There are exactly two cards whose presence makes skipping the curse attacks plausible, and possibly even a good idea: Ambassador and Masquerade. In completely unrelated news, Ambasssador and Masquerade are the two cards that let you give your junk (Curses, for example) to other players in the process of getting rid of said junk.
Okay, there's one other example: a well-optimized Gardens rush strategy would probably be able to pass on the curse-givers, especially if it's only one person going Gardens in a multi-player game.
By the way, this is one of many reasons my opinion of Masquerade has basically been constantly rising ever since I started playing on Isotropic. It absolutely deserved Steward's spot on the Best $3 Cards list.