diff --git a/src/transmute/transmute.py b/src/transmute/transmute.py
index 3be7fdc..b800e1a 100644
--- a/src/transmute/transmute.py
+++ b/src/transmute/transmute.py
@@ -879,14 +879,18 @@ class Transmute:
                 self._switch_to_gems_tab()
                 wait(0.3, 0.4)
 
-                pos = self._gems_stack_monitor_for(gem_template)
-                if pos is None:
-                    img = grab()
-                    matches = template_finder.search_all(gem_template, img, threshold=0.85, roi=left_roi)
-                    if not matches:
-                        Logger.info(f"  no {gem_template} left in GEMS tab -- stopping {tier_name}")
-                        break
-                    pos = matches[0].center_monitor
+                # Always verify the stack is actually still there before clicking it.
+                # A static coordinate from _gems_stack_monitor_for tells us WHERE to
+                # click but says nothing about whether anything is still there — for
+                # a "999 = depleted-unknown" plan (OCR couldn't read the count), that
+                # made the depletion check dead code: it kept blindly clicking the
+                # same empty slot every iteration instead of ever stopping.
+                img = grab()
+                matches = template_finder.search_all(gem_template, img, threshold=0.85, roi=left_roi)
+                if not matches:
+                    Logger.info(f"  no {gem_template} left in GEMS tab -- stopping {tier_name}")
+                    break
+                pos = self._gems_stack_monitor_for(gem_template) or matches[0].center_monitor
 
                 # Step 1: ctrl+shift+left-click x3 -- 3 gems move from GEMS tab into the convert panel.
                 Logger.info(f"  [{i+1}/{n_transmutes}] loading 3x {gem_template} into GEMS convert panel @ {pos}")