Legendary Card Game Kingpin card Pull the Strings In the Legendary Card game, there is a hero character Kingpin who relies on new recruits to deal the largest portion of his damage/utility.

The way the card in question reads*

  Whenever a card effect causes you to gain a new recruit this turn, put that new recruit in your hand.

  Gain a new Recruit.

How exactly should a turn with 1 of these cards work, or even with 2. Do you play it, then just put a new recruit in your hand for the 2nd part of the card? then repeat for the 2nd pull the strings? or does your 2nd play the only one that gives you the new recruit to your hand?

I ask, because it seems the wording would just say-gain a new recruit-put any new recruit gained this turn into your hand-and it would be a lot less confusing...

You would play that card and gain a new recruit to your hand right away.

I think it is worded this way to differentiate between gaining a new recruit through a purchase and gaining it as the result of another card either purchased or gained through fight.

Also think of it as a way to keep it clear that the first part of the card still applies to all other cards played this turn or if other things trigger from gaining a new recruit that may be added in the future.


Galepowder Mage and Wormfang Manta interaction So, I have a question about triggers.

Can someone please explain the interaction between Galepowder Mage and Wormfang Manta? If I go to declare attack, using the mage to target Manta do I take my extra turn after I pass my current turn and then skip my the turn after that? Or does the Manta just nullify both of it's abilities when it comes back?

You won't get any significant benefit from doing this. You will get an extra turn, and then you will skip that extra turn, and the turn order will proceed as though you never had that extra turn.

An instruction to "skip your next turn" creates a replacement effect that has you skip the next turn you would take. So even though that effect is created after you get the extra turn, you still skip the extra turn. This is specified in rule 614.10:

  An effect that causes a player to skip an event, step, phase, or turn is a replacement effect. “Skip [something]” is the same as “Instead of doing [something], do nothing.” Once a step, phase, or turn has started, it can no longer be skipped—any skip effects will wait until the next occurrence.


What board game does this die belong to? I found a red and black die in my pocket. The sides are a T, a Roman column, two people, a clock with x2, one person, and another T; each image is bordered by a circle. I have no idea what it's from; any help?

The die belongs to the 2013 version of Taboo, which added the new "game-changer die". You can see it in the picture below along with the other components of the game:

As a game variation, you can roll the die before each round and have a chance to play with an alternate rule

T: Play with standard Taboo rules
Roman Column: You must be perfectly still, like a statue, while giving the clues. The person with the buzzer must turn the cards for you.
Two People: Both teams guess as you give the clues, but still give tallies separately
Clock x2: You get double the time and turn over the timer the first time it runs out.
One person: Only one person can guess during the round, instead of your whole team.


What are the differences within/between Pokemon series? My kids are getting interested in Pokemon TCG, so I'm trying to figure out the different series and sets. I played Magic the Gathering for a little while, which has helped me understand some of the terminology (e.g., starter sets, theme decks, booster packs), but some things seem to be different. Specifically: what are the differences within/between Pokemon series?

For example, what are the differences between the Black & White Dragons Exalted set and the Black & White Emerging Powers set? And what are the differences between the Black & White series and the Heartgold & Soulsilver series?

I understand that the different sets/series have different cards in them, but is there anything else? In Magic the Gathering, the different expansion sets had extra mechanics not seen in the core set. Note that I'm more interested in the differences pertaining to gameplay than to collecting.

It's not the set theirselves, it's the "era". BW: Dragons Exalted and BW: Emerging Powers are from the same era and share the same mechanics (although starting from BW: Next Destinies Pokémon EX were introduced, and from BW: Plasma Storm we got Team Plasma cards with certain advantages when combined with other cards that give them effects).

However, the Black & White series and the HeartGold & SoulSilver series are different in that, given the former has Pokémon EX and Team Plasma Pokémon, the latter has Pokémon Prime and Pokémon LEGEND (Prime cards are more powerful versions of certain Pokémon, and LEGEND cards are Pokémon that can only be played by having both parts of the whole card in your hand).

Sometimes the rules change over the eras aswell. In BW some cards received errata (such as Rare Candy) and certain rules were reworked (such as who goes first), but besides that the game remains largely the same.

Hope that helps.


Ordering of Triggers If I have Terror of the Peaks on the board, play Storm Herald and target Colossification, can I order triggers so Storm Herald is enchanted with Colossification before Terror of the Peaks' ability takes place?

Both of the abilites are triggered when the Storm Herald entering the battlefield, and since you control both sources, you will choose the order the abilities go on the stack.

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose.

In this case, since you want the buff from the Colossification on the Herald before the Terror of the Peaks ability resolves, you'll want to put the Herald's ability on the stack last so the Aura will be placed first. This will buff the Herald to a 23/23 when the Terror's ability resolves. The Terror's ability will see the final power of the Herald and do 23 damage to any target you choose, probably at your opponent. :)
Notably, if the the Herald is killed before the Aura is placed onto it, the Terror deals damage equal to its last known power, which would be 3. If the Colossification is placed, and then the Herald is killed (say, to a spell like Smite the Monstrous), the last known power will be 23 for the purposes of the Terror's ability resolving.

608.2g If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself, the effect uses the current information of that object if it’s in the public zone it was expected to be in; if it’s no longer in that zone, or if the effect has moved it from a public zone to a hidden zone, the effect uses the object’s last known information. See rule 113.7a. If an ability states that an object does something, it’s the object as it exists—or as it most recently existed—that does it, not the ability.


What happens if your only pawn can't move as many spaces as required? If you have just started and you draw a move backwards 4 card, on your next turn you get a move forward 12. You have no other pawns out to move. Do you have to move The original pawn (the one you backed up 4) forward or can you refuse the move?

While you can move backwards from Start to just outside the safety zone, you can't move forward past the safety zone without going toward Home. Since a 12 is too much to land you in Home, and you can't move forward past Start, you must forfeit your turn.


Navigator Role ability If I am a Navigator and I decide to move my partner can I also assume an action through them also? For example if I move a partner 2 spaces beside a flooded tile can I shore up the piece for an action through them?

The rules list four actions that a player can take on their turn:

  Move
  Shore Up
  Give a Treasure Card
  Capture a Treasure

Note that Move is an action and Shore Up is a different action.

The Navigator's card text says the following:

  Move another player up to 2 adjacent tiles for 1 action.

Since shoring up (or giving a treasure card, or capturing a treasure, or using a special ability that requires an action) is distinct from movement, the Navigator is only permitted to make them do the Move action. I imagine it would say something like "Have another player take 1 action for 1 of your actions" or something if it were allowed.

On the plus side, Navigators are useful for helping other players get in position, and they can move a character 2 tiles instead of the usual 1 that they would be doing on their turn.


What was the point of "Substance"? I've heard people mention the "Substance" keyword ability before, as an ability that has never been printed and does nothing. This seems…strange, to say the least. And searching Gatherer turns up nothing on it.

What is/was the point of Substance, if it has never been printed and does nothing? Did it ever actually exist? And if so, why?

Substance existed at one point in time in the Oracle wording of twelve cards, but it was never printed on a card.
It was created to get around an issue caused when they changed the timing rules for end of turn effects, but wanted to keep the functionality on certain cards the same.
The idea was to give a card substance until the end of turn, and then have a triggered ability that would trigger when the card lost substance. This would allow effects to wear off at the end of turn when they wanted it to. Now, they use "at the beginning of the next cleanup step" to achieve the same thing.
This article discusses the change where they removed the substance keyword.

Twelve cards (Waylay, Thawing Glaciers, and the ten-card Armor of Thorns cycle) had "at end of turn" triggers back when that truly referred to the very end of the turn. To preserve their functionality (especially because some of them were practically nonsensical if they were sacrificed before damage clears), they were given a wording that allowed their delayed triggered abilities to trigger during the cleanup step (a time when nothing normally triggers). To achieve this, the relevant permanents gained substance (a static ability with no effect) until end of turn, then triggered when they lost substance—because "until end of turn" effects wear off at the same time that damage does.
These cards will now have a more straightforward "at the beginning of the next cleanup step" trigger, and the rules have been adjusted accordingly. Note that this new wording is somewhat misleading, since it's not the first thing that happens in the cleanup step (just like "at the beginning of your draw step" triggers aren't the first thing that happen during your draw step—you draw a card first). In the cleanup step, the player whose turn it is will discard down to seven cards, then "until end of turn" effects will end and damage will be cleared, then these abilities will trigger.

This article discusses more details around how substance worked.


Adjacent Territories during setup: What is considered adjacent? The rules in our Power Grid edition (USA/Germany, purchased 2016) state:

  Of course, the areas chosen must be adjacent.

Are setups with a string of territories where each territory touches only 1 or 2 other territories legal?

Even if it's legal, is it desirable for creating a fun/interesting game?

A string is allowed - just make sure there's a way to get from any chosen territory to any other.

I'd say that a less interconnected map introduces an extra challenge - it makes city choice more important since it's easier to get boxed in. Since this can be frustrating, I'd recommend a more interconnected map for new players.


Does Harvey Walters' ability to reduce Sanity loss by 1 break the game? The professor has an ability to reduce san loss by 1. Therefore, he is able to cast any number of spells for free! Is this meant to be so overpowering?

Page 4 on Arkham Horror FAQ from the Fantasy Flight website:

  Q: Does the Strong Mind ability (reduce all Sanity loss
  by 1) of the professor, Harvey Walters, apply to the casting of spells?

  A: No. The professor’s ability works on losses, not costs.
  The same distinction applies to the gangster, Michael
  McGlen, and his ability to reduce Stamina losses.


Can the Russia no first turn attack rule be realistically extended for more turns? This is a reference to the Classic edition of Axis and Allies. One "alternate" (house) rule is that Russia is not allowed to attack the first turn. (But she does get her "income" of,say, eight infantry units.)

What if the rule were extended so that Russia were not allowed to attack Germany or Japan for one or more additional turns (unless attacked)? That would allow the Axis (32 IPCs for Germany, 25 IPCs for Japan) to initially concentrate on the U.S. (36 IPCs counting China), and UK (30 IPCs), making for a pretty balanced game. (The Axis do have the advantage of superior board position to compensate for fewer IPCs.)

1) Does this rule change accurately portray the "real life" dilemma faced by Hitler (and the Japanese) as to whether or not to concentrate on beating Britain and China respectively, before attacking Russia? Apparently, Russia was willing to refrain from attacking Germany for "some time," though not "forever." And she signed a 5-year peace treaty with Japan in 1941.

2) The original one-turn rule cuts the Allies' advantage by almost half (to 12 IPCs vs. 22). Could further limitations on Russian attacks on subsequent turns make the game an "even money" proposition?

Note that the following assumes that all players are playing a perfect game with no mistakes. In real games every player will make occasional mistakes so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. For the details on optimal play check out http://donsessays.freeservers.com/

The Russia first turn restriction does nothing to change the balance of classic Axis & Allies. This is because Russia should never attack on the first turn. A&A classic offers very little margin for error in its economy. If Russia produces 9 infantry a round it will survive, if it produces 7 a round it will die. In order to keep up production Russia must conquer Norway during the second round. No other ally may take Norway; it must be Russia. It can't do this if Karelia falls. The only way to prevent Germany from taking Karelia on the very first turn is to place literally all of your defenses in Karelia except 1-3 infantry in the Caucasus (to prevent a blitz through to Russia) and 7 infantry + 1 tank in Yakutia (you can't defend the Russian Far East at first so don't try.) Attacking Manchuria on the first turn will cost you the game. You must slowly build up a large stack of infantry in the Yakut SSR to prevent Japan from breaking through.

On the other hand extending the restriction to turn 2 would mean certain doom for the Allies. Yakutia must pose a second turn attack threat to Manchuria so Japan reinforces it instead of throwing everything at India. Russia must also be able to take Norway and Ukraine on turn 2 or else it won't have the money to crank out 9 infantry on turn 3. Eventually the US will take pressure off and you'll have more of a margin for error, but the first five or six turns are critical.

This house rule might work in some other edition of Axis and Allies, but in Classic it would break the game. The 1-turn rule does nothing but prevent Russia from killing itself prematurely, but more than 1 turn would change the game fundamentally.

A two-turn restriction would not make sense from a historical standpoint because the beginning of the game represents a moment when Russia and Germany were already at war. You'll notice that the Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic is already occupied by German forces. In real life the USSR did not go to war with Japan until three weeks before Japan's surrender. Of course in real life Japan never posed a real threat to the USSR, and they certainly weren't capable of marching across Siberia and attacking Moscow from behind.


When playing Edgar Markov, what is the definition of a "Vampire spell"? I'm quite new to MtG, so this may be a noob question. I play EDH/Commander with Edgar Markov as my commander. His text reads "Eminence - Whenever you cast another Vampire spell, if Edgar Markov is in the command zone or on the battlefield, create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token".

Obviously this will trigger for vampire creature spells ("Vampire Cutthroat", ""Pulse Tracker", "Crypt Ghast" etc), but will it trigger for other spells? For instance, are instants like "Vampire's Zeal" and ""Vampire's Bite" or enchantments like "Mark of the Vampire" considered "Vampire spells"?

I have a hunch that cards that contain the word "Vampire" in their name or type line are concidered vampire spells, but that cards with the word in their text box are not. Is this correct?

A Vampire spell (for the purpose of Edgar Markov) is a spell which has the Vampire (sub)type; its name doesn't matter. You can find the type(s) in the bar between the picture and the rules text. Vampire Cutthroat is a "Creature - Vampire Rogue", so it counts; Mark of the Vampire is an "Enchantment - Aura", so it doesn't count.

There are no non-creature spells which explicitly have the Vampire subtype, as this Gatherer search shows. There are non-creature spells which have all creature types thanks to the Changeling ability, such as Crib Swap; this search lists all 6 of them.


How to differentiate real Yu-Gi-Oh! cards from fakes Simply, how do I tell the differences between real and fake Yu-Gi-Oh! cards? The cards I have seem to be legit, but it's either all legit or all counterfeit. Any tips?

The Yu-Gi-Oh! wikia lists the most common tells

There is an article on the Yu-Gi-Oh! wikia that lists the most common tells with counterfeit cards. Without duplicating the whole list, a couple of the major ones appear to be:

The Eye of Anubis Hologram is missing
Incorrect card format (e.g. Levels on a Spell/Trap card)
Misspellings
Passcode text in the bottom left corner missing (although some legitimate cards are missing it too)
An unusual glossiness or feel

You can also detect counterfeit sets of cards by:

An incorrect cover card
An entire deck within a deck tin (since real deck tins only included booster packs or promo cards)
An unusual ratio of monsters to spell/trap cards (e.g. 1 trap card and 15 monsters)

There was a lawsuit where a legitimate company sold counterfeit cards

In 2008, Konami filed a lawsuit against Vintage Sports Cards. They were legally allowed to resell Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in boxes where booster packs were sold alongside three Ultra-Rare cards. Unfortunately, some of those Ultra-Rare cards were counterfeit. From an article about it:

  The counterfeit “rare” cards, which are clearly visible in the Vintage Sports packaging, use a different paper type and protective varnish than those used in real Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and the holographic security foil also differs from that used on the real Konami cards.


If there are two Lighthouse Chronologist with three players, will one player be pereptually skipped? If you would play a game with 3 people (let's call them A, B, and C) and A and B have a Lighthouse chronologist, will this make A get a turn after B, and make B get a turn after A without C getting a turn in between?

So the turns would go:

A end turn: B gets an extra turn from his Lighthouse Chronologist
B end turn: A gets an extra turn from his Lighthouse Chronologist
Repeat.

Is this correct and will this put C out of play (assuming he has no mana or instants)?

This is correct. Here's a ruling on it from Gatherer (Emphasis mine):

  In a multiplayer game, if multiple players each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist, extra turns may sometimes be created faster than they can be taken. Keep track of them carefully. If multiple Chronologist's abilities trigger during the same turn, the player whose turn would show up sooner in the natural turn order will get the first extra turn. For example, say Players B and C each control a level 7 Lighthouse Chronologist. Player A takes a turn. The game will proceed like this (with extra turns in brackets): Player A's current turn, [Player B's turn], [Player C's turn], [Player B's turn], [Player C's turn], and so on. Because Players B and C will each add another extra turn after the other player's extra turn, Player A will not take another turn as long as both level 7 Lighthouse Chronologists remain on the battlefield.

Wow, sucks to be player A.


Frigga's Protection and Odin's Chosen in game of Blood Rage Frigga's Protection - clan upgrade

  You may pay 1 rage to prevent a figure of yours from being destroyed.

Odin's Chosen - Mystic ability

  Your mystics may invade a village occupied by a warrior or mystic, destroying that figure.

What happens when Mystic owner invades destroying the warrior, but warrior's owner uses Frigga's Protection to save the warrior?

In your answer please consider that there might not be an unoccupied village in the warrrior's province.

If the other player spends 1 Rage to keep his figure in place, the active player is unable to perform his invasion and basically loses his turn.

From Thiago Arnha, Producer, rules writer, and play tester of Blod rage. He designed Arcada Quest with Eric Lang.


What is the best way to describe the turn order in Puerto Rico? Inspired by this question which describes the "snake turn", is there a good label to give the turn order in Puerto Rico, where the first player starts the round, then the second player starts the round, then the third player starts the round etc.

The reason I'm asking is so that I can more quickly get through that part of the explanation of the rules.  We always seem to spend a few minutes explaining that part.

Just say the turns have a 'rotating starting player'.  If you have players familiar with poker or card games in general, you can use the dealer & blinds as an example.


Can I use Hannibal Necromancer's effect to destroy a trap card my opponent just activated? I have Hannibal Necromancer on the field with 1 spell counter. It is my opponent's turn, and he activated the (previously-set) trap Horn of the Phantom Beast. Can I remove the spell counter from Hannibal Necromancer to target and destroy Horn of the Phantom Beast?

I'd say it's an ignitiion effect, but the rule book isn't too specific, what a quick effect has to look like. (http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDwQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yugioh-card.com%2Fuk%2Frulebook%2FRulebook_v9_en.pdf&ei=3I7PVJGeGouuU_PSgKgC&usg=AFQjCNGA0UwHs5645XFrSUxvPPOOj30lxA)

So you're not able to activate it during your op. turn.


Will a creature cast with Dash still return to your hand if it dies in combat? While going through Fate Reforged, I became a little bit confused by the new mechanic Dash.
For example, if you take a look at Goblin Heelcutter, the ability states as such:

Whenever Goblin Heelcutter attacks, target creature can't block this turn.
Dash {2}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.)

My question is, since the creature is a 3/2, if it was assigned a blocker and dealt more than 2 damage, would it still return to the owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step?

If it's dead, it's not coming back.

Reminder text isn't actually official rules, but it is there to help you out, and there's a key phrase in the reminder text to help you in this case just from the card, without having to look things up:

  You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.

If it's not on the battlefield anymore, it can't be returned from there to your hand! So if it dies (or is exiled or otherwise leaves the battlefield) before the end of the turn, whether due to combat damage or a removal spell or anything else, it won't come back.

The Mechanics of Fate Reforged article also mentioned this, among all the other helpful information about the mechanics. It's a good article to read if you want to make sure you understand everything from the new set.

  If you cast a creature spell using its dash cost, it will return to your hand only if it's still on the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step. If it leaves the battlefield before that point, it'll just stay wherever it is.

If you want the actual rules, the comprehensive rules mention that dash actually does a few separate things, one of which is the return-to-hand ability:

  702.108a Dash represents three abilities: two static abilities that function while the card with dash is on the stack, one of which may create a delayed triggered ability, and a static ability that functions while the object with dash is on the battlefield. “Dash [cost]” means “You may cast this card by paying [cost] rather that its mana cost,” “If this spell’s dash cost was paid, return the permanent this spell becomes to its owner’s hand at the beginning of the next end step,” and “As long as this permanent’s dash cost was paid, it has haste.” Paying a card’s dash cost follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2e–g.

Note that it specifically says "return the permanent..." - if the creature has left the battlefield already, it's no longer a permanent, so there's nothing to return.


Where should I place tokens via Builder resolved from another server? I've got several ices on a remote server. On the top of them - rezzed Builder. I've got rezzed Wormhole, protecting another server (HQ, for example). The runner makes a run on HQ and faces the Wormhole. It's subroutine is triggered (resolve a subroutine on another piece of rezzed ice) and I decide to resolve the Builder's subroutine. On what server's ice can I put the advancement token? HQ or the server with the Builder on top?

If you use Wormhole's subroutine to resolve a subroutine on Builder, you place the advancement counter on a piece of ICE protecting the server Builder is on. Builder is resolving it's own subroutine, not Wormhole.


What happens in Android: Netrunner when your deck runs out and you need to draw a card? Do you lose as in magic? Do you reshuffle your discard pile?

If the Corporation player attempts to draw from his empty R&D deck, he loses the game. From the rules PDF, page 3:

  ...the Runner wins if the Corporation must draw a card from his empty draw deck

The Runner simply loses the ability to draw more cards if his Stack is empty, but it's not a game-ender. You don't reshuffle.


Trostani Discordant vs. In Bolas's Clutches Say I control a Trostani Discordant. My opponent casts In Bolas's Clutches on Trostani. At the end of opponent's turn, Trostani triggers and "each player gains control of all creatures they own". Does Trostani return to my control or does the Clutches' effect take precedence?

My guess is that this is a time stamp issue, in which case usually the later spell takes precedence. Therefore Trostani stays under my opponent's control. However Trostani's effect is a trigger, so I am not sure. I'm also unsure if In Bolas's Clutches creates a continuous effect that overrides Trostani's trigger. In particular, In Bolas's Clutches doesn't say "when [this card] enters the battlefield, gain control of ..."; it simply says you control the permanent, which could mean it applies a state-based action to gain control of the permanent if you ever lose control of it.

You regain control of the Trostani Discordant. All control change effects are continuous effects, and the effect created by Trostani's triggered ability is newer than the effect created by In Bolas's Clutches, so it "wins" and control returns to you.
The continuous effects rules section has the following rules:

611.1. A continuous effect modifies characteristics of objects, modifies control of objects, or affects players or the rules of the game, for a fixed or indefinite period.

611.2. A continuous effect may be generated by the resolution of a spell or ability.

611.3. A continuous effect may be generated by the static ability of an object.

The interaction of continuous effects rules section describes how to apply multiple effects like this. Specifically, rule 613.6 and its relevant subrules say this:

613.6 Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

613.6a A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.

613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it’s created.

In Bolas's Clutches has a static ability, so its effect has a timestamp from when it entered the battlefield. Trostani's ability creates a new continuous effect when it resolves, so that's the timestamp that effect has. After In Bolas's Clutches is on the battlefield, the next time Trostani's ability resolves, it has a newer timestamp, so it applies last and the overall effect is that you control Trostani.


Is there a reason to have both of these rules in the comprehensive rulebook for Magic: the Gathering? I have discovered a curious pair of rules in the comprehensive rulebook. Specifically:

400.8. If an object in the exile zone is exiled, it doesn’t change zones, but it becomes a new object that has just been exiled.
406.7. If an object in the exile zone becomes exiled, it doesn’t change zones, but it becomes a new object that has just been exiled.

Section 400 is Zones - General, while 406 is Zones - Exile.
Now, I know that the same rule may be repeated multiple times throughout the comprehensive rulebook. See, for instance, 112.5, 209.2, 306.5d and 606.3 all stating that the loyalty ability of a permanent may only be activated if none of that permanent's loyalty abilities has been activated earlier this turn. However, apart from 606.3, they all say 'See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”', and that's what I find typical for the comprehensive rules; the same rule may be listed several times where it is deemed appropriate, but there is always one "main instance" of the rule, and all other times it is mentioned, the reader is referred to that main instance.
Not so for the "exile an exiled card" rule. It is just stated, almost verbatim, in two different places with no references to one another. Is this a mistake? If so, is there any way (and point) to alert Wizards of the Coast of this? Would they appreciate said feedback?

The referenced pair of rules fits as a first class rule in each of the two sections that it appears in. In section 400, it appears right after another rule describing how objects become new objects as a result of zone-change effects. And in section 406, it appears as a rule that is specific to the exile zone. I think it is reasonable to consider neither or both to be the "main instance" of the rule, so it makes sense for each one to not link the other.

In general, I have found that the best way to give feedback about the rules is to contact the rules manager directly on social media. The current rules manager is Eli Shiffrin, and he can be contacted on Twitter under the name @EliShffrn.


Multiple stations connection in Ticket to Ride Europe In Ticket to Ride: Europe
Can I build multiple consecutive stations on my opponent's route?
In other words, can my two stations connect to each other?

An example, to make it more clear.

I have a route to Amsterdam, but from there to London and to Edinburgh my opponent
(2 players only) built a route.
Can I put a station on Amsterdam and one on London to connect to Edinburgh?

Yes, you may use multiple borrowed routes to complete a destination ticket. There is simply no limit in the rules.


What happens if you give Defiant Bloodlord Lifelink? Infinite Health/Damage? What would happen if you cast a spell like Grotesque Mutation on Defiant Bloodlord, then gain life from one source or another?
Theoretically, he would then deal X damage (where X is the triggering life) to target opponent (from his ability), which would cause the player to heal X life (lifelink), which would cause him to deal X damage to target player, etc.

Am I missing something?

This does not work as an infinite combo because "damage" is not the same as "loss of life". Lifelink only happens when damage is dealt, and Defiant Bloodlord doesn't damage an opponent when you gain life.

See the question here for a very similar combo that does work like you're thinking:

Is Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood a potential game ender?

Because Exquisite Blood triggers whenever an opponent loses life, as opposed to Lifelink which has to do with damage dealt, it will cause a loop of triggers until your opponent loses the game. (Defiant Bloodlord could be used instead of Sanguine Bond in that combo).

The official rules on Lifelink:

  702.15b Damage dealt by a source with lifelink causes that source’s controller, or its owner if it has no controller, to gain that much life (in addition to any other results that damage causes).

So Lifelink just changes the results of damage; it does not trigger on life being lost.


Who decides what does the informer reveal? In Tragedy Looper the the ability of the "Informant" character is according to the plot/character summary is that

  Goodwill 5 (1×∞): Reveal subplot A or subplot B

meaning that having 5 goodwill tokens she can be used once in a loop to reveal subplot A or subplot B. Neither the rulebook or the mastermind's handbook elaborate more on this ability.

The question is: who decides which subplot does she reveal? If it's the mastermind who decides it, then can he decide to reveal the same subplot over and over again, turning the ability useful for only once in a game?

UPDATE: Cosmic Evil's release changed the effects of two characters: the Police Officer and the Informer.

With the release of Cosmic Evil, two base game characters were rebalanced to prevent certain complex timing issues, those being the Police Officer and the Informant, and cards were included to replace the corresponding character cards in the base game. New releases of the base game will have these new cards as well.

The informer's goodwill ability is now as follows:

  Goodwill 5 (1×∞): Leader names the name of any subplot. Then, the Mastermind must name the title of another active subplot.

From a practical standpoint, this is mostly the same, however there are a few situations in which the order of the subplots actually matters (e.g. Cosmic Mythology's Extra-2 effect, which reveals the first subplot at the end of the loop), and this rebalance prevents that information specifically from leaking. This also means that it is possible for the Mastermind to actually have a choice - if the Protagonist Leader names a subplot not actually in use, the Mastermind can name either of the subplots that are active.

The rebalanced ability's wording does present an issue in the event of the protagonist leader naming the only active subplot when using the "First Steps" set. For that set alone, an obvious rule patch is to treat the ability as "Reveal the script's subplot."

As for the Police Officer, the abilities are now as follows:

  Goodwill 4 (1×∞): Reveal culprit for former incident.

  Goodwill 5 (1×∞): Put an Extra marker on another character in same location. Remove that marker to prevent that character from dying.

This change has two effects: First, it allows the Protagonists to stick a "shield" (so to speak) on a different character they need to protect. Secondly, it means the Police Officer himself can no longer be protected by his own ability, since he is no longer a valid target.

When a goodwill ability is activated, the player activating the ability decides target and intended effect.

The protagonist leader for the turn, when they activate goodwill abilities, decide on the target(s) and the intended effect when there are multiple candidates for the ability. For the original Informer character, the possible targets are either of the subplots (unless the first steps tragedy set is used, in which case it's the one subplot in play). The only input the Mastermind may have on a Goodwill ability is if the character has optional goodwill refusal (which the Mastermind may then invoke, AFTER the protagonist has decided on the target and effect). When the mastermind activates an ability, he decides the target (and effect) himself.

Some other notes:

For abilities that reveal a character's role, note that "Person" is considered a role, which means the valid targets of that ability include characters that do not have a role in the plot or any sub-plot. It is entirely legal for a protagonist leader to pick one of these characters as the target.
Boy Student and Girl Student can only have their abilities used on other students. (You'd be surprised how many people forget to check this)
The AI's ability (see Midnight Circle expansion) effectively grants full control over any one incident to the protagonist leader, which means THEY decide the target instead of the Mastermind. It also prevents the incident from being counted as an event (which is important for some scenarios)
Goodwill Refusal (mandatory or optional) can be damaging to the protagonist's initial plan, but it does give them information since Goodwill Refusal is determined by the character's role. Goodwill Refusal on the Doctor is particularly powerful for the Mastermind as it gives him access to the Doctor's first goodwill ability as a Mastermind ability.
Due to rule priorities, the Alien's second ability CANNOT be used on the Key Person, as the loop would have already ended on their death. The original Police Officer's second ability, however, can, since it prevents the death entirely. (The rebalanced Police Officer's second ability can also stop the death, but it has to be used in advance)
It is perfectly legal for a protagonist to use an ability in such a manner that it causes the loop to end. An example would be using the Alien's first ability to kill the Key Person.


Kuraz vs Trap hole, still draw? Player A summons Kuraz, selects 1 set card to destroy on player B's field, player B chains by activating the set card which is Trap Hole, Kuraz is destroyed, but ..

Will Trap Hole is considered "destroyed" so player B draw a card? Or it's sent to graveyard by resolving so player B doesn't draw card?

A good read over here: Chains, Activation, and Resolution

  IMPORTANT: When resolving a chain, as the cards resolve they are NOT sent to the Graveyard until the entire chain has resolved, or a card specifically destroys them

So in this case, since Trap Hole is on a same chain with Kuraz, Trap Hole is destroyed by Kuraz, and the controller of Trap Hole is allowed to draw a card.


How do pump spells interact with damage at end of turn? My friends recently got into a heated argument over a rules interaction. One player had a 2/2 creature, and responded to the opponent's Lightning Bolt targeting it with a Mutagenic Growth. The player casting Lightning Bolt claimed that the creature died later, because the pump spell wore off at the end step, but damage was not removed until the cleanup step. I am the most experienced player of our group and told him that is sort of right, but state based actions are not checked at that time, so the creature lives. What actually happens here?

...the pump spell wore off at the end step, but damage was not removed until the cleanup step.

There's your problem. "...until end of turn" actually means until the cleanup step - the actual end of the turn, not just the end step.

Cleanup Step

514.1 [discard to maximum hand size]
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.

So the damage and the pump go away at the same time, and all is well.


Catan: play development card after rolling robber In Settlers of Catan, we have been discussing the possibility of playing a development card before moving the robber but after rolling a 7. The idea came from someone wanting to play a monopoly card before moving the knight in order to increase his chances of getting a specific resource from the robber steal.
He argued that he could play the monopoly card since you are allowed to play a development card whenever on your turn, but others feel that this is a bit cheap. Is there a concrete ruling either way?

No, you can’t do that.
Under the rules for rolling a 7, it says that you “immediately” move the robber. This implies that cannot do anything in between.

a) Rolling a “7” and activating the robber

If you roll a “7,” no one receives any resources.

Instead, every player who has 8 or more resource cards must select half (rounded down) of their resource cards and return them to the bank.

Then you must move the robber. Proceed as follows:

(1) You must move the robber immediately to the number token of any other terrain hex or to the desert hex.


Making the Contingency Planner more useful The 2013 version of Pandemic added a new card, the Contingency Planner:

My gaming group has found this card very weak compared to the other roles for a couple of reasons:

It's ability to pull an event card from the discard pile only seems to happen a couple of times a game whereas the other roles are used almost every turn.
The role is more luck based than the other ones because the good cards don't always turn up, so although we try to pull a card whenever we can, sometimes it's just not really worth duplicating a less than ideal card.
Duplicating the cards tends to be unnecessary if you have certain roles. Building a research center for free is fine, but building it a second time is kind of pointless if we also have the Operations Expert.

We've gotten to the point where we're ready to remove the Contingency Planner from the deck. But before we do, I'd like to know if there is anything we can do to make the Contingency Planner more useful and equal to the other roles.

I assume that your gaming group typically plays with 4 players.  I have found the contingency planner to be much worse with 4 players than with 2.  I agree that the contingency planner is the worst role, but part of that is because of how variable his power is depending on how the event cards fall.  Throwing him out is a reasonable approach if you only have the base game, but the other option is to buy "On the Brink".  It includes a bunch of new event cards, so you switch to playing with 2 event cards in the deck per player (8 with 4 players instead of the usual 5), and I found that this really balanced out the Contingency Planner with the other roles.  With a higher number of event cards being drawn (and therefore being put in the discard pile), he has a much longer list of options on a given turn.


Are there any English servers where I can play Mahjong online? I recently stumbled upon the Asian game Mahjong and came to like it.  I already play Go and Chess online, but had difficulties finding a good, English-language Mahjong server.

Are there any English servers, and if so what are they?

I've played Mahjong online through Yahoo. But, there usually aren't that many players on their server. Yahoo also have solitaire Mahjong games, if that's what you're referring to.

You could also try MahjongExpress. I've never played on there, but it looks like it requires you to install software, kind of like the online poker games.


How exactly do cures affect future infection in Pandemic? How does finding a cure affect future infections in Pandemic?

Scenario 1) Cure IS found, disease cubes for that same color DO exist on the board, and player draws an infection card matching that color.

Scenario 2) Cure IS found, disease cubes for that same color do NOT exist on the board, and player draws an infection card matching that color.

My current understanding is that scenario 2 would be the only time that the disease cubes would not be added to the location (excluding special player roles like quarantine specialist and event cards).

Is this correct?

Scenario 1: continue adding cubes, as you have been doing all the way along. The example of "Playing the Infector" specifically states: "Even though the Black disease is Cured, it can still spread!")

Scenario 2: nothing happens. The rules state:

  Eradicating a Disease

  If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, flip the Cure Marker for the disease to the "Sunset" side. From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the Infector's turn (emphasis mine -- StasK). Take all of the cubes of the eradicated color and place them back in the box -- they will not be used again for the rest of the game.

So finding a cure affects the game via the change in how "Treat Disease" action is played.

The Medic character starts treating the disease without spending an action: if say the red vaccine has been discovered, whenever the Medic is in the city with these red cubes, he or she can take them out without spending an action. This also means that the Dispatcher (or the Airlift special event) can throw the Medic into a red city that is about to outbreak, and the city will be cured with no other actions spent by any of the players.
All other players can remove all of the cubes in one action (rather than just one cube) when they treat disease in a city.

In the longer term, discovering the cure makes you one step closer to the victory -- you need to discover all four cures to win the game. The Infection step, however, is not affected by the discovery per se -- only by eradication.


Activated effects after combat damage I am looking for some rules clarification on the sub steps during attacks.

Q1a- I am told that Reconnaissance can be used AFTER combat damage has been dealt to an opponent, thus granting your creatures a pseudo vigilance. Can this be done even without additional Combat-triggers to respond to? (Something about gaining priority after damage?)

Q1b- Does the same rulings work with Berserk. To destroy unwanted creatures of my opponents after they deal damage?

Q2- How does Berserk on one of your own creatures interact with Maze of Ith or Reconnaissance? Are you able to prevent a creature from being destroyed? Or will Berserk's effect still trigger because said creature is still marked as having attacked at all?

Question 1A

Reconnaissance can in fact be activated after combat damage. The reason for this is because after damage is dealt, all players receive priority before creatures are removed from combat.

Question 1B

Berserk contains the text

  Cast this spell only before the combat damage step

So you wouldn't be able to cast it after the creature deals damage regardless. This seems self explanatory to me, so if I'm missing part of your question's intent, please let me know.

Question 2

The gathering ruling on Reconnaissance reads,

  Does not undo any effects that triggered on declaration of attackers or blockers.

I interpret this to mean that anything that triggers or depends upon a creature having attacked will still be in effect. Regardless of if the creature is no longer attacking, it still has been declared as an attacker, meaning that the creature would still be destroyed by Berserk. Maze of Ith WOULD follow the same logic, except that it doesn't actually remove the creature from combat. Instead, it reads,

  Untap target attacking creature. Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to and by that creature this turn.

Maze will have no impact on Berserk whatsoever, although it is worth noting that even if it removed a creature from combat, it still would not save a creature targeted by Berserk.


How does Gideon, Champion of Justice's ability work? Say I use Gideon, Champion of Justice's second ability to turn him into a creature:

  0: Until end of turn, Gideon, Champion of Justice becomes a Human Soldier creature with power and toughness each equal to the number of loyalty counters on him and gains indestructible. He's still a planeswalker. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to him this turn.

Is he now a creature with the ability of "this creature's power and toughness are equal to the number of loyalty counters on it" or is he assigned a power and toughness as it becomes a creature? The reason I'm asking are to know if I can either change the number of counters on him somehow to pump him up (if it's an ability), or duplicate him somehow when he is a creature (if it's a fixed at time of activation).

A ruling on the gatherer page for Gideon says

  Gideon, Champion of Justice's power and toughness are set to the number of loyalty counters on him when his second ability resolves. They won't change later in the turn if the number of loyalty counters on him changes.

So, he is assigned a power and toughness when the ability resolves, and it doesn't change.

If you copy Gideon in this state, the copy is just a Planeswalker. The effect that makes Gideon a creature doesn't get copied.


Pandemic - reduced rule-set for beginners I have recently started playing pandemic, and was overwhelmed by the amount of rules.
Is there a reduced set of rules, easier to learn and remember but still fun, that can be used by beginners until they get used to the game?
EDIT: My goal is not to make the game easier to win - it is to make the game easier to learn how to play. Instead of learning all rules at once, the team can learn the rules one by one. For example, suppose there are 10 rules (just an arbitrary number). Then instead of remembering all these rules at once, we can start with 5 rules, then add a new rule each play, until we remember and play by all rules.

I don't believe simplified rules exist. For the reference here are the full rules.
This is how we approached it:
First, follow the steps on page 2-3 to setup. Then look at the inset at the bottom right corner of page 3 which says:

Each player turn is divided into 3 parts:

Do 4 actions.
Draw 2 Player cards.
Infect cities.

After a player is done infecting cities, the player on
their left goes next.
Your hand can have City and Event cards in it. City cards are used in some actions and Event cards can be played at any time.

So what we find useful, is to follow these 3 parts in sequence. To perform part 2, follow page 6 "Draw Cards". For part 3 follow page 6 "Infections".
Part 1, actions is a bit trickier, because a player needs to be familiar with the actions available to them to make choices. All the actions are described on page 4, with an example on page 5.
In my opinion, good understanding of page 4 by all players, is the most important thing that makes the game following more smoothly, because this is where most variations are. For parts 2 and 3 you can simply follow the script in the rule book - there is not much choice there, and after enough times you'll memorise it and have no problems with it.
By studying page 4 on the other hand, you can understand what options are available to you and make those choices that matter.


Order of the stack with conspire? The ability "Conspire" found on some instants/sorceries, reads

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

What is the order of spells being placed on the stack when a spell is conspired? Normally, when copying a spell, it's when it is already on the stack, with cards like Twincast. However, looking at the text of Conspire, it seems to indicate that you copy the spell as it is being cast, which insinuates that it is not yet on the stack. Am I correct in this? To specify a situation in which this may be relevant, if I have Wort, the Raidmother out, and I cast Reverberate, and choose to conspire it, can the copy target the original? In what order are targets chosen? Is the original Reverberate on the stack yet?

Casting a spell is a process which begins with putting the spell on the stack and ends when the cost is paid. So anything that takes effect as you are casting the spell will see the spell on the stack already.

For Conspire, this is backed up by the full text of the Conspire rule which says in part:

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

That's 702.77a of the Comprehensive Rules; the full list of steps in casting a spell is 601.2.

So for your example, the second Reverberate would be created after the first is finished being cast, so the second will go on the stack on top of the first and can see it as a valid target.


Can A Wild Rage Card Ever Be Less Than Zero? Let's say I play a Wild Rage card and declare it as a 0 of a particular suit.  Later that suit is changed to trump and so my Wild Rage wins the trick.  But what if I made the card a 0 of a suit intending to insure I couldn't take the trick?

I believe we've played with the house rule that a Wild Rage can be declared as a -1 of some suit so it's guaranteed not to take the trick--but is that legal? I think we could drop the house rule but I was wondering if there's an official position on our variation or not.

From the Fundex game manual...

  WILD RAGE: When the Wild Rage is played, the player must announce
  what color it will be. The selected color may be the trump color. Wild
  Rage is considered to be the highest value of the color it is called out to
  be. If both Wild Rages are played in a single trick and are called the same
  color, the second Wild Rage is considered to be of a lower value than the first.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/55521/Fundex-Games-Rage.html#manual

Translating from the German Amigo rules via Google translate...

  "Joker": If you play a Joker card, you must announce a suit that is valid for the Joker. The selected color may also be the current trump color. The Joker is the highest card of the chosen color in the lurch. If the current trump suit color is not chosen for the wild card, then each card in the current trump suit is higher than the wild card. If both jokers are played in one trick, the second joker is higher than the first.

https://www.amigo-spiele.de/content/download.php?group=rule&file=00990-DE-AmigoRule.pdf&title=00990-DE-AmigoRule.pdf.

In both rule books, nothing allowing the selection of any value except the highest for a wild rage card. Your only choice is what suit / color.

Another set of rules that don’t conform to either of the manufacture rulebooks...

  There are two wild Rage cards in the deck. When a player plays these, she can announce the card as any suit or number up to 16 that he wishes. By going up to 16, even though the deck is only to 15, this makes that card the strongest card in its suit if the player wishes. The second Wild Rage card cannot be played on that same trick.

https://ourpastimes.com/rage-card-game-rules-6702363.html

In that variation you can assign the suit value above 15, which makes it a more flexible and thus powerful card. Still it says nothing about being able to assigned a negative value that would never win.

Allowing a negative value to the wild rage card with the intent that it would never win reduces the skill needed for calculating the number of trick you intent to capture. As a result, this would increase the luck factor needed to win... I could see this being a good house rule if playing with more causal players; but it doesn’t appear to be an official rule.


Delayed effects after player's loss I would like to know what happens to delayed abilities, or abilities like "until your next turn" when the controller of that spell/ability loses and leaves the game.

For instance, suppose you cast Cruel Entertainment, and then the first controlled player kills you, the second player still will get controled by the first one?

Also the first ability from Liliana, the last hope, which says "+1: Up to one target creature gets -2/-1 until your next turn", will the affected creature restore its power/thoughtness immediatelly after the Liliana controller dies?

Also note this excerpt from this answer:

  A delayed triggered ability (DTA) follows the same rules. A DTA is a
  triggered ability that creates instances of itself on the stack that
  are also called "triggered abilities".

Is the effect from Cruel Entertainment a delayed ability, or is it just a effect whose effect spans more than the current turn?

Cruel Entertainmet's effect will still work in full as long as the two targeted players are in the game, whether or not the player who cast the spell is still in the game. And Liliana's ability will last until her controller's next turn would have started.
The following rules about Multiplayer games are relevant:

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

800.4b If an object would change to the control of a player who has left the game, it doesn’t. If a token would be created under the control of a player who has left the game, no token is created. If an object would be put onto the battlefield or onto the stack under the control of a player who has left the game, that object remains in its current zone. If a player would be controlled by a player who has left the game, he or she isn’t.

800.4j When a player leaves the game, any continuous effects with durations that last until that player’s next turn or until a specific point in that turn will last until that turn would have begun. They neither expire immediately nor last indefinitely.

"Objects" in 800.4a refers specifically to the things defined in rule 109.1:

An object is an ability on the stack, a card, a copy of a card, a token, a spell, a permanent, or an emblem.

Importantly, this does not include effects that were created by spells or abilities, and rule 800.4j explicitly points out that effects created by a player stick around after that player leaves the game. So if a player casts Cruel Entertainment and then leaves the game, the effect will still exist in the game.


Deck Size Problems in Deckbuilding Question: What kind of mechanic would allow players to remove cards from their constructed decks in my game?

Theory: I'm making a deckbuilding game!  So, players start with a number of cards which aren't too powerful, but are necessary in the early game.  They will invariably collect cards early on that are bad in the mid-late game portions of play.  To increase the draw probability of good cards, you will want to prune your older bad cards.  So, I need a mechanic to remove cards from play so that they are no longer in your deck.

World Building: The game has a theme of trying to get elected to an alien senate.  You and your opponents are all candidates vying for power, and the cards you play are campaign staff who have different abilities.  The hiring row contains new staff that you may purchase to aid your campaign.

Gameplay:  At the start of the round, all players select 1 card from their hand to place face down.  All cards are revealed, and effects resolve based on priority markings on the cards.  Then, players take turns doing resource management (purchasing, etc.).  Players then discard their hands, draw 3 cards (shuffling their discard pile into their deck as needed), and the round ends.

Attempted Mechanics: One early mechanic was a card cycle whose effects are to remove other cards from your deck.  This can be a bit too slow, doesn't interact well with other mechanics, and is a little too similar to another game I've played before.

A mechanic that I like is for each card to have a "severance cost" at the bottom.  The problem is, I can't figure out when this would be activated.  Paying the cost as replacement of the effect meant having to use a marker to indicate your intention, because players were accusing each other of changing their mind after cards are revealed for the round.  But if the marker is visible while people are selecting their cards, it gives away too much information to the other players.  It was difficult for players to use the marker discretely.

I decided that maybe the firing cost could be paid once per turn during the resource management step.  But then there was the issue of "Can you only fire a card you played, one in your hand, or one in your discard pile?"  Each of these led to problems, especially when cards were fired from the discard pile.

What would be a possible way for cards to be removed from the deck?

The best way is obviously subjective so I'll throw out some ideas for Severance. Here's two quick ideas to make Severance possibly work during the initial reveal:

A): When you reveal your card, orientation matters. Straight-up means play as normal, sideways means severance. This is a simple way to do it but opens up the door to misplays of "Oh, meant to fire this guy but placed him straight" or "someone slow-rolled his flip to get extra information" and what not but has the upshot of no additional pieces to keep track of.

B): Have two additional meta cards, one that says "Keep", the other "Fire" (similar to the voting tokens used by The Resistance). You would play one of these face-down along side your employee and reclaim it at round's end. This has the benefits of no physical ambiguity like option A but does require another set of components for everyone and adds another step when you intend to keep your deck intact most of the time. If you intend pruning to be an integral part of the game, maybe not the worst option.

If you don't mind having Severance happen at a later phase, this opens a few paths. Firstly, you could have the Severance effect be defined by the staff themselves. This allows them to trash additional stuff in different zones. E.g.

Mook A has "Do thing_1. Severance {cost}"
Thug B has "Do thing_2. Severance {cost} and trash a card in hand"
Intern C has "Do thing_3. Severance {cost} and trash a card in your discard pile"
Fundraiser D has "Do thing_4. Severance {cost} and trash a card in your discard pile"

Alternatively, there's also the option of having Severance be a static ability, (e.g. only trash current played card), which allows certain staffers to have abilities that modify it. E.g.

CEO E has "Do thing_5. You may trash something from your hand/discard pile instead of CEO when severing it. Severance{cost}"

Just some thoughts


Does the event on CIA Created* have a one-time effect or last the duration of the turn? The event on CIA Created* reads:

  The USSR reveals their hand of cards for this turn. The US may use the
  Operations value of this card to conduct Operations.

Playing as the US, am I allowed to look at the USSR's hand anytime during the turn which this was played or only one time, when the card is played?

The Mid War card Lone Gunman* has very similar text, but for the USSR:

  US Player reveals his hand. Then the USSR may Conduct Operations as if they played a 1 Op card.

To make it more confusing, consider the Late War card Aldrich Ames Remix*, which reads [emphasis added]:

  US player exposes his hand to USSR for remainder of turn. USSR then chooses one card from US hand; this card is discarded.

This card is much more specific about the duration. This version of the card was first published with the deluxe edition, if the designers intended for the cards to operate the same, they could have made the text more similar.

Given Aldrich Ames Remix*, for both CIA Created* and Lone Gunman* the cards are only revealed briefly.

The Official FAQ confirms this. Under # 26 CIA Created:

  Q. Does the USSR hand remain revealed for the entire turn? What happens if the USSR
  player gains new cards later in the turn?

  A. The effect of the card is not ongoing. The USSR only needs to reveal his hand at the
  time the CIA CREATED card is played.

On a subsequent question it goes on to say:

  This card and Lone Gunman (# 62) both work in the
  same manner.


Should runners be able to tell the difference between installed upgrades and agendas/assets? If a corporation installs an upgrade on a remote server, should the runner be able to tell it's an upgrade, and not an asset or agenda?

You can install multiple upgrades, but only one asset or agenda.  If you install an upgrade and an agenda/asset, does it matter how you place them on the table?  Should the runner be able to tell whether you have an agenda/asset and an upgrade, or two upgrades?

From the Netrunner FAQ:

  Where is an upgrade installed in a remote server?
  An upgrade is
  installed in a remote server in the same position  as an agenda or
  asset. The Runner should not be able to tell  what type of card is
  installed in a remote server by its position.  This is different than
  installing an upgrade in a central server,  where it is always
  installed in the root.


What cards can give an opponent control of an Island so I can use Islandwalk on them? I'm working on a blue/black deck with some cards that have Islandwalk and I'm trying to find cards that can force an opponent to control an island. I have Stormtide Leviathan but I was looking for something less costly that can exchange one of my Islands for one of their lands or just give them an island.

There is an artifact that slowly turns all lands into Islands: Quicksilver Fountain. There are also a few auras that turn the enchanted land into an Island (or any type, including Island): Convincing Mirage, Lingering Mirage, Nylea's Presence, Phantasmal Terrain, Sea's Claim, and Spreading Seas. There is also a sorcery that turns a land into an Island, Aquitect's Will. Some other cards that can turn lands into any basic land type, including Island, are Mystic Compass, Dream Thrush, Illusionary Terrain, Jinx, Moonbow Illusionist, Reef Shaman, Sea Snidd, Shimmering Mirage, and Tideshaper Mystic.

In addition several creatures turn lands into Islands:

Dreamwinder temporarily turns a land into an Island at the cost of sacrificing an Island. Kukemssa Serpent does the same.
Floodchaser temporarily turns a land into an Island at the cost of a +1/+1 counter.
Sealock Monster permanently turns a land into an Island when it becomes monstrous.
Streambed Aquitects, Tidal Warrior, and Tundra Kavu can both tap to temporarily turn a land into an Island.

There are also cards that you can use to make an opponent control one of your Islands, including Bazaar Trader, Donate, Gauntlets of Chaos, Political Trickery, Shifting Borders, Shifting Loyalties, Sky Swallower, Vedalken Plotter, and Zedruu the Greathearted. You can also use Yavimaya Dryad to search for Breeding Pool or Tropical Island and put it into play under your opponent's control.


Can any spell be played as a face-down 2/2 creature for 3 colourless mana? According to rule 707.1:

  707.1. Some cards allow spells and permanents to be face down.

Does this mean the fact that some cards allow this behaviour that any spell can be played in this way?

This theory is further reinforced by rule 707.7

  707.7... Spells normally can’t be turned face up.

In addition, all morph spells I've seen have the same cost (3 waste) and they all come into play as 2/2 colourless creatures.

Finally, rule 707.11 starts:

  707.11. If a face-down permanent would have an “As [this permanent] is turned face up . . .” ability...

Which suggests face-down permanents may not have such abilities...?

My thoughts are that this ability would help in cases where a player is struggling with mana flood, such that they have no other spells to cast, but could (for example) play a basic land face-down for 3 waste as a 2/2 colourless creature in a pinch.

There are other games that permit this kind of play.

However, I feel I am probably incorrect in my theory and perhaps the bit I'm misreading is rule 707.1, in so far as the "spells and permanents" mentioned are specifically those from cards that allow this ability.

No, you cannot generally cast any card as a face down spell. Rule 707.1 is saying that there are some cards with abilities that specifically allow you to cast face down spells or otherwise get face down cards on the battlefield. The Morph ability itself is what allows you to cast the card as a face down spell, and that only applies to the card it's printed on, not any other card. The keyword action Manifest on cards like Ethereal Ambush puts cards on the battlefield face down and the ability on the card Ixidron turns cards on the battlefield face down.

Rule 707.7 simply means that the rules themselves do not provide any way to turn face down spells face up while they are on the stack. There are also currently no cards that do that, but the wording of that rule leaves that possibility open for the future.

Rule 707.11 is just describing how to handle "As [this permanent] is turned face up..." abilities. Many morph creatures have those kinds of abilities, but many don't have them. Cards without Morph or Megamorph don't have abilities like that.


Counting multi-runs in cribbage I've recently begun memorizing totals of common multi-run combinations to help score cribbage hands.  I've seen some others do this as well.

Short-Hand Examples:

AS AC 2H 3H | 6D - A double-run of three for eight.
AS AC 2H 3H | 4D - A double-run of four for ten.
AS AC 2H 3H | 3D - A double-double-run for sixteen.
AS AC AD 2H | 3D - A triple-run for fifteen.

The alternative methods of counting these hands can be rather long and cumbersome, and can add to what might already be a rather complex hand if there's also fifteens involved.

Long-Hand Examples:

AS AC 2H 3H | 6D

A run of three for three, a run of three for six, and a pair makes eight.
Two runs of three for six, and a pair makes eight.

AS AC 2H 3H | 4D

A run of four for four, a run of four for eight, and a pair makes ten.
Two runs of four for eight, and a pair makes ten.

AS AC 2H 3H | 3D

A run of three for three, a run of three for six, a run of three for nine, a run of three for twelve, a pair for fourteen, and a pair make sixteen.
Four runs of three for twelve, and two pairs make sixteen.

AS AC AD 2H | 3D

A run of three for three, a run of three for six, a run of three for nine, a pair for eleven, a pair for thirteen, and a pair makes fifteen.
Three runs of three for nine, and trips make fifteen.

Nightmare Example:

7S 7C 7H 8D | 9C

Really Long:  Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, a run of three for nine, a run of three for twelve, a run of three for fifteen, a pair for seventeen, a pair for nineteen, and a pair makes twenty-one.
Somewhat Short:  Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, three runs of three for fifteen, and trips make twenty-one.
Short-Hand:  Three fifteens for six, and a triple-run makes twenty-one.

Is it a commonly accepted method to use the above short-hand combinations to announce your score?  Are there any tournament rules for or against this?

Not to be trite, but the score is the score!

Announcing point contributions from the various categories (runs, pairs, same suit, correct Jack, etc.) should suffice. Note: this is what you have called "shorthand".

Of course, this all depends on the level of play. If I'm teaching the game to a new player, I would go as far as to count (the first example) as "one, two, three" (pause), "four, five, six... and a pair of Aces is eight".

In a tournament, players should know that pairs/trips/quads are worth 2/6/12, runs are calculated as (length of run) times (multiplicities of each rank involved), etc.


Misreading your hand when knocking in Gin What happens when a player knocks and misreads their hand?

This hand recently came up:

I announced a knock but mistakenly included a card as deadwood that could have been played. If the card (6c) had been included with my 7c8c9c trick my opponent would have been able to play his 4c5c and undercut me. I obviously made a mistake and should have included the 6c. Should I be forced to correctly play the 6c and allow him to play his cards, or should my announced play stand?

You are not forced to "correctly" play the 6c, actually sometimes (rarely) it is an expert move to discard a card that is part of a meld.

For example, assume you knock while holding the run {3c,4c,5c,6c} and you know that your opponent is holding the 7c and 8c.  by discarding the 6c you deny your opponent a layoff of 15 points.

From RummyTalk, which is one of the best online Gin-Rummy strategy guides:

  sometimes it is wise to discard from a run when you are knocking. This can prevent lay-offs that could cost you dearly. There may be times when your opponent has nine melded cards and is holding up the one card that can be layed-off with your hand. In that case,
  breaking up the run will cause him to have to hold onto that card eliminating the underknock.


Can you replace a Joker with a bonus joker? If I have 3,4,J, can I replace the Joker with a Double Joker?
If I have 3red, 3blue, Double Joker, can I replace it with a regular joker?

I understand the rules to say:

you cannot replace a Joker with a Joker.

You must replace it with the tile it represents to clear it.  Is that true?  My friend says you can take a group of three tiles, one of them being a Joker and simply add another Joker to the other end to clear the other Joker... Who is correct?

I don't think this is possible.
In the rules is the line "Special jokers cannot replace a Regular Joker or any other type of special joker.". This implies you can not replace the joker directly.
But I think you should be able to rearange sets.

Special Jokers
Special jokers cannot replace a Regular Joker or any other type of special joker.
Reminder: Any set that is laid on the table must consist of at least 3 tiles. In any case (even when you have a Double Joker), you are not allowed to leave sets with two tiles on the table.
In scoring the initial meld, the special joker represents the number, or numbers, it replaces. Note: The Mirror Joker’s value is zero.
Special jokers can be cleared in the same way that the Regular Jokers are cleared, including that they must be played on the same turn and that the player must play at least one tile from his/her rack on that turn.
Double Joker
This special joker fills in two numbers. In a group it represents two of the same number; in a run it represents two consecutive numbers. The Double Joker can only be used inone of these two ways.
For Example:
Run: 2 - Double Joker - 5. The Double Joker represents the numbers 3 and 4.In the initial meld, this tile is worth the value of both numbers it represents(in this example, the value is 7).
Group: Blue 3 –> Red 3 – Double Joker. The Double Joker represents Yellow 3 and Black 3. In the initial meld, this tile is worth the value of both numbers(in this example, the value is 6).
A Double Joker can be replaced with both tiles that it represents in a set or bymanipulating a set to clear it.
The Double Joker tile can be used in any place in a series; as the first, last or middle tile.
The Double Joker cannot be used before the number 2 or after the number 12(only 1 can come before 2 and only 13 can come after 12).


Are there any restrictions to the number of weapons a survivor can equip? In the game, Dead of Winter, one of the players had their survivor pretty much camp out at the police station and search for weapons.

He then equipped pretty much every single weapon he found to the same survivor, including weapons that were already equipped (i.e. 2 identical handguns etc).

It seemed a bit overpowered, but I couldn't find any restriction on the number of items a survivor can equip. Has anyone come across any other ruling on this?

There are no limits to the number of weapons that a survivor can equip and the effects stack. This has been confirmed in the Dead of Winter Rules forum on BoardGameGeek by Jon Gilmour, one of the designers of Dead of Winter.

Click here to read one of these threads (Jon Gilmour's responses are posted under the user name JonnyRotten).

A second thread reference can be found here.


How to store and organize cards for Magic the Gathering? I know there exist people who collect more than play, but I want to know how people organize cards who frequently build new decks and therefore want to be able to find cards quickly.

After a few months of playing my family is already spending a considerable amount of timing organizing cards so we can quickly find cards.

In our specific case: We store cards (not in our 12-13 decks) in a shoe box, sorted into about 25 sections: Red creatures, Red Sorceries, Red Instants, Red Enchantment Creatures, and so on, with a few extra sections for creature collections like slivers, beasts, or minotaurs. Sections are divided by color-labeled index cards cut to poke up a bit. Within larger sections we sort by mana cost with identical cards clustered.

While this is working for our 2000-3000 card collection, I'm not sure it will scale.

What solutions have evolved to meet the needs of magic players at various numbers of cards? A good answer will divide into sections of < 1000 cards, 1000-5000 cards, 5000-10000 cards, etc. or whatever numbers are appropriate for common card storage techniques.

For more than 10k cards, a Card Catalog:

You can find them on CraigsList, eBay, antique stores ($$$) and occasional garage sales.

In my catalog I have one drawer per block. Separated in the drawer by set. In each set they are sorted with Rares & mythics in the front, as I have a lot less of those. I buy sets of commons & uncommons for each set from eBay, so those follow the rares, sorted by color then alpha, which ends up being in collector number order. Some more valuable/more frequently used cards get their own drawer.

For 2k-10k cards I'd stick with 1600, 4000 or 5000 count boxes, depending on which you can comfortably lift & fit on your shelves. You should label the boxes with sticky notes, not by writing on the boxes, as your collection will grow. Initially you should find a divider to use in each row that will hold up the cards, like this. Better dividers exist that clamp on to the cardboard, but I cannot find a link to them right now (they may be discontinued).
 At this size I would sort by set first, since some of your cards will probably have rotated out of standard.

For less than 2k cards I would use binders & deckboxes. There are some fancy ones that have 4 cards to a row instead of the traditional 3 here. They are not cheap, but the reviews are decent. Otherwise I would buy a few Magic Card Binders and Ultra-Pro pages. (buy them a box at a time to save $).
I would probably sort them by color then card type, as you are likely to want to look them up that way (unless you build your decks in a computer, see below).

Buy these supplies at your Local Game Store if you can!

For any size collection, if you think it's eventually going to grow large,
track it in software!

Currently I use MTG Studio ($20), which is a very full-featured windows desktop application. Upsides: it's very easy to do a bulk-add of cards, like 4x of a set, it's very fast to search for cads (just start typing the name). Downsides: doesn't get updates for new sets very quickly and uses non-standard set names, lacking most foreign cards. I am thinking of switching to Deckbox.org- Downsides: no easy way to add 4x of a given sets commons/uncommons in one action, requires internet access. Upsides: online access, facilitate very easy online trading, if that interests you.

There is an open source tool that I am considering moving to, Magic Assistant, which gets its updates straight from gatherer.

The goal is for it to be easy for you to find cards in the future, and to file new ones. If either are difficult then you need to change something. You may need to change your approach over time- I moved mine from alpha by block to alpha by set when I computerized my tracking.

I have an inbox that all cards go into before they get filed. They sit there until I put them in the computer system. Then they go to a 'to be filed' drawer. Once that drawer reaches a critical mass, I sort it by block & set, then put away each set.


Can you tap your Mox Amber for colorless mana with only a colorless legendary in play? If I have one of the Karn planeswalkers in play as my only legendary permanent can I then tap my Mox Amber for a colourless mana?

No.

Colorless is not a color; Mox Amber can never produce colorless because it says it produces "any color [...]".

  105.4. If a player is asked to choose a color, they must choose one of the five colors. “Multicolored” is not a color. Neither is “colorless.”


Ticket to Ride United Kingdom: Are technology cards kept after use? Are technology cards treated like the colour train cards and discarded once played, or do you keep them for future use?

See Purchasing Technology cards as a way to upgrade what you can do. Most of the cards are bought and kept in front of you helping your development (allowing you to claim longer routes or opening new areas for you to build).

In fact there are two technology cards that you don't keep but it's explicitely written in the rules: the "Right of Way" technology card and the "Thermocompressor" one (in the Advanced technology variant). You purchase those cards, apply them and return them to the pool for other players (or you for that matter) to purchase them again later.


In Bohnanza: Gangsters, does the Mafia act in phase 4? In Bohnanza: Gangsters, two of the beanfields are managed by the mafia.  The rules state that they immediately harvest their beans once they have a big enough harvest to get 3 or 2 coins (depending on the gangster).

There is also a rule that no player can harvest during phase 4 (the drawing of 3 cards).

Does the mafia harvest immediately during phase 4, or do they wait until the end of the phase 4 and then sell?

You have the answer already.  You're just stumbling over the definition of "player".

The mafia are not players.

Players may not harvest during phase 4.

The mafia must harvest when they reach the specified amount of coin value, regardless of what phase it is.


Can a clone of a double-sided planeswalker transform? Suppose my opponent has Nicol Bolas, the Ravager on the battlefield, and has not yet transformed it into a Planewalker.

I cast Clone, making my own copy of Nicol Bolas.

What happens if I activate my cloned Nicol Bolas' ability? What would happen if the ability were phrased differently, such that it doesn't require the creature to leave the battlefield and re-enter?

No, a Clone'd creature cannot transform because Clone is not a double-faced card, even though it copies one face of a double-faced card. If you activate the ability, the Clone will be exiled and stay in exile.
First of all, to flip a card has its own meaning in Magic. It is a mechanic used exclusively in the Kamigawa block. Even though transforming a card is the spiritual successor to flipping, they are very different mechanics. Nicol Bolas, the Ravager transforms into a planeswalker.

110.6. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
701.27. Transform
701.27a To transform a permanent, turn it over so that its other face is up. Only permanents represented by double-faced cards can transform. (See rule 711, “Double-Faced Cards.”)

Second, you can activate the Clone'd Nicol Bolas' ability and exile it, but it will stay in exile. Following the instructions of Nicol Bolas' ability, you exile the Clone, but it will not return to the battlefield. It will stay in exile:

711.8a If a player is instructed to put a card that isn’t a double-faced card onto the battlefield transformed, that card stays in its current zone.

A Clone copy of Nicol Bolas, the Ravager cannot transform into anything, even if you didn't have to exile the Clone:

711.1. A double-faced card has a Magic card face on each side rather than a Magic card face on one side and a Magic card back on the other. Each face may have abilities that allow the card to “transform,” or turn over to its other face. Tokens and cards with a Magic card back can’t transform. (See rule 701.27, “Transform.”)
701.27c If a spell or ability instructs a player to transform a permanent that isn’t represented by a double-faced card, nothing happens.


When does my opponent have to tell me if they will play first? If I am playing in a tournament and I win the first game of the round, when does my opponent decide if they will play first? Does it happen before side boarding or does it take place some time after presenting your deck for shuffle? If REL matters please specify the differences at various REL.

You must decide before looking at your first hand of the game, it can be after sideboarding. If you do not choose it is assumed you will play.

From the Magic Tournament Rules 2.2:

  For the first game of a match, the winner of a random method (such as a die roll or coin toss) chooses either to
  play first or to play second. The winner must state this choice before looking at his or her hand. If the winner
  states no choice, it is assumed that he or she is playing first. The player who plays first skips the draw step of his
  or her first turn. This is referred to as the play/draw rule.

  After each game in a match, the loser of that game decides whether to play first in the next game. They may wait
  until after sideboarding to make the decision. If the previous game was a draw, the player who decided to play or
  draw at the beginning of the drawn game chooses.


Transitioning to Dominion late-game At what point in a Dominion game should a player stop buying middle value cards (e.g., Silver or other cards more suited to mid-game play than Province/Colony-buying sprees)?

One of the first things I try and figure out when evaluating a set of kingdom cards is to try and figure out which way I think the game will end.  Is it going to be a three-stack game or a province/colony game?  Are there cards that push it in one direction or another?  Am I going to try and push it one way or another, and what do I know about the tendencies of my fellow gamers (and their first turn purchases)?  If I believe that it's going to be a three-stack game, or I will be pushing it that way, there is no mid-game for me.  I'm usually going to try and buy as many VP cards as I can while keeping my deck's head above water.  Since I've evaluated the tableau and decided that there won't be an extended run on Provinces/Colonies, the bar for success in my deck has changed.  Trying to keep a consistent 5 purchase power (for Duchies) is a much different thing than trying to build to a consistent 8 or more, and in such a deck, mid-power cards can always be useful.

If I've decided that it's going to be a game where one of the big VP stacks is going to run out, then presumably I've decided how I'm going to drive me economy.  At every step of the way, what matters more to me than anything else is answering two rolling questions:  what is the average value of the cards in my deck and how does my purchase change that number.  Adding silver to a starting deck changes things from .7 $/c to .82 $/c, pretty good.  A Laboratory, added to a starting deck, does a little worse, .76 $/c.  But, later on in the game, if you've got a deck that is averaging 1.5 $/c over, say, 25 cards, adding a silver doesn't do much, 1.52 $/c.  But a Lab does better, 1.62 $/c.  Etc.  Obviously, I'm not computing this stuff directly at the table, but you should have a rough idea of where you are at and should only buy cards that can move the needle.  Stuff like Silver (or similar cards that don't have +Cards attached to them) is limited, and should be avoided once the average value of your deck is getting close to their inherent value.


What the difference between +x/+x on some Cards, and how does it effect the ability "Undying" What is the difference between cards that say

Card A: "Put a +1/+1 "Counter" on each Creature you control."
Card B: that say "Each creature you control gets +1/+1 and gains Flying"

Does card B also has a counter? Card A states that it has a "+1/+1 Counter" Does the +1/+1 in Card B still count as a counter or not?

If the cards are different between +1/+1 Counters and +1/+1 abilities are different.

Will the +1/+1 ability cause Undying not to trigger, or will it still trigger.

The difference is one of bookkeeping: what exactly is keeping track of whether a creature has a +1/+1 effect or not.

For card A (it's most common to see that written on an instant or sorery, or as a "when this card enters the battlefield"-effect for permanents, or similar "happens once and is then done"-effects), each separate creature gets a counter which makes that creature stronger (intuitively, each creature is thinking "Oh boy, I have a +1/+1 counter! That means I'm stronger."). It will stay with that creature for as long as that creature is on the battlefield, unless some effect specifically removes that counter. New creatures coming into play will not have the counter, and no matter what happens to card A, the creatures who have been given counters will keep them.

For B, it is card B itself which keeps track of and boosts all creatures. New creatures entering the battlefield will also benefit from the effect. However, if card B leaves the battlefield, then all creatures will lose their +1/+1 bonus. (Intuitively, it is card B who is thinking "My presence makes all these creatures larger". The relevant rules keyword here is "static ability")

As a rule of thumb, cards in Magic: the Gathering (except the really old ones) are quite precise in their language. If an effect doesn't mention counters, then counters aren't involved. Similarily, if a continuous effect (like change of control of a permanent, or giving a creature +1/+1) doesn't say "until end of turn", it won't end.


Engineers end of game victory point stronghold When an Engineer builds a Stronghold they get 3 victory points for each bridge. My question is when the game ends do they get this victory point bonus for each bridge again?

I'm kinda confused because the rule book says the end-of-turn bonus cards do NOT yield their bonuses on the final round. I'm wondering if the same rule applies for favor tiles and the Engineer-bridge victory points.

The bonus cards the rule book is referring to are the cards that flip at the beginning of each round (each with one ongoing effect and one end-of-round bonus effect).

It's simply stating that the final end-of-turn bonus effect does not apply on the final round (hence the tiny half-bonus card they provide you with to cover up the second half).


How much 'table talk' is OK - and when? We played a couple of dozen games over the weekend.

Is it all right to talk about things that are transpiring during the 'night' phase? There does not seem to be anything that discourages it.

For example, is 'I hear someone moving cards' a fair thing to communicate?

I will take the other answers a step further and say that talking during the Night phase is simply not allowed.

The other answers give good reasons why it could be an issue, but here's what the rulebook says:

  At night, players who are not active (whose eyes
  are closed) may not move, point, or do anything
  to communicate with the active player(s).

Any form of talking can be seen as covered under "doing anything to communicate with the active player(s)". The rule itself is a bit strange, because no one except the active player knows who the active player is! So you can't avoid communicating with the active player specifically, you would have to avoid all communication.

Also, if read completely literally, the rule seems to imply that the active player IS allowed to communicate. But this is silly, as if the active player ever says anything out-loud, then they are giving away that they are the active player. It is safe to assume that the rule is intending to say that the active player is allowed to "act" by doing the things they are instructed to do.

Also, from the rulebook:

  After the night phase, players discuss amongst
  themselves who they believe the Werewolves are.

This makes it clear that the time for discussion is AFTER the night phase.

So I think talking about anything related to the game is strictly forbidden during the Night.

If you are talking about more just general socialization, then this is somewhat similar to other games... in a casual game, card games which strictly forbid "table talk" may still have a lot of general talk and socialization while playing, as long as nothing about the game itself is spoken. However, the nature of the limited time in which to perform actions, along with the importance of hearing the instructions being given, makes socialization during the Night phase a bad idea, even if it is not strictly forbidden.


What happens when you can't conquer regions? I came into a situation with a 2-player Small World game, where I was surrounded by an active race with the Diplomatic power, and that player had declared peace with me.

I could not attack the active race and there were no other regions available to conquer. What are my options, except for going into decline?

You always have the option of picking up all your pieces and starting again from the edge of the board. You would probably be able to fairly quickly conquer all regions controlled by your opponent's inactive race.

From the rules, Page 6 - "Abandoning A Region"

  If the player chooses to abandon all the Regions he previously
  occupied, his next conquest must follow the same rules as its First
  Conquest


What is the colored part of a mana cost called? Suppose I wanted to author a homebrew spell that would require paying just the colored portion of another card's mana cost as an additional cost. Is there a "proper" way to format that with the rules as written?

For example, imagine a creature with the following ability:

  {T}, Reveal a creature card from your hand and pay the colored part of its mana cost: Put the revealed card into play under your control.

Using this ability should give me a Terastodon for {G}{G}, or a Blightsteel Colossus for free.

I know there are cards that refer to the number of colored mana symbols of permanents (devotion), but I don't know any that refer to them while they are cards or spells.

The rules don't directly define a term for this part of the cost, but they do use a relevant term in one of the rules describing cost reductions, 117.7a:

  Effects that reduce a cost by an amount of generic mana affect only the generic mana component of that cost. They can’t affect the colored or colorless mana components of that cost.

So, "colored mana component of the cost" is a reasonable term to use for the colored part of the mana cost.

You could also get a functionally equivalent effect by borrowing the wording of the Emerge ability:

  {T}, Reveal a creature card from your hand and pay its mana cost reduced by its converted mana cost: ...


Special Summoning After the Seal of Orichalcos My question is this, after you activate the seal can you Special summon monsters from other places?

The Seal of Orichalcos destroys all monsters that you had special summoned when it activates and It specifically calls out that you can't from your extra deck.

  When this card is activated: Destroy all Special Summoned monsters you control. You cannot Special Summon monsters from your Extra Deck.

However once the card has been out on the field can you Special summon again or is the effect continuous and would destroy any addition Special summoned monster?

My question is this, after you activate the seal can you Special summon monsters from other places?

Yes. The card is being explicit by stating that you can't special summon "from your extra deck".

You are free to Special summon from other places (hand, deck, graveyard, banish).

  However once the card has been out on the field can you Special summon again or is the effect continuous and would destroy any addition Special summoned monster?

Once the card leaves the field all of it's effects stop working. It is a continuous effect, but precisely because of that is that it's effects only last while face up on the field. From the wiki on Continuous effects we have, emphasis mine:

  Continuous Effects (Japanese: 永続効果 Eizoku Kōka) are a type of monster effect that applies while the monster [or card] remains face-up on the field.


What considerations are important for initial placements in Kingdom Builder? I've only played Kingdom Builder a few times.  What should I be looking for when placing my first couple settlements?  Are there synergies between the scoring rules and bonus abilities to consider?  How much should I avoid being adjacent to multiple terrains?

The first turn is basically a trade-off between getting the best bonus tile (given the scoring goals in play) and minimising the risk of getting trapped, by avoiding placing in a large area of one terrain and making as few adjacencies as possible. It's often possible to do this in such a way that the bonus tile you claim guarantees you another tile next turn, regardless of your card draw.