cR4X !n 7h3 m374

Who am I?

I got into Flesh and Blood around the release of Uprising, and I started the game with Briar using Lightning Press to push through Snatch. Upon the release of Dynasty, LSS gave us the Assassin class, all about on-hit effects and combat tricks, and I moved in promptly. It took a little bit for Assassin to become the class it is now, and in that time, I’ve earned Living Legend points for every Assassin to come through Classic Constructed (and Solitary Confinement in Blitz). Since the AGE Open Series came to New England, I’ve been playing whenever I can make the event, landing in top 8 the majority of the time, but always piloting an Assassin. This article is going to get into my approach to building and playing Arakni, 5L!p3d 7hRu 7h3 cR4X in our changing meta before Pro Tour Las Vegas.

Why 5L!p3d?

Slippy was a menace in the pre-Super Slam meta, opening turns with Bonds of Agony and introducing the opponent to the blender. Combined with Take up the Mantle, Slippy was threatening Bonds’ devastating on-hit nearly every turn. This perpetual psychic damage proved unpopular, and Bonds of Agony was consigned to obscurity in the Living Legend format. Slippy has made few appearances since this ban, but with the decline of Marionette at the hands (feet?) of Boots of Omnis Ward, Slippy may have the tools to target this developing meta.

While not the hero it once was, Slippy remains the most flexible Assassin in deckbuilding and gameplay, giving the opponent hard choices on defense while giving the pilot a suite of tools catered to their specific target. This deck is minimally siloed, playing cards from all the Assassins past, with good access to generic staples and hate cards like Command and Conquer and Warmonger’s Diplomacy. All of the Stealth attacks and associated reactions block for 3, which, combined with the Go Again from the hero, allows the deck to convert hands as called for on a turn by turn basis. Unlike other decks spamming Head Jabs, Slippy can pivot into a fatigue angle based on the state of the game, and if the text is matched to the target, the Stealth Head Jabs can be converted to Winter’s Bites, forcing cards from the opponent’s hand. The range of options presented by the first chain link gives the opponent plenty of rope to hang themself with, either by blocking things that aren’t coming or letting it through to not get blown out in reactions or by a Codex of Frailty to follow. Cards like Art of Desire: Body prey upon the redline decks that don’t want to block anything, and flexible blues like Under the Trapdoor and Unmake the Underlings provide additional utility while being blue block 3’s and passable threats in combination with Just a Nick and Take up the Mantle.