Today I’ll be sharing with you how I managed to clinch a cash finish at Worlds: Osaka with Dash I/O! Follow me through my preparation, learnings, and rollercoaster of experiences.
Preparation
Coming off of Nationals, I’ve been burnt out of playing Nuu, Alluring Desire, especially with the induction of new heroes and the gutting of her primary prey, Zen, Tamer of Purpose during the bannings.
For fun, I indulged in Mara Faris’s Dash I/O list whose game plan primarily consisted of landing Boom Grenade reds off the back of a barrage of 1-for-4 attacks. When the Dash I/O Armory deck was announced, I was flabbergasted.
Fast and Furious being a 0-for-4 was enough for any player to recognize it as a smooth addition to the deck, but Cerebellum Processor was the highlight powerhouse of the deck.
As a way to consume excess action points for card draw in a deck that permitted knowledge and manipulation of its top-deck, it’s insane. I thought the card was pushed, and initial testing with friends really supported my thoughts. The crazy part was the more you played, it the better it got.
I had been undefeated for about 18 games up until I played against Florian, Rotwood Harbinger and Victor Goldmane, High and Mighty, which were close enough where I felt the deck just needed a better sideboard plan – or a better pilot.
Long story short, adaptations have occurred since. System Reset was a card I initially didn’t believe in, up until the metagame became incredibly hostile towards Dash I/O, whereby the card not only served to create massive singular turns with Heavy Industry Power Plant, but also was an excellent play to resist a timely Warmonger’s Diplomacy. I then included Tick Tock Clocks for leverage in the mirror as well as a Bios Update and Teklo Pounder package, as the most anti-fatigue package that durdled the least. I had also flirted with the notion of playing Florian, Deadwood Harbinger, but found that a solid Dash I/O pilot won that matchup, and that I couldn’t innovate a solution towards Aurora, Shooting Star, a deck that was less oppressed by Dash I/O than I had initially expected.
Dash I/O Decklist
My final decklist was a weird hybrid between Sam Sutherland’s list of intense combo potential looking to push out several Optekal Monocles and destroy the opponent with a perfect turn, and Allen Lau’s list of pure tempo, running efficient powerful cards and utilizing deck volume and card quality to overcome fatigue. I played a largely midrange approach close to Allen’s list, but with System Resets as an extra hedge and playline to finish off fatigue.
Versus other aggressive decks, I planned to utilize the sheer power of Dash I/O’s pseudo-fifth intellect to overwhelm aggressive decks and Teklo Foundry Heart to “reroll” for items off the top, as well as minimizing clunky cards. I involved singular copies of Teklo Pounder, System Reset, and Maximum Velocity to dig for when the time calls for them. This mimicked Mara’s old list pre-Armory deck which stomped aggressive decks underfoot. I think running a clean 60 when possible is an absolute premium with Dash I/O and is nearly unbeatable in a race.
Versus decks that had the potential to fatigue you, I had hedged with Bios Update and Teklo Pounder as my anti-fatigue plan to minimize the odds that the deck begins to malfunction while an opponent pressures with damage. Plasma Mainline and Penetration Scripts were notable exclusions; while they are powerful against an opponent looking to block you out, I found them intensely clunky and a detriment if an opponent was applying any pressure whatsoever. Using Heavy Industry Power Plant over Teklo Foundry Heart, it gave my deck enough kick to push through a Maximum Velocity on a critical turn in a race, or pull off the combo turn with Cerebellum Processors, High Octane and System Reset.
Lastly, versus decks that definitely were going to fatigue you, and aimed to survive, Optekal Monocle was added to set up a perfect turn of System Reset-High Octane combos alongside the rest of the anti-fatigue package.
Here are some specific matchups which required a bit more consideration.
Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry
Against Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry, the 50/50 between a tempo-based list or a fatigue-based list posed an issue. The fatigue lists have proven to be very troublesome for Dash I/O and a proven way to target it, however Dash still stood a chance if you could line up what people in Singapore would call “tian hu” (God Hand). I was worried for the matchup as spending my entire game setting up led to me being blown out by any Enigma deck that could pressure with damage or on-hits. Thus I planned to play on the fly, adapting to my opponent had they run a fatigue list or a tempo list, with the full fatigue package included.
Dash I/O (Mirror)
I’d learned the hard way, being a runner up to Esmond Heng of SuperDuper FaB in a ProQuest, that Tick Tock Clock was the card to be played for. Maximizing my copies as it forces my opponent onto defense was a crucial inclusion in my decklist. I also included Heavy Industry Gear Shift, largely because of the mirror to deny that on hit.
Nuu, Alluring Desire
I struggled very hard with the Nuu, Alluring Desire matchup moving into the tournament. She could pivot very effectively from blocking and has a proactive disruption package that Dash I/O has little counterplay for. A clean tempo approach running 63 cards, including extra copies of System Reset and an Under Loop, was how I chose to approach the matchup, having lost numerous times to both fatigue as well as damage.
A brief flight, several days of enjoying Osaka, and a near sleepless night later, Round 1 began.
Classic Constructed Part One
Yang Kou Rui – Dash I/O – Taiwan
My first round was thankfully in my comfort zone, the mirror. The mirror plan was simple: play the more effective aggressive plan all while threatening Tick Tock Clock in order to prevent my opponent from running away with the game. I felt I had come with more preparation as I presented a 60-card deck compared to my opponent’s 68. As a result, my deck ran significantly smoother and with careful armor blocks and controlling the tempo, I blew him out of the water quick. Thanks for the game! 1-0
Lucas Oswald – Zen – USA
I had told my friends if I had another month to prepare, I’d have brought Zen, Tamer of Purpose. It presented a moderately effective aggressive plan into Enigma, but more importantly wielded Zen state tokens, which was effective against the Runeblades and Dash I/O.
I unfortunately had to play to his hand and produced some average Dash I/O hands as he pounded me with 19 damage on his second turn, which I had to take in order to leverage my items for tempo, which was answered by Traverse the Universe, breaking Twelve Petal Kasaya for Zen State. We continued to trade turns, slowly but surely in his favor, and a second Zen State locked up the game. 1-1
Notably, upon taking this loss, a lot of my jitters and stress had gone away; having shared and listened to bad beat stories with friends did a ton to relieve me as I proceeded with the next round.
Timothy Teo – Zen – Singapore
I’m sorry Tim! It always sucks to play a fellow countryman at international events. However, he took the win from me Round 1 this year at Singapore Nationals, and I wanted that ELO back! After being shaken from my previous game, I was worried for this matchup. However, due to poorer draw on his part not transcending until turn five, I slowly but surely managed to leverage Dash’s power to win trades with him moving into the end game, using armor to preserve my hand. After a nasty High Octane turn forcing Zen State off the Kasaya, I had slowly brought the game to a close. 2-1
Kyunghwan Song – Viserai, Rune Blood
I was worried to see Viserai, as their plan to me was uncertain, whether it be aggression or defense. Either way, I had hedged the matchup and could only hope the deck stayed reasonable. I managed to go first which was extremely important, and as the game led on, he made it clear he was out for blood. As planned, Dash I/O wins all aggro mirrors, although it was close drawing towards the end of the game, both players barely at two to three health points. On the closing turn, with a heavy breath I cracked my Achilles Accelerator to draw my first High Octane off my Cerebellum Processor for the final push to close out the game. 3-1
Earl Edison Ang – Prism, Awakener of Sol – Phillipines
A 3-1 Prism scared the crap out of me, especially since I watched him destroy a Dash I/O during one of my previous rounds. With no practice whatsoever, I could only rely on my previous experiences with Prism to push me through and I loaded my clean 60.
Going first, I had an extraordinary hand where I connected two Boom Grenades off an Out Pace, having Spark of Genius to tutor for Backup Protocol: Red. Due to Prism’s poor blocking ability, everything connected and I started him off at 23. As the game dragged on, a lucky Maximum Velocity to pop a Herald attack gave me the window to push him to fully blocking me out, and it was curtains from there. While it felt bad that I did draw incredibly well, these are the games Dash I/O with 60 cards enables for you, and it’s on me to convert them. 4-1.
Draft One
Practicing draft in Singapore is incredibly rewarding and difficult. I didn’t feel extraordinarily prepared for the draft, but having drafted at my local stores Gamersaurus Rex and 1Collectibles left me sufficiently prepared. I had no particular strategy in mind, but was albeit unwilling to contest others directly on Earth if the signal was unclear.
The first draft ended quite poorly. I was passed a red Electromagnetic Somersault pick 2 and instantly locked Aurora. I actually had room to play Oscilio given an Eclectic Magnetism, but I’d tunneled too hard on leveraging Electromagnetic Somersault. My immediate downstream player had also played Aurora, leaving me the weak middle third Aurora. I had plenty of three-blocks and 1-for-5s, although the deck quality was only barely serviceable.
Rob Catton – Verdance – United Kingdom
I missed a critical line involving pitching two reds for Sanctuary of Aria against Rob Catton (of eventual Top 8) to protect myself from a critical triple Amped Perennial Aetherbloom red, alongside my Brush Off red and Twinkle Toes. Had I taken that line, the game might have played out differently, but hindsight is 20/20. I had the game slowly withered away from me, four arcane at a time. 4-2
Jaehwan Kwak – Aurora – South Korea
The second game was an Aurora mirror against Jaehwan, and I was fatigued due to the lack of 3-for-7s in my deck, that I mindfully passed over in favor of the Lightning starters I desperately needed. A critical turn that was pivotal to me being unable to close the game was using my Burn Up // Shock for tempo, hitting him with Star Fall and two blues to force him onto defense, rather than on an impactful turn, although it did f0rce him to block with Arc Lightning. I would like to point out this game as my opponent was particularly lovely to speak to after the game, keeping my hopes up after I was feeling quite dejected. 4-3
Kelvin Law – Aurora – Hong Kong
Lastly, I ended up 1-2 defeating my downstream for the win! Kelvin Law was my opponent, and it was bittersweet as that game I had largely maintained the tempo due to getting to go second being the deciding factor, despite my deck quality being slightly better. Kelvin is a friend that I’ve spoken to over many rounds due to seating nearby at player meetings, and having to face him twice over two Worlds events was unfortunate. Despite that, we remain friends and he was kind enough to share an umbrella with me out of the venue. 5-3
Draft Two
The second draft was a blessing. I headed back to my accommodations in the cold rain, ate a warming bowl of curry rice, and knocked out whilst my friends had stayed out. I woke up the next day with twice the amount of sleep as the previous and was ready, chatting to friends and jokingly praying for Germinate in my draft as I’ve yet to draft a bomb M in about 20 drafts.
What did end up happening was almost as gracious – a Pack 2 Arc Lightning whilst I was already deep into Aurora. This Arc Lightning carried my deck, though I wish had more heavy hitting cards such as Hit the High Notes red like my previous deck, over the wealth of starters. Either way, I had no excuses; I needed to convert.
Joe Colon – Aurora – USA
My first game was against Joe Colon, whom I had came out on top barely in the Aurora mirror. His deck’s shell was very powerful and he had managed to force me to block with my Burn Up // Shock on the second turn going first by using his, but I won the game off a very minor misplay whereby he decided to press more damage putting me down to one instead of floating an Embodiment of Lightning. I thoroughly enjoyed the post-game discussion of lines we had, and hope to play him again sometime. 6-3
Sasaki Ran – Verdance – Japan
My second game was against Touran, which I’ve traveled with during Calling: Phuket before! She was one of four Verdances that were in the pod and could not trade well enough against my deck where I managed to force blocking out often enough to keep Embodiment of Earth off the field. The pressure managed to keep me on the upper hand where she blocked until her deck was finished. 7-3
Tov Hanssen – Aurora – Norway
This game began with a sigh of relief, as GEM gave me one last spark of good luck and paired me down, and notably against Eugene Chung as the solo Florian of the pod. Had I had to face that monster, I would be a lot more worried.
This game was less close than the previous Aurora mirror, my deck being able to keep his on the back foot with an early ]Burn Up//Shock connecting. His deck was particularly poor at blocking and he didn’t manage to draw the better half of his deck before I had forced him onto defense. 8-3.
Classic Constructed Part Two
Matt Rogers – Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry – Australia
Back to Classic Constructed! My first opponent was the famed Matt Rogers, on a very obviously fatigue Enigma, with Reality Refractor and Balance of Justice. The deck was very ready for Dash I/O aggression, and my deck’s draw being difficult enough that I couldn’t whip up much of a tempo turn as I aimed to preserve threats in the deck for a combo turn. Many undetonated Boom Grenades later, I unloaded a double High Octane-System Reset turn with all three Cerebellum Processors on the field. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near enough, as with my deck size and remaining tools, I could barely whip together 50-ish damage whilst Matt was asking for me to deal 80 with a life total of 56 due to Count Your Blessings and a blocking hand of above 20. 8-4.
Charles Dunn – Zen – USA
This game was a learning experience for all the wrong reasons. I began the game going second with an IP2 (although, relatively low impact) as I was a little too preoccupied watching the streamed Oscilio, Constella Intelligence game. No excuses, but lesson learnt.
Like Lucas before, Charles had a similar plan, although a weaker draw, and while penalized I managed to play out the plan I had preferred, which was trade slightly evenly and leverage Dash I/O’s strengths.
As the game drew to a close, he managed a powerful Transcend turn eating a Boom Grenade turn for it to pull the tempo back to him. This trade in tempo left us particularly low as I unloaded into his Zen State the following turn, leaving him at six. I then proceeded to block out waiting for an opportunity to retaliate, leaving a Teklo Core on the field.
I was forced to block down to my last card, and off of a Teklo Core I had cast a Zero to Sixty bringing him down to two. Instead of firing Symbiosis Shot I decided to draw from my remaining Processor, gambling for an item off the top to continue my attacks. Alas, it was not meant to be. Regardless of the circumstances out of the game, Charles was lovely to speak to, and I hope to play him again. 8-5.
Ashkan Rashid-Sanaty – Aurora – UK
I had a revitalized spirit wanting to make up for my previous errors, and was thankfully paired into an Aurora, Shooting Star. As planned, I did Dash I/O things, playing efficiently and winning trades. What happened, however, was very much an above average draw, having all three of my Processors on the field before my opponent had reached his third Fyendal’s Spring Tunic counter.
Combined with High Octane, my single System Reset, and Maximum Velocity I managed to take the win convincingly. This solidified my thoughts and decision to bring Dash I/O clean as the tight 60 of Dash I/O was unparalleled in a race. 9-5.
Michael Feng – Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry – USA
Win and in, and yet I was feeling a sense of dread into the game, having to face off against Enigma, Ledger of Ancestry again whilst Michael was feeling quite relieved I was not on good old Rhinar, Reckless Rampage. I had decided that I would play more aggressively into Michael, aiming less to present the end game combo and rather keep him on his toes, only preserving Cerebellum Processors to be found on critical turns. He presented a similar suite to Matt Rogers before, ready to weather the storm.
My draw this game was significantly better as the aggressive turns ended with some form of setup to keep him blocking in the following turn. An early Phantasmaclasm keeping my Maximum Velocity in hand made me particularly aware of Michael’s plan, to brace himself for the critical turn. My middling turns were supported by Teklo Pounder and I had found my Optekal Monocle to preserve key threats in my deck as such I could boost freely.
Lastly, on a critical turn five, I had forced Michael’s arsenal and pushed him onto a four-card hand carrying over a Cerebellum Processor, as I had Spark of Genius in arsenal and High Octane in hand. I decided that this was my critical power turn, crafted by Optekal Monocle, three Cerebellum Processors, and a single System Reset pushing him off his Balance of Justice, and still connecting with Maximum Velocity and a hail of Symbiosis Shots.
He had held a card in hand and I braced to stall for a Warmonger’s Diplomacy turn with a System Reset in arsenal, but it was merely an Essence of Ancestry: Body. I fortunately drew one of my remaining two High Octanes in my deck and fired off a second power turn, not supported by Heavy Industry Power Plant, but nonetheless enough to close it out.
Shoutout to Michael for being patient and kind as I was overwhelmed with the near infinite triggers Dash I/O has, all whilst I was playing solitaire in front of him. 10-5, and Top 64.
Aftermath
Frankly, after that game I was overwhelmed. I had entered Worlds with the mindset that I had to. It was the APAC event to show up for, and had I not used my Pro Tour Invite, I’d have felt immense FOMO. Thus I decided to throw my hat into the ring, despite not feeling good about my chances. To do well enough to Top 64 was indescribable, especially with such a tense game as my last one.
For changes to my deck, I would have added a third Backup Protocol: Red over the Under Loop Red. The card was very good at setting up Maximum Velocity turns, I just hadn’t considered it as an anti-fatigue option over a mediocre 1-for-4.
I’d like to thank all my opponents for the games this weekend, my travel mates for the lovely memories (they put me through hell to keep me remembering my Symbiosis Shot triggers), and my friends from everywhere for making this trip as fun and as memorable as it was.
See you at the APAC Pro Tour! (If I can get my invite back…)
