-C protects if you create an empty directory and then use it as the argument to -C; saves you a command line cd and a cd back to where you were, though it doesn

-C protects if you create an empty directory and then use it as the argument to -C; saves you a command line cd and a cd back to where you were, though it doesn't save much if you use your mkcd command to make the directory. (I'm talking about GNU tar where any leading slash(es?) is stripped off of the path of any files in the tar (and .. is disabled))