the doing quests to banish stuff actually sounds like an infinitely better system.
New release (v0.26) contains some tools to banish cards. Most powerful is probably the Altar of Missing God, but the downside is that you must, counterintuitively, pick an Altar for resource you want to banish, so inexperienced players will frequently miss that.
The Anchor is now rewarded by 2 new quests, both rather easy. Minor downside is that some otherwise useful items, such as Pauper’s Bowl, anti-synergize with Anchor.