Wow, thanks for trying it out! Yeah I need to actually playtest it a bit and work out what effects actually make sense for the Sword parries. Ideally, I'd like to get to a point where each sword suit has their own distinct set of parries and styles of play.
In terms of face-up vs discarded, the main distinction is that you need to discard the Royals to defeat them. However, you might end up in a situation where you can't match their suit and have to leave them face up and either use an Ace on them or rely on another player of the right suit to do so (though I realise if they are face up, that means you can't Parry them, so you'd be relying on an Ace anyways. Something to fix.)