "flavourful" card that will never see competitive play.  But come on, surely no Magic card can be completely without actual play value?  This is the hardest card to think of a good use for that I've come across in ages, though - can anyone else think of a great combo or other strategy for making Lost In The Woods a halfway decent addition to a deck?

It's a rather awful card with one very limited application that only really works in draft.

Here's a deck that can win a game or two (likely only games, not matches) in Dark Ascension draft and sealed:

  1x Lost in the Woods
  45x Forest

Transform into it for game 2 after you're sure they don't have enchantment removal or enough mill or burn to bypass it.
Mulligan until you get Lost in the Woods in your opening hand.
Play a Forest a turn (you're guaranteed to draw one) until you can cast Lost in the Woods.
Win the game by running your opponent out of cards, TurboFog-style.

This trick is rather fragile, but it was apparently good enough to win a few games on the Pro Tour! (As discussed here and here.)

Importantly, it's a trick that costs almost nothing in draft: you can draft a normal deck in any colors and randomly twelth-pick this single junk rare to give yourself an entire alternate strategy to swap into. That's the very lowest possible investment for a transformational strategy, well worth the potential to "steal" a game or two out of nowhere.

Beyond that... no, not really.

As a defensive card, it doesn't really compare to staples like Propaganda and Spike Weaver.

Benefits:

It's a permanent, of a pretty durable kind.
Protects your planeswalkers, too. A lot of older defensive enchantments don't.
It's not a damage-prevention effect.
Multiples stack nicely.
You control how the triggers are stacked. If you know what's in first few cards of your library, you can use Lost in the Woods to stop the biggest threat.
The creatures it removes from combat don't become untapped as a result.

Drawbacks:

Only works on forests, not any land. This is quite prohibitive.
Cmc 5. If this were much lower, Lost in the Woods might still be worth it as a card that a ramp could drop to slow down an aggro opponent.

Basically the problem is that it's too slow for 60-card Magic but a singleton copy doesn't do very much for you in Commander. The card can be improved by synergy with stuff like Sensei's Divining Top, but that's like saying Siege Mastodon is more playable with Black Lotus.

Beyond the fog effect, this card does do something else, though: it lets you go through a bunch of your deck. With something like Future Sight on the field, you can take advantage of the individual resolution of the triggers to cycle through a chunk of your library looking for stuff to cast. The major downside is that making effectively use of this requires not only a Future Sight effect, but also the ability to play most of your stuff at instant speed. It's much easier to set up the same combo with Top.


What is the difference between lands and mana? What is the relationship between lands and mana in Magic and what do each of them do?  A good answer should especially include how a new player should think about them.

Note:

This is an attempt to create a canonical question about the relationship between lands and mana in Magic.

Beginners are often confused about this given the same symbols are used to mean different things across basic lands, non-basic lands, and mana costs.  This can lead to confusion about lands being mana, about non-basic lands putting basic lands into play, or even about what mana is.

Quick Summary

Lands don't pay for spells directly.  Instead, lands on the battlefield (both basic and non-basic) tap to produce mana, and that mana is what is used to pay for mana costs of spells and abilities.

Lands vs Mana vs Mana Cost

Lands are a type of permanent that can exist on the battlefield.  They are reusable, and you are usually allowed to play one land to the battlefield under your control on each of your turns.  Most lands1 have an ability that lets you tap them to produce mana.  Lands then untap at the beginning of your turn during the untap step.

Mana is an abstract resource that exists in a player's mana pool.  Mana costs are the mana symbols that appear in either the top right corner of a card or before a colon in an ability on a card.

Here is a rough sequence of using Lands and Mana to pay for a cost:

You tap any number of your lands to produce mana.1, 2
Mana is added to your Mana Pool.
You spend mana from your Mana Pool to pay for costs (such as spells and abilities).

For example, when a player taps a Mountain to cast Lightning Bolt, what's actually happening is that the Mountain is being used to add red mana (written as ) to that player's mana pool, and then the  in the mana pool is being used to pay the  in Lightning Bolt's mana cost.

The reason for the mana pool is that it allows a player to hold mana that they are not spending right away.  This matters for many reasons, including using the mana from Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary to pay for multiple things, or use a series of mana generating abilities to get the mana they need for a spell.  Examples of cards that need a mana pool to work include: Dark Ritual, Selesnya Signet, and Doubling Cube.

Normally, your mana pool empties at the end of every step and phase of the turn, so any combination of abilities you want to use to generate mana need to be done in the same step/phase.3
  (See Where can I find a chart or diagram explaining Magic's turn structure? for more detail on steps and phases.)

1. Some non-basic lands (such as Maze of Ith) do not have mana producing abilities, although due to the confusion these cause, Wizards hasn't printed one since 2010 aside from lands that fetch other lands from your library (such as Evolving Wilds).

2. Lands also aren't the only thing that generate mana.  See the section below.

3. If Upwelling (or a similar effect) is on the battlefield, you can hold mana in your mana pool indefinitely.

Nonbasic Lands

Non-basic lands actually work pretty similarly to basic lands.  The giant white mana symbol on a plains is just shorthand for ": Add ." The older versions of these lands actually said that explicitly.  So, the only difference between a Plains and say Coastal Tower is that Coastal Tower lets you add  or  to your mana pool when you tap it (your choice) whereas a Plains just lets you add  when you tap it.

Note that: "Add " is the modern rules text for the older "Add  to your mana pool".

Things Besides Lands can Generate Mana

You can get mana from any type of card or permanent, not just lands.  There is no difference between the  mana generated by Llanowar Elves and that generated by a Forest 4.  Any of the main card types can generate mana, as can tokens.  Here are some examples:

Land: Forest
Creature: Llanowar Elves
Artifact: Moss Diamond
Enchantment: Frontier Siege
Planeswalker: Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Instant: Dark Ritual
Sorcery: Geosurge
Token: Eldrazi Spawn generated by Skittering Invasion

4. The only mana that is different is mana with a condition on how it can be spent, such as that from the second ability on Corrupted Crossroads.

Basic Land Types

The basic land types of "Plains", "Mountains", "Island", "Swamp", and "Forest" give a land the ability to tap for mana of a particular color.  For example, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth adds the "Swamp" type to all lands; this actually allows any land to be tapped to add  because the ability ": add " is a property of the Swamp land type.

Thus, basic lands have the ability to tap for mana of their color by merit of being one of the basic land types5.  The giant mana symbol on them is actually reminder text, not rules text.  Some lands (such as Canopy Vista or Steam Vents) have multiple basic land types and can tap for different varieties of mana.  Likewise, they have reminder text emphasizing that the basic land types grant their mana abilities.

5. The exception being Wastes.  Wastes has no basic land type, and as a result has to have rules text allowing it to tap for mana.  In the case of Wastes, the giant colorless mana symbol is actually a standin for the rules text: " add "


What happens when an Undying creature goes to the graveyard from the deck or hand? What happens when you discard a creature(with Undying) from your hand to the graveyard? Does it go to the Battlefield (without summoning sickness)?

And what happens if I use Mulch and put all Undying creatures in the graveyard? The same?

No, sorry.

The fine print on the cards tell us what we need to know:

  Undying (When this creature dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it,
  return it to the battlefield under its owner's control with a +1/+1
  counter on it.)

"Dies" refers to "goes to the graveyard from the battlefield." Thus, a creature card that is placed into the graveyard from any other zone doesn't trigger undying.

Since Undying doesn't say anything specific about "summoning sickness" or haste, the regular rules apply. Namely:

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

It doesn't matter where the creature came from: if it didn't start the turn no the field under your control, it still has "summoning sickness".


How are scars assigned? The rules say that characters should receive scars that have an outbreak.

But how do we determine which scar the character receives? Do we choose it ourselves?

You get to choose! On page 5 of the rules, under "scars":

  Characters can be mentally or physically damaged over the course of play. When this happens, choose an available scar and add it to your character’s
  card.


Par-zero deal with many points for N/S This question is about the card game bridge :

How many points can N/S have in a par-zero deal ? (Only consider the high
card points)

In a par-zero deal, no player can make any contract assuming perfect play and
full information (all hands are visible).

In most par-zero deals , N/S have at most 23 high card points.

What is the limit ?

            S 973
            H K5
            D QJ864
            C KQJ
  S 2                 S AQJ854
  H T87               H A42
  D T53               D A97
  C 987543            C 6
            S KT6
            H QJ963
            D K2
            C AT2

is an example with 25 HCP for N/S. I found this deal by slightly
 changing a random deal from pavliceks deal finder which was close
 to par-zero.

                  S A75
                  H KJ2
                  D AJ63
                  C 762
   S 986                         S JT2
   H 86                          H AQT9
   D T854                        D 972
   C AQ53                        C T98
                  S KQ43
                  H 7543
                  D KQ
                  C KJ4

is an example with 27 HCP-points for N/S

Even with 28 points, there is an example :

                      S 2
                      H QJ73
                      D KQJ
                      C J8743
   S AQT98                          S 73
   H T9542                          H 8
   D -                              D T98765
   C 652                            C AQT9
                      S KJ654
                      H AK6
                      D A432
                      C K

And finally, I found an example with 29 HCP for N/S

                    QJT9
                    942
                    QJ
                    QJ64
      87654                    32
      A3                       T865
      AKT98                    3
      T                        987532
                    AK
                    KQJ7
                    76542
                    AK

Here's a deal that my double dummy solver says is parzero with North/South holding 24 points.

          S: KT9
          H: AK942
          D: QT97
          C: A
 S: 72             S: AQ864
 H: J87            H: T653
 D: K84            D: AJ6
 C: JT842          C: 7
          S: J53
          H: Q
          D: 532
          C: KQ9653

I haven't analyzed this deal to see how the sides defeat the contracts.

Note that North/South have their share of the tens, and all of the nines, as well. So this is a good 24.

For north/south declaring. the obvious problem is that north and south's hands have few entries.

I've currently got my dealer search for 25-point examples.

Deal is the dealer than I'm using. I wrote it. It has a double dummy solver built-in. This is the script I'm using for Deal:

main {
   # Require north/south have exactly 25 points and no fit
   reject unless {[hcp south]+[hcp north]==25}
   foreach suit {spades hearts diamonds clubs} {
       reject if {[$suit south]+[$suit north]>7}
   }

   foreach denom {notrump spades hearts diamonds clubs} {
      reject if {[deal::tricks south $denom]>6}
      reject if {[deal::tricks north $denom]>6}
      reject if {[deal::tricks east $denom]>6}
      reject if {[deal::tricks west $denom]>6}
   }
   accept
}


What is the name the creature that is X/X where X is the number of sorcery and Instant cards in your graveyard? I saw a creature in standard who's power and toughness are equal to  the number of sorcery and instant cards in your graveyard.

Does anyone know the name of this card?

There is no such card (creature or otherwise) that matches your description.

MTG gatherer search for sorcery + instant + graveyard

The closest I could find was the same one you posted in a comment.

Runechanter's Pike


How many booster each players should crack for a 60 cards booster draft? I plan to create a 60 cards booster format. How many booster each players should crack for a 60 cards booster draft?

I think that 4 or 5 should works. Is there any existing format or math about this?

I made a small script in Python but I am bot sure that it helps:

import math

def fill_land(deckSize):
    return deckSize / 2.5

def count_booster_per_person(deckSize):
    boosterSize = 15
    landCount = fill_land(deckSize)
    noLandCount = deckSize - landCount
    return math.ceil(noLandCount / boosterSize) + 1

print(count_booster_per_person(40))
print(count_booster_per_person(60))

Try it online!

Depending on what your goal for your 60 card draft is, you might want to decide between 4 and 5 packs per player.

The MtG tournament rules recommend 3 booster packs per player for the default 40 card draft format. Accordingly, you would need 4.5 booster packs for a 60 card draft format to keep the average deck quality on a similar level.

There are no official Limited formats with deck sizes other than 40. I am not aware of official Limited tournaments which used a different number of packs than what is recommended in the tournament rules.

The draft phase itself and deck building afterwards take considerable amounts of time. Increasing the number of packs increases both, and might take significant drain on your players' mental stamina before the actual games even begin. On the other hand, drafting with a lower than recommended number of packs takes less time, but also lowers the average deck quality, since players will have to include more cards in their main deck that would otherwise go into their sideboard.


Why did this route work? Using another player's station, in Ticket to Ride Online? We had this situation recently in the online Ticket to Ride. Why did Yellow's route from London to Berlin work? Is Yellow really allowed to use Purple's station on Essen?

It's hard to tell with the big green destination marker, but it looks like there is a yellow train station in Berlin, which would allow Yellow to use the track from Essen to complete the ticket.


MTG: Guardian of the Gateless My opponent attacks me with 10 creatures. I block with Guardian of the Gateless . He can block any number of creatures and gets 1+/+1 counter for each creature blocked. Does he gets +10/+10 and blocks all the creatures simultaniously dealing +13+13 to all of them? Killing them in the process. Or he can block 1 creature at a time and gets damaged by each one. So the best way would be to start blocking the creature with less toughness until he dies?

First, Guardian of the Gateless doesn't get 10 +1/+1 counters, but rather a temporary boost until end of turn. Assuming Guardian blocks all 10 attacking creatures, he will get a temporary +10/+10, making him a 13/13 until end of turn.

Now then, during the declare blockers step, you'll order the attacking creatures into a block order and your opponent will order your blockers into an attacking order. This second part is only relevant when there's multiple blockers to an attacker. After this is done, the Guardian's ability will trigger, making him a 13/13.

Now that declaring blockers is done, you will move to the Combat Damage step where you can now assign damage to them. You must assign lethal damage[1] to an individual creature before assigning damage to the next. So for example, you could assign all 13 damage to the first creature and none to the rest, or 4 to first creature and 9 to the rest, any combo really as long as it totals your power of 13 and follows the above guideline.

Depending on what your goals are, you have a few options. From what I'm understanding Guardian will die anyway if the creatures attacking have a combined power of at least 13. Therefore you should assign lethal damage to the creatures you want to get rid of the most. Or if your opponent is attacking with a bunch of small creatures, it might make sense to instead destroy a bunch of little creatures. You need to look at the quality vs. quantity of attacking creatures and what needs to be eliminated for you to survive or win.

Finally, since all 13 attacking creatures have been be blocked, none of them will deal damage to the attacked player or planeswalker (unless they have trample), whether the Guardian deals damage to them or not.

A lethal amount of damage (usually shortened to "lethal damage") refers to an amount of damage that would be sufficient to destroy the creature being damaged, ignoring anything that would prevent the damage or its destruction (e.g. Indestructible). This is usually means an amount of damage equal to the toughness of the creature being damaged, but it could be less (if the creature to which damage is being dealt has previously received damage, or if the creature dealing the damage has deathtouch).


What do the iPad "End of Times" books contain? Many of the End of Times hardback books have sold out very quickly (I believe the latest one was out of stock within seven minutes!) however there are iPad versions available.

Do the iPad versions contain just the story or do they contain the rules and scenarios as well?

Games Workshop have replied to my email:

  Thanks for the email.

  I can confirm for you that the iBook contains everything that the
  physical copy contains except the paper!

  I hope that this helps, but if you need anything further, please let
  me know.

  Kind regards

  Lydia

It looks like iBook has a complete ruleset too.


Getting home in parcheesi If I am on the home path and need a 3 to get into home, can I get in if I roll double 3's? This was my last pawn. We weren't sure if I was the winner or not.

Yes (in most rules; check your specific rules for exceptions). From Wiki

Pieces may only be moved to the home position with an exact application of the total roll, the value on a single die, or the complete application of a reward.

You cannot voluntarily forfeit a roll, but you can take part of the roll if that is your only option.

All die rolls must be taken and may not be voluntarily forfeited by a player.

If either of two rolls must be forfeited, the player must forfeit the lower number.


Magic the Gathering simple damage question I was taught by someone who changed the rules so he would always win. I've played with others but I keep getting different answers and the examples always have a creature with the same defense and block.
Based on the picture below would my 6/4 Craw Wurm with enchantment live or die against a 5/3 vampire? Please please please with cherries on top explain!!!!

If you have a 6/4 Craw Wurm blocking a 5/3 Bloodrage Vampire, then both creatures will die after combat damage is dealt.

In combat, after attacks and blocks have been declared, combat damage is evaluated all at once (except when dealing with First Strike or Double Strike, but that's not relevant here). In a situation like the one you have here, with one creature blocking a single attacking creature, each creature deals damage equal to its power to the other simultaneously. Then, after the damage has been dealt (or at any other time), if any creature has taken damage greater than or equal to its toughness, it dies.

In this particular situation, the Craw Wurm deals 6 damage to the Bloodrage Vampire, and the Bloodrage Vampire deals 5 damage to the Craw Wurm. After this, the Craw Wurm has 4 toughness and has taken 5 damage, so it dies. And the Bloodrage Vampire has 3 toughness and has taken 6 damage, so it dies.


Are "East trading post" and "West trading post" considered identical structures? The rules state that a player can never build two identical structures - with the same name/illustration.

Since both "Trading post" cards are called just "Trading post" on the "Forum" card (which could be build through chain construction), are they considered identical, according to the "same name" rule?

The East and West Trading Posts are considered separate structures because they have a different name and illustration. Using the short form on the Forum card indicates that either the East or West Trading Post can be the base for chain construction.


Identify this resource conversion game Here's what I can remember about this game:

There are different resources in the form of different coloured (wooden?) cubes

You can buy cards that give you the ability to convert the cubes, i.e. 1 red to 4 brown, or 1 brown and 3 grey to 1 yellow

This conversion is shown vertically on the side of the card in this manner (I think) :

[red cube]
[red cube]
[grey cube]
[up/down arrow]
[yellow cube]

Cards that are available to be bought have a bonus resource placed on them in order, which you gain when you buy that card, i.e. the first/left-most card gives you bonus 3 cubes if you buy it, the next gives you 2 cubes, etc.

I can't remember what the goal was supposed to be. Any help or questions to jog my memory of this game would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

After googling various terms together, I found it:
Century Spice Road


When do artifacts lose hexproof when Padeem, Consul of Innovation dies? There was an interesting board state that came up the other night while my friends were playing Commander, involving a sliver deck and Padeem, Consul of Innovation. The board state involved two players, who I will call Aaron (Active player) and Nick (Non-Active player), a simplified version of the board was as follows:

Aaron's Board

Brood Sliver (Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a player, its controller may create a 1/1 colorless Sliver creature token)
Harmonic Sliver (All Slivers have "When this permanent enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact or enchantment.")
Silverback Ape (it's a 5/5, that's it.)

Nick's Board

Padeem, Consul of Innovation (gives artifacts hexproof)
Ornithopter (0/2 Artifact creature)

During combat Aaron attacked Nick with his entire board, and Nick assigned blocks as follows:

Harmonic Sliver is blocked by Ornithopter (No effects)
Silverback Ape is blocked by Padeem (Padeem dies)
Brood Sliver is unblocked (Brood Sliver's ability triggers)

My question is, when the 1/1 Sliver token created by Brood Sliver enters the battlefield, will Aaron be able to destroy Nick's Ornithopter? Or will the Ornithopter still have hexproof, even though Padeem is killed by Silverback Ape?

That is to say, do Nick's artifacts lose hexproof before or after Aaron is able to target them with the ETB of the created Sliver token?

tl;dr: Padeem dies from lethal damage before triggered abilities do anything, so the artifacts will not be protected by Hexproof.
When combat damage is assigned, Brood Sliver's ability triggers. However:

603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.
603.3. Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack [...] the next time a player would receive priority.

State-based actions, such as Padeem dying from lethal damage, occur right before any player gets priority (see 704.3). Thus Padeem is off the board, and its static effect is gone, before Brood Sliver's ability is even put onto the stack, and long before it actually resolves (which is when the artifact-destruction ability would trigger).


How would multiple mana doublers stack? If I have zendikar resurgent, mirari's wake, and mana reflection on the field, how would they stack?

If you have all of those together and you tap a land for mana, Mana Reflection doubles the amount of mana produced by the land's ability, and then Zendikar Resurgent and Mirari's Wake each have an ability that produces 1 more mana, for a total of 4 mana with most simple lands.
Mana Reflection's ability says

If you tap a permanent for mana, it produces twice as much of that mana instead.

This directly modifies the mana produced by the land's ability.
On the other hand, Zendikar Resurgent and Mirari's Wake both have abilities that say

Whenever you tap a land for mana, add one mana of any type that land produced.

These are triggered abilities that triggers from activating and resolving the land's ability. These abilities produce mana separately from the land's ability, so they are not modified by Mana Reflection.


Last turn in Ticket to Ride: clarification I am asking about Ticket to Ride Europe, but if possible I would prefer a generic answer.

Let's say player A claims a route and remains with 1 car. This, per rules, starts the last turn.
When it is again player A's turn, assuming all the needed cards are available, can any route be claimed, or only routes with length 1?

He can only claim a route with length 1 because he only has one train.
You will not magically get more trains because it is the last turn so all normal rules still apply.
By the rules:

Game End
When one player’s stock of colored plastic trains gets down to only 0,1 or 2 trains left at the end of his turn, each player, including that player, gets
one final turn. The game then ends and players calculate their final scores.

There is no mention of different rules for the last turns so normal rule apply.


Destroying a Planewalker before its ability is used Say my opponent plays a planeswalker during their first main phase.  I have a Hero's Downfall or some other effect that will kill it after it is already in play, but before they use any of its abilities.  I could respond to them using a +1 ability, but I want to kill it before that effect goes on the stack.

In most casual situations, it would basically come down to whether I say "Hero's Downfall" first, or they say "+1" first.  But I can't imagine that's how it's supposed to work.  Is there a time between when the planeswalker hits the battlefield and when they activate its abilities that they must let me respond? It seems to me that situations like this arise frequently, and they are resolved simply by who speaks up first, which is horrible for such a rules-oriented game.

MTG is a turn-based game. There is never a time when it matters who said what first.[CR 117.1]
After a spell resolves, the Active Player regains priority.[CR 117.3b] They can then activate one of their Planeswalker's abilities before anyone else can do anything. If you play a Planeswalker and it's not countered, you're practically guaranteed to get a free use of its loyalty ability if you use it immediately after the Planeswalker resolves.[1] The Planeswalker is effectively a very expensive Sorcery if your opponent proceeds to destroy it in response to its ability.[2]
If you pass priority[3], then you could lose your chance to use the Planeswalker's loyalty ability because you allow your opponent to cast Hero's Downfall. If you cast another spell or activate another ability, or if an ability triggers in response to the Planeswalker entering the battlefield, then you could lose your chance to use the Planeswalker's loyalty ability because your opponent could cast Hero's Downfall in response this new spell or ability.
However, if your opponent said they're casting Hero's Downfall before one of these things happen, they're playing out of turn[4].

Notes:

This doesn't apply if it's put into play, or if you somehow play it outside of your main phase or when the stack isn't empty. It also assumes that nothing triggers on it entering the battlefield.

Compare Ajani Goldmane's +1 (2 life for 4) with Sacred Nectar (4 life for 2), although his -1 is better than common Marshaling Cry's for only one extra mana.

For example, by declaring attackers. If you do so, your opponent can say "hold on" or similar (to "shorten your shortcut"), and cast Hero's Downfall.

At which point, you say "hold on" or similar, and activate the ability.

Rules:

117.1. Unless a spell or ability is instructing a player to take an action, which player can take actions at any given time is determined by a system of priority. The player with priority may cast spells, activate abilities, and take special actions.
117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.


Is there a Diplomacy variant that does not contain stalemate lines? The standard Diplomacy game can often end up locked in a stalemate, with one player pushing for 18 territories, and two or more defenders trying to stop them.  There are already many articles about this, including a useful visual index to stalemate positions.  However, I have so far failed to find a Diplomacy map that was designed to prevent stalemates.

Firstly is it even possible to have such a map using the standard rules?  Maybe there is logical reasoning that proves that a stalemateless board does not exist?

If it is possible, has it already been done?  Does the lack of stalemate lines make the game more dynamic, or does it mean players have to be more edgy about attacking?

If it is not possible to create such a map, is there a variant that avoids stalemates with some other change to the rules?  In one of the articles I saw it mentioned that "it is difficult to see" how certain variants could allow stalemates, but have any variants been designed with this goal in mind?

Erlend Janbu's variant South America v. 3.2 for four players was designed with the explicit aim "to create a variant where there are no stalemate lines." In a 2001 article on the variant he admits that he does not know for sure whether there is a stalemate line in his variant, but "I and others have searched, and after 100 games, no game has ended in a stalemate." He claims in that article that only "[f]ew variants are stalemate-free," but unfortunately he does not name any. Until one could prove that there is indeed a stalemate line in the South America variant, the answers to your main questions should be positive: yes, it is possible to design a stalemate-free board and yes, it has been done before.

As to how the lack of stalemates would affect the game, it might be worth reading what Andy Schwarz has written on his variant Hundred (based on the Hundred Year's War). As he wrote in an article from 1996, "eliminating draws was a big part of the design of Hundred." This has encouraged solo wins and alliances-shifts, making the game very dynamic. This should also apply to any variant which reduces or eliminates stalemates.

As to variants which avoid stalemates by means of changes to the rules, Stephen Agar wrote about this specifically in his article from 1992, "Designing Maps for Diplomacy Variants," where he notes that "[s]ome variants avoid stalemate lines through the rule mechanics." The only example which he gives is the Multiplicity variant, where multiple units can occupy a single space.


Dominion Herald's card is not an action, then what? After you look at the top card to see if it's an action, and seeing that it is NOT an action, do you discard it or put it back? Surprisingly this is never clarified in the Guilds rule book or on the card!

The card is put back on top.

From the original rule book:

  “Reveal” – when a player reveals a card, he shows a card to all players and
  then returns it to wherever it came from (unless instructed specifically to
  put it elsewhere). If the player is required to reveal cards from the top of
  his Deck, and he does not have enough cards, he shuffles in order to
  reveal the required number of cards.


How many attacks do Eternal Guard have? Warhammer: Wood Elves (2014) lists Eternal Guard on page 92 with one attack in their profile. Under "Equipment" they are listed as being equipped with an Asrai Spear, a Hand Weapon, and Light Armor.

Warhammer (2010) on page 91* notes that models with "Two/Additional Hand Weapons" gain the "Extra Attack" special rule.

Does the additional Hand Weapon in the equipment profile of the Eternal Guard give them an extra attack?

Normally a simple reading of the rules would be enough, but I've seen an awful lot of discussion amongst experienced Warhammer players (e.g. http://www.asrai.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=26477) either disparaging the new Eternal Guard, or doing math-hammer assuming only one attack each. Since I don't play very often I would usually assume that these veterans know better than me. Am I missing something?

Additionally:- If so, does this apply even if they are equipped with shields?

You would assume not, but I don't see anything preventing a model with a shield gaining the extra attack from an additional hand weapon. Not on page 43 under "Sheilds", nor on page 69 under "Extra Attack", nor on page 91 under "Two/Additional Hand Weapons". Clearly it isn't supposed to work like that, so presumably I'm also missing something here?

*I'm (unfortunately!) using the big hardback, so the page number might be different if you're looking at the A5 mini-rulebook.

Yes you need two hand weapons to claim an extra attack.  Spear + Hand weapon does not grant a bonus attack.

P89, Two Special Close Combat Weapons: "A model can't .. wield .. (an) additional hand weapon alongside another type of special weapon.."


How does Hour of Devastation's Neheb the Eternal work with extra combat & main phases? Earlier today @Wizards_MagicEU revealed Neheb, the Eternal. This is a creature card which reads:

  At the beginning of your postcombat main phase, add {R} to your mana pool for each 1 life your opponents have lost this turn.

Cards like World at War, Waves of Aggression and Relentless Assault create additional combat phases and main phases which make the turn structure look more like this (assuming you cast just one of them):

Main phase
Combat phase
Main phase
Combat phase
Main phase

Let's assume in every Combat phase, I make my opponents lose some life.

How does Neheb, the Eternal's ability function in this structure? When does he trigger and how much mana does he add each time? I think he'd trigger in every main phase but the first and add a cumulative amount of mana each time; is that accurate?

Any Main Phase that follows a Combat phase is a "Postcombat Main Phase".

  505.1a Only the first main phase of the turn is a precombat main phase. All other main phases are postcombat main phases. This includes
  the second main phase of a turn in which the combat phase has been
  skipped. It is also true of a turn in which an effect has caused an
  additional combat phase and an additional main phase to be created.

So Nehab, The Eternal will trigger for each Main Phase that is not the First Main Phase.

It's also worth noting that the mana added is based on cumulative life lost by opponents during this turn. Any life lost prior to this triggered ability's resolution adds {R} to the mana added to your mana pool.


What's the difference between ante and blinds? What is the difference between an "ante" and a "blind" in poker?

Ante and blinds are both forced bets.

Ante is a bet that everyone in the game must make in order to stay at the table. It forces there to always be at least some payout in the pot, increasing the relative value of playing a hand to folding.

Blinds are bets that only one or two players are forced to make, usually a small blind and a big blind, the small blind at half the big blind. They are bet by the two players after the dealer, and thus rotate around as the dealer rotates. The blinds start betting off; bidding starts with the player after the big blind, and players must call or raise the blind bet to stay in the game, otherwise they fold. It puts less in the pot than ante does, thus it does less to incentivize staying in the game, but it still puts enough in that it's worth it for some people to stay in as they do stand to win something, and the players who played the blinds stand to lose them if they simply fold.


How can you have units with secret locations on the board? I've heard that there are games where the units on the board are secret -- that the other player doesn't know where they are.  How does this actually work?  How can you have units on the board without the other players knowing their location?

There are a few popular ways.

Have a duplicate game board with a referee to validate things.
Have a map of the game board set aside with the secret locations marked.
Have numbered locations on the board where the hidden units can be and mark the number down secretly.
Use decoy markers.  Place several markers on the board and treat them like a real unit.  Only one of the decoy markers represents the actual unit.


Dead of Winter exile PvP attack In Dead of winter, the rules state that an exiled player can use food cards to increase an action die value by one.

When attacking another survivor, you must have a dice value at equal or greater to your attack stat to initiate an attacl. You must then roll again and achieve a roll higher than their attack stat in order to wound them.

My question is, can this +1 increase be used only on unused action dice before the attack? Or can the +1 be added for instance to the attack roll aagainst their attack stat in order to guarantee a wound?

The rules don't specify this, but you would not want to do that anyway, since you seem tot have the pvp attack rule wrong:

  If a survivor is chosen [to attack], roll the spent action die. If the result is equal to or less than the chosen survivor's attack value, ...

This makes sense, since the better a survivor is at fighting (low attack value), the harder it is to beat them (you have to roll lower).

So you would not want to increase the result of this die.

But suppose you wanted to do so anyway, I think you still can't. The rulebook refers to playing food cards when exiled to increase action die results, but if you are not exiled, you can only increase unused action dice as an action. I would assume that when exiled, this action becomes 'play a food card' instead of 'consume one food from the colony', but the effect is unchanged. The action die you roll for the attack is considered spent at that point (you used it to initiate the attack), so you can't increase it this way anymore. Also, spending food is an action, and it seems reasonable that you can't use one action in the middle of another (eating in the middle of a fight does not sound like a good idea)


Microbot Alpha: how far does it consider others Microbots? Microbot Alpha says "All of your minions are considered Microbots."

Does this mean while this card is in play, every single minion in play and in discard and in my hand are considered Microbots?

For every Microbot Fixer in play, does every single minion I have in play now get +1 because they are all microbots?
If Microbot Archive is in play, does every single minion I have now cause me to draw a card when destroyed?
If I play Microbot Reclaimer, can I shuffle any minions from my discard pile into my deck (by considering them all microbots)?

It looks like this link addresses the first item above: Smash Up: Microbot Fixer + Microbot Alpha

And it looks like this link addresses the 3rd item, implying that minions in the discard are not minions because they are out of play:
Do actions that affect all cards also affect cards in your hand.?

Yes. All minions are considered Microbots. So everything that applies to Microbots applies to all your minions in play.

However, as included in the Pretty Pretty Smash Up rules, page 10:

  "A minion" or "minions" means any minions in play unless stated
  otherwise.

So minions in your discard pile are NOT affected.

See also this discussion on Boardgamegeek.


Should N-S be in 3NT if not vulnerable? This hand was presented by Michael Berkowitz in the column of Larry Cohen. These are experts I consider on the "aggressive side. Both vulnerable, the bidding was

South West  North East
1d    Pass  2d    pass
2NT   Pass  3NT   pass

(North's 2d was an inverted minor raise.)

The hands were:

North
s: A93
h: KQJ
d: QJ74
c: T83

South
s: JT72
h: A75
d: K832
c: A6

Berkowitz characterized this as a "normal 3NT with 13 opposite 12." But North has a 4-3-3-3 distribution, so shouldn't "12" really be 11, and "25" really be 24?

Sources such as this give N-S only a 37% of making 3NT with only 24 points. This includes hands with "24" that are really 23, not hands that are "25" really 24. Making this adjustment, the chances of success are about 40%. Using IMPS scoring, that's good enough, when vulnerable.

But Berkowitz/Cohen didn't make a qualifier for when one is non vulnerable. Should such a qualifier have been made? Am I right to feel misled by an assurance that this hand is a solid, rather than borderline, 3NT bid when "25" points is more like 24 because of the 4-3-3-3 distribution?

I think that your adjustment to HCP is perfectly fine for your own purposes, but it's not within the technical definition of "high card points" (which solely include the 4/3/2/1 point count, or whatever other numbers you want to assign each honor) and exclude distribution points.  You're well within rights to consider distribution; but many automated programs will solely focus on HCP, including the link you sent, as far as I can tell - so when they say that two balanced hands with 25 points are optimally in 3NT, they mean the hand above to be in that collection.

I'd also say that those two hands look fine in 3NT.  They're both solid hands with dense honors yet still largely controlling the suits; little wasted value ("Jxxx" type stuff) and lots of T/9/8s also to round out the hands.  North can count 4 tricks in their hand even with basically nothing of value in South, and South similarly can count 3.5 tricks at least in theirs again with absolutely no help from North - 4 if you consider the diamond length to make the K fairly safe.  Each expecting the other to have 4 solo tricks plus one trick from fitting honors seems reasonable, don't you think?


How does Phasing work with aura enchantments? If I have a creature enchanted with Vanishing and any other enchantment, what happens if I activate Vanishing's activated ability?

I assume it works like: The enchanted creature does not count as existing, but the enchantments are still sitting around and are still target-able.

No, all auras on that creature phase out simultaneously with the creature itself:

  702.25f When a permanent phases out, any Auras, Equipment, or Fortifications attached to that permanent phase out at the same time. This alternate way of phasing out is known as phasing out “indirectly.” An Aura, Equipment, or Fortification that phased out indirectly won’t phase in by itself, but instead phases in along with the permanent it’s attached to.

and are therefore not targetable either.


Is the combat move and the conduct combat phase always necessary to execute? I am in Karelia with a couple of infantry and tanks. The german territories are heavily fortified. I don't want to lose what few units I have. Do I have to conduct combat or can I skip to noncombat move phase?

You can opt not to move units in the combat move phase. However, you have to declare all your combat movement and carry it to resolution before doing non-combat stuff. So you can't, say, non-combat-move reinforcements out of Moscow into Karelia and then declare an attack using eastern troops against something Japanese.

It's tempting to want to deal with the stuff you find "most important" first to get it out of the way, but your combat stuff is the most important stuff.  :) So look at all your troops and determine all your attacks first. THEN, if you don't have any combat moves you want to make, move to the next phase of the turn.