texts:
(This question is for people who have knowledge about the process of game translation.)

In Dominion each card (and event, landmark, project, ...) has some text on it explaining what it does and to what and how it reacts.
The original language of the game is english but I am german so I have the german translations of Dominion.

What I noticed when I read the cards and the corresponding Dominion Strategy Wiki pages was that some cards have got some slight but game changing alterations when they were translated.
Like a card which can attack other players if you choose one of two options, but in the german translation it attacks every time no matter the choice you made (Minion).

There is even a whole page dedicated to (german) translation errors in Dominion: Übersetzungsfehler.
The page also lists fixes for each translation error and you can see how easy it would have been to fix them (in a review for example).

I always thought that people who translate games must be super sensitive when they translate rules (as opposed to the lore of a game) in order to avoid alterations to a carefully balanced and play tested game.

So my question is: Why are there so many easily avoidable game changing translation errors in Dominion?

Clearifications:

A comment pointed out that translations are hard. My question can be understood as: Why is the translation so hard so that so easily avoidable mistakes happen?

Also I don't know how big of a problem this is for other games so I asked specifically about Dominion.


texts: What are the differences between various versions of Citadels

texts:
I'm shocked by the amount of rule differences between the US English version of Citadels (by Fantasy Flight) and the various European (non-English) versions.

I'm looking for a complete list of the differences between:

Citadels (US, Fantasy Flight Games)
Ohne Furcht und Adel (Germany, Hans im Glueck)
Machiavelli (Netherlands, 999 Games)
Citadelles (France, Millennium)

The inconsistency seems to be mostly between US and EU, even though there are so many different publishers. Presumably this is because most EU versions are directly based on the German version.


texts: When does the Collapsed Ceiling deal damage?

texts:
In the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, the Collapsed Ceiling barrier card says in part:

If you fail the check to defeat by 4 or more, you are
dealt 1 Combat damage that may not be reduced.

The check to defeat is 8.  Does the ceiling do damage if my check total is less than 12 or if it's less than 4?

Please help!  My domestic tranquility is at stake!


texts: Can I use Westvale Abbey in a Commander deck that does not use black?

texts: Is it possible for me to use Westvale Abbey in a Commander deck that does not use black? I am making a Blue, Green, and White commander deck, and I would like to add Westvale Abbey. Could I use it?


texts: How are the Utilities unmortgaged with 10% interest if the mortgage value is $75?

texts:
The official monopoly rules say:

  In order to lift the mortgage, the owner must pay the Bank the
  amount of the mortgage plus 10% interest

However, the utilities have a mortgage value of $75, and 10% of $75 is $7.5. As far as I know, there are no coins or any way to pay less than a dollar to the bank. What would you do in this scenario? Round up? down?


texts:
I'm looking for a board game that was one of my mother's favorites growing up. This would have been in the early to mid 70's.

It was a game for four people, each with a 4x4 (with one empty) sliding tile setup with letters. A paper wheel in the middle of the board could be turned and would reveal four words for each player, and the players would race to spell those words with their sliding tiles.

She thought the name of this game was Lingo Bingo, but I can't seem to find even a mention of a board game with that name anywhere. Does it sound familiar to anyone? Is there a place where I can buy it?


texts: Am I obligated to distinguish between morphs and megamorphs when I'm casting a card face-down?

texts:
I cast a card with megamorph and state "I'll pay {3} and morph this." Is this particular method of communication for casting a face-down creature legal? The reason I ask is because morph and megamorph mean different things.

If I control a face down creature with megamorph, and my opponent asks if it was morphed or megamorphed, am I obligated to respond? If I'm not obligated to respond, but I choose to do so, am I obligated to respond truthfully?

I know that I have to distinguish between manifests and morphs. I'm just not sure if I have to distinguish between morphs and megamorphs. Nearly all of my opponents at my Dragons of Tarkir prerelease events just said "Morph this guy." and it turned out to be a megamorph (surprise!). Given the non-existence of regular morph cards in Dragons of Tarkir, I decided to not ask a judge because I knew they were really all megamorphs. I want to know in case I run into this later.


texts: When making a Privileged Attack, the rules say that no one else can "interfere" with it. "Interfere" is defined by the rules as spending money from your Illuminati group to aid either side. Can the attacking group and the defender group still spend money during a privileged attack? Can their respective Illuminati?


texts: City card and predicting when Supply piles will run low

texts:
This card kind of has me stumped.  In my experience, the vast majority of games deplete the Province or Colony pile before any other, ending the game.  Which means in most circumstances, this card is basically an overpriced Village, which isn't a very strong card to begin with.

It seems to me the key is knowing when Supply piles are likely to run low.  Are there any things to look for in the setup of 10 Kingdom cards to help predict when this might happen?  Or are you better off waiting until it actually does happen before investing in this card?


texts: Why are bridge games seemingly documented only by the hands and bidding?

texts:
I was looking for an interesting sample hand in Bridge to sort of demonstrate a card game system that could be used for Bridge (a game I know exists, and thought I knew more-or-less the system of it, but which I do not play).  I wanted to have a simulation play through a famous and well known hand...as I understand the game is studied.

Seemingly I was correct, and I found this game that was apparently an old one rehashed in a James Bond movie:

Okay... that's great, but that's just the hands and the bidding.  Where's the list of plays?

Couldn't find them.  So I looked around to try and find another "famous" Bridge game that listed the plays, but they all seem to just skip that.  Just the hands and maybe one small note about "they ruff this" or "they scrobble that" etc.

Is it simply the case that in Bridge you can hand-wave and say that the game is essentially over once you've seen the hands and the bidding?  Because that looks to be what people do.  Can anyone give me the actual play list for this game, merely from that notation of the hands and the bids?


texts: Are the boats you build in Stone Age visible to other players?

texts:
In Stone Age, when you build a boat you receive a Civilization card. This card gives you an immediate bonus, as well as some form of additional points to be calculated at the end of the game.  I've always played that when these cards are purchased, they are placed face down on the player's individual board.
I recently saw a game played where the cards are placed face-up in front of each player.  This changed the dynamic of the game as players could immediately see which cards where more beneficial to certain people.

What is the correct placement for these cards and are other players allowed to look at previous cards you've purchased?


texts: How does Rageblood Shaman's ability work?

texts:
How does the static ability of e.g. Rageblood Shaman work?

The wording is "Other Minotaur creatures you control get +1/+1 and have trample. "
The questions I have are:

a) If Rageblood Shaman is on the battlefield and another Minotaur comes into play does it get/have trample and/or +1/+1?

b) If Rageblood Shaman is removed from the Battlefield do other Minotaur creatures still in play lose +1/+1 and or trample?

c) Since this effect has no cost and no trigger it is a static ability, it applies at any time as long as Rageblood Shaman is on the battlefield. If a Minotaur gets +1/+1 at any time it becomes a infinity/infinity creature. I assume this to be wrong but why?


texts: What is the French  card game Paquet Voleur called in English?

texts:
In Quebec, Canada, we have a card game called Paquet Voleur. This roughly translates to pile thief. Basically, each player has cards in his hand and there are cards on the table. The goal is to make pairs of cards with one card from your hand and one card on the table. You then put that pair, face up, in your "pile". The twist is that people can make pairs with the top card on your pile and take your whole pile.

Does this game solely exist in Quebec? I'm trying to find the English name for it if not.


texts: In this chess puzzle, white is to move. Find a checkmate for black.


texts: If I have a creature with 0 power, can I still attack with it? I am asking in regards to Silent Skimmer but also in general.


texts: Quick engaging card games that can be learned quickly by a new group

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  What are good games to play during a one-hour lunch break?

I'm looking for some games to play in short 10-15 minutes breaks in between classes. Here's some of my priorities, more or less in order:

Quick to learn. Total teaching time preferably less than 3 minutes before gameplay starts. Have to be able to teach new people quickly.
Transportable. I'm mainly looking for stuff with regular decks of cards, but if other inexpensive proprietary games meet this criteria they're fine.
Short playing time, preferable less than 10 minutes. Obviously I'd love to be able to play a full game of Settlers, but we just don't have enough time for playing or even teaching it.
Engaging. Fairly quick turns, more or less constant action. Inter-player interaction is always good.
A moderate level of luck is fine, but not a TON, like Uno, if possible.

Any suggestions for 'in-between-classes' games that meet the criteria?


texts: Exchanging nearly all man in draughts (checkers)

texts:
I haven't played draughts (checkers) for a long time, but I recall that exchanging 3-5 men into kings in a single game is quite rare and performing more than 5 exchanges in one game is very rare.

Yet, I found this piece of text in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace":

  For Kutuzov this was mathematically clear, as it is that if when playing draughts I have one man less and go on exchanging, I shall certainly lose, and therefore should not exchange. When my opponent has sixteen men and I have fourteen, I am only one eighth weaker than he, but when I have exchanged thirteen more men he will be three times as strong as I am.

What kind of exchange or game move is he writing about?

He could possibly be talking about standard man-to-king promotion, because it is not practically possible (or very, very rare) to exchange thirteen pieces into kings, nor would doing so make my opponent three times stronger than I am.


texts: Do you forfeit that piece if you do not take a compulsory move?

texts:
If your opponents misses a compulsory jump that would capture one of your pieces and moves elsewhere
...do they forfeit that piece


texts: Can 'whenever' abilities trigger multiple times per turn?

texts: Let's say that I have an Utvara Hellkite and 3 other dragons on the battlefield. Do I get a 6/6 Dragon for every Dragon that's attacking, or just one?


texts:
I am playing white and it is my turn. I am currently in check.

Can I capture the pawn in front of my king to escape the check, placing his king in checkmate? Or is it illegal and therefore I lose?


texts: Overplay in orthodox fuseki - Leela AI fails miserably?

texts:
I'm not sure how much go is discussed on StackExchange, but currently I prefer trying it here than an actual go forum. This question concerns two topics:

Recently the free go AI Leela has been released, which is thought to be fairly strong (up to 9d KGS with proper hardware). I appear to have tricked it with a fairly simple position though, which puzzles me deeply. The starting position is:

This is a fairly common situation resulting from the orthodox fuseki. My concern is with black resisting this in a vulgar way: Black plays 1. bQ13 2. Q14 3. P13 4. O13 5. P12. The first question now is: How does white punish this overplay? I think there is a way to net black, which I've seen before somewhere but I can't remember nor find it. I was hoping the engine would do this for me but that was quite wrong:

The AI Leela (version 0.9.0 on fairly crappy hardware) gives this as a >60% winning percentage for white and suggests the continuation 6. R13 7. Q12 8. S12 wheruppon it suggests for black to let white connect under. However in case black plays 10. S11 its suggestion (with still some 60% white win) is to cut and "loose ladder", resulting in the following position ("1" in the second diagramm = move 6):

Black now pushes at P11 (= move 1 in diagramm 3) and white blocks. Leela says that white has a big advantage, but only considers black capturing T12. If black pushes out, the engine tries to "ladder" the group, each time suggesting black to take the S12 stone, and white's winning percentage dropping rapidly every time black (instead of taking S12) just keeps pushing out the futile "ladder" attempt by white. I conclude that the engine doesnt't consider the "pushing out" move by black and incorrectly asseses the entire variation (which is somewhat surprising).

What are your thoughts on this, especially as to correct play in the various positions? (In particular after diagramm 1 move 5)? I suspect O12 is a big mistake but can't be sure (my rank is 1k on KGS).


texts: Do cards not on the battlefield have their "conditional abilities"?

texts:
How do conditional abilities of creatures cards not on the battlefield work?  In particular, which abilities do those creature cards have and which do they not have, for the purposes of cards that copy abilities from creatures not on the battlefield (such as Necrotic Ooze, Cairn Wanderer, or Skill Borrower)?

Here are some examples of conditional abilities:

Guul Draz Assassin
Student of Warfare
Auriok Edgewright
Battlewise Aven
Fledgling Dragon
Belligerent Whiptail


texts: If a city has two knights for one player and one knight for another, does the player with two knights get the double point bonus for that city?


texts: Can I activate an enchantment energy ability during an opponents turn?

texts:
The card in question is Consulate Surveillance, which states: "Pay two energy counters: Prevent all damage that would be dealt to you this turn by a source of your choice."

Can I activate that ability  during my oponents turn? And if so can I do so after he or she attacks or do I have to activate it at the begining of the turn?


texts: Targeting instants with aftermath in a graveyard

texts:
Situation: I have a Dire Fleet Daredevil on the stack and my opponent has an Aftermath instant (e.g. Spring // Mind) in their graveyard.

Questions:

I assume that they can cast the their Aftermath in response to Dire Fleet Daredevil?
Can then cast it after I have targeted it (meaning that it is not a valid target and so the ability fizzles)?
Mind has the ruling:

  Once you’ve started to cast a spell with aftermath from your graveyard, the card is immediately moved to the stack. Opponents can’t try to stop the ability by exiling the card with an effect such as that of Crook of Condemnation.

If I can somehow give Dire Fleet Daredevil flash and I cast it in response to my opponent casting Mind, then I assume I can't target Spring // Mind?
Are there any differences to these questions if the card in the graveyard has Flashback instead of Aftermath?

Bonus question: Can I cast Spring? Or Mind? Or both?


texts: What if Magic gives the second player a Lotus Petal, similar to what Hearthstone does?

texts:
In Magic, the player who goes first doesn't get to draw a card on the first turn, i.e. the player who goes second plays each turn with an extra card. This typically isn't enough compensation since the player that goes first wins slightly more than 50% of time (53% of the time according to this limited study). In Eldraine Standard, some decks win up to 18% more often on the play, according to this article.

In addition to this mechanic, Hearthstone also allows the second player to start with a "Coin", which is effectively Lotus Petal. Can Magic adopt this mechanic as well?

Obviously Magic is more complicated than Hearthstone and Lotus Petal introduces new risks, e.g. Lotus Petal is a permanent (e.g. counts for City's Blessing), an artifact (e.g. counts for Improvise), can be sacrificed (e.g. counts for Revolt), and so on. However, I can't think of any way this lets the second player do really degenerate things like win on turn 1. Instead, this would let the second player counter the first player's turn 1 win attempts by e.g. casting Spell Pierce. Conversely the first player is already able to interact with the second player with cards like Thoughtseize before the second player ever reaches a main phase.

Is there any dangerous combo that could be enabled by letting the second player start with a Lotus Petal in play? If so, what combo could it be?


texts: Can the initial Rummikub meld build on other player's tiles?

texts: When playing the initial 30 points, can I use a tile from an existing meld on the board to complete my meld without using the points from that tile? For instance, I have a red 9, 11, and 12 in my rack, which is 32 points, but I need the red 10 on the board to play them. Is this a legal move?


texts: Monopoly deal - Can I not use any of my cards during a turn and then let go excess cards?

texts: Monopoly Deal - Suppose, I have 6 cards before I got my turn. I picked up 2 Cards from the deck. Now, I have 8 cards. Can I not use any of the cards in this turn and pass my turn? Which means I have 1 excess of 7 (so i will put 1 card back to the deck). Is this a valid move?


texts: If a player goes to "combat", and then activates an ability, what is the game state?

texts:
My question is not a duplicate of When should I activate Man Lands and Keyrunes in order to attack with them?, although anyone answering this question would need to understand at least that much in order to understand this one. That question only explains when a player would need to activate. It doesn't cover shortcuts or illegal actions, which is what my question is primarily about.

Does activating an ability when you have already decided to move to the declare attackers step imply that you are declaring zero attackers?

  Anthony: Combat?
  Noah: Sure.
  Anthony: Animate Mutavault?
  Noah: Sure.
  Anthony: Declare attackers?
  Noah: Hang on. You're already in the declare attackers phase, right? I thought you animated Mutavault after you decided to declare no attackers.

Anthony offers the shortcut "Combat?". According to the Tournament Rules, that means he is offering to pass priority until Noah has priority in the Beginning of Combat step.

  A statement such as "I'm ready for combat" or "Declare attackers?" offers to keep passing priority
  until an opponent has priority in the beginning of combat step. Opponents are assumed to be acting
  then unless they specify otherwise.

Noah responds with "Sure." I believe this means that Noah is passing priority back to Anthony (don't get too hung up on this - it isn't the focus of the question). That means the game moves to the Declare Attackers step.

Anthony activates Mutavault, which is an action that could, if it is legal, only be taken after declaring attackers. Now the game state is potentially ambiguous.

  508.1. First, the active player declares attackers. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack
  ...
  508.3. Third, the active player gets priority

Assume the tournament level is Competitive REL, and that if a judge is needed, one will be called. What is the resulting game state? I believe the resulting game state would be one of the following, but I am not sure which is correct (if either):

The game is in the Declare Attackers phase, and Anthony does not have the opportunity to declare attackers.
Activating Mutavault was an illegal action because Anthony didn't have priority. That action is reversed. The game is in the Declare Attackers phase, and Anthony still has the opportunity to declare attackers.


texts: What's the best Dominion expansion for beating big money-style strategies?

texts:
I'm a decently experienced Dominion player (I have the Base set, Intrigue, Seaside, Prosperity and Hinterlands is on it's way) and I'm wondering what would be a good next expansion for beating big-money style strategies?

Any thoughts?


texts: Does Battlefield Forge add two mana to your pool each time it is tapped?

texts:
Do cards like Battlefield Forge add 2 mana each time it's tapped or is it just one of the two tapped mana options? Or can you choose between both at once vs one? And is the mana only there while it's tapped?

{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.

{T}: Add {R} or {W} to your mana pool. Battlefield Forge deals 1 damage to you.


texts: Online Rules for Primordial Soup: Freshly Spiced

texts:
Are detailed rules for the extension Primordial Soup: Freshly Spiced available online?

All I found online is a low quality picture of the cards and an analysis of the new genes.
And the linked Official English Rulebook doesen't show the details of the genes.


texts: What are some interesting starter games for a very young child?

texts:
I'm interested in playing some games with our very young (16 months) son.

I think he's a little young for most things yet - I'm familiar with Old Maid, Dominoes, and similar games that involve a little bit of matching; those seem like they will be good points of entry for him shortly.  Marbles, while also great, involves tiny pieces that can be swallowed.

I want to avoid games like Candyland and probably even Chutes and Ladders - they annoy me.  :-)  Other games with a lot of cards or paper products involved are probably right out - they'll get slobbered on or destroyed.  Small parts get eaten.

What are some concrete, not commonly known games that might be interesting to him?


texts:
In Munchkin you can sell items which amount to not less than 1000 gold pieces or multiples, in exchange for levels.

Am I right that selling is a form of discarding, that is you are "selling" to the "discard pile" of the Treasure deck?


texts: My life is down to 1 and my opponent 4. I attack with a 4/4 lifelink creature, and my opponent answered with a Shock to deal two damage to me, will I lose or will lifelink save me first?


texts: Progression phase resolution and effectiveness of progression cards

texts:
I encountered the following situation playing Mundus Novus:

The indigenous people event was under effect;
A player then used his cards to acquire Juan de la Cosa during the progression step, therefore canceling the effect indigenous people had on him;
Then he traded the remaining 5 cards on his hand for the full reward of 7 doubloons, instead of 5 as would be expected since indigenous people was in play.

Did we play this correctly? Progression cards are effective immediately like that? Is there a particular order that players must follow when playing through the progression step?


texts: Destiny Hero - Dark Angel versus Buster Blader the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman  plus DNA Surgery on the field who's effect works? Or do they cancel each other out


texts: Can multiple copies of Fraying Sanity activate at once?

texts: In theory, let's say I have several copies of Fraying Sanity on several different players. Would multiple copies of Fraying Sanity activate at once or does one copy activate first, then another?


texts: How to run strong Go (baduk) playing program locally?

texts:
There are some strong bot-players on KGS (from 4d to 2K).

I saw pachi, ayamc and even gnugo having dan ranks on KGS. I wonder how to  run such a strong bots offline.

I tried gnugo and aya, both programs did not used even 5% of my CPU, made fast moves (about 1/2 sec per move) and played very weak (about 6K, I think). I did not found any options to make them use more CPU.

I tried also to run pachi (over GTP, using gogui). Pachi used 100% (6 cores) of my CPU, a lot of RAM but played on about 4K level. It plays a little bit stronger with gigantic fuseki dictionary, but it does not help much.

So, my question is: Is there way to run strong (2k+) bot locally?


texts:
At the end of the canal phase all 'level 1 industry' tiles are removed.  Does this include level 1 shipyards?

If so - then why does the level 1 shipyard tile not have a canal marker on it, like all the other canal-phase-only tiles?

(EDIT for future clarity: The canal symbol is missing on first edition copies of the game. Thanks to Xi Huan for this info.)

I know that level 0 shipyards need to be developed before any can be built, and that level-2 shipyards can only be built during the railway phase.  Level-1 shipyards seem to fall into an ambiguous hole.  Only one can ever actually be built, the Liverpool one, because of the coal connectivity requirements.  This half suggests it could stay there when the railway phase is started.


texts: I am new to the game sorry for the rookie question. Can abilities (both activated and triggered) target themselves?


texts: Can I play Gonti, Lord of Luxury's exiled card after he leaves the battlefield?

texts: I'm interested in using Gonti, Lord of Luxury as my commander. If I summon him and exiled a card with him, and then he leaves the battlefield (is destroyed, exiled, etc), can I still cast that exiled card? Can I do it if he then returns to the battlefield again?


texts: Can Sacrificial Construct be uses to prevent the trash of cards like Clone Chip or Shiv?

texts:
Sacrificial Construct says:

  [Trash]: Prevent an installed program or an installed piece of hardware from being trashed.

Does this mean it can be used to prevent the trashing of cards like Clone Chip or Shiv when you activate their trash ability?


texts: Controlled Creature returns to which hand?

texts:
Opponent has taken takes control of my Metalwork Colossus. The card has an ability that states:

  Sacrifice two artifacts: Return Metalwork Colossus from your graveyard to your hand.

Who can sacrifice two artifacts to get Metalwork Colossus to his hand - me, the owner, or my opponent, the controller?


texts: Can you deal commander damage with any players commander?

texts: If I gain control of another players commander, does it still deal commander damage or does that only work with your own commander?


texts: What does the "science book" symbol mean on "The Game of Life: Adventures Card Game"?

texts: Certain "Adventure" cards have a prerequisite icon that's a picture of a book with a nuclear symbol on it. There's only one card that involves science "Career: Rocket Scientist", and there's already a symbol for "degree", so I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean and what is required before playing it.


texts:
I have recently started playing MTG after a few years of inactivity. Decided to jump into Standard as I always loved the format because it was in my perspective a lot fairer for the newcomer.

I used to play Esper control and today I faced a Temur Emerge deck. Now I was completely lost with the emerge mechanic. My opponent casted an Elder Deep-Fiend and when I prepared myself to counter it he said that I couldn't counter. He tried to explain to me everything but I was left with the same thought: "WTF". From everything I find I know that I cannot do anything about the casting cost, but why can't I counter the creature itself?

Like I said, it's a new mechanic to me and for some reason the explanation I got didn't truly make sense to me.

Can you guys shine some light into this matter?


texts:
In Dog there is a expansion from 4 to 6 players. The only variation I know and have played is 3 vs 3. Does anyone have experience with 2 vs 2 vs 2? Does that play well too?

Background: I'm thinking about doing a tournament and it would be easier to get the required number of boards if I could pit three teams against each other.


texts: Poker Texas Hold'em Sit-and-Go - Independent Chip Model (ICM)

texts:
What is "ICM" in Poker Texas Hold'em?

I want to know some mathematical equations in answers on this question, because this part is important for me.


texts: When and where can scrolls, curses, and potions be used?

texts: This is a pretty unclear portion of the rules. Potions which affect combat which can be played "at any time" are pretty self explanatory-- you have to be in an adjacent room or same to use it. What about curses and scrolls which affect combat? Some of them seemingly can impact combat without being near it.


texts: Shipwreck Singer: When can the first ability be activated?

texts:
Shipwreck Singer has the ability:

  1U: Target creature an opponent controls attacks this turn if able.

When can I activate this ability?

e.g. My opponent has a Manaweft Sliver. I say "attack if able" at the beginning of the draw step of my opponent. Can he now use the mana ability or does he have to honor my attack order and can no longer use its mana ability?


texts: Playing wildcard (Jacks or multiples of a role) for a role which I have in hand

texts: In Glory to Rome, is there any rule prohibiting players from playing wildcards if I have the role in hand? For example, can I play three (or two, depending on the cardset used) laborers and call that a laborer wild card?


texts: Should I avoid getting any pot in Poison or try to pick a color and get as much as possible?

texts: What is the better strategy in Poison (BGG)? Trying to get nothing at all may be a good strategy, but sometimes hard. Is it better to try to get the most of a color, so that this color doesn't count for you? Avoiding the poison, without a question.


texts: In Bridge, What Are Some Defenses Against Squeezes?

texts:
My understanding is that squeezes are most likely to occur when one defender holds all the key cards in say, two different suits. And in most cases, they are what I call "secondary" cards (e.g. Kx, Qxx, or Qx, after the ace or king has been played), meaning that you need to keep both the key card, and a guard. And the one defender holds both "sets" for a "crowded" or "busy" hand.

(In theory, one defender could protect one suit, the other defender a second suit, with both having to protect a common suit, but those situations are rarer, and harder to defend.)

If, say West, holds two or three of these "secondary" combinations, does it make sense to lead one of them out early, so that you're not "caught" with more than one at the end? If the spot card is low, might it be possible to discard it at some point in play and hope declarer doesn't "scoop" your king with the ace?

Perhaps it's best to try to transfer "control" to your partner in one suit (leading out a K or Q, let it be captured by declarer, and hope that East controls the suit with say, JTx, while you protect the other?

Another aspect of a squeeze is that declarer needs to get to and from dummy. Would moves like the "Merrimac coup" to try to disrupt communications make sense?

Are there bidding, playing, or cardholding sequences that should put a defender on particular guard against a squeeze?


texts: Do cavern edge tiles count as their own tile in the Legend of Drizzt board game?

texts:
In the Legend of Drizzt board game, cavern edge tiles contain two spaces where you could move.

Does the cavern edge tile count as its own tile, or does it count as part of the tile it is connected to?


texts:
You are playing the 6p Game of Thrones (2nd Ed) as Greyjoy.

At the end of the first round, everyone still has exactly 5 power tokens. At the start of the second, a bidding on the influence tracks occurs.

What is an optimal bidding strategy so that:

you keep the Valyrian Steel Blade
you get at least 4th place (one star) on the Messenger Raven

Obviously, it's not possible in worst case scenarios and there are a lot of variables. Still I'm interested in:

game theory analysis (including or not what different houses find valuable)
personal experience (statistics for the distribution of tokens in similar situations)

My current observations:

Most people tend to find the Raven (or specifically the stars) most valuable and the Blade the least valuable
The Blade is most valuable for house Greyjoy (at least early on)
I've been put in a similar situation on a couple of occasions. I found that bidding 3 power tokens on the Blade and 2 on the Raven has left me still owning the Blade, but tied for 4th place for the Raven.


texts:
According to the rulebook combat will take place if ships that belong to two or more players finish in the same hex.

Does combat always have to take place? Is there no rule that allows ships to pass each other without fighting? What if you are in a diplomatic relationship with another player?


texts:
My friends play this marble game often, but we don't know the name of it.

You play with 2 decks of cards. Play in 2 or 3 teams of 2 players each. (The image below is setup for 2 teams of 2.)

Goal is to get both players on the team all filled up in their base. Have to get into the base with an exact number.

Each player takes turns playing cards:

A: Forward 1 or out of start
K: Back 1 or out of start
Q: Forward 12 or out of start
J: Switch
3: Back 3
Forward number on card

Some of the rules include:

Have to use an A/K/Q to move out of start before any cards can be played to move a marble any further.
Can't pass your teammate
Can use the backwards cards from the start to loop around to the end of the board.
Landing on an opponent puts them back to start
Black places are safeties

And a handful of other rules.

What is the name of this game?


texts: How can I use Scavenging Ooze's abilities to save it from a Lightning Bolt?

texts: I cast Scavenging Ooze with 3 open G mana and there are three creatures in the graveyard, my opponent has open R mana and I suspect they have a Lightning Bolt in hand. If I use the Scavenging Ooze's ability to exile a creature three times gaining 3 life and putting 3 +1/+1 counters on it, what happens if they respond by targeting the Ooze with a Lightning Bolt?


texts: What are the rules for saving people on the merchant ship map in Flash Point: Fire Rescue?

texts: The Merchant Ship map of the Dangerous Waters expansion for Flash Point:  Fire Rescue has a rescue position in each of the four corners. All of them are confusing to me. The bottom two look like they take up two spaces each because there's no definitive line separating the areas into halves, but the symbol is only in the very corner. The top two look like they also take up two spaces in a similar manner that can only be accessed from the 2nd and 7th columns. The written rules are very vague. Do the stairs to the corners have a function, or are they just for asthetics? Do I have to carry a person up the stairs to the rescue symbol?


texts: What is the correct grade of Magic cards?

texts:
I didn't find any questions regarding card grading in here, I hope it's fine anyways.

I was browsing a secondary market today and noticed that Scrying Sheets underwent a price increase, probably because of Modern Horizons. I went through my collection and eventually found one. Now I'm not that experienced when it comes to grading. I mean I know when a card is near mint and when it's not but other than that i find it hard to distinguish the range from Good - Played. Since I wanna sell it I'll have to set a grade for it. My first guess was good but the damage on the bottom right corner makes me concerned.

By what criteria are Magic cards graded, and how would they be applied to this card?


texts: Jacoby transfer bid after responder bids

texts:
If my partner responds 2D to my 1NT opening bid. I have zero to 2 cards in Hearts.
What do I bid?


texts:
Does Blowfly Infestation create a loop with Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons?

The card text is as follows

'Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from play, if it had a -1/-1 counter on it, put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.'

When a token dies it goes to the graveyard and then disappears, so it looks like you keep generating a token and killing it.  Or does the generation of the creature allow you to cast in between.


texts:
I tried to find a shogi game that I could follow on my shogi board. however I am having difficulty following the notation. For example I found http://www2.teu.ac.jp/gamelab/SHOGI/amaryu93.html via google. The game starts with

1.P7f P8d
2.S6h P3d
3.S7g ..

Now I think that Move number 1 should move a pawn, however on the board http://www.shogi.net/rjhare/pieces/start.gif 7 f does not hold a pawn. Also, moving it to 8d would mean that it had to move diagnoally, which does not make much sense. So what I came up with is that it could mean that it was the target of a pawn move, which would mean that black moved the pawn from 7g to 7f and white from 8c to 8d. is this the right interpretation?


texts:
Setup: single deck, all cards are laid face up in 4 rows of 13.
Goal: to get all cards into one pile.
Moves: only cards that are next to each other or 4 spaces away.


texts: Can the Corporation know which HQ cards were accessed?

texts: When the Runner accesses cards from the Corporation's HQ, does the Corporation get to know which cards were accessed, or are they returned to the HQ before the Corporation sees them?


texts: Draw a card when my deck and my discard piles are empty

texts: There are some times in Ascension when I managed to empty my deck by drawing all the cards in it and also all the cards in the discard piles. It happened once or twice that I played a card that makes me draw another card. Are there special rules to cover this case, or do I simply ignore the drawing effect of the card?


texts: For Scrabble, Is there a most common phonies list anywhere?

texts: There are all kinds of lists out there to improve one's Scrabble play.  For instance, I have a book called Bob's Bible which helps with all kinds of anagrams and other unique groupings.  Google search has given me nothing.  I want to know is there a list out there of the most commonly played phonies?


texts: Can I kill an indestructible creature with damage and -1/-1?

texts: If a indestructible creature is a 3/3 and I block that creature with a 2/2 then I give the indestructible creature a -1/-1 will the indestructible creature die?


texts: Does the first strike damage step happen even if no first strike damage is going to be dealt?

texts:
Inspired by this question

Lets suppose that I attack with multiple creatures, and one of them has first strike but not trample. That creature gets blocked, but the blocker gets bounced/killed before the combat damage step.
Now I have an attacking creature with first strike, but no first strike damage is going to be dealt. Will there be an additional combat damage step anyway?

I believe the answer is yes, but the rules are not clear about it and it is counterintuitive enough that I want to make sure. Also note that this question is purely hypothetical, I have yet to come up wth a situation where this would be relevant.

Relevant rules:

  510.5. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see rule 702.4) as the combat
  damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in
  that step are those with first strike or double strike. After that
  step, instead of proceeding to the end of combat step, the phase gets
  a second combat damage step.


texts: Am I able to use rolled hearts when attacking a monster in Tokyo?

texts: When attacking a monster in Tokyo, do I get to keep any of the hearts that I rolled if that monster leaves, or are they forfeit?


texts: How can I ensure the Commander deck I'm creating is appropriate for my group's meta?

texts:
Our group's been playing Magic since mid-2013, and Commander 2013 since a while after that. A couple of us are keen on building our own commander decks now. We're aware the Commander format can easily be very powerful, and that different groups vary from decks that finish within a few turns to those that easily last 15-20 turns (like the C13 decks do). We're having some trouble working out how to gear our decks to be at a suitable power level for our table's current meta.
We can tell when a card's just going to outright break things and be un-fun. However, we encounter fairly powerful cards and we're not sure if they're too powerful, or OK because it's just what that deck does, or maybe it should be considered a bomb like Serra Avatar. Is Pontiff of Blight too powerful or just right in our C13-based environment (pay a few {W/B}, cause life loss and get 3-4 life for each mana spent this way because multiplayer) — how do we tell?
How do Commander groups usually work this out? Are there design standards available? Is there a well-defined tier list that can guide our deck construction? What do people go by to ensure they match their game's meta effectively without breaking it? Or is it just done by feel and experimentation and group moderation of "don't use that card, it won't be fun for us, use this one instead maybe"?

As a subjective question, this will be governed by the Stack's Good Subjective, Bad Subjective guidelines and the subjective questions guidance offered at the bottom of this help page.
This means answers need to adhere to the back it up principle: your solution must be accompanied by based on either something that happened to you personally, or something you can back up with a reference. In general that means cite direct experience (your own or someone else's) that demonstrates the effectiveness of solutions you provide. A solution that comes with no experience of its effectiveness is low quality.


texts: Redirecting damage to my own planeswalker

texts:
Here's the situation. My opponent is at three life, has three creatures and a Nahiri, the Harbinger with three loyalty. I cast Rakdos Charm, choosing the "Each creature deals 1 damage to its controller." mode. My opponent controls the sources of damage, so are they able to redirect some of the damage to Nahiri in order to not lose?

I ask this because I was playing magic online a few days ago and a similar situation came up. I was surprised I didn't get the option to redirect damage to Nahiri myself until I read Rakdos Charm more carefully, but then I realised my opponent didn't get the prompt either. I'm wondering if the client handled this incorrectly, or there's some rule that caused this to happen.


texts:
In Warhammer 40k 8th Edition, Orks commonly have an ability called "Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!". The rule reads:

  Each time you roll an unmodified hit roll of 6 with a ranged weapon made by this model, that hit roll succeeds regardless of any modifiers. [...]

I am very confused by the wording, and don't exactly know how to apply it. Imagine I have an Ork with this ability and a ballistic skill of 5+, and they would fire eight shots at an enemy unit. The dice return as follows:

  1 1 2 3 4 5 6 6

Since no modifiers were applied, to me this seems like an "unmodified hit roll", and three hits would be counted, out of which two (the 6's) would be affected by "Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!". Is this understanding correct?

Now imagine that the weapon my Ork was affected by some ability that would allow them to add +1 to their hit rolls. If the same dice result would come up, it would now result in 4 hits, but none of those hits would be affected by "Dakka! Dakka Dakka!". Is this understanding correct?

And if so, would that mean that, for the sake of "Dakka! Dakka! Dakka!", every "buff" to my hit rolls would actually disable this very useful skill?


texts: Do Commanders' abilities work from the command zone?

texts:
I have a milling deck that uses Phenax, God of Deception. One of his abilities is:

  Creatures you control have "{T}: Target player puts the top X cards of their library into their graveyard, where X is this creature's toughness."

Since that ability will effect all my creatures, does Phenax have to be played on the field or could he remain in the command zone and I still use that ability on my creatures?


texts: During battle can I play a one-shot card?

texts: If combat has started and the other players start discussing what to do to me can I play a one-shot card while they are discussing?


texts: Do skill check re-rolls include dice gained from spending clue tokens?

texts:
If I have 2 rolls for my skill check, and I fail the roll, then I spend a clue token to roll, and I fail. I then spend a second clue and again fail.

If I now use the Lucky Cigarette Case  which says:

  Discard Lucky Cigarette Case to re-roll any one skill check.

Do I roll the original 2 dice only, or have I increased my re-roll pool to 4 dice (by including the additional dice from spending 2 clues)?


texts: 40K: No Retreat! combat assault results loophole?

texts:
This is a follow on question to Orks Mob Rule in Warhammer 40k. This situation is "No Retreat!" when a fearless unit is defeated in an assault, the fearless unit takes wounds equal to the number their side has lost in combat. I understand so far.

But on p.44 of the WH40K 5th ed rules the last paragraph under "No Retreat!" states:

  If none of the enemies involved in the combat against a fearless unit can actually hurt it, the unit does not suffer any wounds if its side is defeated in combat, and simply continues to fight.

If the fearless unit's enemies can't actually hurt the fearless unit, then how did the fearless unit manage to lose the assault in the first place? Are the rules saying any of the fearless unit's enemies still left standing after the assault?


texts: When does Zada, Hedron Grinder determine if a spell was cast only targeting Zada, Hedron Grinder?

texts:
In trying to figure out where my head is at to day, here's the following.

Player casts Soul's Fire, such that Zada, Hedron Grinder will do damage equal to its power to Zada, Hedron Grinder.

Since a spell was cast that only targets Zada, Hedron Grinder, his triggered ability is placed on the stack on top of Soul's Fire.

In response to the triggered ability, Player sacrifices Goblin Flectomancer, changing the targets of Soul's Fire, such that Zada, Hedron Grinder will do Damage equal to its power to the opposing Player. Goblin Flectomancer resolves.

Triggered ability of Zada, Hedron Grinder tries to resolve. Will it check to see if the spell that was CAST only targeting Zada, Hedron Grinder still only targets Zada, Hedron Grinder?

If it doesn't, or is satisfied that while the spell currently targets Zada, Hedron Grinder and the opposing player it was CAST only targeting Zada, Hedron Grinder, it will then create a copy of Soul's Fire for each other creature Player controls.

Will the ability change only the first target, replacing Zada with another creature for each copy, or will it change both?


texts: How does Intrigue change your general Dominion strategy?

texts:
I've seen a lot of discussions about the basic strategies newcomers to Dominion develop:

First you buy as many action cards as you can get you hands on.
After several games, someone discovers Big Money and wins over the clogged decks of strategy #1
You realize that selective purchase of just a few action cards augments Big Money enough to give winning strategy.

In general, I feel like the base set stops there.  I bought the base set several months ago, and soon after my friend bought Intrigue and Seaside.  My general strategy evolved into something a lot like #3 above, where his became huge on action chaining (and annoyingly long turns with some card setups).  When Prosperity came out, we both bought it, but for me, it just seemed to take my general strategy a little further with bigger money cards.

Obviously, owning the base set affected my key strategy a lot differently than owning Intrigue did for my friend.  He and I seem to be pretty equally paired when we play, however, when I go over to isotropic and play online, I find I get slaughtered especially when Intrigue (and sometimes Seaside) cards make up most of the 10 kingdom cards.

So here's my question: Most players went through stages 1 through 3 above when they get the base set.  What follows those after picking up Intrigue?  I feel like I'm really missing something when it comes to the Intrigue cards; a lot more cards work together in a lot more combinations in a way the base set doesn't, so how do you learn to capitalize on that better?


texts: What is the point of having a token for the Dog companion?

texts:
The text for the Dog Companion is as follows:

  Take a small monster token to represent the Dog. Put it in your room.
  (Use a token of a different color from other monsters, if any.)

  Once during your turn, the Dog can move to any explored room up to 6
  spaces away, using doors and stairs, and then return. It can pick up,
  carry, and/or drop 1 item before it returns.

  The Dog isn't slowed by opponents. It can't use one-way passages or
  rooms that require a roll. It can't carry items that slow movement.

So in other words, the instructions say:

Use a token to represent the dog
The dog can go to another room (and can carry items, perhaps to trade with another investigator) and then come right back
The dog can't get stuck by using a one-way door or a room that requires a roll

Since the dog always comes back to you immediately, and there is no situation where a dog can go somewhere they can't return from, what's the point of having a token for the dog?


texts: What is the original name of this game "Marble Wow"?

texts:
Anyone know another (hopefully original) name for this game explained in this youtube video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrjvrB6V_EY

The description says it is ancient and of Asian origin but thats it.

Board: 4x4 grid.
Players: 2
Pieces: 4 pieces per player.
Setup: All 8 pieces on board forming an X.
Movement: 1 piece per turn, moves in single direction until stopped by wall or other piece.
Win: players pieces in one of these patterns:2x2 square, or 4 corners, or straight orthagonal line.
Rules: If player blocks one of opponents pieces from moving, opponent wins.

I'm sure it wasn't played with marbles, but probably wood tokens or if indeed Asian, then Go pieces perhaps.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.


texts: Is it possible to determine the exact probability of getting a card in a pack?

texts: I am building a draft cube and cannot decide how many of a certain card I should put into it. Is there anyway to know exactly how likely a specific card is so that I can attempt to duplicate the probability Wizards gave it when designing the set?


texts: What is the average number of turns in a game of Monopoly?

texts:
I can't find any research or public information on this topic.

Edit: It was requested that I clarify the specifics of my request (e.g. the number of players and rule specifics). Rather than pigeon-hole people into a specific category (e.g. 3 players and tournament rules) I prefer to leave it open-ended, so that any and all relevant information will be provided.

Edit edit: For the sake of simplicity, let's say that we are playing with 4 players and tournament rules.


texts: When are players obligated to tell their opponent that the storm count is wrong?

texts:
Nathan and Alice are playing a Modern tournament at Competitive REL. Alice is playing Storm, and keeping track of the storm count using a spindown. "Storm count" is shorthand for "the number of spells cast this turn".

Alice casts Pyretic Ritual and copies it with Pyromancer Ascension. She announces that the storm count has increased by two, and adjusts her spindown accordingly. This is incorrect. Spell copies created by Pyromancer Ascension do not contribute towards the storm count.

When is Nathan obligated to inform Alice that the storm count is wrong? Must he inform her immediately, or can he wait until she casts a spell with storm (e.g., Grapeshot) before explaining the storm count is actually less?


texts: What would be a good set of topics for a quiz game?

texts:
Suppose you wanted to design a quiz game in which knowledge questions are asked. What would be a good set of topics to subdivide all of human knowledge into?

Try to avoid bias towards academic or pop-culture topics; try to cover everything.

Also try to limit yourself to a reasonable number, let’s say around 20 topics.


texts: Victory Point Cards at the End of the Game

texts:
I had not played Catan in a long time, but I recently played in a friendly tournament and am wondering (1) if there was a rule change , (2) if the rule they  used is correct, or (3) if the rule I thought was correct was correct.

Scenario:

 Player A's turn
 Player A has 9 points on the board.
 Player B has 6 points on the board.
 Player C has 7 points on the board.
 Player D has 9 points on the board.

And

 Player A builds a city and reaches 10 points
 Player B then reveals 2 VP cards

Does Player B end the game with a score of 6 VP or 8 VP? (in 4th place or 3rd place (moving ahead of C)?)

Looking at the rules, on page 5, it states

  You must keep Victory Point Cards hidden. You may only reveal them during your turn and when you are sure that you have 10 victory points—that is, to win the game. Of course, you can reveal them after the end of the game when someone else wins. You may play any number of Victory Point Cards during your turn, even during the turn you purchase them

Based on the wording "after the end of the game", I would assume they don't count.

Also, it's not directly answered but it seems to be mentioned here that they don't count. See related here. See also BGG link.


texts: Targeting an exchanged creature with a hexproof equipment

texts:
If I have placed a hexproof equipment (Swiftfoot Boots) on one of my creatures and I exchange control of it with an opponent (Puca's Mischief), can I still target the exchanged creature?

If I understand correctly, I lose control of the creature but still have control of the equipment. Since hexproof says, "It can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control...".


texts: Unable to play Agent P card in Phineas and Ferb Uno?

texts:
So we were playing Phineas and Ferb Uno.  I got down to two cards, a green 0 and the "Agent P" wild card.  The card I had to play off of was not green. I laid down the wild card, said "Uno" and declared green.  But immediately I was told I could not play the "Agent P" wild card because the person before me had not played a draw card on me.

Reading from the rules they said:

  Agent P Card - Play Agent P Card whenever someone plays a Draw 2 or Wild Draw 4 on you and that person must draw the designated amount of cards from the discard pile. The Agent P Card is also a wild card where you choose the color that resumes play.

I claimed that because it says it is also a wild card I should be able to play it as a wild card.  They claimed that because that is only as part of the sentence where you resume play after a draw card was played on you, and also because it only mentions playing it when somebody plays a draw 2 or 4 on you, it only counts as a wild card in that case and otherwise it cannot be played.

I claimed this couldn't possibly be right that this disqualified me from playing it as a regular wild card because that would mean I was stuck with this card and wouldn't be able to ever play it - especially when everybody knows I have it, they are never going to play any draw card on me because they know I will just play this card and they will then have to draw the cards instead.

However I was overruled and as a result I couldn't play and had to draw.  Despite having to draw several more cards after a few minutes I actually managed to wind up down to the "Agent P" card as my only card again but didn't get another turn before another player went out - not that it would have mattered since I couldn't have played it anyway.

Is this really the way the game is supposed to be played?  It seems so inherently fair I stopped playing after that hand - I don't really care so much whether I win or lose, but rather I simply get too upset playing in a game that is so inherently unjust that it has a "cursed" card in it that you can't play if someone else finds out you have it, or if you are simply "unlucky" enough that nobody plays a very narrow set of cards right before you.

I looked through the rules myself and the above quote is the only place where it mentions the "Agent P" card.  There are also wild cards which are not "Agent P" cards as well.


texts: What are the chances of winning Accordion Solitaire?

texts:
I would like to know what are the chances of winning in both versions:

laying out the cards one by one
laying out the entire deck at the game start


texts: Who has the winning hand in this Texas-holdem scenario?

texts:
The table cards were A,K,K,8,3.
All four suits were on the board.
Player one had A,8.
Player two had A,3.

Is this a split pot?


texts: Does this 7 Wonders analysis make any sense?

texts:
In age 1, the only resource you buy are the grey ones, because: in age 1, the brown ones produce only one resource at a time, but in age 2 they produce 2. This means you profit more from buying brown cards in age 2 than 1. So it costs a coin, big deal. No matter what, age 1 or 2, when you buy a grey card, it produces one item. This means when the worse cards are in play, you should buy the ones that will be the same.

Note: It also helps to choose your playing style early right?


texts:
Just a bit of confusion associated with how exactly the end of the turn would be scored.

Let's say hypothetically I start with ghouls+spirits and put them into decline and get wizards+forest as my next combination.

When counting points, would ghouls standing on a forest receive a point or is this exclusive to the wizards.


texts: What do you respond to a 1-of-a-Minor opening with 4-card support and no 4-card major?

texts:
With 5-card support for the minor, I would always raise it and let opener decide if a game in notrumps would be preferable.
With exactly 4-card support, should you raise it or bid NT (probably with a balanced hand)? Is the response different when playing Inverted Minor Raises?


texts: Can I bounce the creatures I've chosen for sacrificing to Annihilator?

texts:
I have Hibernation Sliver in play, which allows me to pay 2 life to return a Sliver to my hand.  My opponent controls an Eldrazi with annihilator 2 and attacks, making me sacrifice 2 permanents.

Can I sacrifice 2 Slivers and then, before the sacrifice resolves, return them to my hand with Hibernation Sliver, so I don't have to sacrifice anything and only have to pay 4 life?


texts: Are production boosters limited to production dice rolls?

texts:
The game include cards that double the production of resources in the neighbouring regions (Iron Foundry, Grain Mill, Brick Factory, Lumber Camp, Weaver's Shop).

Does the bonus apply every time we get a resource, or is it only limited to the production die rolls?

For instance, if I have a Lumber Camp next to a forest, and I trade 3 ores for lumber, do I get 1 or 2?

If I steal 1 lumber from my opponent (through Trade event, for example), do I get 1 or 2?


texts:
Today we were playing Carcassonne with two of the mini expansions, Flying Machines and Ferries. The following situation occured:

The yellow player is launching one of his meeple from the bottom left corner and rolled a 3. This puts him on the ferry piece. The ferry is connecting the bottom and left sides of the lake.

The questions we had now, are these:

Which of the three road pieces would be considered valid placement for the meeple?
Can the yellow player move the ferry?


texts: How to value old MTG cards in foreign languages when none are for sale?

texts:
I used to play MtG when I was younger, around '95-98(?), and found an old box at my parents with a lot of cards that I'd be more than willing to part with. I know some at least are from edition IV. And for some reason there are some spanish, german and italian cards as well that I think I got in some sort of collector's box with rare packages.

I got the TCGplayer app for the phone that's working great for the most part, but some cards it can't determine the value of because there are none for sale. There are a few cards that it thinks are German that are actually in English, but I'm guessing this is a glitch and not because there's something odd with the card it's scanning.

Question: How would I go about valuing cards like that when I have very little understanding of what a realistic value is, and there are none for sale to show me a good base line?


texts: "A player must capture as many pieces as possible." What happens if he doesn't?

texts:
There's a rule that says "A player must capture as many pieces as possible." What happens in the event a player didn't see the move with the most captures, and makes a move that takes fewer? What happens in this case?

(Is it against the rules to be not too good in checkers and be unable to see the best combination? Hmmm...)


texts: Can I steal another player's tower of power stash cards with 5 of a kind?

texts:
Tower of Power from the Barking Kittens extension allows you to hold 8 stash cards (separated from the deck before the game starts) and protects you against other players who want to steal cards from your hand (favor, 2 of a kind, and 3 of a kind), they need to take cards from your stash cards in your tower of power instead.
What happens if I use 5 of a kind to get the tower of power card from the discard pile? Can I steal the tower of power with all its remaining stash cards?


texts: Can Jinxed Idol be activated many times in a turn?

texts:
Irecently played a game with my group and I used Jinxed Idol at the beginning of my end step so I sacrificed a small 1/1 token to pass to 1 of my 3 opponents (next in turn after me) but then a game of hot potato began.
Me sacrificing token and passing it to next person in turn.
Them “I sacrifice this to pass to another person”
2nd person does same thing to third person,
3rd P does same to me, so I sacrificed another token and pass it to next person, they then sacked another creature and this is how it went until one person (not the person who’s turn it was at the end of my turn) controlled the idol but no creatures left to sac.
So is this allowed or have we been too ambitious with the wording as it doesn’t specify when you can do it but it’s not an instant either.
Also can I in response to my own sacking of a creature sacrifice another creature using jinxed idol and repeat process until I sacrifice as many as I want? Then let it resolve and pass to opponent?


texts: In what kind of deck is Aether Vial good?

texts:
I'm pretty much a beginner at deck building, and I'm toying around with a Modern GR Shaman tribal deck. It's too slow to be competitive, but there are a lot of options and things to try out.

I find it hard to decide whether Aether Vial is good in it, and what adjustments I should make to the deck if I decide to include it. Aether Vial seems like an awesome card at first sight (putting creatures on the board for free, at instant speed, for an initial 1 mana? Huh?) but I note that very few competitive decks run it.

Arguments against and for I can think of: by itself, it doesn't do anything yet, and having multiple in your starting hand means you probably have too few creatures. You can only use it for creatures with the right CMC, and you can only add counters, not remove them. On the other hand, it does save mana that can be left up for other things, and instant speed is nothing to sneeze at. My creatures have CMC of 1, 2, 3, 4 (too spread out?) but I don't have many 1-drops, and Vial is one, so that helps. Those are things I see. But I can't decide.

What kind of reasoning should I use to decide whether Aether Vial is worth it in any given Modern deck?


texts: In Euchre Call for a partner with 6 people playing...if you are playing to 31.  One person has 28, and another has 29.  If they pair up and both go out winning a 4 bid trick, who wins...the person with the most points or the bidder (considering they are different people)?


texts: If I have zendikar resurgent, mirari's wake, and mana reflection on the field, how would they stack?


texts: Bite Omen Card (and other similar cards)

texts:
Says person to the right rolls a Might 4 attack.  What does that mean? Do they roll 4 dice?
Also, after they roll and I roll, what damage do I take, if any?
There are other similar cards, as well.


texts: Does devoid make a card's color identity colorless in Commander?

texts:
Certain Battle for Zendikar Eldrazi cards have:

  Devoid (This card has no color.)

According to a video by Mark Rosewater, that means regardless of the colored mana required to cast the card, the card itself is colorless.

So then, just like the example with Extort: even though there are color mana symbols in the reminder text, those do not count towards color identity.

Given this, if I have a colorless Commander (e.g. Kozilek, the Great Distortion, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Karn, Silver Golem, etc.), can I include Devoid cards - as they are colorless? I checked various sources and seem to come up with equal support pro and con. The last line of 105.2 reads:

  An object’s color or colors may also be defined by a color indicator or a characteristic-defining ability.

Devoid is such a defining ability...


texts: What is the meaning of 'karai' and how is it applied?

texts:
A Western insei recently wondered about the term "karai":

  Japanese
  players call black 57 "karai", which is a term which I haven't heard
  used in western go at all! The meaning appears to be close to "(a move
  creating) a solid position, including a territorial profit".
  Professionals appear to love "karai" moves and groups.

This term is apparently unknown in the West and so far I found no books explaining or even mentioning it. What does it mean exactly, and to what moves is it applied? An example board would be great.


texts:
Suppose my opponent is tapped out while playing Sliver Overlord as his commander, which has the ability:

  {3}: Gain control of target Sliver. (This effect lasts indefinitely.)

On my turn, I play a Rite of Replication, targeting his Sliver Overlord. I now have a copy of it in play.

May I then use the {3} ability to steal his Overlord, and then due to the Legendary rule, sacrifice the copy and retain control of his commander?


texts: Fortifying move to complete a Risk mission

texts:
When playing the North American 1993 version of secret mission Risk, can a mission be acomplished with a fortifying move?

Example:If your mission is, “Conquer 18 TERRITORIES with at least 2 SOLDIERS on each”, can you end your turn already occupying 17 territories with at least 2 soldiers on each & 1 territory with just 1 soldier on it & fortify that last territory requiring the second soldier thus, now that 18 territories have at least 2 soldiers on them, reveal your mission & win the game?


texts: What is the Fling interaction with Removal?

texts:
I'm trying to make a Sarkhan's Unsealing deck using G/R. How does the interaction work with Fling if say;

I play a creature
The creature is targeted by removal when entering (Murder, Ixalan's Binding, Essence Scatter)
I play Fling sacrificing my creature

Does the damage from Fling get priority and complete the action?


texts: Do minor improvement actions have any meaning in the family version of Agricola?

texts: Using the Agricola family ruleset, when a card specifically refers to "minor improvements" (for example "After family growth, play a minor improvement"), do I  ignore it or interpret it as "play a Major improvement"?


texts: Does being targeted with Moonlight Hunt allow my creature to return damage?

texts: Opponent targeted me with Moonlight Hunt; would my creature It That Rides as One return damage or do any fighting to any of the wolves or werewolves that were chosen to fight me ?


texts: Can I play multiple Idols one at a time and receive the effects each time?

texts:
We just played Dominion Nocturne and had the Idol victory card in play for the first time. As you see it has an effect that depends on the number of Idols you have in play.

From the Dominion Strategy Wiki on Gameplay under Buy phase I read that:

  At the beginning of the buy phase, the player may play any number of Treasure cards from their hand, in any order, to their play area.

Does this mean that at the start of my buy phase, if I have multiple Idols on my hand, I can play them one at a time and first receive a Boon, then deal a Curse to the other players, then receive another Boon, deal a Curse, etc. for as many Idols I have on my hand?


texts: What happens if I play Quagmire/Bear Trap on myself on AR 7?

texts:
Quagmire* says the following:

  On next action round, US player must discard an Operations card worth 2 or more and roll 1-4 to cancel this event. Repeat each US player Action round until successful or no appropriate cards remain. If out of appropriate cards the US player may only play scoring cards until the next turn.

I know this can be used on AR 6 to discard an undesirable card with sufficient Ops on turn 7.  But what happens if you play it on turn 7?

It says "on next action round" at the beginning. Does that mean AR 1 on the next turn? Or does it go away at the end of the turn?


texts: Does an item effect still occur if you go insanse/unconscious using it?

texts:
As an example, an investigator had the item Flute of The Outer Gods, which takes 3 stamina and 3 sanity to use and immedietly defeats all monsters in the investigators location. If using the item reduced either the sanity or stamina to 0, does the effect still come in to effect?

Does this apply to all items that require you to lose either sanity or stamina?

This question is not a duplicate of: How does Flute of the Outer Gods work in Arkham Horror and when should I use/buy it? although the answer there is relavent.

This question is asking about items in general and not just the Flute of The Outer Gods


texts: Athreos, God of Passage and Gift of Immortality

texts:
With Gift of Immortality, if a creature is destroyed, it is returned to the battlefield and then at the next end phase Gift of Immortality is returned onto the creature.

With Athreos, God of Passage, when a creature dies an opponent can choose for it to return to my hand or they lose three health.

If when my monster equipped with Gift of Immortality dies, would Athreos' effect trigger, and if it does and they decide to return the card to your hand does it go to your hand because of Athroes or does it return to the battlefield because of Gift of Immortality?


texts:
I've recently bought Pandemic and I'm going to play it for the first time tomorrow. Having read the rules I wasn't quite sure how to interpret:

  The player who was most recently sick goes first.

Does this mean the person who most recently vomited? Or just generally ill? What about long-term / chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes?

Given that it's a co-operative game, does it actually matter who starts?


texts: Does the Paladin count as an adventurer for the purposes of the Magic Key spell?

texts:
Do Paladins count as Adventurers?

Year one, I kill the Paladin, and no adventurers.
Year two, the first spell is Magic Key (a slow spell):

  Discard one of your imprisoned adventurers (if you have any).

Assuming I can't kill an adventurer and/or all the magic users, do I lose my first year paladin?


texts: Leyline of Combustion w/ two Pandemonium triggers

texts:
If player A controls two (2) Pandemonium and player B controls Leyline of Combustion, how would this resolve. Player A has a creature enter the battlefield and has it deal damage to player B twice using each Pandemonium trigger. Does player B have Leyline of Combustion deal 0, 2 or 4 damage to player A?

The main concern is does the creature target the player.


texts: Can I search for Etched Champion with Enlightened Tutor?

texts: Can a creature in my library with protection from all colors, like Etched Champion be the target of my search spell Enlightened Tutor?


texts: Implementing a map exploration mechanic cheaply

texts:
I'm building a game in which players explore and steal from a castle. There needs to be an element of surprise and risk, so I've been considering a tile-based system like that used in Carcassonne. However, I'm not a fan of the (monetary) costs associated with producing such a mechanic.

What would be a good, low-cost way to allow exploration of rooms/halls with the risk of guard/maid encounters?


texts: The Rivals for Catan - Theme Game Draw Stacks

texts:
We are ready to move onto the Era of Gold, but are unsure about some of the rule changes in the theme game regarding the draw stacks.

From the manual:

  4:  Choosing the Starting Cards.  You don't draw your starting cards randomly from a stack like you've done in the Introductory Game.  Instead, beginning with the starting player, each player chooses a Basic Set draw stack and selects 3 cards for a starting hand.  You may not change the order of the draw stack."

Does this mean, each user selects a stack, looks at all the cards in the stack and selects the 3 they want start with?  And then returns the stack without reshuffling?

How do the Theme Set draw stacks work?  There is nothing in the manual about how players draw from them.  Do players have the option of drawing from them after their first turn?


texts: Can I have more than four non-basic lands with the same name in my deck?

texts: Am I allowed to have 5 Bottomless Vaults in my deck?


texts: Can a monster, similar to a hero, move 2 spaces, execute another action, like attack, or open a door, and move 2 spaces again?


texts: Let's say someone draws a monster face up when they kick open the door.  They are able to defeat the monster, but another play throws down a card to buff the monster.  The person who kicked open the door counters.  Now someone else buffs the monster.  This repeats until everyone runs out of cards.  What is the general rule for this situation?  Can it keep going or are we doing something wrong?


texts:
When you cancel a hit, can you distinguish between the the original cause of the hit?

The shadow card Black Breath says that it triggers "if your Leader re-roll scores at least one hit".

In the scenario that the shadow player scores some number of hits on the Combat Roll and exactly one hit on the Leader Reroll, and the Free Peoples player has an effect that can negate a hit, can the Free Peoples player choose to negate specifically the hit of the Leader Reroll in order to prevent Black Breath from activating?  Or are hits no longer distinguishable from each other by the point in which they can be negated?


texts: What is different in each version of Chrononauts?

texts:
Chrononauts is a time travel game by Looney Labs and has been through five different versions at the time of this writing. Board Game Geek lists the versions as the first, second, and third printings, v1.4, and the second edition.

In trying to find out if there were any differences, I discovered a page from Looney Labs, which said that v1.4 added four new cards and icons for The Gore Years expansion. But I haven't been able to find any other differences between the versions.

So what are the differences between each version of Chrononauts?


texts: Can I use two different cards with the same name in Commander?

texts: I have two cards with the same name but different art and the card descriptions on the bottom. The card in question is Forsaken Sanctuary. It's a white/black land and I'm not sure if I can use both of them, it is the first time I've ran in to this.


texts: Axis and Allies Europe edition: Neutral Territories?

texts:
So, as far as I understand it, the rulebook for Europe states that if a country invades a "strict neutral" (that is, any neutral that doesn't specify if it is Pro-Allies or Pro-Axis) then ALL other strict neutrals go pro-"non attacking side." For example, let's say that Italy invades Greece. Greece is a strict neutral, so according to the rules, all of the other "strict neutrals" would now become Pro-Allies....

If the U.S. invades Brazil, why would Greece care, or Switzerland for that matter?

I do not play with these rules, since I think they don't make sense.  What variations of this have you played?


texts: Can a team member lose Karma, either by failing the mission or only aborting when they are suffering a Karma penalty because of having greater than 10 Karma?  For instance, if my Karma 12 character loses the mission, does he actually get -1 Karma and end up with 11?  With no clarification, I house rule it to be yes, you can lose Karma for failing.  Makes sense thematically if Karma is something like reputation.


texts: How does Double-Strike work, is it comparable to Windfury in Hearthstone?

texts:
I am transitioning from Hearthstone to Magic. Some abilities sound the same but might not do the same thing.

Is double-strike equal to Windfury (Hearthsone)? Or does it only double strike a creature?

My question is: Does he only double-strike creatures? With no creatures on the battlefield from the opponent side can I double-strike him? If I kill his creature in the 1st strike is the 2nd strike directed to the opponent?


texts: Will Evoke trigger on a creature that's returned to the battlefield from the graveyard?

texts:
When a spell or ability returns a card with Evoke from i.e. the graveyard to the battlefield, will it's Evoke ability trigger, or does it only trigger when it enters the battlefield from the stack, being cast with it's Evoke cost paid?

For example, if I blink Nevermaker using Brago, King Eternals ability, would Evoke trigger when it re-enters the battlefield?


texts:
In Twilight Imperium, the Federation of Sol have been given this as their secondary race tech:

  Spec Ops Training (5)  Each time you roll a 1 during Invasion Combat,
  you  may reroll the die. You must use the second result.

Notice that this is not the same as e.g. +1 to all Ground Forces combat rolls. With a smashing price of 5 additional resources, I am looking for the reason why this race tech is even in the game...

I have some questions to add to this:

It's not worded for combat rolls specifically. Does this apply to Gen Synthesis and Dacxive Animators rolls too (since Federation of Sol seem to be taking good care of their ground forces)?
Does this apply to Mechanized Units?
Will this apply to Fighters as well, when Sol gains the Graviton Negator tech?

If it's only half a +1 to Ground Forces, why would anyone buy it?


texts: What changes or improvement will the Puerto Rico expansion offer me?

texts:
Puerto Rico Expansion

My family really liked Puerto Rico, and I'm curious what the expansion is like. The only thing it adds are new buildings and some weird rules for drafting buildings at the beginning that some reviews say are pretty bad. I assume the buildings don't really make the game much more complicated, but do they change the game drastically or just add to it? When would you recommend getting the expansion? Does anyone who has it have any other comments on it?


texts:
i'm willing to dive into MtG

I just ordered Deck Builder's Toolkit from our local club, is that going to be enough for building at least average beginner deck? What my best options to expand my collection from this point?


texts: Do I have to pay commander tax when casting my commander using Geode Golem's ability?

texts: Hey guys I have a question regarding Geode Golem. Its text says "Whenever Geode Golem deals combat damage to a player, you may cast your commander from the command zone without paying its mana cost. (You still pay any additional costs.)". Does this means that when I deal combat damage with this creature to an opponent and my commander has commander tax, I have to pay the commander tax also?


texts: What stategy should I use when playing as the engineers?

texts:
I played terra mystica for the first time recently as the engineers. I decided to pick good bridging starting locations, build a stonghold and a bridge the first turn, and spend the rest of the game accumulating as many points as I could from the bridges. I got boxed in the second turn and completely destroyed in terms of points. The engineers low starting resources and few workers from dwellings seem to imply that the ability to build bridges without with workers is extremely powerful.

What strategy should I use when playing as the engineers?


texts: Will Myth Realized still become an X/X when Humility's in play?

texts:
Humility says "all creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1" and Myth Realized is an enchantment that can become a creature with P/T equal to the number of lore counters on it.

I'm thinking that due to the timestamp ordering if Myth Realized becomes a creature after Humility was cast that Myth Realized would be x/x and not 1/1, where x is the number of lore counters?


texts: When playing canasta, why would I ever want to discard a wild card rather than adding it to a meld?

texts: New at canasta. Can’t figure out why one would ever want to discard a wild card instead of adding it to one of their melds.


texts: Shuffle destination cards in Ticket to Ride

texts:
I'm considering a house rule where discarded Destination cards are always shuffled into the deck instead of returned to the bottom. The pros and cons seem balanced to me:

Pros :-
We may need the cards that someone else discards. By shuffling them in, we have a higher chance of getting them.

Cons :-
Cards that we discard come back to us.

Thoughts and comments?


texts: Bonded Horncrest and Prey Upon interaction

texts:
If Prey Upon is used on Bonded Horncrest, will it be able to "attack alone" ?
Is this the same for Bonded Horncrest being the target of Savage Stomp and the Cherished Hatchling's ability?

p.s. If Prey Upon is used on Snapping Sailback, will it get a +1/+1 counter? and I assume the +1/+1 counter enters after the fight/dmg has been dealt, right?


texts: Can Dash from Fate Reforged be used at instant speed?

texts:
Fate Reforged is introducing a new mechanic called dash. It's reminder text is as follows:

  You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste,
  and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the
  beginning of the next end step.

My question is...  can dash be played at flash (instant) speed?


texts: In bridge, is there a penalty if dummy incorrectly lays down his hand?

texts: In bridge, is there a penalty if dummy lays down his hand and places a spade with the clubs and it is not noticed by the players until the third round is played?


texts: Why are the port arrangements in Better Settlers not like the arrangements in my game?

texts:
In the Better Settlers' setup, I can trade with bank at 3:1 or 2:1 ratio if I have a settlement or city on specific harbors. But the location of the harbors (3:1 and 2:1 ratios shown) doesn't match with the game that I have. In my game, these ratios are printed on outside long pieces. I also went to the official Catan site and compared pictures in the rule book with one from Better Settlers' site, and the pictures don't match :(

Why does Better Settlers site show custom 3:1 and 2:1 placements?


texts: How should damage counters be put on a Pokémon?

texts:
Who gets to choose how damage counters get put on, or are there rules for it?

I have a Primeape with the attack:

  Karate Chop
  Does 80 damage minus 10 damage for each damage counter on this Pokémon.

If it has 50 damage on it in five 10-damage counters, that attack will do 30 damage, but can I combine the 50 damage into one 50-damage counter so that it does 70 damage?


texts: Does "new city" mean a city no other players are infecting?

texts:
There is an Event Card which has the text:

Massive Bird Migration
You may move 1 of your disease cubes from a city you are currently infecting to a new city.

Does new city here mean a city which isn't already infected by another player?


texts: Can I reorder the abilities of Hydra's Growth and Simic Ascendancy?

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

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


texts: Catan pirates and explorers ships and roads

texts: In Catan Explorers and Pirates, can a ship share a hex side with a road?


texts: Can you shoot and use upgrades on the reboot token if you arrived there without rebooting?

texts:
Page 15 of the rules says

  You can be shot or pushed by an active robot while on a reboot token, but you cannot shoot robots. You also may not use upgrades.

This seems like it is supposed to apply to robots rebooting, as that makes narrative sense.  Should robots that simply move onto that space without rebooting be allowed to shoot and upgrade?


texts: Explanation of Selvala, Explorer Returned's ruling?

texts:
Selvala, Explorer Returned has the following ruling:

    If you activate Selvala's ability while casting a spell, and you discover you can't produce enough mana to pay that spell's costs, the spell is reversed. The spell returns to whatever zone you were casting it from. You may reverse other mana abilities you activated while casting the spell, but Selvala's ability can't be reversed. Whatever mana that ability produced will be in your mana pool and each player will have drawn a card.

I have 2 questions about this ruling.

Does this mean that, in conjunction with rule 121.8,

    121.8 If a spell or ability causes a card to be drawn while another spell is being cast, the drawn card is kept face down until that spell becomes cast (see rule 601.2i). While face down, it’s considered to have no characteristics. The same is true with relation to another ability being activated. If an effect allows or instructs a player to reveal the card as it’s being drawn, it’s revealed after the spell becomes cast or the ability becomes activated.

if you are unable to cast the spell, and it returns to your hand, the cards drawn off the parley ability are kept face down... permanently? In my interpretation, even if you were to recast the spell, since it changed zones, it would have no knowledge of it's previous self, and therefore would not allow the cards to be seen. Is this correct?
Why does this happen? What rulings indicate that the spell should be "un-cast," and is this a unique case? Or is there a precedent with another ruling that does the same?


texts: Why do cards have different rarity levels in Magic: The Gathering?

texts:
I've been reflecting on this concept and trying to come up with a concise answer: Why do different levels of card rarity exist in MtG? In order for this concept of different numbers of different cards existing to be beneficial to MtG, it has to do one of a few things:

Make it easier to build decks.
Make the game more strategic.
Make the game more replayable.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

The first one is probably most relevant. If a Llanowar Elf was just as common as a Shpinx of Uthuun, and both were just as common as everything else, it wouldn't make any sense because the number of decks that need Llanowars and the amount of Llanowars in each deck that uses them is much greater.
To some degree, it makes the game more replayable, in that it takes longer to see all of the cards because some of them aren't as common, but I don't really consider this a good reason in itself.
Rares tend to be more powerful than other cards, and this seems to work exactly backwards from how it should. If tons of people want a Thrun, the last troll in their decks because it's really powerful, shouldn't it be common so the people with rares don't have an advantage over the people who don't? If you're going to make some cards weaker than others, why not make more of the good ones and not the bad ones? Making powerful cards more expensive does not improve the overall game.

Are these points somewhat valid? How does some cards being produced in smaller number make Magic a better game? How would the game change for the better or worse if all cards were equally rare?

NOTE: Saying that having certain cards be rarer than others makes the game better because of the 'ooooh shiny!' factor when you do get one does nothing to make deck building and playing the game more interesting or fun. I also know that it makes Wizards and card shops tons of money, but I do not want to focus on money in the creator's pockets being the reason for their existence. :D


texts: What happens if you do not have any cards left in the Infection deck? (Minor spoilers)

texts:
To keep things general and mostly spoiler free, some abilities and events let you destroy cards from the Infection deck. If you do this enough times, there won't be any cards left. What happens in that case?

As the game progresses more, slightly different but similar scenarios could occur.

Package 6 spoiler below:

   Coupled with the inoculation introduced in package 6, you don't even need to destroy them all. Some could be inoculated and in package 6, there they are effectively out of the game until an epidemic is drawn. What happens during the Infect step of a turn when the only Infection cards are in package 6?

Turning point 2 spoiler:

   Infection cards for Forsaken cities are ignored and moved to the game end area when drawn, effectively leading to the same situation. What happens if you have a deck full of Forsaken cities?


texts: What chance do I have of my foil being a rare or mythic?

texts:
If I open a pack, and it contains a foil, this foil could be any card in the set, from basic lands to the most expensive mythic rare. My question is, does each individual foil card have the same chance of being opened? Or does it follow the same distribution as boosters follow?

To illustrate, if you were to open boosters until you got 14 foils, would those foils be in a distribution equivalent to the number of commons/uncommons/rares in the set? Or would those 14 foils be in the distribution equivalent of a booster (e.g. 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare)?

Crucially, can you supply evidence to support this?


texts: Does Cremate counter Flashback, Scavenge, and their ilk?

texts:
I'm looking at the card Cremate:

  Cremate - {B}

  Instant - common RTR

  Exile target card from a graveyard.

  Draw a card.

Now, can I use this to respond to a flashback or scavenge?

According to the comp rules, the first thing you do when casting a spell (in the case of flashback) is:

  601.2a The player announces that he or she is casting the spell. That card (or that copy of a card) moves from where it is to the stack.

Because it moves on to the stack, is it still in the graveyard for me to exile? And even if it was, would the effect be countered?

But if you can't use it to counter flashback and such, it seems to detract from its usefulness at instant speed.


texts:
Having an item that can potentially defeat all locks seems to be counter to the natural flow of the game where the Investigators go from room to room following clues.

Once the Axe is found, the Investigators can go whereever they want, short-circuiting the whole adventure?

Is there errata for the Axe, or am I misunderstanding it?


texts: What are the steps to becoming a rules advisor and what kind of rulings can be made by one?

texts:
I play FNMs at a relatively small store. There isn't a judge that runs the FNMs or any that consistently play there (the crowd is casual for the most part). I know the rules fairly well and the people that play at the store trust me enough to ask rules questions. I want to take the rules advisor test so that there's at least a semi-official source for answers to rules questions at these FNMs.

What steps are there to taking the test and becoming a rules advisor (ie: do you need to talk to a judge as if you were trying to become a L1)? What types of rulings are rules advisors allowed to make?


texts: Clone legion - multiple creatures enter battlefield at same time

texts: Let's say I play Clone Legion on my opponent. He has 4 creatures, one of which is Deathbringer Regent. Do I get to have all 4 creatures, or do I get all 4, but deathbringer wipes out the 3 others so at the end, I only have deathbringer? I would assume all enter the battlefield at the same time, and thus deathbringer does not wipe those 3 - and thus, I'm left with 4 creatures, not one.


texts: What bet to make in this Texas Holdem Tournament?

texts:
I was playing in a tournament. About 115 players started each getting 5000 chips. There was about 45 players left and I had just been moved to a different table, I had 17000 in chips. The blinds were now 1000/2000. The second hand after I sat down I was the big blind and was dealt pocket Aces. One player bet 2000, all others including the small blind folded.

What bet should I make?

The player who bet 2000 had more chips than me but I'm not sure how much as I had just been moved to the table.

In the actual game, I raised to 5000 (an additional 3000).
The other player called.
The flop was K, J, 7 all different suits.
I bet 2000, the other player called.
The turn was a 5, I bet another 2000. The other player raised another 3000.
This left me with 5000 so I went in all. The other player called.
He showed K, 3 not suited.

My bad luck, the river card was a 3 and I was knocked out.

Should I have bet differently?
Should I have gone all in before the flop?


texts: Can I play a card using flashback without it having been successfully cast first?

texts: For instance, if I try to cast  Army of the Damned and my opponent uses  Cancel to stop it, can I still cast Army of the Damned from the graveyard for it's Flashback cost?


texts: Bonus troops from controlling continents and trading cards for troops in Risk

texts:
I have a few questions on the lovely game :-

In my current turn I've conquered a continent and keep it conquered for the following 3 turns. Do I get bonus troops in every turn that I have conquered it in ?
If I am trading cards for troops, and I have a territory on the face of the card too. Do I still get my base troops that we get ( the whole count and divide by 3 ones )


texts:
I'm playing Descent 2nd edition, in the Shadow Vault scenario.

One of my heroes is carrying the objective token. The Overlord plays Dark Charm targeting that hero.

Can the Overlord force my hero to hand the token over to Baron Zachareth?


texts: What happens if you have a Uba Mask and a Thought Reflection in play?

texts: What happens if you have a Uba Mask and a Thought Reflection in play, do both effects still apply will I just be exiling two cards on each draw step?


texts: Where can I find a Complete Spoiler list of Risk Legacy's packets & pockets?

texts:
In short, I need a list of all the cards contained in all the packets and pockets.

Background: I completely played through a copy of Risk Legacy with some friends at the beginning of this year, it was great, we all enjoyed ourselves and noted we would like to do it again. However, one of the friends involved in Risk Legacy play through has moved to the otherside of the country and I am setting up to run a campaign of it on Roll20, but I realized our lack of meticulous documenting on our physical playthrough has now caught up to us (we tore up all the cards we were told to destroy after using them) as I am missing a bunch of cards and faction stickers to recreate the vanilla game. Does anyone know where i could find such a list?


texts: What happens with cards hosted on Builder after moving it to another server?

texts: Consider Builder with installment(s). A Patch for example. What happens with it after the Builder being moved to another server? Nothing, I suppose? Seems like all the installments move with the Builder.


texts: Agricola: Fireplaces and Cooking Hearths

texts:
Last night I played my first game of Agricola and I was amazed how great game it was.

But one thing  is not clear to me, when owing Fireplace / Cooking Hearth, can I trade for example 2 x vegetable for 4 food (or for example 3 sheep for 6 food) in one Fireplace ? Or is it allowed to trade only one vegetable / animal for food ? And can I trade vegetables and animals at the same time ?

When I played with my friends yesterday we played so that we can convert as many vegetables/animals for food as we can. But when I reread rules I've noticed line saying:

  A player may own several Fireplaces and Cooking Hearths.

So why would I build more Fireplaces / Cooking Hearths if I can convert as many vegetables / animals to food in my turn ?


texts: How do you score the Mayor in a city with no pennants?

texts:
We played our first games with the Abbey & Mayor expansion tonight, and ran across a scoring question that's not precisely covered by the rules.  The rules are pretty simple:

The Mayor counts as a meeple, so you can't play him where another meeple is already present.
The Mayor counts as one follower for each pennant in the city.

What happens if a city with no pennants is closed (or the game ends) and the only meeple in the city is a Mayor?  Does that player score zero points for the city?


texts: How do Rest in Peace and Progenitus interact?

texts: What happens to my Progenitus when it tries to die and there is a Rest in Peace in play?


texts: Is it possible to destroy Dragon Mantle without the owner successfully activating it?

texts:
I was playing last night, and the following situation arose.

I had a creature out with Dragon Mantle on it, which allows me to spend a red mana to give it +1/+0. My opponent wants to swing in with his larger creature, but doesn't want to have his large creature die to me pumping up my small one with Dragon Mantle. He's holding a Destructive Revelry. Is there a time he can play it such that I fail to pump my creature?

My understanding is that

If he plays it before I start pumping, I can pump in response and I will succeed as my pumps will resolve before the enchantment is destroyed.
If he plays it after I start pumping, my pumps are already on the stack and will still resolve after the enchantment is destroyed. (I am not 100% sure about this)

Is this correct? Are there situations where he can succeed? (i.e. if the wording on the enchantment was slightly different)