What am I up against?

A primer on what to expect from your 2025 District opponents

You’re preparing to compete at a Districts level event. You’ve decided what you want to play and have submitted your deck lists. You’ve sleeved your decks, counted the number of cards in each, double checked that everything is good, and you are ready to start nervously shuffling before facing your round one opponent.

But what are you likely to be up against? What do you need to be ready for?

Quite frankly, an awful lot.

The aim of this article is to give a sense of what decks might be out there and what to expect when your opponent flashes you their ID. We don’t recommend that you spend a load of time grinding each of these matchups. We do recommend that you pick one or two that look tricky, and that you jam a few games with friends. But, mostly, we hope that reading through this list will give you a good idea of what to expect, and will help you to feel prepared, so that you can relax and enjoy the last run of competitive tournaments before Elevation.

---

Corp

HB

Asa Group: Security Through Vigilance

One of the best performing Corps at Worlds 2024, where two main archetypes found success. Golden Path looks to tempo out with the Holoman, whereas Jukebox Asa is all in on denying the runner clicks—specifically to hate on Deep Dive decks.

If you see an MCA, Biotic or Pulse it is probably Jukebox, otherwise assume that it is Golden Path. Since Trick Shot is now banned, and Lat has fallen out of popularity, you could expect to see more of the latter.

Asa relies on high value assets behind lightly protected servers, so tools such as Bankhar and Miss Bones will help you to press your advantage. Don’t trick yourself into thinking that you can keep the Corp poor forever—Fully Operational is a heck of a card. You can win out of centrals, but there are also some must trash assets—Cohort Guidance Program on almost all board states, Wage Workers on the majority of board states—that demand respect.

Precision Design

If you have been playing Standard over the last few years then you should be familiar with how to play against Skunkvoid PD but two other archetypes have also emerged.

Shoot The Moon plays Midnight-3 Arcology and YDL, drawing cards and gaining credits with a Big Deal closer. Pressuring HQ is a very good strategy against this archetype because it draws so many cards that some of them are bound to be agendas.

Much more recent is Core Damage PD, which is looking to tempo out of the remote on a Djupstad Grid or with a Salvo Testing, whilst slowing you down by attacking your hand size. You should already be respecting unrezzed ice—due to Drafter—but it’s worth saying that the face-check on Jaguarundi can be game losing in this matchup. You’ll know this one if you see any core damage cards at all.

Jinteki

PE

A classic of the Standard format, you can always trust for some number of people to be bringing their own personal brew focused on shell game or grinder but there are a couple of popular archetypes to be aware of.

Loud is probably the most popular archetype at the moment, it is incredibly flexible and can win from all sorts of angles, most of those angles cost money and the best thing you can do is to smother their econ—especially Prana Condenser—whilst not dying!

Tempo PE is less popular. It flies a lot more close to the ground and will try and score a False Lead to combo into a flatline. Any way that you can frustrate that should win you the game. Alternatively, you’ll need to find a way to survive the False Lead turn.

AgInfusion

There is little variation between AgInfusions and almost all of them are inspired by Sokka’s deck that dominated Nationals 2024.

Playing against Ag is notoriously complicated and punishing for first time opponents, but it’s also a matchup that rewards you for having a strategy. Definitely one that it is worth getting some paper practice against if you possibly can.

The best advice is to play the long game. Don’t feel rushed into making silly mistakes, but also don’t be so scared that you aren’t forcing your opponent to play Netrunner. You might not be able to break the remote this turn, but every Ag boop, Nisei counter and Anoetic fire that you can force is another step towards victory.

Restoring Humanity

This deck that performed well in 2023 was pushed out of the meta in 2024 by Lat, but now that Trick Shot is banned it could easily see a return to popularity. It has a powerful Regenesis + Bacterial Programming fork that is worth being aware of from turn one. The deck plans to score 4 points early with a Regenesis and will punish you for checking archives with Punitive counterstrike. Bacterial Programming and YDL mean that they can easily Punitive for 8-12 damage, so be very cautious about running archives.

Worth noting that this archetype is sometimes, but not often, played out of AgInfusion.

NBN

Azmari Edtech

With the banning of R+, Azmari is now the home for any unproven NBN deck and they could be doing all manner of unpleasant yellow things.

You can easily tell if someone is playing Reeducation Combo Azmari because their deck will only have 40 cards, so make sure that you ask your opponent how many cards are in their deck at the start of the round. This deck requires incredibly tight play from the runner and it is worth practicing ahead of time. Try and keep them poor by denying Azmari triggers and forcing remote ice and don’t waste clicks and credits installing cards that you don’t need. For a more detailed insight there are videos about how to play as and against this deck.

If your opponent is on 44 cards there are a couple of things that they could be doing, but it is most likely to be BCP Azmari. This plays quite a lot like a PD deck, but with worse ice and a bad attitude. Contesting their early scores while being careful not to float a tag is the best way to win, but that is a lot easier said than done.

Near Earth Hub

NEH’s extra influence makes it a natural home for End of the Line kill decks that previously saw success out of R+ at Worlds. It pays to have tech in these matchups to avoid 6 damage kills, but, failing that, the best bet is to deny their economy assets and keep them poor.

Bridgeman recently brewed a very similar list and is playing it out of Azmari. One to be aware of.

Weyland

Ob

Ob is probably the ID with the most archetypes crammed inside of it, but without a doubt the most popular at the present moment is Facet. This deck relies on scoring an Eminent Domain to fetch an Archer, and from there it has a robust toolbox of tricks to score to 7 points. The best plan against this type of Ob is to never let them score an Eminent, and to smother their economy assets. Like most Ob, you should be able to win out of centrals.

Venti is easily identifiable as the only Ob archetype to consistently play more than 49 cards so make sure to ask about your opponent’s deck size. If you can clear out their clown car remote without risking death in the early-mid game then you are often on a good course for winning. Alternatively, if you can trash their combo pieces out of HQ then you are also sitting pretty.

Fast Advance Ob made a comeback at UK Regionals and is difficult to handle if you let it get off to a strong start. This deck is the particularly weak to central multiaccess and sabotage.

Outfit

Wheter they are playing the new rigshooting hotness, or one inspired by an older version, most outfit decks will not be trying to build a remote server and will instead use those resources to punish you for making central runs.

One strategy against these sorts of decks is to not make any runs at all. This denies the Corp the opportunity to rez ice—or play under the bus—which also denies them the bad publicity they need to win the game. Instead, if you focus on moneying up, the hope is that you can eventually steal 7 points in a single sweep of HQ.

Built To Last

Glacier BtL has been a favourite of certain competitive players for a long time. Getting good accesses and managing your long term economy is important in what is a classic glacier matchup. Holding pinhole to snipe a late game Clearinghouse can be the difference maker here.

Bridgeman recently finished well with a version of BtL that was heavily inspired by Facet Ob. Most of the same advice from that matchup still applies here, although you will need more money to get into the remote and there are fewer economy assets to trash.

If you see Charlotte or Oaktown, then your opponent could be playing Built To Blast, which will try and kill you with Public Trail and End of the Line, so make sure to stay on at least 4 cards in hand.

---

Runners

Anarch

Hoshiko Shiro

Reg Hosh may be the most ‘default’ Runner in standard at the moment, with lots of pure efficiency and strong recursion. Winning against it often either involves closing the game before turn 10, or having a way to close that doesn’t involve your remote server. If they are playing Turbine then it can often be possible to tax them out with ice that is 6 or more strength.

Crew Hoshiko’s recent win at CBI has catapulted it back to the top spot of popularity. They have a lot of creative ways to get into servers, but often those solutions are not repeatable. Beware the mid game. Most successful games against this deck will involve going either super fast or super slow.

Mulch is one of the best and strongest decks in the format right now. It defuses many of the Corp’s fancy combos by recurring imp. It has a lot of tools for getting through all manner of ice. Mavirus helps, but it is easy to overestimate how much damage a single purge will do. Be mindful about installing anything with a trash cost in the mid or late game, because trashing cards is how the Runner recharges Audrey. Sometimes the correct thing to do is to overdraw and discard them instead.

Zombie Freedom is an archetype that floats between Crew and Mulch and It is very possible that you may see Mulch played out of Loup as well.

Esa

Ol’ Reliable Esâ is likely to show up in force at every single District Championship. Vulnerable to attacks on xir programs, and opponents rushing out before getting online, how your corp deck beats Esâ is very different depending on which tools you have available to you. Remember that sabotaging from HQ is tempo negative, so try to avoid doing that in the early game.

Criminal

Sable

Much like most of the “reg” IDs in this meta, Sable hides a variety of win conditions that are important to understand.

Deep Dive Sable might be the most popular archetype, going all in on tricks to bypass and avoid your ice. Respecting their ability to unexpectedly break into multiple servers is important so it is worth slowing down, iceing up centrals, and getting out of the early game before pushing your first agenda.

Two different archetypes, Reg Sable (or sometimes Reg Zahya) and Masterwork Sable have roughly the same counterplay, icing up centrals and respecting boomerang will work well against them as Criminal’s terrible breakers continue to be their Achilles heel. Ice HQ turn 1!

Steve

It is safe to assume that any Steve deck you pair up against will be on Bankhar. This deck has a lot of cards that are very difficult to play around and pull you in a lot of directions. Denying Steve value is important. If you can ice HQ early to stop DoF and ice Archives before their Sneakdoor comes down then you should be in a good position.

Shaper

Lat

Districts will see plenty of players dust off their Deep Dive Lat decks from the previous meta on both Swift and Aniccam. Sans Trick Shot, these decks have a little less explosive power, so you can afford to leave R&D open and beef up your remote server.

There are also slower Lat decks around that are powered by the Aesop’s engine. These decks probably have the strongest late game of any deck in the format, so if you don’t have a fast advance close then try and close the game as quickly as possible.

Whichever version of Lat you are playing against they are frustratingly hard to flatline, so focus on scoring out if possible.

Arissana

Arissana may be the most difficult ID to categorise. Every player who performs well with this deck seems to have a different list and most of them seem pretty good.

Arissana can struggle with going down low on hand size and is generally a lot easier to kill than Lat, equally decks that can afford to play no ice on centrals can frustrate the trojan game plan.

Kit

Most people will be familiar with Kit’s Sparking for Lobisomem, playing against these decks often involve careful placement of strong sentries to frustrate the engine.

Fewer players will be aware of the recent successes of Inversificator Kit who is able to glide through 2 iced servers with ease. Stacking ice on R&D and your remote server to limit their access to important servers is often the safest strategy against these decks, Thimblerig can also sometimes win the game on its own.

---

Hopefully this long read will at least help you to feel a little more prepared for the Districts season.

The field is too broad for a meta pick, so play something that you are comfortable with, jam a few practice games, and take things as they come.

GL and HF!