u/WinglyKing

Hello everyone, this is my first attempt but second deck list for a "Dandan" deck featuring Unstoppable Slasher as my singular creature. Much like how Dandan is also called Forgetful Fish, I'm calling this Pain Killer, as the Memory Lapse stand in is [[Painful Memories]]. My friend calls it Kylo format, because what is Kylo Ren if not an unstoppable slasher with painful memories?

20 starting HP.

Main focus is the mechanics mono black is most known for: destroying/sacrificing creatures, graveyard interaction, and hand hate. Secondary focus is counter synergy to make full use of Slasher's rules text. Outside of the namesake creature and Painful Memories, the only other card that's more than a 2-of is [[Heartless Act]] at 4 copies, which serves as a super versatile tool kit card. Kill Slashers, unlock your own, or remove counters to deny your opponents counter synergies.

Like Dandan I wanted there to be an emphasis on fighting for the top of the deck. Many cards set a creature from the yard and/or the hand to the top of the deck which can lead to fun stack battles. Unlike Dandan I wanted some battles to happen within the yard, hence [[Skeletal Scrying]] [[Gravepurge]] [[Bone Harvest]] and [[Takenuma, Abandoned Mire]] if someone tries to [[Unburial Rites]] .

Cards I'm looking at as potentials:

[[Deadly Cover-Up]] as a sweeper that messes with the numbers within the deck, yet can still be interacted with via graveyard interaction.

[[Cut Down]] in case more efficient removal is needed.

[[Lost Hours]] for additional top of deck planning.

[[Cemetery Recruitment]] as another graveyard interaction + draw.

[[Render Inert]] as one more piece of counter synergy + draw, but it's low on the list given its cost and being sorcery.

[[Cruel Bargain]] / [[Infernal Contract]] as high risk high reward card draw. Basically you take the equivalent of a Slasher hit for a massive burst of card advantage.

[[Lethal Throwdown]] as another removal piece that has upside if have a stunned Slasher.

Thank you for reading. I gladly welcome any suggestions!

The soft hiss of the doors opening broke the silence of captain's quarters as head engineer Siph'oso Ram stepped in. Typical Ligose greetings would involve some amount of flickering in the shade of their scales in addition to a low trill, yet none were given this time. Siph'oso Ram looked mildly concerned and at the same time mildly disappointed. His neck mane was not puffed out with in its usual colors. He meant business.

"Captain Rhelt'oso Sarn," he started, his voice level but tinted with irritation. "Forgive me for ignoring formality but I can't in good will continue to let certain rules be broken. I demand ears for my tskal."

Captain Rhelt'oso had up until the engineer's arrival been finalizing a series of logs regarding the month's recent crew acquisitions. In one hand was a data pad which he tapped at repeatedly with his dominant claw as if filling out some vital information, and in the other he held a synthetic glow stone to his chest. His focus remained on his task up until he heard that word: tskal. The engineer meant to challenge him?

A trill more reminiscent growl left his lips. "You forget yourself, Siph. Even if you have a grievance there is order to be had. I am your Captain and I will demand you show adherence." Rhelt'oso didn't have to raise his voice to get his point across. Merely standing and shifting his colors to brown let the engineer know that they had clearly misstepped. Thoroughly cowed the smaller Ligose lowered their gaze prompting the captain to continue. "I will hear your tskal though if I find it lacks merit you will be marked."

Siph'oso suddenly seemed less confident in the face of his captain's threat but it wasn't enough for him to back down. Straightening his posture he began his dispute. "My issue lies with the Gre'olit you recently acquired three weeks ago from the sector near the Milky Way Galaxy. The one named Adrian Balfour. You brought him aboard as an apprentice engineer but there is no way that creature is a novice to our ships. He speaks with his actions and often without communication to myself or others of higher position. While their work is acceptable, and sometimes remarkably efficient, I am lead to believe he's hiding something."

He paused to gauge the captain's reaction, to see if they knew anything that he didn't. When Rhelt'oso continued his expectant gaze the engineering officer simply proceeded. "That is, however, a minor problem. The reason why I am here is because that fleshman has a weapon stored in his private quarters. Not even a pho-repeater like what is provided to Security. It's some Gre'olit projectile weapon that constantly requires maintainance. Every day I've seen him hunched over his desk after a shift breaking it down, brushing the parts, just to reassemble it and hanging it back up on the wall. So my inquiry is this, Captain. Why do you allow a new crew member to so openly store a weapon when no other crew member has such permissions?"

For a time the captain was quiet. To show such favor to a member of such an erratic race was unheard of and it made sense that Siph'oso would rightly call him on his judgment. The older Ligose let out a breath as he stepped closer to the view port, taking in the vastness beyond.

"It's not a weapon, not anymore," he replied quietly.

Turning back around his features softened, neck mane returning to it's usual hue as he approached his long time Head of Engineering. "As long as I have known you, Siph, you've had yourself claws deep in moving parts, sparking motors, and endless miles of scrap. You've lived a long life of trusting not only your eyes and your hands, but your tools as well. They became extensions of you, yes? Now imagine your life was one of conflict. One where survival was your every breathing priority. Where your own kin sown the ground with blood of rage and innocence. Where you and I struggled to find our way to the stars, Adrian struggled to find one more day to live."

With a side glance to his own desk the captain returned to his chair and tapped a few times on the surface to bring up a holo. After a number of selections he eventually brought up Adrian's crew file, which outside of some basic information was almost completely blank.

Siph'oso eyes widened as he looked at the holo, stunned once more that his own superior would bring on someone with so little information to go on. "Captain, this is reckless! Are you telling me all we have on that creature is his name and only a handful of years of relevant experiences? Not even place of birth? He could be a carver or a disrkr for all we know."

He caught his breath and moved to rant further until the Rhelt'oso rose a fist. "Have you truly spoken to him? Sat down with him? Ate with him? No, otherwise you would not be here. Since you have clearly show no interest in understanding him allow me to educate you. Adrian is a conscript, turned rebel, turned mercenary, turned engineer. That 'weapon' of his was his tool through every scar, every battle, and every loss he ever suffered. He is an ex-soldier, one who hates the things he has done in order to see another dawn."

He double tapped an icon on his holo console. "Access File. Crew Members. Interviews. Adrian Balfour. Open. Start sequence at two minutes thirty-seven seconds."

A holo projected itself between the two Ligose, bringing up a video showing a somewhat disheveled Adrian cleaning his firearm in what looks like some run down hangar. The video played, starting out with a scoff from the human.

-----

"Oh, this? Thing don't work no more. Seventeen years old and it can no longer have a good conversation with people I disagree with." The man paused to sip a drink off a nearby glass, the mood being something almost lighthearted. Completely unlike the quiet person Siph'oso had come to know. "You ever know someone so long, Cap? Someone that's just...been there with you? Someone you can talk to about all the shit you gone through? A friend maybe? Well, that's this old girl."

Adrian gave a hearty slap to the side of the rifle and gave a good laugh. That laugh, however, turned watery after a couple moments. "I hurt her. I made her do the worse things a man can do. I made her fight for me when I was too fucking thrashed to do it myself. For seventeen years I kept demanding she put up with my nonsense. Then one day I'm out in the O-Rim and my freighter gets ambushed by carvers. They breach the hull and I'm first one on site and I start lighting up these Naxiorgs one after another. Just another day in the life of a merc, yeah? Well, after I mow down eight or so of them this damn young Nax crosses the breach and without even thinking I lift my gun up and pull the trigger. 'Click'. 'Click Click Click'. The sum'bitch seized up. The scariest sound I've ever heard in my life. But in that moment it I saw that Nax brat standing there, scared shitless. And it just hit me."

The ex-soldier stopped to finish his drink just in time to launch his glass across the hangar. He screamed, again and again and again. In a fury he grabbed a hammer and lifted it up, looking ready to bring it down on the rifle. He so terribly wanted to break it, it was in his eyes. But then the hammer fell from his hand, the fight and hate draining from him. Words broke through sobs as he started once again

"After that...I told myself I'd give her a better life. I'd smooth the scratches and scars. I'd oil the springs and the bolts. I'd do anything if only she'd talk again. Yet she never said even a single word more. No matter how I fixed her, polished her, loved her...she wouldn't ever fire. It's as if she didn't want to kill anymore. And it was all my fault. Once I realized that I quit my run as a mercenary. I made a promise to her that I'd take care of her no matter what. Every. Single. Day."

-----

"End sequence," Rhelt'oso barked sternly at the console, which ended the holo. He turned to Siph'oso seeing a dawning realization upon their face. "We have tools, my friend. Gre'olits have companions. No matter if it lacks sentience or if it has limited purpose, they can form a bond that may as well be forged with blood. Their kind, while bred for war, hide their weaknesses as if their lives depend on it. Those words from Adrian were after he had consumed nearly a case of liquid inhibitor. The interview didn't last much longer after that outburst as I had to soon drag him to the nearest infirmary."

The engineer was dumbstruck at this point as well as humbled. To think that the stoic fleshman could be so animated, and so passionate, shocked him. Like the captain said, he himself was only a mechanic who gets himself into the thick of machinery. Even the most educated parts of his mind can barely fathom the life Adrian had lead, let alone the seventeen years of never ending conflict.

"I...rescind my tskal. It has been thoroughly resolved, Captain." His neck mane slowly puffed up into a display of nebula blues as he spoke, accompanied by a small smile. "By your leave, there's someone I need to talk to."