Hello everyone! I encountered a bit of a situation today with runner decks. I play Kate as my main runner deck and I have seen and played with a bit of Gabriel decks. I am completely new to Anarchy decks. My fiance has always played Corp and I always play as runner. He decided to make a Noise deck. Unfortunately, I have no idea how viruses work. No one in my area plays Anarchy decks. I looked up "Virus" and "Viruses" in the rulebook, and neither appear. The only mention of the word "virus" is the definition for "Virus Counters" and "Purging Viruses". So I have some questions:

1. How exactly do viruses work?

2. Do they break I.C.E.?

3. Do they attach to ice?

4. Can they be destroyed?

5. Do virus counters increase a virus' strength?

If you could point me in the right direction and or answer these questions, I would really appreciate it. I am abolutely lost when it comes to viruses. I want to teach my fiance how to play as a runner the correct way and also for both of us to understand all aspects of the game.

Virus is simply a program sub-type. A sub-type has no inherent functionality, but usually indicates the nature of the abilities of the program. In the case of virus programs, they will usually use virus counters to achieve different kinds of effects. Just read the card and you will know what the virus program does with the virus counters -- there's no inherent quality or ability associated with virus programs or virus counters. It all depends on the card. Some virus programs will accumulate virus counters over time, increasing the strength of their effect, or allowing more uses of their ability. So as a corp, on your turn, you have the option to spend 3 clicks to purge (= remove) all virus counters from cards in play.

If they are viruses and not icebreakers can they break ICE? Do they attach to ICE? Some cards dont actually state either. They just say they get counters. Its quite confusing and frustrating.

Yensid said:

Some viruses are Icebreakers and break ICE. Others are just programs that take up MU and do indirect things.

Virus programs in the core set include:

Crypsis (an Icebreaker)

Datasucker (a virus place on ICE to weaken that ICE)

Medium (lets you view additional cards when running R&D)

Parasite (a virus place on ICE to weaken that ICE)

etherial said:

Your description of Datasucker is somewhat inaccurate: it isn't placed on ICE; it gets counters that weaken ICE. However, the most important information about what Virus programs do is on the cards themselves. The only property shared by Virus programs is that they get Virus counters (which the corp can remove by spending 3 clicks). The cards will tell you how the Virus counters get onto the Virus cards. The cards will tell you what the Virus counters do. That's all there is to it.

Yensid said:

I'm not sure where the confusion stems from. First and foremost, they are programs. What does a runner do with programs? He or she installs them in order to use their ability. Think of Magnum Opus or Sneakdoor Beta. They are programs, but they are not icebreakers. So how do you know what they do? Their card text tells you. It's the same with programs that are of the virus sub-type. Pretty much all programs of the virus sub-type have one thing in common: they somehow accrue virus counters, and those virus counters are used to power or alter their abilities. How they accrue the virus counters, and what benefit they gain from them is written on the individual cards. Neither a virus program nor a virus counter has any inherent quality -- it's all based on card text.

Well some viruses said " when approaching ice" but were not icebreakers. Some cards text was confusing. Im glad to have received so many replies in assistance. Thank you! :-)

Yensid said:

That is a simple timing restriction for the card's effect. Also, just because a card isn't an icebreaker doesn't mean it cannot interact with ice (think Tinkering or Ice-carver).