Dragon Talk: Sage Advice - Table Rules, 8/28/17

Cody and I watched this amazing episode on Table Rules.

Jeremy did a great job explaining what Table Rules are, but I would have added a lot more kind of generic "social etiquette" rules--largely because I play a lot of public play & I play with kids. Also, his look to the DMG for House Rules Ideas was excellent.

In any event, here are my House Rules

1. Listen
2. Everyone Gets A Turn
3. Same Team
4. Awesome > Rules

First Tuesday of 2015

 First Tuesday of 2015 & the snacks are out!

Lisa has even put out water this time! 

I am still running my Abzan super quality deck & loving my setup!

Jack is on fire with all Garruk all of the time!

The table looked great with Andrew, Alexander, Derrick,  Matt, Preston, & Jack

And the Holiday decorations are still up!

We played mostly 2 Headed Giant again this morning--rotating the team around so there was no obvious best team.

We had one rules question.

Matt taped three, Voyaging Satyr'd 

to untap one land & cast Siege Rhino

Jack cast Magma Jet 

targeting the Voyaging Satyr BEFORE he untapped a land.

The question is can Jack respond to the Tap of Voyaging Satyr by killing it? 

We ruled that he could.

Additionally, We assumed that the previously tapped mana floated & Matt did not have what it takes to cast Siege Rhino--he still had three floating.

Christmas Tuesday

Lisa had the house decorated & lots of treats for when Tuesday rolled in today.

I started off against Liam--good game, but Abzan triumphed 2-0 without much of a challenge.

Jack and Cody were playing a lot--there was chase, Pokemon, and other crazy fun games.

After playing Preston I lost 1-0 to Matt.

We had an interesting exchange...I tapped out to cast Siege Rhino

on his turn, he roped my Rhino with Banishing Light

and on my turn I cast Utter End to remove the Banishing Light.

The question is does the Siege Rhino come back with Summing Sickness or can I attack with him?

We ruled that I could attack, but Jack voted that I still had Summing Sickness.

Rules Question--Arcane Trickster Sneak Attack Bonus Damage

Does Arcane Trickster provide sneak attack damage?





At the table we ruled no.

Rules Questions--Reckless Attack

Can you make a ranged attack using Reckless Attack?

At the table, we ruled no.

Celestial Flare a Storm Breath Dragon

Great week at Tuesday, we invented the team saying:

 W.W.B.L.D--What Would Bruce Lee Do

which is very very funny if you are 12.

We invented a new house rule:

1. Don't flip iPhone's to see who goes first.

And we only had one real rules discussion.

Andrew cast and swung with Stormbreath Dragon

I responded with Celestial Flare

Does Andrew sac the SBD or does he have protection from my white spell?

We ruled it did & we seem to have been right--again! 

7/1/2013

Celestial Flare targets only a player, not any creature. A creature with hexproof or protection from white can be sacrificed this way.

That is three correct answers in a row!

Are Hybrid Spells Cast With Only One Mana Color Still Multicolored?

Derek casts Nightveil Specter using only Blue Mana

I have Soldier of the Pantheon out

Do I still gain the one life?

The Gatherer seems pretty clear on this one:

• 9/15/2013: Most hybrid spells and permanents, including the ones in the Return to Ravnica block, are multicolored, even if you cast them with one color of mana.

Polis Crushers has Protection from Enchanted Creatures?

Matt attacks with his Hero of Iroas 

enchanted with a Mogis's Warhound

which Andrew blocks with his Polis Crusher

Does the Polis Crusher take 4 and die OR does the Polis Crusher have protection from the Enchanted Hercules and take no damage?

This question appears to be answered by the Gatherer:

• 9/15/2013: “Protection from enchantments” means that Polis Crusher can’t be enchanted, it can’t be targeted by Aura spells or by abilities of enchantments, all damage that would be dealt to it by enchantments is prevented, and it can’t be blocked by enchantment creatures. Notably, it doesn’t have protection from enchanted creatures (unless those creatures are also enchantments).

Kicking the Kids Out!

The back packs piled up again this morning for another Tuesday Crew Magic Session!

I started my first game with Liam with this

Of course, he did not do much better!

But it was enough--my WW Deck was able to defeat his WG Rage Deck

The boys continue to collect the tools of the trade

Alexander, Cassidy, Evan, and Derek

Jack was at the head of the table--only playing when Matt's dominance had to end.

Matt, Preston, Evan, and Jack

Evan is doing well

Preston has all the cards, but has not yet hit his groove

Matt is really playing well.

Andrew is back--still dominating with Monsters!

The kids spent a lot of time crashing out on the sofa's

And there was a rule question, that I am not sure I got right.

Liam casts Gift of Immortality

On his Celestial Archon

Which attacks. I respond with Celestial Flare

 Celestial Flare has

Target player sacrifices an attacking or blocking creature.

which I assume means that the Archon dies [sacrifice equals death], which triggers the Gift of Immortality:

When enchanted creature dies, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control. Return Gift of Immortality to the battlefield attached to that creature at the beginning of the next end step.

which means the Celestial Archon comes back on the battlefield untapped.

I attacked with my Nyxborn Shieldmate, Liam blocked with Celestial Archon, and I  Celestial Flare'd it again--he had to sacrifice his blocking creature & now the Gift of Immortality goes to the graveyard for good:

• 9/15/2013: If the creature is no longer on the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step after it’s returned to the battlefield, Gift of Immortality will remain in its owner’s graveyard.

Did I get that right?

Time for Some Math!

Great Ax or Maul, that is the Question!

 D&DNext has the following Critical Hit rules:

Critical HitsWhen you score a critical hit against a target, the attack deals its maximum damage to it. This means you don’t roll the attack’s damage dice; you instead take the highest rolls that each of those dice could produce and then apply any modifiers.
In addition, the target takes extra damage. Roll one of the attack’s damage dice, and add it to the damage. For example, if your attack normally deals 2d6 + 2 piercing damage, you would roll one extra d6 and add it to the damage of a critical hit
If the attack has different damage dice, you choose which die to roll. For example, if the attack deals 1d6 piercing damage and 1d8 bludgeoning damage, you can roll one extra d6 or d8.

So instead of double weapon damage, you get to roll one die again...A maul does 2d6. A great ax does 1d12. So on a normal hit a Maul averages 7 and a Great Ax averages 6.5. 

Obvious.

Assuming that both critical on a natural 20 we have a 5% chance to score a critical with Maul & Great Ax. 

Critical with the maul is 3d6, averaging 9. Critical with the Great Ax is 2d12, averaging 12. 

Great Ax is better!

However, the average damage of the Maul is 7+.05(3.5) or 7.175 and the average damage of the Great Ax is 6.5 + .05(6.5) or 6.825.

Maul is better!

What am I doing wrong?

Casting Multiple Times in a Round

Doc charges into battle against a Earth Grue--his plan is to use a swift action to cast Shield of Faith on Cat the Ranger and then cast Spiritual Weapon.

DM Alan rules that I can only cast once per round.

I admit that I have not read the D&D Next rules and that DM Alan is right, but I cannot find the ruling.

Can someone point me to this rule in the current D&D Next rules?

Tuesday with sweat bread, Dylan's new mat, and a black deck box.

The Crew is starting to get better card supplies.

Dylan is still ruling with Slivers.

Preston has a lot of cards & is really playing well. Cassidy did well this morning as well--won twice, I think.

Matt is still building new decks--this morning he had a five dollar blue deck which was just awesome!

 Derek is bring three color control to the table.

The new joke at the table is instead of saying "I pass" at the end of ones turn, you say "I passsss...IFY YOU!"

Andrew was late because he had to finish watching Pokemon movies.

Table is starting to look like a game store. 

 

I attempted to end Dylan's Sliver Domination!

He shuffled it up & swang for 82 in the first game. 82 is the new Tuesday high.

I was able to cast Chomanticor!

and win the second game...however, we had to stop after game two so that the kids could get to school--Sliver King will be named next week.