texts: Less treasure cards in Dungeon! board game

texts:
I was playing a game of Dungeon!. Sometimes when treasures are consumed by traps, there are no treasure cards but there are rooms with monsters(not yet revealed). How does that work? Does that mean there are some rooms where there are monsters but no treasure up for grabs?(That sounds a bit broken then :P )

For clarity, here are the texts from the traps:

Slide trap: Gain 1 Treasure and move to any chamber on Level 4

Cage trap: Gain 1 treasure and Roll a die. 1-3: Lose 1 turn, 4-6: Lose 2 turns

(This now goes further to my other question posted here.)

Is there a forum to post rules errata for the game?


texts: What happens to an investigator who arrives at a gate already explored by another?

texts:
Say Investigator A goes through a gate and comes back to Arkham, and Investigator B moves to that location. What happens, assuming A goes before B?

Here are some cases:

If A moves to Arkham on his movement phase, then B moves to the gate location, B can hand A an elder sign to then use to seal the gate, correct?

If A moves to Arkham on his movement phase, then sits at that location and, in a later turn, B comes to the gate to give him an elder sign but is first to act in that turn, then before A gets a chance to seal the gate, B gets drawn into the other world, correct?

It seems pretty straight-forward as long as we observe the phase to phase step-wise turns, but I wanted to be sure that such a plan, to pass items to help someone who wanted to seal a gate, would work and that care needed to be taken how and when investigators arrive at the gate location.


texts: Is mandatory to play at least one skill card in skill checks?

texts:
When discussing an answer that I provided in another question (Battlestar Galactica: How to balance core game), the question arose of whether it is mandatory to play at least one card in skill checks. The rule book from the base game says:

  Starting with the player that is Play Skills: to the left of the current player (and ending with the current player), each player may play any number of Skill Cards from his hand facedown to the common pile.

So, what does "any number" in this context mean? I assume that 0 would not be "any number", since playing 0 cards is not playing any card at all. I saw in this question (Strategy for succeeding at Crisis skill checks) that people generally assume that 0 cards can be played, but I think there is some flaw in the statement that makes it dubious. In the Revelead Cylon case, the book is very clear and states that a Revelead can opt for not playing cards in skill checks.

In the end, what is the rule for human players? Must them play at least one card or not?


texts: If I take Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh as commander (edh or tiny), is it still my commander when it's turned to planeswalker face? If so, can it be returned to command zone when it changes zone  (hand, graveyard, exile)?


texts: What is “Pot Odds” in Poker Texas Hold'em?

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


texts: Why am I unable to draw cards in Magic 2014?

texts:
I play Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers (DotP) on Steam. I understand all of the basics except for one thing! In a recent battle, my turn started and I did not draw a card. The game went directly to my End phase. My Main and Combat phases were skipped. This happened for five or more turns in a row!

Are there any cards in Magic 2014 DotP that stop a player from drawing cards, or skip a draw step? Are there any settings that could cause my Main and Combat phases to be skipped when my hand is empty? Is this a bug?


texts: What's the difference between ante and blinds?

texts: What is the difference between an "ante" and a "blind" in poker?


texts: When my friends and I play Axis & Allies 1942 we have trouble distinguishing a couple borders along seazone 3, pictured below. In each case you can see a little sliver of land that is barely touching seazone 3, one in the UK and the other in Karelia. However, the other seazone-territory borders are pretty clearly indicated, so do we assume UK and Karelia are not intended to border seazone 3 because they are not as clear as others?


texts: In a four person game of Quoridor, can a player be forced to pass a turn?

texts:
As a follow up to my question earlier, can a player be forced to skip a turn when playing a four player game of Quoridor? The rules state that a pawn cannot jump over more than one pawn when moving, but this brings up an potential board state in which a player has no valid moves:

Suppose the turn order is Green, Red, Blue, then Yellow. Green started on the west edge, Red started on the north edge, Blue started on the east edge, and Yellow started at the south edge.

It is Blue's turn, and Yellow has already used all of its walls. Blue then traps all four pawns in the tight corridor by placing its final wall horizontally immediately south of it (noted here by the faded wall below Yellow and Blue). It is now Yellow's turn, but Yellow has no walls, nor does it seem that it has any valid moves. Furthermore, if Green and Red place walls on their next turns, Blue and Yellow are potentially trapped again.

What is the proper way to handle this circumstance?


texts: Carcassonne fairy - scoring with a fairy for multiple areas and at the end

texts:
Here are the more in-depth rules for The Princess and The Dragon expansion:
http://www.modernjive.com/carcassonne/carcassonnefaq.htm

But it does not answer my questions (I assume the fairy protects a tile, not a follower):

Does the fairy score at the end of the game? Meaning: If i have a fairy on a tile containing my unfinished castle, friend's and my unfinished road and, say, two different farms which both belong to me, do I get 3 points for "scoring" a castle even though it is not finished, because one of its tiles contain a fairy, 3 bonus points for the unfinished road, with the same explanation as the castle (also 3 points for my friend) and 6 points for 2 farms containing the tile with a fairy? To simplify, does a fairy grant a bonus at the end of the game for the farms and/or unfinished objects (that are actually "scored")?
Can one player score multiple finised objects with one fairy? E.g. by placing a tile with a road and a castle (both mine) which finishes them both and immediately putting a fairy there grants me 3+3=6 bonus boints? Or does one get the bonus only once, no matter how many objects he owns on that particular fairy-occupied tile?
If my monastry neighbors a tile with a fairy and the monastry gets surrounded completely, thus scored, do I get the bonus 3 points or does the fairy have to be on the monastry tile itself?


texts: One Hit Kill has four component classes. Green is Bio. Red is elemental. In the first expansion, black is Death and purple is Lore. What are the names of the yellow and blue components?


texts: What's the name of the board game about sailing between islands?

texts:
I recently played a board game but forgot the name of it.  Can someone please tell me the title?

You compete with other players to travel to other islands.
During your turn, you can place boats in beach spots.
When all the available beach slots are filled, you and the other players on that specific beach travel in a direction out from that beach.
If there's nothing immediately adjacent to your beach, you flip a mystery tile to determine if it's another island or sea.
If it's sea, there's a point cost system for the route you're on requiring a minimum number of different player colors.
You collect points at the end of the game based on how many islands you're on (each island has a different point).
I think the game title starts with a "T".


texts: I have a Mindslaver and my opponent has a Coercive Portal on the board. I use the Mindslaver's ability to take control of my opponent's next turn. Do I get to choose what his vote is for the Portal's ability?


texts: What game has black dice with keys on three sides?

texts: What game are these dice for: black 6-sided dice with a white key symbol on each of three sides with the other 3 sides blank


texts: Sakashima's Student and Stinkdrinker Bandit

texts:
I play a rogue tribal deck that features Stinkdrinker Bandit. I plan on putting Sakashima's Student in.

When an unblocked Rogue I control attacks, I'd switch it with Sakashima's Student and have it copy a StrinkDrinker Bandit on the board. Say, I also have other attackers that are unblocked. Does Sakashima's Student's copied ability of Stinkdrinker Bandit apply to the other unblocked attackers as well as itself?


texts: Does Equinox counter Desolation Angel if it's kicked?

texts: Can the ability granted by Equinox counter Desolation Angel if the angel is kicked. Or is it considered to be indirectly destroying lands as it requires it to enter the battlefield first?


texts: Do you need to buy a card when playing treasures in Dominion?

texts:
So I ran into a situation where I had a single treasure, the Loan card.  I wanted to play the Loan card but I did not want to buy any cards.

So can you play treasure cards and not buy anything?

I believe I read in the rules that you play treasures first, then buy cards.  So I believe that means I can play treasures and not buy any cards.

Thanks.

Edit

I just re-read my question and I failed to mention that I want to make sure I can use the "powers" of the treasure cards even if I don't buy anything.  So in the example above I want to use the powers of the Loan card, but not buy any cards.


texts: Can I combine Exploding Kitten decks to allow for more players?

texts:
As the game clearly states the game is designed for 2-5 players. This is based on the game mechanic and resource level of the namesake kitten. Once you draw an exploding kitten and cannot defuse it, you are out and then the last remaining player winds. Since there are only 4 exploding kittens you can only have 5 players or there would be multiple winners.
Would it be possible to combine two whole game sets to allow for up to a maximum of 9 players (since there are now 8 exploding kittens)? Would this change cause any other game mechanics to break or be unfair?


texts: How to mitigate the intial luck factor in Race For The Galaxy?

texts:
Background (feel free to skip):

My mom and I often play RFTG together (I am a very fortunate child to have a game-playing parent :), and we've noticed that there usually isn't as much luck in the game as we initially thought; there are few situations where you cannot find some favorable way to play out your cards and tableau. While the luck factor is definite present, as it will be in any game that involves powerful combinations of randomly drawn cards, but smart play can mitigate the effect. In fact, one of my favorite situations in the game is when I have a bunch of cards with no obvious strong combos and have to work with what I have to find some sort of strategy.

However, I've noticed that there is substantially more luck in the early parts of the game. If you get an initial draw that contains mostly high-drop cards, cards that aren't good in the early game, or no good combinations (tons of goods, but no way to actually do anything with them except trade ONE of them for 2-4 cards). Some luck later on can easily fix this if you get a nice card, but sometimes I feel like the game is decided after turn 4 when one of us has a killer initial combo and the other has had a bad start.

I understand that the luck factor is relatively small and will be minimal in a series of 5 or more games, but I would still like to reduce it since we purely play for fun and rarely get to play 2 games in a row. I don't consider myself anywhere near an expert player, and I'm sure we're not always playing our cards optimally. However, I am sure that there are some opening hands that are sufficiently worse than others to drastically effect the outcome of the game, and I'd like to adjust this in our friendly games.

Question:

Here's some ways I've thought to prevent players from getting screwed over by bad initial draws in RFTG:

Start with 7 or 8 cards instead of 6. Still discard down to 4.
Implement a mulligan system for initial hands. You can discard your 6 initial cards, reshuffle the deck, and draw 5 (still discard down to 4). I suppose this could probably be extended to allow players to discard those 5 to draw 4 and keep all of them, even though I don't think many people would go for the second mulligan.

Would these methods potentially be effective in reducing some of the initial luck in the game? How might I improve them? What other methods might be effective towards reaching this goal of a slightly more 'skill-based' RFTG by mitigating the effect of terrible initial draws?


texts: I have Sheltered Aerie enchantment aura on one land. Does the mana that get added while it's tapped stay after your end phase? Does the mana keep adding up?


texts: In Robo Rally, does a powered down robot get to earn option cards and repair?

texts:
If he is pushed onto repair spaces etc, does he repair and earn option cards at the end of the 5 register phases if he is on an option space?

The rules state:

  The robot doesn’t receive or execute Program cards and doesn’t move while powered down, but board elements still affect it. For example, a robot that powers down on a conveyor belt will still be moved by that belt even though it’s not moving on its own.
  Other robots can push a powered-down robot, and the robot can still be damaged (such as by laser fire), Because of that, a robot that’s powered down may receive new Damage tokens during the turn.

The fact that phase 4, the Complete Registers phase, lists "Board Elements Move" as subpart C and yet files flags and repairs sites under subpart E suggests to me that these are not technically "Board Elements". Coupled with the natural telling of the story of robo-rally, that one would expect a lump of metal to be subject to attacks and conveyor belts but not be able to 'pickup' items or make use of a repair site to repair itself (this, versus the idea that a factory arm is doing the repair 100% for it), I lean toward the reading that the robot cannot earn cards or repair while powered down.


texts:
enter image description here

Does anyone know what kind of cards these are?


texts: Optimal (Or Just Effective) Strategy For The Resistance?

texts:
I played Resistance for the first time last night, and it was great fun, but the consensus at the table was that the resistance can only beat the spies given a healthy dose of luck.  I played a resistance member both times, and won one and lose one game.  But even after two games I have no idea how to act in an effective manner liable to uncover the spies and result in probable resistance victory.

Take the first round of the first game: as resistance leader for the round I had no idea who was loyal, so I chose two players at random to go on the mission.  The prevailing opinion was that the first mission always succeeds, because no spy will ever tip their hand that early.  As such, I can't see any way of getting any useful information out of mission one.  Am I missing something?

To keep this question from being overly general: let's take the situation I found myself in last night.  A seven player game, with four resistance members and three spies.  Assuming that all the players are acting rationally and the spies are not being too devious about presenting themselves as loyal resistance men, what strategies can the resistance adopt or what signs can they look out for from the spies to give them a solid chance of victory?


texts: Ticket to ride: What is the math behind the point values of city pairs?

texts: I want to make a custom ticket to ride map. I am trying to figure out what the mathematical formulas are behind the design. why alan moon decided which city pairs to put on the cards, and how to value each city pair.


texts: Can you attempt to counter an "can't-be-countered" spell?

texts:
Can you cast a counterspell on a spell that can't be countered, or is it not a legal target...

Just wondering if you can Frightful Delusion something that can't be countered but still have the player discard.


texts: Will Boartusk Liege give +1/+1 to Goblins if Dralnu's Crusade is in play?

texts: Say I have Boartusk Liege and Dralnu's Crusade in play. Boartusk Liege gives all other red creatures +1/+1 and Dralnu's Crusade says "all Goblins are black and are Zombies in addition to their other creature types". I assume that means that Boartusk Liege does not give +1/+1 to Goblins?


texts: In The Grizzled, can you help your teammate decide which Trial to use a good luck charm on?

texts: We were on the final mission. One player wants to use her good luck charm. She has to choose between two Snow Trial cards. Our other teammate asked her to please remove the Snow trial with the Shells. He didn't give an explanation. Just that it would be nice if that card Trial card were removed. Is valid or is that considered cheating?


texts: Magic Sword: Peaceful Variation or is Punishment Possible?

texts:
In a game earlier today I encountered a deviation from the Magic Sword pattern that I haven't been able to find anywhere. Instead of cutting, White seemed to offer a peaceful trade of influence for territory (see the first diagram). I wonder if, as Black, I could have gotten a significantly better outcome.

$$W 7 deviates from the usual Magic Sword
$$ ------------
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ .....b7c...-
$$ ...3.a251..-
$$ .......64..-
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ .......,...-
$$ ...........-

I considered playing aggressively at b or c, but couldn't find an outcome I was very happy with. (White had the upper left corner, and I had star point stones in both of the bottom corners.)

Cutting at c, I found a way to get the corner, but it strengthened white on the top and also gave her a strong attack on the right. The double hane at b looked more promising, but I couldn't find a way to kill the corner, and the result just looked like a complicated fight.

In the game I didn't cut and this is how things played out:

$$B Actual game
$$ ------------
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ ....42O....-
$$ 6..O31XOO..-
$$ .......XX..-
$$ .....5.....-
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ ...........-
$$ .......,...-
$$ .......7...-

White 6 seemed slow to me, and I'm surprised she didn't take the opportunity to play somewhere on the right to negate the wall; I was very happy to play at 7. If White had played 6 on the wide-open right side, I would have felt behind after the corner exchange.


texts: Does protection from a specific color help against an ability that cost a different color to activate?

texts:
Player A has a Zacama, Primal Calamity, and player B has a creature with protection from green, such as Vodalian Zombie.

Player A uses Zacama's red ability deal 3 to that creature, is he able to do that? Its a red ability, but Zacama has green in it?.


texts: Can you change your mind about how a multi-target burn spell assigns damage after casting it?

texts:
So, my brother and i are playing mtg for fun. I have down a
Nezahal, Primal Tide, a 7/7. He plays a Fight with Fire and kicks it, distributing 7 damage to Nezahal and 3 to other creatures. In response, I play a Moment of Triumph, giving my Nezahal +2/+2. He then declares that he is “redistributing damage”, doing 9 damage to Nezahal and 1 elsewhere. Can he do this?


texts:
Considering we all have limited memories (and scratch paper is frowned upon in over-the-board play), what sorts of things are highest priority for keeping track of and committing to memory over the course of a typical game?

Considering we all have differing memory capacities, list the 'memorable items' in order of priority, with an explanation of each.


texts:
What are the rules when two or more people go out when they are on the bubble for payout.
For example, the top 6 players will get money back and there are 7 people left.  The next hand results in 3 or more people going All-In, ultimately leaving one winner.  The other two guys don't have enough to cover so they are both out.  Who gets 6th place?


texts: When is it worth adding nonbasic land or artifacts to your deck over basic land?

texts: I'm having trouble choosing a basic land over something like Orzhov Guildgate or Gruul Cluestone. Why and when would you want one of these in your deck and would it replace a basic land or augment the deck?


texts: Legend of Drizzt - How may items per Hero Phase?

texts: I didn't notice anything in the rulebook about how many items can be used in each player's Hero Phase.  Is it just 1, or are multiple items allowed to be used?


texts:
How does repeat this process work?

If for example I cast Hoarder's Greed and win the clashes all the time until I deck myself or am out of life. Do I have priority between the repeat this process clause? Before I repeat what is standing on such a card?

If not, do I have to repeat the process, even if I am out of life? Does the "you lose 2 life" part in hoarders greed come at the end, after repeating as long as I win the clash? Or do I lose life each time before I repeat the process and die before the spell is fully resolved?


texts: What happens when a reanimated creature returns from exile?

texts:
Let's say I bring a creature (the canonical Runeclaw bear) into play from an opponent's graveyard using one of the "enchant creature in a graveyard" cards (Necromancy, or Animate Dead, or Dance of the Dead).

Now the Runeclaw Bear is exiled (by a Bishop of Binding, say).  Since it leaves the game, Necromancy goes to my graveyard, right?

Later, the Bishop of Binding expires.  Thus, the Bear should return from exile.  Under my control, now independently of Necromancy?

And what about "when Necromancy leaves the battlefield, that creature’s controller sacrifices it"?  Does that simply fizzle?


texts: What do I need to replace Cranium: Turbo Edition's electronic timer?

texts: I picked up Cranium: Turbo Edition at a yard sale for a couple dollars, and everything is in great condition except that the electronic timer centerpiece is missing. I figured I could replace the color selection and timer functionality with the die and hourglass from my copy of the original game, but is there any other functionality that I'm missing out on? Is the length of the electronic timer the same as the old hourglass? Are the color probabilities the same as an old die roll?


texts: When does "at the beginning of the next end step" trigger?

texts: When casting a creature for its the Dash cost, will the creature return on the same turn's end step or the next turn's end step?


texts: We had an interesting scenario.  I processioned a Madman, which we thought would give me +4 actions and +6 cards (I had three in my hand, so draw three twice).  Was that the correct play when using the procession card, or does the madman action end after the first play, netting me  +2 actions and +3 cards?


texts:
On the Split scorecard, the last box in each row is worth 200 points. The rules say that in scoring you should cross off the next available box, but don't go out of their way to point out that a 6th pair is very bad or a 40th negative is very good because either your positive score for pairs or negative score for penalties would drop to 0.

My interpretation has been that 200 is intended to be the maximum score or penalty and that additional marks are just ignored rather than cancelling everything, but I'm wondering if this is the intended or commonly used ruling.


texts: Who is in charge of knowing abilities of blockers and attackers?

texts: I was in a situation where I lost due to a combo where a creature that deals combat damage mills me due to an enchantment attached to it. I lost the game due to not knowing that ability was on the card. My opponent knew but decided not to tell me when he declared that attacker. Was it the defenders (my) job to read the card and block it, or was the attacker in the wrong for not declaring its ability when attacking. Also, if the trigger goes off as a result of the defending player not knowing, would the defending player be allowed to reassign a blocker in response?


texts: Does a Wolf enters the battlefield and fight target creature with or without buff?

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


texts:
In Magic the gathering you have the concept of priority. This gives every players a chance to respond to every one's spells. But I knew you could keep priority between spells. Playing a spell and without passing priority (and without this spell to resolve), play another.

Until now, I was okay with that and understood it but I thought it was only for instant speed.

In this Video, at 4m15, Reid Duke explain a play with Kor Spiritdancer and an Aura spell. He said : "You go Kor Spiritdancer and without passing priority you cast an Aura...". This making him draw a card even if his opponent has a response to Kor Spiritdancer.

My question is, if it is possible to keep priority between non-instant spells, when can you keep priority? What is the rules for that? In my exemple, why did the Kor Spiritdancer resolved? what if his opponent wanted to counterspell it?

Thanks in advance.


texts: What can I use as a gateway game for crayon rail games?

texts:
I like the crayon rail games.  I've played a lot of Iron Dragon, some EuroRails, and a smattering of others.  I'd like to introduce  acquaintances who aren't already experienced gamers to them (doing some boardgame evangelism here).  But these games are rather longer than most gateway games.  At an hour per player (on average, in my group) and not working very well with fewer than four players, these games don't fit neatly in a weeknight after-dinner gathering, even considering How to speed up a game of Empire Builder?.  (The techniques there work better for experienced players, and they don't make the large difference I'm looking for.)

Is there either a faster member of this category of game or a tested set of rules variants that produces a satisfying game in the two-hour range for four or more players?  I think a smaller map + a recalculated end-game trigger would do it; a smaller map means fewer options, more route contention, and quicker deliveries.  But you still want the game to progress through all the stages (initial build, expansion, money engine), so I don't know if blocking off regions on an existing map (and doing something to be determined with affected route cards) can work.

What can I use for a shorter gateway to crayon rail games?


texts: What does it mean that uranium always refills from space 16?

texts:
In the Power Grid rules we are told the following:

Re-supply the resource market: Based on the number of players and the
step of the game, the players re-supply the resource market (see table
at the back of the rules) from the supply of resources. They start
placing the resources on the highest (most expensive) space lacking
the maximum possible quantity of the appropriate resource.
Exception:
Uranium must be refilled from space 16 and always only with one token
in each space.

Does that mean that if the rate of uranium resupply is 3, none is re-supplied if there are already 3 uraniums in the market? If only one uranium is left on 16, 2 would be added and not 3?


texts:
I am not sure if here is a correct place for this kind of question.

We had team-matches last weekend(total VP score being 20 for each match). In the first match our teammates in the other table were not ready on time. The rule was like this: -1 VP for each 5 minutes. They were exactly 23 minutes late and so the directors agreed for -5 VP penalty for the match.

Then we played and could only take 4 VP out of 20. Score was 16-4 (we lost). Then directors applied -5 VP late penalty and we got -1 VP for the match.

Directors said that if we hadn't play the match we would get 0 VP. We played and got -1 VP. They say that the idea behind the decision is 'We tried out our chance. By playing we may have earn more than 0 VP, so negative VP is possible.'

But I am looking from a different perspective. With a sporting perspective (I think) a team should not get less point than not-playing the match.

Can anybody enlighten me about this issue?

I am asking this here because I noticed that they were not confident about the decision. At the end of the weekend we were eliminated from the tournament for just 0.9 VP.

Thanks in advance


texts: Can the Allies win this game, given that Russia is falling?

texts:
Can the Allies win a two on three game of the U.S. and UK against Germany, Japan, and a soon to be conquered Russia described below? If so, how?

My brother, my friend and I all sat down last night and we started playing an Axis and Allies game, (Axis and Allies 1942 Second Edition). After about two hours of playing my friend and I, (Allies, with him playing the USSR and America, and me playing the UK) were in trouble as my brother, (Axis, playing both Germany and Japan) was able to capture Moscow with 11 Panzer Tanks. My friend playing the USSR and his second time playing the game immediately proceeded to launch a counter attack on Moscow. He was able to take back Moscow, but at a very heavy cost. left both of the IC countries undefended and Germany just strolled into Russia and took them both. My friend only has 4 tanks left on Russia and no other units available to help.

Side-Note: All of the German controlled African Countries have fallen, but Germany has 8 Submarines in the Atlantic.

The good news is that while this was going on, my brother left the Japanese Navy wide open to attack and both the UK and the US navies took advantage of this. Now Japan is only left with 1 Battleship, 1 Aircraft Carrier, and 1 Cruiser guarding Japan while the US navy, ( 1 Battleship, 2 Cruisers, 2 Destroyers, 1 Aircraft Carrier, 3 Submarines, and 3 fighters are all within striking range of the Japan homeland his turn. All of the Japanese countries on Asia have fallen either by the US or the UK, and 1/4 of the Island Territories have been conquered. I was wondering what my friend and I could do to improve our chances of beating Germany, as they are most likely going to take Moscow in the next to or three turns. The next time that we play is going to be on 11/20/2014, so any advice would be helpful!


texts: Do the back side of double-faced cards have a color?

texts:
For example, would Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's minus ability affect Westvale Abbey transformed?

  −X: Exile each permanent with converted mana cost X or less that's one or more colors.


texts: What are the biggest events to follow for the most competitive decks in Magic the Gathering?

texts:
Obviously I would be following the Grand Prix, Pro Tours and World Championships that are hosted by Wizards of the Coast. I'm assuming events hosted by Star City Games are worth following too (do they provide deck lists)?

What are the big events that provide deck lists that I should be following to be the most up to date on Standard decks?


texts: What is this game with a 12x8 pegboard and 59 double sided pegs?

texts:
I was wondering if anyone knows what this game is.
It has 59(maybe missing 1) pegs that are red on one side and wood color on the other.
It is a 12 x 8 Pegboard Game.
There are no markings on the inside or outside and it folds like a briefcase.
Everything is made of wood except the handle, rubber feet, and latches.


texts:
This happened on MTGO.

Opponent has Skyswirl Harrier.

I have Salivating Gremlins.

Its my turn.  I cast Renegade Freighter.  Salivating gremlins gains +2/+0.

Battle: I attack with Salivating gremlins.  Opponent blocks with Skyswirl Harrier.

I activate Harnessed Lightning from hand targeting Skyswirl Harrier, spending 3 energy.  Opponenet does not respond.  Harnessed Lightning resolves and both creatures die.  I'm confused.  Can you tell me why my Salivating Gremlins did not survive?


texts: When can cards/power ups be played in King of Tokyo (and Power Up! expansion)?

texts:
I think these is how the cards can be used:

Keep cards can be played only during your turn.
Discard cards are to be played immediately.
Permanent power ups can be played only during your turn.
Temporary power ups can be played at any time.
All cards/power ups can be played in the turn you bought/acquired
them (unless stated otherwise).

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!


texts: What deck should be used for a beginner in Netrunner

texts: The Netrunner rules suggest playing with Jinteki as a first hand, but I have heard that is a bad starting deck. Which should be used for a starting deck for introducing someone to the game? And which should be used for someone who has only played as the runner but not the corporation?


texts: How to prevent heroes running past my defenses?

texts:
I'm playing as Imperium with four other players. We did first main and secondary missions, both ending the same way in Rebel favour. On the second to last round one Hero, who was the least damaged, used both his actions to move, gaining 10 movement points, then he simply ran through my squad. He had to move through 2 tiles occupied by my soldiers, leaving him 6 tiles of free movement. Enough to hide behind corner. It was last activation in round, so as new one began Rebels started with that player. He exhausted himself for movement to reach an objective and used both actions to activate it. He passed the test on the first try, and I couldn't do anything to stop that.

Similar thing happened mid-mission - one rebel stormed through defenses, got wounded next round, but still managed to activate terminal while others were on the way to next one. As he was wounded and slow I moved my troops to defend third (last) objective, and then situation above happened.

I was happy with result, game ended with two heroes wounded, third in the bring of and completely exhausted, and forth with half health that managed to finish. However I am posotive that without that rush I'd hold them off long enough. How can I stop them from doing that again?


texts: Do Bloodreavers gain an extra attack from a Bloodsecrator's Rage of Khorne ability?

texts:
In Age of Sigmar, a unit of Bloodreavers has the KHORNE keyword and the Frenzied Devotion ability:

  Frenzied Devotion: If this unit is within 12" of
  a CHAOS TOTEM from your army when it is
  selected to attack, then all models in this unit make
  2 attacks rather than 1, and the Chieftain makes 3
  attacks rather than 2.

Meanwhile, a Bloodsecrator has the CHAOS and TOTEM keywords, and has the option of using its Rage of Khorne ability:

  Rage of Khorne: This ability affects all KHORNE units in your army within 18" of this model at the start of your combat phase. When they attack, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of all melee weapons used by units affected by the Rage of Khorne. In addition, players do not have to take battleshock tests for any KHORNE units within 18" of this model.

With all of this in mind, consider the following scenario:

In the hero phase, the Bloodsecrator uses its Rage of Khorne ability.
At the start of the combat phase, a unit of Bloodreavers is within 12" of a Bloodsecrator.
The unit of Bloodreavers is selected to attack an enemy unit.

In this scenario, how many attacks does each Bloodreaver make?

The description of Frenzied Devotion does not mention the Attacks characteristic of the models, and it could be interpreted that the new number of attacks is only gained when the Bloodreavers would make 1 attack (2 in the case of the Bloodreaver Chieftain). However, this would mean that the only benefit the Bloodreavers would gain from the Bloodsecrator's Rage of Khorne ability is not having to take battleshock tests - which seems nonsensical from both a gameplay and flavour perspective.


texts: In what kits can I find storm bolters to use them in my space marine's army? Or how can I model/craft them instead?


texts: Begginer question about lifelink and Evra

texts:
I have Evra, Halcyon Witness on my deck, she has lifelink and I know that I gain hp from the amount of damage she deals.

Generalizing lifelink I have 3 simple yes or no questions:

If I attack with her and the opponent blocks me does she give me hp for the amount of damage she deals to that creature?
If the opponent attacks and I block with her, is the damage she deals returned to me as hp even if she is blocking?
Do creatures with lifelink only transform damage dealt into hp gain when they only attack the opponent?

And 1 about Evra?

If I activate the ability to exchange my hp for her power and i get countered with an instant giving -4/0, like "Befuddle" does, does the exchange still happen and I instantly die?


texts: What's this circular board with a spider in the middle

texts: This was hung on the wall at a BBQ restaurant, but I'm not familiar with the board. It's almost like a dart board, but it's wooden with triangles on the sides and holes in the corners.


texts: Can City of Brass be used to cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion in Commander?

texts: Can City of Brass be used to pay for the colorless component of Kozilek, the Great Distortion's cost if I am playing Commander?


texts: Can Bear Hug force a player to destroy an Incorporeal minion?

texts:
The wording on Bear Hug states:

  Each other player destroys his or her minion with the least power
  (owner chooses in case of ties).

The wording on Incorporeal states:

  Play on one of your minions.  Ongoing: This minion is not affected by
  other players' cards.

Can Bear Hug force a player to destroy a minion that has Incorporeal played on it if it is the lowest power minion?

I ask because my game group came up with two separate interpretations of the rule.  The first interpretation was that Bear Hug doesn't affect the minion because Bear Hug is a card and has no effect against the Incorporeal minion due to the wording of "other players' cards."  The other interpretation is that Bear Hug does force the player to destroy the Incorporeal minion since Bear Hug is played on the player and not the minion directly.

Is there something in the rules that can clarify this or at least a general consensus from some official forums?


texts: In Smallworld, do Fortresses pay the +1 VC only on the turn they are placed, or do they each pay for every turn that the race is active?

texts: The question is regarding the fortresses. If they each pay +1 VC for each turn that they are on the map and your race is active, then they become quite powerful because the VC will be building exponentially. Is this the case, or do they only each pay one VC on the turn that they are placed and then are only good as a defensive bonus for there on out?


texts: What different opening strategy exist when playing Quatro?

texts:
I enjoy very much playing Quatro, as I find that the small board, small set of pieces and symmetry. However, I am at loss in playing the beginning of the game anyway other than randomly. Because the pieces placed are neither yours nor the opponent's, thinking in terms of "occupying the central ground" make no sense.

Do you have any strategies?


texts:
I have a question about 4-4 high approach joseki. Everything is clear until move 4. I don't know how to respond if black plays C15 instead of the expected C17 (stone number 5). It leads to the following variation:

Where I think stone 4 is lost, unless white wants to play D17 which will lead to something like this:

Now black can tenuki, the stone 8 is his, stones 5, 7, 15 are white's. Seems good for white. Is this the best white can play here?


texts: If Calamity Janet has a Barrel, can she use it to avoid Indians?

texts: If Calamity Janet has a Barrel, can she use it to generate a Missed! and then use her special ability to turn the Missed! into a Bang! in order to avoid Indians?


texts: Are there any ways to lose in a "You can't lose the game" game?

texts: Would cards like Lich's Mastery, and Door to Nothingness effect each other at all? Or Platinum Angel for that matter?


texts: magic: the gathering enchantment problem

texts:
If I have an enchantment creature with an aura attached to it, and I bestow the enchantment creature on another creature, does the aura go with it or go to the graveyard?
Can an enchantment creature be enchanted by another enchantment creature?


texts: Is there a valid Blokus configuration where all the pieces are on the board?

texts:
Is there a configuration of Blokus pieces where all pieces of one colour touch only at the corners and not the edges, so that the pieces could actually appear that way in a Blokus game, with each player ending up with a score of 0?

Solutions for both the four-player and two-player game would be appreciated.


texts: Do you need to complete both routes indicated on a destination card?

texts: In Ticket to Ride UK, there is a destination card from Glasgow to France that has two routes to France.  The points on the card are 19.  If a player completes both routes to France that are indicated on this destination card, would the player receive 38 points?  Or is the player required to complete both destinations for 19 points?  This is not clear.


texts:
I would like to know what happens to delayed abilities, or abilities like "until your next turn" when the controller of that spell/ability loses and leaves the game.

For instance, suppose you cast Cruel Entertainment, and then the first controlled player kills you, the second player still will get controled by the first one?

Also the first ability from Liliana, the last hope, which says "+1: Up to one target creature gets -2/-1 until your next turn", will the affected creature restore its power/thoughtness immediatelly after the Liliana controller dies?

Also note this excerpt from this answer:

  A delayed triggered ability (DTA) follows the same rules. A DTA is a
  triggered ability that creates instances of itself on the stack that
  are also called "triggered abilities".

Is the effect from Cruel Entertainment a delayed ability, or is it just a effect whose effect spans more than the current turn?


texts: What happens if no one wants to buy a property at auction in Monopoly?

texts:
I was playing with my brother and after a few turns, my brother had 0$ due to tax.

Now it was my turn, and because I was in jail, I paid $50 to get out, which was all of my money. Then I rolled and landed on a property no one owned.

The rules just say that the bank would sell the property to the highest bidder, which doesn't help.

But you're also not allowed to do nothing, you must auction the property if you don't want to or can't pay for it.

Is someone allowed to get the property for free, e.g.: "auction" for 0$?
If so, who gets the property in a tie?


texts: How can I create my own card for my own game?

texts:
I've created a set of rules for a card game I would like to test, but I have no clue on how to build my nice-looking cards.
Any hint on what program/site to use is very welcome.


texts: What is the best first development to purchase in Roll Through the Ages?

texts:
Played my first 4 player game of Roll Through the Ages official last night.  I've played the solo game quite a bit but I quickly discovered that the multiplayer game plays a bit differently!

What development should be purchased first and why?


texts: Purpose of needing 12 swords in Camelot to trigger end of game with no Traitor

texts:
In the beginner rules, one is encouraged to play without a Traitor. Under these conditions, does it make sense to wait until the knights have 12 swords in Camelot before determining the winner? It seems that with 7 white swords earned, the race to finish enough quests to end the game is anti-climactic.

The only situation I can think of where Evil could still win without a Traitor would be if the Holy Grail quest were lost when the sword count is 7 white to 4 black. Those 3 black swords would result in a 7:7 tie and spell defeat. In our group, the Grail gets attention early and is completed quickly, so this is unlikely.

Please help me understand this purpose of this rule.


texts:
Majesty's Fiend:

  Cannot be Special Summoned. Monster effects cannot be activated.

Michion the Timelord:

  Cannot be Special Summoned from the Deck. If you control no monsters,
  you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing. Cannot be destroyed
  by battle or card effects. You take no battle damage from attacks
  involving this card. At the end of the Battle Phase, if this card
  battled: Halve your opponent’s LP. Once per turn, during your Standby
  Phase: Shuffle this card into the Deck.

Q1- Can player A's Michion be normal summoned from hand without tributing if Majesty's Fiend already on player B's field?

Q2- If Michion battled Majesty's Fiend:

Will Michion be destroyed or not?
Will Michion's owner take battle damage?
Will Michion's effect of halving LP apply?

Q3-: Will Michion be shuffled to the deck on standby phase (if both monsters didn't battle)?


texts: Is there a site to play Go online against a computer, in 2018?

texts:
Apparently there's an old question Is there a site to play Go online against a computer? already but that's in 2014.

As we know AlphaGo/Master/Zero permanently changed the Go world, and many AI are competing the “2nd strongest” after AlphaZero retired. Is there a site to play Go online against one or (nowadays) more computers?


texts: Which famous (board) games are unlicenced and royalty free?

texts:
Which famous board games such as monopoly are unlicensed? Which games could you recreate and sell without having to pay royalties?

Is there a list somewhere of all board games and their license, or how would you go about finding out which games are unlicensed?

My google skills seem to be failing me.


texts: "Whenever you draw a card" - does that include the beginning of each turn?

texts: I'm new to MTG. I have Horizon Chimera which has "Whenever you draw a card, gain 1 life." Does that mean you gain 1 life at the beginning of every round, when you draw a card? (That seems over-powered.)


texts:
You are at favorable vulnerability. LHO deals and passes. Partner bids one heart, RHO opponent passes. An expert (Frank Stewart) "surely" recommends that you respond 1NT with the following: (s)J954 (h)3 (d)T (c) KQ97632. This is the case even though you have four spades. (Stewart has major issues with "Standard.")
If you had (s)J954 (h)3 (d)T8 (c) KQ9763, he would "consider" bidding 1NT.

I did the same thing (bid 1NT) with a (somewhat) similar hand (neither vulnerable) and got into trouble when partner bid two spades, "reversing" with two spades, and only 13(!) points.

Under what system would Stewart's recommendation be a reasonable one? Or is it because the circumstances are (somewhat) different from mine in the above hands, where Stewart recommends running out to a "weak" 3 club bid if partner responds at the two level? Put another way, what might be the context of Stewart's remarks?


texts:
I now have a few games of Mansions of Madness under my belt, all of them with three players - a Keeper and 2 Investigators. And I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be time for them (the Investigators) to get even the majority of the house explored or make much progress once the objective is revealed.

So, I turned my designer's eye on it and thought this thought:

  In a 5-player game (a Keeper and 4 Investigators), the Investigators will have 4 actions per turn. So an Event card that takes 3 turns to flip expects 12 actions to occur before it's activated. With 2 Investigators, only 6 actions have been taken in the same span. Since the Event card timings do not scale with the number of Investigators, it is no wonder that it seems the players are running out of time.

I saw two possible fixes for this:

Give Investigators in a 3-player game 2 actions per turn.
Scale the number of tokens required for an event to keep the number of actions between events the same for a given number of players.

I have decided that the "2 movements and one action" structure of the Investigator turn is too integral to mess with. So I am thinking of doubling the number of "clock ticks" between events for my next game - I'll almost always have 2 Investigators playing.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?
Have you solved it?
How?
Is your solution satisfactory?


texts: Can I save a creature from dying by exileing then returning it

texts: If I have a Dire Fleet Hoarder on the field that takes a point of damage can I cast Siren's Ruse to save it from dying?


texts: Fury of Dracula 3rd ed. - Escape as Bat clarification

texts: In Fury of Dracula 3rd edition, when Dracula plays Escape as Bat combat card, and decides to move to a new location, Dracula clears his current hideout, places a new location card there along with the face-up Escape as Bat card. But what about an encounter card? Does Dracula also place an encounter card on the new location, as he normally does?


texts: When should you avoid a third bean field in Bohnanza?

texts:
I've played Bohnanza(BGG|Publisher) a few times, and it seems that most players will buy a third bean field card as soon as possible. A third bean field card costs 3 gold, but through the course of the game, it feels like the extra flexibility from owning a third bean field will more than pay for itself, as you can save up more beans of a given type in order to sell them for more.

Is it ever worthwhile not to buy the third bean field? Has anyone calculated how much a third bean field is worth (on average) over the course of the game? Should you buy a third bean field as soon as possible, or wait only until it's necessary?


texts: What is the best opening lead on this hand, and why?

texts:
Playing in Flight A-X of a sectional Open Pairs, both Vulnerable at MatchPoints in third seat you hold: (Flight A is 2000+ MPS; Flight X is 0 - 2000 MPS voluntarily playing up instead of at their own level - the up and comers.)

S:J9865
H:T9
D:53
C:AT94

and the auction proceeds:

P  1H  P  2D
P  2NT P  6NT all pass

The opponents are an unbalanced pair (possibly pro-client) with the stronger member on your right as declarer. (in other words, LHO maybe trained to get NT contracts into her partner's hand when possible/reasonable.) Their system is a fairly straightforward Two-Over-One card.

What is the best opening lead and why?

Additional considerations:

A blind lead from Jxxx is a well-known terrible lead, often killing your Jack. This is less true when holding a 5-card suit, but not irrelevant.
If partner doesn't hold at least the queen in one of the red suit opponents may be able to run 13 tricks once they are on lead - that would be a sure bottom if you haven't cashed the CA. Partner can hold a couple of Jacks and that still leaves opponents with a bare 33 HCP that runs 13 tricks once in.

Update:

RHO's 2NT rebid is likely showing any hand that might open a weak 1NT if playing that system; so in the range 12-14. It certainly is not showing any extra values overall, but may or may not be showing stoppers - sometimes it is best NOT to ask, because every question you ask also has the potential of guiding declarer's play.
RHO and I go back > 30 years, so there can be the possibility of a little personal rivalry in play - or not. He is a very good player with > 6,000 ACBL MPs, all earned and non bought, but LHO is likely weaker.


texts: If I turn a token creature into an enchantment aura, can I choose to attach it to something or does it just go to the graveyard?

texts:
I'm thinking of using Replication Technique to make a token copy of an aura in conjunction with something like Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer to create a bucket load of copies of of that same aura through the liberal abuse of token generation.
Since these auras aren't actually entering the battlefield would I be able to attach them to anything?


texts: Can extort be triggered for countered spells?

texts:
Extort (Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay b/w. If you do, each
  opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.)

Questions:

If my opponent has a creature with extort out, then casts a spell that I counter, can he still pay the 1 mana to trigger extort?

And if not,

Does he have to choose whether to spend the mana before or after I have countered the spell?


texts: So I always thought that the Conspiracy set was allowed in Modern Format but I recently discovered that there are 65 cards that are not allowed. Can any give me a list or a link for a list of the cards that are or are not allowed in Modern play?


texts: How will using counters to represent money instead of facedown cards change the game?

texts:
We've played several games of Bohnanza as a family, and one thing I quickly realized was how important it is to keep an eye on what cards have been taken out of the game as money for harvesting. Usually the cocoa and garden beans, as they are worth the same number of coins as beans, disappear from the game fairly early and never show up again. This makes the second time through the deck fairly different, and the third time is drastically different since so many cards are gone.

This got me thinking: How would the game change if we used counters to represent obtained money instead of facedown cards? It would obviously keep the game more consistent across rounds, leading to less variation and a more continuous game.

Would doing so 'ruin' the game? Are there any other consequences I should be aware of? What other possible variations are there on how to keep score?


texts:
The location I was in was the Goblin Cave, which states:

Increase the health of all goblins by 3

Now, Goblin is a creature type that's noted on the bottom of the creature cards. I revealed a Summon in the Line, and the Unhallowed that came into play here was the Goblin Chief. The type box of the Goblin Chief states Unhallowed, not Goblin.
Should I assume it is also a Goblin for the Location's ability and increase its health?


texts: Why didn't my station complete the route?

texts:
I needed to get from Riga to Bucaresti. I had trains connecting Riga to Kyiv, but the route from Kyiv to Bucaresti was taken by another player. I played a station on Kyiv, but the route did not complete (I'm playing the iPhone version).

What am I misunderstanding about the use of stations?


texts: In backgammon, can you resign, and how can you tell when you should?

texts:
In backgammon, there comes a time when all pieces have passed each other; there is no more interaction, you are simply rolling it out until you can bear off all of your pieces. If one player is well ahead of the other at getting their pieces into their home board and bearing them off, then it might seem pointless to keep rolling it out; it may well be impossible, or at least extremely improbably, for the other player to make up the difference.

May the player who is behind resign in such a situation, or do they need to play it out in case of a gammon?

And if they are allowed to resign, are there any good rules of thumb to decide when it's worthwhile to do so, and when it's worthwhile to keep playing? For instance, has anyone calculated out the possibilities such that you can say "if player 1 has started bearing off, and player 2 has x pieces outside of their home board, there is no possible way for player 2 to win." Or, has anyone calculated out the probabilities, such that you can determine based on the position that there's only a one in a million chance of winning, and it's probably not worth hoping for that, while in another situation, you might have 10 to 1 odds and it's worth seeing if you make it.

edit to add: According to a thread on Backgammon Galore, along with their glossary, you can offer to resign with any outcome (backgammon, gammon, or a simple win). If you offer one of the lower outcomes (gammon or simple win), your opponent can refuse in order to take the chance at getting the higher outcome. Of course, this only applies if you're playing in a tournament, a rating system, or for money where the value of the win matters.

So, I've answered the first half of my question, but I'm still interested in the second half; when should you resign? Are there any good rules of thumb, or has anyone done a statistical analysis, of what points in the game one player can be guaranteed to lose, or have such a low probability of winning that it's worth it to just resign? Are there any good ways to tell when you should offer to resign with a gammon?


texts: Where can I find a list of Magic expansions?

texts:
I always have problems to remember expansions.

I am looking for a cheat sheet list of all Magic expansion with symbol, name, year, border color and translated name (to french).

Where can I find it?


texts: Are there times when a hand with a seven card suit is too strong for a three level pre-empt?

texts:
Partner opened with 3 spades (pre-empt). I passed with (s) xx (h) KQx (d) KQxx (c) AJxx.

That's because I was expecting something like the following (with or without the side jacks):

(s) KQxxxxx (h) Jxx (d) Jx (c) x.

Partner's spade suit was actually AKQxxxx, with the other suits as listed above. So we missed a cold game in spades or possibly no trump.

I said, "You had eleven high card points. That, together with your distributional strength was an opening hand. Opposite my (better than) opening hand, that meant game."

She said, "I bid three to show you may seven card suit."

I said, "That's not nearly as important as your high card strength. Your length will become clear when you rebid."

Was I right to pass, in expectation of the weaker version of her hand, given that three spades is quite high? Should partner have bid one spade if she didn't want me to pass her out with my 15 points?


texts: What are the rules for who wins when the gold is reached in Saboteur 2?

texts:
In Saboteur 2, I am having trouble understanding precisely which dwarves win in certain situations. Could someone clarify what's already in the rulebook?

In particular, I was wondering: if a dwarf from the green team reaches the gold, does the blue team also win (and vice-versa)?

The way that made the most sense in my head was: if any dwarf of ANY kind reaches the gold, then winners include: the boss, the profiteer, and dwarves on teams for which a path to the gold is NOT blocked by a door. However, the rules seemed to say that WHICH dwarf reached the gold actually mattered, which doesn't really seem sensible.


texts:
Note: Please see my edit to see how I am doing it now.

I am making a simple blackjack game that only uses 1 deck and I read that Uston APC is the best one for just 1 deck. There is no doubling or splitting, it's a very simple game for a class.

I read here: http://www.countingedge.com/uston-apc.html and a few other sources and it seems the way I implement it is keeping a running count based on this chart:

2   1
3   2
4   2
5   3
6   2
7   2
8   1
9   -1
10  -3
J   -3
Q   -3
K   -3
A   0

I will call this running count "running_count". I also keep track of how many ace's ive seen, which I will call "ace_count".

When it comes time to make a bet, my decision for how much to bet is based on running_count - (3 * ace_count), that is for every ace i've seen subtract 3 from running count. This new count I will call "temp_count". If "temp_count" is 2 or higher, then bet the minimum bet multiplied by the temp_count. So if temp_count was 5 you would bet 5x minimum bet. If temp_count is anything lower than 2 then just do minimum.

After betting has taken place, I disregard "temp_count" and go back to my "running_count" and "ace_count".

Is this how Uston APC works? is there a table on how I should play based on dealer card and my total compared to the running count? Right now I am using:

Hard:

•  totals 11 or less, he always hits.
•  totals 12, he stands if the dealer shows 4, 5, or 6; otherwise he hits.
•  totals between 13 and 16 inclusive, he stands if the dealer shows a 2 through a 6 inclusive; otherwise he hits.
•  totals 17 or greater, he always stands.

Soft:

•  totals 17 or less, he always hits.
•  totals 18, he stands if the dealer shows a 2, 7, or 8, otherwise he hits.
•  totals 19 or greater, he always stands.

But I wasn't sure how these might change based on the running count of Uston APC.

Edit:

A bit more about the strategy, dealer stands on 17 (soft or hard)

To make my programming a bit more simple, because there is just 1 deck it kind of seemed silly to count aces separate from the normal counter so instead I just had it do count = count - 3 when it saw an ace. Effectively using -3 instead of 0 in the table described above.

I found his matrix for APC but it seems to talk about a "running count" and a true count. My understanding was a running count is as it seems, the count based on cards seen, and the true count is the running count divided by the number of decks used thus far. Some people even use half decks for it, so because I have just 1 deck, I decided to make my true count always running count / 2. Based on this I am now using this strategy as an exception to the one given above:

if hand value is 16 dealer upcard is TEN and running count is  >= 0
    stand

if hand value is 16 dealer upcard is NINE and true count is  >= 6
    stand

if hand value is 15 dealer upcard is TEN and true count is  >= 4
    stand

if hand value is 13 dealer upcard is TWO and running count is  < 0
    hit

if hand value is 13 dealer upcard is THREE and true count is  < -1
    hit

if hand value is 12 dealer upcard is TWO and true count is  >= 4
    stand

if hand value is 12 dealer upcard is THREE and true count is  >= 2
    stand

if hand value is 12 dealer upcard is FOUR and running count is  < 0
    hit

if hand value is 12 dealer upcard is FIVE and true count is  < -1
    hit

if hand value is 12 dealer upcard is SIX and running count is  < 0
    hit

This seems to do lose money at around 5000 hands but at 50,000 hands it can turn 10,000 into 15,000


texts: If an opponent unsummons my Goblin, does it spoil my Goblin Grenade?

texts: If I'm launching a Goblin Grenade (that requires the sacrifice a Goblin) and my opponent uses an Unsummon on the Goblin (or similar effects like the ability of a Time Elemental) does this effectively counter my spell?


texts:
I'd like to have a more precise answer to when a spell fizzles.
The rule seems to have changed to when not all targets are invalid.

For example: If an opponent casts Essence Capture to counter my creature spell and add a +1/+1 counter to a creature he controls and I destroy his creature in response, the second target is now invalid and his creature won't get the +1/+1 counter. Is my creature spell countered or does Essence Capture fizzle?


texts:
So I'd like to introduce my son to a basic card game like Pokemon since he loves the creatures, etc. When I go to a store and look at all the 'starter' decks, and packs, etc I'm a little confused.

What's the best way to buy and start into the game with him? Just buy a basic starter kit at the store and go? I would need something with 'how-to-play' instructions as well as I've never played it before either.


texts: What happens in Android: Netrunner when your deck runs out and you need to draw a card?

texts: Do you lose as in magic? Do you reshuffle your discard pile?


texts: Is it possible for outbreak chains to loop - would it be possible for a city to experience an outbreak twice in the same round as a result of a chain?


texts: When a creature turns into a frog, does damage stay on it?

texts: I dealt 1 damage to a creature that my opponent controls. Then I want to cast Polymorphist's Jest and turn it into a 1/1 frog. Does damage stay on it or does all damage reset?


texts:
My partner and I played four-handed pinochle. I passed four cards and she got a double run in trump.

What are the odds of getting a double run in four-handed pinochle?


texts: Is there a way to determine how much of a "fighting chance" I had?

texts:
As a child, I was playing Monopoly in a local tournament against "Chuck" (the hero of some of my other game questions). Early on, he got a Monopoly of his namesake maroons: St. Charles Place, State Street, and Virginia Ave. After he acquired "stops" on all the other Monopolies, the game should have ended there except for one thing.

Toward the end of the game, a bystander, a girl named Martha, urged Chuck to give me a "fighting chance." He agreed to give me his defense to the Purple monopoly (Baltic and Mediterranean), in exchange for my defense to the orange Monopoly (St. James, Tennessee, New York). The other matters of note were that Chuck had hotels on the maroons, I had three railroads and one utility, and we each had about $1000 of cash.

Through what quantitative analysis (Monte Carlo simulation, perhaps), can I determine how much of a "fighting chance" I had at this point? I would guess that I would win less than one game in a hundred, perhaps less than one in a thousand, but in a million trials, I should have one or more wins.


texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Should I trash copper or silver with Mine?

In dominion you have the option when the Mine cards are in use to trash a treasure and put a treasure worth 3 more in your hand. In effect you can remove a copper form the game and gain a silver, remove a silver and gain a gold etc.

Is there a statistical benefit to rushing towards gold/platinum?

Is it best to get all of your copper pieces into silver then into gold. Or should you focus getting to the highest possible denomination, and keep coppers in your deck (until you have nothing else to Mine besides copper)?

Something tells me one is better than the other due to the number of cards one strategy leaves you with, as opposed to the other.


texts: How do you identify what series a Pokemon card is from?

texts: Just from looking at the Pokemon card, is it possible to determine what series the card is from e.g. Hidden Fates, Steam Siege etc.? The copyright states the year but not which release quarter the card is from.


texts: What game has this weird 12 sided die with clouds, a bug, a pear and other stuff on it?

texts:
I found this unusual and hilarious die. I have no clue what it could be from. On the 12 faces I see these 4 particular shapes:

a lady bug or beetle
a vest or blouse
a creepy clown face
a partly eaten pear

and the rest of the 8 faces are clouds or bats(?)

Can anyone identify this game and help me figure out what this die is actually used for or what the figures really are supposed to represent?


texts: Forgetting to place a city on the board, or to move the robber. Which fix is acceptable?

texts:
Last night I played Catan with some friends. There were two situations where we did not pay attention and did not complete our moves properly:

A player paid 2 wheat + 3 rock for a city, but forgot to place it on the board. The player realized the mistake after the next player rolled the dice, and asked to upgrade his/her settlement to a city.
A player rolled 7, but forgot to move the robber. The next player completed his move. After that another player also rolled the dices and bought 2 development cards with his/her 6 remaining cards. The player who forgot to move the robber realized what happened, so moved the robber to a new location and asked the third player to get back his resources, so that he can steal one of them.

Which of these two scenarios are acceptable?


texts:
The rules for Reach read:

  The Reach keyword allows the figure to use a Melee attack to target a
  figure up to two spaces away, rather than only adjacent spaces. The
  target still needs to be in line of sight.

Does this mean that the reaching figure can hit one additional space away from where it could normally hit, or two spaces away from where it could normally hit? Alternatively, is "adjacent" considered to be figures that are zero spaces away, or one space away? (my question is about what "x spaces away" means, and not what adjacent means)


texts:
This is a long shot.....I used to play a trivial pursuit type game in the early/mid 90s.
There was a board, it was similar to trivial pursuit in that you had a dice that you rolled to then move your counter around the board to reach the categories and when you had answered one question in all the categories you moved to the centre of the board.
The only things I fully remember about it was that the yellow category was up close pictures of things and the orange category was a wild card, in which you could choose to answer a category of your choice. I cannot remember what any of the categories were other than the close up pictures and the wild card (probably because these were my favourite).
Does anyone have any idea what this game was called?


texts: Does Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker tap with his +1?

texts:
A friend and I had a little confusion. He was playing with Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker and activated the +1, then attacked. The creature did not have vigilance, and wasn't destroyed. So naturally, it would tap. But my friend said because it goes back to being a planeswalker at the end of the turn, it doesn't tap.

So, is there any rule that clarifies this?


texts: Does your Death's Shadow become bigger if you are at negative life?

texts: Is your Death's Shadow a 16/16 if you are at minus 3 life and not dead due to something like a Platinum Angel.


texts: Do characters perform Upkeep actions, such as rolls for Blessed/Cursed, during a final battle?

texts:
During an Ancient One final battle, do investigators roll for Blessed/Cursed and any other Upkeep rolls? (Not sure if there are any others that matter, since Retainer is useless then). I find that the rules tend to be a bit vague on this:

  At the beginning of a round of combat with an Ancient One, the investigators may refresh their cards, use any character abilities, and adjust their skill sliders as though it were the Upkeep Phase.

I find it strange that "make an Upkeep roll" is not listed in the things that are to be done, and the wording "as though it were an Upkeep Phase" makes it unclear to me whether or not this omission means that it is like an Upkeep Phase, but deliberately lacks this.

This came up when we played against Yig. We all got Cursed when he came out (per his card), but we couldn't figure out if we could roll to get uncursed. We decided the omission and the "as though it were an Upkeep Phase" meant that we didn't. However, we think we might have done that wrong since we got it handed to us even though the Arkham Horror Statistics Report says that he's the easiest to defeat in a straight up final battle (with only 37% fail rate as of this writing).

So do investigators roll for Blessed/Cursed and any other Upkeep rolls during a final battle?


texts: Can fire cross walls into another room after an explosion?

texts: If you read the Flash Point rules, it says to place a fire marker on each adjacent spot after an explosion.  Does that mean place a fire on the other side of a wall?  For instance, if the fire is in a corner of a room, would you put fire in another room after an explosion?  The instructions don't say the wall becomes damaged, except from a shock wave.  But it seems confusing because if you read that, it seems like fire is placed on the other side of wall or door, without causing any damage.


texts: What is the optimal strategy in Quantum Tic Tac Toe?

texts:
Quantum Tic Tac Toe is a variant of Tic-Tac-Toe with "entangled" states (there are even iPhone and Android apps).

In essence, a classic naught or cross isn't placed until the 'quantum state' of the board is measured and forms a closed loop.

Here the pieces X3, X7 and O8 are measured when placing the two O8 pieces are placed and forms a closed loop:

Upon measurement, the player placing the X marks, picks whether O8 collapses onto square 3 or square 5. After picking, and resolving entanglement, the board looks like this (O2 and O4 collapse in 7, and 8 respectively. X5 to square 4.)

Is there a winning strategy for either player? If so, what is it? If not, how can one guarantee a tie?


texts: What Betrayal at House on the Hill scenarios can work with just two players

texts:
Are any of the scenarios in Betrayal at House on the Hill suitable for just two players?

I'm asking as I'd  like to play just with my wife at times,  but the instructions say it requires three people minimum.


texts: Do you have to buy the books to get the 40k model rules?

texts:
The 8th edition of warhammer 40k was recently released and every model now has new rules.

In Age of Sigmar you can access models' rules for free either via the app or on the Games Workshop site.

Can you do the same with the new 40k or do you need to buy the new books?


texts:
I had this scenario today where I played not to win but to just accumulate all the cards. The other player (just the two of us) was playing to win. You can argue this is unsportsmanlike however I was curious to see the outcome! I countered all their moves to the point there was no more cards left to pick up. The rules say to reshuffle the discard pile and use it as a new pickup pile. So we reshuffled and I continued to pick up cards without playing (except sporadically to force my opponent to pick up new cards or change the colour).

We repeated this until I held all the cards except two, which were held by my opponent. I deduced the colour they held (yellow and red), and the card on discard was blue (and I decided to pick up, so that final discard card became my pick up card). At that point there are no more cards to pick up.

There's nothing that I can see in the rules to specify what happens in this situation. So, how should it be handled? Is this a stalemate/tie? Is it decided by who has the fewest cards left? etc. Has anyone been so foolish to try this approach before?


texts: If ants are better than spiders, why are there more?

texts:
I recently picked up the game, and have been thinking about it (since I haven't had someone to play it with yet).

In chess, the pawn is the weakest piece and also the most numerous at 8. The rooks, are much more powerful, but you only have 2, and queen is unique.

So why in Hive are you given 3 ants (infinite slide... almost free choice) and 2 spiders (exactly 3 slides)?
It seems that ant/spider roles should be reversed.

I know they're different games, and I haven't tried Hive enough to draw conclusions, but I was wondering if anyone who's more experienced had any insight on the flow of the game. I know i could use house rules and just switch their roles, but would that make the game too slow/difficult to complete?

It seems as if spiders would be throw away early pieces, with the ants doing a lot of the mid-late game work?


texts: Removing enchantments from hexproof creatures

texts: I have some hexproof creatures in my deck and several enchantments. What I wish to know that if I put an enchantment like "Trollhide" on my hexproof creature like "Sacred Wolf" can an opponent remove it from my Sacred Wolf with an enchantment-removing spell, or my enchantment becomes hexproof too?


texts: Can I exile my opponent's Progenitus/True-Name Nemesis with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria's emblem?

texts:
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria's emblem says:

  You get an emblem with "Whenever you draw a card, exile target permanent an opponent controls."

Progenitus and True-Name Nemesis both have protection from "everything" opponent controls, which would presumably include planeswalker emblems. However emblems are unusual things - they're not permanents and survive a "Destroy all permanents" effect, have no colour even though the planeswalker creating them can have colors, etc, so I'm asking this question to make sure.


texts:
Do you need to end your turn in the city with your origin marker in order to satisfy the condition on the Married status?

The status Married says, in part:

  After you have an encounter in another city, you must return to your home before you may end your turn in any other cities.

It is ambiguous as to whether or not you must end your turn in this home city in order for it to count, or if you may simply move over it with your movement (rolling your check for making babies on the way) and then proceed as normal.

On the one hand, nothing else in the game functions by just passing over a space, but on the other, many cards make reference to their effects happening only "after an encounter," while this one does not.


texts: Can I switch two pawns that are right next to the safe zone?

texts: If I drew an 11 while my opponent is on the safe zone entry (the the space right before you get into the safe zone) and my pawn is right after it (between the start and my opponent's pawn) can I switch them? And if I can what can my opponent do after?


texts: MTG Multiplayer—Card Control and Losing the Game

texts: I just need a bit of rules clarification that I'm confused about. If I Donate an enchantment to an opponent in a multiplayer game, and then lose the game myself, does the enchantment leave play with me or does it remain under the control of my opponent until they lose or the game ends?


texts: Can I remove a creature someone's sacrificing for an Emerge cost?

texts:
Here's a problem having to do with the proper resolution of the stack. My friend played Decimator of the Provinces for its emerge cost by sacrificing his Hooded Hydra. In response I played Disperse targeting his Hooded Hydra. This way he wouldn't have enough mana to play his Decimator of the Provinces.

Is that how it would resolve? And if so does the Decimator of Provinces return to his hand or go to his graveyard?


texts: Children's transport-themed game book, possibly European

texts:
From the 1970's - a large-format hardback children's book where each double-page spread was a transport-themed game with cut-out cardboard pieces.

Most of the games were more complex than basic roll-and-move - some were more like puzzles (e.g. move so many railway carriages into a siding with limited space) whereas others involved moving pedestrian pieces around road systems.

I am sure it was a (translated) European book because a) the designs of the trains/trams etc. were unfamiliar (I'm in the UK) and b) the relatively complex nature of the games were in keeping with the Euro ethic.


texts: What is the broader acceptance of resignation?

texts: Games that have developed a strong professional circuit generally consider resignation a courteous behavior. Some consider not resigning discourteous. This question is about the rest of board gaming: When (if ever) is resigning acceptable?


texts: Forbidden Island - Extending to 5 players

texts:
I'm having friends over this weekend and we are going to play Forbidden Island, we are 5 all in all and was wondering if we can play Forbidden Island with 5 players. Are there any adjustments to be made? Will the additional player make the game too easy or all in all break the game?

Thanks!


texts:
If I have a card that I have to trash another card to use, can I trash a card that has a paid ability where the cost is to trash the card, and then activate the paid ability?

Consider Trade-In and Cortez Chip (emphasis mine).

Trade-In:

  As an additional cost to play this event, trash an installed piece
  of hardware. Gain credits equal to half the install cost of the
  trashed hardware (rounded down) and search your stack for a piece of
  hardware, reveal it, and add it to your grip. Shuffle your stack.

Cortez Chip:

  [Trash]: Choose a piece of ice. The Corp must pay 2[Credits] as an
  additional cost to rez that ice until the end of the turn.

Assuming I had a Cortez Chip in play, could I play Trade-In and trash Cortez Chip, and use the effects of both cards?


texts:
In Settlers of Catan, what are the precise rules for when a trade is completed and there is no going back? For example, if player 1 asks if anyone is looking to trade a resource for another resource and player 2 agrees, is player 1 bound to that trade or do both parties have to then agree on an exact trade before continuing?

In other words, is offering a trade to all players an implicit agreement to a specific trade with a particular player? If not, is there any way to agree on trades that does not result in showing what's in your hand?


texts: When should you take a scholar early in "In The Year of the Dragon"?

texts: In what cases does it pay off to take a scholar character early in the game?


texts: How come this solution to Tsumego is working?

texts:
From the application Tsumego Pro, I found this problem (on Today's daily):

$$ ------------------
$$ . . . X . . X O . |
$$ . . . O X . X O . |
$$ . . . O O X X O . |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

The application suggests the following solution:

$$ Problem Solved
$$ ------------------
$$ . . 2 . 4 1 X O . |
$$ . . . O X . X O . |
$$ . . . O O X X O 3 |
$$ . . . . O O O X . |
$$ . . . . . . . X . |
$$ . . . . . . X . . |
$$ . . . . . . . . . |

How come this is solved? What should be black next move?


texts: Does a permanent with multiple types count in all cases as all types

texts: Spell is cast which says choose one of each '  Creature, Artifact, Enchantment' sacrifice the rest.  If you have a creature which is also an artifact, or creature who turns into an enchantment as a result of the sacrifice. If you choose a permanent with more than one type does it count as more than one type in this case.


texts: How long will an MTG draft take with varying number of players (approximately)?

texts:
I'm planning to have a MTG draft with some of my friends, but I'm not exactly sure how much time I should block out. We'd be using 40 card decks with 3 boosters total.

About how long will the drafting itself take? Does this time vary much with number of players?
About how long will each individual game between 2 players take? Since we'll have to wait for people to finish occasionally, how long should I budget for each round?
About how long will the whole thing take? We will have enough rounds so that everyone can play each other once:

  4 players: 3 rounds

  5 players: 5 rounds (everyone sits out 1 round)

  6 players: 5 rounds

  7 players: 7 rounds (everyone sits out 1 round)

  8 players: 7 rounds


texts: Does Fires of Invention allow adventure instant and sorceries to be played for free?

texts: How does the new Fires of Invention card from Eldraine work with adventure cards such as Beanstalk Giant? Does it allow the adventure to be played for free and if so does it count the converted casting cost of the creature card that's in hand or that of the adventure instant or sorcery?


texts: Necroskitter and creatures dying because of placing -1/-1 counters

texts:
Necroskitter has the ability to return creatures your opponents control under your control if they die with a -1/-1 counter on them.
Sound perfectly fine to me, but I read here that when an undying creature with a +1/+1 counter on it dies through an effect which places enough -1/-1 counter on it, state base action is checked and the last information was, that it had a +1/+1 counter on it, so undying won't trigger.

Is this the same for Necroskitter? If there is a 1/1 creature and I play mtg:Black Sun's Zenith for X = 1 and place a -1/-1 counter on it, that state based action doesn't see a -1/-1 counter and Necroskitter won't trigger?

Tl;dr: If I place a -1/-1 counter on a 1/1 creature will I get it with Necroskitter? If yes, why does the game see the -1/-1 counters placed on the creature?


texts: Flexibility of number of players in Fluxx

texts:
I've played Fluxx in groups from 2
  through 10; Zombie Fluxx seems to work
  even better at the ends of that range.

from here

The boxes of all the Fluxx games say 2-6 players, but how well do the games play with 7+ players? I have Zombie Fluxx and the regular Fluxx, is there anything I can do to make the game play better with more people? Does anyone with experience of 7+ player Fluxx have any advice? I know combining different versions can often make it impossible to fulfil some goals, but I'm still curious.


texts: Can multiple people build at the same time in Monopoly?

texts:
From the Monopoly rulebook:

  If there are a limited
  number of houses and hotels available and two or more players wish
  to buy more than the Bank has, the houses or hotels must be sold at
  auction to the highest bidder.

I don't quite understand this scenario. I thought that in Monopoly you could only build on your property on your own turn. Given that, I don't see how the scenario of two or more players trying to build at the same time could happen. Is my understanding of the rules incorrect? Is building houses on another player's turn allowed? If so, can it be done after the player rolls the dice and lands on your property?


texts: How do you deal with the edge of the table in tile laying games like Carcassonne

texts:
When playing a tile-laying game, like Carcassonne or Qwirkle, what rule should we use for reaching the edge of the table?

Play "off the table" is illegal
Play is legal, and we'll faff around moving tiles around to make things fit
something else?

Obviously the best answer is to play on a bigger table in the first place, but sometimes these things happen.  How does your group handle it?


texts: What are the differences between Small World and SW Underground?

texts:
I was excited to see Small World Underground on the shelves of the local game shop yesterday, but neither the box nor the official web site seem to offer a succinct comparison with the original game.  It's clear that the races and maps have changed, but what else?

Additionally, how well does Underground work when used as an expansion for the original game (or vice versa)?  Some races have terrain-dependent powers, but at a glance, Underground doesn't appear to use any of the original terrain types.  Similarly, which expansions for the original game work with Underground?


texts: Is there a MTG card similar (either in image or name) to R2D2 for a Star Wars theme deck?

texts:
I'm putting together a theme deck and I've already selected the following:

Nephalia Smuggler
Sylvan Yeti
Black Knight
Brass Man

There are several candidate cards for Leia or Luke or even light sabers, but I'm unfamiliar with the newer sets, and can't think of anything that even remotely resembles R2D2.

Is there such a card?


texts: Why do some artifacts require tapping and sacrificing as an activation cost?

texts:
With the new Food token mechanic being introduced in Throne of Eldraine, you have to both tap and sacrifice a food token to activate its ability. I noticed that the same is true for Treasure tokens, as well as Etherium Cell tokens created by Tezzeret the Schemer. Even Black Lotus and Lotus Petal require tapping.

In contrast, Clue tokens do not require tapping.

Under normal circumstances, these tokens would never be tapped except when activating their ability to sacrifice them, which means that requiring them to be tapped as part of the cost doesn't make any difference.

Obviously requiring them to be tapped weakens them when combined with certain other mechanics. There are a handful of cards that have a cost such as "tap an untapped artifact you control", but not many. And then there's the Improvise keyword which allows you to tap artifacts to pay for spells; but that keyword is only used on one older set and one newer Commander set. Or March of the Machines.

So, are there particular interactions that Wizards was wanting to avoid by requiring Food and other similar tokens to be tapped as part of activating?

Is it possibly a holdover from the early days of Magic, when cards like Black Lotus were "Mono Artifacts"; which was updated to include "tap" in the cost later? This explains why Black Lotus has tap in the cost at least, although a similar question could arise as to why Black Lotus was made a Mono Artifact instead of Poly Artifact in the first place; when either one would have acted mechanically the same in that case?


texts: How much does Vryn Wingmare increase the cost of my Bring to Light by?

texts:
Say my opponent has a Vryn Wingmare on the battlefield.  When I cast Bring to Light:

Do I pay 1 extra for the Bring to Light?
Do I pay 1 extra for the (noncreature) spell I find?
Both?
If #2 applies and I pay with 5 colors, can I search a 6 CMC spell?
If there was a sixth color of mana, would I be able to get a 6 CMC spell ( or 7 CMC, given the answer to #4)?


texts: How does adding Inquisitors to an army work, and can they form their own army?

texts:
The Inquisition don't seem to follow normal rules around building an army.
How does adding them to an existing army work, and can they form their own army?
This answer covers normal allies, but not Inquisition.


texts: Does killing Might Sliver before damage affect other slivers' power and toughness?

texts:
I got quite confused on what exactly happens in this situation:

Opponent is attacking, he does so with three (3/3) creatures.

I declare blockers, which would be two unimportant (1/1) Slivers and a Might Sliver (2/2). The Might Sliver has a static ability: "All Slivers get +2/+2", so in fact I have two (3/3)'s and one (4/4) creature to block with.

If, after the blockers are declared and before the damage is dealt, the opponent destroys the Might Sliver with an instant (Murder), will my Slivers retain the +2/+2 bonus until damage is dealt, so I would lose three creatures, while he loses two, or is it lost and my defense crumbles and my defenders are all killed?


texts: I'm thinking of building a bridge robot that bids and plays a hand.  Are there any standards for robots to play against each other?


texts:
I'm going to be running Magtheridon for some friends and was looking for advice in general and wondering specifically about bloods. Should I try to keep them around, or spend them on various effects?

We will be running the raid allowing only cards that had been released at the time.


texts: Is it legal for declarer to look at his/her last card played after the cards from that round are all face down?


texts:
One of the Red Taoists abilities allows him to move twice. Could that taoist possibly split their movement?

Move Once (1)
Exorcise or Use Village Tile
Move Again (2)

Similarly, can any taoist pick the order in which they do their actions? For example, can a taoist attack first and move second or does the optional move have to be taken first?


texts: How do you handle fast players in a casual setting that skip priority?

texts:
This really isn't a problem in a tournament setting, because players are expected to know the rules, and will usually ask their opponent if they wish to take any actions before allowing a spell to resolve. In a casual setting though, and especially in Multiplayer, where players may not be paying that much attention to what might be happening on the other side of the board, how do you handle a player who casts a string of non-instant spells without giving anyone the time/chance to counter each spell in the string?

Time is usually at a premium in MP, so I doubt that most players ask each player in turn if they have a response. (with the possible exception of the resolution of cards like Browbeat, where it is optimal to see if any player will bite the bullet and take the damage). In your multiplayer magic games, do you only ask if an opponent is playing Blue with 2-3 Mana available? Do you pause for a short time time after each spell? Do you allow opponents to backup and counter the first spell?

What is the best way to handle counterspells in multiplayer to minimize time, and not make counters too powerful?


texts: Are there any ways to summon Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman from the graveyard?


texts: How to capture unoccupied enemy-controlled territories?

texts: How do I capture them? (besides tanks blitzing). That would not work if im trying to capture an island. Just move in with a bunch of infantry and claim it for myself?


texts: Wall of Frost vs a cyphered Hidden Strings

texts:
My mate just attacked with 2 creatures. One is unblockable and has Hidden Strings as a cypher on it. The other has been blocked by Wall of Frost, which now doesn't untap next untap step. Can hidden strings untap it?

We are assuming it can.


texts: After the initial meld, can I do multiple moves in the same turn?

texts:
I have to code a program that suggests what to do depending on the situation of a Rummikub game. More about Rummikub: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummikub

In Wikipedia's explanation, I quote:

  Once a player has made his initial meld, he can, on each turn, play one or more tiles from his rack, making or adding to groups and/or runs.

I have never actually played Rummikub (and I seriously don't want to try the online multiplayer game), so here's my question: after the initial meld, if I can do multiple things (say, put a Run and also a Group), can I do them both in the same turn? Or am I limited to one "move" per turn?


texts: Maxxing out the trader track in Stone Age: Style is the Goal

texts:
While playing a game of Stone Age with the Style is the Goal expansion, we had a player achieve ten traders on the trader track. Later in the game, she purchased a card which gave a +1 on the trader track. It wasn't clear to us whether she should receive the usual two decoration even though she couldn't move her counter on the track itself.

We settled on a house rule that yes, you could indeed take two decorations even if you can't advance any further on the trader track. This seemed to me like a reasonable decision as you are purchasing more traders, which would bring in decorations, even though the track itself maxes out at ten.

Has anyone else run up against this question and come to a resolution? I'd love to hear it if so, as I really enjoy playing Stone Age! Thanks everybody.


texts: What game do the cards in the hands of the guy second from the right (Gin Ichimaru) come from, if they do come from from any game?


texts: Do Marchesa the Black Rose and Nightmare Shepherd work together?

texts:
I heard recently about Nightmare Shepherd and thought it might work great in my Marchesa, the Black Rose deck. If I have a creature with a +1/+1 counter on it and the creature dies, both triggers would go on the stack.

If I choose to use Nightmare Shepherd's ability and exile the creature card from my graveyard, would it still return to the battlefield under my control at the end of the turn via Marchesa's ability?


texts: MTG - Priority and timing between instants and instants -

texts:
Well, returning back to the creature 2/3 just summoned, what happens if I have priority and cast an instant that gives +1/+1 to that creature, and then, giving priority to the opponent, he/she casts Lightning Bolt in order to kill the creature counting on that it resolves before my instant (giving +1/+1 to the 2/3 creature)?

In other words, here's the order of the spells:

Summoning of a 2/3 creature
Priority is mine, and I cast an instant (giving +1/+1 to the 2/3 creature just summoned)
I give priority to my opponent, and he casts a lightning bolt with the 2/3 creature as a target.

What happens? Does the Lightning Bolt kill the creature, or not? The stack is now:

Lightning Bolt on the top
My +1/+1 instant on the bottom


texts: How does Rat-a-tat-cat strategy change as the number of players increases?

texts:
As already discussed in Do the vast majority of Rat-a-tat Cat rounds end very quickly?, optimal play leads to rounds ending quickly with a small number of players. Is this true when playing with 5-6 players? I just played my first 5 player game yesterday and did not enjoy a similar level of success when employing that strategy. Consider:

For one thing, the chance that an opponent will draw a power card is no longer very small, which matters a little for a draw 2 and matters a lot for a swap. But more importantly, if someone else is likely to call for the round to end, why not just wait and get your extra turn? Of course, if you were thinking to call for the round to end, you may not have visible cards that can be improved all that much anyway . . .


texts:
The Kaladesh update bulletin includes the following line:

208.5
Also on the subject of power and toughness, we have a new rule that if a creature has no power or toughness, that value is 0. This can happen if you manage to get a crew ability to animate a non-Vehicle artifact.

The newly defined rule itself says:

208.5 If a creature somehow has no value for its power, its power is 0. The same is true for toughness.

The update bulletin doesn't mention what cards could possibly enable this to happen though, and I can't for the life of me figure out how this gets set up. Is it some combo involving Necrotic Ooze or something?
How can I crew a non-vehicle to arrive at this situation?


texts:
I'm unclear as to when pieces are captured vs. when they're moved to the repository in Basic Gipf

If I understand it correctly, the 4+ in a row pieces are moved to the repository of the player with their color. Any pieces that extend this line are dealt with as follows:

if they're the same color as the current player, they're moved back to the repository
if they're the other player's color, they're captured.

Is this correct?


texts: Are you allowed to use a tool such as a pencil or stick to help tap the block out from the tower?


texts: If I have two Skinshifters in play, can I use the ability of one to affect the other?  For instance, if one of my Skinshifters has Ice Cage on it, can I use the other Skinshifter's ability to morph the "caged" one, thereby breaking the Ice Cage?


texts: What should Mono-B put in sideboard against GW-Tokens?

texts:
My brother plays a Mono-Black standard-format deck against me often. He has some big threats in there like Phyrexian Obliterator, Sheoldred, Whispering One and Lashwrithe as well as many cards with phyrexian mana to fuel his rage extractors. Smaller creatures I see all the time are Porcelain Legionnaire and Vault Skirge. In addition to that he has some discard spells for control. I don't have his exact deck list but that's what I am facing all the time.

The main idea is to stall me as long as he needs to get his threats out and overwhelm me in the end. This works really well against most of my decks and compete almost on even ground against my strong decks like "elves", "tempered steel" and "solar flare". His weakest match up at the moment is against my GW-Token deck, similar to this one, except that I have 4 Oblivion Rings in the main deck and no Timely Reinforcements.

What should he put into his sideboard to be able to compete against this deck? I would suggest some Ghost Quarters to deal with Gavony Township but this still leaves him with the problem of Shrine of Loyal Legions, Intangible Virtue and Elspeth Tirel which he usually has no real answer to. Especially when I use my Oblivion Rings on his threats it is game over.

Which Mono-Black or Phyrexian-Mana spells can address this problem in Standard (Scars - Innistrad - M12)?