Is Turningwheel a bad card?

Netrunner General
1

What a question right? I remember times, when the discussion was, if you run Turning Wheel (TTW) or Medium in Andy. One can be purged the other one is slower, but also allows you access on HQ.
So, why my statement? I play TTW no question, but there are these situations where I hate this card, both sides of the table. It can be just boring.
So what is it that I’m talking about. depending on the game, there comes this moment where you just bounce of R&D or HQ to collect counters. Like 3 - 4 clicks a turn. And then, when the corp is about to win next turn, you go in R&D for like 12 cards. Exceptions are, when the corp has a Nisei counter or other way to stop a run like Border Control or Bio Vault. In this case you might go in for 4 additional cards to force an action, to later empty your TTW. Or you are being Omar and run through Archives anyway.
Also this happens often when setup is done, and somehow the runner has gotten to matchpoint, no need to risk anything anymore, you will just end the game when needed with as less risk as possible.
I also see why it’s done, when you play against this fucking Jinja Decks (I love them, when I play them only) and there is this 5 deep server and then it’s the best to just load your TTW and try to access with a single run as much cards as possible. No one wants to break strength 10 Surveyors without Boomerang multiple times. But this is an issue to itself!

I have some ideas how I would fix that, but my first question is. Do other have the same feeling? Is that an issue itself or just my perception? It’s just boring bouncing into an EtR 4x clicks per turn.

2 Likes
2

I’d say that there is some amount of counterplay to this style, in that the Corp can install some kind of face-check ICE on the outermost ICE of each server. Hippo fucks this right up, though, unless you’re cool with just losing the occasional ICE for very little gain. This is also somewhat limited by what ICE you draw once TTW hits the table as well. I think there are times when it’s correct to not place more ICE on a server if that ICE has no or very little face-check potential, just to help counter TTW.

I think TTW is actually a very good card, since it allows the runner good multiaccess on both HQ and R&D, given enough time investment. It also gives an viable strategy vs Glacier (which doesn’t really exist much right now) rather than trying to remote-lock them, or make many central runs through taxing ICE. It’s maybe not an interesting card, but, from what I’m reading, maybe this is what you mean. Oftentimes, if the game is going late and you have the option to just make a bunch of runs to farm TTW counters, it’s a pretty good play (provided you have money for a run later down the line).

I dunno. I guess I’m fine with the card overall, although it can lead to boring play.

3

I mostly agree with Saan here!