(Maxx Nitro | Art by Mateus Manhanini)

Flesh and Blood‘s newest set, Heavy Hitters, is just around the corner, so let’s close out the Bright Lights Commoner coverage with Maxx Nitro.

He may be considered the black sheep of the new Mechanologist hero bunch (Dash I/O, Dash, Database, and Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate have made some considerable splashes to their respective metagames), but by playing to his strengths, we hope we can build a more cohesive decklist for those who wish to bring him to an Armory event.

Differences from Dash

Though Mechanologist decks share several of the same key pieces, there are still some inherent differences we need to take into account when building a Maxx Nitro deck.

As base Dash starts with a Hyper Driver already in play, this allows her to use this tempo to get ahead of the opponent. Meanwhile, Dash, Database uses more item cards to cheat with action points and surprise attacks.

So where does that leave us with Maxx? Owing to his ability of needing to set up the quintessential Hyper Driver, we’ve opted for a slower game plan. It requires some setup, but it also allows us to play bigger-costed attacks and more blues. Don’t forget you can even set up multiples of our item – if you can anticipate drawing into higher-costed cards soon.

Hyper Driver Support

Maxx Nitro is all about generating Hyper Drivers. Thus, cards like Big Bertha and Crankshaft are imperative to the deck. Re-Charge! is also a huge boost (pun not intended) to the deck, as it allows us to offensively push while developing our board.

Discounts Galore

When factoring in the cost reduction, Rev Up and Jump Start are fantastically costed attacks, made even better by the additional resource granted by our trusty item.

Big Hitters

With the additional resource, we’re able to comfortably fit Junkyard Dogg into the deck. However, we also have other huge attacks in the form of Big Bertha, which isn’t a completely dead draw in this deck, plus Overblast and Payload.

Hit Me Baby One More Time!

On hit effects such as Combustible Courier and Boom Grenade add some variety to the otherwise vanilla Mechanologist attack. The latter can likewise be a setup for next turn, should you find yourself not needing to end the turn with another attack of Maxx Nitro‘s ability. And let’s squeeze a copy of Overload Script in here too, as we can set it up or just use it to close out a game. After all, the best on hit effect is “You win the game.”

The Big Three

We can’t forget the essentials. Throttle, Zipper Hit, and Zero to Sixty are all fantastic attacks. We’re running the whole rainbow suite for their sheer efficiency.

Gas Up Is Not Viable!

Plenty of Maxx decks float around online with Gas Up as an inclusion, without a single Hyper Driver red card in the deck. Unfortunately, our hero creates Hyper Driver tokens, which means that upon exhaustion, they will case to exist. This can be found under Section 1.4.2. of the Comprehensive Rules. Yes, that also means we can’t use them for scrap effects – but more on that later.

Talishar and Friends

Banksy is too slow for this format, and the gains are minimal. Ideally, we aren’t going to swing with our weapon more than three times in a game anyway, so Talishar, the Lost Prince will provide better damage, while costing us little due to our abundance of resources. Feel free to try it out, though.

Goliath Gauntlet and Heartened Cross Strap are where things get interesting. Though these are usually a shoo-in for most Commoner decks, their ability to hit the graveyard makes way for Junkyard Dogg to be extremely efficient in this deck, as they’re the usual targets of its scrap ability. Not to mention both equipments buff the attack, too. The pair likewise hit targets like Big Bertha, Throttle, Overblast, Crankshaft, and Rev Up. We won’t run out of viable options here.

Achilles Accelerator is just good, and knowing when to pop it differentiates the good Mechanologist players from the bad. Teklo Base Head is just a glorified Ironrot Helm, but you can swap in Hope Merchant’s Hood if you’re on the beatdown plan.

The Commoner Club: Maxx Nitro

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Hero (1) 1 Maxx Nitro Weapons (1) 1 Talishar, the Lost Prince Equipment (4) 1 Teklo Base Head 1 Goliath Gauntlet 1 Heartened Cross Strap 1 Achilles Accelerator Main (40) 2 Big Bertha red 2 Boom Grenade red 2 Combustible Courier red 2 Crankshaft red 2 Jump Start red 2 Junkyard Dogg red 2 Overblast red 2 Re-Charge 2 Rev Up red 2 Throttle red 2 Zero to Sixty red 2 Zipper Hit red 2 Throttle yellow 2 Zero to Sixty yellow 2 Zipper Hit yellow 2 Big Bertha blue 2 Crankshaft blue 2 Throttle blue 2 Zero to Sixty blue 2 Zipper Hit blue Sideboard (6) 1 Overload Script red 1 Payload red 1 Hope Merchant’s Hood 1 Nullrune Gloves 1 Nullrune Hood 1 Nullrune Robe

I mentioned earlier that we’re ending Bright Lights with Maxx Nitro. This means we’re skipping Teklovossen for now, simply due to too many Evo pieces missing – he just isn’t viable in Commoner at the moment. I might revisit him someday, though.

This wraps up our Mechanologist deep dive. Keep on cranking out those Hyper Drivers, and welcome to the Club.

Kenny Suzuki

Kenny is a non-binary Flesh and Blood player of Philippine and Japanese descent. A two-time A Game of Thrones: The Living Card Game National Champion, they started playing Magic: The Gathering during the Zendikar Block and eventually switched to harder stuff, like Legacy and Modern. When not asleep, they are probably compulsively building new decks, working on their design brand, thrifting for pretty clothes, bringing their kpop photocards everywhere, touching grass or malding over Teamfight Tactics.