Startup DragOb (6d20% WR on jnet)

♫ Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand // I don't care, I'm still free // You can't take the kill from me ♪

Despite being in a dry spell of tournaments especially for Startup around where I live and therefore having no external motivation to publish decklists, I want to share some of the fun I've had on jnet the last few days. I don't necessarily think this list is the best thing to be doing in the format right now, there are some very powerful cards in the Parhelion that can be abused. But this deck felt less cheesy and more well-rounded to me and has some very potent threats.

Gameplan

Ob is great at giving you a lot of flexibility to fetch the right tool for the right moment. This allows to put up early pressure and score some points early on. Part of the pressure comes from the fact that the Runner cannot afford to go below 4 cards in hand while Svyatogor Excavator and a rezzed 1-cost card is on the board. If they ever do, you simply trash the 1-cost to fetch Drago Ivanov and kill them with End of the Line on the spot.

They refuse to go below 4 cards in hand? Either wait until they hit a Snare! at an inopportune time or be more proactive by installing and double advancing a Clearinghouse.

Some numbers

Your 5-cost cards are Envelopment and Hostile Architecture. Both are good at temporarily stopping the Runner from getting to your stuff, and can then be sold off to fetch a 4-cost ice.

The problem is that that is solely 3 copies of Hortum and 1 Stavka, which really non-bos with its on-rez ability. So keep track of where your Hortums are otherwise the first sub on Envelopment might make you very sad.

If you need the economic boost, you can sell the Hortums to get Enigma, which is similarly good at protecting your things.

At 2-cost, you have one copy of Whitespace, 2x Marilyn Campaign, and 2x Regolith Mining License to choose from.

For 1-cost, you have Bladderwort and a variety of ice: Ice Wall and Tithe. Especially the ice is important, as a rezzed ice gives you access to Drago Ivanov whenever you need it.

Still, sometimes you cannot avoid it and need to sell them to get access to your 0-cost cards: Spin Doctor, Svyatogor Excavator, and Clearinghouse.

Important bits

The Svyatogor Excavator is actually the central piece of the deck, as it is the only card that allows you instant-speed access to Drago. Using Extract for that falls 1 click short. So make sure to ice it lightly and/or use Hostile Architecture to make it less appealing to trash.

Centrals can actually be left un-iced relatively well in the early game, with R&D being more important than HQ. Your assets will be installed immediately (or Snares kept in HQ for safety). In general, having a 2-iced scoring remote to offload any agendas you draw is more important than the first HQ ice.

If possible, keep the Envelopment for your strong remote, as it is a short-lived but very strong defense in the face of Endurance and Cleaver (without strength boosting effects). When it has done its job, it can be sold off, to fetch a Hortum for a central.