warbaker

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bio	website	gameroom.io
	location	Cambridge, MA
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visits	member for	2 years, 6 months
	seen	Apr 30 at 16:22
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	1,717 reputation	bio	website	gameroom.io	visits	member for	2 years, 6 months
423 badges		location	Cambridge, MA		seen	Apr 30 at 16:22

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Apr 22	comment	Can regeneration save my creatures from Turn // Burn? @ikegami The point in showing 4th ed's rules was to prove that the intended flavor for regeneration is that something gets mortally wounded, but then regenerates so that it doesn't die. The regeneration shield is a mechanism for cleanly converting that flavor to a stack-based system. It is indeed clean, and it usually corresponds perfectly with the flavor of regeneration, but sometimes it doesn't.
Apr 19	comment	Can regeneration save my creatures from Turn // Burn? @ikegami See Nick's comment about how it was implemented in 4th Edition. Here are details: wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/52b
Apr 19	comment	Can regeneration save my creatures from Turn // Burn? @ikegami Because a card doesn't say "Add a regeneration shield," it says "Regenerate." The rules translate that into adding a shield because that's the simplest way to make the mechanic work in a stack-based game, but it leads to some not-very-flavorful edge cases. Flavor-wise, regeneration is something that you do after you've been injured that causes you not to die, but it's too complicated to model it that way in Magic.
Apr 18	comment	Can regeneration save my creatures from Turn // Burn? The fact that you can give something extra regeneration shields "just in case" reflects some serious weirdness in the regeneration rules.
Nov 9	comment	Is there a limit on how good you can get at Hearts? Once you're looking at your 13-card hand, I believe it's (39 choose 13) * (26 choose 13) = 8.4 * 10^16. Just imagine each opponent in turn taking the top 13 cards of the shuffled deck.
Jun 12	comment	Ways different people enjoy board games For more on Vorthos (and its companion type: Melvin), see wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr278
Jun 5	comment	Can every game of Solitaire be solved? @Arda Could simply work backwards from the solution, randomly moving cards into the deck and onto the board from the four suit piles, always using the reverse of a legal play. Probably won't have the same probability distribution as shuffling and checking for winnability, but I doubt that matters to most players.
Jun 5	comment	What's the fastest way to print a card game prototype? Hm, the Word Mailing Directory Example makes Word crash for me (I'm on OSX).
Jun 5	comment	What's the fastest way to print a card game prototype? Can you give more detail?
Apr 23	comment	In Catan, can you put the robber on the desert? Yes, it's a rules change. Frankly, I'm not sure why that restriction was there in the first place.
Feb 6	comment	How To Mitigate The Random Factor In Agricola? Also, it's noteworthy that if you're in a balanced N-person game, you're doing well to win over 1/N of the time. So if there's a play that gives you a guaranteed win with 30% probability, it's a probably the right move, even if it costs you the game 70% of the time.
Dec 21	comment	How can I tell when to take a mulligan in Magic? How does it follow that if you're on the draw, you should mulligan less often? I agree that you're unhappier at a bad 7-card hand when you're on the play than when on the draw, but a mulligan is about as likely to improve the hand either way.
Dec 20	comment	Is It Possible To Win 2-Player Agricola Without Taking Wood? To your anecdote, Wet Nurse is widely considered imba. See boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/1414/…
Dec 20	comment	How to make Settlers of Catan less cut-throat? I don't agree with the strategic comments on port trades vs player trades, but I'd +1 this a second time if I could because you actually tried it. In other words, I'm not sure I like your justification for the rules, but I'm glad that they work.
Dec 13	comment	How much would the cards from Dominion: Alchemy cost if you wanted to use them while not playing with potions? Hear, hear. In most games I've played players buy only one potion each, and I don't think I've ever seen someone buy more than two.
Nov 22	comment	Any good way to add a handicap in Dominion? I really think this response should be at the top -- letting newbs simply take a couple bonus turns at the start of the game is a great way for them to get a subtle but significant advantage, and helps them grow faster by forcing them to independently evaluate cards instead of parroting more experienced players. Do you mind answer-ifying this one a little more? e.g., starting with the answer's actual suggestion rather than a comment about someone else's suggestion.
Oct 11	comment	Is there a “gotcha” with Caged Sun? I was confused when you listed the casting costs -- U usually means blue. Could be that you're using a convention I'm not familiar with.
Sep 20	comment	How do Dominion tournaments compensate for the luck that's always present in the game? A lot of games have luck -- the poster was asking how tournament organizers reduce it.
Sep 15	comment	What's the fastest way to print a card game prototype? Nice! Have you used them yourself?
Aug 24	comment	Russian Roulette Alternative? @Tom, Wait, why is a user being new a reason to close a question? Voted to reopen -- the answers below prove that this is a legitimate, on-topic question with interesting responses.