Here's something I've been wondering about. As the corp, when is it worth it to purge viruses to get rid of the virus counters?

Ignore all the complicating factors. Imagine there are no agendas about to be scored, no unusually vulnerable servers, etc. Just other things being equal, when is it worth purging to take away credits?

My first thought is that the cutoff is 3 counters. I'm usually happy to spend 3 clicks as the corp to take $6 from the runner, but I wouldn't spend 3 clicks to take $4 from them. But I suspect that's an overly simplistic analysis... it doesn't sound right that putting a Fermenter on the table takes away every third turn from the corp forevermore.

This card compare to Algo Trading, you can let it stew on the board and trash it to make a big money grab.

But there is a catch, it is virus based. The more counter there are on it, the more value it gives to the corp by purging. So, there is a balance of risk versus reward based on using this to gain creds.

But this card combine well with Hivemind, Cookbook, Friday Chip, Virus Breeding Ground and Knobkierie. All of which will let you accumulate virus faster, to get a big pay day faster. Of note, Virus Breeding Ground let you do the equivalent of clicking for 2 , not the best use of a click, but better than the basic action of clicking for 1 .

Since, just like Virus Breeding Ground, it self accumulate a virus token every turn, it will combine well with virus breaker (Musaazi and Yusuf). It will also get you additional draw with The Nihilist.

And of course, it is a additional card for Freedom Khumalo: Crypto-Anarchist.

In faction, it is an easy card to get a good amount of credits. At 2 influences, it is unlikely to see play outside of anarch, since there is equivalent cards like this for every faction.

Unless you plan to use The Back in criminal. In which case it might be valuable to use it multiple time, but that would be quite the setup to make it worth it.

While the art is quite beautiful, it is difficult to see the relation with fermenting. The quote is flavor full, but does not really seem related to art. The name of the card is well related to the effect of the card, which makes it easy to understand. So, like the effect of the card, it is a mixed bag, but a worthwhile card for the proper deck, in my opinion. Good design all in all.