Tl;dr: this deck is a slightly modified version of my earlier list. It went 3-3 at Sheffield, losing to punitive twice and once to PD on a truly awful draw. My corp deck was Louderer, which went 5-0 in an incredible showing. If you'd like to learn more about Self-Defence, check out this guide I wrote.

Dates are as close as I can remember, may not be entirely accurate.

2014

I am 15 years old. Deciding to get into card games, I shy away from Magic because I don't want to waste all my money on booster packs. This new-ish game, Netrunner, seems cool and will save some money. I buy the Core Set, and think the art looks rad, but a lot of my friends find it too difficult to learn how to play.

Early 2015

I start regularly attending meetups at Leisure Games, taking replicator Kate and Because We Built It. I lose almost all of my games, but the game still fascinates me. Compared to other games, it's so much more cerebral, so much more adult than the card games I'd played when I was younger. I'm easily the youngest player at any event I go to, and no-one else from my school seems interested in playing.

Late 2015

I go to the Leisure Games store champs, taking the Professor and City Surveilance Spark. I don't win a single game, but the atmosphere is electric. I also discover Jinteki.net, and practice there as often as I can.

2016

I am completely and utterly obsessed with Netrunner. I play it twice a week, going to Leisure Games on Wednesdays and the Thameside pub on Tuesdays. I pour over NetrunnerDB, analysing every single card to see if it can go into my deck. I spend less time with the other people I'm playing with; they seem extremely cool, but I am a slightly annoying 17-year old kid, and I can tell that I don't quite fit in amongst the beer-drinking 20- and 30-somethings.

For an entire month, I don't go more than 48 hours without playing at least one game of Netrunner. I go to the London Regionals, a 70-person behemoth of a tournament, and win 5 out of my 12 games. Soon after, Architects of tomorrow is released, and I make it my solemn mission to make it good.

Early 2017

Almost every waking moment I don't spend on my A-levels, I am thinking about or playing Netrunner. I go to store championships almost every weekend, taking trains all over the UK. I lose most of them. Architects of Tomorrow goes through a million iterations, each time I lose I think about swapping cards around instead of talking about the game and where I went wrong.

I make my first top cut during the Sifr meta (everyone was trying to tech against Sifr and no-one was ready for regcrim. I win one corp game all day), and I'm later able to make another cut, playing what are described as "the best fair decks in netrunner" (both of my own creation). It isn't enough; no-one starts playing Architects because of what I did. It's also quite a lonely experience; yes I now am a regular around the Netrunner scene, but none of my school friends want to play, so there's a stark divide between the people I see most of the time, and the people I see at Netrunner tournaments.

Late 2017

I start uni in Birmingham, and don't have time for nearly as much netrunner as I used to. A lot of my friends like board games now, but are slow to getting around to netrunner. No matter, there's plenty of time.

2018

I take my decks to the european championships (the same shell of decks that won back on 2017), and get absolutely slaughtered. Two months later, Fantasy Flight Games announce they will no longer be publishing Android: Netrunner.

I go to a local park, and cry for quite some time. I try to write something to sum up the time I've spent with this incredible game, but I don't have the words. I pack my collection away, and I think about it quite a lot. I don't play anymore though. Apparently there's a fan collective keeping the game alive, but I doubt they'll stay around for that long.

2019-2022

4 Years pass.

Late 2022

I read an article from the Netrunner Worlds of that year. Amazingly, it's still around. The community is still there, and it's having a meetup in Birmingham that Tuesday! I go along for a whim, and fall in love with this game all over again. I sign up for UK Nationals the next month, and play my first tournament game in 4 years on stream round one. About 30 people see me forget that DooF exists in real time. I only last 5 out of the 7 rounds and drop so I can get home at a reasonable time. However, at lunch I meet a bunch of really cool people around my age. I get everyone's names and online personas, hoping to meet them again soon.

Early 2023

I'm a regular fixture at the Birmingham netrunner meetup. Those cool people I'd met in the last year turn out to be people like harmonbee, AceEmpress, Hello and Ams, who are all lovely and are wonderful people to play games with.

After one too many loses to dumb bullshit, I leave RegCrim behind and try something a lot more aggressive with Tag-Me Zahya. A few months later, Joy Ride is released, and I fall in love. It quickly becomes my favourite card, and I work alone on the early versions of Self-Defence, tweaking and testing it for UK nationals.

November 2023

The tuesday before Nats, Ams mentions to us how there aren't enough queer testing groups, especially in the UK. l0velace and I joke that maybe we should make one. That night, I go home and make the Quear Earth Hub discord server.

QEH makes its first big splash 5 days later, as AceEmpress makes top cut at Nats. I place a respectable 58th, and with loses to two people in the top 16 I think that's pretty reasonable. Self-Defence seems good, but there's definitely something holding it back.

That night, I start a discussion about Self-Defence on the QEH discord, trying to improve it. For the first time in my netrunner career, I'm immediately supported by our little circle of friends, as suggestions fly and cards are changed. I can feel my play getting better as we talk through plays, analyse mistakes and theorycraft. I take Self-Defence to two COs that December, finishing 2nd and 5th. The deck feels good, not just good to think about, but good to play, and a large part of that is the encouragement that QEH gives me to play with my favourites, not to just follow the meta.

Early 2024

The tournaments continue, although I'm struggling to settle on a Corp deck. In April I volunteer with NSG at UKGE, which is the single greatest netrunner-related moment of my life, getting to spend two days with some of the best people in the world, teaching the best game in the world.

August 2024

Regional season! QEH does incredibly at the first couple of regionals, with three of us making top cut at Nottingham thanks to harmonbee's pet deck Girls. I don't do so well, but every time I lose, the rest of QEH are there to help me pick myself up and improve my play. When I hit a real corp slump after aldershot, I spend a day with harmonbee and AceEmpress practicing Loud to get ready for the next tournament.

September 2024

At Cambridge regionals, I go 4-0 in the first four rounds, the best I've ever done in a netrunner tournament before. I end up just missing out on the cut after losing 3 in a row, but I'm right on the cusp. I sign up for Sheffield last-minute, still wanting to play some more netrunner, but mostly because so many of my friends are going. The rest, as they say, is history.

I cannot thank everyone enough for all they've done. QEH, I love you more than words can say (especially the people I didn't have time to mention here!). There is still so much more Netrunner to be played. Always Be Running everyone, and I'll see you at Nationals!

Yours Truly,

King Solomon