Removing a card improves how frequently the remaining deck reaches its useful draws. The benefit depends on what leaves and what remains. Removing a weak starter from a deck with a strong engine is different from removing an attack when the deck already struggles to defeat the next elite.
Prices and Ascension
| Difficulty | First removal | Increase after each removal |
|---|---|---|
| Below Ascension 6 | 75 Gold | 25 Gold |
| Ascension 6 and above | 100 Gold | 50 Gold |
These are the ordinary prices before any effect that changes shop costs.
At Ascension 6, Inflation makes the first Merchant removal cost 100 Gold, with a further 50 added for each subsequent removal. This replaced Gloom in the first major update. Count the displayed cost before buying another card or potion.
A small Gold reward can change whether removal is possible at the next shop. The Lantern Key event’s 100 Gold return option, for example, can fund the first removal under Inflation. Spending part of that reward on a speculative card delays that purchase.
What to remove
Prioritize the card causing the current problem. A removable Curse may repeatedly waste a draw or apply a harmful effect. A weak starter may crowd out the upgraded card the deck depends on. A situational card taken earlier may have lost its role after the deck changed direction.
Ascender’s Bane has Eternal and cannot be removed or transformed through ordinary deck modification. Do not build the shop budget around removing that Ascension 5 restriction.
Compare a damage removal with the next fight. If the deck has few attacks, a better average hand can still lack enough output to end combat. Keeping a starter attack for another few floors can be reasonable until another damage source arrives.
Removal or a potion before an elite
Suppose the route forces an elite next, the deck has enough damage, and a potion covers its otherwise unblocked attack. Buying the potion can preserve the HP needed to choose Smith at the following rest site. The comparison is then removal versus a safe elite reward and an upgrade, not removal versus one small consumable.
That line fails if the potion does not address the actual dangerous turn. Check whether the elite’s protection, multiple attackers or scaling prevents the intended kill. A potion bought for a hypothetical future fight is a weaker reason to pass an essential Curse removal.
Buying instead
A potion or card that prevents immediate defeat can take priority over long-term consistency. Compare a removal’s chance of improving future draws with the concrete attack the potion lets you survive now. Use the upcoming encounter and available route to decide whether the long-term purchase will have time to pay back.
A new card should fill a role the deck actually needs. Adding several attractive cards while also paying to thin the deck can cancel part of the intended consistency gain.
Removing two opening attacks
Removing two opening Strikes leaves less immediate damage if the next rewards offer only Skills and Powers. Before accepting the removal, count the attacks that remain and inspect the first forced elite. A branching route lets you delay that fight; a path committed to the elite offers no such fallback.
Event Curses
When an event offers a powerful reward with a Curse, include the removal cost in its price. Also count the floors before the Merchant: the Curse can enter several hands before it can leave. If the next elite is already dangerous, the eventual reward may not compensate for that immediate loss of draw quality.
