texts: Should the "Atago" be identified as such in Midway during "search"?

texts:
The Atago is a Japanese heavy cruiser. Ordinarily one cruiser can't be told apart from another during a "search." (This is a reconnaissance mission by planes or ships that locates enemy ships for your bombers.)

In fact, the game rules conceded that ship type identification was often erroneous. In the game, Japanese ship types are (aircraft) carriers, battleships and cruisers, while the Americans have only carriers and cruisers.

What gives the Atago its importance is that it is the flagship of the transports carrying the Midway invasion force. Within the parameters of the game, the fate of the transports (sunk or surviving) is "represented" by the fate of the Atago.

In the interests of a better simulation, the Atago can be characterized as "the cruiser surrounded by eight transports," or "the flagship of the transport fleet." Should we give the Japanese a fourth ship type, transports, and use the word "transports" in reference to the Atago, even though the rules call her a "cruiser?" Are transports, in fact, sufficiently distinguishable from cruisers for this to work?


texts:
I was in control of a Soul Seizer that I cast. An Act of Treason, which states "gain control of target creature until end of turn", was used to take my Soul Seizer from me. My opponent then attacked and damaged me with it, chose to transform it, and then took one of my other creatures, and the Seizer became an enchantment. What happens here? Does it return to me immediately because it's no longer a creature and the effect granting control targeted a creature. Does it remain where it's at (in my opponents control) permanently because it became something else in his possession. Or does it return to me when the effect ends even though it's no longer a creature.

I believe it comes back because the effect ends, but my opponent felt he should keep it because it became something else while under his possession. I couldn't find an answer and I would be curious to know the specific rulings. (I let him keep it because it didn't matter and I defeated him anyway)


texts: Latest Collins Scrabble Words list in text file

texts: Where can I find the latest Collins Scrabble Words list in a text file? Googling this seems surprisingly difficult to find. I can only find some sites where I can check if the word is in the list.


texts:
Raging River requires players to divide their creatures into a "left" and "right" pile when the active player attacks:

  Whenever one or more creatures you control attack, each defending player divides all creatures without flying they control into a "left" pile and a "right" pile. Then, for each attacking creature you control, choose "left" or "right." That creature can't be blocked this combat except by creatures with flying and creatures in a pile with the chosen label.

What happens if the attacking player controls multiple Raging Rivers? I can see 3 scenarios happening:

Multiple RRs are redundant, only the last one to resolve matters.
Each RR adds an additional pile, one pile for each (ordered) distribution of "lefts" and "rights". Would also make the most sense flavor-wise - n parallel rivers makes for n+1 "lanes" between the rivers.
Each RR doubles the number of piles, one pile for each distribution of lefts and rights.


texts: Can you sacrifice a creature that's in the middle of an attack?

texts:
Earlier tonight, I was playing magic. My opponent had a card out that allowed him to place a 2/2 goblin token on the board for every creature that made an attack. He also had one out that allowed him to sacrifice one of his creatures and destroy any nonland permanent.

He declared an attack with one of the goblin tokens, thus placing another goblin token on the board. He then sacrificed the attacking token before it attacked and my blocker destroyed it.

I'm new to the game, but it seems to me that if he sacrificed it prior to its attack, it shouldn't have counted as an attack. So he couldn't have placed the new token on the board. Am I wrong?


texts: Mirage mirror what happens when copying a creature

texts: If you use it to copy a creature and attack with it does it become tapped until next upkeep mirage mirror itself or revert back to to untapped artifact


texts: Why don't triggered abilities immediately go on the stack?

texts:
Rule 603.2 of the Comprehensive Rules says:

  Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically triggers. The ability doesn’t do anything at this point.

Lower, in 603.3 the Rules continue:

  Once an ability has triggered, its controller puts it on the stack as an object that’s not a card the next time a player would receive priority

Why does it work this way? Is there a compelling reason why the ability can't immediately go on the stack? I know state-based actions will now happen before the ability is put on the stack, but I'm not sure why this would affect it.


texts: Does drawing a card end your whole turn, or just prevent further movement?

texts:
Could you continue to use items or make rolls after drawing a card, since these don't involve movement? Based on the rulebook, I think the answer is no, but I'm not sure.
From the rulebook, page 3:

"You can perform actions (such as using an item or attacking) in the middle of your movement. However, whenever a game effect makes you draw a card, for any reason, you must stop moving for the rest of your turn.

At first I was latching on to the phrase, "you must stop moving," thinking that meant you couldn't enter more rooms, but you could still do other things. I think we even played that if we created a room that contained an item for our haunt, we could immediately take that item when we created the room. But now I see that it says you perform actions "in the middle of your movement," which makes it sound like you can't do anything after your movement ends. So if you created a room with a haunt-specific item tile in it, you wouldn't be able to pick it up in the same turn?
For another example, if you placed the vault room and drew a card, you couldn't immediately try to enter the vault on that same turn, correct?
If actions can only occur in the middle of movement, does that mean you can't do anything else after running out of movement?
In that case, it would follow that if you were to move as far as your speed could take you, you couldn't then attack or use items or make a roll when you got there, right? Because it wouldn't be in the middle of your movement.
That doesn't seem right to me. It seems like, for instance, if you had a speed of 3, and there was an item pile three rooms away, you should be able to get to the room and then pick up the items there. Or if you had to make a skill roll three rooms away, you should be able to go there and make that roll.
So I'm wondering if I'm misunderstanding what it means by "the middle of your movement." Any insight is appreciated.
Can you roll for event cards immediately after you've drawn them, or would you have to wait a turn?
I'm specifically wondering about the closet door event card in this regard. That card says:

Put the closet token in the room.
Once during an explorer's turn, that explorer can roll two dice to open the closet...

So, with this card, do you simply place the closet and then end your turn, or can you roll for the closet items? This is similar to the scenario with the vault, but it's different since rolling for the closet could count as part of the card event.


texts: According to the rules book, the 3rd column of favours is available after the scoring of the dungeon. My question is, when scoring the dungeon, is it still considered as before the scoring? In other words I can't move my marker up to the 3rd row to collect 3 points or build a stone building, with the favours I've earned right after scoring the dungeon, correct?


texts: In TTR Europe, can you put a station in a city that's not connected to one of your claimed routes

texts:
In Ticket To Ride: Europe, does the placement of a station have to abut a route you control.

E.g. let's say you want to place a station in order use someone else's Edinburgh - London route during end game scoring.

You have an Ticket from Amsterdam to London, but someone else has put a station on London.

Can you put a station on Edinburgh to gain access to the Edinburgh-London route even though you do not control the route into Edinburgh?


texts: if you are in safety zone and you get a backwards 4, do you move backwards and then forwards?


texts: When should I open a particular envelope in Risk Legacy?

texts:
Risk Legacy, oddly enough, has spoilers, so I'll go ahead and use the spoiler tags.

Description of the envelope:

   There is an envelope in Risk Legacy, hidden in the box, marked "Do not open. Ever."

This game is intended to be played 15 times over its lifetime, after which it gets (in theory) locked down in a playable, final state.  My question is about when to open this envelope.

Question about when to open it:

   Obviously I want to open it sometime.  I mean, they told me not to open it, so of course I want to open it.  The question is: when?
 Should we wait until after the 15 games are played?  Or should we open it sometime near the end, say after 12 or 13 plays?

Answers without spoilers as to the contents of the envelope are of course preferred.


texts: (Meta) game design to facilitate educational game design workshop/class

texts:
I would like to develop a framework to support teachers and their students in developing mini-games for their class.

For example, a math teacher organizes several workshops and classes with his or her students to develop 2 or 3 mini-games. The objective is not to have playable games, although that would be nice. The objective is twofold:

Promote design thinking and design skills, bot for the teacher and
students;
Use the game design workshop as an instrument to think deeply about the (in this example) mathematical content being taught.

Ad 1. The teacher learns to think about levels, providing challenge, using imagination and fantasy, personalization, feedback mechanisms, social interaction, engagement, etc in relation to his teaching.

Ad 2. To be clear about the second: students develop challenges that fit within their game, The teacher supports them in thinking about relevant challenges, but in order to make a 'playable challenge', they first have to really understand the content and outcome of the challenge. The hope is this leads to a deeper understanding of the topics.

Are there any examples on how to organize the workshops/class in a gameful manner as well? In other words, what other game-to-design-a-game games are there? And what are their features? I am working in a low-tech environment, so preferably the examples do not require too many technical resources or programming skills, but mostly focus on fun and creativity.

EDIT: Just found an interesting and widely cited paper by Druckman that compares game/simulation DESIGN vs game/simulation PLAY and concludes that (in this case) DESIGN has much stronger effects on retention and learning than PLAY. The approach is very rigorous and I believe his results can be generalized. However, to be critical, I would also predict that playing a game that is designed by a lay-designer would be less effective than doing the design yourself (as a layman). Search for "Druckman - Onstage or behind the scenes? Relative learning benefits of simulation role-play and design"


texts:
One of the swingier cards in the Agricola X-Deck is "Mind the Jets!".  Players lucky enough to have renovated to a Clay house get their dwelling hardened to Stone by the jets of the alien spacecraft... but players whose houses are still made of Wood watch them burn down to the ground.

It didn't seem problematic to us having two families without a roof over their heads - obviously there wasn't going to be much Family Growth in our game's future!  However, our issue lay in interpreting the text on the card which states that homeless players may "renovate" back to a 2-room Wooden hut for 2 Wood and 1 Reed.

Does this action require a family member to visit the Renovate space to get their house back?  The card's use of inverted commas implied to us that this was not a normal Renovation, so we ruled that getting a 2-room Wooden house back was a free action, to anyone with the required Goods in their supply.

And then, another issue arose, which was that I had an Occupation in play, the Wood Carver, that allowed me to pay 1 less Wood once per turn for a room, improvement, fence or stable.  I ended up paying 1 Wood and 1 Reed to get my house back, but now I'm feeling a bit nervous that I can't have it both ways.  Either the post-Mind-the-Jets action is a real renovation or it isn't.  Can something like the Wood Carver really provide a discount for rebuilding an incinerated wooden house if we have ruled that to be a special, unique and exceptional free action?

(Bonus question: is it possible that I'm taking Agricola: The Goodies a little bit too seriously?  Surely not!)


texts: Why is "LGS" the standard term for a game store?

texts:
Why is LGS the term of choice for gaming stores?  Is it to specifically refer to local gaming stores, as opposed to distant or non-local gaming stores?  I have never seen DGS or NLGS, so I don't know why it is necessary to specify local in the acronym, instead of just using GS.

If LGS is intended to convey a physical store as opposed to an online retailer, why not Brick & Mortar or B&M?  Most other retail industries I've read about (electronics and cigars come to mind) regularly use B&M when talking about physical establishments instead of online retailers.

But strangely, I've never seen B&M used in the Magic/TCG/gaming vernacular.


texts: Can a creature token represent a different creature token?

texts:
I have quite a few cards that have the ability to create creature tokens when they're played or their ability is activated.  The only problem is I don't have the specific token for each one, but I have a handful of other creature tokens.

Can I substitute creature token Y for creature token X? For example, if the ability allows creating two 2/2 Black Zombies, but I don't have any Black Zombie tokens, could I use, say, a Green Wolf and a White Human to substitute as placeholders?  I don't see why not since the tokens are pretty much empty objects that are filled in whenever they're brought into battle.


texts: Checking target legality (esp for removal)

texts:
When an opponent targets a creature and I give it hexproof in response (e.g. with Dive Down) it becomes an illegal target for the spell or ability.
This is because target legality for the spell is checked once when putting it on the stack (usually when casting or activating it) and once when it would resolve. Correct?
Then why does the same not work for a spell that cares about power or toughness (e.g. Smite the Monstrous). Why can I not change the power in response to Smite the Monstrous being cast (with some sort of buff effect, e.g. Giant Growth) and make it an illegal target?
Am I wrong in some assumption?


texts: Does discarding a Race or Class card at "any time" apply to both your hand and cards in play?

texts:
In the instructions for Munchkin it says:

"You can discard a Race card at any time, even in combat"
"You can discard a Class card at any time, even in combat"

but it doesn't state whether this applies to your hand, cards in play, or both. Does the rule apply to both?

Also, does this mean that a player may discard these cards during any phase, even when it's not there turn?


texts: Can you re-equip equipment to the same creature?

texts:
Murderer's Axe has an equip cost: discard a card, and since madness runs off discarding, this can be rather useful.
Can an equipment card be re-equipped to the same creature that already has it equipped?


texts: What is an extra move in Mancala, and can you have more than one?

texts: When playing mancala, when you get a stone that lands in your mancala and get an extra move, is it just one move or do you start over like in the beginning and pick a group of stones on your side and go unil they run out?  Also, if you end up landing in your own mancala again, do you then get another free move, or is there just one free move before your opponent goes?


texts: Acing a copy of a unique card that you have in play

texts:
Say that you have a character or deed in play that does not have the non-unique keyword (which are most dudes and deeds), and another card of the same name in your hand. You would not be able to play this second one because the character is unique. Similarly, if the card on the table is aced, you still cannot play the same card because it is unique.

But what happens if you have a unique card in play and then you try to ace the duplicate in your hand, either intentionally through something like Gomorra Parish, or forcibly through something like This'll Hurt in the Mornin'.

Is this permitted? Does anything happen when you have a dude in play and then a duplicate gets aced to Boot Hill?


texts: Using the Chamber of Commerce as Alexandria

texts:
I was the Alexandria civilization

which starts with the glass luxury good as a starting resource. I played the Chamber of Commerce card (the middle one)

which grants a player 2 gold and 2 victory points for each luxury good they have. However, upon counting my starting resource as "a card", my friend pointed out that the Chamber of Commerce has a gray rectangle on it; obviously this meant that it only counts if the luxury good is a card, not a starting resource.

Obviously I thought this was outrageous, but I thought it would make for a good question here. Any thoughts? I didn't find anything in the rules about special exceptions for starting resources.


texts: How to make Settlers of Catan less cut-throat?

texts:
I know some people enjoy playing this way, but the other 50% of players seem to prefer a more casual game. This often stops people wanting to play at all, and so Settlers gets left on the shelf.
The issues we have are often:

Unfair/endless trades
Meaning the board is split between those who make ridiculous demands (3 to one trades as described in the link), and those 'who don't ask for enough', which is equally annoying to the other players.

Unscrupulous tactics
Again splitting the table evenly (both sides find each other's options non-agreeable).

Playing to block
A player knows you want resource X for your road, so blocks you off, again and again. To the point you feel there is no need to bother playing again.

Whilst the answers in the questions above1,2 combat this if players agree on one of the answers, I feel sure there must be some middle ground introduced by a house-rule or convention to make Settlers more friendly.
Edit: Added another 'nasty' trick I've seen for 'fun'.


texts:
From the wiki books on monopoly:

Occasionally, when there is a housing shortage, it can pay to tear down houses on one colour group to immediately build them on a different colour group. However, if another player declares an interest in buying the houses you have torn down, you will have to outbid that player for them, so this tactic pays off only when you are buying the torn down houses for expensive properties anyway, and you have much cash, and the other likely bidders are cash poor.

I have played monopoly since I was a kid and I have never heard of bidding for houses; I thought sold houses reverted to the bank, and can then be bought again by other players if there is a shortage. What's the deal?


texts: How may it be possible to win and lose the game simultaneously?

texts:
Take the following rule.

  104.3f If a player would both win and lose the game simultaneously, that player loses the game.

How is it possible to do this, has there been a documented case of this happening?


texts: Can there be two winners at the same time in Catan?

texts:
Imagine the following setup:

Player A has 6 points, including the Longest Road.
Player B has 8 points with an equally long road.
Player C has 9 points with a shorter road.

Now what would happen if Player C places a village, breaking Player A's road chain? At that moment Player A would have 4 points, while both Player B and Player C would have 10.

In this case, who would be declared the victor?


texts: Does heroic trigger when the creature is in a graveyard?

texts:
I have an Agent of the Fates in my graveyard. I return it to my hand with Disentomb.

Does my opponent have to sacrifice a creature?


texts:
I'd like to do some statistical analysis on Catan games, but to do that I need data. Does anyone know of a place I can find empirical data on Catan play? The stronger the players, the better.

Awesome datasets include:Records of tournament play
Log files from electronic Catan games, with preference for strong human play

Analyses I'd like to do include:

 Empirical win percentages as a function of seat
 Total resources-spent by the winning player, by type
 Final assets of winning player, including all settlements, cities, roads, and development cards
 Total quantity of trading by the winning player

Really, I'd be happy if I could perform even one of those analyses.

Also, I can code, and I was a quant at an energy trading firm, so I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty if necessary.


texts: interaction between Fiery Emancipation and trample

texts:
I had Fiery Emancipation (which triples damage) on the battlefield, and attacked my opponent with a 4/1 creature with trample. My opponent had 6 life and blocked with a 5/6 creature.
I believed that Fiery Emancipation would triple the damage to 12 thus allow me to win the game due to the 6 excess damage being applied to my opponent, thanks to trample. However, my opponent took no damage. What am I not understanding?


texts: Can I have priority passed back to me during spell resolution, so that I can do more with my own spell?

texts:
So, this is a basic question, but I want to make sure I'm getting this right.

Suppose I have a Lightning Bolt and a Twincast, and I want to bolt my opponent twice.

I know that to do so I can do the following:

Cast lightning bolt.
Hold priority.
Copy it choosing a new target.

Now, what I want to know is if I can cast lightning bolt, pass priority, and then, after checking if my opponent has a response for it, copy it. Like:

Cast lightning bolt
Pass priority.
Oponnent passes priority back without putting anything else on the stack.
Copy lightning bolt.

Is the forth move illegal? My spell resolves right after my opponent passes priority, without I having a second chance to put more stuff on the stack?


texts: Progenitor Mimic copying a creature with counters

texts: When Progenitor Mimic creates a copy of a creature like Nimbus Swimmer,  will Progenitor Mimic copy the counter that creature has on it?


texts: Are cards that interact with sacrificing rare, and why?

texts:
For independent reasons, I was looking recently for cards that interact with Sacrificing. At the time (owing mostly to my lack of knowledge in MtG templating), I found none. Looking at the Avacyn restored preview card Sigarda, Host of Herons brought back the question, which was further piqued when I noticed that another preview cards is intended to "mess with" sacrificing (Angel of Jubilation).

Looking through Gatherer (with the above caveat), I found only a few cards cards (Sigarda's predecessor Tajuru Preserver, Dragon Appeasement, Furnace Celebration, Savra, Queen of the Golgari, Mortician Beetle, Thraximundar) with sacrifice trigger effects. I found no card with trigger effects when they are sacrificed to other cards (something which, coming fro a YGO background, I am used to).

Was my research too incomplete or are there really just few cards that interact with Sacrificing other than as a cost or effect?

If there are so few, do you see any design-related reason for it? I mean, given the prevalence of effects triggering by entering the battlefield, drawing cards, creatures dying, attacking, blocking/being blocked etc., it seems strange that such a prevalent game action as sacrificing would have been ignored.


texts:
In core worlds, there are several ways to give bonus ground strength to Infantry. For example there is a Cyborg who gives +1 Ground strength to each Infantry that attacks with him.
If I use my Medi-bot to save my now 2 strength grunt, how long does that +1 strength last? Until the end of the invasion? Until the end of the round? End of the game?


texts: Implement unique occurrence against each other

texts:
I am trying to develop a card game, in which I have a situation like I need to present cards against each other in such a way so that they have never played with each other. So in general, I will have two different stack of cards, and they will be presented with each other. So it could be like

 A  B  C  D
 H  U  O  P

Any one of the card will be swiped away from infront of any letter, say user remove H from infront of A, the U will be presented to A, then U swiped away O will be presented.

In above scenario H, U, and O have played with A, so in future they should never play with A.

How to implement this.

Any light, anything that can help me, would be highly appreciated.

For more clarification, see image below

Thanks.


texts: What happens to the cards revealed when building a tunnel?

texts:
What happens to the 3 cards that are turned up when claiming a tunnel on the Switzerland map? Are they placed back on top of the draw pile or are they placed at the bottom of the draw pile or are they discarded?

There's no information in the rules about it.


texts: Where can I find a copy of Betrayal at House on the Hill

texts:
Every board game store I've gone to has been sold out since last year and they don't know when they'll have it in stock again.

Online, I can't find any copies for under $150 (and I'm not ready to spend that much money on a board game).

This is a really popular game, so why is it so hard to find?


texts:
Lazav, the Multifarious is activated to become a copy of Clever Impersonator, with Caged Sun out, so it doesn't die. It is now simply a 1/1 with the name, "Lazav, the Multifarious," Lazav's ability, and is legendary. I play Mercurial Pretender, choosing to have it enter as a copy of Clever Impersonator, and so I choose to have it enter as a copy of my opponent's Terastodon, with the intent of destroying some stuff.

Does the Mercurial Pretender turned Clever Impersonator turned Terastodon changing to a copy of certain cards "overwrite" the Legendary supertype from Lazav/Clever Impersonator? Pretty sure this is a yes, but just checking.
If it is "entering the battlefield as a copy" of another creature, than wouldn't it have to enter the battlefield to be able to do anything specific to the creature? Specifically, the Mercurial Pretender would have to enter, become Clever Impersonator, and then, being on the battlefield already, would be unable to become Terastodon. Am I correct on this?


texts: In the Game of the Goose, keep moving again and again if I keep landing on geese?

texts:
In the Game of the Goose, if you land on a square with a goose, you may move the same amount of squares again. If that lands you on a square with a goose again, can you move yet again?

In theory, since squares with geese are 9 squares apart, if you're on go and throw 9, you keep going again and again until you've won. This can't happen on your first turn, since throwing ⚂ + ⚅ (3 + 6) takes you to square 26, while ⚃ + ⚄ (4 + 5) takes you all the way to square 53. But if you land on square 58 and die, you go back to the start, but then it's no longer your first turn.

Am I correct in assuming that throwing 9 then, wins you the game?


texts:
We played with Agricola: The Goodies for the first time last night, and while it was very silly, it didn't have the negative impact on gameplay that I'd feared.  However, the Occupation cards from the L-deck created all sorts of rules questions for us that we weren't quite equipped to answer.  But that's where this site comes in!

The Simplifier occupation reads:

  Occupations with more than 4 lines of
  text have no effect for the remainder
  of the game.

The Snitch has about 9 lines of text in total, but begins:

  Immediately flip 1 Occupation that you
  have played face down.

In last night's rather crazy all-Goodies game of Agricola, one of the players played the Simplifier, to switch off the damn Bean Farmer for a while, but then played the Snitch to flip her own Simplifer, and reinstate the Bean Farmer.  (I never played an Occupation or Minor Improvement in the whole game because of all these shenanigans!)

The $1 million dollar question is of course, can you really flip the Simplifier with the Snitch, or is he unSnitchable?  (It seemed more fun to allow it at the time, but this type of thing is what keeps me awake at night!)


texts: Can I make Vitu-Ghazi Indestructible with Nissa's Emblem?

texts: If I used a Nissa, Who Shakes the World -8 Emblem in conjunction with an Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi, could I make Vitu-Ghazi indestructible in a sense that a creature is indestructible?


texts: Are the large box sets stand alone, or do they require Descent 2nd Edition base-set?

texts: I've been dying to start playing this for a good year now, so I'm finally going to grab a copy. My question is simply do I have to start with the 'base-set' box, or can any of  the larger box sets be used without the base box, for example 'Lair of the Wyrm' or 'The Trollfens'.


texts: Are there any tabletop apps to allow you to play warhammer 40k with friends in other cities?

texts: Pretty much as the title; I've looked at vassal 40k, but it hasn't been updated in a while and is missing units. I'm not necessarily looking for something for WH40k in specific - as long as it allows for moving units, measuring distances, and custom sprites/enough sprites to use "counts as" we should be fine.


texts:
I was wondering about the formula on how to calculate the average number of cards milled by Mind Funeral.

  Target opponent reveals cards from the top of his or her library until
  four land cards are revealed. That player puts all cards revealed this
  way into his or her graveyard.

Just to have an example scenario, let's assume it's an EDH/Commander deck (99 cards total) with 40 lands in it. With no mana ramp or extra draws, let's assume we had the first turn and can cast Mind Funeral on turn 3. Target opponent should have 90 cards left in his library at that point.


texts: In Village (2011) are the winning strategies really balanced?

texts:
I've been playing Village often with my girl (2 player game only) - it is more a matter of making more points than actually competing (as in blocking the other player). I have not, so far, played the game with more than 2 players.

However, what I noticed is that the "easy" way to get points is selling on the market. Can it actually be beaten? I've tried, at the beginning of several games to do something different, like "in this game, I will settle for politics" - or religion, or whatever. At mid-game, no matter what, I have to resort to create and sell some goods to keep up with the points.


texts: Is there a strongly solved game with infinite possible board arrangements?

texts:
Is there a game with infinite possible board arrangements (infinite experience conditions?), but which has been strongly solved, i.e. whose optimal move at every stage of the game has been solved?

If such a game exists and if its name is given, it will be of great help to me. Waiting for it. This is going to allow me make certain conclusions in other domains via analogy.


texts: Can a worker leave a territory controlled by an enemy mech?

texts: I have already unlocked the +1 movement mech upgrade. I take one of my workers inside my mech, I use one of my movements for move this mech with the worker inside to a place where already are an enemy mech. I know my mech cant move more, cant use this +1 movement upgrade, need stay there and resolve the fight. But the question is, I have still one more movement for whatever other of my units before resolve that, so can I (with this other second movement) move this worker that was "inside my mech" out from this spot to other spot?


texts:
TLDR

Has 40k lost a lot of its customization and character options?
Are the expected codices supposed to give more options/customization?
Can I take a unique item or character and modify it for my own use?
If so, and WYSIWYG still applies, how would I compute costs fairly?
Would it be fair to just double the cost of the normal version?
Is this something that I should not be as worried about in actual gameplay and just give them what I can from what exists?
How many of you use unique characters and how did you build them? (not sure if this should be a separate question by itself or if there is a better way to phrase or location to ask it)

First let me mention that although I have been a fan of 40k since I first learned of it back with the release of the third edition and I have purchased every rulebook and at minimum all of the codices for the Space Wolves since; I have only played on tabletop a few times, with the last time being almost a decade ago. Please bear with me as I know some of the rules and changes over the years, but the lore has always interested me more. I know a lot has changed over the years but may be ignorant to the intelligence behind some changes...

That said I am looking to jump back into the gaming aspect with the new edition. With the indices I feel like a lot of the customization options have been lost. My previous "build" of the Inquisitor for my army was an Inquisitor Lord, with a needle pistol, daemon hammer, artificer armor, grimore, a targeter, scourging, etc. and I had even had the chosen to take a specific entourage (astropath, etc.).

And while I do believe that those choices came from the options laid out in an older rulebook I loved that I could grab a bunch of different stuff to put into an independent character.

In the Imperium 2 Index I am looking to update my guy (as with the rest of my army) and I noticed that there is not an option for artificer armor or even to give him a boost as an Inquisitor Lord. His retinue seems to be limited to a host of acolytes, deamonhosts, and (thankfully still) a jokaero...

In the points lists it shows the points values for the 3 custom characters without wargear, but then then the master crafted weapons have 0 points. While the option to use them only exists for those special characters, I would like to use a master crafted power sword stat (it is actually a halberd) for my character. Would it be fair to just double the cost of the normal version?

I would like to keep my entire army as close to the rulebook as possible, but I would also like to give my unique guys gear that makes them special. Is this something that I should not be as worried about in actual gameplay and just give them what I can from what exists? How many of you use unique characters and how did you build them?


texts:
Everywhere I read manuals it focuses my options as a player. I can't figure out if the dealer knows his hidden card or not? Of course, when dealer has 10 or Ace showing, he checks if he's got a blackjack, right?

What are the dealer's options?


texts: When an investigator is stunned I understand that it limits the moves from 2 to 1.  Optionally, the investigator can spend their action to remove the stun.  If I spend the action first, is the move limit still in effect until the next turn?  Or can I then move two times?


texts: Evaluating tactical situations in Puerto Rico

texts:
I've been playing a bit of Puerto Rico against computers (AIs) lately. I'm doing quite well against the easier AIs so I think my overall gameplay isn't so bad but I've realized that I still have problems evaluating some situations from a tactical point of view.

Captain and Trader do not offer much choice so their direct effects are quite easy to predict. Still I find that I rarely consider what's beyond the Trader or Captain. Is that a mistake? What should I look for?
Mayor and Craftsman are relatively straightforward too. Mayor often leads to Craftsman and Craftsman generally results in Trader and/or Captain. So my thinking is: "Do I benefit from Craftsman enough if I pick Mayor now?" and "Do I get to ship/trade enough if I pick Craftsman now?" I don't think it is feasible to think much further but I welcome suggestions...
Settler and Builder are more difficult for me however. They are the most unpredictable element of the game IMO. I usually just think if I need/want a building or plantation and if there's nothing more pressing among the other options then I just go for it. What should I look for when evaluating the benefits of these roles?

Of course with enough time you could thoroughly evaluate every option for your own move and the next one but that would quickly lead to analysis-paralysis. So what can be done in reasonable amounts of time? Are there any kinds of tools to help in training this, aside from playing full games?


texts: What are artifact creatures in Magic lore?

texts:
In terms of flavor/lore, what is an artifact creatures in Magic?  How are they made and how do they run?  Is it different on different planes, in different sets, or for different creature types?

I feel like there are a number of possible explanations.  Here's a starting list:

They are something in the realm of mechanical AI (similar to the clanks from Girl Genius).
They are very complex wind-up dolls and have nothing approximating intelligence (in line with the old Phyrexian Hulk flavor text "It doesn’t think. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t laugh or cry. All it does from dusk till dawn Is make the soldiers die. —Onean children’s rhymeby").
They are magically animated (Pinocchio is unfortunately my best fictional analogue here; somebody please come up with a better example).
They are vehicles with an organic pilot bundled together into a single card (as distinct from the new Vehicle artifact type).
They are biological in origin but have become mostly machine through modification (like Robocop or General Grievous).
They are the combination of a person/creature's spirit and a machine (such as Ghost in the Shell).

Karn, Silver Golem is likely a special case.  This is exemplified by the fact that none of the Karn Planeswalkers (such as Karn Liberated) are artifacts.


texts: Can I keep on pumping Phyrexian Devourer?

texts: Can I keep activating activated abilities as Phyrexian Devourer goes past 7 power? In theory, could I keep activating it and then follow up with a Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord sacrifice ability targeting the Phyrexian Devourer?


texts: What happens if one of the targets of Role Reversal is enchanted by a spell that changes its controller?

texts:
Suppose this board state exists:

Opponent controls Atraxa, Praetor's Voice
I control the aura Control Magic, whose enchanted creature is Feather, the Redeemed.

I cast Role Reversal, targeting my Feather and my opponent's Atraxa.

Role Reversal reads

  Exchange control of two target permanents that share a permanent type.

However, Control Magic, which remains under my control, reads

  You control enchanted creature.

Rulings on Role Reversal tell us that

  Role Reversal’s effect lasts indefinitely. It doesn’t wear off during the cleanup step, and it doesn’t expire if the permanents stop sharing a permanent type after Role Reversal has resolved.

However, this doesn't indicate whether or not this effect can still be overridden by that of an enchantment.

Does my opponent end up with control of Feather?  Or can I abuse Feather's passive ability to keep casting Role Reversal on each of my succeeding turns to take control of more creatures?


texts: How to describe the strengths and weaknesses of white to a new mtg player?

texts:
When I'm teaching Magic: The Gathering to a new player, one of the things I usually give them early on is a run down of each of the different colors and its pros and cons. I usually try to come up with 2 sentences and no more than 3 example cards to describe the color. Normally, I use descriptions that are something like this:

  Red: Uses the power of fire to damage life totals, creatures, and
  destroy lands/artifacts. Has trouble dealing with enchantments,
  flying, and tricky spells. Examples: Shock, Shatter, Demolish.

  Black: Uses the power of death and evil to profit from other misery
  with powerful removal, creatures, discard spells, and detrimental
  enchantments. Has trouble dealing with enchantments, vulnerable to
  removal, and has slightly weaker creatures. Examples: Doom Blade, Mind Rot, Sorin's Thirst

  Blue: Uses the power of the mind to manipulate the field of battle by
  drawing cards, countering spells, messing with opponents' plans in
  general, and playing flying creatures. Has the weakest creatures in
  the game, even though it has many of the best flying creatures.
  Examples: Divination, Cancel, Darkslick Drake (or any other good
  flying creature)

  Green: Uses the power of nature to grow and expand until its massive
  creatures are too much for opponents to handle. Good at dealing with
  artifacts/enchantments, and has strongest creatures in the game, but
  also has worst flying creatures and very little removal. Examples:
  Llanowar Elves, Leatherback Baloth, Naturalize

  White: Uses the power of life and justice to play powerful creatures,
  life-gain spells, sweeper spells, small creatures, and good defenses.
  Second best in flying and creatures overall, but weak against ??????
  Examples: ?????

While these are rough examples that could all use a bit of polishing, I definitely feel like my understanding and explanation of white looks the weakest. Currently, I look at white as the 'all-around color' with fewer strengths and weaknesses than the others, but I'm having trouble characterizing it in more specific ways.

How would you explain the pros and cons of the color white to newcomers to MTG? What example cards and general characteristics of white decks would you include? What might you add to my other explanations to make them more helpful and accurate, but still keep them clean and concise?


texts: mansions of madness using a non-action equipment requires evade?

texts:
In Mansions of Madness, the rules say that "an investigator must make an evade test before moving or performing non-attack actions."
What if the investigator uses an equipment card which does not have the word "Action" on it. Does that require an evade test ?


texts: Do "enters the battlefield" abilities trigger when a creature is copied with Phyrexian Metamorph?

texts:
The card Phyrexian Metamorph says:

You may have Phyrexian Metamorph enter the battlefield as a copy of any artifact or creature on the battlefield, except it's an artifact in addition to its other types.

If I understand the rules text correctly, abilities of copied creatures that will trigger when the creature enters the battle field will trigger for the copy as well. In my current case the target is a Geist Honored Monk:

When Geist-Honored Monk enters the battlefield, put two 1/1 white Spirit creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.

If I copy this creature with Phyrexian Metamorph, do I get the tokens as well?


texts: Where can I find 'no limits' Texas Hold'em game logs?

texts:
I've been looking at some papers about developing AI players for Texas Hold'em, and many of them have used betting history from expert human players as training data.  I have so far been unable to find a paper that referenced where they got that betting history.

Where can I find betting history for 'no limits' Texas Hold'em games?

I imagine the game history will be in the format of a log file containing the number of chips each player has, the cards dealt to each player, and all the bets made.

Here is an example of a paper I looked at:

Decision Generalisation from Game Logs in No Limit Texas Hold’em


texts: If a unit with a support order, supports the losing side in a battle, is it routed or can It support again in another battle?


texts: If I pick up a large pack in the discard pile and put down an incomplete 7’s canasta are there and rules or restrictions about going out without completing it?


texts: Why does the efficiency of creatures in MTG favor low and high cost creatures, leaving those in the middle much weaker?

texts:
Here's a stereotypical description of creatures of a certain mana cost where each creature's primary utility is in its power/toughness level and not in its effect. The mana cost is the number furthest to the left:

1/1, some minor benefit
2/2, some minor benefit
2/3 or 3/2, maybe 3/3
3/3, maybe 4/3 or 3/4 with some minor disadvantage
4/4
5/4 or 4/5
5/7,
8/8 with an amazing ability
10/9 with a ridiculously awesome ability

Does anyone else see how the 1-3 and the 7-9 cost creatures tend to be amazing in terms of their mana cost? The (power+toughness) to CMC is definitely greater almost all the time.

Is it intentional that the middle-cost creatures are much less efficient, and this is why there tend to be weenie decks based on weak creatures and control decks based on strong creatures, but very few decks based on middle-cost creatures? What is the overall purpose of the 4-6 cost creatures being comparatively much weaker? How should my decks and strategy take advantage of this?

NOTE: There are links for each of those CMC's for what I thought was a stereotypical creature. All creatures chosen are colorless and either common or uncommon. I understand my list may be biased, and feel free to prove that this efficiency curve doesn't exist, because that is pretty central to the above questions. :D


texts: In the third edition the Rules Reference book states that using Wolf Form causes Dracula to take one damage, but the rulebook and Wolf Form card both state two damage. Is this is an error in the rules reference book?


texts: Does removing First Strike affect creatures with Double strike?

texts: Is a creature with double strike effected by 'creatures lose first strike and cannot be given first strike', for instance if an opponent has Archetype of Courage?


texts: Should you play a Bunker Scar if you aren't likely to win the first game?

texts:
Since the Winner of a game is able to place their Major City anywhere on the board, even on nice defensive bunker scars...

Should you place a bunker on the board if you don't believe you are likely to win the first game?

Does this answer change if you are playing a 3, 4, or 5 player game?
Does this answer change if one or more scars have already been played?

(please only take into account staring scars, faction powers, number of players, and starting rules. No spoilers please, and no taking into consideration spoiler packets)

Starting Scars (3 Ammo Shortage (-1 defending high die), 3 Bunker (+1 defending high die))
Major City - +2 population, you may start here if no enemy HQ is adjacent.


texts:
My opponent is playing an exalted deck and I am playing Pyxis of Pandemonium. The exalted text reads:

  Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until the end of the turn.

After my opponent declares attackers but before we move into the declare blockers phase I activate Pyxis of Pandemonium's second ability:

  Each player turns face up all cards he or she owns exiled with Pyxis of Pandemonium, then puts all permanent cards among them onto the battlefield.

As a result my opponent gets permanents that have the exalted ability. Will these newly created permanents exalted ability trigger or have they entered the battlefield too late? Does my opponent have the opportunity to change his attackers as we are still in the declare attackers phase? (not to the new creatures however as they will have summoning sickness)


texts: Does Evolution Sage proliferate Blast Zone when played?

texts: When Evolution Sage is in play, it proliferates my board every time a land is dropped. When I drop Blast Zone, it enters with 1 counter on it and then triggers the Sage. So after that the Blast Zone should have 2 counters, right?


texts: Can I kill Lurrus directly after it enters the battlefield, before it's controller gets priority to cast a permanent from their graveyard?

texts:
The two following rulings for Lurrus of the Dream-Den apply:

You must follow the normal timing permissions and restrictions of the spell you cast from your graveyard.

Once you begin to cast the spell, losing control of Lurrus won’t affect the spell. You can finish casting it as normal.

By the second quoted rule, I see if I don't respond to Lurrus being cast and entering, and my opponent chooses to cast a permanent from their graveyard, even if I then kill Lurrus, the chosen permanent will still be cast.
So my question is if my opponent casts Lurrus and it enters the battlefield, can I immediately kill it before my opponent gets priority to cast a permanent from their graveyard.


texts: Does Epic Spell Wars actually contain profanity?

texts:
I'm trying to judge the suitability of Epic Spell Wars for one of my kids and wanted to know if the sticker on the front was accurate?

Having watched the table-top episode there was a lot of swearing from the players but it wasn't obvious that the cards were actually the cause, just the general setup and flavour (Pisster and testikill for example).


texts: Do the UFOs over the continents get removed when they raise the terror level?

texts: Each round, during the Timed Phase, UFOs can wind up overflying various continental landmasses.  Each UFO that is not shot down by the intrepid forces directed by the Commander raises the terror level.  Do these UFOs then get removed, or do they persist (potentially raising the terror level again) into future turns?


texts: How does Void Winnower affect face down spells and creatures?

texts:
Void Winnower says

  Your opponents can't cast spells with even converted mana costs. (Zero is even)

  Your opponents can't block with creatures with even converted mana costs.

If I control a Void Winnower, does it prevent my opponent from casting Morph and Megamorph cards as face down spells? Does it prevent face down creatures from blocking?


texts: Does each stable in a pasture double the number of animals allowed?

texts:
I popped round to visit some friends earlier this week and a 4-player game of Agricola sprang up, as often happens.  One of the players hadn't played before so we ran through the rules for her benefit.  While stables were being explained, I "helpfully" chimed in with the fact that, if you have 2 stables in a two-space pasture, each one doubles the capacity of the pasture - so you end up with a pasture capable of holding 16 of one type of animal.

My host who was explaining the game was unimpressed. "Actually that's not true - it would only hold 8 animals."

I said I was sure I was right, and he said no, they'd looked this up in the rules specifically.  I immediately started leafing through the rulebook in search of justification for my position, and thought I'd found it.  "I think you're misreading this rule that says you can only have one stable per farmyard space.  That doesn't mean you can only have on stable per pasture."

"No," he retorted wearily, "you can have more than one stable per pasture, but nowhere does it say that that keeps redoubling the number of animals.  All it says is that a pasture with a stable in it has double capacity.  Anyway that's the way we play it and that's the end of it."

And it did seem as though he had a point, the rules didn't seem nearly as explicit on this subject as I had imagined them to be.  In addition, it's actually really unlikely that you'd need a pasture holding 16+ of one type of animal in Agricola, so it wasn't something there was any point in having a big fight over.

Still, on the principle of the thing: which of us was right and which wrong on this point?  Is there anywhere in the rules, or in an external authoritative ruling, that clarifies how multi-stable pastures work?


texts:
Are there any board games where you play a mini game within the main game?

For example, imagine playing Axis & Allies where you play a quick game of Tic-Tac-Toe each round to see which side gets a free submarine.


texts: Is cascade triggered by putting a creature into play?

texts:
If Wild Pair is on the field when I cast a 5/5, and I use Wild Pair to put Enlisted Wurm into play, does Enlisted Wurm's cascade trigger?

Wild Pair: Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, if you cast it from your hand, you may search your library for a creature card with the same total power and toughness and put it onto the battlefield. If you do, shuffle your library.
Enlisted Wurm: Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom of your library in a random order.)


texts: Does Wind Demon card 648 cause it to attack twice if it can spend wind?

texts: Wind Demon card #648 shows a template attack and then says "[spend wind] +1 Attack [different template]". If wind is available to spend, does it make two attacks (one with the first template, the second with the larger template)? Or is the "spend wind" effect meant to modify the first attack (so it gets +1 attack and uses the larger template instead of the smaller)? It is not clear from the card and we cannot find clarification in the rule book.


texts: Carcassone Hills & Sheeps - how do the sheep rules make sense?

texts:
We were playing a game of Carcassone last weekend. We've a pretty large setup with a lot of expansions. One of them was "hills & sheeps".

The day after the game-night I wondered how the rules of the sheep part even make sense. As I understood them correctly it goes like this:

place a card with a field-section on it
place a shepherd on it
immediately draw a sheep-token
if it shows sheep good for you, if it is a wolf everything is "undone"

This is the only process to get the sheep-thingy up and running as far as I understood.

What you've gained is a new ability. Every time you add a field card to the field occupied by the shepherd, you are able to draw a sheep token. Same rules apply: displaying sheep good, displaying wolf bad.

This is the first option. But you are also able to just score your sheep. You get your shepherd back, the tokens are removed and you get a point for each sheep.

My issue with these rules is why on earth I would even consider to draw a new sheep/wolf-token? It adds risk while giving no benefits.

Example:

Lucky Guy

Adding card with field
Placing shepherd on it
Drawing a token displaying 3 sheep
Adding card with field
Drawing a token displaying 2 sheep
Adding card with field
Scoring the sheep (granting 5 points to the player)

Unlucky Guy

Adding card with field
Placing shepherd on it
Drawing a token displaying 3 sheep
Adding card with field
Drawing a token displaying wolf
Everything gets reset

Clever Guy

Adding card with field
Placing shepherd on it
Drawing a token displaying 3 sheep
Adding card with field
Scoring the sheep (granting 3 points to the player)
Adding card with field
Placing shepherd on it
Drawing a token displaying 2 sheep
Adding card with field
Scoring the sheep (granting 2 points to the player)

The clever guy example reduces the risk significantly:

You have less chance that the shepherd is not going to get rated (when the game is over, the shepherd doesn't give any points any more)
It's less likely to get points eaten by the wolf. In the clever guy example you secure three points by immediately rating them.

My statement is: it's always more efficient to just rate your shepherd as soon as possible.

Is this true? Am I missing something?


texts: Cosmic Encounter Data: Which powers are best?

texts:
Cosmic Encounter was the first of many games based on the idea that you get some special power that allows you to break a rule in the game. Which powers were best?

I include two answers for this question, one based on my own data set, another based on a combination of 3 different players' data sets. Both sets of data are from the early 1980s, based on Ted Schmeckpeper's data collection method (http://daveola.com/CosmicEncounter/Magazine/Encounter.1.3.pdf): Each game is worth a number of points equal to the number of players, and these points are divided among the winning players and their powers.

In addition to the two answers I provide below for the 1977 EON version of Cosmic Encounter, this would be a great place to collect additional data sets on any of the more popular versions of Cosmic Encounter. So feel free to post as answers more data sets, links to data sets, or tabulated results.


texts: What sequence of moves in Solo Caverna result in the maximum score?

texts:
The solo game of Caverna is completely deterministic.  There is no luck.  There are no opponents to mess up your strategy.  So, a particular sequence of moves will always result in the same score.

Which means that there is a particular sequence of moves that will result in the maximum possible score.

Now, I'm not actually expecting anyone to put forth each and every choice that you would have to make--though that would be very cool.  As a computer geek, I've spent a few minutes musing about how to design a program that will do the search; but, I'd rather spend my time playing Caverna than to write such a simulator.

But, surely there are some good Solo Caverna players out there, who could at least talk about their particular strategies for maximizing points.  Are there particular furnishings that you get?  Ruby maximization?  Weapons?  6 Dwarfs?  What do you do that breaks the "magical 100 point mark?"


texts: Does Rupture Spire turn your Reflecting Pool on in time to pay for the Spire's ability?

texts: If I play a Reflecting Pool turn 1 and then a Rupture Spire / Transguild Promenade turn 2 does the spire turn on the Reflecting Pool in time to pay for the spire's activated ability?


texts: Dominion: Can travellers (Peasant, Page) be Upgraded or Trade Routed?

texts: The upgrades of Peasant and Page (Soldier, Fugitive, Disciple etc) are not in the supply. But can they still be trashed by Trade Route, or can they be upgraded by Upgrade? For example, a Disciple has a technical value of 5 - can it be upgraded to Gold by Upgrade?


texts: Can you cast creatures exiled by Ashiok/Nightveil Specter with bestow?

texts: Say you exile a creature such as Eidolon of Countless Battles with a Nightveil Specter or Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Can you cast it with bestow as an enchantment aura or can you only cast it as a creature?


texts: How to build MtG duel decks out of a set of older cards?

texts:
I have some older Magic: The Gathering cards:

Lands
25  Island
14  Mountain
10  Swamp

U
1   Aura Flux
1   Balloon Peddler
1   Boucing Beebles
1   Buoyancy
1   Cloud of Faeries
1   Delusions of Mediocrity
1   Diplomatic Escort
1   Disappear
1   Fatigue
1   Fledging Osprey
1   Illuminated Wings
1   King Crab
1   Misstep
1   Port Inspector
1   Prodigal Sorcerer
1   Rebuild
1   Saprazzan Raider
1   Slow Motion
1   Weatherseed Faeries
2   Capsize
2   Frantic Search
2   Mental Discipline
2   Scent of Brine
2   Thieving Magpie
3   Counterspell
3   Sigil of Sleep
3   Thornwind Faeries
4   Hermetic Study
4   Horseshoe Crab
4   Rootwater Hunter
4   Vigilant Drake
4   Zuran Spellcaster

R
2   Incinerate
2   Kaervek's Torch
2   Lightning Blast
2   Shock
4   Anaba Shaman
4   Fire Whip
4   Goblin Medics
4   Mark of Fury

B
1   Bone Shredder
1   Cateran Persuader
1   Disease Carriers
1   Ghoul's Feast
1   Insubordination
1   Maggot Therapy
1   Phyrexian Denouncer
1   Plague Beetle
1   Rampart Crawler
1   Scent of Nightshade
1   Sever Soul
1   Slinking Skirge
1   Soul Channeling
1   Specter's Wail
1   Squirming Mass
1   Twisted Experiment
1   Undertaker
1   Unearth
1   Vendetta
2   Skittering Horror

Other
1   Junk River
1   Power Matrix

Some U/R little creatures with black one-ofs something.

I am a beginner. Now I'm researching a specific way to complement this set of cards so as to build fun and accessible duel decks(2) to play with a friend. Is it a good idea to look for common cards in competition Legacy and Standard decks for inspiration for hand picking cards in this duel deckbuilding context?

What is a good strategy to complement the cards I have to make duel decks while maximizing visual and content diversity and maintaining low cost?


texts: Which country's playing cards have CBR as the JQK?

texts:
Once 'my friends' played cards with me using playing cards that had CBR as the JQK..

I've always wanted to know why and where the cards originate.

Does anyone know?

Thanks


texts: Who decides what does the informer reveal?

texts:
In Tragedy Looper the the ability of the "Informant" character is according to the plot/character summary is that

  Goodwill 5 (1×∞): Reveal subplot A or subplot B

meaning that having 5 goodwill tokens she can be used once in a loop to reveal subplot A or subplot B. Neither the rulebook or the mastermind's handbook elaborate more on this ability.

The question is: who decides which subplot does she reveal? If it's the mastermind who decides it, then can he decide to reveal the same subplot over and over again, turning the ability useful for only once in a game?


texts: What happens to token creatures and planeswalker creatures that die?

texts:
The Allied Fires Challenger Deck from Magic 2020 contains Sarkhan the Masterless, who can both create dragon tokens, and turn other planeswalkers into dragons.

If a planeswalker that becomes a dragon dies, does it go into the graveyard? What about the dragon tokens that Sarkhan creates?


texts: In Monopoly, Does It Make Sense NOT to Buy a "Second" Property in a Color Group?

texts:
Most Monopoly players would want to buy at least ONE property in a color group, for defensive purposes.  Money is usually tight though, so it often pays to "cut corners" somewhere.

Could this "corner" cutting come in declining to buy a SECOND property in a group in which you are not interested?  (That is, as opposed to buy it now and mortgage it later for half price.) Does it matter whether or not "house rules" say that it will be put up for auction?  Does it matter whether or not someone else also owns a property in the group, so it is effectively a "third?" And is this as true for railroads as for "color" monopolies?


texts: Band of Misfits copying Feast and then Island

texts:
I play Throne Room on Band of Misfits and choose Feast.  Since it left play, the next time I play Band of Misfits I can choose a new card, as per this ruling (from the Complete and All-Encompassing FAQ):

  If you use Throne Room to play Band of Misfits twice, it will be the
  chosen card the second time you play it, so you will play it as the
  same card twice. However, if the card is removed from play (like a
  Feast), it will be just a Band of Misfits again the second time. You
  can then choose another Action card from Supply to play it as. The
  card will stay where it is, and the chosen card's abilities will
  trigger even as the Band of Misfits will immidiately revert back to
  being just Band of Misfits (since it's not in play), but you will
  resolve the triggered abilites of the card.

What if I choose Island for the second use?  I don't think Band of Misfits has lost track of itself, so it seems like it should be able to move itself from the trash to your Island mat.  Is that correct?


texts: Does "target Merfolk" imply "target Merfolk creature"?

texts:
The new Ixalan card "River Heralds' Boon" says:

  Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature and a +1/+1 counter on up to one target Merfolk.

The subtype "Merfolk" can apply to non-creatures, including Merrow Commerce and Aquitect's Will. My reading of Comp Rules 114.2 is that an Aquitect's Will on the stack is not a legal target for the Boon, but what about Merrow Commerce? (Yes, I know it will normally be useless to put a +1/+1 counter on an enchantment. Maybe you're planning to cast Opalescence later on. Whatever.)

Could you target a creature and a Merrow Commerce, and put counters on each of them?


texts: What is the reason for investigators not being eliminated when Yig awakens?

texts:
When Yig awakens, one of the rule items says:

  When an investigator is defeated or devoured, that player is not eliminated

What is the significance of this rule?  What is the non-eliminated player doing for the rest of the game?


texts: Warhammer 40k: Do 'decurion' style detachments comprised of multiple formations still count as one detachment for ITC purposes?

texts: Say I have a Hunter Contingent (the Tau 'decurion' style detachment) comprised of Hunter Cadre and an Optmised Stealth Cadre, will this count as one detachment against the ITC tournament limit of three detachments? Will I be able to add a formation detachment with a Riptide Wing and an allied detachment with an Assassinorum Operative?


texts: Can a single card have multiple activations on a stack?

texts:
For further context, it has to do with Ghost Town in my landfall deck. It has the ability "0: Return Ghost Town to owner's hand."
If I activate it during an opponent's upkeep and they respond by destroying it(such as Field of Ruin), is there a rule preventing me from activating Ghost Town's ability again to keep it on the top of the stack?


texts: What are good strategies for booster drafts?

texts:
I know that doing a booster draft can be somewhat complicated, because to really be good you need to know a lot about the set you're drafting (or be really good at evaluating cards quickly) and to pay attention to signal cards.

Besides going into the whole complicated strategies of knowing the set and paying attention to signal cards, what are some relatively simple/basic guidelines for drafting?


texts: Does a Wizard gain treasures from a charmed monster AND flee a second monster during the same combat?

texts:
During a combat, I was first fighting a monster of level 6, that I could easily beat. Then, a player added a monster to the combat of level 18, that I couldn't successfully beat. So, as a Wizard, I was able to charm the highest monster, so he leaves his treasures in the room.
The question is; do I directly gain the left treasures within my hands after charming the monster, as stated in the Wizard card ?
However, I ended fleeing the entire combat. Do I gain the treasures left in the room still?


texts: Multiple stations connection in Ticket to Ride Europe

texts:
In Ticket to Ride: Europe
Can I build multiple consecutive stations on my opponent's route?
In other words, can my two stations connect to each other?

An example, to make it more clear.

I have a route to Amsterdam, but from there to London and to Edinburgh my opponent
(2 players only) built a route.
Can I put a station on Amsterdam and one on London to connect to Edinburgh?


texts: Could i run a stormcast eternals body with a head from a space wolf?

texts: I was wondering if I could use a stormcast eternals body but use a space wolves head and run him as a terminator? I got some stormcasts from a small local tournament and I run space wolf army so I was wondering if I could use the stromcasts body in place of a terminators?


texts: In UNO, is it legal to throw a Draw 4 card that you just picked up on purpose?

texts:
A player decides to draw from the draw pile instead of playing one of his cards (he has a color matching card).
He draws a Wild Draw 4 card and he plays it.

Can the next player challenge him because the play is illegal?

According to official rules

  NOTE: if you suspect that a Wild Draw 4 card has been played on you
  illegally (i.e. the player has a matching card), then you may
  challenge that player. The challenged player must show you their hand.
  If guilty, the challenged player must draw the 4 cards instead of you. [...]


texts: In what order are continuous effects applied across multiple objects?

texts:
In the Magic Comprehensive Rules, rule 613.1 says

  The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order...

This whole rules section clearly explains how multiple continuous effects are applied to a single object. But what if I have multiple objects with static abilities that would affect each other? In what order would those be applied, and why does it work that way?

This matters most in cases where an effect would remove an ability that would create another effect.


texts: Is it possible to lose Catan to a player with fewer points than you?

texts:
So let's say you are playing a 6-person game. You have 9 points. During Special Building Phase, you reach 11 points. However, you have not won yet because it is not your turn yet.

In the meantime, another player reaches 10 points on her turn. She has beaten you, even though you have more points that her.

From the official Catan FAQ:

  Victory Conditions: Can I win during the special building phase?

  Answer: No. You can only win during your own turn.

Based on this FAQ, I'd have to believe the answer is yes, but it's the first time I realized it's possible.

I suppose it could also happen during a 4 player game: Let's say you have 9 points. During someone else's turn, the Longest Road is broken up and is transferred to you, putting you at 11 points. However, you have not yet won yet, because it's not your turn. In the meantime, another player reaches 10 points on his turn.


texts:
If I unearth Nicol Bolas, the Ravager thanks to Sedris, the Traitor King, then use Nicol Bolas's activated ability to exile it, does it return to the battlefield transformed?

Unearth seems to replace where it goes when it leaves the battlefield, but it's already going into exile.


texts: Is card counting/watching a key skill for an expert Catan player?

texts:
In Catan, one can observe which cards opponents draw with their second settlement, and then observe what die rolls and trading do to their hands. Thus it is possible, though difficult, to follow opponents' hands.
In blackjack, the ability to "count the deck" represents the difference between being a winning and losing player. In bridge, players see 26 out of 52 cards, and through bidding and early play, can largely [reconstruct the two hands that they can't see.] There are probably no world class players that aren't reasonably good at this task.
Is the ability to reconstruct the opponents' hands of similar value in Catan for tournament players? Are there world class players or experts who weren't at least competent at this one aspect of the game?
Edit: My question was about the value of card counting in establishing one's rank in tournament play. The other question was about the mechanics of doing this in casual or "home" play. They have overlapping subject matter but their directions could not be more opposite. An answer that was suitable for one question could be wildly wrong for the other.


texts: Can anyone help my identify this card game

texts: It's a game about capitalism and I cannot remember it's name for the life of me


texts: tap and sacrificing an already tapped land to get it's ability

texts:
I was looking at Evolving Wilds the other day, and I wondered: Could I put down Evolving Wilds as a land, use it for 1 colorless mana by tapping it, and then sacrifice it to search my library for a basic land?

As opposed to only tapping and sacrificing for a search through the library.

Pretty much, mana AND ability, not ability and nothing else.


texts: How does the Prestige Leader mechanic work?

texts: I just got the Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War expansion and it adds Prestige mechanics to the game. Those I understand. The Prestige Leader mechanic, however, I don't understand and the rulebook isn't too clear. Why is it there? How does it work?


texts: In multiplayer, in which order are replacement effects from different players applied?

texts:
In multiplayer, in which order are replacement effects from different players applied ?

Here's the situation : This is a 3 players game.
I control a random creature. Both my opponents control a single Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. I cast a Damnation killing all creatures. Each of my opponents will get a token from the other player's Kalitas dying. But who will get the token for my creature ?

I'd say the replacement effects are applied in turn order, so the next player will get the token, but I'm not sure.


texts: Do you receive the Mortgage value of a property every turn?

texts:
My cousin mortgaged his property and he says every time it’s his turn he has to receive the mortgage amount on back of his card.

Eg: Illinois Ave Mortgage is $150 , he claims he gets $150 every time it’s his turn.


texts:
I know of four Living Card Games:

Warhammer
Call of Cthulhu
game of Thrones
Lord of the rings

Is there somewhere that maintains a canonical list of all LCG's?


texts: Are epic monsters treated differently than regular monsters with regard to taking damage or being discarded remotely?

texts:
There are many cases in Tokyo encounters where you can cause damage to a selected monster and one case where you can "discard" a monster.  Can these actions be taken on epic monsters as well?

I thought there was some documentation that specifically referred to a ruling at least in part related to this, but I cannot locate it.


texts: what is "the next time in this round" in Ascension?

texts:
I have just started playing Ascension Storm of Souls. Since i have no previous experience from other card games like this, i find the description of some of the rules to be not quite as clear and precise as i would have liked. Which, to some extent, might be explained by the fact that English is not my mother tounge. Anyways..

After playing a about ten games, i think that most of my questions have been worked out. But one.

Many of the cards have effects that are worded like:
Example 1 - "Gain 2 runes. The next time you acquire a Hero this turn, you may put it on top of your deck." or
Example 2 - "Gain 1 rune. You pay 1 rune less the next time you acquire a Hero this turn." or
Example 3 -"You may destroy this to pay 2 runes less the next time you acquire a Mechana Construct this turn."

How should "the next time you do X in this turn" be understood? In example 1 do i get the effect for the second Hero i acquire during that turn?

If my reading comprehension dosen't fail me completely, that's what i think it says. But, if so, then i almost never get to use those effects, because i rarely acquire more than one hero per turn. Which makes me believe that I just maybe is reading it wrong.. and that the effects are supposed to be read when i draw them from the card and put them out on the table in front of me. Which would mean that "the next time you acquire a Hero/destroy a construct etc" is actually the first time i acquire/destroy something, because "next" i just refering to a later time in the same round...

Śo, which is it?

Thanks!


texts: Why isn't resistance a case of halving any damage taken?

texts:
In the Pokémon TCG, there is something called Resistance and Weakness. Like this:

For example, for some games, you have multipliers like 1x for 'Neutral Attacks' that aren't affected by Resistance or Weakness, 2x - or something like that - for 'Effective Attacks'and 0.5x for 'Ineffective attacks'.

But why in the TCG does Weakness cause 2x damage, and Resistance cause -20 damage?

There is an argument to this:

For a new change:

Low Damage attacks (those <20) will cause no damage, or even help them to heal (if it is possible).
If the damage is an odd number multiplied by 10 (like 10, 30, 150...), it would cause it to do damage like 5, 25, 75, 165 and damage like that. But this can be resolved by introducing a '5' Damage Counter, and that can be counted as 1/2 a damage counter.

Against a new change:

It has already been like this for a while.

Obviously, there are more arguments, but these few will provide enough justification, I believe.

So why was -20  introduced, not ÷2?

I am looking for:

Why they didn't do it like the mainline Pokemon games?


texts:
In the official rules of Monopoly, can you offer immunity to other players in deals? Also, what about tournament play, which has different rules again?

For example, it was a common house rule from my childhood that where two players were making a deal, but one of the players was more at risk of landing on the other player's property in the next move or two, the owner of those properties would offer immunity for the next time around the board (or maybe even the next two or three times around the board). So this is a popular house rule, but is it allowed in the official Monopoly rules and in tournament play?


texts: What is the benefit of having an "Inflict X damage to your opponent" spell card that does less damage than others?

texts:
I have noticed that there are a number of cards that have the following text (or a variation of it):

  Inflict [some amount of] damage to your opponent's Life Points.

Cards that follow this format are:

Sparks: 200 points
Raimei: 300 points
Hinotama: 500 points*
Final Flame: 600 points
Ookazi: 800 points

But why would you ever want to choose Sparks or Raimei when Ookazi does the exact same thing, but deals more damage?

This doesn't seem to be a matter of power creep; these cards all seem to have come out at about the same time: 1999 for the Japanese versions, 2002 for the North American versions, and 2004 for the worldwide versions. So all of these cards were available at about the same time, (and Ookazi was in the Kaiba starter deck, so it wasn't hard to find).

When a spell card exists that says "Inflict 800 damage to your opponent's Life Points", why would you ever want to include a card in your deck that says "Inflict 200 damage to your opponent's Life Points"?

* There is also Goblin Thief that deals 500 points of damage to your opponent and you gain 500 points. I understand why someone might want to choose Goblin Thief over Ookazi, but not why someone would want to choose Hinotama over Goblin Thief.


texts: Interaction between Graveyard Busybody and Over My Dead Bodies

texts:
If a player controls Graveyard Busybody and there is an Over My Dead Bodies in play, what happens due to a creature being in both player's graveyards. In particular, could a creature with vigilance attacking it's owner from it's owner's graveyard still be used by that owner to block, could it block itself?

Graveyard Busybody: All graveyards are also your graveyards.
Over My Dead Bodies: Creature cards in graveyards can attack and block as though they were on the battlefield


texts: When playing Edgar Markov, what is the definition of a "Vampire spell"?

texts:
I'm quite new to MtG, so this may be a noob question. I play EDH/Commander with Edgar Markov as my commander. His text reads "Eminence - Whenever you cast another Vampire spell, if Edgar Markov is in the command zone or on the battlefield, create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token".

Obviously this will trigger for vampire creature spells ("Vampire Cutthroat", ""Pulse Tracker", "Crypt Ghast" etc), but will it trigger for other spells? For instance, are instants like "Vampire's Zeal" and ""Vampire's Bite" or enchantments like "Mark of the Vampire" considered "Vampire spells"?

I have a hunch that cards that contain the word "Vampire" in their name or type line are concidered vampire spells, but that cards with the word in their text box are not. Is this correct?


texts: How should my strategy change in an MTG Draft based on the number of players?

texts: I am curious as to how the number of players in a draft should affect my strategy and deck-building tactics. With fewer people, there will obviously be fewer card choices, so building a good mono-colored deck will be more difficult with four people as compared to with eight. How do you change your thinking to accommodate differences in the number of players? What number of people tends to make for the best draft play? Are drafts ever done with extreme numbers, like 4 or 9 players?


texts: How do I identify non-English Magic cards?

texts: In my collection is a Magic card printed in a language other than English. How can I determine which card this is?


texts: Etrata, the Silencer and token creatures

texts: My opponent attacks me with Etrata, the Silencer. I have only token creatures in my battlefield. Does one of the tokens go into exile? Does my opponent have to shuffle Etrata into his library again?


texts:
Card example: Beckon Apparition (Gatecrash)

There are a lot of cards that use counter as a noun. I did some Googling but I'm just not clear on what I need to use for counters.  Are they physical things I can buy and if so, what is a good online resource?  Can I just make do with coins or something?


texts: Can I cast Mirrorweave in response to my own Mirror-Sigil Sergeant's upkeep ability and turn all my creatures into Mirror-Sigil Sergeant for that upkeep / turn and cause all my creatures to duplicate themselves?


texts: Can a creature be destroyed just before Shalai gives it hexproof?

texts:
At the start of the turn (it is B’s turn):

Player A has a 2/2 Walking Ballista on the battlefield.
Player B has a 1/1 creature on the battlefield.

Player B casts Shalai, Voice of plenty, which gives hexproof to B’s creatures.
Can player A, in response to B’s casting Shalai, then activate ballista’s remove a counter ability to deal lethal damage to B’s 1/1 creature?


texts: Can you affect the Haunt roll with items, omens or other effects in Betrayal at House on the Hill?

texts:
I was watching Wil Wheaton playing Betrayal at House on the Hill, and someone commented:

Can the Rabbits foot, or the Angels Feather (or anything else) avert the haunt? I can't see why not, but this seems like a special case.


texts: When is Dúnhere considered to be attacking alone?

texts:
In The Lord of the Rings LCG, Dúnhere is a hero with a permanent effect:

  Dúnhere can target enemies in the staging area when he attacks alone. When doing so, he gets +1(Attack).

What does it mean for him to attack "alone"?

Does it mean that he cannot combine with other attackers when attacking the staging area?

Or does it mean that if you want to use this ability, no other characters may make an attack of any kind? For just you, or for all players?

An example to highlight: There's a Goblin Sniper in the staging area and an Eastern Crows engaging me. May I use (for instance) a Wandering Took to attack the Eastern Crows, and also use Dúnhere's ability to attack the Goblin Sniper?


texts: Are there systems or experts that will deduct a point for weak tripletons?

texts:
One of the easier ways to lose a game contract is to have something like Jxx opposite Txx, and lose the first three tricks with a "long" and weak suit. That spells automatic defeat at a minor suit contract, even with the remaining 31 points (29 is ordinarily needed to make game), one trick to go at a major suit contract, and two tricks to go at no trump.

I believe that there are some authorities who will deduct a point for say, a 4-3-3-3 distribution. Does that get one to the same place in a roundabout way? Or am I right to be specifically concerned about the three "little ones" in a hand like A952 AT64 863 AK?


texts: Blast markers hitting multistorey buildings

texts: This has caused a large amount of discussion today and we couldn't find a suitable answer in the rule book. When a blast marker (not flamer template) hits a multistorey building, who gets hit? Is it everyone or is one level nominated. If possible, could you also provide a pointer to where the information is?


texts: What is the  "this effect"  that doesn't remove White Ward?

texts:
White Ward is a white aura whose Oracle text is:

Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has protection from white. This effect doesn't remove white ward.

Is "this effect" the "protection from white" that the enchanted creature has or the "Enchanted creature has protection from white." that White Ward has?
This should matter if some other ability gives that creature protection from white.


texts: Are tasks and missions considered items?

texts:
If I draw a task or a mission from a Common Item or Unique Item deck respectively, are they considered "items" when face up? For instance, if I draw the "Join the Winning Team" mission and am later required to discard items, can I discard that?

I ask because the list of locations for me to visit isn't really a "thing" and so I'm not sure how it thematically could fit as an item to discard.

Similarly, if I get an encounter that says someone hands me a Common Item and I get a task, do I keep it since it's not really a thing that they can hand over to me. Is that an item too?


texts: In Settlers of Catan, how do you overcome bad initial settlement placement?  In a lot of games of Catan I've played, initial settlement placement seems to really make or break the game for a player.  Are there any good strategies for overcoming a weak starting placement?


texts: How should I teach someone new to spades how to bid?

texts:
Bidding in spades is one of the hardest mechanics to master. The gameplay comes with experience, but sometimes bidding just goes awry. I know how I bid and that I disagree with the way other people bid (usually because it doesn't work).
My general rule of thumb is this:

If you have an Ace in any suit other than spades, count one.
If you have a King in any suit other than spades, count one.
 Subset: If you only have 2 cards in that suit and the other isn't the Ace, count as a possible
 Subset: IF you have more than 4 cards in that suit, count as a possible

If you only have 2 of one suit (other than spades) count 1.
 Subset: Keep track of these spades you would use trumping

If you have 5 spades, count 1. (Beyond those you would use trumping in your short-suit)
Jokers count as 1 (Or Ace and King if no Jokers)

Any thoughts?


texts: Does the Long Neck card mean that you get 3 extra food every time before feeding?  Meaning you get 4 food each time?   Or... Does it mean each population gets just one food and any population over 3 still get 1 food.


texts: What happens when an Animate Dead reanimates a dormant god?

texts:
Under the Gatherer rulings for Animate Dead, one point reads (emphasis mine):

  If the creature put onto the battlefield has protection from black—or if the creature can’t legally be enchanted by Animate Dead for another reason—Animate Dead won’t be able to attach to it. It will be put into the graveyard as a state-based action, causing its delayed triggered ability to trigger. When the trigger resolves, if the creature’s still on the battlefield, its controller will sacrifice it.

If I use an Animate Dead to reanimate a Karametra, God of Harvests and don't have the appropriate devotion to make it a creature, what happens? The Gatherer ruling seems to imply that it would be sacrificed because the Animate Dead can't be attached to it, but it's also specific in that you sacrifice the creature, which Karametra wouldn't be.


texts: Unexploded Cows placing into another player's herd

texts:
So the rules state that you can place on another player's herd and that it must be placed on either end of the herd. However it doesn't not state who decides which end it goes on. The person playing the card or the owner of the herd.

We played with a decision of the person playing the card would get to choose, but we didn't find it clear enough to make a ruling.


texts: Preventing/minimising damage from beer spills

texts:
Spilt some beer on a hand of 7 Wonders cards last night, and it had the potential to completely ruin the cards.

As it was, managed to prevent too much serious damage by carefully sliding the cards apart and drying them off with paper towels.

Am wondering generally for boardgames what the best ways to minimise damage from beer spills are - other than being careful not to spill beer.


texts: How do Mistform Dreamer and Conspiracy interact?

texts:
I actually have two questions concerning Conspiracy:

1) If I put the enchantment Conspiracy onto my battlefield, and choose "Wall" for creature type, will all my creatures automatically become "defenders" since walls can't attack?

2) If I have a Mistform Dreamer on the battlefield, and play Conspiracy (and choose Wall for creature type), will the Mistform Dreamer activated ability be able to overwrite Conspiracy's effect, or will the Mistform Dreamer just get an additional creature type besides being a Wall? Or will Conspiracy overwrite Mistform Dreamer activated ability thus making it a Wall only?"


texts: In bridge, what are exceptions to "third hand high?"

texts:
You are sitting "East" (with dummy to your right), and your partner West leads a low (presumably fourth best) card in a suit against a 3 no trump contract. When dummy plays low from "nothing," and you hold KT6 of the suit, you are usually expected to play "third hand high," i.e. the king, either forcing out, or trapping South's supposedly lone honor. When the suit is established, you can usually defeat the contract. (According to Kantar.)

But in a problem in another bridge book, declarer held QJ74 in the suit, and the correct play was the T, not the K. Since this is a problem, focus only on the following (unless you are constructing a counterexample).

You can't see the 2 in dummy, so West probably has it for a fifth card.
The 5 played by dummy is singleton, so given this fact, 1) above, and your KT6, declarer has four, not the usual three cards in the suit.
West has either A of his led suit and no side entry, (as was the case in the problem), or the Q or J and a side entry. In either case, declarer has two honors (and two small cards).
You have ONE side entry, a Kxxx offsuit dummy's AQJx in another suit. This is enough to defeat the 3NT contract if you get four tricks in West's led suit by leading through declarer.

The solution to the problem was to play the T and try to induce declarer to cover with the Q or J. If declarer failed to "split honors" (and playing the king would discourage this), declarer would make his contract. But most declarers WOULD split honors.

How do you tell that you should play the T and not the K. Is it the four cards in declarer? Is it the double honor with declarer? Are there other considerations that I haven't addressed?

Are there other examples where playing "third hand high" would be wrong?


texts: What land destruction enabler was wrongfully banned in the early history of Magic: the Gathering?

texts:
I once heard a story about a Land Destruction deck that dominated tournaments at some point in early Magic's history. The story as I remember it is that the deck ran heavy land destruction to deny resources to the opponent, and it won with another card, which I believe dealt damage based on lands destroyed.

The card in question was inevitably banned, and Mark Rosewater occasionally comments that it's not the card's fault the deck was winning, and Land Destruction in general should have been seen as the problem instead.

What is the name of the card that was banned this way?


texts: Canfield solitaire: moving partial sequences

texts:
According to the Wikipedia description of Canfield, "cards on the tableau are also moved one unit, provided that the entire column has to be moved". In other words, this suggests that if you move a sequence of cards from one column to another, that sequence must constitute the entire column being moved, rather than an arbitrary number of cards from the bottom of a column.

However, I can't find any other reference to this restriction. In other books of card games I have referenced, they seem to imply simply that arbitrary valid sequences can be moved from one column to another. Can anybody provide a source for the more restrictive version of the rule mentioned in the Wikipedia article?

(My question is hence similar to this question referring to movement in Klondike, but applied to Canfield.)


texts: What do I do if mandatory actions will inherently take a very long time to resolve? (Splinter Twin + Tyrant of Discord example)

texts:
Basically, if a game is already out of time, and we're within the resolution of a stack, yet the resolution will take an obnoxiously long time, what would the ruling be in a competitive environment where the tournament will have to wait for the resolution? Note that this isn't an infinite effect and thus not a draw, it's not unsportslike conduct - stalling because the game is already at time and that rule is for trying to drag a game to time, and I can pick any number of twins I want, it's my right to use that shortcut to pick an arbitrary number. Don't necessarily focus on deconstructing the example (but feedback on that is welcome), help me out on what the resolution would be.

Here's an example:

Let's say I'm going off with my Splinter Twin combo. I have at least 1 land and a bunch of other permanents. I create a very, very large number of tokens (let's say 10^1000).

My opponent uses Aether Vial to vial in Tyrant of Discord. The resolution of the Tyrant's "enters the battlefield" trigger will take an extremely long amount of time to compute. Consider that we'll be randomly picking copies until a land gets sacrificed, which could mean all my creatures get sacrificed one by one, or possibly none of them do (the land gets randomly picked first).

What are the rules for game time here? Random number generators can't even handle numbers that large, but let's assume we have some way to handle this. I can choose an arbitrarily large amount of Twins to create here. What are the rules for resolving this situation? Even if the game goes to time, 5 turns will not pass, this will take place within one turn's stack, and it's not an infinite loop so the game cannot be declared a draw. Is it acceptable to spend, for example 5 hours, if not several days resolving this effect?

Assume the number is just obnoxiously large enough that it actually takes a computer several hours to spit out a result.


texts: Are there any dictionaries specific to the subject of board game design or board game culture? This would contain words describing elements found in board games or used by designers or players.


texts: Is there a Standard card similar to Debt to the Deathless?

texts: With M15 around the corner I need a standard card that has a similar effect as Debt to the Deathless. Does anyone know a white, black, or green standard set card that works like this?


texts: Dimir Doppelganger becoming Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

texts:
I have a few clarification questions regarding what happens after I use the activated ability of Dimir Doppelganger to target a Lazav, Dimir Mastermind that's sitting in a graveyard. For simplicity, I assume that the only card in play before the ability resolves is the Dimir Doppelganger, which has never used it's ability before.

Firstly, am I correct in saying that the card I have on the battlefield after resolution, in effect, has the name Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, is of the type Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter, and has card text which reads:

  Hexproof

  Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind become a copy of that card except its name is still Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability.

  1{U}{B}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Lazav, Dimir Mastermind becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.

Assuming this is correct, and I use the activated ability again to target another creature in a graveyard -- let's say Grizzly Bears -- then the card I have in play is now named Grizzly Bears, of type Creature - Bear and has only the activated ability of the original doppelganger (losing hexproof and the triggered ability of Lazav.)

And finally, if I instead choose to use the triggered ability my doppel-Lazav in response to a creature entering an opponent's graveyard -- we can assume it's Grizzly Bears again -- then my card now named Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, of type Legendary Creature - Bear and reads:

  Hexproof

  Whenever a creature card is put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, you may have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind become a copy of that card except its name is still Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it gains hexproof and this ability.


texts:
Prince Aaron's ability reads

All Enemies Close to him have -2 defense against attacks made by him or his Allies.

Does -2 defense mean -2 defense dice that the target gets to roll or does it mean that the target gets to roll his/her defense dice but has to subtract 2 from the result? If the latter, then does the subtracted defense still count as "saves"? For example, if the target rolls 3 shield after being attacked by Prince Aaron from a Close space, does that count as 3 saves or 1 save even though in the end the target only cancels out 1 hit?

Crossposted on BGG


texts: Small World: Strategies for using dwarves in a 2-player game

texts:
We started playing Small World in a 2-player setup and the race which we found very difficult to play was Dwarves. The con of dwarves is their low number of troops (3), which means that it is hard to exploit their special ability (doubled income from mines, even in decline) as they quickly become short in numbers.

One of interesting setups we tried was flying dwarves which made it easy to catch a few of mines, although on the small map it was also easy for the opponent to conquer the mines rendering the dwarf special power not so useful. After a few tries we ended up avoiding dwarves in 2-player games.

Are there any potentially successful dwarf strategies on the small map, or are dwarves a kind of niche play that is only reasonable in bigger games?


texts: Card interaction: Basilisk and draw then discard.

texts: Was playing a round and had the Basilisk in play and trying to play an ally (can't remember which one off the top of my head) that says draw then discard.  Since Basilisk is out you can't draw but do you still have to discard to have it count as played for cards that have a secondary affect for playing an ally?