Restrictions around promoting a pawn I have tried to read the Wikipedia article but it is too confusing on what the current accepted standard is.

My questions are:

If a pawn makes it to the last row can they stay as a pawn?
If a pawn makes it to the last row can they be promoted to a piece that hasn't been removed from the board e.g. 2 queens or 3 knights on the board?

If the last question is yes, do people normally carry around multiple sets with the same pieces?

No, a Pawn must be promoted to a Knight, Bishop, Rook, or Queen.
Yes, pawn promotion isn't limited to captured pieces.
My guess is that normal people don't carry around multiple sets of pieces, probably only tournaments. Most likely tournaments keep far more queens around than other pieces since promotion is usually to a queen (99% of the time).
The Wikipedia page says this (emphasis mine):

Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color (Just & Burg 2003:16). The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have already been captured (Schiller 2003:18–19). Every pawn that reaches its eighth rank must be promoted.

If you want a copy of the USCF's Rulebook: The Official Rules of Chess, 5th Edition (2003) that they are referencing though, it will cost you.
The FIDE has this in their rule book.

3.7e. When a pawn reaches the rank furthest from its starting position it must be exchanged as part of the same move on the same square for a new queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour. The player’s choice is not restricted to pieces that have been captured previously. This exchange of a pawn for another piece is called ‘promotion’ and the effect of the new piece is immediate.
6.12 b. A player may stop the clocks only in order to seek the arbiter’s assistance, for
example when promotion has taken place and the piece required is not available.


Will transforming Thing in the Ice with a token-summoning spell bounce my tokens? Thing in the Ice:

  Thing in the Ice enters the battlefield with four ice counters on it.

  Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, remove an ice counter from Thing in the Ice. Then if it has no ice counters on it, transform it.

Flips into Awoken Horror:

  When this creature transforms into Awoken Horror, return all non-Horror creatures to their owners' hands.

Gisa's Bidding says:

  Put two 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield.

If Thing in the Ice has 1 counter on it and I cast Gisa's Bidding then does the Thing transform before or after the Zombies are summoned?

In other words:

Cast Spell
Trigger Awoken Horror
Horror Transforms
Spell resolves.

Result: 2 zombies and Awoken Horror on the board

or

Cast Spell
Spell resolves.
Trigger Awoken Horror
Horror Transforms

Result: The transformation bounces the zombies and being tokens they disappear.

Which of these is correct and why?

You'll wind up with your Awoken Horror plus two zombies. Awoken Horror will not bounce your zombies, because the whole transformation/bouncing process will happen while Gisa's Bidding is still on the stack.

Here's the process, assuming players do nothing but keep passing priority after you cast Gisa's Bidding:

You cast Gisa's Bidding. It goes on the stack.
You have cast a sorcery spell. Thing in the Ice's triggered ability goes on top of the stack. (In case it's unclear, "when you cast" triggers happen right after you've cast the spell, before it resolves.)
Thing in the Ice's ability resolves: you remove an ice counter from it, and since it has none left, you transform it as instructed and turn it over to its back face.
Awoken Horror has transformed, and its triggered ability goes on top of the stack.
Awoken Horror's ability resolves, and bounces all non-Horrors.
Finally, Gisa's Bidding resolves and gives you two 2/2 zombies.


What is the converted mana cost of a spell with {X} when cast with the Miracle mechanic? Say I topdeck Entreat the Angels and cast it for its miracle cost of XWW. But my opponent wants to counter it with a CMC-based effect, such as Spellstutter Sprite or Spell Burst.

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

  202.3b When calculating the converted mana cost of an object with {X} in its mana cost, X is treated as 0 while the object is not on the
  stack, and X is treated as the number chosen for it while the object
  is on the stack.

If I spent 5 mana to cast Entreat the Angels with X=3, what is the CMC of Entreat the Angels on the stack?

Do I get to double-count the X I spent because the card's base mana cost is XXWWW?

Or is X "zero" because I'm not actually paying the X in the mana cost?

The CMC is 9.
The XX in the mana cost and the X in the alternative cost are related. In your example, you chose X = 3, so the Converted Mana Cost (CMC) becomes 3+3+3 = 9. You only pay 3WW, but spells asking for the CMC of a spell, permanent, or card don't care about what you actually pay/have paid, they only care about what's printed in the upper right corner (usually) of a card.

How to calculate the CMC:

202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. Some cards from the Future Sight set have alternate frames in which the mana symbols appear to the left of the illustration.
202.3. The converted mana cost of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.
202.3b When calculating the converted mana cost of an object with {X} in its mana cost, X is treated as 0 while the object is not on the stack, and X is treated as the number chosen for it while the object is on the stack.

Spells don't care about alternative costs:

117.9c. An alternative cost doesn't change a spell's mana cost, only what its controller has to pay to cast it. Spells and abilities that ask for that spell's mana cost still see the original value.

The X in the alternative costs is the same X as those in the mana costs:

107.3g All instances of X on an object have the same value at any given time.


In the Terra Mystica iOS app, what is the "map balanced VP" option? I have the Terra Mystica iOS app and am wondering what the option "map balanced VP" does.  I'm assuming it's some sort of house rule or optional rule that was added later, but I don't see an explanation for it anywhere.

There's some information from one of the game designers on BoardGameGeek; they feel that some of the factions are slightly better or worse than others, and this is an attempt to tweak them a bit to get them more into balance, without making any more drastic rules changes.

As for "what it does", it adjusts the starting VP for each faction, so that they get different VPs depending on the map (normally a faction starts with 20).  I'm assuming that it will not have any effect (for now) on Loon Lakes, but might do so once more stats are available.


How would Solemnity and Dark Depths interact? If I have Solemnity on the battlefield and someone plays Dark Depths, what happens? Dark Depths says that it enters with the ice counters, but could they even be placed on it in the first place?

Dark Depths would enter the battlefield without counters and its ability would immediately trigger. Barring instant-speed removal for the land, that would result in a 20/20 token for that player.

A permanent entering the battlefield with counters on it counts as those counters having been placed on that permanent:

  121.6. Some spells and abilities refer to counters being put on an object. This refers to putting counters on that object while it’s on the battlefield and also to an object that’s given counters as it enters the battlefield.

When a permanent enters the battlefield "with N counters on it", that's a replacement effect that modifies how a permanent (Dark Depths in this case) enters the battlefield.

  614.1c Effects that read “[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ,” “As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ,” or “[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . “ are replacement effects.

However, Solemnity prevents that particular replacement effect from doing anything, so Dark Depths will simply enter the battlefield without counters.

  614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead, which may in turn trigger abilities. Note that the modified event may contain instructions that can’t be carried out, in which case the impossible instruction is simply ignored.

Finally, its game state-based triggered ability triggers the next time a player would gain priority.

  603.2. Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. [..]

Note that for Dark Depths to create the 20/20 token, it has to be sacrificed as its triggered ability resolves. If it has left the battlefield before that time, for example because it has been destroyed, then it can't be sacrificed and no token will be created.


Bang! Elimination Award For Henry Block and Backfire Two similar questions:

If an outlaw with 1 health left targets another player and that player plays backfire which causes the outlaw to be eliminated, does the player who played backfire draw 3 cards?

If an outlaw with 1 health left targets Henry Block with a Panic and Henry Block's ability causes the outlaw to be eliminated, does Henry Block draw 3 cards?

The FAQ says:

  Q05.  Who  is  considered  to  be  responsible  of  the  elimination  of  a  player  with  cards  like Indians! and Gatling?

  A.  Unlike  the  Dynamite,  the  player  who  played  the  Gatling  or  the  Indians!  is  considered  to  be  responsible of the elimination of a player. All special actions due to this elimination apply to him (for example, if he just killed an Outlaw this way, he draws the 3 cards reward).

Based on this, it appears that any time a player's card or ability directly causes the elimination of another player, the player is responsible for the elimination (and draws the outlaw bounty if the eliminated player was an outlaw).  Thus, both Backfire and Henry Block's ability would allow a player to draw three cards if that player eliminates an outlaw using them.


Unbreakable Formation vs. Cry of the Carnarium My opponent played Cry of the Carnarium in MTG Arena.  I immediately played Unbreakable Formation after.  The intended result was for my creatures to not die or get exiled, but they did.  Shouldn't Unbreakable Formation resolve, granting me indestructible until end of turn?

The card Unbreakable Formation will not generally save your creatures from dying from Cry of the Carnarium, because the ability Indestructible does not save creatures from dying from toughness loss.

The ability Indestructible is defined in rule 702.12b:

  A permanent with indestructible can't be destroyed. Such permanents aren't destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).

The rule it references, 704.5g, is part of the State-based action rules:

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

The previous rule, 704.5f, says this:

  If a creature has toughness 0 or less, it's put into its owner's graveyard. Regeneration can't replace this event.

As you can see, if a creature takes damage greater than or equal to its toughness, it is "destroyed", so Indestructible can stop it. But if a creature loses all of its toughness, it is just put into the graveyard, so Indestructible doesn't do anything about that.

Magic Arena displays damage the same way it displays toughness loss, but they are not the same thing.


Do you get points if you are broken/trapped in Saboteur 2 In Saboteur, if the good dwarves reach the gold, they distribute points to themselves but skip over any good dwarves with broken equipment.

Does this rule still apply for point distribution in Saboteur 2, or does your broken status not matter for collecting points after a round?

It does not.  Note that this rule is optional in the original rule set.
Answered by the Designer, Frederic Moyersoen on BGG:

The broken tools variant was introduced to have some competition between the gold-diggers.
The extension provides more chaos and competition. Therefore, this variant rule has been skipped during the design of the game. However, if you wish, you can still use it.


House Rules for divine intervention Last several games of munchkin were won via "divine intervention". All agree that the win is less satisfying than normal.

Does any have good house rules to make the card less onerous?

Another possibility is to just create house rules that will go along these lines:

Remove the card from the deck before play, and explain new players why.
Extend the amount of levels needed to win ie. 15-20 (this will only delay, but may help prevent surprise wins.)

Personally, I'd keep it! Although it sucks to lose to it, just deal with it and maybe luck will sway in your favor next game.

I've lost to it before, but because of Munchkin's randomness, I've come back from level 5 to win while 4 other players at level 9 were fighting each other and preventing each other from killing the winning monster.


Meteor Golem killing planeswalkers Meteor Golem's ability is "When Meteor Golem enter the battlefield destroy target nonland permanent".  Does Meteor Golems ability affect planewalkers, which count as players and not really creatures?

Yes, Meteor Golem can target and destroy a planeswalker on the battlefield. The player is a "planeswalker" only in lore terms. As far as game mechanics are concerned, "planeswalker" has a defined meaning, and a planeswalker object is not a player and vice versa.
A planeswalker in the mechanical sense is a type of object, a game entity that interacts with players and other objects:

102.1. A player is one of the people in the game. [..]
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.

A planeswalker is not a creature, as you already noted, but its own permanent type alongside creatures and others:

110.4. There are five permanent types: artifact, creature, enchantment, land, and planeswalker.

Therefore, if Meteor Golem can destroy a non-land permanent, then that does include a planeswalker on the battlefield.


Is "refund with discount" a valid move on Catan? On her move, Alice trades with Bob: Alice gives 2 wheat, Bob gives 1 sheep.

Then Alice does her calculations again and decides it was a wrong move. She wants to trade her sheep back for one wheat, and Bob is willing to give her back 1 wheat for 1 sheep. Alice does nothing else between those trades.

Other players object, saying it's a catch to work around "no giving away cards for free" rule, and Alice and Bob might be conspiring.

I (being Bob) know for a fact it's not true, and the game rules don't explicitly forbid it, as far as I can tell.

Is it a valid move?

This is not a card giveaway. You were under no obligation to make the second trade. For that reason, she is not, technically or otherwise, giving away a wheat for nothing.


Do minor improvement actions have any meaning in the family version of Agricola? Using the Agricola family ruleset, when a card specifically refers to "minor improvements" (for example "After family growth, play a minor improvement"), do I  ignore it or interpret it as "play a Major improvement"?

The rules are pretty clear, the Minor Improvement cards are not used, so you ignore it.

Agricola as a Family Game (for 1-5 people from 10 years)
In the simplified version of Agricola, the Occupation and Minor Improvement cards are not used - players do not have a hand of cards.
The first game board is turned face down, showing the "Agricola Family Game" side, and in a 3-5 player game only the "Family Game" Action cards are used.
The Major or Minor Improvement action is restricted to Major Improvements.
Otherwise, the rules are the same as for the full game.


Is there a maximum duration for MTG official matches? In MTG official tournaments, is there a maximum duration for matches?
Or, can each match last as long as it takes to end the game normally (and therefore there are pauses, in case of particularly long games) ?

If the first is correct, and therefore there is a maximum duration established before the start of the match, what could be the criteria for deciding who should be considered the winner in that case?

The MAGIC: THE GATHERING® TOURNAMENT RULES are the authority here.

The question of whether or not there is a time limit is covered by Appendix B. Essentially, there is no requirement, only a recommendation. In practice, most swiss rounds have time limits and most single-elimination rounds do not (though I have played in a tournament with timed single-elimination rounds once in my life).

Section 2.5 covers what happens if a match ends due to time.

If one player has won more games than the other, that player wins the match. Otherwise...
In swiss rounds, the match is declared a draw.
In single-elimination rounds, the winner is the player with the highest life total. If both players have the same life total, the game continues until someone loses due to having less life than the other.

  In single-elimination rounds, matches may not end in a draw. If all players have equal game wins at the end of
  additional turns, the player with the highest life total wins the current game. In the event all players have equal
  life totals (or are between games and the game wins are tied), the game/match continues with an additional statebased action: if a player does not have the highest life total, they lose the game. Two-Headed Giant teams are
  treated as a single player for determining a game winner.


Can I make wine from the fields I harvest with the Laborer? The text for Laborer states:

  Harvest up to 2 fields OR make up to 3 wine. You may lose 1 VP to do both.

If I pay my VP, can I make wine using grapes I have just harvested?

Yes I believe you can.

The rules for visitor cards state

  Many visitors have two separate clauses delineated by the all-caps
  word "OR".  These are two completely independent clauses.

, so in a normal situation you can do just one. However the Labourer is giving you the option to do both so there is no reason why you couldn't do both and thematically losing a point for the labourer to work extra hard makes sense.

When you harvest you add grapes to crush pad.  When making wine you move from crush pad.  There is no rule that says they have to be there a set time limit before they can be made into wine.  There is nothing on the labourer card that says if you choose to do both they happen simultaneously.  You would choose the order they happen in to your advantage.


Does Upper Deck maintain an official errata for Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game? Given that there are errors on some cards, as indicated by this question, is there an official errata list from Upper Deck? The closest I could find is on Board Game Geek, but this list is a collection of notes from their forums and hasn't been updated since February of 2014.

Officially they maintain a Facebook page and twitter account for Legendary DBGs

but there is no official Errata currently being maintained.


What happens when a piece is kinged in checkers? In checkers, what is supposed to happen when a piece gets to the other side of the board and becomes a king? Does the move end? Can the piece continue to skip in the same turn it becomes a king? Can it choose not to be kinged and skip again? I've looked up a couple of different rules and I can't really find any sort of set rules for this. What is the actual rule?

From the Wikipedia article on checkers:

  If a player's piece jumps into the kings row, the current move terminates; having just been crowned, the piece cannot continue on by jumping back out (as in a multiple jump), until the next move.


Completing the third mystery during the same round as Doom track reaches 0 If I finish my third mystery during an encounter phase, but then Doom track reaches 0 during the related mythos phase, do I win the game? Or does the Ancient One awaken and I need to solve the final mystery?

The mysteries I've encountered are only solved at the end of the mythos phase, so, if doom is advancing, it would awaken the ancient one before mythos ends and the mystery is completed. If all mysteries follow this format, then my interpretation is you must flip the ancient one and follow the instructions on the back despite completing the requirements save for waiting until the end of the mythos phase.

From the Doom section of the quick reference:

  When Doom reaches the “0” space of the Doom track, the Ancient One awakens.

From the Ancient One section of the quick reference:

  Once the Ancient One awakens, the investigators must complete the Final Mystery on the back of the Ancient One sheet in addition to the other Mysteries.


What defines "Isolation" in Third Reich? I may be blind, but I can't seem to find any definition of "isolation" in the Third Reich (2nd edition) rulebook. I don't remember seeing it in my first edition book either, but that was a long time ago.

The are a couple places places where the term is mentioned in the rules, such as:

2.7 Fortress ... Can't be taken by Attrition or Isolation

My rulebook index has "Isolation (out of supply units)" and a reference to the rule that units that both started and finished the turn unsupplied are eliminated.

So I would think
isolated is a shorter way of saying out of supply.


Sunbird's invocation implied rules I'm stuck with these rulings in Sunbird's Invocation:

For spells with {X} in their mana costs, use the value chosen for X
to determine the spell's converted mana cost.
If a revealed card in your library has {X} in its mana cost, you must choose 0
as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.

Does it mean spells with {X} sometimes have CMC 0 and sometimes X?

Additionnaly, can I play a land from the revealed cards?

Does it mean spells with {X} sometimes have CMC 0 and sometimes X?

Yes, but thankfully it's simple:

If a spell is on the stack, {X} is treated as the value the caster chose for it.
Anywhere else, {X} is 0.

This comes from comprehensive rule 202:

  202.3d When calculating the converted mana cost of an object with an {X} in its mana cost, X is treated as 0 while the object is not on the stack, and X is treated as the number chosen for it while the object is on the stack.

However, the second ruling is referencing something else entirely: if you cast a card "without paying its mana cost", you always have to choose 0 for the value of {X}. You're not paying its mana, so you don't get to pick some other arbitrarily value. This means, more often than not, it is not worthwhile casting an {X} spell for free.

  Additionnaly, can I play a land from the revealed cards?

No. Sunbird's Invocation says you cast the card. Lands can't be cast, only played. See Stromkirk Occultist for an example of a card that lets you play lands.


After an amphibious assault can overland attacking aircraft stay in newly captured territory? Germany attacks England with transports(loaded with infantry) and overland fighters, captures the territory. Can the fighters stay in England or need to fly back to mainland?

Attacking aircraft can never land in a newly captured territory.  Being an amphibious assault does not change this rule.

The fighters need to return to a territory that was friendly since the beginning of the turn.  Note that if the aircraft return to a land territory, it does not need to be the same one that they departed from.  Fighters can also choose to land on an aircraft carrier.  A single carrier can support two fighter planes.


Who controls Oath of Scholars' trigger? The Oath of X cycle triggers on each player's upkeep and targets an opponent that meets certain conditions. Who controls this ability? The controller of the enchantment or the player whose turn it is?

For a concrete example, suppose I have Oath of Scholars and Rayne, Academy Chancellor on the battlefield. At the beginning of my opponent's upkeep, Oath triggers and they choose me. Do I get to draw from Rayne?

The controller of a permanent always controls that permanent's triggered abilities. This is covered in rule 603.3a:

  A triggered ability is controlled by the player who controlled its source at the time it triggered, unless it’s a delayed triggered ability.

The source, in this case, is the Oath of Scholars enchantment itself. This ability is not a delayed triggered ability, so you don't have to account for that.

So, Rayne's ability will not trigger if you are chosen as the target for your own Oath of Scholars.


Is there a standard way to number the faces of a 20-sided die? I hold a 20-sided die (icosahedron) in my hand. As with any other die, to help fairness, values on opposing sides sum to twice the mean (as explained here).

I know that in a "normal" 6-sided die, there are norms about the numbering order (as mentioned here). My question is this: is there any standard way of numbering the faces of the 20-sided die? For example, is 1 always between 7, 13 and 19? (these are the values that I see in the die that I am holding at the moment). If so: can you see a reasoning?

Some reasoning would be the take further step the effort to make it fair; however, I don't have any rule in mind that will achieve this end.

Finally: if there is no standard, is there any set of standard ways? For example, I can't imagine anyone putting 2 just next to 1, right?

(this question may be asked about other die types as well...)

I assume that we are speaking about a D20 that makes some attempt to roll fairly, such as the ones used in D&D. This is different from the aptly named "spindown" D20 which is numbered in a simple spiral.

Why do opposing faces add up to 21?

According to Everything2.com's article on D20, opposing sides add up to 21 so that the numbers most distant from each other to appear on opposite sides of the die.

Ok, now we have 10 pairs of 21. How do we arrange them?

If you are engraving the numbers, you'll have to carve out more material for some numbers than for others. The more you dig out, the lighter that side becomes.

Everything2 advises that we arrange these pairs in a way that heavy sides are next to light sides, but they provide no actual arrangement. In fact, I cannot find any actual mathematics behind what the best possible arrangement actually is. After a substantial amount of searching, I have concluded that the "standard" arrangement we know today probably originated from D&D, but I can't back this up.

Speaking of standard arrangement, here is the actual answer to your question.

Image from DiceCollector.com


Optimal way to win at Damath As you can see, this is an example of a DaMath board with Integers.

See this Wikipedia article about DaMath with its rules.

Is there any optimal way to win if you are the first or second player? Like a set of moves or strategies to keep in mind of when playing this game? Or an opening trap to score high and make your opponent get negative points?

A partial answer: since Damath is a two-player game of complete information and no randomness, Zermelo's Theorem says that one of the following is true:

There is a dominant strategy for 1st player.
There is a dominant strategy for 2nd player.
There are strategies for both players that guarantee they don't lose, i.e. perfect play results in a draw (like Tic-Tac-Toe).

As far as I can tell, no one has yet determined which of these three is true. Checkers (aka Draughts or Dama, the game Damath is based on) was 'solved' in 2007 with the aid of computers: two perfect players will always draw. Thus I would assume that modern computers are powerful enough to 'solve' Damath as well, but I don't know what the result would be.


Where do these game pieces belong? On BoardGameGeek someone posted a picture of Mongols, Japanese, and Chinese (along with Frederick?) game pieces. It's posted under the game called Khan: The Rise of the Mongols, but that game uses different pieces. Can somebody identify the pieces in this picture? Many thanks. Picture below:

Link to full picture here (the full pic was too big to post so I posted them separately in screenshots).

The description on that image says "Optional counters (see files)", and if you go to the Files section of the game on BGG there are a number of PDF files that call themselves "Optional countersheet for Khan" that look just like that image.
At a guess, they're designed to replace the counters that come with the game to either be more readable, or look nicer, or something.


Can I bring Blightsteel Colossus back to my graveyard before it gets shuffled into my library? If I discard a Blightsteel Colossus and the "Shuffle into library" trigger goes on the stack, can I, in response, do something to bring it back from my graveyard before it gets shuffled, such as by Cloudshifting Sharuum the Hegemon?

No. Brightsteel Colossus does not have any triggered abilities. Those start with "when", "whenever", or "at". Its last ability is a static ability that creates a replacement effect. You can tell because it uses "instead". It changes what it means to discard Brightsteel Colossus. Brightsteel Colossus never enters the graveyard when it is discarded.

112.3c Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[Trigger condition], [effect],” and include (and usually begin with) the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” Whenever the trigger event occurs, the ability is put on the stack the next time a player would receive priority and stays there until it’s countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 603, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”
614.1. Some continuous effects are replacement effects. Like prevention effects (see rule 615), replacement effects apply continuously as events happen—they aren’t locked in ahead of time. Such effects watch for a particular event that would happen and completely or partially replace that event with a different event. They act like “shields” around whatever they’re affecting.
614.6. If an event is replaced, it never happens. A modified event occurs instead [...]


Can the Wand of Dowsing Draw from Door Cards? I was a level 7 Cleric who won my fight, drew a level up card, then played the Wand of Dowsing to take a previously discarded Divine Intervention for the win. Being such a cheap way to hit level ten, a debate ensued as to whether or not go through the discards to find any one card you want means door cards as well as treasure cards.

The only solid argument against my play was that dowsing wands are used to find underground wells, but also gold coins or other treasure (in real life, that is). It seems that, being a trasure card, it could be interpreted this way. I couldn't find anything about this card's specifics in the forums...does anyone know if my play was a legal one?

Yes, according to Andrew Hackard (post #7), who appears to be a Steve Jackson representitive.

Originally Postedby Arctivlargl 1) You are a lvl 7 Cleric, you have a Wand of Dowsing + Bungee Cord + some other card in your hand, Divine Intervention is in the discard pile. - Your turn starts and you use WoD to get DI - are forced to play it immediately - you go to level 8 - You use Bungee Cord to get WoD back - repeat - you go to level 9 - Instead of Kicking Open the Door you take DI from the discard pile and discard your other card - you go to level 10 win and can mock everyone mercilessly
That seems likea legal play to me. It requires a very specific combination of cards, but if you can get it, congratulations.


Eclipse class question When I'm using the consume-dark version of Concealed Dominance's bottom half, can I only teleport to hexes within line of site?  Or can I teleport to any revealed and unoccupied hex on the board?

You can move to any unoccupied hex. The only restriction is that you cannot move through a closed door. Line-of-sight is not required.
From the FAQ:

What are the line-of-sight rules?
Line-of-sight is necessary for all attacks (including every hex of an area attack) and all other abilities that specify a range (including looting, which technically has a range). Any non-attack ability that does not specify a range does not require line-of-sight.

Concealed Dominance bottom-half wording (spoiler, hover to read):

 Move to any unoccupied hex. You cannot move through a closed door.


Can I sell properties in Monopoly with houses to another player ? Can I sell properties in Monopoly with houses to another player for a cost w/o mortgaging the property to the bank ?

Unimproved properties, railroads and utilities (but not buildings) may be sold to any player as a private transaction for any amount the owner can get. However, no property can be sold to another player if buildings are standing on any properties of that colour-group. Any buildings so located must be sold back to the Bank before the owner can sell any property of that colour-group.
Houses and Hotels may be sold back to the Bank at any time for one-half the price paid for them. All houses on one colour-group may be sold at once, or they may be sold one house at a time (one hotel equals five houses), evenly, in reverse of the manner in which they were erected.

From:
http://richard_wilding.tripod.com/monorules.htm#sellingproperty
The following page is a copy of the rules as printed in the Monopoly® Rule Book.


What planeswalker cards can be used as commanders in the Commander format? Can any Planeswalker be used as a Commander, or just the ones that say "XXXX can be your Commander" on the card?

(N.B. This question has nothing to do with the Brawl format.)

Currently (in November 2018) there are the following sets of planeswalkers that you can use for your commanders:

The five double-faced transforming planeswalkers from Magic Origins. This is because they're a Legendary Creature on their front face, which is what the Commander rules are looking for.
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, also a double faced card that starts as a Legendary Creature.
Three sets of planeswalkers which say “(This card) can be your commander”:

The five mono-color planeswalkers from Commander 2014
The four multi-color planeswalkers from Commander 2018
Rowan and Will Kenrith from Battlebond

These latter sets of commanders are still not legendary creatures, but golden rule 101.1 lets them make themselves exceptions.

  101.1. Whenever a card's text directly contradicts these rules, the card takes precedence. The card overrides only the rule that applies to that specific situation. The only exception is that a player can concede the game at any time (see rule 104.3a).

This is like how the Commander 2016 Partner commanders also get to make themselves exceptions from the usual Commander rules.

As of Ixalan, all planeswalkers are going to be Legendary Planeswalkers, including retroactively. You still won't be able to use them for your commanders because they won't be Legendary Creatures. Sheldon of the Commander Rules Committee has said there aren't plans to allow all planeswalkers (posted 28 August 2017, in response to an inquiry about planeswalkers becoming legendary):

  No, PWs will not be allowable as commanders unless a card specifically says that it can--so no change.

(This is like how they're not allowing Legendary Artifacts or Legendary Enchantments — it's not about being legendary, it's about being a Legendary Creature.)

House ruling exceptions for fun

That said, Commander is intended to be a format played casually for fun with friends — the official EDH site's Philosophy section says as much. That same section explicitly encourages people to make exceptions or changes to the rules for local play if it's fun. Unless you're in some kind of official sanctioned event, adherence to the Commander rules is only necessary insofaras you and your friends find it fun. If you and your friends want to allow Planeswalkers as commanders, by all means, talk about it and create such a rule between yourselves, and then make a deck with a Planeswalker as a commander.

Where are the rules for planeswalker not being commanders?

There's two sources of Commander rules you can check to verify the absence of Planeswalkers in general being allowed:

The official Commander/EDH site's rules, which say the following:

  Players must choose a legendary creature as the "Commander" for their deck.

No mention of Planeswalkers.
The MTG Comprehensive Rules, probably easiest found on the MTG Wiki Commander format article, which also includes some community commentary and explanation. Those rules say:

  903.1. In the Commander variant, each deck is led by a legendary creature designated as that deck’s commander. The Commander variant was created and popularized by fans; an independent rules committee maintains additional resources at MTGCommander.net. The Commander variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following additions.

(Notably they defer to the site I linked in point 1.)


What happens when nobody is eligible for Chancellor in Secret Hitler? This happened to one of our games. It was a five player game and two players got killed. Now there's only three left and for the next administration, only the President hasn't been elected yet. The other players are the previous round's President and Chancellor respectively. What happens in this case, does the election automatically fail? We ended up just voting to fail that election but I'm curious as to what the official answer is.

According to the rules:

  If there are only 5 players left in the game, only the last elected Chancellor is ineligible to be the Chancellor Candidate; the last President may be nominated.

So in the situation you described the last President should have been nominated as Chancellor.


Abilities that need a name and unnamed tokens I am fairly sure on this one, but I wanted to ask to be really sure.

Say I have Secrets of Paradise and a deck with a lot of Rousing of Souls.

Am I right in thinking that because the tokens made by Rousing of Souls are just "1/1/ white Spirit" tokens (no name), there is no way for them to gain the tapping for mana ability that Secrets of Paradise can grant?

Actually, the tokens made by Rousing of Souls will have the name "Spirit" by 110.5c:

  110.5c. A spell or ability that creates a creature token sets both its name and its creature type. If the spell or ability doesn't specify the name of the creature token, its name is the same as its creature type(s). A "Goblin Scout creature token," for example, is named "Goblin Scout" and has the creature subtypes Goblin and Scout. Once a token is on the battlefield, changing its name doesn't change its creature type, and vice versa.

However, as there is no card named "Spirit", you cannot name it for Secrets of Paradise (per 201.3).

  201.3. If an effect instructs a player to name a card, the player must choose the name of a card that exists in the Oracle card reference (see rule 108.1) and is legal in the format of the game the player is playing. (See rule 100.6.) If the player wants to name a split card, the player must choose the name of one of its halves, but not both. (See rule 708.) If the player wants to name a flip card's alternative name, the player may do so. (See rule 709.) If the player wants to name the back face of a double-faced card, the player may do so. (See rule 711.) A player may not choose the name of a token unless it's also the name of a card.

Note that situations have occurred in the past, where "token names" have later been elevated to "card name" status. For example, in Future Sight, the white spellshaper, Goldmeadow Lookout made tokens named "Goldmeadow Harrier". At the time, you could not name "Goldmeadow Harrier" if an effect asked you to name a card. Sometime later, in Lorwyn block, Goldmeadow Harrier was actually printed as a creature card, which then did allow you name it if an effect asked you to name a card.


Can I imprint my Commander onto Mimic Vat, and still take it back to the Command Zone? If I am playing a Sharuum the Hegemon EDH deck, can I let my commander go to the graveyard, exile it under Mimic Vat and then put it into the command zone but still have it imprinted, or does the fact that that is a replacement effect make it so it isn't imprinted.

No.

  607.2a If an object has an activated or triggered ability printed on it that instructs a player to exile one or more cards and an ability printed on it that refers either to “the exiled cards” or to cards “exiled with [this object],” these abilities are linked. The second ability refers only to cards in the exile zone that were put there as a result of an instruction to exile them in the first ability.

There are no cards in the exile zone, so there is nothing to copy.


Cornucopia: Can Horn of Plenty be used together with normal treasure cards? I recently bought Dominion: Cornucopia and we played our first game yesterday. Something that confused me was the Horn of Plenty card which has a treasure value equal to the number of different card titles you have in play at that moment.

From the rule book I understood that if you'd first use other treasure cards to buy a card from the stock and then play Horn of Plenty(assuming you'd have more than one buy action), Horn of Plenty would take into account the treasure cards.

But in case I'd have only one buy option, am I allowed to play Horn of Plenty together with other treasure cards and let them count towards the total of Horn of Plenty?

Horn of plenty doesn't give you money, it lets you gain a card costing up to the number of different named cards you have in play.

This means you should always play it after your other treasures, you then gain a card from Horn of Plenty. Afterwards you then do your buys as normal. Horn of Plenty doesn't use up a buy or any coins. If you don't want to buy anything afterwards, you don't have to. Playing treasures gains you coin to spend, it doesn't obligate you to buy something with them!


Using a card from the discard pile instead of picking up from the face down pile So, we are in Phase 2. I have already opened. It is my turn again. On the end of the run is a 10-card. I am about to play an 11-card but realize I haven’t picked a card yet. On the top of the discard pile is a 12. I picked that card up and played that with my 11. (I thought picking up the 12 would be safer than getting some random card I might not be able to play).  One of our players flipped out saying that was an illegal move I did and carried on for a few minutes until he ruined the game and ended the game by throwing the cards across the room. So, I ask, was it a legal move or not?

Perfectly legal.  There is no limit to the number of cards you play onto sets or runs on your turn (assuming you have made your phase and unlocked the ability to do so) and there is no stipulation that the cards you use must have been in your hand before the start of your turn.

On your turn, you complete the steps in order: Draw one card (either the top face up card from discard pile as long as it isn't a skip, or the top face down card from the deck), Make your phase (if you haven't already using any cards in your hand), Play additional cards onto your or another player's sets or runs, Discard a card (, then check if out of cards to trigger the end of the round).

The cards used by you during your turn may be any card currently in your hand at the time of wanting to play the card, and that includes the card you picked up during the first step.

As an amusement, you can even run out of cards before the discard phase, having played the card you would otherwise have discarded (though there is no benefit to doing so apart from gloating).


Is it possible to play a land card when the stack is filled up? Is it possible to play a land card when the stack is filled with unresolved spells and effects waiting to do their work? It may be useful since MTG came out with his new (at those times...) Landfall ability (Zendikar, if I remember well...). So, I question this because some years ago I was trying to counter a spell, but my opponent played a land card – to let some landfall ability to trigger, and get some advantages  from this – and at the end of this stack he finally cast his spell. I lost the game some turns later.
All I’m asking is already described above, but I ask it once again: Is it possible to play a land card when the stack is filled up?

Is it possible to play a land card when the stack is filled with unresolved spells and effects waiting to do their work?

No.

  305.1. A player who has priority may play a land card from their hand during a main phase of their turn when the stack is empty.


How is legality of blockers determined? Lure says:

  All creatures able to block enchanted creature do so.

I know that players cannot be forced to pay extra costs (via War Cadence for example) in order to make a creature a legal blocker, but what about other conditions.  If Stormblood Berserker enchanted with Lure is attacking me and I control two 1/1 creatures, how does the game view their legality as blockers?  Looking at each creature individually, neither are able to block.  Everything I've found says they both have to block, but I can't find a comp rule or official ruling.

In the instance provided (Lure + "cannot be blocked except by two or more creatures"), you are required to block the Stormblood Berserker with your 1/1s.

The vanilla 1/1s are only conditionally able to block, but you must fulfill the maximum number of requirements1 that does not violate any restrictions2 when blocking.

Supporting rules (emphasis mine):

  509.1. First, the defending player declares blockers. This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. To declare blockers, the defending player follows the steps below, in order. If at any point during the declaration of blockers, the defending player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the declaration is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the declaration (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions").

Let's assume I'm the blocking player, and go through these steps one by one.

  509.1a The defending player chooses which creatures that he or she controls, if any, will block. The chosen creatures must be untapped. For each of the chosen creatures, the defending player chooses one creature for it to block that's attacking him, her, or a planeswalker he or she controls.

So first, I declare blockers. I declare no blockers.

  509.1b The defending player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't block, or that it can't block unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of blockers is illegal.

My vanilla 1/1s are under the restrictions provided by Stormblood Berserker, but declaring no blockers does not violate the restriction - the declaration of zero blockers is not illegal (yet).

  509.1c The defending player checks each creature he or she controls to see whether it's affected by any requirements (effects that say a creature must block, or that it must block if some condition is met). If the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions, the declaration of blockers is illegal. If a creature can't block unless a player pays a cost, that player is not required to pay that cost, even if blocking with that creature would increase the number of requirements being obeyed.

This is the key piece - are my 1/1s under the requirement to block or not? Individually, they are both required to block if able. However, they are not individually able - this seems to imply that they do not have to block, and zero blockers would be acceptable.

However, with zero blockers, "the number of requirements that are being obeyed is fewer than the maximum possible number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions" - thus, "the declaration of blockers is illegal."

I cannot legally declare zero blockers, because I haven't met the maximum number of requirements that could be obeyed without disobeying any restrictions. The that maximum number can be achieved by declaring two (or more) blockers for Stormblood Berserker, and until I declare each other-wise legal creature as a blocker, my declaration of blockers will be illegal.

EDIT: Alex P points out that 509.1c includes a great example:

  Example: A player controls one creature that “blocks if able” and another creature with no abilities. An effect states “Creatures can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures.” Having only the first creature block violates the restriction. Having neither creature block fulfills the restriction but not the requirement. Having both creatures block the same attacking creature fulfills both the restriction and the requirement, so that’s the only option.

While the requirement is different, it's a similar circumstance - achieving the maximum number of requirements forces the creatures to block.

From the comp rules:
[1]: Requirement: An effect that forces one or more creatures to attack or block. See rules 508.1d and 509.1c.
[2]: Restriction: An effect that precludes one or more creatures from attacking or blocking. See rules 508.1c and 509.1b.


How many Planeswalkers appear in Core Set Displays I'm a bit confused regarding the MTG sets. Currently I'm looking at several options to buy for a draft:

Core Set 2021 Display (36 Core Set boosters)
Expansion Set Display (36 Expansion Set boosters)
Core Set 2021 Planeswalker Deck (5 premade decks including planeswalkers)

My questions are the following:

How can I get proper cards to build several decks, is it necessary to have cards from the Core Set in order to use cards from an Expansion Set, or do the Expansion Sets work standalone?
Does it even make sense to go for a Core Set display, if there is the Core Set Planeswalker Deck, which includes (I assume) the strongest cards of that set and guarantees Planeswalkers? Getting the display would most likely result in worse cards, maybe not even a single Planeswalker, or am I missing something? Maybe they are more common than I think?
How important are Planeswalkers for a proper deck, is a deck without inherently worse than a deck with or is it just a nice additional, which needs utilization?

Depending on the answers, I don't quite understand how drafting can be fair, in case a display contains only 1 Planeswalker, which which will give one player a huge advantage.
Update: We went for 10 Boosters each and built decks, which is more or less the play mode „Sealed“. After that we did the same again and now have a good pool of cards to build proper „constructed“ decks. One of us pulled a Planeswalker, the other didn‘t, but it was fair nevertheless; as pointed out in the answers a Planeswalker does not mean an unfair advantage whatsoever. I can highly recommend this way of getting into MTG if you already have knowledge of the game but lack the cards.

OK. There seems to be quit a few misunderstanding here, but I think I managed to identify a core one.
Magic the Gatherging can be played in several ways, the 2 most importat ones being draft and constructed.
There are also quite a few different products out there. Some suite one play style. Other suit the other. Some, especially in case of draft play, are absolutely the wrong way to do things.
But lets work on the assumption that you want to play draft. These are usually organized by game stores or by groups or friends. Either way, what you need is 3 draft boosters per player. (Usually 6-8 players in total.) Please note that non-draft booster products also exist, namely the new set boosters. These are not designed for draft play. 2 player draft variants also exist, but I will not get into those right now.
As for what set to get, most products are desiged to be drafted set by set, meaning (at least for all sets in stores right now) all the boosters for all the players would be from the same set. Doesn't matter if it is an "expansion set" or a Core Set. In modern MtG Core Set aren't that different from any other set. They just tend to have a bit more simple design in the cards they offer, to offer a better starting point for newer players.
What about Planeswalker Decks? Those are mostly intended as a starting point for constructed play, where you build a 60 (or 100 for Commander) card deck from any cards from any sets that are considered legal for the format you wish to play. Most beginner friendly constructed format (outside Commander, that's a bit of an exception) is Standard.
Trying to draft these decks would be... odd. Not impossible, but they really aren't meant for this.
Given all this, your 3rd question kind of becomes irrelevant, but let me just state that no deck needs planeswalkers. The are pretty powerful cards and some decks can make great use of them, but others will work just fine without them.


How long does mana from Burning-Tree Emissary stay around? Does mana added to your pool from Burning-Tree Emissary get destroyed when the card that added it is destroyed?

The mana created by Burning-Tree Emissary is no different than then mana created by Forest and Mountain cards. Keep in mind the ability of a Forest reads "{T}: Add {G} to your mana pool."

As usual, it remains there until used or until the current step or phase ends.

  500.4. When a step or phase ends, any unused mana left in a player’s mana pool empties. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.


How can I remove a Darksteel Citadel animated by Nissa, Worldwaker? After the coming rotation with Khans of Tarkir being released, will there be any way to remove from the battlefield a Darksteel Citadel that has been turned into a creature by Nissa, Worldwaker's first +1 ability?

It seems the me that being indestructible and also a land protect it from almost all removal, Devour Flesh in the current standard being the only obvious exception.

I'm looking for solutions in the soon-to-be Theros + Khans of Tarkir standard format.

Any card that says "Exile target creature", "Exile target artifact", or "Exile target permanent" will remove an animated Darksteel Citadel. Cards that do this include

Devouring Light
Pillar of Light
Ashen Rider
Chained to the Rocks
Curse of the Swine
Excoriate
Fade Into Antiquity
Gild

In addition, if it's toughness ever drops to 0, it will die as a state based effect. Lash of the Whip, for example, will kill it.


Trading in two-player games In a two-player game, why would one player ever trade with another?

(I'm working on a new game for my publisher at the moment, and this question is coming up at work.)

Let's say you have a three player game, with Alice, Bob, and Charlie.  Alice and Bob are considering making a deal.  This deal would help Alice a lot, and it would help Bob some, but not as much.  Alice is certainly getting more out of it than Bob, but Bob still might agree to it, as it still helps Bob get ahead of Charlie.

Now imagine the same game with only two players -- Charlie isn't in the picture.  Alice proposes the same deal to Bob, one that helps Alice a lot and Bob only a little.  Bob has no reason to agree to this deal now, since it doesn't help him get ahead of anyone.

How can a two player game have trade deals between players?

Trading in a 2 player game is a difficult problem. You can have some form of forced trading. For example player 1 (after getting granted a trade action somehow) can name a resource, which player 2, has to give them if they have it, while player 2 gets to name a different resource which player 1 has to give them if they have it. If you name a resource the other player doesn't have, they can give you whatever they want.

Alternatively you can have trades via a third-party, such as a bank. The bank can start with some resources, and if you want something from the bank, you have to give the bank a resource it currently doesn't have. You then deplete the bank of the one it previously had, and the other player can then trade that resource for the one you gave the bank, if they want to. In this way the bank acts as a avenue for trades between players, but each trade with the bank is assessed on it's merits, plus the worry the other player might later benefit, or they might trade for the resource you want later, meaning you should trade now!


Can't understand the meaning of 'heart finesse' What does the phrase heart finesse mean? It appears to be a card term:
From "The Logic of Women" by Bernard Marcoux, Montreal:

Think about it a little: if the heart finesse was necessary to the
success of this contract, then the King has to be with West.

From Dictionary.com:

He could try the heart finesse or, if the spirit so moved him, play
for a major-suit squeeze.

Heart Finesse is really two words that should be dealt with separately.  Heart is just one of the four suits in a standard deck of cards.  One could substitute Clubs, Diamonds or Spades and use it in the same phrase.

Finesse is the more interesting term.  It is a form of a dilemma posed to one's opponents in a game of bridge.

When a team makes a contract in bridge they are obligating themselves to capture a certain number of tricks.  For this example we'll choose a contact of "Four Spades".  This obligates the team to take 10 tricks.  The total number of tricks available is 13 and a bid requires (6+the bid) to be successful.

Absent trumps, high cards win each trick in bridge, so aces, kings and queens take most tricks.

To continue this example, the player who made trump is going to realize that he can only make 9 tricks with some certainly and needs to figure out how to gain an extra trick.  A common way to do this is to use a finesse.

The finesse utilizes a gap in the owner's suit of cards and tries to force an opponent into not getting a trick for a high card.

To continue our example assume that the declarer has AQ in hearts and 72 on dummy.  After capturing a trick on dummy he leads the 7.  The opponent now has a dilemma, she can play the King only to see it fall to the Ace, or she can play a lower card and Declarer will cover it with his Queen.  In this way, the Declarer can possibly get two heart tricks when only one was assured.

This is an example of a direct finesse.  There are many other kinds of finesses which you can read about at Wikipedia.  They all have the same basic theme though, trying to get an extra trick (or more) by exploiting a gap in a sequence of cards.

Without any special knowledge a finesse has a basic 50% chance of success.  You can only finesse one opponent and the card you are trying to finesse could always be with the other opponent.  Usually, due to the bidding nature of Bridge you have a pretty good guess at which opponent to finesse, but you never quite get to 100% certainty!

Depending on your knowledge of cards and Bridge in particular I don't doubt that I used terms that are unfamiliar.  Please ask clarifying questions or leave comments and I will explain further.


Brutal Hordechief & Bloodthrone Vampire I have a timing question: Is it possible to attack with "Bloodthrone Vampire" and let's say 10 other creatures at the same time, while using BOTH abilities of "Brutal Hordechief" and therefore cause 30 damage with only 1 creature actually causing damage?

In Detail:

My opponent has 15 creatures on the battlefield.
I attack with Bloodthrone Vampire and 10 other creatures. Since Brutal Hordechief is on the field, I cause 11 damage to my opponent due to Hordechief's first ability.
Then I want to sacrifice 9 of my 10 other attacking creatures in order to give Bloodthrone Vampire +18/+18, causing another 19 damage to my opponent.
Since I have used Hordechief's 2nd ability (spent 5 mana), all my opponent's creatures should have blocked the last of my 10 attacking creatures (the one I didn't sacrifice with my Vampire's ability).

Therefore I caused 30 damage using Bloodthrone Vampire and Brutal Hordechief's first ability, right?

Or is there a timing error somewhere along the way?

Assuming you have Bloodthrone Vampire and 10 other creatures:

You have successfully activated Brutal Hordechief's ability.
During the declare attackers step you declare 11 attackers. Brutal Hordechief's ability triggers, you gain 11 life and the opponent loses 11 life.
During the declare blockers step, you can choose how enemy creatures block since you activated Brutal Hordechief's second ability. You can choose all 15 creatures to block one of your 10 creatures.
After this, you get priority and you can sacrifice 10 of your creatures to give your Bloodthrone Vampire +20/20. Assuming the opponent doesn't have anything to respond, Bloodthrone Vampire will deal 21 damage (for a total of 32 damage).

Some extra strategy tips:

Also note that you can deal even more damage if you choose not to sacrifice creatures with power more than 2 (and even 1 unless you fear your opponent can get rid of a group of small creatures).

For example, say 2 out of 10 creatures are 1/1, 4 are 2/2 and 4 are 3/3. You can choose enemy creatures to block one of your 1/1 creatures, sacrifice them, and you will deal 5 damage with your vampire, 8 damage with your 2/2 creatures and 12 with your 3/3 creatures, with a total of 25 damage. Add 11 life loss to that - opponent loses 35 life this combat phase, and you still have 9 creatures alive if the game goes on.


In multiplayer, does Dictate of Erebos still take effect if the combat that kills its owner's creature defeats the owner? I was playing a 4 way standard multiplayer match. One player had 3/3 on the field, and Dictate of Erebos which says:

  Whenever a creature you control dies, each opponent sacrifices a creature.

I attacked him with two creatures. He blocked one with the 3/3, which died, and my remaining creature still dealt enough damage to his life to kill him.

The question we have is whether or not the player dies and thus is removed from the game before Dictate of Erebos's ability triggers.

The player loses as soon as state-based actions are checked after dealing combat damage (essentially, "immediately" after damage is dealt) and leaves the game at the same time.  By rule 116.5, state-based actions are applied before triggered abilities are put on the stack, and rule 800.4d prevents triggered abilities controlled by players who have left the game from going on the stack, and so the ability will never even get a chance to resolve and no one will have to sacrifice a creature.  (Even if the triggered ability did go on the stack first, it would then cease to exist due to its controller leaving the game, as specified in 800.4a.)

104.3b If a player’s life total is 0 or less, he or she loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)
104.5. If a player loses the game, he or she leaves the game. If the game is a draw for a player, he or she leaves the game. The multiplayer rules handle what happens when a player leaves the game; see rule 800.4.
116.5. Each time a player would get priority, the game first performs all applicable state-based actions as a single event (see rule 704, "State-Based Actions"), then repeats this process until no state-based actions are performed. Then triggered abilities are put on the stack (see rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities"). These steps repeat in order until no further state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the player who would have received priority does so.
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.
800.4d If an object that would be owned by a player who has left the game would be created in any zone, it isn’t created. If a triggered ability that would be controlled by a player who has left the game would be put onto the stack, it isn’t put on the stack.


Who gets enters-the-battlefield abilities with Bribery? When I have Terastodon in my library and an opponent puts it into play under his control using Bribery, who gets to destroy the three noncreature permanents, him or me?

When your opponent puts your creature into play with Bribery, it acts just as if they played it themselves (or, perhaps, put it into play from their own library). It's their creature, and the fact that you happen to own the physical card itself doesn't matter, except for some effects that explicitly use the word "own" or "owner". Terastodon does not have any of those effects. So it's your opponent who gets to choose what permanents to target and whether to destroy them.

If Terastodon dies, though, it will come back to your graveyard, not your opponent's. Once a card leaves the battlefield, then it does matter who owns the actual card.


Brushfire Side Mission - Counting Distance through walls In this mission, the Rebel characters are tasked with disarming explosives that are around the map. The Mission Briefing has a special rule: "If the character is Fenn Signis or within 3 squares of Fenn," they can disarm the explosives and use them to help destroy an AT-ST that is also in this mission.

My question is that should we take in to account walls (black lines on the tiles) when calculating whether or not we are 3 squares away?

Yes, you should take into account walls when calculating distance to Fenn.

In the rulebook under movement on page 8 (emphasis mine):

  Walls: Indicated by a black line that most often appears on the edge of map tiles.  Two spaces separated by a wall are not adjacent. Figures cannot move through or trace line of sight through walls.

There are two pieces of information in this section that show walls impact distance. First, characters can't move through walls, and any line of sight (LOS) actions can't be taken through a wall. This is pretty important because it indicates how actions can be taken in regard to walls. I would consider the special rule for this mission ("If the hero is Fenn or is within 3 spaces of Fenn, the figure disarms and retrieves the explosive instead") to be a LOS ability.

Second, two spaces separated by a wall are not adjacent. You cannot travel between the two with one movement point. The "distance" between these spaces is more than one because of the wall. This means that if a wall is between two squares that are three spaces apart on the map, you cannot use three movement points to move between them; you need more movement to get around the wall. This would indicate that the "distance" between the two squares is greater than three.


Does Father Joseph take a wound if Strength of Spirit fails? Father Joseph has the Strength of Spirit ability:

  take a wound to cancel any Zombie Card on the roll of 3+

Does this mean that Father Joseph only takes a wound if the roll is successful, or does he still take a wound if the roll fails?

Father Joseph takes the wound first, and then rolls to try and cancel the Zombie card.

From the FAQ, here:

  Q11: How does Father Joseph’s Strength of Spirit ability work?

  A11: Strength of Spirit may be used at any time to attempt to Cancel a
  Zombie Card being played or that ‘Remains in Play’. Father Joseph
  first takes a wound and then rolls to cancel the Zombie Card on the
  roll of 3+. He may use this ability even if doing so will take his
  last wound, killing him (you are still allowed to roll to see if the
  card is cancelled). He may also use this ability multiple times to try
  and cancel the same card (assuming he failed the first time by rolling
  a 1 or 2). He may even use this ability during a Fight. This is
  especially useful if he is about to lose a Fight and take his last
  wound. He may instead, voluntarily take his last wound to try and
  cancel an existing Zombie Card (sort of a ‘with his last breath’
  notion).


Cargo Noir: How to prevent Macao Black Market from going stale We played Cargo Noir last night for the first time and we found that by the end of the game, half the cargos in the black market had been there from the start.

When you are at Macao, you can swap or pick a random cargo from the bag.
Since you need to have a cargo to swap for a cargo, players often chose to random pick out of the bag as it increases your cargo and still carries a chance of getting what you need.
This meant that people tended to ignore swaps and go for random in every stage of the game, and the market became stagnant.

Are there any suggestions on ways that increase the turn over of cargo on the market and freshen things up?

I've found that experienced players make more and better use of the market. Make a few decent grabs from it your next game, and players will start making use of it.

It is a matter of pointing out that a market draw allows an almost assured increase of a set, with no cash outlay. The value of this is minimal in early rounds, but once one is holding 4+ of a type, if a 5th is in Macao, it's worth getting.

As an aside, I played Tuesday last. The other players ignored the 3 wilds that started in the market until I grabbed two of them. Too little, too late; they were masters at bidding, and have a rather unpleasant tendency to gang up on whomever happens to have brought a game. I was unable to win an auction until turn 4... and came in 2nd of 4.


alternatives for odd # of players in hand and foot canasta Can we have a dummy score for a fourth player instead of having to play on our own?

It is hard when there are 11 players.

I have a few ideas off the top of my head.

First, one thing we have done in the past is to have one of the "more experienced" players play multiple hands.  It is a little complicated because that person has to pull double duty.

If you go this route, you may also want to try and not have the person play their two hands right after each other.  This way there is no issues with the person discarding something from hand 1 that hand 2 desperately needs.

I have been the 2 handed person a few times, and the extra effort sometimes makes it seem like I am paying more attention to the game and not in having fun with the people around me.

Another option would be to have somebody sit out each hand.  Maybe two people can share one "seat".  This gives somebody (like the host) to get up and check on everyone and all of that kind of stuff.

Last, invite somebody new to the group.  The more the merrier!


Is the only time a monster encounter occurs during the movement phase or when 'a monster appears'? Do monster encounters only occur during the movement phase when leaving a space with a monster or ending at one, and also when cards say a monster appears? Flying monsters moving to your space don't induce an encounter right?

If you start your movement phase on a location or Street with any monsters,  you must either evade them all or fight them.

If you attempt to pass through a location or street with a monster on it,  you must either evade or fight them.

If you end your movement on a location or street with a monster,  you must either evade or fight them.

Flying monsters usually move during the mythos phase,  so you won't need to fight them till your next movement phase.

Monsters that appear due to encounters need to be fought or evaded immediately.

An exception to the above is when you return from an other world location and have an explored marker. On your first turn after returning,  you don't need to fight or evade any monsters guarding the gate,  giving you one relatively safe shot at closing the gate

For the exception above, you can find it in the rules on page 18

  During the turn he returns to Arkham from an Other World, an
  investigator does not have to evade or fight any monsters in the
  gate’s location. This rule only applies during the turn he returns to
  Arkham; in subsequent turns, if the investigator remains in the
  location, he must evade or fight any monsters there as normal.


Monopoly strategy if every unowned property goes to auction immediately? My friends and I have tried playing with a house rule where every property, no matter who lands on it, immediately goes to auction for all players.

We have been using a Vickrey auction so that the turns don't take forever (we all just write down a number, and the highest bid pays the second highest bid's price for the property).

Obviously, without this rule in place, it is advantageous to simply buy every property you land on. But, with the auctions, each property is going for more than listed value and we quickly run out of cash. What sort of strategies should I employ with this house rule?

With these rules, the optimal bid for properties you are NOT interested in is $1 less than the highest bid.  Even if you are highly interested a property, might not want to signal that with a very high bid.
As Toon Krijthe points out, this becomes a guessing game of what others are willing to spend.  Since you say players are running out of money, you may want to not win early properties and pickup better deals later.  You still need to bid high to help others run out of money and to disguise your strategy.
How much players should be bidding can be informed via a property value calculator like those in this article.  As the calculators point out, key variables in estimating the value are number of players, rounds of play expected, and if the other related properties are (or will be) owned.  In addition to the value for your own situation, Calculate value for the player who will benefit the most from obtaining the property being auctioned.  This will help estimate a logical high end bid for the auction.

So key factors in determining your bid are:
 * Who has available cash to bid
 * Value of property to the players in the game
 * How aggressively/conservatively are players bidding.
 * Plans for your available cash


Best set of blank cards Where can I get a good cheap set of blank cards? Amazon sells them, but it is apparently difficult to get a pen to work on them.

In my case I ask because I like bohnanza, but can't tolerate the illustrations. Others may have other uses.

I was poking around the other day looking for the same answer. Plaincards.com sells software to design your own cards and blank cards to print your designs on. Seems pretty cool, but it looks like you're limited to standard playing card sizes (i.e. no tiny Arkham cards). Their complete product line appears here. I'm not sure what size cards Bohnanza uses.

I'm in the midst of designing my own game but I need different sized cards (1.5" by 2.5") so their apparent lack of that size is kind of a deal breaker.

DeLano Service is another site that could get cards made. Sounds to be a bit more fancy that what you're looking for, perhaps more like a prototype company that an supplier of blank cards, but perhaps they'd sell blank cards if asked.

(Note: I have no affiliation with either site.)


Possible to spend clue tokens to re-roll attempts at sealing gates? I'm just playing my first ever (solo) game of Arkham Horror, so I'm still quite new to the nuances of the game, though the overall mechanics are already starting to click.

The rules state that you can spend one clue token to get one extra die roll after attempting any skill check in the game. Does this also count for checks when attempting to seal a gate, or is this an exception?

For instance, I have 8 clue tokens, and really would like to seal the explored gate I am on as quickly as possible, rather than waiting turns inbetween attempts.
Can I then spend clue tokens one at a time to re-roll for any successes needed, and when successful spend 5 tokens to seal the gate?

You can spend clue tokens to roll extra dice for any skill check, including closing gates.  You can spend them one at a time, and stop after you have a success.

After you've successfully closed the gate you can then spend five clue tokens to seal it (assuming you still have that many).

Rerolls are different, generally given by skills and items.  With a reroll you reroll all dice in the pool, including any added by clue tokens that you have spent.


What happens if a double-faced card that is copying a different double-faced card transforms? We are getting Metamorphic Alteration in M19. What if I enchant my Delver of Secrets, copying my opponents Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. Then I pay the cost on my Bolas (previously a Delver) to activate his transform ability.

What will happen? I can think of 3 possibilities:

My Delver is exiled and the aura goes to the graveyard.
My Delver is transformed, aura goes to the graveyard, but the Delver transforms into Insectile Aberration
My Delver is transformed, aura goes to the graveyard, and the Delver transforms into Nicol Bolas, the Arisen

It is #2, you will end up with an Insectile Abberation.

A few different rules at play here. First off, your Delver of Secrets is only copying The Ravenger side of Nicol Bolas, it doesn't have any relationship to The Arisen:

  706.8. When copying a double-faced permanent, a face-up meld card, or a melded permanent, only the copiable values of the face that’s currently up are copied.

When you exile your creature, the aura will not go with it, simply because the aura is a separate permanent. It will sit on the battlefield for a moment, but go straight to the graveyard next time state-based actions are checked:

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

And we know the object no longer exists because:

  400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule:

(None of the exceptions apply).

So what you have is an instruction to return your card to the battlefield, transformed. You can do this:

  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.

So you turn the object formerly known as Nicol Bolas, The Ravenger, over so that its other face is up, and return it to the battlefield.


Skip card - Phase 10 When playing phase 10, If I have a skip card in my hand and it’s my turn to play, do I have to pull a card before I play my skip card?

Yes.
The skip card does not have any special rules about when it can be played; you discard it the same way you play any other card; and it does something special when you do.

On your turn, draw one card, either the top card from the draw pile or the top card from the discard pile, and add it to your hand. End your turn by discarding any one of your cards onto the top of the discard pile.
SKIP CARDS: Skip cards have only one purpose: to cause
another player to lose a turn. To use, simply discard the “Skip” card on your turn, then choose the player who will lose a turn.


Are 2 2-card-swishes a valid 4-card-swish? I played my first game of Swish this evening and the other player was surprised when I asked if 2 sets of 2 card swishes are a valid 4 card swish. That is - can you pick up 2 pairs of cards that each are 2 card swishes and stack them together into a 4 card swish, so long as every ball swishes into a hoop of the same color and there is no overlapping as you visually see 4 balls in 4 hoops?

The rules don't specifically comment on this, so I am assuming yes. But given the other player's surprise, I wanted to make sure.

Of course, the same question can be extended to 2+3=5, 2+2+2=6, etc. I asked the question with 2+2=4 in order to provide a specific example.

I decided to email support at Thinkfun.com with:

  I played Swish last night for the first time and was unclear about
  something after both reading the rules multiple times and viewing your
  video:

  The question is whether a pair of 2-card-swishes constitute a valid
  4-card-swish, so long as the hoops and balls don't overlap among all 4
  cards. The rules don't comment on this situation one way or another so
  I am assuming the answer is yes (and can be extended equally to 2+3=5,
  2+2+2=6, etc., again so long as the hoops and balls don't overlap when
  you stack the subsets together.

  Another way of asking the same question is if you have what seems to
  be a valid 4 card swish per the rules, is it still valid if the 4
  cards can be rearranged into 2 sets of 2 swishes?

  I asked this question on Stack Exchange (Board and Card Games) and
  the person who answered came to the same conclusion I did - that the
  rules as literally stated indicate this is a valid swish (see link
  beneath my signature). However, this sits uneasily with me because
  2+2=4 swishes are easier to find than 4-swishes that can't be
  decomposed into 2 sets of 2. Yet the scoring system does not reward
  finding more difficult swishes.

  If you don't know the answer, can you pass this on the game creators
  to find out their intent?

Here's the answer I received:

  Below is the answer to your questions from one of our Production Team
  Members:

  The short answer for his question is no, Two 2-card Swishes do not
  “count” as a 4-card Swish. But, they do count as a legal move in the
  game, and the person who finds two 2-card Swishes still wins 4 cards,
  just as many as a person who makes a 4-card Swish. So, to answer the
  second point, at first blush this would seem not to make sense, since
  as Joe points out, the scoring system does not reward the person who
  found the more complicated Swish. This is actually done deliberately.
  The reason is that the winner is simply the player who has won the
  most cards. We tested versions where harder Swishes (higher counts)
  where worth more, but we decided on this version because it allows
  multiple players, of multiple skill levels, to play an equally
  challenging game. As in, when families play, Mom or Dad can be limited
  to 3 or higher card Swishes, whereas Jr.(s) can go for any number.
  This way, all players will be challenged, and Jr.(s) have an equal
  chance to win the game.

  We understand that for more experienced gamers, this will seem
  somewhat “off”. But this was the version that had the greater appeal,
  and we assume that people that really get into games like this can
  adjust the rules as they see fit, adding additional points for higher
  card Swish. I would suggest +1 for a 3-card Swish, +2 for 4-card, and
  so on. Keep in mind, though, that if you play this way, you have to
  keep all your Swishes separate as you win them, or else do the math in
  your head and remember it. This is another minor detail that can add
  complication, something that we try to avoid.

I interpret the answer as saying it doesn't count as a 4 card swish yet you can collect 2 2-card swishes simultaneously. It's phrased this way so that if an experienced adult is playing a kid using the variant that kids can do 2-card swishes while adults can't, then the adult is not allowed to simultaneously pick up 2 pairs for a 4 card swish, even if there is no ball/hoop overlap.


Is checkers just tactics? I've been playing tournament chess for 20 years. Recently I started playing checkers (the American version).

In chess, tactics is about calculating the next few moves ahead. Strategy is the long-term kind of thinking, what to do when there is nothing to do tactically. I tried to apply these methods of thinking to checkers too.

After I read some books on checkers, I was pretty disappointed. While they all claim to teach strategy, all they contain are some openings and tactical positions. Nothing about strategy, positional guidelines or how to select your candidate moves. Only "if white moves here then red moves here" and so on.

The only strategical guideline I found was: "try to control the center", but again with a concrete game as an example. During a game, most of the time I have absolutely no clue who has the advantage, because I am missing a set of theoretical guidelines.

So, my question is: Is checkers "just" tactics, or is it more and I have overlooked something?

Checkers is defintely not just tactics! While checkers is not in the same strategic league as chess, there are clear strategic concepts. For example, controlling the long diagonal is somewhat similar to the idea of controlling the centre in chess.

Another example is playing to open one side, for the purposes of crowning pieces. This is analogous to the idea of king-side or queen-side pawn storms in chess.

Even choosing whether to commit to an exchange or not is strategic, just as it is in chess. You are weighing up not only the material consequences of the exchange, but the positional consequences as well, both short and long term.


Responding to planeswalker with doubling season in play If I had Doubling Season in play, then I cast any planeswalker, would my opponent be able to destroy it with Hero's Downfall or exile it with Anguished Unmaking before I am able to activate any of its loyalty abilities?

I know the way priority typically works: you can activate the ability first, but since doubling season is a trigger, I am curious if my opponent could cast an instant while it is on the stack or if the planeswalker would be doubled as it entered, and then my opponent could not respond before I am able to activate it.

You can activate the ability immediately, before any opponent has a chance to respond, because Doubling Season's ability is not a triggered ability.

Doubling Season's relevant ability says this:

  If an effect would put one or more counters on a permanent you control, it puts twice that many of those counters on that permanent instead.

This is a replacement effect, as indicated by the word "instead". It modifies events as they happen. In this particular situation, it modifies the event of the Planeswalker entering the battlefield by making it enter with twice as many loyalty counters as usual. The rest works the same as always: it enters the battlefield and then you have priority first, with nothing on the stack, so you can immediately activate one of it's abilities.


Rules for Churchill Solitaire? I've been hearing about the double-deck version of solitaire, played by Winston Churchill, that's way harder than normal solitaire. I can't seem to find the rules posted anywhere. Anyone know the rules?

I watched a video showing the iOS game which is useless to me since I don't use iOS and I'd rather play card games with actual cards. I was able to figure out some of the rules but considering the fact that I beat it the first time I played my make-shift version of it I suspect I was not playing correctly.

Use 2 standard decks of 52 cards and deal 10 piles with the following rules:

Dealing the cards

When dealing each row, the first and last card is always face up, while the rest is face down.
In each row, after you have dealt the card to the 5th pile, the next card is dealt face up to the "devil's six" pile.  The "devil's six" pile is placed on the upper left hand of the tableau.  You always deal to the "devil's six" pile after dealing to the 5th pile, regardless of which pile you began dealing in that row.  After dealing to the "devil's six" pile, you continue dealing to the 6th pile as normal.
For the first row, start with the first pile and deal to the 10th pile.
On the second row, start on the 2nd pile and deal to the 9th pile.
On the third row, start on the 3rd pile and deal to the 8th.
On the forth row, start on the 4th pile and deal to the 7th.
On the fifth row, deal face up to the 5th pile directly and deal next card face up to the "devil's six" pile.  Then deal a card face up to the 6th pile, and deal the next card face up to the "devil's six" pile.
At this point the devil's six pile should have 6 cards in total.
The rest of the cards remain face down and form the stock pile.

Gameplay

Same as other solitaire rules, you build up in sequence with alternating colors in descending order (K->Q->J->10->...).
The entire ordered sequence in the pile can be moved (e.g. If the pile is 2->5->9->8->7, you can move 9->8->7 to a different pile with a top card of 10 as long as they are alternating colors).  Also note any number of cards in the sequence can be moved, it doesn't have to be the entire sequence (e.g. you can move 7, 8->7, or 9->8->7).
If after moving cards to other piles results in the top card being a face down card, turn the top card face up.
If a pile is empty, only K or a sequence starting with K can be placed to the empty pile.
Any Ace is immediately moved to the "Victory Rows" (foundations).
The cards in the devil's six pile can only be moved to the Victory Rows directly, the cards cannot be used to build any sequences.
Only the top card of the pile is available for moving to the Victory Rows, including the "devil's six" pile.  You cannot move a card underneath the top card in the "devil's six" pile to the Victory Rows.
Moving cards to the Victory Rows is optional.  You may, for strategic purposes, choose to leave cards in play and delay moving them to the Victory Rows.
You move cards to the "Victory Rows" in ascending order (A->2->3->...).
When you run out of moves, you can deal from the stock pile, dealing one card to each pile that does not start with K as the first card of the pile.
You win the game when all cards are moved to the Victory Rows.


Power Tile Combo: Initiative combined with Crusade When using the Initiative power tile (which destroys two units pre-battle) combined with the Crusade power tile (which gives Ankhs per units destroyed in battle):

Does the attacking player get ankhs for the units destroyed 'pre battle'?
If the is no battle because the defender had two units or less, does the attacker get any Ankhs?

The mystery here is that the escape DI card cancels a battle, but also works for initiative, which seems to indicate that units killed by initiative are in some sort of odd edge-case.

As you said in the question, Crusade gives you ☥ for units killed in Battle.

As you also stated correctly, the effects of the Initiative happen before the Battle. (The power tile itself shows that it's a day phrase tile, not a battle phrase tile.) Therefore the kills of the Initiative won't generate ☥.

And there is no mystery with the Escape DI card: it cancels the Battle. Therefore effects before the battle phrase can't happen. Therefore the Initiative tile won't have effects.


Are contractions like "I'm" legal according to the rules of Codenames? There are some words on the board, "fine", "good", and "lost". I'd like to use "I'm 3" to hit those words as spymaster. Would that be against the rules?

This is the closest rule I could find in the official rules for the standard edition of Codenames.

  Compound Words
  English has three ways to write a compound
  word. Greenhouse is one word. Pack rat is two
  words. Mother-in-law is hyphenated. Technically,
  only greenhouse can be a one-word clue.
  You can decide to allow any compound words.
  However, in no case should a player be allowed
  to invent compound words. Lunar squid is not
  a valid clue for MOON and OCTOPUS

I'm not sure if contractions are considered compound words though.

TL;DR.  'I'm' is fine as a clue.  Others may disagree but they are 'looking for trouble'!
The rules to Codenames here give lots of rules on what is or isn't a valid clue.  I think the most important is this heading

DON'T BE TOO STRICT

They also say

Sometimes you have to make judgment calls about what is valid and what
is not. Different groups may prefer to play the game differently.

and

anybody who says you can't say sparrow when ROW is on the table is just trying to cause trouble.

I think the rules are weirdly clear that this is a game where rule lawyering is NOT encouraged.  They say if you're not sure they to asked your fellow spymaster but I think the insinuation is to keep the game light and fun unless its a very clear rules break.   This is a light party game after all and should be kept that way.  To reiterate  "DON'T BE TOO STRICT".
Saying "I'm" is something that is very common usage and a clue people will know.  It's not like you've invented something "OKIsland" to indicate 'Fine', 'Good' and 'Lost'. or nonsense like "Penal'TV".  Yes it might be a contraction of two words but it's common usage is said as one word.
I'd argue that a clue like "'Twas'" is valid for "Night" and "Christmas" as it is said out loud as a single word
You might also to want look at this English StackExchange question which debates if "It's" is one word or two. If you type "It's" into a word processor and do a word count then it counts as one word.  "I'm" does the same.


Can you trash fortress indefinitely with donate? So the two cards* in question here are Fortress, which reads:

+1 Card
+1 Action

When you trash this put it into your hand

and Donate which reads:

After this turn, put all cards from your deck and discard pile into your hand, trash any number, shuffle your hand into your deck, then draw 5 cards.

And the question is whether after a Fortress returns to your hand can you trash it again with the same Donate, and thus trash the same Fortress a potentially unbounded number of times.
This question actually matters since the landmark Tomb grants a player +1 point for every card they trash, thus this scheme could potentially net an unlimited number of points if Tomb is active.

No, because you trash all cards simultaneously.
From the Dark Ages rulebook:

When two or more cards are trashed at the same time, such as due to Count, first trash them all, then pick an order to resolve things that happen due to trashing them.

So with Donate, you must trash all of the cards you want to trash at the same time; and only then do any trashed Fortresses trigger and return to your hand.
There is also a ruling for Chapel, which uses basically the same wording:

You choose all the cards you want to trash, and then trash them at the same time; you don't trash them one-by-one. This matters for interactions with Dark Ages cards with on-trash abilities.


Oberon character in Avalon At the end of the game, when the evil characters discuss who Merlin is, can Oberon reveal himself and join in the discussion?

Edit: I'm asking this because in the games I've played, even though Oberon is an evil character, he doesn't know who the other evil characters are.

Note - it's Oberon rather than Morgana who does not open his eyes during the reveal phase at the start of the game.

The rules say:

  Without revealing any Character cards, the Evil players discuss and the player with the Assassin character card will name one Good player as Merlin

So no character cards should be revealed, however the player who is Oberon can join in the discussion.

It's not really explicit whether or not a Good player could claim to be Oberon at the end of the game to try and confuse the Assassin.


How to build a multi-colour aggro deck to be more effective against control I'm building a casual (anything goes, kitchen-table) deck for my friend, out of our combined pool of cards, which will have 3+ colours (atm it's three). She's a Vorthos/Timmy. She often builds her own deck out of the biggest/prettiest cards, but suffers/is frustrated when she plays against control style. I'm making it Red/Green/Blue, with as many elves/merfolk/faeries as possible for flavour reasons.

As a general question, how do you stop a deck with 3+ colours from being unfocused? That is to say, focus on a successful tactic (engines, brute force, lots of little creatures etc) whilst spanning the three colours. You need to juggle 3 types of land, which can end some games too early through having to mulligan/suffer the consequences. How can an aggro style, also be anti-control?

I'm sorry if this question is too localized/general. I'm really struggling to get my request into a SX style, but I do want a list of correct practices in making this deck, without a long list of good cards; chances are I won't have them, and can't afford to buy any more.

You've stated that your card pool is limited, and your ability to buy more cards is even more so.  This restricts specific card advice significantly, so I'm going to give some general advice on the process of tuning the deck.

Running a 3 color deck is difficult, as you've already noticed.  Without some specialized cards which are in many cases quite expensive to obtain, it is hard to be competitive.  Here's what I would do:

Ensure the deck is 60 cards, you can go a little higher if you need to.  In no case should you be anywhere near 80+ cards though!  The more cards you add, the more likely you are to get some really weird mana fluctuations.  It's also difficult to sufficiently randomize a larger deck.
Make sure you have enough land!  For a 3 color deck, I'd want probably 24 land and a couple mana producers.  Upwards of 26 land if you have no other mana producers (artifacts/birds of paradise) to include.
Proxy some dual-lands.  Take 4 swamps and write "Red/Green" on them, take 4 plains and write "green/blue".  They are land that can generate either color as necessary (but only 1 mana a turn from each land).  When you are playing with friends, I think a little proxying is fine, but be sure to let them know about it before hand.  Encourage them to try out a few cool old cards as well!  Just because you didn't spend $2000 in 1996 on cards doesn't mean you shouldn't experience those cards every so often.
As you play the new tuned/proxied deck try to figure out which colors are most important.  Shift things around to try to favor 2 colors, focus the third color on being the "finishing" color.  This will allow you to decrease the mana supply for that third color and will make your deck run smoother.  An example would be just including a few mountains and a couple fireballs.  In other words, try to move your color mix from 40%/30%/30% to 40%/40%/20% or even 50%/40$/10%