text:
How does Combat Damage Work with Undergrowth Champion?
Undergrowth Champion is a 2/2 creature with an ability that reads:

If damage would be dealt to Undergrowth Champion while it has a +1/+1 counter on it, prevent that damage and remove a +1/+1 counter from Undergrowth Champion.

If Undergrowth Champion had 1 counter on it (making it a 3/3) and was in combat with another 3/3, how much damage would Undergrowth Champion deal?  Would the counter being removed cause Undergrowth Champion to deal 2 damage?  Or would the removal of the counter take place after damage amounts have been assigned?  Would the opposing 3/3 live or die?

UC will deal three damage.
The key is that replacement and prevention effects change what you will perform. Necessarily, this happens before the replaced instructions are performed.
The event being replaced is

All combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously.

In this case, the above means the following before prevention effects:

Simultaneously, UC deals 3 damage to the 3/3, and the 3/3 deals 3 damage to the UC.

But there's a prevention effect affecting the second half. Even if we naïvely apply apply the effect, the answer is clear

Simultaneously, UC deals 3 damage to the 3/3, and remove a +1/+1 counter from UC.

But as per 615.5, the additional part of the prevention effect is actually delayed, so we actually get

UC deals 3 damage to the 3/3, and then remove a +1/+1 counter from UC.

Either way, it's clear it does three damage.

615.5. Some prevention effects also include an additional effect, which may refer to the amount of damage that was prevented. The prevention takes place at the time the original event would have happened; the rest of the effect takes place immediately afterward.

There really are a lot of ways to skin this cat.

Barring any other ability considerations that alter timing (like First Strike), combat damage is applied simultaneously.
The Champion would deal 3 damage to it's opponent.  The Champion would receive 3 damage from the opponent, which it is shielded from by the prevention effect, then the counter is removed.  It looks like this falls under the following rule:

615.5. Some prevention effects also include an additional effect, which may refer to the amount of damage that was prevented. The prevention takes place at the time the original event would have happened; the rest of the effect takes place immediately afterward.

Undergrowth Champion's ability is not a triggered ability.

@Rainbolt - Well, I don't have the comprehensive memorized, what is the proper term? Do I at least have a correct answer about how it plays out?

You have the right answer, but the wrong explanation. It's not a simple terminology issue, or I'd have gladly edited your answer for you.

Undergrowth Champion's ability is a replacement effect which is why I'm not sure how it would be dealt with during combat.

@Rainbolt - Think I found it

The rules you want are 510.1 and 510.2. Damage is assigned when Champion has 3 power, but dealt at the same time that the counter is removed.

Damage is assigned first, per rule 510.1.

510.1. First, the active player announces how each attacking creature assigns its combat damage, then the defending player announces how each blocking creature assigns its combat damage. [...]

Damage is dealt second, per rule 510.2.

510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. [...]

Since Champion has a counter on it when damage is assigned, it assigns 3 damage.

@murgatroid99 I do not think that 615.5 matters. Champion assigns 3 damage, then [deals 3 damage and loses a counter in some arbitrary order that we don't care about]. Technically he deals 3 damage and then loses a counter, but who cares? He assigned 3, so 3 will be dealt.

On re-reading 510.2, I agree with you. It specifically says that the damage that's been assigned is dealt, so it doesn't matter if the power at that point doesn't match the assigned damage.

You explanation fails to explain why UC would deal 3 damage if the UC were to Fight a 3/3. There is a more general explanation that covers both cases.

@ikegami Why does it matter what the Undergrowth Champion is fighting? 510.1 covers how much damage is assigned, and 510.2 covers how much damage is dealt. Neither rule cares about the power of the other creature.

510 doesn't apply to Fight, just combat.

@ikegami Sorry, I misunderstood your previous comment. You're right, this answer does not cover Fight. The question is about Combat. If you want to cover Fight in your answer, I think that's a great idea since the two scenarios are related. I prefer to keep my answers short unless there's some extraneous information that I find interesting.


text:
Is a tapped creature an illegal target?
I was playing the Magic 2015 game on my xbox 360 (I know it has a lot of problems but its midly entertaining, I much prefer the card game though but this brought something to my attention and made me want to know if the game on box is wrong or if I am, since when I play with the cards I need to know the rules since we obviously won't just have a judge sitting there the whole time haha)
Pretty simple story
They attacked with a 4/1 (Don't remember what it was but it had no abilities) so after combat it became tapped
I cast Flesh to Dust but it refused to let me target their tapped creature
Flesh to dust has no special rules on targetting just "Target creature"
I think it doesn't matter if their creature is tapped. Am I wrong?

The question in the title and the question in the body of the post are not the same. The title question is answerable. The question in the body of the post is a bug report in disguise, and is not answerable with the amount of information you have provided. Without screenshots of the board at the exact moment that the issue occurred, your graveyard, and your opponent's graveyard, how can we know whether this is a bug or whether you just missed something?

It was meant to be the same [Edit, I pressed post too early] I don't care if the game was bugged it was more of saying "Am I right about how I thought it worked or does it work the way it works in the game" I worded it wrong though you are right, I appolagize and will fix it.

Flesh to Dust says "target creature", so the target must be a creature. Period. Whether it's tapped or not is of no consequence. Same goes for Akroan Mastiff's ability; it simply won't do anything on resolution if the creature is still tapped then.
Hexproof, Shroud, Protection and other abilities can impose additional limits. Don't forget that creatures can be granted abilities (e.g. Lightning Greaves), and that creatures can be the subject of continuous effects created by abilities of other permanents.

Okay thanks, the creature had no abilities so I guess the game just wasn't working correctly

Don't forget that creatures can be granted abilities (e.g. Aerie Mystics), and that creatures can be the subject of continuous effects created by abilities of other permanents (e.g. Asceticism).

Unless some other ability (such as Hexproof) or effect prevents it, Flesh to Dust can target any creature. It says so on the card.
Flesh to Dust an Instant, so you can cast it whenever you have priority. You get priority during the declare attackers phase, so you should have the opportunity to cast Flesh to Dust.

Phases behave differently in Magic 2015 for XBox 360.
Unlike paper Magic, the game moves along without waiting for you. You only have a few seconds to cast spells after attackers are declared before the game decides that it is time for you to declare blockers. If you do not hit the pause button or cast your spell quickly enough, then you have missed your chance (for now). The game simply will not let you cast spells while declaring blockers.

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Does Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K.'s ability used by a copy make the copy retain the rules text beyond end of turn?
We're playing an Unstable draft. A player cranks a Duplication Device, targeting one of his tokens and copying a Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K. Once the ability resolves, he activates the token's ability targeting the original Pheobe. We're wondering whether the token still has Pheobe's rules text after the end step (after Duplication Device's effect ends).
Follow-up: if Phoebe has her text box stolen in this fashion, would targeting her with Duplication Device on a later turn result in the other target getting her card text, or not since her text box was stolen?

Note that if a player make a copy of their own Phoebe, the Legendary rule will kick in. As such, I'm assuming an opponent's Phoebe is being copied.

The effect created by Phoebe's ability will affect the object permanently (i.e. until the object ceases to exist by leaving the battlefield).

611.2a A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability lasts as long as stated by the spell or ability creating it (such as “until end of turn”). If no duration is stated, it lasts until the end of the game.

Copying an object whose text was "stolen" will still copy its original text.

706.2. When copying an object, the copy acquires the copiable values of the original object’s characteristics and, for an object on the stack, choices made when casting or activating it (mode, targets, the value of X, whether it was kicked, how it will affect multiple targets, and so on). The “copiable values” are the values derived from the text printed on the object (that text being name, mana cost, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, power, toughness, and/or loyalty), as modified by other copy effects, by its face-down status, and by “as . . . enters the battlefield” and “as . . . is turned face up” abilities that set power and toughness (and may also set additional characteristics). Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters are not copied.

(Emphasis mine)

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king of Tokyo- camouflage
If I buy a card that does damage to me, and I have camouflage, do I get to roll to negate that damage? The card says when I take damage I roll to negate it, so I would think I could get rid of the damage by rolling hearts.

Camouflage: If you take damage, roll a die, on a heart roll you do not take the damage. You roll once die for each damage you take. Does this apply to damage from cards?

Yes.
Your doubts probably stem from thinking about the cards that react to attacks. Damage from cards aren't attacks, so those cards don't react to damage from cards. However, Camouflage doesn't mention attacks, only damage. As such, there's no reason for it not to function in the scenario you describe.

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

Do you draw a card at the beginning of your turn?

@JoeW: Is that a rhetorical question?

The card in question says you gain a life when you draw a card and doesn't list any restrictions. So if you draw a card at the card at the start of your turn you gain a life. And in the big scheme of things gaining 1 life a turn is not really that powerful.

Hendrik, the point @JoeW wants to make (I think), which is a very good point, is that Magic cards are meant to be interpreted quite literally. If there were an exception, it would typically say so on the card. (There are a fair number of "exceptions" that are built into the rules of the game, and thus are not printed on cards, but generally you will do quite well by not worrying about those.) P.S. A strategic tip: gaining life is usually not very useful, and thus Horizon Chimera is not a very strong card.

It means exactly what it says: every time you draw a card, you gain 1 life. This includes the card you draw at the beginning of your draw step every turn and any card that a spell or ability tells you to draw.

Also when you draw multiple cards you gain multiple life.

Draw Step

504.1. First, the active player draws a card. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.

You perform the "draw a card" keyword action at the beginning of your turns, and that's the action on which Horizon Chimera's ability triggers, so it does indeed trigger.

Keep in mind that the ability triggers for every card drawn, even when instructed to draw multiple cards.

120.2. Cards may only be drawn one at a time. If a player is instructed to draw multiple cards, that player performs that many individual card draws.

This differs from "whenever you lose life" (which triggers once every time you lose life, no matter how much life you lose) and "whenever [something] deals damage" (which triggers once every time it deals damage, no matter how much damage it deals).


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Do counters go away when the creature that gave them dies
When a creature card gives another creature counters does the counters go away when the creature that gave them dies.(the card does NOT say It gives is  a +1 +1 counter as long as it is on the field)

I noticed that you commented with a "Thank you [...]" on one of the answers. If you are satisfied with that answer, accept it by clicking on the check mark next to it.

No, the counters stay where they are. Counters are a separate entity once they are placed on a permanent. If a creature says "other creatures get +1+1" and then leaves the battlefield, the bonus is lost. And if a creature with +1+1 counters on it leaves the battlefield, the counters go away. But in the scenario you described, the counters stay.

To be extra clear, permanents that say something like "Creatures you control get +1/+1" don't use counters at all. They just have that effect as long as they're on the battlefield. Similarly cards/effects that say "... get +1/+1 until end of turn" don't use counters. Only cards that actually say "+1/+1 counter" do.

@Jefromi I suppose technically one should mention that there are other kinds of counters, like -1/-1 counters and charge counters. But of course the point you make, that an effect does not use counters unless it includes the word "counter", is a good one.

@DavidZ Of course, if an effect does use the word "counter", that's no guarantee that it uses counters. :-)


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Is there a card that turns +X/+X into X +1/+1 counters?
I'm building an Exalted deck, and I've been looking for a card that would completely break the mechanic and make my creatures nearly unstoppable. So far I've had no luck, but here's where I'm hoping you guys can help. I don't know whether it would be an enchantment, creature, artifact, or whatever, but here's a basic description of what I'd like the card to do.
"If a creature you control would get +X/+X, it gets X +1/+1 counters instead."
This would essentially make the Exalted bonus permanent and not just till the end of the turn. If you know of any cards (or combinations of cards, for that matter) that can do something like this, please let me know. Thanks!

I'm pretty sure that that specific replacement effect does not exist, but I think i might have heard of other things such as the ability to sacrifice creatures and put +1/+1 counters equal to their power and such.

I don't know, but if there is it would be extremely powerful, so it would have to cost a LOT.

The Unhinged card, "Staying Power", does what you are looking for.

This sounds like a very powerful effect. I wouldn't expect it to be easy to muster.
I could find only two cards that come close: Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter and
Ooze Garden. Of course, these cards are the ones that get bigger permanently, not the attackers. The Ooze Garden is a bit problematic because it requires the creature to survive combat.
You might find an easier way to abuse the Exalted mechanic is to use something like a Blood-Chin Fanatic. But really, you're overthinking it. The way to make an exalted attacker nearly unstoppable is to ensure it has hexproof and evasion. Hi Invisible Stalker!

Cards with similar effects to Ooze Garden's include Kin-Tree Invocation, Miming Slime, and Reign of the Pit.

Soul's Might be what you are looking for. It places a number of +1/+1 counters on a creature equal to it's power. Sadly, it is a sorcery.

There are a few cards that do something similar to what you're looking for. However, most of them require your creatures do actually deal damage first and are outside of the most dominant Exalted color, White:

War Elemental: "Whenever an opponent is dealt damage, put that many +1/+1 counters on War Elemental."

Necropolis Regent  "Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, put that many +1/+1 counters on it."

Shaman of the Great Hunt: "Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on it."

Sakiko, Mother of Summer "Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, add that much Green to your mana pool. Until end of turn, this mana doesn't empty from your mana pool as steps and phases end." You could spend that mana and another card to spread +1/+1 counters around.

Gleam of Battle: Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on it.

What you're suggesting basically can't work. Adding +1/+1 counters is a one-shot effect, but giving a creature +X/+X (temporarily) is a continuous effect.
Basically, when an effect is created that gives a creature +X/+X, it doesn't really count as an event. It can't trigger abilities (directly), and it can't be replaced. It's just a continuous effect that wasn't there before, and is there now.

I totally agree they'd never actually print this, but for what it's worth, the definition of "event" is actually really broad. "700.1. Anything that happens in a game is an event." I think in practice this means that an event is something that can be clearly explained in card text, for example as part of "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger event], [effect]." There are explicit examples of some kinds of events in the rules (destruction, dealing damage, becoming blocked, etc) but they definitely don't cover everything.

I know that event isn't strictly defined like that, but I'm nearly positive that there no cards have ever been printed with abilities that trigger directly on the creation of a continuous effect (or replace the creation of continuous effects).

Yup, definitely agree with that. ("If a continuous effect which increases the power and toughness of a creature would be created, put X +1/+1 counters on that creature instead, where X is the minimum of the power and toughness increases.")

I actually think that the definition of "event" can be interpreted to exclude those sorts of things, but that goes into how you define "happen", and it doesn't really matter because they either will print cards like that, or they won't.

Consumptive Goo allows you to do close to what you want, but it's pretty expensive:

{2}{B}{B}: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn. Put a +1/+1 counter on Consumptive Goo.

You could attack with it alone, then target it with its own ability to effectively eat the +1/+1 from the exalted and turn it into a +1/+1 counter.
(Yes, it's ridiculous that it can grow permanently by gnawing on itself.)
Or you could attack with something else, then after combat damage (assuming it doesn't die) use Consumptive Goo on your other creature, effectively eating the +1/+1 from exalted while leaving the creature alive.

Note that, as the ruling on the card mentions, you can do that even if it's not buffed. And if you have 8 mana to spend the turn after you play it, you probably have something better to spend it on.

@murgatroid99 Yup, definitely - I don't think this actually "breaks" exalted, but it's the only thing I could find that would let you turn the extra power/toughness into a counter without entirely sacrificing the creature or requiring extra conditions (like dealing combat damage to a player).

This is certainly what the question is asking for, though this ability seems better spent killing opposing creatures.

Heroes' Bane is a great Exalted target.  It effectively doubles in power when activated, so activating it after your exalted triggers resolve will result in a permanent boost.
There are other ways to take advantage of the creature's temporary power bonus though, beyond making it permanent. (And the nice thing about Exalted is, you can just attack again the next turn!)
Prime Speaker Zegana and Greater Good are good examples in Exalted colours.  Casting Zegana or activating Greater Good after attacking will get you more cards to build up your board, or help you recover from board wipers, which are the nemesis of Exalted decks.

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Are there any nonland Plains?
There's a card called Emeria Shepherd that reads (among others, emphasis mine)

Landfall - Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, return target nonland permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. If that card is a Plains, you may return that nonland permanent card to the battlefield instead.

Is there a nonland permanent card that is a plains?

There are not any cards that are non-land and a Plains. This is because each type has their own list of subtypes that can be associated with them and Plains is a land subtype. Cards cannot have subtypes that don't match one of their types, therefore it is impossible to have a card that is a Plains but not a land.

205.3d An object can’t gain a subtype that doesn’t correspond to one of that object’s types.
205.3i Lands have their own unique set of subtypes; these subtypes are called land types. The land types are Desert, Forest, Gate, Island, Lair, Locus, Mine, Mountain, Plains, Power-Plant, Swamp, Tower, and Urza’s.
Of that list, Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp are the basic land types. See rule 305.6.

Also as had been mentioned the second sentence of the Shepard's ability should be "If that land is a Plains, you may return that nonland permanent card to the battlefield instead." referring to the land that triggered the ability in the first place, not the card you target in your graveyard.

Is it me, or has this ruling not yet been updated to be in line with the new addition of "Wastes".

@LaurensSwart 'Wastes' is not a land subtype, it is just the name of a card that has no subtypes. The mana producing ability is given through oracle text not the land's subtype like all other basic lands.

Your text is slightly off.  It's actually:

Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return target nonland permanent card from your graveyard to your hand. If that land is a Plains, you may return that nonland permanent card to the battlefield instead.

So, it's referring to the land that triggers landfall, not the nonland permanent you're targeting in your graveyard.

Maybe "It's referring to the land that triggers landfall..."

Wow, I read that card so many times and always got it wrong :D

@JonTheMon points out how a misinterpretation of the card's text led to your question. However, the literal answer to your question is no, there are no nonland plains (shown in this query). All 13 cards with the subtype Plains also have the type Land.

Plains is a subtype, and Land is a type.

@HaoYe Good catch. Fixed.


text:
If a player completes all their routes, are they required to pick up new destination cards even if the game is almost finished?
Let's say Player 1 has just finished playing all their trains and everyone is now taking their final turn. Suppose Player 2 completed all their routes on their previous turn. Is Player 2 still required pick up 3 new destination cards and keep at least 1? Doing so will cost Player 2 points unless Player 2 had previously completed one of these new routes earlier in the game.
Would it be possible in this situation to allow Player 2 to pick up 3 new destination cards and have the option of discarding all three of them should they find keeping any would cost them points?

This question was was originally just tagged [tag:ticket-to-ride-europe], but the answers apply across all versions of TTR, so I added [tag:ticket-to-ride]

Also a duplicate; https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/21272/is-it-mandatory-to-draw-more-destination-tickets-when-they-are-completed?noredirect=1&lq=1... not sure which one should be closed.

According to the rules (available here) you are not required to pick new destination cards when you complete the ones in your hand.
Player 2 can simply perform one of the other actions for his last turn, e.g. drawing train cards.

No, definitely not. You are never required to draw Destinations Tickets except during setup. It seems to me you don't realize one can claim routes even without Destination Tickets[1]. There's a good chance P2 might have the Train Cards to claim a one- or two-train route for the one or two points it gives.
If P2 can't claim any routes, then they should draw some Train Cards. While P2 could draw Destinations Tickets hoping to draw one they have already completed, that's far too likely to cost them points.

I've played games where I've kept my Destination Tickets to a minimum to focus on getting Stockholm-Petrograd (21 points) and Budapest-Kyiv (15 points).


text:
It Has A Child card - do you stay in Tokyo?
It Has A Child states

If you are eliminated discard all your cards and lose all your [Star], Heal to  10 [Heart] and start again.

If somebody with this card is in Tokyo and they are eliminated, do they remain in Tokyo when they start again?

It Has a Child doesn't prevent you from being eliminated. If it did, it would be phrased

If you would be eliminated, instead ...

instead of

If you are eliminated, ...

This means that other effects that occur on elimination still occur. Specifically,

If you are eliminated by an attack on Tokyo, the Monster who attacked you automatically takes control of Tokyo.
Warning: A Discard card that deals damage to you is not an attack.
If you are eliminated by such a card (Discard card), nobody takes your place, and Tokyo becomes unoccupied.

What it does is allow is for you to join the game with a fresh character. As usual, players start the game outside of Tokyo.

By the way, BGG arrived at the same conclusion.

There is a thread on board game geek  that says you lose Tokyo and the person who eliminated you takes your place, or if you were eliminated by a card no one takes your place.

"If you are eliminated by an attack on Tokyo, the Monster who attacked you automatically takes control of Tokyo." and "If you are eliminated by such a card (Discard card), nobody takes your place, and Tokyo becomes unoccupied."


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

When it does something a basic land doesn't do? Your question is fairly broad, and so would any possible answer. Generally, if the nonbasic land/artifact offers something a basic land doesn't - smoother mana distribution, a burst of mana when you need to cast something powerful more quickly than usual - and the cost - needing to wait a turn to use it, losing another card - is something your deck can deal with, then that's when you'd swap it in.

There are a variety of reasons that your would choose dual lands or basics or mana rocks, it largely depends on the specific deck. In general all dual lands (other than the originals like Tropical Island have some sort of downside compared to basics, usually entering the battlefield tapped (though sometimes with a way of getting around that limitation). Mana rocks again depend on the deck, but generally unless you are running a ramp deck, or at least have a specific thing you are ramping to you generally will not run them.
For reasons to run basics, obviously if you are just running a single color you are going to want all or mostly basics. If you are running cards like Grim Lavamancer  that care about cards in your graveyard you might run fetches along side them, and you could always choose to run utility lands like Ghost Quarter, but the only time in a mono-colored deck you would want to run any dual lands is if you have cards in your sideboard that are off color and you don't want to have too many lands in the sideboard too.
Another reason to run basics over duals is if you are running an aggro deck and all or most of the dual lands in the format enter the battlefield tapped. Exactly how many lands that enter tapped you are willing to run depends on a combination of the color requirements of your deck and the speed of the format. For example with Theros-Khans standard you might decide that with a Red/White aggro deck the only land that enter tapped that you can run is Temple of Triumph and adding Wind-Scarred Crag would slow the deck down too much.
The final main reason that you would choose to run basics is if there are cards that care about basic lands (or basic land types assuming neither original duals nor shock lands are available). For example currently with Khans of Tarkir there are fetch lands that get a land with one of two different basic land types, since there are no lands with basic land types other than basic lands in the format at the moment you would need to run some number of basic lands for the fetches to find. Other things that might care about basic land types are cards like Sunblade Elf and cards with the Domain mechanic.
Now for reasons to run dual lands, the most obvious reason is that you are running multiple colors and you need to have all of your colors consistently. For example if you are running Titanic Ultimatum and want to consistently cast it on turn 7 or 8 you are going to need to run a lot of dual lands to make sure you have all of the colors you need, but if your turn 7 play is instead Devout Invocation since it is much easier to cast color wise with only a single {W} in the cost you can get away with fewer duals.
Another reason to use duals is because they have some other ability in addition to making mana that you want, for example in Theros-Khans Standard there are the lands that Scry 1 when they enter, and the lands that gain you 1 life when they enter, if either of these are abilities your deck needs you might choose to run more of them than you would basics.
For mana rocks you generally only want to run them if there is something specific that you want to ramp into, and you have a time frame that you want to ramp into it by. For example in Zendikar-Scars Standard there was a deck that wanted to ramp into Primeval Titan by turn 4, to do this they need to ramp twice by turn 3 to help make this more consistent they ran Sphere of the Suns as some artifact ramp. In general though unless you have something specific to ramp into though playing mana rocks is taking time and mana away from playing spells that will actually advance your game plan and help you win.
For the question of whether to run duals or mana rocks in addition to or in place of basic lands it again depends slightly. For lands in your average deck you probably want 22-24 (possibly more or less depending on the specific deck, but that is a good place to start). From that starting place you would replace basics with dual lands to a point, there are very few decks that want to run no basics, just because having all of your lands entering the battlefield tapped means you are essentially playing the game a full turn behind your opponent. For artifacts you generally want to run them in addition to the lands you are running, this is because you are probably running a ramp deck and you want to make sure you hit everyone of you land drops in addition to the ramp you are playing, and if you don't hit your land drops your ramp is actually just keeping you where you should be if you had played a land instead of getting you ahead.

It depends on what your deck is doing.
In your specific example those cards come in tapped so cannot act this turn, a basic land could, if i need one more manna to win and i top deck a guild gate you get another turn to try to win.
I think the question you are trying to ask is why would i use a basic land over a dual mana land and the answer to that is when the penalty for having dual mana (comes in tapped, pay one life) does not outweigh the benefit of having access to multiple types of mana.
Edit
as for the keystone, there are hundreds of cards that destroy artifacts, every set has at least 1, basic land distruction is very very rare.

To elaborate on Diego's answer, running the dual lands/artifacts is a lot more common in the Commander format.  Since your deck is comprised of 100 singletons (you can still have any number of basic lands), its hard to get card consistency.  Commander decks often run 3 colors, so having the mana diversity can be very important.  Finally, commander games often last longer, and afford players more time to build their mana base and cast large spells, so getting slowed down isn't as much of a downside.
On another note, since you mentioned the guildgates and cluestones, those come out in the Return To Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon's Maze block.  Many of the many ideas of that block (and its ancestor, Ravnica) emphasized dual-colored spells, so the mana diversity was important.  In fact, all Dragon's Maze booster packs were guaranteed to have a guildgate as a land, to help the sealed formats branch into 3 colors.  In fact, I had much success with a 4 color deck in a Dragon's Maze sealed event thanks to all the color fixing.  Almost all my rares were castable.  See section 3 (splashing) of this article.
So the sets that were heavy on the dual lands often saw better improvements from them.  Otherwise, a basic is probably better than your average dual land because it won't cost you any time to deploy.


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tap and sacrificing an already tapped land to get it's ability
I was looking at Evolving Wilds the other day, and I wondered: Could I put down Evolving Wilds as a land, use it for 1 colorless mana by tapping it, and then sacrifice it to search my library for a basic land?
As opposed to only tapping and sacrificing for a search through the library.
Pretty much, mana AND ability, not ability and nothing else.

Behold, the reason Wizards avoids making non-mana producing lands too often.

No, for two reasons.
Evolving Wilds' ability has the tap symbol in its cost. If it is already tapped, then you can't pay that cost, so you can't activity the ability.
Worse, you can't even tap it for 1 colorless mana in the first place! Evolving Wilds has no ability that lets you tap it for mana whatsoever.
You can tap basic lands for mana because the rules grants them an ability to do so, but that ability is only granted to basic lands (Plains, Islands, Mountains, Forests and Swamps). You can't tap other lands for mana unless they have an ability allowing it.


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Hex Hex card interactions (foretell, play only when hexed, maddening compulsion)
In the game of Hex-hex, our gaming group gets into some rather interesting debates as to how particular timing and effects.  This is one of my favorite aspects to the game, though it can cause things to become rather heated at times.
There is a card interaction which sparked special debate last game, which I pose to the members of the boardgames.SE community to add their input.
For those who are unaware of the game, the rules are located here, but the short version of it is that it plays like a complicated game of hot potato.  A hex passes around and you should continue passing it around through the use of cards, and if you cannot respond to the hex, it explodes on you, giving the person who most recently passed it points and causing you to lose points (in most situations).
Important excerpts from rulebook for this question:

Play only when hexed: These cards are time bombs.  Most are either good news for you or badnews for someone else.  But here's the trick... they only trigger if the Hex actually "goes off" on you.  That said, you can't simply choose to be Hexed.  So, if you have cards that would allow you to pass the Hex, you must play those first.  But when HEXED as a result of having no other cards that allow you to legally pass the Hex or because another player causes the Hex to "go off" on you prematurely (as with the card, Stun) they must be played, for good or ill.  If you hold more than one card of this type in your hand, choose one to play for each time you are HEXED.

Similar paragraph elsewhere:

A player may also become HEXED as a result of certain cards (Stun, Maddening Compulsion) which cause the Hex to "go off" prematurely.  Players may not, however, simply allow themselves to be HEXED if they have the means to pass the Hex instead.  Nor can players cause themselves to be HEXED by naming themselves the target of the Stun or other similar cards.  (Someone might be tempted to do so if they hold a card that gives a benefit to being HEXED, like 'Level'.  But don't let 'em.

And a specific card:

Foretell: play immediately when dealt.  Draw a card.  This Round, all players must sequence their cards and stack them face down in front of themselves.  Cards must be played in this order, starting with the top card.

It also does mention in the rules "Follow the specific instructions on the card.  Where those instructions conflict with the genreal rules printed on this sheet, the card prevails."

The specific situation: Foretell had been drawn as the cards were dealt to all players.  One of the players, we'll call him player A, had the following hand and chose to order it as: "[Turn aside left], [Level], [Null], [Knock-aside left], [Turn aside right]"
Level is a play only when hexed card which when played by someone not in the lead sets their score tied with the current voice-leader.
Play began and player A was forced by Foretell to use his Turn aside left when he was first targeted.  The player to his left then played Maddening Compulsion Right (All players are now compelled to pass this Hex to the Right by any means possible.  If they cannot, they are HEXED).  As the hex is now in front of player A again and the top remaining card in his hand is Level (which does not pass the hex, much less to the right) it explodes and the player wanted to gain the benefits of Level.  Someone tried to null his Level, but then he nulled that player's null, letting it stay in effect.

Should the player have been allowed to order his cards in such a way that he buried cards which are legal to play (which he would have been forced to play had foretell not been active) so as to have his beneficial play only when hexed card higher on his stack? (Satisfies the rules of Foretell, but violates rule of needing to play a card if able)
Would this have been different had he not had a Turn-aside-right card, but instead something else that could not send it to the right but in the same order with Level potentially higher than other cards which might have happened to be legal plays under different circumstances?  (satisfies rules of foretell and satisfies rule of needing to play a card if able, but little way of knowing this would happen)
Would this have been different had he had the same hand but his level card was on the bottom?  Would he be allowed to play level then? (If yes, then does not satisfy foretell, but does satisfy play only when hexed)

Perhaps a house rule to rectify the situation would be that when under the effects of Foretell, play only when hexed cards must be placed at the bottom of your hand but may be played out of order when hexed.

I'm glad you enjoy this aspect of Hex, but the poorly-written rules and bountiful edge-cases are, in my opinion, maddening :).
If I'd been there I'd have argued that "Level" would have worked for him in this situation but only if he had no other cards in his hand that would have been legal plays.   Since he had "Turn-aside-right" then "Level" doesn't work in this case and he's hexed.
But it's definitely ambiguous.  I don't think I like your proposed house-rule as it undermines the chaos that Foretell is meant to impose, but maybe you should experiment.


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Carcassonne city scoring
If a city has two knights for one player and one knight for another, does the player with two knights get the double point bonus for that city?

Can you clarify what you mean by double point bonus? I have never heard of this term before.

By castle do you mean city? And... are you saying that the thing you were asking about doesn't actually exist, so there's no question to answer here anymore?

Yes - please delete!

When the city is completed, the player(s)[1] with the most knights in the city gets points for the city in the amount of two per tile plus two per banner[2]. No other player receives any points for that city.
For example, when completing a three-tile city without banners, the player with two knights will receive 6 points, and the player with one knight will receive none, just like if there was only one knight in the city.

In the event of a tie, each of the players tied for the most knights gets all of the points.
Half that for incomplete cities at the end of the game.

A city is complete when it is surrounded by walls and there are no gaps in the walls or the city. There can be any number of sections in a city. A player who owns a knight in a completed city scores 2 points per tile in the city (count the tiles and not the sections). Each banner in the scored city also gives the player 2 points.
What if there are more than one follower on a completed road or city? With some clever tile placements, it is possible to connect road and city sections, resulting in a road with more than one thief or a city with more than one knight. The player with the most thieves or knights scores the totality of the points. In case of a tie, the tied players each score the points.
During the final scoring, incomplete roads, cities or monasteries are scored. A player who has a follower on an incomplete road, city or monastery scores 1 point per tile. For cities, each banner is also worth only 1 point. In case of a tie, use the same rules as for completed features.

(Emphasis in original)

My wife and I fought for hours about this rule. I pointed out this in the rule book. She admitted that my interpretation was exactly what was in the rule book, but that her interpretation was how we'd be playing. shrug

If by double point you mean banner or other point influence in an expansion, yes. The winner of the meeple showdown wins it all, no divisions except in case of ties.

There's no division of points even when there is a tie. "In case of a tie, the tied players each score the points." More importantly, banner points aren't doubled for having two knights. (I don't know anything about influence.)


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Can the road go behind the Treasure Cards
Can the road go beyond the 9x5 card grid ?

Yes. There is no limit on where you can build.

There looks like a lot of saboteurs in that game!


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Place road card in between the Treasure cards
If I have a continuous road to a Treasure Card, and that treasure card is not the Gold Card, can I place a new road card right in between the Treasure Cards and to flip the next Treasure Card, or do I have to build a new road starting from begining ?

Like gems, coal lumps due not bock the road. The path to the treasure may pass through a card with a coal lump.
If they wanted the path to be blocked, they would have used something like the existing 4-way dead-end.

Based on experience, starting from the original ladder would not be feasible.

So basically after flipping a Treasure Card and finding that is not the gold, the next guy can put just one road card ( if it maches the road ) and flip the next card, right ?

Yes. The path to the treasure may pass through a card with a coal lump.

otherwise there would be no point to having a path on the gold and coal cards.


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Can the Mage Wars Warlock be played without any Demon cards?
As the subject states, I was wondering if the Mage Wars Core Set comes with enough Fire type cards to allow the Warlock Mage to build a spellbook with absolutely no Demon cards. Without seeing the cards, I will assume that most, if not all of the other Dark magic cards are OK, but I would ultimately prefer a pure Fire Magic spellbook.
So as to preemptively answer the almost inevitable 'Why?', I will simply say that, as an orthodox Christian, my conscience doesn't allow me to play a game with such cards. I would prefer not to debate/explain this further, as I believe such a discussion is well beyond the scope of this site.

In the starting Core Set I would have to say that it would be a very tough if not an impossible feat to be able to play the Warlock without the Demon cards, as there is only one Flame type creature, but it just happens to also be a Demon.  So you would have to spend quite a bit of your deck points on the doubled points from creatures not being a dark or fire type.
This may be doable, as you may be able to counter balance with some of the powerful Flame attack spells that can really do some damage, especially when combined with an equipment called Elemental Wand, to allow you to bind and recast the attack spells each turn.

Do you have to have creatures and/or is it greatly detrimental to not have creatures?

It is greatly detrimental to not have creatures, as then your opponent gets many extra action phases that you don't. So you spend your whole turn trying to deal with what he put on the field, and he can just cast more spells to either attack you, build up his creature base, or just gain mana to cast a big creature that it takes you multiple turns to deal with. So then while you are dealing with that creature, he can just destroy you. So if you had some little dummy blocker creatures in the way, it may help a little bit. But I would recommend having a balance of the types of possible card types

In one game, I was trying to set things up to trap my opponent that I forgot about creatures, and he just overran me with creatures. It didn't even end up being very close of a game, even if the damage scale made it look like it.

Google "mage wars Warlock strategy" one of the results will be a 4 minute youtube video of a Warlock tearing a beastmaster apart, winning the game in 9 rounds, without summoning a single creature, demons or otherwise.

seems like this should be more a comment than a complete answer. It doesn't go into any details and the youtube link could become invalid at which point this post has no real information.


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How do Strionic Resonator and Charmbreaker Devils interact?
I'm working on a red instant and sorceries deck featuring Charmbreaker Devils. As I understand it, this ability:

At the beginning of your upkeep, return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand.

is a triggered ability. So I should be able to use Strionic Resonator to copy it. How exactly does copying it work? Is there a chance that the same card in my graveyard is chosen twice, or will I always get two instants or sorceries back, as long as there are two to start with?

You don't even need two to start with.  If it's an instant you could get it back, cast it, then get it back again.

Yeah, I mentioned that. You would cast the instant between step 5 and 6 in my list of steps.

You will get two cards.
The following describes what happens, in order:

Charmbreaker Devils's ability triggers.
Charmbreaker Devils's ability is placed on the stack. [Stack: CD]
You activate Strionic Resonator's ability targeting Charmbreaker Devils's ability.  [Stack: SR, CD]
Strionic Resonator's ability resolves.

Make a copy of Charmbreaker Devils's ability. [Stack: CD#2, CD#1]

Charmbreaker Devils's ability #2 resolves.

Return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand. [Stack: CD#1]

Charmbreaker Devils's ability #1 resolves.

Return an instant or sorcery card at random from your graveyard to your hand. [Stack: -empty-]

Whichever card was returned to your hand by #2 (step 5) will not be around when #1 resolves (step 6). You cannot obtain the same card from both (unless you cast it between step 5 and 6).

You will always get two cards, because the card is only chosen at random during resolution, and not any earlier. Here's how it works out:
First: Charmbreaker Devils will put its triggered ability on the stack.
Second: Before that resolves, you may activate Strionic Resonator. One of its rulings states:

7/1/2013: Strionic Resonator targets a triggered ability that has triggered and is on the stack.

So you copy the triggered ability currently on the stack, and put the copy on the stack above the original.
Third: You then do nothing, and let these resolve.
Fourth: The copy resolves first. You return a random instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand.
Fifth: The original resolves. You return a random instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. This cannot possibly wind up randomly choosing the card you just returned, since it's no longer in your graveyard to return.


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Zurgo + Assault suit questions
Can people help me clarify the following situation:  let's say I have Zurgo Helmsmasher, already equit with Assault Suit + some other equipment + some enchantment.  It is player A's upkeep, and I give Zurgo to A.
1) is it correct that Zurgo is now still indestructible (since the Your turn refers to the current controller player A) ?
2) is it correct that Zurgo cannot attack me? Here it seems like the "Your or a planeswalker you control" on Assault suit text still refer to myself? How is that different from question 1)
3) While player A has control of the Zurgo, does he "control" the other equipment and that enchantment? eg can he sacrifice that enchantment if he gets an outlet? can he re-equipment assault suit or Zurgo's other equipment to his own creatures? Does Zurgo's CMC counts towards player A's devotion?
4) If player A attach some other equipment or some enchantment he has to Zurgo, is it allowed?  Are they all coming back at the end of player A's turn to me?
Thank you.

As long as you control a creature, you fully control it, no matter how you got control of it. For all gameplay purposes except ownership, it's "your" creature. When a creature's controller changes, the controller of equipments and enchantments attached to that creature does NOT change.
As you correctly pointed out, "You" in an object's card text always refers to the current controller of that object. Your questions of devotion is answered with this:

109.5. The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller, [..]

An enchantment retains its controller even if the enchanted creature's controller changes:

303.4e An Aura’s controller is separate from the enchanted object’s controller or the enchanted player; the two need not be the same. If an Aura enchants an object, changing control of the object doesn’t change control of the Aura, and vice versa. [..]

An equipment retains its controller even if the equipped creature's controller changes, and only the equipment's controller can use its activated abilities, such as the "Equip" ability:

301.5d An Equipment’s controller is separate from the equipped creature’s controller; the two need not be the same. Changing control of the creature doesn’t change control of the Equipment, and vice versa. Only the Equipment’s controller can activate its abilities. [..]

Equipments and enchantments do not become unattached if the creature changes controllers, unless that would make the creature an illegal target (e.g. Bloodfire Infusion, which "falls off" if you stop controlling the enchanted creature). They continue to function normally as long as they are attached. The equipment's controller may choose to equip to a different creature when he is allowed to by the normal rules. If player A equips some other equipment to Zurgo, the same rules apply, the equipment will stay attached and function, no matter who controls Zurgo.

The Assault Suit's continuous effect changes the controller of the equipped creature (Zurgo Helmsmasher), period. It doesn't change the control of any Auras and Equipment attached to it (including itself).

is it correct that Zurgo is now still indestructible (since the Your turn refers to the current controller player A) ?

Yes. Your opponent controls Zurgo, so Zurgo is indestructible on your opponent's turn.

is it correct that Zurgo cannot attack me? Here it seems like the "Your or a planeswalker you control" on Assault suit text still refer to myself?

Yes. You still control the Assault Suit, so the equipped creature can't attack you or a planeswalker you control.

How is that different from question 1)

"You" and "your" always refers to the object's controller (or owner if it has no controller).
Your opponent controls Zurgo, so "you" and "your" in Zurgo's abilities refers your opponent.
You control Assault Suit, so "you" and "your" in Assault Suit's abilities refers you.

While player A has control of the Zurgo, does he "control" the other equipment and that enchantment?

No. You still control the Aura and Equipment.

eg can he sacrifice that enchantment if he gets an outlet?

No. You still control the Aura.

can he re-equipment assault suit or Zurgo's other equipment to his own creatures?

No. You still control those Equipments.

Does Zurgo's CMC counts towards player A's devotion?

Yes. Your opponent controls Zurgo, and devotion looks at the CMC of the permanents you control, so Zurgo's CMC counts towards their devotion.

If player A attach some other equipment or some enchantment he has to Zurgo, is it allowed?

The Equip ability doesn't care who controls the creature to which you are attacking the equipment.
What an Aura can Enchant depends on its Enchant ability.

Are they all coming back at the end of player A's turn to me?

They stay attached (unless the Aura says something like "Enchant something you control"), but you won't gain control of them.

1) Zurgo will be indestructible because it is now his controlling player's turn.
2) He cannot attack you because of question 3 and the answer to that is...
3) You still control all your equipment and enchantments therefore the "you" refers to yourself, not the opponent. This means he cannot use your suit's equip ability because he does not control it. This is equivalent to enchanting an opponent's creature with Crystallization, you control the enchantment but not the creature. Zurgo will also count towards that player's devotion because the opponent currently controls him.
4) He can equip and enchant all he wants. However Zurgo will take it with him as control reverts back to you. However, he can re-equip to another creature he controls even if Zurgo is controlled by someone else (following proper timing for when he can equip stuff, of course) because he still owns the equipment. Do note, an Aura that can only "enchant creatures you control" will fall off due to State-based actions. See Bloodfire Infusion to see the ruling.


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Can I use spells with dual mana symbols against Iona, Shield of Emeria?
Can I use spells with dual mana symbols against Iona, Shield of Emeria?
For example, if my opponent names white, can I still cast Unmake?

You can't cast Unmake.

Those are called hybrid mana symbols.

105.2. [...] An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame. An object’s color or colors may also be defined by a color indicator or a characteristic-defining ability. See rule 202.2.
107.4e [...] A hybrid mana symbol is all of its component colors.

So Unmake is white and black, so Unmake is white, so you can't it.

Well damn. Looks like I can't throw a few in my mono white sideboard to deal with that. Thanks a bunch.

Devoid cards would work, but there's only one devoid white spell and it isn't useful for removal. I recommend an artifact

@Yvain All Is Dust works as colorless removal. So does Spine of Ish Sah and a few others. They all have the same problem : they're expensive.


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Who gets the 2 bonus victory points for reaching a new island?
When expanding to an island, would the first person on the new island get 2 bonus victory points?  Or does everybody get 2 bonus points if it is their first expansion on that island?  If the same players gets to 2 different islands first, do they get 2 bonus points for each settlement?

Welcome to Board & Card Games Stack Exchange! If you haven't already, please check out the tour. I've edited your question to make it clearer; if you don't like it, feel free to edit it further. We hope you stick around and ask many more great questions like this one!

Generally speaking, no points are granted for expanding to an island.
That said, some of the scenarios have a special rule that grant points for expanding to an island. For example, scenarios 1, 4, 8 and 9 have the following special rule:

If you build a settlement on a foreign island, you receive a
  Special Victory Point! Take a Catan chit and place it under the
  settlement when you build it. Each player may earn only ONE
  Special Victory Point in this scenario. It does not matter if
  other players have already built settlements on that island.

In those scenarios, every player that builds on an island other than the one on which they started gets 1 bonus point, but only the first time they do so.


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Is there a solution to this freecell game?
Does a solution exist, see attached image?

Yes.
Put the puzzle into this solver and it gives a solution.
The encoding of the puzzle is:
9S AD 8H 2S 4C 10S QS
6D AC 9D 10C 4H 4S 9H
9C 8S JD 7D 3S JS QC
5S KS 8C 3H 5C 5D 2H
QH JH 4D QD 2C 7S
7H JC 8D 10H 10D KC
2D AH KD 5H 7C 3C
6H AS KH 6S 6C 3D


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How does Hallar, the Firefletcher work with Multikicker?
Does Hallar, the Firefletcher's ability trigger each time a multikicker spell is kicked? Or just once for a kicked spell?

I'm confused. Are you asking whether every "whenever you cast a spell" trigger would care about multikicker, or whether Hallar, in caring about kicker, cares about multikicker an additional number of times?

OK, I'm going to revert that edit for now. I think it obscures the primary point of the question.

Sorry, went a bit too far.

The ability happens once.
Hallar, the Firefletcher's ability trigger whenever you cast a spell, checking if the spell was kicked. Since multikicked spells are still a single spells, there is only one copy of the ability.

It triggers once. While the "if it was kicked" clause limits when the ability triggers, the triggering condition is "a spell is cast".
Kicked spells —even those kicked multiple times— are still only cast once, so the ability will only trigger once.
Kicking or multikicking a spell simply affects the cost to cast that spell.

702.32a [...] “Kicker [cost]” means “You may pay an additional [cost] as you cast this spell.” [...]
702.32c [...] “Multikicker [cost]” means “You may pay an additional [cost] any number of times as you cast this spell.” [...]

It would be interesting if the card was worded "When a spell is kicked" as opposed to "When you cast a spell, if it was kicked." - I could see ambiguity there.

@corisKa, The answer is not as obvious, but it isn't ambiguous. A multikicker spell is considered kicked for each time the cost was payed (e.g. "Apex Hawks enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each time it was kicked."), so "Whenever a spell is kicked" would trigger multitple times for a multikicker spell for which the multikicker cost was payed multiple times.


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Ancestor dragon. Inclusive or cumulative
If I have Ancestor Dragon out and attack with 3 creatures does it trigger for creatures attacking and I gain 3 life or does it trigger for each attacking creature and I'd gain 3 life for each of the 3 attacking creatures thus gaining 9 life?

Ancestor Dragon says:

Whenever one or more creatures you control attack, you gain 1 life for each attacking creature.

It triggers only once for each attack if you attack with one or more creatures. If you attack with 3 creatures you gain 3 life.
To clarify, the ability doesn't trigger for each attacking creature, just for each time you attack.
If you attack the second time (for example if you have an additional combat phase) then the ability will trigger again.

Note that "Whenever a creature you control attacks, you gain 1 life" would, in most situations (Stifle is an exception), be functionality equivalent, and confusing in exactly the reverse way.

@Arthur I believe that with the Ancestor Dragon wording, there's only one lifegain event, while your wording isn't as clear.

@Accumulation Yes, the original wording makes it only one lifegain event, so Ajani's Pridemate also cares about the difference. But I think they are equally clear. It is a common enough wording, although never attached to pure lifegain.

@Arthur What, never?  (Notable for being in the same standard as Ajani's Pridemate and Heliod, the Sun-Crowned)

@ArcanistLupus You're right. I was too specific and the "white" made it not appear in my search.


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Wind-Scarred Crag "Add"?
I know the question is really basic but I just started magic yesterday and I have this land card that I don't understand
On Wind-Scarred Crag, it's written that when the card is untapped I need to add a mana fire or light, from where should I add it ? from a land already in my hand?
Thank you

What it means is that, when you tap Wind-Scarred Crag, you get one red or white mana (your choice). So it behaves like either a Mountain or a Plains[1], depending on what you need, but with the penalty that you can't use it immediately (because it comes into play tapped). You do not need to play any additional card, you just get the mana.
[1] Although any card that specifically references Mountain or Plains will not affect this card, because it isn't actually either of them.

You are confusing Lands (cards that can often be tapped to produce mana) and mana (an intangible resource that's used to power many spells and abilities).

A Mountain has the following rule-granted ability:
{T}: Add {R}.
As such, a Mountain is a Land that produces Red mana when tapped.
A Wind-Scarred Crag
{T}: Add {R} or {W}.
As such, a Wind-Scarred Crag is a Land that produces Red or White mana when tapped.

("Add" means "create". "{T}", "{R}" and "{W}" refer to the Tap, Red mana and White mana symbols respectively.)
See What is the difference between lands and mana?


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Does the legend rule affect 2 creatures with the same general name?
Suppose I have Squee, Goblin Nabob on the battlefield. Does the legend rule apply if I then play Squee, The Immortal?

No.
The following is the "legend rule":

704.5j If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

There's nothing concerning controlling two or more legendary permanents with similar names.

duplicate of https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/33548/can-i-have-two-similar-legendary-creatures-on-the-field/33550#33550 ?

@Hackworth, Yup. I closed it as dup.


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Identify the source of this white die
To which board games does this die belong?

It is a white die with 2 blank face, two faces with one pip, and two faces two pips.
Been wondering for a while.
Thanks in advance

"Boardgames"? Do you know that they are from two games? Or could they be from the same game?

The white die looks very much like the dice from Betrayal at House on the Hill, but I have no idea for the black one.

Incidentally, 'dice' is plural, 'die' is singular, and 'dices' is never correct.

Please post a separate question for the second die. Make sure to describe/show each face.

Betrayal at the House on the Hill uses 8 dice like that one.

Betrayal at Baldur's Gate uses 8 dice like that one.

There are surely other games that use these, though Betrayal Legacy is not one of them.

The die in question is used in the "Betrayal" games, Betrayal at House on the Hill, the original game where a group of people explore a haunted mansion, Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, a version of the game set in the Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms city of Waterdeep, and Betrayal Legacy, though the colors were reversed, white pips on black, where like all legacy games, previous plays affect future games for those players. These dice are used for everything randomized in these games, from combat, to saving throws to triggering the game's "Haunt" the event that shifts the game from the early stage exploration to the late game where, usually, one of the players becomes a traitor and must be in some way defeated for the rest of the players to win, with the traitor winning if they fail.
Other games do use the 0,1,2 six sided dice, like Mage Wars Arena, but as far as I have seen only the Betrayal series of games uses black pips on white dice.

Betrayal Legacy also uses them.

@bwarner Right I forgot they made a legacy game, updated.

@bwarner, No, the one's in Legacy are black. https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4395680/betrayal-legacy


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Metamorphic Alteration: Copying a creature that dies
If you play Metamorphic Alteration copying a creature and the original creature dies, does they copy created by MA remain?
For example, if I play MA on a 1/1 copying a 4/4, and the original 4/4 dies, does the copy made with MA remain?

MA doesn't create a copy as much as it turns the enchanted creature into a copy.

Yes. Metamorphic Alteration's copy effect only looks at the the creature once, as MA enters the battlefield. Nothing that happens to the creature being copied has any effect on the enchanted creature.
This is confirmed by a ruling on Metamorphic Alteration:

The characteristics that will be copied are determined as Metamorphic Alteration’s effect first begins to apply. If the copiable values of the chosen creature change later, or if that creature leaves the battlefield, the enchanted creature’s characteristics are unaffected.

Also, keep in mind that Metamorphic Alteration copies exactly what is printed on the chosen creature (unless that creature is copying something else or is a token). So the enchanted creature doesn't benefit from, say, a Giant Growth affecting the creature being copied.


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Checkers: Is there a strategy to win with 2 pieces (one king) vs 3 pieces (one or two kings)?
Red ended up in this situation (see picture), and ended up losing. Is there a way for Red to win?
Mandatory jump is in effect.

What do you mean is there a way to win? What side where you playing? Winning or losing from that position is going to depend on the skill level of both players. Also if you include an idea of what you did it might help with the answer as well.

Re "What do you mean is there a way to win?", Is there a way to guarantee a win? Or conversely, can the the opponent force a loss? /// Re "What side where you playing?", Red, according to the title.

I think there are possibilities for red to win in this case but it is going to depend on the skill level of the other player and what moves they make. More information would still be very helpful.

@JoeW in chess etudes the skill of the players does not matter, it can be assumed that the other side plays perfectly. Can it also be reasonably assumed in this question?

From my understanding checkers is a solved game and perfect play will result in a draw so I would say it does matter.

We need to know the direction of play and who plays first.

@JoeW perfect play from initial position will result in a draw, not from any position.

Which still means that perfect play would not have allowed for a losing situation so skill does matter

@JoeW Skill of players playing from given position does not matter. Skill would matter for arriving into a given position but for an etude I'm comparing this with it's irrelevant, because those normally do not care about the history and only care if the position is winnable given perfect play of both parties.

@AndrewSavinykh If skill doesn't matter why not provide an answer to the question? And as I said before given equal positions and perfect play the game is a draw. In order for it to be winnable either the positions have to be unequal or one side can't have perfect play.


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Does the Ticket to Ride Africa version use tunneling?
Does Ticket to Ride: The Heart of Africa use tunneling? Ticket to Ride: Europe does, but the original Ticket to Ride does not.

No, it does not.
You can find the complete rules here. It does not make any mention of tunneling as part of claiming routes.
Here is a picture of the map; you can see that no routes look like the tunnels from Europe.


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MTG can you destroy a chosen sacrificed creature twice
Me and my friends were playing and I chose to destroy his creature but in response he used its ability to sacrifice it but in response I chose to use another instant of destroy target creature so my question is can I do that or no since the stack is involved and it’s not sacrificed to cast it since it’s already in play
So is it
Scenario 1: I use “Murder” to target his “Aerie Ouphes” so he sacrifices it in response to deal 3 damage to my “Vampire Nighthawk” but in response to that I play another “Murder” that targets “Aerie Ouphes” again can I do that since by the stack my second “Murder” would go off first before his ability to sacrifice it
Also my friend thinks he can do
Scenario 2: I use “Murder” to target his “Aerie Ouphes” so he sacrifices it in response to deal 3 damage to my “Vampire Nighthawk” but in response to that I play another “Murder” that targets “Aerie Ouphes” again but in response to my second “Murder” use “Aerie Ouphes” ability again choosing to sacrifice it and deal the damage to “Vampire Nighthawk” a second time but with the same card ability twice in a stack
I was thinking wouldn’t it go on the stack as
1: Murder targeting Aerie Ouphes
2: Aerie Ouphes ability to sacrifice it and deal damage to my Vampire Nighthawk
3: second Murder targeting Aerie Ouphes
Then the stack would go through with the last thing activated in the chain first

In both scenarios, you would be unable to cast the second Murder because the Aerie Ouphes has already been sacrificed. Since they no longer exist, they can't be targeted.
Because Aerie Ouphes have Persist, they could very well return the battlefield before they even deal their damage, and you could target the new Ouphes with Murder, but that won't prevent the original Ouphes from dealing their damage.

You seem to think that responding to an activated ability is to do something before it has been activated, but that's wrong.
There are two parts to getting the effect of an activated ability:

First, the ability must be activated (or copied).
Then, the ability resolves.

In between activating the ability and it resolving, players will get priority (possibly more than once). To respond to the ability is to do something after the ability has been activated, but before it resolves.
Costs to activate an ability are payed when activating the ability, so paying the activation cost happens before one has a chance to respond to the ability.
The cost to activate an activated ability is found before the ":" in the ability. That means that sacrificing Aerie Ouphes is part of the cost of activating the ability, and therefore happens before one has a chance to respond to the ability being activated.

Note that everything I've said here also applies to spells (cast, then resolves) and triggered abilities (added to the stack after being triggered, then resolves).

You should add details about how the Ouphes' Persist affects the sequence, and how the second Murder could be used to kill the returned Ouphes.

@ArcanistLupus, Ack, missed Persist. done.

Scenario 1:
You can't cast the second Murder targeting Aerie Ouphes since Aerie Ouphes is already in the graveyard (it has been sacrificed).
Scenario 2:
Same thing, but if some weird way you could cast the second Murder targeting Aerie Ouphes, Aerie Ouphes would not be able to be sacrificed, because it would be in the graveyard.
When the card says "Sacrifice ~this~:", it means the sacrificing is a cost. When this cost is paid, the card is already in the graveyard. You cannot prevent your opponent from sacrificing their creatures. Your way of thinking about the stack seems right though.


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End-of-the-turn casting in Magic Arena
I'm playing Magic Arena after quite a long time away from Magic. I still remember how to play but there's something that's keeping me confused about the priority system.
When I'm passing the turn, eventually the opponent plays an instant speed spell before his turn, and the game does not allow me to respond to it. I didn't remember this rule but still OK (although that make instants and permanent spells with flash much more powerful than I thought they were).
But in my last game I just played an enchantment with flash at the end of my opponent's turn, hoping that my opponent could not answer to it with a counter spell, but they were able to respond and indeed countered it.
I searched for rules of end-of-turn casting and I think that it's just a glitch of the game (it's still on beta and there's some of them), but I'm not sure. Any help will be appreciated.

Did you have any instant speed spells or abilities you could cast in response and the mana open to pay for them? If a player has no instant speed spells and abilities they can afford the game auto passes priority because there is nothing you can actually do to respond.

You can activate full control mode.
MTG arena has policies in place to speed up the gameplay considerably. This auto pass of priority is an attempt to remove the slow gameplay that has plagued MTGO.
You can deactivate this feature temporarily by pressing CTRL, you can turn it off permanently by pressing CTRL + SHIFT. Take note that when I say permanently, I mean for that game only; it will revert back to the default of setting when you start a new game.
Read more here.

I'll try activating full control mode. I understand these auto-pass settings, but it should not disallow me to respond to a spell, so I think it was a glitch of how the game implements it. Thank you for your answer.

Each player gets priority before each object on the stack resolves, so you can respond to (almost) every action your opponent takes.
Sometimes you will auto-pass priority in Arena though.  Arena will auto-pass priority if you have no actions you can take (i.e. if you have no instants in hand or don't have enough available mana to cast a spell or activate an ability) or if you've hit the bottom end turn button.  You can enter "full control" mode (I think it's the ctrl key to toggle it) and you will received priority even if there are no possible actions you can take.  You can also toggle the "end turn" button off to stop passing priority if you've previously clicked it and have something you can do.

A spell resolves when all players pass priority.

608.1. Each time all players pass in succession, the spell or ability on top of the stack resolves.

This is the only time a spell resolves, so one can always respond to a spell before it resolves.
...Except, of course, if you are unable to cast a spell.

702.60a Split second is a static ability that functions only while the spell with split second is on the stack. “Split second” means “As long as this spell is on the stack, players can’t cast other spells or activate abilities that aren’t mana abilities.”


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Is it possible to not pay a conditional counter with the cost set at 0?
For example, there's a Cephalid Shrine on the field and someone casts a spell with no copies in any graveyards.  Can someone choose to counter their own spell by not paying 0 mana?
I don't think there's anything in the rules preventing this, but I do know that things like 0 power attacks can't interact with combat damage triggers.  Is there a similar case for costs of 0 being automatically paid?

Rule 117.5 states:

117.5. Some costs are represented by {0}, or are reduced to {0}. The action necessary for a player to pay such a cost is the player’s acknowledgment that they are paying it. Even though such a cost requires no resources, it’s not automatically paid.

So, it is possible to refuse to pay an optional payment with a cost of 0 mana, and a person can counter their own spell by refusing to pay the cost of 0 mana.


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Adaptive automaton effects
I know that when a card like Elvish Archdruid leaves the battlefield the +1/+1 effect is lost. Is this also true for Adaptive Automaton? Or does the  power/toughness remain on the chosen creature type?

Static abilities only work as long as long as their source is on the battlefield.

Can you explain why you think this might be different than Elvish Archdruid? The wording of the ability in question is almost identical. “Other [creatures of some type] get +1/+1.”

As with Elvish Archdruid, the effect only exists when Adaptive Automaton is on the battlefield.
Elvish Archdruid and Adaptive Automaton both have a static ability that creates a continuous effect that alter the power and toughness of some creatures, and static abilities only work as long as long as their source is on the battlefield.[1]

604.2. Static abilities create continuous effects, some of which are prevention effects or replacement effects. These effects are active as long as the permanent with the ability remains on the battlefield and has the ability, or as long as the object with the ability remains in the appropriate zone, as described in rule 112.6.

The wording of Adaptive Automaton's ability and Elvish Archdruid's are both of the form "[Creatures that match some criteria] get +1/+1." If you explained why you think these practically identical abilities might work differently, we could better explain why they don't.

Some static abilities work in zones other than the battlefield, as explained by 112.6. This is not one of those cases. These static abilities can be summarized as follows:

Abilities of sorcery and instant objects (which usually work on the stack)
Characteristic-defining abilities (which work in all zones)
Abilities that only make sense if they work in other zones (which work in those zones)


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Hammerfist Giant with Lifelink?
I have a Hammerfist Giant with a Felidar Umbra on it (enchantment aura that gives the creature Lifelink). There are 3 players and 7 non-flying creatures on the battlefield. I tap the giant to deal 4 damage to each player and non-flying creature. Do I gain 4 life, or do I gain 40 life?

40 life.
Hammerfist Giant is dealing 40 total damage, so you gain 40 total life.

First, I'm pretty sure that in cases where it would actually matter, this would not actually count as multiple second instances of damage, and second, it doesn't actually matter here whether they are separate instances of damage, what matters is that it's dealing a total of 40 damage.

@murgatroid99 Yeah, you're right.  Fixed.

@murgatroid99, Depends on the wording. "Damage dealt": One instance. "Damage dealt by a source": One instance. "Damage dealt to a creature or player": 10 instances, "Damage dealt by a source to a creature or player": 10 instances. etc. Lifelink uses "damage dealt by a source", so one instance.

@murgatroid99 Not sure what you mean by "second" instances, but they are indeed separate instances of damage and lifegain. For this question it doesn't matter, but it matters for replacement effects (such as damage increase/reduction/prevention) and triggered abilities such as Ajani's Pridemate.

That extra "second" was just a typo. The lifelink rules say that if multiple sources deal damage simultaneously, that counts as separate instances of lifegain, but this is just one source dealing a bunch of damage all at once, so it counts as one lifegain event.

@Hackworth, Re "they are indeed separate instances of [...] lifegain", My earlier comment explains this is not the case. Ajani's Pridemate would only trigger once.


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Multiple enchantments on a single player
Can you place multiple copies of one curse, enchantment, on a single player? For example, can one person have multiple Curse of the Bloody Tome placed on them? The enchantment is not legendary but I wasn't sure of the ruling.

There is no limit on the number of Enchantments that can be attached to an object or player.
In the case of Curse of the Bloody Tome, the ability of both Enchantments would trigger at the beginning of enchanted player's upkeep, after which both will be added to the stack, after which the enchanted player will be forced to mill two cards, then another two cards.


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How would Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker's triggered ability work with the Strionic Resonator?
How would Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker's triggered ability work with the Strionic Resonator?
My interpretation is that the ability would trigger twice, but only on the original player that took the combat damage.  It could not be copied to a second opponent.  Does anyone have any additional info?

Re "the ability would trigger twice", It only triggers once whenever Mirko Voskdeals combat damage. Copying a triggered ability copies the triggered ability, it doesn't cause the event that triggered the ability to occur twice.

The copies will always affect the same player as the original ability.
Strionic Resonator would indeed copy Voks's ability because it's a triggered ability. It allows you to change the targets of the copied ability, but Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker's ability does not contain the word "target", so you can't change anything about the copy.

706.10. To copy a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. [..]


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Claiming a route using only locomotives in Ticket to Ride
Are you able to claim the route between Little Rock and New Orleans using only locomotive cards.

There is no days of wonder expansion for ticket to ride, it is just a label that is on all of the boxes no matter what expansion it is. If you look at the web page you will see it on all of the boxes. https://www.daysofwonder.com/tickettoride/en/

Days of Wonder is the publisher / distributor.

Thanks for posting this as a new question! I was about to make the following comment on the other post, but didn't get to it before it was cleaned up: I think this is a duplicate because the other question asks if there is a limit, and the answer says "No, there is no limit." If you feel that "No, there is no limit." is not clear enough to answer your question, please edit and explain more details about your uncertainty. Welcome!

@Judy Isenberg, Is Little Rock to New Orleans and example, or do you think there might be something special about that route specifically?

@GendoIkari, I do intend to add something like "you could even use only locomotives" to answer once possible.


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what does "you control enchanted creature" mean
I'm confused. Corrupted Conscience has an ability where it says you control enchanted creature. Does that mean you can put it on an opponent's creature and use that creature to attack the other player? Can I use it to capture a Humble Defector and gain its draw 2 cards ability?

It creates a continuous effect that changes the controller of the enchanted creature to you. As long as the continuous effect exists (i.e. as long as the creature is enchanted by Corrupted Conscience), and only as long as the continuous effect exists, you will be the creature's controller. As its controller, you can activate its abilities, you can sacrifice it, you can attack with it, you can block with it, and any reference to "you" or "your" in its abilities refers to you.
Note that changing a permanent's controller doesn't cause it to change zone, so it doesn't trigger abilities that would trigger on it leaving or entering the battlefield, it doesn't lose attached permanents (be they Auras, Equipment, or Fortifications), it doesn't lose counters, etc. However, it does regain "summoning sickness" (since it stopped being "under its controller's control continuously since their most recent turn began").
Note that Humble Defector's ability also creates a change of control effect. The most recently created change of control effect that still exists wins out, so using a stolen Humble Defector's ability will cause you to lose control of it. See this for details.


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What is the correct grade of Magic cards?
I didn't find any questions regarding card grading in here, I hope it's fine anyways.
I was browsing a secondary market today and noticed that Scrying Sheets underwent a price increase, probably because of Modern Horizons. I went through my collection and eventually found one. Now I'm not that experienced when it comes to grading. I mean I know when a card is near mint and when it's not but other than that i find it hard to distinguish the range from Good - Played. Since I wanna sell it I'll have to set a grade for it. My first guess was good but the damage on the bottom right corner makes me concerned.

By what criteria are Magic cards graded, and how would they be applied to this card?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is unlikely to be helpful to future users; questions about specific items are highly likely to be opinion-based rather than have a single verifiable and objective answer.

I dont agree. One could help with an answer that provides a good method of grading cards in general, this doesn't have to be restricted to this card.

Then why not ask the question that doesn't require dealing with the specific card in order to actually be answered?

@Nij, Are you claiming there no criteria to establish the grade of a card and that the grading system is useless? I'm not knowledgeable in this area, but I find that highly unlikely. A lot of money rides on the quality of such items. If instead there are established criteria for grading cards as I suspect, then it's not opinion based, and there's no basis for closing this question.

No, I'm saying that trying to grade this specific card is neither helpful to anybody else (against the point of SE) and still requires more opinion on how they apply. But if you're wanting to strawman the actual criticism just to defend keeping this open, go ahead.

@Nij, Fixed the question

From TrollTraderCards:

Near Mint / Mint:  Cards in NM-Mint condition show minimal to no wear
  from shuffling or general play
Light Play:  Minor scuffing, drawing (including signatures or stamps)
  or slight bending.
Moderate Play:  May show any amount of wear, and any type of wear,
  but usually still legal for tournament play once sleeved
Heavy Play:  As moderate play, although much more excessive. May not
  be legal for tournament use, even when sleeved.

But for a more in-depth I would use Star City Games's guide as it provides with you example images. You can find that here.
I would grade your card (without personally looking at it) between PL and HP using Star City Games's grading system, as I can't see if the card has much dirt in it but has that white spot near the top on the left. If it is just a blemish and the bottom and the card is also clean, then PL, if the card has some gunk in it overall, then HP.

considering your answer I'll grade it as played, thank you.


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Oath of Teferi targeting Oath of Teferi?
So I know that ETB happens before the legendary rule kicks in, and you have to choose a target for sacrifice before ETB. So if I play a new Oath of Teferi, I first choose to sacrifice the old Oath of Teferi, then target Oath of Teferi for exile until , then would the legendary rule fail? And if so, can I just sit there and juggle the Oath of Teferi's until I find a better target for it?

Nit: The Legend Rule causes you to move to graveyard, not sacrifice. While quite similar, abilities that trigger on sacrifice don't trigger on move to graveyard, and effects that replace or prevent sacrifice don't apply to move to graveyard.

No.

So I know that ETB happens before the legendary rule kicks in

Well, the ability triggers as soon the object enters the battlefield, but nothing else happens just yet. Specifically, it's not placed on the stack just then, so its targets aren't picked just then.[CR 116.2a]
The next time a player would get priority, state-based actions are first performed, and then triggered abilities are added to the stack.[CR 704.3]

State-based actions (SBAs) are what enforce the Legend Rule. As such, you need to move one of the Oaths to the graveyard before the new Oath's triggered ability is placed on the stack, and therefore before the triggered ability's target is chosen.

Even if we pretend SBAs are performed after triggered abilities are placed on the stack, the answer is still no.
Once the old Oath is moved to the graveyard, it becomes a new object. Objects don't really move between zones; it's more accurate to say that they cease to exist, and a new object is created in the new zone. This means that when the triggered ability gets to resolves, it wouldn't be able to find the Oath you targeted since it doesn't exist anymore.[CR 400.7]
Instead of resolving, the ability would be removed from the stack with no effect because it only has illegal targets.[CR 608.2b]

116.2a Triggered abilities can trigger at any time, including while a spell is being cast, an ability is being activated, or a spell or ability is resolving. (See rule 603, "Handling Triggered Abilities.") However, nothing actually happens at the time an ability triggers. Each time a player would receive priority, each ability that has triggered but hasn't yet been put on the stack is put on the stack. See rule 116.5.
704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, "Timing and Priority"), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated. Once no more state-based actions have been performed as the result of a check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, the appropriate player gets priority. This process also occurs during the cleanup step (see rule 514), except that if no state-based actions are performed as the result of the step's first check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, then no player gets priority and the step ends.
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. There are nine exceptions to this rule: [None are relevant here]
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. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. 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. Otherwise, the spell or ability will resolve normally. Illegal targets, if any, won't be affected by parts of a resolving spell's effect for which they're illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them. If the spell or ability creates any continuous effects that affect game rules (see rule 613.10), those effects don't apply to illegal targets. If part of the effect requires information about an illegal target, it fails to determine any such information. Any part of the effect that requires that information won't happen.


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Dropping the first three blocks on the top
When playing Jenga, if you drop the first three blocks on the top, does that count as you losing or you can continue the game?

Cleaned up the question some, but "dropping the first three blocks on the top" could use some clarification.

It counts as losing.
From the rules:

The game ends when the tower falls -- completely or if any block falls from the tower (other than the block a player moves on a turn).


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Would Bonds of Mortality overrule a creature equipped with Darksteel Plate?
If my opponent has a creature equipped with Darksteel Plate, and I play a Bonds of Mortality enchantment. If I activate the enchantment, does it overrule the Darksteel Plate? Or does this only effect creatures with Indestructible as an ability.

This is covered by the section of the rules titled "Interaction of Continuous Effects".[CR 613]
In short, whenever the game needs information about an object, determine it's current state by starting with the initial characteristics of the object and applying the continuous effects in order of layer. Effects in the same layer (effects that do similar things) are applied in timestamp order (from oldest to newest).
The two effects in question are both applied in the same layer.

613.1f Layer 6: Ability-adding effects, ability-removing effects, and effects that say an object can't have an ability are applied.

As such, they are applied in timestamp order.

613.2. Within layers 1-6, apply effects from characteristic-defining abilities first (see rule 604.3), then all other effects in timestamp order (see rule 613.6). Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a layer. (See rule 613.7.)

The effect created by Darksteel Plate was created first, so it's applied first, then the effect created by Bonds of Mortality is applied second. This means that the creature is "destructible" until the effect from Bonds of Mortality expires at end of turn.
If the creature were to become equipped with Darksteel Plate after Bonds of Mortality resolves, the effect created by Darksteel Plate would have the later timestamp, and it would have Indestructible.

613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it's created.
613.6d An Aura, Equipment, or Fortification receives a new timestamp at the time it becomes attached to an object or player.

Small footnote (no edit necessary).  The equipment owner would need to attach the Darksteel Plate to another creature they control, then move it back.  Otherwise, their Plate never "unattaches" and any attempts to attach it to the creature that is already attached to fail.  See rule 701.3 Attach

Indeed. 613.6d says the new ts is obtained when the Equipment becomes attached, which means when it transitions from being unattached to being attached. Simply paying the Equip cost once isn't enough to do that.

Your edit is very confusing... the first sentence now is answering a question about change of control effects, which has nothing to do with the question. It looks like you are answering a different question completely.

@GendoIkari, ack! Tired. Noticed answer was missing a summary and misremembered what the question was about. Even more tired now. Not seeing an obvious "short version", so simply rolled back my change.


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What's this board game with an old radio and some country flags on it?
This is the boardgame in question. What is it?
The capital cities listed are Paris, London, Brussels, Berlin, Rome, and Vienna. There's a number of spaces that say "Tune" and it appears to have an old AM radio in the center.

Any mention of a Copyright? That would give a year and a company name.

Any writing on the back of the board?

nothing on the back of the board sadly, and no accessories

Must be a specific version of the Radio Broadcast Game:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159448/radio-sende-spiel
While the images on boardgamegeek show slightly different boards, your board has the same features: namely exactly 100 spaces and old wartime flags for Germany and Italy. So the description fits perfectly and it must be some version of this game:
"This is a simple roll and move game with the objective of touring wartime Germany and being the first to reach the final (100) space.
However, the primary objective of the game was to encourage both patriotism and obedience to wartime rules, specifically the prohibition on listening to foreign broadcasters.
When landing on domestic transmitter spaces, the players must carry out certain actions: sing a ditty, send a message, make a weather report or sing a military song. But if they land on a foreign transmitter space, they must exclaim "I have committed a criminal offense", pay a pfennig into the pot and go back to start. Worst is if they land on London's transmitter, when they must shout "God punish England!" and pay 5 pfennig into the pot as well as start over. The pot is taken by the winner."
Not sure where you found this but the game is likely quite old (like 50s or so), I'ld like to own a copy of that if you're selling :)

If the objective of the game was to discourage Germans from listening to foreign broadcasters, the instructions on the board ("START HERE", "RETURN TO STARTING POINT"  ) and the city names would be written in German, not English.

The game displayed could not date from the 2nd World War since the German flag displayed on the board, a variant flag of the Federal Republic of Germany was adopted in June, 1950 so, 5 years after the war.
Strangely, the flag of the Kingdom of Italy on the board would be correct for wartime; it was replaced by the Republic of Italy flag, the one we now recognise, in 1946.

Yes indeed, probably created some years after WW2. Maybe the description on boardgamegeek is not entirely aligned with this board (cfr your language remark). But apart from that it all fits: the radio theme, the flags, 100 spaces and what seems to be a simple roll and move game.