Caver
Types: Action
Cost: $2
+2 Cards. If your deck is empty, +$2.
I love the simplicity here and think it's a perfect $2 card to play in an engine. BUT... there's a problem. This card is too good if drawn on turn 4. Getting +2 cards and +$2 on turn 4 can be a strong advantage on certain boards and I believe this overshadows Caver's use elsewhere. Maybe +2 Actions instead of +$2 would work better? That would be similar to Shanty Town in terms of power.
Giving it a non-draw benefit substitutes one issue for another. The current version chancing into the ~$6 effect of "+2 Cards and +$2" on turn 4 is a big problem, but a version that allows every one of them to be played as "+2 Actions and +$2" so long your deck is randomly empty is a problem its own. I think this would work better as "+1 Card, +2 Actions; If your deck is empty, +$2" at a cost of $4.
Thanks for judging, this is exactly as expected. It's helped me think of a fix though, 'when you gain this, discard the top card of your deck'. If you gain it mid Action phase it could help trigger a later Caver, so it's not entirely inelegant.
My entry:
Courier - Action Reaction, $4 cost.
+2 Cards
You may play an Action that costs more than this from your hand.
-
Directly after resolving an Action that costs less than this on your turn, you may play this from your hand.
I could have called this climber, but that felt a bit cheeky after the last contest's nice entry. This is not based on it, purely off my own ideas. I really hope this is balanced at $4, as that's the price it really wants to be.