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[Quadell]

One mechanic I haven't seen explored much is a "trash and then draw to replace" ability. This could be quite powerful, and could lead to some interesting decisions. Here are two possible cards ideas that use such an ability.

Winnow ($4)
Trash 2 cards from your hand. Draw until you have 5 cards in hand.

Abandon ($5)
+1 Action
Trash your hand. If you trashed any cards this way, +3 cards.

Note that Abandon fails to deliver if you have no other cards left in your hand, whereas Winnow works fine then. And Winnow is a "dead draw", whereas Abandon gives you an action. Although based on a similar idea, I suspect these cards would play quite differently. Winnow seems like it would work well in a BM deck, and could be effectively incorporated into an engine with no-draw villages like FV. Abandon seems like it would work best in engines that want to get rid of your treasures anyway, combining with things like Scrying Pool and Conspirator and any cantrip.

So what do you think, at first glance? Do these seem balanced? To swingy?

[GendoIkari]

I would be worried that if you get 4/3, and your opponent gets 5/2, then Abandon would give him an unstoppable lead. But, perhaps it's only about the same as opening Mountebank...

Also, be sure to think about the comparisons to Apprentice.

[Tables]

Abandon sounds too good. Compare to Apprentice, you're rarely going to be forced to trash a card costing $4+, and this can clear estates and coppers fairly quickly and draw cards from it. Probably should be +2 cards. Then it draws comparison with Lab and I think is about equal? Might still be better.

Anyway, it sounds like an interesting mechanic. I think there are already some cards that implement it to some degree (Apprentice particularly) but not many.

I either misread Abandon or it was changed. I thought it said "Trash any number of cards from you hand..."

[Schneau]

I like the idea of Winnow more than Abandon. Abandon has a few problems:

1. It is really swingy. If you can get it early and trash a ton of bad cards, it could be really good. Otherwise, it's not that great. I rarely would expect it to be bought during the game if you open 4/3.
2. Loses power late. Even if you want a treasureless deck, once you have a Province you won't want to use it.
3. Would never want to buy it with cards that make you play it. Throne Room and Golem come to mind.
4. Once you use it once (maybe twice), it will likely be a dead card. I guess you could say Chapel also has this problem, but at least with Chapel you can choose what to trash, which makes it better than Abandon at trashing mid-game Curses, etc.

Because of those flaws, I would say Apprentice is way better than this card, though they fill different roles. Abandon can really only be used as an early-game trasher of junk, where Apprentice is one of the better trash-for-benefit cards in the game.

Winnow also has problem 3. I would recommend changing it to "Trash up to 2 cards from your hand" or "You may trash 2 cards from your hand". Trashing 0 or 1 cards won't help you much, since you'll have a small draw, but at least makes it so you don't have to worry about trashing good stuff.

[blueblimp]

Winnow is very very very strong. Compare to Steward. With Steward, you need to choose between +2 cards and trash 2 cards. With Winnow you get to trash 2 cards AND draw 3 cards! In my opinion, Winnow would be the strongest trash-into-engine card in the game, definitely better than Chapel because you get buying power on the same turn you trash.