I have a Kingdom generator with Enterprise programmed into it. I recently was generating a bunch of Kingdoms with General in it because I wanted to see some of its interactions with Enterprise's one-shots, but I was surprised at how few Kingdoms appeared that made use of that ability of General's. While I don't worry that General is too weak (though, having not played it, that is simply in my approximation), it struck me as odd that General's fanciest ability was rarely useable even in Enterprise heavy games.
As it stands, there are 5 cards in Enterprise that interact with General's "don't trash it" ability: Conscripts, Gambler, Jubilee, Redistrict, and Vendor-- and Redistrict's on-trash ability requires that it be trashed, so General's interaction is irrelevant.
I'm a bit disappointed reflecting upon how few cards are actually one-shots in Enterprise (not because they don't interact with General, but because that was the purported theme). Accounting for all the cards, 9 of the 24 cards are one-shots or pseudo-one-shots: Barter, Convoy, Floodgate, Fund, Gambler, Jubilee, Redistrict, Terrace, and Vendor. If we add interacting with Coppers as a primary mechanic, that only adds Clerk, Mill Town, and Wheelwright to the mechanically relevant list.
I believe there is still a lot of room for high-level play to be introduced to Dominion through your mechanical theme of effects with limited uses and I would like to encourage you to cut cards that don't fit in with that idea.
I think that's a worthy goal. As I come up with more on-theme cards, I am bound to cut some of the off-theme ones. That being said, I think a set full of one-shots—even optional one-shots—is bound to be a little lopsided. Meaning, where are all the Kingdom cards at the end of the game? In the trash. Trade token cards are a way around that, which is why I embraced that mechanic. I would argue that even when a card gives Trade tokens other than on-buy or on-gain, it still falls under the limited-uses theme because the uses are so heavily gated. The way I see it, this is how the cards are currently broken up among themes:
Cards that trash themselves: Jubilee, Redistrict, Gambler, Vendor, Fund, Conscripts (and therefore Profiteer and Barracks)
Cards that use Trade tokens: Jubilee, Convoy, Craftsman, Terrace, Barter, Cathedral
Cards that care about Treasures: Clerk, Mill Town, Refurbish, Vendor, Barrister, Barter, Wheelwright
Misc one-shot stuff: Floodgate, General
Off-theme: Auction, Committee, Dignitary, Axeman, Conclave
(Originally Dignitary was supposed to tie into the theme by being able to trash itself with the Reaction. It can technically still do that, but with this top half you're probably not going to. Back when it gained Silvers, it was at least plausible.)
So by that yardstick, the set doesn't have so very much off-theme stuff. 5 cards. Now maybe the cares-about-Treasure theme is invisible. And it's a theme that Prosperity has, but hey, that's no big deal. Intrigue and Hinterlands both have a cares-about-Victory theme.
Anyway, Committee, Dignitary, and Axeman are providing player interaction. It would be cooler to get that interaction from on-theme cards, and I'm open to that. Maybe I could do a one-shot or Trade token Laboratory variant instead of Conclave.
Conclave
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+1 Action. Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. You may pay a Trade token to put all of them into your hand. Otherwise, put one into your hand and discard the rest.
When you gain this, take a Trade token per different type (Action, Attack, etc.) on cards you have in play.
Eh, I guess that might be OK.
I could try one-shot tops on Dignitary, though usually you want to keep the Reaction. I could instead try different one-shot reactions, though probably they wouldn't react to Attacks? If the ability is strong enough that you have to trash the card, maybe players avoid playing attacks in order to keep you from activating it.
I could test Conquest (one-shot attack that makes each opponent trash a good card; gain one of them to hand). The set is pretty flush with trashing attacks, though. I guess I could replace Axeman if it works out.
Some themes are just not as conducive to taking over a whole set as others. Look at Cornucopia. 4 off-theme cards in just 13 cards. Of course one solution is to have more themes. If the cares-about-Treasure theme isn't doing it for people or is too invisible, I could cut those cards and look for another theme; one that meshes well with one-shots and Trade tokens.
Maybe General just needs to lose the one-shot clause. I know that would make some people happy. It wouldn't have much tying it to this set at that point, but so it goes. Maybe there's a better Throne Room variant I could try. I originally had [Take a token; You may play an Action card from your hand; You may spend a token to play it again; You may spend a token to play it a third time]. Not a huge crowd-pleaser. Maybe I just wasn't trying it with the right crowd, though.
