The Arnak Midgame: Deck, Research, and Tempo

By round II, the island has opened up. New sites are on the board, guardians sit on some of them, and the card row is shifting from items toward artifacts. The opening was about building capacity. The midgame, rounds II to IV, is about turning that capacity into points without falling behind on the research track. It is where a lot of the game is won or lost.

Keep your deck lean

You draw 5 cards a round. That never changes, no matter how big your deck gets. So each card you add makes every other card a little less likely to show up.

Ask two questions before you buy:

• Does this card do something my deck cannot already do? A third card that makes coins is weaker than your first card that pays for a plane.
• Will I see it? An item goes under your deck and usually comes up next round. After that, it shuffles in with everything else.

And use exile effects. Fear cards first, then the basic Funding and Exploration cards once your deck has better ones.

Tempo: main actions are the scarce resource

You get one main action per turn, and a round ends for you when you pass. Free actions are the way around that limit. Funding and Exploration, some items, idol slots, guardian boons, and most assistants all act without using your turn.

So a card with a free action is often worth more than its effect looks. It lets you do two things on the same turn.

When to pass

Passing early is not a mistake by itself. Once you pass, play skips you for the rest of the round. If you are the last player still in, you take several turns in a row.

That has two sides:

• Passing late lets you see what everyone else did and take the sites they left open.
• Passing early often means you had a plan and finished it. Holding cards just to stay in can waste them: you only draw up to 5 next round, so saved cards cut into your fresh draw.

The starting player marker moves left each round, so who acts first changes. Look at next round’s order when you decide how much to hold.

Pace your research

The research track rewards you twice: for each row you reach, and for being first. Glance at everyone’s magnifying glass at the start of each round.

• If you are racing for the Lost Temple, keep a steady pace. Earlier arrivals score more, and the first arrival also wins ties.
• If you are behind, look for rows where your notebook can catch up and recruit or upgrade an assistant. Points on the track come from both tokens.

Every research step costs resources. Each bridge shows its own cost, often in tablets, arrowheads, or jewels, so look at the next two bridges on your path and plan your digs to collect what they ask for.

Use assistants every round

An assistant can be used once per round and refreshes at the end of the round. One you forget to use is a lost action.

There is also a timing trick from the rulebook: upgrading an assistant to its gold side refreshes it. Use the silver ability first, then upgrade it later that round and use it again.

Pick your guardian fights

A guardian is worth 5 points and a one-time boon, and overcoming it saves you the Fear card you would bring home from its site. But the cost might be resources your research needs.

Overcome a guardian when:

• its cost fits what you already have,
• its boon helps your next few turns, or
• your archaeologist will be on its site at the end of the round anyway.

Otherwise, let it wait. Guardians stay put until someone overcomes them.

Read the table

Before each turn, look up from your hand:

1. Which sites are full? Once both spaces at a site are taken, nobody else can dig there this round.
2. Who is close to a bonus tile you want? Getting there one turn sooner is the whole game for that tile.
3. What will the card row look like next round? At round end, the cards on both sides of the moon staff are exiled and the staff moves right. The artifact you wanted may be gone.
4. Who has passed? The fewer players left, the more turns each one gets.

The two-player difference

With two players, the second space at each starting site is blocked, so each starting site takes only one archaeologist. Every placement blocks your opponent more directly. With three players, three of those second spaces are blocked. With four, none are, but more people are chasing the same bonus tiles.

Arnak blends deck building and worker placement, and the midgame is where the two pull against each other. Our explainer on deck building covers the deck side if you want the bigger picture.