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How does Nature Shields Its Own work with "unblockable" and "can't be blocked"
Nature Shields Its Own is an archenemy card that allows you to place creature tokens on the battlefield blocking attacking creatures.  The rulings on its Gatherer page call out flying as an ability that this card bypasses, so does it also bypass "unblockable" and "can't be blocked"?
Are there any other cards that do that?

By the way, creatures that were "unblockable" were recently eratta'd to say "can't be blocked".

"Can't be blocked" means a blocker can't be assigned to this attacker. NSIO causes attackers to become blocked without doing defender assignments.

Yes, the plant token blocks the creature even if that creature "can't be blocked". A ruling on Nature Shields Its Own's Gatherer page says

The Plant token blocks the attacking creature even if the block couldn't legally be declared (for example, if the attacking creature has flying).

We can find other cards that do this by searching for the wording that Nature Shields Its Own uses: "onto the battlefield blocking". According to this magiccards.info search, there are 3 cards that do this: Ætherplasm, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, and Flash Foliage.

I would say that out of those 3, Flash Foliage is the only one that uses the mechanic to get around can't be blocked since with the other two you already have to be able to block the creature.

In the case of Ætherplasm, Ætherplasm has to be able to block the creature, but the creature that comes into play may not be able to block it. This is also possible with Brimaz, if for example something gives him flying.

Chocking Vines, Curtain of Light, Dazzling Beauty and Trap Runner can also be used to block "can't be blocked" creatures

*Choking Vines. I also found Fog Patch. And Balduvian Warlord's ability


text:
Is there a Magic intro deck that focuses on lifestealing?
I just started playing Magic using the Android app, and I really like it.  Now I would like to start playing Magic with real cards as well. In the Android app I chose the deck that focuses on stealing enemy life,  and adding it to your own.  Is there any pre-made intro deck for this play style?

Be careful when deciding on what to do with these answers (if you haven't already) - Depending on who you play magic with and where, you might find that the recommendations based on your preference don't work for you for unexpected reasons. If you were looking to play at a local Friday Night Magic in a store for example, Return To Ravnica cards are not standard legal, which might be a problem for you.
I refer you to this question which might provide some useful tips: http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/4041/how-much-would-it-cost-to-get-started-with-magic-the-gathering

One of the clearest "life stealing" mechanics is Extort, which is a triggered ability permanents have that says

Whenever you cast a spell, you may pay {W/B}. If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain life equal to the total life lost this way.

Extort is from the Return to Ravnica block, and there were two intro packs built around it and related mechanics: Orzhov Oppression from Gatecrash and Orzhov Power from Dragon's Maze.

For what it's worth, of the two of those, Power looks more fun & flavorful.

In general, White-Black decks are really the only way to steal life.  The have extort and lifelink.

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How exactly does "fight" work?
Of all keywords, fight is the most confusing to me.
Whan creature X fights creature Y, do you only count plain power/toughness? How do you count enchantments, counters, static abilities of other creatures? Can you activate abilities? Can you cast instants?

Honestly, this question is more confusing than the "fight" keyword. Is there some reason you expect that it won't follow the normal rules for calculating power and toughness? Are you asking whether you can activate abilities and cast instants while a fight effect is resolving?

The Fight keyword action is defined in rule 701.10:

701.10a A spell or ability may instruct a creature to fight another creature or it may instruct two creatures to fight each other. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to the other creature.
701.10b If a creature instructed to fight is no longer on the battlefield or is no longer a creature, no damage is dealt. If a creature is an illegal target for a resolving spell or ability that instructs it to fight, no damage is dealt.
701.10c If a creature fights itself, it deals damage equal to its power to itself twice.
701.10d The damage dealt when a creature fights isn’t combat damage.

The bolded sentence is the part that describes what it actually does.
Power and toughness are calculated like usual, and, like with every other effect in the game, you can't cast spells or activate abilities while it is resolving. There has never been a card that cares about or uses a creature's base power or toughness.
A Fight effect is a one-shot effect, which means that you will only see it on an activated or triggered ability. Both of those go on the stack, which means that you can respond to them with instants and abilities like anything else.

Missing info regarding static abilities, and their effect on Fights. Deathtouch and Lifelink work, but First Strike and Double Strike don't.  Similarly, Whither and Infect still work, but Banding, Flanking, and Shadow don't. etcetera.

Abilities that care about damage apply. Abilities that don't care about damage don't. It's that simple.

Yes, but static abilities were the only part of the question not addressed by your answer.

I read the part about static abilities as being an extension of the part about how to calculate power and toughness, which I did answer.

You're asking a lot of questions here, most of which aren't really specific to fight.
When a spell or ability resolves and says that two creatures fight, they each deal damage equal to their power to the other. That's all, nothing crazy.
When something depends on the power of a creature, like fight does, you always look at the actual net power of that creature. If you have a creature with base power/toughness 1/1 with a +1/+1 counter on it, and an aura that grants it +2/+2, it's a 4/4, so it deals 4 damage. If you have a plain 4/4 with nothing else going on, it's also a 4/4, and deals 4 damage.
Since fight only cares about the power of the creature, the toughness doesn't matter until after you're done resolving the spell or ability. If at that point a creature has been dealt damage greater than or equal to its toughness, it dies. It doesn't matter what dealt the damage - in this case it was fighting another creature, but it could just as easily have been a burn spell. It dies either way.
As for the bit about activating abilities and casting instants... that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. You probably want to go have a look at how the stack works. There's only one spell or ability resolving at a time. If you cast Pit Fight to make two creatures fight, that goes on the stack, then players can respond with instants or activated abilities, which resolve first, and then when Pit Fight finally resolves, the creatures fight, plain and simple.
Remember, "fight" is an instruction you follow when resolving the spell or ability. It's not a little subgame with special rules and actions inside it, it's just a part of resolving a spell or ability that causes some damage to be dealt. When resolving a spell or ability, you can't cast spells or activate abilities, whether or not fight is involved.

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"Enchantment Creatures" and "Enchanted Creatures"
Is a enchantment creature card considered to be a creature that is enchanted? I need to know for Winds of Rath, which destroys all creatures that aren't enchanted.

This Q&A is more far more referenceable than the one Jefromi mentioned. I'd rather close the other one if either is going to get closed.

No. An enchanted creature is one that has an aura enchantment enchanting it.

303.4b The object or player an Aura is attached to is called "enchanted."


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How do I handle casting a spell with a cost of X when the casting cost is reduced?
If I play a spell with {X} in the mana cost, and I have a card out that reduces the casting cost by 2 generic mana, what happens to the X? Does it start at -2?
For example: I have Arcane Melee in play. If I play Prosperity for just 1 blue mana, do we draw 2 cards?

You don't calculate X based on how much you payed. You pay based on what value you chose for X.

When you cast a spell with X in its mana cost, you first choose X, then calculate the total cost including cost reduction, then you pay the resulting amount. Effectively, when a spell's cost is reduced by 2, you can cast it for X=2 for the same mana cost as with X=0
When you want to cast a spell with X anywhere in the card's text (usually the casting cost), you have to announce which value X is going to have:

601.2b [..] If the spell has a variable cost that will be paid as it's being cast (such as an {X} in its mana cost; see rule 107.3), the player announces the value of that variable.[..]

Then you calculate the actual mana cost that you have to pay, at which time you consider cards like Arcane Melee. Arcane Melee only reduces generic mana costs, and any value below zero is considered zero, so there is no such thing as -2 generic mana:

601.2f The player determines the total cost of the spell.[..] The total cost is the mana cost or alternative cost (as determined in rule 601.2b), plus all additional costs and cost increases, and minus all cost reductions. If multiple cost reductions apply, the player may apply them in any order. If the mana component of the total cost is reduced to nothing by cost reduction effects, it is considered to be {0}. It can't be reduced to less than {0}. [..]

Finally you pay the calculated amount:

601.2h The player pays the total cost in any order. [..]

Therefore, you are correct in that you could announce Prosperity with X=2 and pay only {U} with Arcane Melee in play. You could also announce it with X=1 or X=0 if you want, drawing one or no card. In those cases, you would still pay {U}.

@John It's all built into rule 601.2; 601.2b is announcing X, 601.2e is adjusting costs, 601.2g is paying it.


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

Are you just asking about whether you get priority during Declare Blockers or is there something specific about Manifest you want to know?

To manifest a card is to put it into play face down; flipping it up is simply called turning it face up.

@Jefromi The word "flip" means something totally different. See all of these cards from Kamigawa Block.

@Rainbolt Okay, I suppose I should have said "turning it face up is called turning it face up" - the point was that it's not called manifesting it.

Yes, you get priority during the Declare Blockers step. Rule 509 describes how the Declare Blockers step progresses, and rule 509.5 says

Fifth, the active player gets priority. Players may cast spells and activate abilities.

You can turn a manifested card face up any time you have priority, so that includes during the Declare Blockers phase. Rule 701.31b says

Any time you have priority, you may turn a manifested permanent you control face up. This is a special action that doesn't use the stack (see rule 115.2b). To do this, show all players that the card representing that permanent is a creature card and what its mana cost is, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up.


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Indomitable Creativity + Sacrifice Outlet
Indomitable Creativity says:

Destroy X target artifacts and/or creatures. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until an artifact or creature card is revealed and exiles that card. Those players put the exiled cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle their libraries.

Let's say I have Commander's Sphere on the battlefield, which says:

{T}: Add one mana of any color in your commander's color identity.
Sacrifice Commander's Sphere: Draw a card.

I cast Indomitable Creativity and target, among other things, my own Commander's Sphere. While Indomitable Creativity is still on the stack, can I sacrifice Commander's Sphere to get the card draw trigger and still get the positive benefit of Indomitable Creativity? I'm assuming not because it says "...destroyed this way...", but I wanted to make certain.

Your assumption is correct.
You won't get the extra artifact from Indomitable Creativity because, when it resolves, it checks each of its targets to see if they're still legal. That is (part of) CR608.2b:

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. [...]

Since Commander's Sphere is no longer on the battlefield, it becomes an illegal target for Indomitable Creativity, and the spell will no longer target it, according to its Gatherer rules (thanks to @Gendolkari for pointing this out):

If an artifact or creature is targeted but not destroyed (perhaps because it gained indestructible or became an illegal target), it doesn’t count as one of the artifacts or creatures destroyed this way. An artifact or creature that’s destroyed but put into a zone other than a graveyard (such as a player’s commander in the Commander variant) does count.

Also, as you said, even if that did work and Commander's Sphere was still a legal target after being sacrificed, the wording on Indomitable Creativity ("For each permanent destroyed this way...") would still prevent you from getting the artifact, since Commander's Sphere is already destroyed by the time Creativity resolves.

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Why does playing Rancor on Gossamer Phantasm send Rancor to the graveyard?
I was playing Magic 2014 (the videogame) and I played the enchantment Rancor

Enchanted creature gets +2/+0 and has trample. When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return Rancor to its owner's hand.

on an opponent's Gossamer Phantasm

When Gossamer Phantasm becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.

I was hoping I would recover the Rancor card on my hand when the Gossamer Phantasm sacrifice was resolved, but somehow the Rancor card ended up on my graveyard.
I was wondering if this was a bug or it was a misunderstanding of the rules, if so, what's the rule that made this possible?

Anonymous editor: note that "illusion" is a common if unofficial term for "when ~ becomes the target of a spell [or ability], sacrifice it"; see e.g. Illusion ability.

When you cast a spell (in this case your enchantment, Rancor), it is put on the stack. Then, triggered abilities are checked and possibly being put on the stack. This happens here, as casting an Aura targets a permanent, and Gossamer Phantasm's ability triggers when that permanent is being targetted.
The stack resolves from the top, also called last-in-first-out, meaning the Phantasm's triggered ability will resolve first. Assuming nothing else happens, you have to sacrifice the permanent.
When it is Rancor's turn to resolve, like any spell, it checks whether any of its targets are still legal. Because all of Rancor's targets (only the Phantasm) aren't in the zone that they used to be anymore, it doesn't have any legal targets, and therefore fails to resolve, which means that instead of being put on the battlefield, it's being put into the graveyard.

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that's no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. (...) If all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn't resolve. It's removed from the stack and, if it's a spell, put into its owner's graveyard. (...)

Now, Rancor has an ability that says "When Rancor is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, return Rancor to its owner's hand.". The ability text already gives it away - since Rancor wasn't on the battlefield at the time it was being put into the graveyard, the trigger condition isn't satisfied, and Rancor is put into your graveyard as normal.

Excuse me for not providing a complete list of relevant rules here, as this scenario involes a ton of them, and most are more easily explained in words (or so I hope) than in rules text. Generall speaking, you might want to familiarize yourself with how the stack works, as this kind of interaction happens a lot in MtG, and most of them are resolved by very basic rules.

This is the expected behaviour.

You cast Rancor, targeting Gossamer Phantom; Rancor goes on the stack but does not yet resolve.
Gossamer Phantom has been targeted by a spell, so its triggered ability causes it to be sacrificed.
Rancor begins to resolve and checks whether any of its targets are still valid - the one and only one target is not valid. Therefore Rancor is removed from the stack and put into your graveyard, without ever entering the battlefield.
Rancor's triggered ability applies only if it were moved to the graveyard from the battlefield so does not trigger.

Reference: CR 608.2b:

If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that’s no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. [ ... ] If all its targets, for every instance
of the word “target,” are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn’t resolve. It’s removed from the stack and, if it’s a spell, put into its owner’s graveyard.


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Help identify old advertising card game
Over the weekend I picked up a deck of cards that was originally intended to advertise the 'Page Woven Wire Fence'. Each card has 4 little phrases on it about the company or the product.
Each card has a number from 1 to 13 in the upper left and right corner (same number in both corners). There are apparently 4 cards of each number (I've got a couple of numbers that are missing a card, but I assume that they are just lost).
Some cards (I think it's one of each number) have a number of miles at the top center. The others in that number have a leaf in the top center.
I feel certain that this was meant as a game, with the idea being to put the company's products in front of the prospective purchasers regularly, but I'm not familiar with the game.
I'd like to properly identify it, just for my own edification.

Some potentially relevant facts:
Page Woven Wire Fence Company was established in 1886 (Scanned Catalog) and one of the cards (not shown in the picture) indicates that the company is less than 10 years old, making the deck no later than 1896. Another card (in the picture) says business doubled in 1894 over 1893, so I peg the deck's design at 1895.
UPDATE:
As noted in the comment by SQB, the deck could certainly be used to play Go Fish. But that wouldn't explain the 'Mileage' notations. I wonder if it could be something like a precursor to Touring? I've found the patent for Touring, but it doesn't list any pre-cursors, though with the patent date of 1906, I wouldn't be shocked if it were an improvement (by adding the various hindrances) of a prior game.

Looks like Go Fish / Happy Families to me. Found some cards on eBay.

Could the mileages be the names of the families, perhaps? Are they unique for each number? Also, I noticed that the mileage in the title returned in the text on the card with nr 13. Does that happen for other numbers as well?

Any chance of scanning and posting all available cards?

@SQB - OK, the scans are kind of big, and due to hosting limits, I can't put them into one monster zip, so you'll have to grab each tif individually from http://www.kohne.org/page-woven-wire-fence-company-card-game.

I've also pushed the scans up to the Internet archive at https://archive.org/details/PageWireFenceCards

The references to miles and rods as distances on the cards appear to me to be advertising boasts about the confidence that the identified consumers have in the fence products. I don't see how these cards could be related to the game Touring, of which I own a copy.

The card you are missing is
1       (rose)         1
The Officers
The Factory
The Page Woven Wire Fence Co
The Business
After studying the cards, I have come to the conclusion that the order of the titles on each card is irrelevant. I do believe that the purpose of the game is to match the numbers by drawing from a deck. It would be simple, of course. Discard 1 card, draw 1 card or take the top card of the discard pile. When you have 4 of a kind, you place them down face up and replenish your hand. When the deck runs out of cards, the discard pile will be shuffled and play will continue until no more new cards may be drawn.
Now, the miles on top of the cards represent contracts that were made with the Page Woven Wire Fence Co. in 1894 (actual contracts). The purpose of the game would logically be to collect the most mileage of fence.
The item you have is very likely highly valuable, and I doubt no more than 20 copies were produced (6 is my actual estimate).
The game can be played without the 1 set if you intend to actually play.
The game was apparently created to offer insight on the company to potential clients.
I hope this has proven to be helpful to you. I also hope I am accurate, as much of what I said was speculation (albeit speculation based on several hours studying the cards and the company).
Value of the antique? Without the card I mentioned, probably 700 dollars. If you find a copy of that card, you could probably double that. Maybe push to triple.

Do you have a source for any of this?

For the appraisal? That is what I would pay to own such a treasure, as the owner of a Game Shop (Overdrive Games and Anime Shoppe).
As for the rulings, I spent several days mulling over the cards, researching the company and practicing theories. I didn't expect to be asked for sources, so I do not have them, but it was not too hard to find the answers once I determined the logical course of research. This is sort of what I do. As for the rulings, that was the only resolution I had after determining that each number uses the same 4 titles recurring, but in no particular order.

I'm just genuinely curious where one goes for answers about antique games like this, especially ones from the 19th century.

Well, I have spent years creating and studying formulas for games, as well as studying games of varying age and complexity. When studying such things, I would always buy items like what the original poster has shared with us. My shop sees 2 or 3 people a week just walking in to ask questions about old games that they possess, so I spend a lot of time doing research to assist them. Usually they want to know prices, but sometimes I have to reverse engineer game mechanics for weeks to identify the rules of a game. Most info can be attained through common sense and context clues, but some can't.


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Is The Online Version of La Guerre des Moutons Identical To the "Real" Game?
I've been playing La Guerre des Moutons (aka Wooly Bully?) at boiteajeux.net and I have to say I'm all at sea.
It's a tile placement game very reminiscent of Carcassonne, but in boiteajeux's implementation I can't see any way of rotating a tile - as far as I can tell you have to fit the tile onto the map in the same orientation that it's presented to you.
I just don't see how, in the "real" game, the tiles wouldn't be rotatable.  Additionally, in the online implementation the tiles appear to be two-sided - this is obviously difficult to represent, but the tiles are presented to you as connected pairs, and if you play the top half of the pair A, you lose the option to play B.  Again I find it difficult to believe the tiles are two-sided in the "real" game, because then it'd be a nightmare to keep your hidden information secret from the other players.
Can anyone who has played this game in real life describe to me how it works?  Is the boiteajeux version a creative adaptation of the original game for online play, or have I just spectacularly failed to comprehend what's going on here?
EDIT: And, d'oh, I've just worked out how to rotate tiles in the online game before playing them.  Feeling a bit silly now for playing a couple of games with a serious self-handicap!  I'd still like to hear any answers that can tell me how/if online Wooly Bully differs from offline play; as I still don't understand if the tiles are double-faced or not... Amending question title accordingly.

As a great fan of this game, I can tell you that yes, the tiles are double-sided. You pick them from a bag, so you can't see anything and you put them in the palm of your had, as described in the rules:
Using this technique, you can easly hide all the tiles from your opponnents.
Hope it helped!

Thanks!  I started to "get" the rules of online Guerre des Moutons eventually, but this has helped me visualise what's going on in the real game... answer accepted!


text:
Agricola Card Organization Solutions?
So I expect most of us Agricola nuts have already got a tackle box for all the meeples and counters.  But now that I own the base set, Farmers of the Moor, the Gamers Deck, AND the Goodies, I'm finding the cards pretty unmanageable too.
The base set comes with E, I, K and Z decks (for both Minor Imps and Occupations), plus the Occupations have to be subdivided into 1+, 3+ and 4+ player sets, if like us you often play with fewer than 4 players.  Farmers of the Moor has Minor Improvements with different backs, subdivided into (confusingly) another E deck and an F deck.  The Gamers deck adds a G deck, and the Goodies brings the L, Cz, Oe and X decks!  (All of these including Occupations suitable for different minimum numbers of players.)
The temptation is just to give up and mix them all up together, apart from the Farmers of the Moor improvements, and sorting the Occupations by minimum player number; but maybe there's a better way.  Can anyone recommend a method of boxing and dividing Agricola cards so we can quickly play with any subsets of cards we choose?  Are there any commercially available card boxes that are the perfect size for Agricola cards, have enough capacity to accommodate my growing collection, and preferably come with dividers too?

I use zip-lock bags for nearly all my boardgames that have cards. Tuck-boxes are better, admittedly, but zip lock bags work much better than magic tape or rubber bands. I typically use the "snack bag" or "sandwich bag" size of zip-lock baggies you can get in the grocery store, because they're cost effective in that format. Rectangular shaped ones are probably better, but the price per unit and convenient availability of them is not so good. Agricola in particular, I seem to remember, came with a bunch of rectangular shaped baggies (or I got a supply of them from somewhere at the same time as the game) so it, in particular, has all the decks separated by type and in rectangular zip-lock baggies sized roughly appropriate for that size of card.

Go to boardgamegeek.com and print and construct the custom tuck boxes for each deck.  Worked great 4 me.  Or, put the game away and just play online at play-Agricola.com
@Monica rubber banding you cards is sac-religious to us ultra board game dorks

I like the notion of tuck-boxes better than zip-lock baggies, but zip-lock baggies are just so much more convenient for those of us who are even a wee bit lazy. On the other hand, tuck boxes might make an awesome summer-craft project for my daughter... 8)

Sorry, didn't mean to commit sacrelige. :-)

This will be a little too big, but they make "file boxes" for index cards, and also dividers.  The boxes I've seen hold around 500 cards.
We don't have the expansions so our problem is simpler than yours, but we just use rubber bands to separate groups of cards, and when playing with an unusual-for-us number of players we just dig through to find the right ones.

Why not use the file boxes, but add index cards as dividers to separate decks/types of cards? That way you wouldn't have to use rubber bands ...

Currently everything fits in the game box (because we don't have any expansions), so adding the file box would add something else to carry around.  Once things no longer fit in the box, though, that's not a concern.

I find that rubber bands are not awesome. They eventually break down, leave gunk on the cards, and they can indent the edges of the card if they're not properly sized.

True, you have to use the right size bands and monitor their conditions.  We buy them in quantity and replace liberally.

I store my cards in the bottom end of the box so the long sides sit on bottom, the short end on the bottom end and the face/back to the side of the box and have made temporary dividers for deck, but you could organize them however.
I then constructed a wooden frame to hold them all there. I don't have goodies but I have G, WM and fotm all in the base box. The only problem with this solution is the box doesn't quite close flush


text:
If you trigger Tree of Perdition's ability, then give the tree -13/-13, does the player go to 0 life?
If you activate Tree of Perdition's ability, "Exchange target opponent's life total with Tree of Perdition's toughness", then play a spell before the ability resolves that brings the tree's toughness to 0, does the opponent's life total become 0?

No - the Tree's ability will fail to do anything when it resolves. After the -13/-13 effect resolves, the Tree will die as a state-based action. Thus by the time the Tree's ability resolves, it won't be in play so the exchange can't happen.
The general rule:

701.8a A spell or ability may instruct players to exchange something (for example, life totals or control of two permanents) as part of its resolution. When such a spell or ability resolves, if the entire exchange can’t be completed, no part of the exchange occurs.

And confirming this, a specific ruling for a very similar card:

If Tree of Redemption isn’t on the battlefield when the ability resolves, the exchange can’t happen and the ability will have no effect.

In fact, if you look at the Eldritch Moon release notes, you can see that Tree of Perdition itself has that specific ruling.


text:
Is an artifact creature considered an artifact?
Is an artifact creature considered an artifact? For example, can I use Enlightened Tutor to search my deck for an artifact creature?

Possible duplicate of Enchant artifact used to enchant Artifact creature

My question if much more concise and clear. Please remove this flag.

How familiar are you with the various mtg card types?

Yes, an object is all of its types, subtypes, and supertypes at the same time.
A condition on an effect only cares about the stated qualities of the object(s) being true. It does not care about any of its other qualities, they can be whatever they are. Enlightened Tutor lets you search for an artifact or enchantment card; it doesn't care if, as in your example, an artifact card is also a creature.

205.2. Card Types
205.2a The card types are artifact, conspiracy, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard. See section 3, “Card Types.”
205.2b Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects satisfy the criteria for any effect that applies to any of their card types.

Subtypes (such as land types, creature types, etc.) and supertypes (such as legendary, basic etc.) have equivalent rules.

Let's use Prakhata Pillar-Bug as an example.
Is it an artifact? Yes.
Is it a creature? Yes.
If you have only one card in your graveyard, and it is a Prakhata Pillar-Bug, then how many card types are in your graveyard? Two. That's right, one card with two card types.


text:
Infectious Curse vs. Tree of Perdition and Triskaidekaphobia
This is mainly a question about APNAP order, so my opponent taps their Tree of Perdition at the beginning of their upkeep  in response to Triskaidekaphobia's triggered ability. So my question is as the non-active player can I cause Infectious Curse to activate between the tree and 13 phobia going off.

Sounds like you already know how to figure out the answer. APNAP means active player, then non-active player. The active player's triggers go on the stack first, so they resolve last.
I'm guessing your opponent is the one with the Triskaidekaphobia, since they're playing Tree of Perdition. If that's the case, and your opponent is playing well, then:

Triskaidekaphobia's triggered ability (controlled by the active player) goes on the stack.
Infectious Curse's ability (controlled by you, the non-active player) goes on the stack.
Infectious Curse's ability resolves, you gain 1 life, and your opponent loses 1 life.
Your opponent activates Tree of Perdition's ability.
Tree of Perdition's ability resolves, and your life total is now 13.
Triskaidekaphobia's ability resolves, and you lose.

If you control the Triskaidekaphobia, both triggers are yours, and you get to choose what order they go on the stack. But still, however you stack it, your opponent can wait until Triskaidekaphobia's triggered ability is on the top of the stack, activate Tree of Perdition, and you'll lose.
The only way you can save yourself from that is if you have an activated ability that you can choose when to activate. Infectious Curse doesn't help here, because it's a triggered ability.
If your opponent is playing badly, sure, they might activate Tree of Perdition before Infectious Curse's ability resolves, and end up with you at 14 instead of 13 when Triskaidekaphobia's ability resolves. But that's not really something you can count on!

If I'm reading your question correctly, your opponent controls a Triskaidekaphobia, and you control an Infectious Curse enchanting your opponent. At the beginning of your opponent's upkeep, both trigger. As the active player, your opponent would put Triskaidekaphobia's trigger on the stack, then your trigger would go on top. Your opponent can't activate tree in between.
If your opponent activates Tree of Perdition at this point, it will put you at 13 life, then Infectious Curse will bring you up to 14, and you survive. However, if your opponent waits for the Curse trigger to resolve first, they can activate the Tree with their original trigger on the stack, which will cause you to lose.


text:
Looking for the name of an old board game featuring a wolf, I think he was called Willy
Looking for the name of an old board game featuring a wolf, I think he was called Willy. I can't remember much about it, but I played it a few times in the 80s, may have been older than that. It was quite scary for me because I was young. I think there was a figure of the wolf and there may have been a red and yellow piece for a player to choose. Does anyone remember this game?

The Uncle Wiggily board game had colored pieces that moved on a track, and the "Fox Den" had an animal that looked like a wolf.  The game is filled with creatures, unfortunate events, and close calls that could frighten a small child.

It was first published in 1916, but has been republished as recently as 1989.

Sounds like Beware of the Wolf:

Which features quite a big wolf in the middle of the board and is from the eighties (1981).


text:
Can fire move ice in Sorry?
The 2013 version of Sorry! adds fire and ice tokens. If my pawn with a fire token enters home can I move my other pawn that has the ice token?
The rules conflict. One one hand when the fire token pawn enters home it can move another pawn into home. On the other hand a pawn with the ice token may not be moved.
What is the correct ruling?

I haven't seen the game rules, but usually a "can't do something at all" overrides a "do something now" unless it says otherwise.

You can not bring the pawn with the ice token to your home
As you say in your question, a pawn with a fire token can move a pawn into home. It states that it can do it and a pawn that cannot be moved, can therefore not be moved into home.


text:
Does Coat of Arms work on various Artifact Creatures?
So I decided that it would be fun to start an artifact deck, and was wondering if I could use Coat of Arms to give +1/+1 to an Artifact Vehicle and an Artifact Creature Construct if they were the only artifacts/creatures on the battlefield?

Artifact isn't a creature type, and Vehicle is an artifact type not a creature type, so Coat of Arms has no effect on a Vehicle and Construct. You'd need multiple Constructs.
You can find the full list of creature types in the rules (205.3m, reproduced here), but a creature's creature types are always printed after "Creature" on the type line, never before, and will never include things like Artifact, Enchantment, or Land - those are types, not creature types. (And outside of some corner cases, everything after "Creature" on the type line is a creature type, assuming you're looking at the Oracle text in Gatherer or a sufficiently recent printing.)
(Technically creature types are subtypes, but for convenience they're referred to as creature types.)

Coat of Arms works based on creature type, the subtypes of a creature card. A cards type is broken into three parts:

Supertype (like Legendary or Basic)
Type (like Creature or Artifact)
Subtype (like Construct or Vehicle)

These are laid out like this on the card:

Supertype(s) Type(s) - Subtype(s)

Artifact and creature are both types, construct and vehicle are both subtypes. Not all subtypes are treated the same however, some are creature types, some are land types and others are artifact types. Construct is a creature type while vehicle is an artifact type. This means that multiple constructs will power each other up, though multiple vehicles will not, as they have no creature types to trigger Coat of Arms.
The rules on card types are covered by the 200 section in the comprehensive rules, subtypes are 205.3 and creatures are covered by 205.3m. Anything not listed in 205.3m will not be counted for Coat of Arms.


text:
Can you play three skips then a reverse?
In a two-player Uno game, can the same person play 3 skips and immediately continue with a reverse of the same colour?

Please use titles that match just your specific question and not every question on the site.

Not only CAN you, but using multiple skips/reverses to change colors is a core strategy of two player Uno!

Yes, in a 2 player game, playing a skip would make it your turn again, so you could play another skip if you have one.
Playing a reverse will also skip your opponent’s turn, only in a 2 player game.
From the rules:

Rules for Two Players - The following special rules apply to two-player UNO:

Playing a Reverse card works like playing a Skip card. By playing the Reverse card, you may immediately play another card.
By playing a Skip card, you may immediately play another card.


text:
Targeting an exchanged creature with a hexproof equipment
If I have placed a hexproof equipment (Swiftfoot Boots) on one of my creatures and I exchange control of it with an opponent (Puca's Mischief), can I still target the exchanged creature?
If I understand correctly, I lose control of the creature but still have control of the equipment. Since hexproof says, "It can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control...".

You in rules text always refers to the controller of this permanent.

No, you will not be able to target the creature while your opponent controls it.
This is covered in the gather rulings on Swiftfoot boots:

If an opponent gains control of a creature equipped by your Swiftfoot Boots, that creature can’t be the target of spells and abilities you control.

The reasoning behind this is that the equipment is granting the creature Hexproof, to the game this is treated pretty much the same as if the creature had Hexproof written in its own text box. As a reminder Hexproof's definition is:

702.11b: “Hexproof” on a permanent means “This permanent can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control.”

So when your creature changes control from you (Player A) to your opponent (Player B), Player B is the controller of the permanent and Player A becomes the opponent that can't target it.


text:
Why can't I find a copy of Crystalline Sliver printing from the Tempest Remastered Set?
Gatherer lists Crystalline Sliver under the Tempest Remastered set with a Block of General.  I would like to purchase that specific printing but have been unable to locate any physical copies of the card. Does any one know why these cards are so difficult to find?

You are not going to find anyone selling physical copies of Tempest Remastered cards because it was an Magic Online-only set.
One main reason for it to be online only is that it has cards from the Reserved List on it which cannot be printed as paper cards, but can be created as digital ones.

is the mentioned card the same as this one?

@DarkCygnus Same card, but from a different set

I see, and OP asked for that "specific printing" so it is that set and only that right?

@DarkCygnus That is my understanding

@DarkCygnus Correct, they want that copy and only that copy, which doesn't exist as a physical card, likely due to wanting the different frame art.

Tempest Remastered, Vintage Masters, Masters Edition, Masters Edition II, Masters Edition III and Masters Edition IV are all sets that were released on MTGO only. These do not exist for paper magic.
Wikipedia has a list of these sets, as a section on their full list of magic sets here.
Unfortunately, unless WotC removes their reserved list, most of the cards in these sets can never be reprinted in paper magic. Masters Editions were specifically bring these cards to MTGO, from the sets before Mercadian Masques, the other two were like the masters sets we get in paper magic, though MTGO can ignore the reserved list, which applies to only physical cards.
You can find the full reserved list here.
There was one loophole WotC had in their reprint policy for a while. Reserved cards couldn't be printed in sets, but they COULD be reprinted in other product, like promos or preconstructed decks. This gave us some of these reserved slivers in the Premium Deck Series: Slivers deck. If you wanted the Crystalline Sliver from that set due to not wanting the old card frame, you could use the PDS: Slivers copy, that would be foiled and would use the style from 8th edition to M15.


text:
Can Burst of Strength save a creature that's already about to die?
During a game I cast Fall of the Hammer (an instant) to kill my opponent's 2/2 Young Wolf. I targeted my Torch Fiend, which would've killed the Young Wolf. (Torch Fiend has 2 power.) He then also cast an instant, Burst of Strength to give his wolf +1/+1. Would this save the wolf, or is he unable to save the wolf since the wolf is already dead? I've searched this a million times in thousands of different ways and couldn't find a direct answer.

Fall of the Hammer doesn't just kill something as soon as you say you're casting it. It goes on the stack. At that point, your opponent gets to choose what to do. If they do nothing, and let Fall of the Hammer resolve, then their Young Wolf dies like you said. But if they respond by casting Burst of Strength, that goes on the stack on top of Fall of the Hammer. It will then resolve first, making their Young Wolf a 3/3, and then Fall of the Hammer will resolve, with your Torch Fiend dealing only two damage, not enough to kill the Young Wolf.
So: no, Burst of Strength can't save a creature that's already dead, but the creature wasn't already dead here. It was still right there on the battlefield, and your opponent did something to prevent it from dying.
I would suggest making sure you're familiar with the stack before you run into many more situations like this one. The answers to this question might be a good starting point to read: In plain English, how does casting spells and using creature abilities work with the stack and priority?

I thank you, its been about 2011 since I played last and a lot has changed and has been added.

@RickyDemer That rules change seems to only regard interrupts (which were played during the act of casting another spell like mana abilities the way I understand it; it was before my time). Stack and responses are older than that, I think. It wouldn't surprise me if successfully responding to lightning bolt with a giant growth has been possible since alpha.

@Arthur I may be totally wrong, but I was under the impression that the act of casting wasn't well defined, and instants couldn't respond to instants (that's what interrupts were for).

@RickyDemer not saying that it has changed, rather that I haven't played in a long while. I appreciate the random remark though.


text:
Can Emrakul's Evangel save me from "destroy all creatures"?
My opponent played a "destroy all creatures" card. But I have Emrakul's Evangel on the field. Is there any way that if I use his ability so that some creature will survive?

Unfortunately, no. If you use that ability in response to their spell, you still lose everything. Here's how it works, assuming nothing else happens:

They cast Wrath of God (or some other card that destroys all creatures). It goes on the stack.
You respond by activating Emrakul's Evangel's ability, sacrificing some number of creatures. It goes on the stack on top of the spell.
The top thing on the stack resolves. That's Emrakul's Evangel's ability, so now you get your 3/2 Eldrazi Horror tokens.
The next thing on the stack resolves. That's the Wrath of God. It destroys all creatures, including the 3/2 tokens you just created.

If you want something to protect you from that kind of situation by giving you replacement creatures, it generally needs to be a triggered ability. For example, Abzan Ascendancy gives you Spirit tokens when your nontoken creatures die.

No you can't use Evangel to end up with any creatures:

Do not use Evangel - Evangel and all other creatures die when the destroy effect resolves.
Use Evangel - All creatures you sacrifice die and leave 3/2 horrors behind, then all of these tokens die along with all other creatures when the destroy effect resolves.

What you are looking for is to be able to activate the Evangel and have the effect resolve after the desroy effect. The only way that would happen is if the Evangel was activated and in response the destroy effect was put onto the stack, something like Rout could cause that.


text:
Can cards from an invalid meld be used in a subsequent valid meld?
This is a follow-up to my previous question here: Canasta and the rules on invalid melding
In Canasta, if the “partner” of the person who laid down an invalid meld after exposing her cards, now comes down with a valid meld, can she now use any of the cards in the “invalid” meld that are lying exposed?  Or are they only used for discards still?

Folks, it's all well and good to ask the OP questions and let them know how to use the site, but if you know what needs to be done, please just edit (or suggest an edit). It takes less time to retag a question than to ask the OP to.

After editing to include the game being asked about, this is certainly not unclear in the way folks previously noted. I'm not sure if it may need a little improvement still (I don't know canasta so I can't evaluate super well) or if it may be a duplicate, but I've reopened because the original close reason doesn't apply.

@Jefromi I still have a feeling that this was already answered on that other question, see my answer.

As was pointed out in Andrew Savinykh answer to this question the information is already in the question that is linked.

According to this answer to your previous question yes, you can use these in a valid meld. Here is the relevant quote:

If a player exposes any cards from his hand, but does not meld them, he must leave them face-up on the table, and discard them one at a time in subsequent turns. However, if these cards can be validly melded before they are discarded, he may do so, rather than discard them.

As a side-note there are different rules and different variants of Canasta, and I do not believe there is one true way. That what makes difficult answering your question unambiguously.
For my Canasta games, I've written down my own version of Canasta rules, that I compiled from different sources on the web and got everyone at the table to agree to them. Since we are running a friendly non-commercial games, we simply re-deal the round if someone makes this mistake, because we trust that no one of us will do this intentionally. Anyway it happened only once or twice, so it has never been a problem for us.


text:
How does Shadowborn Demon work?
A question about the rules on Shadowborn Demon:

When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield, destroy target non-Demon creature.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are fewer than six creature cards in your graveyard, sacrifice a creature.

Firstly, I understand that you have to destroy a creature (even if it's your own), what if there are no other non-demon creatures out? Can you play the card?
If Shadowborn Demon is the only card on your side and you don't have six or more creatures in your graveyard do you have to sacrifice it?

You can play the card even if there are no non-Demon creatures. The "When Shadowborn Demon enters the battlefield" ability is a triggered ability, it doesn't happen until after the Demon is finished being cast and resolves. Once it does, if there are no legal targets, then the triggered will be removed from the stack immediately after being added; it won't even try to resolve[CR 603.3d].
For your second question, yes, you would be forced to sacrifice the Demon if there are no other creatures to sacrifice. The "Sacrifice a creature" is not optional, it is an ability that is triggered at the beginning of your upkeep. So long as you don't have 6 or more creature cards in your graveyard, you must sacrifice a creature.

@ikegami, thanks, I wasn't actually sure if it would get on the stack or not.

1) You can still play the card if there are no non-Demons.  In that case, the enters-the-battlefield ability simply won't do anything.
2) Yes, you have to sacrifice it.

(Won't even try to resolve as it will have been removed from the stack immediately after being added.)


text:
Can Breath of Life Put a Discarded Creature into Play?
Original versions of the white Sorcery Breath of Life read "Put target creature card from your graveyard into play." In later editions, they changed the text to read "Return target creature card from your graveyard to play."
Was this a functional change that retroactively modified how Breath of Life works? Can I use new versions of Breath of Life to put a discarded creature card into play, or does it have to have been on the battlefield?

It was not a functional change, you can return a creature card from your graveyard into play even if it was never in play to begin with. Though I couldn't find an exact rule describing the word "return," there is this:

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.

So a card in your graveyard has no possible way of knowing if it used to be on the battlefield or not, so it must be treated the same whether it was or not.
Note also that cards may say "return target permanent to its owner's hand", and these can be used on permanents that were never in the owner's hand, such as a land that was fetched with a fetchland.

Breath of Life will work on any creature in your graveyard, regardless of whether it was previously in play. "Return" is functionally synonymous with "put."
When you're wondering what a card actually does, it's best to start with its Oracle text. This is the most authoritative take on "what the card says." You can look this up easily on Gatherer, which also has helpful rulings.
For example, Breath of Life reads:

Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

In Magic, "returning" a card to the battlefield doesn't require that the card have been on the battlefield previously. As far as I can tell, this isn't explicitly spelled out in the comprehensive rules ("return" and "put" aren't treated as specially defined terms, unlike "tap" or "discard"), it's sorta just assumed. This isn't a minor technicality, either. It's the bedrock of an entire archetype known as Reanimator.
If you or your friends are truly skeptical, here's an account of a player using Unburial Rites (a card with identical wording to Breath of Life) in exactly this way during the deciding game of a major official tournament — in game 3, Mcclain puts a couple of cards into his graveyard on turn 3, then uses Unburial Rites to put a Thragtusk directly onto the battlefield on turn 4, before he has the 5 mana to cast it normally.

This is implied in your answer, but it's worth explicitly spelling out for those who may be unaware that Gatherer is not just "the most authoritative" version of a card, but is in fact the only authoritative version of the card. That is, if a (physical) card's text differs from the Gatherer text (whether through reprinting or through errata), the Gatherer text is official.

This was not a functional change. It works on any creature in your graveyard, no matter how it got there. I believe the use of the word "return" is more about flavor than anything else; the idea is that things in the graveyard died, so putting them onto the battlefield is bringing them back, returning them.
And tons and tons of cards say "return", not just Breath of Life. For example, Mnemonic Wall and Whip of Erebos from Theros. None of these cards are placing any restriction on how the card got in the graveyard. (They can't - the card doesn't even remember where it came from after it moves zones!)
Finally, a side note: 7th Edition was the only printing of Breath of Life outside Starter and Portal sets. In addition to being a bit old (which can mean iffy rules text on cards sometimes), those cards were written for beginners. That means the rules text was often more explicit, and also often just kind of weird. "Take any one creature card from your graveyard and put that creature into play. Treat it as though you just played it from your hand." was merely simplified to "Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield." More experienced players just don't need as much rules text to understand it.

Thanks, Jefromi. GendoIkari beat you to the punch and included a snippet from the rules, but your answer is no less informative. Since I can't mark you both as answers, all I can do is upvote.

@Murkaeus Yup, vote and accept how you like. (The traditional standard is "which answer was most helpful" - so if you prefer the explicit rules snippet instead of my paraphrasing, by all means, accept his.)


text:
Can I use Hibernation Sliver to return slivers from my graveyard?
I have a Hibernation Sliver in play which states that all slivers have "Pay 2 life: Return this permanent to its owner's hand."
I have slivers in my graveyard. Can I pay 2 life and return a sliver card to my hand from my graveyard and if I can't, why not?

I edited in the actual card text, which you omitted a rather meaningful word ("permanent") from.

What if some one mind controlled one of my slivers would I be able to get that one back?

You could return it in response before they have control, but once they do, no, you couldn't get it back, because the controller of the sliver is the one who can activate its abilities - your opponent would have to pay the life to give it back, pretty unlikely.

No, for 2 reasons. First, because unless they say otherwise, abilities of permanents only function while they are on the battlefield.

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack.
  Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows:

None of the exceptions relate to the ability in question.
Also, Slivers that are in your graveyard will not even get that ability in the first place. When a card says "All Slivers", it refers to all Sliver permanents, and a permanent is a card or token on the battlefield.

609.2. Effects apply only to permanents unless the instruction’s text states otherwise or they clearly can
  apply only to objects in one or more other zones.
Example: An effect that changes all lands into creatures won’t alter land cards in players’
  graveyards. But an effect that says spells cost more to cast will apply only to spells on the
  stack, since a spell is always on the stack while a player is casting it.

And:

110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield.

The OP also paraphrased the card text; the actual card says "return this permanent", so even if the slivers in the graveyard got the ability, and could use it, it still wouldn't make sense.

So its only a permanent if its on the battlefield?

@James Yes, that's exactly what permanent means: an object on the battlefield (presumably artifact, enchantment, creature, land, or planeswalker). Elsewhere it's just a card - a creature card in your graveyard, a land card in your hand, and so on.

@James, I added one more rule where it defines "permanent."

@Jefromi, I can only think of one case where you could have a permanent that wasn't an A/E/C/L/P, and that requires a combo, and only lasts until EOT.

@BrianS, how is that?

@BrianS Sure but now if they add another permanent type again I won't look quite as bad!

@GendoIkari, An artifact animated by March of the Machines and targeted by Neurok Transmuter's second ability will become a blue permanent with no type.


text:
Bidding a very special hand
I would like your advice about what I should bid in the following situation. Partner opens 1C, I answer 1H, he bids 2H. My hand is:
S : none
H : K Q J x x x
D : A K Q x x x
C : J
What should I bid now?

Please provide Dealer and Vulnerability. This is particularly important on wild distributional hands, for  the inferences it provides about the opponent's possible hodlings, and he likelihood of bad breaks each way.

Dealer is my partner, both sides vulnerable, opponents silent.

What style of honour-showing cue bids and/or asking bids do you and your partner play? (As Blackwood/Gerber is no use with a void.)

There is a convention called "exclusion blackwood" (some call it "voidwood"). This way you can ask for aces, excluding one suit.
This call can be made by bidding your void suit, in a level above your fit suit, provided that a fit has been found.
In your example, all bids (4s,5c,5d) are exclusion blackwood.
Partner can respond in steps, just like steps on 4NT(depends whether you play standard, blackwood, 1430RKCB, 3014RKCB etc). No matter what kind of blackwood you play, you will get your desired info (this is the two round aces).
You can look here for a variation of exclusion blackwood.

If you didn't agree on this before the hand started, you cannot call across the table: "4S Exclusion Partner!".

well, if you play some serious bridge, the primal meaning for this bid is exclusion. If you are an amateur, you can improvise, but you will never be able to bid appropriate this hand. My answer is for the panel to learn this bid

@Thanos: Logically speaking, 3S splinter followed by 4NT over the expected 4H by partner should be keycard ask, without counting the Spade Ace (otherwise why not bid 4NT directly?). If partner bids 4D (likely singleton), you can still continue with 4S. So exclusion is not a requirement. There are many serious bridge players who don't play exclusion, so your comments about "amateur" seem to be misplaced.

@Aryabhata you misunderstood me. amatures for sure don't use exclusion. however, not using exclusion doesn't make you amateur. The problem with 3S is that maybe you have singleton in spades and Qx in clubs. so after 3S, you listen 4C (club control) so now you can ask aces with 4NT (which includes the Ace of Spades). Meaning, it's not sure that you will be able to ask 4nt without counting the spade ace. My conclusion is: since you are not using this bid for something else, you should use it as exclusion.

@ThanosDarkadakis: I was going by your first sentence, "serious bridge implies exclusion", but I guess I did misunderstand you. Exclusion would be perfect here. I completely agree with you on that point. My point was that you can probably get by without it, though. Over 4C, you can bid 4S. +1 to your answer.

My concerns are:

That the opponents aren't in this auction yet despite a ton of distribution, and so suits are likely to be breaking badly for us; and
My hand is far too strong to make a descriptive splinter call and appoint partner captain of the hand.

Therefore I wish to take advantage of the opponents silence to describe my hand, so partner can make an intelligent bid again or double decision on the next round. Therefore I bid a simple 3D.
This bid:

Is forcing one round (by virtue of being a new suit by responder);
Promises strength to play 3H or 4D, or better, safely;
Promises a fifth heart (or slam interest, or both); and
Promises either a fourth diamond or hidden club support.

It is intended to give partner the greatest possible room to complete the description of his hand, which so far sounds like the only balanced hand at the table with 3-4-2-4.
It sounds like RHO is long in clubs and diamonds, and LHO is long in hearts and clubs, and no-one is holding better than honour-fourth in spades. At least two, if not three or four, spades are missing from this deck unless the opponents are red against white.
What is the vulnerability, and who is the dealer?
Update From OP above, both vulnerable and partner dealt.
Continuation. Partner will take 3D for a game try and bid one of:

3H to decline - you will continue with 3S game forcing, showing a control in spades, requesting partner to show a control. If partner shows the club ace you will continue with 5NT GSF as below;
4H to accept, no extra values - you will continue with 4S control showing; if partner then bids 5C you will bid 5NT GSF and continue to 7 if he shows 1 with or without a side king.
4C to show the club control - continue with 5NT GSF as above.
3S to show the spade control then bid 4D to reveal the missing club control. If partner then bids 4H to deny it, you will have to guess - and rue not responding 1D originally.

Note how much easier the auction is if the original response is 1D receiving a raise; hearts can be cue-bid without ambiguity to locate the other missing card.  Ease in correctly deciding between 5 or 6 r 7 is worth far more than the difference between a major or minor denomination.

The things your partner need most to know about are your spade void and strong diamonds. So I would bid three diamonds [changed from spades], to show my stopper in that suit.
If partner has "nothing" to say, he'll bid hearts, but more likely, he'll bid four clubs to show his ace in that suit. Then you can bid four spades [changed from diamonds] to show your void [changed from ace].
You have the material for a small, or even grand slam. All you need are the ace of clubs and the ace of hearts for the latter. Since partner opened, he will have one or both of those unless he has a lot of wasted honors in spades. (Hopefully he has the two good aces, eight high card points, plus a few, but not "many" spade honors for his opener).
Edit: Based on the comments of others, I believe I got the original order of suits wrong. That is, I now believe that you should bid three diamonds first to show the stopper, then spades to show the void. That is, lower-ranking suit, then higher.

As Peter points out, 3S makes partner captain of the hand. Your partner will bid 4H even with both aces you care about with a hand like: KJTx Axxx Jx Axx. You can underwrite 11 tricks in hearts, so you can't afford to make a splinter.

From my comment to Thanos' answer:
Logically speaking, 3S splinter followed by 4NT over the expected 4H by partner should be keycard ask, without counting the Spade Ace (otherwise why not bid 4NT directly?). If partner bids 4D (likely singleton), you can still continue with a 4S bid and partner will know to take you further with the heart or club Ace.
So I would suggest bidding 3S, followed by 4NT over 4H.


text:
Does Solemn Offering affect auras?
Solemn Offering reads "Destroy target artifact or enchantment", but can it affect auras that are attached to something? I've been searching around but haven't been able to find out one way or the other.

Yes. It can target any permanent with the Enchantment type, be it a plain old Enchantment, an Enchantment - Aura, a Legendary Enchantment Artifact, or an Enchantment Creature. Same goes for artifacts: it can destroy equipment, for example.
Aura is a subtype of enchantment, and something which says "target enchantment" doesn't care about subtypes, just that the permanent it targets has enchantment as a type. This is similar to the fact that something which says "destroy target creature" can target any creature, whether it's a Creature - Elf or a Creature - Ooze.

Thanks! Newcomer to MTG here and, while I knew it would be useful, I just wasn't sure how useful.

Relevant Comprehensive Rules: 205.2b and 205.3h.


text:
Can I special build after rolling the dice?
This is during a 6 person game of catan with the fish. I am somewhat new to the game and when I was handed the dice I rolled them. At this point, one of the other players said this player wanted to special build. This player wanted to put a road right where I was going to put a road and in fact had the cards to do it prior to the roll.
I was told that because I had rolled the dice I had forfeited my opportunity to special build in that place, though if I had not rolled the dice I would have had the priority to build there. It seemed to me that the roll of the dice was not legitimate, as I had forgotten to call for the special building phase, and so should be disregarded and the special building phase should be called for.
How would you interpret this situation?

I just want to point out that this is partially a subjective social issue. When you play games with people, you have to have some shared expectation of what happens when someone flubs a rule. Your opponents seem to be of the "no forgiveness, take the worst possible interpretation" school of thought. (Or realistically, they're trying to get an edge wherever they can.) Most people looking for fun, friendly games are a little more forgiving. At some point you have to figure out what your group's style is going to be, independent of what game you happen to be playing.

There are 2 possibilities of how to handle this here, and neither one would allow your opponent to build the road instead of you.
1) Have the special building phase; pretend like you never rolled. In this case, because it would be your turn next, you would get the first turn during the special building phase to build where you want.
2) Don't allow the special building phase; because it's too late for that. The special building phase would happen before your turn; now that you've rolled, it is your turn. People missed their chance to build. In this case, you can just build during your turn like normal.
The rules don't clearly state whose responsibility it is to ensure that people get a chance to build in the special building phase. However, they do state that the phase does happen. It's not optional (though each player building during the phase is optional). So you technically shouldn't have rolled the dice yet; because it wasn't your turn yet.

The Special Building Phase occurs just after the end of your turn (i.e., between player turns).

But in a friendly game; we either do a quick check ("is anyone building in between turns?") or just assume that no one is unless someone speaks up ("hold on, I want to build before you roll").
Either way, I don't see any situation in which the rules would imply that you don't get a chance to build your road before your opponent; you have first chance at it.

I think the opponents' argument is that their conventions are like your second version ("hold on, I want to build") - if no one says that, and you roll, you're demonstrating that you're not going to build, and you just didn't wait long enough for your opponents to say "hold on". But I much prefer your first option; there's really no reason to do anything but that in a friendly game. You don't need to punish people for forgetting a rule, especially not people who are newer to the game.

Ah, I hadn't considered that. I guess you can make an argument that the act of rolling is the same as saying "I'm not building." But I wouldn't play that way, personally. The only way to be really sure would be to always require each player to say if they are building or not after each turn, which would be slow.

There is no specific rule in the game to address this situation, so the correct answer is entirely dependent on your gaming group and your "house rules."  Is it a more relaxed, just to have fun type of group?  Or is it a highly competitive, win at all costs type of group?  Or like many groups, somewhere in between?
Put another way, how does your group handle other rules?  For instance, if someone builds a road and places it on the board, are they allowed to change their mind and move it (before or after any other action takes place)?  If someone starts paying the costs to build something to the bank (actually placing the cards back in the supply), are they allowed to stop and recover their resources?
Is there an "expected" behavior for how the build phase is treated in your group, and did you violate that?  For instance, in one group I play with, before you roll you are supposed to ask if anyone wants to build.  In another group, it is expected that you declare your intent to build when the turn ends if you want the build phase.
Most importantly, does the group assess penalties for other infractions and if so, in what manner?  If your group doesn't assess penalties for other infractions, then there is no reason to assess one here (limit your choices to 1-3 below).
Depending on how you answer these questions for your group, I can see a number of options, from most relaxed to most competitive:

Stop your turn, allow the build phase to proceed with each player getting their turn to build, and then proceed with the dice you already rolled.
Treat it as if you didn't roll, allow the build phase to proceed with each player getting their turn to build, and then proceed with your turn by rolling the dice.
Since the roll started your turn, the build phase is over.  The other player should have spoken up before you rolled and can build after your turn if they wish to do so.
Since you rolled "out of sequence" and violated the rules (of the game/for your group), you are penalized by losing your chance to build during the build phase.  Treat it as if you didn't roll, allow the build phase to proceed with the other players getting their turn to build, and then proceed with your turn by rolling the dice.
Since you rolled "out of sequence" and violated the rules (of the game/for your group), you are penalized by losing your turn.  Since the dice have already been rolled, the build phase preceding your turn has been missed.  Process the effects of the dice roll, and then proceed to the build phase following your turn.
Since you rolled "out of sequence" and violated the rules (of the game/for your group), you are penalized by being disqualified from the current game.  Leave your current pieces on the board, continue to roll on your turn, but you neither draw nor play cards for the remainder of the game.

What is all this "out of sequence" business?? In the most competitive setting, you speak up or lose the chance to build!

@TheChaz2.0, not if your group has an expectation on how the build phase is handled. If the expectation is that you ask if anyone is building or provide a minimum time after being handed the dice and before rolling, then by rolling immediately after being handed the dice, you have rolled out of sequence.  I would consider this to be more competitive because you have established firm play expectations and penalties for rules infractions.


text:
Does Phantom Flock still prevent damage if it has no counters left?
Was having an argument with a friend, and couldn't really resolve the issue via google.  Let's say, Phantom Flock ("If damage would be dealt to Phantom Flock, prevent that damage. Remove a +1/+1 counter from Phantom Flock.") is on the field, along with Aven Brigadier out, giving Phantom flock +2/+2. So the Phantom Flock is a 5/5, with 3 +1/+1 counters, and the buff from the Aven Brigadier.  Let's assuming then that I deal damage three times to the Phantom Flock, making it a 2/2.  If I then deal two more damage to it, does it die, or is the damage still prevented, removing an "invisible" +1/+1 counter from it?

The damage is still prevented.
The Gatherer rulings even mention this:

The damage prevention ability works even if it has no counters, as long as some effect keeps its toughness above zero.

This happens because whenever you can't do everything a card says to do, you do as much as you can. (As the rules, say, "609.3. If an effect attempts to do something impossible, it does only as much as possible.") The card says to prevent the damage, so it's prevented. It also says to remove a +1/+1 counter, and there's not, so you don't remove one. Oh well. This is the same reason that if something says sacrifice three creatures, and you only have one, you still sacrifice that one.
If instead the card said "If damage would be dealt to Phantom Flock, remove a +1/+1 counter from Phantom Flock. If you do, prevent that damage." you would be able to kill it with damage once the counters were gone.

Example of "if you do" following a mandatory action: Flame-Kin War Scout

Very well explained.  Seems like a semi-broken mechanic, but I at least understand it better now.

@Matt I don't see it as broken, since all you need to do is get rid of the Aven Brigadier, even temporarily, to kill the Phantom Flock. I can think of many far more broken card combinations in Magic. :-)

Yeah, it's not really much more broken than something like Indestructibility - it's one card (vulnerable as always), making another card hard to get rid of.

@ghoppe, Hell, I can think of more broken single cards that cost less to cast! If you want to start listing off 2-card pairings that are "broken" (for a given definition of "broken"), you have to start with 2-card game-winning combos.


text:
Could an actual mono black storm (Tendril of agony) deck be viable for Legacy?
From experienced deckbuilders, how would you approach building a budget-friendly Tendrils of Agony deck? I'm thinking of basically only swamps for the manabase, but the rest (hand disruption, tutors, etc.) is okay. Would it be more of the 0-cost creatures sac or maybe sac-lands?
Is it even possible to make a good, viable storm deck that could stay consistent even without blue cantrips?

This question should be closed because it is primarily opinion based.

Perhaps a way to make this less opinion based would be to ask if a deck like what you described has ever been played at a Legacy tournament of a high enough level that the deck was tracked.

Subjective does not mean bad. http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/ This question isn't asking "do you like Tendrils?" and the current answer demonstrates this: it answers why, providing some real justification. Let's not get so caught up in the fact that the question says "good" or that it's hard to answer without some substantial knowledge that we can't recognize that there's a real question here.

You need Lion's Eye Diamonds and infernal tutors to make the deck good. Lion eye's are too expesive. I otherwise don't see the deck being viable enough

A very brief answer to your last question: no.
A slightly less brief answer: the card draw and selection that blue provides, along with the additional "truly free" (it doesn't cost mana or a card) storm of Gitaxian Probe, is essential to the deck's viability, letting you find your key cards more consistently.  Also, while it wasn't mentioned, the red cards (Past in Flames and/or Empty the Warrens) allow for a viable backup plan when you can't get enough storm to consistently Tendrils for lethal.
Could you build a mono-black Storm deck?  Yes, at least in principle, in the same way that you could build a mono-black burn deck.  Would it be viable?  Unfortunately, not in any at least modestly competitive play environment.

as a storm player - it is definitely possible to build a mono black version of storm. will it win tournaments? no. Black has very little in the way of mana producing cards (dark/cabal ritual are basically it in terms of playable options). A mono coloured storm deck would be much more likely to be playable in red. But you don't see budget storm decks in single colors for a reason, they are too fragile.

I've played mono black versions that won on turn 1 about 15%, turn 2 30% and turn 3 about 50%. If the game went longer than that I probably lost though, and lost often when going turn 1 or 2 as well (FoW is a problem). The deck still isn't cheap though. It was essentially a "play ad nauseam and win" deck.

@Cruncher In Legacy?  What do you use for a YawgWill effect, or do you even have one?

@StevenStadnicki Don't have one. You play enough 0 cost cards that can storm you after ad nauseam (memnite, and ornithopter fuel the "B, sac creature: add BBBB" card). Lotus petals, and stuff. If you can play ad nauseam on turn 1 (even if you have no mana after casting) you WILL win(assuming no FoW).

Ahhh, that's a fair point.  I should probably mention ANT in this answer for completeness' sake; the deck usually really wants its cantrips, but it can certainly ostensibly play without.


text:
Can Bloodrush be countered with an instant that destroys attacking creature?
The Setup:
It is my opponent's turn. He has an Elvish Mystic on the field (1/1). He declares his Elvish Mystic as an attacker, then activates his Ghor-Clan Rampager's Bloodrush ability from his hand, with the target being his attacking Elvish Mystic.
My Response:
I have a Wring Flesh in my hand and the mana to cast it. I target his Elvish Mystic.
Outcomes/Question:
If my instant does not take precedence, Elvish Mystic becomes a 5/5 from Bloodrush, then drops to a 2/4 from Wring Flesh.
If my instant takes precedence, this means the Elvish Mystic ends up in the graveyard.
What happens to the Ghor-Clan Rampager? Does Ghor-Clan Rampager still cast Bloodrush (on an invalid target) and get discarded, or does it remain in his hand without activating?

yes. http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/q/6016/3128

Worth noting: this applies to basically every scenario where someone wants to cast a spell on something, and you get rid of that something before that spell resolves.

The blood rush card fizzles and goes to the graveyard.
To answer the question in the title: Yes.
Your understanding is correct. Since your Wring Flesh is on the stack above the bloodrush card, then it happens before the bloodrush is applied.
Since the card's bloodrush ability was activated, it is discarded. The first part of the bloodrush ability says the card is to be discarded.

bloodrush does not cast the card, this is an important disctinction for storm, countering and other factors. so the answer should probably be clarified

very good point.

It might be important to note that the check to see if a creature dies happens after each spell or ability, and it does not matter how many things are still on the stack. Since Wring Flesh fires first, it doesn't matter what else is there.


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Sliver abilites and when they affect the Slivers
Let's say I have two Muscle Slivers, so they're both 3/3 creatures. Now if they attack at the same time, and I kill one Muscle Sliver, would the remaining Muscle Sliver continue to stay at 3/3 for the attack phase, or would it instantly become a 2/2?

As soon as one of the Muscle Slivers leaves the battlefield, its ability disappears, leaving the other sliver smaller.
Static abilities on permanents create continuous effects, functioning as long as the permanent is on the battlefield, no longer and no shorter. They are not activated; they simply are. That's why they're written as statements of fact: "All Sliver creatures get +1/+1."
So for example, your opponent could block one of your 3/3 Muscle Slivers with a 3/3, and one with a 2/3. All the creatures deal damage to each other simultaneously. State-based actions are then checked, and the two 3/3s and the 2/3 have taken three damage and die. The first Muscle Sliver is now gone, so the remaining one is now a 2/2. State-based actions are checked again, and that sliver has two damage marked on it and now only has two toughness, so it dies as well.
Remember, this doesn't affect the amount of damage dealt, since all the damage was dealt at the same time, before anything died. So when you ask "does it stay at 3/3 for the attack phase?" the answer is... yes and no. It's still a 3/3 when it deals damage, yes. But it gets smaller immediately after.

The key to this one is timing and the flow of events from one game phase to the other. During the Combat Phase, there are steps of Declare Attackers, Declare Blockers, and Combat Damage.
The slivers are 3/3 creatures for as long as both of them are in play. However, damage counters remain until the Cleanup Phase at the end of the turn, after the Second Main Phase. So, during the declare attackers/declare blockers phase, they are both 3/3 creatures. Then, they are assigned the damage from their respective blockers.
If one takes 3 damage, and one takes 2 damage, it resolves like this:
The sliver with 3 damage counters dies as a state-based action, resulting in the loss of its static +1/+1 global bonus to slivers. This makes the other sliver a 2/2. Since it still has 2 damage counters on it (and will, until the Cleanup Phase), it ALSO now dies as a state-based action. All of this happens AFTER damage is assigned, following the Declare Attackers/Declare Blockers Phases.
So, yes. For the attack phase, they are both 3/3 creatures, and each deal 3 damage, regardless of whether one or both of them would die as a result of that combat.

It depends how you kill it, if it is through blocking, then they'll both still be 3/3 for the damage step, but if you cast an instant, like lightening axe in the declare blockers step, the muscle sliver dies, leaving a 2/2 muscle sliver.


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Does a monopoly in a commodity in Sheriff of Nottingham gain both bonuses?
In the end-game scoring of Sheriff of Nottingham the majority holder of each legal commodity gets a bonus, as does the 2nd-majority holder.
If one play happens to be the only trader of a commodity do they get both bonuses or just the 1st-majority one?  Not covered by the rules.

I am not sure but I think that it is a sign of very bad play if only 1 person decides to play a certain good as if you can get the 2nd tier bonus with only one good that will be a good bonus. I would think they only get the king bonus based on the splitting in ties.

I also got a canonical answer elsewhere from Tony Gullotti, Sales Director at the publishers (Arcane Wonders).  You only get the King bonus.  To quote:
"You have the most chickens, so you get the King's Bonus. There is no second most, so no Queen's Bonus is awarded."

Is it possible to add a quote from his response to your answer? That would certainly answer the question that was asked. And then you can accept your own answer if you'd like, since it'd have more support than mine.

Added as requested.

As per the rules (may need a BoardGameGeek.com account to access):

The player who has successfully delivered the most and the second most of each type of Legal Good is declared the “King” and “Queen”, respectively, of that Good.

I would interpret this to mean each player can either be the King or Queen (or split the points in a tie), but not both. Hence, even a monopoly on a Good would only net the King's bonus.
If the single commodity holder got both the King and Queen bonuses, you could also make the following argument: when there isn't a monopoly, the player with the highest number of goods also always ties for the second highest number of goods. That player would always get the King's points and some portion of the Queen's. This doesn't seem like a logical interpretation of the rules, and most people with the second most number of Goods would be pretty annoyed if this were happening. If a player only gets a single bonus when there isn't a monopoly, the same rule should apply unless otherwise stated by the rulebook, which in this case it isn't.

There are a number of games where there are 1st and 2nd majority bonuses and, if there's no 2nd, the 1st player gets both.  That probably seeded our confusion over this point.


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How can I win against Phyrexian Unlife?
I've played my friend and he used his new mono white deck. After some turns, he plays Phyrexian Unlife. This is the first time I've seen it. It says even if his life is 0 he never loses. I'm using black deck at that time and I don't have any sorcery or instants to kill that enchantment. So I just conceded the game. Now I'm still skeptical about that card.
My question is how can you kill your opponent if he has that on the battlefield? I know that there's some other ways to defeat your opponents, but my black deck was built to be aggro/discard deck. So how can a player defeat an opponent without anything to destroy an enchantment?

This isn't enough for its own answer, but Phyrexian Unlife does nothing against infect, mill, Phage the Untouchable, Door to Nothingness, Vraska the Unseen's ultimate, or any card that has "you win the game" as an effect.

Phyrexian Unlife doesn't say "you can't lose if you have 0 or less life." It says "Having 0 or less life doesn't kill you (like it usually does)"

The full card text is:

You don't lose the game for having 0 or less life.
As long as you have 0 or less life, all damage is dealt to you as though its source had infect. (Damage is dealt to you in the form of poison counters.)

If you have ten poison counters, you lose the game. You just need to get your opponent to zero, then deal ten more damage to him. He'll take it in the form of poison counters, and lose. It will buy him time - maybe he was almost dead and suddenly you need to get him to 0 then deal ten more damage - but he's not invincible.

relevant as the asker is playing black - cards that cause loss of life do not cause poison counters.

The second half of that card is important.  It says that when you are under 0 life you treat all damage as though its source had infect.  That means you get a poison counter for each damage, and if you reach 10 poison counters, you lose.  So basically it gives you an additional 10 life to deal with (assuming no other infect sources), but it doesn't keep you alive indefinitely.

"basically it gives you an additional 10 life to deal with" -- Well, usually a bit more than 10. If the Unlife player is at 1 life and you hit him for 11, he'll be at -10 life and any further damage will add poison counters.

Your opponent might have been thinking of the Phyrexian Unlife + Melira, Sylvok Outcast combo. If your opponent had Melira on the battlefield, then yes, you have a problem because he won't die at or below zero and he won't get poison counters. But even that combo is not insurmountable. You can still win.
Destroying or exiling Phyrexian Unlife or, preferably, Melira when his life is at or below 0, does the job, as does milling him out or obtaining another win condition such as four Biovisionaries.  By the way, I've noticed that people who have this combo out tend to allow their life get to or below zero more easily, so if you do have a way to get rid of Melira then wait until your opponent has allowed himself to get at or below zero before you get take Melira out.


text:
What happens if a creature is returned to owner's hand after blocking or being targetted?
What will happen to a creature if it's been killed either after being targetted by spells or by blocking?
example 1:
Player A casts Chandra's Outrage targeting Angelic Wall; Player B uses Crystal Shard's ability (return target creature to its owner's hand) to return Angelic Wall to his hand.  Does Player A's spell still resolve and find new targets?  And if Player B has no other creatures and Player A has the only creatures in play, would it target one of Player A's creatures?
Also, if Player B waited for Chandra's Outrage to resolve and the Angelic Wall dies, when Player B uses the Crystal Shard ability on Angelic Wall before it goes into graveyard will it take effect?  Will Angelic Wall be returned to Player B's hand rather than going to the graveyard?
example 2:
Player A attacks with a 3/3 creature and Player B blocks with a creature that's only a 2/2 and then lets damage resolve.  When Player B uses Crystal Shard's ability, will his 2/2 creature be returned to his hand instead of going to his graveyard?  And if Player B declared that his 2/2 will block Player A's creature, then used the Crystal Shard ability before damage resolves, does Player B's creature still block Player A's creature, or would Player A's creature get through because damage hasn't resolved yet?

FYI, you've asked about returning to owner's hand, but the answers are really the same no matter how a creature leaves play. It could also die, get exiled, or even get put back into it's owner's library.

Example 1:
If a spell with targets would resolve, and if it has no targets left, than that spell will be countered.
This is known as fizzle-ing
*note if the spell still has at least 1 target, it will still resolve.  chandra's outrage only targets a creature, and therefore will be countered, but flames of the firebrand will not be, if it still has at least 1 target left.
Example 1':
no, player B would not be able to target the wall if it dies.  It will be put into the graveyard as a state-based effect before anyone gets priority to cast spells or activate abilities.
Example 2:
You can activate crystal shard after blockers have been declared and before combat damage is dealt.  the 2/2 will return to your hand, and the 3/3 will still be considered blocked
Once combat damage is dealt it's too late.  the 2/2 will go to the graveyard as a state-based effect before anyone gets priority to cast spells or activate abilities.

Nitpick: 'fizzle' is obsolete terminology and you won't find it in the rules; the correct phrase is 'countered upon resolution'.

@StevenStadnicki yes, it's completely colloquial, but it is widely used by players.


text:
Does Memory Erosion trigger even if a spell gets countered?
Player A has the enchantment Memory Erosion on the battlefield.
Player B casts Dark Banishing on Player A's creature, and Player A uses Counterspell on it, so the Dark Banishing is countered.
Will Memory Erosion still take effect, even though the spell has been countered? Or does the spell need to resolve first for Memory Erosion's abilty to take effect?

Memory Erosion triggers when an opponent casts a spell, not when they resolve the spell. Memory Erosion's triggered ability will already be on the stack before Player A even has the chance to cast their counterspell.
The stack will look like this:

~TOP~
Counterspell (targeting Dark Banishing)
Memory Erosion triggered ability
Dark Banishing (targeting a creature)
~BOTTOM~

When Counterspell resolves, Dark Banishing will be removed from the stack and placed in its owner's graveyard, as will Counterspell itself, leaving Memory Erosion's triggered ability alone on the stack. Memory Erosion's ability will then resolve once both players pass priority again, and Player B will place the top 2 cards from his library into his graveyard.
Note: Because objects on the stack don't resolve until both players pass priority, Player A could potentially opt to wait for Memory Erosion's trigger to resolve before casting Counterspell. Player A would get to see what two cards are put into the graveyard and based on that extra information, may decide whether countering Dark Banishing is still worthwhile. (For example, Player B might "mill" a card with Flashback that Player A wants to counter even more than Dark Banishing, so he would hold on to his Counterspell.)
In short: Yes, Memory Erosion will still work, even though the triggering spell was countered.

"Casting a spell" refers to

placing a spell on the stack,
making choices (e.g. targets),
determining costs,
activating mana abilities and
paying costs.

A spell is cast as soon as these steps are completed. Casting a spell does not include resolving the spell or anything in between.
Countering a spell after it has been cast[1] does not undo the fact that it had been cast, so it does not affect Memory Erosion.
Memory Erosion will resolve. (As such, Player A might as well wait for Memory Erosion to resolve before deciding whether to counter Dark Banishing or not.)

A spell can't be countered before it's cast (as it doesn't exist yet) or while it's being cast (since there's no possibility of resolving a spell or ability that would do this at that time.


text:
Can I use both of Grindclock's abilities at the same time?
I'm starting on mono blue mill deck and I saw Grindclock. I'm not sure about its ability.

{tap}: put a charge counter on Grindclock

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

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

When a card has 2 separate sets of "cost: effect", these are 2 separate abilities. You can choose to activate either the first ability or the second ability. Because the cost of both abilities is "tap", you will not normally be able to activate both in the same turn.
If you do untap the card using another spell or ability, then yes, you can use Grindclock's same ability again in the same turn.

Short answer:
Each time it untaps, you may gain counters or mill, but not both. You may use its abilities even you've already used them this turn, as long as you can pay the cost (to tap the permanent while untapped).

"[cost]: [effect]" denotes an activated ability.
You seem to think that tapping activates the ability, but it doesn't. Activating the ability requires that you tap the permanent as a cost.
That means the first thing you do is chose to activate the ability, then you tap the permanent to satisfy the cost of doing so.
You cannot then choose to activate the second ability since you would be unable to pay its cost.
If it becomes untapped by any means, you are free to use the either of its abilities again, even if you've already used that ability. Only a Planeswalker's loyalty ability can't be used more than once per turn (and those which explicitly forbid it on the card). Any other ability can be used as many times as you can pay the cost.

"{Whenever|When|At} [condition], [effect]" denotes a triggered ability.
If these abilities were phrased "Whenever Grindclock becomes tapped, ...", then you would get both effects whenever Grindlock became tapped, no matter the reason it became tapped. You would need some external means of tapping it, though.
For example, attacking with a Fallowsage would give you to the option of drawing a card.
For example, tapping a land for mana while its enchanted by Contaminated Ground would cause its controller to lose two life (in addition to gaining mana). If that land was enchanted by two Contaminated Ground, its controller would lose a total of four life.

@user6555, Added to my answer. Fixed some English errors.


text:
When playing Remodel in Dominion, must you gain a new card?
In Dominion, do the rules permit you to use the Remodel card to trash a card without gaining a new one?
For instance, could I just Remodel a Curse without taking an Estate (or other card costing up to 2)?

As a general rule that applies to all of Dominion, you always must follow every instruction on the card you play as long as it is possible to do so. Whenever there is the option to not do something, the card will use the word "may". This means that if you play Moneylender, you are forced to trash a Copper (if you have one), and if you play Smithy, you are forced to draw 3 cards (as long as there are still 3 cards between your deck and discard piles).
So the same goes for Remodel; as long as there is a card costing up to $2 more than the trashed card available, you must gain one (which will always be true unless all Coppers, and Curses, and Estates have already run out).

Thanks for grounding the answer in the general principle (regarding having to follow every instruction as long as it's possible). For some reason I had thought it wouldn't be necessary because of other cards where for instance you're allowed +1 Buy but you're not compelled to take it, and I was mistakenly viewing the "gain a new card" as being in that category. Now I don't like the Remodel card as much though.

@bryn You technically get the buy whether you want it or not, you just aren't forced to use it.

@bryn +buy and +action don't mean "you must buy something" or "you must play an action card"; rather, you have an imaginary stockpile of legal actions and legal buys, which those effects add to (unconditionally). In your action phase, you may play up to one action card per action you have, and in your buy phase you may buy up to one card per buy you have.

No, you must gain a card if you are able to do so; otherwise the card would say that you "may" gain a card.
This means that you can't use Remodel to speed up your deck if you clogged it up with a ton of copper or estates.