texts: How should hands that are EXTREMELY strong in one suit (10+ cards) be bid?

texts:
I'm a bit of a bridge noob, but I'm kind of puzzled about this. Say I have a hand that is ridiculously strong in one suit, say at least 10 cards with all 4 honors (I'll use spades for the example suit). how should I bid? This is so many cards that almost nobody will be leading spades but me, so if another suit is trump, I'm flush out of luck.

Obviously I would want to end up playing a spade contract with a good potential for a slam, but if I open too high, say 5 spades, won't my opponents catch on pretty quickly and bid in their own suits or No-trump, just so my spades will be next to useless? They will likely have favorable distributions for their own suits since nearly all the spades are gone, which only worsens the fact. Then again, if I bid to low, my partner may not rebid, and while taking 12 tricks at a contract of 3S is obviously good, knowing you will have that many overtricks from the start seems kind of a waste.

Even if I held 12 or 13 spades, if I bid 7S, won't my opponents just bid 7NT and I'll never get to lead? How should hands with this heavy a distribution be bid to make the most of them?

(I've already said I'm not a very experienced bridge player, so if I'm making any glaring oversights don't hesitate in the slightest to bring them up.)

NOTE: I know these hands are extremely rare, but in all reality, every single possible hand is rare enough that studying bridge hands is actually quite useless because you'll never see the same hand again in your life...but we do it anyway because that's how we learn. Couldn't you tell anyone asking about a specific hand not to worry about it because it'll never show up again? :D


texts: Hardened Scales + Champion of Lambholt + Token Generator

texts:
Champion of Lambholt: Gets a +1/+1 counter whenever a creature enters the battlefield.
Hardened Scales: Whenever 1 or more counters are put on a creature, put one more of those counters on that creature.
Gather the Townsfolk: Put two 1/1 human tokens on the battlefield.

If I play Gather the Townsfolk, does Champion get 3 counters or 4?


texts:
There are some cards that have a ninjutsu ability, which means that you can target an unblocked creature and replace it with your creature (this can be done only after the declare blockers step).
Lets say that my opponents has an unblocked creature, and after I decide not to block it, he places a ninjutsu creature on the stack after paying its cost. Then, in response to that, I cast a lightning bolt to that creature (the one that is about to be replaced). When the lightning bolt resolves, the creature that dies and the ninjutsu creature has an illegal target.
My question is, should the ninjutsu creature go to the graveyard, or should it return to its owner hands?
Ninjutsu is defined as follows (as noted in this Wiki article):

702.48. Ninjutsu
702.48a Ninjutsu is an activated ability that functions only while the card with ninjutsu is in a player’s hand. “Ninjutsu [cost]” means “[Cost], Reveal this card from your hand, Return an unblocked attacking creature you control to its owner’s hand: Put this card onto the battlefield from your hand tapped and attacking.”
702.48b The card with ninjutsu remains revealed from the time the ability is announced until the ability leaves the stack.
702.48c A ninjutsu ability may be activated only while a creature on the battlefield is unblocked (see rule 509.1h). The creature with ninjutsu is put onto the battlefield unblocked. It will be attacking the same player or planeswalker as the creature that was returned to its owner’s hand.

An example of a ninjutsu creature: Ninja of the Deep Hours


texts: What is this game, played with chess board and pieces, but with totally different rules?

texts:
Multiple decades ago, I was introduced to a game as described in the title of this question.  What I can remember of it is:

The two rooks had different functions.  They were distinguished by placing one of them upside down.
One piece was called a "retractor". It captured by moving to a square adjacent to the target piece, then moving away on a subsequent turn, unless the target moved first.
Another piece, called an "immobilizer", prevented any adjacent opposing piece from moving.  Two adjacent opposing immobilizers could create a permanent mess.
Yet another (whose name I forget) captured by moving to a position such that it, the king of its color, & the target formed a right triangle, with the king at the right-angle vertex.  There were both obvious & less obvious configurations that met this condition.  (E.g., the king could be in a "knight's move" direction from each of the other two.)
I believe another piece could capture by jumping its target, checkers-style, though not necessarily diagonally.

I have no recollection of how any of the pieces moved; nor, for that matter, what the object of the game was.  I would be grateful to anyone who can provide any further information, especially the name of the game, or any pointers to a complete set of rules.

Thank you very much.


texts: Can tokens created by planeswalkers do commander damage

texts: I was playing a game with someone and they said they do because planeswalkers can't attack, so the tokens created by them count as commander creatures. Is that true? I can't find any rules that talk about this.


texts: How to capture territories with no numbers printed on them?

texts: In a&a 1941 if japan conducts an amphibious assault on soviet far east can she capture it? If yes, then does she still put the controller marker and does nothing else? (I mean no adding anything to japans national production chart since the territory of soviet far east does not have any number printed on it)


texts: Victimize with Noxious Ghoul and opponent's Murder

texts: I play Victimize targeting some creature I have. Victimize resolves and returns Noxious Ghoul and some other creature with an ETB triggered ability to the battlefield at the same time. Both my creatures triggered abilities trigger and I choose to let Noxious Ghoul's triggered ability trigger first. In response to the first triggered ability, my opponent chooses to Murder my Noxious Ghoul. Noxious Ghoul's triggered ability will still be on the stack, but will my other creature trigger Noxious Ghoul's triggered ability giving non-zombie creatures -2/-2 instead of -1/-1?


texts: In The Resistance is it always a bad idea for the spies to fail the first mission?

texts:
My first thought was that it was always a bad idea to fail the first mission as a spy. As there are only two people on the mission, the spy has revealed himself to one of the players.

With 5 players though, it seems like the spies give too much away when succeeding. Is failing the first mission (as a spy) a bad idea even in a 5-player game?

Are there any other situations?


texts: Where are official changes announced by Wizard?

texts: At events and on conversation boards everyone is has stated that as Khans comes out M14 and the Return to Ravnica block is going to be rotating out of standard. I can't find any reason this would happen other than that "that is what happened in the past". As Magic has a very structured system I would imagine there is an official feed/site somewhere from Wizards that announces and clarifies such things.


texts: Do I choose my Annihilator sacrifices during resolution?

texts:
It was suggested to me recently that Annihilator sacrifices (such as  Emrakul, the Aeons Torn's) are only chosen during resolution, rather than while they're going on the stack.

Do I choose those sacrifices during resolution? What part of the comprehensive rules backs that up?

I can't find any clarity on the internet, in the rules, on the MTG Salvation wiki for Annihilator, or in the ability's rulings. It seems reasonable, but I'd like to know what's behind it. Plus, if I can choose and then later Cloudshift some stuff, all the better.


texts: Remove card from game go in trash in Dead of winter?

texts: By removing a card from your hand from the game. Does the card go in the trash pile or do we remove it from the game?


texts: When do artifacts lose hexproof when Padeem, Consul of Innovation dies?

texts:
There was an interesting board state that came up the other night while my friends were playing Commander, involving a sliver deck and Padeem, Consul of Innovation. The board state involved two players, who I will call Aaron (Active player) and Nick (Non-Active player), a simplified version of the board was as follows:

Aaron's Board

Brood Sliver (Whenever a Sliver deals combat damage to a player, its controller may create a 1/1 colorless Sliver creature token)
Harmonic Sliver (All Slivers have "When this permanent enters the battlefield, destroy target artifact or enchantment.")
Silverback Ape (it's a 5/5, that's it.)

Nick's Board

Padeem, Consul of Innovation (gives artifacts hexproof)
Ornithopter (0/2 Artifact creature)

During combat Aaron attacked Nick with his entire board, and Nick assigned blocks as follows:

Harmonic Sliver is blocked by Ornithopter (No effects)
Silverback Ape is blocked by Padeem (Padeem dies)
Brood Sliver is unblocked (Brood Sliver's ability triggers)

My question is, when the 1/1 Sliver token created by Brood Sliver enters the battlefield, will Aaron be able to destroy Nick's Ornithopter? Or will the Ornithopter still have hexproof, even though Padeem is killed by Silverback Ape?

That is to say, do Nick's artifacts lose hexproof before or after Aaron is able to target them with the ETB of the created Sliver token?


texts: Does a melded creature remain melded when it leaves the battlefield?

texts:
If a melded creature like Brisela, Voice of Nightmares dies, does it go to the graveyard as a single, melded creature, or does it split apart?

Can the whole creature be brought back to the battlefield (or to my hand), or just 1 of the 2 parts?

Do both halves of Brisela have to be regenerated separately?


texts: When drawing cards for each produced good, does it include goods produced on windfall worlds?

texts:
My friends and I have had disagreements about how one particular kind of production power works in Race for the Galaxy: powers that involve drawing cards for each good produced, e.g.

Diversified Economy:

  draw 1 card for each kind of good you produced this phase

Research Labs:

  draw 1 card for each Alien technology good you produced

When combined with powers that produce goods on windfall planets, such as the power of the Produce action card itself, do you draw cards for goods produced using the 'produce on windfall' powers?

In part it is that I don't understand what "no power can interrupt another" means in the RFTG rulebook and also because online versions of the games vary with how this applies.


texts: How does Dread work in a Two-Headed Giant game?

texts:
Dread has the following ability:

  Whenever a creature deals damage to you, destroy it.

If we are playing a Two-Headed Giant game and one player puts a Dread onto the battlefield, can I attack the other person in the team to avoid losing my creatures?  (I know with certain effects like Crosis, the Purger I can choose who I attack to make them discard a card, but I'm not sure on how Dread would work.)


texts: If a creature with an effect is destroyed by blocking do other attacking creatures lose the effect?

texts:
I have a Rageblood Shaman that says:

  Other Minotaur creatures you control get +1/+1 and have trample.

If I attack with it and multiple other creatures any my opponent blocks it and destroys it do my other creatures still have +1/+1 and trample when their damage is dealt?


texts:
Can you resolve a dispute between myself and my girlfriend? She recently won a game with what I think is a double movement (although there's no mention of this in the rule book).

She put one two letters down to make one word, which also scored linked to another letter. But she then added another letter immediately to the left of the finished word, which then extended the second word. I just don't think you can make a second movement like this in scrabble!

My sister placed down W, D and E, the ones that I circled in red. Is she allowed to do that? I told her it was impossible is it?

Can you resolve this for me please?


texts:
In Dominion Adventures, when you trash one of the Traveller cards, where does that Traveller go?

The rules seems to imply the Trash pile.

However, since there are only 5 of each pile, I was wondering if there was some specific rules for cards that weren't in Supply like Travellers and Spoils.


texts: I can't find this game or remember the name

texts:
I am looking for a game that is played with all the cards in the deck. The cards are placed in a single row, face up, one next to the other. The object is to remove as many as possible. However the rules state you can only remove the cards that are the same in suit or rank, and only if they lie next to the card or three cards to the left.

Example: if you have a 9 diamond, 6 spade, 4 club,  2 diamond, 2 heart, 3 club, K spade, etc. etc..

The 3 club can be moved to the 4 club and the 4 club is removed. The same with the 2 heart, and the 2 diamond. But it would be better to use the 2 diamond to remove the 9 diamond and then the 2 heart to remove the 2 diamond.

I have been looking for this game for years, used to play it all the time but now I can't find it anywhere.


texts: How do you identify (and resolve) "critical path" issues in Ticket to Ride?

texts:
Suppose you have a destination card for Los Angeles to New York. Some portions of the route are likely to be harder to complete than others. How you you identify which ones?

For instance, Los Angeles has only four or five routes, and New York has seven or eight. Does that mean that I should prioritize paths leading out of LA because there are fewer of them? And should I give the highest priority to potential bottlenecks such as Houston-New Orleans and/or Nashville-Atlanta?

And suppose I have two adjacent destination routes, Vancouver to Montreal and New York to Atlanta?  Does that suddenly make New York to Montreal a high priority route so that I can connect them, and possibly get longest route?


texts: Can Silent Gravestone prevent someone from casting an Aftermath spell from the graveyard?

texts:
A player has Silent Gravestone on the battlefield and the opponent has Commit // Memory in their graveyard, where Memory has Aftermath. Can they cast Memory and would it have its effect on the player with Silent Gravestone?

I don't see Memory targeting anything and couldn't find rules saying aftermath requires you to cast target card from the graveyard.


texts: Ok - help me solve a family argument! I called UNO on my last card, but the player immediately before me on the next round played a miss a turn card. Do I need to call uno again or because I missed a turn am I covered?


texts: Can I use Plaxcaster Frogling to temporarily shut off Species Gorger's ability?

texts:
I'm currently working on a deck which is built around Species Gorger and its ability to return creatures I control to my hand. In order to make my deck work as intended, I need a way to "turn off" or avoid SG's ability from time to time. I was wondering if Plaxcaster Frogling could do the job. For the record, SG's ability reads:

  At the beginning of your upkeep, return a creature you control to its owner's hand.

Let's say I control a Species Gorger and a Plaxcaster Frogling. The Gorger has a +1/+1 counter on it. At the beginning of my upkeep, I have to return a creature I control to my hand. If I choose the Gorger to be returned, and use the Plaxcaster's activated ability to make sure the Gorger doesn't leave the battlefield:

Will the Gorgers triggered ability be neutralized? or,
Will the Gorger just look for another creature to send to my hand, since I have chosen an invalid creature to send to my hand in the first place? After all, it says return a creature you control to your hand.

Since it dosn't say target creature, I'm not sure if the Plaxcaster would have to use its ability on all creatures on my battlefield, that I don't want to return to my hand, or if it is enough to "protect" the one creature that was originally chosen for the Gorger to send to my hand?


texts: What are good ways to learn to "read" a sequence of moves mentally?

texts:
What are good ways to learn to "read" a sequence of moves mentally (i.e. visualize it in one's mind), in Go? Is practicing on a goban useful, or is trying to stick to mentally imagining the moves better? or a mix of both?

(I am asking this question because I feel that better reading skills can have a strong impact on the outcome of a game.)

PS: I now realize that the question of reading sequences of moves mentally is only part of the story: in addition to "pure" reading, it is also extremely useful to learn to not read certain moves (because they have little potential, or because the outcome of some board situation reached while reading is known). In other words, learning how to prune the move tree helps read faster: it is wasteful to read down many branches of the move tree when theory can prune these branches (the theory of killing shapes, of their vital point, of semeai,…) or give them a lower reading priority (useful moves tend to exploit weaknesses, or choke the opponent, or have multiple good effects, etc.). In essence, learning to read well involves both the raw skill of imagining a sequence in one's head and the art of pruning moves or giving them a lower priority while reading.


texts: How much of AlphaGo's success is due to novelty?

texts:
One of the running themes in the commentary I've read on AlphaGo's games is that, from time to time, the AI would make a sound play that was nonetheless completely unfamiliar to its opponent (and to the spectators). Consequently, the opponent was unable to fully appreciate the move and counter it effectively. (or were even thrown off their game entirely for a few moves)

This leaves me to wonder; how important is this effect to AlphaGo's success? Or put differently, when humans have learned from the new sorts of plays they've seen AlphaGo play, will AlphaGo still enjoy anywhere near its current level of success?


texts: Do you still get experience for wounding an opponent who makes a successful armour save?

texts: In many Necromunda (1st ed) scenarios, you gain experience for causing a wounding hit. But if that wounding hit doesn't cause a roll of the injury dice due to a successful armour save, does the gang fighter who rolled the wound dice still get the experience?


texts: Is there a special name for the following kind of "tenace" and are there "special" kinds of tactics regarding it?

texts:
If you hold an AQ or KJ of a suit, with a low card being led up to it, you have a "tenace," and you hope that the missing card is "onside" with the right hand opponent (RHO).

If you hold, say an AJ or a KT or a Q9 (and the missing cards are not in your partner's hand), is that also called a tenace, or is there a special name for this kind of a holding?

More to the point, if there are two missing cards, A and B, is it usually good technique to refrain from covering the first one, and only cover the second one?
For instance if you have KTx, should you duck when RHO plays that J, and wait till he plays the Q, then you cover with the K, A captures, and your T is now high?


texts: Is a 'Can't be countered' ability the same as 'protection From' or 'Can't be targeted?'

texts:
Abrupt Decay, Loxodon Smiter and other Return to Ravnica cards have an ability that reads '{card name} can't be counterd by spells or abilites'. Does this mean it is not a legal target for a counter spell?

this rule:

  112.6f An object's ability that states it can't be countered or can't be countered by spells and abilities functions on the stack.

Simply states those abilities function on the stack, it makes no mention of giving the spell with the ability protection from spells.

So can they be targeted by counter spells?


texts: What is this stacking game with rotating coloured sides?

texts:
If anyone could help I would love to find the name of this game.

As you stack the block the blocked the sides on the block below rotate and they change color (see the stickers) and there are four "bases" or the bottoms in total.  Have been searching the internet for hours now to no avail, hoping someone has seen this before!


texts: Ability to cast for overload cost or just cast

texts: Dreadhorde Arcanist allows you to "cast target instant or sorcery card with converted mana cost equal to or less than dreadhorde arcanists power from your graveyard without paying its mana cost" but for cards with overload costs that state in it's own separate ruling that we "may" cast it for its overload cost, can I use dreadhorde archanist to reach and have the ability to cast a card like "weapon surge", then choose to pay its overload cost for its overload effect?


texts: Prevent combat damages dealt with trample

texts:
If a creature with trample attacks me and I block with a creature on which damages are prevented, will I receive extra damage over my creature toughness?

Examples: Undergrowth Champion, Wall of Shadows


texts: How does Terraforming work in Eminent Domain?

texts: Terraforming says you attach it to a planet, and if it would be enough to satisfy the printed colonization cost, settle the planet. How does this work? Does this count colonization reductions from settled planets or Fertile Ground? If not can it only settle starter planets?


texts: Can the U.S. Open With an Air-based Strategy in Allies and Axis?

texts:
In Axis and Allies, the U.S. starts with the largest number of IPCs, and also has the furthest to go to reach the main battlefields. These conditions both suggest the use of strategies using (expensive) air units.

One strategy is build bombers. The U.S. can spare 30 IPCs to build two a turn. Send them to the UK (one turn) for the strategic bombing of Germany. With six bombers, there will be a loss of one per turn (on average) to anti-aircraft. The surviving five planes will average 3.5 hits on average, or 17.5 IPCs in total. Since a bomber costs 15 IPCs, this is a profitable strategy. And it hurts Germany's economy even if they get some IPCs from Africa.

A second strategy is to build 2-3 fighters a turn, and fly them to the UK, then to Karelia or wherever they are most needed in Russia. Enough of them will stop a German attack cold. Or the U.S. could use a "hybrid" strategy, build one bomber and one fighter per turn for a combination of both. Then spend 5 IPCs a turn on tech research.

Tech discoveries could alter the equation, especially if they were jet fighters or heavy bombers (using one of the "two roll" modifications #1, #2, not the standard three-roll rules). Perhaps I'd use the fighter strategy if I discovered the one and the bomber strategy for the other (some versions of the game don't allow you to choose which tech to research).

Would you use any of these strategies without tech enhancement? With tech enhancement, especially "modified" heavy bombers? Or is the shuck-shuck strategy still superior?


texts: Multiple stack abilities and casting spells in that time

texts:
My question is as follows:
If I have multiple "At the beginning of your upkeep..." abilities,
and I want to cast an instant spell or activate an ability during that time, can I cast the spell between those spells, or only as respond to all of them?

FOR EXAMPLE:
If i have Splinterfright and a Endless Ranks of the Dead under my control.
Now I decided for no good reason, I want to cast Dark Ritual after Splinterfright ability resolved, but before Endless Ranks of the Dead did, can i do that?


texts: Tsumego intermediate problem 11 - possible without winning ko two times?

texts:
This tsumego (intermediate problem 11) gave me hard time:

I actually only found a solution where black must win the ko two times, which is nasty. Is there a better solution?

It actually looks like "bent 5" :-)

My solution here:


texts: Researcher with the coworker relationship (spoilers)

texts:
The coworker relationship sticker states:

  Co workers: you may share knowledge as long as one if you is in the
  correct city. (The researcher may give any card to their co worker for
  one action)

My question is in regard to the researcher: If the researcher is given coworker status with another character, can the researcher give any card to their coworker from any city?

For example, if the scientist and the researcher are coworkers, and the researcher is currently in Milan and the scientist is in another city, can the researcher give the scientist the Tokyo card as an action on their turn? Could the researcher do this multiple times on their turn?


texts: How does "Concealment" transfer to Dedicated Transports?

texts: I have been looking over the combat benefits from the various force organisations granted by Gladius Strike Forces. The one that interests me is the 10th Company bonus where all units in this Company gain Concealment (Stealth until almost anything other than embarking, disembarking or shooting). However, I have a number of land speeder storms that act as dedicated transports that gain this status as well. So my question is if I disembark a concealed unit and its transport moves, does the entire unit loose concealment or just the Transport?


texts: Exert, untap with spell, tap and attack. Does it untap?

texts:
Say I have a Pride Sovereign, and I pay one plains, tap it and exert it.  I then cast Prepare and untap it, so I can attack.

I tap my cat, and attack.

It is now my next turn.  Does Pride Sovereign untap?  Although it has untapped since being exerted, exert says:

  an exerted creature won't untap during your next untap step.


texts: Are TCG's the only class of games that have lists of Banned or Restricted pieces?

texts: I'm familiar with TCG's that employ banned or restricted lists for cards that are deemed to powerful for fun, interactive gameplay. Are there any other types of games that have similar ways of affecting game balance after release? Is this a feature present in other games with expansions? Are there any games without expansions that have had game balancing bans/restrictions created by the game maker or game community?


texts: Online Platforms where simulate board/card game

texts:
With my mates I would like to design a new card-game. However due to lockdown and pandemic limitations, we cannot meet each other for playing sessions.
Does exists an online website/platform where I can replicate our game and make some test-sessions with colleagues?
I want to replicate:

Only-text cards: right now I do not care about good graphycs and images.
Table with game play
Dice


texts: Is there a "good" ratio of card types to have in an MTG deck?

texts:
In practice do competitively viable decks have approximately similar ratios of card types? There are CCGs in which this is empirically observed, such as Pokémon (2-3 trainers: 1 Pokémon: 1 energy) and Yu-Gi-Oh (2 monsters: 1 spell: 1 trap).

Note: "type" in this context is not intended as the MTG technical term, unless that interpretation would give an affirmative answer. Essentially the question is whether any pie-chart generalisation for structure is applicable in practice.


texts: What happens if Combat Celebrant is killed during combat?

texts: What happens if Combat Celebrant attacks and is killed by blockers? Would the second combat phase still happen?


texts: When playing Mine while having a Watchtower in hand, can you put the upgraded treasure card on top of your deck instead of in your hand?


texts: Are there any EDH commanders whose colour identity is not solely determined by their mana cost?

texts: Colour identity is not only the colours in the casting cost, but any mana symbols that appear in the rules text (but not the reminder text!). Are there any legendary creatures that have a different colour identity to their card colour?


texts:
Two questions:

(-1)
Everyone I've spoke to says that you cannot have negative ATK, why?  It's not in the rule book so it seems that if I could reduce the ATK of an opponent to become negative then in the event I attack them, my ATK would be applied then they would attack themselves (the value equal to the absolute value of their negative ATK value).

(∞)
I've heard from a few sources that after the ATK points reach a certain value (over 9999 maybe? by any means possible) that the value becomes infinite, is this true?  I realize there are some cards which are not legal for play which have infinite ATK values, but is there any rule that states a sufficiently high finite ATK "becomes" infinite.


texts: Will Return to Duty get someone out of the Brig?

texts:
The other day, when playing Battlestar Galactica, we had all (bar the CAG) been brigged, and someone drew the crisis Return to Duty card.

  Turn 5 Crisis: Return to Duty

  CAG Chooses

  Any character on Galactica with piloting in his skill set may immediately launch himself in a viper. Then: Basestars Launch Raiders

  OR

  Basestars Attack Galactica
  Raiders Activate

Can the CAG pick the top one and get the character out of the brig? We ruled no, as it made it too easy, but it does sort of make sense to me (and comes with its own downside).


texts: Can Unity play a golem after playing Inspired Repair

texts:
Unity's card Inspired Repair's text says she can play a card. If inspired repair is played during her Play Phase, can she play a golem, which of course reads "cannot be played during the Play Phase."?

I would guess no, golems can't be played. But then I thought maybe golem's restriction means AS her Play Phase card. Perhaps the Play Phase ends as soon as the card is played, then it's between phases while the card effects play out?


texts: Do I earn two energy cubes if I end my 5th register on an energy space?

texts:
The rules on page 8 say

  When you end a register on an energy space, if there is an energy cube there, take it. If you end the fifth register on an energy space, take an energy cube from the energy bank.

I take this to mean that you take a cube from that space if you land there after executing the fifth register, but you additionally take one from the bank, so could gain two.  Is that right?


texts: Do any successful draft formats exist for Android: Netrunner?

texts:
It's still early enough in Android: Netrunner's lifecycle that using the full cardlist to build decks isn't too overwhelming, but as time goes on, it could well be, and archetypes will become increasingly prevalent.

So, I like the idea of a draft-based game, in which I show up without a deck and build one on the spot. I think it would be really fun and probably improve my deck-building technique.

Being asymmetrical, there would be complications (you'd have to do two drafts) and there are other obstacles like influence and identities.

With that in mind, are there any Android: Netrunner draft formats that people have tried and have found successful?

(Bonus marks for formats that can work with as few as two players)


texts: In Catan, can I ask how many cards are in a player's hand?

texts:
While playing Catan tonight, I rolled a 7 and moved the robber.

No one had more than 7 cards, but I still asked how many cards people had in their hand because I wanted to know who had the most.

All the other players told me false numbers and said they didn't have to tell me how many cards they had if I was going to use the knowledge to steal from someone.

Is this right? Am I not allowed to ask how many cards a player has?


texts: Looking for uber-accessible game formats for Android: Netrunner

texts:
I've got about 8 friends with varying levels of interest in picking up Netrunner.  At least 3 folks have spent a lot of money on cards and play in local tournaments.  On the other end of the spectrum are friends who don't like the idea of 1) spending a lot of time assembling decks or 2) having to purchase much more than the core deck.

What kind of system/format would be fun for everyone to play together?

Some parameters:

Ideally we would stick with the core deck, but an additional cost of ~$15 is doable too
Minimal deck pre-assembly - several folks aren't interested in spending their free time doing this
Deck tinkering on game night is fine; ideally everyone would spend equal time on  deck modification
Experienced players should not have a card/asset advantage over new players

I imagine that restricting experienced players to just the core deck might be kind of dull for them, so I'm hoping someone has some ideas of fair ways to spice things up a little for them while keeping the game accessible for new/less dedicated players.


texts: Is there an instant win condition by abusing a loophole in Bang?

texts:
I apologize for not using the exact names of the cards as I did not play the English version of the game.

In a gaming session with some friends the following situation arose:

A player had the character which allows to draw a new card when he remains with no cards.
We were playing with the expansion pack which contained random effects whenever a stagecoach was activated. The special effect in this round was "every card can be used as a Bang card, and Bang cards can be used as missed"
That player acquired a volcanic pistol, allowing the use of unlimited bang cards in a round.

Isn't that an instant win, by being able to eliminate all players, one by one? If not, what rule did we miss?


texts: In warhammer 40k can I combines these armies?

texts: I have an Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians, which is a dark angels HQ and I have a grey knight army. Can I use Ezekiel as my HQ?


texts: Why did Wizards of the Coast change the minimum deck size for Constructed from 40 to 60 cards?

texts:
In the beginning, Magic: the Gathering decks had to have at least 40 cards. Later, the developers changed the deckbuilding rules in two ways:

The minimum deck size went from 40 cards to 60 cards in Constructed.
You could only have up to 4 copies of each card in your deck that wasn't a basic land.

I totally understand the decision to limit you to 4 copies of any one card; this needs no explanation. However, why did they change the minimum deck size? I can find conflicted references to when it happened, but I have yet to find why it happened. So: why did it happen? What motivated Wizards of the Coast to make the change?

I'm aware there's multiple possible gameplay or sales reasons or benefits. What I am most interested in is the serious reasons that actually motivated the change, and the serious reasons why this minimum remains the case to this day and has not yet been increased or decreased in over 20 years.

Good answers to this question will demonstrate that Wizards of the Coast was and is motivated by the issues that answer describes. This is to ensure this question can have an actual demonstrably objectively correct answer, and avoid it becoming and endless list of possible reasons and impacts. A good answer must clear this bar before it also engages in speculation, and should delineate what is speculation and what is certain.


texts: Regeneration specifics: activation of the ability in combat

texts:
I'm aware of this question about regeneration, which covers almost everything about it, but the focus of that question was on instants such as Shock or Doom Blade. My question is different and wasn't answered by that post.

If I block a 5/5 creature with two 4/4 creatures that both have a regeneration ability, but I only have enough mana to regenerate one of my creatures, can I regenerate after my opponent has assigned lethal damage to one of my creatures?

Does the creature immediately die from lethal damage since I can't predict where said damage will go (and therefore can't activate the shield beforehand), or can I still regenerate it?


texts: How do two Doubling Seasons affect each other?

texts: If an effect would put one 1/1 creature token onto the battlefield, and I control two Doubling Seasons, how many tokens would be put into play? 3 or 4?


texts: What is a solid basic strategy for surviving Arkham Horror?

texts:
First, I should note I've only played Arkham Horror once in a 2 player game and loved it. I am curious if the game is even survivable, and if so, what factors contribute to that success?

I am delighted at the thought that all players eventually get devoured by the Eldar Gods, and "winning" consists of having fun and the game going a long time. Seems much like life itself, to me.

If at least one player can survive, I am guessing that several factors would help, such as:

Lots of luck
Lots of cooperation among players
Lots of players

If at least one player can survive, what other factors have you found contribute to that?


texts: Does State Parlor give bonus for dwellings added after the fact?

texts:
When the state parlor is built, and a dwelling is later added, does the player get the two food bonus?

One school of thought is that the bonus is applied only once for the parlor itself.  Another school of thought is that the bonus is applied to each dwelling once.

This has implications for the milking and weaving parlor as well.


texts: "Guilty!" is the name of this game I'm looking for?

texts:
I wanted to know if any kind of SE user is able to identify a certain board game, and to indicate if it exists, at least in its Anglo-Saxon version.
It is an investigation board game, which according to the literal English translation of the title should be called -

"Guilty!" -

since I have been told that there is a German version of this game titled: „Schuldig!“.

Obviously, it is not necessary that the exact title is this, and therefore it is good to give other indications to be able to identify this game, which has existed at least since the 1990s.

(however, for clarity, from now on if I have to call this game again during the question, I will call it as said, that is: "Guilty!", exclamation mark included)

In this 4-7 player game, very different from the famous (?) Cluedo or Orient Express -
which they have in common with "Guilty!" just having to deal with an investigation into a crime to be solved -
it is about taking part in a private investigation, but with some peculiarities.
A crime was committed, apparently without explanation. This crime is announced with a specific title, and with specific characters that are part of the story to be released.
But here's the first important difference from the other 2 games above:
- investigators have known since the beginning of the game the identity of the guilty of the crime!
In other words, simulating the typical acumen of a Poirot, rather than  Miss Marple, or Sherlock Holmes, anyway you like, each of the players already knows from the beginning which of the characters in the story killed the unfortunate victim.
The investigations in this game focus then not so much on the classic "whodunnit?", but rather on the mechanics of the crime - or the way in which a character was killed - and above all on motive - the reasons why a character made himself guilty of the crime in question.
To play this game you need a "Master": in other words, one of the players personifies the guilty party. He opens the sealed card of one of the cases to be solved, which contains the plot of the case and all the indications for its resolution, including all the testimonies of the other important characters for the story to be solved: they are friends, family, or simple acquaintances who know something important about the crime.

The player who decides to impersonate the guilty must therefore carefully read the plot of the crime, manage all the cards containing the clues necessary to solve the investigation, and provide all the answers that the characters will have to give to the investigators when they are interrogated.
The answers of the various witnesses are provided ... but based on precise criteria. There are often reasons that prevent witnesses from always answering investigators' questions truthfully, and the case provides various "verbs" - before each testimony, such as "Declare that ...", "Know that ...", or "Admits that ..." - and with which to manage the various testimonies, based on the difficulty with which they can be revealed.
At the end of the game, when most of the clues were discovered, one of the investigators may believe that he has discovered the answers to the two basic questions:
1) what reasons led the guilty to kill, or what is the motive for the crime;
2) how the guilty materially managed to commit the crime, or his mechanics.
Then, the investigator begins to tell how things went, according to him.
For example, he may say that the guilty acted in revenge against someone, and used a knife to commit the crime.

If the solution is conceptually correct, the investigator who discovered the exact development of the events wins, and in that case the plot is read to legitimize his victory.
If the solution is conceptually wrong, however, the investigator is eliminated from the game.

If only one investigator remains in play besides the Guilty, the latter is the winner of the game.

Is there anyone who knows this game and knows how to name it in English?
Thanks for your attention


texts:
In Star Wars Rebellion, the Board Game, can the empire retreat from a battle to the unrevealed rebel base?  Assume that the battle takes place adjacent to the unrevealed rebel base, there are no imperial systems adjacent to the battle site, and there are no units or loyalty of any kind on the system on which the rebel base is hidden.  Also assume that the empire is bringing ground forces with them on this retreat.

Here is how this situation happened:

As the empire, I captured a rebel turn 1.
On turn 2, I used Homing Beacon on the captured prisoner to reveal the sector of the rebel base, Planetary Conquest to conquer a planet in the sector, and then deployed two assault carriers from the build queue to this newly conquered planet.
On turn 3, the rebels attacked me with all of the ships they had, including fighters from the rebel base (which was adjacent to where I had landed).  I still had an assault carrier left after the first round of combat and decided to retreat with it and all my ground forces (an AT-AT and two Stormtroopers).  As a result of this setup, there were no adjacent imperial systems, so I was allowed to retreat to an unoccupied system, and the system containing the rebel base had no units in it nor rebel loyalty.  The planet I picked to retreat to was the planet containing the rebel base.

Is this a valid retreat, and if so, what happens?  Does it change if the rebels versus the empire initiate the combat next to the rebel base?  Does it matter that rebel units in the combat came from the rebel base?


texts: Scrabble - What if any "House Rules" work to even the playing field with more and less experienced players?

texts:
Related:What is a fair Scrabble handicap

Scrabble is a great game for competitive type A types and the learning curve is STEEP at first. Great game. Like most games, house rules vary and are fine as long as everyone agrees.

I enjoy introducing new people to the game, but it's not fun for anyone if I win the first game by 250 points. One thing I find helpful is giving everybody a list of 2 letter words. It's just not fair otherwise because of course I have them memorized, yet a newbie isn't going to know that QI and ZA are legal plays.

Assume relatively equal mastery of the English language. What else can be done to help those first few games be competitive?


texts: Is it possible for a Creature permanent to become a non-Creature permanent without losing its abliities?

texts:
The Oath of the Gatewatch release notes say the following in the section about Stone Haven Outfitter:

  In this context, “equipped creatures you control” and “equipped creature you control” refer to any creatures you control with Equipment attached to them. In the highly unusual case that Stone Haven Outfitter becomes an Equipment, the meaning of its abilities doesn’t change. The bonuses continue to refer to any equipped creature you control. They aren’t bonuses applied solely to the creature Stone Haven Outfitter is attached to.

I am trying to determine whether the highlighted case is at all possible. I know that I can turn non-Creature, non-Equipment Artifacts into Equipments with Bludgeon Brawl, and that I can turn non-Artifact permanents into Artifacts with cards like Mycosynth Lattice. So, for that highlighted case to be relevant, the only requirement is for Stone Haven Outfitters to become a non-Creature permanent. Is there any way to do that with currently existing cards?

Alternatively, is there any way for a non-Creature permanent to gain Stone Haven Outfitter's abilities?


texts: What pauper cards are legal in MTGO but not paper?

texts:
I am trying to collect most cards relevant to pauper. All cards that have ever been printed at the common level on paper are legal for pauper, except for 10 cards on the pauper ban list.

Because MTGO pauper is more popular than paper pauper, and because it is so easily available electronically, it is easy to find data and analysis on the most frequently used cards in pauper. I did this.

The problem is that there are some cards, such as Chainer's Edict, that are common on MTGO but have never been printed as paper commons. They are therefore not legal for play with paper pauper.

Is there a list maintained of cards printed at common for MTGO, but not paper? If so, please provide link. If there is no such list but it turns out to be very few cards, then the answer should contain that short list of cards, followed by "as of x date."

Note: For the exact opposite list of cards, see: What pauper cards are legal in paper but not MTGO


texts:
Player A summons Kuraz, selects 1 set card to destroy on player B's field, player B chains by activating the set card which is Trap Hole, Kuraz is destroyed, but ..

Will Trap Hole is considered "destroyed" so player B draw a card? Or it's sent to graveyard by resolving so player B doesn't draw card?


texts: Mercurial Pretender and Typhoid Rats interaction

texts:
Player A has Mercurial Pretender on the board (copied a 4/4 creature)

Player B attacks with Typhoid Rats

Player A blocks Typhoid Rats with Mercurial Pretender

Player A then pays 4 mana to "Return this creature to his owner's hand"

Player A returns Mercurial Pretender to his hand, then says Typhoid Rats dies and goes to graveyard.

Player B thinks that player A cannot both successfully block and return Mercurial Pretender to his hand, considering Typhoid Rats Deathtouch ability.

Who is right?


texts: Does a single 5-color card satisfy Spirit of Resistance?

texts:
Does Spirit of Resistance require you to have one card of each color or does a single card with all 5 colors satisfy its requirement?

Oracle Text:

  As long as you control a permanent of each color, prevent all damage that would be dealt to you.


texts: Does the attack or defender decide the order of damage assignment to blockers?

texts:
I read from the comprehensive rules guide that there is a damage assignment order, but I've always played the game as if there was a blocking order. Here is the relevant text:

  509.2. Second, for each attacking creature that's become blocked, the active player announces that creature's damage assignment order, which
  consists of the creatures blocking it in an order of that player's
  choice. (During the combat damage step, an attacking creature can't
  assign combat damage to a creature that's blocking it unless each
  creature ahead of that blocking creature in its order is assigned
  lethal damage.) This turn-based action doesn't use the stack. Example:
  Vastwood Gorger is blocked by Llanowar Elves, Runeclaw Bear, and Serra
  Angel. Vastwood Gorger's controller announces the Vastwood Gorger's
  damage assignment order as Serra Angel, then Llanowar Elves, then
  Runeclaw Bear.

My interpretation of this is that I can attack with a 3/3 and the opponent can block with a 1/1 and a 4/4. I could make it deal the damage to the 1/1 first, and there is no blocking order such that the opponent can't say the 4/4 blocks first and 1/1 blocks second.

Is this accurate?


texts: In Go, Why are "High Point" Openings Seldom Seen in Modern Play?

texts:
I'm talking about opening with the "high point" of a "shimari, such as the 3-5 or 4-5 point.
The disadvantage is that it allows the opponent to enter near the corner, such as the corresponding 3-4 point. But having an "extra" move in the corner should compensate for that fact.

One thing I've noticed is that "high" and "low" playing styles alternates every decade or so. That is, "low" is all the rage for about ten years, until everyone knows how to play low, then "high" is rediscovered (after having been neglected).

Could "high" be about to be rediscovered after a period of neglect, and would this mean that we'll soon see more "high" openings, particularly by White.


texts: Order of resolution of creatures abilities triggered by combat damage

texts:
If multiple creatures that have an ability that gets triggered when the creature deals damage to an opponent, in what order should those abilities be resolved?

For example, if I attack with an Hypnotic Specter and a Guul Draz Specter and both are not blocked, should my opponent discard a card at random and then choose and discard one, or viceversa?

If my opponent has 3 cards in hand, 2 of which are bad and one is good, if he discards randomly first, he has a probability of 1/3 to discard the good card, and if he chooses first he has a probability of 1/2 to discard the good card, so I think that in this case the order does matter...

Maybe I'm just overthinking :)


texts: How do you play Scrapheap Scrounger's ability?

texts:
Scrapheap Scrounger has an ability that allows you to return it from the graveyard to the battlefield. However, it doesn't say you can play this ability while the card is in the graveyard. I am trying to figure out the order of effects that would let me use this.

I assume that the idea is you can play it in response an effect that would destroy it or otherwise send it to the graveyard. But, wouldn't the Scrounger's ability then resolve first, at which point the card is still a creature on the battlefield and not a card in the graveyard? Then whatever effect is about to kill it would resolve and kill it? Doesn't that even apply to dying from attack damage?


texts: In Robinson Crusoe, once you build the brick, what happens to it?

texts: As I understand it, the brick increases the palisade level by 1 when it is built. Then what? Do you discard the brick? Turn it over and can build it again? Get a permanent +1?


texts: Aligned Hedron Network and Ulamog's Despoiler

texts:
If I was to use Aligned Hedron Network against an Eldrazi deck to exile big creatures, am I then able to send these creatures to the graveyard with the likes of Ulamog Despoiler to give him the 4 +1/+1 counters? I'm not sure if the cards exiled this way can be targeted by these types of abilities...

If this works and my Aligned Hedron Network was to be destroyed afterwards, the creatures would not return from Exile as they were placed in the graveyard, Correct?


texts: Does destroying a server mean the run is unsuccessful?

texts:
Maybe I'm missing this from somewhere, but a situation came up in a recent game that I need clarification on.

The runner plays Dirty Laundry on a remote server with no ICE and only one card installed in the server.
The corp, before the runner can declare the run successful, rezzes that card.  That card is Jackson Howard.
The corp trashes and removes Jackson Howard from the game, using his ability.

At this point, what happens to the run the runner was on?  The server is technically destroyed.  I get it that the runner can't access any cards at that point, since there is nothing else in the server.  But when is the server considered 'destroyed'?  Immediately after Jackson is trashed?  Or does the runner get to finish their turn, access all the cards in the server (which is 0), and consider it a successful run?  This has implications for run cards, obviously, but it also has implications for cards like John Masanori.  If John gives you a tag on your first unsuccessful run, this is an easy way to tag a runner with their own cards.


texts: How can I tell the difference between early Magic: The Gathering card editions?

texts: I have a few Magic: The Gathering cards whose editions I'm having trouble identifying. They are obviously from either Alpha or Beta, since they have black borders and the same design as the Unlimited edition, but how can I distinguish between both editions?


texts: What is the correct opening move in mancala when you go first in a 6 hole per side board?

texts:
Obviously the first thing you want to do is get the bonus turn. But I'm confused after that. You don't want to do your 4th hole from the left because that would allow your opponent to get 2 bonus moves. I also imagine you wouldn't want to do either of your 2 on the far left because you could use those for captures or maybe extra moves later. I'm assuming you would probably choose the 5th hole from the left as your last hole is much harder to capture and better to use for around the board captures.

Is my logic anywhere near correct? What is the preferred opening in Mancala to maximize your chance of winning?


texts: Is it required to reconnect a path that has been disrupted by a rock-fall before adding onto the end of the path in Saboteur?

texts: Does the gap created by a rock-fall have to be replaced to make a continuous path before additional cards can be added on to the disconnected portion of a path? Or can you continue to extend the disconnected path in the hopes of filling in the missing link on a later turn or allowing one of your teammates to potentially fill in the gap?


texts: Dominion: How to Deal With a Board Filled With Terminal Actions

texts:
My hardest games are where the board is filled with terminal actions.  When you have a board where 10 out of 10 actions are terminal actions, some of which are attack cards, or there is one card that has a plus card and plus action, but may not be the most appealing to chain with, I'm not sure what a good strategy is here.

It seems like it may be beneficial to go with a 2 or 3 to 1 coin to action, does that make sense?


texts: How is the cost of landing on a property with x houses determined?

texts: I’m trying to make a digital version of Monopoly, and it would be easiest for me if I could use the base rent of a property to determine the rent with any number of houses. Is there a formula/equation that can be used to do so?


texts: Does Neutron Shark cause me to discard, even after destroying itself?

texts: If Neutron Shark destroys itself due to its own Play/Fight/Reap effect, how much more of its effect resolves? Does it just stop? Does it discard, then stop? Or can it even repeat after it’s destroyed?


texts: Klondike Solitaire - moving partial sequences between columns

texts:
You'd think all the rules for this game would be well established but I have a question about the movement of partial sequences between columns in the tableau. Lets say I have two columns with the values:
7C, 6H, 5C, 4D and 4H, 3C, 2D

I want to get the 4H and move it to a foundation pile so I take the 3C, 2D and move them onto the 4D of the first column. I've always played this way and I've yet to find a computer version that doesn't allow it but is that how it is supposed to work?

The Microsoft help says - "You can also move sequentially organized runs of cards between columns. Just click the deepest card in the run and drag them all to another column." So I have to wonder if deepest means you can only move the entire sequence or just the deepest desired card...

Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience actually says "If there be more than one card at the bottom of a row, all must be moved together or not at all." (where row means column)

http://www.bicyclecards.com/card-games/rule/klondike says "If more than one card is face up on a tableau pile, all such cards must be moved as a unit."

Solitaire and Patience By George Hapgood 1920 - "Any number of cards, provided that they form a complete sequence of alternating colors, may be transferred to the opposite colored card of the next higher rank, but parts of sequences may not be moved."

Patience : a series of games with cards 3rd Edition by Ednah Dow Littlehale Cheney, Copyright 1894, Published 1895 by Lee and Shepard in Boston
Appears as Triangle but only allows one card to be moved at a time - "You cannot (as in Fooliana) change more than once card from one line to another at once;". This version of Triangle allows complete access to the stock. A 2 deck version appears under the name Staircase. Staircase allows any number of cards in a sequence to be moved. The 2nd edition in 1875 did not include Triangle. The 3rd edition notes that the previous edition contained only one game, Brunette and Blonde, that had an alternating color marriage rule.

Mary Whitmore Jones's third series of collected Patience games from 1894 says "a sequence of cards may be lifted bodily and transferred to where it fits".

Games of Patience by Tarbart (1901) states says about Demon (1 deck Klondike) "A sequence of cards may be played bodily at any time..." but says about Triangle (2 deck Klondike) "A sequence of cards, or any portion of a sequence, may be played bodily at any time..."

Foster's Complete Hoyle - 1909
"If there is more than one card face up on any pile, they must be moved together or not at all."

Hoyle's Games - 1914
No partial movement - "In this game the player is not allowed to borrow a card from one file unless it is the only card on that file, face up, or unless he can take all the cards that are face up together."
This book claims that Klondike is the 4 pile version (now commonly known as Canfield or Demon) was the original form and what we know as Klondike is a simplified form which is called "Seven-Card Klondike" in this book.

Do you ever play where you can NOT move partial sequences around on the tableau? I know there are lots of variations - redeals, draw 3 vs 1, reuse foundation cards, etc but I haven't seen partial/full sequence movement categorized as a variation.


texts: Can you stop all attacks with Pramikon and Helm of the host?

texts: If I have Pramikon, Sky Rampart out and attach a Helm of the Host to it, would it allow a new copy to enter, allowing me to choose the opposite direction from my original Pramikon? If so would that mean that no one can conduct any attacks in any direction?


texts: In UNO with card stacking rules, can you stack the opponents final card?

texts:
While playing UNO in the end only two players were left.
Player 1 had five cards and player 2 had two cards (both of them a 'Draw 2').

Player 2 puts down the first 'Draw 2' card, and calls UNO.
Player 1 stacks on it a 'Draw 2' card.
Player 2 puts down his last card that is a 'Draw 2'.
Player 1 again stacks on it a 'Draw 2' card.

Does that last 'Draw 2' apply to player 2 or has he won?


texts: What's the deal with the new Wastes land and the diamond symbol on it?

texts:
One of the cards revealed for Oath of the Gatewatch is the basic land Wastes with a new diamond symbol instead of one of the existing mana symbols. We also saw Kozilek, the Great Distortion, which has two of that new symbol in the cost.

What does the symbol represent? How does it work? Is it a color? Can I create it with an effect that says "add one mana of any color to your mana pool"? Will this symbol be errata'd onto any existing cards?

What does Wastes do? Does it have any important differences from other basic lands?


texts: I want to clone Geist of Saint Traft without falling prey to the legend rule and without using Mirror Gallery. Are there any cards that allow you to copy a card's text without copying its name? I was unable to find any but might have failed to search the right wording.


texts: What happens if I lose a match due to time in a single-elimination game, but I have a Platinum Angel on the battlefield?

texts:
According to the Magic: the Gathering tournament rules, when time has been called on a game during single-elimination rounds:

  In single-elimination rounds, matches may not end in a draw. If all players have equal game wins at the end of additional turns, the player with the highest life total wins the current game. In the event all players have equal life totals (or are between games and the game wins are tied), the game/match continues with an additional state-based action: if a player does not have the highest life total, they lose the game.

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


texts: How to use the promo roles in the resistance?

texts: I got the Coup kickstarter edition, which included some promos for The Resistance - Merlin, Assassin and the Inquisitor tile.  But there are no rules for them.  I know they reimplement parts of Avalon, but I can't find the rules online for that.  How do they work?


texts: How can I collect information on all the MTG decks that have ever been played in standard/type 2?

texts:
I personally played mainly during the Onslaught block (Judgement came out around the time I started, and I quit during Mirrodin due to ravager affinity, then came back briefly during Kamigawa).

Of course, few of the decks I saw back then made it into the lower formats, and the few that did were heavily altered due to the extra cards allowed in the lower formats. There was a lot of decks back then that I thought were rather unique. Nightmare reanimator, rift slide, mirari's wake, madness, all the tribal decks (even if most of them sucked).

Of course, nobody remembers these besides those who played during Onslaught. It seems that only the stupid op decks that broke the format get remembered. Everyone knows about Tolarian Academy, Ravager Affinity, Psychatog, you get the idea.

That got me thinking, what about the decks you saw during other versions of standard/type 2? Besides psychatog and some green-red rush deck using Fires of Yavimaya, I don't know of any decks made possible by invasion. I don't know what decks Mercadian Masques gave. What decks were popular during Invasion-Odyssey (beyond the reanimator and madness decks I mentioned). I've also heard of Sliver decks from around Tempest, but I've never seen an actual Sliver deck from the time, nor do I have any idea how they actually performed in the format as it existed back then.

Is there anyone who has ever tried to compile a list of all the versions of standard that have ever existed? I hate games that are forever evolving. If you find a deck you enjoy, chances are you'll never be able to play it again once the cards it needs rotates out. And even type 1 (or vintage I think its called now) is constantly in flux due to the ever increasing power of newer cards.

As for why I want to know this? I was thinking of using pygame to make my own card game that allows you to play with decks that work like the ones I liked (though not with the exact same cards, and not all of the decks would even be based on MTG decks). I know of the decks that were fun in my time, but are there any other interesting decks that have existed in standard either before or after I played?


texts: What happens in the case of multiple land animation effects?

texts:
Suppose I have Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper, and I cast an instant and use the trigger to put 3 counters on a Celestial Colonnade, turning it into a 3/3 colorless Elemental with haste.

Now suppose I activate Celestial Colonnade. What happens? My assumption is that it becomes a 7/7 white and blue Elemental with haste, vigilance and flying until end of turn, and then it goes back to being a colorless 3/3 with haste. Is this correct?


texts: Responding to planeswalker with doubling season in play

texts:
If I had Doubling Season in play, then I cast any planeswalker, would my opponent be able to destroy it with Hero's Downfall or exile it with Anguished Unmaking before I am able to activate any of its loyalty abilities?

I know the way priority typically works: you can activate the ability first, but since doubling season is a trigger, I am curious if my opponent could cast an instant while it is on the stack or if the planeswalker would be doubled as it entered, and then my opponent could not respond before I am able to activate it.


texts: Dominion - bold and regular type: which action comes first?

texts:
So, my son, my wife, and I play regularly. I've read the instructions thoroughly, and we have been playing for a while both ways, but I would like to see if someone can help figure this out once and for all.

The rules state that when you play an action card you go from top to bottom. We've done that, and still come across cards which bring up the issue of which order to do things in. Do you always do the bold before the regular print, or do you do the regular print, and then the bold? I get that you accumulate a pool of actions, and can use those whenever, and most of the time it makes sense to do the bold first regardless, but certain cards still cause issues.

For instance: Intrigue card - Shanty Town has +2 actions, in regular type is: reveal your hand. If you have no action cards in hand, +2 cards.

I have 1 action card in hand after playing the Shanty Town. Do I reveal my hand before or after playing the other action card in hand?


texts: In Catan, should development cards be drawn one at a time?

texts: In Catan, multiple actions can be taken per turn, so multiple development cards can be drawn. However, I realized that if somebody has 9 VPs and the draw 2 development cards, they could get 11 VPs, but in tournament play where amount of VPs matter, drawing extra VPs would help. But technically, the person would have after drawing only 1 VP card, so the 2nd one was basically drawn after winning the game, which would be technically spending cards and getting an extra victory point after the game was won, so, my question is, should Development card be drawn one at a time to stop extra VPs?


texts: How does the example of rule 601.2h work?

texts:
I'm having trouble understanding the example of rule 602.1h in the Magic Comprehensive Rules.

  601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. Partial payments are not allowed. Unpayable costs can’t be paid.

  Example: You cast Altar’s Reap, which costs {1}{B} and has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. You sacrifice Thunderscape Familiar, whose effect makes your black spells cost {1} less to cast. Because a spell’s total cost is “locked in” before payments are actually made, you pay {B}, not {1}{B}, even though you’re sacrificing the Familiar.

If the costs are locked in before the sacrifice lowers them, why does it say only {B} is payed instead of {1}{B}? Should it not be the other way around?

The language ("even though...") also seems to suggest the costs were mistakenly exchanged.


texts: Can I summon figures into a non-adjacent region?

texts:
While reading the rules for Chaos in the Old World, I came across the following paragraph on page 12 under the Summoning Follower Figures under the Summoning Phase section:

Note that the placing player may count a given region as occupied by his own figure if he chose the last figure in that region to summon. For example, a player who picks up his last figure in Norsca in order to summon it to a different location may summon that figure to Troll Country, even if he has no figures in Troll Country or in any regions adjacent to Troll Country.

On the surface, this is rule is in place simply to allow you to 'move' a unit across the board so you can summon in regions you actually want to (if, for instance, there is a particularly debilitating Old World card in play that refuses to fall off the track). However, the first sentence caught my attention and got me thinking.

Note that the placing player may count a given region as occupied by his own figure if he chose the last figure in that region to summon.

Does this allow for more advanced play tactics? For instance, would the following play (in bold) be legal?

Khorne has one Bloodsworn in Norsca, but no units in Troll Country or Kislev

Khorne summons a Bloodsworn from Norsca into the Empire.
Nurgle summons a Plaguebearer into Kislev.
Tzeentch plays a Chaos Card in Tilea.
Slaanesh plays a Chaos Card in The Border Princes.
Khorne summons a Bloodletter into Troll Country.

My reasoning for believing this is legal is because Khorne was the last one to summon in Norsca - and no one else summoned into or out of Norsca during that cycle of summoning - Norsca is still counted as 'occupied by Khorne'; and therefore Khorne can summon a Bloodletter into Troll Country, as it is adjacent to a region he controls. Had another player summoned a unit into Norsca after Khorne removed his Bloodsworn, this play would not have been possible.

If this is a legal play, it leads to some follow-up questions:

If the Summoning Phase had ended with Slaanesh, would Khorne be able to summon his Bloodletter in the Summoning Phase of the next round?
If Tzeentch had played his Chaos Card in Norsca instead of Tilea, would Khorne still have been able to summon his Bloodletter?

Note that the synonymous nature of "move","place" and "summon" only applies to figures and not Chaos Cards.(Emphasis mine)

To "summon" a figure, "place" a figure or even "move" a figure are all equivalent terms.

While Chaos cards are "placed" or "played", the above rule does not seem like it applies to them as it is found under the Summoning Follower Figures section, not the Playing Chaos Cards section or even the general description of the Summoning Phase.


texts: Does Courser of the Kruphix's ability play multiple land cards?

texts:
Courser of Kruphix says:

  Play with the top card of your library revealed.
  You may play the top card of your library if it's a land card.
  Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life.

Does this mean if the top cards in my deck are a series of land cards they will all be played as they are revealed or is it still limited by the one land per turn rule?


texts: Can you select role which gives you money but you can't use it in Puerto Rico?

texts: I have a situation where a player chooses the Trader because it has 5 coins even though he has nothing to sell in the trading house. Can he do it?


texts: Is K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7 a valid hand in Dou Dizhu (aka "Fighting The Landlord")?

texts:
QUESTION

In dou dizhu, is K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7 assumed to be a standard hand type?

BACKGROUND

I understand the '飞机带小翼' (i.e. "airplane with small wings", or consecutive triplets with added cards, for example: K-K-K-A-A-A-4-7 ) hand type to be a valid hand by way of the Pagat rules and by Wikipedia.

Wikipedia also refers to a hand type called '航天飞机带小翼', or "space shuttle with small wings", which consists of consecutive quads with added cards (e.g. K-K-K-K-A-A-A-A-4-7).  I'm not sure where to find an official, standardized set of rules for dou dizhu because I don't speak Chinese, so I'm trying to figure out if the quads thing is a regional variant.


texts: Combat super crisis cards during final jump in the Pegasus expansion

texts: Can a combat super crisis card that has a civilian ship in its set-up evacuate a prepared civilian ship from the New Caprica board onto space around the Galactica?


texts: Betrayal at House on the Hill - Mystic Elevator

texts: We did not see anything about this in this rules, but we encountered a situation where the monster that our traitor was controlling entered the mystic elevator. Our only remaining hero was wearing armor that was slowing her down, meaning she had a speed of one. At this point, the monster could effectively use the mystic elevator over and over, leaving the hero unable to catch up and fight the monster. Are there rules we missed that would prevent this situation (only using the elevator once maybe?) or is this just a case of "don't be an idiot and ruin the game for everyone else"?


texts: Creatures Dying At Same Time Controller Loses

texts:
Player A, B, and C are in a Multiplayer Game. It is player A's turn.

Player A has: Sword of Vengeance attached to Kobolds of Kher Keep, a Mystic Crusader, and 1 life.

Player B has:  Memnite, a tapped Darksteel Colossus and 1 life

Player C has:  Blood Artist enchanted with Rancor and 2 life.

No one has a hand, graveyard or any lands.

Player A attacks Player B with the Kobolds and he attacks player C with the Mystic. Player B blocks with the Memnite and takes 1 damage in the first strike step. Does Player C's Blood Artist trigger from the memnite's death, allowing Player C to win by targeting Player A with the ability. Or does memnite never make it to the graveyard due to Player B losing the game, allowing Player A to win when the Mystic deals combat damage?


texts: Trader vs Torturer, where does the Silver go?

texts: My opponent plays a Torturer. I have a Trader in hand. I choose to gain a Curse and then reveal the Trader and gain a Silver instead. Does the Silver go to my hand like the Curse would have?


texts: Can I use a reaction card in response to Minion being used for +2 coins?

texts: Can a player reveal a Reaction card, such as "Secret Chamber", in response to the Minion action, even if the player who played the Minion chooses the +2$ option?


texts: What reasons would a designer want to employ squares over hexes in a battle simulation game?

texts:
In many games I have played, initial editions (eg the 1960s version of Midway) use squares for their boards.

Often, later editions (eg the 1990s edition of Midway) change to a hex pattern.

Hexes get around awkward movement rules (like being able to move 14 squares, or 10 on the diagonal (10 / sqrt of 2 is very close to 14)), but I wonder when squares would give a better feel for the environment?

In Clue it makes sense because they represent tiles in the hallways (and while you can be whisked around the house by being involved in an accusation or via tunnels, the hallways analogy makes sense). However, in a simulation game, I cannot see how squares could be useful.

When are they a good mechanic in simulation game design?


texts: Why doesn't WotC use established keywords on all new cards?

texts: In War of the Spark, we have the returning mechanic of proliferate. But we also have additional returning mechanics that don't use the associated keywords, namely Evolution Sage with landfall. This seems to happen a few times per set, where instead of printing the keyword they decide to explain the full mechanic on new cards. Is there a reason that WotC doesn't use established keywords with cards that use the associated mechanic?


texts: What are some methods for delivering questions to players?

texts:
I am design several games for students. The purpose of these games is to encourage the students to discuss various topics related to their lessons during their study hall period or at home. If the games are interesting enough, this motivates them to do the work without outside help.

I am not so familiar with games and only know of two ways to deliver questions to players:

Players land on a space and the space contains the question.
Players draw a card and the card contains the question.

Are there any other types of game mechanisms that can deliver questions for players to discuss?


texts: I am thinking about getting into magic. I want to play in the standard format. The decks I want to play are either mono black devotion or mono blue devotion. My question is with the rotations how long will these decks be playable? I don't want to spend the money and then have a deck I can't play.


texts: What if multiple players have the same hand via using all the shared cards?

texts:
I'm trying to learn the basics of poker, and I encountered this bit of info:

  Sometimes the best texas hold em hand is made by the five shared cards on their own. If they were 10-10-10-10-A and you had 9-9 your hole cards would not play as there is a four-of-a-kind of higher value already showing.

I am unclear about this. What if every player chooses 10-10-10-10 as their hand, since they're shared cards? Who wins?


texts: Narset, Parter of Veils interaction with Matter Reshaper

texts: If I have Narset, Parter of Veils on the battlefield and I block Matter Reshaper with Snapcaster Mage when it attacks, both creatures die. But does the opponent get to reveal a card and put it on the battlefield or their hand. I presume they can because the card text on Matter Reshaper says reveal a card not draw a card. Is this correct? Thanks in advance


texts: Can you use an ability as you put the card on the stack?

texts:
If I play Elixir Of Immortality for example, or any card with an ability, when it goes on the stack, can I activate its abilities before my opponent can respond?

And if so, if he counters the card after I use its ability, does the ability trigger?


texts: Does die unfairness visibly influence real-world games?

texts:
I'm thinking about designing some custom dice, and the easiest way to prototype would just be to put stickers/paint on wooden cubes.

Does their fairness (clearly imperfect, especially so with artisanal dice) actually come up in real life, or is die fairness more of a theoretical problem? How can I roll dice so that their "unfairness" is dampened?

How often have you noticed a die being unfair in real life?


texts: What is the minimum grid size to fit all Blokus tiles for two players?

texts:
Rules:

Each player has the twelve pentominoes, five tetrominoes, two trominoes, one domino, and lone square. These may be flipped and rotated in any manner.
The board on which these are to be placed is square.
A player’s first piece starts in any one corner of the board.
All subsequent pieces must be placed such that all of one player’s pieces are touching only at the corners.
There are no restrictions on how one player’s pieces may touch another player’s.

In the base game, the goal is to place as many of your pieces as possible while minimizing the amount of pieces your opponents can play. But here I am curious about a different question: what is the minimum-sized board needed to contain all pieces from exactly two players?

Each player’s pieces add up to 89 squares, so two players jointly have 178 squares to place. In theory, then, the minimum sized board must be the smallest square at least as large as this number, 14x14=196. However, because the pieces are rigid and because there are restrictions on how pieces may be placed, it’s surprisingly difficult to try to make this work.

In practice, is a 14x14 board sufficient to place all tiles of two players, given these rules? If not, what is the minimum?

Does this generalize to n players, that the smallest square larger than 89n, or the second-smallest or whatever, is sufficient to contain all of their pieces? (For example, this page provides a 20x20 solution for four players, but is 19x19 sufficient? Is it consistent that the theoretical minimum isn’t sufficient, or is sufficient?)


texts: Have recent changes in bidding priorities changed the value of finesses?

texts:
I was taught to "bid to make." That is, it would take 26 points to bid a game that was at least a 2 to 1 favorite to make. (I'd bid game with 24-25 only with "something extra" such as a solid five card suit that would take a disproportionate number of tricks.) Under these cirumstances, I would shun finesses (a 50-50 proposition) except as a last resort, because they "average down" my theoretical  "67%" chances. Instead, I would look for an endplay, squeeze, or maybe a combination play (e.g. a drop play for 3-3 distribution in a key suit followed by a finesse.))

The IMP scoring table allows bidders to come out ahead if they make as many as 40% of the game contracts they bid. Hence, many players will now bid a speculative game with 22-24 points (instead of 26). More to the point, this result is occurring more frequently because of pre-emptive and "competitive" bidding, where the slightly stronger partnership is pushed into a game contract, instead of being allowed to stop at the three level. In this situation, a 50-50 shot at a successful finesse will "average up" their chances.

Do good players play finesses more frequently to "shorten" the odds when they are in long odds contracts with less than 25-26 points? In finance terms, do good players regard finesses as "dilutive" when they have 26+ points and "accretive" when they have 22?


texts: In Indian-Rummy, what are the Hands that should be drop before the first turn?

texts:
In Indian-rummy (Paplu), players can drop out before their first turn in order to cut their loss when getting a bad starting hand.  Dropping out before the first turn cost just 10 points (instead of maximum loss of 80).
My question is, which hands should be dropped out? What are the hands that almost every player would drop?

Is it any hand without a joker or a meld?
hands with score higher than some threshold?
If that answer depends on several parameters, then what are those parameters?


texts: In Dominion, when it says reveal a card, who must I reveal it to?

texts:
The text of Bureaucrat reads:

  Gain a Silver card, put it on top of your deck. Each other player reveals a Victory card and puts it on top of his deck. (or reveals a hand with no Victory cards).

When I play the card and a player does not have any victory cards in their hand, it instructs you to reveal a hand with none. Should they only reveal their hand to me or are they required to reveal their hand to the entire group of players?


texts: Can Terminators Assault Through a Gate of Infinity?

texts: Suppose I have a unit of assault Terminators on the board, and they are joined to a Librarian who has the Gate of Infinity power.  Can he, in the movement step, use the power to deepstrike the squad, and then, in the assault step, can that squad assault as normal?


texts: How long does it take to play Diplomacy?

texts:
I guess this varies a lot from game to game, but I've seen everything from 120 to 360 minutes, and wondered where the average lies.

If it's closer to 360, I don't think I will bother to buy it. I know how rarely Axis & Allies is taken out of its box...


texts: Can I turn a manifested card face up during the declare blockers step?

texts: If I attack with a manifested (face down) card and my opponent declares blockers, is priority then passed to me so I can turn it face up for its mana cost, or must I turn it up after declaring attackers?


texts: If I'm controlling an opponent's turn, do I get to chose where their commander goes?

texts: While I'm controlling my opponent's turn, and, say, their commander dies in combat... do I get to choose whether or not their commander goes to the command zone? I'm assuming 'yes', as it is at the choice of its owner, and I'm currently making decisions for the owner.


texts: Is the Native discarded when moving onto a Base Camp?

texts:
In The Quest for El Dorado, do you discard the Native card --

  The Native knows the lay of the land and always lets you move one
  space when played. Ignore that space’s requirements and just place
  your piece on it. The Native can also tear down blockades, but you
  can’t use it to move to an occupied space or onto a mountain space.

-- when moving onto a Base Camp, or does the Native card also ignore the Base Camp requirement?

  Cards you play to move onto a base camp space aren’t discarded.
  Instead, they are completely removed from the game. They won’t be used
  again this game.


texts: This meeple was found at a bar where board games are often played, but nobody could identify what game it was from. It appears similar to a standard meeple, but with a flat bottom (rather than two separated legs) and a diagonal "hat". Any idea what game it could have come from?


texts: Does anyone know the official rules for Destruct 3?

texts: We've got our hands on an old Destruct 3 game that came without any rules.  We contacted the makers (Uncle Skunkle), but oddly enough, they wouldn't send us the rules without documentation of where we got the game. We've made up some rules of our own, but they're not entirely satisfying.  Anyone know the real rules, or where we can get them without any paperwork?


texts: Among good players, should one base one's play on the assumption that the opponents will play deceptively?

texts:
Here is another Frank Stewart example. I am showing only the N-S hands since this is a declarer problem.

N-S vulnerable, the bidding could have been 1NT-3NT; E/W pass throughout (but the actual N-S bid 1c and 1d before going into NT).

The  opening lead was the Jack of spades. Declarer had five tricks in the majors, and needed four more from the minors.

K4
AJ7
KJ873
J42

A6
KQ8
T95
AQ763

My choice of play is to win in the dummy, lead the jack of clubs and let it ride, then finesse to the AQ of clubs. This wins the four needed tricks when clubs are split 3-2, and also when the clubs are 4-1 with the king in East.

Declarer chose to win in hand, and finesse for three diamond tricks, in addition to the ace of clubs. This play works best when West has the diamond queen (it doesn't matter who has the ace). It also has "additional equity" when East has the queen and plays it on the first trick. Then South will revert to the club finesse (which wins as the cards lie).

But in the problem, one of two Easts played the ace of diamonds on the first finesse, concealing his Qx. South lost time by taking the "marked" finesse and lost the "race" for tricks.

Questions:

Against a good player who will routinely false card, should I train myself to ignore potentially false signals, or at least limit them to the values from the principle of "restricted choice"?
Should I consider using a "mixed" strategy against a good player, randomly "observing" him at some times, and sometimes getting "caught," while ignoring him at other times and not reacting?
Should Stewart have pointed out that the club finesse was the superior play? (I didn't get that message from the  article but believe this to be the case.)


texts: When you choose to engage an enemy, do they engage you too?

texts:
If I'm engaging an enemy in the staging area that has an action that happens when they engage me, does that action occur when I engage them instead?

For example, if I engage Hummerhorns before my Threat hits 40 and they engage me, do i still have to deal 5 damage to one of my heroes?


texts: What are the chances of shooting the moon in Hearts?

texts:
In Hearts, we just want to avoid getting any heart card or the Queen of Spades. But if we can get all 14 cards, we shoot the moon and everybody else gets 26 points.

So, given a fair shuffle, what's the chance that we can actually get a shot to the moon?

There must be some probability, because if in a draw, we get 1 Ace of Clubs, and the hearts from 3 through Ace, we know there is no possible configuration where we'll ever NOT shoot the moon.

Whereas, if we get ALL the diamonds, we are doomed to "lose" every hand, because all our cards will always be different in suit from the first card. There is no possible configuration where we can shoot the moon.

If nobody can give me a number, what about a process of getting to this number? I imagine it has something to do with expected values, but I'm not very sure. But, it is an interesting question. I've managed to play a "perfect" game where I never took a single point, and some games where I've shot the moon once or twice, but never a game where I shot the moon 4 times in a row to win. Is this poor strategy, or a fault of bad luck?


texts: Has there ever been a female world chess champion (or, before the title existed, any woman who was widely regarded as the best chess player in the community or region)?


texts: Does Mogg Sentry gain +2/+2 for each spell?

texts: I was playing with a friend who has Mogg Sentry on the field I then play Champion of the Parish and Vexing Devil.  Does Mogg Sentry become a 5/5 creature until end of turn or is it just a 3/3?


texts: Which US states have the highest Magic: the Gathering participation?

texts:
How can I determine which US states have the highest Magic: the Gathering participation? To make the question less subjective, we'll define participation as any of the following:

Number of Friday Night Magic participants
Number of [some major series of tournaments] participants
Total amount of Magic: the Gathering product sales

Do any of the popular tournament organizers report on stuff like this? Does Wizards report on the amount of product sold per state, or the number of FNM participants per state? Is there a centralized place where I can find turnouts for Grand Prixs or Star City Open tournaments? Just to be clear, these are supplementary questions, and I am not expecting an answer to all of them.

I ask this question because last weekend was States. I think that the players in states with high participation are likely to play better decks than players from other states. This may be a poor way to gauge deck quality, but for a player who wants to be on the bleeding edge of meta (sometimes), I think it is at least better than using decklists from tournaments two weekends ago.

At least in Texas, the number of players allowed at States was capped. I'm not sure if the cap is the same in every state, or whether the cap simply depended on the venue that was available, or whether the cap was predetermined based on a history of participation in that state.

When I click on any of the States events on starcitygames.com, I can view the top eight decklists for that area. However, there is no indicator that I can find of the total number of players in that event. I also tried to Google average Grand Prix turnout by state, and could only find scattered articles about record turnouts in various locations across various years.


texts:
We played Seasons for the first time and a player got the Die of Malice:

  instead of performing the action(s) of your season die, reroll it; perform the new action(s) of the die roll and gain 2 crystals

The card does not seem to have any activation cost (it is written: 0 crystal).

Does this mean this card can be activated every turn, making sure the player will gain 2 crystals each time?

This seems too powerful for such a cheap card, especially when combined to the Dragon soul (-1 crystal and you can reuse the Die of Malice, giving 2 more crystals).

Thanks for your answers, cheers!


texts: What happens if the Queen and the striker are pocketed together and there are no other pieces on the board?

texts:
The case seems a bit complicated. The Queen is the only piece remaining on the board. All Men are pocketed. Both the Queen and the striker got pocketed in the same pot. What should happen then?

Should the player return a Man? If he returns one, should he immediately take a turn and strike the returned Man to try to cover the Queen? Or should he return the Queen anyway?


texts: Can the Crate of Alcohol be played if the wind isn't favorable?

texts:
In Mad Zeppelin, you're a Traitor trying to throw cargo off of the airship Nostria to your black-market compatriots on the ground. At the beginning of the turn, the current first player throws three dice, which shows what color of Traitors can throw cargo overboard.  (The idea is that the dice show the "wind direction," which would be more plausible if the winds weren't capable of blowing north, south, and west at the same time.) So, on any given turn, a Traitor might or might not be able to throw cargo overboard, depending on the colors showing on the dice.

This is well and good until you get to the Crate of Alcohol cargo card; it says that "This card is not thrown overboard." Does that mean that a Traitor can play the Crate of Alcohol even if the wind isn't in their favor? The rules themselves assume that all cargo cards are "thrown overboard," so it's a bit confusing.

A second thought: if playing the Crate of Alcohol doesn't count as being thrown overboard, does that mean you can also play a second cargo card during that Traitor's turn?


texts: What would happen if I used regeneration on a creature that was the target of Annihilating Fire?

texts:
For example, what would happen if a freshly cast Lotleth Troll were to be regenerated in response to Annihilating Fire?

My hypothesis is that it depends on whose turn it is. The regeneration being essentially a replacement effect, when two replacement effects were to be applied simultaneously, they are to be chosen in APNAP order. Is this correct?

I haven't thought this through to the end, though, so I'm not sure what would happen in the end.


texts: Should "standard errata" be applied to silver-bordered cards?

texts:
Should players play cards from the Un-Sets as they stand, or should errata be applied to remain consistent with rules and Oracle updates? In the case that the general question is too broad, opinion-based, or otherwise not a suitable question for Stack, I provide the following, much more specific, question.

Example

Desert Twister, Northern Paladin, Red Elemental Blast, and many other tournament legal cards received similar errata that changed the phrase "card in play" to "permanent". The Cheese Stands Alone did not receive this errata, and so still contains the phrase "If you control no cards in play". How should the card play?

Play the card as if the Oracle text were "If you control no permanents ..."
Play the card as it stands. The state-based triggered ability of Cheese contains the word "card", so rule 108.2a applies. It reads, "In the text of spells or abilities, the term "card" is used only to refer to a card that's not on the battlefield or on the stack". This means that an Elvish Mystic on the battlefield is not a card.
Play the card as it stands, but ignore rule 108.2a and instead interpret "card" to mean something totally different, perhaps because of

old rules text, an unofficial ruling from a judge, an article by Wizards staff, etc., or
because "card in play" means something different than "card"

Which situation is correct? Feel free to wander outside of my three proposed situations. I am by no means claiming that any of them are correct. The rules appear to point to the second option, but the result - The Cheese Stands Alone can win without standing alone - seems odd.


texts: Is it possible to play two cards in the same field on the first step of a turn in Bohnanza ?

texts:
Bohnanza Wikipedia is a card game where the goal for the player is to plant the maximum of beans in its two fields.

During the first step of a player's turn, it is possible to play the two first cards of his hand.

Is it possible to plant the two cards in the same field in order to get rid of these two cards without touching the second field ?
(I mean, you plant the first bean in the field that you harvest immediately to be able to plant another type of bean in it.)


texts: Order of players actions in Mansion of Madness 2nd edition

texts:
When player begins his turn, can he pause after first action to allow doing something to other players? Example:

Player 1: open door
Player 2: walk into new room
Player 1: do some other action

Is it correct? Or "Player 1" have to make 2 actions before any other players can do something?


texts: I Don't Understand Scab-Clan Charger's Ability

texts:
I have Scab-Clan Charger and I don't understand the following:

  Discard Scab-Clan Charger: Target attacking creature gets +2/+4 until
  end of turn

Alright, so the discard makes sense.  What is "Target attacking creature"?


texts: Game (like tic-tac-toe, but with a hole in the middle) where players have to score by getting temples on tiles?

texts:
The game has eight square pieces placed in a 3x3 array with the middle empty. Think tic-tac-toe but with a hole in the middle.

Each of the eight tiles has a matrix of squares on it, around 8x8 or maybe 10x10.

Each square is water, woods, mountains, vulcanos, large/small temples and, possibly something else too.

During the game play, each of the 8 tiles can be rotated or moved.

The aim of the game is to score by getting many temples, getting temples on many tiles etc.

Each player places his minions along a line they choose, creating a series of dudes, like a nomad clam traveling.

What is the name of the game? Where can I look to find out, should nobody here recognize it?


texts: What are the dragon die sides in Vast the Crystal Caverns?

texts:
What are the dragon die sides in Vast the Crystal Caverns and how are they arranged?
I have bought the game but the die is missing(and the figure holders but they are not that important) so I want to make my own die but do not know the side and how they are arranged.

Proof that I am not just trying to make the game without buying it:


texts: Catacombs: Chain Shot Modifier and misses

texts:
As per the rules of Catacombs 3rd Ed.:

  The chain shot modifier indicates tha the same target cannot be damaged consecutively in a shot sequence [...]. If the same target is hit twice consecutively, damage that would have been inflicted by the second hit is ignored.

Does a miss in a shot sequence count as a "change of target" (can't find a better wording)?

Let's say Xoric the Barbarian plays the Berserker Battle Axe Item card:

  (Melee) > (Melee) > (Melee) > (Melee)

Xoric uses the first (Melee) to hit a Minotaur (flipping it over) then aim a Zombie with his second one but misses it. Can he use his third (Melee) to kill the Minotaur he hit in the first shot?


texts: Can I chose to bring a shockland untapped into play when I tutor it with an effect that brings a land tapped into play

texts: One of my Flagstones of Trokair is dying and I search for an Godless Shrine. Does the Godless Shrine enters play untapped when I pay the 2 life?


texts: How does Emissary of Grudges work exactly?

texts:
I have Emissary of Grudges in my deck and I was wondering if I use it correctly. In exemple:

I play Emissary of Grudges and I secretly choose player 2.

Player 2's turn. He casts Clone and targets me with its ability:

  You may have Clone enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature on the battlefield.

First question: Can I use Emissary of Grudges's ability as an instant?

If so, can I "cancel" Clone's ability, and use it myself on anyone?

In example, could I choose to target Player 3? Or am I forced to use it on its owner?

Last question: if Emissary of Grudges leaves the battlefield, do I keep this ability? Or do I just throw out the chosen player's name?

Thank you!