[Baalz]

Bidding wouldn't have to take long. Say each player had 150 gems to allocate. Everyone in secret makes a bid on any artifacts they want with a minimum bid as it's forge price. Whoever bids the most for any artifact gets it, ties resolved at random. At that point everybody allocates any gems they've got left.

Obviously this would be less of an "artifacts" game as there would likely be less artifacts in play, but perhaps some more fun synergies and strategies.

Problem with the lottery system is that there is such a huge difference between choosing between the chalice and the ark, or winding up with the functionally useless last couple picks. If the guy who gets the ark had to give up all his other items though, its a bit more balanced.