(I haven't seen this idea anywhere, so hopefully I'm not stealing it)
I've read about how there won't be cards created that interact with previously trashed cards (i.e. an action that lets you take a card from the trash and adding it to your hand). One of the problems was not having any benefit if there are no trashers in the kingdom, which happens quite often. Another reason would be the cards that are trashed usually aren't worth gaining, as well as dealing with what goes on top of the trash v. searching through the trash, etc.
So I thought of an idea to remedy these: A trasher that also is a reaction to when other people trash and makes others gain them. For example:
Regifter (not super thematic, but work with me. Plus, I'm a Seinfeld fan)
Action-Reaction, $4
+1 action
Trash a card from your hand, then gain a Silver and put it into your hand.
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After any amount of a player's cards are trashed, reveal this card. Choose up to that same number of cards from the trash for him to gain, putting them on top of his deck. Discard once revealed.
*Rule clarification: The idea is to put 'x' amount of cards back on top of the player's deck during his turn, but I would think the reaction part of this would be after the initial card is played. For example:
Player A plays Apprentice, trashes a silver to draw three cards
Player B reveals Regifter, then discards. Player B chooses up to one card to place on top of Player A's deck
Player A plays Smithy, drawing three cards (one of which was placed on top of his deck), then finishes his turn.
First of all, Regifter would have to be worth getting on its own without the reaction function, which would mean players wouldn't have to buy it just to get in on the reaction part of it. Trashing an Estate or a Copper for a Silver early on obviously could be nice. Trashing curses for Silvers is good always. I'm sure there are other neat interactions that would make just that function worth it.
I tried pricing Regifter at a higher cost point, like $5, and make it give Golds, putting them on top of the deck (consistent with the reaction function, which I thought was cool). But Golds were too powerful. Even just gaining Golds was too strong. Putting a Silver on top of the deck was okay, but eh. So I came up with this. I'm sure there could be other, better suggestions for this function. The higher cost point also hurt the reaction function since it'd be harder to open with.
The real crux of the card, of course, is the reaction. The card it hurts the most seems to be Chapel. If you've got this in your hand, you can simply return the four cards he just trashed on top of his deck. Ouch. For Remodel, the player still gets the two cards at a higher cost, but he doesn't get rid of the two cards. Ouch again. Forge, Expand, Mine...all trashers would get messed with!
I could see this card getting kinda crazy. If someone tries to trash a curse, it could basically become a Sea Hag. Someone buy Mint with five Coppers? Well, now they'll have five cards from the trash put back on their deck, possibly even those same Coppers. Regifter would force you to think about whether or not to trash cards. That could change some strategies, for sure. And since the card is not an attack, there wouldn't be anything else someone could do about it, save the usual, like revealing a Watchtower.
*Special note on Watchtower, actually: If a player reveals Watchtower to trash a gained card, a player could reveal Regifter to make him regain that card, but the player with Watchtower still has Watchtower in his hand, so he could reveal it again. The other player had to discard Regifter, so he would lose that battle and waste a valuable card from his hand.
Some negatives to the card:
-Timing confusion: An issue of when cards are put back on top of the deck could come up, though hopefully the way it's worded would clear up any sticky situation.
-It could be a lengthy step if there's a lot of cards in the trash for the revealer to sift through.
-It would require keeping track of how many cards were trashed, since the reveal function occurs after the cards are trashed (This is an important distinction, since the trashed cards would be eligible to be returned to the deck).
What say you all? Any tweaks to make it better? Is the cost too high or low? Is the reaction too effective? I'd love to hear thoughts.