texts: Why is it important that the digits be all different?

texts:
In standard Bulls and Cows, the digits of the chosen number must be all different.

Is this rule crucial for the "playability" of the game? In other words: if I ignore this rule and allow choosing a code with some identical digits - does it make the game to hard or too easy for the guesser?


texts: Can I exceed the maximum Army size by moving in more units?

texts:
Lets say I have two units at Winterfell, and two units at White Harbor. I can march from White Harbor. Can I do that with both units and march to Winterfell, and by doing so break the maximum limit of three units at Winterfell?

I haven't found any rule saying something about marching from somewhere and making a total army of, say, six or more in one area...


texts:
I had on my rack among other tiles, a black 9, 1 x blue 10, and a black 12.

On the table was a set of 3 x 10s including a Joker(no blue 10), and other sets of tiles including an available black 11.

Can I replace the joker with my blue 10 and then set out :

my black 9, the joker(representing a black 10), a black 11 from the table, and my black 12?


texts: How do I score rounds 2 and 3 when I am the only player with a kind of building?

texts: Last night at the end of round 2, I was the only player with any Pavilion tiles in my Alhambra. First place gets 8 points, second place gets 1 point. How do I score this? Do I get all 9 points? Or just the 8 points for first place? It's only 1 point, but I could see a situation with higher-value kind of buildings where this division would matter.


texts: Are there any fan-created campaigns for Shadows of Brimstone?

texts:
I'd like to get into Shadows of Brimstone, but I've heard that there's a part during setup where you configure how hard the adventure is going to be.  I'm a little bit put off by that.  I worry that, when/if I win, it'll feel like I only won because I made the game too easy.

One thing I liked about Pathfinder Adventure Card Game is that it comes with a little campaign: it tells you to play these scenarios, in this order, with these special rules attached to each one.

Is there anything like that (perhaps fan-created) for Shadows of Brimstone?


texts: Does Olivia Voldaren's second ability still work if I steal her in response?

texts:
Olivia Voldaren has the following for her second ability:

  {3}{B}{B}: Gain control of target Vampire for as long as you control Olivia Voldaren.

Meanwhile, Merieke Ri Berit has this for her second ability:

  {T}: Gain control of target creature for as long as you control Merieke Ri Berit. When Merieke Ri Berit leaves the battlefield or becomes untapped, destroy that creature. It can't be regenerated.

My opponent activates Olivia Voldaren's second ability, targeting a vampire. In response, I activate Merieke Ri Berit's second ability to steal Olivia Voldaren. Will my opponent still gain control of the vampire?


texts: Advice for responding to "Kwabang" attack when playing Japan?

texts:
When playing Axis & Allies as Japan I occasionally have an opponent use the "Kwabang" opening against me, which is where UK attacks Kwangtung on her opening move with the two infantry and fighter in India (landing the fighter in China, typically).

My usual opening move with Japan involves attacking the Pearl Harbor fleet, but when UK opens with a successful Kwabang attack (meaning they capture the territory with at least one infantry) I call that attack off and instead do the following:

Send one infantry from Burma into India.
Send my two transports with four infantry into Kwangtung, along with the two battleships (and pray that the transport doesn't strike a blow).
Throw all of my available infantry (3 in Manchuria, 1 in Burma) plus all air power into attacking China, especially if the UK fighter is based there.
Move all remaining naval units to the Japan Sea Zone.

While this strategy usually works well enough to retake Kwangtung and to capture China (and, more importantly, to remove the US and UK fighters in Asia), it has the following undesirable consequences:

It leaves the Pearl Harbor fleet unmolested.
It leaves Manchuria and Burma unguarded. Granted, these are two territories that are usually easy to take back because they are reachable from Japanese transports in one turn, but if Russia has stacked infantry in east Asia on turn 1 then it can take up to two turns to get Manchuria back.

I'm curious how others deal with this opening and if there are any recommendations on how to refine my response.


texts: Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios and Spells with X mana cost

texts:
Let's say that I have Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios on the battlefield.
What happens if I cast some instant or sorcery spell, reveal the top card of my library and it happens to be Ingenious Mastery?
According to Jadzi, I can cast a nonland card by paying 1C rather than paying its mana cost. But what does it mean to Ingenious Mastery? Will my opponents create two Treasure tokens, and do Scry 2, and how many cards will I draw, and why?


texts: In Elder Sign, what is the distinction between completing and defeating a task?

texts:
The faq says that Mandy Thompson's ability should read

  Once per day, after any player has rolled, Mandy may re- roll 2 dice before determining if the active player was able to defeat a task.

The actual card says "complete" instead of "defeat", so what is the reason for the errata claiming it should say "defeat"?


texts: Does Livewire Lash trigger if a spell is countered by Chalice of the Void

texts:
I have a creature equipped with Livewire Lash and my opponent has Chalice of the Void in play.

I play a spell which targets the creature equipped with Livewire Lash but the spell is countered due to Chalice of the Void.

Does the Livewire Lash still trigger even if the spell was countered?


texts: When a Creature dies, does the Enchantment Creature attached to that Creature go in the graveyard?

texts: Or can you place that Enchantment Creature as a Creature on the battlefield after the Creature it was attached to dies?


texts: Charterstone - Does "Gain card type" via a building include the Market

texts:
Charterstone is a legacy game, so I'm trying to avoid specific spoilers. Please excuse the roundabout phrasing.

After playing the first game of Charterstone a number of new buildings and advancement card types are unlocked within the game. Generally these new advancement card types come with a building that allows you to get them directly. The behaviour of which is clarified After Game 1 section of the FAQ.

At least two of these have corresponding Persona card. These Persona cards give you a benefit if you "gain the card from using a building". Does this mean only the specific building that grants those card types, or does using the general "Market" building to gain advancement cards also trigger this bonus?


texts: Can you gain a Silver with Trader if the original supply pile was empty?

texts:
We had a game with the following relevant cards: Trader and Witch. We're several turns into the game and the Curse pile has emptied. I have a Trader in my hand, and it's Barry's turn. Barry plays Witch to get the cards, I'd like a Silver.

I contend that even though the Curse pile is empty, I would gain a Curse (according to the wording on Trader) and therefore I can gain a Silver instead.

Barry says that since the Curse pile is empty, you wouldn't gain a Curse therefore you can't reveal Trader and in turn, cannot gain a Silver.

Who is right? If possible, please provide sources.

  Trash a card from your hand.  Gain a number of Silvers equal to its cost in coins.
  When you would gain a card, you may reveal this from your hand.  If you do, instead gain a Silver.


texts:
Player 1 has A 8; Player 2 has A 9.

Community cards are A K 7 4 4.

Does player 2 win with a 9 kicker? Or is the K the kicker for both resulting in a tie?


texts: Are enchantments and artifacts considered spells?

texts:
In Magic: The Gathering, are enchantments and artifacts considered spells?

More precisely, can I use Cancel (which says "Counter target spell.") on an enchantment or an artifact?


texts: Does casting a card and paying for it work like this?

texts:
Let's say that I have two cards in my hand, Lion's Eye Diamond and Shock.  According to the rules, the steps to casting a spell are as follows:

Announcing the spell (put the spell on the stack)
Determine Modes
Choose targets
Announce Divisions
Determine Total Cost
Activate Mana Abilities
Pay costs
The spell is now considered cast

So, by reading this, does this mean that I can cast the artifact, then once it resolves cast the Shock by putting it on the Stack, going through the steps, then sacraficing the artifact for it's mana ability (and discarding my hand, which is 0) and paying for the shock with the mana the artifact produced?


texts: When does my opponent receive priority? It's the beginning of my turn; I draw a card and decide to go straight into combat. Can my opponent tap my creatures before declaring attackers with Gideon's Lawkeeper? Even though I didn't take any actions before declaring them as attackers meaning he never got priority before?


texts: Is Brasilia a weak starting investment in Imperial 2030?

texts:
The other day I was playing said game, and I draw Brasilia as my starting investment. While I don't feel I played particularly well, I did find it harder than the others to expand my empire. Further more, they told me that the last time someone had had Brasilia they also suffered.

Is this common in games? And if so how can I turn Brasilia's weaknesses into my strengths?


texts: What does the Yoke card mean when it says "Plow"?

texts:
I played the Yoke minor improvement, and there was some disagreement as to whether it referred to the number of fields currently on the board, the number of times the "Plow 1 Field" action has been taken, or the number of "plow" minor improvements that had been played.  What is actually meant by this card?

Card Text:

  When you play this card, you can immediately plow 1 field for each Plow that
  has been played (by any player) or Harrow if it has been played.


texts: If I resurrect a previously enchanted creature, does it get its old auras back?

texts: If my enchanted creature dies, and I then bring the creature back to the battlefield does said creature come back with the same enchantment on it?


texts:
A discussion on Reddit about bad combos mentioned combining the following two cards (Oracle included here):

Fist of Suns

  You may pay {W}{U}{B}{R}{G} rather than pay the mana cost for spells that you cast.

North Star

  {4}, {T}: For one spell this turn, you may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to pay that spell's mana cost. (Additional costs are still paid normally.)

The idea being that by activating North Star you could pay {5} to play anything instead of the usual {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}, due to the oracle wording. The total mana cost would be 9 mana thanks to the {4} required to activate North Star of course.

Does this combo work?


texts: How to calculate the probability to get all cards of Exodia, the Forbidden One by drawing them from my Deck during the Draw phase?

texts:
In Yu-Gi-Oh!, there are some cards that allow to the duelist to win a duel automatically.

In this case, I'm focusing my question on Exodia, The Forbidden One. To win a duel using Exodia, you must have the five cards (parts of Exodia) in your hand.

These cards are (in no particular order):

Right Leg of the Forbidden One
Left Leg of the Forbidden One
Right Arm of the Forbidden One
Left Arm of the Forbidden One
Exodia The Forbidden One

I'm wondering:

How to calculate the probability to get all cards of Exodia The Forbidden One based on:

Parts of Exodia taken from the Deck during each Draw Phase with no additional card effects.

A Yu-Gi-Oh! deck has:

40 cards in total (35 monster, spell, trap cards and 5 Exodia cards).
There are only five Exodia cards (no copies).
Draw one card per turn.

I posted a question on meta about this subject.
The accepted answer should have a format similar to any of the linked answers.
I'm looking for a detailed answer that explains how to make those calculations and the obtained results as shown in this answer.


texts: How do I find players willing to participate in test-playing my games?

texts:
I have some game ideas that are currently in the prototype phase. I am now looking for groups who are willing to test these games.

I am somewhat afraid that they won't like the game and would not be willing to play again.

Do you know where I can find players that test new games?


texts: Is "Player" interchangeable with "Planeswalker"?

texts: Cards the say target player, but say nothing about Planeswalkers such as those printed before Planeswalkers were a thing. Can i target a planeswalker in place of a player?


texts: Do multiple encounters combine for craft?

texts:
On page ten of the rulebook, there is the rule:

  If there is more than one Enemy that attacks by Strength on a space and they have the same encounter number, they fight as one during battle, adding their Strength together with just one attack roll to make a single, combined stack score.

Does this rule still apply if a player encounters two or more enemies that attack by Craft? What if one enemy attacks by Strength, but the other attacks by Craft?


texts: How do indestructible creatures actually work?

texts:
If a First Striker does lethal damage to an indestructible creature, does this remove the creature from combat so it can not deal any damage?

Another scenario: An indestructible creature is dealt lethal damage, has destroy cast on it, or is hit during combat by a creature with deathtouch. Would casting Lava Coil in the second main phase cause it to be exiled?


texts: Is it possible to counter cards that boost a creatures power during the combat phase?

texts:
For example, if someone attacks with a 3/3 creature, and you have a 5/5 creature that will ultimately block and destroy his creature.

If they boosts their creature with a +3/+3 spell, can you counter the spell?
If they boost their creature with an equipment card, during his combat attack phase, can you counter that?

What, if anything, does this have to do with the "Stack"?


texts: Battlestar Galactica (base game) Sympathizer explanation?

texts:
I recently purchased BSG the boardgame and, reading the rules, two questions aroused to my mind regarding the sympathizer mechanic.

With 4 and 6 players, after dealing the starting loyalties cards, we have to add the Sympathizer card to the deck... That means the deck now has +1 card than the number of players, so is it possible that, during the sleeper agent phase, no one becomes the sympathizer, right?
Also, if the sympathizer card goes to a non-revealed cylon player and there is at least one resource in the red zone, this player becomes a sympathizer. Then, if he deals the non-revealed cylon card to another player, we can have 2 cylon (sympathizer + cylon) in a 4 player game, and 3 cylons (2 cylons + sympathizer) in a 6 players game right? Wouldn't it be a bit unbalanced?

Thanks for the answers!


texts: If the only attacker is removed from combat, is a creature still counted as having attacked this turn?

texts:
I'm querying an effect which specifically removes creatures from combat altogether such as Reconnaissance or Spires of Orazca.

If the only attacking creature is removed from combat by an effect like this, how does this attack or lack thereof interact with things like the Raid mechanic and Curious Obsession?

Does it check "Was an attack initiated at all?" this turn or "Was an attack "successfully" made"? Does an effect like the above "prevent" an attack?

I wondered this since burning the creature at any point after it has already been declared as an attacker still makes it count for "a creature attacked this turn".


texts: How can I modify an existing deck for a wide-open environment?

texts:
Say you've got a fairly competitive Magic: the Gathering deck you really like. It's likely to be tuned to the particular environment it developed in, whether that's what's most popular among your friend group or the metagame at your local FNM (or this month's big-tournament metagame, for that matter -- netdecks are a popular thing).

A lot of MTG play is informal play between relative strangers. It's not "Vintage" because you're not playing with decks designed to win Vintage. You can sit down for some "casual play" at a convention or game store and see everything from an old Lorwyn-era Standard deck to Legacy-grade Countertop to a cross-set mono-green beatdown deck -- and you'll get to play some pretty dang serious games against them.

Clearly this is an environment that favors breadth over really specific answers and hosers and threats. As an example, Gut Shot is a pretty widespread card in M12-Scars-Innistrad Standard because it deals with turn-1 Delver or Stromkirk Noble; it's rather a crap choice against an aggro deck using cards like Loam Lion, Vampire Lacerator, or Goblin Guide, though. Lightning Bolt, in contrast, is a card that is almost never considered useless.

What approach should you take to improve the breadth of a deck for this kind of never-know-what-you're-going-to-face environment?


texts: Legality in Standard of Standard-legal cards from previous printings

texts: Say I have a copy of Llanowar Elves from the 2017 Core Set. Can I put it in a current Standard deck, or do I need to have a version from currently Standard-legal set?


texts: At the end of the game, I replaced a joker with a tile, then used that joker with another joker and a 10 tile to make a run of 10,11,12 to win.  Is this a legitimate play?


texts: What happens when all players land on licorice in Candy Land?

texts:
I am in dire need of assistance. My wife and son were engaged in a heated two player game of Candy Land, when suddenly tragedy struck. My son landed on a licorice space and per the rules of the game he loses his next turn. Then the unthinkable had occurred. My wife had also landed on a licorice space causing her to lose her next turn.
My sons next turn is now skipped but my wife is equally unable to take a turn, unable to draw a card initiating the next turn.
My wife and son now unable to continue the game are beginning to dematerialize from the mortal realm as they are beginning the gradual phase shift into eternal purgatory. After endless searching into the deepest arcana of the occult (the rules on the back of the box), I have yet to find an official transcription that can restore my wife and son back to our plane of existence so that they can end this Jumanji style nightmare and we can pick up the pieces of our lives and what is left.
Please help us resolve this ambiguity in the rules.


texts: MTG Gatherer Regular Expressions whitespace

texts:
How do I represent white space in a phrase on gatherer's advanced search? I read the help, and I've used regexes before, but I can't get this to work for me.

  AND
  lifelink

  NOT
  m/until\send\sof\turn/

  NOT
  creature

Should give

  AND
  lifelink

  NOT
  until end of turn

  NOT
  creature

I'm looking for cards that give lifelink as a persistent effect like enchantments or equipment.

What am i doing wrong with the regex? Why does it still show card with end of turn in the text body?

Edit: gatherer specifically instructs to use regex...

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Help.aspx#regex


texts: What does playability of a Scrabble word mean?

texts:
While studying Scrabble word lists through Zyzzyva, I came across the term playability order. I understand the term probability order, which lists the most probable tile combinations on a rack of 7 tiles. However, I was unable to understand what criteria orders the words based on playability order.

The first three words in the playability order for 3 letter words are

  QIN
  QAT
  QIS

Which according to me is quite absurd to be most playable, as one is more likely to draw two E's (out of 12) and one R (out of 6) to play ERE or REE, rather than drawing the only Q.

Can someone explain to me in simple words the meaning of playability order of words in Scrabble?


texts: What computer games based on Magic: The Gathering are there?

texts:
I've had a ton of fun playing an old version of Shandalar on my PC. The computer opponents are great and I love the card antes and everything, but there's only around 600 cards and the rules are somewhat out of date (you get a mulligan ONLY if you got no land or spells).

Are there any newer MTG computer games? I have these preferences:

I do NOT want online play. I know there's plenty of places for that, but it's not what I'm looking for.
As many cards as possible. 600 sounds like a lot, but at this point I've pretty much seen all of them, so there as many new things in the game.
True to actual MTG rules. I don't want an RTS or anything, I want to play real Magic, just against the computer.

I know there's a list here, but many of those come nothing close to my conditions. If I need to I'll ask on gaming, but I thought I'd try here first as I don't know how many people there actually play Magic.


texts: Does the Blunderbuss require you to use only the +2 strength bonus in order to use its roll effect?

texts:
When resolving a Combat Encounter, you may gain +2 Strength. If you do, each 6 you roll when resolving a etc etc

If I have a +5 weapon, typically I take the higher bonus as my bonus (they are not added together), and I can use the non-bonus effects on all items I hold.  In this case, because it says "If you do", does this mean I must take the +2 Strength as my bonus and nothing higher, even if I have such an item, in order to use the blunderbuss rolling effect stated after?


texts: Can a double jump move backwards in Checkers/Draughts?

texts: In Checkers, can a non-kinged piece jump backwards as the second jump in a double jump?


texts: I'm wondering, what are some good games for mixed gamer/non-gamer parties?  I've had good luck with some light strategy games in the past, but nothing too serious.  What's good, quick, and can easily incorporate a lot of people?


texts: Simic Manipulator and polymorphist's jest combo

texts: Once Polymorhist Jest is cast by an opponent during your attacking phase can a defending player also legally take full control over a target creature by tapping Simic Manipulator’s ability?


texts:
In the rules, it says

  Attacking a monster does not require making an evade test.  This
  attack may be unarmed, with a weapon, or with an “attack”  Spell card.
  This attack does not need to target a monster in the  investigator’s
  space.

You can avoid the evade test if casting an attack spell. So what spells are considered "attack" spells?


texts: Hexproof vs enchantment affecting all creatures

texts: My opponent controls Plated Crusher, a 7/6 hexproof creature. I control two Dampening Pulses, which give opponents' creatures -1/-0. Would Dampening Pulse affect the hexproof creature? I think it would because it's not directly targeting the hexproof creature.


texts: How would cooperative and foraging chain work?

texts:
Imagine a Long Neck + Foraging + Cooperative combo.
It gains 2 foods from the food bank and feed the species at its right.
If the species at the right has foraging + cooperative, how many does it gain?
And how many gains the third species?

It seems like the first would gain 2, the next 2 and the next 1, but I am not sure. Someone said the first should gain 2 and the next 4 and the third should have 2.


texts: Evolution the Beginning - Scavenger card

texts:
When a scavenger is given food tokens during a carnivore attack, does the scavenger get to keep all the food tokens, even though that scavenger does not have enough "room" for all the food -- e.g., enough population or a fat tissue card?

(We understand that the tokens stay with the scavenger until the end of the scavenger's own turn, or until the scavenger is made extinct.)

The rules do not seem to restrict a scavenger to only so many food tokens as the scavenger has "room" to eat.

[ In contrast, although a Longneck can have up to 3 tokens from the excess food pile, a Longneck can only take in as many tokens as its populations or fat tissue can consume. ]

Rules say [page 11]:  "A Scavenger eats 1 Food from the Excess Food pile every time a Carnivore attacks, even if the Scavenger is getting attacked or doing the attacking.  Food scavenged when it is not your turn will stay on your Population cards until the end of your next turn."

AND

Rules also say [Step 3, Rule 2, page 8]:  "...If there is Food on that card (see Scavenger Trait, p.11), place it in the Food Bag of the attacked player."

The way we are playing is that if the Scavenger has a bunch of food tokens, if the Scavenger gets attacked/made extinct before its turn comes around, ALL those food tokens get dumped in Scavenger's food bag, regardless if the Scavenger has sufficient population / fat tissue to "take in" all that food
[because of the rule on p.8],
BUT
if it comes around to the Scavenger's own turn, then the Scavenger has to DEAL with that food by adding sufficient population or fat tissue to absorb all that food before it can "earn" all those tokens (put them in the bag)
[based on rule on p.11].

Are we doing this right?


texts: Do creatures summoned by a Planeswalker have summoning sickness?

texts:
Elspeth, Sun's Champion has a loyalty ability which says:

  Place three 1/1 white soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.

When this ability is activated, do these soldiers have summoning sickness? I ask because Elspeth herself does not have summoning sickness when placed onto the battlefield.


texts: Where can I find a list of cooperative "beat the game" games?

texts: I know of Pandemic and I remember having played a game about mountain climbing where the goal was to as a team climb the mountain and get back down safely but there must be more of these games where one play as a team rather than against each other. Where can I find a good list of such games?


texts: If your opponent hits one of your models with a D strength weapon, rolls on the table and gets a 'Seriously Wounded' result, then rolls 3 for the number of wounds. How many saving throws do I roll? Is it 1 save for the 1 hit or 3 saves for each of the 3 wounds?


texts: Roll a 7, move robber AND play knight and move the robber again in the same turn

texts:
Lately while playing Catan I've been in situation of rolling a 7 and having a knight development card in my hand.

Is it legal for me to move the robber due to the 7 and then play a knight and move the robber again all in the same turn?


texts: In Gin-Rummy, what are the chances to start with a Gin?

texts:
In Gin-Rummy, in the start of a round players draw 10 cards.

What is the probability to draw 10 cards such that all the cards are part of some  meld?


texts: Timing of Roma (B)/Catan (B) and Courtesan's Guild?

texts:
7 Wonders with Leaders extension (and optionally Catan wonder)

In the same turn (Alice and Bob are neighbours):

Alice builds the Courtesan's Guild

→ she can copy a leader

Bob builds 2nd or 3rd Roma (B) stage (or 1st Catan (B) stage)

→ he can recruit a leader

Can Alice place the Courtesan token on the leader card which Bob recruits in the same turn?


texts: Can I summon Interplanetarypurplythorny Dragon using Witch of the Black Forest's effect

texts:
Just wondering if this is a legal use of the card's effects since IPPT Dragon's effect does state that when a monster on my side of field is destroyed I can special it. Considering that my card being destroyed is Witch of the Black Forest, and that the card I choose using Witch's effect is IPPT dragon, would I be able to special IPPT Dragon?
I know Witch is a banned card, this is for my own personal duels.

IPPT= Interplanetarypurplythorny


texts: Are there Magic: The Gathering lore books for the recent blocks?

texts:
I'm trying to find information on the lore of the recent blocks, namely Battle for Zendikar, Shadows over Innistrad, and Kaladesh.  It looks like all the previous sets up through Theros had an accompanying 2-3 book series.

Are there book series' for the recent sets?


texts: Do geologists ever count as "winners" in Saboteur 2?

texts:
In Saboteur 2, the number of dwarves who win a round matters quite a bit: the more dwarves who win, the fewer points are awarded to each.

Geologists play by funny rules, though, and get points in another way. My question is: do geologists count toward the number of "winners" for a round, thus reducing all the other winners' points? Or are they left out of the winner count?


texts: Do I make the sneak check on the patrol marker or confront monsters first?

texts: When I end my turn in the street where there are monsters and a patrol marker, do I encounter the monsters first or perform the sneak check to avoid being arrested. Do I get to choose?


texts: What are rules for completely blank tiles?

texts:
Few days ago I got a Mahjong set. The majority of tiles I could identify from standard rules, but there were 8 I could not.

4 of them are completely blank.
Another four have same desing of 2 red hieroglyphs in brackets (well, 2 straight angles around them).

What are they needed for? What rules should I look for?

Usually “mahjong joker” leads to endless web games pages.

NB. Set already includes all clearly identifiable dragons and flowers/seasons.


texts: If banished token then try to resummon it, possible?

texts:
I have a token on the field, then I used Interdimensional Matter Transporter, will it return to the field?

Interdimensional Matter Transporter:

  Target 1 face-up monster you control; banish that target until the End
  Phase.


texts: How can one use the "Guest Option" in Rankade?

texts:
Just discovered Rankade (in a comment here somewhere) and still learning the ropes...

I've read about the Guest option in the FAQ but can't find a way to add one to a match...
Is it a particular type of ghost player?
What if the guest finally end up being a regular member? Can he be upgraded like a ghost player?

Thanks!


texts:
So me and my mate are just looking for clarification about Crypt Incursion.

For example, I play Crypt Incursion, targeting my graveyard. In response he plays Crypt Incursion and also wants to target my graveyard.

Which Crypt Incursion goes first? And if his does go first, am I then able to respond and target his graveyard instead?


texts: I play Doctor and name Rats.  I reveal the top 3 cards and find 1 Rats, so I trash it.  Which happens first: re-ordering the other cards, or drawing my card from trashing Rats?  And if the draw happens first, what do I draw?  The first non-Rats card that Doctor revealed, or the first unrevealed card in my deck?


texts:
A number of cards in the Starcraft Board Game (I believe it's exclusive to those from the Brood War expansion) refer to actions to be done during, or after, the "Action Phase".

The official instructions list only three phases; Planning, Execution, and Regrouping.

From context, I would guess that "Action Phase" is synonymous to "Execution Phase" (many of the cards seem overpowered otherwise), but I was hoping to find an official answer rather than conjecture: Which phase is the "Action Phase?"


texts: Why did this route work? Using another player's station, in Ticket to Ride Online?

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


texts: Can doors be closed in Imperial Assault?

texts: Say that a figure opens a door. Can it later be closed by either the Rebels or the Imperials (perhaps with the intention of blocking line of sight or hindering movement)?


texts: What happens when you have multiple copies of Nine Lives on the board?

texts:
I couldn't find any prior rulings to this question.
So what happens if you have multiple copies of Nine Lives on the board and receive damage from any source.
Do both copies trigger each time you get damage so that both copies would have nine counters at the same time making them redundant or do they alternate giving you functionally 17 lives (8+8+1 lethal)?


texts: How do I activate Dauntless Cathar's ability?

texts:
Dauntless Cathar has the following ability:

  {1}{W}, Exile Dauntless Cathar from your graveyard: Put a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.

Please clarify. If the card is IN my hand, how can I exile if FROM the graveyard if it is not there? Did the writers mean SEND it to graveyard, or actually exile it? Confused, the writing does not make sense.


texts: Can flute of the outer gods be used against epic monsters?

texts: This card allows one to "defeat all monsters." Epic monsters cannot be discarded but can they be defeated with this card?


texts: When I tap a creature to attack with it, does that also activate abilities that require tapping it?

texts:
When I declare my attackers, that causes the attacker to be tapped. What happens if the attacker I tap has an ability that is triggered by tapping?

Would I have to tap the creature before the combat phase to use the ability (thus making it unable to attack due to it being tapped) or does tapping the creature to declare it as an attacker cause it to trigger its ability?


texts: Does taking first strike damage before gaining life from normal lifelink cause me to lose the game?

texts:
Two creatures are attacking me and one has first strike and I have one blocker with lifelink.  If I block the creature without first strike and take lethal damage from the first strike creature, would I lose the game before I gain the life to live from my blocker with lifelink?

Essentially do you lose the game at the end of the first strike combat step or is this checked at the end of both combat steps?


texts: If my creature with deathtouch and 0 power blocks one of my opponent's creatures, does my opponent's creature die?

texts: Deathtouch means that "any creature dealt damage by another creature with deathtouch is destroyed", but what if that creature with deathtouch is 0/1? I suppose a better title would be 'does a creature with 0 power deal damage in combat?', but it seems like deathtouch is the most prominent case where this would come into play.


texts: Do you know any good miniature wargame that is fairly easy to learn and play?

texts:
I have various miniatures (sci-fi and fantasy one), some grounds (tree, hills, barricades) and many many dices. I host regularly every week in a Barcelona bar a boardgame meeting with new people to boardgames and from various language and nationality. I have many new enthusiasts, but few experts in gaming.

I am looking something to propose for the occasional gamer, and at the same time, a miniature wargame that is fairly easy to learn and have fun to play.

What is a bad suggestion: Dungeon & Dragons, any of Warhammer series, historical reconstruction of fights

What is a good suggestion: A own made auto generated labyrinth game (I have plenty of tiles), a game with a 15 minutes creating character and quick battles, a game that can play several people at the same time.

Can you please help me with some suggestions?


texts: MTG instant "Expedite" - can I resolve second spell ability if I cannot resolve the first?

texts:
The instant, Expedite says the following:

  Target creature gains haste until end of turn.

  Draw a card.

If there are no creatures on the battlefield (or at least none under my control), am I required to resolve the first ability in order to resolve the second?


texts: Childhood dangers card game made in the 70s/80s

texts:
Does anyone remember the name of a card game that was made in the 70s or 80s in which you collect cards in a sequence of events that was meant to teach kids to avoid household injuries?

Some of the card collections included: don't reach for a pot of boiling water, don't play with matches, and don't leave a rake in the grass with the tines sticking up. They had circles in the corner with symbols tied to the cards you were collecting (pot of water, match, etc.). The back of the cards might have had red crosses on them, but not sure.

My mom was a teacher, and says she may have bought them at an educational store in the Tacoma, WA area where I grew up. My sister and I joke that this game was a shared fever dream, since they were so weird (and morbid....the final cards all had children with x-out eyes), and no one else on earth seems to remember this game—Help!


texts: In Backgammon, when can the dice be doubled?

texts:
I basically understand the principle of doubling: using the doubling cube to double the stakes of the current game. I'm not sure when the dice rolled can be double for 4 moves. Is that only when the doubling cube is used? Or can it be done any time within a game?
Many thanks!


texts: Does Crystalline Sliver currently have hexproof or shroud?

texts:
Has the text of Crystalline Sliver been modified to have hexproof, or does it have shroud?  The reason I ask is the Crypt Sliver has

  Tap: Regenerate target sliver

which the Crystalline would make unusable with its old wording.


texts: MTG Arena - casting during opponent's upkeep

texts:
In MTG Arena, I keep trying to set a stop after my turn so that I can cast during my opponent's upkeep, but it always appears to skip right into their main phase.

It's been a while since I played Magic, but casting spells during opposing upkeep used to be a mainstay of my play (i.e., tapping a land with icy manipulator during upkeep so that the mana isn't available during the main phase).

Is this no longer something you can do in Magic, and if so, how do I set it up to allow me to do it in MTG Arena? Even with full stops enabled, it appears to breeze right past upkeep.


texts: Are there other sources of suggested sets?

texts:
I have all the Dominion sets and really prefer to play the suggested sets of kingdom cards that come with the rules.  I find that these sets often are thought out really well and have several interesting strategies to explore.  When using randomizers (apps or just drawing randomly) I find that the sets seldom offers that many interesting strategies.

So:
I wonder if anyone knows of good suggested sets of kingdom cards?  Have you played with combinations that provide several strategy types?  Is there a source of suggested sets anywhere?  Somewhere where people can vote on sets?

I am sorry if the question is a bit vauge, but all I really want is to find some suggestions for good sets, not just random sets.  Thanks in advance!


texts:
In brass, there are only a small number of shipyards available, but it seems in the canal phase this is reduced further. There is a specific rule that says a shipyard cannot be built at the places connected via a rail link, but i don't understand why.

If i have a city card, meaning i can build within that city, what is stopping me build a level 1 shipyard? It has no materials needed to be shipped, so why is this place any different to any other city on the map? Am i missing a specific rule somewhere?

This has been a rule that initially confused out group, until we played online and realised the correct usage (which the rules do backup).

My confusion is that the specific rule says something like

  Hence the shipyard in the canal phase
  cannot be built at this location

And i don't understand the rational.


texts: Is It Possible To Win 2-Player Agricola Without Taking Wood?

texts:
A few months ago I visited a friend who'd recently taken up playing Agricola with her husband.  "We think there should be a bigger handicap for going second," she said, "Otherwise the person who keeps taking the wood always wins."  I thought this was rubbish, and took her on in a 2-player game, letting her take wood first every time while I concentrated on a Major Improvements-dominated strategy.  I can't remember the final scoreline but I'm pretty sure I won the game by double figures of points.

I just played a 2-player game on the excellent boiteajeux.net, where my opponent went first, and started as he meant to go on, by hogging the wood space.  I had some really bad Occupations and Minor Improvements: I played the Pieceworker in the first round, but thereafter never had a really big incentive to play another card.  Opponent took some more wood, and eventually some reed, before playing - uh, oh - the Wet Nurse.

I decided in the face of this obviously unbalanced game not to scrabble for 3 wood or the starting player token (I had no good Minor Improvements to play after all), but to cut my foe mercilessly off food whenever possible.  This certainly slowed the pace of his domination of the game, but he still had enough breathing room always to take 6 wood when it was available.  Eventually he made his move and grew his house from 3 to 5 rooms with a full complement of people, with me still on 2 actions a turn.  I continued to make it hard for him to get easy food grabs, but ultimately he was able to build a lot of fences while my farmyard had, in the end, 2 rooms, 5 fields, 1 pasture... and 7 painfully empty spaces.  The ultimate scoreline was 43-30 in his favour, not exactly a rout but not very close either.

My question then is: is it impossible to win Agricola this way?  Do you have to compete for the wood to go under?  Against my married friend I was able to keep her in check by cutting reed to keep her off room building; but this might not work against a more determined opponent.  Should I have resigned myself to the fact that I needed to "waste" an action by taking Starting Player without having a minor improvement to play?  Or to take 3 wood even though this would give my opponent more opportunities to move ahead in other areas and cement his lead?

Or can I just chalk up my loss to the fact that the Wet Nurse is a bit unfair against a player with no good cards of their own to fight back with?


texts: Do Door of Destinies and Myr Turbine interact?

texts:
If I have a Door of Destiniesin play and choose creature type Myr, do the abilities of Myr Turbine interact with the Door?

Do either of Myr Turbines effects cause Door of Destinies to trigger? Or, Myr Battlesphere. Do the 4 myr tokens it generates count?

Seems like the second would but im not sure about tokens...


texts: In the base game of RftG, if you chose Consume>Trade as the action, do you have to trade on a card that has a $ ability? If it is a +3 and do you get +3 cards in addition to the normal trade value?


texts: Is the extra attack from frenzy on the profile of the Vargheist?

texts: Vargheist have frenzy. Frenzy gives an extra attack. The profile for vargheist says it has 3 attacks. Does the profile include the extra attack from frenzy or are they supposed to have 4 attacks with frenzy?


texts: How to solve problems with the Invisibility power

texts:
This question is about the board game "Strange Synergy" by Steve Jackson Games - it's a rather complex game so if you are not familiar with it, please ask for clarifications before attempting to answer.

There are many questions that rise as the result of using the power "Invisibility", and as I don't like the "popular" house rule of "remove from the game any power that raises tough questions", I would like opinions about how to solve the questions that were raised. The "Invisibility" power has these properties:

The miniature is removed from the board and instead the player has to privately record the location of the character.
The invisible character "is not an obstacle"
If another warrior guesses where the character is and fires at its location, the character may be hit. The invisible character is also susceptible to any area or "line" effects.

The problems are:

If a warrior shoots another warrior (not line effect - just standard targeting), and an invisible character is in the line of sight - are they hit? My guess is that not because an invisible character "is not an obstacle" while obstacles prevent warriors from targeting each other.
If a warrior moves through a location where an invisible character is located, do they have to stop, resolve "bumping" or in any other way become aware of the invisible character? My guess would be that the answer is no because an invisible character "is not an obstacle".
If a warrior moves and stops on a location where an invisible character is, does any effect happen as a result?
If a warrior shoots another warrior that is on the same location as an invisible character (using a power with no area or line of effect, such as the "Pistol"), is the invisible character hit?
Can an invisible character, in its move, move through a location where another character is standing?
Can an invisible character, in its move, move to a location where another character is standing?
If an invisible character becomes visible in the same location that another character holds, what happens? I would expect at least normal "bumping" to happen but - the character that was invisible can't immediately move off (as "bumping" resolution requires) because it just used its entire turn to become visible. Also the rules for the "Intangible" power which behaves similar to "Invisible" in regard to not being an obstacle, say that if the character becomes tangible in the same location as another character, both characters die immediately.

I would appreciate any opinions, even from people who haven't played Strange Synergy (though do ask for clarifications for things you are not sure about, in that case).


texts: If you discard Immortal Phoenix, does it return to your hand?

texts: Let's say I have an Immortal Phoenix in my hand, and an opponent casts a Reaper of Night (the adventure, not the creature). If I discard the Phoenix, will it return to my hand?


texts: How can I spend the mana from Lion's Eye Diamond?

texts:
With this question, I would like to shed some light on the Lion's Eye Diamond card, and some of its possible uses. It is an incredible card, which in some ways is similar to the Black Lotus, but which unfortunately cannot be completely associated with it, for obvious reasons.

First, it is possible to note that the Oracle card text and the original card text are noticeably different. At first glance, it would seem that the only current use for this card is the ability to use the three mana for some activated ability of the cards that are already in play.

In fact, I think I can exclude the possibility of "starting to cast a spell".
With this last expression, I mean in the sense that, having chosen a spell from the hand, and with the Diamond already on the battlefield, you can cast it thus excluding it from the hand – and thus sidestepping this way the wording "discard your hand" as regards the spell you would cast with the help of the Diamond.

In other words, I don't think it's possible to use this card as a mana source anymore, and with the rules associated with mana sources only: this is also because, unlike the original text, Oracle says that the ability of this card can now only be played as an instant.

But even this use seems really strange to me ... Before the errata, it was a mana source, and now, even if it remains largely such, it must be used as an instant ... There remains, in my opinion, no other possibility of using this card for the activated abilities of the cards already in play.

I would want to know if what is reported here is correct, and if any expert – or, who has ever played with this card – has any idea how it can be used differently from the way shown here.


texts:
My friend taught me this game and I tried to find it online but I didn't found it. He calls it "army".
Each player has 3 cards. the smallest card is becoming the player's shield. The other 2 cards become to be his "life". In each turn you can attack some player by drawing a card from a stack, save a card or change your shield or your enemies shield.
The goal is to beat your enemies until they have no cards left. You can form an alliance with other players.
An example:
If there are two players. Player A has a jack, a king and a three. The 3 will become my shield. King = 13 jack = 11 for a total life of 24.
Player B attacks by picking a random card from the deck of cards. Player B draws an 8 which exceeds the 3 of the shield. The life of player A decreases with 5 (8-3) to 19 replacing the jack with a 6 (or the king with an 8).
Does anybody know the name of this game?


texts: Precedent for creature tokens to exist in the hand without ceasing to exist?

texts:
In MTGA, I used Callous Dismissal to return, to it's owner's hand, a Gemrazer that had been mutated over a Cat token (the Cat had been generated by Cubwarden). MTGA showed the token in my opponent's hand, and although they never cast it, it looked as though they could cast it for {0}.

What are the rules that allow this?

Is there a precedent for tokens existing in the hand before mutate existed?

If we were playing paper and using non-card objects to represent tokens, how would you represent it in the hand?

Does it count as a card in the hand?


texts: Card for changing the type of lands in the library

texts:
Are there any cards that convert lands that are in the library to any other permanent type (creature, enchantment, etc.)?

Or maybe a converter that converts all cards, that are not in play to any type, different from land type.

I want to use this to mill someone's library using Sphinx's Tutelage.

Mycosynth Lattice is not a option as it does not affect cards that are not in play.


texts: What is the Goods Station referred to in Scotland Yard

texts:
I'm playing the 1996 version of Scotland Yard.

By 174 on the map is Goods Station. I can't find any reference to this in historical London geography.

Was this a real place? If not, what does it refer to?


texts: Can I survive every enchantment, creature, and artifact in the game entering the battlefield at the same time?

texts:
This question is inspired by Frank Karsten's (pretty ridiculous) article What If Every Enchantment in Magic Entered the Battlefield at the Same Time? His conclusion at the end of the article, where he went even further and considered all creatures, artifacts, and enchantments entering the battlefield at the same time, was:

If Magic Online’s implementation is correct and I’m not forgetting anything, then Enchanted Evening would turn everything permanent (including any cards that might save me) into enchantments, which become creatures with no abilities due to Opalescence/Humility. So the main conclusion from the enchantment section extends to all permanents:
You'd die to Lich, and nothing could save you.

Lich sets your life total to zero when it enters the battlefield, and since none of the other permanents have abilities, you're toast.
Or are you? The comments to that article (and this question) suggest a few ways to get past this:

Curse of Death's Hold kills everything, including Lich (because they're all 1/1 creatures) before you die. So you live.
Phyrexian Unlife, Transcendence or Lich's Mastery keep you alive.
Play Gideon of the Trials and get an emblem. This emblem says "As long as you control a Gideon planeswalker, you can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game." This hinges on whether Gideon, with all the other permanents in play, still qualifies as a Gideon planeswalker.
Play Kiora, Master of the Depths and get an emblem. Kiora's -8 ability says "You get an emblem with "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, you may have it fight target creature." Then create three 8/8 blue Octopus creature tokens." The plan now is to get the Octopus tokens to fight Humility and Opalescence (which are now creatures), kill them, and restore the abilities to all the other permanents that might keep you alive.
Get Imprisoned in the Moon to enchant Lich, removing all its abilities and keeping it from killing you.
Illusions of Grandeur gains you 20 life after it enters the battlefield, putting your life total above 0 again.

At this point the rules questions are well past my head, so I'm asking this here: of all these methods to survive Lich, which (if any) work?
If the exact order of things matter, we assume that I have 4 Plains in play and one each of every enchantment ever printed in the graveyard, then cast Replenish. In the case of Gideon/Kiora, we assume they are already in play and have created an emblem.


texts: Finding places to play Magic the Gathering games

texts:
A friend of mine recently got MTG for the XBox and is talking us into getting real cards.

I'm all up for starting but I dread the idea of playing the same two people over and over with no change epically since one of them is over competitive and exploits every loophole he can to win.

Does anyone know of any a reliable (not just google it) way to find places where people play MTG?


texts: In Secret Hitler, what happens when exactly 50% of players vote "Ja!"

texts:
In a game of Secret Hitler with an even number of players, what is the result of the election if exactly 50% of the players vote "Ja!"?

Does the government get to pass a policy, or does it count as a failed government?


texts: Clarification on "After You..." card text

texts: In Guillotine the "After You..." card states "Put the noble at the front of the line into another player's score pile." Is the card put into the other players score pile the executed noble for this turn and thus end the turn or does the player who played the card then get to collect the next noble at the front of the line ending his/her turn? So is this noble executed instead of or in addition to the noble the player would normally collect?


texts: How does the elf level 2 magic ability work in Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms?

texts:
When elves reach the 2nd level of their magic book, they gain this ability:

  If you pay for war only using [mana], -1 war cost.

However, mana always counts as 2 for war:

  Win or lose, both players must pay their war cost. To pay your war cost, subtract any war cost abilities and then pay the remaining value with resources at the rate noted on the resource track: Mana is worth 2,...

I have 2 questions:

In multiplayer games, does this mean I have to choose an odd number war value to take advantage of this ability? I.e. odd -1 is even, then I can pay purely in mana
In solo play, the war cost is set to either the number of armies that the dummy player has, or this number times 2 (depending whether it is day or night). Does this mean the ability is only valid for odd numbered war values?


texts: Can I choose the value for X for spells cast with Bolas's Citadel?

texts:
There is a new card called Bolas's Citadel which says:

  You may play the top card of your library. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to its converted mana cost rather than pay its mana cost.

Can use my life to pay for any X spell?


texts: Cities produce in Traders and barbarians of Catan

texts:
In the initial setup of the Traders and barbarians expansion and scenario, we use 1 settlement and 1 city (from where the caravan head out). At this moment the city will produce only 1 resource.

But will that initial city ALWAYS produce only 1 resource?

Further, Will any other city built during the game always produce 1 resource?


texts: If I play 2 rent cards and an opponent plays a just say no card, how many rents does it cancel? one rent or two?


texts: When are Mice and Mystics encounter cards flipped & discarded?

texts:
In Mice and Mystics, I understand that encounter cards are intended to be flipped when the mice enter a tile for the first time and that tile does not have a special encounter.  I also understand that the encounter card is supposed to be discarded when there's a surge and that tile does not have a special surge.

Are there any other times when encounter cards are flipped or discarded?  For example, what if we have not actually had a surge and we go to a new tile, which has a special encounter?  Should the previous encounter card be discarded?  Similarly, what if we have a surge on a tile that has a special surge, but we already have an encounter card present?


texts: Can I give a creature trample after blockers have been assigned?

texts:
I declare my attack with a 3/3 creature & then my opponent assigns a 1/1 creature to block.

Am I allowed to use the ability of an Elvish Herder (1 Green Mana - Target creature gains trample until end of turn) on my original 3/3 creature to make sure that, in addition to his creature dying, he receives 2 damage to himself as well?

Or would that give my opponent the chance to go back and assign a secondary blocker?


texts: How does tournament-level Puerto Rico deal with seat-order disparities?

texts:
It is well-known that there are disparities between the strength of various seats in Puerto Rico. How do tournaments deal with this?

Please give details. I know that some competitions use bidding systems, but I haven't seen any specifics on how they work.


texts: Can a powered-down robot be repaired at a workshop?

texts:
When a robot is powered down it loses all damage tokens, but can collect new ones by laser fire.

If a damaged, powered-down robot is standing on a workshop at the end of its turn: Does it lose one damage token?
Is the same answer also true for getting option cards?


texts: Can I copy Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger's ability twice with Strionic Resonator and Rings of Brighthearth?

texts:
Just made a colorless EDH deck and I am wondering if this would work

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger attacks, triggers the exile 20, then activate the copy triggered ability with Strionic Resonator, then activate the copy activated ability with Rings of Brighthearth

Now they exile 60?


texts: Does a sacrificed creature count as a creature that died?

texts: If a creature is sacrificed, does it count as dying? For example, when something is sacrificed via lets say Devouring Swarm, would it trigger Diregraf Captains effect?


texts: Go game board - what is this on the back?

texts:
The back of my (19×19) go board looks like this:

Does anyone know what this is? Is this for a different game?


texts: Do we continue to draw additional tiles after the initial meld?

texts:
The rules in my Rummikub set state that if you cannot play the initial 'meld' of 30 points then you take an extra tile on your turn.

Once the initial meld is over, do you still draw an extra tile if it is your turn and you cannot play any tiles?


texts: How to help kids to hold their cards in their hands ?

texts:
I'm trying to show some card games to my kids (4 and 6), but they have difficulty holding the cards in their hands. Maybe it's because their hands are too small, or not strong enough...

Does anyone have a trick to help them?


texts:
Did his ability get updated? The hero card that I have in my core set states that the player can only activate another hero within line of sight but the hero card online at the arcadia quest website doesn't have the line of sight restriction. I'm assuming the hero card online is the correct version but I just want to make sure.

Crossposted on BGG.


texts: How does Kaya's Ghostform interact with Elenda, the Dusk Rose?

texts:
Let's say I have Elenda, the Dusk Rose in play, enchanted with Kaya's Ghostform. My opponent has a zombie creature token.

I then cast Kaya's Wrath, destroying Elenda and the zombie.

When the zombie dies, Elenda's ability goes on the stack, intending to giving her a +1/+1 counter. Since Elenda just died, normally this would do nothing (the ability can't find its target as it resolves).

But can I, as Elenda's controller, choose to resolve Kaya's Ghostform first, returning Elenda to the battlefield, then resolve her triggered ability, giving her the +1/+1 counter? Or is the Elenda that returns "different" from the Elenda whose ability was triggered?


texts: King of Tokyo: Dice resolution -> Yield -> Card buying?

texts:
when exactly must a player choose to yield Tokyo? Today we had a game and the player in Tokyo took 1 attack and decided to stay in Tokyo. The player whose turn it was, then bought a card that dealt two damage to all other players. The player in Tokyo now decided to yield Tokyo.

I feel like the player must make this decision based on the dice resolution's results and not be able to change their mind after a card if purchased.

The rules are awfully unclear on this but do specify that a player can not decide to yield tokyo based on taking damage from a card.


texts: If Progenitus "dies" to the command zone, can I shuffle my deck?

texts:
This is related to another question about using Progenitus as a Commander, but focuses on a more specific interaction.

In the Commander format, there is a rule that lets a Commander go to the command zone instead of some other zones:

  903.9. If a commander would be exiled from anywhere or put into its owner’s hand, graveyard, 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.

Progenitus is a possible choice for a Commander, and it has its own overlapping replacement effect:

  If Progenitus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Progenitus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead.

By my understanding of multiple replacement effects, the owner of Progenitus will have the chance to determine which of these replacement effects happen in what order any time Progenitus would go to their graveyard. My understanding also indicates that you could make the Commander replacement happen first, and then the Progenitus replacement wouldn't happen because the "put into a graveyard" isn't happening anymore. However, one could also choose to have Progenitus's replacement apply first instead.

Based on Rule 903.9 including "This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event." I assume that after applying Progenitus's replacement I can replace "Progenitus goes to the library" with "Progenitus goes to the Command Zone"; either the original replacement still applies because the condition had "... graveyard or library", or it applies a second time due to moving to the library instead. Regardless, it should be possible to have Progenitus replace "goes to the graveyard" with "shuffles into the library", and then have "goes to the library" replaced with "goes to the Command Zone".

My question is, if you replace "shuffles into the library" with "goes to the Command Zone", does the library still get shuffled without Progenitus? Or is the entire "shuffle into the library" action replaced?


texts: Can I use strive to target the same object more than once?

texts:
I have a question about the new mechanic Strive from Journey into Nyx.

Could I use the pay the strive cost to target the same object more than once with the spell, or can I only target any particular object once per card?


texts: Does exiling a morph card face down for the turn bring it back face up?

texts: 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?


texts: Can I use creature tokens to win with Mortal Combat?

texts:
I have 20 1/1 Saproling tokens in play and Mortal Combat triggers at the beginning of my upkeep. Can I play Echoing Ruin to win the game?

I.e., will the Saproling tokens exist in my graveyard until Mortal Combat resolves?


texts:
If I have a creature like Embodiment of Fury and I play a land and use its landfall effect on the land that just entered will it trigger entry effects, for example Elemental Bond?

Is it seen as entering as a land then turning into a creature or is it seen as entering as a creature?


texts: In bridge,should a responder devalue her hand if short in opener's suit?

texts:
I opened a "strong two clubs." Partner bid 2 NT, which between us, meant "9-plus points, slam interest."

I bid my suit, 3 spades, with the following: (s) AKQxxx (h) AKx (d) Ax (c) xx. That's a 6-card suit with 22 points (20 in high cards, two more for the minor doubletons).

Responder bid 4NT, and we ended up in 6 Spades, which went down, because my left hand opponent had JTxxx of spades.

Partner had: (s) x (h) xxxx (d)Kxxx (c) AKxx.

She said, "I had 10 HCP, 12 counting the spade singleton. That, with your 22 should mean a small slam."

My response was, "Spade singleton" was the whole point. You should have downgraded your hand when you  heard 3 spades, because you didn't have normal trump support. If you had xxx or Jx, the contract would probably have been made."

Should partner had "downgraded her hand" and refrained from bidding the slam with shortness in my spade suit?


texts: What would happen if you target a animated land with Mirrorweave?

texts: If I target an animated Mutavault with Mirrorweave, will all creatures become lands until end of turn?


texts: In Diplomacy, will I be "cornered" as Turkey if I don't use the "juggernaut" opening?

texts:
Turkey is fairly easy to play in an alliance with Russia (the "juggernaut"). The two of them partition the Balkans and Austria-Hungary, possibly with the help of Italy. Then they go their separate ways with Russia fighting Germany and/or England, while an enlarged Turkey crushes Italy. They need to come to an agreement about the Black Sea, but as long as Turkey builds mainly fleets and Russia mainly armies, they're fine.

A problem seems to arise if Turkey allies with say, Austria-Hungary against Russia. Turkey can get control of the Black Sea and Sevastopol (maybe Rumania). But it needs fleets to cover these areas, and its navy seems to be stretched out between these areas and the Mediterranean. If it tries to move north, it will likely be "capped by whoever (Germany or Britain) has captured Moscow.

Turkey's next natural target seems to be Italy (another naval power), except that it is vulnerable to a counterblow by land from Austria-Hungary in the Balkans. And if Austria-Hungary builds mainly armies, the combined Turkish and Italian land forces might have difficulty reconquering the Balkans even if they were allied.

So how would Turkey avoid getting "boxed in," absent an alliance with Russia?


texts: Does a Life Gain deck have any hope against a Stigma Lasher?

texts:
Is there anything that can be done against a Stigma Lasher if you have a life gain deck?

This card seems quite broken.  2 mana for a 2/2 wither is a good card.  But to have it ruin any hope of lifegain for the rest of the game seems unfair.  (The rulings say that you still cannot gain life even if you kill Stigma Lasher.)

I was planning to build a life gain deck to counter my friends burn deck.  But that seems pointless now.

He can add a few of these and some cards like Soul's Fire or Power of Fire (letting a creature damage a player without a chance to block) and I will be done for the rest of the game.

Is there any way to remove the effect of Stigma Lasher once it has done combat damage?


texts: Tabletop game similar to Civilization, set in Antiquity

texts:
I played this game a few years ago and suddenly feel the need to find it again.

The board represented most of Europe and North Africa. Each player had an empire and was represented by a historical figure (Julius Cesar, Cleopatra, Hammurabi, etc. I forget who represented the Greeks. Not Alexander the Great). Each empire had some advantage (the Greeks produced 1 extra ship each round).

The map was divided into territories, some with resources which could be exploited. Something like wood, grain, metal, etc.

Can anyone identify what it was?


texts: Variations in scoring "his nobs" and "his heels"

texts:
I've been playing cribbage for a greater portion of my lifetime, and until recently I haven't really played any games where the rules and customs varied much from what I was taught by my grandfather.  Every online reference I've read, and electronic version of the game, has generally agreed with my understanding of how cribbage is played and scored.

So, it was a strange moment when I was playing against an uncle from the other side of my family and found that he expected the scoring of "his nobs" and "his heels" to be opposite of what I'd learned.

By common rules, "his nobs" refers to when any player holds a Jack in his hand which has the same suit as the starter card.  "His heels" is awarded to the dealer when the starter card itself is a Jack.  Both my uncle and I agree on this.  What we disagree on is the value of each.  I (and, it seems, most of the rest of the world's cribbage players) understand "his nobs" to be valued at one point, and "his heels" at two - my uncle believes the reverse.

I imagine he's probably been playing cribbage for longer than I've been alive, so this has me wondering:  Is this a common variant in cribbage rules?  Are there others like this?


texts: Can you combine the Ring and the Revolver to attack? One of the heroes was attacking with a line of direct sight with the Revolver and was using the +1 die bonus from the Revolver. They also had the Ring and claimed that they could use the Ring to roll for Sanity instead of Speed while still using the +1 bonus from the Revolver and attacking with a direct line of sight from the Revolver. Is this correct? Or can one only use the Ring or the Revolver, not both?


texts: In Arkham Horror, can "Any Phase" actions be performed multiple times immediately?

texts: The item in mind is the Enchanted Jewelry which can prevent one stamina damage any phase (and gets discarded once 3 stamina tokens have piled up on the card). Does this mean it can only be used to prevent 1 stamina loss during that phase, or can I prevent 3 damage at once?


texts: Which commanders benefit from being in the Command Zone other than Oloro?

texts: Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, gains its controller 2 life every turn it's in the command zone. Are there ANY other possible commanders that have abilities or benefits of being in the command zone or is he really the only one?


texts: How to make a game of Yu-Gi-Oh! quicker?

texts:
I currently play Yu-Gi-Oh! at school, and sometimes, we want to fit in a game in less than 5 - 10 minutes, before lessons.
Of course, in a normal game with 8k LP each, this is almost impossible for a well thought out fully fun game.
What are house rules that could make the game a lot more quicker, without spoiling the "skeleton" of the game? Just saying this is not exactly necessary, but would be nice.
I would like the ways you state to have comments saying the cons of the rule (if any)
Ways I have thought of already:

Making starting LP 4k. Kind of removes the length of the game significantly, making it less fun (which is why we play)

Giving a Time Limit to 5 minutes / game each. Removes main concepts, hence making us susceptible to mistakes.

Please add to this list, but what I am looking for is a combination of house rules that makes it a lot quicker to play.


texts:
Let's assume the following situation: On the battlefield on my side lying these permanents: Open the Graves, Thallid Soothsayer and another non-token creature. My opponent is attacking me with two creatures.

Am I supposed to do this: With my non-token creature I block one of the creatures of my opponent. Then I sacrifice my creature with Thallid Soothsayer so I get a token Zombie creature. Can I now block the other creature of the opponent with the token Zombie creature?


texts:
Glyph of Destruction was originally worded: "Target wall you control gains +10/+0 when blocking." To me, that indicates that you could cast it any time, i.e. outside of combat.

However, the Gather wording is:

  Target blocking Wall you control gets +10/+0 until end of combat. Prevent all damage that would be dealt to it this turn. Destroy it at the beginning of the next end step.

Since Gatherer now says "Target blocking Wall", does that mean I have to declare the Wall as a blocker before I cast the Glyph? I'm trying to come up with some Glyph/Fling shenanigans for a deck and I need to know if I have to block before I use this trick.


texts: Could I double team a blocker with Swift Kick?

texts:
Swift Kick
So lets say I have a 1/1 and another 1/1 on the field

My opponent has a 3/3

I attack with 1/1, and they block with 3/3
If I play Swift Kick on my unused 1/1 making it a 2/1 and target their 3/3 with it (Because Swift Kick says I can, I know you can't declare a new attacker after your first ones)

What happens?

Would their 3/3 kill my 2/1, then lose the 2 damage and kill my 1/1 and live

Or
Would their 3/3 kill my 2/1, and take 2 damage, and kill my 1/1 and take one damage and die?


texts: To get rid of a negative condition, you have to role a 5 or a 6.  If you are blessed, where 4 count as successes, does the condition disappears on a 4, 5, and 6?


texts: In Santorini, does my opponent win if I pull them onto a third level with the Siren?

texts: In Santorini, one of the God Powers is of the Siren. The Siren places a Siren's Song token next to the game board, and on their turn, instead of performing the traditional move+build, can move any of their opponents pawns towards the Siren's Song. If I pull my opponent up onto a third level, do they win, or does it not count as a win for them. Dionysus' power, for example, explicitly states that you cannot cause a win if you move the opponent's piece.


texts: Does mana stay in your mana pool after the land has been destroyed

texts: If I tap a bunch of land and then it gets destroyed after I tapped it, does the mana stay in my mana pool?


texts: Can I decide not to use all the power of a plant in Power Grid?

texts:
Let's assume that I've got 10 cities connected in my network. I want to supply electricity to 6 of them and I've two power plants, each of them capable of supplying up to 5 cities. I've bought enough resources to use both power plants. Can I decide to use them to supply only 6 cities with electricity?

In this case, that would mean one plant would be using only 1/5 of its potential when it's perfectly possible to supply more cities with it - all 5 in this case. Is this allowed?


texts:
The computer game Civilization IV allowed large scale user customisation. One of the largest and most detailed of these game mods is the community-based Fall From Heaven II.

Within the mod, it is possible to play a card game called Somnium against your AI opponents. A game in progess looks like this:

The game is simple but addictive, and the cards are beautiful.

Does a real-life implementation of this game exist? Ideally, I'm looking for a deck of cards with the same artwork and numbering as the computer version, but I'm also interested to know if the game mechanics are implemented anywhere else, perhaps under a different name.


texts: A friend of mine is designing a game, and I'd like to playtest it with him.  We have no possibility of meeting face to face; also, finding ±90 minutes to play through Vassal when I'm at home is quite difficult.  However, I travel quite often by train, and then I have much time.  The problem is, I have then only a very slow Internet connection (using my mobile phone).  Do I assume correctly that this should be enough to play through Vassal?  (I assume that it sends only info about my move - no graphics etc.)


texts: What happens if I cast disenchant in response to the triggered ability of animate dead?

texts:
My opponent has Griselbrand in his graveyard and casts Animate Dead.

It resolves, causing the triggered ability to go on the stack which would bring Griselbrand back to play. In response, I Disenchant Animate Dead.

What happens?

My friend believes it would be the same as the bouncing Oblivion Ring trick-- the triggered ability would still activate, causing Griselbrand to come out, but the aura would be gone before its "leaving the battlefield" trigger has anything to target: i.e. Griselbrand comes out and stays out, while Animate Dead goes to the graveyard.

This sounds right. Is it?


texts: Singing and Dancing Sword - Companion, Weapon, or Upgrade?

texts:
Can a Singing & Dancing Sword be played on top of another sword, or is it equipped as your primary weapon?

For instance, would the Rapier of Unfairness become A Singing & Dancing Rapier of Unfairness?

This forum discusses the matter, stating that a Singing & Dancing Sword is a companion (that dances to "strike" enemies, needing no hands). I feel that it is a rather uncommon "companion" card, and should be applied and discarded with the weapon it was initially placed with. To keep in line with the previous example, should the player lose their Elf status, their Singing & Dancing Rapier of Unfairness would become a carried item, and the player would lose both bonuses in the process.

To counter the argument, the card does not say Singing & Dancing Weapon, so that the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment would not obviously become a Singing & Dancing Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment.


texts: When exactly does the black pawn gets placed on the board?

texts:
As I mentioned in another question, I recently got the On-the-Brink expansion and have been a bit puzzled with the BT challenge gameplay. I was looking for gameplay videos but haven't found any..

My question is about when the BT/black -pawn gets placed on the board. The rulebook says it's placed on the board whenever another player is at a city BT is in. So far each time I've played Pandemic, we play the actions as a sequence and not really one-by-one. So while the "good guys" are playing their actions, does the BT have to jump in and put his pawn on the board? What happens if one "good guy" happens to pass by the city BT is in, en route to some other city?

Example:

Player1 starts her turn in city A and wants to treat disease in city D.
BT resides in city C.
Player1 moves from A to D; via B and C.

Does BT jump in the gameplay to place his pawn on C, only to remove it again immediately?

Edit: As I stated in a comment below, how the goodies move becomes non-trivial for as the path from one city to another, may involve passing through different cities, even though the number of actions required might be the same.

Example: If a player announces that she's going from Cairo to Karachi, does the BT have to ask "via Baghdad or Riyadh?". Doing so, sort of invalidates the point of secrecy for the BT.


texts: Do you place the fairy before or after scoring a completed road/city/cloister?

texts: With The Princess and the Dragon expansion for Carcassonne, can I place a tile to complete one of my features, and then move the fairy in to it for the bonus 3 points, or are you supposed to score the city, road, or cloister before placing the fairy?


texts: If Rhonas's power is less than 4 but you control a creature with power 4 or greater, can he attack or block?

texts: I was playing a game of standard where the other player had Rhonas the Indomitable on the board, and I enchanted it with Illusory Wrappings, but he controlled a Honored Hydra. Can Rhonas still attack or block? Because the way I read the card it states another creature, which means according to me that it is also dependent on Rhonas's power.


texts: When is the game state checked for "Whenever you cast [...]" triggers?

texts:
When you cast a creature for its bestow cost:

When you begin casting, it is a Creature spell

We know this because Steel Golem prevents Bestow creatures from being cast

When you pay the alternative cost, it becomes an Aura spell
When it gets placed onto the stack, it is an Aura spell

Bestow triggers things like Prowess. See Matt Tabak's ruling on this subject. However, it does not trigger things like Karametra, God of Harvests' triggered ability. See the ruling on Karametra herself. The Karametra case is confusing to me, because at one point, you were casting a Creature spell, and at another point, you were casting an Aura spell. It seems like both should trigger. So my real question...

At exactly what points during the casting of a spell do triggered abilities check to see if they triggered?


texts: Complexity of Eldritch Horror versus Arkham Horror

texts: I have heard Eldritch Horror described as a "streamlined Arkham Horror", as if the makers of AH considered how to make a faster, more accessible successor.  Having played and enjoyed Eldritch Horror, I would like to ask someone to give a comparison between the two that might give me an idea what to expect if I were to try AH. The comparison could include thoughts on why EH is better, why AH is better, what each do that the other does not, simple examples, etc.


texts: I have a Phantasmal Dragon in play. My opponent casts Unsummon on it. In response, I cast Cancel on the Unsummon. Do I sacrifice my Phantasmal Dragon because it was the target of the Unsummon, or does countering the Unsummon make it's targeting invalid?


texts: How do we assign Game of Thrones houses?

texts:
In Game of Thrones the assignment of each player to a house has a drastic impact on the way the game plays out.

What are the different ways to assign houses to players, and what are their advantages or effects?


texts: Is there a card that makes an enemy play my spell?

texts:
I'm an amateur player in Magic: The Gathering (Modern format) and I was looking for a card that makes an enemy play a spell from my hand.
For example if I had a "Discard your hand" card I could make him play that as if it was him (making him pay the mana cost or not).

I'm aware Hive Mind enchantement exists; are there any other cards with a similar effect?

Thank you


texts: Handling multiple "timers" on the board and player mat

texts:
The game I'm working on might feature a number of "timed" events, such as:

a big ability requiring a cooldown before it can be used again
a summoned or undead unit decaying over time
a bomb timing down until explosion
mines and factories generating resources over time (presumably up to a cap)

For ease of use, one's timers only tick at the beginning of one's turn, which is also when they get action points.

What could be some intuitive mechanisms to model these, preferrably in a unified way, that's not easy to forget or tedious? Bonus points if it blends in with an action point pool of varying size.

Edit:

I plan on using timers around the 1-10 range, but they could be found in all sorts of areas, as I've said.


texts: General advice for maximizing fun playing multiple games of Dominion

texts:
My girlfriend and I are a bit late to getting Dominion but so far are really enjoying it - we have the base set and just bought Intrigue. We don't have a lot of time to play (and so far at least have only played Dominion two player against ourselves) so I'm looking for some general "meta game" advice to maximize our fun when we do get a chance to play.

At the moment the one technique which we have adopted that is fun for us is to do the following:

we use the randomizer cards for the set we are playing with (since we just got Intrigue we still want to play with just it a bunch of times before we mix the sets) and deal out 10 cards to play with
we then reserve the remaining 15 cards and when we finish the first game, instead of reshuffling the randomizers we simply deal off the next 10 cards.

This insures that when we play two games back to back we experience two completely different games and play with 20 different cards.

Are there any other similar meta-game techniques people have to add to the enjoyment of playing Dominion - especially techniques for players who don't get a lot of time to play boardgames?

We don't have any of the Promo cards though I've thought about trying to get the Black Market card as playing with that would similarly allow us to experience a greater variety of card interactions (albiet with introducing more randomness to the game)

(I'm open to making this a wiki if people think that is the best format for this type of question)


texts: MTG Commander Clarification on Triggered Abilities

texts:
I’m playing a 4 person game, and I’m in position #1.   I cast: “Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse” with the activated ability that states:  “whenever you draw your second card each turn, create a 2/2 green Cat creature token.
I do nothing else and pass my turn.
Player #2, 3, or 4 plays “Burning Inquiry” during their main phase which states: “each player draws 3 cards, then discards 3 cards at random”.
Does my Jolrael “cat token” effect trigger if “Burning Inquiry” resolves?
Or must the second drawn card occur before my End Step?


texts: If I control a Thrashing Wumpus, with Keen Sense on it and I spend 3 black mana to activate the ability of the Thrashing Wumpus, I get to draw 3 cards right? (If I have only one opponent that is) It doesn't matter if I tap all the mana in the same phase of my turn does it? The 3 black mana spend is still considered 3 individual activations of the Thrashing Wumpus' ability right?


texts: Is there any way to get an instant or sorcery on the field as a permanent? What would happen if this occurred?

texts: Is there any process or series of plays/cards that would allow an instant to be put onto the battlefield as a permanent, instead of resolving? Would it resolve anyway, even if not cast? Not including something like manifesting an instant, where it's not technically the card.


texts: Can every game of Klondike-Solitaire be solved?

texts:
I play a lot of Solitaire games on my Android phone and love to keep an eye out for the statistics.

Given that the Solitaire version lets you restart the game endlessly, I usually play until I solve it. But I never managed to solve more than 80% of the games played (1000+).

So now I wonder, is every Solitaire game solvable?


texts:
I'm looking for good Risk strategy suggestions. I tried a couple of things like conquering smaller and easier continents, going for territories which I have a card for but none of this yielded awesome results.

Any help from a guru?
Thanks


texts: Do heroes recover health and fatigue at the end of each quest?

texts: Do heroes recover health at the end of each encounter or at the end of each quest (usually two encounters)?


texts: Can you move your keeper with creepers using the teleport card?

texts: In Star Fluxx, can you move your keeper with creeper(s) attached to another player using Teleporter card?


texts: Can the Swamp Rat's special ability be used to end combat?

texts: In Xia: Legends of a Drift System, one of the ships, named "Swamp Rat", has a special ability that allows it to trigger one of it's own outfits as a defense to an incoming attack.  If the outfit triggered is an Engine, and the resulting movement breaks the line-of-sight of the incoming attack, does the attack resolve normally, or has the movement prevented it?


texts:
We played a 6-player game of Small World with the Necromancer Island expansion and a lot of fun it was too.  Our Necromancer pulled off a narrow win by getting his 14th ghost onto the map at the very end of the final turn, it doesn't get much more climactic than that!

Part of the Necromancer's success of course was getting himself into a position where it was nearly impossible for the other players to effectively oust him from the map; and in part he achieved this by investing in Seafaring, and taking both one of the map-edge sea regions... and also the lake surrounding Necromancer Island.

The thing is, the rules are slightly unclear about how Seafaring interacts with the Necromancer Island expansion.  Necromancer Island itself does not count as a normal board region, and the rules explicitly state that the island's "Lake Region is immune to other players (even Seafaring ones)".

So does that mean that, with the Necromancer's Island expansion in play, the central Lake region is completely out of bounds to Seafaring races?  Or out of bounds to other Seafaring races, but available for conquest by a Seafaring Necromancer?  Or that the Lake region can be conquered by Seafaring as usual, but the island is unconquerable (and can still attack territories bordering the lake even if the lake is occupied)?

I ruled on the night that the Necromancer could conquer his own Lake... if only because the Seafaring power seems pathetically bad in a Necromancer Island game otherwise!  But it's not at all clear to me that it's the right answer.  If anyone knows of, or can hazard a guess at, an official ruling, it would be much appreciated!


texts: If an Outpost is played during a Possessed hand, is the Outpost hand played next?

texts:
As pointed out in a previous question's answer, you may be forced to play an Outpost or Possession while you are possessing someone else's hand, despite the deck's owner getting to play the Outpost/Possession hand and not you.

However, Outpost creates an ambiguity.  Outpost's rules say to play another hand immediately after this one.  However, due to the Possession, the player's normal turn has not yet taken place.

Does the player take their normal turn next or the Outpost turn next?


texts: How many spades does my partner have when responding to my opening 1club bid and left overcalls 1 heart

texts:
I open with 1 club.

Left bids 1 hearts.

My partner bids 1 spade.

How many spades can I assume my partner has?


texts: Does the print version matter, or the card name?

texts:
I thought of this question while reading Why are there illegal cards?, which mentions that the illegal Egyptian God cards were later printed as legal versions with the same names.

In Magic, all tournament-legal printings (non-tournament-legal ones would be, for example, promotional versions with different card backs) can be used as the up-to-date card. An old card functions identically to a new card of the same new, even if it was originally printed with rules or wording that don't work anymore.

Does such a rule exist in Yu-Gi-Oh!, or are cards as-printed? For example, can the illegal Egyptian God cards (e.g. the original Slifer the Sky Dragon) be used as their updated legal versions (e.g. the updated Slifer the Sky Dragon)? If not, have the rules been maintained in such a way to keep older printings valid?


texts: What to do about evolution cards that don't work well in solo games?

texts:
Archipelago has some evolution cards that fit quite well in a multiplayer game, but in the solo game, they make little or no sense.

For example, the "Financial Advisor" gives you 1 florin for every 5 florin you reveal to your opponents. How should this be played in a solo match? It does nothing? I get 1 florin for every 5 I have? Should I remove it from the solo game?

Something similar happens with the "Queen" card. She adds 2 free florin to the order of play bid which is skipped in solo games. Again, should I remove it? Should I simply assume it does nothing?

There are many other examples. How do you deal with those cards? Are there any special rules about that?


texts: Can other Heroes and/or Monsters be purchased separately for Castle Ravenloft?

texts: Can I purchase additional monsters or heroes for the CR board game?  And if so, do they come with their stat cards?  Just want to get the most out of the game as possible.


texts: Mahjong board formation and drawing rules

texts:
In Mahjong basic rule (this one for example), the board is setup in a spiral formation and the tiles are drawn in order from the 4 draw piles. With all the tiles facing down and shuffled, the probability of drawing a specific tile from any pile in any order is the same (unless I am missing something?). If this is correct, the game can technically be played with one draw pile and tiles can be drawn from anywhere in the pile?
There are also additional draw rules such as a “special deck” (near the end of this video), which is completely superficial?
I came up with this question when my date and I decided to play Mahjong in the park on a picnic blanket, setting up the game was rather difficult on this uneven surface.


texts: Does Gwent from Witcher 3 take inspiration from existing tabletop games?

texts:
I'm new to card games but I really enjoy the minigame called Gwent in the Witcher 3 video game.

Are the mechanics of this game represented closely in any existing physical board or card games?


texts: How do Chromatic Sphere, Archmage Ascension, and Panglacial Wurm interact?

texts: If I have an Archmage Ascension in play with six quest counters and a Panglacial Wurm in my library, and I activate Chromatic Sphere's ability as part of the process of playing another spell, as in rule 601.2f, when do I attempt to start drawing the card? In particular, once the replacement ability takes effect and I instead search my library, can I start casting the Panglacial Wurm while I am still casting the other spell?


texts: Can I play 2 sets of 2 cards each one of the same color to avoid a Deal Breaker?

texts: For example: 2 groups of green color in order to avoid deal breaker, of this way the set is not completed


texts:
According to the rules,

we can place settlements only beside roads leading to it or away from it.
we can place roads beside roads or settlements.

During initial placement, we have the choice of placing two settlements and roads in successive turns. If we follow the above rules, Can we do the following placement?:

There doesn't seem to be any rules in the rule book regarding this, and it is an exceptional case to the above mentioned rules!


texts: Reordering Static Effects with Dependencies on a Changing Board State

texts:
All of the discussion about Dryad of the Ilysian Grove's Layer 4 confusion and other discussions about continuous effects got me thinking about an unintuitive situation that can result from dependencies and seemingly unrelated changes to the board state.  Here is the scenario:

Player A controls some basic Forests, a Gingerbread Cabin and Life and Limb.  All of their Forests (including the Cabin) are 1/1 Saprolings.
Player B casts Blood Moon.  Life and Limb's ability is dependent on Blood Moon because it changes what it applies to (specifically, whether it applies to the Cabin).  As such, the Cabin becomes a Mountain when Blood Moon is applied, and does not become a Saproling when Life and Limb is applied.
Player A casts Sprout Swarm and creates a 1/1 Saproling token.  This now creates a dependency of Blood Moon on Life and Limb as now the application of Blood Moon to the token will depend on whether Life and Limb has been applied yet.  This forms a dependency loop as outlined in 613.7b-c.  We would apply Life and Limb first due to the timestamp order, then reevaluate and determine no further dependencies exist.  Then we would apply the effect from Blood Moon.  As such, both the Gingerbread Cabin and the Saproling token will have the stats of 1/1 green Land Creature -- Saproling Mountain.

So my question is about whether this is correct.  Can the presence or absence of an object with no static abilities of its own shake up the orders of these continuous effects in a meaningful enough way to determine whether a seemingly unrelated object will have effects applied to them?  Or am I missing or misunderstanding something that would not cause this unintuitive result?


texts: Can you confirm these DEFCON verbs for Twilight Struggle?

texts:
For example, DEFCON is currently at 3.  Due to some trigger (event card, end of turn, etc.) it needs to move.  Can you confirm my understanding of the verbs?

INCREASE: Move DEFCON to left to 4

IMPROVE:  Move DEFCON to left to 4

DECREASE: Move DEFCON to right to 2

DEGRADE:  Move DEFCON to right to 2

LOWER:    Move DEFCON to right to 2


texts: Ecplise - Population Cubes full on return

texts:
I played a game of Eclipse last night and we encounter a discussion about returning Population Cubes.

The scenario:
You have taken over a system (A) with 2x lab, and a system (B) with 2 white planets.(and more, but not relevant for this example )

Economy has -2 Population Cubes;
Research has -2 Population Cubes;
Mining has -3 Population Cubes;

Now you lost system (B) and you return the 2 cubes to Research. (because its a white planet you can choose)

The status of your Population Cubes now:

Economy has -2 Population Cubes;
Research has -0 Population Cubes;
Mining has -3 Population Cubes;

What happens to the cubes when you also lose system (A)? You won't have room for them in the Research bar..

Would they overwrite the limit and deny you from any income for that resource?
You can choose where you can put it (like a white planet)? (like we declared as most fair)
Would they stay in your grave until you have enough room at the start/end of the round?

Or maybe something else?


texts: Bid out of turn and next player passes or overcalls

texts: 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?


texts: Is playing against an opponent's known "misbids" a good way to defend against a contract?

texts:
Neither side vulnerable at rubber, South opens one spade. (He claims to subscribe to five card majors, three card minors, and strong 1NT but not "Flannery." He's also probably capable of  "psyching.")
I (West) pass with (s)JT8xx (h) Kxx (d) Kxx (c) Kx. (All x's are 7 or lower.)
North bids three spades. South alerts "Bergen raise." That means that North has exactly four spades, but has less than six points non-vulnerable. He may have zero. (If he had six, he would have raised to two spades.) All pass. East does not have the 12 hcps he needs for a takeout double, nor the good six card suit he needs for an overcall.
South and North clearly aren't 5-4 in spades, and I believe that South is bidding "Bergen" style; that is treating AKQx as better than a weak five card suit (e.g. Qxxxx) because of his high sequence. This would also imply more than minimum values (15+ hcps). Put another way, I have no reason to believe that North doesn't have four spades and that South has five.
My inclination is to lead the J of spades, because South has fewer spades than his bidding implied (and was unlucky to run into a 5-0 split). Does such a lead make sense?


texts: Can we take "Death Company Tycho" in an army without a Death Company?

texts:
Captain Tycho (Blood Angels Codex, 5ED) can be chosen as either as "Captain Tycho" or "Death Company Tycho".
I haven't found any indication that you must have a Death Company to include the DC version of Tycho.

Can I have an army with "Death Company Tycho" but with no Death Company?