Can someone please explain to me how it is balanced?

Mathias Fricot said:

~And Venomous Blade is balanced?

Balance is not just a matter of single cards. It is a matter of the larger environment.

This isn't much of a threat against Lanni who is likely to have the gold lying around. It isn't much of a threat against Targ who is likely to have the influence lying around or will just zap the attachment. Greyjoy could save against the discard (unless I am forgetting a "cannot be saved" on the card?) and has enough stealth in the first place to protect a bunch of their characters. Stark and Bara might have more trouble with it, but one could pretty well argue that Stark and Bara are the Houses Martell has the most trouble with. Anyway, Stark can usually find a way to kill a character and one discarded character might not slow down Bara enough.

Or compare it to Seasick. Seasick is a pretty good GJ cancel card that ultimately doesn't see a whole lot of play because people tend to have the 1 influence necessary to counter it in this environment. Poisoned Knife is not likely to be any more unbalanced in the overall environment than Seasick is.

As a single card - pretty nasty looking. In the overall environment, not something that is going to be the "be all / end all" of power and NPE.

Balance aside, TRV is going make this card annoying.

FATMOUSE said:

TRV = The Red Viper

TRV + Taste + the Knife

Nasty.

Mathias Fricot said:

Seriously, though, remember that this combo will eventually work against you. The Viper does not like to get rid of too many of his opponents characters. Otherwise, he has to kneel when he attacks like any other character.

Naturally, but the threat it produces will increase your chances of unopposed intrigue and power challenges - leading to board dominance.

Mathias Fricot said: