Flesh and Blood is not the cheapest trading card game to get into by any means. However, Legend Story Studios is making an effort to lower the barrier to entry through Armory Decks, which are relatively competitive-level decks that can take a game or two at the local Armory tournaments. The latest hero to get this treatment is Dash I/O, a personal favorite of mine.
Priced at $39.99 USD, these Armory Decks are one of the best ways to get into competitive Classic Constructed format, with a few tweaks here and there.
How does our octane-powered Mechanologist’s dedicated product fare? Let’s find out.
What’s in the Dash I/O Armory Precon Deck?
As an introductory product or a quick way for players of other classes to quickly hop onto Mechanologist, the Dash I/O deck does a decent job of outfitting players with a stellar collection of cards which sees play even in endgame versions of the build.
It also includes four majestic pieces of equipment, which all are decent upgrades before we can afford the more expensive pieces of deck — they are great on their own, and shine when compared to common replacements.
Here’s the decklist:
Key Cards
Right off the bat, we’re greeted by a fantastic collection of Mechanologist attacks.
The full rainbow suite of Zero to Sixty and Zipper Hit are both welcome, as these have been mainstays in virtually every single Mechanologist deck to date. We also have Throttle in red, which is one of our biggest efficient attacks.
A close relative of these Boost attacks are Data Link and Dive Through Data, which sacrifice one point of power for the chance to Opt as an on hit effect. Right out of the box, these topdeck-peeking effects serve us incredible value to cheat in additional items to the board, facilitated by Dash I/O’s very own ability.
Boom Grenade in particular is another way to push damage, as we now essentially have an on-hit effect on our efficient, but otherwise unthreatening attacks.
The product has great value, as it likewise comes with two copies of Max Velocity, a mainstay in aggressive Mechanologist lists, as this allows us to get ahead of the life race through unbridled aggression.
Cerebellum Processor is in hot demand right now, as it’s only available through this product and is a playset in most, if not all, Dash I/O lists. As long as we can supply steam counters on this card (or multiple copies of it), we can trade each action point we gain into additional card draw!
We can generate additional steam counters through effects such as Fast and Furious, which comes in three copies. We don’t need to do anything special to proc the card, we can simply boost away and hit this as a bonus. Another option is Steam Canister, although it takes an action point to play, unless we can cheat it out through our ability.
And of course, Symbiosis Shot is just an incredible weapon which also lets us convert each extra action point we gain into damage.
What Makes Dash I/O Good?
Most decks we sit down across the table with, we’ll be on the beatdown role, just racing to get our opponent to zero life as quickly as possible – and we definitely have the tools to do that.
Dash I/O is one of the fastest decks in the format. It wants to hit fast, and it wants to hit hard. Thus, the deck wants to fire off as many attacks in a turn as possible, gaining go again through the Boost mechanic. As a result, however, we chew through our deck really quick and are prone to fatigue.
However, that doesn’t disturb Mechanologist players, as they’re used to the fast-paced playstyle. In fact, Dash I/O just recently took down Pro Quest: London – Black Oil with a tuned decklist by Pawel Roman.
Upgrading Dash I/O
While the deck is already a great product, it unlocks its full potential once we get our hands on High Octane, which lets us pump out an incredible amount of action points for a turn. We could even play multiple copies of this in a single turn, essentially turning every boost into additional gas to continue the turn. Any extra action points, once again, are dumped into several Symbiosis Shot pings, or Cerebellum Processor draws.
Spark of Genius is an ideal tutor, which other classes don’t have access to. We can fetch any item we need, as most of our deck’s items literally cost zero. This means we don’t need to pay any costs to play this card!
Teklo Core has always been Spark of Genius’ partner-in-crime, as it allows us to set up for next turn and provide us a steady steam of resources across the game. A common turn-one play is to end with a Spark of Genius, fetching Teklo Core and putting the drawn card into arsenal. This allows us to have an explosive turn two. Having additional resources also means it’s easier to set up a Maximum Velocity turn, as we can just keep on chaining attacks together with little to no additional pitches.
Pulsewave Harpoon remains a great way to pry cards out of the opponent’s hand, and usually one they don’t see coming. T-Bone, on the other hand, when drawn in multiples, is just devastating for decks which rely on Fyendal’s Spring Tunic and other equipment with Blade Break, as we can eventually force them to block with their crucial armor.
Viziertronic Model i is just brought in for Arcane Barrier against decks that rely on arcane damage.
The final upgrades to be done include Teklo Foundry Heart, which has always been the go-to chest piece for Mechanologist players, and Adaptive Plating just for more bulk. Crown of Providence is nice to have, though you can also get away with alternatives such as Arcanite Skullcap.
Overall, the Dash I/O Armory Deck is incredible value for money and should be a great starting point for most prospective Flesh and Blood players. The Mechanologist class playstyle is also fairly easy to grasp, so it has both affordability and ease of access built into it! If I were to jump into competitive Flesh and Blood today, this would be my pick.
