text:
Has anyone heard of a game called connect 5
I have memories of a game. I'm 30 now and I think I was most likely early teens when I played it, so probably sometime around 1998 or so. I think it was called "connect 5" but I'm not positive on that. It was played by dropping tiles into a physical vertical grid. The game was like the famous "connect 4" except.

You had to get 5 in a row rather than 4 to win.
The grid had far more positions than a connect 4 grid. The counters were much smaller to accomodate this.
It had some (two iirc) horizontal "tricky move" bars in the grid. Instead of dropping in a tile a player could chose to move these bars. This would move tiles sideways and could sometimes cause them to fall out of the grid.

My web searches for connect 5 doesn't turn up anything like this game. Is my memory faulty?

Was this a computer game or a physical game or a pen & paper game?

It was a physical game.

Stay Alive?  You don't want to connect 5 in a row, but it's got sliders in the grid.

Did you not Google "Connect Five"? This is clearly a variant of go moku, of which Pente was one commercial variant from the 1980's. I vaguely recall a Connect Five game also.

I googled it but none of the games I found were the same as the game I remember. Nor are any of the ones people have proposed here.

I found this game today at a house garage sale, called "Challenging Tricky 5 In A Row Game", which looks like what you're asking about:

This is certainly very close, the only difference from what I remember is that the grid is only the same size as a connect 4 grid, I remember it being bigger but maybe my memory is faulty (or maybe there was more than one variant).

It was called Shift, but I have no idea who manufactured it or what year it was published.  I'm looking right at it right now, it's in my hand, but there's absolutely no identifying marks other than the cover image, the title, "(THE TRICKY CONNECT-FIVE) GAME", and the instructions on the back that describe the move you're talking about.  Other than that, it says it's "Made in Hong Kong".

The game does definitely exist!
Bizarrely I asked my partner to play it this eve but he actually just threw it out today as a few pieces were missing, thinking it would be easy to replace! I've just gone to replace it hence this search and I cannot find anything like it all online - no images or anything.
But yes exactly as you describe connect 5 instead of 4 with movable sliders that made the game much tricker and interesting! My partner says he got it about 25 years ago, such a shame it was a great game.

Hasbro makes "Connect 4 with Five ways to play" games which have a variation where you slide down alternating red-yellow columns on each side of the board, and must use those pre-played pieces to try and make five in a row instead of four.
Here's a link to Hasbro's PDF instructions showing this variant
That same game also includes a "Pop out" variant where you slide the bottom bar into a "pop-out" position. On your turn you may either drop a checker in the top as normal or pop one of your own checkers out from the bottom row. This adds another strategy of changing the board to a more advantageous position, as the column of checkers shifts down after you pop your checker out of the bottom.
Perhaps your memory was a bit hazy on the "tricky move" bars, this sounds like what you're thinking of for that other variant.

Perhaps you are thinking of this game?  Touche ?  Pieces don't fall out, but they might flip over and become your opponent's.

No, nothing like the game i'm thinking of.


text:
Is there an efficient use for a surplus of Insects in Standard, Kaladesh to Ixalan?
Assuming the opponent has creatures in play, consider the following interaction:
Hour of Devastation + Soul-Scar Mage + Nest of Scarabs
This will generate 5 x (number of opponents creatures) insects.
Is there a card or set of cards that efficiently uses these insects to win the game? While it was previously directed to discard the damage done to your own creatures, an interaction that is reliant on a creature you control that would be killed by Hour of Devastation doesn't work; the creature is dead before the insects enter the battlefield.
Conditions and Limitations:
Standard Legal Cards, ranging from Kaladesh to Ixalan.
Supports a win either in the same turn or on the next one.
Understands that creatures in play will get 5 -1/-1 counters.

Are there any requirements on the cards, such as color or format?

You could simply attack for the win as long as your opponent had 5 or more creatures to start with...

This is still pretty open ended, as diego asked could you specify a format or color that you are looking for? As it is right now it is kind of hard to see what you are looking for in an answer.

What does Understands that creatures in play will get 5 -1/-1 counters. mean?

Aside from simply attacking for the win on the following turn, you have many options:

Grant them haste with Samut, Voice of Dissent
Play a huge Majestic Myriarch and Fling him at your opponent

anothe option, without green: have both Decoction Module and Fabrication Module on the board when you cast the Hour, put all counters on one of the tokens and Fling that

Arcane Adaptation naming Zombie and drain opponent to death with Plague Belcher and a sacrifice outlet (such as Yahenni, Undying Partisan)

You can also drain them with a Wayward Servant if you can make it survive the Hour (and can play white too)

There are probably many more, but these are the ones I came up with in a few minutes.

Epic Struggle comes to mind.

If just attacking won't work, Throne of the God-Pharaoh would damage your opponent for each surviving scarab.
In red, if your attack doesn't finish them off, Makeshift Munitions will allow you to shoot your scarabs at your enemy.

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text:
Between prevention and replacement effects, which takes precedence?
Looking at the interactions between:
Fog versus Undead Alchemist
Abuna's Chant versus Soul-Scar Mage
In each pair, the first represents an effect that prevents damage, while the second represents a replacement effect that does something instead of damage.
In either case, assume that the appropriate event has happened such that damage is on the verge of being done. Does the replacement effect occur, or does the continuous effect pre-empt the damage?

Fog and Abuna's Chant are both prevention effects, and the relevant abilities on Undead Alchemist and Soul-Scar Mage are both replacement effects. Your question doesn't actually seem to be about either continuous effects or triggered abilities.

@murgatroid99 Corrected the abilities, prevention effects are continuous effects, much like squares are rectangles. Now reading 616, though it is mildly tortuous. Suspect it might be APNAP, but still ruminating.

Both prevention effects and replacement effects are types of continuous effects, but I'm sure you wouldn't write "Between continuous effects and continuous effects..." in your title.

@murgatroid99 Not saying you're wrong, just in the midst of editing, and wanted to make the math joke.

I would not edit questions to correct a misunderstanding that you had when you posted, unless that misunderstanding is not relevant or causes the question to be unclear. If you understood the rules completely, then you wouldn't very well need to ask the question.

@Rainbolt The misunderstanding wasn't about the effects, those I got mostly from the rules; came down to the application.

Consider quoting the rules you found when you post. When you hover over the upvote button for a question, the tooltip says "This question shows research effort [...]". So you want to show research effort.

Both prevention effects and replacement effects apply in the same way and at the same time, and the player who is affected or controls the object that is affected is the one who chooses the order in which to apply them. This is detailed in the rules section interaction of replacement and/or prevention effects:

616.1. If two or more replacement and/or prevention effects are attempting to modify the way an event affects an object or player, the affected object’s controller (or its owner if it has no controller) or the affected player chooses one to apply, following the steps listed below. If two or more players have to make these choices at the same time, choices are made in APNAP order (see rule 101.4).

[...]

616.1e Once the chosen effect has been applied, this process is repeated (taking into account only replacement or prevention effects that would now be applicable) until there are no more left to apply.

So, in both of your examples, the player that would be dealt damage decides which replacement effect to apply first.
In the Fog vs Undead Alchemist example, if a zombie controlled by Undead Alchemist's controller would deal combat damage to a player, that player chooses whether to apply the Fog effect and prevent the damage, or apply the Undead Alchemist effect first and mill cards. In either case, once one effect is applied the other one is no longer applicable.
In the Abuna's Chant vs Soul-Scar Mage example, once damage would be dealt by a source controlled by Soul-Scar Mage's controller to the creature that is the target of Abuna's Chant, the controller of that creature chooses which effect to apply first. If they choose to apply Soul-Scar Mage's ability first, the damage is replaced with -1/-1 counters, so the effect of Abuna's Chant is no longer applicable. If they choose to apply Abuna's Chant's effect first, then any remaining damage above the 5 it prevents is then replaced with -1/-1 counters.

This is also covered in Soul-scars Gatherer page:
"If multiple prevention and/or replacement effects are trying to apply to the same damage, the controller of the creature that would be dealt damage chooses the order in which to apply them. As examples, an opponent could choose to apply the effect of Djeru’s Resolve and prevent the damage rather than put -1/-1 counters on it; or an opponent could choose to convert the damage to -1/-1 counters before Insult could double it, and then Insult’s effect won’t apply anymore."

With the edit, the first sentence of this answer is a bit weird; because it's saying what the question already says.

I removed that sentence.

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text:
Does a quantified comparison between differing non-basic lands exist?
Part of the joy of building decks is the theory crafting that can be applied.
Consider a deck with thirty-seven non-land cards, leaving optimal room for 23 lands. For context, the deck is Dimir, (black and blue) or UB.
At current, the land base is: 8 Swamp, 7 Island, and 4 Polluted Delta. For the remaining 4 slots, there is a wide list of options for non-basic lands, including:

Sunken Hollow
Choked Estuary
Watery Grave
Temple of Deceit

Each land offers blue and black mana, and either off-sets the cost of coming into play tapped or has a mechanism to come into play untapped. Other possibilities include the pain lands
Is there a quantifiable evaluation of the cost/benefit of choosing either land to fill the void?
Context: This situation could possibly be extended to any of the other 10 pairs, with the possible exceptions of those including green, giving the innate color fixing there.

The limited options in the question aren't directly comparable. Looking at non-basic lands in general, they categorize as follows:

Requires a Cost or condition to tap.
Filters mana
Is throttled
Come into play tapped
Come into play tapped, but offer an immediate benefit
Come into play tapped, unless you meet a cost or condition

Further, some of the non-basic lands are enhanced over their counter parts by being sub-typed, increasing their search-ability. As designed, the strength of the card increases with its rarity.
Note: Some of the differences in the lands are inherent because of the set they were introduced in. Example: At common, Dimir Blackwater appears stronger than Dimir Guildgate, because 1 life is gained. However, inside the Gatecrash block, the subtype Gate has a functional role.
Given that the needs, costs, and capabilities of each deck they could be played in differ, it is difficult to fully evaluate the impacts of each. The cost-benefit analysis of a land that comes into play tapped with a benefit versus one that has a mechanism to not come into play tap is more nebulous outside of their context. Even within the category of lands with a mechanism to enter the battlefield untapped, looking at Watery Grave versus Sunken Hollow, it is difficult to compare the cost of two life against meeting the condition. Independent of the actions of the opponent, two life could be negligible in a fast deck or one that gains life; however, in a deck that chews on your own life total consistently, that two life may be a bit beyond the pale.
All that said, there are four varieties of non-basic lands that can be evaluated, nearly independent of the deck they are in. Keeping to the Blue/Black premise of the question, these are:

Sunken Hollow
Choked Estuary
Drowned Catacomb Didn't include in question, cause I don't have any.
Darkslick Shores Didn't include in question, cause I don't have any.

The conditions of these lands are:

Enters tapped unless you control two or more basic lands.
Enters tapped unless you reveal a(n) Island or Swamp card from your hand.
Enters tapped unless you control an Island or a Swamp.
Enters tapped unless you control two or fewer lands.

Of these four, the first has the additional benefit that it has the associated land subtypes, making it searchable by Polluted Delta. First though, we should evaluate the ability to satisfy the condition statistically, under the assumptions you play a land each turn you are able to, the opponent doesn't destroy your lands, all four of the remaining land slots are given to one of these 4 options, and you have at least one in your hand. As an extension of that last condition, since we are applying that probability to all four cases, they can be evaluated without having to use multivariate hyper-geometric distributions. That would be hard.
Enters tapped unless you control two or more basic lands.
Sunken Hollow benefits being played turn 3, after two basic lands. For this, there is a decision point which creates two possibilities: is Polluted Delta used to search only for basic lands, only for Sunken Hollow, or some combination.
Enters tapped unless you reveal an Island or Swamp card from your hand.
Choked Estuary just wants a card in hand. Early in the game, this is relatively easy. However, as the assumptions are maintained, and lands are played, the probability a land will be in hand to support playing Choked Estuary untapped dwindle, with the search effect of Polluted Delta narrowing the supply even further.
Enters tapped unless you control an Island or a Swamp.
Drowned Catacombs just wants a card with the appropriate land sub-type in play. Since it can't be searched for with Polluted Delta, there are 19 cards in the population of 60 that could be played before it.
Enters tapped unless you control two or fewer lands.
Darkslick Shores really want to be played on or before turn 3, or with no more than 2 lands in play. It can't be searched from the deck with Polluted Delta, reducing its odds to four successful copies among the population of 60. In this special case, it is less about the last assumption from above (we already have the card), and more about the likelihood it is drawn quickly. As the game goes on, and other lands have been played, this card gets progressively worse.
Graphic

This graph depicts a rough estimation of the chances you'll be able to satisfy the conditions of the cards, narrowed to the range of 40% to 100% over the number of cards sampled as the game progresses (7 to 21) over fourteen turns. Excepting for the requirement that lands be played before Sunken Hollow and Drowned Catacombs, the lines show the probability you've drawn sufficient land to satisfy the condition. For the multivariate concern that is Choked Estuary, There are three lines, reflecting the best, worst, and average case; for the worst, it assumes you've drawn and played every basic land in the deck before drawing the Choked Estuary. The average splits the difference.
Of the four lands evaluated, Drowned Catacombs [blue line starting at (7,.94)] has the greatest probability to satisfy the requirement, so it is the best option.
Chocked Estuary ranks next [diverging lines starting at (7,.88)], up until turn 6; at that point, Sunken Hollow [four converging lines where y ranges from .57 to .72] edges it out if all four Polluted Delta's are used to find basic lands. As the game continues, the average case continues to decay.
Darkslick Shores is not depicted on the graph, because of the four it has the cruelest requirement.
The line not referenced is the probability of drawing at least 1 of 4 cards as the game progresses. This is the probability influencing the last assumption.

That graph has some issues. First, both axes are unlabeled and don't start at 0, and the axis that presumably measures probability goes above 1. Second, there's a lot going on, and it's hard to keep track of which line means what, especially because the line labels don't really explain what they're measuring. Third, the bottom axis seems to be measuring draws, but it's really more of a hybrid of draws and turns because some of these lands care about cards in hand and others care about lands on the battlefield.

1 is intentional; don't want to start at 0, changing the scope to focus on the detail between .4 and 1, where the majority of the change happens. Labels can be added to address 2. Bottom access measures the sample size, accounting for the first and and the subsequent draws per turn.

And a couple of other questions: what do you mean by "throttled" in your category list? What do the Sunken Hollow 0-4 lines mean, in particular at the left end of the graph? What does it mean to measure the probability of playing a Choked Estuary untapped after playing every basic land, starting from having only drawn 7 lands?

On top of that, you seem to have missed several categories of dual lands: manlands (Creeping Tar Pit) (long-term non-mana benefit), bounce lands (Dimir Aqueduct) (major upside + major immediate downside), storage lands (Dreadship Reef), cycling lands (Fetid Pools) (option to draw a card instead of playing it), depletion lands (River Delta) (can't be used many times), and pain lands (Underground River) (enters untapped, downside to tapping for colored mana). Plus the original duals (Underground Sea) that are fetchable and enter untapped with no downside.

@murgatroid99 Rootwater Depths: Throttled. 7 cards, not 7 lands; that worst case assumption assumes you draw 1 basic land per turn, until there are no basic lands left. Most of those categories are a 'benefit' that I errantly discarded by saying "immediate." I'd consider River Delta throttled.  Underground River was covered by cost or condition to tap.


text:
Is this interaction of Grunn, the Lonely King, and Run Amok correctly examined
Active player controls Grunn, the Lonely King at x/x, and has Run Amok in hand. Assume that we've just entered the Combat Phase.All Players Pass.
Active Player declares Grunn attacking. Since Grunn is attacking alone, the last ability triggers.
The Active Player gets priority. Grunn's last ability is added to the Stack. In response, the active Player casts Run Amok, targeting Grunn.
Run Amok resolves, Grunn gains +3/+3 until end of turn: x+3 / X+3.
Grunn's last ability resolves: 2(x+3) / 2(x+3).
So, can I cast Run Amok before the last ability resolves?

You have it correct; you can cast Run Amok before Grunn's triggered ability resolves.
During the Declare Attackers step of the combat phase, players each get priority after attacking creatures have been declared.

508. Declare Attackers Step

508.1. First, the active player declares attackers. [...]

508.1m Any abilities that trigger on attackers being declared trigger.

508.2. Second, the active player gets priority.

So after Grunn's ability triggers when you declare it as an attacker. When you get priority, you will put that triggered ability on the stack, and can then cast Run Amok in response to the triggered ability.
Grunn's ability will double the power and toughness as it is when the ability resolves, which will include the +3/+3 it got from Run Amok.
The Gatherer rulings for Grunn say:

If an effect instructs you to “double” a creature’s power, that creature gets +X/+0, where X is its power as that effect begins to apply. The same is true for its toughness.

It doesn't matter what the power is when the ability triggers, or when it is being added to the stack.
The comprehensive rule that backs up this ruling:

701.9b To double a creature’s power, that creature gets +X/+0, where X is that creature’s power as the spell or ability that doubles its power resolves. Similarly, an effect that doubles a creature’s toughness gives it +0/+X, where X is that creature’s toughness. Doubling a creature’s power and toughness gives it +X/+Y, where X is its power and Y is its toughness.

So to simplify if it was kicked and 10/10 before the attack it would be  26/26 after everything is done? 2*(10+3)/2*(10+3)?

Sorry: P/T math wasn't my problem. I was focused on being able to get in with Run Amok before the last ability resolved.

@DrunkCynic As I understood, it's not the math that was the issue, but the question of whether Grunn doubled the power as it was when the ability triggered, or as it was when the ability resolved. Are you looking for an answer related to whether or not you can cast Run Amok in response to Grunn's trigger?

I was asking to make sure I was understanding the interactions

@JoeW You have it correct.

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text:
What happens when you put a +1/+1 counter on a planeswalker?
Some commander decks have Planeswalker commanders.  What happens when you put a +1/+1 counter on one of them, such as with Opal Palace?

Know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning?

Non-creature permanents can have +1/+1 counters on them, they just don't do anything until the permanent becomes a creature. Say you have a man land. If you animate it, then add +1/+1 counters to it, they stay on it even when it stops being a creature.
Also, cards like Earthen Arms can put counters on any permanent. Its gatherer says:

Any permanent can have a +1/+1 counter put on it. Those counters won’t have any effect unless that permanent is or becomes a creature.

A +1/+1 Counter exist on the commander. It doesn't count as a loyalty counter, it doesn't increase the loyalty.
If by some facet the commander is turned into a creature, the +1/+1 counter would change its power and toughness.


text:
Protection and damage prevention spells
Scenario-> I have pro-red creature like Burrenton forge-tender.  I cast Divine Deflection for 2, targeting the forgetender and my opponent.  I then cast Pyroclasm  Does the 2 damage to the forgetender get prevented by Divine Deflection or by the protection from red?  Does my opponent take 2 damage from Divine Deflection?
Also, if the damage would just be redirected, would it work the same?  For example, replace Divine Deflection in the last scenario with Harm's Way.  Is the damage prevented by protection from red or is it redirected?

Note that Divine Deflection only has one target: whatever the damage should be dealt to after prevention. It's the same with Harm's Way.


text:
How can I handicap Ticket To Ride: USA, without seeming patronizing?
I'm struggling to find a good handicap for Ticket To Ride.
When I'm playing with newer, or less strategic players, I'm beating them by 50 points or so.
I don't like a simple points handicap, as that can seem patronizing. Instead, I prefer to have a personal handicap, that I don't tell the others about.
I've tried a 'Keep all three tickets to start, and then for first turn immediately draw another three' system, but that often backfires if I get a good bonanza get a massive score achieving them all.

I dislike anything like this done in secret.  New players will often watch the skilled player, and emulate these handicaps interpreting them as strategy

Some actions you can take, in increasing order of difficulty it will impose:

Don't aim for the Longest Route.
Don't draw from the visible options. This will reduce the 'skill' you can exercise, making your plays more dependent on luck.
Don't use wild Cards to fill out a color set. Makes it harder to get the longer routes. Knowing that they may gather in your hand, you can still use them as a full set to claim a route.
Don't use wild cards at all.
Increase the number of trains you have to collect to claim the smaller routes. Instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, use 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 6. This will drastically slow your ability to claim routes. Don't actually play the extra card, just collect them.

For much of the game, I find I draw from the deck instead of the piles anyway. At the beginning, I can use almost any color, and I may draw a free locomotive. Of course, combining this with not being able to use wild cards definitely makes you a lot more luck-dependent.

When I play an unranked game on Steam, I draw all my cards blindly.

Simply play a game with a fully open hand.
All of your car cards, tickets are played face up.
Pre anounce & explain your every move & intention openly to the novice player.
This will not only serve as a handicap but will accelerate the rate at wich your novice players become seasoned players.
This applies to all games you will teach to novices as I have done thousands of times to all ages & level of interest.

That's an interesting, but scary approach. I might give it a go sometime :)

If you're looking for a subtle personal handicap that will enforce a minor disadvantage while still allowing you to play "intelligently," I've had luck with enforcing my own rules regarding the use of route cards. Any or all of the following have proven effective:

Do not draw route cards unless all previous routes are complete.
Do not keep more than two (at setup) or one (during subsequent draws) route cards from your drawn hand
Never take a "long route" (or only take route cards below a certain point value)
Don't build connections that will not be a part of your routes

In addition to the suggestions from Drunk Cynic I would suggest:

Allowing a 50 point weaker player to draw 1 extra long route and 2 extra short routes at the start and allow them to keep up to 2 extra route cards.  You can reduce this handicap as their play improves.
Give them 2 or 3 or more free moves at the start of the game (again this handicap may be reduced as their play improves)
Eliminate the tunnel penalty phase for them
Let them pick 1 or 2 extra train cards at each draw (perhaps for the first 25 draws or some other limit that can be adjusted as their play improves)
Let them use 1 to 4 free stations

While these are decent suggestions, @dwjohnston specifically asked for personal handicaps that he won't tell the other players about.

Also- this is for ticket to ride: USA - which doesn't have long routes or tunnels.

Another suggestion to the above is that you can take the routes that give you the least number of points.
For example, if you get the Los Angeles to New York card, take the following route.
LA to Phoenix
Phoenix to El Paso
El Paso to Santa Fe
Santa Fe to Denver
Denver to Omaha
Omaha to Kansas City
Kansas City to St Louis
St Louis to Chicago
Chicago to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh to New York
Instead of taking 6 turns to complete that route, it will take you 10 turns, giving your opponent 4 extra turns to make their own moves. In addition to that, each segment will give you fewer points, making your overall score lower.


text:
Can the ability, return target permeant to hand, be activated on the creature that uses the ability?
Using a specific example, Ancestral Statue.
I have played many different card games and they all have different rules regarding this ability. If I had no other permanents would Ancestral Statue return itself?

Note that you can choose Ancestral Statue to target itself even if you do have other non-land permanents.

Also note that Ancestral Statue doesn't target.

Look at the link you posted. Under "Rulings" it says exactly that.

Since Ancestral Statue doesn't say "Return another nonland permanent, it is possible it will return it self if it is the only permanent you control when it enters the battlefield under your control.
"Another" is an important word; Invasive Species won't return itself.

yes it can and in the case where it is the only non-land permanent, since it doesn't say you 'may' return, it actually forces you to return it to your hand. This is not an option, the ability is forced and therefore must be played.


text:
Calculating the probability of NOT drawing a traitor card in Dead of Winter
If you're playing a 3 player game and hand out 1 card to each player, out of a deck of 3 ally and 1 traitor cards, how likely are the players all allies?
I think the math is you have a (3/4)^3 or approximately %32 chance of everybody being an ally. Is this correct? Thanks.

I presume you know this, but in a three player game you would be dealing from a set of 7 cards (2 non-traitor per player, plus 1 traitor)

@Omertron unless you play Betrayer variant: During setup players may choose to add only 1 non-betrayal secret objective per player rather than 2, greatly
increasing the odds of a betrayer.

Deal out the four cards in a line.  How likely is it that the one on the far right is the traitor card?  1 in 4 right?  Now have the players pick up everything except the far right card.  What are the chances that they didn't pick up the traitor card?  It's the same question.  So your answer is still 1 in 4.

The statistic theory presented by the question is best described Hypergeometric Distribution. During the game set up, 2 Non-betrayal objectives per player, and 1 Betrayal objective, are combined in the opening deck. From that 7 card deck, each player will draw 1 objective, 3 total. Your goal is that 3 non-betrayal objectives are drawn.
N = number of items in the population = number of cards in the deck = 7
k: The number of items in the population that are classified as successes. = number of non-betrayal objectives = 6
n: The number of items in the sample = 3
x: The number of items in the sample that are classified as successes. = number of non betrayal objectives drawn = 3
h(x; N, n, k) = [ kCx ] [ N-kCn-x ] / [ NCn ]
where [aCb] = a(a - 1)(a - 2) ... (a - b + 1)/b! = a! / b!(a - b)!
There is a 57.1428571428571% probability the betrayal objective isn't drawn, or that 3 non-betrayal objectives are drawn.
Your question stipulates that the starting deck is only 4 objectivess, 3 non-betrayal and 1 betrayal.
N = number of items in the population = number of cards in the deck = 4
k: The number of items in the population that are classified as successes. = number of non-betrayal objectives = 3
n: The number of items in the sample = 3
x: The number of items in the sample that are classified as successes. = number of non betrayal objectives drawn = 3
There is a 25% probability the betrayal objective isn't drawn, or that 3 non-betrayal objectives are drawn. This is equivalent to the prospect of choosing one card from the Deck of 4, and letting the players select what remains.

You math is slightly off because you aren't accounting for cards being removed from the deck. In order for all three to be allies:

Player 1 gets the first card, where the ratio is 3:1. This means they have a .75 probability of drawing an ally.
Player 2 gets the second card, but the ratio has been reduced to 2:1 since player 1 removed an ally. Player 2 has a .67 (rounded) probability of drawing an ally.
Player 3 gets the third card, but the ratio is now 1:1, giving a .5 probability of drawing an ally.

If we multiple those together (3/4 * 2/3 * 1/2) we get a total probability of .25 that all three players will be allies, depending on how you want to round the 2:1 ratio.

You are doing way too much math to get to the answer backwards

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text:
If I kill an opponent's Guile while I control a Planar Void will they get to shuffle it back into their library?
This came up in a commander game last week.
Cards Read:
Guile:

When Guile is put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library.

Planar Void:

Enchantment - Whenever another card is put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile that card.

What we ended up doing was exiling it-was that correct?

Possible duplicate of How do Rest in Peace and Progenitus interact?

@NeilMeyer The fact that this is about triggered abilities and the other one is about replacement effects makes it not a duplicate, IMO, although it is certainly useful to have them linked to each other, at least.

It depends on who controlled which card and whose turn it is.
Both cards trigger on the same event, namely Guile going to the graveyard. Therefore the triggered abilities go on the stack at the same time. When that happens, the active player (the player whose turn it is) starts putting his or her triggered abilities on the stack, then the other players do the same in turn order.

603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, each player, in APNAP order, puts triggered abilities he or she controls on the stack in any order he or she chooses. (See rule 101.4.) Then the game once again checks for and resolves state-based actions until none are performed, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority.

So there are 6 scenarios:
You control Guile and Planar Void:
You choose the order of the triggers, so you decide whether Guile goes to exile or the library.
Your opponent controls Guile and Planar Void:
Your opponent chooses.
You control Guile, your opponent controls Planar Void, it is your turn:
Guile is exiled.
You control Guile, your opponent controls Planar Void, it is your opponent's turn:
Guile is shuffled into the library.
You control Planar Void, your opponent controls Guile, it is your turn:
Guile is shuffled into the library.
You control Planar Void, your opponent controls Guile, it is your opponent's turn:
Guile is exiled.


text:
What is the one-turn win combination, using Zada, Hedron Grinder, that requires the least number of cards and external effects, in Modern?
Having only been playing for a bit over a year I am not very knowledgeable on cards outside of standard. I recently got smashed at FNM by a Zada deck which prompted me to look into this for modern (and commander?)
I was thinking this may involve something like Arcbond
What is the one-turn win combination, using Zada, Hedron Grinder, that requires the least number of cards and external effects, in Modern?

The only interesting guaranteed (assuming no external effects) one-turn win combination I can find that uses Zada, Hedron Grinder is the Arcbond combo described in this question, or some variation of it. Basically, you need the following:

Zada, Hedron Grinder
Any creature with Lifelink (e.g. Ajani's Sunstriker)
Arcbond
Any spell that makes a creature indestructible (e.g. Ephemeral Shields)
Anything that deals damage to a creature (e.g. Lightning Bolt)

When you control the mentioned creatures, and then cast and resolve each of those spells in turn targeting Zada, the result is an arbitrarily large amount of damage dealt to each creature and player, and the combo's controller gaining large amounts of life, until every other player has lost.

This is the most optimum one turn win combination I have identified, using Zada, Hedron Grinder, that is Modern Legal.

Zada, Hedron Grinder
Arcbond
Seeker of the Way
Wild Slash
Ephemeral Shields

Deck can be Red White, minimizing color burden.
With Seeker of the Way and Zada in play and untapped, cast Arcbound, targeting Zada; Prowess trigger, Seeker of the Way has Lifelink. Tap Zada and Seeker of the Way for the convoke cost of Ephemeral Shields, targeting Zada; Prowess Trigger. Cast Wild Slash targeting Zada; Ferocious conditional satisfied, damage can't be prevented.
One turn win can be achieved with 4 open mana sources on turn five.

What makes this "optimum", compared to using a cheaper Lifelink creature, a cheaper Indestructible-granting spell, and/or any other one-drop burn spell?

@murgatroid99 Ephemeral Shields casts for free. The interaction of Seeker of the Way and Wild Slash makes the damage from the combo unpreventable.

Transcendent Master (leveld up) could be used to replace both Seeker of the Way and Ephemeral Shields.

@HaoYe Transcendent Master doesn't make Zada indestructible, costs 15 mana. If Zada isn't indestructible, the combination won't work.


text:
How is Ondu Cleric's Rally ability resolved when more than one ally enters the battlefield at once?
If I start with an Ondu Cleric on the battlefield and cast Allied Reinforcements, how much health would I gain? I know it is somewhere between 4 and 6.
Posible options in my mind:
a. The tokens enter at the same time, but the rally ability only counts there being two creatures on at once: The Ondu Cleric, and the token who activated Ondu Cleric's ability. This happens twice, so 22 is 4. (Didn't seem likely, but hey, this might be the case)
b. The tokens enter one at a time, and the rally ability gives 2 health, then 3 health for a total of 5.
c. The tokens enter at the same time, and the rally ability counts 3 creatures both times it is activated for a total of 6 (23).
Optional Question: What if I started with 2 Ondu Clerics on the battlefield? Would that just double the health gained, or would something else happen?

When Allied Reinforcements resolves, the two tokens enter the battlefield at the same time.  Ondu Cleric will see both ally tokens enter the battlefield, and will have its ability trigger twice.  The number of allies on the battlefield is checked when the trigger resolves, so barring any other allies on the board, you will gain a total of 6 life ( 3 for each trigger).
If you had a pair of clerics on the board, each cleric would see both tokens enter, for a total of 4 triggers at 4 life per trigger, giving you a total of 16 life.


text:
Would a Cloudshift targeting Zada, Hedron Grinder also target tokens?
Zada, Hedron Grinder copies instants and sorceries that target him only for all the rest of my creature that the intant or sorcery could target. If I cast Cloudshift, targeting Zada, would it create copies that target the token creatures I control?

Yes, if you cast Cloudshift targeting your Zada, Hedron Grinder, Zada will make a copy of Cloudshift targeting each other creature you control, including tokens. Cloudshift says

Exile target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.

So, any creature you control is a valid target.
Note that when the copies resolve, any creature tokens you control will be exiled and they will not return, because of rule 110.5g:

A token that has left the battlefield can’t move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.

Yes, a token creature counts as a creature.
A creature token behaves the same as a creature card on the battlefield.
Since Zada, Hedron Grinder says "each other creature you control", it will include all creatures, whether represented by a token or by a card.
From the glossary in the comprehensive rules:

A marker used to represent any permanent that isn’t represented by a card.

And rule 110.5e:

A token is subject to anything that affects permanents in general or that affects the token’s card type or subtype.


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

Lightning Storm appears to be the only spell with an activated ability that functions on the stack.
There are a couple of other spells that have an unusual static ability that functions on the stack: Torrent of Lava and Kaervek's Torch. (There's also the more common "(this spell) can't be countered" static ability or the "when you cast (this spell)" triggered ability found especially on Eldrazi cards.)
We can check this by by searching for all instants and sorceries with an : in their text (and we'll filter out mention of Eldrazi scion/spawn tokens for convenience) — the only one in there with an activated ability that functions on the stack is Lightning Storm.
We can also make a regex search for cards that mention the word "stack" at all. For abilities to function on the stack, they'll have to mention being able to function that zone. From that search we also see Torrent of Lava and Kaervek's Touch.

Thank you for posting that link where you search using regex. I had no idea any magic website supported regex so that will make these searches a lot easier in the future!

@MaxYoung Gatherer itself supports using Regex though knowledge of that is pretty obscure. It doesn't always behave... I'm not sure how I'd do the same search on Gatherer since it doesn't seem to work.

You have made my day by showing me this. If I could up vote this answer again I would.

@MaxYoung Glad to help. \o/

There are other abilities that function on the stack that don't explicitly say so. "~ can't be countered", for example, is a static ability that only functions on the stack.

@murgatroid99 Thanks, I've updated with that & another.


text:
Is it legal to pick up cars from a previously claimed route and replay them elsewhere?
On two occasions, I have been one train car short of claiming a route. I would like to pickup cars from routes I've already claimed, and replay them elsewhere.
Early in the game, those routes had been blocked. Later in the game, I had the tickets to claim a new route, but not the train cars. While removing the cards would cause a loss of the points for that route, being able to pick a larger route later in the game, or complete a Route, would provide a net gain of points.
Since there isn't a rule in the Rule book saying that I can or can't remove train cars from a claimed route, can the Internet settle this?

What do you mean by remove an unused route or unclaim a route?

@JoeW The question wants to move cars from a route previously claimed, and play them somewhere else.

@DrunkCynic Maybe but to me it is unclear

@JoeW "I had placed train cars on routes that I no longer needed" and "one train car short from connecting a destination."

As a general guideline, if the rulebook doesn't give you a mechanism to do something within the game, you can't do it. You may as well ask "What if I'm playing tic-tac-toe and I decide I'll draw two Xs at once, or a triangle, or just draw a big circle around the board".

@those who rejected the tag: Apart from the grammar mistakes you left in the question, this question applies perfectly well to Ticket to Ride Europe as well.

It's a good question and the rule book in my opinion really doesn't tell. But playing the online game of TtR makes it clear that ones you placed the train cars you cannot remove/move them.

You cannot pick up cars from a previously claimed route in order to claim a new route. Resource management is one of of the control factors of the game; you only get 45 cars to achieve your routes. The game meets its ending condition when a player has 2 or fewer train cars remaining.
Review the rules for the game. They are written from a permissive stance, instead of a restrictive stance. For instance, the actions you can take on your turn:

Draw Train Car Cards – The player may draw 2 Train Car cards. He may take any one of the face-up cards or he may draw the top card from the deck (this is a blind draw). If he draws a face up card, he immediately turns a replacement card face-up from the deck. He then draws his second card, either from the face up cards or from the top of the deck. (See Train Car Cards for special rules for Locomotive cards).
Claim a Route – The player may claim a route on the board by playing a set of Train Car cards that match the color and length of the route and
  then placing one of his colored trains on each space of this route. He then records his score by moving his Scoring Marker the appropriate number
  of spaces (see Route Scoring Table) along the Scoring Track on the board.
Draw Destination Tickets – The player draws 3 Destination Tickets from the top of the deck. He must keep at least one of them, but he may keep
  two or all three if he chooses. Any returned cards are placed on the bottom of the deck.

The text is filled with "may" statement qualifiers. From that, if the rule book doesn't say you can take an action, you can't take that action.

Rather than focusing on the "may" statements, I'd go with your first argument: the rules for the end game would be meaningless if you could move carriages.

@curiousdannii The end game condition, and the limited number of cars, is merely implicit about the root mechanics of the game. Referencing the permissive nature of the rules provides corroboration.


text:
In Catacombs, how do the remaining party members deal with a dead Hero's possession?
The rules (3rd edition) say that

Only the hero who owns the item may use it and items cannot be given away or traded.

and that

Players may, but are not obligated to, pool their gold

The Resurrect Hero Service description also seems to imply that a dead player keeps his/her possessions

The hero returns to life with all of his or her gold coins and unused Item and/or Spell cards.

Is it still possible in this case to add the dead hero's gold in the pool (for instance to pay for his/her resurrection)?

No.
The game rules, pg 11 (12 of the pdf) say:

At this point, that hero is out of the game unless the remaining heroes reach Althea the Healer and resurrect the dead hero (see page 16). Due to this possibility, the dead hero retains control of any spells, gold coins and or items that he or she has collected. Dead heroes may not use their gold coins or offer them to other players in any special room until successfully resurrected.


text:
Catacombs: Chain Shot Modifier and misses
As per the rules of Catacombs 3rd Ed.:

The chain shot modifier indicates tha the same target cannot be damaged consecutively in a shot sequence [...]. If the same target is hit twice consecutively, damage that would have been inflicted by the second hit is ignored.

Does a miss in a shot sequence count as a "change of target" (can't find a better wording)?
Let's say Xoric the Barbarian plays the Berserker Battle Axe Item card:

(Melee) > (Melee) > (Melee) > (Melee)

Xoric uses the first (Melee) to hit a Minotaur (flipping it over) then aim a Zombie with his second one but misses it. Can he use his third (Melee) to kill the Minotaur he hit in the first shot?

While this is slightly ambiguous, the "consecutively" refers to shots taken in the sequence. If you hit A on shot 1 in a sequence, you won't be able to damage A on shot 2 no matter what, but shot 3 is fine.
If I hit A on my first shot, then on my second shot hit B then A, A would still only take the one damage (despite the "change of target").
This limit isn't to force you to change targets but to encourage it, and to limit the damage a sequence can do to a single target. This way the Overseer can't take a boss sequence and just eliminate a single player trivially, and the Barbarian can't use items to take down the boss in two turns.


text:
Icons meaning in Awesome Kingdom: The Tower of Hateskull
All the cards in in Awesome Kingdom feature a color-coded gem on the top.
Some of them have icons in the gem but I couldn't find their meaning in the rulebook or any card mentioning them...
I'm talking about the icons on the 6 leftmost cards on the picture below:

The Khan of Cons card was labelled as a bonus for the first print run of the game and is the only card with this icon so I assume it means goodie or something like that. The other 5 cards (plus some other in the game) all feature a crowned skull icon.
Does anyone have an idea of its meaning?

After a few games, I believe we came to a conclusion about those icons...
So I'll try and answer my own question (I hope it's OK ;-))
Some of the cards with the icons are thematically connected to the Tower of Hateskull Location (Lord Hateskull, Lady Hateskull and the Stick of 6 parts to name a few). I wouldn't be surprised if the plan is to later release expansion packs for the game featuring new locations with associated cards. Those icons would then come in handy to remove all the cards from the Tower of Hateskull Theme set and replace them with the new ones, only leaving the basic ones and one scenario at a time...

Not sure why this post came back up, but I suppose that's the correct answer... Not sure if it's OK to accept one self answer, just shoot a comment if it's not the case ;-)


text:
In Blood Bowl Team Manager, are Freebooter Stars supposed to be more or less powerful than their regular counterparts?
According to the description in the Rulesbook:

Star Player Cards:
These skilled players really know their way
  around the pitch! These improvements include
  famous Star Players and up-and-coming
  freebooters – aspiring stars who haven’t quite
  made it yet.

it seems to me that a freebooter is less powerful than a regular star, however, the effect of the mechanism used to recruit the Stars:

If a manager drafts a Star Player with the Freebooter ability, the manager
  searches his roster and chooses one player to return to the game box. Then he
  adds the Star Player with the Freebooter ability to his roster and shuffles
  it to create a new Team deck (see below for a full explanation of the Freebooter ability).
  If the manager drafts any Star Players without the Freebooter ability, he
  places them on top of his Team deck in any order.

leaves me with the impression than my roster is better improved when I recruit a Freebooter than a regular Star. Granted, the regular Star goes on top of the Deck, making sure that he will play the next game but on the other hand, the Freebooter allows you to remove a weak player from your deck and to shuffle your discard (potentially containing Stars) back into your deck.
So let's consider two Stars with the exact same abilities, is it better to recruit the Freebooter or the Regular Star?
What's the rationale behind this shuffling the discard back in the deck in this case?

Freebooter: When you reveal this player from your improvement pile,
  you may remove any one Player card from either your Team deck or discard
  pile and return it to the game box. Then add the Freebooter to your roster
  and shuffle it to create a new Team deck. Resolve all Freebooters before
  placing Star Players without the Freebooter ability on top of the Team
  deck. (Unlike other abilities, the Freebooter ability only occurs during
  the turn in which this player was drafted.)

It makes a big difference when you gain the star player.  Gaining the average freebooter in the first round is better than gaining the average non-freebooter (there are always specific exceptions of course) because you will get to use that player statistically more often due to the smaller deck size.  Conversely, gaining a freebooter in the fourth round is potentially useless, as you want any star players you gain to come into play in the last round; only the ones put on top of your deck are guaranteed to do this.  The tipping point is somewhere in between.
One other consideration is how much sprinting your base deck has.  Decks with more sprinting have less use for freebooters because they can filter their deck mid-game.  Consequently, it is better to have more powerful characters to get the most value out of the sprinting ability.

With the Freebooter you not only gain a good (or at least decent) card, but  you also get rid of your least useful card.
With any deck-building game I have played through the years, one of the general principles was always the same: The smaller the deck, the better.


text:
In Pandemic, can the Containment Specialist remove more than 1 cube (without the action of treating) in a cured city?
In Pandemic, when there are 2 or 3 cubes of the same color on a cured city, does the Containment Specialist remove only 1 cube when he lands or all of the cubes (like when treating) since it is cured?

The key verb here is treat.
From the game base rules (emphasis mine):

Treat Disease:
Remove 1 disease cube from the city you are in, placing it in the cube
  supply next to the board. If this disease color has been cured (see
  Discover a Cure below), remove all cubes of that color from the city you
  are in.

The Medic can remove all cubes from a cured disease simply by entering it but it's his role privilege, other roles still have to spend a second action to cure all the cubes

MEDIC
The Medic removes all cubes, not 1, of the same color
  when doing the Treat Disease action.
  If a disease has been cured, he automatically removes
  all cubes of that color from a city, simply by entering it
  or being there. This does not take an action.

For instance, the containment specialist drives to Atlanta where there are 3 blue cubes (1 action). By doing so, he removes a cube for free, but only one since it's not a Treat action. Then he treats the blue disease thus removing the remaining two cubes (1 action)

CONTAINMENT SPECIALIST
When you enter a city with 2 or more cubes of the same color, remove 1 cube

Okay, that's what I thought, but I wanted to make sure.

I've looked and can't see where to "accept the answer." I had already clicked "answer is useful." Is there something else I need to do?

If you look the answers to a question you've asked, there are 3 buttons on the left: a Up arrow (the one you clicked, thanks for that ;-)) ; the down arrow if the answer was not useful and a "check" button to accept the answer if it solved your problem. The check button doesn't show up on answers on other peoples' questions...

Okay, got it! Thanks for letting me know how to play the game. :)

No problem! Thanks for playing it ;-) BTW, there's a quick tour that you can take. It will show you the ropes (and you'll get a badge for that ;-)): http://boardgames.stackexchange.com/tour

CONTAINMENT SPECIALIST
When you enter a city with 2 or more disease cubes of the same color, remove 1 of them.

Upon entering the city with two or more cubes of the same color, the Containment Specialist removes 1 of those cubes - that's it.
This ability has nothing to do with treating the disease.
In particular it doesn't care whether the disease is cured or not.


text:
Maze Game - Late 70's / Early 80's - Battleship-esk - What's it name?
I am looking for the name of a Late 70's / early 80's board game.
The basic design was based on Battle Ship. Each of the two players had a clam shell case where they built their own maze at the bottom and tracked their opponent at the top. Read and green cases, with blue green chips used to build the mazes.
The goal was to follow your opponent's maze by blindly bumping into corners, trying to figure out the path to the goal, which was capturing the other guys pawn before he got to yours.
It was a great strategy game and I would love to dig up, or recreate a copy to play with my kids.
Any hints at the name of this game? And who the manufacturer was?

This sounds to me like Pathfinder which was a game of my childhood.
BGG link - https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2884/pathfinder

Wow. That is it. It is amazing how easy it is to find something on line if you have the name, and how impossible it is if you don't. thank you.  :-)

The game reviewed here on Board Game Geek seems to fit the description quite well
Could this be it?
This is Pathfinder published by MB.

Ninja-ed... Looks like I should have refresh the page before submitting my answer ;-)

beewee - thanks for taking the extra time to include an image


text:
Warhammer 40K 7ed: Haemonculus Covens "It Will not Die" rule effect on units with 1 wound
In Warhammer 40K 7ed, the Dark Eldar's Haemonculus Covens "power from pain" rule gives their wracks the "it will not die" (IWND) special rule by turn 4.
My question is this: Does a unit with one wound (wracks for instance) stand to gain anything from "it will not die"?
In my reading of the rules this would be useless because "IWND" rolls occur at the end of your turn while models that are reduced to 0 wounds are automatically removed from the game as casualties.
Does this mean they never get a chance to use "IWND" to get their wound back before they die?

Nope, IWND is absolutely useless on any model with only one wound...and thus, wracks do not benefit from it in the slightest.
The only models which will really benefit from IWND are characters and Grotesques, since they have multiple wounds each.  In practice, however, Grotesques are the primary benefactors of the ability, since it is pretty easy to Instant Death a T3 or T4 character.


text:
When using Alvin & Dexter with TtR:Europe what are the rules about cities with existing train stations?
When using Alvin & Dexter with TtR:Europe what are the rules about cities with existing train stations?
Do train stations prevent them from entering a city?  Do they have to be moved to place a train station?

These questions, along with a few others have been officially clarified by Alan R. Moon on BGG. His rulings regarding your specific questions are bolded below:

Here is a list of the official clarifications I'm keeping for Alvin & Dexter:

A Station cannot be built in a city with a Monster.
A Depot cannot be built in a city with a Monster.
A Passenger cannot be moved out of, into, or through a city with a Monster.
A Monster can be moved into a city with a Station, Depot, or Passenger.
If a Monster is in a Country location, the whole Country, not just the specific space, is in Chaos.
Cards cannot be added to or taken from a Depot in a city in Chaos.
At the end of the game, a Station in a city in Chaos can still be used normally.
If both Monsters are in the same city at the end of the game, Tickets that include this city are only halved (not halved twice).
If the two Monsters are in the two cities named on a Ticket, this Ticket is only halved (not halved twice).
When you move a Monster, you must move him at least one space, you cannot retrace steps (as in moving one city forward and then one city back), and you may not end the Monster's movement in the same city where it started the move (by moving in a loop).

Rules says nothing about any collision with monsters and train stations.
So it seems that both of them can exist in a single city.
I don't really see any problem with that.
(Same as both monsters in a single city.)


text:
Scion of the Ur-Dragon and Torrent of Souls
When Scion of the Ur-Dragon enters the battlefield it attracts a lot of hate. So my plan is to reanimate it using Torrent of Souls to hit a surprise 16 damage attack using Scion's ability to copy Atarka, World Render. To do this I need to copy Atarka first and then attack. I want to know if Scion will lose the haste obtained from Torrent of Souls when it copy Atarka. Are there other sources of haste that disappear when Scions copy a dragon?

I can see at least 3 different questions here. Please clarify exactly what you want to know. Do you want to know whether your overall plan of 16 damage works, do you want to know whether the copied Atarka loses haste, or do you want to know whether there are other sources of haste that disappear when copying? Pleaase modify your answer accordingly, don't answer this in a comment. Also note that "transform" is a term with a different meaning in MtG, you are talking about "copying".

@Hackworth The first two "questions" have the same answer. I added the third question as a bonus to avoid spamming question that are too related. I will edit the question to use the right terminology.

Determining how continuous effects interact is done using a system of layers (see also: How do Layers work?)

Copy
Control
Text
Type
Color
Add/Remove
Power

In this case, Torrent and Scion both create continuous effects that affect the P/T and abilities. Layers gives us the order in which to apply them, even if the effects were created in a different order.
Scion's copy ability applies in layer 1. So, there, it becomes a copy of Atarka.
Torrent's haste and +2/+0 are applied in layers 6 and 7. So, "Atarka" gains haste and +2/+0.
When "Atarka" attacks, it gains another ability in layer 6. It doesn't conflict with anything, so it's just added. So, you'd have an 8/4 Flying Haste Double-Strike after declare attackers.

I think this answer needs more setup to explain why layers are relevant: i.e. that Torrent of Souls and Scion's copy ability are generating continuous effects.

Also, it would be nice to have a little more detail about the layer system and the relevant layers, instead of just a link to another question asking for that information.


text:
Removal in response to the Helm of the Host's triggered ability
What happens if my enemy removes a creature equipped with Helm of the Host in response to the helm's triggered ability? Does the rule 112.7a apply? (the copy is generated normally). I am confused because the creature is not the source of the triggered ability.

112.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won't affect the ability. Note that some abilities cause a source to do something (for example, "Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to target creature or player") rather than the ability doing anything directly. In these cases, any activated or triggered ability that references information about the source because the effect needs to be divided checks that information when the ability is put onto the stack. Otherwise, it will check that information when it resolves. In both instances, if the source is no longer in the zone it's expected to be in at that time, its last known information is used. The source can still perform the action even though it no longer exists.

You will not get a token.
Rule 112.7a does not apply because that rule only deals with situations when the source of the ability has been moved / removed. Helm of the Host is the source of the ability; the creature it was equipping is not.

if the source is no longer in the zone it's expected to be in at that time, its last known information is used.

If Helm of the Host is on the battlefield not equipping anything when its ability resolves, then the "equipped creature" simply doesn't exist, so there is nothing to copy. This is the same interaction whether it wasn't equipping anything at the beginning of combat to start with, or if the equipped creature was destroyed, or if it was unequipped in response (with something like Leonin Shikari).
Rule 112.7a will allow "the equipped creature" to still be something that can be determined if the Helm is destroyed in response to the trigger. Separately, rule 608.2g will allow that creature to still be copied even if that creature has also left the battlefield. But only when rule 112.7a kicked in to allow "the equipped creature" to be defined.

608.2g If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself, the effect uses the current information of that object if it’s in the public zone it was expected to be in; if it’s no longer in that zone, or if the effect has moved it from a public zone to a hidden zone, the effect uses the object’s last known information. See rule 112.7a. If an ability states that an object does something, it’s the object as it exists—or as it most recently existed—that does it, not the ability.

The key here is "the effect requires information from a specific object". That "specific object" won't exist if the Helm is not equipping anything, so 608.2g won't do anything in the case you ask about. But if the Helm has been removed, 112.7a allows for "a specific object" to come into play (the creature it was equipping when it last existed).
For completeness sake, the ruling from Gatherer verifies the answer:

If the equipped creature leaves the battlefield before the triggered ability of Helm of the Host resolves, or if there is no equipped creature, no token is created. However, if Helm of the Host leaves the battlefield while its triggered ability is on the stack, a token will be created of the creature it last equipped. If that creature has also left the battlefield, its last known information is used to determine what the token looks like.

I found this on Gatherer:

If the equipped creature leaves the battlefield before the triggered ability of Helm of the Host resolves, or if there is no equipped creature, no token is created. However, if Helm of the Host leaves the battlefield while its triggered ability is on the stack, a token will be created of the creature it last equipped. If that creature has also left the battlefield, its last known information is used to determine what the token looks like.

So, in this case, no token will be created.

This confuses me... so if someone destroys the creature in response, no token will be created, but if someone then destroys the equipment, still before the trigger resolves, then a creature will be created again? I understand why you don't get anything if the creature is destroyed ("equipped creature" is not a thing that exists to copy), but why does it work if the equipment is also destroyed?

@GendoIkari the answer is in my question. Read the rule 112.7a.

If the creature is destroyed first, then the last known information of the Helm is that it was not attached to anything .But if the Helm is destroyed first or they were destroyed at the same time, then the last known information is that it was attached to that creature.

@murgatroid99 Ah, so the last sentence of the Gatherer ruling is misleading. It just says "if the creature has also left the battlefield", leaving out that it only works if the creature left the battlefield at the same time or after the Helm.

Ok, so the idea is that if Helm is not on the battlefield at the time, then "Equipped creature" means "the creature it was equipping when the Helm last existed, as that creature existed at that time".

It's really "The creature it was equipped to when the Helm last existed", and if the creature is also then removed, then that expands to "as that creature last existed"

If the first comment of @murgatroid99 is included in the answer, its quality is improved dramatically.

@murgatroid99 I'm still not clear on why using the last-known information about the creature only works in the situation when you are also using the last-known information about the Helm. Might be approaching new question territory.

I think this is another question. The full explanation is getting longer than one comment.

@murgatroid99 While in the process of typing up a question for this; I came across 608.2g, which I believe answers my question. It's just a weird interaction between 112.7a and 608.2g; where 112.7a allows "equipped creature" to be defined, and 608.2g allows that defined creature to be copied. Whereas 112.7a doesn't help if the Helm wasn't equipping anything when it last existed.

I think the simpler answer is that you're working with references and not with values. The source of the ability is the Helm object. The "equipped creature" is the object it is attached to. And at each step in the chain, you use current information if it is available, and last known information if it is not.


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Do I have to reveal all allies found by Munda, Ambush Leader?

When I cast Munda, Ambush Leader and choose to look at the top four cards of my library, do I need to reveal all ally cards, or can I choose which ally cards I reveal and put the rest beneath my library?

You choose which ally cards you reveal. The text on the card says "Reveal any number of Ally cards from among them". "Any number" means you can choose to reveal 0, 1, 2, 3 etc Ally cards. And all the revealed cards are put on top of your library in any order.
Note that MTG never has instructions long the lines of "Reveal all Ally cards in your hand", because if you had 4 Ally cards but only revealed 3, your opponent couldn't have any way of knowing that you didn't reveal them all. MTG never requires "trust" in that way.

Well "etc" is just 4, in this case, but your point stands ;-) I might suggest pointing out that it has to be this way because you don't reveal the non-Ally cards, so your opponent has no way to check that they are actually not Allies. MTG cards are always designed so that your opponent doesn't have to trust you about hidden information.


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The Oregon Trail Card Game: can I talk about my supply cards?
Players are dealt supply cards in the game to help get rid of "calamities".
The rules state this about Supply Cards:

7: Players should look at their own Supply Cards, then place them face down on the table. Players may look at their own Supply Cards at any time.

This does not specify whether or not players may tell other players what they have. I could see where some player may ask the table if someone has for example, a Medicine, and another player may have it but choose to not to tell you. Is the "card's not displayed to other players" rule an effort to stop players from coercing other players into playing specific cards?
Or does this rule hint that players may not talk about what Supply Cards they have at all?

In the SAMPLE PLAY section it says:

Bob says, "I have a Clothes Card I can spare for you."

This hints that you can share information about what cards you have before you play them. Frankly I don't see how it is winnable without some supply card teamwork.


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Where can I get good-quality boxes of custom sizes, so I can store my board games compactly?
I want to store Dixit Odyssey + another Dixit expansion in a box.
The original Dixit boxes are too big. Not convenient for transportation...
As I've searched around, and didn't find any suitable box, I was thinking of getting a box with the dimensions of my choosing. This would be helpful for many other games as well.
Are there specialized products for this? Custom-sized boxes, eventually with the option of defining separators inside of the box?
Which box types and dimensions should I be looking for to store and transport expansion sets of Dixit cards?

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this question is asking about shopping recommendations and is asking opinion based questions about what to get.

@JoeW: How is this off-topic? I'm looking for options to store my board games... I've edited my answer to ask for products and not stores.

I will still say this is off topic as it is not much different then asking for game recommendations in my opinion as mostly likely you are going to get opinion based answers for this question.

@JoeW I would disagree that it is like a game-rec, since those are for asking about games to play for which there are several different answers all of which could be perfectly valid. This is asking about a specific type of product for a specific game, with fairly specific requirements. That should be answerable with examples of how it meets the requirements

I agree with @JoeW https://blog.stackexchange.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/ but this can be made objective.

I bag my games and place them together in a plastic tote to maximize the number of games I keep in my car

@diego The problem really comes down to what one person may say is a quality container another might say is garbage, a lot will depend on the individual person.

possible duplicate of Board game boxes

@SQB Not a duplicate, as the linked question asks to buy standard, existing boxes and this question asks for custom boxes.

Dixit expansions come in boxes of size 8.1 x 3 x 12.7 cm. The cards from the base set, Journey or Odyssey should fit in one of those exact same boxes. Get a box for each expansion that you own. You could make your own boxes, from sheets of cardboard using a box template like this one. You'll want to use 250 grams paper (g/m2, see grammage).

Just put your dimensions into a template generator.
The voting cards can go into a small bag, and you don't really need the bunnies and scoring track. Bring pen and paper.

The Dixit expansion box doesn't work for me because I'm trying to pack Dixit Odyssey which board is ~15x26cm. The template generator is a very nice idea. Thanks.

If anyone knows the proper units of measurement for US standards, please by all means do edit them into this answer.

Since you mentioned you have Dixit Odyssey (abbreviated as DO from now on), I thought I'd share my solution. We have many card games (Bang, Fluxx, Saboteurs, etc) and DO. For transportation I've found it works well if I take the plastic inset (tray?) out of DO, and the resulting space is more than enough for all games. Of course each deck needs to be wrapped in a rubber band to avoid mixing, but the sturdy cardboard box of DO makes it easy to carry all our games.
This of course doesn't solve the problem if the problem is the DO box being too big, but maybe you can use the space inside the box for other things too, in order to rationalize carrying such a large box.

Thank you, zovits. Indeed, I wanted the smaller pack possible, but that's also a good idea for reusing the box, if you have a lot of games.


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How is Pandemic Legacy impacted by playing with two characters?
What are the mechanical/strategic differences in playing Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 with just two characters, as opposed to three or four?
If discussing Season 1 spoilers is unavoidable, please remember to use the spoiler notation (>! hidden text) and clearly mark them.

This is going to vary from person to person. In a two player game you will be using multiple roles and some players may or may not like that.

@JoeW Though playing multiple roles each is a workable variant, by the official rules 2 players just play 1 character each. This has the same advantages and disadvantages as in regular Pandemic, e.g. easier to concentrate cards in one place for a cure but quicker pressure from hand limits.

I think even now it is going to be opinion based. you will have people on the side that fewer players allow for more turns (the decks last longer) which is better, ones that say more players allows for a wider range of actions(more places on map you can do things) is good, and you will have some the prefer the middle ground with 3 players.

The biggest spoiler-free Legacy-specific difference is probably in the end-game upgrades: if any given character gets half the player turns instead of a quarter, buffing a character becomes comparatively more powerful. By the same logic, the amount of damage a single Scar can do to a smaller team is greater.
However I think the most important differences are the same as those of the base game (and are covered in this other question).

In general, its about the same as Pandemic with two players.  You have the advantage of a lot less happening between your turns, so you are better able to predict and react to the state of the board.  And if you get players with strong abilities, you'll be able to use them more times during a game.
The downside is that you lack versatility in being able to have lots of special powers that can be applied to different situations, you can't have presence in as many places on the board, and you have a lot less cards in hand collectively, so you need to be careful about how you go for cures.  Also, the Dispatcher role in particular is significantly weakened with fewer players.
There are elements that come up in Legacy that amplify each of these, but nothing that dramatically changes them.  I would say that I typically find games with fewer players slightly easier, but Legacy has some elements that auto-correct the difficulty so it shouldn't be a problem.

There are a couple roles in Legacy that have powerful advantages but corresponding significant disadvantages.  Some of those disadvantages affect the ability to cure diseases.  While a three- or four-player game can absorb that cost, when we played a two-player Legacy campaign we found that we never used those roles because we couldn't afford to take that hit.
While objectives change throughout the year, curing diseases is a persistent need.


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Scrabble Triple Word Score Question
In Scrabble, If on the board there is:
PICKLE
If you start at the E tile, go down one tile, then right one tile there is a triple word score.
If you put SO vertically at the end of pickles (So the O would  be on the triple word score):
  PICKLES
        O

Does just SO get triple word score, or does PICKLES and SO both get their score tripled?

From the official rules on Hasbro's website:

Premium Word Squares: The score for an entire word is doubled when one of its letters is placed on a pink square: it is tripled when one of its letters is placed on a red square.

The Triple Word square triples the value of any word played on it. So in your example, SO would score triple points, but PICKLES only scores normally. However, if the triple word square was directly to the right of PICKLE, then by placing the S on it you'd triple the score for both words.


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Name of a board game with a world map and an airplane traveling to different cities
I am trying to find the name of an old board game.
It had a picture of the world on the board with different cities. A line is drawn from each city to a destination. That is the only place that city can fly too.
The pieces are an airplane and cards that has pictures of each city on them that can be flown too. The plane can only go to where the line is drawn to another city. Example: if the plane is in Rome, the plane may only go to London, Paris, or Rio de Janeiro.
Also there are fake 100 dollar bills. Each player bids on the flight. Whoever wins the bid sends the plane to one of those 3 cities then from there bidding starts again to go somewhere else.
The idea is to go to all the cities you have in your hand. I believe the name of the game is Holiday or something like that.
If anyone knows the name of the game, please let me know.

Welcome to the site! Can you give us any other information about the game? For example, how many players is it for, roughly how long does it take, and even what year you did you first play it (as a upper bound for the publishing year).

Your memory of the game's name is pretty much correct,
The game in question is called "Holiday!"
(note the !, as there is another game called "Holiday" that is quite different to what you remember).
The rules to "Holiday!" are almost exactly as you remember, with the addition that the destination cards also hold a day of the week, which awards a player additional points for reaching the destination on that day.

Perhaps you could add some information (other than the link, which might not work forever) why you think this is the correct game?

@ZeissIkon additional details added, but the question answers itself, this is just validation that the asker's memory is correct.


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What is this board game with black & white pieces and criss-crossing lines called? or how is it played?
I found this image on Pinterest with description "Ancient board game".

There are more than 15 black and white pieces, some of them are placed on the intersection of 3 vertical lines and other criss-crossing lines.
What is it called and how to play?

funny enough this image came from BGG where the name was right there

This is a game called "Fighting Serpents" or "Kolowis Awithlaknannai",
and in particular this is a version of that game produced by a Greek company by the name of Elite Crafters.
The game originally comes from the Zuni people of New Mexico, but its most likely a modified version of Alquerque, which was introduced by the Spanish while they were exploring the Americas.

Do we know if it is a "solved" game (that is, if we know if it is a fair game with perfect play or if one of the players has the advantage)?

While, much like Alquerque, the game hasn't been solved, they are both closely related to Checkers (English draughts), which has been solved, showing that with perfect play either player can force a draw; This game would most likely follow the same pattern.


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Identifying a word-guessing game based on the players' role
A couple of years ago, I learned a game from a Chinese grad student that he didn't know an English name for. I'd love to know if anybody knows about it and has a name I could use when explaining it to others. Here's the way it works:
There need to be at least four people playing, but I don't know if there's a maximum number of players. The game takes place in rounds where one person is the game master (GM) for each round.
The GM writes words on pieces of paper. Every paper except for one has the same word on it, but the remaining paper has a related, distinct word. The GM puts the papers in a bowl so that players pick without anybody knowing who has what word, even the GM.
Then players go around and say something about the word on their paper. After everyone has said something, the GM calls for the players to vote on the count of three by pointing to who they believe has the distinct word.
The GM checks to see if the player with the most votes has the distinct word or not. If it's not somebody with the distinct word, that player is eliminated and the remaining players go around again and say something else.
This continues until either the player with the distinct word is caught or there are only two players left, at which point the distinct word player wins.
There were only six of us playing when I learned about the game, but the guy who taught us the game said that there were additional rules to keep it competitive when there were more players. I think he said a third word would be added or something like that.
I just watched a video on YouTube of people playing a Japanese card game called "A Fake Artist Goes To New York" which was similar to my game (link to that video). The most obvious difference is that mine requires no drawing. But another significant difference is that in my game, nobody knows whether they have the distinct word or not. Everyone wants to be vague in case theirs is the distinct one, and it may continue to be hard to tell if things are kept vague enough.
Is anybody familiar with this game?

That's interesting. It definitely has a similar feel to Chameleon, with the glaring difference being that the Chameleon only knows what category of words; (s)he doesn't know a specific word.

It's also pretty similar to Spyfall, which is more narratively driven but works more or less the same way.

It's also similar to Elon Musk's iPod Submarine, with the difference being that Elon Musk knows only that he is Elon Musk, and the vagueness being mechanically enforced because you're only allowed to say two words.

I don't know if the game and the rules you played has a certain name, but the basis of this game looks like from Word Wolf, a Werewolf game with words. The rules you played might be a variation/house rules of this game.
Preparation: Players get their own words (or "role")

At least 4 participants, consisting of 1 GM and 3+ players
The GM thinks of 2 different-but-related words (e.g. "Tennis" and "Table tennis") and decides which one is the "villagers" (the majority) and the "werewolves" (the minority; usually 1, but can be more if there are enough players)
The GM writes these words on pieces of paper the same amount as the "villagers" and "werewolves", then fold and shuffle them (or anything to prevent the words easily guessed by the players and the GM)
Each player then picks a paper and sees the words without telling anyone. They don't know if they are "villagers" or "werewolves"!

Playing: Players trying to guess if they are "villagers" or "werewolves" by discussing the words without revealing them. The "villagers" trying to hunt the "werewolves", and the "werewolves" trying to mix-in with or deceive the "villagers". This phase seems to have many variations, but usually free-talk with time-limit (just like the original Werewolf)

The GM decides how long the round will be (e.g. 5 minutes), then starts the game
Each player is free to say/ask something to gather information based on the other players' response, while at the same time trying their best to hide their identity from anyone
When the round ends, the players simultaneously vote on who is the "werewolves" (a.k.a "lynching")
If the majority votes are on a "werewolves", then the "villagers" win. Otherwise, the "werewolves" win. (It seems there's no default tie-breaking system, though usually it's done by re-voting on the players with the tied vote only)

That's the basis of the game, though it is easily extended with variations/house rules, such as (the naming is arbitrary; it's my own idea):

Reversal: if the majority votes are on the "werewolves", then they are given a chance once to guess the majority word. If it's correct, then the "werewolves" win
Turn-based: instead of the time-limit, the GM decides how many turns in a round, then each player has 1 chance to say/ask something in each round
Sequential: instead of free-talk, each player in sequential says/asks something
Long game: just like the original Werewolf, instead of a single independent round, it is played until all "werewolves" got hunted (the "villagers" win), or the amount of "werewolves" equals the "villagers" (the "werewolves" win). Each round, the "lynched" player is eliminated from the game
Outsider: The 3rd word is added, and is deemed as "villager"
and possibly many more...

This game is known as 誰是臥底 (Who Is Spy). It is created and popularized by a Chinese game show based on another long-standing word guessing game 捉鬼 (lit. Catching Ghosts). There are a number of different variant rules for both games. Usually, playing Who Is Spy with more players means adding more spies, but there are variants of Who Is Spy and Catching Ghosts with a third word or blanks.


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What is this game with a wooden fish board and many little pinholes?
I bought this in a thrift store in Sitka, Alaska, in 2014. I assume it's a 2-player game with little pins that go in the holes.

Does anyone know what game this might be?

The fish is a plaice. The board layout looks similar to Cribbage. There are different board layout to it, but wikipedia has one that looks like your fish. I'm saying similar since I'm unfamiliar with the game itself and there seems to be 4 little extra holes in your fish.

The Google search term I used was peg 60 holes and from there the first few images already returned similar ordered ones as on your fish.
As per the comment and credit to @Shannon, the extra holes are usually for either storing your pegs when not in use, or for keeping score for multiple games

The extra holes are usually for either storing your pegs when not in use, or for keeping score for multiple games (for cribbage, anyhow!).


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What is the probability of obtaining the right, left, Ace, King, and Queen of trump in a 5-card hand in euchre?
Take into account that in order for that hand to be the best hand, the dealer must also flip over a card that matches the suit that your best hand is for.

Edit: the original question had two potential methods, one of which was correct and one of which was not.  For posterity, here are the two methods, paraphrased from the original question.
Method one (correct):
5 cards are chosen without replacement and without the order mattering from a deck of 24 (9, 10, J, Q, K, A in four suits). Then a sixth card is chosen. The 5 cards must be JQKA in one suit and J in the other suit of the same color. The sixth card must be 9 or 10 of the JQKA suit.
There are 42,504 possible hands of 5 cards. There are four possible "best hands" corresponding to the four suits. Once one has fixed a best hand, there is a 2/19 chance of the sixth card being one of the two chosen ones.
Therefore the probability is (4/42504) * (2/19), approximately 9.90619 x 10^-6.
Method 2 (incorrect):
Suppose you want the first two cards to be jacks and then the remaining cards to be QKA of a corresponding suit. Perform each draw sequentially.
You have a 4/24 chance of getting a jack with your first draw.
Then you have a 1/23 chance of getting the complementary jack on the second draw.
Then you have a 6/22 chance of getting one of the possible remaining cards (queen, king, or ace of either jack suit).
Once this happens, the suit is determined and there are only two possible remaining cards, so there is a 2/21 chance of getting one of the possible remaining cards at this stage.
Then to get the last necessary card is a 1/20 chance.
Finally, there is 2/19 chance that the sixth draw is as required.
4/24 x 1/23 x 6/22 x 2/21 x 1/20 x 2/19 = 9.90619 x 10^-7

The first method is correct.
The problem with the second method is that it assumes that the first two cards in the deal are jacks and the third, fourth, and fifth cards are the non-jacks. One could fix this by multiplying the probability by 5C2 (you are choosing which two of the 5 dealt cards are the jacks).
There is no problem with ordering within the two jacks because there is no assumption about which jack came first. There is no problem with ordering within the other three cards because there are no assumptions about which one was which.
Multiplying by 5C2 = 10, one obtains exactly the answer as via Method 1.

Further edit:
As pointed out in a comment, the rules (and thus the probability) are different for the dealer. The dealer must add the sixth card to her or his hand and then discard one of her or his six cards.
The sixth (face-up) card must then be a jack, queen, king, or ace of one fixed suit and the dealer's original hand must be the other three of these cards, the complementary jack, and an arbitrary other card. The chances of the sixth card being a jack, queen, king, or ace are 16/24. Then there are precisely 19 cards left to be the arbitrary card in the dealer's original hand (and the other four cards are fixed). Then there are 19*16 deals that result in the dealer having the best possible hand. The total number of deals (including the sixth card as a separate choice) is again 42504 * 19. Then the probability for the dealer is 16/42504, approximately 3.76 * 10^(-4), quite a bit more likely than for the other players.

Since the two methods you refer to have been edited out of the question, you should include them in your answer.

It gets a little more tricky if you're the dealer though because the up card replaces a card in your hand.

@LeppyR64 it's a good point that for the dealer the probability is different, although it is in fact no more difficult. The original wording of the question made it clear that the asker was not asking about the dealer, but I don't mind modifying my answer to include that probability for completeness.

I just noticed that the question had been edited quite a bit.  You already got my upvote regardless :)


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Can I use a flicker effect to stop an opponents blocker from blocking
Pretty much what the title says. Supposing I have the ability to flicker an opposing blocker, can I force damage past it?
To give a concrete example:
Suppose my opponent has:

1 untapped vanilla creature on the battlefield
1 life
No lands on the battlefield
No cards in hand.
1 Enchantment saying, "In your upkeep, you win the game".

And I have:

1 haste-y creature on the battlefield
Flicker of Fate in hand (flicker and creature, for 1 white + 1 generic).
Two untapped plains on the battlefield

It's my first main phase.
Can I use flicker to prevent their blocker from blocking and win the game?
If so, exactly what is the timing?

Cloudshift can only target creatures YOU control, so I assumed it was about flickering the attacker. Please edit your question accordingly if that wasn't your intention

Ah! my bad. I'll adjust.

@Hackworth, there, that's closer to the actual game state I had :)

@Allure I believe that that's normally referred to as Blink to distinguish. Could be wrong, though.

No, you can't prevent a block with a flicker effect, unless your creature has trample.
If you flicker the creature before it is assigned as a blocker, your opponent can just assign it as a blocker during the declare blocker step of the combat phase. If you flicker it after it has been declared as a blocker, it will be removed from combat, but your attacker will still count as being blocked.

506.4. A permanent is removed from combat if it leaves the battlefield [..]
509.1h An attacking creature with one or more creatures declared as blockers for it becomes a blocked creature; one with no creatures declared as blockers for it becomes an unblocked creature. This remains unchanged until the creature is removed from combat, an effect says that it becomes blocked or unblocked, or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first. A creature remains blocked even if all the creatures blocking it are removed from combat.

When it comes to the combat damage step, blocked creatures will deal their damage to creatures blocking it - there is no creature to deal damage to in this case, so your creature deals no damage at all.

510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it. If no creatures are currently blocking it (if, for example, they were destroyed or removed from combat), it assigns no combat damage. [..]

Exception: If your creature had trample, it would deal its combat damage to the defending player.

702.19c If an attacking creature with trample is blocked, but there are no creatures blocking it when damage is assigned, all its damage is assigned to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.

Thanks. This was my understanding too. Just wanted it confirmed. :)