I don't normally write hate reviews because there's a lot I love about this game, and there are a lot of good, interesting and fascinating cards, so it feels like a shame to focus on the negative, but here we go.
Strength shredding has always been a staple of the Anarch roster, from cards like Wyrm, Parasite, Datasucker and Ice Carver in the original core set to modern staples like Devil Charm, Leech and this card right here.
The underlying premise is solid, instead of pumping up icebreakers to match the ICE's strength, what if we bring the ICE's strength down to match the icebreakers? Thus all strength shredding is best paired with fixed-strength breakers like Mimic, Yog.0 and the spiritual successors to fixed-strength breakers released in the System Gateway: Cleaver and Buzzsaw which can technically pump but do so with extreme inefficiency while simultaneously breaking subroutines more efficiently than your average breaker. Thus incentives not having to pump with them.
The Corp/Runner dynamic here is solid. If the runner can get set up, make smart, measured runs, manage their virus counters well, and lock centrals, then they can efficiently get into almost anywhere with Datasucker/Leech counters. Suppose they can pin the corp down with pressure. In that case, it becomes difficult to purge virus counters making not only Datasucker/Parasite valuable but also causing the Corp to lose ICE to a Parasite/Chisel giving them even more cheap and reliable access.
Alternatively however, if the Corp can get set up, use their ICE intelligently, build an econ lead and have enough tempo to reliably purge Virus counters then the runner can get locked out, unable to generate counters from central runs and either unable to break ICE due to their fixed breakers or forced to do so at a heavy tax, especially against large and powerful ICE. Thus allowing the Corp to open up scoring windows by playing around this weakness.
There's a clear push and pull here, this combination of strength-shredding and fixed-strength/soft fixed-strength breakers make a beautiful duet, an elegant set of complementary gameplay mechanics where the potential value of your fixed-strength breakers is held in check by the need for strength shredding and the potential for the Corp to tax and lock the Runner out without them.
Even the sources of strength-shredding themselves are respectable, the aforementioned Leech generates Virus counters through central runs, something the Runner already wants to do and is blocked by ICEing centrals, something the Corp already wants to do, while simultaneously playing into the theme of "defend your Archives" that Anarchs often have going on. The counters are expended when used too, which means that from the Corps perspective, even if your ICE isn't directly taxing the runner credits, it's never the less taxing them on a finite and valuable resource. It's also always vulnerable to Virus purges (and by extension Mavirus should the corp decide it's worth it to do so.
Ice Carver is strong and universal but it's expensive to install and unique, limiting it's efficacy to only shredding a single strength, it takes your fixed strength breakers from effectively 3 to 4 strength tbut doesn't do anything against 5 or 6+ strength ICE and even for Cleaver and Buzzsaw, it helps, but super large pieces of ICE retain their ability to heavily tax the runner.
Devil Charm is incredibly strong but so emphatically "single-use" that it removes itself from the game, saving the runner in a pinch, but making it clear to the Corp that, Devil Charms are a finite resource in and of themselves.
Meanwhile, Chisel, the only other ICE destruction tool, is limited by time and setup, only being able to threaten a single piece of ICE at a time, and offering the Corp a window of opportunity to purge virus counters should they decide their ICE is important enough to save. Not only that but the runner must encounter the ICE regularly to shred and destroy it, requiring further investment of time and resources to break the ICE conventionally, repeatedly, before it can be destroyed (which arguably makes it more balanced than Parasite by comparison too). It's also vulnerable to cards like Magnet for example.
Even Arruaceiras Crew's strength shredding effect is relatively tame on its own, only reducing an ICE by 2 strength and only for a single turn is useful but limited and taking a tag is a hefty investment, though it also synergies with the whole Tag Me Anarch thing going on in the Liberation Cycle too. It can also only be used once per turn which further limits its applications and helps keep it in check.
The problem is the sheer ease with which Arrauceiras Crew can destroy ICE (especially in conjunction with Devil Charm) and perhaps more specifically, the lack of counterplay open to the Corp. They cannot purge it, they cannot Magnet it and super large pieces of ICE like Bran, Tyr, Cloud Eater, Seraph and Anansi go from being exactly the kind of super-large ICE which should terrify fixed-strength breakers to a liability for the Corp.
The bigger the ICE, the more value trashing it provides and in conjunction with Devil Charm, even 10-cost ICE can be permanently destroyed for 5 credits, which is a disgusting proposition. Even with heavy recursion from a faction like HB (Corporate Hospitality, Haas-Bioroid: Precision Design, Ansel 1.0, Drafter) or even with extra recursion tools like (Simulation Reset or Spin Doctor) the sheer loss of credits from the install and rez cost, not to mention the tempo hit and loss of server structure is brutal.
If all that wasn't bad enough this card doesn't even have the common decency to remove itself from the game when used like Devil Charm does, which means that it can be recurred by cards like Labor Rights, Katorga Breakout, Harmony AR Therapy and Ashen Epilogue. This means that even long after all three Devil Charms have been used, Arruaceiras Crew can be recurred and used to destroy even more pieces of ICE, the board never quite being truly safe from its looming threat.
This, in turn, all contributes to a swarm of Asset Spam, Rush, Fast Advance, Shell Game and Kill Decks on the Corps side (especially in the online meta-game), due to the sheer weakness and unreliability of ICE (and especially good quality ICE). Even if you enjoy this kind of meta, it's hard to deny that a card that not only invalidates but actively punishes a player for utilizing one of the Corporation's most ubiquitous defence tools is problematic for the game.
In fairness to this card, it is not the only culprit, cards like K2CP Turbine, Takobi, Boomerang and Botulus and the sheer amount of bypass introduced in this cycle (as well as the general state of econ) must all share in the blame for undercutting ICE's capability to tax, hurt and stop the runner but I hold a special hatred for a card like this that not only lets the runner break or bypass my ICE more efficiently but actively destroys my ICE and especially punishes me for playing some of the coolest cards in the game.
Whether this card gets banned soon or whether a new tech card is introduced in Dawn to offer some counterplay (like how Magnet can be used as a tech against Botulus and Chisel or Mavirus as a tech against Viruses) I hope that this meta does not drag on as it's difficult to enjoy a game I so dearly cherish.
