If I play a gear before conquering and gaining Ornn's Forge, does my next gear still get the discount, or does it not count because it's not the first gear of the turn?

Question

Accepted Answer

If Ornn's Forge grants a discount that applies to the “first Gear you play each turn,” then gaining Ornn's Forge after you already played a Gear that turn will not make your next Gear count as the first — the discount will not apply. Discounts are applied when you pay a card’s costs, and whether something is the “first” Gear of the turn is determined by game history/state, not retroactively changed by gaining the permanent later in the turn.

No — if you played a Gear before conquering and only then gained Ornn's Forge, your next Gear that turn is not the “first Gear” of the turn and therefore does not receive a discount that specifically applies to the first Gear you play each turn. Apply discounts at cost payment time; they cannot retroactively make a previously-played Gear be considered not played for the turn’s first-Gear count.

You play a Gear earlier in your turn (this counts as having played a Gear for that turn). You conquer and, as a result of that conquer, gain Ornn's Forge after the earlier Gear has been played. You begin to play another Gear. When you reach the step to pay its costs, determine and apply all applicable discounts at that moment per the discount rules [356]. Because you already played a Gear earlier this turn, a discount that specifically requires the Gear to be the “first Gear you play each turn” is not applicable at cost-payment time, so the discount does not reduce the cost.

If Ornn's Forge’s text reads “the next Gear you play this turn” rather than “the first Gear you play each turn,” then gaining it mid-turn could apply to your next Gear that turn. If any effect retroactively changes or removes the record that you played an earlier Gear this turn (an effect that is not described in the provided rules), that could change whether the discount applies. Also, if Ornn's Forge grants a triggered or replacement effect that alters how ‘first’ is checked (instead of a persistent passive discount), that specific wording could change the outcome.

Discounts and other cost modifications are applied when you pay a card’s costs during the play process; you determine discounts at cost-payment time and apply them according to the discount rules [356]. Paying a card’s costs occurs during the play process where you pay combined Energy and Power costs and any additional costs [357]. A wording that refers to “the first Gear you play each turn” is a condition about the game history/state for the current turn (whether you have already played a Gear this turn). If you have already played a Gear earlier in the turn, that state is set and does not get retroactively undone simply by gaining a permanent later in the turn. Therefore, gaining Ornn's Forge after you already played a Gear will not make your next Gear count as the first for that turn, and the discount that specifically applies to the first Gear of the turn will not be available when you next pay costs for a Gear [356] [357]. If Ornn's Forge instead uses wording like “the next Gear you play this turn,” that is functionally a different effect and would apply to the next Gear you play after you gain it; that difference in text is material to the ruling (this is one of the assumptions above).