I have found a fair number of TITE cards to be interesting but not worth selecting. Alan is reworking the cards to make them better in various ways, as well as retiring some that won't survive this new scrutiny. A number of cards are being assigned more than one turn of use (often two or three) to make them more competitive. A timer (Countdown marker) keeps track of this--your opponent will help your cards' timers to tick down on schedule! The Zhukov card had three turns in October of '41 to make a real difference in Alan and Jeff's GMT West exhibition game--one of the cards I will now select. Changes like this will be playtested, of course, with Zhukov good for three turns for now, though the Red Bolts it gives are not as effective during non-Clear turns as before, by another change being tested.
Cards that return will be assigned a number of Seasons forward before they can be drawn again--e.g. +3 S means the card is available three Seasons after it has been used. Their frequencies will be more nuanced, and the planning of card selection will be more interesting.
The German Intel card allows one German unit to enter or exit a Battle Location hex right after an opposing Faction has Declared Battles. The move is one hex, must be similar to a legal move (no crossing prohibited hexsides, etc..). It returns one to three Seasons later (1D3). The Soviet Spies (their Intel) allows a glimpse of all Axis cards in their Hand and allows the Returning to your Deck of a Card in your hand for one of similar or smaller size, which is ever-so convenient. It returns +2 S or two Seasons later. They are both nifty cards, but the Soviets is more effective to reflect their superior intel, historically.
I had similar thoughts Gordon wrt TITE last Spring, thinking one Small card per Season could be Removed if used as a bonus--cards that aren't worth drawing. There are so many more viable cards in TITE 2 (to be released fairly soon on a Vassal Module) that this doesn't seem necessary, though you could "house" something for such.
Gordon, I have been away working on the large ETO-size things for the game. I think I have a handle on the cards for TMS and TITE2, for sure, with several "volume specific" cards for the other three volumes (e.g., handling the transition of Aerial Warfare circa the Battle of Britain, Axis automated weather stations to go with the new, refined weather system, etc.). What you haven't seen is each faction's INTELLIGENCE card, which sort of fills out the role you're describing. It has been working excellent in playtesting so far as each Faction's card is asymmetrical showing what they DID with their intelligence efforts. That is a card you get, for free (when it is available in your deck) when you draw a MAJOR card so that you can "bluff" that you actually drew 2 MINOR cards instead. :D
In some ways, rather than removing a lot of the cards that nobody will ever pick, I would prefer to see them put in a new classification as bonus cards. When you choose either the major, medium or two minor cards, you would also get to choose one of the bonus cards. They would still add the fun, fluff but they really don't impact the game very much. It also would hide our intentions a little bit more. Sometimes, it feels like certain cards are always going to be picked.
We're still vetting these. The "Change Box" cards are to remove that data from the clutter on the Faction mat (besides, in ETO you have to be ready for them to join any Faction).
We'll keep plugging away!
Alan has outdone himself--I love the new cards. I do not want to steal anyone's THUNDER, so I will just say a few general things. Space and clutter will be spared by OOB cards which remove the need for this info on the Soviet Display. There is a fascinating Axis OOB card that makes the arrival of the AGA HQ and the Heavy Upgrades happen at times dependent on your priorities, and in competition with free Improvements, or Reins.--fun player choices you can really think about or just make carelessly, as you please.
All of this TITE upgrade material is being vetted by the ETO Dev Team right now and we should have a vassal kit for public beta testing circa early next year. As we "ETO-ize" the components and systems, these cards will be better integrate if that larger perspective when playing combined volumes.
Alan is close to finishing his modifications to the TITE Event cards. This Kard Fu master has me excited about trying these new cards. Some are entirely new, but so many have been tweaked. Here is another reason I want to play a long Campaign. A Vassal Module with so many recent improvements will be available much sooner than the Update Kit...