OL for Shadow Rune is using Basic II, and we are needing some clarification on the surge dynamic for both Shadow and Uncontrolled Power, because when used together, the wording is messy enough that we can't reason through what might be intended.

Uncontrolled Power let's the OL choose how surges are spent, after an attribute fail, Shadow requires adjacent character to spend a surge to attack.

The wording we are confused about is what Shadow requires the surge to be spent on.

1. The way we are playing is the hero needs an extra surge that is then lost when attacking a Shadow Dragon, i.e. 1 surge rolled means no surge spent and the attack is not a miss. 2 surges rolled, 1 allows the attack to continue, one can be used as normal.

2. The wording on Shadow just says attacker must spend a surge or the attack is a miss, so does the hero get to still spend all his surges on abilities?

3. The issue with Uncontrolled Power is the OL is cancelling attacks to Shadow Dragons because he is choosing to spend surges on 1 fatigue from the card, then any various other surges, but NOT the surge that lets the attack hit.

4. If the attack is a miss, he can't make the hero spend a surge to suffer a fatigue, right? I am sure that is right, but definitely didn't think about that last night while we were playing.

Anything I am missing here?

The worst one was when Tahlia (me) spent Heroic Feat (attack activating monster) and Dual Strike, then suffer fatigue to make yellow a red die (skirmirsher), so I am down 3 fatigue already on a big attack, then he Uncontolled Power, I passed, and two befuddles later it all got cancelled. Truly left me befuddled by power that is, I think, even more uncontrolled than intended.

I think this question has been answered by FFG and posted in the CRRG.

I don't remember the answer there, but here is my opinion:

We know that when an attack is a miss, no surges can be spent (except those which turn it into a hit).

Therefore, my take is that while the OL chooses how to spend surges (so he can choose to make the attack miss by not spending one on shadow) the only way he can spend other surges (suffer fatigue, suffer wound and fatigue) is to first make the attack hit.

I agree with Zaltyre.

This doesn't just apply to Shadow dragons either. There are also some quests which add additional "Shadow-like" effects, such as Juliden's Keep in Mists of Bilehall. If a monster in that quest happens to have Shadow as well, then that is 2 surges required for the attack to not be a miss. The Unkindness Overlord deck lets your Raven familiars also have a shadow-like effect.

Furthermore, if the attack has insufficient range in order for it to not be a miss, the Overlord has to spend surges on that too - so it can't be used to counter Stealthy or otherwise cause an attack to fail that required a surge to get enough range to hit.

In summary, even when Uncontrolled Power is used the attacker must first spend surges to make the attack not miss - those are the only legally spendable surges at that time.

Oh, an additional note. The Overlord could not have used two Befuddle cards to make any single Attribute test fail. This falls under the same rule that prevents the Overlord from using two Dash or Frenzy cards on a single monster. You cannot use more than one Overlord card of the same name on the same target with the same activating trigger.

I read the CRRG and that combined with your explanation of UP clarified everything. I was not aware of the 2 cards of the same name same target same trigger ruling, or I let it slip my mind as I do vaguely recall knowing that in the past. Thank you both for your help. I always enjoy your rule clarifications to tie up some of the loose ends dangling around upstairs.