Hello there!

Tyler here with another …. what’s this? Beep Boop Beep Boop Boop Beep. An all-Mechanologist set review? You got it. Boop Boop Beep 101010100011. Only items? Insane, let’s get to it.

First, a note on crank – a lot of the new item cards have the new ability crank. Knowing how crank works is an integral part of understanding how the new items work. In most cases this ability will allow you to either use the item immediately if you decide to crank or to use it next turn if you decide not to. There are corner cases where you can create multiple action points or play items at instant speed to get around this. If you can properly plan your turn out around whether to crank or not, you’ll be far ahead of the competition.

Majestic Items

First on the list is Grinding Gears, which features the new keyword. It has a very interesting ability that allows you to destroy a card on top of your opponent’s deck, which could fatigue them slightly faster, or if you can gain infinite action points fatigue them in one turn. On top of trying to fatigue or mess up your opponent’s draws, Grinding Gears has obvious synergy with Dash, Database to destroy cards on top of your own deck to try to find items. This card is an all star for the new Dash in limited, and has chances to synergize with her in constructed formats as well.

Prismatic Lens is one of the weaker items from Bright Lights. Guaranteeing an item on top of your deck can be a powerful effect for Dash. You need to have banished an item and also have that item be the same color as the top card of your deck, which makes Prismatic Lens an extremely poor early draw.

The flavor of Quantum Processor is off the charts. It can be used as a way to either use your items over two turns or to create multiple action points in a turn if you use crank in conjunction with this card. The ability to cheat costs and use this on both your and your opponent’s turn really put this in a good position. The only thing holding Quantam Processor back is that it’s only good in a deck with heavy items. It’s important that your deck is at least 40% items before Quantam Processor can be considered decent.

In a format where big Mech suit pieces have been printed, Stasis Cell can have some corner case use in Limited. Where it’ll really shine though is as a sideboard piece against the many heroes that rely on activated equipment in constructed formats. Coronet Peak, Storm Striders, Courage of Bladehold, Fyendal’s Spring Tunic, Snapdragon Scalers, etc. The list really goes on and on of cases where this card can disrupt an opponent’s turn that it will see play.

The last of the majestic items, Tick Tock Clock, is one of the weaker items in the set. This is an item that can destroy other items, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to quite line up that well against other item abusing heroes in Limited. In constructed, this will only be as good as the item(s) it’s destroying, which make it a low rated card.

Rare Items

This cycle of items (Fuel Injector, Medkit, Steam Canister) provides interesting gameplay because the cards recycle back into your deck. This makes them very powerful in a Sealed format that can often go to fatigue. The best of the anti-fatigue items is Medkit. Imagine the last two cards of your deck are two Medkit. Playing Dash, you can play out one Medkit per turn, gaining two life and adding a steam counter to your Symbiosis Shot, effectively draining four life a turn with no cards going to discard. All three of these items are excellent in that they cost zero, are blue, and have relevant effects.

The next cycle of items (Polarity Reversal Script, Penetration Script, Security Script) provides buffs to your Mechanologist attack action cards. Penetration Script is the best item of the set for boosting decks and actually might be better than Teklo Pounder in some niche cases where you can add steam counters to your cards. This entire set of items is especially potent in Maxx Nitro decks that want to boost and add steam counters to their items.

Common Items

At first glace these items (Backup Protocol: RED, Backup Protocol: YEL, Backup Protocol: BLU) seem really unassuming. Being able to tutor any Mechanologist attack in your graveyard can be big once you’re a few turns into the game. These still won’t be finding their way into constructed decks any time soon, but in Limited all three of these will see play.

If you haven’t been Boom Grenade-d at instant speed during prerelease weekend, you haven’t been living. Dash decks will happily take as many of these as they can get their hands on, while the other heroes won’t mind playing them either. The red version will be at the top of your pick order and likely make it into constructed play, while yellow and blue won’t be far behind.

These turtle items (Dissolving Shield and Mini Forcefield) are very good when you want to set up for a future turn. They become especially potent when you’re able to play them at instant from Dash. Where they can fall slightly short is when your opponent can wait them out by blocking or setting themselves up instead of attacking into your prevention. These are much weaker in their yellow and blue forms.

Another item that is much better in red is Hadron Collider. This is actually at its best in Maxx decks that want more items to turn on Banksy by cranking. At its worst it can be a one-for-three go again in a format where boosting requires an extra card to get more. This card does its job well.

The last cycle of new items in Bright Lights. These Scripts all provide decent effects that can be game winning in the right situations. Overload Script and MHz Script are excellent ways of pushing damage to get on hits or win games outright. These two specifically are tailor made for Maxx go-wide decks that want to crank to turn on Banksy. Autosave Script acknowledges that boosting is a real cost in this limited format and changes the calculus on who is going to go to fatigue.

Conclusion

There you have it. All of the new items of Bright Lights reviewed! What’s this? Beep Boop Beep. You wanted me to talk about Hyper Driver? 1010010101111000. Jeez some Mechs are never happy. Until next time!

Other Bright Lights set reviews:

Heroes & Weapons by Pheano Black

Equipment by Peter Buddensiek

Blocks, Instants, and Non-Attack Actions by Ethan Van Sant

Attack Actions Pt 1 by Valera

Attack Actions Pt 2 by Kenny Suzuki

Non-Mechanologist Cards by Jonah Lara

Tyler Horspool

Tyler won the first ever major Flesh and Blood event in the world (The Calling Las Vegas 2021) and has been rated as one of the top classic constructed players ever since. He top 8ed the first US Nationals and has top 64ed every Pro Tour to date. Tyler hopes to continue playing Flesh and Blood at a high level and share his passion for card games with others.