Ruling question on failed attack - Gengar

[Rob-GAJP]

Hi there,

Quick question on how to rule in a specific case : a Gengar attacked using Poltergeist having only 1 energy ( Poltergeist needs 2 ) . None of the players realized that at the moment, and the attack then killed the defending pokemon. Once with the pokemon in the discard pile, and the prize card taken, we then realized Gengar could not attack with Poltergeist because of the energy. A few questions about the correct ruling on such situation :

- Should then the defending pokemon get back in play, the prize put back, and Gengar be allowed to attack with Shadow Room ?

- Should the attack be considered as "failed" as Gengar declared an attack that could not be performed due to lack of energy, but the attack happened , and the turn ends ?

- Should the attack proceed as it was finished by both players and the defending pokemon is already on the discard pile, prize remains taken, and then the turn ends with a new defending pokemon being brought to play from the bench ?

Just want to know what's the correct way to rule this. Caused a bit of a heated discussion among players.

Thx in advance.

 

[PokePop]

We can't really make specific rulings about specific game errors.
Those aren't rulings. They're fixing a mess.

However, here are some general principles that judges should be applying:

If an error can be rewound, it should be rewound.
If there is a part that can't be rewound, how game affecting that is should be taken into account and penalized appropriately.
If one were to rewind, the attack is rewound. An attack that could not be done does not result in a "failed attack".
The player would still be in the attack phase and if things were rewound, they would be able to choose an attack that they did have the proper energy to perform. If there were no such attack, then their turn would end with a "passed" attack (not a failed attack).

If it turns out that Shadow Room would have resulted in a KO, that could modify the penalty for the mis-drawn card.

Again, these are just suggestions and guidelines to be aware of. The exact specifics of an error scenario and the history of the player(s) and the judge can all be factors in how this is resolved.