texts:
On my turn, I had tripped a base so it would score.  The other player played a special card that let him play any action as a special. He chose to play an action card that blocked the base from scoring until his next turn. I have a couple questions in this situation.

Does a base score as soon as it is tripped? Meaning, can he block it from scoring once it's tripped?

I think turn order says that a base scores after a minion and action card are played. Since I only played a minion, could I still play an action card on the tripped base, even after it is tripped? Or once it is tripped, are only special cards allowed?

If normally only special cards are allowed on a tripped base, could I play a regular action card in this situation, since my opponent stopped it from scoring?

Can I trip a base with an action card, wait for it to score and then play a minion on the new base or does scoring the base wait until the end of the turn?


texts: Carcassonne: The River II playable/worth it without River I?

texts:
I recently received a copy of Carcassonne for the holidays, and have enjoyed it so far. My print, however, doesn't include the mini-expansion River I, and it seems like a neat little mechanic insofar as what I've found. However, it's out of print, so I can't obtain it without quite a bit of markup and expense. The River II, though, is readily available through Amazon, but I don't know if it's playable without the original River, and even if it is, if it's worth buying without the original to supplement it. So, this question boils down into two parts:

Does The River II require The River I?
If not, does not having The River I make The River II less enjoyable to a significant extent?


texts: What happens if I blink a transformed double-faced planeswalker?

texts: If I blink Garruk, the Veil-Cursed with something like Skybind, does he come back and instantly die?


texts: How should one access HQ cards with the "Legwork"

texts: In the case of successful run via the Legwork how the runner should access cards? Should he take them all at once? Or he should take one, return it back into the Grip, and take another two attempts?


texts: Settlers of Catan: Building Roads 'Through' Settlements

texts:
I think that this idea is a bit ridiculous but my friend insists that: because of ambiguity in the rules, it is perfectly legitimate to build roads 'through' settlements. In case 'through' is unclear, let me explain through an example:
So, say that we have our hexagonal board piece. Now, we have two settlements, one towards the top, another towards the bottom. Now, the bottom settlement wants to build roads, so it starts building around this same hexagon. Now, my question: can you build a road that 'passes through' the other settlement to complete the loop?
Also, can you please reference the language in the rules? (My friend is extremely stubborn)

I am trying to get a visual example, sadly I am nowhere near a board. I'll get the picture ASAP. Thanks in advance.


texts: Cabal Therapy trick in response to Shock

texts:
Let's say my opponent plays a Shock. In response,
can I cast Cabal Therapy to get rid of it?
As in Counterspell or such. Please give me the full ruling on this card


texts: My parents found these while unpacking. I'm fairly certain they're from a board game of some sort, they're vaguely familiar but I can't place them! 44m diameter. If I had to guess, I'd suspect they're from a game that's aimed at children, but on the interesting end of the spectrum of such games, but I wouldn't count on that. Does anyone recognise them?


texts: Can you play a piece of Ninja Gear that gives a flat bonus to turn a failed roll into a success?

texts:
In Ninja Burger, you attempt to deliver tasty food to people. Along the way, you need to pass skill checks (such as Climbing at -2 to get to the International Space Station, because nowhere is outside our delivery zone). To help with this, there are various things that help, including Ninja Gear, some of which gives a flat bonus to, say, Climbing rolls. (There are other pieces of gear that grant an automatic success after you have failed; I am not asking about these, they're clear enough.)

Can you play (and apply) Ninja Gear that gives a flat bonus after you have failed the roll, or do you have to have the gear in play before rolling?

The manual says two things about this :

1) "If you come to a hard roll, don’t be shy about asking for help" (implying that you need the gear before the roll)

2) "If you fail any roll, and cannot turn your failure into success by making a legal re-roll, playing a card, or using a special ability, you have failed the mission." (Implying that playing a +1 bonus after the roll might work.)


texts: Is it an official rule that interference in Monopoly requires paying $50 to free parking?

texts:
I have a question in regards to a rule, that I and a lot of family friends have always played by in monopoly, but a few new comers don’t get that rule, and I can’t find it in writing.

We play by the rule that if a third party interferes or makes a comment and throws someone under the bus they have to pay $50 into the middle (for free parking).

For example: if I own pall mall, John lands on pall mall and I don’t notice, and then Jane tells me they John landed on my property, Jane would have to pay $50 into the middle.

The same with bidding, so if I’m making a deal with John and Jane interrupts and goes “no” “don’t do it” she has to pay $50 into the middle.

Is this an actual rule? Or did we make it up?


texts: How can I get my heavy card stock game board to lie flat?

texts:
I have a game board made of heavy card stock that doesn't lie flat at the creases, and the sections bow a little. Is there a way to keep it lying flat? Maybe a way to mount it?

The board is from Commands & Colors: Ancients.


texts:
On the board:

Black 1
Black 2
Joker (Black 3)
Black 4
Joker (Black 5)

On my rack:

Black 3
Black 5
Yellow 2

The play I want to make: Swap out my Black 3 and Black 5 for the two Jokers & use them with my Yellow 2 as a run or set.

Is this legal? or since I am buying two jokers am I required to use two tiles (i.e. one for each joker)?

Sorry for the confusion (I am new at this) ...

What my opponents are saying is that I can't use just one tile from my rack with the two jokers I bought ... I must use two from my rack (one for each joker)


texts: What is the name of this solitaire game?

texts:
I am looking for the name of a card game I played as a kid, but do not remember it's name.

I found it in a Donald Duck book about the scouts (that I remember)

It was played as a solitaire game with 1 deck.

You put out 6(or 8?) cards open on the table, hold the others closed in
your hand.

You keep adding cards till you can do the check and till you left with no cards in you hands. With a bad shuffle you end op with a lot of cards on the table.

you check if card 1 and card 3 are the same suit or the same number.
In this the case, put card 2 on top op card 1 and go back to step 1
Are the not the same, check card 2 and 4 and check if they have the
same suit or number.
In this case, put card 3 on top of car 2 and go back to step 2.
If you have no cards on table to match add 1 card from you hand.

The games finished when all cards are distributed on the table.
You win if there are only two piles left. On the left all cards, on the
right one card.
Can anyone tell me the name of the game?


texts:
If I have a card like Lightning Strike (that costs 2 mana) and I have 6 mana, can I use the card 3 times?

In an online Magic game I played, I had this specific card also. When I casted it, it asked me how many times I wanted to use it. To be honest, it sounds like this would make the card too overpowered so I wanted to know for sure.

If the answer is yes, please explain me exactly how it works. E.g. which spells can do it and which can't? Can the effects be divided with each cast?


texts: How to deal with Enchantments outside of G/W?

texts: I have done gatherer searches for "destroy" and "exile" target enchantment with White and Green excluded. Are there any options, save counterspells, for dealing with them?


texts: In canasta, What is the top card of the discard pile?

texts: This is very similar to existing questions, but resulted in heated debate. Here's the situation: first player discards a seven. Second player discards a wild card. Question: Is the top card a seven or wild? Third player has already gone down, has two sevens in hand and wants to pickup the discard with the wild card visibily on top. Is that a legal play?


texts:
When the current rules in play are along the lines of 'Play 4', does that include any cards you have already played as the result of other actions / playing your Keepers, or do they have to be fresh cards from your hand?

If I have 2 action cards and 2 keepers in my hand and I have to play 4, do I have to also play the keepers in front of me? (I've interpreted the rules as such in this case)

(Zombie Fluxx in this case, but common to all variants of Fluxx I think?)


texts: When do you reveal the top card of your library with Courser of Kruphix and scry lands?

texts:
I have Courser of Kruphix in play, and a scry land (say Temple of Plenty) on top of my library revealed. If I then play the land off my library using the Courser's ability, which of the following happens?

I play the land, then reveal the top card of my library, then
scry. Or,
I play the land, then before revealing the new top card of my
library, scry.


texts: Help me refind this 3d go variant - pieces can be stacked in a pyramid fashion

texts:
Quite a while back I stumbled upon a 3D variant of the game go. What I recall of the rules:

designed to be playable without extra equipment beyond go board and stones
played on a 9x9 grid
stones can be stacked by putting one piece above/between 4 pieces, forming a little pyramid
capturing stones works within one plane as normal, except that stones under other stones are pinched and can't be captured

The whole ruleset is online somewhere. However my google fu is weak and with the terms go, weiqi, baduk, 3d and pyramid I had no luck. I also found no mention while skimming this reddit or this entry in the sensei's library.


texts: Standstill, Phyrexian Tyranny and both players wanting to cast instants immediately after standstill is played. Who gets damage?

texts: A question regarding Standstill; I have Phyrexian Tyranny on the table and we both have 2 life left. I play Standstill and immediately play an instant so that my fellow opponent would have to draw 3 cards, lose life and die. But, as I play Standstill my opponent also immediately plays an instant. Who draws the cards and loses?


texts: What happens when The Paranormal Investigator discovers a Werewolf?

texts:
I played One Night Ultimate Werewolf last night and the following happened:

The Paranormal Investigator looked at a Werewolf card.
The Troublemaker swapped the Paranormal Investigator with the Insomniac.
At the end of the round a Werewolf was lynched.

There was some confusion as to who was on Team Werewolf and who was on Team Villager. The rules for the Paranormal Investigator say "if you look at a Werewolf or a Tanner you become a Werewolf or a Tanner". We weren't clear if "you" meant the player becomes a Werewolf or the Paranormal Investigator becomes a Werewolf.


texts: Can each player fight a minion in each round in Roll Player - Monsters and Minions?

texts:
In Roll Player - Monsters and Minions an addition action is added to the base game's market phase, The Hunt.

  MARKET PHASE
  During the Market Phase, players may do one of the following:
  1. Buy a card from the Market, as in the base game.
  2. Discard a card from the Market and gain 2 Gold
  from the supply, as in the base game.
  3. Go on a Hunt. (See Going on a Hunt below.)

The rules for the hunt include the step

  Reveal the top card of the Minion deck and place it face up on top of the deck.

Does this mean the new minion is available to be Hunted by the next player in the same round? We've had a bit of disagreement because this is different to the way Market cards are refreshed.


texts: In Dungeon Lords, there is a spell that forces you to pay your monster(s) cost or withdraw it from combat. If you have a vampire and are just below the evil-o-meter level needed for the paladin to show up, but no one had breached the level yet, will he show up mid combat if you pay the cost to keep your vampire from withdrawing? What about if someone else had already summoned the paladin, and you became more evil than them, would doing this bring him to your dungeon?


texts: When a Phantom Knight's Trap is Special Summoned back as a monster, and then is sent to the GY, is it still treated as a monster?

texts: Some Phantom Knight's Card have an Effect that says you can special summon it as a monster (This card is not treated as a trap). When it is destroyed, is it a monster or trap in the GY? (For example, could I use Monster Reborn on it?)


texts: What do you do in the event that you open a basic land in a booster draft? Do you just treat it like all other cards in the booster?


texts: Is the double-blank domino, if in hand at the end of a standard "connect" game, counted as zero or 14 points?


texts: Does this mining mechanic add genuine choice to my game?

texts:
To be concise, I am designing a game based on resource/risk/conflict management. Units will be carrying around several piles of resources, which also power and boost actions like movement, attacking and mining.

I want the resource acquisition to be tactical/exciting as well. My current idea is going up to a resource node, setting its difficulty to a 2-6 number, and expending resources to roll as many dice as resources expended. Dice that come up greater than or equal to the difficulty yield difficulty resources each.
As such, a roll of [6 5 2 2] against a node of diff 5 yields 2*5=10 resources, with 4 expended to roll. A net gain of 6.

My question: Does resetting a node's difficulty provide a genuine "steady stream vs risky motherlode" choice?

I've modelled this process, and the means vary less than expected while the maximums and deviations burst up as difficulty goes up. Does this mean there is genuine choice?

The modelled process


texts: Sheriff of Nottingham - Is the sheriff allowed to take your bribe and still search your bag?

texts: I was playing in a game where I had offered a bribe on my merchant bag. The sheriff, in turn, chose to take my bribe and still search my bag anyway.  Is this type of play allowed?


texts: In Small World: Underground, do the Iron Dwarves keep their hammers from turn to turn?

texts:
We just played our first game of Small World: Underground, and we're not sure if we played the Iron Dwarves right.

The Iron Dwarves can get Silver Hammer tokens for occupying Mine regions, and it sounds like those hammer tokens are permanently gained, not used up when the dwarves use them for conquest.

The rules state:

  Take your Silver
  Hammers back in hand and place them off the
  board, in front of you, where they will wait until
  the start of your next Conquest phase.

This sure sounds like they earn the 7 Hammers and then have 7 to use every turn as long as they feel like staying active.  We played it this way, but the Iron Dwarves dominated heavily because they were also Immortal.

If we played it correctly, my next question for BGSE is going to be: "How do you counter Immortal Iron Dwarves?"


texts: What happens if a transform trigger is copied?

texts:
Similarly to my previous question, what happens when a miracle trigger is copied?, Strionic Resonator, a new card printed in Magic 2014 could also be used to copy a transform trigger such as on Huntmaster of the fells.

What happens when this trigger is copied?


texts:
Spells that have Epic, such as Neverending Torment prevent you from casting any more spells outside of the copy that you cast of it each turn. But, does playing a card count as casting a spell? I am specifically asking about cards that give Cascade, such as Maelstrom Nexus.

Would I get a Cascade trigger off of the Epic spell copy?


texts:
I remember playing a card game I'd like to find and buy, but I don't remember the exact name.

It is a game which we played with its own special-design deck. The cards have numbers going up to a bit above 100 (maybe 111?) and points represented by a few auerochs heads. A few special cards have unusually many auerochs heads.

I don't remember the exact rules, but I know that there are three piles laid on the table. The players have to discard cards from their hand onto the piles, with the number of the card played (and maybe also the pile size?) Constraining the cards which can be played, determining on which pile the card must land, and also whether a player has to take a pile as a kind of trick. At the end, the player with the fewest auerochs in his tricks wins. I think there might have been drawing of cards from a face down pile too, but not sure about that.

I remember it as a very dynamic game with simple rules and little wiggle room (once you choose a card to play, many events follow automatically) but at the same time lots of fun. There is no obvious winning strategy, and the ranking can change up to the very end.

I can't say if the game absolutely required the special deck, or If it could have been a modern redesign of a traditional 104 + some jokers card game, but it looked more like an independent design (no obvious relation to sous or traditional card values). It was in German, I can't say if originally produced in Germany. Search for additions card games only returns references to magic cards.

Can anybody help me identify it?


texts: How do the expansions for Carcassonne change the game?

texts:
There are a ton of different expansions for the Carcassonne base game. What are some of the differences between them?

What does each one add to the game?
How does each one change the strategy and gameplay?
What new rules and tiles does each one add?


texts: Is there a functional difference between "all" and "each"?

texts:
Take the two cards Fiery Cannonade and Golden Demise.

Fiery Cannonade reads:

  Fiery Cannonade deals 2 damage to each non-Pirate creature.

Golden Demise reads (among other text):

  All creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn.

I noticed that both could easily be rewritten to be consistent:

  Fiery Cannonade deals 2 damage to all non-Pirate creatures.

or

  Each creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.

Is there a reason for the difference in wording, or any edge cases where the difference in wording would matter? MTG is usually high consistent for clarity, is this difference simply artistic choice of the writers?


texts: Looking for a horror boardgame I used to play back in 1999 or so

texts:
Back when I was a kid (which would've been at least 15 years ago, so around 1999 or so) there was a game I used to play that I would like to find again.

This "horror" game took place in an haunted mansion or castle divided in four big rooms and multiple floors. Players can choose from different characters (and if I remember correctly, one of them was a dog) and advance through an high number of tiles by spinning a wheel. Some tiles had special effects on gameplay written on them, as "stop for a turn" or "go to tile number ###" and so on.

It was not "Ghost Castle" and not something about Scooby-Doo (the characters where anonymous). It was built in thick paper or cardboard (everything but the wheel was made in this material), and it wasn't a box but a book which become a 3D setting when opened.

It was none of those listed below, because this are way to small:

Which Witch
Haunted House
Haunted Mansion
Ghost Castle

Thanks!


texts: Do 3 Boros Elite attacking trigger Battalion?

texts:
Say I have 3 Boros Elite in play, and I decide to attack a player with all 3. Does it trigger Battalion? Since the card sais:

  Battalion — Whenever Boros Elite and at least two other creatures attack, Boros Elite gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

Do the other 2 Boros Elites count as the 2 other creatures? Or do I have to attack with 2 different named creatures to activate Battalion?


texts: Does Phantom Flock still prevent damage if it has no counters left?

texts: Was having an argument with a friend, and couldn't really resolve the issue via google.  Let's say, Phantom Flock ("If damage would be dealt to Phantom Flock, prevent that damage. Remove a +1/+1 counter from Phantom Flock.") is on the field, along with Aven Brigadier out, giving Phantom flock +2/+2. So the Phantom Flock is a 5/5, with 3 +1/+1 counters, and the buff from the Aven Brigadier.  Let's assuming then that I deal damage three times to the Phantom Flock, making it a 2/2.  If I then deal two more damage to it, does it die, or is the damage still prevented, removing an "invisible" +1/+1 counter from it?


texts: How does Jester interact with the Knights?

texts: Each of the Knights has a different name. If someone reveals a Knight when I play a Jester, can I gain a Knight, or do I gain nothing since there isn't a second Dame Anne (or whomever) available in the supply?


texts:
I played Betrayal at House on the Hill for the first time on the weekend. I was the traitor and it was haunt #38. I followed my interpretation of what the book said, which when the first person died read, and then said I did it wrong.

Note: The version is not the newest

The text (from memory):

  Place as many firebats as there are players in the room where the Haunt started

My interpretation:

  Place 6 (total players) firebats in the room where the Haunt started

Their interpretation:

  Place 1 (number of players in the room where the Haunt started) firebat in the room where the Haunt started.

Newest revision

  Get out a number of firebats (represented by
  orange Bat tokens) equal to half the number
  of players, rounded up. Put them in the room
  where the haunt was revealed.

Was my interpretation correct?


texts: How damages from an attack applies to a player?

texts:
Context :

We're playing a mtg multiplayer game with 3 people (2 friends and I).
Let's say player 1 has no creature on the board and no way to defend himself and 1 Life left, player 2 has some big creatures on the board and plenty of Life, and player 3 has three 3/3 creatures on the board, each with lifelink and vigilance, but player 3 doesn't have much life left (he could die next time player 2 attacks him with full power).
In order to survive the next turn, player 3 has to gain life with the 3 of his creatures AND keep them alive for defense purpose) so he decides to attack player 1 with everything.

Question :

How do you apply the damage from player 3's attack to player 1 ?

We're lacking information and can't tell if player 1 will die from the blow of the first creature to damage him (thus healing only 3 life to player 3), or if all three creatures hit him at the same time, letting player 3 heal 9 Life this turn.


texts: Can I activate Vehicle abilities without Crewing them first?

texts:
Cultivator's Caravan is a vehicle with:

{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
Crew 3.

Can I tap Cultivator's Caravan for mana of any color without providing creatures to crew it?


texts:
I've been playing The Resistance: Avalon with a group and we're finding that the games usually end with the Good Guys passing 3 missions, but then the Forces of Evil win by assassinating Merlin. This has happened 4 times out of the last 5 games.

We usually play with 7 or 8 people, although we've played with 5 or 6 people on occasion. For extra roles we usually add in Percival and Morgana. With 7 or more we also use the Lady of the Lake.

So 3 questions:

1) Can we change which roles we use to make Merlin's death less likely?

2) If I'm Merlin, how do I steer things in the right direction without outing myself to the Forces of Evil?

3) If I'm Percival (or even just a normal Good Guy), what can I do to protect Merlin?


texts: If I were to attack with my creatures, 5 1/1's for say, and my opponent chooses not to block, could I then boost those creatures with an instant to make them more powerful?


texts: Does the 30 squadron capacity of Midway apply to the basic game or the advanced game?

texts:
Besides the three carriers, the American player in Midway can base up to "30" squadrons on Midway beginning with the second turn.
The "advanced" game often  incorporates fighters. Counting these fighters, the American player has 50% more planes than in the basic game. Does that meant that the 30 squadron capacity of Midway should be raised 50% to 45 in this variation? Or is this variation considered the "base case," meaning that Midway's capacity should be reduced to 20 in the basic game (divide 30 by 3/2).
A historical note: In the "real" battle of Midway, the Americans started with about 42 squadrons on Midway instead of 14. The latter number reflects American losses on the first day, June 3, and was used as a game adjustment in favor of the Japanese. Does this fact suggest that 45 is the right number for this variation?


texts: Creating an "Everyone but me knows my role" mechanic

texts:
I am trying to design a game where there are X citizens + 1 saboteur.  Unfortunately for the saboteur he does not know that he is it.  All the citizens know that one of them is replaced, and they all have a "guess" as to who the saboteur is, but they can't be sure if their guess is correct of if they are themself the saboteur.

I want every person to know that it is either a specific player or themselves. Everyone's "guess" for the saboteur is correct, except for the saboteur, whose guess is another player at random.

My initial thought was to deal out role cards, and have everyone reveal their cards to everyone else but not look at their own card.  This unfortunately does not work.  The saboteur would just not see any saboteur cards and know he is it.

Is there any way to set this up without using a moderator?


texts: Which spells or abilities are affected by things that care about targeting?

texts:
Note: this is intended to be a canonical question about whether or not a spell or ability targets so there are multiple sub-questions.

Can Hexproof or Shroud save my creature from Wrath of God? What about a Cyclonic Rift that was cast for it's Overload cost?
Does shroud prevent me from using the Monstrosity ability of a creature, or from giving it more counters with Proliferate?
Can I cast an Aura Enchantment on one of my creatures with Shroud, or an opponent's creature with Hexproof? Or can I use the Equip ability to attach an equipment to one of my creatures with Shroud?
Will Diffusion Sliver's ability trigger when my opponent plays Wrath of God? And will I have to sacrifice my Phantasmal Image if my opponent casts Nausea?
Will Shroud or Hexproof prevent an opponent from choosing me with Stuffy Doll's ability?
Will Hexproof keep one of my creatures from being affected by Sleep?
If an Aura or Equipment is attached to a creature with Hexproof, does the Hexproof protect the attached permanent?


texts: What happens if you give Defiant Bloodlord Lifelink? Infinite Health/Damage?

texts:
What would happen if you cast a spell like Grotesque Mutation on Defiant Bloodlord, then gain life from one source or another?
Theoretically, he would then deal X damage (where X is the triggering life) to target opponent (from his ability), which would cause the player to heal X life (lifelink), which would cause him to deal X damage to target player, etc.

Am I missing something?


texts: When playing the Mine, which Treasure do you upgrade first?

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

In Dominion, when playing the Mine card, you can "Trash a Treasure card from your hand. Gain a Treasure card costing up to 3 Coins more; put it into your hand.". If you have only Copper or Silver in your hand, then the choice is obvious which to upgrade. If you have both Copper and Silver in your hand, what are the pros and cons to upgrading one over the other?


texts: Which has to be declared first: Marklights or Jink?

texts:
Situation: A squad of (jet)bikes has several Markerlights on them. The tau player is about to shoot at them with some Plasma or other weapon w/ low enough AP to punch their armor.

Does the Tau player have to declare Markerlight usage before Bike player Jinks? Or do the Bikes have to declare Jink before finding out whether the Tau player is going to use the Markerlights to ignore cover?

I am ONLY concerned with 7th Edition rules. 6th Edition was clear cut as Jink was automatic.

ETA:
Jink (7th Edition):

  When a unit with any models with the jink special rule is selected as
  a target for a shooting attack, you may declare that it will jink. the
  decision must be made before any of the to hit rolls have been made.
  If the unit jinks all models in the unit with this special rule gain a
  4+ cover save until the start of their next movement phase, but they
  can only fire snap shots until the end of their next turn.


texts: If an Old One takes damage while attacking my farm, do I get credit for it?

texts:
AuZtralia includes the following personality card:

  Alanza Castro
  Whenever an Old One attacks one of your Farms, it suffers two damage.

The rules don't say and we couldn't find an answer online: if I have this card in play and an Old One attacks my farm, do I get credit for the two points of damage?  In a game today, an Old One with four hit points died entirely from attacking two of my farms, and we weren't sure whether I got to collect the victory points.

The wording is passive (it suffers damage, as opposed to "you deal damage"), but as far as we've seen (only played a few games so far), all other damage dealt to Old Ones is "owned".


texts:
Some Magic writers advise players to side out a land when on the draw in Limited, in order to improve the probability of drawing a strong starting hand.

Is it reasonable to do the same (side out a land on the draw) in Constructed? And, if so, why isn't it commonly done?
Assuming you have a good reason to have land in your Constructed sideboard in the first place (usually cards like Wasteland), when is it strategically beneficial to bring in extra lands instead of only making spell-for-spell substitutions?


texts:
Two questions about attacking:

1) If I have creatures in play, can I declare an attack and then declare zero of the creatures as attackers?

2) If I have no creatures in play, can I declare an attack?

I'm not sure why you would want to, in either case, but it seems like a weird rules case.


texts: Finales in Camp Grizzly - how do they work?

texts:
When you reveal a finale, what happens to counselors who are not present in the finale cabin? Are the turns stopped? Does Otis continue to stalk us?

Do you just follow the rules on the card, ignoring everything else?


texts: How can I persist XP and gold when my players change between games?

texts:
I've been playing Descent a few times with a few different players. Unfortunately players change, but we keep the XP and gold for the heroes that do play, and when a new player joins they are restricted to choosing only a hero that hasn't been picked yet.

However I'm really not sure how to manage the XP/gold when either

A new player joins halfway through the campaign (or whatever act they may be on).
The Overlord player wants to actually play a hero (because as much as I like being the Overlord.....it's nice to be a hero too).

I see only a couple of options:

The "New" person picks a hero and starts with starting equipment.
Some sort of house rule. To me maybe this would be a new person starting with whatever the "weakest" person has earned gold/XP-wise?

I really can't figure out a good way to do this. Having multiple campaigns with multiple sets of people would get really confusing, plus those who JUST played a certain act, wouldn't want to have to replay it. Plus, RP wise, new people join groups all the time so there is that?

What I've been doing is tracking XP/Gold per hero or Overlord, and not per player. So if someone new comes by and they want to play hero X, then they'd get all the benefits of that hero.

Anyone have any ideas for this conundrum?


texts: In Elder Sign, can I free a focused die?

texts:
If I focus a die, can I free it and reroll it later in the same turn?

The only reference I see in the rules is the following (with something similar in the faq as well):

  Note: A player can focus a die only after a failed roll, and he can focus only once during each of his turns.

This, combined with the "Elder Sign: Omens" iOS game's inability to unfocus a focused die makes me feel it may be set in stone once you focus and bar you from freeing it. Is there any supporting ruling otherwise?


texts: Removing persist from a creature -- will it still trigger?

texts: Suppose there is a creature with persist on the battlefield, for example Safehold Elite. The creature loses persist somehow, for example because a player casts Turn to Frog on it. The creature then dies, for example due to combat damage. I know that the creature card will have persist again once it's in the graveyard. Does the persist trigger go off, or does the creature simply die?


texts: How do Platinum Angel and Darksteel Reactor interact?

texts: I have a Darksteel Reactor on the battlefield, and my opponent plays Platinum Angel. How does the Reactor's effect resolve when it hits 20 counters with the PA in the battlefield? Do I win the game or not?


texts: Should the basic resources from the first two Resident Evil boxes be combined?

texts:
Both the base set of Resident Evil and the Alliance expansion are standalone games, and come with a complete set of the basic resources (Ammunition, Handguns, Knives and Herbs).  I know that the Mansion cards of both sets can be combined and played together if you want a longer game (the Daykiller), but the rules don't appear to specify what to do about the basic resources themselves.

Does combining the piles from the two sets unbalance the game?  Should the basic resources from both sets be combined, or only one set used while playing?


texts: What does "Return (card of the same name) from graveyard" mean?

texts:
I'm a beginner when it comes to TCGs and MtG, and I've wondered what it means when a card says to return the same card from graveyard.

For example, Haunted Dead (EMN) has:

  {1}{B}, Discard two cards: Return Haunted Dead from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.

Which got me thinking, "Wait, if Haunted Dead is in the graveyard, how can I use this ability, this ability of Haunted Dead?"

Does this mean that even if there is no Haunted Dead in play (on the battlefield), I can activate this ability by paying the costs, searching for a Haunted Dead in my graveyard, and return it to the battlefield?

Or does this mean that I can only use this ability with a Haunted Dead (which I control, on the battlefield) and return another Haunted Dead from the graveyard?

In other words, I suppose, can abilities like this be activated whenever, or only when the creature is on the battlefield? (If it's the latter, doesn't that mean there's no reason to have 1 Haunted Dead in a deck since you can't use the ability?)


texts: "Hostile alien actions" when no one is in their room

texts:
The rules for "Perform Hostile Alien Actions" says:

  If an alien finds a character in any location other than their start location:

  Move the concealment down 10% for each player in the room
  If a patrol of lieutenant is present, all players are injured
  The lowest ranking alien goes with all characters to the infirmary
  Patrol aliens move one space on their patrol path
  If a hacker alien is present, all unlocked systems are locked

To me, this suggests that the patrol and hackers only move, or re-lock if a character is found.

Does anyone else read it this way? Can anyone clarify this?
So far, we've been treating it as if they happen all the time.


texts: Does going below 0 life with Ad Nauseam kill you before Phyrexian Unlife can save you?

texts: I play Ad Nauseam and Phyrexian Unlife at the same time with Ad Nauseam on top. Upon resolution I repeat Ad Nauseam's effect, say, 40 times. Do I lose before Unlife can save me? Or does the game proceed with me at -20 LP?


texts: How to find Enchantments or Artifacts that have multiple effects?

texts:
I've tried the Gatherer and Advanced Google Search and cannot find a good way to find cards of the type I'm hoping to find.

I'm looking for enchantments or artifacts that have multiple effects possible when conditions are met.

For example, Jeskai Ascendancy has 2 separate effects when you cast a noncreature spell.

A better example is Waste Not that triggers for creatures, lands or any spell if a 'discard' action happens.

I'm not sure there is a good way to search for this type of card, so if anyone has suggestions, I would gladly welcome them.


texts:
Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle has an ability that says:

  Whenever a Mountain enters the battlefield under your control, if you control at least five other Mountains, you may have Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle deal 3 damage to target creature or player.

Going by the wording, it appears that Valakut triggers every time a mountain enters the battlefield, and then checks the number of other mountains at resolution.

But then it has to deal 3 damage to a target.

My questions are:

Does Valakut put another ability on the stack when this happens? If so, what kind of ability is it?  Is it a triggered ability that can be copied with Strionic Resonator?
If it's all the same ability, then does the controller of Valakut technically have to choose a target regardless of whether he has 5 other  Mountains or not? So does a Valakut and one Mountain kill a  Phantasmal Image?


texts: What happens if each player has a copy of the same Archetype?

texts:
Archetype of Endurance (from Born of the Gods) is a card that says

  Creatures you control have hexproof

  Creatures your opponents control lose hexproof and can't have or gain hexproof.

If both I and my opponent have one of these in play, then there is one effect that says that my creatures have hexproof, and one that says that they lose hexproof and can't have it. Which effect takes precedence? Does it depend on what order the two creatures came into play? Basically, which creatures, if any, have hexproof while both are in play?


texts:
I have Suburbia, and I quite like it. However, some of the people I play with, don't quite have the cutthroat edge to win. It makes not so fun to play if I win every game.

What's an effective way to handicap it?

I was thinking I could simply start with less money, in which case, what would be idea starting amount be?


texts:
There is a card game I used to play when I was in school in the Middle East--which I understand is based on a French game called Belote.

Does anyone know of an English set of rules for this game?

The game involves 4 players in two teams, only uses the 7's and up of each suit (A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7).

Each turn starts with a bidding process for the top card; it's either chosen to be the trump suite or not.

Scoring is different for the trump suit as is, the rank of the cards, (trump: J,9,A,10,K,Q,8,7) vs (non-trump: A,10,K,Q,J,9,8,7).

Each round consists of a player playing one card into the pile, the team with the highest value card wins that round.

There are also sets of cards like three/four/five in a row or 4 of a kind that are worth bonus points.

I'm looking for a concise set of rules in English for this game, preferably the Arabic variant, if not the French original.


texts: How does a Channel ability work with my commander?

texts: How does Channel (the Kamigawa mechanic, not the card) work when your commander has such an ability, such as Arashi, the Sky Asunder?  Can I use it from the command zone? Do I pay the tax when I use channel? Does it increase when I use channel?


texts: I have some very old magic cards with no symbols how can I find out what they are worth or if they are rare?


texts: How do the various expansions for Arkham Horror change the game? In what order would you recommend buying them?

texts:
Currently there are 7 different expansions for Arkham Horror, and I'm need some advice as which to buy.

How does each expansion change the game?
What new components does it offer?
In what order and in what circumstances would you recommend buying it?

Feel free to list whatever information you can on the expansions you have, as I realize that very few people will have 7. :D


texts: In multiplayer, what happens if a player you're attacking dies before combat damage is dealt?

texts:
I can't work this one out. For example:

I declare a creature attacking one of my opponents (who's on 5 life). Before he/she declares blockers another player casts Beacon of Destruction (or similar), reducing his/her life to 0. They would then leave the game, correct?

What happens to my attacking creature, does it still attack the player who is no longer there,  or is it no longer attacking?

In a similar situation, if my opponent has a planeswalker and I attack it, if that planeswalker is destroyed or exiled before it gets to combat damage what happens with the attacking creatures?

My guess is the damage is still dealt to the player/planeswalker no longer there and therefore doesn't do anything except tap the creature, but I'm not sure about this.


texts:
Have been playing Mahjong for over 45 years and played today with a lady who filled in and we had a discussion regarding payout for betting.
For purposes of this question:
Playing with 4 players at the table and the 5th as the better.
Player A calls Mahjong with a self drawn tile.

The hand was a 25 cent hand which would then be doubled to 50 cents since it was a self drawn tile for Mahjong.
Since it was also bet on the bettor would also get 50 cents for the winning hand.
SO each player would pay both the winning player and the bettor each 50 cents. Total for each of the two players would be $1.50 each. Am I correct???

The lady who filled in was insistent about the following.
She said since the player who called Mahjong was also bet on by her then the total that each player needed to pay both the winning player and she, the bettor, was to be double the 50 cents to equal $1.00 total to each of the two players.
This would then make the player with the winning hand paid a total of $3.00 and the bettor also be paid $3.00.
So instead of each of the other 3 players paying out $1.50 to each for a total of $3.00, she insisted it was to be doubled since it was also bet on to a $1.00 payout for each the winning player and also the bettor for a total payout for the 2 players to $6.00.
She insisted that this was National Mahjong Rules.
As I stated have been playing a very long time and have never had any player state this.
Thanks much for your responses.


texts:
So, I have been developing a way to play A&A with two boards. You have the Axis on one and the Allies on the other.

Now, before you start saying that this is ridiculous and stupid and would prolong the gameplay 10 fold, let me explain...

On your board, you have your troops and you can see territories you don't own. Then, on your turn, you can choose to attack somewhere or you can do reconnaissance and send a bomber over an enemy area to see what is in it. Since bombers are a big part of attacking the enemy, this would be a free move. But, the more bombers you have, the more recon you can do. A bomber cannot do more than one territory per turn.

So, you recon or decide where to attack and write it down. Then, a mediator takes your paper into the other room where the enemy board is and they tell you what you're fighting or what you've spied.

So this is my VERY BASIC plan. I want ideas to help develop this a bit more.

Any ideas??? (<-- there is my question)


texts: Gin-Rummy with different number of cards

texts:
Official Gin-Rummy is played with 10 cards.  I wish to implement in my game a shorter version with less cards.  What are the common/recommended number of cards?

I guess that removing/adding multiplications of 3?  So 7,10,13,... should be nice.  Is that true?
Any other rules modification when playing with less cards?


texts: What are the differences between the various versions of Axis & Allies?

texts: I used to play Axis & Allies all the time when I was younger.  I recently purchased the Axis & Allies Revised Edition, and was floored by all the added complexity/new units/new rules/map changes.  It was definitely a whole pile of fun, but I notice now that there are many other versions of Axis & Allies available as well.  Are the "new" rules the same across all the "new" versions?  Does each version have its own rules?  Are the differences in the rules relatively minor, or do I need to keep track of six different sets of infantry rules for six different games?


texts:
Mimic's text:

  Ongoing: This minion's power is equal to the highest power printed on a minion card in play.

What is the power of 'Mimic' while it is in the deck?

I.E. can a G.E.L.F. or Sprout pull it from the deck if Zombie Lord is in play??


texts:
What's the relation between Mansions of Madness, Elder Sign and Arkham Horror?

All of them are published by Fantasy Flight Games and they are based of Cthulhu Mythos. So my question is, is it possible to use them together in someway?

If I get all three games, Can I share something between them?, Can I mixup the card decks? e.g: characters, miniatures, dices, adventures...etc


texts: What zone is a spell or ability in when it is resolving?

texts: When I cast a spell or activate an ability, or a triggered ability triggers, it goes on the stack, and then some time later, it resolves. Is it still on the stack while it is resolving? If not, is it some other zone or somewhere else entirely? If it's a spell, when does it go to the graveyard?


texts: How do I avoid making a "video game forced to be a board game"?

texts:
My last playtest for the game, useful as it was, resulted in a player saying it feels like a board game, but the players have to run and update the normally-passive numbers manually.

I'm worried that the time-delayed effects, debuffs/buffs wearing off, additional information for each unit, resources being assigned passively, among others, are the traits of a video game closely resembling Battle For Wesnoth or Duelyst.

What are some common pitfalls and solutions to them when a board game feels like a video game that you have to basically "compile" every turn?


texts: Number Wheel/0-9 Decagon gear for board game?

texts:
Is there a 0-9 number wheel / plastic decagon thing available for board game construction?

I previously asked a question about possible techniques for tracking multiple variables. Here I am asking specifically about the feasibility of making a board which has little rotating decagons (about 25-50 of them), each of which cover the values 0-9, just like this picture  or this one.

Is there anywhere I can buy tiny decagon plastic rings like the first picture, to implant into a board with a little depth, that can be then be turned?


texts:
I just stumbled across a card I've never seen, Piracy.

  UU, Sorcery
  Until end of turn, you may tap lands you don't control for mana. Spend this mana only to cast spells.

This would have been interesting back in the days of mana burn, but now it seems like this card boils down to "Tap all mana-producing lands your opponents control". I can't see a situation where the opposing player's correct response wouldn't be to simply tap all their lands. If they don't, Piracy's controller can just do it. Or can they?

  Spend this mana only to cast spells.

Does this mean they can't just float the mana and not use it? I would think that you could since it says spend which implies that the restriction is only on what you actually spend the mana on.

Is my take on this card correct? (and is there anything interesting you can do with this?)


texts: Battlestar Galactica: How to balance core game

texts:
I never saw the human team win and I would like making it a little bit easier for humans to finish the game without losing.

How can I balance that? Is there anywhere a new set of rules that balance the game? Will I be forced to buy an expansion, or can I add/remove easily stuff without ruining the game?


texts: Which software is best for translating Yu-gi-oh cards from Japanese to English without changing the original art.


texts: Can Mirrorworks' ability be activated multiple times for the same artifact?

texts:
Mirrorworks reads like this:

  Whenever another nontoken artifact enters the battlefield under your
  control, you may pay 2 (colorless). If you do, put a token that's a
  copy of that artifact onto the battlefield.

If I cast say, a Darksteel Relic, could I then pay 4 colorless and get a total of 3 Darksteel Relics (the original and two copies)?


texts:
Reading FAQs concerning Muraganda Petroglyphs and morph cards, a face down morph creature will get the +2/+2 bonus from Muraganda Petroglyphs.

What I don't understand is why. Since the face down creature gets +2/+2 form the glyphs, that implies the creature has no abilities. Yet the creature can be turned face up by its morph cost. If that is not an ability, what is it exactly?


texts: Does the Void's power cancel out the Spiff's?

texts: In cosmic encounter, one player is the Void (destroys ships instead of sending them to the warp), and another player is the Spiff (attacking player still gets a colony if they lose by 10 or more). If the Spiff attack the Void and lose when they have 5+ ships, do they still get a colony, or is the ship that would become the colony destroyed?


texts: Would using 2 progressions of evil and 2 heroic actions per turn destroy the balance of Shadows Over Camelot?

texts:
After reading so much about how Battlestar Galactica was a better game than Shadows Over Camelot, I became determined to help it and see if I could help it at all in the contest. One of the issues was how easy it is for your turn to become very boring, like when you do nothing but play a grail or other card. This requires very little strategy, discussion, or decision, and it seems like the game could be speeded up a little without any huge disadvantages.

Since the game is based on the balance of good vs. evil actions, why not just do 2 evil actions and 2 heroic actions per turn? This could be a small disadvantage as more bad things will happen before your next turn, but is it fairly balanced out by the double good actions? Most other cooperative games give you multiple actions, and as it gives you more choices, it makes the decision of what to do during your turn all the more interesting.

Would this hurt the balance of the game? Is there anything I can do to counteract its effect or reduce turns where very little thinking is required?


texts: Did I "really" have too many points for the following bid?

texts:
Not vulnerable versus vulnerable, I was sitting third position  with the following hand: (s) KQx (h) --- (d) KJ9xxx (c) K8xx. (All x's are 7 or lower.)

I opened 2D, a "weak two" after two passes. One of the opponents protested that my holdings exceeded the 6-10 hcp point range for a weak two. Technically, I had 12 hcp, but I downgraded my hand for the following reasons:

I subtracted 1+ points for the lack of aces and Ts.
My KQx of spades was a "clunky" holding whose true value was closer to 4 points (a single ace) than 5.Between this and 1), I adjusted the value of my hand to 10 hcp.
My lack of hearts meant that the opponents would have a heart fit unless partner had six. A bid of one diamond would be easily overcalled 1H, an opening bid of two diamonds would have some preemptive value.
Partner either had less than six hearts, or if he did have six and passed, he was very weak, meaning that with my RHO also having passed, LHO (fourth seat) would be very strong.*

The opponent felt that my bid preempted partner. I said that I have "barely" an opening hand (with a minor suit), and partner's pass said he didn't, so I had little fear of missing game. Was I really too strong to open one diamond instead of two?

*If I had 12 hcps in say first seat, I would attribute an average of about 9 hcps to the remaining three players. With two passes to my right, I guessed that they would average 7 hcps each, 14 in total. Adding 12 for me would leave 14 for my LHO, and most finesses would be "onside" for him.


texts: How can you distinguish a "Standard" Card fro a "Modern" Card?

texts:
I recently played in a Standard draft at Friday night magic and I was informed that there are certain specific sets of cards that can be used in Standard.

I am aware that Modern includes all standard cards also. what I want to know is how can you distinguish which cards you can use in standard?

Is there any symbolisation for a standard card? As the markers in the right hand side of the creature type line such as M14 and so on seem to not make much difference.


texts: If I'm using Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder and I have Thran Temporal Gateway on the field, and I deal combat damage to a player with Yidris. Will using Thran Temporal Gateway's ability allow Yidris' s ability to trigger, because Thran Temporal Gateway doesn't use the text cast?


texts: Does Mirrorwing Dragon's ability trigger when redirects are involved?

texts: My opponent casts Murder targeting my Storm Crow. In response, I cast Bolt Bend, changing the target to his Mirrorwing Dragon. Does this copy the spell for his other creatures?


texts: Can I voluntarily fail the roll for the Collapsed Room?

texts:
The Collapsed Room has the following text:

  You must attempt a Speed roll of 5+ to avoid falling. If you fail the roll, draw a basement tile and put it in play. You fall there and take 1 die of physical damage.

Is it permitted to voluntarily fail the roll if I want to go to the basement and am willing to sacrifice the 1 die of physical damage?

Also, does the answer differ for forced movement? This came up for Haunt 9: The Dance of Death. In that haunt, players must make a Sanity roll or do the following:

  you must move toward the Ballroom by the shortest route through discovered rooms. You may perform other actions normally along the way if you wish.

In our case, the Collapsed Room was in the way of the Ballroom, and we were unsure as to whether we could voluntarily fail that room roll in order to get farther away.

So can I voluntarily fail the roll for the Collapsed Room?


texts: My opponent attacks me with say, a 6/6 trample generic Wyrm of some sort, and I block with a Whispering Specter, a 1/1 infect with flying. When damage is dealt the Specter will deal it in the form of a -1/-1 counter from its infect ability. Well, the Wyrm would normally deal me 5 leftover trample damage, so is this damage lowered by -1 from the counter given by the Specter?


texts: Can enchantments (briefly) go on protected creatures?

texts:
Protection is an ability that grants an object or player several benefits, including:

  702.16c A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality. Such Auras attached to the permanent or player with protection will be put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)

This ability is usually less relevant because when enchantment auras are cast they target, and protection prevents targeting as well. However, if an enchantment aura enters the battlefield without being cast (such as from a flicker effect or Zur the Enchanter), the comprehensive rules say:

  303.4f If an Aura is entering the battlefield under a player’s control by any means other than by resolving as an Aura spell ... that player chooses what it will enchant as the Aura enters the battlefield. The player must choose a legal object or player according to the Aura’s enchant ability and any other applicable effects.

Does the "any other applicable effects" clause prevent me from putting an aura onto a protected permanent? At first I thought yes because protection specifically says 'can't be enchanted'. But then I re-considered, as I'm more leaning towards the interpretation that protection prevents ongoing enchantment, not the act of putting an enchantment onto something.

For a specific example, if my opponent has a creature with protection from blue, and I use Brago, King Eternal to flicker a Reality Acid that is currently on the battlefield, can I choose my opponents pro blue creature to enchant with Reality Acid? Knowing that it would immediately slide off as a state based action, but me being ok with that due to Reality Acid's triggered ability.

This question seems close: If a protection effect "doesn't remove Auras", can auras that are not cast be placed on the permanent?, but I think is subtly different as the card in question specifically removes the 'can't be enchanted' clause which is crucial to my question here I think.


texts: Do I need mana to play an instant that lets me block my opponents attack?

texts: It is my opponent's turn and I decide to play Spidery Grasp (1 Green mana and 2 generic mana) to attempt to untap my creature and block his creature. However all my mana is tapped, so can I still do it?


texts: How can you ever buy a development card with 14 tokens? as you can never reach this amount, even when you draw +3 on your turn, the max you can reach is 13, and you cant use them to purchase the card as your tuen is over?


texts: Why is this corner enclosure considered to be safe against 3-3 invasion?

texts:
I have read somewhere, but unfortunately forgot where that the following enclosure is safe against the invasion at a.

$$ White invades at 'a' and supposedly dies.
$$ ---------
$$ -........
$$ -........
$$ -..a..X..
$$ -...X....
$$ -........
$$ -..X.....
$$ -........

What is the proper way to defend after white a? Is there a way for white to live, even in gote?


texts: What is the real name of Misha's Bidding Game?

texts:
My friend went to a math camp and brought back a card game called Misha's Bidding Game that is super addicting. I can't find the real name of the game on google though, so I'm guessing it's obscure.

Everyone gets 5 cards, and all that matters is if they are red or
black.
Each player arranges them in a stack face down and they go in a
circle bidding how many red cards they can flip over from any deck
(bids must be strictly increasing).
Anyone can challenge a bid at any time, and the challenged player
must flip over from the tops of anybody's stack that number of red
cards (you can pick and choose the tops of anybody's deck, even
flipping multiple ones off the same deck).
If you successfully flip over the bidded number of red cards, the
challenger loses a card, otherwise you lose a card.
If you lose all 5 you're out.
After a challenge, the bidding is reset.

After you've had at least one card flipped or you lose a card, you get to reshuffle your stack


texts: Can you collect resources from a roll if you move the robber after rolling?

texts: If we are playing catan and the robber is on an 8 and an 8 is rolled, but someone plays a knight card and the robber is moved..... Can that player then collect resources because the 8 was opened on the same turn and is no longer blocked?


texts: Does the rule for auras remaining in their zone apply when an aura token is created?

texts:
Rule 303.4g deals with an aura that enters the battlefield without a legal choice for what to enchant:

303.4g If an Aura is entering the battlefield and there is no legal object or player for it to enchant, the Aura remains in its current zone, unless that zone is the stack. In that case, the Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard instead of entering the battlefield.

Say you only control 1 creature, which is enchanted Benevolent Blessing, with White as the choice for protection. You cast Replication Technique, targeting Benevolent Blessing. What happens?
The first Benevolent Blessing prevents the creature from being a valid choice for the new one. It sounds at first like 303.4g should apply, but it says that the new aura would remain in its zone... but it wasn’t in any zone ever, it’s a newly created token.  So does the token get created at all? I don’t know of a rule other than 303.4g that would stop it from being created.
The other option I can see is that it gets created, and goes to the battlefield not attached to anything. But then it goes away the next time state based actions are checked, as per 704.5m.
This different could matter if you had something that triggered when it enters the battlefield.
I’m using Benevolent Blessing as an example, as it’s the only thing I could think of that would make it possible to have an aura already on the battlefield, while not having a legal choice for another aura that’s a copy of that aura.


texts: Does the 2nd ability of Teysa, Orzhov Scion trigger with mass destruction?

texts:
Let's say Teysa, Orzhov Scion and my ten other black creatures are wiped out with "Wrath of God". Do then 10 white 1/1 Spirits appear on the battlefield even though Teysa has just been destroyed?

Sounds pretty strong to me.
Am I right?

Thanks a lot.


texts: If damage is assigned to AAA during bombardment, can it defend before general combat begins in the territory or is it removed?

texts:
Question pertains to Axis & Allies 1942, 2nd edition.

If a defender assigns damage to anti-aircraft artillery units during the bombardment phase of an amphibious assault, do the AAA's still get a chance to defend prior to beginning the general combat phase?

For example, UK forces conduct an amphibious assault (with 2 cruiser, 1 transport carrying 2 infantry, and 1 fighter flies in for land combat from another territory) on Italy (defending with 2 AAA's and 2 infantry). There are no defensive sea forces in the sea zone, so skip sea combat and begin bombardment phase - cruisers roll twice and get 2 hits. Defender wants to assign one hit to one infantry and other hit to AAA.

I know the one infantry is removed from the remaining land combat, but is the AAA also removed or does it first get to roll against the fighter before it is removed?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Does "on your opponent's 3rd turn" mean after 3 turns?

texts:
The text of "Swords of Revealing Light" reads

After this card's activation, it remains on the battlefield, but destroy it during the End Phase of your opponent's 3rd turn.

In previous versions it has specified

This card remains on the field for 3 of your opponent's turns.

So it has been changed from that, presumably for a reason.
In my mind, my opponent's 3rd turn is not the same as 3 (of my opponent's) turns after I activate the card and would imply the card is not destroyed if I activate it on or after my opponent's 4th turn.
How should the text be interpreted?


texts: Monopoly deal - charging rent multiple times

texts: A 2 player scenario: I have two rent cards, worth 2M each. I can see that my opponent has 6M in their bank - consisting of a 4M card and two x 1M cards. If I play my first rent card they are likely to give me the two x 1M cards. If I then play my second rent card (within the same turn) they will be forced to give me their 4M card as well (as they can’t get change)... Is that just good strategy? Or is my opponent entitled to wait until I’ve played all my cards in that turn so that they will know the total amount they will need to pay me? (Thus avoiding having to give me the 4M and the two x 1M cards.)


texts: Can I stack ongoing action cards on the same base in Smash Up?

texts: In Smash Up, can I play multiple actions on a base?


texts: Cribbage pone strategy for hands involving a run and a pair

texts:
In two-player cribbage, when the pone is dealt a hand that includes a run and a 5+pair (e.g. 3,4,5,6,Q,Q) is it better to keep the run (3,4,5,6) or the 5+pair (_,5,Q,Q)?

It seems like there should be a statistically optimal play here.

In the specific example above, either choice leaves the pone 6 points, but the run has a chance of improving to a double run (12 out of the remaining 46 cards) and is improved by 24 other cards (2s, 7s, Ts, Js, Qs, Ks). The main downside of that play is it concedes a pair to the dealer. On the other hand, the 5+pair can improve through any 5, Q, or ten-value card. If the connecting 6 is kept, it can also improve through a 4 or 7. Overall, there are 24 cards that improve that hand. It also concedes a 3,4 to the dealer - which seems less likely to give the dealer points.

My intuition is to keep the run, but a mathematically sound analysis of expected value would be nice.

P.S. For the purposes of this question, we can ignore the exact position of the players, and assume it's somewhere mid game (as opposed to really close to the end where pegging considerations become more important).


texts: Axis and Allies - Is there a best country?

texts:
I've been told by several people that different countries are statistically better choices for Axis and Allies?

Is there any evidence that one or more countries have a significant advantage?


texts: How long can I wait before choosing to counter a spell?

texts: Today, I was playing a duel, and my friend played a Wall of Reverence, which he then ended up enchanting with an Ethereal Armor. Between those two actions he asked me if I would counter it, to which I answered that I would wait for him to play the rest of his cards so I could choose what to do. He said that I had to counter the Wall of Reverence before he played Ethereal Armor for the counter to work. Was he right about that?


texts: What incentive do humans converted into aliens have to keep playing?

texts: In Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space, humans who are killed are turned into aliens and continue to play as such. However, the rules state that they have automatically lost and cannot win in the event of an alien victory. What incentive do the converted aliens have to forward the alien victory, if they can never win? Has anyone house ruled a win condition for them, perhaps if the converted aliens kill all the true aliens?


texts: Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic vs Starlight Road

texts:
My opponent controlled "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" on their Pendulum zone and has 6 Spell counters scattered on his part of the field. I controlled 2 face-down cards on my S/T zone, one of which is "Starlight Road". My opponent activates the effect of "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" and removed 6 Spell counters as cost.
Can I activate "Starlight Road" in response to "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" Pendulum effect?

Pendulum Effect:

You can remove 6 Spell Counters from your field; Special Summon this card from the Pendulum Zone, then count the number of cards you control that can have a Spell Counter, destroy up to that many cards on the field, and if you do, place Spell Counters on this card equal to the number of cards destroyed. You can only use this effect of "Endymion, the Mighty Master of Magic" once per turn.


texts: Any recommendations or variants for playing Crokinole? We say that you have to stay seated in your chair with at least one cheek touching to make your shot.


texts: Can I use both of Grindclock's abilities at the same time?

texts:
I'm starting on mono blue mill deck and I saw Grindclock. I'm not sure about its ability.

  {tap}: put a charge counter on Grindclock

  {tap}: target player puts the top X cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard, where X is the number of charge counters on Grindclock.

If I just cast Grindclock and use its first ability, will the second ability take effect, or do I just put a charge counter on it? If there's already one charge counter on it and I use the first ability again, it will have two charge counters on it? Then the second ability will take effect with two cards being sent to graveyard?

If I use spells or ability to untap it after being used can I use its ability again on the same turn?


texts:
I'm using www.deckstats.net to play around with my cards and making different decks. I'm very new to MTG and deck building.

Here is my deck so far:

//Lands
4 Dragonskull Summit
10 Mountain
11 Swamp

//Spells
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Cobbled Wings
1 Firecannon Blast
1 Flame Lash
1 Hungry Flames
1 Raise Dead
1 Shadowed Caravel
1 Skulduggery
1 Spreading Rot
1 Thaumatic Compass
2 Untamed Hunger
1 Vanquish the Weak
1 Wrangle

//Creatures
2 Alley Strangler
1 Battle Squadron
1 Bishop of the Bloodstained
1 Blight Keeper
2 Bloodhunter Bat
1 Boggart Brute
1 Dune Beetle
1 Falkenrath Reaver
1 Foundry Street Denizen
1 Goblin Ringleader
2 Gravedigger
1 Nightmare
3 Ruin Rat
1 Rummaging Goblin
1 Sengir Vampire
1 Shivan Dragon
1 Skittering Heartstopper
1 Skymarch Bloodletter

Deckstats says this is not a valid Frontier deck...why is this? What cards are illegal?


texts: Can you get actions in another players turn with Hidden Ninja and Chronomage?

texts:
The card text of "Hidden Ninja" says:

  Special: Before a base scores, play a minion there.

Chronomage says:

  You may play an extra action this turn.

Do I have the possiblity to play an arbitrary action after that?


texts:
What's the largest card size in a board game that's still current (in print sometime in the 21st century)?

I'm looking for cards that are used as cards, not as placemats.  This means that the cards are used in a deck or a pile containing multiple cards at a time.

(A good answer would be in both inches and millimeters.)


texts: What happens when Boldwyr Intimidator makes a creature with Changeling a Coward?

texts:
Boldwyr Intimidator has the following ability:

  {R}:Target creature becomes a Coward until end of turn.

Changeling is defined as:

  702.72a: Changeling is a characteristic-defining ability. “Changeling” means “This object is every creature type.” This ability works everywhere, even outside the game.

What happens to the creature with Changeling's creature type when Boldwyr's ability is applied to it?

For example:
I have a Boldwyr Intimidator on the board, my Opponent has a Changeling Sentinel and Muscle Sliver on the board.
I use Boldwyr on my Opponents Changeling Sentinel to make it a Coward, does it still receive the +1/+1 bonus from Muscle Sliver?


texts: Double strike and trample, dealt lethal damage during first damage step. Does the rest go through?

texts: I have a 6/6 double strike, trample dealing damage to a 6/6 first strike, indestructible. As the double striker dies during the first damage, does the rest of the remaining 6 damage go through, or does it fizzle?


texts: Can I tap Rupture Spire to pay for its own ability with an Amulet of Vigor in play?

texts: Assuming I stack the abilities correctly can I get the Rupture Spire untapped in time to pay for its own ability with an Amulet of Vigor?


texts: Marrying Mr. Darcy - Can Kitty Bennet play one more turn after the last turn?

texts:
In the card game "Marrying Mr. Darcy", Kitty Bennet's special power states that

When it's time to draw an Event Crad, she can choose to draw the top discarded Event Card instead.

Usually, when the last Event Card is drawn, the game ends. However, if the last Event Card is drawn by the player to the right of Kitty Bennet, can Kitty still take one more turn by re-drawing that same last Event Card after it is discarded? or is the game immediately over when the last Event Card is intially drawn regardless of Kitty's special power?


texts: Does a countered Mimeoplasm still exile creatures?

texts: If I use Counterspell on a The Mimeoplasm that's being cast, are the 2 creatures that have to be removed still removed? Or is this a ETB effect? I ask because of the fuzzy wording on The Mimeoplasm that says as he comes into play first...


texts: Is drawing multiple cards an atomic action?

texts:
Is drawing multiple cards an atomic action, or do effects triggered by drawing a card trigger for each card drawn instead?

Consider Spiteful Visions, which reads:

  Whenever a player draws a card, Spiteful Visions deals 1 damage to that player.

If a player were to be compelled to draw more than one card, would that player be dealt the damage all at once, or one at a time? For example, how many times would Circle of Protection: Black need to be activated to prevent all damage?

Furthermore, if there exist additional effects that are triggered by damage dealt in this way, are such effects resolved together atomically or is each resultant effect resolved individually?

How about tutors, or other cards not using the word 'draw', eg: Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar

  If you would draw a card, look at the top three cards of your library instead. Put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.


texts: Do you know this card game (mafia themed)?

texts:
I'd like to find this card game that I played a couple of years ago, the facts that I remember are the following:

The game was played with cards, the cards being placed in 3 rows, each row representing a specific city in the US (possibly Chicago & NYC being two of them)
Each card had a different mafia member, with 2 stats: strength and points (they might have also been divided by colour, but I can't remember)
When two similar cards were around another, I believe that took the middle one (or ones) out of the game

Has anyone played or heard of something that has this theme and plays similarly to my description?


texts: Why didn't whomever created EDH allow Planeswalkers to be Commanders?

texts:
I know only legendary creatures can be commanders unless stated otherwise (for example Daretti, Scrap Savant).  Have the creators of EDH ever explained why Planeswalkers cannot be commanders by default (except with rules exceptions like the one on Daretti's card)?

I'd like to know because my favorite card is Sorin, Solemn Visitor and I would've loved to make a deck around him.


texts:
When I cast Vigor Mortis or a similar spell (Reanimate, Resurrection, etc.) on my Mirrorwing Dragon,  does it copy the spell on other targets in my graveyard?

I suppose not, since I do not control the creature cards in my graveyard.


texts: Can I make decisions while searching my library based on what order it is in?

texts:
Let's say I have 3 Millikin and 4 Selvala, Explorer Returned on the battlefield (via Mirror Gallery), and a Panglacial Wurm in my library.

I start searching my library, without shuffling. (because of some spell or ability)

I want to cast the Wurm, but I need all 4 Selvalas to generate mana. Can I make decisions based on what order to activate the Millikins and Selvalas in based on the top cards of my library? Can I even see the top cards before I cast the Wurm?


texts:
Agricola is a farming game that shares a name with a (mildly) famous Roman general. They have the same pronunciation, i.e. the game is not pronounced as agri-cola.

Given that Agricola the general isn't super famous, especially not as a farmer, then why does the game share his name?


texts:
In Blood on the Clocktower, the Fool is immune to their first death:

The first time you die, you don't.

This ability, like all abilities, goes away if the character is drunk or poisoned.
The Pukka's ability seems like it could potentially counteract the Fool:

Each night, choose a player: they are poisoned until tomorrow night, then die. You act on the first night.

While the Fool is poisoned, they are not immune to their first death. However, this wording of the Pukka's ability (specifically the "they are poisoned until tomorrow night, then die") is unclear - "until" and "then" make me think that perhaps when the Fool dies to the Pukka, they are not at that moment poisoned, and therefore their ability would trigger to prevent that first death.
With no other interactions involved, can the Pukka kill the Fool on their first attack?


texts: Help me identify an old family board game (from memory)

texts:
I realize chances are slim, but I figure it's worth a shot asking, nonetheless.
It's a game that I've played as a very young child and have moved countries since (but I'm pretty sure I've lost all pieces as well, long time ago).
I'll try to provide as much details as I can dredge up from memory.

The game was played by several players (max of 4, I believe). The end goal / winning conditions, I cannot remember, unfortunately, but I do believe it was each player for his own (and against the rest).
The game board wasn't small, think Monopoly sized and up.
Players moved around with dice rolls.
The setting was in an jungle overrun temple.
It consists of multiple pieces besides the players and a flat board, since there were turning bridges depending on certain conditions. These bridges were actual separate pieces (a cardboard rectangle on a wooden button, but still) which added a hint of 3D to the game.
It's at least 20 years old (played late 1990s - early 2000s).

I've made a quick image rendition from memory, for its general overlay, but take it with a hefty pinch of salt:

This is the general path the game takes, it's a road around a pool of water with platforms inside, reachable by;
The turning bridges. These I remember were 1 square wide and are turning depending on certain conditions in the game (and there may have been crossroad / + shaped 'bridges' as well), and could be turned back, to prevent a player from crossing it, by;
'Pressure' plates around the path that when stepped on control a particular bridge's rotation.
Statues, that I recall as being semblances of Aztec statues, as to their function (if any), unfortunately - nothing there.
A certain platform stood out among the others, and I believe it was the center one, if that's where the game goal was residing, I draw blanks.
Each platform had a certain reason to be visited, but again, what that might have been, has been lost with time.

I wish I could remember more (and if I do, I will most certainly update the question).
I apologize if I'm asking too much, but the memory recently got under my skin, and I'd love to figure out what it was at least, even if unable to buy it anywhere. I hope my hazy drawings and description do not confuse a kind soul that might actually know what the game is.
The game is not:
Fireball Island
Curse of the Idol - But it looks VERY close to it in terms of mechanics, settings, and I believe, gameplay - an excellent reference point. One main difference would be that most additional components were made of cardboard (like the game board walls in this one).


texts: Do opposing forces immediately fight upon a Declaration of War?

texts:
For this question, Russia and Prussia start at peace.  The sequence of events is:

Month 1

Prussia declares war on Mecklenburg
Russia gains control of Mecklenburg - Russia does not DOW Prussia in support of the minor
During its land move Russia puts a depot with garrison in Mecklenburg
Prussia moves a corp into Mecklenburg and drops a garrison in Lubeck

Next Month

Russia Declares war on Prussia

Are the forces in Mecklenburg forced to fight immediately?


texts: Why is this type of hesitation considered unethical?

texts:
In two previous questions, it was clearly agreed that hesitating before playing a singleton specifically, and hesitating during play as a bluff generally constitute "wrongful/unethical hesitation." As an advanced beginner, I don't understand this rule at all.

I know that at the highest level, the best way to play and not give away any information about your holding to the opponents is to play each card at a nice even tempo. I am not a world class player; I am not even an advanced player (if I endplay you, I promise it wasn't intentional). As such, I frequently need to pause and calculate what to play, even in situations where the correct play should be obvious.

Knowing that I will inevitably need to pause and consider a play and that that pause will provide my opponents with the information that I had a potentially difficult decision to make, why is it considered unethical for me to occasionally insert a similar pause before a routine play?

It isn't as if I could use such a pause to reliably signal something to my partner. In fact, this strategy removes the temptation for partner to draw unauthorized inferences from my pauses.


texts: How exactly do "start of turn" affects trigger

texts:
This came up in a casual game with a friend last night. He is the runner with an economy based upon the The Supplier. One turn he hosted a Data Folding on it. At the start of his turn the "start of turn" effects trigger, and since it is his turn he picks the order. He claimed he could have the supplier resolve first, and then still get the money off the newly in play Data Folding. This didn't seem right to me as Data Folding wasn't in play when the "start of turn" effects triggered.

Who is correct?

What about a similar situation. He already has a data folding in play and wants to use the "start of turn" credit from it to pay for something else already hosted on the supplier. Is this allowed?


texts:
A Risk board represents the map of the world, or of Europe. Thus, it implies some constraints for example on the connectedness of a territory.

I would like to explore how graph theory could help your strategies, and on which measure would a change of the node number and degree change them.  Are there any variants of this game that are played on an arbitrary graph?  (Yes, I realize that it wouldn't be in the spirit of a war game at that point.)


texts: When might a Standard American bidder "bend" the five card major rule?

texts:
"Five card majors" is the foundation of the Standard American system. Yet rules are made to be broken under special circumstances.

My understanding is that some bidders will adhere to "five card majors" in first and second position, but bid good four card majors (say, KQxx or better) in third and fourth position. The rationale appears to be that if your partner has already passed, you are the "captain" of the team, and the cost of misleading partner is less than if partner hadn't spoken. In this case, partner may use the Drury convention to find out if you are bidding a four or five card major.

Another variation I've heard is that "five card majors" must apply to hearts, but need not apply to spades (with or without the third and fourth seat variation referred to above). The reason is that a bid of x spades beats out a bid of x hearts, but you need to go to x+1 hearts to beat out an x spades bid. So there is a greater need of the fifth card in hearts.

Which experts or variations basically follow Standard American but allow deviations from "five card majors" under particular circumstances?


texts: Are Hand-Based Stat Monsters prone to abuse?

texts:
I'm talking about cards that gain attack based on how many cards you have in your hands.

Say if I had 3 "Slifer The Sky Dragon" copies and had a massive draw deck. I'd have the "Veil of Darkness"x3, "Pot of Greed"x3, a few draw spells, a few monsters with draw effects, and a bunch of DARK monsters.

Veil of Darkness lets me draw a card if I draw a dark monster in the draw phase, and is a continuous spell. If I have 3 Veils, I can draw 3 cards for discarding a single dark monster. if one of those 3 cards are a pot of greed, I can draw 2 more, but then I have an endless draw chain because of my various pots and draw spells.

This means that if my starting hand after summoning Slifer is 5 and I've drawn 21 cards total, I will have had a total of 26000 ATK on Slifer, making almost any attempts to win very slim.

The chances of my opponent having a set card like Magic Cylinder or some counter-effect monster are also nearly impossible. This means that a card like Ascension Sky Dragon are prone to abuse by the same tricks, given that it doesn't rely on the Nordic Archetype and can easily be supported by Pots and various Draw cards.

Does anyone have another example or an answer?


texts: When does removing Goblin Warchief affect its cost reduction ability?

texts:
If I cast Goblin Warchief, giving my Goblins a cost reduction of 1 mana, and my opponent responds with an instant removal spell, can I play more creatures with the reduced cost?

I suspect the answer to be no, because the removal spell will go on the stack and will resolve before I can continue playing my creatures, and thus the Warchief will already be in the graveyard.

In contrast, the Storm deck can continue to play instant spells when Baral, Chief of Compliance is targeted, because being instants, they can be cast when the stack is not empty.


texts: Does "lose 1 Sanity" count as "taking mental damage"?

texts:
So I happened to be in possession of those 3 items:

The Idol : once during your turn, you can add 2 dice to your roll, but lose 1 Sanity in the process
The Skull : anytime you should take mental damage, you can take the same amount of physical damage instead
The Armor : Anytime you take physical damage, take 1 damage less of it

You can guess what I'm getting to: with this combination, I was able to use the idol on each turn without losing Sanity or any trait points whatsoever.

The only problem is that this interpretation of the rules implies that "lose X [Mental trait]" equates to "take X mental damage". In a way it is true, because technically, by losing 1 point of Sanity, you are "taking damage to one your mental traits". In other words, if you lose enough of said trait, you'll die. So you are being "damaged".

But on the other hand, "take (X) mental damage" is an explicit request mentioned on cards and rules ; and precise naming conventions are fairly important in a game like Betrayal. (such as the difference between players, heroes and explorers)

What is your opinion on that matter?


texts: What is a good way to find information on previous ban lists?

texts:
Many people say it's fun to go back and play previous formats of Yu-Gi-Oh, like the popular "Goat Format" from the mid 2000s. I have been having a hard time finding a resource to easily view every banlist since the beginning of the game (for the TCG). Is there a good website to look at that might have all this information in one place? The TCG NA website does not have easy ways to access previous banlists, which I was really surprised by.

Bonus points if there's also a way to find out what the available cardpool was for these periods, though you probably could work that out yourself.


texts: What should I be trying to do strategically in Through the Ages?

texts:
I played Through the Ages for the third time last night and am struggling to come up with a decent strategy to assist in winning. I am not sure if my problem is due to the random nature of the events and tech upgrades, or if my strategy is just wrong.

My strategy was

have the strongest military
use a leader to give 1 extra civil action to replace military
produce a lot of resources, to build upgrades and wonders easily.

My downfall was that due to my leader allowing only one military action, I had no defense/colonisation bonus cards, so struggled to win territories, which came up a lot. The bonus on one was 11 points of culture, so effectively that could have been a 22 point swing!

I only lost by 4 culture, so no idea if my final score was the result of poor decisions/strategy, or just luck of the card draw.

I would love to hear more experienced player's views.


texts: Can I sell properties in Monopoly with houses to another player ?

texts: Can I sell properties in Monopoly with houses to another player for a cost w/o mortgaging the property to the bank ?


texts: Are progress cards awarded if the barbarian strength is 0?

texts: If there are no cities on the board, barbarian strength is rated at zero.  So automatically the players have tied or beaten the barbarians.  Are progress cards allocated under these circumstances?  If there are activated knights on the board, can a victory point be achieved?


texts: Suppose that my investigator currently has a fight of 4, and a Rifle (Combat +5).  Is the number of dice I get to roll during combat limited by the in-box equipment (5), or can I roll 9 dice (5 dice + 4 dice)?


texts: Why do some players get starting trade goods in 7 player TI3?

texts: In 7 player Twilight Imperium there are 3 starting positions that get trade goods at the beginning of the game.  The position that gets 6 trade goods is obviously worse than the others. The two that get 4 don't seem worse than their adjacent starting positions. What is different about them, that they require the bonus trade goods?


texts: Does Femme Fatale target exactly 1 ice, or all with same name?

texts: If the corp has multiple copies of the same ice, Wall of Static for example, and the runner plays Femme Fatale and chooses a Wall of Static for its special ability, does that mean the runner can use Femme on all Ice named "Wall of Static", or just the one specific piece of ice that they chose?


texts:
In the Smash Up game, Ninjas have a poison action card. Will it have any effect on Warbot, who is a minion which cannot be destroyed?

Poison - Play on a minion. Destroy any number of actions on it. Ongoing: This minion has -4 power. (Minions have minimum power of 0.)
Warbot - power 4 - Ongoing: This minion cannot be destroyed.


texts:
Ultimate Tic Tac Toe is an interesting variant of Tic Tac Toe where in each of the 9 fields, a “regular” game of Tic Tac Toe is played; see the link for details.

Has this game been solved already? Would it be possible to solve it using a brute force mini-max strategy?


texts: Adding more monsters than provided tokens

texts:
During Scenario 2 we ran into an issue where there were more of a certain monster type on the board than monster tokens of that type were available. So, we didn't have the correct pieces to put onto the board nor did we have space on the sleeved tracker to track their damage.

What happens during this instance?

Do we not put the monsters out since there are no more of that type available? Do we supplement the monsters with something else and still track them separately off the tracking sleeve? Do we do something else?


texts: Changing the order of phases in Axis & Allies

texts: Can I change the order of two of the game's phases: Buy units and Combat move? What will it change? What are the benefits?


texts: Does newer card text on a Magic: The Gathering card override the old wording?

texts:
While going through the Gatherer database I noticed that the Alpha version of Icy Manipulator says,

  {1}: You may tap any land, creature, or artifact in play on either side.

whereas the Tenth Edition of the Icy Manipulator says,

  {1}, {T}: Tap target artifact, creature, or land.

This has me wondering, does the newer Tenth Edition card text retroactively apply to the Alpha card or does the Alpha text still apply when that card is in play? In other words, if I were to play the Alpha version, would I play by its rules, or the newer rules on the Tenth Edition card?


texts: Can I play Dominion: Hinterlands by itself?

texts:
The clerk at the game shop assured me I could play Hinterlands Dominion by itself. Alas, everywhere online claims a standalone version of Dominion is required.

Is there anyway to play Hinterland Dominion by itself? Or will I need to seek restitution from the clerk?


texts: What happens if your opponents never let you win the bid?

texts: In other words, they out bid you even if they have a very bad hand just to prevent you from getting any points above the line?


texts:
Bit of a strange one - sorry. My question is: is the following correct?

Sacred Excavation is a sorcery which says:

  Return up to two target cards with cycling from your graveyard to your hand.

If I cast it choosing no targets, to return no target cards to my hand, then Rule 608.2b states:

  … The spell or ability is countered if all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal.

It's vacuously true that every target of my spell is illegal: there are no targets, so every target is the King of France, and every target is legal, and every target is illegal. So Sacred Excavation is countered.

The effect is the same as if it had resolved, except in some very niche edge cases - "when something is countered" effects would trigger, and anything spliced onto that spell would not happen, for instance.


texts:
Just got new version of KOT. Rules for "Enter Tokyo" phase say "If no one is in Tokyo, you must enter and place your Monster in Tokyo City". So apparently they did away with the rule that first claw damage point enters, correct?

Does this also mean that if you damage the monster in Tokyo during the "Resolve Dice" phase, and they leave Tokyo that you MUST enter Tokyo?  I have not seen a clear statement of this either way.  But seems implied.


texts: Is there a reason not to play your whole hand at once if you can?

texts: Literally our first ever game of Yu Gi Oh, my friend got a hand consisting of 1 normal monster, 1 spell, and 3 traps. She played all 5 on her first turn, emptying her hand, since as far as we could tell there were no rules against it. It felt very strange, coming from MTG, but also odd because there didn't seem to be any strategic reason not to do it. Particularly with traps, why would you keep them in your hand rather than get them out on the field?


texts: Probability of drawing duplicates of a card in magic

texts:
Was trying to figure this out, and realized I don't know the exact math:

In the card game magic you have a deck of 60 cards. You can have 4 copies of any individual card, and you are dealt a starting hand of 7. Each turn, one additional card is drawn.

What are the odds of drawing more than one of a card (2, 3, or 4 of the same card) on turns 1, 2, 3 etc...

If anyone knows how to break this down, I'd love to see the math behind it.

Cheers


texts: What are the differences between Chinese and Japanese rules in Go?

texts: What are the differences? And do these differences influence strategy?


texts: Activating a robber in Catan clarification

texts:
Our family is new to Catan, please help settle a rule interpretation.

Does the player who activates the robber by rolling a 7 also fall victim to the "lose-half-your-resource-cards" penalty or are they immune from it because they rolled the dice?


texts: Does an enchantment ability that gives -1/-1 to opponent creatures resolve before other abilities can be used on a 1/1 entering the battlefield

texts:
So I control an Ethereal Absolution that gives all opponents creatures -1/-1.  On my opponents turn he sacrifices a creature to create two 1/1 white token spirits.  He then wants to sacrifice these using an ability on another card (Teysa Orzhov Scion).

My question is does the enchantment resolve first and remove the 1/1 tokens, e.g. as completion of them entering the battle field, and, before his ability can be triggered, or as he is the active player he gets to decide the order?


texts: Which creatures count as green creatures?

texts:
This question works with the other colors too, but for now I'm mostly interested in which creatures are valid for benefiting from Rhonas's Monument:

  Green creature spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.

I can think of two options:

All creatures with green in their color identity. This means creatures like Sunder Shaman and Knight of Autumn are cheaper to cast when the monument is in play.
All creatures that only have green in their color identity. This would exclude multi-colored creatures.


texts:
Gaming with my daughter's boyfriend, I noticed this die. I asked him about it, but his tl;dr was it was a found die, and he has no idea what it's for or from. Any ideas?

I do note that 3 & 4 are the average of a d6, 6 & 7 are the average of a d12, and 10 & 11 are the average of a d20. But other than that I've got nothing. Google has failed me... or I have failed Google.
Who knows where this die is from?


texts: What happens if I target Zada, Hedron Grinder with a spell and then donate it to an opponent?

texts:
What happens when I target Zada, Hedron Grinder (say with a Traitor's Roar or Threaten, but not both), then before the ability resolves (creating the copies), donate (using say Bazaar Trader) to an opponent?  Does the ability resolve?

If it does, since it's under an opponent's control when it does, are the copies made for their creatures or mine?

And who owns the copies since the Zada is under an opponents control?

Assuming Zada does resolve and depending on the answers above I understand one of the following would apply:

If I control the spell copies, but the spells target the opponents creatures, then this is the most useful as Threaten and Traitor's Roar (or any burn or kill spell) would operate as intended.
If the spell copies are the opponents (because the copies were generated by the newly acquired opponent's Zada), and the spell targets the opponents creatures, then Threaten really only temporarily gets me Zada back.  Still, Traitor's Roar (or destroy/burn spells) would still function as intended.
If I control the spell copies and the spells target my creatures then I would temporarily get Zada back and Traitor's Roar would hurt me.
If the spell copies are the opponents, but target my creatures, then the oponent would temporarily gain control of my creatures (except for Zada, which would come to me).  And Traitor's Roar would hurt me.

If any of these assumptions are wrong, please clarify how it would work.  (I'm basically trying to get effects to target an opponents creatures, similar to how the Ink-Treader Nephillim would, but keep it mono color.  Or if I temporarily give my creatures to an opponent, then I think I could have some fun with that too.)


texts: Can I suspend Ith, High Arcanist as my commander directly from the command zone?

texts:
When Ith, High Arcanist is in command zone, can I use its suspend ability?
Does the suspend activity cost increase the second time or is the additional cost is only applied to casting cost?


texts: When is it worth competing to farm fields?

texts:
Is it worth fighting for my opponents' fields when there are still 60+ tiles in the game and I have no fields, or is it too soon?

I usually lose games because of fields and not knowing when to lay my meeples.

Any suggestions?