Dimir Doppelganger becoming Lazav, Dimir Mastermind I have a few clarification questions regarding what happens after I use the activated ability of Dimir Doppelganger to target a Lazav, Dimir Mastermind that's sitting in a graveyard. For simplicity, I assume that the only card in play before the ability resolves is the Dimir Doppelganger, which has never used it's ability before.

Firstly, am I correct in saying that the card I have on the battlefield after resolution, in effect, has the name Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, is of the type Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter, and has card text which reads:

  Hexproof

  Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind become a copy of that card except its name is still Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability.

  1{U}{B}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Lazav, Dimir Mastermind becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.

Assuming this is correct, and I use the activated ability again to target another creature in a graveyard -- let's say Grizzly Bears -- then the card I have in play is now named Grizzly Bears, of type Creature - Bear and has only the activated ability of the original doppelganger (losing hexproof and the triggered ability of Lazav.)

And finally, if I instead choose to use the triggered ability my doppel-Lazav in response to a creature entering an opponent's graveyard -- we can assume it's Grizzly Bears again -- then my card now named Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, of type Legendary Creature - Bear and reads:

  Hexproof

  Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind become a copy of that card except its name is still Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability.

Assuming your grizzly bear scenarios are either/or (and you're not doing one after another)...

You are correct. The card will come back as either a Lazav copy or a Doppleganger copy and it depends entirely on which card's copy ability you use.

It's the ability itself (of either lazav or the doppleganger) that causes the copy to retain the previous abilities, because it uses the wording: "gains this ability."


Interaction between Graveyard Busybody and Over My Dead Bodies If a player controls Graveyard Busybody and there is an Over My Dead Bodies in play, what happens due to a creature being in both player's graveyards. In particular, could a creature with vigilance attacking it's owner from it's owner's graveyard still be used by that owner to block, could it block itself?

Graveyard Busybody: All graveyards are also your graveyards.
Over My Dead Bodies: Creature cards in graveyards can attack and block as though they were on the battlefield

Quoting from the FAQ:

What does it mean that "all graveyards are also your graveyards"?
It means each graveyard is no longer under the control of other players. They're your graveyards now, you control them.

Since you are the only controller of all graveyards, the owner does not get to use the creature to block.


In TTR Europe, can you put a station in a city that's not connected to one of your claimed routes In Ticket To Ride: Europe, does the placement of a station have to abut a route you control.

E.g. let's say you want to place a station in order use someone else's Edinburgh - London route during end game scoring.

You have an Ticket from Amsterdam to London, but someone else has put a station on London.

Can you put a station on Edinburgh to gain access to the Edinburgh-London route even though you do not control the route into Edinburgh?

No, you do not have to have a route of your own linking to a station you build.  From the rules here

  Stations may be built on any unoccupied city, even if it currently has no claimed routes into it. Two players may never build a Station in the same city.

There is no requirement to link to your own route because there is no requirement for any route to be in that city when the route is built.

The purpose of building stations is to use other players routes, so claiming Edinburgh when London has a station and the London-Edinburgh route has been claimed then it makes total sense.


Rubber Bridge scoring In Rubber Bridge scoring, If the player wins two games with the opponent having an intervening game,does the opponent get 300 for their game?

No; the 300 point "game bonus" does not exist in Rubber Bridge.  It is a creation of the Duplicate game in order to properly reflect the value of a game.  See Rubber Bridge Scoring for an example that includes a fully scored 2 games to 1 rubber.


Missing rules: "L'ecologia" Clementoni I have an old copy of "L'ecologia" of "I giochi di Sapientino" by Clementoni.

Unluckily the instructions are missing.

Can anyone help?

I found the contact form from the company: https://www.clementoni.com/it/slug-assistenza-form/

I presume you should be good enough with Italian to be able to file in an enquiry to ask them if it would be possible to download the PDF manual.


Does a Wolf enters the battlefield and fight target creature with or without buff? I have a Wolf on the battlefield which gives other Wolfes +1/+1 . And I cast a Wicked Wolf. Does it enter and fight target creature already with this buff or without it? And do I get a priority after this triggered ability is put on the stack, and for instance am I able to use Wicked's Wolf activated ability?

Wicked Wolf enters the battlefield as a 4/4
You get priority after Wicked Wolf's ability is put on the stack, and you can use this to activate Wicked Wolf's second ability
The Wolf 'Lord's ability is a static ability. (Lord is an informal term that refers to creatures that give other creatures of a certain type a stat bonus and/or additional keywords.)
From the comprehensive rules:

604.1. Static abilities do something all the time rather than being activated or triggered. They are written as statements, and they’re simply true.
604.2. Static abilities create continuous effects, some of which are prevention effects or replacement effects. These effects are active as long as the permanent with the ability remains on the battlefield and has the ability, or as long as the object with the ability remains in the appropriate zone, as described in rule 113.6.

It is simply true that Wicked Wolf has +1/+1 as long as your wolf 'lord' is on the battlefield. This isn't an ability that needs to go on the stack to resolve. It will have this buff when it eventually fights up to one creature from it's first ability. (Assuming the Wolf Lord is still on the field at that time.)
The second question is asking about an entirely different case. If you are the active player (you usually will be if you are playing a creature), you receive priority first when responding to an ability. Wicked Wolf's enter-the-battlefield triggered ability is placed on the stack, and the active player (probably you) gets priority. At this point, Wicked Wolf is on the field, so it's second ability can be activated if you so choose. If you do so, Wicked Wolf's second ability will be placed above the first ability on the stack, and you will again receive priority. If you pass priority at this point, your opponents will have a chance to respond to Wicked Wolf's second ability before it resolves, giving him a +1/+1 counter, indestructible, and tapping him.
Then, there will be another round of players (starting with you) receiving priority, before Wicked Wolf's first ability resolves, causing it to fight up to one creature.


What's the legal stance for online versions of games? I've played Dominion on isotropic, and I saw the existing question about online versions of board games, but not all of the games listed there appear to be official.  The FAQ for isotropic says "I don't have permission to use RGG's art." To me this implies two things:

The art for Dominion is legally protected (since he says so directly)
The game mechanics are not (since the site continues to exist)

Is this typical?  Or is Rio Grande Games just choosing to look the other way?  Do publishers or creators have more control is such matters?  What component of games (art, mechanics, terminology, other) are protected legally?  If programmers want to make free versions of games, should they be concerned about infringing on any trademarks, copyrights, or other legal protections?

I know this is actually several questions, but they're all so tightly knit that I didn't feel that they'd benefit from being separated.

IANAL (I am not a lawyer): this does not constitute legal advice. (Side note: Is it even necessary, i.e. do lawyers actually say this on the internet? Doesn't everyone assume that any advice you receive over the internet is suspect, and you should consult a professional?)
Paul Edward Nowak has a great thread on the geek related to many of the common misconceptions regarding Intellectual Property.
Yes, art and the specific expression of the rules in rule book are protected by copyright, which protect an original artistic or literary work. If you reword the rules and use your own artwork, you can most likely recreate any game that you like with no legal repercussions from copyright. There are other concerns though, like trademark infringement. Trademarks are there to protect the public from being unable to distinguish one maker/source of a product from another. Trademarks may include fictional names of people or places (Catan, Darth Vader), product (Blokus, Monopoly, Magic: the Gathering) or company names (Apple Inc.). You should avoid copying aspects of a game that might confuse your version of a board game with that of the originator.
Is this typical? That is difficult determine. There have been lawsuits in the past. Anti-Monopoly creator was sued, but eventually Parker Brothers settled out of court, and granted the creator of the game a license to distribute the game. Facebook's Scrabble-like board game creators were sued, but they modified the game enough that the lawsuit was withdrawn.
Rio Grande might be looking the other way because it doesn't see a good positive cost/benefit analysis. In general, developers and publishers would probably send a Cease and Desist letter to the website hosting the alleged infringing content. The website will probably remove the offending content if they are a third party, but afterwards the creator of the infringing content can deny any infringement. Court is costly, and it is difficult to determine on which side the court will settle.
The components of board games that are protected are:

Art: Is protected by copyright.
Rules: As written. You cannot copy verbatim any rule book.
Name (maybe): The name of the game might be a trademark, or a registered trademark. Trademarks are location/industry specific. This is why Apple Inc. (iPad creators) and Apple Records can both have very similar trademark names and icons.
Terminology (maybe): You probably cannot directly copy fake technical terminology. You definitely cannot have Romulan Disruptors in your spaceship battle game. You probably could have lasers, or photo torpedoes, or other real technology.
Mechanics (probably not): You cannot patent a game mechanic. Everyone is free to create Roll and Move games (Monopoly, et.al.), or Deck Building games (Dominion clones), Tactical Wargames (Warhammer 40k), etc.
Mechanical Inventions (maybe, but it is harder than you think): Mechanical inventions in games that are novel and not obvious are able to be patented. They have to be new though. You cannot patent "inventions" that existed before your patent in the public, or that are obvious extensions of prior art (Quarriors! creators could not patent custom die faces on six sided dice, because this invention existed previously and is obvious). WizKids sued Wizards in an attempt to declare Wizards constructible game patent invalid. On this same page you can see other cases where Wizards sues Nintendo (settles).

A software developer should be worried about all these types of infringement. The worst that is likely to happen to you if you are creating a freeware online implementation though is that you will probably be sent a cease and desist letter. If you choose not to fight and remove the infringing work at that point, little if anything will happen to you. If you are charging money, and are earning a profit, then (if the amount of money you have made is considerable) you might be headed to court. While it is possible that you might be liable for up to $150,000, they would have to prove that your reproduction wasn't Fair Use DMCA.

In a civil suit, an infringer may be liable for a copyright owner's actual damages plus any profits made from the infringement. Alternatively, the copyright owner may avoid proving actual damage by electing a statutory damage recovery of up to $30,000 or, where the court determines that the infringement occurred willfully, up to $150,000. The actual amount will be based upon what the court in its discretion considers just. (17 U.S.C. 504)
Violation of copyright law is also considered a federal crime when done willfully with an intent to profit. Criminal penalties include up to ten years imprisonment depending on the nature of the violation. (No Electronic Theft Act, 18 U.S.C. 2319)


Where can I get custom Magic: the Gathering cards printed? I have made up some custom MtG cards, and I am trying to get physical copies made (to mess with my friends, and for casual use). Does anyone know where I can get them made?

Disclamer: These cards will be clearly fake, and for personal use only. I'm not trying pull any shenanigans here. In the interest of openness, a graphical list of the cards can be found here. The back will be a custom back that I am still working on...

I've printed decks to playtest with friends before buying the actual cards. I just went to a local print shop. Everywhere has one.

I didn't bother printing backs. I just sleeved the cards. For rigidity, I backed them with real cards or those silly advertisement cards you get in booster packs. As long as you do that for every card in the deck, it should shuffle correctly.

I use the images from magiccards.info since they have a higher resolution than Gatherer's. To get the cards to display right, I create an .html file with the following content and print it to a PDF using my browser.


Do other wolves wake up during the werewolf phase in ONUW? Do all werewolves awake during the werewolf phase or only characters explicitly titled "werewolf"? Does Mystic Wolf wake up? What about Dream Wolf? I would think yes because otherwise how would you know who is on team werewolf, but I'm also lead to believe no because Dream Wolf doesn't wake up.

Other than the Dream Wolf, all wolves wake up at the start of the Night phase. That's what makes the Dream Wolf special. The Daybreak rules, in describing the roles, make this clear:

Alpha Wolf:

  At night, the Alpha Wolf wakes with the other Werewolves. Afterwards, the Alpha Wolf wakes up separately.

Mystic Wolf:

  The Mystic Wolf wakes with the other Werewolves. Afterwards, the Mystic Wolf wakes up separately.

Dream Wolf:

  The Dream Wolf does not wake up with the other Werewolves.


What happens when I deal lethal damage to everyone at the same time? In an EDH game, I was able to get infinite mana, and I used it to cast a Squall Line with X = 1,000,000. What is the result of this decision? Do I win, or does everyone lose and thus tie?

The relevant rule is this one:

  104.4a. If all the players remaining in a game lose simultaneously, the game is a draw.

So the game is a draw. Nobody wins.


Where is the Wizards of the Coast Offical Commander (General) banned list? I just got destroyed in Commander (EDH).  Worst part of it is that the deck that killed me can do it over and over.  It has a guaranteed 4-5 turn win. (EVERY TIME)

It felt a bit broken to me, so I wanted to see if all the cards that were used to destroy me were legal for commander.

But the only site I can find is http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php.

Does Wizards let this external site dictate the banned cards for this format?

The Commander format (née Elder Dragon Highlander) began with a bunch of judges entertaining themselves over the course of long, major tournaments, with cards that rarely saw play; Sheldon Menery in particular, who was at the time a level 5 judge although he has since retired from Magic judging.
As the format grew, the EDH Rules Committee formed, and they created "the" banlist -- while many groups customize the list to their own metas, and there is a different banlist designed for 1v1 play[1], the banlist maintained by the RC was the gold standard for EDH.
When Wizards wanted to get in on the action, they decided to let the RC maintain their autonomy, although they did need to brand the format, hence the name change to Commander instead of EDH. While commander is now a supported casual format, even to the point of being available for scheduling via the Wizards Event Reporter software, playable in Magic Online, and detailed in the Comprehensive Rules document, the rules of the format continue to be maintained by the RC.
The RC has synchronized their rules/banlist update schedule with that of Wizards, which helps to avoid confusion from mismatched information.
In short: The banlist posted on mtgcommander.net is the official banlist.

Notes

Duel Commander, occasionally called "French" EDH. The Duel Commander rules and banlist are maintained by a separate group from the Commander Rules committee, and Duel Commander is not supported by Wizards in the way normal Commander is.


If I fail to defeat all defenders of a fortified site, does this count as a forced withdrawal? Discussing combat, the rules (p.9, Combat Outcomes) say

  If you failed to defeat all the defenders of a fortified site, you have to withdraw back to the space you were attacking from. If it is not a safe place, Forced withdrawal rules apply.

The Forced withdrawal rule (p.9, *End of the Turn") says

  You must end your turn on a safe space.

  a) If you are not on a safe space, you must backtrack your move until you arrive at a safe space.

  b) For each space you move while backtracking, add a Wound to your hand.

Obviously, the fortified site with enemies remaining is not a safe space, and I am told to withdraw to my original space. On the other hand, the wording isn't explicit that this is a forced withdrawal.

So, do I automatically take a wound for failing to capture the site?

No, you only take one or more wounds if you are forced to withdraw from the space you were attacking from. You are misreading the rule, probably because it is badly worded (too many pronouns).

  If you failed to defeat all the defenders of a fortified site, you have to withdraw back to the space you were attacking from.

You must withdraw to the space you attacked from.

  If it [the space you attacked from] is not a safe place, Forced withdrawal rules apply.

If the space you were attacking from is not safe, (i.e. contains another character, is on water, etc.) then you must withdraw from that space.

The designer, Vlaada Chvatil has answered this question in this thread, quoted here with out the notes.

  Yes, you do not use forced withdrawal when your assault fails. You use it:

  1) When your tun ends, for whatever reason, on inaccessible space (most usually because you assaulted or attacked another player form a lake using some water walking skill, but you might also try to reveal new tile when standing on a lake hex, and then finding out you cannot enter it because some high cost terrain, enemy or fortified site blocks your way).

  2) When you turn ends on space with another player, and PvP is not allowed for whatever reason (either turned off by scenario settings, or because it is your teammate, or because end of day or end of game was already triggered). Again, this can happen if you assault or explore from a space occupied by another player, and fail to move on.


Does "Mountainwalk" imply "Snow-Covered Mountainwalk"? If I am playing a deck with Snow-Covered Mountains, does a creature with Mountainwalk become unblockable or do they require Snow-Covered Mountainwalk  (where "mountain" is interchangeable with plains, islands, swamps, forests and mountains)?  Conversely, if I had a creature with Snow-Covered Mountainwalk, is it unblockable if an opponent has only regular Mountains in play?

I lack the experience with the Comprehensive Rules to be able to conclusively go one way or the other.

  702.12a Landwalk is a generic term that appears within an object’s rules text as
      “[type]walk,” where [type] is usually a subtype (as in “islandwalk”), but can be
      the card type land, any land type, any supertype, or any combination thereof (as
      in “snow swampwalk” or “legendary landwalk”).

  702.12b Landwalk is an evasion ability. A creature with landwalk is unblockable
      as long as the defending player controls at least one land with the specified
      subtype and/or supertype. (See rule 509, “Declare Blockers Step.”)

I suppose the question boils down to this: is "Mountain" a supertype of "Snow-Covered Mountain"?

Yes.

Since Snow-covered is a land supertype, and mountain is a subtype, a snow-covered mountain is also a mountain and thus plain vanilla mountainwalk applies. The land subtypes are specified in rule 204.3h

  204.3h Lands have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called land types. The land types are Desert, Forest, Island, Lair, Locus, Mine, Mountain, Plains, Power-Plant, Swamp, Tower, and Urza's.
            Of that list, Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp are the basic land types. See rule 305.6.

However, you are correct about the converse. A creature with Snow-covered mountainwalk would be able to be blocked if you had a mountain but no snow-covered mountains.


How to counter BOOM! + Breaking News + 24/7 News Cycle? How a runner could counter BOOM! based combo (BOOM!, Breaking News, 24/7 News Cycle) in the corp's deck?

We need to ignore rotation for this, because Breaking News is no longer legal as it has rotated. Here are the cards that can be used to prevent some or all of the damage from Boom!:

Biometric Spoofing - This card is trashed to prevent 2 damage of any type, one copy brings Boom! down to 5 damage, which is survivable, multiple handle the hit even more.
Citadel  Sanctuary - You trash all cards in your hand, but all the meat damage is prevented.
Crash Space - Prevents up to 3 meat damage when trashed, bringing Boom! down to 4 from one copy.
Guru Davinder - Prevents all net and meat damage, then trashes unless the runner pays 4 credits.
Heartbeat - Apex's console lets you trash installed cards per point of damage to prevent each point, any resources or programs you don't need now all are 1 point damage shields.
Jarogniew Mercs - This prevents damage by removing the counters, unlike plascrete (below) it can gain more counters when installed than the base 4 (3 + 1 for the tag it gives) based on the tags you have when you install it
Muresh Bodysuit - Prevents 1 net or meat per turn, not enough to survive with a normal runner hand size but helps when combined with others here. (does not stack with itself, they all try to prevent the same single point)
On the Lam - Trashes to prevent 3 damage or avoid 3 tags. It needs to be hosted on a resource, but only On the Lam gets trashed. Note if you have tags that means the corp can get a 2 for 1 by trashing the resource you hosted On the Lam on.
Paparazzi - When you have this installed you are tagged, but can't take any meat damage. The corp likely won't play boom with this out though, they'd have to trash it first.
Plascrete Carapace - This card lets you prevent meat damage by removing counters, it gets 4 counters when installed letting you prevent 4 meat. This brings boom down to a manageable 3 damage.
Sacrificial Clone - This pretty much resets your game, trashing all your resources and hardware and draining your credits but it prevents all damage.


How do we use Maginos's staff if it's a blunt melee weapon? If Mice and Mystic's Maginos is equipped with Maginos' Staff, it is normally a ranged weapon with +1 to ranged attacks.  Paired with Maginos's battle value of 1, it seems for normal ranged attacks we should roll 2 dice.

However, Maginos' Staff states:

  When attacking a figure that is on the same space as this mouse, this staff is considered a blunt melee weapon.

What does that mean for attacks made by Maginos against enemies in the same space?  Does he roll 2 dice?  Or does he only roll 1 die, because the staff only grants +1 ranged but not +1 melee?

You roll 2 dice and must use a melee attack to attack a minion in the same space with the staff.

The section you quoted is the cards Ability. (page 4 pdf, page 2 rule book)

  4) Ability: any special rules that apply to the card are described here.

That special rule requires that you may only use it to perform melee attacks on minions in your same space, but normally the rules do not prevent this.

Item bonuses add to the number of dice you roll when performing a specific type of attack. Ranged attacks count bow symbols as hits, melee attacks count sword symbols as hits. Nothing in the rules prevents you from using a ranged attack on a minion in the same space as your mouse.

  Melee Attack - [...] Then roll a number of action dice equal to that mouse’s battle value. Remember to add any bonuses that the mouse’s items or equipped weapons might give it.

  Ranged attack - If a mouse is armed with a ranged weapon or spell, it can perform a ranged attack. Ranged attacks are performed in the same way as melee attacks, except each bow symbol counts as a hit instead of the sword or sword/
  shield symbol. Also, when selecting a target for the attack, a player can select any minion on the same room tile as the attacking mouse as long as that mouse can ‘see’ the target. However, if there are minions in the same or adjacent space as the mouse, one of those nearby minions must be selected as the target of the attack. (page 13 pdf, page 11 rule book)

The FAQ and the designer further clarified that Maginos gets the +1 from the staff regardless of whether he is performing a melee or ranged attack.

  1.1.5: When attacking a minion in the same space using Maginos' staff, do you still get the bonus listed on the card for a ranged attack?

  A: Yes, just imagine that the bow changes into a sword any time Maginos shares a space with minions.

  Q: about maginos' staff. It has a +1 on top of a range symbol in the top corner. Does the staff still give a bonus to melee combat, or only to ranged because that's what the +1 is over?

  A: It adds to his battle any time he uses it to do a battle action. The +1 just signifies that it is a bonus to his battle, the bow shows that it hits on bows and can be used at a distance. The weapon special ability breaks this rule a bit and allows him to hit on swords/sword shields when attacking an enemy in the same space. Usually, when you use a ranged weapon, it only hits on bows even if you use it on an enemy in the same or adjacent space.


Do you have to have exactly 60 cards in a Magic the Gathering deck? Do you have to have exactly 60 cards in a Magic the Gathering deck? Some people I've talked to at FNM say yes, others say no.

No, not at all. You probably should keep it near the minimum since a deck of minimum size will provide more consistent results than a larger deck, but you are not obligated to do so.

For constructed events, your deck must have at least 60 cards[CR 100.2a] (plus an optional sideboard of no more than 15 cards[CR 100.4a]).
For limited (draft and sealed) events, your deck must have at least 40 cards[CR 100.2b].

Additionally all decks no matter the format must be "able to be shuffled within a reasonable time"

There are many formats that impose additional limitations. Notably,

For Commander games, your deck must have exactly 100 cards (including your Commander)[CR 903.5a].

I could quote you the rules, but Battle of Wits is much more convincing :)

Note: When this answer was originally written the side board was limited to exactly 15 cards. This has changed. I have updated this information to match current rules since it doesn't affect the answer.


How the game actually end for Carcassonne? There are 71 (excluding starting tile) playing tiles available and this number seems not equally divided by 2,3,4 or even 5. According to the rule we have to finish all the tiles. Does this mean the player who starts first get the advantage of playing more tiles?

Yes, depending on how many players there are and what expansions are being played, the game will sometimes end with one or more players having played one tile less.

Furthermore, some tiles can become discarded. At times, early on in the game, a four sided city tile has no where to go and thus has to be discarded; the player draws again, and upsets the tile distribution.

Another instance is when playing the Traders and Builders expansion. The builder allows players to draw up to two tiles per turn, and thus disturb tile distribution.


Game with 37 diagonally-oriented holes, 10 black pegs and 10 white pegs Can anyone tell me what this game is called and how it is played? It's a small square board with 37 holes, 10 black pegs and 10 white pegs in opposite diagonal corners.

It appears to me that the board you have is a visually stylized version of Two-Player Chinese Checkers. Unlike the regular, 6-player version, the two-player variant utilizes an alternative, smaller board (but can also be played on the regular layout) that could look like this:

While this is the variant I'm familiar with, a quick search also returned this board, which (although presented in a drastically different layout and with a different number of pieces) is used for the same game:

This looks much more familiar to your image, and is equally less diamond-shaped, but still adheres to the basic four-corner principle. Not all variants do, however, like the following one that cuts the sideways corners (which to me seems more true to the 6-player variant):

The last image is identical to your board, with the exception of the outermost rows of three holes.

My guess is that there's a wide variety of two-player Chinese Checkers boards out there, made by people who tried to compress the "original" game down in size to accomodate for the reduced player count. I would put your board in the very same category.


Playing a Wild Draw Color Card on top of another Wild Draw Color Card to get out of drawing cards in UNO FLIP If a player lays down a Wild Draw Color Card, can the next player lay down their own Wild Draw Color Card to get out of drawing cards.
I argued that this should be allowed since it's like in UNO playing a Draw Two Card and the next player then plays another Draw Two Card.

No, it's not valid to do so since according to the Mattel's UNO FLIP! rules the next player:

  Wild Draw Color Card (DARK SIDE)
     ... must draw until they get a color of your choosing (no matter how many cards they have to draw to do so) and lose their turn.

  Wild Draw 2 Card (LIGHT SIDE)
    ... must draw two cards from the DRAW pile and lose their turn.

But for the player after the next player (who had to pick up the cards) it's a valid play.

Note: Stacking or Progressive UNO, i.e. playing a Draw +1/+5 Card on top of another Draw +1/+5 Card without first drawing card is not allowed, but it's a common house rule used by many.

  Draw One / Five Card
  the next player must draw one / five card and miss their turn


What does a move entail? The Tiny Epic Zombies manual for the game states that a human turn consists of

Each Turn, you MUST move 3 times.
Each Move could potentially consist of the following actions:
A. Kill 1 zombie
B. Use Room's Ability AND/OR Interact with a Token
C. Collect items
Search Current Store

So far we have been playing the game as each human player can take 3 turns, moving once and performing three of the actions above.

Totalling 12 actions per human players turn. Is this correct?

1A: Kill 1 Zombie:

  After moving into a Room, you may kill 1 Zombie. [...]

So 1A can be performed each time you enter a room.

1B: Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token:

  After moving into a Room (and killing a Zombie if necessary), [...] you may then use Room abilities and/or interact with Tokens. [...]

So 1B can clearly be done in addition to 1A. There's no reason to believe 1C is any different, so all of 1A to 1C can be done each time you enter a room.

Since you have three moves, you shall be entering three rooms, and thus go through 1A to 1C three times.

Then, you search your current store

  After completing 3 Moves, the Human Player flips over the facedown
  Search Card in front of them and places this card face up next to the
  Store they are in. [...]

So, in the right conditions, you could perform 10 actions per turn (13 if you count "Use Room's Ability" and "Interact with a Token" separately). Keep in mind the some actions (1B and 1C) can only be taken if the store is devoid of zombies.

Move 1 Room

Kill 1 Zombie
Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
Collect Items

Move 1 Room

Kill 1 Zombie
Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
Collect Items

Move 1 Room

Kill 1 Zombie
Use Room's Ability and/or Interact with a Token
Collect Items

Search Current Store


In Guillotine, do Noble abilities work from the score area? The card Clerical Error has the text:

  Choose a player.  Collect any noble of your choice from that player's
  score pile.  That player then chooses any other noble from your score
  pile and collects it.

The noble Robespierre has the text:

  The day ends after you collect this noble.  Discard any nobles
  remaining in line.

According to this thread on their interaction:

  Clerical Error would work just fine, but end the day and discard all
  nobles in line if used to get Robespierre from someone else's score
  pile.

This seems to imply that noble abilities continue to work from the score area, which seems consistent with nobles like the Palace Guards, whose abilities must work from the score area.  So, two-fold question:

Does this mean that if I use Clerical Error to collect someone else's Rival Executioner ("Collect the top noble of the noble deck after you collect this noble"), I get that ability?  (I'm guessing yes)
Why doesn't the Master Spy ("After each action card is played, move this card to the end of the line.") moves to the end of the line from your score area if anyone plays an action?

To put it differently, what rules framework can we construct for Guillotine about what types of abilities work in what zones of play to get the desired behavior?

To answer your first question, the answer is yes. All nobles that have effects that trigger on collection would have their effects happen again.
For your second question I believe that there is typically a 'to the best of your(the cards) ability' with most games. So with Master Spy, he can't move to the end of the line because he is not in the line ... also he had his head cut off, but that's something entirely different.


Is there an action window to trigger abilities once the point limit has been reached? If the runner access an agenda which gives them enough points to win the game, but the corporation is Jinteki and deals 1 net damage as a result which is enough to kill the player and win the game, which side wins?

I think that the general rules on triggered abilities and simultaneous actions state that the player who's turn it is can resolve the order, but it isn't clear if this applies to win conditions as well. This would mean the runner wins in this situation, is that correct?

It's not actually completely simultaneous; the Runner wins the game.

From the Android: Netrunner FAQ:

  If the Runner steals an agenda from Jinteki using the core set identity, but has no cards in hand, who wins?
  The Runner wins the
  game. Whenever a player has 7 or more  agenda points in his score
  area, the game immediately ends. The  game ending takes precedence
  over any conditional ability that  triggers when an agenda is stolen.


When does the "choose a color" part of a spell happen? For example Sejiri Steppe. I always did it as follows:
Opponent plays Sejiri Steppe, chooses a creature and a color, then I get to respond.

But today while playing, after my opponent played Sejiri Steppe, he said he was only supposed to say the color if the ability resolved.
Do I get to know what color the protection from will be before answering the ability, or I have to decide if I answer it before he decides the color?

The ability reads as follows:

  When Sejiri Steppe enters the battlefield, target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn.

The color is chosen when the ability resolves. At that point, there's no chance for anyone to respond. Here's what happens in more detail:

The ability triggers. Its controller chooses a target for the ability.
Both players have a chance to cast spells or activate abilities.
The ability resolves. A color is chosen, and the target gets protection from the chosen color.

Here's a ruling on Feat of Resistance, a card that has similar wording:

  9/20/2014 You choose the color as Feat of Resistance resolves.


What Dominion kingdom-card setups tend to lead to the shortest games? Most dominion players notice early on that different kingdom sets have GIGANTIC effects on how the game ends up being played. This also means that some games will end fairly quickly, while others will go on longer.

What Dominion kingdom-card setups tend to lead to the shortest games when all players are trying to win? What kingdom-cards specifically tend to contribute most to making games end sooner? Feel free to give specific setups if you like, but I'm also interested in what cards/combos make for shorter games and why/how they do this. For instance, some cards sets encourage players to try for an early lead and then end the game on piles before their opponents can catch up, while some card sets tend to favor strategies where players build up an extremely powerful deck until they get to a turn where they churn out 20+ victory points. What cards cause dominion games at the shorter end of the spectrum to be that way?

Related: What Dominion kingdom-card setups tend to lead to the LONGEST games?

Kingdom setups with +Buy, gain free cards, tend to end on piles instead of Provinces.

Workshop, Garden
Ironworks, Great Hall
Goons
Smugglers
Werehouse, Treasure Map


How many epidemic cards to use with the Bio-Terrorist challenge? I've had Pandemic and On The Brink for a while, recently we tried giving the Bio-Terrorist challenge a go. We weren't sure how many epidemic cards to use.

For the standard game (no purple cubes but using the role cards from On The Brink) we usually use 5 epidemics and with experienced players win probably about half the time. As the Bio-Terrorist I suggested using 5 epidemics, but the other 2 players wanted to use 4 so we went with that. In the end I won quite early on when the first epidemic card caused a massive chain-reaction.

So, is the Bio-Terrorist variant harder than the standard game? The other players thought so, as you have a 5th disease to deal with. I'm not so sure as the purple disease is quite easy to cure and the cards that the Bio-Terrorist draws and discards ought to lessen the impact of epidemics.

The strategy in the Bio-Terrorist variant is sufficiently different that it probably makes sense to start at 4 epidemics until both sides are comfortable with how it works.  It is easy for players to be too focused on stopping the terrorist and lose to the normal mechanics, or to completely ignore the terrorist and lose to the new mechanics.  A balance between the two is required.

Also, make sure that you are following all the rules for the Bio-Terrorist's actions.  Specifically, many of his actions are limited to only once per turn.


What happens to counters on a creature when the equipment that put them there is exiled? A green creature is equipped with Ring of Kalonia. A +1/+1 counter is put on at the owner's upkeep(BTW, I believe a new counter isn't added every upkeep step). The creature gains trample.

What happens when the Ring is exiled? I believe the trample ability is removed. But what happens to the +1/+1 counter?

A new counter is added on every one of the upkeep steps of the player who controls the equipment. After five of these upkeeps, the creature will have five +1/+1 counters.
The counters (plural) stay there.

You seem to be confusing a counter-placing effect with something like what Bladed Bracers says:

  Equipped creature gets +1/+1.

Whereas Ring of Kalonia says:

  At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on equipped creature if it's green.

Ring of Kalonia's ability is a triggered ability which adds a new +1/+1 counter to the creature every time it resolves, and it triggers at the beginning of every upkeep of the equipment's controller. This adds up. These counters are independent of the equipment, and stay there when it goes away - whether it gets unequipped, exiled, or anything else.

Bladed Bracers' ability on the other hand is a static ability, which says the creature "gets +1/+1". This doesn't apply counters, it just modifies the equipped creature. It doesn't increase, and there's no delay - it just starts applying instantly. When the Bracers go away, so does the +1/+1.

The ability on the Bracers I've quoted is the same kind of thing as Ring of Kalonia's "Equipped creature has trample", which is also a static ability, and as you're aware, goes away when the equipment does.


Can you sacrifice Animate Dead AND the creature it enchants? My opponent has a creature with Animate Dead attached to it. I attacked him with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, forcing him to sacrifice 6 permanents to Annihilator. He wanted to sacrifice both Animate Dead and the creature it was enchanting. I said that was impossible, as sacrificing either one would cause the other to leave the battlefield. Which of us is right?

Yes, if someone's asked to sacrifice multiple permanents, they can sacrifice Animate Dead and its enchanted creature.

As part of enacting Emrakul's Annihilator ability, your opponent has to to make six choices. These six choices are made all at once during resolution, and at that point they're all valid choices, and then after those choices are made, the ability dumps all six choices into the graveyard simultaneously.

Just about no triggered abilities can actually activate during effect resolution, so Animate Dead can't do its thing until that ability's fully resolved. Once it is, Animate Dead has left the battlefield and its triggered ability goes onto the stack:

  When Animate Dead leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.

That creature's no longer around, and nothing happens.


Identify 3D Tic Tac Toe type of game Looking for the name and rules of the game.

Four identical pieces. Each a clear plastic double cube with a red round bead in the center of one cube (half of the piece) and a green round bead in the center of the other cube (half). Players take turns placing each of their two pieces. Subsequent moves are made by repositioning a piece already played (following certain rules). Play is contained in a virtual 3x3x3 cube. Win with three in a row horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and/or 3D.

The game might be from 70s or 80s - not sure. Please help. I have the pieces but that's it. And pieces (pun intended) of memory.

This sounds like Cube Fusion, specifically the MINI Cube Fusion version as Jay A pointed out based on the number of components.

From the description:

  The game includes a playing board with a 3x3 grid and 12 playing
  pieces. Each piece consists of two cubes, each with marbles in the
  center - one red, one green. Players take turns placing pieces on the
  board, trying to make a specified pattern in his color but not his
  opponent's -- all the while having to play both his color and his
  opponent's color each turn. There are several different games
  explained in the rules: make 3, 4, or 5 in a row (in 3D) before your
  opponent, form a square in your color, form more three-in-a-row
  alignments than your opponent, etc.


Doubts with the "before a base scores" part I don't fully get the "before a base scores" mechanic. When a base is about to score, can I use EVERY card I have in my hand that allows me to do something before a base scores? And if that card allows me to place a minion which allows me to play another minion when it's put in play can I apply that too?

The only time I played I was using Ninjas + Zombies and I played the "Hidden Ninja" card on a base that was about to score and used it to play the Zombie King card (at least that's how it's called in Spain, I mean the card with 5 power). The Zombie King card says you can put another minion in play when you play it and I didn't know if it applies in that scenario.

Yes, you can use any number of special cards as long as they are relevant. However, some cards have their own limitations on this (e.g. you can only use one Shinobi per base). Any effects those specials generate trigger immediately. However, any extra plays must be used immediately (you can't save them to see what other people do).
The 5-power Zombie Lord says, "You may play an extra minion of power 2 or less from your discard pile on each base where you have no minions." If you use Hidden Ninja to play the Zombie Lord, you may use its ability. However, this won't typically have a huge immediate impact on the scoring, as you have to play on bases where you don't have minions, and you already have the Zombie Lord on the scoring base.
This is covered in the most recent rules for Pretty Pretty Smash Up, page 7:

When a base has been chosen to score, each player first gets to use any Special abilities that happen “before” the base scores.
If more than one player wants to use a Special ability, start with the current player and go around the table clockwise until all players pass in sequence (if you pass and another player uses a Special, you can then still choose to use a Special of your own). If your Special allows you to play extra cards, you must play those immediately or not at all.


Copying Allies with Shapeshifter If I control a Renegade Doppelganger and I play Umara Raptor and choose for Renegade Doppleganger to copy it, would the Renegade Doppleganger get the +1/+1 counter?

No.  This is covered in the rulings for Renegade Doppelganger:

  If Renegade Doppelganger becomes a copy of another creature, that doesn’t count as having a creature enter the battlefield. Renegade Doppelganger was already on the battlefield; it only changed its characteristics. If Renegade Doppelganger gains any enters-the-battlefield triggered abilities, they won’t do anything. The same is true of any “as [this creature] enters the battlefield” or “[this creature] enters the battlefield with” abilities.


Abu Simbel and Courtesan's Guild So, this item came up last night while we were playing. I'll give you our answer, but I want to see what everyone else's thoughts are.

One player was playing as Abu Simbel, and their neighbor had the Courtesan's Guild in hand. They asked whether they could "use" an "Entombed" Leader, or what would happen if they used a Leader that was later "Entombed." We decided that they couldn't use one that had already been entombed, but if they used one that was later entombed, they would not lose the benefits.

Does this seem appropriate, or should we have gone a different route?

The Courtesan token stays on a Leader that gets entombed. This is based on Eddie the Cranky Gamer’s post on BoardGameGeek (to which @Jean-Sébastien links to in his answer, too), who says the he’s asked Repos:

  I put the question to Repos and the answer was that the Courtesan stays in play, with the same assumed power of the now-entombed leader.

Putting the Courtesan token on an already entombed Leader is not possible. At least that’s how I understand Ovidiu Cirlugea’s BoardGameGeek post, quoting the game author Antoine Bauza:

  You cannot copy it once its buried […]

Putting the Courtesan token on a Leader which is entombed on the same turn is possible, as detailed in that same BGG thread:

  Yes, you can copy a leader, even if your neighbor choose to bury it during the same turn. The copy remains, even if the original is buried after !


Unsporting trades in the end-game of settlers of Catan Oftentimes in a big game of Settlers of Catan (4 or more players) it comes down to two or three players battling for the winning point and one or two players who have too few points to offer any realistic chance of victory.

Rather than just watch, the losing players are free to make overly generous trades to control who wins in a weird inversion of control.

Is this a natural side effect of the games? Is this just a manifestation of be nice to people on the way up?

I find this really frustrating as more than once I've ended up losing because I've annoyed someone in a previous game. Am I just being a poor sport?

The only way I can think to avoid this style of play is to run a league setup such than even if a player isn't going to win, it's worth them trying to get an extra few more points.

This situation is called The Kingmaker Scenario.  It is an effect that is largely seen as being undesirable in games, yet at the same time is also considered somewhat inevitable in games with 3 or more sides in a Free-For-All situation to at least some extent.  Game designers are always trying to find ways to fight against this effect, and there are a number of ways to reduce the effect that Kingmaker has on the game when designing a game - here are a few examples:

Completely eliminate a player from the game after they are behind by a certain threshold
Create a "comeback mechanic" that allows a player to fight back against the feedback loop holding them in a low position
Using concealed information to make it more difficult to determine the values involved in the victory conditions

When dealing with a pre-made game like Settlers of Catan and not with a game of your own creation, your options are limited - you can either create house rules of some form, or simply accept that aspect of the game.  It may be best to try and find what others have done to solve the same situation for the same game - if it is widely considered to be a problem by other players, than there may be popular and well-tested house rules that already exist.  On the other hand, if there are not, it may be a sign that regular players do not consider it to be a major factor in play.


Using Huatli, Radiant Champion ability on another Huatli, Radiant Champion Say I already have a Huatli, Radiant Champion out. If I cast a second Huatli, Radiant Champion can I use the original Huatli's plus 1 ability to target the new Huatli?
Or does the original, or whichever one I choose, die immediately?

No you may not use one Huatli, Radiant Champion to put loyalty counters on a different Huatli, Radiant Champion.

As a refresher, the loyalty ability you referrer to in your question reads:

  +1: Put a loyalty counter on Huatli, Radiant Champion for each creature you control.

There are several reasons that you can not place the loyalty counters onto the new Huatli. The main reason is that whenever a card uses its card name in the rules text box, it is only referring to that particular card and not other cards that might share a name with it. This is covered in the comprehensive rules here:

  201.4.: Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.

Now beyond this rule there is one other that makes it so that you can not do this, State Based Actions and more specifically something called the legend rule.

  704.5j: If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

State Based Actions (SBA) are special in magic in that they are checked automatically each time a player receives priority, they do not belong to any player, and they do not use the stack. This means that when SBAs are checked no player has a chance to respond to them, not even with instants or abilities.

So what that means for your example is that after you cast your second Huatli, Radiant Champion, you must immediately choose one of them and send the other to your graveyard. This will be done before you get the chance to use one of Huatli's loyalty abilities.
So even in the hypothetical situation Huatli had the ability:

  +1 Put a loyalty counter on target Planeswalker for each creature you control.

You still would be unable to activate the ability before the other Huatli is put into your graveyard (and therefore not a valid target).


Do commanders "die" if they go to the command zone instead? If my commander would die and I opt to move it to the command zone instead of the graveyard, does it cause a "when a creature dies" ability trigger?

An example would be Fool's Demise. If my opponent puts that on my commander, and then does lethal damage to it, would they get my commander or could I put it in my command zone?

I'd love any answer, but my playgroup needs an actual rule. So I would love a supporting rule citation.

Yes, commanders can trigger “dies” triggers as they head to the command zone
This new rules change was announced on June 7, 2020 and became active in the Commander rules circa the release date of Core Set 2021. I'll explain the rules basis later, but to summarise the new rules:

If your commander would be put into the graveyard or exile, you can opt to send it to the command zone. If you do, it will hit your graveyard or exile and then be put into the command zone the next time state-based actions happen. Abilities will see that it died or got exiled, so your commander dying can trigger death triggers (its own or those of other cards).
If your commander would be put into your hand or library, you can opt to send it to the command zone. If you do, it goes there instead of your hand or library. It will never actually be put into your hand or library and cards will not see it enter those zones.

This means:

If Elenda, the Dusk Rose is your commander and dies, you can send her to the command zone, and her death trigger will still go on the stack to give you Vampire tokens.
Dark Prophecy will see your commander die, even if you send your commander to the command zone.
Kresh the Bloodbraided will see peoples' commanders die and will get +1/+1 counters equal to the power of that commander as it last existed on the battlefield.
Azorius Aethermage will not see your commander return to your hand if you opt to send your commander to the command zone.
If your commander dies and you send it to the command zone, many “dies” triggers that expect to see it in the graveyard will lose track of it. For example, Dread Slaver can't return a commander to the battlefield it killed if the commander's owners sent it to the command zone. This is because the commander is no longer in the graveyard, and Dread Slaver can't return creatures that are no longer there.

Note that you're only given the option to move your commander out of the graveyard/exile to the command zone once—the very next time state-based actions are checked. In simple terms, this will be immediately after the spell/ability that put them there resolves, or if they died from combat damage, immediately after things die from combat. In both cases, you'll do this before any triggered abilities go on the stack and before anyone has any opportunity to cast spells and activate abilities.
If you don't move your commander to the command zone then, they'll be stuck where they are until you find another way to move them. You won't have indefinite permission to move them out from then onwards.
The rules didn't always work this way. Prior to this date, if you wanted to send a commander to the command zone instead of graveyard or exile, it would never reach graveyard or exile first and nothing would see it die or get exiled. The rules for putting a commander into its owner's hand/library haven't changed though.
What's the rules basis for it working this way?
A commander being sent to your graveyard or exile is now handled by a state-based action instead of a replacement effect.
The new state-based action is as follows:

If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that card was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone.

This means if your commander dies, you put it into the graveyard as normal. The next time state-based actions are checked, you can move it to the command zone. This state-based action will take place before any triggers go on the stack as a result of your commander dying. But those triggered abilities have already been triggered, and will still go on the stack the next time they have a chance to do so.
Your commander heading to your hand or library is still handled as a replacement effect:

If a commander would be put into its owner’s hand or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event.

If you cast Rescue on your commander and choose to send them to the command zone, then because this is a replacement effect, Rescue functionally reads “Put target permanent you control into the command zone” — the “return to your hand” event is replaced and never happens.

For those interested, you can view the Commander rules both before and after the change on the Wayback machine: its content before this change was archived on June 18, and its content with the change was archived on August 18.


Hex board game strategy I was teaching myself how to play the Hex board game by reading some books. I learned how to do 2x2 and 3x3 hex games by starting at the principal diagonal. I wanted to know what the winning strategy would be for player one (white) in a 4x4 Hex game starting from the principal diagonal.

Consider a 4x4 Hex.
Show that White has a winning strategy, starting anywhere on the principal diagonal that is in any of the hexagons 1,6, 11, or 16.

Here is what the setup would be:
Let the Hexagons be represented by numbers such as:
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
Let White have the first move. Let black have the second move.
White opens up at 6 (principal diagonal).

The winning strategy for such a small Hex board is shown in this basic strategy guide.

Like tic-tac-toe, on a 4x4 board white will always win by opening on the main diagonal, because for every counter that black can make, there is another way for white to force the win. Once white can form a "two-bridge" by placing the second piece in a non-adjacent space but with two empty neighbouring hexes in common, there is no way to block white from completing the chain, since there are two empty adjacent hexes to complete the link.

Here's an example position after white's second turn:

As you could see by playing out all the scenarios for white along the main diagonal, it's impossible to stop white from forming a "two-bridge"

If white plays a1, there are two-bridges at b3 and c2. Black can't stop both.
If white plays b2, there are two-bridge plays at a3, c4, d3, and c1.
If white plays c3, it's a mirror position of b2.
If white plays d4, it's a mirror position of a1.

Black can't win because there is always a way for white to orphan a black piece on this size board, making it impossible for black to form a "two-bridge".

I'm not that familiar with the game but my understanding is that the strategy only really becomes deep and interesting once the board gets to a 10x10 size.


Does a cafe card bonus apply to all players? In the game Chez Geek cafe cards have a cost of 1 but a bonus that reads

  While a Café card is in play, there is no cost to play further Café cards (though it still takes free time).

Does this bonus apply to all roommates in the game or only the person who played it?

We have always played it so that the Café bonus applied to all players.

I can find no direct rule citation on this however if they were meant to only apply to the person who played the card it would have specifically said, "While a Café card is in your room" much like many other cards do.


In Betrayal, does a monster really die after 1 hit? We're playing betrayal-at-house-on-the-hill. If I read the rules correctly, when a player hits a monster, even just for one damage, he defeats it and the monster gets stunned. In my version of the haunt, it even gets killed right away. This is for haunt 46
So that means if the monster (4 might) wins against the hero (4 might, 4 speed), say with a 2 point difference, the player loses 2 physical points (4 might, 2 speed). The monster needs to repeat this 3 more times to finish off the player.
On the other hand, if the hero wins against the monster, the monster is removed from the board, giving the hero a 4:1 chance to kill the monster. Right?

Looking at page 18 of the Rulebook there's a section of How Monsters Work which says:

Monsters can't be killed.. If a monster would take any damage, it is stunned and misses its next turn... Stunned monsters can't slow an explorer's movement. Even if a haunt says to do something other than stun monsters when they take damage, they can still be stunned by effects that specifically stun monsters.

These are the base rules for monsters which can be manipulated by specific haunt rules. Do note that the Traitor may know game altering rules that you, as a Hero, simply do not know.
Now, let's take a look specifically at Haunt 46:
Below are minor spoilers for Haunt 46 including special rules. It is brief and only outlines the rules in question. Read at your own risk!

 The Feast!
 Cannibal Freaks ( Speed 2, Might 4, Sanity 4 )Special Rules:
 If a Cannibal Freak is defeated by an attack, it's killed instead of stunned.
 In this scenario the special rules dictate that instead of getting stunned the monster would be defeated instead. That is if they take any mental or physical damage. That being said, specific items that stun can still be used to incapacitate the monster. The monsters will die in one hit but the base stats for the monsters are also fairly high. Depending on how many items the Heros were able to attain during the game you may need to play this safe and cluster your monsters together or corner a specific hero to get them out of the game.

Do note not all Haunts are perfectly balanced and some rules may not be flushed out enough to answer every single question that may pop up. From Avalon Hill:

Keep in mind if the rules are not specified in the rulebook you and your group can decide what makes the game most fun.

In this case though, I think the answer is cut and dry.


What if there are two paths connecting to the gold in Saboteur 2? Let's say a blue dwarf makes the final connection to the gold. However, there are two paths that one could take to get from the ladder to the gold. One of these paths has a blue door, one of them has no doors. Obviously the blue dwarf would prefer to use the path with the door, so does the player who makes the final connection get to choose what path to use? Or does it go by shortest path to the gold? Basically, what are the rules to determine what path counts as the "final path"?

There's no such concept. The following are the win conditions for the red and blue teams from the rules:

A team wins if a dwarf from that team creates the connection to the treasure and the way there
isn't blocked by a door of the other color.
A team wins if a dwarf from the other team creates the connection to the treasure, but the way there for his or her own team is blocked by a door of the wrong color.
Both teams win if The Boss, The Geologist or The Profiteer creates the connection to the gold and the way there isn't blocked by a door of the other color.

A dwarf from the blue team created the connection, and there is a path that's not blocked by a red door, so the blue team wins, and the red team does not. That's it.

The only way the red team can win if a dwarf from the blue team creates the connection is if the blue team can't win (i.e. every path is blocked by red doors).


Can a tank attack across water within the same space (Germany to UK)? When there is a space that has one country's tank (Germany for example) and the same space on the board contains water between the enemy's land (UK for example), can the Germany tank attack UK...even though there is water between the two contries but they are in the same space? Or does the tank have to be transported even though it is in the same space?

Here's the snippet of map we're talking about:

There are three spaces of interest here:

England (a land zone)
The water surrounding England (a sea zone)
Western Europe (a land zone)

These are three separate spaces, and must be passed through in turn; Western Europe is not adjacent to England. You can't just jump from Western Europe to England, you need to pass through the sea zone on the way there. Unfortunately, tanks can't enter sea zones except by boarding a transport.

So getting a tank from Western Europe to England looks like this:

A German Tank starts in Western Europe. It can't enter the sea zone, because it's a tank.
Germany has a transport in the sea zone surrounding England, and there are no Allied sea units in that zone.
Tank boards transport, entering the sea zone in the only way it can.
Tank exits transport onto England, and gets involved in the combat there.


Trashing Market Square and another card at the same time I use a card that allows me to trash 2 cards from my hand (like Chapel).  I trash Market Square and another card.  Are the cards trashed simultaneously or sequentially?  Does either possibility allow me to use Market Square's effect?  If so, where does the Market Square end up?

The cards are trashed at the same time, so if you are trashing Market Square, you would not be allowed to discard Market Square for its effect also.

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

Dominion Strategy Wiki

Also, from the Dark Ages rulebook:

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


Does exiling a morph card face down for the turn bring it back face up? For example, if I play Akroma, Angel of Fury down for its morph cost, then a Momentary Blink on the face down creature, does it come back into play face up?

If you exile a face-down creature, it will enter the exile zone face up, and if it returns to the battlefield, it will enter the battlefield face up.

The first important thing to consider is that face-down is a status. Rule 110.6d says

  Only permanents have status. Cards not on the battlefield do not. Although an exiled card may be face down, this has no correlation to the face-down status of a permanent. Similarly, cards not on the battlefield are neither tapped nor untapped, regardless of their physical state.

In addition, rule 707.9 says

  If a face-down permanent moves from the battlefield to any other zone, its owner must reveal it to all players as he or she moves it. If a face-down spell moves from the stack to any zone other than the battlefield, its owner must reveal it to all players as he or she moves it. At the end of each game, all face-down permanents and spells must be revealed to all players.

And finally, rule 400.7 says

  An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.

If we put all of these together, they mean that when the face-down Akroma is exiled, it's owner reveals it. It then moves to exile in a state as described by the card that exiles it. Momentary Blink doesn't say to exile it face down, so it's exiled face up. Once it is in exile, it is just an Akroma, Angel of Fury card, with no memory of its existence on the battlefield. Then it enters the battlefield as a creature with no memory of its previous existence on the battlefield or in exile. The effect that puts it on the battlefield doesn't say that it enters face down, so it enters face up.


Do deathtouch and deathtouch-like effects stop trample damage? My friend has a trample deck, and I have a Stinkweed Imp that says "Whenever Stinkweed Imp deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature."  Can a creature destroyed this way still deal trample damage?

What if I block with a creature that actually has deathtouch?

Yes, a creature destroyed by Stinkweed Imp will still deal trample damage. Basically, the sequence of actions in combat goes like this:

Your opponent attacks with their creature that has trample.
You block that creature with your Stinkweed Imp.
All damage is resolved. This includes the damage dealt to and by Stinkweed Imp, and the trample damage to you. Because Stinkweed Imp dealt damage to a creature, its triggered ability goes on the stack.
If there is 2 damage marked on Stinkweed Imp, it dies. Then your opponent gains priority with the triggered ability on the stack.
The triggered ability resolves, and the creature with trample dies.

If you replace Stinkweed Imp with a creature with deathtouch (Deadly Recluse, for example), steps 3, 4, and 5 are replaced with this:

All damage is resolved. This includes the damage dealt to and by Deadly Recluse, and the trample damage to you. Because the creature with trample took damage from Deadly Recluse, it dies, no matter what it's toughness is (see rule 704.5h


Does a monopoly in a commodity in Sheriff of Nottingham gain both bonuses? In the end-game scoring of Sheriff of Nottingham the majority holder of each legal commodity gets a bonus, as does the 2nd-majority holder.

If one play happens to be the only trader of a commodity do they get both bonuses or just the 1st-majority one?  Not covered by the rules.

As per the rules (may need a BoardGameGeek.com account to access):

  The player who has successfully delivered the most and the second most of each type of Legal Good is declared the “King” and “Queen”, respectively, of that Good.

I would interpret this to mean each player can either be the King or Queen (or split the points in a tie), but not both. Hence, even a monopoly on a Good would only net the King's bonus.

If the single commodity holder got both the King and Queen bonuses, you could also make the following argument: when there isn't a monopoly, the player with the highest number of goods also always ties for the second highest number of goods. That player would always get the King's points and some portion of the Queen's. This doesn't seem like a logical interpretation of the rules, and most people with the second most number of Goods would be pretty annoyed if this were happening. If a player only gets a single bonus when there isn't a monopoly, the same rule should apply unless otherwise stated by the rulebook, which in this case it isn't.


Looking for rules for board game called "Music Game" I bought a game at a thrift store called simply "Music Game" and unfortunately it needs the rules.

The game says copyright Petina, 1989. It's a board game with piano keys around the edges and several piles of question cards of different colors in the middle to draw.

Without the rules I don't know when to draw cards and which pile to draw from. It seems to be a great way to teach music concepts, if only I had the rules.

There is a boardgame geek entry, as diego already mentioned. But that lacks any link to the rules. But luckily Amazon has a page for it. On the page there are several pictures, including (part of) the rules.
And according to them, it is a rare vintage game. So I hope you are able to play it now.


What is this game with two boards and pieces numbered 1-15? My in-laws found this in their garage but w have no idea what it is. Seems to be made by MB but it has no other markings on it. Any ideas appreciated.

This is Top 15 (also known as Numbers Up!).


Can casinos protect themselves against card counters by limiting bet variations in blackjack? For reason discussed below, "card counters" make their money by observing the flow of cards as they leave the deck. This is legal in most cases (although it's a felony to use a "device" such as a computer in Nevada). It is frowned upon, probably because it violates an unwritten rule (the house is supposed to win).

Because the rules of the game (the deal plays after all the players), the casino will win the majority of the hands. But there are several offsetting rules that reduce the house edge to about 1%:

1) Players are paid 3-2 for blackjacks (more like 5-4 nowadays), unless the dealer also has a blackjack, in which case it's a tie.

2) The dealer has to "hit on 16, stand on 17." Players are free to make better decisions.

3) Players can "double down" in advantageous situations.

4) Players can "split" two equal cards if it is to their advantage, essentially doubling their bets, and getting two potential blackjacks for e.g. A-A.

Card counters do one more thing to tip the odds in their favor. There are rare situations (when a lot of small cards have come out of the deck, leaving a disproportionate number of ten valued cards). At such times, the game is actually in the player's favor ( 1) greater potential for blackjacks, and 2) greater potential for the dealer to bust.) Card counters will "bet big" at such times, and "bet small" at others. The bet size variations (typically 5- or 10- to 1, larger than that of a typical "tourist), help identify a card counter. If someone were to "flat bet" (bet the same on every hand), card counting probably would be useless.

Nevada casinos will typically bar (eject) or harass people identified as card counters. (Following a court case, Atlantic City casinos can't do this, but will merely "shuffle up" after every deal to eliminate the counter's advantage.)

IMHO, Nevada casinos shouldn't be allowed to do what they do, but should have the privilege of "money managment" available to every player. If casinos had the right to limit bet sizes, and more importantly, bet VARIATIONS to say 2-to-1, it would be roughly even money against the best card counters (and make money from a bunch of wannabees).

Is this a workable solution for the casino to not lose money at blackjack? Would this be "fair" to both the house and players?

The answer to this is most likely no since a casino wants players to maximize their bets and placing any kind of limit that would keep a player betting lower would not be in their best interests. Minimum and Maximum bets at a table are established to maximize the amount that a casino can win while limiting a player to take advantage of long term odds to win by placing small and large bets over time. The short of it is a casino wants players to make larger bets when they are feeling lucky but they also know that a lot of players are not going to want to place large bets all of the time so they need to allow them to place both small and large bets depending on how they feeling their luck is running.


Killing a Fatespinner during my turn - do I still have to skip chosen phases? My opponent is playing a Fatespinner.

  At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player chooses draw step, main phase, or combat phase. The player skips each instance of the chosen step or phase this turn.

It's my turn, so I pick to skip my main phases. I get straight to my combat phase, cast - say - a Shock and kill the Fatespinner.

Do I get my second main phase after the combat one? Or should I keep skipping it anyway for this turn?

Yes, you still have to skip the chosen phase or step this turn.
Fatespinner has a triggered ability ("At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep [..]") that creates a continuous replacement effect with a certain duration ("The player skips [..] this turn"). Once that trigger has happened and the ability is on the stack, the ability exists independently of the Fatespinner, as will the continuous effect that is created.

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as “[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]”
611.1. A continuous effect modifies characteristics of objects, modifies control of objects, or affects players or the rules of the game, for a fixed or indefinite period.
611.2. A continuous effect may be generated by the resolution of a spell or ability.
614.10. An effect that causes a player to skip an event, step, phase, or turn is a replacement effect.
112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability. [..]

It is, in principle, possible to word Fatespinner so that its removal also ends its effect. It would have to be worded according to this rule:

611.2b Some continuous effects generated by the resolution of a spell or ability have durations worded “for as long as . . . .” If the “for as long as” duration never starts, or it ends before the moment the effect would first be applied, the effect does nothing. [..]

For example, it could be worded thus.

At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, that player chooses draw step, main phase, or combat phase. The player skips each instance of the chosen step or phase this turn as long as Fatespinner is on the battlefield.


Do i have to have a spell target to tap a wizard creature with Patron Wizard? Patron Wizard says I have to tap an untapped wizard. That is before the ":", which means that is the cost. However, does there have to be a spell to target to use this ability, or can I just tap an untapped wizard and let the ability fizzle?

You absolutely do have to have a target in order to use the ability.

  602.2  To activate an ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs,
  so that it will even tually resolve and have its effect. Only an
  object’s controller (or its owner, if it doesn’t have a controller)
  can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says
  otherwise. Activating an ability follows the steps listed below, in
  order. If, at any point during the activation of an ability, a player
  is unable to comply with any of those steps, the activation is
  illegal; the game returns to the moment before that ability started to
  be activated (see rule 717, “Handling Illegal Actions”). Announcements
  and payments can’t be altered after they’ve been made.

And you have to choose a target in order to cast a spell or activate an ability.

  601.2c The player announces his or her choice of an appropriate player, object, or zone for each target the spell requires. A spell
  may require some targets only if an alternative or additional cost
  (such as a buyback or kicker cost), or a particular mode, was chosen
  for it; otherwise, the spell is cast as though it did not require
  those targets. If the spell has a variable number of targets, the
  player announces how many targets he or she will choose before he or
  she announces those targets. The same target can’t be chosen multiple
  times for any one instance of the word “target” on the spell. However,
  if the spell uses the word “target” in multiple places, the same
  object, player, or zone can be chosen once for each instance of the
  word “target” (as long as it fits the targeting criteria). If any
  effects say that an object or player must be chosen as a target, the
  player chooses targets so that he or she obeys the maximum possible
  number of such effects without violating any rules or effects that say
  that an object or player can’t be chosen as a target. The chosen
  players, objects, and/or zones each become a target of that spell.
  (Any abilities that trigger when those players, objects, and/or zones
  become the target of a spell trigger at this point; they’ll wait to be
  put on the stack until the spell has finished being cast.)

  602.2b The remainder of the process for activating an ability is identical to the process for casting a spell listed in rules 601.2b –
  h. Those rules apply to activating an a bility just as they apply to
  casting a spell. An activated ability’s analog to a spell’s mana cost
  (as referenced in rule 601.2e) is its activation cost.


What happens when one target of Paradoxical Outcome becomes illegal? What happens when one target of Paradoxical Outcome becomes illegal and leaves the battlefield while Paradoxical Outcome is still on the stack? Does it fizzle?

The rules text of Paradoxical Outcome:

  Return any number of target nonland, nontoken permanents you control to their owners’ hands. Draw a card for each card returned to your hand this way.

A spell only fizzles if all targets become invalid before resolution. The spell will resolve on the remaining targets, and a card drawn for each card actually returned to your hand.

  608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. If all its targets, for every instance of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve. It’s removed from the stack and, if it’s a spell, put into its owner’s graveyard. Otherwise, the spell or ability will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them. If the spell or ability creates any continuous effects that affect game rules (see rule 613.10), those effects don’t apply to illegal targets. If part of the effect requires information about an illegal target, it fails to determine any such information. Any part of the effect that requires that information won’t happen.


Can models give up their Vengeance move to recover from Knocked Down? I have a unit of Troll Fennblades.  On my opponent's turn, they are attacked, and many are killed.  Some make a Tough roll, though, and so are merely Knocked Down.  In my next Maintenance Phase, all of the Fennblades are entitled to Vengeance, which allows them to advance 3" and attack.  Can they give up that 3" move to remove Knocked Down?

According to Privateer Press Infernals:

  No. While knocked down, a model cannot advance. A model cannot
  sacrifice movement/action to stand until the start of its activation,
  which is well after the Maintenance and Control phases.


Bid out of turn and next player passes or overcalls Partner is dealer.  RHO opened bidding out of turn, and I either pass or overcall before anyone calls attention to the infraction.  Is the offender's bid accepted?  Does the dealer still have options?

ruds, of course, is right (my standard spiel here is "one of the next players' options is to accept the call.  By bidding, she has taken that option.  Please continue.")  I want to go through the rest of the story.
The One Rule (in my mind, said with capitals) is Law 9B1a: "The Director should be summoned at once when attention is drawn to an irregularity"*.  So:

if nobody noticed until after you called, then there was no attention drawn, everything's fine.  Now that attention has been drawn, call the TD, who will rule as L29A.  Note that L11A starts "The right to rectification of an irregularity may be forfeited if either member of the non-offending side takes any action before summoning the Director."
if someone did notice and mentioned it and you called anyway, then you have also become an offending player (L9B2: "No player shall take any action until the Director has explained all matters in regard to rectification.")  Which isn't a problem here, as the opponents aren't damaged by taking one of the valid options without them being explained to the table (as opposed to, for instance, attempting to enforce the leading restrictions of a penalty card where with knowledge of the Law, the opponents could have played differently to avoid the situation), but don't do it anyway.  The Director is there for a reason.
if they did notice, and called the TD before you called, you would be given the options in Law 29:

(L29A) accept the call and call over it; or
(L29B) cancel the call, let dealer open the bidding, and then:

if the cancelled call was pass, then the special case of L30A applies: "When a pass out of rotation is made at offender’s RHO’s turn to call, the offender must pass at the next turn to call..."
if the cancelled call was a bid, then (L31A) if dealer passes, they must repeat that bid.  If dealer bids, then L23 "Comparable Call" comes into play, and that is definitely something to leave to the Director.

Note that things are different, and more complicated, if it was dealer's partner or RHO that called out of turn (and that call is not accepted), or if it is not an opening call out of turn.  Never Make Your Own Rulings is the mantra, but especially do not with calls out of turn.  It's been three years, and I still read these out of the Law Book every time.

Note that in no case (accepted or not) does dealer get an option; all the options are with the offender's LHO (in your example, you).  This is something that frequently comes as a surprise at the table.  The person with the options must even make that decision without advice from partner (L10C2) - so in your case, dealer can't even ask you to reject the call.
* All quotes from the WBF Laws of Duplicate Bridge 2017, Gender Neutral Edition.


Is there a limit to the maximum number of each card in a Netrunner deck? In collectible card games there is usually a maximum number of each card one can use in a deck for constructed formats. As a reference, take Magic: The Gathering where most formats allow for 4 of each card (except basic lands) to be played in each deck.

Is there a similar limit to the number of cards in a Netrunner CCG deck?

Nope, there are no card limits.  (Except for the Agenda limit in the Corp deck, there are no deck design limits of any kind.)

This was a reaction by Richard Garfield to a design mistake in Magic.  Originally he thought rarity alone would keep powerful cards balanced, not anticipating the way the collector market would grow.  WotC shortly learned that rarity was irrelevant for this; powerful cards also needed to be high-cost.

In the next two games, Jyhad and NetRunner, the design team tried to make sure that every card was costed correctly and not game-breaking even en masse.  So neither game had a card limit.

(They didn't always do a perfect job, so some tournaments impose card limits, but the game rules don't.)


Lathliss, Dragon Queen + Where Ancients Tread interaction Recently I constructed a Lathliss, Dragon Queen EDH deck, and just last night was at my LGS for some casual play.

At some point in the game I had on the battlefield a Lathliss, Dragon Queen and Where Ancients Tread, and was about to cast Scourge of Valkas.

My thought process was, if I activate Lathliss' ability to give my Dragon creatures +1/+0 then when Scourge of Valkas enters the battlefield it would enter as a 5/4, and therefore trigger Where Ancients Tread's ability.

The table seemed to conclude Lathliss' ability only applied the buff to Dragon creatures I currently controlled on the battlefield.

I'm confused, because it appears Lathliss' ability would apply to all Dragons, much the same as having Honor of the Pure on the field while casting a white creature with 2/2 would not cause Mentor of the Meek to trigger because the creature entering would actually be a 3/3, due to the added buff from Honor.

Could I have some clarification on this? Was my table right in that the interaction was not valid?

The table is correct.  Lathliss will not buff Dragons that enter the battlefield after the ability has resolved.
Lathliss' ability produces a continuous effect that buffs your Dragons until the end of the turn.  Part of generating this effect involves determining the set of objects that it will affect.  From the Comprehensive Rules (emphasis mine):

611.2c If a continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability modifies the characteristics or changes the controller of any objects, the set of objects it affects is determined when that  continuous effect begins. After that point, the set won’t change.

Since Lathliss' ability has already resolved before you play Scourge of Valkas, Scourge won't be affected by that ability.

The situation with Honor of the Pure plays out differently, because its effect is produced by a static ability.  Again from the Comprehensive Rules:

611.3a A continuous effect generated by a static ability isn’t “locked in”; it applies at any given moment to whatever its text indicates.
611.3b The effect applies at all times that the permanent generating it is on the battlefield or the object generating it is in the appropriate zone.

So Honor of the Pure will buff any white creature that enters the battlefield, as well as any creature that becomes white, or any white permanent that becomes a creature.  Conversely, if a creature somehow stops being white, it immediately loses the Honor bonus.


Question about the MTG stack So recently in a four way battle a weird situation came up that I would like clarification on. This was casual as it gets so I'm not concerned about the outcome; I just want to learn from the situation to play my deck better.

Anyways here's the setup: It is currently my turn, and I plan on playing three spells this turn: starting with Insult, then Lightning Strike, and then another Lightning Strike. During this I am also dealing damage to the remaining two players due to Electrostatic field, which brings one opponent down to 6 life.

In the midst of all this, specifically between my first and second Lightning Strike, that player taps Tree of Redemption, a monster that switches his life total with it's toughness (13). So that stack would be Insult, LS, Monster tap, LS (I'm assuming). Due to the double damage on Insult for the turn would the first resolved LS deal 6 damage, effectively killing that player? Would this also mean his tap to switch his monsters toughness with his life works because it's still on the stack? Thanks for any help hopefully this makes sense.

I'm assuming here that the player you've named Tree began this exchange with 9 life and Dino began with 18.  That means the sequence will most likely go something like this:

You cast Insult
Electrostatic Field triggers.  It's triggered ability is placed on the stack above Insult, so the stack is currently:

Electrostatic Field trigger
Insult

Each player passes priority.  Electrostatic Field's ability resolves and does one damage to each of your opponents.  This reduces Tree to 8 life and Dino to 17.  Insult is now the only thing on the stack.
Each player once again passes priority.  Insult resolves creating a continuous effect that doubles damage for the rest of the turn.
You cast Lightning Strike targeting Tree.
Electrostatic Field triggers again.  No one has a chance to act between you casting Lightning strike and Field's ability being put on the stack.  The stack is now:

Electrostatic Field trigger
Lightning Strike

From here, there are a couple ways things could play out depending on when Tree acts.  I'll go over the most likely scenario:

Each player passes priority.  Field's trigger resolves dealing 2 damage to each opponent due to Insult's continuous effect.  This reduces Tree to 6 life and Dino to 15 life.  Lightning Strike is now the only thing on the stack.
Tree activates Tree of Redemption, placing it's activated ability on the stack.  The stack now looks like this:

Tree of Redemption's ability
Lightning Strike

You cast another Lightning Strike targeting Tree.
Electrostatic Field Triggers again.  The stack is now:

Electrostatic Field trigger
Lightning Strike
Tree of Redemption's ability
Lightning Strike

Each player passes priority.  Electrostatic Field's ability resolves, dealing 2 damage to each opponent.  This reduces Tree to 4 life and Dino to 13 life.  The stack is now:

Lightning Strike
Tree of Redemption's ability
Lightning Strike

Each player passes priority again.  Lightning Strike resolves, dealing 6 damage to Tree due to Insult's continuous effect.  Tree is reduced to -2 life and loses the game.  All objects owned by them immediately disappear from the game.  This includes all of their permanents on the battlefield as well as the Tree of Redemption ability they own on the stack.  That leaves only your other Lightning Strike on the stack.
Each remaining player passes priority.  Lightning Strike tries to resolve, but it no longer has a target.  Since it has no target it is moved to your graveyard without resolving (often referred to as "Fizzling").


"Put into graveyard" versus "exile graveyard" Does the ability "Exile all cards from target player's graveyard" counter "When ~ is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library"?

For example: if Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is put into the graveyard, will activating Tormod's Crypt counter its effect?

Kind of.

When Emrakul hits the graveyard, his ability

  When Emrakul is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles
  his or her graveyard into his or her library.

goes onto the stack. Then priority will first go to the active player and then to the other. After receiving priority, Tormod's Crypt can be activated.

  Exile all cards from target player's graveyard.

All cards go into the exile zone.

After that, Emrakul's trigger resolves, and its controller will shuffle his or her empty graveyard into his or her library.


Can I reorder the abilities of Hydra's Growth and Simic Ascendancy? Suppose I control Simic Ascendancy and Hydra's Growth. Each of these has an ability that triggers at the beginning of my upkeep.

Since I'm the controller of both of these abilities, can I choose the order in which they go on the stack, so that Hydra's Growth's ability resolves first (adding +1/+1 counters), this triggers Simic Ascendancy's other triggered ability (adding growth counters), and then Simic Ascendancy's original ability resolves (I win the game due to those growth counters)? This seems like it should be possible, but Arena doesn't allow it.

You can't do the specific sequence you are trying to do because if there aren't already 20 growth counters on Simic Ascendancy at the beginning of your upkeep, its last ability doesn't trigger at all.

Simic Ascendancy's last ability has what's called an "intervening if" clause, described in rule 603.4:

  A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. (The word “if” has only its normal English meaning anywhere else in the text of a card; this rule only applies to an “if” that immediately follows a trigger condition.)

The text of Simic Ascendancy's ability says this:

  At the beginning of your upkeep, if Simic Ascendancy has twenty or more growth counters on it, you win the game.

So, if it doesn't have 20 growth counters at the beginning of your upkeep, the ability doesn't trigger at all, so there's no opportunity to reorder it so that it resolves after Hydra's Growth's ability. In fact, on Gatherer Simic Ascendancy has a ruling about this:

  If Simic Ascendancy doesn’t have twenty or more growth counters on it as your upkeep begins, its last ability won’t trigger. You can’t take any actions during your turn before your upkeep begins.

In general, if two or more triggered abilities trigger at the same time, you can reorder them. This is described in greater detail in this question.