A lot of times I see Nightmist played where she damages herself to build up cards, constantly using her base power, then redirects the higher damages with those cards, and recovery at some point to pump her full of health again. This works because it is so easy to buid up and discard cards and then use those discarded cards to heal.
The new Nightmist is going to be less hand building and discarding, and more knowing what cards you have coming.
I think Starshield will outpace Master of Magic and Amulet as the survival card, since you can put the higher value card on top and then draw->discard it. Mostly I'd be setting up the high value cards for being revealed, more than drawing and getting played, but that all depends on your hand.
Mistform takes on a very different role in this deck. Typically reserved for a last act of desperation, to heal up and build a huge hand so you can solo the villain instead of losing, now that 3 card draw is something you can't replicate every round. It stands to get used more like Recharge mode, give a round or two to get cards in hand, then pop out and keep going.
Also being able to set up for Enlighten is very nice.
I see the big turns being when you have Heedless Lash in your hand and reveal something you want to play next round, and set it up to chain with Lash.
Things like Heedless Lash playing Heedless Lash playing Oblivion won't be as much luck as a combination of luck and planning.
Health vs. cards is a huge economic balance with Nightmist, and this form really changes the nature of that balance, without a set exchange rate there will be different choices on when to redirect.
Original Nightmist with a 2[then modified] hp = 2 cards exchange each turn allowed you with Amulet to simply take 2 damage instead of the highest amount of damage you would have been dealt that round, and if no damage was higher than what your power would deal you you could redirect it and just swap cards, or bank a future damage at the current number. (investing in Obsidian Fields!) Even Mistbound with its discard had a set value of 2hp(modified of course for damage changes) a card play and power use. {This is ignoring the competition of Starshield Necklace for your cards, just to keep it simple and on the point I'm trying to make}
Now your cards are more scarce but the amount of damage your spells deal is controllable. The whole buy low, redirect high aspect is gone. Now you need to conserve cards more, Like Foote said, Master of Magic will more often be preferred to Amulet, because you can't purchase that redirection with your power anymore, you have to use Amulet sparingly, or spend a lot of time mistformed and setting up for Enlighten's if you want to redirect very often, and when you can set up your spell damage, I expect more often than not your spells will outpace other damage options. (Villains like IL and his huge damage will change that, as you could do more damage by focusing on hand size and redirecting his own damage back to him)
Your survival is a bit trickier, since the damage futures market no longer exists your power's ability to give you a high value to discard for Starshield likely becomes your best survival option, along with dropping into Mistform for a turn or three.
I'm very interested in playing the new Nightmist, and the more I think of the economic changes the more I think I might like the deck with the new promo, as the strategy is very different, and her control is more on her offense than on her defense, which I like for her build.
