Thorg and Togorah interactions (rooted, uproot, taunt)

[gw]

Hey,

during play we encountered a situation in which we are not a 100% sure what's going on.

Situation : [mwcard=DNC18]Togorah, Forest Sentinel[/mwcard] got Taunted by [mwcard=FWC15]Thorg, Chief Bodyguard[/mwcard]. It's [mwcard=DNC18]Togorah, Forest Sentinel[/mwcard] action now and he is 1 zone away from Thorg..

Togorah and Taunt statements / questions :

1. A creature that only has a full action attack is still a legal target for "Taunt" even though it is clear that after moving it cannot attack Thorg. - I assume that is why the "if able" wording is in the description.
2. [mwcard=DNC18]Togorah, Forest Sentinel[/mwcard] is rooted and can uproot for 2 mana. Does "Taunt" force [mwcard=DNC18]Togorah, Forest Sentinel[/mwcard] to uproot ?

Paying costs can be enforced afaik (see [mwcard=MW1Q32]Suppression Cloak[/mwcard] and Bloodthirsty) - but the rules talk about attack not prior movement.


Rules :

Thorg’s Taunt (Effect)
Thorg, Chief Bodyguard can Taunt his enemies. If the Taunted creature is in a zone adjacent to Thorg, then it must either move into Thorg’s zone, or make a ranged attack which targets Thorg, if able. If it is in Thorg’s zone, or moves into Thorg’s zone, then it must make an attack which targets Thorg, if able. Thorg’s Taunt does not work on Mages, or creatures with Psychic Immunity. Thorg’s taunt will not force a creature to move through a Wall with the Passage Attacks trait. If the Taunted creature is required to take a competing action from another effect (such as Bloodthirsty), then it may choose which of those actions to take. Remove Thorg’s taunt at the end of the Taunted creature’s Action Phase, or when Thorg is activated, whichever comes first. A creature cannot Taunt itself. If such a situation should occur, the Taunt is canceled.

Rooted (Object Trait)
This creature is rooted to the ground. It cannot take move actions, and it has the Unmovable trait. It is not Restrained, so it can still guard, hinder, and Intercept as normal. A Rooted creature loses, and cannot gain, the Flying trait.

Uproot X (Object Trait)
This creature can uproot itself from the ground and move freely. When this creature is activated, you may pay X mana. If you do, it loses the Rooted trait until the end of its Action Phase.

Pay Any Required Costs (MW Rulebook v3.3 web; p 22)
You must pay any costs required to make the attack. For
example, an enchantment may force you to pay mana before
your creature can attack.

[echephron]

1: yes, the full action attack(and/or slow) creature must move into the zone, if able

2: no, taunt does not force an uproot. If togorah uproots, he must move 1 zone to the taunt. if tog does not uproot, he can do what he likes.


i know that with bloodthirsty and pacify if you dont pay 2 mana, the attack is cancelled and the turn wasted.

[gw]

Thank you 

[V10lentray]

Even if Togorah were to uproot, he would still not be able to attack because his only attack is a full action.

[echephron]

Even if Togorah were to uproot, he would still not be able to attack because his only attack is a full action.

but becauses of the thorg taunt one zone away, he would have to move into that zone.

[Zuberi]

Thorg’s Taunt (Effect)
Thorg, Chief Bodyguard can Taunt his enemies. If the Taunted creature is in a zone adjacent to Thorg, then it must either move into Thorg’s zone, or make a ranged attack which targets Thorg, if able. If it is in Thorg’s zone, or moves into Thorg’s zone, then it must make an attack which targets Thorg, if able. Thorg’s Taunt does not work on Mages, or creatures with Psychic Immunity. Thorg’s taunt will not force a creature to move through a Wall with the Passage Attacks trait. If the Taunted creature is required to take a competing action from another effect (such as Bloodthirsty), then it may choose which of those actions to take. Remove Thorg’s taunt at the end of the Taunted creature’s Action Phase, or when Thorg is activated, whichever comes first. A creature cannot Taunt itself. If such a situation should occur, the Taunt is canceled.

Thorg's taunt first forces you to either move or make a ranged attack if possible. Then it forces you to make a melee attack if possible. These are two separate mandatory actions. Togorah could be forced to move if their controller pays the uproot cost, but then would be unable to make a melee attack and thus be free to perform a different action if desired. Although, they don't really have many options available to them for a different action. Guarding is kind of pointless, since they're Vigilant, and they are now hindered by Thorg. If they were Elusive though, then they could use their action to move back out of Thorg's zone.

As echephron stated, the taunt does not force you to make an action possible though. It only forces you to take the action if it is possible. If the action is possible, but it has an associated cost, then you do still have to perform the action and pay the cost. This is all clarified in the Rules Supplement on pages 11 & 12, but I can see how it can get confusing with Uproot. The important distinction here is that Uproot is not a cost to move, but rather is a cost to remove the Rooted trait.

To demonstrate this distinction, let me give a few other examples. If there was a [mwcard=MW1J21]Suppression Orb[/mwcard] in play, and you used Thorg's taunt, then the taunted creature, when activated, would be forced to move if it's controller could afford to pay the 1 mana at that time. Suppression Orbs effect is demonstrating a cost to perform the move action.

However, if Thorg was to taunt a creature enchanted with a [mwcard=MW1E16]Force Hold[/mwcard], that creature's controller is not forced to Dispel the Force Hold in order to make movement possible. This is how the Uproot trait works. It is a way to get rid of something that is preventing movement, rather than a cost to move, and that is not something that the taunt forces you to do.

[gw]

thx again