Solid anti-trap tech. Still doesn't block non-damage traps like Ghost Branch, Shattered Remains or Plan B, but is fantastic protection from Snare!, Fetal AI, Prisec, and so on.

In my mind, it has three really important features:

• It's hardware. (Cheap hardware, even!) Hardware is not easy for the corp to destroy. It might be vulnerable to Power Shutdown, but that's a pretty good telepgrah that you should worry about traps.
• It blocks any type of damage. Cards that block any damage type are very rare, so this is significant. Being able to block Prisec, Project Junebug, and Cerebral Overwriter with the same card is noteworthy.
• You don't have to spend the full amount. Project Junebug can result in a lot of damage at once, but often you don't need to block all of it to avoid a flatline - sometimes even blocking 1-2 is enough to keep you in the game, and this card lets you do that, and block partial damage.

This card works especially well with Armand "Geist" Walker: Tech Lord, since he gets the extra card-draw from using this. (Making him even harder to flatline.) Not sure if it's worth running over Sports Hopper, but probably at least worth considering. (Sometimes preventing damage is better than drawing enough to absorb it, especially for criminals, who traditionally lack ways to get things back after they lose them.)

I really like Criminal's viruses. They're all such entertaining ways to get money. (Ok, Cache is kind of boring. But Pheromones is wonderful, and Gorman Drip v1 is hilarious.)

Anyway, Tapwrm is a worth entry into their ranks. The cost is cheap, and the install criteria is pretty minimal. (You can even install it off of archives!) It has some nice bounce-back effects - if the corp is super rich, this thing will pay serious dividends. It has counterplay, since it's a virus. And it rides that wonderful line where the corp has to continuously ask themselves "Should I purge? Is it really worth skipping a whole turn to stop them from getting 2? Maybe I should do it later?"

This card isn't powerful to be the focus of any decks by itself. But it's pretty good drip economy, that scales when you're behind, and it's cheap. I expect we'll see this start to show up in criminal decks - runner drip economy tends to be expensive, so anything with the potential to pay for itself on the first turn is noteworthy.

On one hand, it has a lot of similarities to Medical Research Fundraiser, and that card isn't played much at all. And this one even costs an influence to put in your deck!

On the other hand, it costs 1 to play, and gives you a net return of 9, without even requiring the extra clicks present on things like Day Job or Lucky Find.

The downside is still going to be a dealbreaker for a lot of decks - giving the corp a boost of 5 is generally not a good idea. (Even if it does activate Beth Kilrain-Chang!) But for decks that aim to deny the corp chances to spend money, (Valencia Estevez: The Angel of Cayambe, Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire, etc) I think this could be a really good card.

Worth noting that it's a priority event, so you can only play one per turn at max. Also you can't use it to bounce back from 0 quickly - you have to start your turn with at least 1.'

Probably a niche card, but I expect it will still probably see some play. 9 for one click is probably too powerful an effect to pass up, for any deck that can afford to ignore the downside. And such decks definitely exist.

Wow, this is a crazy-powerful agenda if scored.

The question is, will anyone bother to use it?

2/4 agendas often have some pretty cool effects. (Nisei MK II, for example, singlehandedly enabled a lot of Jinteki glacier builds.) This is probably at around the same power level, but it's less clear how it will fit into a deck.

The problem is that NBN has a lot of really good agendas already, and this has to compete with all of them. AstroScript Pilot Program is almost an auto-include, even if it's limited to one-per-deck. Project Beale is really solid, just because 3/2 agendas are precious. And Explode-a-palooza is really popular, because of it's "consolation prize" of 5 when stolen.

So where does that leave Net Quarantine?

"Mostly unused", most likely. But for a deck specialized around traces, it has the potential to be crushing for runners.

High link runners are becoming a lot more commonplace. Security Nexus gives runners a reason to build link, even if they're not in a trace-heavy meta. Being able to zero out their link is a big deal, even if it is only for the first trace of the run.

The second ability though, is where Net Quarantine really kicks things up. However much the runner spends to increase their link, you get half of it back. This makes it a LOT easier to justify spending money on traces. And if you have more than one Net Quarantine scored, (or copied via Media Blitz) this effect stacks, so you could potentially be earning back 150% of your trace investment, which is kind of bonkers. (Eat your heart out, Power Tap!)

I don't think that this card will see widespread play, but I think it has the potential to really re-enable trace-heavy decks, even in an environment where 5-link runners are not unheard of.

For bonus points, combine with Surveillance Sweep.

People complain a lot about Weyland's ice, but the Flashpoint cycle seems like the beginning of a golden age for Weyland's server protection efforts. (Just in time for Şifr to usher in a new age of ice destruction!)

Veritas is part of that. A really solid "tempo swing" sentry. Unbroken, it will cost most runners between 3-4 to run through, and net the corp a nice 2 refund on the rez cost. It costs most breakers 3 to break, (6 with MKUltra!) so it's still a decent task once rezzed.

It has some obvious similarities to Errand Boy, but is probably better overall - it doesn't let you draw cards, but it has a higher credit swing, can potentially land a tag, and the +1 strength helps it lot, making it harder to instant-Parasite, and raising the break costs by 2, for things like Mongoose, GS Shrike M2 or Golden. (Or poor Pipeline, if anyone ever actually used it!)

It won't actually end any runs, but it probably makes for some solid early-game ice tax for centrals, or econ assets that you want to make a bit more expensive to trash.