Cards And Zones
How Do You Play and Use Gear?
Play ordinary gear ready at Base, then use its abilities as instructed. Equipping is a separate action.
RiftPal explanation · Answer first
The short answer
Ordinary gear enters ready at your BaseYour Base is your personal location where your units can be played and return to during the game.View in Glossary when you play it. Pay its play cost first, then use the abilities printed on it at their allowed times.
Playing EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary does not normally attach it to a unit. If it has Equip, activate that ability separately and pay its EquipAn activated ability on Equipment: pay its listed cost to attach that gear to a unit you control when the ability resolves. This is normally separate from playing the gear.View in Glossary .
RiftPal explanation
How it works
Card reference
Boots of Swiftness
EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary is gear with the Equipment tag. To use Equip, choose a unit you control and pay the listed cost. The ability waits on the ChainAn off-board zone that holds cards and abilities during the process of playing them. Cards and abilities on it are public information.View in Glossary for responses; if it resolves successfully, attach the Equipment to that unit.
Gear
Boots of Swiftness
[Equip] [Chaos] ([Chaos]: Attach this to a unit you control.)
Attached effect
[Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)
Card reference
Boots of Swiftness
Show the EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary 's Effect Text and Might bonus beneath the unit so its added effects are clear.
Gear
Boots of Swiftness
[Equip] [Chaos] ([Chaos]: Attach this to a unit you control.)
Attached effect
[Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)
An ordinary gear ability, including Equip, is used during your Main Phase outside a ChainAn off-board zone that holds cards and abilities during the process of playing them. Cards and abilities on it are public information.View in Glossary , ShowdownA Showdown is a structured opportunity for players to act when a Battlefield is contested.View in Glossary or CombatCombat is the part of play where opposing players' units fight for the same Battlefield.View in Glossary . Follow any different timing or targeting permission printed on the ability. Entering ready does not itself let gear act at any time.
Quick-Draw is an important exception: it gives the gear ReactionA timing keyword that includes Action's permissions and also permits a card or activated ability while a Chain is waiting. You still need the proper opportunity, normally Priority; it does not allow an interruption halfway through resolution.View in Glossary and a triggered ability that attaches it to a unit you control when you play it. You pay the card's play cost; this attachment does not require a separate Equip activation.
Attached EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary can be at a battlefield with its unit. Unattached non-unit gear without Deploy at a battlefield is automatically RecallRecall means moving a permanent back to its controller's Base.View in Glossary to its controller's BaseYour Base is your personal location where your units can be played and return to during the game.View in Glossary at the next CleanupAn automatic rules check that handles winning, lethal damage and board conditions before play continues. It is not an action you choose or normally announce, and an ordinary check does not heal units.View in Glossary . Gear that is also a unit follows the combined-type rules.
Deploy is a separate exception: play or create that gear only to a battlefield, including an enemy-controlled one. Its non-unit form stays there through the usual recall check. An opponent holding that battlefield triggers its destruction.
In practice
Example
An Equipment has a play cost of 2 Energy and an Equip cost of 1 Energy.
Pay 2 Energy → put it ready at Base.
At a legal opportunity, choose your unit and pay 1 Energy for Equip → allow responses → attach the Equipment when the ability resolves.
The first payment puts the gear into play; the second uses its Equip ability.