Why does this card feel bad? Why does this card feel like it was printed in the wrong era of Netrunner?

Well, those questions are answered with the phrase 'Death from a thousand cuts.'

Disregarding the meta for a moment, let's look at this card objectively. There are 53 'do 'x' net damage corp cards currently in print or spoiled from future packs in Red Sand. Now let's trim the fat by realising that this card is useless against any instance of net damage that does not exceed 1. We are now looking at a pool of 24 cards (quite a few of which calculate their net damage based on variables like hand size, tags, advancement tokens, etc.)

We might be forgiven for thinking that relatively cheap card that can be slapped down for protection against 24 cards seems like a good sell.

But then we get to the point about the meta.

I don't understand why this card was printed, when the closest thing the meta has seen to viable and 'good' net damage-based decks are Potential Unleashed, and Personal Evolution. Both of these decks thrive on the ability to deal dozens of instances of 1 net damage. The meta is also relevant in this discussion due to the playability of that pool of 24 cards. A good handful see use, a good handful are binder fodder. But this card is dead weight in your deck unless you're expecting to see them. It's pure and simple, a meta call.

If you're particularly scared of seeing Project Junebug Psychic Field, Cortex Lock, and Thoth (if you're tag-me) then consider this card. It very well might just carve a niche for itself if corps feel like nuking you in the difficult to engineer scenario where they can reliably deal 3+ net damage to you. In the meantime, Net Shield is probably going to be the better option.

I'm seriously torn on this card. The closest comparison I can make to this is Inject, which when played in a lot of current Anarch decks usually synergises quite well with the bin-breakers and anarchs having deja-vu for those precious viruses they didn't mean to trash. At the end of the day it cycles through 4 cards in your deck, for a measly cost of 1 credit, and even pays you back somewhat for the slight disadvantage of trashing programs.

The problem I see with this card is its huge investment, and the fringe circumstances where you would actually want to see this card. I've been in a few matchups where my breaker suite is almost set up save for that splashed Mongoose or Gordian Blade because i'm sick of paying 3 creds against a Quandary with Black Orchestra. In that occasion, I would love to be able to absolutely chomp through my deck, and install that elusive breaker on the same click. You save some credits, sure, but remember that this card costs 3 up-front, so if you actually manage to find the program you want then you only end up saving 2 creds, which often ends up being only 1 credit when you consider most 'good' breakers played in anarch cost 4 or less, save for Yog.0.

This card seems amazing in the above scenario, where you want to tear through the rest of your redundant cards to find that last important piece. You almost certainly don't want to play it early as it might just end up trashing stuff you really needed. For this reason, I don't think the card is nearly as good as it needs to be. I'm sure it will see a lot of testing and i'll be happy to be proven wrong, but I just don't think its drawbacks outweigh its benefits.