Backroom Shenanigans [Startup]

This is a slightly janky deck that I've enjoyed playing and had some moderate success with on Jnet. At the time of publishing there's only one other deck with its specific combination of 3 cards, so I thought I would share this version. I'm an inexperienced player who is dipping their toes into deck building from scratch with the release of Midnight Sun, so I'm publishing this hoping for feedback as much as anything else!

I've played about 50 games with variations of this deck and I think the basic game plan is solid:

• score a couple of 3-point agendas
• tag the runner and play Backroom Machinations for the seventh point

Backroom Machinations is one of my favorite cards in the new set, but when I was trying to play it out of Pravdivost for an occasional opportunistic point, I didn't have much success with it. I think I only managed to play it once with Prav, whereas when I built a deck around this idea, it's been a very reliable seventh point. I think this version of the deck scored 3 agendas a few times and flatlined the runner twice; every other win has been with Backroom.

You should be opportunistic with when you play Backroom: I've won games by playing it as the final winning point, but also as the first point and midgame. There's a few different ways to surprise the runner with a tag (mostly Funhouse, Ping, and Snare) but in my experience, even though the format doesn't have much punishment, Startup runners clear their tags, so be prepared to have to force a tag with Drago Ivanov. Sometimes this means effectively using a scoring window in the remote server, but in the early game a naked Drago might go unchecked while they're setting up, so if you have Backroom in hand and not much else to risk, don't afraid to be bold. At the risk of stating the obvious, never bother trying to play a second Backroom, because after the first there's no reason to. Runners often will trash a Drago in the remote after you play Backroom, and go ahead and let them.

There's a fun interaction between Reality Plus, Drago Ivanov, and Backroom Machinations. After you score two agendas, you only need to start the last turn with 2 credits, Drago on the board, and Backroom in hand to win:

1. advance advance Drago
2. rez Drago and tag the runner
3. take 2 credits with R+
4. play Backroom

If you have a Seamless Launch in hand you can do this from 1 credit. I closed out a couple games this way, and was able to run my economy into the ground to keep the runner out of the remote for a turn. Of course it helps that you can land Backroom on the cheap in the early or mid game too. The main reason I went with Reality Plus was the smaller deck size than Prav, but this combo helps too.

The economy has felt pretty strong with a little luck and playing the first few turns carefully. Your ideal turn 2 is installing Regolith Mining License behind almost any ICE that can end the run, and spending the next turn or two further building the remote while taking credits off Regolith. You can further fuel the early game with Planogram for credits or rezzing Ping for free to keep them out of centrals, but consider saving Ping for a surprise tag later if they are just getting single accesses or HQ is safe. By the mid game and late game, I sometimes would take cards instead of credits from R+ or Planogram, digging for Drago or Backroom or the last agenda, because I had plenty of money.

I have tried a few variations and I think there's different ways to go with this idea:

The most promising variation dropped all 3 Snares and 1 Ping for 2 Pharos and an extra Backroom and Drago. I actually think it's possible this version is better than the published list, because having another beefy ICE like Pharos does a lot of work to protect the remote for your risky scores, and it can land the tag if they facecheck it with something like Boomerang or Botulus. It's also another target for Vasilisa counters, and at 10 strength it will help make a strong taxing remote.

Regarding Snare, I think the extra element of surprise to land the one tag you need does help, and of course the net damage might momentarily disrupt the runner. It might be a matter of personal preference whether you play Snare over something like Pharos, but I always enjoy landing a Snare on the cheap out of R+.

I tried including Retribution, which is another personal favorite card, but it's also one more card on top of Backroom which if the runner happens to see it early, they're going to be even more inclined to clear their tags. On the other hand it's really hard to keep a big boat out of your servers, so it might have a place, because the deck struggles against fully rigged up Captain Padma.

I also experimented with San San City Grid and Send a Message, but I don't really think you need the value that Send a Message delivers, and it's a lot easier and cheaper to score Vulnerability Audit with Seamless. Freeing up some more influence for some other big ICE like Colossus might be worth it though.

I briefly tried Chekist Scion, as an alternative to Snares, but it's a lot harder to control than Drago. I think it likely has a place in an alternative shell game type deck maybe out of Prav, but I never got it to work as reliably as Drago.

The deck struggled the most against:

• boat and a full rig of breakers, because it's very hard to tax them enough to score the second agenda
• chisel charm with or without sabotage, because again it's hard to score a second 3-point agenda if your ICE is getting blown up
• deep dive Ken and Sable, especially multiple deep dives in quick succession, since the runner only needs to steal 3. (although I have seen DD miss a lot against the deck too, especially if you're both on 6 points and they are trying to close out, since there's so few agendas)

Some other problems I ran into:

• No Free Lunch could be a serious problem for the deck, but I only saw it once and the runner didn't need it to win.
• Networking can make it a lot harder to get a tag to stick, but also doesn't seem that popular.
• Pinhole Threading can be annoying to snipe Drago at a key moment.
• The deck relies on keeping a few key cards in play, so be careful with your Spin Doctors if a Backroom or Drago gets Sabotaged, Imp-ed, or Stargated. It is possible to win via 3 scores but it's going to be harder.

The ICE suite could probably be improved, Vasilisa rarely lands you the tag you need, and is mostly there because it's new and to power up Baby Tollbooth.

I've had a lot of fun playing this and hope others enjoy it, but I'm sure it can be improved so feel free to provide any helpful comments! As I said, I'm a new player and not a seasoned deck builder, so I have no delusions that it's seriously competitive, but my win rate with the deck is ~60% which is a lot better than usual for me.