Recycle

Recycle is an uncommon Defect skill that Exhausts a card from your hand and gains Energy equal to that card's cost for 1 Energy. Exhausting a 2-cost card refunds 2 Energy (breaking even after Recycle's own cost), while exhausting a 3-cost card nets 2 Energy. It serves as both deck thinning and situational energy generation, removing unneeded high-cost cards while generating resources.

Recycle is most effective when you have expensive cards that are situationally dead — a 3-cost card you can't use this turn becomes 2 free Energy instead of a wasted hand slot. It also synergizes with Exhaust-payoff relics like Feel No Pain, Dead Branch, and Charon's Ashes. In the Defect's toolkit, it's a flex card that improves deck quality while occasionally generating resources. Upgraded, the Energy gained increases by 1 (so a 2-cost card yields 3 Energy), improving the exchange rate significantly.