Forced Reaction: After the Deploy Phase begins, pay 1R or discard this unit.

Am I correct in thinking that this reaction triggers while the card is in your hand, and once it is on the battlefield it has no effect unless it is put back in your hand?

No, thats not the case.

Card abilities don't trigger from hand, barring specific exceptions.

This Forced Reaction happens when the card is in play. At the start of the Deploy Phase, you either pay 1R, or you discard the unit from play.

Other way around. It has no effect while in your hand, but after you deploy it you will have to pay 1R when the Deploy Phase begins or the unit will get discarded (it is basically upkeep).

In short, he is great because his ability only triggers on the next turn. Which in some cases mean you don't have to pay the cost often when you deploy the Warlock Destructor on the first planet or where you expect a battle to happen.

So personally I find the wording on this misleading then. I feel discard should exclusively be hand or deck. If he read sacrifice then that would be clearer, but thankyou for the responses.

They do make a distinction in cards like Murder Of Razorwings and Visions Of Agony. The discard effects on those cards are worded "from your opponent's hand" and "from that hand".

They also define Sacrifice in the RRG as discarding a card from play. So, a sacrifice would still be considered discarding for game purposes.

Still, I'm not certain why not just use sacrifice as the OP suggested. It would make a much clearer distinction. All I can think of is that they do not want in-play discards to be considered sacrifices, as there may be certain effects that trigger off the sacrifice mechanic and want it to remain a separate action from an in-play discard.

Still, I'm not certain why not just use sacrifice as the OP suggested. It would make a much clearer distinction. All I can think of is that they do not want in-play discards to be considered sacrifices, as there may be certain effects that trigger off the sacrifice mechanic and want it to remain a separate action from an in-play discard.

Ultimately, this is probably the reason. All sacrifices are discards (from play), but not all discards (from play) are sacrifices. This changes the Reaction and Interrupt opportunities.

That said, there is kind of an in-game difference between a sacrifice and a discard/destruction. Generally, players choose and sacrifice their own units, but discard/destroy an opponents. I think that distinction is fairly consistent in the card effects. The Warlock Destructor seems to be an exception, though, but it might be because you are given a choice (pay or discard) instead of being required to scrap the unit (which is the context "sacrifice" is used in most often).

So personally I find the wording on this misleading then. I feel discard should exclusively be hand or deck. If he read sacrifice then that would be clearer, but thankyou for the responses.

Yeah they are a naughty bunch of game designers arn't they?

Ive always used ' discarded' as 'removed from play but still exists in the discard pile' .... 'sacrifice' means 'removed from the game completely and has no affect on the game going forward ( Gift of Isha comes to mind ) .

And the Warlock must be paid for , at the onset of the deploy phase , whether in HQ or on a planet , correct ?

.... 'sacrifice' means 'removed from the game completely and has no affect on the game going forward ( Gift of Isha comes to mind ) .

This doesn't match the definition of Sacrifice in the RRG, which reads, "When a player is instructed to sacrifice a card, he must choose and discard a card in play that he controls and that matches the requirements of the sacrifice."

Sacrificed cards go to the discard pile, which would imply they are thereafter treated the same as any other discarded card.

And the Warlock must be paid for , at the onset of the deploy phase , whether in HQ or on a planet , correct ?

Yes. The ability doesn't say anything about location, so you have to deal with it when the Deploy phase starts, whether the unit is at a planet or in your HQ.

thanks for clarifying sacrifice . Took the term to its literal meaning ...and im not even sure from where ...

Out of curiosity, how do you guys handle it when this Forced Reaction is forgotten?

I mean, as its a Forced Reaction, the rules don't allow it not to occur, but I've lost track of the number of times that a deployment or two have been made and we say "oh yah, the destructors..."

Strictly they should be made to discard the units as they did not pay the upkeep cost but that may be a little harsh amongst friends.

If this has persisted for many turns the game state is probably too far gone to be reset, in a tournament setting that would probably be a match loss for the Destructor player.

FFG have proven they can design games and they also have proven they royally suck at making rules and proper wording.