This is a list for my black Dandan-Format deck using Veilborn Ghoul, that I have been refining over the past few weeks. It is quite fun and leads to great gameplay.
In the text below I am going to try to explain my thoughts on how I ended up with this list and why I included certain cards or why I did not include others. I also offer a maybe-board with suggestions of cards that also work well in this deck – most of them I even playtested. This decklist is far from final, as I very much believe that one can always make slight changes to it to cater to one's own desires.
Instead of simply telling you what cards I included, I want to give you a feel for the thought-process on WHY these cards were selected. There are no hard deck-building guidelines for the Dandan Format – it is a fan made format after all. Still, there are some aspects of the game that the Dandan Format uses to its advantage which I want to follow as closely as possible in honor of the original dandan deck.
Pillars of the Dandan Format
In my opinion, there are four important cornerstones to the Dandan Format.
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The first one is the fact that it is a (two-player) format where the library and graveyard are shared. Cards that interact in any way, shape or form with one or even both of these zones are at a premium in this format. An example of such a card from the classical dandan deck would be Memory Lapse – a counter that puts the countered card on top of the library, and because you share the library you can draw it yourself later. Cards with flashback, scry or surveil (among others) are super interesting to include in this format, as they offer way more room for strategy than they would in other formats.
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The second important distinction from other formats is the freedom of including any number of cards with the same name in the deck – this gives the creator of the deck a lot of flexibility when it comes to calculating draw-percentages. Cards that are vital to be drawn every almost every game can be included in large numbers (eg. Dandan itself is run 10 times in most dandan lists). Of other cards you might want to include only 1-4 copies because they are pretty strong, but you still want to increase the variety between games. The non-existence of the 4-card rule also gives room to some interesting cards that don’t see play anywhere else – cards that care about the number of a specific named card. Frantic Inventory gets stronger, the more copies of it are in the graveyard and so it asks an interesting question: should I play my copy now, or should I wait for my opponent to cast his copy first?
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Thirdly, The original dandan list has exactly one win condition: Dandan itself. Not only is it the only wincon, but it also conveniently deals 4 damage whenever it connects, so with exactly 5 hits you win or lose the game. This for me – a person with OCD – is very satisfying and an important detail in building my own dandan deck. All cards that somehow mess with this premise are an instant non-consideration for me. DISCLAIMER: Not every dandan-deck must follow this rule! You can build your decks however you want!
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Lastly (and least in my opinion), Dandan has a very unique ability: islandhome. This ability is literally game-warping: it makes it so you can include cards in the deck that have no homes in other formats. Cards like Crystal Spray have a unique interaction with islandhome, making it super exiting to include in the deck. It is therefore important to me that any dandan deck not only is helmed by a creature with a game-changing, unique or just rare ability, but also contains unique spells that somehow interact weirdly with that creature.
Building a dandan-format deck
During the deck-building process, I tried to make use of all for points mentioned in the Pillars of the Dandan Format section above.
To start the deckbuilding process, I was looking for a creature of any colour to replace Dandan. Unfortunately, Dandan is the only creature in all of Magic: the Gathering that possesses the ability of islandhome, therefore we have to be a bit lenient with my point 4 from above. This is no big deal for me, as it lets us consider a lot more creatures to replace Dandan as the headliner of the deck.
I ended up using the card Veilborn Ghoul. This is a creature with 4 power that can end the game in 5 hits (just as discussed in point 3 above). While it has no islandhome, it has another interesting, semi-unique ability: it comes back from the graveyard when a swamp enters the battlefield. This sounded fun enough to build around. A drawback of Veilborn Ghoul is its high cmc/mv. Unlike Dandan it can hit the battlefield only way later in the game. However, due to its inbuilt recursion, you don't have to worry about it dying - which means you can play it without protection available. The other ability on Veilborn Ghoul is its inability to block. As a deck builder this means to me, that I have to include a lot of removal so the game is not simply decided by which player plays the first copy of the creature.
From here on out it is imperative to only include cards that do not mess with point 3 from above: DO NOT INCLUDE CARDS THAT MESS WITH THE SOLE WIN CON OF Veilborn Ghoul. No cards that add +1/+1 counters, no cards that gain life, no cards that result in your opponent to lose life and so on. Veilborn Ghoul must hit 5 times to win the game.
Removal
There are two types of removal I have included in this deck: Creature removal and hand disruption. I tried to include cards that are in line with point 1 from above - stuff that interacts with the library and graveyard in some sort of capacity.
For creature removal I included Grim Bauble, Neutralize the Guards and Lose Hope.
For hand removal I included Cabal Therapy, Rakshasa's Secret and Painful Memories.
Grim Bauble fulfills many roles in this deck actually. On the surface level it is just a removal for cheap, but as an artifact it can also be sacrificed to the card draw spells Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight. It also has its own sacrifice ability to surveil, which has come in handy many times in playtesting. Neutralize the Guards is the only mass removal in the deck. There have been many moments when this card was a 3-for-1, so it certainly is one of the most important cards in the deck. I included this version of a sweeper because it is instant speed, costs only 3 mana and has a small upside of surveilling attached. Lose Hope is a simple 1-mana instant speed removal that also has a scry attached. These cards fit the deck perfectly, as all of them do more than just remove a Veilborn Ghoul. Unfortunately, none of these cards actually destroy creatures, they just give -1/-1. This makes a difference when it comes to protecting your own Veilborn Ghoul form your opponent's removal spell. Black has some really good protection spells, such as Feign Death etc. An integral part of the game in the original Dandan-deck is to protect your Dandan from removal. However, glancing at my list you will immediately notice that there is only a single copy of Kaya's Ghostform to act as protection from removal, and on top of that it is not even at instant speed. This is due to three reasons: firstly (and most importantly), most black protection spells mess with rule 3 from above. Most such spells (like Feign Death or Malakir Rebirth
) lose life or add +1/+1 counters and thus cannot be included in good faith in the list. Secondly, as mentioned before, some protection spells do simply not interact well with -1/-1 type of removal. Thirdly, since Veilborn Ghoul recurs naturally, it is also way less important to protect it compared to Dandan. Veilborn Ghoul dies and comes back all the time and this is part of the fun!! I have included some cards that could almost act as "pseudo-protection" in the list - see the section "card draw" below. These cards do act more as "removal insurance" than actual protection though.
The hand removal spells are not super important to run at all and therefore probably the easiest to replace spells in the deck. Cabal Therapy is probably the most important of these, as it can get rid of all Veilborn Ghoul in the hand of the opponent and also has flashback. Painful Memories is fun because it lets you set up your own draw and Rakshasa's Secret fills the graveyard by 4 cards, which is not insignificant. There is a myriad of other hand disruption spells that can be considered to be included in this type of deck, I put some of my considerations in the maybe-board. Feel free to switch those in and out in-between games, maybe with the exception of Cabal Therapy. In line with rule 1 I would strongly recommend to only include discard spells that have an interesting upside in this deck and are not really used in other formats. Again, you find some of my considerations in the maybe-board.
Card Draw
I included three different draw spells: Forbidden Alchemy, Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight.
I tried to include cards that are in line with point 1 from above - stuff that interacts with the library and graveyard in some sort of capacity. These draw spells are integral to the flow of the game - they ensure that both players always have cards in their hand and thus have the means to move the game forward.
Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight both draw cards but have a "drawback" of sacrificing a creature or artifact. These two cards are the reason why I focused to include cheap artifacts such as Grim Bauble in the deck. Furthermore, because one can also sac a creature to these card draw spells, they can act as "pseudo-protection" (or mor like "removal-insurance") against removal, simply by sacrificing Veilborn Ghoul at instant speed whenever it would die anyways.
Forbidden Alchemy is the only blue spell in the deck - this is by design. Having an off-colour spell makes it so the mana base of this deck can be sculpted in an interesting way. See more about that when I talk about the "Mana Base" below. Forbidden Alchemy fulfills many roles in this deck: it draws you a card at instant speed, it fills the graveyard AND it has flashback. This is one of the most important cards in the whole deck! Because Forbidden Alchemy is blue, it also gives the treasure from Deadly Dispute another function (coloured mana) as opposed to only ramp. The treasure can of course also be used to fuel subsequent spells that require a sacrifice, such as Deadly Dispute itself and Eviscerator's Insight!
Miscellaneous cards
Miscellaneous cards I included: Locket of Yesterdays, Codex Shredder, Conjurer's Bauble, Misinformation, Omen of the Dead and Kaya's Ghostform.
Codex Shredder is a super important piece in this deck. It fulfills three different roles: Firstly, it can fill the graveyard from turn 1 on onwards, which leads to explosive gameplay. Secondly, it is a cheap artifact that can later be used as sacrifice-fodder for Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight. Thirdly, it can be used late game to recur a card - any card, regardless of the card type.
Misinformation is the most fun card in the whole deck and whenever it is used it leads to total blowouts. It can be used to set up your own draw, to mess with your opponent's draw, to deny Veilborn Ghoul from coming back to your opponent's hand or in the very best case: all of the above! Since you can put UP TO three cards on top of the library, it is a card that has a lot of strategizing attached. Invertedly Misinformation is also a way of protecting yourself against decking. Decking does happen, but relatively rarely.
Locket of Yesterdays is one of the strongest cards in the deck. Many cards included in my list fill the graveyard naturally and thus this makes the mana discount of Locket of Yesterdays for future spells pretty significant. It is also a cheap artifact and can thus be used as sacrifice for Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight. There was a plethora of flashback cards in the graveyard in most of the games I played and thus I think it is important to take notes on how the ruling of flashback and the mana-discount of Locket of Yesterdays works: the card you cast for its flashback cost does NOT count towards the mana reduction. So, if you have only a single copy of a flashback spell in the graveyard, you would not get a discount, if you have 2 copies in the yard you would get a 1 mana discount and so on.
Conjurer's Bauble is one of the less important cards in the deck. it is a cheap artifact that can be used to deny a recursion threat of your opponent or to be sacrificed to your Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight. It also cycles pretty well. This is a card I might change in future versions of the deck.
Omen of the Dead has flash and is therefore basically only used in response to "swamp-drops" of your opponent, to deny them of their Veilborn Ghoul. It can later be sacrificed to scry, which is a nice upside.
Kaya's Ghostform is the only real protection spell I could find that is in line with rule 3. Unfortunately, it is an enchantment and therefore not instant speed, thus I only included a single copy in the deck. It gives the deck a bit of spicy variety. If I missed any protection spells that are in line with rule 3 and are instant speed and work with -1/-1 type of removal, feel free to message me and include them in your list. I did not include off-colour protection because I wanted Forbidden Alchemy to be the only non-black card in the deck (and lets be real: Forbidden Alchemy is almost black due to its flashback cost).
Mana Base
Mana Base: Swamp, Temple of Deceit, Dimir Aqueduct, Barren Moor, Hidden Grotto, Dakmor Salvage, Evolving Wilds
The mana base is more interesting than one would think at first glance. Obviously there are a lot of swamps included, as they are used to recur Veilborn Ghoul. However, since the deck has a blue card with Forbidden Alchemy, there is some incentive to run some lands that produce blue.
Dimir Aqueduct is the most important of all lands in this deck. Not only does it produce blue mana for Forbidden Alchemy, but it also puts a land from the battlefield to your hand, so you can use that land later again. This is important for swamps to trigger Veilborn Ghoul, but is also interesting to use on lands with etb's. It can even be fun to include MDFCs for exactly this reason. I put one example of an MDFC that is in line with rule 3 from above in the maybeboard, Pelakka Predation
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Temple of Deceit and Hidden Grotto both have an etb that interacts with the library or graveyard (rule 1) and both can make blue mana. The relatively new surveil land Undercity Sewers could be used instead of Temple of Deceit, but due to budget and availability reasons I chose the former.
Barren Moor can be a land-drop early on and cycles later in the game. It can also be both, if you have a Dimir Aqueduct.
Dakmor Salvage was included because it can ensure a land drop later in the game with all the milling going on. Unfortunately, so far no one made use of this during the playtesting.
Evolving Wilds is an instant speed swamp, that can be used to hose your opponents when they go for their own swamp play to recur Veilborn Ghoul. Any fetch-land can be used instead of Evolving Wilds, as long as the land complies with rule 3 (so NO Polluted Delta, but Fabled Passage would be ok). I used Evolving Wilds due to budget and availability reasons.
Gameplay
There are a few differences in gameplay between my black dandan list and the original forgetful fish.
I chose Veilborn Ghoul as the headliner for the deck for many reasons (mostly to be in line with all the rules from above). It becomes immediately obvious, that this creature does not stay in the graveyard for long. It is therefore not a big deal if it dies, as opposed to Dandan. Therefore the deck does not need a lot of protection spells and fighting over a Veilborn Ghoul on the battlefield rarely happens. Since a single swamp recurs ALL Veilborn Ghoul in the yard, and the Ghoul filling the yard naturally through dying would take a lot of turns (because Veilborn Ghoul costs 5 mana), I wanted to include some other ways to fill the graveyard even in the earlier turns of the game. Milling and surveilling are the mechanics of choice here.
The original dandan list has 80 cards in total. Because there is a lot of milling going on in my list here, I had to up the count to 100, otherwise games would be decided by decking too often (decking still happens, but due the card Misinformation its almost impossible). 100 cards also make it easy to buy sleeves because of the widespread commander hype.
