Cactus Game Design Message Boards

From the REG/Rulebook

Only one artifact, covenant, or curse in the artifact pile may be active at a time. Once per turn, you may select one artifact, covenant, or curse to be activated and flip it face up on your artifact pile. The face up artifact, covenant, or curse becomes active and cannot be changed until your next turn. To change the activated artifact, covenant, or curse, you select a new artifact and place it face up on the artifact pile and return the other artifact, covenant, or curse face down in the artifact pile. If you choose to have no artifacts, covenants, or curses activated, you may turn the top artifact, covenant, or curse face down.

This seems to indicate that you have three options regarding your artifact pile and you can only make one choice:

1. Keep present artifact activated.
2. Activate a new artifact by turning the new one face up and the old one face down.
3. Have no artifacts active by keeping top card face down.

If this is true, then deactivating Lampstand only leaves the options of activating a new artifact or having none active. Since that is how I read it from the rulebook, that is how I would rule it.

We'll see what others have to say, since I tend to read too much into things. 

Just to clarify, you can deactivate and activate the same art in your prep phase right?  So, if I read the posts right, this DoN example would work right?

Once you play the dominant you've moved past the Artifact maintenance portion of your prep phase.

WHAT!?  Arts do not change the phase.

For me, that raises this question.  What if I put a temple/tabernacle in play after I perform my Artifact maintenance?  The SA says I can activate an Art on my Fort.  Does this give us a loophole?

What is the loophole? I'm afraid that I missed what you were getting at.

I think this really boils down to a single question: When you deactivate an artifact, do you have to immediately activate a new one, or do Dominants not interrupt the fact that you are still deciding which artifact to have active?

Yes, it's clear that the rules only allow you to "maintain" your Artifact pile once during your preparation phase.  Playing another card such as placing a Character or Site into play or using a Dominant indicate that your done maintaining the Artifact pile.

YMT, here's a better explanation of my question:

Let's say that I choose to turn down LotS and don't activate another Artifact.  I play DoN on my opponent's active Artifact.  We know that I can't go back to my Artifact pile to activate an Artifact because of the game rule.  What if I put a Temple/Tablernacle in play?  Could I use the SA of that Fortress to activate Lampstand again?

The Tabernacle
Type: Fortress • Brigade: Multicolor • Ability: None • Class: None • Special Ability: Glory of the Lord protects this card and its contents. If you have Solomon’s Temple in play, discard this card (regardless of protection) and transfer its contents to Solomon’s Temple. • Identifiers: Holds one active Tabernacle Artifact

Solomon’s Temple
Type: Fortress • Brigade: Multicolor • Ability: None • Class: None • Special Ability: Holder may activate a second Artifact from Artifact pile or hand on this Fortress if that Artifact was found in Solomon's Temple. Artifact takes immediate effect. • Identifiers: Holds one Artifact

Zerubbabel’s Temple
Type: Fortress • Brigade: Multicolor • Ability: None • Class: None • Special Ability: Protect your Zerubbabel’s Temple Priests from capture, conversion, and removal from the game. Only one good Temple or Tabernacle may be in a player’s territory. • Identifiers: Holds one Temple artifact, except Ark of the Covenant and Tables of the Law

You may place any number of fortresses on the table as described on the fortress. You may add or remove cards in a fortress as described on the fortress. You may only hold your own cards in a fortress unless a card states otherwise. A fortress may not be used to gain access to an opponent’s sites.

Well I know it wouldn't work for Solomon's Temple, as that one explicitly says "second" artifact
Though i am a bit unsure of the others... This could be a nice combo if it works.


edit: I r uh gud spellar X.x

By loophole, did you mean that it would allow you to do what happened to Tsavong? In that case, yes I do think it is a loophole.

Well I know it wouldn't work for Solomon's Temple, as that one explicitly says "secong" artifact
Though i am a bit unsure of the others... This could be a nice combo if it works.

I'm not sure that it would be a problem, since you could activate any other artifact on your Artifact Pile and Lampstand would be the "second."

Also, you can put an Artifact in Solomon's Temple if you don't have another one active.  Second doesn't really mean second for Solomon's Temple according to this thread.

Ah, never saw that.  Interesting...