If a Berserker uses the Counter Attack ability against a Shadow Dragon, does the surge requirement still apply in order to hit the dragon?

This came up in a game last night. I had a Shadow Dragon adjacent to a Berserker hero and attacked him. The reason we questioned the surge requirement is because the shadow rules state - "A hero adjacent to this monster that DECLARES an attack must spend 1 surge or the attack is considered a miss."

And the Counter Attack ability states - "After an adjacent monster resolves an attack that affects you, exhaust this card to PERFORM an attack with a M elee weapon against the attacking monster..."

Basically the shadow ability says "declare" an attack and the counter attack ability says "perform" an attack. What exactly is declaring an attack vs. performing an attack?

Thanks in advance for any help!

The first step of every attack is "declare weapon and target." Just because you're declaring that you're attacking the dragon with counter attack changes nothing.

Agreed.

Awesome, thanks for the input!