Pros
Do you hate turtles? Are you scared of new cryptocurrency traders spreading viruses? Do you hate coagulated liquid? Then, this is the card for you. Purge the runner’s virus counters and remind them that they aren’t the only one that can trash cards.
2 savings to purge virus counters.
Never a dead draw, as the card provides a “Gain 2-credit” option to use in matchups where you expect no or few viruses. Very reminiscent of what we see from Infiltration, which ironically was used most against Jinteki back in the Core Set days.
A single dot of influence will help other corps splash this with great ease and the 0-credit play cost means the card can be played even after your funds have been diverted.
Cons
Definitely a meta call. Deck slots are and always will be tight. Slotting in a x1 means you want to use it for maximum value but how long will and can you wait before the runner’s viruses make you really hurt?
Summary
Many will notice that this card is a juiced-up, re-printed Cyberdex Trial with an additional dot of influence. Reverse Infection was likely printed in case the upcoming Freedom virus decks do in fact get out of hand. Personally, I’ve already faced a Darwin-Datasucker-Yusuf-Acacia-Plague deck and let’s just say there was a point where I purged and the runner collected 30 credits from each of their Acacias. Obviously, this was their best-case scenario but the archetype is scheduled to pick up a lot of new toys in the killer/decoder versions of Yusuf as well as the new Friday Chip. Regardless, this card is solid even as a Clot hate card (if you have the extra to spare) but make sure to give it a thought as to whether you will be getting the maximum value from slotting this.