Reading the Arnak Card Row: Items, Artifacts, and Timing

At Level 1 the advice was simple: buy cards that do something you need. At Level 2 you can be more precise. Every card in the row has a price, an effect, and points in its corner, and its real value changes with the round. This lesson gives you a way to compare them.

All rules here follow the current English rulebook from Czech Games Edition.

How the row moves

The card row is split by the moon staff. Artifacts sit to its left, items to its right. In round I there is 1 artifact and 5 items. At the end of every round:

1. The two cards on either side of the staff are exiled: 1 artifact and 1 item.
2. The staff moves one space right.
3. The row refills.

So the row shifts from items toward artifacts as the game goes on:

The box holds 40 items and 35 artifacts, so most of each deck goes unseen in any one game. Expect variety, and do not count on a card coming back.

Which card leaves next

When someone buys a card, the rest of that type slide toward the moon staff and the new card is dealt at the far end. That makes the card next to the staff the oldest one of its type, and it is the one that gets exiled when the round ends.

So the card you want most may not be the one that is most urgent. If a good card sits next to the staff late in a round, it will be gone next round. A good card at the far end will probably still be there.

Items: slow, then steady

An item costs coins and goes face down to the bottom of your deck. It usually shows up in your next round’s hand, then gets shuffled in with everything else. Some item effects are free actions, which makes them worth more than they look, because they do not spend your turn.

Count the uses. An item bought in round I can be drawn in rounds II to V. An item bought in round IV probably appears once, in round V. An item bought in round V never reaches your hand unless a draw effect finds it, so it is worth its printed points and nothing else. The scoring lesson works through that last round.

Artifacts: fast, then costly

An artifact costs compasses and goes straight into your play area. When you buy it, you may resolve its effect at once without paying the cost in its corner. After that it joins your deck. When you draw it in a later round, playing its effect costs that corner cost, and all artifact effects are main actions.

So an artifact gives you one free use the moment you buy it, then paid uses later. In round V, it gives you its effect and its points for the price of the compasses. That is why late rounds favor artifacts.

A simple way to compare

For any card, ask three questions:

1. What does one use give me? Translate it into what you need: a research step, a temple tile, a guardian, or a dig.
2. How many times will I use it? Count the rounds left, and remember you draw only 5 cards a round.
3. What are its points? Points in the corner count no matter what.

Then compare against the next best use of the same coins or compasses. Two coins can be a pilot. Three compasses can discover a level I site. A card has to beat those options to earn its place.

Fit beats raw power

A strong card that duplicates what your deck already does is worth less to you than a modest card that fills a gap. Watch for:

• Travel you lack. If your hand keeps coming up a ship short, a card with a better travel icon has value even when you spend it for travel.
• Resources your research needs. Look at the next two bridges on your research path. A card that makes the right resource is worth more than one that makes the wrong one twice.
• Exile and draw effects. They make every other card in your deck better.

Watch what others buy

Every purchase is public. A player buying cards that make jewels or arrowheads is planning a research climb or a guardian fight. You cannot change their cards, since no effect in the game touches another player’s cards, figures, or tokens. But you can buy the card they are waiting for, and you can see which bonus tiles they are racing toward.

If comparing several good cards slows your table down, our guide to analysis paralysis has ways to keep turns moving.