Mandatory energy discards

[Chairman Kaga]

I asked this question a while back but it got overlooked amidst the flood of pre-release SW questions. Which is fine, because I have another question to go with it now.

It is now well-established (hopefully) that if an attack calls for the discard of energy from the Attacking Pokemon, that discard is mandatory.

Question 1: if such an attack is declared and the player cannot perform the discard, is it considered an illegal action, or does the attack do nothing?

• If it's considered an illegal action, the action is rolled back and the player may either declare a legal attack or pass.
• If the attack does nothing, it's still considered an attack and the player's turn ends (just like flipping tails on a flip attack).

Which is correct?

Question 2: We have this established order of operations from the rulebook:

d) If necessary, do anything the attack requires you to do in order to use it. (For example, discard Energy cards, as in Camerupt's Fire Spin attack, which makes you discard 2 basic Energy cards attached to Camerupt in order to use it.)

e) If necessary, apply any effects that might alter or cancel the attack. (For example, if your Pokémon was hit last turn by Magmar ex's Smokescreen attack, that attack said that if you tried to attack with that Pokémon during your next turn, you should flip a coin. If tails, your Pokémon's attack does nothing.)

f) If your Active Pokémon is Confused, check now to see if the attack fails.

g) Do whatever the attack says. Do any damage first, then do any other effects, and finally, Knock Out any Pokémon that have damage greater than or equal to their Hit Points.

So let's, for the sake of example, use Magmortar LvX's Flame Buster. Magmortar's having a bad day -- he's confused and a Smokescreen effect is in play. Is it discard-flip-flip or flip-flip-discard? I ask because I know of almost no one that would do discard-flip-flip -- and I'm inclined to think that's the right answer (according to Japan, the "discard or this attack does nothing" is implicit, hence it falls at step d).

 

[bulbasnore]

Question 1: If you don't have the requirement to do the attack, but you declared it, then you can do an attack you have the requirements for or pass. The turn does not end automatically.