The player gets to choose the order to apply the effects. If you want to do things smart, you'll apply Power Artifact first, then the effect from the Blade to make the cost 0. If, for some reason, you want to apply the Blade first, then the cost is reduced to 1, then Power Artifact won't really do anything since it can't reduce the cost to below 1.
In short: you should apply Power Artifact first, then the Blade, to get the cost to equip to be 0.
Nathan Long
Wizards.Com Boards NetRep