I agree with NetRep #29 q/a 4.
It's worth nothing that NetRep #54 states:
Re: Withered Lands
is it possible to play this card on the on the path of a site, even if the company doesn´t travel through on of those regions?
*** Yes, both the company's and the site's site path are in play and targetable.
To me, this further suggests that not-played regions are not "in play." Because you would not need to resort to the sites sitepath if you could just target any region you liked (if regions we're always in play).
So, at least cards that target regions must be targeting a region in play, on the table via normal mechanisms of the game (ie a white circle symbol printed in a piece of cardboard that has been put in play via rules of the game). If you can't point to a particular circle printed on cardboard how can we even play this game?
In searching for Rulings on various region-affecting cards, I have seen nothing that suggests that regions are always in play.
As for MoWWoH, you don't have to target the region cards, but you at least have to target the site's sitepath. This allows you to essentially dump the MoWWoH if using region movement.
However, still unclear is whether region-affecting cards affect non-played regions whose type must be verified for purposes of playability (eg does Morgul Night affect playability of A Panoply of Wings or Hidden Haven) outside the movement/hazard phase.
Now, let's assume that regions are NOT in play unless they are revealed as region cards or present on a site's site path. Let's also assume that merely having the indication of a region in a site card does NOT mean that the corresponding region is in play (I believe these are correct rules). Which cards would be broken?
Cards that concern the region type during phases other than the movement/hazard phase: Stench of Mordor, A Panoply of Wings, Black Rain, Hidden Haven, Wild Hounds.
For these cards we can decide either:
(1) the regions are affected despite not being played. Which would require a rule update (when playability of a card is based on region type, verify the region type using a region card and apply any effects to the region type as if it were in play)
(2) the regions are NOT affected. We could clarify that playability is based on the "normal" type of the region. We could errata eg "a site that is normally in a wilderness". We would still need to verify using a region card/map.
I'm still in favor of (1)
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