Activate gems not refreshing [Solved]

wereotter

This seems to be the case for every support and creature that has an "activate x" trigger, but I'll use Sphinx's Tuetelage for the example.

Say on my turn the support makes the actuvate gem and I either can't or don't want to match it so I leave it. Then my opponent on its turn makes a match on my activate gem. Beginning of my next turn the support does not make a new activate gem instead triggering on the turn following effectively stealing one turn of potential activation from me. This is not the case if I activate the gem as it will then refresh on my next turn.

Alve

I have always thought it was a feature - letting the AI 'steal' your Activate gem results in delayed respawn. It makes sense if you take into consideration the fact that AI seems to prioritize your Activate gems - it'd be a pretty unreasonable move if they were to respawn on your next turn anyways. You can do the same thing to the AI - if you match their Activates, you effectively decrease their efficiency. It's especially useful with powerful cards that use Activate, like Evolutionary Leap. I might have been wrong, but the current design isn't completely illogical.

Another thing is that sometimes EL will completely stop spawning Activates and only casting another copy solves that problem. That, I assume, is a bug.

wereotter

Maybe it is but it feels like it checks if it's gone at the end of my turn rather than the beginning, hence why it spawns if I match it and not if my opponent does. Still feels like a bug to me <shrug>

Also should say in addition if it's from a creature and my opponent matches my activate gem then disables that creature till the end of turn, I do get the activate gem at the start of my next turn.

hawkyh1

I always thought breaking an opponents activated gem would
delay use of that activation for 1 turn. if you disable the
associated activation creature then it would erase all past
activation and start again as soon as the creature is able to do
so.

HH

blacklotus

my opinion is this is a tactical feature and not a bug. march your opponent's activation gems and you can delay its re-appearance for a turn if it belongs to a recurring card.

Muche

Based on https://d3publisherofamerica.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213138843-MTGPQ-Abilities-Gallery:

Activate: Cards with Activate cause their specified amount of gems to become Activated Gems. Whenever you match an Activated Gem, the associated ability triggers. If your opponent matches one of your Activated Gems, nothing happens.

When your turn begins, if there are less Activated Gems associated to a card than is specified on the card, new Gems are changed to Activated Gems until the specified amount is met. Note that this number is temporarily reduced when your opponent matches your Activated Gems (by 1 per matched gem).

I'd say this is the correct behavior.

wereotter

Hmm. I guess you're right. It's always felt like a bug to me rather than a feature.