I believe TKOU controls the domain but not the wiki itself. @Sir Civil , is this something you want to look into?
Let us just survey what players can do to one another and see what Stoic Blade's supposed 'downside' protects you from. A complete list of all things you need not worry about if you are holding the card would include: all forms of burning (sorry, fire mages), encumberment (sorry, ice mages), stunning (Anvil Strike), Path Of Knives, Mindworm. Outside of PvP, Stoic blade nullifies debuffs and damage over time from even more sources; just as examples, think of all the ways one can get poisoned, as well as more exotic afflictions such as Hemorrage, Dastardly Curse, Bad Luck, Taunt, Silence, Unholy Curse, ..., etc. Take up your katana and go cut some wizards, mighty warrior! Yes, you are still exposed to Handicaps, most of which would come from your own chosen deck anyway. The other player can still turn you into a Zombie with Spark Of Undeath, scare you away with Boo! and attach debuffs to you via radiation cards. Yes, Arrogant Armor would save you from those effects. But Arrogant Armor also 'protects' you from enjoying the benefits of Blind Rage. Not so Stoic Blade. That is, there are pros and cons to both options, and Arrogant Armor does not stricly dominate Stoic Blade. But Arrogant Armor gets to be a half-Boost, while Stoic Blade is half-Handicap. All things above considered, can one really conclude that Stoic Blade's classification as an Attack-Handicap hybrid is the most appropriate? (You may also want to look at what the other Attack-Handicap cards look like, before deciding whether Stoic blade belongs with them: Arcane Curse, Arcane Feedback, Demonic Miasma, Laser Spray, Massive Chop, Raging Strike, Unstable Bolt. You will notice that they are mostly pretty bad. The most powerful might arguably be Massive Chop, who not only packs quite a punch, but also has a somewhat mild downside - but it still has one! Seriously, is Stoic Blade's downside supposed to be that, while it protects you from some nasty attacks, it does not protect you from all nasty attacks you wished it protected you from? By the same logic, shall we turn into half-Handicap hybrids some Armor cards that only offer 1 point of damage reduction, instad of 2, 3 or 4?)
I think the main 'Handicap' of Stoic's Blade is that no non-Handicap trait in your deck, and no buff from your allies, can attach to you. So no Martyr Blessing, no Impenetrable Nimbus, no Forward Thinking or Vanguard or or or... You can definitely build a deck & party that minimize this handicap, but I don't think that's an issue.
Arrogant Armor does that as well, and yet it is a Boost card... the very opposite of a Handicap card.
No, Arrogant Armor does not do that as well. "no non-Handicap trait in your deck" Stoic allows those. Also, The quality (see color of title bar) correlates to how bad it is—not the fact that it in any way gives a Handicap (black half of background). Stoic's Blade is Gold+, a very good card. Its Handicap isn't that terrible, but it's still a Handicap. Warriors can now attach Squeamish to you, too. Vicious! Good thing Arrogant and Stoic's are the same and—oh wait. $;^ b
Another weird thing I just thought of. Curse Hardened has synergy with Stoic's Blade, but Stoic's Blade makes it impossible to get Curse Hardened if you don't draw the trait first. That sort of stinks. It feels like Stoic's Blade is really good, but not for what it is supposed to be good for.
This is feedback we've gotten pretty regularly and after some consideration Curse-Hardened will be modified slightly in the next iteration and will be a hybrid Boost/Handicap. Same for Vow of Poverty (so that they also both interact with Curse Attraction).
