Final Thoughts

The Spin Cycle was very much hit and miss for me. It was clear that its initial objectives were to expand the BadPub theme while introducing Double events and Caissa programs into the mix. Equally, it's clear that the overall aim was to balance the Corp by giving them some incredibly strong cards to use (post C&C runner dominance is certainly at an end). With these objectives in mind, I think there are some missed opportunities.

First, Double runner events are pretty terrible, Lucky Find and Hostage are very playable, but beyond that, we've been treated to 4c double events that are marginal at best, unplayable at worst. Ultimately, taking up half your turn on one action means that the one action needs to be pretty bloody good, sadly this just doesn't seem to be the case. FFG are insistent that we'll see a double event deck dominate a tournament in the not too distant future but in truth, I think that day is a long way off. Who knows though, maybe one day Starlight Crusade Funding will become the card which everyone screams needs to be banned. There are going to have to be some very strong doubles released in coming cycles for that to ever happen though.

Second, Bad Publicity seems to be at largely the same stage it was before the Spin Cycle. This is probably the most fustrating part for me, BadPub could really have taken centre stage in this cycle if the Runner had been given tools to actually apply it to the corp reliably. If you haven't read my 'Worst Card Award' section, do that first, it saves me having to repeat that rant! NAPD Contract largely put the nail in the coffin for BadPub. Yes, you may run a Grim or two in your deck still, but fundamentally, BadPub just isn't really worth it anymore. You may not mind pushing NAPD up to 5 advancements to score, but you sure as hell don't want it at 6. Equally, the only ways of punishing BadPub is Blackmail (and obviously the economic saving you make by using it), which is only useful early doors. Currently the only reliable method of putting BadPub on a corp is with Frame Job, and sacrificing an agenda for it is a steep cost indeed (and to add insult to injury, it's a double as well). As a theme, it just hasn't been explored in any great detail, when there was the potential to introduce a whole new archetype to the game, one that is simply dripping with flavour.

Thirdly, Caissa programs were a little hit and miss. While we were treated to strong programs like Knight and Rook, the theme was found a little lacking with only Pawn and Bishop to compliment them. Deep Red was ok as a console, but I'm still not convinced that a Caissa deck works that well. It seems like the best Caissa decks are to be found largely in Shaper (street chess or pawn recursion in Exile), yet another Anarch tool that is better splashed out of faction, which is a crying shame. Hopefully, Anarch will continue to get the love they need (and an in faction tutor!) in the next cycle, leading up to their deluxe box in 7 or so months.

Finally, there can be little doubt that FFG are aware of imbalances in the meta, they expertly stomped on Noiseshop and Katman while not hurting it badly enough for it to never be played again. Rather strategies that had no real counter, now do. This is why moving foward I'm encouraged that FFG will continue to be subtle and effective in balancing certain kinds of dominant archetypes (Sweeps Week was one of the best soft counters I've seen). I have no doubt that in the future cycle we will begin to see some effective counters to fast advance, something which will slow the game back down (something we're already starting to see with NAPD and Caprice). It's already been announced that we're likely to see 1 new ID each pack next cycle as well, which I think will really help deck diversity as the cycle progresses. Here's hoping!

Let us raise our glasses to the Spin Cycle ladies and gentlemen! May her Datapacks always remain in stock! Huzzah!