eHalcyon: Do you think it is now too similar to Advisor?
Also - The only thing I don't like about it is that it is the player to the left who does the separating (which I think is the fun part of the card) rather than the person using it. What do you think of the player seperating and the player to the left (or possible right would be better) choosing. It would make it less powerful - (e.g.) 3 Coppers and 2 Estates, but marginally more powerful, in that the player choosing wouldn't know what you've got left in your hand. Although to be honest it probably is better as you had it.
I do not think it is too similar to Advisor. But here is the secret history of Harbinger.
It began as a submission to an earlier challenge from this contest, for a non-attack interaction card. My submission came in tied for second:
#2 (tie) - Artificer by eHalcyon with 13 points (Clementine)
$5 - Action
+5 Cards
+1 Action
Reveal your hand. The player to your left chooses a card to discard from your hand, then the player to your right does the same.
I like Artificer much more than Harbinger. It turns out that Advisor is like a smaller version of Artificer. Hard to say which one is better. I don't think Artificer is too similar to Advisor either though -- it's fine for there to be bigger versions of other cards.
Anyway, then there came the non-terminal draw contest. I did not want to resubmit Artificer without changes, although perhaps I should have. I came up with Harbinger. I debated between the submitted version and a version where the roles were flipped (player separates, opponent chooses pile). I no longer remember why I went with the choice that I did.
As it turns out, Harbinger is extremely close to a MtG card.
Almost exactly the same, actually. I do not play Magic, but I had in fact seen that card before. I did not remember it when I made Harbinger, though it was probably floating about in my subconscious. After I learned of this similarity (before voting closed, actually), I suggested removing it from the running in a PM to the contest organizer. He decided to leave it in. It ended up tying for first. I continued to suggest dropping it, especially as I won a few other challenges, but it just never happened.
It is probably too strong as it is, and flipping the roles would help a little. I'd also feel better about it because it would be different from Fact or Fiction.
I don't think either version would be too similar to Advisor. The neat part is the separating of piles, which is not at all part of Advisor.