Images courtesy of Legend Story Studios

Since the banning of High Octane, Mechanologists have had a tough time keeping up with the Flesh and Blood metagame; they either fall flat to faster heroes, or lose gas against more defensive ones.

Mechanologists have always been about the crazy — pushing the limits of their gear to the absolute limit. Will Maxx ‘The Hype’ Nitro‘s Armory Deck be able to create a new archetype to put Mechanologist back on the map?

Priced at $39.90 USD, Armory Decks offer a quick route for new Flesh and Blood players to hop into the game at a reasonably competitive level. It’s one of the best ways to get into Classic Constructed, the main format of the game.

What’s in the Maxx Nitro Armory Deck?

Designed as an introductory product, these Armory Decks outfit new players with a fully playable deck. Unfortunately, this sealed product seems to be lacking in the reprints department. Heist is a 30$ card, and only comes as one copy. This would have been a decent way to put more copies into circulation, but alas.

Here’s the decklist:

Maxx Nitro Armory Deck Key Cards

Maxx is closely associated with Hyper Driver as he gives these items the Crank keyword, so we can keep on chaining one after the other without ending our turn. And so, the deck comes with rainbow copies of the card, quite predictably.

Another inclusion are the rainbow copies of Crankshaft, which acts more as a boost target to further fuel our Hyper Drivers.

On the offensive front, we have the usual boost suite of Zero to Sixty, Zipper Hit, and Throttle, accompanied by Zero to Fifty, Jump Start, and Sprocket Rocket. The deck is pretty much composed of a lot of generic boost cards.

Though Mechanologists aren’t regarded for their stellar on-hits, cards like Data Link, Expedite, and Heist provide some pressure to each attack. After all, the best on-hit is death!

T-Bone provides some form of control, and the classic Mechanologist play of baiting out a Temper equipment first, then following up with the T-Bone to take out a Blade Break gear is always a powerful play. No better feeling than taking out a Fyendal’s Spring Tunic early on.

A New Form of Aggression?

Now, we come to the exciting part: the brand-new cards!

Clamp Press and Construct Bank Breaker work hand-in-hand to create a threatening weapon for Maxx Nitro: the Bank Breaker.

With Clamp Press on the board, we’re going into the red zone with a five power wrench, twice a turn. Do note that we do not need to banish a card for our final attack if we don’t need the overpower, making the weapon last longer. Together with Fist Pump, we can further increase the power of our weapons, though this is unpredictable.

Note that since Bank Breaker is a Construct, this means it cannot be equipped at the beginning of the game. It’s merely the back side of Construct Bank Breaker.

Twintek Charging Station red is more of just another way to beef up our attacks. It’s also a tempo-positive card, giving us both a pump and a resource. But due to it being just a baseline three-for-zero and with only two block, I don’t see this card being played in typical builds. We have better use for our deck slots.

Puffer Jacket is actually kind of insane in a world where High Octane isn’t banned. But as it stands, it still gives incredible value in Maxx Nitro, being practically able to play out copies of Hyper Driver without spending steam counters.

Breaker Helm Protos and Drive Brake are also decent defensive options, though the latter still faces stiff competition with Achilles Accelerator.

Upgrading the Maxx Nitro Armory Deck

Some generic value cards include Heist, Fast and Furious, and Twin Drive. Meanwhile, another build that can be explored uses Moonshot and Hyper Scrapper, but this feels counterproductive with Construct Bank Breaker. Regrettably, this line still feels more efficient than assembling Bank Breaker.

Some classic disruption choices include Meganetic Shockwave and Pulsewave Harpoon, which both see play in top Mechanologist lists.

For some cheap but efficient upgrades, consider Gas Up, Re-Charge!, Rev Up, and even Big Bertha.

Bull Bar and Big Shot can also be some efficient ways to push for more damage.

Some players tech in Evo Circuit Breaker, but this is a non-bo with Breaker Helm Protos, unless we play the instant before the combat chain closes.

Construct Nitro Mechanoid has also seen some play in some Maxx lists, but it feels like an entirely different payoff card than what already exists in the Armory Deck.

Grab a copy of Viziertronic Model i for some Arcane Barrier.

The Card Gamer Verdict

Plainly speaking, the Maxx Nitro Armory Deck feels like a letdown. The only significant reprint is Heist, and only at one copy. Although Armory Decks shouldn’t be the only way to reprint staples, adding one to two more copies should really have been the norm here; the monetary amount of the card played a role here. Due to this, the deck’s entire value is tied up in a singular card, while the rest of the new cards feel lackluster.

Mechanologists are supposed to be all about the wacky and crazy combos, but if the payoffs aren’t as good as just going to the face for four power over and over again, many might pass up on the opportunity to spark some genius.