What to do in long games with players who are way behind? When our group plays longer games (6+ hours), we usually choose games where players who fall behind still have chances to recover, so all players remain interested in and engaged with the game.  (Examples: Advanced Civilization, 7 Ages, the crayon rail games.)

Sometimes we want to play games where, once you fall behind, you're pretty much out of luck -- games like RuneBound or Titan, for instance.  But our gaming has a social component that is as strong as the gaming itself and we don't want to break that.  Even if dropping out of the game doesn't appreciably change the game for the remaining players (not always a safe bet!), "go read a book until someone else drops out and you can play another game on the side" is no fun.  This is particularly frustrating for people who get knocked out an hour or two into a game that's going to run for several more hours.

Sometimes when we find ourselves in this situation we call the game early, but that means we miss out on the end-game.  What other general approaches to this problem could we take?  Or are there no general approaches, and we should look within each game for house rules that allow one to continue playing at some ultimate scoring penalty?

When playing games that are supposed to eliminate some of the players and then speed up, you can always play as teams.

In my group games with that kind of mechanic do not work, we are simply either too competitive or too strategic to come to an entertaining experience for everyone.

This lead us to play in teams so that if one 'player' loses there are always two people that can start playing something else to be entertained while the rest sort out what happens next.

You can play in teams in two ways.

The first way is a strict team. Two people per avatar army or whatever else represents a player in a game. In games that take a long time to play because of strategy or because of a dominance mechanic, this works out because it lessens the amount of players and it gives you a chance to collaborate and play in a style that you may not normally play.

In our group we have players that are volatile and risky and players that are very reserved. Usually when we make teams we put one reserved and one volatile together. It leads to very interesting game play.

The second way to play teams is to play a cooperative version of a game. That is to say each 'player' on a team gets his own avatar/army whatever represents a player in a game, and for all intents and purposes, they must win together.

This leads to very interesting play also because you must choose sometimes to forget about your own ambitions and do something to help your struggling teammate to get to a better place in the game.

We frequently play that this alliance is only skin deep however. When there is only one 'team' left (2 players), it becomes a rather quick game of 'back stab your brother' to see who ultimately wins.

This is my favorite kind of 'team' play because you are going to help your 'teammate' but only enough that once you two have eliminated the competition you can still compete with one another. It gives you a reason to play with another player but only enough motivation to keep them from losing, not outright ensure they prosper.

With this mechanic added to a game you need to add some simple rules:

As long as you and your team mate are not the only players in the game, you may not take actions against one another. That is to say you can't fight each other or otherwise do things that would detriment the other player unless the only action you can take is to do so.
If a single member of an opposing team is eliminated, the other member of the team is eliminated also.

I do admit that this leads to a fair amount of people who cede once they are on the remaining team, but that is OK because there is still a clear winner and everyone got to play together.

Your mileage may very but we have had lots of fun playing this way.


Death and revival of land-creatures I have a question regarding MTG rules and how can be applied. In this case, it's about lands that can become creatures. I was checking this one-mana EDH deck, and I saw that the Commander has this ability:

  Horde of Notions {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}

  Legendary Creature — Elemental (5/5)

  Vigilance, trample, haste

  {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: You may play target Elemental card from your
  graveyard without paying its mana cost.

  Even the oldest treefolk was but an acorn when Lorwyn’s first
  mysteries were born.

I was wondering: if the land was killed and sent to the graveyard while being a creature by any X reason (say "Lightning bolt"), is it possible to retrieve it back using this ability? For example, Celestial Colonnade can turn into an Elemental until end of turn.

No, Horde of Notions cannot do anything with a land card that died as a creature. The key rule is rule 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.

If a land card like Celestial Colonnade dies as a creature, the effect that made it a creature doesn't continue to apply to the card in the graveyard. While it's in the graveyard, it's just a land card.


Cribbage scoring for one hand less starter card What would be the score count for a hand with 3 - fours and 1 - seven
my thought is 12.  For 3 - fours equal 6 points (3 royal pairs) and the three royal pairs of 2-fours and the seven = 6 points.

If I read you correctly, you're describing a hand like 4H 4D 4S 7D.

4H 4D 7D - 15 2
4H 4S 7D - 15 4
4D 4S 7D - 15 6
4H 4D - pair (2 points)
4H 4S - pair (2 points)
4D 4S - pair (2 points)

You are indeed correct that this adds to 12 points. You are also correct that you can shortcut the pairs to 6 points as Pair Royal.


How does the two room penalty work in Grand Austria Hotel? One of the Emperor Tiles for Grand Austria Hotel looks like this:

The rules contain the following explanation for the penalty:

  Penalty: You must remove 2 occupied rooms from your Hotel board. These must be the occupied room in the highest possible row and the next possible room below it, if any.

Does this mean that if I have two occupied rooms in the top row then should I choose which to lose?  Assuming I get to choose which occupied room in the top row I lose then am I allowed to pick based on what's below it?  Finally, if the room below it isn't occupied then do I have to lose a room below that instead? (i.e. does "below" mean "adjacent and below" or "aligned and below"?)

I think the intention here is you must do whats worst for you.

If you have two rooms on the same highest level and one has an occupied room beneath it the you must choose the one where you can lose both.  You would only get a choice if the conditions was met more than once.

Below means 'aligned and below'.   Look at the picture you posted.  The rooms crossed out are in the same aligned column whilst the ones not below are not crossed out.


Awaken targeting rules If my opponent plays  Ruinous Path and pays the Awaken cost, then I make the creature it targets invalid (e.g. bounce, protection, destroying it myself, ...) is that enough to counter the spell due to targeting rules:

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal... The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal. ...

Are there 1 or 2 targets here? Does the land count as an additional target - so it still resolves because there is at least one valid target? Or is there only one target (the creature), as the other instance of the word "target" only appears in the reminder text not as actual rules text.

You've mostly answered the question yourself, including the ruling quotations. Yes, paying Awaken cost will add a new target (a land), so if you make a first target illegal, it won't counter the spell to the full extent. And vise versa, as even mentioned in the linked article:

  Also, if a spell with awaken normally doesn't require a target, and you choose to cast it for its awaken cost, you will add a target to the spell by doing so. If that target land becomes illegal before the spell tries to resolve, the spell will be countered. You won't get any of its effects, including the first effect that didn't require a target. This won't come up a lot, but it's definitely something to be aware of.


What can the Fire Prevention Specialist do in Flash Point: Fire Rescue? The Fire Prevention Specialist comes exclusively with the Kickstarter version of the Honor and Duty expansion for Flash Point: Fire Rescue. No additional rules for his character came with the expansion. On his card, his actions are:

Prevent: 1 AP
Move Smoke

Prevent: 2 AP
Movie POI

So, from what I understand, he CAN spray out fire, rescue, and chop like most of the other specialists, but what are the exact conditions of the two "prevent" actions?

The rules for this Kickstarter-exclusive role were provided via this update.

This is a tribute to the unsung heroes– the men and women in the administrative branch of the fire service. They evaluate fires, propose regulations and see to it that they are observed. They work with files and records instead of hoses and axes, and their work saves many lives.
The Fire Prevention Specialist - 4AP
This specialist has done his work years ago; he talked to the builders and home owners and convinced them to adopt a fire security plan. On his advice smoke detectors and smoke exhausts have been installed, and emergency exits have been planned and marked clearly. Now these measures prove their worth: People are warned and can move out via marked escape routes, and smoke clears itself from the building.
Prevent/De-Smoke: Move a smoke token anywhere on the board for 1 AP per space. Movement must be on the shortest route towards nearest exterior door, playerʼs choice if alternative routes exist; Smoke passes closed interior doors at no extra cost. Smoke vanishes when outside the building. Moved smoke ignites immediately if adjacent to fire; if it moves on top of other smoke, it becomes fire.
Prevent/Escape: Move a POI token (only if "?" side up) anywhere on the board for 2 AP per space. Movement must be on the shortest route towards nearest exterior door, playerʼs choice if alternative routes exist. POIs can open doors on their way for 2 AP; they will not use breached walls, ladders etc. (they use the escape route "as marked"). POIs moved outside of the building (=coordinate area) are revealed. POIs will not move into fire.
Note: If playing with multi-floor game boards, "shortest route to exterior door" may be via a stair way.
Note: In the subway station, exits are all spaces with an ambulance symbol.
Note: De-Smoke and Escape are always determined by the nearest exterior doors – not opened windows, nor destroyed walls

The flavour text of the Fire Prevention Specialist suggest they are not found at the scene of a fire (in an active role).
I would certainly encourage players to restrict themselves to the two actions described above, but there's no rules to suggest they should be limited to those two actions.
If you wish to participate in the field, you could say that the fire department is short-handed, so their FPS also serves as a regular fireman.


sacred mesa and activated abilities between untap and upkeep Sacred Mesa says "At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Sacred Mesa unless you sacrifice a Pegasus." It also has an activated ability:

  1W: Put a 1/1 white Pegasus creature token with flying into play.

My question is..  so let's say you use 2W to cast it. Then on your next turn you have your untap phase and your upkeep phase. Can you create a 1/1 white Pegasus token between your untap and upkeep phases to prevent Sacred Mesa's self-sacrifice clause from triggering?

Simple Answer
You can save Sacred Mesa by creating a Pegasus in response to Sacred Mesa's triggered ability.
Detailed Answer
Strictly speaking, you can't create a Pegasus between your untap step and your upkeep step because you don't have an opportunity to do so. The beginning of your turn has the following sequence of events:

Your untap step:

You untap your permanents

Your upkeep step:

Abilities that trigger at the beginning of the upkeep go on the stack
You gain priority.

You can only cast spells and activate abilities when you have priority, so the first opportunity to do so is during your upkeep, when the ability is on the stack though. This still lets you save your Mesa, though, because you can respond to the triggered ability by activating Mesa's activated ability. Because the activated ability went on the stack last, it will resolve first, and you will have your Pegasus before you need to sacrifice one.


playing off previous runs? For Rummycube, after the 30 point meld can you build vertically off a run?

To illustrate, is this possible?

6 7 8 9
    8
    8

In addition if you had a gold, blue and a red 1, can you add to the same gold 1 going vertically a blue  and red 1?

You can not add tiles vertically like a crossword(number) puzzle. If a set has 4 or more tiles you can move one of them to create a new set. As long as the remaining sets are valid.

For example if 3,4,5,6 is on the table and you have two 6 (all three of different color) you can move the 6 and create a new set with your two 6 tiles. Getting 3,4,5 and 6,6,6.


What If I don't want it to layer The situation is as follows:

Aiden has a Battlegate Mimic on the battlefield.
I control two Wilderness Hypnotists.
Aiden casts a Scourge of the Nobilis, targeting the Mimic; after that resolves I activate one of his Hypnotist's abilities, targeting the Mimic.
Aiden attacks with the Mimic, and casts Inside Out before the damage step.
Once Inside Out resolves, I activate the ability of his other Hypnotist.

The mimic will be a 4/2 due to layering, but what if I wanted to have the hypnotists to trigger after Inside Out so it deals no damage to me instead?

At the end of this sequence of events, the Mimic will be a 4/2 and you can't choose for it to resolve differently because those effects apply at different sublayers that apply to power and toughness. Those are described in the rules for the interaction of continuous effects:

613.3. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described below. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order. (See rule 613.6.) Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a sublayer. (See rule 613.7.)

613.3a Layer 7a: Effects from characteristic-defining abilities that define power and/or toughness are applied. See rule 604.3.
613.3b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.
613.3c Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don’t set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.
613.3d Layer 7d: Power and/or toughness changes from counters are applied. See rule 121, “Counters.”
613.3e Layer 7e: Effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness are applied. Such effects take the value of power and apply it to the creature’s toughness, and take the value of toughness and apply it to the creature’s power.

The Battlegate Mimic's ability applies at layer 7b. The Wilderness Hypnotists' and Scourge of the Noblis's abilities apply at layer 7c. And Inside Out applies at layer 7e. So, in the end you have the following effects, in the order they are applied:

Battlegate Mimic's ability sets its power and toughness to 4/2.
Scourge of the Noblis's abilities gives it +2/+2 in total and two different Wilderness Hypnotists' abilities each give it -2/-0. Overall, it gets -2/+2 from effects in this layer, making it a 2/4.
Inside Out switches its power and toughness, making it a 4/2.

Technically, the effects in layer 7c are applied in the order they resolved: one Hypnotist's ability, then Scourge of the Nobilis's abilities, then the other Hypnotist's ability. But they're all simple arithmetic, which is commutative, so it doesn't matter.


What are the odds of getting the following hands in euchre? I really like euchre, but I stink at statistics.  Last time we were playing euchre, people would get some crazy hands, and we kept saying, "What are the odds?"

So now I ask you all, what are the odds?

Scenario 1:

What are the odds that you get dealt both Jacks of the same color, plus three other cards all of the same suit in the same color?  (i.e. Jack of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, plus Ace, Queen and Ten of Diamonds).

Scenario 2:

What are the odds you get dealt four of the cards asked in Scenario 1, and the fifth card you need is the face-up card in the pile of 4 remaining cards?

Scenario 3:

What are the odds you get dealt all 4 Jacks?

Solutions (TLDR)

The probabilities of a single player getting one of the above hands, from a single deal, are:

Scenario 1: 0.09%
Scenario 2: 1.54%
Scenario 3: 0.05%

Below I have calculated the probabilities and also simulated them to check the calculations.

I have also simulated the scenarios to find the probabilities of any player getting one of the above hands, from a single deal.  I think this more closely matches the observations described in the question.  These probabilities are:

Scenario 1 for any player: 0.38%
Scenario 2 for any player: 5.98%
Scenario 3 for any player: 0.19%

Introduction

A standard euchre deck contains the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A in each of the four suits, making a total of 24 cards.  Each of the four players are dealt a hand of five cards, and there are four cards left over.

We will split the deck, D, into the four Jacks J, and the other twenty non-Jack cards N.  We refer to the player's hand as H, and the table cards as T.

We use the notation nCk to refer to the Combinations function; the number of ways of choosing k elements from a set of size n.

We refer to the probability of an event using the notation P(Event).  We will refer to the conditional probability of event 2 happening, given that event 1 happens, with the notation P(Event 2 | Event 1).  In several places we do not explicitly state that an event is conditional on another event, but hopefully the context makes it obvious when this is the case.

Scenario 1: What are the odds that you get dealt both Jacks of the same color, plus three other cards all of the same suit in the same color? (i.e. Jack of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, plus Ace, Queen and Ten of Diamonds).

P(Scenario1) = P(H contains exactly 2 Jacks) * P(The Jacks are the same colour)
               * P(3 other cards are same suit) * P(The suit is the same colour as the Jacks)
P(H contains exactly 2 Jacks) = (Ways to pick 2 from J) * (Ways to pick 3 from N)
                                / (Ways to pick 5 from D)
                              = (4C2)(20C3) / (24C5)
                              = 6*1140 / 42504
P(The Jacks are the same colour) = 1/3
P(3 other cards are same suit) = P(The second card is the same suit as the first)
                                 * P(The third is the same suit as the other two)
                               = 4/19 * 3/18
P(The suit is the same colour as the Jacks) = 1/2
∴ P(Scenario1) = 6*1140 / 42504 * 1/3 * 4/19 * 3/18 * 1/2
               = 5/5313
               ~= 0.09%

Scenario 3: What are the odds you get dealt all 4 Jacks?

This calculation is slightly more straightforward than for Scenario 1, as we no longer need to worry about suits.

P(Scenario3) = P(H contains exactly 4 Jacks)
             = (4C4)(20C1)/(24C5)
             = 1*20 / 42504
             = 5/10626
             ~= 0.05%

Scenario 3 is exactly half as likely as scenario 1.

Scenario 2: What are the odds you get dealt four of the cards asked in Scenario 1, and the fifth card you need is the face-up card in the pile of 4 remaining cards?

This is harder to compute.  First we split the calculation down by distribution of H.  I've written d(H)=(3,2) to mean that H contains 3 Jacks and 2 non-Jacks. Note that it is only possible to get Scenario 2 if H contains 1,2 or 3 Jacks.  We refer to "Scenario 2" as S2 for brevity.

P(S2) = P(d(H)=(3,2))P(S2 | d(H)=(3,2)) + P(d(H)=(2,3))P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3))
        + P(d(H)=(1,4))P(S2 | d(H)=(1,4))
P(d(H)=(j,n)) = (4Cj)(20Cn) / (24C5)

Scenario 2, Part 1: Three Jacks in the hand

Consider the case where H contains 3 Jacks and 2 non-Jacks.

P(S2 | d(H)=(3,2)) = P(2 of the Jacks are same colour) * P(2 non-Jacks are same suit)
                     * P(Suit of non-Jacks is same colour as 2 Jacks)
                     * P(T contains at least one non-Jack of same suit)
P(2 of the Jacks are same colour) = 1
P(2 non-Jacks are same suit) = 4/19
P(Suit of non-Jacks is same colour as 2 Jacks) = 1/2
P(T contains at least one non-Jack of same suit) = 1 - P(T contains 0 non-Jacks of same suit)
                                                 = 1 - 16/19 * 15/18 * 14/17 * 13/16
                                                 = 514/969
∴ P(S2 | d(H)=(3,2)) = 1 * 4/19 * 1/2 * 514/969 = 1028/18411

Scenario 2, Part 2: Two Jacks in the hand

Next consider the case where H contains 2 Jacks and 3 non-Jacks.  We treat the cases where the Jacks are the same colour separately from the cases where they are different.

P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3)) = P(Jacks are same colour)P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3) and Jacks are same colour)
                     + P(Jacks not same colour)P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3) and Jacks not same colour)
                   = 1/3 P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3) and Jacks are same colour)
                     + 2/3 P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3) and Jacks not same colour)

When the Jacks are the same colour, we need exactly two of the three non-Jacks to share a suit, and that suit to be the same colour as the Jacks.

P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3) and Jacks are same colour) = P(Exactly 2 non-Jacks share a suit)
  * P(Suit is same colour as Jacks) * P(T contains at least one non-Jack of same suit)
  = (3*(4*15)/(18*19)) * (1/2) * (514/969)
  = 2570/18411

When the Jacks are different suits, we need all three non-Jacks to share a suit.

P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3) and Jacks not same colour)
 = P(All 3 non-Jacks share a suit) * P(T contains other Jack of same colour)
 = (4*3)/(19*18) * 4/19
 = 8/1083

Putting these two cases together we get:

P(S2 | d(H)=(2,3)) = 1/3 * 2570/18411 + 2/3 * 8/1083 = 2842/55233

Scenario 2, Part 3: One Jack in the hand

The final distribution of H to consider is 1 Jack and 4 non-Jacks.

P(S2 | d(H)=(1,4)) = P(At least 3 non-Jacks share a suit) * P(The Jack is the same colour)
                     * P(T contains other Jack of same colour)
P(At least 3 non-Jacks share a suit) = (4*4*3*15 + 4*3*2) / (19*18*17) = 124/969
P(The Jack is the same colour) = 1/2
P(T contains other Jack of same colour) = 4/19
∴ P(S2 | d(H)=(1,4)) = 124/969 * 1/2 * 4/19 = 248/18411

Scenario 2: Conclusion

So putting all of that together.

P(S2) = (4C3)(20C2)/(24C5) * 1028/18411 + (4C2)(20C3)/(24C5) * 2842/55233
        + (4C1)(20C4)/(24C5) * 248/18411
      = 4*190/42504 * 1028/18411 + 6*1140/42504 * 2842/55233 + 4*4845/42504 * 248/18411
      = 4670/302841
      ~= 1.54%

Simulation

To check my calculations I have written a Python script to evaluate ten million deals, to see how frequently each of the scenarios occurs.  The script is here.

I also used it to compute the probability of any of the four players satisfying each of the three scenarios for a given deal.  I thought this would be interesting, as this is what was observed in the question, although not actually the probability being asked for.

Probability for a single player   | Probability across all four players
Scenario1 | Scenario2 | Scenario3 | Scenario1 | Scenario2 | Scenario3
 0.0972%  |  1.5319%  |  0.05  %  |  0.3703%  |  5.9367%  |  0.1748%
 0.0927%  |  1.519 %  |  0.0442%  |  0.3716%  |  5.9698%  |  0.1914%
 0.0911%  |  1.5607%  |  0.0466%  |  0.3896%  |  5.9523%  |  0.187 %
 0.096 %  |  1.5207%  |  0.0442%  |  0.3753%  |  5.9583%  |  0.1853%
 0.0946%  |  1.5594%  |  0.0457%  |  0.3711%  |  5.9709%  |  0.1844%
 0.1004%  |  1.561 %  |  0.0466%  |  0.3824%  |  6.0065%  |  0.1916%
 0.0964%  |  1.5367%  |  0.0476%  |  0.3776%  |  5.9651%  |  0.1882%
 0.098 %  |  1.563 %  |  0.0452%  |  0.3775%  |  6.0131%  |  0.188 %
 0.0942%  |  1.5385%  |  0.0469%  |  0.3849%  |  6.0205%  |  0.1852%
 0.0983%  |  1.535 %  |  0.0418%  |  0.3641%  |  5.9913%  |  0.1931%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 0.0959%  |  1.5426%  |  0.0459%  |  0.3764%  |  5.9785%  |  0.1869%

Happily the simulation backs up the calculations.


How does Lava Burst work with hexproof/shroud? How does Lava Burst work with hexproof/shroud ability?

Lava Burst text says:

  If Lava Burst would deal damage to a creature, that damage can't be prevented or dealt instead to another creature or player.

However, hexproof / shroud ability also say:

  This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities ...

So how does it actually work? Can Lava Burst damage a hexproof / shroud creature, or can't that creature be targeted at all?

No, Lava Burst cannot damage a creature with shroud or an opponent's creature with hexproof. An opponent's creature with hexproof or shroud can't be the target of anything you control, period. The "cannot be prevented" text only means that prevention effects do not prevent or change that damage. The relevant rules here are:

615.1. Some continuous effects are prevention effects. Like replacement effects (see rule 614), prevention effects apply continuously as events happen -- they aren't locked in ahead of time. Such effects watch for a damage event that would happen and completely or partially prevent the damage that would be dealt. They act like "shields" around whatever they're affecting.

615.11. Some effects state that damage "can't be prevented." If unpreventable damage would be dealt, any applicable prevention effects are still applied to it. Those effects won't prevent any damage, but any additional effects they have will take place. Existing damage prevention shields won't be reduced by damage that can't be prevented.


Can you prep a spell outside your main phase in Aeon's End? The Aeon's End rules say, that if you focus one of your breaches, you may prep a spell onto that breach. Are you also allowed to do that outside of your own main phase?

For example an ally might focus one of your breaches. Can you immediatly prep a spell onto that breach?
Or if you cast Jagged Lightning in your casting phase and choose to focus one of your breaches, does this allow you to prep one of your spells and even cast it in the same casting phase?

Focusing a breach and prepping a spell to a breach are separate actions.

Rules p. 3:

  "The only time that spells can be prepped to a closed breach is during the player's turn in which that breach was focused."

So when an ally focuses your breach, that doesn't help your prepping, because the focus didn't happen on your turn. (But it does make future opening cheaper. And it did happen on their turn, so if they had the ability to prep a spell to your breach that could work.)

When a spell you cast focuses your breach, that did happen on your turn, so you can prep a spell to it that turn (in the main phase) without focusing it again.


Would Loyalty Abilities be negated by Pithing Needle? In doing research on how to counter activated abilities (See here) I found the Pithing Needle and I wondered: do Loyalty Abilities count within the activated abilities targeted by Pithing Needle's text?

Pithing Needle would always nullify the planeswalker's loyalty abilities.

According to rule 306.5d of the November 11, 2016 edition of the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules, loyalty abilities are activated abilities that (typically) do not produce mana.

  306.5d Each planeswalker has a number of loyalty abilities, which are activated abilities with
  loyalty symbols in their costs. Loyalty abilities follow special rules: A player may activate a
  loyalty ability of a permanent he or she controls any time he or she has priority and the stack is
  empty during a main phase of his or her turn, but only if none of that permanent’s loyalty
  abilities have been activated that turn. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”

And this is echoed in rule 606.2 of the same compendium.

  606.2. An activated ability with a loyalty symbol in its cost is a loyalty ability. Normally, only
  planeswalkers have loyalty abilities

Additionally, as Jefromi pointed out, loyalty abilities are never mana abilities according to rule 605.1a

  605.1a An activated ability is a mana ability if it meets all of the following criteria: it doesn’t have a
  target, it could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves, and it’s not a loyalty
  ability. (See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”)


If my opponent casts Ultimate Price on my Phantasmal Bear, can I save it by casting Snap or Curfew? I attack with Phantasmal Bear. My opponent responds by casting Ultimate Price and targets my bear. Can I save my creature by casting Snap or Curfew? If I had a regular creature, I know that Curfew would be able to save because I would just return it to my hand and my opponents Ultimate Price would have an illegal target and fizzle out. But, I'm supposed to sacrifice Phantasmal Bear when it becomes targeted. So I'm just very confused on whether my bear will lose the target when I cast Curfew or automatically die because it was previously targeted. (I know now most illusions don't have that ability, but my whole deck has creatures with that ability so its very important)

You can save your Phantasmal Bear with Curfew, but not with Snap.

The "illusion ability" is a triggered ability, and once it triggers it goes on the stack on top of whatever spell or ability triggered it. So, after your opponent casts the Ultimate Price, the triggered ability goes on the stack and then you have the opportunity to respond. If you respond by casting Curfew, you can choose to put the Phantasmal Bear into your hand, which will save it from both its own ability and the removal spell. If you instead respond with Snap, Snap itself targets the creature, so the illusion ability will trigger again and go onto the stack on top of Snap, and you will have to sacrifice the creature before Snap resolves.


Which way to capture a queen? This is a problem from today's New York Post.

You (South) are in a stretchy major suit contract with only 22 high card points. You have four top tricks outside the trump suit, and have just won a critical finesse in your hand by finessing to your king. This bypassed an ace in East, whose early play showed an A-Q and five cards in another suit, but did not open.

If East had as much as a queen more, he would have opened, so all other honors including the queen of trumps must be with west. With five (non-trump) tricks in hand, you need five trump tricks to make game. (There are no other trick taking possibilities in this problem, so focus only on this one assumption.)

You have AJ862. Dummy has K54. Opponents have QT973 between them, with the Q in West, for reasons discussed above.

There are two ways to capture the queen. One is to play for the drop. In the problem, West has Q7, so South makes his (optimistic) contract.

The other try is a "backward finesse." Lead the J of trumps from the South hand, and capture West's queen with the king in dummy (if West covers). Then lead back a low trump through East.

As the cards lie, the backward finesse fails, because you are leading through East's T9 to your A8 in hand. (It would have worked if West had Q9 or QT and East had T73 or 973.) But suppose the 8 were a higher cards, say 9 or T (and East's correspondingly lower). Would the backward finesse then have offered better chances for five trump tricks than the drop?

"It would have worked if West had Q9 or QT and East had T73 or 973."

I don't think that's the case; if they lie like that, East or West will win the T or 9, depending on whether you run the 8 or not. Laying out all the possibilities, I can see only one holding where the finesse succeeds against the correct defence

Q      T973    Fails
QT     973     Fails
Q9     T73     Fails
Q7     T93     Fails
Q3     T97     Fails
QT9    73      Fails
QT7    93      Fails
QT3    97      Fails
Q97    T3      Fails
Q93    T7      Fails
Q73    T9      Succeeds
Qxxx   x       Fails
Qxxxxx void    Fails

Turn the 8 into the T, and we have...

Q      9873    Fails
Q9     873     Succeeds
Q8     973     Succeeds
Q7     983     Succeeds
Q3     987     Succeeds
Q98    73      Succeeds
Q97    83      Succeeds
Q93    87      Succeeds
Q87    93      Succeeds
Q83    97      Succeeds
Q73    98      Succeeds
Qxxx   x       Fails
Qxxxxx void    Fails

What a difference those two pips make!
Give declarer the 9 instead of the 8...

Q      T873    Fails
QT     873     Succeeds
Q8     T73     Succeeds
Q7     T83     Succeeds
Q3     T87     Succeeds
QT8    73      Fails
QT7    93      Fails
QT3    87      Fails
Q87    T3      Succeeds
Q83    T7      Succeeds
Q73    T8      Succeeds
Qxxx   x       Fails
Qxxxxx void    Fails

although some of those successes rely on a clairvoyant knowledge of the distribution.

So my conclusion is, unless you have the ten, try to drop the queen.


How many of each land do I need to support a draft tournament? I am planning on running some booster draft tournaments, and want to make sure I am well supplied. The best case scenario is that each player takes 8 of one color and 8 of another color (assuming a typical 40% land spread). Realistically this doesn't happen, though. Sometimes there's more of one color than another in the draft packs. Some people go mono-color. Some people might be poor players and go with a color they don't have strong cards in (this is very common in red and green) which increases demand for that 'overloaded' color (while decreasing demand for another).

So the 'best all around' would be 4 land per color per person. So for a 10 player draft I should have 40 land of each color.

The 'worst case scenario' (while realistically impossible) would be 17 land of the same color for every person. So a 10 player draft would be 170 land of each color (since I don't know ahead of time which color will get 'overloaded' as such).

In summary, For a magic booster draft of N players, how many of each land should I have available to accommodate a reasonably likely scenario?

In a booster draft, generally a player has about 16-18 lands depending upon their card choices. So for a 10 person draft, you can assume around 160 - 180 lands in use at one time. However, because of the random nature of the cards in the pack you can't assume the distributions of the colors for each player, so you should probably assume that you need at a minimum 180/5 = 36 lands of each type. I wouldn't feel comfortable holding a draft unless I had 50 or so of each color, though.

The next question you need to ask is if you are allowing the participants to keep their land or if they need to give it back. MTG players are kinda forgetful in giving back basic lands, so you should probably consider having as many lands as possible so that you don't run out as you hold multiple tournaments.


Is it possible to design a two player game of skill with absolutely no luck? I really do mean absolutely no luck. This would disqualify even games like Chess as White has an inherent advantage, winning between 52 and 56 percent of all games. A good test for a game with absolutely no luck is:

If player 1 plays again as player 2 and vice-versa, both playing to the best of their abilities, then the second match would be played out exactly the same as the first match.

Is it even possible to design such a game? If so then what would the rules of such a game entail? If not then why?

By Zermelo's Theorem, every 2 player game has one of the following:

Chance
Hidden information (this also includes simultaneous moves)
Either first or second player has a strategy that will guarantee them the win
Both players can guarantee a draw (or force the game to go on forever)

Any game that has (1) is clearly out.

Any game that has (2) is also out if you view chance as our way of modeling information that is unknown. After all, the same rules of probability work whether it's unknown because it will be chosen soon by the roll of a die, or is unknown because an opponent has already chosen something but isn't telling us.

Any game that has (3) is out by your definition, which is reasonable because presumably you choose who goes first by chance, and that determines the winner.

So your only choice is to go for (4): games that under perfect play end in draws (or are infinite). For example, tic-tac-toe can be thought of as fitting your requirements because under perfect play every game is always a draw, no chance involved.

Note that we can't always distinguish games in category (3) and (4) - for example, though you talk about the "inherent advantage" of first in chess, it's entirely possible that this advantage is merely an artifact of our incomplete understanding of perfect play, and that two perfect players might always play to a draw (perhaps even in the same way each time). You can also convert any game with (3) into a game with (4) by wrapping two rounds together in a single game where first player alternates, and declaring the overall game a draw unless one player wins both times. So while chess may or may not fit your definition, two-round-chess does.

ADDENDUM, addressing common objections to this answer:

The English definition of "game" is broader and fuzzier than the "extensive-form" definition I am implicitly using to apply Zermelo's Theorem. If you wish to consider other types of games, including timed contests of prowess and trivia, read other answers.
My analysis of (2) is certainly controversial - I consider rock-paper-scissors a game containing luck but you don't have to. For more on different views of chance, read about Bayesian vs frequentist schools of thought.
I consider simultaneous moves under hidden information because you could imagine that players alternate but the first player's move is hidden until the second player moves.


Need help with keeping track of +1/+1 counters on a large amount of creatures I have a problem keeping track of counters on my cards. For example, I have too many things to keep counters on and would prefer not to use dice.
I tried using paper but there is too much to keep track of.

My group mainly uses dice, but even then with counters on many creatures, that can become burdensome. One thing we do is have "group dice" aka use one dice for a group of creatures to represent counters on all of them.
That same principle could easily apply to non-dice counters. These green baubles in front of this group of creatures are +1/+1 counters on all of them.  This red one is a -1/-1 on these 3 creatures.  This coin is the number of times I've cast my commander (bigger stack = more expensive?).


planeswalker- Kiora on the battlefield and played Hydra and creature gained 7, does the counters fall away when planeswalker die I have a planeswalker- Kiora on the battlefield and I played Bioessence Hydra and that creature gained 7 counters , does the counters fall away when the planeswalker die or not

No. Bioessence Hydra Has 2 abilities that grant counters. The first is a replacement effect that gives it counters as it enters the battlefield. It doesn’t do anything else after that. The second is a triggered ability that gives it counters when planeswalkers gain loyalty. It never causes you to lose counters though.

Counters always stay on a permanent unless a specific rule or ability says to remove them. Even though the number of counters here is initially based on the planeswalker’s loyalty; there is no rules connection between the planeswalker and the Hydra.


Why is Bang! so predictable when I play it? Bang! gets rave reviews from every source. However I can't see how to play it other than in a very predictable and routine manner.
It seems like every game generally follows this routine:

Everyone waits for the first shot.
Outlaw shoots at sheriff.
Deputies/Renegades shoot anyone who shoots Sheriff
Renegade eventually turns on Sheriff

People say "try to figure out who people are", but how? There's no information, you just wait until they shoot, and then you know for certain.

The only divergence in the strategies I've found is for the Renegade, pretending to be a deputy at first.

I'm sure this is a great game, and I want to convince my friends of it, but I just don't know how.

In some sense, your question is a bit circular. It's predictable because the games were all played with the same, predictable strategy. While it's definitely bad to start shooting away right at the beginning of the game, you don't have to save everything up for one final shootout.

If you're an outlaw, you don't have to just shoot at the sheriff - killing a deputy or renegade is good too, and you can potentially go for that without demonstrating that you're an outlaw. If you're a deputy or the sheriff, you don't have to wait until you know who your target is - in fact, if you wait until people are shooting at the sheriff, it's probably too late. For the deputy and sheriff, most other players are valid targets, so even if they shoot someone without knowing, more likely than not it's someone they wanted to shoot.

For many players, it's advantageous to weaken the players between them and the sheriff. For the outlaws, this is good so that they'll be within range of the sheriff when the time comes, and for the deputy, it's good to have the sheriff on one side and reduce the number of hostile players they're within range of.

And this brings us to your assertion that there's no information. Once people are taking potshots, there's a little bit of information - everyone's trying to eke out a bit of advantage before the late game without putting all their cards on the table. It's still not the deepest game, but it doesn't have to be as dull as the way you've played it.


Bang and Panic Cards For a Panic card, can you draw a blue card that is already in play? If you can, is it possible to use that same blue card for yourself?

From the rules describing the "Draw a card" symbol:

  If “any player”
  is specified (see that symbol),
  then you can draw a random
  card from his hand, or you can
  choose one in play in front of him.
  If no player is specified, draw the top
  card of the deck. In any case, cards
  drawn are added to your hand.

The rules don't explicitly clarify what happens when you're drawing from a player in range 1 rather than "any player", but it's reasonable to assume that the same rule applies to those two very similar cases. So yes you can take a blue card that's already in play and put it in your hand. And once it's in your hand, it's yours just like any other card so yes you can use that same card yourself.


Is there a best time to play Tablet of Time's Dawn? The card Tablet of Time's Dawn (ToTD) states:

  You may banish this Construct to take an additional turn after this
  one.

Is there a best1 time to use the card's ability? I see three possibilities (my definition of the three phases are somewhat vague):

Early game (basically as soon as possible): if you're trying to thin your deck (e.g. by using Shade of the Black Watch, which lets you banish a card in your hand or discard pile), playing ToTD now might get you a more effective (more runes or power per card) deck than your opponent.
Mid-game (you'll get several opportunities to use cards bought in this phase): playing ToTD now, will give you two shots at buying good cards in the card row, thus denying your opponent them.
Late-game (your last, or second-to-last round): playing ToTD late in the game will give you two chances to use your deck to the best of its ability.

This is of course barring the occasion that you get e.g. Hedron Link Device and Reclamax in addition to ToTD, for the possibility of infinite turns. Let's assume the game is played with 60 VP and you're playing against one opponent.

1. Where best is defined as what gives you the greatest likelyhood of winning the game.

No, there is no best time to use that ability to increase your odds of of winning. The thing to remember with cards like this is that a lot of it will depend on how the overall game is progressing. This includes the skill level of your opponents and what mix of cards are coming out

Early/Mid game I find it best used when there is one or more cards in the center that you want to get or prevent others from getting. This works great when paired with cards that have abilities to acquire one or more cards from the center/deck. Even better if you can stack your deck or otherwise ensure you will have those abilities.

End game it is similar but also ensuring that you will be able to get at least get the two honor back that you would lose from banishing it.

Last thing to remember is that even with a deck that can regularly pull out some very good turns it is possible for the extra turn to be a dud. It has happened to me where I end up drawing my entire deck (plus all the cards I acquired that turn) and end up with crap for the following turn.


Using Supernatural Stamina on a Zombie Creature with Diregraf Colossus on the board So let's say for instance I am attacking with a Festering Mummy and it's blocked so I use Supernatural Stamina on it because I know it will be destroyed. If I have Diregraf Colossus in play does the Zombie Card returned act as a spell cast? I was looking at rulings on Supernatural Stamina here

Supernatural Stamina adds a Triggered Ability to the (in this case) mummy that has an Effect of returning the mummy to the battlefield when it dies. This is not the same as casting a spell so it does not Trigger the Ability of the Diregraf Colossus.

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


The Resistance card game - "Deep Cover" Spy role question This question is probably best suited for those who have played The Resistance extensively, especially with the "Commander" and "Deep Cover" expansion roles.

Among The Resistance expansion packs, there is a role called "Deep Cover" that is unknown to the "Commander" role. This "Deep Cover" role spy wakes up with all of the other spies during the sleep phase, and all spies are known to each other. However, when the "Commander" role wakes up to look for the spies, the "Deep Cover" role does not raise his or her thumb/put his or her hand up/whatever indicator you use. So, this "Deep Cover" role is unknown to the Resistance "Commander".

My question is this: During the phase where the spies wake up and acknowledge each other, does the "Deep Cover" spy give some kind of indication that he or she is the "Deep Cover" spy? The rules are ambiguous on this point, and it has been causing some contention when our group plays.

About half of us are of the opinion that the deep cover spy indicating that he or she is the deep cover spy gives the spies an advantage, as it can reduce the possibility of playing double "fails". The other half of the group are of the opinion that the rest of the spies knowing the deep cover spy doesn't give the spies any advantage, and in some cases, can give the resistance members an advantage.

Does anyone have any insight on how this should be played?

Reveal script in the rule book is very thorough:

  Reveal Script

  The “reveal” phase at the start of the game will vary depending on
  which roles are added – see below for new scripts to use for the
  different Character cards that are included.

  “Everyone close your eyes and extend your hand into a fist in front
  of you”
  “Spies, not the Blind Spy – open your eyes and look around
  to see your fellow spies”
  “Spies close your eyes”
  “All players should have their eyes closed and hands in a fist in front of them”
  “Spies, not the Deep Cover spy – extend your thumb so the Commander
  will know you”
  “Commander, open your eyes and see the Spies”
  “Spies – put your thumbs down and re-form your hand into a fist”
  “Commander, close your eyes” “All players should have their eyes
  closed and hands in a fist in front of them”
  “Commander & False Commander – extend your thumb so that the Body Guard knows you”
  “Body Guard, open your eyes so you know the Commander & False
  Commander”
  “Commander & False Commander – put your thumbs down and
  form your hand into a fist”
  “Body Guard, close your eyes”
  “All players should have their eyes closed and hands in a fist in front
  of them”
  “Everyone open your eyes”

Just follow it exactly and you'll see that there is nothing specific Deep Cover spy has to do during step 2, and by step 5 spies already closed their eyes, so they shouldn't have this bit of information.

So other spies know that Deep Cover spy is on their team, but they don't know that he/she is Deep Cover spy.

Of course, nothing stops you from making homerules and playing it differently if you feel like it, as discussed on BGG forum for Resistance Avalon (which is the same game really)


How am I supposed to position my link monster? I am brand new to Yu-Gi-Oh, and after playing a few games with Kaiba/Yugi duel decks I have bought a cyberse deck and encountered Link monsters, which confuse me.

For example I have an Encode Talker, which has eight arrows around its art, three of which are "lit up" which I'm assuming means "enabled"(?).

But these "enabled arrows" on Encode Talker point (1)down, (2) down and to the right, and (3) up. None of them point left or right.

But my understanding from the play mat is that monsters all go in a row. So if his "enabled arrows" can't possibly point at other monsters since they would be to his direct left or right, and monsters are the only type of cards he affects, what are the arrows supposed to point at?

What am I missing?

What am I missing?

Perhaps you are missing that the Game Field recently changed, with the creation of Link Monsters.

Now, monsters from the Extra Deck are to be placed on the Extra Monster Zone.  These are two new zones "shared" by both players.

The rules now say that you may only play an Extra Deck Monster (Synchro, Link, XYZ, Fusion) on such new zones, or well on a regular Monster Zone if any Link monster's arrows point to that Monster Zone. In other words, placing Link Monsters enable you to place more Extra Deck monsters on the Zones they point to.

Be aware that if the arrow happens to point to an opponent's Monster Zone, then they are able to place Extra Deck monsters there also. As in the case of your Decode Talker, we can see it has 3 arrows, and one points straight, towards one of your opponent's Zones. This enables your opponent to place Extra Deck monsters there as well as in the other ExtraDeck Zone.

This in some way "balances" the power of Decode Talker; given it is a card that gives you great advantages, enabling your opponent to do this sort of evens things out. Furthermore, almost all Link Monsters that have some powerful effect point to your opponent's Zones, as to balance the power of their effects (contrary to the less powerful Links, as they don't usually have arrows towards your opponent).

This is the reason why your Decode Talker has such arrows: it enables you 2 new zones to play Extra Deck Monsters, as well as one for your opponent. It is important to stress that where you place your monsters in this new field is an important part of any game strategy. Before this changes little mattered where you placed your monsters, as long as you had space to play them there were virtually no advantages of placing a monster on a specific Zone.1

1One exception that comes to mind is Alien Infiltrator. This interesting monster takes advantage of its position (and can even move!), as it reads:

  Once per turn, this card can move to an adjacent (horizontal) unoccupied Monster Card Zone. If no Spell, Trap or Monster Card on your opponent's side of the field is in the same column as this card, it can attack your opponent directly

As you can see this was an unusual card back then, but now placement of monsters is more relevant to any strategy as compared to before.


Does drawing the tentacle chaos token imply a failure with test result 0? Some tests result in penalties that increase with the level of failure in a test. For instance a willpower(3) test might say to lose a horror for each point you fail by. Would drawing tentacles mean failing by 3 points here regardless of how many points you started with, whether it be 8 or even -2?

Yes, the tentacles token is an "automatic failure" for the skill test, which is defined on page 5 of the RRG:

  If a skill test automatically fails, the investigator’s total skill
  value for that test is considered 0.

So in your example with a Willpower(3) test, revealing the tentacles would deal 3 horror.


When does removing Goblin Warchief affect its cost reduction ability? If I cast Goblin Warchief, giving my Goblins a cost reduction of 1 mana, and my opponent responds with an instant removal spell, can I play more creatures with the reduced cost?

I suspect the answer to be no, because the removal spell will go on the stack and will resolve before I can continue playing my creatures, and thus the Warchief will already be in the graveyard.

In contrast, the Storm deck can continue to play instant spells when Baral, Chief of Compliance is targeted, because being instants, they can be cast when the stack is not empty.

Your understanding is correct.

You can cast one Goblin with the reduced cost, but only if you do so before you know your opponent is going to remove your Goblin Warchief, and only if there is nothing that triggers upon Warchief entering the battlefield.

After a spell resolves, the active player (you since it is your turn) gets priority. This means that you can cast another Goblin at the reduced cost before your opponent has any chance to respond.

  117.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

If you do cast a Goblin at the reduced cost, your opponent could respond to that while the new Goblin is on the stack by targeting your Warchief for removal. This would prevent you from being able to cast any further creatures at reduced cost.

If you pass priority, this is when your opponent can cast an instant-speed removal spell. Once this happens, you will not be able to cast more creatures at the reduced cost (unless you have some ability that allows you to cast creatures at instant speed). By the time you would be able to cast a creature again (when the stack is empty), your Warchief will be gone.

Also, if there is an enter-the-battlefield trigger that happens when Warchief enters, your opponent could respond while that trigger is on the stack; thus destroying Warchief at instant speed before you get a chance to cast another creature.

If you have a way to cast creatures at instant speed (such as Leyline of Anticipation, you can do so while the removal spell is still on the stack. You would get the reduced cost because the removal spell has not resolved yet, so Warchief would still be around.


How can we stop the same person being the traitor each time? I recently received Betrayal at House on the Hill. The last and only three times we've played it the same person/player has been the traitor. I know this is unlikely, but we've started joking that the haunt text says "Player X is the traitor". They don't seem to mind ("is the game trying to tell us something?").

I know there are rules for skipping haunts you've already played. Are there rules for skipping traitors that have gotten sick of being traitors?

There aren't any rules for it. If you're getting tired of the same person being the traitor, then make a house rule based loosely on the rules for skipping haunts, and you can go back to having fun again.

Or you can just keep playing; it's only been three games so far.  What are the odds that the same person is the traitor again?

Edit: Yes, I realize the odds are the same each time.  But even with just 3 players, it's less than 50% each time.  The traitor should be a different player after just one or two more games.

And here are a few quick-and-dirty ways to select a different player:

Select the next-most-appropriate player.

If the traitor is the haunt revealer, select the next player to the left.  Give them the Omen that caused the haunt.  (I considered only giving them the Omen if it was relevant, but that could reveal some information about the haunt.  So give it to them regardless of whether it's relevant or not.)
If the traitor is the player with the highest [trait], select the player with the next-highest [trait].  If the stat is particularly relevant to the haunt (i.e., you need to beat the Traitor at that particular trait, or that trait is highly relevant to the Heroes' success and the haunt wanted to deny that advantage to the Heroes), select a different haunt using the standard rules.

Pick somebody else randomly.  Give them the Omen that caused the haunt, if the haunt revealer is supposed to be the Traitor.
Use the standard rules to select a different haunt, until the selected Traitor is someone else.


Consume power usage clarification The rulebook says in the "Consume" section:

  Each consume power can be used only once in a consume phase. Some powers allow multiple goods, “up to” some number, to be discarded, with each good producing an effect. Such powers must be fully used, if possible, when invoked.

    Thus, a player with a tableau containing three novelty goods, New
    Vinland, and Free Trade Association, cannot consume two goods
    using FTA’s power (to consume up to 3 novelty goods for 1 VP
    and a card apiece) and then, based on the cards received, decide
    to consume the third novelty good using New Vinland’s power (to
    consume a good for two

Let's consider a slighty modified example: The player has a tableau containing two novelty goods, New Vinland, and Free Trade Association. Since FTA power cannot be fully used because the player does not have three novelty goods, the player decide to use it to consume just one novelty good. The rules above do not forbid that. Then the player uses the New Vinland power for the remaining novelty good.

If the rules intention was to forbid that, they would say instead of "Such powers must be fully used, if possible, when invoked" something to the effect "Such powers must consume as many matching goods as the player has, up to the specified number".

Did I get this right? I'd like an authorative source, please.

No.

You are reading too much into this rule. “Fully used if possible” can also be understood as “used as much as possible”.

Now, let's assume your interpretation is the correct one. Using the boardstate you described minus the New Vinland. You could consume only one good (or even 0 by arguing that it is not more than 3), which is against the spirit of the rules (you must consume as much as possible).

So, while I do not have an authorative source, I can say that your interpretation is not the intended one.


How to counter oddities of Shade-Tree Checkers? (long distance king jumps, etc) I know someone who played checkers with a guy, and he plays with non-standard rules. People he plays with have their own rules, in this case, he played where the kinged checkers piece can jump unlimited distance and land just past the single piece being jumped. For example, given the below board, with White and Black kings

___________
|  B    W
|W
|  B
|

Normally, White's only jump move would be with the left piece jumping the lower Black, but in this variation, the top right White can make a jump down-left just past the lower Black.

I don't hold much hope that you would know these particular rules, since they were probably made up on the fly and talked into acceptance.

What would you suggest, as how to defeat someone who is used to this.. but not by forcing him into the standard rules.

Is there online reading material regarding obscure game variants?
Is there a way to get a computer to follow unusual rules, allowing me to get some practice ahead of time? (at least with the special rules I'm aware of) I am a programmer, but I was hoping for something that required less programming and maybe something more generic, where I can just set the rules and play on a higher level.
Do you have other suggestions on how to level the playing field, so I can fare better in checkers with this opponent?

I am hoping to get in as much practice ahead of time before, to reduce the need to learn on the fly.

I play Chess very well already.

The variant of checkers described here is most likely Pool Checkers, or is at least closely related. A quick Google search showed several online play sites along with general strategy write-ups. There is even an iPad app with VS Computer play.

Having never played the variant myself, I cannot give any specific advice on gameplay improvements.


When does the Alien Die reset? I understand the concept of what the Alien Die does.  Every time someone rolls for something, they check the Alien Die against the current threat level.  If the threat is 1, the Alien Die indicates a failure on 1 or less.

What I don't know is when that die resets.  For example:

I'm the Science Officer and I am researching Tech 1 (since you have to go in order from 1 to 3).  I roll once and get 1 success.  I need three.  I press my luck and increase the threat.  I roll again and get one more success.  Now comes my question.

If the Alien Die ends up greater than the threat and I stop, what happens to the threat when I go to the next research item?
If the Alien Die ends up greater than the threat and I keep going, and then I succeed, what happens to the threat when I go to the next research item?
If the Alien Die ends up less than or equal to the threat, what happens to the threat when I go to the next research item?

This applies to Base Defense, Global Defense, and Missions as well.  What happens per continent, per alien, and per mission task?  I don't know if the threat ever resets itself during those times.

The alien die resets between tasks.  The only exceptions are that you don't reset between mission tasks, and you don't reset between base defense tasks.

You reset between each science task and each global defense task, so you'll start each science card and each continent at 1.  For missions and base defense, you start the first one at 1, but from then on it will keep increasing until you move to the next type of task.


What are the characteristics of a flip card in my library? Are the characteristics of a flip card in my library determined by both faces or just the front face?

For example, can I use an Enlightened Tutor to fetch Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant? Enlightened Tutor searches for enchantments and artifacts. If Sasaya is only an Enchantment after she's flipped, does that count?

In your library, a flip card has only the characteristics of the top half of the card. You cannot use Enlightened Tutor to find Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant, because

  In every zone other than the battlefield, and also on the battlefield before the permanent flips, a flip card has only the normal characteristics of the card. (CR 709.2, emphasis added)

(From 709.1a and 1b, the top half defines the "normal characteristics", and the bottom half defines the "alternative characteristics".)

Basically, until it's actually flipped, the card/spell acts as if the flip version wasn't printed on it, so neither the tutor nor the enchantress will ever do anything with it (since it's not an enchantment either when you cast it).


How do I take advantage of the Japanese Anti-American offense? I tried the shuck-shuck approach while playing US and moved my Pacific fleet to the Atlantic (Japan didn't attack Pearl Harbor). However, Japan then used its entire fleet to invade Western United States. I quickly fell (due to a blunder), which decided the game.

How could the Allies have maximized on Japan's abandonment of the mainland? The UK lost its Indian Ocean fleet and didn't have resources to build a new one. Mainland Asia eventually came under British control, but there wasn't a chance to take Japan itself.

Some other information about the board state:

Germany destroyed the UK fleet on its first turn, then immediately followed the Japanese invasion of the US by destroying the entire American navy. Japan's navy sailed through the Panama Canal and captured London. Russia was still barely holding off Germany.

One thing that you could do would be attacking anything in the Japanese sea zone with the American fleet.  The British would then advance on Japanese controlled Asia and with the Americans keeping the Japanese from building ships, it will make it a lot easier as the game continues.  The US will still need to build a slightly bigger navy in order to destroy the rest of the Japanese.  Try not to break up your navy into several smaller armadas.  Just hold off the Germans the your British in Europe and the Russians.  Once Japan is relatively helpless, you can take all but one ship from the Pacific and then, if you can keep Japan at bay, you can start to creep into Europe to help your allies.  Hope this helps!


Archetypes in powered mtg-cube What archetypes are most common/popular to include in powered cubes (preferably size 540)?

Mono-Red. Aggressive creatures and burn.

White Weenie. Aggressive creatures, cheap removal and equipment.

Mono-Black Aggro. Aggressive creatures, removal and discard.

U/W Control. Counterspells, board wipes, removal, card draw and a few big finishers.

5-Color Control. Like U/W but with more powerful spells and mana-fixing.

Reanimator. Put fatties in the graveyard and then reanimate them cheaply and quickly. This requires some card draw and filtering to go off reliably. This deck often contains removal and permission like a control deck, too.

Ramp. Spend your early turns putting extra lands on the battlefield and playing mana rocks. Then, start dropping fatties before your opponent can.

Storm Combo. Draw through your deck quickly, upping your storm count until you finish your opponent with Grapeshot or Empty the Warrens.

Land Destruction. Play mana rocks early and then cripple your opponent with a spell like Armageddon or Jokulhaups.


What card types can't appear in your library? From the new Kaldheim release notes on [Alrund, God of the Cosmos]:

You may choose any card type, but the ones that may appear in your library are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal (a card type found on some older cards).

This wording surprised me, because I didn't think any other card types existed.
What other card types are there that can't appear in your library?

Conspiracy, phenomenon, plane, scheme and vanguard.

300.1. The card types are artifact, conspiracy, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.

313.1. Conspiracy cards are used only in limited play, particularly in the Conspiracy Draft variant (see rule 905). [...]
313.3. Conspiracy cards remain in the command zone throughout the game. [...]

310.1. Phenomenon is a card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards. Only the Planechase casual variant uses phenomenon cards. See rule 901, “Planechase.”
310.2. Phenomenon cards remain in the command zone throughout the game [...]

309.1. Plane is a card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards. Only the Planechase casual variant uses plane cards. See rule 901, “Planechase.”
309.2. Plane cards remain in the command zone throughout the game [...]

312.1. Scheme is a card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards. Only the Archenemy casual variant uses scheme cards. See rule 904, “Archenemy.”
312.2. Scheme cards remain in the command zone throughout the game [...]

311.1. Vanguard is a card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards. Only the Vanguard casual variant uses vanguard cards. See rule 902, “Vanguard.”
311.2. Vanguard cards remain in the command zone throughout the game. [...]


Would Evacuation and Ambush Commander return all forests to their owners' hands? Evacuation returns all creatures to owners hands. Ambush Commander turns all forests into creatures. Would that mean that Evacuation would return all forests to their owners hand?

Ambush Commander only affects its controller's Forests, but otherwise, yes.  Evacuation will return them to their owners' hands.
This doesn't come down to a single rules citation, but ultimately Creature Lands still count as creatures due to this rule:

608.2h If an effect refers to certain characteristics, it checks only for the value of the specified characteristics, regardless of any related ones an object may also have.
Example: An effect that reads “Destroy all black creatures” destroys a white-and-black creature, but one that reads “Destroy all nonblack creatures” doesn’t.

It does not matter that they are 'Creature Lands', the spell just cares that they are creatures.


What happens if I lose a match due to time in a single-elimination game, but I have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield? According to the Magic: the Gathering tournament rules, when time has been called on a game during single-elimination rounds:

  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 state-based action: if a player does not have the highest life total, they lose the game.

What happens if I have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield when this occurs?

First a small disclaimer: I'm not a judge. This answer is combined from information I found from Platinum Angel's rulings, comments of MTG judges from the Internet and common sense. For example a head judge of a tournament can turn over this ruling. This IS NOT an official ruling.

You will lose the game. Platinum Angel only prevents you losing from game effects.

Rulings on Platinum Angel:

  1.10.2009

  No game effect can cause you to lose the game or cause any opponent to win the game while you control Platinum Angel. It doesn’t matter whether you have 0 or less life, you’re forced to draw a card while your library is empty, you have ten or more poison counters, you’re dealt combat damage by Phage the Untouchable, your opponent has Mortal Combat with twenty or more creature cards in their graveyard, or so on. You keep playing.

  1.10.2009

  Other circumstances can still cause you to lose the game, however. You will lose a game if you concede, if you’re penalized with a Game Loss or a Match Loss during a sanctioned tournament due to a DCI rules infraction, or if your Magic Online(R) game clock runs out of time.

Normally Platinum Angel would prevent you from losing to state-based actions, but it appears that the "sudden death" SBA is special.

Best explanation I could find to this is in this post: https://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/32928/

  In the single elimination portion of a tournament, what happens if a player would lose to the “sudden death” rule while controlling Exquisite Archangel?

  My understanding is that they would still lose the game, because the sudden death rule is akin to a Game Loss in that it bypasses all the rules from the CR (in the same way that a Platinum Angel cannot protect you from sudden death), but I'd like confirmation.

  Your understanding is correct. As with its predecessors, Exquisite Archangel cannot prevent a player from losing to sudden death rules in a timed single-elimination match.


Zombicide: Black Plague! Strategy suggestions for Clovis and Samson I've completed the 11 quests in the base Zombicide: Black Plague! box (i.e. 1 necromancer, 1 abomination, no expansions), and I found that Clovis and Samson consistently lagged behind in terms of experience.

The other survivors have easy to identify roles (Ann and Nelly are fast, so have rapid response roles. Baldric and Silas have fire support roles).

My question is, what roles do Clovis and Samson fulfill that allows them to keep up in terms of experience?

PS. As a group we try to make sure we level up together, which works well until the orange danger level, where the other survivors shoot up. We also try to compensate by having Clovis and Samson score objectives when they can.

Tips for if any survivor is lagging behind

Have them score objectives
Have them score a lot of kills with dragon bile attacks
Restrain the highest experience player from widening the gap. The tips gained for Clovis and Samson below have been gained from not using the wizard Baldric, who tends to dominate

Clovis

Role within the team: close combat expert dealing with damage 1 zombies (walkers, runners, necromancers etc.)
Secondary role within the team: close combat expert dealing with fatties, if he has a hammer (or 2!)
Optimal equipment: double daggers, shield on body
Best skills: +1 free melee action, +1 free combat action. This is not meant to be subtle - just throw more dice!
Additional notes: only give the hammer from the starting equipment to Ann or Nelly, as these are the 2 fastest survivors, so they become a rapid reaction force to early fatties

Samson

Role within the team: door breaking tank. Best used for breaking open buildings and taking damage with his iron hide
Secondary role within the team: abomination hunter (if able to get +1 Damage: melee in the red danger level, though this is less important in the base game with just one abomination)
Optimal equipment: axe (for breaking down doors), hammer, plate armour on body
Best skills: +1 die: Combat (more flexible than +1 dice to roll: melee), Barbarian in the vanilla game ("When resolving a Melee Action, the Survivor may substitute the Dice number of the Melee weapon(s) he uses with the number of Zombies standing in the targeted Zone . Skills affecting the dice value, like +1 die: Melee, still apply." - all those dice!) or +1 Damage if Abominations are a problem


What happens if there is both a tapped and untapped Archelos, Lagoon Mystic on the battlefield? (Commander Legends spoilers) Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is a creature recently spoiled in the Commander Legends set.

Archelos has two abilities on him.

As long as Archelos, Lagoon Mystic is tapped, other permanents enter the battlefield tapped.

As long as Archelos is untapped, other permanents enter the battlefield untapped.

What happens if there are two Archeloses on the battlefield, one tapped and one untapped?

These would be 2 different replacement effects, so the player whose permanent is entering the battlefield would choose one to apply first, and would then apply the other (so only the second one they chose would end up mattering):

614.1d Continuous effects that read “[This permanent] enters the battlefield . . .” or “[Objects] enter the battlefield . . .” are replacement effects.

616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below.

616.1e Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply.


Designing game that relies on honesty I'm trying to design a boardgame which seems to rely on honesty of the players. (Honesty is not the theme of the game, currently, but is the side effect of the rules)

  Basically, the players will throw a dice on a covered place (I'm thinking like the cover used in Godfather), and call the number against other player number - higher number wins.

The gameplay is not as simple as that, of course, but I'm stuck with the thought that there might be players that cheat - mainly: calling number higher than they've rolled.

Verifying the rolled dice by opening the cover won't work because of the design - it will reveal their skill cards, which supposed to be hidden.

My question is: is a game that relies (heavily) on player honesty is bad by design? Verifying means losing (like revealing your hands to other player)

Please note that I'm not asking for solution to my game (that's a bonus, if someone thought of one), but asking if the design just won't work.

Additional note: In my close group, people is trusted and expected to play honestly - in 7 Wonders we never check if someone does not have resources needed, or has paid the coins, etc. But that's different when playing with strangers who can (and will) lie to win.

It's not out of the ordinary. For example, the rules to Love Letter have a section dealing with the topic:

  Honesty
  A player could cheat when chosen with the Guard, or fail to discard the Countess when that player has the King or Prince in hand. We suggest that you don’t play with knaves who cheat at fun, light games.


In Settlers of Catan, are all actions on the same turn simultaneous? In Settlers of Catan, multiple action can be taken per turn, so you may want to go back and undo an action after you think about it more. I am wondering whether actions can be undone after proceeding on to something else. Such  as building a road, building a settlement then, after realizing the road shouldn't be built, removing it. So, my question is, can action be undone after moving on?

All building is simultaneous within a build action
Here is what the Catan rulebook has to say on the subject of building.

Build
Now you can build.  Through building, you can increase your victory points, expand your road network, improve your resource production, and/or buy useful development cards.  To build, you must pay specific combinations of resource cards (see the Building Costs Card).  Take the appropriate number of roads, settlements, and/or cities from your supply and place them on the game board.  Keep development cards hidden in your hand.

emphasis mine.
This implies that all the building is chosen and paid for all at once.
However, that is not to say you can roll back your entire turn.

Combined Trade/Build Phase
The separation of the trade and build phases was introduced to make the sequence easier to learn for beginners.  We recommend experienced players ignore this separation.
After rolling for resource production, you can trade and build in any order (you can trade, build, trade again and build again, etc.). You can even use a harbor on the same turn you build a settlement there.  Using this method speeds up the game a lot.

This means that there is separation between builds done before and after trade actions.  You cannot build a city, trade with another player, and then roll back the decision to build that city and use the new cards to instead build something else.  Those were separate actions.
And arguably, this means that it's allowable to take two separate build actions in a row.  After all, you could take a trade action and not do any trading, which gives you two consecutive build actions.  Which is useful, because building a development card reveals new information to you, and might change how you want to do the rest of your building.
How much 'undoing' is allowed will depend on your play group.
Ultimately, it's up to your play group to decide what constitutes formally 'taking' an action.  Does declaring that you're building a city count as taking the action?  Placing the city on the map?  Depositing the resource cards?
This doesn't have to be a formal decision the group makes.  Many groups are informal about this process, and frequently allow a decision to be reversed as long as it is easy to do so, no other players have made decisions in the meantime, and no new information (like looking at a newly build development card) has been revealed.  However, rewinding and adjusting a turn takes time and energy on the part of all involved, and if invoked frequently can quickly get wearing.  Groups who have members who have a tendency to waffle on their decisions are far more likely to require clear decision points after which decisions cannot be undone.  Additionally, tournament play tends to require clear decision points, as action rewinds can be used to deliberately confuse and frustrate the opponents by interrupting and changing their planning.


With regards to an effect that triggers when a creature attacks, how does it entering the battlefield tapped and attacking apply? Lets say I have Kaalia of the Vast on the battlefield. I attack with her, and cheat out Aurelia, the Warleader or Tyrant's Familiar. Would I get their "on attack" trigger? Or are they skipped.

No, you don't get the "on attack" trigger.

One of the rulings on Kaalia covers this point:

  The creature card is already tapped and attacking as it’s put onto the battlefield. Any abilities that trigger when a creature becomes tapped or when a creature attacks won’t trigger for that card.


"Hostile alien actions" when no one is in their room The rules for "Perform Hostile Alien Actions" says:

  If an alien finds a character in any location other than their start location:

  Move the concealment down 10% for each player in the room
  If a patrol of lieutenant is present, all players are injured
  The lowest ranking alien goes with all characters to the infirmary
  Patrol aliens move one space on their patrol path
  If a hacker alien is present, all unlocked systems are locked

To me, this suggests that the patrol and hackers only move, or re-lock if a character is found.

Does anyone else read it this way? Can anyone clarify this?
So far, we've been treating it as if they happen all the time.

You do perform all actions listed if possible. So in the case where there are no players present steps 1-3 don't happen and if there are no unlocked systems present step 5 doesn't happen. This is poorly worded in that section of the rules but if you look closer at the example gameplay they give it shows step 4 happening even with no players present.

Rules

  You’ve used up your actions, so it is time to draw your
  end of turn Alert. You draw “Patrol.” Two Alien Patrol
  appear in the Warden’s Office Hallway. Luckily, no one
  is there, but these are Patrol Aliens. They don’t just sit
  still and wait for the action to come to them. When you
  PERFORM HOSTILE ALIEN ACTIONS, they both move
  into the Mess Hall and find you there. An alarm sounds
  and the Concealment Level goes down by 10%. One
  of them injures you and escorts you to the Infirmary/
  Holding Cell while the other stays behind, ready to
  continue its patrol on subsequent turns.

(added bolding)

If follow through the example it shows two patrol aliens in a room with no players and has them moving to the next room where they find a player. Once they find the player they perform steps 1-3 as normal but they do not perform step 4 again.

The critical thing to note that unless players are in sequential rooms along the patrol path having them not move when no player is present really takes away alot of the power of the patrol aliens and makes it a lot easier to avoid them.


Different backgammon variation name In my country and in Greece we have three variations of Backgammon. The basic one that is played all around the world and two others. I am looking for the name of on of the two different ones and if it is played anywhere in the world besides my country and Greece.

Plakoto

This is mainly the same with backgammon but instead of hitting the oponent's checker you pin it and it stays there until you move your piece from him. You can also add up to the pinned checker with more of your checkers and your opponent cannot re-pin on top of you.  The setup is also different from the basic backgammon setup as all fifteen checkers are placed in the far edge of the table (left or right depending on the players' preference) and you have to bring all your checkers to the exact opposite one (So more or less if you start from the far right corner you have to bring all your pieces to the close right area and then collect them as with other backgammon games).

Example image

In the above case I am red. The initial setup can be both in the left side or the right side. It does not matter.

So is there a version of this game in other countries? Does any other country play this game? If so what is called?

Yes, Plakoto is played elsewhere - in Bulgaria, where it is called Tapa. It seems to be the same game as "Jail", described here: http://www.vitalinfocenter.com/bckgmn/jail.html


In Bridge, Does It Make Sense to Pre-empt in Fourth Seat? In one of my games, there were three passes. Fourth seat elected to "pre-empt," three hearts with something like the following:

♠xx ♥KQJxxxx ♦Jxx ♣x

One of the opponents doubled (for penalties), after having passed, with something like:

♠Axx ♥ATxx ♦Kxx ♣xxx

The result was down two (doubled, not vulnerable). The three non pre-empters had about 11 points each, hence no bids.

I asked, "Why did you do that? You could have broken even by passing out the hand."

Bidder responded, "I bid my cards, that's what you're supposed to do with seven of a suit."

Did he overlook the issue of "position"? That is, if the bidder had been THIRD seat. after two passes, would pre-empting have made much more sense, to presume that (barring a freak distribution) that fourth seat might have had all the cards and that the pre-empt might then have saved a game?

Did it make sense to pre-empt in fourth seat with the cards that the bidder held? If his hand had been somewhat stronger (say a king of diamonds in place of the jack), could he have had a positive "expectation" with a different bid, such as a "weak" two hearts, or even one heart?

I've always understood the general rule to be: open with a weaker hand than usual in third seat, but with a stronger hand than usual in fourth seat.  As such, no, it seems like probably a bad idea to pre-empt in the fourth seat, for a couple of reasons.

It seems to miss the point of pre-empting entirely.  Usually, a pre-emptive bid is meant to deprive the opponents of bidding space, in a semi-sacrificial (or possibly fully sacrificial!) way.  If the opponents have shown no interest in bidding... what do you think you're doing?
If you're not pre-empting to get in the opponents' way... what ARE you doing?  Your partner has passed and thus has about 10-11 points at best.  What contract are you hoping to make with  about, or slightly less than, half the points of the deal?

Having said that - it could be a good idea to bid on a pre-empt hand in fourth if, for instance, you had 90 points below the line in a game of rubber bridge.  But make sure you are doing it for the right reason.  If your partner has a dogmatic belief that pre-empt hands require a pre-empt bid, without any seeming understanding of what a pre-empt is for, then perhaps he needs to be send back to Bridge school for a refresher course!


Axis & Allies 1941: Can stranded defending fighters land in a friendly territory with hostile planes? Playing Axis & Allies 1941, I encountered a situation concerning stranded defending fighters that I have a hard time adjudicating with the rulebook.

The problem is that an aircraft carrier is attacked and destroyed, and a defender's fighter plane remains as stranded. It is unclear to me whether or not an adjacent friendly territory is a valid safe landing place for that plane, when at the time it is occupied by a hostile plane (the attacker's) which afterwards has to leave during non-combat move.

How do I adjudicate this situation according to the rules?

A good answer would either present adjudication step by step, deducting it from the individual rules used; or it would cite official clarification for this situation.

The stranded fighter can land safely, no combat is triggered and the attacker's plane returns home

When attacking and destroying an aircraft carrier, defender's fighters may remain in play after combat (if the attacker cancels the attack before all fighters are destroyed or no more units remain that can attack each other). These fighters are then considered stranded and, at the beginning of the Non-Combat Move Phase before the active player's moves, get the chance to move 1 space to a safe landing place. A safe landing place is either a friendly carrier or a friendly territory.

The rules define three states for territories: friendly, hostile and neutral. A territory is considered friendly when it is under your or your allies' control and control changes by capturing territories. This implies that a friendly territory with hostile planes "attacking" it is still considered friendly.

Furthermore, air units are allowed to attack hostile territories in the Combat Move Phase but it cannot be captured without land units there. The rules do not state anything forbidding that air units attack an empty hostile territory, even though it cannot be captured and no actual combat will happen. In the Non-Combat Move the air units have to return to friendly territory.

All combats triggered in the Combat Move Phase and all movements in the Non-Combat Move Phase are considered to happen simultaneously. Order of execution for individual events within these phases is irrelevant.

The result of this situation: before the attacker does any of his non-combat moves, the defender moves his stranded fighter. As the adjacent territory which is currently occupied by a hostile air unit, is still considered friendly, it is allowed to move there and be safe. No combat is triggered, as per the rules the defender's move into and the attacking plane's non-combat move out of the territory happen simultaneously and they never actually meet. The attacker's plane returns home, the defender's fighter remains in play.

This interpretation has been confirmed by Kevin Chapman, one of the game's developers, at the BoardGameGeek Forums.


What does protection from [quality] do? Example 1) Let's say I have some random creature with protection from white, and my opponent plays Day of Judgment, a white card with the effect "Destroy all creatures." Can my creature with protection from white be destroyed by a white card that isn't actually targeting it specifically?

Example 2) I was playing a match with a friend where I had Elite Inquisitor on the field against his 3 zombies. Is he able to declare his zombies as blockers even though Elite Inquisitor has "protection" from zombies?  If he can declare them as blockers, does protection mean that no damage is dealt by the zombies to  Elite Inquisitor?

Yes, Day of Judgement will destroy a creature with Protection from White.

(from AlexP) No, Elite Inquisitor cannot be blocked by Zombies. Elite Inquisitor can, block Zombies normally. If a Zombie would assign combat damage to him, it is prevented and he takes no damage instead.

Protection from {quality}, grants four different things that can be easily remembered from the acronym, DEBT.

Creatures with Protection from {quality} cannot be:

D amaged, by sources with that quality (the damage is prevented).
E nchanted / E quipped / Fortified, by cards with that quality.
B locked, by creatures with that quality.
T argeted, by spells or abilities from sources with that quality.


Can the road go behind the Treasure Cards Can the road go beyond the 9x5 card grid ?

Yes. There is no limit on where you can build.


Render Silent and Abrupt Decay If I cast render silent targeting  abrupt decay, will my opponent still be unable to cast spells for the rest of the turn?

Your opponent will be unable to cast spells for the remainder of the turn.

The ruling on gather for Render Silent confirms this:

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369022

  A spell that “can’t be countered” is a legal target for Render Silent.
  The spell won’t be countered when Render Silent resolves, but that
  spell’s controller won’t be able to cast spells for the rest of the
  turn.


How to design the end of a race game such that over-rolls do not break the logic of the game? I created a race game. Players start at one end and roll dice until they reach the end. Some players became confused when they reached the end. For example, if a player was three spaces from the end, but rolled a "5", they were uncertain if that meant a "win" or if the player should move 3 spaces ahead, then 2 spaces back.

 _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
|     |     |     |  *  |     |     |     |     |     |
| End |     |     | *** |     |     |     |     |Start|
|_____|_____|_____|__*__|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|

Either way does not seem ideal. Is there any way to design the end of the track such that over-rolls do not lead to any confusion?

Is there any way to design the end of the track such that over-rolls do not lead to any confusion?

Write "If your roll is enough to move up to or past the end, you win. If you roll 5 when you're 3 spaces from the end, that counts as winning." on the board, or in the game rules, or even on the end tile itself (with slightly different phrasing).

Designing the end of the track differently is only one means to communicating the rules. There are other ways, and just stating it outright is probably the clearest way.


Fixing the "Vs. Player" squares in Encore! Few squares in Encore! are more dreaded by our play group than the "Vs. Player" squares — "Team vs. Player" and "Player Vs. Player." It's not just that they're harder; they're palpably less fun, and kill the momentum that's generated by the game. They remove the collaborative element that's a big part of the game's appeal, and have the potential to cause tension. (Instances where the chosen player gets a word that they blank on,  or when the rest of the team has to sit in silence as the "best" player seizes the spotlight for a while or a stymied teammate struggles with a word that his or her friends can think of half a dozen songs for.)

Here are some steps we've taken to try and fix the problem:

On XvP squares, the "player" is not necessarily chosen in advance; rather, it's the person on the singing team who begins the first song after the timer starts running. This means you'll never be completely without a song unless no one on your team had one.
At our last Encore! party, I served as timekeeper and as the "player" — XvP became "challenge the host." This worked well for the team challenge, but Player vs. Me had many of the same difficulties as Player vs. Player.

We like Encore! and play it regularly, but it seems that this one element is more likely to cause awkwardness in the game than any other. How can this be reduced or eliminated?

From the looks of the rules, ways of solving this issue are rather limited. This appears to be a normal roll and move trivial pursuit type of game of the music variety. Your solution is probably the best solution, just don't use single player spaces. In any game that requires a single player from a team to answer a question, it can be awkward if that player is completely stumped. In a game like this, where you want collaboration, I see no need to force single players to compete against each other.


Does bypassing an ICE trigger Chum's subroutine? If the runner bypasses an ICE behind a Chum (subroutine not broken) with Femme Fatale, does Chum's subroutine trigger and deal three netdamage to the runner?

Yes, you have encountered the next ice and so you will take 3 net damage if you don't break its subroutines. As you are bypassing the ice you will not have a chance to break the subroutines and so will take the 3 net damage as soon as the encounter ends.

This is explained the FAQ From FFG


Is it required to reconnect a path that has been disrupted by a rock-fall before adding onto the end of the path in Saboteur? Does the gap created by a rock-fall have to be replaced to make a continuous path before additional cards can be added on to the disconnected portion of a path? Or can you continue to extend the disconnected path in the hopes of filling in the missing link on a later turn or allowing one of your teammates to potentially fill in the gap?

All new tunnels must connect to the ladder.  This was answered by the Designer on Boardgamegeek.

  when you play a path card it must be able to trace a path back to the start card.