On a fresh game you have no cards. CesarD's and BOSSCAT's runs use no cards. Meanwhile, FelipeNascimento83's runs on easy and normal use attack up and defense up cards, which is fair to say a huge advantage. Using previous saved game data is normally not allowed in speedruns either.

Basically, the main category should be no cards. Fine to have a separate category that allows them. There is some strategy of which 2 of the 4 cards to apply and cards make the game easier/more accessible.