(Dash | Art by Sam Yang)

Flesh and Blood‘s newest set, Bright Lights, has revitalized the powerful Mechanologist class in Commoner. Already a mainstay top-tier aggro deck of the format, Dash has received powerful new tools that don’t alter her game plan, but make her much more consistent. Let’s boost away!

Why Not Maxx?

The initial question with the deck is: Why play Dash? Isn’t Maxx Nitro just Dash with more upside?

Being a Dash main in Classic Constructed aside, Dash’s ability gives us an insane tempo lead in an already cutthroat-paced format. Pulling out an item from the deck not only thins the deck, but also provides value as long as we have the item on the board. Maxx Nitro needs at least a turn, or at least playing down a yellow card, for his ability to start gaining value. This is what our game plan revolves around, then – just pure, unadulterated aggression. Otherwise, we should stick with Maxx.

The Crowning Glory

Hyper Driver provides immense value in Dash starting from turn zero, as it guarantees three resources spent over three separate turns. By starting with Hyper Driver on the board every single game, we follow a pretty linear game plan, with more chances to proc the item due to how we built the deck.

Make sure to pick up a copy of a rainbow foil (or cold foil) Hyper Driver for extra bling points!

The Usual Suspects

Throttle, Zipper Hit, and Zero to Sixty are the bread and butter for any aggressive Dash deck, and remain the golden standard for attack action cards in the format. By running all 18 copies in our 52, we ensure redundancy with our draws and our game plan.

Functional Copies

Discount attacks such as Jump Start and the new Rev Up serve as extra copies of Zipper Hit and Throttle – and who doesn’t want more efficient attacks in their aggro deck? We don’t run the blue versions since our curve tends to be low anyway, especially considering our Hyper Driver resources.

Fuel to the Fire

Crankshaft has received a new best friend in the form of Big Bertha. With identical abilities, this lets us drop Crankshaft yellow, giving us an effective eight copies of similar cards, versus the prior six when we ran rainbow versions of Crankshaft. Due to Big Bertha blue, this also smooths out our resource curve, while still being a breakpoint attack when push comes to shove.

Going Taller

Rotary Ram is still an effective card, as it economizes on boosts, all while returning to the deck so we deck out a turn or two later. We also don’t have any synergy with scrap (a new mechanic introduced in Bright Lights), so it’s still preferable to run it over, say, a Hadron Collider.

Re-Charge! is another synergistic card that lets us go taller, gives certain attacks new breakpoints, and lets us keep our Hyper Driver on the field for one more turn.

Payload is a huge finisher and is especially deadly with Goliath Gauntlet.

Workshop Essentials

Speaking of, what’s a Mechanologist without their toys? Talishar, the Lost Prince is still the premier weapon to race with in Dash, and even still sees play in Blitz and Classic Constructed decks. That’s a testament to its power, especially in a 20-life format.

Achilles Accelerator and Vest of the First Fist remain the best sources for action points and resources, respectively. They’re even better than Base Equipment which require a resource to activate, such as Cogwerx Base Chest and Cogwerx Base Legs.

Teklo Base Head is functionally the same as Ironrot Helm, but with the added benefit of being able to bluff an Evo Zoom Call, Evo Sentry Base Head, or Evo Data Mine, even though we don’t run any of those.

Possible Inclusions and Notable Exclusions

I’m torn on Autosave Script, as it feels like it might be good versus fatigue. Dissolving Shield is just a worse, but more flexible blue in Arcane damage matchups, as we only get two to three procs on it, which is literally just the same as pitching a blue for Achilles Accelerator‘s Arcane Barrier. It’s also a dead draw versus any deck that wants to swing in with attack action cards.

So although a sideboard now exists due to the new Commoner rules update, it remains a dead draw the turn you top-deck it versus Bullander. And at that rate, just race the Wizard matchups.

Under Loop could be a consideration, but with the revamped sideboard rules, we might have a tech we can employ over running another deck-returning card. Gas Up is such a powerful card, but we don’t have scrap synergy. This is more suited for Maxx Nitro decks, which will be discussed in a future Commoner Club column.

Full Tilt and Gas Guzzler are both just worse copies of Jump Start and Rev Up.

The Deck

Sideboard Advice

With the new Commoner rules change, our sideboard is no longer limited to equipment and weapon cards! This means that decks can now have a more flexible game plan versus certain matchups. Unfortunately, for a one-sided deck such as Dash, there might not be much room for improvisation. But here are some considerations:

Versus Aggro/Going First

+1 Boom Grenade red
+2 Throttle yellow
+1 Rev Up Yellow
-2 Big Bertha Blue
-2 Rev Up Blue

We want to hit hard and fast.

Versus Fatigue/Control

+1 Hyper Driver red
+1 Rev Up yellow
+2 Throttle yellow
+1 Teklo Plasma Pistol
-1 Talishar, the Lost Prince

Notably, in a fatigue matchup I actually advise against siding out cards, to ensure we have as many cards in the deck as possible, save for Boom Grenade. This goes against the grain for many deckbuilders, but with a redundant deck with literally just functional copies of every single card (in addition to the guaranteed Hyper Driver), we might be able to sacrifice a little bit of consistency.

A smart fatigue player against Dash will begin full blocks on turn one, with the game finishing within just a hair’s breadth, life or deck-size wise. This might just tilt the odds in our favor, even by a tiny margin.

Versus Midrange

+1 Hyper Driver red
+1 Teklo Plasma Pistol
-1 Rev Up red
-1 Talishar, the Lost Prince

If you’ve ever played against double Hyper Drivers in Commoner, you know it’s one of the scariest three turns of your life. By running a second copy, we can even afford to throw out our blue cards to attack and grind the game out. Learn the ins and outs of when to pop the Achilles Accelerator, since it’s a potent combo with Teklo Plasma Pistol.

Are there any heroes you want to receive the Commoner Club treatment next? Let the FABREC team know in the comments or on social media. Until then, keep on boosting. Welcome to the Club!