Hey Guys

If Data Sucker has 2 counters on it, and the runner encounters a piece of ice, does it "Cost" those two counters to lower the ICEs power, or do the counters stay on Data Sucker until the Corp purges counters?

The wording on Datasucker is…

Hosted virus counter: Rezzed piece of ice currently being encounters has -1 strength until the end of the encounter.

The construction is Cost: Effect according to the rules, so you must spend the counters in order to lower the ice's strength.

Which means the counter must be 'spent' to enact the effect.

Otherwise the card would read:
For each hosted counter on datasucker, every ice encountered has -1 strength.

Of course! Thanks guys, that makes a lot more sense. Otherwise 2 Data Suckers in play would basicly mean ALL ICE had 0 Power Thanks!