The acquisition of things is not an end in itself, but merely a means to an end

Items are very similar to allies in the way they work, but some cards interact with one or the other card type in some way. e.g. an enemy might make a player discard an ally in play.

This item is not very powerful, but its special effect means that it can be used to pay for another card (by discarding it) and then still played afterwards from the discard pile, if desired. Obviously, most cards can only be played or put into play from the player's hand, so this adds a little flexibility.