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Giving cards away in Catan
I’m playing Catan and my brother-in-law has 9 points with the longest road. I was sitting at 7 points and another player had a pretty long road with only 5 points.
So I gave that other player brick and wood so they could take the longest road. I ended up winning the game, and that was probably the only way I could have won.
Would that be illegal if I didn’t accept anything for the brick and wood? Would it be illegal if I accepted one sheep for say, two brick and two wood? I only did the trades on my turn.

Not a dup. The linked Question is about a very specific and different scenario. The Answer to the linked Question only answers half of this Question.

The linked question asks if a move that's legal in the rules should be allowed. This has nothing to do with this question. Voting to reopen.

@ikegami - Completely a dup. The motivation here might be different, but both parts of Rick's question are answered by the various answers on the linked question.

@Ikegami Agree with AndyT. This is enough of a dupe to leave closed, at the very least the answer is exactly the same. The rules do not take into account motivation for trading for nothing, they simply state "You may not give away cards."

@AndyT, That's not true at all. "Would it be illegal if I accepted one sheep for say, two brick and two wood? " is not  answered anywhere in the answers to the other question. Furthermore, it's baffling to me that you think it's ok to direct people to people wondering about the trading rules to that very complicated Q&A. That's not the spirit of the site at all.

@Andrew, That's not true at all. "Would it be illegal if I accepted one sheep for say, two brick and two wood? " is not  answered anywhere in the answers to the other question. Furthermore, it's baffling to me that you think it's ok to direct people to people wondering about the trading rules to that very complicated Q&A. That's not the spirit of the site at all.

@ikegami - My apologies. You are correct, the other question does not cover disproportionate trades. I'm still happy with this being closed as a dup, as that side question isn't the main question being asked here. If a main question is acceptable, then a side question can get away with being in it. If the main question is answered elsewhere, then the side question should be a seperate, new question.

@ikegami Fair enough, you are correct that part is not covered, voting to reopen.

"Furthermore, it's baffling to me that you think it's ok to direct people to people wondering about the trading rules to that very complicated Q&A." - what? The other question has the OP asking about a slightly tortuous workaround, but the two upvoted answers give very clear rules quotes that cover Rick's main question.

@AndyT, No, it's worse than a complicated question. It's also the fact that answers actually says "It's allowed", because "it" in that question is a sequence of trade that's leaves you with the same thing as which you started. Someone wondering how trades works shouldn't have to figure out that half of the answer should be ignored.

Permitted:

One can trade a number of cards for a different number of cards.⇒ You could accept a sheep.

Forbidden:

One can't trade for nothing.⇒ You can't accept nothing.
One can't trade for resources of the same type as those being traded away.⇒ You can't accept any amount of brick or lumber.

The following are the rules concerning Domestic Trades:

On your turn, you may trade resources with the other players (after rolling for resource production). You and the other players negotiate the terms of your trades—such as which cards will be exchanged. You may trade as many times as you can, using single or multiple cards, but you may not give away cards (i.e., “trade” 0 cards for 1 or more cards).
Important: While it is your turn you must be a part of all trades, the other players may not trade amongst themselves.
Example: It is Pete’s turn. He needs one brick to build a road. He has 2 lumber and 3 ore. Pete asks aloud, “Who will give me 1 brick for 1 ore?” Beth answers, “If you give me 3 ore, I’ll give you a brick.” Cooper interjects, “I’ll give you 1 brick if you give me 1 lumber and 1 ore.” Pete accepts Cooper's offer and trades a lumber and an ore for a brick. Note Beth may not trade with Cooper, since it is Pete’s turn.

The following are the rules concerning Trades:

After you roll for resource production, you may trade with other players (domestic trade) or with the bank (maritime trade). If you decide not to trade during your turn, no one can trade. You may trade with another player between your turns, but only if it is his turn and he elects to trade with you. You cannot trade with the bank during another player’s turn. You may not give away cards. You may trade as long as you have Resource Cards. You may not trade Development Cards. You may not trade like resources (e.g., 2 wool for 1 wool).

Emphasis in both quotes is mine.


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Is Tribal a permanent type (for Muldrotha)?
I am building a Commander deck with Muldrotha, the Gravetide as the Commander. During my deckbuilding, I remembered there is such a thing as a "Tribal" card type. Is Tribal one of the supported card types that can be cast from the graveyard using Muldrotha's ability?

Tribal is a card type but not a permanent type.  So Tribal counts for cards like Tarmogoyf, but not Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
From the comprehensive rules:

110.4. There are five permanent types: artifact, creature, enchantment, land, and planeswalker.
300.1. The card types are artifact, conspiracy, creature, enchantment, instant, land, phenomenon, plane, planeswalker, scheme, sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


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Can a Palace Guard block for both a player and a planeswalker?
I attacked my friend and his planeswalker,  who had a Palace Guard in play. Now can his card block for himself and his planeswalker at the same time? Or would he have to choose which one it blocked for, meaning himself or the planeswalker?

When a player declares blockers, they declare which attacking creatures they will block, not which planeswalker or player they will defend. From the official rules:

509.1a The defending player chooses which creatures they control, if any, will block. The chosen creatures must be untapped. For each of the chosen creatures, the defending player chooses one creature for it to block that’s attacking that player or a planeswalker they control.

Palace Guard has an exception written on its card that it may block any number of creatures instead of just one, but there are no rules that forbid a card from blocking for multiple attacking 'targets' simultaneously.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Does adding a deck change the odds?
We are playing a version of Canasta.
Tonight we had 6 players and 4 decks. Everyone playing individually. The goal is to get the most points which is most easily achieved by getting a “canasta” - i.e. 7 of the same number including wild cards (2s and jokers). As you play, you lay down your sets (3 or more cards). So you typically know which card number someone is targeting for his/her canasta.
The question is whether adding a 5th deck speeds up the likelihood that someone will get a canasta faster.
Two competing hypotheses (which may both be wrong):

it does not change anything because the odds for which cards you pull should not change when you add another deck that has the same odds. It will be more likely someone gets a canasta with more decks but it won’t change how fast it happens.
it does change because there are more of each card (going from 4 decks to 5 decks means going from 16 to 20 of each number). Having more of each number means that more than one person can successfully get a canasta for the same number.

Does anyone have a model for how to think about this?

A couple of things to remember is that a lot will depend on the shuffle and deal and more importantly having more cards to legally play means that more people can attempt to complete a canasta on the same value card which can have an impact. For example with your current setup 4 players can get a canasta in a single value (4 natural + 3 wild) but with each deck added another player is able to complete a canasta in that value.

Adding an extra deck definitely increases the chance that someone will get a Canasta because cards are drawn without replacement.
The point is easiest to see via a drastic oversimplification.  Take a number of decks, take out six cards that are the same from those decks, shuffle the remaining cards together, and then try to draw a seventh card to match the six.  Each deck you add contributes 54 cards in general (because of Jokers), 10 of which match (because 2s and Jokers are wild), but you have to subtract 6 from both the card total and number of matching cards for the six cards you have taken out to start.  The probability that the next card you draw matches the six you have of that with various deck sizes is as follows:
1 Deck: (10 - 6) / (54 - 6) = 8%
2 Decks: (10*2 - 6) / (54*2 - 6) = 14%
3 Decks: (10*3 - 6) / (54*3 - 6) = 15%
4 Decks: (10*4 - 6) / (54*4 - 6) = 16%
5 Decks: (10*5 - 6) / (54*5 - 6) = 17%

Of course, there will never be a case of only one deck!

@user45266 That was just an extreme case to highlight how choosing without replacement works probability-wise

Increasing the number of decks should create a Canasta sooner, but I can't give you precise numbers.
When you add more decks, there will be more of each card – and since the decks are randomized, there will be at least one rank that ends up concentrated in the top half of the deck. So while all of the aces might be at the bottom, and all of the fours evenly distributed, all of the tens might be at the top – and if not the tens, then perhaps the kings. Something is likely to end up concentrated near the top of the deck, which will make it more likely that someone plays a Canasta.
I wouldn't expect this to make a big change in game length, but it should shorten the average game a little.


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How do Humility and Mishra's Factory interact?
Can someone explain the layer order and interaction between Humility and Mishra's Factory?

WotC should ban Humility in all formats to put an end to questions "How does XXX interact with Humility?"

If you activate Mishra's Factory's second ability while Humility is on the battlefield, Mishra's Factory will be a 2/2 Artifact Creature Land--Assembly-Worker with no abilities for the rest of the turn. If you activate Mishra's Factory's second ability, then Humility enters the battlefield later in the turn, Mishra's Factory will be a 1/1 Artifact Creature Land--Assembly-Worker with no abilities for the rest of the turn.
Mishra's Factory's second ability has this text:

{1}: Mishra's Factory becomes a 2/2 Assembly-Worker artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a land.

Upon resolving, this ability creates a continuous effect that lasts for the rest of the turn and exists independent of the Factory's current characteristics.
and Humility has this text:

All creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.

This is a static ability that creates a continuous effect that always applies as long as Humility is on the battlefield.
As mentioned in the question, both of these effects apply in layers. Mishra's Factory's effect adds the Creature and Artifact types and Assembly-Worker subtype in layer 4 and sets the power and toughness to 2/2 in layer 7b. Humility's effect removes the creature's abilities in layer 6 and sets the power and toughness to 1/1 in layer 7b.
These modifications are applied in order by layer. So, first Mishra's Factory gains the Artifact and Creature types and Assembly-Worker subtype in layer 4. Then, because it is now a creature, Humility removes its abilities in layer 6. Then both effects try to set the power and toughness in layer 7b. At this point, the timestamp rules come into effect:

613.6. Within a layer or sublayer, determining which order effects are applied in is usually done using a timestamp system. An effect with an earlier timestamp is applied before an effect with a later timestamp.

613.6a A continuous effect generated by a static ability has the same timestamp as the object the static ability is on, or the timestamp of the effect that created the ability, whichever is later.

613.6b A continuous effect generated by the resolution of a spell or ability receives a timestamp at the time it’s created.

613.6c An object receives a timestamp at the time it enters a zone.

So, the timestamp of Humility's effect depends on when it entered the battlefield, and the timestamp of Mishra's Factory's effect depends on when the ability resolved. Whichever one is later overrides the earlier one, so if Humility entered the battlefield second, the creature will be a 1/1, and if the Factory's ability resolved second, the creature will be a 2/2.


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Is a creature turned face down with Ixidron still affected by Halls of Mist?
The card Halls of Mist says that a creature cannot attack if it attacked during its controller's last turn. Does Ixidron turning the creature face down affect Halls of Mist, therefore allowing the creature to attack, even though it attacked last turn? Effectively, does turning a creature face down alter effects applied to the creature beforehand?

A creature that is turned face down is still the same object, so effects still apply to it and rules modifications like on Halls of Mist track it as the same creature.
Being face up vs face down is a status as defined in rule 110.5:

A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.

Like tapping or untapping a creature, turning a creature face up or face down doesn't make it a different creature or make effects lose track of it.


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How does Wall of Roots interact with +1/+1 counters?
Wall of Roots puts a "-0/-1" counter on itself to use its ability. How does this interact with a +1/+1 counter? Do they cancel out to make a +1/+0 counter? Does they cancel out the same as a +1/+1 and -1/-1 counter and both counters cease to exist? Or do they both ignore each other completely?

Note that about 36 cards in MTG's history used power/toughness counters that weren't +1/+1 or -1/-1, and the concept has since been deprecated.

They ignore each other completely, so the Wall of Roots will have both a -0/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter (which has the net effect of having +1/+0).
The only reason +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters interact with each other is because of this state-based action:

704.5q If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it.

There is no similar rule for -0/-1 counters.

The only two power/toughness modifier counters which explicitly annihilate each other are +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters:

122.3. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it. See rule 704.

Other counters ignore each other and contribute to the power/toughness of the creature as they would do without each other. A Wall of Roots with one -0/-1 counter and one +1/+1 has power/toughness 1/5.


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Can Wall of Blood and Transcendence be used to gain infinite life?
Just checking to make sure I am correct about this interaction.
Transcendence on the field.
Wall of Blood on the field.
Life total 19.
Pay one life to wall, Transcendence trigger on the stack, pay another life, trigger on the stack, etc. Repeat until down to 0 life. Allow the top 9 triggers to resolve, putting me to 18 life and leaving 10 "gain 2" triggers on the stack. Repeat until infinite transcendence triggers are on the stack. Nature's Claim the Transcendence on the stack, allow all triggers to resolve.
Am I correct on this interaction? I see no reason why not, but one of my friends is skeptical.

Yes, that should work (with the caveat that you can never gain 'infinite' life, you have to specify an (arbitrarily large) number, how often you are going to repeat the cycle, upfront). It's important to note that you can't pay life you don't have (even with Transcedence on the field) but you've already accounted for that.
One may expect for a combination of three cards (two of which are rather bad/mediocre on their own) in three different colors to be so powerful. It's a rather risky one as well; if Nature's Claim gets countered, you'll lose the game.

Also, you should probably stop at 1 life each cycle instead of dropping down to 0, because an opponent with a naturalize could kill you if they timed it right otherwise. And the loop works either way, so better safe than sorry.


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If I cast Reality Ripple with Eon Hub out, is the target Permanently phased out?
Reality Ripple reads, "Target artifact, creature, or land phases out. (While it's phased out, it's treated as though it doesn't exist. It phases in before its controller untaps during their next untap step.)" This seems to indicate to me that it phases in during the untap step. If a player skips their untap step, from an effect such as Eon Hub, does this mean that whatever is phased out just stays phased out?

Eon Hub causes players to skip their upkeep steps; not their untap steps.

Stasis works as an example.

My apologies, I misread that

Yes. From the comprehensive rules:

702.25m If an effect causes a player to skip his or her untap step, the phasing event simply doesn’t occur that turn.

If by 'permanently' you mean 'until something is done about the thing that prevents untap steps', yes.
However, if that thing is removed, untap steps will happen again, and phased out permanents will phase back in.

My apologies about the wording. I did in fact mean, "as long as the Eon Hub is still in effect."

I wouldn't say permanently.
Objects automatically phase in/out during the Untap Step. If that step is skipped, objects that are Phased Out will not automatically Phase In.

Untap Step
502.1. First, all phased-in permanents with phasing that the active player controls phase out, and all phased-out permanents that the
  active player controlled when they phased out phase in. This all
  happens simultaneously. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack.
  See rule 702.25, “Phasing.”


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How to build a budget-friendly manabase for a 5-color deck?
I am a commander player who operates on a very tight budget. I recently started brewing for a 5-color Jodah chaos deck, but am having trouble building an affordable manabase. I can't afford shocklands, fetchlands, original duals and the like. I am looking to see if there are any land cycles that I have missed that might help me out, for example, I am running pain lands. I am trying to stay away from things like guildgates/thornwood falls cycle, tri-lands, etc, because they are too slow for my deck and my playgroup. I am aware of the issues trying to build a budget manabase for a 5-color deck that is still fast enough to be viable in a good meta, but I'm just wondering if there are any cycles of lands that I could use? Trying to stay away from nonland cards, my deck is already very filled out.

It would probably be helpful if you provided a budget of how much you are willing to spend

Here are the lands that will work in a 5 color deck, I ordered them in roughly the order I think they are helpful speed wise to an EDH deck and will include the lands you already run for completeness. Prices rounded to the nearest quarter and are from TCGPlayer based on the results returned by Scryfall. (For sake of site rules, I have no affiliation with either site)
Without knowing your budget, I can't really limit myself to that budget, but I will give a more general overview of less expensive lands and cycles for 5 color EDH.
Bond Lands
You're building EDH, a multiplayer free for all format, and bond lands care about how many opponents you have, allied colors being released in Battlebond, the 2HG set, and enemy colors in Commander Legends. Their prices range from Spectator Seating (/) at $5.75 to Morphic Pool (/) at $28.25. These are all but guaranteed to come out in EDH untapped, until the game is almost over when one land drop won't matter so much anymore.
Shock Lands
These have always been an EDH staple, having the basic land types to allow them to be found by some effects (Farseek) and being able to choose to let them come in tapped when the cost (2 life) was not worth it. These were at one time more expensive lands, however with the two further visits to Ravnica each having full reprints of the cycles, the price to get ahold of these lands has gone down quite a bit, they now run from Hallowed Fountain (/) at $7.75 to Breeding Pool (/) at $20.
Filter Lands
There are a few cycles of filter lands, The first cycle from Odyssey requires you to pay 1 mana of any color to get 2 mana of specific allied color pairs, cost wise they range from Sungrass Prairie () at $0.25 to Shadowblood Ridge () at $0.50.
The second cycle came out in Llorwyn block, it requires you to spend one mana of the colors it can produce to get two mana in any combination of those two colors. Recent reprints in masters sets have brought this cycle down in price, from Graven Cairns () at $4.25 to Sunken Ruins () at $18. Unlike the Llorwyn cycle, the Odyssey cycle cannot tap for mana without paying into it, the Llorwyn cards have tap for colorless.
Also worth mentioning here is Crystal Quarry () which filters 5 mana into one of each color for $6.75 and Cascading Cataracts for $4.75 which turns 5 mana into 5 mana of any color combination you want.
Pain Lands
These lands tap for colorless, or one of two colors if you pay one life. These lands run in cost from Llanowar Wastes (/) at $0.75 to Adarkar Wastes (/) at $8.75.
Mana Confluence ($20.75) and City of Brass ($16.25) can also be considered here, as they tap for 1 of any color at the cost of one life, with slightly different wording (cost/vs damage effect). Murmuring Bosk ($1.25) can also be included here, it is a forest so taps for , but can alternatively tap for  or  for 1 life, it will come in untapped if you reveal a treefolk card from your hand. All of these cards, other than City of Brass cannot be used for colored mana if you are prevented from paying life (effects like Angel of Jubilation or Platinum Emperion) however preventing damage from City of Brass does not prevent it from being used.
Pathway Lands
Zendikar Rising introduced a partial cycle of 6 lands in 2 allied and 4 enemy color pairs and Kaldheim finished the set with the other 4 pairs. These lands tap for one color, but when you play them you choose which side enters face up, and thus which of the two possible colors they can tap for. They run from Cragcrown Pathway/Timbercrown Pathway (/) for $2.75 to Darkbore Pathway/Slitherbore Pathway (/) for $5.75. Note if they enter the battlefield in some way other than being played (being flickered or Scapeshift perhaps) they enter with the front face up, no choice about side.
Slow Lands
This cycle came out in Midnight Hunt, and was completed in Crimson Vow. These lands come in tapped unless you already have at least two lands out when you play them. In faster formats that can be a big downside, but in EDH decks running multiple, particularly five, colors these should be coming in untapped once you get all your colors. Price wise the cycle runs from Overgrown Farmland (/) at $3.50 to Shipwreck Marsh (/) at $8.25.
Check Lands
These check that you have one land of the matching color basic land subtypes out on the field and come in untapped if you do, they don't care if they are basic so Shock, Battle and Bicycle lands will work for this also. Price wise they range from Sunpetal Grove (/) at $3 to Hinterland Harbor (/) at $7.
Reveal Lands
These lands come in untapped if you can reveal a land from your hand with a matching basic type, though it does not need to be basic, so Shock, Battle and Bicycle lands will work. Price wise these go from Fortified Village (/) at $2.25 to Choked Estuary (/) at $3.75.
Battle Lands
These come out untapped if you have at least two basic lands in play, though this makes it less and less likely you will get them untapped the more non-basics you have in your deck, these do unfortunately only exist in allied colors and the costs run from Prairie Stream (/) at $0.75 to Canopy Vista (/) at $2.25. These also have the basic land types, so they will matter for other land types listed, like Check and Reveal lands.
Fast lands
These come out untapped if you have 2 or less other lands can conditionally be faster. They run from Concealed Courtyard (/) at $2.75 to Blackcleave Cliffs (/) at $16.25. These are a little less useful in EDH due to the game format being longer, the deck size larger and the lands limited to one each, the likelihood they will come in untapped is low, they are much better in formats like modern where early advantage means more.
Tainted Lands
These lands tap for colorless, unless you have a swamp, if you do they tap for  or one other color. They go from Tainted Field (/) at $0.25 to Tainted Peak (/) at $4.25. This is a cycle of 4 lands, as the 5th land would be / if you control a swamp, and be a strictly worse than a swamp itself. These also do not care about the land being basic, so Shock, Battle and Bicycle swamps all apply, as do all lands turned into swamps by an effect like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Thriving Lands
Jumpstart added a new cycle of lands, 5 lands that come in tapped, one for each color of mana. The up side to these lands is they let you pick the other color they can tap for as you play them. While they do come in tapped and are slower than most of the rest here, the guarantee of giving you the color you need as your 5th land can mean a lot. They run from Thriving Bluff () at $0.50 to Thriving Isle () at $1.75.
Vivid Lands
Vivid lands always come in tapped, but tapped status really only slows you down if it is the 5th land, completing the set of colors. The major benefit of Vivid lands is they come in with two charge counters, allowing the land to be used for any color twice. They run from Vivid Grove () at $0.25 to Vivid Marsh () at $1.50.
Triomes
Triomes, or tricycle lands (tri color lands with cycling), are an evolution of Bicycle lands seen below. There are 5 lands with a pair of allied colors and their mutual enemy (Khans of Tarkir colors) released in Ikoria and 5 lands with a central color and it's two allies (Shards of Alara colors). They come in tapped, but because they have three basic land types they are easy to find and synergize with many of the other effects. They run from Spara's Headquarters (//) at $5.75 to Ketria Triome (//) at $16.75.
Bicycle Lands
These lands will come in tapped, however I am mentioning them because they synergize with Check lands if played earlier and Reveal lands if in the hand. They range in price from Irrigated Farmland (/) at $0.25 to Fetid Pools (/) at $3.75.
Nap Lands
These lands you can only tap once every other turn and come in untapped, there are two cycles, both ally colored only. The first uses a counter put on when tapping for mana that is removed instead of untapping. These run from Timberline Ridge (/) at $2.95 to River Delta (/) at $4.25.
The other cycle is actually two cycles of 5 which are functional reprints of eachother, all less than $0.25 from Rootwater Depths (/) to Cinder Marsh (/), these can tap for colorless without staying tapped, and use more familiar "does not untap" language.
Other Lands
There are lands that make colors conditionally that could be useful in your deck, like Reflecting Pool ($22) and Exotic Orchard ($0.50) making mana based on what colors you, or your opponents could make. Spire of Industry ($1) costs one life and needs you to have an artifact to make any colored mana and Glimmervoid ($2.50) makes 1 mana of any color but is sacrificed if you have no artifacts in play, Thran Quarry ($6.50) works the same but needs creatures. Aether Hub ($0.25) costs one energy to make any colored mana and Forbidden Orchard ($20) which gives opponents a 1/1 creature for every mana you make with it, but makes any color. Holdout Settlement ($0.25) and Survivors' Encampment ($0.25) both need you to tap a creature to make colored mana.
A little less useful cards that make multiple but not any color, River of Tears ($2) makes  before you play a land for turn or  after. Nimbus Maze ($4.50) can tap for  if you control an island and  if you control a plains, giving you the opposite once you have the other color's basic land type. Grove of the Burnwillows ($4.25) taps for  or  but gives one life to each enemy, something that rarely matters in EDH where overwhelming damage, poison, commander damage and mill are the usual ways of winning.
Other lands restrict how mana can be spent, but without knowing the deck type can't really be suggested. If it's eldrazi(with devoid) there's Corrupted Crossroads ($0.25), allies have Ally Encampment ($0.25), creature heavy decks can make use of Ancient Ziggurat ($4), dragons have Haven of the Spirit Dragon ($2.75), elementals use Primal Beyond ($9.75), Slivers use Sliver Hive ($27), if most of your spells have more than one color in them then use Pillar of the Paruns ($12.50) and Unclaimed Territory ($1) works for any tribal deck since you name the creature type when you play it, and the new strictly better version Secluded Courtyard ($2) which lets you spend the mana on abilities of those creatures. Changeling decks will benefit from all these tribal lands. (except Corrupted Crossroads, and Pillar which care about other characteristics)
Path of Ancestry ($0.50) and Command Tower ($0.25) can both tap for any color in your commander's identity, which means any color in your deck and should be pretty much automatic included in any non-monocolored EDH deck.

These costs can change wildly, Sliver Hive for instance was $7.50 when this post was first written, so check the costs for yourself for these cycles, the header for each section has been made into a link to the results for those cards on scryfall.

I avoided anything over $10, I mentioned reflecting pool because of the high utility and because I also mentioned orchard, though parts of some cycles are in that range.

Note that the Jodah deck OP mentioned wants all five colors on the board asap, so filter lands are better than usual and Reflecting Pool is worse.

@JollyJoker I don't see where that was said explicitly, though with Jodah the implication is there, but there is a reason I listed filters 3rd, after bond (always untapped early EDH, no downside) and shock (untapped at the cost of two life) I will admit I missed where it said the deck was Jodah in the original post, pretty much making any of the restricted use lands useless to him.

It's probably a more useful answer for the site if it talks generally about 5 color decks rather than Jodah specifically

@JollyJoker agreed. While Collin won't get any use out of those tribal lands, I've seen Horde of Notions, I've seen Ur Dragon and Scion, I've seen Tazri and I've seen all 4 sliver legends as commanders before, all need good manabases for reliable colors.

Command Tower is a must-include.
Besides that, there are pretty much five types of multi-colored lands.

Lands that start untapped and have no/minimal drawback (paying 2 life is considered minimal).  They cost a lot of money because they are good.  If you're on a budget, you probably want to avoid this category.  Examples include Tundra, Temple Garden, and Windswept Heath.

Lands that conditionally start untapped.  These are less expensive because they aren't as reliable.  Examples include Dragonskull Summit, Botanical Sanctum, Bountiful Promenade.

Lands that start tapped.  These are going to be cheapest because of the tempo hit, but can have cool other abilities to make up for it.  Examples include Thornwood Falls, Seaside Citadel, Vivid Crag, Terramorphic Expanse, and Flood Plain.

Lands that start untapped but have some other drawback (they tend to involve counters; search t:land o:counter).  These can be cheap but it depends on the drawback.  Examples include Timberline Ridge, City of Brass, Tendo Ice Bridge, Mirrodin's Core, and Gemstone Mine.

Lands that produce any color with some restriction (search t:land o:"any color").  Examples include Ancient Ziggurat, Glimmervoid, Pillar of the Paruns, Unclaimed Territory, and Crystal Quarry.

command tower i always include :)

I wouldnt ever call tundra, costing over 150 usd, budget friendly.

@Andrew I didn't call Tundra "budget friendly".  The sentence immediately preceding it describes that category of lands as expensive.  The category is included for completeness in the categorization of multicolor lands.

@zags meaning you dont actually address the question that was asked, you put lands into categories but never look at the cost/benefit the question is about.

@Andrew I address the question through the lens of that categorization.  Negative examples can be a useful explanatory technique.  However, I do not include specific price data as that changes drastically with time.

Most standard sets will have dual coloured lands. With return to ravnica you get the gates, which you can have for each guild and also you get the gates in allegiance. You can use cascade bluffs as well. If you include a chromatic lantern then that should solve your problem as well.
You can also rely on the 3 coloured lands from fate reforged/khans time (can't remember specific set), or the life lands (come into play tapped but you gain 1 life). If you run things like growth spiral and gate summit then you kind of recover on the tempo of your lands coming into play tapped.

.....
i said in my questions that the tri lands, etb tapped but gain 1, and guildgates were too slow, and that i had no slots left (so no chromatic lantern or growth spiral) cascade bluffs was mentioned earlier, and i said it was out of my price range

what about painlands? like cave of koilos...

if you read my original post, you'll notice i said i was already running pain lands

@CollinB sorry I read it as "plain lands" xD. if shocks are out of question even though they are very low in price at the moment. You will have the cycle lands, checklands, tango lands, fast lands...(amonkhet, kaladesh, BFZ). Maybe even the temples, though still entering tapped the scry might recover the advantage for you...

my thoughts immediately went to checklands when i first confronted the manabase, but i'm not sure how well they will work, because i'll need basic lands to let them enter untapped, which means i MUST include enough basics for it to work, decreasing my mana consistency. I'm unsure if this will actually be as much of an issue as i think, any opinions?

chekclands+tainted lands?  you also have the darkwaters catacomb cycle....(dont know their name)...but check lands and tainted lands ensure that at least turn 2 you have for example double black untapped

@CollinB checklands don't need basics, they need lands that have that subtype, and there are a few cycles of nonbasics that include the subtypes.

I know, but the majority of them are beyond my price range

You can use the Mirage fetch lands.

Flood Plain ({W}/{U})
Bad River ({U}/{B})
Rocky Tar Pit ({B}/{R})
Mountain Valley ({R}/{G})
Grasslands ({G}/{W}).

and one of the best are the Shadowmoor/Eventide filter land.

Mystic Gate {W/U}
Sunken Ruins {U/B}
Graven Cairns {B/R}
Fire-lit Thicket {R/G}
Wooded Bastion {G/W}
Fetid Heath {W/B}
Cascade Bluffs {U/R}
Twilight Mire {B/G}
Rugged Prairie {R/W}
Flooded Grove {G/U}

good value for the cost.

my only concern with any type of fetch land is without shocks and original duals, they seem to lose much of their power, if i put in enough basics for them to work well, it limits my consistency if i draw those basics, and doesn't offer me the ability to tap for either land color, i have to choose what to fetch for based on my current hand, and can easily run into consistency problems later on. In addition, it's slow from the enters tapped trigger, due to the inability to include lands with multiple basic land types, it's honestly even more worth it to run thornwood falls, etc.

the filter lands also seem to be within the 10-15 dollar each price range, which is beyond my budget

I thing in that case you best option is to build arround green and ramp spells. because artificat can be destroyed to easy.

i have no more slots left :(

2 cicles of lands that are good: lorwing uncomon that comes into play taped have 2 counter and produce mana of any color removing a counter . and the tempsts ones that gives 2 color but dosn't untape if you use for colored mana.

@NicolasRudisky the goal is to have lands that have a guarantee or a good chance of coming in and being immediately useful, the vivid lands you mention in that last comment always come in tapped, which hits the deck speed


text:
Etymology of Borborygmos?
Recently found out that the word "borborygmus" exists (a rumbling or gurgling noise made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines), and my immediate thought was of Borborygmos, the Gruul legend. I'm assuming that there's just about zero chance that the etymology of Borborygmos has nothing to do with borborygmus, but I'm curious as to how the legend/giant himself has anything to do with intestinal gastric gurgling. Any insights as to the etymology/connection there?

This is speculation, but Borborygmos has a heavy flavor angle of the barbarian trope of fighting and feasting.  The flavor text on the original printing of Borborygmos references the only other two cards in the original Ravnica block referencing Borborygmos, Wreak Havoc (where he is quoted saying, "Crush Them!") and Protean Hulk (where he is quoted saying, "Meat and eggs.  We eat!").  What better name for him than the rumbling of the intestines?  It combines his two obsessions of brawling and eating.
See the flavor text on the following three cards:

In the book D&D Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica the following is mentioned about him...

He embodied the raging fire that the Gruul believe burns in their
bellies, and his wrath toward the civilization of Ravnica knew no
bounds.


text:
What happens when a 5/5 blocks a 6/4?
I was playing MTG with my friend. I attacked with a 6/4 and he blocked with a 5/5. He says my 6/4 should die because its toughness is less than its block even though my creatures attack (a 6) is bigger than his creatures toughness (5).

Hint: what happens when a 5/5 blocks a 5/5?

Unless one of those creatures has First Strike or Double Strike, they will deal combat damage simultaneously. The following will happen:

Your 6/4 will deal 6 damage to your opponent's 5/5. (Note that 6 ≥ 5.)
At the same time, your opponent's 5/5 will deal 5 damage to your 6/4. (Note that 5 ≥ 4.)
State based actions kick in, see that both creatures have damage greater than or equal to their toughness, and both creatures die.

"Protection from X" and "Trample" may also change the outcome of the fight.

@Bernat there are a number of other effects that could change the outcome, but Trample isn't one of them.

Deathtouch would not consider the toughness when considering lethal damage. (Trample + Deathtouch is my favorite interaction)

@Caleth it would change the outcome since one player would lose 1 HP instead of 0

@Bernat Trample would change the effect of the fight, but in this context, "outcome" refers to what happens to the creatures.

@Bernat irrelevant to the question, which was asking if the creature died. First Strike, Double Strike, Last Strike, and Protection are the only (keyword) abilities that will come into play when asking about the creature dying when power is greater than toughness like it is in this case. Deathtouch will come into play, but since the creature would have died anyway it makes no difference.

Yes, in that case "Trample" would be out, but "Protection from X" would still be relevant, as I suggested.

@Bernat Magic is large enough that exhaustive lists of things that might be relevant are long and unwieldy. The relevant point in this answer is "deal combat damage simultaneously". Going down that route ends up with "... or unless one of the creatures is killed / bounced / frogged by an instant during the declare blockers step, ... "

@Caleth Every such effect would need to be handled before the Combat Damage Step. Only few effects happen during it. Namely: prevention, double strike, First strike and actions based on the state of a card, namely if put XXX, indestructible and regenerate

This stuff is explained very well in every core set starter box by about turn 3, usually having a 2/1 block a 1/1 or similar, but let's be frank and dig out the rules. Open at 510, we skip parts that are not relevant:

Combat Damage Step

510.1a Each attacking creature and each blocking creature assigns combat damage equal to its power. Creatures that would assign 0 or less damage this way don’t assign combat damage at all.
510.1c A blocked creature assigns its combat damage to the creatures blocking it.[...]
510.1d A blocking creature assigns combat damage to the creatures it’s blocking.[...]
510.2. Second, all combat damage that’s been assigned is dealt simultaneously. This turn-based action
  doesn’t use the stack. No player has the chance to cast spells or activate abilities between the time
  combat damage is assigned and the time it’s dealt.
[...]
510.4. If at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike (see rule 702.7) or double strike (see
  rule 702.4) as the combat damage step begins, the only creatures that assign combat damage in that
  step are those with first strike or double strike. After that step, instead of proceeding to the end of
  combat step, the phase gets a second combat damage step. The only creatures that assign combat
  damage in that step are the remaining attackers and blockers that had neither first strike nor double
  strike as the first combat damage step began, as well as the remaining attackers and blockers that
  currently have double strike. After that step, the phase proceeds to the end of combat step

Ok, what does that mean for us?

Step 510.1A & C say, that the 6/4 deals 6 damage to the 5/5 in absence of first strike,  double strike or protection from the color/type of the 6/4 or an effect that prevents combat damage.
Step 510.1A & D say, that the 5/5 deals 5 damage to the 6/4 in absence of first strike,  double strike or protection from the color/type of the 5/5 or an effect that prevents combat damage.
Step 510.2 says, we got a 6/4 with 5 damage and a 5/5 with 6 damage. In both cases, the damage is equal to or higher than their toughness.

Both creatures get destroyed1 2.
The destroyed creatures leave the battlefield3 and enter the graveyard4

1 - in absence of 702.12. Indestructible A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by
lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage
2 - 701.14. Regenerate can apply: “The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn,
instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature,
remove it from combat.
3 - might trigger as a/this card leaves the battlefield effects
4 - might trigger as a/this card is put into the graveyard effects

I think the source of your confusion is in what the stats of a creature are (I had the same confusion myself way back when I first started playing Magic).
A creature's stats are power/toughness, not attack/defense.  So a 6/4 has 6 power and 4 toughness.
Power is how much damage it deals.  Toughness is how much damage it takes to kill it.  When asking which creatures die in combat, it does not matter which is the attacker and which is the defender.  Each creature simultaneously deals damage to the other (based on its power), and then each creature that has taken damage greater than or equal to its toughness dies.
In the situation you give in the question, each creature has power greater than or equal to the toughness of the other, so they will kill each other (baring abilities like first strike, double strike, protection, regeneration, indestructible, etc).

Indestructible is a special case: it does take the damage but is not destroyed. see 702.12b A permanent with indestructible can’t be destroyed. Such permanents aren’t destroyed by lethal damage, and they ignore the state-based action that checks for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g).

@Trish the abilities I listed were merely a few examples of things that would make the statement "they kill each other" not true.  Indestructible absolutely fits this criteria.

To complete the listing in the end: 615.1. Some continuous effects are prevention effects. Like replacement effects (see rule 614),
prevention effects apply continuously as events happen—they aren’t locked in ahead of time. Such
effects watch for a damage event that would happen and completely or partially prevent the damage
that would be dealt. They act like “shields” around whatever they’re affecting.


text:
Does Mirrorwing Dragon's ability trigger when redirects are involved?
My opponent casts Murder targeting my Storm Crow. In response, I cast Bolt Bend, changing the target to his Mirrorwing Dragon. Does this copy the spell for his other creatures?

Anyone know why [mtg:storm crow] doesn't work, but all the other links on this question do?  Is it because there's a card crow storm?

I think the problem is Mindstorm Crown, because "storm crow" is a substring of that name. I think we've seen somewhat similar problems with Sun Titan and Sundering Titan.

@John thanks for catching that. Cards with an apostrophe in their name also fail. The solution is to revert to plain old links...

No, it doesn't.
Mirrorwing Dragon says

Whenever a player casts an instant or sorcery spell that targets only Mirrorwing Dragon

(emphasis mine)
By the time you successfully redirect the Murder with Bolt Blend, it's already cast, so it's too late for Mirrorwing Dragon's ability to trigger.

601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell includes proposal of the spell (rules 601.2a–d) and determination and payment of costs (rules 601.2f–h). To cast a spell, a player follows the steps listed below, in order. A player must be legally allowed to cast the spell to begin this process (see rule 601.3). If a player is unable to comply with the requirements of a step listed below while performing that step, the casting of the spell is illegal ; the game returns to the moment before the casting of that spell was proposed (see rule 721, “Handling Illegal Actions”).
601.2i Once the steps described in 601.2a–h are completed, effects that modify the characteristics of the spell as it’s cast are applied, then the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time. If the spell’s controller had priority before casting it, they get priority.

Changing target to an Ink-Treader Nephilim would work though. Pair it up with a Nivmagus Elemental for best result.


text:
Can I ask for Wastes like basic lands in Limited?
My question is about limited tournaments like draft or sealed. Can I ask for Wastes for my decks like basic lands?

No, you cannot.
From the MTG Tournament Rules:

7.2 Card Use in Limited Tournaments

Players may add an unlimited number of cards named Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest to their
    deck and sideboard. They may not add additional snow basic land cards (e.g. Snow-Covered Forest, etc)
    or Wastes basic land cards, even in formats in which they are legal.

You cannot. In the sets where they were available, you had to draft them from the packs.

In Limited events, you can play Wastes only if it's in your card pool. For Sealed Deck, that means you have to open a Wastes in order to play with it. In Booster Draft, you have to draft Wastes. Figuring out exactly how to pay those {C} costs will be a priority in this set. (But don't worry—Wastes isn't the only way.) You can't just add as many Wastes as you want while building your deck like you can with the other basic lands.

From the official tournament rules section on drafting:

Only cards from the expansions of the boosters opened (and only cards opened or drafted in that player’s pool)
  may be used in a player’s deck. The following are exceptions to this rule:
Players may add an unlimited number of cards named Plains, Island,
  Swamp, Mountain, or Forest to their deck and sideboard. They may not
  add additional snow basic land cards (e.g. Snow-Covered Forest, etc)
  or Wastes basic land cards, even in formats in which they are legal.

The link you posted to Wastes on Gatherer has the answer you seek:

In Limited events (including Sealed Deck and Booster Draft), Wastes must be in your card pool to be included in your deck. You can’t add Wastes to your card pool in the same way that you can add other basic lands.

Only cards from the expansions of the boosters opened (and only
  cards opened or drafted in that player’s pool) may be used in a
  player’s deck. The following are exceptions to this rule:
Players may add an unlimited number of cards named Plains, Island,
  Swamp, Mountain, or Forest to their deck and sideboard. They may not
  add additional snow basic land cards (e.g. Snow-Covered Forest, etc)
  or Wastes basic land cards, even in formats in which they are legal.

As above answers you can't.
The example with wastes is quite simple to understand. If I wanted to run walker of the wastes in my limited deck, this would be overpowered if I had added 10 wastes to my deck, a 5 mana 10/10 is nothing to snicker at.
This is very odd as it forces to keep the basic land in the pack during draft to ensure you have a chance at picking the waste over something else if you wanted to.


text:
What happens when I reanimate a creature with protection from black with Animate Dead?
What happens when I reanimate a creature with Animate Dead which has protection from black? Will the creature keep being in play without the enchantment or die? Or can the creature be a legal target even in the graveyard?

You can cast Animate Dead on a creature card with protection from black because protection doesn't work in the graveyard. The creature will return to the battlefield and protection starts working again, so Animate Dead will go to the graveyard immediately. As a consequence of that, you have to sacrifice the creature, but the creature will stay on the battlefield long enough to interact with it through instant-speed spells and abilities.
Animate Dead starts out as an aura that can "Enchant creature card in a graveyard". While a card is in the graveyard, it has all its abilities including protection, but they don't work unless otherwise stated:

112.6. Abilities of an instant or sorcery spell usually function only while that object is on the stack. Abilities of all other objects usually function only while that object is on the battlefield. The exceptions are as follows: [none apply]

Therefore you can target and enchant that creature card with Animate Dead. While resolving, its effect will try to attach it to the creature, but that creature, in contrast to the creature card in the graveyard, has a functional protection from black, so it will not attach:

702.16c A permanent or player with protection can’t be enchanted by Auras that have the stated quality. Such Auras attached to the permanent or player with protection will be put into their owners’ graveyards as a state-based action. (See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”)
701.3a [..] An Aura, Equipment, or Fortification can’t be attached to an object it couldn’t enchant, equip, or fortify, respectively.

Animate Dead has finished resolving. The active player gains priority:

116.3b The active player receives priority after a spell or ability (other than a mana ability) resolves.

When a player gains priority, state-based actions are checked first:

704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 116, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. [..]

Animate Dead is not attached to an object, so it goes to the graveyard:

704.5m If an Aura is attached to an illegal object or player, or is not attached to an object or player, that Aura is put into its owner’s graveyard.

Therefore, before the active player gains priority, Animate Dead will leave the battlefield and its sacrifice ability triggers. It is a normal triggered ability that uses the stack, so the creature remains on the battlefield without Animate Dead attached to it until that ability resolves. Players can respond to that ability with instant-speed spells and abilities, for example by bouncing the creature or using its activated (non-tap) abilities.

Next, the AP gains priority:... followed by Before a player gains priority,... seems a bit at odds, wording wise.

@Veskah, That's how it's written in the rules, and there really isn't another way of saying it. Gaining priority is what causes SBAs to be checked/performed, but it happens before priority is gained.

The creature will die, see the rulings below the card:

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

So the creature does enter the battlefield, since in the graveyard it doesn't have protection from black. This might be important for other triggers like Ajani's Welcome. But it's guaranteed to leave the battlefield very soon after.

I assume you mean Animate Dead.  If so the rulings on the Gatherer page state:

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

The abilities on creature cards while on the graveyard are not relevant unless otherwise stated (same happens on your hand).
when you cast Animate Dead, you are able to target the creature with pro black in the graveyard. This creature will then be returned to the battlefield and will be enchanted by Animate Dead. At this point and before you gain priority (or your opponent) state base checks are done, the game realizes that the enchanted is attached to an illegal target and is then sent to the graveyard. This will then trigger Animate Dead's trigger of leaving the battlefield and the creature goes with it.

502.7c A permanent with protection can't be enchanted by enchantments that have the stated quality. Such enchantments enchanting the
  permanent with protection will be put into their owner;s graveyards as
  a state-based effect (see rule 420, "state-based effects")

This answer is entirely incorrect about what abilities work from the graveyard (which the question is all about). Whether an ability works from the graveyard or not does not come down to whether the ability says it works in the graveyard or not. According to this answer, cards like Dread Wanderer, Gravecrawler, Mistform Ultimus and Flashback don't work from the graveyard, but they do (for different reasons).

Suggested edit: Replace the first sentence with "Unless it's a characteristic-defining ability, or unless it's obviously meant to work from the graveyard, abilities of cards do not work in the graveyard."

@Andrew I get that and also understand that the explanation and function of flashback is in the rules as it is a keyword and even if they are printed on the card this is just a "reminder text" of the actual rules. But you can argue that the card not have flashback if it didn't have flashback written on it, therefore it has flashback and due to the rules "works from the graveyard". The answer is not entirely incorrect and we are arguing semantics here.


text:
What is the correct way to shuffle?
What is the correct way in terms of damage to the card/have a deck well shuffled for competitive tournaments, since you can make piles; I personally consider that the best way, just one for the game.

See https://wpn.wizards.com/sites/wpn/files/attachements/mtg_mtr_21jan19_en.pdf §3.9 for the 'correct' rules, but it doesn't specify which technique (other than not using pile shuffling except for the start of the game).

There are a few other questions which could be used as a duplicate, but I'm not completely sure. https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/5862/what-is-the-best-way-to-shuffle-a-large-deck-without-damaging-the-cards and https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/2594/what-is-a-safe-and-accurate-technique-for-shuffling-cards are candidates.

The best way to shuffle a deck is to use multiple different methods of shuffling one after another. As the rules state pile shuffling can't be used except at the start of the game that is perhaps the best way to start your shuffle. After that the Overhand Shuffle, sliding a few cards at a time from one hand to the other so that the cards in each group stay in the same order but the group order is changed, effectively several small cuts. A Riffle Shuffle, taking two halves of the deck, bending them in the middle and letting them fall a card or two at a time onto eachother, does the best for reordering the deck, but since it involves bending the cards it also does damage to them over time, some people won't use this method because of it, and it should never be done to another person's cards for that reason. A similar effect to a riffle shuffle is the Weave or Faro Shuffle (not to be confused with mana weaving), where two halves of the deck are held with a little space between the edges of the cards for the other half's cards to slide into, this is easier with sleeves because the sleeves will create that space between the edges of the sleeves themselves. Washing the cards also does a pretty good job of randomizing, though it looks ridiculous and takes time to spread all the cards out face down and move them around randomly with your hands.
It's all a balance of the level of damage you're willing to accept to your cards, and the level of randomness needed. I will riffle my pauper deck but not my $1000+ EDH.

One thing to mention: "Washing" your cards could cause your deck to become "boxed", where the tops of the cards don't all align.  Since Magic backs are vertically and horizontally asymmetric, this could cause your deck to be considered "marked" in a tournament setting if you're not careful.  Sleeves don't help this problem, because sleeves are not vertically symmetric either (one side is open, the other is not).  Also, rubbing your unsleeved cards around on a table is probably the best possible way to damage them.

Also, FWIW I riffle shuffle my Legacy decks on a regular basis, so there's that :p

@Ertai87 I have never seen anyone consider cards being boxed as marked, though I suppose someone could be petty that way, or someone could intentionally box their land or something to abuse it. And as I said, it's all about the risks of damage you're willing to accept, I only have a few decks ever unsleeved, my pauper is the most notable, being less than $20 total.

Speaking as a certified judge, one of the things I look for when doing a deck check is, if I see a deck is boxed, I look for patterns in the boxing.  If I see a pattern, even if the pattern is unintentional, the deck is considered marked "with possibility of advantage" (note: "possibility of advantage" is the only justification required, not "intent to use advantage"), and you get a Game Loss, no questions asked (at Comp REL where IPG is in effect).  Don't box your deck, it's not worth it.

@Ertai87 I never really went into anything past PTQ level honestly so my experience is limited admittedly to that and being an organizer (Judge center responded to me when I tried to join)

PTQs (when they existed) were run at Comp REL, so you at least have Comp REL experience.  That said, many players who have played Comp REL don't know what that means.  Perhaps you never got deck checked when you boxed your deck, or perhaps the judge was just nice to you ;)

@Ertai87 I never did box my deck, since my preferred shuffles are alternating overhand and faro with a deck I won't riffle. just never seen it happen, I used to know the IPG a few years back when I was a rules adviser (when those existed) and was trying to become a judge, just never seen anyone really call anyone on boxed decks.

It doesn't happen often, because most people who box their decks do do it by accident and do not create a pattern (as discussed above).  However, the probability, when boxing your deck, that you do not create a pattern by accident, is nonzero, so just to protect yourself from getting a GL you do not deserve, the best practice is to just not box your deck at all.

Note that an overhand shuffle is not a meaningful shuffle--it takes ~1000 overhands to equal a single riffle or mash.

How to shuffle (theoretically)
It takes 7 riffle shuffles to randomize a deck of (52) cards.  If you're playing a 60 card format 7 riffle/mash shuffles are sufficient.  If you're playing commander which uses 100-card decks, you'll need to riffle shuffle 9 times to be randomized enough.  Shuffling more does make the deck more random, but 7 (or 9) iterations is enough in practice.
Pile "shuffling" does not randomize cards and is a waste of time.  Just perform more riffle shuffles instead.
How to shuffle (physically)
Riffle shuffles are easy enough to do with practice.  You don't actually need to "bridge" the card as long as the cards are interleaving frequently and non-perfectly.  I often shuffle at the corners/sides and then just push the cards together.
As described in other answers, sleeved cards "mash" together easily to effectively replicate the mechanics of a riffle shuffle.  Cut the deck in half and push one half into the other block of cards.  They will naturally interleave, imitating a riffle shuffle.
If you play commander and need to shuffle 100-card behemoths, shuffling is harder.  Unsleeved (*gasp*) commander decks can still be riffle shuffled fairly easily.  And if you have large hands you might be able to mash shuffle a sleeved 100-card deck.  Otherwise, you'll have to get creative.  My best advice is to split the deck into two 50-card piles.  Then when you riffle/mash shuffle, shuffle together the top halves of each of the piles and repeat with the remaining bottoms.  Repeat 8 more times.

That "seven shuffles" figure gets repeated everywhere, but if you look at the paper that's supposedly based on, you have to wonder if the reporter who first made that claim even bothered to read the abstract, because the first formula mentioned there gives us a value of >= 8.5 shuffles to mix up 52 cards (and even then, the formula is explicitly for "large" n, which 52 is not). The paper makes several precise claims, and often 7 is the lower bound where you start seeing significant improvement for various metrics.

Their main result seems to be that you need a certain minimum number of shuffles before it's even remotely mixed, and that after that point, each additional shuffle gives about half as much improvement as the one before. You can see where that minimum comes from by picturing what happens to the bottom card on the deck after n shuffles. Assuming we cut perfectly each time, and always shuffle it on top of its corresponding card, we roughly double the maximum number of cards that can be beneath it after each shuffle, and it takes 6+ shuffles before it can possibly reach the top of the deck.

@Ray you're free to write your own answer with your own insights into the actual math.  "Random enough" is the metric that the reporting on this topic uses.  And it's good enough for me too.

I'm not objecting to "random enough" as a metric. I'm saying that article you link cites the Bayer Diaconis paper as its entire support for the idea that seven shuffles is random enough, but that isn't what the paper actually says.  I'm objecting to the shoddy reporting in the article.

@Ray Complain to the NY Times instead?

1) "Pile shuffling" is not actually shuffling, in that it doesn't randomize your deck.  Let's say you have a deck of 60 cards and you number the cards 1-60.  Then you "pile shuffle" those 60 cards into 8 piles and number those piles 1-8.  Then you know for a fact that card 1 is at the bottom of pile 1, card 2 is at the bottom of pile 2, and so on, and you know that card 9 is second from the bottom of pile 1, then card 17, 25, 33, 41, 49, and 57.  Since you deterministically know the order of the cards in each pile, this method is not considered randomization, and is therefore not "shuffling".  This is why judges (and some players, thankfully) have begun to call the method "pile counting"; it is an efficient method of counting the cards in your deck to make sure you haven't lost any, but that's all.
2) As a result of point 1), you are not allowed to "pile shuffle" your deck in a tournament for the purpose of randomization.  You are allowed to do it for the purpose of counting, but you still need to shuffle thoroughly afterwards.
3) As for an actual answer to your question, the answer is "use sleeves".  If you use sleeves, damaging your card through standard mash shuffling is very uncommon, and mash shuffling is the most efficient way to shuffle, in that you are shuffling a random number of cards from the deck into random positions in the remainder of the deck.  Since you may not fully randomize the bottom few cards of the deck using a mash shuffle, you should also use other shuffling methods such as overhand shuffle.  Personally, I haven't found bridge (riffle) shuffles to damage my cards all that much, as long as you don't angle your bridge too high and bend the cards too much.
4) As an addendum to "use sleeves", sleeves can sometimes rip during a mash shuffle and the sharp edge of the sleeve could nick the card inside of the broken sleeve.  In which case, you can use perfect-fit sleeves ("inner sleeves") inside of your normal sleeves.  Then when the outer sleeve would nick your card, instead it nicks your inner sleeve and keeps your card safe.  I've never damaged a card using a mash shuffle when my deck was "double-sleeved" (using both regular sleeves and inner sleeves).

Is it acceptable to pile out your cards, then riffle or mash the individual piles together, in a cumulative fashion?

@MattEllen Yes, that would be considered a "shuffle".  However, the "pile" part of this "shuffle" is not considered part of the "shuffle" itself.  Also, a judge may restrict you from piling out your cards more than once per game, as such a process is both time-consuming and not effective for randomization.


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What happens with multiple copies of Humility and Glorious Anthem on the battlefield?
What happens with multiple copies of Humility and Glorious Anthem? For example, I have 2 copies of each of them; creatures are 1/1, plus +1/+1, or +2/+2 or  are they going to be just 1/1? Does the order that they come to the battlefield affect anything?

can i ask also waht happend if we add night of soul's' betrayal to the formula?

Your opponent's creatures will die, for your creatures it'll cancel out the effects of one Anthem. You don't have to worry about the -1/-1 somehow being applied first and creatures dying before the +1/+1 from the Anthem can save them. (Of course, the Anthem needs to be on the battlefield before either Humility or Night of Soul's Betrayal (or both)).

@Glorfindel Remember to mention the person you're replying to. As it stands, it looks like you're replying to the main question and saying that Humility somehow gives -1/-1.

@Acccumulation it's the author of the question, so that wouldn't help...

Humility sets the base power and toughness to 1/1 for all creatures. Glorious Anthem, and other effects like +1/+1 counters are still applied on top of the base power and toughness, so (barring other effects), with one or more Humilities and two Glorious Anthems on the battlefield, your creatures will be 3/3s.
The relevant rule is 613:

613.3. Within layer 7, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the order described below. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order. (See rule 613.6.) Note that dependency may alter the order in which effects are applied within a sublayer. (See rule 613.7.)
613.3a Layer 7a: Effects from characteristic-defining abilities that define power and/or toughness are applied. See rule 604.3.
613.3b Layer 7b: Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value are applied. Effects that refer to the base power and/or toughness of a creature apply in this layer.
613.3c Layer 7c: Effects that modify power and/or toughness (but don't set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value) are applied.
613.3d Layer 7d: Power and/or toughness changes from counters are applied. See rule 121, "Counters."
613.3e Layer 7e: Effects that switch a creature's power and toughness are applied. Such effects take the value of power and apply it to the creature's toughness, and take the value of toughness and apply it to the creature's power.

Layer 7a is the creature's power and toughness as it's printed on the card, say a 2/2 Grizzly Bears.
Layer 7b (note the use of "base power and toughness" in the rules) is where Humility comes into play, it makes it a 1/1.
Layer 7c is Glorious Anthem's layer, if you have two of them both apply and the 1/1 becomes a 3/3.

And of course the +1/+1 ability is an ability of the enchantment and is therefore not removed by humility.

@Taemyr unless Opalescence is also on the battlefield ...

So does this mean, in effect, Humility + Elish Norn = no creatures for opponents?

@corsiKa No.  Humility removes the abilities of Elesh Norn.

Oh wow, of course.

@corsiKa try Ethereal Absolution.

@Glorfindel bonus points for the nonbo of creating spirit flying tokens!

Who needs flying if your opponent has no creatures to block with? Oh, wait...

@Glorfindel Great synergy between Humility and Moat.

Then play Living Plane and watch your opponent scoop....


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Does this combo for my Rakdos EDH deck work?
I have Rakdos, Lord of Riots, Razaketh, the Foulblooded and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth in play. I have done at least 10 damage so Kozilek would be free to cast. Can I sacrifice Kozilek to Razaketh, and before I actually find a card Kozilek has shuffled himself back in and I can tutor him up and cast him again, effectively having "pay 2 life, draw 4 cards" on the field. Does this work how I want to?

Just as a side note, a situational combo (your opponent must have lost 10 life that turn) using three mythic rares with a combined converted mana cost of 22 really ought to do more than draw you a few cards, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong. It looks fun, and I would probably be happy to draw it almost any game, especially if it's just a bonus synergy appearing by "accident" in an otherwise good deck. It's just that on its own it feels a bit underwhelming considering the prerequisites.

Yes, When you sacrifice a creature to Razaketh, it's ability goes on the stack, after that the dying trigger of Kozilek goes on the stack and since the last thing on the stack resolves first, your graveyard will shuffle in your deck and then you can find your deck for a card.

Look at the wording on each card:

Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Pay 2 life, Sacrifice another creature:
Search your library for a card and put that card into your hand. Then
shuffle your library.

And then:

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
When Kozilek, Butcher of Truth is put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner shuffles their graveyard into
their library.

And this for the target example:

Surgical Extraction
Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land card. Search
its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with
the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles
their library.

As explained by the person above, when you activate Razaketh it tells you to search for a card, it doesn't tell you to "target" the card.
If the wording on Razaketh was "target non-land card in your graveyard, search library for a copy of this card and put it into your hand" this wouldn't work as kozilek wouldn't be in the graveyard at the point when you would need to target.
If the word "target" was there, you would need to choose the target at the time of activating the ability, at that time kozilek woudn't be in your library so you couldn't target it (theoretically you can never target something on your library as you don't see it so you can't "point" at it) if Razaketh wording was "name target" before searching, it would still work as you would name the card on activation but as when kozilek is sacrificed it would die, be shuffled back into library, then the card would be on your library.


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How does Orcish Captain work with multiple activations?
I am thinking about adding the card Orcish Captain to my Okaun and Zndrsplt deck. I was wondering, if I activated Orcish Captain say, 7 times at once, and he dies at the first flip. Do the other 6 still happen so I can get Okaun/Zndrsplt triggers?

No, this doesn't work.
You can place as many instances of the ability on the stack as you can afford, before any of them resolve, by responding to each one with another one. But you need to choose targets for each one as you place it on the stack. Assuming that Orcish Captain is the only Orc creature you have, then that will be the target for all of the instances of the ability.
The first time you lose a flip, Orcish Captain will die before the next ability resolves. After that, the ability will fail to resolve due to having no legal targets, so you won't do the coin flip.

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that's no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. If all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn't resolve. It's removed from the stack and, if it's a spell, put into its owner's graveyard.

So you will only get to flip coins until you lose a coin flip, similar to what your Okaun and Zndrsplt do. You can still add this into the deck, but you would be better off paying just {1}, letting it resolve, then repeating if you won the coin flip.

My original answer was based on a misreading of Orcish Captain; I thought it's simply affected itself, rather than being targeted.

No they don't.  The problem is that Orcish Captain's ability requires a target.  The card ruling specifies.

You choose the target when you activate the ability. You don’t flip a coin until the ability resolves.

This, a copy of the ability on the stack won't resolve if its target is invalid (emphasis is mine).

608.2b If the spell or ability specifies targets, it checks whether the targets are still legal. A target that's no longer in the zone it was in when it was targeted is illegal. Other changes to the game state may cause a target to no longer be legal; for example, its characteristics may have changed or an effect may have changed the text of the spell. If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process. If all its targets, for every instance of the word "target," are now illegal, the spell or ability doesn't resolve. It's removed from the stack and, if it's a spell, put into its owner's graveyard.

Consequently, you will only flip coins as long as the ogre you targeted is on the battlefield.
The card you want to create super combos here is Frenetic Efreet, whose ability doesn't require targets and thus still flips a coin even if the Efreet leaves the battlefield, allowing you to flip as many coins as you want (provided you put all of the coin flips on the stack at once).
Unrelated to your specific question, check out Krark's Thumb and Chance Encounter; these are great in a coin-flip commander deck.

Frenetic Efreet is a neat combo, but it's tricky... you can't shortcut a loop of a million coinflips, but you also have to declare how many times you will flip it ahead of time, and you can't know for sure what a good number of flips is. You have to pick something small enough that you can physically do the flip that many times.

@GendoIkari Depends on the play group.  At least in casual, you should be able to say: I flip a million coins, with 99.999% probability, Okaun, Eye of Chaos has power/toughness in excess of 10^100 and I attack with him.
Alternatively, there is the Python snippet import random; sum(random.randint(0,1) for _ in range(10**6)).  I just got 500,315 heads; it took about 2 seconds to run.
If your play group doesn't allow either of these, then I suppose you have to settle for flipping a mere hundred coins.

I almost mentioned casual play vs tournament play in my comments. It really does depend on the group; if someone I were playing a casual game with pointed out that you aren't allowed to use shortcuts for non-predictable results, I wouldn't accuse him of being petty or having bad sportsmanship. But I personally would probably allow it.

Also, if you are doing it to draw a lot of cards with Zndrsplt, it's even trickier, because you don't want to mill yourself, but you might want to draw 10 or so cards. You could activate it 20 times and hope for the best.

... or cast Laboratory Maniac and hope for the best.  But yes, the right number of flips is certainly tricky with Zndrsplt.

@GendoIkari for Frenetic Efreet it's arguable you could shortcut every flip after the first, since the first flip to resolve would either destroy or phase out the Efreet, and the effects of all future flips wouldn't change anything there (either already destroyed or phased out and can't be affected by future sacrifice or phase out instructions)


text:
Blocking creatures with menace and an equipment giving 'can only be blocked by one creature'
I ran into an interesting interaction tonight when I played Magic. So here's the setting:

I have a Pyreheart Wolf out and the equipment known as Vorrac Battlehorns.
Pyreheart Wolf's ability says: when this creature attacks, your creatures have to be blocked by two or more creatures this turn, the ability that we now know as menace.
Vorrack Battlehorns ability is: equipped creature has trample and can only be blocked by one creature.

I also have one other creature out.
I have the equipment equipped to said other creature. I go to attack phase. I attack with both my creatures.
My question: does the Pyreheart Wolf's ability trigger first or does the equipment's ability trigger first?

Both abilities are active (and Vorrac Battlehorns' ability doesn't 'trigger', it is always in effect).

509.1b The defending player checks each creature they control to see whether it's affected by any restrictions (effects that say a creature can't block, or that it can't block unless some condition is met). If any restrictions are being disobeyed, the declaration of blockers is illegal.

Your opponent won't be able to block the creature with the Vorrac Battlehorns, since it can't be blocked by more than one creature (due to the equipment) and it can't be blocked by less than two creatures (due to the Wolf). Both are restrictions and the rules above state they must be obeyed. Note that they are free to block the Wolf or not, but need at least two creatures to do so.
Incidentally, this means a Pyreheart Wolf equipped with Vorrac Battlehorns is unblockable.

Ah. Thank you very much. That's what I had thought but I didn't want to give false information.


text:
Eater of Days, Hushwing Gryff, and the stack
How does the stack work for this scenario?
Hushwing Gryff is already in play and the player goes to cast Eater of Days so the Hushwing Gryff will cancel out the loss of two turns. In response the opponent either casts Lightning Bolt or Path to Exile on the Hushwing Gryff while Eater of Days is still on the stack.
Does either the Bolt or Path remove the Hushwing Gryff, so when the Eater of Days resolves the player loses two turns?

The opponent can use either spell to target Hushwing Gryff while Eater of Days is on the stack.  In this case,

The spell resolves first, removing Hushwing Gryff from the battlefield.
Eater of Days resolves, and as there is no Hushwing Gryff on the battlefield the caster of Eater of Days loses two turns.

Yes, that's how it works. Basically, what is cast last will resolve first. Once the Eater of Days enters the battlefield, Hushwing Gryff is already gone and the enter-the-battlefield trigger will function as normal.


text:
Limits on using new words in scrabble
The example from Scrabble manual have the following picture illustrating the scoring:

In the following, the words added on five successive turns are shown in bold type. The scores shown are the correct scores if the letter R is placed on the center square. In Turn 1, count HORN: in Turn 2, FARM; in Turn 3, PASTE and FARMS; in Turn 4, MOB, NOT and BE; in Turn 5, BIT, PI and AT.

But on turn 3 besides FARMS and PASTE the word ARMS is also formed, but I don't see it scored. Also, on turn 2 only FARM is scored while ARM is also there.
Why?

Let's check the Hasbro rules (http://scrabble.hasbro.com).
It's not verbose but it can be inferred from the text.
Rules are different for the first play and for subsequent plays.
Bold is mine.

The first player combines two or more of his or her letters to form a word and [...].

Note that the rules for the first play say to form "a word", not "words". So one word is inferred.

Play passes to the left. The second player, and then each in turn, adds one or more letteres to those already played to form new words.
  All letters played on a turn must be placed in one row across or down
  the board, to form at least one complete word. If, at the same time,
  they touch other letters in adjacent rows, those must also form
  complete words, crossword fashion, with all such letters. The player
  gets full credit for all words formed or modified on his or her turn.

Note that letters must be placed in one row to form a "complete word", "crossword fashion". So it's not explicit but to form complete words in crossword fashion seems to imply that subsets of words are not allowed (in crosswords each row across or down is a single word).

I am inclined to agree that "Crossword fashion" implies that only edge-to-edge words count. I found the tournament rules in the meantime, which, to my surprise, do not add any clarity.

A word in Scrabble is a full set of letter tiles that are adjacent to each other in a single orthogonal direction with no additional adjacent tiles in the same direction. In other words, you don't count words inside of other words - you don't score the OR in HORN or the NO in NOT either, unless you started by spelling the shorter word then formed the longer one around it.

Would you be able to reference the specific rule supporting your claim, please?

@n0rd:  The scoring rule #7 in your link references the scoring example that you included in your question above.  Therefore, the example IS PART of the rules and proves that words-within-words are not scored.

I would argue that the purpose of an example is usually to illustrate a rule rather than to define something new not explicitly defined in a set of rules. Examples also might have some omissions and simplifications to emphasize what an author had an intention to illustrate. So, I don't believe an example can be used as a source of rules.

@n0rd:  I agree with your first sentence.  However, I would be very disappointed  if a rules example contained inaccuracies.  After all, the whole point of an example is to clarify the rules.  By the way, when responding to a comment you should preface your comment with "@Username" as I have done.  This causes a notification to be sent to that user.


text:
Bonus points using card combinations in Tute
The other day we were playing the card game "Tute" using Spanish "naipes" and we were told there were some card combinations that score bonus points: gaining a King and a Knight, things like that.
Is there a list of all card combinations that score bonus points?

In Tute, "las 20" or "las 40" can be called when you have 11 & 12 (caballo & rey) of the same suit, STILL IN YOUR hand after you took one trick. 40 is if you have the pair matching the current trump, 20 is for the other suits. Each 20 points are signalled by putting one card (two cards for las 40) upside down on your pile of collected cards perpendicular to the rest of the cards. If you want to call more than one set (e.g. you have more than one pairs of 11 & 12 matching the same suit) you need to take al least one trick for each call. Other players may ask the caller to show their matching cards, but it's considered bad etiquette since everyone should be paying attention and know if one of the cards has already been played.
These points are added to the rest of your hand at the end of the round. Other cards are worth:

Aces: 11 points
Threes: 10 points
Reyes (12s): 4 points
Caballos (11s): 3 points
Sotas (10s): 2 points

All other cards have no value.
In Tute Cabrero, the person taking the last trick takes 10 extra points (las 10 de última). Also, if someone manages to take all tricks in a round, it's considered they did Capote and automatically win the game, regardless of current score UNLESS they had also claimed "20" or "40" on that round, in which case they lose.
You can read more details in https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tute and https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tute_cabrero.

This is a comment added by MarcoCiafa (he does not have enough reputation yet to post it):
I was thought there is another situation called "Tute Cabrero" which is getting all 11's OR 12's and win a trick (while having them in your hand). It's very rare to see, especially if they play 4 or more people, but it does make you the winner of the entire game.

This is a comment added by MarcoCiafa (he does not have enough reputation yet to post it): I would like to add a rule related to the "Capote" (didn't knew it had a name). If someone wins all tricks (at the end, he is the only one with cards), he would make everyone else lose the round UNLESS he had also claimed "20" or "40" on that round, in which case he loses.

@mcabreb I added the clarification.

I don't know how to make this a comment of Fernando's post, so I'll just write it here.
I was taught there is another situation called "Tute Cabrero" which is getting all 11's OR 12's and win a trick (while having them in your hand). It's very rare to see, especially if they play 4 or more people, but it does make you the winner of the entire game.
I would like to add a rule related to the "Capote" (didn't knew it had a name). If someone wins all tricks (at the end, he is the only one with cards), he would make everyone else lose the round UNLESS he had also claimed "20" or "40" on that round, in which case he loses.

Welcome to the site, and thanks for your contribution. To post a comment instead of an answer, you'll have to earn 50 reputation first through well-received question and answer posts. (This post may end up being deleted since it isn't really an answer to the original question.)

Should I suggest an edit on Fernando's answer? Could someone copy my answer into a comment on Fernando's answer? I could write a complete answer in order to keep these extra rules, but it seems ridiculous that I write the same Fernando wrote with a few more lines... I don't know how to proced. It would be a shame that this new information gets lost and the game rules still being incomplete.

Thanks for your comment! I have added your answer as a comment below Fernando's answer so it does not get lost if your answer is deleted.


text:
Can anyone identify this labrynth/marble maze?

I have been advised it may be from the 70s, but I'm looking for any more specific info such as manufacturer. I can't find any information on the item at all.

It may be a custom build from a local woodworker. Curious how you acquired it and if the person you got it from could provide any more details.

It looks like an older variant of the game "Labarynth".  The modern ones, made by Brio, look like this: https://www.brio.us/products/by-age/6-years-and-up/labyrinth.
The goal is to get a marble from the start (on your board, one of the corners) to the end (on your board, the crown in the middle) without it falling in any of the holes, purely by manipulating the knobs on the sides.  The knobs tilt the board on the horizontal and vertical axes, causing the marble to roll in the direction of the tilt.  If the marble falls into a hole, there should be a spot on the side of the board where it will come out so that you can start over.
Brio did at some point make a round variant, whose pattern is closer to what you have:

The question already indicates it is a version of labyrinth. He's looking for some information specific to that specific model.

@L.ScottJohnson The way the question is phased, "labyrinth" is just used in the colloquial sense of "a maze", as indicated by the phrasing "labarynth/marble maze".   My answer indicates that "Labyrinth" is in fact the name of the game as well as the concept.

"I am looking for more specific info, such as the manufacturer." (And Brio didn't make the one in the pics).


text:
What game with symbols and dice is this?
There are 6 symbols, and dice has the same 6 symbols. You bet money on symbols.
There are three dice:
1 same symbol: you get what you bet
2 same symbol: you get double
3 same: you get triple
No same: you lose

Are you able to post some pictures of the dice? It is really hard to picture what they look like from the description.

4 of them were the usual symbols - diamond, heart etc. The rest two I don't know as I'm asking for someone I know.

I wasn’t sure if you had the game and didn’t know the name or needed the name so you could find the game.

So the dice are standard Poker Dice?  That seems to match your description.

The name of the game is Crown & Anchor.

I've heard it called Big Six.  I used to run the Big Six Wheel for a church carnival years ago.  The dice version runs the exact same way.
http://www.dice-play.com/Games/BigSix.htm


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Euchre partner leads with trump - why?
This happened during a play online. Why does my partner lead with a trump when I call name suit? I rely on my partner to take a trick but he leads with a trump, drawing mine, and leaves me short.

Most games of Euchre I have played I would be happy with my partner leading my trump into me, since I normally want to flush out the trump from the other partnership hand.  Any chance of knowing some more information about the hand this happened in?

Your partner should ALWAYS lead trump to your call in third chair. The failure of so many online players to do this reflects a lack of understanding of the game.
If you called it with the Right, then their low trump effectively gives the maker the lead and control of the hand.
If you called without the Right, then your partner is helping flush the top trump cards out of your opponents' hands.
If your partner leads high trump then he's helpfully showing you where it is so you know your cards are boss.
*IF YOU CALL TRUMP IN THIRD CHAIR THEN YOU SHOULD BE LEADING IT, and you should probably be leading it in every other chair too. So many hands are misplayed for failure to do this, so many times you get euchred when you could have dropped both of your opponents' bauers on trick one with a small Trump lead.
For more, read this column by the respected Natty Bumppo.

From here:

It is common knowledge that third seat is one of the weakest positions to make a successful call. It typically requires having two or more sure tricks in the maker's hand. The thing seldom talked about is the partner's role in accomplishing the task. One of the essential requirements for a third seat call is the maker's ability to control trump. To do so, the maker is looking for a trump lead from their partner.
Many inexperienced players will lead an ace, or other off-suit while saving their trump for later in the hand. By ordering the dealer, one has to realize they are putting an extra trump in the dealer's hand. This gives them the opportunity to discard and create a void. There is a high probability this void will be in the suit led.
A trump lead by first gives the maker the best chance of making a point. Not leading trump tells the maker that their partner they have none.
When a player names trump from the third seat, you have to assume they know what they are doing. They have a plan. Most times this includes a way to control trump. It is up to the partner to help with the plan, not try to create his own 'better' plan.

It's important that anything quoted from elsewhere be actually marked as a quote. See https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/help/referencing for more details.

You must make the assumption your partner made trumps because he holds the higher trumps in his hand, and that you and your partner together have a majority of the trumps. So, you lead trumps to take advantage of this. If your partner has the right, that's good because you remove trumps from your opponents' hands, and get the trick. Now it's more likely an ace will take a trick.
If your partner has the left and not the right (and you do not have the right), this is also good because the right is going to take a trick anywhere in the play, so get it out early so that your partner and you can play low trumps. I don't how many times I've been relieved to see my partner lead a trump, and an opponent plays the right. I now know where it is, I know that opponent highly likely does not have any more trumps, and my higher trumps are now good.
If you have the right, it is also good to lead it to show your partner that you have it. It is also good to lead the left if you have it because

either your partner will have the right with other trumps since he made so he uses a lower trump, and now knows his left is worth one trick and
it flushes out the right from an opponent, leaving the higher trumps in your partners hand good.

The only time it can be bad to lead a trump is when your partner called trumps with both bowers and no other trump. That can get your partner in trouble because there are 5 other trumps out there, making aces useless. If you happen to have, say three trumps, then it is safe to lead one of them when your partner calls on both bowers.
BOTTOM LINE: The vast majority of the time is better to lead a trump when your partner has ordered it up.

I can see two clear situations where a trump lead appeals:

Holding a stiff Ace or Bower; or
Holding length (3 or more) I would lead my smallest.

The first case should allow the partnership to play the remaining 4 tricks more effectively, with partner possibly still on lead to develop a possible side trick in his own hand.
The second case is one where any opposing high trumps are likely to crash either together, or under any high trump in your hand. It also reduces the possibility of any defensive ruffing trick.
In any other situation I would be attacking a side suit where I might develop a trick.

I'm going to expand on the above a bit:
Any Maker's partner leading a small trump at trick 1 because they don't now what else to do might e better off playing Go Fish. Maker needs to have an understanding of what the lead might mean in order to make a sensible play. The above scheme signals, respectively, to Maker:

Play low - I hope knowing the location of this card is valuable to you.
Play high - We possess a lot of trumps.

I would disagree, if my partner didn't lead trump back to me on my bid I would assume that he has a void in trump.  I support the trump lead since it pulls it out of the other partnership hand and normally ends in the bidder getting the lead.

@Styxsksu: I suspect that I make more aggressively than you - I want to see an indication of partner's strength, and frequently make on a 2-card trump holding with outside strength (though not in pone position I admit). I don't want my trump pulled just because partner is at a loss for leading ideas.

@Styxsksu: Frankly, if partner is void in trumps I could care less - I don't want Defenders to know because that is probably enough info to them to generate the setting trick.

Playing online I would expect people to do the standard plays and not have an aggressive partner.  Most place I have looked suggest leading trump into your partners is the bidder.

@Styxsksu: Of course; the anonymous expert "Most Places". You couldn't pay me enough to play online euchre with random people.

I commonly pick trump with a mediocre hand and count on my partner for at least one win.  This is typically better than passing and then having my mediocre hand become nothing.  I occasionally get euchred doing that, but not that often.  This more aggressive approach tends to provide more wins than picking trump only with a strong hand.  Having said that, I hate when my partner leads a trump Card and takes one of my only 2 trump cards with theirs, which has many timeS lead to being euchred.