texts: Does Guttersnipe's ability count as attacking?

texts: Does Guttersnipe dealing damage to a player from an instant being played count as it attacking you and therefore triggering Revenge of Ravens?


texts: Battlestar Galactica: meaning of a Quorum card that destroys ships

texts:
I have a question regarding a specific Quorum card in Battlestar Galactica.  I don't remember its title, but it has in its text something like "Destroy 3 raiders, a heavy raider, or a centurion token".  The question is, how should this text be parsed?

1) Choose one of three: destroy 3 raiders, OR destroy 1 heavy raider, OR destroy 1 centurion

or

2) Choose one of two: destroy 3 raiders and one heavy raider, OR destroy 1 centurion?

Our playgroup ruled the variant (2) in the game we've played, but we still have our doubts, hence this question.  Ideally, the answer would have a link to an official source, but a good logical argument will also suffice.

Thank you.


texts: Bridge: Opening lead from AK - why K instead of A

texts:
Many books, including Goren, recommend leading K from both a AK (or AKQ) and also a KQ.

Why an ambiguous lead like this? Why not A from AK and K from KQ?

Consider a trump contract. Partner leads K from a non-trump suit. I have a void in that suit. Do I ruff assuming it's from a KQ or do I discard assuming it's from a AK?


texts:
Say the red player has two metropolises (having upgraded both politics and trade to level 4).  Now the blue player upgrades their politics to level 5 and steals a metropolis from red.

Who decides which of red's two metropolises will be given to blue?  The significance being that the city losing its metropolis is now susceptible to sacking by the barbarians.

I've avoided such ambiguity by throwing out the metropolis tokens and painting the metropolises yellow, green, and blue.  But that's just a house rule.


texts: How does face-down Attack Position (via Darkness Approaches) work?

texts:
The card Darkness Approaches has the following text:

  Discard 2 cards from your hand. Select 1 face-up monster and flip it face-down, but do not change its battle position.

Because it specifically says to not change its battle position, this would allow a face-up Attack Position monster to become a face-down Attack Position monster.

How does this work exactly? If a monster attacks a face-up Attack Position monster, what happens? Does it flip in response to the attack? Can I Flip Summon a face-up Attack Position monster? Are there other oddities that I need to be aware of?

Sometime in mid-2017 (after this question was originally asked), the card text for Darkness Approaches was errata'd to no longer allow face-down Attack Position monsters:

  Discard 2 cards from your hand. Select 1 face-up monster and change it to face-down Defense Position.

Still, it's interesting to keep this question around for historical purposes.


texts: How Would I Get A Modern Diplomacy -"Like" Game Produced?

texts:
Some years ago, I created a modern Diplomacy "takeoff" game (with a new name to be determined). The five "countries" are U.S., Russia, China, Europe and the Middle East. The pieces are fleets (F), armies (A) and air squadrons (S), and the object is to capture "population centers." There are limited nuclear capabilities. The time is the present. Otherwise it plays much like the original.

How would I go about trying to get it "produced?" Would you play it if it were produced?
And any suggestions for the new name?


texts: Sylvan primordial destroying detention sphere that previously exiled primeval bounty,

texts: I put a Sylvan Primordial into play and target a Detention Sphere  that previously exiled my Primeval bounty. As part of Sylvan Primordial's triggered ability, I get to search for a forest card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Do I gain 3 life as part of Primeval Bounty's triggered ability or is it not returned to the battlefield yet?


texts: How to build a budget-friendly manabase for a 5-color deck?

texts: I am a commander player who operates on a very tight budget. I recently started brewing for a 5-color Jodah chaos deck, but am having trouble building an affordable manabase. I can't afford shocklands, fetchlands, original duals and the like. I am looking to see if there are any land cycles that I have missed that might help me out, for example, I am running pain lands. I am trying to stay away from things like guildgates/thornwood falls cycle, tri-lands, etc, because they are too slow for my deck and my playgroup. I am aware of the issues trying to build a budget manabase for a 5-color deck that is still fast enough to be viable in a good meta, but I'm just wondering if there are any cycles of lands that I could use? Trying to stay away from nonland cards, my deck is already very filled out.


texts: In Killer Bunnies do you replace a very special card when played?

texts:
As I understand the rules, you can play a very special card from your hand at any time. However, what I can't tell is whether you then replace that card, or just continue playing,  one card short.

Do you replace it immediately, or do you draw two cards on your next turn?


texts: Play all but one + hand limit zero + draw one = stalemate?

texts:
If the current rules include "Hand Limit 0", "Play all but 1", and "Draw 1", doesn't the game just kind of... stall?

This has never actually happened but thinking about it, we figured we'd probably have to count that as a case of "everyone loses" and just start over! :)


texts: Can Alolan Muk use Tri Hazard GX attack even if opponent has no benched Pokémon?

texts: If the opponent only has the Active Pokémon left and no benched one, can the Tri Hazard GX attack still be used even if there is nobody on the bench?


texts: Where can I find reviews of a set once it's established?

texts: The only set reviews I can find are when the set first comes out. Does anybody know of a reputable site that reviews the cards after a few months when the cards are more established? I am more interested in limited (draft) reviews.


texts:
In a game my opponent deviated from the joseki line I was familiar with.

$$W Actual game
$$ ------------
$$ -...........
$$ -.94........
$$ -.5128O.....
$$ -..X36...0,.
$$ -...7.......
$$ -...........
$$ -...........

Instead of B10, I expected this exchange first:

$$B Expected
$$ ------------
$$ -...........
$$ -.OX........
$$ -.OOXXO.....
$$ -..XOX1..3,.
$$ -...O.......
$$ -...........
$$ -...2.......

The result here appears to be even to me, white is a little better locally but she played first so it is to be expected.

Since black omitted the 1-2 exchange and played 3 directly, he seems to plan on letting the sole white stone die on a larger scale. Consequently it appears natural to use this stone to punish black's deviation.

I've got three basic ideas how to:

Tenuki and leave the bad aji. Omitting W2 as a securing move should be fine since black can't fight properly without swallowing the sole white stone first.
Play W2 regardless. Then black has 2 options: play B1 so it reverts to the known pattern, or tenuki - in that case white can move her stone out easily and fight, so black probably won't do that. However, since B3 is not joseki as far as I know, this would be too easy on black.
Move W2 out, splitting black's stones.

I'm thinking of either this attachment:

$$W Attachment and keima
$$ ------------
$$ -...........
$$ -.OX........
$$ -.OOXXO.....
$$ -..XOX..1X,.
$$ -...O....2..
$$ -.....3.....

or this shape:

$$W Attachment and sake bottle shape
$$ ------------
$$ -...........
$$ -.OX........
$$ -.OOXXO.12..
$$ -..XOX...X,.
$$ -...O..3....
$$ -...........

Option 3 seems to induce black to make white's left side group stronger, but at the same time, black's top stone gets stronger as well.

Is any of my ideas here reasonable? Or is black's "deviation" in fact a joseki, too?


texts: (Dominaria Spoilers) Can the new buy-a-box-promo card deal damage to Planeswalkers?

texts:
Is this the the equivalent of "new lightning bolt" effect due to rule change on planeswalker damage?

Let me explain below the question and confusion.

The new Buy-a-box promo, Firesong and Sunspeaker, has an effect that spells out “target creature or player”. Is this the first card where we have to remember that the effect excludes planeswalkers, i.e. we don't replace the text with “any target” since it's printed after the planeswalker damage redirection rule change?

Channel Fireball's article Understanding the Dominaria Rule Changes and Sagas says:

  Now, imagine they print a card like this:

    New Lightning Bolt

    New Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to target creature or player.

  This card explicitly excludes planeswalkers, but, if you don’t know when it was printed, you have no way of knowing. If New Lightning Bolt and old Lightning Bolt are both in your hand, they’ll have the exact same printed text, but one will work very differently. It’s not going to confuse any established players, but I can see how it could confuse someone who’s not already enfranchised.


texts: Do I need to keep the Ascension expansion boxes as I have the original one?

texts:
I have the original Ascension box with wooden separators (pictured below), what makes for a nice, long lasting storage for cards - I would say, a lot of them, as the separators seem quite empty holding only the original game cards.

I'm planning to buy a couple of expansions when travelling abroad, and given the original box and separators, I'm thinking about getting rid of the boxes and bringing home only the cards and manuals - this way I can bring more stuff with me.

Is this idea reasonable? Are there reasons to keep the other boxes (besides, maybe, space for several expansions)?


texts: What exactly does the "If you do [...]" clause on Mimic Vat check for?

texts:
Mimic Vat has two abilities. The one I am concerned with is:

  Imprint — Whenever a nontoken creature dies, you may exile that card. If you do, return each other card exiled with Mimic Vat to its owner's graveyard.

Anthony controls his commander, Ezuri, Renegade Leader. He also controls Mimic Vat with Llanowar Elves imprinted. The following occurs:

Ezuri dies
Mimic Vat triggers and resolves
Anthony chooses to Exile Ezuri
Anthony replaces the event, "exile that card", by sending Ezuri to the Command zone

We are not done following Mimic Vat's instructions.

  If you do, return each other card exiled with Mimic Vat to its owner's graveyard.

This is where I get confused. I see two possible interpretations of "If you do":

"If you [exile that card], ..."
"If you [choose to exile that card], ..."

Which interpretation is correct? Have we satisfied the condition? Does Llanowar Elves end up in its owner's graveyard, or does it remain in exile?


texts: Does Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi trigger the ability of Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner?

texts:
Does Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi

  Put nine +1/+1 counters on target land you control. It becomes a legendary 0/0 Elemental creature with haste named Vitu-Ghazi. It's still a land.

trigger the ability of Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner?

  Whenever a creature with power 4 or greater enters the battlefield under your control, draw a card.


texts: If I play The Cheese Stands Alone (or Barren Glory) and destroy my other permanents somehow, will I win the game if I currently have a card suspended? Do that count as a card in play?


texts:
A planeswalker with 7 loyalty counters has:

a –7 loyalty ability that creates a 5/5 dinosaur token
a passive ability that makes all summoned dinosaurs enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter.

Would the dinosaur summoned be a 6/6 or a 5/5?

My guess would be 5/5 as the planeswalker dies first, then the ability resolves.


texts: Does a concealed Kan interrupt the game flow?

texts:
If you made a concealed Kan on the first turn and won on the extra tile that you drew, would you get Heaven/Earth?

Do your own concealed Kans interrupt the game flow, or does it only apply when someone else steals a discard?

A similar example: Kanning into first turn riichi. Is it considered a first turn riichi?


texts: Where can I find in-depth analysis of different digital card games?

texts:
(Not sure if this is on topic)
I quit Magic: the Gathering some time ago, and am thinking of finding another digital card game to play.
Where can I find in depth reviews of the various card games on the market? I'm looking for something that goes well beyond the typical "here's how the game works" review to analyze the game's mechanics and draw conclusions about their strengths & weaknesses. For example, here are some things which I would consider are fundamental strengths and weaknesses of Magic: the Gathering:
Strengths

Lots of different strategies possible. Possible strategies aren't just attempting to do the same thing in different ways, but differ entirely in how they intend to win the game. Magic has aggro, combo, control as macro-archetypes, which is something many other card games don't have.
Complex (one could also argue this is a weakness, but for me it's a strength). Timing spells or abilities can win or lose a game (example). It's also the only digital card game I'm aware of which allows the player to interact with the opponent on their turn.
Deckbuilding space is big. There are few restrictions, you are given a bunch of cards and you are free to build whatever you want. Comparatively in many other CCGs, you have a "leader" which has its own class-specific cards, and you can never use another leader's class-specific cards in your deck. This naturally makes Magic harder to balance, but it also leads to the biggest possible design space for deck builders.

Weaknesses

It's fairly common for player choices to not matter. For example in recent Standard, being on the draw against a monored deck that goes 1-drop into 2-drop into 3-drop into Embercleave can mean one is deterministically dead, in which case there is no game to play. It's not just being on the receiving end of this kind of draw - executing it is also a simple matter of playing one's best threat every turn and attacking with them. One could say there is more game to play, but not by a lot.
Games snowball. Planeswalkers are the biggest culprits, but there are other cards that do this as well (e.g. The Great Henge, which is only stopped by a relatively narrow set of cards once it's in play). Many threats are "answer me at once or lose". Comparatively in many other CCGs, if you cannot answer a threat immediately, you are disadvantaged (e.g. you might be 2-for-1'ed) but do not instantly lose.
Mana screw and mana flood. These are integral to Magic's resource system, but they also lead to play sequences where the player doesn't get to make decisions.

I am looking for reviews that go into as much detail about the game as the above. Where can I find such reviews?
I'm tagging this question with mtg because I have no idea what to tag it with.


texts: What led to the creation of games in antiquity?

texts:
I am thinking to use games for my development of thinking on a particular concept/problem. I hope to use it to know on how games provide ways of thinking on other problems. I am also thinking on making these games naked, by knowing the general structure of all these games. If on how these games came to dawn or if a origin story of the first games are given, it will be helpful.

If any related book, article, passage, quote or even abstract game is suggested, it will be of greatest help.

But was there any theme or rationale behind early games?


texts: What is the logic behind the bean cards to be removed from the deck in Bohnanza?

texts:
With 3 players, remove the Cocoa Beans
  from the game.

  With 4 or 5 players,
  remove the Coffee Beans from the game.

  With 6 or 7 players , remove the Cocoa
  Beans and the Garden Beans from the
  game.

What's the logic behind this? Is there any reason cocoa beans only work with a medium number of players? I can see the potential logic of wanting to keep them occurring at a certain frequency, but how does that 'improve' the game. It they are common, players will scramble to get them due to rarity, and with more players they will be powerful in trade. These are key elements to the game, and I don't see why the rules specifically try to prevent these conditions that are just a natural part of the game. Same thing with coffee beans, why do the most common beans only work with a medium number of players? What effect will changing these rules have on the game?


texts: When playing rubber bridge, can the declarer still claim after the hand is over but the next hand has not been dealt?


texts: How do you set up ports when you don't use the new "frames"

texts:
I received a new Catan Board and we attempted to setup the 5-6 player game.  I realized that I had forgotten how to setup the ports, but since I had also got a new copy of the game, it didn't say how to set them up without the new "frames" that are included.

How do you set up the ports in Settlers of Catan if you don't use the frames?


texts:
I'm not a fan of 1/100 scale (and FoW infantry in 1/100 looks ugly).
Can I use 1/72 scale miniatures (infantry miniatures from Zvezda's "Art of Tactic", armor and SPGs from Italeri, etc.) with small changes in rules (for example, +25% to all ranges)?

Will the game remains playable?


texts: Can Nisei MK II Be Used During an Ice Encounter?

texts:
This is related to: How to use 'Nisei MK II' free 'End the run'?

Say the Corp has a counter on a harvested Nisei MK II.

Example 1:
The Runner encounters Chum and begins breaking Subroutines on the next piece of Ice. Can the Corp spend the Nisei MK II counter before all the Subroutines are broken?

Example 2:
The Runner encounters Tollbooth and pays his $3. Can the Corp spend his Nisei MK II counter before the Runner has broken the Tollbooth's "End Run" Subroutine?


texts: Distribution of tokens in Standard 4 player catan?

texts:
My 4 player catan set has been mixed with my 5 & 6 player expansion set, parts have been lost, and last time I played we had 3 fields with an '8', no number '2' and a missing '10'.

Would someone be so kind as to run through the values in the standard game - i.e. A-R where A=x, etc…


texts: Would Bonds of Mortality overrule a creature equipped with Darksteel Plate?

texts: If my opponent has a creature equipped with Darksteel Plate, and I play a Bonds of Mortality enchantment. If I activate the enchantment, does it overrule the Darksteel Plate? Or does this only effect creatures with Indestructible as an ability.


texts: Guards! Guards! starting volunteer's effects

texts:
The board game Guards! Guards! has a system of recruiting volunteers which have various effects on the players who recruit them. These effects range from permanent bonuses to stats (e.g. +1 charm to help recruit volunteers, or +1 magic) to bonus dollars, or immunity from the pox, or a number of others.

at the beginning of the game, each player starts with 3 volunteers.

Do your starting volunteers give you the bonuses printed on the card?

The rules do not seem to clarify anything about this, so I was wondering if anyone here had a convention or house rule, or if a clarification had been released.


texts: What happens if you submit orders for another player?

texts:
In Diplomacy you submit written orders for your units each turn on a slip of paper.  Once everyone has submitted orders, all orders are revealed.  The culture of Diplomacy allows various sorts of shenanigans.

What happens if you submit an order slip for another player's units?

For example, let's say you're playing Turkey and someone else is playing Germany.  You submit two pieces of paper: one for Turkey and one for Germany.  The German player submits orders for only Germany.  When the orders are revealed, everyone can see that two different sets of orders were submitted for one country.

Back when Allan Calhamer (the inventor of Diplomacy) was playing the game, a move called a "Flying Dutchman" was sometimes used.  In this move, Turkey would include among its orders an order to move a German unit.  If no one noticed (or no one objected), the order would be executed as written.  According to him, it was never really outlawed in the game, it just got rarer over time.  What I'm asking about is only a small escalation above a Flying Dutchman, I think.


texts: What happens when a deal is passed out in Duplicate Bridge Tournaments?

texts:
I understand how duplicate bridge works, but I'm still missing one small conceptual part of the scoring, being the outcome when a deal is passed out. Is the score for that hand just assumed to be 0 for both sides, making it identical to a hand that happened to have a 0 score?

What happens if some tables play the hand and score highly where others just don't play it since they all passed? Are certain measure taken in the creation of the hands to avoid deals that are likely to be passed out?


texts: How does Applied Entropy (Control) and Sealed Scroll interact?

texts:
We were playing Argent: The Consortium (with Mancers of the University Expansion) and one of the players ended up getting the Applied Entropy spell to third level.

He then proceeded to target a Sealed Scroll with the Control (third level) spell.
How does this interaction work?

Since he's already at his regular action, can he use the fast action on this treasure?
If he can, where does the Sealed scroll go? His discard or the original owner's?


texts:
Who can play a nope card?  Scenario: Player A plays an attack.  Can player C put down a nope card to block the attack on player B?

Thanks


texts: What are the other games in this series?

texts:
A few weeks back me and my friends were remembering our childhood games, and it turned out all four of us had at least one of these themed board game collection books. The link has pictures of the book with superheroes. I had a book themed with insects, and two other friends of mine remember having one with racing tracks and action movie heroes. I'd like to know what other games were in this series, and possibly find some pictures of them to share with my friends and be all nostalgic for a while.

I very much hope this type of questions is on topic here.


texts: Why Is Two Clubs the Preferred "Strong Two" In Bridge?

texts:
I'd prefer to use two spades myself. And save two clubs for a "weak two." Moreover, I was taught that "higher bids mean higher points" (all other things being equal). Two spades is the highest suit bid short of "pre-empts," and follows this rule. Two clubs doesn't.

With a five card (or better) major suit and 22+ points, I'm really asking for HCP from partner more than anything else. Because I'm going to assume (on averages) that partner has xxx or Qx in my suit. The expected responses (and points) are:

2NT 0-2 points. (No help. You're on your own).
3 Clubs 3-5 points. (One trick. Game possible with a reasonable fit.)
3 Diamonds 6-8 points. (Two tricks. Probable game, except with a terrible fit. Limited slam interest).
3 Hearts 9-11 points. (Three tricks. Possible slam.)
3 Spades 10-12 points. (Small slam or grand?)

The only "problem" is if my suit is hearts, and partner bids 3 hearts with 9-11 points (about half of mine). But that is a nice problem to have!

Under this system, spades would actually be my "real" suit almost half the time. (Hearts, the other half, plus the occasional NT, and with a minor, I'd use a different system.) You can't say that about a two club bid.

So why would you use two clubs over a system such as I've described? Or could you possibly prefer mine?


texts:
Is there an accepted repertoire of openings that are solid in Blitz (3-5min per side) Chess? I guess the primary factors should be:

reasonably solid
simple structures
minimal number of tactical traps to fall into
maximal number of tactical traps for the opponent to fall into
quickly reach positions that make your opponent think

And possibly secondary factors:

surprise openings?
modifications based relative strength versus opponent
mouse movement!? (i.e., if the moves require less physical movement, they will a) be faster to execute, and b) be less prone to mouse errors - probably more a factor in Bullet games (1m per side)


texts: How to defeat Alolan Nintales with Guzzlord-GX deck

texts:
I play the Pokémon TCG, and this is the deck I run:

3x Guzzlord-GX
4x Talonflame (Steam Seige 96)
1x Bridget
3x Wishful Baton
2x Repel
47x Darkness energy

In theory, this is how the deck should work:

Start with a Talonflame.  I use him to grab a Bridget and Wishful Baton.  I play Bridget to grab the three Guzzlord, then use Talonflame to grab the other Wishful Batons. Next turn, I retreat to a Guzzlord with a Wishful Baton and eat sloppily.  Due to the large number of Darkness energies, I am almost always guaranteed 4 or 5 dark energies, allowing me to do 180 damage or 100 with two extra prize cards on turn three.  When he is KOed, his wishful baton lets me give his energies to a different Guzzlord so that it can attack.

If I start with a Guzzlord, I eat sloppily turn one and then I can KO nearly any other Pokemon turn two.

I have one main problem with the deck.  My opponents will send out an Alolan Nintales or Hoopa, stopping me from hurting them.  The Repels help, but it's hard to pull them out if I start with only Guzzlord-GX.  Also, my opponents usually choose some benched GX with 190 HP or more.  What would be the best way to counter this strategy?


texts: What happens to 'Crackdown' when it targets 'Traptrix Sera'?

texts:
Apparently, some gullible players forgot 'Traptrix Sera' effect:

  This Link Summoned card is unaffected by Trap effects.

If they decided to target 'Sera' with 'Crackdown' what happens to 'Crackdown', if in some case I decided to Link Summon other monster with 'Sera' as Link Material?


texts:
player 1-card 5, player 2-card 7, player 3-card 6 so he gets points for a run of 3, Player 4-card 7 states when he plays a 7 that he breaks the run so player 5 who follows him plays a 5 doesn’t get any points for his run of 5,7,6.
Please advise if this is correct or incorrect.


texts:
In Elder Signs, you can cast a spell to secure a die. Let's say this is the situation:

A player needs two terror results to complete the final task in an adventure and rolls 2 green dice and the red die. The two green dice come up with terror and the red die comes up with wild. The player opts to use the two green dice to complete the task and casts a spell to secure the wild die.

On the next player's turn, can that person use the red "wild" that was secured, even if red wouldn't have been part of that player's roll (as in that player did not play a unique item to add the red die to their rolls) or, in order to get access to the wild that is secured on the spell, does that player need to play something to get access to the red die?


texts: When designing a board game to publish on the web, what components are safe to assume that most people will already have in their collection?


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

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


texts: Is there anything stopping the crownholder taking the King card every turn?

texts:
My understanding is that the special rules regarding the King are:

If the King is turned face up at the pre-distribution phase, it goes back into the deck.
If the King is targeted by the Assassin, the crown still changes player.

The question I have is - if the current crown-holder always chooses the King as their card, then the crown will never change hands.

Is this a correct understanding of the rules?


texts: Taking back turns, and forgotten privileges

texts:
A generic question across most board games: once a player has taken their turn (taken their finger off the piece they are playing), should they be allowed to change their mind?

Similarly, if a player forgets to take a privilege, such as an occupied building in Puerto Rico giving an extra worker, or plantation, if they remember a few moves later, should they be allowed to take the privilege?

Very few rules explicitly express how these events should be dealt with, so they are generally left up to the group. However, my group's rules will change depending on the personality of the players playing (not all members are available each time we play). I would like to make this consistent, and would appreciate feedback on how others deal with this scenario.


texts: How does Spine of Ish Sah interact with It That Betrays?

texts:
...or anything else which tries to take over spines after destroying them.

So assume player A has an It That Betrays on the board, and player B has a Spine of Ish Sah on their side of the board. Now player A goes to combat, has their creature attack player B, the annihilator ability triggers, and player B sacrifices his Spine and something else.
From the rules:

  701.16a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard.

So for my first question: Is the action of sacrifice the movement from the battlefield to the graveyard including the arrival in the graveyard, or, stated in a different way, does the sacrificed permanent enter the graveyard before being taken over by the second ability of It That Betrays?

  Whenever an opponent sacrifices a nontoken permanent, put that card onto the battlefield under your control.

Assuming it does (if it doesn't then ignore this second question), then how do the triggers stack? Or better said: Does the Spine go to its owners hand, or to the board of player A?


texts: Can I deal combat damage with a 1/1 Walking Ballista and deal damage with its ability?

texts:
Rules Question:

Player A attack with 1/2 creature
Player B block with Walking Ballista with 1 +1/+1 counter
And now can player B use Walking Ballista activation ability, after combat damage but before it go to graveyard, to kill 1/2 creature?


texts: Ordeal of Heliod and changing creature control

texts:
Here is the situation that came up:

Player 1 controls a creature enchanted with Ordeal of Heliod and two +1/+1 counters. On Player 2's turn, they cast Portent of Betrayal to take control of the creature, and then attack with it. The attack triggers the Ordeal, putting another +1/+1 counter on it. Now that it has three counters, it is sacrificed and a player gains 10 life.

Which player sacrifices the enchantment and gains 10 life? The controller of the creature (Player 2) or the player who cast the enchantment (Player 1)?


texts: Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 8 and Return of the Dragon Lords

texts:
A friend of mine is building a Horus the Black Flame Dragon deck. He had a question related to Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 8.

This card cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. This card cannot be special summoned except by the effect of Horus the Black Flame Dragon LV 6. As long as this card remains face up on the field, you can negate the activation of any spell cards and destroy them.

So say he successfully summoned LV 8 and it gets in the graveyard. Can he still use Return of the Dragon Lords to resurrect it from the Graveyard?


texts: With both Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions, how many victory points should I play to?

texts:
I've recently gotten Cities & Knights and plan to play it with my existing Seafarers of Catan expansion once I get the hang of it.  Looking through the manuals for both Seafarers of Catan and Catan: Cities & Knights, I can't find how many victory point should I play to when combining the expansions.

Both expansions can be played together, but it doesn't say how many victory points to play to.  I assume since Cities & Knights increases the number of victory points you play on the base settlers map, it would do the same for the Seafarers maps, but I can't find a reference for this.

When playing a Seafarers Scenario with Cities & Knights, do you play to the number of victory points for the scenario, or do you increase the number of victory points you play too?


texts: Can you force a player to **Bang** themselves when Dorothy Rage is in play?

texts: When playing with the Wild West Show expansion and Dorothy Rage is in play, can you force a player to play a Bang against themselves (or any other card where the effect can be applied to another player, distance-based or otherwise)?


texts: Is a player allowed to announce his intentions for their next turn?

texts:
In a recent game of Hanabi we discovered that a helpful technique was to ask the person, usually to the left what they planned to do on their turn (ie. playing or discarding a certain card), and then choose to give them information or not based on that information.

Is this technique legal?


texts: Damage Cleanup and Toughness Boosting Effects

texts: Suppose my opponent is playing Slivers, and has a Muscle Silver and a Metallic Sliver on the field. On my side, I have a 1/1 Goblin token. My opponent declares both Slivers as attacking, and I block the Muscle Sliver with my Goblin. After combat, I Overload an Electrickery, killing the Muscle Sliver. Since it took 1 damage and the +1/+1 from the Muscle Sliver is removed, would the Metallic Sliver die?


texts: If two fighter's dice all come up with the same numbers, but one character rolls fewer dice, who goes first?

texts:
If Iago faces Changeling, and their results are:

Iago: 1, 1, 1, 1
Changeling: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

The rules say the following (emphasis mine):

  To Begin: Roll all of your fighter’s dice, and arrange your dice so they can be easily read. Players will now take turns. Whoever rolled the single lowest number will go first. If the lowest dice are tied, compare the next lowest dice, and so on until a starting player is determined. If all numbers are tied, the game is a draw.

What is unclear, is what happens when the characters have differing numbers of dice to compare.

Is it a draw? Since you can't compare a die number to a non-existent die.
Does Iago go first? Since an empty die (null die) has a value of zero.
Does Changeling go first? Since they are the only character with a next lowest die, and all numbers are not tied.

I am leaning towards it being a draw, because you can't compare dice with a character that doesn't have a, "next lowest die" to compare. Has there been an official ruling in a FAQ, or in Tournament Rules? Maybe no one has ever had this happen and the question has never come up (it only happens 1 in 100+ million times)?


texts: Is an early escape normal in encounter 1C?

texts:
In First Scenario 1C

Scenario objectives :

Win : Kill 2 investigators
Lose : Investigators escape from Foyer

During my game session investigators revealed objective very quickly, and most of them managed to escape mansion before event was triggered and door's become locked with rune puzzle

Is this normal situation?


texts: Does a fortress count as a unit when defending a city?

texts:
If I have a city with a fortress but no units inside it, and my opponent moves armies into that city, does my opponent have to defeat the fortress to win?  In other words, do fortresses behave like a unit during battle?  Can they take a hit and be removed?

Does having a settler in the city (but still no army units) change the situation at all?


texts:
I'm a little unclear on the wording of the Flames. What does "Empty" mean? Does it ignore mountains? Shields? I'm fairly certain it ignores troops.

Side question (maybe this should be a separate question?!) can Flames travel through the Great Brass Pipe?


texts:
1: If Blood Moon is on the battlefield, will Back to Basics, Burning Earth, etc. have any effect?
2: What about Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth?
3: Will a nonbasic with Wild Growth get an extra green mana?
4: What about Awaken the Ancient on a nonbasic mountain?
5: Can a nonbasic with Abundant Growth still tap for any color?


texts: In Russian card game Durak, is it efficiently to keep the trump cards till the end of the game?

texts:
Speaking statistically - is it better to directly kill all weak cards with the trump ones, or is it better to keep the royal cards up to the end?

(card game Durak)


texts: Grand slam bidding with high card points hand

texts:
What is my opening bid with a 24 high card point hand, so that I don't get 3 passes and end up short of slam?

AKQJx AKx Ax KQJ, I think. One year players. So rare to see this hand.

Partner had 11 HCP. I opened w 2NT, Part bid 3 something,I bid 3NT and then 3 passes.

She had 3rd A and we had 4 K. Made Gr slam. Bid 3 NT. What a waste of a great opportunity. Should part. know with her 11 and my 2NT open that we should not stop, go to Gerber?


texts: Chess (and variations) Endgame Complexity

texts:
My understanding is that the game of Go with Japanese Ko rules is, like most such games, EXPTIME-Complete, but that ladders are PSPACE-Complete and that Go endgames have been analyzed independently as being PSPACE-Hard.

Has any such research been done into Chess endgames?


texts: Can I stop a Counterspell of Goblin Grenade by sacrificing a Goblin Gardener?

texts:
I want to cast Goblin Grenade, but my opponent wants to counter it. Can I prevent them doing so like this?:

I play Goblin Grenade.
As part of the cost, I sacrifice Goblin Gardener (whose text reads: “When Goblin Gardener dies, destroy target land.”).
I use this ability to destroy one of my opponent’s 2 Islands.

Can he counter the spell, or does the destruction of the Island happen before he can play Counterspell, since it’s a direct result not of my spell itself, but of paying its cost?


texts: To trash an estate or to curse my opponents?

texts:
I'm playing Dominion, 3-player game, I get a 5-2 split on the opening and get a Witch and a Pearl Diver. Other players have 4-3, they both open Jack of All Trades and Silver. I pick up a Jack and Silver my second time through, and my Witch shows up at the very bottom, so I draw it on turn 5 with the hand:

Witch, Jack of All Trades, Estate, Copper, Copper.

The question: which one do I play? It's still very early in the game, no one else has a Witch at this point, is it better to try to slow my opponents down by cursing them or to speed my own deck up by gaining a silver and trashing an estate?

Of course, as in all Dominion strategy questions, this could depend on the other Kingdom cards, but I'd like to keep answers general. That said, in case you're curious I'll provide context for this game because I don't think any of the other cards impacted my decision much: there weren't many other tempting kingdom cards.

$6: Harem, Fairgrounds
$5: Witch, Horn of Plenty
$4: Bureaucrat, Gardens, Jack of All Trades, Smithy
$3: Smugglers
$2: Pearl Diver

The only other $5 was Horn of Plenty--which I definitely don't want to pick up too early. My general strategy was to get either a Smithy or a second Jack depending on whether my opponents picked up Witches, and otherwise buy money and Provinces.


texts: Where can I find Bobby Fischer's debut game?

texts: Once I saw the game in an encyclopedia, and I remember being impressed.  Now, I'd like to find it again.  Is there some inventory of famous games I can find it in?


texts:
So the options are a ton of resources, and you can build whatever you want. The advantage of this is that in age III you can build more guilds.

You can go low recourses but use a lot of tech trees. The advantage here is that you can build more stuff in the ages and times where you would normally get recourses.

Or you can balance both, which SEEMS like the best option.

Is it?


texts: Targeting question in regards to illegal target

texts:
I'm watching this video from the Judge's Corner on YouTube:
Targeting - Judge's Corner #10. One example shows these cards being played:

Middle first, left second, right third. The video says that once they resolve the left card wont have a valid target so it can't even be played. Does this mean that the card just stays in the persons hand as if it didn't happen?


texts: Infinite loop where where both players choose to continue the loop

texts:
Yesterday, I was playing a casual game and I had a Stasis, Kismet, and Chronatog, causing my opponent to have to keep drawing, while I kept skipping my turn, with the intent of decking him.

My opponent, however, had Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn in his deck, and he can discard that every turn he draws it to shuffle his graveyard back into his library.

Who, ultimately, is required to stop choosing to continue this loop?  Do I have to stop skipping my turn with Chronatog? Or does my opponent have to stop discarding Emrakul?


texts: How does the following interaction with Swords to Plowshares and Death's Shadow work?

texts:
Death's Shadow is a 13/13 that gets -X/-X where X is your life total.

If one I control is exiled by Swords to Plowshares, then last known information is used to tell us how much life should be gained, but this happens before the life gain from the Swords, right?  I would not necessarily gain 13 life, but rather the current size of Death's Shadow?


texts: Can you collect a resource of your choice if you have no production due to the robber?

texts:
In "Cities and Knights" there is a city improvement which allows you to "collect a resource of your choice" if "you don't receive production on a turn."

Does this privilege apply when the following are true?

a number near which I have a settlement is rolled
the robber is on that hex
I own the city improvement described above

In other words, can I collect a resource card of my choice in this situation. According to the description of the privilege I should be able to because I received no production. A friend, however, is saying that I received production but the robber stole it away. Is there a definitive answer for this scenario?


texts: Winning Race for the Galaxy Without 6-cost Developments?

texts:
My brother-in-law bought me Race For The Galaxy for Christmas so I've been playing a few games recently.  Obviously we are nowhere near mastering it; but what I've been seeing in all of our scorelines so far is someone getting a ton of points off one or other of the 6-point developments, and running away with the victory.

Personally I've been desperate to make a Produce-Consume strategy work, but so far I've had no luck at all.  It just seems as though having the right 6-cost development and building as many things as possible mentioned on that card completely trumps getting an "engine".

A few questions therefore occur.

(1) Are 6-cost developments really this good?  If I don't see a good one early, should I be Exploring +5 in a frantic attempt to find one?

(2) If I'm just being generally incompetent, and I expect I am, what are some efficient strategies for competing with someone whose 6-cost development is going to earn them ~10 extra points at the end of the game, when I don't have one of my own?

(3) What's the best way to get a really good Produce-Consume strategy working for you?  I expect it only seems slow and clunky to me right now because I'm doing it wrong.

Please help me to zoom ahead from last place in this Race!


texts: Quarriors' Deathdealer and expert culling

texts:
When we started using the expert culling rule in Quarriors, we found a confusing interaction with the Deathdealer. It's special ability is:

When Deathdealer scores, you may trade Deathdealer for one die from any other player's Used Pile.

However, the expert culling rule says that you can only score a creature if you cull that creature's die. How can you swap it and cull it?


texts: Oko, Thief of Crown's +1 vs. Deputy of Detention

texts:
Let's say my opponent plays Deputy of Detention and exiles my creature. I play Oko, Thief of Crowns and +1 on Deputy. Do I get my original creature back? If the answer is "no", do I get my original creature back if I later kill the 3/3 green Elk "Deputy of Detention"?

I'm guessing the answer is "no" in either case, because in the first case Deputy hasn't left the battlefield, and in the second when Deputy leaves the battlefield it's already lost all abilities, so the creature remains permanently exiled.


texts: Can I buy an "underneath" Major Improvement without paying for the top one first?

texts: Can I purchase a Major Improvement card that is underneath another Major Improvement without first having to buy the top improvement?


texts: Death Angels - Is the Force Field Overpowered?

texts:
We've been playing the new Space Hulk card game, "Death Angels" at our gaming sessions of late.  We've noticed that the Force Field card (the Librarian Support) seems to be a game-winner, to the extent that our strategies revolve around it 100% when it is available.  Since it can shut down a single swarm of an arbitrarily large size, and since swarms move collectively and merge when they arrive at the same square, our tactics tend to center around herding all the swarms onto a single square, then using "Force Field" infinitely to lock it down while we move through the Hulk at will and eventually reach the last room.

Upon reaching the last room, frequently the objective has nothing to do with killing all the 'stealers, so we auto-win.  On the few occasions where it does require killing all the stealers, the location card itself frequently provides an out, or we stack all of our support tokens on the librarian and have him 'chain-gun' the swarm down.

The card itself seems to have robbed the game of much of its challenge. Is this correct, or are we missing something about how the card works and how its mechanics interact with the game?


texts: Does a card moving from Exile to Exile count as being moved?

texts:
I know the Commander replacement effect allows you to move your Commander to the Command Zone if it would be exiled or put into its owner's hand, graveyard or library from anywhere.

My question is if you flicker (exile and return) your commander with the likes of Venser, the Sojourner (without sending it to the command zone then so it returns at the end step) and your opponent casts a spell to Exile anything that would enter (e.g. Hallowed Moonlight), does that count as your Commander moving from Exile to Exile, thus allowing you to apply the replacement effect, or would your Commander be stuck in exile?

Edit: Figured it out and answered below.


texts:
I keep getting warnings for "slow play" in Magic. Yet being an avid chess player I consider fast playing a crime.

Why does the Magic community have a problem with "slow play"? Looking back at chess, slower play with more thinking ahead is also good for spectators; long games typically have much more interesting plays.

So what is the reason to have such short games in Magic by default? Why not play fewer games but in more depth at things like Friday Night Magic?

And why does the game typically award "faster plays" by giving points per game instead of a true Elo?


texts: In Phase 10, can you play out your hand before all players has played a turn?

texts: In Phase 10, is it legal to lay out your phase and play out your hand (placing remaining single card in the discard pile) in the first round, before all players have had a chance to play in that round (i.e. pick up a card and discard)?


texts: When you save the game in The 7th Continent, does fire go away, given that there isn't any way to mark this in the save stack? Or are you just supposed to remember which tiles had it?


texts: Armadillo Cloak contains a triggered event that in combat resolution resolves?

texts: When Armadillo Cloak's ability is triggered due to combat it is placed on the stack.  My assumption is that the stack does not resolve till the second main phase and only after all players have passed.  Is this correct?


texts: Losing Control of Bestowed Enchantment Creatures

texts:
I've been playing Magic for about six months and thought I had a decent handle on how things work until I ran into the following problem:

Set-up:
I was playing mono black devotion against blue-green control. I bestowed Herald of Torment onto Pharika Chosen. At the end of my turn, my opponent (in control of Prophet of Kruphix) flashed in a Siren of the Fanged Coast. I chose not to pay the tribute, so my opponent took my Pharika Chosen with Herald of Torment attached.

Question:
If I kill Pharika Chosen while my opponent controls it, when Herald of Torment becomes a creature again do I regain control of Herald of Torment, or does my opponent retain possession of it?


texts: If the ancient one awakens after an investigator dies in the mythos phase, does the player draw a new investigator?

texts:
When an investigator is defeated after the ancient one awakens, that player is eliminated. What if the investigator is defeated and the ancient one awakens before the end of the mythos phase?

The ancient one is awake when the investigator would be replaced, but wasn't awake when the investigator was defeated.

In our session, the defeat of the investigator caused the awakening. My reading of the rules is that the player is not eliminated as a result of this. Is there a documentation implying otherwise?


texts: MTG - Unsettled Mariner: When is the targeting checked?

texts:
Unsettled Mariner counters spells and abilities targeting you or permanents you control unless the controller pays an additional 1 mana.

When is that targeting checked? As in if my opponent casts a spell and declares my creature as a target and I use something like Aether Vial to put an Unsettled Mariner into play at instant speed before the opponents spell resolves do they need to pay the additional cost? Are the casting costs checked again on spell resolution?


texts: Design for board to put on table to make it bigger?

texts:
I've got a reasonably big coffee table that we use for playing board games, but having played Arkham Horror on it It's starting to feel a little cramped.

I thought It might be a good idea to get a board of wood and cover it with felt that I can bring out on came nights to give us a bigger playing surface.

I'm not sure I can fit a board as big as my table in my car though so I was wondering if anyone had seen any tutorials on building a hinged gaming board that I can fold up to give me a playing surface.

My main issue is making the hinges flush so they don't get in the way.scratch the table.


texts:
I cast Collected Company and one of the creature cards I choose to put into the battlefield is Eternal Witness.

By the time Eternal witness enters the battlefield, will Collected company be already in the graveyard so I can put it back to my hand?


texts: What happens when playing Throne Room / King's Court *twice* with Caravan?

texts:
What happens if you play:

Throne room, choosing a Throne room, each time choosing a Caravan?
King's Court, choosing a King's Court, each time choosing a Caravan?

Specifically, what will your play area look like at the start of your next turn? How many cards will you draw at the start of your next turn?

This is different from this question; it is more complex than that!


texts: If I clone a Dryad Arbor is the clone a land?

texts: If my opponent plays a Dryad Arbor and I use a Clone to copy it, is the clone a land as well? Can I kill the clone with a Stone Rain? I'm assuming that if the clone is a land that it does not count to your one land played a turn limit?


texts:
Is the card Maze of Ith from "The Dark" series in fact a C1 common card as this checklist states?

I'm posing this question in this manner to avoid phrasing it "why the heck is it a $20 card if it's so common".


texts: The rules state that line of sight for a hunter is down the row and column it is on. However, if an agent has been spotted by one hunter, can another hunter attack diagonally since the position of the agent is known?


texts: How does commander damage interact with cards that prevent you from losing the game?

texts: If you have take the last 21 commander damage from a single commander and play a card that prevents you from losing, what happens when that card stops protecting you? Example being Angel's Grace or Stunning Reversal.


texts:
I'm designing a card-based rpg game and I'm looking for an equivalent to http://lulu.com but for printing online cards on demand.

The card would be either playing cards like Magic or similar, or Tarot cards (big cards).

Any suggestions? Any feedbacks on the suggested services?


texts: Resolving Diplomatic actions in a RISK-style board game

texts:
I'm working on a board game called Farlanthia: Lords of War. And I need some help with resolving diplomacy during play.

My original idea was to have Diplomacy be a form of "attack" like in RISK.  This would force another player to perform an action (like a trade, or peace treaty, etc.)  The idea is that each "season" you would send a diplomat to court, and politics would play out.  Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't.  This would allow me to use modifier cards (say, you have as prisoner a general from the other player, this would give you +2 in diplomacy with them).

However, as was pointed out on BoardGameGeek this isn't optimal for everyone.  So I'm considering adding in a voluntary portion where if both parties agree to the treaty at hand, it goes into place without die rolling.

Thoughts?  I'm just not sure how to arbitrate the rules of diplomacy during an otherwise concrete game if the diplomatic actions aren't just as concrete.

Thanks,

[EDIT]

(Cross-posted to GameDev in case it isn't appropriate for here.)


texts: When can I activate the special Halicarnassus effect?

texts:
The rules say what the effect does but not when to use it.

Once per era?
At the time the wonder upgrade is done?
At the end of the game?
Something else?


texts: How does Haktos the Unscarred's protection ability work if no number was chosen?

texts:
Haktos the Unscarred has an unusual pair of abilties:

As Haktos enters the battlefield, choose 2, 3, or 4 at random.
Haktos has protection from each converted mana cost other than the chosen number.

It is possible for a creature to have the protection ability without ever choosing a number. For example, Lazav, the Multifarious could become a copy of a Haktos in the graveyard, or Mirage Mirror could become a copy of a Haktos on the battlefield. In a situation like that, what will the ability do?


texts: Additional/Made up roles in Resistance or Resistance avalon

texts:
My friends and I have started making up new roles for resistance when we get tired of using the basics like Merlin, Percival Mordred, Morgana and Oberon.

I know Mordred can hide from Merlin, Merlin knows who is evil(except Mordred), Morgana appears as Merlin, Percival know who is Merlin (and who is Morgana, but not which one is which), and Oberon is evil but he doesn't know who else is evil and they don't know who he is.

So far one variation we've played with is where Oberon knows who his evil team mates are, or they know who he is. He is evil, but knows nothing about who else is good and evil but his evil team mates will know who he is. Or he knows who all of them are, but they don't know who he is.

We've also played with "Nice Friends" (The name is a work in progress). Where two Loyal Servants know the identity of each other but nothing else, they don't know who any of the evil people are. And at the end of the game if the evil team can correctly guess both Nice Friends they win. Usually if we play with nice friends at least Percival is removed.

Has anyone made up their own roles, used any other variations or are there any that already exist that aren't in the traditional version of Avalon?


texts: There's this card type in Yu-Gi-Oh that I can't quite put my finger on. It has to do with nature

texts:
Back in ~6 grade there was a yu-gi-oh archetype that I really liked. I liked this because of the play-style and the art/character design in general, but I can't quite remember the name of the deck and/or monsters in 10th grade.

What I do remember though is that these cards are somewhat new, are themed around nature, not literal trees but from memory the people featured in these cards would wear leave-like clothing, kind-a anime/cutesy art style and would have many different cards with this "archetype" in the card name.

From memory, some of them in the card art would be riding flying beasts. Would anyone have the slightest idea what these cards would be?


texts: Star Wars Rebellion Resolve Space Combat before Ground Combat

texts:
I'm considering the following variant for Star Wars Rebellion (inspired by Twilight Imperium):

  Resolve space combat entirely and reconcile transport capacity before resolving a ground combat in a system.  Note that this rule does not apply to ground units that are moved to the system by abilities that ignore transport restrictions (such as "Lead the Strike Team").

The effect of this is that the attacker must win the space battle and not lose their transports in order to attack a system.  So, for example, the Empire can't destroy the rebel base by running in with a single Assault Carrier loaded with two AT-AT's (I have seen at least one game won this way), but instead must actually beat all of their forces (space and then ground) in the system.  It also makes destroying capital ships more valuable in space combat as this gives the extra opportunity to destroy troops before they land.

What in the game breaks with this variant?


texts: What happens if you control two Krark's Thumb and you have to flip a coin?

texts: If I have Sakashima of a Thousand Faces out, a Krark's Thumb and a Copy Artifact that copies Krark's Thumb what happens when I have to flip a coin? Does it go infinite and result in a draw? Do I flip two coins? Do I flip four coins?


texts: Can a Tenacious Z be Played After Drawing Two Cards?

texts:
In the scenario where a player has 9 cards at the end of their turn and drawing two more cards gives them a Tenacious Z, can they discard it and play it if one hasn't already been played?

In step #5 of the rules, "Shut It Down", it states that:

  Anything that happens at the end of the turn happens here. Play passes to the player on the left.

Since Tenacious Z is a special card, it also states:

  Special: During your turn you many play this card from you discard pile as an extra minion. You may only use the ability of one Tenacious Z each turn.

Since a turn involves five steps, is this card still playable after drawing two more cards?


texts: Does "an attacking creature" count as "a creature that attacked"?

texts:
Say I have Hypersonic Dragon in play and go to combat phase. Dring the declare attackers step I tap and declare Hypersonic Dragon as attacking. After I have declared Hypersonic Dragon as attacking I get priority (as there are nothing else on the battlefield generating triggers).

Now I play Relentless Assault and it resolves. Since this is during combat, there is no additional Combat or Main Phase added, but is Hypersonic Dragon untapped now?

If not, at what point is Hypersonic Dragon "a creature that attacked"? What is the earliest Relentless Assault can be played to get the untap effect?


texts: Can a Diplomacy player pick and choose which unit to support?

texts:
This question brought back memories of a situation that occurred to me about 40 years ago. (I haven't played much Diplomacy since then.)

I was playing France, worried about England and Germany, and England made an "alliance" offer to me arguing, "You will have 5 supply centers at the end of 1901, Germany will have 5, and I should have 5, to preserve the balance of power. Will you support me into Belgium against Germany using the army that you moved into Burgundy in spring, 1901?"

I "temporized" by saying that I would support a British fleet into Belgium, but not an army. So in my Fall, 1901 orders, I wrote, "A Burgundy supports fleet only, N Sea to Belgium."

England's orders read, "A Yorkshire to Belgium, F N Sea convoys." This was against my express intent, and after an argument, we took the issue to the host/organizer (who was playing Turkey). The host ruled into favor of England, who argued, "The army went to Belgium via the fleet N. Sea, and the supporting French army couldn't know until after the fact whether it was the fleet or army that occupied Belgium."

To this day, I think that the host (and England) were wrong. Were they?


texts: Is it advantageous to go first in Dominion?

texts:
The rulebook says:

  If the highest scores are tied at the end of the game, the tied player who has had the fewest turns wins the game.

What advantages does the first player have over the other players?

Do these advantages overcome the detriment of losing in a tie when the other player has had fewer turns?

What effect does the number of players have on the advantage/disadvantage?


texts: How do I handle a late player for Battlestar Galactica?

texts:
I have a player that may be later for a start of a game. How can I incorporate them into a session of BSG?

I see two simple ways of doing this:

Create the character at setup time  and "zombiefy" them until the player arrives. They exist, but don't interact at all.
Draw up the character when the player gets the.

I think these both amount to the same thing (kind of like adding a character mid-season to the series). But does it cause any difficulties for game play?


texts: What is the point in disclosure of the bidding system to opponents?

texts:
I fully understand and agree with the rule "do not communicate in illegal ways" (pose, tone of voice, etc), but I don't quite understand the point in requiring the disclosure of one's bidding system to one's opponents. What does this aim to achieve?

True disclosure sounds hard to achieve in practice. Partners know each other's habits, and as a result bidding communication still has "hidden" parts - it is just not possible to describe every habit to opponents.

This raises a related question. Suppose the bidding system should be disclosed. Why not then require only a single bidding system for all players?


texts: Aura Trample removed by High Priest of Penance

texts:
I've been searching high and low for this: say a High Priest of Penance (with an indestructible aura) blocks a creature with Rancor, i.e. trample. Can I stop the trample effect by destroying either the creature or the enchantment, before trample happens? Since it first assigns damage to the priest who then can destroy a permanent...?

  702.19b The controller of an attacking creature with trample first assigns damage to the creature(s) blocking it.


texts: Is there any way to rehabilitate the "junk rare" Lost In The Woods?

texts:
I've really been enjoying the incredible Innistrad set, and advance previews of Dark Ascension (on the Wizards official site and elsewhere) have been living up to it so far.  However, I had to do a double take when I read the text of this rare, Lost in the Woods, it seemed so bad:

  Lost in the Woods, 3GG [Enchantment]

  Whenever a creature attacks you or a planeswalker you control, reveal
  the top card of your library.  If it's a Forest card, remove that
  creature from combat.  Then put the revealed card on the bottom of
  your library.

I feel like the ability on this card would be bad if it Fogged all creatures on a Forest reveal, not just one creature.  I feel like the card would still be bad if it cost G and you could cast multiples of it in early turns - but as an expensive late game card, it seems totally unplayable.

Obviously it's a "flavourful" card that will never see competitive play.  But come on, surely no Magic card can be completely without actual play value?  This is the hardest card to think of a good use for that I've come across in ages, though - can anyone else think of a great combo or other strategy for making Lost In The Woods a halfway decent addition to a deck?


texts: Can I redirect a spell to another type of target in MTG?

texts:
M12 features the card Redirect, which allows you to choose new targets for a spell. Innistrad introduced the card Into the Maw of Hell, which deals 13 damage to target creature.

Can I redirect the damage from Into the Maw of Hell to target player with the spell Redirect or must the type of target (in this case creature) stay the same?


texts: House rules to make the cloister less of a game winning tile in Carcassonne?

texts:
In my experience, cloister tiles in Carcassonne are often "too lucky". If you draw a cloister tile in the beginning of the game, it will typically still require an investment of quite a bit of "meeple" time to obtain the full 9 points, which makes it a fair trade-off. However, after about half of the game, it's relatively likely that you can "parachute" a cloister tile in some spot and get 8 or 9 points immediately. This adds a lot of randomness to the game.

What house rules work well to diminish this effect?


texts: What happens when a Reward that is a character card loses its hitpoints?

texts:
While playing the Oblivaeon expansion to Sentinels of the Multiverse, we completed the Mission card “Time and Time Again”, giving us the Reward character card “The Chronoist”. He has 14 HP.

Unfortunately, he was also destroyed by losing all his hit points. What happens to him then? Does he go into my trash? Get removed from the game? Something else?


texts: Why do creatures go back to a previous controller instead of their owner?

texts:
Say player A has a creature they own, then player B gains control of it with Blatant Thievery, then player C gains control of it with Control Magic. If the Control Magic is then destroyed, the creature returns to player B, the previous controller, rather than player A, the owner.

What rules cause this to happen? Do creatures actually always go back to their previous controller when one control change effect ends?

(this was asked in comments here; feel free to edit or suggest ways to make it a better generic question)


texts: How should Bone Splinters and Mirrorwing Dragon work?

texts:
When playing Magic Duels, my opponent had a Mirrorwing Dragon as his only creature and I cast a Bone Splinters on it, sacrificing one of my three creatures.

The following occurred:

1) The game copied Bone Splinters (once) - I assume from Mirrorwing Dragon (the game is non-specific)

2) One of my two remaining creatures was targetted by the Bone Splinters copy and destroyed.

3) I was left with a single creature (of the original 3) and my opponents Mirrorwing Dragon was destroyed.  My remaining creature did not have hexproof or protection from black.

Is this how this should've worked?


texts: What happens while casting protection from Banishing Light?

texts:
What would happen with this stack?:

Player 1 plays Banishing light targeting player 2's creature.

Player 2 plays Gods Willing on that same creature.

What happens with player 1's enchantment?

Does it do nothing because the target chosen is protected? Does it choose new target that doesn't have protection, since it isn't an enchant-aura? Or is it something else all together?


texts: In Bridge, Is There A Way To Shorten "Reaction Time" For "Real Time" Play

texts:
I like to solve bridge problems in newspapers. When I do this, I often get the correct answer, or at least come "within sight" (e.g. get the key idea but "muff" the sequence). This process typically takes 2-3 minutes, because I start by inventorying outstanding trumps and honors, plan the play suit by suit, and identify potential problems.

It's different, in "real time play." Here, when dummy hits the table, I get 15, at most 30 seconds to study it before beginning (e.g declarer) play. If I take longer, others at the table start to grumble.

So I end up playing "by instinct"; I need to clear suit X, or I need to draw trumps or no, I need to save trumps for "transportation." This works "quite well," (relative to my peer group). But I fear that I'm blowing hands, or at least relying on opponents' mistakes, when I actually have a "forced" win.

I do have two advantages in "real time" that I don't have with newspaper columns. 1) I see my hand beforehand. 2) I've heard the bidding beforehand. Whereas, with a newspaper column, I see dummy, my hand, and the bidding simultaneously.

If I were in a tournament, would I get a "reasonable" amount of time (say 1 minute) to study the board before I play?

Or does anyone know of a way that I can speed up my "newspaper" reaction time to that of the much faster "real time" play?


texts: What happens to counters on a creature when the equipment that put them there is exiled?

texts:
A green creature is equipped with Ring of Kalonia. A +1/+1 counter is put on at the owner's upkeep(BTW, I believe a new counter isn't added every upkeep step). The creature gains trample.

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


texts: Mascarade - When must you swap your card?

texts:
In the game of Mascarade there is an note on page 5 of the rule book that reads:

  WARNING !

  If a player has revealed their card during the turn of the
  player immediately before them (by having called the character
  announcement of the player to their right, or by having been revealed
  by the Inquisitor), then the player cannot announce that they are
  their revealed character. The player will be forced to swap their card
  – or not – with that of another player.

It seems fairly straight forward that you must swap your card with that of another if you just revealed your card in the previous turn.

So in a 4 player scenario what happens when one player 'announces' they are the king and two others 'claim' to be the king? do both of the other players have to swap on their following turn or only the very next player?

Here is a visual:

the players are arraigned as such:

      1
   4     2
      3

And player 1 announces they are the king. Players 2 and 3 claim to be the king as well.

Now from the way I read the note on page 5, player 2, who's turn it is next, is required to swap their card. They can not 'announce' to be the card they just revealed. So where does that leave player 3? If player 2 does not swap with them, then player 3 knows what card they are and essentially gets to announce with perfect certainty.

Is this the correct interpretation?


texts: If I play the card Bolas's Citadel, do I have to pay mana costs for Planeswalkers and Creatures or do I play them for free?


texts: In Monopoly Deal, does the rent apply to a whole group or each card individually?

texts:
If a property specifies 2, 4 and 7 millions for 1, 2 and 3 properties respectively - do I calculate the rent owed once per property group (ie. 4 millions for 2 properties) or individually for each property (ie. 2x4 millions for 2 properties)?

I would say it's the former but I'm not a 100% sure.


texts: In bridge, how can you "see" (locate) most of 52 cards halfway into the play?

texts:
Author Terence Reese wrote that the difference between amateurs and professional was that the former could "see" (locate) only 26 cards, while professionals could "see" 52 before the hand was over. Another commentator on this site once remarked that this could occur by the sixth or seventh round (out of 13).

Suppose you're declarer. An opening lead comes from West, and dummy goes down. Now you can actually see 27 cards. More to the point, West probably led from a suit in which he and partner hold 8 or 9 cards, meaning that they are likely distributed 5-3 if eight cards, and 6-3 or 5-4 if nine cards. By the rule of sequences or the rule of 11, you can probably guess WHICH five cards west holds, especially after East plays. So you can now "see" 34-35 by the time the cards reach your hand. If West led his partner's (bid) suit, that factors into the equation.

What happens next? That is, how do you bring your knowledge of 34-35 cards up to 52, and in (roughly) how many rounds. It might be fairly easy if one or both opponents bid. But what if they haven't?


texts: So let’s say I have a blue 11, joker and blue 13. Can I use that set of 3, tag it to the end of a blue 10, 9 & 8 thats already on the table and use the blue 13 to a different set? So I’m not replacing the joker but I’m using the set of 3 it’s apart of.


texts: What happens to leftover money in the pot in Red Dog (card game)?

texts:
In the card game "Red Dog", what happens to the money left in the pot after all the players bar one have quit the game? There can be a large amount in the pot that is not won.

I've looked at 5 sites which have the game's rules but none answer that question.


texts: A opening bid of 1Club if followed by 1Diamond

texts: A opening bid of 1 Club if followed by 1 Diamond in Bridge shows no majors and 6-7 point, is this correct?


texts: What can the Fire Prevention Specialist do in Flash Point: Fire Rescue?

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

Prevent: 1 AP
Move Smoke

Prevent: 2 AP
Movie POI

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


texts: Colorless commander using lands that chose based upon identity?

texts:
TLDR

Can I use lands that mention "color identity" with a colorless commander while still getting their bonus effects?

I apologize if I have missed something that explains this situation, but I am unsure how the rules work around my planned commander: Kozilek, the Great Distortion.

With this as my commander if I used a card such as Opal Palace that reads

  {C},{T}: Add to your mana pool one mana of any color in your commander's color identity. If you spend this mana to cast your commander, it enters the battlefield with a number of additional +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of times it's been cast from the command zone this game.

As I understand the rules any cards in your deck must have your commander's color. Colorless is not a color. Therefore, does the colorless indicator or the Wastes indicator count as my commander's color identity?

Would the case be similar if I used a land such as Exotic Orchard? I realize technically those are two different questions, but I think they are similar and easily answered within the same frame of reference...


texts: Can Emrakul's Evangel save me from "destroy all creatures"?

texts: My opponent played a "destroy all creatures" card. But I have Emrakul's Evangel on the field. Is there any way that if I use his ability so that some creature will survive?


texts: Can you pickup just the wild card on frozen pile in canasta?

texts: If the player before you in canasta freezes the pile with a wild card, can you pick the pile up if you have two wild cards in you hand? Do you have to take the entire pile or just the wild card on top?


texts: Can I cast Enchant Creature cards on Enchantment Creatures (Bestow) that are on another creature?

texts:
Say I have a Nessian Courser which is enchanted by a Nylea's Emmissary. I want to cast an Enchantment - Aura on the Nylea's Emissary, for example: Ordeal of Thassa.

Perhaps for some reason, I know that the Nessian Courser is going to die at the end of the turn, or I just want to diversify my play so that one burn spell won't cost me two cards. Can I cast an Ordeal of Thassa on the EMISSARY? It is technically a creature, even though it's being used as an enchantment currently.

I wouldn't imagine that the Nessian Courser would get the bonus from the Ordeal of Thassa, but I would expect that the Nylea's Emissary would retain the Ordeal when the Nessian Courser dies and it bounces off.

Is this possible, and if so is my understanding of how it works correct? Thanks!


texts: Humble and losing ALL abilities: Does this affect creatures with equipped artifacts?

texts: Humble causes a creature to become 0/1 and lose all abilities.  If the target creature has an artifact equipped, giving it +1/+1, before this instant is played, does the target lose any benefits applied from the artifact?


texts: Is it better to ask a question or guess with 3 characters left in Guess Who?

texts:
Say you have 3 potential characters left.

If you go with a guess, you have a 1/3 chance that turn and a 1/2 chance next turn.

If you go with a hint, you would have a 50% chance of leaving 2 left (with a 50% chance to win next turn) or a 50% chance of leaving 1 left (with a 100% chance to win next turn).

I don't know statistics well enough to figure it out from there.

EDIT: We were not aware of the rule that state if you guess incorrectly it means you instantly lose. That definitely makes it clear which you should do. We will definitely try to follow that going forward, thanks all!


texts: Does "one non-Logos card" on Phase Shift limit me, or just enable me?

texts: If I play 2 Phase Shifts in the same turn, can I play two non-Logos cards? If I play Wild Wormhole, resulting in playing a non-Logos card, can I still use Phase Shift to play another non-Logos card?


texts: Can Sorcerers convert two units from the same Tribe in one turn?

texts:
A Cunning Rules Lawyer pointed out that, while the rules for Sorcerers say:

  Once per turn per opponent, your Sorcerers
  can conquer a Region by substituting one of
  your opponent's Active tokens with one of
  your own taken from the storage tray.

It isn't 100% clear if, when you're playing a four player game, you can convert four regions of the same opponent, or if "once per opponent" means you have to target a different opponent each time.

Does once per turn per opponent mean that you have to target a different opponent each time, or just that you have as many conversions as opponents?


texts: About Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet's effect + pay cost for no effect

texts:
Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet:

  Once per turn: You can Tribute 1 other "Chronomaly" monster, then
  target 1 face-up monster your opponent controls; its ATK becomes 0
  until the End Phase.

Player A has on field Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet, and 1 more Chronomaly monster, so total of 2 monsters on his field.
Player B activated Enemy Controller and took control of Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet.

Q1: It says You can Tribute 1 other "Chronomaly" monster,.. without specifying which side of the field, so player B can tribute player A's other Chronomaly monster to fulfill this cost, right?

Q2: For any card in YGO, can you fulfill a cost without doing the effect? Like in this case, player B wants to fulfill the cost of Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet by tributing player A's monster, but player A doesn't have any more monsters to change their attack to zero. Can player B still activate Chronomaly Cabrera Trebuchet's effect?


texts: Are copied Flashback cards cast from the graveyard?

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Are copied spells cast from the graveyard?

If a card like Increasing Devotion is copied and its Flashback cost has been paid, does the copy count as being cast from a graveyard? So would you end up with double the tokens with your copied spell?


texts: If the Axis capture a factory in Axis and Allies, would the game tilt in their favor?

texts:
Despite the fact that the odds in the "real" war were heavily skewed in favor of Allies, the game is almost balanced. That is, if it is played with the "No Russian first turn attack rule," bidding shows that the Axis players will expect to win abaout half the time if they were given 12 more Industrial Production Certificates (IPCs) more than they get in the actual game.

Axis and Allies - Is there a best country?

Some British players like to build a factory in India (or perhaps South Africa), and some US players like to build a factory in Sinkiang, even though these factories are at risk of being captured by th Axis and therefore "turned." But a factory represents 15 IPCs (30 if you count the "swing" from being pro Allied to pro Axis), which is to say more than the 12 IPCs alluded to above that would "balance" the game?

Does this mean that if say, Japan captures an Allied factory in India or Sinkiang that the Axis would then have the advantage? Or is it more true, that as game theorist Donald Rae suggests, this would happen too late in the game to make a difference?

And would such considerations cause the U.K. to build their factory in Australia, rather than India or South Africa?

In Axis and Allies, should the UK Build a factory in Australia?

Or the U.S. to build a factory in Brazil, instead of Sinkiang?

In Axis and Allies, Should the U.S. Build a "Factory" in Brazil?

(These factories are "out of the way" and NOT likely to captured.)


texts:
While it has been a while since I last played Carcassonne using The Tower expansion, I seem to recall a level of confusion as to how the rules surrounding The Tower interacted with the rules of the Dragon.

For example, can the Dragon destroy towers...?


texts: How is Pandemic Legacy impacted by playing with two characters?

texts:
What are the mechanical/strategic differences in playing Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 with just two characters, as opposed to three or four?

If discussing Season 1 spoilers is unavoidable, please remember to use the spoiler notation (>! hidden text) and clearly mark them.


texts: Samurai Sword Rising Sun: Ninjas Finding Ronin

texts: My question is regarding the strategy to identify Ronin in Samurai Sword Rising Sun. In this expansion pack of Samurai Sword, there are 2 Ronins, 2 Samurais, 3 Ninjas and 1 Shogun. The Shoguns and the Samurais will be targeting players that are hitting them. However, how can the ninjas know (or guess) who the Ronins are? To play safe the Ninjas will keep targeting Shogun and Samurai but no one will be able to find Ronin. Won't this make the whole game one sided where Ninjas and Ronins are just targeting Samurais and Shogun?


texts: I have a 5x5 Big Boggle set (in English). Is it possible to play regular 4x4 Boggle with this set by removing cubes? I'd like to remove 9 cubes and get a letter distribution that's close to the distribution in traditional 4x4 Boggle.


texts: Do "if you would gain life, gain that much life +1" abilities trigger once per turn, or once for every instance of you gaining life

texts:
For example, I have a Black/White deck built around life gain. If I have 2 creatures that cause me to gain 1 life with every creature summon and 1 creature with "if you would gain life, gain that much life +1"...

When I play a creature would I gain +1 (summon) +1 (summon) and then +1 (additional) totalling 3

Or would I gain +1 (summon) +1 (additional) and then +1 (summon) +1 (additional) totalling 4

I guess the question is does it trigger for every instance of me gaining life, or just the fact I have done that turn.


texts: What is the largest number of Settlers expansions that can be combined in one game?

texts:
I recently obtained the Traders and Barbarians expansion for Settlers and in the rules for each sub-expansion there was a little addendum about possible combinations with other sub expansions. But really, how many expansions could you theoretically combine without creating rule conflicts?

An example of a rule conflict would be if two expansions each use their own development cards, or if they each require specific incompatible board shapes.

Of course, if a third rule exists that describes how to handle these rule conflicts, then there is no conflict.


texts: What can Protectorate do to counter Epic Haley's Feat?

texts:
So, I have a friend who plays Cygnar in Warmachine.  I play Protectorate, and he has been playing a LOT of Epic Haley.  Her feat basically makes you 1) Forfeit either an action or a movement and 2) He chooses the order your units activate in.

This causes me some problems, as the style of Protectorate I play is all about synergies and moving correctly.  I have been struggling against her for months now, and am trying to find some kind of strategy against her, whether that be play-style, units/casters, etc.


texts: Does it make sense for a defender to lead a short major when opponents fail to find a fit using Stayman?

texts:
Both vulnerable, at rubber, South dealt and bid 1NT, North 2 clubs, South 2 hearts, North 3NT.

You, West, have (s) 64 (h) AJ7 (d)J8752 (c) Q84.

North clearly has four spades, but not hearts. Any spade strength on your side is with East, behind North. You like the strength you have behind South's hearts. Apparently, the bulk of North-South strength is in the minors.

The actual West led the 5 of diamonds. It was a "friendly" lead from a weak suit that gave North and South all the time in the world. Reasoning from the previous paragraph, I would have lead a small spade (and hoped for a heart return).

This is a bit unconventional but does this make sense? If declarer thought that I had length and strength in spades, could that cause a misplay? (In the example, East actually had five to the king, but of course, I wouldn't know this until later.)

Put another way, how much weaker could the diamond suit be, before it is not worth leading?


texts:
Most drafts that I have seen on MTGO use a set of numbers after the format. I think it describes what matches are played after the drafting portion. For example:

  Modern Masters 2015 6-2-2-2[1]

Modern Masters 2015 refers to the types of boosters that will be opened. What does the "6-2-2-2" mean?

I have also seen "8-4" as a common postfix. Are there others, and if so what do they mean?


texts: Phase 10 - Can you hit on the same turn as playing a phase?

texts:
Reading the rules it states that you must have a phase before you can "hit" on other people's phases.

That said, do you have to have that phase at the start of your turn? Or can you play a phase, and then immediately hit the other player's phase?

The rules seem to make it seem like you can, but that would make playing your phase first the least advantageous, since all the players after you would get a chance to hit on your phases after they play their own (and you didn't get to hit anywhere because you were first)


texts: Eclipse: some House rules to cut down on chance in die rolling?

texts:
My group and I enjoy Eclipse, but it has fallen out of favor because of the extreme chance in battle on die rolls. Heck, I can't even get my wife to play at all because the first three games she played, each time she would be in a good early spot to take a good resource hex with a single alien on it and would instead get obliterated (we are talking like 80% or 90% chance to take win). That is no fun. We have moved on to other games like Smallworld and Agricola where it is more about strategy than luck, but I would like to find a way to put Eclipse back into the rotation.

Has anyone tested any house rules that would lessen the harshness of chance in die rolls?

One thing that came to my mind is a self-made technology that could be purchased and would allow the player to re-roll on a 1.


texts:
This weekend we had a discussion while playing Boss Monster regarding spell cards.

The scenario that we were having is that one of us destroyed his room during the build phase, forcing the other to discard a random spell card. As a reaction, that guy played the spell card (one that could be played in the build phase) to trigger Liger's Den in order to get a new spell card.

Since the latter used to play Magic The Gathering, he claimed that it was a valid move, as it is a reaction that comes on the stack. The other disagreed and said that it was invalid and he should just discard his spell card and not take a new one.

Was playing the spell to trigger Liger's Den a valid one, or did he just need to discard the card?


texts: Chesscademy exercise: material part 2 - why doesn't this move result in a 2 point material lead?

texts:
I'm trying to re-learn chess with the wonderful Chesscademy site.

This exercise asks me to "make a move that will leave you up two points in total".

As the hint suggests, I've counted up the number of points on the board - I make it 38 for white, 37 for black. (I'm playing white).

So, clearly white needs to take 1 point of black's material in order to turn the 1 point lead into a 2 point lead.

Moving c4 x f7  - taking one black pawn - is the correct answer according to Chesscademy. But why isn't my initial answer of f3 x e5 - also taking one black pawn - also correct?

(For what it's worth, both moves could subsequently result in the loss of a 3 point white piece in a real game, so it's not due to a difference here.)


texts: How would Etrata work with double strike?

texts: If I give Etrata, the Silencer double strike, what happens? Am I able to get off the second hit and exile a second creature? Or would she shuffle herself away after the first strike damage (and before the normal damage)?


texts: Does a face down creature get the bonus from Muraganda Petroglyphs?


texts: Can I use Project Atlas just before the Runner accesses cards from HQ?

texts:
Project Atlas is a Corporation agenda that can be over-advanced to provide agenda counters for the following ability:

  Hosted agenda counter: Search R&D for 1 card, reveal it, and add it to HQ. Shuffle R&D.

Because it has no [Click] requirement, I understand that I can use this ability during the Runner's turn.

Imagine that I have a scored Project Atlas with a counter on it and the Runner runs on HQ. They pass the last ICE. Before the Runner accesses HQ, can I use this ability to fetch (say) a Snare into my HQ?

If so, must I do it before they choose to access (so that they could see me add the card and then jack out without accessing)? Or can I do it after they confirm that they want to access a card, giving them no opportunity to jack out?


texts: In Power Grid, what are the phases and what are the steps?

texts:
My copy of Power Grid has an strange reversal of terminology between the cards:

... and the rules:

Obviously this isn't a huge deal, but I just wonder which is correct in terms of the other editions of the game available?

Update: after the answer below confirmed that the cards are wrong rather than the rules, I contacted Rio Grande Games to ask about getting replacement cards.  They directed me to the BoardGameGeek store, which sells a Power Grid promotional pack called "Power Grid: Theme Park (BGG Promo Card Set)".  This contains a replacement Step 3 card, but sadly no replacement player summary cards...  If anyone knows how to get them, that would be great to know.


texts: Will Aegis of the Gods negate my opponent's Erebos, God of the Dead for me?

texts: I am playing a life gain deck and I find that if an opponent plays Erebos, God of the Dead my deck is ruined because of its effect "your opponents can't gain life." If I run Aegis of the Gods, whose effect is "You have hexproof", does that mean Erebos' ability is negated, or because it doesn't actually say "Target opponent can't gain life" Aegis' effect doesn't actually work?


texts: Carcassone - placing barn figure in field

texts:
Game : Carcassone with expansion "Abbey & Mayor".

Question - theoretically barn can be placed:

A) only if my farmer has already been placed in field?

B) regarding if any farmers already exist in fields?


texts: I find Ill-Gotten Gains in Dominion Hinterland to be such a clogger, with all the curses and coppers it generates. How can I beat a player who keep getting the Ill-Gotten Gains when there are no trashing cards available?


texts: Rules for giving away "big item" if you do not have 1000 gold pieces of items to sell

texts:
In the instructions for Munchkin it states:

  If something lets you have more than one Big item (for instance, the Dwarf race) and you lose the ability, you must either correct the problem immediately or get rid of all but one Big item. If it's not your turn and you're not in combat you can sell the excess Big items (as long as you have at least 1,000 Gold Pieces of Items to sell). Otherwise, you must give them to the lowest-Level player(s) who can carry them! If any Big items are still left over, discard them.

What if there is a tie for lowest-level players? Do you split evenly? How do you handle an odd number in that case? What if you are the lowest-level?

Does this follow the same logic as the #4 Charity Phase?


texts: Can you use trading to build a wonder in 7 Wonders Duel?

texts:
In 7 Wonders Duel, one routinely purchases resources from the bank to build a Building. This is covered by these two rules:

  Resource Cost

  Some cards have a resource cost.
  To construct them, you must produce the corresponding resources AND/OR buy
  them from the bank via the trading rules....

and

  Trading

  Often, you will want to construct a Building while you’re missing one or more
  required resources. In that case, you can always purchase the missing resources
  from the bank....

EDIT (to add a rules statement regarding a comment):

The first sentence of the Overview & Object of the Game section

  In 7 Wonders Duel, each player is leading a civilization and will construct Buildings and Wonders. All of the Buildings constructed by a player together with their Wonders are called a "city". ... Each Age card represents a Building.

Then in the Game Elements ** section, the **Guild and Age cards subsection:

  In 7 Wonders Duel, all of the Age and Guild cards represent Buildings. The Building cards all consist of a name, and effect and a construction cost.

Wonders are described in a separate subsection:

  Each large card represents a Wonder from the Age of Antiquity. Each Wonder consists of a name, a construction cost, and an effect.

So, the rules are very clear in distinguishing between a Wonder and a Building in the definitions of the Game Elements.
 (end of EDIT)

Notice that the Trading specifically mentions Buildings and not Wonders. Is it the proper interpretation that Wonders cannot be built by Trading resources with the bank since Wonders aren't stated in this rule? Or is it allowed?

(For comparison, in regular 7 Wonders, the group I play with routinely purchase resources from neighbors in order to build Wonders.)


texts:
I always find finishing off my opponent tricky in Nine Men's Morris.
If they have 3 pieces and can fly, how do I guarantee a mill to secure the win? What's the minimum number of pieces I can do this with?


texts:
I have a card named Dissipation Field that reads, "Whenever a permanent deals damage to you, return it to its owner's hand."
If my opponent attacks me with a creature with infect (i.e. Cystbearer) while I control a Dissipation Field, does his creature return to his hand after combat damage is dealt?


texts: How do I become a professional game designer?

texts: How I can become a full- or part-time professional developing games? Are there specific courses? What specific knowledge should I be looking to learn? How do I enter the industry?


texts: Recommended rules for 1000 Blank White Cards

texts:
I really like the idea of the game 1000 Blank White Cards (aka 1000bwc), and have played it a couple times. Seems like there is some variation with the rules (yes, there are rules) and want to get some recommendation for the best or most fun rules to play with from others who have played.

Thanks!


texts: When is a creature's toughness calculated

texts:
At what point is a creature's toughness calculated? If I have Korozda Guildmage where I can sacrifice a creature and put X 1/1 token creatures onto the battlefield, where X is the sacrificed creature's toughness.

If I have a creature that is 4/4 and cast Giant Growth to give it +3/+3 then sacrifice it? Do I get 4 tokens or 7?

Also what if my 4/4 creature was dealt 2 combat damage before I sacrificed it? Do I get 2 or 4 creatures?

Finally, what about counters? If my 4/4 had a +1/+1 do I get 4 or 5 tokens?


texts: Is a draw possible in Quarto with the advanced rules?

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Quarto has a set of basic rules which describes the winner as the one who align 4 pieces sharing a common trait. The alignment can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.

An advanced rule states that if 4 pieces share a trait and are disposed to form a 2*2 square then it is a winning position.

The board being 4*4, the advanced rule adds 9 winning positions.

Is a draw possible with this advance rule ?


texts: How much life can I gain attacking someone who can't fall under 1 hp with lifelink creatures?

texts:
Context :

My friend played Worship, it states:

  If you control a creature, damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead.

Question :

If I attack him with a 4/4 creature with lifelink while he already has 1HP will I still gain 4 HPs?


texts: Effect of Viper's Kiss on Heroic creatures

texts:
I was battling my brother recently. He had a purely green deck, and summoned Anthousa, Setessan Hero. I then used a Viper's Curse on Anthousa.

Anthousa has a heroic effect that allows it to turn lands into attackers whenever a spell targets it, but Viper's Curse prevents effects from being activated. So, does the heroic ability get activated or not?


texts: Bridge: Matchpoints vs IMPs: Different game?

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There are at least two main types of tournament scoring: matchpoints (MPs) and IMPs. It is often said that these two are "different" games, claiming that the strategy you use is completely different.

In the first case, a difference of as little as game ten points can get you from an average to a top or bottom match score.  A double in a contract that always goes one down can turn your average match score into top score.

In the second case, more game points are better than fewer, but the scale is more graduated. In some cases, only missing a game, not to mention a slam, will really hurt. Especially if you are vulnerable (such distinction in vulnerability when trying to reach slams is not that important in MPs).

While there are different strategies according to the type of scoring, my main question is the following:

Are world class players likely to be ranked similarly given the different rankings for IMP matches and MP matches based on their "experience" with actual rankings?


texts: German card game that involves betting 'knocks'

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Played this card game a couple years ago while backpacking in South America with some Germans (I think).

There was a betting system, but we didn't use any chips or currency, etc. It had a somewhat similar strategic angle like poker, but was less reliant on chance or bluffing and more reliant on statistics and probability.

Basically you could bet 'knocks' (like, knocking on the table) - and you had 21 knocks and if you were more confident in your hand, you could bet additional knocks. If you hit 21 (or ran out, starting at 21, I can't remember), you lost. You had some cards out in the middle, but some in your own hand.

I wish I remembered more about the scoring of how you won hands but it was a long time ago...


texts: Do copied spells use the original's casting location?

texts: Let's say I flashback an Increasing Vengeance in order to copy a Shock twice.  Then, I cast Reverberate from my hand targeting the Increasing Vengeance which in turn will also copy the Shock.  Will the new copy of Increasing Vengeance make one copy of the Shock I target or two?