Curiosity: nothing to choose, nothing to hear

The place to ask and debate all rules issues related to MECCG.
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Konrad Klar
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Near to Hear a Whisper wrote:Any agent may attack a company at his site at the starting of the site phase if the company chooses not to enter the site. May be revealed on-guard if the company chooses not to enter the site. Discard when any play deck is exhausted. Cannot be duplicated. 'He can smell us, perhaps. And he can hear keen as Elves, I believe. I think he has heard something now: our voices probably.' -LotRIV
A company that has been forced to not doing anything in site phase, cannot choose whether to enter, or do not enter a site.
So is not affected by Near to Hear a Whisper.

This is a question of wording. That wording may be unfortunate, but it also may be intentional.
There is the card Many Foes he Fought, that may or may not be played, depending on who makes a some choice.
Many Foes he Fought wrote:If defender chooses a warrior to be the target of a strike from an attack, that character may choose to face any number of the strikes from that attack. The character suffers a cumulative -1 prowess/-1 body for each additional strike faced. The character faces a separate strike sequence for each strike. ...and they shot a rain of arrows: always at Boromir.-LotRIII
All underlines mine.
We will not speak of such things even in the morning of the Shire.
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Bandobras Took
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That is exactly how Near to Hear should work.

For each company during the site phase, a company may choose:

1) Do Nothing, or
2) Enter the Site.

Cards such a River remove the choice from the company.
The game is flawed, but this does not mean it cannot be loved.
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Konrad Klar
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I'm sorry if I bother by talking about obvious things.

However, I have found something like that:
Official Rulings Digest #110 wrote: [...]
(8) The question has arisen about what happens to a company that may do nothing during its site phase (due to the effects of River, Lost in Free Domains, etc.) when it is faced with certain cards like Siege and Near to Hear a Whisper.
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It was ruled previously that the company may do nothing whatsoever. This is not 100% correct. The company does not have a site phase and cannot enter the site. So the resource player may not play resources, unless in response to an attack, in which case these must be resorces that affect the attack.
[...]
from which I have inferred that it is not quite obvious how Near to Hear a Whisper does work.
We will not speak of such things even in the morning of the Shire.
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Bandobras Took
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That's because the NetRep team often pulls rulings out that are only to be found in what somebody remembers an ICE official having mentioned to them over drinks in a bar in south Bourg-en-Bresse. :)

More to the point, I can't find any justification for that ruling; "May do nothing during the site phase" is not the same as "Has no site phase."
The game is flawed, but this does not mean it cannot be loved.
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Konrad Klar
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Joined: Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:35 am
Location: Wałbrzych, Poland

OK, OK ...
The ruling itself has little to do with Near to Hear a Whisper.
Only that a person who asks provides Near to Hear a Whisper as example of a card that may affect a company that may do nothing during its site phase.
We will not speak of such things even in the morning of the Shire.
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