Silk Merchant
Types: Action
Cost: $5
+$2. You may trash two cards from your hand. If you do, +1 VP per token on the Trade Route mat.
Setup: Put a token on each Victory card Supply pile. When a card is gained from that pile, move the token to the Trade Route mat.
Clarification: The Trade Route mat and tokens referred to by Silk Merchant are the same as those referred to by Trade Route. If both Trade Route and Silk Merchant are in the kingdom and/or Black Market deck, use only one token on each victory card pile.
I like the idea of using the Trade Route mat for more things, and the name is a great thematic fit. The specific implementation could be better, but I think the concept is clever enough to go past that.
What do people think about Silk Merchant's idea of reusing the Trade Route mechanic? Not necessarily this card specifically. I like the idea a lot, but I think some don't. Why do you like or dislike reusing the mechanic?
I don't particularly like using the same mat for both, because it means that both of these cards being in 1 game automatically makes each of them stronger than if they were alone. I mean, sure you could say that same thing for Duke and Horse Traders, or Native Village and Bridge, but those just happen to be 2 cards that form a strong interaction. This is 2 cards that basically refer to each other, in a way, such that the combo is obvious and in-your-face. Almost like a card that said "If Trade Route is in the supply, this and Trade Route cost $1 less" or something.
If this is an issue, I think it would be a bigger problem with Butcher. Rather than the Trade Route mechanic (which is only so named because Trade Route is the first/only thing that uses it), Butcher uses the coin token mechanic. Butcher and other coin token cards also have huge synergy because the other cards directly feed Butcher, which trades in coin tokens. I don't actually think this is a problem, with coin tokens or with reusing the mat.
Moreover, for Trade Route and Silk Merchant, I don't think having both on the board really makes them a combo at all. They both grow stronger at the same rate (i.e. as Victory cards are gained from the Supply), but will that actually give you a reason to gain an early Estate or Duchy? If you do, you also make the cards stronger for your opponent, that hasn't changed. And would you actually want both? They are both terminal, they both give money, they both allow trashing. SM provides faster trashing and probably more money early (not to mention +VP), but TR has +Buy and potentially more money late. I mean, maybe you want both, but I doubt you would want TR any more often than you would without SM on the board.
PPE: Tables makes a good point about Potion cards too.