Send it for Self Defense - 👑1st at NorCal Districts👑

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Getting Hit for Self-Defense (Top Criminal @ UK Nats, 11th)
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Tak 560

Zahya is good, y'all. Just send it. Keep the corp down with a couple well timed Diversions just long enough for you to touch 17 cards and win. Play aggro, make the corp decide between protecting centrals or letting you Inside Job the remote.

Origin and card slots

This deck is just a riff on @znsolomon's Self Defense. Hot Pursuit and Manuel are excellent, and Rogue Trading funds basically everything, especially once you get purged or the corp glaciers a bit. I swapped Cat's Cradle for Shibboleth because it's cheaper early game, and by late game you should have the money or the tricks not to care. I also added a second Leech for consistency because it gets your engine rolling faster after getting purged out in the mid game.

@znsolomon, if you're reading this I'm so sorry for cutting the best draw in the deck. (Am I truly playing Self Defense without it?) In my testing I found it difficult to reliably land Joy Ride, and I wanted to be ready for kill, so I slotted 3 Steelskin instead.

Piloting

@znsolomon has a bunch of versions of this deck and a whole guide on playing self defense, but here are a few of my own observations after jamming this deck for a bit.

  • You're leading this dance. As long as the corp is responding to you, you're winning.
  • You can disrespect almost anything the corp wants to do. Just keep the mindset that anything the corp does is worse for them than it is for you. Rez an anansi? Great that's 8c down the drain and don't think I won't just run through it. Gatekeeper? Cool, it's 0 strength now. Tags piling up? The corp can only Shipment an agenda if they find it before you do. Trashed my Rogue Trading? Good, I didn't need it anyway.
  • Forks, lots of forks. Pressure the remote just so the corp has less money to protect centrals. When the corp looks like they're preparing to score, install Manuel or Rogue Trading and make them decide between scoring and keeping you out. By threatening what the corp doesn't want, you can usually get away with what you actually want.
  • Cupellation is Aumakua's best friend. Obviously you could cup the End of the Line or Neurospike or whatever, but remember you can also cup mavirus so you can charge up your turtle and leech on archives.
  • Diversion doesn't have to land. Especially with swift, it's worth it to burn one just to make the corp spend money.
  • This deck is meant to be aggro, but don't lose sight of the late game if the corp starts locking you out. You have a full rig and non-interactive money when you need it.

The Event

Northern California Districts was a blast. I had some really tense games that came down to the wire. Thanks to all my opponents for the great games, and shout out to @tzeentchling for organizing!

And lastly, shout out to my teammates on Logic Bomb for all the testing over the last month leading up to the event!

Check out my corp here.

6 comments
11 Mar 2025 znsolomon

It's so lovely to see others doing well with Self-Defence and just getting 'em! Congratulations on the result!

I'll (just about) forgive you for cutting the Joy Rides. It's a very all-or-nothing card: either it sets you up perfectly or you can't land it and it's a dead card. I understand swapping them for the more consistent steelskins.

Did you play many Ob at the DC? I think that matchup is the biggest thing keeping Self-Defence away from some cut wins on the UK side of the pond, Border Control is just so brutal in Ob.

11 Mar 2025 Tak

Thanks @znsolomon! I don’t remember seeing any Ob at all. I played against a few PDs and an Azmari. Looking back at the ABR now, it looks like there was only 1 Ob in 28 players.

14 Mar 2025 Porkobolo

@TakHow important is katorga here? Thinking about switching it for a Tsakia, but not sure.

14 Mar 2025 Tak

@Porkobolo - I found that some sort of recursion was helpful in case programs got damaged out of hand or if the corp scores an SDS. I tried out Harmony AR but it was too slow, and Katorga is a run event so it works with Swift. Katorga is pretty nice even in games where you're ahead, since you can get back a diversion or bravado and use it immediately. I probably play it in about 50% of my games. That said, I think it's kinda a tech slot dependent on your meta, I could see swapping it for something else, but I liked the safety it provided me.

17 Mar 2025 znsolomon

I'm really not sure about running Bankhar in this shell, since you need to have it out for a turn before it becomes active, and that just lets the corp trash it. It would be good if you could draw it early, but as only a one-of I'm not sure it's as impactful as it needs to be. Katorga allows you to play much more recklessly than without it, as you don't mind if you discard a breaker to hand size or if Wake knocks it out of hand, you can always get it back later. Like Tak said, it's also great for firing off the 4th jailbreak/doof/bravado.

19 Mar 2025 Porkobolo

Yeah it was a bad idea, i actually played the deck (cutting just 1 swift and 1 boomerang) at the milano district last weekend and ended up 2nd, losing only against AgInfusion (it's a bad match up but i was almost there with the right amout of early pressure and bravery). I ended up using katorga just once but i understand the slot, it's a precious card here.