Hi SE, can we get rid of the current card system in next expansion, pls?

[Mansion]

Counterpoint: Having MP reduction on a skill that could otherwise be saved wholly for mobility or weaving, where they produce a far more tangible and gameplay-related benefit, is weird.

Yeah but movement (and weaving to a certain extent) is less of a problem for AST, as it has weaving into Malefic (and Aspected Benefic, Benefic and Combus), and Malefic + slidecast offers more movement flexibility than any other healer (or caster).
Whereas the only MP recovery tool within AST kit is Lightspeed. That's more valuable than the movement / weaving tool as AST needs the latter less (except for Sleeve Draw windows).
In the end, that's another ability that changed a lot compared to its original iteration (where AST had 2.5sec+ casts), and that's a problem in AST's current flow.

If the developer’s intentions for Lightspeed were to be movement and weaving related, then they need to give AST another way to recover MP. Especially if they were to remove the MP reduction from the skill. AST is decidedly last place in terms of mana economy—it’s not uncommon to end up MP negative after using Raise or a death. WHM and SCH can recover significantly better than AST.

Adding a "Recover 400 MP" to Draw would be a simple way to have an Assize or Aetherflow-like gimmick. It would encourage the Drawing as part of the general rotation too. Of course it needs to be balanced because its CD is shorther than AF (1 000 MP per minute) and Assize (500 MP every 45 seconds).