Background:

Sslasher is a Montreal-based player. He began frequenting the Montreal Dwango server around 1995, where two players named Burnout and Demon were the top players and Galiu as a well known, skilled keyboarder. Galiu and Burnout beat him badly at first, but Sslasher improved his game dramatically within a few months. By the time of the next Dwango tournament, Sslasher won over Galiu 20 - 6 (Galiu moved to mouse+keys soon after). In addition to using Dwango for games and playing locals, he played a lot of modem doom with some of the west coast and central-US based doomgods.

On Saturday and Sunday, September 21 - 22 of 1996, Sslasher's dad Banzai hosted a large doom LAN named DMcon1 at his computer store in Montreal. Computers and monitors were provided, and a number of both American and Canadian players came. There were two tournaments, Map1 and Dwango5 map1. Sslasher won the Map1 tournament with Galiu in second place, and Ronbob won the Dwango5 Map1 tournament with Ismail in second place. The exact tournament progression can be found here (research by DevastatioN). The american players were very impressed with Sslasher's gameplay, which was perceived as uncommonly conservative and powerful.

A month later, on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of October 1996, RI-X and the other Iowa doom players hosted a a large doom LAN known as DMcon2 in the conference room of Amesnet, a local Ames, Iowa ISP. Sslasher, Galiu, and several canadian locals rode down from Montreal with Banzai, and another set of tournaments was scheduled. Galiu made a surprise win over Sslasher in the Map1 tournament, and time ran out before the Dwango5 Map1 tournament could be played.

Sslasher became inactive around the beginning of 1997, and then returned to the doom scene years later, in the Fall of 2001. He returns intermittently to the doom scene, and rebuilds his skill and strategy quickly each time.

 

Stylistic information:

Sslasher plays a hardcore, tricky, deadly serious game. He comes off as a camper, but his game is a lot more involved than just simple camping. On Map1, to assume that Sslasher is in one area, when there has been any opportunity whatsoever for him to move into another area, is an easy way to die. One of his most effective and frequent tactics is that when the opponent thinks that he is in one place, he will sneak into another area at a moment when he believes the opponent not to be watching. He then sets himself up to get the kill when the opponent makes maneuvers and takes shots into the incorrect area of the map. 

His tactics have a multitude of effects on players who are not accustomed to it. Players who are not extremely watchful or make assumptions are forced to make mistakes, which he rapidly follows up. It can make some players underestimate his speed and accuracy in game. It reduces the opponent's frag counts significantly because it makes him much harder to kill. And also, if Sslasher's opponent happens to be of a personality type that becomes shaken up after an unexpected bad beginning to a game, it is likely to spell even more trouble for that opponent. It takes time even for another Doom-God to understand what Sslasher is doing and respond to it correctly.

When you play against Sslasher, especially on Map1, if you fail to adapt to his tactics, you will be beaten very badly. You're basically forced to play his game, and he tends to be better at that game than you do. The times that Galiu beat Sslasher, Galiu was playing in the same hardcore style, even though this is not the style Galiu prefers to use against all players at all times.

This style of Map1 gameplay, when combined with god-like speed, depth, and technical skill, results in the maximum chances of winning games against players with aggressive, rapid Map1 styles. Sslasher has a special combination of highly conservative gameplay combined with the ability to proceed in a highly aggressive manner when it is appropriate.
 

Other details:

I only met Sslasher once, at Dmcon2. He was surprisingly young for being a Doom-God of this skill level, only 16 at the time. French was his first language, and his English had a french accent. When he plays, he stares into his monitor with a very still and intense look of pure concentration.