In many games, this card is completely useless. The active trash to purge on an ambush is pretty sweet . . . at least until you see that rez cost, but at least it gives the Corp some options. Nice that it's an upgrade. The Corp actually might want to rez this ambush to threaten the runner with a heavy tax for running its server . . . but again that's highly situational.

Worth the deck space to do what you can do anyway, while being useful in only some games? Probably not.

If tournament play allowed for a sideboard, this would be an auto-include Anarch hoser sideboard card that would probably be a tad too powerful. Without a sideboard, it is very situational.

HOWEVER, a lot of decks of all factions still use Datasucker heavily as a combination psuedo-economy and server penetration tool, so notionally this card isn't entirely to be written off. Decks that just use Datasucker to help on credits would be inconvenienced by hitting this ambush, but decks that rely on it to turn on fixed strength breakers (including Atman) could be crippled by it.

So, pros:

* Sometimes this card will save the Corp a turn spent on wiping viruses.

* It is an upgrade

* It always triggers, no matter what server it is accessed from

** Thus it's 1 trash cost is more or less meaningless / isn't really detrimental

* Disrupts Datasucker + fixed strength breaker suites

* It makes Noise very sad

Cons:

* On-access effect triggers basically randomly / not under Corp control

** Thus, can't be relied upon or built around.

** High variance; will have little to no impact most of the time but might occasionally win you a game under ideal conditions through pure luck

* Will have absolutely no effect versus Runner decks that lack viruses

Good meta card if lots of people in your meta are playing virus decks, otherwise it lives in the binder.

HOWEVER, a lot of decks of all facitons still use Datasucker heavily as a combination psuedo-economy and server penetration tool, so notionally this card isn't entirely to be written off. Decks that just use Datasucker to help on credits would be inconvenienced by hitting this ambush, but decks that rely on it to turn on fixed strength breakers (including Atman) could be crippled by it.

 

So, pros:

 

* Disrupts Datasucker + fixed strength breaker suites

 

Cons:

 

* Triggers basically randomly / not under Corp control

Edited the quote to focus on a few things.

I've turned around on this card quite a bit, and here's why: yes, it's an ambush, and that's positive (if passive), but it can do a few things mid-run that will give many Runners a terrible time:

1) Rezzing and trashing Cyberdex when you Rez your Archer at 2.3 is just really really funny for the approaching Mimic that was depending on Datasucker tokens. Sure, it ain't cheap, but neither is getting blown up by an Archer. (How about Archer trashes those Datasuckers too while saying "womp womp" [frowny-face]). This is a huge tempo boost; not too shabby psychologically either.

2) Rezzing and trashing Cyberdex at 4.3 when an Imp is incoming

Runners like Imp; Runners like Datasuckers; having a Cyberdex ready to trash mid-run while also installed as a trap is a good use of this card.

Sure, if you have a rich corp, then paying three to avoid spending a turn could be a beneficial alternate cost to wipe viruses. And doing it on the runners turn could certainly be disruptive, as you say.

I dunno; I've not seen this card be a thing yet in my games or in games I've watched. But, it is a very meta card and I just haven't been seeing that much Noise or dedicated virus decks in general in the last few months*, so that could be a reason I suppose. Time will tell?

If people have seen this be a bomb card I'd certainly like to hear about it.

* which is kind of surprising; I thought that some of the interesting virus enablers in O&C would result in an uptick of Anarch virus decks. But instead I've been seeing a lot of no or low virus Eater / Keyhole decks, the so-called "Headlock Reina" deck, and various flavors of Valencia decks.

Yeah, part of it is my Industrial Genomics bias, where Imp becomes a pain.

A friend used Cyberdex to excellent effect recently to win a store championship, but it's going to depend on the meta (like you say).

I've found this a brutal 'throwaway' card in a Jinteki Industrial Genomics deck.  It's a beautiful thing to look at the runner's face as he /has/ to run a trio of Shocks, a Shi.ku, and this just to get things down to a reasonable trash cost.

Anything that damages a runner's ability to run has a context - and this one's load-and-forget nature combines well with drip economy, investments, and decks that can force the runner into archives.

What does "meta card" mean?

Maybe it's a stupid question but I really do not know that expression.

The idea of a "meta" is somewhat ambiguous, but the general idea is that while everyone has access to the same card pool, players in different play groups make different decisions about what cards to use in their decks and what strategies the pursue, and the combination of their choices creates a distinct play experience for people in that group that differs from the play experience of other groups that made different decisions. Another key point is that as the card pool changes and as different players try different decks and strategies, a given meta shifts.

A play group might be as small as 2 people playing out of the core set and possibly some combination of expansions, or all the people who show up for a tournament such as the 210 non-drops from Worlds 2014, or as large as all of the active OCTGN players, and anything in between. The size of the play group affects the diversity, but not the underlying concept of a subset of cards combined with a superset of strategies. 

Some cards are so strong they perform consistently well in almost all circumstances, and are resilient across metas. Desperado, for instance, is so general and so useful that it works pretty well in most games against most opponents and is thus rarely affected by a given meta.

Conversely some cards which have a value that is relative to other cards or specific strategies or both are less generally useful and have little to no value in a meta where those other cards or strategies are rare or absent. Plascrete Carapace for instance specifically counteracts meat damage (particularly Scorched Earth); in a meta where meat damage is often encountered it has value, but in a meta where meat damage is rare or absent Plascrete Carapace becomes a dead card.

More to the point, Cyberdex Virus Suite is a virus hoser. Consequently its value is directly tied to the frequency that viruses are encountered in the group that you play in, and how severe those viruses are.

If every other opponent you face is playing a bunch of viruses this is an attractive card; if every fourth opponent is playing heavy viruses this card is commensurately less attractive. Similarly if your opponent is playing say Gorman Drip and Cache as their only viruses (for some strange reason), it's less significant than if they were playing a triple Medium deep dig rig or multiple Datasuckers and thus the impact of this card on a given game varies.

Thus, this card is very "meta"; its value is not intrinsic to itself, it is relative to the prevailing trends of card selection and strategies found in the particular play group you happen to find yourself playing in. 

I disagree about this card is not under Corp control. If you have one copy between your cards you can play it very well as an upgrade and wait the best moment to rez it.

Yes, you can do that; there is some discussion on that usage up-thread. Sometimes, circumstantially, purging for 1 click (install) + $3 can be better than 3 clicks. This is entirely dependent on game state, but a rich corp with a strong econ engine might find that to be an acceptable trade to avoid loss of tempo.

Meadbeard made the point that it can be a useful trap when used mid-run during the runner's turn, which circumstantially could be significant. Again, very dependent on board state and also variance, but it has the potential to be devastating in certain scenarios. 

When I say "Triggers basically randomly / not under corp control" I'm referring to the on-access effect it provides over the predecessor card Cyberdex Trial, which is a rarely played $0 operation that purges viruses. Sorry if that wasn't clear; I'll clarify the original post.

But even in the pay-to-rez scenario, your decision to rez and use it will almost always be a reaction to the runner's board state. When you say "the best moment to rez it", typically that best moment will be when you have to in order to prevent the runner from doing something you don't want them to do. In such a case even though you control the decision to rez it, the decisions that led to the game state where that became necessary were made by the runner, not you. It is a reactive / defensive way to play, and there's nothing wrong with that in principle; I personally tend to be more of a proactive / offensive player and prefer to make the opponent react to me. Thus I tend to undervalue reactive cards and overvalue proactive cards. We all have our biases.

I like so much that card can purge virus when the runner access it in the archives too, like Space Camp.

Yeah, that is a nice pro for this card. Again, circumstantial, but it does help to mitigate its very low trash cost a bit.

Very good card, that's why it's 4 stars.

The card ratings tend to vary over time; also this site does not enforce a minimum # of ratings or show the # of people who have rated so it isn't always as definitive as it might seem. Other ratings in set reviews / other sites vary as well. Usually cards tend to drift to a general consensus over time; this site has this card rated a little higher than it is rated elsewhere. But, that is understandable given the meta nature of this card. Its value is very dependent on other factors that will vary from person to person given the groups they play in.

From my perspective, I think this is a solid card, one of the better meta-dependent cards in the pool currently. It is not, however, a general purpose building block card.

Personally, I would pretty much never start off a new deck containing this card, but rather I would build a standard deck and then after exposure to or knowledge of a meta I might bring it into the deck to counter heavy viruses. If my deck was more operations based, or solitaire Noise or a similar deck (i.e. a virus deck that doesn't run very often or at all) was common in the meta, or the deck(s) I was worried about were using lots of Datasucker tokens to chew through ice I would consider Cyberdex Trial first as tempo and avoiding runner inevitability would be my primary concern, but otherwise I would probably try this card out. If it did its job over some games I would keep it in the deck, otherwise I would go looking for other solutions.

I decided to use this card in my deck (Weyland: Building a Better World) because it could be very useful to purge virus obviously. Viruses can damage deeply my deck, like anyone I guess. 

I hate Plascrete Carapace. I am usually a "proactive" player too, but in this case I recognize my deck had that weakness. I want to solve it by Cyberdex Virus Suite.

I use a rich corp, so money is not the problem and the most important to me is protect my ices to win the game.

I played several games against a Noise's deck and it was frustrating. The typical Noise deck now I guess (Parasites with Datasuckers trashing ices, for economy Aesop's with Caché, Cyberfeeder and of course Grimoire, Wyldside and Deja Vu) is one of the best runner decks I've ever seen.

I do not want to create a deck against Noise only, instead, I prefer build a good deck against any runner identity, but Cyberdex Virus Suite could be the right card I need to face that kind of runner deck. Also I know many runners do not play Noise but anyway Parasite and Datasucker are cards very played in a lot of decks (other runner identities I mean). So for this reason I do not have a problem to add 3 copies of Cyberdex Virus Suite in my Weyland deck.

To explain better the reason to use this card in my deck I think this:

If I have to play against Noise this card is awesome.

If I have to play against no Noise deck but with Parasites and Datasuckers or other virus card (Medium for example), then this card is good as well.

If I have to play against no Noise deck without viruses completely, when I have this card in my hand I will keep it there to reduce the possibilities the runner steals me an agenda in my HQ or simply I will discard it when right time comes. Maybe, yes, I would have 3 useless cards in this case but I prefer use this card in my deck anyway. 

If I see in this card is not suitable in the future I will correct my deck as I usual do.