Did not see this in any FAQ so I figured the community could share (although I assume I would follow 1.02 or 1.03 of the FAQ):

I had Iron Shackles attached to my player deck. We traveled to Tower Gate. I discarded the Shackles instead of putting it in the staging area as a 1/1/1 orc. Did I do this correctly?

The way I would play it would be to move the "Iron Shackles" to your staging area as instructed by "Tower Gate" where it becomes an Orc.

As "Iron Shackles" is now no longer *attached* to your deck, its intended effect is negated.

I'm doubtful. In other LCGs 'drawing a card' is a very specific term. E.g. in CoC there's a card that allows you to look at the top card of your deck and if it is of a particular type, you get to put it into your hand, otherwise it's discarded. This was clarified to not count as 'drawing a card'.

So my guess would be that 'Placing the top card of your deck into your staging area' is not the same thing as drawing a card either, so the shackles will not be discarded.

Agree with jhalen. It is not the same to draw and to take/add a card. But there is no word on Tower Gate like draw, take etc. So I really don't know. I would like to here the official answer.

Since the wording on Tower Gate uses the term "place" I believe the Shackles remain where they are and you take the top player card of your deck as the "orc guard." Iron Shackles is technically attached to the deck, not part of the deck. It doesn't get unattached and discarded until you would draw 1 or more cards. I also think it's not considered the top card of your deck because it cancels a card draw. It doesn't matter if you would draw 1, 2, or 3 cards. If Iron Shackles is attached to your deck you draw 0 cards and discard Iron Shackles. It seems that if Iron Shackles was just taking the top slot of your deck, you would still get to draw your second and/or third card if you were going to draw more than one.

Yep, I agree with all the statements here. Thanks for all your responses.

In hindsight, I should have played it as a Guard, not discarded it.