texts: How do V.I.R.s interact with the Barker?

texts:
This Q/A requires both Steam Park expansions:
Play Dirty rulebook
Robots rulebook

First, we need to have a definition of "wrong", here. That will define if it's even possible for a V.I.R. to be allowed on the Barker tile.

When you draw Visitors of the wrong color, put them on the Barker tile
instead of the Visitors pool.

If you want e.g. a red robot , but you draw a V.I.R., the V.I.R. can go to the red spot, but you may not want it to—hence, I think the V.I.R. can be considered "right" or "wrong", per the player's decision.

Given that, imagine that there is a V.I.R. on the Barker tile already. I interpret the rules, then, to be that…

You may only gain that V.I.R. when you spend only one visitor die for your Attract action.
You then can either take another non-V.I.R. Visitor off of the Barker tile, or throw one more into the bag, and draw one.

Correct?
Relevant rules:

When you Attract Visitors, for each that you spend, you can choose to
directly take a Visitor from the Barker tile instead of the normal
action. You immediately gain 1 Dirt token for each Visitor you take
from the Barker tile.

When you perform the Attract Visitors action by spending only 1, you
may choose and take 1 regular Visitor AND one V.I.R. Visitor from the
Visitors pool and put them both in the bag. If you do, when you draw
Visitors to complete the action, you must draw out TWO Visitors
instead of only ONE.


texts:
Most non-luck-free games use either open-ended randomizers (like dice, or spinners) or closed-ended randomizers (cards, chit pulls, etc).

But there is an alternative, which is simultaneous revelation of chosen selections (rock-paper-scissors).  One example of games that use this type of randomizer are games with written orders, like Diplomacy - which is so completely driven by the diplomatic factor that most people regard it as being luck-free.

Are there any games that use rock-paper-scissors type mechanics as an explicit randomizer?


texts: Is it possible to get old Vanguard cards?

texts: If you start Magic Online today, is there a way to acquire Vanguard cards that do not come with the client but have been released in the past? Can they be bought or traded?


texts: Games that are quick to teach to new people, yet still fun and strategical

texts:
I love board games and don't mind sitting down for 10-15 minutes with some experienced players to learn how to play a complex game. However, I don't think most of my friends are as tolerable of complexity as I am. I have a feeling they might get a little spooked at seeing a shadows over camelot board, but might be able to handle something like dominion.

What are some good games that newcomers can get started at quickly and feel proficient within a couple turns? I love games where brand new people can start developing good strategies within a few minutes.

related: How can I recognize games I should avoid buying if I only play with non-hardcore gamers?


texts: When the last province is acquired can the person finish their turn or is the game immediately over? It seems like the rules dictate that a player may always finish their turn.


texts:
When playing Werewolf, my group and I always have the same problem: whom should we lynch on the first day?

In a group of ~10 people, we usually play 2 werewolves plus 2 "seers," who have one shot per night to guess one werewolf. On the first day, either the seers don't have correct information, or it would just be stupid to share information with the group because the werewolves would kill them the next night. Increasing the number of seers or reducing the number of werewolves always seems to unbalance the game too much to one side or the other!

Without any real indicators, we always resort to guesses and "cold reading" people — I think you're the werewolf because I can see it in your face — resulting in many "feel-bad" moments.

What is the best method to choose whom to lynch on the first day?

or

What mechanics can we use to prevent or reduce lynching people at random?


texts: Game of Thrones: Declaring a March to various adjacent territories at the same time

texts:
Consider the following scenario in Game of Thrones Board Game:

I am playing with the green pieces.

QUESTION 1. Can I march with two units onto area C first, apply the combat, and after that decide whether or not I will march with the third unit to B? In other words, can I wait for the combat result to decide what will I do with the rest of my units in A?

QUESTION 2. If it's the case that I can't wait for the combat result, and I must declare everything at once, can I wait for the combat result to decide whether or not I will put a power token on area A?

Motivation of the questions: if possible, for optimal strategy, I would like to attack the blue player first, and depending on the result, I would decide whether or not I want to march with the third unit to B. Also, I would like to be able to decide whether or not to spend a power token on area A after seeing the combat result, because if I lose the combat my pieces would retreat to A and a power token would be unneccssary.


texts: When the AlphaGo programs first appeared experts claimed certain moves opened their eyes. Now a couple of years later I wonder what the effect is on go. Has human performance improved, like when chess programs first arrose?


texts: In the Final Battle, when you remove doom tokens for rolling successes against an Ancient One do you stop counting successes for that roll?

texts:
In Arkham Horror you have to roll a cumulative number of successes equal to the number of players to knock off a doom token from the Elder God's health. If you reach the number of players worth of successes do you then stop counting for the player and move on or do you count the extra successes against the next doom token?

We played it so that you kept on adding them but it meant that we turned Nyalothotep into mince meat quite quickly (One Character was blessed had a fight of 6 a shotgun and Fight +1 skill card though)


texts: Euchre - Calling a a renege after the hand is closed before the next deal?

texts: Can you call a renege after the hand is closed before the next deal??


texts: How do I get rid of Rules Lawyer and win the game?

texts:
Rules Lawyer says

  State-based actions don't apply to you or other permanents you control.

https://magiccards.info/rule/704-state-based-actions.html

I've seen a bunch of people asking how to kill this creature and thus win the game.

How would one do it? You can't kill it by it blocking your monsters, you can't lower its toughness enough to kill it, you can't give it negative counters to kill it. And you can't win the game with it on the field. How does one kill this card?


texts: Does damage of Echoed Voice (Toucannon SUM) increment each turn?

texts:
My brother and I were playing another round of Pokémon TCG, and we encountered an argument that we can't solve involving Toucannon's Echoed Voice attack.

Me: Echoed Voice does 60 damage on the first round, 60 + 60 on the second and 60 on the third. (The damage resets it's increment on the third round)

My brother: Echoed Voice does 60 damage on the first round, 60 * 2 on the second, 60 * 3 on the third and so on. (The increment continues)

Who's right? I would like to find out as soon as possible!


texts: In One Night Ultimate Alien, can neutral roles win if the Synthetic Alien dies?

texts: If you have a game of ONUA where the Synthetic Alien gets killed, can the Mortician and Blob still win? If the Blob keeps its whole blob alive, and/or if the Synthetic Alien was neighbor to the Mortician, do those roles still win?


texts: (MtG) Damaging a blocker once blockers have finished being declared

texts: So, suppose I declare a 3/1 attacker. Then the defender declares a 1/1 to block it. Once it is declared a blocker. May I then cast a spell or activate an ability to kill said blocker, before combat damage is calculated. Not only saving the creature, but also, now having no blockers, do the 3 damage with my attacking 3/1? Or is it just a save, but since a blocker was put there, I then decide to save my homie, and slay the beast, but deal no combat damage to player? Or door C, I can't intervene and do damage there and must watch all crumble to dust?


texts:
My friend and I are new to Magic and we're in disagreement about something. I'm going to describe the situation:

I have six mana cards on the field. I have laid down a creature on the battlefield, say it costs three mana.
Do I
(1) Tap the three mana that's detailed on the creature's card? Or not tap it? Is it just simply in my pool? I'm not attacking at this point, only laying it down.
(2) When I attack with a creature, or use a spell or instant, do I not  tap (as in turn to the side) the mana that is detailed on that specific card?

Am v confuse. V confuse indeed.


texts: Does pocketing the Queen at the start of the game end the game immediately?

texts: What happens if the Queen is pocketed at the break? Is that the end of the game, or otherwise how does play continue?


texts: Running out of cards in Exploding Kitten

texts: I run out of cards as others were asking for it using the combo multiple times on me - does this mean I lost? or is drawing multiple action or combo cards allowed in drawing?


texts: Can Clockspinning from Time Spiral be used to remove infect or poison counters?

texts:
I believe the answer is that Leeches is the only appropriate card for removing poison counters from players, based on this question, but I'll ask anyway since I have observed this card posted elsewhere as an answer to poison counters.

Can cards which remove counters, such as Clockspinning, be used to remove poison counters or is Leeches the only appropriate response?  What about the same question but targeting the -1/-1 counters on creatures?


texts:
When I first read how the crew change works it appeared useless:

  Player may swap their existing Specialist card with and Specialist
  card not currently in play. The player's Firefighter has the AP (less
  the 2 AP required for a crew change) and special abilities of the
  newly selected Specialist for the entire turn.

The last part that states "... for the entire turn" to me makes it sound like you switch back to your old role when your turn ends. If this is the case though, you never get a chance to do much of anything with the new role. This makes it sound like that actually is not the case and that you keep the new role for the remainder of the game. Can someone confirm that this is the case?


texts: Cribbage scoring for a run of 4 out of sequence

texts: The play was the following set of cards: 4, 3, 6, 4, 5. Should the score be for 4 points for the 3,6, 4, 5 or only 6, 4, 5?


texts:
I know ther are some rules for creating custom Investigators, so new character is balanced and does not ruin the game. It's utilized in Strange Eons.

Are there any rules for custom special abilities for Investigators?

I am creating custom Investigator, who is psychologist like Carolyn Fern, but I don't like to copy her ability. Instead, I thought about ability to restore Sanity in exchange for Clue tokens in 1-to-1 basis during upkeep. Player would be able to use as much Clue tokens as he/she likes and restore Sanity to himself/herself or players in the same area.

I would like to know if there are any rules to check if given special is not over/underpowered.


texts:
I found it very difficult to handle the handicap when my opponent is given 6 or more stones. I don't really like to force something complex when I know it could be severely punished.

The right way to handle such handicaps must be to play opening moves that are very light and flexible. However, I have never found any books providing guidelines for playing white in handicap games. Are there any? Or is there any kind of general advice I should know about?


texts: instants and sorceries with activated abilities while on the stack

texts: I only know of one instant with an activated ability: lightning storm. Are there any other instants or sorceries that have an activated abilities while on the stack? Also are there any permanents that have an activated ability that only works on the stack?


texts: Could large creatures pass through the narrow passage?

texts:
The short question is:
Can a large creature (such as a Troll or a Drider) pass through the narrow passage?

The official answer is apparently a topic for debate (that I want to avoid).
For example, this post opens a can of worms and proposes houserules while this short forum post seems to briefly conclude that a troll can, in fact, pass through the narrow passage.

I'd normally just propose a ruling stating that trolls and driders are indeed able to pass through.
The odd thing is that Errtu's card specifically says:

  Squeeze: Errtu can be placed over walls, but the center square that this figure occupies must be open.

We don't have a similar clarification for trolls and driders.

Would the lack of such clarification imply that a large creature can't pass through a narrow passage?


texts: Is a merger between two players possible in Monpoly?

texts:
We've had multiple games with three players left, where it became clear one player is significantly stronger than the two other players combined.  At one point the two weaker players realized this, and wanted to do a merger.

We've allowed this in a house rule when the two players' combined net worth is less than that of any other players.

Assuming every player is operating in good faith, is it possible to achieve "merger" to the same effect within the official rules framework?

EDIT: My question is, under official rules, can Players A and B operate under a united banner as if they are one player? Assuming both players have made the necessary officially-sanctioned arrangements so same-coloured lands are only held by one player so houses can be built? Can Player A and B allow each other to be effectively rent-free under official rules? In this way if Player X (not part of the union) loses, the game effectively ends, or under whatever arrangements needed for Player B to surrender under official rules?


texts: Is The Resistance conclusively easier for the Resistance in a six player game?

texts:
Last night I played a few games of The Resistance with five others, and the Resistance won every single game.

I think I've found this before, it simply seems too easy for the Resistance to form safe teams.

In the six player game, there are just two spies.

The mission player requirements are 2,3,4,3,4.

Is the six player game objectively easier for the Resistance? What strategy can the spies use to maximise their chance of success?


texts: Lost in the Crystal Caves - Solve Step Order

texts:
In the MLP CCG there is a problem card called "Lost in the Crystal Caves":
http://mlpccg.wikia.com/wiki/Lost_in_the_Crystal_Caves_(Canterlot_Nights)

If confronting the problem forces you to move a character from the problem back to home, and you would no longer satisfy the problem requirements, would you still score the point for initially confronting the problem?

What if your opponent was satisfying the problem? Would you perform a faceoff?

At what point does the problem text trigger?


texts: Doomsday reduces your life total by half, rounded up. If you're at 1 life and play this card, would that not deal 1 damage and kill you?


texts: If I flash in Teferi, Time Raveler, can its passive ability counter a spell on the stack?

texts:
If I play Teferi, Time Raveler at instant speed, by way of, for example, Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage, will Teferi's passive ability counter a spell being played by an opponent at a time when they can not cast sorceries?

The ability in question reads

Each opponent can cast spells only any time they could cast a sorcery.

So if, for example, my opponent casts Vraska's Contempt on Raff during my end phase, and I respond by flashing in Teferi, does the Vraska's Contempt resolve?

My suspicion is that the opponent's spell will, in fact, resolve, because it has already been cast (i.e. is already on the stack) when Teferi resolves and hits the board.  Is this correct?


texts: Is there a good method for choosing which cards to use in Deluxe Illuminati?

texts:
I have played Deluxe Illuminati from the beginning, and have all the original expansions and the Y2K expansion.  The problem is that when playing with Y2K, you end up with too many cards in the deck.

Does anyone have a good way of deciding which cards to use?  Is there an official method?


texts: Is modification of the face of a card legal?

texts:
I have been running a set of cards for a while (Flower cardian) where the summoning of some forbids the summoning of out-of-archetyle cards after them, and some do not.

In order to help me remember, I was planning to put a mark on the face of the cards that still allow it.

Are there any rules against this? Does it make the card in any way illegal or unplayable?

As a bonus: can I do this to the (inside) of the sleeve instead?


texts: Can I use Jegantha as a companion if I have an Apex creature in my deck because of the Alternate cost?

texts: I'm building a mutate deck and since the deck meets the conditions for Jegantha, the Wellspring I wanted to use it, but since I'm running a few of the Apex creatures and their mutate costs don't meet the requirement I wanted to know if Jegantha also looks at alternate costs or if it only looks at base cost for the requirement.


texts: When do copied abilities on a creature go away?

texts:
If I have a Phantasmal Image that enters the battlefield copying the abilities of another creature, when does that creature stop having the abilities of the copy?

When it enters the graveyard, do "when this creature enters the graveyard" effects occur?
If I copy a creature with scavenge, can I scavenge my Phantasmal Image after it has died?


texts: If I can Special Summon Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon without Polymerization, why would I ever use Polymerization for it?

texts:
The text of Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon reads:

  Must be either Fusion Summoned, or Special Summoned by sending the above monsters you control to the Graveyard (in which case you do not use "Polymerization") and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways.

In both of these cases would the Twin Burst Dragon be starting off in the Extra Deck? If so, if I can Special Summon it just by having the two Blue-Eyes White Dragons and without Polymerization, why would I used Polymerization for it? Why waste the spell?


texts: In Phase 10, can you draw any card from the discard pile or just the top card?

texts:
I am new to the Phase 10 game and still confused about the discard pile.
Can a player draw any card from the discard pile or just the top card?
Is the discard pile only one single stack?


texts: How to shorten Puerto Rico to fit one hour?

texts:
I do love Puerto Rico, it's mostly strategy oriented over random factors.

But this board game is so long to play, I would like to shorten the play time to fit one hour.

Do you have suggestions for this?


texts: Does an ability that increase the number of creatures affect the instant or sorcery that triggers it?

texts:
(For example) Talrand, Sky Summoner has the ability:

  Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, put a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying onto the battlefield.

If I have cast an instant or sorcery that relies on the number of creature I control, for example Massive Raid, does that number increase by one?

I guess I'm asking what the order of resolution is.


texts: What are the requirements to build a city?

texts:
In order to build a city you must have a settlement to upgrade, and enough resource for the upgrade.

However, are there any other requirements like having at least 3 settlements?


texts:
I have a creature with protection from green in play along with another creature. My opponent plays a green spell that targets a creature I control chosen at random and does damage to it. Does the protection make the creature with protection an invalid target for said spell (automatically targeting my only other creature), or is there a 50/50 chance the protected creature will be targeted resulting in the spell being countered?

Edit for clarification (targeted @ the discussion in the comments)
The situation is slightly different than depicted (was posted via phone, couldn't easily provide links etc)

I have a Woodlot Crawler in play along with another creature. My opponent plays Scab-Clan Giant, and its ability triggers. Question is whether my Woodlot Crawler is a legal target for the triggered ability.


texts: What are the rules regarding mutual support?

texts:
What are the rules for when you are allowed to support a supporting unit?

For example, if France has units in Belgium and Holland, are they both allowed to mutually support each other, increasing their defensive strength to 2 each?

Let's say Germany has an Army in Ruhr and a Fleet in the North Sea. If the fleet attacks either Belgium or Holland with support from Ruhr, does this fail?

Or is France not allowed to have two units mutually support each other. Does one have to hold and the other can support the hold, thereby making France guess where Germany will attack?

The rulebook states:

  Support can be offensive ... or defensive (supporting a hold, support or convoy order)

What are the circumstances where supporting a support is a valid rule? When is it invalid? I don't see any examples of this in the rulebook.


texts: Why are the OCG and TCG banlists radically different?

texts:
From wiki:

  As of September 2013, the OCG and TCG have had different banlists, with multiple cards in fact being Forbidden in one list but Unlimited in the other (in both directions).

Dumb question: How could banlists be so radically different?

Guess: This has something to do with some cards' being TCG-only xor OCG-only.

If so, then what specifically are some of these cards that may influence the radical banlist differences, and why?

For other reasons , what and why?


texts: Mechanically is there any difference between split and double faced cards?

texts:
Are there any differences in the rules (implicitly or explicitly) between how double faced cards are treated (e.g. cast, targeted, etc) and how split cards are treated?
The only difference that I came across is that double faced cards can be a permanent on either side whereas split cards must always be instant/sourceries.


texts: How does black kill white in this Tsumego?

texts:
I'm struggling with "Basic problem #46" from Tsumego Pro. It looks like this, black to play:

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

In the built-in "correct" solution, after black takes the vital point, white plays 2 right below, after which a, b, and c all kill white:

$$ |--------------
$$ | a O O c . . .
$$ | 1 b O X X . .
$$ | 2 O O X . X .
$$ | X X X O X . .
$$ | . . . O . . .
$$ | . O O . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .

I don't understand why white would play 2 here, depriving themselves of a liberty. If instead it started the semeai below the three black stones, I'm not able to find a variation where black is able to avoid seki. For example:

$$ |--------------
$$ | . O O 3 . . .
$$ | 1 . O X X . .
$$ | 5 O O X . X .
$$ | X X X O X . .
$$ | 6 4 2 O . . .
$$ | . O O . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .

(3 and 5 could also be in reverse order), or this one:

$$ |--------------
$$ | . O O 7 . . .
$$ | 1 . O X X . .
$$ | 5 O O X . X .
$$ | X X X O X . .
$$ | 3 4 2 O . . .
$$ | 6 O O . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .

If black 3 at 4 then black is dead. If black 5 doesn't happen (either on the 3rd or the 5th move), then either:

$$ |--------------
$$ | a O O 3 . . .
$$ | 1 5 O X X . .
$$ | . O O X . X .
$$ | X X X O X . .
$$ | 6 4 2 O . . .
$$ | . O O . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .

(or 5 at a, or 3 and 5 reversed once more) and black is dead, or:

$$ 5 anywhere but a, b, or c
$$ |--------------
$$ | a O O 3 . . .
$$ | 1 b O X X . .
$$ | c O O X . X .
$$ | X X X O X . .
$$ | . 4 2 O . . .
$$ | . O O . . . .
$$ | . . O . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . .

and white plays c, killing black. If 3 and 5 are on two of a, b, and c in the last diagram, black is dead once more.

What variation am I missing where black can kill white if white plays this way?


texts: Does Oko, Thief of Crowns come in a planeswalker deck, or only as an individual card?

texts: I can't find anything about this on Google, Bing or Stack Exchange. Does Oko, Thief of Crowns come with a planeswalker deck, or separately? By separately, I mean in booster packs and stuff like that.


texts: How difficult is Eldritch Horror with differing numbers of players?

texts:
Removing the element of how easy or hard it is to work as a group, and assuming that you are 1 player controlling all 1 to 8 players, what numbers of players are easier or harder to win Eldritch Horror, and roughly how much easier or difficult? I don't expect statistically significant replies, just interested in what people's impressions are by feel.

It already seems evident that playing with 1, 3, 5, or 7 players is a disadvantage due to the number of clues spawned, gates spawned, and monsters surging being identical to those for player-counts one greater.


texts:
It is my understanding that the individual card rulings on Gatherer are essentially clarifying comments.  i.e. they are "just" an application of the comprehensive rules to that specific card.

With that in mind, the rulings for Carrionette state:

  A creature with Protection from Creatures can’t be targeted by this card’s ability.

But, when Carrionette is in the graveyard, it is not a creature.  My guess is that rule 112 covers this somehow, but I'm not seeing it.


texts: If my opponent has one Timberwatch Elf tapped, and I use Yamabushi Flame on it, can my opponent respond with a Wirewood Lodge and then use Timberwatch Elf to protect it?


texts:
I generally store my board game components in plastic bags as many do. Today I noticed that some of my games have a hole punched in the bags and it made we wonder if there was a reason for that.

Are there any benefits or issues caused by one storage method over the other? Or is it just to allow the air out making the game pack better.


texts: Will a copy of a flashed-back Increasing Vengeance still make two copies?

texts:
Increasing Vengeance says

  Copy target instant or sorcery spell you control. If Increasing Vengeance was cast from a graveyard, copy that spell twice instead. You may choose new targets for the copies.

If I flash back an Increasing Vengeance, and then I copy it (possibly with another increasing Vengeance) does the copy still make two copies, or does it only make one because spell copies aren't cast?


texts: Commanders with at least four colors in their color identity

texts:
I am looking for a list of all legendary creatures with the number of colors in their color identity equal to or greater than four.

In Gatherer I can only get a list using the mana colors in the cost of the cards. For example: WUBRG spells.

I would really appreciate if someone can help me with this.


texts: What happens to other land types (e.g. Legendary/Artifact) when some effects change the basic land types?

texts:
Taking up a topic already addressed, for example, with the question:
  What happens when two global enchantments affect the same type of permanent (e.g.lands),
with this question I would like to add a little and simple clarification to this kind of situations.

If a Legendary Land - such as Hammerheim -  or an Artifact Land - as  Vault of Whispers - is enchanted by cards like Evil Presence or Phantasmal Terrain, it becomes a basic land.

But what happens to its other types?

In other words the land, now transformed by one of the two enchant land above, as well as being now a basic land:

still maintains his original other type, that is, it is still legendary or still an artifact (as in the second example); or
no longer maintains any other types, but it is only a non-basic land.


texts: Identify this two-player game with wheels in a wall

texts:
I'm looking for a two-player board game I played 20-25 years ago (in the Netherlands). The board is upright, as if it's kind of a wall, and players are sitting on opposite sides of the wall, not seeing each other's boards. The objective is to get small 'coins' from the top of the board to the bottom; the first player to do so wins. One player has red coins, the other one yellow. There are (blue, IIRC) wheels of various sizes in the wall; players take turns rotating these wheels. The wheels have 3-5 small cavities, evenly spaced, to hold the coins. The coins stay in the wheel because the rest of the wall holds them there, except for a few tunnels where they can fall to the next wheel. I think you cannot see where the cavities at your opponent's side are, this is the hidden information which makes the game interesting. Whenever you rotate a wheel to improve your own position, you might accidentally help your opponent forward as well.

This is a rough sketch of how a part of the board looks like:


texts:
Masterplan is a shadows artifact that reads:

Play: Put a card from your hand facedown beneath Masterplan.
Omni: Play the card beneath Masterplan. Sacrifice Masterplan.

Am I allowed to look at the card under Masterplan (assuming it is under my control) at any point later in the game?


texts:
Please settle an UNO debate with regards to Wild Draw 4.

The face card on top of the pile is a Blue 0.

Player 1 plays WD4 but does not change the color.

Player 2 plays WD4 changes the color to Blue.

Player 3 challenges player 2 on having Blue cards.  Who is being challenge player 1 or 2?


texts: Mansion Of Madness- Discarded combat cards specific type of combat(sharp,melee)

texts:
When entering combat and flipping the correct combat decks for the creature type, we have already flipped all of the "sharp melee weapon" cards. I want to attack with the Axe again.

When we reach the bottom of the deck, do we shuffle the cards into the combat card deck or do I need to wait to attack with this weapon until all the combat cards have been flipped and then shuffle the deck?


texts:
When I first started playing Dominion, I saw the Bureaucrat and thought, cool, free silver and an attack!  I bought one almost every time it was available.  The more I played, though, I began to realize I didn't seem to do very well in the end when I used it heavily.

As I thought about it, I realized there is one big detriment to Bureaucrat: it adds to your draw pile, and thus slows down how quickly you can rotate through your deck.  It may help your next hand, but that Gold you just bought will take longer to come back around.

So my question is this: Are there key strategies that make excellent use of the Bureaucrat's abilities, and if so, what are they?  How do you capitalize on this card, and when are you best to ignore it?


texts:
I was recently playing various exit/escape board games, and was wondering if there is a proper name for the "solution wheels"?

Also, are there any common strategies, techniques or applications to create these?

Examples-Pictures:
Escape the Room - Mystery at Stargazer’s Manor
Exit: The Game - The Secret Lab


texts: How to fix very high impact of losing players last turn

texts:
Don't get me wrong - I love the fact that being almost nullified early on doesn't necessarily spell out slow and frustrating snowballing doom for you.

But in every single game I've played with people that are not playing for the first time, the last few turns everyone gangs up on the player that is closest to victory at that time. That is perfectly reasonable, until you get to the situation where one of the losing players realizes that someone else is going to win this turn no matter what. And then he basically has the power to choose who that person would be.

My mindset when playing board games is that I should play optimally no matter what happens. If you can't win - you should postpone your demise as long as possible. My friends don't subscribe to that idea.

In short - the outcome of a game isn't decided by who played the best out of the better players, but who one of the losing players chose to win at the very last moment.

And the rational behind that choice can be anything from he is/was my ally to I just want to start a new game faster or I simply like him/her better.

The only solution I can think of is add different points for second, third etc. places. However, this goes against the very essence that when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

How often do you encounter this problem (for me literally every game) and what possible fixes have you found (if any)?


texts: In Monopoly, how do people determine who is the owner of a property?

texts:
I am very new to Monopoly. I have never played it; I'm just learning all the rules. How do people remember who is the owner of each property?

  Whenever you land on an unowned property you may buy that property
  from the Bank at its printed price. You receive the Title Deed card
  showing ownership.

But I have looked at title deeds cards. They have a colored band, which is probably the district marker, and they also contain plenty of information about rent. But the title deeds do not specify who owns that property. How do players determine or memorize to whom they must pay their rent? Do I always have to simply hold it in my head?


texts: When Governor and Alchemy cards are in same game, how does gaining a card for trashed card work?

texts:
In Alchemy, the rules for what kinds of cards can replace a trashed card are governed by the following, somewhat ambiguous wording:

  Adding coins to a cost doesn't affect [potion] being in the cost or
  not. If [potion] was in the cost, it still is; if it wasn't, it still
  isn't.

The rules then present an example with Remodel card. However, the Remodel card says:

  Gain a card costing up to two more . . .

The Governor card wording is:

  Gain a card costing exactly one (or two [if you're the player playing
  the card]) more.

So, for the player who played the Governor card, it is clear from the remodel example that a card costing exactly 2 coins must be replaced by a card costing exactly 4 coins with no potion.

However, what about a card costing exactly 2 coins and a potion? If trashed, must it be replaced with a card costing exactly 4 coins and a potion? Or could it also be replaced by a card costing exactly 4 coins (but with no potion)?


texts: What are good general strategies for Pandemic?

texts:
I've looked at a lot of forum posts on several sites on Pandemic and it seems that there is a decent amount of luck. You may win two 6-epidemic games in a row, then lose three 5-epidemic games. I have no trouble at all with luck, but I'm curious:

What Pandemic strategies did you figure out after several games that help you get better win %'s on normal and heroic modes?

After reading through a large portion of this thread I've gathered a few things that are important. Any other suggestions on strategy are appreciated as well!

Know special combinations: when a disease is cured you can use the dispatcher to walk the medic around, which automatically cures any cubes of the cured color on those cities. Any other good combos you've discovered?
Know when it's worth it to eradicate a disease, and when to focus on curing diseases vs. removing cubes. How can I tell that? What other hard decisions are there that I should be aware of?
Know the rules. I just found out that you can take cards from another player if they would be able to give them to you on their turn. So if you're on the same tile as the researcher, you can take any other their cards for 1 action each. Any other rule gotchas that make the game easier?


texts: What are the most useful Major Improvements in Agricola?

texts: What Major Improvements do you see as most useful in Agricola, and why?


texts: Can I use an ability granted to a land by an aura immediately?

texts: This is fairly simple question, but I'm unsure. Suppose I use enchant my basic land with an aura like Caustic Tar. The enchantment's ability says to tap the land. Can I tap it immediately to use the ability, or do I have to wait till my next turn? I thought you could tap it, but my opponent didn't think it was valid.


texts: Can I respond to the mana payment for Oppressive Rays?

texts:
Oppressive rays has the text:

Enchanted creature can't attack or block unless its controller pays 3.

Say I have oppressive rays attached to an opponent's creature, and I have Ardenvale Tactician in my hand with sufficient mana.
When does my opponent pay the 3 mana to permit his Oppressive Rayed creature to attack?
Is it possible to cast Dizzying Swoop and tap the creature before it attacks?  i.e. to prohibit his creature from attacking me?


texts: Can a card effect make a creature block one that it otherwise could not?

texts:
Nature Shields Its Own is an Archenemy scheme that creates a blocking creature (green plant) any time the Archenemy is attacked and the attack is not blocked. We ran into a few issues last night playing this scheme in a game. The Archenemy was attacked by a flying creature as well as one with protection from Green. Neither was blocked, and a plant was created blocking each. The part we did not understand was whether the plant tokens could actually block the attackers.

Do abilities that say "Create creature X blocking attacking creature Y." allow X to block Y even if normally X could not be declared as a blocker?


texts: Can a creature be killed by damage from two different instants?

texts: During a game, an opponent cast two instants, one after another. One did two damage to a creature, while the second instant did two damage and if that killed my creature, did 3 damage to me. My creature was a 4/4, so obviously it did 3 damage to me according to my opponent. Is that a legal move? Assuming the first instant resolved, would that leave my creature at a 4/2? Or would the card have no effect?


texts: Is it possible to download full tournament data including every card in each deck and wins losses?

texts:
Does Wizards make this information available? This would open some some really cool machine learning problem such as:

to try and predict which decks do better against which decks
automatic deck classification into archetypes

For example, for Pro Tour Ravnica, I've found the full match lists at: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/tournament-results but I'd need to scrape it from the web.

The decks however, I can only see:

top 8 full lists e.g.: https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/top-8-decklists-2018-11-10
archetype percentages, e.g. https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptgrn/3-0-drafts-day-1-2018-11-09

For Magic Online, it would be even more awesome if we could have full play by play data of tournaments: Is there a standard file format for Magic the Gathering games? to decide e.g. how much a turn one Black Lotus increases your win rate. Of course, this gets close to privacy problems, so likely not possible.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/wizards-data-insanity from 2017 mentions that Wizards has controlled this kind of data more and more so I'm not very hopeful.


texts: Phase 10 how to play on after completing 5 and 3

texts: 3 people are playing and I lay down the set of 5 and set of 3 but still have cards in my hand.  Someone completes the 5 and 2 and goes out.  So we need to play another round.  What do I play?  I already lay down the 5 and 3.  Should I start over?


texts: After I finish my match in a draft, is it okay to observe other matches?

texts:
In a draft or sealed event I often finish my match before everyone else in the event is done with theirs. Is it impolite to walk around and observe the matches still in progress, given that I may be playing against these decks in future matches and may gain insight into what cards they are playing?

I often see others doing this, but I usually refrain because it seems to be bad manners. However, I've never seen anyone get upset about this behavior.


texts: How to score for claiming routes in Ticket to Ride: Europe

texts:
Apologies if this is answered somewhere. I haven’t found it.

I have a couple of questions as a new player to Ticket to Ride Europe.

How many points do you score if the route you claim does not match the scoring table e.g. 5, 7, 9+ trains to create a route across multiple stations? I read somewhere that a 5 train route = 10pts but elsewhere that this has been removed on the Europe edition. If removed then I don’t understand if it means you can’t claim a 5 train route e.g. 4 + 1 or you just have to take the points for 4 trains even though putting down 5. And earlier I put down 12 trains in one go but had no idea how to score it. The rules don’t mention anything about scoring routes that don’t match the table. And you must be able to go across multiple stations in one go as there are no 8 train routes that don’t go across a station in between.
I assume this isn’t possible and needs to be done in 2 turns, but wanted to check... if I have a route already claimed, am I able to add another route at the beginning of it and a route at the end of it in one turn since it creates one continuous route? If so, how is it scored?

Thanks


texts:
If an opponent casts (or cascades into) Hypergenesis, starting with the caster each player takes it in turns to put a Creature, Artifact, Land or Enchantment onto the Battlefield. This can be repeated any number of times, and as a result potentially lead to some confusion.

1) I put an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn onto the battlefield, my opponent puts an Oblivion Ring onto the battlefield. Next, I put a Griselbrand onto the Battlefield, my opponent puts a Detention Sphere onto the battlefield. Finally, I put an Iona, Shield of Emeria onto the battlefield, My opponent puts an Island onto the battlefield. Can my opponent exile my Iona?

2) I put a Goblin Matron onto the battlefield, can I fetch a Goblin Ringleader and put that onto the battlefield in the next round of Hypergenesis?


texts: Are tile bonuses counted twice if 2 new words are formed?

texts:
An example:

  O
 O?

There is a triple letter tile to the right of the bottom O, indicated with a ?.

If I place an X on it, making the words OX (vertical) and OX (horizontal), do I score 50 points (scoring the tile twice) or 34 (scoring it once)?


texts: So I am fairly new to Magic and I have read the entire rulebook multiple times and it never gave a clear answer," how many mana can I tap per turn", because to would just feel weird to be tapping all of the mana for example with my Arbor Colossus he requires 3 forest and 3 of any mana to attack, so if I get enough do I tap them all at once or do they stay tapped after each turn?


texts: 7 wonders Alexandria side A special ability

texts: I don't understand the special ability a player gains after building the second stage of Alexandria side A. Can someone explain it? Thanks!


texts: Does a hidden Yeld spyrer block line of sight?

texts:
A Yeld spyrer can hide in the open thanks to their chameleon wings. Does this block line of sight to models behind? What I want to do is place another spyrer behind the hiding Yeld so that they can't be targeted.

I play the 1st edition, but happy to see answers from LRB.


texts: Different kinds of "two direction" finesses in bridge?

texts:
I once read in a book about a "backward" finesse. You, declarer, have AJ9, and dummy has Kxx.
Ordinarily, you would finesse twice from dummy toward AJ9. Except that your left hand opponent has indicated by a bid (or double) that he has the queen. If that's the case, you apparently finish "backwards" by leading the J, and covering with the K in dummy if the left hand opponent covers. Then you lead back an x to the A9 on the theory that right hand opponent is more likely to have the T. Why is that?

Another, apparently similar type of finesse is what I call a round trip finesse. You have K854
opposite QT32, and you're apparently finessing for the A, J, and maybe the 0.

How do you decide which way to finesse for an ace?

So you finesse toward the QT32, then back toward K854.

A third kind of finesse is sometimes called a two way finesse. That is, you have ATxx in hand, dummy has KJxx, and you are finessing for the queen. By counting, or other means, you determine that West/East is short in the suit. Then you win the K/A, to drop a presumed singleton, and then finesse the other way for the queen.

All of these finesses differ from what I call "one way" finesses, low in one hand toward, say AQ, or AQT.

What are the rationale behind the two directional finesses? Is the two way finesse a special case of the "one way" finesse or more like the other two directional finesses. And is the reason for a two directional finesse the fact that opposing honors are more likely to be split than to be concentrated in either opposing hand?


texts: Painter's Servant combo with Progenitus in library

texts: This question is related to this one. What happens when you have the Painter's Servant / Grindstone combo and your opponent has a Progenitus in his / her library? How do those abilities resolve?


texts: Does sacrificing a permanent cancel its effects, or do they still resolve?

texts:
I read here that tapped permanents can be sacrificed, but if a permanent creates an effect before it is sacrificed, does the effect still resolve or is it cancelled?

The reason I want to know is that I use Orcish Lumberjack to sacrifice a Forest that I also tap for {G}.

Is a sacrifice equivalent to bury or destroy in that all three put the permanent in its owner's graveyard? Does sacrifice have any special side effects on the sacrificed permanent and any effects it has created?


texts: Where can I download high quality images of poker cards?

texts: I am looking for high quality images of poker cards to download. I can use Google Images to download the images, but it would be impossible to find 53 identical cards in terms of style (52 cards + 1 joker card). Does anybody know where can I get these images from?


texts: In Seven-Wonders Can I buy resources that were built by my neighbors this turn?

texts:
In 7 Wonders, you do a lot of building things and purchasing resources from your neighbors. Naturally, you cannot purchase resources that aren't actually there.

However, sometimes you run into a situation where you attempt to build a building that requires a resource that isn't available right now, but it just so happens someone also built the resource that turn.

In such a case, is it possible to purchase the resource from that player?

Times this would happen:

You were going to build something from your left neighbor, but you have a discount from the one on the right and hey they happened to build it this turn!
I want to try and build a thing that I can't afford, hoping my neighbor will build something. If not, I'll just discard for cash instead.


texts:
So, this item came up last night while we were playing. I'll give you our answer, but I want to see what everyone else's thoughts are.

One player was playing as Abu Simbel, and their neighbor had the Courtesan's Guild in hand. They asked whether they could "use" an "Entombed" Leader, or what would happen if they used a Leader that was later "Entombed." We decided that they couldn't use one that had already been entombed, but if they used one that was later entombed, they would not lose the benefits.

Does this seem appropriate, or should we have gone a different route?


texts: How does the Stun mechanic work in this scenario in Maximum Apocalypse?

texts:
In Maximum Apocalypse, what is the result of the following scenario?

As the Firefighter, I land on a tile and draw a monster, I used the Firefighter's short-range ability, 'Fire Extinguisher' to stun the monster, stunning it until the start of my next turn.

During the same turn, I then move to a new tile and draw a second monster.

Is the second monster stunned also?

For the duration of my turn, does the stun mechanic continue to stun all monsters that appear after I use it, or does the stun mechanic only affect monsters in play/range when I use it?


texts: In Bridge Play, What is Meant by "Combining Your Chances?"

texts:
I was in a NT contract. After the initial rounds of play, the last few (visible) cards were something like these in two suits (call them spades and hearts):

dummy:
spades KJx
Hearts xxx

Me:
Spades Ax
Hearts AKQx

I had five "top" tricks, but needed six to make game. I could play out AKQ and hope that the hearts were split 3-3, a 36% chance. Or I could take the spade finesse, a 50% chance.

I took the spade finesse and lost. A passerby commented that I would have been "odds on" (better than 50-50), if I had "combined my chances." Apparently, I needed to start with hearts, though. Then he left.

What did he mean by "combining my chances"? And why would I start with the lesser (36%) chance?


texts: I completed the story mode for Shadows over Innistrad (Magic Duels on iOS), but never received the Starter Box. I raised the issue and they responded by giving me 300 coins, which would give me two boosters. Is that adequate? What exactly do you get in a Starter Box?


texts: Is there a complete database of Pokémon data?

texts:
I'm looking for a database (in whatever format) that contains all official Pokémon data (~PokéDex). A good example is the data serebii.net has, but the owner of the site doesn't seem to be eager to hand his data over.

Thanks!


texts: In what situations is Upgrade (Intrigue) useful? I have never seen anyone buy Upgrade in the games I've played where it was available. Whenever I play with Upgrade and Swindler, I always give Upgrade to my opponents in exchange for their 5-cost cards. They never know what to do with it... What are we doing wrong? How can we make use of this card?


texts: Can character abilities and upgrades be used through roadblocks?

texts:
Question in spoiler tags

   Roadblocks prevent diseases from spreading during outbreaks, and also hinder movement. Do they also prevent or hinder usage of character abilities or upgrades which allow the character to interact with adjacent cities? For example, the immunologist can vaccinate an adjacent city, and character upgrades allow treat disease or quarantine (when on a military base) in an adjacent city. Do roadblocks affect these or other similar abilities?


texts: With Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's third ability, it says "Gain seven life, draw 7 cards, and place up to 7 permanents from your hand to the battlefield." Does this include land because land is a permanent, or is the "1 land per turn" rule still in effect?


texts: What's the best Power Grid expansion for a beginner?

texts: What is the best Power Grid expansion for a beginner to buy?


texts: What is the board game played in Houseki no Kuni?

texts:
I am trying to identify this game from Houseki no Kuni, a buddhism-inspired manga.
My English is so poor I can't describe this game and "google" it.


texts:
I am confused by this rule:

  606.1. Some activated abilities are loyalty abilities, which are subject to special rules.

Now that seems to imply that a Loyalty ability is an activated ability which means it can be stopped by something like Stifle or Squelch.

Is this correct?


texts: Why don't I get an chance to respond to the Extinction Event choice?

texts:
Extinction Event reads

Choose odd or even. Exile each creature with converted mana cost of the chosen value.

Why can't I respond to my opponent's choice of odd/even, for example by activating my Witch's Oven? Making this choice is the part of the spell so once the player chooses, shouldn't I be able to react as it still should be on the stack? Is this just an Arena bug?


texts: Does showing my opponent I have an effective win condition qualify as improperly determining a winner?

texts:
This question is focused on the tournament rule, IPG 4.3 Unsporting Conduct — Improperly Determining a Winner.

Two players playing the Bant Nexus of Fate combo deck meet each other in a round. This deck wins by ticking up Teferi, Hero of Dominaria to the ultimate, exiling all the opponent's permanents, and then passing until the opponent loses to decking. The lock will beat just about anything. Anything, that is, except an opponent with their own copies of Nexus of Fate. Now they can also discard their Nexus to handsize and never deck out.

Let's assume Alice is executing the lock and Bob is discarding to hand size. Bob suggests a draw, since Alice is apparently incapable of winning. Alice says she has a win condition in her deck that will let her win regardless (say, Approach of the Second Sun), but she hasn't drawn it yet. Bob is reluctant to concede before seeing the win condition.

Are any of these allowed?

Bob says "I'll concede if you show me a win condition". Alice searches her deck and shows Bob the Approach of the Second Sun. Bob concedes.
Bob says "I'll concede if you show me a win condition". Alice gets her decklist slip and shows it to Bob (this actually gives up equity since Bob knows what to play around better now). Bob concedes.
Bob says "I'll concede if you show me a win condition". Alice says she can't do this legally without violating the "improperly determining a winner" rule. Bob concedes anyway. Later he finds out Alice lied, and she doesn't have a win condition maindeck.

Finally: if #2 is legal but Alice doesn't want to do it (since it gives up equity), how can she legally demonstrate that she has a win condition in her deck?


texts: Searching a library for something, failing to find it, the later discovering it was there

texts: If an effect would have you search your library for a specific card, say Elvish Aberration's forestcycle has you search for a forest, and you can't find it in your library, but it turns out later that there was a forest in your library that you just did not look hard enough, how do you resolve this issue?


texts: Purpose of Legolas' affliation to the Elves

texts:
What is the purpose of Legolas' affliation to the Elven Nation?

Each companion of The Fellowship has a nation shown on their card which indicates that the character can activate that nation by visiting a settlement of that nation.  Legolas is linked to the Elven Nation; however, the Elves already begin the game activated, seemingly making this pointless.

Is there any other significance to Legolas' ability to activate the Elves?  Can the Elven Nation somehow become inactive and need to be re-activated?  Are there event cards that make mention of a character's national affiliation in some other useful way?


texts: Is anyone aware of any score keeping apps (BB10 or Android) that can keep track of score (including extra meta-data)?

texts:
I know there are lots of apps (eg: keepscore, scorekeeper, endless variations of those words) that can keep a simple tally for various players for generic games. I am looking for one that can:

Keep track of current scores, for players and/or teams.
I would like to be able to track bids for current rounds of many card games, eg: spades, bidwhist.

BONUS:

Keep histories of specific players, win records, stats, etc...
Integrate a dice and or timer.
Somewhere to track custom meta-data. For example bidwhist, has a rotating trump suit. I can jot down, Round 1=Spades, 2=H,3=C,4=D, 5=NoTrump, etc...

I had an IOS app that did some of this, but have yet to find an Android, or BB10 app. Does anyone know of or use one? I hate having to dig up a notepad.


texts: Why did Yu-Gi-Oh! change from an unlimited deck size to a 60 card maximum deck size?

texts: When Yu-Gi-Oh! first started, an unlimited deck size was allowed. Now there is a limit of 60 cards. It may not always be advantageous to play more cards (see Why would one want more than 40 cards in their deck?), but why was this restriction added? After all, Magic the Gathering has cards like Battle of Wits that rely on decks of over 200 and they seem to be doing fine.


texts: Can one use a Wordly Tutor to fetch Nylea, God of the Hunt

texts: Worldly Tutor searches your library for a creature card. So could I find Nylea, God of the Hunt with it since Nylea is an Enchantment Creature?


texts: What is the reason for cards stating "Until end of turn, you don't lose this mana as steps and phases end"?

texts:
There are creature cards that allow for adding extra mana during a turn, such as Savage Ventmaw and Grand Warlord Radha. They state, respectively:

  Whenever Savage Ventmaw attacks, add {R}{R}{R}{G}{G}{G}.

  Whenever one or more creatures you control attack, add that much mana in any combination of {R} and/or {G}.

This is all clear to me. These creatures add mana if a specific circumstance is met, check. But then, both cards continue with the following final sentence, which confuses me:

  Until end of turn, you don't lose this mana as steps and phases end.

What is the added meaning of this sentence? Doesn't mana by default stay "afloat" until the end of turn, making this sentence redundant? This is how (I'm pretty sure) I've played the game so far, with more experienced players. Or am I missing something here?

Related to this question, I wonder how cards like Llanowar Elves differ from the mentioned cards above when it comes to the "ending of steps and phases", while not stating that specifically in its text.

Note that this is a question regarding the rules, not designer intent.


texts: How has the composition of Catan's development card deck changed over time?

texts:
Has the number of Knight/Year of Plenty/Road Building/Victory Point/Monopoly cards in Settlers of Catan's development card deck evolved across editions, or is the latest edition the same as the first?

If so, what was its progression?


texts: Monopoly hotel sell to pay debt to opponent

texts:
I recently played Monopoly and was forced to sell hotels to pay my opponent. The problem was that the bank only had two houses left, so I was unable to sell hotels because there weren't enough houses to replace them with. I only wanted to sell the hotels because I didn't need any more money.

The rules state the number of houses and hotels are finite, so what can I do in this situation: when there there is no way to sell hotels and replace with houses? Assume everything else was mortgaged and I had no money.


texts: Is a reasonable level of knowledge of American Football advantageous when playing Blood Bowl?

texts:
The rules of Blood Bowl are fairly short and comprehensive. Although a lot of parallels can be drawn between them and the real world game Blood Bowl is based on, American Football, there is no need to know the rules to the real world game in order to know the rules of, and play, the table top version.

However, I'm curious if having a reasonable level of knowledge of the tactics and strategies used in real world American Football can be used as an advantage when playing Blood Bowl?

Even with my limited knowledge of the sport there are a number of similarities that spring to my mind that could potentially be transferable from the real pitch to the game one:

Formations - the layout of players on the pitch
Team Composition - the amount of players in a team that excel at certain skills
Plays - the actions players take between touchdowns to try and score one
Style - when to play defensively and when to play aggressively

(This list isn't exhaustive, please do not just copy and paste it and give an example of each as an answer, especially if that answer is not backed by any evidence of the advantage it gives.)

Given the large amount of competitive Blood Bowl leagues that exist, and that it has a faithful video game conversion allowing competitive play against a world wide audience, is there any evidence that supports the theory that using tactics and strategies from American Football can be used reliably and repeatedly as winning strategies in Blood Bowl?


texts: How compatible are the two versions of Netrunner?

texts: I have a stash of the original Netrunner game. If I were to play a game against someone with the Android:Netrunner game, what changes/adjustments would we need to make?


texts: Does an ability that refers to the name of the ability’s card have to refer to that instance of the card?

texts:
The Question:
I believe I’m right here, but I wanted to get some consensus before I rely on it in a game: Can I apply the ability: "{U}: Untap Soliton" to a different Soliton than the one that activated the ability?
The Brief
I’ve been looking for an infinite mill combo using Soliton for a long time, and have been unable to find one, but I have come close. I now have a plan that will at least allow me to mill a player so much that it doesn’t matter that I can’t get the infinite mana needed to make the loop unending.
The Steup:

Soliton has the ability:

{U}: Untap Soliton

Stern Mentor has the ability to Soulbond, and if soulbonded has the ability:

{T}: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard

If soulbonded to Stern Mentor, Soliton will also have the ability:

{T}: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard

In a simple set up, of one Soliton soulbonded to one Stern Mentor, I can tap Stern Mentor and mill for two, then tap Soliton and mill for a further two, then pay one blue mana to untap Soliton, then tap Soliton to mill for two and so on… Assuming I have ten blue mana free this will allow me to mill for 24.
The Issue:
If I have two sets of Stern Mentor soulbonded to Soliton I can’t mill for any more than if I had just the one set because I am restricted by the amount of mana I have.
The Plan:
I also have several Illusionist’s Bracers. These have the ability:

Whenever an ability of equipped creature is activated, if it isn't a mana ability, copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy.

Now I had originally hoped to clone Soliton’s ability onto an island card and create an infinite mana combo, but then I realised that if I cloned the ability: "{U}: Untap Soliton" onto something else the ability would still be "{U}: Untap Soliton", and I couldn’t untap the same Soliton that had just been untapped.
I’m hoping that I can apply that ability to my other Soliton, that way, if I have two sets of Soliton equipped with Illusionist’s Bracers and soulbonded to Stern Mentor, I can tap one to mill, clone the mill ability inherited from Stern Mentor, do the same for the other set, then untap one Soliton and clone the ability across to the other.
This will allow two to be untapped for the price of one.
If we disregard cloning the ability inherited from the Stern Mentor this would up the mill to 44, but with the inheritance it would up the mill to 92. With 20 mana spare that we be upped to 184, that can be spread across as many players as I like.


texts: I am making a homebrew expansion to Dominion and I want to include some more curse-type cards. However, what does the curse type mean for a card? Does it mean - VP, or just something undesirable to have in your deck?


texts: Is a card with devoid colorless on the stack?

texts:
A card with devoid is colorless. But is it still colorless when it's a spell? I mean: when is it in the stack, that is, when it is not yet a permanent, and when it has not yet been resolved?

As an example, I can take a card called Unnatural Aggression (mana cost 2G,so that at first glance it may seem that the spell is green). Is it possible to choose as one of this spell's targets a creature that has "protection from colored spells" among its abilities?


texts: I'm building a budget Natural Order deck, so I'm looking for tutors that can find sorcerys in green and black, preferably that have CMC 3 or less. I hope you can help.


texts: If I respond to a permanent resolving is it in play when my spell/ability resolves?

texts:
Lets say that at my opponent's end step I cast Bile Blight on his Pack Rat
that he already has 3 of total on the field, then he activates the ability of pack rat in
response, can I respond to the new pack rat resolving with Golgari charm and kill all 4 rats?


texts:
LET THE DOG OUT

  Destroy any number of minions at your minion's base whose total power is less than or equal to your minion's power.

Is this referring to the total power of all minions that are to be destroyed or is it referring to the total power of each individual minion to be destroyed?

If my minion is worth 6, does that mean I can destroy all minions who have power of 6 or less? Or am I only able to destroy a grand total of 6, such as a 4-minion plus a 2-minion?


texts: What are the rules of the mysterious game with "phát tài" written on the box?

texts:
I bought this game in a small grocery store in Vietnam. I've asked several Vietnamese people of various age if they know the game. Usually, they knew the game but didn't know the rules.

My questions are:

What is the name of this game?
What are the rules of this mysterious game?

These are the photographs of the game itself. Perhaps they'll help you to identify the game and provide me with a set of rules.

Box

The box is not big. It has some Vietnamese words on it:

The title is: phát tài
The text on the top of the box is: chính hiệu cao cáp; dề phòng giả mạo
The words in the four octagons between two children on the side of the box are:

cung
hỉ
phát
tài

Content of the Box

There are ten matchboxes inside the main box - a half of them is green and the second half is red.

The Vietnamese words on the matchboxes are:

phát tài on one side of the matchbox;
thuận thiên on the other side;
thuận thiên on the bottom.

￼

Inside the matchbox

Every matchbox has 4 sets of 28 cards of different colors: green, red, white and yellow.

It is written phát tài on the back of every card.

Note: To view the images in a higher resolution, just remove the last m character from the link to imgur. For example change http://i.stack.imgur.com/H1vKVm.jpg to http://i.stack.imgur.com/H1vKV.jpg.


texts: How can I get the trait clips in Betrayal at House on the Hill to stay on?

texts:
Betrayal at House on the Hill features character pentagons with 4 traits that can increase or decrease and are marked by clips.

I find (at least with my copy) that the clips slip and slide too easily; we often lose track of our stats.

We've tried blu-tack but we aren't sure if that will damage the cardboard. We've tried writing them down but we still lose track as the stat tracker isn't always told/listening.

So is there a better way to keep track of traits? Preferably an improvement on the clips.


texts: Choose from discard pile ability: put into play simultaneously?

texts:
The rules for the Wonder Pack say:

  If multiple players take cards from the discard pile during a given turn, the resolution order is the following: Halikarnassos, The Great Wall, Manneken Pis, Salomon and finally, Courtesan’s Guild

Let’s say Alice plays this ability from Halikarnassos and Bob plays it from The Great Wall.

Alice chooses a card from the discard pile. Does she have to put it in play before Bob chooses a card? Or do they put their cards in play simultaneously?


texts: Will transforming Thing in the Ice with a token-summoning spell bounce my tokens?

texts:
Thing in the Ice:

  Thing in the Ice enters the battlefield with four ice counters on it.

  Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, remove an ice counter from Thing in the Ice. Then if it has no ice counters on it, transform it.

Flips into Awoken Horror:

  When this creature transforms into Awoken Horror, return all non-Horror creatures to their owners' hands.

Gisa's Bidding says:

  Put two 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens onto the battlefield.

If Thing in the Ice has 1 counter on it and I cast Gisa's Bidding then does the Thing transform before or after the Zombies are summoned?

In other words:

Cast Spell
Trigger Awoken Horror
Horror Transforms
Spell resolves.

Result: 2 zombies and Awoken Horror on the board

or

Cast Spell
Spell resolves.
Trigger Awoken Horror
Horror Transforms

Result: The transformation bounces the zombies and being tokens they disappear.

Which of these is correct and why?


texts: Why it is important to make a delayed raise and not jump directly to 4-lvl? (System: simple SAYC)

texts: On responding with 13 pts and 4-card major support why it is important to make a delayed raise (e.g. change suit and only then jump to 4-lvl) and not jump directly to 4-lvl- what added value does it supply to the partnership? What would go wrong if I'd just jump to 4-lvl - would our partnership be deprived in some way?


texts: How many trucks can line up in one dock outside a speakeasy?

texts:
Each speakeasy has 3 docks (majority, minority, and public), but within each of those docks/bays, how many trucks are allowed to queue?  For example, say there is a speakeasy with 4 minority holders (no majority), can each holder put a truck in the minority (two star) loading dock?

The space on the board between the front of the speakeasy and the placeholders for Men of Action cards is only big enough to comfortably fit 2.  But there is nothing in the rules (as far as I could see) which limited the number of trucks allowed in each dock.


texts: Star Realms: scrapping a card in your hand

texts:
Do I still get the actions of a card that I plan to scrap during that turn? For example, if I have the Brain World in play, I am allowed to scrap up to two cards from my hand or my discard pile. I have a Viper and a Scout that I want to get rid of. Do I still get to use their primary actions (1 Combat and 1 Trade) on that turn?

I have interpreted this as the primary actions immediately "fund" the resource pool, so that I do get the benefit of their actions. This would be a no-brainer (pun intended) if the Brain World was not already in play, but it's a base and can carry over from a previous turn. So exactly when does that scrapping action have to take place? At the beginning or the end of the Main Phase?


texts: Does proliferate give my creatures +1/+1 counters?

texts: So I'm using proliferate cards in my white/green deck. If I use the ability proliferate on, let's say, Pollenbright Druid, does it allow me to give a +1/+1 to my druid?


texts: Can a captain take money from someone who died blocking or challenging it?

texts:
When I steal from another player with only one card, if they challenge me and lose (or if they try to block and I challenge them and they lose), they are now out of the game.  According to a strict interpretation of the rules, they now have to return all their money to the pool and it seems like this would happen BEFORE the steal completes which means I now no longer get the money.

But when I play with friends we generally assume the captain gets the 2 coins and the rest is returned to the pool.

Which is correct?


texts: Which game is this six-sided die with two sets of runic-looking plus, minus and empty sides from?

texts:
I have just received this die as an extra gift in a pack of games I bought online, but I really cannot identify where is this from?
The other 3 sides are equal to the 3 visible, overall two have that cross, two that line and two have no symbol.


texts: Death Mask Duplicant Imprint of Platinum Angel

texts: Does the imprint ability of Death-Mask Duplicant allow me to copy the ability of the Platinum Angel in the graveyard not the flying , the one where I cannot lose?


texts:
So on MTG Arena today, I enchanted my Hanged Executioner with Kaya's Ghostform.  Hanged Executioner reads in part:  "{3}{W}, Exile Hanged Executioner: Exile target creature."

I activated this ability to exile both HE and one of my opponent's creatures, expecting both to go into exile and then Kaya's Ghostform to return HE to the battlefield.  However, HE remained in exile.  Never saw the poor guy again.  Am I misunderstanding something, or was this an arena mess up?


texts: Can you use an ability and scrap a card in the same turn?

texts:
I'm pretty sure you can do this with my understanding of the rules, but my friend keeps arguing that you can't.

When you play a card like an "Explorer" for example. Can you in the same turn, use the 2 units to buy in the trade row and then scrap the card for 2 combat?

Explorer card for reference:


texts: Does having one or two tap effects change anything for MtG dual lands?

texts:
On MtG Arena, there is a notable difference between the shocklands and the other dual lands: the shocklands have two separate tap effects for the two colours:

while the other dual lands (e.g. the guildgates, but also the check lands, gain lands etc) have one tap effect which can produce both colours:

Does this difference have any practical impact - i.e. is there any way the game could be different if the shocklands had just one tap effect?
(I acknowledge that Gatherer is the source of truth and that Breeding Pool and the other shocklands have just one tap effect there, but this does seem to be more than just a visual issue in Arena; the Arena client downloads the card database to the local disk, and with a bit of digging you can find that the shocklands do have two separate tap effects in the database. Feel free to consider the question as "Would this have any practical effect if the shocklands did have two tap effects?" if you'd prefer)


texts: Can I play a Bible, Shibata or some other Missed! symbol cards against Slab the Killer?


texts: How does the addition of the Potion treasure from Dominion: Alchemy change the game?

texts:
These questions give a good explanation of the general changes each of the Dominion expansions add to the game.

But in this question I really want to zoom in the focus, particularly on how the potion card affects the game in Dominion: Alchemy. 10 of the 12 cards require a potion to buy, but there may be varying amounts of them in a given kingdom set. Without having actually played Alchemy I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how it will change things.

How do you evaluate how many potions and how to balance it with your other treasures?
How much complexity does the dual-economy of income add?
How does the potion treasure otherwise affect your strategy when cards from Alchemy are in the kingdom set?


texts: Do Ascension's small box expansions work well with the other big boxes?

texts:
I currently own Chronicle of the Godslayer and Return of the Fallen, which are a paired set, so they work very well together.

I'm having trouble locating a copy of Storm of Souls, but I could pretty easily pick up Immortal Heroes.

Would Immortal Heroes work well alongside CotG/RoTF, or is it better to 1) play it as a standalone or 2) combo it with SoS?

That's my specific situation, but an answer that more broadly addresses combining boxes from different "blocks" would be great.


texts: Is there a paid ability window before the runner can jack out after the last subroutine executes on a piece of ice?

texts: Basically the title. A situation where this would matter. If I have a House of Knives scored and my opponent runs into Kominu with no breaker can I use the House of Knives ability after he loses all his cards but before he has a chance to jack out?


texts: Maximum attainable points for a single player in a two player game of Carcassonne

texts:
Let's start this question with the following assumptions about a game of Carcassonne:

It's a two player game.
The game is using the current basic set of rules/tiles. edit: just to be clear, I'm using 3rd edition rules that score all city tiles the same 2 points and count the same city for different farms as described here.
The player we want to maximize has perfect luck and perfect competence both drawing the tiles and placing them.
The opponent has minimum luck and competence.

This means we can choose what tiles are drawn by each player, how they are played and how to place each players' meeples.

Is there an optimal way of placing the tiles in order to maximize one player's score? If so, can that way be determined?


texts: In axis and allies 1941 do fighters have to take off to participate in an attack?

texts: ON the UK players turn he attacks a Japanese destroyer in sea zone 32 with a UK carrier(carrying 1 UK and 1 US fighter) from sea zone 29. I know that if the carrier gets destroyed, the US fighter is also destroyed,since its a guest fighter. But can the UK fighter land somewhere in friendly territory (say in the Phillipines which would be 2 spaces from sea zone 32 because it already moved 2 from sea zone 29), or is it also treated as cargo and destroyed since it did not take off? Different example. And if the previous is a valid attack, (lets say UK fighter now in India), can during the combat move the fighter land on the UK carrier in sea zone 29, the carrier with fighter on it move to attack the destroyer in sea zone 32, gets destroyed,(the jap destroyer is sunk also), can the UK fighter now use its final movement to land on Borneo? Please help. Thank you.


texts: Is there a list of races & powers that can't be used between smallworld and underground?

texts: I was wondering if there is an official list of races and powers that can't be used between small world and small world underground?  So which races/powers can't be used in Underground and which can't be used in the regular game?  I know there are rules comparing land types to make most of them work, but supposedly some still do not.


texts: How do major online game stores set Magic: the Gathering card prices?

texts:
I understand complete answers might not be public, but is there any public information on how major sites (like StarCityGames, TCGPlayer, Abu, etc), price their cards?

In particular, since the prices fluctuate often and there are a huge number of cards, I assume there is some automation, so I'm interested in any algorithms they might be using. I'm looking for references or insider perspective, not just speculation.


texts: Does Immerwolf's bonus stay after it leaves the battlefield?

texts:
A little while ago I was playing two of my friends. One of my friends was playing a wolf/werewolf deck with Immerwolf and a few other creatures out on the battlefield.  I was playing an enchantment deck and cast Path To Exile on the Immerwolf. Once the spell resolved my friend didn't remove the +1/+1 from his other creatures (from Immerwolf's ability).

I reasoned that since they weren't actual +1/+1 counters, they would no longer affect his creatures, since Immerwolf was in exile.  He disagreed, saying that the +1/+1 would stay, whether or not Immerwolf was in play.

I didn't really feel like pushing the issue since it was just a kitchen table game and it also didn't really affect the outcome of the game.  I'm just curious as to who was correct.


texts: How does the strategy of attacking a support unit in a skirmish work?

texts:
I found strategy guide here
that states:

  Killing supporting unit Imagine you want to kill a special unit (say,
  a hero) but don’t have the force to kill all units in his area. Let’s
  imagine you want to kill the Gantrithor, supported by a Zealot. Now,
  your enemy will be confident since the Gantrithor can’t be splashed by
  simply killing off the Zealot, a tactic you would normally use. But
  there is another way: simply set a air-unit like the Valkyrie against
  the Zealot. It shouldn’t be hard to penetrate its health, and then the
  supporting unit will be destroyed. The only defense against such
  things except of course to avoid these pairings in your areas is to
  build the Defense Module.

I understand that the Gantrithor should be immune to ground splash damage since the Zealot is a ground unit.

However the Valkyrie can only target air so it can't target the Zealot, did I miss a rule somewhere? Can you attack a support like this? Or is it just an air splash damage that triggers? You normally need to kill the front line unit for a splash to happen, if this was a Wraith I could see this working, but can someone help?

Edit:(I did miss a rule) The strategy is done WITHOUT using splash damage at all, see bolded part in the answer.


texts: While covering the Queen, if a player pockets the last C/m of his own together with the striker

texts: While covering the Queen, if a player pockets the last C/m of he owns together with the striker then will the game continues with a penalty being place or will this result in a win?


texts:
The card Brain Transference reads:

  You and a player of your choice switch seats at the table (leaving your hands). You each take over the other player's entire position in the game, as if you were in that position all along.
  Your turn ends immediately. The person next in order from your original seat goes next unless that's you, in which case the player after your new seat goes next.

(Leaving your hands) wording in card description is unclear to me.
When I change seat, do I keep my hand of cards or also switch cards with my opponent?


texts: Destroying a Planewalker before its ability is used

texts:
Say my opponent plays a planeswalker during their first main phase.  I have a Hero's Downfall or some other effect that will kill it after it is already in play, but before they use any of its abilities.  I could respond to them using a +1 ability, but I want to kill it before that effect goes on the stack.

In most casual situations, it would basically come down to whether I say "Hero's Downfall" first, or they say "+1" first.  But I can't imagine that's how it's supposed to work.  Is there a time between when the planeswalker hits the battlefield and when they activate its abilities that they must let me respond? It seems to me that situations like this arise frequently, and they are resolved simply by who speaks up first, which is horrible for such a rules-oriented game.


texts: Can I omit Advanced Missions in Star Fleet Battles?

texts:
Do I still need the Advanced Missions box, if I have got the Advanced Missions countersheet, the accompanying SSD book, the Master Rulebook and Module G3?

Is there anything else in there I wouldn't get that way?


texts: What's the "biggest change we've ever made" in Magic?

texts:
I'm currently catching up on Head Designer Mark Rosewater's "Drive to Work" podcast. I've been out of the loop for about a year.

In Episode 460: Announcements, which aired in August of 2017, he says:

  "There is a big revamp in behind the scenes of how we make Magic. A
  big one. Like, probably the biggest we’ve had since I have worked at
  Wizards."

He goes on to say that he will write an article in the fall to announce it, and that it's "the biggest change we've ever made."

Well, fall has come and gone and I'm still clueless. I've perused MaRo's articles from August through now, but I still haven't found anything that indicates or announces any sort of major paradigm shift.

What is the big change MaRo is referring to? And, if possible, What articles/podcasts cover this announcement?


texts: Can players buy other players properties by proxy?

texts:
In the game monopoly, can two players create an agreement to proxy buy properties on a players behalf.

For example: player one gives player two $100, in exchange if player two lands on boardwalk, player one will give player two the $400 dollars, player two purchases boardwalk, and gives it to player one. Effectively allowing player one to purchase boardwalk by having player two land on it for a fee.

While this doesn't break any of the wrote rules in the game as far as I know, is this prohibited in any way?


texts: What happens when the {X} in Mind Grind *is* zero?

texts:
Normally, when you cast a spell without paying its mana cost, the {X} in its mana cost is 0.

Mind Grind, however, has an additional restriction:

  X can't be 0.

Clearly you can't choose for {X} to be zero when you cast it normally. But what happens if you don't get to choose, e.g. when you cascade into Mind Grind or cast it with Epic Experiment?


texts: Can I play blessed alliance after damage resolves to make him sac a creature I didn't kill?

texts:
I was reading over various questions and it occurred to me that I might not be using Blessed Alliance as effectively as I could be. Am I able to cast Blessed Alliance after damage has been resolved, but still during combat, to make my opponent sac a creature that has been declared as an attacker? I believe I can, as 510.3 says active player gets priority and 510.2 is damage is dealt, and state based actions will be checked before active player gets priority.

Therefore, the specific example I'm asking about is, if my opponent attacks with two creatures, one I can kill with my blocker and one I cannot, can I block the one I can kill, and after it dies cast Blessed Alliance to make him sacrifice the other? I believe 510.3 means that it is still the combat phase, and his other creature is still "attacking" as defined by the rules of the game, but I am unsure.

Can instants be played after I decide not to block?
I believe this question is also relevant, as the linked answer states that you can play instants during each of those phases, and end of combat is one. Are creatures that attacked still "attacking creatures" when I get priority at the end of combat?


texts: Does drawing a card in the draw phase use the stack, and related Laboratory Maniac shenanigans

texts:
Situations we had tonight:

Opponent has a Laboratory Maniac and an Abundance on the battle field.  I hold a terror in my hand with enough mana in untapped lands to cast it.

S1) Opponent moves to draw phase and has zero cards in library.  Opponent chooses to draw a card.  Can I kill his maniac and win the game?

S2) Opponent has a Staff of Nin and 0 cards in library at beginning of upkeep.  He chooses to draw a card (as opposed to reveal), do I have a chance to respond with my terror?  Or can I not respond?

Is it possible for me to beat my opponent in these situations with a well timed Terror?


texts: Brackets for tournament in a three player game

texts:
Suppose we have game which can only be played in a group of three.

I want my playing system to be somewhat similar to the "Double elimination tournament" but I have trouble getting my head around it.

I want the system to differentiate between the player which comes first and second in each match (or second and third respectively). For example I would like the winner to stay in the same bracket, the runner-up to move one bracket bellow and the looser to go to two brackets down.

I hope that this makes it at least a bit clear since I have scribbled over a ton of paper trying to come up with something that will work.


texts:
So I've read a few cards that say this and only just now notices while reading Hunt the Weak

It says specifically "Each deals damage equal to its power to the other"

So does a +1/+1 counter add to its power?
Basically my question is do you use the power printed on the card, or the power that creature has in normal combat?
And does trample have any effect to the player whose creature Im targeting if their creature can't take all the damage? Or is that only when a creature is blocking my creature


texts: Can you use one creature for both convoke and delve for Hogaak?

texts:
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis has both Convoke and Delve, meaning that its cost can be paid for by tapping creatures, and by exiling cards from your graveyard.

Can I tap a creature for convoke, sacrifice it to Ashnod's Altar, and then exile it for delve?

I know that I couldn't sacrifice the creature to something like Altar of Dementia, because you can't activate abilities while casting a spell.  But Ashnod's Altar is a mana ability, so I should be able to use it while casting Hogaak, even though I can't use the mana to pay for Hogaak (because of its first ability), right?

Does this work?  Could I pay Hogaak's 7 cmc cost using 4 Grizzly Bears?


texts:
This is a problem from today's New York Post.

You (South) are in a stretchy major suit contract with only 22 high card points. You have four top tricks outside the trump suit, and have just won a critical finesse in your hand by finessing to your king. This bypassed an ace in East, whose early play showed an A-Q and five cards in another suit, but did not open.

If East had as much as a queen more, he would have opened, so all other honors including the queen of trumps must be with west. With five (non-trump) tricks in hand, you need five trump tricks to make game. (There are no other trick taking possibilities in this problem, so focus only on this one assumption.)

You have AJ862. Dummy has K54. Opponents have QT973 between them, with the Q in West, for reasons discussed above.

There are two ways to capture the queen. One is to play for the drop. In the problem, West has Q7, so South makes his (optimistic) contract.

The other try is a "backward finesse." Lead the J of trumps from the South hand, and capture West's queen with the king in dummy (if West covers). Then lead back a low trump through East.

As the cards lie, the backward finesse fails, because you are leading through East's T9 to your A8 in hand. (It would have worked if West had Q9 or QT and East had T73 or 973.) But suppose the 8 were a higher cards, say 9 or T (and East's correspondingly lower). Would the backward finesse then have offered better chances for five trump tricks than the drop?


texts: How to easily differentiate Catan expansion pieces?

texts: The only thing holding me back from playing Settlers with BOTH the Traders and Barbarians set and the Seafarers set at once is the thought of sorting the pieces out at the end and getting everything back into the correct boxes. Is there a marking method out there that does not mar the beauty of the pieces but makes packing-up easier?


texts: If a flip summon (via attack) is negated, can I change attack target?

texts:
I attack a face down monster (1900 atk to 2500 def) and when it is flipped face-up I activate Forced Back, which reads:

  Negate the Normal Summon or Flip Summon of a monster and return the monster to its owner's hand.

Does that mean I still take 600 damage, or do I get to attack again, directly this time. Could it be there is also the possibility that my attack was negated/used up for this turn, the moment the target got negate-summoned?

I know that in some situations when the number of monsters on the opponents side changes (like return from the grave) the turn player gets to change attack target, or stop the attack. What about in this case?


texts: Etali and returning casted cards questions

texts:
With our EDH group we can't completely figure out what happens in the following cases:

After attacking with Etali, Primal Storm and casting some of the exiled cards, some of them for example creatures, are now on the board for player John. John is the one playing Etali.

Let's say one of the creatures was originally in Ben's deck. That creature gets killed. Does this creature go back to Ben's graveyard? Or does the card go back to exile?


texts:
Tournament rules state that if a joker is in a meld one can not take from that meld. The joker can only be replaced with the tile the joker represented and used to make a meld with 2 tiles from your hand. So the question is after the required tile is placed (originally represented by the joker) can that meld be not be split or taken from for play?

(This question is not laid out in the rules as part of succession.)


texts: Which Factions sharply change the way that Alien Frontiers plays out?

texts:
I've picked up the Factions expansion for Alien Frontiers, and have played a single game with it. I ended up with the Proxima Centauri Scholars, which have the ability to place the various Fields once per turn. The fields (positron field, isolation field, isolation field) are only rarely placed in a normal game; they're moderately powerful, and give more options to attack other players, but they require discarding Alien Tech cards. Adding the Scholars to the game makes it much more directly aggressive, with the Scholars doing the vast majority of the attacking. This is a very sharp change in the way the game normally goes; one of the players at my game became rather dejected because I had the option to stomp on anyone I wanted, at a moment's notice. (The Isolation Field is extremely effective versus Burroughs Desert, and still pretty darn powerful elsewhere.)

I've decided to remove the Scholars from future Alien Frontiers games, because it very sharply changes the way that the game plays out, making the game antagonistic in an unbalanced way: one player has a nigh-monopoly on one of the better aggressive tactics. What other Factions cause such large changes in how the game is played, and why?


texts: Putting opponent’s cards in your hand in canasta

texts: What happens when a player — who just took a very large deck — accidentally picks up her opponent’s hand of 6 cards and adds them to her hand? It was impossible to identify which cards she should not have picked up other than two of them. Should that make the game null and void?


texts: Can I back out of activating an ability where my opponent chooses the target?

texts:
Say I have a Magus of the Arena, and my opponent and I each control other creatures. Magus of the Arena's ability is

  {3}, {T}: Tap target creature you control and target creature of an opponent's choice he or she controls. Those creatures fight each other.

Is the following sequence of actions on my part legal?

I declare that I am activating the Magus's ability.
I choose one of my creatures as a target.
My opponent chooses one of their creatures as a target. Specifically, it is a creature I did not want to fight.
I say "I decline to tap my lands for mana" since step 601.2f, only says that I have a chance to activate mana abilies, and not that I must do so. Then I say "I do not have enough mana to pay for the spell" (in step 601.2g).
Now, according, to step 717, we back out of activating the ability, and do something else.

This seems to follow the letter of the rules, but it also seems to violate the spirit of the card in question.


texts: Following directions on pairs in exploding kittens?

texts:
I haven't seen a clear answer to this: if you play a pair or three of a kind of cards with instructions (advanced rules) do you also follow the instructions on the cards as well as perform the card steal ?

For example, if I played three skip cards do I not only get to take a card of my choosing from my opponent AND skip the draw at the end of my turn ?  Or only take the card of my choosing ?

Most of what I've found are like this one: Playing pairs of non-cat cards - just a reiteration of the 'advanced rules'.


texts: What is the recommended range for the number of players in Liar Dice?

texts:
This game isn't really an official game, but I recently bought a set of dice (poker dice) and I thought about bringing it to my local board game night as we often want small games to play in between bigger games.

To clarify, the version I have is five 6 sided dice with 9/10/J/Q/K/A on and you have to roll poker hands of increasing score while passing the dice around, bluffing whether or not your hand is higher than the previous.

The thing is we sometimes have groups of 2-8 people, as we wait for other people's games to finish so we can shuffle players and whatnot.

I cannot find online a recommendation for how many players this game works with. My gut feeling is that if you had say, 8 players, the dice would never reach the 8th player because the escalating hands would be too hard to beat.

Is there a recommended number, either in general from common knowledge, or if looking for a more specific answer, perhaps from an 'official' set of the game (or from a game with a similar concept and number of dice)?

(In addition, I genuinely don't know how to tag this question, perhaps Player-Count or something)


texts: What are good placement strategies for Stratego?

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We have a great time playing Hearts, Spades, and Euchre with 4 players.  Oftentimes though we have three people available to play but not a fourth.

How can I find card games that are interesting for 3 players?


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Say I have four territories in a row along the river and the Fisher Special power. Are they worth 2 bonus coins or 3? If I have two territories that skirt the river but are non contiguous are they worth anything?

We were playing that their bonus is (# of river adjacent territories/2) but I suspect that each unique pair of adjacent territories that are both adjacent to the river counts. The terminology in the rules isn't clear enough for me to be sure either way.


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texts: How many vowels and consonants should you keep at the end of the turn in Scrabble?

texts:
I'm no professional player at all, but it seems like a balanced rack could be keeping a certain number of vowels/consonants. Considering there are 100 letter tiles, 56 consonants and 42 vowels, with a ratio of 56:42 or 1.33 consonant:vowel ratio, keeping a ratio as close as possible could be good maybe. Here is my idea for ideal consonant:vowel ratios making it as close to 1.33 as I can:

6 tiles left: 3 consonants, 3 vowels; 1 ratio
5 tiles left: 3 consonants, 2 vowels; 1.5 ratio
4 tiles left: 2 consonants, 2 vowels; 1 ratio
3 tiles left: 2 consonants, 1 vowel; 2 ratio
2 tiles left: 1 consonant, 1 vowel; 1 ratio
1 tiles left: 1 consonant; indefinite ratio

I know it heavily depends on the current board as well the tile bag, but for general purposes, what would be a good ratio for each number of tiles remaining at the end of the turn?