Toxic

Toxic is a dangerous status card that costs 1 energy and punishes you for leaving it in your hand. If Toxic remains in your hand at the end of your turn, you take 5 damage. However, it does have the Exhaust keyword, meaning you can spend 1 energy to play it and remove it from combat permanently. This creates a painful dilemma: spend precious energy to avoid the damage, or take the hit and use your energy on more impactful cards.

The 5 damage per turn from Toxic adds up quickly, especially when enemies shuffle multiple copies into your deck. In longer boss fights, ignoring Toxic can drain your health pool faster than enemy attacks themselves. The energy cost to exhaust it also means you are effectively losing a card play each time you deal with it, slowing down your overall strategy.

The best approach to handling Toxic is to exhaust it as soon as possible, especially if you have energy to spare. Cards and relics that grant additional energy, free exhaust effects, or the ability to remove status cards without playing them are invaluable counters. If your deck has exhaust synergies, Toxic can ironically become a minor benefit by triggering those effects when you play it.