The other end of the resource sink see-saw that card production may create is, the boosts to resource production they provide. As the card will presumably have an "infinite" lifespan, at some point the resource cost will be recouped and they will contribute to production inflation, thus exacerbating the issue eventually.
The benefit will be that, depending on the "payback time" we will buy ourselves a window of time to weave in additional sinks for resources while these cards work off their resource debt.
Another angle is that each card will not boost all resources, so some resources will remain locked up in the card production. Then again, I am going to presume that eventually we have a full suite of land cards that boost all resources, so that will in time bring us back to resource production inflation. Again it will give breathing room.
I fully accept that this is step 1, and I'm happy to see it taken.
Final aspect, all these workers will need grain, so there is a universal sink there, and I'm guessing only one of the "set" will boost grain production.
All in all I like the idea, but like all things in an interwoven economy, it's a game of 4-D chess. This is always a headache for devs and only becomes more so as the economy elaborates and proliferates, resulting in the likelihood of unforeseen consequences popping up several orders removed from the original tweak. We saw this repeatedly in WoW with patches and expansions throwing unpredictable spanners in the supply/demand economy in an increasing and interdependent ecosystem.
But hey!, isn't that the fun, isn't that the game here, get your thinking cap on and immerse yourself in the beautiful ecosystem that is evolving before our eyes.
Can't wait..want more!!!
RE: You can make your cards!