RulingHall of Heroes (rules 1.0–1.4)

Galaxy’s Most Wanted: There was a ruling on Hawkeye’s Quiver that the attached face-up arrows were in play (in particular they are…

Question

There was a ruling on Hawkeye’s Quiver that the attached face-up arrows were in play (in particular they are collected by Collector when discarded). Electro is a new minion in Iron Spider’s Sinister Six (Sp//dr pack), which attaches cards to her from your hand. Are these cards also in play? Can I trigger them for their effects once they are attached, and if not, what allows me to generally do that with cards like Gatekeeper, Overwatch, etc? Also, if I attach Spider-Tracer to her with her effect, and then defeat her, can I remove 3 threat from a scheme?
Because Spider-Tracer is an energy resource, does it give her +1 HP while attached even when played, or does her constant ability only refer to cards specifically attached by her Forced Response?

Answer

I initially misspoke on the way I first answered the Collector rules question. I will try and address that along with your other questions.
Cards attached to Electro through her ability are not considered “in play.” This is the same for cards attached to Hawkeye’s Quiver; those Arrows are not considered in play either—they are just attached faceup so that the player can more easily view them. Cards attached to Electro (or Quiver) cannot be interacted with outside of the ability on the card they’re attached to, if at all.
These cases differ from Overwatch because it uses the phrase “Attach To”, which can be found in the Rules Reference. Cards that include this in their ability ARE considered “in play.” (And Overwatch wouldn’t make sense if it never was considered “in play.”) Additionally: unless a card’s cost is “paid”, or it’s specifically “put into play”, it’s not considered “in play.” (Overwatch just happens to have a cost of 0, but the point still stands.)
Additionally: unless a card’s cost is “paid”, or it’s specifically “put into play”, it’s not considered “in play.” (Overwatch just happens to have a cost of 0, but the point still stands.)
If you paid for Spider-Tracer and attached it to Electro, then it’s considered “in play” and you could remove 3 threat from a scheme if you defeat Electro. If Spider-Tracer is attached to Electro through her ability, you have not paid its cost and it has not been put into play, so it would have no effect if Electro was defeated.
Wherever possible, we should interpret cards as written; so if Spider-Tracer’s cost was paid and it was put into play attached to Electro, we rule that yes, it would still give Electro +1 HP.

-Alex